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By Is'haq Modibbo Kawu “Hi Di Hi nga atstohuwar transhomar Nehwa dai ta kai. In tai tirihin sai a mayassuwa, in tassake kuma a zaka mayassuwa har ta gaji tai bindings baaammmmm!” (Roughly translated from a mischievous presentation of Sokoto Hausa dialect: “THIS PDP IS LIKE AN OLD NEPA TRANSFORMER. IT WILL TRIP AND SOMEONE WILL GO FIX IT UP, IF IT TRIPS AGAIN SOMEONE WILL GO BACK AND FIX IT UP UNTIL IT GETS TIRED AND IMPLODES BAAAMMMMM!”   Taken from a friend’s contribution to an online forum. THIS is the time that Nigerian politics could have done with the flowery language of the late Dr. Kingsley Ozumba Mbadiwe, one of the most colourful characters to walk the minefield of Nigerian politics. If we attempt a post-humous reading of his fertile imagination, the earth-shaking event of last weekend, with the walk out of seven governors, and former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, from the PDP convention in Abuja, would certainly have elicited an absolutely quotable line for posterity! O...

By Is'haq Modibbo Kawu “People are saying that the PDP is dead or about to die a concerned person like me will remain in the party till it dies and give it a befitting burial. If PDP will die, let it die in our hands so we will give it a befitting burial and mourn her.” – Adamawa State Governor, Murtala Nyako . THE late Chief Mobolaji Bank-Anthony must be turning in his grave! It was on Igbosere Road in Lagos, if I recall properly, that he established his undertaking business in old Lagos. It was appropriately named “THE SYMPATHETIC UNDERTAKERS”. I don’t know if the business is still thriving, because far more aggressive undertakers entered the morbid business, reflective of the arrival of vulgar money and its vulgar display in Nigeria, including the preparation of the dead for the final rites! We can lament the passing of Sir Bank-Anthony’s more dignified business approach, but recent rumblings in Nigerian politics come with noise, blood and tears. Cloak-and-dagger is at the hea...

By Is'haq Modibbo Kawu “The PDP appears to have added public brawling to its list of accomplishments. The self-proclaimed largest party in Africa has turned into a fight club that employs the police as ushers for its matches...When the interest of the nation is subjugated so that the narrow, parochial interest of a clique in power is served events like we see unfold in Rivers will soon become common place. As a new breed of imperial rulers run amok and with impunity violate Nigeria’s constitution, the days ahead seem gloomy and uncertain” - Bola Tinubu writing on the events in Rivers State. F RANKLY, it is not often that I agree with Bola Tinubu, ACN opposition figure and former governor of Lagos state. But he has been spot on this week, in his well-publicised analysis of events unfolding at a dizzying pace in Rivers state. [caption id="attachment_403670" align="alignnone" width="412"] Mbu-Amaechi[/caption] As a matter of fact, the title of today’s p...

By Is'haq Modibbo Kawu THIS week the Kwara State House of Assembly held a public sitting on a proposal to re-name the four-year old Kwara State University, after late Dr. Abubakar Olusola Saraki, the politician that bestrode the state's political terrain like a colossus for over three decades. [caption id="attachment_330873" align="alignnone" width="412"] *Chief Sola Saraki condolence register.[/caption] By the end, Saraki (father) literally willed the state, almost like a feudal fief, to son Bukola, former governor and now senator representing Kwara Central. The decision to re-name the university was proposed by the governing Council, headed by Muhammed Sha'aba Lafiagi, former governor and Senator, and long-term Saraki acolyte. But in that matter, Bukola had cast a long shadow, because he has perfected the use of sidekicks to introduce laws meant to satisfy his personal preferences.  He did that when he rammed through the supine Kwara House o...

By Is'haq Modibbo Kawu A FEW weeks ago, I sent a text to General SarkinYaki Bello, the Coordinator of Counter-Terrorism in the office of the National Security Adviser. I received a response that he was away on an official assignment. I have been unable to speak with him. I made the effort to get clarifications on some of the issues arising from the insurgency/counter-insurgency in the North and the general patterns of insecurity nationwide. I acknowledge that security forces operate in a very difficult setting, trying to contain the insurgency in the North. Significantly, there was generalized support when President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency. The media took a very patriotic attitude in support of the heavy deployment of troops despite the inconveniences facing people in the theatres operations. A cursory content analysis of reportage of military activities from Borno and Yobe, saw an underlining jingoism by the Nigerian media. Newspapers report almost word-for...