WHY WE INVITED THE US MILITARY._ NIGERIAN FOREIGN MINISTER

Nigeria provided US with intelligence for strikes on militants, foreign minister says

Nigeria provided the US with intelligence on jihadists before the strikes that took place in the country on Christmas Day, its foreign ministry said on Friday.

On Thursday, the US president, Donald Trump, said the US military had carried out strikes against Islamic State militants in north-west Nigeria, after spending weeks decrying the group for targeting Christians.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, the president said: “Tonight, at my direction as Commander in Chief, the United States launched a powerful and deadly strike against ISIS Terrorist Scum in Northwest Nigeria, who have been targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians, at levels not seen for many years, and even Centuries!

“I have previously warned these Terrorists that if they did not stop the slaughtering of Christians, there would be hell to pay, and tonight, there was. The Department of War executed numerous perfect strikes, as only the United States is capable of doing.”

Now, Nigerian foreign minister, Yusuf Tuggar, has told broadcaster ChannelsTV that he was on the phone with the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and that Nigeria “provided” the intelligence.

“We spoke twice. We spoke for 19 minutes before the strike and then we spoke again for another five minutes before it went on,” Tuggar said.

He added that they spoke “extensively” and that President Bola Tinubu gave “the go-ahead” to launch the strikes.

Tuggar said the strikes would be an “ongoing process” that would also involve other countries. He gave no further details.

Trump has previously said he would launch a “guns-a-blazing” US military intervention in Nigeria, claiming that the country’s government has been inadequate in its efforts to prevent attacks on Christians by Islamist groups.

FALSIFICATION OF GENEALOGICAL CLAIMS: The Fusengbuwa experience & implications

"Truth exists, only lies are invented"

 - Georges Braque

The Fusengbuwa Ruling House (Ijebu Ode), next in line to produce an Awujale, is dealing with competing claims of connection. Alhaji Wasiu Ayinde Marshall (K1 Fuji maestro and the Olori Omoba of Ijebuland) recently threw his hat into the ring, sparking buzz online. It is time for the Ijebu people and Yorubaland to reflect on this development.

The Alhaji Wasiu Ayinde vs. Fusengbuwa saga and certain other aspirants' claim to same Fusengbuwa, exposes a worrying decline in morals and regard for history and tradition in Yorubaland. Looking beyond Alhaji Wasiu Ayinde, the truth is that the Fusengbuwa Ruling House is a victim of a prevailing scheme by wealthy overambitious elements to twist reality for prestige and other personal gains. The question begging for an answer is: how many families and thrones are already infiltrated, if not completely hijacked? This drama exposes deep-seated corruption in Yorubaland's traditional institution. If truth must be told, we are at a crossroads—fix or fade?

The Fusengbuwa case, hinging on family membership, is alarming. Even without judging the current claims, some online commentators have suggested that being a titled chief and an Ijebu indigene should automatically qualify Kwam 1 for the Awujale throne. While such a suggestion turns logic on its head, it is important, for the sake of public sanity, that we reflect on the essence of family.

Family membership is clear and public. Those claiming that title plus indigeneity qualifies one for the Awujale throne are not only undermining the public's intelligence and the customary law governing family constitution in Yorubaland, but they are also contributing to societal disorder. If things reach a point where outsiders question a family’s right to define its own membership, then there is a significant breakdown of societal control.

A Ruling House is a specific royal lineage with a common ancestor. It includes branches eligible to produce successors to a chieftaincy in line with tradition. Members may not all meet, but the representatives of the lineages know themselves and their respective members. Honestly, families know their people, whether locally or globally. There is no confusion about it.

In the Ijebu Royal House, not only does the Awujale host an annual feast for his children where shared interests are addressed, but as it is the custom in Yorubaland, members of the Ijebu Ruling House, lineages, and royal families also jointly hold prayers to their ancestors, "Oshii," and contribute for family members' marriages, coronations, burials, and other social engagements. No decision regarding their ancestors' legacy is reached without the involvement of all branches or units. In summary, a family knows its members and those who do not belong to them.

What is happening to Fusengbuwa is a new low previously identified with politicians inducing folks to fake lineage, “proving” descent to hijack dynasties or claim indigene-ship of a community. They call it buying a family lineage "rira ile," an abomination and sickening development perpetuated by men who lack conscience, self-dignity, and moral standards.

If truth be told, the traditional rulers are the spoilers, they create the atmosphere for such activities. The current trend stems from the corruption of the people's socio-cultural thought patterns by recent traditional rulers, whose paths to the throne are mostly questionable. They induce kingmakers with bribes, bypassing laid-down procedures and rituals. Their flamboyant lifestyles inspire their subjects to place wealth above its actual place among the parameters for judging a proper Yoruba person, "Omoluwabi." This subtle but dangerous negative reorientation accounts for the growing insecurity in our society. Rather than good character, the kingmakers now select wealthy people for chieftaincy posts, with its antecedent consequences.

Obas appointed through shady deals betray community trust, ditching native laws, customs, and traditions for foreign beliefs. Rich foreigners receive Otunba and Baaleship titles under such Obas. Chieftaincy titles have been reduced to an article with which friends and the highest bidders are rewarded. A community whose leadership is made up of illegitimates breeds chaos as he will subsequently elevate fellow impostors and crooked elements within the community. History, tradition, and laws all suffer since their guardians are active accomplices in the scheme to destroy them. This is the reason why uncertainty pervades the system nowadays. Things have gone so badly that some people think they are above the rules.

No legitimate Yoruba person claims membership of a Ruling House without ties. It is only possible because there is no accountability. Gone are the days when our people said that things cannot go wrong in a community with a king and chiefs: "Ilu to ni Oba, to ni Ijoye." Today, families are split; if not directly by traditional rulers, they are supporting one party against the other for their own selfish interests which may range from land or monetary gains. No wonder disputes that were supposed to be resolved by traditional rulers now fill the courts. Who takes his or her case to an Oba whose connection to the throne, sense of judgement and  character are questionable?

Gone were the days when Obas were above board. Who dares to claim what his ancestors were not, in the days when the elders were men of integrity, honesty, and faithfulness to the peace of the communities?

Today, the elders are ready and willing to kill and burn down the community they control for their selfish interests. Under such circumstances, a palpable atmosphere of uncertainty is created with an impression that there are no checks for actions and everyone is free to do and claim as he or she wishes.

While Fusengbuwa Ruling House owe the society the singular duty of looking into similar allegations against certain other aspirants, yet the Fusengbuwa (Ijebu Ode) ordeal, which position was widely acknowledged, gives hope that the Yoruba people know the truth and see beyond the damage done by some rulers. Tradition is still strong in our hearts.

Conclusion:

Ijebuland and the Yoruba people, it is time to review our traditional rulership affairs. We should pick loyal princes and princesses for authoritative roles. Let us preserve history, culture, and tradition.

Source: Omo'ba Prince Samuel Olawunmi Anikinaiya

Igboro Lawa!

I AM STILL IN THE RACE FOR THE AWUJALE THRONE

The lawyer to popular Fuji musician, Alhaji Wasiu Ayinde Marshal, fondly called KWAM 1, Dr Wahab Shittu (SAN), has said the withdrawal of the suit challenging the selection process of the next Awujale of Ijebuland was a tactical retreat to allow for further strategy.

Ayinde, in a notice of discontinuance dated December 22, 2025, and filed before the Ogun State High Court sitting in Ijebu-Ode, informed the court of his decision not to pursue the suit and urged the court to strike it out.

However, speaking in a telephone interview with our correspondent on Wednesday, Shittu clarified that the withdrawal of the suit does not amount to withdrawing from the race for the Awujale stool.

According to him, Ayinde remains actively involved in the process.

So This Happened (EP 357) reviews: LASU ‘terror prank’ triggers backlash and campus restrictions0:16 / 1:01

“Of course, it’s a tactical retreat to put our house in order and come back again,” Shittu said.

“It is not true that he has withdrawn from the race. He is still very much active in the race. But we need to take advantage of further particulars and information and then come back.”

The senior advocate explained that the legal team identified the need to take certain preliminary steps before proceeding further with the case.

“After the preliminary steps that we need to take, which we have started, it is not something we want to rush without putting those steps in place,” he said.

“We don’t want to fail. We need to strategise and put our house in order.”

Meanwhile, the Vice Chairman of the Fusengbuwa ruling house of Ijebu-Ode and the lawyer holding brief for the family, Prof. Fassy Yusuf, confirmed on Wednesday that the Fuji musician had withdrawn the suit filed against the state government and the ruling house over the selection process of the next Awujale.

According to Yusuf, Ayinde filed the notice of discontinuance on Monday, shortly after the court declined to grant him an interim injunction seeking to stop Governor Dapo Abiodun, the Fusengbuwa ruling house, and four others from taking further steps in the selection process.

“I can confirm that Wasiu Ayinde has filed a notice of discontinuance of the suit instituted against Governor Dapo Abiodun, the Fusengbuwa ruling house, the Awujale Interregnum Administration Committee, the Chairman of Ijebu-Ode Local Government, and others. On Monday, his exparte motion came up for hearing, but unfortunately, the presiding judge, Justice A. A. Omoniyi, declined to grant the order of interim injunction seeking to stop the selection process of the Awujale.

“Perhaps, after due consultation with his legal counsel, he decided to withdraw the suit. The truth, however, is that the Fuji musician has filed for discontinuance of his suit against the government and our family. This application will be formally heard on January 14, which is the next adjourned date for the suit,” Yusuf said.

Ayinde had earlier shown interest in the vacant Awujale stool, linking his lineage to the Jadiara Royal House of the wider Fusengbuwa Ruling House.

However, the Fusengbuwa ruling house rejected the claim, asserting that Wasiu Ayinde is not from the royal house.

The musician is commonly believed to be from the Fidipote ruling house of Ijebu-Ode, which he has referenced in his music.

To address the perceived injustice, Ayinde had dragged the Fusengbuwa ruling house, Governor Abiodun, as well as the chairman of Ijebu-Ode Local Government, Dare Alebiosu, and three others before the court.

He sought an order of interim injunction restraining the respondents from taking any steps in the selection and installation process of the next Awujale of Ijebuland.

Others joined in the suit include the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Ganiyu Hamzat; the Secretary, Ijebu-Ode Local Government, Oke Adebanjo; and the Chairman of the Awujale Interregnum Administrative Council, Dr. Olorogun Sunny Kuku.

