Clay Richie

Before I dive into what is undoubtedly going to be a tirade, I would like to tender my sincere and unreserved apologies to Malala Yousafzai as well as those who hold her in high esteem for any perceived slight on theirs and their heroine’s sensitivities for the things I’m about to say. Believe me, I’m one of those who has a tremendous amount of respect for Miss. Yousufzai. If my daughter turns out to be half as courageous as she is, then my quest for joy and pride as a father would have been successful.

A former Minister of Sports, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, on Wednesday publicly declared his membership of the All Progressive Congress. In an interview with journalists in Ilorin to announce his membership of APC, the former minister told reporters that he had become a card-carrying member of the APC and was involved in partisan politics.

There are indications that the Peoples Democratic Party in Adamawa State may explode following the recent political developments in the state. However, the explosion, it was gathered, may take a religious dimension.

Heralded in by drummers, it was clear to all those who were already seated, important dignitaries in their own rights, that the new entrant was a class above them. That was because for the first time, the master of the house, the great Death himself, stood up to receive a visitor whom he allowed to sit on the throne beside his.

A recent trend in global terrosism, which is actually an increasingly disquieting one, is female suicide bombing, an act terror experts said is employed by both religious and secular groups.

On Friday, November 22, 1963, while riding along with a presidential motorcade on a street in Dallas, Texas, US President, John F. Kennedy, was shot by a sniper. Kennedy was sitting inside a Lincoln Continental convertible with his wife, Jacqueline, Texas Governor John Connally and Connally’s wife, Nellie, when the bullets from Lee Harvey Oswald’s high-powered rifle flew in. Oswald was arrested seven hours later in a Texas Theater. Two days after, while Oswald was being escorted to a car for transfer to Dallas County jail, he was shot in front of live TV cameras by Jack Ruby, a night club owner.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has sustained its pressure on the former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu to join the Adamawa governorship race on the ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Leader of Niger-Delta Peoples Volunteers Force (NDPVF), Alhaji Mujahid? Dokubo-Asari has lashed out at President Goodluck Jonathan for allegedly placing more value on the life of former Head of State, General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) than other Nigerians.

It is funny how we want our problem fixed but don’t want to be part of the solution.  The easiest job there is on planet Earth is Finger Pointing (especially if you have a 50 followers on Twitter); we see everything wrong with the Policeman, we see everything wrong with the Politician and when asked for the way forward… we go speechless; muttering something about a government coming to our aid. Everyone is a critic in their own mind; always giving one clueless suggestion or the other. What do you want to do with the man who feels Nigeria can only get better when we are done killing all our Past leaders and Politicians? I don’t know too… maybe we should get him a Gun.

The Civilian JTF in Borno said yesterday that at least 40 members of the Boko Haram terrorist group, among whom were teenage girls, had sneaked into the Maiduguri with the intention of carrying out suicide bombings. This is just as the Borno State police command issued a statement calling on members of the public to beware of ladies covered with hijab.

The presidency has denied the allegation that it gave N100m to the parents of the abducted Chibok girls during their visit to the State House. A BBC Hausa service report which was transcribed and published on Abusidiqu has earlier narrated how  parents of the Chibok girls and the Chibok community in Abuja disagreed over a N100million cash gift from President Goodluck Jonathan.

Her entrance met the vain décor of the presidential villa. The corridor was a marbled thoroughfare; the door to the waiting room a goal post. The room was magnificent, a replica of a byzantine chapel except for the Italian sofas which replaced pews. Ostentation loudly greeted and humbled her admirable class. She looked around in systematic evasion of an embarrassing transfixion. Having wined and dined with President Barak Obama at the White House, she was supposed to be used to such edifices. Again, she was the epitome of fearlessness. But butterflies were gulping her self-confidence. For once in the recent past, she felt as weak as a human being. For sure, that wouldn’t be Miranda. So suddenly “normalcy!” thundered and awakened the ears of her mind, and she turned into her real self forthwith.

Former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mallam Nasir Elrufai, has lost one of his sons, Hamza Elrufai, in a motor accident. Hamza El-Rufai died in a car accident that occurred few hours ago (Tuesday). It is however not immediately known where the crash occurred.

As the clock ticks for the conduct of the 2015 general elections in February, politicians are beginning to gear up for the task ahead. While many of those who are believed to be nursing ambition to contest for various positions in the elections, especially the presidency are yet to declare their intentions o do so, some are already putting up strategies to realise their ambition.

The things happening in Nigeria now are above Jonathan. There is little question about this. It would be very unlikely the president was behind the attempted assassinations of ex-head of state General Buhari and Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi. Nigeria’s president does not appear to be such a dangerous and desperate risk taker. The coordinated assassinations of three of Sheikh Zakzaky’s sons in the same Kaduna the same week, aimed to provoke a Muslim revolt, also do not seem to have been ordered by the president. The cards are stacked up against him, but not yet to push him to these very dangerous methods. He still enjoys dancing. Someone else has now taken over of the Nigerian military and the Boko Haram franchise and is set on leading Nigeria off the cliff.

