By Tolu Ogunlesi (Originally published on May 22, 2009, in NEXT) For the next few weeks I think I would like to take my attention off Nigeria, and showcase my ‘expertise’ on other matters. I want to put to shame all detractors who have been spreading vicious rumours about my…

By Tolu Ogunlesi (Originally published, July 11, 2009 in NEXT) I have just returned from a meeting. A gathering of male Homo Sapiens — of Nigerian origin. It kicked off on a contentious note; failed attempts to name the ‘organisation’. Not for lack of suggestions, though, the creative juices flowed…

By Tolu Ogunlesi I’m in Brazil for two weeks, on a reporting fellowship sponsored by the International Reporting Project of the School of Advanced International Studies of the Johns Hopkins University. Over the next two weeks we — there are ten of us; journalists and bloggers from the US, India…

I’ve been thinking a lot about the concept of the political wilderness. That place of lessened (or even absent) influence and clout that people go into, after having held significant political or administrative power. Take the example of Nuhu Ribadu, who ran the EFCC as pioneer Chairman between 2003 and…

To princesses whose crowns constellate. To Iustitia, sans scale or blindfold. To all the women who make others famous. To nymphs who stay awake to blur lines To witches who give porridge to peasant girls. To mothers who forget the magic words. To family trees full of marbled matriarchs. To…

In his final weeks in office, former President Muhammadu Buhari played his Commander-in-Chief role to the hilt, attending the Trooping and Presentation of Colours Parade of the Nigerian Army, the Nigerian Navy’s Presidential Fleet Review, and a Regimental Dinner hosted in his honour by the Defence Headquarters. At each event…

By Tolu Ogunlesi “We are refugees fleeing from the excesses of our parents.” — Dambudzo Marechera I Shall we envy them who set forth at dawn? Dawn, when cohabitation was the biggest crime good and evil could jointly muster. They went to bed with yesterday’s sun that they might rise, well…

By Tolu Ogunlesi There’s no escaping Africa, no matter how far from it you are. From England’s supermarket shelves bottled water leaps at you, chanting “Buy me and save a continent!” You blink, once, twice, to be sure you’re not hallucinating. You’re not. The voices are as real as they…

By Tolu Ogunlesi Okay, so it’s that time when Nigerians gather to vote for a new President, Governors in 28 of 36 States (8 States are ‘off-cycle’, meaning their elections happen at periods other than the General Elections), 109 Senators, 360 Members of the House of Representatives (the Senate and…