A fools paradise is a reality that is beautiful and perfect, supporting values and beliefs that project an illusion of peace; it is tailor made to suit the dreams and aspirations of its owner, it has one fatal flaw; its not real. Almost a decade ago I was accused of living in a fools paradise by a friend on a visit to my home back then. He liked the harmony we enjoyed but felt there was way too much familiarity between me and my domestic staff; “there is a line of authority that you are letting them cross and I am sure you will someday regret it”. I had explained that I didn’t hold any supremacist values and that I believed that save for grace and a lottery of birth we were all one and the same, at least before God.

Democracy is a system of social organization in which profoundly conflicting interests clash, and are resolved in a ballot in which the highest number take precedence. But that’s not all of it: it is also a habit of the mind willing to accept the sacred results of the ballot. The ballot in a democracy is the Holy Grail; sacred because it is the expression of the highest will of the most important factor in the social contract: the governed.

Nigerians are among the most religious people in the world. But most of them hardly spend time to reflect on the origin and nature of religious worship. Moreover, they accept the doctrines of Christianity and Islam uncritically, and hardly deviate from the religions of their parents or of the society to which they belong. Given the recurrent problem of religious intolerance and recrudescence of fundamentalist violence in Nigeria and in different parts of the world presently, it is important that believers should periodically reflect on the essence of their faiths. This is because such reflection can lead to better understanding of the purpose of religion as a means of attaining spiritual enlightenment leading to a better practice of life. To trigger the much-needed reflection is the major objective of this paper.

How much is our vote worth?
The Ekiti people have spoken and they have voted for Ayodele Fayose for governor of the state. It does leave a bitter taste (pardon the pun), when one knows that both main candidates did give raw and cooked rice to the people in the state prior to the election. Long after the rice have finished would it be worth their votes, I wonder. Call me a cynic, but this is not a proper way to conduct a free and fair election, it taints the result, which by the way, was largely a safe and trouble free by Nigerian standards.

It was like a thunder bolt. I supported Fayemi; but, I had reasons to believe that he might not win the election. Still, I was prepared for a very close contest. The result, confirming the overwhelming preference of the people of Ekiti State for Fayose, was stunning and totally unexpected. So, let me start by extending my congratulations to Governor-elect, Ayodele Fayose – whose election has, at least, blown away one long-held myth. We now know that the people of Ekiti State don’t respect scholarship any more than other Nigerians.

The agonies of residents of Nigeria’s federal capital city and its environs especially the impact of two consecutive bomb blasts in Nyanya a few weeks back were yet to subside when another bomb blast occurred again last Wednesday in Wuse, Abuja. On the basis of vicarious liability which in law, refers to the blame a leader bears on behalf of his team, it is rational to blame our numerous security challenges on our over-all leader, President Goodluck Jonathan. But since the security challenges are getting more severe and spreading as well as biting harder by the day, the direction of the blame game is probably too simplistic and narrow. A more realistic analysis of the unending nature of our current insecurity, is likely to show that there are many other leaders that are blame worthy concerning the subject.

By FRANCIS EWHERHIDO Still sounds like a fairy tale and a dream although it is about a year since that tragic Sunday afternoon of June 30, 2013, when against all prayers and hope, God called you home to His bosom. I knew from that afternoon that life would be different without you, but the reality […]

Everybody is misunderstood at some point by someone, somewhere. I have heard people described as aloof and arrogant simply because they are shy and withdrawn. People who have to deal with myriad of issues under pressure are often seen as hard and unfeeling, only to find in a different setting, that they are actually sensitive and caring. In a world of instant coffee and instant news, instant judgements come a dime a dozen.

IT is evident that many patriotic Nigerians are not happy with the current political and economic situation in the country. The condition of the ‘Nigerian situation‘ has always agitated serious minds since democracy returned to the country in 1999 after the hazy harmattan of military usurpation of power in the past decades.
As the Presidency was evidently celebrating the return of Ekitiland to the fold, the insurgents were busily engaged in killings and abductions in Borno and Kano States, Kaduna State not exempted. It is curiously observed that though Nigeria could geographically be described as one country, it is true that the problems of the country are viewed differently by different people in different parts of the country.

LAST week, the day before the Ekiti State gubernatorial election, I told you that I had known Dr Kayode Fayemi, the then Governor, since we were both youngsters and that I held him and his wife, Erelu Bisi, in the highest esteem.

I urged Ekiti indigenes to vote for Fayemi because I felt that he had done a good job under difficult circumstances and was convinced that he had what it took to carry the people he had diligently and honestly served for nearly four years to the next level and fulfil their socio-economic development dreams.