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The Small Bribes That Built A Giant Nation: How Nigeria Fed Corruption Until It Learned To Eat Us

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By Samuel Ashiwel Corruption did not break into Nigeria like an armed robber. We invited it in like a house help. We gave it food, we gave it a name, we gave it a chair. At first it only stole a little sugar from the kitchen. Today it owns the house, and we are the tenants begging for a place to sleep. That is the tragedy of this country. We did not wake up to find a corrupt system. We raised it from infancy, excused its childhood thefts, and celebrated its adulthood. HOW A NATION LEARNED TO STEAL FROM ITSELF The mistake we make is to think corruption started at the top. It did not. It started at the bottom, where nobody was watching. It started in 1962 when a primary school headmaster asked for one shilling extra to release a testimonial and parents called him wise. It started when a produce officer in the Western Region stamped a cocoa bag as Grade One when it was Grade Three, because the farmer was his cousin. It started when we told a young girl that if she wants to pass, she shoul...
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Ballon d'Or 2026: Harry Kane, Alexia Putellas Lead Full List of Winners

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  By Victor Olubiye Harry Kane and Alexia Putellas head the list of winners at the 2026 Ballon d'Or ceremony held at the London Palladium in England on Monday night, October 26. Kane claimed the Men's Ballon d'Or, while Putellas won the women's top prize, highlighting an evening that celebrated individual excellence, coaching achievements and team performances in men's and women's football. The ceremony also saw Barcelona's Lamine Yamal and Vicky López recognised in the young player categories, while Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona received the men's and women's club awards, respectively. Kane's victory marked a major milestone for English football, with the Bayern Munich striker becoming the first Englishman to win the men's award since Michael Owen in 2001. The England captain also collected the men's goalscoring award, further underlining his impact during the 2025/2026 season. Putellas, meanwhile, added a third Women's Ballon d...
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[COMMENTARY] Celebrity Thieves: How Nigeria Learned To Worship The Hands That Robbed It

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  By Samuel Ashiwel To understand the depth of our present decay, you must remember the height of our past. We were not always like this. This country once placed honour above wealth. In the Western Region of the early 1960s, Chief Obafemi Awolowo ran what was arguably the most accountable government in our history. It was not a rich government. It was a disciplined government. Every penny of the marketing board revenue was debated and tracked. Free education was not a miracle of charity, it was a product of planning and sacrifice. In that era, a public officer caught diverting one pound did not need to be jailed by a court. The public verdict of shame ended him. Shame was a heavier chain than any prison wall. In the North, Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto, wielded near absolute power, yet he cultivated a reputation for personal austerity. The story that endures in the North is not of palaces he built, but of how he lived simply and died with little personal property to his...
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INTERVIEW: ‘The Question Is No Longer Are You Okay, but Have You Eaten?’ — Nigerian Mother Speaks on Economic Hardship

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  By Victor Olubiye As the cost of meeting basic needs continues to put pressure on Nigerian households, parents, teachers and students are finding different ways to cope with financial difficulties. For some families, providing food, paying school fees and meeting other household expenses has become increasingly challenging. Yet, beyond the struggles, some Nigerians are advocating budgeting, additional sources of income, contentment and community support as practical ways to navigate difficult times. In this interview with The Creativity Site, Mrs Awe Dupe Adebola, a mother of three and school proprietress, shares her experiences of the economic situation, the importance of teaching children financial responsibility and why love and generosity remain essential in difficult times. The Creativity Site: How has the current economic situation affected your ability to provide for your family? Mrs Awe Dupe Adebola: The more we work, the less we get. Expenses are higher than income. We ...
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FISU Election: DokTur Awo Emerges President, Pledges to Advance Ijesa Students’ Interests

