Thursday, August 26, 2010

Taking The Matter Personal


See I am really getting personal about this, my anger knows no bound and really, I am not smiling.

Steal, kill and destroy like your mentors the crown did in apartheid and elsewhere
Loot to fatten your purse and cause debacle
Take what belongs to all and make it yours and for keep
Train and empower your children with proceeds from the tears of many
And watch them grow to rise and fall before your very eyes
Watch them “kaita” as they grow up to become Mutallab's and Sonia's

Work hard at it and miss your exit like Sanni Abacha
Please don't change your ways because we neither loathe nor despise you
In fact the fools amongst us celebrate you
You are not the fool and your whims are perfect too
But your reign of terror may not last as long as that of IBB the evil genius
Enjoy it while it last though!
So that when it ends
You shall be debonair with pitiful valor

Your end is guaranteed and not assumed
Your outcome is predetermined by your actions and reactions already
So don't pray for something worst because it can only get worst or wowor!
For you and for your sons and daughters forever
Just say amen as I pray for you
Your silence is consent so it’s better you dig your own grave with your tongue.

You shall live longer than required in order to enjoy it to the fullest
And believe me, We shall Yeh! Ooh! and Aarh!
Like we do now in pain while you smile
We shall sympathize and empathize with you in sincerity
But our empathy will count to nothing
Because it will be karma in action,
What goes around will still be nemesis coming around
No matter what time or age it arrives

I dont need to spare you the details because
You will be around to experience it first hand
All by yourself you will reap the fruit of your labour of vanity in vain
But the best part of the least of your woes I can share with you
So that you can prepare for the better and good,
The bad, worse, worst and wowor part of your woes
Scream Amen! Amen! Amen!

Your sons shall beg my sons for bread and (they shall give them)
Your daughters a piece of their waist to strangers (for cash and kind)
You shall watch helplessly from afar, no tears 'cause you will be dry (without help)
As the castles you built with ills and the one you stole from the helpless (through bribes & looting)
Shall crumble at your feet in grim (no wrecking balls)
No worries sympathizers will contribute to rent you a room (in Kubwa)
Men shall sympathize and women shall wail miserably when you fall (a great fall)
Not because of what has happened already but for what is yet to come (haa! O ma se oo!)

Fret not, because the Lord is with you (AMEN)!

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

....::I am World's Greatest::...: Self Enrichment Projects called Contracts

....::I am World's Greatest::...: Self Enrichment Projects called Contracts: "A visit to any ministry office during working hours of any working days will readily confirm your suspicion that there is more to lobbying for contracts than the intent of executing them or getting the required job done. The contract seeking contractors comes in different shapes and sizes, all with a registered company name, some own offices that holds no furnishes, some own virtual offices while with no temporary or permanent staff while many operate from the trunk of their cars. Letterheads, stamps and ready bid to tender for any contract in any ministry or department or office as long as it is a contract. They are less concerned about the content of the tender request or the purported purpose of the contract advertorial, or their own ability or obvious inability to meet the requirement or carry out the project if given the contract, but in their mediocrity, the submit proposals for all feasible in all departments without the required expertise or facilities needed to carry out the project. The prospect of getting the contracts is not qualifications, but their CONTACTS.


The men in the federal ministries"

Self Enrichment Projects called Contracts


I must be clear about the direction of this text. It is about the real reasons behind the many contracts that are awarded daily by government and its parastatals at diverse levels and in the many states of this great country Nigeria, it is about cash changing hands.. In fact, Cash Must Change Hands


A visit to any ministry office during working hours of any working days will readily confirm your suspicion that there is more to lobbying for contracts than the intent of executing them or getting the required job done. The contract seeking contractors comes in different shapes and sizes, all with a registered company name, some own offices that holds no furnishes, some own virtual offices while with no temporary or permanent staff while many operate from the trunk of their cars. Letterheads, stamps and ready bid to tender for any contract in any ministry or department or office as long as it is a contract. They are less concerned about the content of the tender request or the purported purpose of the contract advertorial, or their own ability or obvious inability to meet the requirement or carry out the project if given the contract, but in their mediocrity, the submit proposals for all feasible in all departments without the required expertise or facilities needed to carry out the project. The prospect of getting the contracts is not qualifications, but their CONTACTS.


The men in the federal ministries, the supposed custodians that are in charge of this contractual processes are the real enemies of the projects they are either elected, selected or appointed to execute, while the ones appointing, selecting or electing umpires to be in charge are also not interested in the success of such projects, but more in the failure, the kickbacks and prospect of re-awarding the contracts soon again to the same contractors that just failed in executing the project, or a new one that is ready to part with more percentage on kickbacks and stage a we-are-executing-the-contract scene for the teeming populace that needs the proposed project or facility, when obviously they are determined to fail at executing the contracts a-whole. I wonder what the rationale behind this actions are.. why the intentional waste of tax payers money/national resources. Obviously the reasons are completely irrational and conceptually unthinkable but still, these men are so dedicated to making sure that things don't work that they team up so effectively. Then you begin to wonder if their hearts still beat or perhaps, their cranial sections still holds any quantity of gray matter. Still you see people people run after this set of insane entities every time they swing in with their death, destruction and eminent doom in Agbada's and Babariga.


We seem to have forgetten or choose to forget as Prof. Wole Soyinka opined in “Continuity and Amnesiaand we sing their praises every time this contracts are recycled. Once a new man is placed in chard, existing procedures are thrashed, old working systems that had cost so much so recently are abandoned or condemned, and new ones that holds no prospect of surviving are introduced, contract talks and bam! contracts are rolled out and none of it gets to work before power change hands again, and you know what the new man gets to do... he re-awards the contract to that same failure or a new one. Julius Berger, Setraco, Eworks, Siemens, Halliburton to mention the big a few of the big and visible ones while there are so many others faceless companies that handle Mega contracts from the trunk of their cars, bars and clubs. They just have a name that even the man awarding the contracts can not remember. Let us ask Obasanjo if he will be able to remember name of that french company that got the National Identification project contract for billions of Naira ahead of the qualified bidders or a few of the ones awarded the MegaWattz power projects? The funny thing is that those contracts were re-awarded under the 7-point agenda of late Yar Adua and now stopped and currently under review to be re-awarded by the Goodluck administration to this same set of companies and awardees.


