Finally she died for love or is it for lackbof love? One of the sweetest women to ever walk the streets of entertainment whose songs were all about love, non of her songs depicted violence, crime or nudity. The lyrics of her songs electrified love but more for the cries of a lover in need of love.
Her ending years are some sad episodes of what love gone bad can do to sweet innocent people. A soured love can criminalize the lover especially who is on the receiving part.
'Finest voice' as the BBC describes her, Whitney's background was steeped in soul and gospel music. Her mother was gospel singer Cissy Houston, she was cousin to singer Dionne Warwick and goddaughter to Aretha Franklin.
Before the advent of CDs, DVDs, I tunes ,cable TVs and internent in this part of the world, Whitney Houston's voice filled out televison sets, FM radio and cassettes. From fantastic choir perfomances the queen took it to the stage and studio to become one of the greatest female singer of all times. Her adaption of Dolly Parton's 1973 song " I will always love you" went double platinum and became the greatest selling song of all times. She won six Grammys, thirty billboard awards and twenty two American music awards and sold 170 million records.
From the skies came Bobby Brown, one of the members of the Boy's group New Edition. Whitney loved Bobby in a way we as kids could not understand. Whitney was more polished, taller, sweeter, older and even richer than Bobby so we always asked what she saw in Bobby. We were kids and so could be forgiven for we knew nothing about love. Whitney saved all her love for Bobby and gave him that sweetness to be his wife. She must have promised to love him always and was ready to go all the way, which she proved. Love must have blinded her because even in far away Nigeria we saw Bobby as a bad boy and kept asking why will Whitney marry him?
She loved him and did everything to make it work. When Bobby started his domestic violence many people expected Whitney to evacuate and leave but she stuck until when it was obvious that her life could be in danger. After much trial and tolerance she left but not before getting involved in drugs to hide her pains, frustration and disappointed from the love she once thought will take her to heaven.
When in the late 2000s when pitcures of a worn out Whiteny circulated after her divorce in 2007 , it was heart breaking and sorrowful to see what drugs, heartbreak and frustration did to this one beautful sweet lady. She fought seriously and got rehabilitated and came back to music. All her songs during her trials in marriage depicts someone who was hurt and even after her divorce and rehab, the songs always speak of wanting to come back (to her man) like she never left. In her songs you could hear the cries of a lonely woman, sad woman, a woman who still loved her man.
Unlike other music stars, Whitney was not known or connected with any man since Bobby Brown. the saddest thing is while whitney suffered for love or lack of love by the callous action of a man she loved and married , Bobby remain unrepentant, unapologetic and never made any attempt to reach the soul of this diva.
For love she left others and followed a man who didn't not appreciate her, for lack of love she lived her remaining years even craving for it. It may not be just a coincidence that she died just three days to this year's valentine ; in the season of a love, her heart and life has been deprieved for long and as one of her songs asked, "where do broken hearts go"
Whitney, if yesterday was your judgement day and the lord asked you what did you do with your life, please tell the dear lord that you spent it with us.
Adieu our power of love.
Wakdok, Samuel Stephen...12102012
Credoworld.blogspot.com
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Friday, February 10, 2012
“NIGERIA: A COMMITTEE OF THE (W) HOLE”
CredoWriters: Wakdok, Samuel Stephen
This is a country where we may wake up to have more committees than the number of people living in it. We do everything in committees, if only the results are always laudable and commiserate with the amount of resources expended on the committees. A committee is needed to set up a committee, another committee is needed to monitor the committee, a committee is used to review and appraise a committee, and a committee is used to wind up another committee. Hence everything is in committee with committee as the terms of reference, with committees as the reason for setting up the committees, and committees as results of the committees. All we see as output for the energy, time, resources and space spent on setting up committees are committees.
People marry in and through committees, i.e. committee of friends or the church committee to screen intending couples, or the village/ customary committee to slam the dowry and collect the bride price. At birth, women give birth in committee called ante natal or when the nurses round around in committees shouting push--- push. Of course the new born child is welcome by committee of older women who throw it up at bathing time and during naming ceremony and now a church committee during dedication. If she is lucky not to be a boy will escape the circumcision, unless where female genital mutilation is in force.
People live in committee popularly called face me- I -face you compound and quarrel in committees especially for families with numerous children. At “mama put” another committee is present early in the morning and another late in the evening either at mai shayi/suya joint or beer parlours. People commute in committees called Danfo, Molue or keke Napep and also get thrown into the gutters, ditches and rivers in committees by committees of reckless drivers.
Students read and hunger in committees only to be awarded with extra years by committees of ASUU, NASU, SSANU and FGN or States as applicable. Patients die in committees killed by Committees of medical doctors, nurses, health workers or government.
We are exploited by a committee called the political class whose only mandate is corruption and power struggle. Our resources are plundered by a committee of past and present rulers whose only result in massive investment in committees has led to committees to probe committees which probed previous committees.
A committee is set up by a cabal to turn our oil boom to doom, our wealth to poverty, and our infrastructure to decay; only for the committee which plundered us to set up a committee to reinvest our woes. Then another committee is set up to task force a committee that is set up due to the failure of committees of ministries, departments and agencies.
The lie to us in committees, steal in committees allow us to be killed by committees of terrorists and criminals and then set up committees to investigate both the remote and immediate causes which of course are failed committees.
PHCN gives us black out in committees of outage and mismanagement of resources, only to be probed by a committee which itself is indicted by another committee.
People are unemployed or under employed in committees, many more who think they are employed are only disguisedly unemployed in committees and the employers exploit their labour force in committees.
Journalists cum social critics write and lament in committees only for them to join the corrupt governments in committees, eat their shares in committees and surely get disgraced out in committees.
The National Assembly loots in committees while the executive loots in committee of individuals or individuals in committees. Committees of landlords and agents are profiteering from high rents and land speculation turning millions into squatters and tenants with overburdened rents,
Elections are rigged in committees; the land is besieged with committees of violence, hunger, stealing, lies, nepotism, misinformation, and many other vices. Human beings kill themselves in committees of religions and now habitats are settling in committees of Christians, Moslems. Committees of homosexuals and lesbians also have come to the fore demanding for universal rights.
Yet, members of the committees smile to the banks whether money banks or blood banks with their dirty antics to perpetuate the government of the committee by the committee for the committee which benefits only members of the respective committees. As the committees thrive, the people suffer; as these committees reproduce the people demise.
Persons who once walked in committees of the bare footed now wear shoes to trample us in committees while people who once defended the poor in committees of the pen are using the same pen to propagate lies in committees. The committee of the whole has put us all into the committee of the hole where bombings, killings, kidnappings, rapes, fundamentalism, theft, bunkering, smuggling and corruption have become the norm rather than exception. Nigerians are now been buried in committees of mass graves, may God send a true committee of the righteous to rescue us as a whole out of this hole. Amen.
credoworld.blogspot.com
This is a country where we may wake up to have more committees than the number of people living in it. We do everything in committees, if only the results are always laudable and commiserate with the amount of resources expended on the committees. A committee is needed to set up a committee, another committee is needed to monitor the committee, a committee is used to review and appraise a committee, and a committee is used to wind up another committee. Hence everything is in committee with committee as the terms of reference, with committees as the reason for setting up the committees, and committees as results of the committees. All we see as output for the energy, time, resources and space spent on setting up committees are committees.
People marry in and through committees, i.e. committee of friends or the church committee to screen intending couples, or the village/ customary committee to slam the dowry and collect the bride price. At birth, women give birth in committee called ante natal or when the nurses round around in committees shouting push--- push. Of course the new born child is welcome by committee of older women who throw it up at bathing time and during naming ceremony and now a church committee during dedication. If she is lucky not to be a boy will escape the circumcision, unless where female genital mutilation is in force.
People live in committee popularly called face me- I -face you compound and quarrel in committees especially for families with numerous children. At “mama put” another committee is present early in the morning and another late in the evening either at mai shayi/suya joint or beer parlours. People commute in committees called Danfo, Molue or keke Napep and also get thrown into the gutters, ditches and rivers in committees by committees of reckless drivers.
Students read and hunger in committees only to be awarded with extra years by committees of ASUU, NASU, SSANU and FGN or States as applicable. Patients die in committees killed by Committees of medical doctors, nurses, health workers or government.
We are exploited by a committee called the political class whose only mandate is corruption and power struggle. Our resources are plundered by a committee of past and present rulers whose only result in massive investment in committees has led to committees to probe committees which probed previous committees.
A committee is set up by a cabal to turn our oil boom to doom, our wealth to poverty, and our infrastructure to decay; only for the committee which plundered us to set up a committee to reinvest our woes. Then another committee is set up to task force a committee that is set up due to the failure of committees of ministries, departments and agencies.
The lie to us in committees, steal in committees allow us to be killed by committees of terrorists and criminals and then set up committees to investigate both the remote and immediate causes which of course are failed committees.
PHCN gives us black out in committees of outage and mismanagement of resources, only to be probed by a committee which itself is indicted by another committee.
People are unemployed or under employed in committees, many more who think they are employed are only disguisedly unemployed in committees and the employers exploit their labour force in committees.
Journalists cum social critics write and lament in committees only for them to join the corrupt governments in committees, eat their shares in committees and surely get disgraced out in committees.
The National Assembly loots in committees while the executive loots in committee of individuals or individuals in committees. Committees of landlords and agents are profiteering from high rents and land speculation turning millions into squatters and tenants with overburdened rents,
Elections are rigged in committees; the land is besieged with committees of violence, hunger, stealing, lies, nepotism, misinformation, and many other vices. Human beings kill themselves in committees of religions and now habitats are settling in committees of Christians, Moslems. Committees of homosexuals and lesbians also have come to the fore demanding for universal rights.
Yet, members of the committees smile to the banks whether money banks or blood banks with their dirty antics to perpetuate the government of the committee by the committee for the committee which benefits only members of the respective committees. As the committees thrive, the people suffer; as these committees reproduce the people demise.
Persons who once walked in committees of the bare footed now wear shoes to trample us in committees while people who once defended the poor in committees of the pen are using the same pen to propagate lies in committees. The committee of the whole has put us all into the committee of the hole where bombings, killings, kidnappings, rapes, fundamentalism, theft, bunkering, smuggling and corruption have become the norm rather than exception. Nigerians are now been buried in committees of mass graves, may God send a true committee of the righteous to rescue us as a whole out of this hole. Amen.
credoworld.blogspot.com
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Celebrating Our Black African Love
By N. Amma Twum-Baah and Wakdok, Samuel Stephen
Woman: My lover, my friend, my soul has known no greater pleasure since the day I saw You! I always said to myself: “there is no such thing as the perfect man for me! I am desired by so many others; there cannot be just one out there perfect enough for me.” Or so I thought, until I opened up my eyes and I saw You.
Man: My lady, I saw You long before You ever saw me because You glow above all the desert of the Sahara and I know how majestic You are. You are first among equals and second to none. You stand higher than the Kilimanjaro and your beauty beats the sight of Victoria Falls.
Woman: How foolish I have been! I had a list of requirements as long as the road from Namibia to Angola, and I judged your worth based on those requirements. I never thought one would come along who not only met those requirements, but surpassed my expectations. I never knew I could find a love like yours my love. Some came close but fell short in too many important ways. They looked good but lacked substance. They spoke well, but their words were tainted. They had academic degrees, but their minds were shallow. They talked a good game, but their hearts were full of deceit.
Man: You were only being naïve my love. Your loveliness surpasses the length of the Nile and I can boldly say that your breath is stronger than the Zulu army. You are my jewel in the savannah, the gateway to my ecstasy. My African treasure, the jungles of Africa bow at your sight. You are richer than all the Gold in South Africa juxtaposed on the oil field in the Gulf of Guinea. Darling, your serenity is more natural than the Mambila Plateau and your kindness runs deeper than the Atlantic Ocean. You give the Garden city its spring of serendipity.
Woman: My lord, my man, my heart, I didn’t care whether You would turn out to be Ghanaian or Nigerian, Senegalese of Kenyan, but I hoped You would. All I cared about was that You were African! And that your veins run with the blood of our ancestors, that You spoke the language of love the way our forefathers spoke the language of love – in our own unique way! I cared that You didn’t gag when I served You one of the many delectable delicacies mum painstakingly taught me. I cared that You treated me like the delicate African flower that I am – beautiful when in bloom, pampered, loved and protected.
Man: My Princess You are the fountain of beauty which flows into the mountain of peace. On your precious head sits the crown of diamonds which dwarfs all the diamonds in Sierra-Leone. You are my African Pride, and when You gave me the gate pass to your heart I knew I would live for ever because even when I die, my love living in You will live for all eternity. You give life to my being and illuminate my soul. “Babylove”; You are the woman of my desire, the queen of my heart, the destiny of my eternity.
Woman: My prince, divine nature thought it best to send me You. You are the one who lights up my soul and makes my heart sing songs of infinite melodies. You satiate the intense burning of desire deep inside me. I never want this feeling to end. No wonder all those years back when I was a little girl, even as I read fairy tales of white princes and knights-in-shining armor riding to rescue me on a white horse; I always envisioned You, my black love, my black prince, my black warrior, chest broad and bare, spear in hand, a triumphant look across your handsome face, riding in on a black horse, its coat gleaming through the sun’s rays. You rescued my heart from doom and You kept me safe in your arms. With those strong arms, I knew I would be safe forever. Protect me from this evil world that tells me my beauty is nothing compared to others.
Man: Come baby let me protect You. Make my heart your heart, hold me tight, kiss me sweet, touch me smoothly and I will love and protect You endlessly. You make me a proud man, You are the sun that lights my day and the moon that lights my night. I know I was right when I set my eyes on You and I told my heart to follow You.
Woman: Many have found love in the arms of others. I have found love right where I feel at home; where I can be me without having to explain myself, and everything I do.
Man: That’s because the love of an African man made manifest in an African woman makes the world spin and halt on the African continent. You who once were my fantasy are now my purpose of existence. I can see You with the eyes of my heart and hear You with the ears of my heart. And since that lovely day when You looked into my eyes and told me ‘Yes,’ I knew that the heart of your heart had merged with the heart of mine. Forever we will live and love and live and love.
Woman: How foolish I’ve been my love. I knew You long before I saw You and that’s what makes our love so unique and so strong! I knew You before I saw You and that’s why I know that no matter where I go and no matter what I do, love will always be there beckoning me home. I knew You, long before I saw You in all your patience, and in all your caring. There were times I was afraid you’d walk away from being tired of waiting for me to see You. There were times I wanted to see You, but my sight was focused on another. There were times I saw You, but I was afraid of what my eyes were seeing so I looked and saw another. I was running away from the safety of love. Now, I wonder why I was so foolish.
Man: My Precious golden girl, my sweet cherry; let me show You to the world. Your foolishness has been forgiven. Let’s focus on what matters here and now. Your full bosom seduces even the angels and your eyes can pierce the Zuma rock. When I hold You close to me and feel the softness of your being, when I close my eyes and kiss You, I do not only feel, but I know I am in heaven. Tell me, who else can make me feel this way but You. Each time You smile, I loose my head for a while and the world feels Africa is not the place where the deities of love dwell?
Woman: My African warrior, my charming prince, there is a song in my heart that sings in perfect melody at the sight of You. There is a sound in my throat that escapes only at the touch of your hands. No one has ever made me feel half as good about myself like You do. I feel your love beckoning to me and I humbly obey!
Man: If I love You, it is because love is You. If I need You, it is because life is You. No man with blood flowing through his veins will see You and not appreciate the true African warrior I am to have won You. I have your heart and body and I know You submitted your soul long ago to me. Can I ever stop loving You; will that not stop my heart from beating? What use will I have on earth when I stop my own heart from beating? I will be useless can’t You see, if I do not have You to stick by my side. Love has no boundaries and that is why whether You are a Ghanaian and I am a Nigerian it makes little or no sense to me. The only thing that makes sense to me is the fact that You love me and I know You will never regret loving me. If I steal and steal billons of nairas or Cedis then I am rogue, but if stealing Your heart is what I am guilty of then let me be guilty a zillion times.
Woman: I submit to your love – oh how I used to hate that word “submit!” But, with You, it feels so right! Take care of me, and I’ll take care of You! Be my provider, and I’ll be your help. Lead me, and I’ll follow! Direct me, and I’ll listen! For some reason, all of a sudden, “Let me cater to You” does not sound like such a degrading song after all. For some reason, seeing mum lay out dad’s dinner covered with white lace doesn’t seem so maid-like after all. For some reason, the thought of catering to You makes me weak in the knees and gives me such immense pleasure. It makes me want to cook your dinner and rub your tired feet. It makes me want to rub your back and plant sweet kisses on your neck. It makes me want to savor every minute spent in Your arms showered in your sweet kisses. It makes me want to be weak. It makes me want to be the vulnerable. It makes me want to serve You. It makes me want to submit to You, and obey the sound of your voice.
