Four members of the National Assembly have died within weeks of each other. None of them made it to the biblical age of seventy years. For all their wealth and positions, they could not extend the inevitable; they could not negotiate their timeline on earth. One was said to be preparing for an outing when he breathed his last.

It is so, so easy to hate. Especially when we think somebody has hurt us or denied us what we believe we deserve. It agrees with our primordial instinct. It is also easy to seek revenge. And so when Moses talked about an eye for an eye, he was merely playing up what comes naturally to man. Even in the elevated world of international diplomacy, reciprocity is an accepted way of settling scores.

Speaking of vision, a thick, black smoke enveloped the air in the afternoon of last week Wednesday reducing visibility and making it almost ‘dark at noon.’ I was scared as thicker and darker smoke billowed. It seemed so close to home that I thought one of the factories next to ours had caught fire. I felt I needed to do something in case of eventualities but the sheer magnitude of the smoke made me feel helpless. So there was I, petrified and fidgety, until a worker told me it was not as near as I thought and was sure the authorities would have been aware because of the scale of the fire. It turned out to be true, but it was cold comfort at the time. Olusosun, one of the dumpsites of the Lagos State Government was on fire. On a good day, this site is less than five minute drive from my office in Oregun and just a few hundred meters by air. My worries were therefore not entirely unfounded.

The book is inspiring because it did not set out to inspire. It is the result of a journal she kept during long months of incapacitation and loneliness

Two young people solemnised their union in the ancient city of Kano last weekend. I rejoice with them and wish them a blissful marital life. It is always a joy to watch the power of love at play especially when it crosses boundaries and social strata. The love of Fatima and Idris may not have crossed the social or religious divide, but it does cross geographical and ethnic divides.

It’s not easy to spot a talent. In my recruiting days as Editor or Publisher, I often asked young writers to write about their partners. My aim was to see how well they could make their intimacy breathe on a blank piece of paper. I would want to see a turn of phrase, a play on words and a general ease with language that would show promise.

There are two ways to become a Head of State. It is either by a coup or the ballot box. President Buhari has used both methods. It is a rather sad reflection on his grasp of contending national issues and interests that the euphoria of his ascendancy on both occasions died not too long after his elevation leaving many people disenchanted and frustrated.

One of my oldest friends was born on February 14. (Why we didn’t nickname him Val given his amorous tendencies I’ll never know. I suppose it is now too late in the day to give a sixty-something year old a new appellation).

Imagine you were in your 30s, had doctorate degrees in a couple of disciplines which gave you a prestigious and comfortable lifestyle in an American University. You were single and therefore devoid of distractions in an environment that would allow you to fulfil your academic and social potentials. More significantly, you were a black person from Africa where diseases ravaged, poverty ravaged, crime ravaged, corruption ravaged and had been lucky to escape all these into a different clime where freedom and opportunities beckoned.

A good man was laid to rest at the weekend. Dr Alex Ekwueme had passed on in a London hospital at age 85. He had been a colossus in the political arena in the past 40 odd years. I caught up with his night of tributes on NTA last Sunday when a friend called to intimate me of it. Such is my respect for him that I dropped everything to stay glued to the station. It was a rewarding experience to hear the glowing tributes being paid by political peers and subordinates to a man whose public life was exemplary in many ways.