CredoWritersBy: Wakdok,Samuel Stephen
My dad does not keep a diary but I am not my dad. I can only want to be like him in ways I can; yet I am myself, a different person even if just a baby and so in my less than three months on earth I keep a diary; my own diary.
I was surprised to be born in a private or call it catholic hospital when I came to find out that my uncle works in a teaching hospital. Since a teaching hospital is a tertiary health provider I expected to get the best but I was more surprised to hear that Uncle Besto as he is fondly called warned my dad against having me delivered in their teaching hospital. Why? I asked; my uncle does not trust the facilities in government hospitals where he works. They may have the best brains but the facilities and services may not be able to match his confidence level and he wants the best for me as his nephew.
Shortly after my mum was delivered of me, just less than fourteen hours later to be specific, Jos caught fire and the scene where it all started was just less than 2 kilometers from my hospital bed and my mum had not even fully recovered from the anesthesia. The tanks rolled beside my wall and though I was less than a day old, I was not expected to hear or make sounds, I heard the sounds of war and the war is taking a heavy toll on humanity. I will love to skip the horrors of March 7, 2010 where children and women were made to face the inhumanity of man to man at a genocidal proportion. Funny enough my mum took me on a flight as if to Egypt when Herod wanted to kill the baby Jesus. She has refused to go back to the city my dad loves most in the world because the world has become unsafe even for harmless and innocent children and women, perhaps I now know that the innocents are the most vulnerable.
I am a baby, but the power situation has taught me how to sweat like an iron smith. I stare at the bulbs so much when PHCN manage to supply electricity or when daddy puts on the generator. I hear noise but the light which illuminates from the noise making machine over shadows the noise, unfortunately my dad spends money buying fuel to just give us few hours light at night. For the very few times the power comes on, I skip my sleep to stare at that beautiful but evading brightness and the breeze from the fan can be so soothing, I only wish we can have power always.
Sadly, my maternal grand father died after a brief illness in a government hospital, they were proud to inform my mourning family as they must have been doing to others that the mortuary is not working. A doctor class mate of my uncle was bold to tell my dad that since she came to that hospital; the mortuary has never worked that she knows of. Alas; I now understand uncle Besto’s fear about my mum giving birth to me in their teaching hospital which is government owned. In Nigeria there is either no effective government or there is a government cartel run along family and business lines and the rest outside this alliance are left to fend for themselves in anyway and every way even if to the point of death. When we traveled for the interment I saw the state of roads and I will need to grow older to be able to describe the condition of these roads in my diary, for now I will keep the pictures of what I saw in the fatigue my small body and bones went through.
My aunties and mum told my dad how I watch TV with keen interest even at my tender age; my dad dismissed them as exaggerating the scenario. Last night when the generator powered TV was on, I saw the only ex-military President concurring to speculations that he would contest the 2011 presidential election on the platform of the PDP. My dad was furious because he believes Nigeria got its descent into abyss during the evil reign of IBB and he is so mad that people are even considering IBB for presidency in 2011. IBB was the man who looted the treasury like no one before him ever did and he opened the gateway to Nigeria’s hell. If IBB had used his executive military power, the abundant oil wealth and his 8 years of tenaciously holding to power to build roads, refineries and power plants, the level of infrastructural decay witnessed now will never have happened. IBB politicized the military by giving political appointments to junior officers who were called IBB boys at the expense of their superiors. These same junior officers would later return to the barracks with millions and exotic cars and were expected to take orders from their superiors? He stirred the hornet’s nest by sneaking a secular Nigeria into the organization of Islamic countries. So much time was wasted on debating the IMF conditionalities while the citizens vehemently rejected it, IBB went behind their back to introduce the structural adjustment programme. He undid the best election and called it annulment, my dad is really mad that IBB could even dare to think of coming back. But in Nigeria the evil minded have always held the country to ransom.
I was born at a time that Nigeria had no resident President, the hullabaloo of making the then Vice President to act was tearing the nation apart, eventually when the pressure became unbearable the National Assembly introduced the doctrine of necessity into the polity and proclaimed the VP as AP( Acting President). The controversial Attorney General was promptly relegated to the delight of most Nigerians. After the Executive council of the federation was dissolved hopes were high that a new council would comprise of dynamic visionaries and experts, hopes seemed dashed when most of the new members are either recycled or come from families with ties to those who have milked this nation dry.
I love my Spanish name even though I wonder why my dad gave me the name Salvador which reminds people of the Mexican soap opera titled Second Chance. However he argues that he had that name in mind years before he got married or even came across the soap opera. My name can be translated to mean saviour or rescuer. Apparently Nigeria needs a second chance and Nigerians need to become the saviours and rescuers of themselves. This can only be done when we all stand for the right cause and sacrifice our inordinate ambitions for the glory of truth and country. Babies like me must grow to know what is right and not just anything. Above all the country must be given a new lease of life by allowing the new breeds an opportunity to enter the arena. Enough of the same old names of the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s. Let us take a cue from the Tony Blairs, Gordon Browns and David Camerons of the Britain, the Bill Clintons and Barrack Obamas of United States. Yesterday, the youths were the leaders of tomorrow. The youths of yesterday should be the leaders of today so that the youth of today may be the leaders tomorrow.
I am a credo kid and I believe that we will make it. But the nation will make it only when our elders set their priorities rights and leave the stage for the new breed to continue. Continuity does not have to remain with the individual; continuity is only guaranteed if the system has the capacity to regenerate irrespective of individuals. What is needed is for the institutional capacities to be strengthened and guaranteed and not for power to keep rotating among old hands and fagged brains .No individual should be too powerful to hold the system captive and no system should be so inefficient to make millions of people suffer in a nation blessed with abundant resources both natural and human.
The candle I am using to write is almost burning out and I am sweating profusely, I would have loved to have a cold bath but my mum says it must be with hot water since I am still a baby. The water is almost boiling she needs to fix it with some cold water but the tap is not running. I guess she has gone out to look for water vendors or mai-ruwa as they call them. Here I sit writing in my diary and my dad is held up in the traffic after a hard day at work. Things must change for the better before I grow up so that life may be more meaningful for us in this nation.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Saturday, March 6, 2010
FOREVER AND A DAY
FOREVER AND A DAY
(1)
CredoFiction- Wakdok, Samuel Stephen.
She is sexy, voluptuous, and dangerously beautiful. Exactly as I have always wished my lady to be. She brings all the passion and fantasy of my teenage years to life. I have always wanted to meet and fall in love with the most beautiful woman who will make heads turn on the street and even in the church. I have loved to have a woman that will make any man jealous. And also to have a lady who is hospitable and friendly to all.
I had a very busy schedule for the day; the appointment with the consultants was finally scheduled to hold today after about three postponements. As the lead partner in my architectural firm, this was the kind of contract I have always dreamed of. Once we successfully execute this contract and the sum is paid, I am sure of making triple digits which will launch me and the firm to unimaginable heights. The beauty of the design alone will earn us more business and I am very sure that this is just the beginning of our ----
Kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
Tyres screeching
I was so buried in my thoughts that I didn’t see the other car coming from left side of the road; before I could turn to see the car I had quickly maneuvered my car to avoid hitting the other car. I couldn’t imagining getting involved in any accident today of all days when I am about sealing this life changing deal and clinching the contract. As I swerved my steering to avoid hitting the other car, there was no way I would know that I had left the road and had hit my car against a broken down vehicle. Before I could rescue myself out of my car the other driver who caused all these quickly drove away.
I assessed my car to see the extent of the damage, luckily no injury to me or any other person, but this would surely delay me as my radiator was already empty, it gave way when I hit the stationary vehicle. I have just an option – take a cab to the meeting because I cannot afford to miss it at any cost.
“Oh no I am sorry, it is a pity you got involved in this but can we be grateful to God for your life?” Came one of the sweetest voice I have ever heard. As I turned to look at the owner of the voice I saw a face more beautiful. She was dressed in a casual but decent top and jean. Yet from her clothe I could see her feminity peeping out. I was still looking for my voice to respond to her concern when she moved closer and asked me if I was okay.
“I am Suzanna. How do we get you and your car out of this situation?”
My name is Felix was all I could stutter as her breathe enveloped the atmosphere.
I looked at my wrist watch and saw that I only had 15 minutes to the meeting. How long with it take my mechanic to get to the scene? Unless I decide to leave the car on the road since going late for that meeting was not thinkable.
She seemed to have read my thoughts and asked me what I was going to do.
“Suzanna, I have this urgent and very important meeting to attend and I have less than 15 minutes …
She cut me short before I could finish and asked for the venue of the meeting. Apparently she lives not far away from the scene of the accident. She put a call through to her driver and when he came she offered to drive me to the venue of my meeting. Her driver would wait until my mechanic comes to take my car to his workshop.
We talked less as we drove to the venue, she guessed rightly that I needed to calm down and regain my composure and I was grateful to her for both the ride and the silence. I travelled back to my thoughts and was oscillating between the beauty beside me who came to my rescue and the project I was looking for to clinch. We got to the venue on schedule and as I was alighting from her car, I bent down to pick my laptop; she reached out and touched one of my shoulders asking me when I would be through with the meeting.
All I could tell her “it is a business meeting and I can’t determine how long it would take. But immediately we are through I will take a taxi to my mechanic’s since I hope he would have been through with my car by that time.”
I was so happy that I made it to the meeting on time and I lacked words to express my appreciation. I quickly put my hand into my pocket and fished out my card and passed it to her. I thanked her for saving my day rushed away before I realized I didn’t collect her card. I ran back to her car and asked for her card which she didn’t have in the car but promised to text me her number since I was in a hurry.
I clinched the project deal and I was elated. That was when I realized that her text had not come in and all the euphoria of hundreds of millions in naira fizzled because I want to see Suzanna again. She made it possible for me to be punctual at the meeting and the money gave way for the quest of seeing her eyes again and listen to that sweet voice of hers.
So much has happened in one day and it seems it will take me a life time to forget the money I will make and the lady who came to my aid.
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FOREVER AND A DAY
(2)
CredoFiction- Wakdok, Samuel Stephen.
Luckily when I got to the mechanic’s garage he had fixed the car. I was hoping if the Suzanna’s driver dropped his GSM number with my mechanic but he answered in the negative. I paid for the job and zoomed off. Already my office colleagues were calling to congratulate me on this quantum leap and we were billed to celebrate this big feet at the Zest; one of the newest joints in town. I drove home to have a quick shower and change into something casual. Much as I was overjoyed from the success of our contract and was so enthusiastic to share the pleasurable moment with my partners and colleagues, I notice that I was thinking more of Suzanna than the jack pot we just hit. Life! Is this how it is that we crave for something and when we get it we crave for something more? In the afternoon of this day until the sudden car crash and my meeting with Suzanna; all I longed for was to clinch the deal which we just did, but now there is this feeling of wanting something intangible. Every sms that hits my cell phone gives me hope of her number coming in only to be dashed when I see a client or a friend’s text.
In the heat of that accident and the rush to make the meeting, I didn’t realize that the phone in my hand is the new one I bought with a new SIM and this new number is not on my card. I must have left the other phone on my table when I dashed out this afternoon. I hurriedly changed and drove to the office, on my way I tried calling my secretary severally but her line was not connecting. When I got to my office I saw her text and several missed calls from that line. As I was trying to call her back another text of hers came in
Felix, I came back to pick you but I was told the meeting was over. I called many times but you were not picking. I hope your meeting went as planned. Try fixing your car and get some rest. Sue.”
I stood there transfixed, undecided; should I call her and get her address or go ahead to the Zest where my colleagues and I will be celebrating?
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FOREVER AND A DAY
(3)
CredoFiction- Wakdok, Samuel Stephen.
I have always stood by my principles of not mixing business with pleasure and since the outing at the Zest is a continuation of our business victory, I owe my colleagues the duty of been there. Calling Suzanna will tempt me to want to meet her tonight and I wouldn’t want to risk standing up my colleagues.
When I got to the Zest, the enthusiasm of my partners was high, I was glad I didn’t keep them waiting any longer. We had drinks, ate enough meat and talked about our fortune and the fame that will come with it. We agreed that this is just the beginning and we must put more efforts to surpass our client’s expectation as that will open more doors for us all. Thankfully today is Friday and as such we can all rest tomorrow being Saturday. I needed the rest more than any one can imagine.
It was a long night for me, I tried severally but Sue’s line was switched off. I wanted to thank her on voice call apart from the text I sent when I was at the Zest. I was so exasperated that I should have slept like a log but this night sleep was not forthcoming. I couldn’t imagine how beautiful and sweet she was, I was grateful for her saving grace but most of it my heart began to travel and I want to meet her tomorrow, no tonight, no; right now. I wish she was here with me. I want to stare into those eyes and listen again to that voice. All the money I will make will not make any sense, not any more. I have suddenly found out that my fantasy has a face, my passion has a name, and my dream is real.
I struggled to sleep that night and since I was so fagged out, sleep came at about 3 am and I did not know when it was day break. I dragged myself to the bathroom and had a cold bath to clear off the fatigue. I could hear the beep of my cell phone and I was happy when her text came in. She turned in early for the night and she usually switches her phone. I called her and thanked her for the previous day’s kindness. She agreed to see me later in the day and I was so excited, I could only hold myself from screaming on the phone and wait for the time. Since my car was now in order, I offered to pick her but she declined and we agreed on meeting at La Ayisha, a cool spot not far from where we met the previous day. If she was beautiful yesterday, she is stunningly beautiful today. If she was sexy yesterday she is unethically tempting today. She smelled so sweet I felt like devouring her. I stood mesmerized at the sight of such a beauty that I did not even open my mouth to greet her.
“Felix, it is good to see you again. How are you today?”
I was jolted back to life when I heard my name.
We talked about a lot of things and by the end of that lunch, it was obvious that a friendship has been struck, but deep in my heart I knew that a day alone with this exquisite lady will not calm my nerves. I have always prided myself as a guy with self control, ladies do not accelerate my heart beat.I know that I am goodlooking, full of brains and sweet words and always in charge when it comes to matters of the heart; but here I am staring at my heart slipping away and should I be glad to let it go?
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FOREVER AND A DAY
(4)
CredoFiction- Wakdok, Samuel Stephen.
“Felix, you know it has been wonderful knowing you. I just do not go about throwing my self at men. With you it was different, the first day I saw you I couldn’t pretend to myself, it was obvious I liked you and I showed it.”
“But I can not jump into another relationship now,I have not healed from the past relationship. Tony is a nice man, he did not break my heart;though I was hurt by his decision, I perfectly understand his reason.”
I have spoken all the words I can,yet she remained adamant. She is not ready to dare more than been friends. How can I tell what Tony did to her unless she tells me?
“Darling you know I love you, but I am sorry this thing can not work.It is not your fault and neither is it mine. The only blame I take is not bringing this up earlier, and that was because I was so consumed by our love and your sweetness that I did not think anything could come between us but sweet heart this is beyond us and you know it”
“Tony, where do you want me to start from? How do you want me to go on living , I love you and with you all that I am is in your heart.”
“Suzanna, yes I know all these;I love you and that is why I am asking you to let go. All that is not love ,that does not begin with love and end with love.”
“Tony is it my fault that both of us are carriers?”
“I didn’t say it was yours and I will be devastated too, but I know so much than to let us get into this. The future is longer than today, I want to save us all the problems that may arise which you know will not be in our control.”
“You have always confessed your love for me, remember how difficult it was for me to accept your overtures because I hate risking my heart. Eventually when you persisted and I saw how serious you were , I gave in and ever since I have loved you like I do to my soul.”
“It is because I love you that I am risking my life’s happiness to give us an opportunity to live happily. Loving you today will be useless if we can not remain in love forever.”
“What will stop us from loving always? If we love and love the way we do now, we can always stand what ever comes our way.Please Tony do not do this to me.”
I could see the mist in her eyes, I wanted to tell her to stop but I needed to know what she had suffered and why she is not forthcoming in opening her heart to another man.
“Suzanna, it takes a man that really loves you to give you up. If I am selfsih now, we all will suffer later. You, the kids and I.Take this as a sacrifice and evidence of my love. You will be hurt but that is because you are naïve now .”
FOREVER AND A DAY
(5)
CredoFiction- Wakdok, Samuel Stephen.
“I loved him, I felt like dying but life has to gone on. I withdrew into my shell. My dad was the Defense Attache to Mexico, I resigned my job at MTN and went to Mexico for a while to get over Tony. There I read and learnt more about Tony’s fear.
Hitherto, I took it for granted. Apart from treating it in a topic in senior school biology I didn’t bother much about sickle cell anemia. I went back to dig some books about this subject that has caused me the greatest pain of my life. I was born into an aristocratic home, I am beautiful and they also said I have a stunning figure; men hardly give me a break even when Tony was all over me.
Sickle cell anemia is a genetic life-long blood disorder which is occurs mostly in the tropics where malaria is common. It is characterized by the red blood cells assuming an abnormal rigid sickle shape. Tissues that do not have a normal blood flow become damaged. Sickle cell anemia is inherited. If one parent has Sickle Cell Anemia (AS) and the other is Normal (AA), all of the children will have sickle cell trait.
If one parent has Sickle Cell Anemia (SS) and the other has Sickle Cell Trait (AS), there is a 50% chance (or 1 out of 2) of having a baby with either sickle cell disease or sickle cell trait with each pregnancy.
When both parents have Sickle Cell Trait, they have a 25% chance (1 of 4) of having a baby with sickle cell disease with each pregnancy.
“Tony and I happened to have the traits meaning we both are AS and that was the waterloo of our love relationship. Because I didn’t bother to know my genotype earlier, we never talked about it until almost three years into our relationship when Tony brought it up. He had a friend whose kids were suffering from the disease and the parents watched helpless as two of their children died. They made frantic efforts to save the kids through blood transfusion and other means, but there is no universal cure for sickle cell anemia.”
As she spoke I was astonished. I do not even know my own genotype. I have never cared all I know is that my blood group is A+.
My world stopped for a moment as I try to think what next to do. Rush to have a test of course; but my fear grew. After her experience with Tony and what she now knows about the disease, she swore that she is so grateful to Tony for saving her and their unborn kids from the risk of sickle cell and she will not even go into any relationship if the man has the trait or where he is ignorant of his genotype.
