Author: Prince Charles Dickson PhD

Until the philosophy which hold one race superior And another inferior Is finally and permanently Discredited and abandoned Everywhere is war Me say war That until there no longer first class and second class citizens of any nation Until the colour of a man’s skin is of no more significance than the colour of his eyes Me say war That until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all Without regard to race Dis a war That until that day, dream of lasting peace, world citizenship Rule of international morality Will remain in but a fleeting illusion to be…

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Let me start my admonition this week with a usual unusual, an unexplained norm within our political space and leadership sphere. Who amongst us has understood the idea, principle or workings of office holders going to functions late, and then blaring away sirens, racing in breakneck speed, which in not just one case, in that mad rush, their convoys have been responsible for innumerable casualties? Why go late to a meet/function that you were made aware of by your protocol many days before—why? So, in the unusual manner I started, I painfully continue; a certain Mrs Adeola Egbebi, an environmental security guard, collapsed on duty at…

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It has been one hell of a week, Governor Ortom wept, one time governor, and Senator, Presidential hopeful Tinubu wept, Senator Smart Adeyemi wept too, Wike shut the River state borders, Legislators are scared, Governor Zulum visited Buhari, one of many so far, more security infrastructure burnt, a high court set ablaze. The Muslims accusing Christians and vis a vis, in Nigeria death is becoming a national pastime, social spaces have all sorts of news but real, old, fake and new. Communities are reaching out to the bandits to sign deals that allow them to live, our roads are getting…

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We have been struggling to fix the foundation of the house. Now the roof is also leaking so badly. What do we need to do? Emmanuel Ande Ivorgba I have often posited that unlike Chinua Achebe’s ‘there was a country’—for me there was never a country. And that’s why we are where we are…the foundation was bad, the roof is leaking and the windows are not exactly playing the roles it was designed to do So, let me start this way; the North and Islam are two different things, just like you might be a citizen and yet not an indigene in…

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While the cat’s away the mouse will play; na before be dat. PCD In Yoro, Honduras, the people speak of the lluvia de peces, or the rain of fish, which they commemorate with a festival during the rainy season. Miracles such as this, it is hoped, will rescue people from the tribulations of hunger. Roberto Sosa (1930-2011), one of the great poets of Honduras, was born in Yoro, but he moved away from the miraculous toward the politics of the people and the Left. In 1968, he published his finest collection of poems, Los pobres (The Poor), which won the…

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Only last week I had written on the need for a plea of allocutus on the Nigerian case, and myself and lawyer buddy Barrister Madaki while mourning the state of nation and x-raying possible solutions, it only got worse. So, the last we heard from the President of the world’s largest black population, from official quarters was that the President was resting, albeit while seeing his doctors. Rome burns and Nero fiddles…so they say… After ten days the National Association of Resident doctors finally suspended their strike, the strike was made even worse by the poor comments of the minister for labor,…

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In a court somewhere in Nigeria… My Lord by way of allocutus the accused person now the convict pleaded guilty for the crime of cybercrime aka ‘yahoo-yahoo’ at the earliest possible time upon his arraignment, thereby not wasting the honorable time of this honorable court. We therefore urge upon my Lord most respectfully to construe the timeous plea of guilt of the convict as a serious and unprecedented sign of remorse—a sign of ‘I-no-go-do-am-again’ my Lord. My Lord the convict is a first offender, with no criminal antecedent or record whatsoever. My Lord the convict is a second class upper…

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Prisoners in our own safe spaces…DD So lately I have played with the idea of participating in partisan politics but sadly there are loads like me that have a serious identity question mark hanging over us, will I participate as a Plateau man or Yoruba, or Igbo man. Last week I was a guest at the prestigious “Stepping Out” platform discussing the topic, Nigerian Unity, are we the cause or the curse? My conclusion is that we are both, and as long as we keep the current format of mind behaviour, as long as the current constitution is the driving…

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This long, very long note is ‘to and for’ my friend Uncle Sam Nda Isaiah, it’s for us, for you, for me, for them… Sir, your death, like many a death, again has shown like I say, as Nigerians we are slow to learn, quick to forget, and hardly remember. I know you know sir, after the rush of eulogies, flowers, and tributes many have already forgotten you passed on. With the exception of your immediate family, you have been replaced, loads of tribute spoke to your personae and experiences they had with you. Now you are terrestrial, well seated…

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You cannot build on lies… We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. Preamble to the Declaration of Independence That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles…

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All idiots are morons, but not all morons are idiots. It’s the International Women’s Day 2021 and the theme is ‘Choose to Challenge’. So today I choose to challenge us, the people of Nigeria, hoping that someone is reading and listening, a quick caveat, I will be sometimes uncomplimentary in my choice of words, phrases and conclusions but that’s the essence; a challenge and yes a choice. Over the last decade, I have done a sizable amount of work on not just Boko Haram but also the Chibok girls, killings, abductions and Nigeria’s conflict torn Northwest region. So listening to…

