We thrive on illogicalities. We neutralise curses with invectives. Suffering a headache? Take some gin. Chew some raw coconut to cure your cough. Add some tobacco snuff to the bargain. Damn the flu with a dip in a freezing pool. Tell the asthmatic we’ve found a permanent cure: inhalation of fine powdery tatashe and Cameroon Read More…
Tag: opinion
Poor Hadiza Bala Usman, forced to grow too quickly
HADIZA Bala Usman, politician and social activist, was until last Thursday, May 6, the Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA. But on that day, President Muhammadu Buhari yanked her off and ordered an investigation of her stewardship in the agency. As in almost all such cases, the report of the investigation may never Read More…
Fix impunity, fix Nigeria
On the service lane of the Airport Road, Abuja, with a Road Safety patrol van far behind me, a commercial motorcyclist carrying three men came from the opposite direction at full speed. Riding against one way traffic on such a high profile highway? I was convinced the fellows were in big trouble as they were Read More…
Túpac Amaru: Senior Prefect in the liberation pantheon
I have a confession. Sometimes, I have caught myself thinking about the world and what humans have done to it. Many times, I have been lost in thought about humans and what they have done to other human beings. Several times, I have caught myself debating who have been the most vicious colonialists who for Read More…
Save Us, O Dear Neighbour!
Once upon a time, there was a rich duke named Magnificus whose estate was the envy of all his neighbours. It was said by all and sundry that God was partial in bestowing so much blessing on one man. Added to his richness was the man’s comeliness. “God must have made him on a Monday, Read More…
Victims, casualties and profiteers of the malaria war
How do you react to a preventable war in which just in Lagos alone – one of the thirty six states in Nigeria -700,000 human beings are annually taken prisoner, and worldwide, 229 million are taken prisoner with over 400,000 yearly sent to early graves? That is the situation with the ancient human war against Read More…
Pantamism, Talibanism, Americanism and extremism: Ingredients cooking terrorism
NIGERIA’s Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim, also known as Pantami, is busy fighting off those who accuse him of holding extreme Islamic views. He seemed particularly frightened by claims that the United States of America, USA, sees him as an extremist. I laugh at this because America is, in fact, Read More…
Pantami’s Albatross
“They say the past always catches up with you, sooner or later. I prefer sooner, because by the time later rolls around, the past has picked up a lot of speed”, says writer Dan Thompson. For Nigeria’s minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Sheik Isa Ali Pantami, the speed with which his past has Read More…
So Religious, Yet So Poor (2)
In the first part of this topic, we made the point that, “Religion is not the problem. The use to which religion is put is the issue.” But it has not always been like that— especially when the issue is considered from the perspective of local influencers. What this means is that we have degenerated. Read More…
In death, Sankara marches from victory to victory
THE first time I saw Blaise Compaoré was at the African Union, AU, Heads of State Summit that held in Addis Ababa in 2013. At that time, at 62, he had been Burkina Faso President for 26 years, but was little respected. He slunk around like a defeated man. He had not only betrayed his Read More…