Madam, is everything all right?” I asked a neighbour who I saw standing outside a nearby private hospital with one of her sons. “Hope no-one’s hurt.”

The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubukar III, ranked the four leading presidential candidates as being able and qualified to lead the country. His bother, however, would be the post-election.

My last born is now 19 years old. He has just told me he will vote, but wants to know who to vote for. I said I thought Jonathan is a wimp. Buhari is arrogant, aloof and ignorant of his rigid wicked selectivity. Ribadu is a deluded megalomaniac. He basks in the power and privilege of his lineage and former office. Okotie is as pretentious now in his pronouncement as he was as a singer! So, brother, how do we help our son pick a candidate to give his vote? Give him a name please, not a guideline. He needs a voice to follow at this age. You are it! He believes in you!”

I think it is time we put these elections behind us! They are becoming highly distractive, especially to Mr. President. Nothing can be more distractive for a sitting and ‘performing’ President than being asked to tarry awhile so that some routine electoral imperatives of the democratic process are fulfilled. Mandate renewal, they call it. But I call it what it is: ‘waste time’ –and money!

The Kwara State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has denied a newspaper publication by the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), alleging that it was planning to circulate a nude photograph of their governorship candidate, Senator Gbemisola Saraki.