It is the back of the man with a blunt cutlass that suffers. (A person who does not make adequate preparations for a task or test will rue his or her negligence). Let me start this way, an old man dies, leaving behind two sons. In his will, he orders his sons to race with their horses, and the one with the slower horse will receive his inheritance. The two sons race, but since they’re both holding their horses back, they go to a wise man and ask him what they should do. After that, the brothers race again —…
Author: Prince Charles Dickson PhD
I will start my admonition using the popular theoretical framework of the trolley problem, a thought experiment in ethics. The general form of the problem is this: You see a runaway trolley moving toward five tied-up (or otherwise incapacitated) people lying on the tracks. You are standing next to a lever that controls a switch. If you pull the lever, the trolley will be redirected onto a sidetrack, and the five people on the main track will be saved. However, there is a single person lying on the sidetrack. You have two options: Do nothing and allow the trolley to…
Last week, I had written about my beloved Arewa and the dire situation that she finds herself. I ended that particular admonition by saying that;”Battles are better fought and won through wisdom and strategy than through inflammable pronouncements and political tantrums.” This is to the North but it does apply to Nigeria, the current hate quotient is high-for how long? Only time will tell. The clouds are dark, if it is not Zamfara, it is Sokoto, or Katsina, the killings, abductions, kidnaps, are happening, leave my house, get out of my home, I give you 30 days and all such…
Some seven years ago thereabout I had written an essay Northern Nigeria, and her mythical realities, I repeated same, only two years ago, in the first instance, Mallam El-Rufai had graciously share it on his Facebook Page, today…being governor in Kaduna state, he is not sharing it, he is faced with the realities. As with many things Nigerian, those that should listen, never do, those that should do something are never bothered. And like I said years back, call it falsehood, call it nonsense, be bitter or be complimentary about it, I really do not care or better still I…
I went to a friend’s house and in the kitchen, I saw in their kitchen refrigerator, “If Momma isn’t happy… ain’t nobody happy.” It’s funny because we all know it’s true. If the person in charge is upset, we should pay attention. I want to make one for us that says, “If the people aren’t happy…give them Ruga, give them COZA or Krest and they forget their real issues… So let’s talk about the Nigerian governor; the Nigerian governor is Nigerian, he often than not is an indigene of the State he governs/rules/ or controls. They hardly govern…in some cases…
So, very quickly I can tell loads of columns, and columnists this week like meself did be writing on everything politics, June 12, APC, PDP, election tribunal, education, practically everything but fatherhood. Besides, celebrating fatherhood isn’t our thing, and though we tend to celebrate motherhood with multiple days, who really cares about fathers, and that’s the big point and the minus to my conversation on this matter. And this is me, and my mumbo-jumbo admonition on the subject and how it concerns us as a people. Fatherhood doesn’t come with an instruction manual. So it’s only natural that it comes…
“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” John Quincy Adams In the United States, there are three ways a president can leave office mid-term: death, resignation or impeachment. In Nigeria, there have been several impeachments especially legislative heads, and a few conspired impeachments of governors, only a handful can be recalled to honestly resign and that is rare, really it is forced resignation in our own climes. In the saner climes, most presidents fulfill one or two terms and are either defeated in re-election or retire. So what’s…
Arise, O compatriots, Nigeria’s call obey To serve our fatherland With love and strength and faith The labour of our heroes past Shall never be in vain To serve with heart and might One nation bound in freedom, peace and unity. So last week Mr. Buhari, the Nigerian President spoke during a taped interview broadcast on Nigerian Television Authority, he said so many things, but trust many a Nigerians to focus on the trivial and infinitesimal—like that “who is Muhammadu Buhari” question and the responses that followed. And trust me, I don’t blame Nigerians for our comedic approach to many…
“Nigeria is not at peace and unity and cooperation with itself. Great chasms yawn between ethnographic, ethnofaith and ethnocentric groups. Our unhappy Nigeria is torn and tortured, and the peoples of this country walk in fear lest, through no fault of theirs, the dogs of war are unchained once again.” On 26 April 1937, twelve bombers of the German Condor Legion and the Italian Aviazione Legionaria flew low over the Basque country of Spain in the midst of the Spanish Civil War (1936-39). They tore down over the small town of Guernica, where they let loose their fiery arsenal. Almost…
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Who watches Mr. Buhari By Prince Charles Dickson PhD “For four years, Mr. President, the nation has accorded you such servile obeisance on the understanding that you inherited a weak state and that anything after Abacha was tolerable. The people were optimistic that you had the credentials to lead them to the Promised Land. What will now pass as your mystical image of a great achiever and statesman prevailed on even the doubting Thomases to believe that you were divinely anointed. But barely two years into your first term, it was clear to even your most…
When question drop for mouth, Question go start to run, When answer drop for mouth, Answer go run after am, When answer jam question for road Another thing go shele o, uh Why you mash my leg for ground? You no see my leg for road? Question don drop for mouth, Question don start to run, Why you put your leg for road? You no see say I dey come? Answer don drop for mouth, Answer don start to run, Fela Anikulapo Kuti in Question Jam Answer The national grid collapsed, megawatts have dropped from X to Y, where the…
