John Odey, Minister of Information

Even though this gift might not have been intended by Globacom or taken by Trust as a bribe; and it might or might not influence the way Trust newspapers cover or ignore stories and issues on communications, especially those that affect Globacom; and, indeed, it might not in any way change anything at all, it is still a bribe; because the freedom and independence of journalism is only going to be real, effective, complete and meaningful when it is a fact and is seen by the people to be obviously so. Journalism shouldn’t be in anybody’s debt.

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President Umaru Musa Yar'adua

In the two weeks that Malam Umaru Yar’Adua was indisposed, governance came to a halt in Nigeria. In its stead, just as nature is said to abhor a vacuum, the political society was taken over by rumour and spectacular whispers about elaborate conspiracy theories. I did not envy Olusegun Adeniyi, the presidential spokesman, when he announced that President Yar’Adua was being flown out of the country to Germany, because of an allergic reaction.

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The year was 1969 and the New Nigerian was barely three years old. Still, for courage, accuracy, authority and literacy, it was the newspaper to beat. Early that year, precisely on February 1, it put its already formidable reputation for courage and accuracy to possibly its severest test at the time. In the end, it passed the test in flying colours, thanks in large measure to a somewhat obscure Lagos-based lawyer who would eventually become famous several decades later as arguably Nigeria’s most litigious. He was Mr Abdul Ganiyu Oyesola Fawehinmi who celebrated his 70th birthday penultimate Tuesday, April 22.

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Permit me to commence today’s discourse by expressing my sincere thanks and appreciation to the hundreds of readers who took time to send text messages on last week’s piece in which I hoped to provoke debate on the factors that led to the tragic economic decline of Northern Nigeria over the last century. Going by the content of most of the messages it seems that I struck a chord or rather that the subject is of such serious concern for many elites than they are willing to admit publicly. I was particularly overwhelmed that most of the messages were accompanied by prayers for my continued well-being and encouragement to treat issues according to my conscience.

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Prince Vincent Ogbulafor

In letting this big PDP cat out of the bag, though, Prince Ogbulafor could not have chosen a worse time to make this grand announcement. He chose, for example, a week when the House of Representatives’ probe of the power sector had left all Nigerians stunned and dispirited with ugly revelations of corruption and inefficiency, when the Senate probe of FCT land allocations and housing sales had left most Nigerians reeling in shock, and when the heaviest blow is about to unfold, the House probe of the oil and gas industry from 1999 up to the present day, with all its potential to "shock and awe", to borrow the American military’s coldest war phrase.

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President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua

Many Nigerians I spoke to would rather not discuss your ailment beyond prayers for your quick recovery and successful return back to your country and your job. And when they do express those sentiments, they do so with a lot of passion and compassion; you could sense it, you could feel it, you could almost touch it. It was a revelation to discover that Nigerians as a group could display such loving emotion towards their leaders; more so at a time when facts are emerging to show that the people they thought were their leaders are actually a bunch of heartless, world class scoundrels.

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HRH Abdulmumini Kabir Usman

And, here is one: If you live in Abuja and your dear old mother lives, or you have a Wedding Fatiha or funeral du’a to attend; or, for any reason, you wish to spend your weekend, in Kazaure or Dambatta, you must set out before 9 o’clock in the morning on Friday. If you don’t, whatever happens to you and your schedule, you have no one to blame but yourself.

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Vincent Ogbulafor, PDP Chairman

A schoolboy essay on chief Vincent ogbulafor, the national chairman of the ruling political party in our country, the PDP, will best summarise the man’s political character in a few words that possibly will read this way: "a colourless character not known to stand for any ideals or principles (and therefore likely to stand for anything depending on who his puppeteer is), and unable to author any original thoughts that can edify society"! This neat summary came to my mind this week when I commenced thought on the first few sound bites that have so far emanated from the man that was imposed as the national chairman of the PDP a few months ago.