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  By Victor Olubiye Awosina Kehinde Johnson, popularly known as DokTur Awo, has emerged President of the Federation of Ijesa Students’ Union (FISU), following an election in which he contested unopposed. The election, held on Saturday, October 24, 2026, at Ilesa Grammar School, Ilesa, Osun State, saw DokTur Awo secure 59 votes, while two votes were declared void by the 2026 FISU Electoral Chairman. His emergence marks a new chapter in the leadership of the federation, which represents students across the six local government areas of Ijesaland. DokTur Awo, a student of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, hails from Okun Compound, Imesi-Ile, in Obokun Local Government Area of Osun State. Before his emergence as FISU President, he served as President of the Obokun Students’ Union (OBSU) from 2025 to 2026 and President of the Imesi-Ile National Students’ Union (INSU) from 2023 to 2025. His leadership experience also includes serving as FISU National Electoral Secretary in 2024, Direc...
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Poverty for Sale: How Nigerian Politicians Buy Power with Hunger and Ignorance

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  They do not need to snatch every ballot box to stay in power. They only need to keep you hungry, broke, and politically blind. In Nigeria today, poverty is not a failure of government. Poverty is the strategy of government. Illiteracy is not an accident. It is the tool. This is the unspoken secret of Nigeria's corridor of power. Political actors have discovered that the easiest citizen to rule is the one who is too poor to say no and too illiterate to ask questions. And for years, they have manufactured that citizen in millions. The deliberate manufacture of poverty A politician who wants to be worshipped must first create a worshiper who has no choice. The formula is simple and wicked. For four years, deny the people jobs, good roads, stable electricity, and functional hospitals. Let small businesses collapse under multiple taxation and harsh policies. Let graduates roam the streets for years after NYSC. Let the price of food swallow the minimum wage. Then, a few months to elect...
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Ebola Alert: Symptoms Nigerians Should Not Ignore as FG Confirms Case in Abuja

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  By Victor Olubiye Nigerians have been advised to remain alert to possible symptoms of Ebola following the confirmation of an imported case in the Federal Capital Territory, with health authorities intensifying efforts to identify and monitor people who may have been exposed to the virus. The Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare confirmed the case on October 20, 2026, after laboratory tests identified Ebola Bundibugyo virus disease in a woman who had recently travelled to Nigeria from Uganda. According to the World Health Organisation, the patient developed symptoms on October 7, four days after arriving in Nigeria, and sought medical attention at a private health facility in Abuja on October 11. Laboratory confirmation was received on October 20. The patient was placed in isolation and was receiving medical care, while health authorities began investigating her travel and exposure history. The WHO said 44 contacts had been identified and were being monitored as part of e...
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2027: Nigeria Will Not Vote With Manifestoes, It Will Vote With Hunger

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  By Samuel Ashiwel In 2015, Nigerians voted out of anger. In 2023, they voted out of hope and frustration. In 2027, they will vote with empty stomachs. And that changes everything we think we know about elections in this country. The road to 2027 has already begun, not in party secretariats in Abuja, but in markets in Onitsha, in bus stops in Lagos, in farms abandoned in Benue. The question is no longer who will contest. The question is whether any politician can survive the judgment of inflation. For months, I have listened to shoemakers, students, traders, and civil servants. They are not talking about zoning or party structure. They are talking about garri that moved from 500 naira to 1500, about transport fare that swallows daily wage, about children pulled out of private schools not because parents want to, but because they have to. This is the real campaign manifesto, and it is written in hardship. Three forces will decide 2027, and none of them is in the constitution The fi...
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OPINION: If Eight Hospitals Could Not Save ToluwaniSings, What Hope Is Left For The Poor?

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By Victor Olubiye The death of gospel singer Olayemi Bayonile Bolaji, popularly known as ToluwaniSings, should prompt Nigeria to ask difficult questions about emergency healthcare and the responsibilities of government. According to his personal assistant, Babadunni Gbolabo, efforts to obtain medical attention for the singer after he slumped took them to between seven and eight hospitals in Ibadan, Oyo State. Speaking to BBC Yoruba, the aide said some facilities reportedly cited doctors' unavailability or an ongoing strike, while the attempts to secure treatment were unsuccessful. ToluwaniSings died on October 14, 2026. His family's loss is painful in its own right. But the circumstances described by his aide have also raised a public-interest question: how should Nigeria's healthcare system respond when someone needs emergency medical attention? The allegations must be investigated before any hospital is declared responsible for the singer's death. The University Colle...
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FROM PARTIES TO PERSONALITY CULT: How Nigeria's One-Man Empire Buried Opposition