It is no longer news that instigated impeachment gale is sweeping across opposition states in the country. What is news is that the National Assembly has decided to overlook the avalanche of impeachable offences committed by the chief instigator of the impeachments, President Goodluck Jonathan. Nowhere was this more glaring than in the report of the Senator Ahmed Makarfi-led Senate Committee on Finance which recommended that the Senate should call on the president to present a supplementary budget to cover unbudgeted expenses in the name of kerosene subsidy for the year 2011 and 2012.

Many Nigerians have voiced concerned over the inability of the Goodluck Jonathan administration to fight terrorism in the country. While the insurgency which in recent times has become more sophisticated with scores of people killed on a daily basis the president continues t impress it upon everyone that his administration is doing enough in the fight against terrorism. Little wonder, the presidency minces no word in attacking those who criticize his efforts in fighting corruption, especially if it is from the opposition. A case in point is the war of words between a former Head of State, General Muhammadu Buhari and the Presidency.

The Lagos State Government has identified at least 59 people who had contacts with the Liberian who died of Ebola Virus in the state, Mr Patrick Sawyer. This was disclosed by the state’s commissioner of health, Dr Jide Idris at a news conference in Ikeja on Monday.

Soldiers deployed around Garkida, a community in Gombi Local Government Area of Adamawa State yesterday fled for their lives as a result of the heavy artillery from some members of the Boko Haram sect. The sect which we gathered had a field day in an attack on the area left scores dead and injuring many others.

In spite of the one ugly incident, Sunday, June 27, a day Muslims in Nigeria marked Eld-El-Fitr to celebrate the end of the 2014 Ramadan season would have ended up a very bloody day in Kano, but for the vigilance of security personnel in the state.

In all known contests, debate is probably the best interaction to adjudge a candidate since there is not any other better known scientific method. The best democracy in the world, the United States of America, USA, is widely known to make use of debates as means to present candidates and their manifestoes to the electorates. This simple, entertaining and educative gathering does not have better alternative in the credible democratic electoral process.

On July 23, there was an effort to murder two of Nigeria’s prominent Muslim leaders , Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi, a cleric with a large personal following, and Muhammadu Buhari, former head of state. The attempts were two separate operations, though they appear to have been timed close together, in the former northern regional capital of Kaduna.

The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ahmadu Adamu Muazu, on behalf of the National Working Committee (NWC) has charged Nigerians to use this year’s Eid-El Fitri to rekindle the spirit of oneness and re-dedicate themselves to the virtues of love, brotherliness and peaceful co-existence upon which the nation is founded.

“Man’s capacity for justice makes democracy possible. But man’s inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary” – Reinhold Niebuhr Some call him “The Game Changer”. Others say he is the “Asiwaju of Nigeria’s democracy.” Yet, not a few view him a “Master Strategist,” as a political titan of no mean measure. These are but a few epaulets that adorn the shoulder of the one dogged fighter who, today, stands on a high moral ground to speak on Nigeria’s democratic dispensation – its norms, mores, codes, evolution, development and sustenance. But why, you may ask?

The Kano State police command said it uncovered a car wired with explosives parked very close to a mosque by suspected terrorists as Muslim faithfuls observe their eid prayer on Sunday. The explosives were planted in a white Peugeot 406 car at about 1.am on Sunday which the terrorists would have detonated during the Eid prayers attended by thousands of worshipers.

Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State has revealed the unsuccessful attempts made by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Abuja to remove him from office. Speaking at the inauguration of the state executive of the All Progressives Congress, APC, on Friday at the International Conference Centre in Owerri, Okorocha disclosed that the 26 out of the 27 members of the Imo State House of Assembly were brought to Abuja and given N100Million each to impeach him.

Senator Chris Ngige, representing Anambra Central Senatorial zone has described the construction of the second Niger Bridge by the federal government as a huge fraud meant to rip off the people of the South-East. Ngige, who spoke during the inauguration of the Anambra State executives of the All Progressives Congress, (APC), said that he deliberately stayed away from the ground breaking ceremony of the bridge months ago for three reasons.

We have many reasons to be thankful that Gen. Muhammadu Buhari survived the bomb attack in Kaduna on Wednesday. I’m not trying to suggest that the lives of those who died are worthless – or that we should be less thankful for several other lives that were saved. Personally, Kaduna means a lot to me. That is where I have the largest concentration of my relatives. My elder sister, my nieces and nephews, my uncles and aunties – plenty of them – live in Kaduna. Many of them were born there. Kaduna is where they see as home. To cap it all, my dear grandma, on whose palms I grew up, currently lives in Kaduna. I, therefore, have a lot of stake in Kaduna.

President Goodluck Jonathan has said that the whole world will be surprised at the conduct of the 2015 election which he assured would be free, fair, credible and transparent, despite the violence currently ravaging some parts of the country.

The All Progressives Congress has said that it is ready to answer any inquiry over allegation by the Presidency that it was sponsoring the violent Boko Haram sect.

He ruled Nigeria as a military Head of State between January 1984 and August 1985. He’s one of the most popular politicians in Nigeria at the moment, with a cult following across Northern Nigeria, especially in the twelve states generally referred to as the “core” North.

