Is Christopher Okigbo’s Star Here Again With Us?

By Banji Ojewale

“An old star departs, leaves us here on the shore, gazing heavenward for a new star approaching. The new star appears, foreshadows its going, before a going and coming that goes on forever…”

— Christopher Okigbo, in Path of Thunder

*Okigbo 

Nigeria appears to be falling again under the excruciating spell of a star presaged by this remarkable poet of limitless possibilities.

At the time Christopher Okigbo wrote the poem shortly before his death in 1967, the young republic had writhed in a series of setbacks dating from the Western Region upheavals. Okigbo had a keen mind that correctly interpreted these crises as the shadows of some bigger, more devastating whirlwind into which we were being drawn. 

An Ailing Country In A Season Of Political Defections

By Chiedu Uche Okoye

It’s divine providence that thrust Dr. Goodluck Jonathan into the loft of power following the death of his predecessor in office, Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.

However, Jonathan’s poor leadership performance in office is a proof that he was not prepared for the arduous task of leading Nigeria.

*Some Nigerian Politicians 

During his stay in office as the president of Nigeria, he was tardy, visionless, and clueless.  So, he couldn’t transform Nigeria and take it to unprecedented economic and technological heights.

So, in order to prevent Nigeria from drifting into an anarchical state, leaders of some political parties, including the rump of APGA, reached an agreement, which culminated into the coalescing of the political parties to form APC.

Now That President Buhari Is ECOWAS Chairman

By Owei Lakemfa

One of the first things I learnt about leadership is the William Shakespeare  quotation that: “Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them”  That again played out in Lome, Togo on July 31, when President Muhammadu Buhari  had the chairmanship of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) ‘imposed’ on him.

*President Buhari 

The Presidency said Buhari  had gone innocently to the ECOWAS Summit prepared to vote for Cape Verde, Sierra Leone or  Ghana as ECOWAS Chair when during the campaigns and without warning, the region’s Heads of State asked the candidates to step down only to: “impose the leadership of the organization (on Buhari)against all protestations on the Nigerian leader.”If we accept this tale of the Nigerian Presidency, what happened at the ECOWAS Summit  was the hand of a miracle-working God; a divine intervention.

Femi Fani-Kayode, Nnamdi Kanu, IPOB And Other Victims Of Oppression

By Jude Ndukwe

 I read with derision the infantile missive of one Churchill Okonkwo which he mischievously titled “FFK Stabbed Nnamdi Kanu, Betrayed IPOB and Kissed Kwankwaso” which was published in Sahara Reporters of August 3, 2018. It is unfortunate that in attempt to score cheap points, use FFK’s famous name to climb to momentary limelight and satisfy his paymasters, Churchill vitiated the seriousness of the struggle of IPOB and reduced it to mere politics out of the need to satisfy his hirers.

*Nnamdi Kanu and Femi Fani-Kayode 

  I would have ignored him but then on a second thought, what does it take to enlighten an ignoramus of Churchill’s status. Let me start by making it clear from the outset that IPOB’s struggle is not hatred for the Fulani, it will amount to reducing the noble struggle of IPOB for freedom and justice to hatred for the Fulani or any other tribe for that matter just like Churchill alluded to in that unfortunate essay of his.

Africa Still Needs Strong Men

By Paul Ojenagbon

Former United States President, Barrack Obama, famously made a statement that Africa did not need strong men but strong institutions. Like many, I had swallowed the import of this message until prevailing circumstances compelled me to see reason on the flip side. On the contrary, the continent needs both strong men and strong institutions because it takes strong men to build strong institutions that would endure in their own spheres of influence.

The general perception of many is that strong men in power denotes negativity but the experience in other climes that had similar situations and challenges as Africa showed that the emergence of such super strong men was the turning point in the history of their countries. Strong men can be positive too, it depends on how they are skewed; the negative image of the strong men who dominated Africa the African political landscape negatively for a long time would make many perceive and dismiss them as evil.

