tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-49997965241662188312024-03-13T19:49:12.140+01:00Stand Up NigeriaA frank commentary on Nigeria by Julius Umogbai.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00902174919165835728noreply@blogger.comBlogger191125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999796524166218831.post-91116919636529948942016-09-27T15:12:00.000+01:002016-09-27T15:12:02.240+01:00Make Money! Earn Residual Income!<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GYENCVBv3ZY/V-p8Y2s5jdI/AAAAAAAAEOE/cgENh1ZK0RsrPLpK8Fh3_kl6K1x4QVwRgCK4B/s1600/wesabiprint%2Blogo.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="171" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GYENCVBv3ZY/V-p8Y2s5jdI/AAAAAAAAEOE/cgENh1ZK0RsrPLpK8Fh3_kl6K1x4QVwRgCK4B/s320/wesabiprint%2Blogo.jpg" width="320" /></a><b><span style="font-size: large;">If there is one lesson the current economic downturn in Nigeria is teaching us,it is that we all need more than one stream of income.</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-size: large;">In fact, anyone who does not have multiple streams of income, will find the going hard.</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>That is why we are introducing to you, one of our other sites,that promises to automatically pay for referrals, quickly, and accurately. </b><i><a href="http://www.wesabiprint.com/">www.wesabiprint.com</a></i><b> will pay twenty percent, of whatever income, is referred to it, by her affiliates. </b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<b><span style="font-size: large;">All an affiliate needs to do, is register with the site, and install a link button on their blogs, or websites. </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Earnings are automatically verified, calculated, and paid out, by our payment portal.</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">The beauty of this arrangement, is that your earnings are not at the discretion of the website, but are handled by an objective third party.</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-size: large;">There is no need to submit any claim forms, everything is deducted from the point of transaction, and paid to the referring affiliate.</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Do get on board, and begin to earn money, today.</span></b>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00902174919165835728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999796524166218831.post-62385765790336971072014-10-10T00:19:00.000+01:002014-10-10T00:55:11.377+01:00Linda Ikeji: and the Burden of "New Media"<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>I woke up some days ago, to the muted whispers in the Nigerian cyberspace, that our own answer to the Huffington Post, Linda Ikeji, was in a pickle.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>Many prayed, as we are wont to do, that the Lord would deliver her from all her enemies.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>The source was said to be one Mr Aydee, who was also known as Mr Dan 'Iyan, also known as Mr Effremov. (Take your pick). </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>The allegations were that she had used the intellectual property of others, without permission. What people of intellectual pursuits refer to as plagiarism.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>Linda Ikeji is our answer to Ariana Hufffinton, and Oprah Winfrey! She is the reason many bother to read anything longer than two lines online. She has a cult following, that many would find hard to fathom, since nothing serious is ever discussed on her platform. </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>Linda Ikeji's Blog is the go to place for all things salacious,and licentious. Her ability to gauge what gossip would sell is uncanny, and the volume of traffic, and advertising revenue, brought her wealth aplenty.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>Did Linda Ikeji use materials produced by others, without their permission? Yes! She pretty much admitted it! She felt the need to publish quickly, outweighed what was required by the law: written permission to publish what was generated by others.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>To justify her actions, she also accused the instigator of her blog's demise of doing the same. </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>Linda Ikeji, is a victim of a wide systemic malady that ails our land: the belief that the rules that the rest of the world play by, do not apply to us.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>Some of her ardent supporters claimed that it was envy, as a result of her posting a photograph of her brand new twenty four million naira Range Rover. This, however, is a simplistic, myopic, and uninformed view of what is a very serious, ethical, and legal, issue.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>The advent of the internet, and the concomitant offshoots like self-publishing, blogging, and social media, has resulted in many people playing roles they ordinarily would not be allowed to play in the real world. </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>Many people have died from following dodgy medical advice, and remedies offered online. In addition, some strange people believe that once something has been published on the internet, it must be true!</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>The sad reality, is that in the real world, Linda Ikeji was playing the role of an information gatekeeper, people we normally refer to as journalists!</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>Some of us sat down in press law class to learn about libel, slander, plagiarism , and all the other land mines that litter the journalism terrain! </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>Others, through working in a proper newsroom, were tutored in these same time honoured codes.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>Linda Ikeji has just detonated one! She is not the victim of a witch hunt, but a violator of a time honoured code: the ethics that govern information use, and dissemination.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>In the academia, the whiff of an allegation of plagiarism , not even the proof, is sometimes all that is required to ruin a person's reputation, amongst his peers!</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>I have no doubt that Linda will definitely "bounce back"! Hopefully, she would have picked up a very vital lesson: that, because a material is juicy, and is on the internet, "unguarded", does not mean that it does not belong to anyone, or that it belongs to all of us to use as we please.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>Someone made an effort to generate that material! He, or she, made a phone call, took a cab, or flew to conduct an interview, or take a photograph. To use another's material, without permission, is theft! </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>And, as she has found out to her hurt, there are sanctions for theft, even in cyberspace.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>Nigeria is a part of the world, we may be behind physical geographical boundaries, but the rest of the world, do not view those boundaries as a license for us to kick the rules in the teeth.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00902174919165835728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999796524166218831.post-69202780751233807652014-09-24T15:04:00.000+01:002014-09-24T15:04:53.394+01:00This Nasty Patch.<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">I have stepped up my cardiovascular workouts. I now walk seven kilometers a day! </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">I am enjoying it, but somehow, something tells me that this love affair will not last.</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">And this is the problem! </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">When I walk, I see! And when I see, I think! When I think, I get angry! And we all know that anger releases negative enzymes.</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">I am always amazed, when I see how dangerously our people drive. </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">This morning, I witnessed an accident.</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">The poor little girl that was knocked down, as far as I am concerned, was guiltless. She was knocked down while crossing the road, in front of her school, and between two zebra crossings! </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">The zebra crossings were less that forty meters from each other, and a lady in an SUV, crushed her.</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">In more civilised climes nobody needs to be told to slow down in built up areas, especially around a </span></b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>school, and between zebra crossings!</b></span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">The female driver was screaming, "Help me! Help me! She wanted the people around to help lift the girl, so that she could take her to the hospital. </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">How much trauma can a tiny body withstand, before it gives up?</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">A better understanding of the road, a little care, the right road culture could have prevented the accident.</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">She is a bad example of the bad traffic culture we have all cultivated! </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">People obtain driver's licenses, without attending driving schools, or sitting for tests!Their route to driving, is usually a few tips, and pointers, from some illiterate driver, or relative.</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">In this era of biometric documents, I am aware that in Delta state, people are able to acquire driver's licences, without being physically present.</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">They obtain genuine documents, without passing through a genuine vetting process! The result is a disconnect between the expectations of the authorities, and the performance of the licensed. They become like James Bond, licensed to kill!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">One day, I stopped a fellow who did not not want to slow down at a zebra crossing! I screamed, "Can you not see that this is a zebra crossing? His response was swift, "Are you a zebra?</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">A while back, some drivers, who had been driving for many years were asked what the long lines, and the broken lines, that we see on our roads mean. </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">They responded that the long lines were made when government had enough money to spend on paint! The broken lines, according to them, were as a result of lack of funds, and government's bid to conserve paint.</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">Many would be surprised to find out, that a Namibian, with his country's driver's license, is permitted to drive in the United Kingdom, for as long as he wants. </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">This is because the country has a very strict, and exacting, process. The best a Nigerian can do, is to drive with his Oluwole international driver's license for one year! After this, he must take all the tests.</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">We are very proud of the moniker, Giant of Africa, but the sad reality, if the truth be told, is that we are just dwarfs in our driving standards.</span></b>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00902174919165835728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999796524166218831.post-43397409458022386382014-09-24T01:29:00.000+01:002014-09-24T01:34:01.442+01:00David Umogbai: My Father, My Hero<i><b>This is a tribute I wrote </b></i><br />
<i><b>when my father died some</b></i><br />
<i><b> months ago. I never got to </b></i><br />
<i><b>publish it, because I was</b></i><br />
<i><b> not satisfied with it then. </b></i><br />
<i><b> Now, I am.</b></i><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zEG1-7YlcOA/VCIRbJCjjPI/AAAAAAAAEG0/ATIK1Xl-l4c/s1600/10421985_10152986147126959_6484730237099720428_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zEG1-7YlcOA/VCIRbJCjjPI/AAAAAAAAEG0/ATIK1Xl-l4c/s1600/10421985_10152986147126959_6484730237099720428_n.jpg" height="320" width="132" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>It is Father's Day today, and I am lying in bed. Exactly at this same time, a week ago, I was lying down on the same bed, asleep. I had just returned from a road trip to Kaduna. My wife came to wake me.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>My phones were on vibrate mode, so all calls were not reaching me. My father, I was told, had just had a stroke, in church.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>I stood up, confused. I did not have any prior preparation, or checklist to rely on. It was like someone had informed me of the event in a dream. Somehow, I hoped I would wake up from it.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>And like one in a dream, I declared that I was going to Lagos. A few minutes into my preparation, I got a call from Lagos that he had started showing signs of recovery! I was told I did not need to come to Lagos again!</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>Unknown to them, my spirit, and soul, were already in Lagos, all that was left in Abuja, was my body , and it was resolute in joining them in Lagos.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>At the airport, I got another call again, he was now well enough, that he actually stood up to go eat a meal: they admonished me not to bother.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>I called my brother in law, TJ, and urged him to go to my father's house, and ensure that he was taken to the hospital.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>At five thirty, my flight landed, and Jonathan, my younger brother was already waiting at the airport.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>I was not sure what was waiting for me at the hospital. The journey seemed to go on for ever, while in actual fact, with all the Lagos traffic, we had spent only one hour.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>And then I saw him. He was lying on a gurney. Surrounding him, were some members of my family. His children, grandchildren, and in-laws that his eighty two years on earth had blessed him with. The Accident, and Emergency unit of the Federal Medical centre Ebute Metta, were no strangers to extensive entourages, it is the African way.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>The man on the gurney looked like my father, they said he was my father, but, from what my eyes could see, this was not the same effervescent, full of life man that I knew as my father. He had physically withered in a short while. His eyes were sunken, his skin was callow, and he could not talk. And to worsen it, he was in obvious pain!</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>I had seen him two weeks before that day.He had called me, to inform me that his septic tank had collapsed, and that some cracks had appeared on the walls of his house.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>I had, to his surprise, flown to Lagos, just to see the problem for myself, so that I can brief the engineer who was to oversee the work. He had asked me then if I had other business in Lagos, but I informed him that he was my reason for being in Lagos. That day, he looked at me and said, " I must be very important to you! Wow, I am loved"</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>Two weeks after, the man I loved, was literally fading before my eyes.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>It took the hospital close to five hours, to finally take him to be ward, and begin resuscitation. And we had to hew the hospital staff like wood, to get them to do their job. </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>I was helpless because I was not resident in Lagos. I was a stranger here. Each time I asked my siblings if there was no alternative place we could go, they informed me that most private facilities, would still call on the doctors at the Federal Medical Centre, as consultants. Secondly, there was the issue of the fragility of the young man, he was looking all of his eighty two years. He looked like one ancient, fragile, ready-to-scatter treasure map, that some long gone explorer had left lying in some dusty cave.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>The next morning, when I came to see him in the ward, we noticed that he had difficulty breathing. We were able to persuade the nurse, in an obsequious manner, to give him some oxygen.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>The lady brought a tube, and I heard her telling my father, who was hardly conscious, that she was going to insert a tube down his nose. I asked her where the mask for the oxygen apparatus was. She told me they did not have any in the ward. This was after we had made a deposit for drugs, and other treatment, and tests.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>She was kind enough to inform me, that I could buy a mask in the hospital's pharmacy downstairs. She wrote the "prescription" for me, I went to the accounts cage, made the payment, collected the mask, and ran back upstairs! One can only imagine how strange I looked, with my grey hair, motoring like an imp through the hospital corridors.