PROFESSOR Chinua Achebe was not the first prominent Nigerian (nor the only one) to reject the now controversial National Honours.
THE latest gruesome harvest by the Islamist terrorist group, Boko Haram, had the exact outlines of the opening gambit deployed by Front de Liberation Nationale, FNL, to snatch independence from colonial powers, France . Just as in our case where Friday, November 4, 2011 was chosen by our local terrorists, the FNL opted for November 1, 1954 , a day usually set aside by the French colonial establishment to celebrate their All Saints Day.
HAVING spoken my mind on the award of the highest National Honour ever bestowed on a non-governmental functionary (Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger, GCON) to Nigeria’s richest man and industrialist, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, I offer the reading public a chance to say theirs today.
I AM converting this topic to a two-part serial in response to a challenge posed by one of the readers. He or she did not supply his/her name, but the GSM number is 08033539191. And the text message reads: “Your article on page 49 in the Vanguard of today (Monday October 31st 2011) is not in-depth at all. You wrote about why the 1979 and 1999 Constitutions failed. You even wrote why suggestions by others will not work but you did not do a good job on how yours will succeed”. May I thank the reader for this prompting. There must be millions of others who share this view.
FOR sure, Alhaji Aliko Dangote is an extraordinary Nigerian. He is the richest African in recorded modern history. Just about three years ago, he was estimated by Forbes (first time a Nigerian was making it to the charmed circle of 400 richest men in the world) as worth a little over US$3 billion. Dangote disputed the figure, stressing that he was worth over five billion.
MY apprehension that the Arab revolutions might trigger unbridled reign of terrorism after the fashion of Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia is receding, somewhat.
RARELY does a week pass these days without one blunder or the other being reported from the Presidency. Clearly, the decision to hold the 51st independence anniversary parade inside the secure walls of Aso Villa was a grave slip-up. The Presidency’s denial of holding such an event almost a week later was a bigger goofing. We will take them one after the other.
IN Nigeria’s socio-cultural settings, the brand: “Calabar Man/Woman” often ignores the fact that the people being referred to had one of the earliest exposures to Medieval European merchants among the various Nigerian cultural groups.
