A FEW months ago the Federal Government muted the idea of amnesty to militants in the Niger Delta with a view to ending the rumble in the creeks, which has massively affected oil export and exploration, crashing the nation’s revenue to its ebb. As it was expected, the amnesty announcement was greeted with mixed reactions. While some Nigerians hailed President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua for the magnanimity others called for the prosecution of the militants for their past sins.

THE proposal of a whopping N50 billion by the Presidential Panel on Amnesty and Disarmament of Militants in the Niger Delta to make peace in the region has polarized the Nigerian legal community into two opposing camps.

His words, “the President address will either offer hope or dismay. If he breaks away from the tradition and fear of the past where other regions are afraid of fiscal federalism then we have a problem on our hands. If he makes a bold step, then Nigeria will turn around for the better.

Last Saturday Ibeju-Lekki Federal Constituency bye-election in which People’s Democratic Party (PDP) won has further amplified the arch rivalry between Action Congress AC and PDP in Lagos. AC did not participate in the poll following its candidate’s disqualification by the Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos over certificate scam. With AC candidate who was until the court judgment member of the House of Representatives, out of contest, it was a straight battle between PDP and Alliance for Democracy, AD.

Chief Ikedi Ohakim is one of the founding members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Imo State. It is equally not contestable that Ohakim declared his intention to run for the gubernatorial seat on the platform of the party. Until November 2006, Ohakim and some of his political bedfellows found confidence and real comfort In the PDP big family.