A COUPLE of months ago – while Yar’Adua was still alive – an unknown person or group decided to paste “Jonathan For 2011” campaign posters all over Abuja.

AN immigrant friend of mine gloomily described it as a “sense of elsewhere”.
Not everyone who resides outside the land of their forefathers has this problem, but quite a few do. What a “sense of elsewhere” boils down to is a nagging, ever-present feeling that there is another often distant place to which you truly belong and should probably make strenuous efforts to connect with.

I HAVE needed, at various points in my life, to hire people to help me with administrative tasks and professional or business projects. And I’m always happy and grateful when I get a chance to work closely with well-spoken brainboxes because, in addition to enabling me to perform more efficiently, they enhance my image, reduce my stress levels and make it possible for me to have more spare time for my family and leisure activities.

LAST week, the British general election results were inconclusive. The ruling Labour Party was humiliatingly forced into second place by the Conservative Party, which won the most parliamentary seats. But the Conservatives didn’t win enough seats to secure an overall majority and a political deadlock ensued.

As my esteemed media colleague, Simon Kolawole of ThisDay newspaper pointed out in his column last Sunday: “The PDP crisis…is not about food on the table for ordinary Nigerians. It is not about roads and water and electricity and schools and hospitals. It is just about intrigues and self-interest. We have seen this before. Those who benefitted extensively from the ‘impunity’ in the PDP become reformers when things don’t go their way.”.

LAST week, I dedicated a large chunk of this column to telling Vanguard readers that my generator and the PHCN transformer on my street in Abuja had collapsed simultaneously, that my household had been TOTALLY deprived of electricity for several days and that I had temporarily taken refuge in a hotel…

I am writing this week’s column from a hotel room to which I had to flee in utter, tearful frustration today because I’ve had almost no electricity in my home for the past few days.

I HAVE just read a fine, thought-provoking article in Time, the American current affairs magazine. It was composed by a brilliant writer called Joe Klein, shortly after President Barack Obama achieved an epic victory by successfully pushing a radical healthcare sector reform bill he initiated through Congress (the US equivalent of our National Assembly).

LAST week, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) planted a couple of car bombs in Warri on a day when a Vanguard Post-Amnesty Dialogue was due to take place.

ON Monday, Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) operatives planted three car bombs in and around the Delta State Government House compound in Warri…the venue of a post-amnesty dialogue that had been initiated by this newspaper and was being supported by Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, the Delta State Governor.