News, Events, Entertainment, Lifestyle, Fashion, Beauty, Inspiration and yes… Gossip! The Only Place It Happens!
Once upon a time, before money displaced Ifa in the Land of Oduduwa, decency was the crest on the Yoruba crown. This was before government’s filthy hands slowly opened the palace gate, grabbed the glittering crown and tore off the crest. So, the crown, crest-broken, tumbled into the mud, crestfallen. Étiquette is not strange to […]
Continue ReadingOn Monday, the President signed into law a bill establishing an education bank that will provide interest-free loans to “indigent students.” The clumsily titled bill, “An Act to Provide Easy Access to Higher Education For Nigerians Through Interest-Free Loans From Nigeria Education Bank Established in this Act with a View To Provide Education for All […]
Continue ReadingAt the valedictory session of the 9th Senate last Saturday, a ‘Most distinguished’ (as they address themselves) told his colleagues that many owe their stay in the green chambers to the ‘benevolence’ of his wife, a retired judicial officer. Despite the best efforts of the (now former) Senate President Ahmad Lawan to apply the ‘off the mic’ principle to gag […]
Continue ReadingWhile Muhammadu Buhari and honchos of his eight-year ruinous regime busied themselves with a feverish last-minute plunder of the public treasury, Femi Adesina chose to deploy his waning symbolic resource as Buhari’s media aide to hatch a brassy plunder of a scholarly laurel. In a social media post dishonestly titled “HONOUR FROM ACROSS THE SEAS,” Adesina misled […]
Continue ReadingThe Batá is a Yoruba drum that is in a class of its own. It used to be highly venerated in social and political circles as its percussion impacted virtually all spheres of life. It is a double-faced drum shaped by its crafters to look like an hourglass, with one end of it bigger than […]
Continue Reading“How was your Democracy Day?” “I woke up early, listened to President Bola Tinubu’s nationwide address, and I went about my daily affairs.” “Yesterday was a public holiday. You were expected to stay at home and have a good rest.” “I can understand if some people enjoyed the holiday, after all it is now more […]
Continue ReadingIn the end, we realise that nothing really belongs to us; not power, not life. Power is fragile; it can also be deadly. It shares properties with candle flames. I take this idea from Brandon Sanderson, author of ‘The Way of Kings.’ Sanderson thinks the lives of men are as brittle and lethal as candle […]
Continue ReadingThis is political appointments season. It is also a season of migrations to Abuja and the various state capitals where there are new governors and overlords. It is the season of intense shoving and jostling for choice government positions. Predictably, there is a virtual stampede at the entrance door of the new administrations at federal […]
Continue ReadingI met the husband first. He was recommended (as a good tailor) by the market women that sold some fabrics to me. Both husband and wife were into dressmaking! In the course of “getting to know ourselves more”, he introduced me to his wife and even showed me her shop. The strongest image of them […]
Continue ReadingAsiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has walked into a minefield with which he is very familiar. He had his own mines in the field, of course. They had been well laid out for over two decades, and with verifiable results. Many of his former opponents are either flat on their backs, are nursing injuries, or are […]
Continue ReadingSpeaking of late Chiefs Obafemi Awolowo and Ladoke Akintola politics, I have a pertinent personal testimony to tender. I had a pretty early and unique exposure to Nigerian politics which can be literally cited as baptism of fire. I was born into one of the contradictions of Yoruba politics which fostered in me a lifelong […]
Continue ReadingIt was quite nice seeing President Bola Tinubu as he waltzed into the chambers where he met security chiefs last Thursday. “Morning,” he greets the chiefs. “Shall we sit or…” They murmur. His gaze is fixed on his guests. What are they saying? “Eh?” He asks; they murmur. “We just sit?” The president asks again. […]
Continue ReadingNo matter how we pare it, the 2012 #OccupyNigeria protests will remain pivotal in our sociopolitical history. Its significance lies in how much the pushback against government insensitivity resounded nationwide and even among the Nigerians in the Diaspora. It started as protests against the fuel subsidies removal, but it soon culminated in other disquieting issues such as […]
Continue ReadingNature was enveloped in darkness as dawn quickened in the womb of time, pushing towards the birth canal, carrying on its head daylight. The cock, being nature’s timekeeper, knew the water was about to break. So, it sounded like the flute in its throat, cookooorooocooo! And nature stirred awake. Upon hearing the cock crow at […]
Continue ReadingA young Lagosian friend was in Abuja last week and decided to pay me a visit. I had not seen her for a long time so when welcoming her, I joked, “Eyinlokan” (meaning it’s your turn, in reference to the inauguration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu which she had earlier told me brought her to town). But she interjected, […]
Continue ReadingHere is a very cheap question that even an averagely educated person should be able to answer. What is the big deal in handling ‘showed’ and ‘shown’, after all (two words: after all; not afterall)? The issue may, however, not be as straightforward as I am suggesting because the two words do clash at times. […]
Continue ReadingOne of the first things that had been cited as evidence of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu showing courage and wisdom and hitting the ground running as the 16th President of Nigeria, has been his announcement that “fuel subsidy is gone”. In his inaugural speech on May 29, 2023, he did not state how but within […]
Continue ReadingThe Canadian Association of African Studies (CAAS) has awarded the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award to Toyin Falola, a professor of History, University Distinguished Teaching Professor and the Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities at the University of Texas, Austin. CAAS is the preeminent association of Canadian scholars studying Africa. The Lifetime Achievement Award […]
Continue ReadingLast Monday, All Progressives Congress chieftain and one-time governor of Lagos State, Bola Tinubu, was inaugurated President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Mr Tinubu’s inauguration was indexed in Nigerian law, which I acknowledge and respect. The ongoing legal challenges to his election are also indexed in the law, and I am happy to acknowledge […]
Continue ReadingThe Buhari Years: What We Ordered vs What We Got – civil society leaders reflect on the Buhari Administration and its achievements, shortcomings, and regressive actions. Following the expiration of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, there have been arguments that Buhari’s eight-year administration, which we would tag as his legacy, has left Nigerians with unfulfilled expectations. […]
Continue Reading