Author: King Jaja

#EndSARS was a viral event. But away from the tweets and the hashtags, an offline culture of protest against the agency grew that was no less influential, writes Emma Etim. The #EndSARS protest in Nigeria remains a landmark event in digital activism. A phenomenon characterised by its spread, viral imagery, and 280-character calls to action. However, beneath the digital frenzy lies another important, largely untold story of quieter, more sustained expressions of resistance flourishing away from the glare of trending hashtags. The digital revolution in protest Digital media platforms such as Twitter (now X) have taken the centre stage in…

Carolyn Kissane, academic director and clinical professor at the Center for Global Affairs at New York University, leads the conversation on the geopolitics of oil.   FASKIANOS: Thank you. Welcome to the final session of the Winter/Spring 2023 CFR Academic Webinar Series. I’m Irina Faskianos, vice president of the National Program and Outreach here at CFR. Today’s discussion is on the record. And the video and transcript will be available on our website, CFR.org/Academic, if you would like to share these materials with your colleagues or classmates. As always, CFR takes no institutional positions on matters of policy. We are…

Photo Credit: Ebuka Obi-Uchendu/Instagram If night one of Big Brother Naija Season 10 celebrated playful nods to pop culture, night two belonged entirely to history. For his first appearance, Ebuka Obi-Uchendu channelled African highlife royalty, stepping out in a ’70s-style suit cut from fabric printed with vintage newspaper clippings – a clear homage to Prince Nico Mbarga, the legendary musician behind “Sweet Mother,” one of the highest-selling African singles of all time. Then came his second appearance, a moment that felt like stepping into a history book. Inspired by Chief Festus Okotie-Eboh, Nigeria’s flamboyant Minister of Finance in the 1960s,…

The weather will depend on your choice of safari destination. Generally speaking, Africa’s safari destinations are in their green season, with warm temperatures during the day and cooler evenings. In East Africa, such as Kenya and Tanzania, there may be short rains, but these usually come in brief showers and rarely disrupt activities. In Southern Africa, including South Africa, Botswana, and Zambia, the landscapes are lush and vibrant, with occasional rain. The green season provides stunning scenery and excellent wildlife viewing opportunities for safari goers, especially during calving season. Source link

More than 40 people were killed in an attack by an Islamic State affiliate in north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the UN and the military said.Most of them were worshippers taking part in a night vigil at a church in the town of Komanda when they were attacked by Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) fighters. Nine of those killed were children, the UN peacekeeping mission said.Nearby shops and businesses were looted and set on fire.The ADF emerged in Uganda in the 1990s, accusing the government there of persecuting Muslims, but is now based over the border in DR Congo, where it…

Stary MwabaZambia’s notorious “black mountains” – huge heaps of mining waste that scar the Copperbelt skyline – are deeply personal to Stary Mwaba, one of the country’s leading visual artists.”As kids, we used to call it ‘mu danger’ – meaning ‘in the danger’,” Mwaba tells the BBC.”The ‘black mountain’ was this place where you shouldn’t go,” says the painter, who was born and lived in the Copperbelt until he was 18.”But we would sneak in anyway – to pick the wild fruits that somehow managed to grow there,” the artist recalls.Nowadays, the young men heading to “mu danger” are looking…

The complexities of combining customary laws with legislation are complicated further by polygamous traditions, writes Bankolay Theodore Turay In Sierra Leone, as in many sub-Saharan African nations, customary laws comprising unwritten rules and traditions often serves as significant barriers to women’s land rights. Key legislative and policy instruments, such as the Customary Land Rights Act (2022), the National Land Policy (2015), and the Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (GEWE) Act (2022), aim to promote gender equality in land tenure. The ongoing World Bank-funded Sierra Leone Land Administration Project is actively coordinating the recording, mapping, and registration of land rights. A crucial aspect…

What if the only thing standing between you and Africa’s most unforgettable moments is your calendar? Africa, a land as vast as its people are friendly, where big cats pad silently across sweeping savannahs and the magnetic pull of its vibrant cities holds perennial appeal. You can try to go to Africa and return unchanged. However, the experiences that await you are both humbling and transformative. Book your safari, and all of this is yours to explore.Book your safari early to have the best possible stay, Image Credit: Vumbura PlainsThere Is No B-Roll: Africa Is Always in SeasonTravel is deeply…

A storm is sweeping through Kenya, and it is not the work of shadowy conspirators in dark, smoky backrooms. It is a reckoning long overdue — a rupture in the facade of a system that has ruled through brutal coercion, cooption, ethnic manipulation, and performative democracy since the advent of colonialism. Kenya’s #GenZ uprising that has taken root in the last one year, culminating in the events of recent weeks, is not just to protest finance bills but a national awakening, a rupture with the past. Mu people the Gīkūyū call it “ituīka”, which brings to mind the image of…

This is the second installment in a four part series to mark the first anniversary of the June 25, 2024 protests. You can read the first post here.The third post will speculate on how Ruto might lose in 2027, incumbency advantage notwithstanding. The final post will offer a general commentary on how the current moment fits within the wider historical political economy of Kenya. For background, be sure to read the four pieces from last year in the aftermath of the protests here, here, here, and here. I: A brilliant campaigner, but a terrible administratorWilliam Ruto governs like an itinerant…