Hundreds of thousands of Nigerians made up of those that have taken active politicking as a vocation have spent the last months in sleepless watch.

They have plotted, schemed, killed, back stabbed, lied, cheated and deceived the living day light out of each other. The last few days have been more tense than most because the two giants in the park, the ruling PDP and their rival, the ANPP have been holding their annual conventions.

Unlike other conventions, these are election year conventions and all stops are being pulled from all quarters.

Already the PDP has concluded their presidential primaries and everyone is still wondering at the unexpected gambit it threw in the face of the opposition.

Two dark horses, the most unlikely pair are to fly the party’s flag in next year’s elections.

Now the ANPP have to come up with their own pair. The PDP have are aiming to capture the heart of the North who have been clamoring for a return to power and the Niger-Delta who have been troubling the country’s oil sector with their incessant kidnaps of foreign oil workers.

Which regions will the ANPP try to appeal to in their bid to grab votes next year? The best bet will for them play a symmetrical response to PDP’s gambit. That way they will be leveraging the same factors that the PDP want to use.

If you are not a Nigerian and you are reading this, it will make little sense to you though.

The bottom line is that the success of their strategies will determine whether or not peace will be entrenched in some of the most volatile regions of the country and maybe countries that have been groaning under erratic fluctuations in the price of crude oil will find respite from next year.

Don’t be in a hurry though if you are in the oil sector to come to Nigeria until you see for certain how things are played out.

You just might find yourself as a bargaining chip for some hungry militants.

Peace!

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