After the Nigeria Election

Election Aftermath

President Buhari and his supporters have been celebrating his re-election around the country. His defeated opponent Abubakar has threatened court action, but I haven’t seen any news about his plans.

The US and UK have congratulated Buhari on his win, according to Legit.ng.

Comments about the election and related violence have been somewhat contradictory, with some reporters saying violence was less than feared, others that it was more than expected.

Ambassador Campbell’s Security Tracker for the week of the election until March 1 listed several election-related killings, including this:

• February 27: Two were killed during Buhari’s victory celebration in Ojo, Lagos.

That one hit home for me. Ojo was where I taught for three years. The first two were as a part-time teacher at Awori-Ajeromi Secondary Grammar School in Ojo.

My Peace Corps volunteer assignment was to teach German at Federal Emergency Science School in Lagos. When that turned out to be part-time, I was sent to Ojo, fifteen miles outside of Lagos, to teach English and Religious Knowledge three days a week.

I remember being surprised to learn that the Olojo of Ojo, the traditional ruler, was Muslim. I don’t know the percentage of the two major religions in the town but certainly a large number are Muslim.

One major result of that assignment led at least indirectly to my marriage! You’ll have to read my memoir to know how that happened, but a clue is that it involved the Fiat 500 Peace Corps provided so I could get to Ojo regularly!

After my Peace Corps service I returned to Nigeria on a one-year contract to the Ojo school, with wedding plans in hand.

Buhari’s Plans After Election

Buhari has made some interesting statements about his plans:

https://punchng.com/persons-of-integrity-wont-be-denied-appointment-in-my-next-cabinet-buhari/

Our Igbo cousin-in-law expressed his disappointment over the election results to my husband on a Sunday morning phone call.

Threats in Lagos

Igbo people in Lagos have been threatened and attacked. This has led some to call again for secession, while others decry any talk of a renewed Biafra, the 1967 secessionist state in eastern Nigeria.

Fani-Kayode has spoken out against any such attacks on Igbo people. He accuses Tinubu, a Yoruba leader behind the scenes, of encouraging these. He says Tinubu is not speaking for the Yoruba people, only for himself.

Tinubu: Fani-Kayode speaks on attack of Igbos in Lagos

Celebrity Response to Re-election

Nollywood, Nigeria’s movie industry in Nigeria, is rivalling India’s Bollywood. One actress has spoken out about what she expects from the re-elected president.

https://punchng.com/well-force-buhari-to-pay-attention-to-nollywood-foluke-daramola-salako/

She asks the Nollywood participants to join their efforts to pressure Buhari to treat the industry better.

Another Nollywood personality accused her of playing politics, suggesting that actors should be non-partisan. She responded, “I am first a Nigerian before being an actress, and we are all entitled to our ideologies.”

Among other requests Daramola-Salako makes, she wants Buhari to appoint a minister of entertainment. Is she gunning for the position?

In defense of her support of Buhari and her partisanship, she says, “I actually intend to go for a position later and if I don’t belong to any party, I wouldn’t be able to do that.”

Nigeria’s Health Policies

Our cousin Akaoma Onyemelukwe is a consultant on health policies and practices in Nigeria. She posted on Facebook:

“It’s exciting as Lagos State Ministry of Health this week disseminates its human resource for health documents… HRH policy, strategic plan and situational analysis at the General Assembly of the Health Partners Development Forum 2019. As the consultant who produced these products working with Lagos state HRH technical working group, I feel very honored that the state found it useful.”

Congratulations to Akaoma.

Her sister, also a health care professional, has just published a novel! I’ll let you know when it comes out in the US.

White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo

TEAM Westport’s Book Group was scheduled to discuss White Fragility tonight. I was supposed to host my Sister Grannies, so knew I couldn’t attend the book discussion.

Both events have been postponed due to the heavy snow last night. So I hope to get to that discussion.

White Fragility had just come out when she gave a presentation in Seattle, Washington. The acknowledgments of Native American’s land by the introducer and by DiAngelo are impressive.

I’ve read the book but will watch the video before the discussion on March 24. Let me know if you have reactions to the book or the video that you want to share.

And I’ll still make my cauliflower, curry and coconut dish that I had planned, since I have all the ingredients on hand. I’ll enjoy it for the next couple of days and freeze the rest!