I was under so much pressure that I could not imagine what the result of my test will be. If I was a carrier like her will I live a normal life again without this lady full of life and sweetness? She is sexy, voluptuous, and dangerously beautiful. Exactly as I have always wished my lady to be and now I am loosing her to one senseless biological trait the way she lost Tony? We both waited in silence as the laboratory technologist walked out with my result, my eyes closed themselves and all the laughter in this world seem to evaporate right before me.
Epilogue
Suzanna and Felix have never stopped talking about the way they met and how they narrowly missed falling in love because of sickle cell anemia. Interestingly they both concur that it was so helpful they found out about their genotype before getting committed and thank heavens Felix’s genotype happened to be AA after the test results came out. They did two more tests to be very sure and Suzanna has never been this happy. She lost Tony but was glad she met Felix. Their wedding bells are already ringing and they have set up an NGO to educate people about the importance of knowing their Genotype and the help they will be doing themselves and their would- be children if they took informed decisions of not marrying themselves if they suffer or carry the traits. They are also opening access to therapies that will limit the pains and sufferings of those suffering from it.
Love is beautiful but sickle cell anemia in children may shatter that love when we marry blindly.
“I love you Felix and I will never let go of you my King.”
“Sue, you are my Pearl, my heart beat and my all; I am dangerously in love with you my Queen”
She is exquisitely beautiful and I am grateful to have her, to live with her for a day is to live forever.
Dedication:
To Jordan and all the products of love whose parents were ignorant of their Genotype status or the love was so strong when they found to let go.
AA + AA= AA,AA, AA,AA=Excellent
AA+AS=AA,AA,AA,AS= Good
AS+AS= AA,AS,AS,SS= Not Good
Note- The probability is the chances of occurrence in every pregnancy and not in the total number of children.
AS+SS= No
SS+SS= Not at all
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(1)
CredoFiction- Wakdok, Samuel Stephen.
She is sexy, voluptuous, and dangerously beautiful. Exactly as I have always wished my lady to be. She brings all the passion and fantasy of my teenage years to life. I have always wanted to meet and fall in love with the most beautiful woman who will make heads turn on the street and even in the church. I have loved to have a woman that will make any man jealous. And also to have a lady who is hospitable and friendly to all.
I had a very busy schedule for the day; the appointment with the consultants was finally scheduled to hold today after about three postponements. As the lead partner in my architectural firm, this was the kind of contract I have always dreamed of. Once we successfully execute this contract and the sum is paid, I am sure of making triple digits which will launch me and the firm to unimaginable heights. The beauty of the design alone will earn us more business and I am very sure that this is just the beginning of our ----
Kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
Tyres screeching
I was so buried in my thoughts that I didn’t see the other car coming from left side of the road; before I could turn to see the car I had quickly maneuvered my car to avoid hitting the other car. I couldn’t imagining getting involved in any accident today of all days when I am about sealing this life changing deal and clinching the contract. As I swerved my steering to avoid hitting the other car, there was no way I would know that I had left the road and had hit my car against a broken down vehicle. Before I could rescue myself out of my car the other driver who caused all these quickly drove away.
I assessed my car to see the extent of the damage, luckily no injury to me or any other person, but this would surely delay me as my radiator was already empty, it gave way when I hit the stationary vehicle. I have just an option – take a cab to the meeting because I cannot afford to miss it at any cost.
“Oh no I am sorry, it is a pity you got involved in this but can we be grateful to God for your life?” Came one of the sweetest voice I have ever heard. As I turned to look at the owner of the voice I saw a face more beautiful. She was dressed in a casual but decent top and jean. Yet from her clothe I could see her feminity peeping out. I was still looking for my voice to respond to her concern when she moved closer and asked me if I was okay.
“I am Suzanna. How do we get you and your car out of this situation?”
My name is Felix was all I could stutter as her breathe enveloped the atmosphere.
I looked at my wrist watch and saw that I only had 15 minutes to the meeting. How long with it take my mechanic to get to the scene? Unless I decide to leave the car on the road since going late for that meeting was not thinkable.
She seemed to have read my thoughts and asked me what I was going to do.
“Suzanna, I have this urgent and very important meeting to attend and I have less than 15 minutes …
She cut me short before I could finish and asked for the venue of the meeting. Apparently she lives not far away from the scene of the accident. She put a call through to her driver and when he came she offered to drive me to the venue of my meeting. Her driver would wait until my mechanic comes to take my car to his workshop.
We talked less as we drove to the venue, she guessed rightly that I needed to calm down and regain my composure and I was grateful to her for both the ride and the silence. I travelled back to my thoughts and was oscillating between the beauty beside me who came to my rescue and the project I was looking for to clinch. We got to the venue on schedule and as I was alighting from her car, I bent down to pick my laptop; she reached out and touched one of my shoulders asking me when I would be through with the meeting.
All I could tell her “it is a business meeting and I can’t determine how long it would take. But immediately we are through I will take a taxi to my mechanic’s since I hope he would have been through with my car by that time.”
I was so happy that I made it to the meeting on time and I lacked words to express my appreciation. I quickly put my hand into my pocket and fished out my card and passed it to her. I thanked her for saving my day rushed away before I realized I didn’t collect her card. I ran back to her car and asked for her card which she didn’t have in the car but promised to text me her number since I was in a hurry.
I clinched the project deal and I was elated. That was when I realized that her text had not come in and all the euphoria of hundreds of millions in naira fizzled because I want to see Suzanna again. She made it possible for me to be punctual at the meeting and the money gave way for the quest of seeing her eyes again and listen to that sweet voice of hers.
So much has happened in one day and it seems it will take me a life time to forget the money I will make and the lady who came to my aid.
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FOREVER AND A DAY
(2)
CredoFiction- Wakdok, Samuel Stephen.
Luckily when I got to the mechanic’s garage he had fixed the car. I was hoping if the Suzanna’s driver dropped his GSM number with my mechanic but he answered in the negative. I paid for the job and zoomed off. Already my office colleagues were calling to congratulate me on this quantum leap and we were billed to celebrate this big feet at the Zest; one of the newest joints in town. I drove home to have a quick shower and change into something casual. Much as I was overjoyed from the success of our contract and was so enthusiastic to share the pleasurable moment with my partners and colleagues, I notice that I was thinking more of Suzanna than the jack pot we just hit. Life! Is this how it is that we crave for something and when we get it we crave for something more? In the afternoon of this day until the sudden car crash and my meeting with Suzanna; all I longed for was to clinch the deal which we just did, but now there is this feeling of wanting something intangible. Every sms that hits my cell phone gives me hope of her number coming in only to be dashed when I see a client or a friend’s text.
In the heat of that accident and the rush to make the meeting, I didn’t realize that the phone in my hand is the new one I bought with a new SIM and this new number is not on my card. I must have left the other phone on my table when I dashed out this afternoon. I hurriedly changed and drove to the office, on my way I tried calling my secretary severally but her line was not connecting. When I got to my office I saw her text and several missed calls from that line. As I was trying to call her back another text of hers came in
Felix, I came back to pick you but I was told the meeting was over. I called many times but you were not picking. I hope your meeting went as planned. Try fixing your car and get some rest. Sue.”
I stood there transfixed, undecided; should I call her and get her address or go ahead to the Zest where my colleagues and I will be celebrating?
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FOREVER AND A DAY
(3)
CredoFiction- Wakdok, Samuel Stephen.
I have always stood by my principles of not mixing business with pleasure and since the outing at the Zest is a continuation of our business victory, I owe my colleagues the duty of been there. Calling Suzanna will tempt me to want to meet her tonight and I wouldn’t want to risk standing up my colleagues.
When I got to the Zest, the enthusiasm of my partners was high, I was glad I didn’t keep them waiting any longer. We had drinks, ate enough meat and talked about our fortune and the fame that will come with it. We agreed that this is just the beginning and we must put more efforts to surpass our client’s expectation as that will open more doors for us all. Thankfully today is Friday and as such we can all rest tomorrow being Saturday. I needed the rest more than any one can imagine.
It was a long night for me, I tried severally but Sue’s line was switched off. I wanted to thank her on voice call apart from the text I sent when I was at the Zest. I was so exasperated that I should have slept like a log but this night sleep was not forthcoming. I couldn’t imagine how beautiful and sweet she was, I was grateful for her saving grace but most of it my heart began to travel and I want to meet her tomorrow, no tonight, no; right now. I wish she was here with me. I want to stare into those eyes and listen again to that voice. All the money I will make will not make any sense, not any more. I have suddenly found out that my fantasy has a face, my passion has a name, and my dream is real.
I struggled to sleep that night and since I was so fagged out, sleep came at about 3 am and I did not know when it was day break. I dragged myself to the bathroom and had a cold bath to clear off the fatigue. I could hear the beep of my cell phone and I was happy when her text came in. She turned in early for the night and she usually switches her phone. I called her and thanked her for the previous day’s kindness. She agreed to see me later in the day and I was so excited, I could only hold myself from screaming on the phone and wait for the time. Since my car was now in order, I offered to pick her but she declined and we agreed on meeting at La Ayisha, a cool spot not far from where we met the previous day. If she was beautiful yesterday, she is stunningly beautiful today. If she was sexy yesterday she is unethically tempting today. She smelled so sweet I felt like devouring her. I stood mesmerized at the sight of such a beauty that I did not even open my mouth to greet her.
“Felix, it is good to see you again. How are you today?”
I was jolted back to life when I heard my name.
We talked about a lot of things and by the end of that lunch, it was obvious that a friendship has been struck, but deep in my heart I knew that a day alone with this exquisite lady will not calm my nerves. I have always prided myself as a guy with self control, ladies do not accelerate my heart beat.I know that I am goodlooking, full of brains and sweet words and always in charge when it comes to matters of the heart; but here I am staring at my heart slipping away and should I be glad to let it go?
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FOREVER AND A DAY
(4)
CredoFiction- Wakdok, Samuel Stephen.
“Felix, you know it has been wonderful knowing you. I just do not go about throwing my self at men. With you it was different, the first day I saw you I couldn’t pretend to myself, it was obvious I liked you and I showed it.”
“But I can not jump into another relationship now,I have not healed from the past relationship. Tony is a nice man, he did not break my heart;though I was hurt by his decision, I perfectly understand his reason.”
I have spoken all the words I can,yet she remained adamant. She is not ready to dare more than been friends. How can I tell what Tony did to her unless she tells me?
“Darling you know I love you, but I am sorry this thing can not work.It is not your fault and neither is it mine. The only blame I take is not bringing this up earlier, and that was because I was so consumed by our love and your sweetness that I did not think anything could come between us but sweet heart this is beyond us and you know it”
“Tony, where do you want me to start from? How do you want me to go on living , I love you and with you all that I am is in your heart.”
“Suzanna, yes I know all these;I love you and that is why I am asking you to let go. All that is not love ,that does not begin with love and end with love.”
“Tony is it my fault that both of us are carriers?”
“I didn’t say it was yours and I will be devastated too, but I know so much than to let us get into this. The future is longer than today, I want to save us all the problems that may arise which you know will not be in our control.”
“You have always confessed your love for me, remember how difficult it was for me to accept your overtures because I hate risking my heart. Eventually when you persisted and I saw how serious you were , I gave in and ever since I have loved you like I do to my soul.”
“It is because I love you that I am risking my life’s happiness to give us an opportunity to live happily. Loving you today will be useless if we can not remain in love forever.”
“What will stop us from loving always? If we love and love the way we do now, we can always stand what ever comes our way.Please Tony do not do this to me.”
I could see the mist in her eyes, I wanted to tell her to stop but I needed to know what she had suffered and why she is not forthcoming in opening her heart to another man.
“Suzanna, it takes a man that really loves you to give you up. If I am selfsih now, we all will suffer later. You, the kids and I.Take this as a sacrifice and evidence of my love. You will be hurt but that is because you are naïve now .”
FOREVER AND A DAY
(5)
CredoFiction- Wakdok, Samuel Stephen.
“I loved him, I felt like dying but life has to gone on. I withdrew into my shell. My dad was the Defense Attache to Mexico, I resigned my job at MTN and went to Mexico for a while to get over Tony. There I read and learnt more about Tony’s fear.
Hitherto, I took it for granted. Apart from treating it in a topic in senior school biology I didn’t bother much about sickle cell anemia. I went back to dig some books about this subject that has caused me the greatest pain of my life. I was born into an aristocratic home, I am beautiful and they also said I have a stunning figure; men hardly give me a break even when Tony was all over me.
Sickle cell anemia is a genetic life-long blood disorder which is occurs mostly in the tropics where malaria is common. It is characterized by the red blood cells assuming an abnormal rigid sickle shape. Tissues that do not have a normal blood flow become damaged. Sickle cell anemia is inherited. If one parent has Sickle Cell Anemia (AS) and the other is Normal (AA), all of the children will have sickle cell trait.
If one parent has Sickle Cell Anemia (SS) and the other has Sickle Cell Trait (AS), there is a 50% chance (or 1 out of 2) of having a baby with either sickle cell disease or sickle cell trait with each pregnancy.
When both parents have Sickle Cell Trait, they have a 25% chance (1 of 4) of having a baby with sickle cell disease with each pregnancy.
“Tony and I happened to have the traits meaning we both are AS and that was the waterloo of our love relationship. Because I didn’t bother to know my genotype earlier, we never talked about it until almost three years into our relationship when Tony brought it up. He had a friend whose kids were suffering from the disease and the parents watched helpless as two of their children died. They made frantic efforts to save the kids through blood transfusion and other means, but there is no universal cure for sickle cell anemia.”
As she spoke I was astonished. I do not even know my own genotype. I have never cared all I know is that my blood group is A+.
My world stopped for a moment as I try to think what next to do. Rush to have a test of course; but my fear grew. After her experience with Tony and what she now knows about the disease, she swore that she is so grateful to Tony for saving her and their unborn kids from the risk of sickle cell and she will not even go into any relationship if the man has the trait or where he is ignorant of his genotype.
I was under so much pressure that I could not imagine what the result of my test will be. If I was a carrier like her will I live a normal life again without this lady full of life and sweetness? She is sexy, voluptuous, and dangerously beautiful. Exactly as I have always wished my lady to be and now I am loosing her to one senseless biological trait the way she lost Tony? We both waited in silence as the laboratory technologist walked out with my result, my eyes closed themselves and all the laughter in this world seem to evaporate right before me.
Epilogue
Suzanna and Felix have never stopped talking about the way they met and how they narrowly missed falling in love because of sickle cell anemia. Interestingly they both concur that it was so helpful they found out about their genotype before getting committed and thank heavens Felix’s genotype happened to be AA after the test results came out. They did two more tests to be very sure and Suzanna has never been this happy. She lost Tony but was glad she met Felix. Their wedding bells are already ringing and they have set up an NGO to educate people about the importance of knowing their Genotype and the help they will be doing themselves and their would- be children if they took informed decisions of not marrying themselves if they suffer or carry the traits. They are also opening access to therapies that will limit the pains and sufferings of those suffering from it.
Love is beautiful but sickle cell anemia in children may shatter that love when we marry blindly.
“I love you Felix and I will never let go of you my King.”
“Sue, you are my Pearl, my heart beat and my all; I am dangerously in love with you my Queen”
She is exquisitely beautiful and I am grateful to have her, to live with her for a day is to live forever.
Dedication:
To Jordan and all the products of love whose parents were ignorant of their Genotype status or the love was so strong when they found to let go.
AA + AA= AA,AA, AA,AA=Excellent
AA+AS=AA,AA,AA,AS= Good
AS+AS= AA,AS,AS,SS= Not Good
Note- The probability is the chances of occurrence in every pregnancy and not in the total number of children.
AS+SS= No
SS+SS= Not at all
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Just Like Yesterday -One Year Wedding Anniversary
CredoWriters:Wakdok,Samuel Stephen
Just Like Yesterday
It was like a dream, can you believe that I just woke up yesterday-02-2010 to find out it was one year since I lost my bachelors and my wife got her masters, one year since we got married? One year of frustration or happiness? One year of regrets or accomplishment. It was one year and the second year has begun counting again.
I recall those years when we were single. We belonged to different schools. As a single I was sure in the luv skool but I was also in the OBB gang (Original Bad Boys) and been in these two schools at a go made it mandatory for me to be in the Heart Break Academy. We knew then that heart break was the sweetest thing to do but the worst thing when you are on the receiving end. I remember one of my female friends telling me that She knows I was not ready to surrender my independence to any woman. So marriage is all about surrendering one's independence huh?hahahahahaha
But sometimes what do we need that independence for? We mostly need it for our freedom. Yet Freedom without responsibility is anarchy. So if marriage means placing responsibility on us to make us better people then it is worth it. That is the truth, Marriage is an eternal union; we go into it never to come out of it and that's what makes us responsible. To know the task ahead, to go into it and stick to it like the stamp.
I know people who were almost ten years my senior when I was in primary school, today I am one year in the institution but they are still single. It takes courage to take the bold step, and maturity to acknowledge the challenges, but it takes commitment to make it work. We can possess the three; courage, maturity and commitment.
One year is so short for me to teach others the lessons so I allow people like Precious,Ayo,Stella and Gabriel to do that. But for the singles who are not ready, please do not rush, and for those who are dragging, please procrastination is the thief of time.
I can't answer the question of what should you consider in choosing a life partner. I have come to understand that no reason is parochial as long as you can live with your decision. If you want to marry a beautiful sexy woman, please go ahead, if your desire is a rich handsome man, please feel free to get one. If you want a friend or a lover or a friend and a lover; that is beautiful. If you want a man to play a fatherly role in your life, look for one and if you want the President's daughter please do no hesitate. The major thing that matters is this ;go for your heart desire and live with it.
Marriage is a cross and a cross we must carry with joy, because without a cross there will be no crown. All I can tell you is do not carry a cross bigger than you or more than your strength will allow you. This is applicable to physical size, emotional worries, psychological stress and even financial liabilities. If you are slim and she is big, it is okay as long as you are strong. What I am talking about here not your spouse's proportion but your own capacity.
Marriage is not for the saints alone if not, only people in heaven will marry, and it is not for the sinners alone if not, only those in hell will marry. It is for saints and sinners which is what makes us human. We fall and we rise. There must be room for compassion and forgiveness in marriage. The best solution to your marital issues lie in your home, lies within the two of you and no more. She may not be the best, he may not be the best but you two can be your world. The best advice of all I got when I married was from an uncle. he said to me that anytime my wife annoys me, I should just go out and take a walk , I must not respond to my wife in anger. To me he said the best of them all. It is better to be patient, tolerant and if need be play the fool than to be the man and apply damage control later. The damage may be beyond control.
