New Nigeria Vanguard

.The Bible is viewed as a holy book, but all it really does is document the history of the Jews and their tribulations over the years at the hands of various oppressors culminating in the dreams of a messiah to take them to the promised land. If we had a written language or transcribed the stories of the griots that Alex Haley in his Roots book had consulted to track down his ancestry, you would discover it would encapsulate the histories of our various people and trace bloodlines leading back to a long forgotten supreme ancestor, no different from Abraham who descended from Adam and you would trace your genealogy like the Bible does in linking Jesus all the way back to the line of kings, specifically to David in his case, similar to the bible. Their native men and sorcerers foretold of the arrival of the various messiahs to take them to the promised land or to restore the kingdom of Judea.  Jews had Prophets akin to native priests and griots and whole tribes, like the Levites, ded...

I salute UNN for this first revolutionary attempt to begin a discussion about this topic in Nigeria today, perhaps the first original theme of its kind. Many Nigerians act so sophisticated, but deep down we are a bunch of primitive superstitious savages. Nigerians go to church and mosques during the day, but we consult native doctors aka “juju” or medicine men at night.  Bring a white male cock, bring me a tortoise, bring me white cloth, what is the name of your grandfather, swear an oath, etc For instance Ngige received his “native” blessings to see him remain as minister today, go and try him and see the forces that will kee you, even Abacha imported native doctors from Bamako before the superior juju of mascara wearing Indians with red dots on their head superseded them, juju pass juju oh. No one can die in tiv land without accusations that his mother or relatives or enemies conspired to kill them in the spirit world, deaths in the aftermath are traced to a deceased spirit secur...

It is not so much that the standard of living is falling drastically, but that Nigerians are not earning enough income to satisfy new and more sophisticated needs. Basically, the needs of Nigerians have expanded geometrically in the last few years.  For instance, increased access and subscription to cable and the use of expensive cellular phones and recharge cards are new expenses being faced by everyone that was not obtainable in the past, so also are market-based school fees at universities and enrollment of children into private schools at all levels unlike in the past. These expenses all reduce disposable income.  Even historical out of pocket expenses including taking care of relatives through the extended family system, health care expenses, burial expenses and weddings expenses are now prohibitive. The rise of burial and wedding expenses is so high that certain religious institutions have restricted they length of time a corpse can remain unburied and some traditional r...

The common reason adduced for the closure of the border is the protection of our rice industry and to force Nigerians to substitute foreign rice with local varieties.  Two of the biggest flaws of the policy are: 1. Miscomprehension of the appetite of Nigerians for foreign rice and all things foreign. Nigerians talk a good game, but are hopelessly addicted to all things foreign including rice. The situation is so bad that some enterprising criminals are now mixing sorghum with local rice and selling them in foreign bags of rice and Nigerians are paying a premium. No one has time to wash rice like I observed growing up, you can wash rice and remove stones, but tell that to Nigerians, they will abuse you about how sophisticated they are. Bottom line unless the government has rock hard determination it remains to be seen how long Nigerians will tolerate feasting on local rice, despite all the noise. Nigerians are grounded in their idea of sophistication and taste and cannot be weaned o...

Nothing can make one more unpopular than displaying even a hint of Buharism or sympathy for cows and honest herdsmen not Fulani militia, while not condoning killing, but Nigerians are so locked in their hateful mindsets to examine issues beyond their tribal prism. This post by an Igbo person says it all. Nigeria is heading towards a major crisis when it will wake up one day and not find beef for sale anywhere, no one really likes pigs and goats are notoriously slow breeders. Nigerians will wake up one day and suddenly realize there are no cows anymore, the Fulani, the custodians of Nigeria’s beef have given up the business and Nigeria must import meat by the ton, another import bill that will crash the naira. President Buhari must be blamed for his catastrophic handling of internal security issues related to dealing with the Fulani militia and occupation of tribal land by nomadic Fulani clans and unrestricted grazing that has made Nigerians turn against “Fulani custodians” and their co...

