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“A dream doesn’t become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work” –Gen. Colin Powell (1937-2021) “Death is something inevitable. When a man has done what he considers to be his duty to his people and his country, he can rest in peace” –Nelson Mandela It has been a fortnight of activities and […]
Continue ReadingUntil last week Monday, I had never heard the name Femi Osibona. But within a few hours of the collapse of his Ikoyi 21-storey building in Lagos, I came to learn a great deal about the late proprietor of the ‘360 Degrees Towers’. From the ‘prophetic laying of hands’ that catapulted a man selling shirts […]
Continue ReadingA photograph forcefully elbowed itself into the media space during the week that just ended. It was that of President Muhammadu Buhari looking heavenwards, his two hands spread in total supplication to God, his countenance sober. He had arrived at the Islamic holy city of Makkah on Thursday to perform the Umrah (lesser Hajj). Makkah, […]
Continue ReadingAs our friendship blossomed, he asked me to get him a particular Bible that I use; he liked my analysis of the deuterocanonical books, especially Sirach. I took the Bible to him at his place of work and he gave me 10K for a Bible that I bought for about N800 at the time. As […]
Continue ReadingIt was heart-melting to see elderly people and physically challenged people in Anambra State coming out last Saturday to vote. Before the November 6, 2021 gubernatorial election in Anambra State, the fear many people had was that insecurity and fear could work against the conduct of the election. It was feared that many people would […]
Continue ReadingThe recent Governorship election in Anambra state, held on Saturday, November 6, 2021 was meant to be a major turning point for Nigeria. Most commentators said the election would be characterized by violence or that it would amount to a blow-out for Nigeria and the entire South East. Pundits told everyone to be careful. There […]
Continue ReadingThe Ikoyi skyscraper tragedy has more than its 21 fatal floors. It is like wood falling on wood; and more wood falling on wood; a tangled narrative woven by fate and circumstances. The building came down in style: a very huge structure collapsing on itself in a matter of seconds. It wasn’t an implosion and […]
Continue ReadingAmid the grief of the heartrendingly tragic collapse of the 21-storey luxury apartment building in Ikoyi, Lagos, a sadly familiar, barely acknowledged but nonetheless insidiously widespread anti-Muslim bigotry in Yoruba land came to light. A Yoruba Muslim by the name of Adebowale Sikiru revealed in an interview with a YouTube news channel called AN 24 that he […]
Continue ReadingIn one respect, President Muhammadu Buhari may have worked so hard to prepare his successor for the acclaim that has so far eluded him. He has unconsciously scripted a higher popularity rating for that lucky successor. The next president will harvest national and international acclaim by doing something that requires little or no effort: just […]
Continue ReadingFellow Nigerians, the terrible day, Monday, November 1, 2021, started for me like all of my regular days. It was very quickly to become the stuff of permanent nightmares. Just the day before, I had departed Abuja after the PDP National Convention. My Sunday evening was spent at the birthday dinner cum book launch of […]
Continue ReadingIt is very tempting to just sit back and black out the daily horrors bombarding Nigeria. These include the mindless carnage and butchery of human lives, the sheer audacity of terrorists/bandits armed with the capacity to shoot down fighter jets, the wave of mass kidnappings of schoolchildren in the North-east and North-west, and the sit-at-home […]
Continue ReadingThe Monday collapse of the 21-storey building under construction on Gerard Road, Ikoyi, Lagos State is one too many. With an undetermined number of people still trapped under the rubble, so much is unknown yet. In the coming weeks, some of the truth of the official negligence that led to such a gigantic structure becoming […]
Continue ReadingToday, November 1, 2021, is the 143rd anniversary of the Jalumi War. Some historians call it the Battle of Ikirun but Jalumi (meaning: plunge into river) is the more popular name for the one-day war that commenced at dawn on Friday, November 1, 1878 and was won and lost before dusk same day. Those who […]
Continue ReadingLast Thursday, Information and Culture Minister, Alhaji Lai Mohammed responded to an article in The Economist, ‘Insurgency, secessionism and banditry threaten Nigeria.’ Quite naturally, the minister faulted a number of assertions in the London-based magazine. That of course is his job, and he did it well. But his attempt to make light of the collection […]
Continue ReadingThe mass media across the world, especially the International Co in nsortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), should be congratulated for the Pandora Papers. They leaked 11.9 million documents and 2.9 terabytes of data exposing corrupt dealings by the powerful and the global rich. The Pandora Papers which were released on October 3, 2021, exposed the […]
Continue ReadingNigeria has recently been voted for as one of the safest countries in the world to live in. It has a zero-crime rate and you’re a lot safer walking the streets of Lagos than you are in London or New York. This of course, is one big fat lie! As part of his Eid el […]
Continue ReadingWhen the blindfolded head drops on the hard floor, kpi!, like the back-kick of an angry horse, please, know that not all guillotined heads are guilty. That is why the Yoruba say, “Ori yeye ni Imogun, t’aise lo po.” Imogun is the Yoruba Golgotha; the place of skulls, where many innocent heads have rolled down the pit of […]
Continue ReadingWhen you sow the wind, you reap the whirlwind. This always comes to mind anytime there is an outbreak of debate over the naira. It is a discussion we have been having since, I think, 1986 when Gen Ibrahim Babangida, then military president, launched the structural adjustment programme (SAP) essentially to develop the non-oil sectors. […]
Continue ReadingFellow Nigerians, I know I caught many people unawares yesterday with the sudden announcement of my membership of the leading opposition party, the People’s Democratic Party. It was practically impossible to inform all members of my extended family and many friends of such a monumental decision for several reasons. I know for a fact that […]
Continue ReadingI was always fascinated with the notion of a Kaduna Mafia or rather the Kaduna Mafia of my imagination. I imagined it as a pressure group that manages the Northern hegemony of Nigerian politics with discipline and enlightened self-interest, in a manner that is not inconsistent with the overall development of Nigeria. Conscious of this […]
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