Introduction History is humanity’s compass. It points to the present, warns of danger, and protects the future. Every society that has risen from chaos to stability has done so by remembering, by holding its past close enough to learn from it, yet far enough to transcend it. But what happens when a nation forgets? When memory is not merely lost but buried? When the past is not a teacher but a corpse? The present becomes hollow, and the future becomes a casualty. Nigeria today is a living example of what it means for a people to exist without memory. It is a nation where remembrance has been wiped out, where collective experience has been cleansed, where lessons once learned are now discarded like waste. Nigeria’s absurdity is not accidental; it is the predictable outcome of a society that refuses to be informed by its own history. The Paradox of a People Who Kill the Past and Bury the Future The title of this essay carries a deliberate paradox: Nigeria’s present buries the past...
Introduction “Ebela m akwa ụwa” meaning I have cried about my world is more than a song. It is a lament, a confession, a spiritual mirror held up to the human condition. When the Oriental Brothers released this highlife classic, they were not merely entertaining; they were interpreting life. They were naming the ache of existence, the fragility of fortune, and the inevitability of accountability before God. The song’s central metaphor, the world as a marketplace is one of the oldest in Igbo cosmology. Life is a temporary market trip; no matter how long you stay, you must eventually pack your wares and return home. And when you do, you stand before the One who sent you. In today’s Nigeria, this metaphor feels painfully relevant. The poor cry about their world because their world has become unbearably heavy. Political instability, economic hardship, social fragmentation, and religious manipulation have turned daily survival into a spiritual trial. This essay draws from the song’...