In the quest of our lost SOULS and HUMANITIES.

Its no more news to proclaim Nigeria to be a rich nation in all angle we look at it, population wise, mineral and resource wise, religious wise, even cultural wise, and any nation cultivated enough should undoubtedly see reasons to feed her soul and humanity, but regrettably, it is the material aspects of our wealth, rather than the philosophical, the moral or the aesthetic ones that seem to dominate our policy orientation and our developmental growth trends. Before I will be hung for generalising, and finally ending up in stereotypes, my analysis is fully based on the malfunctions of the typical Nigerian society, which is largely made up of Nigerians as the case may be, furthermore, I will try to avoid any quote or reference point in this note, so we can understand that it is solely based on my personal frustration and my intuition of my primary society, with which I need no further reading nor research to analyse. 

Nigeria knows quite well that she is not an AK-47 carrying machine nor a money making monster, a nation with series of religious revivals, yet unaware of her spirituality, her constant pursuit for wealth in which she is obviously blessed with, will not make any heed, if her soul and humanity is still under the bondage of her maladies. Tragically, this rat race in the pursuit of material and financial relevance emanates from the Nigerian society, a society in desperate search for its soul, in search for the very raison d’etre, which only the liberal arts can provide. As an individual I have understood that being an artiste is not about making a conventional living, on the contrary, it is about accepting to make an otherwise living that continuously feed your soul and humanity. Faith in the money making sectors, on the other hand, has become almost a secular-religion, as achievements in those fields have become ever more spectacular, not only for Nigeria, but such has been the make believe all Nigerians deal with, so everyday we hear phrases popping out from our televisions, radios and dailies, advertising or celebrating the success of the oil companies, the telecommunication giants, the business tycoons, the banking system that has become a very important strength for Nigeria's economy, and so on. 

But even with all this wealth, success and adverts, slogans and billboards we are bombarded with daily, why is it still a reality that Nigeria is the worst nation in terms of basic amenities for her citizen? why is it that the rich kept getting richer and the poor poorer? why is it that majority still look up for the April showers, while minority uses excess to wash automobiles? why is it that our catalogue of the national maladies, that has crept upon every Nigerian, still include the undesirable manifestations such as greed, dishonesty, impatience, discourtesy, vandalism, indecency, brutality, armed robbery, drunkenness, cultism, tribalism, selfishness, ostentation, indiscipline, corruption, insensitivity to filthy surroundings and many other identifiable ills, why is it that the average Nigerian keeps reciting “May God help us”, when he or she is being confronted with the “misappropriated” billions, stolen everyday by day in Nigeria. If I'm asked, I can't give a better answer than to state it clearly that, any nation or group of people that has come together, with an intention of trade considered only in terms of volume or profitability, I mean when the primary discourse of their coming together is based on “50-50” or other number sharing formula, from that very moment the soul of such encounter is temporarily placed on hold, while something else close to the monster side of a normal human being is in play. 

I for one, have not been one of those who clings religiously to the concept of art for art's sake, but I try to understand at what point we actually need to draw the line, at what point do we say to ourselves “ok guys lets take it easy, cos if we continue at this pace we might hit the wall”, I give priority to the business of art as much as I give to the making of art for art's sake, just as an individual, i will go to Mosque on a Friday afternoon and later proceed to the club at night. What I believe the arts and humanities can do for Nigeria, is to be in continuous search of the soul of this nation, the money making sectors can go on to take care of the material well-being and infrastructures. 

However, the average Nigerians has misplace their priorities and become the passive fellows, in a system where our pacing machine functions better when it malfunctions, fabricating a society where success is only defined by the attainment of popularity or financial profit. In this epoch, where the higher man is raised higher based on his level of consciousness and intellectual hierarchy, which in no way is determined by how much money he makes, and only the arts in a wide range and sciences can produce or feed our soul in attaining the height of such man, but this ranking of the higher man is not synonymous with that of the Nigerian society. In recent times, I have been continuously reminded that in order to counsel a Nigerian youth or convince anybody about the credibility of a particular profession, career or project, you are obliged to talk extensively about the possibilities of making money from it, and die rich afterwards, not minding what else you will do with the money after making it, otherwise your preaching is as good as flaunting naira notes in the air and your job is done, case closed. 

This mentality that celebrates vanity fair in all hierarchies, has become the major factor why an average Nigerian will prefer to sell his or her vote, sell their future in exchange for few Naira notes, while some will prefer to be the modest ones, who prefers to watch and just go their own way, then they all sit back and ones again recite “May God help us”, not insightfully minding the fact that we encounter several millions, I mean a thousand millions before we arrive at just one billion, and look around you today, how many millions can we feel close to us, but everyday we hear series of billions diffusing into the air, and all we can say is “May God help us”. While I was in high school, we were made to understand that God as kind and generous as He is, will never help those who don't help themselves, so passing an exam goes beyond kneeling, closing our eyes and saying "May God help us". This monsters ruling us, don't even know who the God we call everyday is, even if God Himself comes down in any form, this monsters are ready to play politics with Him, it has become a way of life for them, and in that way of life, the normal thing is what they are doing, so we perhaps have a need to remind them that they are suppose to be accountable to us, they are suppose to be a servant to our nation and not the citizens being a servant, to their dictatorship and nonchalant attitude towards our sufferings and plights, so i will however pray to God for strength to be able to move towards emancipation by force, before begging God is His infinite mercy to punish them and their coming generations they claim to steal all these money for.

