On Tuesday, November 4, I slept with a wide grin plastered on my face because of a definitive historic moment in the United States of America (U.S.A.).

On Tuesday, November 4, I slept confident that the morning thereafter, the world outlook and the progress of every black man on the face of the earth, would be defined by the victory of Senator Barak Hussein Obama II.

With 40,763,264 popular votes or 51 per cent, and 371 electoral college votes, Obama, with four years cognate experience in the US Congress, won a historic bid to become the first African-American President of the United States.

It was a victory totallyunrehearsed. I was overwhelmed seeing President George Bush wearing a blue tie and picking a telephone to congratulate Obama on his historic victory.

The symbolism of the colour of that tie is not lost on me.

While the Republicans have red as their colour motif, blue is the colour of the Democratic Party, the platform on which Obama has gained access and entry into the White House, opening the door and crossing the threshold with his black family into the innermost sanctuary of the most powerful State House in the world.

I saw that concession as a fact that the American dream is possible: a reality.

It was, to me, until November 4, 2008, unthinkable that a black man, a freeborn could, by popular acclamation, be elected the most powerful president of a country largely regarded as the champion of democracy in the world.

Insanely unthinkable it was, until November 4.

In truth, America was ready for an Obama ascendancy. From 2004, when he delivered a powerful speech rallying Americans for a common goal at the Democratic Convention of that year, to 2008, Obama was divinely prepared for this day.

But his ascendancy to the White House is pitched against a looming recession in that country. It is an unnecessary burden for a man who did not contribute to the ruin of his country's economy.

From his campaign speeches, however, I have no doubt in my mind that Obama knows the burden of history placed squarely on his shoulders at this point in time in the history of the United States, and is ready to face it headlong.

In the course of a telephone conversation, during the run-down to the November 4 historic date, Senator Ganiyu Olawale Solomon, representing Lagos West Senatorial District, was so enthusiastic about an impending Obama victory that he had nothing but high hopes for the black man in the world, wherever he may be.

But I was cautious in my hope. I was cautious, not because I never expected Obama to win, but I was worried about the American establishment. I was worried that the keepers of the establishment, who are always sympathetic to a fraternity colleague to seize the White House, may just do the 2000 Florida abracadabra.

How wrong I was. Later, in another telephone conversation, barely 24 hours to November 4 , I told Senator Solomon that Obama would only be president hinged on two factors: God and destiny.

These two factors came to play for a man who was born in Hawaii, to an American mother and a Kogelo, Kenyan father; both of blessed memory.

To me, November 4 translated into the simple fact that we can dream dreams, assured in the belief that such dreams, as long as they are ensconced within the legitimate realms of a transformative agenda for a general good.

The 16th Senator to become the 44th President of the United States of America is only 47 years old, in fact, a year younger than my mother's first surviving son, Olusola Jokotola. No matter. He is just as proud of Obama as everyone in the world right now.

Watching Obama vote in Chicago that historic night brought back memories of a native of that state, a good woman, Mrs Harriet Lawrence, a fine, African-American, an accomplished journalist who chose to work in Nigeria, first with the Nigerian Institute of Journalism, later with The Guardian and then with the defunct Comet Newspapers from where she left our shores and returned home.

As I watched Obama vote that night, I couldn't help but wonder whether she voted and remembered us here in Nigeria.

Today, Obama is the President of a country widely regarded as the most powerful in the world (I bet you, Russia is not happy about it).

Obama's victory is good for generation change, as envisioned by former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo who gave youths the opportunity to serve in his eight-year tenure.

I have read Obama's book, Dreams from my Father. It is a book, which to me, tells me the vision which drove Obama to seek the presidency of America. While it is not, for me, a motivational book, it speaks to me.

Its words speak to me, they tell me that regardless of the circumstances of your birth, wherever you may be and whoever you are, you can dare to dream; rise above the circumstances of that birth and go on to making such dreams a reality, as real as November 4, 2008.

In this euphoric moment, I remember the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. In a guarded moment of euphoria, I look back and reflect on what the Obama victory means for Nigerian senators.

In my moment of reflections, I could only remember a most candid interview my Bureau Chief and I had with the Senate Services Committee Chairman, Effiong Dickson Bob, from Akwa Ibom North- east Senatorial District.

The setting was in his Apo Legislative Quarters and the date was October 6, less than a month to the U.S. presidential elections.

Naturally, Bob, a two-term senator is taciturn, but on this day, he opened up like I had never known him to speak. In fact, Bob graciously spoke for more than two hours, coming from a man whose longest interaction with any reporter has never been more than: 'How are you?'

On this day, probably caught up in Obamania, I asked him if he was in support of senators going back to the states to contest for governorship?

This was his sharp reply: "Senators should not be governors. Senators should continue, either in the Senate or go to become president. That would bring about stability. You might say that you have the right to contest (for any elective position). Yes, I concede that you have the right to do so. But senators should refrain from going to become governors because governors should come to the Senate when they finish.

"This is the place we would need their experience. It is controversial, I agree. I wanted to even file a motion that senators should not be allowed to contest for governorship."

Asked if that action would not be an infringement on the fundamental rights of the individual? Bob, a lawyer of 26 years standing, riposted: "They have rights, but they would also belittle the institution of the Senate..I feel that senators should refrain from going to become state governors."

Consequent upon a motion on November 5, I do hope that Bob's colleagues would remember the vision of one of them in far away America, and another in the chamber.

That aside, can anyone out there tell me why since the Clinton presidency, only girl-children have been in the White House? Maybe, Michelle would break the jinx and give us a role?

At this juncture, it is important to remember that Senator John Mc Cain, who has rendered service to his country since he was 17 years old lost Tuesday's historic election, not because he is not a good candidate, but because of the hurtful policies of the President George Bush Administration.

Mc Cain was eloquent and gracious in defeat. Any lessons for Nigeria here?

I would conclude with what I heard from a CNN anchor on the eve of Obama's victory: Rosa Parks ('my feet are tired' fame) sat so that the late Martin Luther King could march.

Martin Luther King marched so that Obama could run.

Obama has run (and won) and the future generation can now fly.

Obama has won, convincingly and decisively, too.

Future generations of not only black Americans, but all those who dare to dream such dreams can now fly, knowing that they can also coast on the wings of victory, because a black man won the race for the White House in 2008.

The only lesson I take away from this Obama victory is that Americans across racial divides have claimed his victory as theirs: black; white; Indian, Hispanic, Latino, Asian and many more.