I was chilled to the bone as I read last Saturday Vanguard’s account of how a few young men kidnapped the aged mother of our Finance Minister, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and how a septuagenarian was killed because the ransom money was not enough.

We seem to have gone through it all before. The Presidency, or The Party— seldom the President — feels uncomfortable about someone of influence, particularly in the party of the President, and swiftly various unsavoury things begin to happen to the man; all sorts of unsavoury information begin to float around about him; it suddenly becomes apparent that he is unfit for the post he holds; his face is turned to a downward route from the peak of a precipice, and every effort is applied to make him take the wrong step so as to tumble down.

“Children are a gift from God and the fruit of the womb, His reward” so the Holy Book says. Having attended a wedding last week Saturday, the priest preached that the purpose of marriage was for companionship between a man and woman and procreation.

Uche Igwe is a doctoral researcher at Sussex University in the UK. He is attached to the university’s Centre For The Study Of Corruption and has just sent me an article that he recently wrote, partly as a response to the Presidency’s claim that widespread speculations about Dr Goodluck Jonathan’s 2015 plans are not only riddled with falsehoods but are unnecessary distractions.

THE other day a friend gave me as Easter gift, a Chinese made Electric/Solar Lantern. After charging, the magical lantern could provide an uninterrupted brightness for at least eight hours.