THE rigging of elections is a more complex operation than meets the ordinary, untutored eye. The objective of rigging election is to ensure the processes are artificially orchestrated to result in the emergence of a particular, premeditated individual as the winner.

WHEN I heard that some Igbo leaders had scheduled a meeting with Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark to negotiate terms for Igbo support of the perceived Goodluck Jonathan presidential ambition, I pinched myself to see whether I was dreaming or awake.

The creation of the regions by the British colonial masters for administrative convenience had put them under the control of the Igbo in the East, Yoruba in the West and Hausa/Fulani in the North. The uneasy cohabitation held but not for long.

WHEN Governor Theodore Ahamefule Orji finally decided to dump the Progressive People’s Alliance (PPA) he was widely expected to return straight to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He chose instead to embrace the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). He obviously did not reckon with the surprising return of Chief Orji Kalu to the PDP. His calculation was probably that in a three-cornered fight between a factionalised PDP, an emptied-out PPA and incumbent APGA, he would have the upper hand.

HAVE you noticed it too? I am referring to the alarming number of idle youth in every neighbourhood. As you drive to work in the morning and back at night, you will see armies of young people who have decided to trade on the streets rather than remain idle. Their ages range from six to 30 years, and sometimes above.