It would appear that the one and only Jagaban, Chief Bola Ahmed Tinubu, former Governor of Lagos State and Asiwaju of the Yorubas committed a slight faux pas in his public upbraid of Ibe Kachikwu’s utterances about not being a magician. Of course, the Minister of State for Petroleum,Dr Kachikwu is nothing of the sort as we all know, including the President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and Minister of Petroleum Resources who appointed him faultlessly to the position, in the first place.

My compliments to Solomon Dalung, the Honourable Minister of Sports.His is a truly “goodly heritage”, as the Holy Bible might have called it. Football, especially at the seat where he is called upon to inhabit at the moment, has had several colourful and successful occupants and most of them did not have a notable connection with the game, sports generally before their arrival either.

The good people of Ekiti State are supposed to have elected Ayo Fayose as their state governor. They must have done so in all innocence and with the expectation of his keeping to the proper behaviour of an occupant of the high office.

Greetings. Are you aware that your topic, “How Nigeria broke the back of Apartheid”, may not make sense to a Nigerian educated, a freshly graduated university graduate, or part of the crop of Nigerian undergraduates? What apartheid did to the black majority in South Africa, and Nigeria’s role in bringing apartheid to an end is largely unknown to our young ones of today. WHY? The largest black nation on earth decided to remove HISTORY (including, Nigeria’s, Africa’s and the black race’s history from school curricula. Our young ones are proceeding into the future without that special wisdom which arises from a good sense of our own and other people’s history”. (…Martin Okpaleke)

My compliments to Remi Oyeyemi. His comments on the recent controversy raised by the classification of Yoruba rulers, made by the Alake of Abeokuta – or Egbaland? – were rather illuminating. He outlined the cause of the different versions of the history of the Yoruba that were offered by those whom he described –perhaps not too charitably – as “every Jick and Jack”. But he also conceded that most people are moved by “patriotism and the love of their immediate source of origin; just wanting to project pride in their own roots.

South Africa no longer surprises us. In the heat of the on-going attempt at ripping us off massively, Jacob Zuma, the country’s President blandly pays us a visit. He was once his country’s representative here. So what else is new? His predecessor in office also preceded him here. It was not entirely coincidental, because Nigeria was one of their closest allies against apartheid when the policy of “apartness” barred the black people from the inalienable rights of humanity—freedom as a human being, and equality as citizens of the same country.

A randy young man from Kano abducts, kidnaps, or elopes (with) a damsel in Bayelsa, and the whole country is in confusion! Well, not the entire, but, at least, some people seem to be at a loss. Yes, some aspects of the matter appear to be odd—though not against the normal ethos of the country. Yes, it is only natural that one should be concerned, but there is a limit to everything though the itch dictates the scratch, and that is for the man itching to say; and the man, or woman, indeed said it loud this time.

The ascension of His Royal Highness, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi to the throne of Ile-Ife tends to incite the opening of several pages of Yoruba history that may be better glossed over. “Pages” in the context of what is largely only remembered, not really written, does in itself cast serious doubt on the facts of the narrative. It cannot, all the same, be argued that some of the highlights of what has been cherished by the people for decades as the basis of their heritage do not bear any semblance to their status as a distinct unit of homo sapiens with their own languages, culture and traditions. On the contrary, the pattern of a cultural development that identifies a people is more harmoniously blended among the Yoruba than in many other communities in the world. (That is written as a Yoruba man, whose mother was from the royal Edo family of Osula.…no apologies)

A few days ago, at the beginning of his well-deserved rest in England, President Muhammadu Buhari lamented that his paramount challenge is with the judiciary. He quoted his experience in the past futile efforts to become the occupier of Aso Rock as what constitutes his lack of confidence in the Judiciary. The fact that such an unbecoming statement was made in a foreign country makes one wonder about how sensitive our President really is concerning our foreign image, in spite of his globe-trotting which we are informed is necessary to repair our reputation abroad. In any case, the statement which, by itself, airily cast heavy aspersions on our institutions of justice must be considered ill-considered coming, as it did, from the head of the executive branch of government.

On this day, February 13, General Murtala Mohammed, Nigerian Head of State, was assassinated. Exactly 40 years ago today. He was on his way to work at Dodan Barracks, a distance of less than three kilometres from his residence in Ikoyi. He was killed along with is aide-de-camp, the only company he had. It was not his style to garland his way with a massive escort of despatch riders and armoured cars, in the midst of wailing sirens. Although he had himself seized power some six months earlier, he was casual about the personal protection his position naturally warranted.