The remarkable ways by which that contact has shaped the Igbo continues to be the basis of reflections by scholars – and increasingly by Igbo scholars who feel the powerful “urgency of now” to call attention to the intricate as well as intriguing situation of the contemporary Igbo of modern Nigeria, in its current relationship with nation and with the emergent world.

What Iwu was quoted as saying and which I challenged him in my piece in this column on March 25, 2007, to deny, made me write him off as a man who could be trusted to do justice to all manner of people. The phone on Uba’s table had been ringing, but he would not pick it because of the interview. Iwu, said the reporters there, burst into the room and discovered a team of journalists were there. He was quoted as saying, “Sorry sir, I didn’t know you were granting an interview.

Abubakar Rimi, former Governor of Kano State and a minister of the Nigerian realm, died recently and has been buried in Kano. There was “commosion” in the country concerning the death. It is said he died of fright occasioned by shock from robbers. It is easy to accept that, but in the circumstance of Rimi, I feel hard to believe. Rimi looked like forged steel.

Government projects are executed with public funds, so, all Nigerians have the right to inspect projects in a nonviolent and objective manner, and report their findings to the relevant authority if there’s anything amiss. Those in charge should investigate these findings and take appropriate action. Accountability should be the order of the day.

Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida is still the cause. That was the exact word he used in his congratulatory message to the man many of us now delight to honour with title of the sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo. One Prime Ministerial and two Presidential elections had come and gone, in all of which Chief Awolowo contested and lost.

I have said in this column before that Acting President Goodluck Jonathan will be assessed strictly by what he does. So, I am not disappointed that he recognises it and is moving in step with public expectations.

ABEL TENDEKAYI Muzorewa, retired Methodist Bishop walked away from history 32 years ago when he signed the Salisbury Accord. This ill-advised step consigned him to the dustbin of history. So when he passed away last Thursday, April 8, at 85, not a few might have asked, Muze who?

LAST week, I dedicated a large chunk of this column to telling Vanguard readers that my generator and the PHCN transformer on my street in Abuja had collapsed simultaneously, that my household had been TOTALLY deprived of electricity for several days and that I had temporarily taken refuge in a hotel…

IBRAHIM Badamosi Babangida, the gap toothed general who dictated to the country for eight years says he is “consulting” to decide whether to run for the 2011 presidential election or not. But we all know that as part of his instinctive nature of deception, whenever Babangida talks about peace, he would have sounded the bugle for war.

IN my “Addressing The 2011 Elections” serialized in the Tuesday Platform, issues of electoral reforms in Africa in general, and in Nigeria in particular were as listed ending with the quoted conclusion. These issues are:

IF the death of Abubakar Rimi could be of any redeeming value for Nigeria it would, perhaps, be in the manner it helps reduce our sloppy approach to many things we do.

Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, the Ag President, has eventually established a working cabinet inspite of the political uncertainty surrounding the Presidency.

I HAVE not personally encountered Professor Ruqayat Rufai, the new Minister for Education. It does not matter. What matters is that I have seen evidence of her abilities, and I think the person who recommended her to Acting President Goodluck Jonathan for posting to Education is a patriot.

Even before President Yar’ Adua was sworn in over three years ago, those of us who have sports as their culture medium, braced up for four years of disaster, in the first instance.

I do not know when lawyers and journalists will be permitted to see our president. The clerics have seen him, both Muslim and Christian. They must be the ones at the top of the ladder of the holy. We here, on distant earth from heaven, call them the men of God.