AT the close of the titanic event on Monday January 23, 2012, following the outcome of the governorship primaries of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Cross River State commonly referred to as The People’s Paradise, the ambition of Ambassador Soni Abang to dislodge Senator Liyel Imoke from the Diamond Hill Government House, Calabar turned into a nightmare.

THIS quote is very apt and best described the Honourable Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Chukwuemeka Ngozicheneke Wogu, CON who has distinguished himself as a member of the Federal Executive Council of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for two consecutive terms.

THERE is no doubt that Nigeria is in the grip of its worst crisis ever. That is after the pogrom of the Nigerian civil war. What happened in Kano on Friday, January 20, 2012 when nearly 200 Nigerians were murdered in a spate of suicide bombings targeted against offices of security agencies is clearly unacceptable and fully underscored the worsening security situation in the country.

IT is generally acknowledged in Nigeria and indeed everywhere that the law court is the last hope of the common man. After a serious analysis of who this common man is, one comes to the conclusion that he is the highly and lowly placed in the society who comes to the temple of justice to seek redress.

AS an ardent reader of a column written by a former Southeast governor published every Saturday in a national newspaper allegedly owned by the former governor, the first thing I do Saturday morning is log on and read the column.

Clean up the business — In the months (or even years) before the sale process begins, it is essential to take a long, hard, look at all aspects of the business. In the interests of boosting profitability: Consider whether margins could be lifted; Can non-business expenses be reduced at the expense of long term relationships? Can expenditure with a long term payback, such as advertising, be deferred? Non-business or surplus assets should be disposed of.

THE unabating threat to the body fabric of the nation plumbed new depths last Friday with the carnage wreaked in the ancient city of Kano, northern Nigeria.

I AM sad and troubled for our nation. I just cannot sleep when I consider the amount of innocent blood that has been spilt in the 24 hours before I wrote this piece.

If you think the title of this story is “religious intolerance” in Nigeria then you have been swayed by recent stories from the international media. You –and they—are wrong. Much of the international press covering the unrest and violence in Nigeria recently has been inaccurate, irresponsible and even dangerous. Nigeria is “on the brink”, many claim because of conflict between Muslims and Christians.

While defending its recent attack on Christian places of worship, a self acclaimed leader of the dreaded jama’atu ahlus sunnah lid da’awati wal jihad, otherwise known as Boko Haram said the attacks were a revenge for killing of Muslims in some parts of Nigeria. Sadly, the same militant group has in the past claimed responsibility for killing some Muslim clerics as well as bombing mosques in some parts of Northern Nigeria

AS stated in my previous statement after the mass killing at St.Theresa on Christmas day and now the bloodiest attack in Kano with almost 200 deaths recorded so far by the Boko Haram group, we all must at this point move beyond mere condemnation to taking collective decisive steps as a people and collaborate with security agencies to bring this national shame and threat to our existence to a halt.

WHILE the killings of Southerners, Yorubas and Northern Christians continue unabated in the North, there is a recognizable systematic effort to locate the perpetrators among the victims or at least to obfuscate the source of culpability for the on-going mayhem.