WE still wonder why the PDP expected the results to be otherwise. Of what stuff did they prepare their porridge that they expected it to come out thick?

THE people of Oghada Community in Isi Clan, Uhunmwode Local Governent Area of Edo State have every reason to count themselves blessed. While other people may yet be looking for an example of a perfect blend of royalty and excellence, the perfect example is located at the very heart of Oghada Community.

THERE is an innovation to electioneering campaigns in Edo State. Apparently, at the approach of every election, the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, puts a basket in the hands of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to go to the river and fetch water, with instruction not to return until the basket is full.

TODAY, we are starting with a simple aptitude test in which the examiner expects us to be honest to ourselves: (a) We are fighting corruption (b) Corruption is consuming us (c) None of the above.

RECENTLY, this Column ran a series titled “Which Way, Nigeria?” These series were not, and cannot be, concluded because with each passing day, the question is gaining deeper currency.

AMADIN: My brother, you should know by now that I am not easily given to pessimism. But the truth must be told. The way things are going in Nigeria, there is every cause for worry. I know you are equally concerned and that’s why I want to talk to you as often as I can.

ADMITTEDLY, the more things change, the more they remain the same. Kidnapping has been with man from time. In our younger days, at the shout of “Gbomo gbomo”, every child ran inside and locked the door. Gbomo gbomo were the kidnappers of that time who did not carry out their trade for ransom.

CERTAINLY, there is something the Northern Governors Forum and Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar, the Sultan of Sokoto, know about the Boko Haram which the rest of us do not know. That’s how it should be, though. It is not everything they know about their people that we should know.

Please, follow today’s piece with sympathy for a country called Nigeria: For stealing N23 billion from the Police Pension Fund, Yusufu walks our streets today in full freedom, having paid the fine of N750, 000 (0.003% of his loot); for allegedly mismanaging (perhaps a clear euphemism for stealing) close to N200 billion of Customs, Immigration and Prisons Pension funds, Maina has been officially provided a safety valve within which to escape to foreign lands to enjoy his loot; and for stealing an old Mitsubishi bus, Citizen Onwe has been admitted to Asaba Prison for 50 years without any option of fine.

WE shall keep remembering Charles Dickens (1812–1870). He might have been one of those who, in the early days, saw tomorrow. We are almost convinced that when he engaged himself in the superlative degree of comparison, close to a century and half ago, Dickens was already seeing the Nigeria of today.

EVERY beginning, no matter how small, is difficult. That explains why our generation has aptly been described as the era of cruel and unusual punishment; and the age of torture. Everything we had came the hard way.

FOLLOWING the trend of the local government elections nationwide, the impression is created that the State Electoral Commissions only exist to do the bidding of their masters, the state governors.

THE villagers have a better way of expressing the same feelings. They will quickly tell you that there is no royal road to geometry and that life has no short-cut. Some will keep drumming it into your ears that you shall only reap whatever you sow

YES, the more things change, the more they remain the same. Nigeria has moved, sometimes, forward and sometimes backward.

NIGERIAN history may have gone full circle- from the founding fathers who could not tell a lie to the current crop of leaders, particularly at the central government, who cannot tell the truth.

JUBRIL Mummad Aminu is one man with very tall credentials and still growing: a renowned Professor of Cardiology, a Diplomat, a Politician extra ordinaire.

It was intended for publication last October. Incidentally, there was a glut in political activities at the time hence this piece went into voicemail. Even if it is coming after the Town Hall meetings orchestrated nationwide by the House of Representatives last November, as they say in local parlance, nothing spoil. William Shakespeare puts it more succinctly, “love’s night is noon”.

IS it really necessary to remind ourselves that in government, what people intend is often different from what they bring about? In trying to evaluate a governmental action, one ought to consider likely, even if unintended, consequences.

Quite often, governments do the same thing, the same old way, while expecting different results. We have been at a loss to understand why, back to Governor Peter Odili’s years in Rivers State, a large cache of sophisticated arms and ammunitions was recovered from militants of that era who were beating a retreat from militancy and the weapons were set ablaze.

HOUSING administration has always been a major problem in Nigeria. It was in 1984. I had just been appointed Chairman, Board of Directors, Bendel Development and Property Authority (BDPA). The books were in bad shape and there were many defaulters around. Many who bought the Authority’s houses were heavily in default in their repayment.

WHEN the price of a bag of cement pointed to the direction of N15.00 in 1985, this writer addressed what looked like a world press conference, which touched principally on the outrage. I was the Chairman of the then Bendel Development and Property Authority (BDPA) and as the guest speaker of that year’s annual dinner of the Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers, Bendel State Chapter, my stand was that, that “bagged dust” had no right to go beyond N5.00 per bag. It was the first time I hit the major headlines in most Nigerian newspapers.

FROM the outside, life in the legislature can be alluring. For the legislator, there is a sense of reward as an opportunity is created for him to assist his constituents and help fashion out better public policy.

QUITE often, it takes a single person to ignite what eventually grows into a large revolution. Revolution is not a tea party. It is bitter. Sometimes, the revolution bearer could embark on mass destruction. For instance, he could take a cutlass or any other weapon of mass destruction and kill a whole generation of persons. And sometimes, he could bring grave hurt only to himself.

ONE of the greatest philosophers that ever lived, Aristotle, opined centuries ago: “Men come together in cities in order to live; but they remain together in order to live the good life”. It is, however, becoming increasingly harder to live the good life in Nigerian cities today.

THERE has just been a major re-enactment of the Amakiri Episode of 1975. Amakiri was a practicing journalist in the then Rivers State, when on the orders of the Military Governor of the State, Commander Alfred Diete Spiff, he was thoroughly flogged and his hair shaved perhaps with pieces of broken bottles.

IF it is true that morning shows the day, it must also be true that our Judiciary under the new Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Justice Maryam Aloma Mukhtar, may be heading for troubled waters, if not directly for the rocks.

ANYTHING that is misused is abused and anything that is abused is also devalued. We watched helplessly as the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria gradually reduced the “Take a Bow” procedure to the point of embarrassment.

ALL those who say we should thank INEC and the security agencies for the Ondo war that has just been successfully prosecuted certainly know what they are talking about.

OUR point of order is on Dr. Doyin Okupe who, in the character or a rabble-rouser, has become too loud and he is overheating the polity.