As the aphorism goes, “Politics is a game of intrigues.” It is a game that requires both physical and mental alertness.
Since the announcement by the three opposition parties: the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, and the All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP, as well as a faction of the All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA, on February 6, 2013, to form a mega party under the name, All Progressive Congress, with APC as its acronym, to wrest power from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, the merging parties have known no peace.

With the setting up of a committee to handle amnesty for Boko Haram members and payment of compensation to their victims and the sect members rejecting the offer without looking back, there is suspicion that the government may have an interest other than merely seeking for elusive peace in the north. Others believe the government is merely scratching the symptoms of the Boko Haram sect rather than delving into what brought it into existence.

Governor Isa Yuguda, as someone who had played a strategic role as a bank CEO in two major banks before delving into the murky waters of partisan politics, truly understands the intricacies of managing both ends to ensure the happiness of the people of Bauchi State and, by extension, other Nigerians in his domain. But those who are opposed to every move he makes would not just allow him to sleep well without raising one allegation or the other against him. Last week, the media was awash with the allegation that he was battling to flush out Vice President Namadi Sambo from his comfort zone come 2015. But, in an emotion-laden tone, Yuguda, popularly known as Mallam by his people, in this interview, denies ever contemplating such, describing both President Goodluck Jonathan and his vice, Sambo, as his senior brothers, whom he could not undermine for whatever reason.

Dr Chris Ekiyor is the former National President of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) and currently the Caretaker Chairman of Patani Local Government Council of Delta State. In this interview, the Niger Delta activist faults the calls for amnesty for members of the Boko Haram sect and warns that the people of the Niger Delta will resist any move to use the resources from the area to fund the amnesty.

Democracy seems to be yielding huge dividends in Katsina State where lodgements made by the Shema administration in banks provided the funds to build a new Government House. The state Commissioner for Works, Mustapha Kankia, tells the story in this interview. Excerpt: