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Scandal, royalty and justice

United Kingdom’s royal family got roiled in a scandal lately and it opened up for justice to take its course. The younger brother of King Charles and reportedly the favourite son of the late Queen Elizabeth, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, got arrested and “released under investigation” by the British police in connection with his ties to American sex offender, the late Jeffrey Epstein. His royal blood did not count to keep him out of the reach of justice, making him the first member of the British royal family to be taken into police custody in modern times. Association with Epstein became a taboo, having been accused of building a network of hundreds of girls and young women for sexual exploitation. Many of the victims were made to travel around with him and stay at his private island in the Caribbean. Epstein was initially sentenced to 18-month imprisonment in 2008 after pleading guilty to state charges – one count of soliciting prostitution and one count of soliciting prostitution from...
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Sachet alcohol lobby

Lobbyists seeking to overturn the ban by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) on alcohol in sachets and pet bottles less than 200ml are connecting deep within government machinery. They lately got the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) to issue a restraining order on NAFDAC that seemed like the handiwork of a fifth column. NAFDAC began implementing the ban on production and sale of alcohol packaged in sachets and polyethene terephthalate (pet) bottles less than 200ml on January 21, this year, after a five-year grace period allowed producers to phase out the containers. But distillers, food and beverages sector workers and umbrella labour unions as well as civil society allies have plied pressure against the policy, arguing that the decision would cripple  investments and result in job losses. They urged NAFDAC to reconsider the ban in the interest of the economy and local investors. NAFDAC, however, insisted on sta...
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Remembering Murtala Muhammed

Remembering Murtala Muhammed It was exactly 50 years ago last Friday that former Head of State, General Murtala Ramat Muhammed, got slain in a botched coup. Murtala came to power on 29th July, 1975, following the ouster of General Yakubu Gowon in a bloodless coup while attending the 12th summit of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in Kampala, Uganda. He was assassinated 13th February, 1976, in a bloody coup attempt led by Lieutenant-Col. Bukar Suka Dimka, just 200 days into his nascent regime. His personality and leadership style were compelling reference points in Nigeria’s nationhood trajectory, and the 50th anniversary of his killing marked a significant milestone for recollection of the things he stood for. Murtala got killed, aged 37, as one of the easiest targets of his ilk that assassins could hope to take on. He was a reputed man of war, but was shorn of all paraphernalia of war when agents of death sprang an ambush on him in a most cowardly fashion. On the fateful day as...
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Hospitals as slaughter slabs

Reported deaths from medical procedures in recent times freshly raised concerns about the quality of healthcare delivery in Nigerian hospitals. Bitter experiences that people had ranged from wrong diagnoses of ailments and errors in surgical processes to delayed treatment even in emergencies and poor post-surgical care, resulting in loss of loved ones who entered hospitals seeking help and never returned home. Allegations are rife that many of the patients might have made it, but they were speeded onto their death by indiscretions or utter negligence of medical personnel in healthcare facilities who, for most part, deny responsibility. Early last week, there was the report of a school headmistress in Ibadan who died because hospitals in the Oyo State capital declined response to her emergency situation. Relations said the headmistress of the Nigerian Army Officers’ Wives Association (NAOWA) Model Nursery and Primary School, Letmuck Barracks in Mokola, Mrs. Ajayi Omowunmi Fajuyigbe, gav...
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Junta makeover in Guinea

 A couple of weeks ago in Guinea, Mamady Doumbouya, a general who led a 2021 military takeover in the West African country, got sworn in as civilian president. He thereby transitioned from being a military usurper in power to becoming a popularly  elected ruler of his people. Doumbouya, 41, took office for a presidential term that was only recently elongated to seven years, from a previous timeline of five years. Under new alterations to Guinea’s constitution, the term is renewable once. The presidential inauguration took place in front of tens of thousands of supporters and several heads of state, Doumbouya having been declared winner of a poll that held 28th December, 2025, in his country. Presidents from Rwanda, The Gambia, Senegal and some other African countries as well as pricipals of the African Union and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission were in attendance. Nigeria’s Vice President Kashim Shettima represented President Bola Ahmed Tinubu ...
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Venezuela: It’s the oil, stupid!

United States President Donald Trump has for long fantasised about annexing northern neighbour, Canada, as his country’s 51st state. Now, he’s struck a better deal in the larger hemisphere with Venezuela. The Latino nation with vast oil reserves, estimated to be the world’s largest, is a conquered colony and its natural wealth is pledged to America’s pleasure. It is effectively the rule of might in a world presumed to run on international law espousing respect for mutual sovereignty. President Trump tore up the global rulebook with his country’s attack recently on Venezuela and the capture of its strongman, Nicolás Maduro, along with his wife, Cilia Flores, and their extradition to the US for trial. Maduro is accused by Trump of running “state sponsored gangs” and facilitating drug trafficking from his country into the US. The 63-year-old was early last week arraigned before a Manhattan judge on charges including “narco-terrorism” conspiracy, cocaine importation and weapons trafficking...
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Disorderly rites of orderlies’ recall

Nigeria is blighted by the ‘big man’ syndrome that modulates everyday conduct of our national affairs. Hence, the 23rd November order by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu that police orderlies be recalled from Very Important Persons (VIPs) and reassigned to core policing functions have met with all manners of pushbacks against which the President seems to be holding his ground. The question is: will he hold firm against the pushbacks? Senate President Godswill Akpabio recently mouthpieced the objection by members of the National Assembly (NASS) to the presidential directive. At a joint sitting of the Senate and the House of Representatives for presentation of the 2026 national budget by President Tinubu on Friday, 19th November, he said lawmakers were worried that the withdrawal of their police orderlies put them at risk, such that many were hesitant to visit their respective constituency community for the Yuletide out of fear for personal safety. According to him, such concerns compelled th...
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