In assisting Nigeria, as a Nation in the search for her soul, the moral and ethical crisis facing Nigeria has been well enunciated by successive governments. The ethical revolution drive, the War Against Indiscipline (WAI) Campaigns, the National Orientation Agency (NOA) thrust, the Oputa Panel, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC). All portend a trend towards the search for Nigeria’s soul. But we all need to be aware of the fact that, all these are initiations of the soul-less wild animals themselves, setting up their circus show, and when they mistakenly place a soulful individual at the head of it, they sooner or later feel threatened, and since they are the fixers of the rules, it becomes so easy for them to break the rule, because they know that at the end of the day, we are going to sit back and say “May God help us”. This soul can only be reached through what i refer to as "Operation CCC", it could be synonymous to celestial church of christ, but its very far from it, this is a Collective Constructive Criticism, backed by activism, philosophy, performing/creative arts, history and culture.

Nigeria's heritage and the Nigerian's inner spirit is embedded in these Liberal art forms, the ability to understand and appreciate our beliefs and values, to apply them humanly in our daily lives, and to explore the human experience in all its richness. In assisting Nigeria, as a Nation in the search for her humanity, Art is value-laden and targeted towards the nurturing and shaping of human virtues and moral values, the human life is empty without these values and virtues. For through the arts we discover how people of talent have continuously veered towards making moral, spiritual, and intellectual sense of a world in which irrationality, despair, loneliness, and death are as conspicuous as birth, friendship, hope and reason. The travails of these talented and creative breeds, has been to reinstating our daily diminishing souls and humanities, stretch our imagination and enrich our experience, which will however increase our distinctive human potential. Through the arts we should learn to play, learn to BE and not always to HAVE, learn to make choices, learn to criticise, to discriminate between the meritorious and the meretricious, between good and evil, through them we determine which endeavors are worthy of our best efforts, and ultimately we learn to know ourselves, our humanity socially, culturally as well as individually.

EXPOSED! Why Yar’Adua hunts Ribadu.

BY DICKSON OMONODE

THE recent quake in the cadres of Nigeria Police which swept many officers off their seats was just one script in a well-hatched game plan by the presidency to clip the wings of the former 

Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Mallam Nuhu Ribadu in an attempt to please certain interests in and outside the government, including President Musa Yar’Adua himself, it has been revealed. Ribadu was demoted from the rank of Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) to Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) along with 139 other officers. 

While a good number of Nigerians did not see any justification for the action of the Chief Parry Osayande-led Police Service Commission (PSC) particularly from the legal perspective, information available to National Daily strongly suggest that Yar’Adua and some other powerful officials of the state had targeted Ribadu for ‘destruction’ via demotion for reasons of his intelligence image hunting them.

The problem Ribadu now faced dates from soon after his re-deployment as a student to National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, in January this year, when he reportedly confided in a friend that “these people do not know what I have on them even Mr. President. I can rock their boat and let the world know that they are not clean as they claim.”

National Daily investigations revealed that Ribadu may have been sold out to the authorities by that friend as information later got to Presidency that the former EFCC boss had a dossier on Mr. President, some former governors and other public office holders. Particularly, the world-acclaimed anti-corruption warrior is believed to have in his possession copies of the investigation activities of the cases involving very powerful officials, both serving and past while he was Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

According to Presidency sources, this was why the State Security Services (SSS) were to be unleashed on Ribadu just as the police have taken care of Mallam Ibrahim Magu, another strongman at the EFCC under Ribadu. Magu’s residence was first raided for allegedly being in possession of damaging documents against prominent persons in the country before he was eventually arrested by the police. Specifically, about 24 hours after his demotion was announced the SSS invited Ribadu for questioning. The secret service operatives even visited Kuru in Jos where Ribadu was to effect his arrest but met his absence as insiders had given him a tip-off. Accordingly, “trump up charges have been prepared by the Justice Ministry and should Ribadu be arrested, he would end up in jail, insiders say.

On the president, it is believed that details of allegations of unspent campaign funds from the last Presidential elections allegedly running into about N7billion, and Yar’Adua’s ties with German Construction giant, Julius Berger, a company that is under the intense searchlight of German apex investigation body known as the GKA for offering bribes to Nigerian Government officials are also among issues the President has with Ribadu.

Though, Yar’Adua soon after he assumed office as President in 2007 had publicly declared his total assets with everything put at less than a billion naira, Ribadu is said to have some damaging report on the unspent campaign funds for both the 2007 presidential and the financial activities of Mr. President while he was governor of Katsina State.

Besides the unspent campaign funds, President Yar’Adua was also said not to be comfortable with the information available to Ribadu over the bribe-for-contract scam involving the construction giant; Julius Berger. The company has reportedly been under investigation by its parent country Germany in recent time over some bribery allegations and the company’s Vice Chairman, Dr. Han Wittmann was said to be at the centre of the scandal.

