Democracy is acclaimed worldwide as the best form of government but its features appear rather easy to bastardize. In a democracy, power is said to belong to the people and that they exercise it through a government that is made up of a group of persons selected by the people.

Last month, Joe my cousin, who is always frightened of the Military called me on phone to warn me never again to offend, in his words, “dangerous persons and institutions like the Army”. His call came one day after I delivered a rather combative paper at a military conference in Lagos. He sternly asked me: what do you know about security that makes you think you can publicly criticize the Army? While agreeing that I know just a little about warfare, I opined that professionalism in military operations is a different subject from public perception of what the Army does or chooses not to do.

The July 14, 2012 Governorship elections in Edo State, were reportedly overwhelmingly won by the incumbent Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole. According to the election results, the Governor won in all the 18 Local Government Areas of the State.

There are 2 main enviable professions in Nigeria – Law and Medicine. It is only a lawyer for instance, that can serve as Attorney General and Minister of Justice. The same is true of the position of Commissioner for Justice in a State. However, lawyers can be Ministers and Commissioners of other sectors – Education, Foreign Affairs and Commerce etc.

One question which a committee I once belonged to could not find an answer for was why every Chairman of our electoral bodies of old was always booted out of office. For example, Professor Eme Awa who was appointed to Chair the Commission in 1987 was holding a crucial meeting with electoral commissioners when a radio announcement removed him from office barely a year later.

Until a few months ago, the topical issue in my State – Edo – usually centred on the beautification of major towns in the State. The story-line appears to have changed as a new topic has since taken over. These days, the matter of the moment is the directive of the State Government to teachers to produce their primary school certificates.

In the last one month, I have been far more excited about being a citizen of Nigeria than before. Thanks to President Goodluck Jonathan who is set to organize the building of one model city in the country. According to the President, the new city will be better than Abuja and it will not experience power outages. It is this announcement that has lifted my spirit high.

When a Nigerian University bestows honorary degrees on certain persons, the recipients need not meet any academic requirement. Some of them may be elementary school drop-outs or tradesmen like carpenters, sometimes described as ‘furniture makers’.

On Monday February 18, 2013,the federal Ministry of Water Resources organized a Presidential Summit in Abuja. The event was well attended as it attracted the nation’s number one citizen and a host of other dignitaries described on the occasion as stakeholders.

On Monday February 25, 2013, some students of the Nasarawa State University, Keffi were killed by armed men suspected to be soldiers. The dead were some Nigerians including students who were on a public demonstration against continued lack of water in the town. No one knows how many people actually died.