₦airaland Forum

The Super Eagles of Nigeria is yet to find a worthy successor for Rashidi Yekini since he retired in 1998. In the past, strikers like Obafemi Martins, Victor Agali, Victor Anichebe and Julius Aghahowa were all expected to put on the golden boats left behind by Rashidi Yekini, but unfortunately, their first impression ended up as a flash in the pan.

Despite the failed expectations, Nigerians continue to hope and wait for the day that another player like Rashidi Yekini will rise. However, considering the performance of Victor Osimhen for Nigeria since his revelation in 2015 and familiar physique, it will not be out of place to ask if he is the new Rashidi Yekini we have all been waiting for.

Source: https://qwenu.com/2019/03/26/is-victor-osimhen-the-new-rashidi-yekini/

On the 20th of March 2019, activist Deji Adeyanju took to his Twitter page to “clear the air” after a post in the Vanguard Newspaper had reported that disagreement over money was the cause of Deji Adeyanju leaving the advocacy group, OurMumuDonDo he had founded with Nigerian musician, Charley Boy.

The newspaper had cited an anonymous source who had said that the lack of ‘transparency and accountability (in the finances of the group) was at the center of it (the rift)’ But Deji Adeyanju denied this claim, saying that he left the group because Charley Boy had “collected money from (the government) to do a video against the main opposition candidate-Atiku and also to stop attacking Buhari.”

Source: https://qwenu.com/2019/03/25/should-we-trust-social-media-influencers-and-advocates/

On the 22nd of March 2019, the Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal in Abuja gave an epic announcement: based on the court's findings through the evidence tendered to it, Senator Ademola Adeleke is the winner of the Osun state gubernatorial election which held on the 22nd of September, 2018.

The certificate of return issued to Adegboyega Oyetola of the APC (All Progressives Congress) was nullified and the Tribunal ordered INEC (Independent National Electoral Commission) to issue a certificate instead to Adeleke.

This in itself is no longer news.

The APC has definitely contested this judgment, saying that it will not 'stand superior legal scrutiny'. It has also vowed to appeal it

This in itself should not be news.

Source: https://qwenu.com/2019/03/25/the-tribunal-declares-adeleke-winner-osun-elections/

In recent times, geopolitical discourse and debates on the Nigerian political structure have dominated the media and assumed intense dimension with polarizing perspectives. The opponents of restructuring argue that, the mentality of Nigerians and not the configuration of the federation needs restructuring. Hence, the concept of “psyche restructuring” as opposed to geopolitical restructuring characterized by devolution of powers to the federating or component units, fiscal federalism especially in matters of revenue mobilization and resource ownership and control, removal of immunity clause from the constitution, decentralization of the police (state police) and making the centre less attractive for opportunistic political jostlers.

The proponents of “psyche restructuring” affirm that Nigerians’ mentality and not the federal structure is what requires restructuring. Considering the weight of the North in Nigeria’s geopolitical configuration, it is held with skepticism that such is one of the northern intrigues or well-orchestrated strategy to torpedo the revolutionary vanguard of restructuring Nigeria. In the first place, whose psyche needs restructuring? And what is meant by “psyche restructuring?


Source: https://qwenu.com/2019/03/25/the-debate-on-polity-versus-psyche-restructuring/

In this episode of the Lagosian in New York City podcast, Lagosian is joined by Chuka Ikokwu, co-founder of Divercity (www.divercity.io), a job platform for underrepresented minorities looking for job opportunities, and also employers looking to diversify their teams. His goal is to build the world’s largest minority professional network. They discuss his positive and negative experiences from his days as an MBA student at the MIT-Sloan School of Management, to working in Fortune 500 companies, and now as an entrepreneur of a promising company.

https://qwenu.com/2019/03/23/listen-to-the-lagosian-in-new-york-city-podcast-chuka-ikokwu-cofounder-divercity-job-platform-for-diversity-hiring-and-networking/

When Chief Justice Onnoghen was served with court summons earlier this year, quite a number of people including this writer had found it extremely suspicious. The speed with which the Code of Conduct Tribunal issued charges against the Chief Justice was unprecedented in the history of the country, and not even during the infamous military era were charges cooked up so quickly and easily against a sitting Chief Justice of the federation.

