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  • The body and spirit

    The body and spirit

    Muhammed Ali of Egypt’s biographers remember the man for a greed for the future of his kingdom. He had greed to civilize his enclave. Dreamers are gluttons of the future. They inflict themselves with borderless imaginations. The good ones have sublime fantasies. Like Ali, known as the founder of modern Egypt. A historian noted that if you asked him to build a castle in the air, he would say, “Let’s try it.”  He was an aggressor of a visionary just like the more familiar Ali, whose fury was in fisticuffs. Both were dreamers. There is no victory without imagination.

     He was a man who loved infrastructure. It means to redesign the landscape, not for aesthetics. We cannot underplay the value of beauty. Dostoyevsky said beauty will save the world. Keats proclaims beauty as truth. From ancient times, great leaders love three things, as Roman historian Tacitus has noted. Infrastructure, healthcare and education. Pericles signed off on a long armistice to redesign Greece. Julius Caesar was not content as the great war general of all time without imprints on Roman landscapes.

    So, development of this sort begins with a state of mind. Before you write the vision, and make it plain in the lives of the people, you first must imagine it. “Imagination,” declared Einstein, “is more important than knowledge.” He said further that it “encircles the world.” So, there.

    When the BOS of Lagos, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu signed off on a deal for the Fourth Mainland Bridge at the AfriCaribbean Trade and Investment Forum, it was first the triumph of the mind.

    So, it is about taking people from one point to another. More than that, it is about disrupting the Lagos landscape. More than that, it is about jobs and commercial verve in a city pining for more. More than that, it is about the intersection of peoples, for tribe and tongue to coalesce. More than that, it is a city rebirth.

    When he became governor over four years ago, the fourth mainland bridge was placed front and centre as a big-ticket item. It was on his predecessor’s table, and the predecessor before that and the one before that. Lagosians sometimes thought it was just a fantasy, an impotent dream, a fantasy in a cage. Dreams die only for purposeless dreamers. But there is time to dream, and time to do.

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    For the BOS, it is a time to do. As it was time to complete the train programme. The blue Rail was given the blues by many who said it was a con job. But it is now revving on the city’s artery. When it chugged into being, the video went viral that those who demonized the governor could not rein in their praise.

    That is a moment in infrastructure beauty. Beauty in healing. Beauty in inter-tribal comity. Beauty in progress. That was what Keats meant by beauty is truth. And we hope to see a new Lagos as the mainland bridge starts brick after brick to change a bush path to an estate, a bald valley to a board room, a hamlet to a hospital, a dead-end to an avenue. Many of these changes may not be from a governor’s imagination but the imagination of its citizenry. The government is to dream so others can dream afterwards. In the beginning was the dream. The entrepreneur will come, ditto the culture icon, the technocrat, the educationist, the architect, the town planner, the market woman and the bricklayer. An infrastructure project is everyone’s party. Governor Sanwo-Olu sends out an invite to one and all.

    “Our vision for Lagos is becoming a reality with the Lekki-Epe International Airport and the Lagos Food Systems and Logistics Hub in Epe. These projects will further boost our economy and serve generations to come,” said the governor.

     Significant is that not a kobo of taxpayer’s money is going into this. It is, just like the Blue Rail, a work of public-private collaboration. It is creative financing. For all its big IGR, Lagos is bringing in corporate buy-in.

    It is not just the bridge, but other projects like Omu Creek Project, and the Blue line to link Mile 2 to Okokomaiko.

    Government, at its best, is like rain. It falls on lover and rival. He has, since the second term begun, focused on not just on new projects but also on reworking old familiars like markets. The great problem with our society is not just to build, but also to maintain. He focused on some of the markets that have gone out of rhythm. Some shouted discrimination. The same persons hailed the rails cutting into their strongholds and improving travel time and time to profit. Government has to be tough at times, and the governor showed his grittier side.

    For all, the projects are to bring the society together, to journey together, to party together, to share the sun and rain, grieve its inevitable sorrows, its giddy laughs and fiery plays.

    That is how the body and shadow can reconcile, to echo the Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami ‘s revised novel, End of the World. Some claim to be the city’s body and others the shadow. Shadows disappear in the novel’s first coming. Now, both have come together.

    What infrastructure like BOS’ does, is to find pathways to conjoin body and soul, the flesh and spirit of Lagos. Especially the spirit that, as Jesus said, no one can kill.

    With such ideas as these, we deliver a society from sorcery.

  • Rivers APC chair: members should imbibe team spirit

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State has advised members to respect the party’s leadership as it works toward victory in 2019.

    Party Chairman Chief Davies Ikanya gave the advice in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday in Port Harcourt.

    He assured members of fairness in handling individual and collective interests as they concerned growth of the party in the state.

    Ikanya urged members, especially at the unit and ward levels, to channel ideas geared toward strengthening local participation to boost the party’s relevance at the grassroots.

    “All efforts in line with the party’s agenda during past elections were quite commendable, we should improve on our commitment to our party in the 2019 general election.

    “It is normal for members to nurture various political ambitions, we should endeavour to recognise existing party structures and leadership in the pursuit of our ambitions; this will enhance team work and success,’’ he said.

