THIS is the moment that we have all been waiting for.I know how it feels especially for those who are passionate about Nigeria’s football.
Tension will take the greater part of them. In Mozambique, Tunisia will be playing to sail on to 2010 World Cup. In Kenya, Nigeria will be struggling to win and hope that Tunisia gets stuck.

Dear Fellow-Nigerians,President Umoru Musa Yar’Adua may go down in history as the just Pharaoh that “facilitated” the emancipation of the Niger Delta [something the Balewas, Babangidas, Abachas, and Obasanjos tried, in vain, to achieve] by simply listening to the true representatives of the region’s peoples and having the political courage to address the fundamental challenges of the region…or, at least, that is what we are all praying that he does…if the hawks in his kitchen cabinet will let him!

I HAVE recently, on two occasions, praised Mr President for his new Niger Delta initiatives. And I’ve been amazed by the number of sour comments I’ve received.

SOUTH Africa has again postponed the target date of its land reform programme. In its post apartheid election manifesto, the ruling African National Congress (ANC) had promised to redistribute 30 percent of agricultural land in its first five years in office. But by 2001, some seven years later, less than two per cent had been distributed.

To many serious Nigerians[someare patriotic]the problems of the country are so diverse and complex that they feel with utmost conviction that only a sovereign national conference would appreciate and be convenient to examine [not cure] the ills of the nation. They perceive that a conference, whether sovereign or not, is an ideal environment to discuss [in truth and in merit] national problems and their solutions.