The joy of political freedom is the realization of the fact that free people are their own masters. After independence in 1960, Nigerians assumed responsibilities for their own destiny as a nation endowed by nature with immense human and mineral resources. In size alone, Nigeria is known as the ‘Giant of Africa’.

WHETHER by accident or design, just about when Monsieur Vincent Autin, 40, and Monsieur Bruno Boileau, 30, (Mr. & Mr.?) were being wedded as husband and wife in far away France, in what has become the country’s first gay marriage, the House of Representatives of the Federal Republic of Nigeria was also applying the last six-inch ban nail on the coffin of gay marriages in Nigeria.

IT was one of those stories that might have been missed in a newspaper. But there it was in Vanguard newspaper of Tuesday, June 4, 2013.

ALHAJI Bashir Othman Tofa, remember him? How can you forget? He was the presidential candidate of the National Republican Convention, NRC, who lost the June 12, 1993 presidential election to the candidate of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, Chief Moshood Abiola. He was the first Northerner to lose a presidential election to a Southerner, even though the election was not a regional battle.

AS the battle for control of the Nigerian Governors Forum continues, we are reminded once again of how our pretence at nationhood reduces governance to absurdity.

MERE five years separate 2008 from 2013 and that could seem a long time. In the life of a transport system that is meant to cater for millions of commuters weekly if not daily, five years is quite short.

IN the President’s proclamation of state of emergency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states, he made clear that this declaration of a state of emergency was part of “steps to unravel and address the root causes of these crises.”

I have heard it said and I have read again and again how The Super Eagles are a tournament team ( ? ). The tradition of struggling against teams with inferior football cultures is still with us.

WE all have our faults and virtues. General Muhammadu Buhari is a man whose virtues and vices are well known.

“MITI facilitated the early development of nearly all major industries by providing protection from import competition, technological intelligence, helped in licensing foreign technology”. MITI also assisted with research funding to help selected Japanese industrial sectors to catch up with, and even surpass the achievement, of advanced economies.