White privilege is a beast. It is an innate, naturally concocted following…it is therefore hard to extricate oneself from its snares. ―Don Okolo Man has disintegrated badly; his mind is still functional in the sense that it still wants to satisfy the musings of those like him. But the rest of him has acquired real estate in the pit of squalor where he now sits in comfort writing essays of disdain and mischievous husbandry in...
Aside from the ruling class in the north, south, west, and east of the country, nobody else is benefitting from the country. ―Ebuka Onyekwelu Sixty years is too long, but apparently, too short a time within which Nigeria can decide the identity it wants to take on. For six decades after Nigeria’s independence, basic questions of nationhood remain unanswered; Nigeria is yet to resolve issues surrounding its identity. Most recently, the recurrent question remains if...
Inhumane sharia punishments, including flogging, amputations, and stoning, have long embarrassed the federal government of Nigeria. That is happening now, with the 120-month prison sentence handed down by a Kano sharia court to a thirteen-year-old boy, Omar Farouq, and the death sentence handed down by the same court, again for blasphemy, on a twenty-two-year-old musician, Yahaya Sharif, for a song he shared on social media. A third, Mubarak Bala, a self-proclaimed atheist, has disappeared in police custody....
It could have been minority’s win because of the absence of majority participation. ―Ebuka Onyekwelu The just-concluded governorship election in Edo state was a clash of powerful political forces and no doubt part of the buildup to the 2023 presidential election in Nigeria. But most importantly, the victory in that election belongs to the people of Edo. The less than six hundred thousand Edo voters, who matched their words with action, went out to cast...
Since the start of the pandemic, the film industry has been in free fall. As deaths have continued to climb, so have studio losses, with crowded theaters – once a source of collective entertainment and escapism – now seen as petri dishes for the virus. Familiar blockbuster franchises whose summer releases studios banked on to balance bleeding ledgers have been barred from shuttered theaters. The 25th James Bond film, “No Time to Die,” the 7th “Mission Impossible,”...
Recent media reports claim that a covert Kenyan paramilitary team is responsible for the unconstitutional killing of terror suspects in nighttime raids. The reports are based on interviews with US and Kenyan diplomatic and intelligence officials. The team was trained, armed and supported by US and British intelligence officers. It has been reported that since 2004, a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) programme has been operational in Kenya without public scrutiny. For its part, the British...
On September 2, Boko Haram (ISWA) militants reportedly killed 10 Nigerian soldiers in Borno state. Such bloodshed has become so commonplace that it often fails to garner much interest. International news outlets spilled little ink to report the incident. Nevertheless, the failures of the region’s militaries—as well as the Lake Chad Basin Commission’s Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF)—to combat Boko Haram merit greater attention from policymakers and the international community. The widespread and persistent human rights abuses...
In the face of apparently soaring levels of crime and violence, the Nigerian government has launched a community policing initiative. Abuja has set aside N13 billion (about $35 million) to fund the launch and is recruiting some 10,000 constables, according to Nigerian media. The Chief of Police for Ekiti state is hinting that the new constables will be deployed in the areas from which they come. Locally based, the constables would develop ties with community leaders and,...
From the rockies to the Hudson, to the Potomac, beyond the great sand spread of the Sahara, to the river Naija, the end is on its way ―Don Okolo Life as we know it could be coming to an end. That is not a figure of speech. I have consulted with the shamans and medicine men, from the world’s renowned rainforests, from the swamplands of the Pantanal, to the critter-burdened monsoon regions of the far...
Below is a visualization and description of some of the most significant incidents of political violence in Nigeria from August 29 to September 4, 2020. This update also represents violence related to Boko Haram in Cameroon, Chad, and Niger. These incidents are included in the Nigeria Security Tracker. August 30: Police killed two Shiites in Kaduna, Kaduna. August 30: Vigilantes killed three kidnappers in Damaturu, Yobe. August 30: Sectarian violence led to two deaths in Anambra West, Anambra. August 31: Gunmen...