The Nigerian Army has approved the voluntary retirement of the Chief Security Officer (CSO) to former Head of State, General Sani Abacha, Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, Blueprint reliably gathered. The retirement has laid to rest the controversy surrounding Al-Mustapha’s return to service and purported promotion to the rank of Brigadier General in 2013 after he was freed from prison.

The Presidency yesterday expressed thanks to God that the perpetrators of Wednesday’s twin bomb blasts targeted at both the former Head of State, General Muhammadu Buhari and an Islamic cleric, Sheik Dahiru Bauchi in Kaduna State, did not achieve their evil motives of killing the two prominent Nigerians, saying that the country would have been set on fire if they had succeeded.

In a determined effort to eliminate terrorism by routing insurgents from their hideouts in parts of the North East and North West once and for all, the Federal Government has placed purchase orders for 40 helicopters for attacks and transportation from the United States and Russia.

President Goodluck Jonathan has reportedly called former Head of State, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari on the phone to express his sympathy over the bomb attack that nearly claimed his life in Kaduna on Wednesday.

New Media, dominated predominantly by Social Media, may not determine who wins elections but it will determine who influences perceptions. Ask yourself when was the last time you heard a breaking news on TV that had not already broken on New Media?

At least five members of the dreaded Boko Haram sect have been arrested by members of the civilian JTF in Maiduguri, the Borno state.

In what could be described as his intervention to stop the impeachment process instituted by the members of the Adamawa State House of Assembly against the state governor, Tanko Al-Makura, President  Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday met with six of the Legislator.

All Progressives Congress (APC) governors, under the aegis of the Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF), said yesterday that President Goodluck Jonathan should be held responsible for the attempt on the life of one of its national leaders and former Head of State, General Muhammadu Buhari.

Nothing is more dangerous than when a good man goes rogue. Most of the worst criminals in history were good men in society who either voluntarily or by virtue of circumstance, went rogue. We all know the award winning, chairman of the editorial board of the Nigerian Guardian, Dr Reuben Abati, our guy, a staunch truth shooter and government critic bar none. But when Reuben was sucked into the Jonathan Government, Lord have mercy!

Former military head of state and a chief of the All Progressives Congress, Maj-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd) has shed more light on the assassination attempt on his life in the Wednesday bomb blast n Kaduna.

For the third time in a row, the attempt by the Nigerian army to retake the town of Damboa in Borno State from the control of the dreaded Boko Haram sect has met a brick wall.

To begin this piece, one fact has become undeniable. Our country is at war. According to the latest Human Rights Watch report, Boko Haram has killed 2, 053 Nigerians in the North-East in six months! The Nigerian military is at the forefront of the war on terror but it is doubtful if it can win this war. Now a caveat: I am aware that terrorism is a new phenomenon in our country. Terrorism causes national trauma, stalls development and drains a nation’s resources.

“Those whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad”-Prometheus One of the great lessons I have learnt in life, even as early as my toddler years of adolescence, when I began to discover those unwritten codes of human behavior, one of which is that a gentleman or indeed any man at all, never wins in any dual competitive exchanges with a woman, despite the fact, ordinarily, a Victorian male figure is expectedly much stronger than a female, socially and as a social norm, a man is almost and always favored by the society as a leader, bread winner, representative heir and a father figure, yet, were they to engage in any form of altercation, whether physical or verbal, the man would always be on the wrong or at a loss, at least from the perspective of the community which they belonged to.

It was one of those brilliant memos in 2001 from then Director-General of the Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE), Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, to which President Olusegun Obasanjo was instantly sold. However, he didn’t like the fact that el-Rufai would suggest that only Mr. Tajudeen Fola Adeola could midwife a reform of the pension scheme in Nigeria. Aside the fact that Obasanjo doesn’t enjoy being dictated to, he also was/is not a friend of Adeola, a feeling that I understand is mutual, even though both of them hail from Abeokuta.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has condemned in very strong terms the Wednesday bombings in Kaduna which claimed the lives of many innocent Nigerians, describing the attacks as dastardly and unfortunate.

Barely 24 hours after two bomb blast ripped through the city of Kaduna on Wednesday, another double explosion has been reported in the ancient city of Kano.

The President of the Christian Association of  Nigeria,  Pastor  Ayo Orisejafor,  has said the Boko Haram scourge can only be halted by religious leaders in the North and not  President Goodluck  Jonathan. He said this on Wednesday in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, during the graduation,  send off and prize giving ceremony of the Stephen International Centre.

Ban Ki-moon has repeated his call for the immediate release of the kidnapped schoolgirls of Chibok – 100 days after their abduction. The United Nations Secretary General has given the vigils taking place tomorrow his full support. The schoolgirls, taken by Boko Haram on April 15 th , have now been in captivity for more than three months.

Lagos, Nigeria (CNN) — I certainly didn’t anticipate this turn of events: that more than 200 Nigerian girls, students kidnapped from their hostels in dead of night, would still be missing, and with their abductors, for 100 days in peacetime, democratic Nigeria.