Conversations Part 1

© Stani, All rights reserved

"Merry Christmas, my friend!"

"You have started again! What is merry about a day like this, hmm?"

"What do you mean, what's merry about this day? This is Christmas, a time of goodwill and enjoyment!"

"That is for you, for me, there is nothing to be merry about"

"I can see something is bothering you, tell me about it. Come on, if you don't share, then you can't relieve yourself of the burden"

"I am just not happy about the state of affairs of the nation. Look around you, see people, with long necks made even longer by hunger, look at people with no food to eat and you are wishing me a merry Christmas. Wo! Make you just waka pass me oh!"

"Ah! But this matter no be my fault na, why are you taking it out on me? Haba, I am only trying to be a good neighbor to you"

"Good neighbor ko, good neighbor ni! That is the same thing they told Nuhu and look at where he has ended up today, a subject of ridicule!"

"How do you mean? I thought things have started to look better for him?"

"See yourself? You like enjoyment too much, so you do not pay attention to the news. Nuhu is no longer a member of the Police. he has been relieved of his duties, sacked, driven away from the force like a pariah"

"Nuhu? Mr Anti-Corruption? Why have they sacked him, ni?"

"If I did not like you so much, I would say, you ask the most stupid questions at times! They have sacked him because he is not of relevance anymore. There are no corrupt people in the land anymore!"

"Ehen?"

"Well that is what the recent trials of Nuhu would tend to portray. I mean, here is a guy, who for once, was going about his duties the right way, and they have decided that he should pay for his goodness with humiliation. Mark my words, they will end up killing him next or throwing him into jail!"

"Come on! Baba Go Slow will not allow that to happen o!"

"Well, where has Baba Go Slow been all this while? I mean, he was there when it all started, what did he do? Nothing! I tell you, his lack of action in this issue has prompted some speculation that he is actually the one pulling the strings from behind the scenes, people are saying Nuhu refused to back down from prosecuting a corrupt big-wig and this did not go down well with Baba, who then decided that the 'boy' must be punished"

"Ah! You can't say that o! Baba is just slow in everything, you can see proof in the fact that it took him almost five months to nominate new ministers to replace the ones he sacked. In fact, i believe it took him the same length of time to sack the previous ones! The Baba just slow, he no go let anything happen to Nuhu"

"Hmmph! Why do you keep talking like a mumu? Anyway, it is pointless talking over relevant issues with you and others like you who are staunch supporters of the Baba. Just mark my words sha, Nuhu will either go to jail or dem go kill am and you are gonna say i told you so!. Let us forget all that. Where are you heading to with this big keg of akpeteshe?"

"Ah! I was bringing this over to your side so we can have some xmas merriment together. I thought it would be a waste to enjoy all this fine brew by myself"

"So what are we waiting for, let's go drink ourselves silly, maybe we go forget about Baba Go Slow and his philosophy of Slowness!"

Musings from the heart - Lulu.com

http://www.lulu.com/content/2331751

Read and enjoy!

Life and Death

© Stani, All rights reserved

Here's a little play I had on words on an exercise over @ gotpoetry.com: You have 9 words-
ambiguous, relative, perdition, effect, discard, connivance, infer, imply, procrastination. You have to make the most of these words and see what you get in terms of:
I. Write a complete sentence (creatively) with each word
II. Write a poetic line that ends with each word
III. Find 2-3 rhyming words for each word
IV. Create 2 line verses rhyming with each other.

It's really great fun. See what you can do with these.

Here's my own take on this exercise:

I. Write a complete sentence (creatively) with each word

ambiguous -- In trying to explain the discrepancies in the report he presented to the company, Sam came up with several ambiguous details that did not add up.

relative -- When we look at the the various wars that have been fought in the past decades,we also have to look at the relative factors that led to the conflicts.

perdition -- According to some wise men, those who suffer from delusions of grandeur often end up in perdition.

effect -- The effect of a lady's scent on me, leaves me in a most profound state, when it is a lovely scent!

discard -- Discard thoughts of strife and dicord!

connivance -- Connivance between some unscrupulous players of the club and bookmakers, led to the downfall of the football club last season.

infer -- When you inadvertently infer that someone is a playboy, without any concrete proof, you might end up in court to defend your views.

imply -- To imply from one's speech that they have a preference for salacious gossip, is a gift!

procrastination -- Procrastination does not befit men of power.


II. Write a poetic line that ends with each word

1. If only her feelings for me were not so ambiguous
2. Yes,we hate and we love, but to the other, both are relative
3. To die for love makes no difference, though it may end in perdition
4. Lick, suckle, nuzzle, great effect!
5. Hatred, I will discard!
6. Trickery, infamy all borne out of connivance!
7. That I love women, this I will always infer.
8. Away with you, joy do not imply!
9. Leave me be, leave me to sink in my procrastination

III. Find 2-3 rhyming words for each word
1. ambiguous --- contiguous, bilinguous, attiguous
2. relative ------- palative, ablative, copulative
3. perdition ------ rendition, edition,
4. effect ---------- eject, affect, reflect
5. discard -------- retard, placard
6. connivance ---- utterance, instance
7. infer ----------- refer, prefer, buffer
8. imply -------------- reply, apply, supply
9. procrastination -- destination, elimination, aspiration

IV. Create 2 line verses rhyming with each other.

Though I have lived a life dedicated to being ambiguous,
still I try, in all I do, to remain contiguous.

So, I look at life and death, how relative
they are in terms of being copulative.

One if not well lived could lead to perdition
while in the other, death, life could have a new edition.

On this journey, I have experienced love and its effect
on my senses, has caused me, many a time, joyfully to reflect.

Ah! What in this life can I discard?
Nothing! For to do that, would make me a retard!

What treachery have I experienced, fate's connivance
with mine enemies, leading to death's advance!

Standing up, betrayal to infer
though, loyalty I would prefer.

Gently I imply
I await only love's reply.

So, as my life ebbs slowly away, I look upon my procrastination,
happily drifting towards unknown destination.

