When Local Studio Swagger Meets the Global Arena – Last night’s Head-to-Head episode featuring Daniel Bwala and Mehdi Hasan was supposed to be a debate. Instead, it increasingly looked like a series of headbutts. What unfolded was a classic case of a local television performer suddenly finding himself on the Champions League pitch of global journalism. 00:02 – The early confidence (In the military, we call it “Initial Gra Gra”)In the opening minutes, Bwala tried to deploy the familiar talking points that usually work on domestic television panels on Channels Television and Arise TV News. But Mehdi Hasan’s style is…
Author: Editor
Wisdom is knowing where to go and where not to go. My beloved father of blessed memory often reminded us that “common sense is not so common.” I do not belong to the army of citizens gloating over the disastrous international outing of a government official. Even when the individual in question appears to embody many of the debilitating traits that have come to define the unprincipled character of our politics, public humiliation of a national representative should never be a source of celebration. My reaction is different. I feel only sadness. Because once again we have been reminded of…
Guinea’s government has dissolved 40 political parties, including the country’s three main opposition groups, in a late-night decree issued less than two months after President Mamady Doumbouya was sworn into office. The order, announced on Friday by the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation, cited the parties’ “failure to fulfil their obligations” under the country’s political regulations. The decree also stripped the affected parties of their legal status and placed their assets under state supervision. Among the parties dissolved are the Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea (UFDG), led by Cellou Dalein Diallo; the Rally of the People of Guinea…
Efforts to protect children from polio are gaining fresh momentum in Sokoto State as health authorities and development partners intensify preparations for the March 2026 immunization campaign. The he Sokoto State government in collaboration with United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), organized a Direct Observation of Polio Vaccination (DOPV) exercise across eight metropolitan local government areas. The initiative, conducted from March 5 to 6, forms part of pre-campaign activities designed to strengthen supervision, ensure adherence to vaccination protocols, and enhance the quality of service delivery ahead of the statewide immunization round. One of the outreach activities took place in Makera Assada,…
Let me start with a caveat – not all Nigerian politicians are criminals. Some are indeed decent human beings keen to serve their communities and constituencies. Such politicians are however a minority. For the most part, Nigerian politicians are deeply embedded in criminal culture and have no commitment to the people nor a sense of the pursuit of the public good. There are numerous signifiers that point to the criminal nature of our country’s political class. The most recent can be seen in elements of the recently signed Electoral Act 2026 signed by President Bola Tinubu. The new law provides that forged certificates are no longer grounds for election…
An Iranian-launched ballistic missile struck the Al-Udeid Air Base, the largest United States military installation in the Middle East, the Qatari Ministry of Defence confirmed on Tuesday. Qatari defence officials said two missiles were fired from Iranian territory toward Qatar. One was successfully intercepted by air defence systems, while the other impacted the base southwest of Doha. There were no casualties reported in the incident, and authorities have not disclosed whether any structural damage occurred. Al-Udeid serves as a critical hub for U.S. and coalition operations in the region, hosting around 10,000 military and support personnel and acting as the…
Israel allegedly infiltrated Iran’s traffic camera network over several years to monitor the movements of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and other top officials ahead of his assassination. This was disclosed in a report by the Financial Times, which cited Israeli intelligence sources. According to the newspaper, nearly all traffic cameras across Tehran were compromised, with footage encrypted and transmitted to servers in Tel Aviv and southern Israel. The operation reportedly formed part of a wider intelligence architecture combining cyber intrusions, human assets and advanced data analytics. One serving Israeli intelligence official was quoted as saying the depth of…
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has ordered all electricity distribution companies (DisCos) to refund a cumulative ₦20.33 billion to consumers who paid for meters under the Meter Asset Provider (MAP) framework, in a major regulatory intervention aimed at speeding up long-overdue reimbursements. Signed on February 27, 2026 as Order No. NERC/2026/025, the directive amends a previous 2023 order and mandates that DisCos fully recover and disburse the outstanding refunds over a 12-month period starting March 1, 2026. Under the MAP scheme, customers who pay upfront for electricity meters are meant to receive refunds from DisCos through energy credits over…
On Tuesday, 10th February, 2026, as I stepped out of my official car at the university clinic, the crowd’s solemn eyes were fixed on me, rife with unspoken questions. Why did the cold hand of death snatch away Muhammad Hassan Sale, a Lecturer II, a gentleman, and a promising, hard-working academic in the Agronomy Department? What will become of his nursing wife and their two little children? Just two hours earlier, Sale and his wife had left their home together; she was hurrying to the hospital for postnatal immunization, while he rushed to catch a university bus headed over 60…
Iranian drones struck the United States Embassy in Riyadh on Tuesday, widening the regional fallout from the escalating conflict between Iran, the United States and Israel. The attack came four days after coordinated US and Israeli strikes reportedly killed Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, triggering open hostilities across the Middle East. AFP correspondents in the Saudi capital reported visible smoke damage to sections of the embassy building. Saudi security forces cordoned off the diplomatic quarter, mounted heavy patrols and blocked several roads leading to the US mission. Saudi authorities said air defences intercepted eight drones over two cities, including Riyadh.…