As a young TV news reporter many years ago, one public officer I had to cover extensively was by name, Mr. John James, Commissioner of Police in the then Midwest State. One of my colleagues hypothesized then that the man was not likely to be a Nigerian because he had two English names.

Echoes: I will appreciate it if you can highlight the roles of these men in the founding of UNA – J.W. Martins and Dada Adeshigbin of the Singer fame; besides, the Taiwo Olowo monument was never on Martins Street, but in his own compound (Court) on Taiwo Street; it was however relocated to Garba Square. Lagos had only three of such monuments – Martins, Taiwo and Oshodi.

NIGERIAN politicians never cease to flabbergast me. Apparently, General Muhammadu Buhari’s Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) intends to vigorously contest the presidential poll results in 11 states – Abia, Imo, Ebonyi, Enugu, Anambra, Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Cross River, Delta, Edo and Bayelsa.

I have known Reverend Father Edmund Akpala since 1996. And when I went to St. Gregory’s College two weeks ago I had to visit his office to greet him. Discussion on sports naturally ensued. He spoke with so much passion that I felt that my column last week would be on him and St. Gregory’s.

EVEN the greatest copycat cannot perfectly imitate the Lord, Jesus. By the time Jesus arrived Bethany, Lazarus was already dead for four days. As soon as he arrived, everyone started to weep profusely. And as if to put a sense of guilt in Jesus, Martha was insinuating that if he had been around, her brother would not have died. When Jesus saw the weeping and the wailing, he too wept openly.

FINALLY the 2011 presidential election will end in the same place the last two previous presidential elections ended: At the electoral petition tribunal. With the generally favourable comments from local and foreign observers concerning the elections, one would have thought things would go differently this time around.

Under normal circumstances where political and public offices are geared towards the service of the people, there is little or no personal gain in capturing power or its retention.

I want to believe that after this week, I may lay to rest ( For a while) the issue of age cheating and the development of the game of football, which has dominated my column for the past four weeks.

EVERY generation has its heroes and patriots”, says American songster, Paul Simon. As well as its demons and villains, may I add? Indeed every time we successfully transit from one regime to another, a number of individuals pop up as the architects of its success or failure.

The event that Christians all over the world are marking today is a re-birth. That is, the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, which signifies hope for eternal life for His followers.

Yesterday, the elections for governors were not held in Kaduna and Bauchi, two states in the upper north of Nigeria considered to be major flashpoints of the violence that came on the heels of last week’s presidential election. The announcement of the result of the national poll result was followed by a paroxysm of bloodletting on a scale that some, including the president-elect, has compared to the situation in the 1960s that led first, to the exodus of Easterners particularly the Igbo, and then to the civil war.

Shams went further to give a brief history of how the book evolved, beginning with the publication, in August 1939, of a leaflet with the provocative title “The Tomb of Jesus Christ in India.” After World War II, he says, the first edition of Where did Jesus Die? was published. Expectedly, the leaflet and book elicited different responses from Londoners, newspapers and journals.

At a time when most Nigerians were covering before the brutal regime of General Sani Abacha, a few brave souls were fighting, what to most of our fellow countrymen, a lost cause. To those brave souls, we owe this day. I was also busy on this page writing columns in defence of freedom, which one of my old friends, Ayo Olagunjoye, former Managing Director of National Bank, called suicidal.

Riots which normally follow the release of election results in Nigeria are obviously condemnable for several reasons. In the first place, rioting is an illegal method of protesting the outcome of an election because it normally leads to loss of lives and property. The riots which followed the presidential election of Saturday, April 16, 2011, were particularly destructive.

The dream of parents back then was that their offspring have a better life than they did and education and a disciplined upbringing were an integral part of that. Parents back then were the generation of baby boomers and they gave birth to us. They had many struggles, life wasn’t easy but they lived as members of a community and took their place gladly.