Marriage is sweet where love is served, but sometimes love is like the invisible forces of demand and supply which may tend towards perfect elasticity or inelasticity. In such circumstances we need the currency of friendship to bail it out and ensure stabilization.
For those of us who used to be in the OBB gang and Heart Academy, it is time we accepted the fact that we are no more boys and it is also a fortune for the girls that the bad boys have been taken out even if it is just me or two or three of us. I must warn the guys though that there are also the-girls out there who are razors to the pockets, they are few when we compare to the erasers who will clean off our blunders.
To all my brothers and sisters in the game, I say a big well-done and more grease because the elbow will not find it easy, for those discouraged who think it is hard, we can not be cowards, we must face our challenges and we will come out tops.
For those disappointed by their partners, do not loose faith, God has a better spouse for you. For those suffering from indecision, calm down, cool down and take charge. I am more concerned about all those who fear marriage because they can not trust or they are not trustworthy. All those who are scared because their hearts are too fragile. All those who are too beautiful to obey a man or too proud to respect their women.
When I wake up and stare at my son, I feel so great that if this is all I have achieved in my life time, then I can not be a failure. Do not get me wrong, marriage is not all about having children. For those who are still seeking the fruit of the womb God will make everything beautiful in his time, for now enjoy other fruits of marriage like love, happiness, companionship etc.
All I can say is :Thank you Lord for what you have done to us and what you are doing. It was just like yesterday but more than a year gone by
So long !!!
Just Like Yesterday
It was like a dream, can you believe that I just woke up yesterday-02-2010 to find out it was one year since I lost my bachelors and my wife got her masters, one year since we got married? One year of frustration or happiness? One year of regrets or accomplishment. It was one year and the second year has begun counting again.
I recall those years when we were single. We belonged to different schools. As a single I was sure in the luv skool but I was also in the OBB gang (Original Bad Boys) and been in these two schools at a go made it mandatory for me to be in the Heart Break Academy. We knew then that heart break was the sweetest thing to do but the worst thing when you are on the receiving end. I remember one of my female friends telling me that She knows I was not ready to surrender my independence to any woman. So marriage is all about surrendering one's independence huh?hahahahahaha
But sometimes what do we need that independence for? We mostly need it for our freedom. Yet Freedom without responsibility is anarchy. So if marriage means placing responsibility on us to make us better people then it is worth it. That is the truth, Marriage is an eternal union; we go into it never to come out of it and that's what makes us responsible. To know the task ahead, to go into it and stick to it like the stamp.
I know people who were almost ten years my senior when I was in primary school, today I am one year in the institution but they are still single. It takes courage to take the bold step, and maturity to acknowledge the challenges, but it takes commitment to make it work. We can possess the three; courage, maturity and commitment.
One year is so short for me to teach others the lessons so I allow people like Precious,Ayo,Stella and Gabriel to do that. But for the singles who are not ready, please do not rush, and for those who are dragging, please procrastination is the thief of time.
I can't answer the question of what should you consider in choosing a life partner. I have come to understand that no reason is parochial as long as you can live with your decision. If you want to marry a beautiful sexy woman, please go ahead, if your desire is a rich handsome man, please feel free to get one. If you want a friend or a lover or a friend and a lover; that is beautiful. If you want a man to play a fatherly role in your life, look for one and if you want the President's daughter please do no hesitate. The major thing that matters is this ;go for your heart desire and live with it.
Marriage is a cross and a cross we must carry with joy, because without a cross there will be no crown. All I can tell you is do not carry a cross bigger than you or more than your strength will allow you. This is applicable to physical size, emotional worries, psychological stress and even financial liabilities. If you are slim and she is big, it is okay as long as you are strong. What I am talking about here not your spouse's proportion but your own capacity.
Marriage is not for the saints alone if not, only people in heaven will marry, and it is not for the sinners alone if not, only those in hell will marry. It is for saints and sinners which is what makes us human. We fall and we rise. There must be room for compassion and forgiveness in marriage. The best solution to your marital issues lie in your home, lies within the two of you and no more. She may not be the best, he may not be the best but you two can be your world. The best advice of all I got when I married was from an uncle. he said to me that anytime my wife annoys me, I should just go out and take a walk , I must not respond to my wife in anger. To me he said the best of them all. It is better to be patient, tolerant and if need be play the fool than to be the man and apply damage control later. The damage may be beyond control.
Marriage is sweet where love is served, but sometimes love is like the invisible forces of demand and supply which may tend towards perfect elasticity or inelasticity. In such circumstances we need the currency of friendship to bail it out and ensure stabilization.
For those of us who used to be in the OBB gang and Heart Academy, it is time we accepted the fact that we are no more boys and it is also a fortune for the girls that the bad boys have been taken out even if it is just me or two or three of us. I must warn the guys though that there are also the-girls out there who are razors to the pockets, they are few when we compare to the erasers who will clean off our blunders.
To all my brothers and sisters in the game, I say a big well-done and more grease because the elbow will not find it easy, for those discouraged who think it is hard, we can not be cowards, we must face our challenges and we will come out tops.
For those disappointed by their partners, do not loose faith, God has a better spouse for you. For those suffering from indecision, calm down, cool down and take charge. I am more concerned about all those who fear marriage because they can not trust or they are not trustworthy. All those who are scared because their hearts are too fragile. All those who are too beautiful to obey a man or too proud to respect their women.
When I wake up and stare at my son, I feel so great that if this is all I have achieved in my life time, then I can not be a failure. Do not get me wrong, marriage is not all about having children. For those who are still seeking the fruit of the womb God will make everything beautiful in his time, for now enjoy other fruits of marriage like love, happiness, companionship etc.
All I can say is :Thank you Lord for what you have done to us and what you are doing. It was just like yesterday but more than a year gone by
So long !!!
Freedom-Yes-Freedom!
CredoWriters: Wakdok, Samuel Stephen.
18-02-2010
“I will not be a slave to another man, and no man will be a slave to me”-Abraham Lincoln.
Freedom! One word that I have never bothered myself to write about, yet the very idea that we live for and will die for if need be. I know that freedom is a word said and used by billions across the world. Freedom is that which we seek and many have died for, yet we fight for freedom because we can’t live without it. I once asked if we preferred to live as hungry free men or live as wed fed slaves. What stops us from living as just free men because for me to live as a hungry free man is the same thing as been a slave. There is no freedom in hunger just as there is no freedom in been a well fed slave.
Freedom covers all the length and breadth of our lives as individuals and as a people. We seek freedom, but freedom from what and freedom to do what? Children want freedom to play, teenagers want freedom to explore, and adults want freedom to misbehave. Families want freedom to grow, religions need freedom of practice and to convert, companies need freedom to make more profits and even to expand, employees want freedom to earn more ,men want freedom to cheat and women want freedom to experiment. Serious nations want freedom to develop and in many cases to exploit the resources of more endowed but less developed states.
There are many types of freedom. Physical freedom, personal freedom, emotional freedom, spiritual freedom, political freedom, economic freedom, financial freedom, academic freedom, mental freedom and many others like abstract freedom .Even nations have freedom and that is what we call sovereignty
We may have some combination of these freedoms but lack others. It is desirable to have all the various types of freedoms but not always tenable. Yet it is advisable to possess a combination of the key types of freedom in the absence of all. What matters most is that we appreciate the freedom we have and use it to achieve more freedom. So while you may want economic freedom to gain financial and personal freedom, I many desire academic freedom to gain intellectual and physical freedom. While you may need emotional freedom to gain personal and financial freedom, I may pursue spiritual freedom to gain emotional and eternal freedom. He may need religious freedom to get spiritual and personal freedom and she may need physical freedom to get intellectual and emotional freedom. It is a matrix, while some may be brilliant to solve a two by two matrix, others may be sharp to solve a three by three matrix. The most important thing is that we get our iteration table correctly.
Freedom is liberty, and I cannot claim to be a free man if I enslave others by my actions or inaction. There is always room for freedom and more freedom, but just like freedom has a prize to be won, there is always the price of liberty to be paid. Costly as this price of liberty is, it is better to pay the price of liberty than to remain without freedom no matter the kind of freedom you think of. We paid heavy prices by losing sleep to pass exams and achieve our goals. People gave up their families and wealth to gain their national independence, sometimes we must give up smaller freedoms to get a bigger one. People have given up their personal liberties for the quest of greater freedoms. All the prisoners of conscience had a choice to hold on to their personal liberty to fight for a bigger kind of freedom.
In as much as everyone has the right to his or her own freedom, there are always limits to our vision of freedom. Such limitations could either be placed by God, the society, our faith or creed, the organizations we belong to; or even ourselves. Your freedom must not encroach on the freedom of others be it religion, monetary, or even ideology. God has placed the limits on man’s freedom by giving us his commandments, the country has laws, societies and families have rules etc. For an armed robber to expect the freedom to rob and kill in the name of physical freedom is not freedom, for a corrupt government official to claim freedom to loot and under develop the country in the name of personal freedom is not freedom. For gay people to expect that homosexuality and lesbianism should be legalized in the name of freedom of expression or association when it contradicts God’s plan of creation is not freedom. For people to take the lives of others in the name of freedom of religion when it is against the law of God and the land is not freedom either. For drug dealers to import fake drugs or sell expired drugs to the detriment of other humans who have the freedom to live is not freedom.
Freedom is universal; irrespective of our race, language, creed, hereditary or sex. We all have that urge to possess our freedom, internal or external. Selfish as man is, we want to be free but we deny others their freedom by accident or by design. A teacher who wants his salary paid but will not teach well is guilty of this, an employer who wants profits but denies his employees their dues is guilty, a government that demands taxes to be paid but cannot provide the amenities to its citizens is guilty, a preacher who wants tithes to be paid but will not lead the flock to the truth is guilty, a god who wants to be worshipped but does not guarantee freedom to its worshippers is guilty, a parent who wants respect but cannot provide for his or her dependents is guilty and children who want to be catered for but will not obey are also guilty.
If we want freedom we must guarantee the freedom of others, if we demand freedom we must allow others the right to their freedom. It is only when we allow others access to their own freedom and they too allow us access to our own freedom that we can be said to have freedom in its true sense. We may be constraint to choose just one or a few types of freedom. For me I know I may not have all the types of freedom. I do not seek for personal or physical freedom, I do not weep for economic or financial freedom, I will not die for emotional or religious freedom, yet I need all these types of freedom. All I ask to be given is the FREEDOM TO BE FREE. With this single freedom I will get all the types of freedom I need and want and desire and deserve. The freedom to be free-Yes!
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18-02-2010
“I will not be a slave to another man, and no man will be a slave to me”-Abraham Lincoln.
Freedom! One word that I have never bothered myself to write about, yet the very idea that we live for and will die for if need be. I know that freedom is a word said and used by billions across the world. Freedom is that which we seek and many have died for, yet we fight for freedom because we can’t live without it. I once asked if we preferred to live as hungry free men or live as wed fed slaves. What stops us from living as just free men because for me to live as a hungry free man is the same thing as been a slave. There is no freedom in hunger just as there is no freedom in been a well fed slave.
Freedom covers all the length and breadth of our lives as individuals and as a people. We seek freedom, but freedom from what and freedom to do what? Children want freedom to play, teenagers want freedom to explore, and adults want freedom to misbehave. Families want freedom to grow, religions need freedom of practice and to convert, companies need freedom to make more profits and even to expand, employees want freedom to earn more ,men want freedom to cheat and women want freedom to experiment. Serious nations want freedom to develop and in many cases to exploit the resources of more endowed but less developed states.
There are many types of freedom. Physical freedom, personal freedom, emotional freedom, spiritual freedom, political freedom, economic freedom, financial freedom, academic freedom, mental freedom and many others like abstract freedom .Even nations have freedom and that is what we call sovereignty
We may have some combination of these freedoms but lack others. It is desirable to have all the various types of freedoms but not always tenable. Yet it is advisable to possess a combination of the key types of freedom in the absence of all. What matters most is that we appreciate the freedom we have and use it to achieve more freedom. So while you may want economic freedom to gain financial and personal freedom, I many desire academic freedom to gain intellectual and physical freedom. While you may need emotional freedom to gain personal and financial freedom, I may pursue spiritual freedom to gain emotional and eternal freedom. He may need religious freedom to get spiritual and personal freedom and she may need physical freedom to get intellectual and emotional freedom. It is a matrix, while some may be brilliant to solve a two by two matrix, others may be sharp to solve a three by three matrix. The most important thing is that we get our iteration table correctly.
Freedom is liberty, and I cannot claim to be a free man if I enslave others by my actions or inaction. There is always room for freedom and more freedom, but just like freedom has a prize to be won, there is always the price of liberty to be paid. Costly as this price of liberty is, it is better to pay the price of liberty than to remain without freedom no matter the kind of freedom you think of. We paid heavy prices by losing sleep to pass exams and achieve our goals. People gave up their families and wealth to gain their national independence, sometimes we must give up smaller freedoms to get a bigger one. People have given up their personal liberties for the quest of greater freedoms. All the prisoners of conscience had a choice to hold on to their personal liberty to fight for a bigger kind of freedom.
In as much as everyone has the right to his or her own freedom, there are always limits to our vision of freedom. Such limitations could either be placed by God, the society, our faith or creed, the organizations we belong to; or even ourselves. Your freedom must not encroach on the freedom of others be it religion, monetary, or even ideology. God has placed the limits on man’s freedom by giving us his commandments, the country has laws, societies and families have rules etc. For an armed robber to expect the freedom to rob and kill in the name of physical freedom is not freedom, for a corrupt government official to claim freedom to loot and under develop the country in the name of personal freedom is not freedom. For gay people to expect that homosexuality and lesbianism should be legalized in the name of freedom of expression or association when it contradicts God’s plan of creation is not freedom. For people to take the lives of others in the name of freedom of religion when it is against the law of God and the land is not freedom either. For drug dealers to import fake drugs or sell expired drugs to the detriment of other humans who have the freedom to live is not freedom.
Freedom is universal; irrespective of our race, language, creed, hereditary or sex. We all have that urge to possess our freedom, internal or external. Selfish as man is, we want to be free but we deny others their freedom by accident or by design. A teacher who wants his salary paid but will not teach well is guilty of this, an employer who wants profits but denies his employees their dues is guilty, a government that demands taxes to be paid but cannot provide the amenities to its citizens is guilty, a preacher who wants tithes to be paid but will not lead the flock to the truth is guilty, a god who wants to be worshipped but does not guarantee freedom to its worshippers is guilty, a parent who wants respect but cannot provide for his or her dependents is guilty and children who want to be catered for but will not obey are also guilty.
If we want freedom we must guarantee the freedom of others, if we demand freedom we must allow others the right to their freedom. It is only when we allow others access to their own freedom and they too allow us access to our own freedom that we can be said to have freedom in its true sense. We may be constraint to choose just one or a few types of freedom. For me I know I may not have all the types of freedom. I do not seek for personal or physical freedom, I do not weep for economic or financial freedom, I will not die for emotional or religious freedom, yet I need all these types of freedom. All I ask to be given is the FREEDOM TO BE FREE. With this single freedom I will get all the types of freedom I need and want and desire and deserve. The freedom to be free-Yes!
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WHO OWNS THIS LUCK; NIGERIANS OR JONATHAN?
CredoWriters: Wakdok, Samuel Stephen.
Where is the luck in taking over as acting President of a Nigeria at a time when the country is known more for the plethora of complications than stability? I can not imagine why Nigerians are celebrating Dr. Jonathan’s luck. Aside from the fact that Nigerians deserve to have the vacancy in Aso Rock filled for effective governance, any form of Jubilation is suspicious and dubious. Are we celebrating the fact that Good luck Jonathan now has unfettered access to our national treasury or are we celebrating the ouster of a Turai Yar’adua?
Goodluck Jonathan I must confess played down all attempts to showcase a power grab on his part which helped in diffusing the tension in the polity, but the interest of Nigeria and Nigerians must remain paramount. Celebrating the luck of a Goodluck is only personalizing and trivializing the matter, what we ought to celebrate is the stability of our nation which is what we need for growth and development to take place. Goodluck Jonathan is definitely a lucky man, to have risen to the position of a number one citizen in his state, and now his country without printing poster or campaigning. But that also makes it dangerous because it goes to show that like the occupants of that office before him, he also does not have any manifesto. Meaning he has no direction and purpose, unless he is quickly able to put his house in order and take charge of the nation’s destiny. The question I would love to ask is not how lucky Goodluck is to act as President but how lucky Nigerians are to have Goodluck as their acting President?
Will the luck end with him as an individual who has suddenly risen to be the number one citizen or will the luck be distributed across Nigeria through provision of visionary and transformational leadership at a time when many things seem to have gone terribly wrong? Can Jonathan be the man who will give the ordinary man food or will he be another man who through anti-people policies force more hardship down the throats of already hyper-hungry Nigerians. Can Goodluck tackle the various cabals holding the nation’s power and petroleum sectors to ransom an effect an era of positive change that will eliminate the problems of these sectors or will he too be held captive by these cabals? Will Jonathan be a National President or will he decide to be a Niger-Delta President as some of his kinsmen are already thanking God for seeing a Niger Delta President in their life time even if in acting capacity for now?
The focus must shift from the individual of the acting President which is only parochial to the transformational leadership he can and will offer. He has the listing of Nigeria as a terrorist nation on his hands, the most recent Jos crisis, and the impeding strikes by civil servants. Let it be said that the Doctors’ have not received their reviewed packages which prevented them from going on their last strike. The power situation has also nosedived after the government failed to deliver on the 6,000 megawatts by December 31st 2009; and the perennial fuel queues are back. The post-amnesty programme has not achieved much progress since Yar’adua left the country and it will be more delicate for Goodluck to independently address the issue without been accused of bias since he comes from that region.
The luck must not lie and end with the man Goodluck Jonathan but it must be an opportunity for him to see the hands of God in preparing him to perform a divine role of salvaging this nation. Public servants and politicians must not be allowed to become sycophants and use our public wealth to place congratulatory messages in the media. If any group deserves an accolade for this triumph it is the ever vibrant civil society groups who from day one have insisted that due process must be followed. Unfortunately political dark horses who have argued that Yar’adua can preside from any where will be the people who may now switch allegiance for their selfish and mundane motives.
