The economy is ill. It can no longer meet the weak 2% projected growth. Its vital signs are blinking red. Agricultural output was hampered by herdsmen violence and related communal feuds. We should have seen that coming and acted with the required urgency.

Our prophets are coming again.  This is their season. The  big one who is also called a Primate has given it to Saraki.  He has a huge prophetic reputation but statistics show he is not better than a mere pundit. He gets it right not more than half of the time. He is sure Saraki  would win in 2019, but would rule for four years only. We must give him credit for courage. Because in Nigeria, prophecies, when they are prophecies,  are naturally vague.  Often times we hear  inanities like—many people will get married. Every December, we will get many lists from the big prophets. They will contain  the coming of natural disasters like floods and wild fires. No one in their congregation has summoned the irreverence to tell them  that these natural disasters have become part of the global calendar. After such a prediction, when the hurricane season comes, they will dust up their books of prophecies and wave them at us. And their fawning followers will sing alleluia to them and they will smile the smile of true prophets.

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.