For the past three days, I have been reading reports suggesting that royal fathers in Kwara State have been reduced to the status of schoolchildren.
Kwara APC leaders are reportedly taking them around to solicit support and endorsements for their candidates.
What exactly is happening in Kwara?
Can anyone dare do the same with the Emir of Kano or the Sultan of Sokoto?
Yet, many remain silent.
Traditional institutions are meant to command respect, not be drawn into partisan political campaigns.
If politicians choose to diminish the prestige of these revered offices, the royal fathers should, at the very least, defend the dignity of the institution and the people they serve.
In all my years as a Nigerian from the North I have never seen our royal fathers pack themselves and head straight to Abuja to openly campaign for one political party’s candidate the way some from Kwara North did.
Traditional rulers are constitutionally expected to remain neutral. That’s the dignity of the traditional stool.
It pains me to see old men find the energy to go to Abuja - not to cry out for the safety of their people who are being killed everyday, but to lobby for who wins a party ticket?
When did actively doing partisan politics become part of the royal responsibility? The Kwara Governor got this all wrong.
@Letter_to_Jack At NT, he fought and shine against the biggest name. Playing semi-final against France, humbling zlatan Sweden, leading Portugal to her first ever major trophy.
24 years and counting, he is the biggest influence on football and a perfect example for every footballer.
@Letter_to_Jack His 6 years at EPL ended Henry's legacy. His move to madrid put him above every other galaticos. Then 2-3 in Italy and he left no stone unturned and you expect his teammates to love him.
His personality is not perfect and so is the media's and FIFA favourite.
@Letter_to_Jack Before his move to La Liga, the comparison started before playing there. His ability moved from just step overs to the most consistent footballer ever. Even with knee injury that could have ended his career, he adjusted his game and still remains dangerous.
@Letter_to_Jack That coach favourite that face bullies (teammates) on his own bcos no one expects a random player from Portugal to replace Beckham and still conquer.
He knocked out England of World cup, till date England players never have good things to say about him.
@Letter_to_Jack They are all jealous of his presence.
In 6 seasons in EPL, he hold the conversation to be the greatest player ever. In that interview with Rio and Ando that he mentioned that he is best, that the confidence that they can't stand.
Bello Turji, the t£rr0r!st leader and b@nd!t kingpin is now openly flaunting new military‑grade equipment including night vision goggles after series of peace deal.
This is not negotiation. This is re‑arming. This is rebranding. This is funding disguised as peace talk.
Every "dialogue" with b@nd!ts has produced the same result: they use the pause to restock, upgrade, and return stronger. The night vision goggles are not for show. They are for night raids, ambushes, and evading security forces under the cover of darkness.
B@nd!ts do not come to the table to make peace. They come to assess your weakness, gather intelligence, and buy time.
Dialogue is not a peace process. It is a funding mechanism for the next wave of t£rr0r.
We must stop pretending that sitting with k!11ers will make them less lethal. It will not. It will only make them more equipped.
The evidence is in Turji's own hands.
Matchday 1 penalty to Portugal
Matchday 2 penalty to Portugal
Matchday 3 penalty to Portugal
Ro of 32 penalty to Portugal
Ro of 16 penalty to Portugal, Spain elimination
Quarterfinals penalty to Portugal, Argentina elimination
Semi final 3 penalties to Ronaldo
Final 1 tap in,1 red card to opponent and 2 penalties to Ronaldo
Those kids will become terror cell leaders in another 8 years as teenagers. A problem the next President will have to confront and the cycle continues. They have an endless number to recruit from and radicalise. For now, they function as a shield.
Those who deny the place of religion and radicalisation in this ideological war are playing a dumb game. The problem will continue for as long as the root causes aren't addressed - poverty, illiteracy and religious radicalisation.
What will another 15 years of fighting terrorists and Banditry cost the country in financial and non financial cost. This problem started in 2008 / 09 and despite the bombings and the military onslaught, they keep increasing in size and might.
Ask yourself why?
OPERATION HADIN KAI EXECUTES UNPRECEDENTED INTELLIGENCE-LED RESCUE OPERATION, FREES 360 ABDUCTEES FROM JAS STRONGHOLD IN THE MANDARA MOUNTAINS
In one of the most significant hostage rescue operations conducted in the North East Theatre in recent times, troops of the Joint Task Force (North East) Operation HADIN KAI (OPHK), comprising Special Forces and troops of Sector 1, have successfully rescued 360 abductees from a heavily fortified Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad (JAS) enclave deep within the Mandara Mountains area of southern Borno State. The operation, which was the culmination of weeks of painstaking intelligence preparation, covert reconnaissance, and operational planning, resulted in the safe recovery of men, women, and children who had been held in captivity under harsh conditions after being abducted from several communities, particularly within the Ngoshe axis. The successful rescue underscores the growing operational reach, intelligence dominance, and tactical superiority of OPHK in denying terrorists freedom of action and protecting vulnerable populations across the theatre.
The operation was initiated following the receipt of credible and corroborated intelligence from multiple sources indicating the precise location of the hostages and the existence of an elaborate insurgent support network sustaining the enclave. OPHK intelligence elements subsequently launched an extensive target development process involving the integration of Human Intelligence (HUMINT), Signals Intelligence (SIGINT), and persistent Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) operations conducted through unmanned aerial systems and long-range reconnaissance patrols. Through sustained intelligence collection and analysis, commanders developed a comprehensive understanding of the terrain, insurgent disposition, defensive arrangements, movement patterns, and the condition of the abductees. This intelligence-driven approach enabled the force to accurately map the objective area, identify vulnerabilities within the terrorist network, and significantly reduce risks to the hostages during the rescue mission.
