The Nation Newspaper

Category: Hardball

  • Oby: due process gone ga-ga

    Oby Ezekewesili’s due process has gone ga-ga, in what Fela (bless his musical soul!) would call confusion break bone!

    First, Mrs. Ezekwesili, Madam Due Process of Obasanjo’s presidential second term and present presidential wannabe, has sensationally pulled out of the race, calling for a coalition to continue fighting for the top spot by proxy.

    Pronto, her party, the Alliance Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), has endorsed President Muhammadu Buhari.  ACPN was founded by the late Baba Oloye, Dr. Olusola Saraki, as platform to aid her daughter, former Senator Gbemi Saraki’s Kwara governorship dream in 2011, after son and sitting governor, Bukola, had spurned the move.

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has also rejected her withdrawal, citing the Electoral Act, which it says stipulates a candidate can only pull out before 45 days to the polls.  It is now 22 days from the March 16 presidential polls.

    Then, ACPN has come weighing in where it would appear most hurtful to a woman who built her public profile on “due process” – suggesting Madam Due Process might not have followed due process before jettisoning the ACPN ticket.

    It would appear a classic Nigerian collapse, after a surfeit of the theatre of the absurd.

    Oby ran on the full steam of fresh thinking and clean ways of doing things – at least outside the purview of her newly christened “evil twins” – the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) she worked for as “Madam Due Process”, during Obasanjo’s second term.  By the way, if her “due process” tour of duty was so fantastic, how come the common wealth had been so badly plundered by that regime and its successors?

    Oby’s second “twin evil”?  The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).  But strictly, that would appear specially cultivated and harvested sour grape to justify Mrs Ezekwesili’s endless posturing and grandstanding, just to claim public spotlight.  Aside from Breton Woods filibustering, that dominated her now abandoned electioneering, aside from the delusion of “freshness” which she tried to project, she has not really told anyone, in real terms, how better she can handle things, different from the present.

    Now, if action speaks louder than words, what was fresh or different from the way Oby became APCN presidential candidate?  Was it different from the old ticket hijack, from a desperate candidate meet a desperate party?

    When Oby and co were flexing muscles and boasting of thrashing everyone in an electoral race, there was a roar of a so-called “third force”.  But even Obasanjo that mouthed it knew that it was crass opportunism to tantalize the dense and captivate the gullible.

    That was why, when the chips were down, the so-called third force couldn’t muster any force in basic party organization from the scratch; nor offer any basic discipline in even welding together as a team of serious “youths”.  The result is the present disarray in that camp, now epitomized with Oby’s sudden withdrawal and last-minute call for a “coalition”.

    Shame.  But no tears from Hardball’s end.

     

  • A controversial idea

    Universities are supposed to be centres of ideation. So it wasn’t surprising that the founder of Afe Babalola University (ABUAD), Chief Afe Babalola (SAN), tried to promote an idea during the institution’s Founder’s Day/Matriculation for the 2018/2019 academic session.  The ceremony at the university in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State, on January 21, grabbed the headlines mainly because of this idea Babalola proposed.

    Babalola said:  “I want to suggest to the NUC and the Ministry of Education that in order to maintain quality and high standard in Nigerian universities, the final year students in all programmes across all our universities should take the same national final examinations.

    “In this way, every university shall work hard to ensure that their students pass the national examination, thereby ensuring high standard in teaching and learning. I am going to present a position paper to Federal Government on this and those with influence should join in pushing it.”

    The university administrator who founded ABUAD 10 years ago must have thought he had found a sure answer to the problem of alleged declining standards in the country’s universities.

    But his thinking calls for more thinking.  By advocating unified exams for final-year varsity students, Babalola offered a simplistic solution to a complicated problem. Ironically, his proposal has the potential to further complicate the problem.

    Nigeria currently has 43 Federal Universities, 47 State Universities and 75 Private Universities, according to the National Universities Commission (NUC).  So there are 165 universities in the country right now. Of course, Babalola’s university is one of them. It is described as “a non-profit private university.”

    Babalola’s idea doesn’t accommodate the idea of institutional individuality. Unified exams for final-year students in Nigerian universities means unified studies. The university idea is supposed to be built on the idea of academic freedom. This includes a university’s freedom to design its own courses and follow its own path.

