Reporting News and opinions
The flight from London had arrived. I was waiting for the Chief Judge of Kwara state. An elderly man wheezed past me imperiously like he owned Ottawa Airport. Like he personally appointed the Mayor of Ottawa. The unmistakable trade mark of the Nigerian. I was going to hail him and ask if he was my guest.
The performance requires a villain. Africa has been performing that role for free, and at some cost to itself for considerably longer than it should have.
In that sense, Tinubu may be regarded as the most “Nigerian” of Nigerian presidents—not necessarily as a compliment, but because he appears to encapsulate many of the contradictions, ambiguities and controversies that have long defined Nigerian politics.
There is an old saying in Nigerian governance that has practically become an article of faith: "We don’t have a money problem; we have a spending problem."
The First Lady’s remarks therefore landed less like moral guidance and more like a billionaire nutritionist advising a famine victim to eat sensibly.
Centre for Nigeria Progress 