I AM writing this open letter to the 8000 delegates expected to participate in the APC convention scheduled to hold at Teslim Balogun Stadium in Surulere, Lagos to select their presidential flag bearer among four aspirants on December 8, 2014.

THESE are particularly trying times for Nigeria, make no mistakes about that. The nation is under constant attacks by a terrorist group, Boko Haram, which has sworn to impose its warped understanding of Islamic law on everybody. The other day, it was in Borno; and now, it is Kano and Damaturu.

EVERY society and nation that wants to make palpably tangible growth and progress must ensure that it is super structed on the pedestal of unity, self-abnegation, people-driven ideas and patriotism. But when a nation is encapsulated in the throes and keels of negative ethnicism, regional affiliation, neanderthal sentiments, corruption, leadership inertia, nepotistic proclivities and godfatherism, etc. it is singing its own nunc demitis.

TO say that Lagos State is a microcosm of Nigeria is to say the obvious. Virtually everything that takes place in the larger Nigerian nation has its replica in Lagos State. This is more so in the area of politics where the ruling All Peoples Congress (APC) is being given hard tackles by the leading opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in much the same way the PDP is being tackled by the APC at the national level where the roles are reversed.

FOR all it may be worth, the last tirade against President Goodluck Jonathan by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, is certainly one of the salvos intended to weaken the support base of the President as his enemies led by Obasanjo plan to hit him below the belt. But the reactions of Nigerians of varied backgrounds to Obasanjo’s old tricks show that they are no fools. The people’s condemnation of Obasanjo’s hypocrisy has been overwhelming.