THAT the unconstitutional office of Nigeria’s ‘First Lady’ is a conduit for siphoning public funds while self-aggrandising has been brought to the fore by the ongoing face-off between the immediate past occupant of that office, Turai Yar’Adua and the ‘current champion’, Patience Jonathan, who, unlike Turai, is also a Permanent Secretary, PS, in her husband’s home state of Bayelsa.

IT’S been two weeks since I first broached here the rather idle decision of Seriake Dickson, governor of Bayelsa State, to appoint Mrs. Patience Jonathan a permanent secretary in the State.

ONE wouldn’t know if this is a sign of political ineptitude or an admission of failure but with his claim that his government is being distracted by insurgent activities in parts of the country- activities that have crippled his ability to deliver on his electoral promises, President Goodluck Jonathan increasingly appears to be at a point between a reluctant president and a confounded one.

HISTORY was made Thursday last week when Justice Aloma Mukhtar assumed duty as Nigeria’s Chief Justice of the Federation. She is the first woman to reach that height. An earlier contender to that position and wife of Chief Bola Ige, the slain Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Justice Atinuke Ige, suddenly died in the course of fighting to bring the killers of her husband to justice.

A LOOK at how world leaders conduct themselves today leads one to ask what role government should play in the lives of citizens; how much of government involvement should be allowed in the affairs of a people? The American society presents an interesting picture of how this question is handled.

POLITICAL leaders are by their very status newsmakers; none more so than the president of a country. But there are times when such leaders seem to enjoy more media attention than they normally do in the ordinary run of things.

A comprehensive resolution of Nigeria’s security issues may not be possible until we have, as a country, resolved the question of nationhood. For as long as every society is made up of human beings, to that extent could it be expected that there would be issues of a criminal kind, whether deliberate or otherwise.

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.

NINETEEN years after the pan-Nigerian mandate he won at the polls was voided by the military and 14 years after he died in incarceration fighting for the restoration of that mandate, recognition finally came the way of Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola – or so it seems.

YOUR Excellency: I have on two occasions applied for a German visa in as many years and both applications have been conference-related. If I have, as a Nigerian academic, come this far without yet visiting Germany, it is nothing short of gratuitous insult for your embassy to imagine that a visit to Germany is de rigueur for my academic career or even worse, that such a visit is for economic migrancy.