Of Migrant Politicians And Political Prostitution

By Anthony Akinola

Quite a number of Nigerians are politically aware, even if their level of political participation hardly goes beyond voting in an election. They could be heard taking sides at election time, arguing vociferously as to why they would support one candidate against another. My recent visit to beloved Nigeria, coinciding with the Ekiti gubernatorial election of June 14, 2018, reinforced my insight into the thinking of the locals as to the possible direction of their votes in the election.  

*President Buhari 

At the highly-impressive Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, I encountered a local chief and another lady visitor to the institution who talk animatedly about how they would rather vote for the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), than that of the rival All Progressives Congress (APC). In praising Aare Afe Babalola for founding a university that has provided job opportunities for hundreds of Nigerians, they said Dr. Kayode Fayemi of the APC would rather build his own university in Ghana, providing jobs for the people of Ghana instead of Nigerians.

The Coward Called Godswill Akpabio

By Femi Fani-Kayode

"You remain the father of the nation, our father and political father to all. Just like I told Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Vice President Osinbanjo yesterday in Nigeria... Those who think that they have politically grown to insult you will all regret it before month end sir. I am here (London) to register my undiluted love and unalloyed support to you. I was involved in all their meetings and I know what their plans are. The long recess of NASS is going to be your advantage and not theirs like they thought and planned"

— Senator Godswill Akpabio to President Muhammadu Buhari.

*Akpabio and Buhari in London 

Those that do not have the courage of their convictions and that do not have the guts to stand against tyranny when under fire are not worthy of being called men: they are little better than beasts.

The fact that the former Governor of Akwa Ibom, Senator Godswill Akpabio, is a coward and a traitor is no longer in dispute. The fact that his brazen treachery knows no bounds is what can best be described as "settled law".

Nigeria: Another Paradise Just Lost

By Abraham Ogbodo

I apologize for the rude exit. When one friend called to find out what happened to Backlash, I told him the bitter truth. I was tired of pushing positions that had not drawn down on President Buhari’s nepotism, tyranny and cluelessness on one hand and enhanced his statesmanship, democratic credentials and capacity to govern well on the other hand.

*President Buhari 

 My last appearance on this page was on April 15. Since then, the degeneration in national life has continued unabated. In fact, the bizarre has become the norm. Yet, the purpose today after the break is not to give any good news. It is to reinforce the futility in expecting a reversal in the narrative of negativity. I apologize for increasing your worries.

Celebrating The Literary World Of JP Clark

By Hope Eghagha

It is within the context of a poignant, profound and perhaps arcane ritual imagination that we encounter John Pepper Clark in his literary world as evidenced by the evocative power of his primal poetic and dramatic compositions. Especially so are some of the early works such as Song of a Goat through Ozidi, the ‘middle’ The Boat, The Return Home, Full Circle, Casualties and the later Remains of a Tide.

*JP Clark 

His only known work of prose the semi-autobiographical and bitingly sarcastic America their America, at once immediate in content and prophetic in thematic concern exists outside this ontology of ritual and the mythic imagination. Almost to the letter (or depth) of contemporary effusions from Trumpian America, this work captures the supercilious arrogance of white America and victims of racial disharmony narrated after a personal encounter with the programmed academy of American culture, capitalism and sociology which our young and bristling JP had found condescending and utterly restrictive. 

PDP And The Burden Of Managing A Windfall

By Sam Ohuabunwa

So very often, we pray for something. And sometimes when the payer is answered, a new problem emerges and that of managing the outcome.

The problem is sometimes exaggerated when God decides to ‘embarrass’ you and give you more than you asked for or were expecting.

There was this story of an Okada driver who had been praying for a child for seven years and eventually his wife became pregnant. Throughout the pregnancy he was full of joy, but could not afford to pay for a scan for his wife and so, had no idea what was on the way. 

Sack These Incompetent Security Chiefs Now!

