RETIRED policewoman and Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Hajiya Farida Waziri, seems very confused but desperate for applause. How else would you view the recent publication of about 40 names of politicians currently being investigated and tried by the Commission, which were forwarded to the political parties to ensure they do not stand for election in 2011?

AGAIN, I am taking President Goodluck Jonathan to task over a pronouncement by him on a major political issue.

IT is not my usual wont to write tributes on this page. Today, I make an exception as I dedicate this space to one of Nigeria’s most unusual personalities, the retired Commodore Okoh Ebitu Ukiwe.

The victory of Dr Olukayode Fayemi, the governorship candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in the 2007 elections in Ekiti State is another elixir to bolster the courage of those who refuse to bow to injustice in Nigeria

It is a man of this giant national profile that is now the field marshal of Arewa warriors campaigning for the return of power to the North in 2011. More than 30 years of exposure to sensitive high national public offices has failed to moderate the regional impetus that threw him upon the national centre-stage.

WHERE is President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan’s Presidential Advisory Committee (PAC)? I am forced to ask this question because of the noticeable drop in the quality of presidential carriage and actions, especially since GEJ declared his intention to contest for president next year.

Babangida’s camp was correct to have observed that more use should have been made of the security tip-offs which were received by government and even media people long before the tragedy. But the way they presented it to score political points smacked of low-ball tactics. Some issues must be above politics.

I understand that is what some misguided Ngwa politicians are dreaming of, a dream that will surely turn into a nightmare. Remember, in 2003, some Ngwa politicians started calling their clan “Ngwa Ethnic Nationality”, and were even insinuating, just like the Ikwerre, that they were no longer Igbos!

On the threshold of our golden jubilee, we have a crop of presidential aspirants who are depending on ethnic and sectional calculations for their winning the race.

The Jonathan declaration was easily the largest crowd ever pulled to the nation’s foremost political arena. By most newspaper accounts, 23 governors attended. The entire National Working Committee (NWC), most members of the Board of Trustees (BOT) and the National Executive Council (NEC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were fully mobilised.