Man: My “Afrikan Goddess”, I have no poem to write for You because your life is my poetry. I have no joy to share with You because my heart is your happiness and I can not give up my life for You because my life is your heart. Every day is our season of love and when I am with You hell is burnt out of existence; I understand God’s desire for the Garden of Eden as a place of love and happiness. Love is God’s gift to You and I and it is our symbol of angelic inheritance, no physicist can measure the velocity of our love. When ever I think of You I thank the Lord for permitting one of his angels to descend and be my sanity in this insane world. This love story is not written on paper which can be burnt or stored on a disk that can be deleted. It is carved out on my heart and stored in it always to be retrieved and I know from my heart to yours it flows without end. You are the core of my existence and the most delicate part of my being is You.
Woman: My friend, my lover, my prince, as for me, I want to shout our love from the rooftops and tell You time and time again that I cannot live without your love. I want the whole world to hear of our love and to know that You are the reason why I live. I want the world to know that You rule my body and You rule my heart. I submit to You all that is within me and all that I am. You are the core of my existence and the most delicate part of my being is You.
Man: Now that You are weak and vulnerable, and have submitted to me, let me fill You with my charms, let me stride You to ecstasy and take You beyond the clouds. My “Afrikan Goddess,” Your royalty has no past neither does it have a limit. My baby, my friend, my wife, my woman, my lady, my princess and my all; to live without your love is to live in vain; it is not to live in the first place. I love You!
About the Authors
N. Amma Twum-Baah a Ghanaian based in the United States is the Founder/ Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Afrikan Goddess.
Wakdok, Samuel Stephen a Nigerian is the brain that powers Credo World Media: http://CredoWorld.blogspot.com
Woman: My lover, my friend, my soul has known no greater pleasure since the day I saw You! I always said to myself: “there is no such thing as the perfect man for me! I am desired by so many others; there cannot be just one out there perfect enough for me.” Or so I thought, until I opened up my eyes and I saw You.
Man: My lady, I saw You long before You ever saw me because You glow above all the desert of the Sahara and I know how majestic You are. You are first among equals and second to none. You stand higher than the Kilimanjaro and your beauty beats the sight of Victoria Falls.
Woman: How foolish I have been! I had a list of requirements as long as the road from Namibia to Angola, and I judged your worth based on those requirements. I never thought one would come along who not only met those requirements, but surpassed my expectations. I never knew I could find a love like yours my love. Some came close but fell short in too many important ways. They looked good but lacked substance. They spoke well, but their words were tainted. They had academic degrees, but their minds were shallow. They talked a good game, but their hearts were full of deceit.
Man: You were only being naïve my love. Your loveliness surpasses the length of the Nile and I can boldly say that your breath is stronger than the Zulu army. You are my jewel in the savannah, the gateway to my ecstasy. My African treasure, the jungles of Africa bow at your sight. You are richer than all the Gold in South Africa juxtaposed on the oil field in the Gulf of Guinea. Darling, your serenity is more natural than the Mambila Plateau and your kindness runs deeper than the Atlantic Ocean. You give the Garden city its spring of serendipity.
Woman: My lord, my man, my heart, I didn’t care whether You would turn out to be Ghanaian or Nigerian, Senegalese of Kenyan, but I hoped You would. All I cared about was that You were African! And that your veins run with the blood of our ancestors, that You spoke the language of love the way our forefathers spoke the language of love – in our own unique way! I cared that You didn’t gag when I served You one of the many delectable delicacies mum painstakingly taught me. I cared that You treated me like the delicate African flower that I am – beautiful when in bloom, pampered, loved and protected.
Man: My Princess You are the fountain of beauty which flows into the mountain of peace. On your precious head sits the crown of diamonds which dwarfs all the diamonds in Sierra-Leone. You are my African Pride, and when You gave me the gate pass to your heart I knew I would live for ever because even when I die, my love living in You will live for all eternity. You give life to my being and illuminate my soul. “Babylove”; You are the woman of my desire, the queen of my heart, the destiny of my eternity.
Woman: My prince, divine nature thought it best to send me You. You are the one who lights up my soul and makes my heart sing songs of infinite melodies. You satiate the intense burning of desire deep inside me. I never want this feeling to end. No wonder all those years back when I was a little girl, even as I read fairy tales of white princes and knights-in-shining armor riding to rescue me on a white horse; I always envisioned You, my black love, my black prince, my black warrior, chest broad and bare, spear in hand, a triumphant look across your handsome face, riding in on a black horse, its coat gleaming through the sun’s rays. You rescued my heart from doom and You kept me safe in your arms. With those strong arms, I knew I would be safe forever. Protect me from this evil world that tells me my beauty is nothing compared to others.
Man: Come baby let me protect You. Make my heart your heart, hold me tight, kiss me sweet, touch me smoothly and I will love and protect You endlessly. You make me a proud man, You are the sun that lights my day and the moon that lights my night. I know I was right when I set my eyes on You and I told my heart to follow You.
Woman: Many have found love in the arms of others. I have found love right where I feel at home; where I can be me without having to explain myself, and everything I do.
Man: That’s because the love of an African man made manifest in an African woman makes the world spin and halt on the African continent. You who once were my fantasy are now my purpose of existence. I can see You with the eyes of my heart and hear You with the ears of my heart. And since that lovely day when You looked into my eyes and told me ‘Yes,’ I knew that the heart of your heart had merged with the heart of mine. Forever we will live and love and live and love.
Woman: How foolish I’ve been my love. I knew You long before I saw You and that’s what makes our love so unique and so strong! I knew You before I saw You and that’s why I know that no matter where I go and no matter what I do, love will always be there beckoning me home. I knew You, long before I saw You in all your patience, and in all your caring. There were times I was afraid you’d walk away from being tired of waiting for me to see You. There were times I wanted to see You, but my sight was focused on another. There were times I saw You, but I was afraid of what my eyes were seeing so I looked and saw another. I was running away from the safety of love. Now, I wonder why I was so foolish.
Man: My Precious golden girl, my sweet cherry; let me show You to the world. Your foolishness has been forgiven. Let’s focus on what matters here and now. Your full bosom seduces even the angels and your eyes can pierce the Zuma rock. When I hold You close to me and feel the softness of your being, when I close my eyes and kiss You, I do not only feel, but I know I am in heaven. Tell me, who else can make me feel this way but You. Each time You smile, I loose my head for a while and the world feels Africa is not the place where the deities of love dwell?
Woman: My African warrior, my charming prince, there is a song in my heart that sings in perfect melody at the sight of You. There is a sound in my throat that escapes only at the touch of your hands. No one has ever made me feel half as good about myself like You do. I feel your love beckoning to me and I humbly obey!
Man: If I love You, it is because love is You. If I need You, it is because life is You. No man with blood flowing through his veins will see You and not appreciate the true African warrior I am to have won You. I have your heart and body and I know You submitted your soul long ago to me. Can I ever stop loving You; will that not stop my heart from beating? What use will I have on earth when I stop my own heart from beating? I will be useless can’t You see, if I do not have You to stick by my side. Love has no boundaries and that is why whether You are a Ghanaian and I am a Nigerian it makes little or no sense to me. The only thing that makes sense to me is the fact that You love me and I know You will never regret loving me. If I steal and steal billons of nairas or Cedis then I am rogue, but if stealing Your heart is what I am guilty of then let me be guilty a zillion times.
Woman: I submit to your love – oh how I used to hate that word “submit!” But, with You, it feels so right! Take care of me, and I’ll take care of You! Be my provider, and I’ll be your help. Lead me, and I’ll follow! Direct me, and I’ll listen! For some reason, all of a sudden, “Let me cater to You” does not sound like such a degrading song after all. For some reason, seeing mum lay out dad’s dinner covered with white lace doesn’t seem so maid-like after all. For some reason, the thought of catering to You makes me weak in the knees and gives me such immense pleasure. It makes me want to cook your dinner and rub your tired feet. It makes me want to rub your back and plant sweet kisses on your neck. It makes me want to savor every minute spent in Your arms showered in your sweet kisses. It makes me want to be weak. It makes me want to be the vulnerable. It makes me want to serve You. It makes me want to submit to You, and obey the sound of your voice.
Man: My “Afrikan Goddess”, I have no poem to write for You because your life is my poetry. I have no joy to share with You because my heart is your happiness and I can not give up my life for You because my life is your heart. Every day is our season of love and when I am with You hell is burnt out of existence; I understand God’s desire for the Garden of Eden as a place of love and happiness. Love is God’s gift to You and I and it is our symbol of angelic inheritance, no physicist can measure the velocity of our love. When ever I think of You I thank the Lord for permitting one of his angels to descend and be my sanity in this insane world. This love story is not written on paper which can be burnt or stored on a disk that can be deleted. It is carved out on my heart and stored in it always to be retrieved and I know from my heart to yours it flows without end. You are the core of my existence and the most delicate part of my being is You.
Woman: My friend, my lover, my prince, as for me, I want to shout our love from the rooftops and tell You time and time again that I cannot live without your love. I want the whole world to hear of our love and to know that You are the reason why I live. I want the world to know that You rule my body and You rule my heart. I submit to You all that is within me and all that I am. You are the core of my existence and the most delicate part of my being is You.
Man: Now that You are weak and vulnerable, and have submitted to me, let me fill You with my charms, let me stride You to ecstasy and take You beyond the clouds. My “Afrikan Goddess,” Your royalty has no past neither does it have a limit. My baby, my friend, my wife, my woman, my lady, my princess and my all; to live without your love is to live in vain; it is not to live in the first place. I love You!
About the Authors
N. Amma Twum-Baah a Ghanaian based in the United States is the Founder/ Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Afrikan Goddess.
Wakdok, Samuel Stephen a Nigerian is the brain that powers Credo World Media: http://CredoWorld.blogspot.com
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
No Madam Minister,It is a Fib...Part II
CredoWriters:Wakdok,Samuel Stephen.
Transformation is more than wearing smuggled ankara and telling pauperized citizens white lies behind a TV camera, which is powered by generators with fuel procured from black markets. It should be about gilded in Made in Nigeria textile fabrics and speaking the truth on behalf of millions of voiceless Nigerians.
Transformation is not riding in foreign made jeeps to escape the impacts of our potholed embellished roads; it is about driving in Nigerian manufactured cabbies without feeling the fissures because the roads are themselves transformed, hence no pot holes.
Transformation is not having foreign construction firms building their own embassies in Nigeria and also building our own embassies in their countries, It is having Nigerian world class building and construction firms excelling anywhere in the world.
Transformation is not restricted to acquiring a foreign degree as a prerequisite for local jobs, transformation entails having a Nigerian degree that allows us international access to all job opportunities.
Transformation transcends deregulating the importation of petroleum products to convert a renowned cabal into a cartel who will collude againts the people, it is promoting local content drive to establish transparency and accountability. It is ensuring adequate local production and refining capacity to meet domestic need and achieve exportation of finished goods.
Transformation should not be about a brazen mother of foreign based family but being a gratified mother of humble if need be unemployed Nigerians men to diffuse the circular flow of national income.
Transformation is not the cowardice of placing responsibilities on the doors of Nigerians while giving flimsy excuses for the miscarriage of governance, it ought to be the remorse of a government woman who should be determined to right the ills of failures of government institutions as a first step towards making amends.
Transformation is not about being the agent of a western capitalist institutions, the price mechanism has failed Europe and America and has become a mathematics of random uncertainty.
Transformation is not disappointing the electorate who voted a patient luck only to be rewarded in such a terrible and inhuamn manner, it is about people's power.
We are patriotic even if untransformed Nigerians. We pay our taxes and we can show the world our pay slips. Madam ‘World bank’; can we please see your pay slip? We are so Nigerian that we have no International Passports since we do not envisage fleeing Nigeria after our ministerial tenures. Can you please drop your dual nationality? All we have are our National ID cards. But our National Identity has been transformed by hunger, excess fuel burden, potholes, strikes, insecurity and unemployment.
Madam Minister, nonetheless tell yourself the truth if not your employer or the tax payers. Do you still drink pipe borne water?
Do you eat local rice?
Do you pay for your fuel while it is still un-deregulated and now that you are deregulating?
Do you pay PHCN utility bills?
No! Madam Minister, it is a fib.
Remove those spectacles and stop fibbing
www.credoworld.blogspot.com
Transformation is more than wearing smuggled ankara and telling pauperized citizens white lies behind a TV camera, which is powered by generators with fuel procured from black markets. It should be about gilded in Made in Nigeria textile fabrics and speaking the truth on behalf of millions of voiceless Nigerians.
Transformation is not riding in foreign made jeeps to escape the impacts of our potholed embellished roads; it is about driving in Nigerian manufactured cabbies without feeling the fissures because the roads are themselves transformed, hence no pot holes.
Transformation is not having foreign construction firms building their own embassies in Nigeria and also building our own embassies in their countries, It is having Nigerian world class building and construction firms excelling anywhere in the world.
Transformation is not restricted to acquiring a foreign degree as a prerequisite for local jobs, transformation entails having a Nigerian degree that allows us international access to all job opportunities.
Transformation transcends deregulating the importation of petroleum products to convert a renowned cabal into a cartel who will collude againts the people, it is promoting local content drive to establish transparency and accountability. It is ensuring adequate local production and refining capacity to meet domestic need and achieve exportation of finished goods.
Transformation should not be about a brazen mother of foreign based family but being a gratified mother of humble if need be unemployed Nigerians men to diffuse the circular flow of national income.
Transformation is not the cowardice of placing responsibilities on the doors of Nigerians while giving flimsy excuses for the miscarriage of governance, it ought to be the remorse of a government woman who should be determined to right the ills of failures of government institutions as a first step towards making amends.
Transformation is not about being the agent of a western capitalist institutions, the price mechanism has failed Europe and America and has become a mathematics of random uncertainty.
Transformation is not disappointing the electorate who voted a patient luck only to be rewarded in such a terrible and inhuamn manner, it is about people's power.
We are patriotic even if untransformed Nigerians. We pay our taxes and we can show the world our pay slips. Madam ‘World bank’; can we please see your pay slip? We are so Nigerian that we have no International Passports since we do not envisage fleeing Nigeria after our ministerial tenures. Can you please drop your dual nationality? All we have are our National ID cards. But our National Identity has been transformed by hunger, excess fuel burden, potholes, strikes, insecurity and unemployment.
Madam Minister, nonetheless tell yourself the truth if not your employer or the tax payers. Do you still drink pipe borne water?
Do you eat local rice?
Do you pay for your fuel while it is still un-deregulated and now that you are deregulating?
Do you pay PHCN utility bills?
No! Madam Minister, it is a fib.
Remove those spectacles and stop fibbing
www.credoworld.blogspot.com
The gods are to blame.
CredoWriters: Wakdok, Samuel Stephen
When Ola Rotimi wrote his famous play "The gods are not to blame", it may have been premised on the fact that human beings were human and would take responsibility for their actions. In Nigeria today, some human beings are no longer human. When the serpent tempted Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden, he told them that they would be like God if they ate. Nigerian government officials have greed as their apple and once they got corrupted with money and power, they become gods. Name them from the President to his ministers, his advisers to his apologists, they now play gods and as such they are to blame.
If they masses of this country get annihilated by this very unpopular fuel subsidy removal, if Nigerians get killed in the process of demonstrating and resisting this IMF script directed by World Bank’s Ngozi Okonjo Iwela and produced by Nigeria’s Goodluck Jonathan as narrated by Labaran Maku, we know where to place the blood of innocent Nigerians. A female god born with golden spoon who once cried(in pretext) without solving the road problem is now a god who expects us to trust her in deregulating fuel importation, what happens to local production which ought to have shielded us from the volatility of the international oil market? If OPEC is a cartel which colludes to influence world oil price, what stops this local cabal turned cartel from colluding to influence supply and prices in a deregulated market which doesn’t have alternatives? The developed West subsidize oil in their countries by spending billions of dollars to prosecute wars in oil producing countries to ensure cheap and secured supply of oil, those same Western imperialists are now directing our clueless officials from behind the scene.
How on earth will you explain government's ineffectiveness in tackling a so called cabal who constitute a minute fraction of the populace but that same government is bold and strong enough to take on the whole angry Nigerians. They have bullets and barrels of the gun to aim at us, but they lack the stamina to clean the corruption in the oil sector.
Hitherto thought of sane human beings who once opposed government/World Bank anti people policies have now been inducted into the hall of gods and once their prices were named, they turned around to sing like canaries in support of fuel deregulation. They hopelessly compare deregulation in the communication with that of fuel. Of course it is their right, they have the right to change their ideologies, and they have the right to support the cause they want. We too have our rights, we have the right to refuse what we know is a calculated attempt to enslave us and enrich the pocket of those who caused us to be in this quagmire in the first place. We have the right to tell these gods a big NO!
