Clay Richie

“The future comes slowly, the present flies and the past stands still forever.” – Johann Friedrich Von Schiller.

Was general Tukur Buratai, our Chief of Army Staff (COAS), being disingenuous, insulting, or outright stupid when he declared that the $1.5 million property in Dubai, UAE, belonged to one of his wives? If you believe his story, you probably believe that the N2.5 billion the EFCC allegedly discovered in a bank account bearing the name of the maid of former Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah, belonged to her maid. “Believe this – You’ll believe anything” is one of the classics of the thriller maestro, James Hadley Chase, and nowhere does this prevarication and baloney play out than in our dear country. Our COAS has been in the news lately not because his men eventually routed and crushed the dreaded terrorist organization, Boko Haram (BH), but due to an alleged financial impropriety.

I wholeheartedly endorse the inauguration of a Special Military Task Force by President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday, July 13, 2016, in Zamfara State to tackle the menace of cattle rustling which has made life and business hellish for herdsmen in the state.

Every soldier knows it: the most dangerous opponent is the one within.  This is one of the reasons why loyalty is such a cherished characteristic in a fighting force.  A weak link within can destroy far more easily than a strong opponent on the other side of the battle field.

No one who is conversant with the biography and career of ‘Senator’ Dino Melaye would be shocked by corroborated reports that he threatened to beat up and ‘’impregnate’’ a female colleague during a closed door session of the Nigerian senate on Tuesday. The act, outrageous as it sounds, is in character. Dino has always been the quintessence of a street thug. His personal and public lives show a symmetrical penchant for hysterics, bullying and violence.

Following the separate shootings of two Black Americans by the police in the States of Louisiana and Minnesota, that sparked a retaliatory killing of five police officers by two snipers at a Dallas demonstration, President Barack Obama featured in a town hall broadcast on television network ABC, where he fielded questions bordering on the issues of policing and racial discrimination in the United States.

Turkey is about five hours away from Nigeria by air, about 2, 634 miles from here, but the night there was a coup attempt in Turkey, July 15, with soldiers shutting down parts of Ankara and Istanbul, you’d think Ankara is a city somewhere in Nigeria and Istanbul is an extension of our country. Commentaries kept flying up and down on Nigeria social media space, with the coup attempt in Turkey becoming a trending topic.