It’s not every day that academ-ics celebrate their birthdays. But it was an occasion for celebration a fortnight ago when Bashiru Okesina, medical doctor, professor and current Vice Chancellor of Osun State University, marked his birthday.

The question of how rich President Goodluck Jonathan is should not come as a surprise to any Nigerian that has been following report of his curious listing by an American publication as the sixth richest head of state in Africa.

On September 30, 2014 America recorded its first case of Ebola Virus Disease. The source of this unwanted guest to the American soil was himself a guest to America from one of the countries at the centre of the disease. He was Liberia’s Thomas Eric Duncan who was visiting Texas

SINCE September 12, 2014, when a six-storey building under construction collapsed in the premises of the Synagogue Church of All Nations, there has been a deliberate, even if unspoken, tendency to create the picture that only South Africans died in the unfortunate incident.

THE upper arm of the National Assembly, the Senate, reconvened from vacation last week to a new realisation, to wit, that Nigeria is at war. Principal officers of the Senate, led by its president, David Mark, made seemingly strong statements that made clear their belief that the escalation of insurgent activities in the North East of Nigeria is a clear indication that the country is indeed at war.

THE last time I checked which was about ten hours before I started writing this on the night of Thursday September 11, the news out there was that the Federal Government had decided to stick to its decision to move the resumption date of schools forward.

AT what point is it safe to declare a place and a people safe from the menace of a dangerous disease? When can a potential plague of devastating proportions be viewed as under effective control?

THESE are dangerous times for Nigeria. They are times that try a nation’s soul and it is the choice of the country’s leaders what they make of the times. The choice we make or that those who lead us make for us have grave implications for the continued existence of Nigeria as it was formerly known. I described Nigeria in the past tense, in the manner I did in the preceding statement, advisedly.

TWO phenomena are currently playing out and defining the Nigerian political space. This is the politics of defection and impeachment. Politicians are either defecting, that is changing party affiliations with the sole aim of positioning themselves, literally, for personal aggrandizement. Or they are being impeached from one position or another by erstwhile friends turned foes- also for the same selfish reasons of personal elevation.

THE outbreak of Ebola virus in parts of West Africa, including Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, has rightly sent panic around the world. From Liberia it has found its way to Nigeria and is slowly spreading among health workers and others who had had direct and indirect contact with infected persons. The fear now is that it might continue its slow but steady spread if nothing or enough is done to stem it. Such a devastating killer should not be allowed to continue unchecked, especially since the mode of transmission could be as insidious as shaking hands with an infected person.