Father Alia is at his wits’ end.  Under his watch, Benue has become a human abattoir, a slaughter field where hope bleeds out. As the sore he inherited festers and turns gangrenous under his nose, he dithers and waffles, unruffled. Alia’s phlegmatic calm mocks the screams of his people. While Benue, slashed and fractured, writhes in […]

Last Sunday was Father’s Day, but I was distracted. I felt like calling two people I had discussions with last week to find out if their sons also sent Happy Father’s Day wishes to them. The wishes would have been hollow rituals. They told me during the interactions which took place at different times that were thinking […]

The circumstances surrounding Vice President Kashim Shettima over his prospects in the 2027 presidential ticket of the All Progressives Congress, APC are not surprising in Nigeria. Almost all sitting vice-presidents since the advent of the Fourth Republic with the notable exception of Namadi Sambo faced scrutiny on retaining their slots in the election for a second term. […]

I will call him John for the purpose of this article. He is one of the internally displaced persons living in the camp at Yelwata. IDP camps are dotted all over parts of the north as a sign of the times we live in – but that is a story for another day. John had gone […]

On paper, it looked like a mismatch. Iran is not only one of the oldest and most established places in the Persian Gulf but also at least 75 times the size of Israel, with a population nine to ten times larger. Size for size, it’s a modern-day David and Goliath match-up, with ancient history squarely on […]