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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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Freedom, finally

 Burkinabe authorities, mid-last week, let go 11 Nigerian soldiers they had taken into custody for alleged violation of that country’s airspace. The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) C-130 transport aircraft that was impounded along with the military personnel was also released. Freedom came for the soldiers and aircraft following high-level diplomatic engagement by the Nigerian government with Ouagadougou. Foreign Affairs Minister Yusuf Tuggar, on Wednesday, met with Burkina Faso junta leader, Captain Ibrahim Traoré, in the country’s capital. Tuggar, who led a Nigerian delegation, said at a parley with pressmen that the visit was at the instance of President Bola Tinubu. It was on the heels of the Ouagadougou meeting that the freedom deal was announced. Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Kimiebi Ebienfa, confirmed on Wednesday night that the aircraft and personnel had been released. The C-130 NAF aircraft carrying nine passengers and two crew members got impounded on 8th December fo...
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Coup by orchestration?

Military coups, in countries where stuff happens, ordinarily are vicious power grabs by armed usurpers to displace sitting governments. These, of course, don’t belong with civilised people. They are a function of political underdevelopment and peculiar to backwater regions of the world. Even in Africa, categorised in the Third World, there is a region notorious for volatility and designated the coup belt. Office holders against whom coups are staged get typically shortchanged and could be in mortal danger, depending on the ruthlessness of those staging the coup against them. There, however, seems to be some novelty to coup making in Guinea-Bissau – a notoriously unstable country in West Africa that has experienced four coups since independence from Portugal in 1974, besides multiple attempted coups. Sandwiched between Guinea and Senegal, it is one of the world’s poorest and most fragile countries with a population of approximately 1.9million. Its poll results are often contested, and t...
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