I did not start out to write a self-help book. As my career as a journalist crossed the 35-year mark and I inch closer to the sixth floor of life, it became increasingly difficult to ignore suggestions to share my experience in a more permanent form. I’ve been writing for the media since I was […]
Is a third world war coming?, By Azu Ishiekwene
If after 77 years, Israel would still not accept the UN’s two-state solution to the problem in Palestine, preferring instead to kill over 30,000 Palestinians in pursuit of the last Hamas; if recourse to the International Criminal Court (ICC) cannot restrain Israel from the widespread carnage in Gaza; if the US, Britain and France will […]
Jonathan and Sam: Two books, one message, By Azu Ishiekwene
There’s a place where Sam’s poetic prose and Jonathan’s enthralling story-telling meet: leadership. The failure of leadership is responsible for the booby traps and chaos thrown on Tinubu’s path in the run up to the 2023 election on Buhari’s watch. It also explains why African youths are risking everything to escape the continent. Before The Human […]
The Okuama dead: Story behind the grief, By Azu Ishiekwene
How did the officer from the amphibious battalion, who led a team to Okuama on 14 March on what was supposed to be a peace mission, understand and define his mandate? Was the mission to Okuama over the alleged kidnap of one Anthony Aboh from neighbouring Okoloba (in retaliation for an Okuama youth allegedly killed […]
Photoshopping princess and the perils of manipulation, By Azu Ishiekwene
Daily Mail circled 10 spots, with lengthy captions on what it described as Kate’s “pic scandal.” My heart bled for the Princess of Wales, but something deep inside kept saying, if this had been Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex and famous Witch of Windsor, it would have been worse. I can imagine that the […]
The famished road to Kuriga, By Azu Ishiekwene
The journey to Kuriga in southern Kaduna, North-west Nigeria, did not start with the kidnap of 287 students last week. In the early 1990s a neighbouring town, Zango Kataf, was the boiling point. About a decade later, the beast of sectarian violence, which had reared its head in Kaduna, surfaced several hundreds of miles away […]
Rolling blackouts, heatwave and tales of dead bulbs, By Azu Ishiekwene
All I can think of, right now, especially in the furnace of our current existence, is to assume that there are some switch-trigger-happy fellows at that substation delighted to ruin as much of my domestic appliances as they can and keep me miserably uncomfortable night and day, just because they can!.. I’m counting days until […]
Will the humble pie heal ECOWAS?, By Azu Ishiekwene
The Chairman of the ECOWAS Commission, Omar Toure, expressed the hope that eating the humble pie is worth the price of losing four members. I’m not sure the Delinquent Four will withdraw their threat of leaving, U-turn or not. They’ve gotten ECOWAS exactly where they wanted and won’t be in a hurry to climb down. […]
Sall taking ECOWAS from frying pan to fire, By Azu Ishiekwene
By railroading a 10-month postponement of elections through Parliament, Sall is obviously hoping to succeed where Wade and Jammeh failed. And he doesn’t care the cost. But ECOWAS should. The community cannot afford to wait until Senegal becomes another basket case before weighing in. As the troubled Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) convenes […]