IT was Remi Olayiwola, a colleague and friend for all seasons, who called me from Nigeria very early in the morning to inform me that Ladi Lawal, my friend of the NUJ, had gone down in silence. William Shakespeare did say that death, as a necessary end, will come when it will. And Dr. Daniel Kolawole Olukoya, the scientist and all-time great teacher, evangelist, prophet and general overseer of the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries, added that death is death, regardless of the cause.

EARTH is a shopping arcade and all nations are its decorated shops. Recently, the government of Nigeria launched a campaign that aims at wiping out the wrong image that some people propagate about the country. However, the exercise has drawn criticisms from some people. I have been living in Nigeria for some years now and I feel that the branding exercise is a step in the right direction.

DONU Kogbara, the veteran writer and daughter of the late Chief Ignatus Vibel Kogbara, the prominent Ogoni elite, is a courageous woman. Courage can be displayed when one either is doing good or evil, but it’s always good to demonstrate courage for good, for the health of society. Reading Donu’s convulsion in the Vanguard newspaper of Sunday, June 4, 2009, under the title, “The Forgotten Four”, stirred my mind.