DRAMA is when the President of a country boycotts the elections being conducted by his government. This week, it was the turn of Sao Tome and Principe to re-enact that play which was last staged by the over-rated and over-indulged former Malawian President, Joyce Banda. Manuel Pinto da Costa was Sao Tome’s founding President at independence in 1975.

THE basic criterion for working in Nigeria is to either be a miracle worker or magician. The monthly Minimum Wage is N18,000; that is $45 or $1.5 daily. From this monthly salary – the equivalent of a bag of rice – the worker is expected to feed and transport himself to work, feed his family, pay rent and school fees.

When I watched South Sudan President Salva Kiir Mayardit make a short speech on the floor of the African Union, AU, Heads of State conference in January 2013, I was impressed. He said King Mohammed VI of Morocco had called to congratulate him on the independence of South Sudan from Sudan.

NIGERIA’s first speed train rolled off on July 26 in a roar of controversy. The ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, held it up as its achievement.

A WEEK ago, I wrote a piece, “Lunacy and bloodbath in Turkey”. It was my analysis of the Turkish government’s insane reaction to the July 15 attempted coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

THERE are people whose lives may read like fiction. In a world built on material considerations and self- interest, it is difficult to come across people who are not engaged in the rat race, live selfless lives and are committed to serving others. Prince Abiodun Afolajimi Opanubi reminds me of such. Our paths although initially far apart, seemed destined to cross.

THE attempted coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey on July 15, 2016 did not come as a surprise. The surprise expressed by some Western countries – who have first hand information about the state of affairs in that country – is hypocritical.

NIGERIA, the giant of Africa, and its colonial master, Great Britain are facing trying times. But their political classes are handling matters in contrasting styles. Brexit is the main headache of Britain, but the wise Nigerian politicians would never have played themselves into such a corner; rather than a referendum on crucial matters, they would decide for the people.

The world was agog this week with the certainty that the next British Prime Minister would be a woman. The attainment of that office this Wednesday by Theresa May who replaced a politically-crushed David Cameron at 10,

NIGERIANS are in their usual season of lamentation which follows the retirement or removal of an Inspector General of Police, IGP. Like a king whose funeral requires human sacrifices, the exit of a Nigerian IGP also means the exit of the top echelon of the institution.

ISRAELI Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu is in Africa this week soaking in accolades on the fortieth commemoration of the Entebbe Raid. The Entebbe story is the stuff of legends. It was presumably, a humanitarian mission to rescue hostages, save innocent lives and give a bloody nose to the air piracy version of international terrorism.

THERE is no Nigerian I know who is happy with the country’s state of affairs. Every group or nationality complains of marginalisation. Sometimes, the marginalisation beat gets so loud that you will think the drum is about to burst.

THE world, or better still, Europe is still in shock. This accounts for the confused and sometimes incoherent reactions to the Thursday, June 23, democratic decision by the United Kingdom to exit the European Union,EU.

THESE are interesting times to live in Nigeria. Senate President, Bukola Saraki and his Deputy, Ike Ekweremadu are hurled before the courts on criminal charges of allegedly forging the Senate Standing Rules 2015. It raises intriguing questions; can the Senate forge its own rules? Which body but the Senate can determine what its rules are? Which forensic expert can detect the original Rules of the Senate from a forgery if the Senate claims that the latter are its actual rules?

IT was the familiar, but unpalatable news from the United States,US. The unfolding horror, was not Hollywood, but an American reality; a gunman is holed up with hostages whom he is busy eliminating. This was June 12, 2016, and 29-year old American,