tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-314174052012-01-15T04:42:01.930+01:00Oyibo!Every day people stop in the street and shout "Oyibo!" at me. It means "white man". Just by being a white guy in Abuja I have been turned into a sort of minor celebrity, famous for doing nothing.Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.comBlogger831100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-44821178650174447002007-11-16T13:49:00.000+01:002007-11-21T13:46:00.515+01:00Poverty fairThe sun filtered down from the jewelled skylight, water playfully tinkled from the granite fountain catching the midday sun that poured into the atrium of the Yar’adua centre. I was looking at a set of pictures pinned to the wall. I couldn’t quite see what I was looking at. There were three that seemed to be where rocky ground met a swamp. It wasn’t much of a swamp even, a dirty brownAndrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-42299787779787876112007-11-09T16:19:00.000+01:002007-11-11T18:20:06.025+01:00 The Third ManI turned on the television the other day. Through the blizzard of fuzz across my ailing TV set a face rose out of the gloom.It was a man’s face I recognised, but couldn’t immediately place the movie it was from. It filled the black and white screen he had a wave of grey hair, a slightly skewed look on his face, and a drooping lip. I heard the joyless-but-jaunty zither Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-32927027354994133152007-11-03T17:02:00.000+01:002007-11-11T18:21:44.107+01:00The phone I pulled up the car and climbed out of the ac blast into the heat. It dragged my shoulders down, I could feel energy evaporating out of my body and escaping into the air, up and away into the eggshell blue sky. I’d been putting this off for over a week, and now there was no getting away from it. I locked the car and turned towards the line of touts who had Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-25164876988624782462007-10-27T16:57:00.000+01:002007-11-11T18:23:42.967+01:00“Court!” The first knock on the courtroom door sent the lawyers scurrying to their places, wiggling wigs on heads and flipping open files. One barrister was still not at his correct station when the judge entered, and he skirted the bench at a stoop, like someone walking in front of a cinema screen, holding his white shaggy mop in place. With the funny gait, the black suit and Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-48061164639824035492007-10-20T16:31:00.000+01:002007-11-11T18:27:26.787+01:00City of lost children My colleague was washing his feet before going inside the mosque that flanks the square.“I’ll just go and pray” he said.“Sure” I replied.I turned around and standing there, staring at me, was a huge crowd of children.Kano is a city of children. They stand on corners and junctions, outside cafes holding bowls, leading their infirm parents around, security guards scatter Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-81325546448817535302007-10-02T20:30:00.000+01:002007-11-11T18:30:58.977+01:00“There is no teaching without entertainment!”Film producer Iyan Tama (centre, seated) almost jumps out of his skin when he speaks about his movies. His enthusiasm seems to be in his bones, and desperately trying to get out. Iyan Tama has just finished shooting his 25th movie. It is story about Sani, a Hausa boy who meets Helena, an Igbo girl, in Kano, and they fall in love. Their relationship Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-12494891184597387522007-10-01T23:20:00.000+01:002007-11-11T18:32:54.045+01:00 Sarkin KaraokeAs we pulled up to the Gidan Murtala roundabout a gang of hawkers flocked around us, hands full of car accessories, re-charge cards, bundles of white cloth and Islamic books. Through the tinted glass two of them recognised the driver and instantly dropped into a respectful crouch. From the passenger seat all I could see were their fists held Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-40969329839091934892007-09-19T13:03:00.000+01:002007-11-11T18:37:47.790+01:00This is the follow up to a story about the Environmental task force, and their methods. The problem they say is that street hawking brings crime and chaos, and besmirches the image of Abuja as a modern city worthy of being a federal capital.The real situation is that illiterate people are giving up the country to come and sell services like phone recharge cards, car washes, shoe repair, finger Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-57480967465595268602007-09-17T20:01:00.000+01:002007-11-11T18:41:07.515+01:00One of Abuja’s leading live musicians was beaten up and arrested by men believed to be working for the environmental “task force” charged with keeping the streets free of hawkers by the Federal Capital Territory Authority.Age Beeka, 31, was repeatedly punched in the face and groin when he tried to prevent a street hawker being arrested last Thursday night outside the Crystal Palace Hotel, Port Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-14294740426585293362007-09-07T19:42:00.000+01:002007-11-11T18:42:55.288+01:00In the sacred groveI clambered through the roots down to the water. The soupy brown river moved swiftly around the bend that hugs the shrine of Osun in the sacred grove of Osogbo. Caught in an eddy and desperately flapping trying to get out of the stream was a white dove.How did that get there? I wondered, oh -poor bird.Right