Hence, the Warrant Chiefs appointed by the British and vested with arbitrary powers hitherto unknown in Igboland were thoroughly disliked by the people. It was not surprising that most of them became tyrants who abused their authority with impunity. The use of these unpopular chiefs for taxation led to the Aba women riots of 1929.

This club of young graduates and professionals of both sexes came together to form a group with the singular aim of using talks to help young people make the right choices, and hopefully, have a better life. They hold their ‘enlightening’ talks on different subjects, every three months in a small school hall, and they graciously invite their parents, friends and relatives to come listen to them.

I pointed out to you the stars and all you saw was the tip of my finger- Swahili Proverb

We are nearing that time of the year again, where we look back collectively as a nation. Nigeria is 53 and if the truth be told as a nation, there is so much more we should be doing at that age; in fact, we are worse off than we were at 10 or 20 than where we are at 53.

On some of her visits to Nigeria from Barbados, she had been known to sit next to IBB, our future Head of State and playfully pull his ears while saying: “Why did a handsome boy like you get into the army? You want to get yourself killed”

George Kofi Awoonor-Williams became just Kofi Awoonor. He chose to be piquant and to shed the vestiges, at the same time, of his colonial past. He died last week. He was 78 years. He did not die from age related problems. He was still quite active; mentally alert and vigorous. He was killed in the Nairobi terrorist event staged by Al Shabaab, the Somali equivalent of Boko Haram, which had taken over the Westgate Mall, a high end shopping Mall in Nairobi last week, and massacred mall visitors. By last count, the death toll from the four-day siege and holdout had been officially put at seventy-two people. More are suspected to be crushed under the rubble of the collapsed mall, and therefore unaccounted.