MICHELLE OBAMA AND NIGERIAN FIRST LADIES

Transcript of Michelle Obama's remarks - KansasCity.com

I have not had the chance to watch the ongoing Democrats National Convention (DNC). I certainly did not have the opportunity of watching the first lady of the United States give her speech on the first night of the convention. I did have the privilege of reading at least an article and a number of comments on Michelle Obama's speech.

Eva Longoria posted on her facebook page that the speech brought tears to her eyes. I had previously seen a number of other comments along the same line. These comments prodded me into reading the full transcript, the link to which is above.

Michelle Obama expectedly came across as the very intelligent lady that she is. She told her and her husband's story and made us understand the story behind her husband's passion for healthcare reforms and cutting student loans. Her story told of the upbringing that taught she and her husband the values which is lacking in most of our societies today. It told the old and evergreen American story.

While the speech did not actually make me cry, it came very close to it. It gave me actual goose pimples and made me swell with love for Michelle and everything she stands for. It made both very proud and happy but also quite sad.

The sadness came from happenings at home in Nigeria. It made me wonder what comes to the minds of our various first ladies when their husbands tell them they are running for political offices. Does it  give them the desire to help their husbands make the much needed difference in the lives of the majority of the people? does it inspire them to influence their husbands the work towards Nigeria attaining its much touted potentials? or do they see it as the opportunity to lord it over the rest of us, closing the air space while they fly alone and bringing untold hardship to ordinary road users while they are driven? does it perhaps present an opportunity to get money allocated to their non-existent offices that would have served to improve the lot of thousands of the citizens?

I surely will like to know the answers to these questions. I will like to know for instance, if the Dame  has an opinion on the proposed introduction of the N5,000 and the conversion into coins of the N5, N10 and N20 notes? If she does, I will like to know what it is. I will like to know what effect she thinks the conversion to coins will have on the ordinary Nigerian, whether she cares that it will make the price of some of the seemingly things like "pure water" for instance beyond the reach of those at the very base of the societal ladder? I will like to know if she has the desire to see her husband as the genuine change agent for the better that Nigeria sorely needs or if she even cares that his actions so far do not cast him in that light. I sure will like to know. I doubt I will, I however do look forward to the day our first ladies will rather than struggle to be first ladies with miles-long convoys that drive the rest of us off the roads choose to be the inspirational figures that their husbands need to help Nigeria attain its much touted potentials

NEW LAGOS TRAFFIC LAW: SAFETY OR REVENUE GENERATION?

Expectedly, the new Lagos Traffic Law has generated a lot of comments, some good, others not so good. The articles that have been written on the Law that came to my notice are Abimbola Adelakun’s column of Thursday 19th July 2012 which focused on the draconian nature of the Law vis-à-vis

the mostly bad state of the roads in the state and the double standards of our public officials to obeying Laws; Mr John Awe’s very informative ROADS THAT LEAD TO JAIL IN LAGOS published in the Punch Newspaper on Friday 3rd of August 2012 and finally, the Punch Newspaper’s editorial of the 8th of August 2012.

John Awe’s article and the editorial particularly reflect my concerns about the new law. While I agree that something needs to be done about the traffic situation on Lagos roads and the particular lawlessness of commercial bus drivers and even some drivers of private vehicles, my worry, as also expressed by the editorial aforementioned, is the in the implementation of the law.

As would have been noticed by all those who read John Awe’s article, its central theme is the absence of signs warning drivers that a particular road is a “one-way” road. Where there are signs however, the signs are either hidden from view, faded, or confusing. An example of a sign that is at best confusing is that placed on the university road that leads to the University of Lagos, the road that John Awe aptly describes as 95% dual and 5% one-way. The sign, apart from not being very visible is placed in such a way that a first time visitor to the area, who happens to see it, will be confused as to which of the roads he should not enter.

And of course, everybody knows by now that as bad as the reputation of the police is, you are much better off asking them (again in the absence of signs) whether a particular road is “one-way” than asking LASTMA officials. I am aware of quite a number of people who have made enquiries from LASTMA officials who deliberately mislead them only to arrest them all because of their desires to be “settled”.

Most drivers in Lagos are only aware that certain roads are “one-way” roads because of their familiarity with those roads. I dare say it will be criminal to criminalise a driver for driving on a one-way road or a road with changing status from one period to another when there are no signs to warn him of the status of the road.

Just last week, I was told about someone who was arrested by LASTMA officials for making a U-turn in a place with a sign that indicated that it was allowed only to be told by the arresting LASTMA officials that U-turn was no longer allowed there and yet the sign there carried the “U” without the red arrow over the U that would indicate that U-turn was not allowed there! Of course, the driver wasn’t allowed to go till some money changed hands. Now, while some people are blessed with the gift of seeing signs that are not visible or in existence, the Lagos State government should please realise that not everyone has this gift and while some of us prefer to remain on the right side of the Law, we wouldn’t want to be criminalised for disobeying when there are either no signs to warn us or the signs are hidden or at best confusing.

The Punch editorial has rightly pointed out the absurdity of making minor traffic offences punishable by jail terms especially at a time when there are talks and worry on how to decongest the prisons. I have not seen the text of the Law itself and so I am not sure what the Law’s definition of eating while driving is. Does eating mean eating eba and ogbono or does it mean eating gala? And what about those that chew gum, does the movement of their jaws while chewing constitute eating as well?