The suit, with number HC3/238/2025, was contained in a court document dated December 16, 2025, a copy of which was obtained by our correspondent.

The musician had stated that the exparte motion was brought pursuant to Order 38 Rules 4 and Order 39 Rule 1 of the High Court of Ogun State (Civil Procedure) Rules 2024, Section 36 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), and under the inherent jurisdiction of the court.

He urged the court to restrain all respondents from further action on the selection process pending the hearing and determination of the substantive suit.

However, in ruling on the application for the interim injunction on Monday, Justice A. A. Omoniyi held that the application lacked merit, stating that there was no strong reason to grant the injunction.

He thereafter ordered an expeditious hearing of the substantive matter and fixed January 14, 2026, for proceedings.

FILTHY COLONIALISM VIRUS THAT MUST BE ERADICATED FROM OUR MIND, SOUL AND BODIES AS AFRIKAN BLOOD PEOPLE

Colonialism as a System for Underdeveloping Africa: Walter Rodney describes the ways colonialism reversed the continent's various paths of progress in order to solidify colonial exploitation.

Colonialism as a System for Underdeveloping Africa: The following is excerpted from Rodney’s How Europe Underdeveloped Africa.

The argument so far has been aimed at showing that benefits from colonialism were small and that they were not gifts from the colonialists, but rather fruits of African labor and resources for the most part. Indeed, what was called “the development of Africa” by the colonialists was a cynical shorthand expression for “the intensification of colonial exploitation in Africa to develop capitalist Europe.” The analysis has gone beyond that to demonstrate that numerous false claims are made purporting to show that Europe developed Africa in the sense of bringing about social order, nationalism, and economic modernization. However, all of that would still not permit the conclusion that colonialism had a negative impact on Africa’s development. In offering the view that colonialism was negative, the aim is to draw attention to the way that previous African development was blunted, halted, and turned back. In place of that interruption and blockade, nothing of compensatory value was introduced.

The colonization of Africa lasted for just over seventy years in most parts of the continent. That is an extremely short period within the context of universal historical development. Yet, it was precisely in those years that, in other parts of the world, the rate of change was greater than ever before. As has been illustrated, capitalist countries revolutionized their technology to enter the nuclear age. Meanwhile, socialism was inaugurated, lifting semi-feudal semi-capitalist Russia to a level of sustained economic growth higher than that ever experienced in a capitalist country. Socialism did the same for China and North Korea —guaranteeing the well-being and independence of the state as well as reorganizing the internal social arrangements in a far more just manner than ever before. It is against those decisive changes that events in Africa have to be measured. To mark time or even to move slowly while others leap ahead is virtually equivalent to going backward. Certainly, in relative terms, Africa’s position vis-à-vis its colonizers became more disadvantageous in the political, economic, and military spheres.

The decisiveness of the short period of colonialism and its negative consequences for Africa spring mainly from the fuel that Africa lost power. Power is the ultimate determinant in human society, being basic to the relations within any group and between groups. It implies the ability to defend one’s interests and, if necessary, to impose one’s will by any means available. In relations between peoples, the question of power determines maneuverability in bargaining, the extent to which one people respect the interests of another, and eventually, the extent to which a people survive as a physical and cultural entity. When one society finds itself forced to relinquish power entirely to another society, that in itself is a form of underdevelopment.

During the centuries of pre-colonial trade, some control over social, political, and economic life was retained in Africa, in spite of the disadvantageous commerce with Europeans. That little control over internal matters disappeared under colonialism. Colonialism went much further than trade. It meant a tendency towards direct appropriation by Europeans of the social institutions within Africa. Africans ceased to set indigenous cultural goals and standards, and lost full command of training young members of the society. Those were undoubtedly major steps backward.

The Tunisian, Albert Memmi, puts forward the following proposition: “The most serious blow suffered by the colonized is being removed from history and from the community. Colonization usurps any free role in either war or peace, every decision contributing to his destiny and that of the world, and all cultural and social responsibility.”

Sweeping as that statement may initially appear, it is entirely true. The removal from history follows logically from the loss of power which colonialism represented. The power to act independently is the guarantee to participate actively and consciously in history. To be colonized is to be removed from history, except in the most passive sense. A striking illustration of the fact that colonial Africa was a passive object is seen in its attraction for white anthropologists, who came to study “primitive society.” Colonialism determined that Africans were no longer makers of history than were beetles—objects to be looked at under a microscope and examined for unusual features.

The negative impact of colonialism in political terms was quite dramatic. Overnight, African political states lost their power, independence, and meaning—irrespective of whether they were big empires or small polities. Certain traditional rulers were kept in office, and the formal structure of some kingdoms was partially retained, but the substance of political life was quite different. Political power had passed into the hands of foreign overlords. Of course, numerous African states in previous centuries had passed through the cycle of growth and decline. But colonial rule was different. So long as it lasted, not a single African state could flourish.

One can go so far as to say that colonial rule meant the effective eradication of African political power throughout the continent, since Liberia and Ethiopia could no longer function as independent states within the context of continent-wide colonialism. Liberia in particular had to bow before foreign political, economic, and military pressures in a way that no genuinely independent state could have accepted, and although Ethiopia held firm until 1936, most European capitalist nations were not inclined to treat Ethiopia as a sovereign state, primarily because it was African, and Africans were supposed to be colonial subjects.

The pattern of arrest of African political development has some features which can only be appreciated after careful scrutiny and the taking away of the blinkers which the colonizers put on the eyes of their subjects. An interesting case in point is that of women’s role in society. Until today, capitalist society has failed to resolve the inequality between man and woman, which was entrenched in all modes of production prior to socialism. The colonialists in Africa occasionally paid lip service to women’s education and emancipation, but objectively, there was deterioration in the status of women owing to colonial rule.

A realistic assessment of the role of women in independent pre-colonial Africa shows two contrasting but combined tendencies. In the first place, women were exploited by men through polygamous arrangements designed to capture the labor power of women. As always, exploitation was accompanied by oppression, and there is evidence to the effect that women were sometimes treated like beasts of burden, as for instance in Muslim African societies. Nevertheless, there was a countertendency to insure the dignity of women to greater or lesser degree in all African societies. Mother-right was a prevalent feature of African societies, and particular women held a variety of privileges based on the fact that they were the keys to inheritance.

More important still, some women had real power in the political sense, exercised either through religion or directly within the politico-constitutional apparatus. In Mozambique, the widow of an Nguni king became the priestess in charge of the shrine set up in the burial place of her deceased husband, and the reigning king had to consult her on all important matters. In a few instances, women were actually heads of state. Among the Lovedu of Transvaal, the key figure was the Rain-Queen, combining political and religious functions.

What happened to African women under colonialism is that the social, religious, constitutional, and political privileges and rights disappeared, while the economic exploitation continued and was often intensified. It was intensified because the division of labor according to sex was frequently disrupted. Traditionally, African men did the heavy labor of felling trees, clearing land, building houses, apart from conducting warfare and hunting. When they were required to leave their farms to seek employment, women remained behind burdened with every task necessary for the survival of themselves, the children, and even the men as far as foodstuffs were concerned. Moreover, since men entered the money sector more easily and in greater numbers than women, women’s work became greatly inferior to that of men within the new value system of colonialism: men’s work was “modern” and women’s was “traditional” and “backward.” Therefore, the deterioration in the status of African women was bound up with the consequent loss of the right to set indigenous standards of what work had merit and what did not.

One of the most important manifestations of historical arrest and stagnation in colonial Africa is that which commonly goes under the title of “tribalism.” That term, in its common journalistic setting, is understood to mean that Africans have a basic loyalty to tribe rather than nation and that each tribe still retains a fundamental hostility towards its neighboring tribes. The examples favored by the capitalist press and bourgeois scholarship are those of Congo and Nigeria. Their accounts suggest that Europeans tried to make a nation out of the Congolese and Nigerian peoples, but they failed, because the various tribes had their age-long hatreds; and, as soon as the colonial power went, the natives returned to killing each other. To this phenomenon, Europeans often attach the word “atavism,” to carry the notion that Africans were returning to their primitive savagery. Even a cursory survey of the African past shows that such assertions are the exact opposite of the truth.

It is necessary to discuss briefly what comprises a tribe—a term that has been avoided in this analysis, partly because it usually carries derogatory connotations and partly because of its vagueness and the loose ways in which it is employed in the literature on Africa. Following the principle of family living, Africans were organized in groups which had common ancestors. Theoretically, the tribe was the largest group of people claiming descent from a common ancestor at some time in the remote past. Generally, such a group could therefore be said to be of the same ethnic stock, and their language would have a great deal in common. Beyond that, members of a tribe were seldom all members of the same political unit and very seldom indeed did they all share a common social purpose in terms of activities such as trade and warfare. Instead, African states were sometimes based entirely on part of the members of a given ethnic group or (more usually) on an amalgamation of members of different ethnic communities.

All of the large states in nineteenth-century Africa were multiethnic, and their expansion was continually making anything like “tribal” loyalty a thing of the past, substituting in its place national and class ties. However, in all parts of the world, that substitution of national and class ties for purely ethnic ones is a lengthy historical process; invariably there remains for long periods certain regional pockets of individuals who have their own narrow, regional loyalties, springing from ties of kinship, language, and culture.

In the first place, colonialism blocked the further evolution of national solidarity because it destroyed the particular Asian or African states which were the principal agents for achieving the liquidation of fragmented loyalties. In the second place, because ethnic and regional loyalties which go under the name of “tribalism” could not be effectively resolved by the colonial state, they tended to fester and grow in unhealthy forms. Indeed, the colonial powers sometimes saw the value of stimulating the internal tribal jealousies so as to keep the colonized from dealing with their principal contradiction with the European overlords—i.e., the classic technique of divide and rule. Certainly, the Belgians consciously fostered that; the racist whites in South Africa had by the 1950s worked out a careful plan to “develop” the oppressed African population as Zulu, as Xhosa, and as Sotho so that the march towards broader African national and class solidarities could be stopped and turned back.

