THE crowded field of presidential aspirants has been cleared up for a straight contest between two individuals, with the emergence of candidates for the two leading parties in the land, the APC and the PDP. The contest for Aso Rock Villa has come to a two horse race between Gen. Mohammadu Buhari and President Goodluck Jonathan. The 14 February, Valentine’s Day presidential battle, will be far from being a lovers’ affair when the two combatants square up for action. If anything, it promises to be full of intrigues, surprises, suspense and a lot of tension.

THERE’S palpable panic if not fear in the land. For those who know, Nigeria is heading for an economic precipice that should get all of us truly worried and looking beyond the false hope being hawked around by the Goodluck Jonathan government. The price of crude oil, Nigeria’s one and only economic mainstay, is crashing with the rapidity of a pack of cards.

THIS may not be the best of times for the Inspector General of Police, Abba Suleiman. He has been cast in what, I would imagine, is the unwanted role of chief enforcer for President Goodluck Jonathan, in his proxy war against Aminu Tambuwal. Why President Jonathan finds it difficult to come out openly against Aminu Tambuwal who, he obviously does not want to continue as Speaker of the House of Representatives, is a mystery only he can resolve. He wants to be seen as a democrat, no doubt.

If history is any guide, it almost always starts this way. Like a sick joke or high drama without an apparent plot, full of tension that nevertheless ends in tragedy. I am here talking of the violent attempt by the police to prevent Aminu Tambuwal, Speaker of the House of Representatives, from entering the House last Thursday. The House had reconvened for an emergency session to consider the request by President Goodluck Jonathan for further six months extension of emergency rule in three North Eastern states at the epicentre of insurgent unrest. The Senate which had been in session for two days to consider the same request by President Jonathan, prior to the incident at the House of Representatives, had failed to reach any agreement. Although no less tension-filled, matters had been better managed at the Senate. It was in the House that things fell apart.

The United State’s government once more showed its disdain for the Goodluck Jonathan administration and by extension our so-called fight against terror by its last week insistence that it would not sell fighter helicopters to Nigeria. The US government spokesperson was reacting to the claim by the Nigerian Ambassador to the US, Ade Adefuye, that the US had refused to sell fighter aircraft to Nigeria.

This is not about President Goodluck Jonathan. But you also cannot discount his input in it. The fact of his own connection, that he is president at this material time in the history of Nigeria, must have a part to play in the mindless direction the country seems to be heading in terms of the security of life and property in Nigeria as a whole, and the North East in particular.

Not unaware of the general perception that Nigerians have of them, Nigerian politicians often try to appear above board. But they don’t stop at that, they also want to be seen to be above board. It does not matter to them what actually is the reality of their political life, what counts for them is to be seen to be doing what is expected.

AFTER more than a year since the issue became a major talking point around the country, President Goodluck Jonathan, last week, finally declared his intention to re-contest as president. The President especially, and his aides and supporters had hedged and skirted like practiced lawyers on the question of whether he would seek re-election or not. Most of the talk around Jonathan’s re-election plans was at best academic.

It’s not every day that academ-ics celebrate their birthdays. But it was an occasion for celebration a fortnight ago when Bashiru Okesina, medical doctor, professor and current Vice Chancellor of Osun State University, marked his birthday.

The question of how rich President Goodluck Jonathan is should not come as a surprise to any Nigerian that has been following report of his curious listing by an American publication as the sixth richest head of state in Africa.

On September 30, 2014 America recorded its first case of Ebola Virus Disease. The source of this unwanted guest to the American soil was himself a guest to America from one of the countries at the centre of the disease. He was Liberia’s Thomas Eric Duncan who was visiting Texas

SINCE September 12, 2014, when a six-storey building under construction collapsed in the premises of the Synagogue Church of All Nations, there has been a deliberate, even if unspoken, tendency to create the picture that only South Africans died in the unfortunate incident.

THE upper arm of the National Assembly, the Senate, reconvened from vacation last week to a new realisation, to wit, that Nigeria is at war. Principal officers of the Senate, led by its president, David Mark, made seemingly strong statements that made clear their belief that the escalation of insurgent activities in the North East of Nigeria is a clear indication that the country is indeed at war.

THE last time I checked which was about ten hours before I started writing this on the night of Thursday September 11, the news out there was that the Federal Government had decided to stick to its decision to move the resumption date of schools forward.

AT what point is it safe to declare a place and a people safe from the menace of a dangerous disease? When can a potential plague of devastating proportions be viewed as under effective control?