    The chairman also urged members to take advantage of the commitment of the National Working Committee  to strengthen the party in the state.

    “The APC in Rivers is one big family just as APC at the national level.

    “Our challenges are peculiar to that of a large family but in the face of all these, our party’s agenda is supreme,’’ he said.

    Ikanya also said as part of efforts to strengthen grassroots participation, the party initiated various sensitisation programmes.

    “We will engage the youth and women in vigorous grassroots voter sensitisation to harmonise and reawaken participation in local government elections,’’ he said.

    Ikanya, who is an indigene of Andoni Local Govern

  • THEME: THE FULL ARMOUR OF GOD (16)

    Sub-Theme: The Strong Belt of Truth

    Topic: The Spirit of Truth

    There was a Roman citizen living in Caesarea, called Cornelius. Who is Cornelius and why talk about him?

    • He was an army officer
    • He lived a devoted life
    • He was a godly man
    • His household feared God too; he raised a godly family
    • He gave alms generously to charity
    • He was a man of prayer

    What a man to emulate, but the most important was still missing in Cornelius’ life. What could that be? We will get to know as we proceed.

    His actions drew God’s favourable attention.

    One day, while Cornelius was wide-awake, he had a vision; it was about 3 o’clock in the afternoon. In the vision, he saw an angel of God coming towards him and saying to him, “Cornelius!” He was afraid and stared at the angel in terror, and said, “What is it, Lord?” so he said to him, “your prayers and your alms giving have come up for a memorial before God. Now send men to Joppa, and send for Simon whose surname is Peter. He is lodging with Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea. He will tell you what you MUST do.” take note of the word MUST, for it is also a must do to all who desire to be accepted by God, live godly, win life’s battles and make it to heaven at last. As soon as the angel was gone, Cornelius called two of his household servants and a godly soldier, one of his personal bodyguard and told them what had happened and sent them to Joppa.

    God so loved this man and his household, He would not want them to miss the real life. God went ahead to supernaturally convince Simon Peter about Cornelius.

    The next day, as they were nearing the city, Peter went up on the housetop to pray. It was noon and he was hungry, but while lunch was being prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw the sky open, and an object like a great sheet bound at the four corners, descending to him and let down to the earth. In it were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air (forbidden to the Jews for food). The voice said to him, “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” Peter said, “Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean.” A voice spoke to him again the second time, “What God has cleansed you must not call common.” The same vision was repeated three times. Then the sheet was pulled up again into heaven.

    While Peter wondered within himself what the vision meant, behold the men who had been sent from Cornelius had made enquiry for Simon’s house, and stood before the gate. They called and asked whether Simon, whose surname was Peter was lodging there. While Peter thought about the vison, the Holy Spirit said to him, “Behold three men are seeking you. Arise therefore, go down, and go with them, doubting nothing; for I have sent them.” Peter went down and introduced himself to the men asking them what they wanted from him. They told him about Cornelius the Roman officer, a good and godly man, well thought of by the Jews, and how an angel had instructed him to send for Peter to come and tell him what God wanted him to do. He lodged them overnight and the next day, he went with them accompanied by some other believers from Joppa.

    They arrived Caesarea the following day, and Cornelius was waiting for him, and had called together his relatives and close friends (he always carried along his family, no wonder he had a godly family) to meet with Peter. As Peter entered his home, Cornelius fell to the floor before him in worship but Peter lifted him up saying, “Stand up; I myself am also a man.” As he talked with him, he went in and found many who had come together.

    Peter told them, “You know it is against the Jewish laws for me to keep company with or go to anyone of another nation, but God has shown me in a vison that I should not call any man common, unclean, or inferior. Therefore, I came withou objection as soon as I was sent for. Now tell me what you want?” Cornelius then narrated his vision before everyone, concluding by saying, “…Now therefore we are all present before God, to hear what He has told you to tell us!”

    There are many lessons to learn from the narration above, but note that though Cornelius was a god-fearing man, something was still missing in his life without which he cannot please God. He did not yet know God’s plan for all humans, which qualifies us to be in a relationship with Him. God was seeking a relationship with Cornelius. Without this, his godliness, devotion, alms giving, and all his good deeds would come to nothing. What else must he do? To be continued next week…

    TEXT: Ephesians 6:10-18, John 8:32, John 14:15-17, Acts 10: 1-33.

     

  • Celebrating ‘Spirit of Lagos’ At 50

    Lagos State governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode once affirmed the metropolitan nature as well as the multi-ethnic and multi-cultural composition of Lagos when he said: “Let me assure Lagosians that the state is home to every tribe and ethnic group. We are all brothers in Lagos and it shall continue to be like that”.

    Ambode’s position is, of course, a true reflection of the nature of Lagos. Lagos is home to all. Subsequent administrations in the state, especially since the dawn of current political dispensation, have gone to limitless length to preserve the multi-ethnic status of Lagos. Indeed, the peace the state has enjoyed over the years is a manifestation of unrelenting efforts of the state government in accommodating various interest groups in the state.

