ost of the individuals fabricating these rumors are the least qualified so to do. They are doing so for an ulterior motive. They are all staunch members of the PDP and diehard supporters of the very sick President. Many of them are surrogates who are totally in denial about the President’s capacity or ability to perform the job he is being paid to do. They are surrogates who could not look Turai straight in the face and give her or her husband the right advice. The President evidently does not know how and when to cut his losses with some dignity The President’s “Nunc Dimitis” is long overdue and those peddling rumors about his imminent return to work are mischief-makers.

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If they are correctly reading the handwriting on the wall, they should have known by now that the presidency has left Yar Adua. They forget that if Yar Adua does not know how to quit the job, the job can quit him and it has, from all we are able to see. They thought the best thing they could do now is to continuously distract the acting President so he does not get the credit that has eluded Yar Adua for all the three years he has spent in office believing he was better off treating himself at the expense of Nigerian taxpayers than spending his own money. His wife, Turai, could care less about such expenses and the heavy burden on the public. Her goal is to keep the President in office for as long as possible even when he knows he has become a liability to Nigeria from the very day he was declared the President in an election that he himself has publicly admitted to be terribly flawed.

If he eventually loses the battle, which is certain, Nigeria would also bear the funeral expenses. That is the scenario Nigeria is up against by fraudulently rigging the PDP into office in 2007. The absurdity and stupidity of the Nigerian voters have now become a “fait accompli” That is why the PDP could still be talking of another landslide victory in 2011. How, for goodness sake, can a Party with the kind of track record the PDP has had in the last 8 to 12 years believe it still has the best chance to win again in 2011. Reuben Abati comments on the ramifications of the National Security Adviser open briefing of new Ministers and what he told them has correctly affirmed the state of the nation. If we all accept them as a correct assessment, all it portends, is what we already know, that the PDP has failed woefully. I therefore don’t see the rational for their euphoria or optimism in the 2011 elections unless the PDP is hell-bent on repeating the massive electoral fraud that has always guaranteed its landslide victories in more than 26 states of Nigeria.

I personally do not buy the presumption by Ikemba Odumegwu Ojukwu that Maurice Iwu and his INEC enablers have redefined themselves by letting Governor Obi win the last gubernatorial elections in Anambra State. Maurice Iwu has no other choice than to do what he did. Governor Obi was decidedly one of the most successful Governors in Nigeria and his track record has guaranteed he had to win convincingly unless the voters in Anambra were insane, and I know they are not. Professor Iwu and his INEC knew what they were up against and what could happen, if Obi was denied his victory. They just decided to let go to give their critics a reason to celebrate an imaginary change of heart at INEC. The INEC and those who currently run it in Nigeria knew no other way to conduct elections.

I view the pronouncements of the acting President on election reforms the same way I view the INEC’s performance in Anambra. If the acting President cannot get his ruling majority in both Houses at the Federal level and in the 36 states of Nigeria to embrace and pass the Justice Uwais Reform Bill before 201l, forget it. I can tell you the acting President is pulling a stunt that is going nowhere. Nigerians would be naïve to believe him. He is decidedly the lonely voice in the wilderness right now because the majority of his party members view him as a traitor but they are just too timid to publicly admit that.

I, for one, do not believe that the acting President is going to be able to deliver on his promise to drastically reform the electoral laws and procedures in Nigeria before the 2011 elections. He may try, but he is never going to get the leadership of his Party to go along with his plan because if they do in all honesty, there is no way the PDP can lawfully win the 2011 elections, if the election is totally free and fair. If the acting President truly means business, one of the first things he should have done on taking office was to fire Maurice Iwu and his other commissioners.

Such a move would have sent a powerful message to the whole world that if he were President from the “get go” Iwu would have been forced out a long time ago That Iwu has a contract is no reason to keep him, if there is a compelling reason to fire him. Whoever drafted a contract that compels the President to keep Iwu whether he fails or succeeds has done Nigeria more harm than good. Professor Iwu should have been defrocked the very moment Yar Adua publicly admitted that the elections, which brought him and his Vice President to office, were totally flawed. In a more civilized polity, that was enough reason for Iwu to voluntarily quit the job and give the President a chance to pick somebody he can trust to do the job Keeping Iwu till the end of his contract, regardless of what he did or did not do, was the height of stupidity, which Jonathan should not have condoned.

