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Opinion

Saturday, 12 June 2021 05:41

Nigeria’s school kidnapping crisis is even worse than you think - Bulama Bukarti

There has never been a more trying time to be Nigerian. That sounds cliched, but there are simply no words to convey Nigerians’ horror at the endless cycle of national grief. Our country has so far been spared the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic, but extremist violence, communal clashes and rising criminality are producing an epidemic of insecurity. The latest alarming trend is a wave of mass kidnappings of students, endangering millions of children’s futures. At the end of May, dozens of kidnappers on motorcycles stormed a school in north-central Nigeria and whisked away 136 children aged 5 to 14…

Friday, 11 June 2021 05:38

Birthday greetings: In lieu of responses - Edwin Madunagu

When Gani Fawehinmi died in September 2009, I put together an extended tribute for distribution in Calabar, Lagos and wherever the funeral would be. The centres of distribution in Calabar included our home and my office. Comrades, compatriots and friends were asked to come to any of these centres to collect copies for themselves and for others. A young lady with whom I had worked in Calabar chose to come to the house. I did not see her but I heard her say something like this to a member of the household: “Oga is always writing tributes for his comrades.…

Friday, 11 June 2021 05:36

What Twitter ban teaches the world about Nigeria - Azu Ishiekwene

The Nigerian government thinks Twitter is the greatest source of its misery. After straining at the leash for months, it couldn’t resist swatting the microblogging platform with a ban last week. But what does the ban mean, really? It means that about 40 million users in Nigeria who are mostly young people would be unable to access the service through local service providers. This figure is more than the total number that voted for President Muhammadu Buhari in the last two elections combined, over half the total number of those who voted in the general elections of 2019, and nearly…

Friday, 11 June 2021 05:35

FG’s Twitter ban: Another view - Olalekan Adigun

I first heard about Twitter during my final year at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife in 2011. I neither knew how it worked nor how to even be a part at the time. I only knew of Facebook which I rarely used since Twitter users made themselves appear like an elitist, members-only club. I couldn’t open a Twitter account until three years later. This is how I became, like most users, addicted to the network ever since largely running political commentaries and advocating social change. Like many people, I was affected by the sudden, and rather harsh decision, of the Nigerian…

Friday, 11 June 2021 05:33

The burden of the first lady - Dare Babarinsa

Mrs Ajoke Muhammed may be one of the least known First Ladies in Nigerian history. When her husband became Nigerian third military ruler, she was just a young woman of 33, looking forward to a lifetime of conjugal felicity with her husband. She became a widow at less than 34 years of age when her husband was killed during the coup of February 13, 1976. Then she began a lifelong journey of widowhood. Her husband was just 36 and even at that young age, he had been at the epicenter of Nigerian politics for at least a decade. Ten years…

Friday, 11 June 2021 05:32

A rash decision that keeps single women hostage - Michael West

"Had I known, I would have listened to my mom. I didn't know it would be this difficult to get marry." This lamentation came from a caller Wednesday evening while sharing her story with me. I have her types on my counseling list. I have been reluctant to write about this topic because some of those who are close to me may think I intentionally wrote about them whereas almost on daily basis I encounter women who are victims of their rash decisions and wrong reasoning. The caller, in her early 50s, is not pleased with the calibre of men…

Thursday, 10 June 2021 05:47

Restructuring: An idea whose time is gone - Bola Bolawole

Today I am yielding this space to a friend and professional colleague who is a veteran journalist, relationships expert, music aficionado (of the “Sound Judgment” fame) and political affairs commentator. His name is Michael Awe aka Michael West. Enjoy it! “Whoever is still campaigning for restructuring to happen under this Fulanised government is short-sighted and not coming to terms with the reality in Nigeria of today. For obvious reasons, restructuring cannot happen under the retired Gen. Muhammadu Buhari-led government. The anchor reason is that restructuring is believed to be inimical to the interests and agenda of the Fulani imperialists. The…