    On a regular basis, the state government organizes stakeholders’ forums with leaders of ethnic/tribal communities in the state to rub mind together on how to make Lagos a better place for all. Specifically, the state government has a healthy relationship with the various ethnic and tribal groups in the state. The result of this robust relationship is the atmosphere of peace and harmony that reign in the state.

    Without a doubt, Lagos has continued to show the way forward in its commitment to an indivisible Nigeria where no one is denied opportunities for self-actualization on mundane considerations. The state’s primary, secondary and tertiary health facilities and, indeed, other such infrastructure remain accessible to all Nigerians without any discrimination. Through the instrumentality of the state Security Trust Fund, the state government has continued to ensure the safety and security of every Lagos resident.

    The public primary and secondary schools in the state have continued to open their doors to all Nigerians irrespective of tribal and ethnic affiliations. Since the inception of the now popular Spelling Bee competition among public secondary schools in the state, past winners that have emerged as ‘One Day Governors’ amply demonstrate the cosmopolitan nature of the state’s public schools.

    Traditionally, the hospitable disposition of Lagosians is legendary. It is a global legend that Lagosians are hospitable people who go the extra mile to accommodate visitors.  In Nigeria, Lagos remains a major melting pot where all Nigerians could feel at home, irrespective of ethnic and religious differences. There is no other state that has opened its doors to accommodate Nigerians of various shades as Lagos does. Everyone who resides in Lagos is traditionally referred to as a Lagosian.

    In Lagos State, excellence and competence remain major factors in the recruitment of its workforce. Apart from the Federal Civil Service, the Lagos State Public Service remains, perhaps, the only one in the country that employs its personnel without regards to ethnic and tribal factors. Today, the state public service has in its fold Nigerians that cut across the major ethnic/ tribal divides in the country. While some states in the country employ or even retrench based on ethnic considerations, Lagos State has simply continued its policy of absorbing qualified Nigerians into its public service.

    In Nigeria, Lagos remains a bastion of hope for thousands of people, especially youths, who aspire to fulfil their dreams in life. Lagos is a place where a ‘nobody’ could rise to become a noticeable figure in the society. Many have arrived the city-state without a clear-cut picture of what the future holds. But somehow, they eventually become a reference point in their chosen career.

    Many have linked this trend to the ‘Spirit of Lagos’ which is a metaphor for the never say die instinct of a typical Lagosian who is rugged, determined and relentless. Even in the face of adversity, he stands strong and refuses to give in to defeat or failure. The ‘Spirit of Lagos’ is the heart of Lagos and it is infectious. In Lagos, everyone is a hustler. Don’t ‘dull’ yourself, a euphemism for ‘the necessity for smartness’, is a popular cliché in Lagos. So, everyone that gets to Lagos naturally inhales the bursting Lagos air and suddenly becomes unusually inclined towards attaining success.

    And providentially, Lagos never disappoints! There is something for almost everyone in the city. No focused man stays in Lagos and wallows in hopelessness.  Another popular cliché in the city goes: “it is only a lazy man that stays in Lagos and has nothing doing’. True! Lagos offers everyone something. From the art to entertainment and from sports to tourism and across every sector, Lagos gives something refreshing to everyone.

    In Lagos, Ajegunle represents the undying spirit of Lagos. Ajegunle typifies the craggy Lagos neighbourhood where one might be tempted to ask as in biblical parlance – Can anything good come out of Nazareth? But just as the much vilified Nazareth paradoxically produced the Saviour, Ajegunle, has produced some of the nation’s most famous and iconic sporting and entertainment stars. From Ras Kimono to Majek Fashek, from Daddy Showkey to Father U-Turn, from Samson Siasia to Taribo West, Ajegunle has become a breeding ground for sporting and entertainment entrepreneurs in the country.

    There is, perhaps, no other episode, in contemporary time, that best depicts Lagos as a land of opportunity better than that of Olajumoke. Olajumoke’s story is almost similar to that of young David in the Bible who woke one morning as a shepherd boy only to end the day as the anointed king of Israel! In a narrative that could only find direct parallel in contemporary Nollywood scripts, Olajumoke, a mother of two, on a fateful day in February 2016 was going about her normal chore of a bread seller when she suddenly stumbled on famous photographer TY Bello’s set and before you could say Jack Robison, one thing led to the other and she is now a famous model.

    In only a few months, she became a brand ambassador for Payporte, and scores of other modelling deals with fashion brands like Salma Guzel followed. She has also been interviewed on CNN, and has become the most googled person in Nigeria. Today, Olajumoke’s story has become an inspiration to people across the country. The gist is that if an illiterate bread seller could suddenly become a celebrity, Lagos offers hope to everyone. In order to really align with her new found celebrity status, Olajumoke reportedly started a programme with Poise Nigeria, a Nigerian etiquette and finishing school where she is said to be taking courses in English Grammar and Communication, and also in Total Personality Development. That is the Spirit of Lagos.

    At 50, the future, no doubt, looks good for Lagos. With a re-engineered economy, improved infrastructure and political stability, Lagos remains a rising African city-state and a bastion of hope for the African continent.

