A Man To Remember
A. One morning, while taking a walk in Afikpo, I tried to emulate a man whose strides fascinated me. He slanted his neck at an improbable angle and raised his shoulders perpetually. He walked, [...]
A Shop in Yelwan Tudu Market
Nengi Walking through the Yelwan Tudu Bauchi market with Kechi reminded me of home, back in Lagos, when my caterer sister and I walked through Balogun market half-frantically searching for last minute spices to [...]
Zaria City: 2017
Whenever i hear the word “city”, especially in the 2010’s, i immediately imagine a metropolis, even though the dynamic changes when this city is situated in Nigeria. I visited Zaria city for the first [...]
On movement
Newton’s First Law of motion says a body remains at rest or constantly in motion unless an external force act upon … No, this is not Physics, this is just a series of questions [...]
Seeing Faces
In the ancient city of Zaria a girl stares at me as I take her picture. She is not less than five; her eyes are aglow with a childish sense of innocence, her brow [...]
All My Kilometers Unjourneyed
A. I know a familiar tinge of sadness intimated with the rituals of leaving. I can declaim the sudden disarrangement in time—usually a dark, windy dawn, a cold hurried bath, the picking up of [...]
The custodians of history and the keepers of nostalgia
The surface of every story has to be peaceful. I know this now. When I introduce myself to the people I meet on the road, I have to redraw the borders of memory and [...]
Notes on Seeing
1. Walking along the roads of Ahmadu Bello University campus in Zaria, we see a poster of a popular Nigerian actress on the wall. What is that like, asks my friend, to see an [...]
In Fragments (1) – The Powerless Witness
1. “I am telling you this because you are my brother and you spoke to me in my language.” He refused to tell me his name even after I offered mine, but he called [...]
The Roadside Intellectuals #3 (S2.EP1) — “Freshly Acquired Perceptions”
What happens when your preconceived notions come in contact with freshly acquired perceptions? In this episode of The Roadside Intellectuals we examine how we have entered into new knowledge. Yinka Elujoba begins the conversation by [...]