Clay Richie

What do you do during a flight that lasts nine hours and six minutes? You read. You sleep. You wake, and sleep again. You eat. You pray (if you are the praying type). You discuss with your co-passengers. And of course, you ruminate about your destination. What you’ve heard, or read about the place, particularly if you were visiting for the first time.

If there is no further legal challenge, the South African government will hand over a sum of $9.34m to the Nigerian government on November 30, 2015. The said amount had earlier been confiscated by the South African authorities from an Israeli arms dealer, Eyal Mesika, of Cyprus-based ESD International, who was acting on behalf of the Federal Government to procure arms for Nigeria.

“To stay cheerful when involved in a gloomy and exceedingly responsible business is no inconsiderable art: yet what could be more necessary than cheerfulness? Nothing succeeds in which high spirits play no part…” – Friedrich Nietzsche, TWILIGHT OF THE IDOLS/THE ANTI-CHRIST

President Muhammadu Buhari has said that some of the nominees recently cleared by the senate will not be made substantive ministers, but will only up “sitting” in federal executive council sessions. Speaking in an interactive session with journalists in New Delhi, capital of India, on Friday, Buhari lamented state of the economy, saying: “The government is broke”.

The Abuja division of the court of Appeal has dismissed the appeal filed by senate president, Bukola Saraki challenging his trial by the Code of Conduct Tribunal. The appeal court dismissed all 5 issues raised by Saraki in the appeal. Two of the three panel of judges ruled that his appeal lacks merit. This implies that the Code of Conduct will still go ahead with Saraki's trial.

South East Roads are ostensibly the worst in Nigeria now especially Enugu-Onitha, Enugu-Port Harcourt, Enugu-9th Mile-Nsukka and Owerri-Elele Road all thanks to the activities of Muhammadu Buhari, according to the delusional theory of some ignoramuses parading as igbo politicians and activists.

Democracy does not necessarily translate into the disappearance of crises and dilemmas, (even trilemmas, quadrilemmas or more) in a country, either developed, developing or perhaps evolutionary. Built into the fabric of the right to choose is also the right to make mistakes and so, across Africa at this moment, in Nigeria, Tanzania, Cote d’Ivoire, Burundi, Guinea Conakry, Rwanda, the lessons are being driven home, as elections are being held or have been held or will be held, that even as democracy spreads within the continent, the tension between stabilization and consolidation, trade offs and efficiency, pessimism and optimism, ethnocentrism and nationalism, remains a major concern.

Senators elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Thursday justified their decision to stage a walkout during the confirmation of ministerial nominees earlier screened.

President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration may have fallen prey to the political syndrome of sameness. In other words, his dispensation may well be firmly set to run on the same track as his predecessors’.

President Muhammadu Buhari said Wednesday in New Delhi that despite the fall in oil prices, his Administration remains fully committed to maintaining macro-economic stability and improving investor confidence in Nigeria.

If you encounter one of Nigeria’s numerous street economists and you want to discuss the state of the nation, you are likely to be told that our country is so rich that it can afford free education, free health services and free housing for every citizen, if only we can eradicate corruption. While corruption is indeed a serious issue, the bottomline is that Nigeria is not a rich country and has never been one. Yes, we had (and still have) the potentials to be a prosperous nation but that will not happen until we stop squandering our opportunities.

The Vice-President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, has said his role in the current administration is to supervise the economy, adding that there would be no such thing as coordinating minister for the economy as was obtained in the immediate past government.

The arrest and secret arraignment of Nnamdi Kanu, the Director of Radio Biafra and Leader of Indigenous People of Biafra, by Nigerian officials, touched off an outbreak of cathartic protests in some pockets of territory within the map of the re-imagined secessionist state of Biafra.

At last, one Election Petitions Tribunal last Saturday rose to the defence of Nigeria’s democracy. The tribunal empanelled to determine the issues and complaints that trailed the Rivers state governorship election, headed by the very Honourable Justice Suleiman Ambrosa, took a clear departure from the onslaught his colleagues in so many other governorship tribunals had been mounting on Nigeria’s efforts to deepen her democracy, with very laughable pronouncements.

Elder statesman, Chief Edwin Clark, has said that he did  it get anything from the Jonathan administration while he served as president. Clarke stated this while dismissing insinuations that he betrayed former President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, by reportedly saying that the ex-President lacked the political will to fight corruption.

Ondo State governor and Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors Forum, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, on Monday, said there was hasty judgement delivered by the Rivers State Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja which sacked Governor Nyesom Wike last Saturday.

My friend, Professor Pius Adesanmi, set the tone for what I'm about to say in a recent Facebook update. If you have not read his update in which he makes a forceful argument for holding the Buhari administration accountable for the president's pre-election promises in the area of security and the effort against Boko Haram, please go and read it without delay. It is a prescient and timely intervention. Adesanmi was writing to bemoan the continued rampage of Boko Haram in spite of Buhari's promise to take away their ability to continue their murderous activities.

