POPE Francis, born, Jorge Mario Bergoglio and known widely, as a pacifist, is visiting the United States, a famous warrior nation, for six days from September 22. Just as the hood does not make a monk, so does a papal regalia, not make a pacifist. There have been warmongering Popes like Pope Urban II who militarily, mobilised Europe in 1095 to attack parts of Europe and the Middle East in the name of a crusade. The wars ignited by that Pope, raged for over two centuries leaving massive destruction, wasted lives and horrendous massacres of Judaists, Muslims and Christians.

OUR Justice System as currently structured is patently unjust and leaves much to be desired. The thought of any change here must begin with a critical examination of the relationship between society, the criminal and the victim. For now, Nigeria is one country where the victim counts for nothing. Elsewhere, people have realised that society has no justification whatsoever to keep taking from the victim without giving back to him.

ON Thursday, August 27, 2015, I joined a long list of Nigerians in Lagos, for the hour-long flight to Douala, Cameroun, a city and country I have not visited in about 21 years. A few days earlier, I had received an invitation from Aliko Dangote to the commissioning ceremony of the $250 million dollar, 1.5 million metric ton cement plant, located at the Base ELF, Douala.

I WAS enthusiastically looking forward to the public unveiling of President Muhammadu Buhari’s declared assets, and I will tell you why. Buhari is one of the most intensely branded political leaders in Nigeria’s history. Since he started running for president in 2003, a consistent mental image of him has been monogrammed in the minds of millions of Nigerians, such that even his foes often accept his portraiture as “Mr Integrity”. In the North, they call him: Mai Gaskiya (Man reputed for telling the truth always).

LESS than 48 hours before he clocked his hundredth day in office, Muhammadu Buhari, President of Nigeria since May 29, 2015 and his deputy, Yemi Osinbajo, publicly declared their assets. Both men had made the pre-election pledge to declare their assets publicly not later than their first hundred days in office.