“As it is for the United States so it is for the Nigerian elite; state power security issues take precedence over intra-party and inter-party democracy and democratic government. It is important also for the difference between electoral parties and state power parties to be recognised. State power parties define the context and condition of the existence and relevance of electoral parties. The Taliban of Pakistan and Afghanistan are state power parties”.

Its ready army of recruits are to be found in many of those so-called places of religious miseducation as produce the almajiris, no different from the madrasas of Afghanistan and other centres of fundamentalist religion, now proliferating in the Moslem North. Until Nigeria rises to the challenge posed by such breeding centres of radical insurgency and cuts down on both covert and overt accommodation of criminality in the name of religion, she can’t be anything but a sponsor of terrorism.

In response to the anomaly of increasing income coexisting with increasing poverty in Nigeria, I embarked on a close observation of the operation of the national economy sometime in 2001, and discovered that the root cause of our problem was the subsisting monopoly of the CBN in the supply of both the dollar and naira in the economy.

There was this interesting but visibly annoying mail from Eric Ekanem addressed to members of the CAF media in the ongoing Orange Africa Cup of Nations. In it, Mr. Ekanem wanted us to explain to him why it is Zambia and not Cameroun that topped Group D.

Why not allow the law to take its course while you go about your job of restoring the broken financial system?We can do with a little more maturity while rebuilding public confidence in the banking sector

By Helen Ovbiagele, Woman Editor “Look Helen,” whispered a friend to me at her friend’s private school’s end of term and prize-giving day ceremony, “I can’t bear it anymore.

T oday, I celebrate the life of a great man, Mr. James Emeziem Nworgu, Classicist and Justice of Peace. News reached me that Mr. Nworgu passed, this past week into immortality. I felt an immediate twinge of regret for I had missed one last opportunity to see him last June when I buried my own father.

“Successful leaders at all levels love their status and power and are hesitant to leaving voluntarily”.
Jack Welch, Chairman, General Electric Company, 1988.

It’s the beginning of 2010 and it is really important to set aside a moment of true reflection. You cannot decide on where you are going if you are ignorant of where you are coming from. This is the time to look back at 2009 and determine what needs to stay in your life and what needs to go.

*At what point does one arrest the national scene that seems to be moving on the wings of a typhoon, when mayhem has erupted once again in a section of the country not unknown to widespread violence, at a time when the not unusual comprehensive shortage of fuel supply has all but prostrated the country, […]

It is against this backdrop that we approach the coming election of February to determine who takes charge of governance in the state. It isn’t because a civilised political atmosphere prevails in Anambra that most people are standing on edge over the possible outcome of the polls. On the contrary, every one is scared that there is cause for concern because of the violence which is daily escalating in the state.

The collaboration between Senate Presidents and their deputies in the fourth republic has until the Mark – Ekweremadu dispensation been a cat and mouse affair.

HAITI lays prostrate. Most of it flattened by the Tuesday January 12, 2010 earthquake which measured 7.0 on the Richter Scale. The capital, Port-au Prince, which lays 16 miles from the quake’s epicentre needs 70 per cent reconstruction while some parts of the country need 90 per cent rebuilding.

Today, I call for caution. I’m guided by experience.
Take this: After Phillip Troussier toiled to qualify us for the France ’98 World Cup, the authorities said he had no World Cup experience and therefore not a world class coach.

Yet again, Nigeria is being highlighted in international media outlets for negative reasons. While we were struggling to cope with the humiliating global coverage of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab’s attempted suicide bombing in America and endless embarrassing news items about President Yar’Adua’s prolonged absence in Saudi Arabia, religious riots erupted in Jos and are further damaging the country’s image.