With the drastic change (for the worse) in the attitude of LASTMA officials in the past year or two that seem to have shifted the emphasis from traffic management to revenue generation (for both the officials and government), the penalty for violation or perceived violation may only serve to enrich the LASTMA officials at the expense of otherwise law-abiding citizens. I do hope however that the State government will take steps to put up clear and visible signs at every possible entrance to one-way roads if really as claimed by Mr Ade Ipaye, the intent is not to allow people fall victim due to ignorance only so the State can continue to be in the lead as the State with the highest IGR.

A CAUSE FOR HOPE

So I was thinking of ordering some electronics from Ali Express as they have some cool Android products, both my cards got canceled even though I can use them just fine anywhere else on the net so I emailed them to ask them what was going on.

They email me back asking for a scan of my passport, credit card and full bank statement....

Since when is China the new Nigeria?

While still grieving over the needless loss of lives of those on the Dana airplane and wondering why we Nigerians keep killing one another through our various deliberate and inadvertent actions and inactions, I came across the above quote posted by an American in my circle on Google+. As can be imagined, coming across it did nothing for my already somber mood.

I had in fact copied the quote to write someday about Nigerians’ notoriety in the world. As it turned out however, that write-up is no longer likely to see the light of day and you will see the reason why shortly.

I had gone about three Saturdays ago to buy fresh pepper and tomatoes from a place I usually buy them somewhere in Alagomeji. I made my purchases and headed from there to Sabo market where I bought some other things only for me to discover at the place that was supposed to be my last stop that I had somehow lost N1,000 and so would not be able to buy the last things on my list without first getting back home to get more money. I was both irritated by my carelessness in not taking my wallet and unhappy at the thought of having to make a second trip back to the market to complete my purchases but it was something that had to be done.

Sometime last week, I had to go again to Alagomeji to buy some more tomatoes and lo and behold, the two sales girls (both around age 17 to 20) immediately on seeing me excitedly told me that they had helped me to keep my N1,000 which fell from my hand when I was there two weeks before!

How happy I was on being re-united with my lost money can only be imagined. The reason for my happiness went way beyond just getting my money back. It was more because of the fact that those two girls could have kept the money (mind you, it was the exact note that fell from my hand) for me for the two weeks it took me to go back there without convincing themselves to spend it or at least for successfully battling whatever temptations they might have faced to spend it.

That thought, more than any other lifted my spirits and gave me hope that perhaps, it’s not all bad, perhaps, the tiny ray of light can after all defeat the big blanket of darkness in form of lost values that threaten to overtake our country particularly Lagos State. And so now, I can proudly lift my head and tell the American in my circle on Google+ that while it is true that we have people in Nigeria who have scams as their only occupation (as no doubt, there are in America as well), but we also have people who are upright and honest as well and perhaps he just has to walk in the right circles!

FAROUK LAWAN/OTEDOLA: QUESTIONS AND MORE QUESTIONS

When Femi Otedola reportedly broke the news that Farouk Lawan, the very same Farouk Lawan that a majority of the people almost deified in the wake of the release of the subsidy probe, demanded and collected bribe of $620,000 from him to keep Zenon’s name out of the report, I was one of the, I’m sure, many people who felt Farouk Lawan was only being framed. I believed after all the years he has spent at the House of Representatives without any (obvious) stain on his name, he must be one of the clean ones. I believed it when he said the image of him in the video being circulated was a caricature. I believed him. I so desperately wanted the story to be untrue, how can Farouk Lawan be the same as the rest of them?

Alas, the day after he denied receiving any money, he recanted, but said he wanted to use the money to expose Otedola and that he gave the money to one Jagaba Adams, the chairman of the House Committee on Drugs, Narcotics and Financial Crimes. He also said that he wrote a letter to police to report the bribe.

Otedola on his own part, I believe, very much in an attempt to whitewash his image claimed that there was no reason for Zenon to have been in the report since it was never a recipient of the oil subsidy as a diesel marketer, and that the dollar bills given to Farouk Lawan were marked and provided by the State Security operatives in a “sting” operation.

On the side of Farouk Lawan, things look really bad. It will be indeed very difficult to continue to believe that Mr “Integrity” Farouk Lawan himself still has any integrity left. First, Lawan was said to have made about three nocturnal visits to Otedola to collect the bribe money. Channels TV made Farouk look even worse when they replayed the session of the House in which Farouk sought to amend clauses 5 & 6 of the report to remove the names of Zenon and Synopsis. Things moved even from bad to the ridiculous when it was reported in the newspapers that a source who watched the video recordings of Lawan receiving the money said when his pockets were filled with the money, Lawan had opened his cap and stuffed the remaining wads therein!

Now, a number of questions beg to be answered in the whole sordid episode, from the limit of the information I have and my understanding of same, the questions are:

 If it was Otedola that offered the bribe to Farouk Lawan to not include Zenon’s name in the probe report, why was it that it was Lawan that went to Otedola’s house to collect the bribe money? And not once or even twice, but as reported, three whole times? There is a proverb that says that it is the man with thorn in his foot that limps to meet the man with pin for help. Since it was Otedola that was supposedly looking for a favour, why wasn’t he the one going to meet Lawan?

 If Lawan collected the money in order to expose Otedola as he claimed, why did he not officially report the matter of the bribe after the report was laid at, and adopted by the House of Representatives?