Praise for my King

© Stani, All rights reserved

In spite of the fact that oftentimes, I suffer from what we call 'backsliding', in spite of the fact that various pastors have told me that as long as I remain a Catholic I will not see heaven, in spite of all that, I feel a very profound connection to God every single day of my life. I experience His presence in the beauty I see around me. I feel His kindness in the laughter He surrounds me with. I then think to myself, if this is not God, then who can it be? I believe seriously that one does not need to sleep in church everyday to fell a closeness to Him. I am not saying it is wrong to go to church, rather I am saying, the relationship I have with Him within me, in my heart, means more to me than any outward show, than any church I step into, after all, the church is just a building, the Will of God matters more to me. Well who really knows about these things anyway, who can truly say, that they are saints and have not sinned or do not sin. Here's something I wrote about it:

Woke up today with the
need to praise my Maker
I tried to hold back
in fear of being ridiculed.

Then I thought to myself
'He will never hold back from me.
In fact, He has never held back
from loving me!'

Ah! My soul cries with joy
to you my Lord, my God!
I praise You O! Lord
I adore You!

I thank You Lord
for Your undying love.
I raise Your Name in worship
I exult You!

Praising You, my King,
adds nothing to Your greatness.
Adoring You, loving You
only brings me closer to You.

My heart hungers for
more of You
feed my hunger, replenish my faith
increase my charity!

Iwu and Us elctoral process - very funny!

Here is a news article from The Punch. I have been laughing since I first read this and in the past few days this is about the funniest I have read. Ladies and gents, this is nothing but the ramblings of an imbecilic and inane individual! Please read and laugh your heads off!

Iwu faults US electoral system

By Tobi Soniyi, Abuja

The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Maurice Iwu, on Tuesday in Abuja faulted the United States of America's election process.

File Maurice Iwu

Iwu, who was at the Presidential Villa for a meeting that was not disclosed to State House correspondents, described the Nigerian electoral system as better than that of the US.

Asked to comment on the specific areas the US could learn from Nigeria, Iwu said the Americans should learn to keep a national voters' register.

He said that they should also learn to hold presidential election in one day rather than scatter it over several days, as they do in the case of early voting.

"They should learn to keep a voters' register and they should learn to hold elections in one day,'' Iwu said as he hurried off, declining to make further comments.

http://odili.net/news/source/2008/nov/5/417.html

How Obama Rewrote the Book

Some princes are born in palaces. Some are born in mangers. But a few are born in the imagination, out of scraps of history and hope. Barack Obama never talks about how people see him: I'm not the one making history, he said every chance he got. You are. Yet as he looked out Tuesday night through the bulletproof glass, in a park named for a Civil War general, he had to see the truth on people's faces. We are the ones we've been waiting for, he liked to say, but people were waiting for him, waiting for someone to finish what a King began.

"If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible," declared the President-elect, "who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer."
(See pictures of Barack Obama's victory celebration in Chicago.)
Barack Hussein Obama did not win because of the color of his skin. Nor did he win in spite of it. He won because at a very dangerous moment in the life of a still young country, more people than have ever spoken before came together to try to save it. And that was a victory all its own.
Remember this day, parents told their children as they took them out of school to go see an African-American candidate make history. An election in one of the world's oldest democracies looked like the kind they hold in brand-new ones, when citizens finally come out and dance, a purple-thumb day, a velvet revolution. A hundred thousand people came out in red states to hear Obama; a hundred fifty thousand turned out in purple ones, even after all this time, when they should have been sick to death of Hope and Change. In Michigan, people put an electric fence around their yard sign to protect it. NASA astronauts on board the International Space Station sent a video message encouraging people to vote; they did, from 200 miles up. A judge in Ohio ruled that homeless people could use a park bench as their address in order to register. A couple flew home from India just to cast their ballots. Obama's Ohio volunteers knocked on a million doors on Monday alone. That night, a Florida official locked himself in the Seminole County election headquarters and slept overnight with the ballots to make sure nothing went wrong with the vote. Early-voting lines in Atlanta were 10 hours long, and still people waited, as though their vote was their most precious and personal possession at a moment when everything else seemed to be losing its value. You heard the same phrases everywhere. First time ever. In my lifetime. Whatever it takes.
(See pictures from the historic Election Day.)
When it was over, more than 120 million pulled a lever or mailed a ballot, and the system could barely accommodate the demands of Extreme Democracy. Obama won more votes than anyone else in U.S. history, the biggest Democratic victory since Lyndon Johnson crushed another Arizona Senator 44 years ago. Obama won men, which no Democrat had managed since Bill Clinton. He won 54% of Catholics, 66% of Latinos, 68% of new voters — a multicultural, multigenerational movement that shatters the old political ice pack. He let loose a deep blue wave that washed well past the coasts and the college towns, into the South through Virginia and Florida, the Mountain West with Colorado and New Mexico, into the Ohio Valley and the Midwestern battlegrounds: you could almost walk from Maine to Minnesota without getting your feet wet in a red state. After months of mapmaking all the roads to 270, Obama tore right past with ease.
The victory poured down the ballot, bringing along a larger Democratic majority in both houses, though not as broad as some had predicted: Democrats widened their margins in the House and the Senate. The Republican caucus is smaller, more male and whiter at a time when the electorate is heading the other way. But the Democrats did not come close to their dream of a 60-seat, filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, which suggests that people's hunger for change is tempered by their faith in restraint.
(Read "Congressional Races to Watch '08.")
When the race was called, there was a rush of noise, of horns honking and kids shouting and strangers hugging in the streets. People danced in Harlem and wept at Ebenezer Baptist Church and lit candles at Dr. King's grave. More than a thousand people shouted "Yes we can!" outside the White House, where a century ago it was considered scandalous for a President to invite a black hero to lunch. The Secret Service said it had never seen anything like it. President Bush called the victory "awesome" when he phoned Obama to congratulate him: "You are about to go on one of the great journeys of life."
John McCain, freedom fighter, has always seen the nobility even — maybe especially — in a losing battle, which takes the most courage to fight. When he called Obama to concede the race, the younger man honored the elder statesman. "I need your help," Obama said, and McCain offered it without reservation. "Whatever our differences, we are fellow Americans," McCain told the crowd in a gracious speech beneath the Arizona mountains. "I pledge to him tonight to do all in my power to help him lead us through the many challenges we face."
(See pictures of John McCain's campaign farewell.)
Remember this day. We now get to imagine, at least for a while, that the election of Obama has not just turned a page in our politics but also tossed out the whole book so we can start over. Whether by design or by default, the past now loses power: for the moment, it feels as if we've left behind the baby-boomer battles of the past 40 years; the culture wars that took us prisoner and cut us off from what we have in common; the tribal warfare between rich and poor, North and South, black and white; and the illusion, if anyone still harbored it after the past eight years, that what happens in Washington does not affect what happens everywhere else.
How He Rewrote the Book"She has gone home," Obama told the quiet crowd in Charlotte, N.C., on Monday night, recalling the grandmother who had raised him and shaped him and died on the eve of his victory. "She was one of those quiet heroes that we have all across America," he said, and tears we had never seen before streaked his face. "They're not famous. Their names are not in the newspapers, but each and every day, they work hard." One day later, Madelyn Dunham's grandson would be the most famous man in the world.
(See pictures of Barack Obama's family tree.)
At a moment of obvious peril, America decided to place its fate in the hands of a man who had been born to an idealistic white teenage mother and the charismatic African grad student who abandoned them — a man who grew up without money, talked his way into good schools, worked his way up through the pitiless world of Chicago politics to the U.S. Senate and now the White House in a stunningly short period. That achievement, compared with those of the Bushes or the Kennedys or the Roosevelts or the Adamses or any of the other American princes who were born into power or bred to it, represents such a radical departure from the norm that it finally brings meaning to the promise taught from kindergarten: "Anyone can grow up to be President."
(See 10 elections that changed America.)
A nation doesn't much need a big President in small times; it needs one when the future is spitting out monsters. We've heard so much about Obama's brand-new voters that we easily forget the others he found, the ones who hadn't voted since Vietnam or who had never dreamed they'd vote for a black man or a liberal or a Democrat, much less all three. But many Americans are living through the worst decade of their lives, and they have anger-management issues. They saw a war mismanaged, a city swallowed, now an economy held together with foreign loans and thumbtacks. It took a perfect storm of bad news to create this moment, but even the big men rarely win in a walk. Ronald Reagan didn't. John Kennedy didn't. Those with the clearest vision often have to fight the hardest for others to see things as they do.
See pictures of Barack Obama's campaign behind the scenes.