After expressing sadness over the situation and stating that he was not aware of the charges until it became public knowledge, the President, in a very long tweet on the 25th of January said that the “security agencies have since traced other suspicious transactions running into millions of dollars to the CJN’s accounts” and that “one expected that with his moral authority so wounded..Justice Onnoghen would have acted swiftly… by removing himself from superintending over it (judicial arm) while his trial lasted.”

https://qwenu.com/2019/03/23/the-federal-governments-avoidable-error-with-justice-onnoghen/

Nkechi (not real name) was on her way to work. She got to the bus park to see that the bus to Oshodi was nowhere near full. Afraid that she would be late to work, she walked away from the park to look for buses who pick passengers along the way.

She was lucky. Less than 5 minutes after, she got a bus going to Oshodi. But she was wary. Only a month earlier, she had been a victim of a ‘one chance bus’, buses that pretend to pick passengers but which are full of thieves who then attack unsuspecting victims once the bus is in motion.

https://qwenu.com/2019/03/23/omo-eko-diaries-one-chance-to-hell/

In the 60s and 70s, it was convenient for many African scholars to blame the West for the problems of Africa. Books like How Europe Underdeveloped Africa by Walter Rodney and The West and The Rest of Us by Chiwenzu Ibekwe appealed to many radical leftists in Africa who tried to explain why the continent had to grapple with many problems after independence.

Interesting enough, it has been more than 50 years that the Europeans left the shores of Africa at least administratively; upon this, many Africans, especially the generation that was born towards the end of the 80s who did not experience colonialism directly or indirectly, continue to blame the Europeans for the problems of Africa in the 21st century.

https://qwenu.com/2019/03/21/will-africa-still-be-right-in-the-21st-century-to-blame-the-west-for-her-problems/

By law, Nigerian prisons are saddled with the responsibility of rehabilitating prisoners, but unfortunately, they have become concentration camps where inmates are subjected to all kinds of inhuman treatment.

Alas! There are about 240 prisons in Nigeria; none of them is fit for animals. No wonder during the official presentation of Nigerian Prison Survey Reports last year, the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo through his representative Dambazua Abdulrahman said, “There is no room for prisoners, and anybody who goes into that place as a human being is coming out like an animal.

https://qwenu.com/2019/03/21/nigeria-it-is-time-to-reform-your-prisons/

Nigeria remains one of the few nations in the world where capital punishment is still fashionable despite the call to abolish it. And while it is true that the 1999 constitution (as amended) clearly spelt out death penalty under Sections 33(1) and 34(1) (a), it has become an outdated and cruel means of dispensing justice.

Fundamentally, the truth remains that, society will continue to evolve and as it evolves, the laws holding it together will also change. For instance, until 1807, the slave trade was legal and people were allowed to keep slaves (human beings) as private property. But as society gradually progressed from the thesis, to the antithesis and to the synthesis, a new consciousness overruled the commodification of man. Today, it will be considered a crime against humanity if any man or country ever venture into the slave trade because civilization has moved forward and new laws have emerged to protect the inalienable rights of man.

https://qwenu.com/2019/03/20/the-case-against-capital-punishment-in-nigeria/

Nigeria has the potential to become a great country and be a leading light if not a hegemon in Africa. This is because she is heavily endowed with resources. Let’s not forget the human resources she has been blessed with some of whom are excelling outside the shores of her land. Do you now wonder why some have said that the caption regarding Nigeria as an African giant reeks of deceit as Nigeria is more or less a sleeping giant or better still, a giant with clay feet?

From 1914 when Nigeria became a by product of Lord Lugard’s amalgamation it seems she was primed to keep underachieving despite the huge outlay of endowment. Colonialism had her significant interplay and interchange and some have even argued they should have stayed longer but by 1960 the country became a field for us to plough to success and greatness but it seems there were those who wanted to plunder negativity thereon.


https://qwenu.com/2019/03/18/can-nigeria-move-from-being-a-reactionary-country-to-a-proactive-one/

Since the November 2015 governorship election in Kogi State when INEC introduced this inimical guideline, “inconclusive election” has become a bane to the Nigerian electoral system. Aside from eroding the confidence of the electorate in the whole electoral process, politicians have seen it as a potent tool to subvert the will of the people during elections.