then a man in white next to me wound his hand back and lobbed another Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-10323745025375728132007-09-04T13:00:00.000+01:002007-11-11T18:44:16.324+01:00On the road againThe embers of a few fires leaked smoke into the hazy skein that already hung over the morning. I haven't seen Abuja at dawn for a while -much better than in the flinching sunlight, but there's no time to stay and look across Garki Market to the rock. I'm on the road again.I joined a bus at the old federal secretariat. The Nigerian Tourist Development Corporation representatives Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-29852834273957099092007-08-16T05:20:00.000+01:002007-11-11T18:45:59.124+01:00 Journey to the valley of the snakes.Adamu looks out of the window, he speaks in tentative English: “I feel so ashamed in my heart because my son is in danger.”Three days before, his three-year-old son Abdul Sawal was bitten by a snake as he played with his sisters at home. Adamu and Abdul’s mother Aisha grabbed their only son and set out on a day-long journey from their home in Karim-Lamido Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-54994457440499435482007-08-10T15:25:00.000+01:002007-11-11T18:47:50.635+01:00The pocket menWe were eating our breakfast when the law walked in. One man in a blue kaftan and hat shook my friend's hand. He ignored me. The other, a short muscular bald man in a dirty white t-shirt stared at me intently chewing his lip, but said nothing. Trouble.The man in the hat said, in English: "We are immigration officers. We want to know who your friend is and what he is doing here, and Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-55957198916211833012007-08-04T05:17:00.000+01:002007-08-05T03:34:46.436+01:00The KleptocracyRight now I'm reading a book called Guns, Germs and Steel, in which the remarkable scientist Jared Diamond attempts to explain why Eurasian states and cultures came to dominate the modern world.His argument is that ecological factors, not cultural or political ones, conspired to prevent people in the Americas, Africa and Australasia from developing strong agricultural societies Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-29971282303009381482007-07-31T20:44:00.000+01:002007-11-11T18:50:53.677+01:00Turning the tablesAt last the tables had turned. She stood before me, thumbs thrust in the waistband of her jeans, fists at her waist, hips cocked. I could tell she was going to enjoy this. "So anyway," she started, as if the subject wasn't busting to get out of her, "I've just got back from your country…" "And…" "Well apart from the terrible weather I saw many things that made me think.""Really?Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-91813565677703042662007-07-20T13:15:00.000+01:002007-11-11T18:54:59.413+01:00Letter to a new arrival.Dear newcomer,I sat next to you on the late night plane from London, where you told me you were moving to Nigeria to work for an international organisation. We chatted a bit about our destination, you asked me many questions about your new home. Some of them I could answer, but tiredness and my own shortcomings prevented me from giving you fuller answers, or really convey Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-21657737064745074972007-07-13T13:09:00.000+01:002007-11-11T19:06:03.584+01:00Laughing at bombs"There were two doctors immediately on the scene of the attempted bombing, unfortunately one was on fire and the other was trying to blow himself up…"Comedians in Britain have seized on the latest terrorist attacks in Glasgow and London. And I have to admit, in the absence of any innocent person being hurt, there is an element of comedy to the situation.The London attempt was Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-4378188050990028722007-06-22T11:44:00.000+01:002007-11-11T19:07:52.138+01:00Panic and guiltThe car slowed to a crawling pace on the tiny incline, and then the engine died. We'd managed about 15 metres. The policeman scraped the key in the ignition, it chuggered and spluttered, died again -the driver swore- and then it came to life, roused like an asthmatic smoker. I looked at my watch. "Don't panic", I thought. Only a few minutes until I have to check in, and I've Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-71457931202511297842007-06-08T14:24:00.000+01:002007-11-11T19:13:05.117+01:00Africa MagicIt's three in the morning and I can't sleep. The reason I can't sleep is the sound of saggy drums and shouting leaking through the wall from my neighbour's apartment. He's watching Africa Magic at full volume.I think the film he's watching is the kind where guys stand around a forest wrapped in sack cloth discussing which one of their wives is a witch and who is going to kill her. I Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-34197400991000134832007-06-01T11:00:00.000+01:002007-11-11T19:15:16.103+01:00A robbery I suppose I should have known better than to stick around in the crowd after the new president left Eagle Square. I think it was during the pushing and shoving that erupted when former president Obasanjo walked to his car that my pocket was picked.After he finished his speech, Yar'Adua returned inside the bullet proof walls of the VIP pavilion for a final round of handshakes, and the Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-48653456522656342402007-05-25T11:35:00.000+01:002007-11-11T19:18:14.781+01:00Turfalgar SquareA friend who works in the visa section of the British High Commission told me a story once about a Nigerian applicant he was interviewing.