Category: Opinions

As public gaze and feminist rage are directed towards seeking justice for Uwa, a 22-year-old undergraduate, raped and left for dead in an assumed safe space, a church building, it is crucial to reengage the illusion of safe spaces for female bodies in Nigeria. Her death is a classic reminder that the safety of women and girls in sexist societies… Read More

The arrest and incarceration of Mubarak Bala has compelled a review of the role of religion, in this case Islam, in governance, in Nigeria’s nation building and development. I did not know Mubarak Bala until 2014. Then I was studying for my doctorate in Germany. Before leaving for my studies, I knew a few ex muslims who were part of… Read More

Of the three arms of government in our country, it would seem as if the Judiciary has been relegated to the background in the balance of power and its ability to regulate its own affairs.  Though unconstitutional, we have witnessed situations in the very recent past where the President purportedly single handedly suspended the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter… Read More

Jungle justice has been repeatedly happening day in day out in many Muslim communities in Nigeria. In fact, the act has become popular not only among Muslim communities but in the Nigerian society in general. Only a few months ago, to be precise, on March 15, 2010, a taxi driver called Umaru Mohammed alias Marau-Marau was mercilessly killed and burnt… Read More

The United Sates of America is doubtlessly a great nation that is unique in many ways. She has a unique President named Donald Trump(et). I call him ‘trumpet’ because he has mastered the art of trumpeting his achievements or lack of same thereof in a nauseating self-glorifying fashion never before seen in the hundreds of years of history of democratic… Read More

When I first read about the rape and subsequent murder of Vera Uwaila Omozuwa – Uwa – a 22-year-old undergraduate at the University of Benin, I had no doubt in my mind that the perpetrators and their ilk must be the much talked about devil incarnate, the one the Yorubas call Èṣù.  Because let’s face it, how else can you… Read More

On April 21, 2020, and for a couple of days thereafter, my article, “Re-introducing the Lugano Report”, appeared in the media and on discussion platforms. The content of the piece is what the title indicates: a repeat introduction to readers, particularly from the Nigerian Left, of a book I had previously introduced under a different rubric. The earlier introduction of… Read More

Something is strikingly absurd in the petition brought against Mubarak Bala. That his said posts were forms of racist and xenophobic attack. Racist and xenophobic attack? Did the petitioners look up the meaning of these terms in a dictionary before using them? They said: “It should be noted that Mubarak’s characterization of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) as a terrorist follows that… Read More

In the wake of killings in Southern Kaduna, Nigerians are engaging “black oppression” from a different angle. The number one family; Governor El-Rufai, his wife, and son have appeared in the eye of “social media” storms for some time now. The question of value to an African life is constantly brought to fore whenever their names make the rounds. This… Read More

The consensus around the world is that the lessons from the Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) would provoke common sense among Nigerian leaders to harness the full potential of their local economy, but this dream may never come close if President Muhammadu Buhari does not lead by example. A defining theme of my foray into the 2019 presidential race is that Nigeria’s problem… Read More