Consensus governments, recent reading ,the London Lit Fest & praying for Ghana

On the road again this time travelling mostly by train through this green and pleasant land. This morning on the news, we hear that Gordon Brown’s sneaky attempt to co-opt Paddy Ashdown, a leading Liberal Democrat into his government has come unstuck. It leaves Mr Brown with a bit of egg on his face. I’m sure he did not want this made public and was looking to surprise us all with a rainbow cabinet including Liberal Democrats as the start of his premiership. It appears that this indeed is the season of consensus governments- in France; Sarkozy has gathered a cabinet from different political and ethnic viewpoints in an attempt to appear diplomatic and statesmanlike. In Nigeria, Yar’adua tries the same- reaching out to the opposition. I do wish that everyone gives him a chance, including the trade unions. I’m all for diplomacy myself and consensus building, perhaps something to do with being a middle child…..

There seems to be no consensus in the Agent Provocateur lingerie family. The company founded by the iconoclastic designer Vivienne Westwood’s son Joseph Corre and his partner Serena Rees woke on Saturday to the news that both founders had earned MBEs in the Queen’s birthday honours. However while Corre turns his down saying that no honour can flow from a dishonourable Blair government, his partner Rees is quite happy to accept….

On the subject of honours; a friend was quite upset at the weekend to hear that Salman Rushdie had been knighted. “Is this the same Rushdie of The Empire Writes Back? How could he? ” she queried. I argued that she had not quite understood the love-hate relationship that Rushdie has with the Establishment, and that besides recent reports of his high living in New York suggest that he is not averse to the finer things of life, knighthoods included….

In the course of my travels I have read several interesting books and I will try and blog about them as time permits. I enjoyed Marisha Pessl’s hefty tome Special Topics in Calamity Physics which had echoes of Donna Tartt’s The Secret History for me. Unfortunately many of the literary allusions were lost on me….

On the non-fiction side I enjoyed China Shakes the World: The Rise of a Hungry Nation- an interesting book on China which illuminates much of the current hype/hysteria around the rise of China. It is more measured and less breathless and actively weighs the pros and cons and the reality of the Chinese rise to world dominance. It’s written by James Kynge of The Economist and I highly recommend it… Isee it has a different title for the US market-China Shakes the World: A Titan's Rise and Troubled Future -- And the Challenge for America

I also enjoyed The Book of Salt by Monique Truong. I’m surprised I hadn’t heard about it before seeing how much I enjoyed it. It was published in 2004 and is a fictional account of the life of the Vietnamese cook employed by Gertrude Stein and Alice B Toklas…

Finally there is news of the first ever London Literary Festival at the South Bank Centre featuring among others our own WS, Biyi Bandele, Helon Habila and Helen Oyeyemi among others. I hope the tickets don’t sell out before I can book…

And of course there is the news that commercial quantities of black gold have been found in neighbouring Ghana- may the Good Lord help them...

First Tanzania musings, hailing the CAs and a young reader

Tanzania is a beautiful country- the lush greenness was just as I imagined and I felt at home, my hay fever disappearing instantly:-). I did begin to understand though why other Africans are often exasperated with Nigeria because I could sense and see that the poverty there was different from Nigeria. With our oil wealth and vibrant population, we could be so much more.

Which isn't to say that Nigeria doesn't have poverty but in Tanzania I began to see what Nigeria might have been like without the oil. The people seemed a lot more humble which had its good sides and its bad sides. On one hand it meant that when I approached the immigrations officer issuing my visa to tell him that I had a connecting flight to catch and could he please expedite the process, he did so with a smile, without asking for kola and without reminding me that everyone else had important places to get to as I suspect a Nigerian counterpart would have. On the other hand, there were times I wished the Tanzanians would exhibit a bit more spark, more joie de vivre, more noise like my Naija brothers and sisters.....as you can see, there's no pleasing me....

The last fortnight must be the most amazing for Nigerian literature in a while- with honours for the two CAs- Chinua Achebe and Chimamanda Adichie, the future is bright. BTW, they are both featured in the latest Bono edited "Africa" Vanity Fair. Chris Abani is another up and coming CA- looks like those are the initials to have in the literary world...

This morning walking to the train station, I see a young mother driving past. In the back seat his nose buried in a book is her young son barely four, on his way to school. For some reason he remindes me of a younger self, grabbing every opportunity to stick my nose in a book. Will he still do that in twenty years I wonder or will he have become a leather briefcase toting financier with his face buried in the pinkness of the financial news?

Back on the blog, almost...

How to re-engage when your world has been rocked? Spent the last few weeks travelling to Dubai and then Tanzania- remember the visa sagaI blogged about earlier? Well they finally let me in.

There are insights too many to name or mention. I will need to digest and savour them before I can blog meaningfully.

One night sitting in the bar of our hotel talking to some incredibly brilliant and talented people, sipping Konyagi and tonic (Konyagi is the Tanzanian brewed spirit- gin like in flavour but much milder), we hardly notice as the hands of the clock go right round and when we look up it is 4 am and the hotel staff are starting to set the tables up for breakfast. What to do? Keep talking and then order a slug of strong black coffee and keep going. A magical time is had by all.

The next day a colleague marvels that in spite of the fact that Tanzania is one of the world's coffee exporters, properly brewed coffee is hard to come by. Instead we are served little boxes of instant coffee. I frankly do not mind, not being a coffee aficionado. Growing up on Nigerian Nescafe, I do not have the kind of high standards that led an Italian classmate to once spew out a mouthful of Starbucks coffee and then head for the nearest phone booth to ring Mamma in Italy, asking her to send her coffee machine ASAP to London.

Ah, Chimamanda! What more can I say that hasn't been said already and more eloquently? Read the interviews
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article1908943.ece

http://books.guardian.co.uk/orange2007/story/0,,2098238,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=10 and leap as I did for sheer joy

Back in the UK I see Big Brother immersed in another row over the use of the N-word- what's that all about? I wonder

The day I arrive back in London, I go with a friend to the new Whole Foods shop on Kensington High Street. The food is piled high in glimmering heaps- twenty-something different kinds of peanut butter alone. After the austerity of Tanzania, it all seems faintly obscene

In transit

The number you're calling is temporarily out of service, do try again later

Stockholm, Anam, Tyler& Oyeyemi, repeating mistakes, Prince Harry's expensive life & biting back an acerbic response

Stockholm was surprisingly watery. The images in my head of Scandinavia were of ice and snow and craggy mountains. Imagine my surprise then on emerging from the train station in the city centre on to paved streets with a bridge in the distance. I was to cross many bridges- the Swedish capital is an archipelago- a collection of small islands. Funny how I remembered that word from primary school geography. As the sun blazed overhead and the room reeked with the sweat of young children blended with the scent of sharpened pencils, our teacher Mr A wrote in coloured chalk on the blackboard various geographical definitions with illustrations to match- island, a body of land surrounded by water; lake, a body of water surrounded by land. Peninsula, a finger of land extending into the sea. These terms would re emerge at term end with blanks for us to fill in….

I liked the Swedish food- plenty of fish- strange for one who did not start eating fish until I was well into my teens. No, that’s not strictly true. I was made to eat fish as a child, my mother had no time for children’s food fads- you ate what was on your plate, like it or lump it. Speaking of lumps I remember what seemed like hours spent willing the lumpy garri on my plate to disappear, but that’s another story. Ah yes, fish. I could not name all the various ways in which the Swedes served their fish but I enjoyed them all, especially the way they were served with cloudberries and lingonberries (new to me as well), providing a tart, sweet accompaniment to the fish…and hurray there were no bones…

Stockholm was pleasantly warm and there was so much to do in the free time I had away from work there. Managed to tour the old town with its cobbled stone pathways and old houses echoing Siena and other ancient Italian towns. Pausing outside the Nobel Museum I imagined Wole Soyinka and his Nigerian contingent resplendent in agbadas crossing the bridge from the Grand Hotel to the venue of the award ceremonies in the wintry sunlight…

Even though there weren't that many other black people around, I didn't feel people were surprised or staring and the immigration officer was pleasant...

