With only three days to go, it can be said with some level of confidence that at last, the Edo governorship election is here as all roads lead to the voting centres on Wednesday September 28, 2016. Perhaps our people still need to pray for security agencies to give clearance for the event to hold. Of course no one should be in a hurry to forget that the previous date was shelved because of what was said to be weighty security challenges.

The invitation by President Muhammadu Buhari to every Nigerian to introspect and engage in value re-orientation cannot be dismissed as many critics have attempted to do. This is because whatever pains the nation is going through today cannot be distanced from the contributory negligence of the people. As it was at the dawn independence, so it still is now that Nigerians are making no effort to reject our convoluted democracy.

When the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced that governorship elections would hold in Edo and Ondo States on September 10 and November 28, 2016 respectively, i had cause to suspect that the dates would not be kept and that if the elections managed to hold as scheduled, they would not be free or fair.

From colonial times till date, it is difficult to rate any Nigerian election as successful. An overview of Nigerian elections would confirm this. What can be called the first national election to form a government of an independent Nigeria was held on December 12, 1959. The outcome was tragic as acid and other corrosive substances were poured into ballot boxes to distort the results of the election.

Last week Saturday, I had the privilege of serving as guest speaker at the installation of the President of the Rotary Club of Port Harcourt Airfield where I drew attention to the need for Nigerian politicians to emulate Rotarians while seeking elective office.