It’s all ending not with the promised bang but a whimper. After 42 years of what started as a patriotic attempt to return power to the people of Libya from the ruling monarchy of King Mohammed Idris, Muhammar Gaddafi, the one who bore the rank of a colonel but exercised powers beyond those of a Field Marshall was chased away with a $1.4 million price placed on his head- dead or alive. For Gaddafi, it was a case of pride before a fall.

On being told that the generally condemnatory disposition with which many Nigerians received President Goodluck Jonathan’s plan to sponsor an executive member bill limiting governors and the president to a single term of six years effectively killed the presidential initiative, presidential spokesperson, Reuben Abati, responded that the President’s plan was still on course and nothing has killed it.

The images are not typical of the sorts associated with any part of the ‘civilised’ world. When you saw such pictures you thought of Africa, Asia, the restive parts of the Middle East or such other parts we’ve been told belong in the ‘developing’ or ‘third’ world. If you were told any such image was coming out of any part of the West you’ll call for some form of reality check.

Not even the most starry-eyed protester of the thousands gathered at Egypt’s Tahir Square last February could have imagined what finally played out in an Egyptian court room when Hosni Mubarak and his two sons were put on trial last week.

THE terms in which we discuss what is generally called ‘the fight against corruption’ gives one the impression that that fight itself has become a project in its own right.

IT was supposed to be a fight tothe finish between organised labour, led by the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress on the one hand, and government both at the state and federal levels, on the other hand.

LAST week, on the very ominous 13th day of the month, terrorists struck in India’s largest city, Mumbai, killing 17 people with more than 100 injured.

My father was, however, not a uniform wearing police officer or, rather he did wear the police uniform for a relatively short period. Most times he wore uniform but only to be photographed on attainment of a new rank. In the three decades or so he spent in the Force he worked in the inner sanctum of the investigative arm of the Nigeria Police at Alagbon Close in Ikoyi, Lagos.

THE Boko Haram attack on the Nigerian Police headquarters, Louis Edet House in Abuja, came with an urgency that demanded that the matter be addressed here immediately.

THERE is one thing the latest Boko Haram attack at the Louis Edet House last week has made clear: That the terrorist group means business and is prepared to take on the Nigerian state head-on. For those who don’t know, Louis Edet House is the national headquarters of the Nigeria Police, the principal police department in the country, named for the first indigenous Inspector General of Police, Sir Louis Edet.