The Plumb Line
Hollow men, stuffed men
The late poet T. S. Eliot, writing about the hopelessness of man to rise above banality, said in his poem...
When three elephants fight
There is an old saying, "When two elephants fight, the grass suffers." But when the elephants involved in the fight...
My neighbour’s daughter is one
My neighbour, the right reverend pastor John, has a daughter who has just turned one. In Igbo, she is called...
A Falaluan prophecy
Falalu Bello is a top Nigerian economist, with roots in the "far north". He was the first managing director of...
Reader’s Digest’s death difficult to digest
Someone posted the bad news last week on a New Nigerian pensioners platform. Otherwise I would have missed it.The post...
Friend or fiend?
Two incidents happened last week in which the police was both villain and victim. The first involved two students of...
Them be barbers
There is a musical score that runs thus: "Some people/ Them be barbers/ They crape Naija kwaryan mbollo [skin...
Our parliament of flies
Peter Ustinov, the late multi talented British literary satirist, used the phrase "parliaments of flies" in "A Place in the...
My debt to a sister
Recently, a young lady from Ugeb, Cross River State, finished her one year of national youth service and returned...
The Faye wind of change
There is a saying in my native Kuteb, "afu chiyi fey", meaning you nicked it, or you won it without...