Nigeria, Oct. 24 -- Let me begin with something personal: Moses Ochonu is my friend. I met him through another friend, Farooq Kperogi. The three of us, all part of the Nigerian diaspora in the United States, formed a sort of intellectual alliance and fondly refer to ourselves as the Three Amigos. We share a fellowship in which conversation, contention, disagreement, and laughter coexist with the rare pleasure of intellectual companionship unencumbered by the demand for conformity. We have co-authored a book, Dis Life No Balance, and together host Diaspora Dialogues, a monthly conversation that provides a forum for interrogating Nigeria, its contradictions, and its contested histories.

Having read much of Mo's work and listened to enough ...