MIGHTY ARMIES ON PAPER BY Mahmud Jega I am not surprised that Nigerian Army’s spokesman Brigadier General Onyema Nwachukwu came out with [oral] guns blazing at The Economist of London, which last week published an uncomplimentary editorial on Nigeria’s government and its army. It called Nigeria “A crime scene in the centre of Africa.” Which […]
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~~ Let the Kite Perch, Let the Eagle Perch Too, if One Says No Let the Wings Break” When I first read the catching axiom of “Kite” and “Eagle”in Things Fall Apart, a masterpiece of one of the greatest storytellers in history, Chinua Achebe, I didn’t quite give the proverb any metaphorical interpretation beyond the […]
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Leader of the ‘unseen’ persons ruling us, Alhaji Mamman Daura, spoke last week. He said enough of turn-by-turn presidency for Nigeria. He decreed that North-South rotation of the presidency of Nigeria should be dead; from 2023, the most competent among contenders would be put in the Presidential Villa. The Afenifere reacted sharply; the North is […]
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Recently, my perspective on Nigeria changed. I have never suppor bted any separatist or secessionist agenda. However, I have supported and defended the right of any Nigerian to express himself and associate freely. It does not matter to me where such a person comes from. When the Buhari administration moved against Ibrahim Zakzaky and the […]
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Dissonance. 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 […]
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Many of us recently watched a video clip, which, as they say, went viral on social media, wherein the Lagos traffic enforcement team, popularly called LASTMA, were seen struggling to apprehend a driver of a Toyota SUV that was driving against the traffic. Eventually, the driver, while reversing to escape, hit one of the police […]
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Wole Soyinka, last week, wrote about mad cows and madder narratives. Where else do cows, what they eat, how they eat, and where they eat dominate discourses in the 21st century if not in a kingdom of fools? And, again, last week in Ibadan, Nigeria, rotten tomatoes and how they were disposed of claimed lives […]
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Nigerian leaders’ ineptitude has reached the point of insanity by Olabisi Deji-Folutile A few days ago, precisely, January 28, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace released a damning report on Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) in West Africa. The report claims these people especially in Nigeria and Ghana are stealing their countries’ money to send their […]
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Nigerians, 50 years old and above who attended Primary School in any part of what used to be Northern Nigeria, must have been taught during History lessons about the 7 Hausa States of Biram, Kano, Katsina, Daura, Gobir, Rano and Zaria as well as the 7 Banza Bakwai Kingdoms of Zamfara, Kebbi, Yauri, Gwari, Nupe, […]
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The 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 […]
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