UN Chief Kofi Annan steps down in a blaze of glory. Well deserved.

We join the decerning world in wishing this great son of Africa and outstanding international servant a happy and healthful retirement. I don't know that he'll get to rest or retreat from both public and private duty, though. But we must wish.

From early 2007 Annan will be on a feast of unabashed further recognition in the form/shape of awards, honours, garlands, monuments, grants and offers from a grateful and non-forgetting world. Rightly so.

Looking back will be easy and tortuous. Looking forwards will be dutiful and fruitful. Our dear Kofi, as a full-blood African, must and will manage both stretches competently. No question.

Well done, brother; welcome home.

I don't know how you folks feel about 2006; but me, I am wishing and praying it away fast! The dying hours seem to be committed to so much havoc that it better go fast. It has to go fast. It must get out of the way of 2007. Our, by God's grace, better and promising 2007!

As it goes, which it must, may it not bundle us into its luggage. May it not create more pipeline fires or shipwrecks or famous deaths or weather blizzards or horrendous floods or gory penury or failing leaders. May it go alone...all alone. And leave us to welcome and savour our 2007.

I am in no mood to celebrate its ugliness. I can understand why most can hardly recall any good in its annals. Yes. But, alas, there was some good. Just think enough, look enough, check enough.
And, as the faithful must say, in all things give thanks. Yes.

Let's thank God for life. Yes. Let's give thanks for the year of our Lord 2006. Yes.

And the final thanks? To God for 2007, as it comes. Amen.

We mourn the passing of James Brown, 73, the godfather of soul. I recall his timeless hit "I feel alright...I'm black and proud"! That was an African Anthem those days.

His dexterity and panache, his raw talents and robust energies, his faults and frailties, his many travels and tenacity are the stuff of legends. He left us with awe and sorrow. He remains with us.

Goodnight brother, till we meet again!

May the peace that has so far, and so painfully, eluded our world be restored on this Christmas Day - this season of love and good tidings!

Let all Christians play their part. That way, we can induce and infect others to do same.

A very Merry Christmas to us all, and may the New Year be peaceful and prosperous!

There is no doubt that the power-play between Nigeria's president and his vice has finally reached a head. President Obasanjo has announced the sacking of Vice President Abubakar on account of his decamping from the ruling People's Democratic Party, PDP. Abubakar recently joined the Action Congress, AC, where he picked the presidential ticket for the 2007 Elections. He had been on suspension from the PDP in the last three months, and was promptly expelled this week...in the ongoing drama.

Of course, there have been series of accusations and counter-accusations by both parties, in the past several months, over alleged corrupt practices, fraud and abuse of office with regard to the Petroleum Technology Development Fund, PTDF. That bit is being investigated by the Senate. There are several litigations going on as we speak. A bunch of presidential entanglements! Now the bar has been further raised - just a few months to the end of their tenure!

There will be arguments for and against. Hot debates. Heated polity. But, trust Nigeria, we will resolve this in due course. The overriding question is "why this crisis...and..why now?". The two gladiators need to put our nation first, and ensure that 2007 is not derailed.

We beg them!

Iran should use the good offices of China and Russia...as well as...France to reengage the IAEA, the UN and the international community on its nuclear project/ambition. There is no need for the current face-off with the UN Security Council.

The US and UK must reckon with the power and influence of Iran, and do practical diplomacy in this matter. As Jim Baker, former US Secretary of State, rightly put it, the United States fully engaged the Soviet Union in talks during the cold war! So, what's the fuss?

Get down to talks, folks!

Merry Christmas and a very Happy & Prosperous New Year to you all. I also wish our moslem faithfuls a most Rewarding & Successful Hajj - The Holy Pilgrimage. As we savour these holidays and bask/meditate in the appropriate rituals, let's remember the less-privileged, the poor, all those caught up in wars, and the infirm. Let's pray and act for world peace.

Oh, please wish UN Sec-Gen Ban Ki-Moon well. He'll need it!

Blessed holidays to world leaders, too! You know what I mean.

The Iraq Study Group Report is a known missile...shattering all myths and placing emphasis on the crucial/critical elements of the way out in Iraq. The Baker/Hamilton team has helped us all to name the beast, and bell the cat, as it were. Good turn.

Reactions and potential actions should unfold over the coming weeks and months. Rightly, we should be particularly patient and patently contemplative in this period. We need a cooling of nerves, and we need to give Bob Gates time to settle into his remit as secretary of defence.

Listening to both President Bush and Prime Minister Blair (at their post-ISG press conference)yesterday was a sight to behold. It was a very sombre and sobering event. You could castigate or feel for them, depending on your hurt or previous glee-of-the-invasion, but you could not but see/watch history being written, and legacies being unravelled, before your very eyes. On global TV, in real time! The ingredients, nuances and salience were nerve-racking. Utterly surreal.

Let's grant Mr Bush his right to further briefings, notably from his inhouse gurus, including the military and the State Department - as he insists. Let's grant Mr Blair's offering to go "unlock" the "barred" door to the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian crisis. Let's wish them good going as they scramble to redeem whatever is left of their political capital, and deploying same (we hope, deftly and wisely!) to the gargantuan task in hand. Even as time speedest.

At this point, Russia, France and China should start working on both Syria and Iran to come on board - through the UN - and save Iraq from final implosion. For sane measure, someone must tell both Bush and Blair to be contrite and humble about this need, this reality.

We wait.

Impeachment. That is the dreaded word, the trodden term, in Nigeria's political lexicon. Say what you may, it is used, misused and abused....shall we say....at will, and quite willfully. Well, until yesterday. Yes...Thursday 7 December 2006.

What changed? Everything. Thanks to the courage and dutifulness of the Court of Appeal, and the confirmation by the Supreme Court of Nigeria, no one can impeach anyone anymore without full compliance with both the letter and spirit of the Constitution. There must at once be due process and rule of law, in tandem. As we say in Nigeria: no magomago, no wuruwuru! You may not cut corners in this matter.

Briefly, what happened was this: The ruling party used its members in Oyo State, south west Nigeria, to illegally and crudely remove the governor from office January 2006. The deed was done in a hotel, with less than the prescribed two-thirds, by some legislators beholden to the "political godfather" of the People's Democratic Party in the state, variously described as the "strongman of Ibadan politics", "demagogue of Amala Politics", "garrison commander of PDP" and "god of Molete". We speak, dear reader, of the dreaded and fearless Alhaji Lamidi Adedibu.

Adebayo Alao-Akala, erstwhile deputy governor and a sworn worshipper of Adedibu, promptly took over and got another adherent of the strongman installed as his deputy. Governor Rashidi Ladoja and the anti-impeachment legislators filed several cases in different courts, including a robust challenge of the act, moves to freeze the state government's accounts, etc. The complex processes and proceedings culminated in the detailed ruling by the Federal Court of Appeal, sitting in Ibadan, which firmly and unambiguously repudiated each and every strand of the dastardly deal. Governor Ladoja's impeachment was unanimously declared null and void.

You would have thought that rests the matter. No. Not with the ruling party of Nigeria! Both the Federal Attorney General and the naion's Inspector General of Police insisted that the status quo be preserved until the Supreme Court rules!! Curiously, this position was taken even before the appeal was filed at the apex court. The IGP, himself a senoir lawyer, openly contradicted and preempted the courts in this case, such that the registrar of the Supreme Court had to issue an unprecedented and devastating rebuttal. Strange ways!!!

Today's judgement finally rests both the Ladoja-Alao Akala saga and the question of how and/or how not to impeach office-holders, especially governors and, ultimately, the president.

Lesson: Be patient and prudent in the face of political adversity. Believe in justice and keep faith with the courts.

Lesson: Be dignified and undeterred as Ladoja has been. Do not resort to violence, no matter the provocation...as Ladoja has so admirably done.

Lesson: There are always lawyers and judges to rock the boat of justice, but there is always the final say of the final court, which will redeem and redress. Yes, no matter what.

Lesson: God, The Almighty rules. He gives and retrieves power or wealth as HE pleases. And HE is faithful....even now, and forever!

Congratulations to Dr Raymond Alegho Dokpesi and his Daar Communications, proud owners of RayPaower Radio and Africa Independent Television (AIT), on their glorious 10th year anniversary. As Nigeria's first private broadcast group, they have blazed the trail and endured incredible challenges. In this business, you gain as much praise as notoriety...no matter how you play! Dr Dokpesi, a PhD holder in marine engineering, was Africa's first truly indigenous and wholly private broadcast operator. He is a consummate innovator and steely risk-taker!

By providing an alternative voice to/for our people, the TV/radio stations have won the hearts and the prayers of Nigerians. Government officials and their apologists have both the right and reasons to be apprehensive, but can hardly deny the beauty of the plurality of media ownership and offerings that our democracy, every democracy, deserves. Nor can they not, in their private moments, thank AIT/RayPower for such patriotic and robust role in defending same.

It must be right to say the TV house came into its ultimate own with its unblemished coverage of the infamous (some still say, diabolical or dastardly!) tenure elongation or Third Term saga. AIT/RayPower gave Nigerians and the world at large extensive and verbatim coverage, plus the Senate's grand finale of its termination. It was Daar Communications' finest hour!

