A few years back, the Americans were reported to have predicted that Nigeria may not survive a likely turmoil in 2015. The date obviously gives a political undertone to the problem considering that it coincides with when our next general elections are due. The significance of the prediction does not lie in the maker as those who perceive America as omniscience would want the nation to believe.

Ask a Christian a question about Jesus, and he might answer with a quotation from Paul.  But who tells us Paul speaks for Jesus?  Why do we need Paul to speak for Jesus when Jesus speaks for himself?  Why do we need Paul to speak for Jesus when Jesus himself warns us: “Be on your guard; I have told you everything ahead of time?” (Mark 13:23).  If Jesus has told us all we need to know, why do we need someone else to add to, or subtract from, what he said?

President Jonathan certainly did not wish this to happen. But, whether the country will be willing to stomach four more years of Mrs Patience Jonathan, or not, has suddenly become a campaign issue – even before the struggle for Aso Rock 2015 starts. However, before going into the details, permit me to bring the issue into historical, global and political perspective – if not for anything else but because of those who already concluded that Dele Sobowale hates Jonathan.

The ill-advised action of Lagos state government with respect to the deportation from the state of some destitute of Igbo extraction sometime ago has once again brought to the front seat of public consciousness one of the gaping fault lines in the geopolitical contraption called Nigeria – pernicious ethnicity.

The place of the third-tier government, that is local government administration in Nigeria, has remained the thorniest and contentious issue in Nigerian federalism. It has to be, principally because it actually has led to general distortions in public service delivery at the most crucial levels of government.