When I ask if Nigerians are countable, I am by no means suggesting that the citizens of Nigeria have suddenly become too many to be counted, nor am I treating the word, Nigerians, as an uncountable noun such as water or sand. Rather, my question is focussed on whether, given the history of headcount exercises Read More…
Tribalism is to Africa what racism is to the West. It is the African version of black-on-black violence, except that ours is unmatched in the crudity of the implements of violence and the tenacity with which we insist on handing over the chalice of hate to the coming generation. Some people are not content with Read More…
“All those involved in snatching ballot boxes and committing all sorts of voter suppression crimes should be arrested and prosecuted”, declared Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, Nigeria’s former president in reaction to reported incidents of ballot disruption in Bayelsa State. He spoke the minds of many of his compatriots in different parts of the country who had Read More…
Social media have their good and bad sides. If you close your eyes to avoid seeing the bad sides, chances are that your eyes will still be shut when the good sides pass you by. In the wake of the tragic loss of lives in the unfortunate accident where a train crushed a staff bus Read More…
I don’t agree that the admittedly flawed 2023 presidential election should be cancelled as requested by some people. Decapitation is not the right cure for a nagging headache. In spite of its imperfections, the rule of law is still the most civilised way of resolving any dispute known to man. So, no matter how aggrieved Read More…
Today is the tomorrow you fretted about yesterday. You had thought that we were at the portals of oblivion in the run-up to the presidential elections. By now, we are all supposed to have vaporised. I made a quick check at dawn this morning; the sun still rose from the East as usual. All the Read More…
Politics is like Jujitsu, the Japanese martial art that employs holds, throws, and paralysing blows to subdue an opponent. If your opponent is big and throws his weight around, you skilfully allow him to make a move and use his weight to trip him; his strength thus becomes his weakness. All that is on display Read More…
My heart bleeds each time I encounter long petrol queues which have become a permanent fixture of city landscapes in Nigeria. Petrol scarcity has become so endemic that we are no longer embarrassed by the scandalous petrol queues. All over the country, lives have been lost, millions of man-hours wasted and citizens’ health negatively impacted Read More…
“There is always enough light for one who wishes to see.” -Hazrat Imam Ali (AS) The forthcoming presidential elections will be determined, to a large extent, by the votes of the youth. There has been so much talk about how each succeeding generation in the last 62 years has betrayed the Nigerian project and bequeathed Read More…
“What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived; it is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead”. — Nelson Mandela When Cardinal Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger was elected the 265th Pope on 19 April 2005, he was the Read More…
