in the three previous attempts at democratisation to date. What that simply means is that out of about 63 years of nationhood, the military has ruled for about 30 years, while civilians have been in charge for the rest, the longest stretch of which we are still enjoying – 23 years and nine months.
So, in my about four decades of earthly existence, I have witnessed several coups — three of which were successful, one unsuccessful, and a countless number of phantom ones. “Politically exposed persons” scampered for safety whenever the martial music was being played on national radio, or television, stations in those days , especially when it got to where the phrase – “Hello fellow Nigerians” was deployed.
Some ugly incidents occurred recently across the nation, and I cast my mind back to those days of “Hello, Fellow Nigerians”, and I felt pity for this current crop of recklessly naive politicians who think they can ride roughshod on the sensibilities of Nigerians, without any consequence. The first was the artificial scarcity of petrol that brought the nation to a standstill recently. It was orchestrated by some cabal with deep political roots to nourish their greed.