Perhaps making up for the pleasantly sunny weather, I could not help popping in to the Ice Bar, a bar carved out from ice in a hotel near the train station. You had to don an aluminium cape to keep you warm before gaining entrance - of course I had an Absolut...

Virtually everyone in Stockholm spoke English which had its downside. I left without picking up a single word of Swedish- not even Good Morning. Usually I pick up the local greetings from the hotel staff wherever I go, but walking along the corridors in Stockholm, bumping into a maid or waiter or waitress, they all threw out a cheery “Good morning” …..

Still on the ubiquity of the English language, we went on a tour of a nineteenth century house, billed as the first in Stockholm to be built with electricity and running water and opted to go on the English language tour. It turned out that my colleagues and I were actually the only people who spoke English on the tour- the majority were mostly French, German, Italian or Spanish who had chosen to go on the English tour as the only other tour available was in Swedish….

Tried to use the airport and flight time to catch up on my reading. Started and finished Tahmima Anam’s A Golden Age set in Bangladesh during the war after it broke away from Pakistan. In many ways I was reminded of Half of a Yellow Sun, in the way that ordinary people living ordinary lives suddenly find themselves thrust into a war. It’s on a much smaller scale though and at times I wished that Ms Anam had been as ambitious as Ms Adichie and embarked on a larger, more epic tale. I enjoyed it though, especially after the war actually started which is where the power of the story comes to the fore. Like Adichie, Anam was inspired by stories told by her family members who lived through the war….

Also finished Anne Tyler’s Digging To America which has been shortlisted for the Orange Prize. I had always passed over her books in the mistaken belief that they were romance novels. I had been meaning to read this one though because I was interested in the story- two American families adopt Korean infants on the same day- one family is typically white and All-American and the other is a second generation immigrant Iranian-American family. Tyler deftly explored the issues of immigration, cultural clash and stereotypes with a humorous but insightful touch. Her depiction of the Iranian family and their perception of the “Americans” touched a chord with my experiences of British Nigerians as well…..

And while I was away, Tony Blair finally announced his leaving date, prompting broad grins from Gordon Brown. Today all the talk is about Prince Harry not going to Iraq after all. I can see why the decision was made not to send him, but can’t help wondering why it was announced that he was going in the first place….On the radio this morning, lots of indignant people calling in saying “Is his life worth more than those other soldiers dying in Iraq?” I couldn’t help thinking, sad and unpalatable as it may sound, the answer is yes. Not necessarily worth more to their families, but certainly worth more to the British nation at least for as long as Britain continues to run a monarchy….

In Nigeria I see Yar’adua is inundated by people jostling for office. There are immediate echoes from 1999 when Obasanjo was elected when he ended up filling his cabinet with political jobbers who could not achieve much. It wasn’t till his second term that he managed to bring in some technocrats. I hope Yar’adua will be strong enough to withstand the pressure…Meanwhile Obasanjo continues last minute manoeuvring- selling off oil blocks to his cronies, trying to limit pay in the petroleum corporation and communications commission, forgetting that one of his own first acts in 1999 was to revoke many such last minute decisions that the outgoing Abubakar administration had made. Why do human beings learn so little from history?

Meanwhile Helen Oyeyemi grabs a place in the list of 25 literary lions of the future selected by Waterstone’s, the booksellers to mark their 25th anniversary http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article1801013.ece

And is interviewed by the Times here

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article1762963.ece

Finally seeing as I've been travelling a lot these past few weeks, I've had to answer the inevitable "Did you pack your bags yourself Sir" "Could anyone hae interfered with your luggage" "Did anyone give you anything to carry?" before checking in. On the umpteenth time, I felt like saying "Yes, one heavily bearded man called Mohammed whom I met for the first time just outside the terminal asked me to take a parcel to his uncle in Stockholm" but I bit back the retort remembering just in time that airline staff don't necessarily have a sense of humour....

And Waffarian and Laspapi are cooking up a Naija Bloggers anthology- details here http://laspapi.blogspot.com/

Sex in high places, the exit of Blair and OBJ & reading Human Cargo

Is it something to do with the time of year- spring turning into summer? Sex seems to be in the air and rocking the thrones of power- from Washington DC where the ongoing saga of Paul Wolfowitz’ role in the redeployment of his partner/girlfriend/lover/fiancée (there doesn’t seem to be consensus on what the precise relationship is) to London where the diminutive but powerful head of BP, Lord Browne yesterday resigned having lied to the court about how he had met his erstwhile male lover/partner and back to Washington where Condoleezza Rice’s No 2, Randall Tobias resigned following allegations that he had used an escort service whose madam is currently on trial and waving a dossier of clients that has all Washington apparently shivering in its boots. Does all this stuff really matter? It’s amazing to think that the fate of millions of people potentially rests on who is sleeping/slept with/had a massage with whom. But I suppose it was ever thus, throughout human history, all over the world, powerful men (they have been mostly men) have been laid low by love/lust/loneliness/a desire for massage- call it what you will….

Nigeria’s own Mr EFCC, Nuhu Ribadu joins the fray on Mr Wolfowitz’ side from Abuja in this New York Times article

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/01/opinion/01ribadu.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Doesn't he have a wee conflict of interest seeing as Wolfowitz just appointed his pal Obi as Vice President?

Shouldn’t he perhaps also be just as interested in the travels of Dr Iyabo-Obasanjo-Bello, our Senate President in the making
http://www.saharareporters.com/www/photonews/detail/?id=42

or is he keeping his powder dry?

Speaking of powder dry, I understand that a downpour of rain dampened the ardour of would be protesters at the May Day rally in Lagos yesterday. My mother says that they all have now entered the position of “real siddon look”, the phrase immortalized by the late lamented Bola Ige, Obasanjo’s attorney general who was murdered in gruesome circumstances in 2001 and whose killers have still not been found- a little task for Obasanjo in his retirement maybe?

Speaking of retirement, May sees the departure of Tony Blair and Obasanjo, thankfully. My report card on both is similar- fair but could have done so much better – we’ll see what their successors will come up with. Both parties have strung out their adieus for as long as they can; and Blair’s hoping that by finally announcing that he will make a major announcement next week (talk about stringing it out) that he will take the sting out of the local elections this week. Fat chance. It’ll be interesting to see what kind of support the Scottish Nationalist party with their independence for Scotland agenda will get…

I’m just finishing Human Cargo, by Caroline Moorhead- an account of her travels, interviewing refugees all over the world. It’s a harrowing read but highly recommended in this our “globalized” world…

Ms Moss or elections, Naij premiere, Caine Prize shortlist etc

A fairly uneventful weekend, the sun’s out again and even though it is still April, it’s beginning to feel as if summer is here. Attended my first garden lunch, I expect there’ll be barbecue invitations going out soon as Londoners with gardens rush to justify the extra premium they paid for houses with gardens by throwing the obligatory round of summer barbecues and garden parties.

Everywhere you turn there seems to be news about Kate Moss’s collection which she has designed for the high street chain, TopShop. With local council elections in many parts of England and the devolved nations of Scotland and Wales due in a few days, it’s amazing that the airwaves and media here are filled with news of Ms Moss’s forthcoming collection and predictions about how many people will spend the night outside TopShop tonight in order to bag bargains when the collection goes on sale tomorrow….


The aftermath of the Nigerian elections still swirls uncertainly in a middling place that is neither here nor there. Many are dissatisfied with the conduct of the elections and yet, for all the call for mass action, the sense is that most Nigerians are keen to just get on with their lives, wretched as they might be. I can see where they are coming from- who wants to risk their lives for Atiku or Buhari? This is actually where Yar’adua could display statesmanship by reaching out and building real consensus across the various parties and trying to bring everyone together, but will the crude triumphalism of the PDP let him? Obasanjo’s daughter Iyabo, recently featured in passing in an FT story on Yar’adua see quote below:

“Visitors, supplicants and dealmakers dropping by Mr Yar'Adua's headquarters included the daughter of Mr Obasanjo, said by oil executives to be an influential political conduit in the energy sector, and one of Mr Yar'Adua's top campaign financiers: a state governor who has long been under investigation by Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.”

is on course for the Senate and I presume for the Senate Presidency which her father has prepared for her….

