Farooq A. Kperogi
Sahara Reporters
Atlanta, GA, United States
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Past articles by Farooq:
Sabiu Yusuf's Fat Bank Accounts That Shocked CBN Governor By Farooq A. Kperogi
Sabiu reportedly said the billions in his accounts are "gifts" from people. But why didn't he get such "gifts" when he was a recharge card seller? Accepting "gifts" for favors done while occupying a privileged government position (he's Buhari's Private Secretary and de facto Chief of Staff) is against the law. → Read More
Backstory Behind Aisha Buhari’s Gunfight With Sabiu Yusuf By Farooq A. Kperogi
Gambari has turned out to be not the Abba Kyari replacement Aisha had hoped he would be. Instead, Sabi’u “Tunde” Yusuf, her nemesis’ nephew, is the new Abba Kyari. → Read More
Psychology Behind The Unexpected Beatification Of Abba Kyari By Farooq A. Kperogi, Ph.D.
What I have a lot of problems with is bending the truth to defend him, such as saying he had no influence in the Buhari regime, which is undermined by the fact that even serving governors, ministers, and senators want to occupy his position. → Read More
Governor AbdulRazaq’s Odious Ilorin-centric Bigotry At KWASU By Farooq A. Kperogi
I frankly don’t care whom the governor chooses to appoint as his political aides, but passing over the most qualified candidate for the job of Vice Chancellor for a barely qualified intellectual parvenu because of where they come from is just outright condemnable. That’s not how to govern a heterogeneous polity—and certainly not how to run a university. → Read More
Unique British English phrases only people in the UK understand (III) –
Continued from last week “Pants”: Rubbish; trash; garbage.ADVERTISEMENT “That is pants.” “Par”: A “par” breaches social and common courtesy, e.g., a disrespectful comment could be seen as a “par.” “Par” can also be used as a verb, e.g., “You just got parred.” This slang term could be a British abbreviation of the French “faux pas,” … → Read More
Unique British English phrases only people in the UK understand (II) –
Continued from last week “Cream crackered”: Cockney rhyming slang for “knackered,” if you’re “cream crackered” then you’re incredibly tired. A “knacker” was the person that slaughtered worn-out horses in the 19th and 20th centuries for their meat, hoofs, and hide. So, if you’re “ready for the knacker’s yard,” you’re exhausted beyond relief.ADVERTISEMENT “This week’s done … → Read More
Buhari: Not a clone, but... –
Last Tuesday was an awkward day for me here in the United States. It wasn’t just that President Buhari’s ill-advised response to the insanely absurd IPOB whispering campaign that he is a body double from Sudan was the butt of hurtful jokes in the American news media, all that my students wanted to talk to … → Read More
Unique British English phrases only people in the UK understand –
Although British English is the “mother” that birthed all varieties of English, not every British English expression is standard and universally understood in the English-speaking world. Some expressions are so unique to Britain to that only people who live there understand and use them. Linguists call such expressions Briticisms, Britishisms or Anglicisms. Below is a … → Read More
Politics of “Playing Politics” with Boko Haram’s massacres –
President Muhammadu Buhari entreated Nigerians on November 25 to “resist the temptation to play politics with the tragedy of the deaths of our soldiers” in the wake of withering criticisms of his reluctance to acknowledge, much less grieve, the heartrending mass slaughter of more than a hundred Nigerian military officers by Boko Haram terrorists on … → Read More
Atiku and the meaning of an “orphan” in English –
In his pre-recorded initiatory presidential campaign speech on November 19, 2018, former Vice President and PDP presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar described himself as having grown up an “orphan.” “I started out as an orphan selling firewood on the streets of Jada in Adamawa, but God, through the Nigerian state, invested in me and here I … → Read More
APC’s “NextLevel” of fraud, incompetence, and sorrow –
APC’s embarrassing “NextLevel” reelection campaign has erased all lingering doubts that the Buhari presidency is a veritable graveyard of creativity, intelligence, and basic decency. The NextLevel campaign logo and slogan, as most people know by now, are unoriginal. They are also the product of willful intellectual theft. More than that, though, the campaign’s symbolism portends … → Read More
“Mesu Jamba,” the question of etymological fallacy, and other reactions –
My November 4, 2018 column titled “Mesu Jamba, a Slur Against Ilorin People, is a Linguistic Fraud,” elicited unexpectedly impassioned and thought-provoking reactions from all across Nigeria. Since most of the reactions were either shared with me privately or expressed on my social media feeds, I have decided to share and respond to them this … → Read More
“Working Experience” “Request for”: Q and A on Grammar, Usage, Expressions –
This edition of my Q and A series answers such questions as the difference between “amount” and “number”; the appropriate ways to say certain English proverbs such as “an idle mind is the devil’s workshop,” “to be forewarned is to be forearmed”; the difference between “work experience” and “working experience”; capitalization; peculiarly British English expressions … → Read More
Prince Charles’ symbolic violence against Nigerian monarchs –
Prince Charles’ invitation to storied Nigerian monarchs to visit him in Abuja during his Nigerian visit is a classic instantiation of what French theorist Pierre Bourdieu has called symbolic violence. Charles is only a prince, but he artfully deployed his symbolic capital as heir apparent to the British throne to derogate Nigerian monarchs who are … → Read More
Some guidance on the use of the Prepositions “on” and “in” –
S everal readers have asked me to give them guidance on when it is proper to use the locational prepositions “in” and “on” in certain fixed expressions. They asked to know the difference between “in bed” and “on the bed,” between “in the train” and “on the train,” between “in the street” and “on the … → Read More
Kwara PDP’s Kemi Adeosun moment –
Premium Times reported on October 22, 2018 that Razak Atunwa, the Kwara State PDP govership candidate in next year’s election, not only failed to participate in the mandatory National Youth Service Corps scheme, he also forged a discharge certificate to conceal this fact. The forged NYSC certificate, according to the Premium Times, had with it … → Read More
How Buhari is changing Nigerian English (II) –
This is a continuation from last week. 9. “Grass cutter.” Native English speakers might think this is an alternative name for a lawn mower, and people who are inclined to animal husbandry might think it refers to the colloquial name for African brush-tailed porcupine. Well, it actually refers to Nigeria’s former Secretary to the Government … → Read More
How Buhari’s low bar is elevating Atiku –
In a previous column, I argued that President Muhammadu Buhari has so lowered the bar of governance that it won’t take a lot for any person who succeeds him to impress Nigerians. So the best campaign against Buhari is to promise not to be like him, which is really sad because there is much more … → Read More
Atiku’s emergence and end of the road for Buhari –
I’m frankly not excited about an Atiku Abubakar presidency. In a previous widely shared Facebook status update, which I developed into a full-length article titled “There Must be an Alternative to Buhari and Atiku” for my December 16, 2017 column, I dismissed Atiku as a cancerous old stager who is indistinguishable from Buhari. I also … → Read More
Three reasons you should be worried about 2019 elections –
You don’t need special prognostic powers to know that the 2019 elections will be fraught with frightening fraud. Here are three reasons why anyone who spares a thought for the future of democracy in Nigeria should be worried. 1. Nigerians feel oddlysmug and empowered by the possession of their Permanent Voters Card (PVC). They think … → Read More