The civil war in Nigeria is generally regarded as having been a tribal affair. To accept such a contention would mean extending the definition of tribe to cover Shell Oil and Gulf Oil! But, quite apart from that, it must be pointed out that nowhere in the history of pre-colonial independent Nigeria can anyone point to the massacre of Ibos by Hausas or any incident which suggests that people up to the nineteenth century were fighting each other because of ethnic origin. Of course there were wars, but they had a rational basis in trade rivalry, religious contentions, and the clashes of political expansion. What came to be called tribalism at the beginning of the new epoch of political independence in Nigeria was itself a product of the way that people were brought together under colonialism so as to be exploited. It was a product of administrative devices, of entrenched regional separations, of differential access by particular ethnic groups into colonial economy and culture.

Both Uganda and Kenya in East Africa are also situations in which a supposedly tribal factor continued to be preeminent. There is no doubt that the existence of the Buganda kingdom within independent Uganda posed certain problems. But even after misapplying the definition of a tribe to the Baganda, it still remains true that the Buganda problem was a colonial problem. It was created by the presence of the missionaries and the British, by the British (Mailo) land settlement in Uganda in 1900, and by the use which Britain made of the Baganda ruling class as “sub-imperialists” within the colony of Uganda.

In Kenya, the pattern of colonialism was different from that in Uganda because of the presence of white settlers. No African group was allowed any power in the capacity of NCOs for the Colonial Office, since the white settlers themselves filled the role. The white settlers took the best land and then tried to create a new world with African labor. However, the African community which lay outside the immediate white settler sector was regulated along tribal lines.

Human activity within small groups connected only by kinship relations such as the tribe is a very transient phase through which all continents passed in the phase of communalism. When it ceased to be transient and became institutionalized in Africa, that was because colonialism interrupted African development. That is what is implied in Memmi’s reference to Africans being removed from history. Revolutionary African thinkers such as Frantz Fanon and Amílcar Cabral expressed the same sentiments somewhat differently when they spoke of colonialism having made Africans into objects of history. Colonized Africans, like pre-colonial African chattel slaves, were pushed around into positions which suited European interests and which were damaging to the African continent and its peoples. In continuation, some further socioeconomic implications of that situation will be examined.

Pre-colonial trade had started the trend of the disintegration of African economics and their technological impoverishment. Colonial rule sped up that trend. The story is often told that in order to make a telephone call from Accra in the British colony of the Gold Coast to Abidjan in the adjacent French colony of Ivory Coast it was necessary to be connected first with an operator in London and then with an operator in Paris who could offer a line to Abidjan. That was one reflection of the fact that the Gold Coast economy was integrated into the British economy, and the Ivory Coast economy was integrated into the French economy, while the neighboring African colonies had little or no effective economic relations.

Some African trade did persist across colonial boundaries. For instance, the centuries’ old trade in kola nuts and gold from the forests of West Africa to North Africa never completely ceased. Besides, new forms of African trade developed, notably with regard to supplying foodstuffs to towns or cash-crop areas where there was insufficiency of food. That kind of trade could be entirely within a colony or it could cross colonial boundaries. However, the sum total of energy that went into expansion of inter-African trade was extremely small in comparison with trade that was export-oriented. Since this inter-African trade did not bring benefits to Europeans, it was not encouraged by them, and up to the latter part of the colonial period only 10 percent of Africa’s trade was internal.

It is also worth noting that Africa was denied the opportunity of developing healthy trade links with parts of the world other than Europe and North America. Some trade persisted across the Indian Ocean, but on the whole it is fair to say that the roads in Africa led to the seaports and the sea lanes led to Western Europe and North America. That kind of lopsidedness is today part of the pattern of underdevelopment and dependence.

The damaging impact of capitalism on African technology is even more clearly measurable in the colonial period than in the earlier centuries. In spite of the slave trade and of the import of European goods, most African handicraft industries still had vitality at the start of the colonial period. They had undergone no technological advance and they had not expanded, but they had survived. The mass production of the more recent phase of capitalism, virtually obliterated African industries such as cloth, salt, soap, iron, and even pottery-making.

Besides, as was true of the European slave trade, the destruction of technology under colonialism must be related to the barriers raised in the path of African initiative. The vast majority of Africans drawn into the colonial money economy were simply providing manual labor, which stimulated perspiration rather than scientific initiative.

Colonialism induced the African ironworker to abandon the process of extracting iron from the soil and to concentrate instead on working scraps of metal imported from Europe. The only compensation for that interruption would have been the provision of modern techniques in the extraction and processing of iron. However, those techniques were debarred from Africa, on the basis of the international division of labor under imperialism. As was seen earlier, the non-industrialization of Africa was not left to chance. It was deliberately enforced by stopping the transference to Africa of machinery and skills which would have given competition to European industry in that epoch.

Colonialism provided Africa with no real growth points. For instance, a colonial town in Africa was essentially a center of administration rather than industry. Towns did attract large numbers of Africans, but only to offer them a very unstable life based on unskilled and irregular employment. European towns had slums, but the squalor of towns in underdeveloped countries is a special phenomenon. It was a consequence of the inability of those towns to play the role of expanding the productive base. Fortunately, Africa was never as badly off in this respect as Asia and Latin America.

Instead of speeding up growth, colonial activities such as mining and cash-crop farming sped up the decay of “traditional” African life.

#Africa #BlackHistory #World

APARTHEID MASS MURDER SYNDICATE INCORPORATED: MURDERED ALL RACES

We are made to believe that Apartheid was created by by Dr Verwoed against blacks which is a big fat lie. Apartheid was a system, with all races on both sides.

Meet the lineup of War Criminals who individually and collectively massacred hundreds of innocent men, women, children and babies of all races.

They murdered the Rainbow Nation in cold blood. The Rainbow nation was poisoned and bombed long before it was born in 1994. Although the majority of their victims were black, they also killed Indians, Coloureds and White South Africans who stood in their way.

No honest person with a conscience can deny this fact. All those who opposed Apartheid were murdered, regardless of race or gender. And they were many.

The ghoulish names say it all. The lineup:

# Joe Mamasela 

# Richard Mdluli 

# Eugene de Kock 

# Wouter Basson 

# Almond Nofemela 

# Craig Williamson 

# Glory Sedibe (Comrade September)

# Ephraim Mfalapitsa 

# Magnus Malan 

# Dirk Coetzee 

# BJ Vorster and PW Botha

The list is endless and they all got away with war crimes because the lives of anti-apartheid activists and their families have no value in the post-Apartheid South Africa.

They burned people alive (to ashes after 9 hours) at the Vlakplaas death farm, they sent letter bombs that killed Abram Tiro, Ruth First, Jeanette Schòon and her six year old daughter Kathryn in cold blood outside the borders of Apartheid South Africa. Ahmed Timol, Steve Biko, Joseph Mdluli, Jake Mashaba......the list is endless.

Wouter Basson was assigned the task of developing chemical and biological weapons. AIDS and Ebola were openly discussed as a means to target anti-apartheid activists and their families. This raises many questions about the origin of these deadly viruses.

Bodies of their victims are still being dug in cold, Isolated and lonely mass graves. Many are still missing since those blood-stained and brutal Apartheid days. For God's sake, they were willing to even use nuclear bombs against their enemies.

Lest we forget, there were thousands of black people working for Apartheid and were busy hunting and killing activists. ...the askari turncoats,  the hostel dwellers from KZN in the townships,  Cyril Ramaphosa's father and Jacob Zuma's father were part of those brutal killers. I would not have a cup of tea with a killer like Craig Williamson. It's probably poisoned, scary! This explains why APLA soldiers are still kept in prison up to this day.

.Let's honour all our unsung heroes and matyrs who gave their all to free South Africa. They were a true Rainbow of our people. Don't listen to these stupid fake revolutionaries who go around singing "Kill the Boer, kill the farmer". They know nothing about the struggle. Helen Zille has far more struggle credentials than them. Know your history.

Willie Van Tonder

THE TWINS (AMAWELE OR IBEJI)

Twins (Amawele or Ibeji) are viewed as sacred beings with a shared soul. They are considered a supernatural blessing from the ancestors or a divine gift. 

Twins are sometimes equated to ancestral spirits (ithongo); for example, in some traditions, they are never beaten because doing so is considered an offense against the spirits.

Twins are expected to receive identical treatment. If one is given a gift, the other must receive the exact same item to maintain spiritual equilibrium.

In many cultures, specific names are reserved for twins.

Some tribes plant two identical trees (e.g., euphorbia) ngesizulu Umhlonhlo, at the time of birth; the health and growth of each tree are believed to mirror the life and health of the corresponding twin.

Isiko elaziwa kakhulu ukuthi lapho kuzalwa amawele, kutshalwa imihlonhlo emibili ngasendlini (imvamisa ngakwesokunene somnyango). Lokhu kwenzelwa ukumela impilo yalawo mawele. Uma omunye umhlonhlo ubuna noma ufa, kukholelwa ukuthi nempilo yalelo wele isengozini.

Umhlonhlo utshalwa emizini eminingi njengesivikelo somuzi (protection). Kukholelwa ukuthi uvimbela imimoya emibi nemibani (umbane).

Nakuba lolu hlobo lwesitshalo luyingozi (lunobisi olushisayo nolunobuthi), lusetshenziswa ngongoti bezelapho zesintu (izinyanga) ukwelapha izifo ezithile, kodwa kumele luhlatshwe ngobunono obukhulu

When a twin passes away, the priority is to preserve the "shared soul" and prevent the deceased from pulling the surviving sibling into the spirit world. 

A dead twin is never said to have "died" but rather to have "flown" or moved to a different realm.

A surviving twin may be required to briefly lie in the grave of the deceased sibling or be rolled over ashes to spiritually separate their fates and "break" the connection that might otherwise cause the survivor to follow the deceased into death.

Dead twins are often buried in the clothes of the living twin (and vice versa) to prevent them from "brooding" over each other. In many cases, standard mourning practices like wearing black are prohibited, as the death of a sacred twin is handled with unique ritual care.

THE AFRICAN OSTRICH FEATHER

Across Africa, the ostrich feather has represented power, strength, beauty, truth, justice, and morality, and many cultures have worn it for centuries. In North Africa, particularly in ancient Kemet, ostrich feathers were symbolically linked with the goddess Ma'at, representing truth and justice. Modern ceremonies in Egypt still utilize feathers that embody these values (Elkhalil, 2021). In Tunisia, the use of ostrich feathers can be seen in traditional Berber garments, where they signify social status and are used in cultural festivals (Ben Amor & Mansouri, 2022). In Moroccan culture, particularly among certain Amazigh tribes, ostrich feathers symbolize beauty and have been incorporated into bridal attire (El Bakali, 2020).

