Maradi, one of the three largest cities in Niger Republic, may yet be the metaphor of the fragility of the Nigerian state and an explainer of Nigeria’s 60 years post-independence wonky journey. It does this in the most succinct manner. With the Muhammadu Buhari government’s announcement last week of its intention to construct a railway line from Kano, passing through Kazaure, Daura, Katsina, Jibia to Maradi in Niger Republic, some jigsaw puzzles of the last 60 years of independence and the fault lines of the 106 years of Nigeria’s togetherness may confront us in their irritating minuscule. Anyway, this Thursday,…

Over the past few decades, whenever a Republican president puts up an important judicial nominee — especially a Catholic one — we go through the same routine. Some Democrat accuses the nominee of imposing her religious views on the law. “The dogma lives loudly within you,” Senator Dianne Feinstein notoriously told Amy Coney Barrett in a 2017 confirmation hearing. Then Republicans accuse Democrats of being religious bigots. Then the nominee testifies that her personal opinions or religious faith will have absolutely no bearing on her legal judgments. This unconvincing routine gets us no closer to understanding two important questions: How…

Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need ~ Hebrews 4:16. Introduction It has been shown over the ages that God’s mercy is a major all-time need of man. Why? Man doesn’t always get what he deserves, but what mercy delivers to him: “it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy” (Romans 9:16). Naturally, the journey of life is too cumbersome and very difficult to predict. Sometimes, certain unwholesome events come calling, when they…

The importance and urgency of this subject to the Nigerian Left, at this time, demand that I begin the discussion with a series of clear propositions. And that is what I intend to do here. None of the propositions, in its essence, will be new to the movement or in the movement. What may be new will be the way they are articulated and brought together here. The over-flogged and yet not too-illuminated subject, the national question, may enter this particular discussion because of its connection with the question of national unity. The first two propositions will establish the link…