Azu Ishiekwene, Author at The News Chronicle

The Minister’s Code

Azu Ishiekwene Jun 18, 2021

There’s a growing feeling in high political circles that the media is too free for its own good, and maybe also, for the good of the country. As a result, there are attempts on multiple fronts to save the media from what, for lack of a better description, may be called diarrhea of freedom. Those […]

What Twitter Ban Teaches The World About Nigeria

Azu Ishiekwene Jun 10, 2021

The Nigerian government thinks Twitter is the greatest source of its misery. After straining at the leash for months, it couldn’t resist swatting the microblogging platform with a ban last week. But what does the ban mean, really? It means that about 40 million users in Nigeria who are mostly young people would be unable […]

What is the endgame in Nigeria’s South East?

Azu Ishiekwene Jun 04, 2021

Nigeria has been struggling with insecurity for over a decade. Against reasonable expectations six years ago when President Muhammadu Buhari was voted in, things have worsened. Compared with a number of other hotspots around the world in December 2020, however, Nigeria was not even among the three riskiest places. According to global medical and security […]

COVID-19 Stories By Children

Azu Ishiekwene May 30, 2021

It all seems like memories from a distant past. But it’s not. This time last year we were in a lockdown. The world was under the monstrous grip of the Coronavirus. Rumours and speculations about the origin and nature of this invincible foe were rife, leaving data and science in the dust. Fear ruled the […]

The Travails of Malam Nasir El-Rufai

Azu Ishiekwene May 24, 2021

The list was long and the contents harsh and threatening. The notices may have been issued separately, but they landed like a packaged digital bomb in my WhatsApp inbox. Eight unions, apart from the central body, had collectively declared war on Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir el-Rufai. The die was cast. The unions were the […]

Coup Talk and Echoes of a Banana Republic

Azu Ishiekwene May 14, 2021

These days, it seems all right to play with fire. The blaze started like a solitary spark in Mali in August when the streets, the elite and jihadists banded to remove President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita. The former president had discarded election results and written a version that tightened his grip on power. How he thought […]

Busybodies Outside The Gates

Azu Ishiekwene May 11, 2021

Bill and Melinda Gates had barely finished saying the “D” word when all kinds of marriage counsellors and grief-mongers besieged social media with suggestions of why they think the couple is breaking up. The sentiments, ranging from the probable to the bizarre, with a sprinkling of fictional tales in between, have defied the couple’s request […]

‘Follow Me To The Market…’

Azu Ishiekwene May 07, 2021

Everyone has their meal of the day, and mine happens to be dinner. Having dinner, for me, is a ritual, but one that has evolved over the years. Back in the day, I would not dare have dinner without first taking my bath. My mother said it was “unclean” to eat before brushing your teeth […]

First Jollof, Now Twitter. What Next?

Azu Ishiekwene Apr 25, 2021

Something Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, said reminded me of British political journalist, Andrew Marr. Journalism, Marr wrote in his book, My Trade, is a chaotic form of earning, ragged at the edges and full of snakes and con artists. Last week, Mohammed, furious at Twitter’s decision to start its first Africa office in […]

Generational Tension And Children Up In Arms

Azu Ishiekwene Apr 15, 2021

I was visiting a senior over the weekend when our conversation devolved into the soul of the Nigerian banter: how is the country going, I asked? He paused. After a moment of reflection, he took a deep breath and said, “There is tension.” I thought that was obvious and required no special gift to see. […]