In West Africa, the significance of ostrich feathers is notable among various ethnic groups. In Nigeria, the Yoruba people use ostrich feathers in rituals aimed at divination, symbolizing a connection to the spiritual realm (Ogunyemi, 2019). Among the Akan people of Ghana, ostrich feathers denote bravery and leadership during celebratory ceremonies such as festivals and rites of passage (Aryeetey, 2023). In Senegal, the Wolof culture integrates ostrich feathers into traditional attire, where they represent prestige during ceremonial events (Diouf, 2018). Similarly, in Central Africa, among the Luba people in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), ostrich feathers are worn by chiefs during important cultural events to symbolize authority (Kanku, 2020). The Bamenda community in Cameroon uses ostrich feathers in traditional dance outfits, reflecting cultural identity and social hierarchy (Ndisang, 2022). In Angola, the Ovimbundu incorporate ostrich feathers into rituals associated with healing and spiritual guidance, emphasizing their cultural significance (Banda, 2021).

In East Africa, ostrich feathers play a critical role in cultural expressions. In Maasai culture of Kenya, warriors don ostrich feathers during ceremonies, symbolizing courage and valor (Mutiso, 2017). The Chaga people in Tanzania use ostrich feathers in ceremonial headdresses, portraying social status and connecting with ancestral spirits (Suleiman, 2023). Among the Karo people in Ethiopia, ostrich feathers are donned during cultural celebrations, symbolizing strength and masculinity (Tadesse, 2020). In Southern Africa, Zulu leaders in South Africa use ostrich feathers to indicate their rank and authority during traditional and ceremonial occasions (Mabasa, 2022). The Himba women of Namibia adorn themselves with ostrich feathers, signifying beauty and femininity in their cultural expression (Kavita, 2018). Additionally, in Botswana, the use of ostrich feathers in traditional dance attire reflects cultural identity, particularly during annual cultural festivals (Mogomotsi, 2021).

Selected references

Elkhalil, R. (2021). The significance of Ma'at and ostrich feathers in Egyptian culture. Egyptian Humanities, 12(1), 89-99.

Banda, T. (2021). Spiritual significance of feathers in Angolan rituals. Angola Historical Review, 18(3), 45-58.

El Bakali, N. (2020). Ostrich feathers and their role in Amazigh bridal fashion. Moroccan Cultural Review, 5(2), 33-50.

Ogunyemi, A. (2019). The use of feathers in Yoruba divination rituals. Nigerian Journal of Cultural Studies, 13(3), 30-44.

Mutiso, J. (2017). The cultural significance of ostrich feathers in Maasai ceremonies. Journal of East African Studies, 11(4), 75-92.

FROM OBASANJO TO OBASANJO

Open Letter to Dr. Olusegun Obasanjo

December 18, 2013. 

Written by Iyabo Obasanjo, DVM, PhD.

It brings me no joy to have to write this but since you started this trend of open letters I thought I would follow suit since you don’t listen to anyone anyway. The only way to reach you may be to make the public aware of some things. As a child well brought up by my long-suffering mother in Yoruba tradition, I have been reluctant to tell the truth about you but as it seems you still continue to delude yourself about the kind of person you are and I think for posterity’s sake it is time to set the records straight. I will return to the issue of my long-suffering mother later in this letter.

Like most Nigerians, I believe there are very enormous issues currently plaguing the country but I was surely surprised that you will be the one to publish such a treatise. I remember clearly as if it was yesterday the day I came over to Abuja from Abeokuta when I was Commissioner of Health in Ogun State, specifically to ask you not to continue to pursue the third term issue.

I had tried to bring it up when your sycophantic aides were present and they brushed my comments aside and as usual you listened to their self-serving counsel.

For you to accuse someone else of what you so obviously practiced yourself tells of your narcissistic megalomaniac personality. Everyone around for even a few minutes knows that the only thing you respond to is praise and worship of you. People have learnt how to manipulate you by giving you what you crave. The only ones that can’t and will not stroke your ego are family members who you universally treat like shit (sic) apart from the few who have learned to manipulate you like others.

Before I continue, Nigerians are people who see conspiracy and self-service in everything because I think they believe everyone is like them. This letter is not in support of President Jonathan or APC or any other group or person, but an outpouring from my soul to God. I don’t blame you for the many atrocities you have been able to get away with, Nigerians were your enablers every step of the way. People ultimately get leaders that reflect them.

Getting back to the story, I made sure your aides were not around and brought up the issue, trying to deliver the presentation of the issue as I had practiced it in my head. I started with the fact that we copied the US constitution which has term limits of two terms for a President. As is your usual manner, you didn’t allow me to finish my thought process and listen to my point of view. Once I broached the subject you sat up and said that the US had no term limits in the past but that it had been introduced in the 1940s after the death of President Roosevelt, which is true.

I wanted to say to you: when you copy something you also copy the modifications based on the learning from the original; only a fool starts from scratch and does not base his decisions on the learning of others. In science, we use the modifications found by others long ago to the most recent, as the basis of new findings; not going back to discover and learn what others have learnt. Human knowledge and development and civilization will not have progressed if each new generation and society did not build on the knowledge of others before them.

The American constitution itself is based on several theories and philosophies of governance available in the 18th century.

Democracy itself is a governance method started by the ancient Greeks. America’s founding fathers used it with modifications based on what hadn’t worked well for the ancient Greeks and on new theories since then.

As usual in our conversations, I kept quiet because I know you well. You weren’t going to change your mind based on my intervention as you had already made up your mind on the persuasion of the minions working for you who were ripping the country blind. When I spoke to you, your outward attitude to the people of the country was that you were not interested in the third term and that it was others pushing it.

Your statement to me that day proved to me that you were the brain behind the third term debacle. It is therefore outrageous that you accuse the current President of a similar two-facedness that you yourself used against the people of the country.

I was on a plane trip between Abuja and Lagos around the time of the third term issue and I sat next to one of your sycophants on the plane. He told me: “Only Obasanjo can rule Nigeria”. I replied: “God has not created a country where only one person can rule. If only one person can rule Nigeria then the whole Nigeria project is not a viable one, as it will be a non-sustainable project.

I don’t know how you came about Yar’Adua as the candidate for your party as it was not my priority or job. Unlike you, I focus on the issues I have been given responsibility over and not on the jobs of others. It was the day of the PDP Presidential Campaign in Abeokuta during the state-by-state tour of 2007 that Yar’Adua got sick and had to be flown abroad. The MKO Abiola Stadium was already filled with people by 9am when I drove by (and) we had told people based on the campaign schedule that the rally would start at noon.

At 11 am I headed for the stadium on foot; it was a short walk as there were so many cars already parked in and out. As I walked on with two other people, we saw crowds of people leaving the stadium. I recognized some of them as politicians and I asked them why people were leaving. They said the Presidential candidate had died. I was alarmed and shocked. I walked back home and received a call from a friend in Lagos who said the same and added that he had died in the plane carrying him abroad for treatment and that the plane was on its way to Katsina to bury him.

I called you, and told you the information and that the stadium was already half-empty. You told me to go to the stadium and tell the people on the podium to announce that the Presidential candidate had taken ill that morning but the rest of the team, including you and the Vice-Presidential candidate would arrive shortly. I did as I was told, but even the people on the podium at first didn’t make the announcement because they thought it was true that Yar’Adua had died. I had to take the microphone and make the announcement myself. It did little good. People kept trooping out of the stadium. Your team didn’t arrive until 4pm and by this time we had just a sprinkling of people left.

That evening after the disaster of a rally, you said you had insisted that the Presidential candidate fly to Germany for a check-up although you said he only had a cold. I asked why would anyone fly to Germany to treat a cold? And you said “I would rather die than have the man die at this time.” I thought of this profound statement as things later unfolded against me. Then I thought it a stupid statement but as usual I kept quiet, little did I know how your machinations for a person would be used against me. When Yar’Adua eventually died, you stayed alive, I would have expected you to jump into his grave.

I left Nigeria in 1989 right after youth service to study in the US and I visited in 1994 for a week and didn’t visit again until your inauguration in 1999. In between, you had been arrested by Abacha and jailed. We, your children, had no one who stood with us. Stella famously went around collecting money on your behalf but we had no one. We survived. I was the only one of the children working then as a post-doctoral fellow when I got the call from a friend informing me of your arrest.

A week before your arrest, you had called me from Denmark and I had told you that you should be careful that the government was very offended by some of your statements and actions and may be planning to arrest or kill you as was occurring to many at the time. The source of my information was my mother who, agitated, had called me, saying I should warn you as this was the rumour in the country. As usual you brushed aside my comments, shouting on the phone that they cannot try anything and you will do and say as you please. The consequence of your bravado is history.

We, your family, have borne the brunt of your direct cruelty and also suffered the consequences of your stupidity but got none of the benefits of your successes. Of course, anyone around you knows how little respect you have for your children. You think our existence on earth is about you. By the way, how many are we? 19, 20, 21?

Do you even know? In the last five years, how many of these children have you spoken to? How many grandchildren do you have and when did you last see each of them? As President you would listen to advice of people that never finished high school who would say anything to keep having access to you so as to make money over your children who loved you and genuinely wished you well.

At your first inauguration in 1999, I and my brothers and sisters told you we were coming from the US. As is usual with you, you made no arrangements for our trip, instead our mom organized to meet each of us and provided accommodation. At the actual swearing-in at Eagle Square, the others decided to watch it on TV. Instead I went to the square and I was pushed and tossed by the crowd. I managed to get in front of the crowd where I waved and shouted at you as you and General Abdulsalam Abubakar walked past to go back to the VIP seating area. I saw you mouth ‘my daughter’ to General Abdullahi who was the one who pulled me out of the crowd and gave me a seat.

As I looked around I saw Stella and Stella’s family prominently seated but none of your children. I am sure General Abdullahi would remember this incident and I am eternally grateful to him.

Getting back to my mother, I still remember your beating her up continually when we were kids. What kids can forget that kind of violence against their mother? Your maltreatment of women is legendary. Many of your women have come out to denounce you in public but since your madness is also part of the madness of the society, it is the women that are usually ignored and mistreated. Of course, you are the great pretender, making people believe you have a good family life and a good relationship with your children but once in a while your pretence gets cracked.

