IT is an unfortunate reality of our times that many Nigerians have become experts at disapproving. Indeed, they are lacking in the simple yet humane act of giving credit where it is due. A major case in point is the often unreasonable denigration of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GEJ, by bitter men and women of yesterday who have nothing positive to offer the nation today.

At inauguration, Governor Seriake Dickson clearly spelt out the strategic value of the Restoration Agenda of his administration.

The world witnessed a playing style exhibited by our own U-17 boys team at the recently concluded FIFA event that has not been seen since the inception of the competition at that level.

The idea by those behind the ‘leaks’ was ostensibly to dehumanize and demonize the nominee to the Supreme Court before the American public and in the court of public opinion. But at the end of the controversial hearing, the nominee was confirmed and he got the job. Before that nominee assumed his position in the court, he spoke addressing many issues including what he considered the planned, coordinated, orchestrated and well funded effort by some people to find him guilty even before trial. He described it as an attempt at ‘hitech lynching’.

It was a rare gathering in Ondo town last weekend, as the nation’s decision makers joined the Osemawe of Ondo, Oba Victor Kiladejo, in marking his 7th year on the throne and his 60th birthday.

It was a notoriously crowded field. Yet as they gathered at a Town Hall meeting, only two gubernatorial candidates were on the raised platform.

Perhaps 50 years ago, it would have been awkward and superfluous to ask this question. In the late 60s through the 70s and earlier part of the 80s, marriage was seen as what a man and a woman go into for the rest of their lives; it was very odd to hear of separation and divorce.

AT a time when hardship was taking a toll on the people of Warri-North LGA, perhaps as a result of the general economic depression, communal conflict and the pollution of the environment resulting from unchecked activities of oil exploration companies and crude oil theft, a proper and committed representation is what the people need.

THE recent signing of a Bilateral Air Services Agreement, BASA, between our country, Nigeria and the Republic of Isreal, on October 28, 2013 is indeed a historic milestone in the country’s aviation history.

ABIA State Governor, Theodore Orji, explained recently, that his desire for a united Nigeria informed his decision to recall the non-indigenes disengaged from the state’s civil service. He made the explanation at the Enugu Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, press week held at Top Rank Hotel, Enugu, emphasizing the unity of the Igbos of the South East whose indigenes were mostly affected by the disengagement.

The late literary icon, Prof Chinua Achebe was at his proverbial best when he stated in one of his novels that the house the enemy wanted to pull down has caught fire on its own. Aviation Minister, Princess Stella Adaeze Oduah, who had massed a lot of enemies following her landmark reforms in the sector, is that proverbial house the enemy had long wanted to pull down.

ONCE again, Governor Sullivan Chime is selling newspapers and burning up web pegs and social networks. Once again, it is about health issues – only that this time it is not about the governor but about his wife, Clara. Another media fest is thus in full bloom and the ‘meal’ is again, Chime.

When the story of the Super Eagles and Golden Eaglets’ success at the continental and global stage is being written, a chapter will definitely be devoted to the contributions of the Minister of Sports and Chairman of the National Sports Commission, NSC, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi.

IT was a sunny afternoon at Obalende bus stop on the Lagos Island. A young man in saggy pants was among the hundreds of others waiting under the scorching sun. The top of his jeans which was significantly below his waist revealed much of his boxer shorts, bunching around the ankles.

Stigma remains the ugliest aspect of being a HIV/AIDS patient. It is the main reason many people are afraid to see a doctor to determine their status. It made AIDS a silent killer, because people fear the social disgrace attached to it. For this reason, AIDS epidemic has continued to devastate societies around the world—Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations