LAGOS MARCH 1ST (NEWSRANGERS)-Chioma Agwuegbo was one of tens of thousands of young Nigerians who took to the streets in October 2020 to demand an end to police brutality in Nigeria. The mass movement, which became known as #EndSARS, called for the disbanding of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad after a video of a man getting…
By Godman Akinlabi LAGOS FEBRUARY 24TH (NEWSRANGERS)-In a matter of hours, Nigerians will head to the polls in what seems like the most polarising election the country has ever had. Ethnic and religious fault lines have come to the fore again, threatening to snap the thin thread that holds Nigeria together delicately. In a frantic…
LAGOS FEBRUARY 23RD (NEWSRANGERS)-In Nigeria last year, 20 million children did not go to school, the currency hit an all-time low, half of adults were under or unemployed, oil production — the lifeblood of the economy — fell to a 40-year low, and gangs of heavily armed bandits had free reign over large swathes of…
By ANTHONY ECHI Dear Nigerians, this election is not about Tinubu or Atiku or Obi. It is not about a Yoruba, Fulani or Igbo candidate. It is not about Easterners or Westerners or Northerners. No sir. It is about you and I. It is about the urgent need to fix systemic dysfunction brought about by…
By Biodun Omojola LAGOS FEBRUARY 22ND (NEWSRANGERS)-Not since the 1993 election, and, to a lesser degree, the 1999 election, have Nigerians and, indeed, the world been so fixated on any Nigerian election. Back in 1993, the major problem facing Africa’s biggest economy was how to get the military out of governance after having ruled for…
LAGOS FEBRUARY 18TH (NEWSRANGERS)-When Muhammadu Buhari was first elected Nigeria’s president eight years ago, it was on the promise that he would help put an end to the Boko Haram insurgency which has forced millions of people from their homes in the north-east and cost thousands of lives. Eight years on, the region appears safer,…
By Femi Adeoti LAGOS FEBRUARY 16TH (NEWSRANGERS)-He is in the forefront. He is leading the odd, ugly pack for the wrong reason. Enfant terrible Nasir El-Rufai is it! He holds sway in the heavily terrorist-infested Kaduna State. That’s not his immediate concern. All the same, he was a delight to watch last week. He dominated…
By Anthony Echi LAGOS FEBRUARY 7TH (NEWSRANGERS)- They say the apple does not fall too far from the tree. While that aphorism may be as trite as they come it contains a large and discomfiting grain of truth. When the APC presidential flag-bearer Bola Ahmed Tinubu announced that he was throwing his hat into the…