GOSPEL preacher, Pastor Chris Oyakhilome, once said something about poverty which opened my eyes wider on the subject. I started seeing the subject in a different light thereafter. Being one of the Christian evangelists who preach prosperity and the reality of miracles, Oyakhilome enjoined his adherents and viewers never to link themselves with poverty.

THE present crop of governors in charge of the affairs of states of the South East zone has represented the Igbo heartland extremely well. They have demonstrated an admirable degree of collective purpose, which was not there between 1999 and 2007, when each of the previous governors behaved like crazy political buccaneers.

While their association lasted, stories often made the rounds about how “Mother Excellency” imperiously stormed the Government House to remind the Governor of the sacrifices she and her son made, especially the huge amount they allegedly spent from their family purse to put him in office.

A nation divided right across with an imaginary battle line drawn between them. Whoever emerges as the president of this country under such arrangement will not be a Nigeria leader. He will be a regional leader.

MANY Nigerians have expressed shock at the street fight that exploded in the chamber of the House of Representatives last week Tuesday. I am not shocked because I expected it. The two sides – the so-called “Progressives” and the rest of the House supporting Speaker Dimeji Bankole – took time to prepare for it. The “Progressives”, led by loquacious, cantankerous and cheap Dino Melaye, had been making noise in the media, where they issued the Speaker a one-week ultimatum to resign or be exposed for alleged corruption and bad leadership.

CRITICS certainly are important in any society that is democratic or claims to be one. They do not only draw attention to problems, omissions or oversight by functionaries of state, but also point to possible alternatives or solutions.

Without the support of the Southern minorities, Biafra would have successfully seceded from Nigeria and the North would have been just another Niger Republic. Also, it was with the support of Rivers and Cross River State in the Second Republic that the North-dominated National Party of Nigeria (NPN) was able to win the 1979 elections.

UNLESS sanity prevails, come Tuesday June 22, 2010, we might be treated to another round of attempts to change the leadership of the House of Representatives when the Green Chamber returns from its annual recess.

THE two chambers of the National Assembly crossed a historical legislative milestone before embarking on a recess to end the Third Legislative Session when they passed the Constitution Amendment Bill.

IT is now more than three years since the 2007 general elections were held. The Constitution and the Electoral Act empowered those who are not satisfied with the way elections are handled by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and any of the other concerned parties to take a petition to the Election Tribunal and later to the Court of Appeal if necessary.