Opinion

Sunday, 28 February 2021 05:36

A tale of two ‘cities’ - Bola Bolawole

This title should remind us of Charles Dickens’s “A tale of two cities”, especially for those of us who are “old school”. To refresh our memory, “A tale of two cities” is an 1859 historical novel set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution of 1789. Here, Dickens asserted his belief in the possibility of resurrection and transformation on personal as well as societal level. The death of Sydney Carton secures a new, peaceful life for Lucie, Manette, Charles Darnay, and even Carton himself. Applied to our own situation, who – or what – will die for…
An old photograph currently sits regally in the living room of a top Nigerian politician. Shot sometime in 1954, some 67 years ago, ostensibly in the old Osun Division of the Western Region, it was taken after a meeting of monarchs of the Division with Premier of the region, Obafemi Awolowo. The meeting had in attendance almost all first class Obas of Yorubaland. They wore their beaded crowns of Dolly Parton’s Coat of Many Colours hue. After the meeting, the photo session took place. In the photograph, on the front row was the Premier, sitting in the middle. He wore…
And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them ... (John 17:22). Introduction: From glory to glory! That is God’s primordial passion for His Church and for each new creation man upon the earth (Haggai 2:9). The Christian man is God’s House of glory (Isaiah 60:7). Hence, we are outfitted to glow from glory to glory. God’s glory is a big deal in the Bible, and it must be so to all who desire to please God and to experience His glory on earth. Meanwhile, it is quintessential that we understand the subject of God’s glory in order…
What would you do if God told you (a Christian) to attack some people and kill everybody, including women and children? You might decide to pity some of them. You might see a newborn baby and decide, out of the goodness of your heart, to spare him. In short, you might end up declaring that you are more righteousness than God. Several years ago, God told me to terminate the appointments of all the people working with me. He then said I should tell those who still wanted to work with me to reapply. He told me, furthermore, that two…
The Nigerian Left has largely neglected, if not deliberately avoided a renewed ideological struggle which has become a strong factor in both the general turbulence and violence enveloping the whole country and the associated power struggle within the ruling class. The neglected or badly engaged ideological struggle may simply be described as “argument over the birth of Nigeria”, that is, argument over how Nigeria came into being and what would have happened if Britain, an imperial colonial power, had not invaded our lands, defeated or deceived our ancestors, gathered them together and imposed itself on them. The argument then proceeds…
If there was any doubt that governors are underworked and overpaid, this week proved it. This is not the old, familiar sitting governor vs godfather nasty fight. It’s a brawl mostly among serving governors of the same party and even the same region, who have no qualms airing their dirty laundry as entertainment. What started as a sitcom starring Benue Governor Samuel Ortom and his Bauchi counterpart Bala Mohammed in a bizarre farmer-herdsmen exchange, later zig-zagged, morphed, and swept across the country in an expanded theatre of the absurd. At least four other governors have now been engulfed in the…
I was rather jolted by responses trailing last week's topic: “Solitude: A ravaging silent killer,” in view of the depth of chasms existing between couples in many homes which is “killing” some of them silently. I became aghast by the torrents of stories of frustration, rejection, ostracism and complete neglect in homes that should be dripping with honey, fun, warmth and love. Many of these families have enviable appearances outside that other families desire. Their children are cute, healthy and well taken care of. Except a few men, most of the complaints came from women. These are beauty queens, mothers…
If, by now, Islamic cleric, Abubakar Gumi, has not categorically denied he told the Muslim bandits he has been meeting in recent times that their enemies are Christian “outsiders,” it means he said what he said, and he is not taking it back. Gumi has been garrulous since he gave himself the job of negotiating with domestic terrorists supposedly on behalf of the country. He has even blamed Niger Delta militants for teaching Fulani herdsmen the criminality with which they are ravaging the whole country. Gumi is acting blind, and that is not because he is deformed. He wants to…
Dogs don't eat dogs, they say, and birds don’t eat each other’s intestines – not so in the ancient town of Owo and birthplace of Awo’s Action Group of yore! When two elephants fight, it is the ground that suffers. Again, not so in Owo, the land of my birth, where three – not just two - elephants slug it out at the moment. If the ground suffers when two elephants fight, imagine what happens when three do! The three elephants are the governor, Rotimi Akeredolu; Chief Judge of the state, Olutoyin Olanrewaju Akeredolu (nee Fagboyegun); and Jumoke Anifowose (Nee…
When I read the news of the death of Junaidu Mohammed, I tried to see whom I could call to confirm. First, I did something that seems foolish but gives me some emotional consolation at times like these. (For example, I still have the telephone numbers of some friends who have been dead for a few years on my phone. I occassionally look at them and get some emotional connection, as if clutching on to something precious). I immediately dialed Junaidu’s number four times. First time, it rang busy and my face lit up. I called again three times and…
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