TUNDE Idiagbon was not around to see it. And if he were to still be here but didn’t see it he would have doubted the news about it. But it happened. Muhammadu Buhari (who with Tunde Idiagbon once overthrew democracy and held Nigeria with iron-stiff hands) ‘bathed’ us with tears recently.

AS a staunch supporter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Ondo State, I strongly believe that it is now time for the party leadership to act decisively and strategically by undertaking a massive re-organisation of Ondo State PDP and render powerless and irrelevant, all the yesterday’s men who contributed absolutely nothing to the party’s triumphant re-entry into mainstream of Ondo politics, defined by PDP’s positive performance at the presidential polls in the state.

FOR a country where crookedness and cheating in public life has become a norm, Nigerians are busy passing off Professor Attahiru Jega’s hollow ritual as a great success and a testimonial of credibility and integrity in conducting national and state elections, where virtually all the elements of fraud that have characterised general elections in Nigeria since independence, were present and in no diminishing order.

BUT for post-election crises which engulfed most parts of Northern Nigeria, the April elections were free, fair, credible and peaceful. Nigeria has once again demonstrated her capacity to do things right when inclined. The election has set at naught the sham that was the 2007 election.

LATELY, fresh winds of positive change seem to be blowing through the rank and file of the Nigerian Customs Service, NCS. A new orientation seems to be taking place in the entire operations of the Service.

THE violence in the North is not surprising. That half of our society is perpetually on tinderbox; the result of widespread poverty coupled with mass illiteracy and, in too many cases, religious fanaticism.

A PEOPLE’S language is part of their identity. If a people lose their language, they have practically lost themselves.
The English language is supposed to be our second language but now, it has become our first language.

THE Customs Command, as we all knowis the hub of international and local businesses in Nigeria. In fact, as the first port of call for most Nigerian and foreign importers and exporters, the happenings in this Command will either affect Nigeria positively or negatively.

IT is, I believe, generally understood that the achievement of true development in Nigeria must entail the building of our own endogenous domestic capabilities and capacities to produce and manufacture modern technologies and globally competitive industrial goods.

THE 2011 general elections debates may have been over with the on-going elections across the federation and the citizens’ anticipation of more election results. But the drama and controversies caused over the debate are worth examining, especially for future elections and debates.

NIGERIAN motorists daily face the dilemma of which instruction to abide by regarding the use of tinted motor glasses.

IF there is anybody out there that still nurses any doubt about the ability of the Nigerian masses to determine for themselves, then the just concluded presidential election is enough for the doubting Thomas to start believing in the ability of what the Nigerian citizens are capable of doing.

THERE is something that is seriously wrong in Africa where those who lose elections refuse to accept defeat. There is something wrong in situations where those who do not win refuse to give up even when they have reached the end of the road.

OF all the elections so far held in Nigeria this year, the reported fraudulent and criminal activities that characterised polling in Ika North of Delta State are shameful and disgusting. Dr. Godwin Awvioro, a lecturer in Anatomy at Delta State University, was the returning officer there. He refused to announce fabricated election results, even at gunpoint. He later surfaced at the Police Headquarters in Asaba, the Delta State capital to cancel the results of the fraudulent elections.

I MUST necessarily start by congratulating Goodluck Jonathan for listening to me on the matter of Ibori’s London trial. In “Any Deal between Jonathan, Ibori-Uduaghan” recently published by various media organs home and abroad I opened that topic this way: “We all love Goodluck Jonathan, and yours sincerely has arguably done more pro-GEJ articles (published home and abroad) than anybody since Atiku emptied his political campaigns of sanity.