Offside Musings
If Mandela were a Nigerian
If Nelson Mandela were a Nigerian, he would never be treated in a hospital within his country. God forbid! At the slightest sign of ill health, he would be airlifted to a hospital in Germany, the UK, the US, France, ... Read More »
What Jonathan owes his people, history
President Goodluck Jonathan – like former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Umaru Yar’Adua before him – is nothing short of a Nigerian-made emperor. Nigeria is an unformed, misshapen country Read More »
A case for canceling the 2015 elections
Once again, Nigeria has entered an awful, familiar season. The country’s air is rent with talk of power. Not electric power, no; we’re talking raw political power! And the general elections of 2015 seem to have concentrated the mind of ... Read More »
From “Village” Ethics to a moral no-man’s land (II)
One of the enduring lessons in Achebe’s Things Fall Apart is that the ethical interests of the Umuofia community assert themselves, again and again, over the overweening pride and impulsive actions of the novel’s tragic hero, Okonkwo. It’s true that ... Read More »
Naturalizing Nigeria: A strategy for fighting corruption (I)
From the outset, Okonkwo, the tragic protagonist of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, comes across as extraordinarily strong, a man who is “well known throughout the nine villages and even beyond” and whose “fame rested on solid personal achievements.” Not ... Read More »
Ngala Eight-Eight
My mother, Elizabeth Ofuchinyelu Ndibe (nee Odikpo), turned 88 years old last Thursday, April 18. The way she chose to mark her latest milestone was altogether in character Read More »
The cult of power
From all accounts, President Goodluck Jonathan and Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State are staring each other down. For months, the Nigerian press and blogosphere speculated that a feud simmered between the two men Read More »
Dancing with ghosts, ignoring the dead
Last week, President Goodluck Jonathan took a step in the direction of weighing the offer of amnesty to members of the militant Islamist sect, Boko Haram. Mr. Jonathan set up a committee to examine the amnesty issue and advise him ... Read More »
Bona Ezeudu: Using Art to contain tragedy
For at least three decades, enthusiasts of Nigeria’s visual arts scene have been familiar with the name, Bona Ezeudu Read More »
Jonathan is doing his job
Last week, the US government was so miffed by President Goodluck Jonathan’s pardon of several big-name Nigerian convicts – among them former governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha – that its embassy in Nigeria issued a sharp rebuke. Read More »