There is nothing wrong with deregulation, but there is everything wrong with deregulation that negatively affects the generality of Nigerians who are suffering and battling to survive the oddities of life. There is everything wrong with deregulating before fixing the problem, there is everything wrong with a few gods feeding fat on the common wealth of the people while expecting the people to make more sacrifices to guarantee the ostentatious life style of a few who have become gods.
Look at the government officials, their cronies and the number of cars in their entourages called convoy, all these are fuelled from the coffers of the government. The gods want the ordinary man dead, and as such they gods will stop at nothing to make life unbearable. While the people suffer, these gods budget hundreds of millions of naira for their food, billions of naira for foreign trips and trillions of naira for corruption.
The economics of deregulation is not as simple as the capitalists want us to believe. They preach free market economy on paper but they live on government subsidy in every aspect of their lives. They drive in government cars fuelled by government money, they live in government houses or houses paid by government, and they are flown to foreign hospitals on government bills while leaving our hospitals to decay. The gods send their “goddlins” to school abroad after wrecking our educational institutions with underfunding.
Suddenly, a man who was made by the people, whose cause to be made an acting president was championed by the people, a man who was the reason for the death of hundreds of Nigerians including serving corps members; that man has become a god. Propped by the female god from the World Bank and other gods who have always fed on the masses, these gods without successfully concluding their consultations or dialogue went ahead to unilaterally pursue the script that is aimed at finally crippling the masses. If the policy is such a good move, why is it a hard sell? And if the argument is that they usually borrow to subsidize fuel; which they can no longer sustain, where then will they raise money for the subsidy re-investment program? Will the gods also borrow to reinvest? Already they have set up a very bogus committee to administer the funds, another avenue to enrich the gods and rehabilitate the old ones. How independent are commissions or committees in Nigeria? Is the EFCC not independent; how were Ribadu and Waziri booted out of office?
These gods must not be allowed to make us fools, these gods will be blamed for any chaos that breaks out in the land, and the gods must be stopped before it is too late. Despite the people’s refusal of this obnoxious policy, we are hoodwinked by a ruling class who has consistently failed Nigerians since Structural adjustment program began in the mid 1980s. We rise to tell these gods that we cannot be taken for a ride. Whatever happens to us and our country these gods are to blame, and these gods will surely not escape the wrath of men and women of Nigeria.
www.credoworld.blogspot.com
04012012
When Ola Rotimi wrote his famous play "The gods are not to blame", it may have been premised on the fact that human beings were human and would take responsibility for their actions. In Nigeria today, some human beings are no longer human. When the serpent tempted Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden, he told them that they would be like God if they ate. Nigerian government officials have greed as their apple and once they got corrupted with money and power, they become gods. Name them from the President to his ministers, his advisers to his apologists, they now play gods and as such they are to blame.
If they masses of this country get annihilated by this very unpopular fuel subsidy removal, if Nigerians get killed in the process of demonstrating and resisting this IMF script directed by World Bank’s Ngozi Okonjo Iwela and produced by Nigeria’s Goodluck Jonathan as narrated by Labaran Maku, we know where to place the blood of innocent Nigerians. A female god born with golden spoon who once cried(in pretext) without solving the road problem is now a god who expects us to trust her in deregulating fuel importation, what happens to local production which ought to have shielded us from the volatility of the international oil market? If OPEC is a cartel which colludes to influence world oil price, what stops this local cabal turned cartel from colluding to influence supply and prices in a deregulated market which doesn’t have alternatives? The developed West subsidize oil in their countries by spending billions of dollars to prosecute wars in oil producing countries to ensure cheap and secured supply of oil, those same Western imperialists are now directing our clueless officials from behind the scene.
How on earth will you explain government's ineffectiveness in tackling a so called cabal who constitute a minute fraction of the populace but that same government is bold and strong enough to take on the whole angry Nigerians. They have bullets and barrels of the gun to aim at us, but they lack the stamina to clean the corruption in the oil sector.
Hitherto thought of sane human beings who once opposed government/World Bank anti people policies have now been inducted into the hall of gods and once their prices were named, they turned around to sing like canaries in support of fuel deregulation. They hopelessly compare deregulation in the communication with that of fuel. Of course it is their right, they have the right to change their ideologies, and they have the right to support the cause they want. We too have our rights, we have the right to refuse what we know is a calculated attempt to enslave us and enrich the pocket of those who caused us to be in this quagmire in the first place. We have the right to tell these gods a big NO!
There is nothing wrong with deregulation, but there is everything wrong with deregulation that negatively affects the generality of Nigerians who are suffering and battling to survive the oddities of life. There is everything wrong with deregulating before fixing the problem, there is everything wrong with a few gods feeding fat on the common wealth of the people while expecting the people to make more sacrifices to guarantee the ostentatious life style of a few who have become gods.
Look at the government officials, their cronies and the number of cars in their entourages called convoy, all these are fuelled from the coffers of the government. The gods want the ordinary man dead, and as such they gods will stop at nothing to make life unbearable. While the people suffer, these gods budget hundreds of millions of naira for their food, billions of naira for foreign trips and trillions of naira for corruption.
The economics of deregulation is not as simple as the capitalists want us to believe. They preach free market economy on paper but they live on government subsidy in every aspect of their lives. They drive in government cars fuelled by government money, they live in government houses or houses paid by government, and they are flown to foreign hospitals on government bills while leaving our hospitals to decay. The gods send their “goddlins” to school abroad after wrecking our educational institutions with underfunding.
Suddenly, a man who was made by the people, whose cause to be made an acting president was championed by the people, a man who was the reason for the death of hundreds of Nigerians including serving corps members; that man has become a god. Propped by the female god from the World Bank and other gods who have always fed on the masses, these gods without successfully concluding their consultations or dialogue went ahead to unilaterally pursue the script that is aimed at finally crippling the masses. If the policy is such a good move, why is it a hard sell? And if the argument is that they usually borrow to subsidize fuel; which they can no longer sustain, where then will they raise money for the subsidy re-investment program? Will the gods also borrow to reinvest? Already they have set up a very bogus committee to administer the funds, another avenue to enrich the gods and rehabilitate the old ones. How independent are commissions or committees in Nigeria? Is the EFCC not independent; how were Ribadu and Waziri booted out of office?
These gods must not be allowed to make us fools, these gods will be blamed for any chaos that breaks out in the land, and the gods must be stopped before it is too late. Despite the people’s refusal of this obnoxious policy, we are hoodwinked by a ruling class who has consistently failed Nigerians since Structural adjustment program began in the mid 1980s. We rise to tell these gods that we cannot be taken for a ride. Whatever happens to us and our country these gods are to blame, and these gods will surely not escape the wrath of men and women of Nigeria.
www.credoworld.blogspot.com
04012012
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Another Christmas is Come
"Another Christmas is Come"
We are among the living by God's special grace to witness another Christmas. Merry Christmas, greetings to you in the name of God most high, ever living,ever faithful,ever merciful.
For those of us who believe in Christ, Jesus is not only the Reason for the Season, but the Very essence of our Being and Faith, therefore we must remain the salt of the earth,the light to all nations and be ready to carry our cross for the sake of our eternity.
For those who do not believe in Christ, humanity is in one of its most trying moments of religious disharmony, since the collapse of the communism and the end of cold war, the Ideological war has been replaced by a wave of religious acrimony especially in Africa, Asia and the middle east. Yet we know that God who is omnipotent to have created us will not be helpless to need man to fight for Him. Every man should therefore have the right to freedom of worship without discrimination.
For those who do not believe in God, man has fallaciously attained a state where science and technology seeks to make life so comfortable that God is seen absent. Few tribes and cultures remain pagans, but more people who were born in the faith especially in the developed world have replaced God with modernity.
Globalization has made the world a smaller village, yet humanity is more divided. If we had all put God at the centre of our existence, we would have been converging rather than diverging.
Jesus Christ whose birth we celebrate is a perfect example of the best of humanity. He gave up his glory to shed his blood as a price for mankind. The word became flesh and dwelled among us. He was the connector between the Law and Love, he is human ,yet divine.
At this Christmas like others in the past, we celebrate the birth of a child who came to reconcile man with God, but at this Christmas more than ever the world is bloodier, and our immediate environment is worse off. From the carnage caused by religious extremists and armed robbers, to economic deprivation facing many of our citizens, from denied access to quality and affordable health care to unpliable and accident prone roads, more Nigerians face the threat of extermination. The truth is that Nigeria may not be facing any external aggression but Nigeria is at war.The country is at war with itself, the citizens are killing themselves ,this is the return of investment in decades of corruption, maladministration,ignorance,docility and many other vices. We have more security agents but we are less secured. We have more schools but we are less enlightened, we have more money budgeted but we face infrastructural collapse. But worse of it, we live in an era when morality, charity, and respect for life are greatly eroded.
As we mark yet another Christmas amidst our greatest insecurity, we remember all our friends and relations in Jos, Bauchi, Maiduguri, Damaturu among many other places. Not that anywhere is security proof any more but these places have seen more bloody campaigns ,we turn to God the author and finisher of all for protection,safety,security and peace.
On behalf of Salvador, Cecy and myself, I am wishing you all in Credoworld a blessed and reassured Christmas. I pray to our Saviour to bless us all and keep us, to guard,guide and protect us and ours. May the love which the birth of the messiah brings never depart from us and our family. May God grant to us the wishes of our hearts. May He be merciful upon us and our country,restore peace and security;deliver us from any insensitive leadership and restore us back to the path of prosperity,progress, sustainable development and true reconciliation. May our children know the peace we knew as children without growing up in fear and a blood oozing society.
CredoChristmas,Merry Christmas!
Thank you.
Yours in Credo,
Sammy.
We are among the living by God's special grace to witness another Christmas. Merry Christmas, greetings to you in the name of God most high, ever living,ever faithful,ever merciful.
For those of us who believe in Christ, Jesus is not only the Reason for the Season, but the Very essence of our Being and Faith, therefore we must remain the salt of the earth,the light to all nations and be ready to carry our cross for the sake of our eternity.
For those who do not believe in Christ, humanity is in one of its most trying moments of religious disharmony, since the collapse of the communism and the end of cold war, the Ideological war has been replaced by a wave of religious acrimony especially in Africa, Asia and the middle east. Yet we know that God who is omnipotent to have created us will not be helpless to need man to fight for Him. Every man should therefore have the right to freedom of worship without discrimination.
For those who do not believe in God, man has fallaciously attained a state where science and technology seeks to make life so comfortable that God is seen absent. Few tribes and cultures remain pagans, but more people who were born in the faith especially in the developed world have replaced God with modernity.
Globalization has made the world a smaller village, yet humanity is more divided. If we had all put God at the centre of our existence, we would have been converging rather than diverging.
Jesus Christ whose birth we celebrate is a perfect example of the best of humanity. He gave up his glory to shed his blood as a price for mankind. The word became flesh and dwelled among us. He was the connector between the Law and Love, he is human ,yet divine.
At this Christmas like others in the past, we celebrate the birth of a child who came to reconcile man with God, but at this Christmas more than ever the world is bloodier, and our immediate environment is worse off. From the carnage caused by religious extremists and armed robbers, to economic deprivation facing many of our citizens, from denied access to quality and affordable health care to unpliable and accident prone roads, more Nigerians face the threat of extermination. The truth is that Nigeria may not be facing any external aggression but Nigeria is at war.The country is at war with itself, the citizens are killing themselves ,this is the return of investment in decades of corruption, maladministration,ignorance,docility and many other vices. We have more security agents but we are less secured. We have more schools but we are less enlightened, we have more money budgeted but we face infrastructural collapse. But worse of it, we live in an era when morality, charity, and respect for life are greatly eroded.
As we mark yet another Christmas amidst our greatest insecurity, we remember all our friends and relations in Jos, Bauchi, Maiduguri, Damaturu among many other places. Not that anywhere is security proof any more but these places have seen more bloody campaigns ,we turn to God the author and finisher of all for protection,safety,security and peace.
On behalf of Salvador, Cecy and myself, I am wishing you all in Credoworld a blessed and reassured Christmas. I pray to our Saviour to bless us all and keep us, to guard,guide and protect us and ours. May the love which the birth of the messiah brings never depart from us and our family. May God grant to us the wishes of our hearts. May He be merciful upon us and our country,restore peace and security;deliver us from any insensitive leadership and restore us back to the path of prosperity,progress, sustainable development and true reconciliation. May our children know the peace we knew as children without growing up in fear and a blood oozing society.
CredoChristmas,Merry Christmas!
Thank you.
Yours in Credo,
Sammy.
Saturday, December 17, 2011
THE YEAR TWO THOUSAND AND REVOLUTION
THE YEAR TWO THOUSAND AND REVOLUTION
CredoWriters:Wakdok, Samuel Stephen.
The year Two Thousand and Eleven will go down as one of the richest years in history. Students of history and historians,military tacticians, strategists,politicians, statesmen, diplomats, rescue workers, journalists, religious, royalty, health workers, financial experts, academics, researchers, scientists, trade unionists, human and civil rights activist; in fact all of us will remember the events of this year 2011 whether for good or bad, and even mixed.
In no particular order, from the Jasmine revolution in Tunisia which outsed Ben Ali and heralded the Arab spring that quickly spread to Egypt and forced out Mubarak. The bloodbath in Libya which resulted in the NATO incursion which only ended with the death of the brotherly king of kings, Col. Gadhafi, to the continuos blood shed in Syria and Yemen, Bahrain . There is no year in history compared to this when the quantity and quality of people across countries took their destiny in their own hands and dared death by taking on and confronting the status quo. In sub Saharan Africa, the year begun with the drama of the December 2010 election in Cote d Ivore which led to killings of Ivorians and the eventual capture of the then President Gbago who has now been transported to the Hague for trial.
Post election violence in Nigeria claimed hundreds of lives in Northern Nigeria following the Victory of Goodluck Jonathan in the Presidential elections. The boko harram bombings in Maiduguri graduated into daring bomb attacks in the capital Abuja, and other cities and villages. The independence of South Sudan and the tension between the two Sudans The famine in East Africa, the disputed elections in Congo, the elections in Liberia.
The royal wedding of Prince William and Kate on April 30th , the killing of Osama Bin Ladin in Pakistan the next day after 10 years on the run, the 10 years anniversary of the September 11th attacks,the tension between USA and Pakistan over terrorists. The end of hostilities by the Basque separatists ETA in Spain. The phone hacking scandal in the U.K.
In Asia, the Japanese tsunami in March and the nuclear disaster that followed at Fukushima plant, the rising water in Thailand. The beatification of Pope John Paul the great, the attack on the Pro Canterbury Anglicans in Zimbabwe.
The latest Euro crisis, which originated from the financial crises in countries like Greece, Spain, Italy, Portugal have exposed the failure of liberial economics and have led to massive demonstrations in western countries, the occupy wall street demonstrations, the London riots, the demonstrations in Russia after the December parliamentary elections. The Isreali-Hamas prisoner deal swap, the attack on British Embassy by Iranian students in Tehran.
The year 2011 is one not only full of history, but will greatly influence how the turn of events will be in the years to follow. From Economics to politics, security to environment, politics to diplomacy, 2011 is a major base year for actions and inaction.
What is key is that some fundamentals are non negotiable; freedom, economic prosperity, sensitive political decisions, pro people public policies, environmental preservation, security and protection. The lessons how ever is that the minority whether political,military or financial leaders; nationally or globally can not and should not continue to toy with the wishes of the people. No matter what it takes, the people are in real terms the sovereigns and they would demand for that which they gave their leaders to hold in trust for them.
Coming back home, we must not think that we are immuned from global happenings, the ruling class should not live in illusion for too long, they can choose to save the people the painful process of a revolution or continue to push their luck with unpopular policies that seek to continually improvish the millions of the already poor Nigerians. We live in fear of insecurity from terrorists and criminals, we live in fear of poor standard of living, we live in oppression by the people who were elected to serve us, squandering our resources to sustain their artificial lives, while expecting us to adjust to more bitter pills which have always failed .
How can a government which came to power promising to make Nigerians better be so bent on causing untold hardship? If the world bank and IMF are so good economic managers and advisers, why is Europe in crisis? If Goldman Sachs is so good, why did the sub prime lending crisis snowballed into a global economic meltdown. President Jonathan's romance with people from these institutions as his economic managers leaves bitter taste in the mouth of millions of our people who always bear the brunt of failed government policies. Ngozi is not a home grown economist but a mere agent of international capitalist order. Aganga is as downgraded as his Goldman Sachs which was just downgraded by Fitch. I have always argued that the price mechanism is a free radical that assumes any value , a magnified variable. However, if the President believes so much in it, let him deregulate the Aso Rock, raise internal revenue to run aso rock and withdraw public expenditure as a means of running the Presidential villa. They should collect tolls from visitors and entourages entering the villa. Make it a tourist attraction to generate revenue for the payment of workers in the villa.