    It is interesting that Babalola was quoted as saying he was inspired to recommend unified exams because of the quality assurance standard he had set for his own university. Shouldn’t every university be allowed to set its own “quality assurance standard?”

    The example of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) is food for thought. There is such a thing as Post-UTME, which is designed by individual tertiary institutions to suit their individual “quality assurance standard.” To stretch the matter, Babalola’s unified final-year exams might stretch to post-unified final-year exams by individual universities.

    The point is Babalola’s idea deserves another look.

  • “Do-or-die” Obasanjo tars INEC

    Olusegun Obasanjo, author and finisher of “do-or-die” 2007 (which winner got utterly ashamed of his “victory”); and creator of ace election magician, Maurice Iwu, is pointing fingers at the current INEC!  Ridiculous, isn’t that?

    At long, long last, the self-over-rated Ebora Owu of Nigerian politics is unravelling so fast, it is so, so dizzy!  Suddenly, one of the so-called owners of Nigeria has suddenly found out his beloved “Nigeria” (in which he has an unrestrained sense entitlement) may finally have slipped from his sticky fingers!  The panic is real!

    Obasanjo’s is tantamount to the tale of the tortoise, who swore he wouldn’t return from his travel until he was disgraced.

    Since the late Benjamin Adekunle aka Black Scorpion did all the work but Obasanjo plucked all the Civil War glory, he has developed a tragic sense of entitlement.

    He loves Nigeria more than the rest of us.  And like the scoundrel tortoise, who greedily renamed himself “All of you”, in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, Obasanjo has developed an “All of You” syndrome!  So, whatever he does, even if it’s a bare-faced swindle like his so-called Presidential Library, he is doing it because of  his “love” for Nigeria — some avid love of the cat for the rat!

    That is why Obasanjo would release his latest rigmarole, ringing with self-indictment, half-truths, wild rumours, pure fantasies, raw gossips which put good old old wives’ tales to shame, all sewn together by a steady flow of name-calling, absolutely unbecoming of a former elected president, military head of state and a self promoted statesman, who also happens to have a PhD!  Where is the class?  Where is panache?

    “Trader moni” is skewed against the rural poor!  But which category of people, rural or urban, did the Obasanjo era empower, beyond “Keke NAPEP”, which was nothing but a PDP racket?

    An illegal third term hustler is dreaming “self-perpetuation” in another working hard to earn a legit second term!

    The president has surrendered his campaign to “Jagaban” — but how is that Obasanjo’s headache?

    All of sudden, asking the CJN to “remember” his “forgotten” assets; and account for them has become virtual persecution.  Yet, Baba Iyabo is the holy Pope of Nigerian politics, before a serious smear like the CJN’s ceases to matter!

    And the sheer cheapness of invoking Abacha!  Did Obasanjo think that also would wipe out his grand political miscalcutions, of backing what is turning out to be a wrong horse, after the dismal collapse of his so-called Third Force?

    Which other inanities did Obasanjo pile as cards, in his grumpy, pitiable attempt to cry wolf when there was none?  So, the election would be rigged simply because Obasanjo said so?

    And the so-called “international community” would just barge in and do exactly what?  Because the candidate he endorsed, for which he himself said God would never forgive him, might just taste bitter defeat?  But perhaps all these are early manifestations of a self-imposed curse from God?

    Obasanjo has always been petty and graceless.  But this letter hit the very nadir of it all.

    Still, nobody should forget its sinister motive.  Four years ago, everything was pointing to a loss by sitting President Goodluck Jonathan.  The trick back  then was to postpone the election.

    Now, another presidential election is only three weeks away.  But all Obasanjo wants to do is scuttle it, by crying wolf, all because he’s mortally scared his camp might suffer a crushing loss?  Nice try!

     

  • Sanitise SARS

    It is striking that the disbandment of the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (FSARS) by Acting Inspector General of Police Mohammed Adamu coincided with news of the findings of members of the Presidential Panel on the Reform of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).

    Under a new arrangement, there will now be a Special Anti-Robbery Squad domiciled in each of the 36 states under the direct supervision of the Commissioners of Police, Adamu announced on January 21 at his inaugural conference with Commissioners of Police and other senior officers in Abuja.