 Did Lawan, as he claimed, write a letter to the police to inform them of the offer of bribe? Why has the Ahmadu Ali he mentioned not been quizzed to find out what he knows about the matter?

 Did Lawan report the bribe to the members of the House or at least the Ethics committee as claimed? If he did, at what point did he report it to them? Was it after the bubble had burst or at the time the bribe was offered?

 How many members of the fuel subsidy probe committee which Lawan chaired were aware of the offer/acceptance of the bribe? What are the members of the committee saying about the bribe affair? Have they been thoroughly quizzed?

 If as Lawan claimed, he only collected the bribe with the intention of exposing Otedola, why did he move the motion to remove Zenon’s name from the report?

 What role, if any, did the Committee member that seconded Lawan’s motion play in the whole bribe affair? Did the other committee members have fore-knowledge of Lawan’s motion to apply through a motion to remove Zenon’s name from the report? If they did, on what basis did they agree that Zenon’s name be removed? Is it because they are privy to the bribe thing? Is it because Zenon really did not belong in the report as Otedola claimed? If Zenon’s name never should have been in the report, how did it get there?

 If Lawan did not intend to spend the bribe money, why did he keep quiet for so long to the point that it was Otedola that broke the news and not him?

 Knowing how close Otedola was to the former President Obasanjo and the incumbent Goodluck Jonathan, was Farouk really that greedy and idiotic as to solicit for a bribe from of all persons, Femi Otedola?

 If the money is not with Adams Jagaba, where is it?

 Was Zenon, a company into diesel which has been deregulated, really supposed to have been part of the report? If so, why?

 On Otedola’s part, was the operation really a sting operation as claimed? If it was, why did the State security operatives allow the money to get out of their sight to the point where no one seems to know its whereabouts now?

 If it was a sting operation as claimed, why was Farouk not arrested immediately after collecting the bribe money by the security operatives? This is especially important because as reported, the money was collected in tranches of two $250,000 and a $100,000.

 I don’t remember having heard any official or unofficial statement from the SSS yet, but if they were really involved from the start, why has there been only silence from them so far on the whole saga?

 If it is indeed a sting operation, having let the money out of its sight, how did the SSS intend to identify the actual dollar bills given to Lawan if he has spent it?

 Why did it have to be Otedola and not the SSS that broke the story if indeed there was a sting operation?

 Why the long delay and silence even after the report had been laid and adopted with Lawan ‘performing’ by removing the name of Zenon and a certain Synopsis with no action taken by the security operatives until Otedola broke the story?

 Why have the tape recordings of the bribe taking not been made public?

 If Otedola doesn’t own Synopsis as he claims, who does? And how much did the owner have to pay to have the company’s name removed from the report? And how many other companies paid to have their names omitted?

So far, in my opinion as limited by the information I have, it appears that Lawan’s greed got the better of him and he really wanted to spend the money. Although, after an appearance at the House on Thursday the 21st of June, Farouk Lawan attempted to maintain his innocence by saying his silence so far on the matter is strategic and that he will with be vindicated having maintained a record of probity and accountability as a member of the House in the past 13 years.

My opinion on his appearance at the House is one I will rather keep to myself for now. Or maybe not completely. I do know I wouldn’t have been able to show my face among my colleagues so soon after my fall from the pedestal of “integrity” to the disgusting pit of corruption. Especially when I have not been able to successfully clear my name. But then, maybe he finds it so comfortable because that is the way they all are in the house. And well, of course, this is Nigeria, a country where the bigger a criminal you are, the more “honour” and awards you are given. At least now, going by the caliber of most of the other “Honourables”, it appears he is now more than ever before qualified to be called “Honourable” Farouk Lawan!

As for Otedola, though I do not know the true story, I think the whole sting operation thing was an afterthought. There are just too many questions screaming for answers. I fear though, that the answers might never be fully known because we are in Nigeria where the most confounding, unbelievable things happen on a regular basis without any sanction whatsoever attaching.

A MATTER OF PRINCIPLE

When a man assumes a public trust, he should consider himself as public property - Thomas Jefferson.

In the course of answering questions during his presidential media chat on Sunday (24th June, 2012), president Goodluck Jonathan in an ill-conceived expression of irritation when asked why he had not publicly declared his assets responded that he did not give a damn about declaration of assets and that he felt doing so would only be playing to the gallery. He said also while still responding to the issue of his refusal to declare his assets that it wouldn’t be right and it would force all other public office-holders including Ministers to do same. He admitted that the now late former president Musa Yar’Adua’s public declaration of his assets had forced him as the then Vice-President to declare his assets also, while at the same time wondering what the curiosity was all about since the time lapse between the time he declared his assets as a Vice-president and now is not much.

There ordinarily will be no problem with Mr President’s ‘principle’ and hard stance against declaration of his assets, except for just one snag; he is the president in a country where not to be corrupt is regarded as an abnormality. A country in which probably hundreds of lives are lost daily to corruption and lack of infrastructures.

When former and now late President Yar’Adua declared his assets, he sent a very important message that he was a president who was willing and ready to stand up to scrutiny. I am not sure the thought of the former president choosing to publicly declare his assets as a way of playing to the gallery came across the minds of many people, even more doubtful is the possibility that any person or group of persons capitalized on that in an attempt to bring the then president or his presidency down.
On the contrary, if memory serves me well, the declaration gave a lot of us some hope that perhaps that was a government that was willing to lead by example and show some level of probity.

