Woman EditorQueuing up is infectious. Ever since the Buhari/Idiagbon regime introduced it into our lives many years ago, it has stuck and become a way of life all over the country. You see a queue and you feel this urge to join. Why? Just in case you’re missing out by not joining. Sometimes, we join before we find out what the queue is all about.

General Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu died last weekend. His death brings to a certain climax the drama of a true, modern Nigerian epic. Olusegun Obasanjo was right this time in describing Ojukwu’s death as “the end of an era.” At the passing of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu described Zik as “the Alpha and the Omega of modern Nigeria” just as he characterized Obafemi Awolowo as “the best president Nigeria never had,” thus melding paradox with hyperbole in an equal alchemy of mystery.

That said, I am not sure that Jonathan and members of his cabinet have read let alone absorbed the principles of effective leadership documented in the memoir, considering the mediocre handling of our national affairs since May 29, 2011.

They are in our homes and in the work place. We complain incessantly about them but we still keep them on. We feel somewhat helpless without them but with each day, they remain with us, we curse, shout and swear. They are our nannies, cooks and drivers.

Why does the country appear insecure and spineless in the last one year or so? Each time one expresses an opinion, no matter how logical and objective, what you get are phone calls from anonymous callers threatening hails and brimstones. When has it become a crime to express an opinion?

Sometimes, its tedious writing this column because it almost seems like all one does is gripe. And it’s not that I’m bitter… I’m living my dream. And as far as Nigerian living standards go, I and mine are relatively comfortable. But what does that amount to really; that a tiny percentage are ‘relatively comfortable’ in the face of this all-pervasive poverty?

NASIR and Hadiza El-Rufai have just lost Yasmin, their eldest child. She passed away in the UK at the tender age of 25 last weekend; and I’d like to briefly reminisce about the cute kid she once was and the lovely lady she became.

GAS flaring is an act ofecoside and everyone should join us to demand that Shell stops this madness”.
….Nnimmo Bassey, Director, Friends of the Earth Nigeria; Chairman, Friends of the Earth International.

WORLD sprint sensation Usain Bolt is leaving the opposition to catch him. While others would be content with a medal (of any shade at the Olympics), the Jamaican is focused on helping Jamaica to four gold medals at the London Olympics.

The popular boxing axiom that a fighter is as good as his last outing does not always work out in a champion’s favour. If this is true, Manny Pacquaio sees himself detached and plummeting from his lofty planetary rating to being a beatable earthling.

THE fact that the Bible talks of good success also presupposes that some successes could be bad. In contributing to this view, a friend reminded us that any success that cannot be accessed is bad.

We knew the day would come. It would have happened this time last year when he was hit by a catatonic stroke. But, just like the great warrior that he was, he fought death for another year and bowed as all mortals eventually must.

The former leader of the secessionist ‘Republic of Biafra’, Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwu, died in a London hospital over the weekend, at 78 years. As is the wont, there has been an outpouring of emotional tributes in the wake of the passing of one of the most controversial figures in Nigerian history.

ALTHOUGH much like an overdue prophesy but when it finally came, the ouster of Farida Waziri still happened rather suddenly.

IN this piece I will focus on government in Africa. In a subsequent piece I will address the implications of the disquisition on government for governance in Africa.