Ola Barnabas

The choice of Nigeria’s next president is a huge decision that faces all Nigerians 18 years and above in the face. 2019, unlike previous election years, is drama-filled. The consciousness of the average Nigerian – whether of voting age or not is fever-pitch high, due to the consistent heating and over-heating of the polity, the various actions of the political gladiators, the current economic reality vis-à-vis the expectations of Nigerians at the inception of the current administration, amidst other factors that may not be unrelated to sentiments – religion and region. 2019 will indeed be an interesting year for voting Nigerians. And Aah! The carpeting and cross-carpeting from the sweeping broom to under the umbrella, and so on. Suffice to say that most Nigerians know those whom they won’t vote for. They may not know yet and may not be convinced about whom they will vote for, but they know what they are tired of and don’t want a repeat of. That makes the choice in 2...

The catalogue of misbehavior is never in short supply among African leaders, and if you are the leader of the most populous black nation on earth which expectedly is also the leading economy on the continent which a leader at one time said has no problem with money, only what to do with it, you are very likely to need help to not misbehave. The leaders of the nation since independence have never failed to live up to this bidding. At several times, in office as the president of Nigeria, President Buhari has never hidden his bias for his northern folk. The appointments of the heads of various government establishments and agencies are particularly skewed towards the north, the service chiefs – whose tenures were recently extended, of a country that is challenged with insecurity arising mainly, painfully so, from one region of the country, are also drawn from that same region of the country, the President’s region – the Chief of Army Staff, Inspector-General of Police, Chief of A...

Almost every topic, everywhere in Nigeria is a potential crisis theme. There is tension everywhere and the government is unarguably confused on what to do on most of these issues, it can indeed not hide its confusion, it would rather treat these issues like the proverbial 800-pound gorilla in the room – everyone knows it's there, but nobody wants to talk about it. In fact, the government now monitors your social media account for being so hard or for daring to talk. Wars, like accidents don’t just happen, they are created. Wars are effects to causes. There is no invasion of a country just for the sake of it without economic benefits targeted. No. Britain did not fight the Revolutionary war in the 1760s just because it wanted to protect its American subjects. No. it needed to strengthen and create wealth for the empire. Britain did not fight the Opium wars in the mid-1800s if it were not for the trade reasons, of course, Hong Kong was ceded to British control, and Shangh...

Nigeria and what Nigerians want from her is an amazing study. The founding fathers came together, negotiated and created a country that was largely acceptable to their people. In that country, they did not quite give up their power – the power of the citizens, rather, they gave of their resources to the federal government. While cocoa did well in the west, palm produce did well in the south, groundnut did well in the north among other agro and natural resources that were peculiar to each region. The leaders had little to fight over, they were content in the little they each had, they kept what was for each region for the regions, and they came to the table when anything involved all three/four regions. They disagreed when they needed to, and governed themselves in their regions, and jointly, by a document they all agreed to. They called it the 1958 constitution. The military came and foisted their will on the people of the country. They came selling a more united front they...

I crossed over from 2017 to 2018 in Ilorin, Kwara state of Nigeria, and because I am a Christian, I had to go to church for the crossing-over service. We were on our way in a bus carrying worshippers from the church, passing through the Taiwo-Isale area of Ilorin city at about 3:00am when we met a barricade on the road – some people had set fire to a tire on the main road to stop vehicular and human movement and had also supported that with heavy stones, trees, etc. The driver and indeed all of us, having no prior knowledge, had thought it was just some youths celebrating the new year and wanting some handouts from vehicle owners; it was on that assumption that the driver proceeded to drive past the burning tire only to find that it was beyond our collective assumption. Amidst shout of Stop! Turn back! and all that, we were met with heavy sticks, stones, and clubs. The bus glasses were completely broken by the irate group while those of us inside were either praying, shouti...

TRUE LIFE STORY OF A MIGRANT My name? You can call me Ese. I am eighteen years old, from Edo state. Two months ago, a friend of my aunt came to our house and said she could help me get a job abroad, she said she knows someone there who has been helping other people. We only had to provide about Six Hundred thousand naira for my transport to the Libya. My aunt, my mum and my elder brother all gathered the money and gave me some extra for the trip. Two weeks later, we were ready for the trip.  From Edo state, we were transported to Kano, and then Katsina, and, I don’t know the names of all the places, but they said they had to follow that particular road because of Immigration and other officers that collect money from them on the road. We went through several bush paths and un-tarred road in a long lorry until we were completely in the desert. More than ninety percent of us girls were from Edo state and I think all the boys were Ibo because they were speaking more of Ibo...

ISSUES THAT WILL DETERMINE 2019 POLLS IN NIGERIA As you may have noticed already, politicking is starting earlier this time around, and that’s principally due to the series of events that have hung around the neck of this administration particularly – the Fulani herders/Farmers clash and more notoriously, the IPOB secessionist drive which has led to very loud calls for restructuring as a more permanent solution. Do not be deceived that the issue is rested; no it is not. But above and beyond those two is the seeming dissatisfaction that Nigerians can no longer hide about their expectation and eventual reality with the current administration. For several people, elections better take place in 2018 so they can change the change (even though their own readiness to provide suitable alternative leadership is highly questionable). As it appears, even though some diehard loyalists of the present leadership of the country may not have come out to express their disappointment, many of ...