okey ndibe

Before the 2015 presidential election, Candidate Muhammadu Buhari essentially advertised himself as a magician. Even though oil prices were tumbling, Mr. Buhari promised to pay N5000 a month to unemployed…

I was disturbed by a report in last Sunday’s edition of The Punch newspaper. It read, “Buhari orders military to crush new Niger Delta militant group”. It’s meet to quote…

Last week, alleged herdsmen armed with rapid-fire guns and machetes descended on the Ukpabi Nimbo community in Enugu State, killing and maiming scores of victims. Images of heaped corpses, including…

If you happen to know any Nigerian armed robber, pickpocket, small-time con artist, low-level 419-er or participant in medium-grade crime, do invite them to read this important piece, a novel…

Last Wednesday, I got a phone call from a reporter at one of Italy’s major newspapers, la Repubblica. It was the second anniversary of the abduction of more than 200…

…I would not have traveled to China. Not at this time, no. In fact, I would tell my Chinese hosts today that I must abbreviate my weeklong visit and return…

Nigeria’s political discourse is stuck, rather tragically, in a familiar binary pattern. On one side, there are the bashers of President Muhammadu Buhari; on the other, those who feel duty…

Last Saturday, voters in Nigeria’s oil-rich Rivers State cast their votes in a rerun election to choose lawmakers at the state and national assemblies. At stake: three seats in the…

During his recent visit to Qatar, President Muhammadu Buhari sat for an interview with Martine Dennis of Al Jazeera. Last weekend, close to two weeks after the trip, I finally…

I received a plaintive note last week from a young man who seemed rather shocked that I had not written about Nigeria’s scandal of the moment—the harrowing story of a…

In 1992, Bill Clinton, then the Democratic Party candidate for the US presidency, popularized the phrase, “It’s the economy, stupid.” A year earlier, then incumbent President George H. Bush—who was…

Two recent conversations reminded me of the extent to which the lives of “ordinary” Nigerians—that is to say, most Nigerians—have been gravely debased. Let’s start with the more recent. Last…

Tumbling crude oil prices—with some analysts expecting the price per barrel to hover for some time around $30—is the gravest handicap Nigerians have faced in a while. It is also,…

At the end of last week, Nigeria’s Supreme Court gave a judgment that many newspapers and online groups interpreted rather decisively and excitedly. Headlines declared that the court had dismissed…

Nigerian presidents are notorious for self-aggrandizement. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo termed himself founder of modern Nigeria. And yet he presided over one of the most imperial eras in his country’s…

Nigerians are in the midst of a familiar feeding frenzy. On the menu this time, former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki. Prosecutors allege that Mr. Dasuki, a retired colonel of…