Let me take us a little back, to the time Alhaji Ibrahim Bio came on board as sports minister. After we had canvassed and fought relentlessly to have “one of our own” as minister, the Yar Adua government obliged with the Tennis Federation boss, Alhaji Sanni Ndanusa and our joy knew no bounds.

There is a general saying that when a lie is repeatedly trumpeted without any refutation as a result of apathy, ignorance, fear or self-interest from any quarter, sooner than later, even the ‘lie makers’ will believe their lie and the lie will become the truth in the general consciousness. So it has become with Central Banks’ touted Liberalisation of our country’s foreign exchange market since this dubious scheme was unveiled in May this year (2006).

A little girl kneels down and begins to say her night prayers. She is without the complication of big words and the eloquence of accomplished speakers. What she has is a heart that is pure, offering words of supplication and thanksgiving that are genuine; her audience one after the other opens one eye, then the other and one by one take the prayers more seriously.

The real news was actually buried in what was not written. The man was appointed just a month earlier by the state government to head the Council. Surely, one would assume that the government would have appointed someone with integrity to the post. Was it then a mistake that the accused was selected to head the Council?

The first Electoral Commission of Nigeria (ECN) was set up in 1958. The name later changed to the Federal Electoral Commission (FEDECO). For a while, each of the Commissions operated like a task force that was dissolved now and again thereby depriving the system of continuity.