By Jide Ajani

YAR’ADUA

Even as this report is being written, President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua is still making waves. There is controversy over his whereabouts, the latest in the series of comical stories that has been written about the Nigerian president since he left Nigeria on November 23. Whether by design or protoplasmic and organ conspiracy in his system, President Yar’Adua may have physically dropped out of the picture, whenever he re-appears, he would remain the major issue in Nigeria. The type of government he would then run, having been away for quite a while would be anybody’s guess.

Jonathan

Even just as 2009 was ushering-in 2010, Goodluck Jonathan was still pledging loyalty to President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. In his own quiet way, he has maintained a mien which belies the enormity of the powers at his disposal. For a would-be individual, full of kinetic powers, he never for once put anyone in doubt as to his true position as the number two man; and that is where the relevance takes root.

In the wake of the sudden indisposition of President Yar’Adua, Jonathan has suddenly become more of the issue, still in a potential context, than any other thing in Nigeria today. In the event of any eventuality, Jonathan would become the president and commander-in-chief. How he wields power in that circumstance is another matter altogether. And even in the absence of any eventuality, Jonathan would still remain very relevant in 2010. If names mean anything, Goodluck Jonathan’s is a classic example.

Maurice Iwu

Disagree as you may, Professor Maurice Iwu, chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, is one of the Nigerians who would make waves this year – for good or for ill. Next month’s Anambra governorship elections would be a litmus test not only for Iwu or his INEC but also for Nigeria as a nation. Whatever Iwu makes of the Anambra gubernatorial elections would determine if there would not be a renewed call for his removal as INEC’s chairman. This professor of pharmacology who oversees Nigeria’s election umpire would determine the direction the general elections of 2010 would go.

Super Eagles

Even the list of the Super Eagles players submitted by Coach Shuaibu Amodu, for the African Nations’ Cup, is already generating a controversy. The players could be darlings of Nigerians or “enemies”, depending on their performance at, first, the Nations’ Cup, and, then, the World Cup in South Africa. Who knows, for a team which almost did not qualify for the World Cup and who, at some point was banking (and did bank) on the misfortune of the Tunisian football team, to qualify miraculously, anything can surely happen for the players at both the Nations’ Cup and World Cup. If the players take the team very far, that is, impressively at the two tournaments, Nigerians may actually savour the moments.

David Mark

He is the number three citizen. The intrigues that constantly trail the issue of the president’s health would definitely see Mark, who is the Senate president, being in the eye of the storm. It is either he is scheming of becoming president or he is not directing the National Assembly in a manner to steal the show. Which ever way Mark plays it, he would be in the news more this year. Mark is seen as a stabilizing factor in this administration and his role just before the Ekiti governorship re-run elections underlines this. Mind you, Mark is a retired brigadier general.

Obasanjo

When Olusegun Obasanjo caused the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to amend its constitution in 2006, investing in the chairman, Board of Trustees of the party all powers under the political spectrum, little did he know that his dream of becoming a very powerful figure would soon be dumped by the same party which caused the amendment.  Today, the chairman, Board of Trustees, is like any other member of the National executive Committee, NEC, of PDP. But Obasanjo’s relevance derives from the fact that four of the six states in the South West geo-political zone are controlled by the PDP; four of the five states of the South East are PDP, while six of the six South South states are PDP controlled.

Apart from Rivers State, where Obasanjo out rightly refused the candidacy of Rotimi Amaechi, he remains very influential. And at a time when the man he installed as president is having some health challenges, not forgetting that he rammed Jonathan through the throat of PDP, Obasanjo’s role in the polity this year would be worth watching.

Atiku Abubakar

Believe it or not, Atiku Abubakar, the Turakin Adamawa is back. It might sound far-fetched but the momentum Atki has built in the last 12 months would keep in very relevant this year. With his mega-party which is going to crystalise this year – even as early as March, Atiku Abubakar would be in the news for the remainder of the year 2010. The reasons are not as much as the role. He is in an alliance with Muhammadu Buhari, former head of state and main opposition figure in the country, as well as Attahiru Bafarawa, former governor of Sokoto State to form the mega party.

Because Atiku is very much interested in becoming president of Nigeria, and because he has always insisted that if given the chance, he would change so many things about governance and politics, he is likely to make more helpful noises in 2010 that he did in 2009

Opposition politicians

The problem  with opposition politicians   in Nigeria is purely a challenge of stamina. Take a look at the landscape and you’ll see a rag-tag coalition of some non-descript politicians, joining forces with established opposition figures. And whereas they all start out as a body, they end up being poached by the ruling political parties (yes, political parties because these happen at the state level too), where there is always a craze to the ruling party in the state.

The same pattern will continue this year but with more ferocity as we go into the elections of next year.  There would be useful noises coming from the opposition politicians. There would also be noises purely of nuisance and idiotic values. But do not underrate them; because this is a polity where socio-political and economic interests and desires intersect and create a bonding that leads to nothing but frustration.

Michael Kaase Aondoakaa

He is the minister of justice and attorney general of the Federation. It all has to do with the interpretation of the law.  Over the years, ministers of justice and attorneys general of the Federation have never been loved – except, of course, by the appointing authority. Therefore, Aondoakaa’s case is not in any way different. But because this is the eve of an election year, it is on the shoulders of Aondoakaa that the interpretation of the law now rests. Already, Aondoakaa has demonstrated how committed he is to this administration

Sanusi

Just before his appointment as the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, many said his appointment was meant to fill a quota, a derisive way of reducing an individual’s appointment into public office to a matter of connection and geo-political restitution and not competence.

The job Sanusi started in the banking sub-sector of the Nigerian economy is sure to be continued in Year 2010 and many Nigerians are bracing for whatever outcomes would arise from the on-going reforms. Already, thousands are being laid off in the banks. Some have called him a Taliban in the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN – all these on account of his on-going reforms in Nigeria’s banking sector. Yet there are those who just see him as simply a man of honour and principle.