Arts & Books

The Fortress of Delusion: Satire, Power and Self-Deception

By Enam Obiosio Uzor Maxim Uzoatu’s ‘White Men Can’t Write’ is not merely a short story. It is a political fable disguised as absurdist comedy,...

June 17 Is Achebe Day Because Of ‘Things Fall Apart’

On Tuesday, June 17, 1958, Things Fall Apart was published in England. The book has over the years become a standout phenomenon as one of...

Fighting With Writing

Viral Poems by Sunny Ayewanu; Bookdoctors Ventures Publishing, Lagos, Nigeria; 2025; 109pp Some people fight with guns, some others fight with the bomb, but the...

Tribal Stereotypes In Nigerian Comedy: The Calabar Example

While I am not a great fan of political correctness or censorship, I think the Calabar jokes have been pushed too far...

A Language so Global…

Music is what has become the global language which every human entity seems to understand...

Promoting Indigenous Culture Through Television and Film: The South African Example For Nigeria

We must pay adequate attention to promoting our rich and diverse cultural experiences for the sake of our future...

NMA 2007 Winners: Were They Our Best For The Last Decade?

The “of the decade” idea in the whole show did not do the awards any good. Hence, right from the start the 2007 NMA had a peculiar line of criticism to contend with...

A Creature of Spirit: A Review of Jeta Amata’s Amazing Grace

The film is a gem. You must see it. If you have, you must watch it again. It’s the best film out of Nigeria ever and there are none of the usual female leads...

Obi Nwakanma’s The Horsemen and other poems reviewed

In The Horsemen and other poems, Nwakanma gallops through many seasons of war, ploughs through many cemeteries of fallen dreams, scales okra covered walls and chases dreams that never left our huts in the first place. And the reader comes upon this land of alien deities, and lands exhausted on the unwelcome mats of these strange people that worship feuding gods...

The Virgins Of Flaming Change

I must say, after reading The Virgin of Flames that I heartily recommend it to all lovers of good literature. This book is a delightful riot of sizzling prose, robust poetry and keep-me-up-at-night issues...

Measuring Time… Slowly

Clearly making the transition from the short story to the novel, in my view, has been problematic for Helon Habila. I have bought both books that he has written – Waiting for an Angel, and Measuring Time. I am yet to finish reading Waiting for an Angel...

Don't miss

Constitutional Amendment, Not Sovereign National Conference, Is Pathway To A Reformed Polity (2)

Contrary to popular thought, there is in fact no new 1999 Constitution. What we have is the re-adoption of the 1979 Constitution...

Do You Believe in Juju?

Nigerians seem to have a two-tier belief system. On the one hand they believe in God/Allah, and attend church/mosque. Yet they still believe in the power of non-Biblical or Koranic spirits to cause harm, misfortune, death or heal sickness...

Children of Akwa Ibom State and Governor Godswill Akpabio – A note

I am immensely disturbed by reports emanating from Akwa Ibom state on the vitriolic action of the state government against the activists of the child witchcraft problem in the state...

Steal The Election And Let Them Go To Court

Any ruling party can make even a goat win...

An African Wife/Husband Without African Values (2)

Will Diaspora Nigerian women and men be better off marrying Chinese, Japanese, Jews, Germans, Americans or Europeans instead of fellow Nigerians?

In defense of Alapansanpa

I cannot plead my case before a female human magistrate and my detractors know it. I could approach the high court for the enforcement of my fundamental right, but who has ever heard of the fundamental right of an Egungun? They claim to have granted me bail. Bail? Whoever told them a ‘spirit’ is in bondage and needs bail?

Nigeria Has “Nakeded” Itself

Last week, representatives of Nigeria’s political parties and its...

A future wrecked by divorce

Tom Ugo is not his real name. He was 4 years old when his parents were divorced in 2012, because of what they said were their irreconcilable differences. Ugo did not go to school in the preceding year due to the quandaries that the divorce had degenerated into...

We Have Quality Filmmakers – Fred Amata

Actor, Producer and director Fred Amata is of the...

Tinubu at 64 – Another Toast

Some ten years ago, in January 2006, I wrote,...