Calypso: Enslaved African gift and its Mighty Sparrow, by Owei Lakemfa
Slinger Francisco, better known as Mighty Sparrow, the “Calypso King of the World”, flew away on September 27, 2026. He was ninety. Calypso music was invented in the seventeenth century by African slaves in Trinidad who had mainly been taken from the Ibibio, Efik and Igbo peoples in present-day Nigeria and Congo. It is generally […]
The coup in Niger and the Moncada Barracks attack, By Owei Lakemfa
EXACTLY 70 years separate the July 26, 1953 suicidal attack on Moncada Barracks by Cuban youths who wanted to remove the military from power, and this Wednesday’s coup in Niger Republic which removed elected President Mohamed Bazoum and restored military rule. The coup plotters, styling themselves as the National Council for the Safeguarding of the […]
A thief is not a thief if he is powerful, By Owei Lakemfa
Four female students of the Zamfara State College of Arts and Science, abducted by bandits six months ago, may know their fate this week. Their abductors have given the parents of the young ladies, one week within which to pay N12 million ransom or the victims will be married off. This may be an euphemism […]
Africans meeting in Nairobi: If Nigeria’s awake, Africa will rise, By Owei Lakemfa
I HAVE attended a few African Union, AU, Heads of State Summits and always came away with the impression that the agenda is always overloaded. But three things struck me about the July 16, 2023 meeting in Nairobi. First, its modest three-point objectives; fast-tracking the integration process in Africa; examining the Division of Labour among the […]
Aboru, Aboye: Attacks on Africa’s highly tolerant traditional religion, By Owei Lakemfa
The firestorm among some Christian leaders in Western Nigeria over the lyrics of a new song by Gospel artist, Tope Alabi, is in its fourth week. She had sang in Yoruba that she is “Aboru Aboye” which translates to “I am a sacrifice which God has accepted.” This caused an uproar with some Christian leaders […]
Onward Western soldiers, marching to Third World War, By Owei Lakemfa
The gathering of 32 European countries and their North American first cousins in Lithuania under the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, NATO, is the clearest indication yet, that they want to put humanity on the path to another World War. British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, made a truthful summary of the July 11-12, 2023 NATO Summit […]
