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Globally-renowned Nigerian writer, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, has received the highest honour of Harvard University, the W. E. B. Du Bois Medal.

She received the medal at a ceremony on Thursday.

The W. E. B. Du Bois Medal is Harvard’s highest honour in the field of African and African American studies. It is awarded to individuals in the United States and across the globe in recognition of their contributions to African and African American culture and the life of the mind.

The Hutchins Center for African and African American Research had stated that the medal was for people “who embody the values of commitment and resolve that are fundamental to the Black experience in America”.

Other recipients include Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Laverne Cox, Agnes Guns, Raymond J McGuire, Deval Patrick and Betye Saar.

Director of the Hutchins Center, Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., in an official statement, had said that the 2022 honourees represent “unyielding commitment to pushing the boundaries of representation and creating opportunities for advancement and participation for people who have been too often shut out from the great promise of our times.”

(FILE PHOTO) Mike Tyson

A woman in New York state has filed a civil suit against Mike Tyson, accusing the former boxing champion of raping her in a limousine in the early 1990s, according to court filings.

The woman, who asked the court to remain anonymous, filed her complaint in early January under a temporary New York state law allowing victims of sexual assault to seek civil damages regardless of the statute of limitations.

Tyson spent three years in jail beginning in 1992 after being found guilty of raping model Desiree Washington, who was 18 at the time.

In a short affidavit dated December 23, 2022, the plaintiff states that she met the boxer at a nightclub “in the early 1990s,” then followed him into his limousine, where he allegedly assaulted her before raping her.

“As a result of Tyson’s rape, I suffered and continue to suffer from physical, psychological and emotional injury,” she said.

She is seeking $5 million in damages.

By late Tuesday, Tyson had not issued any public statement.

Born in Brooklyn in 1966, Tyson had a turbulent childhood before becoming the undisputed heavyweight champion in the 1980s, terrifying his opponents with his fury in the ring and a phenomenal punching power.

But after his prison sentence, he could not retain his titles.

In a notorious 1996 matchup, Tyson bit off a piece of his opponent Evander Holyfield’s ear.

Gripped by depression and addiction, he continued to make headlines, notably for a one-man show in which he described his life’s many ups and downs.

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever maintained its benign hold on the box office, earning $64 million in just five days.

The MCU sequel already has a domestic revenue of $367.7 million after only three weeks with $180 million in its first week of release.

The movie starring Lupita Nyong’o, Letitia Wright, Danai Gurira, Angela Bassett, Winston Duke, and Tenoch Huerta, achieved the second-highest launch of 2022. With a weekend grab of $78 million and a global haul of $676 million, Wakanda is also performing well outside.

According to Forbes, over the five-day extended Thanksgiving holiday, the movie generated a respectable $64 million domestically and an additional $32 million worldwide.

It has an open route for the next few weeks before James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water makes its international premiere. It defeated a modest challenge from fellow Disney film Strange World.

Imagine if your shop is near the Ojuelegba shrine [Wikicommons]

In the 1970s, Fela’s Shrine, a party hub, made the Ojuelegba famous, but it has even deeper historic roots.

“Ni Ojuelegba o, they know my story,” Wizkid famously sang but what is it about Ojuelegba and what makes it special?

Ojuelegba is at a special location in Lagos State, Nigeria. It connects Surulere, Yaba and Mushin and also links Apapa Wharf to Ikorodu and Agege.

The area currently known as Ojuelegba was formerly a forest and shrine used to worship Eshu Elegbua or Legba. This deity is also worshipped by the Fon people of the Benin Republic, the Cubans and Haitians.

The Haitians call the Legba deity, Papa Legba. He is a fatherly figure that opens the human world for the spirit to enter. The Fon people call it Legba and Cubans call it Echu-Elegua.

Under the Ojuelegba bridge, the Aworis worshipped the Esu diety known as Láàlu ogiri òkò - a deity in charge of orderliness and an enforcer of laws.

Its shrine was made of red earth and stones and covered with cowries. These cowries were used to mark the god’s eyes and mouth, and daily sacrifices were offered to it.

The shrine still exists today, right there at the south of the Ojuelegba roundabout with the inscription, ‘Oju-Ibo Elegba’ which has now been shortened to Ojuelegba - presumably how the area got its name.

