Nigeria, Aug. 30 -- The four-year cycle in our democratic journey is here once again. The whistle for the next round of elections has been blown with the release of the campaign timetable. Across the nation, contestants from different political parties will soon go all out to convince the electorate to vote for them.

There was a time when I was a starry-eyed idealist who believed that anyone who put himself forward for election meant well. I recall that in 2003, shortly before the governorship election, the late Bukar Abba Ibrahim, then governor of Yobe State and seeking re-election, asked me: "Do you think Adamu Waziri will be a good governor for Yobe?"

The governorship election was only two months away, and Waziri of the PDP was cons...