A manufacturing company did the unusual when it sent emails to its staff to tell them that the enemy of the company had been captured. Those who were interested in its identity should proceed to the conference room. Those who went found a life sized coffin. Inside it was a big mirror. The message was not lost on the staff. They were, as they looked at themselves in the mirror, individually, and collectively, the enemies of the company.

Pa Lot, a venerable pastor, parliamentarian and politician of the First Republic, spoke about the menace of the Fulani herdsmen in jocular terms, when I met him some decades ago in Jos. He was well into his 80s himself. He narrated how the herdsmen would arrive unannounced at a particular time of the year and would graze their cattle peacefully for a period of time, Then they would depart for greener pastures without any notice with only a part of the herd, leaving an appreciable number with only a few herdsmen in charge.

Tomorrow, the world celebrates the World Family Day, a day set aside by the United Nations to draw attention to the importance of the family. The day was also declared in response to changing social and economic structures which have affected and still affect the structure and stability of families in Africa and other parts of the world. After God, the family comes next. It is good to have a successful career, hang out with the guys/girls, but nothing comes near the family. Great wealth without great children to manage it after your retirement/demise often becomes a term activity.

Last week a group in the name of Niger Delta Avengers blew up the Chevron oil platform, signaling the return of militias. They made some demands, including the blighted Niger Delta oil spills that require remediation. In January, there was a similar bombing of a similar oil facility. There is an upwelling of unauthorized quasi-military group using weapons, arms and ammunition in the Niger Delta.

And in any case, even if the case is deemed watertight, judges can , with methodical ruthlessness dismantle reason. Lecturers award A’s to poor papers of willing female students . There is a spreading insensitivity to immorality. In the good old days you could just mummify the case by buying a perpetual injunction. But take heart, money has many ways of creating reasonable doubts . The very rich don’t go to prison. Imprisonment is not their portion.