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Who Was Wuraola Esan?

January 27, 2022

What’s Happening in Burkina Faso?

January 25, 2022

The Madness of Competition Squid Game in the Nigerian Imagination

January 24, 2022

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Wuraola Esan: Nigeria’s first female senator. #R

Wuraola Esan: Nigeria’s first female senator. #RxGender👥
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Wuraola Esan was a pioneering Nigerian women’s rights activist, educator, and nationalist. In 1960, she became the first woman member of the Nigerian Senate in the First Republic after she was appointed by the Western Region under Awolowo’s Action Group party.
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Esan was born in March 1909 in Calabar to the Ojo-badan family of Ibadan. Between 1921 and 1923, Esan was educated at Sacred Heart Covenant School in Ibadan for her primary education. In 1927, she graduated from Idi-Aba Baptist Girls School, Abeokuta and later went to pursue her teacher training education at the United Missionary College (UMC), Molete, Ibadan.
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Throughout her life, she campaigned for women and girls’ education. In the 1940s, she established the Ibadan People’s Girls Grammar School in Molete, Ibadan. In 1975, she was awarded the highest chieftaincy title open to women in Ibadan, the Iyalode of Ibadan.
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Learn more about Esan and pioneering Nigerian women by clicking the link in our bio.
____________
📝: Tomisin Awosika, Junior Editor
📷: Wuraola Esan. Unknown Photographer.

Today in 2002, an armoury at the Ikeja military ca

Today in 2002, an armoury at the Ikeja military cantonment in Lagos exploded. #RxHistory⏳
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On 27 January 2002, an armoury at the Ikeja military cantonment in Lagos, containing high explosives detonated around 6 p.m. (WAT). The debris from the explosion set fire to a significant part of the army barracks and around the cantonment, causing fear that extended to other parts of the city. As people fled from the flames, many of them died from stampedes or by plunging into a hidden canal at Oke-Afa in Ejigbo, where they drowned.
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Before the incident, the military was advised to upgrade the cantonment after a smaller explosion had occurred in the previous year, but no action was taken. Due to a lack of firefighters at the time, the fires were not contained until more than 24 hours later. The casualty figures surrounding the incident were not very clear. However, in the days following the tragedy, the Nigerian Red Cross reported that about 600 people had died, 12,000 were displaced, and over 535 people were missing.
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Learn why the explosion happened in today's newsletter, which goes out at 6 p.m. (WAT). Sign up at the link in our bio.
___________
📝: Etashe Okpola and Chiamaka Dike.
📷: Lagos Bomb Blast 2002. George Osodi.

The Pan-African contradictions of Muammar Gaddafi.

The Pan-African contradictions of Muammar Gaddafi. #OnSite⚡
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In September 1969, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi took power in Libya in a bloodless coup. Despite leading a controversial administration and charges of being a tyrant, Gaddafi’s vision of a united Africa led to the formation of the African Union (AU) in 2002.
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In this online essay, Ogechukwu Samuel Okonkwo, a researcher, unpacks Gaddafi’s pan-African vision. According to Okonkwo:

‘Despite charges that he was a tyrant, Gaddafi's goal of a unified Africa led to the formation of the African Union in 2002. In several African political circles, he was immortalized as a result of this feat. Gaddafi may have wanted to be the first president of an envisioned Unified States of Africa, but his fundamental desire was to see Africa united. Gaddafi repeated his views on the prospect of a unified Africa during a 2010 AU summit in Kampala, Uganda. He confirmed: “I am satisfied that Africa is going along its historic and right road...one day it will become similar to the United States of America.”’
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Learn more about Gaddafi’s controversial legacy, including his dictatorship and influence in the formation of the African Union, by clicking the link in our bio.
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📝: Ogechukwu Samuel Okonkwo
📷: Muammar Gadhafi on a state visit to the Ukraine. Behind him are his ‘Revolutionary Nuns,’ the elite all-female group of bodyguards that accompanied the Libyan leader everywhere. 2008. Shutterstock.

