Tag: Azu Ishiekwene

She can keep me, for one month, by Azu Ishiekwene

Emporium Reporters

Until she asked, I didn’t know it was a problem. Her problem, I mean. When people say whatever gets your time and attention gets you, it’s often true.   For as long as I can remember, 38 weeks every year, this thing gets my time and attention.   It starts slowly, usually on weekends, at the beginning of the season. And then, as the fixtures pick up tempo and the men separate themselves from the boys, weekends morph into weekdays. Other chores become placeholders yielding to just one desire: watching…

Running Mate As Albatross: Tinubu’s Choice, by Azu Ishiekwene

Emporium Reporters

That the All Progressives Congress (APC) flag bearer, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is exactly where the party’s last presidential candidate President Muhammadu Buhari was when he got the ticket eight years ago, shows just how our politics has stagnated, if not regressed.   After Buhari won the APC ticket in December 2014, the next major hurdle was getting a running mate. In what appeared to be a breach of the understanding he had with Tinubu to be his running mate before the election – and on the basis of which…

COVID-19 Stories by Children | By Azu Ishiekwene

Emporium Reporters

It all seems like memories from a distant past. But it’s not. This time last year we were in a lockdown. The world was under the monstrous grip of the Coronavirus. Rumours and speculations about the origin and nature of this invincible foe were rife, leaving data and science in the dust. Fear ruled the world.   The situation in Europe, especially in Italy and Spain, was particularly dire as the virus overwhelmed their sophisticated medical systems. While researchers and scientists struggled to crack the pathogen, dead bodies that could…

The travails of Malam Nasir El-Rufai, by Azu Ishiekwene

Emporium Reporters

The list was long and the contents harsh and threatening. The notices may have been issued separately, but they landed like a packaged digital bomb in my WhatsApp inbox. Eight unions, apart from the central body, had collectively declared war on Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir el-Rufai. The die was cast. The unions were the Nigeria Union of Railway Workers; National Union of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions Employees; Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations, Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services Employees; Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions; National…

COVID-19 Lockdown: A Radical View By Azu Ishiekwene

Emporium Reporters

Until a few days ago, I was a big fan of testing, testing, testing. I still believe testing is important because data, reliable data, ought to direct action. But considering where we are at today (about 6,000 tests so far, and at an official figure of 500 daily), it will take 3,600 days or 10 years to test one per cent, that is 1.8 million of our population or five years, if we double the testing rate. The government did not extend the lockdown by two weeks to punish us.…

Beyond Mugabe: The Other Vultures In Harare By Azu Ishiekwene

Emporium Reporters

Robert Mugabe overstayed his welcome by miles. But he wouldn’t come this far without the support of his former Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa, the ruling ZANU-PF party, and the military top brass. They were in it together. Ordinary Zimbabweans wanted Mugabe out at least over a decade ago. The clearest expression of that was in 2008 when they voted Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change in a general election later stolen by ZANU-PF after the first round of voting. Mugabe’s party didn’t only stop at stealing the vote.…