1. Shock and painful echoes, Unbelief, disbelief, Rejection, and no way, Greater than they say the Iroko has fallen, Now forest is bare, scorching. The great Oghieumua, the immutable Ezomo of Weppa Wanno, the unparalleled Araba of Osoroland, Okpe, and so and so… 2. Pioneer, trailblazer, Founder of founders Absolutely creative, Intrepid and resourceful, Resilient, unquenchable, Brave, lion-hearted, unafraid, Confident, daring. 3. Chai, whither DAAR, AIT? Whither the Catholic Church, CIWA, and the unending missionary support. 4. Whither Mummy Moji, Aunty Fumi, Aunty Tosin, and mothers of the house, Whither Raymond Jnr, Peter, Regina, Homto, little Anu,…
Author: Godknows Boladei Igali
It’s 8 March 2023, and the world, from the farthest east, where the sun and moon rise to their set point is still agog with cheering applause on International Women’s Day (IWD) again. Championed by the American Communist Party, since 1909, the marking of IWD has fledged on, neither hindered by walls nor fences. Essentially, to appreciate womanhood, matriarchy, motherhood, and the general gift of femininity. In addition, the celebration of ‘Mothering Sunday’ also modernised as ‘Mother’s Day’ for this year held on 19th March. From the earliest days down above a thousand years (till it became more formalised in…
Rt. Hon. Chief Emeka Anyaoku, one of Nigeria’s best and most celebrated ever, entered the hallowed chamber of the eldest living patriarchs as he marked his 90th birthday anniversary on 18th January, 2023. Homebred from Nigeria’s premier University of Ibadan, which by all standards, stands out as a leading centre of learning and incubation of knowledge, Anyaoku is today, one of greatest human minds from the African continent, acclaimed global diplomat, administrator and traditional authority. As expected, for such a personality who has attained the apogee of human accomplishment, the world’s greatest and strongest greeted his ripe age with the…
The global community was recently thrown into intense melancholy as the gates of eternity opened to Dr. Madeleine Albright and Professor Grace Alele-Williams, two of humanity’s greatest matriarchs that ever lived. In a seeming relay, the former died on 23rd March 2022 in Washington DC, the United States capital, shortly followed by one who could rightly be called her sister, on 25th March, 2022 in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital. As both sad events occurred in the month of celebration of womanhood, the tributes in their memory have resonated with deeper appreciation. This is even more so as the United States…
It’s not a surprise that the attainment of the age of just 70 years by the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Mathew Hassan Kukah on 30th August, 2022 is a winding national headline in Nigeria. Indeed, the early show of appreciations, tellingly came from Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari, who described “the contributions of the priest as teacher, scholar and writer” in his three-score and ten years as “enrichment to national discourse”. Thereon, high and low, clergy and laity, have heaped encomiums from all directions. 2.0 Where It All Started Wound back, in 1952, Kukah was born in the town of…
*Prologue* With the year 2022, still at cockcrow, one of Africa’s most worthy citizens, Professor Lawrence Baraebibai Ekpebu, took a bow from mortal plains on January 2nd. Leaving in his trail an emblazon of accolades and global reminiscences of an outstanding life including from Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari, former Nigerian leader, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan and home state Governor, Bayelsa Governor, Douye Diri, amongst others. Quite striking and conspicuous, Ekpebu was the first Black-African to obtain a degree from the prestigious Harvard University in the United States of America. Through the luxuriant detours of life, he was a scholar and researcher…
The primaries of Nigerian political parties for the selection of candidates for 2023 General Elections have come and gone, leaving a trail of national dyspepsia of sorts. At a time when the opportunity of political change was expected to elicit eruptive cheers, this situation of staggering mood deserves, as the biological sciences would do, a deeper enquiry into understanding the forms and structures which underline the electoral process. Also, for historians as empirical scientists, which many of its practitioners claim to be, the main tool for accurately recording of current events for future generations entails getting into their roots and…
In the world view of the Ijaw people, who occupy Nigeria’s Atlantic coastline, the largest of whales never die. When the cycle of life eclipses, the master behemoth simply migrates to the deepest recesses of the oceans never to be seen again. So is the parallel story of a once towering, perhaps most outlandishly colourful Nigerian statesman – Alabo (Chief) Tamunotonye Tamunotenyin Omubo Graham-Douglas (1939-2022). He was differently known by the pet name “Ette” (popularized by the likes of IBB), Opu Alabo (Pre-eminent Ijaw Chief), Grandmaster and Leader (of ancient Masonic knowledge and mysteries but ultimately converted to Christian patriot),…