     

    • Ogunbiyi is of the Ministry of Information & Strategy, Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos.
  • Adeboye to Christians: serve God in spirit, in truth

    Adeboye to Christians: serve God in spirit, in truth

    The General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) Worldwide, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, yesterday urged Christians to serve God in spirit and in truth if they truly want to experience the blessings of God in 2017.

    He spoke at the 2017 Annual Lagos State Thanksgiving Service held at the Lagos House in Ikeja.

    He drew his text from Exodus 3:1-8, Genesis 18:1-8 and Mark 10:46-52 among others and admonished Nigerians to leave the camp of the devil and embrace God’s camp.

    The service featured music ministrations, bible readings and prayers for the nation, for Lagos State as well as for every citizen of the state.

    Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode urged residents to pray for the prosperity of the state.

    Ambode described this year’s thanksgiving as significant because it will usher in activities for the 50th anniversary of the creation of Lagos State. The state was created in May 1967.

    Ambode said: “We are thanking God and showing supplication for allowing us to witness the Golden Jubilee Anniversary together.

    “It is also an occasion, irrespective of our religion, to reaffirm our faith in Him and our belief in His grace, to make our hopes and aspirations for this New Year.

    Ambode recalled that at last year’s thanksgiving service, prayers were offered for the state to grow in spite of the bleak economic outlook predicted in many quarters.

    “We believe that as we are gathered this evening to praise Him and glorify His Holy name, new doors and windows of opportunities shall be opened for us as individuals, as a state and as a nation.

    “We want to officially welcome all other states and governors to the Year 2017. We join hands together as Lagosians to wish Mr. President, Muhammadu Buhari, who once worshipped here with us, Happy New Year, and pray that God will honour him as he leads the ship of the nation to its rightful destination.”

    Among those who graced the event were former military administrator, Rear Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu, Senator Olamilekan Solomon, Senator Ganiyu Solomon, traditional rulers and religious leaders.

  • Of seers, sorcerers, Spirit and spirits

    Of seers, sorcerers, Spirit and spirits

    Nigerians love predictions. Who doesn’t? Imagine having a preview of a movie heralded by a storm of hype. It is, indeed, a rare privilege to have a glimpse into the future, especially now when there is so much uncertainty and anxiety in the world.

    But it is not given unto all men to have the oracular knowledge of telling the future with the clinical precision of a surgeon. It is highly spiritual. Deep. Even then, spiritualism is not to be mistaken for some psychic capabilities or clairvoyance or telepathy or necromancy and its numerous varieties that have been  commercialised by some men who are neither called nor chosen. No.

    In case you are wondering whether Editorial Notebook is on a voyage into some ethereal realm of mythological angels, fairies, apparitions and gnomes, you are not right. Even then you are not far from the truth. Not being gifted in matters spiritual nor trained in the art of fortune telling and palm reading, yours sincerely can only report such affairs with the finesse and accuracy that are the hallmarks of this column.

    So, this, in a nutshell, is mere reportage of what the wise ones – and those who some impatient fellows have dismissed as Bar Beach charlatans – have said lie in the belly of 2017. And boy what a rain of predictions for the new year.

    Take a bow Governor Ayo Fayose –yes; the Ekiti helmsman . He, surprisingly, flung open the floodgate of predictions. In that methodical style which his admirers credit him with, he took out two full pages in a national newspaper to advertise his 2016 predictions which he swore came to pass. He thereafter laid out in clear, bold and cold print the predictions for this year.

    His Excellency, apparently to caution those fellows who are wont to dismiss him as a loudmouth, chatterbox and stuntsman, swore that the Holy Spirit spoke with him. As if stung by bees, the busybodies descended on him. Where? When? Any witness? Was the governor in the spirit? Was the gubernatorial throat splashed with a gulp of spirits? In which language did the Spirit speak?

    One of them, an obviously charitable fellow who could easily pass for one of the governor’s numerous admirers, replied succinctly that he “reliably learnt” from a source close to an agbo jedi drink hawker who swore that the governor is one of her clients, that the Holy Spirit spoke one day as he bent down to pick his favourite lunch of roasted plantain and groundnuts at a roadside shack.

    The governor claimed that the Holy Spirit told him, among others, that the dollar will exchange for N600, the economy will move from recession to depression and a former head of state may pass on. “Hardship will be more as poverty continues to ravage the country. EFCC’s Magu may face prosecution,” the governor said after the encounter with the Holy Spirit.

    Now many, among them those who claim to have identified some purveyors of doomsday prophecies, are asking: “Is Fayose also among the prophets?”

    Since the pre-Christmas predictions of His Excellency, many others have  followed. Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye, the revered General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, is quoted as predicting that “those troubling Nigeria will be relocated”.

    Relocated; where to? Sambisa? Panama? Aleppo? Banjul? Mogadishu? Won’t they begin to trouble their new location? Why can’t we just deal with them here? Must we always wait for others to lend a hand in tackling our trouble? Will they be relocated with their heirs who if left behind may become our new tormentors?