Obama belonged to a party that was bent on retribution; he preached reconciliation, and when voters were asked a year ago who had the best chance of winning, Hillary Clinton crushed him, 71% to 26%. He had to build a new church and reach out to the seekers who had lost faith in government or never had any in the first place. He ran not so much on any creed as on the belief that everything was broken, that the very system that produces candidates and frames issues and decides who loses and who wins in public life does little more than make a loser out of the American people. We need to start over, he argued, speak gently, listen carefully, find solutions, keep our word. It was precisely because he was an outsider with a thin résumé and few cronies or scars or grudges that he could sell himself as the solution.
(See 10 things that never happened in a campaign before.)
On the cold January night in Iowa that he calls the highlight of the whole campaign, he offered a glimpse of the possible. Caucus-night victory speeches are usually sweaty affairs in crowded rooms full of debts to pay off. But Obama got up in his tightened tie and with total focus, in front of a teleprompter so he'd be sure to get it exactly right, delivered what even skeptics called one of the great political sermons of our time. "They said this day would never come," he declared. "They said this country was too divided, too disillusioned to ever come together around a common purpose. But on this January night — at this defining moment in history — you have done what the cynics said we couldn't do." He won women without the help of women's groups, blacks without the help of race pols, and that golden snitch of American politics, the youth vote, whose presence not only gave his campaign a feeling of hope and energy but made old people feel younger too. That was the first test of what was really on voters' minds: even in the face of two wars and a looming recession, only 1 in 5 cited experience as the highest priority. More than a third of them cared most about who could bring about change.
It was just one of many ironies that his historic ascent required blocking Clinton's. Experience can be a virtue, but it also means familiarity and wounds and scars, and it was hard to look at her onstage — her husband behind her, his gears visibly spinning — and see her as the future. Many who saw Clinton as the victim of virulent sexism could still be eager to move on to someone who did not fight in the last war.
Two Men, Two VisionsGiven a President who was radioactive and an economy weak in the knees, you could say the outcome should never have been in doubt. Seventy percent more people voted in the Democratic primaries as in the Republican; 9 out of 10 people say the country is on the wrong track. In that light, McCain was his party's sacrificial lamb, a certified American hero granted one more chance to serve, with enough rebel credits on his résumé to stand a chance of winning over disgruntled voters if Obama somehow imploded.
While it may not have been much of a race in the end, it certainly was a choice: not just black and white or red and blue or young and old, though there was a full generation between them. Over time, it's become clear that these men view change very differently. McCain sees change as an ordeal, a test of his toughness; Obama sees it as an opportunity, a test of his versatility. McCain sees change as reforming the system; Obama talks about rebuilding it from the ground up. McCain does not e‑mail. He became famous by riding a bus. And he brandished at every opportunity the values that never change with circumstances: duty, honor, country first.
(See pictures of John McCain on the campaign trail.)
Yet Obama, derided as so ethereal compared with the battle-tested McCain, was the clear-eyed realist in the room; he was a child of change — changed countries and cultures and careers, even his very name: Barry became Barack. You can't stop change from coming, he argued; you can only usher it in and work out the terms. If you're smart and a little lucky, you can make it your friend.
As if that choice hadn't been clear enough, McCain drew the lines a little brighter. The Veep choice always promised to be complicated for a solo pilot who resisted the idea of a partner at every turn, but now the Constitution required him to pick a wingman. He wasn't the type to look for someone to help him govern. But what about someone to help him win?
In case anyone imagined that we'd make it through an entire general election without an all-out culture war, Sarah Palin's arrival took care of it. She called herself a fresh face who couldn't wait to take on the good ole boys. But far from framing the future, Palin played deep chords from the past — the mother of five from a frontier town who invoked the values of a simpler, safer America than the globally competitive, fiscally challenged, multicultural marketplace of ideas where Obama lived. She seemed to delight in the contrast: she was arguing that "we don't really know Barack Obama" before she had even taken off her coat. She warned urgently that he wasn't qualified to be President even as leaders in her own party snorted at her lack of readiness; she rejoiced in visiting the "real America," the "pro-America areas of this great nation." Instead, it was an invitation for Obama to show how far the country had come. "There are no real or fake parts of this country," Obama fired back. "We are one nation, all of us proud, all of us patriots ..."
See the Top 10 Sarah Palin spoofs.

