Nigeria attracts international interest in many ways than one. And why not? It is a major oil and gas exporting nation, attaining notoriety with its long neglect of the oil-bearing Niger Delta and the new-making waves of expatriate workers' kidnapping by the region's militants. It has some of the brightest and hardworking humans in the African Diaspora, and is home to the continent's largest market - 150 million souls. Nigeria is blessed with huge yet-to-be-tapped agricultural, marine and numerous solid mineral resources: A land of amazing prospects begging for good leadership.

How can we forget its deviants who send "419" (advance fee fraud) letters/emails with which they entice and entrap gullible/greedy people around the globe - I received several this week! Or do we ignore its gifted footballers plying their trade in first clubs and countries worldwide?

Our musicians and fashion designers join the beauty queens to do us proud. Then our home movies which gave the world the third "wood" - after hollywood and bollywood, it is nollywood!

We've won the Olympics soccer gold medal, won and hosted FIFA's junior world cup, hosted the Commonwealth summit (CHOGM), the All Africa Games (twice) as well as several summits of both ECOWAS and the African Union...to mention a few. We also hosted the Miss World Beauty Pageant - excepting its grand finale which religious riots forced to be shifted to London.

Now you know!

Can you then understand our discomfiture and depression with the state of things, politicswise,
when the top two men in Nigeria's presidency are irretrievably locked in a fight-to-finish war?
At a time when we should be coasting home on our hitherto elusive civilian-to-civilian transition
in democratic governance? In a season when we should be leading Africa by glittering example rather than platitudes and precepts? It calls for worry. It calls for grave very concern.

By the way, this same administration rail-roaded us into paying our ubiquitous and tanishing foreign debts - for which I am personally grateful and proud despite its costs (about $13bn) and unfinished investigations to unravel all the rogues behind its stench - making us respected and credit-worthy again. I also applaud them for making some very inspired and clever (including plough-back) decisions in Nigeria's LNG investmests portfolio, which may not be fully known or appreciated by many.

Pray, this team (President Olusegun Obasanjo and Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who are both multimillionaires or billionnaires by most accounts) is holding the nation by the jugular, thus threatening our fragile democracy. Their supporters are heating up the polity. Their aides are leaking info and planting poisonous facts and fiction in both the media and rumour mills. The polity is haplessly distracted. The much-invested transition is now on auto-pilot, barely six months to the General Elections!

Latest gist? The president has more or less asked the National Assembly to impeach the vice president. He sent in a letter this week.

Further gist? The vice president has dismissed the charges laid out in the president's letter, and counter-indicted the president on similar/veiled/implied charges. Not yet listed, publicly.

Backlash gist? Several parliamentarians are compiling/reviewing/updating all impeachable sins of the presidency, and weighing up how to share same equitably between boss and vice.

Future gist? MAD case, MAD casualty.....mutually assured dismissal. M...A...D!!!

Pray, who be the "drummers" behind this MADness???