David, the day I know the so-called intellectuals or educated people, as we called them, have nothing in their brains is the day a representative of a newspaper company asks a presidential candidate, Peter Obi, this silly question.
I'm going to say something, and I hope it will be understood as coming from a place of love and concern.
A few weeks ago, I hosted a space with a prominent African entrepreneur. The space was curated in such a way as to give equal representation to different African nationalities so that it wouldn't skew toward Nigeria because of me.
The unfortunate result of this was that it was painfully easy to draw connections between the speakers' countries of origin and the quality of their submissions. All the Kenyans who spoke had useful, important, well-communicated submissions. Ditto the Zimbabweans, the South Africans and the Anglophone West Africans (Gambians, Ghanaians, a Liberian, and a Sierra Leonean).
And then there were the Nigerians.
I remember giving the mic to 8 Nigerians, and first of all, 7 of them went overtime. These 7 seemed very keen to speak and had a lot to say, but within 2 minutes of listening to them, you had this disappointing realisation - this man (they were all men) has no point. Rambling, disjointed, unfocused, random point-hopping, lacking in joined-up thinking, missing any sort of conclusion and ultimately only stopped by the "can you please round up in 15 seconds?"
I was so embarrassed, and I wondered whether the entrepreneur who co-hosted the space noticed what I had noticed. The answer is yes. She did. In fact, she specifically mentioned to me afterwards that everyone who came up and reduced the intellectual level of the space was Nigerian. "What's happening with education in your country?" was her exact question. I didn't have an answer.
That's just 1 anecdote. I have several. I have met many, many other people who have similar stories. In fact it is often the case now that before accessing certain rooms on the continent, recommendations from other Africans need to go ahead of me, because the fact of being Nigerian in and of itself makes people take me less serious if they don't know who I am.
Nigerians have always had a reputation in Africa for being loud and overbearing, but it used to be the case that we were seen as loud and domineering, but also eminently capable and useful - which made us just about tolerable. Now, it is increasingly the case that we are perceived around the continent as loud and stupid - the Special Needs children who have nothing upstairs, but believe they must express that nothing as frequently, and in as many grandiloquent words as possible.
I cannot fix Nigerian education. I have no power to do so. Even if I did, it would take at least a generation for the effects to become visible. That's why in the meantime, all I can beg my countrymen (because again, it is men) to do if they are reading this, is to start making a conscious effort to talk less. Reduce your volume. Speak less. Listen more. Read more. Read for the sake of keeping the knowledge in your head, not for the sake of "performing" intelligence by spitting it out at people.
The world will tolerate a loud but competent man. It will have sympathy for a quiet, incompetent man. But a loud, incompetent man?
God abeg
When we supported you during apartheid, you attacked our citizens in your country years after. Now you expect us to support you at a World Cup where you can't even attack? You dey craze, nne?
Today, I am honoured to join distinguished Nigerians in celebrating a statesman and elder of our nation, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, GCFR, on the occasion of his 84th birthday and the public presentation of books documenting his remarkable life, service, and contributions to Nigeria and Africa.
General Abdulsalami occupies a unique place in our national history. At a critical moment in Nigeria's journey, he demonstrated uncommon courage, patriotism, and selflessness by guiding our nation through a peaceful transition to democratic governance. His actions helped lay the foundation for the democratic dispensation that Nigeria continues to build upon today.
As we celebrate General Abdulsalami today, we are reminded that true leadership is measured not by the accumulation of power, but by the positive impact one leaves on people and institutions. His life continues to demonstrate that service to the nation must always be guided by responsibility and a commitment to the common good.
May Almighty God continue to grant him good health, wisdom, and strength to keep serving humanity and our nation.
Thank you, and God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria. -PO
There is zero dignity in playing civilized in a racist, parasitic system designed to drain you. Blacks must become predators: ruthless predators in finance, psychological warfare, industry, economics, commerce, and above all, in the ruthless education and shaping of our children.
