Personality in Focus
Varsity Prof Explains Why She Wished Queen Elizabeth ‘Excruciating Pain’
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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 People say, “Oh, she’s just a figurehead, she didn’t really do anything, as if she’s somehow withdrawn from this.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
Canadian poet, essayist and translator Anne Carson has been awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature for her inventive writing and her engagement with the classical tradition. Her work brings together poetry, criticism, translation and narrative, expanding the forms through which contemporary literature can tell stories.
Born in Toronto in 1950, Carson trained as a classicist and has combined writing with university teaching and translation throughout her career. Her interest in the origins and meanings of words informs both her scholarship and her poetry. Ancient texts provide material for her explorations of desire, grief, identity and human relationships.
Her translations include If Not, Winter (2002), a rendering of Sappho’s surviving poetry that preserves the gaps between fragments. She has also translated plays by Sophocles and Euripides, bringing the language and conflicts of Greek tragedy into contemporary expression.
Carson’s writing gained increasing recognition during the 1990s. “The Glass Essay,” published in Glass, Irony, and God (1995), combines the experience of a relationship’s end with reflections on Emily Brontë, family life and solitude. Its movement between personal narrative and literary interpretation demonstrates her freedom in working across genres.
Autobiography of Red: A Novel in Verse (1998) remains among her most celebrated works. Drawing on fragments by the ancient Greek poet Stesichoros, Carson reimagines the winged red monster Geryon as a young person discovering photography, desire and heartbreak. The book places his experiences at the centre of a story traditionally associated with the exploits of Herakles.
Her later publications continue this experimentation. Float (2016) consists of twenty-two chapbooks that readers can approach in any order. Wrong Norma (2024) brings together varied prose pieces, extending her interest in the possibilities of short, loosely connected forms.
Carson has also collaborated with visual artists, choreographers and theatre and opera directors. These projects carry her writing into performance and establish connections between literature and other arts.
The award recognises a career devoted to close attention to language and continual experimentation with form. Through translation, poetry and collaboration, Carson has made classical literature an active part of contemporary writing.
Souce:Classic Books.
Abia State governor, Alex Otti, and Senator representing Abia North, Orji Uzor Kalu, have expressed sadness over the death of Abia-born Squadron Leader Ahamefule Aham Man-Ugwueje, one of the pilots of the Nigerian Air Force ATR-42 aircraft, NAF 931, which crashed in Igbokoda, Ondo State, on Monday.
Governor Otti, in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ferdinand Ekeoma, described Squadron Leader Man-Ugwueje’s death and those of other military personnel aboard the Nigerian Air Force plane as painful and devastating.
“This accident is both painful and devastating, because it has brought untold sorrow and anguish to the victims’ families, their friends and loved ones, the Nigerian Air Force, and the nation at large.”
Governor Otti regretted that Squadron Leader Man-Ugwueje perished in the air disaster barely two weeks after he wedded his beloved wife, Flight Lieutenant Damilola Adekunle, in Abuja, a sad development he said has robbed the couple of the opportunity of spending their lives together as husband and wife.
The governor, on behalf of his family, the government and people of Abia State, commiserated with the families of the victims, the people of Umuahia where Squadron Leader Man-Ugwueje hailed from, the Nigerian Air Force and the Federal Government of Nigeria, and prays for the peaceful repose of their souls in God’s bosom.
In his own message, Senator Kalu commiserated with the Nigerian Air Force over the loss of the Air Force personnel and others in the Ondo plane crash.
The former governor of Abia State, while expressing sadness over the loss, extended his heartfelt sympathy to the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Sunday Kelvin Aneke, the entire Nigerian Air Force and the families of those who lost their lives in the tragic incident.Describing the incident as painful and heartbreaking, Kalu said the death of personnel who devoted themselves to the service of the country is a huge loss to the Nigerian Air Force and the nation.
“I extend my heartfelt sympathy to the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Sunday Kelvin Aneke, and the entire Nigerian Air Force over this painful loss.
“My thoughts and prayers are especially with the families who have lost their loved ones. Losing men and women who dedicated themselves to serving and protecting our country is indeed a tragedy for all Nigerians.
“At this difficult moment, I pray that God comforts their families, colleagues and loved ones, and gives them the strength to bear this irreparable loss.
“May the souls of the departed rest in peace,” Kalu said.
He urged the Nigerian Air Force to remain strong in the face of the tragedy, noting that the sacrifices of its personnel in the service of the country would always be remembered.
President Bola Tinubu has sent warm greetings to the Executive Secretary/CEO of the Lagos State Security Trust Fund (LSSTF) Dr. Ayodele Ogunsan, on the occasion of his 50th birthday on October 6, 2026.
In a statement released by the Special Adviser to the President (Information and Strategy), Bayo Onanuga, the President indicated acknowledged Dr. Ogunsan’s commitment to institution-building and promoting partnerships among government, the private sector, and other stakeholders to advance security and development.
Tinubu also commended the celebrant for his dedication to serving Lagos State and his contributions toward strengthening the security architecture, public safety, and public confidence through the Lagos State Security Trust Fund.
Before becoming the Executive Secretary/CEO, Dr. Ogunsan served on the Board of Trustees of the LSSTF. He has held other significant responsibilities in the security and community-safety space, including as Chairman of the Police Campaign Against Cultism and Other Vices (POCACOV), Lagos State, and Patron of the Police Community Relations Committee (PCRC).
The President noted that under Dr. Ogunsan’s leadership, the Trust Fund has continued to play an important role in supporting security agencies with critical equipment, infrastructure and other resources necessary to enhance their effectiveness in protecting lives and property.
“As you mark this significant milestone, I urge you to sustain your dedication to the security and progress of Lagos State and Nigeria. I wish you many more years of good health, wisdom and fulfilment, as well as continued success in your service to humanity and our nation,” the President charged.