As stated in INEC’s 2015 Guidelines in pages 22-23 paragraph 4, Section N, the Returning Officer has the mandate to, “where the margin of win between the two leading candidates is not in excess of the total number of registered voters of the polling units where elections were cancelled or not held, decline to make a return until another poll has taken place in the affected polling units and results incorporated into a new form EC 8d and subsequently record in EC 8e for declaration”

https://qwenu.com/2019/03/15/time-to-remove-the-inconclusive-election-clause-from-inecs-guidelines/

We live in a society where men of high integrity and those who pay attention to the upholding of sacred societal values are scarce. This explains why not many Nigerian leaders or politicians can pass an integrity test.

In recent times the Nigerian Police Force suffers from a lack of confidence and acceptance from Nigerian citizens to the extent that every now and then our elections still experience huge militarization which is an aberration of civil conduct.

https://qwenu.com/2019/03/14/opinion-why-kano-state-commissioner-of-police-mohammed-wakili-should-be-commended-and-celebrated/

My problem with his return does not have anything to do with his quality because he already showed this in his first stint with the club. In three seasons, he won one La Liga, one Super Cup, three consecutive Champions League, and two World Club Cups.

However, I remain skeptical that Zidane, despite his excellent coaching skills will not repeat the same feat he achieved the first time he coached Real Madrid. In fact, he may fail woefully.

https://qwenu.com/2019/03/13/zinedine-zidanes-return-to-real-madrid-may-end-up-in-disaster/

I have been a Manchester United fan since the mid-1990s back when the only way you could watch the premier league was Supersport. Back when you had to have DSTV to watch the big boys play. Back when Manchester city was nonexistent and it was Manchester United, Arsenal and Newcastle United.

However, it was not until this weekend when my friends - Arsenal fans, if you can imagine, began to question the mediocrity of not only the coach but the players at Man Utd. That was the point when I knew that things had sunk to a new low.

https://qwenu.com/2018/12/04/i-hereby-suspend-my-manchester-united-fan-membership-until-mourinho-gets-fired/

https://qwenu.com/2018/11/17/the-hypocrisy-of-buharis-unity-wristbands/

In less than 72 hours, the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) will fully declare campaigns open for all the political parties participating in the 2019 elections. What this means is that political parties will be able to campaign freely, and using every method within their reach provided it is in line with the guidelines of INEC.

Buhari, the incumbent president, who is also contesting for another term in office, is also entitled to the campaign, using any method that pleases him as long as it does not violate the rules of the campaign.

As part of the All Progressives Congress’ campaign preparation, it has launched a Buhari Unity Band – a collection of Buhari’s wristbands, symbolically meant to express his commitment to the unity of Nigeria. Given the development of Buhari and APC, Nigerians should not be carried away by the President’s election rhetoric commitment to unity.

There is nothing wrong with using wristbands as a campaign strategy, however, there is everything wrong with the purported intention behind the wristbands. Why? Because it is a political strategy to sweep votes amongst unsuspecting Nigerians, who are not aware of the president’s true stand on the unity of Nigeria, which obviously is hypocritical.

https://qwenu.com/2018/11/17/the-hypocrisy-of-buharis-unity-wristbands/

https://qwenu.com/2018/11/17/ken-saro-wiwa-and-the-eight-remembering-a-death-forgetting-their-message/

On November 10, 2018, Nigerians at home and abroad took to various social media platforms and online publications to celebrate the life and achievements of Ken Saro Wiwa and the other eight activists murdered by the military-led government of the late General Sani Abacha. His post-humous birthday was precisely a month before. He would have been 77years

While he was not the only one murdered on the 10th of November 1995, he was the president of the group demanding a better life for their town and the most outspoken of the lot. The group is the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) and the other eight activists murdered were Saturday Dobee, Nordu Eawo, Daniel Gbooko, Paul Levera, Felix Nuate, Baribor Bera, Barinem Kiobel, and John Kpuine.

These nine men in their lifetime fought for equity, justice, fairness, and freedom. All they wanted was a better life for the inhabitants of their land, the Ogoniland. The oil extraction activities by Shell had polluted the land, and despite the fact that it was one of the major oil spots, the people were compensated next to nothing. Their means of livelihood disappeared with each drill into the ground, but no one thought of creating other avenues through which they could make a living.

https://qwenu.com/2018/11/17/ken-saro-wiwa-and-the-eight-remembering-a-death-forgetting-their-message/

https://qwenu.com/2018/10/01/as-you-were-nigeria/

Nigeria is 58 today, and here’s a short summary of how she is faring.