Intelligence source confirmed to National Daily that Wittman has been helping Yar’Adua to secure the best medical help in Germany and so would want the President’s intervention as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), under Ribadu’s chairmanship had reportedly co-operated fully with the GKA with whom they have an existing high-level Mutual Legal Assistance status (MLA).
Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, the civil engineering giant which dominates construction contracts in Nigeria, was named early in the year as a conduit in the bribery of top officials of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) - but the company has stoutly denied playing any role in the alleged scandal

The bribes were allegedly wired through Julius Berger, a Nigerian company in which the German group holds 49 per cent shares equity. A German construction group, Bilfinger Berger, has been accused of paying kick-backs to PDP officials, the German news magazine Der Spiegel reported in May this year.
At the time of the alleged payments, the Bilfinger Berger group was reportedly seeking the contract to build a gas-liquefaction plant for Nigeria's gas-export industry.
The GKA, according to our sources, was taking serious advantage of the high level secret MLA status it has with the EFCC (as there is no such treaty between Germany and the Nigeria government). Already, sources further disclosed, the GKA was closing in on Julius Berger with the assistance of EFCC which was somehow billed to commence local investigation into company’s activities in Nigeria sometime this year but for Ribadu’s movement to NIPSS.

With this co-operation between EFCC and GKA on one hand and similar agreements between the anti-graft agency other countries and international bodies over the years, Ribadu’s international image has become upscale and this, according to our source, is now hunting Yar’Adua and his government.

Beyond the presidential anger against the former EFCC boss, some former Inspectors General of Police (IGPs) were also said to have called for Ribadu’s head for daring to disgrace one of their own – Tafa Balogun on issues of corrupt practices.

The former police chieftains were said to be very bitter against Ribadu over his “strong-handedness” when they tried to intervene in some corruption cases he (Ribadu) was investigating. They also are piqued especially at the way he handled the Balogun matter, accusing him of not showing any measure of respect for the office of the IGP. They also pointed out the use of handcuffs on the former police chief and the way he was reportedly dragged by a moving car.
National Daily investigation revealed that when charges of corruption involving multi-billion naira were brought against Balogun soon after he was forced to resign from his position of inspector general of police in 2005, some former IGPs had tried to intervene in the matter but Ribadu who had a direct brief from the then President Olusegun Obasanjo was said to have adopted a hard-line posture that made it impossible to mitigate Balogun’s travails.

As a serving police officer, they had expected Ribadu to use his position in ensuring that Balogun was treated with some measure of dignity during the trial. That was certainly not the case, as the former inspector-general of police was hand-cuffed and dragged to the court like a common criminal. He was on one occasion even bullied and felled on the premises of the court premises by the anti-graft agents when he hesitated to board their vehicle. But to most Nigerians, what the EFCC did was not wrong insofar as Balogun was a suspect standing criminal trial like any other suspect. 

Some senior police officers had confided in National Daily last week that Tafa Balogun possibly knew that he would have time to revenge when he said “I will bounce back” soon after his conviction with a few months imprisonment after having entered plea bargain with the prosecutors. To such officers, Balogun may unarguably be an ally with the powers that be in the plotting of Ribadu’s current downfall from the pinnacle of grace.
Ribadu is also said not to be in the good books of the incumbent Police 

Inspector-General Mike Okiro is believed to still be upset that when he (Ribadu) was posted to NIPSS, Ribadu bluntly refused on the pages of the newspapers. Even when the former EFCC boss came back to see Okiro, the IG refused him audience and asked that he “obeyed the order first before complain”, which meant that he reported at NIPSS first.

Just as these exclusively gathered information were being tidied up, another source hinted on the fact that a statement credited to Ribadu during the campaign for the presidential elections early last year where he was quoted to have said the only Presidential Candidate he would have supported irrespective of political party affiliations was General Muhammadu Buhari, the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) because of his integrity and uprightness did not go down well with loyalists of Yar’Adua. They are said to have re-echoed this alleged comment by Ribadu to convince Mr. President that the former EFCC boss never believed in him (Yar’Adua), and could spill the beans any day if “he is not caged”, hence the onslaught. These issues, according to sources, make the President jittery.

Further revelations will unfold in the massive hunt for Ribadu’s head, the sources said, adding that they would be unveiled as time goes on. But no words yet on the place for his vexed intelligence dossiers in the country’s continuing war on corruption. One thing is however evident in the air at the moment is the heightened anxiety over the safety of Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, the former EFCC Chairman.

LAGOS ! - its not funny...

THIS IS LAGOS

Here are some of the stuffs i occupy myself with those days in Lagos, these are one of the few stuffs i ever put on paper, some were fictions, or based on a true life story i heard from a living being, living in Lagos, and also some i witnessed the scenes. They are all funnily sad events but now we can all laugh over it cos its past, but hope Lagosians will never go through those process again.

Life Goes ON

Sincerely all finger are not equal.

ALL FINGERS ARE NOT EQUAL...

a fully armed men, bumped into my neighbor's apartment, they demanded nothing but their share from his hard earned salary “your money or your life” was the next thing my neighbor heard, and here comes the first and biggest fuck up for a Lagosian “brother thief, please I don't have any kobo at home to offer, I so beg for pardon, you know all fingers are not equal” since then my neighbor's finger had never been unequal, after they equalized them with the help of a “Lebe” sword

A typical lagos conductor calling one chance !

ONE CHANCE...

