Punch Newspapers will roll out the drums tonight to mark 30 years of the passing away of its founding Chairman, Chief James Olubunmi Aboderin— known to many as Olu Aboderin and to some of us as Chairman. This is how it should be for without his vision and courage, there would not have been Punch; a paper that has influenced lives and the nation in immeasurable ways. Punch has become a worthwhile legacy.

I had an interesting two-hour meeting with an elder statesman recently; a man who has been in the corridors of power and influence in Nigeria for almost half a century, who knows— and is known—by past and present rulers, who is respected by political and business brokers in the country.

I once had a property I wanted to put up for sale. One of the big Pentecostal churches showed interest and sent its representatives. They looked around, and after satisfying themselves, scheduled a meeting with me.

I get uncomfortable, peeved even, when I hear the sweeping statement that the Presidency has achieved nothing in what? Six years? It is a statement that is shallow at best and, stretched further, uncharitable. Even Lucky Igbinedion, as incompetent as he was, achieved ‘something’ in Edo State.

I confess to looking away in embarrassment and disgust the first time I saw adult men kiss and fondle on TV. It was in a UK based soap opera. Today, years after my first encounter, I still feel uncomfortable— squeamish even— when I see two grown men tongue kiss. I suppose these things need getting used to because I don’t feel that squeamish about lesbians kissing and fondling on TV since I had seen the female version of same sex relationship at least a decade before the male version.