LAURETTA ONOCHIE

I have, once again become a year older. My brothers, sisters, friends, well-wishers and associates overwhelmed me with beautiful, soul-stirring messages of goodwill, which continue to strengthen me as I relentlessly wade through labyrinths of life. I remain indebted to all of you and I can only wish it was possible to pay personal visits to all of you to express my gratitude. As I become a year older, it is only fit and proper for me to have some reflections on one or two issues, especially the much vexed issue of the endless search for justice. The search or pursuit of justice has never been easy anywhere in the world. It is a noble cause fit only for the focused and determined individuals who are ready to seek the common good for the greater number of people. In the pursuit of justice, which culminated in the historic black man becoming the President of the most powerful nation on earth, Martin Luther King once said, “Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable … Every

The season of politics is upon us. Should be a time to enjoy being a citizen. A time to hold people who were elected yesterday accountable and those who seek to be elected tomorrow show how their lives before desiring public office showed public spirit and service to others as well as capacity to get things done. Unfortunately, our politics does not always follow democratic expectations. While all hands need to be on deck to make that change, a few needling issues with the partnership of the moment need reflection. One of them is the limit of partisanship. The nature of traditional western Competitive partisan politics is adversarial, just like the law courts prosecutorial tradition. The sometimes unhealthy divisiveness of that tradition is the reason one argued for the one party starter in post Colonial Africa, to safeguard the unity of the colonially forged states with many centripetal forces puling at the core of its essence. All quickly found that the one-party state was an

Nigeria has been seething. This is no more news. A lot has been happening and still continues to happen. The elasticity of the patience of Nigerians has been stretched beyond those of any known people on planet earth. Yes corruption and all sorts of evil have made Nigeria their abode. None of these happenings has brought joy nor reprieve from the sufferings of Nigerians in recent times. We just sit tight and take it all in our strides. We moan a little bit and then we move on to the next unwholesome news. What is wrong with us? What sort of fabric are we cut from? "What is wrong with us?", I ask again. No one can fathom what is wrong with Nigerians. The world keep wondering about us and we keep amazing them with our docility. We have gone through the fuel subsidy scam to its investigation, to the concerted effort by the Jonathan administration to discredit and kill the fuel subsidy scam report, using monarchs, government officials and PDP leaders. Nigerians reacted t

Unfolding events are eliciting more negative impression over its name. I was at Yaba Motor Park waiting for a taxi to take me to Oyingbo when I heard the front tyre of a commuter vehicle gave a loud bang. Somebody standing beside me shouted, 'Boko Haram' and suddenly everybody around the area, including myself scampered for safety. Unfolding events are eliciting more negative impression over its name. I was at Yaba Motor Park waiting for a taxi to take me to Oyingbo when I heard the front tyre of a commuter vehicle gave a loud bang. Somebody standing beside me shouted, 'Boko Haram' and suddenly everybody around the area, including myself scampered for safety. Violence surreptitiously crept into its creed. The reality today is that boko haram is equated with terrorism, criminality, banditry, and gangterism. The group has become very indiscriminate in its attack and destruction of lives and properties.The first time I heard the name, I thought it has something

Over the past one year, I have been writing about the impending implosion, explosion and disintegration of the People's Democratic Party of Nigeria, PDP, but it seemed that it would not happen and boooooom! It has happened and the rest as they say, is history.  How did it happen and what gave rise to it? President Jonathan, a man who cannot see beyond his political party, the PDP, was quick to lay the blame solely on the foxy General Olusegun Obasnajo. Those who are die hard Jonathians, especially from the Niger Delta, blame 'Detractors'. Many Nigerians, especially of the Hausa/Fulani stock belong to this category.  I would blame Saharareporters, Premium Times, Punch online and millions of Nigeians who daily use the social media to hold the useless government of President Jonathan to account. "Blame" is not the right word so I would rather, give credit to them for the systematic and consistent way they have exposed the continually evil PDP and its agents. Ob

Many years ago, before the advent of Paracetamol, APC was the medicine for headache, stomachache and indeed, all aches and pains. Today Nigeria has a headache, a bellyache and all known and unknown aches and pains. The good news is that we know the cause of most of these aches. Diagnosis? Corruption and the poor leadership of the PDP! But it looks like the good old tablet,  APC is back in Nigeria; not in chemists and pharmacies, but as a political conglomeration that promises to heal Nigeria of many of her aches and pains, commonly known as PDP wahala. It is the ALL PROGRESSIVES CONGRESS (APC). Hear them, "We resolve to form a political party committed to the principles of internal democracy, focused on serious issues of concern to OUR PEOPLE, determined to bring corruption and insecurity to an end, determined to grow our economy and create jobs in their millions through education, housing, agriculture, industrial growth etc, and stop the increasing mood of despair and hop

Child's play! Literarily, that's what the Nigerian leadership is. The sort of thoughts, mind sets and actions of this sham of a democratic government makes one cringe at the thought of being a Nigerian. How did we get to this pass? How did a nation of intelligent, educated, sophisticated and determined people end up having the dregs of their nation presiding over them? In case you think I am being too harsh, I'll quickly explain what I mean. You see, I grew up in Nigeria and lived there until a few years ago. I have since, as a teacher learnt that playground antics are the same or at least similar all over the world. Children engage in crude bargaining methods and mete out appropriate retaliatory sanctions when in their childish and selfish minds, their friends are out of line. It is not uncommon to hear children say, "You know I don't like John and you played with him, since the football is mine, you will therefore not join in my football game?." Man