But it is not clear at what point, exactly, that statecraft morphed into kleptocracy, to the extent that the only reason anti-graft government agencies are set up is to get rid, or keep in check, the enemies of the powers that be. The general unspoken agreement has it as somewhere within the maze of our protracted military intervention(s) when, while literally holding a gun to our heads, the soldiers promoted themselves to the highest ranks possible without fighting a single war and cleared out the evergreen treasury in the mean time.

WHEN I first read about the intentions of the Imo State Government to infuse a massive number of 10,000 jobs into its public service, like many others, I was incredulous.

TODAY, the official days of mourning are over for President Umaru Yar’Adua. Most of his life, he did not court controversy. But in sickness, especially in the last six months of his life, some members of his immediate family, his aides and hangers on clothed him in the full regalia of controversy.

THERE is an aspect of the life and times of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua worth examining. This aspect holds the key to understanding the way that the late president sought to exercise power and to reshape the post-Obasanjo presidency he inherited.

WHEN momentous events occur we tend to remember what we were doing when we got the news. The news announcing the passing of President Umaru Yar’Adua came to me in Ibadan via a phone call from my younger brother. It was in the very early hours of Thursday, May 6- some 35 minutes or thereabout into the new day.