LIBERIA, the African country with the motto: THE LOVE OF LIBERTY BROUGHT US HERE, has seen quite bloody successful and attempted coups, and survived two barbaric civil wars. However, one  politician has been  part of  its troubled history for the past 46 years.

At least 16 persons were shot dead by the police during the protests; to date, nobody has been brought to justice for these murders

GIVEN its painful birth, wars with India, support for terror groups in the Kashmir, role in the anti-Soviet war in Afghanistan, and reluctance to declare war on its brand of the Taliban, it is  easy to hang  a tag of terrorism around the neck of Pakistan.  So when  the United States, one of its best known allies accused it of sponsoring international  terrorism, virtually no country was willing to defend it or come to its aid.

The price of Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, also known as petrol, or fuel is ever on the increase in our oil-soaked country. But it has its own logic which is usually wrapped in layers of deceit. It has become an endless  political game. General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida who ruled for eight years, has been the most gifted of the players while Chief Ernest Adegunle Oladeinde Shonekan who has had the shortest reign (82 days) has been the most inept.

WHEN I was in the Governing Body of the United Nations International Labour Organisation, ILO, representing African workers, I made a checklist of countries and their ratification of International Labour Conventions. I discovered that Zimbabwe, Nigeria and South Africa have some of the best Labour laws in the world. In contrast, that the United States, US, the supposed citadel of freedom and democracy, has disdain for basic Labour rights and conventions.