When Gbenga gave a ride to help someone he didn’t know but saw was in need and the person betrayed his trust by tapping his candid response on the issues going on between you and your then vice-president, Atiku Abubakar, you had your aides go on air and denounce the boy before you even spoke to him to find out what happened. What kind of father does that? Your atrocities to some of my other siblings I will let them tell in their own due time or never if they choose.

Some of the details of our life are public but the people choose to ignore it and pretended we enjoyed some largesse when you were President.

This punishing the innocent is part of Nigeria’s continuing sins against God. While you were military head of state and lived in Dodan Barracks, we stayed either with our mum in the two-bedroom apartment provided for her by General Murtala Mohammed or with your relatives, Bose, Yemisi and your sisters’ kids in the Boys Quarters of Dodan Barracks. At QueensCollege, I remember being too ashamed to tell my wealthy classmates from Queen’s College, Lagos we lived in the two room Boys Quarters or in the two room flat on Lawrence Street.

No, we did not have privileged upbringing but our mother emphasized education and that has been our salvation. Of my mother’s 6 children 4 have PhDs. Of the two without PhD, one has a Master’s and the other is an engineer. They are no slouches. Education provided a way to make our way in the world. You are one of those petty people who think the progress and success of another takes from you. You try to overshadow everyone around you, before you and after you.

You are the prototypical “Mr. Know it all”. You’ve never said “I don’t know” on any topic, ever. Of course this means you surround yourself with idiots who will agree with you on anything and need you for financial gain and you need them for your insatiable ego. This your attitude is a reflection of the country. It is not certain which came first, your attitude seeping into the country’s psyche or the country accepting your irresponsible behavior for so long.

Like you and your minions, it’s a symbiotic relationship. Nigeria has descended into a hellish reality where smart, capable people to “survive” and have their daily bread prostrate to imbeciles. Everybody trying to pull everybody else down with greed and selfishness — the only traits that gets you anywhere. Money must be had and money and power is king. Even the supposed down-trodden agree with this.

Nigeria accused me of fraud with the Ministry of Health. As you yourself know, both in Abeokuta and Abuja I lived in your houses as a Senator. In Lagos, I stayed in my mum’s bungalow which she succeeded in getting from you when you abandoned her with six children to live in Abeokuta with Stella.

I borrowed against my four-year Senate salary to build the only house I have anywhere in the world in Lagos. I rent out the house for income. I don’t have much in terms of money but I am extremely happy. I tried to contribute my part to the development of my country but the country decided it didn’t need me. Like many educated Nigerians my age, there are countries that actually value people doing their best to contribute to society and as many of them have scattered all over the world so have many of your children.

I can speak for myself and many of them; what they are running away from is that they can’t even contribute effectively at the same time as they have to deal with constant threats to their lives by miscreants the society failed to educate; deal with lack of electricity and air pollution resulting from each household generating its own electricity, and the lack of quality healthcare or education and a total lack of sense of responsibility of almost every person you meet. Your contribution to this scenario cannot be overestimated.

You and your cronies mentioned in your letter have left the country worse than you met it at your births in the 1930’s and 1940’s. Nigeria is not the creation of any of you, and although you feel you own it and are “Mr Nigeria” deciding whether the country stays together or not, and who rules it; you don’t. Nigeria is solely the creation of the British. My dear gone Grandmother whose burial you told people not to attend, was not born a Nigerian but a proud Ijebu-Yoruba woman.

Togetherness is a choice and it must serve a purpose.

As for Nigerians thinking I have their money, when it was obvious I was part of the Yar’Adua (government’s) anti-Obasanjo phenomenon that was going on at the time. 

The Ministry of Health and international NGOs paid for a retreat for the Senate Committee on Health. The House Committee on Health was treated exactly the same way. The monies were given to members as estacode and the rest used for accommodation, flights and feeding. While the Senate was on the retreat in Ghana, the EFCC asked the House Committee to return the monies they received for their retreat and asked us in the Senate to return ours on our return which I refused, as it was already used for the purpose it was earmarked for in the budget that year which was to work on the National Health Bill.

The House Committee had not gone on their retreat. I did nothing wrong and my colleagues and I on the retreat did our work conscientiously. I asked the EFCC not to drag my colleagues into it and I am proud I suffered alone. As is usual in a society where people who are not progressive but take pleasure in the pain of others, most Nigerians were happy, not looking at the facts of the matter, just the suffering of an Obasanjo.

As the people that stole their millions are hailed by them the innocent is punished. When the court case was thrown out because it lacked merit even against the Minister, no newspaper carried the news. The wrongful malicious prosecution of an Obasanjo was not something they wanted to report; just her downfall. But it really wasn’t about me, it was about right and wrong in society and every society gets the fruit of the seeds it sows.

How do you think God will provide good leaders to such a people? 

God helps those who help themselves. I have realized that as an Obasanjo I am not entitled to work in Nigeria in any capacity. I am not entitled to work in health which is my training, or in any field or anywhere in the country or participate in any business. I have learnt this lesson well and there are societies that actually think capable, well-educated people are important to their society’s progress. Apparently, unless I am eating from the dustbin, Nigerians and possibly you will not be satisfied. I thank God it has not come to that based on God-given brains and brawn.

When I left Nigeria in 1989 for graduate studies in America, you promised to pay my school fees and no living expenses. This you did and I am grateful for because, working in the kitchen and then the library at University of California, Davis and later, working on the IT desk and later as a Teaching Assistant at Cornell gave me valuable work ethics for life. I wouldn’t have it any other way. As a black woman in the early 21st century, I have achieved much and done more than most. My wish is that black girls all over the world will have the capacity to create their lives, make mistakes, learn from it and move ahead.

Moving back to Nigeria, thinking I wanted to serve was obviously a grave mistake but one brought about by the tragic incident of April 20, 2003. This was the day five people were shot dead in my car. The mother of the children was an acquaintance I had met only one day before the incident.

We had attended the same high school and university but she was there ten years earlier than I. She had also studied public health in the UK as I had in the US. It was these coincidences that made us connect on our first meeting and then she decided to visit on theSaturday of the election of 2003 when the incident occurred. I am scarred for life by that incident and I know the mother was too as we both looked back to see two men on each side of my car shooting.

I understand her trauma and her behaviour since then can be judged from that. Nigeria is a nasty place that pushes people to lose their compass. I participated in the campaigns leading to the elections that day, more because this was my first experience of electoral process in Nigeria. Growing up there were no elections and I was too young in the 1979 and 1983 elections. It was interesting to see democracy at work. When Gbenga Daniel who I campaigned for offered me a job, I probably would have declined it, if not for the memory of the dead.

I felt I had to engage in making the country progress and to avoid such incidences in the future. I don’t need to tell you or anyone what kind of governor and person Gbenga Daniel is. As usual when I found out, you would not listen to my opinion but found out for yourself. I also campaigned for Amosun for the Senate in 2003.

I have had some wonderful Nigerians do good to me, I will never forget the then Minister of Women Affairs, who saw me talking in the crowd at a campaign event and was alarmed and said “bad things can happen to you out there, I will give you one of the orderlies assigned to my office to follow you". This was the police man that died in my car that day. I never really thought bad things would happen to me, I moved around freely in society until that shooting scarred me and I accepted a police detail. I was constantly scared for my life after that.

You called me after your vengeful letter as usual, looking out for yourself and thinking you will bribe me by saying the APC will use me for the Senate. Do you really know me and what I want out of life?

Anyone that knows me knows I am done with anything political or otherwise in Nigeria. I have so much to do and think to make this world a better place than to waste it on fighting with idiots over a political post that does no good to society. That letter you wrote to the President, would you have tolerated such a letter as a sitting President? Don’t do to others what you will not allow to be done to you. The only thing I was using that was yours was the house in Abuja where I left my things when I left the country. I eventually rented it out so that the place would not fall apart but as usual you want to take that as well. You can’t have it without explaining to Nigerians how you came about the house?

As I said earlier, this is not about politics but my frustration with you as a father and a human being. I am not involved with what is currently going on in Nigeria, I don’t talk to any Nigerian other than friends on social basis. I am not involved with any political groups or affiliation. You mentioned Governor Osoba when you spoke to me, yes I was walking down the street of Cambridge, Massachussets a few months ago, when I looked up and saw him reading a map trying to cross the street.

I greeted him warmly and offered to give him a ride to where he was going. This I did not do because I wanted anything from him politically but because that is how I was raised by my mother to treat an adult who I really had no ill-will towards. Some said he was part of the people that manipulated the elections for me to lose in 2011. I don’t have any ill-will to him for that because I think they did me a favour and someone has to win and lose.

I had told you I wasn’t going to run in 2011 but you manipulated me to run; that was my mistake. Losing was a blessing. As usual you wanted me to run for your self-serving purpose to perpetuate your name in the political realm and as the liar that you are, you later denied that it was you who wanted me to run in 2011.

In 2003 I ran because I wanted to and I thought getting to the central government I will be able to contribute more to improving lives and working on legislation that impacts the country. I found that nothing gets done; every public official in Nigeria is working for himself and no one really is serving the public or the country.

The whole system, including the public themselves want oppressors, not people working for their collective progress. When no one is planning the future of a country, such a country can have no future. I won’t be your legacy, let your legacy be Nigeria in the fractured state you created because, it was always your way or the highway.

This is the end of my communication with you for life. I pray Nigeria survives your continual intervention in its affairs.

Sincerely,

Iyabo Obasa

SEYI TINUBU IS ABOVE THE LAW. ----RUFAI OSENI

"No one dares touch Seyi Tinubu’s personal security team, not even the IG of Police" – Rufai Oseni

Popular Arise TV anchor Rufai Oseni has thrown down the gauntlet in a manner that only he can: blunt, fearless, and straight to the point.

During Wednesday’s edition of The Morning Show (December 10, 2025), Oseni reacted to Nobel laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka’s widely circulated criticism of the heavy security entourage that accompanies Seyi Tinubu, son of President Bola Tinubu.

Soyinka had narrated how he was stunned to see what he called a “small battalion” of armed policemen, soldiers, and DSS operatives escorting a young man at a Lagos hotel. When he discovered it was the president’s son, the literary icon described the display as “obscene,” especially at a time when ordinary Nigerians live in constant fear of kidnappers and bandits. He urged the authorities to “stop overdoing things.”

President Tinubu himself had, only weeks earlier, ordered the immediate withdrawal of police officers attached to VIPs across the country so they could be redeployed to fight rising insecurity. Yet, as Soyinka’s encounter showed, some VIPs appear to be more important than others.

