Column
“Georgia On My Mind” ―Dazed Republican States Strive to Adopt Autocracy
“…if you were lucky and you cast that vote they dreaded, and it turned out they hated the outcome, they would simply declare the republican loser, the victor.”
―Don Okolo
In truth, if you were searching for America’s most evil City or State, you’d have three, maybe four southern States to run through the mill of ignominy, to see which one stands with her head held high…proud she had beaten out the other three. The four States in contention would be, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, and Texas: Texas, because she has this dirty, soulless enclave called Vidor. Her people are mostly the long-haired, fifteen century dwellers, whose mugs are jarring to look at.
The common thread these States have is that they have country songs written in their names…and they are great songs. As the city of Vidor in Texas remains the most deplorable and the most dangerous city for any non-white person to live in, you would be surprised that a sizeable number of blacks and Spanish people brave the threat to their lives to live in this hellhole.
Texas is not Georgia. Georgia is the bottom pit of hell. Maybe, Texas is a few rungs up the ladder, even as the State is inching close to the bottom. And one of these days, the State of Texas will draw level with Georgia in that sweltering pit where Satan sits on his throne. A brand spanking, newly rewritten version of the Divine Comedy, Dante’s Inferno, is what I am offering you in this piece. How could the current situation between the two dueling States not remind you of Dante Alighieri’s masterpiece? Satan is sitting on his throne…and on his right and left sides are the two States that have betrayed humanity. Texas and Georgia have replaced Judas and Brutus; they have kicked the despicable Roman and the contemptible Jew out of their once beloved place in the firmament of Hell. Now Satan has both his flanks covered by the biggest, and the baddest twosome of the fifty States in the republic. There is joy in Hell. Yes, I said it: There is singing and dancing. They are inside the free-flowing, wicked kind of frolic…of no-holds barred licentiousness…and the State of Georgia…her representatives, that is, are the suppliers of the States renowned moonshine whiskey, labelled, “Hellot’s Brew’.
You may want to ask yourselves why modern-day man would sink into this depth of murk and self-indulgence
Even the tall Georgia Pines are bent double, wallowing inside this mote of pure evil. Some of the denizens of this depravity, whose voices they want stifled can be heard moaning in agony, wondering how long it would be before someone would come along and pull them from under the weight of absolute misery crushing them…to free them, and to alleviate their pain. They are begging…calling Coca-Cola, the big Delta Airline, to empathize, not offer condolences, because the body polity could still be alive and breathing in shallow patterns below. But the wickedness that has been tendered is Teflon-like in tenacity, and only the fires of the bigger House could sear through it to render it moot and useless.
Here are the dangers of this flaming conflagration if it is allowed to remain an inferno. The death of magnificence (Democracy) is one. The rise of autocracy is assured. States with republican majorities will have no reason to cower and not follow this path… were no guns are aimed at them. This path of no resistance would carry them to the infamous gallery from where they would sit with unbridled power and complacency. Here, on this plateau of grifters, these men would govern with a beck and call. You may want to ask yourselves why modern-day man would sink into this depth of murk and self-indulgence and decree that the voices of his/her ilk should rise to the heavens, and the voices of those he considers leftovers of creation, be mooted, and tossed. And on the day of signing, these curs robbed it in; they sat under the canopy of an image…the scorching metaphor of indignity antebellum south was known for…the one bastion of her great slave-owning and trading days…the one symbol of inhumanity they wear like a halo, to sign and seal, the resurgence of a certain mastery over other humans. F%$# ‘em!!!
Nothing will ever be the same if this were allowed to stand. I don’t see how the spineless democratic side of this divide would do anything to stop this…at least not with a republican in their midst…the one garbed in democratic-styled mantle, the Senator from Virginia, the one towing the republican line, Joe Manchin. They have figured it out. And it is not pretty. The unexpected turnout of democratic voters that repelled Donald Trump…that installed two new Georgian Democratic Senators, Ossorff and Warnock, was the last straw. If you understood how the State of Georgia rolled with all social issues…her Statewide depressive kind of politics, and the Devil’s ownership of the Mason/Dixie line, you’d know that what they did cutting access to voting was long overdue…again, given the nature of the beast.
