When I Last Saw Simon Hughes

Posted: June 30, 2017 in Elections, Governance, Government, Social Relations
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Thursday, two weeks ago I had just come out of hospital after two-week stay there. As a resident of a Bermondsey, my brother wheeled me to the shops. As we got to the former Santander Bank premises on Southwark Park Road, the headquarters of the Simon Hughes Liberal Democrats Return campaign, we bumped into the man. Simon Hughes was all alone carrying a large cardboard box out of the headquarters and headed for a yellow painted black cab which he was driving. My brother and I greeted Hughes but he barely responded, he looked very unhappy. The June 8 elections had just ended and the former MP had lost. This was a very personal irony for me, a very difficult one. I did not want Simon Hughes to come back as my MP. Read the rest of this entry »

The Nigerian Federation and its Colonies: The Niger Delta and Bornu

Posted: June 29, 2017 in Corruption, Governance, Government, Human Rights, Niger Delta Crisis
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As much as many may try, it is not possible to make sense of the current political realities of the Federal Republic of Nigeria by any conditions that preceded the Civil War (1967-70). This is not a case for perceived discontinuity but exceeding and sudden transformation. Nigeria only became a full state after the beginning of the Civil War, considering her acquisition and use of state power via centralisation. This is because during and after the war, Nigeria ceased to be an intended ‘uniform federation’ and opted since the administration of General Yakubu Gowon to be a two-tier state; the federation and its colonies. Nigeria is truly an “auto-colonial state” today, a fact obscured for 50 years. Read the rest of this entry »

Tony Blair and the Unusual Case of Campbell’s Law

Posted: June 28, 2017 in Corruption, Elections, Government, Institutions
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When sociologist Donald T Campbell came up with his eponymous law, one wonders if he expected it to be of theoretical or practical use. Campbell’s Law states that, “the more any quantitative social indicator is used for social decision-making, the more subject it will be to corruption pressures and the more apt it will be to distort and corrupt the social processes it is intended to monitor.” Originally intended to measure crime rates and other social phenomena it has been adapted to use in corruption studies. Tony Blair as Prime Minister of Great Britain is exemplified as a textbook case of Campbell’s Law. Read the rest of this entry »

Why Evans the Kidnapper is King in Nigeria

Posted: June 28, 2017 in Corruption, Governance, Government, Institutions, Social Relations
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A “billionaire” kidnapper, Evans, is now the new icon shining in the dull skies of Nigeria. One may ask how a ruthless kidnapper can either be an icon or hero to millions in Nigeria? Because it is Nigeria. Claude Ake once stated that “Nigeria is the only country in the world where no one questions the source of one’s income.” The depth of the statement is far from casual or a mere observation. Amassing wealth in Nigeria, whether legally or illegally, has a highly regarded and venerated virtuousness of its own. In many cases the more crooked the source of income the better it is rated by the public. That is why you find young men who have legitimately worked very hard for their money blatantly lie that they made the same money by crooked means. How twisted can things get? Read the rest of this entry »

The Jibaluka Confraternity is Now Floating; NAS Sinking by Ennui

Posted: June 21, 2017 in Corruption, Fraternity, Human Rights, Leadership
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A new breakaway has emerged out of the National Association of Seadogs (NAS) recently and is known as the “Jibaluka Confraternity”. While the exact details of the Jibaluka Confraternity is yet to be released to the public, it is certain that the preponderance of ennui within NAS caused it. This ennui is generated in the way Seadogs are treated. There are expected to pay their dues like men, attend meetings like men, practice brotherhood like men, take on responsibilities like men and uphold the tenets they are oathed to uphold like men, however, it is also demanded they obey orders like little boys afraid of the cane. Zombiism of another kind. Many cannot stand it any longer. Read the rest of this entry »

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