Sowere is legally not a youth, but he represents the “not too young to rule” and revolutionary youth movement presently in a state of utter confusion and rudderlessness.  Don’t come to social media and be complaining about all the ills of society, but then criticize or laugh at someone like Sowere willing to fight for, or express as revolutionary as he can, the utter frustration and sense of hopelessness about the state of Nigerian today that we all feel, you cannot come to Facebook without it hitting you in the face to the point of insults for even a whiff of Buharism.  I am not disappointed at my generation chanced of our destiny from growing up under military rule to wanting to maintain the status quo because they know no better, but I am thoroughly disappointed in they youth made of University students and they unemployed today. How many of you voted for Sowere?  How many of you voted for the eloquent and intelligent Moghalu or the many youth candidates of the other p...

There are some people who no amount of training or grooming or education can make literate or progressive in their outlook, gravitational orientation or conduct, basically, their mannerism and world vision and biases are already hard coded in their personalities. There are others (like me) whose accent cannot change despite living and interacting with all manner of people at various levels overseas, while there are others who come and spend one summer abroad and acquire a European (“acata”) accent for life. In the field of leadership there are those like Buhari, who despite undergoing the best leadership training program Nigeria has to offer, end up coming across as lacking intellect, polish and finesse and who display shockingly poor leadership skills if you believe all the stories you hear on social media. The newly appointed CJN is one such person, who despite sitting on the bench for donkey years and submitting briefs and supposedly acquiring a PHD and cross training in sharia law ...

As we debate RUGA and Fulanization many wailers and Nigerians act like we would not be faced by both prospects if only Atiku were President forgetting that his feeder lot proposal is tantamount in implementation to RUGA’s.  Nigerians need to understand that Whether you have an Atiku or Buhari presidency they objective to appropriate land for the Fulani, the “singular custodians” of Nigeria beef, to sustain and nurture our herd of cows remains the public policy goal of the federal government for lack of plausible alternatives or competition. According to reports even former president Goodluck Jonathan gave his premature to the project and an idoma man, the minister of Agriculture has not resigned over the proposal and has tried to sell it the only issue is that it is being accelerated by the Fulani dominated and partisan administration of President Buhari. The statewide implementation of RUGA across the country however was temporarily halted by public fury of non-northern states but...

As we debate RUGA and Fulanization many wailers act like we would not be in this predicament if Atiku were president forgetting that his feeder lots are tantamount in implementation to RUGA.  Whether Atiku or Buhari the objective to appropriate land for the Fulani, the “singular custodians” of Nigeria beef, remains the public policy goal of the federal government as even Goodluck according to reports gave his premature to the project and an idoma man, the minister of Agriculture has not resigned over the proposal.  State governments need to act proactively to thwart seizures of communal lands by creating their own ranches and paying attention to animal husbandry or stand aside and give up land they are not really using for anything to the Fulani who are the only ones serious about preserving the cows we depend on for EXTRA meat and PEPPER soup.  With all the lip service paid to agriculture by Middlebelt Governors why are there no vast tracts of farmland for cow rearing, d...

The hate of Buhari is blinding some Nigerians about certain issues, some Igbo and other Nigerians will be the first one to comment about this administration not obeying court order because Zakzaky and Dusuki are still in jail, but they will forget that abusive Nnamdi Kanu was released and allowed to escape. Others will not remember Buhari’s goal to Islamize Nigeria when advocating for the release of Zakzaky, others will applaud his followers for repeated demonstrations and recent attack at the National Assembly as a results of Buhari’s lawlessness and refusal to obey court orders. Even the tiv will decry Buhari’s lawlessness about Zakzaky but decry Islamization that the Shia movement is more militant about. Even though they have been demonized has anyone really explored the philosophies and radical bent of the Shia movement. Are they not based in the same Zaria that has been the bastion of a virulent strain of Islamic radicalism that caused so many riots in Zaria forcing ABU to close r...