In February 2018, Transparency International ranked Nigeria 148 out of 180 corrupt countries. Meaning that the country is just 32 countries away from being the most corrupt nation on earth.

We are still heavily dependent on oil, while other sectors of the economy are stagnant or growing at a sluggish rate. In spite of its discovery 62 years ago, we are yet to start refining the oil we produce and rely on imports.

In June 2018, Nigeria overtook all other nations of the world to become the country with the largest extreme poverty population according to a report by the World Poverty Clock.

In addition to the Boko Haram insurgency in the North that is responsible for 113 missing school girls, one dead nurse Saifura Ahmed and countless other atrocities, we have added to our insecurity challenges herdsmen killings in the north.

Unemployment is a major issue in the country, with one in 3 youths being out of a job by 2017. Meanwhile, the median age is 18.4, meaning that a greater part of the population is young.

In an attempt to confirm what the standard of education in the country is like, a search on Google brought up this post. It seems to be a good indicator of just how bad things have gotten.

But Nigeria was not always this bad.

The most important thing to note here is that there was no Nigeria before the advent of colonialism in the country. Nigeria is the child of extremely greedy parents who brought her to life to fulfil the selfish purpose of easier administration.

It was bad enough that different, mostly unrelated ethnic groups had already been merged together in the southern protectorate, but the amalgamation of the Northern and Southern protectorates in 1914 made the situation worse.

Why? Let’s deviate for a bit go and go back in time to see how our different tribes fared politically in pre-colonial times. We will be focusing on the major ethnic groups for the purpose of brevity.

https://qwenu.com/2018/09/18/imho-three-bold-uefa-champions-league-predictions/

The world is highly elated as the UEFA Champions League kicks off today. The UEFA Champions League is a seasonal European competition that is keenly contested amongst top-division European clubs, the best of the best. It is one of the biggest football tournaments in the world and the most watched annual sporting event worldwide. This year’s tournament will feature top teams like Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, PSG, Monaco, Juventus, Napoli, Inter Milan, AS Roma, Bayern Munich, Dortmund, amongst others. Traditional teams like Arsenal, AC Milan, and Chelsea will not be part of this year’s event because they did not qualify through their leagues. Nevertheless, here are my 3 bold predictions in this season’s UEFA Champions League.

Real Madrid Will Not Win This Year’s Champions League.

For three consecutive seasons, Real Madrid under the guidance of Zinedine Zidane aka Zizou has won the Champions League trophy. This has nothing to do with being a fluke event. Although, when Zidane first won the Champions League for Madrid, most people attributed his success to sheer luck until he won it again and again.


Besides Zidane’s ingenious tactics, he arguably had the best players including CR7, Modric, Toni Kroos, Bale in the world, also blessed with a squad that could interpret and execute his instructions to perfection on the field. Zidane and Madrid enjoyed their fantasy relationship and European conquests until his shock resignation which led to critiques claiming that “he doesn’t know how else to improve the team”. On critical examination, Zidane’s resignation was probably a great decision knowing how Florentino Perez, Madrid’s President can sack a coach if he fails to win a trophy in a season. Zidane was wise to quit when the ovation was loudest if not, a sack might have dented his highly deserved records in Madrid.

Will Real Madrid Win this year's Champions League?
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Yes
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Results
No sooner had Zidane left Real Madrid did Ronaldo announce his move to Juventus. Ronaldo whose move to Juventus also shocked the world and broke Madrid fans’ hearts was instrumental to Madrid all through their seasons of European conquest and dominance. Zidane’s and Ronaldo’s departures have definitely weakened Madrid. Put differently, Madrid will no longer be as strong as they were when they were coached by Zidane and when the team was built around Ronaldo. What this means is that Madrid will not win the Champions League this season.

Qwenu! is a Nigerian opinion publishing platfor. Anyone can publish their thoughts, commentary, experiences & opinions for the world to read. Go to our home page to read articles from our staff writers and global contributors. Support us by sharing this post using the Whatsapp/social media icons above or below. Email editor@qwenu.com if you have something to get published.

