Nigeria at 50

Yvonne Ndege reports on Africa's most populous country on the 50th anniversary of her independence from Great Britain.

Obasanjo asks Yardy to resign

Speaking at a public lecture in Abuja, former Nigerian president Olesugun Obasanjo suggested that current president Umaru Yar'Adua may need to resign from office. Obasanjo, who himself chose Yar'Adua as a candidate to succeed him, still wields considerable power within the corrupt and bickering government.

According to the story in Sahara Reporters, Obasanjo's comment was delivered in response a member of the audience who accused him of being responsible for the present constitutional crisis by choosing a sick man to succeed him as president. “What I need to say is that nobody picked Yar’Adua so that he will not perform,” Obasanjo replied. “If I did that, God will punish me. There is no reason why I should do that.”

Clinton arrives in Abuja, Nigeria

Hillary Clinton arrived in the capital of Nigeria Tuesday night, August 11th, 2009. As reported by both the BBC and Peter Clottey of the Voice of America, Clinton's itinerary for this 36 hour visit to Abuja includes meetings with politicians from several parties prior to meeting President Yar'Adua. Suleiman M. Bisalla and Aisha Umar of Nigeria's Daily Trust write that the Nigerian administration is offended that Clinton's staff put her itinerary together without first consulting them. Such an arrangement may run "contrary to diplomatic norms" but shows that key advisors such as Johnnie Carson as well as Mrs. Clinton herself are aware of the complexity and dynamism of Nigeria's multi-ethnic political landscape. It is too bad that she will be unable to visit more of the country to absorb the roots of the complexity among the people in their local environment.

Imnakoya, Solmonsydelle, and Beauty have also posted today on the Clinton visit to Nigeria.

Jewels in the Jungle has a fabulous and very lengthy post on the Clinton's entire trip to Africa. Firoze Manji, writing in Pambazuka News, analyzes the focus on economic development and promotion of the interests of U.S. corporations by Clinton in picking countries to visit and issues to raise with African politicians.

The Master of the Talking Drum


Rasaki Aladokun was born into a family of drummers, but he also became commercially successful as a long-standing member of King Sunny Ade's group. Aladokun provided much of the traditional Yoruba roots of juju music as King Sunny Ade originated and continues to perform that type of African popular music.

There are three videos of Rasaki Aladokun on YouTube posted this July by Ralf Gruender. Unfortunately, it is not possible to "embed" those videos in a blog. I tried that unsuccessfully a few minutes ago. Here are some links that should work.

The Master of the Talking Drum, Part 1

The Master of the Talking Drum, Part 2

The Master of the Talking Drum, Part 3

This documentary on the Yoruba people is in English for those of us who have been forgetting our way home. Radio Abeokuta is now streaming both music and video in Yoruba to the diaspora!