Nigerian Tribune private scandals despite government attempts at suppression. General Ibrahim Babangida once said that of all the Nigerian newspapers he would only read and take seriously the "Nigerian Tribune's" editorial column. The book "Leadership Failure and Nigeria's Fading Hopes" by Femi Okurounmu consists of excerpts from a weekly column in the Nigerian Tribune published between 2004 and 2009. The author, a patriotic Nigerian elder statesman, laments how the corruption and the selfishness of successive leaders has destroyed the hopes not just of Nigerians, but of the entire black race. In December 2008 Segun Olatunji, managing director and Editor-in-Chief of "Nigerian Tribune",
Nigerian Merchant Navy arrested for allegedly assaulting men of the Lagos State Transport Management Authority. Edema claimed he had recruited 10,000 men to his "Nigerian Merchant Navy Corps" with the job of policing the nation’s waterways. Edema, who was never a Navy Commodore but had been a welder with Nigerian National Shipping Line (NNSL) from 1994 to 1996, was arrested for alleged impersonation. Responding to the Tribune report, the Director-General of the self-styled Nigerian Merchant Navy, Commodore Allen Edema, called for President Umaru Yar'Adua to investigate the Nigerian Navy, implying it might be involved in import of illegal arms, contraband and hard drugs.