Internationalist Segun Osoba, reunites Nigerian radicals, by Owei Lakemfa
The internationalist, intellectual, radical historian and generally accepted leader of the Nigerian Left, Olusegun Osoba, left on May 14, 2026, at 92. What followed the exit of a man who greatly influenced and led three generations of Nigerian radicals was a twenty-six-day programme of celebrating his life, times and works. It was as if a father […]
What hawkish Pompeo did not know about Lebanon
LEBANON is a fragile country held together by common sense. As a distinct nation, it has been involved in 21 pre-colonial wars, two colonial wars and 11 post-colonial wars. It has 18 officially recognised religious sects: 12 Christian, four Muslim, the Druze and Judaism. Its experiences in conflicts have taught it to evolve a system of proportional representation with its 128 parliamentary seats evenly shared between Christians and Muslims.The Presidency is reserved for a Maronite Christian, the Prime Minister, a Sunni Muslim, and the Speaker, a Shi’a Muslim.
The JAMB against exam malpractices
CRONJE. “Do you want Cronje?” “Do you have Cronje?” were questions some students asked on the streets of Lagos in 1977. Some question papers of that year’s West African School Certificate, WASC, examinations organised by the West African Examinations Council, WAEC, had leaked. Original and fake question papers of the examinations were being hawked. The students called the leaked examination papers, Cronje. It was imaginatively named after the Mr. John Ayite Cronje who was Registrar of WAEC from 1965 to 1971. I still do not know why it was called Cronje, and not Ike since the WAEC Registrar at the time of the leakage was the novelist, Vincent Chukwuemeka Ike. Also, leaked papers were called ‘Expo.”
The state of being a Nigerian
By Owei Lakemfa NIGERIA is blessed with very intelligent and even religious people. Thus, in our National Anthem, we pray God to help us build a nation where peace and justice shall reign. But at critical times, such as the 2019 elections, many abandoned their intelligence and switched to the mode of the stupid; peeled […]
2019 Elections: Happy survival
NIGERIANS who are alive today, should wish themselves happy survival because scores of their compatriots have been sent to untimely graves within the last five weeks in election-related violence.
Women’s Day: Nigerian women contributions to liberation
TODAY is International Women Day, a day dedicated to the liberation of women, and by extension, the emancipation of all humanity from discrimination and repression. Its observance is based on the 1910 motion by German liberation fighter, Clara Zetkin, at the Second International Conference of Working Women. The 2019 Women’s Day coincides with the 90th Anniversary of the greatest women revolt in African history, the 1929 Aba Women Uprising which the British colonialists sought to denigrate by officially referring to it as a ‘riot’.
