The traffic jam started just after the Kaduna International Trade Fair grounds in front of the National Teachers Institute. There had been an accident involving a Sokoto Transport bus, a car and a kekenapep. From the way the three vehicles were smashed, battered and mangled, and facing different directions, it was hard to divine how…
It is a few minutes before the hour of departure. An agitated man stands in the middle of the aisle of SP0001 around the group of ten seats with a table. Doesn’t he have a seat? Maybe he is one of those people who managed to buy a ‘standing’ ticket. He has a single diagonal…
The expressway between Kaduna and Zaria is under reconstruction and there are a couple of diversions that sometimes slow down the traffic into a snarl-up in both directions around Birnin Yero. Today, the last Saturday before Eid al-Fitr, there have been reports of a terrible grid-lock. Motorists have been held up for hours. Just before…
As we approach the new international terminal, the driver makes to turn left toward the train station but instantly changes his mind. He hasn’t been to the airport since the new terminal was opened. He is apparently thinking that the entrance to the new terminal must be on that side. Its underbelly betrays no orifice…
Gifted with a gorgeous imagination,And inspired to peep into the dark void of the cosmos,He glimpsed blinding, darting, comets of comprehension.Even as his body would not yield to the commands of his mind, He took a deep dive into the unfathomable sea of physical nothingness,And came up with nuggets and pearls of mysterious insight.His mercurial mind…
One of the best writers of the finest English prose of our time has just passed on. My first encounter with VS Naipaul (1932-2018) was about two decades ago when I borrowed a millennium edition of his A House for Mr. Biswas (1961) from the British Council Library in Kano. The deceptively beautiful simplicity of…
06:25, I'm at Idu Train Station. Long queue. Almost as long as last Saturday's. But it is moving. Hopeful. But no problem if I don't make the first train. I have a lot of work to do on my computer. As I lug my baggage on to the back of the queue, I meet a…
April 6, 2019 You want to be on the 7 o' clock train to Kaduna. So you shower and dress up before dawn prayers. Straight out of the mosque, you call Bolt and leave Asokoro before 6 o' clock. The earliest time you've ever set out for the train station. Bolt. Why Bolt? Why change…
Cool breeze. No sun. No rain. Me in Abuja on a Sunday morning? A rare occurrence. A very rare occurrence. Good time to take a long walk. I explored Asokoro on foot. I did more than 16,000 steps in the highbrow labyrinth. One can't be sitting in front of the computer, pressing smartphone or reading…
Okoye is a brave no-nonsense athletic warrior fiercely loyal to the African Kingdom of Wakanda. Her character is as firm and deep as the blackness of her ebony skin. She is easily my favorite in the whole cast. If the guys who made the movie understood any Hausa, she should have been the one named…
