Dr. Obadiah Mailafia

Dr. Obadiah and Mrs. Margeret Mailafia at the 70th birthday of Prof. Timothy Gyuse and wife Prof. Mrs. Elizabeth Gyuse, in Abuja, on Saturday 29th December, 2018.

Dr. Obadiah and Mrs. Margeret Mailafia at the wedding of nephew John Arinda and his beautiful bride Daniella at Life-Camp, Abuja on Saturday 29th December, 2018. Dr. Obadiah and Mrs. Margeret Mailafia having a swell time at the weeding of nephew, John Arinda, in company of brother Dr. Luka Mailafia and baby sister Hajara in Abuja on Saturday 29th December, 2019.

Former President, Turakin Sokoto Shehu Shagari, passed away on Friday 28 December at the National Hospital, Abuja, after a brief illness. He was buried next day Saturday according Muslim rites. Eulogies have poured in from far and wide. Former president Olusegun Obasanjo, who handed over to him the mantle of leadership in 1979, describes the late president as “a unifying force for the nation" who died at time when his wisdom and experience were in dire need "to tackle the multifaceted challenges facing the nation”. On his part, retired military president Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida described Shagari as a “dependable bridge builder”, lamenting that, “Nigeria and indeed Africa, has lost a statesman and democrat whose wisdom, counsel, presence and experience and his sterling qualities of honesty and transparency are needed in these trying moments of our national life”. By outlook and comportment, he was the mild-mannered schoolteacher that he was by training a...

On Friday 21 December, just two days before their recess, President Muhammadu Buhari presented Budget 2019 before a joint session of the National Assembly.   The bedlam was exceptional, if not unexpected. The president was interrupted several times by booing and heckling from the floor. It was such an unseemly spectacle. Senate President was later to dismiss Budget 2019 as “hopeless”. Let’s look at the figures first. The total figure for Budget 2019 estimates is N8.833 trillion. This contrasts with the Budget 2018 figure of N9.120 trillion, representing a -3.1 percent deviation from the new estimates. The total government revenues accruable, oil as well as non-oil, are put at N6.970 for 2019, as against N7.166 for the previous year. This amounts to a decrease of -2.7 percent. Of the ball park figure for 2019, capital expenditure will consume some N2.031 trillion, as contrasted with the higher figure of N2.873 for the previous year, representing a whopping fall of -...

I am not supposed to write this article. As presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) aspiring to lead the high magistracy of our federal republic come 2019, I am supposed to genuflect before the world powers for their endorsement. Apparently, we Nigerians have reached a tacit understanding that whoever rules our country must be someone who has the imprimatur of foreign powers.   And so our leaders beat their paths to their gates. Everybody tells me that my campaign has not started if I have not made the obligatory pilgrimage to Chatham House, the Royal Institute of International Affairs, in London. I have reminded my interlocutors that, as a graduate student, I researched in Chatham House’s library, a rather cramped 18 th century building located at St. James’s Square in the heart of London. Yes, it ranks among the best policy think tanks in the world, rivalling America’s Brookings Institution. But it is just another celebrated NGO. I am not ...

This is a difficult one. In researching for this article, I tried to talk to some of the closest people who knew the late Air Marshall Alex Badeh, former Chief of Defence Staff (CDS). I was greeted with a wall of fear. I tried to raise the topic with his former colleagues in the military; I was again greeted with stonewalling and furtive glances. I broached the subject discretely with some of his old schoolmates from Villanova Secondary School, Numan. Again, silence. It suddenly dawned on me that our country is gradually being overtaken by an atmosphere of fear, and, with it, an ominous culture of silence. In late afternoon of Tuesday 18 December, former Air Force Chief and immediate past Chief of Defence Staff, Alexander Sabundu Badeh, was gunned down near his farm in Gitata, a settlement about 20 km on the   Keffi-Bade road. He was age 61. His driver, who was also shot, is in the emergency ward of a Nigeria Air Force (NAF) military hospital. His farm manager was kidnap...

The 11th Abuja Festival of Praise took place at the International Conference Centre in our Federal Capital in the evening of Saturday 22 December. It was a well attended event. We were all highly uplifted by the choir which comprised singers from various churches around the country. They included youths from Sabon Rai Don Kowa (New Life for All) choir as well as children from the School of the Blind Abuja. The blind singers were awesome, as were indeed, the other choirs. The highlight was the orchestral rendition of Handel's Messiah conducted by the internationally acclaimed conductor  Walter-Michael Vollhardt. Vollhardt came all the way from Germany. And he did not disappoint.  The Chair of the occasion was retired Head of State General Yakubu Gowon GCFR. The event is in its eleventh year and has been facilitated by retired General Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma. It was for me a great day. Handel's Messiah is among my favourite music of all time. Handel was a great composer wh...