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>The next shocker, was the CT scan he needed to have done. The hospital did not have the facility! I was shocked. They now proceeded to compete amongst each other in recommending where we had to do the scan. Apparently, hospital staff get a cut on the referrals they make to the private facilities.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>I kept wondering how this was possible, in this day, and age, at a Federal Medical Centre. If there was this level of lack here, what was the situation at state, and local government facilities?</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>On Monday morning, we went to the laboratory, we discovered a multitude of sick folks. It was a sleek operation run by some Indians, and their cashiers were handling bank volume-like cash. There were too many people desperate to know what was ailing them.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>We paid for the test, and were told to bring him on Wednesday! </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>On Tuesday afternoon, after I could not stand the sight of the hospital anymore, I went to my brother's home to eat. And there on the chair, I dozed off.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>After a while, I woke up troubled, and feeling guilty! I looked at my phone, it had been vibrating apparently. I heard my younger brother crying, "Baba is dead! Baby is gone!</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>A second call came in from another junior brother"Baba is no more! Baba is no more! My father is dead! </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>The poor boy was driving, when they gave him the news. So he called me, and continued driving, and crying at the same time! He must have looked a sight!</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>It was de ja vu! I had been roused from sleep some days before, to be informed of his stroke. Now I had been aroused again, to be told of his death!</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>As I made my way out of the house, there was a deep feeling of loss, and finality. I was sad, and strangely relieved, at the same time.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>I remembered how I had held my father's head in the car, so that it would not bob around. I remember how, when my elder brother who lived abroad had called to speak with him in that condition, that my father who loved to crack jokes, and give a word of encouragement, could not say a coherent word on the phone. He just grunted in reply, like someone who had a ball of cotton wedged down his throat. His mind was still keen, but his body could not cope anymore. I remembered how I had cried silently, shedding tears, as I listened to him grunt amen, to the prayers from the other side. And all the while, he kept on praying.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>He was not a rich man, by way of money, but he was rich in the lofty principles that he lived by.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>I believe I gave up on him, long before he died! It did not seem right to see him suffer so! I remembered when I lifted my father, by myself, from the wheelchair, on to his bed! It seemed so surreal ! This was the man that had been like God to me! I feared him more than anything growing up! And for me to now be the one lifting him like a baby, that just wrenched everything inside me out!</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>My father had always joked, when we were growing up then, that before he would become a burden to anyone, he would prefer to die quickly. He did not see any reason for anyone to stick around, becoming a problem to himself, and his loved ones. He hated the idea of incontinence in old age.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>The funny thing was that, the nurses had informed us that morning, that we would need to buy adult diapers! So you can imagine how he would have felt, to have anyone assist him with what he deemed a very private transaction. </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>And so died my father, David Umogbai. </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>He suffered the stroke on Sunday afternoon, and by Tuesday afternoon of the same week, he was gone.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>One would think that after his death, we would be confused! Far from the truth! We were not! His death was something he had prepared us for!</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>About fifteen years ago, when I visited him in Lagos, we had the rare advantage, of having my two elder brothers around. So he called us out to his beloved balcony, and declared that when the time came for him to die, we were to ensure that his body was not deposited in a mortuary. He said he hated how corpses looked, when they had frozen, and thawed.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>Secondly, we were not to move his body out of the state. He was to be buried wherever death met him.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>Thirdly, we were not to throw any party. The only caveat being that if we had money, and felt like cooking, we should give the food to the poor.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>As the years passed after this declaration, people kept telling him it was a difficult thing he was asking. Others said he was wasting his time, that dead men do not have a say in how they were buried.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>So he upped the stakes: he passed a fatwa! He declared that any vehicle conveying his corpse to the village would be involved in an accident claiming the life of whatever stubborn child was taking him home.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>So we were not confused. And I was determined to ensure that he got his wish. We sent for a casket within two hours of his death, and within five hours, he was embalmed. (He did not say we could not embalm him)</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>Two days after, we buried him in his house in Lagos. And in obedience to his wishes, we cooked, and went to all the corners in his neighbourhood, and gave all those who had loved him, and were his larger family.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>My father, David Umogbai, is my hero. He taught me that it was normal, for me not to flow with the crowd. He showed me that there was always a solution to a problem, if one looked at it long enough. He believed that if you could not find a solution, accommodating the problem, was also a solution. </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>He believed that people should behave well. He always illustrated his point by saying that if circus animals could be trained to do tricks, people should be even better trained to behave well!</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>He told me when I was young, that the God who made the right hand, was the same one who made the left! So giving him something with my left hand was not an insult, but was just practical!</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>Above all, he loved God passionately! He felt he had lost out not knowing God as a young man, so he tried to make up for this, by preaching in the market place, and on street corners.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>I believe I am the way I am, because of the values he instilled in me! All the good you see in me, are his successes, while the bad, is me refusing to adhere to other lessons.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>I will always, always,always miss you Baba, because you are without a doubt, irreplaceable! You will always be my hero Baba!</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>If I have to come to this life again, I will beg to still be your son! </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>Thank you Sir!</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00902174919165835728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999796524166218831.post-48480076366139525282014-09-23T19:32:00.000+01:002014-09-23T19:36:45.957+01:00Why Nigeria May Not Be Great, At Least For Now.<h2>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><b><span style="background-color: white; color: #545454; line-height: 18px;">"</span><em style="background-color: white; color: #545454; font-style: normal; line-height: 18px;">Insanity</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #545454; line-height: 18px;">: doing the same thing</span></b><span style="background-color: white; color: #545454; line-height: 18px;"><b> over and over again and</b></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #545454; line-height: 18px;"><b> expecting different results."</b></span><b><span style="background-color: white; color: #545454; line-height: 18px;"> - Albert </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #545454; font-style: normal; line-height: 18px;">Einstein</em></b></span></h2>
<h2>
<b><span style="background-color: white; color: #545454; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></b></h2>
<h4>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #545454;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><b>If there is one thing all Nigerians want, it is for us to have a great nation! What we are not in agreement on however, is how to achieve this objective.</b></span></span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #545454;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><b>Many of us also seem to believe, that our individual actions, or lack of it, cannot in any way hurt our attainment of this lofty objective.</b></span></span></span></span></h4>
<h4>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #545454;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><b><br /></b></span></span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #545454;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><b>So we go to Church on Sunday, and on our way back home, we drive on the sidewalk, or throw some refuse on the road. On Monday, we go to our civil service jobs, and demand a bribe, before we can do what we are actually employed to do.All this time, we are confessing positively, that it is well with Nigeria, and even adding a prayer, or two to hasten the manifestation.</b></span></span></span></span></h4>
<h4>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #545454;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><b><br /></b></span></span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #545454;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><b>As if that is not enough, we decide that we will only work till twelve noon on Fridays, because once we go to the Mosque, there is no need to come back to the job whose official closing time is four p.m.</b></span></span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #545454;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><b> Allah inana!</b></span></span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #545454;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><b>We conveniently rob man, to pay God! Part of the bribes collected go towards tithes ,offerings and zakkat. </b></span></span></span></span></h4>
<h4>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #545454;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 18px;"><b>The sad truth is that, greatness is not a destination that a nation arrives at! It is actually a journey that her citizens make everyday, in every place, and at all times. </b></span></span></span></h4>
<h4>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #545454;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><b><br /></b></span></span></span><b><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #545454;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">It is a journey in rectitude, and wholesome conduct. </span></span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #545454;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Each time we confess that Nigeria will be great, but fail to do the right thing individually, we are like the man who is a guest at Eko Hotels Lagos, situated less that five kilometers from the Atlantic Ocean, but who insists on casting his hook in the hotel's swimming pool, because he wants to fish!</span></span></span></b><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #545454;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><b><br /></b></span></span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #545454;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><b>If it were possible, by any stretch of the imagination, for such a hapless fellow to catch anything in that pool, it is bound to be as a result of fraud, and cannot be sustained!</b></span></span></span></span></h4>
<h4>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #545454;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><b><br /></b></span></span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #545454;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><b>Each time we seek a great Nigeria, while not investing our own time, sweat, and effort, in doing the right thing, we are investing in fraud.</b></span></span></span></span></h4>
<h4>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #545454;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><b><br /></b></span></span></span><span style="color: #545454;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><b>For a nation to be great, her people must be willing to work at it. It is not the duty of the leaders alone,</b></span></span><span style="color: #545454;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><b>but a collective one. Right now, we do not seem to possess that belief in being the change agent. We keep exculpating ourselves when we misbehave, believing that the single paper we threw out of the car, the crazy driving, the collecting of kickbacks, and all the abhorrent traits we have gladly embraced, will not in any way, halt our march to greatness.</b></span></span></span></h4>
<h4>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #545454;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><b><br /></b></span></span><span style="color: #545454;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><b>Greatness is not a destination, it is a lifestyle, we either live it, or it leaves us!</b></span></span></span></h4>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00902174919165835728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999796524166218831.post-87905027807139240822013-03-31T15:56:00.001+01:002013-03-31T15:56:35.215+01:00The Cuckoo, as a metaphor of the Nigerian Situation<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://comps.fotosearch.com/comp/AGE/AGE053/cuckoo-cuculus-canorus_~F52-143798.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://comps.fotosearch.com/comp/AGE/AGE053/cuckoo-cuculus-canorus_~F52-143798.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A cuckoo chick, and it's surrogate mother! Notice the size, and plumage difference!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There is a very interesting, and fascinating bird, it is called a cuckoo!<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></span></b></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></b><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The bird is famous for one thing; the fact that it never, at any given time, brings up it's young! </span></span></b></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Rather, through one of the most crafty, and ingenious, acts of deception, it uses other birds to raise it's young!</span></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It usually begins with a female cuckoo laying a single egg, in the nest of another bird, of a different specie! </span></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Usually, the target bird would have eggs of her own, in the nest!</span></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The cuckoo's egg, because of the evolutionary wiring developed over countless eons, usually hatches first!</span></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This act, dooms the original eggs, for which the nest was constructed! </span></span></b><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As soon as the cuckoo nestling emerges from the egg, it instinctively seeks out every unhatched egg in the nest, and systematically pushes it out of the nest!</span></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When the "mother" bird, who we shall from this moment call the surrogate, returns: it would consider the loss of the eggs as not being a total disaster, since it still has one chick to raise! </span></span></b><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Also, it would be too late in the season for it to mate again, and lay a fresh clutch of eggs!</span></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Thus begins the second part of this journey in deception!</span></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The surrogate toils night, and day, to raise it's single chick! </span></span></b><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">At a particular point in the process, the chick even becomes bigger, and radically different in plumage, from the surrogate: yet she gets fed, by the surrogate!</span></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What is actually happening, is a process called imprinting! </span></span></b><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The surrogate registered the product that emerged from "it's egg" as her offspring: and as long as that "offspring" asks for food, something inside the surrogate, it's maternal instincts, compels it to feed the now grown cuckoo chick, which is now twice the surrogate's size! </span></span></b><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It is a case of listening to one's heart, instead of the head!