Still, as of mid-September, McCain, with Palin at his side, had closed the gender gap, ignited his base, delighted Rush Limbaugh and seemed to be having fun for the first time in ages. He hammered the point that he was the only one who had been tested in a crisis. It was working great — until he was tested in a crisis. The assumption all year was that if the Furies delivered turmoil to the doorstep of this election, the country would retreat to the safe choice and not risk a rookie. It was Obama's triumph that the financial crisis that might have buried him actually raised him up, let voters judge his judgment in real time, the 3 a.m. phone call that came night after night. It gave him, over the course of three weeks and three debates, a stage for statesmanship that decades of Senate debate could never have offered.
On the day Lehman Brothers evaporated, McCain was running 2 points ahead. In September, when the Wall Street Journal asked people who was better on taxes, McCain beat Obama, 41% to 37%. Over the next month, there was an 18-point swing, until Obama prevailed on taxes, 48% to 34%. The Obama campaign never missed a chance to replay McCain's quotes about the fundamentals of the economy being strong or that he was "fundamentally a deregulator" at a time when regulation was fundamentally overdue. The moment McCain tried to seize the moment, suspend the campaign and ride back to Washington to rescue the global financial system only to be shut down by his own party, he handed Obama a weapon almost as powerful as the crisis itself. Times were suddenly scary — and McCain was "erratic," "impulsive," reckless. He fell into a trap he couldn't get out of for weeks: any attempt to do something dramatic and different just dug the hole deeper. Every time McCain took a swing, as his cheering section demanded he do, those undecided-voter dial meters plunged. Six in 10 voters said McCain was spending more time attacking Obama than explaining his own positions, at a moment of crisis when people care what those positions were.
Over the course of three debates right in the heat of the crisis, voters got to take the measure of the men directly — no stadium crowds, no stunts, no speechwriters to save them. They were being told that Obama was a dangerous radical who hung out with terrorists. Simply by seeming sober and sensible, he both reassured voters and diminished McCain, whose attacks suddenly seemed disingenuous. A New York Times survey found that people who changed their views on Obama were twice as likely to say they had grown more favorable, not less; those who now saw McCain differently were three times as likely to say their view had worsened than had improved. And that was after the markets had shed a couple of trillion dollars. By mid-October, only 1 in 3 voters thought McCain would bring the country a real change in direction. He never got close again.
Eventually Obama's opponents moved past accusing him of celebrity and socialism to charging his family with witchcraft and warning that his election would bring on the End of Days, when Christianity would be criminalized and "God could take his hand of protection off of America," as Gary Bauer, who once ran for President himself, put it. Obama, meanwhile, used his immense financial advantage to run a half-hour prime-time ad that told his story, made his case — and never once mentioned McCain.
By the end, some lessons were already clear. Obama's sheer brute financial force, outspending McCain nearly 2 to 1, guarantees that the way we pay for our politics will never be the same — and money and power tend to flow as one. A new generation of voters is about to show us whether they dropped in to visit or intend to stay. The Democrats in Congress were handed greater power despite abiding unpopularity; we'll now see whether they understand that it's a loan, not a reward. And the repudiation of President Bush and his allies ensures that the conservative movement will have to sit in a circle, hold hands, light some incense and figure out what its members really believe in when it comes to putting their principles into practice. The legacy of a President who vastly expanded the national debt, the size of government and its reach into what was once called private enterprise is likely to haunt his party for a generation to come.
The Road AheadModern history is a cautionary tale of new Presidents who overreach and emboldened lawmakers careless with power. In her unsuccessful fight to hold her North Carolina Senate seat, Elizabeth Dole ran an ad predicting that "these liberals want complete control of government, in a time of crisis. All branches of government. No checks and balances. No debate. No independence." If Democrats like her opponent win, she warned, "they get a blank check." The rumbling started before the votes even came in: there was House Financial Services Committee chairman Barney Frank talking about cutting military spending 25% and taxing "a lot of very rich people out there." Amnesty International set a deadline for closing Gitmo; the ACLU wants a complete review of watch lists within 100 days.
Whose side will Obama be on? The old Ted Kennedy liberals he re-inspired, the Blue Dog Democrats he courted, the new arrivals from purple and even red districts whose shelf life depends on a centrist agenda? He has talked about the need to fix entitlements, but try to pin him down on the Audacity of How, and he vanished in a foam of contingency. He has promised to end the war in Iraq responsibly, but the tension between end and responsibility tightens now. He voted for the $700 billion Wall Street bailout, but there are bound to be far more claims on that pot than there is money available in it, and the three months between now and Inauguration Day are not likely to be kind to the new kid. Obama has been cautious at every turn not to commit himself to too many details. But he has made a lot of promises of his own. Clinton, for one, has no illusions about what lies ahead. "I remember very well, right after Bill was elected, we found out that the budget deficit was twice as big as had been advertised," she told TIME's Karen Tumulty. "I think that we're going to find a lot of snakes under the rocks when we start picking them up, looking at this Administration." Obama has had teams of people already working closely with the Treasury Department and the Pentagon in the event of a victory. They have submitted countless names to the FBI to be sure that they are packing security clearances as soon as possible. McCain mocked the presumption of Obama's "measuring the drapes," but Obama's preparations for a transition reflected the fact that the rest of the world isn't going to wait until Jan. 20 to find out what he thinks. At a time like this, there's probably no such thing as being overprepared.
His vow to bring people together will mean nothing if he just does what's already easy. He has to find real Republicans to put in real Cabinet positions, not just Transportation. He needs to use his power in ways that make both parties equally unhappy, to dust off the weighty words we need to hear, not just the uplifting ones — like austerity, sacrifice, duty to the children we keep borrowing from. The national debt passed $10 trillion in September; in the next month, we added $500 billion to it — the fastest, deepest plunge into red ink in more than 50 years. Will Obama end the double standard between how Washington works and how everyplace else does, the loopholes it defends, the common sense it defies?
"This victory alone is not the change we seek," he challenged the nation on Tuesday night. "It is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were. It cannot happen without you."
We get the leaders we deserve. And if we lift them up and then cut them off, refuse to follow unless they are taking us to Disneyland, then no President, however eloquent, however historic his mandate or piercing his sense of what needs to be done, can take us where we refuse to go. This did not all end on Election Day, Obama said again and again as he talked about the possibility of ordinary people doing extraordinary things. And so, we are merely at the end of the beginning.

— With reporting by Laura Fitzpatrick / New York
See pictures of the world reacting to Obama's win.
See pictures of Barack Obama's victory celebration in Chicago.

Story source----------- http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1856914,00.html

Election of Hope

© Stani, All rights reserved

I woke up this morning with the most hilarious news - Barrack Obama surmounts the odds to become the 44th President of the USA! WOW!!!

