The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has accused Minister of Labour and Employment, Simon Lalong, of attempting to undermine the implementation of their agreement with the government regarding the removal of fuel subsidy. However, a statement issued by the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment’s Director of Information, Olajide Oshundun, refutes the allegation.

According to the statement, the allegation made by the NLC is baseless.

“We firmly deny this allegation, and we want it to be known that it has no basis,” the statement reads.

The statement also asserts that Minister Lalong has consistently given proper attention to various disputes brought to his attention since assuming office, with the intention of resolving them in a fair manner.

The ministry further states that multiple meetings have been held to address the issue with representatives from the conflicting parties, and the efforts are still ongoing.

The ministry emphasizes that it is incorrect to assume that Lalong is favoring any particular group during the negotiations.

“Members of the NURTW, the NLC, and the entire Labour movement can rest assured that the minister, as the Chief Conciliator, will continue to collaborate with all parties involved to ensure reconciliation, harmony, and industrial peace,” the ministry assures.

The Federal Government is reviewing and expanding the National Social Register to accommodate pensioners and ex-servicemen under its Conditional Cash Transfer scheme.

It is also removing beneficiaries who have excited the poverty line.

Saturday PUNCH gathered that the government was also taking out dead beneficiaries from the register and would disqualify those without National Identification Numbers and Bank Verification Numbers.

It was further gathered that payments would be made directly to the beneficiaries by the Central Bank of Nigeria and not through consultants, as the first batch of bulk payments would begin next week for five million households.

The Conditional Cash Transfer scheme is part of the National Social Investment Programme of the Federal Government, which is a project created to change the lives of millions of Nigerians living in extreme poverty, upgrade their standards of living and improve the economy.

In commemoration of the 2023 International Day for the Eradication of Poverty on Tuesday in Abuja, President Bola Tinubu launched the disbursement of N25,000 to 15 million households for three months as a social safety net intervention.

The aim is to mitigate the impact of the recent fuel subsidy removal and help eradicate poverty across the country.

Providing further details on the initiative in response to inquiries by Saturday PUNCH, the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Rasheed Olanrewaju, stated that the cash transfer scheme had been reviewed and expanded.

Asked if the Federal Government would use the old register used by the former President Muhammadu Buhari administration to transfer the money, he stated, “We are using a verified expanded register that has pensioners and veterans, as well as other vulnerable persons who were not captured.”

Confirming the position of the minister’s media aide, the National Communications Manager, National Social Investment Programme Agency, Jamaldeen Kabir, stated that beneficiaries who had exited the poverty line were being removed from the register.

Kabir said, “What he (Olanrewaju) told you is very correct, because the register is being expanded. First of all, it has to be verified so that those who are out of the poverty line will be removed from the old register.

“Those in the register, are they still within the poverty line or have they exited the line? The expansion will also include the wives of fallen heroes and pensioners.”

On when the cash transfer would begin, Olanrewaju stated that though bulk payments would commence from next week, some of those who had been verified had already started receiving payment alerts.

“The cash transfer (scheme) has been launched and once a household is verified, they get paid. The batches begin this month, next week to be precise; however, verified people have started receiving alerts,” he stated.

Also commenting on when the cash transfer would begin, Kabir said, “Actually, when the programme was launched at the Presidential Villa three days ago, some beneficiaries were presented with some cheques.

“So, before this month ends, the beneficiaries in the first phase will receive theirs, and this phase caters to five million households. So, we are expecting those five million households to receive money in the months of October, November and December,” Olanrewaju added.

On how many ghost recipients had been discovered, the minister’s aide stated that a lot of measures had been put in place to make the scheme credible, such as the introduction of the NIN and BVN.

“They may not be ghosts, but we have put in place many controls to make the process credible and clean. First, we looked for the NIN and BVN to match with in-person verification and biometrics. The process is from the CBN to the beneficiaries; there are no middlemen,” Olanrewaju stated.