Our lives as Nigerians ought to be more important than some meaningless neo liberial economic policies which hopes to save money from withdrawal of subsidies, money that will be wasted by corrupt politicians as always the case. We are more important than naira and kobo, when they spend billions to subsidize corruption, how comes it is the subsidy on fuel that is their major concern? Why didn't GEJ mention subsidy withdrawal as part of his electioneering promises earlier in the year? That makes it a fraud and deciet. How comes my former model Dr. Reuben Abati who had always written against this obnoxious government proposal ,finally comitted class suicide and joined the tiny click or cabal who have always held the nation by the throat? Why is Maku, the minister of information singing a different tune from what he sang during the anti-SAP riots? Is it because they all know as the case is, that they would never spend their money to pay for essentials and even luxuries? The government coffers is further plundered to cater for the expenses of serving and ex government officials and we all know that. Rather than sanitize the oil industry and prosecute the fat cats, the government is only window dressing, why can't our local refineries work? If the government can't take of a sector in their hands, is it by giving it up that they will be in control? To deregulate importation of fuel is not the same as deregulating the production or local refining of fuel. Is it not shamelessly shameful for Nigeria to import refined petroleum products from Ivory Coast, Senegal and even Niger in the making? What comparative advantages do these none oil producing countries have over Nigeria if not political will?
In 2011, the revolution may be far from us and only seen on our television screens and Internet, but unless the rulers make a clean break from their insensitivity, which I doubt any way, 2011 may just be the year in which the sleeping lion in the people is awaken into 2012. If the President feels he is a god who must have his way against public opinion and common sense, he should pause and see where gods before him like Mobutu, Ghadafi, Pinochet, and even Stalin ended. No man is bigger than his country, it was a mere unemployed Tunisian who set him blaze on the 17th of December 2010, to protest against his government's injustice and insensitivity. That singular move defined the greatest moments of 2011, let the pride of a regime which sees it's mandate as divine not drag us to a revolution which no one knows how it would end. The myth in Nigeria is that we can have a bloodless revolution, that is a fad. What ever happened to the maxim; vox populi, vox Dei?
CredoWriters:Wakdok, Samuel Stephen.
The year Two Thousand and Eleven will go down as one of the richest years in history. Students of history and historians,military tacticians, strategists,politicians, statesmen, diplomats, rescue workers, journalists, religious, royalty, health workers, financial experts, academics, researchers, scientists, trade unionists, human and civil rights activist; in fact all of us will remember the events of this year 2011 whether for good or bad, and even mixed.
In no particular order, from the Jasmine revolution in Tunisia which outsed Ben Ali and heralded the Arab spring that quickly spread to Egypt and forced out Mubarak. The bloodbath in Libya which resulted in the NATO incursion which only ended with the death of the brotherly king of kings, Col. Gadhafi, to the continuos blood shed in Syria and Yemen, Bahrain . There is no year in history compared to this when the quantity and quality of people across countries took their destiny in their own hands and dared death by taking on and confronting the status quo. In sub Saharan Africa, the year begun with the drama of the December 2010 election in Cote d Ivore which led to killings of Ivorians and the eventual capture of the then President Gbago who has now been transported to the Hague for trial.
Post election violence in Nigeria claimed hundreds of lives in Northern Nigeria following the Victory of Goodluck Jonathan in the Presidential elections. The boko harram bombings in Maiduguri graduated into daring bomb attacks in the capital Abuja, and other cities and villages. The independence of South Sudan and the tension between the two Sudans The famine in East Africa, the disputed elections in Congo, the elections in Liberia.
The royal wedding of Prince William and Kate on April 30th , the killing of Osama Bin Ladin in Pakistan the next day after 10 years on the run, the 10 years anniversary of the September 11th attacks,the tension between USA and Pakistan over terrorists. The end of hostilities by the Basque separatists ETA in Spain. The phone hacking scandal in the U.K.
In Asia, the Japanese tsunami in March and the nuclear disaster that followed at Fukushima plant, the rising water in Thailand. The beatification of Pope John Paul the great, the attack on the Pro Canterbury Anglicans in Zimbabwe.
The latest Euro crisis, which originated from the financial crises in countries like Greece, Spain, Italy, Portugal have exposed the failure of liberial economics and have led to massive demonstrations in western countries, the occupy wall street demonstrations, the London riots, the demonstrations in Russia after the December parliamentary elections. The Isreali-Hamas prisoner deal swap, the attack on British Embassy by Iranian students in Tehran.
The year 2011 is one not only full of history, but will greatly influence how the turn of events will be in the years to follow. From Economics to politics, security to environment, politics to diplomacy, 2011 is a major base year for actions and inaction.
What is key is that some fundamentals are non negotiable; freedom, economic prosperity, sensitive political decisions, pro people public policies, environmental preservation, security and protection. The lessons how ever is that the minority whether political,military or financial leaders; nationally or globally can not and should not continue to toy with the wishes of the people. No matter what it takes, the people are in real terms the sovereigns and they would demand for that which they gave their leaders to hold in trust for them.
Coming back home, we must not think that we are immuned from global happenings, the ruling class should not live in illusion for too long, they can choose to save the people the painful process of a revolution or continue to push their luck with unpopular policies that seek to continually improvish the millions of the already poor Nigerians. We live in fear of insecurity from terrorists and criminals, we live in fear of poor standard of living, we live in oppression by the people who were elected to serve us, squandering our resources to sustain their artificial lives, while expecting us to adjust to more bitter pills which have always failed .
How can a government which came to power promising to make Nigerians better be so bent on causing untold hardship? If the world bank and IMF are so good economic managers and advisers, why is Europe in crisis? If Goldman Sachs is so good, why did the sub prime lending crisis snowballed into a global economic meltdown. President Jonathan's romance with people from these institutions as his economic managers leaves bitter taste in the mouth of millions of our people who always bear the brunt of failed government policies. Ngozi is not a home grown economist but a mere agent of international capitalist order. Aganga is as downgraded as his Goldman Sachs which was just downgraded by Fitch. I have always argued that the price mechanism is a free radical that assumes any value , a magnified variable. However, if the President believes so much in it, let him deregulate the Aso Rock, raise internal revenue to run aso rock and withdraw public expenditure as a means of running the Presidential villa. They should collect tolls from visitors and entourages entering the villa. Make it a tourist attraction to generate revenue for the payment of workers in the villa.
Our lives as Nigerians ought to be more important than some meaningless neo liberial economic policies which hopes to save money from withdrawal of subsidies, money that will be wasted by corrupt politicians as always the case. We are more important than naira and kobo, when they spend billions to subsidize corruption, how comes it is the subsidy on fuel that is their major concern? Why didn't GEJ mention subsidy withdrawal as part of his electioneering promises earlier in the year? That makes it a fraud and deciet. How comes my former model Dr. Reuben Abati who had always written against this obnoxious government proposal ,finally comitted class suicide and joined the tiny click or cabal who have always held the nation by the throat? Why is Maku, the minister of information singing a different tune from what he sang during the anti-SAP riots? Is it because they all know as the case is, that they would never spend their money to pay for essentials and even luxuries? The government coffers is further plundered to cater for the expenses of serving and ex government officials and we all know that. Rather than sanitize the oil industry and prosecute the fat cats, the government is only window dressing, why can't our local refineries work? If the government can't take of a sector in their hands, is it by giving it up that they will be in control? To deregulate importation of fuel is not the same as deregulating the production or local refining of fuel. Is it not shamelessly shameful for Nigeria to import refined petroleum products from Ivory Coast, Senegal and even Niger in the making? What comparative advantages do these none oil producing countries have over Nigeria if not political will?
In 2011, the revolution may be far from us and only seen on our television screens and Internet, but unless the rulers make a clean break from their insensitivity, which I doubt any way, 2011 may just be the year in which the sleeping lion in the people is awaken into 2012. If the President feels he is a god who must have his way against public opinion and common sense, he should pause and see where gods before him like Mobutu, Ghadafi, Pinochet, and even Stalin ended. No man is bigger than his country, it was a mere unemployed Tunisian who set him blaze on the 17th of December 2010, to protest against his government's injustice and insensitivity. That singular move defined the greatest moments of 2011, let the pride of a regime which sees it's mandate as divine not drag us to a revolution which no one knows how it would end. The myth in Nigeria is that we can have a bloodless revolution, that is a fad. What ever happened to the maxim; vox populi, vox Dei?
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Even Generals go on Retreat; why can’t we?
CredoWriters:Wakdok, Samuel Stephen.
We fight many battles in a war or fight one war on many fronts. We advance and attack, defend when we are attacked. We go into wars with or without reconnaissance and the enemy may be better equipped with more sophistication. Some of our wars are as old as we are or older in some cases than we are. Daily we go into one battle or the other, we win some and loose others, and we are still fighting some. For every time we dislodge the enemy and gain ground we celebrate, for the unfortunate times the enemy forces over run our positions we either withdraw or are caught and held captive; Prisoner of Wars!
We assault and attack, we defend, we withdraw and sometimes we surrender, but the crux is we hardly on our own go on retreats. We either are too confident in pushing our perimeter forward until we go into the desert or snow; or we are too scared by withdrawing from our S-line (positions) at H-hour. Some times we are forced to remain locked in battles with casualties without knowing when we should have retreated to re-launch, to retreat and re-strategize. Even when we are winning on one front, do we replicate our winning formula on all fronts? When our enemies advance against our positions we flee in fright or we are caught napping and unprepared. For the times we are engaged in endless battles , it may be difficult and dangerous to beat a retreat but if only we had earlier on taken a retreat to map out strategies on how to change tactics when the one we are using is not working; like cutting the enemy from the flanks if frontal assault is not effective. An earlier retreat would have helped us to decide when to use a spear head formation or a diamond head formation, when to go on caterpillar movement or leap frogging movement.
Simply put, to retreat is to go back to our trenches and take stock with the aim of improving. It can be a movement away from danger or a period of seclusion away from normal activities devoted to prayer and meditation. For this purpose it is a period of quiet rest and contemplation in a secluded place. Going on retreat enables us to consolidate on our gains and correct or errors. It helps us to eliminate our weaknesses and build on our strengths. When we retreat during life’s battle we will look at the formula making others to succeed and those hampering our own success. It allows us to look at our own superior fire power with the aim of innovating and improving even before we become obsolete. Retreat gives us a break from life’s vicissitudes with the aim of refreshing us mentally and physically to produce better formidable plans and actions.
Life is like war, we win, loose or remain in battle. It is best for us to win, worst for us to loose. As we win one battle we move to another battle until we win or loose the war. Some wars are won after fighting many battles, but some times one crucial battle determines the whole war. Whether we win or loose the war in our lives depends on how well we plan and execute the most significant battles in our life’s war. Most times though we are busy fighting the many battles of life without looking back to see if our methods are effective. A retreat today will assist us to change the course of our war; we may choose to earn salaries or advance to become entrepreneurs in our quest for financial emancipation. We may be loosing on emotional front due to pride or miscommunication and only a retreat will change our pride to humility and open up our communication line. Our spirituality may be a long range war with futile mortar when what we need is to propel a rocket or artillery; this we can only discover when we go on a retreat.
Living on earth with its complexities is like a soldier who though knows the danger of war can not but help to mobilize and meet his enemy at the battle field. He knows the danger of been attacked on his home front. When he meets the enemy at the battle field the best bet is to prepare his escape route even before the bugle is sounded and the worst is to blow his trumpet of victory far away from home; than to be crushed within his walls with no chance for his family to escape.
To know when to advance, attack, or withdraw; even when to surrender the soldier must have first gone on retreat. Retreat helps you avoid a surprise if you can’t win you will know when to withdraw. The best is for you to win, the worst is to reach a truce but not to be defeated out rightly. And that is the only way to make us rediscover ourselves.
Powered by CredoWorld media.
We fight many battles in a war or fight one war on many fronts. We advance and attack, defend when we are attacked. We go into wars with or without reconnaissance and the enemy may be better equipped with more sophistication. Some of our wars are as old as we are or older in some cases than we are. Daily we go into one battle or the other, we win some and loose others, and we are still fighting some. For every time we dislodge the enemy and gain ground we celebrate, for the unfortunate times the enemy forces over run our positions we either withdraw or are caught and held captive; Prisoner of Wars!
We assault and attack, we defend, we withdraw and sometimes we surrender, but the crux is we hardly on our own go on retreats. We either are too confident in pushing our perimeter forward until we go into the desert or snow; or we are too scared by withdrawing from our S-line (positions) at H-hour. Some times we are forced to remain locked in battles with casualties without knowing when we should have retreated to re-launch, to retreat and re-strategize. Even when we are winning on one front, do we replicate our winning formula on all fronts? When our enemies advance against our positions we flee in fright or we are caught napping and unprepared. For the times we are engaged in endless battles , it may be difficult and dangerous to beat a retreat but if only we had earlier on taken a retreat to map out strategies on how to change tactics when the one we are using is not working; like cutting the enemy from the flanks if frontal assault is not effective. An earlier retreat would have helped us to decide when to use a spear head formation or a diamond head formation, when to go on caterpillar movement or leap frogging movement.
Simply put, to retreat is to go back to our trenches and take stock with the aim of improving. It can be a movement away from danger or a period of seclusion away from normal activities devoted to prayer and meditation. For this purpose it is a period of quiet rest and contemplation in a secluded place. Going on retreat enables us to consolidate on our gains and correct or errors. It helps us to eliminate our weaknesses and build on our strengths. When we retreat during life’s battle we will look at the formula making others to succeed and those hampering our own success. It allows us to look at our own superior fire power with the aim of innovating and improving even before we become obsolete. Retreat gives us a break from life’s vicissitudes with the aim of refreshing us mentally and physically to produce better formidable plans and actions.
Life is like war, we win, loose or remain in battle. It is best for us to win, worst for us to loose. As we win one battle we move to another battle until we win or loose the war. Some wars are won after fighting many battles, but some times one crucial battle determines the whole war. Whether we win or loose the war in our lives depends on how well we plan and execute the most significant battles in our life’s war. Most times though we are busy fighting the many battles of life without looking back to see if our methods are effective. A retreat today will assist us to change the course of our war; we may choose to earn salaries or advance to become entrepreneurs in our quest for financial emancipation. We may be loosing on emotional front due to pride or miscommunication and only a retreat will change our pride to humility and open up our communication line. Our spirituality may be a long range war with futile mortar when what we need is to propel a rocket or artillery; this we can only discover when we go on a retreat.
Living on earth with its complexities is like a soldier who though knows the danger of war can not but help to mobilize and meet his enemy at the battle field. He knows the danger of been attacked on his home front. When he meets the enemy at the battle field the best bet is to prepare his escape route even before the bugle is sounded and the worst is to blow his trumpet of victory far away from home; than to be crushed within his walls with no chance for his family to escape.
To know when to advance, attack, or withdraw; even when to surrender the soldier must have first gone on retreat. Retreat helps you avoid a surprise if you can’t win you will know when to withdraw. The best is for you to win, the worst is to reach a truce but not to be defeated out rightly. And that is the only way to make us rediscover ourselves.
Powered by CredoWorld media.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Do you see anything to smile about?
CredoWriters: Wakdok, Samuel Stephen.
Look at the violence in Jos, Bauchi and Maiduguri; do you see anything to smile about?
What about the spate of bombings, kidnapping and general insecurity in the country, is there anything to smile about?
Ask those who eat hunger and wear nakedness, do you think they will have anything to smile about?
Look at the increasing rate of graduate employment, imagine the non-graduates’ fate. Look at the numbers involved in child labour and slavery; do you see anything to smile about?
What about the incessant labour strike and fuel scarcity/price hike? Diesel and kerosene have soared beyond the reach of small scale businesses the masses, how can there be anything to smile about?
Look at the conditions of our refineries, textiles, agriculture and industries; what do you see to smile about?
Can you calculate the elasticity of corruption in Nigeria and truly tell the President we have news to smile about?
What about the murders, unresolved assassinations, robberies and frauds, mass illiteracy and wanton destruction of lives and properties?
How about the religious crises in the North, militancy in the South, Ritual killings in the East, Thuggery in the West and cut neck rents in Abuja. Is there anything to smile about?
Look at the plight of our citizenry and the living conditions of our people. Look at Benin-Ore-Lagos Express way, Ilorin-Jebba-Mokwa road, and other roads in the country, the sorry state of our power sector draining billions of dollars with little result, the insensitive public holders, the unrepentant corrupt civil servants, and the porous nature of our land and sea borders, do you see anything to smile about?
How about the decay in our educational sector? The collapse of public education and the mercantilism in the private education. Tell me the condition of our health care facilities, the failure of an efficient transport system and the slums called homes, what is there to smile about?