“The guy was applying on the basis he had lived in London before, so I asked him what his favourite place was. He said Trafalgar Square, so I asked him to describe it. He said: ‘Oh it’s very beautiful, with grass and cows.’” the guy’s Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-26414892553087366622007-04-30T01:41:00.000+01:002007-11-11T19:22:28.783+01:00The call of the packThe first thing I saw were the sticks. The mob were clawing over the car in front of us and they were waving big lumps of wood. I could see some of them had nails driven through them. The thugs brandished their clubs at the driver, holding them up, threatening to let them fall, stamping forward, trying to make the driver flinch. They swamped the car. Over 30 of them crowded Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-81399693423321463072007-04-19T12:03:00.000+01:002007-11-11T19:23:55.242+01:00Juju and electionsAs we walked up to the Inec office in Okene, I saw a small pile of gari in the middle of the road. I didn’t think much of it. Maybe someone spilled it by accident.But driving around town, I noticed more little piles of bright white flour at intersections. At one place the flour was poured around the little traffic director’s hut in the middle. It looked like a necklace.It wasn’tAndrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-83387521267996061502007-04-12T13:19:00.000+01:002007-11-11T19:28:35.763+01:00Inside Oga's house*We entered the Oga’s antechamber, ushered in by men in suits. Men in full “one thousand two thousand” kaftan arrangements stood about, sat on plush sofas or on the fluffy carpet. They were evidently very important people, and we were all waiting for the man.This was the second, inner, waiting room. Without was a shabbier room, all tiles and a big flat screen TV with football onAndrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-73963344226388826632007-03-31T13:53:00.000+01:002007-03-31T14:07:15.899+01:00Here comes the rain againThe servos and motors started whining, and the hydraulic arms began slowly to lift me, the excited children and the huge fibreglass eagles into the air.I checked my seatbelt for a third time before the huge arms started to rotate us around tipping us onto an angle. From the top of the Flying Eagles ride in Wonderland I could see down the valley north of Abuja. I was Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-73676898395400706502007-03-23T14:40:00.000+01:002007-03-23T14:48:47.486+01:00Strange fruitWhen we were kids, my younger brother once dared me to take a roll on deodorant –the kind that applied antiperspirant with a plastic ball- and use it on my tongue.As a stupid child, I did it and then dared him to do it too. My mother returned to the car where she’d left us for only a few moments to find us manically spreading deodorant on our tongues and then going “ewwww!” and Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-78204450298097185272007-03-12T21:14:00.000+01:002007-03-20T16:43:16.217+01:00In England, sending your candidate overseas for medical treatment would be political suicide. Not here it seems.last Saturday Umar "comeback kid" Yar'Adua arrived at Lagos Airport. He told waiting journalists reports of his death were "highly exaggerated", before jumping into a waiting helicopter with his hangers on and heading out to Ado Ekiti.The retinue kept coming, more and more jumped into Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-58385827922172509402007-03-09T14:44:00.000+01:002007-03-09T14:50:08.760+01:00“He is dead!”I looked at my friend askance.“How do you know that?” I asked.“I know because it is true. Have they said he is not?”“Well, no… But how can you know he is dead?”“I just know. He is dead.”At about eleven o’clock Wednesday morning everyone went berserk. A member of staff butted in to the meeting room brandishing a mobile phone. Somehow, the friend on the end of the text knows a person Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-50220632882296833762007-03-08T03:51:00.000+01:002007-03-07T18:51:15.865+01:00Umar Yar'Adua is still in the race for the presidency, the People's Democratic Party candidate told the BBC today.He spoke from his German hospital bed to quash rumours he had died.Yar'Adua is suffering from a "small infection", President Olusegun Obasanjo told a campaign rally in Abeokuta.The candidate denied newspaper reports he collapsed in Lagos airport. Party chieftain Olabode George told Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-11410697884291877362007-03-07T19:00:00.000+01:002007-03-07T13:05:53.461+01:00Yesterday night, everything changed.The ruling People's Democratic Party candidate Umar Yar'Adua was flown to a hospital in Germany by air ambulance for medical treatment.A statement from the party last night said Yar'Adua was "taking time off" from the campaign.Yar'Adua has suffered from a kidney condition for several years. He told journalists he had recovered recently.It is not presently knownAndrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-52735362238183531512007-03-05T19:00:00.000+01:002007-03-05T19:22:46.886+01:00The following story came from the magistrates' court in Jabi, around the corner from the office. I asked Mary what she had today, and she said "not much". I showed it to Abdul Fattah, the Assistand