OWOLOWO

  June 12: Protagonist to President President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was one of the paladins of the June 12 struggle that eventually ousted the military and birthed ‘democracy’ in Nigeria. He has patently paid his dues, and only those who have been inordinately influenced by politically-induced amnesia would not acknowledge this fact. President Tinubu is probably the most prepared democratically-elected president since 1999. When Retired Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo was ‘selected’ by the military junta, he became the ultimate beneficiary, albeit compensatory, of a struggle (June 12) he was not a participator. Umaru Musa Yar’Adua was reported to have other plans before being ‘selected’ by Obasanjo to be president in 2007. Following the demise of Yar’Adua in 2010, the vice-president Goodluck Jonathan emerged president. Muhammadu Buhari had failed in his quest to be president thrice, and had given up on his ambition, until he was convinced to contest again in 2015 and became president. However, ...

Celestial and Orbital Order Since the pre-Socratic era, there has been obsession with celestial bodies and their movements in space. Philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle propounded the geocentric astronomical model. Geocentrism was the prevailing astronomical postulation, and the theory was based on the Earth being orbited by the Sun, Moon, stars and planets. A popular proponent from the geocentric era was Ptolemy and the Ptolemaic system was that the Earth was at the centre of the universe and other celestial bodies – planets, stars, and the Sun – revolved around Earth. Notably, around the 13th century, some astronomers critiqued the Ptolemaic astronomical model, and they were mainly from the Maragheh Observatory in Persia. Prominent among the astronomers were Nasir Al-Din al-Tusi and Al-Urdi. This research phase effectively buried the geocentric astronomical model and laid the foundation for what was to be known as the heliocentric astronomical model around the 16th century. Heli...

Spare Harry  It is really hard to ignore the drama from the House of Windsor, even if you wanted to. The typical conversation on the Harry palaver goes thus: “What is Harry’s problem?”, “Why is Harry doing this?”, “He is an entitled brat!”, “It’s all Meghan’s fault!” or “I don’t like Meghan!” Then I ask, “Have you watched the Harry and Meghan Netflix documentary?” or “Have you read Harry’s book? And the usual response is “No! Because I don’t care”, and I retort, “You don’t care, but you care enough to form an opinion about Harry and Meghan based on tabloids?” The epiphany the masses primarily know what they are fed, and usually end up as ‘sheeple’ incapable of critical reasoning or independent thought. “The media's the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that's power. Because they control the minds of the masses.” – Malcolm X It would be preposterous to form an opinion about an issue exclu...

Qatar 2022: Through the Prism of Racism and Islamophobia Qatar successfully hosted the 2022 FIFA World Cup, even though traducers were unrelenting in their efforts to malign the tournament. The BBC decided not to broadcast the opening ceremony. A rather bizarre decision that highlighted the BBC’s agenda ab initio ! The BBC boycotted the closing ceremony as well, and the Bisht – a ceremonial garb that exudes honour was not spared from the vitriol. The juxtaposition with the events surrounding the previous two world cups in 2014 and 2018, buttresses the selectivity of morality on display. In the run up to the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, the country was plagued with various human rights accusations. Amnesty International described the situation as ‘human rights under threat’. Similarly, there were human rights issues raised prior to the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, particularly the anti-LGBT stance. However, the human rights accusations against Brazil and Russia in 2014 and 2018...

Symmetrical Structure of Ayat al-Kursi (Verse of The Footstool) The most powerful Ayah in the Quran is Ayat al-Kursi aka Ayatul Kursi and is commonly translated as Verse of The Throne. Though allegorical, it is more linguistically accurate to translate as Verse of The Footstool; where Kursi represents 'Footstool' instead of 'Throne' – which literally means Arsh. Ayatul Kursi is embedded within Surah Baqarah; which is the longest Surah of the entire Quran – Chapter 2 (The Cow). Baqarah has 286 verses, and the verse of the throne is verse 255. Allah! There is no god ˹worthy of worship˺ except Him, the Ever-Living, All-Sustaining. Neither drowsiness nor sleep overtakes Him. To Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth. Who could possibly intercede with Him without His permission? He ˹fully˺ knows what is ahead of them and what is behind them, but no one can grasp any of His knowledge—except what He wills ˹to reveal˺. His Seat encompasses the hea...

9/11: 20 Years of Terror  I remember vividly the events of September 11, 2001. I was in a public place and there was a television showing the news on CNN as it unfolded. As I watched the incredulous footage, some of those around me wondered if it was a scene from a movie, and I confirmed to them it was very real. From that moment, I knew that incident was a pivotal moment in world history. The events of that fateful day have shaped our lives in ways that could never have been imagined. But, to appreciate what occurred on 9/11 and its aftermath, issues have to be contextualised appropriately. 9/11 did not just happen; there were crucial events that led to the terror attacks, and critical events that occurred afterwards. Cold War to Jihad Cold War: As the battle for supremacy between the Soviet Union and the United States evolved Afghanistan became a proxy battleground. On December 24, 1979, the Soviets, under the leadership of Leonid Brezhnev, deployed its 40th Army to Afghanist...

M.B.O Owolowo Snr: 25 Years After… 1996 it was and June 25th was the date that changed my life forever. The events of that fateful period still recur in my memory like synaptic flashes. The Premonition Hedonism was the order of that phase in my life, and my mates and I were thrill-seekers who partied hard. Though my family had moved to the mainland after my Dad retired from government assignment, the Island was my theatre of fun. On the night of the 25th, probably before midnight, I felt a sudden urge to go home. My friends thought my decision to go home at that time of the night was insane. Their concern was genuine because as night crawlers, we had encountered armed robbers whilst crossing Third Mainland Bridge in the wee hours, and heard quite a number of gruesome tales around that period. My friends pleaded with me to stay, but to no avail. My mind was made up! A more worrisome snag was that I wasn’t driving a car that night. Also, I didn’t want anyone risking their lives crossi...