A RECENT post on the Facebook revealed that, apart from the office of the President and the Secretary to Government, other key appointments are held by the North. These include: The President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Office of the Head of service, the Chief Justice of the Federaltion and President of the Appeal Court, the Governor of the Central Bank, the Chairman of EFCC, the Inspector General of Police, the National Security Adviser, the Chief of Defence Staff, the Comptroller Generals of Custom Service, Immigration Service, and Prison Service.

JONATHAN will contest in 2015 because he is qualified to contest. Jonathan will win again in 2015 and will rule this country for another term. Therefore what he needs from Nigerians now is cooperation to enable him concentrate in giving Nigeria good governance. And I want to say that no president has ever been deliberately opposed as President Jonathan.

DESPITE the general applause and commendation that has greeted the full takeover of destination inspection by the Nigeria Customs Service, it is amazing that there are pockets of sponsored critics who do not see anything good in the takeover. It is equally amazing that while the maritime industry and even the government is commending Customs for a smooth take off after taking over from destination inspection agents (Service Providers), those uninformed critics and pessimists are seeing confusion and problems where none exists.

TO hate Israel is actually to hate yourself, because it is inviting God to hate you. To hate Israel is to bring darkness into the world. Satan knows it, and he wants darkness here, and he has leaders driving that darkness. Hitler once drove that darkness when he slaughtered six million Jews. Several of the Jews that escaped his madness, became Nobel laureates because they afforded the world light and positive direction.

FINALLY, President Goodluck Jonathan has confirmed the reason for the replacement of Service chiefs which he blamed on the inter-service rivalry. Speaking while commissioning the Air Force Comprehensive School in Yola, Adamawa State, Jonathan urged a synergy among the nation’s security agencies, adding that Nigeria is already exposed to the “cancer” of insurgency.

I AM compelled to caution our politicians.
I have been in politics in this country, from my days in the university in 1960. I have participated in the elections during the NCNC/Action Group period. I have followed the politics of Nigeria from the first election before independence. I have witnessed the tragedy of the Western region. I have witnessed the tragedy of the Civil War. I am old enough to know the events that led to the series of massacres of the Igbos and the Yorubas in the Northern region. I have also witnessed the various coups and counter-coups of the Northern military generals who consolidated power in the Northern oligarchy and misruled this nation for years. I am constrained to caution young and inexperienced politicians that are crossing from one party to the other as if good governance depends on only numerical strength in the House of Representatives and in the Senate. Let us learn from the lessons of history.

THE beauty of science is that, it is empirical – smell, touch and see – so, we can deduce from our senses and observations. It is also logical. The science of Politics is not different; based on what we observe, we can reach conclusions. It is so everywhere, polls are conducted and most times, the results of the polls turn out to be the true position.

IN African culture, elders are the custodians of truth. They are the moral guide to the society and they do all in their wisdom to engender peace and preserve the interests of the larger society. Unfortunately, the various elders’ groups in Nigeria–in the East, West, South-South, Middle Belt or North -are different; they observe this rule in the breach. The most typical of them is the Northern Elders’ Forum (NEF) which has been in the news in recent times, for its strident pursuit of sectional and parochial interests to the detriment of the well-being of the larger Nigerian nation.

THE reason we’re gathered here this weekend is to find common ground and champion the cause for Ugborodo people. We are very saddened about the plight and the predicament Ugborodo is going through right now.

Some of us here today are not here for the interest of Ugborodo issues but for their own personal interest or gain and not until we change our perceptions or modus operandi, which by the way, waiting in the wing for bread crumbs to be thrown at us, Ugborodo will not move forward.

In the future, maps will not be documents you keep in the glovebox of your car or do battle with when hiking in the wind and rain, but living, breathing assistants that help you go about your day.

THERE is an African adage which says that it is the fly that refuses to heed advice that follows the corpse into the grave. Before the APC rally that took place in Ogoniland on Saturday, 25th January, 2014, elders from four Local Government Areas, under the aegis of the Concerned Ogoni Elders Forum, had advised Rivers State Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, to cancel the planned rally. The advice fell on deaf ears.

WITH INEC announcing the timetable for the general election, we expect that the different forces for the elective offices across the country will begin to mobilise. Delta is no different. For me and others who believe in our cause for equity and justice, we feel that as 2015 get close, the race for the tenancy of Osadebey House, Asaba will become more interesting. The truth is every qualified citizen has the inalienable right to aspire to any elective position, in saying that I believe that Delta state has obviously taken into account its multi-ethnic dimension by effectively evolving the rotation of political office including the office of the Executive Governor of the State in the current political dispensation.

ETHNICITY, nationalism and regional allegiance are socio-cultural ideologies. In Nigeria, as in most other parts of Africa ethno-cultural ideologies are much stronger than ethno-economic ones.” Furthermore, according to Mazrui, his favourite Nigerian example was “Obafemi Awolowo’s effort to move Nigeria a little to the left. When he looked to see who was following him, it was not the dispossessed of all ethnic groups in Nigeria who followed; it was his fellow Yoruba of all social classes and levels of income.”

TWICE in recent times, I have heard people say: “If Abacha were alive today, he would have been a hero.”
Not long ago, Gen. Sani Abacha was mentioned in respect of what would have been his response to the shenanigans from pro-homosexual countries of Europe, United States and Canada who have been threatening to withdraw their development support for Nigeria because President Good luck Jonathan signed into law the same sex prohibition Act 2013.

THE future of any nation is decided largely by the premium it places on the quality and life of its youths. The youths are the major part of the Nigerian population as shown by statistics and records, which conforms to the globally accepted view that the youths of today are the nation of tomorrow.