MANY months before it finally came on Sunday July 13 many celebratory events had been lined up to mark the 80th birthday ceremony of the one famously called Kongi, after one of the more memorable characters of his highly fecund imagination, Wole Soyinka.

The Vanguard of Monday, July 14, 2014 carried three full page advertorials on one issue: the impasse at the National Conference over a proper derivation formula. The Committee on Devolution of Powers, whose report was the last to be debated at plenary, had recommended retaining the 13% in General Abacha’s 1999 Constitution against the Northern delegates’ insistence on reducing it to 5%.

If you have been wondering why the government of Goodluck Jonathan has achieved precious little in the monumental fight against corruption in Nigeria, the answer is very simple. There is actually no corruption in Nigeria. Nigerian politicians are thieves, but they are not corrupt.

There can be no denial of the threat of the Boko Haram insurgency to security, the economy of the north-eastern states, particularly, has become seriously dislocated while thousands of people in several communities have been viciously traumatized by the indiscriminate killings of kith and kin and the continuous decimation of their homes and livelihood.

AS the nation inches closer to the 2015 general elections, the issue of zoning of the gubernatorial seats in the states has thrown up complex political intrigues.