For me this is a redefining moment in history. I never believed this could happen, that a black man could rise to become a president in the USA. Not just a black man, but one who is just a first generation American, whose roots can be traced firmly to Kenya. A descendant of slaves has risen up to become the president of the USA!

This is a wake-up call to the rest of the world. This is a wake-up call to those hotbeds of racism, to those who do not believe in change.

No matter what happens, I believe that America has changed forever, its demographics, pulled apart and redefined. This is good for the rest of the world, this is change for the rest of the world.

This is a moment of great hope for all black men all over the world, either in America, Africa or Europe. We can make things happens if we put our minds to it. We can look at the hardships, obstacles in our paths and take them apart and turn them to stories of success. We can look at those who want to relate with us with racist attitudes and say to them, ' RESPECT.'

For me, this is truly a season of change. First, Lewis Hamilton did it to become not only the youngest formula 1 world champion, but also the first Black F1 champion. Now, Obama has joined him to put down the gauntlet for the rest of us blacks.

These two men made up their minds long ago to be different. They looked at what would be predominantly white strongholds and decided to take dive in there and swim with them. Lewis Hamilton has brought in a new scenario into F1. Barrack Obama has brought a new standard of leadership to the world stage.

This is a message to Africa as well. Africa and her teething problems, which seem never-ending. African leaders should watch and learn. Young Africans should also watch and learn. The time has come to drive most of the imbeciles in power across the continent away. The time has come to dedicate resources to all that can help give the young hope. The time has come for young Africans to realize they hold the balance of power in their hands.

We have suffered too long in Africa, we are still suffering and we will continue suffering unless we take the Obama revolution and learn from it. The time has come.

The time has come for the rest of world as well, Europe, Asia, wherever. The time has come to stop looking at the Blackman as a threat. The time has come to start realizing we have potentials as well. The time has come to start giving blacks the same opportunities as whites have. If Obama and Lewis Hamilton did not have the right opportunities, they would not be where they are now.

Now I need to stop writing. It is time to have drink for Obama. I will have this drink not only for Obama, and Lewis Hamilton, but for all those who have hope, for all those who spread the message of hope, change and love! Here's to you all! Cheers!

St Martin D Obama - funny

Courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/guzie/2967469519/

People on the move

© Stani 11/1/08, All rights reserved

I still sit and wonder at times about this thing called life. have you sometimes, looked around you, and thought you could make sense of it all? I don't know but seems we are like bees, going about our business, without a care in the world - for those around us or even for ourselves! Seems we are always on the move, always busy - busy bees! The little picture above got me thinking. It is all about people on the move and what might be going through their minds - well seems like that to me anyway. Thanks to zhaul (zhaul.blogspot.com) for pointing me to this pix - http://www.gotpoetry.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=17766.html. I wrote a little something about it - see what you make of it :)


About life

Drifting by
without a care
blissfully unaware
time flying by.

The temptation
to make a fast buck
leaves some in a muck
shattered illusion.

Amongst the throng
those who will prey
on ones who pray
survival for only the strong.

Objectives sometimes met
Joy meets sorrow
today blends tomorrow
hope in the sunset.

Just imagine how it could be - Obama Dancing with Palin!

Just imagine how it could be - Obama Dancing with Palin!

Got this from my fellow blogger - http://tenacioustess.blogspot.com/ -- nice one TenaciousTess!

Struggle

© Stani, All rights reserved

So much of the struggle I see around today, gives me a cause for sadness. We seem always to want to lord it over ourselves. That is why, our leaders never seem to get things right. We prioritise where we are not supposed to.

Some of the best brains of my nation cannot get a job in their own country because some bloke wants his cousin or girlfriend, etc, to get that position. So imbeciles are grooming imbeciles like themselves to make policies, what it all leads to is confusion. How can a blind man lead a blind man?

The struggle is not even concetrated in one's nation alone. I read the other day about a guy in the UK who was attacked for wearing an Obama t-shirt, probably a racist attack, who knows? The most pertinent question here is, why can't I wear whatever I want to wear, without being afraid of some skinhead who has nothing better to do than to think of the superiority of his/her race? Crazy world, man, very crazy!

Here is a little poem about it all:

Struggle

So many around me
rolling with me
yet never felt so alone
all false smiles

Judged for perceived imperfections
Never recognised for abilities
better than theirs
craziness everywhere.

Prejudice
repression
abuse
frustration.

In the mood to vent my spleen!

This little article caught my attention the other day, about a pastor who sold his landlords house to a member of his congregation! http://odili.net/news/source/2008/oct/4/801.html

Reading the story at first, I could not help laughing but I then got to thinking, 'When will Nigerians overcome this mentality of subservience to their pastors? When will Nigerians come to realize that, today, worshiping God does should not have anything to do with some so-called pastors who have so tainted the truth that we do not know what it is anymore?' Sadly, it occurred to me that the answer to all of the above is 'NEVER'.

A long time ago, I came to the realization that these pastors are nothing but treasure seekers (ok, maybe not all of them but....). With the sad state of Nigerian affairs, it occurred to some sharp thinking individuals that a quick, 100% legit way of making the fast buck, would be to become pastors. They were, and are, not wrong about this. Look at the sheep (ewu) in question - a 150 million or more Nigerians, majority of whom are gullible, timid, fearful, etc, etc. They are still addicted to that age-old opium of the masses - religion.

So you talk to the average, suffering man on the street and you will invariably get the popular mantra that has been on their lips since the inception of the state called Nigeria - 'e go better, God dey'. Na so o! Of course god dey, but I refuse to believe God will come down and set things right for us without our rasing a finger to help in any way.

The so-called pastors are not helping issues. Everywhere you go, it is the same story, ' Give God all you have, don't worry prosperity is just around the corner, give and it will multiply a thousand-fold'. So we continue to give, even if it is not there, just because we believe. It is time to realise that because of our belief we have been taken for a serious ride, a ride to enrich the pockets of some unscrupulous rogues.

I travelled to naija sometime last year and my broda invited me to his church, one of these new-generation churches. I was reluctant to go since I used to go to this church and left after a couple of months when I realised that they did not really know what they were on about, but out of respect for my senior bro, I went.