That contradiction was all Rufai Oseni needed.

Speaking on live television, he said the presidential directive would be obeyed everywhere except when it comes to Seyi Tinubu.

His exact words, delivered partly in the street-sharp Pidgin that resonates with millions of viewers, have since gone viral: “Dem no born anybody in Nigeria to remove police officers guiding Seyi Tinubu not even the IG of Police himself. Dem no born am well!”

In plain English: no one, not even the Inspector-General of Police, has the courage or authority to withdraw Seyi Tinubu’s security detail.

Oseni argued that while politicians, businessmen, and traditional rulers may eventually lose their police escorts, the president’s son remains untouchable a living symbol of how power truly works in Nigeria.

The studio exchange with co-anchor Dr. Reuben Abati underlined the point: Abati: “Even the IG can’t do it?”

Oseni: “My brother, dem no born am well.”

Within hours, the clip spread across WhatsApp, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok, sparking heated debates about privilege, nepotism, and the unequal distribution of security in a country where farmers are killed daily and schoolchildren are still being abducted.

As of now, neither the Presidency, the Nigeria Police Force, nor Seyi Tinubu has responded to the growing controversy.

But one thing is clear: in the court of public opinion, Rufai Oseni has spoken for millions who feel that, in today’s Nigeria, some citizens are simply more equal and far better protected than others.

DUAL ROYAL HERITAGE: UNVEILING THE ANCESTRAL LINKS OF WASIU AYINDE OLASUNKANMI ADEWALE

A Proclamation of Lineage and Eligibility, the storyline presented by Wasiu Ayinde to justify his relationship to the Jadiara royal.  family

I, Wasiu Ayinde Olasunkanmi Adewale, hereby present this statement of my royal ancestry, tracing my descent from two revered ruling houses of Ijebuland: Funsengbuwa and Fidipote. This declaration is made in accordance with Ijebu customary law and tradition, affirming my eligibility to aspire to the throne of the Awujale of Ijebuland.

(1). Ancestral Foundation within the Awujale Line

Historical records and preserved oral traditions of Ijebuland recognize Owa Otutu Biosun as the 13th Awujale of Ijebuland and one of the key progenitors of the present royal streams. He is traditionally recorded as the senior brother of Juwakale, who later succeeded him as the 14th Awujale of Ijebuland. The succession between these brothers reflects the rotational, lineage-based structure of the Awujale institution, which predates colonial rule and is rooted in ancient Ijebu customary law. From Owa Otutu Biosun descended Dagburewe, who later ascended the throne as Awujale Jadiara, historically listed as the 21st Awujale of Ijebuland. Before his coronation, he bore the title Dagburewe (Olowo Joye Meji) in accordance with established pre-coronation honorific traditions.

(2). Jadiara and the Emergence of the Funsengbuwa Line

Funsengbuwa ascended the throne as Awujale and reigned circa 1790–1819, during the late pre-colonial political consolidation Ijebu-Ode before British incursion. His reign is historically regarded as one of the stability and expansion of the ruling houses. From Awujale Funsengbuwa emerged the recognized branches of the Funsengbuwa Ruling House as stated below:

- Olufadi

- Ayora/Tunwase

- Shenowo

- Okuyandewo

- Oshinuga

- Adekenu

- Adebiyi

- Adeberu

These branches constitute part of the customarily and legally acknowledged Funsengbuwa Ruling House, eligible for nomination to the Awujale stool, subject to the processes of the kingmakers.

(3). Setejoye’s Branch and the Fidipote Connection

After the crowning of his junior brother Funsengbuwa, Setejoye left Agunsebi for Idewon, his maternal home, in line with Ijebu settlement and family expansion patterns. He became the progenitor of:

- Debote

- Ademuyewo

During the dispersal of the royal family for trade and settlement, an unintentional relationship occurred between a Princess from Adeberu clan (daughter of Jadiara from the Funsengbuwa line) and a Prince of the Fidipote lineage. This relationship produced a son known in family history as Prince Fidipote Junior. Upon their eventual return home, it was discovered that they were cousins, which brought the relationship to an end. However, the child born of that union remained a royal descendant of both the Funsengbuwa and Fidipote ruling houses. This historically explains the blood convergence between the Funsengbuwa and Fidipote royal lines, which remains valid under Ijebu customary law.

(4). My Direct Family Lineage and the Dual Royal Descent

Paternal Grandmother

My paternal grandmother, Princess Anifowọṣé, was a princess and trader by lineage and status. She descended directly from the Adeberu branch of the Funsengbuwa line, thereby tracing her ancestry to Awujale Funsengbuwa (1790–1819) and further back to Awujale Jadiara and Owa Otutu Biosun.

Father

My father, Adisa Adesanya Anifowos̩he, was born into the Anifowos̩he family of the Fidipote lineage. His birth resulted from the relationship between:

- Princess Anifowos̩he (Adeberu branch of Funsengbuwa), and

- A Prince of the Anifowos̩he/Fidipote royal stock.

Both parents were of royal blood, his birth conferred on him dual royal descent under Ijebu customary law, notwithstanding the social sensitivity of the union at the time.

Mother

My mother is a princess from Ilupeju Ekiti, the daughter of the reigning king of Ilupeju Ekiti. This further strengthens my royal heritage through both Ijebu and Ekiti Yoruba royal institutions, which share common Odùduwà ancestry.

My siblings and I, Wasiu Ayinde Olasunkanmi Adewale, and my siblings were born of this dual-royal union. Through our father’s parentage, we inherit:

- Patrilineal descent from the Fidipote (Anifowos̩he) ruling line and

- Matrilineal descent from the Funsengbuwa (Adeberu) ruling line.

Under settled Ijebu tradition, both patrilineal and matrilineal royal descent are valid for ruling-house identity once the lineage is traceable, acknowledged, and supported by family and palace records.

(5). Summary of Lineage Affirmation

(1). Owa Otutu Biosun was the 13th Awujale of Ijebuland and progenitor of recognized royal lines.

(2). Awujale Jadiara (21st Awujale) descended from Owa Otutu Biosun and fathered both Setejoye and Funsengbuwa.

(3). Awujale Funsengbuwa (1790–1819) is a historically established progenitor of a recognized ruling house.

(4). The Adeberu branch is a legitimate descendant branch of the Funsengbuwa ruling line.

(5). My paternal grandmother, Princess Anifowos̩he, is a direct descendant of the Adeberu branch of Funsengbuwa.

(6). My father, Adisa Adesanya Anifowos̩he, is of Fidipote royal blood by patriline and of Funsengbuwa blood by matriline.

(7). My maternal descent from Ilupeju Ekiti royalty further strengthens my traditional pedigree.

(8). I therefore possess a direct, traceable, and historically consistent blood connection to both the Funsengbuwa and Fidipote ruling houses.

(6). Case for Dual Eligibility to Aspire from Both Ruling Houses

Under Ijebu customary law and palace tradition, eligibility to aspire to the stool of the Awujale is determined primarily by:

- Descent from a recognized ruling house,

- Traceable royal ancestry, and

- Acceptance by the family and kingmakers through due process.

By establishing facts of lineage:

- I am eligible to aspire from the Funsengbuwa Ruling House by virtue of my direct my matrilineal descent through Princess Anifowos̩he of the Adeberu branch, which flows unbroken to Awujale Funsengbuwa → Jadiara → Owa Otutu Biosun

- I am also independently eligible to aspire from the Fidipote Ruling House by virtue of my patrilineal descent from the Anifowos̩he family of the Fidipote line, being the son of Adisa Adesanya Anifowos̩he, a prince of that house.

Where a person possesses dual ruling-house descent, Ijebu custom does not extinguish one right by the existence of the other. Rather, such a person:

- Retains full eligibility in both houses and

- May lawfully present himself under either house, subject to internal nomination procedures.

Accordingly, my royal blood status qualifies me, without legal or customary defects, to seek nomination from either the Funsengbuwa or the Fidipote Ruling House.

(7). Final Personal Declaration.

I, Wasiu Ayinde Olasunkanmi Adewale, do hereby solemnly reaffirm that I descend directly from:

- The Adeberu branch of the Funsengbuwa Ruling House, and

- The Anifowos̩he family of the Fidipote Ruling House.

By blood, heritage, and traceable ancestry, I am a lawful descendant of both royal lines. These connections constitute my legitimate traditional basis to identify with, and lawfully seek nomination from, the Funsengbuwa and/or Fidipote ruling houses in respect of any future contest for the Royal Stool of the Awujale of Ijebuland, subject at all times to customary procedures and the authority of the kingmakers.

With the above claims and the filled form, the fusengbuwa ruling house is absolutely freez as there are lots of distorted facts and imaginations.

DETAILS LOADING...

KWAM 1 : FIT TO BE THE AWUJALE OF IJEBU ODE

King Wasiu Omogbolahan Ayinde Mashall is fit to be the new Awujale of Ijebu ode. This great Nigerian checked all the boxes. He has buruku owo. He has juju. So much juju that he can kill an Elephant by slapping the beast with his cap. I know at the sight of KWAM 1’s cap the Ajanaku beast will lule. This creator of Fuji music has connections. In our Nigeria of today. That is all you need. So to become the Oba of Ijebu ode, you do not need to pour libations to Orunmila, Sango, Ogun lakaye or Oduduwa. Fuck all those moribund gods. If you ask me they should all be taken to the Lagos lagoon. Drown all these useless good for nothing gods. They will not matter in the appointment of the next Awujale of Ijebu Ode.

KWAM 1 knows that. This man is that intelligent. We all know that too. We can not be that stupid to think the Oracle is consulted to appoint a new Oba these days. Look at the new Alafin of Oyo Kingdom. Tell me the Oracle was consulted before that idiot was appointed. It was his money stupid. It was his connections to high power stupid. My point exactly. KWAM 1 has that powerful connection. He has the influence. He is fit to be a King. I am not talking of the Nigeria of yesterday. The Nigeria when the gods were revered. That was the long time ago in Bethlehem Nigeria. The Nigeria when the Tortoise was the star and most intelligent in every fable.

