It was not much of an easy week for Acting President Goodluck Jonathan, it would seem. Scales fell of the eyes in the few days that followed the change of nomenclature for the Vice President, and our politicians readily saw grounds for more politicking in the dichotomy between President Yar'adua and lucky Goodluck.

The Yar'adua team in the cabinet refused to go down without a fight, and particularly would not stomach Minister of State Orubebe's paranoia, when he relied on internet reports to run his mouth that Northern origin ministers were holding nocturnal meetings in plots against Jonathan.

I had said way back that I expected this great divide in the Federal Executive Council because I reasoned that we may have found a way forward with the granting of full presidential powers to Goodluck Jonathan, but issues on the ground which precipitated the impasse were bound to dominate last week's executive council meeting. As concluded last week, Nigeria's Acting President is considered "dead on arrival" if he attempts to rule Nigeria under the prevailing ambience and mindset of compatriots.

Time should not be wasted in nudging to fit. Given Presidential powers need exercising, for starters, there should be no hesitation in adjusting the cabinet if there is conviction that there exists the need. Tactfully though, because a clean sweep of the cabinet will send us to the legislature for weeks of hearings and you can not deny them a pound of flesh. However majority of Nigerians want drastic cabinet changes. Acting President Jonathan should compel the over qualified senior citizens in the administration to leave executive office and return home to part time government engagement. I do not subscribe to ignominious sacking. It should be a lay off with dignity.

One of Obasanjo's strong merits was finding the likes of Obiageli Ezekwesili, Okonjo-Iweala, Mansur Mukhtar, Magnus Kpakol, Amina Al Zubair, Charles Soludo, Nuhu Ribadu, Nasir El Rufai and a few more. These technocrats were non political "politicians", brought in to ensure success of the PDP mandate and they did prove themselves and account for the success areas of the Obasanjo tenure. Compare this to the role played by the old war horses like Ojo Maduekwe, Tony Anenih, Amadu Ali, Bola Ige, and it would be clear, this group while having performed poorly in their first line duties as Ministers et al, account for those bizarre political machinations that pitched Obasanjo against his Vice President Atiku Abubakar, gave birth to the third term bid and corrupted the polity by rubberstamping Obasanjo's theory of choosing his successor.

The failure of Obasanjo to attain the fullness of the potential of his regime was due mainly to the distraction that prevailed in the political schemes designed by the old guard for relevance and survival. It was here that we saw Ghana must go bags in attempts to co-opt the National Assembly into the many retrogressive schemes witnessed in the era.

The impeccable banners of El Rufa'i and Nuhu Ribadu got stained when they became willing tools in the undermining of Obasanjo's opponents, more so, Nuhu Ribadu in the bid to incriminate Vice President Atiku Abubakar. This spectre refused to die and obviously gave Yar'adua some embarrassing hicups since Turks in his administration went on to make enemies of the duo of Ribadu and El Rufa'i. It is the reason some vested interests refused to steer sick Yar'adua in the direction of signing off his tenure to his vice when it became clearly necessary to do so, and instead, produced the phenomenon of Michael Aondokaa, Justice Minister and Attorney General and the collapse of their plan to rule by proxy.

Acting President Goodluck Jonathan will face his own challenge of "patriot games". "Patriot games" is when a few functionaries arrogate to themselves a pride of position in the cabinet as the "kitchen cabinet" and define their self seeking schemes as the defendable objectives of government, and their enemies (usually critics of their schemes) as the enemies of Government. Under the illusion that they are more patriotic that all others, and that they love Nigeria and their Leader more than anyone else can, they take liberties with the President's powers and loot the treasury in the name of project execution. In a democracy this is inevitable. Mr Acting President must be wise not to accept the enemies they make in their patriotic "zealousness".

There was more of such politics in the demonizing of Ribadu and El Rufai. Goodluck Jonathan must avoid such enemies. As a matter of fact, the duo should be encouraged to return and clear themselves of all the allegations (yes they can), and the world must see that they do not suffer extrajudicial victimization.

The challenge to move Nigeria forward requires well qualified and new breed of Nigerians, capable of functioning in a dividends delivery regime, without the shortcomings of well-known Nigerian inhibitions, and such new breed can be found within and outside Nigeria. This is the reason Fashola is a success story beyond our imagination and dreams. It should be Jonathan's story.

In Acting President Jonathan's marshall plan for the first 100 days much may not be attained because of the depth of the decay, but steps should taken to make it clear that a course has been charted. As a step towards the take off of electoral reforms Professor Maurice Iwu and his INEC crew should be rested. Such a step would indicate to Nigerians that in deed reforms shall come.

Fundamentally, a vision and a plan of realizable programmes capable of giving the nation the needed lift-off and momentum are necessary. Name them all: Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt, Jerry Rawlings of Ghana, and Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore and leaders of emerging successes. Their vision and a plan preceded their achievements, and indeed determined their legacy and the stability and sustainability of their democracies to this day. These two, vision and plan.

Jonathan would be wise from the onset, to put the legislature before him, and PDP behind him. The old hawks own the party, but have limitations in checkmating the Acting President with it. This leaves the legislature as the only check on Presidential powers. Fortunately, the Legislature is progressive, and would see matters within the context of changing Nigeria for the better. With Jonathan courageously being his own man, and synergizing with the National Assembly, the era of the political godfather could on the way to extinction.

Reported indicators for January show that due to fuel scarcity and electric power failures, inflation went up by double digits specifically 12.3%.

In many countries this would create problems for the government, especially as in our case, mostly affected were staple foods and bare necessities, again underlining two areas where in addition to good luck, Acting President Jonathan needs to work real magic. It should be clear that accounts have not been properly rendered for the advances made to deliver 6000MW.

It is not enough to explain things away the way it has been done. The country has no choice than to conclude deregulation and real divestment from Power Holding Company. In deed, once power supply and fuel scarcity are addressed, Nigerians, hard working and believing in themselves as ever, would from their pursuits help turn things around for the country's better.