Point One

Officially, political gladiators are back on the hustings. Not that they ever left, but now they have legal imprimatur to openly electioneer. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) approved open campaigning towards the forthcoming national elections to kick off from last Wednesday, 19th August, and campaigning for the state elections to commence on 09th September. By the commission’s timetable, the presidential and national legislature elections are scheduled for 16th January, 2027, while the governorship and state legislature polls will hold on 6th February, 2027. Electoral law provides that campaigning by political parties should commence 150 days before election day and terminate 24 hours to the poll. Political parties and candidates flagged off the season with the signing of a peace agreement in Abuja on Tuesday, 08th August. Anchored by the National Peace Committee, the contenders by the accord committed to peaceful and issue-based campaigning, and pledged to shun vi...

Five months after it launched its war against Iran, the United States isn’t anywhere near subduing the Persian state. Worse, Iran is fully emboldened to assert sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz as had effectively blocked the waterway from international shipping. Before the war, Hormuz was where a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas supplies transited and was recognised as an international route open to free global traffic. Now, Iran is seeking to toll the strait and has been attacking any vessel passing through without its clearance. And the US hasn’t been able to do much to remedy things.  Washington and Tehran traded claims at the weekend on the status of Hormuz and its availability to international shipping. President Donald Trump plied his repeated narrative that the US had full control of the waterway. In a Truth Social post, he said “the U.S.A. has total control over the Strait of Hormuz. I THINK WE WILL KEEP IT!” His comment reinforced his earlier assertio...

South African Grammy-winning artiste, Tyla, will no longer hold a concert in Nigeria during her upcoming world tour. She has pulled Lagos from the list of 34 cities she earlier announced for a musical globetrot scheduled for later this year to promote her new album, A*POP. Although there was no reason cited for updating the list, the 24-year-old had faced a clamour to perish the thought of having a show in Nigeria over anti-immigrant aggression in her country. She had scheduled to make a stop in Lagos on 22nd December as part of the world tour. Just before the singer adjusted her itinerary, an online petition titled “Ban Tyla from entering Nigeria until xenophobic attacks stop in South Africa” made the rounds and garnered thousands of signatures. After she unveiled her initial tour plan on social media, Nigerians raised a campaign to forbid her from coming for a performance here because she failed to speak out against xenophobic violence back home. Tyla isn’t the only South African cel...