By Tayo Demola

For several months now, some parts of the nation have been boiling with hostilities. We have since lost count of the number of killings that have taken place. We have lost count of the number of innocent Nigerians that have been killed in one of the most dastard and mindless killings in the history of Nigeria. I can’t believe that this is happening before our own very eyes and nothing has been done about these killings up till now!

President Buhari and Service Chiefs

It seems as if the government has now accepted this as the norm because I’m yet to see any drastic step taken by the President to address these urgent issues and put a permanent stop to these security challenges.  President Muhammadu Buhari should realise that the primary responsibility of government is to protect lives and property and to care for the welfare of the people. The government has failed to provide these for the people.

Lagos: The Tanker Gridlock And Leadership’s Ineptitude

By Chijioke Nelson

The continued siege by the drivers of articulated vehicles to one of the most important road networks in the country’s economic nerve center- Lagos State, is nothing short of dearth of ideas and tacit admittance by the country’s leadership at all levels. I am talking about the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway.

This road, not only serves as the country’s gateway, but also the connecting corridor to Nigeria’s boundary with the popular Cotonou Town of Benin Republic and routes for commercial vehicles heading to Togo, Ghana, among others. But more important is the fact that the road leads off to the homes of millions of residents in nearby suburbs, who work in the Island and other Mainland areas. 

When Leadership Calls For The Best And Brightest

By Chiedu Uche Okoye

Thankfully, Anambra State is on the march to greatness, again, after being held down in the past by unscrupulous political elements in the state. Then, they placed their selfish and parochial interests above the collective good. When the fourth republic dawned here, the generality of Nigerians heaved a sigh of relief and expected that things would change for the better. It did not change for the better, immediately, however. 

*Peter Obi 

In Anambra State, instead of enjoying the fruits and gains of representative government, the people suffered under suffocating and ineffective political leadership occasioned, partly, by the political godfatherism that characterised the politics of the state, then. Is Dr. Chinwoke Mbadinuju and Sir Emeka Offor’s fight for the financial purse and soul of the state not fresh in our memories? And Dr. Chris Ngige took on his political benefactor, Chris Uba, over the control of the state. Those needless political fights hobbled the state and stalled its development.

The Ship Of Nigeria's Ruling Party Is Sinking!

By Reuben Abati

When we wrote much earlier that the All Progressives Congress (APC), Nigeria’s ruling party was a coalition of strange bedfellows and a one-chance special purpose vehicle to get rid of President Goodluck Jonathan by all and any means possible, we were accused of sour grapes.

*President Buhari

 When we argued even much earlier that Nigeria’s Presidential seat of power was jinxed and that there was and there is a spiritual side to power and politics in Nigeria, we were asked to shut up. The new power brokers were so much at home with their taken authority they boasted that no demons could touch them and that they were so self-secure, they were even snoring inside the Villa. Al- hamdulillahi, they have been snoring since then.

Nigeria: The Chickens Have Come Home To Roost

 By Chuks Iloegbunam

I knew that Muhammadu Buhari didn’t represent any sort of change with the tiniest chance of improving the lot of Nigerians. I knew also that people of my education and perspective knew that to have a man with scant redeeming qualities at the helm of Nigerian affairs would represent a tragic setback for the entity. It didn’t surprise me, though, that during 2015 a legion of informed Nigerians ate up incredible media space promoting as sterling what they knew or ought to have known was meretricious. It was all Buhari blah, blah; Buhari blah, blah, blah; Buhari blah, blah, blah, blah.

*Buhari 

Well, the chickens since came home to roost. There had been an American flank to the nauseating valorization of mediocrity. We all always knew that once a Nigerian got educated in the United States or claimed to have gotten educated in the United States, he or she automatically became all-knowing – against the backdrop of all the nonentities they left behind in Nigeria for the trans-Atlantic flight that invariably transformed every sojourner into a genius. On and on, week in and week out, these infallible characters kept churning out tomes of anti-Jonathan diatribe and fabulous episodes on their messiah.

