Pardon my ignorance; I really did not pay closer attention to the existence of Governor Chibuike Amaechi until the private jet situation. The River State governor,it must be said has a passion for the finer things of life. And I guess, he does feel his office demands the absolute respect wherever he goes in and out of his state. His ego must have taken a huge dent when he was told that his private jet cannot take off.

I do not think much of our progress in relation to crime fighting and justice. And the federal government then goes and throws the proverbial spanner in the works and proved me right. If Nigerians regularly compile crime statistics, they will be staggered by how much crime is committed in our country on a daily basis and it shows no signs of abating.

What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or in the holy name of liberty or democracy?” – Mahatma Gandhi

A quick disclaimer: I am a Muslim and no, I am not a terrorist and I do not have, never will have or harbour terrorist tendency and I wholeheartedly condemn any act of violence, killing and segregation in the name of Islam. Good, so that we are clear, very clear from the word go. The Niger State Governor, Babangida Aliyu, put it so well that Boko Haram “does not represent Islam and that it is not a Muslim organisation.”

“With all due respect, sir, I have done battle every single day of my life and many men have underestimated me before. This lot seem bound to do the same, but they will rue the day.”-Margret Thatcher.

As they say, those with ear should listen. I believe that boat has long sailed with us in Nigeria. We have instead been grappling with the day to day hustle and bustling. Majority of Nigerians cannot look beyond the day to look at the bigger picture; that of saving our land.

Chinua Achebe, the internationally celebrated Nigerian author, statesman and dissident who gave literary birth to modern Africa with Things Fall Apart, has died. He was 82. I was in my office when I heard of the passing of our elder, Chinua Achebe. The news shook me to the core, then I scrambled to the nearest computer pot. I was stunned there was no mistake, it was true that Chinua Achebe was no more.

All eyes were on Rome for the inauguration of Pope Francis. On addressing the devoted and the world leaders immediately at the Mass where over 200,000 gathered, he called on world leaders and people all over to defend the weak. He seemed to address the leaders directly that the young, old and those in need were often neglected and ignored.

There are times when it seems pointless talking about the obvious and after awhile it does get to you and it has got to me that I refuse to slip into the doldrums of doom and negativity. I assure you it is very hard when you talk about the shenanigans of our government and lives of the masses.

“I am, because we are”. -Ubuntu Philosophy
A Zulu philosophy that explains that a person with ubuntu knows his or her place in the universe and is consequently able to interact gracefully with other individuals. One aspect of ubuntu is that, at all times, the individual effectively represents the people from among whom he or she comes, and therefore tries to behave according to the highest standards and exhibits the virtues upheld by his or her society.

The lady doth protest too much! So the president’s other half, Patience in her inestimable candid humility would like the Senate and the House of Reps to pass the budget of N4 billion earmarked for her “pet” project- The Ladies Mission House. This edifice she tells us will be left for the people of Nigeria and she in her words “will not carry the building with her when her tenure ends”.

I have been long troubled at the level of violence and casualties in the senseless waste of human lives in the last couple of years. There is a big elephant in the room and it seems the elephant in the room is getting so large and yet no one seems to want to talk about it! This big elephant that no one dare speaks its name is Boko Haram.

The world was reeling from the announcement that Pope Benedict XVI had announced that he would step down at the end of the month. It was a seismic announcement where I was and there all manners of conspiratory theory abound among which is; he is going to make a confession or was there an inside job in the Vatican?

I read with bewilderment Dr. Reuben Abati’s article titled ‘The Hypocrisy of Yesterday’s Men” (3rd Feb.2013) which was published in almost every newspapers in the land.

The blinkers are finally slipping off the eyes of die-hard Nigerians, who have just cotton on to what many have been saying so loudly, for so long. It is one that they customarily brushed aside, with the usual “God save Nigeria! Or “Nigeria will get better”.