    The suggestions, permutations and postulations have been many. In fact, a cheeky fellow has reminded us all about a leading politician who vowed to relocate should then candidate Muhammadu Buhari win the presidential election. Buhari, needless to say, won the election and became the president. The politician, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain, has since refused to relocate, despite being taunted by his opponents. His party, as you may have known, keeps sinking deeper and deeper into its self-inflicted trouble .

    Bishop Mike Okonkwo of The Redeemed Evangelical Mission (TREM) also has a word for those troubling Nigeria. They will face enormous problems, he predicted. “I know that presently those who have one way or the other destabilised the country, there will be more problems for them. There will be a demand from the government that they should return the money they looted,” the respected man of God said.

    To his prediction, I learnt, there was a roaring “amen!” from the huge congregation. But the critical audience who would not just take it all as spiritual are asking: “Who will demand that they return the loot? Senators? Magu? Will Magu survive now that corruption seems to have regained its breath and is fighting back desperately? Or will he be fed to the wolves? Will they, those troubling Nigeria, surrender their loot even if the government demands for it? Or will they elect to go to jail, return, visit a church for thanksgiving and stage a one-in-town revelry?”

    Rev. Okonkwo predicted that those who look unto God will have a turnaround. He described the year as “a year of new things”. He advised the Buhari administration to speak more to Nigerians on its challenges and its solutions so that the confidence of Nigerians in the government would not wane. He cited the bloodletting in southern Kaduna, saying the government’s attitude could give the impression that it approved the killings. Is anybody listening?

    The leader of the Northern Inter-Faith and Religious Organisations for Peace, Bishop Musa Fomson, in his new year message, predicted that Boko Haram’s fiendish leader Abubakar Shekau will be captured and brought to Abuja. What a spectacle that will be. Loquacious Shekau, who mocked Buhari and the military and told us that he would marry off and sell the Chibok girls, bound like a Lagos pick pocket being prepared for jungle justice and flown – boots,rifle and all that – to Abuja.

    Will he be allowed to name his sponsors? Will he let us into the workings of the insurgency that has taken thousands of lives, ruined homes and battered the future of many? Will he tell where the remaining Chibok girls are? Will he let us know the truth about his flag and his Koran that our gallant soldiers captured? Are they truly his or some other fellow’s as claimed by some social media irritants?

    Is he the original Shekau, the bearded one in those periodic videos?  Is Shekau a name taken up by any sect member on whose shoulder the mantle of leadership falls after the death of the incumbent? If so, how about the beards; grown and groomed to cover the face like the original? How about the voice and the drama? Make – believe? Who are his foreign backers?

    Alas, we may not resolve these and many other riddles of Boko Haram. I doubt if Shekau will not get the Mohammed Yusuf treatment, if he is ever captured. Yusuf (remember him?) was the young leader of the sect who was killed after soldiers captured him and handed him over to the police.

    Of all the predictions, one stands out for its scintillating political dimension.  Prophet Wale Olagunju, the presiding Bishop of Divine Seed Chapel Ministries, Ibadan said in a 52-point prophecy that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar will succeed Buhari in 2019.

    The prediction has elicited debates. The world is yet to recover from the hangover of maverick billionaire Donald Trump’s  victory in the United States election and Britain’s exit from the European Union (EU). Is an Atiku presidency a possibility now that it has been seen in the spiritual realm?

    Atiku, a member of the All Progressives   Congress (APC), has not announced that he is running. It is too early, many would say. But the Turaki has since launched into what is considered in political circles as a scurrilous attack on the Buhari administration.

    On which platform will Atiku run? Can he wrest the APC ticket from Buhari should the latter decide to run again? Asked to comment on Atiku’s plan to contest, former President Olusegun Obasanjo once said derisively: I dey laugh o! What will he do now?

    A cynical fellow, one of those “internet hyenas” on Facebook, asked nobody in particular: “Please, has T.B. Joshua released his 2017 prophecies?”Needles to say, he got many comments.

    Another released what he called his own predictions and swore with his wedding certificate that they would come to pass before the end of the year. “There shall be 28 days in February. Any car with an empty tank shall be immobile. If your bank account is in the red, you won’t be able to withdraw money. Every woman delivered of a baby shall have a boy or a girl. The volume of your urine shall be a function of your water intake. Hunger shall disappear the moment you eat. A new president will take office in the U.S. “

    He concluded with the confidence of an expert: “If these prophecies don’t come to pass, then I’m not a man of God.”

    Compliments.

  • 1966 coup changed the national spirit that prevailed at independence Septuagenarian journalist

    1966 coup changed the national spirit that prevailed at independence Septuagenarian journalist

    My name is Alhaji Tajudeen Tijjani Ajibade”, the veteran journalist started. “Before I talk about independence, it is important to talk about my background. I was born in Ibadan on Sunday, 1st of June, 1947 to a Nupe woman and a Nupe father, people the Yoruba refer to as Tapa. My parents came from Bida, but I was born in Ibadan. My parents decided to name me Tajudeen because of the environment they found themselves. Although it is a Muslim name, the Yoruba bear it most. My parents lived in the palace of Balogun Ogunmola because my father’s sister was married to the Balogun Ogunmola of Ibadan. Up till today, our house is located in Oriolowo’s compound around the famous Mapo Hill.

