Niger Delta as election topic Number ONE!

INEC, the electoral commission, has challenged political parties to step up the race and rantings towards the 2007 goal post. I applaud.

My own challenge to the politicians is to make first things FIRST. In our case, it is the NIGER DELTA! Oil provides 90% of our national revenue and commands almost 98% of our quality exports. That is why a sneeze in the oil-bearing Delta convulses a cold in all of Nigeria. Rightly so.

Oil & gas are core to our humanity today in a million ways. Their supply should be affordable and assured. Otherwise the world, as we know it now, will grind to a debilitating halt. May God forbid. Which is why global attention focuses on the petroleum zones of the world. And why any hint of crisis in those nations send oil prices upwards! Painfully so.

Both for the world's economy and our own longevity, the Niger Delta needs to be stable and safe. If not, we diminish our standing and damage our reputation as a responsible member of the commity of nations. We would soon revert to the inglorious status of a pariah, no matter what we profess. If the world sees us as a substantive cause of price hikes, then we become a threat to all humanity. Can we afford that? Just perish the thought!

When President Bush told Americans this week that some of the countries the US relies upon for oil supplies either have unstable governments or are hostile to his country (more like his administration, we must assume!), I wanted to ask President Obasanjo to pick which category he gleefully fitted Nigeria into, during his recent photo-call at the White House! Such pity. For all of SEVEN profitable (in terms of oil revenues) years, this democratic dispensation failed to make any headway in the Niger Delta Question. No matter. They are going, anyway. And no tears.

Now, let all those who wish to seek our votes and mandate in 2007 start the debate: What do you plan for the lands and peoples of the region? How will you accomplish it? And when? At what cost? Let the media take up the challenge, and set the agenda...NOW!

Any party or politician falling short of this priority pact should be consigned to the back-waters. We've had enough charlatans, rent-seekers and puppets. Let the real patriots step forward. Our nation bleeds. And we need HEALERS.

2007 Is REAL

Fellow Nigerians,

This is not a voice from Dream Land. This is not a hype from the Political Wilderness. This is a take from a stakeholder. Believe.

I have never been so optimistic about our democratic endeavour since the 1993 annulment saga. There is enough to make us doubt. There is enough to send us to sleep. But I say to you, get on the plough and work your dream for fatherland. The time is now. Both old and young are now burning with angst to save Nigeria. Watch.

Predictions: The political space will be opened up in May 2007 by a combination of positive forces-for-good, including the collapse of the Third Term Agenda. Political realignments will see prominent players jumping ship, and spilling the beans. Anti-corruption progress will consume some unbelievable names from unlikely sources. There will be media onslaughts among friends and public amity among foes for Nigeria's sake. News from abroad will sink some party chiefs even as several communities will disrobe/disown their erstwhile "representatives". The era of "withdrawing awards/honours" from disgraced/discredited holders is at hand!

Predictions: Some ministers (past & present) will pay executive price from the due process drawers of betrayed bureaucrats, and the private sector will be hammered by both the CBN and the fearless media. The Banks Consolidation Story is yet untold!

Predictions: The Brain Drain will yield its fruits in the 2007 season. And Rural Nigeria will hold the political lifeline of our democracy.

Keep a tab.

Note To INDEPENDENT Candidates

At last, and thanks to past lessons and worldwide best practices, we should be having the long overdue entrenchment of independent candidacy for political office in the Nigerian Constitution. Bravo!

This is the chance to reduce political violence, money-bag evil and trecherous godfatherism in our electoral affairs. But the really exciting part is the opportunity to attract professionals and peace-loving candidates, who are otherwise discouraged by current practices, to the soapbox.

For me, it is golden. We can now challenge NIGERIANS in the Brain Drain DIASPORA to come make landmark contributions in our nation's quest for sustainable development. The most attractive being the Baby-Boomer generations who are stable, successful and soon-to-retire from their under&about-60 of age jobs. Then the business group. Plus the nationalists and patriots who have been yearning and waiting for years. Just imagine if this clan captures half of the local government chairmanship positions in 2007. That will be pounding prospects of some 400 well-run centres of excellence! Surely we can then find 40 of them ripe enough to migrate to governorship seats in 2011...can't we?! If we apply same possibilities to the states and federal positions, things would dramatically change from 2015 for our dear NIGERIA. Believe.

For these folks, this site will be a worthwhile tool in their kit. We will help equip them with home-truths and home-keys. It's about time.

The Sanctity of Sanity

Whoever follows the news closely these days will find the call for sanity timely and tempting. We cannot call enough or plead enough. In doing so, we must recall the past and remind the players that today will pass as well. I thought it could be depersonalised if we internalise the words and music of the poem:

This STORM
Storms rumble
in the wombs of storm
The all-clear
be a thing of joy
Storms gather
to become a storm
The all-clear
is the what to hear...
and you head your way
Storms may be storms
or storm
And we dread
Storm may be storm
and storms
So we fret...
till all storm pass over
storm away

As they go, if they go
things go
A million things
hatch, happen and close
Songs are born
Souls are lost
A million ways
clash, catch and hobble
till the storm, and its storms
pass away

This storm I see is strange
Going jejely its way
we have shot for its world
hunting its bosom at will
and taunting its many storms
When it descends
it will rock the hunter
and the humble
It will cripple our weapons
and shields
and make a mockery
of our valiant past

Eh, it will come:
But when it goes
it will take the taunter
the cheerer
and the silent crowd
apart
It will consume

Eh, it will come:
But when it goes
all will be glum
and numb
It is the theatre
of fools and tools
Each fooling and tooling
for bounding poison

And, yes, it will go:
But when it finally goes
Our ways be blighted and bright
with the price of hate
and the prize be hope
When we learn, if we learn
we'll plant a timeless tree
in the bosom of pain
to stop us from crossing
the senseless line, again!

Dear compatriots, where will you be at point-of-reckoning in the bosom of time? That was the voice of the troubled poet on 28 June 2003 at 6.06 am. It rings true TODAY!

Who wants to rule must rule out violence in all its forms, formats and formations. Who seeks our votes must stick to rules and reason. They must all, all of them, be human enough to err and humble enough to erase. We are a forgiving nation, so let no politician pollute this polity again. If you win, win. When you lose, lose. Then NIGERIA will be a win-win PROJECT for all.

It is time to start cooking up the real issues...in MANIFESTOES...so that the world can pay more and better attention to our political engineering, not the negative news we so abhor. Stay tuned.

Welcome To TOMORROW!

The purpose of democracy is enriched by mandate renewal or loss, based on fulfilled or failed electoral promises. Indeed, it should be assured that good or bad governance determine the fate of leaders and their platforms. Nigeria becomes the latest test-bed of this reality check from 2007. And the task starts now.

A titanic political battle is afoot. It is time to deconstruct the governance goings-on, as well as the prospects of the respective gladiators who bestrode our political/governance domain in the last seven years. More importantly, however, is the share due the electorate in what Nigerians have come to call "democracy dividends". What did we get or not get from our joint investment in Project NIGERIA? Who performed, who profaned? Where next, NIGERIA?

Based on the foregoing, we should be having great conversations on this site in the months and years ahead. Those who seek our votes better stay tuned. We who have the votes better vote right. Let's interrogate the issues and the values, using a manifesto approach - from the next elections. 2007.