I could clearly remember, it was just around 7pm, we all looking horribly tired at the bus stop, finally here comes a bus calling my destination, adding “one chance' to the phrase, quickly i jumped in, as usual, I always find my way in during rush hours like this, the driver turn up the music, the conducter slammed the door, and we were all feeling high, all of a sudden i received an impromptu slap, from behind to get me intimidated “this can't be free of charge”, I quickly understood. At first, I thought it was a dream as the sun, the moon and the stars were at a time closer to my neck side, so what's next, 
i heard this heavy voice repeatedly reciting “your phone, your money” “don't look up” “your phone, your money” all that were accompanied with rain of smacks, I gave it all unconsciously, as quickly as my reflex can go, i was thrown out of the bus before i begin to get myself on axis it all happened in seconds, too soon to recollect what really happened, with immediate effect it became past tense, meaning “when actually did it happened?”

Underneath 3rd Mainland Bridge

THIRD MAINLAND BRIDGE...

This was a beautiful Monday morning, on 3rd mainland bridge, heading to the island, although the “go slow” condition of Lagos is nothing new, "go slow" a complete paradox of the Lagos life, every single moment is a "rush hour" but today was an exception, because i was on okada, i was able to see the cause.
- A molue had fell on its driver's side trust me “what happened, wetin happen” curiously i queried, here, an eye witness narrates...

“Na the reckless diving driver o, thank God nobody die, hmm if no be the hanging conductor wey fall for lagoon, forgetting say one of him leg dey on top bridge, the problem now be say, na how him go take swim commot for lagoon?” Hey ya.


THE RITE WAS FORETOLD BY THE TRIBALIST...

“these cannibals are hungry for human flesh, these vampires are thirsty for human blood".

This period was around 2000/2002, just after those soldier crooks changed uniform. The location was around “Idi Araba” the orthodox abbreviation in charge then wasn't the COP, but the OPC, quite similar to PDP. The setting was just after sunset, I was walking home, with a head full of pessimistic thoughts, after a long day of rehearsals, suddenly I saw a few able bodied youth, obviously they represent a particular tribe's flags and ideals, it was in a total euphoric determination they ran after this other guy of other flags, with arm in arms; cutlasses, swords, injurious batons and the remains of broken bottles, running anxiously to get him off feet, they misses their prey as they give each stroke, me running after them with a bit distance, but kept my eyes on them wanting and willing to see the end, they were really determined, I mean they mean business, as we say in Lagos.
I swear, Not even God can come stop these guys... The poor young man was hurriedly praying and begging for intervention, but who could? He was really determined to survive as well. Alas, they got him and he fell.

with the speed at which he was massacred, I immediately confirmed my thoughts, “these cannibals are hungry for human flesh, these vampires are thirsty for human blood”, and there was a real feast, series of beating! hitting! stabbing! and cutting! I saw what brutality really means beyond what dictionary can explain, a spasmodic savage violence that is very parallel and directly opposite, to the prolonged involuntary muscular contraction experienced before ejaculation,
so immediately I got it, that these guys will never let go until they ejaculate.
Finally, we all confirm the young man was dead, furthermore these guys will not forgive his dead body, they still needed to clean up their spasm, they poured petrol on him, still I wait to see the end so I could be an eye witness, to have the story to tell as it happened without fallacy, they stroke a match and threw it on the remains, ohh good God. Surprisingly, the body we all thought was dead stood up, struggling to flee with flames, ahhh how funny and sad, he died while on his feet, with posture of calved piece of burning art, then now, I couldn't wait to look any further, it is unbearable how fellow human suffers to death. 

Few years later, I understood that, all those moments in Lagos could not have been but chaotic, it was what the rite called for. I am glad those moment came and pass, leaving us stronger and wiser.
Now my friends, hope you get the moral of the narration. If you were fortunate to be born, lived and survived those remarkable moments, for at least two decades of your life In L A G O S, then everywhere you go, it will remain with you, and no one can fuck with you, for LAGOS alone is a moving feast that refines you and gets you ready for any tribulation! I mean NO SHAKING ! 

Which more of the reason why till today, every morning in Lagos, a Gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning a Lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest Gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn't matter whether you are a Lion or a Gazelle... in Lagos, when the sun comes up, you'd better be speak to your feet.

(c) Qudus Onikeku. 

Abeokuta

the modern Olumo rock where nature’s sound 

still give our rhythms,

I have known anger, I have dined with pain, being a minority is not when your vote is not up to that of your opponent, back home in Abeokuta, we are fun people, follow me to see the mighty Olumo where the nature’s sound gives our rhythm, underneath Olumo, there you will find our shelter when the tyrant comes with their tyranny, the people of Abeokuta are known for their brevity and courage, yet this is what the world holds against us, they say we are violent, they say we are aggressive, they even say we are not peace lovers, oh friendly stranger no man will allow the thing that knocked off his teeth to blind his eyes, Come rejoice with me, my life is fun.

I’m not proud to be black,
I am fortunate to be black

I have a reason to be joyful each morning my neighbor screams E K A A R O ! From his window. friendly stranger, i know you come from a world of haters but bother not, we won’t strangle you, we love strangers. If not for the presence of fools, all discussion will be done in proverbs, 
it doesn't tend to bother us though, for we know that whenever a vulture is absent in a feast of animal carcasses, it must be due to a very important engagement elsewhere, for as long as our eggs continue to break the palm kernel, the stone will continue to feel threatened. Come and see how fun our life is. 