Let us ask Prof. Atairu Jega “Who are the vendors you will be purchasing voters registration equipments from?” The answer is obvious, the same vendors Prof. Morris Iwu purchased from 8yrs ago, just that the prices had gone a tad higher since then. A complete registration kit, something similar to the ones this mobile phone companies are using for registration with full registration application deployed will cost less than $800USD to assemble and deliver to my doorstep in Ipaja from either HP, Dell, Acer etc etc but since it is INEC that is purchasing and it is for national use, it will cost Jega $2000USD and we are looking at buying 120,000 units (One hundred and twenty thousand units). Without digressing because the price or amount is not the issue we are dealing with now, it is the contract in it self. The new contract will be awarded as usual, but still the registration will not be successful and will be re-awarded afresh 8years from now. The equipments that will be purchased now will be obsolete by then and will definitely disappear unaccounted for by anyone. Not too worry, I will be around to submit a genuine tender for the next one, it is a small IT company now, it will be big by 2018.

The obvious purpose of awarding a contract with the mind set of re-awarding it soon again is neither getting the job done nor getting the problem solved and making the system work. The issue is the continuous recycling and consistent price/value inflation that goes with every single one of this projects or should I say contracts with the hope of getting great value not on the project but on kickbacks. Essentially, projects in Nigeria are created and contracts awarded with the purpose of enriching the awarder and probably the awardee but more importantly the man awarding the contract (the awardee) be he a commissioner, minister, the president, a governor, local government chairman, councilors, medical directors, VC, rector principal, Pope, Imam or INEC chairman etc etc. in no particular order. The essential part of the contractual process is that it goes through the senate where the contract is reviewed for approval and then upgraded so you wont have to come back and ask for more like Oliver. Lets say the budgeted amount is N74 Billion Naira, they review it, upgrade it and give you N87.7 Billion Naira to make the sharing pattern easier. 10% increase on the basic with the new improved contract carrying their private account information that cannot be officially decoded.

You can just imagine the kind of unprecedented excesses that will require as much as N14 Billion Naira on a N74 Billion Naira budget. That is what contracts are made for here in Nigeria.. not getting the job done, it is about greasing our elbows and fattening our personal purses. Projects identification, creation and subsequent contracting basically for Sharing-The-Money, it is not about making your life easier so stop getting excited when you see the bulldozer pulling down or tearing at stuffs in the name of building a facility or executing a project for all, just remember that someone somewhere is sharing-the-money  and soon the bulldozer will be abandoned as soon as the money is totally shared, leaving gullies and gutters for you to dwell and swell in while the road remain impassable and the bulldozer a deadly ready roadside death trap. Don't run into it ooh! the hospital emergency ward is still under construction

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Up Fashola! He's done good nothing in Ipaja

This is a statement of fact. "There is no road user in living in Ayobo/Ipaja axis of Lagos state that wakes up in the morning everyday without cursing due to theunbelievably deplorable state of the roads in Ayobo and Ipaja". The churches in the area have started praying every week and hoisting banners, praying that the government will remember Ayobo/Ipaja roads and do something about it, while the Bad Roads of Ipaja as featuredin most of the Ramadan lectures hosted in Ayobo and Ipaja. The Local Council Development Area (LCDA) Chairmen of both Ayobo/Ipaja and Mosan/Okunola respectively have ceased to exist in the hearts of the people because no one knows whether they are dead or alive due to their obvious and never-before-experienced level of inactivity and uncaring existence.

In the heart of Ipaja and Ayobo People, Fashola's promises of a Bright Rewarding Future (BRF) as been manifested majorly in the influx of more dimension of tax collectors into their communities in form of KAI, LASTMA, VIO and the even more emanding Police extortionists that had made the deplorable status ofthe roads as a reason to stand black-spot at every 100m all under the command of the Alogo Police station. The infrastructures are the craters, boreholes and bucket-holes, freshly dug canals and extensively large gutters, VIO office in place of the football pitch and more while the new facilities installed in place of the old ones are the many abandoned and dead bulldozers that are ready death traps on the road sides with a special one in front of the LCDA office atIgbogila, Inaccessible, unusable roads filled with tonnes of dugout red-earth from abandoned drainage's and gutters, making the road slippery and dangerous even for trekking or walking as the case maybe, depending on how far you are going because once it rains, the Okadas disappear because with or without helmets, legs are still breakable when you slip and crash..

Sometimes I wonder how much car owners in Ipaja and Ayobo spend on maintaining their cars and self from the bumpy car damaging rides and I pity transporters because I keep wondering "how much do they spend on maintaining their vehicles,VIO, Police, LASTMA and Agberos." Sometimes tears roll down my eyes when am outside Ipaja and it's about time I go home.. It even happened when I was leaving Jigawa..felt like I was going to a"toture range", I think about how long and how hard it will take getting home from Moshalashi to Oluwaga. Phew!
It is true that Fashola is working but"when and where?" The BRT project was Tinubu's design, Waste management was Tinubu's project, LASU/OJO road was Tinubu's, LagosIsland was his work and the very new face of VI was all his doing...the only thing have seen Fashola done is plant flowers, destroy properties in the name of developing something and latter abandoning the project only to bring some more properties down and plant flowersthere for remembrance. Too bad no flowers are planted in Ipaja, they are totally left in reckless abandon. The fence of my local church in Oluwaga, Ipaja as been down for 2 years and it is still down in the name of drainage but the gutter they dug is still open, creating more gullies due to erosion.