    The reform panel, led by Tony Ojukwu, the Executive Secretary of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), had publicised its observations after visiting SARS’ detention centre in Guzampe, Abuja on January 18.

    The panel’s findings show that there is cause for concern.  Ojukwu said members of the panel saw detainees with scars and serious injuries, “which they (the detainees) made us understand were as a result of torture.” The detainees were kept in cells that were overcrowded and stinking, and had inadequate access to food and healthcare, the panellists observed.

    Ojukwu also said: “We found that some of them are sick and have not been taken to hospital. We were told that nurses visit them on a daily basis. But, some of them (detainees) complained that they pay for the drugs that they need to get well. It is important that the medical facilities here are kept up to date so that we don’t have cases of death in detention.”

    Ojukwu observed that overcrowding in the detention centres was caused by the involvement of SARS in cases relating to minor offences, indiscriminate arrest and detention, and delays in the criminal justice system, among other factors. The panel painted a picture that gave an insight into the unacceptable detention conditions.

    Last year, an intense social media campaign, #ScrapFSARS, had called for the scrapping of the unit. There was a mountain of public complaints against the unit’s operatives, especially their alleged abuse of power and misdirected brutality.  In the end, the former Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, yielded to pressure. Idris had ordered immediate re-organisation of FSARS. Under Idris, the police had announced that a reorientation programme focused on police duties and human rights would be held for all FSARS personnel nationwide.

    The new police boss, Adamu, is starting a new chapter in his career. Beyond decentralising Federal SARS, Adamu should sanitise SARS.

  • Curbing breast cancer

    One of the many paradoxes that characterise breast cancer is the fact that its curative therapies cause almost as much pain and distress as the ailment itself. The recent announcement of a new discovery which will substantially reduce the number of patients needing chemotherapy is very welcome news.

    A phase-3 clinical trial called TAILORx, carried out on 10,253 women aged between 17 and 85 in the United States, Canada, Peru, Australia and New Zealand since 2006 shows that many women with early-stage breast cancer who would normally be recommended for chemotherapy do not, in fact, need it. This finding will spare thousands of women the side-effects of a treatment method which includes nausea and hair-loss, and can lead to heart and nerve damage, as well as the risk of leukaemia later in life.

    Breast cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer, and refers to a malignant growth in the tissues of the breast. It is usually found in women, but can make rare appearances in men. Cancer is responsible for nearly one in every six deaths worldwide. About 14 million people develop it every year, a sobering statistic that is expected to rise to 21 million annually by 2030.

    In Nigeria, some 100,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer every year, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), and about 80,000 die of it annually. This death ratio of 4 in 5 is one of the worst in the world.

    To further aggravate an already-terrible situation, cancer control strategies such as prevention and early diagnosis are relatively unknown in the country, to say nothing of more advanced treatments like chemotherapy and endocrine therapy.

    Breast self-examination (BSE), in which women carry out simple routine checks for unusual lumps or alterations in shape on their breasts, has not been fully integrated into the primary healthcare process. Far too many hospitals lack the capacity to undertake the mammograms which are crucial in the early detection of breast cancer that is vital to its successful treatment.

    For a nation struggling with a host of infectious diseases, as well as very high infant and maternal mortality rates, this apparently willful refusal to seriously confront the breast cancer menace is inexplicable. Its high fatality rates, the prohibitive cost of treatment, and the fact that it targets women has resulted in the devastation of families across the nation, regardless of social class, ethnicity or religion. Increasing lifestyle changes are very likely to result in even more women contracting the disease, turning what is already a healthcare emergency into a full-blown crisis.

    If Nigeria is to properly address the looming disaster that is breast cancer, it will require nothing less than a complete overhaul of current attitudes, infrastructure and public enlightenment methods.

    The ridiculous and outdated notions of modesty which continue to hamper honest and open discussion of breast cancer must cease. It makes little sense to hide behind mythical cultural beliefs to block open dialogue on an issue that is so crucial to the wellbeing of the nation’s women.

    Allied to this is the re-launching of vigorous and comprehensive enlightenment campaigns aimed at educating the populace on what breast cancer is and what its symptoms are. As the most cost-effective element in combatting the disease, there is no reason why it cannot be effectively put into action.