Deservedly described as one of Nigeria’s most outstanding intellectuals of contemporary times, former Foreign Minister, university teacher and public servant, Prof Bolaji Akinyemi, turned 80 years of age on Tuesday 4th January 2022, barely three days after the New Year. Since then, a rhapsody of public discourse on his footprint in the narration of the Nigerian story, especially in the country’s foreign policy arena has continued to re-echo. He has carved out for himself a special place in national annals as a theoretician who had the courage to put into practice, when the opportunity lurked, his radical foreign policy models;…
Though much constrained by professional norms to a life of near anonymity and subdued social exposure, the great national service of one of Nigeria’s ace security professionals, Chief Albert Korubo Horsfall who is also a key witness to the Nigerian story, even as he joined the ranks of octogenerians on 22nd December 2021 remains sparsely told. The significance of Horsfall’s service though in the peculiar dimly setting of his vocation, was the fact that he leveraged on his profound knowledge of the country and its people to impact on national peace and integration at different levels. A lifetime intelligencer, he…
In William Shakespeare’s classic Julius Caesar, the chief protagonist, a Roman statesman and general boasted deafeningly to his wife Calpurnia and by extension to Cassius and Pompey, the other power brokers with whom he formed a triumvirate that “Of all the wonders that I have heard, it seems to me most strange that men should fear; Seeing death, a necessary end, will come when it will come”. So do society view the rather dreary phenomenon called death. But whenever it occurs, either for the youngest or oldest, all express a great “aww”, instinctively. The news of the death of one…
On Friday, April 16, 2021, one of the fathers of Nigeria’s Diplomatic Service, and early crafters of the country’s Foreign Policy, Ambassador Blessing Akporede Clark, marked his 91st birthday. Sandwiched between elder statesman, Chief EK Clark and his immediate younger brother, late playwright, Prof JP Clark, “BA” as his peers around the world know him, was born on that date in 1930 in Kiagbodo, which at the time was in Warri Province of then Western Region. Unlike his more media gripping siblings, this giant in global affairs, is conservative, taciturn, sober and restrained, even after exit from active public life.…
One of the most significant and awe-inspiring mysteries of human existence is the gift of womanhood; in particular, God’s endowment with responsibility over regeneration of humankind. So, every International Women’s Day (IWD) is fortuitous, not only to ponder on the deep spiritual worth of our womenfolk, but to look back on their roles and valued contributions overtime The 2021 Celebration of IWD comes on the silhouette of the explainable euphoria over the election of Kamala Harris, as Vice President of the United States of America and more, our own, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to head the World Trade Organization (WTO). Coincidentally,…
It has become a yearly sacramental that during this season, friends and associates of Nigeria’s former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo converge in the hilly town of Abeokuta, Ogun State, to mark his birthday. On this occasion, Friday, 5th March 2021, the gathering celebrates this most outstanding African and global citizen as he is supposed to turn 84 years, or admittedly, something slightly higher. Beyond mere fete and jollity, these yearly gatherings have become a festering ground for cross-fertilization of ideas among some of the world’s best minds on no few contemporary problematics. This year’s assemblage, I including virtually will…
The 2020 celebration of the March 8 International Women’s Day in Nigeria had an added significance and flavour, as the country was awakened to the news of the appointment of one of its highly valued daughters, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as a member of the South Africa’s Economic Advisory Council. Considering the sophistication and global standing of the economy of that sister African Country, most Nigerian women, enlightened enough to understand what was going on, shared a feeling of great euphoria. Well, the appointment of this Nigerian woman to serve in a high position of trust in a kindred African country…
The 2020 celebration of the March 8 International Women’s Day in Nigeria had an added significance and flavour, as the country was awakened to the news of the appointment of one of its highly valued daughters, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as a member of South Africa’s Economic Advisory Council. Considering the sophistication and global standing of the economy of that sister African Country, most Nigerian women, enlightened enough to understand what was going on, shared a feeling of great euphoria. Well, the appointment of this Nigerian woman to serve in a high position of trust in a kindred African country is…
