Welcome to your weekly digest of everything Nigeria. I am still in London trying to uncover the mystery behind a certain audio recording that shook the nation, but before I give anything away let’s assess the state of the Nation, in Hausa. Maza Maza!
The Race for 2019
A former vice president of Nigeria and a presidential aspirant in the last election, in the person of Atiku Abubakar, has made his intention to run for the office of the president again subtly known to all. He ran previously under the All Progressive Congress (APC) after crossing over from the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) and lost to the incumbent president, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari who is currently indisposed due to some health challenges, which has kept him out of office for 100 days alone this year. The most shocking revelation is that when Atiku made internal party moves to solidify his chances to run for the office of the president, he was categorically told that the party is solidly behind the current president and would still support him if he chooses to run come 2019. Meaning that our moderately articulated Atiku would remain a twitter merchant if all things stay the same.
In other related developments, the former governor of Cross River state, fine-boy Donald Duke has also publicly said that he is contemplating running for the number one office in the land, ‘slay queens’ are ecstatic! He made an appeal to both the electoral commission (INEC) and the National Assembly to review the electoral laws to allow for independent candidacy and allow more progressive minds run for office without being tied down by any unproductive loyalties. Good point. But then again, the fact that the dog is scratching the yam does not mean you should give the yam to the goat.
The Supreme Leader has spoken
The self acclaimed supreme leader of the indigenous people of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, has been the topic for some time now. He has publicly declared a general boycott of elections in Anambra state in the SOVERIEGN nation of Nigeria. Inasmuch as we try to tolerate and properly manage the whole Biafra fiasco, I still believe the government has to nib this menace in the bud. The sovereignty of Nigeria cannot be negotiated at gun point. Nobody should hold the country to ransom, ask Evans, he already tried. This issue has lingered for too long and the popularity or followership of Nnamdi Kanu cannot be taken for granted. Whatever productive approach the government needs to take should be taken as soon as possible to curb this menace because I believe that if the fundamental issues regarding the existence of Nigeria is addressed, the issue of Biafra would become a thing of the past because nobody wants war, I think.
Is what Falz did, 9ice?
When entertainment crosses the bounds of fun into serious national issues, it becomes my problem. Such was the event of the past week when popular musician Folarunsho Falana A.K.A Falz made some serious observations as regards the contents of songs been released these days by musicians. It is no news that one of the biggest menace of today’s youth is the yahoo yahoo mentality and this has wreaked havoc in our society today. It is a well-known fact that teenagers and even youths these days are impressionable; they learn from what they see on TV and on social media. It became a problem that needed addressing to Falz when some musicians openly glorify internet fraudsters. Falz took the initiative to publicly call out his colleagues without naming them to desist from such acts but the media in its usual nature saw it as a means to propagate another beef story by linking the public scolding to another popular musician, 9ice.
We must commend the lawyer turned musician; there is a difference between soft work and criminal work, being a baby boy for life doesn’t have to be a dubious something. The society, starting from the home, must preach a message of hard work or better still smart work over a life of crime. Role models, of which our musicians are chief these days, should beam the light on more hard work and minimize the exponential rate at which our society is decaying. To Falz, I say, Wehdone Sah.
The Audio President
The president of Nigeria has been on medical leave for more than 7 weeks and not a word has been heard from him in that time. Shock waves ran through the country when an audio message surfaced from the hideout of the president in London. The message was a festive greeting and that would have been acceptable but for two reasons:
- It was an audio message. How would the number one citizen of the country, the leader of a country of over 180 million people address the nation he is leading via a WhatsApp audio note? An official letter or a live video would have been nice, even a recorded one would have been best but a president with 7 media aides and a minister for information couldn’t think of a less embarrassing way to communicate to his people. I believe rumours of his speech impediment prompted this decision but it wasn’t a sensible one, not at all.
- It was in Hausa language. How could a president who “belongs to everybody” speak to everybody in the language only some understand? He hasn’t spoken in months but he chose his first “public” address as the best time to let everyone know he speaks Hausa. This is an insult to the dynamic diversity of the multi-lingual and highly sentimental nation. Nigeria has 3 major ethnic groups as well as over 200 other ethnic groups and in a bid to unify the lingual structure of the nation, it adopted English as its official language. So, it makes no justifiable sense for the number one citizen, who represents the interests of a culturally diverse Nigeria, to speak in a sectional language. I am tired of complaining. Just when you think the president can no longer embarrass you, he surpasses your expectations.
Graduate of Chemistry, GrantCorp founder, political analyst and a Gunner for Life!