President Jonathan said his declaring his assets publicly would have forced other public office-holders to do so as well. Disappointingly, none of the people on the panel of interviewers thought to ask the president how public officials declaring their assets would have been a bad thing.

The implication of Mr. President’s blatant refusal to declare his asset is that he is not ready to lead by example and by extension, that the supposed ongoing fight against corruption is at best only being waged by words of mouth.

With the president being so adamant about declaring his assets, is it any wonder that in one year under his watch, the fuel subsidy amount went from just over N200 Million to almost two trillion naira? Is it any wonder that Nigeria’s corruption industry keeps flourishing while we can hardly get any other thing to work? Is it any wonder that no really big fish has been convicted of corruption under his watch? Is it any wonder that the Attorney-General of the Federation is better known for freeing big criminals as opposed to prosecuting them? Is it any wonder that in the 3rd consecutive Presidential media chat, Nigerians were not able to ask the president questions through the phone numbers provided and nothing will happen to those responsible for making the phone lines work?

The residents of Lagos who have presence on twitter and facebook can now, all thanks to a young (?) man (?) who calls himself Gidi_Traffic avoid trouble spots and traffic and therefore minimise the time and energy spent in traffic. Gidi_Traffic led the way by devoting his time and energy to keeping people informed about traffic on Lagos roads and now, not only is his (?) the account to follow on twitter, a lot of people also provide helpful information through his account about the routes that are free and those that are gridlocked. That is leadership by example. I am in fact almost positive that Gidi_Traffic set the example that led to Lagos State government’s creation of 96.1 Traffic radio.

Mr. President said his refusal to declare his assets is a matter of principle. Somebody should please ask him, what manner of principle is it that can only further deepen the corruption tendencies of the people in a country has been held under for so long by corruption?

AND, MOVING ON…

I listen to the radio quite a lot in the mornings while preparing for the day’s work and while driving to and from work. One of the programs I always try not to miss is Smooth 98.1’s “Freshly Pressed” which had as one of its presenters, Demola Sadiq. The presenters of the program spice the review of newspaper headlines up by inviting one or two people to analyse the day’s stories.

Whenever any unpleasant story was being discussed and Mr Demola Sadiq got uncomfortable, he was always very quick to say ‘and moving on…’ in order to get the unpleasant story to be dropped and to get whoever was supposed to take the next story to do so.

I have related the above story because I believe it aptly describes the average Nigerian’s attitude to matters of immense importance. We, as the now late Odimegwu Ojukwu wrote in his book BECAUSE I AM INVOLVED, conveniently suffer from and practice selective amnesia, selective recalls, and selective visions. Rather than stick with an issue until we are able to get to the root of it so as to prevent a recurrence, we choose to quickly move on to other things hoping, (as the very religious people that we are) that it will somehow miraculously disappear if we ignore it.

We see a small porthole. We complain. We move on until the road becomes so bad it starts consuming us in form of auto accidents; our cars make warning noises. We ignore it and move on until the day the tyres pull out while we are in motion; we throw our hands up and accept our “fate” as a country that will always have bad rulers and we very promptly move on while conveniently forgetting about our own complacency in the whole affair. We move on and continue to live life as usual; we accept our fate as a country where even when you are ready to pay for quality products, you just can’t get them because we have successfully persuaded manufacturers to lower quality so we can make more profit and of course we move on to other things, we are quick to agree that we are a consuming nation that produces nothing and we move on. We grumble but quickly move on to less uncomfortable things or topics of discourse. We move on, leaving behind a trail of unaddressed problems which sooner than later confront and even consume us as much bigger problems.

After a little reflection, I admit that quickly moving on is the simplest of the options before us. It is the easiest because there are always an abundance of things to move on to. Before you finish discussing a particular problem, two or three other problems would not only have poked their heads in the door, they will actually accompany the heads with the rest of their bodies! Even the most focused of people can easily get distracted and be forced to “keep moving on” to other problems while not actually tackling or solving any of the previous ones.

We move on from probe to probe and committees to committees, dropping the reports that could help to forestall future disasters in the trash as we go. We’ve become so adept at moving on that even if pushed to the wall, we’ll refuse to turn back and face our pushers, we’ll rather break the wall and hope there’ll be abundance of space to take us in there. And if there isn’t, oh well, we’ll just squeeze in and manage! That is after all, another thing we are very good at.

We grumble, and move on. We pray and move on. We manage and move on. But every time we need to take crucial nation-defining actions, we always manage to find reasons to move on to other things. We move on and the things we refuse to address later come back to consume us. We acknowledge ourselves as a consuming nation but the joke is on us because we unwittingly produce things that later rise to consume us. When the crashes of ADC, EAS and Sosoliso airlines happened a few years ago, we cried, we prayed, we shouted, the accident bureau investigated but by the time the reports got ready, we had moved on and so failed to insist on the implementation of whatever recommendations were made by the accident bureau and whatever other committees were set up to look into the immediate and remote causes of the crashes. With each killings and slaughters in Jos we quickly set up committees to look into it but we move on long before the reports are prepared until the next slaughters. Even as I write, we are gradually moving on from the “temporary” shock of the Dana crash to the scandal of the Farouk Lawan/Otedola scandal and of course, before too long, something else will happen to shift our focus from the Farouk scandal to yet another scandal and or tragedy. If we want to redefine ourselves as a nation which will not have to perpetually grapple with tragedy after tragedy, we have to stop quickly moving on and take a break to deal with our problems one at a time.

