It all began with a ‘dutiful’, uncharacteristically impatient Goodluck Ebele Jonathan; then only a harmless Vice-President of necessity; his terminally-ill principal, President Umaru Yar’Adua, bedded in far-away Saudi Arabia, a subject of needless ethno-regional controversy; and himself Ebele ‘luck-dependent’ as ever, and now virtually at the apogee of his most valuable political ‘manna’ yet from heaven, was –quite pardonably you might say- ‘covetously’ beside himself: enthusiasm-filled and waiting to grab the chisel to hew the very hedgy polity that he was, by the way, constitutionally heir to and about which Yar’Adua was raring to depart intestate!

The appointment of Joshua- my childhood friend and classmate-to the position of high court judge several years ago presented an interesting experience that has refused to elude me. On the day the appointment was made, we — all his friends— trooped to his residence in celebration to congratulate him. He was, in fact, the first to be so honoured among us. But, then, although everyone of us looked happy over the development, the environment was rather too serene for a supposedly joyous occasion.

The immediate past governor of Kwara State, Dr Bukola Saraki, recently visited home, during which he spoke on the economy and other matters. Excerpts:

From the responses we got from our readers, it was obvious that many Nigerians were not at all impressed that the present administration are considering tenure elongation, in whatever form or nature. They feel, and rightly so, that that’s the least of our priorities.

‘Madam Helen, I agree totally with you that even discussing tenure of government is an unholy distraction in our country at this point in time. What are our leaders thinking of? Also, like you, I had a lot of faith in many of those who’ve just come on board to rule us.

BARELY 24 hours after terrorists bombed the United Nations, UN, building in Abuja, President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday paid an on-the-spot assessment visit to the scene of the blast, where he was conducted round by the National Security Adviser, General Owoye Azaazi (rtd).