Take Army Chief, Yusuf Tukur Buratai, to the poll as a candidate today. His popularity is not in doubt. I guess the three-star general will not get enough votes to stay in office. Loathed in the North–East, his geo-political zone by Boko Haram, pilloried in the South-East by IPOB, despised in the Niger Delta by Avengers. He does not enjoy the backing of the Middle Belt and South-West where herdsmen  are on rampage.

What are you doing at Christmas? This is a question which often comes with the yuletide season from lovers, spouses, friends, children, parents, family members, social and business associates. It starts as early as three months to Christmas, but gets more frequent as we get nearer Christmas. And the answers can be as varied as the persons asking.

Ms. Eeefy Ike is the Chief Executive Officer of Style is Innate, an outfit that is into hand-crafted jewellery, an actress, activist, motivational speaker, image consultant, author and the Communications Director of Gedisco Energy Solutions. In this chat in Abuja recently with Vanguard, she talks about her project with ex-militants in the Presidential Amnesty programme. She shares her experience, saying that if we don’t change our mindset, we should forget any form of progress. Excerpts:

Last week shock waves washed over the FESTAC community in the Amuwo Odofin Local Government Area of Lagos. FESTAC is notable for more than one reason. A very diverse community – even for the Lagos metropolis – it was the only Local Government in Lagos, if not the entire country , that held a yearly economic summit under the dynamic chairmanship of a youthful Ayodele Adewale.

THE African National Congress, ANC,  held a contentious, but non-confrontational conference and elections on December 18 in which Cyril Ramaphosa defeated  Nkosazana Dlamnin-Zuma by a 179-vote majority.  There were no serious contentious issues; it was primarily a choice of personalities and the election itself is unlikely to lead to any serious internal crisis or changes.