Public Affairs Analyst

First and foremost, I congratulate the new and first Acting President of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, on his epochal promotion on Tuesday, February 9, 2010. Though, I wish the process leading to his emergence had been neater and less ingenious, I pray that God will grant him divine wisdom, knowledge and understanding to administer this country. As he had observed in his maiden address to the nation on February 9, “It is now time for us to move on in a more determined manner to tackle the various challenges we face as a nation. Our march towards Vision 20-2020 is irreversible. Therefore, we see a need to prioritise on a few of the most critical areas which continue to plague our efforts at engendering meaningful economic growth and development. Some of these critical sectors include power, infrastructure, security, generation of employment and business opportunities for our teeming young men and women.” As the Acting President continues to receive counsel from all and sundry, ...

The February 6, 2010 gubernatorial election in Anambra State has come and gone but the memory of the poll will linger. The issues and debate on the election has dominated the political scene since the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) released the Notice of Poll on September 8, 2009. The election was unique in many ways. It marks the beginning of staggered elections in Nigeria as a result of judicial pronouncements. It is a one race poll where only one office, that of the governor was contested. The poll was vied for by the highest number of aspirants and candidates in the political history of Nigeria. A whooping 47 aspirants bought the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) nomination form to contest the party primary while a total of 25 political parties successfully nominated candidates to contest the election. The poll was also dogged by litany of litigations as aspirants in some of the political parties went to court to contest the validity of the nominations of their part...

Not to be at least a little superstitious is to lack generosity of the mind – De Quincy It was Frank Olize who broached the subject about the myth or reality of superstitions in his Sunday, July 20 1997 edition of Newsline. The answers he got to his poser are quite interesting even though varied. In fact the responses of the interviewees to the veracity or otherwise of superstition really showed Nigerians as superstitious lot who still subscribe to their cultural beliefs in spite of their literacy level, status or religious faith. This, to me, does not come as a surprise as superstition is not a peculiar phenomenon to Nigerians or Africans but a worldwide belief that cuts across age, sex, creed and clime. But pray, what is superstition? Superstition, according to the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English defines the word as “a belief which is not based on reason or fact but an association of ideas, as in magic”. It is true that superstition may not essentially be reasonable or fa...