Take a moment and think about the two dismal things about the voting law these white men in black suits signed into law. Voting lines would be long; an attempt would be made to cause delays, and have people stand in line for more than ten hours to vote. In their thinking, the resilience of the black voter had to be contained. So, if you were foolhardy and impertinent to the white, republican politician’s brand, and stood in that line, they’d be on patrol to make sure no one handed you a bottle of water or, any kind of ration. When that one element was worked into the original draft, you should know that these men and women had lost the last vestiges of what made them human beings. That alone should explain the obvious; wolves in sheep clothing; man as the quintessential predator to his fellow man. It doesn’t end there; if you were lucky and you cast that vote they dreaded, and it turned out they hated the outcome, they would simply declare the republican loser, the victor. It begs the question; do I need to vote at all? In essence, that is what they want from you; a level of disgust to cause you to abandon the system some of us have died to keep.
In essence, that is what they want from you; a level of disgust to cause you to abandon the system some of us have died to keep.
Only animals are governed by instinct. Humans have justifications; they are motivated by nuances of justice, ethics, and morality to create laws humans will abide by. That Georgian voter suppression law was passed on instinct. Almost every animal has enough sense not to devour its own. Not with these republicans. The depth of the insanity into which they have sunk is unfathomable. And with all things in the animal kingdom, the ones at the top of the food chain, would mosey on down after they have marked their territories. They know you couldn’t up and challenge their authority and not get eaten alive. Governor Kemp and his blue-faced political kind are expecting that there would be no challenges mounted. They are aware that this one gambit is tantamount to throwing crap against the wall and see what sticks. You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless things. Oh you hard hats, you cruel men of Georgia.
♦ Don Okolo, Professor and filmmaker, is on the Editorial Board of the West African Pilot News. He is the author of many books.
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“Humility is the anchor that keeps greatness from drifting into delusion.“ —Anthony Obi Ogbo
Fame is a dangerous flame. It warms, it dazzles, and if you hold it too close, it burns straight through the layers of judgment that keep a person grounded. In its hottest glow, fame convinces artists that applause is permanent, talent is immunity, and fans are disposable. Arrogance doesn’t erupt overnight—it grows in the quiet corners of unchecked power, in entourages that never challenge, and in audiences that forgive too easily. But the world has a way of reminding every superstar of one brutal truth: no one is too famous to fall.
This season, Burna Boy is learning that lesson in real time. The Grammy-winning giant—hailed globally as the “African Giant”—is now facing one of the most dramatic reputational meltdowns of his career. Five U.S. arena dates on his NSOW Tour have reportedly been cancelled due to poor ticket sales and a fierce wave of fan backlash following his Denver debacle. What was supposed to be another triumphant American tour has spiraled into an expensive public relations disaster.
It all ignited on November 12, 2025, at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado. The show started late. Energy was high. Then Burna Boy spotted a woman in the front row who had fallen asleep. Instead of performing through it, he halted the show, called her out publicly, ordered her partner to “take her home,” and refused to continue until they left. The humiliation would have been bad enough on its own. But later reports revealed she wasn’t drunk or uninterested—she was exhausted, mourning the recent death of her daughter’s father.
The internet demanded empathy. Burna responded with contempt. A sleeping fan, he said, “pisses me the f*** off.” And then the line that detonated the backlash: “I never asked anybody to be my fan.” Those ten words may become the most expensive sentence of his career.
This wasn’t an isolated flare-up. Burna Boy has long danced on the edge of arrogance, and the public has kept receipts. In 2019, he halted a performance in Atlanta to eject a fan who wasn’t dancing—handing the man money and telling him to leave. In Lagos in 2021, a fan who attempted an innocent stage hug was shoved off by security, sparking outrage over excessive force and coldness.
