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NIGERIA is a country where things develop with a dizzying speed. Just as you are trying to grasp one contentious issue which generated a lot of hot air in the country another bursts making it difficult for many people to fully analyse and understand why the issue happened in the first place. In other words, there is never a dull moment in our dear country Nigeria whether it is in the socio-economic, political and judiciary – stuff happens all the time. The knowns and the unknowns and the unknown unknowns crop up to rattle Nigerians and sometimes, some people prefer not to bother at all with all the happenstance in the country just to retain their sanity.

Take for instance the confusion over resignation of Bamanga Tukur, former chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. The polity was heated up with the stories of his resignation and non-resignation, denials and counter denials. At the height of the drama, Tukur came on air to squarely deny his resignation. But finally President Goodluck Jonathan put paid to the issue when he confirmed that Tukur had resigned and members of the executive of the PDP, who were present at the confirmation ceremony, jolly well sang “for he is a jolly good fellow to Tukur who sat with a dour face and mournful look as if his political career was being buried with the song. Never mind that his tenure witnessed a lot of conflagration in the party leading to the defection of five rebel governors to the All Progressive Congress, APC.

Given that the ugly developments could have been prevented, one is tempted to ask why Tukur did not resign earlier. The answer is hanging in the air. But this week, the editorial board of Realnews not only deliberated on the Tukur issue, which we pencilled down for special report, but also considered the conflagration in the Rivers State, which if not tackled carefully could cause more havoc to the country. The Rivers State debacle is directly or indirectly tied to the controversial reign of Tukur as the PDP national chairman because it was cooking in a red hot oven while he was in power and he did nothing to solve the problem other than supervising the snatching of the party structure from Governor Rotimi Amaechi. But the problem in Rivers goes beyond Tukur and stretches to the Presidency and landed on the tussle for power between Amaechi and Nyesom Wike, minister of education. The irony is that Amaechi and Wike are brothers from the same Ikwere clan of Rivers State. They were bosom friends who had helped each other in their trying times. But now, they are at daggers drawn battling for the soul of the Rivers State. Why?  The answer is contained in the cover story of this week entitled Amaechi Versus Wike: Brothers at War. It was written by Olu Ojewale, our general editor. Enjoy it.

Maureen Chigbo
Editor

Email: mechigbo@yahoo.com   |   mechigbo@realnewsmagazine.net

— Jan. 27, 2014 @ 01:00 GMT