Every so often, God throws up certain persons to help salvage the situation of their people. Shakespeare puts it succinctly when he wrote that some people are born great, some achieve greatness whilst others have greatness thrust upon them.

THE moment we become fixated with our past, our ability to move forward positively is handicapped. Fixation with the past; that has been the Achilles heels of successive Nigerian governments. It began with the military coup plotters of the ’60s up until the Sani Abacha regime. They begin by reeling out the so called rot in the system caused by the outgoing (overthrown) regime and by the time they have stayed two, three, four years, the situation remains the same until another coup takes place, a new government takes over and the whole process is recycled again.

ISLAMIC scholars in their various dissertations agree that “Islamic Fundamentalism” connotes the universal absolutisation of Islamic doctrines as propounded and entrenched in the Koran as a format for governance. A form of Muslim theocracy based on Mohammedanism, Sharia and traces of Uthman Dan Fodio’s Jihad.

Observing the public debate following the publication of Amnesty International’s recent report on war crimes committed by the military I am reminded of the words of Wole Soyinka: “Power is transient, justice eternal”.

Nigeria is a very unique country. So also are the citizens. They are regarded, all over the world, as very special. If you are a Nigerian and in doubt of the last sentence, I implore that on your next holiday, pick up your green passport and make Indonesia or China your choice destination. The “royal”‘treatment you will receive will convince you that you are from a very UNIQUE country. No thanks to the Nigerians who have been able to convince the world we are good at hiding illegal stuffs in the cavities of our bodies.