The following year was worse. In 2022, his security team was accused of firing shots in a nightclub after a woman allegedly rejected him, injuring multiple patrons and triggering legal headaches that trailed him for months. Fast-forward to January 2023: at his “Love, Damini” concert in Lagos, he arrived hours late, berated the crowd, and left fans feeling disrespected and insulted.
By 2025, the pattern was undeniable. He kicked a fan offstage during a New Year’s performance. Months later, he brought a Colorado concert to a standstill until an “unengaged” couple was escorted out. The incidents piled up, painting a portrait of an artist increasingly out of touch with the people who made him a global phenomenon.
This latest incident, however, has delivered the sharpest consequence yet: the U.S. market—a notoriously unforgiving arena—has pushed back.
Cancelled shows. Sparse crowds. Boycotts. Refund demands.
For perhaps the first time, an African artist of Burna Boy’s magnitude is experiencing a full-force American-style public accountability storm.
If African entertainers are paying attention, they should treat this moment as a case study in how fame can be mismanaged.
The first lesson: Fan value is sacred. Fans are not props. They are not subjects. They are not inconveniences in an artist’s emotional universe. They are customers, supporters, ambassadors, and—most importantly—the foundation on which every stage, every award, and every paycheck rests.
The second: Empathy is not optional. A superstar who cannot pause long enough to consider that a fan might be grieving, ill, exhausted, or battling something unseen is a superstar who has forgotten the humanity at the core of all art.
The third: Professionalism is currency. Arriving late, publicly shaming fans, halting shows, and weaponizing power in moments of irritation are choices that corrode trust. And once trust is broken, even a global superstar can watch ticket sales collapse in real-time.
Burna Boy is an extraordinary artist—brilliant, groundbreaking, and influential. His musical legacy is secure. But greatness in artistry is not the same as greatness in character. Fame tests the latter far more than it rewards it. And the spotlight, no matter how bright, does not protect anyone from the consequences of their own behavior.Humility is the anchor that keeps greatness from drifting into delusion. Burna Boy’s current storm is a brutal reminder that talent without restraint can become tyranny, and fame without introspection can become a curse. Artists rise because people believe in them, invest in them, and support them. When that respect is abused, loyalty evaporates. The lesson is stark: the higher the pedestal, the harder the fall—and the fall always comes. What matters is not the applause you command, but the humanity you maintain long after the music stops.
♦Publisher of the Guardian News, Professor Anthony Obi Ogbo, Ph.D., is on the Editorial Board of the West African Pilot News. He is the author of the Influence of Leadership (2015) and the Maxims of Political Leadership (2019). Contact: anthony@guardiannews.us
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Leadership across nations is shaped not only by policies but by the quality of the individuals at the helm. History has shown that the most transformative leaders often draw from deep wells of ethical, philosophical, and strategic thought. Yet, in many African countries—and Nigeria in particular—there appears to be a crisis in the kind of men elevated to govern. This deficit is not merely political; it is intellectual, philosophical, and deeply structural.
There is a compelling correlation between the absence of foundational wisdom and the type of leaders Nigeria consistently produces. Compared to their counterparts in other parts of the world, Nigerian leaders often appear fundamentally unprepared to govern societies in ways that foster justice, progress, or stability.
Consider the Middle East—nations like the UAE and Qatar—where governance is often rooted in Islamic principles. While these societies are not without flaws, their leaders have harnessed religious teachings as frameworks for nation-building, modern infrastructure, and citizen welfare. Ironically, many of Nigeria’s military and political leaders also profess Islam, yet the application of its ethical standards in public governance is nearly non-existent. This raises a troubling question: is the practice of religion in African politics largely symbolic, devoid of actionable moral guidance?
Take China as another case study. In the last four decades, China’s leadership has lifted over 800 million people out of poverty—an unprecedented feat in human history. While authoritarian in structure, China’s model demonstrates a deep philosophical commitment to collective progress, discipline, and strategic long-term planning. In Western democracies, especially post-World War II, leaders often emerged with strong academic backgrounds in philosophy, economics, or history—disciplines that sharpen the mind and cultivate vision.