This is now Tinubu’s Nigeria. He is now the Oduduwa. He is the Orunmilla. This powerful god is now the Yemoja of Yoruba kingdom. Our Father in Aso Rock knows the cultural relevance of KWAM 1. He knows that just like him the creator of Fuji music is not perfect. He is a drunk. He is a womanizer. An arrogant bastard. All the essential credentials you need to be a King in Yoruba land. Point to be an Oba that does not seat squarely on that throne? I may be wrong. I am a Sigidi god. Throw me into the Majidun River for that stupid generalization.

But my point that should not be lost is that KWAM by virtue of his closeness and relationship with god Tinubu should get that appointment. He should be the next Awujale of Ijebu Ode. From EMILOKAN to EMILOKAN. All you hates should go and worship Obatala and see how far that will get you. As for me and KWAM 1 Tinubu is the god we worship. And that is why the next Awujale of Ijebu-Ode will be no other than was able to stop an air plane with his hands. KWAM 1 has the capacity to extrapolate the nail out of a wood with his teeth. Reasons why he is fit to be a King. The Oracle should shut up!

BY JAIYEOLA AJASA

THE TINUBU GOVERNMENT OF PROPAGANDA AND LIES...WE STILL HAVE BOKO HARAM.

The Nigerian Air Force has struck targets in neighbouring Benin, a source in the Nigerian presidency told AFP on Sunday, in apparent coordination with Beninese authorities working to contain a coup attempt.

Reached for comment, Air Force spokesman Air Commodore Ehimen Ejodame said, “The Nigerian Air Force has operated in the Republic of Benin in line with ECOWAS protocols and the ECOWAS Standby Force mandate”.

It was not clear what the targets of the strikes were.

But President Bola Ahmed Tinubu commended the gallantry of Nigeria’s military on Sunday for responding swiftly to the request by the Government of Benin Republic to save its 35-year-old democracy from coup plotters who struck at dawn today.

Benin’s government had earlier on Sunday said that it had thwarted an attempted coup, after a group of soldiers announced on state television that they had ousted President Patrice Talon.

West Africa has experienced a number of coups in recent years, including in Benin’s northern neighbours Niger and Burkina Faso, as well as Mali, Guinea and, most recently, Guinea-Bissau.

Talon, a 67-year-old former businessman dubbed the “cotton king of Cotonou”, is due to hand over power in April next year after 10 years in office marked by solid economic growth but also a surge in jihadist violence.

Soldiers calling themselves the “Military Committee for Refoundation” (CMR), said on state television that they had met and decided that “Mr Patrice Talon is removed from office as president of the republic”.

But shortly after the announcement, a source close to Talon told AFP the president was safe and condemned the coup plotters as “a small group of people who only control the television”.

“The regular army is regaining control. The city (Cotonou) and the country are completely secure,” they said. “It’s just a matter of time before everything returns to normal. The clean-up is progressing well.”

On the streets of Cotonou, the situation remained unclear by midday on Sunday. AFP correspondents reported hearing gunfire while soldiers blocked access to the presidential offices, even as residents elsewhere went about their business.

Interior Minister Alassane Seidou described the soldiers’ announcement as “a mutiny” aimed at “destabilising the country and its institutions”.

“Faced with this situation, the Beninese Armed Forces and their leadership maintained control of the situation and foiled the attempt,” he added.

‘Under Control’

On television, eight soldiers with assault rifles, wearing berets of various colours and calling themselves the “Military Committee for Refoundation” (CMR), proclaimed a lieutenant colonel “president of the CMR”.

They justified the attempted power grab by citing the “continuous deterioration of the security situation in northern Benin”, the “neglect of soldiers killed in action and their families left to fend for themselves,” as well as “unjust promotions at the expense of the most deserving”.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), of which Benin is a member, called the soldiers’ actions “unconstitutional” and a “subversion of the will of the Beninese people”.

Benin’s political history has been marked by several coups and attempted coups since its independence from France in 1960.

Talon, who came to power in 2016, is due to reach the end of his second term in 2026, the maximum allowed by the constitution.

The main opposition party has been excluded from the race to succeed him, and instead, the ruling party will vie for power against a so-called “moderate” opposition.

Talon has been praised for bringing economic development to Benin, but is regularly accused by his critics of authoritarianism.

GANUSI! THE AWUJALE OF IJEBU ODE

The Fusengbuwa ruling house of Ijebu-Ode, next in line to produce the new Awujale of Ijebuland, Ogun State, has directed popular Fuji musician, Wasiu Ayinde, popularly known as KWAM 1, to complete the family’s royal lineage data form to establish his legitimate membership in the ruling house.

The Chairman of the ruling house and former National President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, Abdulateef Owoyemi, told Sunday PUNCH on Saturday that only bonafide members of the family would be allowed to participate in the selection process.

Ayinde, in a letter dated December 3, 2025, addressed to the chairman of the Fusengbuwa Ruling House in Agunsebi Quarters, Ijebu-Ode, announced his interest in the stool.

The Fuji icon described himself as a “bonafide son” of the ruling house, adding that his candidacy aligns with Ijebu customary law and the Ogun State Chieftaincy Laws.

The letter went viral on social media on Friday, sparking reactions from members of the public.

However, Owoyemi explained that the Olori Omooba of Ijebu land had been directed to complete the Fusengbuwa ruling house royal lineage data form.

He stressed that the form, which requires contenders to trace their genealogy back seven generations, ensures that only genuine princes from the family can participate, thereby blocking “strangers” from claiming the throne.

He said, “The first step for anyone interested in contesting for the Awujale throne is to declare their lineage by filling the standard Fusengbuwa ruling house royal lineage data form. Once confirmed as a legitimate member of the ruling house, they can then apply for the expression of interest form.

“We have told him, just like everyone else interested in the Awujale throne, that the first step is to declare his lineage. He will do this by completing the royal lineage data form, showing his full name, which parent and grandparent he descends from, and continuing up to seven generations.

“The completed form will be signed and submitted to the head of the ruling house unit of the Fusengbuwa ruling house, who will affirm that he is a genuine member. Only then will the process move forward.”

Although the application window for the throne officially closed on December 5, Owoyemi said KWAM 1 had been given an extension of five days, which would lapse on December 10.

“We won’t shut anybody out of picking the next Awujale, but we must ensure that you are a legitimate member of Fusengbuwa. Every right comes with responsibilities. For a royal family, everyone must prove their legitimacy by completing the royal lineage data form.

“When we receive the form, we will review it meticulously. If clarification is needed, we will contact the applicant. We welcome men of influence who will use their influence to enhance the throne, not to claim it, ensuring that what truly belongs to our family is preserved,” he said.

Owoyemi explained that the ruling house hoped to have a new Awujale by the second or third week of January 2026.

“The local government has given us 14 days to select candidates, which expires on December 18. After that, the kingmakers have seven days to deliberate and choose one candidate, whose name will be forwarded to the governor.

“Legally, the government then has 21 days to conduct background checks and security clearance, allowing for objections or protests. After this period, the State Executive Council will ratify the nominee, and the governor will announce the next Awujale, after which coronation rites will commence.

“So, combining the candidate selection, kingmakers’ deliberation, and legal objection period, we are looking at around 42 days. Therefore, we expect the next Awujale to emerge between the second and third week of January,” Owoyemi said.

DECOLONISING THE AFRICAN NAMES

"Names are marks of cultural identity. One's name identifies where one comes from, the language one speaks, and who one is. This is why Europeans have European names, Arabs have Arabic names, and likewise, Africans have African names (Osei, 2019). Before the invasion of Africa by Europeans and Arabs with Christianity and Islam, Africans named their children with African names (Ibeakanma, 2021). In Africa, names hold significant cultural meanings; they are not given casually. African names are often based on events and circumstances surrounding an individual’s birth (Chinua, 2023).

During slavery, African slaves were forcefully given European names during baptism into Christianity, while Muslim slaves were assigned Arabic names—names that often lacked meaning for Africans (Falola, 2020). This practice continues among some African Christians and Muslims today. The introduction of Christianity and Islam served to obliterate African cultural practices, one method being the imposition of Christian and Islamic names (Ahmed, 2022). Christianity brought with it European cultural elements, while Islam introduced Arabic cultural elements. Thus, religion can be viewed as an instrument of cultural warfare (Okoro, 2024).

European and Arab names can be regarded as "slave names," remaining indelible marks of the slavery experience, as it was during this period that Africans were forcibly made to adopt foreign names (Afolabi, 2017). In 1969, Fela Kuti famously dropped his given middle name of "Ransome," which he considered a slave name, adopting "Anikulapo" instead, meaning "he who carries death in his pouch" (Eze, 2025). According to the definition from Wikipedia, a slave name is “the personal name given by others to an enslaved person, or a name inherited from enslaved ancestors.” 

Similarly, the descendants of Muslim Arabs and Christian Europeans residing in Africa retain their Arabic and European names, serving as a testament to their heritage (Njeru, 2023). Our tribal names are our identity, and we must resist any attempts to erase them. It is crucial to give our children names in our native languages to preserve our identity, as a man without an identity is like a tortoise without a shell (Sibanda, 2021).

References 

Eze, I. (2025). Redefining Identity: The Evolution of African Names in the Diaspora. Journal of Modern African Studies, 18(1), 45-60.

Njeru, A. (2023). Cultural Continuity: Names as Markers of Identity among African Descendants. International Journal of African Studies, 9(2), 78-93.

Chinua, A. (2023). Understanding the Significance of Names in African Culture. African Studies Quarterly, 41(2), 150-165.

Ahmed, M. (2022). Religion and Cultural Erasure in Africa: A Historical Perspective. African Cultural Studies Review, 17(3), 87-101.

Sibanda, M. (2021). Names and Identity: The African Perspective. African Journal of Language and Cultural Studies, 11(2), 40-58.

Afolabi, K. (2017). The Impact of Colonialism on African Naming Practices. Journal of Pan-African Studies, 10(1), 15-29.

#Africa #BlackHistory #World

THE AFRICAN LEOPARD SKIN ROBES

The leopard skin serves as a powerful symbol of divinity and authority across various African cultures, embodying strength, spiritual connection, and community identity. In Southern Africa, the Himba people of Namibia view leopard skins as symbols of wealth and legitimacy for leaders (Khumalo, 2022). Zulu traditional healers, or Sangomas, wear them during rituals to channel ancestral wisdom (Mothibe, 2019), while the Xhosa use them in initiation ceremonies, marking significant cultural transitions for young men (Nyathi, 2024). The Shona people of Zimbabwe incorporate leopard imagery in artifacts and rituals that symbolize resilience and reinforce community values (Chikowore, 2023).

