IN the last few weeks, the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke has come under intense and sustained attacks ostensibly from members of the opposition party.

GENERALLY, I rarely venture into Nigerian politics and its goings-on but three news stories in recent months that appeared in Thisday, National Mirror, and The Sun, titled “Ike Ekweremadu I Know,” caught my interest. The focus of the two stories was on the leadership and associated accomplishments of the Deputy President of Nigerian Senate Ike Ekweremadu. One of the news stories described the Deputy Senate President as “leadership personified”. I was excited and encouraged by this description knowing that political leaders are more exposed to temptation and error than most professions.

WE choose selective amnesia whenever it is our desire to score cheap political points. When the intention is to corner political power, our unflattering past is covered with the ageless toga of “progressives”. When the idea is to deflect investigation from our direction, we turn emergency whistle blowers.

I DO not need to recount the recent Immigration Service recruitment fiasco here. The horrors are still fresh, the insensitivity of the Interior Minister—self-styled ‘Comrade’ Abba Moro—continues to rankle; so does the indecent attempt by the opposition to build political capital out of the unfortunate affair.

THE President inaugurated the National Conference in Abuja on Monday. By so doing, he has fulfilled another promise of “this nebulously packaged Transformation Agenda”. Another noise making gathering of the people has commenced. It shall produce nothing except the desires and wishes of the man who singled out everyone that is qualified to be member, and that is the President himself.