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“My kind of loyalty was loyalty to one’s country, not to its institutions or its officeholders. The country is the real thing, the substantial thing, the eternal thing; it is the thing to watch over, and care for, and be loyal to; institutions are extraneous, they are its mere clothing, and clothing can wear out, become ragged, cease to be comfortable, cease to protect the body from winter, disease, and death.”― Mark Twain The easiest and most attractive national past time now seems to be buck-passing especially with the bunch of leaders that we have, that can hardly peel a…

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 Police van used to convey the arrested #OccupyLekkiTollGate protesters on Saturday, February 13, broke down. The van had to be pushed by the officials of the LCC and the protesters eventually transferred into another vehicle… The Sultan of Sokoto, HRH Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar III, last month stated that seven to eight out of every ten kidnappers arrested in Nigeria are Fulani. Abubakar disclosed this at a meeting of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders’ Association (MACBAN). However, the monarch said that it was wrong to label all Fulani criminals or use ‘Fulanis herdsmen criminal’ to explain developments because of the misdeeds…

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His name, Dennis Aduba, 63 years old, loved by his people, philanthropist and American based insurance Marchant. He was a father, a grandfather, a brother, an uncle, and he’s gone and no matter of sorry, empathy or sympathy and all the stories cannot comfort the widow, cannot comfort his two sons, brothers and sisters. So the first narrative was that he was kidnapped alongside his kinsmen on his way back to catch a flight back to his US base. He was shot by the kidnappers because he was exhausted and slowing them down. Some 48 hours plus his co-travellers were…

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I am shocked that the rising cases of Covid-19 in Lagos, Abuja and Plateau are becoming an issue of concern. Contemplating lockdown in such states and the FCT, shows something is fundamentally wrong with the government’s response. The rising numbers in these states is a consequence of the government’s effort in testing its citizens, which should be commended. Such concerns should be raised when the rising number is also translating into fatalities, which we are not recording. For the few fatalities recorded in Plateau recently, most of the persons had underlying conditions which must be taken into account. The focus…

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I start my admonition with a story of a certain legislator, representing one constituency like that in a place like that, on getting to the assembly he was made opposition leader. He was so good at his task that he criticised everything, opposed anything to the delight of his admirers and those that cheered him on. The height of it was when a bridge was to be constructed in his community in dire need he opposed it with such venom that the government had no choice than to leave the community without a bridge. So Mr. Trump is Christ, and…

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On 6 January, the world witnessed an interesting spectacle, an assortment of what appeared to be characters from fantasy television shows taking possession of the US Capitol, where the legislature sits. Despite spending more than $1 trillion on its military, intelligence services, and police, the United States government found itself overrun by a horde of (1) Donald Trump’s supporters (2) Homegrown Terrorists and (3) others. They came without any precise programme and were not able to elicit a serious revolt around the country. What they showed clearly is that there is a serious divide in the United States, which weakens…

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In a country where good news is scarce and bad news is commonplace, a nation where the political class and elite are the harbinger of all sorts of rascality, epitome of crass misgovernance. We were anxiously waiting for the next drama to occupy public space. Happily yet unfortunately the Paternity scandal, and it’s ante-dent DNA drama sprung up. And the bastion of democracy USA also brought along with Trumpism, a once in a lifetime epic. For Moyo, Tunde Thomas and Nuhu Adam, FCMB and their friends, these were not interesting times. For the purpose of my admonition let me refresh…

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Truth is that the little talked about New Year speech by the Nigerian President has come and gone, at the heart of it was sour hope, no charter, the treaty that binds the collection of her people, as a Nigerian project was not there. It is well worth reiterating that at the heart of pressing matters of governance, each passing hour in a year that is barely a week old, a lot is slipping from public consciousness: The protection of lives and property The faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the Nigerian citizen’. The integrity of…

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In November of this year of COVID19 2020, days after a starving lion and a number of other severely underfed animals were discovered by a shocked visitor to Gamji Gate Zoo in Kaduna State, a wildlife charity, Wild@Life e.V, in conjunction with the Nigerian Association of Zoological Gardens and Wildlife Parks (NAZAP) rescued the severely malnourished lion. Francis Abioye, NAZAP National President, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Owerri that the distressed lion was trapped for five days in the zoo after a recent flood in the state. Abioye said the rescue could not be easily carried out…