    The country’s healthcare infrastructure must be comprehensively re-tooled to confront breast cancer. This means properly equipping secondary and tertiary healthcare institutions, training more medical professionals in oncology, and creating opportunities for beneficial cooperation with the thousands of Nigerian doctors and nurses working abroad. Health insurance must be overhauled to make it more widespread and better able to cover the cost of cancer treatment.

    The country’s elite must be encouraged to contribute to the funding of cancer research and the establishment of treatment centres, instead of engaging in mindless and offensive displays of wealth.

    Cancer is a harsh reality. The sooner it is comprehensively confronted, the better it will be for Nigeria.

  • Debacle of Ajekun Iya 4

    Ajekun Iya 4 — what a debacle!  It was scripted and hyped as a box office monster, after its absurdist theatre predecessors.  But lo!  It turned a damp squib!

    Now, that wasn’t because all the raw materials were not there, no!

    A senator of the Federal Republic still insisted on playing juvenile pranks, to raucous applause.  After since July 2018 playing hide-and-seek with the Police, over a routine invitation, he scripted another bathetic drama — perhaps to buy time?  Or wear out his traducers, by playing to the gallery in the media?

    Well, it all ended, in a tragi-comedy or comi-tragedy, wherever your soul perches on that continuum.  After tweeting lies upon lies of not being anywhere near Abuja, talk less of being holed up in his surrounded house, he finally got smoked out like a rat!

    A less adventurous soul would have cut his loss at that juncture, but not Dino!  Maybe he was really winded when they dragged his body, as full and heavy as a packed bag of beans, into the waiting car, en route to the police station.  Maybe, the asthma attack was really severe, as a breathless Dino, seemed to clutch on to life, with a mere straw.

    But who knows?  It was Dino, after all.  If you cried wolf many times when there was none, who would believe you, this time, if indeed there was a wolf?  That is Dino’s personal tragi-comedy!

    But even after that, lay another grim drama.  At the Police health facility, Dino claimed he was ill — gravely ill.  But the Police doctors countered: he was fit.  At least, they claimed, that was what their tests disclosed.  Dino, they alleged, was buying time to thwart being arraigned before a court for an alleged crime.

    But then came the final(?) act, as Dino shunned the ward bed and opted to sleep in the open, outside the DSS facility he was taken to — perhaps to garner sympathy?

    Well, that was “trending” — at least that is what he and his confederates would hope — until a more fearsome scandal broke out — the CJN hurricane.

    The CJN scandal has provided more filling victuals, for a media that thirsted after scandals, sensations and allied fare, and there for blasted away the Dino theatre of the absurd, in a classic case of absurdity trumping absurdity!

    With that, the media had moved on, Dino is left to his fate with the law, and the box office prospects of Ajekun Iya 4 went with the wind!

    Ajekun Iya 4 — what a debacle!  Ajekun Iya 4 — what an ecplise!

     

  • Melaye’s matter

    Was the news true? Or was it fake news?  Reports describing how Senator Dino Melaye was moved from one clinic to another in Abuja on January 11 said the operation involved “masked policemen.”  The masked agents reportedly carried out the operation “in commando style.”  They moved Melaye from the Police Clinic to the Department of State Services (DSS) Clinic.

    But police spokesman Jimoh Moshood said: “It is incorrect as reported in some sections of the media that Senator Dino Melaye was moved by masked armed policemen…”

    So what really happened? If the police had a reason to move Melaye, they could have been done so in a way that would not generate controversy. The police would not have needed to respond to negative reports if Melaye’s movement had been done in a tidy manner.

    The drama of Melaye’s arrest and hospitalisation did not need further colouring by the police. Senator Melaye, representing Kogi West, had reappeared dramatically on January 4 after hiding from the police for eight days.

    A report captured Melaye’s dramatic reappearance: “Prior to his opening the gate for the police, several of his fellow federal lawmakers had driven down to the house to see and accompany him to the Force Headquarters to honour the police invitation. He was also helped out of the car at the police headquarters. At a point, some men put an inhaler to his mouth to help him breathe well. Sources attributed the fainting to possible asthma attack. Not wanting to leave anything to chance, the police took him to an undisclosed hospital for proper treatment.”