Nigeria must not remain a sliding state not to talk of a failing state and Goodluck must be bold in flushing out all anti-democratic elements within the ranks of the ruling clique. He must wither the storm and steer the ship of the Nigerian nation safely to dock at the port of rule of law, constitutionality and people oriented development programmes. He has a choice to write his name in Gold and be remembered like the Jerry Rawlings of this world or seek to go the selfish way which is typical of African leaders and become a present day Mobuto Sese Seko. He can decide to be like the Thabo Mbeki of this world whose intellectual capacity gave him a launching board to become a charismatic leader or choose to go the way of the highly educated Robert Mugabe who has decided to live and will die a Power drunk autocrat at the peril of his nation.
Only when we see a vibrant Goodluck acting as the People’s President can we now talk of a good luck which is national in colour; and not the luck of one man to have at his beck and call the wealth of our suffering citizens for his personal aggrandizement and that of the few but ever greedy ruling elites.
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Where is the luck in taking over as acting President of a Nigeria at a time when the country is known more for the plethora of complications than stability? I can not imagine why Nigerians are celebrating Dr. Jonathan’s luck. Aside from the fact that Nigerians deserve to have the vacancy in Aso Rock filled for effective governance, any form of Jubilation is suspicious and dubious. Are we celebrating the fact that Good luck Jonathan now has unfettered access to our national treasury or are we celebrating the ouster of a Turai Yar’adua?
Goodluck Jonathan I must confess played down all attempts to showcase a power grab on his part which helped in diffusing the tension in the polity, but the interest of Nigeria and Nigerians must remain paramount. Celebrating the luck of a Goodluck is only personalizing and trivializing the matter, what we ought to celebrate is the stability of our nation which is what we need for growth and development to take place. Goodluck Jonathan is definitely a lucky man, to have risen to the position of a number one citizen in his state, and now his country without printing poster or campaigning. But that also makes it dangerous because it goes to show that like the occupants of that office before him, he also does not have any manifesto. Meaning he has no direction and purpose, unless he is quickly able to put his house in order and take charge of the nation’s destiny. The question I would love to ask is not how lucky Goodluck is to act as President but how lucky Nigerians are to have Goodluck as their acting President?
Will the luck end with him as an individual who has suddenly risen to be the number one citizen or will the luck be distributed across Nigeria through provision of visionary and transformational leadership at a time when many things seem to have gone terribly wrong? Can Jonathan be the man who will give the ordinary man food or will he be another man who through anti-people policies force more hardship down the throats of already hyper-hungry Nigerians. Can Goodluck tackle the various cabals holding the nation’s power and petroleum sectors to ransom an effect an era of positive change that will eliminate the problems of these sectors or will he too be held captive by these cabals? Will Jonathan be a National President or will he decide to be a Niger-Delta President as some of his kinsmen are already thanking God for seeing a Niger Delta President in their life time even if in acting capacity for now?
The focus must shift from the individual of the acting President which is only parochial to the transformational leadership he can and will offer. He has the listing of Nigeria as a terrorist nation on his hands, the most recent Jos crisis, and the impeding strikes by civil servants. Let it be said that the Doctors’ have not received their reviewed packages which prevented them from going on their last strike. The power situation has also nosedived after the government failed to deliver on the 6,000 megawatts by December 31st 2009; and the perennial fuel queues are back. The post-amnesty programme has not achieved much progress since Yar’adua left the country and it will be more delicate for Goodluck to independently address the issue without been accused of bias since he comes from that region.
The luck must not lie and end with the man Goodluck Jonathan but it must be an opportunity for him to see the hands of God in preparing him to perform a divine role of salvaging this nation. Public servants and politicians must not be allowed to become sycophants and use our public wealth to place congratulatory messages in the media. If any group deserves an accolade for this triumph it is the ever vibrant civil society groups who from day one have insisted that due process must be followed. Unfortunately political dark horses who have argued that Yar’adua can preside from any where will be the people who may now switch allegiance for their selfish and mundane motives.
Nigeria must not remain a sliding state not to talk of a failing state and Goodluck must be bold in flushing out all anti-democratic elements within the ranks of the ruling clique. He must wither the storm and steer the ship of the Nigerian nation safely to dock at the port of rule of law, constitutionality and people oriented development programmes. He has a choice to write his name in Gold and be remembered like the Jerry Rawlings of this world or seek to go the selfish way which is typical of African leaders and become a present day Mobuto Sese Seko. He can decide to be like the Thabo Mbeki of this world whose intellectual capacity gave him a launching board to become a charismatic leader or choose to go the way of the highly educated Robert Mugabe who has decided to live and will die a Power drunk autocrat at the peril of his nation.
Only when we see a vibrant Goodluck acting as the People’s President can we now talk of a good luck which is national in colour; and not the luck of one man to have at his beck and call the wealth of our suffering citizens for his personal aggrandizement and that of the few but ever greedy ruling elites.
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Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Hypocrisy and the Balkanization of Jos.
CredoWritres Wakdok, Samuel Stephen.
The story of the various crises in Jos is one of hypocrisy and biasness. The government has been biased and unfortunately the media have been hypocritical. The issue of Jos is simple and clear, the Hausa/Fulani have been on the offensive. There has never been one crisis which started without them premeditating or escalating it. Their agenda has been to take over a land they know fully well is not theirs, even if ten generations of their forebears were born in Jos that is not enough to give them liberty to declare war on the city and people. The most appropriate thing to do is to coexist peacefully with their host and other residents. Rather it is their over ambitious and violent expansionist tendencies that have led the indigenes who until now freely gave them their lands to be alarmed. Nigeria is a federal state and every body is free to live and work peacefully in any part of the country, but when a group of people either ethnic or religious fail to harmoniously live with others, then they have lost that freedom. When a group of people continuously kill and maim others, they should be told point blank that their freedom stops where those of others start.
The largely Christian media has been so scared to report that facts as they are, while their Moslem counterparts are so biased to even fabricate facts in order to continue the war by propaganda. The Moslem media practitioners are as guilty of senseless murders as the religious bigots on the streets. They use their pens and Islamic media like Al-Jezeera to fan and promote hatred by distorting the facts and giving the world this misrepresentation. There have been reports in the media of fake soldiers been arrested or mercenaries imported, but they are not bold to tell us the group these evil people belong too. Everyone knows that no fake soldier or mercenary ever caught happened to be a Christian. How many corps members killed were Moslems? The government has never prosecuted any perpetrator or sponsor of these senseless waves of reoccurring violence. We keep shouting that no religion preaches violence; I agree. But when a certain proportion of a particular religion keeps becoming the vanguard of violence then we must say it as it is. If we must expunge the world Indigene from our national vocabulary why must it start from Jos? Let us start from kano, Sokoto, Maiduguri, Bauchi, Minna and even Katsina. Unfortunately Christians who come from Kano, Bauchi, Kebbi, Sokoto and katsina among others are not even treated as stakeholders in their own states, but the world expects Jos and the people of Jos to be the guinea pigs. Why should it be that the indigenes of Jos are required to give up their ancestral heritage to settlers who very well know their origin?
It is very barbaric to say this last crisis which by all accounts started as a dispute between two people or among a group of people will lead to this monumental loss of lives and property, except to buttress the point that it was well rehearsed and planned out. People argue or disagree every day, why will disagreement over a boundary of land or football game lead to attacking and killing Christians on Sunday morning inside the church? Those of us who come from other local government of Plateau state other than Jos have never lay claims over Jos, there are thousands of southerners and middle belters whose generations too were born and bred in Jos, yet they chose to live peacefully rather than take up arms against their host communities. If the Hausa /Fulani Moslems claim to be at war with the indigenes of Jos why then are other Christians and churches always their first targets? If we claim these crises are political what has the Christian who doesn’t belong to any party got to do with the November 2008 crisis over a disputed election which result had not even been announced? Are they saying there are no Christians in ANPP or no Moslems in PDP? If the media cannot report the fact as they are, can they shut up? If the government can not prosecute the master minds they should spare us all these panels of enquiry.
The Story of Jos is so sad because the people innocently sought to dwell in peace with people from other parts of the country irrespective of ethnicity and religion; only to be rewarded with violence from the Hausa/Fulani who see conquering of Jos as a continuation of the 1804 Jihad. The Federal government is also culpable; in fact the Federal Military Government of Babangida which created Jos North in 1991 had the sole intention of establishing an Islamic Republic of Jos and promoting the interest of the Hausa/Fulani settlers above other residents of the place. This fact accounts for why the vehicle plate number for Jos North is represented by JJN. JJN stands for Jasawan Jos North; Jasawa is the identity of the Hausas in Jos. No other local government in Nigeria has its plate number represented by the identity of a segment of the people albeit settlers. It is easy to remove the Christian governor of Plateau and still call for the removal of another while the Moslem governors of Bauchi and Borno; and other Moslem dominated states which have similar histories of skirmishes remain in office. It is easier to call for a state out of the present plateau state to meet the selfish demand of a minority Hausa population but impossible to give the predominantly Christian population of southern Kaduna their own state ,despite their inability to produce a governor in their own state.
As much as we desire peace in Jos, hypocrisy must give way to the truth. Peace without Justice is only but an illusion. Equity rather than equality is the bedrock of Justice. You can’t be talking of equal right which will only please a minority but against the right of the majority and owners of Jos and you say Justice will be done? Justice is defending the citizens irrespective of religion but it is also saying the truth. We can’t have justice when we are biased, hypocrites or cowards. Justice for the Jos indigenes means that we respect them and accept the fact that whether we come from other parts of plateau state or from outside the state, Jos belongs to the indigenes and we must live peacefully with them or leave peacefully without endangering the lives of others.
Lack of sincerity on the part of our leaders has lead to the balkanization of Jos into the Christian Jos and the Moslem Jos. We all have our towns and villages to go back to but the indigenes of Jos have only Jos and this same Jos has been destroyed. The indigenes have been killed and maimed in their own villages and this time around; as far as Bukuru and Anguldi and the world still accuses them of genocide against the very Hausas who are the war mongers? Hypocrisy is condemning Israel for occupying the lands of the Palestinians but encouraging the Hausa settlers in Jos to become the overlords of the owners of the land. Shame on hypocrites and cowards!
www.credoworldmedia.wordpress.com
The story of the various crises in Jos is one of hypocrisy and biasness. The government has been biased and unfortunately the media have been hypocritical. The issue of Jos is simple and clear, the Hausa/Fulani have been on the offensive. There has never been one crisis which started without them premeditating or escalating it. Their agenda has been to take over a land they know fully well is not theirs, even if ten generations of their forebears were born in Jos that is not enough to give them liberty to declare war on the city and people. The most appropriate thing to do is to coexist peacefully with their host and other residents. Rather it is their over ambitious and violent expansionist tendencies that have led the indigenes who until now freely gave them their lands to be alarmed. Nigeria is a federal state and every body is free to live and work peacefully in any part of the country, but when a group of people either ethnic or religious fail to harmoniously live with others, then they have lost that freedom. When a group of people continuously kill and maim others, they should be told point blank that their freedom stops where those of others start.
The largely Christian media has been so scared to report that facts as they are, while their Moslem counterparts are so biased to even fabricate facts in order to continue the war by propaganda. The Moslem media practitioners are as guilty of senseless murders as the religious bigots on the streets. They use their pens and Islamic media like Al-Jezeera to fan and promote hatred by distorting the facts and giving the world this misrepresentation. There have been reports in the media of fake soldiers been arrested or mercenaries imported, but they are not bold to tell us the group these evil people belong too. Everyone knows that no fake soldier or mercenary ever caught happened to be a Christian. How many corps members killed were Moslems? The government has never prosecuted any perpetrator or sponsor of these senseless waves of reoccurring violence. We keep shouting that no religion preaches violence; I agree. But when a certain proportion of a particular religion keeps becoming the vanguard of violence then we must say it as it is. If we must expunge the world Indigene from our national vocabulary why must it start from Jos? Let us start from kano, Sokoto, Maiduguri, Bauchi, Minna and even Katsina. Unfortunately Christians who come from Kano, Bauchi, Kebbi, Sokoto and katsina among others are not even treated as stakeholders in their own states, but the world expects Jos and the people of Jos to be the guinea pigs. Why should it be that the indigenes of Jos are required to give up their ancestral heritage to settlers who very well know their origin?
It is very barbaric to say this last crisis which by all accounts started as a dispute between two people or among a group of people will lead to this monumental loss of lives and property, except to buttress the point that it was well rehearsed and planned out. People argue or disagree every day, why will disagreement over a boundary of land or football game lead to attacking and killing Christians on Sunday morning inside the church? Those of us who come from other local government of Plateau state other than Jos have never lay claims over Jos, there are thousands of southerners and middle belters whose generations too were born and bred in Jos, yet they chose to live peacefully rather than take up arms against their host communities. If the Hausa /Fulani Moslems claim to be at war with the indigenes of Jos why then are other Christians and churches always their first targets? If we claim these crises are political what has the Christian who doesn’t belong to any party got to do with the November 2008 crisis over a disputed election which result had not even been announced? Are they saying there are no Christians in ANPP or no Moslems in PDP? If the media cannot report the fact as they are, can they shut up? If the government can not prosecute the master minds they should spare us all these panels of enquiry.
The Story of Jos is so sad because the people innocently sought to dwell in peace with people from other parts of the country irrespective of ethnicity and religion; only to be rewarded with violence from the Hausa/Fulani who see conquering of Jos as a continuation of the 1804 Jihad. The Federal government is also culpable; in fact the Federal Military Government of Babangida which created Jos North in 1991 had the sole intention of establishing an Islamic Republic of Jos and promoting the interest of the Hausa/Fulani settlers above other residents of the place. This fact accounts for why the vehicle plate number for Jos North is represented by JJN. JJN stands for Jasawan Jos North; Jasawa is the identity of the Hausas in Jos. No other local government in Nigeria has its plate number represented by the identity of a segment of the people albeit settlers. It is easy to remove the Christian governor of Plateau and still call for the removal of another while the Moslem governors of Bauchi and Borno; and other Moslem dominated states which have similar histories of skirmishes remain in office. It is easier to call for a state out of the present plateau state to meet the selfish demand of a minority Hausa population but impossible to give the predominantly Christian population of southern Kaduna their own state ,despite their inability to produce a governor in their own state.
As much as we desire peace in Jos, hypocrisy must give way to the truth. Peace without Justice is only but an illusion. Equity rather than equality is the bedrock of Justice. You can’t be talking of equal right which will only please a minority but against the right of the majority and owners of Jos and you say Justice will be done? Justice is defending the citizens irrespective of religion but it is also saying the truth. We can’t have justice when we are biased, hypocrites or cowards. Justice for the Jos indigenes means that we respect them and accept the fact that whether we come from other parts of plateau state or from outside the state, Jos belongs to the indigenes and we must live peacefully with them or leave peacefully without endangering the lives of others.
Lack of sincerity on the part of our leaders has lead to the balkanization of Jos into the Christian Jos and the Moslem Jos. We all have our towns and villages to go back to but the indigenes of Jos have only Jos and this same Jos has been destroyed. The indigenes have been killed and maimed in their own villages and this time around; as far as Bukuru and Anguldi and the world still accuses them of genocide against the very Hausas who are the war mongers? Hypocrisy is condemning Israel for occupying the lands of the Palestinians but encouraging the Hausa settlers in Jos to become the overlords of the owners of the land. Shame on hypocrites and cowards!
www.credoworldmedia.wordpress.com
A TALE OF TWO AFRICAN CITIES: JOS (NIGERIA) AND CAPE COAST (GHANA).
*By Wakdok, Samuel Stephen 1 and Nana Amma Twum-Baah 2
Amma, you can really cuddle the rocks and kiss them. When you climb the hills you will actually touch the clouds because you will not help but imagine how the mountains are locked in an embrace with the sky. The sweetest thing for me is the smell of its harmattan. It will give you a crown of white hair on your head. The rains can stay with you all day and escort you to bed, and even when you wake at dawn, like a faithful dog the rains will be waiting on you. This is the Jos they may never know. Jos the capital city of Plateau state, in North Central Nigeria, Africa.
Jos is one of the coolest cities to live on earth. Naturally blessed and humanly dressed. The tourism of this town is breath taking, the weather is seducing, the atmosphere superb, the people are wonderful. The main indigenes of Jos are the Beroms, Afizire (Jarawa) and Anagutas. The Hausa settlers are the next in contention. As the capital of Plateau state, other tribes from all over the state live and work in Jos; Ngas, Gommai, Mughuavul, Mupun, Quan, Pan,Taroh, Bassa etc. It is a pot mixed with different grills. Prior to the debut of home video in Nigeria which midwife the birth of Nollywood; Jos was the theatre and drama capital of Nigeria. The National Film Institute, The Nigerian Institute of Journalism and the Nigerian Television Authority College all sit in Jos. The Headquarters of Industrial Training Funds is also in Jos. The theater arts department of the University of Jos has produced the best acts and talents in Nigeria.
Talking about the University of Jos; Jos is like a weeping mother without her university. The University ofJos gives soul to the town. It influences the economic and social life of the city. In UJ or U-Jay as the school is known, gentlemen and ladies mingle freely; Amma, the fact that a guy could show up on your door step at any moment makes it germane for cleanliness and personal hygiene. We also had pots to run to when we were hungry in these female hostels. The phrase” kaduna Mafia” which was dominant in the political equation of Nigeria representing the powerful Northern power brokers was coined by the present Vice Chancellor of the University, Professor Sonny Tyoden. Professor Ali Mazrui, the renowned international African scholar is a professor at large of the university.
When you take a trip to the Wildlife Park or visit the Ray field resort. Oh my --- The museum of African Arts boast of the largest congregation of people on the 26th of December every year. Shere Hills is one sweet place to visit in Jos, the combination of its mountains and waters exudes so much beauty and splendor. At Shere Hills nature is in communion with the city.
The comedy of bloody rivalry between the two main football teams, Plateau United and Mighty Jets will make you laugh and cry simultaneously at the Jos township stadium. For those who love to give themselves a treat; West of Mines is that place where meat and drinks respect the kingship of man. This Tin city called Jos, earned Nigeria foreign exchange during the colonial era. You will still see the tin mines as legacy of colonial exploitation of the people’s land and wealth. Jos is the home of Irish potatoes. Our ladies love Pringles, we the men are at home with chips. The cold weather makes it attractive to keep poultry and fish ponds.
