Grandiose Parlor

Haiti…time for sober reflections

Imnakoya — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 18:52:24 +0000

From this:

Haiti National Palace, pre- earthquake, May 2009.

To this:

Haiti National Palace, post- earthquake, January, 2010.

Time like this brings deep reflection…despite all the craziness back home, Nigeria is lucky.

My prayers go to the people of Haiti as they deal with this catastrophe!

Follow post-quake events in Haiti on CNN

Dead or alive, unfit to govern!

Imnakoya — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 17:22:39 +0000

The president has broken his contract with the Nigerian people who voted him into office. Even if he now appears to have resurrected and able to give a barely-over-one-minute-interview on BBC, there are just too many controversies surrounding his medical stay in Saudi Arabia to warrant forgiveness from the Nigerian people.

Dead or alive, Alhaji Umaru YarAdua is no longer fit to govern Federal Republic of Nigeria.

People rally to protest over a power vacuum created by the absence of President Umaru Yar'Adua, Abuja, 12 Jan 2009. Source: VOA/AFP

A missing president…

Imnakoya — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 22:17:58 +0000

The dissing will continue until…

Nigeria: YarA’dua in the throes of death?

Imnakoya — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 05:20:36 +0000

The Nigerian president may be brain-dead, or severely physically and mentally incapacitated to ever function in the executive capacity he was elected some three years ago. There are some damning reports from NEXT and Punch dailies.

The story in Next is particularly jaw-dropping! Several spasms of shiver ran down my spine reading how a handful of people have been able to mount the greatest charade in the nation’s history.

The story better not be true!

Nigeria’s lost relevance

Imnakoya — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 22:25:05 +0000

Alhaji Umaru Yar'Adua. President Federal Republic of Nigeria

I don’t know if Alhaji Umaru Yar’Adua still consider himself the president of Nigeria or not. Certainly he does, I think, considering his refusal to hand over — even if temporally to his deputy, while on sick leave in Saudi Arabia, or wherever he’s holed up at the moment.

If Mr. President is still in control of his mental faculty, and his sights have not failed him as some of his other body parts and organs have, he needs to read Princeton Lyman’s piece on Nigeria: “If Nigeria fails?”, published in BusinessDay on Jan. 7. (In fact, all federal ministers, legislators and state governors should read the article.) Mr. Lyman was a former United States Ambassador to Nigeria, so his analysis can not be discounted.

This factual rendition of Nigeria statehood will make a greatly interesting read for Mr. president as he strives, I hope, to nurse himself back to good health, and return, hopefully, back to his duty post in Aso Rock. He’s been gone too long! And maybe the message from ambassador Lyman will spur Mr. President to greater commitment on state matters on his return, that’s, if he returns on time and his health permits.

Nigeria has been without a sitting president since December 1, 2009, when Alhaji Yar’Adua became hospitalized at a Saudi (supposedly) hospital.