Nigeria, July 14 -- The once restless former governor of Borno State, and now the Vice President of Nigeria, Alhaji Kashim Shettima, is becoming sober. He is fast throwing off his toga of brashness. He used to think that combativeness was a way of life. But experience has taught him otherwise. He is beginning to learn. He now understands the value of bridge-building in politics.

Just last week, he shelved politics momentarily and spoke from the heart. That was at the book launch of the former Attorney General of the Federation, Mohammed Bello Adoke, who served as Attorney General and Minister of Justice at the time Shettima was governor of Borno State. Shettima remembers Adoke fondly. He told the gathering that it was this Adoke who, as ...