In the lasts three weeks, the Abuja board for something and onething (forgive me) has been engaged in some moral war against prostitutes, strip clubs have been targeted, and all sorts of tales by moonlight told. Gender Activists have also been on parade. One story beats thoughts as cops alleged slept with ‘suspects’ with sachet water nylon packs. It has been a case of those for and those against. In the last few months we have also been in the debate regarding alamajiri, the system, the culture, and the faith, while origins and practice are totally two different things. We…
When you kick your calabash carelessly in the presence of neighbors, in your absence they will break it without a blink… “The identity of the Nigerian lady who was killed in Italy over sex performance, has been revealed. The deceased identified as Blessing Benedicta Daniels but popularly known as Anita, a Nigerian sex worker in Italy, was murdered Leopoldo Scalici, 40, for failing to satisfy him. Italian police have detained Scalici, after he voluntarily confessed to the crime. I am sure that a story like this has gone with the wind. Over the years, Nigerians have been trafficked to foreign…
Boko Haram Insurgents invaded a village at Chibok, Borno State, on Sunday last week, wreaking havoc, exactly five years into the abduction of c276 girls from Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok. A witness told SaharaReporters that activities to commemorate the fifth anniversary were still ongoing on Sunday when residents learnt of the invasion of Kwarangullum village by the insurgents. So, it’s five years and still counting, the Chibok girls have now become a symbol of nation and her wayward ways. Chibok a community discussed as an ethnic, as a faith based, party based, politics laced, hate colored discuss, it symbolizes…
Let me start in. This manner— “I know that the 21st century policing should thrive more on intelligence gathering, tactical operations, which will bring about clinical execution of assignment. With this in mind, our security operatives should adopt modern techniques in fighting crimes so as to reduce incidents of avoidable deaths especially of innocent youths. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Governor-Elect of Lagos State, has called on the Nigerian Police Force to review the operations of its rank and file. He said this on Saturday when he paid a visit to the family of Kolade Johnson, the young Nigerian killed by a policeman’s…
My friend’s family is grieving. Their beloved golden retriever, Scout, has died. It’s hard to describe this loss, because you would have to have known Scout and what he meant to the family to understand. Their boys grew up with Scout. He was a part of the family. Not merely because of the affection for him — affection can raise the status of a stuffed rabbit to something special. Scout was special. He had a huge heart and a sensitive spirit. He was loyal and true. Always happy to see you, always game for whatever was afoot. He slept in…
If you must buy a baboon don’t buy the one with a 10% discount. PCD So while you call them the Ibos, are they really the Ibos, there are strangely and strongly dichotomized by church denominations and sects, while in one state Catholics will never rule, in the other Protestants will never. They still practice the Osu castle system, and but for the Supreme Court women don’t inherit nada from a region that produced an Iweala, Dora, and a host of strong women. They say Warri no dey carry last, but ever wondered how a Sapele dude needs a note…
Very quickly these are not the best of times for my friend and brother, Owelle Rochas iScAriot Okorocha, the outgoing Imo state governor and copyrights owner of the word “Iberiberism”. I humbly request permission to use his word, believing he has benevolently granted it. Last week, I addressed a concerned on a nation and a people that are divided, this week my admonition is taken from one I spoke about six years ago, as again the flakes are thrown towards the north, while we sought to find answers to the puzzle of restructuring. My admonition this week dwells with a…
As oyinbo (whiteman) take like Black Maria, blackmail, black angels, black coffee, the black man still proudly uses the white tissue roll for black shit… There is this book called disappearance it was divided into two parts. Part one was an imaginary account of a world in which men wake up one day and discovered that all women had vanished. All the women! The rest of that first part talks about how men tried to survive on their own. The second part was a vice versa, our women woke up and discovered that the men had disappeared from the face…
Wislawa Szymborska’s poem, The End and the Beginning (translated by Johanna Trzeciak): After every war someone has to clean up. Things won’t straighten themselves up, after all. Someone has to push the rubble to the side of the road, so the corpse-filled wagons can pass. Someone has to get mired in scum and ashes, sofa springs, splintered glass, and bloody rags. Someone has to drag in a girder to prop up a wall. Someone has to glaze a window, re-hang a door.…
“No truth can cure the sorrow we feel from losing a loved one. No truth, no sincerity, no strength, no kindness can cure that sorrow. All we can do is see it through to the end and learn something from it, but what we learn will be no help in facing the next sorrow that comes to us without warning.” ― Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood. All idiots are morons, but not all morons are idiots. 20 killed as violence, ballot box snatching mar polls, killings in some states, peaceful yet tragic, 11 feared dead, Rivers, Kogi, Oyo, Bayelsa make casualty…
Fawa biu tana bata hankali’n kuda…rana bata karya sai dai uwar diya ta ji kunya… (Two pieces of meat confuse the mind of the fly…once a date has been set for an event, it will arrive, and time does not lie…) Hausa Proverb The date was 16th February 2015, and the New York Times did an opinion piece titled Nigeria’s Miserable Choices. Again I am saddened by the quality of the typical Nigerian reasoning, our almost near collective lack of critical thinking, our one-way interpretation of events for our self-serving purposes. So again with only few hours to the 2019…
With 2019 now in full swing, let me share a short story with you and give you something important to think about…Especially as it regards Nigeria. As of today there are three kinds of people; three kinds of Nigerians and sure a fourth. The first type is a Buharists, he unconsciously worships Buhari, he’s not necessarily patriotic, he loves Nigeria through the lens of Buhari nay APC. Forgive him even if he knows what he’s doing. The second is Atikulated, and whether Atiku steals the nation’s apex bank CBN. They ‘Obidently’ see PDP as the only alternative. All the woes…
