Olisa Metuh is, ordinarily,  a man of swagger.  May affliction not befall us.  He came into the court a few days ago strapped to  stretcher,  draped in  hospital white. And tongues started wagging. I wish him a speedy recovery. Some tongues threw  curses into the air for  anyone who would compel such a sick man to come to court in an ambulance.  Others  read it differently. They saw deception and mischief. And they took to laceration and ridicule. They  told of  remarkable acting ability and a potential Oscar award. The pictures, from every angle,were sensational, scandalous. The multiplicity of what they evoked revealed a society riven by ethnic, religious and partisan allegiances and stuck in  pervasive corruption  and emotionality.

The  army of salvation has been launched. The names are familiar. It would have been naive to have expected something different. The battle against  fire-spitting demons of corruption and ineptitude  perhaps cannot be left to holy novices. The names may not inspire  confidence. But we must be patient. The  Obasanjo letter may have left an impression of urgency and new ideas.  The Coalition looks like sour old wine in  a new bottle. But we must be patient.  A bunch of  Sauls of Tarsus could  become Pauls. But they must not disown their past.  Or whitewash their iniquities. They must show  visible contrition and  tangible atonements. So that their new claim to righteousness would have some meaning.

You are a great statesman. You are a man of letters. Congratulations on your PhD at 80. At 80, you still write lucidly, acerbically and long. President Buhari’s got 20 pages. Jonathan’s was 18. Your observations have always been clear, concise and essentially valid.

Dear PDP,I congratulate you on your apparent recovery from that malignant political cancer. It is hoped that you will come to full health speedily. And as they say, may affliction not arise a second time.

The president says it’s not tribalism. His impotence against the herdsmen is baffling. He has figures to prove it. The herdsmen killed 756 people in 2 years during Jonathan’s era. That is astonishing. The herdsmen have been invading communities and killing since the ages. Buhari denies tribalism has shackled the arms of the law and tempered his customary allergy for social disorder. I believe him.