Cristiano Ronaldo Will Not Be The Highest Goal Scorer

For a while now, Christiano Ronaldo has proven to be the G.O.A.T. He has broken and set new records both in domestic and Champions League competitions. He currently tops the chart as the all-time goal scorer in the Champions League with 120 goals (which is crazy to even start to comprehend). During Madrid’s three seasons of unstoppable victory in Europe, Ronaldo topped the highest goal scorer chart for each season.


For instance, in 2015-2016, he scored 16 goals, in 2016-2017, he scored 12 goals while in the 2017-2018 season, he scored 15 goals. Despite this towering feat, Ronaldo left Madrid for Juventus. Since joining Juventus, he has struggled to find his form in the front of goal, at least until last Saturday when he scored a brace. Going by these signs, Ronaldo will not be the highest goal scorer in Champions League this season because he has changed team and it is not easy for a player (even the great ones) to adapt quickly to a new team. Moreover, Ronaldo will not get the same kind of services that were rendered to him by the world-class midfielders that surrounded him in Madrid. Juventus style of football is completely different from Madrid’s, and we are yet to establish if Juventus will build the team around Ronaldo. All these factors will limit his chances of topping the chart again this season in the Champions League as the highest goal scorer. In fact, Ronaldo will flop at Juventus this season.

Will Christian Ronaldo Flop in this Season's Champions League?
No
Yes
Results
An English Team Will Win This Season’s Champions League.

Spanish teams (Real Madrid and Barcelona) have won the Champions League back to back for five seasons. Chelsea was the last English team to win it in the 2011-2012 season. Given the fact that Ronaldo’s and Zidane’s departure has weakened Madrid, and Barcelona is gradually rebuilding with new players that are yet to gell, the door has been opened for an English team to win this year’s competition.


The English teams are stronger and are in the best position in recent past to top the UEFA champions league. PSG with their petrodollar mega star-studded teams does not yet have what it takes to win it. PSG will become inconsistent and overconfident at the climax of the season and this will hinder their chances of lifting the trophy. Bayern Munich is currently also weak and trying to build on the ideas on their new coach, and Juventus cannot match up with any English team this season. Of all the English teams in this year’s competition, Manchester City will most likely win it going by their readiness, consistency and the experience of their Coach, Pep Guardiola.

Full article here: https://qwenu.com/2018/09/13/naija-talk-top-things-the-africans-must-know-before-applying-to-study-in-the-united-states-part-1/

An American education is highly valued around the world. Many prospective students want to study in the United States (US) that boasts some of the most renowned universities in the world including Harvard University, Stanford University, Yale University amongst others. I broadly classify these potential applicants into two groups:

1) Those from very rich homes that can afford to pay the very high international student fees

2) Those from average to poor homes

The first thing you must know is that in the US, parents start preparing for where their kids will go to school even before they are born. Yes, you may not believe this but some parents have it all planned out – where the child will do preschool, kindergarten, after-school classes, sports, and other extracurricular activities. So by the time the child completes high school they are very competitive. Competitive, being the key word here. Contrast this to the average international student, like the Nigerian student who decides they want to go to the US in SS3 (senior secondary school year 3 – the equivalent of 12th grade).

Prospective applicants in Group 1: can afford to get into many small and medium-sized schools. While prospective applicants in Group 2 can only fulfil their dreams if they get scholarships or get loans. I have divided the steps you have to successfully navigate into various categories. Fulfiling these steps does not guarantee you successful admission into an American institution of higher learning but will at least provide you with a framework to execute your plan because even though the odds may be stacked against you; it is certainly doable and I have met students who matriculated into top schools directly from their home countries outside the United States.

Thursday the 5th of September was a day of vibration for the town of Mpappe and its environs, as well as some parts of Maitama, both in Abuja, Nigeria.

While it has been confirmed that the vibrations are indeed earth tremors, we are still speculating on its cause.

The Federal government has assured us that we can rest easy since we are not earthquake-prone, but that mining and blasting activities have been suspended in the area for now. We’re investigating: in fact, prior to the tremors, we had proactively gotten some geoscientific equipment. Installation of the equipment was ongoing when the tremors decided to happen, just to show us that we are doing the right thing.