News Editor, and he said: "Thats like man bites dog round here..."Well, its a slow news day today.Man, teenage girlfriend in court for beating wifeMary Kunle A woman was attacked by her husband Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-10020962326123208672007-03-05T01:05:00.000+01:002007-03-04T16:05:37.732+01:00There were so many people in the room there wasn’t really any space for me, but somehow I squeezed in.We squatted down on the floor, 30 robed mallams and me, all facing the witnesses.If you stood, you would have seen everyone was arranged in rough circles emanating from the corner where the royal father sat.He had a turban of delicate white cloth, one skein of which was tied under his chin. Next Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-68018897598290689912007-03-05T00:58:00.000+01:002007-03-04T15:58:40.226+01:00Watch out kids!It was early morning, we were lost in Katsina, and I had no idea how close we were to seeing a child die.A very helpful and kind stranger had broken off an appointment he had to show us where we were supposed to be going, and even help us find some batteries for my midget voice recorder. But we weren’t having much luck, all the shops were closed.We stood near a bend in the road, Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-53520943719864174332007-03-05T00:30:00.000+01:002007-03-04T15:59:33.581+01:00The ruling People's Democratic Party last year selected Umar Yar'Adua as its candidate for the election. Even in Nigeria little is known about the governor of Katsina state. It is generally said of him that he has a good record, is prudent, and has done a lot to aid the development of the far northern state. But on a recent trip there, very little positive development was evident.Katsina is a dryAndrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-66751769911295315432007-03-04T13:56:00.000+01:002007-03-04T15:57:27.663+01:00Katsina nightlife“She is a prostitute” my companion said, sipping a Maltina.I was sitting in an enclosed garden bar in Katsina, drinking a nice beer. My companion was sticking to soft drinks.“How do you know?” I asked, perplexed. Wrapped in a very modest, colourful cloth dress she didn’t look like she’d make a lot of money on the streets of UK red light districts, where they tend to advertise a Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-18178574128395029412007-02-26T12:57:00.000+01:002007-03-04T17:32:34.546+01:00The Dogon of Mali, Visited by ancient astronauts? Down, down into the darkness. The road slipped between two standing stones and disappeared, we followed inching down the winding path.“The Falaise!” exclaimed Ahmad, our driver. We’d driven over the plateau and now we were on the brink of a giant cliff face, looking southwards into the empty, starless night.The Dogon people live on the cliffs of Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-22947959631594783212007-02-15T04:06:00.000+01:002007-02-14T20:28:05.381+01:00Former soldiers clashed with police in Abuja yesterday after the retired servicemen barricaded the Keffi expressway, shutting down much of the capital for hours.The protest erupted outside the Mogadishu Cantonment because the government has not paid soldiers’ pensions, former servicemen said.Protestors mobbed FCT commissioner of police, Mr. Lawrence Alobi and his car was smashed.The pensioners Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-34798323195135469212007-02-14T01:20:00.000+01:002007-03-16T12:10:50.513+01:00One of the best journalists in Nigeria. Senan Murray has an instinct for personal stories in a media obsessed with useless, facile, arrogant, money spewing politicians.Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-80476939356442817622007-02-13T19:42:00.000+01:002007-02-13T10:50:21.394+01:00The following story came out of a piece of information buried in paragraph 12 of a rather convoluted piece about why Obasanjo refused to visit the opposition-run state of Borno.The government of Borno state has refused to open a new 300-bed general hospital to the public for six months.The Ali Modu Sherrif led administration said it would not open the new facility in Maiduguri until the presidentAndrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-1168985761091450462007-01-17T08:12:00.000+01:002007-01-16T23:25:35.106+01:00Arrived back again from Mali to find Abuja still in the grip of petrol scarcity. The price on the black market has now gone up to N600 (about £2.5) per gallon. Still laughably cheap for a Brit used to taxation, but murderously expensive for Nigerians used to subsidised fuel.Apparently petrol marketers are anticipating a price increase after an imminent reduction in subsidies, and are consequentlyAndrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-1167845717319621222007-01-04T03:34:00.000+01:002007-01-16T23:05:02.906+01:00Arrived back in Abuja to find a suitcase and my DVD player that I’d put in store in the apartment are “missing”. Had to go to work so couldn’t hear any explanation. Blank looks all around when I asked where they were.