Look at the subversion of the state, the monster called terrorism, the evil called nepotism and the menace of exploitation. Look at the condition of our police stations and the caliber of our security agencies, what is there to smile about?
Look at food security or is it insecurity, the bastardization of our budget implementation and the ineffectiveness of project implementations, do you see anything to smile about?
We can’t sleep peacefully at home, walk fearlessly on the streets, work without fear at our offices and travel safely on the road?
What really is our heritage if we can’t find anything to smile about?
Look at the violence in Jos, Bauchi and Maiduguri; do you see anything to smile about?
What about the spate of bombings, kidnapping and general insecurity in the country, is there anything to smile about?
Ask those who eat hunger and wear nakedness, do you think they will have anything to smile about?
Look at the increasing rate of graduate employment, imagine the non-graduates’ fate. Look at the numbers involved in child labour and slavery; do you see anything to smile about?
What about the incessant labour strike and fuel scarcity/price hike? Diesel and kerosene have soared beyond the reach of small scale businesses the masses, how can there be anything to smile about?
Look at the conditions of our refineries, textiles, agriculture and industries; what do you see to smile about?
Can you calculate the elasticity of corruption in Nigeria and truly tell the President we have news to smile about?
What about the murders, unresolved assassinations, robberies and frauds, mass illiteracy and wanton destruction of lives and properties?
How about the religious crises in the North, militancy in the South, Ritual killings in the East, Thuggery in the West and cut neck rents in Abuja. Is there anything to smile about?
Look at the plight of our citizenry and the living conditions of our people. Look at Benin-Ore-Lagos Express way, Ilorin-Jebba-Mokwa road, and other roads in the country, the sorry state of our power sector draining billions of dollars with little result, the insensitive public holders, the unrepentant corrupt civil servants, and the porous nature of our land and sea borders, do you see anything to smile about?
How about the decay in our educational sector? The collapse of public education and the mercantilism in the private education. Tell me the condition of our health care facilities, the failure of an efficient transport system and the slums called homes, what is there to smile about?
Look at the subversion of the state, the monster called terrorism, the evil called nepotism and the menace of exploitation. Look at the condition of our police stations and the caliber of our security agencies, what is there to smile about?
Look at food security or is it insecurity, the bastardization of our budget implementation and the ineffectiveness of project implementations, do you see anything to smile about?
We can’t sleep peacefully at home, walk fearlessly on the streets, work without fear at our offices and travel safely on the road?
What really is our heritage if we can’t find anything to smile about?
THE DEAD ALSO SING
CredoPoets:Wakdok,Samuel Stephen
THE DEAD ALSO SING
Blood in the community's eyes
this time again
why the wailing?
At the sound of the cathedral bells
Last night
the moon hid in shame
as humans were robbed
by "tiny" of their immunity.
How the priest will eulogize
at this requiem?
It's a shame that the sun had to run away
like a coward, never heard of that.
For man only to go and find succour
his wife couldn't provide
he swam between another's thighs,
and for himself won "tiny"
The lady, ever untired
of Adam's sons playing soccer in her pitch.
"tiny" refused going home after the league.
And so, Africa our beloved
this day is drained.
Strong sons cum daughters
reduced to vegetables
rotting little at a time
pending when the gardener weeds them away.
For "tiny" has sworn
'Am too strong to be killed'
rather man's immunity it kills
What an irony
back to the cathedral where once their heads were dipped at baptism in water
are brought back this time; for last rites.
The founders of this cathedral who we, they warned
to neither adulterate nor fornicate
exported to us, "tiny"
the very product of their immorality.
Where then our salvation lies Africa?
If only we were self sufficient, that everything from them we imported.
Not satisfied, we have imported "tiny de HIV"
Everlasting balance of trade deficit.
Who the soil would till?
who for us the woods pick?
of hunger our cattle would die?
the aged and the infants no one is spared?
From a distant land
a song
a land no one returns
not even with lion's majesty
no one returns from
This song is heard;
Let Africa with ears to the ground
Listen and again listen well or her map, away be wiped
THE DEAD ALSO SING
Blood in the community's eyes
this time again
why the wailing?
At the sound of the cathedral bells
Last night
the moon hid in shame
as humans were robbed
by "tiny" of their immunity.
How the priest will eulogize
at this requiem?
It's a shame that the sun had to run away
like a coward, never heard of that.
For man only to go and find succour
his wife couldn't provide
he swam between another's thighs,
and for himself won "tiny"
The lady, ever untired
of Adam's sons playing soccer in her pitch.
"tiny" refused going home after the league.
And so, Africa our beloved
this day is drained.
Strong sons cum daughters
reduced to vegetables
rotting little at a time
pending when the gardener weeds them away.
For "tiny" has sworn
'Am too strong to be killed'
rather man's immunity it kills
What an irony
back to the cathedral where once their heads were dipped at baptism in water
are brought back this time; for last rites.
The founders of this cathedral who we, they warned
to neither adulterate nor fornicate
exported to us, "tiny"
the very product of their immorality.
Where then our salvation lies Africa?
If only we were self sufficient, that everything from them we imported.
Not satisfied, we have imported "tiny de HIV"
Everlasting balance of trade deficit.
Who the soil would till?
who for us the woods pick?
of hunger our cattle would die?
the aged and the infants no one is spared?
From a distant land
a song
a land no one returns
not even with lion's majesty
no one returns from
This song is heard;
Let Africa with ears to the ground
Listen and again listen well or her map, away be wiped
Miss Brown
CredoPoets: Wakdok,Samuel Stephen
For a quiver full of
Arrows
I bare my chest as a stone.
Pierce my heart
For life without your seductive love
Is sin without temptation.
You are now as rude as a bear,
Since I have turned as ugly as sin.
If I am as silly as a goose
I have made you more bitter than gall.
You, who was sweeter than honey,
Once supple as swan.
Now is like vinegar. Sour!
I beg for a beam of light
From once your graceful face.
Even a crust of bread
Holds more value to you.
Like a troop of lion will pounce on a lamb.
I stand unarmed at your anger,
For a quiver full of arrows
My heart as weak as water.
For life without you
Is a gust of wind
A hail of fire
Life without your love
Is sin without temptation.
Vain.
For a quiver full of
Arrows
I bare my chest as a stone.
Pierce my heart
For life without your seductive love
Is sin without temptation.
You are now as rude as a bear,
Since I have turned as ugly as sin.
If I am as silly as a goose
I have made you more bitter than gall.
You, who was sweeter than honey,
Once supple as swan.
Now is like vinegar. Sour!
I beg for a beam of light
From once your graceful face.
Even a crust of bread
Holds more value to you.
Like a troop of lion will pounce on a lamb.
I stand unarmed at your anger,
For a quiver full of arrows
My heart as weak as water.
For life without you
Is a gust of wind
A hail of fire
Life without your love
Is sin without temptation.
Vain.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
LOVE POEMS
THE WOMEN IN MY LIFE
CredoPoets:Wakdok,Samuel Stephen.
I love you forever / that was the introductory postulation/in her essay to me
Words so softly spoken/ message deeply passed/ meaning which brings nostalgia
I love you forever/ when I walked through the door/ I expected her to run after me.
She is calm and calm she remained
You lied to me she yelped/ you said you loved me but you lied
Fight for me if you love me, I barked
No, I won't fight for you she echoed/ Because you will always be mine
I won't fight for you she retorted/ I will instead die for you she wrapped up
You Are my Best
CredoPoets:Wakdok,Samuel Stephen.
Dust and rust and even cobweb/ you brought your brush and sponge and broom/ and I am immaculate again
I am pristine and lively again
My crooked hands you straightened
my broken heart you darned
my trust you resuscitated
You reboot my heart
and make me whole again
you kick start my smiles and make me alive
you are my Best
The Poet's Heaven
CredoPoets:Wakdok,Samuel Stephen.
You give life to my passion and soul to my love.
Your manicured fingers travel the circumference of my body spreading flames only your tongue can quench.
You give waves to my emotion.
The sensation of your naive body taste like a supper of lamb.
Tender, sweet and undefiled.
What a crystal oasis of erotic magnet.
Draped in form so sensual and viscious.
You Sensualise my Being
CredoPoets:Wakdok,Samuel Stephen.
I long to sleep even when I wake at day
Because I want to be with you in my dreams
I want to play my guitar on your nipples and sing your love
At night when I ought to sleep I wake all night
Thinking of you and how you hold me captive
My brains and my heart and my loins think of you alone and your sweetness.
I see you in the surface of the water when I bath
I hear you in the sound of my car engine
I talk to you on my car stereo
I listen to you from the breeze the trees blow.
Love has come our away
Now that the love has rekindled
What are we going to do with our love?
You sensualise my being
TRADEMARK
CredoPoets:Wakdok,Samuel Stephen.
She wants a poem I offer passion to make her heart beat
She blows a kiss I send flowers to make her life more beautiful
She sends a smile I transport watts of funk to make her life joyful
Then her eyes looked me still and my lips found hers
I locked her eyes in mine and let my lips feel hers
I allow my hands to go from the crown of her hair to the sole of her feet
I explore the beauty she is and comb the paradise she always is
I savour the sensation of her body and dwell on the beauty of her mind
My lips take over from her my hands, and then the two work in tandem
My lips, my fingers, then my lips and my fingers.
I feel her softness then press into her sweetness
I peep into her softness and devour her sensuousness.
I see the beauty I always dream of; and also feel the love that is beautiful
I touch the bosom that makes me warm, and then warm the bosom I love.
In my ear the drums of her laughter sound so loud and near
She is happy and I want her happiness to grow
I make her come close to my body, and closer in my heart
I want to make her feel loved and loved till she bid the cosmos farewell
I will be on the other side loving her as I do now
She wants a poem but gets the sweetest love of her life
She blows a kiss and I kiss the breath off her lungs until she breathes me.
She is sensational and full of rage
The rage to love and be loved is her trademark
Sweet Fire
CredoPoets:Wakdok,Samuel Stephen.
I have soaked my self in fuel and drenched my feelings in coal.
My lips are on fire for you, come Mr. Fire Fighter and quench my fire.
You have to go beyond my toungue because the fire is spreading faster to my throat.
Oh Kiss me deeper and rescue me from this fire I have set myself on.
Let your extinguisher speed pass the walls of my throat and the cups of my breast.
Hurry up before the fire burns up the linen and eats me up.
I set myself on fire for you and you must not let me burn to ashes.
The fire is all over me, Mr. Fire fighter do you want me to die a girl?
Come right inside of me and put out this fire for the fire is deep inside of me.
This is no ordinary fire and not just anyone can put out this fire,
I set this fire for you
Hurry, come put out this fire.
Oh Sweet Fire!
CredoPoets:Wakdok,Samuel Stephen.
I love you forever / that was the introductory postulation/in her essay to me
Words so softly spoken/ message deeply passed/ meaning which brings nostalgia
I love you forever/ when I walked through the door/ I expected her to run after me.
She is calm and calm she remained
You lied to me she yelped/ you said you loved me but you lied
Fight for me if you love me, I barked
No, I won't fight for you she echoed/ Because you will always be mine
I won't fight for you she retorted/ I will instead die for you she wrapped up
You Are my Best
CredoPoets:Wakdok,Samuel Stephen.
Dust and rust and even cobweb/ you brought your brush and sponge and broom/ and I am immaculate again
I am pristine and lively again
My crooked hands you straightened
my broken heart you darned
my trust you resuscitated
You reboot my heart
and make me whole again
you kick start my smiles and make me alive
you are my Best
The Poet's Heaven
CredoPoets:Wakdok,Samuel Stephen.
You give life to my passion and soul to my love.
Your manicured fingers travel the circumference of my body spreading flames only your tongue can quench.
You give waves to my emotion.
The sensation of your naive body taste like a supper of lamb.
Tender, sweet and undefiled.
What a crystal oasis of erotic magnet.
Draped in form so sensual and viscious.
You Sensualise my Being
CredoPoets:Wakdok,Samuel Stephen.
I long to sleep even when I wake at day
Because I want to be with you in my dreams
I want to play my guitar on your nipples and sing your love
At night when I ought to sleep I wake all night
Thinking of you and how you hold me captive
My brains and my heart and my loins think of you alone and your sweetness.
I see you in the surface of the water when I bath
I hear you in the sound of my car engine
I talk to you on my car stereo
I listen to you from the breeze the trees blow.
Love has come our away
Now that the love has rekindled
What are we going to do with our love?
You sensualise my being
TRADEMARK
CredoPoets:Wakdok,Samuel Stephen.
She wants a poem I offer passion to make her heart beat
She blows a kiss I send flowers to make her life more beautiful
She sends a smile I transport watts of funk to make her life joyful
Then her eyes looked me still and my lips found hers
I locked her eyes in mine and let my lips feel hers
I allow my hands to go from the crown of her hair to the sole of her feet
I explore the beauty she is and comb the paradise she always is
I savour the sensation of her body and dwell on the beauty of her mind
My lips take over from her my hands, and then the two work in tandem
My lips, my fingers, then my lips and my fingers.
I feel her softness then press into her sweetness
I peep into her softness and devour her sensuousness.
I see the beauty I always dream of; and also feel the love that is beautiful
I touch the bosom that makes me warm, and then warm the bosom I love.
In my ear the drums of her laughter sound so loud and near
She is happy and I want her happiness to grow
I make her come close to my body, and closer in my heart
I want to make her feel loved and loved till she bid the cosmos farewell
I will be on the other side loving her as I do now
She wants a poem but gets the sweetest love of her life
She blows a kiss and I kiss the breath off her lungs until she breathes me.
She is sensational and full of rage
The rage to love and be loved is her trademark
Sweet Fire
CredoPoets:Wakdok,Samuel Stephen.
I have soaked my self in fuel and drenched my feelings in coal.
My lips are on fire for you, come Mr. Fire Fighter and quench my fire.
You have to go beyond my toungue because the fire is spreading faster to my throat.
Oh Kiss me deeper and rescue me from this fire I have set myself on.
Let your extinguisher speed pass the walls of my throat and the cups of my breast.
Hurry up before the fire burns up the linen and eats me up.
I set myself on fire for you and you must not let me burn to ashes.
The fire is all over me, Mr. Fire fighter do you want me to die a girl?
Come right inside of me and put out this fire for the fire is deep inside of me.
This is no ordinary fire and not just anyone can put out this fire,
I set this fire for you
Hurry, come put out this fire.
Oh Sweet Fire!
I CALL YOUR NAME IN MY HEART
CredoPoets:Wakdok,Samuel Stephen.
My lips still long to
Kiss the freshness of your breath
This draws its fountain from the sweetness of your soul
My lips find solace in you.
My eyes still quest for your
Seduction, which confines my liberty
Into a verve of your love
I am insatiable!
Starved of your desire
If I am your lover it is not become I am a poet
If I am a poet, it is because I am first your lover.
Your love makes temptation delightful
Your lust only makes infidelity gorgeous
I once sewed my heart to the gown of your bosomy
Your bosom is your heart to me
Your heart is your bosom to me
They both are my dwelling and glee
They are my abode and my contentment; one and same to me.
I chose the dangerous flame of infatuation to
Explore the fathomlessness of your love
I love; lust, then I love you again and again
Now that the thread which sews my heart and yearnings
To yours, is left hanging on the lintel of my lonely window
My lips still long to kiss your sweetness, presented in the
Freshness of your breath
If I loved another’s beloved
It is not because I am a philanderer
It is because that another’s beloved is you.
You make temptation delightful.
My lips still long to
Kiss the freshness of your breath
This draws its fountain from the sweetness of your soul
My lips find solace in you.
My eyes still quest for your
Seduction, which confines my liberty
Into a verve of your love
I am insatiable!
Starved of your desire
If I am your lover it is not become I am a poet
If I am a poet, it is because I am first your lover.
Your love makes temptation delightful
Your lust only makes infidelity gorgeous
I once sewed my heart to the gown of your bosomy
Your bosom is your heart to me
Your heart is your bosom to me
They both are my dwelling and glee
They are my abode and my contentment; one and same to me.
I chose the dangerous flame of infatuation to
Explore the fathomlessness of your love
I love; lust, then I love you again and again
Now that the thread which sews my heart and yearnings
To yours, is left hanging on the lintel of my lonely window
My lips still long to kiss your sweetness, presented in the
Freshness of your breath
If I loved another’s beloved
It is not because I am a philanderer
It is because that another’s beloved is you.
You make temptation delightful.
“51 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE; OF DRUMS OR FUNERALS?”
CredoWriters: Wakdok, Samuel Stephen.
The boy's funeral has been arranged while he is still alive. The Girl's funeral is been deliberated before she gets the chance to consummate her wedding. The baby is just entering the world and no one is sure if its funeral will not outlive the few days of its existence. The men and women know that they must watch as their funeral is organized. No one knows when, it may be sooner than rumoured, it could be now and it can take a while but something is certain; there is a funeral in the offing. That is so sad! Ordinarily no one is happy at a funeral except witches and wizards but ironically in this situation the victims are not only helpless but some are culpable.