Nigeria: National Assembly And The Retrogressive Media Bill

By Adewale Kupoluyi

Democracy requires an active media to thrive. This is because the parameters that constitute good governance, which is a common feature of a vibrant civil rule, can be measured by the level of accountability, transparency and rule of law that exist in a country. Ordinarily, it is a difficult task for many governments to appraise itself whether it is doing well or not. Hence, the importance of the media in serving as the prism to review the performance of democratic rule parameters is ever relevant. 

*President Buhari 

An attempt to stifle the media in carrying out these functions would bring about dire consequences for good governance. A case under contention is the Nigerian Press Council Amendment Bill, which has already been debated at the public hearing stage. The bill seeks to regulate journalism practice by creating a statutory body to arbitrate between the media and the public. It is on this premise that the media can be compromised that Nigerians were angered with the new media bill before the National Assembly has been described as retrogressive, unconstitutional and anti-people.

Nigeria: From Looting To Sharing The ‘National Cake’

By Matthew Ozah

“Neighbour! How have you been? You seem a bit reserved these days. I hope there is nothing to worry about?”

“Hmm! There is so much to worry about in these perilous times. Even President Muhammadu Buhari is worried about 2019 elections especially with the way APC is metamorphosing. Well, as for me, my pocket is in recession and it is beginning to affect my blood pressure. Indeed, ignorance is a disease. You are here nursing agonizing distress while a scrum is receiving cash handout in your state from the Abacha’s recovered loot.”

*President Buhari 

“What are you talking about? That has got nothing to do with me and I feel let down for confiding in you about my discomfort?”

“Please pardon me jare! But how come you have not heard about the ‘Social Investment Programme,’ Buhari’s pet project to share the recently repatriated 322 million dollars Abacha loot among the poorest and most vulnerable households within 19 states in the country?” 

Gale Of Defections And The Buhari Factor

By Sufuyan Ojeifo

The coming together of political forces of the oppositional hue in the build-up to the 2015 general election portended a grave danger for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). In any case, the behemoth, which the PDP typified at the time, had imprudently and lightly treated the ill-omened development and paid dearly for it.

*President Buhari 

The PDP was brought down in prostrate surrender to the supremacy of the rainbow coalition of opposition parties that formed the All Progressives Congress (APC) on which platform Muhammadu Buhari clinched his historic victory over Goodluck Jonathan. That defeat of an incumbent president was novel in the annals of the nation’s presidential elections. 

APC Spokesman, Abdullahi, Dumps Party

*Bolaji Abdullahi

Despite denying that he has left the All Progressive Congress (APC) only a few hours ago, the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr. Bolaji Abdullahi, has announced his resignation from the APC and the office he holds in the party.

He announced his decision today through his verified twitter handle:

“In view of recent political developments in the country and within the All Progressives Congress (APC), I have decided to resign my position as the National Publicity Secretary as well as my membership of the party with effect from today.

Nigeria’s Gunboat Democracy

By Sunny Awhefeada

There is a sense in which some commentators are right when they argue that Nigeria is not a democracy. Their argument is based on the reality that the military has remained more than a recurring decimal in Nigeria’s political life. When the soldiers blew apart the pillars that held Nigeria’s democratic structure in January 1966, a pall fell on the nation and, the tragic detour which came with that experience is yet to yield the ideals of nationhood. Since then, with the exception of a few promising years, Nigeria has been ruled by hooded men who view statecraft as a cloak and dagger engagement.

*Nigeria's President Buhari

The 1966 coup(s) birthed military rule for thirteen long years and when Nigeria returned to civil rule in 1979, the military adventurers didn’t give politics a wide berth. They hovered around and menaced the politicians. It was concluded then that Nigeria had two leading political parties; the then ruling National Party of Nigeria (NPN) and the Nigerian Army (NA). And in just four years after 1979, the army serenaded Nigerians with an end of year’s gift of martial music on 31 December 1983. The soldiers were back in power. This time, they held sway for sixteen tortuous years. Buhari, Babangida, ‘Bacha, ‘Bdusalami, all took turns to bash Nigeria.