Is My Name Okolo Too? A new female friend leaves to study in USA for four years after a brief but interesting relationship with a guy. She returns as promised assuming his surname.
Category: Social Relations
Do The Urhobo People Need Saviours or Leaders?
At the moment the Urhobo nation is both essentially saviourless and leaderless, forget the ethnic bosses. Chiefs Mukoro Mowoe, Michael Ibru, David Ejoor, Great Ogboru, and James Ibori have all been arguably seen as saviours of the Urhobo nation. However, only the legacies of Mowoe and Ibru remain as genuine saviours unperturbed and Mowoe the…
The Urhobos Do Come Last – Mostly in Politics
As ridiculous as it may sound, if Anioma were to be granted a State today, the new capital of Delta State would be either Koko (Itsekiriland) or Bomadi (Ijawland) or even Oleh (Isokoland). However, some Urhobos are crying for a [reinstated] “voice” in federal politics at the 90-day suspension of Senator Ovie Omo-Agege (Delta: APC)…
Remembering Ayo Odebisi: His Lessons
Remembering Ayo Odebisi (Paramole): His Lessons It has been one year since Ayo Odebisi went on another kind of going abroad trip. When I heard and looked at his photo, I saw more the love and friendship we had. With spontaneity, I tried to reach out to him. I named him “Jimmy”. All the people…
Understanding Akpunwaism
Understanding Akpunwaism Akpunwaism is a cultural reaction to defeat and the subaltern status of an ethnic or regional group within a state. Akpunwaism is unique to the Igbo ethnic group, but its manifestation is not exclusive to it. The Japanese and Germans have their unique forms of Akpunwaism as a reaction to their defeat and…
Obasanjo is neither Fulani nor Igbo
In 2012 an Odua Peoples Congress (OPC) operative intimated to me very intensely that the then President Olusegun Obasanjo was a traitor to the Yoruba race citing many things he did as military and civilian head of state as proof. One accusation was the nationalisation of Western region-owned assets to the federal government dominated by…
The Uber License Loss and the Spectre of Nigerian Academic Excellence
In the UK and the USA, the spectre of Nigerians achieving academic excellence in institutions of higher learning everywhere has increasingly etched for itself a significant space in the folklore of immigration. Such widespread excellence is even used with dubious effect to show how Blacks born in America or in the UK are simply lazy,…
The “Babangida Must Go” Protests
The “Babangida Must Go” Protests: A Missed Opportunity for Revolution Young, obscure student leaders in 1989 led the best chance of a revolution Nigeria had at the University of Benin campus in May 1989. These young leaders staged a protest that became famous as the “Anti-SAP Riots”. This protest-turned-riot spilt into Benin-City and with pace…
When I Last Saw Simon Hughes
When I Last Saw Simon Hughes Thursday, two weeks ago I had just come out of hospital after a two-week stay there. As a resident of a Bermondsey, my brother wheeled me to the shops. As we got to shops, the former Santander Bank premises on Southwark Park Road, then turned into the headquarters of…