*Also, I got back to my computer to find the folder with an archive of all the copy I had worked on has been deleted. I think I have most of it backed up, but not sure. Someone said Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-1166469334919552452006-12-19T05:17:00.000+01:002006-12-18T20:17:40.906+01:00As predicted by my colleagues, all the aspirants in the race to be the opposition ANPP candidate -bar one- pulled out. Ahmed Sani Yerima of Zamfara state stepped up and announced to the Eagle Square crowd he would not be contesting the election, and everyone followed, even the man reportedly paid by Obasanjo to step up to be a 'spoiler'.General Mohammedu Buhari said he was "overcome by the Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-1166459894263886872006-12-19T02:43:00.000+01:002006-12-18T18:12:46.526+01:00The All Nigeria People's Party primary is on today. The latest news is that the candidates have pulled out to back General Muhammadu Buhari, the former military head of state.Buhari is from the same state as Umar Yar'adua, and is a lot more popular. Even in Katsina state where Yar'adua is governor, Buhari will definitely be the favourite to win, given a free and fair ballot.And here's the rub. Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-1166452836376621672006-12-19T01:28:00.000+01:002006-12-18T18:10:36.043+01:00Umar Yar’adua entered Eagle square and took his seat at the Katsina section of the stands. He looked out to a band of jostling camera men.“Hold up his hands!” someone shouted from the crowd. James Ibori, standing next to the only governor remaining in the race to become the People’s Democratic Party candidate, took Yar’adua’s hands and held them aloft. The Katsina delegates were jubilant. Voting Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-1166118688012573972006-12-15T03:51:00.000+01:002006-12-14T18:51:28.013+01:00Our reporter just came back from the National Assembly... Apparently the electoral act has been amended. The process began and concluded today. So that officially gives another 60 days for registration. Just like thatCrisis seems to have been averted, but to my mind it's still questionable.It just goes to show how arbitrary the rules are. Without a clear rational or internal logic it is easy for Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-1166118138977424612006-12-15T02:30:00.000+01:002006-12-14T18:42:19.020+01:00Somewhere in the middle of the voters registration period I asked the national press officer for the Independent National Electoral Commission, Pastor Segun Adeogun, how many people would have to be registered every day for everyone in the electorate to be covered. He said: “Ah, no! That is mathematics. Things don’t work like that here.”The chairman of INEC Professor Maurice, Iwu at a press Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-1166107528609765862006-12-14T12:45:00.000+01:002006-12-14T15:45:28.633+01:00The OPEC meeting came to town today. Yesterday the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, the parastatal responsible for importing most of Nigeria’s petrol, diesel and kerosene announced it was doubling Abuja’s daily supply from 60 tankers to 120.Can you imagine? Nigeria, the fifth biggest oil exporter in the world, hosting an OPEC meeting for the first time ever, and what’s that at the fillingAndrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-1165928003318455832006-12-12T23:19:00.000+01:002007-01-18T11:30:06.166+01:00“I feel pity for these women,” the nurse in the dark mud brick clinic said. “They are dying because they can’t afford to give birth in hospital.”I met Soliu at the checking point between FCT and Nassarawa state. Mararaba was its chaotic self, with people loping across the road in between speeding danfo busses, taking drops to work or hanging about selling wares on the street. Managing, I heard Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-1165837498309181352006-12-11T22:01:00.000+01:002006-12-11T13:01:40.423+01:00Fuel queues are back. Since the weekend the lines of people have been steadily growing. On the route to work we passed a filling station that was just opening up. From the way people were dashing to their cars from the shade of trees, I guessed they'd been waiting there for a long time.It was the Gubernatorial primaries this weekend. And its the presidential ones next weekend. It can't be a Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-1165345474417998492006-12-11T05:36:00.000+01:002006-12-10T20:46:27.380+01:00Mallam Kaduna (on the left) and his workers collect all the waste paper from the printing press. They store it in a sea container in front of the office. They sell it to snack hawkers like suya stands and popcorn vendors. A kilo of newspaper goes for N60. They sell it in bundles of 36 kilos.They had a load of bundles laid out, I counted 168, that's N362,880. Or 1512 pounds. The committee that Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-1165242456892970992006-12-04T14:05:00.000+01:002006-12-06T12:20:57.613+01:00These are the nurses from the Daughters of Charity clinic, Kubwa. I went to see their World Aids Day performance of a play about stigma and HIV.I didn't expect to be laughing through the performance, but I did.The story was about a woman who is abandoned by her gossipy market-women friends who find out she is HIV positive. The gossiping women brought the house down."Come close! don't you know Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-1164894426856271722006-11-30T23:47:00.000+01:002006-12-14T18:59:52.276+01:00Alfatai and I met on the road outside the office. Arab Contractors were laying down a new thick black tarry carpet of asphalt. The road surface looked like an expanse of pitch flapjack. It was hot. Pools of water and tar were being squeezed out by a huge roller. Heat pumped from the