Asked to state the number of dead recipients, he replied, “We have struck off many names following the verification. The final figure will be out in weeks; it may run into millions.

“Some are dead; some are no longer in that category (of the poor) and some could not be identified at locations given, so wait till we get the compilation ready,” he added.

Asked to state those involved in identity theft, he said, “All these will be determined when the final report is out. For now, we will pay those fully verified and the names will be pasted in communities.

“Fifteen million households amount to about 62 million individuals, with an average of five persons per household.”

The humanitarian ministry stated that the determination of the Federal Government to eradicate poverty was in line with the President’s Renewed Hope Agenda, which has poverty eradication, food security, economic growth and job creation as priorities.

At the launch of the cash transfer scheme on Tuesday, Tinubu, who was represented by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, enumerated various steps his administration had taken to ameliorate poverty in the country.

These, according to the President, include providing the policy framework and road map for poverty alleviation, developing humanitarian response and expanding the National Social Register to capture Nigerians living below $1.95 per day.

Other steps include restructuring of the National Social Investment Programme and repositioning it for quick and efficient delivery that is transparent, as well as partnering with the World Bank Group and other development partners to implement conditional cash transfers and business grants, among others.

The ministry stated that the government was also investing N100bn in the purchase of 3,000 units of 20-seater Compressed Natural Gas-powered buses for cheaper transportation.

It further stated that there was an investment of N200bn to cultivate 500,000 hectares of farmland to improve food security.

The Labour Party (LP) governorship candidate in Imo State, Athan Achonu has said that no amount of persuasion from the incumbent governor of the state, Hope Uzodinma would make him drop his gubernatorial ambition.

The LP flag bearer’s statement comes amidst speculations that he is a placeholder and will be bought off soon

However, Achonu has stated that he will be going all the way to the finish line.

Achonu said this during Friday’s edition of Channels Television’s Politics Today.

He argued that even if Uzodinma offers him $100 million he will still refuse to vacate his position as the party’s candidate.

According to him, “The people of Imo State already know the truth. They are following me. How can I be a placeholder for Hope Uzodimma? Give me $1 million? That’s not possible.

“I have been around in this country. I am very well known. I can say that for myself. So, I have a reputation in this country. I am a man of integrity. Hope Uzodimma can’t buy me even with $100 million. It is not possible. Nobody can buy me. Money can’t buy me.”

Speaking further, the former lawmaker explained that contesting the Imo governorship poll was not something he wanted to do.

He said that his supporters asked him not to retire from politics and the desire to change things for the better in Imo State made him give in to their demands.

“So, they said if I abandon them, they would not have any place to go. That’s why I really went into that race. I didn’t want to run for governor,” Senator Achonu added.

The LP candidate, who lamented the bottlenecks of doing business in the South-East, said the quest to rewrite history pushed him into the governorship contest.

“Igbos have been chased out of Igbo land. It is like an occupied territory. So, every half a kilometre, you see a Police checkpoint, you see a Customs checkpoint. So, people cannot trade freely,” he added.

A Review of Toyin Falola's "Beyond Sectarianism: Harnessing the Socio-religious and Political Values for a Greater Nigeria"

Earlier this week, Professor Toyin Falola delivered a lecture at the Lagos State University on, Beyond Sectarianism: Harnessing the Socio-religious and Political Values for a Greater Nigeria. A konk Africanist, Falola appeared in a blue Babariga, and delivered, as always, an outstanding lectures that left me wondering why Nigeria still remains in this shackles. The Nigerian government disregard the intellectuals. While not totally surprised, especially as I had witnessed his presentation two years ago, delivered at the first distinguished lecture series hosted by my department, History and International Studies, LASU, I still could not help pondering the practicality of Falola's presentation. This is because the latter does not theoreticize his lectures; he relates practical examples. 

