Ready. Steady. Fight.
10. Erica vs Laycon
Before Laycon sashayed away with the #BBNaija Lockdown cash prize of 30 million Naira among other gifts totaling 85 million Naira, it seemed like Erica Nlewedim was his biggest challenger.
The once friendly housemates and romantic hopefuls soon became bitter rivals culminating in the now infamous alcohol induced meltdown that led to Erica’s disqualification. Naturally, this beef was amplified by their respective fanbases.
9. Abike Dabiri-Erewa vs Isa Pantami
Chairman and CEO of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa took to Twitter to accuse Isa Pantami, Minister of Communications and Digital Economy of using armed men to chase her and her staff out of their office building and seizing their office equipment. Pantami sorta responded, claiming that the whole story was a lie cooked up by a malicious Dabiri-Erewa.
8. Otosirieze Obi-Young vs Brittle Paper
This one started with a tweet fight involving the first lady of Kaduna and a rape-y tweet by her seemingly disturbed son. It ended with Obi-Young being fired from his perch as Deputy Editor of the literary blog, Brittle Paper.
Between these two developments, Obi-Young published a scathing critique of the first lady’s role in the ugly drama and his post was taken down by Brittle Paper’s publisher for not meeting editorial standards.
7. Segun ‘Segalink’ Awosanya vs Feminist Coalition
To be fair, this was more of a one-sided beef as former hero and self-styled protector of the masses from police brutality went on a spectacular self-destruct mode.
Awosanya, better known as Segalink on Twitter, threatened perhaps, by the idea that he was no longer at the centre of discussions surrounding his cause célèbre went on an embarrassing offensive, dismissing the Feminist Coalition as puppeteers of foreign interests. Quite sad to see really.
6. Davido vs Burna Boy
Two highflying popstars not getting along is about as groundbreaking as florals for spring, But Burna Boy refashioned his rivalry with Davido into a compulsively quotable song. Naturally, FEM became a giant hit.
Who else but Davido would make a toxic song about career rivalry and have it become so outsize, it quickly assumes a second life as the soundtrack to the #EndSARs movement? No one else we think.
5. Kiki Mordi vs Ogechi Obidiebube vs Ruona Meyer
After winning her umpteenth award for the heavy impact Sex for Grades BBC documentary, Kiki Mordi found herself in troubled waters when a former BBC staffer, Ogechi Obidiebube alluded that she did plenty of the heavy lifting on the project only to be sidelined to a pseudonym status after Mordi was contracted to finish it off.
Ruona Meyer, a former BBC journo who obviously had a hard on for Mordi entered the fray and muddied the water such that attention was drawn away from the meat of the story, which is about unhealthy practices in the BBC newsroom.
4. Godwin Obaseki vs Adams Oshiomhole
The battle royale between Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki and his former political godfather, Adams Oshiomhole came to a head this year when Oshiomhole and the powers that be decided to deny Obaseki his right to vie for a second term.
Obaseki promptly decamped to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and took with him the machinery required to win a second term convincingly. Meanwhile Oshiomhole was suspended from his leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC.)
3. Joy Nunieh vs Godswill Akpabio
This one was messy, and salacious and played out with all the raciness of a Nollywood blockbuster. Nunieh, a former acting boss of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) accused the Niger Delta minister Godswill Akpabio of corruption and coercing her to take an oath of secrecy.
That wasn’t all, she claimed that Akpabio had harassed her sexually and she gave him a thunderous slap to put a stop to the nonsense. Her home in Rivers state was eventually put under siege and it took the intervention of Governor Wike to rescue her from Akpabio’s intimidation.
2. ASUU vs Federal Government
Leave it to the Buhari administration to sit idly while the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) goes on a debilitating 9-month long strike. In December, the union and the government finally agreed on major issues that led to the termination of the chronic strike.
The union made it clear however that they wouldn’t hesitate to down tools once again should the federal government demonstrate bad faith. Students nationwide must be relieved considering it is the grass that suffers when two elephants fight.
- Government vs #EndSARS protesters
On October 20, between the state and federal governments, armed officers were deployed to the Lekki toll gate center where they opened fire on people who gathered to protest police brutality and demand good governance.
According to Amnesty International, at least 12 people died with many more injured. The government did not just stop at this, they avoided responsibility for the trauma and deployed the state machinery against active citizens. Government officials seized passports of people involved in the protests, blocked account numbers and put some citizens on no fly lists. Shame.
Wilfred Okiche is a medic, reader, writer, journalist, culture critic, and occasional ruffler of feathers. One of the most influential critics working in the Nigerian culture space, his writing has appeared extensively in platforms like YNaija.com and 360nobs.com. Okiche has provided editorial assistance to the UK Guardian and has had his work published in African Arguments, Africa is a Country and South Africa’s City Press. He has received trainings and acquired experience in multimedia and online journalism. He also appears on the culture television show, Africana Literati. He has participated at critic programs in Lagos, Durban and Rotterdam.
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