Joshua King's Free Press

Dear Pastor Tunde Bakare I dislike the culture of joining bandwagons Especially ones that badmouth men of God However, I realise that it's the bandwagon effect They don't all beat the band of the wagon Even though they are all on the bandwagon Nigeria did not die with Ironsi's Unification Decree Afterall there was a reversal of that stupid decree We had no fathers who truly founded our nation! If we did, we would have no reason to see generals Leave their barracks to make decrees and counter decrees Wrong diagnosis no matter how well worded is misdiagnosis The cure for every ailment must begin with proper diagnosis The nations in Nigeria must meet, minds and hands To produce a charter of true nationhood That all sons of the nations in Nigeria can be proud of Then we will be reborn and truly become a nation 6 regions instead of 36 states? Why not 5, 3 or 56? Is it about the size of a governed area or about governance? Dear pastor, It has little to do with the size of an area...

Dear 35 States of Nigeria, LAZINESS AND INDIFFERENCE “How Lagos?”  My unique way of asking how are you will soon become relevant to this discussion. I greet you all. Truth be told, this recession is caused by your collective long over dependence on federal allocation. There is no other way to tell it. The current model where each of you waits for a monthly hand out from the mighty and all-lazy federal government of Nigeria is a fraud and unsustainable. It just has to stop. Lagos generates almost exactly what it gets from the federal allocation and plans to surpass that. Until we have 35 more Lagoses all over this land, we will not make progress. Lagos had the fortune of being the capital, access the border, a seaport and an airport. These brought droves of people seeking opportunities. Every state in Nigeria has peculiar opportunities that it can and must harness to attract people. From tourism, to agriculture, to solid minerals, sunshine, land mass, etc, these are peculiarities th...

Many Nigerians are disappointed at the election results in the United States. Many in the world are also very distraught and confused. History was to be made at least according to the polls. Citizens in the land of the free were to choose the leader of the free world to lead them for the next 4 years. Many Nigerians had expected Hilary Rodham Clinton the Democrat candidate to win and the polls indicated she had a good lead until the days leading up to the election. In fact, she won the popular vote but still lost the election. How did that happen? Rigging?! Take it easy. Voter fraud is not the case here but a system known as the Electoral College. Unlike Nigeria, where voter fraud or electoral malpractice is common place, incidences of the like are quite insignificant in the United States. Just what is the Electoral College, you may ask. The Electoral College is a process not a place. It consists of 538 electors who choose the president. To win the presidency, 271 of those el...

Yesterday 11th October, 2016, I stumbled on a piece written by Rotimi Fawole. It was a delightful read. He aptly captured and brilliantly delivered a piece on Nigeria, how we got here and where we should be headed. It was so beautiful that I spent a bulk of the day reading it all over. Besides the fact that I already expressed the thoughts he articulated in the piece before now, the brilliance of his delivery is such that those who cannot see the truth of it are either pretentious or consciously unwilling to change. For too long, I've been meaning to write a piece just like that on the subject but often find some decent reasons to procrastinate. It is only natural that I feel this good when someone else has done the job and done it excellently. Here are some excerpts:  This regional-central anomaly is the big argument for federal character and quotas, which place an emphasis on regional balance, rather than competence. In fact, the evidence suggests that it has promoted mediocrity....

54! That's exactly how long he lived Stephen Okechukwu Keshi! Your death has literally moved me to tears You were such a big influence to me growing up You donned the Eagles jersey just before I was born Playing from 1981 to 1995 for Africa's most populous nation What a lad you were, what a man you became 51! Your number of club career goals Stephen Okechukwu Keshi!! You actually scored for every club you played   What coach doesn't want a goal scoring defender? You were unstoppable despite some failures You persevered till successes came You taught a lot to footballers You taught more to us who are not 64! Your number of caps for Nigeria Stephen Okechukwu Keshi!!! You were a defender yet you scored You were a captain yet you inspired You coached weak teams yet you won You were a footballer but you made us smile You were a real patriot and a hero! 9 Your number of goals for Nigeria Stephen Okechukwu Keshi!!!! Your long throws were a delightful skill Your marki...