</span></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Do you see the parallels between the cuckoo, and the Nigerian situation?</span></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In our case, the cuckoo represents the government! </span></span></b><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The people are the surrogate, who believe, that they have a stake in the government! </span></span></b><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">They pay their taxes, the country makes a lot of money from oil, but it only nourishes, an illegitimate leadership!</span></span></b><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Illegitimate in the sense that they have no interest in fulfilling the aspirations of the people!</b></span></span><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">How did we end up with a cuckoo? </span></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When we voted, our votes were trashed, and and the elections rigged! </span></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Our legitimate choice, our preferred candidates, were replaced by ghosts selected by a cabal of a few selfish men!</span></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Like the surrogate, we staunchly, illogically, and mindlessly, defend a government that evidently does not have our interest at heart!</span></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">They buy new cars for themselves, but refuse to give us a working mass transit! </span></span></b><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">They live in mansions, and make it impossible for us to own affordable houses!</span></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">They go abroad for medical treatment, while giving us hospitals that have no drugs, equipment, or personnel!</span></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So I ask a very stupid question, when are we going to open our eyes to see the truth, and acknowledge it as so, instead of just mindlessly defending a government that only takes away from us!</span></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Wake up Nigeria, wake up!</span></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></b>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00902174919165835728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999796524166218831.post-33158575728249238102013-03-25T11:58:00.001+01:002013-03-25T11:58:07.148+01:00The Solution To Nigeria's Problems!<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">For the past six months, I have been looking at Nigeria, and asking the question, of myself that is, what single action/solution/move etc, would take us out of our current overwhelming darkness, into the light of civilization!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">In the past, when I asked this question, I arrived at corruption, as the ogre that we needed to slay!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">I now find myself, with superior information, and the additional wisdom that comes with the passage of time, looking at a different prospect all together!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">If we say it is corruption: why does corruption thrive? It does because of a pervasive culture of lawlessness!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">One other pet bogeyman we love to blame, is ethnicity, and nepotism! That too, is an issue, but we do not see it in other countries!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">So what is our biggest problem, and how can we solve it?</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">It is the police! </span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">It is so simple, I do not know why we have never considered it!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">What makes the United States of America, a lawful place?</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Why do hardened, dyed-in-the wool serial, chronic, law-breaking Nigerians, model citizens in the United Kingdom?</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">The answer to the two questions above, is simple! </span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">The Police in these two countries, cannot be influenced!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">If Barack Obama, the American president, for some inexplicable reason, decides to drive himself, and goes over the speed limit, an American policeman, would gladly issue him a ticket for over speeding!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">If he tries to influence the man, by declaring that he is the president, another offence would be added to the first, trying to influence an officer of the law! These would be sufficient grounds to commence impeachment proceedings!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">In Nigeria, the reverse is the case! When a local government chairman wants to drive against oncoming traffic, his police detail, actually lead the way!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">In like manner, when someone in government wants to show an opponent, who is not so privileged, he sends policemen to rough him up! </span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">If you break the law in Nigeria, and find yourself in police trouble, you are sure that the solution to your problem, has a price!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">If you offer the investigating police officer five hundred naira, and are turned down, you can increase it to five thousand naira!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">If he rejects that one too, you go to his superior officer, and offer fifteen thousand naira! If the inspector refuses your offer of fifteen thousand naira, you go to the divisional police office, with a bribe of fifty thousand naira!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">If the DPO refuses to play ball, then you may need to take five hundred thousand naira, to the commissioner for police!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Should the commissioner refuse your offer, you are bound to find someone, between him, and the inspector general of police!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">In so doing, one is able to kick the law in the teeth, and get his way!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Murderers, kidnappers, hired killers, election riggers, and all manner of deviants, rule Nigeria, through conniving with the police!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">So what is different about the two countries mentioned above, as having a police force, that is a deterrent?</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">In these two countries, the police actually do their jobs! They solve crimes, and cannot be easily swayed, by the offer of money! </span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">I am not saying that we do not have a few individuals among them, who regularly collect money, to undermine the law: they are there, but in the minority!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">In our own case, we have a culture that undermines the rule of law!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">So how can we transform our police force, from one that is corrupted, and for sale, to a truly efficient watchdog?</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">While the answers may be simple to proffer, the execution would be very costly in human, and monetary terms!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">We have a saying among the Yoruba ethnic group of my people, that obe to dun, owo lo pa! (That it cost a lot to cook a very rich, and delicious soup!)</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">We would need to reorient the force, and this is an almost impossible task! Note, I said 'almost impossible', not impossible!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Too many unqualified people, people either disqualified by reason of being morally wanting, since they are former criminals, and those who do not have the educational qualification, currently wear the police uniform!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">These ones would need to go!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Secondly, we would need to increase the salary of the least paid police man/woman, to such a level, that they would not want to jeopardize it, with a fifty naira bribe!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">In addition, they should be guaranteed, accommodation for life, on retirement! </span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">These would be in addition to improving their working condition with equipment that enhance efficiency!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">How many times have you seen a police man, wearing the wrong shoes? How many times have you seen them hobbling along in a rickety vehicle, with broken headlamps, and windshield, trying to chase a criminal who has stolen a Mercedes Benz AMG, or a BMW X6?</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">If the president truly wants to transform Nigeria, let him transform the police!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">When the police is transformed, and incorruptible, people would think twice before rigging! A transformed police would make bribe taking, a high-risk venture!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">We have the resources, many times over, to make this a reality, what we lack, is the political will! </span></b>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00902174919165835728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999796524166218831.post-27659102714387190222013-02-27T12:34:00.000+01:002013-02-27T12:34:40.115+01:00Patience Jonathan: A Resurrection Of Lies!<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">One problem I have, when I comment on goings on in Nigeria, is that I regularly suffer from emotional lows each time something new befalls her!</span></span></b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><b>I have had a succession of that lately!</b></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">I have been away from blogging for some months now! </span></span></b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">The latest, was the revelation on national television, by Patience Jonathan, the president's wife, that she died for one week in Germany, last year!</span></span></b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><b>For seven days, four days more than Jesus Christ, and three days more than Lazarus, she claimed she was "dead"!</b></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">It is important to note, that when she disappeared last year, unannounced, the media handlers of the president, and all that belong to him, claimed then, sometimes with virulent, and vehement vituperations, that nothing was wrong with her! </span></span></b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">They declared then, that her exertions at the Africa First Ladies' Summit, necessitated her need for rest abroad!</span></span></b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">It is therefore sad, and unbecoming of the exalted office of the presidency, would be caught in a lie! The same woman who was hale, and resting last year, according to Dr Reuben Abati, and co, was actually having brunch with death, at a German hospital!</span></span></b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">There is a saying, that trust, like the soul, once lost, can never be regained!</span></span></b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">The issue here is quite simple! </span></span></b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Did the presidents people, and by extension the president, lie to the nation then?</span></span></b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">If they did, was it justified? </span></span></b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">In addition, if they lied then, how are we sure at this moment, that they are not telling us lies about things happening right now?</span></span></b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">I have said it in over and over again, that the presidency is a sacred trust, it is more than an individual, and bigger than the holder of the office! </span></span></b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><b>It should not be run like some petty trading concern, where the owner can just jam his way through every transaction!</b></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Integrity, should be the guiding principle for that office, all the time</b></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Imagine what the outcome, and fallouts, would be, if President Obama's spokespeople were to lie about an issue concerning his wife?</span></span></b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">The following would happen surely, <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">the people who lied, would resign, and the president would come clean!</span></span></b></span></span></span></b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Unfortunately, that happens under normal climes! </span></span></b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">I believe we do not have the luxury of normalcy here! </span></span></b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><b>So the president, his mouthpieces, have egg on their faces, but they think it is a new type of cosmetic!</b></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Shame!</b></span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00902174919165835728noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999796524166218831.post-64086372153352549152012-10-09T00:50:00.000+01:002012-10-09T00:56:43.847+01:00The Harvest: the Coming of Age of a Lawless Society!<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">I have never been one to seek popularity, and I am now at an age, when I really do not have much use for it!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">When a man is lazy and indolent, like Unoka, the father of Okonkwo, the central character of Professor Chinua Achebe's, Things Fall Apart, we are often told that if that man wants to know the source of his failure in life, he should look in the mirror!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">Many times, we fail to discern that our thoughts inform our actions, and our actions lead to our habits, and our habits are actually the bedrock on upon which our character is founded!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">In the life of nations, the collective, progressive, and consistent, individual actions of the citizens, actually give birth to the national ethos, and value system of that nation!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">Our nation, Nigeria, is no different from any other nation on earth! As true as that statement might sound, it is actually false, when closely examined! Every nation is like an individual, it is unique, and is the product of the actions of her citizens!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">In less than two weeks, Nigeria has witnessed the extrajudicial, and criminally motivated killing, of young undergraduates!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">In one incident in Adamawa state, the innocence of the over twenty students killed, was not in doubt! In the second, there is a measure of controversy in determining the innocence, or guilt, of four undergraduates, who were beaten, and set ablaze, by a mob in Aluu, a community bordering the University of Port Harcourt! What is however not in doubt in this second case, is the wrongful death caused by people taking the law into their own hands!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">There is no decent person who has heard the account of their death, who would support the action!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">How did we arrive at this sad, insidious, and chaotic state of affairs?</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">A careful look at our immediate history in the last thirty five years, would suffice! </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">The first culprit in this disaster, is the government! There is a culture of impunity in government! People in government believe they, and their actions, are above the law! This dubious belief, was institutionalized in the dark era of military rule in Nigeria!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">One famous incident from that era, was the sacking of Kalakuta Republic, the home of Fela Anikulapo Kuti, the famous Afrobeat musician! For those who do not know, or remember, in that incident, the government sent armed, not police men, or court bailiffs, to destroy a man's home! In the process, they killed his mother, apart from destroying his home, and injuring his family members!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">They were not executing a court order, judgement, or relief! It was just a case of someone in government deciding to execute the law, the way he deemed fit!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">Another regular example of government impunity, is how various governments across the nation, demolish people's homes, and business premises, without a proper, and valid, court order!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">The executive arm of government, seems to believe that it has a right to be a judge, and plaintiff, in it's own case!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">Need I talk about how public funds are spent on personal matters, by politicians, and civil servants!