Nigeria, Feb. 28 -- Today is the 35th anniversary of the conclusion of the National Conference in Benin Republic. The expectation then was that a process had begun for establishing a new social contract for the reconstruction of state and society starting with a peaceful move from arbitrary rue to democracy. Benin Republic had been ruled since 1972 by General Mathieu Kerekou, who after putting to an end a cycle of chronic instability, proclaimed Marxist-Leninist principles as state ideological policy right from 1974. This orientation was operationalised through a government controlled economic policy under the political hegemony of the Revolutionary Party of the People of Benin (RPPB), which remained in complete control of political power...