NON-PRESIDENTIAL

“

I was quite thrilled about what was going on in the church and when I got the information that while we were here, there were explosions in Kaduna and since I don’t even know the casualty rate and what is happening; I have been quite sad and I didn’t even want to say something,but when the priest orders you, you must say something,”

- President Goodluck Jonathan, on being asked to make a statement after being told about the explosions at three churches in Kaduna and Zaria on the 17th June 2012.

For one reason or the other, when I saw the above quote used by at least three of my facebook friends as their status update on Sunday evening, I didn't notice it was by Goodluck Jonathan speaking on the slaughter of people trying to worship their God on Sunday. I remember wondering vaguely though, why three different people used the same silly-sounding quote as their status update and promptly forgetting about it.
I was surprised to say the least when the following morning, I heard the same quote spoken by GEJ's voice on the six o'clock (morning) news of the 99.9 Beat FM. I was even more surprised when a few hours later, I saw the video clip on Channels TV, with Mr president making the speech with a trace of a smile on his face, no doubt, congratulating himself on his 'presidential" sense of humour. No matter that this newfound humour was discovered at the same time that scores of the people, quite a number of them children, he swore to protect, and because of whom he allocated an extra-ordinarily and obscenely huge of amount of money to himself as security vote had just reportedly been murdered while in the act of worship.

As if that was not bad enough, the president jets off a day after that to Brazil for an earth summit!!! I normally use exclamation marks sparingly in my write-ups because I sometimes find them too dramatic for my liking, but please, if you are like me, excuse my using it here, I think the situation calls for some raised voice and that is why it is necessary in this piece. An earth summit?!!!! While his house was on fire especially in the wake of the reprisal attacks which necessitated a 24-hour curfew on Kaduna!
I had to ask myself what happened to the minister of environment and why he/she could not lead Nigeria's delegation to the summit if it is so important that Nigeria attends. And if the president did not consider the minister competent enough to lead the delegation, why make him/her a minister?

I do not lay claim to always being right, or even always doing the right things, but if I know I am not ready to shoulder certain responsibilities, I never offer my shoulder. The message Mr President is passing by proceeding to the summit even while a country he heads burns is that he is really not concerned about the people that were killed. Either that, or that his presence or absence makes absolutely no difference to the state of things in the country except that as the Condoler-in-chief of the Federal Republic, his absence will not allow him to condole with the people of Damaturu who suffered attacks from the satanic elements perhaps even while he was airborne en route to Rio de janeiro.

And as if to buttress the latter supposition, the Vice-president reportedly said this morning that the president's absence makes no difference to the situation of the country. If that is so, can someone please help to tell Mr Goodluck Jonathan to get the heck out of office? Would he have gone for the summit if one of his children had been among those bombed? Is he in office just to enjoy the perks and not to shoulder the responsibilities that necessarily come with the office? Does he even know that his statement that the evil boko haram will be a thing of the past by June is responsible for the increased slaughter of innocent people by the group? If the president doesn't know he should get out of office, it's time we the people tell him we are tired of having a president whose only strength appears to lie in his ability to consume a million naira meal per day!

A NATION IN CONSTANT MOURNING

The recent spate of killings and the June 3rd Dana crash have affected me in recent times more than I'm even willing to admit to myself. The way we murder ourselves daily with the way we live, the needless deaths that occur daily makes me feel deeply sad. I penned down the few verses below to express my feelings about the crash and the country in general.

While I may not write any poem in a year, of course I am not like my last brother Akeem who, almost effortlessly churns out really great poems almost daily, I don't remember having struggled to write a poem like I struggled with this one. Not that I didn't know what message I wanted to pass across, if anything, I had too many, but I struggled more with how to put my thoughts together. I hope you like it, and reflect on it, because I believe if we really have a desire to change this country for the better, it has to start with each one of us doing our parts. Here goes...



My spirit is low
My thought refuses to flow
My words unafraid to take flight
Unlike a certain Dana plane of ill-fate
Which took flight of failed descent
Plunging hundreds to mental distress
Crushing those on the ground
With their rooms not out of its bounds
And the nation thrown into mourning
Praying its effects will fade with the morning
A crash preventable by precedents
Of EAS, ADC and Sosoliso antecedents
A people with murdered shock values
This fact we’ll quickly dispute and argue
With an over-abundance of regulators
Whose successes lie in non-regulation
Getting their palms greased to un-regulate
And thereby stamping what we term our ill-fate
A people too quick to forget
Pretending that is how we progress
Covering our forgetfulness with brilliant humour
Even while the nation thrives on true rumours
When a nation adopts the god of money
Do you wonder that there’ll always be mourning?

Adenike Abimbola Oyalowo
©June 2012.

Time To Make Those Changes

I love reading and sharing jokes and although I don’t always have time to watch movies, but my preferred choice of movie is a really nice comedy. I love anything that will give me a good laugh. I really cannot stand people without a good sense of humour. To be my friend, you must be able to take a joke and understand jokes too. It is precisely because of my bias for things humorous that Nigeria is not a subject I enjoy discussing. Nigeria is a subject I find depressing even at the best of times, because when you really think of it, there isn’t a single sector in the country that is doing well, except of course the corruption industry which is the biggest and most thriving industry we have right now.