For the full FT story see here http://snipurl.com/1isar and for more tales of Naija politicians' dodginess see here http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/29/business/yourmoney/29lobby.html?

To the salubrious streets of South Kensington yesterday for the premiere of Naij the documentary. The team behind the project certainly managed to maintain an air of mystery about the whole project. Walking into the foyer I saw the largest collection of young upwardly mobile Nigerians in London that I have ever seen. There was an informal dress code- the boys in jeans and colourful Thomas Pink/TM Lewin/Charles Tyrwhit shirts, the girls in heels and flouncy flirty summery skirts and dresses- and a humongous buzz. We were handed little paper bags which each had a canned soft drink, a meatpie, a slice of cake and a cookie emblazoned with Naij the documentary on it. I spotted a few familiar faces and searched in vain for Bitchy and Chameleon fellow Nigerian bloggers who had also said they were attending, but there were too many people to make any sort of informed guess…

A few words from Jide Olanrewaju, the investment banker behind the project and then the sonorous voice of Veno Marioghae singing “Even if dem drink de oil o! Nigeria go survive” came wafting through the theatre. It’s an amazing project- a collection of clips with a voiceover by Jide tracing Nigeria’s political history and overlaid with highly relevant music tracks. The technical quality in terms of editing isn’t fantastic and there are some missing significant incidents but these only underline the poignancy of what the project is – one young man’s attempt to understand the history of his beloved country. Bitchy has a more comprehensive review of the event here

http://etcetera-etceteroo.blogspot.com/2007/04/naij-documentary.html

On the literary front, Nigeria has had more cheering news with three Nigerians making the shortlist of five for the Caine Prize for African Writing this year

The three are artist and writer Ada Udechukwu for her short story Night Bus, published in The Atlantic Monthly. The story is only available to subscribers but here’s an interview with the author and excerpts

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200607u/udechukwu

Uwem Akpan, a Jesuit priest for his story My parent’s bedroom published in the New Yorker http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/06/12/060612fi_fiction

And writer E C Osondu for his story Jimmy Carter’s Eyes published in Agni http://www.bu.edu/agni/fiction/online/2006/osondu-jimmy.html

The other shortlisted authors are Monica Arac de Nyeko of Uganda for her story ‘Jambula Tree’ from ‘African Love Stories’ See a review here

http://www.ayebia.co.uk/reviews_als.html

and Henrietta Rose-Innes (South Africa) ‘Bad Places’, New Contrast vol 31 no4 Spring 2003. Henrietta Rose-Innes just last week beat Petina Gappah who has visited us often on this blog to second place in the HSBC PEN South African literary awards. See pix here http://www.sapen.co.za/PresentationPics.aspx

Congratulations PG…and to the Caine Prize shortlisted trio, I say “Go Naija!”

"President" Yar'adua as predicted, watching Icarus Girl and Suya Express

So after all the wahala, here's welcoming President Yar'adua and Vice President Goodluck. As "predicted" by the PDP Secretary a good two weeks ago, they won by a landslide of 70 per cent. Never mind the minor problems of missing ballot papers, ballot boxes, violence and the many places where elections did not hold at all, not to talk of the little fact that even the president had his vote cancelled in the governorship elections. Interesting to see that the Niger Delta as usual is where a lot of the creative formulation of election results has again taken place. It was ever thus. I remember meeting a former NPN stalwart from the Shagari days who was from Rivers State and his boast that from the sixties to the present day- this was in 1999- elections had never taken place in his creek home village. Instead he and a few other "village leaders of thought" had always allocated the votes to the various parties and because of the treacherous nature of the terrain, it was often difficult for any observers to penetrate the area. Perhaps he was exaggerating but again perhaps not....Meanwhile the US excoriates a deeply flawed electoral process but fails to call for a rerun, leaving that decision to Nigerians and the Nigerian legal system. Did someone just say Florida? At least our Supreme Court has in the last few weeks performed better than another Supreme Court did in 2000.... I suppose at this point we can only wait and see what a Yaradua presidency will hold. If he's sworn in, with his late lamented brother Shehu (former no 2 to Obasanjo in his first coming), he'll make history as the first siblings to hold the No 1 and No2 offices in Nigeria. Did I hear someone say the words dynasty? Plus he'll make history as the first university educated Nigerian head of government

To the Arcola Theatre this weekend to watch the stage adaptation of Helen Oyeyemi's The Icarus Girl, as publicized by London Chameleon. It was an interesting play although the star of the show for me was Natalie Best the actress who played Tilly-Tilly, the mystical friend that befriends Jessamy Harrison on her visit to Nigeria. I felt a shiver of dread run through me as she flounced on stage the first time and she was utterly believable as half spirit, half human of indeterminate age, even if her accent veered strangely from South African to Ghanaian by way of Nigeria. The rest of the cast did well, but her performance stood out....

After the play, I took the opportunity of being in the neighbourhood to visit Obalende Suya now rebranded as Suya Express http://www.suyaexpress.com/ . The dining section seemed rather empty but the takeaway section seemed to be doing brisk business. Having been served a Star beer I waited and waited and waited for my order of jollof rice and lamb suya and had to bite my tongue when the waitress returned to ask, "You wanted something else in addition to the Star, didn't you?" In a corner of the restaurant a tree bedecked in what looked like Christmas decorations sat forlornly in a corner. Elsewhere, two London Big Boys argued about whether Babangida had betrayed his friend Abiola in 1993 or not. The decor was clean and bright, as was the bathroom but for a Friday night it seemed strangely empty. The jollof rice was very dry but the succulent lamb suya more than made up for it, as did the circles of golden dodo....

I rang my aunt on Saturday morning- "Ah ah" I said, " You're still at home? You didn't go to vote?" She drily retorted- "The one wey we vote last week, how far ?" Last week, she had queued in the sun, her seven decades notwithstanding to vote only to hear that virtually all the votes cast at her polling station had been cast for a particularly unpopular candidate...

We'll wait and see what happens next- I hope the Supreme Court judges are gearing up to hear lots of appeals (including some from the PDP)- apparently they are particularly aggrieved at losing Lagos and Kano States....

Ah Naija!

Chimamanda on Orange Prize shortlist, Nigerian elections, the tragedy of Virginia Tech & hilarious Mr Fineboy

The Financial Times yesterday carries two Nigeria- related stories, one an interview with Obasanjo in which he claims that ballot box stuffing and stealing of ballot boxes is a new problem in Nigeria. Obviously he hasn’t read Chinua Achebe’s A Man of the People written back in the sixties. More annoyingly, the FT reporters fail to challenge him on this and other contentious issues in the interview. That’s in keeping however with many Western governments and media and business people who prefer an uncritical and fairly simplistic approach to their “favoured” African leaders. To read the interview click here

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/12a7fd66-ed49-11db-9520-000b5df10621.html

That said the FT has got some interesting stories and pictures on Nigeria and the elections here http://www.ft.com/indepth/nigeriaelections

The second Nigeria story is on Chimamanda Adichie being short listed for the Orange Prize for the second time
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/1d9493be-ed4a-11db-9520-000b5df10621.html

Her book has been doing well in the sales charts in the UK, no doubt riding on the back of her Richard and Judy Book Club appearance. This new short listing should boost them even further. There’s also an Orange Readers Award where voters can vote for their favourite books and win all the shortlisted books. To vote click here http://www.orangeprize.co.uk/opf/readersaward.php4 At least INEC isn’t overseeing these elections and so the chances of ballot box stuffing and stealing of ballot boxes will hopefully not arise….