In stark contrast, African leaders—particularly in Nigeria—are more often preoccupied with short-term political survival than long-term national transformation. Their legacy is frequently one of mismanagement, unsustainable debt, and structural decay. Nigeria, for example, has accumulated foreign loans that could take generations to repay, yet there is little visible infrastructure or social development to justify such liabilities. Inflation erodes wages, and basic public services remain in collapse. This cycle repeats because those in power often lack not just technical competence, but the moral and intellectual depth to lead a modern nation.
At the heart of the crisis is a lack of philosophical inquiry. Philosophy teaches reasoning, ethics, and the nature of justice—skills that are essential for public leadership. Nigerian leaders, by and large, are disconnected from such traditions. Many have never seriously engaged with political theory, ethical discourse, or economic philosophy. Without this grounding, leadership becomes a matter of brute power, not enlightened governance.
The crisis of leadership in Africa is not solely one of corruption or bad policy—it is one of intellectual emptiness. Until African nations, especially Nigeria, begin to value and cultivate leaders who are intellectually rigorous and philosophically grounded, the continent will remain caught in cycles of poverty and poor governance. True leadership requires more than charisma or military rank—it demands the wisdom to govern a society with justice, vision, and moral clarity. Without this, the future remains perilously fragile.
♦ Dominic Ikeogu is a social and political commentator based in Minneapolis, USA.
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Power: From Centralised Control to Distributed Influence
Throughout Nigeria’s history, power has frequently been concentrated in political capitals, economic hubs, and within elite groups. This has often left many feeling marginalised. However, the rise of the digital age brings with it a hopeful shift. With tools like social media, blockchain technology, and digital currencies, individuals and communities are finding their voices and challenging traditional power structures. This new era provides an opportunity for empowerment, allowing more people to participate in shaping their own destinies and fostering a more inclusive future.
In Nigeria, there has been a remarkable shift as tech-savvy youth movements gain momentum, catalysing a new wave of digital activism that challenges traditional structures of power. These young innovators are leveraging technology to foster social change, raising awareness on critical issues ranging from governance to human rights. Furthermore, the fintech landscape has experienced significant advancements, with mobile banking and cryptocurrency adoption becoming increasingly prevalent. These innovations empower individuals, particularly in underserved communities, by providing them with greater access to financial services and opportunities for economic growth.
The influence once monopolised by a select few is gradually being redistributed as smartphones and affordable data plans become more accessible to the general populace. This technological democratisation allows the digital citizen to shift from being a passive consumer of information to an engaged participant in public discourse. They are now equipped to voice their opinions, mobilise for causes, and hold those in power accountable, effectively transforming the way societal issues are addressed in the country. Through these dynamic changes, the fabric of Nigerian society is evolving, driven by the collective efforts of its digitally empowered youth.
Seasons: The Rhythms of Change in a Connected World
The evolution of development in the Global South has historically been heavily influenced by external factors, such as donor agendas, foreign direct investments, and fluctuations in global market trends. These influences often shape the priorities and paths of growth in these regions, limiting local agency and innovation. However, a significant transformation is taking place today.
Nigeria’s tech ecosystem is uniquely evolving, particularly in areas like Yaba, which has earned the nickname “Nigeria’s Silicon Valley.” This region is becoming a dynamic hub for startups and entrepreneurial activities. In the capital city of Abuja, there is also a rising number of innovation centres and incubators that promote creativity and drive technological progress.
The shift signifies an inspiring independence from traditional external influences, as Nigerian entrepreneurs, developers, and innovators boldly take the lead in shaping their local landscapes and steering their own developmental agendas. This dynamic change is set to redefine the development narrative in the region, celebrating local talent and solutions that directly address the unique needs of the Nigerian market.
