Below The Headlines - 23

Rarara sings a new song about Buhari and a Nigerian woman in Enfield is not afraid of ghosts because she has Jesus

It bears repeating: This newsletter is not a pick-me-up to make you feel better. If you want that, we can recommend a few skit makers on Instagram. In the meantime, here is the usual collection of Nigerians Nigerian-ing in Nigeria and around the world in the last week.

This week I wrote about the ‘humble’ beginnings of the P&ID corruption that nearly killed Nigeria. I also wrote a call for 10% less mediocrity in Nigerian football.

Inside Nigeria

Women in Ogbaru local government of Anambra state recently staged a protest over kidnappings and insecurity plaguing their community. Among other things, this one left me amazed: “They alleged that the “killer” squad had in 2021 abducted their monarch, Igwe Oliver Nnaji, whose whereabout is still unknown till date” - Punch

Amazing kidnap-for-kidnap story: “Locals were protesting the release of the two milkmaids, whom they claimed were related to terrorists responsible for the kidnap of several farmers from their community. By holding the innocent women, the residents hoped to successfully negotiate their people’s release. But in a twist of events, they were compelled to set the captives free. This prompted the farmers to lead a protest to the Council chamber of Birnin-Magaji Emirate Council.” - HumAngle

A senior police officer in Zamfara who has been accused of taking money from bandits and fuelling insecurity in the state, was recently killed. The article doesn’t say who killed him but, in a state where violence has been democratised, it is not hard to tell: “Sakajiki, a superintendent of Police (ASP), was transferred from Birnin Magaji to Kasuwar Daji community in the state a few years ago for the same allegation” - ICIR Nigeria

A Traditional Chief Priest died a decade ago in Imo state. His son refused to inherit the title as is the custom saying he is a christian. The family’s life has been hell since then and the son and his brother have fled the town: “Tension, according to his elder sister, Ada, heightened in 2014, when Nnamdi was kidnapped on his way home and subjected to unspeakable violence. She stated that he was freed by his captors after agreeing to return home and accept the role of the Chief Priest, or allow his younger brother, Victor , occupy the position in his stead” - Vanguard

“The Alapete of Apete, Oba Raimi Bolarinwa Idowu and the Alawotan of Awotan, Oba Adebayo Dauda Omotosho have condemned the alleged discovery of human parts found with three suspects, Abdulrahman Opeyemi aka Alubarika, Taofeek Olalekan and Taiwo Akinrinola last Monday, saying that it is not only unIslamic, but showed that the suspects were pretending to be Muslims while involved in diabolical acts.” - Tribune

The musician, Dauda Kahutu a.k.a Rarara, who came to fame singing songs in praise of former President Buhari has now updated his status: “I regret supporting Buhari because I thought that he would bring reforms to Nigeria, but we didn’t see that up to the end of his tenure. Buhari’s administration crippled all agencies of government, they need to be revitalized” - Daily Trust

Since last year, a female Army officer, Lance Corporal Philomena Nnamoko, has been trying to leave the service but has been unable to do so because the Army claims she has not met the conditions for discharge: “The Nigerian Army is not an Army of conscription. There are terms and conditions of service guiding the enlistment or commissioning, period of service and even discharge or retirement of personnel of the Nigerian Army. Once the personnel concerned meets these provisions for discharge or retirement, it will be approved” - Punch

One of the lowest things a man can do to a woman. Good to see the Police handling this well: “The Ughelli Area Command of the Nigeria Police in Delta State, in collaboration with the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) led by Comrade (Elder) A.P. Edariese, have apprehended Mr. Daddy K. Odiete for allegedly sharing a girl’s nude photograph on social media in retaliation for ending their relationship” - Daily Post

All the villages surrounding the Yankari Games Reserve in Bauchi are regularly attacked by AK-47 wielding ‘bandits’. So you can imagine how the ‘tourism’ to the reserve itself is going. And how about this for some political economy: “Locals told WikkiTimes the governor sought the intervention of a Taraba-based warlord, famously known as Babangida, to help confront, alongside military operatives, the bandits that have held his homeland hostage. The intervention yielded a result, locals acknowledge, but they argue it was done in the bid of his reelection as banditry now returns gradually” - ICIR Nigeria

“The only public primary school in my community has remained closed for lack of teachers since a rainstorm damaged the roof of the school over five years ago. We don’t have private schools to send our children to, so they will grow uneducated” - Daily Trust

A man killed his neighbour in Ogun State. Why?: “The said Wasiu Oyekan of Ile-Elewe Family in Kobiti was reported to have accused the deceased’s son and one other boy of spoiling his PS video game while playing same sometimes in August. Oyekan had demanded a sum of N9,000 to repair the game, out of which the boy’s 50-year-old father gave him N4,500, with a promise to pay the balance later. The delay in paying the N4,500 balance prompted Oyekan to drag the deceased’s son to the police station on Sunday. When his father returned home and discovered that Wasiu had taken his son to the police station, he went straight to him and while he was trying to ask why Wasiu took his son to the police station, he attacked him with a blow in his neck. Lateef fell down immediately, and his head hit the ground. He started bleeding from his nose and ears. He eventually died” - Daily Post

A beautiful story that cannot be improved in any way: “During his campaign, Kogi West Senator Sunday Karimi promised to fix the Kabba-Egbe road if elected. Karimi joined fellow legislators on Tuesday to defend a N160 million luxury vehicle purchase for 109 senators. The luxury vehicles, according to him, were important for durability because of the poor conditions of roads in the country. These vehicles that you see, go to Nigeria roads today; If I go home once to my senatorial district, I come back spending a lot on my vehicles because our roads are bad,” he said. “The decision that we took on using Land Cruiser is the cost and durability… It was based on a comparative analysis of the cost of technical issues and durability on Nigerian roads.” - FIJ

