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THE political terrain in the country now is tensed and filled with a lot of intrigues. Only the strong hearted will be able to wade through the political mine field and come out successfully in the much anticipated and talked about 2015 general elections.  Those who want to emerge as candidates in all the positions due for future elections have started early to scheme, maneuver and outwit their opponents. Nowhere is the scheme so intense than in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, which is the party of incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan. The office of the president which will be vacant soon is costly to clinch. Any politician, who wants to replace Jonathan has to cross the proverbial seven seas and seven forests and contend with all the spirits (both evil and good) before reaching the desired destination – Aso Rock. The story is also the same for Jonathan if he wants to return to Aso Rock for a second tenure.

Unfortunately, there has been a lot of hiccups in the ruling party. This makes it doubly difficult for Jonathan whose body language has shown that he is interested in emerging as the candidate of the PDP, and eventually winning the hot race. At times the discord in the party makes it look like a rudderless ship about to sink. At other times, it appears to have mastered the game and is poised to be formidable and the party to beat. As leader of the party by virtue of his office, the president has been contending with a lot of nerve-racking issues in the country to convince the electorate that he is indeed the right man for the job come 2015. The issues ranged from the dissension in the party, the quarrel in the Nigerian Governors’ forum which is being attributed to the president’s ambition in 2015, the insecurity in the country, explosive youth unemployment to poor infrastructure, especially inadequate electricity supply, which is wrecking the manufacturing sector of the economy. A look at the political horizon, shows that the odds against Jonathan appear insurmountable with his opponents and traducer painting him black mercilessly. But the president’s yeomen are also at work thwarting every attempt to rubbish him. In all this, what one sees is a president walking gingerly through a political minefield trying very hard to succeed without stepping on the mines. Will he make it to the end without any of the mines exploding midway to truncate his ambition? The answer is contained in the cover story of this week entitled: Politics 2015: Jonathan’s Walk through Minefield. It was crafted by Olu Ojewale, general editor. You will be happy to read it.

Maureen Chigbo
Editor

mechigbo@yahoo.com  |  +234 8033487603

— Jul. 15, 2013 @ 01:00 GMT