I have witnessed many Independence Day anniversaries in my time. Right from the very first one when as a little school kid, we were given small green-white–green flags and asked to line the streets. Later, we were given free lunch and freer time to indulge in our favourite past time of games and pranks. I didn’t know what it all meant then but I learnt—through my parents, teachers and the passing years—that it was the day we gained the freedom to govern ourselves as we liked.

Audu’s death was unfortunate. Its timing was profoundly problematic. But what is ludicrous is what it exposed. The lack of painstakingness in our attention to important details. There will always be hard cases in law. Cases will always lie on the fringes.

As some people clock 50 years, they begin to stare at retirement with anxiety. Many people put in 30 to 40 years before retirement. During these years of active service, some acquire reasonable assets and wealth to retire on. But it is not so for some; turning 50 becomes nightmarish because they realize they are getting to the end of their working life with little or nothing to fall back on in retirement.

Last week, on the eve of our 56th Independence Day “celebrations” (what is there to celebrate?!), I compared Nigeria’s lack of progress with the daily progress that takes place in other parts of the world – Europe, America and Japan, for example.

THERE are communities who allegedly rejoice at the prospect of war. In Nigeria, the Ijesha people in the Western part are said to be one of such. But generally, nobody or group rejoice in fighting wars unless there are territorial or material benefits to gain, some point to be made or ego to massage.