Introduction In almost all of history, the opportunity to serve in a country’s armed forces is considered as the height of unmatched noblese, valor and glory. However, people are attracted to the armed forces for different reasons. For most, it is the pledge and avowal to place one’s life at the altitude of protecting the safety and peace of the real. In a few number of cases, even in peace times, as was the case of some great Nigerians in the late 1950s and 60s, it was a matter of altruistic mobilization and enlistment by the hands of the great…
Typically, revolutionists are often regarded as villains by the establishment but often esteemed as heroes by those whom they stand for. But it is very few, like the name, Major Isaac Jasper “Adaka” Boro, who combine both accolades of honour and appreciation from both sides. One with fire in his bones like Major Boro couldn’t keep quiet in the face of the atrocious drift in post-independent Nigeria at the time. One common character of a revolutionist is that they place their beliefs and commitments before their lives. So idolized, venerated and immortalized in the South-South of the country as a…
It was originally meant to be a gathering of Nigeria’s ecclesiastical hierarchy, as Head of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), Archbishop Nicholas Okoh offered his Formal Exit Thanksgiving Service on 22nd March 2020. However, due to the global Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, and in compliance with Government directives, Church authorities, opted for a lowkey worship service while on 25th March 2020, the ‘Formal Presentation’ of the New Primate held in Abuja, involving few senior clergy and church legal persons. Dr Nicholas Okoh, had sometime in the past, exited honourably from the top position in the Nigerian Army Chaplaincy. This second…
THE BACK STORY Known towards the closing years of his life as the author of the famous book “Down the River Nun”, which no less than the great poet Gabriel Okara had fantasized about, His Royal Highness, Chief Nicholas Abo Frank-Opigo, would for all times be remembered as one of Ijaw nation’s greatest ever. Although this book was a reminiscence of his ebullient life’s journey covering diverse fields, it clearly stands in a class of its own, akin to epic-dramas, J P Clark’s “Ozidi” and Okara’s “Fisherman’s Invocation,” in depicting the Ijaw microcosmos. On Sunday, 19th April 2020, many around…
On March 5th, 2020, most of the normal crowd around Nigeria’s Former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, like a pilgrimage, gathered at the picturesque Obasanjo Presidential Library (OPL), Abeokuta, to celebrate the global citizen as he turned 83. Like most other years, the audience though tempered by Coronavirus scare was diverse; Pan-Nigerian, international, interracial, interfaith, royalty, nobility, gentry and many others, often labelled, somewhat pejoratively, in sociological circles as of lower order or the masses. As it is with many of the guests at these annual celebrations, each opportunity opens up discoveries and perspectives about the life of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo,…
As we close the year 2019, one name that will reverberate in our memories is that of one of Nigeria’s most outstanding social critics, essayist, thinkers and scientists, Professor Tamuemi Sokari David-West, who passed on 11th November, 2019. Born on 26th August, 1936, he was 83 years when he passed on at the University College Hospital of the ancient city of Ibadan. Apart from occasional call to political duties, he had lived for most of his adult life in Ibadan, Nigeria’s third most populous town and most expansive in terms of landmass of over 3,080 square kilometres. Like many other…
After a glittering and lofty life’s journey straddling the twentieth and twenty-first centuries’ world of arts, creativity and public service, Dr. Gabriel Imomotimi Gbaingbain Okara, was on Saturday, June 22, 2019 returned to his place of nativity, Bumoundi in Ekpetiama Kingdom of the Ijaw ethnic nationality on Saturday, June 22, 2019 to take his final rest. Expectedly, there were endless renditions of poetry, lectures, speeches and performances of drama, drumming, cannon-fire shots and cultural dances. Global audiences gathered all week long in Port-Harcourt, the Niger Delta’s main metropolis and around Bayelsa State’s swampy towns of Yenagoa and Bumoundi, Okara’s hometown…
His Highness Alhaji Mustapha Agwai, the 16th ruler of the historic town of Lafia, the capital of Nasarawa State of Nigeria finally closed his eyes at about 1pm on Thursday, 10th January 2019, at the Turkish Hospital, Idu, Abuja. When Baba’s demise was announced 40 days, not only Nasarawa State, the Kanuri people, the Nigerian Muslim Ummah, but indeed all of Nigeria found itself in true grief and sorrow. For a man that sat on one of the country’s most revered traditional stools for 44 good years and lived over 83 years, his exit should be a source of Thanksgiving.…
