THE Mavrodi, Melnikova, Mavrodi (MMM) international scam known in Nigeria as the Mavrodi Mondial Moneybox, has from all intents and purposes, collapsed in Nigeria. It took along, the savings and hopes of about three million Nigerians.

I LIVED in Ghana continuously for about three years from January 6, 2013 and thought President John Mahama could easily be defeated by a determined opponent. This was what happened on December 7, elections when his challenger from the New Patriotic Front (NPP) Nana Akufo-Addoh beat him securing 5,716, 026 or 53.85 percent of the votes, and Mahama recording 4.713,277 or 44.40 percent.

IT was a straight eight-hour African wake in Lagos, the continent’s most populous city with a bulging seventeen million population. It was for Fidel Castro on the eve of his funeral. We knew his spirit was at the National stadium venue. It is not the Western concept of spirit which is exorcised. In Africa, the spirit of our loved ones stay with us and we honour them with dances, chants, praises, songs and tributes before they depart to the Pantheon of our ancestors from where they watch over us.

NOT many saw it coming. The electoral defeat of Yahaya Abdul-Aziz Jemus Junkung Jammeh, the Gambian strongman who has ruled the country for twenty two years. A second surprise is Jammeh’s acceptance of defeat. A third issue, is the possibility of a smooth power transition in January, 2017.

NIGERIA in 1988, had just a handful of human or civil right organisations. They were in their infancy in a country with very high mortality rate.