WHEN Dr Goodluck Jonathan became Acting President, while Yar’Adua was still receiving treatment in Saudi Arabia, he acquired substantial powers and started to take bold decisions that moved the country forward.

ACCORDING to a recent report in ThisDay newspaper, Alhaji Mukhtari Shehu Shagari, the Deputy Governor of Sokoto State and former Minister of Water Resources, has advised his fellow Northerners to stop emphasising the zoning issue, acknowledge the support they have received from the South-South for the past 50 years and accept his view that President Jonathan can deliver impressive results and has every right to contest for the presidency next year.

A friend recently sent me an email containing a very thought_provoking fable; and I’m publishing an edited version of it because we can all learn from it.

THE Americans say they are winning the war in Afghanistan, the United Nations (UN) disagrees. While the latter told the world that the war in that country is going quite badly for the Hamid Karzai government and foreign troops led by the United States (US), the Americans are claiming that the war against the Taliban and its Al-Qaeda ally is going so well that they would begin a “responsible drawdown” (troops withdrawal) from July 2011.

WHEN I first moved to Abuja a decade ago, having spent all of my formative years in the UK, I was a naive Oyinbo Girl. I totally trusted everyone who approached me for friendship.