My oldest brother, Bayo, left Nigeria without telling anyone where he was going. He did not tell our aged parents, his wife or his children. And he did not tell Biodun and me, his brothers. Moreover, he communicated with no one thereafter, so we did not know his whereabouts.

By Douglas Anele Largely, President Goodluck Jonathan is a man under intense pressure, notwithstanding his cool, calm and dapper looks in newspapers and television. I strongly believe that our political leaders deserve opprobrium for their outward show of opulence and indulgent materialism when a vast majority of ordinary Nigerians are facing severe existential challenges daily. […]

That man is a creation of the divine is generally accepted by those who believe in a higher power. The Bible sheds light on a chronological work of creation of the earth, its features and all its creatures culminating in the creation of man. The bigger picture is often lost on most people and who can blame them? The Bible doesn’t dwell on the details that celebrate the mastery and genius that is creation. Like most people I don’t quite connect to the creation of Adam and Eve, that’s more legend than real to me.

Indeed, the ‘democratic’ government of President Olusegun Obasanjo decreed same for the nation as if our leaders had a secret pact unknown to the rest of us with Lord Lugard to preserve his creation. Is this suspected pact also binding on President Goodluck Jonathan whose government recently declared the same no-go-area which bars Nigerians from debating whether or not they wish to continue to belong to the Lugardian nation?

I knew something was amiss, when my father quoted Fela’s shuffering and shmiling in his text to me, two days ago. Here is the text: “Shuffering and shmiling was Fela’s song some decades ago, except that we, in the community in Dopemu, Lagos, are not smiling. This is our fourteenth day without electricity; there has been no news as to when the light will be restored.