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So, Google releases what it calls top searches every year, for Nigeria in 2020 subject matter like ASUU, Rema, Naira Marley, Rahama Sadau, Hushpuppi, coronavirus, pornstar cocktail recipe were top on the list. Maryam Sanda, the woman who was sentenced for the murder of her husband in 2017 was ninth highest-ranked person on the internet for Nigeria this year. As 2020 rolls to an end, it’s the year that would be remembered for so many things, and I dare say for Nigeria very few of those things are good memories and for a nation that chooses what it remembers, how…

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First let me thank premiumtimesng.com  and the current governor of Katsina for making this concluding part of the man from Katsina, the interesting read it has been in conclusion. We started the two part series, drawing inference from The Man from Sagamu, by Adaora Lily Ulasi, first published in 1977. It is festival-time in the Nigerian town of Sagamu, but no one is feeling festive. Olu Agege, the town’s most prominent, if not responsible citizen, has vanished -literally into thin air. The baffled police force suspect kidnapping. The Oba suspects he will be suspected. The Resident Officer, Mr Whitticai, is only sorry…

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I remember decades ago reading Adaora Lily Ulasi’s work, Many Thing You No Understand, when I read the work, who would have thought about the strange happenings in my nation Nigeria, Adaora who passed on in 2016 also wrote Many Thing Begin for Change, and The Man from Sagamu Let me say that as we keep mute or play mute, as we pay lip service things are changing, and the resultant effect is one that we may not be able to cope with. And I would draw inference from The Man from Sagamu, first published in 1977. It is festival-time…

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Only in August 2020, as we grappled with COVID19, not knowing that there was #endSARS and palliative stealing in the horizon, I had written under the title Crocodile Tears And The Prodigal Leaders Of Northern Nigeria, and seven years earlier I had written on Northern Nigeria And Her Mythical Realities, I repeated the same essay only three years ago. So let me start in this manner, everywhere in Nigeria is unsafe, or put mildly “relatively safe” that is if you get my drift, like for example we have over 200 illegal routes in Ogun state, did you follow the killings…

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You do not catch fish in anger… Sometime next week I would be one of the keynote speakers at an event with the broad topic Youth and politics, my section would deal with Youth and Identity Politics, in search of a new Nigeria. At first, I was not exactly sure what to make out of the topic, do I believe in a new Nigeria, are the current crop of youth, I mean is this generation the real deal, what were the lessons of the recent near nation-wide protests, and the aftermath, have we treated the ringworm or we have just…

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These uprisings will bring out the beast in us…Fela Anikulapo Kuti So while I was at the gym I was talking with my wife, she revealed that she had lost sleep because of a friend that offended her, the friend was given specific instructions on a small matter of foodie between the both of them, and she felt sad that the friend went against her wish and instructions on the mater. Interestingly here was a friend she expected knew her enough to understand her… We moved into a lengthy conversation about how people do not really listen, or listen to…

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“Apart from the known and the unknown, what else is there?” Harold Pinter, The Homecoming, 1965  Some days back I was a guest to the “association of free newspaper readers” at a popular Newspaper vendor in town, to as usual sample the opinion of the ordinary Nigerian. It was a discussion of life full of its difficulties and obstacles, such that I wondered what actually our leaders have done for the nation. Loads of all kinds of perception. The President speaking to the Sultan and others said they were addressing the concerns of youths, the youths, on the other hand,…

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It’s not only Nigerians that deserve a new Nigeria; Nigeria also deserves New Nigerians! Let me start my admonition with the story below, as carried by Fox News American hostage rescued in West Africa by SEAL Team 6 in daring raid The rescue took place earlier Saturday in northern Nigeria An American hostage has been rescued in Nigeria by SEAL Team 6 in a daring raid, Fox News has learned. The elite commandos jumped out of a U.S. Air Force transport plane a few miles from the target.  Without suffering any casualties, the SEALs rescued Philip Walton, 27, after killing…

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It is well…even in the well It was Tracy Chapman’s Telling Stories that was playing…For Nigerians it has been almost two weeks of telling stories, what started as a noble idea to demand accountability from our leaders using the theme #endsars resurrected tears sorrow and blood as thugs, hoodlums, state and non-state actors in cases hijacked an otherwise noble cause. Like many things Nigerian, it has opened the perennial ethno-religious, regiocentric coloration, and the Nigerian state is on fire. So we were listening to Tracy on the small radio… There is fiction in the space between The lines on your…

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While in prison, Mahjoub wrote poems to elevate himself and to inspire those around him. Despite the prison walls that surrounded him, he never lost his blinding smile. Born are the beautiful children, hour by hour With brightest eyes and loving hearts, Adorning the homeland, they come. For bullets are not the seeds of life. We need not renegotiate our unity but to understand it as a bond of cohesion, one of humanity with shared commonality and interdependency not some state policy. The gods are angry, the land is soiled, leadership has failed, again the nation is at 11:59 and…

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