The Ojuelegba Bridge view [Wikicommons]

Fela singing about Ojuelegba said,

For Ojuelegba, for Ojuelagba

Moto dey come from south

Moto dey come from north

Moto dey come east

Moto dey come from West

Burna Boy and Fela Kuti are the only Nigerian musicians on the Rolling Stone's Greatest Singers List’, which began in 2008.

Nigerian music star Burna Boy and Afrobeat legend Fela Kuti made Rolling Stone’s ‘Greatest Singers List’, which began in 2008.

Rollingstone, one of the world’s leading music publications platforms, released a list of 200 who they claim to be the greatest of all time.

The publishers claim that the singers were judged on originality, influence, catalogue depth, and the breadth of their musical legacy.

Published on New Year’s Day, several notable American singers, from Aretha Franklin to Kelly Clarkson and Toni Braxton, were included in the list.

They wrote, “In all cases, what mattered most to us was originality, influence, the depth of an artist’s catalogue, and the breadth of their musical legacy.”

The platform says the list differs from the Greatest Voices List. “Talent is impressive; genius is transcendent. Many people here were born with massive pipes, perfect pitch, and boundless range. Others have rougher, stranger, or more delicate instruments.”

BURNA BOY

Rolling Stones placed the Nigerian artiste at number 197 position. They described the ‘African Giant’ as an “ambassador of Afrobeats as a global movement”.

“He is the ambassador of Afrobeats as a global movement that can feel equally at home climbing the European charts and maintaining a subtle emotional connection with past African genres,” they wrote.

Commending his voice, they wrote, “Burna’s voice is sweet like caramel, but it can also soar on slickly produced tracks like his recent megahit ‘Last Last’ or the 2019 gem ‘Anybody’ excited by deep bass accents and insanely sophisticated polyrhythms.

“His vocal lines find inspiration in everything from hip-hop and R&B to hooky pop and dancehall. The world is his playground,” they added

FELA KUTI

On Fela Kuti, the publication described the late icon as an Innovator for the high life, “Fela Kuti’s iconic songs of the 1970s and 1980s are sprawling orchestral instrumentals, an innovative swirl of African highlife, American soul, and Jazz.”

He ranked 188 on the list.

Describing his political influence through his music, they wrote, “Through his music, he shared an anti-colonialist, Pan-African vision and challenged Nigeria’s corrupt military government, which routinely subjected him and those around him to immense harm.”

“Yet it wasn’t just Fela’s lyrical rebellion that makes him so important- it’s the way his voice carried his vision; the way he sang, his tone commanding and direct, plain and firm,” they added

“His stern but conversational melodies made his movement more accessible.

“On 1986’s ‘Teacher Don’t Teach Me Nonsense’ where he tackles whitewashed education and failed governments, he coos, ‘I say, I sing, I beg everyone to join my song’. And he performed in such a way that they could.”

The list spanned several nationalities and genres, had Aretha Franklin at the number one spot, and other new generation artists like SZA, Frank Ocean, Lana Del Rey and others appearing on it.

Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, on Sunday, departed Nigeria for a three-day official visit to Canada.

Laolu Akande, his spokesman, in a statement on Sunday, described the trip as “the first high-level visit from Nigeria since 2000 when former President Obasanjo visited the North American country”.

Akande said the visit will deepen diplomatic ties between Nigeria and Canada.

The vice-president is expected to meet Chrystia Freeland, Canadian deputy prime minister, and other top parliamentarians and members of the Canadian government in Ottawa, on Monday.

During the visit, issues and events around educational collaboration, technology, the creative industry and climate justice, among others, will also be discussed.

“For instance, the Vice President will give a public lecture at the Queen’s University in Kingston on Wednesday. Established in 1841, Queen’s University is one of Canada’s leading research-intensive academic institutions and is famous for its role in advancing the goals of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development,” the statement reads.

Osinbajo is also expected to give a public lecture at the Queen’s University in Kingston on Wednesday.

Before the lecture, Osinbajo will be received at the Ontario-based Carleton University, “which has significant engagements and collaborations with some educational institutions in Nigeria, with ongoing efforts to deepen the mutual relationships around issues including research and curriculum development”.

Akande said Osinbajo will also meet with the leadership of the Nigerian community, including Nollywood actors and notable Canadian government officials with Nigerian origins.

He will also meet with representatives of the Canadian business community and investors, especially from the creative industry and technology sector.