The costs have been horrendous, including numerous threats, arson attacks, arrests, sabotage, persecutions, prosecution, fire-bombing of the proprietor's country home, studio raids, etc. Oh, and there was a clandestine attempt to foreclose on the company, through its Lagos bankers, by prematurely calling in loans and advances. Dokpesi insisted they were wrong, but a "liquidator" was appointed anyway. Nigerians were scandalised, and there was a loud national fundraising campaign to show solidarity and save the stations. The company survived on its own. That was in the military days of Sani Abacha. This dispensation has sought its own schemes to do same!

As we head for the 2007 Elections, AIT/RayPower must build on the 10-year success and their "baptism of fire". Tough? Nigerians are with you. Keep sharing the African experience. No shutting you down or shutting you up.

Evidence? See the list of political casualties from the PDP Primaries. Most of the supporters of Third Term, including erstwhile juggernauts, have been dumped by the party grassroots! How are the mighty/greedy fallen!! With the Freedom of Information Act on its way, many more will bite the dust. The free press, especially private/independent media houses can look forward to a new dawn.

Bravo to AIT/RayPower! God bless and keep you, amen.

FOUL FARM, FARM FOUL
( Note To First-Ever Africa-South America Summit, ABUJA 2006)

I sat glued to my TV screen taking in the stirring words. I thumbed through the newspapers poring over the reports. Quite exciting, truly promising. And why not? This is South-South Cooperation rising a notch further, reaching out to the future, calling for change - real change. Why not!

Was I pleased Abuja was hosting? Ask again. About time Africa's giant rose up to its natural duty, not flip-flopping. Is there hope of anything concrete coming out of this? Yes, I'll say. Why, what be different from the perennial talkshops? Well, I do not speak for their excellencies but I intend to let them into some very OPEN secrets - just in case their very large protocols and tinted (some may suggest, tainted!) car-cum-office screens hinder them from seeing or hearing. It is one way of securing and sustaining my boundless optimism!

My opening salvo on the open secrets is done in verse. We are very soulful peoples, these two continents. We are about 1.5bn in population, and have the world's most fertile and ecologically and geologically diverse lands, bursting with marine and mineral resources. We can change our lot in a jiffy, and can help save the world in tow. Our forebears handed us proverbs, folklores, songs, dance and art, so our peoples sense the seriousness of the matter when you address them in verse. Elders are venerated, the Sage is virtually worshipped. Verses be code, be mode.

In so wrapping my message, this piece is a demonstration of the place and power of PopPoetry. Welcome to my music to the land:

FOUL FARM, FARM FOUL
Our land is breeding:
not food but famine
not winners but weaklings
not mothers but murders
not honour but horror
As for man, materials have
taken his place
As for hope, hype dealt
it a fatal blow
and hell has taken over
The lucky generations have
blocked tunnels, channels
and passages
The doomed generations are
pruning their chances
to bare bones
in the heat of waste
From these throes
the web of multiple traps
is choking our willing limbs
From this betrayal
a million scenes have grown
into the movie reels of angst
so our land conjures blockbuster
tales and magic cartoons
Neither the Sage nor the sapling
can fathom this thunderbolt
The eerie passion of diabolical
leaders meets a sonorous silence
of deprived masses, in a kokoma
peace of the grave-yard:
cloaking the poverty of leadership
the depravity of dishonour
and mesmerisation of short-termism
Oh, be not deceived!

No roads for tractors
autobahns for tanks
No cash for ploughers
foreign aid for choppers
No stores for harvests
vast dumps for bombs
Hard times for kids
swell life for thugs
As we turn our fields to graves
we search for help abroad
As we loot our land to death
we beg for stones abroad
When the giver sets snide terms
we turn whimsical in fits!
Pray shame

We foul our farm with glee
robing greed as glory
posting stench as status
Farm be great fantasy
in white and green, blue and red
black or yellow paper rituals
fouling senses, freaking sensibilities
Farms be seething staples
gasping for life in annual budgets
jinxed programmes, junk projects
As we go, when we go
others farm fruits of health
we farm foul health
we foul the air
and choke fair help away
For easy dough, we foul
For easy fame, we foul
For all our shame, we foul
the bond of change
and send the Sage to rage!
Pray pain

We have no centre
lest it holds
We shun them griots
none to heed
Poor moms, how cope ye now
Lost dads, where seek ye more
Our lands be slaughter fields
not farms or mines
Our forests be blighted fields
all gone to logs
Our waters quench thirst no more
just rivers of blood -
fouled by ruptured bowels
of pregnant beauties;
soaked in crying crimson
of craggy kids;
virussed with drawing matter
from riddled skulls!
It is a curse of mounting contempt
flowing from our mountains of hate
jumpy intolerance, and haunting distaste
It is a blessing seen and denied
It be hell undue, love untaken
It is how we look in base brashness
and react in feverish frenzy
The Sage be so in pain

Yes, it is the farm we foul
and the fouling we farm
It is how we mock
and now, we're mocked
Pray change


There is nothing more helpful than the wave of democratic embrace of sustainable development which appears to be sweeping through our two continents these days. More elections and some change of guards will cement our optimism. No one gets to solve their problem unless and until they get to accept its existence, its reality. That means telling it as is, seeing it as is. No padding.

The media has a fair reflection/representation of the stark reality on ground in the two regions. The internet and our diasporas, especially the dissenting segments, have opened up the debates just as multilateral agencies, the donor community and friends of the Third World constantly do. Most crusaders, civil society groups, student bodies, labour unions and intellectuals have told our leaders some home-truths, calling for more stakeholder-voices to rise in tandem. Speak TRUTH, bitter truth, to power! So they may ACT in earnest. Especially now that they've seized the initiative to change things, to turn things around, by this and all other summits. Again, no padding.

This verse, may I humbly suggest, does that. May our leaders now wash our shame away!

EU leaders will be very short-sighted to block Turkey from accession to full membership in the fullness of time. They should help Turkey honestly and transparently achieve the goal.

On Turkey's side, it cannot be profitable to raise the citizens' hopes only to dash them in this project. Tough decisions and compromises are needed, and unavoidable, by both sides. Politics is good only when it enduringly benefits players and nation. Turkey's leaders must bite the bullet, and deny their detractors - wherever they may be - the chance or pleasure of blocking the deal.

I think it serves the whole world better if and when Turkey moves from NATO's membership to full EU membership. Let the wait be short and precise. No dilly-dally.

Iraq rankles. We must hope that the furious diplomatic efforts this week will yield the salutary and necessary positive results, and result in early security gains ...ON THE GROUND!

Whether we agree with George Bush and Tony Blair on the wrong invasion of Iraq, without a UN resolution, under false pretences, and in arrogant defiance of a resounding world opinion to the contrary, is now and should be an old issue. Both leaders have been quite rightly castigated abroad, and thoroughly punished by their electorates at home. Enough.

The current Iran-Iraq-Syria rapproachment is most welcome, much encouraged. May it lead to fruitful outcomes...SOON. The United Nations must key in immediately. Take no chances.

A princely advice to the hawks and hardliners in Washington and London: You've lost, back down...back off! A hard try, no doubt, but let the moderates now take charge...take over. The carnage and bloodshed are unacceptable, untenable. Not a day longer. So long, folks! Bye for aye.

And to the leaders: Not many people get a second chance to redress a mess this messy. You got it, guys, use it! Use it real smart, real wise.

Goodluck to ALL.

Nigeria's Freedom of Information, FOI, Bill will soon become law. Just recently passed by the Senate, it awaits the president's assent. At long last!

Nothing in this news is earth-shattering of course, for all civilised democracies know the value and blessings of FOI. Added to the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, NEITI, however, our country can now look forward to a future of better accountability and less blatant corruption from Elections 2007 onwards. President Obasanjo should sign right away.

In taking as long as eight years to give us this law, the politicians patently and loudly diminish themselves. The Nigerian Press has always been fearless and resilient - from the colonial times through the hellish military era, it defended the people and stayed fiercely loyal to the masses. Delaying this legislation, especially in the Senate, was an own goal of disrepute! Nigerians were not well-served. It undermined the fight against corruption, and permitted political rascality.

Anyway, better late than never. Now we've got it, or almost got it. I say BRAVO to all who made it happen. Welcome FOI.

Parting Hint: Crooks beware! Leaders behave!!

Indo-African Relations must now be urgently elevated to the official pedestal of "India-Africa Partnership", IAP. Other key world players have one such platform or the other, pray, what are Indian and African leaders waiting for?

The case is self-made, but if anyone need be told, the interwoven bonds between India and Africa are old and legendary - across the board. Go to East Africa, come to Nigeria and see.

By the way, Mahatma Ghandi, father of modern India, practised and matured in South Africa before returning to free his homeland from colonial rule and pernicious imperialism!

IAP Permanent Secretariats in India and South Africa should be named after this dear legend.

Lebanon
Litany of wobbles
Literary and literal absurdity
Tempting and tasking self and all
Lebanon
Litany of struggles
Complex and conscious construct
Draining and damping self and all
Lebanon
Mirrors and marrows, hate and fate
Tears tearing a nation's fabric
Blood bleeding a people's bond
A glorious land...
Cascading in compounding crises
A precious place defying peace
Oh Lebanon, where be thy beauty of old!?
Pray Lebanon
When will thy soul sing again?!

