Hakeem Baba-Ahmad

Usually limited to the sport of tennis, an unforced error refers to bad play made entirely as a result of a player’s blunder, and not because of an opponent’s skills or effort.

I spent the last two weeks in Saudi Arabia among Islamists. These are Muslims who recognize the imperatives of complying with the demands of their faith to visit Makkah for the Hajj, and are blessed with the means to do so. There were millions of us, all submitting to the incomparable awesomeness of the entire exercise.

If the tough guy posture of the President is borne out of an assessment of his strength in relation to his adversaries’ weaknesses, he may be on his way to breaking a world record for turning the tables against all odds. If, however, it is a gamble, he could come unstuck in more ways than he imagines. Either way, President Goodluck Jonathan has just adjusted his position right back to a place where his future could substantially determine the fate of the nation.

WITH just a few months before Nigerians go to the general elections, the outlook on a nation ready to confront and successfully deal with a major turning point is poor. Vital requirements for the success of the transitional processes between this administration and the next are missing, and there is little evidence that capacities exist which will re invent or develop them.

IN an interview with Daily Trust newspaper last week, spokesman of Borno Elders Forum, Dr Bulama Gubio lamented that the people of the north east feel as if they are not Nigerians.

IF the disastrous collapse of the defences around the civilian populations in much of the north-east is not the tragedy it is, developments in and about Adamawa state will provide a fascinating subject for political discourse.

I GOT to know the late Alhaji Magaji Dambatta personally only in the last one year of his accomplished life. Of course, it is impossible not to have been aware of a rare titan who from a very young age, began a life that was entirely dedicated to God and his community.

IT is not easy finding anything new or profound to say over the defection of Malam Nuhu Ribadu from the APC to the PDP in search of a governorship position of his state, Adamawa. I know how deeply personal that decision has been for him.

THIS time last week, the nation held its breath in anticipation of the final episode in the four months old saga that was the National Conference. The key actors themselves did not have the final pages of the script. Or, to put it another way, there were many versions of the final scenes of a melodrama that threatened to either tear the nation apart, or facilitate massive distortions in political power and resource mobilisation and allocation.