25years ago today, I took this manuscript to my first conference of ANA in NIALS, Unilag. It was a selection of poems, including one that I wrote four days earlier for Ken Saro-Wiwa and the Ogoni 9, then already condemned. News would filter in later of the hanging...1/2

... I recall, about mid morning, Odia Ofeimun addressing foreign reporters in the foyer, confident Abacha would be better advised. By my calculation, the execution was probably happening at about that time. Conference dispersed, it also ended my first search for a publisher. 2/2

A Humanist Ode for Chibok--Wole Soyinka

"President Tinubu end the killings you criticized President Jonathan for." I can go with that.

The problem that I have with anecdotes like this is the perpetration of the notion of an external "they" that we are powerless against. Most of what has historically hobbled this country has been a debased elite so self-intetested to the point of self-sabotage.

"For a guy who's insists he deserves a Nobel peace prize for stopping wars..." 😃 Waving the bowl of candies in front of the petulant child. I like that.

Mallam Gumi trying to convince the world that there is no cause for alarm: "[Bandits] are now taking [read: kidnapping] children safely." 🤡

"[I'm] a self-described and proud-of-it hawk...who never met a weapons system he didn't vote for." -- Dick Cheney (1991)

Trump will now have to look for soft targets. Zohran, be nice, na!

DSS deputy director of Comms: “the trial has been delayed for an extended period due to legal and procedural issues, including the suspects being occasionally brought to court without any counsel appearing for them.”

Think about it. Ineptitude should not be so routine ordinarily. But so casual have we become about terrorism in this country that we can't even "shake body small" and get routine ineptitude out of the way!

It's not even like this is privileged information or complex thought. We all know this is the inevitable outcome of US interventions. But I understand if communities who have borne the open season of terror in the last 2 decades don't understand, or care anymore.

The white noise of lobbyists for an unrelated separatist agitation is now harmful interference to the genuine cries of communities confronting sectarian terrorism. Anybody with official remit for messaging and engagement should be making these distinctions clear.

Ben Okri interviewing Segun Adewale for BBC in 1985. In that short Juju Music global run, Adewale (Stern) was 1 of only 3 artistes of the genre to have an international record deal, alongside Sunny Ade (Island) and Ebenezer Obey (Virgin). Okri himself won Booker Prize 6yrs later.

The govt-to-lobby/corp. board pipeline is one of the most distortive factors in US public policy. Jim Moran's lobbying business builds on his 24yr DC role. He's also been appointed Practice professor in @VirginiaTech, enabling him to pass the poison down to the next generation.

Abi!

This fellow's undoing was being surrounded by those flunkeys of counsel who allowed themselves to be openly abused verbally/physically, rebuffing real professional interventions to subject him to some discipline. A brat! Only he could do more harm than swallow his own toys.

Years ago Regina used her husband to arrest a Lady. Her name Jaruma, she was popular on Instagram. Omoyele Sowore and his lawyer secured her release. The Regina Daniels 's husband arrested Sho around June 2022, his lawyer got him out, they later arrested the lawyer saying he was

Zumuntan Mata on the beat. We are grateful for a successful International Women’s Week of Prayer at ECWA Church with no tragic incident reported. Enjoy the music.

The Lagos Book & Art Festival (LABAF) is here again, and you don't want to miss the performed readings of Sanya by Oyin Olugbile, winner of The Nigeria Prize for Literature 2025. Come vibe with writers, artists, dreamers, and thinkers who are shaping the future through art!