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Opinion

Sunday, 13 June 2021 05:52

By His stripes we are healed (2) - Femi Aribisala

The Lord laid the iniquity of us all on Jesus Christ. Then He said: “by His stripes, we are healed.” This is quite simply ridiculous and unfair from a human point of view. But it is the wisdom of God. Healing With Stripes Let us understand two principles of the kingdom of God here. The first one says: God does not heal with medicine. He heals with stripes. What does this mean? The principal thing that God heals is sin. He heals sin with the cane. He heals sin with the rod. David understands kingdom dynamics. So, he says: “Your…

Saturday, 12 June 2021 05:42

Nigeria is ours to make - Abimbola Adelakun, Farooq Kperogi, Biko Agozino, Asonzeh Ukah, Rita Kiki Edozie, Jibrin Ibrahim, & 34 others

The immediate trigger for the Twitter ban was the platform’s deletion of a tweet posted on President Muhammadu Buhari’s handle, the site having judged the tweet as not abiding by its policy. However, long before this incident, on which the dust is yet to settle, the government had exhibited a willingness to censor public debate, especially on social media. The proposed but defeated Social Media Bill of 2019 was an early signal of this position. In the aftermath of the #EndSARS protests of October 2020, the Minister for Information, Lai Mohammed, publicly declared that social media must be “regulated” in…

Saturday, 12 June 2021 05:41

Nigeria’s school kidnapping crisis is even worse than you think - Bulama Bukarti

There has never been a more trying time to be Nigerian. That sounds cliched, but there are simply no words to convey Nigerians’ horror at the endless cycle of national grief. Our country has so far been spared the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic, but extremist violence, communal clashes and rising criminality are producing an epidemic of insecurity. The latest alarming trend is a wave of mass kidnappings of students, endangering millions of children’s futures. At the end of May, dozens of kidnappers on motorcycles stormed a school in north-central Nigeria and whisked away 136 children aged 5 to 14…

Friday, 11 June 2021 05:38

Birthday greetings: In lieu of responses - Edwin Madunagu

When Gani Fawehinmi died in September 2009, I put together an extended tribute for distribution in Calabar, Lagos and wherever the funeral would be. The centres of distribution in Calabar included our home and my office. Comrades, compatriots and friends were asked to come to any of these centres to collect copies for themselves and for others. A young lady with whom I had worked in Calabar chose to come to the house. I did not see her but I heard her say something like this to a member of the household: “Oga is always writing tributes for his comrades.…

Friday, 11 June 2021 05:36

What Twitter ban teaches the world about Nigeria - Azu Ishiekwene

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 to access the service through local service providers. This figure is more than the total number that voted for President Muhammadu Buhari in the last two elections combined, over half the total number of those who voted in the general elections of 2019, and nearly…

Friday, 11 June 2021 05:35

FG’s Twitter ban: Another view - Olalekan Adigun

I first heard about Twitter during my final year at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife in 2011. I neither knew how it worked nor how to even be a part at the time. I only knew of Facebook which I rarely used since Twitter users made themselves appear like an elitist, members-only club. I couldn’t open a Twitter account until three years later. This is how I became, like most users, addicted to the network ever since largely running political commentaries and advocating social change. Like many people, I was affected by the sudden, and rather harsh decision, of the Nigerian…

Friday, 11 June 2021 05:33

The burden of the first lady - Dare Babarinsa

Mrs Ajoke Muhammed may be one of the least known First Ladies in Nigerian history. When her husband became Nigerian third military ruler, she was just a young woman of 33, looking forward to a lifetime of conjugal felicity with her husband. She became a widow at less than 34 years of age when her husband was killed during the coup of February 13, 1976. Then she began a lifelong journey of widowhood. Her husband was just 36 and even at that young age, he had been at the epicenter of Nigerian politics for at least a decade. Ten years…

Friday, 11 June 2021 05:32

A rash decision that keeps single women hostage - Michael West

"Had I known, I would have listened to my mom. I didn't know it would be this difficult to get marry." This lamentation came from a caller Wednesday evening while sharing her story with me. I have her types on my counseling list. I have been reluctant to write about this topic because some of those who are close to me may think I intentionally wrote about them whereas almost on daily basis I encounter women who are victims of their rash decisions and wrong reasoning. The caller, in her early 50s, is not pleased with the calibre of men…

