entiments openly expressed in the official press release of 150 northern Nigerian elites which threatened the disintegration of the country should a northerner not assume the mantle of leadership of Nigeria come May 2011 makes one fret with fear. Do the North and its leadership truly mean what they are saying? Is it not unconscionable for a collection of highly placed citizens from a respectable segment of the union to deliberate after more than eight hours and to come up with a communiqué that sounded more like a threat to both President Jonathan and the rest of the country than a policy statement?

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It makes one ask the salient question: "how do you (the north) think, other parts of the country felt, when you monopolized/controlled the helms of Nigeria's affairs, 38 out of its fifty years of existence?" Makes one opine that if the Nigerian nation did not go under when a section ruled her with iron fist for 38 years, it would not, never buckle if only president Jonathan, a minority southerner could rule the same country from now till 2015 - a paltry five years!

I was more worried because of the caliber of men (no woman participated) including General Ibrahim Babangida who was associated with the press release that announced the bold threat from the North. Worried, because before then, IBB - a self acclaimed nationalist had been seen going around and about proclaiming his interest in contesting the presidency come 2011 general elections.

General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB) is a man after my heart. IBB is an iconoclast. IBB is a born diplomat. A soldier's soldier, an astute statesman and master strategist who because of his possession of an uncanny deftness at the game of political power play, assumed the sobriquet of Maradona, (he knows he is known as that) dead or alive, will live in the minds of millions of Nigerians for years to come. Not since Awo, not since Zik has Nigeria seen an enigmatic fellow bestride the Nigeria political space like a colossus.

Yes, he would live not because he has left some indelible political landmarks in the sands of Nigeria's social, economic and political history, but because (try to wish him away as much as you tried) he has managed to become the reoccurring decimal in Nigeria's political calculation. I bet he would, as long as he lives continue to play that role. It is no gain saying therefore to note that IBB's open association with sectional political interest befuddled some of his followers and admirers. In spite of this seemingly political misstep, it is at a peril to simply ignore General IBB, this charming Prince on the Niger.

Against this background, I mount the soapbox of our political discourse this morning to opine that IBB should run and President Goodluck Jonathan should also run. It may sound a political double speak, but please come with me as we reason together and try to explore the reasons for this seemingly strange, uncanny political postulate.

Shortly before the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) settled to nominate Umaru Musa Yar'Adua as its flag bearer in the 2007 elections, General IBB lurked everywhere in the political space and appeared set to disorganize the arrangements of the PDP. His presence then loomed larger than life. So much was his overbearing presence that his detractors went to town to revive the Gulf Oil Windfall and its mismanagement vis-à-vis the Pius Okigbo report which they claimed purportedly indicted him.

As if that was not enough, his detractors said it in many mountains of published newsprints that IBB was stinkingly corrupt. The furor so generated was so much that the then president Obasanjo had to openly challenge Nigerians to come up with indicting facts against IBB or shut up forever. Nigerians, after this incident did as a matter of fact, shut up. It was therefore a soothing relief, when IBB voluntarily withdrew from the race, sighting ethnic propinquity, brotherhood and blood affinity between him and the Yar'Aduas as a reason.

Now, providence has once more thrown up the issue of IBB and the rulership of Nigeria once more. This time, it is the suspected ambition of President Goodluck Jonathan. According to numerous reports, President Goodluck Jonathan wants to run to be Nigeria's president, come 2011. While there would be little need rehearsing the circumstance that led to his emergence, it is noteworthy to restate here for record purposes, that Goodluck Jonathan is from the minority southern part of Nigeria. That until he became Nigeria's president, he was first an obscure university teacher, who later became the deputy governor of little Bayelsa State and then its Governor before he was by an act of providence, catapulted to the seat of power in Abuja as the Vice president of the federal republic of Nigeria. That it was the death of his boss that inevitably brought him to power as Nigeria's president.

Let's not again go back to events that led to Jonathan's emergence. Fact is that his boss was sick and there was a power vacuum for some time when the cabal ruled. That later, due to the Doctrine of Necessity disingenuously crafted by the Nigeria legislature, he acted as president for some time before his boss died. It was after the death of his boss that the constitutionally right thing to do was done. He was sworn in as president of the federal republic of Nigeria. That his swearing in has now tilted the power balancing calculus of the northern political elite (who fear marginalization in their own country) who grief over the sudden realization that power, which they thought had shifted to the north and would remain there till 2015, suddenly has shifted back to the south rendering their dream, a hollow piped one.

It is the realization of this (I guess), and how to go about the scenario that this (nightmarish contemplation of the north not being with the presidency for another five years) does not really materialize, that has thrown up once again the man IBB, his issue, his politics and what he could bring to the table in setting the tone and eventual outcome of the 2011 elections. It has also brought to the front burner, the issue, whether IBB should run or should not. If he were to run, should it be at the expense of anybody let alone that of President Goodluck Jonathan? Should it be at the expense of any one/geographical area/tribe/religion/race and or gender?

