OUR sister, Araminta Ross who became famous as Harriet Tubman, was born a slave in Maryland, United States (US) in 1820. She lived the American nightmare but decided at 29 to change her life of programmed servitude to that of a free person to whom hundreds of slaves directly, owed their freedom.

BARACK Obama was a phenomenon when he turned to politics. His Presidential victory seemed assured that July 24, 2008 day he stood in a street to address over 200,000 Germans in Berlin, in the “Victory Column Speech”. It was a trip to Europe to test if the young Democrat had the presidential stuff to lead the world. He electrified the audience painting a picture of a new world, a new partnership and a new direction towards peace. He displayed the rarity of a genius.

THE tiny island of Cuba with no major natural resources, military prowess or strong economy, produced two of the most famous and charismatic leaders of the last one hundred years; Ernesto Che Guevara and Fidel Castro Ruiz

THIS, in Nigeria, is the season of denials and other market stories. There is hardly any main event or issue that has not become controversial or denied. One of the latest occurred in the Office of the Senate Deputy President, Ike Ekweremadu.

THE Holy Bible commands humanity “Thou shall not covet thy neigbour’s house, thou shall not covet thy neigbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neigbour’s” (Exodus 20:17) .

OLD friends, like old wine, are usually better than new ones. The Governor of the State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola is an old friend. The state he governs, like most in the country, has been financially challenged to the extent that it took a bail out from the Federal Government to pay salaries. Although almost all states in the country lie financially prostrate like Osun, Aregbesola, perhaps for his vibrancy, oratory and radical views has received the most bashing.

THERE is an on-going struggle for the soul of Brazil, the world’s fifth largest country which has become a model of how to rescue millions from abject poverty. The battles may well turn bloody because it is not strictly a fight over constitutionalism, corruption or the economy; it is primarily, a struggle of the social classes.

AS is usually the case with teenagers leaving home for the first time, when I went to the university, I was adventurous. During my first semester holidays, rather than go home in Lagos, I went with my new found friend, Edmond Enaibe whose home was in Port Harcourt. From Port, I travelled to my ancestral home, Patani to see my maternal grandmother. There was no East-West Road in those days, and a journey from Port Harcourt included going by road, crossing a river by boat, and completing the journey through bush paths by motorcycle.

THE move by the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) to impeach South African President Jacob Zuma for corruption, was bound to end in failure. This is because the ruling African National Congress (ANC) had ahead of the April 5, 2016 motion, backed Zuma. For the impeachment to sail through,

ONE of the first lessons I was taught in primary school was ‘the ingredients of good water’. We were taught that good water must be clean, colourless, odourless and tasteless. The best example of good water, was the public tap water. We were told that our parents pay tax in order for government to supply the citizens basic needs like water, education and good roads.