WHEN the Islamic terrorist outfit commonly referred to as Boko Haram started their insurrection in Northern Nigeria pretty much everyone was a target. Christians, Muslims, members of the security forces and their institutional facilities, revellers in drinking joints, people in marketplaces and so on, were targeted with suicide bombings and assassinations.

CHANCES are that you have read the executive summary of the report of the House of Representatives committee on fuel subsidy led by the now-disgraced Farouk Lawan.

IN case you’re wondering about the title of this piece, worry no further. A part of it comes from a political character in Wole Soyinka’s long playing record, Unlimited Liability Company that was released to caricature the graft, sleaze and corrupt ways of politicians of Nigeria’s so-called Second Republic, especially the ruling National Party of Nigeria, in 1983.

A WELL-DIGGER makes progress only by digging himself further into the ground, until he reaches water. Sometimes, he goes so deep into the earth that by the time he strikes water, he is too deep. Climbing up, or being pulled up and out of the well becomes a very hazardous affair and by the time he is out it seems as if it really wasn’t worth all the trouble.

NOWADAYS, the temptation is to preoccupy oneself with the mating habit of porcupines than to follow the typical Nigerian debate. As I said here last week, every issue spawns a polyglot of pseudo-experts and professional public affairs pundits, all climbing, clobbering and falling over one another to arrest our attention.