If the acting President means business, let him offer Professor Iwu’s job to one of the few names that have been suggested. I am talking of Emeka Anyaoku, Wole Soyinka and Balarabe Musa in particular. The three of them have made their names both at home and abroad, and they are all men of integrity. They should be allowed to vet the names of those who will be nominated by each of the states to serve along with them at the state level. That is only going to be possible if the current electoral Law is thrown overboard. These three Nigerians have credibility and will do a good job especially if they are allowed to conduct the elections using all of the recommendations offered by the Justice Uwais Report, which the PDP under Yar Adua would rather sweep under the carpet than pass into Law, because they know the implications for their future.

If those recommendations are passed into Law, you can be sure that majority of the PDP Governors and Legislators nation-wide would not return back to power in 2011. The acting President himself would be one of the first casualties without any doubt because he is still part and parcel of the PDP. But his name would have gone down in History as the Messiah Nigerians have been looking for, if by any miracle he was able to carry the reform he has promised. It will be nothing short of a miracle for Goodluck Jonathan to want to play the role of agent provocateur to voluntarily make himself a sacrificial lamb for the survival of Nigeria.

Any leader who is going to clean up Nigeria must be prepared like Murtala Mohammed or Adekunle Fajuyi did, to offer their own life for the sake of Nigeria. I just do not see Goodluck Jonathan as fitting that bill from his track record as Deputy Governor in Bayelsa and for close to 4 years now as Vice President. I would love to be proved wrong in holding fast to this belief.

Those peddling the rumors of a comeback for Yar Adua are doing so because they claim he is now well enough to resume duty. Of course, they are living in a fool’s paradise or fooling themselves and the whole nation. They are doing so to mainly distract Goodluck Jonathan from believing he is truly in charge or would remain in charge to serve the remaining term of Yar Adua, who, to all intent and purposes is totally incapacitated, and should forget ever regaining power. The man is terribly sick. Even if he hangs on to life, he is forever damaged, diminished and compromised by his poor health and his lackluster leadership style.

His supporters must stop treating Nigeria as their private estate. The PDP the party that got Nigeria into this quagmire, to begin with, ought to be ashamed of it. It must be sent packing in 2011 for Nigeria to make progress.

The more I look at the candidates they are offering for the presidency in 2011, the more convinced I am that the PDP is a great liability to Nigeria. It deserves to be thrown out of office with ignominy. I do not see Babangida or Atiku Abubakar as credible candidates at all. I view Abubakar Atiku as a rolling stone and a spineless leader who could not make up his mind on what is it he really wants to do. He is a good- for-nothing opportunist who joined and bankrolled the AC only to abandon the party because he lacks any core values and convictions. His name appearing along with that of Babangida and so many others in the Halliburton indictment of corrupt individuals in Nigeria have irredeemably damaged his credibility as a future leader as far as I am concerned.

I see Goodluck Jonathan in a way as the Moses of the Nigerian struggle. He may not reach the promised land, but if he remains steadfast and resolute, he may not achieve all of the things he has set his mind upon, but he would have served notice to Nigerians that he had tried his best to serve the role that God had ordained him to serve at a most critical phase in the History of Nigeria. He should see himself as an instrument being used by God to launch Nigeria to a new phase of stability. His regime should only be seen as a bridge and nothing more because the PDP are going to part ways with him sooner than later.

He should worry less about running for President in 2011 because the North as a block is not going to let that happen. What he should focus all his attention upon, like a laser beam is doing something he can be remembered for. If he does that, there is a chance he could still come back or resurrect to lead the nation at a more somber period than now. If he let some reactionary elements in the PDP derail his mission for Nigeria, he and the PDP would suffer the same fate. If the opposition parties cannot gather enough moss to beat the PDP in 2011, they can forget ever beating the PDP again.

