LAURETTA ONOCHIE

As the whole world was glued to their TV sets, watching as events unfolded in Egypt, the only thought on my mind was about my nation, Nigeria and her long-suffering but docile people. Somebody asked what was wrong with the Egyptians and my answer was that nothing was wrong with them. The Egyptians are a determined people who would not settle for less. They know where they are headed and they will stop at nothing to get there. They have a destination, their own brand of democracy and no obstinate Morsi would stand in their way. They have not cared, nor listened to those who opined that the obstinate Morsi was democratically elected. In their own thinking, if he fouled the terms of his mandate, the Egyptians were not going to keep their own part of the bargain. Simple. Would the world ever have the opportunity to see a re-enactment of the Egyptian saga in Nigeria? My candid opinion would be, "Never". And there are many reasons why I have hastily come to that conclusio

Corruption means the abuse of authority or a position of trust in order to gain an undue advantage over others. Institutionalized or endemic corruption implies a widespread abuse of authority or positions of trust by an organised cartel or a group of morally bankrupt entities who over a long period of time expose the generational population to compulsive potentials to become corrupt themselves, corrupt others in order to gain an undue advantage over others and in the process, hurt the system and by extension, the masses. Corruption comes in two major ways; corrupting someone else, or one's self. Corrupting someone means to buy off or pay off someone with influence in order to receive a favour.  Self corruption is when one yields to the compulsive temptation to tamper with valuables under one’s custody arising usually out of greed.  Corruption can destroy a generation and put a country at risk of widespread underdevelopment, retrogression and the arrest of development, a

Freedom and liberty are within you. The cause to dictate your own destiny in peace, sensible dialogue and prosperity on the land to which you are born is ethical and noble, but you must do it in the right way.  Remove that cap of madness, sit down and think. Look at the inner quality of those who make misguided rhetoric to inflame and whip up the drums of war. Are they truly worthy?  From north to south I see a whole lot of sick and brain-dead leaders who stoke the fire of war and corruption. They are successful in carrying along a generation of youth, bewitched and brain-washed in the excitement of a pumping of the adrenalin and blind rage. They simply love it! But do they ever think of the repercussions? True warriors will never attract battle or strife to their people. True warriors and leaders will LEAD BY EXAMPLE. They will stand at the forefront of the struggle; they will not sleep on the bed of the oppressors and romance corruption just because their

He had just arrived from an OAU meeting in Adi's-Ababa. The then Nigerian President General Ibrahim Babangida alighted from his plane and confronted the Inspector General of Police Mr Etim Iyang right in front of the welcoming press corp. "Where is Anini".  The next day, the newspapers' headlines splashed those three words on their front page with the picture of Anini and that of the Inspector General of Police, Etim Inyang. The Nigerian police was visibly embarrassed. Three months later Anini was caught and the country heaved a sigh of relief from the terror a notorious gang had unleashed on the country for more than a year. Etim Inyang was to later go on voluntary retirement from his post, given the embarrassment. A police superintendent was arrested and shot for being an accessory to the notorious armed gang. The reason I decided to go back this short historical memory lane is to bring out how Nigeria has deteriorated since 1986 when Anini wrec

A people have a right to self determination. This charter of the United Nations seems not to apply to Anioma people and their Ndigbo neighbours. Anioma people are being forced to take up an identity that was never theirs; Ndigbo are not allowed to protest their unhappiness within the union!  As far as we know, the last protest by MASSOB was peaceful. But how did the Federal government react to that peaceful protest? Many Igbo youngsters were arrested, summarily executed and their bodies dumped in Ezu River. What has the Igbo elites said about this? Nothing! What they have done is file behind each other, falling over each other to become praise singers for the inept government of President Jonathan, including Uwazurike himself.  Thank God there are still many Ndigbo who have souls that can think outside the cashbox. On Tuesday, 13 February 2013, Attorney Emeka Ugwuonye filed a Complaint against several named officers of the Nigerian Security Forces as perpetrators and crim

Nigeria at 52 represents a conglomerate of wholesale failure in almost every aspect of human endeavour for the vast majority of its people, especially its teeming youth population whose collective future is at a great risk of being put in perpetual jeopardy. No one can argue this given the giant strides we have made, and are still making with great speed too, in the reverse gear. Why should we be celebrating, when at 52, we are still dissipating lots of energy in endless debates about rotational presidency that  has produced the worst form of mediocrity? We continue to debate the sanity of those in authority in our nation when other nations are constantly in search of the most capable hands to drive leadership and their economies, in a highly competitive 21st century! Why should we be celebrating when  access to clean, portable and drinkable water has become a fleeting illusion that can never be achieved? What is there to celebrate in the face of an embar

When I first heard of the insensitive act of Elrufai against Jesus and Christians, I just waved it away with the hand saying I did not believe he would cast aspersions on the Jesus Christ, whom Christians hold sacred. “Mallam has apologised”, I was also told. “Political correctness”, I muttered. I did not in any way believe that Mallam Elrufai would deliberately or even accidentally fall into such a religious pit as to draw to himself, the anger of Christians in a nation where he has emerged, over time, as a vocal opposition. Particularly in an environment of greed, corruption, tribalism and religious intolerance. I was still adamant that he did not say anything untoward regarding my Lord and saviour. I would not even consider the thought that Elrufai, a man I refer to as a Nigerian, would lose his decency to the point of insensitivity. I have followed the actions and utterances of this man and I was not in doubt that he was the stuff nationalists were made. Here was a m