    Nigeria since independence

    Talking about Nigeria before independence, at independence and now, a short history about myself becomes necessary. For a long time, I did not even know I came from the northern part of the country because everyone was equal. I grew up like any other child and nobody discriminated against me. Nobody ever spoke about my background until I grew and my father had to tell me by himself. And that was even because I am the only son of my father. As at that time, I only heard people call my mother Gogo, but what did I care? All I knew was that she was my mother.

    So, when we were growing up, there was no discrimination of any sort. We attended free primary education in the old Western Region. I started my primary education in 1954 at Islamic Primary School, Odoye, Ibadan. As at that time, Nigeria was actually very stable in terms of economy and politics. People were living together without anybody thinking about where someone came from.

    Suddenly, things started to unfold after the 1966 coup. The background to what is happening in Nigeria today is the 1966 coup. I am not condemning it. I am not saying it is good or bad, because I don’t know the reason why the coup plotters came in. But since it was the coup that led us into civil war and the civil war led to everyone moving from one place to the other and people started to know where they came from. That was the beginning of ethnicity, religions sentiments and what have you.

    Again, there was a military government that created states. That states creation polarised us the more. Now people talk about their states than even the nation. They talk about their local government area than their states. Those are the things that were not happening before.

    When I came to Kaduna in my late tens too, despite the fact that I bear Ajibade, nobody discriminated against me, except that they called me a Yoruba boy when they wanted to describe me. But it really didn’t matter, because I used the name while going to school to work in New Nigerian Newspapers for many years, I worked in Standard, Punch, Sketch and edited a few newspapers, and I was at home everywhere.

    So, anyone who grew up during our time will be sad and would ask: is it not the same Nigeria we were living in that has turned into this unsettled nation? A country where people think about differences in religion and ethnicity, and because of that, people are not friends again, as if it is not the same people that grew up together, went to church and mosque together. During Christmas, we used to go to church with one Samuel who was our friend. During Sallah, we would go to the mosque with one Mohammed, so that we would come back and slaughter the ram. It was fantastic.

    The sudden change in this country we call Nigeria is really very unfortunate. In those days, nobody asked where you came from to get employment, all you needed to do was fill a form, and once you are qualified, they gave you job. It is unlike today that you have to go to your local government to get your paper. You have to even go to your ward for them to identify you. Even for admission into schools, you have to go through all that. No country can move forward like this.

    A lot of things started happening after the 1966 coup. The military were coming, civilians were also coming and there was no stability, politically and otherwise. Why did things get suddenly wrong to the extent that we started talking about federal character and zoning system, which means even if you are qualified and you are not from the zone where certain things have been zoned to, you can’t get it?

    So, these are some of the things that are crippling this country, which I think we have to work seriously hard to get out of the woods. Because if we don’t settle it before people who saw Nigeria pre and post-independence vanish, it will get more polarised so much that people will not talk about Nigeria again but their local governments. Because in Nigeria of today, somebody will tell you I am an indigene of Sokoto or Kaduna. Nobody says I am a Nigerian.

    Americans are bigger than us, but there are no indigenes. You are just an American. We were working for Nigeria to get to that stage. That is why when they talk about national issue, we support it. We don’t care where it starts from, because we believe in nationalism.

    The way out

    So I think there is clarion call to both the old and the young to look inward and see exactly what our problem is. The late Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto, and the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo were said to have met somewhere, and when they were talking and Awolowo called Sardauna, ‘Prince, why can’t we settle our differences?’ Sardauna replied: ‘Omo Oba, let’s understand our differences before we can settle them.’ I think we should go back to such conversations. Let us first of all understand our differences and find a way of settling them; those differences that are making us live apart.

    Nigeria of our dream is not the Nigeria that we have today. I have never bothered about where someone comes from. My concern is what you can do for this country and how we can work together to move Nigeria forward as a single entity devoid of sentiments of religion, ethnicity and others. That was how we grew up

    My prayer now is that the leaders that are there today will be able to do something better for us to go back to the good old days of one Nigeria, one destiny, one nation. That was the slogan of the NPN in those days.

    Why we are in serious economic crisis

    What actually killed us was the abandonment of what we had or the abandonment of what we were using before the advent of oil and gas. We have all concentrated on oil and gas, forgetting agriculture and other things. This led to the deaths of many industries and people started coming into oil and gas. But what many people don’t know is that the whole money we have made since the discovery of oil in Oloibiri, India made it in software in just about two years.

    There are countries of the world who don’t have oil and they are doing fine. But since God gave us oil in Nigeria, we were thinking that the oil should be a blessing to us, but it turned out to be something else. At least before oil was discovered, we had what we were running the country with.

    But above all, what I want to see before I leave is a united Nigeria, like it was before and shortly after independence. The Queen gave independence to Nigeria and called it one country. But what are we seeing today? We have what you can call 36 countries in Nigeria. May God help us.

