Personality in Focus
Varsity Prof Explains Why She Wished Queen Elizabeth ‘Excruciating Pain’
Nigeria-born American professor, Uju Anya, has spoken again over her comments on late Queen Elizabeth II of England.
Anya, in an interview with a foreign-based news platform, The CUT, revealed her reasons for wishing the Queen “excruciating pain.”
She said the late Queen Elizabeth II’s throne “represents the legacy of enslavement and colonialism and its direct harm,” adding that she supervised the British government which caused a very painful harm to her, and “the harm shaped my entire life and continues to be my story and that of the people she harmed.”
Anya on Thursday had tweeted hours before the Queen’s death, saying, “I heard the chief monarch of a thieving raping genocidal empire is finally dying. May her pain be excruciating.”
The tweet has since been deleted for violating “Twitter rules”.
In another tweet, Anya referenced the rumoured role of the British empire in supplying the Nigerian government with arms and ammunition during the nation’s civil war which spanned 1967 – 1970.
“If anyone expects me to express anything but disdain for the monarch who supervised a government that sponsored the genocide that massacred and displaced half my family and the consequences of which those alive today are still trying to overcome, you can keep wishing upon a star,” she wrote, following the announcement of the Queen’s death.
Her tweets got the attention of many including Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos, who quote-tweeted the post, saying “This is someone supposedly working to make the world better? I don’t think so. Wow.”
She replied to Bezos, writing, “May everyone you and your merciless greed have harmed in this world remember you as fondly as I remember my colonisers.”
She said, “On Thursday, I was just reading the BBC, which had been making announcements that there were worries for the queen’s health and death was imminent. It brought on a whole lot of emotions and pain — primarily pain — about who this monarch was and what she represented, not just in the broad sense of what her throne represents, the legacy of enslavement and colonialism, but also the direct harm. People say, “Oh, she’s just a figurehead, she didn’t really do anything, as if she’s somehow withdrawn from this. They tell me, You’re talking about colonialism. Was that even in your lifetime?”
“My experience of who she was, and the British government she supervised, is a very painful one. The harm shaped my entire life and continues to be my story and that of the people she harmed — that her government harmed, that her kingdom harmed, however you want to frame it. The genocide of the Biafra killed 3 million Igbo people, and the British government wasn’t just in political support of the people who perpetrated this massacre; they directly funded it. They gave it political cover and legitimacy.
She told The CUT, “This wasn’t just something I just read about. I was born to colonial subjects on both sides of the family — one parent from Trinidad, where the British enslaved people, and one parent from Nigeria. They met in England at university and moved back to Nigeria after independence in 1960. My parents were survivors of this genocide. My three siblings, two of them under the age of 10 at the time, were survivors. My mother was pregnant with my brother, who was born during that time; he was a war baby. This was the legacy I was born into in 1976. I spent the first ten years of my life living in Nigeria, and there was always this specter of who was lost. My earliest memories were from living in a war-torn area, and rebuilding still hasn’t finished even today. Half of my family was slaughtered with guns and bombs that this queen sent to kill us.
“Queen Elizabeth was a representative of the cult of white womanhood.”
The Punch
Former Presidential Spokesperson, Doyin Okupe has reportedly passed away.
TheNewsGuru reports that the senior adviser to former President Goodluck Jonathan and, recently, the Director-General of Peter Obi’s 2023 Presidential Campaign died at 71, after a long struggle with cancer.
In October 2023, Okupe was hospitalized with prostate cancer and was flown to Israel for treatment.
However, it was learnt that his condition did not improve as expected.
Okupe had a history of prostate cancer, first diagnosed 16 years ago, and a later bout with sarcoma in his right shoulder.
Following his milestone achievements as Chairman of the Police Campaign Against Cultism and Other Vices (POCACOV), the Chairman/CEO of Executive Group, Dr. Ayo Ogunsan has been officially announced as the Patron of the Police advocacy initiative in Lagos State, National Association of Online Security News Publishers, NAOSNP can report.
The POCACOV is the Nigeria Police Force advocacy initiative to help young people avoid cultism and other vices. It uses advocacy, awareness, and sensitization to help young people avoid vices by conducting community outreaches to schools, inner cities, rural areas, and urban centres. It also helps to rehabilitate and reintegrate those who have been cut in the web of cultism, crimes, and social vices.
It would be recalled that Dr. Ayo Ogunsan took up the Chairmanship job about a year ago and was able to use his grand standing as the Board Member of Lagos State Security Trust Fund (LSSTF), prime supporter of security news beat association National Association of Online Security News Publishers (NAOSNP), and leadership of non-profit initiative, AKEM Foundation to champion his work and various impacting activities in the past one year. This is why POCACOV through its National Coordinator, ACP Olabisi Oluseyi Okuwobi on behalf of the Inspector General of Police announced his official elevation into the role of Patron of POCACOV in Lagos State.
The United Nations POLAC International Peace Advocate, Dr. Ayo Ogunsan expressed his gratitude to the Inspector General of Police, IGP Kayode Egbetokun and the National Coordinator, ACP Okuwobi for the new role and promised to give direction to the new Chairman, Mr. Moses Oladimeji which will lead to improved performance of POCACOV in Lagos.
‘I will keep raiding our communities with love. We will give them food, shelter, etc. Police will do the Police work but I will do the policing of love’, Ogunsan affirmed.
This piece is contributed by Oki Samson
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has appointed Shamsedeen Ogunjimi as the new Accountant General of the Federation after a rigorous selection process.
A statement by Special Adviser to the President (Information & Strategy), Bayo Onanuga said his appointment, approved on Tuesday, takes effect from 7th March 2025, the same day the incumbent Oluwatoyin Madehin will retire.
Ogunjimi, 57, was first named as Madehin’s successor last December.
“A selection committee later chose him through a competitive, rigorous, and merit-based process involving Directors of Accounts in the Federal Civil Service. The committee conducted the process through three stages: a written assessment, an ICT proficiency test, and oral interviews.
“The selection process underscores President Tinubu’s commitment to promoting transparency, excellence, and competence in key public service positions,” the statement read in part.
Ogunjimi graduated from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, in 1990 with a Bachelor of Science in Accountancy.
He also obtained a Master’s in Accounting and Finance from the University of Lagos.
He is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria and the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria.
President Tinubu congratulated Ogunjimi on his appointment, and urged him to discharge his duties in the service with integrity, professionalism, and dedication to Nigeria’s service.
