Nigeria

"Ugliness with a good character is better than beauty."

"If there is a character, ugliness becomes beauty; if there is none, beauty becomes ugliness."

"Democracy, according to Ross Feingold , is considered the most legitimate form of government because the power of choice rests with the people. “But when this power dynamic is altered and citizens lose their influence, the legitimacy of the system is threatened”. That is where we are in Nigeria today because the choices made by citizens with their ballots are being increasingly rendered useless. And this threat to ‘the legitimacy on the system’ is coming from our courts, including the highest court in the country whose decisions are not only final but affect those of lower courts."

"Yesterday, the Supreme Court put a final seal on the gubernatorial election by dismissing the review application of Mr David Lyon. The ruling APC candidate had won the election in the state before the recent Supreme Court judgement that due to multiple certificates (with different names) presented by his deputy, the votes accorded him be voided and his defeated PDP opponent be declared winner. That, of course, is pleasing to the PDP leaders who have been carrying their pot bellies from one embassy to another in an ill-advised campaign against the Supreme Court. Sadly, it has also led to a more sinister decision by a number of APC hoodlums to lay siege to the home of a supreme court Justice. But whichever way we look at the ugly developments, it is very disturbing that the integrity of judgements coming from our courts is being openly questioned. More worrying is that in Nigeria today, neither those who cast the ballots nor those who count them decide the outcome of a democratic process. The decision as to who represents the people is now with Judges."

"At the end, it is very clear that while the political parties must wean themselves of bad behaviour in the conduct of their primaries to nominate candidates for elections, both the Constitution and the Electoral Act would have to be amended. We cannot continue with a situation in which Judges will veto the choices of the electorate on the basis of technicalities. If this democracy is to survive, it is imperative that the judiciary as an institution and judges as individuals are not only impartial to those who appear before them but also that the wider public have the confidence that cases affecting their well-being will be decided fairly and in accordance with the law."

"My father tells a story about his father dying in a refugee camp. His father was a titled man in Igboland, which meant that he was a great man. He had one of the highest titles a man could have. But his hometown fell, so he had to leave and go to a refugee camp, and he died and he was buried in a mass grave. Which is just heartbreaking for a man, particularly a man like him. My father, who's the first son, and who takes his responsibilities very seriously, couldn't go to bury his father because the roads were occupied. He was in a different part of Biafra and so it took a year until ... he could go to the refugee camp. ... And he goes there and he says, 'I want to know where my father was buried.' And somebody waved very vaguely and said, 'Oh we buried the people there.' So it was a mass grave. So many people had died. And my father says he went there and he took a handful of sand, and he said he's kept the sand ever since. For me, that was one of the most moving things I had ever heard.""

"Nigeria is not a nation. It is a mere geographical expression. There are no 'Nigerians' in the same sense as there are 'English,' 'Welsh,' or 'French'. The word 'Nigerian' is merely a distinctive appellation to distinguish those who live within the boundaries of Nigeria and those who do not."

"The last general election was anything but free and fair. The only political parties that could complain of election rigging are those parties that lacked the resources to rig. There is ample evidence that rigging and thuggery were relative to the resources available to the parties. This conclusively proved to us that the parties have not developed confidence in the presidential system of government on which the nation invested so much material and human resources."

"Nigeria remains deeply concerned over the illicit trade, transfer, and circulation of small arms and light weapons. Their excessive accumulation and uncontrolled spread in many regions of the world are having devastating humanitarian and socio-economic consequences, especially on the continent of Africa."

"Nigeria, it's a beautiful country with a great potential and I believe that in that part of the continent, Nigeria, once it sorts out its own problems, have a crucial role to play, like South Africa has in the more southern part of our continent."

"If Nigeria does nothing else it teaches you.....patience."

"Nigeria earns 90 percent of its export revenue from oil sales, but it comes at a high human cost."

"As Microsoft philanthropist... Bill Gates has explained: “Population growth in Africa is a challenge.” His lobbying foundation’s 2018 “Goalkeepers” report warned: “According to U.N. data, Africa is expected to account for more than half of the world’s population growth between 2015 and 2050. Its population is projected to double by 2050,” with “more than 40 percent of world’s extremely poor people … in just two countries: Democratic Republic of the Congo and Nigeria.” Gates advocates cutting this projected population increase by 30 percent by improving access to birth control and expanding education to “enable more girls and women to stay in school longer, have children later.” But how can that be afforded with this summer’s looming food and oil squeeze on government budgets?"

"I like to ask people: was it that there was 24-hour electricity and Jonathan came and switched it off and damaged the equipment? The answer is no. Power is an age-old problem in Nigeria and we have to understand that."

"This first year of your nationhood has been a highly auspicious one. It has seen Nigeria take its place with distinction among the family of free nations. It has seen the emergence of wise and far-reaching plans for the social and economic betterment of the Nigerian people. In essence, it has been a period in which firm foundations have been laid for the future of a great nation. The people of the United States join me in the hope that the peace and prosperity of this first year will continue and that the succeeding anniversaries of Nigeria's independence will be equally happy and fruitful."

"For Africa to move forward, Nigeria must be one of the anchor countries, if not the leading anchor country. It means that Nigeria must be good at home to be good outside. No doubt, our situation in the last decade or so had shown that we are not good enough at home; hence we are invariably absent at the table that we should be abroad.https://www.punchng.com/full-letter-obasanjo-writes-buhari-asks-president-to-halt-2019-ambition/%3famp"

"The Corona crisis will shrink the inflow of dollars. Hopefully, this is temporary, no more than a few months. CBN can allow some downward pressure on the naira without energetically intervening to defend the exchange rate. Only if and when the rate seems that it might dip precipitously should the CBN intervene."