Now before anything can happen in this church, you need to purchase the monthly booklet which the pastor publishes. So an assistant pastor got up and said the reading for today was from this booklet, then jijingbangban come start! 'How many of you in this church have this booklet? If you have it, raise it up and shout alleluia! Oh! I can see a lot of you without this. What! How can you be here and you don't have this, that is terrible, you must have this booklet, you must, Do not tell me you do not have 150 naira to this o! that means the you do not believe int he God we serve. Dip your hands into your pockets buy this booklet, ushers go from aisle to aisle and make sure everybody has this.'

Frankly, I felt a bit overwhelmed by all these. I mean, come on, majority of the people there have only that 150 naira, but I could see some sort of frenzy in the air. ' Ah! This booklet, we get to buy am o! Ah! pastor go vex o!' Crap! Utter Crap! What happened to the Bible? If pastor's words in the booklet are based on the based, then what is the essence of this booklet which is a great revenue generator for the church? On this same day, some pastor in this church got up and was saying, ' you young men, I can see a lot of you without any suit on. from now on, you must wear a suit to the church.' Shuo! What if these guys have no money to buy the suit? What if they have to go and steal before they can get that suit? Pastor care? For where! Pastor is after only one thing - lucre, and he will do or say anything to make sure he gets it from you, whether you like it or not.

So I look at all this and I see a lot of suffering around, yet these pastors cannot even tell it like it is. They cannot even tell the masses that it is time to rise up as one and hold the imbeciles in government to account. I look around, I see a lot of these pastors wielding so much power over these people and yet using it wrongly. All they want are the trappings of wealth and damn the rest. They cannot even profer possible solutions like I did in this post.

Ah! I don't know, I just don't know. Everyday, same old circle, since indepence, same old mantra, ' e go better, God dey'.

Madness within

© Stani, All rights reserved

Reflecting on the turmoils that sometimes besets me, us, everyone! There are times when we face this darkness that is just so pervading that we do not know how to carry on, but somehow, with God, we find a way through it all. Well, for some of you, who don't believe in God, somehow, inexplicably, you come through it. If not by God's grace, then how? Well who knows really? Here is a little write on it anyhow:


Lost in darkness
trapped in madness
searching for light within
looking in vain.

Everywhere
destruction
oppression
repression.


Little ones
all innocence
no thoughts for the
morrow.

Look into the abyss
blackness all around
dejection
hopelessness.

What constructive criticism will get you!

I submitted this peom for some some constructive critique and did I get my poem slashed and torn apart! I was encouraged particularly by a bloke going by the pseudonym, Bythesea. Here is what he had to say about my write:

Here is what I wrote:

© Stani, All rights reserved

A world held in the throes of darkness
a world looking for a way out of
the quagmire of destruction
that besets it.

The struggle within
has been intense.
Struggle evokes memories
of a life that once was pure.

Everywhere we had turned to
we saw destruction.
We saw oppression, repression
no way out of the clutches of evil.

In our innocence
we thought
safety,
joy.

We looked at our little ones,
innocence personified.
Who will be there for them
when we are gone?

Dark thoughts
swirling in our minds
in a world gone dark
with sorrow, with hopelessness.

Now out of the darkness
comes a herald
bringing a message
of hope, of light!

At first it looks like a
mirage,
apparition,
deception.

Look further
look within
find that strength
to fight off clutches of darkness.

Fight it off, for,
hope is here at last
the light is coming
prepare to meet the light!

The Light of the universe comes
bringing with it
joy, peace,
truth and love.

Now we shall have the last laugh.
We shall look into the abyss
yes, even step into it and
we shall emerge victorious.

We shall stare straight into the
eyes of the dark ones
we shall shine the light into their eyes
we shall bring hope to them.

Oh! Joy!
The Light! Sweet light is coming!
Prepare!
Prepare!
**

Here is the critique:

I question-- but kindly and lightly-- why the hourglass
figure? Why draw attention to a poem when attention
ought be drawn away?

I will list phrases that ought not, ever, grace a line of
poetry again in this lifetime-- and a few hours into eternity.

throes of darkness
quagmire of destruction
life thaat once was pure
clutches of evil
innocence personified
prepare to meet the light
dark thoughts swirling in our minds
message of hope, of light
peace, joy, truth and love
emerge victorious

and the rest.

All here is good evangelical, pentacostalism-- lessons that scream
their value if one's belief lies in such, but please do it in prose, not
in a poem. Allow these woeful warnings (George Fox-- "Woe to the
city of Lichfield!") to come in prose.

Poetry requires CONCRETE details which correlate to abstractions.

When I read 'throes of darkness,' I poured myself a shot of Bushmills
Irish whiskey, drank it and then went out and bashed my face against
the lamp post just outside my study, then I injected Nexium in my
left eyeball.

However, I will rescind this reply if you can tell me what 'a throe of dark-
ness' is, or a 'clutch of evil.' What is evil? And when is evil clutching?
**

A world held in the throes of darkness
a world looking for a way out of
the quagmire of destruction
that besets it.
**
How it might have been written ...
how it all would end,
how it all would go.

***
They said the bulb would last and light
my way to the sink, to drink-- and I
a Kansas City housewife standing
in the doorway of destructions and eruptions
and corruptions-- on Doomsday.

Is everyone safe?
Does everyone have a place to hide?

Then I sent the children out to play ...

##
bythesea

http://www.splashhall.org/poetry_forums/index.php/topic,14202.0.html

There you go, you go looking for it, you will get more than you bargained for:

When I read 'throes of darkness,' I poured myself a shot of Bushmills
Irish whiskey, drank it and then went out and bashed my face against
the lamp post just outside my study, then I injected Nexium in my
left eyeball.

Arsenal Vlog: EPL - Sunderland v Arsenal

Arsenal Vlog: EPL - Sunderland v Arsenal

Gunners humbled by the Tigers

Picture source: http://www.skysports.com/football/match_report/0,19764,11065_3003308,00.html

© Stani, All rights reserved

I sit here, this very minute
my poor, aching heart
lies here, bleeding in my arms
us Gunners have been stunned 2-1 by Hull's Tigers.

What a day to wake up to
another season of frustration
staring me in the face
the usual rigmarole of the Gooners!

Here is a message to you Arsene
you, who are a purveyor of beautiful football,
we have waited too long for this to pay off,
seems to me, beautiful football wins no laurels!

Now the time has come
to rethink this beautiful strategy.
To be beaten by the Tigers,
what a shame, what a waste of beauty

Prepare for the Light

This poem was written for the lovely painting above as a contest entry. The painting is by Jo-An Greinert, a truly amazing artist. The painting is titled Prepare for the Light.

