‘There’s no political event more dangerous than a general election’, and ‘if wise counsels do not prevail, no one can predict what might happen’, writes Cameron Duodu.

Following the 1 October bombs in Abuja, suggestions have been made that northern interests in Nigeria were attempting to convey a message to President Goodluck Jonathan in response to his 2011 presidential ambitions, writes Cameron Duodu. While political declarations around responsibility for the bombing confuse the public, People’s Democratic Party (PDP) ‘elders’ are in discussions over whom to endorse as the 2011 party candidate.

Instead of falling for the rhetoric around the UN development goals, Cameron Duodu argues that Africa should gauge the true commitment of rich countries to ending poverty on the continent by looking to the past. In this area, the G8 has been sorely lacking, he says.

As Ghana gears up to develop its petroleum industry, Cameron Duodu strongly laments the absence of greater public sharing of information around the sector. Duodu stresses that Nigeria’s tumultuous history with petroleum ‘is a rehearsal of what could be waiting for us’ and that Ghana should pay particular attention to its neighbour’s experience if it is to avoid ‘so much cheating and thievery’.

Basil Davidson wrote so passionately about Africa it was assumed he was an African, writes Cameron Duodu, paying tribute to the late historian, whose work ‘enriched the world's understanding of Africa’. Davidson was ‘not only an inspiration to progressives inside academia, but was an important resource for African leaders themselves’, says Duodu, at a time when the majority of ‘histories’ depicted Africa as ‘a land full of barbarous peoples “until the whiteman came”’.

Following Ghana's controversial exit from the World Cup after Uruguayan striker Luis Suárez's goal-line handball, Cameron Duodu charges that governing body Fifa's rules must be changed to fully stamp out cheating.