My father gave life to 13 of us, my father is a wise man, the nose doesn’t perceive its own odur you know!, and one doesn’t pick his eyes the way he picks his teeth. 2 are over the seas, hoping to come back with the profits of the seas one day. 1 is a footballer, his ultimate dream is to play in the Super Eagles, he plays so good but often comes back sad, After attending the national team’s selection and blames it on my father, for not knowing so much people from the elite, my father keeps reciting the same lyrics to him “hens don’t attend a marriage where the fox is the master of ceremony” only God knows what it signifies, cos my brother will not give up.

2 are interested in politics and I believe they will make it to the top,already they are becoming celebrities, cos anytime there is a political rally or manifestation, they are mostly in the front roll and we see them on TV while the camera walk-pass them, I’m proud of them ‘cos I also have an ambition. 2 are top shoemakers in Lagos, but they prefer we refer to them as shoe designers, i don't know what the difference is. 1 a hair-dresser, and since she made hair for a popular actress she changed her job to make up artist just like that. 2 are working for the state people, we don’t really get so much along‘cos state people make me uncomfortable after locking up mumsi’s shop, after she had paid to settle those that claimed to come from the state office one week before, and also the state refused to pay popsi’s pension. i have an allergy for the state people and i know that their leopard will not change their spot.

Anyway our life is fun, 2 are still in school, One in the state university and the other still in the local high school, while I just choose to be among those who uses their body for the manifestation of Art and join words to sum up to a meaning. Friendly stranger my father swore to me that if he had had the power, he’d have had more children then he would have been more respected in the society, and meet more people in the elite class that could save our lives today, so that we will be able to touch all works of life. My father really had a dream for Africa, he wanted us all to grow up to be useful for Nigeria, but he knew he may not be able to do it all, so he decided to have more, to build a legacy with which at least good number of us will follow.

I am glad my father had 13 of us, if he hadn’t done that, maybe I will never had had the opportunity of being in this world with you, cos I am the 12th child. As you can see my humble stranger, my father is a successful man ‘cos our life is now fun, apart from those two over the seas, the moment when death begins to take away a person’s age group members, is it not a forewarning for him to get ready for death, anyway we contribute money to send to them monthly, they complain of too much tax, that even to catch fishes in the seas, they pay a tax of crabs and let some of the fishes go back to the seas for reproduction I guess, I wonder how they survive.

Abeokuta my father land.

Then i understood that what the goat has seen and keeps quiet, the dog sees and bark, because my father warned them, If you think that the livelihood of Abeokuta your home Is not comfortable enough because you want to feel like Robin Hood, good, just get an agent, sell your home and move to Hollywood, then you will be done with, when you find out that, even the hoods in the neighborhood of Hollywood are willing to pay any price with all goodwill just to see Olumo rock. 

A tale of Nigeria's "FIRST FAMILY"

May these words that fiddles with my heart find its way out without overindulgence, may each word at which the tip of my finger secretes mean exactly what i mean, i look up to the heavens, perhaps i will neither want to sound too wise nor too foolish, at times when i think about my words they don't come out as i wish, other times when i write my words without thinking, they tend to match my exact thinking when i'm not writing .

15 months ago when our humble president, Umaru Musa Yar'Adua was being sworn in as our newly 'demo-cratically selected' president, it did not in any way shook my harden hatred for politics which is the sole reason why i get so much interested in it, i wonder if this syndrome is a generational thing, anyone conversant with Fela's lyrics will agree with me that the two tyrant closest to Fela's mouth was Obasanjo and Yar'Adua, but in case some of us don't know, the Yar'Adua he refers to is not our humble president, that was his elder brother, that was the major reason why i became so much concerned by our new president. So as usual i quickly ran to make my research on this new angel that could be worst than our known devil that just left us in pieces. 

It was with mixed feelings i decided to start following his activities in order to build up my own idea of who he is, which will not be influenced by anything i might have read about him, his strategy of declaring his wealth on june 28, 2007 was a remarkable one for me, his stands against Soludo's naira re-denomination, the several Governors who served with him before 2007 were being charged by EFCC. And his stout clinging to the rule of law were altogether ringing positive bells in my head. As opposed to the time of his nomination where he was an obscure figure on the national stage, and a mere "puppet" of Obasanjo, a jeje man who could not have won the nomination under fair circumstances.

Few meters away from ASO ROCK, i bend down to pack a handful of sand, i walked two meters closer and watch the sand carefully slipped off my right palm, then i silently say to myself in a witty voice, "i'm in the process of modifying this sahara" my words are exacts and they are here like every other thing close to us, they can be criticized but a rose is rose and still a rose.

Not long after, revelation began to come to the space i occupy, i came across the Shehu Musa Yar'Adua Foundation's proposal to a project they were putting in place around 2003, check out the Board of Trustees 
H.E. Chief Olusegun Obasanjo (GCFR), Chairman
H.E. Atiku Abubakar (GCON), Vice Chairman
H.E. Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, Trustee
Mr. Yomi Edu, Trustee etc.
Going through the proposal began to make me feel like going to toilet with what the budget looked like, and the whole list of individuals and capitalist Nigerians that was involved in the project.

