By Banji Ojewale
In Nigeria, falling for Afghanistan’s sirens simply is when our
newspaper columnists and writers focus their attention on far-flung foreign
features while ignoring domestic hot-button issues beckoning them. When home
matters of momentous concerns come up asking to be sorted out, or to be
interrogated for a solution, the fatal feminine fellows in the form of foreign
news upstage the burning national discourse and take our writers away.
The age of military rule in Nigeria gave birth
to the concept of going to Afghanistan. The soldiers, upon seizing power which
didn’t belong to them, would abrogate the fundamental rights and freedoms of
the people, brutishly expressed in the suspension of the Constitution, with all
the operational institutions the sacred document created: the elected
executive, lawmaking assembly, political parties, popular organizations like
labour and student unions etc. The martial lords were notorious for throwing
the baby out with the bathwater.