The city is tops in education and social activities. Some of the best schools are located in and around Jos. Kent Academy Miango, a primary school with boarding facilities. Hillcrest, a first generation foreign tailored secondary school. Air force Military School, St. Louis College, St. Augustine’s major seminary until recently was the only catholic major seminary in the Northern part of Nigeria. The institution with the highest honours in the country: National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies is in Kuru near Jos. The University of Jos Teaching Hospital, ECWA Evangel Hospital, Our lady of Apostles Hospitals; are among the best health facilities in the country. Various churches both orthodox and Pentecostals have their headquarters in Jos.
Jos may not be the cradle of civilization, it is not the best town on earth, but surely it is a place to be. J-Town as the charming town is called, Josites as we of Jos are referred to, the town allures, she seduces and captivates. Jos holds those it calls and calls those it loves. In Jos; Life is serendipity, life is simple, life is fulfilling. When you dare Jos, you will be consumed; when you date Jos you will be dazzled. Jos has what it takes to hold you captive. It ceases your breathe and makes you exhale at same time.
Those who love Jos can never love another; those who have never known Jos do not know what they are missing. Jos is a lovers’ town. The ladies are beautifully created as the city; the guys are as solid as its rocks. The people may not all be from Jos but they are all of Jos.The city you may never know is one city, where nature was made to please man and man was created to exhaust the pleasure of nature. In harmony both man and nature continue to thrill themselves.
Amma, life must not begin or end in Jos, but in Jos; life is beautiful.
Sammy, I am trying to write my part for the “Tale of Two African Cities. I chose the city of Cape Coast because it is the birthplace of my mother and I have some very fond memories of the place. I lived the majority of my live in Ghana in the capital city of Accra; but the memorable trips to Cape Coast were my greatest joy.
Cape Coast is the capital city of the Central region of Ghana. It sits beautifully and majestically along the central coastal shore of Ghana; and once was the trading center of the Gold Coast. Cape Coast was the first capital city of Ghana until the capital was moved to its current post in Accra. Fante is the major language of the people of Cape Coast; and, much like the people who speak it, the fante language possesses a sensuality all its own.
The city houses some of the most historic memories linked to the pain of its past. The city is one of many attractions of foreigners eager for a taste of Ghana’s past. Matter of fact, one has not experienced Ghana until they have had a taste of the hospitality of the people of this majestic city. The recent trip of America’s first African American first family bears witness to this fact!
Sam, the story of Cape Coast swims in murky waters. Cape Coast derived its name from the Portuguese word cabo corso which means “short cape.” The Portuguese were the first foreigners to arrive on this coastal city – they came around the 15th century. Deep in the pride of the fante people lies a sorrow of the past. The city was once the port of the slave trade and currently houses remnants and monuments of that past. The Cape Coast castle is one such monument that bears witness to the past.
A walk along the coast is a sight to see: fishermen dragging in their nets full of the days catch, women haggling over the price of what the fishermen have just dragged in, children running up and down the coast, some doing summersaults without a care in the world.
For peace and quiet, the many beach resorts that line the coastal shore afford you just that. From the whistle of the palm trees to the chirping of birds and calls of frogs and toads, nature never afforded such a sense of serenity than along the coast of this beautifully blessed city. Here you would find tourists and locals basking in the afternoon sun, some sipping on drinks of immense pleasure and satisfaction; while others abandon the shore to take a dip in the ocean’s caressing waves.
Cape Coast boasts of some of Ghana’s most elite secondary schools – Holy Child School, Wesley Girls High School and Mfantsipim Boy’s Secondary School; as well as one of the country’s major Universities, the University of Cape Coast.
Tourism has fast taken over as the main attraction of this friendly city. Besides its many coastal attractions Cape Coast boasts of two other major tourist attractions: Kakum National Park and Akatekyir Crocodile pond. Kakum National Park is home to the first canopy walkway which sits above the forest floor and hangs high up above the forest trees. A trip across the canopy is one to savor for years. The crocodile pond is another adventure worth taking. Try standing in the hut located in the middle of the pond surrounded by fierce looking crocodiles who respond to the summons of a fetish priest – it is a sight worth beholding. Samuel;Ghana beckons on you and the world. Come!
1 Wakdok, Samuel Stephen; a Nigerian is the brain that powers CredoWorld Media: www.credoworldmedia.wordpress.com www.credoworld.blogspot
2 N. Amma Twum-Baah; a Ghanaian based in the United States is the Founder/Managing Editor of Afrikan Goddess: www.afrikangoddess.com
Amma, you can really cuddle the rocks and kiss them. When you climb the hills you will actually touch the clouds because you will not help but imagine how the mountains are locked in an embrace with the sky. The sweetest thing for me is the smell of its harmattan. It will give you a crown of white hair on your head. The rains can stay with you all day and escort you to bed, and even when you wake at dawn, like a faithful dog the rains will be waiting on you. This is the Jos they may never know. Jos the capital city of Plateau state, in North Central Nigeria, Africa.
Jos is one of the coolest cities to live on earth. Naturally blessed and humanly dressed. The tourism of this town is breath taking, the weather is seducing, the atmosphere superb, the people are wonderful. The main indigenes of Jos are the Beroms, Afizire (Jarawa) and Anagutas. The Hausa settlers are the next in contention. As the capital of Plateau state, other tribes from all over the state live and work in Jos; Ngas, Gommai, Mughuavul, Mupun, Quan, Pan,Taroh, Bassa etc. It is a pot mixed with different grills. Prior to the debut of home video in Nigeria which midwife the birth of Nollywood; Jos was the theatre and drama capital of Nigeria. The National Film Institute, The Nigerian Institute of Journalism and the Nigerian Television Authority College all sit in Jos. The Headquarters of Industrial Training Funds is also in Jos. The theater arts department of the University of Jos has produced the best acts and talents in Nigeria.
Talking about the University of Jos; Jos is like a weeping mother without her university. The University ofJos gives soul to the town. It influences the economic and social life of the city. In UJ or U-Jay as the school is known, gentlemen and ladies mingle freely; Amma, the fact that a guy could show up on your door step at any moment makes it germane for cleanliness and personal hygiene. We also had pots to run to when we were hungry in these female hostels. The phrase” kaduna Mafia” which was dominant in the political equation of Nigeria representing the powerful Northern power brokers was coined by the present Vice Chancellor of the University, Professor Sonny Tyoden. Professor Ali Mazrui, the renowned international African scholar is a professor at large of the university.
When you take a trip to the Wildlife Park or visit the Ray field resort. Oh my --- The museum of African Arts boast of the largest congregation of people on the 26th of December every year. Shere Hills is one sweet place to visit in Jos, the combination of its mountains and waters exudes so much beauty and splendor. At Shere Hills nature is in communion with the city.
The comedy of bloody rivalry between the two main football teams, Plateau United and Mighty Jets will make you laugh and cry simultaneously at the Jos township stadium. For those who love to give themselves a treat; West of Mines is that place where meat and drinks respect the kingship of man. This Tin city called Jos, earned Nigeria foreign exchange during the colonial era. You will still see the tin mines as legacy of colonial exploitation of the people’s land and wealth. Jos is the home of Irish potatoes. Our ladies love Pringles, we the men are at home with chips. The cold weather makes it attractive to keep poultry and fish ponds.
The city is tops in education and social activities. Some of the best schools are located in and around Jos. Kent Academy Miango, a primary school with boarding facilities. Hillcrest, a first generation foreign tailored secondary school. Air force Military School, St. Louis College, St. Augustine’s major seminary until recently was the only catholic major seminary in the Northern part of Nigeria. The institution with the highest honours in the country: National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies is in Kuru near Jos. The University of Jos Teaching Hospital, ECWA Evangel Hospital, Our lady of Apostles Hospitals; are among the best health facilities in the country. Various churches both orthodox and Pentecostals have their headquarters in Jos.
Jos may not be the cradle of civilization, it is not the best town on earth, but surely it is a place to be. J-Town as the charming town is called, Josites as we of Jos are referred to, the town allures, she seduces and captivates. Jos holds those it calls and calls those it loves. In Jos; Life is serendipity, life is simple, life is fulfilling. When you dare Jos, you will be consumed; when you date Jos you will be dazzled. Jos has what it takes to hold you captive. It ceases your breathe and makes you exhale at same time.
Those who love Jos can never love another; those who have never known Jos do not know what they are missing. Jos is a lovers’ town. The ladies are beautifully created as the city; the guys are as solid as its rocks. The people may not all be from Jos but they are all of Jos.The city you may never know is one city, where nature was made to please man and man was created to exhaust the pleasure of nature. In harmony both man and nature continue to thrill themselves.
Amma, life must not begin or end in Jos, but in Jos; life is beautiful.
Sammy, I am trying to write my part for the “Tale of Two African Cities. I chose the city of Cape Coast because it is the birthplace of my mother and I have some very fond memories of the place. I lived the majority of my live in Ghana in the capital city of Accra; but the memorable trips to Cape Coast were my greatest joy.
Cape Coast is the capital city of the Central region of Ghana. It sits beautifully and majestically along the central coastal shore of Ghana; and once was the trading center of the Gold Coast. Cape Coast was the first capital city of Ghana until the capital was moved to its current post in Accra. Fante is the major language of the people of Cape Coast; and, much like the people who speak it, the fante language possesses a sensuality all its own.
The city houses some of the most historic memories linked to the pain of its past. The city is one of many attractions of foreigners eager for a taste of Ghana’s past. Matter of fact, one has not experienced Ghana until they have had a taste of the hospitality of the people of this majestic city. The recent trip of America’s first African American first family bears witness to this fact!
Sam, the story of Cape Coast swims in murky waters. Cape Coast derived its name from the Portuguese word cabo corso which means “short cape.” The Portuguese were the first foreigners to arrive on this coastal city – they came around the 15th century. Deep in the pride of the fante people lies a sorrow of the past. The city was once the port of the slave trade and currently houses remnants and monuments of that past. The Cape Coast castle is one such monument that bears witness to the past.
A walk along the coast is a sight to see: fishermen dragging in their nets full of the days catch, women haggling over the price of what the fishermen have just dragged in, children running up and down the coast, some doing summersaults without a care in the world.
For peace and quiet, the many beach resorts that line the coastal shore afford you just that. From the whistle of the palm trees to the chirping of birds and calls of frogs and toads, nature never afforded such a sense of serenity than along the coast of this beautifully blessed city. Here you would find tourists and locals basking in the afternoon sun, some sipping on drinks of immense pleasure and satisfaction; while others abandon the shore to take a dip in the ocean’s caressing waves.
Cape Coast boasts of some of Ghana’s most elite secondary schools – Holy Child School, Wesley Girls High School and Mfantsipim Boy’s Secondary School; as well as one of the country’s major Universities, the University of Cape Coast.
Tourism has fast taken over as the main attraction of this friendly city. Besides its many coastal attractions Cape Coast boasts of two other major tourist attractions: Kakum National Park and Akatekyir Crocodile pond. Kakum National Park is home to the first canopy walkway which sits above the forest floor and hangs high up above the forest trees. A trip across the canopy is one to savor for years. The crocodile pond is another adventure worth taking. Try standing in the hut located in the middle of the pond surrounded by fierce looking crocodiles who respond to the summons of a fetish priest – it is a sight worth beholding. Samuel;Ghana beckons on you and the world. Come!
1 Wakdok, Samuel Stephen; a Nigerian is the brain that powers CredoWorld Media: www.credoworldmedia.wordpress.com www.credoworld.blogspot
2 N. Amma Twum-Baah; a Ghanaian based in the United States is the Founder/Managing Editor of Afrikan Goddess: www.afrikangoddess.com
OUTSHINE THE SUN WITH YOUR TORCH; THE PURPOSE OF OUR BEING.
CredoWriters: WAKDOK, SAMUEL STEPHEN
Do you have a Personal Mission Statement?
In 2007 after reading some books among them the richest man in Babylon; I decided to have a personal mission statement and I came up with the one below:
“To remain relevant in an ever-dynamic world by being highly adaptable to change thereby bringing my wealth of experience to bear in all I do.”
The question I do not want you to ask me is how consistent I have been in the attainment of my goals? Anyhow you look at it; you need a personal mission statement.
It is the road map to our future; it is the compass we need as we navigate through life. It is our torchlight at night and even at day. We may not have achieved everything, but having a personal mission statement gives us a barometer to measure the pressure and change in our lives and the world. Keep it simple and practicable. Not having one already sets a parameter on us, it restricts our circumstances.
I have made so many mistakes in life. Painfully I still make mistakes after I sat down to think and write my personal mission statement which ought to have launched me to greater heights. Ironically though I accept the fact that I am liable for all my shortcomings, they have been very instrumental in molding me and grooming me for the challenges ahead. I have accepted the fact that perfection only exist in the books of two people. God and a liar, I am not God and I will be a fool to tell myself lies. Although I set perfection as a bench mark for my achievements, if I must truly achieve it will be very illusionary to think or feel I can never get some things wrong. What spurs me is that I must quickly learn from the mistakes that I couldn't prevent and prevent those I can.
In trying to decipher my mission statement anew, I have decided to see problems as challenges which will be part of this world. The day I stop facing problems or challenges is the day I am no longer alive. Years ago our problem was how to finish primary school, it became how to pass WAEC, and then how to get University admissions, and it grew to going for Youth service. We thought it would terminate when we got good jobs. Then we realized that we couldn't get the best of ladies or men to marry. We are faced with the choice of cars to buy or the kind of houses to live in. These tell us that life's challenges only end with life.
The greatest achievement in life is to achieve what we set out to achieve no matter how little. Having millions or billions of Naira though may solve our financial needs; is not always the sufficient solution to all our problems. The key responsibility in life is to know our strengths and use them to improve our existence. It is to know our weaknesses and minimize if not eliminate them. We can only set out to achieve our goals when we pause and reflect on the things around us. The preliminary way to go about this is to set a mission for ourselves. It is only when we know our mission that we can achieve our purpose in life.
Many of us do not have a purpose for living or we do not know the purpose for our being. Our purpose on earth is not only to make money, it is not only to live in affluence, it is not only to have power, and it is not only beauty or fashion. Prince (King) Edward Viii of England abdicated his throne in 1936 to marry the woman he loved but was rejected by the British Empire and Dominions and the Church of England. Edward chose love over royalty; he knew what he wanted in life and went for it at the expense of his throne. What are the obstacles that deny us the chance of achieving our different purposes in life? We alone must discover our own purpose as individuals.
I can not tell you your purpose, but I can help you discover your purpose.
I can help you by asking you to develop your own mission statement today.
Ask yourself the things that please you and the things that displease you.
Tell yourself the things you excel at and those you fumble at.
Ask yourself what you regret doing and those things you enjoy doing.
Tell yourself what you left undone and those you did which you ought not to have done.
Do you have talents? Are these talents buried, or are you exploring them?
What are your hobbies and how can you tap the potentials your hobbies offer?
If you lived to be hundred years on earth; what will you have achieved?
If you are to mentor a child, what legacies will you pass on to that child?
If your family, friends, colleagues and even neighbours should write and advertorial in the newspaper on your 30th, 50th or 80th birthday, what do you think would be written about you?
If as a result of you having lived on earth, the world has changed; tell me your contribution to the world and your influence on the people and environment around.
Can you read my personal mission statement above again and write yours too.
Define the purpose of your existence. If writing this has made any impact on the person reading this, then I have achieved one of the very little purposes why I was created. If each of us can achieve a little of our individually purposes, then collectively we would have achieved a lot and that will make a difference as much as outshining the sun.
I hope I didn’t bore you? If I did I am sorry, remember I am not perfect, but I just tried to achieve something and I hope to try better next time so that I will achieve the desired effect and not bore you. Start by having your personal mission today. Dare mine, be dynamic, remain relevant and do not look back.
Powered by CredoWorld Media.
www.credoworldmedia.wordpress.com www.credoworld.blogspot.com
Do you have a Personal Mission Statement?
In 2007 after reading some books among them the richest man in Babylon; I decided to have a personal mission statement and I came up with the one below:
“To remain relevant in an ever-dynamic world by being highly adaptable to change thereby bringing my wealth of experience to bear in all I do.”
The question I do not want you to ask me is how consistent I have been in the attainment of my goals? Anyhow you look at it; you need a personal mission statement.
It is the road map to our future; it is the compass we need as we navigate through life. It is our torchlight at night and even at day. We may not have achieved everything, but having a personal mission statement gives us a barometer to measure the pressure and change in our lives and the world. Keep it simple and practicable. Not having one already sets a parameter on us, it restricts our circumstances.
I have made so many mistakes in life. Painfully I still make mistakes after I sat down to think and write my personal mission statement which ought to have launched me to greater heights. Ironically though I accept the fact that I am liable for all my shortcomings, they have been very instrumental in molding me and grooming me for the challenges ahead. I have accepted the fact that perfection only exist in the books of two people. God and a liar, I am not God and I will be a fool to tell myself lies. Although I set perfection as a bench mark for my achievements, if I must truly achieve it will be very illusionary to think or feel I can never get some things wrong. What spurs me is that I must quickly learn from the mistakes that I couldn't prevent and prevent those I can.
In trying to decipher my mission statement anew, I have decided to see problems as challenges which will be part of this world. The day I stop facing problems or challenges is the day I am no longer alive. Years ago our problem was how to finish primary school, it became how to pass WAEC, and then how to get University admissions, and it grew to going for Youth service. We thought it would terminate when we got good jobs. Then we realized that we couldn't get the best of ladies or men to marry. We are faced with the choice of cars to buy or the kind of houses to live in. These tell us that life's challenges only end with life.
The greatest achievement in life is to achieve what we set out to achieve no matter how little. Having millions or billions of Naira though may solve our financial needs; is not always the sufficient solution to all our problems. The key responsibility in life is to know our strengths and use them to improve our existence. It is to know our weaknesses and minimize if not eliminate them. We can only set out to achieve our goals when we pause and reflect on the things around us. The preliminary way to go about this is to set a mission for ourselves. It is only when we know our mission that we can achieve our purpose in life.
Many of us do not have a purpose for living or we do not know the purpose for our being. Our purpose on earth is not only to make money, it is not only to live in affluence, it is not only to have power, and it is not only beauty or fashion. Prince (King) Edward Viii of England abdicated his throne in 1936 to marry the woman he loved but was rejected by the British Empire and Dominions and the Church of England. Edward chose love over royalty; he knew what he wanted in life and went for it at the expense of his throne. What are the obstacles that deny us the chance of achieving our different purposes in life? We alone must discover our own purpose as individuals.