It is no longer news that Portuguese born football manager Jose Mourinho is now the manager of popular English football club Manchester United . Congratulations Manchester United and Mourinho. I am wrong. I said months ago that he may never get a top job considering his poor result at Chelsea the second time and how he blamed his players after each loss. It did not make sense that a top club would immediately jump on and hire him at the time. But this is football. I said it   here and even on national TV that United should not hire the special one. Well, they have yielded to media pressure and appointed him. More football drama will be played out this coming season. Wait a minute, the number of high profile managers in one league alone is suddenly curious. Pep Guardiola, Antonio Conte, Arsene Wenger, Jurngen Klopp, and Claudio Ranieri are all going to be on the side lines next season.   Now if you add Mauricio Pochetino, Slaven Bilic, Koeman, Francisco Gui...

Today, I have been doing a lot of thinking. A lot of thinking about Nigeria. First, I am largely disappointed. I did not expect much from a new government but then I did not expect that they would do worse than the former. However, expecting a power hungry old man to do any differently than his true character amounts to naivety. My real disappointment comes from other people. The pa Buhari led FG has withdrawn subsidy on petrol. This means that Nigerians now must pay no less than N145 for a litre of petrol. While pa Buhari and his party the APC were in the opposition, they screamed all manner of absurdities against such a move by the immediate past government. Naturally, their message resonated with us. Jump forward to 2016 and tables have turned. The same people now make excuses for the same action. There is not enough FOREX as a result of dwindling oil prices to finance importation of petrol by marketers. Therefore, let the marketers source the FOREX independently and sell the ...

Lagos residents in 2008 received news of a Bus Rapid Transit System. It was a plan in which luxury buses would provide better transportation services at cheaper rates compared to what existed at the time. Dedicated lanes on certain roads were created with the buses given exclusive permit to drive on this lane. The buses soon arrived and were subsequently commissioned. A lot of publicity work was done to promote the availability of the buses, prevent regular buses from driving on the dedicated lanes, the routes available as well as the ticket costs. Lagosians soon began looking out for these buses and indeed they provided some immediate relief to the teeming population. Lagos has forever remained plagued by traffic jams. A trip that should ordinarily take 30 to 40 minutes usually becomes an endurance test running into 4 hours at times. On some occasion, people leave their cars, seat at road side bars to wait out the traffic while commuters have often left commercial buses and contin...

Before now, football had been the one sport or contest to generate so much passion in Nigeria. It enjoyed this monopoly of passion but always united Nigerians. Our politics and elections however are another sport that now generates more passion and tension compared to football but unfortunately fails to unite us. It’s finally 2015 and a lot has already happened in the build up to this piece. General Buhari for the fourth time is running on the platform of the All Progressives Congress or "Conpidence" the first successful merger of political parties in Nigeria. The elections were postponed; Obasanjo asked his PDP card be torn. PVC distribution has remains shoddy while there have been sparks of violence in a few places. I have been a critic of the president. On several issues like the subsidy management, rule by committees, refusal to say amen to a prayer on corruption, his refusal to give a damn about the number of shoes he owns, I disagreed with the pre...

Millicent Chinasa Duru brings exceptional commitment and integrity to bear in her quest to give Oru East LGA better representation in the Imo State House of Assembly when elected. With an MBA in Finance from the University of Wales, Millicent Chinasa Duru is a passionate young woman who brings integrity, dedication and passion as her strongest attributes to the people of Oru East LGA at the forth coming 2015 Imo State House of Assembly elections. In an era where constituency representation is given less and less attention and budget oversight is not given the critical evaluation by informed minds, Oru East Local Government Area is not getting the bestt in terms of representation. Millicent Chinasa Duru a native of Oru East Local Government area is successful business woman with years of experience is suitably qualified to represent the Oru East Local Government Area in the Imo State House of Assembly. Positively in touch with the community and understanding their yearnings fo...

The Guardian in Nigeria has remained one of the most independent newspapers and has over the years become trusted for taking a stand with the Nigerian people. The paper's objectivity is noteworthy and deserving of accolades. As a student in secondary school, my class teacher initiated me into following the Guardian's editorial page. The language style, presentation of facts and argument has remained a voice in defence of truth in Nigeria. The editorial reproduced here was the paper's objective commentary on a contemporary Nigerian issue at the time and thank God for it. Wole Soyinka, once said: records are not only kept to aid the memory but to guide men into the future. Before you do anything with your PVC on Valentine's day 2015 be informed about the APC's candidate and how a vote for him would be a disservice to Nigeria, an injustice and an end to the progress being made. The Guardian: Editorial of Friday, August 30, 1985 The Arrogance of Power It could ...