Thursday, 10 June 2021 05:47

Restructuring: An idea whose time is gone - Bola Bolawole

Today I am yielding this space to a friend and professional colleague who is a veteran journalist, relationships expert, music aficionado (of the “Sound Judgment” fame) and political affairs commentator. His name is Michael Awe aka Michael West. Enjoy it! “Whoever is still campaigning for restructuring to happen under this Fulanised government is short-sighted and not coming to terms with the reality in Nigeria of today. For obvious reasons, restructuring cannot happen under the retired Gen. Muhammadu Buhari-led government. The anchor reason is that restructuring is believed to be inimical to the interests and agenda of the Fulani imperialists. The…

Wednesday, 09 June 2021 05:47

These incendiary video clips! - Femi Mimiko

It is indeed scary the speed with which our country is cascading into cataclysm! Some of the video clips making the Internet rounds - of deadly attacks on the sleepy Igangan community in Oyo State; of burning of individuals and animals in the Southeast; assassinations and killings in Imo; kidnappings in Ondo; and massacres in Benue, Plateau, Zamfara, Borno and elsewhere - are unspeakable! I have argued consistently, standing on the observatory of history, that when things are moving in this direction and with this speed, the onus is on GOVERNMENT to re-strategise, climb down from its Olympian heights, make…

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Monday, 07 June 2021 05:17

This house must not fall - Niyi Osundare

(Fateful cracks in the wall of The House Lugard Built) 1 This house must not fall Though brick after brick It creaks like a hapless shack Weighted down by History’s burden Once Sphere of Influence Of foreign conquerors who foraged Distant lands for God and Country; A fiercely treasured booty between Treacherous ocean and insatiable desert A cynical assortment of parts, random, raw, Which have never mastered The art of bonding into a steady whole Bumbling bedlam of tribes and tongues….. Eating each other’s spleen Shibboleth-shouters at hellsgate, Incapable of hearing “My tribe is triber than yours” “My tongue is…

Sunday, 06 June 2021 05:36

Baba Lekki sings Haruna Ishola - Tatalo Alamu

A few hours after the government announced the suspension of Twitter, Baba Lekki shambled in shamelessly and pole-hugging drunk as usual. He was mumbling some imprecations against the authorities. Just before then, some nutters sent a tweet that went viral: “These tweets are banning Twitter using their Twitter handle”. In reporting the proscription even the correspondent of Aljazeera could not resist a smirk of incredulity. Thereafter, Nigerians took to their Twitter handle to instruct on how to evade the ban by obtaining a VPN that allows you to “tunnel” into another domain. It was at this point that the rogue…

Sunday, 06 June 2021 05:34

Buhari: Tweeting Asaba massacre on Road to Rwanda - Festus Adedayo

Like a suicide bomber ready to sacrifice his life, I slid into the Nigerian war theatre last week. No, not Northeast Nigeria, where kaffir soldiers are busy bombing Boko Haram faithful; nor Northwest, where good bandits are in an orgy of kidnapping hundreds of school children – apologies to bandits-negotiating merchant mullah, Ahmad Gumi. I was in Igboland where the second Nigerian civil war, unbeknown to many, has begun in earnest. For me, the mental feeling of war was actually the pandemonium that my visit evoked in the hearts of people privy to my itinerary. “How dare you!” they chorused.…

Sunday, 06 June 2021 05:32

Finding peace in the wake of storms - Taiwo Akinola

And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm ~ Mark 4:39. Introduction: The word, ‘uncertainty’, is like the predominant word in our world today. Endemic fear runs rampant in many hearts, hence, we need to be constantly reminded that our God is bigger and much more powerful than any challenges we might be facing. Of a truth, these are difficult and unprecedented times. Unprecedented? Yes, from Covid-19 pandemic crisis, to EndSars imbroglio, to heightened terrorism, kidnapping and banditry, to increasing sectarian and secessionist…

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