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">The citizens have been very good students! They have seen that might is right, and the doctrine of striking first, and talking later, is always a safer, and better option! That is why we see some people carrying horsewhips in their cars! They regularly bring this out to flog 'erring' road users! Others enter into contracts, and refuse to honour them! Many buy goods, or ask for services, and refuse to pay! People employ staff, refuse to pay them, and subsequently sack them for insubordination, because the demanded their unpaid wages!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">In different spheres of life we see illegality at play! The landlord who removes his tenant's roof, after breaking down his door, and throwing out his property, all in a bid to evict him!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">We have a nation that glamourizes people who were successful, in their criminal endeavours! We refer to them as being sharp, or smart! We do not call them thieves, instead we give them national awards, titles, and government appointments!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">People who fail to obey traffic lights, and even drive against traffic in a one way street, do not see themselves in this category of lawless people! They view their actions as just benign, and innocent, mistakes!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">I beg to disagree, I believe that each time we break a law, or contribute to the breaking of one, or encourage another to do so, we are actually contributing, to the building of the stage, where another set of innocent lives would be lost!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">Lawlessness, is nothing less than what it is, a crime, an abuse of the nation, and a kick in the teeth for the constitution of the land!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">You might not have beaten a boy in Aluu, neither did you shoot a student in Adamawa, but if you open your eyes, and knowingly break a law, to gain an unfair, and illegal, advantage, you are contributing to a culture of illegality!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">The people of Aluu community did not kill those boys alone, all of us, who promote,and believe in any form of illegality, were remote contributors as well!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">Let us all take a long look at the mirror. for therein lies the guilty!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">MAY GOD BLESS NIGERIA FOREVER!</span></b>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00902174919165835728noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999796524166218831.post-74051387790610669772012-09-14T16:39:00.002+01:002012-09-15T06:07:35.057+01:00Five thousand naira denomination and accidents!<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, is looking for trouble! Or how do we describe this his new misadventure called the five thousand naira note?</span></b><br />
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">I can see all the problems the man intends to cause already! He has declared that the note is for high-volume cash users only ( I thought we were now transiting into a cashless economy?) And that the circulation would be limited!</span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">The rich, and powerful, those who do not want us to know their business, love the note! </span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">Can you imagine what would happen when next the presidency wants to bribe the national assembly members? </span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">Instead of the regular burlap sacks (Ghana must go) hitherto used, the delivery might just be forty bundles in a regular gift bag, with the inscription, "A complementary copy of the book, Do My Bidding" inscribed boldly on it!</span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">The rest of us would see "books" being given to members who do not read, and we would not be wiser!</span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">Imagine what Farouk Lawan would have done, if he had been paid (not bribed) with the five thousand naira denomination? Everything would have fitted in his babanriga, and he would not have needed his cap to carry more!</span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">This note is a game changer! The world has been shrinking everything in the last twenty years, and so bribery needs to fall in line! It is uncool to begin to lug huge bags of currency, when everything could be "nanonized"!</span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">This same denomination, would have been a big relief to the civil servant working with the National Pension Commission, who was caught with two billion naira at home! With this note, he probably would have needed just a small safe to keep everything in, as opposed to the rooms where the money was discovered!</span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">In this life, problems come both for the rich, and the poor, and they are usually of different strokes!</span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">You are probably thinking that common folks like us, will never see that money, but that is where you are wrong!</span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">A story would suffice here! I was told,( I was not present at the occasions) that a particular governor from the South West of Nigeria, when he was still in office, had a ritual: anytime one of his girlfriends was visiting, her taxi fare was always five hundred thousand naira! If one of her friends was also on the girl's entourage, she would receive two hundred and fifty thousand naira!</span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">They say this governor, who happens to be fond of bleaching his skin, and wearing a chain around his ankle,( I was not there, and these are just rumours, and allegations by some "alligators") did this every time!</span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">Now imagine if that governor had been in office at this auspicious time of the imminent arrival of the messianic five thousand naira note, is there anyone who could prevent the fellow from slipping one bundle of the good stuff, to the object of his amorous affections?</span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">The consequence would be that Sidika, to pretend that is her name, gets home, and subsequently decides to oppress the neighbours, by throwing her newly acquired fiancial muscle around!</span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">If she buys a recharge card of five hundred naira from Chukwudi, with the wonderful note, Chukwudi suddenly finds himself in the elite class of those whom the gods have favored! </span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">But, there is a twist to the tale! In the afternoon, the young man decides to branch that wonderful amala joint behind Adamasingba stadium,Ibadan; and consumes amala fifty naira, and saki (offal) twenty naira! </span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">On finishing his meal, Chukwudi produces his newly acquired gold card, the five thousand naira note: the problem is that all the woman's sales for the day, is less that two thousand naira! You can imagine the tumultuous turmoil this would cause! The woman would probably beat him up, accusing him of premeditated fraud!</span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">If, on the other hand, Chukwudi did not eat that day, but decided to go to Dugbe to see his Uncle, trouble would still dog him! Were he to hand his five thousand naira note to the conductor, for a twenty naira fare, you can see that the equation would not truly balance, and another round of trouble would ensue!</span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">Conversely, if the conductor were to collect the note, and a strong wind were to snatch it out of his hand before one could shout "Mapo", we are more likely to witness a scene in which God receives two visitors in one day: the conductor, and Chukwudi, all on account of a piece of paper no larger than three by seven inches!</span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">I have not even bothered to tell you about Husaini, the security man, who, on collecting his monthly salary of ten thousand naira, just two notes, decided to visit the market for some needed supplies for his small business on the side! </span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">Unbeknownst to him, as he fiddled with his pocket, trying to bring out his phone to answer a call, his two magic notes surreptitiously slipped out! Allah hu akbar! That day, they had to beg him to come down from the high tension power lines he had climbed to commit suicide!</span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">Must I tell you of Chief Nonso, who while enjoying the music of Morroco Maduka at a party, did not know that the wad of notes he thought was just five thousand naira, was actually half a million! </span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">His eyes were closed, and the music was touching all the right spots! </span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">As he threw the bundle in the air, as is the fashion of spraying in the Eastern part on Nigeria, he wondered why people were screaming, and scrambling, for ordinary change: poverty, was his conclusion! </span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">It was when he opened his eyes, and saw half a million naira blowing in the wind, that he realized his error: he joined them in the scramble! Alas, he was only able to wrest a note, albeit from a little girl!</span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">As you can see, the five thousand naira note is an accident waiting to happen, the problem is, it will be difficult to predict when, or prevent it!</span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">I rise!</span></b></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00902174919165835728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999796524166218831.post-82144349555130769042012-09-11T23:35:00.001+01:002012-09-11T23:35:35.203+01:00Blame The British!<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>There is a popular scapegoat among Nigerians that we love to
pencil down as the genesis of our problems: the British!</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>Many argue that if the North, and the South, had not been
amalgamated by Lord Luggard, that we would not be in the mess we are in now!</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>As arguments go, it is neither here, nor there! </b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>It is, in my
own opinion, a faulty crutch we seek to lean on, to excuse our self-induced
abysmal failure!</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>For the sake of argument, let us ask a “stupid” question, if
we had not been amalgamated, would each ethnic group have succeeded in becoming
an independent nation on it's own?</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b> And if they had all attained “independent independence”
as opposed to the collective one we all got, would they have gone on, as
individual nations, to become world class economies, and societies?</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>To take the theory up a notch, if, as it could have
happened, the Yorubas had actually gained independence as part of Benin
Republic, or the Igbos as part of Cameroun, and the Hausas, as part of Niger
Republic, would their lot have been better, or worse?</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>If one were to consider these hypothetical scenarios, one
would discover that, geographical location plays a small part in determining if
a nation would be great, or not! Rather, it is the adoption, and pursuit of
policies, and values that engender greatness!</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>Policies like the rule of law,
the pursuit of an open society, reward for hard work, honesty, equity and hard work, and many others, are the building blocks of great nations!</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>The British excuse, sounds hollowly shallow, and lacking
much in substance! It is also eerily similar to the excuse given by some of the
animals in George Orwell’s Animal Farm, in an attempt to vilify Snowball! </b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>Many
acts of misdemeanor by other animals were attributed to him, in one instance
some goats came forward and confessed that Snowball had appeared to them in a
dream, and convinced them to urinate in the pool from which they all drank!</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>That is how silly our blaming the British sounds!</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>So our argument would be, the military overthrew a
legitimate government in 1966, who do we blame? The British of course!</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>Nigerian politicians loot the treasury, while pauperizing the
entire nation, who do we blame, the bleeding British!</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>Our refineries are criminally compromised, to ensure that a
cabal continues to import petroleum products, who do we hold responsible, the
British!</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>We killed our rail system, to enable the trailer cartel from
the North get good haulage business; did I hear you say the British?</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>The British originated educational system that they handed
to us at independence is no longer fit for purpose, because we refused to
invest in infrastructure, and human capital, it was the British, they did it, they murdered our education! </b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>We hold elections where the number of ballots cast, is twice
the number of registered voters, the British sowed the seeds!</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>When a man leaves his lane, on a dual carriage way, and
decides to drive against traffic, because he is impatient, the British put him
up to it!</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>How about when we reward thievery, fraud, dishonesty, and skullduggery,
with national awards, it is a British tradition that we copied!</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>The list of national malaise goes on, and on, and we can only
blame the British!</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>Ghana, our fellow British colonized neighbour, has been quietly forging
a solid path to greatness in a very determined fashion! </b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>They have done so, to
the admiration of the rest of the world! Our children now school in Ghana,
because we have no educational system to point to! </b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>Our businesses are
relocating there too, because of stable power supply! </b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>They discovered oil some
years ago, and one official there said, “we will show Nigeria how to use oil
money” </b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>And you know what, they will, because they have shown us how to do other
things, the proper way!</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>The day we decide that we are our own problem, and not some
amalgamation which neither reduced, nor diminished us, we will begin our march
to greatness! </b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>Until then, we should leave the British alone, because they have
left us these past fifty years to get our act together!</b></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00902174919165835728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999796524166218831.post-78326761754682953742012-09-07T08:57:00.000+01:002012-09-07T08:57:04.317+01:00What is Good For The Dame, Is Good For Her Followers<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">I am an idle man! That is why I have so much time on my
hands, to talk about Nigeria!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">When Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Mainasara Jonathan, GCFR, et
cetera et cetera et cetera, was running his 100 million naira per day campaign,
I remember one very touching thing he said! He declared, I am one of you! I did
not have shoes when I was growing up!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">Nigerians lapped up this uncanny, uncommon, and I must
quickly add, unconfirmed, dose of empathy from leadership!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">They all declared that this fellow was humble, he was in
tune with the people, he knew their problems, and was sure to solve them!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">What type of presidency were we expecting of Jonathan?</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">Talk is cheap they say, it only costs your breath, and a few
muscle contractions! Deeds, on the other hand, show sincerity, or otherwise!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">The president has declared that he only eats cassava bread,
and Abakaliki rice! That is wonderful! Reuben Abati, who has suddenly woken up
from slumber, has also told us, that he does not imbibe ogogoro, the locally
produced gin, or Johnnie Walker, it’s foreign counterpart!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">We too eat Abakaliki rice, but that is because it is the
only option available to us, Thailand parboiled is a long way from our tables; as per the cassava bread, it is insidious, because it is making cassava
expensive! And like we all know, it is the raw material that is used for
producing the ‘cheapest’, but by no means affordable staples in Nigeria, garri,
starch, and apu, making them more expensive!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">The president, he declared with gusto, is a very frugal man!
He fasts regularly, and seldom eats!
