Tag: Lasisi Olagunju

Britain Is Nigeria’s ‘Bad’ Teacher, By Lasisi Olagunju

ADEOLA YUSUF

Number 10, Downing Street has been home to Britain’s prime ministers since 1735 AD. Why would a hugely popular new prime minister move into a 289-year-old mansion without spending good pounds on it to buff it up to today’s taste? Keir Starmer, the new British prime minister, moved into that official residence soon after he was appointed last Friday. There was neither a renovation of the building nor a sanctification of the rooms by clerics and priests. Red candles, white tapers were not lit; neither was turari (incense) assigned a…

Read More

KANO’S MIDNIGHT KINGDOM, By Lasisi Olagunju

ADEOLA YUSUF

Today, those whose ancestors snatched Kano are fighting each other over the city and their spoils. The Yoruba would look at their drama and sing for them the song of Ambrose Campbell/ Ebenezer Obey: Eni rí nkan he tó fé kú torí è/ Owó eni tó ti so nù nko? I won’t translate this! Their victims are taking sides. I shake my head for them. May I never be found on either side of siblings feuding over whose turn it is to loot me. “Emir Sanusi II should be referred…

Read More

Why I marked Father’s Day With Borehole Donation To Eripa – Lasisi Olagunju

ADEOLA YUSUF

“We’ll do more for that town” Nigeria’s newspapers top columnist Lasisi Olagunju in an emotional Father’s Day tributes for his dad, the man he described as his closest confidant who died 20 years ago   A top Nigerian newspaper’s columnist, Dr. Lasisi Olagunju, has marked the 20th year of his father’s death with the donation of a borehole to his home town, Eripa in Boluwaduro Local Government Area, Osun State, Southwest Nigeria. Olagunju, an Editor with Tribune newspaper, who, on his verified Facebook page, said that he and his siblings…

Read More

Bólèk’ájà Party Primaries, By Lasisi Olagunju

Lasisi Olagunju

“You heard the commanding voice of Senator Bola Tinubu last Thursday demanding the presidency of Nigeria as a matter of right. “E gbé e fún mi/Èmi ló kàn (Give it to me; it is my turn).” That scene, complete with all the finger-pointing ‘thingfication’ of a sitting governor inside his Government House, reenacted what the conductor did on lorries of the past.”   Bólèk’ájà means ‘come down and let’s fight’. If you lived in Yoruba land of 1970s with its wood-bodied passenger Bedford and Austin lorries, the slang wouldn’t be…

Read More