Nigeria, Feb. 1 -- In Nigeria, the road has become a stage where power performs its most absurd theatre. The siren-once a tool of emergency-now plays the soundtrack of ego. The convoys, longer than a bride's procession, louder than a market quarrel, move through our streets like small invading armies. And every time that blaring, violent sound slices through the air, a simple truth echoes behind it: one day monkey go go market... and e no go return.

Because power, especially Nigerian power, has a short memory. And even shorter patience.

These leaders who move as though the sun itself must pause when they pass were once ordinary Nigerians. They once queued at bus stops, once waited under the rain for taxis, once navigated potholed street...