Good luck coming to West African state near you

Nigeria's elections were a vote for political stability. Despite the initial hitch when the election process had to be delayed for a week, the outcome was hugely positive for perceptions of Nigerian democracy. Although there was some carping about election irregularities, the crushing win of incumbent Goodluck Jonathan, who has a PhD in Zoology, gave a clear mandate to the new government and broke the tradition where the presidency passes from the north to the south and back from cycle to cycle. Already in West Africa, Ghana has held successful elections where power has passed from one party to another without incident. We have also seen recently in Ivory Coast that West Africans will not tolerate an illegitimate leader holding on to power. Gbagbo's departure was humiliating: where he could so easily have stepped down with dignity he chose to cling on to the last and was dragged away in shame. Sub-Saharan Africa in general appears to be coming of age. This is particularly evident in its economic growth path which has been strong over the past decade and has regained momentum after the global credit crunch. The QSL is from FRCN Enugu heard in Cape Town in 1993 on short-wave. Nigerian state QSLs are precious.