Then i went on with my research, but now with a quite biased mind, brothers and sister, here are facts to my fears and skepticism for this "First family" driving our nation entity.
In 2000, during Yar' Adua's administration as governor in Katsina, Katsina became the fifth northern Nigerian state to adopt sharia, where a woman, was sentenced to death by stoning for committing adultery...
His father was briefly the National Vice chairman of the National Party of Nigeria.
Yar'Adua's daughter Zainab is married to Kebbi State governor Usman Saidu Nasamu Dakingari. Then i'm wondering is it really suppose to be a family heritage? Then the biggest shock. i present to you Musa (jrn) Yar'Adua

Shameful, shocking and sad, or how else can one describe it…? Just in case you were wondering if these pictures were taken from a Nollywood blockbuster, please open your eyes very well. Much more than one of the hottest reality TV shows around, these are real life of Musa (jnr) Yar’Adua, one of the youngest sons of the "First family" living life to the fullest right inside the Presidential Villa Aso Rock. In case you still doubt the possibility of such pictures.perhaps i need to draw your attention to the credibility of their source – Sahara Reporters (www.saharareporters.com). Musa is on facebook and these are his cool profile pictures.

When Mr Fix Nigeria wrote an article titled “Who Can Rescue This Rogue Republic?” some said, this guy has come again. The same sentiment was creatively captured by Tolu Ogunlesi in his parody titled “The Audacity of Kenya: An Obama Tale”, everyone replied 'this is hilarious' and when i wrote "Nigeria comment çava", some say why should i portray Nigeria's image in such manner. You see, Nigeria is a very interesting country. Just as you are optimistic about real change coming, you are taken aback by the emergence of one depressing scandal. Now, what can one make of this? A true picture of the Nigerian Dream? God forbid! But sadly enough, this happens to be the real picture of what is happening today in our society. 

Imagine this happening in Aso Rock, under the roof of our president, a man who has made so much effort to promote the principles of rule of law. But is this not a rule of lawlessness. What kind of example is the "First family" portraying to other Nigerian families? That these are the privileges of a member of the “First Family”? Are there even more revealing facts that we have not seen? Who knows? I doubt if Abacha’s sons would have conducted themselves like this at such a young and tender age. 

Today, our media personnel roar over the censorship bill that is about to be passed at the National Assembly, and i wonder, why the stress, even when we had the freedom to say whatever, what were we saying that is more than KOKOLET and YAHOOZEE? Where were the media when the president himself endorsed the Yahoozee track in Abuja, oh we have to wait for CNN or Oprah Winfery to talk about it so we can revolt and make rally over nothing. 

This is a country where poverty and hunger almost reign supreme. A country where thousands of people die of not having, And here, in Musa Yar’ Adua’s room in Aso Rock, is an unimaginable and flagrant display of our national cake. Why won’t we have armed robbers roaming Nigerian roads? Why won’t we have our young men doing Yahoo Yahoo? Why won’t we have militants kidnapping and blowing up oil wells? Or why won’t other politicians in government and their families, loot the treasury? and to borrow Idiare Atimomo's satire, "This Dam Will Soon Collapse". 

Again, I am just musing to myself...

Celebrity my FOOT !

Guys sorry, i know i should be sending you gists from kinsh and not still bother you with my laughable thoughts that won't just let me be, you know me now, when everything is alright, i don't feel secured, well we can still imagine this to be a gist but from my weary busy head. 
Hajarat called me few days before i left for kinsh and as we do as usual, during our midnight calls that last for over an hour, we gist about everything from the last time we dropped the phone till the second before the phone rang, so to cut the gist short, she gisted me about her school mate, who brought up a certain issues pertaining to dance, so my baby said to her "my fiance is a dancer" then she became curious to know about this dance genre called Contemporary dance, since my baby knows practically everything about me and we talk a lot about anything including the arts, so she started giving her a low down of the kind of things i get involved in. 

• So here we get to the basic reason for this note, after her explanation, the girl now said "so your husband is a celebrity, how are you coping?"
  

Celebrity my foot!

If there is one person on this earth that could claim to really know who i really am, then it must be Hajarat, hear her response "well, to start with, he doesn't see himself as one, and i don't see him as anything but my Qudus" beautiful right?... i don't know why the thought of this celebrity thing came up to my head again here in Kinshasa, i spoke to myself, "i think celebrity is meant for the TV no? those that appears few times on tv doing some very remarkable stuffs like Big Brother, like the movie stars and television actors with lead roles on prominently scheduled shows, High-ranking politicians, national television reporters, daytime television show hosts, supermodels, successful sport personalty. etc. Is that not what celebrity means?" Then i quickly ran to my dictionary.

celebrity |səˈlebrətē|
a famous person.
• the state of being well known :

I though i was wrong until sources from Wikipedia claims that "A celebrity is a widely-recognized or famous person who commands a high degree of PUBLIC and MEDIA ATTENTION."

ahhh! i thought... possibly i am a celebrity, since i got 1280 friends on facebook that increases by two to three daily, shown once or twice on some local, national and international TV and News Papers, i got few stuffs on the search engines, ahh Qudus, why have you been this naive? You are a celebrity... lol

                   Celebrity my ass!

