Longstanding readers of this column might recall that I was extremely unhappy when my Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, spectacularly fell out with the Presidential Duo – Dr Goodluck and Dame Patience Jonathan – in 2013.

SPEAKING last week at the Chatham House in London, Nigeria’s National Security Adviser (NSA), Colonel Sambo Dasuki, suggested the postponement of the February 2015 elections by three months, in order to enable the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) distribute outstanding Permanent Voters Cards (PVC). The figures being bandied around say that about 30 million of such cards were yet to be given out to prospective voters. The NSA who spoke during a Q-and-A session, told his audience that he had suggested to the INEC Chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, that a postponement by three months was allowed by law and that it would be a good idea to delay, to give INEC more time to distribute millions of biometric voters’ cards to voters.

TODAY, we shall attempt to follow petrol on its journey from 6 kobo to N97 per litre – from General Yakubu Gowon to President Goodluck Jonathan. It has been a journey in which the Federal Government has always portrayed fuel price hikes as the panacea to every problem in the economy.

THE King of Saudi Arabia recently passed away and I must confess that what interested me most in the news reports over the weekend were the images of Saudi streets, infrastructure and people. Saudi Arabia is not a democracy.

ONE of the cherished traditions of developed democracies is the creation of fora for contestants to public office to sell their programmes to the electorate before live audiences. Contestants present their party’s manifestoes and planned activities on attaining power in form of debates that are often transmitted live to audiences via the broadcast media. These events are organized and moderated by select members of the mass media and others, not party partisans. This is especially the case for contestants to high offices like that of president. Since the 1960s, no presidential election takes place in America without a presidential debate. It is just a convention of American democracy that is now widely accepted and practiced the world over. It may not be a constitutional requirement but no candidate into elective office who wishes to be taken seriously spurns it.