For a first time such terms would be formalized, Falola categorized the Nigerian political leadership into four: Oselu; Ojelu; Otalu; and T'eminikan. These are Yoruba terms that can literally be translated as the; society's administrators; society's exploiters; society's  chapman or auctioneer, and the Selfish, respectively. 

Connotatively, Oselu is concerned with the day-to-day administration of a society. It was according to Falola, a historically positive idea, which means "the ability for a set of leaders to transform the society." The Ojelu on the other hand permeates the Nigeria's politburo, who divert the society's resources to their pockets. These are Nigerian politicians who hoard parliatives meant for the poor and vulnerables. A law maker who allegedly shared Covid19 parliatives as birthday gifts fall under this category, and we can keep relating. The Otalu are those people who prefer to make gains of their country, even if this would cost them selling some invaluables of such society. This set of people, Falola claims, had existed not later than the 15th century when foreign slave dealers waited at the coasts to collect Africans captured by their own kings and slave raiders for personal motives. This explains why some African rulers, as history had it, sign treaties with European imperialists—during the heydays of imperialism— in order to keep a monopoly of the land. A close example was king Akitoye of Lagos who conspired with the British to enable him reinstalled on the Lagos throne after he had been ousted by his uncle, Kosoko. Contemporary example may be sought in the successive government's neglect of reviving Nigerian refineries. This would prevent them from cutting from the "cake of the subsidy." What this translates to is a continuous dependent on the outside world. The T'eminikan, are those leaders who would prefer to reach thier ends even if that would infringe on the rights of their people. This set of leaders are concerned with their own interests only. And, I thought I had heard enough of these funny terms until another distinguished professor, Professor Amidu Sanni begged to compliment the aforementioned elements by adding "Opalu". This set of people resulted form the above categories, and their aim is to wreck (as the term implies) the whole society in pursuing their selfish interests. Opalu would not mind initiating policies that would leave their subjects into catastrophe. All of the aforementioned, except the Oselu, Falola claimed,  are present in Africa, in the present time. One would want to ask why a society can be so corruptive. The professor gave two reasons: lack of shame and the absence of guilt (conscience), both of which are elements of values. 

When some acts used to be shameful, society leaders led moderately. Titles and name were guided. Leaders realize they own the glory and shame if their society flourishes or withers. They know how disgraceful it was if a leader is to be jailed upon ending of tenure. Hence, they are accountable to their subjects. These leaders, Falola claimed, are not limited to those in government, it includes patriarchs, teachers, and even religious leaders, the former constitutes an informal authority. The sanctity of "shame" and the authority of a family head was what brought about the Yoruba maxim, "Olori ebi O' gbodo gbo", the patriarch must not know about it. This maxim exists no more in principle, in a Nigeria where patriarchs and religious leaders decidedly desert values for personal gains. It is no more alarming hearing news of Alfas and pastors engaging in money rituals, sexual abuse, and money laundering. This kind of people would help Nigeria no more than being a bad model for the youths. 

Guilt on the other hand has bid Nigeria a farewell. Going by the Professor's definition, guilt is when you do a wrong act in secret, and feel very bad about it. One wonders if Nigerian leaders (and the followers alike) feel guilty diverting public resources for private gains; rigging elections; engaging in bribery, nepotism and favoritism. They don't!

The compere wouldn't listen to Professor Toyin Falola talked the whole day. The professor recommends that Nigeria maintained the following. The two Abrahamic religions in Nigeria, Falola agreed, are full of values. While I was wondering why the Professor was referencing holy books in such situation, I remembered he once told a Tribune reporter how he believed in a Quranic verse that states that every man shall taste death. The Professor admonishes that we make good use of those values in the religions. He added that values have to be integrated into leadership. In his 41-page lecture document, where he referenced about 63 books, journal articles and conference lectures—I thought he was writing another book—he recommends that the Nigerian government established harmonization, (p. 23) run an inclusive government, (p. 24) that as well, appreciates "mentorship initiatives." (p. 25) He tasked the Nigerian government to replicate a "Scandinavian paradigm of leadership", (p. 24) as well as invoke the African philosophy of Ubuntu, "which espouses the notion that one's existence is contingent upon the collective...."

