Tuesday, May 21st, 2013
Ikechukwu Amaechi,08055069065, ikechukwuamaechi@yahoo.com, Twitter@ikechukwuamach It will not be an overstatement to say that Nigeria is in a state of war. Granted, there are some Nigerians who are deluded to think that since only the Northern part of the country is boiling, then it will be wrong to...
Tuesday, May 7th, 2013
Ikechukwu Amaechi,08055069065, ikechukwuamaechi@yahoo.com, Twitter@ikechukwuamach My first reaction was shock. Then disbelief! Pini Jason dead? No, that is impossible. It simply cannot be true. I had just received a text massage from Ikeddy Isiguzo, chairman, editorial board of the Vanguard Newspaper. That was on Saturday at precisely 3:...
Tuesday, April 30th, 2013
Ikechukwu Amaechi, 08055069065, ikechukwuamaechi@yahoo.com, Twitter@ikechukwuamach The biggest paradox of the Nigerian State is the fact that the more things seem to change, the more they remain the same or even worse. Differently put, the more our leaders promise us change, the higher the likelihood that their actions and...
Tuesday, April 16th, 2013
My article last week, Amnesty as reward for criminality, elicited a deluge of reactions. While many agreed that granting amnesty to a terror group such as Boko Haram is a gamble the government can ill-afford, some disagreed with my submission that there is little or...
Tuesday, April 9th, 2013
By Ikechukwu Amaechi President Goodluck Jonathan must be in a very big dilemma right now. The source of his worry is the amnesty being contemplated for the terrorist Islamic sect, Bokom Haram, whose only philosophy is that “Western education is sin.” Like a man caught...
Tuesday, March 26th, 2013
By Ikechukwu Amaechi When news filtered into the newsroom on Friday that the “globally acknowledged Iroko in the literary forest,” (apologies to Chief Emeka Anyaoku, former Secretary General of the Commonwealth of Nations), had fallen, I couldn’t help but reminiscence. Of course, the fallen Iroko,...
Tuesday, March 19th, 2013
Lately, Akwa Ibom State Governor, Godswill Akpabio, has been in the news, and I dare say, for the very wrong reasons. If he is not busy throwing money about, he is championing the schism in the Nigerian Governors Forum, and making so much noise about...
Tuesday, March 12th, 2013
Ikechukwu Amaechi,08055069065,ikechukwuamaechi@yahoo.com A friend of mine, as a New Year gift, thoughtfully gave me a book, “No Higher Honour,” Condoleezza Rice’s memoir of her years in Washington as National Security Adviser (NSA) and Secretary of State in the eight years George W. Bush held sway...
Tuesday, February 26th, 2013
You don’t need to be a Nostradamus, the mythical figure with extraordinary power of clairvoyance, to predict political events in Nigeria because the more things seem to change, the more they remain the same. In my article on January 8, titled, “Will Nigerians be better...
Tuesday, February 19th, 2013
Ikechukwu Amaechi, 08055069065, ikechukwuamaechi@yahoo.com In Igbo language, “Ishi Agu” means the head of a lion. It is a big deal. At 52, Anyim Pius Anyim, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and former President of the Senate, the country’s third most powerful position, has seen...
Tuesday, February 12th, 2013
IkechukwuAmaechi,08055069065,ikechukwuamaechi@yahoo.com Time was when one could confidently say that certain things were impossible in the country. Not anymore! In today’s Nigeria, nothing is weird. In fact, the weirder the events, they more seemly and fitting they look in our unbecoming circumstance. Or how else can...
Tuesday, February 5th, 2013
Ikechukwu Amaechi, 08055069065, ikechukwuamaechi@yahoo.com, Twitter@ikechukwuamach After reading excerpt from former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nasir el-Rufai’s memoirs, The Accidental Public Servant, I couldn’t help but remember the encounter I had with him in his Abuja home sometime in 2007. I had told that story in this...
Tuesday, January 22nd, 2013
Ikechukwu Amaechi, 08055069065, ikechukwuamaechi@yahoo.com Niger Delta Affairs Minister, Godsday Orubebe, is an interesting character. An “Elder” in the church, who, I was told, loves the pulpit, the minister also loves throwing tantrums. He is combative and seems to relish dogfights. Ordinarily, he should be the busiest minister...
Tuesday, January 15th, 2013
Ikechukwu Amaechi,08055069065, ikechukwuamaechi@yahoo.com Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the behemoth national oil company, is prone to scandals. And that is understandable. Oil is Nigeria’s biggest business. It accounts for over 80 percent of the country’s earnings. Above all, it is the major source of the...
Tuesday, January 8th, 2013
Ikechukwu Amaechi , 08055069065, ikechukwuamaechi@yahoo.com The question that has concentrated my mind since the New Year is whether Year 2013 will be better than the preceding one for Nigerians. Put differently, will Nigerians be better off in 2013 than they were in 2012? The question does not...
