ADOKE BELLO, SAN, has really impressed me. He was appointed to the lofty post of Attorney-General by a PDP President and is a leading light of this PDP administration. But instead of allowing his membership of an elite ruling group, and the privileges that go with it, to blind him (as so many others in his position would have), he has courageously insisted on challenging five of his senior “colleagues” – PDP Governors (of Adamawa, Kogi, Cross River, Bayelsa and Sokoto), who are trying to achieve tenure elongation through the back door.

Sorry for my 4-week absence from the pages of this newspaper. I had to take a break because of var ious pressures, i n c l u d i n g a v e r y unpleasant bout of typhoid. You will no doubt notice that this Sweet And Sour space has been r e d e s i g n e d a n d effectively re-launched. Please let us know whether you like the new look.

I HAVE always said that the only real difference between the PDP and other political parties is that the PDP happens to be more successful than its rivals.

BECAUSE of the way we do things at Vanguard, my Sweet And Sour reflections have to be submitted for publication on Wednesdays. Which means that even though this week’s column will appear the day after the PDP has conducted its presidential primary election, it is being written the day before this big event.

NOW that the latest election season is fully underway, I’m reminded of a very perceptive comment that my ex-husband (Dominic Midgley, an English journalist) made about the Nigerian political scene when he lived in Abuja some years ago.

YET again, we are about to say “goodbye” to an old year that will soon give way to a new year. And it seems appropriate to inflict a handful of random thoughts about 2010 events on Vanguard readers, the first being recent Wikileaks revelations about Shell’s alleged influence within our corridors of power.

I HAVE gradually become extremely disillusioned about certain aspects of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan’s regime. As I’ve said a couple of times in this column, he has too many unimpressive aides and ministers…and has not been sufficiently dynamic or inspirational since he took over from his late former boss, Yar’Adua.

I HEAR that IBB has written to Dr Nwodo, the PDP Chairman, to say that he and many other members may resign from the PDP in protest if the party does not prevent President Goodluck Jonathan from contesting in next year’s election.

MYANMAR, formerly known as Burma (its natives are still known as Burmese), has hit the headlines big-time in the past few days because Aung San Suu Kyi, the globally admired Burmese civil rights activist, has just been released by the ruling military junta, having spent l5 out of the past 2l years under house arrest.

TRANSPARENCY International (TI) is a civil society organisation that spearheads the fight against the dubious practices that jeopardise the welfare of the poor all over the world and prevent so many countries from fulfilling their potential.

BY the time you read this column, all of the 33 men who were trapped in the San Jose copper and gold mine (near Copiapo in Chile’s Atacama Desert) should have been freed from a terrible and terrifying ordeal that has dragged on for over two months and attracted global attention (no less than 1500 journalists – from several different countries – showed up to personally witness their liberation).

“THE place: Lagos Racecourse. The dramatis personae: [The Governor-General] Sir James Robertson, representing Queen Elizabeth II of Britain and [the incoming Prime Minister] Alhaji Sir Abubakar Tafewa Balewa, representing the 40 million people of Nigeria…And as the clock struck 12 midnight, [they] took their positions on the dais and watched the lowering of the Union Jack and the hoisting of the Nigerian flag…And so the people sang the National Anthem…And so the Independence of Nigeria was proclaimed…

Last week, I recalled Alhaji Atiku Abubakar saying, when I interviewed him many years ago that he regretted the fact that it was very difficult for average citizens to survive or thrive if they didn’t have access to influential people who were willing to help them and that he would be very happy if our society eventually evolved to the point where the government provided safety nets that would enable everyone to get what they needed and deserved.

SEVERAL PDP dignitaries attended Jonathan’s declaration ceremony. Some grinned supportively from the sidelines. Others eagerly grabbed the microphone and assured the world that they were fully behind Jonathan’s aspirations.

I’M in South Africa at the moment, attending a conference called “Planning Africa”; and it’s been such an interesting experience to not only listen to speakers who want our continent to thrive but to observe, at close quarters, how the country is getting along l6 years after Nelson Mandela was released from his lengthy incarceration to spearhead the dismantling of apartheid.