Shortly after his investiture as the new Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, proclaimed that he felt like a tiger ready to chase away criminals in the country. Despite the jeers he received from those who wondered if he has a multiple personality disorder, the man’s point is well-understood. It is that feeling of exhilaration that accompanies being imbued with administrative political powers. Besides, through both physical and metaphysical means, humans have always sought to extend the limits of their abilities by appropriating the attributes of animals. So, I will take him up on his metaphor to ask him what kind…

Say what you like, but for the Nigeria Media, those who were hell-bent on destroying the country would have succeeded a long time ago. It was the design of the destroyers’, right from the inception of the so-called Amalgamation, not to allow the peaceful and all-trusting indigenous inhabitants of the space now called Nigeria to have a future. In less than 100 days we are going to enter the season of the thoughtless rituals when we celebrate the flag-and-paper Independence given to us by brutish British colonial masters who had planted inescapable land-mines with rigged Population Census figures, rigged parliamentary…

This week, Muslims the world over will celebrate the eid-ul-adha or the “big eid” or “big Sallah”. We are, however, more interested in its meaning, implications and bearing on us as a nation. We need to look at spiritual milestones, hoping to find the seemingly elusive panacea for our ills. Eid means feast, festival or celebration, while adha loosely means “sacrifice” (animal sacrifice), “offering” or “oblation”. It so got its name because it commemorates Prophet Ibrahim’s (AS) devotion to Allah (SWT) and his readiness to sacrifice Ismail, his son, for His love. The Qur’anic story has it that Ibrahim (AS)…

“And fear the fitnah (affliction and trial) which affects not in particular (only) those of you who do wrong.” – Quran 8 verse 25 The above is a verse from the Holy Quran, which my late father, Imam Abdulhameed Shuaib Agaka usually cited when trouble brewed and the community kept silent, without seeking to address it. The Qur’anic verse cautions society against failure to act when atrocities are being committed because the repercussions of silence and inaction could be severe (painful), not only for the perpetrators but the society at large. Since the return to a democratic system of government…