This is quite similar to the fasting by most Nigerians! The difference
being that, while they fast because they do not have food, our president fasts
in the midst of a billion naira budget on food!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">His fasting would mean more to
us, if the ridiculous budget on food in the presidential villa, was brought
within commonsense!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">When we make certain demands of leadership in Nigeria, it is
not out of a sinister motive to make them do things that have never been done
before! It is because we have seen them done in other places, to good effect!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">The British Prime Minister, does not have a presidential
jet,he flies commercial!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">Nigeria’s president has six! I suspect that if our president flew commercial, our airspace would be safer, and service would be much better!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">The American president pays for the food he
consumes at the White House, except at state banquets, we will not go to that
extreme! Just moderation, we plead! If Jonathan was paying for what he consumed at the villa, would the budget be that sinful? </span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">And this week, a comedy of errors has been running on the political
stage! It seems we have one every week!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">It was a game of peek-a-boo of sorts! The dame is sick, people declared!
No she is not, Reuben Abati countered!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">When the presidential magicians saw that it was foolhardy to
seek to play magical tricks with a person blessed with the corpulence of the
dame, they finally admitted in bits, and stages, at first, that she was resting in Dubai!
Then the story changed to, she was being treated for food poisoning! And
finally, they accepted that she had actually been misdiagnosed for food
poisoning by her doctors back home, when her actual problem, was appendicitis!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">This morbid medical madness, is actually similar to what the
ordinary Nigerian goes through daily! </span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">As I write, a loved one is not very well!
She has been misdiagnosed more than eight times, in the space of four months, after seeing more than ten
specialists in six different hospitals! The missed steps have included asthma,
ulcer, enlarged heart, cancer, blocked lung, and hypochondria! From all the
enquiries I have made, it will cost me a small fortune to seek treatment
abroad!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">While my income is above the average Nigerian’s, it is still
not easy to achieve! </span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">For the dame however, it comes as effortlessly, as farting! </span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">So how is the president like us?</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">He lives here, but his help comes from abroad, where there
are no medical mistakes, or misdiagnoses!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">MAY GOD BLESS NIGERIA, OUR NIGERIA FOREVER!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00902174919165835728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999796524166218831.post-65479912670307607712012-09-04T15:13:00.000+01:002012-09-04T15:16:04.410+01:00Letter To Dame Patience Jonathan.<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">My dear Dame Patience Jonathan, I thank god for your life o! The bad thing that bad people wished on you, food poisoning-appendicitis, did not come to pass! All glory to Jah, the Most High, for spearing your life for Nigeria!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">As you are ensconced in the luxurious setting that the German people have created through their building an open, transparent, and democratic society, there are a few things I would like to trouble you with!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">The first is the small matter of how you came to Germany in the first place: rumours ( you know I do not peddle them) have it that you were actually being treated in Nigeria for food poisoning! </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">May the wishes of the enemies of Nigeria not come true, and may an American submarine run them over anytime they are driving to work! The same alligators (for anyone who alleges anything is an alligator in my book) claim that you were not suffering from food poisoning, but appendicitis! Jesu oyingboooooooooooo!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">How can a presidential medical team, miss it so grossly? Could it be that the long-standing medical personnel, who were probably not from your husband's ethnic group, were replaced with new, inexperienced ones, who are ethnically correct? It is not possible, that such vital positions, are now being staffed on the bases of ethnic considerations! I know your husband does not do things like that!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">My beloved Dame, please be patient with my "merry-go-rounding", the Yoruba people have a proverb, that when the Moslem cleric, who usually sports a full, and lush beard, is consumed in a fire incident, that it is spurious to inquire if his beautiful beard survived the fire! Also, Ola Rotimi, of blessed memory, also wrote, that when crocodiles begin to eat their eggs, that there is nothing they would not do to the flesh of frogs! </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">Madam, if you, the Very First, and Only Lady of Nigeria et cetera et cetera et cetera, could suffer such egregious medical malpractice, you can imagine what the rest of us, your always humble subjects, who patronize the popular side, when it comes to medicare, have to put up with!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">We are daily at the receiving end of our own home-grown Jekyll, and Hyde, cum Dr Frankenstein! People go to hospitals for minor complaints, and when next they would emerge after some days, it is in a narrow wooden box, on the way to the cemetery!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">I am sure you Remember Racheal Adinoyi Onukaba, the wife of Adinoyi Onukaba, whose case was scandalously mismanaged at the wrongly named National Hospital, Abuja, a supposed centre of excellence! You may also recall the case of Adeola Olulana, the female journalist who died in Lagos two years ago, who was refused medical care, for lack of money at four am in the morning!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">My humble appeal to you is this, when next you find yourself lying on the chest of your husband, our president ( I know it does not happen often often, because you are so busy serving Nigeria, and are not given to such worldly matters), tell him to give us hospitals that actually save lives, and not the mere portals to morgues they are gradually becoming!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">I thank God for your life o, because it was only food poisoning-appendicitis, that you had! You can imagine what would have happened, if it had been something more serious, like a pulmonary embolism, or a coronary thrombosis, with either of these, Germany would have been too far!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">Please give our love to the doctors that treated president Yar Adua, you may be shocked to find out, that the hospital is probably owned by a Nigerian who stole public money, and went to Germany to invest!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">I know you, and your husband are not like that, you can never steal Nigeria's money, why should you, you being a permanent secretary, with your pension to look forward to!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">As you recuperate with delicate Deutsche delicacies, I bid you, auf wiedersehen!</span></b>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00902174919165835728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999796524166218831.post-75468875850743780812012-08-30T07:53:00.000+01:002012-08-30T08:21:18.118+01:00A Tragic Exposure<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">There is a saying that if you live long enough, you will see
what you have never seen before!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">Some months ago, Senator Farouk Lawan, a serving Nigerian
senator, had to endure the indignity of the police, and other people in authority,
watch him stuffing money into his pockets, and when that was not enough, his
cap!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">Today, a female banker; someone’s wife, daughter, sister,
mother, and friend: has had her perfectly ordered world come crashing down on
her!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">A disgruntled, and spurned, lover has posted naked pictures,
possibly taken by only him, probably after having sex with the woman, online!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">They are tragic! While we may judge her for her error of
judgment, I find myself increasingly putting myself in the positions of those
who love her, and are related to her! </span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">Her husband, children, siblings, parents,
and close friends! Where do they go from here! </span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">A person is never born alone,
neither does he die, or experience shame alone! There is always collateral
damage!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">How does her husband face the world!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">Every whisper behind
his back, will be construed by him, as concerning the misadventure of his wife!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">Some will blame him, for pushing her into this situation, while others will see him as a victim!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">Her children, if they are anywhere near their teenage years,
will forever wish the ground would open up, and swallow them each time they see
their friends! </span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">They will be afraid of going to school, to church/mosque, or to
even venture out of their home, and walk down their street!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">Her siblings would be hard pressed to understand how to
handle the sordid episode!The shame is theirs too!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">Judging from her age, her parents, if they are alive; would
probably be in their early, or late sixties! </span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">They may even be pillars in one
conservative congregation somewhere: one a retired professor, and the other, a
retired nurse! </span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">Upright folks who have never committed a crime before, and value
their name more than any other thing!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">To them, this would amount to the
ultimate act of betrayal!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">Some people would be forgiven, if they think friends have
nothing at stake in this scandal!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">I bet we all have friends who think so highly of
us, and have gone as far as staking their reputations, just to defend us in the
past, and continue to be our friends!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">These innocent people I have tried to bring to life are the
real victims in this case! The woman, and her jilted lover,were beneficiaries, until they fell out!!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">The man has shown the type of animal that he is; a very
dangerous one! What his actions portray is that he could have poised her, if he
had the opportunity! </span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">He has succeeded in destroying her professional and family
life! He has denigrated her by posting in full public glare that which she
holds most dear!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">And sadly, there are no winners here! The jilted fellow may
never find any meaningful relationships again! He will, as long as he resides
within the same community, ever be labeled as mean, nasty, and vicious fellow, one not to be trusted!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">The lesson we should learn from this sordid episode, is
that not all things should be photographed! </span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">Not even between spouses! This is
because a camera, or phone, could be stolen, or sent for repairs, and such
compromising images, could leave one’s control forever!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">I will not judge the woman! I believe she has been more than
sufficiently punished already! </span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">What would be good; is to see her lover brought
up on charges of producing, and distributing pornography, and any other related
charges the law can come up with!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">This is turning out to be a tragedy of wide-ranging
proportions!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00902174919165835728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999796524166218831.post-61469237166098113572012-08-03T01:19:00.000+01:002012-08-03T01:21:54.248+01:00Why Our Disappointment In Sports Will Continue!<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />If there is one thing that unites Nigerians, it is sports!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">In my experience as an avid follower of many sports, our experience has been largely disappointing!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">We have had a few highs like the Atlanta Olympics gold in football, and other underage football competitions!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">There has been a disproportionate return on investment in how much money we have spent, and the success enjoyed!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">I had cause to photograph the Abuja national stadium, as part of the visuals Nigeria was preparing for our ill-fated bid for the Commonwealth Games some years ago!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">While there, I noticed a few very disturbing things! I saw some athletes, after their morning practice session, sitting under a canopy, it was a mama put joint, and they were eating boiled yam, and beans!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">I am not a sports nutritionist, but one thing I know, from watching premiership footballers, British, and American, Olympic athletes, is that what they eat, how they eat it, and even what medications they can take for the flu, are highly monitored, and regulated!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">After eating, I noticed that these sports men, and women, trekked home! They were too broke to even take a vehicle home! It was shocking!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">Before the Olympics in China, the British cyclists trained in special humidity controlled rooms, to replicate the humidity level they would experience in China!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">Those who were carrying injuries, slept in special oxygen tents, to hasten the healing process, and it was said that sleeping in those tents also boosted performance!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">In the cut-throat world called modern sports, the margin for error are razor thin, and sometimes the difference between gold and silver, could be two seconds, or half an inch!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">That is why nations that are really serious about sports, monitor what their athletes weigh, what they eat, drink, smoke, and even when they can make love!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">For such nations, their sportspeople are in a sort of permanent Big Brother house! They are always under the microscope!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">To achieve this, a lot of money is usually involved! It is not spent on the comfort of officials, for things like official cars, and overseas jamborees, but on the enhancement of the performers, who are the real stars, and assets!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">What has been the picture of Nigeria’s sports terrain in the last thirty years?</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">Leeches, looters, and parasites, feeding fat, while our sports die!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">No one currently holding any position of responsibility is there for the good of sports! They see sports as an avenue to make money, and travel the world, at government expense!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">The international embarrassment is so bad that people like Amos Adamu, even took our disgrace to the international stage! When we go for major competitions, if our competitors are sixty, our officials are usually two hundred! </span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">People travel with their wives, and or, girlfriends, children, and even friends: all at government expense!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">We also got it wrong, in the way we have promoted football over every other sport! </span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">We forget that while it would take twenty two players five matches to win a gold medal, one good swimmer, could win five gold medals in the same tournament! </span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">That is why Michael Phelps, has won ten times more medals than Nigeria at the Olympics!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">This evening, I read the agonizing posts of my friends on Facebook, as they watched the massacre that resulted from our playing the USA in basketball! I do not watch such games, the outcome is a foregone conclusion!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">I have stopped watching the Nigerian national football team; the Eagles, play because, I am now emotionally bankrupt! I invested so much in them in the past, with no dividends, and I eventually found myself insolvent emotionally!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">If our sports must improve, the professional leeches, and freeloaders, who currently have it by the jugular, would need to be flushed out of the system!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">The young men, and women, who fly our banner, need to be at the center of all our planning, and investment! They should be cared for, even better than the president is looked after!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">If we do this, we will suddenly find that we suddenly now know how to win!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">In addition, there needs to be a systematic planning of what sport we want to dominate on the world stage, and how we plan to get there! </span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">In the eighties, and nineties, Americans dominated the sprints! That is now history, because through no fluke, but serious and careful planning, Jamaica has made the sprints her forte!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">Nigerians can perform, Christine Oharugo, and Phillips Idowu, are two Nigerians who have dominated the world, by representing Great Britain!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">Winning is in our genes too, but requires planning to bring it to the fore! </span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">I leave you with the eternally true words of the Book of Proverbs, Chapter 24, verse one, the Amplified version” Any enterprise is built on wise planning, becomes strong through commonsense, and profits wonderfully, by keeping abrest of the facts!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">May God bless Nigeria, our Nigeria, forever!</span></b></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00902174919165835728noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999796524166218831.post-33421078644074436692012-07-31T21:27:00.003+01:002012-07-31T21:35:32.048+01:00Can The Dead Trust You?<br />