Today in 1887, Ethiopia defeated Italy in the Batt

Today in 1887, Ethiopia defeated Italy in the Battle of Dogali. #RxHistory⏳
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On 26 January 1887, an army of Ethiopians (then called Abyssinians) killed more than 407 Italian soldiers and left 80 of them wounded in what is called the Battle of Dogali. The battle was driven by a conflict between Italy and Ethiopia (then Abyssina) over Italy's coastal occupation of neighbouring Eritrea. Italy occupied Eritrea in the hopes of establishing a colonial empire in Ethiopia.
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The battle started on 25 January 1887, with Ethiopian governor, Ras Alula Engida attacking the Italian fort of Sahati. Hundreds of his men were slaughtered by Italian cannon and rifle fire, while only four Italians were injured. This forced Engida to pull his men back. The besieged Italians, however, needed more ammunition and requested supplies from Italy .
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On 26 January, a battalion of roughly 550 men (mostly Italians, including 22 officers, and a few Eritrean soldiers) under Colonel Tommaso De Cristoforis, were sent to reinforce the Italian garrison at Sahati. Engida learned of their departure from spies, and before they could arrive at the fortification they had erected, Engida attacked them at Dogali and defeated them. Over 407 Italians were killed, but 80 Italian soldiers were able to escape.
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Read more about the Battle of Dogali in today's newsletter, which goes out at 6 p.m. (WAT). Sign up at the link in our bio.
___________
📝: Chiamaka Dike.
📷: 1) The Battle of Dogali depicted by Michele Cammarano. 1887.
2) Defeat at Dogali, 1887. Weapons and Warfare.

What’s happening in Burkina Faso? #RxNews📡 -

What’s happening in Burkina Faso? #RxNews📡
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Yesterday, Burkina Faso’s army announced on national television that it had ousted the country’s president, Roch Kaboré, in a coup. As of 24 January, according to Reuters, the whereabouts of Kaboré were unknown but locals reported seeing bullet holes on a car that belonged to the presidency earlier that day.
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Led by Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, on 24 January, the coup plotters said that the detained government officials, including Kaboré, were in a secure location. Damiba mentioned that a reason for the coup was Kaboré’s incapacity to effectively handle the increasing Jihadist terrorist attacks that had plagued Burkina Faso since Kaboré came into power in 2015.
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Burkina Faso is now the third West African country to undergo a military coup in recent years—since Mali in August 2020 and Guinea in September 2021.
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Read more about the events that led to the coup by clicking the link in our bio.
____________
📝: Tomisin Awosika, Junior Editor
🎥: Reuters
📷: 1) People gather around a vehicle belonging to the presidency in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, 24 January 2022. AJ+ / Twitter.

2) A street scene in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, 24 January 2022. AJ+ / Twitter.

3) Burkina Faso’s President Roch Kaboré at the session of the Conference of Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS, Lome. 14 April 2018. Présidence de la République du Bénin / FLICKR.

Today in 2017, Buchi Emecheta died aged 72. #RxHis

Today in 2017, Buchi Emecheta died aged 72. #RxHistory⏳
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On 25 January 2017, author, Buchi Emecheta, died at her home in London at the age of 72. Her fiction was mostly based on her own experiences as both a single parent and a Black woman living in Britain, and focused on sexual politics and racial prejudice.
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Emecheta published more than 20 books, including the widely acclaimed ‘The Joys Of Motherhood', and received several prestigious awards throughout her career. In 1979, she won the Jock Campbell Award from the New Statesman, and was on Granta magazine's 1983 list of 'Best of the Young British Novelists'. In September 2004, she appeared in the historic 'A Great Day in London' photograph taken at the British Library, featuring 50 Black and Asian writers who made major contributions to contemporary British literature.
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Read more about Emecheta in our latest issue. Authors discuss her life and legacy, her ‘feminism with a small f' and the extent to which she influenced younger African writers. Click the link in bio to order.
___________
📝: Etashe Okpola and Chiamaka Dike.
📷: 1) George Hallett / Africa Media Online.
2) Buchi Emecheta sits among UK literary magazine, Granta's 20 Best of Young British Novelists for 1983. Snowdon/Camera Press.
3) Buchi Emecheta as a young woman. Sylvester Onwordi.

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