    The police had besieged Melaye’s Abuja residence. The police said Melaye and some armed thugs, in July 2018, had attacked policemen who were on duty at a checkpoint on Aiyetoro Gbede, Mopa Road in Kogi State. They shot and wounded Sgt. Danjuma Saliu of the 37 Police Mobile Force (PMF). The police siege happened because Melaye had ignored police invitation.

    Melaye had claimed, in a pubicised interview, that he wasn’t in Abuja, which was untrue.  Melaye had also asked a Federal High Court in Abuja to order the police to end the siege. The court refused to do so.

    Now the police are brandishing a remand warrant from a High Court that allows them to detain Melaye for 14 days. “He will be taken to court within the 14-day period,” Moshood said.

    There may yet be more drama in Melaye’s matter, but the police should be less dramatic.

  • The governor as a cricket

    There is a saying of the orient about something bigger than the cricket invading its abode. Of course the abode of the cricket is its hole. Consider the state of angst and utter hopelessness the poor critter is thrown into should a bigger creature seize its space. Stretching the adage a little, your anxiety would know no bounds should an overwhelming force invaded your residence for instance or occupied your community.

    Such must be the situation with what Hardball would describe as the whimpering trio. Three governors have recently been squeaking like besieged crickets. They are governors: Aminu Masari, Abdulaziz Yari and Kashim Shettima; they lead Katsina, Zamfara and Borno states respectively. They also bear as part of their titles, chief security officers of their various states.

    But not unlike the cricket, some things akin to behemoths have crept up their domains and all they can do is indulge in anxious whingeing and helpless wringing of the hands. Let’s hear them:

    Governor Masari of Katsina speaking early in the year said: “Kidnapping is now the order of the day in Katsina State. There are armed robbers all over the state…

    “The people of Katsina in 34 local government areas now sleep with one eye closed.”

    From Zamfara State, filters in Governor Yari’s lamentations: ” You are aware what is happening in Zamfara State and some part of the neighbouring state on the issue of banditry, abduction and insurgency… I’m ready to quit as governor of Zamfara State over insecurity,” he groaned, literally calling for the imposition of a state of emergency.

    From Borno State, Governor Shettima declared plaintively that the security situation in his beleaguered state was getting worse. He confessed that though he had been known to boast not quite long ago that Borno was safer than Lagos, he merely wanted to infect the atmosphere with a dose of optimism, “… The reality is that while so much was achieved by our gallant military men and women, we are today faced with serious challenges in Borno State.”

    Dr. Khalid Abubakar Aliyu gave vent to the gory situation in Zamfara. He is the secretary-general of the influential Jama’atu Nasril Islam, JNI, and a statement on behalf of the body titled, “Silence is no longer golden”, reads:

    “This is utterly reprehensible and unacceptable, for hooligans and wayward persons to hold a whole state to ransom to no avail. Where is the government? Where are the security agencies? Where are the political community and the religious leaders?”

    The troubled governors, like besieged crickets, simply fled to Abuja to seek help. Here lies the argument for restructuring the polity which some of these selfsame governors repudiated. And here we are: a so-called chief security officer is no better than a cricket!

     

  • SANs barge where angels dread

    Chief Justice Walter Samuel Onnoghen is faced with grievous charges of gross turpitude; and the reflex action of senior lawyers — at least the most vocal among them — is to flex legalistic muscles!

    Do they hope that infantile bluff would make the stain and the shame go away — and help the beleaguered CJN in any way?

    Ahead of the CJN’s arraignment before the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) yesterday, the lawyers, bristling with thunder, bluster and fury, made it known that 30 SANs would  “storm” the tribunal to defend the CJN.

    Later, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), the lawyers’ conclave, virtually decreed every lawyer (perhaps living or dead!) should press themselves into service.  The CJN must be defended.  The judiciary must be saved!

    But saved from what or who?  Indeed, patriotism is the last bastion of the scoundrel!

    Yet, look at the lawyers’ technicality way.  The law, they swoon in legalistic triumph, says you couldn’t drag the CJN, or any judge for that matter, to any court, without the National Judicial Council (NJC) first sanctioning them.  True.

    To support their case, they whip up a Court of Appeal decision (awaiting endorsement or rejection, on appeal to the Supreme Court) on an earlier case, of senior judges accused of sleaze but saved by technicality — not because they were innocent or guilty — to buttress their case.  All well and good.