(Lows of Lebanon 2006)

We join the world to mourn the bereavement in Lebanon, and salute the choice and call for calm in this moment of dark contemplation. Let moderation prevail, not angst. Let it be known that the nation can heal self, heal all....in the fullness of time. And it will.

Friends of Lebanon should toe the chosen line of peace proclaimed by its leaders. We must all join them to rebuild trust so they can rebuild the nation. Not exacerbate. Not complicate.

Investigations? Yes. Leave that to the United Nations for now. But I have a strange and bitter pill for us: Kofi Annan should head for Lebanon and accompany the president, prime minister and parliamentary leader (Hariri!) to Damascus for a face-to-face dialogue with President Assad and his topmost brass. Ice-breaking, tough, brotherly and bitterly. Next week, whatever it takes! After that, Tehran! The following week, whatever it takes!! The third week, with the Hezbollah leadership! Whatever it takes!!!

If the US is dealing with Russia, China and Pakistan, and worst cases of former foes be now resolved and those nations bonded in the EU, nothing must stand in the way of this proposition.

At the dizzying rate of about 17 Billion USDollars per month, China has just accummulated one TRILLION Dollars in foreign reserves! Congratulations. What a feat!

Now the challenge. China needs to learn from previous/earlier economic powers. World Peace and World Poverty need the special attention and intervention of economic giants like China and India. They must not be selfish or greedy with their emerging wealth. They must not be stingy.

As the West and Asian Tigers now see, a better world is one in which economic prosperity is of shared benefits, and macroeconomic advances be not jobless growth. Insular riches, in a global village, will not endure! Lessons.

It is entirely appropriate that the US economy is benefiting from these reserves (about 400 Bn US Dollars in Treasury Bills, etc) because it is the bullwark/backbone of the world's economy, and key to Chinese properity. Forget the politics and theatrics, Sino-American bond must be preserved. So must China-EU relations, and Sino-Russian partnership.

The current state visit to India by Chinese President Hu Jintao is a timely and appropriate platform to kick-start their joint interventions in the above regard. I so propose.

Iraq on my mind as we mind how the Middle East boils. Well, US President George Bush says he is open to new ideas even as UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has commenced some shuttle diplomacy in this regard. Belated? Maybe, but welcomed. Let's not be pessimistic.

There is news that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has invited both Syrian President Bashar Assad and Iraqi President Jalal Talabani to Tehran for urgent talks on the messy Iraqi security situation, and its incessant bloodbath. The Iraqi leader has promptly accepted. Syria is expected to do same. He should.

I will love UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and his successor Ban Ki-Moon to be part of this push. And be at the next round of consultations.

Am I overly optimistic? No. There is bound to be action for solution sooner than later. And I hope that the Baker Commission gives the US authorities concrete substance to work with.

We shall return to this matter in due course, as things unfold.

We congratulate the Democratic National Committee, DNC, for resounding victories across the board in the US mid-term elections 2006. Now that America has spoken, the time to govern is here. No acrimonies, please. There is so much to do, so much to repair - at home and abroad. All hands must be on deck, period.

Happily, and sensibly too, President Bush has taken the lesson to heart (we hope!) in his actions and statements so far. Equally sensibly, the Democrats have committed to bipartisan approach in moving forward. Good talks about talks are proceeding apace. Bravo.

Neither side should take hostages. None can afford to fail. And, hey, the world still needs the US as a strong and fair leader of the free world. So, get cracking, folks, time is short!

Let democracy and the rule of law work. Let accountability and responsibility endure. Let the US lead by example not pretext. Let multilateralism be the driving force of the new America.

Sino-African relations rose to new heights last week with the huge success of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, FOCAC. Beijing hosted 50 African leaders in its largest and warmest summit ever! And the communique was a heart-warming Beijing Declaration which signalled a win-win partnership for the future. It was a new wave, creating new ways for all.

Welcome to contention, controversy and conspiracy theory! Oh, expected. The West was clearly jittery, and "concerned"! Many commentators saw nothing more than another "scramble" for Africa!! They warned against exploitation and neocolonialism!!! They see the Chinese game plan as no more than some trade-conquest, breeding support for dictatorships, corrupt regimes and human rights violators....asking no questions, just milking the continent. Any point? Well, well...

Let the taste of the pudding be in the eating! In China. In Africa. We wait.

Not surprisingly, the foreign ministers of Ethiopia, China and Egypt did their very best to tackle and address these and other matters in the final press conference. It was heated. It was robust. It was telling. I enjoyed the show. Was the West convinced? Need they be? We wait.

Talking of show, the Cultural Finale was a spectacular. A combined and alternating blend of Sino-African soul in Command Performance: What a fest! The future was manifest in their zest.

Long live FOCAC!

Instant applause for President Vladimir Putin for sticking with, and reaffirming, the sanctity of the Russian constitution, and the term limit wisely imposed by it. So, Putin leaves in 2008.

This is significant because Moscow will play increasing regional and global roles this century, and must be seen to respect the rule of law.

Despite huge public support and unprecedented oil & gas incomes, Putin rises above the hints, the temptation and outright demands for possible tenure elongation. Clever soul. The G8 must be mightily proud of him. So are we. Let the president extend this statesmanship in immediate resolution of the Georgian and other neighbourhood spats. A tower is a tower, Mr President, do hold the torch aloft. Make lasting peace TODAY....and set the pace. You can, and should, do it.

May the Kremlin, henceforth, flourish in democracy - true democracy!

Talking of political payback and backlash, Nigeria is a timely, if intriguing case-study. So much is now happening, and a lot more is afoot, within the polity and astride the political terrain. Heads are beginning to roll in strange places, and the macabre dance has only just begun!

Prediction: November will numb us all. Watch.

Prediction: December will daze them all. Expect.

Prediction: January will jolt, jam and jettison the jaded last. Believe.

Prediction: The fearless and independent Nigerian Press will swing into its legendary element. Soon, and very soon. By stalling the Freedom of Information bill for all of eight years!, many senators will pay a stiff price.

Prediction: Students will "show dem pepper!" for turning our educational system into a cruel joke, and so heartlessly ruining their combined chances of a better tomorrow. Deep hurt.

As for the masses, electoral power returns with a vengeance...come April, 2007. Many a today gladiator will be on the run, not for office but into political oblivion. Thanks to emerging global cooperation, there will be no hiding place for the fraudsters and looters among them.

Great Part? This is being undertaken by an Olusegun Obasanjo, the Nigerian president and leader of the ruling/dominant political party, PDP! Kudos.

Final Deal: Confessions. Whistle Blowing. Comrade-outting. Mutual Betrayals. Scores-Settling. Some Penitence. Suicides(?). Plea Bargains. Rigged-Amnesty. Sqashed-Amnesty. Media Wars.

And votes....The VOTE....will count again, matter at last! Oh...

Unfolding Bet: The questions of Palestine-Iraq-Palestine-Darfur-Iraq-Palestine-Darfur will consume many a politician, many a diplomat, many a president, in the months and years to come. No question at all. And we note.

Somehow, time and votes will shift the full burden of responsibility and accountability back to where it squarely belongs: on the head and shoulders of world leaders and their hordes of aides. They enjoy the position, perks and power. Why would they not do the job...well and proper? Are we paying them to ruin our world or to restore hope, peace and tranquility to our battered lives and psyche? The clock ticks.

Then we have all their political parties very very busy playing the proverbial ostrich. No matter. Their own days will come....sooner than later. Bet.

On all counts, nature and history, hurt and humming, money and memory plus posterity will take hold and gore the rambling fold. All will and must account....in time, soon-time.

Are we griping, moaning and mourning at once? Hell, we are! Any repercussion for inaction and ineptitude, wasting billions on military illusion instead of global vision on sustainable, equitable development? Squandering youthful lives instead of empowering them? Spilling the precious blood of women and children instead of securing and enriching same? You bet....just watch.

It will be painful but purgatory. And, sadly (because it is so avoidable!), it will be self-inflicted.

The way things are now, we should be promoting the mutual blessings and beauty of our Black and African Diaspora. Leading the charge must be from the Mother Continent. Happily, we've got loads of talents and immense known and latent resources. The African Union should wake up....today!

On my part, I will be doing some serious research - especially online - in order to get educated, and to enable me propose some really wacky ideas on the way forward. I want to know more about Blacks everywhere, especially in Latin America/Caribbean and USA/Canada. Then I will review how far the debt relief a la Gleneagles has fared.

Let's put my native Nigeria on notice: Be very ready to put some of your huge petrodollars and foreign reserves to work in ALL the Black Island States around the globe. Be eager to do new and creative socio-economic good/interventions on our continent. This is the duty and proper example of the African Giant that you are.

Note this: Don't lock all those monies in fixed deposits in developed countries while your own brethren are languishing from lack of investments/access to credit. Put part to work in those lands, Big Brother! You know,1 in 6 Blacks is a Nigerian.... so, what or who are you waiting for?