Unfortunately for me, in spite of my personal preference for sunny topics and subjects of discourse, Nigeria is a subject I am very passionate about and cannot seem to avoid talking about. The reason is very simple, I know it is simply not possible for us all to pack our bags and leave the shores of this country because of the ever-worsening problems of the country. The only option thus available to people like me is to stay and think of how I and others can turn things around for everyone to live a little better.

Believe me, trying to do anything the right way in this country especially in Lagos is a very frustrating venture. We have become so comfortable doing things upside down that we rather see anyone trying to do things right as crazy, a fit person to occupy a special room at Yaba left-side!

The terrible tragedy of the Dana Air crash of 2nd June 2012 which killed all 153 people on board and a yet unknown number of people on ground is just a manifestation of some of the things wrong with us in this country. And we should make no mistake about it, we are all of us equally culpable, or at least if not equally, almost as culpable as the rulers we daily condemn.

We have almost all found solace in a new god, other than the God we openly claim to worship in our churches and mosques. Our rulers on the other hand, have found twin-gods that they worship. While most of the rest of us worship money, our rulers worship money and the god of power.

A lot of people have been calling for prayers for the country since the news of the tragedy broke. I am fully in support of prayers. But of what good are prayers if we refuse to change our attitude to maintaining infrastructures, our get-rich-at-all-cost attitude, if the driver continually ignores the warning signs from his vehicle…of what use is prayer to a student who refuses to attend class and study for examinations?

And the irony of it really is, we pray a lot in this country. We cast and bind and shout to high heavens right before proceeding to China to persuade the manufacturers over there to lower the quality of the generators, stabilizers, blenders and all other goods we import into the country, even as we proceed to India to get the manufacturers of drugs to remove an important ingredient in order for us to make the maximum profit, right before a gang of robbers proceed on operations to rob and probably kill, right as the politicians divert money meant to build roads, equip hospitals, provide water and power to their private bank accounts, right before the policeman “accidentally” discharges his gun at the errant idiot that refuses to pay N100 toll to him, right before and even after an official who is supposed to check that a particular plane/car is safe to be used collects money to look the other way.

There is surely no shortage of prayers in this country. What there is shortage of however, is us all playing our part to ensure that we do things right. I always say, you can’t go wrong if you always do things right.

Now is the time, if we want to avoid a recurrence of this kind of tragedy, to examine ourselves and see what changes we can make, because if we carry on as we always do, the next thing that happens might just be even more calamitous. I pray (oops!) it doesn’t get to that!

Letters of Note: I love my wife. My wife is dead.

Letters of Note: I love my wife. My wife is dead.

Click on the link above and read the letter which in my opinion explains the true meaning of the phrase "undying love". Can't help wondering, can one still find that kind of love in this new world where 50% of marriages fall apart before they even begin? Can one still find such love? Can one?

I couldn't help being deeply sad that the writer of that letter enjoyed such little time with his late wife. I couldn't help but be so happy that the time he did have with his wife was so very happy and filled with love.

I really do dream of a time when being truly happy in one's marriage will be the new fad as opposed to just being married!

The letter is reproduced below for those who do not want to go through the trouble of reading it on the website.

October 17, 1946

D’Arline,

I adore you, sweetheart.

I know how much you like to hear that — but I don't only write it because you like it — I write it because it makes me warm all over inside to write it to you.

It is such a terribly long time since I last wrote to you — almost two years but I know you'll excuse me because you understand how I am, stubborn and realistic; and I thought there was no sense to writing.

But now I know my darling wife that it is right to do what I have delayed in doing, and that I have done so much in the past. I want to tell you I love you. I want to love you. I always will love you.

I find it hard to understand in my mind what it means to love you after you are dead — but I still want to comfort and take care of you — and I want you to love me and care for me. I want to have problems to discuss with you — I want to do little projects with you. I never thought until just now that we can do that. What should we do. We started to learn to make clothes together — or learn Chinese — or getting a movie projector. Can't I do something now? No. I am alone without you and you were the "idea-woman" and general instigator of all our wild adventures.

When you were sick you worried because you could not give me something that you wanted to and thought I needed. You needn’t have worried. Just as I told you then there was no real need because I loved you in so many ways so much. And now it is clearly even more true — you can give me nothing now yet I love you so that you stand in my way of loving anyone else — but I want you to stand there. You, dead, are so much better than anyone else alive.

I know you will assure me that I am foolish and that you want me to have full happiness and don't want to be in my way. I'll bet you are surprised that I don't even have a girlfriend (except you, sweetheart) after two years. But you can't help it, darling, nor can I — I don't understand it, for I have met many girls and very nice ones and I don't want to remain alone — but in two or three meetings they all seem ashes. You only are left to me. You are real.

My darling wife, I do adore you.

I love my wife. My wife is dead.

Rich.

PS Please excuse my not mailing this — but I don't know your new address.

My Funny Countrymen

"Being a democracy and run by the people, we are the only nation that has to keep a government for four years no matter what it does." - Will Rogers

When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President. Now I’m beginning to believe it.
—Clarence Darrow

I have always enjoyed reading witty sayings and what is called quotable quotes. In fact, I have three exercise books of them that I collected while in secondary school. I can't say that I have a good reason for stopping to collect them after I got admission to the university because it obviously wasn't a time consuming hobby. And I have always liked using an appropriate witty saying to spice up my writings.