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By Samuel Ashiwel In 1999, Nigeria returned to democracy with a loud promise. Different parties, different ideas, different choices for the people. Twenty seven years later, that promise has been strangled. Governors defect like prisoners seeking parole, commissioners sing praises to survive, ministers vanish into silence, and the entire country is being forced to bow to one man. This is no longer a party system. It is a personality cult, and it is killing Nigerian democracy. For months, Nigerians have watched a political drama that feels less like democracy and more like a surrender ceremony. In April 2025, Delta State Governor Sheriff Oborevwori did what many thought impossible. He led the entire PDP structure that had ruled Delta since 1999, including former Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, the party that was once the face of the South South, into the APC in one afternoon. It was not a defection. It was a wholesale auction of a state. What followed was a dam break. In June 2025, Governor Umo...
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NCC Introduces *315# Service for Nigerians to Check Phones Before Buying

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By Victor Olubiye The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has introduced a device verification service that allows Nigerians to check whether mobile phones and other communications devices are approved for use on the country's telecommunications networks before purchasing them. The service, known as Device Checker, can be accessed by dialling *315# or visiting the Commission's official website. It is designed to help consumers identify devices that do not meet the applicable regulatory requirements, including those that may be counterfeit or non-compliant. In a report published on Tuesday, October 13, Channels Television said the initiative formed part of an enhanced Type Approval Compliance framework that took effect on October 7, 2026. Speaking at a news conference in Abuja, the NCC's Director of Technical Standards and Network Integrity, Edoyemi Ogoh, said the framework was intended to strengthen enforcement of existing requirements and protect consumers while safeg...
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THE PERMANENT CAMPAIGN: How Elite Politicians Mastered Power But Never Learned to Govern

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By Samuel Ashiwel Nigeria is not a country lacking ideas. It is a country lacking governance. Because we have killed governance and replaced it with permanent politics. In every serious democracy, politics is seasonal and governance is continuous. You do politics to get power, then you stop politicking and start administering. You plan, you build institutions, you manage resources. In Nigeria, we have inverted the process. We do politics to get power, and then we do more politics to keep power. Governance never starts. The campaign never ends. The country is trapped in an endless election rally while the real work rots. That is why Nigeria moves a lot but never moves forward. A SYSTEM BUILT FOR SURVIVAL, NOT FOR SERVICE Our current leadership structure is not designed to administer a country. It is designed to survive politically. From the ward to the federal level, the question is never "Who is the best administrator?" The question is "Who is the most loyal politician? ...
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FISU Presidential Race: DokTur Awo Declares, Unveils Three-Point Agenda

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DokTur Awo By Victor Olubiye Awosina Kehinde Johnson, popularly known as DokTur Awo, has declared his intention to contest for the office of president of the Federation of Ijesa Students’ Union (FISU). Johnson, a student of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, made his intention known in a declaration statement in which he outlined his leadership experience and proposed agenda for the union. He said his ambition was driven by a desire to contribute to the growth, unity and advancement of Ijesa students across the six local government areas of Ijesaland. Johnson, who hails from Okun Compound, Imesi-Ile, in Obokun Local Government Area of Osun State, said his leadership experience had strengthened his commitment to student representation, accountability, inclusiveness and service delivery. He listed his previous positions to include president of the Obokun Students’ Union between 2025 and 2026 and president of the Imesi-Ile National Students’ Union from 2023 to 2025. He also served as na...
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COMMENTARY: You Know Your Leader Is Wrong, So Why Are You Still Defending Him?

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  By Samuel Ashiwel You know your leader is wrong. You know the policy is hurting the people. You know the promises have not been fulfilled. Yet, when someone raises the same concerns, you are the first to defend him. You blame the opposition, attack the critic and find a reason why your leader should not be questioned. Why? Is it because you genuinely believe he is right, or because admitting that he is wrong would mean admitting that you, too, may have been wrong to defend him? This is one of the difficult questions facing Nigeria's political culture. For many people, political loyalty has gone beyond supporting a party or a leader because of their ideas. It has become a commitment that sometimes makes it difficult to acknowledge mistakes, demand accountability or speak the truth when it matters most. We have created a culture where some people would rather defend a politician than question his decisions, even when the consequences affect their own lives. You join a party to belo...
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