Author: Prince Charles Dickson PhD

I know the biggest crime is just to throw up your hands and say “This has nothing to do with me, I just want to live as comfortably as I can.” ~ Ani DiFranco. The world is adrift in the tides of hunger and desolation. It is difficult to think about education, or anything else, when your children are not able to eat. And yet, the sharp attack on education during this past decade forces us to consider the kind of future that young people will inherit. In 2018, before the pandemic, the United Nations calculated that 258 million, or…

Read More

“When the deaf man beats a drum for you to dance, just dance…” AbdulChukwudi According to online news outlet PREMIUM TIMES—Gunmen, believed to be bandits, killed at least 43 people including 30 soldiers and seven mobile police personnel in an attack on a mining site in Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State, local sources have said. The Niger State Government, while confirming the attack, however, said the number of casualties is yet to be ascertained. Residents said a search party found 37 bodies of soldiers and policemen in a bush near the mining site Thursday morning. Six other corpses…

Read More

One who believes that the earth is chasing him, where did he put his feet while running? At the beginning of the year, I had promised that for 12 months, In Shaa Allah, I will once a month X-ray the issues around the forthcoming General Elections in the world’s largest black population and sufacracy. This is number seven, and five more to go. I have watched the initial gragra of the current candidates for the office of president of the country called Nigeria. All the drama of stinginess and missing certificates. With each week, there is no new story but old stories,…

Read More

An empty stomach is not a good political adviser. Albert Einstein If I sing say water no dey NA OLD-U NEWS-EE BE DAT Old old old news be dat-ee-oh If I sing-ee say, food no dey If I sing-ee say, Inf-i-lati-on I come sing-ee say, corrup-u-tion I come sing-ee say, mismanagement I come sing-ee say, stealing by government Old old old news be dat-ee-oh Di problems still dey pa para pa Dey thing weh dey worry me How dis robbery come get-ee big-head The first one, na leg-ee robbery LEG-EE ROBBO-ERY Where man e go pick-ee pockets Dey…

Read More

Let me start my admonition in this manner, it is likely that you have seen this somewhere, in one way or the other, the current Governor of Katsina, Aminu Bello Masari, was the Commissioner for works, housing and transport in Katsina state from 1991 to 1993. He was the speaker of the Nigerian House of Representatives between 2003 and 2007. He is 72 years old. His profile describes him as a Nigerian politician and current Governor of Katsina State. It is safe to say that he has been in politics for the better part of 30 years, in street maths,…

Read More

Chicken cannot at this late date bemoan its lack of teeth, and when it sees the snuff seller, it enfolds its wings. (Everything at its proper time and when one sees potential danger approaching, one should take precautions). Emilokan, aka na me remain, aka na my turn, aka remaining me… By the time I was writing this, Bola Ahmed Tinubu BAT had won the All Peoples Congress APC presidential primaries by over 60%, the analysts, the hallelujah boys, the noisemakers, were making their permutations, Atiku of the PDP is still doing the maths of a running mate…the OBIdent ones, members…

Read More

If you must buy a baboon don’t buy the one with a 10% discount. Reality is a construct At the beginning of the year, I had promised that for 12 months, In Shaa Allah, I will once a month X-ray the issues around the forthcoming General Elections in the world’s largest black population and sufacracy. This is number six, and six more to go. So, there’s this theory we call the theory of the reality tunnel. The reality tunnel is a theory that, with a subconscious set of mental filters formed from beliefs and experiences, every individual interprets the same…

Read More

“Are you a politician or does lying just run in your family?” ― Fannie Flagg, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café A former United States President famously made more than 30,000 false or misleading claims during the four years of his presidency. This is an average of more than 20 a day. In Nigeria a contender for public office will possibly tell twice that amount of lies depending on the office, and how long the campaign will last. And take it to the bank, they will most likely steal. In a conversation I was having with one…

Read More

Nigeria’s economic crimes agency arrested the country’s accountant general over charges of diverting public funds and money laundering to the tune of 80 billion naira. ORDINARY 80billion! At about the same time anoda tory burst. Follow me hear as The Guardian take report am; Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), arrested the former Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Nsima Ekere, for alleged diversion of funds to the tune of N47 billion through registered contractors of the agency. Very small something, like half of the one way AG chop! In January 2016 I had…

Read More

“The biggest enemy of Islam is the ignorant Muslim, whose ignorance leads him to intolerance, whose actions destroy the true image of Islam, and when people look at him, they think that is what Islam is.” Sheikh Ahmed Deedat Couple of years, I had written on what I called An Igbo Reverend Sister, An Hausa Ulamah, And Killing In Allah’s Name (Another Senseless Ethno-Religious Purge). It was my reflections on the reactions of Nigerians on the Danish Cartoons episode. Again, we have decided to misbehave in faraway Sokoto state, and I dare add my voice and sadly so. In horrific…

