Sokoto Caliphate

Niger: with a key deadline passed, Nigeria must take decisive steps to prevent a civil war in its neighborhood

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星期一, 八月 7, 2023
Gaps, Sunni Islam, Senate, Violence, Public opinion, Instability, Economy, Grande, Turkish coup d'état, Sierra Leone, Sokoto Caliphate, Population, Refugee, ISWAP, Islam, Senegalese Americans, Wagner Group, Drug, Gum arabic, Economic Community of West African States

West Africa is now bracing to see how Ecowas, which has threatened to take all steps, including military intervention, will react.

Key Points: 
  • West Africa is now bracing to see how Ecowas, which has threatened to take all steps, including military intervention, will react.
  • Niger’s coup bears serious consequences for regional peace, security, and stability in west Africa, especially as it affects Nigeria and the already troubled Sahel region.
  • The options now before Ecowas are to extend the deadline to give mediation and diplomatic efforts a chance, or to proceed with the threatened military intervention.

Jihadi insurgency threats

    • Elsewhere in southern Niger there is overspill from violence in northern Nigeria involving jihadist groups, including Boko Haram and its breakaway faction, the Islamic State in the West African Province (ISWAP).
    • To add to the instability, there are estimated to be as many 30,000 “bandits”, mainly operating in and around northern Nigeria.
    • While described as “terrorists” by the Nigerian government, these are generally driven by economic and criminal, enterprises.

All eyes on Nigeria’s response

    • The cost of previous Ecowas interventions, particularly in Liberia and Sierra Leone, has largely been borne by Nigeria.
    • That would have calamitous consequences for the region and major implications for global security.

Music video controversy in Nigeria: Logos Olori misreads a religious time bomb

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星期二, 八月 1, 2023
The Satanic Verses, Freedom, Nobel Prize, Dance, Singing, Democracy, Religion, Violence, Spirituality, Culture, Miss, Woman, Symbolism, Elmina Castle, Muslims, Death, Philosophy, Man, Sokoto Caliphate, Atlantic Ocean, Satanic Verses, Riot, Sister Act, Salman Rushdie, Fulani War, Family, Logos, Memory, Cultural diversity, Film industry, Jewellery, Entertainment, Islam

Recently, Logos Olori – a Nigerian singer who is signed to Afrobeats superstar Davido’s music label – released a video with supposedly Muslim men dancing to his song Jaye Lo in front of a mosque.

Key Points: 
  • Recently, Logos Olori – a Nigerian singer who is signed to Afrobeats superstar Davido’s music label – released a video with supposedly Muslim men dancing to his song Jaye Lo in front of a mosque.
  • After an outcry, the controversial video had to be taken down by Davido because it sparked the ire of Muslims in Nigeria.
  • There were public burnings of Davido’s image on posters in the Muslim north and fervent calls to have him remove the video.

Religious tensions

    • Nigeria, a largely Muslim-dominated country, has been plagued by religious conflicts in contemporary times.
    • The religious uprising, which resulted in thousands of deaths, was an attempt to impose a “purer” version of Islam.
    • The country is governed by powerful religious sentiments – both Islamic and Christian – that make it, at most times, ultra-conservative.

Freedom of expression

    • A sophisticated way of assessing the Logos Olori controversy is to state that it’s about the right to freedom of expression.
    • But on the streets, it’s often unveiled as a tussle to establish “purer” standards of religious practice.

Art or gimmick?

    • But there is also a larger question; is this really art or a lowbrow attention-seeking gimmick?
    • But young African-American women who twerked atop the Elmina Castle in Ghana were criticised for bringing the slave dungeon into disrepute.
    • In the elevation of the risqué and the substituting of art with entertainment there is also a blurring of the distinction between the sacred and the profane.
    • In my view, Logos Olori’s portrayal wasn’t conceived as a piece of art but a gimmick (and perhaps a form of cultural appropriation) that ultimately backfired.

The common good

    • Most entertainment clearly isn’t art and the limits of individual rights and freedoms are often defined by the effects they have on the common good and social cohesion.
    • For a polity as diverse as Nigeria in ethnic, cultural, religious and political terms, the issue of freedom of expression and individual liberties in relation to the common good has been problematic.
    • And for the good of all, it’s better we take heed.