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Some months ago, a Dana Air plane crashed in Lagos! </b></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>It was
not the first plane to crash in Nigeria, and if we must face reality, it might
not be the last!</b></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>In the past, the victims of plane crashes, seemed to be
“strangers” to us: we did not have any direct relationship with them;
be it family, professional, or otherwise!</b></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><o:p><b> </b></o:p></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>In my opinion, this was the first plane crash in Nigeria,
whose infamy, tragedy, and pain, was forced on our collective psyches by the
mammoth information overload we were subjected to!</b></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><o:p><b> </b></o:p></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>This was a crash that was reported by the various social
media platforms in such a way that, we became acquainted with each person that
died in that crash!</b></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>The husband and wife, the three generations of a family that
perished; those on ground who died, and the numerous human interest stories
that resulted!</b></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><o:p><b> </b></o:p></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Suddenly, these individuals were not just distant, abstract
names on a manifest; they were people, flesh, bones, emotions, dreams, and
expectations!</b></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>And that truly troubled us, and appealed to our humanity!</b></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><o:p><b> </b></o:p></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>For many that were left to mourn the sadly departed,
suffering was the new way of life; and we knew it!</b></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><o:p><b> </b></o:p></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>While they were alive, we had gone clubbing with some of
them, others were work, or school colleagues; and </b></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>some were our
neighbours that we had never got round to talking to!</b></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>And now, they were dead!</b></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Many were survived by children in primary school, some by
pregnant spouses, and, or, aged parents!</b></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><o:p><b> </b></o:p></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>In a cruel twist like they say, many of the now departed,
were actually the providers for their families, and we knew that too!</b></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Our immediate reaction moderated by anger, and a sense of
deep loss, was to pledge to step into the breach that had been created!</b></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>We were going to help!</b></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><o:p><b> </b></o:p></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>So how well have performed, in fulfilling the promises made
in the heat of the tragedy?</b></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Have we actually paid the school fees we promised? </b></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Have we
continued to visit the bereaved children as we covenanted with ourselves?</b></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><o:p><b> </b></o:p></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Have we paid for that accommodation we promised to sort out? </b></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Did you pay for that operation your late friend’s wife needed?</b></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><o:p><b> </b></o:p></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>I ask these questions, because time is a great clarifier of
things! </b></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>The passage of time has a way of putting things in their proper
perspective!</b></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><o:p><b> </b></o:p></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>When these people were alive, some of them helped us! They
gave us personal, and business loans, they were there for us! They were
God-sent!</b></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><o:p><b> </b></o:p></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>In other cases, we had fun with them, we visited all the
fantastic joints in town, and beyond; and we had fun!</b></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><o:p><b> </b></o:p></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>So what has happened?</b></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><o:p><b> </b></o:p></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>What should happen?</b></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><o:p><b> </b></o:p></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>We made pledges, we vowed, we made resolutions, and that was
good!</b></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Sadly, many of these well-intentioned” intensions”, were not
well thought out! </b></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>They were knee-jerk reactions; akin to the children of Israel
rushing off to to fight the giants, after they had initially
decided they were grasshoppers!</b></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><o:p><b> </b></o:p></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><o:p><b> </b></o:p></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>If you have been faithful to your pledge, good for you! Keep
it up!</b></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><o:p><b> </b></o:p></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>If you have failed, you still have time to redeem yourself!</b></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><o:p><b> </b></o:p></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>The secret, is not to decide to build a house for the
survivors, you might get scared because you are overreaching yourself!</b></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Break your “help” into bite size bits! </b></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Just buy the children
a blanket to keep out the cold first! </b></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Do a little every day for them, and
before you know it, it would become a routine, a good habit!</b></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>The truth is, we live one day at a time, so let your help
come, one day a time!</b></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><o:p><b> </b></o:p></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Do not make it a one-off grant, or a grand project in the
pipeline, the survivors cannot wait!</b></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><o:p><b> </b></o:p></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Instead, be there to hold a hand, lend a hand, or lift up
one!</b></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><o:p><b> </b></o:p></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>As you do, you will discover that the dead can truly trust
you, and depend on you, for they are gone, but we are still here!</b></span></h2>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00902174919165835728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999796524166218831.post-84798926136757535632012-05-25T19:50:00.002+01:002012-05-25T19:53:30.718+01:00Wars As A Means of Economic Stimulus!Many have alleged, that large multi-national corporations like Halliburton, and Z, the security contractor, sometimes start wars for economic profit!
When nations 'declare war',what we are finally seeing in public, is the culmination of underground work, by agents of these corporations, who know that a war would be profitable to their sponsors!
We have seen a rew wars in Africa started by Western powers in Africa, through proxies like arm dealers, who end up selling arms to both sides, for profit!
While this may sound repugnant to moralists, this is just business to those who engage in it!
We have seen billions paid to Halliburton, and Z Corporation, for various supplies, ranging from ordinances,and other weapons, and logistical support for the troops!
Their fortunes are usually promoted by lobbyists in Washington, and other major capitals of the world!
As we grapple with our own seemingly insurmountable intractable internal insurrection,one cannot help but wonder, could our conflict also be a well contrived smokescreen, a sleight of hand, to siphon money,<b></b> legitimately, while 'prosecuting the war on terror'!
Billions have been voted for this war, and by the end of the day, trillions would have been
spent!
In wartime, very little vetting is done for expenditure on security! This is because every request is usually presented as a life, or death issue, that must be solved post haste!It is almost unthinkable, to contemplate,but definitely not far fetched. Money has away if bringing out the worst of human nature!
Some queer things have been happening!Allegions from another terror plot, seem to indicate, that those who ought to know, and definitely have the means, and the motive, may also be orchestrating a new conflict meant to achieve key objectives!
One objective, would be to keep the populace distracted, and so unable to mount any form of civil disobedience!
The second, to ensure the release of billions, unvetted, and unaccounted for,all guaranteed to vanish into that black hole called the war on terror!
I am beginning to think like this, since the arrest of a certain John:a non Boko Haram name, supposedly working for the dreaded Boko Haram!
One is not disputing the existence of Boko Haram, but the level of sophistication we are currently seeing, seems to be beyond them!
I really hope I am wrong this time! I wish to be wrong, because to be right, would be to unthinkable in consequence!
May God bless our Nigeria forever!<b></b>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00902174919165835728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999796524166218831.post-14128849097418759042012-01-22T15:10:00.000+01:002012-01-22T15:10:37.504+01:00NIGERIA IS BROKE<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">I am sure I have your attention now! As inconceivable as it might sound, all the signs point to a nation on the verge of a financial meltdown!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">When an entity's liabilities outweigh her assets, and ability to generate enough income to meet future liabilities, such an entity is usually said to be insolvent, bankrupt, or broke!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">In movies, when a person is shot, or stabbed, the victim usually dies instantly, except where a slow death has been written into the plot!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">In real life however, we know that death from shooting, or stabbing, can be agonizingly slow! It is a process of hemorrhaging the precious life sustaining fluid, blood: that eventually kills!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">Nations do not die like people in films, they die in slow motion! The death blow could have been delivered through a failed policy resulting from a fundamental failure of leadership!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">In our own case, that failure has been the policy of successive governments budgeting more on recurrent expenditure (mostly the salaries of political office holders, and other emoluments) instead of capital projects!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">We spent more money on areas that did not produce wealth, while neglecting the wealth-generating ones!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">Successive leaders have operated with the mentality that oil will never run out, and that their profligate lifestyles would never undermine the nation as a whole: they were all wrong!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">Our nation is broke! </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">It is the only explanation for the madness of January 1st 2012: the complete removal of subsidy on petroleum! The government could no longer sustain an expenditure that was sure to doom it's very survival!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">Nigeria is a modern day example of the infamous General Santa Anna! A man who was reputed for having the ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory! In a nutshell, he often managed to turn a winning situation, to one of desperation!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">The question of removal of subsidy, or otherwise, would not have arisen, if Nigeria had properly utilized her God-given asset: crude oil!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">Through criminal neglect, collusion with fuel importing cartels, and abdication of responsibility, we allowed our refineries to die without as much as a whimper!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">If we had been refining our own crude for local consumption, the argument that we ought to be paying international rates would be a non-starter!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">For years we mollified the people by living a lie! Money that could have been used to develop our infrastructure, was paid to government cronies, and carpetbaggers, as the difference in the cost of importing petroleum products, in order to keep prices at an artificial level!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">It was the only way peace could be sustained in a nation of such institutionalized corruption, and poverty!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">Some of the individuals who benefited from the payment of this subsidy, are actually ministers in this present government!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">As we are all aware, many nations in the Euro zone have been seeking external funding to keep them out of insolvency!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">Nigeria is aware, that if she goes cap in hand, looking for a bail-out, no one would listen to her!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">We are a major oil producing nation! Our president has eight presidential jets in his fleet! He, and his vice president will feed themselves with one billion naira this year alone!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">So the only option left to the government, was to go to the people for "a loan"! It is not one they intend to pay back!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">It is actually more a case of a drowning man clutching at floating leaves!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">If the truth must be told, Nigeria can actually save so much more money, if all political office holders, elected, and appointed, were to take a seventy five percent pay cut!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">In that single move, we would see the pendulum swing from red, to black!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">Nigeria is broke, and fixing her will not be easy!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">MAY GOD BLESS NIGERIA FOREVER!</span></b>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00902174919165835728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999796524166218831.post-25409835342570696542012-01-04T11:24:00.000+01:002012-01-04T11:24:11.341+01:00PRESIDENT JONATHAN'S EPIPHANY!<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">When the Jonathan administration was busy earmarking how it would spend billions of naira, on an ill-advised celebration of Nigeria's jubilee, many of us warned that it was a profligate move!