LAURETTA ONOCHIE

Let us begin with agriculture. Or rather, let us pretend to begin with agriculture, because that is what the 2026 budget does best. The federal government has allocated record sums to farming, irrigation, and livestock development across all tiers of government. Northern states alone are throwing hundreds of billions at the problem — Jigawa earmarked N75 billion for agriculture, Kaduna dedicated 11.65 percent of its nearly N1 trillion budget to food security, and Kano set aside N26 billion plus another N64 billion for water supply to support irrigation . On paper, this looks like a government that cares about hunger. On paper, a lot of things look good. On paper, I look like someone who has their life together. But here is the hilarious part — and by hilarious, I mean the kind of hilarious that makes you want to weep into your garri. Despite all this money being budgeted, hunger is tightening its grip on Northern Nigeria like a bankruptcy on a lottery winner. An estimated six million p...

Mr. President, there is a question that hangs in the air, refusing to dissipate. It is asked in the quiet corners of living rooms from Kaduna to Lagos. It is debated with hushed urgency on social media timelines. It is whispered even within the corridors of power. And it demands your attention, not as a political favor to an adversary, but as a solemn duty to the Constitution you swore to defend. Who, Mr. President, wants Mallam Nasir Elrufai dead? One does not need to hold a medical degree to understand a simple biological truth: a human body denied food and medicine, day after day, will eventually break down. What began as a high-profile corruption investigation now carries the unmistakable stench of a protracted, calculated, and perhaps even deliberate campaign of attrition. Mr. President, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, an agency of your government, has allegedly become an executioner dressed in the garb of a law enforcement body. Let us rev...

EDUCATING THE IGNORANCE. Over the last few years, I have been searching the Nigerian Constitution for the phrase, "It's the turn of the North, It's the turn of the South". Here are the facts by Yusuf Shehu Tijani At the expiration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s present tenure, the Southwest would have been in power for 12 years. The South for approximately 18 years. And if the South pushes for another 4 years, it would be 22 years. 22 years to 10 years is not only unfair but unjust. This is not a matter of sentiment; it is a matter of balance, equity, and the moral foundation upon which our fragile democracy stands. Ordinarily, the North should take over in 2027 and make up the eight years before it returns to the South to maintain a fair balance and avoid tension moving forward. This is not a concession; it is a correction. It is not agitation; it is alignment with an unwritten but deeply respected protocol that has guided stability since 1999. President Umaru Musa Yar'A...