It is not only so in Ipaja, take a tour of Surulere, go to Ikoyi and if you must drive through GRA Ikeja and you will see lots of abandoned road projects and plentiful tax collectors. Tinubu's regime was far more better and humane and there is no proof that this regime is even more credible than his reign.Even if he was a thief, our roads never went this bad before they get repaired or patched as we always have them, we paid less tax and sawmore of our government and not in the form of tax adverts on our TV.Fashola currently runs more tax adverts on our radios and TVs than Cadbury and Nestle do combined for Bournvita and Milo respectively. The Lekki/Epe express road is not new and it has been under construction for so long but the tax booths are finished and ready to collect. I just keep wondering, what will Fashola's campaign theme be for Ipaja and Ayobo,
"Badder roads, Blackouts, Totally disfunctional LCDAs, more properties destruction, badclassrooms and more abandoned projects",
 I just cant stop wondering!

Now I know it's "Same of the Same"like Jimi Agbaje said, it is just the faces that as been changing and I dont feel Agbaje would have done better, he's one of them "same of the same." I think I will rather have Uncle Say (Sakiru) our former and very useless councillor under Alimosho local government contest for the Lagos state governorship rather than have Babatunde Raji Fashola contest as the chairman of our LCDA, I will rather not vote than vote them into power again...all the noise is about nothing..Fashola as really done nothing better than a politician will do. All I pray for is someone better than most of them... I will work for change and still pray for a miracle.. God we need divine intervention. Amen!


Sunday, August 15, 2010

The prayer of a JJC (Jigawa Jesus Corper)


Dear Jesus,

I step out into this ‘New World’ unknown

Knowing not the land or its people

But knowing you reign in my affairs

And rules the heart of the kings

Working all things together for my good

                I pray that you lead as you will 

                I and I into your purpose and will


The cold unbearable and the heat extreme

From the raging sand storm, my eyes I shield

But still I seek your face within

My tongue your tongue and language your dialect

Even Has Thou compass me as with a shield

                I pray for grace to do your will

                I pray for strength in this time of need


The year is over and now I am known

The land and its people my friends and home

The goods and gains and expression of expectation

Your thoughts established beyond my imagination

A year of grace and glory you granted

                Let not your praise depart from my lips in pride

                Let not my pride becloud your glory in me a whole

                    Ajuwayah Baba!

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Dagrin and I, Memories, Joy, Pain


April 22nd 2010, A Day I Will Remember Forever. 

So many times life presents itself in ways you and I can't explain, fresh ends and new beginnings, all in a mystery of things whose beginning we only heard of, and the end we can predict but still can't determine because majorly, we don't know when it will happen. Even a man on a suicide mission will never know how long the last breathe will last, ask Farouq Mutallab; his suicide mission is just taking longer than he predicted or ever imagined. It goes way beyond just pulling the string and letting the pants blow.



I know they say something like "didun ni iranti olododo" in yoruba, it simply mean sweet is the memories of our precious and honest beloved. After listening to his songs tonight again and again, I can only smile at the sweet memories they bring, memories of real people in sincerity loving his good music like kids loving candy. I can still hear the sound of the beat playing on my portable DVD player, listening alone trying to follow the lyrics like a religion on the demo CD I got from Esosa (@sossick00), enjoying the music even when no radio DJ as laid their hands on the sweet music. I remember smiling at the sonorous voice of ‘Sosa flowing in it classic waves on the beat, while Oladapo's voice was all over doing lyrical justice, spitting words that I could understand without blinking and the tempo going so right. I said it to meself "this is definitely gonna go beyond a thousand miles".



I haven't met him yet and I didn't even know who he was but his music said so much about him already, I remember picking the Demo CD jacket to pick out the face of the hood boy that was spitting out those magic words, but no matter how hard I tried, all I saw was a red hood and a near faceless ugly dude in it because he was facing down and ONLY his cheeks were visible lol ...probably he was admiring his "one red shoe". I asked ‘Sosa who he was and all I could get from him was "that's my homeboy Dagrin", Banky was more helpful and quick to tell me about "ti o ba ro iro méfa mo shi ma notice" that was all he knew and he got those lines from another of his demo CD's, a song he did with "Lala" and all of it was still underground. I kept listening to his lyrics like a sermon and beyond "Gino", for me he was the next big thing. My player was always on replay, bumping my head "pon pon pon pon pon pon" and before I knew it, the whole room was infected with the mind blowing lyrics. Gentle Reuben caught the fever and with ‘Sosa they brought in a Home Theatre System and his case got worst, it became that of an Ibo boy that fell in love with the Yoruba studded lyrics of Oladapo, I bet "you know what it is, 'cos I know what it was" watching him rumble and mumble to the sick classic beat and forever green lyrics of the lyrical wërëy. Now I know how much it means to be real because his music made "Gentle" so green. A birthday party, he was there, cute looking and fresh. I saw him from afar but didn't know who he was, then ESSA  night 08, in Yabatech came and he was there for his man 'Sosa giving one those many free shows he never stopped talking about on and off the MIC.



At last, the day we met. End of first semester in 2008, 'Sosa heading home, he called him to come pick him up and told me he was coming around, I didn't know him facially and didn't know what to expect so when he told me he was around to get his stuffs home, all I did was pickup Sossick's packed bags to help him move them down the stairs. We got to the car, it was open but there was no one in it, we opened the trunk and there were two massive speakers wacked in it leaving just enough space for a pair of sneakers and not enough space for the bag i was holding. Just when I was wondering where and where he was, 'Sosa broke the jinx and called the cool looking young dude that was standing by jesting with another guy like that "Dagrin abeg show, where we go put this bag?" he came around, opened the back door and helped me lay the bag on the back sit. I was surprised he was the one standing by looking very ordinary all along and I didn't even know... Immediately shoved the bag on the back sit, I called him up, shook his hands and told him how much I was loving his music, he smiled, licked his lips and said "Bros na God, I just hope say the streets go love am oo!, hope say we go get airplay before the album drops". Blushing within and managing a smile on the surface, I joked about saving money that I will use to buy my own copy when the album finally arrives. 'Sosa got back, I bade ‘em farewell wishing I could snap a picture with them but time no dey that day and even "my apo no shaka around that time". They got in the car, I left the scene and they drove off.



