They were celebrated. The defectors. They brought euphoria.  After  Ali Modu Sheriff  and the journey through the valley of the shadow of death in the Supreme Court, the fanfare was understandable.

The signs are good. We  have  chosen the long, tortuous, treacherous path. But we will get there. We have  stumbled and strayed.  We could loiter in the wilderness for a century. But we will grope our way to milk, honey and order.

President Buhari took law to a gathering of lawyers. And he came clutching what looked like  a supreme court decision. When did  the president develop appetite for legal gymnastics?  And he is now striving to be a contortionist. Igbos know that a frog doesn’t make dashes in the afternoon in vain.

The civil war left  many chronic wounds. But Igbos have survived and thrived. Igbos may have been hampered  by  national structural defects and systemic injustices. But they have  flourished and have the economic heft to surmount subsisting inequities.

The APC  has come  alive. It barks endlessly these days. That is some  consolation for many of its disillusioned supporters.  They can begin to hope again. That  this enthusiasm and energy would yield a strong party  with  firm democratic traditions.

It’s effectively election season. Internally displaced and disaffected politicians are migrating like seasonal birds. Their flight paths are not new. Whatever they do to  ensure self survival and fatten their  bellies and pockets,  they will pass off in beautiful patriotic colors. Jostling and shoving, everywhere, are getting vigorous.

Adams Oshiomhole is right. Saraki must surrender the crown. The position of senate president is the birthright of the majority party in the Senate.

The PDP is euphoric. But it must contain itself.  Its concentration must be on the electoral map. It must formulate  a concise message. No one has heard it say how it plans to curb corruption. All it does is hysterical  lamentation of  the poor performance of the ruling party.  The PDP has been on the ropes for too long. Succor has come.

In 2014, Ekiti governorship election held. The results astounded everyone. The opposition party in the state walloped the incumbent governor. Fayose won in all local government areas. Fayose  thumped his chest and bragged about knowing the feelings of the people. He ridiculed the defeated incumbent governor, Fayemi, for being insensitive and aloof. He dismissed his ideas as too intellectual, too naive. Fayemi and his party had been impeded, harassed and terrorized by federal security agents controlled by Fayose, deployed by  President Jonathan. But the election  results left Fayemi with no room for grumbling. He conceded the election, and congratulated Fayose.

There is nothing that hasn’t happened recently. We were told angels were gathering.  They  were burning with the desire to save Nigeria from a certain apocalypse. But we are now seeing familiar vultures congregating, returning with outstretched necks. And wolves have started  coming back, not in sheep’s clothing, but as ravenous wolves.

State police is  in the works. The Vice-president wants it. The deputy Senate president wants to fast track a bill.  Political restructuring can as well come in bits. It appears, we cannot swallow it whole. Power devolution will enhance shared sense of belonging.  A weakened centre will reduce power struggle and cake-sharing mentality that have  with rabid tribalism engendered a perverted sense of nationhood.

A new crankshaft seems  in place. The frothing of oil and the  confused combustion must end now. The first  task is to mend, stitch and stand  the party. The outgoing chairman was allowed to linger for a little too long. He had been  a slack chain. Then he  broke and  lashed around and left vengeance everywhere. Oshiomhole has inherited a house littered with  political IEDS. The second task will be   employ the revamped  party to plow the political fields of the nation.

The rot is deep. The health sector is a suppurating sore. Quackery is rife.  If there is regulation, it doesn’t catch rogues. In nearly every district in Lagos there are flourishing  fake clinics. It isn’t just auxiliary nurses masquerading full time as doctors.  There are people who have received no medical training  but who are  confidently running thriving hospitals. The unsuspecting public are not to blame.  Patients do not usually scrutinize doctors licenses and qualifications. This army of  counterfeit doctors  attend to light and grave cases  and  routinely evacuate products of unwanted  conception. The roadside patent medicine dealers have been around since the ages. They have been dangerously filling gaps left by a decrepit health system. They  play the roles of doctors, pharmacists and nurses, combined.  They are responsible for most of the avoidable deaths from illegal abortion.

Apologies to China Achebe. It appears Buhari’s benevolent spirits have started cracking his palm kernels. It had been one week one trouble. He conceded many own goals. His opponents were euphoric. Some angry  bishops joined the chorus of some  old generals. They wanted him to return  unceremoniously to his farm in Daura. The National Assembly leaders were pursuing vendetta in clandestine flirtation  with impeachment. Then  in one simple stroke against a 25 year old  injustice, his opponents fell into disarray, and the president had his best week in years.

Since he sat in  fellowship with the opposition and got catapulted to that great height he has never really slept with both eyes closed. He has flown without perching, and when he perched, he perched  on one foot.