This celebrity culture that doesn't involve paying any dues in Nigeria, you just buy the damn title, i mean normally... People of talent would work hard to create something--something written, something painted, something sculpted, something acted out--and it would be passed on to audiences. but with the rise of these fantasized "reality" TV shows, the audiences have been turned into the creators and social instruments needed. The alleged stars of these "reality" shows (especially Big Brother) have become famous not for doing or having some special talents, but merely for being... wow, how privileged and grateful they must be!

Even those who got some talent, what do they do with it to inspire the "common man"? Is it not in this Nigeria where "celebrities" make fame and the next moment they are thinking of their own clothing line, which is suppose to be their "appreciation" to the 140 million Nigerians, isn't it?... as if those clothes will be dashed out for free, this same celebrity that will arrogantly snub the "common man" that bumps into him or her on the streets of Surulere or a road side shop at Ikeja, even to reply to emails on facebook becomes a problem, cos they know these guys don't need autographs.

 

That is how ungrateful and arrogant our "cele-brities" could be, have you even coincidentally met one on a normal day, in a normal venue (which is not looking like the galleria nor shoprite), and you fast forward to say an intimate hi ? don't be shocked if the reply you get is "Have we met before?". some of them will add you as a friend on facebook, the next moment they are sending you their latest video over and over again, dedicating the same track to you almost a thousand times... sorry i didn't come to join facebook to be part of your business strategy, anything going beyond or rather below human relation, please count me out. if i can send you my videos then i must be ready to chat with you or reply your emails, i think facebook is suppose to be a social platform.

They call them celebrity and they run to the market with it, abeg o, i don't want to be part of your revolution, if i won't dance, what do i do with this celebrity title? Form padi-padi coalition to oppress, or feel more important to the people that has similar problems to mine, so there will be another underground celebrity friend of mine who will organize givings and awards to valorize my talent and creativity, and in-turn valorize his own image as the organizer of a one-in-town event, that regroups mobs of "celebrities" which will only end up making me become too paranoid to travel easily within the streets of Lagos, on okadas, in buses or taxis if i so wish... even within the so called celebs, we still find them getting involved in this childish need to have the last word and show off... Then the public will have a love/hate relationship with me.

Ahh! is that what i'm going do with this title. becoming a spectator on the field where i'm suppose to be a player, what if i personally refuse to acknowledge this title? even if some won't agree with me.

CELEBRITY MY YANSH !

Are we really higher ANIMALS?

IF God has decided to make us humans, in His infinite mercies, isn't it fortunate enough for us? 'cos its not our doing that we appear to be a higher creature than the animals. However, it has been proven that we are as well animals, although higher animals, since animals are defined as any living organism that feeds on organic matter, typically having specialized sense organs and nervous system and able to respond to stimuli. Then I began to think about what makes us higher animals, I haven't gone far into the world of my sometimes absurd thoughts, before I realized that even the fact that I have posed this question, already justifies why I am a "higher animal", then I went further by putting my thoughts into consideration in order to valorize my solo argument.

This our ability to ponder over our conditions, thinking before reacting, our reflective ability over whatever we perceive through our sense organs, these elements that distinguishes man from animals, has later tend to kill our innocence and make us loose our sudden inner impulse that should manifest in all normal animals without premeditation or external stimulus. 

I argue with myself, if these crucial module that is suppose to be our argument for being higher animals, is not becoming the same element responsible for our troubles and malfunction-ness. Creating all sort of suffering for the world and all that exist in it to grapple with, i mean, this ability to choose - and choose well to kill the little harmless insect instead of letting it go, ability to have an ocean dreams, that will soon flood away the efforts of those with just ways and means and leave others with blood on their skins, so that tomorrow, we scream out the notorious phrase « we made it! ». Our ability to fight - to fight for our right and fight for our loved ones and deliberately decline our reasoning of its aftermath because its our celestial right, are we really higher animals? who declared us to be? 

The animal part of me wonders, what the so called lower animals must be thinking about us, "these senseless people thinks they know so much, look at what they are turning our world into" i wonder if a brother cow, will be one day intelligent enough to dream about the creation of something that looks like the Atomic bomb and Avtomat Kalashnikova (AK-47) to bombard his fellow cows, no i can bet for money that it won't do that, 'cos it got pride and knows what shame is, and thats what we don't have, no wonder humans are the only animals who weep. 

Have we taken time to listen to what the animals has got to say about us, cos we kept defining everything, because we know quite well that the monkeys has got no advocate, the tigers has got no philosopher and there is no intellectual in the animal world that could be their mouthpiece and communicate with us, to heal us of our insanity in order to put us back into track of our lost naivety, without being killed or displayed in a special wildlife park for weirdness and top ten wonders of the world.

Hopefully one day we shall get a redeemer from the so called lower animals that we have killed so many of their prophets, yet they are calm and you go study the animals and see the way they watch us insightfully, lets hope we get redemption from them and not a revolution cos the world also belong to them and a revolution is often borne out of a familiar force repelling a non familiar pressure. We can fool them sometimes but can we fool them all time ?

Well i still got this prey in my mind, with my preconceived monologue, are human being really higher animals?

