Among the most sustained mythologies of postcolonial Nigeria is the myth of a “northern domination” or the hegemony of the north. Many of us buy into this quite unreflectively, and it has become the rallying cry in Southern Nigeria, whenever the issue of political bargaining arises.

It is remarkable that as the Senate basks in accolades of commendation over its seeming positive role in stabilizing the polity that mention is today being made of its equally very efficient “mortuary”. That is the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions.

Every day, since Jonathan was circumstantially made to stand in as “Acting President”, new developments have been popping up that make the current calm a very uneasy one. The latest is the issue raised by the President of the West African Bar Association, Mr Femi Falana, that constitutionally, Jonathan can only “act” for three months after which the law stipulates that an election should be called.

I SPRINTED into a shop in Algiers. The weather was very cold. Although it was not raining, people were getting wet. Even in the streets, here and there, you found pools of water. I was fully kitted wearing layers of shirts, a sweater and two trousers. Surprisingly, there were youths with just T-shirts and jackets, some with their trousers not around their waists but their buttocks. This clearly was the American gangster influence.

IN the past couple of columns, I have dwelled on the President’s continued absence and the courage that was so magnificently displayed by Prof. Dora Akunyili, the Minister of Information. I have also said that even though I regard the President as a basically decent man, I despise those of his loyalists who aggressively resisted moves to make Dr Goodluck Jonathan Acting President and think that a medical team should be sent to Saudi Arabia to find out whether Yar’Adua is likely to recover enough to return to his desk at some point in the near future.