• Blank NEWS Online (NIGERIA) –By Austen AKHAGBEME:

When the ecclesiastical come calling, every other duty or obligation of mine takes the back seat. This is the very reason yours sincerely couldn’t catch up with the trends of events in the national and international arena, with an exhaustive discussion on any one of them in a single article as usual.

So, a rigmarole of some sort may suffice here, as I beg your pardon. From the ‘madness ‘ in Mali to Former President Obama’s unpresidential demarketing of President Donald Trump , there are issues everywhere.

The NBA’s disinvitation to El- Rufai, preventing him from speaking at the association’s annual event is seen as a masterstroke at bursting the bobble of the governor’s new found confidence on the western Nigerian elites vis-a-vis his recalcitrant stance and grandstanding on the Southern Kaduna massacre back home.

The Bar Association’s volte face was equally interpreted as a reflection of the prevalent internal contradiction coloured in ethnic cum religious tendencies within the Nigerian state, reflecting at a micro level.

The coincidental visit of the ebullient former Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi to Kaduna and his attempt at explaining the incidence away in defence of his loyal friend became counterproductive in a way.

For the matter to attract the deposed Emir’s attention such that he kept on sermonizing on El- Rufai’s good virtues as against his widely proclaimed villainy, shows to his detractors that the NBA ‘bullet’ truly got to its target.

Nevertheless, a lesson on public governance is being taught: that it is better to be on the popular side of the people than to be haughty and masquerading as the champion on the side of the elites.

As the hate against President Donald Trump deepens coupled with the coordinated media war against him by the leftists, Former President Obama offers to be the arrow head of late. With a combined salvos from his wife, Obama took Donald Trump to the cleaners, calling for a rejection of any semblance of Trump at the white house come next election.

This was not after Africa rose up to the rude shock of a another madness of a coup d’etat in politically troubled Mali. The ‘juvenile’ military junta came in without a comprehensive plan on what to do nor a terminal date of their interregnum. They probably only consider the grandeur of office and the soon shortlived cheers from a confused populace who had no options than to choose between the Devil and the deep blue sea.

Edo state gubernatorial elections are around the corner, too. It has been more of a war of words and character assassination than that of policy issues and development. We’re waiting for it to come and go with bathed breath and Prayers. At long last, we will still be fine. Permit me to continue my romance with the celestial. I will soon be back.

• Austen AKHAGBEM is a Columnist with Blank NEWS Online