It is tragic that there has been so much killing because of herdsman vs farmer clashes over the years to the point where the friendly domesticated cow is now the target of so much disdain. Our mission as a nation should be to bring the criminals and murderous Fulani and nomadic militia hiding under cover of cow herding to commit grievous atrocities to book and secure justice and compensation for victims and not take out our anger on a COW. Buhari’s is responsible for the animosity with his lackadaisical anafafd criminal partisanship conduct of withholding punishment that has blurred the issue for Nigerians about the national need to prevent our cows from going into extinction, just like our donkeys. In a few years all our cattle can be wiped out due to disease, just look at the ugly cattle we eat and abandonment by the Fulani themselves due to logistics and we will have to import beef along with everything else by the tons, only then will Nigerians understand the national and food secu...

Where is Nigeria’s Minister of State, Kachikwu? Apparently, he has been sidelined in favor of Baru searching for crude in the lake chad Basin.  It is not enough that Nigeria has been structured on a ridiculously, uneconomic and wasteful system of drilling in the south and pipelining the crude all the way up to Kaduna for refinement.  Now Buhari has become fixated with finding oil in the north to complete his economic linkage plan after the planned completion of the dry inland port and a railway linking from there all the way to Chad and Cameroon for his Kanuri relative smugglers to prosper selling petrol and other banned items without paying Nigeria excise duties unlike the militarized border around Lagos with the republic of Benin. You can almost feel the gasping for air exasperation of Buhari as he is confronted with yet another failure to find crude and I can hear his iron willed response to keep on drilling to find oil at all costs so he and the north can be rid or done wi...

Much as we like to believe and understand that African culture is sophisticated and rich I am awed as my studies have brought me to the works of Thomas Jefferson, a founding father of America who paraphrased the ideas of 16th century English philosopher John Locke, who had lived almost a 100 years earlier, into the Declaration of Independence which he co-wrote and revised starting from about 1775 through to about 1783 (??) Jefferson was so enthralled by the works of this philosopher Waxing poetic about inalienable rights and the social contract of government based on the consent of the governed, he cited them into the constitution.  Even as I study them, I am mentally exhausted by these very advanced concepts that were widely circulated amongst the vested educated European aristocrats almost 400 hundred years ago and this Locke is just one of a multitude of philosophers with printed works of art.  Those works of Locke were already painfully printed from the 16th century and ca...

Many of our parents went to schools that deteriorated to this level (See video), in fact my secondary school was not very much better than this before various sections were demolished and rebuilt a few years ago. Just imagine they toilets at this school, the stuff of nightmares, or they bare non existent libraries or they non existent computer room, or the absence of video or other aides to educate students, or the absence of landscaping or grass which indicates they lack of any coordinated recreation or sporting activities for pupils. The video of the Principals office and the makeshift  filing system would help you understand why Buhari was unable to produce his graduate certificate from 1953 as all records end up getting destroyed by the elements, such schools rarely have year books to verify attendance and God help you if you lose your certificate, you will have to file numerous affidavits before an attestation, not a copy, signed by the Commissioner of Education will be issued...

I came across this video from subscribing to a popular fiery Yoruba nationalist spreading his message of tribal nationalism similar to Nnamdi Kanu for Igbo people on social media. Reviewing the video of former Governor Fashola giving his own version of what the narrative should be about after his gross tribal and unpatriotic act of deporting destitute Igbo’s to Onitsha reveals a level of annoying condescention and avoidance of historical facts from the tribal narrative. To be clear, with no unambuity, while Lagos is indeginously Yoruba, it no longer belongs exclusively to Yoruba people, Lagos belongs to Nigerians. Lagos was not built only by Yoruba people but through the collective sweat of all Nigerians most especially by the hated Igbo people. Lagos was designated as the capital of Nigeria by colonial Britain after the amalgamation of the northern and southern protectorates as far back as 1914 because of its strategic location as a seaport and it remained Nigeria capital all the way ...