"Over six decades ago, our founding fathers gave bravely of themselves to place Nigeria on the map as an independent nation."

"Is it with respect to the reference point of American elections? Or is it with respect to the 1999 elections or is it in respect to the 1983 elections in Nigeria or to the 2003 elections? So when people make statements, or even organizations, or even the U.S. State Department, they should qualify such statements and we know the reference point from which they are making their statement against. Once you know the reference point, then it will actually make sense."

"Bonny has long been celebrated for the size and construction of her canoes; and those of the king deserve notice. They are formed out of a single log of the capot, a species of cotton tree, which attains so enormous a size, that it is said that one was seen at Akim, which ten men could scarcely grasp. The canoes in general use, have about fifteen paddles on a side; but those of the king, which are superior vessels of the sort, carry, besides the rowers, as many as a hundred and fifty warriors, well furnished with small arms. They have also a long nine-pounder at each end of the canoe; and when they are equipped for war, with drums beating, horns blowing, and colours flying, they make a very dashing and formidable appearance. The kings often take excursions in their canoes, attended by about thirty stout men paddling, and a steersman. Several others are employed in playing some musical instrument, while others dance in the middle of the canoe. The rowers keep admirable time with their paddles, so that they drive through the water at a rapid rate, and appear to great advantage. Whenever king Pepple came off in his state canoe to the ship, all the traders, rich and poor, precipitately betook themselves to their canoes; and, on his coming on board, we always manned the side, and hoisted the colours."

"All the wives, who seldom exceed twenty, (except amongst the princes) till the ground, sow maize, and plant yams, except two, or sometimes one. The first or principal wife (so called) has the care of the family, and is exempt from labour. The second, who is privileged, is called on the gold coast the bossam, because she is consecrated to their deity. The husband is always more jealous of these favourites, who are generally handsome and beautiful. The first wife has also the keeping of her husband's money, and in some parts the husband must obtain her consent, or conciliate her by a present, before he can take another. There is much emulation among the wives, each practising all her charms to secure the preference of her husband's love; yet it does not appear that this competition disturbs the harmony that usually prevails amongst them."

""In Bonny," says our author, "such is the abhorrence in which poisoning and witchcraft are held, that persons suspected of either of these crimes are decapitated without any ceremony." Beheading, indeed, is the usual way of despatching criminals who cannot be sold. Flogging is inflicted for minor offences, and, in some cases, offenders are deprived of a part of their ears, a punishment which is considered ignominious. All trials, continues our author, take place in the Palaver-house. In this building, running round the interior of the walls, are a number of shelves, on which are deposited the skulls of chiefs taken in war. These relics, which are considered as martial trophies, are painted with different colours, and adorned with feathers indicating the rank of the deceased warrior. The person who had the charge of this place of skulls in Bonny pretended, that he knew to what particular chief each skull belonged, and could recount the several battles in which they had fallen, or were captured. Most offences committed in these countries may be compounded for, notwithstanding the declared severity of the laws in some cases: and if the offender be unable to pay the fine imposed upon him, he is sold as a slave. [...] In Bonny the jurisdiction is almost entirely in the hands of the priest."

"We are sending you to learn book. Enjoyment can wait. Do not be in a hurry to rush into the pleasures of the world.”"

"That was Obi’s mistake Number One. Everybody expected a young man from England to be impressively turned-out.”"

"Real tragedy is never resolved. It goes on hopelessly forever. Conventional tragedy is too easy. The hero dies and we feel a purging of the emotions. A real tragedy takes place in a corner, in an untidy spot, to quote W.H. Auden.”"

"Greatness is now in the things of the white man.""

"In that short question he said in effect that Obi’s mission-house upbringing and European education had made him a stranger in his country –the most painful thing one could say to Obi.""

"It was clear he loved Africa, but only Africa of a kind: the Africa of Charles, the messenger, the Africa of his gardenboy and steward boy. He must have come originally with an ideal –to bring light into the heart of darkness..."

"Mr. Okonkwo believed utterly and completely in the things of the white man. And the symbol of white man’s power was the written word, or better still, the printed word."

"Obi wanted to rush out of his car and shout: “Stop. Let’s go and get married now,” but he couldn’t and didn’t. The doctor’s car drove away."

"What would be the point of going to Umuofia? She would have been buried by the time he got there anyway."

"Everybody wondered why. The learned judge, as we have seen, could not comprehend how an educated young man and so on and so forth.""

"He said life was like a bowl of wormwood which one sips ... without end."

"All the same they must go. This no be them country."

"Take this matter of twenty pounds ... which ... was the root cause of all his troubles."

"His full name was Obiajulu—'the mind at last is at rest.'"

"I have tasted putrid flesh in the spoon."

"We are not heathens."

"Mr. Green was famous for speaking his mind. He wiped his red face with the white towel on his neck. ‘The African is corrupt through and through.’”"

"You know book, but this is no matter for book."

"E no be like dat ... Him na gentleman. No fit take bribe."

"Na so this world be."

"They were the good servants who had found perfect freedom."

"They wanted him to read law so that when he returned he would handle all their land cases against their neighbours. But when he got to England he read English; his self-will was not new."

"In fact, some weeks ago when the trial first began, Mr. Green, his boss, who was one of the Crown witnesses, had also said something about a young man of great promise. And Obi had remained completely unmoved. Mercifully he had recently lost his mother, and Clara had gone out of his life. The two events following closely on each other had dulled his sensibility and left him a different man, able to look words like ‘education’ and ‘promise’ squarely in the face. But now when the supreme moment came he was betrayed by treacherous tears."

"I don’t mind what people think of me. My mum always used to say what people think of you is none of your business."