Never mind that earthquakes were tearing another country apart at the same time we were experiencing our tremors. No, it must be the mining activities. However, let us all exercise patience while investigations are ongoing.

Some natives under the aegis of the Coalition of FCT Indigenous Associations (of course there’s the abbreviated version- CFCTIA) have further assured us their ancestors are in fact behind these tremors, and not some natural shiftings in the earth’s plates. They are angry that they have been marginalized and if a son of the soil is not appointed as Minister soon, they would show us that the land of the dead is just as powerful as that of the living.

Meanwhile, in Lagos…

It has been raining consistently for the past 5 days, and as usual, because well, this is Nigeria, Lagosians have been battling with mini-floods, terrible traffic and outrageous transport fares.

Almost every Lagos street is a mess, and some major roads too. All the patchwork done before the rainy season came undone the moment the first drops fell from the sky. What is left of our streets are gaping holes and dozens of gravel littering the sides in quiet despair.

Let us take a moment and imagine what would happen if we decided to copy that town in Texas and plant trees in our potholes. No doubt Lagos will become a forest overnight.

Bad patches of road in Lagos
Bad patches on the Godwin Omonua road, Isolo, Lagos. The road was repaired in July
As it is, public bus drivers have taken advantage of the situation and doubled the fares. Ikorodu to Oshodi, which normally is ₦150 or ₦200 was as high as ₦400 on Sunday evening. Egbeda to Ikeja along was also ₦400 by Monday morning, some ₦200 away from its normal price.

But what have we done so far? In Brain’s voice, from the Pinky and the Brain; the same thing we do everyday people: run to twitter and rant!


Full article on
https://qwenu.com/2018/09/11/tremors-showers-and-a-nation-unprepared/

Excellent writing with hyperbole. If you haven't read it, you should

https://qwenu.com/2018/09/11/no-mind-me-davido-for-president-someday-how-nigerias-celebrities-of-today-can-transform-politics-of-tomorrow/

Nigerians in the United States have been described as the most educated immigrant group. On average, more Nigerians hold graduate degrees than other demographics. I know many Nigerians with PhDs from the United States. While some have stayed back in the US, many have returned home to help develop our country. However, the cost of getting a Nigerian education vs. an American education differs greatly.

Nigeria has been blessed with many federal and state universities. There are also polytechnics, colleges of education, and private universities. While tuition in some of these institutions of higher learning in Nigeria may be viewed as relatively expensive by Nigerian residents (when you compare the cost of an education to costs and standard of living), they do not compare with tuition paid by international students overseas. Some have also complained about the fact that the curriculum in many Nigerian universities has not been updated to mirror present-day reality as is done frequently in institutions abroad.

Full article here:

https://qwenu.com/2018/09/10/the-cost-of-an-american-education-vs-nigerian-education-is-it-really-worth-it/

Take this interesting poll

https://qwenu.com/2018/09/05/qwenu-poll-men-how-do-you-rank-the-women-in-your-life/

Very relevant essay from www.qwenu.com

A Nigerian in Nigeria

“Nigeria is a mere geographical expression.” These were the words of Obafemi Awolowo, a sage, nationalist, and foremost political juggernaut of his generation. There is no point looking for literary doyen to interpret the motif of his statement. It is axiomatic in context and content. Clearly, Awolowo must have drawn his conclusion out of sheer frustration and resentment for tribalism and seeing how deeply attached an average person occupying the Nigerian territory is to his ethnic group.

If his generation did not understand the reality of his assertion, it still did not solve the problem that his expression had sought to identify. It is easier to solve a problem when it is identified and accepted for what it is than when the problem is identified and people live in denial of the problem. Ethnic allegiance is a big problem for any multi-ethnic entity. Nigeria, a country that houses a babel of peoples, has been grappling with this problem before and after independence. It has lingered because those that should address the problem use it as a constructive tool for their ends.

The problem has cost us the opportunity to grow as a nation and hindered us from taking our place in the comity of developed nations. An unsolved problem will never solve itself. It will rather become complicated with time, and may likely morph into an unresolvable crisis. This was the bane of the Nigerian civil war and the sustainable division that has continued to hinder the progress of the country.