Read More

If you leave the baby lion in the midst of matured goats, there will be tales by moonlight… Indian PM: Namaste, Gangubai. Please sit Gangubai: Namaste, Mr. Prime Minister Indian PM: I hope you had a comfortable journey Gangubai: I did Indian PM: Have some tea Gangubai: Thank you, You have some too? Indian PM: Later, I have heard a lot about you, Gangubai. What you have done for downtrodden women is commendable. Your fight against injustice is a noble one. Gangubai: My father taught me all this. He was a barrister too. Mr. Jagjeevandas. First of all, I…

Read More

I tire so of hearing people say, Let things take their course. Tomorrow is another day. I do not need my freedom when I’m dead. I cannot live on tomorrow’s bread. Freedom Is a strong seed Planted In a great need. I live here, too. I want my freedom Just as you. – Langston Hughes At the beginning of the year, I had promised that for 12 months, In Shaa Allah, I will once a month X-ray the issues around the forthcoming General Elections in the world’s largest black population and sufacracy. This is number five, and seven more…

Read More

At each stage in our life, we build rafts to get us from one level to another—Pushing through boundaries (How to create epic outcomes in life and business) By Innocent Usar   It has been a while since I read voraciously a work by a Nigerian author without dropping it, till I was done, because not only was it well written but because I could relate with it, and it made me reflect again on the construct called Nigeria. I do not know exactly what was the driving force for Innocent Usar, but for the barracks raised lad turned great…

Read More

By Prince Charles Dickson PhD All idiots are morons, but not all morons are idiots On the night of 14–15 April 2014, 276 mostly Christian female students aged from 16 to 18 were kidnapped by the Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram from the Government Girls Secondary School at the sleepy town of Chibok in Borno State, Nigeria Till date Chibok itself has witnessed almost a dozen and more attacks, Chibok since Chibok has seen almost one attack per year, per village after that incident, whether it is Kwarangullum, Piyemi, Kauitkari, Pemi, villages, it is tales of woes and neglect.…

Read More

It is a trap that the giant rat disdains that wrenches its testicles backwards. At the beginning of the year, I had promised that for 12 months, In Shaa Allah, I will once a month X-ray the issues around the forthcoming General Elections in the world’s largest black population and sufacracy. Kindly note my use of the phrase In Shaa Allah. This is number four, and eight more to go. And I start like this—the war in Ukraine, along with sanctions imposed by the United States and Western countries against Russia, have caused global food, fertilizer, and fuel prices to…

Read More

By Prince Charles Dickson PhD “An Ode To Death” Your ode to death is in the lifting of a single eyebrow. Lift it and see. (Conrad Aiken) Death is more than certain, says e.e Cummings, But the clocks go on ticking as before And in every particle of carbon dust There lives a diamond dream How many galaxies yet to be explored- How many seeds in the pomegranate of time? The pine tree blasted by last year’s Thunderbolt And the burn out match stick in my ashtray Look so terribly alike I have sat by your bedside and felt…

Read More

The Edos say “Ehemwen wÿÿ iren te gua so ihuan, ren te vbe gua ku, sokpan ukpÿ iye-ÿkhÿkhÿ ÿre ÿ ma gie iren ku iku iren vbe avan”.  A cockroach knows how to sing and dance, but it is the hen who prevents it from performing its art during the day. (English) For this admonition, let me start with the critic’s anthem, one that has repeatedly inspired me. It is by H.G. Wells and he says “we are going to write about it all. We are going to write about business and finance and politics and pretences and pretentiousness, and…

Read More

By Prince Charles Dickson PhD I sorry sorry o, I sorry for Nigeria I sorry sorry o, I sorry for Africa Sorry sorry o (trice) But with these kind of leaders Africa no get hope Africans will suffer ‘Til the suffer reach our bone Olufela Olufemi Anikulapo Kuti This was the song playing at the other end of the bar. And then I could see from my seat an altercation a few meters away, voices, and from the gestures you could tell there was a fight in the making and what followed were a couple of hard-hitting slaps.…

Read More

“The public does not like you to mislead or represent yourself to be something you’re not. And the other thing that the public really does like is the self-examination to say, you know, I’m not perfect. I’m just like you. They don’t ask their public officials to be perfect. They just ask them to be smart, truthful, honest, and show a modicum of good sense.” Ann Richards (recent death) In the country of Armenia, in 1988, Samuel and Danielle sent their young son, Armand, off to school. Samuel squatted before his son and looked him in the eye. “Have a…

Read More

“There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics.” – Mark Twain’s Own Autobiography: The Chapters from the North American Review. The Special Adviser to President Buhari on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, has appealed to Nigerians to be patient, noting that the country had gone through the worst stage of fuel scarcity in the past and will therefore survive the current one. He made this known in his article entitled: Knock, knock, who’s there? Posted on his official social media handles last Friday. He said: “Be patient my soul, thou hath suffered worse than this. There were…

