Some people have remarked in writing and in other forms of communication that President Goodluck Jonathan has given more attention to the entertainment industry to the detriment of other industries.

With the February 2015 election on the horizon, political imperatives loom increasingly large in Nigeria. There is perhaps no more pertinent example than the fevered politicisation of the brutal Boko Haram insurgency.

SENATOR Oserheimen Osunbor’s declaration, carried in many national newspapers including Vanguard on November 11, that he will be contesting the 2016 governorship election in Edo State came like a bolt out of the blue. And it sure has set a ricocheting buzz in Edo and beyond. As regular as the declaration may seem, it portends serious implications for the political calculations in the state come 2016.

Over the past few weeks, the online media platform and a section of the print media have been awash with so much noise about the probable implosion of the PDP in Kwara ahead of the 2015 elections.

The argument for this prediction has been in two fold. One, they made so much noise about the ‘many governorship aspirants’ in the party with the fear that many of those aspirants might quit the party in the event that they fail to get the party’s ticket.

Leopards can never change their spots, so goes the old saying. And the truth of this adage is plain from the antics of one man who has continued to constitute himself a political distraction in Abia State. On Wednesday, November 19, a horrendous news item was planted in some dailies, including that owned by the former governor of Abia State, Chief Orji Uzor Kalu, just to deceive and cause commotion in the polity.

In a reckless display of partisanship the Police ensured that the Deputy Speaker of the House, Honourable Ihediora and a few other legislators were not subjected to any form of harassment.
Meanwhile, the Presidency and the Police have turned round to blame the Speaker and his colleagues for assaulting security operatives who were discharging their “lawful duties” at the National Assembly complex. According to the Police, Tambuwal and a motley crowd of his supporters “broke the cordon, assaulted the Police and evaded due process…”

For there to be peace and order in the society, the collective do subsume their individual freedom under one body that will provide for the overall interest. It started centuries ago through customs, traditions and enthronement of divine kingship. Overtime it has taken several modes and forms, the latest of which is democratic ruler ship. This is a process where who gets to rule is determined by the absolute majority of the people. It is tritely referred to as ‘the government of the people, for the people and by the people.’

The greatest predicament that this country faces from time to time is the inability of government to listen to itself. A greater percentage of our problems should have been deciphered by now if only government has listened to itself. Let’s take two issues, the recent National Conference and the sustenance of the oil subsidy which is the greatest conspiracy against Nigeria and the Nigerian people.

It would be in the best interest of Northern political elites to support President Goodluck Jonathan’s second term bid in 2015 to ensure that the affirmative zoning by the PDP in 2019 is without equivocation. This is to ensure stability in Nigeria by strengthening a tradition of peaceful transition and democratic consolidation.

For about a decade or two, the raging controversy over the issue of marriage as it affects the Nigerian Constitution has been a topic of debate among members of the legislative arm of government as well as the Nigerian masses.