The Case For Renaming My State Capital (Port Harcourt)

 By Donu Kogbara

This thought-provoking and slightly edited article, which first appeared in a publication called NewAfrican, was written by my friend and former BBC boss Onyekachi Wambu, a distinguished London-based author and filmmaker.

Why do we continue to cling to the colonial names bestowed on our towns and cities? We do this even when the officials after whom these names given later disgraced themselves. The issue around Port Harcourt is a classic test case.

What would you do if one of your most important cities was named after a paedophile? Change the name, surely, or continue wearing it as a sordid badge of honour?

Wike, The Emperor!

 By Donu Kogbara

Nyesom Wike, the former Rivers Governor and current FCT Minister, has become the most visible, voluble and overbearing individual on the Nigerian political stage. He is more assertive and aggressive than his boss, Mr President.

He hosts more pro-government media interactions, grants more interviews and issues more statements than the Minister of Information and presidential spokesmen. He is far, far louder than any other member of Tinubu’s cabinet. He boasts that APC would have won the recent Osun gubernatorial election if he had been in charge.

Do We Deserve Bad Leadership?

 By Donu Kogbara

On Tuesday night, I appeared on Charles Aniagolu’s Arise TV show, alongside Dele Farotimi and Professor Jibrin Ibrahim.

We had been invited to discuss my view that most of today’s Nigerians deserve bad leadership because they don’t protest significantly when they are subjected to endless injustices and governance deficits.

Nigeria can and should be a great giant of Africa, thriving capital of the black world, source of pride for our Diaspora brethren and example of what black people can achieve if they do things properly.

But we are held back by corrupt, uncaring, cynical, inept politicians and civil servants at the federal, state and local government levels. And I don’t know why we do not rebel more and rebel vigorously.

Nigeria: Things Fall Apart, The Centre Cannot Hold

 By Donu Kogbara

On Tuesday, President Muhammadu Buhari took off to Monrovia to celebrate Liberia’s Special Independence anniversary (commemorating 175 years of self-rule) with other African leaders. According to Garba Shehu, his Senior Special Assistant (Media and Publicity), one of the important issues Mr. President was going to address in his speech at this event was West Africa’s security. 

*Buhari and Weah 

A couple of days before this announcement was made, a harrowing video clip went viral globally. It depicted terrorists flogging male passengers who were abducted from a Kaduna-bound train on March 28 and are still stranded with their tormentors in the middle of a forest, alongside female captives who were seen weeping and wailing. Since Buhari became our head of state, Nigerians in all six geopolitical zones have been subjected to endless security disasters.