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I want to write about the civil war in Egbe Afenifere, then I remember what happened to the lame orphan who thought he could be the referee in a fight of witches. He was too ‘small’ for that magisterial job. I am too, and so, I will hide behind metaphors and allusions in engaging the […]
Continue ReadingThe Washington Post of May 29, 1979 reported an exchange between President Idi Amin Dada of Uganda and an agent of a British money-printing firm. The Ugandan dictator asked the man to help him print two million Ugandan shillings worth of 100 shilling notes. The Briton accepted the offer but “gingerly” asked Idi Amin how […]
Continue ReadingPeter Obi’s enemies are very clever and audacious. They are determined to ruin him and the promise of his movement. Imagine, they appointed for him a certain Mr. John Ezeigbe Ughulu as his campaign coordinator for Lagos State. Lagos is a Yoruba state in the South-West. Yoruba don’t bear Ughulu. It is an Igbo name. […]
Continue ReadingWhile standing before a judge, any judge, you are a ‘petty man’ even if you are a professor of law. I am not being rude. You shouldn’t have any problem getting my drift if you go back and read William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar (Act I, Scene II). You meet Cassius telling nobleman Brutus how imperial […]
Continue ReadingI learnt yesterday that the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, will be visiting Nigeria today. The question I asked the bearer of the great tidings was: When is he going back to his rest in London? He will be arriving Nigeria two days after our urban psychedelic ‘children’ […]
Continue ReadingIn Lawuyi Ogunniran’s Yoruba play, Ààrẹ-àgò Aríkúyẹrí, we see how a happy polygamous family is ruined by the indiscretion of the family head. Ògúnrìndé Ajé, the Ààrẹ-àgò Balógun of Ibadan, man with three wives, throws a party to worship his ‘ori’; he lines up his wives in a singing and dancing bout; the second wife […]
Continue ReadingThe story you are about to read was published by the Nigerian Tribune 38 years ago. It was the lead story of its June 5, 1984 edition. Written by Joe Aladesohun, it was headlined: ‘Man commits suicide’ with a rider: ‘frustration at the bank’. The report: A middle-aged man committed suicide in Ibadan last Wednesday […]
Continue ReadingOn Tuesday, September 6, Liz Truss met Queen Elizabeth at Balmoral, Scotland. We saw her with the queen in a warm handshake as she became Britain’s historic third female head of government. The world clapped and congratulated her. Two days later, the Queen was dead. That is death. Sometimes it comes swiftly and stealthily; some […]
Continue ReadingSpeaking at a book launch in Kaduna Thursday last week, Prof Ango Abdullahi, leader of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), accused some unnamed persons of engaging in destructive campaigns to destroy the north. “I have to state here that we are witnessing some of the crudest and most unproductive campaigns to create divisions between Hausa […]
Continue ReadingOlúségun Obásanjó’s mother told him at the very beginning that if pounded yam is not much, it must be made hard and tough (iyán tí kò pò, ó gbodò yi). Read his biographies. Ashabi Obasanjo Bankole had only him and his sister, Adunni. Her hearth had enough embers, her mortar and pestle had diligence but […]
Continue ReadingLike graceful, snowy egrets basking in the afternoon light, the Pyrates Confraternity sailed out last week on the streets of Lagos. In white and scarlet, they did it with much noise and got lots of shrieks from owls and bats of the night. It was their outing; the beauty of their song triggered the chat […]
Continue Reading“I did not mention it to you. The lady that was among the trio recently freed from the Kaduna train hostage attack is my sister-in-law. She was released after payment of (a huge) ransom… She spent about 80 days with the demons. Look at her picture again; you will see something very dead in her […]
Continue ReadingSinger and songwriter, Bukola Elemide, is better known as Asa. She was paid by the Nigerian state to perform on Tuesday last week in Abuja at the launch of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited. Buhari was seated; many others who mis-run Nigeria with him were there too. They expected a Baba-has-done-well song because they […]
Continue Reading“Who jails society when it does horror to people?” Fela Anikulapo Kuti asked that question the first time he was jailed by Nigeria for going against society’s bad manners. He was a deviant of no precedent. After Fela, very many others have asked the same question – quietly or with ear-grating stridence. There is this […]
Continue ReadingThe July 5, 2022 attack on Kuje Prison, Abuja was more than a story of shame. You cannot be safe in the hands of a people that lack basic skills in attending to little details. Check the figures released the morning after the attack. The first press statement was issued by Umar Abubakar, a public […]
Continue ReadingA professor friend who works abroad is home-sick. He recently asked me: “I want to visit home. I am scared. What do you think? Will I be safe?” I didn’t know what to tell him. Those of us at home carefully select where to go in Nigeria and when to go there. Our country is […]
Continue ReadingFrom a lack of horses, we always saddle dogs, or cows, or even the ugly, scaly-backed alligator (agílíntí ab’ara hòìhòì). We do it every four years in the name of democratic elections. We choose bile as leaders then lament soon after that we are orphaned by the government. The Arabs tell us that to understand […]
Continue ReadingBólèk’ájà means ‘come down and let’s fight’. If you lived in Yoruba land of 1970s with its wood-bodied passenger Bedford and Austin lorries, the slang wouldn’t be strange to you. Sometimes, the push for a fight came from the scruffy lorry boy; some other time, it was a bad passenger who wanted a fight in the […]
Continue ReadingShe was famously called Mama Peace. If there was anything in the Goodluck Jonathan’s presidency that many have missed, it was the no-nonsense voice of Mrs Patience Faka Jonathan, the president’s wife. She was never afraid to take a position on anything even when her husband dithered. I remember her very often these days, especially […]
Continue Reading“My brother will give 15,000 dollars. Initially, he was working on 2,500 per delegate but when Ibrahim entered the race and offered 10,000, my brother had to jack his own up to 15,000. The delegates told him not to do anything for them again after winning the election.” I eavesdropped and heard this statement in […]
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