Clay Richie

As 2015 draws closer, the focus in Nigeria is now increasingly set on the performance and professionalism of media operatives. After all, communication media are the mouthpiece and reflector of political activities and public feedback. It is not for nothing that the media is scientifically assessed as the unofficial fourth estate of the democratic phenomenon. After years of voluntary association with the corridors of scientific activities at various levels in Europe, I will dare to add hypothetically that the government of any country can only be as good as the mass media of the country itself.

It is indeed pertinent to ask if President Goodluck Jonathan, the armed forces over which he presides as Commander-in-Chief, and other security agencies, will go after the terrorists that abducted more than 200 teenage girls into their hideout in Sambisa Forest, in Borno State.

In March this year, the PDP campaign organization led by President Goodluck Jonathan went to Onitsha end of the Niger Bridge to continue the endless and primitive politics of building a second Niger Bridge. The political promise

Has this ever occurred to you? When we discuss oil in Nigeria, we are always concerned about the budget benchmark and the international prices of crude oil. 

The title of today’s piece comes from the opening line of an opinion piece that appeared on the Al Jazeera website two weeks ago, by British journalist Barnaby Phillips (a former BBC correspondent in Nigeria), titled, “War, tragedy, and the power of memory”.

Bishop David Oyedepo says poverty is not of God.  He insists a child of God has no business being poor and declares: “There’s a proven covenant cure for poverty.”  If this were true and proven, all the world’s poor would have become rich Christians by now.

Less than 10 months to the all-important 2015 general elections, there are strong indications that a fresh battle for supremacy has re-surfaced between President Goodluck Jonathan and former president Olusegun Obasanjo.

Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, has chided President Goodluck Jonathan for what he described as the president’s insensitivity to the plight of victims of the Nyanya bombings in which scores of Nigerians lost their lives and the abduction of the students of Government Girls’ Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State.

I have learnt enough over the years that when Nigerian politicians play the politics of either religion or ethnicity in defence of “their people”, it’s either they want to cut some personal deal or they seek to secure some political advantage. Many of us were witnesses to that during the aborted Third

Dear President Jonathan: We, the more than 200 victims of Boko Haram’s latest savage bomb attacks, feel we must write to you from beyond the grave. Our simple message is summed up in the phrase: Enough is enough.

Women in Borno State have accused President Goodluck Jonathan of not doing enough to free the over 200 schoolgirls kidnapped from the Government Secondary School, Chibok, last week, just as they expressed their willingness to go into the notorious Sambisa Games Reserve Forest, the enclave of the terrorist Boko Haram sect, in search of the girls.

President Goodluck Jonathan is not afraid of his national security team, he should summon his Minister of Defense, Chief of Defense Staff and all Service Chiefs, head of the Directorate of Military Intelligence, Inspector-General of the Police and National Security Adviser to his office and demand answers to the following questions:

There are probably 149 million All Progressives Congress members in Nigeria. That is if you go by the logic of Nigeria’s ruling class and their social media minions. If you have been paying attention

After engaging each other in war of words, with accusations and counter accusations, the opposition All Progressives Congress has finally decided to sue the Peoples Democratic Party and its spokesman, Olisa Metuh, for allegedly maligning the opposition party’s name.

Everyone’s so timid and afraid to insult anybody, but in the end, it’s like we’re all trying to please everyone. In the end, we please no one. – Olivia Munn If you can’t ignore an insult, top it; if you can’t top it, laugh it off; and if you can’t laugh it off, it’s probably deserved. – Russell Lynes That President Goodluck Jonathan will be the most criticized and insulted Nigeria leader after the late dictator, General Sani Abacha is not in doubt, but what will be under contention is who will retain the crown among the two of them when he finish his two term of Presidency in 2019.

The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria entitles the president to run for a term of four years renewable for another four. This means, barring death or impeachment, the president of Nigeria can serve for a maximum period of eight years. Anyone who expects a sitting president of Nigeria to lose re-election and serve only one term in this day and age is fooling himself. If, as many believe, Goodluck Jonathan is going to run for re-election in 2015, then the next president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria will be Goodluck Jonathan.

