BAT 2023

As spokesman to President Goodluck Jonathan, my phones rang endlessly and became more than personal navigators within the social space. They defined my entire life; dusk to dawn, all year-round. The phones buzzed non-stop, my email was permanently active; my twitter account received tons of messages per second.  The worst moments were those days when […]

The United States government helped Boko Haram immensly by refusing to classify them as a terrorist organisation until 2014 and by refusing to sell us arms to fight them. Worst still, they imposed an international arms embargo on us so that we could not buy arms from anyone else in the international community. When asked […]

I am delighted to be here this morning, and I wish to thank the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), the Atlantic Council, the National Democratic Institute (NDI), the International Republican Institute (IRI), and the International Foundation of Electoral Systems (IFES) for providing me with this platform […]

Much has been written about the current crisis rocking the All Progressives Congress (APC), with some people expressing concerns about a possible disintegration of the party. The crisis, as serious as it may appear, is normal and expected – even if the party had lost the presidential election.   The truth is that the APC […]

The legal tussle at the Delta State Election Tribunal is gradually gathering momentum as Chief Thompson Okpoko (SAN) and his legal team tackles three other Senior Advocates of Nigeria led by Alex Iziyon (SAN), employed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Gov. Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State. The game plan of the Okowa legal […]

A scathing assessment of the CBN’s strategy for managing the increasing pressure on the Naira exchange rate was recently published by “The Economist,” a UK based internationally respectable magazine.‘The Economist’ report titled “Nigeria’s Currency: ToothPick Alert” has clearly drawn the ire of the management of the Central Bank of Nigeria. Even if, CBN chose to […]

In Bukola Saraki, Nigeria finally found its most defining politician who learnt from his father how to survive the political minefield, and who surpassed the father in the deployment of a more ruthless streak that shuns all emotional strings for as long as there was an objective to attain. And with Bukola Saraki, the object […]

Nigerians are keenly aware of the fact that 2015 is a critical year for our politics. The usual muted complaints have turned into bitter criticisms of All Progressives Congress’ missteps and its leaders who are seen as the engine behind the crises in the National Assembly’s power tussle for the Senate Presidency and the House […]

Exactly a month ago, President Muhammadu Buhari took over the reins of power. It is still early days yet, just one month out of 48, a mere two per cent of a four-year term.  Ordinarily, it is too early for even a tentative appraisal. But these are no ordinary times. Nigeria is in a very […]

Following some recent developments around my person and the avalanche of misinformation and deliberate lies being peddled about me, I am constrained to issue this statement, first to douse anxiety of every well-meaning fellow who has shown concern and second, to alert members of the Nigerian public to a clear danger to my life.   […]

President Muhammadu Buhari would not intervene in the leadership crisis currently rocking the National Assembly until he is requested to do so by the All Progressives Congress (APC) state governors, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, has said. Shehu gave the revelation on Thursday while talking with TV […]

President Muhammadu Buhari is dangerously close to leaving Nigerians disillusioned. Forget about his failure (as at this writing) to announce his cabinet, bad as it is. For me, the deeper disappointment lies in the near-absence of the president’s voice from the national conversation. Let’s begin, however, with the least important element of Mr. Buhari’s so […]