Last week was May 29; a day which for many years, was our Democracy Day. And if my arithmetic is correct, our 21st since 1999 when we started this second democratic experience after years of military rule. In a normal world, a man of twenty one is a formed adult, entitled to and ready for whatever life throws at him. In a democratic world however, a twenty one year old democracy is still at its infancy really.

The world I grew up in must be totally incomprehensible to the children of today. But it was the world we knew then. I grew up in a community setting where peers grouped naturally and respect for the groups ahead of you came so easily and naturally that nobody had to force it.

By virtue of my trade, I knew many top people in Government during my active days. But only few will I say I was reasonably close to. One of them was Alhaji Shehu Musa. I drove with him in the same car from Lagos to Bida when he was made the Makanma.

The earth is breathing; literally. It is aeriated and suffused with life nurturing oxygen. Air is now cleaner, fresher and crisper almost everywhere. Many areas of Europe and Asia which had been covered in smug have been reportedly cleared.

I had this irresistible urge to go out on Tuesday that was quite unlike me. The ease in lockdown was just a day old and the normal me would have skipped the week just to test the waters. I tried to justify this itch by rationalising that I had been on personal lockdown long before the official one.