REPEAT AFTER ME: I will not be anyone’s fool; not now, not tomorrow, not ever! The world inherited the word, Pandora, from the ancient Greek poet, Hesiod. In the poem, Works and Days, he told the story of Prometheus and Pandora. Prometheus had attempted to deceive the gods whose prefect was Zeus. In reprisal, Pandora Read More…
As Nigeria marks another birthday, we mourn with the families of victims who have supped with raw terror as some ring of inevitability begins to form around the serial violence enveloping the country on all sides. We are all potential victims. For once, this scourge, no matter its illogic, obeys the federal character principle. Death Read More…
CONTEMPORARY AFRICA COMPRISES countries cobbled together by colonialists for their own interest. In the case of Nigeria, British colonialism was, as playwright Ola Rotimi would put it, in the service of their ‘female king’. The two hitherto distinct halves of Nigeria (Northern and Southern Protectorates) have managed to stay together as one country for one Read More…
So much storm was generated by the defection of Femi Fani-Kayode from the PDP to the APC, a defection which came to public focus on the day some Nigerian soldiers were killed in Monguno, Borno State (with several others missing) after an ambush by militants from the Islamic State-backed faction of Boko Haram, the Islamic Read More…
IT IS IMPOSSIBLE NOT TO be affected by contact with Lindsay Barrett, the poet, journalist, essayist, photographer, playwright, broadcaster and novelist. This rolling stone has gathered moss aplenty, having packed so much into his four score years with indelible footprints in Europe, the United States and Africa. I first met Barrett in the glorious 70s when Read More…
ON THE D-DAY OF FINAL DEPARTURE of US forces from Afghanistan, there was ululation and dancing in the streets. It was a celebration of several Eids all rolled into one — Eid-el-Victory, my friend called it. After spending well over $2 billion on the Afghanistan misadventure, America was finally cutting its losses and returning to Read More…
SUDDENLY, THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, the world’s number one self-appointed policeman, is the butt of vicious jibes. Some have likened the US misadventure in Afghanistan to the tragic fall of Kunrumi in Ola Rotimi’s play of the same title. Ola Rotimi painted the trajectory of Kunrumi’s hubris vividly: “When the tortoise is going on Read More…
IF YOU MUST RUN with the hare and hunt with the hounds, make sure you don’t get caught! Once you are caught, don’t blame your stars, or your enemies. Always remember that, as the bard says, “There’s blood on your lies/The scars open wide/There is nowhere for you to hide/The hunter’s moon is shining.” Man Read More…
MY HEART WENT OUT TO Alhaji Abass Njidda Tafida the other day. His plaintive cry attracted the sympathy of the listening world. Being the Emir of Muri in Nigeria’s Taraba State firmly situates him among the ruling class. But the rich also cry. The Muri emirate, like many other parts of the country, is under Read More…
“IT IS NOT OUR DIVERSITY which divides us”; said Nelson Mandela, “it is not our ethnicity, or religion or culture that divides us. Since we have achieved our freedom, there can only be one division amongst us: between those who cherish democracy and those who do not.” Wise words, assuming the process of ascending to Read More…