    But isn’t there something, more fundamental values, on which even the law is founded? In real life speak, what makes everyone defer to the CJN, or any other judge for that matter, when a matter is before him?

    Surely it can’t be his forensic brilliance alone, even if that is also a key criterion?  No.  It is the presumption that the CJN is not only sound in learning and sound of mind, but also that he is the very palladium of integrity.  Not only is he stainless, he is perceived un-stainable.

    But here we are: that perceived very palladium is accused of a dire stain, that could send the whole of the judicial infrastructure crashing down!

    How?  He is chair of the NJC — the NJC stipulated by law to discipline judges.  Even if he could recuse himself, can the NJC, going through such integrity strain, be the same in the eye of the right-thinking public?

    From formal to the informal: the CJN’s influence, in a rather close judiciary that some times looks like a closed cult, is all-pervading.  If the CJN is above board (as he is perceived to be), that may not be a disadvantage.  But if he faces a grievous accusation, as he does now, then the whole infrastructure of justice is endangered.

    In this tragic case, the hunter just turned the hunted.  That is precisely because though  Nigeria’s No. 1 judicial officer’s scholarship is undiminished, and his brilliance undimmed, this scandal would appear to put a big question mark on his integrity; without which the majesty of that office is rubbished.

    That is where the SANs waffle in scholastic hubris, flexing the technicalities of the law of which they are masters.  But what right-thinking people of conscience see is a pitiable rally at turning shame to fame.  That collectively diminishes the rest of us.

    The Nigerian judiciary, with this mess, is in the most rotten scandal in its history.  Rather than this emotive “we must save the judiciary” claptrap, these senior lawyers would serve themselves and the society better by embracing sobriety; and plot how the judiciary can, at least, work hard to regain its prestige, respect and glory.

    That is the solemn and narrow way that leads to redemption.  The present path, on which they now groggily barge, leads nowhere but perdition.

  • Economics of graven images

    No matter how small a totem might be, it must be hefted with both hands, ancient sages had long proclaimed. Even the holy scripture seems to corroborate the fact of the power and authority of deities. The history of the Israelites of the Old Testament Bible is practically undergirded by the presence of the Ark of the Covenant.

    The Ark, which first appeared in Exodus when Moses received the tablets of the Ten Commandments from Mount Sinai still remains perhaps the most revered symbol of divine manifestation. Chronicles 13:9  records: “And when they came to Chidon’s threshing floor, Uzza put out his hand to hold the ark, for the oxen stumbled. Then the anger of the Lord aroused against Uzza, and he struck him because he put his hand to the ark; and he died there before God.”

    The ark had been retrieved from its captors and was being ferried home in a new cart. Uzza and Ahio drove the cart. This is just one example of the power and aura of that symbol of God’s physical presence among his people, in the days of yore. The tales of exploits as recorded in the Bible are numerous.

    What is all this mysticism about? A story on page 10 of The Nation January 9, 2019 elicits Hardball’s excursion into the realms of gods and deities. The headline states: “Ataoja denies selling Osun Osogbo goddess.” Let us note upfront that Osun Osogbo shrine in Osun State and the accompany ceremonies and annual festivals arguably present the biggest and most preeminent traditional and cultural signatures not only of Osun State but Nigeria as a whole.

    The Osun Osogbo shrine was manned and curated by a certain Susanne Wenger, Adunni Olosa, an Austrian woman (now demised) who apparently answered the call of the ancient grove and dedicated her life to the goddess.

    How then could this important goddess become an object of lurid shenanigans and banditry even? A certain Iyanda Adigun, said to be a sacked Osun Priest had alleged that the Osun goddess had been sold for N15 million. According to Adigun, the totem is stuck in Togo, en route to Germany. He claims to be making efforts to retrieve it.

    It is noteworthy that it took the coming of Ms Wenger to reclaim the Osun grove in the 1950s from land grabbers and desecrators. And by her vision and drive, the grove became a UNESCO Heritage site and the festival an international showpiece.

    Could it be that by her passing a few years ago, Osun Osogbo is once again heading south?

    And Hardball posits that instead of selling the goddess, we could explore the economics of graven images through making of replicas and artifacts.