He came around a second and last time at the beginning of the next semester, I saw him and we spoke with him for real about music with "Alomo" in hand and the last time I saw him alive. He left that afternoon to live for two more years, one behind the scene and the 2nd of fame and glory in front of the paparazzi, his music became the national anthem and as long as Naija exists, we will sing them on... now he's gone and all I have is the mystery of the guy on the pack of the demo CD solved, his sweet music and lyrical madness, his never ending memories in my head and in my heart just like the blazing sound of a train’s horn that can't be mistaken "pon pon pon".



Now when I hear your voice on my phone or on the radio, I remember the beautiful smiles on Gentle-Rueben's face as he bumped, whined and grind, singing along and mumbling away to that chart bursting single of Dagrin that rocked Naija and the rest of the world. I hear the passion and the meaning of every word in those lyrics, I feel the rich and real heritage we shared unknowingly and unconsciously, the rich tapestry of how you coined your words in Yoruba, a language I love, cherish and understands so much, I enjoy your music every time, every day I listen to it and it's like getting high on paraga, I no longer need "sépé" in my system, you make me high already. You make me proud of who I be brother, and I follow the lyrics of your songs like the gospel and every day, your music plays in my heart. Somehow I found real music within your songs and deep within I wonder what it meant to be Ola'Dagrin Oladapo Olaitan Olanipekun …



Everytime I remember you, I smile and am happy because Na only joy you bring me so. Na true say u no hear English but "shey Oyinbo gbo Yoruba ni?.. You bring me joy... you bring us all Joy…, I miss you, Sossick does everyone  and we all got love for you . We shed no tears of sorrow, all tears of joy... so you can rest as you desired, all we do is pray and you transfigure from Dagrin to Daking!.


Ajanaku subu ko le dide, a! o mase oo…. Rest in Peace brother! Sleep well brother.

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Sanni Kaita

This piece of writing is so funny and so so creative that i had to share it with my fellow Nigeri-ans and the rest of the world again and again without permission from the author because i don't even know him.. i added my piece to it though to make it less kai-ta-s-tro-phic

KAITA (Kai-ta)
v. Kai*ta, Kai*tas, kai*ta'ed, kai*ta'ing

1. To single-handedly dash the hopes and aspirations of one's nation in the full glare of other nations
2. To karate-kick your way out of the greatest stage/spotlight ever known to man
3. To destroy/zap/siphon the energies of team mates plus 140 million people through unexplainable stupidity
4. To act foolishly, unintelligently or irrationally and IMMEDIATELY regret the action by falling on your knees

(Etymology: Derived from the dreadful match between Nigeria and lowly Greece at the 2010 Soccer World Cup)

Usage:

"Please, please, do not KAITA what we have been building for 50 years o! Oloshi!"

"I don't care what people say, I will KAITA the multi-billion dollar plan!"

"That man, you know, the hopeless, useless, visionless, KAITAing guy!"

"I was KAITAing until I met Jesus!"


Synonyms:

1. Sabotage
2. Incapacitate
3. Destroy/Demobilize
4. Jeopardize
5. Impair
6. Implode
7. Shege Banza!

OTHER MEANINGS AND DERIVATIVES

KAITA (Kai-ta)
n. Kai*ta

A term that describes a temporary but kaitastrophic loss of mental competency and faculty.
See also Instant Amnesia.
(Source: davidylan)


KAITAISIS (Kai-ta-i-sis)
n. Kai*ta*i*sis

1. A new mental sickness recently discovered by Neurosurgeons. It affects the victim's ability to think right or make right judgement especially when it matters most.

2. Victims often confuse the game of soccer for a karate session. Its derived from the new word KAITA
(Source: tlops)


KAITARIZATION (Kai-ta-ri-za-tion)
n. Kai*ta*ri*za*shen

Kaitarization is the act of being turned into a useless mongol OR a Shaolin Temple soccer player.
(Source: chichi234 & colomb)


KAITA-KAITA (Kai-ta-kai-ta)
n. Kai*ta*kai*ta

Kaita-Kaita means unprecedented confusion and unimaginable pandemonium
Usage: "Kaita-kaita don burst!"
(Source: lizzybabe1)


KAITA (Kai-ta)
n. Kai*ta

A highly explosive bomb needed more in Iraq than in Nigeria
Usage: "Allied Forces just dropped the K-Bomb! Yes! The Kaita! Ladies and gentlemen, the war is over!!!"
(Source: ActiveMan)


KAITARACT (Kai-ta-ra-ct)
n. Kai*ta*ra*kt

A one-of-a-kind eye defect that makes a soccer player see another player as a Jabulani Ball to be kicked
Usage: "Pity, he suffered from a sudden chronic case of Kaitaract"
(Source: we_lycans)

KAITASTROPPHY (Kai-ta-stro-phy)

A sudden irrational outburst that can not be attributed to any rational reason commonly found in cows in the nothern part of Nigeria which normally leads to disruption of the effort of others, and total destruction of a team or herd. An if a Kaita suffer and attack from the syndrome In a football match. it could lead to loosing a chance at the trophy
(Source: babaolowo)


I need more interesting definitions of the Kaita phenomenon.. help me guys

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Technology for safer roads

A multidisciplinary research group formed by experts of the Universitat Jaume I (UJI), the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia (UPV) and the University of Valencia (UV) and coordinated by the Robotics and Information and Communication Technologies Institute (IRTIC) of the UV has developed a new system for traffic management which will reduce the index of accidents in adverse meteorological conditions. This system has been developed within the Meteosafety Project, and has been funded by the Centre for Studies and Experimentation of Public Works of the Ministry of Public Works with more than 50.000€. The aim of the project is to get more intelligent roads to avoid accidents, thanks to the incorporation, for the first time, of meteorological variables, together with data on the state of the traffic and the conditions of the road. On the part of the UJI, the project counts with the participation of the researchers Luis Amable García Fernández and Vicente Ramón Tomás López of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering.