Mr. Jonathan should learn some lessons from Babangida who for 8 going to 9 years had all the opportunities in the world to change Nigeria forever when he successfully launched the two-party system in Nigeria and was on his way to achieving that when he allowed greed and self-centeredness to derail him altogether. If Babangida had allowed M.K O. Abiola to claim his victory and mandate in the June 12 elections, it is quite possible that Abiola might not have survived for too long, as Sani Abacha was hell-bent on taking over power by all means. Babangida would have proved to Nigeria that he was an honorable man. The opportunity given to Olusegun Obasanjo on a platter of gold to come rule Nigeria for a second or third time would have gone to Babangida. He totally blew it.

The whole nation would have been rooting for him to lead Nigeria again because, say what you like about Babangida, he decidedly had better leadership qualities than Obasanjo and some of his predecessors. If you discount his kleptomania and his Maradonic inclinations or pretences, he is a far more balanced and likeable individual than Obasanjo, all things considered. Those who love Babangida love him with passion and those who hate him do so with passion. You cannot say the same thing of Obasanjo. Babangida was one leader who knew how to play his card. He made a fatal mistake annulling the election of M K O Abiola and that is going to haunt him for the rest of his life but he did one thing that I would forever respect and cherish.

His political overtures to Obafemi Awolowo and how he managed to appease the Lion of Ikenne and earn his respect, was a masterstroke. One of the last visits Awolowo ever made to Dodan Barracks was to thank Babangida and his wife for their congratulatory message to him on the occasion of his 76th birthday. It was that appeasement that informs the rational for the Awolowo family’s cooling of tension with the Federal Authorities to a point that the Matriarch of the Awolowo family, Hannah Dideolu was able to cross party lines to tart making some overtures to the Federal Authorities thus blurring the ideological divide between the progressives and the conservatives in Nigeria.

A lot of people criticize Babangida for a lot of things he did or did not do. I happen to be one of them. The death of Dele Giwa was one I would never forget or forgive, but he certainly did a few good things Nigerians must acknowledge. He was one military leader who recognizes that intellectuals could play a very strategic role in shaping or formulating policy. He assembled a think tank of some of the best brains to advise him and he got some mileage out of that He was not ashamed to tap their brains and gave them the recognition they deserve. Professors Oyovbare and Omo Omoruyi were two of such intellectuals. There were others. I know he has single-handedly launched the political career of Chief Oluyemi Falae whom he brought back from the Merchant Bank to be his Secretary to Government and later Minister of Finance for 6 months.

I know Chief False. He was my Permanent Secretary at the Manpower Department. He was one of the brightest bureaucrats Nigeria has produced. I have the greatest respect for him and I truly appreciate Babangida input to his emergence as a frontline politician in Nigeria today. Left to Obasanjo alone, the man called Falae would have been cut down to size or frustrated out of the Federal Public Service because Falae once presided over a special task force for the reappraisal of the Public Service set up by the Obasanjo regime following the Udoji Salary Review Report. The Task Force had the courage to criticize the Federal Government led by Obasanjo by refusing to say what Obasanjo wanted to hear. Obasanjo had wanted Chief Falae punished or victimized for that.

That, in large part, was the circumstance that momentarily drove Falae from the Public Service to the private sector as Managing Director of the Nigerian Merchant Bank. Babangida not only rehabilitated Chief Falae. He brought him back as Secretary to Government and later on as Minister of Finance. Babangida did other good things that have now been eclipsed by some of his horrendous mistakes as President.

Goodluck Jonathan would do well to learn some lessons from Babangida and not allow himself to be distracted by relentless rumors that Yar Adua may be coming back to reclaim the office that had left him. He should see himself as the man ordained by God for a mission and he should just focus on that mission with resolution, and leave his future to God and his Destiny. He must aspire to leave his footprints on the sand of History because his emergence as acting President is nothing short of a miracle.

I rest my case.