It is no longer news that President Goodluck Jonathan, has won a four-year mandate from Nigerians to govern till May 29, 2015. He and 26 governors were sworn into their various offices a week ago. Clearly, it is indeed true that the last April elections appear to have better acceptability among Nigerians and foreign observers than the ones conducted in 2003 and 2007 under the chairmanship of Maurice Iwu.

The letter published last week has been circulating for months on the Internet and while it is indeed, a brilliant read, its value is in the indictment of the new generation Nigerian parents. I had received it over 10 times in chain e-mails and I am just as curious to know its author.

France and Great Britain, leading a NATO alliance are effectively at war in Libya on the pretext of a United Nations’ mandate. The United States, led the early charge against Libya’s Ghadaffi from the air, but has taken something of a back seat, and allowed Britain and France to continue what can now be considered a war of aggression against a sovereign African state, far beyond the mandate of the UN.

On the morning of Inauguration Day, May 29, I was by my television set no less than one hour before the ceremonies were to begin. A generator powered the TV set, as usual, – only it was rented this time, as my oId “noise-maker” had decided that the perfect time to check out on me was the previous night. But after almost five years of daily service, I thought it too might take a holiday like the rest of us.

On Wednesday, just as I made to start writing this column the news of the press conference addressed by Patrick Ekeji on the impasse reached me. Ekeji is the Director-General of the National Sports Commission. He had made efforts to resolve the matter.

I WRITE about Joseph Sepp Blatter as if he is dead. It is deliberate. Blatter has been in FIFA in the past 36 years. He inherited his iron fist from the Belgian-Brazilian Jean Marie Jo o Faustino Godefroid Havelange, who competed in water polo and swimming in the 1936 and 1952 Olympic Games. Now 95, Havelange, who ruled FIFA for 24 years, was deep in the scandals around the 1998 transmutation of Blatter from Secretary-General to President of FIFA. Other re-elections of Blatter (2002, 2007) have swirled more scandals.

THIS column frequently criticises Nigerians who pollute our society, do their jobs lousily and are nasty pieces of work. Today, I am in a cheerful mood (for a change!) and am going to concentrate on Nigerians who are getting it right professionally or politically or within the contexts of their personal lives.

Last Sunday saw the inauguration of the President and Governors of the twenty states (some new) with joy and radiance, satisfying new hope and expected transformation. Adherents of the Christian faith would see the colorful event as ‘Baptism’- of the death of sin and the rising of hope.

FOR those who might not see through his questionable political and personal motives, Ishaq Modibbo Kawu unwittingly gave up the game in his recent tirade against Dr. BukolaSaraki, the former governor of Kwara State, in an article he published in the Thursday edition of Vanguard newspaper.

TODAY’S piece begins with a matter of urgent public importance. Strange enough, the National Assembly is not sufficiently proactive (or it is outright lazy) even on matters relating to its own processes. How else does anyone explain a situation in which at the inception of every new National Assembly members are embroiled in the debate on the issue of their ranking order but it never gets settled?

UMARU Tanko AlMakura was the only CPC candidate elected as governor in the last election. His campaign electrified Nasarawa state, where the gerontocratic incumbent, Akwe Doma, became a byword for incompetence. AlMakura connects with the people and despite state-sponsored attacks, won the election.

IT is the height of insanity to do the same thing over and over and expect a different result; right? That’s true only if you’re not in Nigeria. VANGUARD newspaper of Friday, May 27th, 2011, carried a report that the FGN through, the Attorney General, has asked the IG Police, to arrest the Anosike brothers, Fidelis and Noel, “over their alleged roles in the illegal purchase of The Daily Times of Nigeria assets, estimated at N3billion”.

THIS excerpt from Kathryn Kulhman’s God Can Do It Again, is an excellent example of the philosophy of Christianity and a good contrast to the Gospel of God concerning His Son Jesus Christ.

IN an ethnically-alert Nigeria, the people of the Niger-Delta, particularly Bayelsa, must feel proud of the achievement of Goodluck Ebele Jonathan who was three days ago sworn in as Nigeria’s 13th president.

THE long exclusion of the Igbo people from the core of politics and power in Nigeria is manifesting in many ways. Most members of the Igbo elite do not seem to know their left from their right when critical issues of group interest are at stake.