The funeral started when he went to school and could not pass his exams because the schools are either under funded or the teachers are not qualified. Money meant for education is diverted by selfish government officials and their assistants. Now the students have seen the futility in reading hard because hard work is tantamount to failure, it is easier to cheat and pass. Even when you read you will not pass, that is the curriculum we have these days. The government itself is not only confused but maliciously wicked. They toy from UPE to UBE; they do not know whether to use 6-3-3-4 or 9-3-4 and some cases they tinker with 6-5-4. They sold the government schools and paralyzed the Unity schools they couldn't sell. They starve the public universities with funds and establish their own private universities. No country in this world has an ex President as the owner of a private university. In Nigeria an Ex President whose tenure witnessed some of the most protracted industrial actions in the Ivory towers owns a private university; his vice owns an American University . All those who went to free government schools are the ones insisting students must pay tuition, those who studied on government scholarships have returned and removed the ladder so that others can’t climb. Rather they have acquired fraudulent wealth to send their children abroad and have reserved special employments for their offspring even unborn.
Her funeral started immediately she walked in to the medical centre that looked like a garage. Packed with dusts and outdated instruments, she can not even deliver safely in a tertiary hospital not to talk of a primary health care centre. Yet those who claim to serve her interest run abroad for head ache and even bottom ache. A sitting Vice President who was campaigning to become the President strained his leg and was rushed abroad for treatment. He came back on clutches and was received at the airport like a man who has won an Olympic gold medal.
Their funerals began when the security agents failed to curb the web of violence. Their houses were razed down in Jos and bombs thrown at them in Maiduguri , Suleja and Abuja . They were killed in Bauchi, kaduna , Katsina for an election that now holds no promise for the future; they died in vain while those who they died for live in vanity of opulence. They are kidnapped in the East and South and ransome demanded; some are used for rituals even in the West and North. The Police who should protect them had their headquarters bombed in broad day light, so they people may as well run to the gangs for help. The National security adviser said verbatim that they were not prepared to fight terrorism, if that was a true confession the shocker came when he said they couldn’t prepare for a situation they did not have. But couldn’t they have envisaged it? What is planning if not against the future whether good or bad? When in 2001 terrorism took a central stage in global affairs, Nigeria opted out of the world if not why will the security arm see no need in preparing for what was spreading like wild fire, despite of the vulnerability of our location, population and composition.
The economy has been on life support, we know that soonest unless by miracle we will march at our own funeral. They read out nominal growth figures while we count real decline. They read out politics of numbers while we see the sociology of underdevelopment. Poverty used to stare at us from a far, scared that she will be eradicated or even alleviated; suddenly poverty pokes at us in the eyes and even puts her dirty fingers in our nostrils. There are many funerals to go round and I am sure we have the need to hire more people to meet up the demand for our funerals.
For sure black out will not have a funeral despite all the billions spent in over hauling the power sector; instead darkness will be the special guest of honour at the funeral of a people who ordinarily should have sent power failure to its grave. They want to increase power tariff by 50-100%, which is paying more for darkness. Now they are proposing a 200% increase for the cost of fuel from N65 to N200 in the name of deregulation. They are tired of subsidizing the cost of fuel but never tired of subsidizing corruption, for it is corruption that has prevented our refineries from working or we building new ones. Therefore all of us, our funeral commenced when we adopted corruption as the official language of government. It is our bane and as Simon Kolawole succinctly puts it; “we have the whole sale and retail corruption”. Whole sale corruption is for the big boys and big wigs and mega politicians, which we the smaller fish buy in retail measures from. The Big man collects the money and doesn’t execute the job, the medium man smiles when his is greased by the big man and also demands returns from the small man; then the small man who is into the retail corruption expects favours from the big man who he knows is profiteering even when he has not done any work to deserve a reward.
Government money in Nigeria is not only tempting but alluring. When people leave their foreign jobs, or their professional fields to accept government posts, it is not always for selflessness but because government fund in Nigeria is a sinking fund that will never be audited nor accounted for. It is not out of the butcher’s benevolence that we eat meat for dinner; it is called harmony of interest. Corruption in the police is the omen for indiscipline and indiscipline is what reinvigorates corruption. So the two reinforce themselves and have led the police to its impending funeral. A corporal has the audacity to tell the ASP that he has eaten N2, 000 out of the money he was due to remit, money of course from extortion. The Sergeant negotiates with the DSP that he can only afford to return N15, 000 weekly when the former asks for N30, 000 and they arrive at N20, 000. How can such men take orders from their superiors? Is anyone therefore surprised that the police can not effectively tackle crime?
The civil servants are no more servants, they are “uncivil lords” they descend on public funds with such an impudence that will make any one shudder. They steal out rightly from the treasure, or demand instant bribes, or inflate contracts, or divert budget allocations, or sell government privilege. 50 years of budgeting has not prevented this imminent funeral, because monies meant for education are found at people’s homes, monies meant for roads and other infrastructure are routed to people’s pockets, monies meant for security are secured in offshore accounts, monies meant for development have only made the few cabal richer at the expense of the citizens.
Now we live with freedom from unpleasant consequences and may die because of insecurity. The jobs are gone, those working are poorer, and to be entrepreneurial is a very Herculean task. They have set up an early committee to drop a bundle on the country’s 100 years of nationhood, but it takes almost half of the year for our budget to be passed, and hardly any early preparation for sectoral projects in education, health, or social amenities. We should rename nationhood to “nationwood”, because now more than ever the nation is in a bed of nails. Is Nigeria really a nation or a country of nationalities? Do we have drums to beat or funerals to mourn? Do we celebrate mass murder, rape, economic mismanagement, political brigandage, or a nation which we were told is on the brink and we denied.
We claim to bring peace to war torn nations but our nation is in a dearth of peace. We are talking of independence, it is not just enough to be independent from colonial rule when we are not independent from the woes that sweep across our land like a flying vulture. If anything, the people have always bore the brunt of a lapse from grace on the part of our leadership and government. My friend said that in Nigeria they campaign in poetry and rule in prose and I concur. For when a politician promises to build a bridge where there is no river, that is poetry; and when the electorates can not have a bridge to cross a real river that is prose. While they loot in billions and jeopardize the lives of millions in poetry, people are suffering and dying in prose. 51 years of independence where are the drums to celebrate? They have stolen everything and even the drums, meaning they have stolen the people’s happiness too.
After 51 years of independence and 97 years of existence Nigeria ought to have a place in the sun unfortunately the country is just like a pig in a poke due to failure of leadership and crass irresponsibility from the citizens. They had no shoes; now they own not only shoes but shoe companies while we are in need of feet. The best thing we can do as a people is to avert the funeral of this nation by any means possible and recover our drums of jubilation.
Powered by CredoWorld Media
www.credoworld.blogspot.com
The boy's funeral has been arranged while he is still alive. The Girl's funeral is been deliberated before she gets the chance to consummate her wedding. The baby is just entering the world and no one is sure if its funeral will not outlive the few days of its existence. The men and women know that they must watch as their funeral is organized. No one knows when, it may be sooner than rumoured, it could be now and it can take a while but something is certain; there is a funeral in the offing. That is so sad! Ordinarily no one is happy at a funeral except witches and wizards but ironically in this situation the victims are not only helpless but some are culpable.
The funeral started when he went to school and could not pass his exams because the schools are either under funded or the teachers are not qualified. Money meant for education is diverted by selfish government officials and their assistants. Now the students have seen the futility in reading hard because hard work is tantamount to failure, it is easier to cheat and pass. Even when you read you will not pass, that is the curriculum we have these days. The government itself is not only confused but maliciously wicked. They toy from UPE to UBE; they do not know whether to use 6-3-3-4 or 9-3-4 and some cases they tinker with 6-5-4. They sold the government schools and paralyzed the Unity schools they couldn't sell. They starve the public universities with funds and establish their own private universities. No country in this world has an ex President as the owner of a private university. In Nigeria an Ex President whose tenure witnessed some of the most protracted industrial actions in the Ivory towers owns a private university; his vice owns an American University . All those who went to free government schools are the ones insisting students must pay tuition, those who studied on government scholarships have returned and removed the ladder so that others can’t climb. Rather they have acquired fraudulent wealth to send their children abroad and have reserved special employments for their offspring even unborn.
Her funeral started immediately she walked in to the medical centre that looked like a garage. Packed with dusts and outdated instruments, she can not even deliver safely in a tertiary hospital not to talk of a primary health care centre. Yet those who claim to serve her interest run abroad for head ache and even bottom ache. A sitting Vice President who was campaigning to become the President strained his leg and was rushed abroad for treatment. He came back on clutches and was received at the airport like a man who has won an Olympic gold medal.
Their funerals began when the security agents failed to curb the web of violence. Their houses were razed down in Jos and bombs thrown at them in Maiduguri , Suleja and Abuja . They were killed in Bauchi, kaduna , Katsina for an election that now holds no promise for the future; they died in vain while those who they died for live in vanity of opulence. They are kidnapped in the East and South and ransome demanded; some are used for rituals even in the West and North. The Police who should protect them had their headquarters bombed in broad day light, so they people may as well run to the gangs for help. The National security adviser said verbatim that they were not prepared to fight terrorism, if that was a true confession the shocker came when he said they couldn’t prepare for a situation they did not have. But couldn’t they have envisaged it? What is planning if not against the future whether good or bad? When in 2001 terrorism took a central stage in global affairs, Nigeria opted out of the world if not why will the security arm see no need in preparing for what was spreading like wild fire, despite of the vulnerability of our location, population and composition.
The economy has been on life support, we know that soonest unless by miracle we will march at our own funeral. They read out nominal growth figures while we count real decline. They read out politics of numbers while we see the sociology of underdevelopment. Poverty used to stare at us from a far, scared that she will be eradicated or even alleviated; suddenly poverty pokes at us in the eyes and even puts her dirty fingers in our nostrils. There are many funerals to go round and I am sure we have the need to hire more people to meet up the demand for our funerals.
For sure black out will not have a funeral despite all the billions spent in over hauling the power sector; instead darkness will be the special guest of honour at the funeral of a people who ordinarily should have sent power failure to its grave. They want to increase power tariff by 50-100%, which is paying more for darkness. Now they are proposing a 200% increase for the cost of fuel from N65 to N200 in the name of deregulation. They are tired of subsidizing the cost of fuel but never tired of subsidizing corruption, for it is corruption that has prevented our refineries from working or we building new ones. Therefore all of us, our funeral commenced when we adopted corruption as the official language of government. It is our bane and as Simon Kolawole succinctly puts it; “we have the whole sale and retail corruption”. Whole sale corruption is for the big boys and big wigs and mega politicians, which we the smaller fish buy in retail measures from. The Big man collects the money and doesn’t execute the job, the medium man smiles when his is greased by the big man and also demands returns from the small man; then the small man who is into the retail corruption expects favours from the big man who he knows is profiteering even when he has not done any work to deserve a reward.
Government money in Nigeria is not only tempting but alluring. When people leave their foreign jobs, or their professional fields to accept government posts, it is not always for selflessness but because government fund in Nigeria is a sinking fund that will never be audited nor accounted for. It is not out of the butcher’s benevolence that we eat meat for dinner; it is called harmony of interest. Corruption in the police is the omen for indiscipline and indiscipline is what reinvigorates corruption. So the two reinforce themselves and have led the police to its impending funeral. A corporal has the audacity to tell the ASP that he has eaten N2, 000 out of the money he was due to remit, money of course from extortion. The Sergeant negotiates with the DSP that he can only afford to return N15, 000 weekly when the former asks for N30, 000 and they arrive at N20, 000. How can such men take orders from their superiors? Is anyone therefore surprised that the police can not effectively tackle crime?
The civil servants are no more servants, they are “uncivil lords” they descend on public funds with such an impudence that will make any one shudder. They steal out rightly from the treasure, or demand instant bribes, or inflate contracts, or divert budget allocations, or sell government privilege. 50 years of budgeting has not prevented this imminent funeral, because monies meant for education are found at people’s homes, monies meant for roads and other infrastructure are routed to people’s pockets, monies meant for security are secured in offshore accounts, monies meant for development have only made the few cabal richer at the expense of the citizens.
Now we live with freedom from unpleasant consequences and may die because of insecurity. The jobs are gone, those working are poorer, and to be entrepreneurial is a very Herculean task. They have set up an early committee to drop a bundle on the country’s 100 years of nationhood, but it takes almost half of the year for our budget to be passed, and hardly any early preparation for sectoral projects in education, health, or social amenities. We should rename nationhood to “nationwood”, because now more than ever the nation is in a bed of nails. Is Nigeria really a nation or a country of nationalities? Do we have drums to beat or funerals to mourn? Do we celebrate mass murder, rape, economic mismanagement, political brigandage, or a nation which we were told is on the brink and we denied.
We claim to bring peace to war torn nations but our nation is in a dearth of peace. We are talking of independence, it is not just enough to be independent from colonial rule when we are not independent from the woes that sweep across our land like a flying vulture. If anything, the people have always bore the brunt of a lapse from grace on the part of our leadership and government. My friend said that in Nigeria they campaign in poetry and rule in prose and I concur. For when a politician promises to build a bridge where there is no river, that is poetry; and when the electorates can not have a bridge to cross a real river that is prose. While they loot in billions and jeopardize the lives of millions in poetry, people are suffering and dying in prose. 51 years of independence where are the drums to celebrate? They have stolen everything and even the drums, meaning they have stolen the people’s happiness too.
After 51 years of independence and 97 years of existence Nigeria ought to have a place in the sun unfortunately the country is just like a pig in a poke due to failure of leadership and crass irresponsibility from the citizens. They had no shoes; now they own not only shoes but shoe companies while we are in need of feet. The best thing we can do as a people is to avert the funeral of this nation by any means possible and recover our drums of jubilation.
Powered by CredoWorld Media
www.credoworld.blogspot.com
Friday, September 16, 2011
“HOW AFRICANS UNDER DEVELOP AFRICA ”
CredoWriters: Wakdok, Samuel Stephen.
Recalling our undergraduate days in the University of Jos , many of us in the department of Economics like others in Sociology, History, Political Science, Law etc were captivated by Walter Rodney’s book “How Europe Underdeveloped Africa”. The title was as inviting to those with Marxist philosophy/leanings as much as the content of the book. Dr. Rodney’s book is a clarion call for us to regret colonialism and chat down neo-colonialism. Of course the West has exploited and still exploits Africa ; her land, resources and people, but have they always done this alone? Has the West whether as explorers or colonialists, as investors or neo-colonialists, as Aid providers or Creditors succeeded in exploiting Africa without the active collaboration of Africans?
Without confining Walter Rodney’s book or title of his book to the recess of history, rather in trying to juxtapose his work on the reality that has revealed itself over time we must seek to elucidate “How Africans under develop Africa”. It is inundating and heart breaking to x-ray why Africa is underdeveloped and how Africans are still under developing Africa .
In pre-colonial Africa , it was Africans who raided villages and towns especially on the west coast, captured fellow Africans and sold them as slaves to the white slave drivers. Lagos thrived on this and king Kosoko was very comfortable with slave trade in his domain. No sooner had Spain pulled out of Western Sahara in 1976 than Morocco invaded and annexed the territory. In spite of all the international outcry and pressure, atrocities are still committed against the people of Western Sahara .
The capitalists assisted Mobuto Sese Seko to kill Patrice Lumumba in Congo renamed Zaire and now DR Congo. His remains was burnt to ashes, put in a plane and scattered over the country to prevent even his ghost from resurrecting. Mobuto went on to become one of the worst despots of all times and was richer than his country until the rebel forces of Laurent Kabila pushed him out in May 1997. Today after nearly two decades of wars and conflicts, DR Congo is among the most dangerous countries in the word. Despites having the largest contingent of UN Peace keepers in the world; it has been dubbed the rape capital of the world because of the mass velocity of rapes especially in its eastern region by both government and rebel forces.
When Idi Amin Dada took over power in Uganda in 1971 he taught the world a hybrid of what illiteracy, cruelty and power drunkenness can do. He did not spare any one be it his wife, Central Bank Governor, Archbishop or judges. Before he was ousted by Tanzania forces in 1979 he had turned Uganda ’s currency into toilet money and littered the streets of Uganda with blood of 300,000 Ugandans and Asians. Yoweri Museveni came to office in 1986 as a soldier and shouted to the world that the problem of Africa were despotic leaders. He just won another presidential term to rule Uganda despite opposition’s claims of rigging the elections. Joseph Koni’s the lord resistance Army rebel forces have been fighting a war in northern Uganda with atrocities like rape and limb cutting spreading into South Sudan, Central African Republic .