I have neglected this blog for quite a while now, and I have been even too lazy to finish up my travelogue series (which had already been written in longhand!), but thanks to the quotes above, I was finally inspired to pen down these few lines.

The first thing that came to my mind when I saw the quote by Will Rogers is, obviously Mr Rogers did not know anything about a West African country called Nigeria where the people not only leave the government intact in a "democracy" for four years no matter what murder the members of the government commit (and believe me, they commit more than we ever give them credit for), we in fact in spite of the murders and obvious incompetence and gargantuan non-performance, even bring them back for a second four years!

Nigerians are a very funny lot (if my laziness will permit, I plan to write very soon on the manifest contradictions of the Nigerian situation) and I'm guessing that accounts for why we were once voted to be the happiest people on earth. We complain about the government and our situation but given the chance to do something about it to make things right, what do we do? We suddenly remember that the ruiner in power is from the same State or region or of the same religion when in fact that did not make anything better for us in the first four years.

I would amend Clarence Darrow's quote above to read,when I was young I was told anyone could become a president, now I believe it. You only have to look at the criminals and jokes that occupy office as presidents these days to agree with me amendment of that quote. Now, we have people who had no shoes getting to the presidency with a determination to see that his people's legs are cut off! We have people who aspire to the presidency with no clue as to what the job of a president entails and only because of the power that come with being a president.

I would say may God help us but I'm beginning to think that may be our main problem in Nigeria. And please, make no mistake, I have great reverence for the Almighty, I may not be very religious in the sense that a lot of our people are, but I strive daily to let the fear of God be my guide. I however nevertheless feel that our leaving everything to God without playing our part to make things right is one of the major reasons why we have not got things right.

TRAVELOGUES OF THE FORMER GOLD COAST (DAY 6:DEC 21,2011)

LAKE BOTSUMTWI

Once again, in a bid to ensure I get to all the places I'd marked down for visit in Kumasi, Randy, my landlady's son (ah yes, I now know his name, had to ask him when I saw no way around it!)came to my rescue, taking the time to take me to the right bus-station and the right section of it since the bus-park in Kejetia is a very big one. We end up traveling part of the distance together and he even checked on me later by phone. I think the highlight of my visit to Ghana so far, is my meeting this extremely nice family.

I get to Lake Botsumtwi and wonder for the millionth time since arriving Ghana what exactly the job of the members of the Ghana Tourism Board is. I realise of course that I am only assuming here that one exists, I haven't actually checked that one does exist and I feel it's a good guess since Ghana is one of the destinations of choice for vacations in Africa. As it happens, as I wonder around the Lake and bring out my camera in readiness for picture-taking, a man who identify himself as the head of the community approached me and offered to take me round the lake. We didn't walk for long though before we were forced to turn back because of a number of guys who were having their baths on the lake.

My guide (the community head) told me the story of the lake and how some white men helped them to quieten their fears of the possibility that the lake might have been formed from volcanic substances which may prove dangerous to the inhabitants of the community. He told me the lake was formed from meteorite over a million years ago. No river flows into it nor does it flow into any river. The only contact it has with other kind of water is the rain. The water of the lake is quite fresh and I notice some little fish at the bottom.

Lake Botsumtwi

The clean bottom of the lake

When we got back to where we started our tour of the lake, I notice a boat discharging some passengers and when I ask about a possible boat ride, I am told the boat takes 15 people who share the cost. At this time, I was the only one around interested in the boat ride. A little later though, I was joined by a Ghanaian couple but the price was a little steep still.

The Ghanaian lovebirds I met at Lake Botsumtwi

Eventually, four other people joined us and the money became a bit more shareable. This is my second boat ride ever! While the first one at Bojo beach lasted just about five minutes if that, this takes much longer as it meant to take us round the lake while someone tells us about how the lake was discovered. The man repeated much of the story that had been told to me by the community head. I noticed an interersting pattern in the forty days taboo story in Ghana because the community head told me every fortieth day that fall on a sunday is taboo day on which they do not fish on the lake.

The canoe used in fishing by the fishermen in the lake are raft-like and I was told the biggest fish that can be caught in the lake is not much biggger than the palm of a grown man.

Canoes used for fishing on the Lake Botsumtwi

A fishermen casting his net on the Lake

Boat cruise on the Lake

Beautiful scenery at Lake Botsumtwi

Before going on the boat cruise round the lake, I had met Sarpong who worked with a company which was at that time conducting some sort of tests on the lake. Sarpong invited me over to the boat of the company and he expressed a desire to show me round the Volta region if he had the opportunity on learning that the Volta region was my next stop after Kumasi.

Having never been on a boat before the one that took me to the beach itself at the Bojo beach, and not knowing how to swim (what?!!), I wasn's sure whether or not I would be afraid on the boat cruise around the lake, to my pleasant surprise however, it was as if I had been going on boat cruises all my life! So much so that I sat on the edge of the boat for much of the 20-25 minutes cruise on the lake.

Sitting on the edge of the boat on the cruise

After leaving the lake I head back to the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital where my landlady works to join her on the way home. I really would have loved to stop by at the Fortune Fashion City in the Adum Business District to compare prices of clothes there but looking at the time and not wanting to miss the chance of going home with my landlady, I decide to postpone the window shopping to my next visit to Kumasi.

