While Nigerians Starve, Their Governors Clap At Jets

 By Stephanie Shaakaa

There was a time when the word governor carried weight and governors carried themselves with dignity.

The men elected in 1999, for all their faults, would never abandon their states just to line up at an airport and wave at a departing president. The men of the First and Second Republics, who truly won elections without leaning on presidential whims or the “magic” of electoral bodies, would have considered it beneath them. They commanded real followership, drew their legitimacy from the ballot, and would have laughed at the thought of waving at a president’s jet like secondary school prefects.

Nigeria At 62: So Far, Not Far

 By Ray Ekpu

When Nigeria lowered the Union Jack and raised the green-white-green flag that heralded its coming of age on October 1, 1960, there was boundless joy in Nigeria. It seemed like the unwrapping of a gift because you knew it was a gift but you did not know what kind of gift was wrapped inside the gaily decorated wrapping paper.

So in journey terms, we did not know how the journey would be, what kind of speed we would use and what kind of roadblocks we would meet on the way. It was, truly speaking, the equivalent of flying blind. But we were enthusiastic. Five short years later, we met a major roadblock.

The soldiers thought they knew what was the problem. They came breaking the soil with their big boots and in the process, they also broke our hearts when they killed some of our leaders which in turn led to revenge killings the revenge killings dragged us into a war that lasted 30 months and consumed one million lives. As it is often said, the rest is history.