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Opinion

Friday, 29 July 2022 06:30

Asking for trouble - Azu Ishiekwene

After BBC Africa service promoted a story on Friday of an interview with the bandit warlords of Zamfara State, a senior Nigerian journalist, Kadaria Ahmed, called out the broadcaster in a tweet. Kadaria, an ex-Beeb, said the interview would give the terrorists oxygen, stoke hysteria and bring nothing but pain and misery to hundreds of victims and their families. In the thread that followed, the BBC Eye co-founding executive producer and others who weighed in disagreed with Kadaria. They said without understanding the enemy you cannot solve the problem. Or perhaps get the government to see the seriousness. Not long…

Thursday, 28 July 2022 06:39

The BBC in Nigeria: Between reporting and propagating terror - Kadaria Ahmed

It has simply gotten out of hand. Journalists and now a global media organisation of repute, the BBC, which should know better, are becoming tools for terrorists, even if unwittingly, by amplifying the faces, voices and stories of killers and marauders who are still operating with impunity across Nigeria. The public interest argument seems to have been misunderstood, some may even say misrepresented, to enable sensationalist reporting that is very unlikely to be allowed on screens in the United Kingdom. By not upholding the same standards as they would uphold in the UK, in their work in Nigeria, the producers…

Thursday, 28 July 2022 06:37

Banditry and Atiku’s ‘90% voters’ - Abimbola Adelakun

In a recent broadcast, the Peoples Democratic Party presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, mentioned that most of those who would vote for him are not on social media. During his interview with Arise TV last Friday, Atiku noted that 90 per cent of the people comprising his political base, the Northern region of Nigeria, do not use social media. This silent majority is his joker compared to his Labour Party opponent’s online following. Some people made predictable noises about Atiku’s claim, but the man was hardly wrong. According to data provider Statista, only about 53 million of us currently use social…

Wednesday, 27 July 2022 06:30

Emerging-market crises have become harder to resolve - The Economist

Whenever america’s Federal Reserve raises interest rates, investors reflexively worry about a crisis in emerging markets. Today it might appear the usual pattern is playing out. On July 27th the Fed is expected to raise rates by another three-quarters of a percentage point. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka has run out of foreign exchange, Argentina faces another default and many poor countries are in trouble. Look more closely, however, and the world economy has been transformed in ways that mean the nature and consequences of emerging-market turmoil have changed. The archetypal emerging-market crisis was in 1997-98. As the Fed raised rates, pulling…

Wednesday, 27 July 2022 06:28

Between slaughtered cattle and insecurity in Nigeria - Is'haq Modibbo Kawu

Recently, the video of hundreds of slaughtered cattle, was making the rounds, on various social media platforms. An old classmate posted it on my Secondary School Class WhatsApp platform; and because he neither spoke Fulfulde nor Hausa, he was sufficiently alarmed, to request for translation of what was being said, by the obviously distressed people, in the video. I made a translation of the conversation; but I thought it was proper to provide some more engaging context for the video. There have been circulated in the recent past, several videos, in the same vein, of the slaughter of cattle; the…

Monday, 25 July 2022 07:05

Is Akeredolu turning a new leaf? - Bola Bolawole

In the wake of the terrorists attack on Owo, Ondo state on June 5, 2022, I asked questions around to try and establish the likely reasons for the bestial and dastardly attack. One explanation was that the terrorists appeared to have a grouse with Catholics – whatever the grouse! Previous as well as subsequent events of the number of Catholic priests killed by terrorists all over the country may justify the need to further explore this explanation. Another reason given was that it was a subtle declaration of war on the Igbo outside of their insurgency-ravaged enclave, since it is…

Monday, 25 July 2022 07:03

Open letter to Ndigbo - Hassan Gimba

There was an outcry last week when Ebubeagu Operatives, a security outfit formed by the Imo State Government killed some suspected gunmen. Some people came out to say they were innocent youths who attended a traditional marriage in Awo – Ommama in Oru East Local Government area of the state. Such things will continue and this is why I see the need to repeat this epistle published on June 6, 2021 with the hope that reason will prevail in the Southeast. Nwanne m, ndewo. My Igbo brothers, I find it necessary to send you this epistle – from a Northeasterner…

