A presidential aspirant of one of the two mainstream political parties in the United States of America has just lost the nomination to his opponent in a keenly contested presidential primary. Thinking that the combination of both men would make a formidable team in the looming presidential election, the loser was asked whether, if contacted, he would accept to be running mate to the winner of the party flag. His response was terse: I hate all vices, including the vice presidency! In most countries, especially in a democracy, the vice president is seen as the Number Two man; although I think this should not be so, especially where the three arms of government - the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary - are deemed equal and co-terminus according to the theory of separation of powers as propounded by Baron de Montesquieu. One arm should not be Number One and Number Two at the same time. If the Executive claims the Number One slot, then, the Legislature and Judiciary should share the Number Two and Number Three slots as the head of the other two arms of government. The vice president heads no arm of government. He becomes relevant only when the president is not available. But this is an argument for another day! Whoever it was that likened the vice president or deputy governor to a vehicle's spare tyre is closer to the point. Spare tyres are irrelevant when the actual tyres are in active service. What is a spare? A dictionary definition says it is an extra tyre carried in a motor vehicle for use in case of a puncture In the event of no puncture, then, the spare tyre is of no relevance but is a burden that occupies space that could otherwise have been converted to more beneficial use. Little wonder, then, that many motor vehicles these days have devised the means of tucking the spare tyre away in compartments that would not use up space needed for more useful purposes. Are spare tyres similarly of little or no use in a political setting? The answer is yes and no. In the United States, there is the saying that the vice president is to be seen and not heard. In other words, the Number Two must not hug, share or struggle for the limelight with the boss. When the mother elephant trumpets, the baby must keep quiet! Any errant baby elephant that trumpets when the mother trumpets will get a knock on the head to silence it! Like John the Baptist, the forerunner, said in the scriptures that he must decrease for Jesus Christ to increase, the vice president or deputy governor is to promote his or her boss rather than attempt, like Lucifer did with God, to set up his or her own throne and contest power with or undermine the boss. The 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) invests the president and governors with immense powers, such that their vice is left virtually at their mercy. They can empower them; they can also emasculate them. Even where the Constitution vests the vice president with the headship of the National Economic Council, he still can only effectively function in this office at the pleasure