Author: Chidi Amuta
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Metaphor of the Leaning Tower – By Chidi Amuta
The cry is getting louder that the Nigerian state is about to fail. In the attractive parlance of some foreign reporter, the pessimists insist that the Nigerian house is about to fall. Not quite, I say. The note of perennial pessimism is merely a way of speaking, a cross generational refrain. It is not new.…
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Enemy at the Door – By Chidi Amuta
On the matter of ensuring national security by all means necessary, I accept being called a hawk. But on the concomitant cautious fear that bad things could happen to the nation if our defenses are lax, I will accept the title of coward. In short, a nation is entitled to deploy maximum force to ensure…
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Rent Me a Bishop – By Chidi Amuta
Both the social media and many legacy media outlets were united in their report and verdict on a significant recent event. Majority of the untidy assemblage of ‘clergy’ that thronged Aso Rock Villa to grace the unveiling of Mr. Kassim Shettima as Mr. Bola Tinubu’s presidential running mate for 2023 were fake. Interestingly, the public…
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Tinubu and the burden of faith – By Chidi Amuta
The All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Mr. Bola Tinubu, has merely announced a longstanding intention. His naming of former Borno governor, Mr. Kashim Shettima, as his running mate confirms what is perhaps a long conceived preference for a Muslim-Muslim ticket for his 2023 race. That preference is neither so original nor earth shaking. On…
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Will There Still Be Life Before 2023? – By Chidi Amuta
The period between now and May 2023 is Nigeria’s season of expectations and grave anxiety. Nigerians are expectant that the forthcoming general election will enable them as an electorate to renew our national leadership through the ritual of voting. On the other hand, the perilous state of the state has raised the level of anxiety…
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Did Buhari Really See Rwanda’s Genocide Memorials? – Chidi Amuta
No one sees Kigali and remains the same. In many ways, Rwanda embodies Africa’s real triple heritage: the curse of colonial injustice, the tragedy of African misrule and the possibility of redemption and real African renaissance. The capital, Kigali, is at once a place of past regrets, a theatre of recent blood- letting and indeed…
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Time to License the Vote Trade – By Chidi Amuta
The recent presidential nomination primaries of the two big parties and the just concluded Ekiti state governorship elections are united by a paradox. In both, Nigerian democracy recorded some dubious progress. An orderly and fairly credible electoral processes seems to have finally evolved. Correspondingly, however, the monetization of the electoral process hit the highest peak…
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Not Quite the Coronation – By Chidi Amuta
The aftermath of the APC presidential nomination convention is a landscape of political ruin. In the rubble lies the treasures and broken remnants of nearly everything both right and wrong with today’s politics in Nigeria. In the long hours of accreditation, patient waiting and painstaking balloting, we witnessed a growing culture of democratic forbearance among…
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Atiku’s dance, Buhari’s song – By Chidi Amuta
Shortly before the outcome of the recent PDP primaries, a video clip of Atiku Abubakar dancing in casual outfit hit the social media. It did not seem like a recent video. But it gathered traction and went even more viral once Mr. Atiku was proclaimed the presidential candidate of the opposition party. In the dance…
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Long Week of Power Bazaars – By Chidi Amuta
In a little over another week, a great deal of the political cacophony all over the country will have abated. The period will end with gatherings of Nigeria’s political tribes in Abuja. Their major achievement will be to lower the deafening decibels of our current political noise pollution. From then on, there will be no…