engine and the road.We greeted each other and walked into work. Suddenly there was a blurr of movement in front of Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-1164304156560174292006-11-24T03:39:00.001+01:002006-11-27T11:11:27.933+01:00The Abuja carnival kicked off today. The organisers claimed over 2000 separate cultural groups were involved, from different ethnicities and cultures across Nigeria. That's pretty extraordinary.What's less edifying is that the whole four day shindig cost Nigeria a billion Naira (about 4 million pounds at today's rate). Needless to say the states whose governors are running for presidency used theAndrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-1164297823892253752006-11-24T01:55:00.001+01:002006-11-23T20:22:57.746+01:00The road from Abuja to Lagos is littered with the carcasses of motor vehicles.Cars; brittle frames, covered in the bright orange blooms of oxidization; busses, ripped open like tin cans; trucks, overturned, loads spilled, axles twisted.I saw one patch of grass at the side of the road that had obviously been burned in a savage fire. The only thing left was the front axle of the truck, and twelve Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-1163966662412498762006-11-19T20:39:00.000+01:002006-11-19T21:04:22.426+01:00What balls! award nomination number 1:Today Obasanjo told the graduating class at the top military training college in Jos that Nigerians were to blame for not making their leaders accountable. He said improved morality was the only way to save Nigeria. He added his government had done what it could, but Nigerians must do more.In the audienbce was the 20th Sultan of Sokoto Muhammed Sa'ad AbubakarAndrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-1163623710032714142006-11-15T21:32:00.000+01:002006-11-15T21:48:30.060+01:00Kabba weekend, what can I say? Booze, crazy golf, treasure hunt, more booze, wind up granny racing, and bonkers hats... Did I mention the booze?Noel and Leo, two giants of human kindness, thank you for a great getaway.Up the navy!Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-1163109949581631332006-11-10T07:57:00.000+01:002006-11-09T23:05:49.603+01:00Someone stole Aso Rock this morning.Driving past Garki market this morning the ever present green loaf had simply disappeared. The once blue sky had turned grey, as if the wispy little cloud that sometimes hangs over the rock had taken its chance while no one was looking and crept down to cover the whole of the sky.The harmattan is here. Attahiru said it was coming. He'd been in Kaduna the day Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-1163092302946889882006-11-10T05:54:00.000+01:002006-11-09T20:01:34.263+01:00Donald Duke came to the paper yesterday. As he spoke I was just ticking off the cliches. "Nigeria is like a car", check. "Leadership is about who you surround youself with", check. "If not now, when?" check. "Things should be done on merit", check. "Record of delivery", check. "Tested leadership", check. "Taking nigeria into the 21st century", check.He didn't strike me as being very passionate. Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-1163084720094350562006-11-10T02:08:00.000+01:002006-11-09T17:16:27.803+01:00At a dinner party last week, we discussed the attitude of the police. I'm always afraid of sounding like a whining oyibo when I talk about things that are entirely negative, but encounters with the police do make entertaining stories.for example, on the way up to Zaria my friend nearly ran a policeman over. He didn't slow down when the man started waving his baton, and then stopped after making Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-1162844483935999472006-11-07T06:08:00.000+01:002006-11-06T21:21:23.950+01:00A disturbing start to Chief Femi Fani-Kayode's tenure as aviation minister. His SSS guards shot in the air at the door of the federal secretariat during a fight with secretariat security men. They were moving in "electronic equipment" to Fani-Kayode's new office, when the security men asked to see proof that the stuff was Femi's and didn't belong to the government, or his old ministry.There was Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-1162501038015963442006-11-02T21:43:00.000+01:002006-11-02T21:59:39.156+01:00By this evening a note of caution had crept into Attahiru's voice."I was talking to some people who say Dasuki would have been better..."Oh yeah."There is a worry that this man now is a military man. Some people might come to him and say 'aha! We need action!' And he gives it to them."The role of the Sultan is to represent the estimated 70 million Muslims in Nigeria. Maccido had been a vocal Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-1162496908920088982006-11-02T20:14:00.000+01:002006-11-02T20:48:30.646+01:00Attahiru was very insistent.