Outside Nigeria

Another day another problem with Nigerian agriculture: “Nigeria is one of the continent’s leaders at splurging on pesticides, importing some $384m-worth in 2018 alone to kill bugs and weeds. Yet 58% of the pesticides registered for use in Nigeria are banned in Europe because of their toxicity” - Economist

Ope Ajanaku, a financial analyst with a fund manager called Monsas in Cambridge, UK, was sacked after he ate suya at a wedding and had a reaction that caused him to be off sick from work for 5 days. He has now won compensation at an employment tribunal: “Among the dishes served at the wedding reception was suya, a Nigerian meat skewer seasoned with peanut spice. It triggered anaphylactic shock in Ajanaku, who was rushed to hospital by ambulance” - The Times

NYT is doing obituaries of remarkable people who died after 1851 but were not reported in the paper. This one is about Walter King a.k.a Adefunmi I, an African- American who helped introduced black Americans to Yoruba culture: “Between 1956 and 1961 in New York, Adefunmi established three temples in Manhattan; a festival on the Hudson River to honor Osun, the Yoruba river goddess that Beyoncé channels in her album “Black is King”; and a parade that included Black nationalists in African garb on horseback. The Ujamaa African market he founded in 1962 sold every kind of African ware, like ileke waist beads; geles, or head wraps; drums; and dashikis — loose-fitting tops, which he made himself.” - NYT

The new R21 malaria vaccine looks like a game changer in the making. Malaria deaths across the world are concentrated in 4 African countries, one of which is Nigeria. The vaccine is up to 75% effective: “A world-first malaria vaccine developed by the pharmaceutical firm GSK in 2021 showed similar effectiveness data, but the R21 vaccine is half the cost, coming in at $2-4 per dose” - Guardian

In the 1970s, a house in London captivated the world when it was thought to be haunted. A new Apple TV documentary is soon to be released about the house. And who lives there now? A God-fearing Nigerian woman, of course: “Recalling her first visit, she said: I am a Christian woman, and I know God will protect me. If there are any ghosts here they will have been banished by the power of prayer. The spirits will not triumph over God and when we are here we pray. I am not saying that I do not believe in paranormal goings on, but there is nothing happening here. If the spirit was here he would know to leave. Perhaps there were spirits here many years ago, but they have long gone.” - Daily Mail

First Nigeria was kicked out of the Emerging Market Index into the Frontier one owing to the country’s forex shenanigans. Now Nigeria is being kicked out yet again from the Frontier index into a ‘standalone’ one. Not good news, at all: “Since March 2020, liquidity challenges in the Nigerian foreign exchange (FX) market have consistently affected the accessibility of its equity market, leading to ongoing capital repatriation concerns and a significant gap between the official and parallel exchange rates for the Nigerian Naira. This has caused international institutional investors to face recurring challenges with index replicability and investability of the MSCI Nigeria Indexes and other indexes they are part of” - AFP

An article about how the business of smuggling migrants to the US is booming. You can pay more for a VIP route: “Some took VIP routes, traveling by boat on the Pacific from the Colombian city of Buenaventura to Jaqué, Panama—a course police said wealthier clients from Russia, Nigeria and other countries favored.” - WSJ

India banned the export of rice as it feared there was going to be a production shortfall in the country: “In Nigeria, rice is the most commonly consumed meal — and the bedrock of the national dish jollof rice. But the price of 1kg of the imported grain was up by 46.34 per cent in August compared with the same period last year, according to the most recent data from the country’s statistics agency. While prices have risen across the board as Nigeria grapples with its highest rate of inflation in two decades, the sharp increase in the cost of this everyday staple can be traced to a crackdown by India” - Financial Times

The Nigeria vs P&ID case has triggered some soul searching in the arbitration community: “As Justice Knowles acknowledged, Lord Wolfson’s comment is ‘blunt and correct.’ In other words, we, the arbitration community, should be careful in attempting to build mechanisms into the arbitration process that protect against the negligence of one party in the pursuit of their case. Arbitration is a consensual process and once the rules of engagement are set in the arbitration agreement it is for the parties to participate in the manner they agreed. To provide protections in the event of inattention or neglect from one party or the other would be to ignore this fundamental premise” - Law Gazette

Pictures from a Pro-Palestinian protest in Damaturu, Yobe state - ABNA

News from Thailand: “The operation followed information that a Nigerian leader of a drug network based in Nigeria had directed a close aide, Joseph or Mickey, living in Thailand, to sell illicit substances in the kingdom” - Bangkok Post

News from Gombe: “Buhari Saad, a spokesperson for the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), said, “We apprehended 76 suspected homosexuals at a birthday party organised by one of them who was due to marry his fiancé at the event.” - Yahoo News

“Oil and gas exploration company San Leon has received a $187 million (€176 million) investment by Tri Ri Asset Management (TRAM) that will back the exploration company’s investments in its operations in Nigeria.” - Irish Times

6 Chinese nationals in Philippines have been charged with murder for beating a Nigerian to death. They claim he sexually harassed a female co-worker but witnesses have categorically said that is a lie: “It is not true that her boyfriend harassed our Chinese boss and that was why he was allegedly mauled. That is not true. We just wanted to leave, go back to Manila, because we are really from Manila” - Cebu Daily News