My column last week was on Mexico, a country I visited last month. I tried in the article, to point out how Mexico which might become a major economic power in less than a decade, had benefited from its close proximity to the US through tourism. In fact, Mexico receives one of the world’s largest numbers of tourists in a year according to statistics. Yet, its tourism strengths —weather, historic sights and the seas —are not greater than ours. If anything, Nigeria has a more diverse weather.

If Mr Donald Trump has his way and becomes the next American President come November, ‘a big, big wall’ will spring up to divide Mexico and the United States of America. Mexico’s economy is on the rise and is billed to get to the top 10 among the world’s largest economies in about five years. The US economy on the other hand, is on the wane and might even stop being the world’s largest economy by the end of next year.

The words above are not mine. They belong to Jorge Bergoglio, known world-wide as Pope Francis; also referred to within the Vatican as the ‘Pope for the poor’ or derisively by some powerful personalities in the curia as ‘the poor Pope’. This impassioned plea was made at a speech he gave on July 7, 2013 to about six thousand seminarians from 66 countries. In calling for the future religious to live lives that are consistent with their teaching and preaching, he said: ‘It grieves me to see priests and nuns with the latest model of cars… .You must not do this! It is better to cycle, or use a smaller car.’ That was when he used these words that have resonated with me: ‘Think about the children who are dying of hunger’.

This year’s May 29, was no different. You could tell which side of the political divide a writer came from just by reading his assessment of the past year. In addition to this, and it is unsettling, is the new dimension of regional bias. These days, you could tell, by looking at the by-line, what the tone of the article would be. It seems a section of the country has decided to shoot the President down irrespective of where he is perched. Unfortunately, there are many reasons to shoot him down if you are so inclined. Or if you are unwilling to understand the peculiar circumstances of this presidency.

May Day found me at the 70th birthday celebration of an older friend, Gabby Osakwe with a few of his close friends and associates. It was a simple, yet classy affair. The few empty seats at the Civic Centre in Victoria Island where the event was held, were proof that it was not an all comers affair as cards were checked against a master list at least twice. The guests which cut across different professions had at least one thing in common. They had all come a long way together. Many of them had known the celebrant and each other for over 50 years! This provided an intimacy and a cosy atmosphere that made conversations easy as many flitted from one table to the other exchanging pleasantries.