The spokesman for the Borno State governor Kashim Shettima, Isa Gusau has faulted media reports that the governor is one of those working against the military’s counter-insurgency operations in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states.

The Federal Government says it is not true that Boko Haram insurgents are ferried in by helicopters along with their weapons likely from foreign lands to launch their attacks.

Parents of school girls abducted last Tuesday from Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State by Boko Haram terrorists, yesterday, recounted their experience in the dreaded Sambisa forest in search of their daughters who are being held there.

Security sources in Nigeria have lend credence to an earlier report by Daily Star, a UK based media that the deadly bomb blast which rocked Nyanya motor parked last week had the hand of Al-Shabbab and British white widow, Samantha Lewthwaite.

According to a top ranking officer in the military, the security chiefs had indicted some top politicians and elite in the Northeast, for sabotaging the ongoing operations against the insurgents and wanted the governors and Houses of Assembly in the affected states suspended while the operations lasted.

Let me see if I understood the events of last week. On Monday, two weeks after a supposed Boko Haram jailbreak in Abuja in which over 20 persons were killed, its militants arrived in Nyanya, on the outskirts of the city.

Primate Elijah Ayodele, founder of INRI Spiritual Evangelical Church, speaks about the future of Nigeria and what Nigerians should expect in 2015. “A lot is still going to happen, and Nigerians still need to be praying ahead. If Nigerians can exercise patience, I see the economy booming. I see expatriates coming into this country because our economy would be one of the best in Africa come 2017. The government has not really addressed the issue of one nation as expected.

The presidency has responded to the memo written by the Governor of Adamawa state, Rear Admiral Murtala Nyako, describing him as someone who is behaving like a mad cow. Governor Nyako had written a memo, where he accussed the Federal Government of carrying out genocide against the North. An allegation that attracted condemnation and praises from the social media.

Following the increasing wave of terror attacks in the country, no less than 20 countries have advised their citizens to stay away from Nigeria.

Before our very eyes, we have seen Boko Haram transform from a virtually unknown neighbourhood religious gathering to a globally notorious terrorist group that kills and abducts innocent persons for fun. Last Monday’s Nyanya bombing, which terminated the lives of nearly 100 persons,

While the controversy over the exclusion of governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC), at last Thursday’s National Security Council meeting between President Goodluck Jonathan and governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and their allies from the APGA and Labour party is yet to fully settle, facts have emerged over what was discussed at the meeting.

The leader of Nigeria’s Boko Haram Islamists Abubakar Shekau claimed responsibility for a bombing in Nigeria’s capital that killed at least 75 people, in a video message obtained by AFP on Saturday.

In 2006,it was said that the elites in Nigeria have embezzled £220billion since 1960 which is more than the amount of money America used to re-build Europe after the second world war. The truth is every government agency or parastatal is just a place to embezzle our common wealth or extort the already impoverished citizens. They are not there for the masses, government have become an avenue for making few individuals rich and nothing, I mean nothing matters to those in government except to get rich by all means.

Fellow Nigerians, these are not the best of times for our long-suffering country. I don’t even know where to start from. I have been in this state of stupor and confusion since the bomb blast of last Monday near Abuja. The location did not matter to me because it could have been anywhere.

The Rivers State Governor,  Chibuike Amaechi has said that he would not support any governorship candidate from his Ikwerre ethnic nationality where the supervising minister of Education, Nyesom Wike who has been fighting hard to succeed Amaechi also comes from.

The car containing the bomb that exploded at Nyanya Motor Park, Abuja, on Monday, was driven to the park by two men in military uniform. The Head of Operations of Isiyaka Nagode Enterprises, Salisu Mukhtar, disclosed this in an interview with one of our correspondents in Abuja on Thursday.

Dear Mr. President, I just want beg you Bros Jonathan. I take all the gods of Nigeria beg you. I take all the gods wey people dey hide worship beg you. I take the God wey most of us dey worship openly beg you. I take the day wey dem born you take beg you.