Meanwhile back home in Nigeria, the dictum of no honour among thieves continues to hold true. Apparently, Atiku and Buhari cannot agree on whether to boycott the presidential elections or not, partly because they do not trust each other, even if they are united in their distrust of INEC, PDP and Obasanjo…

Thankfully the courts have postponed hearing in a last desperate attempt by the Obasanjo government to stop Atiku following his victory at the Supreme Court. A certain Umar Faruk had gone to court to stop Atiku running on the basis of the report of the kangaroo panel of inquiry set up by Obasanjo. The vindictiveness of Obasanjo often demonstrated still has no bounds. When I heard of the court case I was reminded of the dubious judgment obtained by the shadowy Association for Better Nigeria which helped derail the country in 1993….

I don’t think a boycott of the elections is practical, feasible or desirable. My recommendation is for the opposition to go in on Saturday prepared to carefully document all the irregularities in preparation for a series of court battles which are inevitable anyway with last Saturday’s fiasco…

Nigeria throws up such paradoxes where you find yourself on the same side with people whom you would never have thought you could associate with. Who would have thought that Adams Oshiomhole, the principled trade unionist who fought military governments to a standstill would find himself on the same podium with such military apologists as Tom Ikimi….

An interesting quote from Oshiomhole in the Vanguard Newspaper below :

“ I believe that if we keep quiet Nigeria will not change. The mandate given to me by Edo people has now been awarded to Osunbor by President Obasanjo who sees Edo State as his bride price. This rumour has been going on that the President said that the late first lady would have wished to make Osunbor governor.”

And elsewhere the power of the PDP juggernaut is allegedly unleashed on a hapless electoral official

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2007/apr/18/national-18-04-2007-04.htm

The sad news about the massacre of students at Virginia Tech has provoked the usual debate about US gun control and the right to bear arms. I'm not American and can't understand it but from my perspective, there are troubled youth everywhere, including in Nigeria, who given half a chance would probably unleash this sort of mayhem. The main difference is that they do not have easy access to arms. It's a tragedy for the murdered, their families and friends and I can't help but think of the family of the perpetrator as well. It's a tragic end to one immigrant family's dreams. I'm sure when they left Korea for a better life in the US, this was not supposed to be how it ended...

To end on a cheerier note, if you haven't discovered the funniest Naija blog yet, go and visit Mr Fineboy's blog http://naijafineboy.blogspot.com/

Update on Nigerian elections

Actually it looks like INEC has awarded the elections in Edo, Kano and Ondo to PDP. So much for my theory. Thanks Nkem of African Shirts http://africanshirts.blogspot.com/ for the link to the regularly updated Reuters website http://africa.reuters.com/nigeriaelection/results/regional.html

By contrast, the INEC website is still saying "No results available. Please check back soon"
http://www.inecnigeria.org/index.php?cateid=47&contid=265

Searching for election news, Atiku wins at the Supreme Court, reading Yellow-Yellow & Ayaan Hirsi

Saturday dawned bright and sunny and started with me going online and desperately searching for news about the elections. I didn’t find very much although www.nigeriavillagesquare.com was a good source as they had “reporters” posting photographs and personal accounts as well as people reporting conversations that they had had with family and friends in Nigeria. The News magazine website www.thenewsng.com also had some useful information and relatively frequent updates. I also tried to make a few telephone calls myself and by 3 pm some of the people I spoke to had not seen any INEC official let alone ballot papers. By 6 pm I thought surely there must be some news item on the elections in the international news so I went through all the channels including Al-Jazeera. Nothing on BBC, CNN or SKY. BEN TV (which is supposed to be the African TV channel here) was showing a Francophone African preacher and was advertising a cookery programme coming up after that. Al Jazeera had a banner running at the bottom of the page saying forty four people had been killed in election related violence in Nigeria but that was it. Switching back to the BBC, I found the distinguished looking newscaster still engrossed in a lengthy discussion with the BBC Royal correspondent over the intricate details of the break-up of Prince William and Kate Middleton. After a desperate half hour of switching channels I resigned myself to getting dressed for dinner. It’s not the first time though- whenever something happens in Nigeria and I surf the airwaves, I’m often disappointed. Surely there must be a market for an international television channel focusing on Africa- I know I’ve heard some discussion around this, hope it happens soon. Meanwhile the existing newspapers, magazines and television stations could use their websites more creatively for breaking news…..

The first election results have trickled in and it appears that INEC and the PDP heeded Obasanjo’s exhortation to “leave some states for the opposition in the spirit of true democracy” But there are cheering signs in the victory of the AC in Lagos State and PPA in Abia State and the delay in releasing the results for Edo, Kano and Ondo states. It appears that in these states the “people” were prepared to defend their votes and so INEC was forced to release or at least delay the release of the results…..

Just as I was typing this, I got a text from Nigeria saying that the Supreme Court had delivered judgment in favour of Atiku, thus allowing him to run in the presidential elections next Saturday. This of course throws up lots of logistic problems and issues but I’m glad that in spite of Obasanjo’s public holiday and other manoeuvres, the Supreme Court has ruled. I’m no fan of Atiku’s but welcome any gesture that tells Obasanjo and his PDP crew that Nigeria is not completely in their pockets…..

Still on the elections www.greenlightnigeria.org aims to provide a forum for election monitors, bloggers and other interested parties to post their reports, opinions and analyses. I think it's a brilliant idea but we'll see how it works in practice...

Today on the way to work I saw someone had put out a withered Christmas tree with their rubbish. I tried to work out why the Christmas tree was only being put out in April and decided that perhaps the householder has been away since Christmas and just got back…

The sun’s been out all weekend and as expected, there is an abundance of flesh on display- shorts, skimpy sleeveless dresses and the ubiquitous flip-flops (otherwise known as bathroom slippers in Naija)- all indicate that summer’s here, even if a trifle early…

Even today, the newspapers are still awash with the Prince William/Kate Middleton break-up- even the “serious” papers…. Looking at all the fuss following a relationship breakdown I wonder what they would have done if they had broken off an engagement….

I finally got round to reading Yellow-Yellow by Kaine Agary and I must say I enjoyed it, I read it in four hours flat .The plot and storyline aren’t the strongest but the depiction of contemporary life in Port Harcourt and the rural areas of the Niger Delta rang true and reminded me of Cyprian Ekwensi’s chronicles of Nigerian city life in the fifties and sixties in Lokotown and Jagua Nana…..it’s also tightly edited and is virtually grammatical and spelling error free which is a great plus…Also stumbled on the publisher's website which looked interesting http://www.dtalkshop.com/

I’ve just started Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s first book, The Caged Virgin. There’s a long waiting list at the library for her new book so I thought I better start with the older one. The arguments are clear and the language is refreshingly simple but the conclusions she jumps to at times are a bit far fetched for someone calling for logical rational debate…

Easter in Vienna,Nigerian election results preannounced, Blair and black boys and echoes of Colonial Nigeria

Vienna was wide elegant avenues, tidy parks, reminiscent of Paris and yet at the same time overlaid with echoes of Germany, of Berlin. Heart of the Austro-Hungarian empire and seat of the Hapsburgs for nearly six centuries, it's awash with culture and palaces aplenty. The central area near Sebastianplatz around the Cathedral was filled with students in frock coats touting invitations to Mozart concerts. Easter morning saw us in the Hofburgkapelle listening to the world famousVienna Boys Choir. It was the first time I had to pay to go to church, at least explicitly- tickets were available from the hotel. It was worth it though, the angelic voices of the boys soaring up to the rafters of the chapel, the two Asian and African boys strategically placed to catch the eyes and the cameras. Me, a cynic? Enjoying the music and watching the young boys and the older men singing the deeper parts, a darker thought crossed my mind- aren't all- male choirs like this a haven for paedophiles?

