Don’t look down on the soot-encrusted earthenware pot; remember, the white porridge that slakes your hunger comes from its bowels. It is the way of Providence: when it was time for Nigeria to rise for recognition, the whole world rose to salute the Green-White-Green. It was not only Oluwatobiloba (Tobi) Ayomide Amusan that was shedding Read More…
How does one shake off the depressing feeling of déjà vu as one tragedy rolls over another? At times, one feels like an idiot. Wrapping one’s head around the way things have turned out in Nigeria — diminishing security, fuel queues, unprecedented inflation, intractable closure of universities, Naira depreciation etc — is physically exhausting. The Read More…
“They are bombing my backyard. They are firing big guns too! Pray for us o!” The desperation in the caller’s voice was palpable and eerie. Had Armageddon managed to come unannounced? It turned out that the bombing was some distance away although it sounded as if it was within the caller’s premises. Some terrorists had Read More…
Our friends, Tamuno, Dike and Hadi are exercising their right to freedom of speech: Tamuno: By now, Buhari should have visited Owo to commiserate with the people over the killings. Dike: He should have visited Anambra and Imo for the same reason too. Hadi: He can’t be everywhere. The VP already visited Owo Tamuno: If he can’t be everywhere, Read More…
Imagine reducing a human being— a political leader carrying the hopes and aspirations of millions of people… imagine reducing that person to just one tooth! One tooth — that’s all that remains to show that Patrice Émery Lumumba, a pan-Africanist and former Prime Minister of the Republic of Congo, ever trod this earth. After his Read More…
“Never again!” That phrase was made popular by survivors of the Holocaust in which six million European Jews were systematically murdered in pogroms, mass shootings and gas chambers during World War II by Hitler’s forces. The phrase is thought to have been borrowed from a 1927 poem by Yitzhak Lamdan, “Never again shall Masada fall!”. Read More…
Goodluck Ebele Jonathan is not a bad man. He may have appeared to be overwhelmed by daunting circumstances confronting his administration — especially by the pro-democracy groups queuing up behind the expected messiah of the time, General Muhammadu Buhari — but generally he had as good a heart as anyone who has ever tenanted Aso Read More…
It seems like just yesterday when I teased Sam Nda-Isaiah on his 50th birthday at the International Conference Centre, Abuja. “Are you now a young old man, or an old young man?” I asked. “I have to think properly before I answer you”, he said, adding, “I think there’s a catch in that question. But, Read More…
“Kabiyesi, I’m told you want my daughter to enrol in your school so that you can convert her to Christianity”, said Imam Oyefolahan, Chief Imam of Eripa Central Mosque. He was addressing the Orangun of Oke-Ila Orangun and founder of Abolarin College, Oba Dr. Adedokun Omoniyi Abolarin, Aroyinkeye I. The Imam’s daughter, Aminat, had won Read More…
“Why is nobody putting me under pressure to contest for an office? Where are my people?”, asked Jibrin Ibrahim on twitter. One of the interesting replies he provoked was by M J Balogun (@balogunjide1) a former Director-General, Administrative Staff College of Nigeria: “We, your people, are here! We want you to run. We have the Read More…