Putting into practice Meteosafety, which has been developed during a period of two years, in the traffic management systems “will be able to reduce between 5 and 10% traffic accidents caused or aggravated by the meteorological conditions”, has pointed out Juan José Martínez, researcher coordinator of Meteosafety. Research groups of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya and the company INDRA have also taken part in the project. Although the system is in a prototype stage, “its incorporation will be very fast and will be able to start to work by the end of 2011, due to the fact it is based on already working technology”, says the researcher.

The development of Meteosafety allows optimizing the data given by the weather stations and detectors installed on the roads, both state and regional owned. In this way, it will help to prevent accidents, and also improve the traffic conditions. This project “implements two levels of intelligence: roadside, notice boards can warn in advance about adverse meteorology. Then the data are sent, in real time, to the Traffic Management centres of the various administrations, where a system suggests the actions to be taken to reduce the consequences of the atmospheric phenomenon on the road network”, says the researcher Arturo Sáez.

Meteosafety is based on already existing technologies and equipments, as for example the standard of the Universal Remote Stations (ERU), the RDS-TMC diffusion or the channel of traffic messages. Even though, in the future, it could be incorporated to the kind of communication technologies known as infrastructure-vehicle, it is to say, that the very same road will inform the car or commercial and public transport drivers about the state of the roads as a whole: weather, road conditions and state of traffic.

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Being human


Believe me I have made quite a number of enemies today and I had even gotten my foes angry the more just for putting on a football jersey on a match day like this…I know that sounds simple but it’s is not as simple as it sound. I am sitting down here with my friends, putting on a green long sleeve Naija Gear shirt but on it I have an Argentine Jersey. The source of the enmity is the fear of the truth and it’s so so disheartening to see how much humans detest the truth.

It seem so logical for the Argentines to beat the Nigerian team taking into consideration the caliber of players we will be fielding against their team, I am not saying the Argentines will win or that the super eagles can not win but it’s going to be with a stroke of luck if that comes to happen in real reality but from a sane perspective, it is definitely going to be a Maradona’s day. I understand patriotism but sometimes I think we must always align ourselves well with the realities of life by preparing for opportunities that will come naturally rather than wait on fate and hope for results that we know how to get with works.

The reaction and responses of people to this jersey that am wearing today is their real reaction to the situations that we encounter in our daily lives. We see the truth but because of our emotional inclination or attachment, we shelf them and hope for the impossible to happen, we deal with reality with our fantasies and when we ought to be beyond the realms of imaginations, making the things we’ve imagined work, we hold onto our imagination and dwell in it, forgetting that it is only our actions that can bring our thoughts to life. I am putting on this jersey today because I have chosen to deal with the facts of life the way I should, I have come to realize and see things the way they are and am holding unto the lessons am learning daily, using to equip myself and prepare for the birth of the things I have imagine and know will stem into reality. I am reading as if there is no God and praying as if I have not read a thing. I am real and believing God to stick in it.

I'm Abidemi BabaOlowo Oderinlo
I Write What I Like

Friday, May 14, 2010

Create, Recreate|Just A Thought?


I recently got caught in myself after listening to so many speakers treat the art of creativity from diverse dimensions at the Platform, a thought broke in my head and I came up with this not so obvious conclusion and questions.


Have you ever wondered why the Lord rested on the 7th day of creation, why did He wait until He created U & I in Adam and Eve?

Was God trying to pass a message with the No 7 or He just loved the 7th day and chose to rest in it?

I guess NO.

Then why, what was the reason, did He just got tired?

Heaven NO, He can’t

Was it that He ran out of Ideas?

That’s unthinkable because He can’t ever.


This whole situation leads to one simple answer, a rather indefinite conclusion in my head…

God as placed in U & I the power to create and recreate. He created us from earth and breathed into us HIMSELF, His Nature, Dexterity, all of Him so we can be just HIM. He gave us specific instruction on how to continue with creation, hoping we will adhere and continue with His great works till the end of eternity but we didn’t.

It was accounted that He left the work to rest but I am suspecting God was out creating other planets on the 7th day, hoping we will continue with creation by being Fruitful (Creative), Multiplying (Productive) and Subduing (Dominating) the earth, but as soon as Baba left for "other assignments while resting", leaving us with the mantle of leadership and all that it takes to create, recreate, produce and dominate, we got knocked out with flattery and went all out for recreation.

We gave away His spot in us, after nothingness forgetting all that is in us, we traded a whole tree for a bite of the fruit it produces, and when the Lord returned we were there, hiding and covering what was never naked at all, we tore the cloak He clothed us with for pleasure.

He sleepeth not nor slumbers but still we feel unsecured day and night

He came back for us but we hide ourselves in disbelief

He re-established Himself in His son

But still we shut our eyes to seeing Him in us

We got the revelation but still we ignore

Forgetting that from the beginning

He created us so He could find a resting place in us

We work and toil

Even when we are suppose to enjoy the spoil of His abundance



We must awake to the fact and truth

He lives and only in us

So we can continue

In His works

We must rise and create

Walk and recreate

We must Asa and Bara

And not just breathe and locomote

We must continue His works

Deep within in our thoughts and imagination

We must find in ourselves today

The whole of Him that He placed in us

We must yes we must

So that on the Sabbath and every other day

The Lord will only awake to our praises and thanks giving

And not to calls for the thing He had placed in us

The power to create and keep alive



NB: Personally I think it’s because of humans that other planets have no living creature on them, by the time God came from creating the planets… we already got something started and we got God so busy He never bordered to add life to other planets leaving them celestial..

Monday, March 29, 2010

A letter to Fashola (This is Not a Threat!)

It all happened on Saturday morning at the Yaba Local Government office between the students of Yaba College of Technology and the local government thugs; it was a situation that almost led to the loss of life and destruction of government properties, both at the federal or state level. I am a fresh grad and was just visiting when it all happened and it was deadly. It all looks like it as ended but the tragedy as just begun. This is not a threat.