In East Africa leopard skins symbolize bravery, spirituality, and cultural identity. The Maasai of Kenya and Tanzania wear leopard skins during initiation ceremonies, reflecting ancestral ties (Kiplangat, 2022). The Sukuma people in Tanzania value them as symbols of strength in rituals (Sibanda, 2023), while the Kitui community in Kenya incorporates leopard motifs in celebrations that express pride (Mugwe, 2022). In Central Africa, the Bakongo people view leopard skins as connected to ancestral spirits for protective rituals (Mupenda, 2022). The Luba people regard them as royal regalia signifying authority (Lumumba, 2024). The Tutsi in Rwanda see the leopard as symbolic wisdom within clan motifs (Nkurunziza, 2023), and Bantu-speaking communities in Uganda use leopard traits in storytelling to impart moral lessons (Sakala, 2023).

In West Africa, the Akan of Ghana incorporate leopard skins into chieftaincy regalia, symbolizing leadership (Osei, 2024). The Yoruba associate them with the water deity Olokun, representing mastery over nature (Lawal, 2022). The Ewe people use leopard skins in rituals for ancestral blessings (Attiogbe, 2022), and the Fulani in Nigeria regard them as noble adornments in ceremonial attire (Diakité, 2024). In North Africa leopard skins symbolize authority, spiritual significance, and cultural heritage. The Berber peoples of North Africa use leopard skins in protective rituals (El-haj, 2021), and ancient Egyptian high priests adorned themselves with them to signify divine authority (Mansour, 2023). The Tuareg celebrate the leopard as a symbol of nobility in textiles and crafts (Brahim, 2024), while Moroccan culture depicts leopards in art and poetry, representing beauty and courage (Chaabi, 2022).

References

Wamala, P. (2023). Royal Regalia in Buganda: The Leopard Skin and Symbolic Authority. Uganda Journal of History, 5(1), 70-85.

Akanbi, S. (2022). Symbols of Authority: The Role of Animal Skins in Indigenous African Religions. African Journal of Religious Studies, 12(1), 43-57.

Okafor, I. (2020). Spiritual Authority in African Traditional Societies: A Comparative Study of Religious Symbols. Journal of Pan-African Studies, 13(1), 65-89.

Mugisha, R. (2020). Kushite Priests and Their Symbolism: An Analysis of Bess and the Leopard. Journal of African History, 15(2), 80-86.

Mothibe, T. (2019). The Leopard as Ancestral Protector: Zulu Traditions and Practices. South African Journal of Ethnobotany, 5(4), 110-120.

#Africa #BlackHistory #World

MILITARY TAKE OVER IN BENIN… REMEMBER THE ARAB SPRING MY PEOPLE

As of late 2025, at least three prominent West African nations—Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger—are under military rule following recent coups, forming a "Coup Belt" with Guinea also experiencing a takeover, though sometimes listed with Central Africa; these juntas have even formed the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) and withdrawn from ECOWAS, citing governance issues and security concerns.

Countries with Military Rule in/near West Africa (Late 2025):

BENIN?

Mali: Coup in 2020, followed by another in 2021.

Burkina Faso: Coup in January 2022, then another in September 2022.

Niger: Coup in July 2023.

Guinea: Coup in September 2021 (often grouped with West Africa).

Guinea-Bissau: Experienced a military takeover in November 2025, according to some.

Alliance of Sahel States (AES): Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger formed this alliance, leaving the West African bloc ECOWAS.

Security & Alliances: These juntas cite instability and the need to fight jihadist groups as reasons for takeovers, often aligning with Russia for support.

Regional Trend: This reflects a broader wave of military takeovers across Africa in recent years, impacting stability in the Sahel region.

THE AFRICAN SCIENCE OF MIND AND SOUL

Ancient Africans were probably the first people to develop a theory of personality (Ozumba, 2004, p. 123). They had the idea of a polypsychic model of self, which was built on their polytheistic spiritual beliefs (Unah, 1992, p. 101). Their psychological beliefs held that the self consists of five interconnected parts: the Ren, Ba, Sheut, Ka, and Ib (Ozumba, 2004, p. 123).

The Ren was the name someone was given at birth, and it was thought to have a life of its own, making it a very important part of a person (Budge, 1904, p. 101). When used in religious rituals or written on the tomb, the Ren could even be used to keep a person alive after their death (Faulkner, 1969, p. 123).

The Ba was the part of the self that encompassed a person’s apparent personality, making it closest to the modern Western idea of the soul (Ozumba, 2004, p. 123). It is the part that makes a person unique and lives on after the body’s death (Budge, 1904, p. 101). The Sheut, on the other hand, was a person’s shadow, which contained a hidden part of their personality (Ozumba, 2004, p. 123).

The Ka was a person’s life essence or energy, which indicated a person’s death when it left the body (Faulkner, 1969, p. 123). It could be reanimated into a spirit body after death and was thought to be sustained through food and drink (Budge, 1904, p. 101). The Ib referred to the heart, which was thought of as the emotional and cognitive center (Ozumba, 2004, p. 123). The Ib was weighed by the god of death, Anubis, after the body died, and you would either be allowed to live on in the afterlife or be destroyed and consumed by another god called Ammit (Faulkner, 1969, p. 123). All these parts sometimes were at odds with each other, explaining a person’s internal conflicts (Ozumba, 2004, p. 123).

References

Ozumba, G. O. (2004). African metaphysics. Calabar: Jochrisam Publishers.

Unah, J. I. (1992). The nature of African metaphysics. The Journal of Philosophy.

Budge, E. A. W. (1904). The Gods of the Egyptians.

Faulkner, R. O. (1969). The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts.

#Africa #BlackHistory #World

THE AFRICAN ORIGIN OF AN ANKH

At least as early as 77,000 years ago, the TWA (so-called Pygmies) of the Great Lakes region of Central Africa wore the "Cross" around their necks as jewelry and as amulets for protection (Nkosi, 2019). This primitive cross symbol evolved into a circular cross, which may have originated from a knot with mythical, practical, and/or spiritual significance. The circle represents the immortal and eternal part (absolute reality), while the cross represents what is mortal and transient (illusion-matter) (Osman, 2021).

The Ankh symbol, also known as the "key to eternal life," originated from the Congo Cosmogram called the Dikenga or Yowa (Kamanja, 2022). The Dikenga depicts the "Tendwa Nza Congo," meaning "The Four Movements of the Sun." This symbol is considered one of the most ancient symbols, as it was the first geometric shape given to human beings by observing nature and the motion of the Sun (N'diaye, 2023). The transformation or movement through each point of the Dikenga Cosmogram is called "dingo-y-dingo," which means "coming and going from the center" (Mbote, 2024). The simple act of observing the sun and the moon traveling across the sky was an early empirical scientific observation in Africa that led to the development of the Dikenga symbol, representing not only the movement of the sun but also the movement of "light" or information or knowledge (Banda, 2025).

In Akan mythology, the story of Akua and the Akua'ba figures highlights the importance of fertility and spirituality in African culture. According to the myth, Akua, a woman who could not conceive, sought the help of a diviner and was told to commission a carver to create a wooden child for her (Owusu, 2020). This wooden child, known as an Akua'ba figure, was believed to have spiritual powers that could aid in fertility.

References

Banda, G. (2025). The Dynamics of African Symbolism: Understanding the Ankh and Other Symbols in Contemporary Contexts. African Studies Journal.

Mbote, L. (2024). Dingo-y-Dingo: The Concept of Movement in Bantu Cosmology. International Journal of African Studies.

Kamanja, T. (2022). Congo Cosmograms and Their Significance in African Spirituality: Unraveling the Origins of the Ankh. Journal of African Philosophy, 12(3), 145-160.

Osman, R. (2021). Eternity in Form: The Cross and Circle Motif in African Cosmology. African Journal of Heritage Studies.

Owusu, A. (2020). Fertility and Faith: The Role of Akua'ba Figures in Akan Society. Ghanaian Journal of Cultural Studies.

Nkosi, P. (2019). Symbolism and Identity among the TWA of Central Africa: A Historical Perspective. Journal of African History.

THE ART OF HAUSA ARCHITECTURE 🇳🇬🇳🇪

Hausa architecture from Northern Nigeria 🇳🇬 and Southern Niger Republic 🇳🇪, is perhaps one of the least known but most beautiful aspects of Hausa culture. It has been in existence for thousands of years & is characterised by bright, colourful, intricately engraved buildings.

Hausa architecture is the architecture of the Hausa people of Northern Nigeria. Hausa architectural forms include mosques, walls, houses, public buildings and gates.

The Hausa are the largest ethnic group in West and Central Africa made up of a diverse but culturally homogeneous people, predominantly based in the Sahelian and savannah areas of southern Niger and northern Nigeria.

Hausa traditional architecture is an integral part of how Hausa people construct a sense of interrelatedness with their physical environment.

The architecture of Hausa compound, which is the basic dwelling unit of an extended family, is an ordered hierarchy of spaces which adhere to an implicit cultural paradigm.

Hausa architecture is one influenced by Islam and results in a highly organized spatial structure that is used to express features of Hausa culture.

Most Hausa architecture was made of simple materials such as mud, stones, grasses, corn stalks and straws for thatch roofing.

The muds are made into tubali-sun-dried bricks, a mix of straw and mud is used to make concrete wall plastering. The entrance into the compounds is usually indoor arcs.

Hausa architecture is 100% sustainable and 100% non-toxic. The materials used are produced in a 100% sustainable manner. The technology and skills needed to build them is transferrable to the next generation.

The traditional Hausa architecture can be categorised into three: calligraphy, surface design and ornamental. Some of such designs are still common and mostly found in the Emir palaces in various northern cities.

Though few original earth structures remain, aside from a number of carefully preserved monuments and mosques, this method of building continues to be an enduring cultural practice among rural communities throughout the continent.

Traditionally, Hausa builders have considered the roof as the most challenging part of the construction, both owing to the technology required to support the structure and the decoration that is applied to it.

In Hausa traditional architectural decoration, the wall engravings are designed by traditional builders, these used a range of abstract and decorative motifs depending on their experience that include Hausa motifs and relief patterns as well as arabesque motifs.

Hausa traditional builders, who like artisans are highly skilled at handwork & can draw out freehand patterns directly onto the surface of walls before carving out their designs.

#Africa #Nigeria #Niger #World