Segun Ozique

Almost everyone knows the story of battering, kidnapping, killing and many other obnoxious things done to journalists in Nigeria of old.But then, we thought thing had changed over the years since the coming of democracy to Nigeria. But the story changed with the cruel assult of a photo journalist, Benedict Nwalaka, that showed clearly, the shadowy underside of Nigeria, Lagos in particular, and for long, hidden from the public gaze. It showed the evil of the urge to control; an issue in all human relationsship.That, if not properly managed, can become frust with abuse and mismanagement as it clearly happened with the mishandling and abuse of the journalist out and about doing his constitutional duties as part investor and habinger of the fourth estate, charged with information disemination. True, people abhor the feeling of helplesness and not been anle to command as it used to be during the obnoxious years of the military.But facts is - that years of command and control are gone an...

This anthology is a collection of 93 poems by 32 poets and edited by Eriata Oribhabor - himself, a poet, who has been a frontline campaigner for an integrated Nigerian lingua-franca. To the best of my knowledge, the poems in this collection are fresh and original. The language, like the styles of presentation, are light, conversational and unconventional, all of which give the poems deceptive simplicity. The subjects range from the engagement with Nigeria as motherland, her past history to representational or fictive version of current occurrences in the country; to reminiscence of childhood memories; of love; longing; students life and urban life  to the portrayal of underprivileged Nigerians’ existentialist struggles – interpreted as allegories of struggles against domineering ruling class, the oil companies, the  government and its unfavorable policies etc - just about all, often culminating in hints of optimism about the chances for salvation. Some of the poems seem a l...

Nature, which in its simplest definition means everything created in the world is perfect, that is, until through the insatiable need to improve upon it, the human is leaving in its wake, environmental destruction, social upheaval, economic woes, spiritual emptiness, injustice, fraud; the list goes on, endless. In this important book, “Inside My Head,” by Umary Ayim shows by a compelling exposition that though it seems everyone in this century has lost it, there are actually only a few senseless drunkards who happen to be occupying the driving leadership seats, and steering the human race in the wrong course and unless the many good but powerless others awake from their apathy, take back control of the wheel, and applying sensible break at the many man-made dangerous curves, the human race is racing heading on towards a final fatality. The book is a stunning and illuminating collection of poems. Her writing shows her grasp of contemporary social issues, presented in expres...

By Patricia Tuaweri  This is a book for all tastes. A book with a title that tells a story about art,…literary art that is imaginatively inspiring. ‘Why the Prostitute Live’ sustains in a very literal sense, a show-casing that every sentence in the bible comes from the best literary tome…there was and is. The book tells the story of the Israelite, essentially, of the taking of the city of Jericho and the people that live in the city, including a prostitute called Rahab. Though times have changed, the many struggles people faced at the time, including clashes between neighbors over land acquisition and religion, are just as critical today as it was at the time of the historical setting in the book. Patricia’s book paints an intimate portrait of a people and communities dealing with each other’s differences and their relationship with God. Rahab is a struggling woman who makes ends meet by selling her body. But despite the trade she is involved in which everyone is seen in terms of ...

BY WALE OKEDIRAN The historical real-life tale in the ‘Tenants of the House’ will come alive for all those who were fortunate to witness the shenanigans that went with similar attempt few years back; as in the ‘Tenants of the House,’ there was an impeachment procedure instituted against the Speaker of the House of Representative, spear headed by the president, then there was a successful fight back, but then, this was followed immediately by an attempt to institute constitutional amendment for tenure prolongation through the back door which caused an uproar and,...finally, a counter impeachment procedure instituted by the the two houses against the president. The book’s uncontested star is ofcourse, the president; a Chief Ambrose Oneya, a caricature; sloppy, foul-mouthed chief executive whose only ways to do things was to stampede everyone into doing whatever he wanted done, done his way and who never believed, until he was humiliatingly humbled, that Nigerian and Nigeria as a c...