IS the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari ready to walk its talk in the promise to give the Nigerian economy a new direction? This question will be answered if (or when) the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, ERGP, the president launched last year begins to bear fruits.

The reason democracy is globally acclaimed a superior form of government is succinctly captured in the rousing conclusion to a November 19, 1863 Gettysburg address of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the U.S., when he said: “… Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

A fair assessment of Nigeria’s war against terrorism would look at what is presently on ground and perhaps make a month on month and year on year comparison. But even this is not an adequate measure of whatever success or lack of it that is being recorded since statistics have an uncanny way of getting the figures right while losing the context.

IN a show of sympathy, President Muhammadu Buhari was reported to have spoken on phone with Mrs. Rebecca Sharibu, mother of Miss Leah Sharibu, the 15-year-old girl who was captured by Boko Haram insurgents, who invaded her school in a Gestapo manner some months ago. It would be recalled that last February, members of the Islamic terrorist organisation dressed in military fatigues, armed with sophisticated weapons, attacked Dapchi and went straight to the Government Girls Science Technical College, where they kidnapped 110 students.

THE  governorship poll in Osun has come and gone. The election was won and lost. The winner was gallant in winning. Whether the loser would be honourable in losing is not yet certain given the peculiar nature of our politics where a loser always alleges foul play and scream blue murder.