IN my humble view, Nigeria has had only three statesmen at its highest level of governance. These are Zik, Balewa, and OBJ. A statesman is a senior male politician widely respected for integrity and an impartial concern for the common good. If we go beyond the politician, I would add the names of Ernest Shonekan and Abdulsalami Abubakar, who ruled under a military regime.

Without taking away from his personal merits, President Jonathan is in every terms a child of Providence. His rise as a relatively obscure deputy governor of a small state like Bayelsa, to the position of Vice President and, then, President within a space of six, seven years is in every sense the ‘Lord’s doing’.

I HAVE found it and still find it difficult to think of Stanley in past tense. There are many angles to the man and his is like that story of several blind men asked to describe an object called elephant.

I was afraid he would fail me if I turned him down. I would have no one to report him to because I have no witness to corroborate any story I tell. Besides, we are told that most of the lecturers who engage in this dastardly act operate a cartel of sort. All they need to do is ask a colleague to fail one in order to take the blame or suspicion off their shoulders.

The following article is courtesy of a guest columnist, Mr. Adaighofua Ojomaikre, who is also an advocate of the views consistently paraded in this column with regard to the correct infusion process of our nation’s export dollar earnings with the instrument of dollar certificates.

Hi readers! I had ardently hoped that Rose, the pretty girl in Accounts, would be among those who would choose to leave voluntarily to go get jobs elsewhere, but to my chagrin, she wasn’t.

It has become fashionable for us to notice the absence of the leadership of the football house in key football functions. Last Tuesday was an exception as friends, well wishers and colleagues turned up in great number to honour a man who has cultivated the passion for record keeping.

The most important question now is: what happens if the PDP breaks up? Before providing what I think will happen, just for now imagine what will happen when a 50-ton tanker loaded with fuel experiences brake failure while approaching a busy bus stop with thousands of people waiting for buses…

The issue I want to raise here is sensitive, but I want to be able to sleep well after I have said my say. I did mention last week that the passing on of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua was a relief to many because all the plots, the shenanigans that were engineered in his name had to end.

‘Hi Helen. Thanks for your write-up on abandoned projects. Nobody seems to care a hoot. All we’re concerned about is second term/tenure. Whatever happened to the textiles factories, steel rolling mills, fertilizer plants, newsprint manufacturing companies, etc. Nobody talks of uplifting the manufacturing sector to create employment and grow the economy.

Last year in Burlington, Vermont, I met a young Nigerian woman studying at Princeton who once loved visiting her ancestral home in Owerrinta, but who told me, “I’m not likely to visit again and that makes me sad.” Her parents will not permit her from all the news about kidnappings that they have heard from reports both in the media and by friends of theirs.

A knowledgeable friend himself, a former director of the First Bank, told me there are many ways you could do the chicken. You could call the shareholders to increase their participation even with deadlines. And you could ask bankers to court if you suspect they fiddle the till. Nowhere in a civilized world you parade bankers in the full-view of the like of EFCC. Where else in the world would you expose the indebtedness of customer?

A man takes his children on a weekend of camping; they have a beautiful time, meet others and are about setting off back home. To round off the trip, the elder daughter decides to go for one last boat ride with her brother and as they head back disaster strikes.

I plead with my readers to bear with me one more time so that we can properly conclude our indepth critique of Wallace’s and Olatunji’s fallacies and deliberate misinterpretations of the theory of evolution. Last week we drew attention to the fact that Adam and Eve, the first human beings allegedly created directly by God were amoral ab initio, according to the book of Genesis.

Could it be that Christianity is the most permissive religion in the world, or of the object of worship of what other faith could a professed adherent have casually remarked what was reported of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo about the conduct of elections in Nigeria?