Why Muslim-Muslim ticket won't fly by Fatima Hamman

These are the practical reasons why the Muslim-Muslim ticket being speculated in some quarters to fly in Nigeria for the 2023 presidential election won’t fly.

Nigeria is sensitive to matters that border on religion and ethnicity and this is one reason why the hierarchy of the APC must be very weary of. Maybe one day we will come to a point where we can accept 16 years of one religion ruling Nigeria but as of today, we are simply not ready.

When Nigerians becomes more mature, more educated and have more understanding then we can consider this religion factor.

This is why Vice President Yemi Osinbajo remains the most viable candidate for the APC. Picking a Muslim Vice President from the North of Nigeria will damage the chances of the APC in 2023.

If for example, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu emerges as APC candidate and picks a Muslim candidate from the North West it means all of the important positions in the party are held by Muslims to the exclusion of Christians.

There are all types of tensions in the land especially with insecurity ravaging the land, Nigeria is fragile and we cannot afford to make this costly mistake at this time. If anybody does that now it will be like deliberately setting the country on fire.

The IPOB issue is still raging in the South East, young elements are restless in the South West and calling for Yoruba Nation while banditry, Boko Haram and ISWAP insurgency have also accounted for major setback.

Clearly, Nigerians have seen a great leader in Prof Osinbajo. They trust that the country would be in a capable pair of hands under his presidency.

Tory leadership hopeful Kemi Badenoch has gone from race outsider to a serious contender with the backing of Michael Gove and a promise to be the ‘fresh face’ the party needs after chaos of Boris Johnson’s premiership.

The MP for Saffron Walden, 42, who grew up in the UK, US and Nigeria, is known as a culture warrior with anti-’woke’ views on issues including trans rights that make her a hit among right-leaning members of the party.

The former equalities minister threw her hat into the ring with a plan for a smaller state and a government ‘focused on the essentials’ and won the support of Mr Gove, who said the party needs a leader with ‘Kemi’s focus, intellect and no-bulls*** drive’.

It marks a massive boost in profile for Ms Badenoch, a mother-of-three former banker who has only been an MP for five years and remains unknown to most of the population.

She admits her pro-Brexit views put her at odds with her husband Hamish, a Deutsche Bank banker and former Tory Councillor. The couple have three children – two sons and a daughter, who they keep out of the public eye.

Ms Badenoch was born in Wimbledon, south-west London after her Nigerian parents came to the UK so her mother, a professor of physiology, could receive medical treatment.

She grew up in Lagos where her father worked as a GP, although they spent time in the US while her mother was lecturing.

‘I come from a middle-class background but I grew up in a very poor place,’ she once said in an interview. ‘Being middle class in Nigeria still meant having no running water or electricity, sometimes taking your own chair to school.’

Ms Badenoch was born in south-west London after her Nigerian parents came to the UK so her mother, a professor of physiology, could receive medical treatment. Pictured, Kemi Badenoch (second from left) with (l-r) her brother, Fola, Kemi, her sister Lola and mother, Feyi

At 16, Ms Badenoch returned to London to realise her ‘dream’ of completing her studies in the UK and enrolled in a part-time A-Level course in Morden.

At the time Nigeria was in the midst of political chaos that impacted the economy. The family experienced poverty and Ms Badenoch’s father ‘scraped together’ enough money for a plane ticket and £100 for his daughter to start her new life.

To support herself, Ms Badenoch, who lived with a family friend, secured a part-time job at McDonald’s and picked up ad-hoc work elsewhere.

‘Most of the students were from ethnic minorities and the expectations for us were low,’ she recalled in an interview with the Independent. ‘The poverty of low expectations must change. Schools and teachers matter.’

The future politician enrolled at the University of Sussex where she studied Computer Systems Engineering, graduating in 2003.

This led to a job as a software engineer at Logica, followed by by a role as system analyst at Royal Bank of Scotland. She was later appointed as an associate director at private bank Coutts.

In 2009 she began a part-time law degree at Birbeck College and has also worked at the Spectator magazine.

Ms Badenoch joined the Conservative party in 2005, aged 25, and says there were two ‘lightbulb moments’ that persuaded her to stand as an MP.

The first was when she heard a speaker at the Hay Festival ‘claiming that ethnic minorities all suffer from institutional racism’.

She told the Independent: ‘The left and the liberal elite think they have a monopoly on the caring issues, whether it is diversity or refugees.