We know today that several small countries of the African/Caribbean/Pacific block are poor, with populations ranging anywhere from 50,000 to 2m. Those nations could, on head-count, be easily compared to sizes of local government areas, states or zones in Nigeria!

My initial thoughts: Dedicating US$5bn to strategic infrastructural, trade and human capital development will do real good to these nations. This will open up their economies, help to attract more foreign and Diaspora investments, and boost long overdue intra-diaspora trade and bonds. We can do it as very low-/interest-free loans, counterpart funding and export guarantee facility. We should then use this composite basket to incentivise the Nigerian private sector, including some of our now highly-capitalised universal banks, as well as some leading-edge NGOs and the academia to follow the trail. Wasn't this how the now-developed countries helped themselves?

America did it for Europe via the Marshall Plan. Nigeria should lead Africa to do so for all our vulnerable folks in the Black & African World. We should do so TODAY. 2007 Aspirants, please take note. Indian and Chinese politicians are doing so successfully. Nigerian leaders must too.

Hey, that's not nuclear or space science, is it?

North Korea! What a case, what a timing, what a crisis! All the arguments are now in the public domain. And the UN has spoken.

Pyongyang should return to the six-party talks. This is good for it, the region and the world.

As a prelude, I think both the US and North Korea should issue binding Declarations of Good Intent. It is obvious that, somehow, this queer conflict is being exacerbated by mutual hostility between both countries.

It's time to truly talk. Ban Ki-Moon, new UN sec-gen, has his job cut out on this.

Again, we seem to have lost it in the Middle East! No one is doing anything concrete on the Iraqi brewing civil war, even if it is not fully there yet. No one, not least the Quartet, is doing anything concrete on the Israeli-Palestinian front, where daily carnage is now raging - after Lebanon.

We do not know what the world leaders know, but...hello o!...it cannot be right for blood to be so ceaselessly flowing in that region. It cannot be fair to the women, children and the aged that our leaders cannot stem/stop the tide. Just plain wrong, period.

Internal political and other crises are rocking both Israel and Palestine. No help is discernible from known credible and critical external players! In Iraq, it is all so surely tending towards an internal political and sectarian implosion. The occupying forces, especially the US and UK, are at their wits' end. Both Washington and London are now in their own internal political turmoil over the invasion, and glaring operational failures, with all sorts of cracks in the coalition-armour! So many questions are being asked, even by friends/loyalists of both governments! The military are also speaking up!! Real bad news all round!!!

So, who will step up and lead us forward on these concerns now? When shall it be?

These are really dim times, indeed.

Sorry to the friendly people of Hawaii, USA, on the very disruptive earthquake some hours ago. Thank God no loss of lives, as we understand it, and goodluck with the clean-up and longer term solutions to the problem.

Now, we do not want a replay of Hurricane Katrina - in terms of federal support - do we? The governor has declared a statewide emergency/disaster status. Let all hands get on deck, right away. And let no one be left behind or short-changed. Insurance companies, BEWARE! - no dodging, please.

While on this subject, what is the world doing about victims of other natural disasters, including the poor souls in Pakistan? The world media should please return to them, and bring us up to date on our dismal records as a Global Village. Winter is here: what happens to the displaced??

You know what? We have more than enough evidence now that in ALL emergency/disaster situations, it is the POOR and VULNERABLE that get hit the most. Which is no news, right? But the kick in the teeth is that this happens irrespective of whether they be in developing or developed nations! That is depressing.

Which is why we welcome the historic preparatory leeway he gains as the UN General Assembly finally confirmed Ban Ki-Moon as its scribe, virtually 3 months to official take-up on 1 January 2007. Which is also why Mr Ban should take World Poverty so serious that it must be tackled frontally anywhere and everywhere.

From 2007, the UN must have functional presence in ALL countries....EVERY country.

Our deep commiserations to the Lidles, the Yanks, New York City and to the United States on Wednesday's plane crash, and the loss of Cory Lidle and his co-traveller. We sympathise with all those who were traumatised and/or incurred losses in this unfortunate accident.

Lidle, New York Yankee pitcher, apparently lost control as his small plane spun and slammed into a 50-storey skyscrapper in the city. We understand he left a wife and a 6-year old son. It will be tough for everyone, not least the family of his co-tourist, who yet to be named.

Well done! to the emergency and security agencies, especially the brave first-responders, for their spectacular and calm handling of the situation.

As we await the outcome of its thorough investigation, we must all draw appropriate lessons from this incident. Every nation, every city, every soul must reflect on this - prayerfully and passionately.

May God, The Almighty, protect, secure and shelter us....and ours....in our daily commute, our daily grind and our daily relations. We need HIM!

May Cory and his co-passenger rest in eternal peace.

Amen.

By the way, there are amazing business opportunities in Nigeria now. Never mind the nay-sayers, our economy is being drained of corrupt practices, and our political class will wear a completely different and enabling complexion come 2007. Cleansing is on course! Believe me.

So, anyone who wishes to make money, real good money, should now be putting their feasibility studies and business plans in shape. This includes both the Nigerian and African Diaspora as well as the global business community. And, yes, crusaders in the sustainable development and civil society world should join the fray. The prospects are exciting, will be immensely rewarding.

From June 2007, a new dawn will descend upon our land, and it will be a great pleasure to do good business again....for sustainable and enduring gain. Believe me.

If you be no doubter, and do genuinely seek, then get in touch and stay in touch. I am personally aiming and willing to consult for 10-20 thirst responders and real travellers. I like dreamers. Oh my country needs lots of them, now! Real dreamers, and change agents are warmly called.

Can you dream? Will you dare? Try victoronoviran@gmail.com when you do.

We Africans must now worry. The continent's crises are unabating. Too many unresolved and some escalating problems. Yet our leaders seem helpless. Are they the real problem? Can 52 countries not muster the courage and commitment to do good, to sustain justice? Why are they always looking to outsiders for help, and spoon-feeding? Where is the African Spirit?

Doubt me? See NEPAD. Check the AU. See Darfur. See Cote d'Ivoire. See Zimbabwe......

Why, why, why???

Hearty congratulations to H.E. Ban Ki-Moon, UN secretary general-elect. This is a man of huge personal qualifications and a worthy son of Asia, whom his native land - South Korea - should be justly proud of. So should the UN Security Council and his fellow contestants who ensured high civility, diplomatic decorum and a rancour-free process. Bravo to you all.

Time is of essence, this day, about both the official General Assembly ratification-vote and his transition engagements. Once confirmed, Mr Ban needs a unique orientation programme. For things not to be business-as-usual, he has to focus on TWO anchors: World Peace and World Poverty. "Terrorism" is the absence of one, and the presence of the other.

The new Sec-Gen should proceed on a 30-day open tour of those endemic zones of the world, where he can find first-hand "jolting" lessons, to shape his horizon. Only then may he subject himself to any "Desk Work", and the usual "Glass House" briefings. This way, he would generate the fervour and freedom to be a new player, and can readily summon the soul and stealth to build the values-based and justice-driven United Nations of our collective dream.

We wish him God's speed.

Welcome.

It was appropriate and commendable that the UK Labour Party got back to sanity at their just-concluded conference. Bravo to both the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, and his Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown.

One marvels at the capacity of "spoilers" to make life hard and harsh for leaders. It happens everywhere, with Nigeria witnessing a unique brand of such cloak & dagger politics right now.

Okay, maybe not exactly the same details and matrix, but it's about two leaders who won posts together and the whole question of "natural succession". Boss seems not willing to "let go", and deputy seems eager to "take over" - with all the mess and spoilers in between! There is then the small matter of traps and counter-traps, corruption charges, and fall-guy/sacrificial lamb scent to it all. Oh, we speak of course of President Olusegun Obasanjo and his vice, Atiku Abubakar. It is a Bad, Sad Tale!

Unlike the Labour Party, Nigeria's ruling People's Democratic Party, PDP, (now-factionalised) has been unable or unwilling to close ranks. It has backed the boss, and the VP has gone to court. The drama continues.

Perhaps not surprising, for Nigerians generally believe that the PDP has squandered eight years of our democratic experiment - failing to deliver good governance. Most of its governors have just been named in a sordid report by the anti-corruption czar, Nuhu Ribadu, at a special senate briefing this week. The governors -caught off guard - are now in open revolt. What a party!

If anyone today is looking forward, with renewed hope, to the 2007 elections, it is certainly not the party members. Unlike the UK Labour, for this lot, it seems the party is finally over!

The military leaders of Thailand's recent coup do not need a whole year to return governance to civilian leaders, despite the seeming popularity of the unfortunate intervention. Obviously, the real stabilising factor is their most reverred constitutional monarch. He has undoubtedly given his nod.

Let them ride the crest to facilitate early elections.

The new government should do the rest.

We applaud and thank President Chirac of France for calling for deliberate caution and more time to tackle the Iranian Nuclear issue.

And US President, George Bush, for re-emphasising the diplomatic solution route.

Let more voices rise, and speak up. Let world leaders speak, and act wise.

The time is NOW!

Isn't it truly fascinating that both the US and Iranian presidents took the podium - just hours apart - at the UN, today? They hurled at themselves. Expected.

