Come on Tim!!

Thank God almighty that we wouldn’t be subjected to this scream for at least 12 months. We also wouldn’t be seeing that infuriating fist clenching celebration. ‘Tiger’ Timothy is out of Wimbledon.

A suspected bomb found and made safe in The Haymarket area early this morning. I drove past there about 10.43pm last night on my way to Portland Place. Already most figures are pointing towards a possible Al-Qaeda. Dangerous times

Yar'Adua has declared his assets publicly. Let’s see if others will follow his extremely laudable example.

Summary: He is worth N856,452,892.00 (about £3.4m) in cash and landed properties, and his liabilities as at May 28, 2007 stood at N88,793,269.77 (£335k approx). What is significant is that the former Chemistry lecturer has no properties abroad!

Have a nice weekend folks.

Different Strokes

Gordon Brown
27th June 2007 - Becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
28th June 2007 - Forms first Cabinet

Umaru Musa Yar'Adua
29^th May 2007 – Becomes President of Nigeria
28th June 2007 - Still 'waiting' to form his first cabinet

TO DO: Get this month's Vanity Fair Magazine - [Africa - A special Issue, guest edited by Bono]

Spot the differences

(L-R Ralph Uwazurike (MASSOB), Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari (NDPVF) and Ganiyu Adams (OPC)

Alhaji ‘Go-Slow’

It’s been more than 20 days since Umaru Yar’ Adua succeeded General Olusegun Obasanjo, and we still waiting for an idea of the direction of his government. Apart from appointing a number of his brothers to top positions, little is known about his ministers and advisors. His plans are still a mysterious to us. He is still getting his feet under the table.

He has been dubbed Alhaji Go-Slow in some quarters; others say procrastination is second nature to him. A number of folks think he is powerless and wavering - ‘Shagari’ in disguise.

Personally, and I may be wrong, I think he is taking his time; bucking the usual trend and not rushing into things. I must confess I have seen more of his wife – Hajiya Turai - on the telly than the man himself, at least there is a Yar’ adua in power.

Malam Umaru, in your time. We will wait.

Presenting AfricanLoft

A place to ‘chillax’, a place where people and friends of Africa mingle. AfricanLoft is a multimedia, multi-author platform for all Africans and their friends worldwide.

Yours truly has a spot there, and so does Ugo, Black looks and a growing number of bloggers.

AfricanLoft can be found @ http://www.africanloft.com

Forbes has published a list of the top 100 richest celebrities. One wonders why the likes of RMD, 2Face, Genevieve Nnaji, Omotola, the guys that run Kennis Music and a few ‘seriously rich’ Nigerian Celebs(?) didn’t make the list.

Have a nice weekend.

June 12th

"Abiola is not the messiah we seek" – Gen Olusegun Obasanjo (rtd), 1993

“No sir, you are” – Ababoy, June 12^th 2007

I think it’s important that we identify with the importance of this historical date. We also need to remember the lives that were lost while protecting the mandate that was attained by M.K.O. in what was internationally acknowledged as the fairest and freest election ever held in Nigeria.

“The truest characters of ignorance are vanity, and pride and arrogance.” - Samuel Butler

This post is also dedicated to the memory of Ifeyinwa Irukwu who passed away on June 04, 2007. May her soul rest in peace.

http://ifeyinwa-irukwu.memory-of.com/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6743753.stm

Chimamanda

This week Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie won the twelfth Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction with her second novel 'Half of a Yellow Sun'.

The thing I like about Chimamanda is the fact that her talent and pull isn’t limited to Nigeria or West Africa. Sometimes we naively ‘rave’ about inadequately gifted Nollywood or Nigerian hip-hop stars that are effectively unknown outside West Africa. Some of us have gone as far as trying to put them on par with their more celebrated counterparts abroad. Talent transcends borders.

Well done Chimamanda!

Links

The new face of Nigerian literature? BBC Online
Podcast - KPFA's Africa Today (10.2MB)
Interview: Guardian Unlimited – Friday 8^th June 2007

NOTE: My other blog - Sisters of Soul (80s) has a caption on Tawatha Agee (Lead Singer - Mtume)