On this Democracy Day, I had intended to rest my pen. I wanted to leave the fate written on the walls of history to speak for itself. I thought perhaps the sacrifices of those who fought for democracy were enough testimony. Yet, in the final hour, a thought stirred within me, compelling me to write a message to all of us who have come together to form this sovereign nation called Nigeria. My message is particularly for those who believe that the business of Nigeria lies in the hands of a powerful few. Perhaps they are influenced by what the German sociologist Robert Michels described as the "Iron Law of Oligarchy" ,the tendency for power to concentrate in the hands of a small elite. Looking at our politics, our institutions, and our economy, one may be tempted to believe that the destiny of Nigeria is determined only by those who occupy powerful offices and influential positions. But history tells a different story. Nigeria does not belong to any president, governor, politi...
Bourbon Street in New Orleans began operation yesterday, a day after a U.S. Army veteran plowed a pickup truck into a crowd of New Year’s revelers, killing at least 14 people.
People cautiously trickled back into the French Quarter, live bands resumed playing at their usual corners and mourners stopped by a makeshift memorial adorned with flowers and Mardi Gras beads.
Investigators said yesterday that the assailant, Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar, had acted alone. Jabbar, who died in a gunfight with the police, had said in a video he posted online that he had joined the Islamic State group. “He was 100 percent inspired by ISIS,” Christopher Raia, an official with the F.B.I.’s counterterrorism division, said at a news conference.
“We’re confident, at this point, that there are no accomplices,” Raia said. The authorities said that they had conducted hundreds of interviews and reviews of the attacker’s calls, social media accounts and electronic devices.
The F.B.I. has found no definitive link between the New Orleans attack and the explosion of a Tesla truck outside a Trump hotel in Las Vegas, but investigators are not ruling anything out.
The driver in Las Vegas shot himself in the head just before the explosion, which injured seven people.

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