‘Of course we have a moral obligation to help refugees but what is important – and more difficult to do – is to look at what works when they come; can they find work? Do they integrate? Do they take on British values?’

The second came during the Make Poverty History movement in 2005 when she was struck by the arrogance of ‘white men thinking they can save Africa’.

‘This was the last straw for me. What has helped and is helping African countries is free trade and enterprise, not more aid and more virtue signalling,’ she continued.

She grew up in Lagos where her father worked as a GP, although they spent time in the US while her mother was lecturing. Pictured, Kemi, aged seven, with her grandfather in Nigeria.

After unsuccessfully running for the seat of Dulwich and West Norwood in the 2010 election – a contest won by late Labour MP Tessa Jowell – Ms Badenoch was selected as the Conservative candidate for Saffron Walden, a safe seat for her party, in the 2017 election.

She won and delivered her maiden speech in Parliament just a few weeks later. In it, she described herself as the ‘British dream,’ the African ‘immigrant who came to the UK aged 16 and who became a parliamentarian’ in one generation.

She also described the vote for Brexit as ‘the greatest ever vote of confidence in the project of the United Kingdom’ and hailed

Ms Badenoch has had a rapid ascent through the ranks of the Conservative party, including a post as equalities minister. She resigned from government last week.

After first announcing her candidacy in The Times, Ms Badenoch officially launched her campaign in a speech at the Policy Exchange think tank on Tuesday.

In a wide-ranging speech, Ms Badenoch attempted to add economic heft to her anti-woke foundations, with a slapdown of her rivals over their un-costed tax cut offers.

But she also lashed out at British businesses that focus more on social change instead of making money, as she laid out her free market credentials.

She said: ‘The ability to defend the free market as the fairest way of helping people prosper has been undermined. It has been undermined by a willingness to embrace protectionism because of special interests.

‘It’s been undermined by retreating in the face of the Ben and Jerry’s tendency.

‘They will say a business’s main priority is social justice, not productivity and profit.

And it’s been undermined by the actions of crony capitalists colluding with big bureaucracy to rig the system in favour of incumbents against entrepreneurs.’

The MP for Saffron Walden has the declared support of 15 colleagues, including recent Cabinet minister Michael Gove, who was at her campaign launch.

Standing in front of a union flag-patterned backdrop bearing the slogan ‘Kemi for Prime Minister’, she said: ‘In the debate we’ve been having about the future of our party and our country, there have been lots of promises to cut taxes.

‘I am committed to reducing corporate and personal taxes, but I will not enter into a tax bidding war over: ‘’My tax cuts are bigger than yours’’.’

‘For too long, politicians have been saying you can have it all – you can have your cake and eat it,’ she added.

‘But I’m here to tell you that that isn’t true – it never has been.

‘There are always tough choices in life and in politics: no free lunches, no tax cuts without limits on Government spending, no stronger defence without a slimmer state.

‘Unlike others, I’m not going to promise you things without a plan to deliver them.’

Ms Badenoch and her husband Hamish pictured with one of their daughters. The couple have kept their three children – two daughters and a son – out of the public eye.

Ms Badenoch said she would tackle the economic crisis by cutting spending on international aid, university student subsidies, and ‘superfluous support staff’ including well-being officers and diversity ‘tick-box exercises’.

She said: ‘While the priority of the £300 billion the Government spends on procurement should be value for money, in truth this is being undermined by tick-box exercises in sustainability, diversity and equality.

‘These are good things but they need to be done properly.

‘Why are we spending millions on people’s jobs which literally didn’t exist a decade ago, like staff well-being coordinators in the public sector?’

She added that she would ‘get the police to focus on neighbourhood crime’ rather than ‘waste time and resources worrying about hurt feelings online’.

The Essex MP is competing with prominent Cabinet faces including Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss, but she said her lack of experience is a ‘huge advantage’ because she does not come with ‘the baggage of so many of the decisions that have been made’ in recent years.

‘People want a fresh face, and they can’t have somebody who has been in Cabinet a very long time,’ she added.

Ms Badenoch said she has ‘a lot of respect’ for Mr Sunak and Ms Truss, but she is ‘not worried’ about running against them.

She said her Government would be guided by the ‘Conservative principles’ of a ‘limited government doing less, but better’ and a ‘strong nation state’.