Back during my University days, there was this chap who was caught cheating during his one of his final year examinations at law school. He was immediately rusticated and will never be able to practice law, or more accurately go to law school ever again.   Sitting in judgement were lecturers with legal degrees. Back then i felt the punishment was extreme, but some law students were adamant that he violated a sacred rule that only lawyers can understand, ever tried talking to lawyers, their thought processes are from Mars.   Fast forward to the present, Nigerians are pointing fingers because a corrupt CJN with thousands or millions of dollars in his account, was kicked off the bench at the 11th hour of an election, but I ask so what. Here is a judge collecting bribes to decide, delay and block cases while sending others to prison for stealing loafs of bread.   Former president Jonathan expressed reservations about tackling corruption because of the judiciary. Both ...

Presently, not even one Nigerian university is ranked amongst the top 1000 universities in the world and ASUU is on strike yet again frustrating Nigeria’s youth.  There are no few to no youth programs or sports infrastructural facilities at primary, secondary or universities in Nigeria today for the youth to channel their energies for employment or even as an outlet for frustration, the youth are presently left to their own devices to entertain themselves and overcome the negativities of idleness and dependency. The education provided is substandard, outdated and ill equips many graduates to secure too few jobs available. Nigerian universities keep on supplying graduates for majors like psychology where there is no industrial or administrative demand. There are no jobs for the teaming mass of high school and university students graduating from the system and many youths end up at home and must resort to all manner of legal but mostly nefarious activities to make a living. It is not...

Presently, not even one Nigerian university is ranked amongst the top 1000 universities in the world and ASUU is on strike yet again frustrating Nigeria’s youth.  There are no few to no youth programs or sports infrastructural facilities at primary, secondary or universities in Nigeria today for the youth to channel their energies for employment or even as an outlet for frustration, the youth are presently left to their own devices to entertain themselves and overcome the negativities of idleness and dependency. The education provided is substandard, outdated and ill equips many graduates to secure to few jobs available. Nigerian universities keeps on supplying graduates for majors like psychology where there is no industrial or administrative demand. There are no jobs for the teaming mass of high school and university students graduating from the system and many youth end up at home and have to resort to all manner of legal but mostly nefarious activities to make a living. It is n...

Kano is the capital of the Hausa kingdom and has always blazed an independent streak.  They are a distinct unit, so distinct Obasanjo had to create the PRP for them that produced Aminu Kano and Abubakar Rimi.  Now it seems like Kwankwaso has inherited the mantle from Aminu Kano or at least in Kano while Sule Lamido holds Jigawa under lockdown.  Things to remember that despite their popularity none of them was able to translate it into capturing the presidential tickets of their parties and their influence is strictly in Old Kano state. Kano and Jigawa however are predominately Muslim under the control of the Emir of Kano who incidentally appears to be against Buhari philosophically, but certainly not religiously. Needless to say Buhari is also a religious movement unto himself and he has declared an intent and commitment to promote sharia something Atiku has run away from doing plus Atiku ownes the haram American University that the almajari will certainly decry during th...

By Terhemba Osuji If the videos online are to be believed, Vice President Osibanjo escaped death after the helicopter ferrying him to a campaign destination crash landed in a remote area in kogi State. Along side relief at his survival are they comedic analogies of Nigerians pointing out that the people of Kogi, reputed for “medicine” and mystic practices and invocations, played a role in bringing down his craft, but alas Osibanjo’s juju was too strong for them, if you know and believe in those things, you know.  Not only was Osibanjo only just shaken and not even bloodied like his police escort despite the craft upturning on itself when it crashed. He went ahead to continue by road with his campaign of meeting and shaking hands with ordinary traders in markets. This is reportedly the second time he has survived a helicopter crash if various postings are to be believed. How is it possible that everyone in his party survived when military trained dignitaries DIG Haruna and General A...