THISDAY, February 17, 2013 in the Sunday News page carries the story titled, “Nigeria Sliding into a Failed State, say Nwabueze, Akinrinade, others- seek convocation of National Confab”. It is this phrasing of the National Question that informs the title of this particular column.

AS you were reading this column last week where I was deprecating the self-serving behaviour of members of the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, and their inability (or is it unwillingness) to pay the Super Eagles coach, Stephen Keshi, his entitlements, the news broke that the coach of the Under-20 team, Mr. John Obuh refused to accompany the team to Egypt because he was being owed 13 months salaries.

WHAT do you make of former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s post-power shenanigans? Do you still believe he is roaming from one end of the polity to the other because he is a “nationalist” and “loves Nigeria” more than others? Are you puzzled and asking the question: What does Obasanjo still want after ruling Nigeria twice and emerging as the longest serving president (eleven years seven months), having surpassed General Yakubu Gowon (nine years)?

There are media concerns on the potential adverse impact of delay on budget implementation and the possibility of the Legislature overriding presidential opposition to 2013 budget enactment.

It was in the Punch Newspapers that I read about Chioma Ajunwa and the “Where was President Jonathan” drama.

This is developing to be a serious case of persecution of a Yoruba businessman by the Federal Government. Bi-Courtney had sued the Federal government for breach of contract and had been vindicated by the courts, both at the High Court and the Court of Appeal.

In almost twenty years of writing this column, I have never written any article in support of anyone because he is “my brother”; neither have I written one against anyone because he is not “my brother”. OBJ received the same treatment as Babangida, Abacha, Yar’Adua and, now, Jonathan.

Jesus says the kingdom of heaven is like putting yeast in a large portion of dough. (Matthew 13:33).  While pastors with limited understanding of kingdom dynamics see this yeast as beneficial on the grounds that it is designed to promote the rapid numerical growth of the church; those with better insight see it as spiritually counter-productive precisely because it leads to the exponential growth of the church

When in April 19, 2005, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger was crowned Pope Benedict XVI after the death of much-beloved Pope John Paul II, observant followers of events in Vatican City knew that the new pontiff had a lot on his plate. To start with, the Pope himself was well aware that he had to work extra hard to match, and if possible surpass, the achievements of his predecessor who was selected despite criticism from some disgruntled highly-placed Italian Catholics opposed to the election of a non-Italian Pope.

The last time I spoke with my brother, Joe on phone, he wondered how my weekly column is always able to follow with ease, the ‘goings-on’ in Nigeria when I am hardly in the country these days. What my brother did not immediately appreciate is that people abroad do not need to spend too much time searching for Nigerian events or indeed what the details are. A few minutes of “browsing” will expose the typical issues and because Nigerian matters take the same pattern all the time, any analyst can easily fill in whatever gaps there are.