Okey Ndibe

Okey Ndibe teaches fiction and African literature at Trinity College in Hartford, CT. He is the author of the novel, Arrows of Rain and co-editor (with Chenjerai Hove) of Writers, Writing on Conflicts and Wars in Africa. After studying business management at the Institute of Management and Technology, Enugu (Nigeria), Ndibe earned an MFA and PhD in English from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Ndibe was the founding editor of African Commentary, a magazine published in the U.S. by novelist Chinua Achebe, author of the classic novel, Things Fall Apart. His lively, witty and intellectually stimulating style has made him a highly sought after speaker on African and African American literature and politics. Ndibe is finishing his second novel titled Foreign Gods, Incorporated and also working on a memoir of his life in the US. His website. Twitter: @ OkeyNdibe

(Not) Negotiating with Ghosts

I was reading a report in last Sunday’s edition of the Punch titled “FG Rules out Direct Talks with Boko Haram” when a statement by presidential spokesman, Reuben Abati, jumped out at me. According to the paper, Mr. Abati confirmed that the Goodluck Jonathan administration was not in direct talks with Boko Haram...

Oteh vs. Hembe=Nigeria’s Loss

In Nigeria, tragedy often wears the garb of comedy. Last week’s duel featured Arunma Oteh and Herman Hembe as the principal adversaries. Ms. Oteh is the director-general of the Securities and Exchange Commission; Mr. Hembe the chairman of the House of Representatives’ committee on the capital market...

Jonathan’s Two Quiet Months

It’s one of the amazements of Nigerian life that the tumultuous events of last January seem now so terribly dim and faraway. But it was in January, two short months ago, that President Goodluck Jonathan incautiously increased the price of fuel...

Ojukwu: The Days After

It was as if Nigeria could not quite make up its mind about the significance of the life and politics of this complex, infuriatingly confounding figure called Ojukwu – until the man breathed his last...

Mandela and the Parable of Leadership

As president, Mandela was far from a perfect leader; some critics charge that he failed to drive a harder bargain to attain economic empowerment for the long-oppressed black majority. Still, he did not set out, as most Nigerian “leaders” do, to destroy his nation for the sake of personal benefit...

A Man Worth Less Than A Chicken

In the illogical, absurd creed that reigns in Nigeria, a man’s life is worth wasting over N30! That, in a nutshell, is a picture of how much an average Nigerian’s life is worth in the eyes of agents of the Nigerian state...

Jonathan, Sylva, and the Rain of Stones

No major political party in Nigeria has set itself apart as an embodiment of vision and exemplary leadership. Even so, the PDP has patented itself as a heavyweight champion in the sectors of corruption, indolence, and visionlessness...

A Threat Greater Than Boko Haram

If the move to fire Ringim and hire Abubakar was meant to indicate a new, firm resolve to square off against Boko Haram, the orchestration fell flat on its face. From the outset, Mr. Abubakar’s headship of the police was freighted with far from reassuring controversy...

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The Insult That Led to the Creation of Osun State

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Call Me Tony: A Parable of Corporate Nigeria

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