Once upon a time, not so long ago, family was everything to us. Parents, siblings, family members, all came first in our lives. You couldn’t do without them. They were the first you turned to in adversity and in sharing of good news. The family had so much influence on the individual that you thought twice before you engaged in any act of misdemeanour, as a list of dos and don’ts had been drummed well into you right from childhood, and you were raised, to know that you must not do anything that would bring dishonour/disgrace to the family. You were loyal to your family and you chose your confidants from among the members.

On Monday, Tiger Woods reclaimed the number one spot in golf— a coveted position he had surrendered in early 2010. During his time in the wilderness, he had had to battle the demons that assailed him when he suffered a hip injury, a loss of form and a public demystification which ended in a costly divorce.

Chief Oluwole Awolowo was definitely not a saint. He never had a chance. He was expected to be a “rascal”, a word freely used beyond and beside its real meaning, way back in our grapple with the English language in Yorubaland.

In these parts, death is taken as seriously as life;sometime even more so. Indeed, in Africa the style in which you bury your dead especially one’s parents is a measure of your stature as a man or woman of means, and is a testament to how well (or not) the dead have raised their children. It’s a paradox.

Aching pain in the abdomen, feeling of pressure in the abdomen, pain in the lower back, hips and inner thighs, nausea, and those frequent trips to the toilet are some of the torment women face monthly.

Many followers of Nigeria‘s political development are worried about the year 2015. The prophets of doom have serious doubts about the future of Nigeria as one country before or after the 2015 elections. Many think that the year 2014 (when Nigeria will be 100 years old as a nation) would certainly foretell what the events would look like in 2015. Those who are planning for the centenary celebration are yet to be unanimous on what the celebration would represent- success or failure.

LAST week, I said I thought that people who were attacking President Goodluck Jonathan for pardoning Alamieyeseigha, his former boss, were being too harsh.

ADMITTEDLY, the more things change, the more they remain the same. Kidnapping has been with man from time. In our younger days, at the shout of “Gbomo gbomo”, every child ran inside and locked the door. Gbomo gbomo were the kidnappers of that time who did not carry out their trade for ransom.

BAYELSA is a place of great puzzle and intrigue for me. I find this state and its people rather exotic. Any time I have an opportunity to be in Bayelsa State I never pass it up.

MY earliest encounter with Chinua Achebe was not the usual “suspect”; his trailblazing work, Things Fall Apart. That came a bit later. I had my earliest encounter with Africa’s greatest writer, with Chike And The River. It was set in Onitsha, against the backdrop of the majestic River Niger.