Professor Toyin Falola is an ambassador Nigeria and the academics cannot afford to lose at the time. His immense contributions to scholarship would probably have led Professor Amidu Sanni to name him, Nigeria's Aristotle. Although he conceded that his generation has failed the Nigerian youths, I join Professor Toyin Falola to reiterate that Nigeria can rise and will rise, if all Nigerians see it as responsibility.

Abdulkabir Muhammed writes from the Lagos State University. He writes via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia, the Governor of Benue State, has expressed his condemnation for the armed robbery attacks that took place in Otukpo town targeting commercial banks.

Reports from NewsNow state that a group of bloodthirsty gunmen raided at least four banks in the town and made off with an undisclosed amount of money.

During the operation, which lasted for several hours, the robbers mercilessly killed six customers and four policemen. It has been reported that many others sustained serious injuries.

Alia, in a statement issued on Saturday through his Chief Press Secretary, Sir Tersoo Kula, described the robbery incident as a direct disrespect to the state.

The Governor revealed that these attacks were carried out precisely during the Security Council meeting at the Government House in Makurdi.

In his sympathies, Alia extended his condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in the gruesome robbery.

He stated, “It is truly unfortunate that individuals who were carrying out their duties were ruthlessly shot and killed by these heartless robbers.

“However, they will not escape justice. Security agencies are already on their trail and they will be apprehended and brought to justice.”

Alia urged the people of the State to stay vigilant and to always report any suspicious activities around them.

Senate President Godwill Akpabio, who is the first Southerner to occupy the Senate president seat in 16 years is facing a tough battle to keep his seat, amid renewed opposition from within and outside the ruling party.

Akpabio, a former governor of Akwa-Ibom State, is witnessing opposition to his style of leadership in the upper chamber, a place that many Nigerians now refer to as a “retirement home” to ex-governors.

Many of the lawmakers that have openly opposed him are members of the ruling party, APC.

Sen Ali Ndume, who served as the coordinator of the Akpabio’s campaign, is having what could be called a running battle with him, while Elisha Abbo spearheaded the anti-Akpabio movement until his sack from the House.

Ndume already challenged Akpabio openly twice. Last week, he was ruled out of order by Akpabio and he walked out of the Chamber, although he later claimed that he did not storm out of the Chamber but to pray at the Mosque.

However, Ndume is not seen by many as a formidable foe because of his history of fighting almost all Senate Presidents without any record of winning.

In 2015, he supported Bukola Saraki, however, he was later removed unceremoniously as the Leader of the Senate after he challenged the former Kwara State Governor.

And Abbo has been axed from the Senate after the Court of Appeal sacked him.

But the danger is not over for Akpabio. It could be recalled that Akpabio did not emerge with an overwhelming margin like Abbas Tajudeen in the House. Despite the endorsement from the president and the party, Akpabio polled 63 votes, while Abdulaziz Yari scored 46 votes.

Insiders in the senate told DAILY POST that there are senators who see Yari as a viable alternative in the face of opposition against Akpabio, who is now facing the hurdles that Southern senate presidents faced.

From 1999 to 2007, five southerners occupied the seat- Evans Enwerem, Chuba Okadigbo, Anyim Pius Anyim, Adolphus Wabara and Ken Nnamani. Three of the occupiers of the seat were forced out for different reasons. However, the Northerners that occupied the seat have had a relatively stable stay in the office.

Senator David Mark served as Senate President for eight uninterrupted years. Bukola Saraki served for four years despite the opposition from the executive. He completed the tenure and Ahmad Lawan also had a hitch-free tenure.