Implacable and at odds as they are, it must intrigue no end that their seething "confrontation" took place on US soil. Well, at the UN Headquarters in New York.

So will it be with all other leaders who the US and the West disagree with! They will speak on US soil, no matter their views or tirades!! It is our unity-in-diversity, One World.

That is the beauty of the UN - the meaning of our tied-fate.

Oh yes!

Nigeria mourns. We have just lost over a dozen top military brass in an Air Force plane crash, prompting a three-day national mourning order by President Obasanjo - who had to cancel his overseas tour (including an IMF/World Bank speech, and perhaps the UN General Assembly) - to personally take charge of things. He flew straight into Abuja to personally receive survivors and casualties of the vicious crash. His demeanour was palpably draining. As a retired general
of note, he knows more than most the full import of this huge loss. He was clearly in pains.

In rallying the nation, the president showed leadership and humanity at its best, and Nigerians everywhere joined their commander -in-chief to deeply mourn. We lost two GOCs and the Army Secretary, and could have actually lost the Army Chief, who was to join the flight!

We're told 13 of the 16 brave souls on board died. Expectedly, a probe has been ordered.

Rest in peace, dear compatriots, and may God console and comfort your families and friends. May your comrades never let you or the nation down. Goodnight.

May God bless Nigeria.

The military coup in Thailand is surprising but not debilitating, since there is a constitutional monarch - highly respected by all - on seat. It is a setback none the less, and an early resolution plus prompt return to democratic governance be irreducibly demanded by all.

Fresh elections, if it comes to it, should be swift, just and fair.

No nation must be under the jackboots!

We welcome the good news that India and Pakistan are to resume talks over Kashmir. Let the talks be good, and spread more good news to all.

Why won't the Non-Aligned Movement adopt this conflict resolution window as its golden opportunity to make some lasting impact of its strength and relevance today? It will be great, wouldn't it?

May the hawks and hardliners on both sides, and the negative influences outside, give true peace a chance, please.

A final chance.

The crisis in the Nigerian Presidency (i.e. feud between boss and vice) is chilling and exciting! We await more details of their self-indicting shenanigans, and the dramatic unravelling of the long-standing pretentions of cordiality - despite media scoops to the contrary. No wise or full commentary can be run at this time. No earth-shaking surprises yet. We must wait and see. The threats and counter-threats are drumming louder and louder. Why? The PDP Family is in disarray. Things have finally fallen apart, and the centre can no longer hold - again, despite all pretensions to the contrary!

In a way, however, this was long in coming. Part of the hints became concrete during the Third Term or Tenure Elongation debacle. If then was theatrical, now is nollywood! But we wait.

Let it be said that the show of shame may not be stopped because it is due process for their due rewards for poor leadership, bad governance and tainted democracy. They've betrayed citizens and country. This is not just about money, it includes faiths, fates, values and truths.

Do Nigerians lament, then? No!

Why not? It is timely ingredient, and spice, to cook our next democratic meals come 2007!!

And so? Let the show proceed!!!

Our counsel is for the IMF and World Bank to heed the call and wise counsel of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in all their well-considered ramifications. They better do.

The power of non-state actors and crusaders is reflected in the rise and rise of civil society. This can only be ignored at great cost, and to devastating ends. No CSO input, no true development!

Prediction: Mobilisation of the people to vote in more progressive and sensitive political leaders around the world. If Al Gore were US president last time, would the White House had ignored Kyoto with such disdain?! If Tony Blair were not British Prime Minister, would there have been Gleneagles?! Populist politicians will become presidents/prime ministers in more and more places in the new millennium. CSOs will ensure this because of the arrogance and distance of government and big business.

Prediction: There will be more Carters, Turners, Gorbachevs, Mandelas, Clintons, Gates, Bonos, Oprahs, Soros',Trusts and Foundations in the years ahead. And surely more Non Governmental Individuals, NGIs, with outstanding credentials and formidable competences. It will be fun!

Suggestion: Gordon Brown should rally like-minded players to get the Bretton Woods tigers to listen and change, or... It is time to support the Global Call for Action Against Poverty, GCAP, at their level....passionately, pragmatically, proactively and promptly.

The Singapore show-down with CSOs was shameful. We call for amends.

As Fatah and Hamas inch towards creating a unity government in Palestine, we must now urge all "interested" parties to help pile more pressure and encouragement on them. This is clearly a window of positive opportunity which should/must not be blown. We have a very strange way of blowing great chances in this long-running conflict, don't we! Let's make amends this time.

And here we call on the Quartet, Israel, Arab League and the African Union (which has very long standing relations and empathy for the PLO).

Then we must add US Democratic Party leaders, for obvious reasons.

Finally, the media must keep tabs and stay with the story...holding all to account, speaking truth to power. No more, no less.

The key is...PEACE. The love of peace. And the peace of loving peace.

Darfur. And I worry.

All Africans should worry. The Sudanese leaders and people must worry. The issues are now of such magnitude and concern that the world's peoples spoke unmistakably worldwide this day. No leader should under-rate, ignore or dismiss these portends. They are grave.

No-one can damn this call, this cry. Not the country, not the continent, not the globe.

Africa must get Khartoun to relent and comply with the UN Security Council resolutions...now. Delay is dangerous for Darfur, and injurious to the nation's future. It is bad for Africa. Very bad.

Again, action is....TODAY!

No matter what, British Prime Minister Tony Blair should not be stampeded or humiliated out of office. It will be counter productive for party and country. No need to.

No matter how painful, the Blairites must work with the Brownites to secure the greatest good of New Labour's good for country and party. There will be both long after their principals/idols.

No matter how tempting to do otherwise, Chancellor Gordon Brown must help his boss and long time friend, Tony Blair, with a safe-landing on how the handover goes.

Do I like Tony Blair? For especial reasons, yes. Did I like Margaret Thatcher? For very special reasons, yes. Do I sense same fate? Not really. The prognoses point differently.

Should the prime minister go? Absolutely yes.

How? Creatively, courageously and.....early.

The Vatican was wise in taking steps to calm frayed nerves and assuage sensibilities over the Papal Lecture quotes. Three sorry's and clarifications in a row, with the Holy Father's personal regrets over the controversy, is not only unprecedented but profoundly significant.

The voices for peace rightly raised by some leaders in the moslem world are welcomed. The protests and attacks should stop. Let's have a cease-fire now. No further escalations, please.

On both sides of the divide (we hope there be no divide, for the sake of our common good), let there be continued sensitivity and unbroken dialogue. And dialogue there must be.

Christianity and Islam must work, not only together but, with other religions and faith bodies to make our world a better, safer and more contemplative place.

Peaceful cohabitation is both imperative and inevitable. It is profitable. Pray, it is the basis of our common humanity, and must be guarded and guided sensitively, jealously and creatively. That is why we're, all of us, together in the United Nations.

May we have the courage to make, build and keep the precious peace our lives and our world so direly and promptly need.

Amen.

September 11. Five years later. We must remember the dead and their loved ones. They were from so many countries and territories. About 3000 souls lost. What grief!

Ground Zero, for America, redefined the war on terror. And for Osama bin Laden as well as his Al-Qaeda group (already an ubiquitous movement), the jihad continues. Deadlock!

Guess what? I have an idea: Why don't we ask the Pakistanis to help set up a UN Negotiation platform with the "insurgents" or "radicalist fighters" or "jihadist"???

Didn't the British do so with the IRA?

Did the Apatheid regime in South Africa not do so with the ANC?

Is Spain not doing so with ETA, now?

What about Sri Lanka?

And Nigeria's Niger Delta?

Ultimately, it shall be Dialogue! Dialogue!! DIALOGUE!!!

And, in case the hawks have forgotten, was the US not positively involved in some of the above?

Let Kofi Annan and President Musharraf take the lead. Five years, and with the current state of play, there is no question that no side is winning. Escalation cannot be in anyone's interest, and the cost of war is many times the cost of "making the world safer through poverty removal, regional equity and global justice. Then, we can all start spreading freedom, democracy and good governance with the dividends of peace".

If The US and USSR could bring the cold war to an end, through negotiation, then we can end this war through negotiation and international cooperation.

Let's bite the bullet.....for peace.

Nigeria attracts international interest in many ways than one. And why not? It is a major oil and gas exporting nation, attaining notoriety with its long neglect of the oil-bearing Niger Delta and the new-making waves of expatriate workers' kidnapping by the region's militants. It has some of the brightest and hardworking humans in the African Diaspora, and is home to the continent's largest market - 150 million souls. Nigeria is blessed with huge yet-to-be-tapped agricultural, marine and numerous solid mineral resources: A land of amazing prospects begging for good leadership.

How can we forget its deviants who send "419" (advance fee fraud) letters/emails with which they entice and entrap gullible/greedy people around the globe - I received several this week! Or do we ignore its gifted footballers plying their trade in first clubs and countries worldwide?

Our musicians and fashion designers join the beauty queens to do us proud. Then our home movies which gave the world the third "wood" - after hollywood and bollywood, it is nollywood!