Read More

“My generation owes this country a debt of gratitude we can never repay because this country has given us more than we have given back and I look at your generation, I feel really sorry for your generation. Our parents did not pay a penny for our education from primary school to university, we got out to university in our part three. We were already in level eight, we bought cars when we were in part three, when we came out you had a house you had a car. Now Nigerian youth cannot get a job unless you are the…

Read More

The Indians have a proverb that literally means “Your future does not depend on the lines of your hands, because people who do not have hands also have a future”. Often people ask me why I write on certain topics and issues all the time, like bashing governments at all levels and the band of ‘confusionists’ that run them, my take on the education, health and power sector, insecurity, the lack of or non-existent governance, arguments on ethnicity and the indigene question amongst others. My answer is that I do because I believe that such subjects are important for Nigeria…

Read More

…I am not a candidate of rotation or zoning, I am a candidate of justice, maybe the Southeast or the South has not been able to present their matter very well before the rest of Nigeria. I am sure if you tell to a Muslim, a northerner, and say to him remember my friend, my friends from the North and my brothers of the Muslim Ummah, that remember the principal cardinal point upon which Islam is built is justice. Prophet Muhammed sallallahu alayhi wa salaam” acknowledges the fact that in Koran Chapter 16 verse 90…saying verily God commands justice and…

Read More

The sentence ‘a nut for a jar of tuna’ is the same when read backwards. Ademola Babalola wrote on his FB page last week about his mum… In 1982, I was a Meteorological Observer at the Headquarters office of Ogun-Osun River Basin Development Authority in Abeokuta. I was proudly a Level 4 Federal Government employee, earning N157 net wage monthly. We received our salaries twice in a month: mine paid N80 and N77 respectively. That year, all of us in my cadre had the opportunity of receiving Motorcycle loan of N400. No complications, just apply and get the loan. Our…

Read More

This is not just primitive rural superstition; [juju] is practiced by all kinds of people, from illiterate herd boys to multi-dregreed university professors. If you don’t understand the power of this belief, you will never truly grasp the rich albeit often incomprehensible spirituality of Africa. Lawrence Anthony, The Elephant Whisperer Nobody respects the law of Nigeria. Judges don’t. Police don’t. Lawyers don’t. Politicians don’t. Citizens don’t. Why? Because there are no consequences. Those who fear the laws are the downtrodden who have no godfathers. That is why stealing a goat is more dangerous than stealing billions. Nigeria is a country…

Read More

A lady in Chicago was reported to have used hammers to kill flies. When asked why, she replied that she wanted to make sure the sucker was dead! –Ezeana Achusim President Muhammadu Buhari has called on the relevant bodies to ensure justice is served in the murder of Hanifa Abubakar, the five-year-old schoolgirl killed in Kano State. He specifically ordered the police and the Ministry of Justice to uphold the integrity of the detective work that busted the case by preparing well and presenting a good case that will earn the respect of the court. The President gave the directive…

Read More

“…I know who will be the next president, but I will not mention his name, because if I do, the person will be eliminated…” Mr. Muhammadu Buhari      Nigeria 2023 In our political party, we do what we promise Only fools can believe We will not fight against corruption Because there is something certain for us Honesty is fundamental to achieve our deals We will demonstrate that this is a great stupidity to believe that Mafias can remain part of the government as in the past. We ensure, without a shadow of a doubt, that Social justice will…

Read More

“One mark of an intelligent person is the ability to learn from people they don’t like”—Shane Parrish So let me ask, do you know the indaboski bahose the liquid metal, the lion himself; real names, Chukwuemeka Ohanaemere Odumeje undoubtedly one of Nigeria’s most talked-about and most controversial spiritual figures around. I am not sure if he’s a comedian or a clergyman, but trust me, there are times I was sure he wasn’t okay. However, I must apologize to this ‘great’ man of God to avert the wrath of hell by sentencing via Mummy G. O. Because now I know he…

Read More

Why do New Year’s Resolutions fail? Mainly, because they are only a statement, or what we wish for in the coming year. There are usually no action plans, no deadlines, no backup plans. Sometimes they are unrealistic resolutions, with no other thought or plans beside the statement. The meaning of resolution is “a firm decision to do or not to do something.” The key words are “firm decision”. If you make a firm decision about something then you must also take action and set a deadline, in other words, set a goal!—Catherine Pulsifer So, permit me to start this way,…

Read More

“One to be a murderer. One to be a Martyr. One to be a Monarch. One to go Mad” ― Marissa Meyer, Heartless Nigeria is a religious country of the good, very excellent men and women, the bad, really bad, and the ugliest. We don’t do little, go to Kano on a Friday and during prayer time you are stuck, no movement and commerce temporarily comes to a stand still, with all the Hisbah, the amount of sin that is committed in that state “no be here”. Have you been to Owerri, the new capital of the gunmen unknown on…

Read More