I can not tell you your purpose, but I can help you discover your purpose.
I can help you by asking you to develop your own mission statement today.
Ask yourself the things that please you and the things that displease you.
Tell yourself the things you excel at and those you fumble at.
Ask yourself what you regret doing and those things you enjoy doing.
Tell yourself what you left undone and those you did which you ought not to have done.
Do you have talents? Are these talents buried, or are you exploring them?
What are your hobbies and how can you tap the potentials your hobbies offer?
If you lived to be hundred years on earth; what will you have achieved?
If you are to mentor a child, what legacies will you pass on to that child?
If your family, friends, colleagues and even neighbours should write and advertorial in the newspaper on your 30th, 50th or 80th birthday, what do you think would be written about you?
If as a result of you having lived on earth, the world has changed; tell me your contribution to the world and your influence on the people and environment around.
Can you read my personal mission statement above again and write yours too.
Define the purpose of your existence. If writing this has made any impact on the person reading this, then I have achieved one of the very little purposes why I was created. If each of us can achieve a little of our individually purposes, then collectively we would have achieved a lot and that will make a difference as much as outshining the sun.
I hope I didn’t bore you? If I did I am sorry, remember I am not perfect, but I just tried to achieve something and I hope to try better next time so that I will achieve the desired effect and not bore you. Start by having your personal mission today. Dare mine, be dynamic, remain relevant and do not look back.
Powered by CredoWorld Media.
www.credoworldmedia.wordpress.com www.credoworld.blogspot.com
MUTAL-ALQAEDA: Their Responsibility; Our Liability.
CredoWriters: Wakdok, Samuel Stephen.
I do not have a problem with a Nigerian in particular blowing himself up and others in the air, at sea or on land. Neither do I care if the person is a Moslem, Christian or even an atheist. But I generally have a problem with anybody at all doing that. It is not a crime because the bomber is a Nigerian; it is a crime against God and humanity irrespective of the person’s nationality or religion, background or ideology.
Al-Qaeda has claimed responsibility for the attempted suicide bombing of a U.S. airliner by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab on the 25th of December 2009; leaving Nigeria with the liability. All the world now knows, especially the imperialistic capitalist West, is that Nigerians are terrorists or to put it mildly; potential terrorists. Consequently, the United States has included Nigeria on their list of terrorist countries. For the crime of one man out of a population of one hundred and fifty million, is this not infinitesimal? Yet they have failed to close their embassy in Nigeria. They only found it imminent to intensify the dehumanization of innocent Nigerians seeking to travel for legitimate businesses.
They can not close their embassy because of the interest they have in our oil and Nigeria provides a big market for them to dump their goods. Globalization has helped to reinforce terrorism in many ways. The three major approaches to Globalization are Capital flow (goods and money) Migration (people) and Information and Communication Technology (ICT). The developed world always finds excuses to restrict the free movement of people across their borders especially from the southern hemisphere. Paradoxically they want an uninhibited flow of their goods into our market and a free flow of our money and resources to their countries which has encouraged large scale corruption resulting to capital flight. ICT however has been the most helpful resource for the 21st century terrorist as all terrorist attack have element of the use of ICT in planning and execution.
It is shamefully not only Al-Qaeda that takes responsibility and leaves us with liabilities. The Western world takes responsibility for giving us grants and aids leaving us with fallen capacity utilization and hunger. The oil companies mostly multi-national companies (MNCs) and Trans-national companies (TNCs) pollute our environment and flair our gas. They do not deny responsibilities but leave our people with the liability of a degraded ecosystem. Our political class rig elections as even President Yar’adua accepted the responsibility that a flawed electoral process brought his government to power in 2007.We are now more than ever left with the liability of a lame duck government in power with the resultant catastrophe. Government and university negotiators accepted responsibilities for deadlocks in negotiations during last year’s university strikes saddling the country with the liability of a prolonged closure of the universities.
Al-Qaeda knew the responsibility they had, and they also knew the liability on us will be unlimited. Before now an average terrorist or suicide bomber was an Arab. Thanks to Nigeria’ spoilt brat Farouk; the world now sees the black face of intra planetary terrorism. After all no one will be surprised if the black terrorist was a Sudanese or a Somali. We have seen the Janjaweeds in Darfur and the Al-shabab in Somalia. Recruiting and indoctrinating a Nigerian terrorist gives the probability that a quarter of the total blacks in the world are terrorists which is so significantly high. This is the responsibility they accepted. They glory of a people who feel they must fight their causes by killing innocent people leaving families and countries with liabilities. The annoying thing is that Farouk like all the people responsible for the misdirection of Nigeria belong to the privileged cult of a few who have belched on the wealth of the country at the expense of the generality of the citizens. Their excesses have always left us with no small snags.
The failed educational system in Nigeria is an example. Government officials, politicians and even lecturers are in high competition to send their kids and wards to school abroad .I can comprehend Nigerians in American, European or even Asian schools. I can also forgive Nigerians in South African, Ghanaian, Kenyan and North African Schools. But when Nigerians enroll in Togolese, Chadian and even Sudanese schools for mere secondary education at that, then the Nigerian picture becomes forlorn.
Unfortunately Farouk rather than becoming a martyr has turned his dad into a living martyr. He has killed his father while the man is alive. For to be the father of a terrorist is bad enough, but to be the father of a black albeit Nigerian terrorist is unimaginable as Mutallab senior would have known by now. In the same vein, our rulers have turned Nigerians into living martyrs. When Nigerians start spending Christmas in the petrol stations, when able bodied women not just men are begging on the streets and in the churches; when our elementary schools are so inept to educate our children, when we drive our cars jumping like grasshoppers on the highways to dodge potholes, when unemployment and inflation rise like Abel’s smoke, when the quality of living is dismal. Then sadly we are only alive but their responsibilities and irresponsibility have made our liabilities to kill us a very long time ago.
This is the start of a new decade; it is high time we dropped our docility as a people and champion our own liberation. We must change the misfortune that beclouds us as a people even if it means us engaging in affirmative actions. We can not continue to leave them with the responsibility of giving us liabilities. This is a clarion call for us to take responsibility for our lives and destiny; and eliminate the plethora of liabilities festered on us ad infinitum.
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I do not have a problem with a Nigerian in particular blowing himself up and others in the air, at sea or on land. Neither do I care if the person is a Moslem, Christian or even an atheist. But I generally have a problem with anybody at all doing that. It is not a crime because the bomber is a Nigerian; it is a crime against God and humanity irrespective of the person’s nationality or religion, background or ideology.
Al-Qaeda has claimed responsibility for the attempted suicide bombing of a U.S. airliner by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab on the 25th of December 2009; leaving Nigeria with the liability. All the world now knows, especially the imperialistic capitalist West, is that Nigerians are terrorists or to put it mildly; potential terrorists. Consequently, the United States has included Nigeria on their list of terrorist countries. For the crime of one man out of a population of one hundred and fifty million, is this not infinitesimal? Yet they have failed to close their embassy in Nigeria. They only found it imminent to intensify the dehumanization of innocent Nigerians seeking to travel for legitimate businesses.
They can not close their embassy because of the interest they have in our oil and Nigeria provides a big market for them to dump their goods. Globalization has helped to reinforce terrorism in many ways. The three major approaches to Globalization are Capital flow (goods and money) Migration (people) and Information and Communication Technology (ICT). The developed world always finds excuses to restrict the free movement of people across their borders especially from the southern hemisphere. Paradoxically they want an uninhibited flow of their goods into our market and a free flow of our money and resources to their countries which has encouraged large scale corruption resulting to capital flight. ICT however has been the most helpful resource for the 21st century terrorist as all terrorist attack have element of the use of ICT in planning and execution.
It is shamefully not only Al-Qaeda that takes responsibility and leaves us with liabilities. The Western world takes responsibility for giving us grants and aids leaving us with fallen capacity utilization and hunger. The oil companies mostly multi-national companies (MNCs) and Trans-national companies (TNCs) pollute our environment and flair our gas. They do not deny responsibilities but leave our people with the liability of a degraded ecosystem. Our political class rig elections as even President Yar’adua accepted the responsibility that a flawed electoral process brought his government to power in 2007.We are now more than ever left with the liability of a lame duck government in power with the resultant catastrophe. Government and university negotiators accepted responsibilities for deadlocks in negotiations during last year’s university strikes saddling the country with the liability of a prolonged closure of the universities.
Al-Qaeda knew the responsibility they had, and they also knew the liability on us will be unlimited. Before now an average terrorist or suicide bomber was an Arab. Thanks to Nigeria’ spoilt brat Farouk; the world now sees the black face of intra planetary terrorism. After all no one will be surprised if the black terrorist was a Sudanese or a Somali. We have seen the Janjaweeds in Darfur and the Al-shabab in Somalia. Recruiting and indoctrinating a Nigerian terrorist gives the probability that a quarter of the total blacks in the world are terrorists which is so significantly high. This is the responsibility they accepted. They glory of a people who feel they must fight their causes by killing innocent people leaving families and countries with liabilities. The annoying thing is that Farouk like all the people responsible for the misdirection of Nigeria belong to the privileged cult of a few who have belched on the wealth of the country at the expense of the generality of the citizens. Their excesses have always left us with no small snags.
The failed educational system in Nigeria is an example. Government officials, politicians and even lecturers are in high competition to send their kids and wards to school abroad .I can comprehend Nigerians in American, European or even Asian schools. I can also forgive Nigerians in South African, Ghanaian, Kenyan and North African Schools. But when Nigerians enroll in Togolese, Chadian and even Sudanese schools for mere secondary education at that, then the Nigerian picture becomes forlorn.
Unfortunately Farouk rather than becoming a martyr has turned his dad into a living martyr. He has killed his father while the man is alive. For to be the father of a terrorist is bad enough, but to be the father of a black albeit Nigerian terrorist is unimaginable as Mutallab senior would have known by now. In the same vein, our rulers have turned Nigerians into living martyrs. When Nigerians start spending Christmas in the petrol stations, when able bodied women not just men are begging on the streets and in the churches; when our elementary schools are so inept to educate our children, when we drive our cars jumping like grasshoppers on the highways to dodge potholes, when unemployment and inflation rise like Abel’s smoke, when the quality of living is dismal. Then sadly we are only alive but their responsibilities and irresponsibility have made our liabilities to kill us a very long time ago.
This is the start of a new decade; it is high time we dropped our docility as a people and champion our own liberation. We must change the misfortune that beclouds us as a people even if it means us engaging in affirmative actions. We can not continue to leave them with the responsibility of giving us liabilities. This is a clarion call for us to take responsibility for our lives and destiny; and eliminate the plethora of liabilities festered on us ad infinitum.
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vi-i-mmx
www.credoworldmedia.wordpress.com www.credoworld.blogspot.com
WE WERE BANKERS!
CredoWriters: WAKDOK, SAMUEL STEPHEN
September 10, 2013
New York- U.S.A
Studio lights come on
Good evening viewers, my name is Jane Washington of CWM International broadcasting from our New York studios. You are welcome to this week's edition of Global Finance Focus on Africa. Today we are discussing the Rate of Recovery in African Economies. With me in the studio is Dr. Aloye Sanchez, a consultant from Goldman Sachs, and joining us via broad band is Ms. Vera Philips of the University of West Indies.
"Ms. Phillips, the developed world has recovered from the economic crisis of 2007-2009, how will you rate the recovery of African Economies?"
"I will not say with certainty that the recovery rate of African Economies is high, but you will agree with me that comparing the level of systemic damage done to these economies, there seems to be encouraging results from the tremendous efforts to pull these economies from the brink. I can see some positive results."
"Dr. Sanchez, do you share the same opinion?"
Dr.Sanchez: "I will like to agree in principle with Ms. Philips, but I will go further by saying the nominal growth has steadily picked up in some of the African economies. Taking some key financial indicators like banks liquidity ratios, capital adequacy ratios, non deficit components of annual budgets, there have been improvement. But real term human development indices like employment growth rate, exchange rate flexibility, and domestic currencies convertibility have not matched up with forecasts."
Anchor: "When we use a five years moving average, what pattern of growth will we see in the African economies?"
Ms. Phillips: “It will not be easy getting a definite pattern; one of the reasons is the unavailability of a central data collection for these economies. African economies have a lot of distortions in their multivariate functions. The seasonal variations make it more complicated to ascertain an analysis of trend in their growth rate.
Dr. Sanchez: "In as much as we have scattered seasonal variations, available statistics show positive movements in trade, broad money M2 though broader money M3 is still low. These distortions in the African economy though not excusable, originate mostly from the western world. The level of capitalism has become so inhuman. The major issue is having the foreign reserves and trades in the US dollars. This creates destabilizations in the foreign exchange convertibility of the African economies. It also distorts their domestic currencies convergence. That is why we at Goldman Sachs agree with the Fund (IMF) that the reserve currency be changed to a basket of world currencies using the SDR (Special Drawing Rights) as the new unit of measurement."
Ms. Philips: "Yes, the international payment system of the present economic world order which determines the liquidity of countries cannot protect the transition of weak economies like the African Economies towards a vibrant liberalized market. These economies have not achieved desired growth because they cannot be insulated from the vagaries of the US dollar...
November 19, 2009.
Kaduna - Nigeria
"Aloye, Aloye, wake up. Time is gone; you are running late already"
"Good morning baby. I must have been dreaming, I was in New York"
Emily: "There is no gas and PHCN has struck as usual, I am afraid you will have to bath with cold water. I hope we will not manage to death?"
Aloye: "Sweetie, the car has refused to start again. I will take a bus to the office; the mechanic will come and look at the car later."
October 16, 2004.
Lagos - Nigeria.
"Good morning ladies and gentlemen, I am here to take you on communication skills. I will love to congratulate you all on your induction. Welcome to the Royal Bank of Nigeria. You made the right choice by working with us. Here, we pride ourselves as the best bank in Nigeria and our staff can testify to the excellent working conditions. You are bankers now and you must think, talk, act, work and live as bankers. From your offer letters I hope you all know that you are millionaires now. Your salaries are twice or even more those of directors in ministries and parastatals. You are the bank and people must see this bank in you..."
November 19, 2009
Kaduna-Nigeria
Throwing the gate open "Oga Aloye good morning"
"Frank, good morning, how is the cold?"
"Oga we dey fine, how man go do for cold, na the work now"
user name aloye sanchez
password **********
"Janice good morning, have they not paid?"
"Aloye, good morning. How is madam?"
"We thank God my sister; at least we are still alive. I am getting exasperated. Things are getting tougher and one can't even understand any more. This melt down has dealt with me seriously and we are bankers"
Janice: "This year has been a rough time for everyone, it is so traumatic. Did I hear you say we are bankers? I think the right thing to say is that we were bankers. The shine is gone, when I came to this bank 3 years ago I was sure that poverty was out of my life for good. See our plights now, even journalists and comedians have found bankers as the hottest selling topic..."
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September 10, 2013
New York- U.S.A
Studio lights come on
Good evening viewers, my name is Jane Washington of CWM International broadcasting from our New York studios. You are welcome to this week's edition of Global Finance Focus on Africa. Today we are discussing the Rate of Recovery in African Economies. With me in the studio is Dr. Aloye Sanchez, a consultant from Goldman Sachs, and joining us via broad band is Ms. Vera Philips of the University of West Indies.
"Ms. Phillips, the developed world has recovered from the economic crisis of 2007-2009, how will you rate the recovery of African Economies?"
"I will not say with certainty that the recovery rate of African Economies is high, but you will agree with me that comparing the level of systemic damage done to these economies, there seems to be encouraging results from the tremendous efforts to pull these economies from the brink. I can see some positive results."
"Dr. Sanchez, do you share the same opinion?"
Dr.Sanchez: "I will like to agree in principle with Ms. Philips, but I will go further by saying the nominal growth has steadily picked up in some of the African economies. Taking some key financial indicators like banks liquidity ratios, capital adequacy ratios, non deficit components of annual budgets, there have been improvement. But real term human development indices like employment growth rate, exchange rate flexibility, and domestic currencies convertibility have not matched up with forecasts."
Anchor: "When we use a five years moving average, what pattern of growth will we see in the African economies?"
Ms. Phillips: “It will not be easy getting a definite pattern; one of the reasons is the unavailability of a central data collection for these economies. African economies have a lot of distortions in their multivariate functions. The seasonal variations make it more complicated to ascertain an analysis of trend in their growth rate.
Dr. Sanchez: "In as much as we have scattered seasonal variations, available statistics show positive movements in trade, broad money M2 though broader money M3 is still low. These distortions in the African economy though not excusable, originate mostly from the western world. The level of capitalism has become so inhuman. The major issue is having the foreign reserves and trades in the US dollars. This creates destabilizations in the foreign exchange convertibility of the African economies. It also distorts their domestic currencies convergence. That is why we at Goldman Sachs agree with the Fund (IMF) that the reserve currency be changed to a basket of world currencies using the SDR (Special Drawing Rights) as the new unit of measurement."
Ms. Philips: "Yes, the international payment system of the present economic world order which determines the liquidity of countries cannot protect the transition of weak economies like the African Economies towards a vibrant liberalized market. These economies have not achieved desired growth because they cannot be insulated from the vagaries of the US dollar...
November 19, 2009.
Kaduna - Nigeria
"Aloye, Aloye, wake up. Time is gone; you are running late already"
"Good morning baby. I must have been dreaming, I was in New York"
Emily: "There is no gas and PHCN has struck as usual, I am afraid you will have to bath with cold water. I hope we will not manage to death?"
Aloye: "Sweetie, the car has refused to start again. I will take a bus to the office; the mechanic will come and look at the car later."
October 16, 2004.
Lagos - Nigeria.
"Good morning ladies and gentlemen, I am here to take you on communication skills. I will love to congratulate you all on your induction. Welcome to the Royal Bank of Nigeria. You made the right choice by working with us. Here, we pride ourselves as the best bank in Nigeria and our staff can testify to the excellent working conditions. You are bankers now and you must think, talk, act, work and live as bankers. From your offer letters I hope you all know that you are millionaires now. Your salaries are twice or even more those of directors in ministries and parastatals. You are the bank and people must see this bank in you..."
November 19, 2009
Kaduna-Nigeria
Throwing the gate open "Oga Aloye good morning"
"Frank, good morning, how is the cold?"
"Oga we dey fine, how man go do for cold, na the work now"
user name aloye sanchez
password **********
"Janice good morning, have they not paid?"
"Aloye, good morning. How is madam?"
"We thank God my sister; at least we are still alive. I am getting exasperated. Things are getting tougher and one can't even understand any more. This melt down has dealt with me seriously and we are bankers"
Janice: "This year has been a rough time for everyone, it is so traumatic. Did I hear you say we are bankers? I think the right thing to say is that we were bankers. The shine is gone, when I came to this bank 3 years ago I was sure that poverty was out of my life for good. See our plights now, even journalists and comedians have found bankers as the hottest selling topic..."
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Sunday, January 3, 2010
TEMPTRESS
CredoPoets: Wakdok, Samuel Stephen
I am set to divorce her--- no matter how succulent her breasts are;
Irrespective of how soft her seductive lips have been,
Not minding the sweetness of her kisses, or how full her bosom is.
I care less about her beauty or her sexy figure 8...For all I know I am set to wed my new and beautiful bride.
Come join us in the celebration of this matrimony...
Sammy weds 2010 hahahahahahaha
If you care to know my new wife is a Virgin...
My new wife’s curves are dangerously lovely,
Her legs are stainless and spotless
Her face is beauty extravaganza
She has a larger heart and warmer bosomy-
She will not close shop on me-
She is infact sweeter than sweet -her touch is electrifying,
She drips wet honey and her beauteous breasts are firm like the Kilimanjaro yet soft like the flesh of a lamb
Her eyes are sexier than the gazelle, her love unending----
She is greater and more generous.
She is gentle and humble
My new wife is a temptress, but I have fallen even before she tempted me.
Come 2010--- your groom is dying to wear you his ring.
CredoPoets: Wakdok, Samuel Stephen --- 31122009
I am set to divorce her--- no matter how succulent her breasts are;
Irrespective of how soft her seductive lips have been,
Not minding the sweetness of her kisses, or how full her bosom is.
I care less about her beauty or her sexy figure 8...For all I know I am set to wed my new and beautiful bride.
Come join us in the celebration of this matrimony...
Sammy weds 2010 hahahahahahaha
If you care to know my new wife is a Virgin...
My new wife’s curves are dangerously lovely,
Her legs are stainless and spotless
Her face is beauty extravaganza
She has a larger heart and warmer bosomy-
She will not close shop on me-
She is infact sweeter than sweet -her touch is electrifying,
She drips wet honey and her beauteous breasts are firm like the Kilimanjaro yet soft like the flesh of a lamb
Her eyes are sexier than the gazelle, her love unending----
She is greater and more generous.
She is gentle and humble
My new wife is a temptress, but I have fallen even before she tempted me.
Come 2010--- your groom is dying to wear you his ring.
CredoPoets: Wakdok, Samuel Stephen --- 31122009
Sunday, December 20, 2009
THE CHRONOLOGY OF A BARBER'S SHOP
CredoWriters: Wakdok, Samuel Stephen.
"You don't believe me, do you?"
"Why should I believe you? When you called this whole country; as big as it is a barber's shop."
"Then what is this country?"
"Are you an alien? Even a baby knows this country is called Nigeria."
"Called you said, but what really is this country?
It is one thing to be called; it is another thing to be."
"What are you driving at?"
"I am not driving, even if I wanted to; where is the fuel? The best is to ride in a cart. pata pata pata …
The other day, I saw a filling station been used as a reception venue."
"Tell me something..."
"In the absence of fuel and cars to be refueled business must go on.
The fuel-less station was hired out for “owambe”.
Rather than cars I saw plastic chairs arranged neatly for the guests."
"The Mc and live band must have been imported
May be the petrol attendants were the ushers."
"How long have you been patronizing the barber's shop?"
"When we were kids, it was ordinary scissors they used to cut our hair and in the absence of the small scissors, they used the tailor's big scissors."
"Are you serious?"
"That was when Buhari was fighting war against indiscipline.
We heaved a sigh of relief when Babangida came with MAMSER, the mass mobilization thing. Jerry the talking Gana advised them;if you are a barber, barb well and they came with manual clippers chuku chuku chuku... hahahahahah. It tickled our spines each time it touched the back of our necks”
“I am sure Babangida meant ‘if you are a thief, steal well.”
“IBB as a double edged sword, they introduced comb and razor to barb us and officially HIV/AIDS was launched into the Nigerian mainstream."
"Quietly, the electric clipper set in, though it was a luxury.
With the drive for everything foreign, electric clippers took over the industry and before we could spell NEPA, low shedding was introduced.
In those days, barbers kept face caps as emergency bail out. Your hair could be half cut and NEPA will just strike. When we can't wait anymore we wore the caps to escape cynical looks on the way home."
"Abacha was held captive in Aso Rock by AL-Mustapha and Frank Omenka; he was never briefed about the decaying power situation."
"The barbers went a step further to become one of the highest generator patronizing groups in Nigeria. We heaved a sigh of relief as we could now go to the barber's shop without thinking of leaving with half barbed hair and face caps that were not out ours."
"But Obasanjo made them to pay exorbitantly for fuel and barbers charged us higher for it. We didn't mind though, all we wanted was to cut our hair and look smart for the girls or for interviews and subsequently for our customers."
"Now, there are no more caps in the barber's shop and Yar'adua is on sick leave."
“Here I sit, as PHCN has struck again, this time even with high cost of fuel; the barber's generator lies empty. The barber could not see fuel anywhere to buy at any rate. The barber leaves me with my half barbed hair and murmurs to himself as if that will save the situation. I am left in a barber's shop to worry about my fate."
"Talking about passengers without a driver on the wheels of a cart; pulled by two bulls to save fuel."
"Yes, Nigeria is truly a barber’s shop. As I sit wondering to myself how long it will take this barber to get fuel, if at all he will return with fuel or if he will come back with only an empty gallon."
"This barber's shop called Nigeria, and they said no going back on deregulation? When there is no fuel except scarcity and corruption to deregulate."
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"You don't believe me, do you?"
"Why should I believe you? When you called this whole country; as big as it is a barber's shop."
"Then what is this country?"
"Are you an alien? Even a baby knows this country is called Nigeria."
"Called you said, but what really is this country?
It is one thing to be called; it is another thing to be."
"What are you driving at?"
"I am not driving, even if I wanted to; where is the fuel? The best is to ride in a cart. pata pata pata …
The other day, I saw a filling station been used as a reception venue."
"Tell me something..."
"In the absence of fuel and cars to be refueled business must go on.
The fuel-less station was hired out for “owambe”.
Rather than cars I saw plastic chairs arranged neatly for the guests."
"The Mc and live band must have been imported
May be the petrol attendants were the ushers."
"How long have you been patronizing the barber's shop?"
"When we were kids, it was ordinary scissors they used to cut our hair and in the absence of the small scissors, they used the tailor's big scissors."
"Are you serious?"
"That was when Buhari was fighting war against indiscipline.
We heaved a sigh of relief when Babangida came with MAMSER, the mass mobilization thing. Jerry the talking Gana advised them;if you are a barber, barb well and they came with manual clippers chuku chuku chuku... hahahahahah. It tickled our spines each time it touched the back of our necks”
“I am sure Babangida meant ‘if you are a thief, steal well.”
“IBB as a double edged sword, they introduced comb and razor to barb us and officially HIV/AIDS was launched into the Nigerian mainstream."
"Quietly, the electric clipper set in, though it was a luxury.
With the drive for everything foreign, electric clippers took over the industry and before we could spell NEPA, low shedding was introduced.
In those days, barbers kept face caps as emergency bail out. Your hair could be half cut and NEPA will just strike. When we can't wait anymore we wore the caps to escape cynical looks on the way home."
"Abacha was held captive in Aso Rock by AL-Mustapha and Frank Omenka; he was never briefed about the decaying power situation."
"The barbers went a step further to become one of the highest generator patronizing groups in Nigeria. We heaved a sigh of relief as we could now go to the barber's shop without thinking of leaving with half barbed hair and face caps that were not out ours."
"But Obasanjo made them to pay exorbitantly for fuel and barbers charged us higher for it. We didn't mind though, all we wanted was to cut our hair and look smart for the girls or for interviews and subsequently for our customers."
"Now, there are no more caps in the barber's shop and Yar'adua is on sick leave."
“Here I sit, as PHCN has struck again, this time even with high cost of fuel; the barber's generator lies empty. The barber could not see fuel anywhere to buy at any rate. The barber leaves me with my half barbed hair and murmurs to himself as if that will save the situation. I am left in a barber's shop to worry about my fate."
"Talking about passengers without a driver on the wheels of a cart; pulled by two bulls to save fuel."
"Yes, Nigeria is truly a barber’s shop. As I sit wondering to myself how long it will take this barber to get fuel, if at all he will return with fuel or if he will come back with only an empty gallon."
"This barber's shop called Nigeria, and they said no going back on deregulation? When there is no fuel except scarcity and corruption to deregulate."
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Thursday, December 10, 2009
BEFORE I DIE---
CredoWriters: Wakdok, Samuel Stephen.
Before I die, can you be kind enough to stop killing me on the pages of the newspapers, and on the streets of your mouths?
Before I die allow me to pick my own successor in the manner Obasanjo hand picked me.
Before I die allow me to declare a state of emergency in the power sector and deregulate the petroleum sector.
Before I die, I need your patience to complete my electoral reforms and go on with the dredging of the River Niger.
Before I die, please excuse me to marry my daughters to more governors.
Before I die please grant amnesty to my ill-health as I did to the militants in the creeks.
What is the price I will not pay for patriotism? I will die for my fatherland. But I am not just dying of ill health. I am dying more of heart break. My two chambers in the National Assembly could not sit for me to present a budget proposal to drive home my seven points agenda. My promise to generate six thousand mega watts of electricity is reclining.
Before I die permit me to transfigure at Aso Rock and build three houses. One for Goodluck Jonathan, another for David Bonaventure Mark and the third for Hajia Turai.
Before I die, kindly forgive me for not been much of a Resident President. I know you hate me more for being a long distance President.
Before I die let me read my citation to you.
I am the only Nigerian President whose father was a Minister of the Federal Republic.
I am the only President whose brother was a Chief of Staff Supreme Headquarters, a former Presidential hopeful and a Martyr for Democracy.
I am the only President who was a two time Executive Governor.
I am the first President to have Governors as my sons-in-law.
Before I die, let it be known to you all that I am not scared of dying. I am only scared of living as an ex-President.
Before I die allow my devil's advocate to seek for an injunction restraining the NBA from calling for my resignation.
Before I die allow me to finish my first term in office and possibly run for my second term which is permitted by the constitution of our great country.
Before I die---
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Before I die, can you be kind enough to stop killing me on the pages of the newspapers, and on the streets of your mouths?
Before I die allow me to pick my own successor in the manner Obasanjo hand picked me.
Before I die allow me to declare a state of emergency in the power sector and deregulate the petroleum sector.
Before I die, I need your patience to complete my electoral reforms and go on with the dredging of the River Niger.
Before I die, please excuse me to marry my daughters to more governors.
Before I die please grant amnesty to my ill-health as I did to the militants in the creeks.
What is the price I will not pay for patriotism? I will die for my fatherland. But I am not just dying of ill health. I am dying more of heart break. My two chambers in the National Assembly could not sit for me to present a budget proposal to drive home my seven points agenda. My promise to generate six thousand mega watts of electricity is reclining.
Before I die permit me to transfigure at Aso Rock and build three houses. One for Goodluck Jonathan, another for David Bonaventure Mark and the third for Hajia Turai.
Before I die, kindly forgive me for not been much of a Resident President. I know you hate me more for being a long distance President.
Before I die let me read my citation to you.
I am the only Nigerian President whose father was a Minister of the Federal Republic.
I am the only President whose brother was a Chief of Staff Supreme Headquarters, a former Presidential hopeful and a Martyr for Democracy.
I am the only President who was a two time Executive Governor.
I am the first President to have Governors as my sons-in-law.
Before I die, let it be known to you all that I am not scared of dying. I am only scared of living as an ex-President.
Before I die allow my devil's advocate to seek for an injunction restraining the NBA from calling for my resignation.
Before I die allow me to finish my first term in office and possibly run for my second term which is permitted by the constitution of our great country.
Before I die---
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Tuesday, December 8, 2009
EL-SALVADOR!
CredoWriters: Wakdok, Samuel Stephen.
Christmas has never been my favourite season, not because I believe less in the Nativity but due to the gust it comes with which makes little sense to me. The peak of Christmas is 24th of December when all the rush and hush reach a climax. Sure, that goes with a lot of financial implications. Savings are depleted, debts are escalated. The rich show off and the poor become more miserable. Of course in a country like ours prices of commodities soar. Food, meat, clothing and many other things. The worse one is the cost of transportation. Fuel queues become a nightmare as the oil industry is notorious at this time.
It becomes more difficult to live a normal life because of the hype of Christmas. The roads become busier and more risky. Drivers are more reckless and do not give a hoot about safety. Crime rates of all magnitude multiply. From fraud to ritual killings to armed robbery and of course kidnapping the newest in town, in a bid to measure up to the merriment of a day or just hours. By mid day of 25th December all these will start fading.
As such I have always wished for a quick and quiet Christmas so that life will return to normalcy. Once it is past Christmas, the prices of goods will stabilize, the rush and queues will reduce, crime rates will fall and people like me who do not succumb to the madness of Christmas will regain our sanity once again.
Ironically, Christmas is a wonderful time. It is the peak of promise when God redeemed His pledge to His people. It is the symbol of a renewed hope for us because a fallen humanity is sent a child who will raise us up again. Unto us a son is born and the government shall be upon his shoulders. Not the kind of corrupt, tyrannical and selfish governments found around the world. He came to redeem a condemned people; he brings forth good news always.
In contrast it means we no longer have one Christmas but two. Over the years we have skewed towards the first Christmas which is our own creation. We have created an “Economic Christmas” to show our extravagance typical of our human weakness. We have mostly relegated the second Christmas, “the Spiritual Christmas” to the confines of the church.
This year however reminds me of that first Christmas and the nativity story. The simplicity of Jesus’ birth in that manger. It is this guilelessness that has been wiped away by the “economic Christmas” over the years. The Roman authorities who were colonialists of the Jewish people had compelled them to return to their villages for census. This year, the economic authorities who have also colonized our lives have returned us to our economic villages to take stock. Many of us will be in the manger like Baby- Jesus and his parents. This will for once take away the hullabaloo of the “economic Christmas” which has over the years eroded the serenity of the “spiritual Christmas.”
The meltdown will enable us to revisit the true meaning of Christmas and acknowledge him, who truly left all His riches and glory in Heaven to come down and live among us, and will eventually shed His blood, give up his life for us. He is truly our Saviour, the Saviour. El-Salvador! The Messiah, our Messiah.
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Christmas has never been my favourite season, not because I believe less in the Nativity but due to the gust it comes with which makes little sense to me. The peak of Christmas is 24th of December when all the rush and hush reach a climax. Sure, that goes with a lot of financial implications. Savings are depleted, debts are escalated. The rich show off and the poor become more miserable. Of course in a country like ours prices of commodities soar. Food, meat, clothing and many other things. The worse one is the cost of transportation. Fuel queues become a nightmare as the oil industry is notorious at this time.
It becomes more difficult to live a normal life because of the hype of Christmas. The roads become busier and more risky. Drivers are more reckless and do not give a hoot about safety. Crime rates of all magnitude multiply. From fraud to ritual killings to armed robbery and of course kidnapping the newest in town, in a bid to measure up to the merriment of a day or just hours. By mid day of 25th December all these will start fading.
As such I have always wished for a quick and quiet Christmas so that life will return to normalcy. Once it is past Christmas, the prices of goods will stabilize, the rush and queues will reduce, crime rates will fall and people like me who do not succumb to the madness of Christmas will regain our sanity once again.
Ironically, Christmas is a wonderful time. It is the peak of promise when God redeemed His pledge to His people. It is the symbol of a renewed hope for us because a fallen humanity is sent a child who will raise us up again. Unto us a son is born and the government shall be upon his shoulders. Not the kind of corrupt, tyrannical and selfish governments found around the world. He came to redeem a condemned people; he brings forth good news always.
In contrast it means we no longer have one Christmas but two. Over the years we have skewed towards the first Christmas which is our own creation. We have created an “Economic Christmas” to show our extravagance typical of our human weakness. We have mostly relegated the second Christmas, “the Spiritual Christmas” to the confines of the church.
This year however reminds me of that first Christmas and the nativity story. The simplicity of Jesus’ birth in that manger. It is this guilelessness that has been wiped away by the “economic Christmas” over the years. The Roman authorities who were colonialists of the Jewish people had compelled them to return to their villages for census. This year, the economic authorities who have also colonized our lives have returned us to our economic villages to take stock. Many of us will be in the manger like Baby- Jesus and his parents. This will for once take away the hullabaloo of the “economic Christmas” which has over the years eroded the serenity of the “spiritual Christmas.”
The meltdown will enable us to revisit the true meaning of Christmas and acknowledge him, who truly left all His riches and glory in Heaven to come down and live among us, and will eventually shed His blood, give up his life for us. He is truly our Saviour, the Saviour. El-Salvador! The Messiah, our Messiah.
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THE TRAIL OF LORD LUGARD
CredoWriters:Wakdok,Samuel Stephen
The trial of Lord Lugard is a substantive suit brought before the sovereign people’s court of Nigeria by the sovereign people of Nigeria against the colonial agent. Sir Fredrick was a captain in the British Royal Army who would not have been qualified enough to lead a battalion of soldiers. He could at best lead only a company of soldiers, consisting of about 33 men only. Here was a man who at the peak of his royal colonial duty; became the first Governor General of Nigeria after the amalgamation of the northern and southern protectorates in 1914 to form the present day Nigeria. The name Nigeria funnily was suggested by his girlfriend who eventually became his wife; Lady Shaw.
Prior to the amalgamation of the northern and southern protectorates, Lagos was a separate colony, the southern protectorate had its capital in Calabar until 1906 when the colony of Lagos and the southern protectorate were merged and Lagos became the capital. The Northern protectorate had its first capital in Lokoja, present day Kogi and later relocated to Zungeru modern day Niger State before it was moved to Kaduna in 1913. This was without prejudice to the different empires, kingdoms, emirates, and loosed federations which predated the arrival of the colonialists.
