Nigerian troops on Saturday rescued another of the missing Chibok schoolgirls seized by Boko Haram Islamists, in an operation near the border with Cameroon, a spokesman said.

Jero is a deity. In church, at PTA meetings, and when he condescends to his town union meetings, he conjures unfathomable dignity. Not the glory of politicians that fades quicker than cheap ‘ankara’ but a permanent invocation of raw awe. Once in a while, at the old boys’, he lets them have the privilege of his scarce humanity. Only a few of his classmates still remember he was never a genius. JB was inconspicuous. Jeroboam, the Justice, is a masquerade.

Last weekend, I attended the 80th birthday celebration of Mr Ben Lawrence. It was hosted by his nephew, Nosa Igiebor, the CEO of Tell Magazine, a weekly news magazine that played a prominent role in the June 12 saga. The ‘party’ was all that I expected; a quiet get-together of veteran journalists—mainly of the defunct Daily Times stock—who had paid their dues to the pen profession.

“Common sense is not common.” This was one of our popular sayings and jokes in the university. But the more I think about it, run it through my mind and apply it to situations in life, the more it makes sense. Many people come short on issues you assume they know due to beclouded senses and inexperience. Recently I was listening to a radio programme where the presenter was seeking advice for a young man.

It was around 6am on a Sunday morning of January 27th, 2013 and the Harmattan wind was blisteringly cold and rash, Yarbung villagers recalled. The body of police corporal Mathew Jacob, 31, lay in a coffin at his grandfather’s (Pa Gajere) compound in Yarbung, a normal farming community in Kachia Local Government Area, LGA of Kaduna state.