Robert Gabriel Mugabe became the white man’s nemesis in the then Southern Rhodesia after he successfully fought both the British colonialists and Ian Smith who had declared unilateral independence from Britain . A charismatic leader took Zimbabwe to independence in 1980 and it became one of the best economies in Africa . Today Mugabe is gunning for another term in 2012, and has helped the West to wreck Zimbabwe ’s economy with sanctions. Zimbabwe had the sole privilege of achieving what was called “run-away inflation” hitting millions in percent of inflation at the height of its economies and printing single currency of billion Zimbabwean dollars. One third of Zimbabweans live in exile or are seeking economic/political asylum.
The United States and Apartheid South African backed rebel forces UNITA led by Jonas Savimbi fought one of the bitterest civil wars Africa had ever seen in Angola against the Marxist regime of Dos Santos. It took the killing of Savimbi in February 2002 for the war to end. Today Angola is trying to rebuild but decades of war and Jose’ Eduardo Dos Santos 36 years in power have not improved the lot of average Angolans.
Master Sergeant Samuel Doe who shot himself into power in 1981 took Liberia to the brink until the civil war led by Charles Taylor broke out in 1989. The war destabilised the region of West Africa with many lives lost both citizens and peace keepers; and scattered Liberian refugees across West Africa for about 20 years. The war also spread to Sierra Leone because of the urge to control its diamond as a financing tool. Many citizens were brutally murdered and many others who survived were left limbless. Ivory Coast which was the model of political and economic stability and it once housed the headquarters of the African Development Bank had its serenity shattered after the 1999 coup of General Guei. The world’s number one producer of Cocoa experienced a bitter civil war between 2000 and 2003. The last presidential election stand off between Laurent Gbagbo and Allasan Quattara almost took Ivory Coast back to the precipice.
Togo, Gabon and Guinea all had despots who ruled for over 30 years with Togo and Gabon having the sons succeeding their fathers. Equatorial Guinea with its oil wealth has less than a million people. Yet the oil wealth has not improved the lot of the populace but only the family and cronies of President Teodore Obiang Nguema Mbasago who has spent over thirty years in power. He is also the current chairman of the African Union which boasts of a good number of sit tight leaders. Little wonder the African Peer Review Mechanism cannot add much value to Africa .
The wars between North and South Sudan which ended with the Comprehensive Pease Agreement of 2005 led to the independence of the South in July 2011 after more than a million deaths in one of Africa ’s longest wars. Western Sudan has also seen enough carnage since 2002 where the government back janjaweed have been attacking the people of Darfur creating the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. Omar El Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of Genocide. Sudan was the first international headquarters of al qaeda which has seen the distribution of terrorism around Africa and the word. Somalia ’s case is seemingly hopeless, that country is the number one failed state in the world. After years of misrule by former leaders they have gone for twenty years without a functional government with tribal war lords, pirates and lately the Islamic extremist al shabash making the country lawless. About a million Somalis are now at the risk of death because of famine in the horn of Africa . Chad and Niger house the poorest regions of the world. The 2008 post election violence in Kenya left over a thousand people dead, closely replicated by the 2011 post election violence in Nigeria which killed over two hundred people. The story of Nigeria is a pathetic one. Once baptised the giant of Africa , a country with rich human and natural resources has been brought to the brink due to years of bad leadership. The mother of all carnages took place in Rwanda as the 1994 Rwandan genocide left an estimated one million people dead in 100 days. Sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch in the landlocked Swaziland only parades virgins on a yearly basis to choose a new wife from annually. He is mostly abroad and spends little or no time in his country.
The northern part of Africa which seemed to be better off economically was in the firm grip of despots. Revolutions in that part have left thousands dead, scattered the economies and disrupted tourism which was their mainstay. Libya ’s Gaddafi has given the west an excuse to seek to re-colonise that country.
From North to South, East to West except for a few countries and leaders, the story of Africa is the same. Economic woes, insecurity, civil wars, internal strives and conflicts, ethnic and religious cleansing, looting of public wealth, capital flight, lack of infrastructure and capacity development have become the hallmarks of Africa’s underdevelopment. With the vast presence of arable lands, ironically Africa is heavily dependent on food imports and food aids. With cheap and abundant labour, Africa cannot generate employment to transform her economy and empower her people.
The elasticity of corruption in Africa is like an unchained spirit. Trillions of dollars meant for the development of the continent have been stolen and stashed in foreign lands by African leaders both dead and living, past and present. The penchant for misuse of public goods and massive show of shamelessness are so high.
Everything the developed West have ever done is first to secure the future of their citizens, but the reverse is the case in Africa . The military dictatorships in Latin America and Indonesia laid solid foundations for those regions economic success stories of today, where as the military juntas in Africa regrettably were the very ones who institutionalised corruption. The Greeks gave the world democracy, The Romans gave the world the Senate, the British gave the world a Parliament, and the United States gave the world the Presidency. In all these we see a commitment by both the leaders and the led to develop a system which will drive the transformation of their polity, economy and people. Democratic regimes have not done much to expedite the cause of Africa’s transformation; rather countries like Nigeria operate the most expensive yet wasteful democracies in the world. Africans have the highest impudence at breaking laws and over the years the rule of law does not hold any significance in the lives of the people especially those who have access to the tools of power. No African country is likely to the Millennium Development Goals by the target year of 2015, as basic as these goals are like poverty reduction, water and sanitation, reduction in infant and maternal mortality among the others. While people and leaders in other parts of the world are making progress to improve their nations and people, Africans are deliberately making efforts to under develop Africa . Africa has been underdeveloped with the blood of Africans on the streets of Africa more by fellow Africans than anyone else. Shame!
www.credoworld.blogspot.com
15092011
Recalling our undergraduate days in the University of Jos , many of us in the department of Economics like others in Sociology, History, Political Science, Law etc were captivated by Walter Rodney’s book “How Europe Underdeveloped Africa”. The title was as inviting to those with Marxist philosophy/leanings as much as the content of the book. Dr. Rodney’s book is a clarion call for us to regret colonialism and chat down neo-colonialism. Of course the West has exploited and still exploits Africa ; her land, resources and people, but have they always done this alone? Has the West whether as explorers or colonialists, as investors or neo-colonialists, as Aid providers or Creditors succeeded in exploiting Africa without the active collaboration of Africans?
Without confining Walter Rodney’s book or title of his book to the recess of history, rather in trying to juxtapose his work on the reality that has revealed itself over time we must seek to elucidate “How Africans under develop Africa”. It is inundating and heart breaking to x-ray why Africa is underdeveloped and how Africans are still under developing Africa .
In pre-colonial Africa , it was Africans who raided villages and towns especially on the west coast, captured fellow Africans and sold them as slaves to the white slave drivers. Lagos thrived on this and king Kosoko was very comfortable with slave trade in his domain. No sooner had Spain pulled out of Western Sahara in 1976 than Morocco invaded and annexed the territory. In spite of all the international outcry and pressure, atrocities are still committed against the people of Western Sahara .
The capitalists assisted Mobuto Sese Seko to kill Patrice Lumumba in Congo renamed Zaire and now DR Congo. His remains was burnt to ashes, put in a plane and scattered over the country to prevent even his ghost from resurrecting. Mobuto went on to become one of the worst despots of all times and was richer than his country until the rebel forces of Laurent Kabila pushed him out in May 1997. Today after nearly two decades of wars and conflicts, DR Congo is among the most dangerous countries in the word. Despites having the largest contingent of UN Peace keepers in the world; it has been dubbed the rape capital of the world because of the mass velocity of rapes especially in its eastern region by both government and rebel forces.
When Idi Amin Dada took over power in Uganda in 1971 he taught the world a hybrid of what illiteracy, cruelty and power drunkenness can do. He did not spare any one be it his wife, Central Bank Governor, Archbishop or judges. Before he was ousted by Tanzania forces in 1979 he had turned Uganda ’s currency into toilet money and littered the streets of Uganda with blood of 300,000 Ugandans and Asians. Yoweri Museveni came to office in 1986 as a soldier and shouted to the world that the problem of Africa were despotic leaders. He just won another presidential term to rule Uganda despite opposition’s claims of rigging the elections. Joseph Koni’s the lord resistance Army rebel forces have been fighting a war in northern Uganda with atrocities like rape and limb cutting spreading into South Sudan, Central African Republic .
Robert Gabriel Mugabe became the white man’s nemesis in the then Southern Rhodesia after he successfully fought both the British colonialists and Ian Smith who had declared unilateral independence from Britain . A charismatic leader took Zimbabwe to independence in 1980 and it became one of the best economies in Africa . Today Mugabe is gunning for another term in 2012, and has helped the West to wreck Zimbabwe ’s economy with sanctions. Zimbabwe had the sole privilege of achieving what was called “run-away inflation” hitting millions in percent of inflation at the height of its economies and printing single currency of billion Zimbabwean dollars. One third of Zimbabweans live in exile or are seeking economic/political asylum.
The United States and Apartheid South African backed rebel forces UNITA led by Jonas Savimbi fought one of the bitterest civil wars Africa had ever seen in Angola against the Marxist regime of Dos Santos. It took the killing of Savimbi in February 2002 for the war to end. Today Angola is trying to rebuild but decades of war and Jose’ Eduardo Dos Santos 36 years in power have not improved the lot of average Angolans.
Master Sergeant Samuel Doe who shot himself into power in 1981 took Liberia to the brink until the civil war led by Charles Taylor broke out in 1989. The war destabilised the region of West Africa with many lives lost both citizens and peace keepers; and scattered Liberian refugees across West Africa for about 20 years. The war also spread to Sierra Leone because of the urge to control its diamond as a financing tool. Many citizens were brutally murdered and many others who survived were left limbless. Ivory Coast which was the model of political and economic stability and it once housed the headquarters of the African Development Bank had its serenity shattered after the 1999 coup of General Guei. The world’s number one producer of Cocoa experienced a bitter civil war between 2000 and 2003. The last presidential election stand off between Laurent Gbagbo and Allasan Quattara almost took Ivory Coast back to the precipice.
Togo, Gabon and Guinea all had despots who ruled for over 30 years with Togo and Gabon having the sons succeeding their fathers. Equatorial Guinea with its oil wealth has less than a million people. Yet the oil wealth has not improved the lot of the populace but only the family and cronies of President Teodore Obiang Nguema Mbasago who has spent over thirty years in power. He is also the current chairman of the African Union which boasts of a good number of sit tight leaders. Little wonder the African Peer Review Mechanism cannot add much value to Africa .
The wars between North and South Sudan which ended with the Comprehensive Pease Agreement of 2005 led to the independence of the South in July 2011 after more than a million deaths in one of Africa ’s longest wars. Western Sudan has also seen enough carnage since 2002 where the government back janjaweed have been attacking the people of Darfur creating the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. Omar El Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of Genocide. Sudan was the first international headquarters of al qaeda which has seen the distribution of terrorism around Africa and the word. Somalia ’s case is seemingly hopeless, that country is the number one failed state in the world. After years of misrule by former leaders they have gone for twenty years without a functional government with tribal war lords, pirates and lately the Islamic extremist al shabash making the country lawless. About a million Somalis are now at the risk of death because of famine in the horn of Africa . Chad and Niger house the poorest regions of the world. The 2008 post election violence in Kenya left over a thousand people dead, closely replicated by the 2011 post election violence in Nigeria which killed over two hundred people. The story of Nigeria is a pathetic one. Once baptised the giant of Africa , a country with rich human and natural resources has been brought to the brink due to years of bad leadership. The mother of all carnages took place in Rwanda as the 1994 Rwandan genocide left an estimated one million people dead in 100 days. Sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch in the landlocked Swaziland only parades virgins on a yearly basis to choose a new wife from annually. He is mostly abroad and spends little or no time in his country.
The northern part of Africa which seemed to be better off economically was in the firm grip of despots. Revolutions in that part have left thousands dead, scattered the economies and disrupted tourism which was their mainstay. Libya ’s Gaddafi has given the west an excuse to seek to re-colonise that country.
From North to South, East to West except for a few countries and leaders, the story of Africa is the same. Economic woes, insecurity, civil wars, internal strives and conflicts, ethnic and religious cleansing, looting of public wealth, capital flight, lack of infrastructure and capacity development have become the hallmarks of Africa’s underdevelopment. With the vast presence of arable lands, ironically Africa is heavily dependent on food imports and food aids. With cheap and abundant labour, Africa cannot generate employment to transform her economy and empower her people.
The elasticity of corruption in Africa is like an unchained spirit. Trillions of dollars meant for the development of the continent have been stolen and stashed in foreign lands by African leaders both dead and living, past and present. The penchant for misuse of public goods and massive show of shamelessness are so high.
Everything the developed West have ever done is first to secure the future of their citizens, but the reverse is the case in Africa . The military dictatorships in Latin America and Indonesia laid solid foundations for those regions economic success stories of today, where as the military juntas in Africa regrettably were the very ones who institutionalised corruption. The Greeks gave the world democracy, The Romans gave the world the Senate, the British gave the world a Parliament, and the United States gave the world the Presidency. In all these we see a commitment by both the leaders and the led to develop a system which will drive the transformation of their polity, economy and people. Democratic regimes have not done much to expedite the cause of Africa’s transformation; rather countries like Nigeria operate the most expensive yet wasteful democracies in the world. Africans have the highest impudence at breaking laws and over the years the rule of law does not hold any significance in the lives of the people especially those who have access to the tools of power. No African country is likely to the Millennium Development Goals by the target year of 2015, as basic as these goals are like poverty reduction, water and sanitation, reduction in infant and maternal mortality among the others. While people and leaders in other parts of the world are making progress to improve their nations and people, Africans are deliberately making efforts to under develop Africa . Africa has been underdeveloped with the blood of Africans on the streets of Africa more by fellow Africans than anyone else. Shame!
www.credoworld.blogspot.com
15092011
Saturday, September 3, 2011
THE PREVALENCE OF DOMESTIC CHILD LABOUR IN SSA-Proposing a Dynamic Economic Model.”
THE PREVALENCE OF DOMESTIC CHILD LABOUR IN SSA-Proposing a Dynamic Economic Model.”
By Samuel Stephen Wakdok*
Preamble:
Poverty, cultural and religious inhibitions, ineffective government policies, widening income gap as a result of inequitable distribution of income, corruption, inefficient allocation of scarce resources, high rate of unemployment, de-industrialization, HIV/AIDS induced mortality among various factors have conspired to recruit and retain a growing number of Sub Saharan African children in child labour. The statistics are alarming. Eleonore Meyer writing on Child Labour Flourishing in Fast Growing Economies in the Global Geopolitics and Political Economy( August 19,2010) revealed that nearly 160 million kids aged between five and fourteen are trapped in child labour world wide. According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in the Sub Saharan Africa (SSA), around one in three children – 69 million are engaged in child labour.
These minors are practically everywhere as domestic helps in homes, as farm hands, engaged in sex labour, conscripted into the army as child-soldiers in war worn countries/regions and used in various ethno- religious conflicts. The inability of successive African Governments south of the Sahara to ensure decent standards of living and also as a result of high unemployment rate; have caused many families to send their children to work on the streets or at other people’s homes. They are either hawking on the streets, roads and highways thereby exposing them to various forms of dangers such as crimes and exploitation or they are hired as domestic helps also exposing them to maltreatments, molestations and exploitations.
Theoretical framework:
The focus of this model is restricted to domestic child labour with the hope that it will open a wider discourse on the whole subject .The minors engaged as domestic child labourers at such tender ages ought to be in the comfort of their parents’ protection and guidance but are rather exposed to harsh environments and practices. This not only put physical pressure on them but also emotional, psychological, and biological pressures. Their rights to go through the complete child development processes are tempered with. They are prematurely initiated into the adults’ world to work, earn and cater for themselves and their relations. At an age they are supposed to be dependents; they now have dependents.
These innocent children most times are exposed to different forms of maltreatment. They are prone to crimes and abuses by adults. Some are beaten, drugged, starved, underpaid and in some cases abused sexually. Their future is often truncated when they are denied access to education, even free government education. Only a few number of children employed in child labour are enrolled in schools since the very essence of hiring them was to cater for the children of the working class/business women in most cases.
As the economic and social rights of women to work improved coupled with the demand to meet economic needs of their families, the past three decades have witnessed a paradigm shift from house wives to corporate wives. Even the self employed women spend less time at home and more at their businesses or trips to meet with clients and suppliers. The implication is a surge in the demand for domestic child labour to cater for the home front left vacant by the absentee wives/mothers.
To this end, the positive improvement in the economic and social rights of women has led to a negative effect on the rights of children-those employed in child labour. Unfortunately since the demand for child labour comes with an explicit increase in the income they earn, thus seen as addressing their economic poverty and their families, no notice is taken of the increase in other forms of poverty as social, emotional, and psychological which are implicit.
