Tag: Festus Adedayo

“Our Doc, who art in the National Palace” By Festus Adedayo

Emporium Reporters

On April 23, 1971, the New York Times did a feature on Haitian tyrant, Francois Duvalier, infamously known as Papa Doc. It reported Duvalier as getting Haitian children indoctrinated with a political catechism which parodied Christians’ The Lord’s Prayer, thus: “Our Doc, who art in the National Palace for life, Hallowed be Thy name by present and future generations. Thy will be done at Port‐au‐Prince and in the provinces. Give us this day our new Haiti and never forgive the trespasses of the anti patriots who spit every day on…

Nasir El-Rufai and the philosophy of nothing By Festus Adedayo

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Former governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai caused a mild stir last week. Though the resignation of his membership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and gravitation towards the Social Democratic Party (PDP) did not come as a shock, the ruckus that attended them have been instructive. Torrents of negative comments have been heaped up as reactions to his decamping. And they are expected. Brilliant politician, intelligent and renowned for his organizational ability, El-Rufai is one politician you would love to hate. Since 1999, he has been a factor, either…

Nuhu Ribadu’s hell and other hellish stories By Festus Adedayo

Emporium Reporters

Nigeria has just had one hell of a week. Like an evil spirit, hell hovered over Nigeria with fraught silence. To stave it off, Muslims will seem to have recited the Quranic verse of the Yaseen to keep the evil away. Christians banned and banished. Hell held on regardless. Hell was first let loose when a hellish temperament of the country’s National Security Adviser, (NSA) Nuhu Ribadu, escaped from its scabbard. Ribadu is ostensibly managing a loose, hellish temperament. In a moment of unguarded, loose hold on his temper, Nuhu…

Bisi Akande, poverty and Ige’s death By Festus Adedayo

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In her biography of Ayo Rosiji, one of the key politicians of Nigeria’s first republic, entitled Man With Vision, Australia-born historian, Nina Mba, citing a Holmes, called biographers “People who knead people.” In other words, biographers knead their subjects from raw flour into edible form. You then wonder what the late lecturer in the History department of the University of Lagos would have called autobiographers. Self-conjurers, perhaps. For, in the process of piecing together bits about themselves, those who write their life histories have been accused of selfishly adding together…

“Ganusi” and the fire this time By Festus Adedayo

Emporium Reporters

All over the world, musicians are reputed to have patented argots, slang and jargon that signposted global conversations. In the tiny Island of Jamaica, the unkempt, locked-hair, weed-smoking, reggae music singer, Peter Tosh pioneered the word ‘Rasta’ as prefix for devotees of a new religion that began to reign in the West Indies. That religion believed that His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia, formerly Abyssinia, and the last Emperor of the Empire, was “King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah and…

Amaechi, El-Rufai and Tinubu’s kernel By Festus Adedayo

Emporium Reporters

Irish poet and playwright, Oscar Wilde, in his lowest moment in prison, drew a comparison of how he sank from being one of the greatest writers of the late 20th century, into a bisexual pedophile. Son of Anglo-Irish intellectuals, Wilde was a writer with lacerating wit. He equally dressed flamboyantly and garnished his writings in flamboyant imagery. He was however bisexual, a precursor to the creed Trump detests today. Wilde’s ordeal began when he issued a civil writ against 9th Marques of Queensberry, John Sholto Douglas, for criminal libel. John…

Making of an Aláàfin: Bribe or gods? By Festus Adedayo

Emporium Reporters

In a viral video, Professor Wande Abimbola, former Vice Chancellor of the University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University, and the Awise of Yorubaland – head of all Ifa oracle diviners – threw a bombshell. In it, he affirmed that the Oyo State government contacted him on the divination process leading to the nomination of a new Aláàfin of Oyo. Abimbola, who hails from Oyo town, would seem to have ignited a major earthquake which struck Yorubaland and its system of choosing kings. In its strike, the earthquake disemboweled dirt…

Ex-Queen Naomi and beheaded skulls in Mògún shrine By Festus Adedayo

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In my piece of last week, I made a tangential reference to the place of African magic in modern matters. It was in the discussion of the calamity that befell Nigeria a few days to Christmas. Ibadan, the capital city of the Yoruba, had taken a sizeable chunk of the tragedy. Thirty five persons, the bulk of whom were kids, had been trampled to death in a stampede. The dead and a crowd estimated to be about ten thousand, had heeded invitation to attend a funfair where freebies, which included…

Nigerians in Súàrá Sòbó bus By Festus Adedayo

Emporium Reporters

I have been asked severally what my opinion was on last week’s presidential media chat. First, I must commend the presidency for hosting the chat, though belatedly after 19 months of holding back. When the people hear directly from their leaders and not from third parties they didn’t elect, it affords them opportunity of psycho-analyzing the man at the helm of affairs, match his gestures with policies and project what the leadership’s future strides will be.   It was also gladsome to see the president radiating warmth, confidence and mastery…

Harvest of Human Chickens for Xmas,By Festus Adedayo

Emporium Reporters

The unnamed woman had just given birth to a baby five days before. Her body was still wet as Yoruba say of mothers who newly underwent the pangs of labour and delivery. Pains must still be ricocheting round her navel. Ex-Queen of the Ooni of Ife, Prophetess Naomi Silekunola, and an Ibadan-based broadcaster, Oriyomi Hamzat, had promised her and her baby free food. This was done in a blast of publicity inviting her kid and 4999 other children to a funfair. The event was slated for Islamic High School, Bashorun,…