We've won the Olympics soccer gold medal, won and hosted FIFA's junior world cup, hosted the Commonwealth summit (CHOGM), the All Africa Games (twice) as well as several summits of both ECOWAS and the African Union...to mention a few. We also hosted the Miss World Beauty Pageant - excepting its grand finale which religious riots forced to be shifted to London.

Now you know!

Can you then understand our discomfiture and depression with the state of things, politicswise,
when the top two men in Nigeria's presidency are irretrievably locked in a fight-to-finish war?
At a time when we should be coasting home on our hitherto elusive civilian-to-civilian transition
in democratic governance? In a season when we should be leading Africa by glittering example rather than platitudes and precepts? It calls for worry. It calls for grave very concern.

By the way, this same administration rail-roaded us into paying our ubiquitous and tanishing foreign debts - for which I am personally grateful and proud despite its costs (about $13bn) and unfinished investigations to unravel all the rogues behind its stench - making us respected and credit-worthy again. I also applaud them for making some very inspired and clever (including plough-back) decisions in Nigeria's LNG investmests portfolio, which may not be fully known or appreciated by many.

Pray, this team (President Olusegun Obasanjo and Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who are both multimillionaires or billionnaires by most accounts) is holding the nation by the jugular, thus threatening our fragile democracy. Their supporters are heating up the polity. Their aides are leaking info and planting poisonous facts and fiction in both the media and rumour mills. The polity is haplessly distracted. The much-invested transition is now on auto-pilot, barely six months to the General Elections!

Latest gist? The president has more or less asked the National Assembly to impeach the vice president. He sent in a letter this week.

Further gist? The vice president has dismissed the charges laid out in the president's letter, and counter-indicted the president on similar/veiled/implied charges. Not yet listed, publicly.

Backlash gist? Several parliamentarians are compiling/reviewing/updating all impeachable sins of the presidency, and weighing up how to share same equitably between boss and vice.

Future gist? MAD case, MAD casualty.....mutually assured dismissal. M...A...D!!!

Pray, who be the "drummers" behind this MADness???

Blair and Bush. What a 24-hour blast!

You must be living on Pluto NOT to know, or crow. No matter.

Friends in Bloom, Fate be Gloom.

These are BOTH times, and more!

What an era......Waiting by mirrors of errors, weighing in terrors
and mirrors.

It won't last at last!

Hmmm.

The cost of IT products and services in the developing world is not getting better, despite all the promises and cost-saving advances in technology and political assurances. It is a shame, though not unlike other aspects of our inevitable Global Village: The rich are getting richer while the poor are being impoverished, thus getting poorer!

I shall not stop screaming about the cost of oil and gas, and its debilitating impact on all the poor nations of our planet. Pray, how would they pay? Credit or more handouts? For how long? Is anyone collating and caring? Or, may they be simply doomed???

Back to IT, when will the "digital divide" be reasonably narrowed ( I'm not even suggesting the over-parroted "bridging" ambition!)?? Who's working on the UN Treaty on the subject? When will computers become cheaper, affordable and available in the developing world? And when will calls' tariff follow suit?

Is there anyone naive enough to believe that the Millennium Development Goals, MDGs, have any real chance of being attained without tackling the above subjects frontally?

As for our leaders in Africa, I hope they do not need the heavens to descend before they go in purposeful search of our own IT experts in the Diaspora - sons and daughters who we should be proud of - to come make things happen on the mother-continent? In this regard, let's treat them like any expert or investor - fully incentivised, and leveraged for financial services at the African Development Bank as well as other sources (including commercial banks in South Africa, Nigeria, Libya and Egypt).

It is a disgrace that most of Africa's telecoms, including internet traffic, is still being routed through Europe and America in 2007! NEPAD should have tackled this, and settled it, within 12 months of its take-off. GSM coverage in Africa shouldn't be treated like nuclear science. It should be liberalised forthwith, while the CDMA at its most advanced should be used to boost local land lines/wireless density and penetration. The Nigerian experience should guide NEPAD in this business.

We should worry. Our kids are being left behind. What kind of legacy are we creating for them?
Is it time, therefore, for the continent to fully embrace CommonLicence, OpenSource and VoIP as a first step, while the AU goes to learn some high impact interventions lessons from the EU? We better do.

Oh Africa, where be thy pride?

I am a fan of Space, and its exploration. I look forward to our harnessing its beauty, its mystery and its abundant offerings. To do so collaboratively and sustainably. Yes, you guess right, I do strongly believe in the International Space Centre. We need it.

Should it be any wonder that I join in congratulating the Europeans for the successful mission of "mapping the Moon". We await more details. I salivate.

Meanwhile, let's speculate on and on and on.....

Along with NASA, the European Space Programme should move quickly to download concrete and consumable dividends to citizens, so that its relevance and continued benefits can be vividly beheld, popularly owned and, thus, generously financed. This should be done creatively and courageously: first, as public good, and, second, as sensible business.

Out here, from Africa, you have my vote.

Bravo!

Kofi Annan's shuttle diplomacy to the Middle East all last week was right and timely, and, for me, successful. Getting the presidents of Syria and Iran to give their countries' official support to the Lebanese-Israel cease-fire, and Lebanon's reconstruction, and saying so personally to the UN Sec Gen on their own soil, was historic. We must applaud.

Not getting Tehran to backdown on the uranium enrichment or nuclear matter is no setback as such. He got a first-hand reassurance of a commitment to dialogue and negotiation, plus Iran's reaffirmation of its disavowal of nuclear weapons as a state policy. This point was re-echoed in the United States by ex-president Khatami who is currently visiting the Americans. He gave an insightful interview to CNN on this and other pertinent issues. Quite instructive, indeed.

I am hopeful.

The UN Security Council should put the Iran Report on hold for a "30-Day Cooling Period". This should afford us all some "Thinking Time". And political sanity.

Second, we would spend the time to commemorate September 11 and reflect on the just-ended Israel-Lebanon conflict. Plus let the US administration address post-Katrina issues, especially as the new hurricane season is here - with dire predictions for the Gulf of Mexico, The Caribbeans and elsewhere.

Then, Iraq! Things are so bad. Every time we think we've seen the worst, a worster hits us!! We can't just ignore that theatre of daily slaughter, can we? Absolutely not. In the name of the KIDS and the hapless MOTHERS of Iraq, let's do something sensible....FAST. Iraq needs urgent help... TODAY!!!

The international community needs to be together, stay together, on these and other issues for a better, safer world. Iran has no nuclear bomb yet, and won't have one in 12 months. So, we can be more patient and circumspect in our resolve to peacefully resolve its matter. Let tempers cool, please. There is time.

Like many life-changing inventions, and earth-shattering discoveries, the sustainable solution to this knotty issue can (and may indeed) come from anywhere. Let's sink in and speak out during the coooooling peeeriod, and let the Council do some reaching-out and plenty of listening. Track the world media!

By October 2, we should be better disposed.

My take? Say tuned, here, and on: www.onoviranseries.blogspot.com

The recent spate of accidents (rail, road, air, water, structures) must add to our worries about the times. Before investigations are concluded on one, series of others are occurring! We do not envisage a world without accidents or willful damage, but it is time to look again...differently and anew. Is something very amiss, which we are missing?

Now, if reports show technical causes, then, let's reengineer things. If they point to human error, then, we need to get psychological and spiritual. Are we getting more distracted? More upset? Or dangerously more emotional? Are we facing too much, too soon? Are our coping mechanisms intact, in place? Attention, attention, attention....please!

No-one, from world leaders to the world's masses, is a truly happy and settled soul today. Not if you watch TV and follow the news. Where really is safe today? Who is immune?

Then, the weather: Oh my God!

Let us pray....

We thank Italy and France for taking the lead in the UN Force that will enforce the Israel- Lebanon cease-fire. Let other progressive nations do their bits...promptly, and robustly, please.

We join UN Sec-Gen, Kofi Annan, in asking Israel to stop any further violation of the cease-fire henceforth. Hezbollah should also keep its word.

My preliminary congratulations to all involved in these constructive steps, and our heart-felt commiserations to all who lost and/or grieve at this time.

Peace to all.

First anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, and the signs ain't good at all. From all the reports and what we can see, it is bad bad news! Not safe by the Gulf, not smart for America. We worry.

Poor New Orleans, how I bleed for you!

Oil prices are not relenting in their upsurge. They won't come down any time soon. But that is stating the obvious, isn't it?

Fine. But there is another obvious: The costliness and economic damage the high prices bring and visit on the "poor of the world" - from countries to communities to homes, around the world. As souls freeze in the West, hearts burn in Africa. The poor is POOR everywhere!

Can the G8 plan on ENERGY security kick-start things, please?

No poor anywhere can wait any longer.

With the truce in Israel/Lebanon front, let's have cessation of hostilities on the Isreal/Palestine axis immediately. With a new, robust and agenda-setting UN resolution.

The world's MEDIA should help us refocus the UN Security Council's focus on both Iraq and Afghanistan. Too much was overlooked, even ignored, and neglected while we all focussed on the Israel-Lebanon conflict.

The press should do an in-depth update, and henceforth offer a 4-way daily reportage on these four areas of crises. We must not let one supplant the others. Equal treatment, please.

