FIFTEEN years ago, precisely on May 29, 1999 General Abdulsalami Abubakar supervised the transition that heralded the Fourth Republic which made the former military leader Olusegun Obasanjo the new president.

IT is an unusual suspense that many political stakeholders may not have bargained for. That is, the inertia that has suddenly gripped the Nigerian political class nine months to a decisive presidential election.

Nigeria’s nominal Gross Domestic Product, GDP, now stands at $509.9 billion, making the nation’s economy the largest in Africa and the 26th in the world, according to the results of the rebasing exercise of the federal government.

ONE may ask why they would not refuse to part with their money as bribes to police officers. Perhaps if they do this, the road sides would be congested with parked vehicles, and the police stations would be crowded up with people who would have been ordered to wait or park, in which case there would be reactions, either from the supervising officers or from the public.

It is now fifteen years since the military withdrew and Nigeria returned to full democratic rule. By Nigerian standards, it is a new record. The immediate post-independence democratic era lasted for only five years and three months (October 1, 1960 to January 15th 1966). It was characterised by parliamentary rule.