From Lagos, our own New York, to Abuja, the expensive London with Beverly Hills homes only for the rich and mighty to Anambra, our own cowboy Texas...We have own Chicago with its Police, then we have so many Bronx sites where you could get anything from fake passport to late Abacha or Abiola's signature. Who won't like Nigeria, go and ask Shell. Chevron and co., they will tell you, MTN everyday ask why did it take so long for the wilderness of Nigerian communication to be opened. Nigeria...God's own country in black Africa, how many times have I been told that even God is Nigerian especially when we have goofed and expect a miracle.

Less I drift, in the last few weeks it has been declarations galore for those that want to govern us, frenzy of campaign, jobs have been provided for thousands, from media manager, campaign directors, tailors, cap makers, salt sellers, praise singers, even assassins are savouring the moment. The truth I want us to examine is, these men from Presidents to be, wannabe Governors, Senators down to the ward level, do we know these people. Do we know the men that are courting us today, do we know the men that want to take us to the altar of governance or as the case usually turns out would we regret that we knew very little of these men? Is this the usual whirlwind romance, one which the end is always obvious. One common thing about them, is that they again promising the same thing Obasanjo and PDP promised under the umbrella, will the AC broom not sweep our national treasury under their carpets of deceit.

What is new, free education, same that was promised by some in 1979...free food on election day with plenty salt to go with. They say they will repair the rail system, the one OBJ the all knowing life time god of Aso Rock could not...Some of them now say State Police is the answer. Tomorrow, would we be able to hold them liable, are we really listening, as they tour the whole nation promising us utopia, telling us that heaven in Nigeria is not far away. Some of them have courageously given us dates when they would have achieved Metusaaleh. While some if allowed will promise to bring back our fore fathers to life. Others say they would build new River Niger bridge, others say they would create Ministry of Niger Delta, possibly for one jobber to eat? They know us, they know our weakness, they have impoverished us with our consent. They constitute less than 3% of the population but they are the tiny tin gods we have to obey. The governors among them want to be presidents, and senators, senators want to be governor, they are horse trading, exchanging carrots at our collective expense because they know us.

They know most of us only want a measure of salt, rice, few yards of cotton materials with their heads on the fabrics. They know that our votes count for little, so they cannot bring INEC to order to effectively register or is it revalidate the voters' register. They know us, that we cannot do without them, some of them feel without their heads, or mischievous smile on papers no one would buy the papers. They know we feel humbled when they tell us they care.

They know we are gullible, we love life and cannot resist their Isi Ewu and bottle of Gulder politics in the East, neither can we go far from the amala and obe ewedu welled laced with assorted beef in Ibadan, and for us up, the more Tuwo Shinkafa the more we nod positively to their lies. They tell us that it is about us, and when they get there would they still know us.

They tell us that their god told them in a vision, but the Almighty silently watches not just their folly but our collective folly. It is not raining now but they have offered their umbrellas when the rain comes, would they not come to collect back because they know us. Do we know them, I doubt very much, although sadly when events are weighed vis a vis the past it is obvious that we know them, we just refuse to accept the truth.

We know that all of them cannot be President, we know most of them could not manage their states, we have even seen one of them come back from the wilderness of an active alliance and all conditions waived for him and still they talk about not bending the rules. We cannot say we do not know that all these drama is just for a piece of the cake of relevance, we know that none of them can just forfeit N5M in the name of nomination when politics 101 is a thriving business where return on investment is high, very high and then depending on the office, it is like a tax heaven where you will even get paid when you cry.

They know us, so they are caressing us and in our foolishness we praise them to the high heaven. They know that if not that Abacha died we would have done nothing, absolutely nothing. They know that our poverty has driven us to the religious edge with churches and mosque everywhere so they target our beliefs and become spokespersons for gods only them see. We are again at the crossroads because we have refused to face reality, we pretend to know when we really do not know, when we know we refuse to talk and all these they know and use against us. We think they are naive while infact they know we are the hungry ones that are happy rather than angry, they know in the midst of our struggles, problems and hardship when asked how we are, we still say 'fine'. They know how docile we are, and how we cherish the little luxuries of life pinched to us rather than taking our right in whole. They know that our so-called activists will betray us, they know no Nigerian would positively take the law into his hands by squealing for us to identify them. They simply know way too much, so they manipulate us, make us worship them and make us glorify their stupidity. The Nigerian is peaceful, hospitable and friendly, not easily provoked, infact never provoked except when he is what I call 'politicoreligionized', So tell me who wants to kill the Vice President, tell me what the Vice President would be doing with 200 security aides and yet they say it is all well, it is okay, why the big walls with security parameters when they tell us we love them.