I was amused no end when I read a story in the newspapers yesterday about what President Goodluck Jonathan told Emir of Ilorin Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu Gambari. The president was in Kwara State to, as he himself said "ginger up PDP members for the forthcoming general elections."

During a visit to the emir's palace, Jonathan applauded Gambari for the peace and security that prevail in Ilorin Emirate. He then urged the emir to ensure that the peace is sustained "so that Boko Haram insurgency, kidnapping and other anti-social behaviours will not find their way into the state." The emir must keep Boko Haram out of his domain, the president said.

He should keep Boko Haram out of his domain; with what? The Emir of Ilorin's office, like that of his fellow royal fathers all over the country, was not mentioned in the 1999 Constitution even in passing. All the elaborate methods for appointment of public officers, screening, confirmation, removal, succession etc, no mention was made of them in the constitution in relation to royal fathers. All the lush money in the treasury, none was allocated to royal fathers. All the myriad of security agencies that exist in Nigeria, not one was placed under the charge of the royal fathers. Yet the president wants a royal father to keep Boko Haram out of his domain.

You Mr Jonathan, what stops you from keeping Boko Haram out of your own domain, which is the whole of Nigeria? You have many things under you to enable you to do so. You have policemen, you have soldiers, you have SSS, you have air force, you have Immigration, you have money. So what is your problem?
Despite all these resources, you allowed Boko Haram not only to enter but to overrun part of your domain, kill your subjects wantonly and foist their flags on the Gwoza Hills. Only for you to now come and tell a man who has no resources and no armed men under him to keep Boko Haram out of his domain.  You are not serious.

"Nigerians are not animal friendly."

A professor of law at the Nigeria Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, Yinka Omoregbe, complained at an event marking the World Wildlife Day in Benin on Monday that Nigerians are not animal friendly. She said this country's wildlife faces total annihilation from people.

She said, "When our people see lions or other animals, the first thing they think of is how to kill it. Imagine a situation where people see a cat or a dog and think they are witches or an object for sacrifices. In some African countries, they protect and honour their animals like human beings."

The question I want to ask this professor is, which African countries are those? She said we are not friendly towards animals, and that we are always trying to kill them. Okay, since she loves animals, she should wait until a big black cobra enters her bedroom, then she should cuddle it. She said we think some animals are witches. Wait until this professor leaves her ivory tower post one day and enters politics. Will she see a black cat parading around her compound at night and leave it just like that? How will she know that it is not her enemies that sent the cat to bewitch her?

She suggested that we should honour wild animals the way we honour human beings in Nigeria. That's exactly what we are doing. We are honouring both of them, in the breach. Which human life do we honour here? Has she heard of Bunu Yadi, where 52 kids were shot dead in one night just for being students?
Has she ever visited an accident and emergency ward in a government hospital and smelled the stench from blood and oozing ulcers? So if she says we should honour animals the way we honour human beings in Nigeria, that's exactly what we are doing. What then is her problem?