It is a sad situation that there is a country called Nigeria, and yet, there are no Nigerians. What we have are tribes who have not seen the country as their personal estate but a rented apartment they were forced to live in as strange bedfellows. Being a tribal man is not the same as being a Nigerian. The former allows you to pledge your loyalty to your tribe while the latter demands your patriotic submission to the country.

Postikum, Ogbomosho, Nnewi, Yala, are Nigerian spaces without a single Nigerian. What is common in these places is tribal consciousness, belonging and expression. If an average person who lives in any of these places is asked, “where are you from?” The predictable answer will be I am Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa and Yala. His sense of love and loyalty to his tribe is more than Nigeria.

Tribalism has caused more harm than good. The scourge has denied Nigeria the opportunity to prosper and kept her in the valley of failure. It should be clearly stated that there is no country in the world that is completely homogenous. What successful nations did was to melt the tribes together and forge prosperously indivisible entities. “E Pluribus Unum”, out of many one. The United States of America is a perfect example of a successful country that has thrived because of the ability to melt her diversity and the above quotation is the motto that they live by.

In as much as Nigeria exists without Nigerians, the Nigerian dream will never exist, it will continue to remain in the accessible realm of our imagination. Again, the spirit of disunity will never be exorcized from the land. Disunity kills cooperation, creativity and sustainable development. As long as the house of Nigeria is divided against itself, it will not stand.

To find a Nigerian in Nigeria, tribal allegiance must be jettisoned. The norm of judging people by their tribes must stop. People should no longer be identified by their tribes but by their undivided commitment to Nigeria. States of residence should replace states of origin. Hate speech, derogatory cultural remarks, and stereotype must be criminalised.

It will be difficult to find a Nigerian in Nigeria if Nigeria does not give him a sense of belonging and identity, and if his welfare is not a matter of first importance, his life is cheapened and his dignity is violated. These and other worse inhuman treatment cannot persist in a country and you expect the people to say “God bless Nigeria” as it is the practice in the United States of America. What you would hear is, “No be Niger we dey’’. If the sentiment of the people is negatively amplified in this manner, the search for a Nigerian will be like a journey without an end.

Stomach infrastructure is a coined political register that originated from Nigeria to mock the “bribe and vote” relationship that exists between the electorate and candidates. This dynamic relationship involves enticing the electorate with money or food items in order to vote for the worst and unqualified candidates. Although the political coinage came into usage for the first time in Ekiti state in 2014, it is not novel to the culture of Nigerian politics. In fact, it is as old as the Nigerian electoral system. Wherever elections had held in the past, stomach infrastructure politics had held sway but not in a proliferated manner, as we have in the contemporary reality.

However dynamic the relationship may be, stomach infrastructure is an all-out political tactic, or a false intervention strategy deployed to meet the immediate desire of the electorate such that they would be morally committed to giving their votes to the candidate that bids more for their votes.

The unpredictability of the Nigerian political environment has made it vulnerable to all kinds of despicable political moves that are usually lampooned as ‘politricks’ amongst the conscious electorate. The vulnerability has reduced the political arena to “anything goes” and has replaced sanity with insanity. If the political environment is vulnerable, the electorate is even more vulnerable to the ‘politricks’ of stomach infrastructure. Their impoverished condition has unfairly exposed them to the trap of political predators in a way that they can hardly resist the temptation of exchanging their votes for food.

https://qwenu.com/2018/09/06/stomach-infrastructure-and-the-parody-of-nigerian-politics/

Davido is doing Nigeria proud. Putting us on the map

https://qwenu.com/2018/09/04/nigerias-davido-video-interview-on-top-us-radio-show/

Sharing this online poll. Of course, this one cannot be rigged

https://qwenu.com/2018/08/30/poll-which-of-these-nigerian-presidential-aspirants-would-you-vote-for/

Winners decided monthly. Whichever member has the most points in a month wins, irrespective of prior points or season performance. So its not too late to join.

https://futbolpublic.com/forums/forum/active-member-giveaways-rewards-and-prizes-check-here-for-winners/

Click link to vote:

https://futbolpublic.com/forums/topic/who-will-win-the-arsenal-vs-chelsea-game-on-18-8-2018/

Not sure if you have done this before but you can live chat with others while you watch the premier league games.

The site also has prizes to be won

https://futbolpublic.com/futbol-public-chat-room/