It is not just that politicians are the most distrusted group of professionals in the world, being a politician in itself is a nightmare as it carries a stigma of being an unprincipled, corruptible double-dealer. And as if to justify this, their zero-sum struggle for power is often anchored on the belief that ‘the end justifies the means’ or as John Lylys puts it in his novel Euphus: The Anatomy of Wits, ‘All, is fair in love as in war’. Ironically, we need politicians more than they need us. We owe our survival as organized society to their brinkmanship and skillful exploitation of our infirmities. In a world where it…

In the past few days, the Nigerian public domain has been awash with the celebrations of the 85th birthday of a pan-Nigerian progressive, a Yoruba nationalist and an epitome of selfless leadership, Chief Adebisi Akande. In his country home Ila-Orangun, Ila Local Government Area of Osun State; in Ibadan, the capital city of the new and old Oyo State where his political career had blossomed and glowed; and in Abuja where he had in exemplification presided over the affairs of Africa’s largest ruling political party, the All Progressive Congress, he was celebrated the same day by a wide spectrum of his political followers, friends, allies and even the political foes he had…