Obidients And The Gambo Sawaba Constant

 By Chuks Iloegbunam 

Hajiya Gambo Sawaba (1933-2001) is one of the reasons no one is prepared to teach anyone a thing about contemporary Nigerian history. Had this political activist’s remarkable odyssey been generally known, people would long have internalised protest against state-sponsored injustice as a way of life. She was routinely subjected to torture. 

*Hajiya Gambo Sawaba 

She once told an audience that all her front teeth were artificial, the natural ones having been knocked out by oppressors. On one occasion, a piece of broken bottle was used to shave off her hair. She was chased from Kano, ordered never to return to the commercial city, and forcefully deposited in Zaria, from whence she came. With 16 incarcerations, she holds the record for the most imprisoned Nigerian woman. 

Nigeria @ 60: Our Leaders Have Failed The Founding Fathers

 By Ayo Oyoze Baje

To fight against untruth and falsehood,

…to fight for our memory;

for our memory of what things were like –

that is the task of the artist.

A people who no longer remembers

has lost its history and its soul.

–     Alekzander Solzhentsyn 

With trillions of revenue in Naira, mostly from crude oil sales, agricultural exports, solid minerals, sundry taxes including Value Added Tax (VAT), from the ‘60s till date, it is a crying shame that Nigeria is currently the world capital of extreme poverty! And that it still parades some of the most disturbing and dismal figures in the Human Development Index (HDI) across the globe. 

*Awolowo, Azikiwe, Balewa 

According to Oxfam Report, between 1960 and 2005, about $20 trillion was stolen from the treasury by public office holders. This amount is larger than the GDP of United States in 2012 (about $18 trillion).The Report goes further to state in categorical terms that the combined wealth of Nigeria’s five richest men, put at $29.9 billion could end extreme poverty at a national level. Yet, more than 112 million people are living in poverty in Nigeria, while the country’s richest man would have to spend $1 million (N386 Million) every day for 42 years to exhaust his fortune! So, what does this mean to you and yours truly?