LOUD WHISPERS: Simply the Best
Tina Turner (1939-2023) The scene happened half-way through the film. The female protagonist decided to fight back. Her face was bruised and bloodied and her eyes were barely open, but she got up after she was kicked to the other side of the limousine and jumped on her attacker. There was a deafening cheer […]
LOUD WHISPERS: Purple and White
‘White’, she whispered. ‘What do you mean?’ I asked her. She said, ‘Wear white’. The other friend I was in the room with said it seems she was telling us what to wear for her funeral. I took a deep breath and held her hand and said to our dying friend, ‘Yes, white. And purple, […]
Lessons from Hannah
The 2023 Gubernatorial, National Assembly and State House of Assembly elections have been woefully unsatisfactory when it comes to the inclusion of women. No female Governor emerged (Senator Aisha Benani’s attempt is still ‘inconclusive’ in Adamawa State) and we now have less than 4% of women in the National Assembly, even less than the class […]
LOUD WHISPERS: The Spirit of Hilda
In the early 1990s, my younger brother Tunde asked me for a favour. We were still living in London then. He wanted to host a birthday party at our place, my husband and I agreed. I asked him about his catering arrangements and he said he hoped I could provide the food. I told hm […]
LOUD WHISPERS: Please Help Me Understand
Perhaps there is just too much nonsense going on Perhaps folks young and old are simply behaving badly There are many things that do not add up They might not all seem connected Trust me, they are Please help me understand How an entire country was rendered ‘cashless’ because of new notes How all old […]
LOUD WHISPERS: A Woman In Harmony With Her Spirit
Professor Abena Busia@70 ‘A woman in harmony with her spirit is like a river flowing. She goes where she will without pretense and arrives at her destination to be herself and only herself’ Maya Angelou She strode towards me with the regal twists and turns of her body I have always known her for, […]
LOUD WHISPERS: DigitAll
I have just returned from this year’s United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in New York. CSW is an annual gathering at the UN where member States and civil society organisations review progress made on implementing the 1995 UN Beijing Platform for Action. I started attending CSW in 1993, as a young […]
LOUD WHISPERS: Election Fever
Who needs any of the ‘Woods’? Hollywood, Bollywood, Nollywood, Kannywood, Yollywood They have nothing on election time in Naija Prime entertainment Even when it is not funny it is funny Even when it is bad you say ‘it could be worse’ None of the ‘Woods’ in the world matched the starring cast The Big Daddy […]
LOUD WHISPERS: Valentine’s Day
Tammy frowned as she looked at herself in the mirror. She thought about all the feel good, motivational sound bites she and her friends often repeated to support one another. ‘You are beautiful’. ‘The only opinion that matters is yours’. ‘Own your body’. ‘Look in the mirror and love what you see’. Well, she was […]
LOUD WHISPERS: Professor Bolanle Awe at 90
In August 1986, I was a postgraduate student at the History department, University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University). The department organised an international colloquium to mark the centenary of the end of the Ekiti Parapo Wars which raged for almost 70 years and ended in 1886. I found all the sessions very interesting, but […]
Maryam: 
Fisolami: 
Rachael: 