By Uzor Maxim Uzoatu

The sonorous songstress Onyeka Onwenu has just pased, but my duty here is to add the human angle to the legend of the goddess.

By Bola Bolawole

Those threatening to stage nationwide protests are badly heating up the polity. The government that is fretting about it is also helping to make a bad situation worse. Everyone, therefore, is in a panic mode. Many will die before they see what is going to kill them, forgetful of the admonition of Julius Caesar when he said: “Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never tastes of death but once. Of all the wonders that I have yet heard, it seems to me most strange that men should fear; seeing that death, a necessary end, will come when it will come”.

By Ikeddy Isiguzo

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has shot himself so badly with his bold mis-steps on the planned protests. He cannot ask people not to protest. He should stop threatening them as he has been doing in the past few days. His approach is poor politics completely incompatible with the world-acclaimed political sagacity of the President.

By Bolanle Bolawole.

When two elephants fight, the grass, they say, suffers. But when cabals fight, and fight dirty like the NNPC and Aliko Dangote are doing, what happens? Dogs eat dogs and chickens gnaw at each other’s intestines. Can of worms explode in the open and cupboards full of skeletons, hitherto securely locked, are forced open. For instance, Dangote alleged that his refinery was being sabotaged by oil cabals bent on the continued importation of refined petroleum products. NNPC countered that the said refinery was not yet completed and certified and that its products were inferior to imported stuff. Dangote has fired back with his Malta oil-blending allegation to support his claim that well-heeled personalities want to continue to make a killing with fuel importation at the expense of hapless Nigerians. Understandably, the stakes are high. A single write-up cannot perfectly put all the pieces together. Call it a maze, labyrinth or jig-saw puzzle and you will be right. So, here today, we take a look at some of the information available and allow our readers a better understanding of the issues at stake.

• * He Shouldn’t Give Up

By C. Don Adinuba

No patriotic Nigerian should be delighted at the grave challenges facing the 650 barrels per day Dangote Refinery in Lagos. The challenges make efficient operations very difficult. Though Nigeria is a major oil exporter, the refinery commissioned early last year is now compelled to import crude from Brazil. The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority ( NMDPRA) has accused it of producing substandard automative gas oil (AGO), and, worse, of having no licence for operation.

By Bola Bolawole

In “Finding long-lasting solutions to Nigeria’s woes”published on 11 June, 2024, I commented on a post sent to me by a comrade and classmate at “Great Ife”, Wale Olajire Ajao, titled “The role of the public space in a democracy” In it, I disagreed with Wale that critics do not necessarily have to offer suggestions; the role of defending the government, he said, rests squarely on the shoulders of the public relations managers of the government. Today, I am honouring my pledge to publish Wale’s treatise in full (with little editing because of space constraints) and to further explain why I disagree with some of his views. Read on: