In 1992, Leon Mugesera, a senior politician in the then Rwanda ruling party, gathered a crowd of supporters at a rally held in the town of Kabaya. At the rally, Mugesera labeled the minority Tutsi “cockroaches,” who must be eliminated. He then asked this East African ethnic group to go back to its place of birth. He was quoted to have said: “Anyone whose neck you do not cut is the one who will cut your neck.” This “cockroach” typecast glued to the Tutsi ethnic group. Two years later, about 800,000 of them got brutally slaughtered, hacked to death and…
Author: Editor-in-chief
In 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘏𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘰𝘯𝘬𝘦𝘺 𝘐𝘴 𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘞𝘪𝘴𝘦 – 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘰𝘯𝘬𝘦𝘺 𝘐𝘴 𝘞𝘪𝘴𝘦, 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘏𝘦 𝘏𝘢𝘴 𝘏𝘪𝘴 𝘖𝘸𝘯 𝘓𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘤: Essays by Ulli Beier, edited by Wole Ogundele, (2001) Horst Ulrich Beier, famously known as Ulli Beier, had an engaging narrative about the power and powerlessness of dogs. He entitled the narrative, Dog Magic of Yoruba Hunters. In it, Beier related how his dog, which he provocatively named Tańtólóhun, (who can compare with God?)’s weird tantrums, which occurred in Osogbo in the early 1960s, could mirror the insufferable power and limitations of dogs. The motive of telling the story, he…
Kunle Rasheed’s recent statement attempting to defend King Wasiu Ayinde’s self-proclaimed title as the “owner of Fuji music” is laughable and misleading. It’s astonishing that Mr. Rasheed would try to rewrite history and dismiss the well-documented facts about Fuji music’s origins. While I won’t give unnecessary credence to Mr. Kunle Rasheed, as he doesn’t deserve it, it’s safe to say that his watery write-up as an acclaimed Fuji entertainment reporter for over 20 years could only produce a concocted, watery piece like this. King Saheed Osupa Akorede has consistently attributed Fuji music’s creation to its true pioneer, the late Dr.…
The Yoruba believe in the law of causation, a principle of philosophy which says that, every change in nature is produced by some cause. To buttress this, they posit authoritatively that a tree will never fall in the forest and kill peasants at home. Following this causative trail, they also say that rafters will never sink and kill a passerby (Igi kìí dá l’óko kó pa ará ilé; àjà kìí jìn k’ó pa èrò ònà). Sakara music lord, Yusuff Olatunji, appropriated an ancient Yoruba words of incantation while paying obeisance to the powers and principalities of this world, otherwise called…
When Governor Makinde exits office in 2027, some citizens of Oyo state who have fallen for the Governor’s mischievous strategies would be in for a big shock. Hate him or like him, Governor Makinde is a master in the game of manipulations of the psyche and emotions of the unsuspecting members of the public. He has completely alienated some people to his line of thinking. To this set of people, the Governor is always right, even if the roads to their houses are impassable and the schools their children attends do not have roofs. If you’re a student of psychology…
The above was the question asked by Britons and the rest of the world in the afternoon of May 22, 2013. Close to the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich, Southeast London, two young men of British-Nigerian descent, Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale, had attacked a 25-year old British Army soldier, Fusilier Lee Rigby and killed him. Rigby was of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers. It was a case of religious extremism. The soldier had been on off-duty and was walking along Wellington Street. His attackers mowed him down with a car, ran towards him and, like Jack the Ripper, stabbed…
I was on several Radio stations this week to ventilate on burning issues in the areas of politics, economy and governance in Nigeria. Of particular interest was the series of allegations I raised against Governor Seyi Makinde regarding misappropriation of Government funds, most especially, Local Government funds. I made clarifications and repeated the challenges I have always thrown at the Governor and which he has decided to ignore. I used the opportunity of the Radio to repeat the demand that the Governor avail the public with the details of the income and expenditures of the 33 Local Governments since 2019.…
When the Oyo state House of Assembly purportedly ” suspended” Sola Oluokun, Chairman of Oyo East Local Government Council last week, I was certain that the action was not only face saving, it was deceitful and only meant to divert public attention. I deliberately refrained from making my feelings public at the time, because, these days, when you go up against Governor Makinde, you must anticipate and prepare for both his official and diehard unofficial mouthpieces. I thought about how to expose the treachery of both the Governor and the House of Assembly and came up with a counter attacking…
In a gripping but evergreen musical rendition of a Yoruba folklore, late Fuji music lord, Ayinde Barrister, once deployed the canvas of the forest to paint the inequality of the world. In his Fuji New Waves album, he also depicted the acrimonies that follow the sharing of jointly hunted games. What the anecdote tells us is that, if we listen to the unspoken voices of the forest, humanity may find answers to some of its knotty matters. The narrator and about eleven of his friends, had gone on a hunting expedition in the forest. After a very tedious day-long exercise,…
The Clownish Chairman Waxing Lyrical In A Viral Video Just Gave Us Some Important Hints. A few days ago, an absurd video trended online. In the video, a particular individual was recorded, bare chested, a gold necklace dangling on his neck. The fellow in the video said he is a Local Government Chairman in one of the Local Governments in Oyo zone of Oyo state. The man could be seen eating what looked like cooked rice and he was full of praises for a former female Speaker of the Oyo state House of Assembly who also represented Oyo Central at…