To the museums and then Schonbrun Palace and sights aplenty- here a young Marie Antoinette played, there Napoleon once slept, here, a purported nail from the True Cross authenticated by a Pope from earlier times, there the file that stabbed the doomed Empress Elisabeth "Sissi", whose stories had echoes of Princess Diana- the early marriage, the struggles with royal life and court demands, an obsession with weight loss and finally a tragic death. Funny how over centuries, things remain the same...Plus ca change and all that...... Viennese food failed to win me over though- the stodginess of the boiled meat dishes and dumplings and sauerkraut were rather dull and the famed wienerschnitzel, the deepfried breadcrumbed flat pieces of veal left me underwhelmed.

In Nigeria, the political drama continues to unfold- what with the almighty PDP refusing to field governorship candidates in Rivers and Imo States rather than obey a Supreme Court judgement reinstating the rightful winners of the primaries. Nigeria can produce such bizarre results at times- from all that I hear about them, Araraume and Rotimi Amaechi, the candidates in question are hardly beacons of moral uprightness and yet one cannot help but support them in the injustice being meted out. Speaking to family and friends in Nigeria over the weekend, it seems as usual that Nigerians are resigning themselves to divine intervention- feeling completely helpless before the PDP behemoth. Frequent references were made as to how God intervened when Abacha thought he had his civilian succession sorted. The same mood of "what can we do?" pervaded the panel discussion at SOAS last week with Reuben Abati and Professor Akande- the general consensus was that the elections would be massively rigged but that Nigerians would accept the results. To put the icing on the cake, Patrick Wilmot, the writer and academic who was present at the SOAS event quoted the Secretary of the PDP as having predicted at a forum at Chatham House that PDP would win the elections by about 75 per cent. So ladies and gentlemen, there you have it, the results for the 2007 Nigerian elections, announced well in advance of any actual casting of votes. Remember, you read it here first....Meanwhile today the Obasanjo government announced a sudden two day public holiday to" enable" voters to prepare for the elections. Of course it has nothing to do with delaying potentially damaging Supreme Court judgments, or throwing a spanner in the logistics of opposition parties. Why the Court cannot sit in emergencies on public holidays I do not know. Here in the UK, I have been involved in a case where we were able to obtain an injunction on a Sunday before the duty judge....

Meanwhile in the UK, debates continue about whether the sailors who were released by Iran last week should have been allowed to sell their stories to the media. I'm pretty indifferent to the whole brouhaha and was more interested in the killing of yet another black youth of Nigerian heritage, Paul Erharhon in London at the weekend. The tragic death led Prime Minister Tony Bliar to say yesterday that the violence was restricted to a small group of black boys in spite of the massive support the government was giving them or words to that effect. He claimed to be quoting a London black pastor, Reverend Nims Obunge, who just this morning claimed he had been quoted out of context. I think that part of the problem is that attention is only paid to certain communities when things get to an extreme head. If the government and by extension society is genuinely interested in making a difference then initiatives to help troubled youth should not always ride on the back of high profile murders...

I'm finishing Restless by William Boyd at the moment. I've liked most of his books but I struggled with this one, perhaps because it deals with World War II espionage and trying to keep up with the single and double agents and the various characters and which side they were really on was a bit of a burden. I'm nearing the end though and the suspense is picking up. I hadn't realized he had Nigerian connections as well. Apparently his father was an engineer in the colonial Public Works Department in Lagos- a titbit I heard from an old "Nigeria hand" whom I met at a dinner last week. Meeting "old Nigerian hands" is always a challenge for me- on one hand I'm fascinated by their stories and insights and people they have known and on the other I struggle with the patronizing attitudes and casual prejudice of a bygone age that often suffuses their conversation....almost invariably the conversation ends with "Oh, Nigeria has changed so much" with a wistful look on a wizened face dreaming I think, incharitably of gin and tonics on the verandah brought by "boys" in starched white uniforms....

Paying the price in sleep, Naija food, politics and catching Ms Adichie's eye

I'm back again, feeling sleepy and permanently tired, the way I imagine that many working mothers feel- I've just finished The Invisible Woman a fictional account of the life of a mother of three young children written by Lucy Cavendish, a journalist, and one of the pervasive themes is how permanently tired she feels .

It's been quite a weekend, had friends visiting from the US and spent some real quality time with them. It's great to have friends who know you from way back when, who you can just chill with.

First night having gone to a drinks party earlier, we were gagging for Nigerian food and so we headed for Angie's on Harrow Road. I tried ringing up beforehand but the phone just kept ringing and ringing and ringing, so we decided to take a chance but it was closed (only temporarily I hope.) Grrr......looking for Plan B we headed for Bukka on Kilburn High Road. I'd never driven there before- it used to be one of my favourite hangouts when I first arrived here. Friday and Saturday night often found me there with a bunch of other "economic exiles" drowning in the nostalgia of Star beer, pounded yam and egusi with orisirisi and Naija music mixes spun by Jimmy the Baldheaded guy, blotting out any other realities. Sometimes Mike Appoh the highlife king would be singing all the old favourites from Yellow Sisi to Love Adaure to Taxi Driver and we would dance till 2 am and then catch the night bus home. After a while I stopped going, I'm not sure how or why, just drifted away. Perhaps I'd settled into the reality of my London life and needed the injections of nostalgia less and less. Probably the same way I stopped making the pilgrimage to Brixton to buy Nigerian newspapers and magazines.

Anyway I always used to get the tube to Kilburn and then walk down to Bukka. Driving from Harrow Road we emerge into the middle of Kilburn High Street and I have no idea if we should turn left or right. I hazard a guess and say left. We drive for a while and I'm confused. We see a middle aged man walking on the pavement and he looks Nigerian so we stop to ask directions. I'm still asking him what direction the station is in when my friend cuts in and asks "we're looking for Bukka" He smiles and points us in the right direction but we still end up missing it. Finally we pull up and realize why we missed it. It's been done up with picture windows and is all white and minimalist and is now called Faze 2. We park and head in where we see the second pleasant surprise- there are photographs of black nationalists from Marcus Garvey to Kwame Nkrumah lining the walls. Who would have thunk my party loving Naija brodas had any social awareness?

We order and have a nice meal although the stew is firehot. I go to take a piss and there the fine-face falls apart. They're obviously still working on it but surely even if construction work is still going on, some basic cleaning could still be done? I dissuade the ladies in the party from using the loo there and we head home where we sit sipping wine and chatting into the early hours and then everyone fades...

The next day I don't get up till midday and by the time I meet up with my friends and catch some late lunch, the day's gone already. The weather's gone all cold and showery again and I end up losing yet another umbrella....

Gordon Brown seems to be in political hot water over his scrapping of tax discounts for pension funds ten years ago. Apparently he had ignored advice from civil servants to do so. I'm no Brown fan but I find the timing rather suspicious. It'll probably be a good thing for Labour if he has to fight for his seat rather than be anointed but I'm pretty certain that barring major upheavals David Cameron may just be riding to power in the next elections. Labour is completely suffused with what I call the arrogance of power- which comes with being in government too long and so will probably benefit from some time out....

Over in Naija, the drama continues as the elections draw nearer with court cases and counter suits and sudden deaths and the rearing of violence - Simon Kolawole of Thisday had some useful pointers on how to prevent rigging (or at least stop PDP from rigging too much) http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=74432

I just finished Another Hour on a Sunday Morning by Julia Scheeres, a searing account of growing up in a Southern Christian family with two adopted black brothers. The violence and emotional abuse that they go through both at the hands of their parents and at the Escuela Caribe, a "Christian" camp for delinquent kids in The Dominican Republic made for disturbing reading. It was well written with beautiful language and vivid imagery but I felt there was something missing. I couldn't place my finger on it, but it didn't grip me...

Some Nigeria events coming up- an art exhibition by the daughter of the late lamented poet Christopher Okigbo at the Brunel Gallery http://www.soas.ac.uk/gallery/tappingintotheknown/home.html, a panel at SOAS on the elections this evening http://www.soas.ac.uk/events/index.cfm

And we receive honourable mention from Ms Adichie http://snipurl.com/1eyp2 even if she no longer reads us :-)

Geneva notes, recent reading, politics UK and Naija

Got back from Geneva on Saturday but was so exhausted that I haven't really been able to blog. Why does work always pile up whenever you're away, wiping out any benefits of the time away....