I am saddened that the former Governor of Kano state, Senator Rabiu Kwakwanso, a man whom I have always considered a friend and whom I have always respected could insult our reverred Yoruba elders. Yesterday, during a function in Ibadan, it was widely reported in the media that he asserted that the recent demand by the Yoruba elders that all Fulani herdsmen ought to be banned from the south west as a consequence of the atrocities that they have been committing is somehow inappropiate and misguided.

The supreme court has dismissed the suit filed by Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, challenging the jurisdiction of the Rivers governorship election petition tribunal to hear a petition by Dakuku Peterside of All Progressives Congress (APC).

Nigeria’s former president, Mr. Goodluck Jonathan, is setting up a new storefront, to be known as The Goodluck Jonathan Foundation. “I am back to work to continue to serve and dedicate my life to promoting peace and prosperity for all,” he said in a letter to his mentor-turned-tormentor, former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says it will “never surrender the mandate” freely given to it by the people in states where it won in the last general election. Spokesman of party, Olisa Metuh, in a statement issued on Sunday, a day after the Rivers state election petition tribunal stripped Nyesom Wike, the PDP candidate, of his victory at the state governorship election in April, accused the federal government and leadership of the ruling party of using the judiciary and security agencies to destroy the nation’s democracy, the opposition party said the battle line has been drawn.

Former Governor of Rivers State, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, has accused Governor Nyesom Wike, of diverting N45bn loan taken by his administration. Amaechi made this statement, on Sunday, at a special thanksgiving service organised to mark the October 25 ruling of the Supreme Court, which brought him into power as governor in 2007.

When someone develops a persistent and intense fear of justice, he may fear retribution for some type of criminal activity. People who engage in criminal activities are obviously more likely to develop this disorder having something ugly to hide, or having a criminal record which might prompt some sort of fear for the unknown. People with this kinda feelings will more often develop a fear of imprisonment or incarceration, the idea of being locked up and placed under controlled can be very off-putting and frightening. This fear of justice is called ‘Dikephobia.’

President Muhammadu Buhari says desperate actions like detonation of Improvised Explosive Devices will take a longer time to eradicate, even as his administration’s optimism continues to grow that Boko Haram will be crushed by December.

The recent appearance of President Muhammadu Buhari on UpFront, an Aljazeera chamber of mental torture for public and political figures, was a risky gamble. And with all at stake, it was a miscalculation by his media handlers desperate to establish and promote perception of a nation under control.

Two top managers of Fidelity Bank Plc have been arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for allegedly assisting a former Chairman of the Pension Reform Task Team, Abdulrasheed Maina, to launder stolen pension funds.

Olusegun Adeniyi had just been appointed special adviser on media and publicity to President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. That was in June 2007. It was an appointment he reluctantly accepted after turning it down for weeks, during which he confided in me all the pressure being mounted on him to have a change of heart. As he left for Abuja, I stepped into his shoes as Editor of THISDAY. Before I knew it, a torrent of prayers started flooding in my direction on a daily basis as people congratulated me on my new position.

ANY FOOL CAN CRITICIZE, CONDEMN, AND COMPLAIN…….AND MOST FOOLS DO, BUT IT TAKES CHARACTER AND SELF CONTROL TO BE UNDERSTANDING AND FORGIVING WHEN CRITICIZED’’- DALE CARNEGIE

Cameroonian soldiers drove Boko Haram insurgents back across the country’s northern border into Nigeria on Friday, a day after the Islamist militants killed at least eight people in an attack in the remote region that aid groups say is becoming a war zone.

The Rivers State Election Petition Tribunal has nullified the election of Nyesom Wike as the Governor of the State and ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to conduct fresh election in the state. The Independent National Electoral Commission had declared Wike winner of the election with 1,029,102 votes as against Peterside’s 124,896.

Muhammadu Sanusi II, who was dismissed as Nigeria’s central bank governor last year, called on his successor to devalue the naira and warned that Africa’s biggest economy is in danger of a long term slump unless the government confronts slowing growth. “Let’s stop being in denial, we cannot artificially hold up the currency,” Sanusi, now the Emir of Kano, Nigeria’s second-ranked Muslim leader, said in a speech on Thursday in Lagos broadcast on CNBC Africa.

The biggest problem facing most African leaders is their inability to learn from history. I would have urged our dear President Muhammadu Buhari to watch the soap opera called “The Father and His Son”. This is a true life story of former President Goodluck Jonathan (outside power) and his “father”, Chief E K Clark. The Ijaw chief who was behind most of the actions and inactions of Jonathan when he was in power has suddenly started “exposing” the weaknesses of his “son”. This is the price Jonathan is paying for surrounding himself with mainly sycophants while in power. I won’t bother advising Buhari to monitor the soap opera. He has also similarly surrounded himself with a legion of sycophants. None of them is prepared to tell him to his face that he is dragging this country to the precipice. Those around him are thinking more about their gains; so, they are not prepared to drag him out of his delusion.