Many believe that the difficulty for southerners has to do with the distribution of the Senate. The South has 51 Senators, while the North has 58 Senators. In addition, the majority of the Senators from the South are in opposition parties.

“Akpabio just needs to be circumspect in managing the Senators, many of whom are also former Governors themselves,” a senior legislative aide told DAILY POST but wished his name not to be mentioned.

DAILY POST learnt that the distribution of appointments by President Tinubu has not really helped Akpabio as many of the Senators from the North have complained about the “yorubanisation” of the government and Akpabio has helped to confirm all the appointments to the chagrin of Northern Senators.

Meanwhile, many of the Senators do not want to offend President Tinubu by moving against the Senate President because they want better funding of the National Assembly, particularly with the 2024 budget expected to be presented anytime soon.

It would be recalled that President Tinubu had allocated N70 billion to the lawmakers at the commencement of this Assembly, and for the first time, all members of the National Assembly will get SUVs, instead of the usual Toyota Camry they used to get.

“No one is ready to offend the president. Did you see a recent report where members of the Labour Party shunned Abure (Labour Party National Chairman, Julius Abure) by insisting that they won’t reject the SUVs,” the aide said.

For now, Akpabio has the President on his side, with the President’s men, Deputy Senate President Barau Jibrin, Opeyemi Bamidele and Solomon Olamilekan also on ground to protect him.

The Federal Government has admitted that it is facing enormous challenges and revenue deficit amid a growing population.

This is as it lamented that it was struggling to pay salaries because “there is no money”.

Speaking in Abuja, Minister of Budget and National Planning, Atiku Bagudu, urged non-governmental organisations to help the government to cover the spaces it could not.

Bagudu, represented by the ministry’s Director of International Cooperation, Dr. Sampson Ebimaro, lamented that Nigeria’s population is fast increasing, adding that unemployment is surging amid high inflation rate.

“Government faces enormous challenges especially now; the government is facing a revenue deficit. There is no money anywhere in the country; the government is just managing to pay salaries.

“The growth rate is very slow and the population growth is fast pacing and increasing. Unemployment is surging in the midst of high inflation,” the minister said.

Dr. Sarah Alade, a former acting governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, has said participation of Non-State Actors (NSAs) was key to the federal government’s target to lift millions of Nigeria out of poverty.

Alade, who was also Special Adviser to ex-President Muhammadu Buhari on Finance and Economy, urged the government to collaborate with NSAs to achieve economic development.

The Borno State Police Command has confirmed the arrest of Adamu Alhaji Ibrahim, the husband of murdered daughter of a Borno House of Assembly member representing Ngala Local Government Area.

Adamu Alhaji Ibrahim, 31-year-old, was arrested for allegedly killing his 25-year-old wife, Fatima Alhaji Bukar.

The Command’s Public Relations Officer, ASP Sani Kamilu Muhammed disclosed this in a statement made available to newsmen on Friday, noting that the deceased’s husband was arrested alongside 39-year-old Bukar Wadiya of Dikechiri.

Part of the statement read:

“On 18/10/2023 at about 1800hrs, one Adamu Alhaji Ibrahim, 31yrs of Dikechiri Bayan Gidan Dambe area Maiduguri went to Gwange Division accompanied by one Bukar Wadiya 39yrs with a Honda Vehicle Reg. No MAG 230 AP and CHASSIS NO ANR742256679821 conveying the body of a woman who the said Adamu Alhaji Ibrahim claimed to be his wife and sought for an emergency help from the police.

“The woman was later identified as Fatima Alhaji Bukar.

“The husband stated that he is a staff of UBA and came back from work at about 1700hrs and found her lying down in a pool of blood”.

According to the statement, preliminary investigation revealed that before the incident, the couple had some domestic disputes over an alleged extra marital affair by the husband at their matrimonial home.

