Lagos, the most cosmopolitan and politically progressive state in Nigeria on March 18, 2023 engaged in the degenerative politics of exclusion. The debilitating disease of campaigning that a non-full-blooded native cannot be governor, is an incapacitating one. Ten days later, a different philosophy of politics evolved in Scotland where the parliament elected 38-year-old Humza Haroon Yousaf, son of first generation migrants from Punjab, Pakistan, as the country’s first minister, or de facto leader. The Scots were not interested in who Yousaf’s father is, where his wife comes from or the nationality of those he hangs out with; they simply want…

Chaos and noise,Voices lost poise,Violence unrestrained,Change obstructed. Rigging and fraud,Will of people ignored,Leadership hijacked,Future brutally sacked. Weeping people,Torn dreams, hopeless and feeble,Nonviolent change obstructed,To our shame, corrupted. INEC’s promises were once high,BVAS and IReV, systems to try,Voter fraud to stop and deny,Nigeria’s future to fortify. But alas, the political class,Had different plans to amass,Voters intimidation with no class,INEC, their ally, a conspiring farce. BVAS and IReV, just words,INEC and politicians, blurred,Truth and justice incurred,Hope of free and fair elections, absurd. Charade persists, for how long?INEC and politicians cheat,Democracy’s hopes in chaos meet,Political class corrupt and steadfast. Exploiting ethnic and religious…

This is not what I had intended to discuss this week, but circumstances have given it priority. Yobe is a state that is blessed. Here, I am not talking about how blessed it is with peaceful and peace-loving people. No. Nor am I talking about the natural resources the Maker buried there. No, not at all. I am not even going to talk about the abundance of human resources in Yobe State. I want to look at it from just one aspect – the political angle. Politics, from Greek (politiká - ‘affairs of the cities’) can be defined as the…

Some huge, evil men surround a big, black pot. It is apparent that a food is being cooked. The men strung round their waists black cloths like priests of a dreadful god. Their torsos are naked like the day of creation. Their countenances are scary, with eyes dilating like pebbles immersed in crimson syrup. The sweats that glide down their barrows are crimson-red too. Underneath the black pot are logs of firewood with billowing charcoal-black fumes and red flame. As one of the men heaves the lead off the black pot, the broth on fire catches the attention. It is…