If you think aviation matters are unimportant, just remember that the attack on the World Trade Centre in New York in 2001 has opened the eyes of all right thinking people to the fact that those things flying over our heads are bombs. And if that is not enough, DANA Airlines crash should serve a permanent notice that those in the plane and those below are perpetually imperiled each time an aircraft flies overhead.

Expectedly the President’s declaration of emergency has provoked harsh criticism from the usual opposition groups – particularly the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN. As someone born and bred in progressive politics, I had spent all my life in the same camp as the progressives – even if, lately, the Awoists and progressives have started to resemble, increasingly, like the conservatives they want to replace at the centre.

NOTE: The two columns below were started on Sunday, May 12, 2013 – before the President’s declaration of Emergency Rule in three states of Nigeria. More than ever, and despite the risks and dangers which could result from the measure taken by the President, I still believe that he needs our support to bring this war to an end. If for no other reason than that the opposition has failed to offer a better proposal.

The scalp of another top government official has landed on my trophy shelve: that of Dr Shamsudeen Usman, the Minister for National Planning. He joins the likes of the technocrats, led by Chief Shonekan, who championed the cause of the Structural Adjustment Programme, SAP in the 1980s to early 1990s,which ruined us till this day.

From mid-2010 until the last Sunday before the 2011 elections, a major campaign was carried on these pages. The message was simple; even a five year old could understand it – don’t vote for PDP and don’t vote for Jonathan. Yet the majority of Nigerian voters, some of them highly respected people, went out to vote for Jonathan not PDP.