Point One

Niger State Governor Mohammed Bago comes across as deeply passionate about goals he sets his sight upon, and heavy on optics towards accomplishing them. In other words, he not only rallies followership in pursuit of his goals, he also acts out the leading charge in implementation efforts. Gut drives are typically heated and cannot but affront the coldness of conventions and habits. But to make sense of such drives, you’ll need to assess them in light of the driver’s objectives. The Niger governor was last week reported  to have banned workers in the state civil service from wearing native attires like kaftan, babanriga and flowing gowns to work from Mondays to Thursdays. The ban was said to be with immediate effect and applied to both male and female civil servants. Fridays are exempt, naturally, because it is the day for Jummat prayer and less business intense.  Reports said Bago announced the ban penultimate Saturday during presentation of land development and preparation eq...

 Sierra Leone was in recovery mode for much of last week following a bid by gun-wielding assailants to overthrow the country’s democracy. No fewer than 20 people got killed when the gunmen, early in the week, attacked military installations, including an armoury in Freetown, in an apparent bid to seize weapons with which to unseat the government of President Julius Maada Bio. The assailants also  barnstormed prison facilities, releasing more than 2,000 inmates. Armed clashes flared in the Sierra Leonean capital penultimate Sunday as government security forces repelled those described as “renegade soldiers” who attempted to break into the armoury in Freetown during the early hours. Reports cited witnesses who said they heard gunshots and explosions in the Wilberforce district where the armoury is located. Other witnesses spoke of exchanges of gunfire near a barracks in Murray Town district, home to the navy, and outside other security formations including a police station in th...