Point One

Season Four edition of reality television show, Big Brother Nigeria (BBNaija), came to a sweltering climax early last week with Mercy Eke topping the pack of 26 housemates at the starting line when the house opened 99 days earlier. The 26-year-old, who made history as the first female winner of the show, edged out four other finalists to net the N30million cash award and other prizes totalling N30million more. Show host, Ebuka Obi-Uchendu, said viewers thumbed in more than 250million votes during the season, of which the final week of the show alone harvested over 50million votes. Subsequent reports estimated that BBNaija voters must have doled out a cumulative N7.2billion on their participation, considering that it cost 30 naira to cast a vote. The viewership size commanded by the show was another factor. Even though this country yet lacks capacity for instant measurement with statistical accuracy of viewership numbers attracted by an item on television, there i...

“ This is the theory of ‘weapons decide everything,’ which is a mechanistic theory of war...In opposition to this view, we see not only weapons but human beings. Although important, weapons are not the decisive factor in war; it is man and not material things that decide the issue. ” – Chairman Mao If you saw the programme brochure ahead of the event, you would think it was to be an all-night invocation session by grossly physical moded members of the army. It was tagged ‘Nigerian Army Spiritual Warfare Seminar,’ having as theme ‘Countering insurgency and violent extremism in Nigeria through spiritual warfare.’ Only the scheduled time – 0830hrs – could have dissuaded you from the assumption it was to be a totally spiritual fest. Even then, the earnest timing (8.30am) would leave you with latent anticipation of that likelihood, only so in the early hours. Subsequent reports however made clear it was a secular talk shop like any other, but one at which support was...