  • In the spirit of festivity

    THIS title was borrowed. Osaigbovo Ighodaro, a fellow pen pusher, had used same in one of his writings. I checked for a perfect title but found none. Like Hardball – a straight column on the back of The Nation – noted in one of its missives, “unknown to many writers, titles often turn out to be grim albatrosses. Firstly because, most readers only read titles and move on to other things. Hence your headline ought to represent your story. Woe betide, if your title, which is your signpost, is hanging upside down (your error) or is read upside down (the reader’s error).”

    Hence this piece doesn’t in any way means that Christmas celebration is dead, but it is here again. Holiday is at hand. Students smile, workers rejoice. Business men are not spared from the happiness that comes with the season.Their sales double, and sometimes, triple.Churches organise harvests, they call it harvests of thanksgiving. Everyone is up and doing.

    Prices of goods and service are jerked up. Yet no one complains. The season never goes without coming along with its frills and thrills. The laughter. The dance. All these in the name of Christmas.

    Friends re-unite. They tell stories about January till now. They polish the stories to suit the audience. Everyone laughs at the ingenuity of the storyteller. The listeners forget things do not just happen like that; there are always two or many sides to a story. Yet they chose to be gullible. It is joyful gullibility.

    To the less-privileged, Christmas brings bliss, happiness, love and care.There is show of love.Orphanages are jam-packed with gifts. Prisons are congested with food.

    In the spirit of Christmas, many hold God responsible for their successes. They give appreciation to Him for protecting them in the ‘ember’ months. This appreciation goes to churches in form of envelopes as offerings. Some send pastors gifts. Many others give testimonies of victory and salvation.

    All in the spirit of Christmas, God is praised. He is praised by the pastors and members of congregation. The drunkards and the harlots are not exempted. Politicians also sing praises for one reason or the other. They join the troops that flock churches. Some deceive the pastors of the source of their sudden wealth. Some pastors will willingly share filthy lucre with thieves. All in the name of Christmas.

    The drunkards thank God for sparing their lives. God gives all life but not for evil. The drunkards never know that they have another opportunity to repent. The harlots still praise him but they don’t know the reason, maybe for life or good health. They express false praise instead of genuine repentance.

    Like Sam Omatseye, The Nation Editorial Board chairman, crooned: “Even deserved praise must be restrained, hence it sounds like designed praise.” The wrongdoers praise God too much to the extent that people see through their false repentance. It is a designed praise to heal their consciences.

    Christmas has also been a pain for some. It has divided homes. It has deflowered virgins. Some ladies are lost in the frills and thrills of the season and sell themselves cheap. Either for a lap of flavored chicken or an all-expense paid visit to the cinema. Ladies make unwholesome visits during Christmas. Hence they get unnecessary pains too.

    For politicians, Christmas is a time to share part of their loots. Col Sambo Dasuki (rtd) would have joined in the praise song if not for the exposed shady deals that trailed arms purchase under Goodluck Jonathan administration. Chief Raymond Dokpesi would have led the national mass choir in Christmas cantata. These persons have no songs on their lips. They have made others weep.

    The wives of soldiers killed in the fight against terrorism; the ravaged villages, parents of the missing Chibok girls are all in a sorrowful mood, because these people and many others yet to be named decided to abuse and shared funds meant to purchase arms for our troops. They had had their pleasure, now is time for their pain. These persons killed Christmas in the North.

    Listen, those who are supposed to use this celebration to move closer to the celebrator (Jesus) but ran farther in their taste for concupiscence. The ladies who offer their bodies as a earthly sacrifice and men who frequently hold meetings at alcoholic joint. The politicians who use this season to share looted funds as donations to orphanage homes and governors who decide to cut the minimum wage of workers. The president, who decides to retrench 2,000 civil servants, the pastors who refuse to rebuke the politicians for wrongdoing. The parents who send their daughters abroad for prostitution, so they could enjoy the Christmas. These ones are the murderers of Christmas. They all killed the celebration.

    • Ezekiel, 500-Level Pharmacy, UNIBEN

  • Imbibing the Ramadan spirit

    •This is what genuine Muslims must do even now that fasting is over

    The annual fasting observed by Muslims across the world ended yesterday. And today, Muslims all over the world mark the end of Ramadan fasting with the Eid-el-Fitri celebration. The festivity comes on the first day of the 10th month of Islamic lunar calendar, and has become one of two festivals of Islamic significance; the other being Eid-el-Kabir. After a month-long ascetic life and spiritual supplications to the Almighty, Eid is expected to usher in infinite bliss for devotees. Today is an occasion of gleefulness and thanksgiving. All good Muslims should take advantage of the day to vow never to go back to what Allah frowns at, and to show gratitude to Him for sparing their lives.

    Despite today’s air of indulgence, we call for modesty in celebration. We expect Muslims to avoid depraved conducts. Good Muslims should take advantage of the day to be sensitive to and share the feelings of those around them. That is why the lessons of the holy month must reflect in the way they relate with friends, non-Muslims inclusive.