Model Specification:
Expressing the above statement in a dynamic economic model as below;
I (ESW) =I (DCL) ---- 1
Where
I = increase,
ESW= Economic and social rights of women and
DCL= Demand for domestic child labour.
Decomposing the Right hand side-RHS of equation 1 will give
I (DCL) = I (MB) + d (NMB) --- 2
Where:
MB= Monetary benefits
NMB= Non monetary benefits.
If we denote I an increase with the positive sign (+) and d a decrease with the negative sign (-) and replace the coefficients I and d with their respective signs we now have;
+ DCL = + MB + (-NMB) ---- 3 which is the same as
DCL= MB –NMB --- 4
Substituting equation 4 into the initial equation 1 above we have;
ESW= MB-NMB--- 5
Where NMB <0.
Where NMB = 0 we have
ESW= MB --- 6
Where NMB>0 we have
ESW =MB+NMB --- 7
Discussions:
Most times emphases are placed on the increase in the monetary benefits of domestic child labour as a result of the increase in the economic and social rights of women. Often the decrease in or negative non-monetary benefits such as different forms of abuses, truncated childhood development, stress and trauma, lack of access to education are overlooked. Focusing only on the monetary benefits leads to “commodification” of these children especially since they are engaged in child labour at a tender age when they do not have the ability or capacity to make their own decisions. Even when they do make such decisions to go into child labour, their decisions are not unbiased of their emotional preconditions subject to the economic conditions of their families. This is further compounded if they are orphans or their mothers are widows or when their bread winners are incapacitated in any form. This is a gross abuse of their social rights.
In as much as government policies and inefficient resources allocations will always make available a high supply of child labour on one hand, with the increase in working class or entrepreneurial woman on the other hand (including affirmative actions for women to participate in politics and other social ventures); it will be unrealistic to eliminate either the supply of or the demand for domestic child labour especially in Africa.
Recommendation:
Therefore the thrust of this model is to provide an alternative to the dehumanization or/and ‘commodification’ of domestic child labour. “Humanifying” child labour will minimize and even eliminate the negative non monetary benefits of domestic labour. Governments must compensate for their inability to provide decent standards of living to their various citizens by providing adequate machineries to check mate the exploitation of those involved in child labour especially as it concerns non-monetary benefits. Government and non-governmental agencies must come up with monitoring channels to drive down and eliminate the negativity in the non monetary benefits. More emphasis and efforts must be made to compel those employing domestic child labourers not to only concentrate on payments of wages and salaries which form the monetary benefits on the right hand side of the equation, but also to eliminate all forms of physical, emotional, psychological, and sexual abuses. Then push further to the provision of education and other skill enhancing opportunities. Emergency telephone lines should be made available for calls at no charge to report abuses or exploitations. The more the negative non- monetary benefits of domestic child labour tend towards zero and even cross to the positive side, the greater will be the benefits of domestic child labour. But as long as the right hand side fails to achieve that positive sign, the left hand side which is an increase in the economic and social rights of women harbours some externalities which are unquantifiable.
Illustrations:
Assuming the economic and social rights of women increase by 5 and non monetary benefit is estimated at 3, obtain the amount of monetary benefit that will achieve equilibrium when NBM is less than zero, zero and more than zero respectively.
Scenario One- When Non Monetary Benefits <0
Recall equation 5
Where NMB <0 we have;
ESW= MB-NMB
Making MB the subject of the formula
MB= ESW +NMB
MB= 5+3
MB= 8
{5=8-3 =5}
Interpretation:
MB of 8 must be paid to compensate for negative NMB of 3 at an ESW of 5.This equilibrium is not attainable because it is not feasible and rational for an employer of child labour to pay a higher monetary benefit than what the working class wife earns in order to make up for the degrading human conditions like abuses, low self esteem inherent in the negative NMB. This is a level of dehumanization.
Scenario Two- When Non Monetary Benefits = 0
Recall equation 6
Where NMB = 0 we have
ESW= MB
{5=5}
Interpretation:
MB of 5 must be paid to achieve equilibrium at an ESW of 5 when NMB is nil. This happens when non monetary benefits is neither dysfunctional nor available and the whole increase in economic and social rights of women must be paid to the child labourer as a compensation for the absence of non monetary benefits like access to education among others. However, this equilibrium is not always attainable because it will be irrational to pay all one earns to the domestic help except in an extreme situation. This scenario if achieved will merely be commodifying the child labourer.
Scenario Three- When Non Monetary Benefits > 0
Recall equation 7
Where NMB>0 we have
If ESW =MB+NMB
MB= ESW - NMB
MB= 5-3
MB= 2.
Interpretation:
MB of 2 would be paid to compliment the positive NMB of 3 at an ESW of 5.This is therefore the feasible equilibrium. It is both practicable and rational to pay out a fraction (2/5) of what the working woman earns as monetary benefits to domestic child labour rather than paying higher as in scenario one or paying out the total earned as in scenario two. This will be complimented by provision of non monetary benefits like self esteem, educational opportunities etc.
Conclusion:
Monetary benefits alone can not liberate those engaged in child labour from the poverty circle. Consistent increase in the non monetary benefits such as access to education, more humane living conditions, self esteem, and developmental opportunities like skill acquisition will be the realistic approach to breaking the poverty circle which traps those engaged in child labour. Domestic child labour is bad enough as it is, but making the conditions in which they work sub-human is worse. Until the problems of poverty and under development are addressed in Sub Saharan Africa, the best we can do is to maximize the equilibrium level of the domestic child labour by striving to increase the non monetary benefits which give dignity to human life. By maximizing the non-monetary benefits of domestic child labour, the society will move towards a healthy balance. This will cause the domestic child labourers to have the status of surrogate children and they in turn will act as surrogate parents to the wards they are catering for. This means that the increase in economic and social rights of women will make it possible for their children left in the hands of domestic helps to grow in the right hands and right minds. On the contrary failure to achieve this dynamic model will be exposing the children, the family and the society to the risks of our improbity.
THE UNITED WAR AGAINST GADDAFI
THE UNITED WAR AGAINST GADDAFI: THE BUOAZIZI NEMESIS!
CredoWriters: Wakdok, Samuel Stephen.
The tyrant could not get his fantasy of a United States of African which the self anointed kings of kings wanted to be the sovereign ironically gets a United War on Libya. Not since the gulf war 1 of 1991 after Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait has the entire world been united in tackling a tyrant, despot, dictator and a power drunk. The 2003 invasion of Iraq saw a divided West but in 2011 even the Arab league joins other international partners (The UN, EU, USA, and AU) to enforce the U.N resolution 1973 on Libya. The U.N No-Fly zone may be coming late especially for the innocent Libyan civilians killed by Gaddafi’s forces but it is better late than never considering the millions of others at the threat of extermination from a leader who has threatened to show no mercy to his own people, to cleanse Libya house by house. The enforcement of the UN No-Fly zone code named Operation Odyssey Dawn was launched on the 19th of March 2011 to destroy Libya’s air defence system and make it impossible for his war planes to bomb civilians and their cities. It also gave the coalition forces the legitimacy to destroy Gaddafi’s tanks marching on the so called rebelled cities. The French forces fired first in the NATO international operation.
Colonel Muammar Gaddafi overthrew the monarchy of King Idris in 1969 came on board as a 27 year old revolutionary blending religious fundamentalism with Arab nationalism .After 41 years in power he has over stayed his welcome and is indeed the world’s longest reactionary. Gaddafi was the sponsor of the Palestine Liberation Organization (The PLO) while the former was a terrorist organization;(Kidnappings of Israeli athletes during the 1972 Berlin Olympics, the Entebbe hostage of 1977 in Uganda, etc) which is responsible for modern day terrorism. From sponsoring rebel causes across Africa to the IRA in Northern Ireland and Moslem rebels in far away Philippines, to the Lockerbie Bombing of 1988 Gaddafi is the most consistent age long exporter of terrorism across the globe even before the advent of al qaeda. He uses religion to whip up sentiments when it suits his inordinate ambition. He has on more than one occasion called for the disintegration of Nigeria across religious lines because he saw a united Nigeria as a threat to his dream of leading a United States of Africa. The same Gaddafi now accuses al qaeda and Islamists for the chaos in his country when in fact it is a popular uprising by the people of Libya for genuine liberation from a despot and his family’s hold on their national life.
For Gaddafi to go to the extent of arming mercenaries to massacre his own people, use his air force for aerial bombardment of his own citizens, call his people ants, cockroaches and drug addicts; once again in Gaddafi; African leaders have shown that Africa is the square root of power maniacs. From Burkina Faso to Cameroun, Cote d’ Ivore to Congo Brazzaville; Equatorial Guinea to Gambia, Sudan to Uganda and far away Zimbabwe; corrupt, autocratic and despotic African regimes have turned their people to pawns and their countries’ wealth to personal estates. (This is not exclusive of the dead despots in Nigeria, Gabon, Zaire, Togo etc) The European Union evolved but the African Union was merely proclaimed without the conditions for integration attained. How on earth did a Gaddafi whose records of criminality are unbeatable play a pivotal role in the AU?
The coward that he is like all the tyrants before him claimed to have called a cease fire immediately the No-Fly zone resolution was passed though it was just a fad because his forces went ahead to assault Benghazi and other cities. Now he is calling the coalition forces crusader invaders to raise religious sentiments when in essence he was killing his own Moslem citizens? He has gone ahead to gather human shields in his compound in the event of an allied bombs against him all in the name of pro-supporters. This is coming a month to the 25th anniversary of the USA bombing of Tripoli in April 1986 which narrowly missed Gaddafi and killed his daughter. He is fighting a propagandist war and has released arms to over 1 million Libyans (pro Gaddafi or mercenaries) to turn Libya into a sea of red hell as he earlier promised.
Gaddafi belongs to the E5 (Evil Five) of Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin, Idi Amin, Saddam Hussein and should be quickly consigned to the dustbin of history to make the world if not safer, at least one evil less. However the Buoazizi nemesis should not only stop in North Africa but tyrants and despots like Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe who have for too long held their countries and people to ransom should take the exit door before sand runs out of their glasses.
Epilogue;
The war in Libya has entered its seventh month now, today is 1st of September 2011 and Gaddafi would have been celebrating 42 years in power if not for the rebels’ assault on Tripoli. The self proclaimed king of kings is now a fugitive with 1.6 million dollars tag on his head by the rebels. An estimated 50,000 people have been killed in the conflict according to the NTC. The sad thing is that the AU has refused to recognize the National Transitional Council making it possible for other tyrants to believe they will always have a field day. Gaddafi who was sponsored rebels across the world has been chased out of his palace by rebels. We call that the law of karma. Unfortunately, the NTC has raised an alarm that a fugitive Gaddafi is a threat to world security and I concur with them. The world has seen more blood because people like the Khalifa have always used human beings as pawn in the game of power of selfishness. This is evident in what is going on in Nigeria because no matter what we believe, their are people who stand to gain from every terror activity.
Written 07/04/2011
Updated 01/09/2011.
Powered By CredoWorld Media
CredoWriters: Wakdok, Samuel Stephen.
The tyrant could not get his fantasy of a United States of African which the self anointed kings of kings wanted to be the sovereign ironically gets a United War on Libya. Not since the gulf war 1 of 1991 after Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait has the entire world been united in tackling a tyrant, despot, dictator and a power drunk. The 2003 invasion of Iraq saw a divided West but in 2011 even the Arab league joins other international partners (The UN, EU, USA, and AU) to enforce the U.N resolution 1973 on Libya. The U.N No-Fly zone may be coming late especially for the innocent Libyan civilians killed by Gaddafi’s forces but it is better late than never considering the millions of others at the threat of extermination from a leader who has threatened to show no mercy to his own people, to cleanse Libya house by house. The enforcement of the UN No-Fly zone code named Operation Odyssey Dawn was launched on the 19th of March 2011 to destroy Libya’s air defence system and make it impossible for his war planes to bomb civilians and their cities. It also gave the coalition forces the legitimacy to destroy Gaddafi’s tanks marching on the so called rebelled cities. The French forces fired first in the NATO international operation.
Colonel Muammar Gaddafi overthrew the monarchy of King Idris in 1969 came on board as a 27 year old revolutionary blending religious fundamentalism with Arab nationalism .After 41 years in power he has over stayed his welcome and is indeed the world’s longest reactionary. Gaddafi was the sponsor of the Palestine Liberation Organization (The PLO) while the former was a terrorist organization;(Kidnappings of Israeli athletes during the 1972 Berlin Olympics, the Entebbe hostage of 1977 in Uganda, etc) which is responsible for modern day terrorism. From sponsoring rebel causes across Africa to the IRA in Northern Ireland and Moslem rebels in far away Philippines, to the Lockerbie Bombing of 1988 Gaddafi is the most consistent age long exporter of terrorism across the globe even before the advent of al qaeda. He uses religion to whip up sentiments when it suits his inordinate ambition. He has on more than one occasion called for the disintegration of Nigeria across religious lines because he saw a united Nigeria as a threat to his dream of leading a United States of Africa. The same Gaddafi now accuses al qaeda and Islamists for the chaos in his country when in fact it is a popular uprising by the people of Libya for genuine liberation from a despot and his family’s hold on their national life.
For Gaddafi to go to the extent of arming mercenaries to massacre his own people, use his air force for aerial bombardment of his own citizens, call his people ants, cockroaches and drug addicts; once again in Gaddafi; African leaders have shown that Africa is the square root of power maniacs. From Burkina Faso to Cameroun, Cote d’ Ivore to Congo Brazzaville; Equatorial Guinea to Gambia, Sudan to Uganda and far away Zimbabwe; corrupt, autocratic and despotic African regimes have turned their people to pawns and their countries’ wealth to personal estates. (This is not exclusive of the dead despots in Nigeria, Gabon, Zaire, Togo etc) The European Union evolved but the African Union was merely proclaimed without the conditions for integration attained. How on earth did a Gaddafi whose records of criminality are unbeatable play a pivotal role in the AU?
The coward that he is like all the tyrants before him claimed to have called a cease fire immediately the No-Fly zone resolution was passed though it was just a fad because his forces went ahead to assault Benghazi and other cities. Now he is calling the coalition forces crusader invaders to raise religious sentiments when in essence he was killing his own Moslem citizens? He has gone ahead to gather human shields in his compound in the event of an allied bombs against him all in the name of pro-supporters. This is coming a month to the 25th anniversary of the USA bombing of Tripoli in April 1986 which narrowly missed Gaddafi and killed his daughter. He is fighting a propagandist war and has released arms to over 1 million Libyans (pro Gaddafi or mercenaries) to turn Libya into a sea of red hell as he earlier promised.
Gaddafi belongs to the E5 (Evil Five) of Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin, Idi Amin, Saddam Hussein and should be quickly consigned to the dustbin of history to make the world if not safer, at least one evil less. However the Buoazizi nemesis should not only stop in North Africa but tyrants and despots like Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe who have for too long held their countries and people to ransom should take the exit door before sand runs out of their glasses.
Epilogue;
The war in Libya has entered its seventh month now, today is 1st of September 2011 and Gaddafi would have been celebrating 42 years in power if not for the rebels’ assault on Tripoli. The self proclaimed king of kings is now a fugitive with 1.6 million dollars tag on his head by the rebels. An estimated 50,000 people have been killed in the conflict according to the NTC. The sad thing is that the AU has refused to recognize the National Transitional Council making it possible for other tyrants to believe they will always have a field day. Gaddafi who was sponsored rebels across the world has been chased out of his palace by rebels. We call that the law of karma. Unfortunately, the NTC has raised an alarm that a fugitive Gaddafi is a threat to world security and I concur with them. The world has seen more blood because people like the Khalifa have always used human beings as pawn in the game of power of selfishness. This is evident in what is going on in Nigeria because no matter what we believe, their are people who stand to gain from every terror activity.
Written 07/04/2011
Updated 01/09/2011.
Powered By CredoWorld Media
ETERNITY HAS NO GREY HAIR
ETERNITY HAS NO GREY HAIR
TRIBUTE TO EMILY OBADA {REST IN PEACE MY DEAR ONE}
As Eternity has no grey hair
You will never fade from our memories.
As beautiful as God’s kingdom;
You were to us.
The flower you were.
The river of smiles you were.
The magnificence of your being.
The intelligence of your emotions.
The pleasure of your speech.
The wisdom of your decisions.
The dreams of your future.
All gone?
Yet the spirituality of your soul lives with and for eternity
Eternity has no grey hair.
No matter the sweetness of temptations
The allure of sin
The selfishness of sin
The evil of this world
We must make heaven
To see you again, and join the church triumphant
In singing Our New Song
For Eternity has no grey hair
You will never fade from our thoughts
I wished you will live longer
But like magic you are gone.
Pacem Emilia Pacem!
emili_obada@heavenlybliss.eternity
Your bigboy; Sammy.260811
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