Last friday the United States Government released a damning human rights report on Nigeria, saying "grave violations of human rights" continued to increase in 2017 while officials who perpetrated them were never prosecuted by the Federal Government of President Muhammadu Buhari. It also said, inter alia, that Nigeria is suffering from "ethnic, religious and regional violence". This is the bitter truth and the report is a welcome development.

If there were ever a man that were worthy of celebration in the context of Nigerian history, power and politics that man is Baba Ayo Adebanjo. I must confess that I find it difficult to write about him simply because I’ve mentioned him so many times in write-ups over the years and there is so much to say. I am however honored and delighted to be able to share a few words about this great and profoundly good man who is not only one of the founding fathers of our nation but also a great patriot and nationalist and an outstanding elder statesman.

When President Muhammadu Buhari arrived in the United Kingdom in preparation for the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting, Archbishop Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Cantetbury and the presiding Bishop of the Church of England, who dutifully sat at his bedside when he was critically ill last year and who has assumed the role of his beloved second wife, said the following:

Hon. Farouk Adamu Aliyu I just finished watching a video in which Farouk Adamu Aliyu, who is a notorious Fulani irredentist and hardliner, a close ally of President Muhammadu Buhari and a former Minority Leader in the Federal House of Representatives, said the following. "The oil in Bayelsa and the Delta belongs to the people of Jigawa. If they try to take it from us we will fight for it. We will not allow them to stop us from having free and unhindered acccess to the oil and the money that comes from it. The oil is not theirs: it belongs to us all and if we have to fight for it we will. We fought a civil war over this issue and we kept Nigeria one because of it. If we have to fight another civil war and shed and spill blood again because of this matter we will do so. Of course we are not one and the same people. I am Fulani, some are Ijaw and some are Yoruba. We are not one but God has put us together so why can't we remain together? We know that we are all different but you must understand that you can only take our oil from us after you have defeated us. Until then and as long as Nigeria remains one the oil belongs to Jigawa".

President Muhammadu Buhari It has been brought to my attention that my name was placed in what the Federal Government of Nigeria describes as its "looters list". I wish to make it…

President Buhari I received the news of the apology offered to the Nigerian people by my friend and brother Prince Uche Secondus, the National Chairman of the PDP, with mixed feelings. For goodness sake what is the apology for? Is it the great achievements of President Olusegun Obasanjo or the commendable strides of President Goodluck Jonathan? In my view Secondus' apology was ill-conceived and unecessary. And if PDP must apologise for its 16 years in power then on its own part the Buhari administration and each and every one of the APC leaders must be compelled to pull out a loaded gun, point it at their own temples and blow out their own brains.

Yet the individual that has captured the situation with more clarity, strength and conviction than perhaps any other in the last few days is my friend and brother Mr. Tony Ipriye Uranta. Tony has been one of the most courageous, consistent and celebrated voices in the struggle for emancipation from military rule, freedom from northern hegemony and the establishment of democracy in Nigeria for the last 30 years and his words are worthy of consideration. On March 18th he wrote,

Vice President Yemi Osinbanjo On his part Mafindi Danburam gave a press conference in Jalingo, Taraba state on Sunday 18th March in which he complained that 54 Fulani herdsmen, who were all members of Miyetti Allah, had been arrested by the police and that his Fulani people were being subjected to persecution by the security agencies and indigenous political leaders in Taraba state simply because they were Fulani herdsmen and members of Miyetti Allah.

Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State "Useful idiot" is a political term which is often used to describe the misguided supporters of an unreasonable, irresponsible, ill-conceived and ill-advised cause. First coined in western Europe in the late 19th century, the term was made all the more popular by its usage in Mona Charen's excellent book titled "Useful Idiots: How Liberals Got It Wrong in the Cold War and Still Blame America First" which was published in 2003.

Liya Sharibu I am happy that the Dapchi girls are all back home but I am deeply troubled by the fact that one of them was left behind and by the assertion that 5 of them died whilst in captivity. The day the truth comes out about what really happened to the Chibok and Dapchi girls and those that were behind these two scams, Nigerians will be shocked and they will spit on the graves of Buhari and his collaborators.

Vice President Atiku Abubakar "Labelling the attackers as Fulani is wrong. Fulani people are peaceful and live in harmony with other ethnicities. To call the killer herdsmen Fulani is a misnomer. They are just criminals and not Fulani criminals"- Vice President Atiku Abubakar, 11 March 2018, Thisday Newspaper. Is it so difficult for us to accept the ugly truth and to call a spade a spade? Must we continue to mock the memories of those that have been slaughtered by shielding those who butchered them? Have we no shame or remorse? Are these childish semantics and infantile denials really necessary?

Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, Vice President of Nigeria "My brethren the Infidels in this country are pointing their fingers to our faces we also should do the same. After the message I gave in Rijau Niger state and presently am in Kontagora the message was delivered to the President through a reliable source. I stand by the existing code that all Muslims must rise and defend ourselves from all Infidels and all Muslim uniformed men must stand and defend Muslims at all cost for every one should know the road to his or her fathers home. We have sent our message to the President and I was assured he got it. He is with us and believes in our cause. Every Muslim in Nigeria must be ready. We will never allow any infidel to come to power again. We want our Muslim soldiers in the barracks to be on their guard and never allow these infidels to intmidate us again. Whether we are prepared or not every soldier must answer his fathers name"- Sheik Abubakar Gero Argungu, Sawtul Hikmah, March 9th, 2018.