TWENTY-THREE states — Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Borno, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Ekiti, Enugu, Gombe, Imo, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Ondo, Osun, Rivers, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe, Zamfara — voted against local government financial autonomy. Their votes meant the required two-third majority required to change the law was not met.

EVERYTHING is possible during campaigns. However, there is a lot that we can learn if we pay more attention to campaigns for the 2015 elections, especially the presidential one, where all the verve seems to b

IN the ingenuity of the politician, the future of Nigeria is tied to elections. When politicians, who call themselves leaders, engage in phased discussions of Nigeria, they are not contemplating legacies that would enhance the development of Nigeria. Their entire concerns are elections, the struggle for power, the decisions about who becomes what, and those marked for nothingness.

AS 2015 begins, people have high expectations. They dream their New Year ambitions. It is an annual ritual that helps brush aside failures of the faded year. The beginning of every year affords deep reflection on the past and the future. Some call these New Year resolutions.

NIGERIANS are getting to the reality that every part of the country wants to free space and whatever resources it can for itself. The arguments are not about who settlers are and who are the indigenes, they are about the fact that Nigerians are now grappling with issues of citizenship. It is an issue that deserves handling with uttermost sensibility and sensitivity.