ON February 13, 2011, it will be precisely 35 years our former Head of State, General Murtala Muhammed, was assassinated on a black Friday (February 13, 1976) in a military coup.

FOR anyone who has followed his career, it would not come as a surprise that Chris Ogiemwenyi a petroleum engineer and the Minister of State in the Federal Ministry of Works has brought glamour and competence into the act of governance in just few months on the job.

RIGHT from his inauguration as the Chairman of Isoko South Local Government Area of Delta State, Bashorun Askia Ogieh (JP) has always had a clear vision of the enormity of the task before him.

ONE of the most complex problems in Nigeria, it has been dispassionately observed, is that of recycled leadership.

For the past one month or so, several articles have been published in some national dailies analysing the political situation in Kwara State in manners that suggest that the people of the state remain perpetually subservient to the Saraki political dynasty.

The election of Governor Ibrahim Shekarau to fly the flag of the ANPP in the April presidential election is most timely, appropriate and a cheering news to all lovers of democracy across the land.

My complaint is with regard to a report by your reporter, Victoria Ojeme. The story is at page 22 of Sunday Vanguard of February 6, 2010. It is titled, “FG’s War against cholera at risk – storage of vaccines raises eye brow”. Beside the story is a photograph of the vaccines referred to in the story with the caption, “Imported vaccines allegedly left under the sun”.

THIS explains the root of African brotherliness. It also emphasizes the African notion that man is sacred and should be respected, catered for and sustained in charity by others.

IN the past few weeks at Harvard University, the discussion has been on the revolution in Egypt. Many African students have discussed the possibilities of an Egyptian-type revolution happening anywhere else in Africa. Nigeria was at the centre of the discussion and the question was: Can the kind of revolution we have seen unfolding in Egypt happen in Nigeria?

IN his monumental work, African Philosophy: A Historico-Hermeneutical Investigation of the Conditions of its Possibility (1983), he stated that “by interpreting the symbols of a culture that one can arrive at reflection and philosophy”.

IT is great men of outstanding vision that shape the destiny of nations the world over. Such great men are not hard to find and pick from the crowded pages of world political history.

MAN’S sense of wonder about the things in and outside of him sharpened his curiosity to know not only the sense of things but the sense of senses in general, and the meaning of meanings in particular.

THE 2011 general election is in top gear and serious contenders have signified their interests to vie for the highest position in the land next year. Just like previous elections, it appears the coming election is being run on trivial issues and not on issues that border on the general wellbeing of the people.

THE much-anticipated Peoples Democratic Party [PDP] presidential primary elections in Nigeria have come and gone, leaving the victorious singing victory songs and the vanquished to rue their fate. That the PDP presidential primary elections were a bitterly fought and acrimonious political battle is to say the least. It succeeded in splitting the ruling party in Nigeria down the middle.

IMAGINE how many Venezuelans, Algerians and Angolans would drown in laughter, should their presidents tell them that a major achievement of the regime, for which it seek new mandate is ensuring a uniform price of petroleum products throughout the country.