LURKING in the shadow of every Nigerian leader (President or Head of State) has been a wife who was officially addressed as First Lady or Wife of the President (or Head of State). Before the coming of Military President Ibrahim Babangida, these ladies were mostly in the background, manning the “home front” and occasionally accompanying their husbands on official visits to important events at home and abroad.

IT happened again between October and December lasyear.  With no no-go areas, you would expect the arguments and debates by members of Vanguard Board of Editors to be very straight forward. But, as in everything about life, nothing is ever straight forward.

PERHAPS, if the Federal Government he served four times as minister had listened to him and taken his proposals as road-map for the development of the Niger-Delta region, and indeed, other parts of the country, maybe much of the pain the nation experienced, and is still experiencing could have been avoided. That was not to be; the entire nation, especially its leaders could not see gold elsewhere, except in crude oil. Today, a costly clean-up of Ogoniland is in the works, and is estimated to cost a whopping US$1 billion.

HE started as a clerk in the defunct Cooperative Bank. With hard work, he progressed to become an accountant and a banker, rising to the position of General Manager and later acting Managing Director of the bank. Today, he is an accomplished entrepreneur and investor who uplifts humanity with his philanthropic touch. He is Dr. Ayoola Obafoluke Otudeko, the widely celebrated Chairman of Honeywell Group of Companies.

FOR more than four decades, Chief Michael Ade Ojo has bestrode the Nigerian automotive sector like a collosus. He began with the sale of various auto brands such as Peugeot, Volkswagen, etc, before finally settling for Toyota, a product he turned to a household name in the country.