This means that for history not to repeat itself, the elders must speak out; forcefully if necessary

A cruise ship offers its guests (passengers) two main choices. They can either immerse themselves in the many frenetic activities the ship offers or opt for tranquility and solitude. In my first outing, the younger me opted for the former—shows, exhibitions, fattening cuisine followed by gym, and capped, in the late evenings, by jazz clubbing. Now, an older, more reflective me chooses the latter.

As a parent, I rejoice with the parents of the 82 Chibok girls who were freed recently. As a Nigerian, I commend and applaud the efforts of the Federal Government in securing their freedom. Some negative people who call themselves leaders said the government spent over two million Euros to secure their release and that the amount was too much.

I don’t know if anybody made a physical count, but the reports in the media was that 34 private jets landed in Minna for the wedding of Halima, the daughter of General Ibrahim Babangida. In other words, the figure could have been more or less. But 34 jets for a wedding?

There was this story among the popular folklore in the South Western part of the country. It was a story of the tortoise and his In-law. For some strange reasons, many of the stories in the ancient folk-lore were woven around the tortoise. Some depicted him as very clever, some had him as very stupid; he was dubious in some and very greedy in some others. But they all invariably taught lessons about character and life. This particular story depicted him as a thief who was caught red-handed by his In-law. As the story went, the In-law tied him to a tree very early in the morning and started caning him. The villagers saw the spectacle on their way to the farm and wondered why his In-law was publicly humiliating him.