I met up with my landlady just as she was heading to her car. She however, very kindly exercised patience for me to visit the Komfo Anokye (pronounced Komfo Anoche)museum which houses the famous Komfo Anokye sword. The sword was set to have been put on the ground many decades ago and huge efforts made to remove it have proved futile. It is even said that the Asanti kingdom will end the day the sword is removed successfully from the ground.

The statue of Komfo Anokye outside the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi

Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital

Komfo Anokye Museum

The Komfo Anokye sword

Inside the Komfo Anokye Museum

My Hostess/Landlady on learning that I was yet to visit the Ghana Armed Forces Museum yet again very kindly offered to take me there and she waited very patiently while I went on a tour of the museum.


Ghana Armed Forces Museum

Historic pieces inside the Ghana Armed Forces Museum

A dungeon in the museum

I just can't help thinking and thanking God for the blessing of meeting this very wonderful family in Kumasi. The beautiful time and their going out of their ways to make my stay as pleasant as possible gave me a sort of reluctance to leave them. But leave Kumasi (and them) I must, if I want to get to all the places I had pencilled down for visit while in Ghan. My reluctance to leave is also compounded by the fact that very much unlike me, I didn't plan ahead on where I would stay in the Volta region. Although Sarpong gave me a number of a lady who wouldhelp me get a place to stay in Sogakope but I am still unsure.

TRAVELOGUES OF THE FORMER GOLD COAST (DAY 5:DEC 20, 2011)

After numerous calls and internet searches, my hostesses and host finally find out the Bobiri Forest and Butterfly Sanctuary (which was highly recommended by Astro, my landlady's daughter) is in Kubease. My landlady's son 9whose name I don't yet know) was especially nice, calling his office to notify them he would come late so as to ensure I get on board the bus that would take me safely to Kubease on the outskirt of Kumasi.

I get to Kubease and brace myself for the one hour walk to the Butterfly sanctuary. It is a very long, lonely and scary walk as I keep imagining that a wild animal will jump out at me from the forest. Of course, while I fear most animals, I realise the most dangerous of them is the human animal especially these days when people will do anything for money.

I finally arrive at the sanctuary after a walk (8 kilometers!) that took almost an eternity because of the distance. Not for the first time, I wonder what the Ghana tourism board is really doing and whether they know that by failing to ensure easy access to and from their tourist sites, they are losing quite a lot of money.

I was shown all the trees in the sanctuary. Disappointingly however, the butterflies, my main reason for visiting the sanctuary,were no where in sight! The few butterflies I saw were those I had seen during my interminable walk down to the sanctuary from the road. My walk down was really not lonely, I've always enjoyed taking walks so long as it is not under a scotching sun and there is no danger of anything suddenly leaping at me from anywhere.

Trees at the Bobiri Forest and Butterfly sanctuary

I get to the sanctuary and I'm told it is not the butterfly season and I might not see many. Well, at the sanctuary itself, I saw none! I was shown some trees which did not really interest me though some of them have some interesting stories surrounding them like the last tree ( a liana actually)I was shown, I forget its name now but my guide told me that anyone who cuts the tree knowing its story that it should not be cut would die. The tree is said to be medicinal and primarily to cure madness. It is said that the medicinal part of the tree is the bark which before it is cut, the person cutting the tree must pour some libations on it in form of egg and some other thing I don't remember now.

My guide further told me they don't work on Fridays particularly Fridays which fall on the 40th day (every 40 days which is a Friday). He says on this fortieth days, they hear drumming and singing which they believe come from this liana.

The Liana with the interesting story

I was quite fortunate on my way back because just as I was about to leave, a couple also on vacation from the Netherlands were also about to leave the sanctuary and fortunately, they had their own transport. And so I was saved not only the long walk back to the road from the sanctuary, I in fact followed them all the way to Kumasi.

After leaving the Bobiri Forest, I made my way to the Manhyia (pronounced Man-shia) Palace Museum where I, along with a group of tourists from Norway(and their Ghanaian host, a medical doctor who did the translation for the Norwegians), were taken round and shown historic relics. An interesting story told was about some chairs which were supposedly gender-specific. It was said the chairs for men could only be sat on by men and any woman who sat on it would immediately become barren while any man who sat on the chair for women would become impotent.

Sign in front of the Manhyia Palace Museum

The Manhyia Palace Museum in Kumasi

Yours truly at the Manhyia Palace Museum

My next stop after the Palace Museum was to the Kumasi Zoo. Before going there, I had been warned by Randy that there are too many animals to see and so I go there with no illusions whatever. I did see some lions but not too many other animals that would raise my hair or some such thing like that.

Lions at the Kumasi Zoo

From the Zoo, I go next door to the Cultural Centre where I visit yet another museum, this time, the Prempeh II Museum. I heard quite a lot of the story I'd just heard at the Manhyia Palace Museum but saw a few things I didn't see at the Palace Museum but of course the Palace museum is a much bigger museum. The two museum told the story of the Asanti Kingdom and how Kente was made the national cloth of Ghana and of course, the different designs and improvement made on the kente cloth over the years.

Statues at the Cultural centre

Entrance to the Cultural Centre

The Statue of the Prempreh II in front of the museum

By the time I leave the cultural centre, it was already getting dark and I didn't get back to my lodge until a bit late because it took quite a while for a bus going to Edwinase where my lodge is located to get to the park. Eventually, I arrive, all tired but fulfilled!