“If they want peace and security, they should make Shehu Sarkin Sudan the next Sultan.”Of the four ruling houses of the Sokoto Caliphate, he was the favourite contender from the House of Bello. The house of Bello, I gather, is considered the bona fide lineage at the moment. Part of the reason nobody liked Dasuki back in the 1990s was he was imposed by Babangida who Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-1162418216007560532006-11-02T07:35:00.001+01:002006-11-01T22:56:56.010+01:00Today, a riot broke out between the police and the Civil Defence Corps.Two Civil Defence officers were directing traffic at the Wadata Junction, near the People's Democratic Party secretariat. The police came down as a show of force to protect a guy picking up the nomination form for the presidential race, and noticed the NSCDC officers were giving conflicting directions, and two accidents were Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-1162417351368260852006-11-02T07:26:00.000+01:002006-11-01T22:43:58.046+01:00MathsI'm not good at numbers. When I try to do mental arithmatic the numbers start swimming around in my minds eye, giggling... a xylophone plays in the background.But today I sucessfully held a maths training session for journalists. We went over how to calculate percentages and averages, and then did a test.I've heard that university here is about the equivalent of A level, and these guys Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-1162419408955731632006-11-01T22:57:00.000+01:002006-11-01T23:22:24.940+01:00I'm still at the office at 11pm. This is crazy. We're waiting for the annoucement of the next Sultan of Sokoto, which is iminent.I gather the front runners are a man called Alhaji Alhaji, the former High Commissioner to London, Alhaji Shehu Malami, the former High Commissioner to South Africa, and Colonel Sambo Dasuki.The controversy seems to be around Dasuki. His father was installed as Sultan Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-1162236751403069622006-10-31T05:27:00.000+01:002006-10-31T12:54:56.353+01:00More details are emerging from the crash:Many more people would have survived the ADC plane crash at Abuja Airport on Sunday if the emergency services had got there faster, villagers near the sceneof the crash said yesterday.They also revealed the Sultan of Sokoto was found clutching a Holy Qur’an, prayer beads and his passport. His body was the only one that was not burned, villagers said.Two ofAndrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-1162219597831383092006-10-30T15:44:00.000+01:002006-10-31T12:56:23.456+01:00Yesterday another plane crashed. It seems incredible that in a little over a year over 300 people have been killed crashes like this.I got a call from a friend in Zaria asking if it was true that the Sultan of Sokoto was among the dead. One of the executives of the paper was at the airport and rushed to the scene of the crash. He had helped pull out the Sultan's charred body himself.I suppose Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-1159891050035494102006-10-05T00:46:00.000+01:002006-10-03T16:57:30.050+01:00The fear of rape has spurred women to join vigilante groups in a village scheduled to be demolished along airport road.The village of Aleita has been terrorised by a series of armed robberies since the village was marked for demolition, residents said.Stories circulating about two women brutally raped in recent days have prompted women to take part in what is normally considered a man’s Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-1159977876610423162006-10-04T17:01:00.000+01:002006-10-04T17:04:36.636+01:00 The villages along Abuja’s airport road prepared for the arrival of bulldozers this week, and most residents were busy removing all the valuable fittings from their houses. But one group of men in Aleita decided their imminent eviction was too much to worry about, and sat down to play draughts instead.We found the group of men playing under the shade of some trees, sitting with two boards on Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-1159970553824092872006-10-04T14:59:00.000+01:002006-10-04T15:02:33.836+01:00This week the FCT minister banned motorcyle taxis from the capital.I woke up last Sunday to a different Abuja.We don’t have Okadas in London. There is one company that uses a small fleet of motorbikes to ferry high-flying executives from the city to London’s airports in 25 minutes guaranteed. But the mayor’s office won’t allow motorcycle taxis that you can hail from the street. They’re too Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-1157315390329648352006-09-04T05:20:00.000+01:002006-09-03T21:33:38.556+01:00A finger tightening on the trigger of the shotgun, I lean out of the car’s window to bring the barrel down on the patch of grass illuminated by a searchlight where my quarry is hiding. I hesitate for a breath.“Shoot him!” whispers 16-year old Mohammed Ali, son of the man hunter Ali Kwara.I squeeze the trigger. The explosion is jaw jarring, flame bursts from the barrel. The sharp smell of cordite Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-1155672402392717882006-08-15T20:48:00.000+01:002006-08-16T12:22:22.990+01:00Yesterday was former military ruler Ibrahim Babangida's 65th birthday. He attended a seminar with his son, who had just been released by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission after 48 hours questioning over his ownership of shares in a telecoms company.When I heard this I asked if anyone had gone up to him and asked him about his son at the meeting. I was laughed out of court."Security Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-1155646686010633502006-08-15T13:54:00.000+01:002006-08-15T14:10:38.853+01:00The rain was so hard this morning neither I nor the driver Alhassan could see more than a few metres in front of us. Crowds of people, busses and okada motorcycles crowded under bridges.The okada –motorcycle taxis- we passed on the road looked miserable. Passengers making themselves small in the pillion seat, drivers muttering