Two honourable members of the house of the student union of the college were arrested in front of the school gate a few minutes to 9:00clock, they called some student union officials and with due respect to law and orders, any attempt to bail them was delayed until the environmental exercise was over. They called the college driver, some members of the union and other notable students were assemble with a Man O War escort making a total of 12 delegates and they were sent to the Local Government Office in a true spirit of solidarity. They were not armed and we meant no harm but what we got was more than what we bargained for and considering what we got, only more harm will come their way, ours is just a tip of the iceberg.

Getting to the gate of the local government amidst chanting and songs of solidarity for the unjust arrest of students at the school gate was the crime we committed, only 7 of the delegates had alighted from the bus when chaos broke out, the gate was partially open and the bus was still at the entrance when it all started. All i could do was stand and watch because i was one of the 7 that had already highlighted. Plank and bottles and machetes from no where in a local government premises... ha! We were beaten like thieves while the driver and the five remaining students that were yet to alight ran back to the school to regroup. The few of us that got down got unlucky, the student union president was stabbed in the back, The speaker of the house was smashed as well, the fore-head of the social director was opened with concrete, other students lost their teeth and lips, I got whacked as well and i just had enough strength to come out and put this across today.

We were locked up in their cells, some were dragged into the court room, we got robbed as well and were rescued by some of our colleagues that work in the council and lived around. They heard about it and came to our rescue. Our union president was handed over to the policemen at Adekunle and accused of breaking the cells and allowing arrested offenders to flee while others that were badly beaten were left sprawling on the floor helplessly. Soon help came from the few that flee and more students arrived in four more buses and everything went flying. They fled and we escaped from our bondages, and somehow they went and regrouped as well and from within the local government office, more cutlasses and weapons surfaced for fresh violence. It all got out of hand and the state CID office intervened a little to forestall law and order. We blocked the highway and motorist fled and everything came to a halt. We demanded for the council chairman but they said he was away, we locked them inside the council compound and nothing was moving and we resolved that we are not leaving until justice prevails.

Our great mother Dr. Mrs. Oladipupo (The Rector) heard about the situation and quickly drove to the scene, she pleaded with us and asked us to return to the college with her and we did, she tended to our wounds and promised to bare the cost of our lost just for the sake of peace, and we believed she will. We respected her because she's been a great leader, and we respect you as well and that is why I am forwarding this mail to you. It all ended there on that Saturday but it is not over, this is not a threat. We shall and we will pay them back in their own coin. We know the witness, the Vice-Chairman was present at the incident and he saw it all, he couldn't call his own people to order and he even opened his mouth and ordered that we should be locked up. He will definitely get a full portion of the pay back theme when it's ready. The judge of the customary court was a witness and we know her, she's got kids like us and she will feel the pain our mama's felt when the saw us when it's payback time. We know the chairman, if nothing is done in good time, he will get a personal payback package, and for the thugs that are within, we don't blame them because that's who they are, we only blame the government that put them in place of authority and responsibility when they know fully well that they are irresponsible, we know them and will deal with them silently in an uncivilized brutal manner.

There will be environmental next month, we will go out and go even beyond the gates of our school, Moore road and all the way to Igbobi Sabé area, tell them to come arrest us and we will make them feel more than the pain we felt. The neighborhoods watch members walk the streets, tell them they are in danger, the KAI officials, drive thru our hood, and tell them they are not safe. For the ones that go about in plain cloths, we know them and we will not wait for karma, they took the laws in their hands and we will take it beyond our hands. It has happened before and it was the military that saved us from the embarrassment, it happened again and an attempt to resolve it peacefully was turned to war. It is now two eyes for an eye, the laws of Moses now reign supreme, this is not a threat, it will happen before our own very eyes. We've been peaceful for too long, we've been at peace with our environ for such a long time, we've laid low and laid back for too long and now we must let the world around us know that we are still ever Aluta ready as the days of old. Amala Ewetu! This is beyond Aluta.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

The Easter...All for Me

Even at birth He knew what was at stake, still He stayed back just for me and He stepped in in the rarest of ways. There in a manger with sheep and goats and mothers love, and yet His arrival was announced with a star rising from the North and men of wisdom trailing its path from the east. As soon as He arrived, He started giving up a lot just to save me sorry ass. The lives of all the babies is age, as many as they are He gave to the blades of Herod, just for Him to stay, just for me to be saved. As if that wasn’t enough, He tarried along, knowing what was ahead, He waited all the way, knowing what was ahead of Him and when the time came He said it. He hitched a ride of pride on that donkey, a sign He left for me to preserve myself for Him, and then He trekked the rest of the way to that dinner, where He gave His body and blood in bread and wine. Judas was there to betray Him, He knew but He cared less, the thought of me above all. From there it was all the way to Gethsemane where He took the cup for me, fixing the ear of Maluchus along His way to get unfixed at the cross.


Away with Him! Crucify Him!! Even after he was beaten battered and bruised for the things I was yet to do, and for the good health I was yet to receive. Bleeding profusely from the cuts of the whips, He accepted without a word the crown of thorn and the cross he bore for me. The cross was heavy, his muscles torn, yet he dragged it along all the way to Calvary just for me. The nails were hard and long, he saw it as it tore his flesh, broke His bones and held him still to that cross, the spear broke His ribs and bled His heart, but still, all He could think of doing was washing my clean in His blood He just shed to purchase me, a gentile from no man’s land.


