ELECTIONS are the best opportunities for Nigerians to say the worst things about their opponents. Threats and counter threats appear are also making increasing appearances in the news. Are they the selling points of candidates in the elections? We heard similar threats in the governorship elections that passed peacefully in Ekiti and Osun States last year.

CORRUPTION has been a buzzword for years. It is a minor surprise that it has not assumed a major role in the campaigns. Political correctness demands some general noise about corruption. Politiciansare more interested in “one type of corruption”, not the other, the one that affects them. Why is corruption an issue? It exists; it has devastating consequences for operations in the public and private sector. Corruption distorts economic activities, diverts public investments into private holdings.

CHARLES Soludo, former governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, has been accused of attention-seeking. Another accusation is that he mixed facts with fiction to the annoyance of today’s governments. He has been named a poor manager, whose skills resulted in huge bank liabilities – N5.67 trillion, according to government.

IF Nigeria is ours, we should protect it; we should place the interests of Nigeria above personal ambitions. We want to see such thinking in action during the elections. Change in our attitude is more important than who wins and loses the elections. The most important attributes of the elections should be the equanimity, grace, humility with which contestants accept the results. It is the responsibility of contestants to lead their supporters to change that would ensure there is no violence during and after the elections. It is an important change that would secure the lives of Nigerians quicker than the long speeches we hear.

THE United States of America is never short of arrogance in its relations with Nigeria. The threat of its Secretary of State, John Kerry that sponsors of election-related violence would be denied American visa, was not a joke, but some in the audience applauded. It is either the United States has elevated the importance of its visa to such heights that mention of its denial amounts to a death sentence, or it was another opportunity to declare its unwillingness to help Nigeria fight the violence that has been ravaging the country, especially the North East.

STUDENTS of the Federal University of Petroleum Resources Effurun, FUPRE, Effurun in Delta State, laid siege to the East-West Road this afternoon disrupting traffic for some hours over the increase of their school fees by the authorities.

THERE are no easy answers to how the coming elections would be free and fair. The experiments the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has been conducting since the 2011 elections are continuing. Issues are assuming complications that should not be round major elections within weeks of their conduct.

THE coming elections hold vast handles for assessing fairness and readiness of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC. The most important issue appears to be the permanent voter’s card, PVC, which INEC has not delivered to prospective voters. More than 30m – almost 50 per cent of the registered voters – have not collected the cards.

AFTER the 2012 elections in the United States of America, our politicians bickered over the conduct of American politicians. They accused each other of not following the American tradition of accepting defeat and congratulating the winner.

THE Africa Cup of Nations began on Saturday without Nigeria – the defending champion. Some Nigerians consider Nigeria’s absence from the championship painful. Nigerians would watch from the sidelines, following the inability of the Eagles to qualify, something some rate as a tragedy.

MOBILE telecommunication services, which Nigerians have relied on for the past 14 years, are probably at their worst state since the teething problems. The lingering issues of dropped calls, unsolicited messages, voice clarity and access to certain parts of the country have tasked subscribers’ patience. Several things have been blamed for the situation. The telecommunication companies say poor infrastructure and vandalisation of their equipment are responsible for poor services. Consumers blame the companies for selling more services than their infrastructure can support. The regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, tries to tackle these issues, but wider collaborations are important

HUNGER can do things to an individual. He could get angry, go for anything to quash the hunger, without minding the conditions, or hold on to his convictions, no matter what. Many of our politicians are hungry for power, just like ordinary Nigerians need food, water, health services, jobs.

The security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government – Section 14 (2b) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria

THE number of meetings Nigerians convene to save their country is impressive. What is disturbing is that these meetings achieve nothing, though some would argue that if things remain as they are, with all the meetings, they would have been worse without discussions about the future of Nigeria.

NIGERIAN party politics since civil rule in 1999 has been dominated by factions, internal crises, irreconcilable differences, open disagreements among members of the same party, especially those in high public offices. Three parties at the starting line – Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, the All Peoples Party, APP, later All Nigerian Peoples Party, ANPP, and the Alliance for Democracy, AD in 1999 – morphed at a point to more than 50 parties. Their politics is indiscernible.