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Turai Yar'adua

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Permit me to commence today’s discourse by stating that there is nothing from my psychological make-up that succumbs to the primitive sentiments of racial inequality, nepotism or any subconscious feeling of ethnic superiority. Let me hasten to add also that I remain a strong believer in a one Nigeria defined by justice and equity and common prosperity. My stand is hinged on the strong belief that it is not possible to have happiness in our homes unless we also demand the same for our neighbours.

That explains why I have always advocated the need to come to terms with the problems of the Niger Delta so that the federation in the end, would be strengthened by renewed faith in the polity, to enable Nigerians as a collective, recognize the urgency and compelling need to join hands to uplift the nation from the ravages of disease, dilapidated infrastructure, and rabid underdevelopment.

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The Dalai Lama

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Residents of Dutse-Alhaji are still mourning the death of a journalist with the Channels Television who died in bizarre circumstances penultimate Wednesday, April 2.

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Title: Gadar Zare: Wakoki

Author: Auwalu Anwar

Publisher: ABU Press: Samaru, Zaria, 2007

If prose is words in their best order, poetry is said to be the best words in the best order.

The book is divided into five sections. The first is what the author termed ‘religious poems’, which are songs of thanksgiving to and glorification of, God and the sending of benedictions on the Holy Prophet [SAW]. Here the author departs from the tradition, borrowed from Arabic literature, in which a pious prologue is affixed to the beginning of each separate poem. The centrality of God and the Holy Prophet [SAW] to Islam and to the lives of Muslims has made this practice so obvious it needs no justification; and Anwar’s decision to do away with it—in effect inadvertently ‘secularizing’ the other sections—allowed him to get to the matter at hand without much ceremony. But like the basmalah at the beginning of each chapter of the Holy Qur’an, the benedictions may carry different meanings in different contexts and may, indeed, have been poem-specific.

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Mal. Nasir el-Rufai

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Jimoh Ibrahim

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El-Rufai

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President Umaru Musa Yar'adua

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Gov. Saidu Dakin Gari

On Friday the Appeal Court, presided over by Justice Bulkachuwa (whose husband, by the way, was the DPP gubernatorial candidate for Bauchi state) had nullified the election of Governor Aliyu Wamakko of Sokoto state and directed that the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Hon Salame be sworn in as Acting Governor until new election is conducted within 90 days. In the second judgment, Bulkachuwa had upheld the election of Dakingari as against the prayers of the petitioner, the DPP in Kebbi State which had earlier secured victory at the Kebbi State Election Tribunal which had nullified Dakingari’s election.

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Sometimes we wonder – don’t we –about the inexplicable happenings around us?

Many great things sometimes occur which really tests our faith, not only in this temporal life, but also in the spiritual. time, many of us may have read or heard – haven’t we – the ultimate of all lamentations: "O Allah, why me?" Sometimes, some of these things are plainly inexplicable, but sometimes, they do come around to explain themselves. People who are deep in faith do not question, or try to rationalise, these happenings and accept them as they come. But Allah does compensate. For He is a Just God!

The following stories are from the book ‘Gems and Jewels (in apparent continuation of our Jewels Series) compiled by Abdul-Malik Mujahid and published by Darussalam Publishers, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in 2003. I bought the book for 25 Riyals during the last Hajj and it has paid much more than its price in gold.

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In South Africa many things might not be what they at first seemed; but a berg there is still a mountain, and ice is ice. The ice—it was snow but it had since turned into ice—on the tip of the berg might have melted now; but, for you, that wouldn’t necessarily make matters any clearer; because what you saw was less than what you missed. In Nigeria there are bergs all right, but there is no ice on them; and what you may see here is less clear than what you see around even the Cape of Good Hope. And that’s exactly the idea behind an iceberg floating at sea. Its tip may be a one-night affair but what is below the surface may is stuff for a one-thousand-and-one nights tale.

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