We are experiencing a positive transformation towards self-determination. Local startups are actively addressing community challenges through agricultural technology that enhances food security or educational platforms that make learning accessible to all. This transitional phase marks a move from waiting to a proactive era of building and innovation.
Tables: Disruption and Reconfiguration of Norms
The metaphorical tables that represent power dynamics, social privilege, and established policies are undergoing a significant transformation. In this digital age, the nature of discourse is anything but courteous; it is fundamentally disruptive. This shift challenges long-standing norms and traditions that have persisted for years. The rapid advancement of technology is not merely an evolution but a revolution that brings to light various inefficiencies that have long gone unacknowledged.
The text highlights a rising demand for accountability among individuals and institutions in today’s society. As traditional structures come under scrutiny, there is an increasing expectation for transparency and responsibility, reflecting the evolving dynamics of our world.
In Nigeria, digital platforms’ impact is unmistakable; they have unveiled corruption, galvanised protests, and transformed the landscape of entrepreneurship. The youth are not merely seeking seats at the table but constructing entirely new ones. Through this bold action, they are reshaping the very definitions of leadership, innovation, and progress.
Challenges and Opportunities
This transformation comes with challenges, but we are more than capable of overcoming them. We can bridge digital divides, address cybersecurity threats, and reshape regulatory frameworks to match the pace of innovation. These challenges are not obstacles; they are our call to action to co-create an inclusive, secure, and locally relevant future.
Nigeria stands at an exciting crossroads, with a tremendous opportunity to boost its investments in crucial areas like digital literacy, technological infrastructure, and policy reform. By strongly emphasising digital literacy, we can equip our citizens with the essential skills to navigate today’s dynamic digital world, leading to a more informed and empowered workforce ready to tackle future challenges.
Enhancing our technological infrastructure is of paramount importance, as it involves developing reliable internet connectivity and providing access to the latest digital tools and technologies. We can create a more robust and efficient ecosystem that supports businesses, education, and communication by prioritising these upgrades. This transformation is expected to significantly drive economic growth by attracting both local and foreign investments.
Improved technology is set to drive innovation across multiple sectors in Nigeria, allowing both entrepreneurs and established businesses to introduce fresh ideas and solutions. By harnessing this potential, Nigeria can enhance its position in the global marketplace, becoming a competitive entity ready to embrace emerging trends and opportunities in the digital age.
Moreover, countries in the Global South have a remarkable opportunity to unite through cross-border collaboration! By sharing knowledge and best practices, we can bolster our resilience against global challenges while amplifying our collective voice in international tech governance.
This collaborative spirit enables us to formulate a comprehensive strategy that effectively addresses the diverse needs of local communities. By fostering open dialogue and partnership, we can ensure that the perspectives and experiences of the Global South play a crucial role in shaping global technological standards and policies. It’s essential that these voices are heard and considered in discussions that impact the future of technology. Together, through cooperation and shared vision, we can pave the way for a brighter, more inclusive technological future that benefits everyone, regardless of geographic or economic barriers.
The digital age is our current reality, giving Nigeria and the Global South an opportunity to shift from passive technology consumers to active creators of innovative solutions. This transformation is crucial for these regions to assert their place in global innovation.
Local entrepreneurs and startups must embrace digital tools to unlock their potential and create innovative solutions for their unique challenges. This proactive approach fosters economic growth and a strong culture of entrepreneurship and collaboration across education, business, and government.
Conclusion: A New Dawn
The time for the Global South to shine is now. These regions can drive social change and economic empowerment by creating local technologies that tackle local and global challenges. Nigeria and its counterparts must seize this moment to emerge as leaders in global innovation.
As the seasons change and the tables turn, we confidently embrace the transformations of power. The future is not just digital—it is unequivocally African, undeniably Southern, and ours to shape and define.
♦ Professor Ojo Emmanuel Ademola is a Nigerian Professor of Cyber Security and Information Technology Management, and holds a Chartered Manager Status, and by extension, Chartered Fellow (CMgr FCMI) by the highly Reputable Royal Chartered Management Institute.
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