Ruyi's World of Books & Stories

In the past, I have often blamed President Muhammadu Buhari’s speechwriters and handlers for not looking closely at some of his speeches and comments before they get to the public because these sometimes create unnecessary tension or exacerbate it and in many cases make him appear petty and unstatesmanlike, even when he possibly means well. But his national speech delivered on the morning of Monday, August 21, 2017, is such a short speech that I cannot lay the blame of its poor content and delivery on anyone else, but the President. It is a speech that truly captures his mentality and idea of the nation and the opposition and what we are getting from it isn’t encouraging. This very speech could have been delivered better without changing the purport or purpose. All he wanted to say or what he should have said is basically this: Nigerians are one and every Nigerian has the right to live and pursue his or her legitimate business anywhere in Nigeria without let or hindrance. While...

There was a poor weather that wrecked havoc on the sea and upon the gray waters of Guzah. But just as the wandering clouds rested on the bosom of sudden death, a ship which had struggled all day on the sea, bubbling with Makundah pirates, anchored at the shores. Happy that they had survived the madness of the raging storm, they chanted victory songs and shot several bullets into the quiet hands of the night. A ladder was let down. One after another, the men clambered down and waded waist-deep through the water to land. Apart from weapons and ammunitions that they held, they had victuals and treasures. The night was cold and the multitude of glowing insects paraded the forest. An ambitious rider who is not conversant with the forest might take them for a wild cat waiting to walk a body to hell. After they had gathered, they set off in a file into the forest behind their leader, Mukande, a wicked dwarf, whom they feared as a god. Carefully they were looking to every direction to ma...