“The house where the incident happened located at Dikechiri Bayan Gidan Dambe area, Maiduguri was secured and during search, the following exhibits were recovered: one short pestle, a rope, a rug carpet stained with blood, knife and Honda vehicle with CHASSIS NO ANR742256679821, PLATE NO MAG230AP, and a mucus stained pillow”, the statement added.

It said a discreet investigation is ongoing for diligent prosecution.

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has clarified that the process of admission requires candidates to upload their O’Level results on the Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS) platform, among others, to determine their eligibility for tertiary education.

The Board said it has also begun an investigation into claims in a report by an online medium that the University of Lagos (UNILAG) reportedly denied over 2,000 applicants admission over the failure of JAMB to upload their O’Level results on CAPS, stressing, however, that it is candidates and not JAMB that uploads results.

Head of Public Affairs and Protocol of JAMB, Dr Fabian Benjamin, said in a statement on Friday in Abuja that the Board would want to state clearly that its Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS), a platform on which all admissions are conducted and through which candidates are expected to upload their O/level results, was established to engender transparency and accountability in the admission process.

According to him, resolving candidates’ complaints concerning their admission status is a major component of the software, which was introduced to ensure that no candidate is denied admission unjustly.

He added that one of the major provisions of the platform and others like the ticketing platform is their capacity to empower candidates to interact directly with the board with a meticulous record of such interactions archived and generate an electronic trail that all operators could access to ascertain the true position of things should any dispute arise.

“As a regulator, one of the central responsibilities of the Board to candidates and other stakeholders is to ensure that no candidate who is qualified to be admitted is denied such admission, hence the several provisions by the Board for candidates to always raise queries when they feel shortchanged.

“It is noteworthy that the process of admission requires candidates to upload their O’Level results on the CAPS platform, among others, to determine their eligibility for tertiary education.

“To ensure wider access, candidates are, at the point of registration, allowed to register with “Awaiting Result,” but such results being awaited must be uploaded before the commencement of admission by their chosen institution; otherwise, they would be deemed unqualified.

“Candidates who upload their O’Level results after the stipulated time for consideration of admission stand no chance, even when they eventually upload such results or petition their choice institutions.

“However, no candidate should be left out if he or she uploads within the stipulated time and is ranked amongst qualified candidates in any particular course of study,” Benjamin said.

He added, “To facilitate this, the CAPS tracking facility indicates the date, time, and even seconds that such results were uploaded and, as such, provides incontrovertible evidence in the event of disputes.

Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa, famously known as Ken Saro-Wiwa, would have been 82 on October 10. My lionized friend packed too many lifetimes into one life. His hanging by the General Sani Abacha regime on November 10, 1995 was a universal cause célèbre. It can be all too easy for many to give Ogoni activism the greater parameter in any discussion of the mourned one, but make no mistake about it: it was literature that offered Ken Saro-Wiwa the needed pedestal to bestride the globe.

Born on October 10, 1941, Ken Saro-Wiwa understood the power of the written word from very early in his educational attainments. By the time he got admitted to the famous Government College, Umuahia, his embrace of the liberal arts was total. At the University of Ibadan, he upped the ante with service as the President of the Dramatic Society, and he equally weighed in as a redoubtable performer with the University Travelling Theatre.

It was indeed a problematic world that Ken Saro-Wiwa grew up into, needing to break from Biafra during the civil war into the larger Nigerian nation. The politics of the time is not my forte here. It suffices to stress that beyond the politics of the war and the aftermath, Ken Saro-Wiwa was poised on a literary upswing when he was among the over six hundred wannabes who entered for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), London playwriting competition in October 1971 tagged “Write A Play For Africa”. Ken Saro-Wiwa’s entry entitled “The Transistor Radio” won the “Joint Fourth Prize” alongside fellow Nigerian Charles C. Umeh’s “Double Attack” and Ghanaian Derlene Clems’ “Scholarship Woman”. The First Prize was won by the South African Richard Rive for his two-actor play “Make Like Slaves”. The three judges for the contest were Wole Soyinka, Martin Esslin and Lewis Nkosi.

