In short, MEND’s demands seek plainly to revisit the national question, and this is the true olive branch that would provide grounds for disarmament. Let us, of course, not overlook the subtle threat behind the federal government’s offer of amnesty and the six-month window for disarmament.

Race is a deep cesspit of absurdities. One of the inverted theoretical justifications of slave trade and colonization is the doctrine that the White race is innately superior to the Black race

Madam, I don’t care what sex of children my wife and I produce,” said a colleague. “Our major concern before we got married was that the Lord should give us healthy kids, and the where withal to cater for them properly. In His wisdom, He gave us three girls first and then a boy.

A lot of depressed rich people can confirm that the acquisition of more stuff is not necessarily nirvana, inner disquiet and the unexplained hunger that drives most people into spiritual arenas is a human experience that is common to all.

Writers are more than town criers. They are reminders and have the advantage of looking back into the records in the bowels of time to tell you what they said when the come came to become (if we must revisit Mbadiwe’s memorable lines). On June 29, last year, I wrote a piece, The Niger Delta Swamp.

One of the most tragic crises we have on our hands today is the bloody uprising in the Niger Delta. Justice Belgore made it also clear to everybody who is not driven by selfish and inordinate lust for power that the 1999 constitution is responsible for the Niger Delta crisis because it did not address the issue as the 1960 independent constitution did.

Mr. Adipere is so lucid. This indeed is the period when academia should have been strutting up and down with the pride and joy of being “in government”, if not “in power”, with two members of their clan on top of the heap.

So at the beginning of each day, she would raise up some money, and tell him “You can either earn this by doing things right, or throw it back to me” The first infuriating thing he does, she goes “minus hundred naira or Two hundred naira” depending on how serious the offence is.

Like the ‘Briafran’ tragedy, the clear warning was treated with unpardonable levity until it was too late to avert a full-scale civil war. Now, if the militants have seen the wisdom of laying down their arms to give room for dialogue, then the voice of reason has triumphed.

By the way, if President Yar’Adua’s Amnesty does not take off until August 6th was the Nigerian Inspector-General of Police not committing a crime hobnobbing with self-confessed enemies of the state before that date? Should the Nigerian Bin Laden and others coming out of the cracks be allowed to move around freely?

And I’ve also been criticized by a handful of individuals (friends as well as foes), who either disagreed with some or all of the points I made or simply felt that my article was too divisive…and that I should have urged my fellow Ogonis to forget about the bitter mistakes of the past, instead of highlighting internal rifts.

It is a universal knowledge that law enforcement agents in many cases torture or put pressure on people to confess to alleged crimes they know nothing about. There are also possible human errors in convicting people.

Fans will never forget the skills displayed by the Brazilian teams to the Espana ‘82 and Mexico ‘86 World Cups. But they all lost to faster European sides. So, why are we trying to copy what the masters of the game have dropped?

“Before Barack Obama in Politics , Oprah Winfrey in the Media, Tiger Woods in Sports, Michael was the first to break the color lines. While Muhammad Ali confronted the system, Michael was silent in his own struggle and in the end brought the world together.’’

The question is: would the church offer treatment or care in any form to the couple if the test comes out positive? or would the church ask for other STI’s other than HIV as a measure to protect the proposed bride from a wayward husband?