IT has become the habit of the old politicians of romanticizing the past golden age of positive politics when viewing the present dispensation of “everything goes”. Perhaps former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo was right recently when he expressed disappointment on the political rascality or naivety of some young political leaders.

Many Nigerians and also friendly foreigners agree that the country is facing various problems on political stability and economic reconstruction. The major problem is that of national unity in an atmosphere of the rising profile of ethnicity and religious bigotry.

From the time when Independence (with democracy) was joyfully handed over to Nigeria and Nigerians on a golden plate by the British colonial masters and to the period when the military rulers under General Abdulsalami Abubakar repackaged democracy in the 1999 Constitution, Nigeria and its people have witnessed many changes in social, economic and political spheres.

A constant reader of this column has politely asked me to point out the difference between the Transformation Agenda of President Jonathan on the economy and my own often repeated but seemingly crude phrase of commonsense economics.

It is gratifying that after several false alarms, the voluntarily merging parties have been recognized by the electoral umpire (INEC) as All Progressives Party (APC). Its registration has been hailed by the media as a triumph for the growth of democracy. Truly, democracy can blossom when opportunity exists for the citizens to make a choice between parties during elections.

A friend took me to task last week on what he described as a “notorious” bias against the current President by the Nigerian media. To him, many commentators have not shown enough understanding of President Jonathan’s Transition Agenda. Like all apologists of the present federal government, there is always a lively progress report to make.

There is one thing many Nigerians agree upon without any dissent either in thought or action: that is that the country does not deserve the lowly place it is in today in view of its natural blessings. God has provided Nigerians with a fertile land and the people, with abundant raw talents to be developed at will.

In order to present a simple analysis, the past will reflect only the period after Independence which was won on a ‘platter of gold‘ in 1960, covering the Civil War (1967 – 1970) and the end of the military rule in 1999 when democracy returned from captivity.

There is little doubt that the present Nigeria owes its fragile existence to the amalgamation in 1914 of the Southern and Northern provinces by Lord F. Lugard. It appears like a miracle that of all the world‘s painfully contrived associations of multi-ethnic groups in the 20th century, Nigeria alone remains superficially united. Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia and other mature societies have dissolved themselves into smaller, but independent countries.

IT has been a long way from the 1950s when politics was forced on the best of any community (when the best educated were begged to represent the people) to the present time when any candidate (with minimum of a school certificate) would force himself on the people as their representative.