Geneva felt a bit like Abuja in the 1990s - pretty soulless, civil service like and expensive. Walking through the city centre and the old town, I searched in vain for residential areas. Later I went to dinner with a colleague based in Geneva- he lives with his family in a pretty little village outside Geneva. I wondered whether most people did that....

I also found out why Swiss cuisine hasn't made it on to the international list of most-desirable national cuisines. I'd wanted to go to a traditional Swiss restaurant and was advised to go to one in the old town where the claim to fame was that the Clintons had once dropped in for lunch there. The guide book said they'd had the sauerkraut but it wasn't on the menu as the rather bossy waitress soon made clear. Switzerland is famed for its fondues so I felt I had to try it out. It basically turned out to be a pot of boiling cheese into which I was provided a long fork with which to dip pieces of bread in. The waitress did not even change the bread basket- it was the leftover from the starters that was offered. In the end I struggled through but as one of my dining companions said what I'd basically had was bread and cheese, forget the fancy name....

Geneva had its high points though- the Flower Clock, the amazing Jet D'eau Fountain and a cruise along the lake, as well as another meal at the Buffet of the Station of Living Waters (Buffet de la Gare Eaux Vives) made up for all of Geneva's shortcomings...

Flying out from London City Airport on Wednesday night, I was struck by how white and male the City still seems. Most of my fellow travellers were obviously business travellers and there was hardly a woman or person of colour to be seen among them...

I've been enjoying Claire Messud's The Emperor's Children which is set in New York just before September 11. I think it's one of the best books I've read since Half of a Yellow Sun- it's meaty, got a good story, muses on interesting ideas and is beautifully written. It featured in many people's best books of 2006 lists and I can see why...

I also enjoyed another sort of New York book- Kamran Nazeer's Send in the Idiots, an account of his trying to trace his classmates from a special programme for autistic children in New York in the 80s. It's well written with fascinating insights...

Meanwhile in Nigeria I stil struggle to make sense of the machinations surrounding the elections- court case and counter court case and all that stuff with the Senate and the PTDF report- what on earth is really going on?

In the Observer on Sunday, Tony Blair flies a kite about David Milliband, the young and affable Minister for the Environment challenging Gordon Brown for the leadership of the Labour Party. I've always thought that he'd be a better match for Cameron than old tired Gordon who is inextricably linked in the public's mind (despite his best efforts) to Bliar...See Milliband's blog here http://www.davidmiliband.defra.gov.uk/blogs/ministerial_blog/default.aspx

On the subject of British politics, the question of the number of Old Etonians in David Cameron's shadow cabinet has come under scrutiny . This old Guardian story focuses on the question http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardianpolitics/story/0,,1843008,00.html

Judging from the few Etonians that I've met- it is a cause for concern - they (through no fault of theirs I might add) seemed so far removed from ordinary day to day life that the thought of people like them making all the policy decisions worries me..

Cold snap, dining at St John, tourist Nigeria and an Adichie update

The weather has suddenly turned very cold, just when I was about to pack away my gloves and hat and other winter gear and luxuriate in the warming sunshine, the weather flipped again. Yesterday afternoon, walking to a meeting I was nearly caught in a sudden flurry of snow. It appeared and disappeared all within the space of five minutes and as I was suddenly thrust into the glare of winter sunlight I was left wondering if I had dreamt it all up...

A friend sent me a DVD recording of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's appearance on Richard and Judy. It was haunting with music from the war playing in the background and the gorgeous Adichie speaking softly about how she wanted to write a book about human beings and love as black and white pictures from Biafra flashed slowly in the background. I had goosebumps watching it. If only I was techie enough to upload it to youtube or something- but perhaps that would breach copyright.... Molara Wood of wordsbody does have photos here http://wordsbody.blogspot.com/search/label/Half%20of%20a%20Yellow%20Sun

BBC reporter Raageh Omar and actor Brian Cox loved it. If you loved Half of a Yellow Sun, you can vote for it at the Richard and Judy Bookclub here http://www.richardandjudybookclub.co.uk/ It looks like there's a problem with the book club site though as it seems to keep crashing...

Half of a Yellow Sun is longlisted for the Orange Prize for this year together with The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai which won the Booker last year and A Concise Chinese English Dictionary for Lovers which I recently blogged about.... For the full list of nominated books see here http://www.orangeprize.co.uk/opf/news.php4 Also on the longlist are two books I recently read but didn't particularly enjoy- Rachel Cusk's Arlington Park and Rachel Seiffert's Afterwards- they're both well written but somehow failed to grab and keep my attention. Speaking of which Jonathan Raban's Surveillance after finally mid-book getting me interested in the fate of the characters finishes abruptly, inconclusively.

Had an amazing meal to celebrate a friend's birthday at St John, the restaurant famed for its use of unconventional meat cuts, the nose to tail approach to eating. I liked the unpretentious rough hewn, almost Hogarthian feel to it- no fuss- plain stone floors and wooden chairs and the food was stunning- I had pig's head to start (and although I had expected to be presented with a whole head on the plate) it turned out to be slivers of pig's head done in a light sauce and served with butter beans and some miniasparagus like vegetable which I could not identify. For my main course, I resisted the urge to order something conventional like lamb or guineafowl and went instead for the ox heart with chips, a choice I did not regret- the ox heart was presented in thin delicate delicious slivers. The baked egg custard lightly sprinkled with nutmeg was a taste sensation- I left the restaurant tight as a drum...

A fellow diner asked where I was born and when I said Nigeria asked what tourist sights I would recommend. I admit I was slightly caught on the back foot and managed to blurt out Calabar and Obudu cattle ranch and Kano for its old walled city and Abuja if you wanted to play it safe and Lagos if you wanted something edgier. In the end I recommended the Bradt Travel Guide to Nigeria which I've flicked through but wondered if I shouldn't have done a better job of selling my country....

I rang a friend whose grandmother died recently in Nigeria to pass on my condolences. I asked when the funeral was. "Oh we're planning to wait till after the elections in April, who knows what might happen" And so we all continue to wait with bated breath....

Something's come up at work so I have to go to Geneva tonight. I'll see if I can blog from there depending on how busy I am. In any case, I'm back at the weekend

Weekend runs, Nigerians in the UK, Yaradua webforum and writers wanted

Busy weekend. Friday night went out with a bunch of new work colleagues. One of the girls got really drunk and started spilling all sorts of details about her personal life- how she couldn't get a man, giving a colourful catalogue of her recent dating history, her recent forays into the speed dating world etc etc Just remembering it in the cold sunshine of this morning, I cringe for her. I wish there was a subtle way I could let her know that much as letting your hair down with work colleagues from time to time is a good thing, there are certain boundaries that it’s unwise to cross….

Saturday saw me making a foray into middle England, going to dinner with a friend’s family in the leafy Telegraph-reading, Women’s Institute infested commuter belt of Surrey. It was a very pleasant evening despite my initial misgivings, although we did skate on fairly thin ice when the topic turned to immigration. My hostess very deftly turned us on to more pleasant, less contentious topics and we tucked into the delicious quiche lorraine starter followed by honeyed duck with mash and peas and then cheese and a lemon sponge. By the time we sipped our after dinner cognac, I was a lot more tolerant of their views and way of life, and more conscious of how divorced London life is from the stereotypical middle England….

Sunday was the St Patrick’s Day celebration and I ended up dodging the crowds in green reveling in Trafalgar Square as I made my way southwards for lunch with old Nigerian family friends. As we tucked into akara (flatter than the typical Nigerian version and more like mini-pancakes) followed by a sumptuous jollof rice with spiced fish and chicken, I listened to my hosts talk about their arrival in Britain over four decades ago and their experiences. Their evident pride in their children’s achievements- the strings of degrees, the high flying jobs in law and medicine and business, contrasted with their heart rending stories of their early struggles. Surprisingly enough, they were all still seriously interested in contemporary Nigerian politics and we had a good debate about the forthcoming presidential elections. The encounter had me wondering if anyone had actually written a history of Nigerians in the UK. Judging from the colourful stories I heard yesterday- there’d be lots of material…. It reminded me of a book I stumbled across at the library recently called Black Londoners 1880-1990 by Susan Okokon which told a fascinating story of black professionals in London in the 19th and 20th centuries….