A decisive breakthrough was achieved through the successful penetration of the terrorist network by carefully cultivated intelligence assets operating under the supervision of OPHK military intelligence personnel. These assets provided timely and actionable intelligence regarding the exact locations of the abductees, the disposition of insurgent commanders, internal security measures, and planned relocation routes. Simultaneously, carefully coordinated information and psychological operations created uncertainty and mistrust within the insurgent ranks, degrading their cohesion and disrupting command and control arrangements. The resulting intelligence advantage provided OPHK with unprecedented situational awareness and enabled commanders to shape the operational environment well before the commencement of the assault phase.
Seeing a lot of Muslim women agreeing to this, and rightly so based on Islam.
Why does the energy shift when your husband now takes another wife which is rightly based on Islam (when he has met the requirements)? Why do you actively seek men who'd promise you they won't marry another woman?
E no clear.
Its very sad to hear about the fresh kidnappings and killings in Kwara State.
President Tinubu, in his fresh failure, has again failed to protect Nigerians, a failure on the promise he made to us all when he became President.
Its sad. An emergency on security has to be declared in Oyo and Kwara States, immediately.
The lawsuit over Gangs of Lagos was not just about a costume but something considerably more consequential. Justice Idowu Alakija of the Lagos State High Court agreed with the applicants that the movie misrepresented and disrespected the cultural heritage of the well-respected Eyo Masquerade and the peaceful nature and long-standing traditions of the Isale-Eko people, specifically depicting the Eyo Masquerade as a gang of murderers and assassins. Amazon Web Services Nigeria Limited was required to issue an official letter acknowledging that Gangs of Lagos misrepresented the cultural heritage of the Isale Eko community and the Eyo masquerade, while the film’s producers were required to issue a joint letter of formal apology.
The deeper issue here goes far beyond one movie, and this is where your post’s casual tone most dangerously misses the point. Cinematic representation is not entertainment in a vacuum but a cultural act with real-world consequences, and the evidence for this has been accumulating for decades. For over a century, Hollywood has portrayed Muslim men through a remarkably narrow lens, as terrorists, villains, or dangerous outsiders, reinforcing Orientalist stereotypes that treat cultures in the East as exotic, irrational, or even dangerous.
A post-9/11 review of the US film industry showed that Arabs and Muslims were almost exclusively portrayed as terrorists or other negative characters, in a manner that would have caused outrage if applied to any other ethnic or religious minority in the United States. Film scholar Jack Shaheen, who catalogued almost one thousand American films containing Arab characters, concluded that most tended to reduce Arabs and Muslims into stock villains, blonde-lusting sheikhs, or Egyptian mummies. The consequence is that it shapes how airport security treats Arab travellers, how employers screen job applications, how juries make decisions, and how governments justify foreign policy. When Timothy McVeigh, a white American veteran, bombed the Oklahoma City Federal Building in 1995 and killed 168 people, the media and FBI immediately attributed the attack to Muslim terrorists because Hollywood had so conditioned the American public that any terrorist attack against US citizens was reflexively linked to Islam. That is what sustained misrepresentation does. It rewires public instinct against people and their identities.
The statistics consistently contradict the cinematic narratives being pushed, and this is the point people like you who dismiss these lawsuits consistently ignore. Nigerians are portrayed globally as scammers. The reality is that the larger proportion of Nigerians in diaspora are professionals, and there is a high demand for Nigerian professionals globally, particularly in healthcare and IT sectors. A recent U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey even showed that Nigerian-Americans are among the most educated people in the US. These are the people your average Western viewer never sees in a film about Nigeria. What they see instead are fraudsters, because that narrative has been repeated so many times that it has become the default cultural reference. Meanwhile, the FBI’s Internet Crime Report does not list Nigeria among the top 10 source countries for cybercrime globally.
So the Isale-Eko Descendants Union did not go to court because they were thin-skinned or because they could not appreciate artistic licence. They went to court because they understand, better than casual viewers like you, what happens when a revered cultural institution becomes the cinematic shorthand for thuggery. The Eyo Masquerade is not an ornament. It is one of Lagos’s oldest and most sacred cultural traditions, a symbol of ancestral reverence tied to the highest levels of Isale-Eko’s social and spiritual life.
Dear football,
Today, I want to share with you that this season will be my last as a professional footballer. After so many years living my dream, I feel it’s time to start a new chapter in my life.
Being honest, even though I have been preparing myself for this moment, I found it hard to write this letter. After 20 seasons , many people have played an important role in my career.
When I first kicked a ball as a child in Pamplona with my schoolmates, I never imagined the amazing journey ahead. I’m grateful for every moment: the wins, the tough losses, the challenges, and most of all, the people I’ve met and the friendships I’ve made along the way.
To my teammates, coaches, and every staff member at all the clubs I’ve been lucky to be part of, thank you for helping me grow as a person and a player every day. Wearing the shirts of CA Osasuna, Olympique Marseille, Chelsea FC, Atlético de Madrid, Sevilla FC, and representing my country at the biggest stages has been a true privilege. Every moment has meant so much to me…