On September 6. © Stani, All rights reserved

A world held in the throes of darkness
a world looking for a way out of
the quagmire of destruction
that besets it.

The struggle within
has been intense.
Struggle evokes memories
of a life that once was pure.

Everywhere we had turned to
we saw destruction.
We saw oppression, repression
no way out of the clutches of evil.

In our innocence
we thought
safety,
joy.

We looked at our little ones,
innocence personified.
Who will be there for them
when we are gone?

Dark thoughts
swirling in our minds
in a world gone dark
with sorrow, with hopelessness.

Now out of the darkness
comes a herald
bringing a message
of hope, of light!

At first it looks like a
mirage,
apparition,
deception.

Look further
look within
find that strength
to fight off clutches of darkness.

Fight it off, for,
hope is here at last
the light is coming
prepare to meet the light!

The Light of the universe comes
bringing with it
joy, peace,
truth and love.

Now we shall have the last laugh.
We shall look into the abyss
yes, even step into it and
we shall emerge victorious.

We shall stare straight into the
eyes of the dark ones
we shall shine the light into their eyes
we shall bring hope to them.

Oh! Joy!
The Light! Sweet light is coming!
Prepare!
Prepare!

Mosaic of a Lonely Princess

This was written as a contest entry for Ms Black Eyeliner's competition. One of the options was to write a poem about her picture. I did the best I could! (Her picture is reproduced here by her kind permission)

© Stani, All rights reserved

I see in you, one with so many sides
many facets, intricately intertwined,
woven, meshed and arranged
personalities created for so many different reasons.

Strength carefully hidden
behind a look of gentility
could be mistaken for timidity
yet never taken for a ride.

Modest
blate
roguish
diffident.

Promises of sweetness
giving off vibes of hardness
unwelcoming
yet needing.

Coy
secretive
furtive
lovely.

Need to be wanted
need to be chased
need to be taken
need to be shaken.

Promises held behind
unwelcoming eyes
yet look deeper and see
promises held for the one who persists.

Fully clothed
yet stark naked
inviting any who dare
into sweet land of promise.

Promises of what you would do for me
if I conquer.
You like a fighter
a winner.

In those eyes I see determination
determination to succeed
determination to be loved
determination to be held.

Erotically unsure
yet a picture of sublime eroticism
capable of stirring even
those dead to passion.

Erotically inspiring
milky white skin
now tingling, reddening all over
goose pimples taking over now.

Touching yourself now
feeling my touch through your fingers.
Electric.
Charged, ready to explode.

Hold on.

I see
pensiveness
fear?
Anger maybe.

Anger bottled up?
Frustrations behind the looks
Too much injury held in
too much sorrow?

I see also
humor
wittiness if allowed
quick with the sharp banters.

Now back to the body
sweet, full of promise
quivering
voice gone husky with desire.

Back to touching through nimble fingers
touches going faster now
kisses imagined
body all aglow with fire.

Gentle fall to reality
fully sated
wondering
where all that came from.

Fantasy

Contest entry to the picture. I don't know who the artist is, so cannot credit him or her.






© Stani, All rights reserved

There you go again
teasing, beautiful.
Delilah to my Samson
there for the taking, yet not there.
Fantasy personified
if only I could lay my hands on you
drink in beauty so bold, so sweet
wrap my arms around sweetness
dance a long slow jig in your moist, juicy tutu.
Fantasy!

http://allpoetry.com/poem/4569509

Possible solution to Nigeria's problem

It is quite possible that the solution to Nigeria's problem lies in her break up! Oooops! Some people are gonna call me all sort of names now! It does not matter, but let's look at this issue objectively.

What has Nigeria achieved by remaining as one? Well let us enumerate our achievements:

1. Corruption. Well there is corruption everywhere, but Nigeria has achieved so much in this field that we have been named as one of the MOST corrupt nations on earth. A great achievement certainly, since this has made Nigeria and her citizens well known all over the world. With this achievement, even Nigerian leaders are subjected to all sorts of humiliation these days at major airports, just in case they are carrying loads of money to launder abroad.

2. Crime. Well, of course, where there is so much corruption (which is in itself a crime), it only follows that there would be so much crime on the land. This can be regarded as one of Nigeria's monumental achievement, since nobody is safe from criminals anymore. Even government officials are being targeted these days. Just the other day, there were reports that dare-devil armed robbers broke their way into the residence of the Honourable Governor of Delta State. Wicked! There were also reports, which I have been unable to confirm, that the President's mother or mother-in-law was robbed or attacked, I don't know if that is true, but it is an indication of the future lawless which faces Nigeria and her citizens. There is no security in the land anymore. The boys in the Niger-Delta are not even helping matters. I mean, they were supposed to be fighting for the liberation of the land, but the 'liberation struggle' has been turned into a travesty. Now all we hear about are kidnappings and the payment of ransoms. How ridiculous, how stupid! These criminals aim to take over the land and drive away the government. May God help us then.

3. Black-outs. As an achievement, this is certainly worth mentioning. Those who can afford it, spend at least 2,000 naira everyday on diesel or petrol for their generators. We are so good together as a nation, that we are content or rather our leaders are content to leave the nation in constant darkness. I just can't understand this but it is something to be proud of, a great achievement. With this our children can continue to study with kerosene lanterns or candles. Even if they come out of it with bad sight, who cares?

4. Decline in Education. This is one which I like a lot. Education is so bad in Nigeria that employers quake to employ graduates. A spokesperson for MAN once said that the graduates produced these days do not even know what they are talking about. I believe him. As a result of the decline, our graduates who go to the western nations are made to go through a re-education as Nigerian certificates are not much recognised anywhere. This is a great achievement of our togetherness and it is very commendable. A UN report recently stated that at least 10 million Nigerian children are not going to school. THey have started on the part of idleness. I wish they would remain like that, but that is wishful thinking o! These 10 million represent a potential 10 million armed robbers, 419 and the likes. I wonder what will be happening in 5 to 10 years because of these 10 million. Anyway, let's move on. There is still much to yap about.

5. Brain drain. Well, everybody knows this one. As a direct consequence of the decline in education, everybody who can afford it, sends their kids abroad to get a better education. I hear they even send their children to Ghana. Hahaha! Ghana! Na wa o! Jokes apart, this is pretty cool. Our children get to get a good education abroad and then remain there and contribute valiantly to the foreign economies while our own economy suffers back home. This is good because, the few people in government can then afford to continue on the 'rankandede' or 'bros' tip. You know, 'bros, find me small thing now, things hard o!', and the 'bros' will 'demo' a little and then give the supplicant a 'little something' to hold him and his family till the next time.