Elohi, Elohi, lama sabachthani? When even The Father could not look on Him anymore for the weight of my sin that He bore at the cross, still in His love for me, right there and then He cried unto the Father to forgive me because I knew not what I have done. With the last of His strength He smiled at me and booked a date with me in Paradise that same night, He’s done it all, it is finished. Down to hell to set the records straight, no shaken by the shame or pain, still He broke my bounds and set me free from the clutches of the Hades and Death. Oh Death, Where is Thy Sting? O grave, where is thy victory? He it is finished, oh yes it is. Truly, He is the son of God.


all he did for me, and now His life He gave for me to be free. Now I am a son like him, glory be to God in the highest Hallelujah. Giving Him nothing, not even a reason to smile at me but still He gave up everything for me… Glory be to God Hallelujah!!.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Celebrating God's ♥♥♥ on a day like this…10:03:2XXX

Singing 9ice’s song

♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪
No be mistake, say I dey celebrate
No be mistake, say I dey jubilate
No be mistake oh! Hay!
No be mistake oh! Hey! ♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪

Opo eyan lo ti mo, pe mo lolorun
Opo ojo loti ro, ti ilé ti fi mu
Join now as I celebrate
Make u come and jubilate
No be mistake oh! Hey! ♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪

I have every reason to celebrate God extremely today because I can see the scenes replay again, between Onipanu and Fadeyi along the Ikorodu express road on the 10th of March 2009. School was almost in sight, the last bus terminal was just ahead, I was already thinking about the lecture I was missing, GNS… something something taught by Mr. Adeosun. The bus conveying me to school was going at a considerably speed but not exceeding the limits for the service lane and I was not even thinking about it when it all happened. Yeah, I could see a bus right at the centre of the road, passenger alighting from it and my mind was on the things going on in school when I suddenly heard the driver screaming so loud “Brake ti fail! Brake ti fail!!” The next sound I heard was from our bus crashing hard into the static one. I crashed my head into the metal board separating the driving section from the rest of the bus, and my right knee into the protruding engine in front of me. Screams from surrounding and muffled groans from injured and displaced passengers on the bus, with injuries to tend to. All rushing to get out of the bus that as already come to a halt, I sat there asking myself, what just happened? Looking around me, I found the answers and with everybody around me scrambling for the door, I made my way to the front from the rubbles and eased out through the now large space left in place of the windscreen of the bus.

I started thanking God for keeping us all alive although I felt a sharp pain in my right knee, but I knew I could still move with it. I was moving to the side of the bus to see what was happening because it was like I wasn’t part of the accident when I noticed from a splinter of glass that was hanging that my nose and lips were broken, a closer look even revealed more, most of my teeth were displace with one of my lower canine pushed deep into my gum, I immediately deepened my hands into my mouth, feeling for the missing canine, I found it and with some effort not minding the supposed pain, I pulled it back out, knowing that if I don’t, it might be totally removed or get stuck in that very unusual and wrong position. I got some water (pure water), washed my bloody face and moved away from the scene of the accident, leaping a little from the pain in my knee and acting like I wasn’t a part of it. I picked up my phone, called Samson Adegunle and told him what just happened. With the pain getting more intense, I stopped a little, raising up my head I saw Wole coming down from the pedestrian bridge, I called him, he got me a bike and was driven down to the school medical center. Sam met me at the school gate, Olusola Runsewe, Bankole Bukola and others joined us at the medical center, and from there I was referred to the dental hospital with no bone broken in my legs and the dislocation corrected. Friends came around; Sola swung into full action, called her dad, a dentist. I was wheeled into ER, scans and scans and the report came in, multiple fractured and mobile canines and incisors; jaw intact; need a root canal operation on my teeth like 8 of them and splint zinc clamp was wired in to hold the teeth, a few days later, I got the operation done, went around with the metals on my jaw for month, was eating fluids like a babe but I never lost my smile. The rest is history ….

Now you know why today is special and why I can never stop being grateful? I’ve got smiles to share with friends and foes, because from that day onward, it has been almost impossible for me to stop smiling because I almost lost my smile. I use my tongue to feel the teeth in my mouth and believe me, it’s like counting my blessings every minute of everyday non-stop, never heard a reason to stop, am just so very grateful. If you are a friend, come rejoice with me, if you are a foe, please come and dance. The sounds are loud and the music is playing hard, we are all rejoicing together and we are singing out loud and proud sing along with me…

♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪ ♪♪
Oseun Baba Baba
Baba O ma se,
Oseun
Olorun mi Oseun Baba
Ose ooo! Uncountable Quadrillion times

Here are smiles and times and I will forever be grateful to friends for being there when I needed them most. Never knew I had so much of them. Thank you, you are all Appreciated, here are my Smiles all yours.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Reasons To Be Thankfull

The week ended in a crescendo of expected events, Baba Yemo’s wedding, Amed’s late grandma fiddau’s prayer and more… I can not but thank God for His grace and strength to pull through the weekend, Baba gave me the much needed energy.


A few lessons that I learnt during this period are not just invaluable, but irreplaceable. I found the thin line between friends and family, the distinguishing factors between you and the world around you, I noticed why the real reason why I am me and not my brother and I experienced the redefinition of “Loving God and not gold”. It’s so beautiful to be around family again after such a long time, too bad Bob Tolly wasn’t around… pardon me if you don’t know all this people am mentioning, let’s say am sharing that part with God and God alone, Baba am grateful.


Here are the reasons for my being grateful, they are more like lessons I’ve learnt sounding like an advice:


If you are in a relationship, let your friends and family know the other, you don’t know what they might know… I won’t be sharing my reason for this, but be sure it’s important.


Don’t assume everything is fine, there are some things that will always spring up, don’t get caught up in the surprise ring, like the boys scout, be prepared


Never give up on God. I know the time is now according to you, but believe me God’s way are far beyond ours and He knows best. Never stop believing, never stop praying


Be diligent… you will stand before kings.


I will forever be grateful for this and more lessons I can not share but in all am so very grateful

Saturday, February 13, 2010

767 the emergency dial that works

Someone please call 767 not 911… that's old school...767 is the number to call..

Things are getting better and they keep getting even better, Lagos state is getting pretty interesting and quite unusual these days with the abnormal becoming very normal and the unusual becoming seemingly unusual. I have heard testimonies of the new efficiency of the emergency response system of the Fash’s led administration, testimonies of prompt response to emergency calls in the case of a robbery operation at Abule Egba here in Lagos, a funny story on its own where policemen operating a black-spot around the area heard shouts of robbery and gunshots and quickly dived into the gutters only for another mobile police office in a commuter bus to alight from his bus, went into the gutter, retrieved the ammo from the scared Lilly livered thieves and went after the robbery gang, some people in the neighbourhood dialed the 767 emergency numbers, and in minutes, a Rapid Response Squad team (RRS) showed up at the scene of the robbery, and aborted the gangs operation with the first officer that alighted from the bus killing 2 of the men while others were over powered.

