The book inside us. Many of us believe we have at least one creative book inside us and would love to have a published book to our name. It is one of the reasons, if I must be honest, I took to journalism. It is also one of the reasons I believe that many journalists all over the world, take to the pen profession. Journalism, for us, is a sort of half-way house which is supposed to satisfy the hunger for the written word while preparing us for that one book that will catapult us to the literary hall of fame. And for that, we are prepared to suffer the poor pay and inhuman working hours that journalism offers.

An article appeared in the Daily Times of the late 70s that struck a chord in me. It was written by one of Nigerians’ most celebrated columnists. Mr Peter Enahoro, writing as Peter Pan, wrote an article titled: ‘Let Papa Die’. It was an incisive commentary on a major social issue of that time.

The current APC saga reminds me of one of those folklores. You know, the one where three people came together to plan a major heist. At the successful completion of their dare-devil operation, they faltered at the sharing of spoils. Each wanted the entire spoil to himself and planned on how to eliminate the other two.

There was a hit song in the 80s that had a refrain which went something like this: ‘Now that we’ve found love what are we going to do with it?’ This song came to my consciousness each time the APC members went from one comedy of error to another in their quest to acquire or consolidate power. Substitute the word love with power and you will have the APC scenario which has found power but is fumbling so terribly with it.

If you get up in the morning expecting a bad day, you’ll rarely disappoint yourself. It’s about me. I was always quacking and complaining, so I decided to change my attitude and become an eagle. I looked around at the other cabs and their drivers. The cabs were dirty, the drivers were unfriendly and the customers were unhappy.

People who know Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, the Governor of Osun State say he is a brilliant man. I have never met him despite my close ties with Osun State but have watched him on the soap box a couple of times and I can attest to his oratorical prowess. But there was nothing brilliant or oratorical about him last week when he appeared on TV trying to defend his inability to pay salaries. He looked incoherent and pathetic.

Last Saturday was the kind of day you’d want to stay at home.
Apart from the fact that it was wet, cool and therefore cosy, there were two major sporting events lined up for the day, not to mention the Canadian Grand Prix for the growing number of Formula One fans.

Three years ago in far-away America, a General like our General Buhari who found himself in politics at the highest level, wrote an interesting book on leadership. His name is Colin Powel, a four-star general of the US army, a former Secretary of State and a one-time aspirant to the world’s most coveted seat. Titled: ‘It Worked for Me’, this best seller is a compilation of the experiences and lessons learnt during his illustrious public life, especially the ‘The thirteen Rules’ which had shaped his life and career.

Barely two weeks after the prestigious Yale University’ awarded Dr of Humane Letters to Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala for her economic transformation of Nigeria among other achievements, another ‘prestigious’ American institution, the CNN, announced somewhat gleefully, that the economy of the same country had shut down. Makes you question not only the claims, but the agenda of these American institutions.

As the weeks roll into days for the 80th birthday of Uncle Sam Amuka, Chairman of the Vanguard Newspapers, many articles as well as tributes will begin to pour in to celebrate this true icon of the Nigerian press.