Ojukwu: Nigeria: The Truths Which Are Self-Evident!

 Being the full text of the lecture delivered by Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, Ikemba Nnewi, on the occasion of TSM's 2nd Diamond Lecture to mark the fourth anniversary of the magazine on February 22, 1994

*Odumegwu-Ojukwu

Before I say anything, I would wish first of all to congratulate The Sunday Magazine on this occasion of its fourth Anniversary. In particular, I must thank Mrs. Chris Anyanwu and her courageous hand of Pen-Warriors. Madam, permit me, on behalf of those whom I am proud to represent, to say how proud we have been of the various assaults you have launched and waged successfully and the numerous assaults on your establishment which you have withstood with equal success. Madam, we thank you for your availability to those voices who are relentlessly drowned by the clamour of prejudice and the distortions of mischief. Madam we thank you for the truth which your team publishes, for the high journalistic standard which, for four years, your magazine has exemplified. Madam, on behalf of Nigeria, I thank you for ensuring that despite the cacophony of deceit and personal ambition, despite the menace of intolerance and despite the very real antagonism and the meanness of a rabid mob, like Horatio in Macaulay's Lays of Ancient Rome, stood firm and held the Bridge. In holding the Bridge, Nigeria remained conscious of the fact that there are always two sides of the coin. Ladies and Gentlemen, I salute The Sunday Magazine and I recommend the Magazine to all those who wish to keep a balanced viewpoint on Nigerian affairs.

Life In Ghana Under An Nkrumaist President

By Banji Ojewale

Here in Anyaa, Accra, capital of Ghana, I’ve come across some of the country’s leading newspapers. Their contents—news reports, opinions, vox pop, book reviews, cartoons, (dearth of these), sports, photo stories, advertorials etc.--give me a larger-than-life image of the Ghanaian society.  The two oldest journals, Daily Graphic and Ghanaian Times, with their sister weeklies, The Mirror and The Spectator respectively, are on parade.  The later appearances, Daily Guide, The Ghanaian Chronicle, Modern Ghana (Online), The Insight, Finder, Business Ghana, Statesman etc. have also been consulted, considered or captured for this short essay. 

Ghana no longer has evening sheets. Kwame Nkrumah, the country’s founding president, introduced an Accra evening paper in the late 40s to fight colonial rule and give a voice to the local population. In the 60s, there was also the popular Evening Times. Since then, there’s been no serious contention for a comeback.

Nigerian Youths Must Fight For Real Change

By Dan Amor

I am first and foremost a Nigerian child. Then I am a depressed Nigerian youth. Depression obviously has its several roots: it is the doubtful protection which comes from not recognizing failure. It is the psychic burden of exhaustion, and also and very often, that discipline of the will or the ego which enables one to continue fighting, continue working, when one’s unadmitted emotion is in panic. 

And panic, it is, I think, which sits as the largest single sentiment in the heart of the collective members of my own generation. Today, I find myself in an overwhelmingly urban society, a distinctly urban creature. Thus, I am adequately informed of current developments in my country. I am anxious, angry, humorless, suspicious of my own society, apprehensive with relation to the future of my own country. Quixotic, yet optimistic, I am on the prowl for the immediate and remote causes of our national predicament. My nostrils fairly quiver for the stench of some injustice I can sally forth to condemn. Devoid of any feeling for the real delineation of function and responsibility, I find all the ills of my country, real or fancied, pressing on my conscience. Not lacking in courage, I am prepared, in fact, to charge any number of windmills.

How Do I Rescue Nigeria, My Country?

By Dan Amor

I am first and foremost a Nigerian child. Then I am a depressed Nigerian youth. Depression obviously has its several roots: it is the doubtful protection which comes from not recognizing failure. It is the psychic burden of exhaustion, and it is also and very often, that discipline of the will or the ego which enables one to continue fighting, continue working, when one’s un-admitted emotion is panic.

And panic, it is, I think, which sits as the largest single sentiment in the heart of the collective members of my own generation. Today, I find myself in an overwhelmingly urban society, a distinctly urban creature. Thus, I am adequately informed of current developments in my country. I am anxious, angry, humorless, suspicious of my own society, apprehensive with relation to the future of my own country.

Quixotic, yet optimistic, I am on the prowl for the immediate and remote causes of our national predicament. My nostrils fairly quiver for the stench of some injustice I can sally forth to condemn. Devoid of any feeling for the real delineation of function and responsibility, I find all the ills of my country, real or fancied, pressing on my conscience. Not lacking in courage, I am prepared, in fact, to charge any number of windmills.

But in so doing, I am often aggressive and unapologetically critical of my own society, critical of what I need to live by, critical sometimes of God’s own choice of creating me a Nigerian. You may wish to call me names. But do not call me a crank or an eccentric. For, on a very rough and ready basis, you may well see an eccentric as a man who is a law unto himself, and a crank as one who, having determined what the law is, insists on laying it down to others, like some dictator of many a black nation.

APC, Buhari And Arrogance Of Leadership

By Bolaji Tunji

On Monday evening, news filtered in that newly sworn in American president, Donald Trump would hold a telephone conversation with holidaying or recuperating (depending on the information you are working with) President Mohammadu Buhari. Apart from the surprise announcement, Nigerians were equally eager to see whether the conversation would hold and not another of the propaganda that Nigerians have been fed with in recent time, to prove that the president was and is still ‘hale and hearty’, according to the acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo

President Buhari and APC National Leader, Tinubu

The conversation  eventually took place. As with everything that had been subjected to social media scrutiny and query by Nigerians, doubts were raised about whether President Buhari actually spoke with the American president. Nigerians had cause to doubt whether a telephone conversation took place. Weeks after the president left the country on an extended 10-day leave, which was supposed to culminate  with him seeing his doctors, the issue that dominated the cyberspace especially when the president decided to extend his stay without a clear cut date of return was his health status. Information had filtered in that  the president had passed on. It wasn’t as if anybody was wishing him dead, but his health status had been shrouded in so much secrecy that it was difficult to know what to believe.

Who would blame our people? The experience with former President Musa Yar’Adua is still fresh in the memory. After several weeks and months of hide and seek, the citizen eventually got to know that President Yar’Adua was dead. It was a fact that could no longer be hidden.

So with President Buhari, Nigerians were still unconvinced that he was still alive. They thought they were still being taken for a ride in the usual way, in spite of assurances from different quarters.

But I have issues with the All Progressives Congress (APC) and President Buhari. Even when those who surrounds the president are saying differently, Nigerians needed assurance from the president himself, they wanted to know the problem with him. They found it difficult to accept the information from Aso Rock media managers. You can’t blame them, once beaten, twice shy as it’s often said. All they wanted was assurance, they wanted to hear from the president. It was a simple enough thing to arrange.

They wanted the president to speak to them. They wanted to see him ‘live’. But they were disappointed. The APC, the president and his media minders didn’t see any need for it. It was a display of sheer arrogance, that the people do not matter. It is surprising that the president equally decided to keep quiet and didn’t feel the need to speak with the people, unless Nigerians are still not being told the entire truth about his health status. You could have a lot of people visitin. It does not indicate anything. People have visited some people like that they pay their last respect? It does not mean everything is perfect.