Innocent Raphael

1 month ago | westernpost.ng | Innocent Raphael

Lagos, Nigeria has been officially announced as the host city for the 2025 All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA), following a declaration by the African Union Commission (AUC) and the International Committee of AFRIMA. The announcement was made during a landmark event at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Tuesday, May 13. The event

2 months ago | westernpost.ng | Azu Ishiekwene |Innocent Raphael

Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, ex-spokesman of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), has built a reputation not on unifying rhetoric or visionary politics but on a consistent habit of playing with fire. His most recent comments—suggesting that Nigeria could face a breakup in 2027 if elections don’t meet his idea of “credibility”—are neither shocking nor original.

2 months ago | westernpost.ng | Azu Ishiekwene |Innocent Raphael

He entered the world with the candescence a meteor, blazing new trails and igniting enough light to show that he wanted any lingering swamps and dark alleys of the Church to be cleaned up. He wanted to reposition the Church. We all remember that day on 13 March 2013. The world was still recovering from the sight of the white smoke and barely catching its breath from the announcement of the famous words heralding a new pope, Habemus Papam [We have a Pope!].

2 months ago | westernpost.ng | Azu Ishiekwene |Innocent Raphael

I found myself inventing the above verse as today’s headline. The verse came sounding like “The Lord is my shepherd/ I Shall not want…” The twenty-third Psalm. Yesterday was Easter Sunday; today is Easter Monday. All Judases are shamed. Life here is bitter as brine. The green pastures are withered. The still waters are poisoned. More and more, victims fall in undeclared wars in Benue and Plateau. Terrorists rebrand and relaunch in Borno and Niger and Zamfara.

2 months ago | westernpost.ng | Azu Ishiekwene |Innocent Raphael

What possesses a 26-year-old to step boldly into the unknown—alone—into the heart of a primary forest in Ikegun in September of 1984? What stirs that kind of daring? Looking back now, with time as a lens, I realise: it is audacity, that rare, powerful trait that all pioneers share. Whether in science, the arts, or enterprise, those who reshape the world see not only what is but what could be. Where others encounter wilderness, they envision wonder. Where others hear silence, they detect potential.