The term ‘democracy’ was originally ‘demos’ and ‘krasi’; Greek for ‘people’ and ‘rule’ -or ‘rule of the people’. But over time, it has etymologically evolved to mean different things to different people. In our own part of the world, the transformation is breathtaking.

What is happening in the Arab world today reminds me of a piece I did on this column, entitled, ‘This Stinking Democracy.’ I was wondering whether ‘democracy,’ like they say of ‘virtue’, is strictly ‘its own reward.’ Or whether a system of government must be truly provident for it to be worth the name ‘democracy.’

In fairness to man, he never begrudges the woman headship of the ‘house’. The power house that is; –kitchen! The ‘dining’? Don’t even think about it! Any time ‘man’ puts the ‘woman’ ahead of himself outside of the kitchen, beware there’s some chestnuts to be pulled out of the fire. Man is like the proverbial sex-hungry cockerel; covetously ready to bribe with the ‘grain’ and prepared to swallow ‘pebbles’; but who no sooner have his ‘mating fill’ than he grows crest-pride and dismissive.

Aforetime, the modern woman has evoked what chauvinistic, self-centered ‘man’ tags ‘gender protest’, ‘warring sexism’ or indeed such other libertarian hogwash like ‘liberation of the feminine gender’ – ‘Women Lib’, for shot. And ‘male gender domination’ had –or maybe has- always been the culprit.

“There is no sure foundation set on blood, No certain life achieved by others’ death” (King John, Shakespeare)

Jos is a sickening metaphor of a potential conflagration that seriously bothers my subconscious. We live in fears of possible present-dangers, but worse than that are the horrible imaginings of what the Jos of today may rub off the Nigeria of tomorrow.

When I wrote ‘2011: On a Wing and a Prayer’, I had jocularly asked the perplexing question: “between Jega and Joe who will take who to hell or who to heaven? Will they both make hell or altogether lose Eden?”.

Recently, in this column, I wrote ‘Zoning: Where Justice Gumi Got it Wrong’ and, in which, in my lay opinion, I differed with the FCT High Court Chief Judge’s December 1, 2010, ruling on PDP’s zoning arrangement.

The Wiki leaks report on Nigeria quoted Jonathan as claiming he was his ‘own man.’ And, he was! Courageously confessing to political ‘inexperience’ and never disowning the benefaction of zoning to his ‘unmerited’ political station in life.

Barely a year after she was crowned ‘The Amazon Of Cross Rivers’ at the famous Tinapa Resort by the First Lady of Cross Rivers State, Mrs. Liyel Imoke, Cross Riverians just did honour again to their proud Princess of Bakassi, Senator Florence Ita-Giwa.

Last week Chief Judge of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Justice Gumi ruled confirming the legality and the binding nature of Zoning, but which for reason of ‘non-justiciability’, he said the courts cannot enforce.

In most presidential systems only parliament constitutionally enjoys full legislative, quasi-judicial and quasi-executive powers and the combined effect of which either serves as an intoxicating force for bad (as is the case with us), or a sobering stimuli for good (as has never been with us).

I closed last week observing a fundamental contradiction between democracy’s apparent non-achieving credentials and society’s legitimate dividend demands, a reality which tends to make the democratic process seems drudgy and agonising; so that often non- democratic –even if autocratic-systems elsewhere continue to appear appealing as long as they are reasonably provident.

Is the legislature democracy’s necessary incentive or has it become its veritable drag? This, against the backdrop of our current self-serving NASS, we shall explore in the next two weeks.

Elsewhere in several previous pieces I had discussed, especially when the Lars and the Ganas were steeped in spiritual stupor of, the ‘divine’, the ‘providential’ and in one or two titles of this column, even of the indefensibly zodiacal.

In 2001 after the Presidential Adviser’s Office on NASS had nudged the Ghali Assembly to pass the controversial Anti-Corruption Bill, it’s House Committee wrote the Special Adviser, Aminu Wali requesting him to, in recognition of his S. A.’s ‘commendable’ liaison role, release me to join its members to attend that year’s 10th International Anti-Corruption Conference in Prague Czechs Republic.

THROWN OUT’ was a newspaper’s headline, celebrating the Senate crushing of the executive bill sneakily passed to the National Assembly on the apron of the Jega-exigency which sought to reverse an electoral feat already achieved by the NASS-namely the barring of presidential battalion of aides as delegates to presidential party primaries!

‘THROWN OUT’ was a newspaper’s headline, celebrating the Senate crushing of the executive bill sneakily passed to the National Assembly on the apron of the Jega-exigency which sought to reverse an electoral feat already achieved by the NASS-namely the barring of presidential battalion of aides as delegates to presidential party primaries!

One of the many ‘ends’ of Philosophy –the discipline in which President Jonathan possesses a Doctorate Degree- according to J.P. Ekarika in his book ‘Introduction to Philosophy’, is to help in the acquisition of “true and correct know ledge –thinking, speaking, writing… by the proper arrangement and utilization of materials, resources and thought processes.”

If a fool at 40 is one forever, it is preposterous then to ask: what is he at 50?! Because the word ‘forever’ has already taken care of that, remember? So at 50, he is simply ‘on course!’ –fated in his ‘forever!’