GENERALS are, by experience and training, men of courage.  They are hardy perennials; men who have distinguished themselves over the years in the field of battle. They are military tacticians who devise the ways and means for defeating the enemy. Great generals fear no foe, even those battle-ready and well-equipped.

The message Chris Ngige delivered to ExxonMobil loud and clear is that it does not have to be subject to Nigerian laws. It can operate here in Nigeria as a law unto itself.

IF you were to visit the Lagos headquarters of ExxonMobil (Nigeria) in Victoria Island, Lagos today, you would immediately notice that something strange is going on. You will find a number of people camped outside the building; sometimes chanting, sometimes dancing, sometimes shouting slogans. They are there 24/7; day and night. Surely, this is anomalous to the activities of an international oil company.

MANY years ago, as a member of the Nigerian delegation to the Non-aligned Conference, I engaged a Nigerian vice-president in discussion on Nigerian politics.  I cannot recall now the exact subject-matter, but I remember saying at some juncture: “Nigerians won’t stand for that, Sir.”  The vice-president became visibly irritated: “What are they going to do?” he asked pointedly.  “What can they do about it?”

IN 2005, Goldman Sachs Investment Bank forecast that Nigeria will be the 20th largest economy in the world by 2025 and the 12th largest by 2050; ahead of Italy, Canada and South Korea.  Having identified Brazil, Russia, India and China as four emergent powerhouses of the world economy referred to as the BRICS; it included Nigeria among “the Next Eleven” countries, which are Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea, Turkey, and Vietnam.

FOUR gravely ill Nigerians went to see their doctor.  One was Hausa, another Yoruba, the third Igbo and the fourth from Niger-Delta.  They all had very high temperatures and could hardly walk and talk.  They had the same complaints: chest-pain, high blood-pressure, migraine, vomiting, stomach-ache and heart-palpitations.  They had all lost considerable weight and were skin and bones.

WITH the declaration that  Kayode Fayemi has won the gubernatorial election in Ekiti, APC spin-doctors went into overdrive.   Lai Mohammed, well-loved by all and sundry for his vacuous bombasts, came out shouting on the rooftops that the Ekiti election is a referendum on the Buhari administration.   However, the honourable minister needs a gentle reminder that Buhari was not on the ballot in Ekiti.

THE system of    government favoured by Nigerians has always been the democratic system.  Even military governments in Nigeria seize power ostensibly in the interest of upholding or promoting democratic structures.  We even had a period, under Ibrahim Babangida, when a military government at the federal level orchestrated democratic structures and elections at the state and local government levels.

IN the last election cycle, I was a strident supporter of President Goodluck Jonathan.  I wrote extensively in support of his re-election.  Elections are never about choosing the best people for positions of authority.  They are about choosing the best of the available candidates.  This means we are often required to choose the best out of a bad lot.

THE relationship between Nigeria and Britain is highly conflicted.  Nigeria was a British colony and a British creation.  This would suggest the development of a cordial relationship between the two countries as a result of shared history. 

Once upon a time, there was a country called Nigeria and a people known as Nigerians. But not anymore

EXACTLY 25 years ago, a landmark election was held in Nigeria after ten long years of military rule.  There were two main contestants: Moshood Abiola of the Social Democratic Party and Bashir Tofa of the National Republican Convention.  Abiola was from the South-west: Tofa from the North-west.

MOST men we call black are actually brown.  Then there are the many in-betweens. But so jealous are the so-called whites in their whiteness that any black blood automatically makes you black.  If you have any black ancestry, you are deemed to be black.

IN 1960, John Kennedy exhorted his fellow Americans on his inauguration as president of the United States to: “ask not what your country can do for you: ask what you can do for your country.”  Can you imagine a Nigerian leader asking the same question of Nigerians?  He would be laughed out of court.  The answer is likely to be a curt: “What has Nigeria done for me lately?”

IN just a few months, Nigerians go once again to the polls to choose our next president.  This is the opportunity we have to determine our destiny.  It is a civic duty that comes only once every four years.  Therefore, it must be entered into like a marriage; soberly and with full presence of mind.