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Showing posts from May, 2015

#BringBackOurGirls and President Muhammadu Buhari’s Inaugural Speech

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“Cherish freedom, nurture democracy” (paraphrase from President Buhari's inauguration speech) The high point of President Muhammadu Buhari’s inaugural speech for me was his focus on the rescue of the #ChibokGirls as a priority.  Of course, to do so, and to ensure the security of embattled Nigerians in the Northeast, he also has to defeat Boko Haram, and this too was identified as a priority.  The dismal state of our country’s economy has to matter to any government that has Nigeria’s interest at heart, and I’m happy that our new President has prioritized this as well.  The fuel and power crises, the grand decrepitude of our infrastructure, rampant, intractable unemployment and underemployment and all the focal areas that were emphasized as important are indeed worth prioritizing and tackling with passion, focus, tenacity, skills and imagination.  For identifying all these objectives, I thank our new President.  I remain firm in my conviction however that the declaration that h

#BringBackOurGirls: The Chibok Girls and Nigerian Democracy

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I was invited by the  Lagos Chapter of the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) campaign to join them at  the  Marina Waterfront on  Saturday, 23rd May 2015, from 11 am to 2 pm. We began with a meeting to  discuss what we would like to see  the incoming government do about our Chibok Girls.  Several suggestions were made, which will be harmonized with those of other BBOG groups and shared with the public in due time.   I  spoke at 12 noon.  We were blessed with lots of rain from start to finish.  There was also a fuel scarcity that must have prevented many people from coming. However, it was inspiring and wonderful to be in the midst of such a committed, tenacious, socially committed fellow citizens.    The rain was so much that I abandoned my ipad, which had my prepared talk, and I ad libbed.  Here below is the talk, which has a lot of ideas that I'd previously expressed, an indicator of my unrelenting stand.  It also includes photos that were kindly taken by Habiba Balogun and Ayo