In my nearly twenty years of writing on these pages, I had predicted four crashes – two banking and two capital market crashes. The first was in reference to the banking crisis of the 1997/98 financial years. Writing under the titled FUNNY MONEY, I had predicted that Nigerian banks, which at the time were enjoying rave reviews in the media in general, were as a matter of fact deceiving all of us. The high profits and dividends being declared were out of tune with the underlying economy which was in a recession. My query then, as now, was “What sort of investments were banks making to earn the returns they were declaring?” I went further to list seventeen (17) banks which were sure to go under. The list included Alpha Merchant Bank, the darling of ignorant investors, and Commerce Bank headed by two former heads of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, CIBN. Few people believed me until the banks went belly up and bankers changed designer suits for prison uniforms.

The frenzy of opinions, allegations and counter allegations on the NCAA’s ill-advised purchase of two armoured vehicles has been sustained in the media in the last few weeks. The revelations may have foreshadowed erstwhile favourable public perception of the otherwise optically credible reconstruction of several airport terminals nationwide.

When man imagines God, he sees him carnally strictly in terms of his power and might. But when God manifested himself in the flesh, he came as a meek and lowly suffering servant. Isaiah foresaw Jesus as: “a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground.” (Isaiah 53:2). Therefore, he wonders if anyone would believe his report. The prime expression of God in Christ is not his power but his love. Thus, while others say God is powerful: the disciple of Jesus says God is love. (1 John 4:8).

The PUNCH of Wednesday October 23, 2013 was for me particularly remarkable. Its reports – regular columns and opinions – summarized all Nigerians need to know about the government they overwhelmingly elected in 2011. Many long term readers of this column would recall my strident calls for Nigerians to massively reject the PDP, including Jonathan, at the polls. My reason was simple. Based on information at my command, some of which was published in my book, PDP: CORRUPTION INCORPORATED, Nigeria could never get out of the mess in which we are stuck as long as the PDP, as presently constituted, is in power at the centre. And, by power, I mean the legislature as well as the Presidency.

It can be disheartening when one’s expectations are cut off! Over the years I have tried not to want something so badly I become desperate or frustrated. I have also found that enterprise and negotiation work better when one is dispassionate and logical; passion in negotiation most times just convey desperation to others. The best bargaining tool is always a cold and even disparaging exterior; it says that one is willing to walk away from several other options.