I see Yaradua and Goodluck have set up a web discussion forum- the admin left a message on this blog http://yaraduagoodluck.info/ . They warn that they may be unable to reply to posts as they are on the campaign trail. The current debate is about how to end fuel scarcity and power cuts- I think they ought to start by identifying and making public who imports all the fuel that Nigeria uses and also who imports all the generators. The rumours (trust Naija) have long held that there are very powerful people behind both businesses who sabotage any attempt at tackling the problems of fuel scarcity or power supply...

I'd like to ask them on the forum if they would pledge that within six months of taking office, they and their immediate families and cabinet will be barred from educating their children abroad or seeking medical treatment above. I'll post that as soon as I have been registered...

I got an e mail from a new Nigerian lifestyle magazine which is looking for contributors- for all of you in naijablogville with a passion for the written word, this may just be what you're looking for
http://www.bhfmagazine.com/

Surrealism at work, Bollywoodian Shakespeare, remembering physics lessons and shameful treatment of Tsvangirai

Over the last few days I have increasingly felt as if I am living in a scene from The Emperor’s New Clothes. I attended a few meetings with very senior policy makers at work to examine new proposals about work related issues. I was appalled at the disconnect between some of what they are proposing and the realities on the ground so to speak. I suppose this is one of the challenges of being a policy maker- how do you keep in touch with the realities on the frontline and take these into account when making decisions. I’m sure they are many ways of doing this effectively but for whatever reason they seem not to be working with us at the moment. I’ll keep giving my views, but it looks like the bosses’ minds are made up…Oh well, we’ll just have to wait and see how it all pans out. I wonder who’ll be picking up the pieces though…

Two nights ago, a friend invited me to a play, a South Asian interpretation of Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream. As I had studied it at school in Nigeria for a literature class in secondary school, I was keen to go. It was quite interesting with over eight different languages spoken- including a lover’s conversation where the actor spoke in Hindi while his lover responded in English. It was quite interesting because even without subtitles it seemed to work- you got the essence of the scenes whether you understood what the actors were saying or not. I did wonder though if it wasn’t a bit stereotypical- the bright colours and Bollywood like chorus and dance routines. If you’re in London, it’s worth dropping by. It’s at the Roundhouse in Camden…http://www.roundhouse.org.uk/whats-on/productions/a-midsummer-night-s-dream-755

On the tube this morning, on my way to work, I was standing and reading a book and there was no space for me to hold on to. Which meant that when the train shuddered to a stop, I found myself struggling to keep from toppling over. I soon realized that by standing with my legs spread out, I was able to maintain a sense of balance- which then took me back to my early physics lessons and Mr O’s lessons about a low centre of gravity and how by lowering your centre of gravity, you reduce the chances of toppling over. Who would have thought that those long-ago lessons in a dusty Nigerian classroom would find such immediate application here?

Yesterday, the photographs of a bruised and battered Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition in Zimbabwe on the front cover of many newspapers shamed me- as it ought every African. No matter what your position on Zimbabwe is, this level of violence is simply unacceptable. It puts into perspective recent references to a police state in the UK and Nigeria by different commentators. I was so disturbed by the picture that for the first time I've actually worked out how to upload photos to my blog. The picture is from sudonline.sn. even though I haven't got it exactly in the right place....

Back on the blog, ailing leaders, remembering IB and dreaming of Seattle

No, I wasn't ill or even any more depressed than normal. It was just work- another crazy fortnight of dashing back and forth and trying to meet deadlines on various projects. Looks like I've come out whole the other side and so am back here blogging.

While I was away from blogville I missed the whole "He's dead" "No, he's not" "Yes he is" drama surrounding Obasanjo's anointed , the blessed Yaradua. It turns out he was simply suffering from "severe catarrh" which left him breathless but necessitated a quick trip to Germany for treatment. This morning I wake up to learn that his main rival Atiku has been flown to the UK for surgery on his knee following a "domestic accident". Meanwhile Nigerian doctors have been on strike for a number of days now.So while the average Nigerian currently has virtually no access to medical treatment, the two leading contenders for the Nigerian Presidency jet off to various Western countries for THEIR treatment. Could someone throw down a gauntlet- can all of these contenders sign up to a pledge that if elected they will not seek medical treatment outside Nigeria- now that would motivate them to improve the health care system. I know I know, tell me I'm dreaming...

Well, Gordon Brown, the Iron Chancellor (who by the way is NOT Tony Blair's anointed) has been in the news here for using a private dentist at the cost of 100 pounds an hour for a root canal treatment. Initially the story that emerged was about how the dour Iron Chancellor had bravely had the treatment without any anaesthetic as he was due to deliver a speech a few hours later and was worried that anaesthetic would slur his speech. Soon, the focus turned to the fact that he had gone to a private dentist as opposed to an NHS one....

Years ago when I lived in Abuja I used to go to the bar at the Nicon Hilton Hotel (it was virtually the only place to hang out then) to listen to the live band that played there. There was the vertically challenged Don Bruce doing his James Brown imitation in his sprayed on seventies gear and then for a brief period there was IB- sassy, talented and giving as good as she got. In a country where albinos were still looked at with some ambivalence, she belted out popular tune after popular tune making each song her own, and seeking no sympathy or special treatment. With a caustic wit, she won admirers who regularly returned to hear her sing. After a while she disappeared and I often wondered what had become of her, until last week when I saw her reemerge on Pop Idols West Africa http://www.mnetafrica.com/idols/contestant/profile.asp?Id=1 - I don't know how she's doing on there, but I do wish her well, remembering with fondness the night she turned the hotel bar into a Deep South style gospel church at midnight, switching effortlessly from the secular songs that she'd been belting out seconds before-....

On Sunday afternoon I was invited to lunch at a friend's- it was a classic English meal with a lovely steak and kidney pie- the crust was melt in the mouth and it had a rich creamy sauce replete with meat. It made a welcome difference from the pounded yam and egusi that had been my staple diet for most of the week after a Nigerian friend had brought round a humongous pot of soup. Back to the lunch- we had sticky toffee pudding with custard to finish and I must admit that the English do get their puddings/desserts/whatever you want to call it right

I've recently read and loved Xiaolu Guo's A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers. Written in the form of a diary by a young Chinese woman new to Britain, it's poignant but funny in its descriptions of her bewilderment with a new culture and a new English lover. I've also just finished George Alagiah's Home from Home: From Immigrant Boy to English Man, in which Alagiah, a senior newscaster with BBC who was born in Sri Lanka and grew up in Ghana and the UK tells his story. While I loved his first book A Passage to Africa, I was less enthused by this one. Partly because he tries to attack multiculturalism but fails like many critics to first define what he means by the term. And while he criticizes many new immigrants for refusing to fit in, he's less strident in the reverse - criticizing the structures and attitudes that fail even those who wish to. I would recommend it anyway as his insights into the life of an immigrant from his perspective are interesting. Now I've started on Jonathan Raban's book Surveillance. I loved Waxwings, his first book which made me want to visit Seattle- pages into the new one I begin to feel the urge again...

