ROBERT Gabriel Mugabe was a  normal human being. But to the West, he was an enigma. He was born in racist Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and spoke up against racism and for democracy. That made him an enemy of the state for which he spent over a decade in prison. He had three degrees in History/English, Administration and Education from South African universities.

WE gathered at the rapidly developing and neat Lagos State University, LASU, campus to talk about our country and proffer solutions to its myriad of challenges. The Dean of Social Sciences, Professor Elias Olukorede Wahab; political scientist, Professor Sylvester Odion Akhaine and Head of Political Science Department, Dr. Wale Aderemi, had worked hard with their colleagues and university authorities to put the gathering together in honour of Professor Abubakar Momoh, an intellectual who blazed through our skies like Halley’s Comet with an orbital period of 75 years.

THE conscientious world on   Monday, September 2, marked the fiftieth year departure of  Ho Chi Minh (real name Nguyen Sinh Cung) also affectionately called Uncle Ho, one of the greatest men that ever lived. Uncle Ho’s role in history as that smallish, frail and fragile Vietnamese patriot who led his country to take on military powers from three continents: Japan in Asia, France in Europe and the United States, US, in North America and defeat them in battle, cannot be erased.

MY friend and comrade, Professor Abubakar Momoh, took a sudden exit two years ago. On Wednesday, the resourceful Lagos State University, LASU, under its Vice-Chancellor, Professor Olanrewaju Adigun Fagbohun, invited me to speak on Momoh. One of my main recollections was the sustained and principled campaign he waged against privatisation.

THE Group of Seven, G7, the club of the richest countries in the world, met Monday in France to discuss their affairs and peep into the affairs of other countries.

THE Group of Seven, G7, the club of the richest countries in the world, met Monday in France to discuss their affairs and peep into the affairs of other countries. Like the United States, Germany, France, United Kingdom, Japan, Italy, and Canada wined, dined and decided the fate of the world, they invited five African countries: Rwanda, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Egypt and South Africa, to observe on behalf of Africa and seep some wine.

HOW we can liberate the 82 million Nigerians trapped under the poverty line, was the task I was given by the Wilson Badejo Foundation, WBF. So on August 13, at the Nigeria Institute of International Affairs, NIIA, Lagos, I stood before a packed audience. This included Dr Wilson Adebogun Badejo, the immediate past general overseer of the Four Square Church, his successor, Reverend Felix Meduoye, the church’s in-coming general overseer, Reverend Sam Aboyeji and many men and women of God.

NIGERIANS, and indeed Africans may not be jubilating as Syria, Tuesday, moved towards ending its civil war. It took a firm grip of the Idlib Province eliminating terrorists, including those of the al Qaeda-linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, ISIS and forcing the remnants to flee. We are not ecstatic because we do not readily make the link between the terrorists being eliminated in Syria and those terrorising African countries like Mali and Somalia.

INDIAN films from Bollywood were the mainstay of the movie industry in Nigeria far outstripping American Hollywood. That was long before the Nigeria Nollywood made its entrance. Those were the days of famous Indian actors like Dharmendra, Prem Chopra, Feroz Khan, Hema Malini, Helen, Shashi Kapoor and Rajesh Khanna who produced mega-hits like  Sholay, Love in Tokyo and Jugnu.

YEMEN was the most developed part of the Arab region about 630 AD when Prophet Mohammed (SAW) sent his cousin Ali to its capital Sana’a. Today, it is not only the poorest in the region but perhaps the most devastated and certainly, the deadliest place on earth.

PUBLIC protest,  like police bail, is ‘free.’ In fact, the police are obliged to provide security for peaceful protesters. However, the line between being provided such security and being charged with terrorism or treason for the same public protest depends on nomenclature.

THIS week has been one of the most dramatic in Kashmir, India, and certainly in Hong Kong where protests and a general strike locked down the city resulting in train disruptions and cancellation of over 100 flights. Also, the protesters carried the fight to police stations and barracks.

POLITICIANS in uniform became the sole authority in the country from December 31, 1983. They removed the elected executive and planted themselves in power. They abolished the legislature but retained the judiciary to do their bidding or punish their enemies. For those who did not agree with their policies, there was Decree 2 of 1984 under which people were detained indefinitely without trial.

MOST of the world is like Nigeria where the strong sits on the neck of the weak; the powerful on the powerless, and runs the Western  Democracy which is the government of the greedy, by the greedy for the greedy. A world of strongmen in power lording it over the powerless masses.

NIGERIA is a country some talk about in the past tense. Like the famous author, Chinua Achebe titled his last book on Nigeria: There Was A Country.