Soyinka’s statement on “The Transistor Radio” reads thus: “It is really well shaped. We get a sense of literally the whole city being fake and phoney, and in the end you wonder if such a town exists. But in spite of that the characters are there, their vitality, their will to live. Their means are discreditable but the author achieves this difficult task of arousing condemnation and at the same time admiration for the individuals.” According to Lewis Nkosi, “Transistor Radio really captured my heart. The quality of the dialogue really gave me the feeling of real people talking. I’m very partial to comedy when it is well done, and really one must prize comedy because these problems are so crucial that often there is a tendency to be very weighty, morally weighty, about them.”

It is indeed interesting that the celebrated Jimi Solanke played the lead role of Basi in the BBC recording of the play on July 23, 1972. “The Transistor Radio” is a very funny comedy about the young unemployed Lagos man Basi who devises many tricks for not paying his rent to the landlady and generally surviving on the edge in the big city with bright lights. It can be argued that the entire theatrical output of Ken Saro-Wiwa via the television series “Basi and Company” emanated from the 30-minute radio play “The Transistor Radio”. Ken Saro-Wiwa spelt his name back then as Ken Tsaro-Wiwa.

Writing also as Ken Tsaro-Wiwa, he first got published in 1973 by the Lagos-based Longmans Publishers with two children’s books: Tambari and Tambari in Dukana. The eponymous hero’s adventures in the rural beach town of Dukana are captured within the ambit of childlike innocence and magic. The half-human, half-fish Mami-water rules the waves. There is the arresting story of the happy-go-lucky man Kaiza who threw his fishing net into the waters and came up with “a bag of money” which he eventually lost. Like Basi in “The Transistor Radio” the thematic thread reads: “Come easy, go easy.”

Nothing much issued from Ken Saro-Wiwa’s pen after the initial promise of the early 1970s. He had to wait till 1985 to publish a collection of poems Songs in a Time of War through his newly-established publishing company Saros, based in Port Harcourt. The verses are in fine a meditation on the Nigeria-Biafra war though the longest piece in the collection, a pidgin poem “Dis Nigeria Sef” was written in 1977, seven years after the war had ended. Poetry, it has to be stated, is not Ken Saro-Wiwa’s strongest forte.

Ken Saro-Wiwa raised not a little controversy upon the publishing in 1985 of Sozaboy: A Novel in Rotten English. The book based on the meaninglessness of war can be said to be Ken Saro-Wiwa’s magnum opus. His use of language, which he calls “rotten English”, has been acclaimed by some critics. The title character Sozaboy is a naïve young recruit in the war who lacks any understanding of what he is in the war for, and ends up broken. The critic Pita Okute, writing in Vanguard newspaper, dismissed Sozaboy for having a “silly plot”.

This criticism drew the ire of Ken Saro-Wiwa who had to depict the critic Pita Okute as Pita Dumbrok in his novel-in-progress being published in the Nigerian newspapers. The novel was eventually published as Prisoners of Jebs with Pita Dumbrok mouthing “silly plot” at every turn. He first wrote about the novel-in-progress in his 1977 column in The Punch newspaper. The column eventually resurrected in Vanguard newspaper in 1985. Jebs Prison was set up by the then Organisation of African Unity (OAU) on an artificial island in the Atlantic Ocean off the Nigerian coast. Ken Saro-Wiwa penned a sequel to the novel entitled Pita Dumbrok’s Prison.

Building on the early gravitas of “The Transistor Radio” and the hit television series he created, Ken Saro-Wiwa published Basi and Company: A Modern African Folktale in 1987. Basi deploys the trickster motif of the tortoise in African fables to survive all obstacles. It is within this domain that Saro-Wiwa in the selfsame 1987 published Basi and Company: Four Television Plays.