It is time for new ways, new means, new players and.....new resources..... for World Peace. The UN needs to stand up to these challenges courageously. Time is running out!

Hey folks, was leadership ever called a piece of cake? Why are our world leaders nibbling at this tough cookie instead of cracking the damn thing!? Nibblers be dribblers, period.

The world must crack these knotty nuts.

President Fidel Castro of Cuba is a great phenomenon. His 80th birthday, this week, finds him in post-surgery convalescence. No matter. Happy Birthday, sir!

This man is a legend in his time, a lion of lions. He should be so acknowledged.

My birthday wish for him is to get him and President George Bush to a Talk-Table for an historic peace deal.....unprecedented, and unheralded.

In old age, you cease fighting. In your last term, you stop all wars. So may it be with Castro...So may it be with Bush! Time be short, dear leaders, time is critically short. Act now.

As for the hawks, on both sides, time will tease them no end. Relent.

Ceasefire. The end of hostilities. And the return. Soldiers, civilians and aid workers. Now the real talk begins, for the real work to truly begin.

We speak of the Israel-Lebanon conflict, the unforgettable war that has just ended.

Better late than never, we thank the United Nations for finally ending the war. As Secretary General Kofi Annan solemnly stated, it is lamentable...even disgraceful...that this day didn't come much much earlier. We must, and do, lament.

Soul-searching must follow, on all sides, and by every side, of the divides. We have all lost in this war. All of us.

May the "wasted" souls find repose.

Humanitarian services, activities and operations are getting more needed, more cumbersome and more dangerous around the world. Now, the world must review, reconsider and redesign them. International laws must be revamped for this purpose. Best Practices must established and benchmarked. Compliance must be strict and total. No contempt, no excuses, no delays.

I think the United States, the European Union and the African Union need to lead the United Nations in this matter. It is now dire.

Let's have a Clinton Commission on this, drawing as members Gorbachev, Schroeder, Jiang, Bono, Soyinka, Barak, Amanpour, Simpson, Boutrous-Ghali, Powell, Thatcher, Gandhi, Fox....... among others, including some legal, military, media and aid-agencies' veterans....totalling 17. They should be fully serviced by the UNHCR.

The UN Clinton Commission should sit for 12 Months. Its report must be approved by the UN General Assembly, latest, by December 2008.

Shouldn't we be alarmed, and intrigued, and baffled by the turn of events in the volatile Middle East? Should we be surprised that things are heading haywire? Not by any shot. No!

We should be asking ourselves whether we really have "world leaders", and if there really is an "international community". Each soul lost, whether soldier or civilian, is "slain" in vain! Together and apart, the leaders and the community owe us...and hold us.

The final question should be....."of what QUALITY be both".... pillars and platforms?

Soon, positions will deepen and harden on all sides. Sooner than our political leaders will ever know, times and tides will change. And all of them will be at the mercy of "history".

For them, like for the harassed and hapless peoples of the states of Israel and Lebanon, and the Palestinian Territories, there shall be "no hiding place". But, unlike these peoples, who are at the mercy of these leaders plus platforms, history will own its say.

Now, we bleed. Then, they will.

Lebanon, Israel, Palestine...I vote for peace. Lasting peace. All parties may ache and pain, but no one will win alone. It has to be JOINT. Working together.

I join the peace-seeking world in calling on Israel to stop its military bombardments of civilians and civilian infrastructure, and to allow humanitarian activities/operations as demanded by international laws. Israel should cease fire, now.

I call on the militias in Lebanon and Palestine to cease their attacks on Israel right away.

All sides should allow for the immediate kick-in of political/diplomatic negotiations towards an international-law resolution of all the causes and effects of this long-running problem.

There is no other alternative.

I hope to God that the news report about alleged graft in Ekiti State of Nigeria is not true. I, like many others who believe in the new generation, will be disappointed and depressed. Not for the first time, alright, but for the high premium we place on the young, dynamic and populist Ayo Fayose - Their ACTION Governor.

Not even the worst critic can deny the transformation he has brought to the sleepy state in such a short time - from May 2003, to be precise.

I had grown to like him and to add him to the small team of performers in the land of looters, heartless leaders and visionless administrators. If this report ever gets proven in court, it will be sad. Very sad.

Dear Ayo, I pray not.

Maybe we can't avoid crisis, but we can avoid carnage...especially the kind now going on in the Middle East. Why is it cheaper or more approriate to "rebuild" than to "avoid" this time? How do we redeem the world from needless hate? Query.

International politics is harming itself....and us all.

May our leaders repent.

Make no mistake about it, South Africa is core host of FIFA World Cup 2010. Africa is continental host. South Africa will give the football family a great rainbow time. Africa will boost the mundial like never before.

Remember the old saying, "Something new is always coming out of Africa"? Bet...This time, you will spin in utter wonderment because here is The Cradle of Humankind. Here is home to all. It will be fun, football and Afrifest!

Oh yes, this is AFRICA!

Fast-forward to four years' time....Welcome to 2010!!!

Israel, Lebanon Palestine.....The world bleeds.

Who can possibly benefit from this open-ended mayhem? None, I believe.

Immediate cease-fire, please. Then, no matter the odds, an international buffer-enforcement force must be deployed and empowered by the UN Security Council. And that must be for both the UN-recognised borders and in furtherance of lasting peace engagements between Israel and the two other states, simultaneously.

The UN must ACT promptly; otherwise, lasting damage will set in, and the future will be set in insurmountable HATE. World leaders are on trial here...not Israel, not Lebanon, not Palestine!

World leaders cannot sleep well while the Middle East boils. Israel is virtually at war on two fronts now: Palestine and Lebanon. Just how these altercations will end or be resolved is unclear. And we must worry.

Let's get the hostages released promptly. Let's prevail on Israel to stop its military actions. Let's not wait a day. The world has the capacity and the necessity to do both...NOW.

Not acting in good faith, and in good time, will escalate things and create a horrifying chasm in the region. Plus it will worsen the oil & gas spiralling prices, as well as the attendant energy costs. Poor countries are already reeling from these developments....how long can they hold out?
Then the waste of human lives on all sides, and the extensive destructions worth billions of Dollars. Finally, trust may never return between the parties. Dear Lord, where is this leading?

Without an enduring and peaceful resolution soon, the highly parroted "war on terror" will be a pipe-dream! The G8 Meeting in Russia this weekend is surely the place to kick-start a timely intervention.

Congratulations to the Last Four the World Cup Finals...Germany 2006! You are all winners. My plea is that you guys will play Saturday and Sunday in the highest traditions of the Mundial. Please, give us a family sport. And make the world proud of The Beautiful Game. Hurray!

Goodluck, folks....And may the Pecking Order be right.

Chancellor Angela Merkel should please bring her motherly instincts and touch to help organise, and sanitise, the G8...Men's Club. What a pleasure to see a Breaking Face to the boredom of all these years!

Hahaha!!!

No matter what their officials wish or say, I like the fact that Presidents Bush and Putin are friends. No matter how it is read and misread, I like the way they get along. It is good for them, and better for the world. I want to see China in that loop, fast!

So, as they huddle in Russia from this weekend, let George tell his buddy to sort out the issues of racism that make the news too often these days, and may Vladimir coach his pal on coming to the BBC for "Have Your Say".

These guys should look into their both eyes and say, "heck, let's settle Iraq, Iran, North Korea and the Israel/Palestine issues, NOW!". May the future applaud.

Iraq and Afghanistan on my mind, this day. Should they be not on your mind, too? Pray, they should be. Let them be on all minds, today.

Global TV is horror to watch these days, despite the beauty and fun of the World Cup. Listening to the complaints of the Afghan president, hearing of Japan pulling out its troops from Iraq, and the Italians set to do same, plus the indictments of some multinational personnel (especially the US) by military tribunals, not to mention the daily carnage of bombs, mines, blasts, beheadings, betrayals, smears, kidnappings, executions and extortions, we must worry.

The poll numbers are getting worse for political leaders in Europe and America, and civil society is restless about the unprecedented levels of "governance disconnect" in many countries around the globe. World Media today is an ugly and depressing fare. Yes, we must worry.

As for the two countries of my thought this day, I will do more than pray. I call on President Putin to host a Summit of the G8, Arab Leaders and China immediately after the upcoming G8 Meeting. India and Turkey and President Nelson Mandela should be invited. The purpose? To get an "Arab" UN Peace-Building Force for both countries. Let's do it. We must do it. Hey, let's dump politics, let's dismantle pride. Things are drifting ultra-dangerous right now. Add this to the Israeli-Palestinian disaster, and you'll get my drift!

I am concerned because we may end up with an unbridgeable gulf between America and the Arab World in the future - a prospect we cannot afford, must not allow, in our emerging Global Village! Yet, we can stop it!

So may I caution.

Sudan knows better than all outsiders why there's a need for a UN Peace-Keeping Force in the Dafur region. We all know that the African Troops are insufficient and under-resourced for the new and urgent (even, dire) task at hand. No more delay, please.

Now is the time for Arab and African brethren to intervene and prevail on President al-Bashir. He is reported as vowing to block such a deployment as long as he is president. That is scary! China should also step in, considering its leverage with Khartoun. The consequences of failure in Darfur are grave, and should not be contemplated. We must have peace in Darfur.

