WHEN Rauf Aregbesola the new governor of Osun State decided to contest the 2007 gubernatorial elections, it was like a man embarking on political suicide. The political situation seemed so bleak, and the possibility of him defeating the incumbent, Olagunsoye Oyinlola appeared so remote that some powerful groups in the state were not even ready to hear what he had to say.

IT’S been a week since former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, emerged the consensus candidate of the Northern Political Leaders Forum (NPLF) led by Adamu Ciroma who has been in the vanguard of the call for a president of Northern extraction to finish what some members of the Northern political establishment say is the unfinished term of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua who died earlier in the year.

Hi Readers! Plans about Robert and Heather’s wedding has been put on the back burner for a couple of weeks because Belinda’s son, Simon, is going to wed the mother of his child.

Procedurally, it was very meticulous and disciplined. Getting the four pro-zoning presidential aspirants of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from the North to agree to abide by the outcome of the search for their consensus candidate to clash with President Goodluck Jonathan was a smart binding force from which it was difficult for any of the subscribers to back out. However, for some, it was the easy way out, the classic “soft landing”.

Chief Edwin Kiagbode Clark is one foremost Ijaw leader who has become a household name in Nigeria on account of his struggle against the oppression of minorities by the larger ethnic groups. He has singlehandedly and severally helped to raise legal teams to assist minority rights activists.