Good morning,
A giant sea turtle washed up on a Lagos shoreline last week, and the community did not eat it. They did not sell it. They did not pose for photographs with machetes. They called the right people, kept it wet, and helped return it to the water. It is a small thing, and it is not. For decades, wildlife in Nigeria has been viewed as either meat or money. That a coastal community chose rescue over consumption says something quietly hopeful about how ordinary Nigerians are beginning to see the natural world. At a time when the state cannot protect its citizens, these communities are learning to protect what has no voice at all. Praise them. We need more of this.
Now to FIFA, where the rot continues to be managed rather than removed. The world governing body knew that Congo’s goalkeeper was ineligible before their World Cup playoff against Nigeria, and allowed him to play anyway. The player had already represented another country at senior level, a fact that should have triggered an automatic disqualification. Congo won on penalties and advanced. Nigeria was eliminated. The Confederation of African Football has referred the case to FIFA’s disciplinary committee, but the pattern is familiar: rules are enforced selectively. FIFA has spent years preaching integrity while its own house burns. Blatter’s reign, Infantino’s expansion, the opaque handling of bids and eligibility. The organisation that runs the beautiful game has made a business of looking the other way when it suits the finances. This is not justice, it is politics with a whistle.
In domestic politics, some things are just absurd. An ADC candidate has restored electricity to a rival politician’s community after a transformer failure, a gesture that would be unremarkable if it were not so rare, but then his rival cut the power. How malevolent can one be?
INEC has created an Artificial Intelligence division to verify voter data ahead of 2027, a necessary response to a 103-million-strong register that must be defended against manipulation. The Federal Government has cleared ₦758 billion in pension arrears for retirees, a debt that should never have been owed. And President Tinubu says Nigeria’s oil reliance has reduced, pointing to non-oil exports and the Dangote Refinery. The claim deserves scrutiny, but the direction matters.
On the security front, the Bayelsa Commissioner of Police has ordered a crackdown on cultism, following a spate of killings and clashes across the state. Cult violence has become a parallel system of justice and retribution in Bayelsa, and the police response must be sustained rather than reactive. Meanwhile, Temi Nkem, the winner of Big Brother Naija Season 11, has announced plans to invest her ₦90 million prize rather than spend it on the spectacle that made her famous. She says she wants to build something. Smart girl.
A turtle returned to the sea. A goalkeeper who should not have played. A register guarded by machines. A pension finally paid. A cult war renewed. These are not separate stories. They are the same story: a country where the small decencies still happen, the big institutions still fail, and the people keep carrying what the systems drop.
Warmly,
Lolade