Point One

We have for some while been in that season of curious haste when outgoing executives in power – in the present instance, state governors whose tenures are up – say they are ‘finishing strong.’ To that end, they’re unveiling a rash of projects aimed at padding up their record of achievements in office, but which on reality check are suspect in terms of economic relevance, durability and legacy values. In some cases, more projects got dizzyingly commissioned in the closing weeks of their excellencies’ respective tenure than in all of the years they’ve spent in office, even for two-term governors. But that in itself is not the beef. The challenge, rather, is that many questions are thrown up as to the true financials / cost-effectiveness of those projects, the thoroughness of their execution and survival strength, not to mention how those projects fit into the whole architecture of each state economy. It is suspected in some instances that those projects are really sm...

When properly channeled, there is a potentially compelling power in the civilian population of every humanistic – as opposed to martial – society that could dictate the direction of its nationhood. Even martial societies have their tipping points, a red line of sorts upon which people’s power would kick in and take hold. That is what revolutions are all about. It is not for usurpers to play God and hijack or appropriate power for their own narrow ends, because the moral superiority of properly vented power of the people could indeed overawe the physical force of arms. We have the current evidence of Sudan to illustrate that point.   The North African country is convulsing still from an ongoing people’s uprising that has been dubbed ‘Arab Spring 2’ – that is, taking after the original Arab Spring that flared across the Middle East in late 2010, and which by early 2012 had flushed out long-sitting rulers from power in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen besides ignit...