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">When he went ahead to purchase a brand new presidential jet for seven billion naira, we wondered how he could justify such a huge, and very wasteful expenditure, in the midst of the abject crippling poverty assailing the nation!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">His presidential advisory panel, that he personally appointed, advised that his cabinet was bloated, and a waste of scarce resources: he also ignored them! </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">There have been numerous calls, that the remuneration of political office holders was outrageous, and not in sync with the reality in Nigeria!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">This too was not addressed!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">So it is curious to observe the presidential leopard suddenly attempting to change his spots! He seems to have experienced an epiphany,or enlightenment of sorts!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">The Jonathan who was adept at racking up debts for future generations, at a time that the price of oil was rising, suddenly started speaking the tongues of the frugal, and not of the spendthrift his actions had hitherto supported!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">One would have expected him to cut down on his outrageously large cabinet, or on his foreign trips! When he went to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Australia, he took along 400 delegates! Most of them were nothing more than parasitic tourists feeding on the presidential pig! Back home, this profligacy, is sustained by the elaborate court he seems to be holding at the presidential villa that requires him, and his vice president, spending a billion a year on food!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">Instead of looking at himself, and the institutionalized waste he fosters, he has decided that removing subsidy on petrol, the only welfare Nigerians enjoy, is where he would save some money!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">He has chosen to show that he can be thrifty, by endangering the very existence of the nation, with runaway inflation, and unsustainable price rises, that his course of action is sure to engender!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">A nation in remorse,shock and awe, is now suffering from buyer's remorse over his election!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">He has not ceased to tell us how he went to school without shoes, it seems he is determined to increase the number of children, who will not go to school at all, those who would not even be able to afford plates, let alone the food to put on them! </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">His actions will reduce the whole nation to a basket case: a failure of his own making!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">Funny enough, his actions are recorded by a story in the Bible!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">When King David clandestinely took Beersheba, Uriah's only wife, the prophet was sent to confront him with a parable!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">The prophet, if we remember, told David that there was a poor man, who had just one lamb, and he doted on it as an only child! In the same community was a rich man, who had thousands of life stock, and on a day the rich man wanted to entertain a guest, he conveniently ignored his great herd, and forcefully took the poor man's lamb!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">When David heard the story, he was seriously vexed, and promised to kill the rich man for his injustice! That was when the prophet opened up, and told King David, that he was actually the rich man in the story!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">In like fashion, Jonathan you are the rich man! </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">You have taken our only lamb!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">MAY GOD BLESS NIGERIA!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00902174919165835728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999796524166218831.post-65984355931945852962012-01-03T10:13:00.000+01:002012-01-03T10:32:13.684+01:00REMOVE SUBSIDY FROM GOVERNMENT TOO!<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">I will support the removal of subsidy on petroleum products, on one condition: that we stop subsidizing those in government!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">Let them pay the full cost of service to the people! Let government service no longer be an opportunity to become rich, but a voluntary one!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">In Switzerland, the legislators serve part time, and at their own expense! They are not paid any wages!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">In Nigeria however, our national legislators earn more than the American president, and do astronomically less, and are even less valuable to the people!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">Our president, and his vice, will spend about one billion naira on food alone next year! This is in a nation where more than ninety percent of the population, live on less than a dollar a day!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">Our politicians enjoy overseas medical care, paid for by the government! If this is not subsidy, then I am a cow's cousin!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">Serving in government, has become the most lucrative vocation in Nigeria today! That is why people now kill, and maim others, to get to office!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">Nigerians have been presented with the most hair-brained policy ever conceived in the history of this nation! </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">Our nation imports refined petroleum products, because successive governments failed to maintain existing refineries, or build new ones to replace the ageing ones!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">That criminal neglect, was compensated for, by importing refined petroleum products! Fast forward to the year 2011, a smart alec decides that instead of addressing the problem, which would mean building new refineries, it would be better to make the masses pay for government's incompetence!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">Is it not shameful, that Africa's largest oil producer, does not, and cannot refine the crude oil it produces? But instead, imports refined products from other African nations that do not have crude oil reserves, but have built refineries to refine imported Nigerian crude?</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">Since government is incapable of solving this problem, but has chosen to pass the cost to the citizens, it would be nice for them to take another step: remove subsidy from governance!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">In a nation without a social security set up, cheap fuel, is the closest thing to welfare! </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">Our politicians do not pay for anything while in office, despite the huge salaries they are on! What then are their salaries for?</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">It is time to remove the subsidies they have been living fat on: it would be nice to see how they would cope with the hell they have created!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">While doing the bidding of their master the IMF, they forget that conditions in Nigeria, are not the same as in the nations of the West: where every resource is judiciously, and transparently used! Where people have have welfare and social security, and living standards and wages, much higher!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">This is our demand: REMOVE SUBSIDY FROM GOVERNMENT!</span></b><br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00902174919165835728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999796524166218831.post-55794522541171007592012-01-01T21:44:00.000+01:002012-01-01T23:56:01.704+01:00MUCH ADO ABOUT FUEL SUBSIDY REMOVAL<br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">I am sitting at home in Abuja, Nigeria's federal capital, and I am contemplating a tsunami-like sequence of events! I am contemplating the cataclysmic chaos that will result from the recent removal of subsidy on premium motor spirit, otherwise known as petrol!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">Nigeria is the world's seventh largest exporter of crude oil, but has little, or no refining capacity! </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">It imports all the refined products required to run the country! </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">To make prices affordable, government has had to subsidize the cost of imported products to make them affordable! </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">In a nutshell, our government has been paying the penalty for her failure to efficiently manage the economy by refining what we produce, to reduce cost!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>With this new policy, the full cost would be transferred to the citizenry, at least those who consume petrol!</b></span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">In my head, I am simulating various scenarios, and wondering how best to cope with the emerging unfriendly landscape!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">What is sure, is that prices will rise contemporaneously across the board! </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">Petrol is the real lifeblood of the economy! It is the independent variable that determines all others, it is the nexus, and the fulcrum, the heart and soul of our economy!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">It used to cost me four thousand eight hundred naira to fill my car's tank every week, now it would be costing me about nine thousand naira! </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">I need to pass that burden to my clients, as surely as others are bound to pass theirs on to me!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">I cannot blame them, because no one is in business for charitable purposes only! I see the cost of tomatoes increasing, I see firewood costing more! I see cooking gas costing more because it would cost more to transport!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">The only thing that is not likely to increase in cost, is the collective hatred of this government! That would be cheap, and abundant! </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">Nations rise and fall on tough decisions, but not all nations can withstand the same tough conditions! Each, with her peculiarities, requires tact, and wisdom! </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">Electricity tariffs were increased only in June of 2011, and they are due for an upward review in January 2012! This means that our people would be required to adjust upwards, what they pay for what are the two basic components of living in today's Nigeria!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">What the government gave with the salary increase some months ago, it has taken two-fold, with the new rates! </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">What is heartrending, is that in the midst of these increases, the cost of maintaining those in government has gone up! They have not been asked to adjust to the new reality! Only the common people have! Perhaps there is an unseen wisdom to this apparent idiocy, it remains to be gleaned from the huge wave of losses looming on the horizon! </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">It promises to be bloody, it is sure to be brutal! Jobs will be lost, and comforts sacrificed! Many people will go from being barely alive, to life-support!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">All because we live in a country that has not been able to manage her natural resources! If we are not able to take advantage of a commodity where we have a comparative advantage, because we produce it, how are sure of making any headway in those that are outside our control!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">Many have argued that the drive to remove subsidy, was the agenda of the IMF: our politicians had robustly rebutted this assertion! It is surreal, that one week after Ghana removed subsidy on petrol, Nigeria is doing the same! </span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">I once said Nigeria was a joke; a bad joke: I now need to retract that statement, we are not a joke, we are a nightmare: a present, and continuous one!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">MAY GOD BLESS NIGERIA FOREVER!</span></b><br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00902174919165835728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999796524166218831.post-80871721567644211082011-12-04T16:47:00.001+01:002016-09-27T14:53:25.165+01:00IS NIGERIA PREPARED FOR THE INEVITABLE ENVIRONMENTAL,ECONOMIC, AND SECURITY CHANGE COMING?<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">The dodo was a flightless bird, endemic to the island of Mautitius! The bird had dwelt on the uninhabited island, before the coming of the Dutch, the first humans, who settled on the island in 1598!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Before the arrival of man to the island, the bird had no natural enemies, and hence did not know the meaning of danger, and fear!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">It did not flee from humans, or their pets.</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">By 1681, the last dodo was killed! The birds were killed by the settlers for food; their cats, pigs, and monkeys, also took a toll on the birds!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">The English expression, dead as a dodo, connotes two things: the first is one impervious to change, and the second, the act of obliterating something!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Our country has dwelt in unmerited security from amalgamation, to independence, and up till the end of the last century!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">However, this unearned security, is being threatened by insurgents like Boko Haram, and previously, by the militants of the Niger Delta!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">But these are still infinitesimal threats, compared to the possible threats that lie on the horizon!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">A friend of mine, Cordelia Okpei, inquired once on her status on Facebook, what would happen, if snow started falling in Lagos?</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">We all joked about it, and the conclusion was that, many would die like flies on a rainy day!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Our record, when it comes to emergency response, is zilch!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">The way our nation is set up, our leaders see problems, not as an opportunity to learn, with the view to making provisions for the future, but as an avenue to make money!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">So when problems come, instead of the nation learning a lesson, we do not, instead, someone makes a killing, financially, and literally!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">I suspect that if we should see snow tomorrow in Nigeria, Aliko Dangote, or Wale Tinubu, or Mike Adenuga, would get the exclusive contracts to import snow plows! </span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">In addition, the clearing of snow by their companies, would be subsidized by government! </span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">And that is how the problem would be addressed, Nigerian style!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Our security apparatus, was a joke for many years, because we did not have any belligerent neighbours like Eritrea, or Somalia! </span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">So our security system was in suspended animation! </span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">While America suffered 9/11, we never for once, imagined that one day, we would have our own killing fields, as Maiduguri has become!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">When the seeds of insurgency started germinating, in the guise of Kano religious riots, and Musa Makaliki, who first led the Maitasine sect; we treated them with a feather duster, because of religious, and political considerations!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Some decades after, Sheik Zak Zakky, also fomented trouble, and he got away with it!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">By the time Boko Haram would knock on our doors, it found us wide open, and unprepared! Despite the various encounters we had experienced with similar insurgents in the past, they were still a mystery!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">If we think Boko Haram, is the end of our home-grown insurgency, then we are surely mistaken! </span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Al Qaeda, has discovered that the no man's land, between African countries, particularly those that border the Sahara desert, are perfect places to hide from the long arms of America!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>That is why we now have AlQaeda in the Magreb, and they are now operating even in Mali! Only one country separates us from Mali! </b></span><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Enough on security!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">The second area of impending change, is environmental! </span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">We have a ministry for environment, and many agencies dealing with the same issue, but all they are, is one big cash-cow!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Civil servants use them to attend international conferences, that give access to allowance in dollars for them, and international donor funds!