Fellow Nigerians, if you did not watch the much-anticipated and long-delayed Ministerial screening of Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, last Thursday, October 22, 2015, at the Senate Chambers of Nigeria’s National Assembly, you definitely missed a high drama. There was no way I would have missed the live broadcast of that historic event. Thanks to technology, my wife and I stayed glued to Channels TV transmitting all the way to us in London.

Honestly, the opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), is in meltdown. The party is in the middle of the most disastrous leadership crisis in living memory. Of course, we all know now that things are no longer the same between Clark, the father and Jonathan, the Son. It is the same for most members of the PDP. Let’s use the right phrase: the party is over.

The democratic experience in Nigeria has definitely been a continuing learning curve, and the more lessons we learn at various active centres: people, platforms and processes, the richer our democracy, the stronger the society evolves to deliver a brighter future for the sovereign. The greatest residue of our democracy in the last 16 years (1999–2015), I think, is the manner in which our community has been enriched by lessons that have practically changed our lives.

The Defence Headquarters has denied hiring mercenaries to prosecute the war against Boko Haram. The DHQ stated on Thursday that Nigeria does not need mercenaries to fight a battle it’s already winning. It had been reported by a foreign news agency that a South Africa-based private contractor; Specialised Tasks, Training, Equipment and Protection (STTEP) is deploying 250 personnel and equipment, including fighter jets in Operation Fire Force, to Nigeria.

Former governor of Ekiti state, Kayode Fayemi, has described bad leadership has the bane of the cause of Nigeria’s many problems. The Minister-Designate said Nigeria would have gone bankrupt, if it was a private a company, owing to the level of mismanagement by the country’s leaders.

Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the President, Femi Adesina, says Nigerians find it difficult to trust the publications of online media, owing to their lack of credibility. Adesina advised online publishers to resist putting out stories that are not fair, credible and balanced.

Senate President Bukola Saraki and his company have done something to, ensure lightening never strikes the same place twice. They have killed that idiom! On Wednesday, 20th October, 2015, Saraki reported at the Code of Conduct Tribunal Abuja in continuation of his trial for false declaration of assets and corrupt enrichment. He gloated and gloried with 80 Nigerian senators that formed his caravan.

Is there any one left among Chief Oliseh Metuh’s friends who can explain to him the true situation of things in Nigeria? I ask because I am beginning to think that the Oliseh Metuh’s of this nation, get really upset that not only are Nigerians now in power, they are also happy with the leadership they chose for themselves.

We have gone down this path too many times. The narrative is always the same; first there is a true agitation, usually shared by the 99% poor across the nation, continent and indeed the world; then a group singles itself out as the one targeted most in the oppression and finally a lunatic picks up the “cause” and declares open terror.

Kaduna State Governor Nasir el-Rufai is in the news again. It is not because he did something particularly uplifting. The governor hit newspaper headlines last weekend because he made an inexcusable outburst that exposed his temperamental nature and demeaned the high office he occupies. It is often said that the true test of maturity is the ability to remain calm in the face of all provocations. El-Rufai failed that basic test last Saturday when he exploded in public at a town hall meeting while answering testing questions about the political appointments he made since his election.

“You look good, Sir”. That was my first comment when I met former President Goodluck Jonathan about three weeks ago and I meant it. Unlike the last time I visited him in July last year at the Villa, he was refreshed and relaxed this time. “Looking good? When your people in the media have almost cut my neck?” he replied, laughing.

Indonesia Ministry of Trade claims it has a bi-lateral trading relationship with Nigeria but wouldn’t let Nigerian made products into Indonesia. (Maltina)

There is this saying from early ages that goes thus, “ if the owner of the farm tarries unnecessarily in identifying a thief, the thief will conveniently label the owner of the farm as the thief”. This would aptly describe Mr. Abati’s and latest, rather disingenuous, attempt at testing the waters of public response to his piece on Mr. Edwin Clarke.

Biafran-flag waving protesters stormed the streets of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, southern Nigeria, over the continuous detention of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the director of the pirate radio, Radio Biafra.

Leader of the Movement for the Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), Chief Ralph Uwazuruike, disclosed that the Director of Radio Biafra and Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, who was arrested on Saturday, by the Department of State Services (DSS), does not belong to the movement.

The screening of Anthony Anwuka, a the ministerial nominee from Imo State on Tuesday suffered some setback as the Senate received 10 petitions against his nomination by President Muhammadu Buhari.

The elections of 2015 have come and gone with President Buhari elected in a keenly contested election with a very divisive campaign filled with invectives, character assassinations and other wiles of the politicians with the foot soldiers willing to do and undo to ensure that their godfathers are enthroned.

On September 11, the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) slammed Senate President Bukola Saraki with a groundless 13-count charge that is allegedly based on false asset declaration dated back to 2003.