I did not invent the phrase “Age of Extremes”. It is actually the title of a book by the leftist British historian Eric Hobsbawm. When some of us were children, we were least concerned about religion or tribe. During Christmas Christians and Muslims celebrated together. The same happened during Sallah. We ate together and had merriment together. We even holidayed in each other’s homes. Something went wrong along the way. Things fell apart and the centre could no longer hold. We began to distance ourselves from one another, degree by degree. Today, we face each other largely as aliens. We do not visit one another anymore. The true sign of friendship is when you visit each other’s homes and break bread together. We have become ships that pass each other in the deep primeval silences of the Atlantic Ocean. Of course, when children grow up in a world where they have no memory of having received people of other ethnic or religious communities in their own home, they will develop ...

Fellow Nigerians, my dear compatriots, this is to wish all a blessed and joyful Christmas celebrations. The birth of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, is all about peace -- peace in our hearts, peace in our families, peace among our communities and our nation, and indeed, the world. Our country needs peace. We have been turmoil for years. Majority of our people wallow in poverty. As we enter the new electoral cycle, we need leaders who have the courage of their convictions, we need champions of peace who can lead our country into the Promised Land. This is what I humbly submit myself to you for as presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC). I want to be your servant-leader. I want to bring hope and glory to our benighted country. I want to wipe the tears of widows and orphans. I want to reconcile all Nigerians to unite as one country with one purpose and one destiny. I also remember Leah Sharibu who still wallows in captivity. I appeal to our government and he...

On Friday 7 December Dr. Obadiah Mailafia was among the presidential candidates that were invited to an interactive session with the President and Council of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN). The event took place at the Christian International Denominational Centre in Abuja. The association invited about a dozen presidential candidates for an interactive session to exchange views on the state of the nation as we prepare for the 219 elections. In his submission, Dr Mailafia made it clear that the church has an important role in ensuring peaceful and fair elections and also prevailing on political leaders to govern with righteousness and justice. On his part, he expressed strong commitment to addressing issues of insecurity, poverty and human development. He called for unity between Christians and Muslims in advancing the cause of peace and collectively confronting the common ills that afflict all of us as fellow citizens of this great country.  In a related deve...

To all our supporters within and outside the African Democratic Congress (ADC), let me reassure you that we are standing firm for what we believe in. We are still in the presidential race. We are not in it for ourselves; we are in it to redeem our beloved country and to salvage our people from penury and suffering. Forward ever, backward never!

Not a few eyebrows were raised among political pundits last week when some 71 legislators moved a motion in support of re-introduction of the parliamentary system of government in our country.   We understand that the all-parties bill has gone through its first reading already. Prominent among its sponsors are: Abdussamad Dasuki (PDP, Sokoto), Tahir Monguno (APC, Borno), Nicholas Ossai (PDP, Delta), Ossey Prestige (APGA, Abia) and Kingsley Chinda (PDP, Rivers). In their statement, the members declared: “We are 71 bi-partisan members of the House of Representatives, who feel that the parliamentary system of government promulgated by the Lyttleton Constitution of 1954 is the best for Nigeria since the presidential system has reduced us to the poverty capital of the world.”   A spokesman for the group was quoted as saying that parliamentary systems foster more accelerated economic growth and development than presidential systems: “Studies have shown that countries run ...

During the economic recession of the 1980s the doyen of Nigerian economics Pius Nwabufo Okigbo delivered a lecture at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, with the title, “Sorcerers, Astrologers and Nigerian Economic Recovery”. Yours sincerely was among the audience during that steamy 1986 summer afternoon in Kuru. It was a brilliant performance. The late economist gave that dramatic title to his erudite lecture to drive home the point about how bereft we are in terms of serious critical thinking about the economy. Instead of basing economic decision-making on hard-headed analysis, historical knowledge, awareness of institutional dynamics, statistical research and data analytics, most of the time we seem content to hide behind abstract modelling, guesswork, wishful thinking and shots in the dark. What was true of the Nigeria of the eighties is, unfortunately, true of the Nigeria of today. Some of my gentle readers would recall the famous essay by t...