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Here we go again: in 2023, whose turn? In Nigeria, nothing excites us like politics. If you want to get our attention, don’t waste your time writing about quality of life, potable water, sanitation, maternal health or out-of-school children. There are more important things that excite us: political intrigues, permutations, elections, all that. I am […]
Continue ReadingThere was a time in my life when my biggest worry about the Nigerian union was the likelihood of a break-up. I worried about the process: would it be peaceful? I didn’t think so. No president would watch the country disintegrate under his watch without putting up a fight. But that would mean another civil […]
Continue ReadingDissonance. Is that the right word to describe the contradiction between word and action? Like the man putting up a “No Smoking” sign while a slowly burning stick of cigarette is trapped between his lips? There are too many things I cannot understand about my country. They look so simple, so commonsensical and so doable […]
Continue ReadingIn 1935, Duke Ellington — God rest his soul — gave the world ‘In a Sentimental Mood’, one of the greatest jazz pieces ever. He composed it impromptu at a party for a friend, reportedly to calm the nerves of two feuding ladies. They stood by either side of his piano as he did his […]
Continue ReadingIt would appear setting up state police in Nigeria is now a matter of “when” – not “if”. What started as a campaign championed solely by south-west political and opinion leaders at the dawn of this democracy has gone on to win more disciples nationwide. Support is coming from unlikely quarters in the north, with […]
Continue ReadingSadly, this story makes me laugh. A human rights activist shared with me an experience she had during a governorship election in one of the south-west states many years ago. She said she was in the state capital on election eve when she learnt that a renowned political thug (who is now being branded by […]
Continue ReadingChilling. I mean very chilling. I felt a shiver down my spine on Tuesday when I saw the video of “new” Niger Delta militants, with war weapons, threatening to bomb Abuja and Lagos because of the “underdevelopment” of the oil-producing region. It brought back sad memories – memories of 2004 when organised lawlessness began to […]
Continue ReadingOn January 9, 2021, operatives of Amotekun – the quasi-state police outfit of south-western Nigeria – went to Aiyete in Ibarapa LGA, Oyo state, on a mission to arrest suspected kidnappers based on “intelligence” from the local communities. At the end of the operation, Alhaji Usman Okebi and his two sons were killed and several […]
Continue ReadingYou won’t believe this. As the Lagos state governor-elect in 1979, Alhaji Lateef Kayode Jakande was so much in a hurry to hit the ground running that he appealed to all headmasters and principals not to demand or accept fees for the new academic session starting in September – in line with the free education […]
Continue ReadingThe quit notice served on the Fulani community in Igangan, Oyo state, by a non-state actor, Chief Sunday Igboho, is a timely reminder that Nigeria is at the risk of becoming a failed state. In my previous article, I argued that no private individual should have such powers in a modern nation-state. But with unending […]
Continue ReadingRecent events in south-western Nigeria, as I would offer to think, are not ordinary. First, Chief Sunday Adeyemo (also called Sunday Igboho), a private citizen described as “youth leader”, stormed the Fulani community in Igangan, Oyo state, and gave them seven days to vacate the land, failing which he would expel them. The “grassroots mobiliser” […]
Continue ReadingHooligans invading the Capitol Hill, disrupting the certification of presidential election result and desecrating the symbol of American democracy? That would be art imitating life. That would be the Machiavellian and eccentric President Frank Underwood doing his thing in the House of Cards on Netflix. But, no, this is life imitating art. This is US […]
Continue ReadingWhat a year. WhatAyear. What. A. Year. Muddled and fragmented. Masked up and washed up. It was a tasteless year, the year we could barely smell the coffee, the year humanity was severely fatigued. It was the year that soaked our hands in an ocean of sanitizers and distanced us from each other. It was […]
Continue ReadingApprehension. Relief. Apprehension again. My emotions went full cycle in seven days. The abduction of 344 students of Government Secondary School, Kankara, Katsina state, had whipped up a frightened feeling of déjà vu in me. The Chibok schoolgirls in April 2014 readily came to mind. More so, I feared that these boys could be turned […]
Continue ReadingIf you take time to study Nigeria since 1960 — when we began to govern ourselves — you would notice an unrelenting constant: bloodshed. From political violence to coups, civil war, ethno-religious riots, communal clashes, military massacres, banditry, terrorism, farmers/herders clashes and kidnappings, it has been a gory story spread across 60 years. In the […]
Continue ReadingIn my previous article, I tried to remind us of what we have always known and talked about: that oil boom flatters to deceive. The world is, meanwhile, desperately looking for alternatives to crude oil — with several advanced countries setting dates, starting from 2025, to phase out vehicles powered by fossil fuels such as […]
Continue ReadingDo you remember when your mechanic advised you not to buy a car with automatic transmission? If you recall, he said manual cars were the best — easier and cheaper to maintain. What he didn’t tell you was that technology had injured him and left him behind. He had thought the world was going to […]
Continue ReadingAny hopes that we are going to quickly move on from the tragic #EndSARS protests and enter into the phase of reconstruction and rehabilitation are disappearing by the day as the federal government closes in on the promoters and supporters of the mass action. A lawyer who actively supported the protests was barred from travelling […]
Continue ReadingMy favourite comedians are Bovi and Okey Bakassi. Governor Benedict Ayade of Cross River state and Hon Gudaji Kazaure are also gifted entertainers. Their theatrics are primed to calm your nerves. But the real deal in politics has to be US President Donald Trump, by far the most entertaining president I have seen in my […]
Continue ReadingYears ago, as we were driving through some Lagos streets early morning on a weekday, we saw idle young men sitting in front of their houses, some with wrappers surrounding their waists and toothbrushes dangling from their mouths. They stared at us. Their faces instantly instilled the fear of God in me. In a sober […]
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