Kiye: March 8th 2022

To mark International Women’s Month, which also co-incides with our own marking of (O)gelede festival, both of which commemorate the achievements, power and potential of women, mothers and femininity, motherhood, the nurturing and the cautioning – this year, the kiye is done by Jebujene’s editor, Dele Meiji, and we hope to invite others to do…

These days, the biggest musicians do not need political money – Oris Aigbokhaevbolo

These days, the biggest musicians do not need political money; 100 million streams across the Global streaming platforms is enough income. There is also the side gig of performances at corporate events or at personal parties. These guys would hardly record a song endorsing a candidate. But that’s just the biggest singers. Every other space…

In praise of Ancestor Worship

So, Grace Mugabe has said that should her husband die before the next election, he should stay on the ballot as a corpse. It’s not a bad idea, and it is keeping with ancestor worship, an aspect of our culture as Africans that we have for so long neglected, albeit never abandoned. Now that Grace Mugabe…

How the Obamas expanded the language of American presidency – with dance

We’re all familiar with the language of American presidential campaigns, the symbolic rituals every candidate must make – kissing babies, high fives with joe average, and sympathetic listening to his wife. Even more familiar are we with the stump speech, and the 100 megawatt smile that communicate, pick me, I’m the best one to lead.…

Why Can’t They Apologize?

Nigeria is Africa’s most populous country, with ambitions to be the most economically powerful country in it’s region, and Africa as a whole; Nigerians on the whole are quite proud of the putative power of Nigeria – and won’t hesitate to defend it’s potential to overtake South Africa, project its regional power or dominate the…

The Nazification of Nigeria – Or reflections on the meaning of bad and repressive laws

 On 7th January, the president of Nigeria’s fourth republic signed into law, a bill banning marriages between two people of the same sex; a law, in effect, banning a practice that did not in any legal sense already exist. More chilling, the law also banned the existence of any association of people presumed, or in…

Performing Leadership: Jonathan needs a new royal language

So Goodluck Jonathan gave a presidential media chat on Sunday– judging from the response on twitter, his performance was largely judged unsatisfactory, though some commentators were ready to defend the president’s performance. Nigeria’s president is one of the most powerful of executive leaeder’s on the African continent, being head not only of civil, but also…

“Ben Okri is wrong about European and African literature’s greatness (and its relationship to form and subject”)

There’s much to chew on, but little to agree with in Ben Okri’s recent essay on greatness (or lack there of) in African and Black writing – much of the problems already eloquently addressed by Sofia Samatar in her rebuttal, but I wanted to drop my two pence into the debate, so here goes. Okri…