Browsing: Column

We are entering into a red zone of “Who Dares Wins” that sets demonstrators under the aegis of Endsarism ideology against the warring, bullish, combative, brutish, tyrannical and reactionary forces of Buhari’s dictatorial resume. Gaslighters, bombthrowers and pacifists are shoveling into the trenches in a macabre war of social media civil war.

I recall the Ndudi Elumelu corruption probe of the power sector in 2009, where, as Chairman of the House Committee on Power, “the prober” was accused of receiving bribes and allegedly annexing N5.2 billion from the rural electrification budget alongside other officials on the panel. I would like to ask, what came out of this all-important and well-noised probe? Nothing!

But the fact of being Human lies however in how man continues to strive to dominate his environment, his capacity to adapt, endure and aspire, and hence, out of every adversity, man pushes further – like Atlas, and Sisyphus, creating one of the greatest mythological narratives about the existential state.

A brief recap of the rumpus. On August 12, 2020, the UNILAG Governing Council, then under the headship of Dr. Wale Babalakin (SAN), in a majority vote, at a decisive meeting of the body, relieved the just reinstated VC of his appointment (then), following allegations of abuse of office, financial recklessness and many infractions in award of contracts. This action, expectedly, did not go down well with Prof. Ogundipe and as such immediately headed to court to contest the Governing Council’s decision.

The three main Nigerian leader were participants and high stakeholders in the 1959 general elections.  There were Alhaji Ahmadu Bello, the teacher and local government administrator, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, journalist and publisher of the famous West African Pilot and Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the lawyer, trade unionist and journalist.

Now, the idea of the Federal Government to deregulate the social media will bring about limitation of government control over media companies, either in removing or loosening government restriction media companies, but it is supposed to make the companies protect users from content involving things like violence, terrorism, cyber-bullying and child abuse. Companies will have to ensure that harmful content is removed quickly and take steps to prevent it appearing in the first place.

Though the picture, entitled: “The Struggling Girl,” won the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography in 1994, Carter committed suicide four months after on July 27, 1994 by poisoning himself with carbon monoxide. He was aged 33. Carter had been reportedly taunted by the world and haunted by what the world perceived as his inhuman treatment of a dying boy. A caller on a radio programme, who asked what Carter did to help after taking the “interesting” picture of the young Nyong, was shocked at his reply: “I had a plane to catch.”

Many things agitated the minds of the UN team, which said it was visiting to highlight issues dear to the heart of the global body: COVID-19 and its ravages, security, humanitarian aid for displaced persons, climate change, the EndSARS campaign, and many others.

The likes of Emefiele and other highly placed Nigerians, including President Muhammadu Buhari, hailed the youths for exercising their fundamental rights to engage in peaceful protest. But the same Nigerians, including the law-abiding youths, also rose to condemn acts of violence and brigandage introduced in the protest by a few highly vicious persons. The introduction of violence, whether by omission or commission, took so much virtue from the protest and tarred it with a veneer of destruction.

The turn out was very much about how this was an election like no other. It was a battle for the soul of America. For many Americans, the nightmare is over. That nightmare is represented by four years of a divisive, problematic, abusive Trump Presidency. Trump talked about “America first”, a phrase that past and future American Presidents have also projected as a guiding principle.

When the youth are discussed in social and economic terms, they are said to be the architects of their own misfortune. On the political turf, they are totally excluded from power. They are merely complimented as “leaders of tomorrow”. In this article, I try to argue that central to the understanding of the youth question is our collective failure and the question of youth marginalization.

That Atiku Abubakar’s name is associated with everything in Nigeria at this time is fantastic. We must not for fear of Buhari allow ourselves to be bullied. Waziri Atiku Abubakar will not walk on eggshells in a country he has served in numerous capacities, both as a public servant and a political leader, sacrificing so much to build a pan-Nigerian acceptability across tribe, gender, religion and generational divides.

But Lagosians now pay toll, to and fro, at the Lekki profit gate everyday. Even the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, a true Lagosian, can’t mobilise fellow Lagosians not to pay at the Lekki bondage, sorry, boundary gate. Iyen ma lewu. Odikwa risky. Baba-Baba mustn’t hear that