to themselves for strength, driving on despite the heavy rain.Heavy Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-1155557773349340352006-08-14T12:52:00.000+01:002006-08-14T13:16:13.360+01:00The day after we had been castigated by the CEO for running unbalanced stories, we ran a story on the front page from a press statement from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission chief, Nuhu Ribadu. He claimed that a conman had been going around telling governors that they could buy protection from investigation for N1million (about £4000).Ribadu said one governor, Ahmed Sani Yerima of Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-1155211418823241522006-08-10T12:20:00.000+01:002006-08-16T12:31:15.183+01:00Two days ago the Federal Capital Territory authorities evicted an elderly judge fromhis grace-and-favour home in an upmarket area of Abuja.They kicked him out on the street with all his belongings, locked up the house and put it under guard.Shehu one of the most experienced reproters went down there to speak to the man, Justice Bashir Sambo. He said he'd paid for the house after he retired, but Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-1155061785743084812006-08-08T19:24:00.000+01:002006-10-03T17:05:17.253+01:00 A muscular youth ran in front of our car toward the tight group of uniformed mobile police. Half his face was painted white. He looked straight out of one of the pictures I’d seen of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta. It was only then driving past the row of shops that were scheduled to be demolished in Gwarimpa that I had any nerves about going there.Staring out of Austin’s Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-1154970581175057432006-08-07T17:57:00.000+01:002006-08-07T18:09:41.186+01:00We had an interesting discussion in afternoon conference today; how should we report alleged assassination attempts on major political figures. What are the ground rules for coverage?On the face of it this shouldn't be an issue. A politician's life is threatened, its news. But this is Nigeria, and things may not always be as they seem. Political assassination is almost a monthly occurrence. But Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-1154522776649379502006-08-02T13:35:00.000+01:002006-08-02T13:46:16.663+01:00Its funny where you get stories sometimes. Emmanuel and I were buying a schwarma at the lebanese snackbar in Wuse, trying to avoid the heat pumping out of the shack, when a lady recognised Emma. She turned out to be a former president of the National Council of Women's Societies. Their national election was just cancelled by the minister for women's affairs yesterday.How can the government Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-1154517299744008392006-08-02T11:54:00.000+01:002006-08-16T12:40:43.766+01:00I don't think that Shekarau did what he did out of spite. He has no personal beef with me, I'm sure, but I do think that it marks a turning point in my stay here.I've been here five months now, and I suppose Shekarau thought that meant I could look after myself, or at least he was not going to go out of his way to protect me, because I've been here long enough to look after myself. Which in a wayAndrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-1154459854581039732006-08-01T19:54:00.000+01:002006-08-16T12:38:24.860+01:00Last night the car was out of action so Shekarau gave me a lift. He and Alfatah talked about the problem of affording a home in Abuja."I have applied for the home assistance loan from the company, but I did so weeks ago, and I still have not heard anything. It was with the company secretary, now its with the managing editor. I don't know whats happening." Alfatah said."Even with the loan, it is Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-1154364670327445732006-07-31T17:29:00.000+01:002006-08-16T12:44:47.830+01:00 On Sunday mornings there would always be a pile of white cow bones on the grassy verge outside the office. Where did they come from? Did someone march a cow up here and slaughter it on the rough wasteland between my hotel and the new office? I suspected that someone was just dumping the bones there. I thought they probably came along with a truck or a wheelbarrow and dumped the bones, they were Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-1154285390844914552006-07-30T19:25:00.000+01:002006-07-31T16:50:42.860+01:00Part of the reason they employed me here is to improve journalistic standards at the paper. The CEO said to me when I arrived they put a lot of defamatory libellous stories in before. Stories are based on single sources, with little verification. He said he wanted to be more serious about this, improve the level of fact checking and balaning stories.We have a story on hold at the moment about a Andrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417405.post-1153420839008472512006-07-20T19:29:00.000+01:002006-07-30T19:25:25.313+01:00Every day as I walk down the street people stop, point and shout "Oyibo!" it means white man. Let me just say, I don’t mind people hailing me in the street. By the big grins on people’s faces I can tell it gives them a lot of pleasure to point out the obvious.There was only once that I felt threatened. A boy stopped me as I passed through Wuse market and said “Oyibo! You want beef?” His arms wentAndrew Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08498014457450851043noreply@blogger.com1