    Muslims whose fast is based on imaan, sincerity, should truly expect reward, Ihtisaab, from Allah. Those that have imaan as thrust of their dealings with fellow beings will have their sins forgiven. Others will have to satisfactorily answer questions such as: was their fast performed with true belief and full surrender to Allah? Was it done because Allah imposed it on Muslims or for other selfish reasons? Have they gained anything from the month of Ramadan Were they positively inclined towards fellow beings? Have they overcome all their prior weaknesses and cruelty?

    We have no doubt that obedient Muslims, not killers and terrorists, like Boko Haram insurgents, despoiling the name of Allah, are assured of reward from Almighty Allah. Surprisingly, these fake Islamists hiding under the guise of the ’religion of peace’ to perpetuate evil have shown gross contempt for the holy month. The terrorists destroyed the usual tranquillity of unity and spiritual rebirth of the holy month through senseless bombing of innocent souls and outright destruction of properties.

    We wonder what has happened to the pious habit of Qur’an recitation, especially during Ramadan, and imbibing the lessons therein. The Boko Haram insurgents should realise the futility of their actions quickly. All human beings are expected to be their brother’s keeper and should cultivate and indulge in things that would make the community and the entire world one peaceful place for all to live in. We doubt whether the terrorists could, in all conscience, proclaim this. The suicide bombing of fellow beings before, during and after the month of Ramadan is barbaric.

    So, in the spirit of Ramadan, we call on the governments, institutions, the people and especially Boko Haram insurgents to have an attitudinal change that would not negate the commandments of Allah. What should be done now is to continue to practice and sustain the virtuous preaching learnt during Ramadan for the sake of all. The talk of restoring security in the country must start with adhering to the tenets of Allah by both Muslims and non-Muslims. This is realisable only if stakeholders in the nation’s project are honest with themselves as all Muslims professed during the Ramadan period.

    Moving our country forward entails being our brother’s keeper; and desisting from inflicting terror and evil on humanity. That is the greatest lesson that can be learnt from the just ended fasting.

  • Spirit of Lagos contest saves school’s furniture

    Spirit of Lagos contest saves school’s furniture

    For its ingenuity, resourcefulness and creativity in solving problems of damaged school furniture, a team from the Government College, Ketu, Epe won the Spirit of Lagos School Challenge last Thursday.

    Members of the team wowed the Deputy Governor, Mrs Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire and the panel of judges, not only because of their well-implemented project, but because of their lucid presentation – beating five other teams at the event held at the Governor’s hall, Lagos State Secretariat, Alausa.

    In response to the challenge to solve a problem in their environment, they came up with a plan to repair broken down school furniture by themselves.  They built a workshop, sewed overalls, raised funds, created awareness and bought tools used to do the work.  At the end of the 26-day project, they repaired over 251 pieces of classroom and teacher furniture, saved the school over N360,000.00 for repairs (at N700 per piece), and the Lagos State government over N1,805,000 that it would have cost to construct new ones (at N5,000 per pair).

    In the course of the project, they faced many challenges including having to rebuild their workshop after it was destroyed by a rainstorm, and injury to one of the team members while doing repairs.  They were also mocked by fellow pupils and teachers who derogatorily called them “Anjonu Eko”, which when translated means Lagos demons.

    However, they came out strong, resourcefully finding ways to combat their challenges.  To address the mockery, they conducted an awareness campaign to get the support of the school community and change their attitude to how they handle school property.  The campaign was anchored on such slogans as Save our Treasure (SOT) and Do it Yourself (DIY).  They also succeeded in getting the school principal to purchase cooking gas for use in the kitchen to end the practice of using broken down furniture as firewood.

    The team from Community Senior Grammar School, Gberigbe, representing Education District Three, came second in the challenge for its Wipe out Dirt campaign in their school.  They did a good job of building a colourful dump site and baskets that separates dirt into categories (biodegradable, nylon, paper and plastic) and carrying out an awareness campaign.

    Representatives of Education District I, Ifesowapo/Aboru Senior Secondary School, Agege, emerged the third place winner with their waste to wealth project.  They devised means to convert waste plastic bottles and sachets to various useful products such as tiles, asphalt for road construction, and the like.

    In her address, the Deputy Governor praised the pupils for “demonstrating capacity and responsibility.  She urged them to cultivate a love for Lagos State and contribute to its growth as the most important city in Nigeria.

    “I want you to leave this hall with a love for Lagos.  Change must start now.  When you are at the bus stop you have to queue.  You should not be late to school – that is the Spirit of Lagos,” she said.

    Counsel to the Lagos State governor, Mrs Oyikan Badejo-Ogunsanya, praised the pupils for their efforts, which she said was impressive.

    “I want to thank you for lifting the Spirit of Lagos high; coming up with innovations that would better your lives as students,” she said.

    The Spirit of Lagos Project Director, Olaniyi Omotoso, also praised the various schools for their excellent performance and described them all as winners for proposing laudable projects.

    Other schools in the finale were: Agidingbi Grammar School, Agidingbi (District VI), Ajara Senior and Junior Secondary in Badagry (District V), and Ideal Girls’ Junior & Senior High School/Obele Community Junior & Senior High School, Surulere (District IV).