Democracy is good for Nigeria and Nigerians! But has Nigeria and Nigerians been good to democracy? Certainly not! But could be!
An opportunity would present itself via the elections beginning this Saturday.
Since 1960, when Nigerians succeeding in forcing the hands of the colonial masters, causing the lowering of the Union Jack for the Green-White-Green flag, the nation continues to grope in this seemingly endless search for credible elections expected to usher in leaders with the peoples’ mandate. A credible process has almost always been elusive.

Staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, are in a sort of frenzy in the run- up to the elections. For a commission that has promised Nigerians free, fair and credible election after several failed attempts at raising the bar of electoral excellence, the approach to the polls which some analysts have dubbed a litmus test for the chairman of the commission, Professor Attahiru Jega, must be taken with all seriousness.

The political parties have their manifestoes. But, that is where it ends. The manifestoes of the political parties have become no more than pieces of booklets meant to fulfill one of the conditions by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

Elections in Nigeria have always witnessed a plethora of violent incidents. But, in spite of repeated assurances that this year’s elections would be different, the magnifying spectre of violence in the week before the polls has created a cumulus of fear in the land. This report examines the reasons for this.

Many Nigerians would not readily associate the controversial former minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Malam Nasir el-Rufai, with a speaking job simply because the man himself has been known to rail at those who “just talk and do nothing.”