For quite a while during the life of this present government, many Nigerianslooked forward with eagerness to the emergence of a strong political opposition to the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Thus, the birth of the All Progressive Congress (APC) brightened the hopes of many citizens that better governance was on its way. The APC seems to have done fairlywell so far especially in bringing down the high degree of impunity of the ruling party. Their rather unpopular directive to their legislators to block the passage of the 2014 may have started, even if inadvertently, to refine our crude democracy – a good example being the end of the police control of Rivers State.

In Nigeria, it is customary for people to say that politics is a “dirty game.” That negative assessment stems from the fact that since the country began experimenting with modern forms of civilian governance, most key players in the political arena have tended to sacrifice the nobler forms of politicking on the altar of primitive egoism, crude Machiavellism and bulimic materialism. Therefore, description of politics as a dirty game in this country underscores the fact that a typical Nigerian politician is willing and prepared to do virtually anything possible either to win an election or get a lucrative appointment in government.

The regular readers of this page must forgive me for postponing, once again, the continuation of the series on the INHERITORS – the second generations of Nigerians who allowed great enterprises bequeathed to them to crumble. The next would have been the LAWSON Group of Companies, among which was the ECOBANK, once headed by Mr Kolapo Lawson. The slide down the greasy slope of misfortune for the group started several years ago. But, this is not the time for that.

The President (Female) of the Muslim Student Union of Nigeria, Lagos Area Unit, Hajia Hafsa Badru almost stunned me as she addressed a crowd of supporters at the Gania Fawehinmi Freedom Park, Ojota, recently. The occasion was the World Hijab Day, said to be observed all over the world ostensibly to proclaim the precept of chastity and propriety among Muslim . women as symbolised by the wearing of the Hijab. This is the fascinating headgear won by women in the Middle East, from where it spread to various Muslim communities across the world.

Yesterday was Valentine’s Day. While many of us were celebrating and getting busy with our spouses, some others did not for reasons ranging from separation to widowhood. However, my focus today is on grass widowhood (spouses temporarily living apart). Grass widowhood is a phenomenon that has been with us but has changed in nomenclature. In the 80s, as our economy took a downturn, one of the spouses travelled abroad to seek the proverbial greener pastures and remitted money home for the family. Not all of these adventures went according to plan: Some of the men ended up marrying foreigners to regularise their stay, while some wives saw the “better life” abroad and made their temporary sojourn permanent. Either way their marriages and families were the main casualties.