I could go on and on and on. There is so much we have achieved in the 40 years or so of our independence, and you know what? It has all been CRAP. Yes, CRAP. That is what our so-called leaders have dished out to us for over 40 years and it seems we like it. We have perfected the 'e go better' attitude. Take whatever life throws your way, look up and say ' God go do am' and then continue to take more nonsense, more insults, more suffering and smiling.

Our children can't go to school anymore. Schooling is the prerogative of the rich. So if you cannot afford the enormous school fees of the private universities, then tough!

I just don't understand the Nigerian psyche. We possess everything in our power to force these imbeciles, these people who call themselves rulers, to make things better, yet we just fold our hands and wait for manna to fall from heaven. Well, let me tell you, manna is already there, but if we are so stupid as to not realise that, then we will continue on this path. This path of self-destruction. Nigeria might end up imploding, not from war but from suffering, from hunger, from dejection, from poverty.

It is time for us to get off our collective backsides and decide on how tomorrow will be for us. It is time we decided that tomorrow will be better for our children, that there will be enough food to eat. It is time to think! We can either remain together as one nation and continue suffering or we split up into something that will work out well for everybody. We do not necessarily need to fight to achieve this. A breakup can be amicable as evidenced by the peacefull breakup of Czechoslovakia. We can do this or continue as we are. Suffering and smiling. Abeg, I don tire for today!

Rant on the security situation back home

The security situation back home continues to give one cause for concern. I was reading the Guardian Newspaper today and this story simply struck me as incredulous! http://odili.net/news/source/2008/aug/19/29.html It is a story about how dare-devil armed robbers found a way into the government house of the Delta State government, carting away goods worth up to 2.6 million naira in the process.

If the government house of a state governor could be burgled in this fashion and subjected to ridicule, what hope is there for the man on the street? The man who has no security officers guarding him/her?

This security situation calls for urgent redress by the Nigerian government. Something serious needs to be done to arrest a situation that has gone so out-of-hand, that the miscreants now target governors and government officials. What the criminals are invariably saying is, ' f$@k you Nigeria, there is nothing you can do to stop us, we are stronger than you now, we are above the law!'

Of course, the little man on the street should not hold his/her breath! Successive Nigerian governments have failed to take the security situation serious and this has led to the deterioration in law and order.

The Police Force is basically useless and cannot even take care of its own house. Rather than try their best to find a way out of this quagmire that we have placed ourselves, they instead, spend their time fighting stupid battles that further subject our already ridiculous image to more ridicule! They would rather spend their time demoting Nuhu Ribadu, or arresting prostitutes, than spend their time fighting crime. The only work they have to do is collect twenty naira notes from bus and okada drivers and they will kill and have killed to protect this lucrative source of livelihood. If they are not busy at that, then they are busy setting up road blocks to spread further headache for the common man.

The way the situation is now, no one even knows who to run to anymore. You could meet men dressed in uniform on the highway and they turn out to be armed robbers. Even if you meet the real policemen, they would not hesitate to rob you if they can get away with it. The way the nation is now, it is every man for himself.

The nincompoops we have running the National Assembly are another matter. Instead of fashioning bills that will help in arresting the deteriorating security situation, they spend their time fashioning bills against 'immoral dressing by women!'. How stupid! They even went to the United Nations to talk about that! If the situation on the ground was not so serious, I would be rolling on the ground with laughter and probably die of it too!

Nigerians are weighed down already by too much - poverty, corrupt officials, dead-end education systems, etc - and to compound things further, they have to be saddled with a security situation that has been left unattended by the government. Of course, there is crime everywhere, but if the State pretends as if it is not there, then it will get out of control. This security situation is affecting Nigeria in so many ways - lack of inward foreign investment, brain drain, to name but a few.

The fact remains, something urgent needs to be done by the National government as soon as possible or this will result in anarchy. The Nigerian State and the symbols that represent her should be held sacrosanct by every citizen of the country – if governors and government officials are being attacked this fashion by armed robbers, then they are sending a message to the State. That message needs to be addressed in the right fashion but these miscreants are being left alone to grow in strength, to amass dangerous weapons and if care is not taken, Nigeria being the kind of state it is, will be taken over by them. It is still not too late to tackle these guys, the government can still act now and bring order into a situation which is fast spiralling out of control

Ranting time

What a story! Nigerian official arrested for hiring witch doctor - http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/08/08/nigeria.arrest.ap/index.html

I had to wake yesterday to read about this on CNN.com. It illustrates the frustrations I feel, a lot of the time, about my country. This shows the level of intelligence which the people in authority have, this same level of intelligence that will ensure that Nigeria will never leave the dark ages!

It's so sad, really. If this man was good enough to have been made head of the agency in question, why is he afraid of his subordinate ousting him from his position? I'd be willing to bet that his appointment in the first place. was based on cronyism or favoritism.

In this time and age, only in Nigeria, or other parts of Africa, will you hear about issues such as witch craft etc. If it wasn't so sad and pathetic, I would be rolling around, dying of laughter.

Every government appointment is looked upon, not as a means of helping the nation, but as way of filling individual bank accounts, siphoning millions out of the country in the process and furthering the suffering that already pervades the land. So people will go to any length to remain in power, even if it means hiring witch doctors to kill their subordinates.

Some will say, 'Why is it that only news like this gets published in western media? They never print good news about our country'. Well tell me, when exactly has there been anything good worth reporting about? When was the last time we heard of a Nigerian invention that would go a long way in helping humanity? Even if you hear of such things, what happens to the inventors, are they encouraged to continue? Does the government give them encouragement? Of course not! They are busy lining up their pockets with ill-gotten gains.

It makes me wonder, this witch craft of a thing. There are probably witches and witch doctors everywhere. I doubt if they would be using their supernatural powers to kill each other. No! That is only the prerogative of Africans. Witches in other places are probably use their powers to further enrich mankind. Maybe that is why you see people coming up with different types of inventions in other parts of the world, people coming up with various advances in Medicine, Computing and other walks of life, but in Africa we are busy killing ourselves.

I hope someday, we will wake up to the sad fact that, Nigeria may be making a little progress in some aspects, but in the main things that matter, we are just are just not making any head way and these are the things which will get us out of the 'dark ages'.