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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The Fulani have many intriguing proverbs. ‘If a man says he will swallow an axe, hold the handle for him.’ That is one of the proverbs. If you want to understand the full import, then listen very well to Alhaji Buba Galadima who professes to be Buhari’s enemy. He was in the news a few […]
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few hours before Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and I are due to speak, the result of the US election is finally called. The Nigerian novelist, who is based in Maryland but is currently in Lagos, where she spends part of the year, had been on her way back from taking her daughter to a birthday party when she […]
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It is only in covens that witches and wizards congregate to feast on the blood of humans and inflict excruciating pain on their victims. In such evil communion, witches and wizards derive great pleasure in causing their victims great misfortune. The above narration aptly brings to the fore the reign of torture innocent and law […]
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In President Muhammadu Buhari’s 2000-word Independence Day address to Nigerians, he appeared determined to portray the image of a unifier. He used the word, together, 10 times. Together, he said, was adopted together as the theme of the event. He did not clarify who comprised “together.” But it was not the most important word in […]
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