SMART Europeans. After building their wealth from resources taken from the colonies, including gold, diamond, rubber, cocoa, cotton and human beings, they decreed that the only way to prosperity is through ‘market forces’. They taught gullible Africans that only the perfect market delivers, while state intervention stagnates. They are never in short supply of maladjusted African Read More…
Tag: opinion
President Buhari’s jokes, Nigerians’ pains
The Sallah is a period of festivities. Perhaps in that spirit, President Muhammadu Buhari last week in paying a Sallah homage to the Emir of Daura, his hometown, was light-hearted. He told fairy tales. For instance, he said of his children: “They already know that I am not leaving anything for anyone to inherit.” What does Read More…
Commonwealth: When the address is longer than the letter
In my part of the world, it is said that when the address on the envelope is longer than the content of the letter, it means there is nothing substantial to say. This was the conclusion I arrived at when I read the Kigali communiqué of the Commonwealth Heads of Government conference which was held Read More…
“Nothing will happen!”
O ye powers within my ten toes, let me not strut like an eagle only to receive a historic slap that resounds via social media round the globe. I have been reliably informed that the slap under reference was of the “common slap” variety, not a “cover slap” which, by definition, affects the ear, nose Read More…
Will the real statesmen stand up, please!
We are in that season again when all sorts of salacious diagnoses are proffered to chart a way out of our national illness of underdevelopment. The impression is often given that what Nigeria needs is a superman, superimposed from above as a Deus-ex-machina device to wave the magic wand and transform the country to a Read More…
Wanted: A Ready-Made President
The 2023 election will be like no other. Its outcome will either make or mar Nigeria. Should an unprepared president emerge, winner, he will be inheriting a poisoned chalice in the form of the many social, fiscal, religious and security problems the current government will hand over. But should a ready-made leader be entrusted with Read More…
May Your Loyalty Be Tested
To whom do you owe your loyalty, sir? Is it to the people, to a kingmaker, or to a cabal? Are you even loyal to the federal republic whose passport gives you cover to roam the world? Let your loyalty be tested again and again to see if you’ll side with the people or remain Read More…
Why the tail wags the dog
A wagging tail is usually found at the rear end of an excited dog, but a wagging dog in front of a static tail? Only in Nigeria, where the barrack mentality of military dictatorship has been smuggled into the unitary constitution to reduce the people to subjects and their elected local leaders to paper tigers. Read More…
Dear Carlene John
Yesterday, I cried. Today, the stream of tears continues to run down from my eyes and wet my shirt. Between the tears and cries, I cynically smiled as I gazed into this life, staring at nothing, but running through the beautiful memories we shared in my early American years. In 1989 was a six-month-old young Read More…
Aluta Stopay!
A LUTA CONTINUA! VITÓRIA É CERTA! (The struggle continues! Victory is certain!) That was our singsong in those heady student union days when our blood boiled with patriotic fervour as we challenged the excesses or inadequacies of our unelected military fiefs. That battle cry is so central to the raison d’être of student unionism that Read More…