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">In the midst of all this "merchandising" , our environment, continues to degrade! </span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">It has been projected, that due to global warming, sea levels would rise in future, putting in peril, coastal cities like Lagos, Port Harcourt, and Bayelsa state!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">As far as I know, people are still being allowed to sand fill, and build on the coast which is projected to be swamped not too long from now! </span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">In fact, Eko Atlantic City, a multi- billion naira real estate development project, is currently redrawing the coastal geography of Lagos!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Someone would tell me an EIA was conducted! </span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">True! </span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">But were the findings objectively assessed, without the blinkers of economic gains,, and political expediency?</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">And the desert too is there! </span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">It is vanquishing whole swathes of Northern Nigeria! </span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">At the rate it is going, some of our best arable land, would become arid regions within twenty years!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">The last challenge I foresee, is economic!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Like stubborn children loathe to let go of their unearned lollipops, the governors have been fighting the creation of the Sovereign Wealth Fund!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">They prefer to share whatever income accrues from the sale of oil now!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Their grouse is that if they do not, future governments will still spend the money earned now!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">We are just waking up, after fifty years of indolence, and profligacy! </span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Norway, a country with less oil reserves than Nigeria, has a sovereign wealth fund of 259 billion pounds! </span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">It is the largest SWF, outside the Middle East!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Ours is a humble, one billion dollars, after fifty years of oil exploration! </span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">That is an example of how prepared we are for change!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">When juxtaposed, it is obvious, that Norway is better prepared to survive after oil! They have invested in alternative sources of income, that would keep their country going for decades, should oil fail!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">In addition, they have also invested in clean, and green energy sources!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">To ask a silly question which bears asking, are we prepared for change, or are we like the helpless, hapless, and hopeless dodo?</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">MAY GOD BLESS NIGERIA FOREVER!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00902174919165835728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999796524166218831.post-28588588497627308862011-11-29T12:50:00.001+01:002011-11-29T14:08:02.857+01:00CERTIFIED CLOWNS: A SENATE IN NEED OF SANITY<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">It has taken the Nigerian senate, less than six months to pass a law, criminalizing same sex marriage! It is a wonderful feat in expedited passage of laws! The great feat begins to look silly, when you consider that it took the same senate more than twelve years to pass the Freedom of Information law!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">Our lawmakers have shown an inhuman, and mind-boggling capacity for what can only be described as certified, incontrovertible, and indubitable, stupidity! How do we contextualize this new bill, in the light of the glaring challenges faced by Nigerians daily! </span></b><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DfxF2Ou5Ltg/TRGmwVNgh6I/AAAAAAAAAEo/HD-jir8tuM4/s1600/_JBE0724.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DfxF2Ou5Ltg/TRGmwVNgh6I/AAAAAAAAAEo/HD-jir8tuM4/s320/_JBE0724.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Over eighty percent of Nigerians live on less than a dollar a day</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">Bills on power sector reforms, constitutional review, and all manner of weighty issues have been foot-dragging through the legislature, like a fasting pilgrim, coming to the end of a thousand mile walk of pilgrimage, and penance; without shoes, in the Himalayas!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">Nigerians possess, undoubtedly,one of the richest nations on earth! One where natural resources are surfeit, and able to move the people from poverty, to prosperity!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"> However, to the dismay of the ordinary man on the street, a deliberate, and criminal, lack of political will, has made all the wealth of the nation seem like property acquired in dreamland:useless</span></b><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">!</span></b><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-M8h9WTfTx_8/ThhF_mzKQFI/AAAAAAAAAGM/Y4LIsV6XZYw/s1600/Previous+water+source+Gondong+Shelleng+Adamawa+state+%25285%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-M8h9WTfTx_8/ThhF_mzKQFI/AAAAAAAAAGM/Y4LIsV6XZYw/s320/Previous+water+source+Gondong+Shelleng+Adamawa+state+%25285%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Access to water is still a major problem in Nigeria<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b style="font-size: medium; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">It is instances like the expedited passage of this law, and the foot-dragging of the same senate, on crucial, and life-changing legislation that would bring Nigeria into the modern world, that continually baffles right thinking people everywhere!</span></b></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">It cannot be that it is because they are not properly remunerated: they are! Our law makers, in the upper, and lower chambers, individually earn more than the American president! And I must quickly add, while working less than Barack Obama!</span></b><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0IpA2s2MM1s/Tl-3x6Q3EgI/AAAAAAAAAH0/VdkJ5DVD2bc/s1600/Salihawar+dan+Alhaji+Primary+School+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0IpA2s2MM1s/Tl-3x6Q3EgI/AAAAAAAAAH0/VdkJ5DVD2bc/s320/Salihawar+dan+Alhaji+Primary+School+%25281%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is a school!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">Whenever we are granted access to the "hallowed" chambers, what one sees, are over-fed, over-pampered, men and women, with double, and in some cases, triple chins! </span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">They are so full, that they can hardly sit up during debates! They have to slouch, and sometimes sleep, like some five year old, after a long day at school!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">One would not be surprised, if, one of these days, a motion is moved to introduce beds into the chambers, to make the work of legislation less-cumbersome! </span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">These are people whose allegiance, is not to the electorate, but to their stomachs!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">They see public service as an avenue for self-enrichment, and not service to the people! They are like the pigs of George Orwell's Animal Farm!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">They have hastily passed a law that is useless! </span></b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ER9euzT0wBs/TRGnNLfcc_I/AAAAAAAAAEs/wsoYp6_EGTw/s1600/_JBE3525.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ER9euzT0wBs/TRGnNLfcc_I/AAAAAAAAAEs/wsoYp6_EGTw/s1600/_JBE3525.jpg" /></a></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">What is the business of the government, in a person's sexual orientation? Especially, when that government has not invested meaningfully in the lives of her people!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">Nigeria might as well be ruled by a colonial master, and her wealth used to develop the colonial master's country; for that is exactly how it feels right now!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">We are seeing the wealth with our eyes, and that is where it ends!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">My admonition to the pigs is, remember the Spanish saying, that every pig has it's Saint Martins Day!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">MAY GOD BLESS NIGERIA, OUR NIGERIA, FOREVER! </span></b>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00902174919165835728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999796524166218831.post-4702983910050553642011-11-27T14:58:00.001+01:002011-11-27T16:17:48.919+01:00CHUKWUEMEKA ODIMEGWU OJUKWU: A TRIBUTE OF SORTS<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>The only time I had the honour of meeting General Emeka Odimegwu Ojukwu, was in 1992, I believe it was in the December of that year! </b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>I had just resumed at the Maryam Babangida National Centre for Women Development, as the photographer! </b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>It was also my first year in Abuja! The Centre had a guest house, which was not operational yet, but the pioneer general manager, Greg Obong-Oshotse, a very resourceful man, could not wait for the place to generate some income for the centre!</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>So he came up with a novel plan, he wanted some staff, who had been employed for other reasons, to volunteer to run the place, while the process of giving the place to a management firm could be started!</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>I was one of those who volunteered! It was in the course of my working there, as a telephone operator/porter/housekeeper, that I met the man Ojukwu!</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>Greg Obong-Oshotse, has always been a man, light years ahead of his time!</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>He decreed then, that the women centre, including the guest house was to be an alcohol, and tobacacco free zone!</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>He had not reckoned with guest Ojukwu in Room 201! </b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>Ojukwu came, and occupied one of the new rooms: we were happy a VIP was one of our guests!</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>We felt he would tell other VIPs of our excellent hotel! We needed the income to run the Center! </b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>That was until he checked out of the room! </b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>To our dismay, we discovered the Ikemba had been smoking a very pungent brand of cigarettes, or cigars, in the room! </b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>As far as he was concerned, a hotel was not a boarding school!</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>In addition, there were empty bottles of exotic brandies, and other unholy spirits, in the room! </b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>You can imagine how shocked we were!</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>But that incident, epitomizes who Ojukwu was: a man who walked his own path, all his life! </b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>He was not content to walk in the paths laid down by others!</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>Need I talk about his romance with Bianca Ono, a relationship that produced a wonderful set of twins?</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>Ojukwu decided that he was going to marry someone, whose naming ceremony as a baby, he had attended! </b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>It was not a matter for debate: the public registered their displeasure, and for Ojukwu, his heart was set on what he wanted to do, he married his beauty queen!</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>He was his own man, through, and through!</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>Many do not know, that he joined the army, against the wishes of his father, a very influential, and wealthy man in his day! </b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>His father used his connections to prevent Ojukwu from gaining entry into the defence academy! </b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>In keeping with his dogged resolve, he chose to go to the military school instead, thus joining as a recruit!</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>It was when he got into trouble with his drill instructor, for the umpteenth time, ostensibly for correcting him on the proper way to pronounce "safety clip" and not the "safiti kili" the fellow kept telling the recruits, that he got his wish!</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>Other recruits who knew the right pronunciation kept their counsels to themselves, but not Ojukwu! He had not schooled in Britain for nothing!</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>A British officer who knew Ojukwu's history, and his father's hand in preventing him from going to the academy, decided that enough, was enough, and there and then, recommended the fellow for officer training!</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>And that innocuous act, changed the course of Nigeria's history!</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>We all know about his war with Nigeria, and the reasons behind it, the killing of Igbos in the North!</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>The serious question we should be asking ourselves now, is, have the conditions that led to the formation of Biafra changed?</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>A follow-up to that question would be, is Nigeria a more humane, just, and equitable society, after the loss of uncountable lives in the civil war?</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>If things have not changed: sadly, it means that we did not learn any lessons as a nation from the traumatic episode, and are doomed to repeat it!</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>May God grant his family the courage to bear this great loss!</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>MAY GOD BLESS NIGERIA, OUR NIGERIA, FOREVER!</b></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00902174919165835728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999796524166218831.post-56645109296731368842011-11-21T08:25:00.001+01:002011-11-21T08:49:30.235+01:00Phantom Pain from a Phantom Government!<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">There is a weird, but true condition in medicine: it is called Phantom Pain! It is pain experienced by amputees, in the region where a lost limb used to be! </span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">It is usually treated by administering pain killing injections!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">It is hard to believe, but the brain registers pain, as coming from a severed member of the body! What does this have in common with our beloved government? Plenty! </span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">A phantom is defined as something apparently seen, or heard, but having no physical reality!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">Do you see the uncanny resemblance between the definition of phantom, and how our governments at all levels operate?</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">They make a lot of noise, they posture for us in the media, and speak what is expected: they are politically correct!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">When it is time to make good all the elaborate promises, we are left with dry mouths on a hot day, darkness at night, and a vacuum, where there should be support! </span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">I am beginning to wish it was possible, for one to block them (all governments, at all levels) the way one blocks an offensive person on Facebook!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">Why do I need government?</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">I already generate my own power through my generator, I provide my water through my borehole, I pay for private security for my home, and I use private health providers!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">So of what value is government?</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">I know that the children of the government, those who benefit from them would say, they are there to provide order! </span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">What order?</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">Is it the order of the People's Democratic Party, PDP, disobeying a court order, to stage her gubernatorial primaries in Bayelsa, the president's own state?</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">Is it a part of providing order, to have soldiers cause mayhem, in the supposed fight for Boko Haram?</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">Will I call the action of government vehicles running me of the road, with their sirens, and large four wheel drive vehicles, order?</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">If you ask me, the only tangible manifestation of government, at all levels, seems to be the chaos, and disorder they spread!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">It seems to me, that government, and phantom pain, are conjoined twins: they both cause pain, and have no gain!</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">MAY GOD BLESS NIGERIA, MY NIGERIA, FOREVER!</span></b>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00902174919165835728noreply@blogger.com0