According to IBB's body language, and the languages of his teaming supporters, IBB the gap-toothed retired General is ready to rumble. To some, IBB should run because it is the turn of the north. Another group of thought believe that because OBJ - a southern retired General - had been on the saddle and gave Nigeria a square deal, it is time for another former president, who is from the north to get back to the seat of power and show off some of the amazing governance skills associated with retired generals who had had the opportunity to have ruled Nigeria in the past. One good soldier statesman from the south deserves another great soldier statesman from the north.

If IBB thinks he has a lot more to offer to Nigeria with the remaining years of his heavily endowed life, let him step forward. If he thinks he has not adequately given back to the Nigerian society which brought him up what he got from it, sure he has every right to aspire to fulfill that aspiration. But he should not do it through the whip up of primordial, sectional sentiment. Sentiments like," it is the turn of the north". Such sentiment dished out by association, certainly will diminish the status of the man IBB.

It is the contention of this writer that IBB should run. It is also, the contention of this writer that Jonathan should run. IBB should run not at the expense of Jonathan. Jonathan should run not at the expense of the north or any other geographically defined segment of the federation. Goodluck Jonathan has enough reasons to run and IBB has equally enough compelling reasons to run. One should not run at the expense of the other. If that happened, it will be a terrible setback for our democracy. If they challenged each other from different political platforms, then it will be the best thing that ever happened to our republic.

IBB should go back to his drawing board. He should go to lubricate the ailing machines at his National Democratic Party - NDP. He should through charm and political dexterity convince the monolithic north that their collective aspirations would best be served if the region (in order to achieve their collective dream of returning power to the north) rallied around him and the NDP. He should not be seen or heard to say, it is the turn of the north. The north has the population and could decide to keep political power up there if it chooses. This amounts to an open threat which some of his less nationalistic tribes may not buy.

If it turns out to be a straight fight between IBB, a known warrior and gladiator of the first rank, and President Goodluck, a political neophyte from the minority tribe of southern Nigeria, then the result will be 'come and see.' If the battle line is evenly drawn and umpired by a no-nonsense foremost trade unionist, a fire eating fiery academician in the person of Professor Jega at INEC as umpire, then Nigerians should be prepared to see a House of Representatives evenly populated. It will see a Senate evenly sat, thus reflecting the broad cross section of the Nigerian polity. If this scenario were to come into play, guess who wins? The poor Nigerian masses!

IBB and President Goodluck Joe are Nigerian citizens with proven track records of competence and who have not been convicted by any court of competent jurisdiction. But let's get the record straight, IBB in particularly has been convicted only on the pages of the Newspapers and some privately owned electronic media across the land. This is grossly unfair. Flash back to 2006 when the former president OBJ threw the challenge to the effect that whoever had a proof of IBB profligacy to come forward with fact. In my recollection, nobody showed up. This is where I see the constant attack on the IBB person as a calculated attempt to untimely dim the star of this self-proclaimed evil genius of our time.

Before and after the 2011 elections (which I foresee would be fierce), I envision a legislative House equally split on party lines not on tribal or geographical lines. I see a House not divided on language or tribe but on ideological cleavages; a House not half Muslim and half Christian; a House not half north and half south. I want a house split on lines based on interests. That will be what an IBB run will do for Nigeria. Either his party, the NDP becomes the party with a simple majority or the party with a strong showing that would energize the opposition, be its rallying base and or check the wolves (as is the case now) in political clothing from ruining Nigeria. That would be the least an IBB run would achieve for us.

I foresee that during and after the elections, trapped up funds stashed in foreign accounts would begin to make their way back into the mainstream of the Nigerian economy. Business Moguls seeking relevance would unleash stashed away funds into the system; Pentecostal Christians, Islamic Republics who would be told it is a straight fight between Muslim and Christians would show up with funds in support of declared or implied interests. The Papacy and the Church of England buoyed with monetary augmentations from the Pentecostals of the United States would chip in. It will be a battle royal and the Nigerian masses would indirectly recoup their monies which hitherto had been stashed away beyond their collective reach.

At the end, I predict whoever wins will usher in abundant blessing for the ailing Republic. At the end international investors would say, hey, this country we thought would be consumed by ethnic strife is recuperating and restructuring along ideological lines.

President Goodluck Jonathan should run. He is a young, vibrant and brilliant academic whom good luck and circumstance have thrust up on the Nigerian nation. Let no body try to scuttle his ambition because of the circumstance of his birth, or the puerile claim by some sections of the country that he came before his time. If the PDP nominates him, he must not buckle. But first, he should begin to show that he is up to the task of being Nigeria's president. Time is not on his side.