It is one of the axioms of management carved on stone by the management guru Peter Drucker, that nothing is more wasteful than doing diligently what should not be done at all – especially when the step to be taken is based on anger – which might not even be justified. Reading that statement credited to Buhari again, one is immediately struck with the irony involved in the historical precedents the President cited. Budgets by military governments at Federal and State levels were never debated nor were they passed to another body to approve. So, if there was padding, nobody would ever know.

Seldom does one come across an individual about whom all those who knew him in life have nothing but good things to say. Professor Ajibade Abayomi Rokosu, “IROKO”, 1940-2016, had just completed one the most amazingly blessed lives anybody can dream of and spent. When good Prof passed away, late last month, he left everybody wondering if it is possible he could pass their way again.

Sam Rayburn, whose protégé was the late President Lyndon Johnson, 1908-1973, who was Senator, Vice-President and President in 1963 when late President John Kennedy, 1917-1963, was assassinated in Texas, Johnson’s own state, was perhaps the most powerful Speaker ever in America’s history. He was also a Texan. If a President of Nigeria is ever killed in the home state of his Vice-President, a civil war would follow. Some of us who remember that episode in 1963 which brought Johnson to power, were praying extra-hard that nothing would happen to Buhari on his visit to Ogun State, early in the month. A civil war would have followed if something similar happened. I hope Buhari stays away from Ogun State; or the South West for that matter until his tenure expires.

An old friend called from the United States last week. He is a naturalized Nigerian American who had not been in Nigeria since he left about twenty years ago. He had been following the revelations concerning the arms deal and withdrawals of millions of dollars from the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, allegedly purely for the PDP campaign.

Our country is bleeding profusely from the blows inflicted on it by the apparently unending Boko Haram insurgency; another possibly prolonged round of blood-letting has started with the pro-Biafra movement which recently claimed reportedly over twenty lives in Aba on February 7, 2016. The last thing we need now is another religious conflict; and certainly not in Kaduna state. Yet, the stage is being set, even if inadvertently, for one. That would constitute the mother of all tragedies to befall Nigeria.

I was in Abuja on Tuesday, the day after the Minister made this announcement. As usual, I strolled out of the hotel to buy newspapers. But, from a short distance away, I could see that the vendor had more than the usual number of visitors; something big must be in the papers.

Once Buhari was declared the winner of the presidential election in 2015, everybody’s thought turned to the persons who would be appointed ministers and the portfolio they would be given. In every forum in which the discussions took place, and despite the long delay in announcing his appointees, I declared that one name would be on the list and the portfolio he would be saddled with. The man is Lai Mohammed – the Minister of Information and Culture. Let me quickly add that I also felt it would be a mistake to offer him that portfolio. The reasons were very simple and let me set them out now.

Political marriages variously called alliances, coalitions or accords are invariably the greatest risks of all. The “marriage” between the CPC and ACN which formed the nucleus of the APC reminds me of what happened to another marriage in Dorchester, Boston, USA in 1974. The two “lovers” desperate for marital bliss, but not financially strong individually agreed to pool their resources to make a go of their wedlock.

You may be young and infantile” was the title of an article in the PUNCH, on Monday, January 4, 2016, by Solaade Ayo-Aderele on page 16. Thanks to Ayo-Aderele, it suddenly occurred to me that you might also be old and infantile. Many politicians in Nigeria today, almost all over forty, are behaving, talking and acting like kids. Incredible as it might appear to thinking people, some adults are actually talking seriously about reviving the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP – which is already at the graveyard waiting to be buried. Wait for the explanation.

President Buhari may mean well for the country, especially on the matter of fighting corruption and indiscipline. But, his maiden media chat shows a man still sadly trapped in the past, a man moving along haphazardly into the future along a single track. He must be prevailed upon urgently to reform and mend his ways if democracy is to survive, let alone flourish.”

You may be young and infantile” was the title of an article in the PUNCH, on Monday, January 4, 2016, by Solaade Ayo-Aderele on page 16. Thanks to Ayo-Aderele, it suddenly occurred to me that you might also be old and infantile. Many politicians in Nigeria today, almost all over forty, are behaving, talking and acting like kids. Incredible as it might appear to thinking people, some adults are actually talking seriously about reviving the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP – which is already at the graveyard waiting to be buried. Wait for the explanation.

Then the questions started tumbling out. First, where is the rest of the N400-540bn said to have been scammed? Was the DSS inadvertently or deliberately exaggerating in order to scare justices from granting bail or to terrorise Dasuki and receive public applause?

The effectiveness of a national security organization is determined by the accuracy of its reports. By the time the FBI breaks into any premises, it had gathered sufficient and reliable information to violate the fundamental rights of the occupants. Scotland Yard would never arrest first, on spurious charges, and later run around for evidence. That is standard operating procedure in any democracy.

“He [Dasuki] should be made to say all he knows on the matter. …It is surprising that an adviser to the President could be awarding contracts and making payments.” Balarabe Musa, former Governor of Kaduna State.
Mr Debo Adeniran,

Seldom has a front page report written by a veteran journalist, like Yusuf Alli, been so quickly disclaimed by a party close to the matter as this one. Of the two disputants, Alli and Raji, Alli has the uphill task because he must not only defend himself on the charges made by Raji that he had caused his paper to publish falsehood, he must defend the profession of journalism as well. In a matter such as this one, involving the Federal Government, now under the All Progressives Congress, APC, and Dasuki, Nigerians want to be told the truth and nothing but the truth. There should be no government propaganda served as news, nor media trial of suspects. The facts must speak for themselves.