They have been arriving in thousands. Some of them are weak, others are kept strong by hope for a better future. So many die daily, while many others are carried in body bags at the end of the journey. While the less fortunate ones are fed to the creatures under the sea. It has been dubbed the journey into the unknown, and undertaken only by the bold.

Every time I see the publisher and Chairman of the Vanguard, Mr. Sam Amuka, he reminds me of what I’d like to be when I grow up. Spare and study, Uncle Sam seems built to defy time and the vagaries of aging. I have tried to find out the secret. Once at the flats, he said, “well, it’s the advantage of people like me built small.” It might well indeed be. My younger brother, Buddy, an Attorney in Owerri is also built small. I had joked with him last Christmas, that one day, people might say I’m his dad, when they look at him, and see me besides him. Small is good. Great things come in small measures. Like the Beetle, they are built to last. But there is something else to it. I have observed that Uncle Sam, at his age, swims at least ten laps most evenings. He has made it routine.

Rapacious “authority stealing” by top government officials has crippled Nigeria, and it must be stopped. Yet, the President-elect should be clear in his mind about his motivation and overriding goal. If the driving force of probes launched by him is for revenge against enemies, real or imagined, he should be ready for the repercussions. This is because, supposing the outcome of any investigation establishes culpability for corruption by his political opponents,” the perception that it was persecutory will engender resentment and compromise the trust Nigerians repose on the in-coming government to reduce corruption drastically.

There is a world-wide consensus that Democracy is the best form of government. Accordingly, people in different countries strive not to slide into any other form of government especially dictatorship. If so, how come the avowed ideal system brings more curses than blessings in Nigeria? Why is it that the nation often faces economic doom whenever it has an acclaimed democratic government? In the second republic for instance, many analysts readily testified that the economic dilemma the nation found itself was heralded by the profligacy of the democratic government of President Shehu Shagari.

This week has been abuzz with speculations in the UK politics, after a bruising results for all but the Conservative party in the mainland. Labour slumped to its worst defeat in almost 30 years in last week’s election finishing ninety-nine seats behind the Conservatives, with 26 fewer MPs than even former Labour Prime Minister, Gordon Brown managed in 2010. The labour party was left bewildered by their dismal showing and the leader of Labour, Ed Miliband, did the most honourable thing, he resigned.