Four years later, nothing's changed. The same systematic disenfranchisement. INEC actually needs to be taught a brutal lesson. They can't keep toying with our collective lives like this
A lot of money is in this world, but the problem is, YOU and people like you do not know exactly how this money works.
You think there’s a pool somewhere where this money is seated, ready to be handed to whoever follows your online class, which is why you spend every day here encouraging people to abandon all else and focus on Elon Musk revenue.
Money is a value for resources (matter) primarily. The paper or the digital one you have in your pocket or bank account is a reward for this value. But it takes labour (energy) for there to be economic activities that will bring about this reward.
That money you are witnessing Elon Musk pack is the reward for the collective labour of everyone on earth being extracted by the most inhumane way possible into Elon Musk’s pocket.
Like I always maintain, economic literacy is the foundation to getting this continent to progress. The inability to recognize that people like Elon are rich today because you are poor is the worst deficiency that can afflict any man.
"The American Embassy called and we responded."
And it didn't occur to any of you to question why the US Embassy all of a sudden wants to make friends with Ghanaian social media influencers, YouTubers, and online content creators.
Last week, your president delivered a speech where he rightfully singled out the owner of the US government as the instigator of the 1966 coup that took out Kwame Nkrumah. This week, the US Embassy suddenly invites those of you who have the eyes and ears of young Ghanaians to come to Cantonments and shine teeth and drink juice.
And you don't see how those 2 events are linked.
And you will never see it, because if there is one thing obroni knows very well about obibini, it's that we are the only group of people on planet earth who have been fighting a defensive war for 500 years and still have no idea that we have enemies and we are at war.
Sleepwalkers.
Yesterday, I had the honour of hosting my brother and partner, His Excellency Peter Obi, at my residence in Abuja.
I warmly welcomed him back from his highly productive international trip, and we engaged in frank and productive discussions on key partisan and national issues.
Our party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), remains united. As leaders, we must continue to demonstrate maturity by making the necessary sacrifices and tolerating our differences in pursuit of our shared goal.
We are resolute in this mission, and together, we shall ensure that Nigeria is OK. - RMK
You see, the BBC News UK is reporting this. Not the BBC World or BBC Africa., but the BBC News UK. If you understand BBC’s networks and programming, you will understand what is happening here. They had no reason to report this except presenting to the UK audience an Africa that’s not united. This exactly proves my point in the video below.
BREAKING: 🇺🇸🇵🇭 Protesters breached police barricades in Manila, advancing toward the US Embassy.
The demonstrators are demanding the US troops to be kicked out and opposing the expansion of US military bases in the country.
Tinubu, if our past leaders were incompetent like you and you were kidnapped when you were a child, would you be president today? #bringbackourchildren
In the coming days, Ekiti and Osun States will hold elections. I urge INEC, security agencies, and all parties to ensure these polls are peaceful and credible. Democracy fails when citizens doubt the process. To our National Assembly, Judiciary, the Press, and Civil Society: you are the guardrails of our republic. Criticise me, disagree with me, but never stop believing in Nigeria.
The American media will milk this aesthetic, but still had the guts to harass African players and officials, including denying them visas.
After this World Cup, the American fashion industry will steal this idea (especially the luggages). That’s what white people have always done. Steal. They are never original. Everything about white civilization, including their religions, was stolen from Africa.
They would steal and repackage to dangerous and non-human friendly versions and export back to Africa.
It’s a shame that they have conditioned some Africans to hate their own cultures and heritages, despite being the richest in the world.
Someone needs to explain how some South Africans have come to hate every single black person but not white ppl that were running an apartheid state less than 40 yrs ago
“Under GEJ, there was only one kidnapping of school children by the terrorists, & the entire world was in protest against the govt. Under Buhari, in 8 yrs, there were 10 school abductions, & under 3 yrs of Tinubu govt, it has surpassed 10 & the world is keeping quiet”
—Peter Obi