Ahmed Bako: Intellectual Masturbation As Inaugural Lecture

 By Ikechukwu Amaechi

What caught my attention when the flyer of the 50th inaugural lecture of the Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto surfaced in the social media late August was the theme: “The Igbo factor in the history of intergroup relations and commerce in Kano: Opportunities and challenges revisited.”

The lecture, to be delivered by Ahmed Bako, a Kano-born professor of African and Nigerian history, triggered a sense of foreboding instantly because I guessed it would be a voyage in dog whistling, a pastime of ethnic irredentists across the country when dealing with their bête noire – Ndigbo. He proved me right.

Buhari, The Man Who Loathes Nigeria

By Ikechukwu Amaechi

Ordinarily, I wouldn’t have bothered commenting on former President Muhammadu Buhari, the man who, rather than build, spent eight years in power dismantling Nigeria, brick by brick because for me, his voyage into oblivion is good riddance. After Buhari’s eight ruinous years, Nigeria really needed a breath of fresh air.

*Buhari 

Whether the new order enthroned last Monday constitutes a refreshing change which Nigerians clamoured for remains to be seen. But no one can possibly be worse than Buhari. But I am intrigued by Buhari’s adversarial disposition to the country that gave it all for him. In his last days in office, he spoke condescendingly about Nigeria, in a manner quite unbecoming of a president.