I AM not a Catholic, was never one and may never be. But one of my
childhood heroes was a man called Father Damian. I am not sure whether in the innocence of childhood, I ever associated him with Catholicism.

By Owei Lakemfa NIGERIA was “elected” into the 15- member United Nations (UN) Security Council last Friday and there was a big jubilation in government circles. It was hailed as proof of the country’s growing international status, thanks to President Umaru Yar’Adua’s outstanding leadership qualities. Foreign Affairs Minister, Ojo Maduekwe, located our election partly in […]

By Owei Lakemfa THE  Nobel prize awarded to American President, Barack Obama  on October 9, 2009 was for peace but it has since turned into an international war of words. Ironically, the award news came to Obama while he was holding a war cabinet. It was over the Afghan war he inherited from his predecessor, […]

MY generation and the younger generation may not be aware that we owe a debt of historical gratitude to Jeremiah Olatunji Otegbeye who passed away on Friday October 9, 2009.

By Owei Lakemfa THE massacre was expected. It was just a question of time. The international community is still undecided what to do. The Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS) has taken a step; it has sent a veteran coup plotter, President Blaise Campore of Burkina Faso to mediate. Mediate what? Mediate between the […]

By Owei Lakemfa I WAS not at last Thursday’s 49th Independence celebrations held by our leaders. I know I was not missed. Almost all of us ordinary citizens were not there, either physically or in spirit. We were not missed. The important thing was that our leaders had fun, congratulated themselves and remembered to thank […]

WHEN I joined The Guardian newspapers in August 1983, I thought it was chaotic. We were grilled like soldiers. Every day we had to bring at least one story.

THE Chinese Revolution which thrust a vast, backwater country into a super power will be 60 years next Thursday, October 1, 2009. China which housed a quarter of humanity, including 500 million peasants who were generally illiterate with no access to healthcare, electricity or schools, was forced on a diet of opium by Britain.

By Owei Lakemfa THE gale of sacking appointed political office holders is here again like the seasonal rain. An executive governor for whatever reason takes a decision to sack his cabinet or some appointed officer and simply goes on to implement it without thinking through the process and manner such a decision is to be […]

THE Ugandan capital, Kampala was wracked by riots on September 11 and 12, 2009 in which 14 persons were listed dead, over 80 injured and more than 550 arrested.

More tributes poured from the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) President Olasupo Ojo, the Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM) represented by Segun Shango, Dr Dipo Fashina of the Joint Action Forum (JAF) and the National Conscience Party (NCP) founded by Fawehinmi.

THE tragedy in Afghanistan continues with the massacre of 70 persons by NATO bombers for the crime of scooping fuel from two oil tankers, and the results of fraudulent national elections.

WITH the military in power and General Sani Abacha on rampage in 1994, almost all the professional politicians either worked for him or took cover; they tried to be out of sight as much as possible. Chief Ganiyu Oyesola Fawehinmi who passed on last Saturday was not a professional politician.

THE storm of protests and rage in Europe and America over the release of convicted Lockerbie ‘bomber’ Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi by the Scottish authorities is still gathering like a destructive American hurricane.

KIDNAPPING was an occasional crime. Usually, it involved the hypnotisation or enticement of a kid. So parents, guardians and teachers taught children not to talk to strangers or accept gifts. Occasionally, adults also fell victim usually through hypnosis which is a science.