Wednesday, 09 June 2021 05:47

These incendiary video clips! - Femi Mimiko

It is indeed scary the speed with which our country is cascading into cataclysm! Some of the video clips making the Internet rounds - of deadly attacks on the sleepy Igangan community in Oyo State; of burning of individuals and animals in the Southeast; assassinations and killings in Imo; kidnappings in Ondo; and massacres in Benue, Plateau, Zamfara, Borno and elsewhere - are unspeakable! I have argued consistently, standing on the observatory of history, that when things are moving in this direction and with this speed, the onus is on GOVERNMENT to re-strategise, climb down from its Olympian heights, make…

Monday, 07 June 2021 05:17

This house must not fall - Niyi Osundare

(Fateful cracks in the wall of The House Lugard Built) 1 This house must not fall Though brick after brick It creaks like a hapless shack Weighted down by History’s burden Once Sphere of Influence Of foreign conquerors who foraged Distant lands for God and Country; A fiercely treasured booty between Treacherous ocean and insatiable desert A cynical assortment of parts, random, raw, Which have never mastered The art of bonding into a steady whole Bumbling bedlam of tribes and tongues….. Eating each other’s spleen Shibboleth-shouters at hellsgate, Incapable of hearing “My tribe is triber than yours” “My tongue is…

Sunday, 06 June 2021 05:36

Baba Lekki sings Haruna Ishola - Tatalo Alamu

A few hours after the government announced the suspension of Twitter, Baba Lekki shambled in shamelessly and pole-hugging drunk as usual. He was mumbling some imprecations against the authorities. Just before then, some nutters sent a tweet that went viral: “These tweets are banning Twitter using their Twitter handle”. In reporting the proscription even the correspondent of Aljazeera could not resist a smirk of incredulity. Thereafter, Nigerians took to their Twitter handle to instruct on how to evade the ban by obtaining a VPN that allows you to “tunnel” into another domain. It was at this point that the rogue…

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Sunday, 06 June 2021 05:34

Buhari: Tweeting Asaba massacre on Road to Rwanda - Festus Adedayo

Like a suicide bomber ready to sacrifice his life, I slid into the Nigerian war theatre last week. No, not Northeast Nigeria, where kaffir soldiers are busy bombing Boko Haram faithful; nor Northwest, where good bandits are in an orgy of kidnapping hundreds of school children – apologies to bandits-negotiating merchant mullah, Ahmad Gumi. I was in Igboland where the second Nigerian civil war, unbeknown to many, has begun in earnest. For me, the mental feeling of war was actually the pandemonium that my visit evoked in the hearts of people privy to my itinerary. “How dare you!” they chorused.…

Sunday, 06 June 2021 05:32

Finding peace in the wake of storms - Taiwo Akinola

And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm ~ Mark 4:39. Introduction: The word, ‘uncertainty’, is like the predominant word in our world today. Endemic fear runs rampant in many hearts, hence, we need to be constantly reminded that our God is bigger and much more powerful than any challenges we might be facing. Of a truth, these are difficult and unprecedented times. Unprecedented? Yes, from Covid-19 pandemic crisis, to EndSars imbroglio, to heightened terrorism, kidnapping and banditry, to increasing sectarian and secessionist…

Sunday, 06 June 2021 05:28

Article of faith: By His stripes we are healed (1) - Femi Aribisala

Abraham was a faithful man in all his ways. He was not only faithful to God: he was faithful to man. He was faithful to Sarah his wife. If there was anything Abraham wanted in this world, it was to have a son. However, Abraham discovered that Sarah, the woman he married, was barren. Abraham could have insisted that Sarah must get pregnant before they are married, so he can be sure she can conceive. But he did not. He might have waited for a few years and then married wife number two just to get a child. But he…

Saturday, 05 June 2021 05:44

Constitution wetin? A game of deceit and distraction - Tola Adeniyi

It is curious that millions of otherwise educated people can be easily fooled and dragged into the on-going theatricalities and inanities of a so-called jamboree deceitfully tagged Constitution Amendment Panorama. What are they amending? Who is doing the Amendment? For which purpose and to what end? And for whom? I would have said it is laughable, but who in the Nigerian contraption is laughing now? Who is laughing? Is it the hundreds of thousands who had been driven away from their ancestral homes in the last 5 years and are now crowded and famished in the so-called Internally Displaced Peoples…

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