Prince Tonye Princewill is a personable young man that has the ability to charm people even when he is telling them bitter truths, as all other members of President Umoru YarAdua’s Niger Delta Technical Committee, on which he served, learnt…sometimes to their chagrin

By Morenike Taire ONE of the phenomena of our times that have endured much assault is the National Youth Service Corps scheme. There have been several arguments in the past in favour of its dissolution, mainly for financial and corruption reasons. The fluid of corruption that had poured upon the fabric of our nationhood from […]

Just when you think you’ve seen all there is to be seen about the strange ways of the Yar’Adua administration and some of its officials, then will the government spring yet another one on you.

The devil can cite scriptures for his purpose”…William Shakespeare

LAST weekend, I had cause to sit at a roundtable of sorts with a bunch of passionate Nigerian youths. The word ‘youth’, of course, is used rather loosely here as we have the national tendency to do. We appear youthful in these parts much longer than they do in other places.

MANY times you wonder as a Nigerian if anything good can ever come out of this country. You despair over the possibility of those in positions of authority ever seeing the need to do something without an eye for some form of personal gain.

A COUPLE of weeks back, news broke of how a number of young people were caught, who had connived to kidnap some ministers and others whom they thought had the ability to cough up the tens of millions they had planned to take from stakeholders.

ONE of the most inspirational stories Hollywood has ever told is RAY, the biographical work telling of the life of legendary blind African American musician Ray Charles. It focuses on his rise from deep South racial dirt poverty as well as monumental personal and emotional loss to becoming the genius pacesetter we knew.

Dear Fellow Nigerians,
At a recently concluded socio-cultural event in Odi, Bayelsa State, Dr Timiebi Koripamo-Agary, who is one of the most trusted, most seasoned and most professional federal civil servants, and who is also a member of the Federal Government Committee on Amnesty and Rehabilitation, was quoted as saying: ‘It is time now for those who have carried arms for whatever reason to drop them and embrace peace, so that real peace and development can come in for our people.

IT was Ryszard Kapuscinski, the late Polish journalist who lived in and wrote so extensively about Africa, who insisted: “The continent is too large to describe… Only with the greatest simplification, for the sake of convenience, can we say ‘Africa’. In reality, except as a geographical appellation, Africa does not exist”.

The marital heartbeat within our Diasporan community is on life support. It has been afflicted by several ailments- ailments that have left it enfeebled, emaciated and lacking all the nourishing nutrients for a healthy life.

For instance, the Ijaw territory was the center of commerce – renown for its trade in ivory, palm oil, and other natural resources. It was also a center of the African Atlantic slave trade. And for a period in its history, it had an independent diplomatic relations with European powers.

This, and the pursuit of charity, is what Gani Fawehinmi lived and died for. That Gani Fawehinmi was poisoned along with others in the jailyards of our military administrators past will continue to be a rumour, just as the murder of Umaru Yar’Adua will continue to be a rumour until all who hatched and executed it are brought to book.

I have always believed in the unique brand that is the Vanguard newspaper-its niche which it has kept since its inception and the camaraderie and bond of fraternity that exists among the numerous young men and women- many of whom are my professional peers-such as the hardworking Editor-Maideno Bayagbon that have toiled in the vineyard of this publication, making it in the process a must read newspaper in Nigeria.

Today, we dedicate our column, POSITIVE LETTERS, to a very gerrmane communication penned by the now renowned Tompolo to President Umaru Yaradua. Shalom