Let all men and women of goodwill join the plea-train, today. Sudan should listen, and hearken.
Especially as it is helping to find a peaceful resolution in the Somalian crisis! We commend that move, and ask that it bolster the effort with a higher standing in international reckoning.

Give the UN a chance, please.

Israel should follow up today's informal summit, hosted by King Abdullah of Jordan, with an immediate stop of its so-called "targetted" missile attacks on Palestinians. The breakfast meeting at which Prime Minister Olmert and President Abbass embraced on global TV was good, even promising. But we need a lot more than foto-shoots, now. Things are getting worse on a daily basis. This can't be good for either side. No! Change, positive change is due...NOW.

We thank both His Majesty and the tireless, ever (he says he doesn't mind being called over- !) optimistic Shimon Peres for the ice-breaking get-together.

Let the Hamas leadership not rock the boat, please. Peace is long overdue!

In its pursuit of sustainable development, the United Nations Development Programme, UNDP, has always insisted that "jobless growth" is more or less "harmful growth"! Very many in the crusading community can identify with that sentiment, and would probably stretch to say it is "worthless growth"!! No matter.

But to fully appreciate the implications, you can look around the world and calculate how many jobs are created by the huge investments in the oil fields despite the billions in cash. Very few. Why? Because "technology does the job"! Yet, those nations can quote high GDP figures!! Come to Nigeria, go to Indonesia, check with Saudi Arabia or ask the Russians!!!

My thoughts this day are with the UNDP. I think it should resume its wise offensive against the monster of poverty by enlisting the International Labour Organisation, ILO, as well as the sane private sector in the rich nations. We need the shareholders of multinationals to join forces with the anti-poverty crusaders today. They must all know that their investments are open to huge unpredictable threats and consequences as we now see in Nigeria's Niger Delta region and Latin American countries. We can avoid the future but impending conflagration. Yes.

The key to this understanding is that more of the rising power of both crusaders and a new civil society is from the citizens of rich/developed countries! People Power is on the ascendancy.

Doubt it not. Dare it not!

African leaders should please show some respect. How do others take them seriously when, as The Economist just reported, the African Parliament cannot function because its budget of a miserable sum of $24m is unfunded!

Leading the non-performing states is my own oil-rich Nigeria. South Africa has paid up. Egypt, Libya and Algeria are not paying up. We must be disturbed. I am alarmed.

Now, what can Nigeria say to its admirers or dismissers if it owes the AU, Ecowas, NEPAD or Commonwealth/UN? No matter what we spend elsewhere, including billions on West African crises-plus (Liberia, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea, etc), we diminish ourselves by not funding the African Parliament. Period. And we want to represent the continent on the UN Security Council? Strange. Shouldn't our Pan-African, globe-trotting president know better???

I suggest that Nigeria now leads the way to resolving this shameful saga promptly. Let us endow the Pan-African Parliament with $250m, representing its Basic Budget for 10 years, as an insurance against the future. This will guarantee its integrity, and protect its independence. We have enough oil windfall to do so now. This is a block one-off grant. We must continue paying the annual dues - whatever they be.

Once done, Nigeria should pressure others to pay up.

PS: If the present administration fails, not to worry. Things are changing here. The new guys in 2007 will make African Integration more people-oriented, more integration-friendly, more renaissance-possible and less talkshop-bedeviled. Just a few months, folks, this utter smear will be cleansed. Apologies.

The Palestinians need to do themselves, and the world, a favour: Get united. This is another chance to do something concrete about peace with Israel. Don't blow it, please.

Listening to the Israeli prime minister's address to the US Congress yesterday, I sensed a leader ready to seize the moment. He seemed quite genuine. And a touch frustrated. No matter. He has made an impassioned plea for peace. The Palestinians must take up the challenge in good faith.

We must all help find the way, the will, and the zeal for both parties NOW.

To achieve this, the Palestinians must stop the crisis going on in their ranks, in their land. It is as unhelpful as it is patently harmful. To find and keep friends in the peace process, they must be united behind their elected president. Fatah and Hamas bear equal responsibility for peace. Yes. They must uphold this sacred duty. Today.

Kofi Annan is completing his momentous tenure as UN secretary general soon. The race for his successor is on, and hot. Rightly so.

But we must worry. The signals emanating from world capitals are not exciting. Not that it is all that surprising, nor is it ever going to be a piece of cake. Just that we are heading for a deadlock, willy nilly. Reason? Because we seem to be using the wrong criteria.

We must reinvent the job, the post and the pay if we must have a better world. We must use what we are agreed on (like poverty, terrorism, digital divide, space, environment, diplomacy and world peace) rather than cold war and undue advantages to pick the right candidate. We must get experts into the secretariat instead of politicians. Permanent Missions should be so-staffed.

If the UN is wrongly peopled, our world will be wrongly run! Don't doubt. Why are the world powers, including the US and UK, seeking UN legitimacy after the Iraqi invasion...despite their pre-war arrogance and unilateralism? Why are the world's citizens, including theirs, always insisting on multilateralism...thru the UNITED NATIONS? Because it is right.

This is why we must get it absolutely right this time. No distractive politics, please. And, yes, the UN General Assembly must play a definitve role.

Considering the sheer numbers and length of stay of the 12 million undocumented (read illegal) immigrants in the United States of America, not to mention their huge and acknowledged contributions to the nation's economy, congress should act with caution and compassion. Any solution must incorporate "a path to citizenship". The crisis can and should be solved speedily.

In this case, President Bush is right.

The Time 100 list of the world's most influential persons for 2006 thrills me. All my favourites made it. But my most thumbs-up is placing Nigeria's Archbishop Peter Akinola in his deserved station. The Primate of All Nigeria Anglican Communion is leading the crusade of his life: Trying to help protect the cannons and traditions of the church from undue modernisation. He has a lot of support in Africa and around the world, especially within the ranks of conservative adherents.

Time Magazine hit the bull's eye. Spot on.

Something is happening in the oil industry. The oil companies are under fire everywhere! Whether it is for environmental degradation in Nigeria's Niger Delta, or price gouging in the United States, or incurring re-nationalisation wrath in Latin America, the "culprit" is the same: OIL COMPANIES!

For decades, activists have complained and no-one listened. Now that oil prices are pinching their pockets, everyone is threatening! About time.

Question: Can't the oil companies see that the game is up?

Question: Don't they know the meaning of remission, or do they adamantly seek retribution?

Question: Why are they so "manipulative", using politicians and bureaucrats around the world??

Question: Why imperil the Planet and its Peoples for the benefit of mere shareholders?

Question: Will these hitherto indifferent shareholders now rise up for Global Equity? Or....

I have never really understood the sheer arrogance and insensitivity of the oil companies and their backers. Many parliaments and presidents in their home countries never listened to crusaders before now. Some, especially in the US, are only posturing - largely because of their mid-term elections! How can it be more important to worry about gasoline prices than the cost to human lives of the trecherous exploration-exploitation-corruption by these transnationls in the oil fields, especially in the Third World???

This is the time for the most comprehensive review, and intervention, by all concerned. If not, the stage has been set for nationalisation/re-nationalisation of these businesses in a strident band-wagon self-determination reaction, following the emerging trend in Latin American. These Western companies are doing their home countries grave disservice with their current bad practices. In due course, the oil-locales will most certainly find the right models in Chinese and Indian companies - eroding one more frontier of Western domination. It is a fair forecast, isn't it?

My Advice: Shell and Cheveron should be called to order in Nigeria's Niger Delta. No-one is benefiting from their gross insensitivity to the plights of the oil-bearing zones. No excuses are acceptable. None.

Greetings. Congratulations. Commiserations. Hope Rising! Tomorrow Assured. These are the All-in-One sentiments to which our compatriots - the masses - earn all rights on this MAY DAY. This momentous day. 2007.

Look around the world, our world, and ask if you can truly deny us this little bit. Can you? And if by any means you feel or believe that you can, should you??

Dear Workers - the real Wealth CREATORS - and Winners, beware, and be HAPPY. Yes. Oh, how I see you as the season, seasoning, and seasoned of the world....our world. Believe.

Am I speaking in tongues? You bet. Is anyone decoding? Ask again.

When? Today. And every night. Again.

The Chinese Charming Train was in Nigeria for a 2-day state visit this week, straight from the United States and Morocco, and heading for Kenya. It was such a blessed spectacle to watch President Hu Jintao join the drumming during the airport departure ceremonies in Nairobi. He is a master drummer! Sheer delight.

Of course he had a successful sweep of his tour and must be very pleased with his country's global status, as well as his own rising stature as chief diplomat/salesman. But my particular vote today is for this artistic/cultural side of the great statesman. It is a sign and show of being rooted in the beauty of nature and culture, and sown to the finer aspects of the elevated spirit. Go to China and you will see what I mean. Culture immerses you. Ask Disney World China or MacDonalds or Google or Boeing!

It is why a reporter from an American television network recently asked: "where are the communists?" when he was confronted by the glitz, glamour and openness of Shanghai! Pray, it is why China is developing on its own terms, even as it is set to be the next superpower!