As we endure a political campaign that is devoid any serious debate and discussion on policies, and as insecurity spreads through Abuja and other state capitals, especially those in the Southeast and South-South geopolitical zones, it is time to think strategically about the future.

TO put the record straight, it was Clifford Akhimiemona Ordia, a senatorial aspirant who emerged as the authentic senatorial candidate that was robbed to pacify Senator Ugbesia, obviously because he (Ugbesia) earlier lost out in his governorship bid.

UNLESS the party’s constitution and the electoral laws are abided to in electing the most suitable candidates for the seats of the Edo Central senatorial district of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the House of Representatives, House of Assembly and other elective positions in the forthcoming elections, the party in the district is bound to experience avoidable internal crisis, which could spell doom for the party and make it to lose woefully to its opponents in all elections.

I had also been to Jamaica during the time of the violent politics of the mid-to-late 1970s and at the time of the “gun courts” that tried arms related offences. At that time, though there was a democratic government in Jamaica, the thugs of the two political parties led by Dr. Michael Manley and Mr. Edward Seaga were killing each other. Tourists kept away, and many indigenes fled from Jamaica to USA and Canada.

THE future will have no pity for those men who possessing the exceptional privilege of being able to speak words of truth to their oppressors, have taken refuge in an attitude of passivity, of mute indifference, and sometimes of cold complicity,” so said Frantz Fanon.

NIGERIANS woke up one morning to hear that the country has been enrolled in the Organisation of Islamic Conference in a secular state such as Nigeria.

WHEN the kidnapping saga erupted in the South East zone following the amnesty programme that brought militancy in Niger Delta region to an end, the people and governments of the zone were worried. As times passed by, the crime gained momentum in the zone, but took a dangerous dimension in Abia, precisely in the Aba/Ngwa axis of the state, despite spirited efforts by the state government to tackle the problem.

The article by Ben Nanaghan in Sunday Vanguard of 3 October, 2010 was to say the least, an unfair charge against Dr Raymond Dokpesi, the Director General of Ibrahim Babangida Campaign Organisation. The attempt to dent his credentials tended to instigate a rebellion against the leadership of the campaign organisation. Unfortunately for Nanaghan, Dokpesi still has his honour intact.

There has been so much confusion, misunderstanding and misinformation about who actually moved the motion for Nigeria’s independence. Given the fact that Nigeria was 50 years old on October 1 and it marked our jubilee year as an independent nation, I believe it is time to set the record straight and bring this matter to closure. And in order to do so successfully we must be guided by facts and historical records and not by sentiment or political considerations.

It is no longer news that Governor T. A. Orji of Abia State has since gone back to the ruling Peoples Democratic Party {PDP} on which platform he made a foray into the murky waters of politics way back in 2006. Consequently, this endeavour will not dwell on a belated issue which we are already at home with.

Amid the scramble for the tickets of the political parties ahead of the 2011 polls, each of the states has its own dynamics. It is this dynamism that will decide the political direction and the fate of aspirants come next year. In Kwara State, former Senate leader and political heavyweight, Dr. Olusola Saraki, endorsed Senator Gbemisola Rukayyah Saraki as the preferred candidate for the Government House in Ilorin.

Election year, in all democratic world, always comes with drama and frills.

The Nigerian political sphere paced into frenetic activism since Attahiru Jega mounted the saddle as chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) about two months ago.

The joyful news of the rescue of the miners trapped under the earth in Chile for months should be a good news for everyone everywhere. But not in Nigeria. This great news has turned into a sad fable about failure of the state in Nigeria.

The teachers are on a field day on industrial actions on issues that are really none of their business. Students posit as if character and learning have become obsolete values in the making of a student and embrace the negative values of violence, cheating and immorality to the detriment of their persons and the society.

ONE debilitating strand that can be threaded out of the Nigerian situation is what can be described as the lack of commitment to one another and to the nation. If you like, you can equate this phenomenon to lack of patriotism.