Ken Saro-Wiwa’s collection of short stories, A Forest of Flowers, was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers Prize in 1987. Graham Hough, writing in London Review of Books, stressed: “Ken Saro-Wiwa’s extremely accomplished collection of short stories stands to Nigeria in something of the same relation as Joyce’s Dubliners to Ireland… There is great variety… and immense satisfaction for the reader in the adroitness and variety of the presentation.” In 1989 Ken Saro-Wiwa published another collection of short stories Adaku & Other Stories via his overseas publishing company, Saros International, London. The 176-page-book contains 18 short stories. Twelve of the stories deal subtly with man-woman relations in a manner ahead of its time.

Ken Saro-Wiwa’s memoirs based on the civil war, On a Darkling Plain: An Account of the Nigerian Civil War, was published in 1989 and was launched in Lagos to much controversy. Critics from the Biafran side of the war divide argued that Saro-Wiwa was pandering to federalist apologetics especially as he made bold to stress in the book that rebel leader Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu deserved death. The author dared the marginalization of the minority tribes especially his native Ogoni by the majority Igbo in the war drive for Biafra.

There was a dramatic turn to fighting for Ogoni minority rights at the turn of 1990 by Ken Saro-Wiwa. He published Genocide in Nigeria: The Ogoni Tragedy in 1992. Ken Saro-Wiwa’s struggle would eventually lead to his judicial murder on November 10, 1995. His detention diaries were released posthumously in 1995 through the book A Month and a Day: A Detention Diary. It was published in New York by Penguin Books. His other book Lemona’s Tale was published in 1996 by Penguin in London.

Many books by other authors have been put out on the Ken Saro-Wiwa cause after his death, notably Remembering Ken Saro-Wiwa and Other Essays by Adewale Maja-Pearce. Controversy dogged the book like Ken Saro-Wiwa’s life. Becky Clarke of Ayebia Clarke Literary Agency & Publishing Ltd had all but agreed terms with Adewale Maja-Pearce to have the book released in 2005 until controversy supervened. Ken Saro-Wiwa’s son, Ken Wiwa, author of In the Shadow of a Saint, asked for the book to be censored because Adewale had in a newspaper interview averred that Ken Saro-Wiwa was a former friend f General Sani Abacha. Publisher Clarke who was almost poised to release the book had to go back to “re-editing” it in order to stay in line with the liberal establishment that had always held Ken Saro-Wiwa up as a saint. Adewale on his part argued that he would only remove a word if a qualified libel lawyer found anything libelous in the essay. Incidentally Adewale stresses that Ken Wiwa helped him with some of his sources for the essay, notably Richard Boele who in his 1995 Report of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation (UNPO) Mission to Investigate the Situation of the Ogonis of Nigeria wrote: “In Nigeria, there is a clear patronage system that usually runs along family, tribal, or friendship lines. Large sums of money are simply given through the granting of government or company contracts for road building, electrification and so on… Many of the Ogoni leaders… benefited from this patronage system – securing either government or oil company contracts… Ken Saro-Wiwa also received such government contracts in the 70s and 80s but ceded this practice in the 1990s so as not to compromise him once he became actively involved in the political struggle…” In the end, Adewale Maja-Pearce published the book through the Lagos-based New Gong Collective.

Ken Saro-Wiwa lived indeed a charmed life as the leader of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP) but it was his work as a writer that gave him the international gravitas that propelled the cause. He is not any critic’s idea of the sophisticated writer. He deals with the well-told story rendered without any affectation whatsoever. His corpus of works can be read without much difficulty by the average general reader. He carved his own niche in popular literature, thus adding his own unique dimension to the distinguished literary alumni of Government College, Umuahia and University College, Ibadan, a formidable cast made up of Chinua Achebe, Christopher Okigbo, Elechi Amadi, Chukwuemeka Ike etc. Ken Saro-Wiwa can never truly die despite the hangman’s noose because he wrote himself into eternity on the bookshelves of history.