The death of the late Ooni of Ife, like those of many great Nigerians, brought the usual avalanche of tributes from far and wide. Based on the time-honoured principle of never speaking ill of the dead, the tributes were generally positive. I would have loved to join the crowd but, to be honest, I met the Royal Father only once in my life – when he called a small group of Yoruba leaders of thought, to the Palace, to form a Non-Government Organisation

Mr President, permit me, even so late in the year, to congratulate you on your election as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, especially when that historic victory was premised on the promise of change. Granted the contents of the “Change Programme” were not fully spelt out, but, given the emphasis so far placed on eradicating corruption, it is fair to assume that it would also encompass “justice for all”.

Forget wishing anybody Merry Christmas this year; you might as well also dispense with the Happy New Year greetings for 2016. At the risk of being called, once again, a prophet of doom, let me declare right now that given the trend of crude oil prices, Nigerians are headed for the bleakest Christmas in history, and we stand to start 2016 with the worst economic uncertainty in our history.

Last month, about three weeks after Senator Saraki and Honourable Dogara caught everybody by surprise and pulled off the civilian equivalent of a political coup against the leadership of their party, I published an article titled SARAKI PROVOKES MOTHER OF MEDIA WARS.

I was not surprised because the revelation only confirmed what I had written as far back as July 2013 on these pages titled WHO STEALS NIGERIA’S CRUDE OIL? Below is the 2013 article; and when you finish, if you are honest, you should send me a bottle of GULDER for pin-point accuracy on deduction and prediction. Now we are beginning to understand why the problem of crude theft was not solved, and would never have been solved if Jonathan was still in charge. Otherwise, how could a President who started work two months ago solve a “puzzle” which GEJ could not in five years? Expect more revelations from me on oil theft later.