RECENTLY two Ijaws citizens have come under the light of the agents charged with corruption-Mrs. Deziani Allison – Madukwe, and Chief D. S. P Alamieyesiegha. One was arrested in London plushest address at no1 Park lane, another one was being sought out by the British police to answer charges of money laundering.

THE emergence of a new media without rules and boundaries is now an intrinsic part of this decade. Old media practitioners that failed to get tech savvy and adjust to existing realities are getting swept from the new market place of ideas. Whilst bloggers, whose only claim to journalism fame is their knowledge of “cut and paste” are emerging as billionaires, on the other hand print houses are closing down in droves. Practically all our previously buoyant weekly news magazines are down and out.

THE proposition seems to be this: Because there are separatist agitations or campaigns for self-determination across Nigeria, the drums of war must be rolled out. But the choice before the country should not be war or peace. It should be peace because the world teems with examples of societies that experienced the sort of challenges currently facing Nigeria and emerged from them without killing each other.

TWENTY years ago on November 10, 1995, more than two years after he made this grim prediction, Ken Saro-Wiwa, renowned writer, TV producer, newspaper columnist and irrepressible minority and environment rights campaigner did indeed die. But not a natural death. He was executed along with eight others by a Nigerian state in the grip of military dictator Sani Abacha who felt he had run out of patience with the man that pummeled Nigeria for her tragic ecological record in the Niger Delta notably, Ogoni land

In the wake of what we described as the simultaneous invasion of the homes of Col Sambo Dasuki (rtd), the immediate past National Security Adviser (NSA) in Abuja and Sokoto Gestapo-style by men of the Department for State Security (DSS), this writer wrote an essay titled “Dasuki: Are We Back to the Dark Ages?” which appeared in ThisDay newspaper of 25th July, 2015, wherein the writer expressed fears that the operations of the DSS against individuals possibly classified as political enemies of government was leading us back to the dark ages of citizens’ brutalisation, disrespect for citizens’ rights, flagrant disregard for our courts and the rule of law.

On May 13, 2015, President Goodluck Jonathan signed the Administration of Criminal Justice Bill into law.

Some mischief must be at work when a person sees a cup half full and declares with glee that it is nearly empty! Some ignominy must be in the offing when a man enjoys today’s clement weather but declares that yesterday’s showers still constitute a blight on the bright day. Some hatchet work must be in place when a foreign magazine writes a timid analysis that acknowledges only a quarter of the good work on the ground in Lagos state, Nigeria’s economic powerhouse.

In the light of the horrendous events that took place in Paris last night I believe that it is time to eliminate and exterminate every single Jihadist terrorist on the face of the earth. We must show them no mercy and we must hold no quarter.

I am constrained to respond to the article with the title above by Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, published in the Vanguard of Sunday, November 8, 2015. Ordinarily I don’t join issues with people, but to allow concocted and sensational lies and falsehood, mischievously and deliberately aimed at and capable of rising one section of the country against another, heaped on the nation in the name of truth is to be complacent in the destruction of society; more so given the level of the author’s intellect, educational attainment and the high position he held in the country as a minister. They say when evil is done by the wicked, silence of the righteous is complacency and God shall not find the latter guiltless. To this end, a simple deed of drawing attention to the facts of the past to lay bare the lies in the write-up can very well catalyze the removal of the evil therein. This, in itself, I believe, is a huge service to the country.

“I am still thinking about it, actually. I don’t know whether to congratulate them or to commiserate or to pity some of them. They have merged Ministries that need not be merged. Some Permanent Secretaries are now floating. Six months and this is it?”