Depressing Nigerian politics, dreaming of white shirts,city life,supporting a bro & Ayoke slips away

I haven't posted on here in a while, partly because I've been so depressed by what's going on in the political space in Nigeria. A couple of months to the elections, concerns are already being raised about the credibility of the voter list, the dubious EFCC blacklist of people who are involved in corruption, including someone who has never held any public office but whose main crime seems to be that he is running against Obasanjo's daughter, and so on and so forth. I went against my better judgement to listen to Atiku at Chatham House, partly because I'd had a phone call from my mother, who is usually very skeptical of politicians (and especially Nigerian politicians) urging me to go, because in her words, "What they are doing to that man is so blatantly unjust" On getting there, I was struck by the polarization that was palpable in the audience. You were either for or against Atiku and they were no shades of grey. I looked at Tom Ikimi, Abacha's erstwhile Foreign Minister (immortalized in an irreverent advert sung to the tune of the TomTom sweet advert) as "the big fat man wey no get sense, na TomTom, im name na TomTom" during his glory days when he traversed international capitals defending Abacha's regime and cringed at being on the same side. Then I asked Akin Osuntokun (Obasanjo's political adviser) why Atiku had not been charged for the many crimes he was said to have committed. His response "There are so many charges against him" "Where have they been filed?" His response "Get out of here, you are a stooge, you are the people destroying Nigeria" So I slunk out of the venue, sideless and sank into a depression not helped by reading some of the pearls from the current campaign- Obasanjo on why the Igbo should vote for his party- "Any pikin wey Igbo woman born for me, I take am". Right, so acknowledging paternity of his children born to Igbo women is a really good reason to vote for his party. Then at another rally "The people who say Yaradua is not well, it is their heads that are not well" Charming. Two months to the elections, very little about what people will actually do to tackle Nigeria's numerous problems but lots of invective.....

Today walking to work, I bumped into a young man in a dazzling white shirt which took me back to my secondary school days. Someone had had the bright idea of making the school uniform for a bunch of active youth in a humid tropical setting white. So a large part of my time was spent soaking my uniforms in gallons of Parozone bleach (remember the white plastic bottles, anyone) and scrubbing at the collars and cuffs of my white shirt and the ends of the trousers until my eleven year old hands were blistered. I never quite managed that feat, and sooner or later, the pristine white shirts and trousers that my mother lovingly had made each new school year ended up nearer grey and cream than white. For some reason, seeing that young man in his gleaming white shirt which stood out against the coffee brown colour of his skin took me straight back to those years and watching enviously as the day students, who presumably had their uniforms laundered marched up the dais week after week to collect the prizes for neatest uniform....I'm still traumatized, I don't think I own a single white shirt now

I just finished The Yacoubian Building which I thoroughly enjoyed. It's not "high" fiction- in fairly simple language, the author spins out the stories of a handful of characters but succeeds in painting a really convincing and gripping portrait of modern city life in Cairo. It reminded me of Cyprian Ekwensi's novels about Lagos life in the 50s and 60s. Now who will be the modern chronicler of contemporary Lagos and Abuja life? Two books that lots of people were talking about when I went home for Christmas were Araceli Aipoh's No Sense of Limits and Kaine Agary's Yellow Yellow. Someone just sent me Yellow Yellow from Nigeria and I'm looking forward to reading it. I've also just finished Bittersweets by Roopa Farooki about a Bangladeshi-Pakistani family which was bland with a barely credible plot. I can only imagine that it got published to tap into the post Brick Lane market. Contrastingly, I loved Jamal Mahjoub's The Drift Latitudes which was in such elegant language and thought. He's a writer that I hadn't really come across before in the UK, but is half-Sudanese and based in Barcelona and has published six books and was shortlisted for the Caine Prize in 2005. This year, he's chair of the panel of judges for the Prize which has just announced a "partnering" with Georgetown University http://forums.booktrade.info/showthread.php?t=778

Meanwhile I got sent this link from a young Nigerian-American filmmaker who's trying to get on to a sort of Pop Idol for filmmakers and would like loads of people to see his short film and rate it so that he's in with a chance http://films.thelot.com/films/6287

By the way, I notice that Ayoke, whose blog Exodus I always enjoyed (even if I sometimes disagreed with it) seems to have slipped away silently from the blogworld- the Nigerian blogosphere is poorer

North London liberals, watching Notes, Nigeria's farcical campaigns

I missed my Monday regular blog date- had a busy weekend and then wasn't feeling too well- the ubiquitous winter feverish-feeling, cough and cold scenario- so did not feel like getting up to much.

Saturday was spent having dinner with a bona fide "North London liberal chattering classes" family. I was hugely impressed by the grasp that the children, both under twelve displayed on issues like colonialism, Zimbabwe and racism- far more sophisticated than many of my colleagues- white or black. We got on to the subject of Barack Obama and one of the children said he felt that it might be difficult in some of the key southern states for a black man to win the primaries. His mother interjected saying that people had said the same of Americans voting for a Catholic before Kennedy. The child retorted saying that it was different- the average Catholic wasn't obliged by law to sit on a different part of the bus or attend a different school- so it was not an appropriate comparison. This got me thinking about how Obama (like many mixed race people with black blood) is always described as black. His mother is white, his father is black, so he's 50-50. From my primary school mathematics that means he could be described either way. That he isn't suggests that we all still subscribe to the notorious "one-drop" rule of the racist Deep South. I know I'm being pedantic, but it's worth reflecting on

To the cinema on Sunday to watch Notes on a Scandal. I went with a friend who thought it might be too bleak for his liking. In the event there were plenty of laughs from Judi Dench's magnificent portrayal of a lonely school teacher who becomes obsessed with her colleague who is having an affair with a pupil and then tries to manipulate her. I loved the film- especially as it was set in London and there's something about seeing the familiar writ large on a cinema screen...dreaming of the day Lagos and Abuja and my village loom on a cinema screen....I digress. I also loved Cate Blanchett's portrayal of a member of the bohemian North london chattering classes and Bill Nighy as usual was great as her older husband. As we left the theatre, we argued about whether the affair was convincing. My friend could not imagine a woman in the Cate Blanchett position having an affair with a pupil. I argued that human beings get up to the most inscrutable and incomprehensible things especially where sex is concerned- think of all the scandals that have involved famous people....In any case on Monday I see a letter in the Evening Standard making exactly the same point as my friend,I swallow my pride and ring him to point this out

I stumble across an article about Duro Olowu a fashion designer of Nigerian-Jamaican descent who's apparently making waves on the international fashion scene http://www.duroolowu.com/

Femi Kuti is playing tonight at the Barbican,http://www.barbican.org.uk/music/event-detail.asp?ID=5214 but by the time I tried to get tickets last week, it was sold out- that's the second time I've missed him, and coming after my failed attempt to see The Seagull at the Royal Court, I'm feeling a bit grumpy

I was amazed at the miles of media coverage given to the "revelation" that David Cameron had smoked pot (igbo, Indian hemp, wee-wee- as an aunt of mine used to refer to it) while at Eton and that it was amazing that it had not affected his poll ratings- this in a country where often on many streets you can smell the thing being smoked freely- a stench almost as strong as the hypocrisy that surrounded the whole media circus.

Meanwhile in Nigeria, the farce continues - The anti-corruption agency EFCC has now submitted its arbitrary list of "corrupt candidates" to the electoral commission, after a kangaroo panel is set up to vet the list. And just in case the electoral commissioners are in any doubt about how seriously to take it, two of them are arrested by (you guessed it) the EFCC. By using the anti-corruption agency in this cavalier blackmailing way, Obasanjo seems set to do more damage to democracy and the cause of anti-coruption than he realizes. It would all be laughable if not for the fact that at the end of the day, human lives are at stake.... Nigeriavillagesquare has an interesting article by a former US diplomat http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/articles/guest-articles/fooling-people-some-of-the-time.html Again I can't help wondering where all this will lead....

I've just finished The Testament of Gideon Mack which I enjoyed. Set in Scotland it chronicles the life of an unbelieving Church of Scotland minister who has an encounter with the Devil which totally changes his life. It's provocative and well-written, and gripping into the bargain, with something of the Victorian Gothic about it. Next up on my list is Rachel Cusk's Arlington Park. For some reason I'm drawn at the moment to books set in the UK. I'm hoping to get The Yacoubian Building next week- it's had great reviews and has apparently been the topselling book in the Arab world for the last eighteen months or so .....