Sunday, 24 July 2022 07:22

Mama Igosun’s Sallah goat succumbs to a technical knock out

A week after the Sallah festivities, yours sincerely was roused from afternoon siesta by some commotion on the street. A goat was bleating in distress in the distance with a distraught old woman screaming and raining curses on the poor animal. Lo! It was Mama Igosun dragging the Sallah goat yours sincerely had bought for her through the streets while heaping imprecations and indignities on the fellow. One would have thought that a ram bought for Sallah would have become victual history a week after the Sallah celebrations, but not so. Mama had actually cajoled one to buying a hefty…

Sunday, 24 July 2022 07:20

How Nigeria turbans its terrorists, the Ada Alerus - Festus Adedayo

At a time when Nigeria thought it had seen the zenith of pain and agony from its unhealed wound, with the unimaginable pus that oozes daily from it over the years, last week, a frightening symptom emerged from the wound. Bleeding blisters that emit dirty-looking, foul-smelling discharges indicated that the Nigerian wound may have gone gangrenous. The gangrene sign came right from the theatre of war in Zamfara State where bandits have literally taken over government. If we thought the daily harvest of dead bodies of countrymen killed by bandits and the Ansaru terrorist group was the height of our…

Sunday, 24 July 2022 07:17

Developing your sensitivity to the Holy Spirit - Taiwo Akinola

I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye ~ Psalms 32:8. Introduction: Everything that has to do with our relationship with God depends absolutely upon our capacity for spiritual sensitivity. Sensitivity is a major index of spirituality, and none can ever be greater in spiritual things than his or her level of sensitivity to God’s Voice and to His leadings. Sensitivity can be likened to the ability of a radio receiver to pick signals from a radio station; in which case, the receiver must be tuned to…

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Sunday, 24 July 2022 07:15

Article of faith: Riches in glory - Femi Aribisala

Jesus says to His disciples: “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.” (John 15:16). We blundered at the first birth, presuming we were born to pursue our own dreams, have illustrious careers, make a lot of money, and make a name for ourselves. But now our Maker leaves nothing to conjecture. We are born again (a second time) to produce the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ. …

Friday, 22 July 2022 06:05

Will machines replace journalists, too? - Azu Ishiekwene

The advent of any significant changes in technology has often triggered concerns about the fate of journalism. Even at the infancy of social media, TIME covered one of its editions of February 5, 2009, with concern about the imminent death of journalism. To drive home the point, the graphic was illustrated with a copy of the New York Timeswrapping a tilapia. The profession went through similar bouts of self-doubt and anxiety, after the introduction of the movable type and printing press. This same thing happened following the introduction of the telephone, radio and television. In hindsight, it would seem that…

Thursday, 21 July 2022 06:17

Africa is not Europe’s gas station - Mohamed Adow

Having been thrust to the front lines of a climate crisis we did not cause, Africans have long urged rich countries to wean themselves off fossil fuels and slash their greenhouse-gas emissions. But, instead of heeding our calls, the rich have remained addicted to oil and gas – much of which, in Europe’s case, has come from Russia. Now they are taking this insult a step further: in their drive to end their dependence on Russian energy, the world’s wealthiest economies are turning to Africa. Over the past few months, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi has been working tirelessly to…

Tuesday, 19 July 2022 06:55

Two short takes on Muhammadu Buhari - Bola Bolawole

Erstwhile Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani, fled the capital, Kabul, on 15th August, 2021. Sri Lankan president, Gotabaya Rajapasa, fled the country on 12 July, 2022 on a military aircraft. With Boko Haram, ISWAP, bandits and other terrorists literally swirling over Abuja and running rings round it, tongues are beginning to wag! I overheard someone ask cynically: When will Buhari flee Abuja? Not to worry – and in case you didn't hear him – the president, obviously tired to his bones and soaked to his pants - has said he is eager to “flee” when his tenure ends on May 29,…

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