Sir Fredrick who later became Lord Lugard knew very well from his sojourns across the different lands in the Niger area that the people were each a distinct nationality, with their separate cultures, values and beliefs. Yet, for the sake of personal drive to impress the crown of England, the greed of the colonialists and ease of administration, Lord Lugard went ahead to amalgamate the Northern and the Southern Protectorates to bring forth Nigeria. One of the main reasons for the amalgamation was the success of indirect rule in the north. The Othman Dan Fodio Jihad of 1804 had earlier established a theocracy in some parts of the North with a caliphate in Sokoto which was the western capital of the Caliphate. The eastern capital had its headquarters in Gwandu, present day Kebbi state. Emirates were set up in Kano, Zaria, Adamawa, and Wase up to Ilorin. The Kanem-Bornu Empire with its headquarters in Maiduguri had long existed. Except for the independent states of the once strong Kwararafa kingdom, the north was ruled by the emirs, and this made it easier for the Lord Lugard to implement his indirect rule which he had earlier experimented in Eastern Africa. It gave the emirs the impression that they were still relevant even after the fall of the Sokoto caliphate to the British forces in 1903. This was the first real attempt of the divide and rule tactics of the British.
Impressed by the success of the indirect rule in the Northern part and determine to push this divide and rule tactics further, Lord Lugard amalgamated the North and the South in 1914. He attempted to rule the west through their chiefs and since the East was more of a republic, he had to create warrant chiefs to provide a structure for his indirect rule; however that didn’t succeed because the easterners revolted against these warrant chiefs. The amalgamation was never intended to unite the people but just the geography for economic and political purposes. This explains why at a time the South was pushing for Independence of the country, the north was not comfortable with the date.
More evident is the fact that after the Richard’s constitution of 1946 regionalized the country and the McPherson Constitution of 1954 gave Autonomy to these regions; the South opted for self rule in 1956 but not until 1959 before the North did on the eve of independence.
Ninety five years after Lord Lugard united a country without uniting her people, it is still ever glaring that the nation is confronted with a Herculean task of uniting her people.
When the Igbos were called to the witness box, they testified against Lord Lugard for the casualties and pains he caused them during the Biafran war .
The Tiv grieving in the witness box testified against a Lord Lugard who made it feasible for an Obasanjo to massacre their kinsmen in Zaki Biam.
The endangered Ogoni resentfully testified against Sir Fredrick who made it inevitable for General Abacha to hang their sons.
In a united voice, the Niger Delta people have testified against Lord Lugard for initiating the mismanagement of their resources and environment by the other parts of the country.
The West also stood in the witness stand to give evidence that Lord Lugard is the brain behind the annulment of June 12 election won by MKO Abiola.
The North are not left behind in bearing witness against Lord Lugard for exposing them to westernization from the coastal states of the south which is fast eroding their conservative values.
The Presiding Judge of the Sovereign people’s court having listened to the various arguments of the opposing counsels (examination and cross examination of witnesses) and the evidence before the court have found Lord Lugard guilty.
Interesting, the Trial Judges, the prosecuting and defense counsels all agree that Lord Lugard is long dead. The real Lord Lugard on this trial is the tiny clique which is holding the larger Nigeria to ransom. The cabal who has refused to allow this country to develop, the cult hindering our progress and the Mafia which is destroying us daily.
The Lord Lugard before this court is the cult that rigs election and robs Nigerians of their votes and hence voices. The gang who pockets contract sums dotting the place with abandoned contracts. The Lord Lugard who was found guilty is the mechanism which favours rent seeking,nepotism,tribalism,ethnicity,corruption,violence,crime,godfatherism, election gerrymandering all at the expense of merit, peace, transparency, development, good governance, respect for the rule of law and patriotism.
The Lord Lugard on trial is the system which turns our people’s hope into fallacy, the rot which twirls our Police into Thief. It is the law which transfigures our Prophets into Parasites and the structure which makes the world to jeer rather than cheer at us. The people reject the practice that gives corruption and failure parking spaces in our national life; and the DNA which inhibits our nation’s growth.
The Sovereign People ‘s court of Nigeria hereby pronounce this Lord Lugard and the agents of neo colonialism guilty on all counts; and sentenced to be banished entirely from our national sphere without option of fine or parole.
Any objection has already been overruled.
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The trial of Lord Lugard is a substantive suit brought before the sovereign people’s court of Nigeria by the sovereign people of Nigeria against the colonial agent. Sir Fredrick was a captain in the British Royal Army who would not have been qualified enough to lead a battalion of soldiers. He could at best lead only a company of soldiers, consisting of about 33 men only. Here was a man who at the peak of his royal colonial duty; became the first Governor General of Nigeria after the amalgamation of the northern and southern protectorates in 1914 to form the present day Nigeria. The name Nigeria funnily was suggested by his girlfriend who eventually became his wife; Lady Shaw.
Prior to the amalgamation of the northern and southern protectorates, Lagos was a separate colony, the southern protectorate had its capital in Calabar until 1906 when the colony of Lagos and the southern protectorate were merged and Lagos became the capital. The Northern protectorate had its first capital in Lokoja, present day Kogi and later relocated to Zungeru modern day Niger State before it was moved to Kaduna in 1913. This was without prejudice to the different empires, kingdoms, emirates, and loosed federations which predated the arrival of the colonialists.
Sir Fredrick who later became Lord Lugard knew very well from his sojourns across the different lands in the Niger area that the people were each a distinct nationality, with their separate cultures, values and beliefs. Yet, for the sake of personal drive to impress the crown of England, the greed of the colonialists and ease of administration, Lord Lugard went ahead to amalgamate the Northern and the Southern Protectorates to bring forth Nigeria. One of the main reasons for the amalgamation was the success of indirect rule in the north. The Othman Dan Fodio Jihad of 1804 had earlier established a theocracy in some parts of the North with a caliphate in Sokoto which was the western capital of the Caliphate. The eastern capital had its headquarters in Gwandu, present day Kebbi state. Emirates were set up in Kano, Zaria, Adamawa, and Wase up to Ilorin. The Kanem-Bornu Empire with its headquarters in Maiduguri had long existed. Except for the independent states of the once strong Kwararafa kingdom, the north was ruled by the emirs, and this made it easier for the Lord Lugard to implement his indirect rule which he had earlier experimented in Eastern Africa. It gave the emirs the impression that they were still relevant even after the fall of the Sokoto caliphate to the British forces in 1903. This was the first real attempt of the divide and rule tactics of the British.
Impressed by the success of the indirect rule in the Northern part and determine to push this divide and rule tactics further, Lord Lugard amalgamated the North and the South in 1914. He attempted to rule the west through their chiefs and since the East was more of a republic, he had to create warrant chiefs to provide a structure for his indirect rule; however that didn’t succeed because the easterners revolted against these warrant chiefs. The amalgamation was never intended to unite the people but just the geography for economic and political purposes. This explains why at a time the South was pushing for Independence of the country, the north was not comfortable with the date.
More evident is the fact that after the Richard’s constitution of 1946 regionalized the country and the McPherson Constitution of 1954 gave Autonomy to these regions; the South opted for self rule in 1956 but not until 1959 before the North did on the eve of independence.
Ninety five years after Lord Lugard united a country without uniting her people, it is still ever glaring that the nation is confronted with a Herculean task of uniting her people.
When the Igbos were called to the witness box, they testified against Lord Lugard for the casualties and pains he caused them during the Biafran war .
The Tiv grieving in the witness box testified against a Lord Lugard who made it feasible for an Obasanjo to massacre their kinsmen in Zaki Biam.
The endangered Ogoni resentfully testified against Sir Fredrick who made it inevitable for General Abacha to hang their sons.
In a united voice, the Niger Delta people have testified against Lord Lugard for initiating the mismanagement of their resources and environment by the other parts of the country.
The West also stood in the witness stand to give evidence that Lord Lugard is the brain behind the annulment of June 12 election won by MKO Abiola.
The North are not left behind in bearing witness against Lord Lugard for exposing them to westernization from the coastal states of the south which is fast eroding their conservative values.
The Presiding Judge of the Sovereign people’s court having listened to the various arguments of the opposing counsels (examination and cross examination of witnesses) and the evidence before the court have found Lord Lugard guilty.
Interesting, the Trial Judges, the prosecuting and defense counsels all agree that Lord Lugard is long dead. The real Lord Lugard on this trial is the tiny clique which is holding the larger Nigeria to ransom. The cabal who has refused to allow this country to develop, the cult hindering our progress and the Mafia which is destroying us daily.
The Lord Lugard before this court is the cult that rigs election and robs Nigerians of their votes and hence voices. The gang who pockets contract sums dotting the place with abandoned contracts. The Lord Lugard who was found guilty is the mechanism which favours rent seeking,nepotism,tribalism,ethnicity,corruption,violence,crime,godfatherism, election gerrymandering all at the expense of merit, peace, transparency, development, good governance, respect for the rule of law and patriotism.
The Lord Lugard on trial is the system which turns our people’s hope into fallacy, the rot which twirls our Police into Thief. It is the law which transfigures our Prophets into Parasites and the structure which makes the world to jeer rather than cheer at us. The people reject the practice that gives corruption and failure parking spaces in our national life; and the DNA which inhibits our nation’s growth.
The Sovereign People ‘s court of Nigeria hereby pronounce this Lord Lugard and the agents of neo colonialism guilty on all counts; and sentenced to be banished entirely from our national sphere without option of fine or parole.
Any objection has already been overruled.
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THERE IS NO BOOK IN FACE BOOK-THE MISEDUCATION OF NIGERIAN STUDENTS
CredoWriters: Wakdok, Samuel Stephen.
The good news is this: students no longer need to sacrifice their time and leisure to learn and pass exams. The bad news is: parents will keep wasting their scarce resources for their children and wards to re-write exams. The worse news is: government has blamed the students for the catastrophe. The worst news therefore is that education is now an illiterate in Nigeria. The miscarriage of our educational system is the craft of a nation deficient in sensitive leadership.
Only 25.99% of students who sat for the 2009 West African Examination Council SSCE passed the minimum requirements of credits in five subjects including English language and mathematics. This is said to be an improvement over the 13% performance of last year, 2008. Alarmed by this dismal performance, the government has set up a probe panel. Ironically, the government is responsible for the educational bankruptcy in the land. The government over the years is the chief failure. While United Nations Educational and Scientific Organization (UNESCO) prescribe that a minimum of 26 % of nations’ budget be dedicated to the educational sector, Nigeria rarely achieves a double digit budget for education. The little that is budgeted is leaked out through inefficiency of resource allocation and other corrupt practices.
Education has never been the priority of any Nigerian government. There is paucity of funds, the standards have been abused and re-abused. Investment in education and its facilities are absent or very minimal to achieve positive effects. The quality of learning is further dampened by the level of poverty and the problems of insecurity and instability. Libraries and laboratories are either extinct or exist on life support programmes. Hostels, classrooms, furniture, dinning and sport/ recreational facilities are very inadequate. Students learn in over crowded classrooms, many sit on the floor or windows during teaching hours. Strikes have permeated the sector to the extent that secondary and primary schools remain shut for several months due to the inability of governments at various levels to meet up with teachers’ demands.
Finland has a 100% literacy rate. About 50% of Finland’s annual budget is spent on education. An educated nation is a developed nation, as it is said; the heart of education is the education of the heart. Nigerian Government can not be yelping over the failure rate of the students when the same government has debased education in the country through acts of commission and omission. The quality of teaching and teachers in Nigeria is unsatisfactory. The students are taught by teachers who either couldn’t pass their own exams or couldn’t get admission to other preferred tertiary institutions. We no longer have teachers by choice but by chance. The country churns out sub standard and disillusioned teachers. How can they produce an excellent or average crop of students?
To illustrate the importance of education in our nation, SSCE is the minimum requirement for contesting election in Nigeria. It is more rewarding to be a kidnapper these days than to be a serious minded student. It is more honourable to be a political thug than to be a committed student. Graduates roam and saunter the streets without employment, making years of study an exercise in futility.
Our government must urgently arrest this ugly descent into abyss by probing its own role in the mis-education of our students. Adequate funds and lasting investments must be provided to rescue the sector from ultimate collapse. The learning environment must be rescued from sliding further. Efforts should be made to reintroduce teachers colleges which will attract and enthuse our young generation to the teaching profession and grow them to become experienced and qualified teachers. The condition of service for teachers and those associated with teaching must be enhanced. Numerical and scientific based curricula should be upgraded and integrated into our national appetite.
A minimum of Diploma / NCE with credits in five subjects including mathematics or English language or both should be made the minimum requirements for contesting elections in Nigeria for a start. Rather than exporting scarce teaching skills through the Technical Aid Corps and other bilateral or multi lateral arrangements, Nigeria should flood our schools with adequate teaching manpower. The Parents Teachers Association (PTAs) must become watch dogs. They should not only stop at the provision of chairs and building of fences in the schools, but must actively superintend over the quality of academic and extra curricular contents taught in these schools. Teachers should be trained and re-trained, equipped with modern teaching aids and kits.
Nigerians as a whole must take more than a passing interest in the state of our educational system. It is high time corporate organizations adopted schools to nurture and wealthy individuals can donate teaching and learning materials. A teachers’ welfare insurance scheme should be designed and implemented. Internet based networking programmes should be developed and schools can be categorized and graded based on performance. Each school will have a vertical linkage to allow for interactions and exchange of information and ideas. There should also be a horizontal peer review to enable competition among schools of equal categories.
Above all, the government must stop playing politics with education in Nigeria. Qualified administrators and not non-challant politicians should be appointed to steer the educational system in Nigeria. Unfortunately, if we allow the level of mass failure to continue at such terrifying rate, then I dare say there is no book in face book and our children will only continue to browse and hit million clicks on the internet. This will not be for research or academic purposes but for cyber crimes, chats and pornography. The developers of face book and other internet sites will continue to rake in millions of dollars from online traffic and advertisements while our nation keeps collapsing from the excess luggage of a failed educational system.
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The good news is this: students no longer need to sacrifice their time and leisure to learn and pass exams. The bad news is: parents will keep wasting their scarce resources for their children and wards to re-write exams. The worse news is: government has blamed the students for the catastrophe. The worst news therefore is that education is now an illiterate in Nigeria. The miscarriage of our educational system is the craft of a nation deficient in sensitive leadership.
Only 25.99% of students who sat for the 2009 West African Examination Council SSCE passed the minimum requirements of credits in five subjects including English language and mathematics. This is said to be an improvement over the 13% performance of last year, 2008. Alarmed by this dismal performance, the government has set up a probe panel. Ironically, the government is responsible for the educational bankruptcy in the land. The government over the years is the chief failure. While United Nations Educational and Scientific Organization (UNESCO) prescribe that a minimum of 26 % of nations’ budget be dedicated to the educational sector, Nigeria rarely achieves a double digit budget for education. The little that is budgeted is leaked out through inefficiency of resource allocation and other corrupt practices.
Education has never been the priority of any Nigerian government. There is paucity of funds, the standards have been abused and re-abused. Investment in education and its facilities are absent or very minimal to achieve positive effects. The quality of learning is further dampened by the level of poverty and the problems of insecurity and instability. Libraries and laboratories are either extinct or exist on life support programmes. Hostels, classrooms, furniture, dinning and sport/ recreational facilities are very inadequate. Students learn in over crowded classrooms, many sit on the floor or windows during teaching hours. Strikes have permeated the sector to the extent that secondary and primary schools remain shut for several months due to the inability of governments at various levels to meet up with teachers’ demands.
Finland has a 100% literacy rate. About 50% of Finland’s annual budget is spent on education. An educated nation is a developed nation, as it is said; the heart of education is the education of the heart. Nigerian Government can not be yelping over the failure rate of the students when the same government has debased education in the country through acts of commission and omission. The quality of teaching and teachers in Nigeria is unsatisfactory. The students are taught by teachers who either couldn’t pass their own exams or couldn’t get admission to other preferred tertiary institutions. We no longer have teachers by choice but by chance. The country churns out sub standard and disillusioned teachers. How can they produce an excellent or average crop of students?
To illustrate the importance of education in our nation, SSCE is the minimum requirement for contesting election in Nigeria. It is more rewarding to be a kidnapper these days than to be a serious minded student. It is more honourable to be a political thug than to be a committed student. Graduates roam and saunter the streets without employment, making years of study an exercise in futility.
Our government must urgently arrest this ugly descent into abyss by probing its own role in the mis-education of our students. Adequate funds and lasting investments must be provided to rescue the sector from ultimate collapse. The learning environment must be rescued from sliding further. Efforts should be made to reintroduce teachers colleges which will attract and enthuse our young generation to the teaching profession and grow them to become experienced and qualified teachers. The condition of service for teachers and those associated with teaching must be enhanced. Numerical and scientific based curricula should be upgraded and integrated into our national appetite.
A minimum of Diploma / NCE with credits in five subjects including mathematics or English language or both should be made the minimum requirements for contesting elections in Nigeria for a start. Rather than exporting scarce teaching skills through the Technical Aid Corps and other bilateral or multi lateral arrangements, Nigeria should flood our schools with adequate teaching manpower. The Parents Teachers Association (PTAs) must become watch dogs. They should not only stop at the provision of chairs and building of fences in the schools, but must actively superintend over the quality of academic and extra curricular contents taught in these schools. Teachers should be trained and re-trained, equipped with modern teaching aids and kits.
Nigerians as a whole must take more than a passing interest in the state of our educational system. It is high time corporate organizations adopted schools to nurture and wealthy individuals can donate teaching and learning materials. A teachers’ welfare insurance scheme should be designed and implemented. Internet based networking programmes should be developed and schools can be categorized and graded based on performance. Each school will have a vertical linkage to allow for interactions and exchange of information and ideas. There should also be a horizontal peer review to enable competition among schools of equal categories.
Above all, the government must stop playing politics with education in Nigeria. Qualified administrators and not non-challant politicians should be appointed to steer the educational system in Nigeria. Unfortunately, if we allow the level of mass failure to continue at such terrifying rate, then I dare say there is no book in face book and our children will only continue to browse and hit million clicks on the internet. This will not be for research or academic purposes but for cyber crimes, chats and pornography. The developers of face book and other internet sites will continue to rake in millions of dollars from online traffic and advertisements while our nation keeps collapsing from the excess luggage of a failed educational system.
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