Sabella Ogbobode Abidde

Please, do not ask me about religion. I get the evil look every time I tell people I am an agnostic who teeters on atheism. My world resolves around ethics and the rule of law. That’s it. I have no use for religion: religious convictions are not part of my existence -- the laws of man are good enough for me. I have lived in several cities: Seattle, Miami, Norman, Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Saint Cloud, the District of Columbia, Houston, and Mankato. I am not sure where I am going to live next. And I have never really had a profession, only jobs: been a cook, a dishwasher, a civil servant, house cleaner, university instructor and researcher and so on and so forth. Every so often I get questions concerning the role and place of the African woman. Well, I don’t know; at least not with any certainty. What seems to work best is when both partners work as a team: cooperate, coordinate and collaborate their marital efforts. And they should be mindful of the insidious effect of modernization on the African family.

The Messy State of the Nigerian Judiciary

As flawed as successive Nigerian Constitutions have been, it has always, in theory at least, provided for an independent judiciary. In practice, however, this has not always been the case...

The Trial of Major Hamza Al-Mustapha

Is Al-Mustapha a security risk? Did he endanger the wellbeing of the nation? Is he a murderer? Did he conspire with others to kill the innocent? Must it take another decade before he knows his fate and for us to know the answers? This is a travesty, a violation of his rights.

The Men and Women of the Nigerian Police Force

In the history of contemporary Nigeria, except for the Nigerian Customs Service, I wonder if there ever has been a government agency as reviled and ridiculed as the Nigerian Police Force...

Goodluck Jonathan: Indecision, Power and Legacy

Goodluck Jonathan can be likened to a man facing a dilemma: If he acts too fast, he risks committing egregious mistakes in which case his opponents and bashers will pounce at him. If he acts to slow, his opponents, critics and bashers will accuse him of indecision, of incompetence...

Prayers For President Yar’Adua

In spite of our political, religious and ethnic frictions, no Nigerian will celebrate the president’s ill-health. From the Creeks of the Niger Delta to the cascading hills of Plateau State and the flat lands of Sokoto and Maiduguri, no Nigerian will make a toast to the infirmity of the President...

Goodluck Jonathan: The Road Ahead

I do not envy Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. Not many rational and reasonable people would. It is hard to imagine the kind of nervous tension he must have, and is going though. The weight and expectation of the nation. The pull and push of the international community...

History, Posterity and Nigeria in 2035

The history of Nigeria, since 1914 until the present time, has been a history of failures, conflicts, failed promises, shattered hope, endless pain and agony...

Foreign Policy and Nigeria’s External Affairs Ministers

In theory and in practice Africa has always been the primary focus of Nigeria’s foreign policy thrust. History and the political realities of colonial and post-colonial Africa dictated much of this trend...

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