Another testimony is that the Lagos State governor, Mr. Raji Fashola, which he stated while appealing to the telecommunications regulator in the country, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) over the Lagos State emergency number 767. According to the governor, the appeal has become imperative in the face of the recent aid the state has received due to active usage of the Save Our Soul (SOS) number. He cited an instance of a robbery attack last weekend in Lekki axis of Lagos, of which a good citizen was able to make a call through to the 767 and in a matter of 90 seconds, the police anti-robbery team was at the scene and was able to forestall the activities of the underworld men. The appeal was favourably considered and it's has just saved a whole neighbourhood from going down in flames.

It's 2:00am in the morning, 1 McCullum street Ebute-Metta at the office of Grid InfoTech Nig Ltd, men working late in the night, power generator blaring under the stair case when Sage saw a raging fire gutting down a building just two blocks away from the office from the balcony of the building, I ran outside saw the building in fire and the first thing that came to mind was the 767 emergency number classified for Lagos and it's environ alone (for now), I collected Sage's phone, dialed the number and got a busy tone, ran back in grabbed my landline and the call sailed through without ringing, the operator thanked me for the information and told them that the same incident as just been reported and that men of the fire service are on their way, I thanked him and before I could drop the line I saw the light of the siren of the fire service truck turn into the street. I smiled but my smile wasn’t that of indignation and but surprise, I asked myself, his this really happening here in Lagos? Before I couldn’t find the answers to my questions, but the fire service team gave me the answer, the fire was knocked out in 20mins and we are all living happily ever after till this moment. I am not flabberwhelmed or overgasted because I believe this present Lagos we live in runs a system that works, things are getting better, all I ask and pray is that thing only get better than they are now... I shared the news with a friend I was online with Abimbola Sonowo (she's based in Ireland) and she was surprised that a 911 thingy is real and working in Naija... she's spreading the good news and I am here too sharing with friends and foes...alike... and all that stops by.

LAGOS STATE is working, let’s keep it working, Naija is working let’s make it work together, IBeNaijaBoy.

Eko O ni Bajé ooo!!!

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Hair-cut (HeadAche)

I just have to thank God for this headache banging my head right now, it’s pretty much something I saw coming, I felt it even before the clipper started munching my hair, but still I am grateful; I thank Babaloke for the opportunity to hack down this hair again… it won’t be long before it gets long and interesting again.. yeah my hair grows fast and long.


I am also grateful for the way things dey go around me, my truck, school… everything!


I guess mine is a case of banana-eating-monkey, the other way round situation. I know a thousand people that will develop a migraine or headache if they don’t visit a barber in two weeks, but mine is a different ball game entirely. A visit to the barbers shop and a cold bath, and my head is here on my neck screaming for aspirin or some more potent pain killer, my body not liking the emptiness and the cringing hairless feeling.


I wonder why I went for the clean near-skin cut, I know it’s not because I got tired of my Afro… the afro is something I love and the look it gives me keeps me handsome and satisfied, I could have just brought it down a little and avoid this ground breaking headache, still can’t lay my hands on the real reason I went for the kill, now am paying for it. Trying to figure out the real reason, definitely it is not because my hair got half burnt (real flames no burns), or because I want to make den haters smile… now I hate the guilt I make them feel right now, and definitely not the smiles of friends that think I look beautiful on the low-cut, I mean without my afro. I don’t want to look beautiful, not for anybody, I just wanna be handsome and avoid the cat-calls have been getting all morning with my haircut.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Back to Basics

Just writing with some gangsta luv..lol


I've been online for a while now, trying to deal with a lot of things happening around me....processing, digesting and outputting... I bet it's a real big world out here, although everything looks a little bit smaller on my monitor and I just can't imagine how close everything that happens here gets.


Blogging for me hasn't been blogging in the real sense of it; it's been more of a personal thing rather than sharing as the thing dey go in the real world of blogging that I have been experiencing on right, left and center. I feel the need for my blogging experience to be a little bit about sharing, I guess that gives me more to write and even more to share... which brings me to what I am about to share... it's about the streets and the laws that governs it. The game hasn't changed much since I’ve been around, and it's been pretty much the same since I left out, but now is the right time for me to get back my street rep... and valuation, too many new kids on the block and they really need to know...


It's pretty much not a gangsta thing, it more about identifying with the people in my hood, the men on the streets, the brothers in the background that pretty much watch things happen while I make things happen. They are sure dangerous but not without responsibility, they are quite not the normal people you deal with daily, but they are pretty much a part of the ecosystem, and a very important part of it being that they provide unskilled and semi-skilled labour, provide potential protection and although they exhibit danger on their own, they pretty much keep danger of the line of everyday living. They are brotherly but not the kinda brothers you personalize, friendly but never with a smile and they come in handy pretty much in times of need.


I lost touch with this brothers pretty much while i was away learning more about the way things her (status quo) so that I won’t end up being a slave or a part of it. I lost much or my relationship with the streets and the oils in its wheels while away in pursuit of academic excellence, all in the process of becoming better than the best. While i was away, the rules remained pretty much the same but rulers changed, power changed hands and the new leadership is made up pretty much of the young guns who were still learning the ways of the streets, and still quite irrelevant while I was around back then, but now, they grown up, learned new skills and outgunned their ex's and are now at the helms of affairs. Not that the leaders of then are down and out, they are still their in the background, they influence the streets but they pretty much watch things happen. They are there and they are still my connect... my skills and experience will help pretty much in bridging the gap.


You can't be as rich and famous as I am and walk pretty much in the shadows, I am more like a burning lamp, my place is not underneath, I am high above and I can’t go around without knowing and living with the streets. They can't survive without me, knowing them now is like giving the streets honour and value, with real love