Eminent Yoruba leaders yesterday berated the Peoples Democratic Party,PDP,  for linking the recent bomb blast in Abuja to the All Progressives Congress, APC, noting that issues of national security should not be trivialised on the alter of politics.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has denied reports that governors of the states under the aegis of the party shunned the expanded National Security Council meeting scheduled for Thursday by President Goodluck Jonathan to review the security situation in the country.

Federal Capital High Court 25 on Thursday declared illegal, Abuja “Park and Pay” agency illegal, saying it has no laws backing its operation.

The principal of Government Girls Secondary School (GGSS), Chibok where over 100 students were abducted by members of Boko Haram sect, Mrs Asabe Kwambura has faulted the claim by Defence Headquarters on Wednesday that 107

Goodluck Jonathan is insensitive, inexperienced and remains unfit to serve as President. No sane leader will continue with any useless political rally 24 hours after hundreds of people, innocent and harmless, were bombed and killed in cold blood. A responsible leader would have cancelled any p

There is no question that the president of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan is a sick man. To be partying and dancing hours after a massacre in the nation’s capital and rallying with more dancing in illegal campaigning the same day and a day when 200 innocent girls were abducted into the bushes by lunatic, rapist murderers. Only a sick person can do that. Some of us have been perturbed since yesterday. We are anxious, worried, disorganized and weak in the knees. We look at our daughters, nieces and shudder.

The Tuesday April 16 th of the year 2014 was an ordinary day like any other in the city of Kano, yet it is not so innocuous like other days of the year, after all, which normal day could have the momentous specialty of the symbolism of which of the two between a bowler hat and a red cap best fits the head, the classical imagery of which attire best intimidates an opponent, it is worth noting that the Nigerian president had rejected the local and traditional clothing he was given at the airport,

There is this story of a cowboy who had a serious accident with his vehicle in which he was carrying a dog and a horse. Not long after, a police officer who happened to be an animal lover came upon the scene. He saw the horse first and realizing the serious nature of its injuries, he drew his service revolver and put the animal out of its misery. Walking around, he also found the dog critically injured. He couldn’t bear to hear it whine in pain, so he ended the dog’s suffering as well. Finally, he located the cowboy who had suffered multiple fractures and was battling for survival.

A family of over 50 people akin to a football academy; a man, 6 wives and 26 children live somewhere. Now imagine 4 of his sons named Kabiru, Kamoru, Sulemonu and Adimula have live-in lovers who have 5 kids each. The house is full and the head of the family called Baba No Regret allows anyone behave as they choose. He is in-charge but not IN-CHARGE.

Former military head of state General Muhammad Buhari has expressed his anger over President Goodluck Jonathan’s attendance of a political rally organised by the Peoples Democratic Party in Kano a day after the Abuja bomb blast that killed many.

Security officials have confirmed the abduction of at least 100 female students in Borno State. The girls, final year students of the Government Girls Secondary School Chibok, Chibok Local Government Area of the state, were kidnapped from their school on Monday night.

The early Monday morning blast in Nyanya, a suburb in the capital city of Nigeria has began to draw speculations from some international media.

The question of whether a mono-religious presidential cum vice-presidential ticket (such as a Muslim-Muslim combination) will fly in Nigeria shows, once again, that religion in Nigeria is principally about politics; its aspect of devotion to God is just a major side attraction.

I read Reno Omokri’s response to Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola adviceto Nigerians that they should elect leaders who will do the job and not a leader who will spend must of the time in Mosque or Church.

I was stunned when I read the various headlines about the comments made by Governor Raji Fashola regarding the President and his habit of worshipping at a church every Sunday. There were various headlines, but the one by one newspaper best captures the sentiments expressed by Fashola. It ran thus ‘Jonathan is Busy Going to Church Instead of Leading the Country – Fashola’.

As Court fixes May 20th for judgment   President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday told a Federal High Court in Abuja that the suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Sanusi Lamido Sanusi was suspended for awarding contracts amounting to N163 billion, which he said is, 63 percent in excess of CBN statutorily authorized shared capital of N100 billion.

I got a  heartbreaking note yesterday, from a lady I have never met , who was a beneficiary of the 2011 round of scholarships.