ONE would not know exactly when President Goodluck Jonathan came to the conclusion that he could no longer pretend that all is well with his government or the party that produced it, the PDP. But it appears he must have reached that point for quite some time now. He only dithered on when to act to start correcting things or simply wished that the cup of such decision would pass him by.

IN its days of arrogance, when some of its members boasted they would rule Nigeria for a proverbial thousand years, the PDP (Peoples Democratic Party of Nigeria) proclaimed itself the largest political party in Africa. Today, the party is afraid that the rival APC (All Progressives Congress) would declare far larger membership strength than the PDP as a result of its recent membership-registration drive. What a difference a day makes in Nigerian politics.

THE biggest political buzz in the U.S. was, is, has been and will continue to be about Hillary Rodham Clinton, former First Lady, Senator, and U.S. Secretary of State. Will she or will she not contest the presidency? Even without an answer to this question, it appears as if the gods have decided that come November, 2016, the U.S. presidency will be hers. But Hillary is yet to publicly declare her interest in running for the White House.

There was no way I was going to write my column this week without commenting on an issue that descended from the blues and spread like wild bush fire.

NIGERIA is saddled with a number of problematic elders. These are people raised in the system by the system. They grew up and occupied so many enviable positions as youth. Now, they are in their late seventies and eighties. They are supposed to have vacated the stage for the generation of today to tackle today’s challenges with the vision and vigour of today’s people. But they do not have much chance because the people who stole their tomorrow are still on the stage, causing trouble and haunting the system like diabolical ghosts. Yet they are called: “elder statesmen”. The “elder” part is obvious. But the “statesmen aspect” is a dubious misnomer.

At last the Federal government has committed to hiring independent Forensic Auditors to verify, and get to the roots of the persistent allegation of a missing $20 billion from the oil accounts. This move was announced on Thursday by Finance Minister and the Federal government’s Chief Treasurer, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, at a press briefing following her appearance before the senate’s Finance Committee which had commenced investigations into the alleged missing funds.

Every day my people dey inside bus, every day my people dey inside bus Forty-nine sitting, ninety-nine standing,Them go pack themselves in like sardine,Them dey faint, them dey wake like cock,Them go reach bed, power no dey,Them go reach road, go-slow go come,Them go reach road, police go slap,Them go reach road, army go whip,Them go look pocket, money no dey,Them go reach work, query ready”

I was having lunch at “Sweet Sensation,” a fast-food restaurant in Lagos, when someone tapped me on the shoulder. I looked back to see a gentleman grinning at me from ear to ear. “Dr. Aribisala, how are you doing?” he asked expansively. It was one of my former pastors.

For quite a while during the life of this present government, many Nigerianslooked forward with eagerness to the emergence of a strong political opposition to the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Thus, the birth of the All Progressive Congress (APC) brightened the hopes of many citizens that better governance was on its way. The APC seems to have done fairlywell so far especially in bringing down the high degree of impunity of the ruling party. Their rather unpopular directive to their legislators to block the passage of the 2014 may have started, even if inadvertently, to refine our crude democracy – a good example being the end of the police control of Rivers State.

In Nigeria, it is customary for people to say that politics is a “dirty game.” That negative assessment stems from the fact that since the country began experimenting with modern forms of civilian governance, most key players in the political arena have tended to sacrifice the nobler forms of politicking on the altar of primitive egoism, crude Machiavellism and bulimic materialism. Therefore, description of politics as a dirty game in this country underscores the fact that a typical Nigerian politician is willing and prepared to do virtually anything possible either to win an election or get a lucrative appointment in government.