Gist from kinsh

Arriving at the airport aleady gives some interesting botton about the kind of air I'm going to breath in the next one month. I wondered if it was (the film maker guy that invited me to work with his preselected casts) Djo's Influence that mounted up to making a full uniformed immigration officer to be the one that handed me my fake vaccination card that Made it possible for me to pass through without wasting so much time. He guided me like I was a VIP on a special mision until we got to the passprt control. The officer that attended to me collected my passport and the yellow form I filled in the plane, he crosschecked my totally filled passport with all sort of visas, congolese visa is the last visa that entered into my passport, so i have to make another one now. Anyway. He checked the form I filled and smiled. He asked if I spoke French I answered "oui" then he smiled again he said in French "so your profession is dance." I replied "oui je suis danseur" then we both smiled while he shook his head in disbelive I was still smilling when he added "you must be a very good dancer" I said "I think so..." He stamped my passport and proceed to meet my immiration officer that has been waiting for me, he walked me to another young man that later collected my baggage tag from me while I describe the type of bag it is, cos all I had to do was to sit in a corner and watch the over disorganized bunch of grown men and women that wrestled over baggage. I wonder if I was really in an airport or an open market for fish auction.

As I sat everything began to look real, some pungent smell of cigaret almost fell me from my seat and I tried to remember if the air hostess was not repeatedly warning in the plane that smoking and snapping were extreemely prohibited in the airport area. I coughed out discretely and only one phrase came to my mind "no one is BELOW the law" as I continue to smile over my phrase I saw another white guy joined the band of smokers and the greatest joke of the night was the guy that walked towards him to tell him that smoking was prohibited. I was filled with laughter I couldn't hold it, the poor guy was making some jest to indicate he wasn't the only one smoking, and I said to myself "is someone BELOW the law?" ahhh perharp only foriegners are, I have to be careful. Not long after then they brought my bag and waited a bit for my immigration officer to confirm to me that the car is out to pick me. I quickly stood up to join Patrick who introduced himself and we aproached the land rover parked at the car park, I remarked that outside was so big I couldn't help but to say it to Patrick who later finished the phrase I got in mind "Yes and inside is so small, you can never imagine from inside" it was like they got the land for free but had a little resources to build with.

Got home to meet Djo and Bruno in the living room of a quite cosy duplex, filled with jeeps, land rovers and maids, i was welcomed in lingala and Djo introduced me to Bruno the director of the atelier, so i was quickly served my dinner while we delibrated on how the work will go.

Day 2 in kin, i set out to watch Bruno working with guys, and also the tai chi teacher, i was trying t obe quiet as i do alwyes whenever i am in a new space, i was introduced to the guys and the encounter began quite slowly but i wasn't bothered, and before i knew it, they started asking if in know « Faustin Linyekula » who is like one of the leading voice coming from Africa in the global dance scene, i said of course i do but funny enough i have never met him personally so one on them told me he already told him about my coming, so he gave me his number, rang him around 4pm and to my disbelieve this guy was with me at 6pm, that was humble, someone that i have only read on journals, internet, watched on YouTube and other documentary films, could be this simple, i already liked him, and those who knows me knows the kind of topic i get quickly carried away with, this guy is one of my biggest reference in terms of African artiste who are not using this romantic name « Africa » in a vulgar way to get us reduced to « African artist » before we know it, we were already deep into argument and discussion on the general madness. 

I was offered a free ride because the driver that was supposed to come pick me was unable to understand our movement, so Faustin proposed to drop me, Getting home after my hang out with him and his family as well as Jean christophe and Eza possible collective, i thought it was a good idea that seems real cool to get home and just find food on the table, " ...oh my father, who art in heaven, give us this day, our daily bread different from the French fries. " it was spaghetti with vegetarian source and by the side was a small bowl of deliciousely smelling pepper source, i was feeling like an African man that i'm supposed to be, so i dipped my little spoon in it, cos deep inside of me i know, how much of an African i am, so as not to get myself disappointed but the pepper was just too hot. 

Today i understood what people try to impact on you, when they say "you will smell pepper" wow that source almost killed me, naturally i am not that guy that will go to the kitchen to pick up his food and remember to bring water along, so tonight was not in any way different, but the first spoon i placed on my hungry tongue, stroke my consciousness, spoke to my feet and i didn't know when my left hand was forcing a bottle of cold water into my cervical cord, oooppss it was like an action movie. I mean hollywood action not nollywood, the different electronic reggae fuji music that was banging in my head didn't make me hear when Bruno was repeatedly asking if i was ok, i managed to get my voice heard, because i thought that pepper has siezed my voice, so spoke so loud, « YES... YES I AM OK, » but i couldn't just lie till the end, so i added « but.. wow, this pepper is HOT » but man, i have promised myself never to waste food again, so i eat less than my stomach wants, so as to be exact for its need, so i started gulping the SPA- GHET-TI, i tried to put all my impulse and sence organ to purse, so i can dearly face the consequence when i'm done, 
Sweating like a goat even from the nose, my tongue felt swolen as if there was acid on it, water dropping from my eyes without having the feeling of crying, at a point i couldn't control the mucus dropping from my nose through my mouth, in actual fact it was like they work more than the series of cold water i have been gulping, " ...wooooow i will never try this again. "
I started feeling better but never stopped staring at my plate and thougth to myself « if someone wants to kill me, they should simply ask me to lick the remains in the plate, i quickly rushed to keep the plate in the kitchen before i get tempted to commit suicide ... lol.


its a gist so manage the typo errors...
Qudus Onikeku, reporting for bloggers and fakebookers
Stay tuned for more from kinsh.

My analyst told me...

My Analyst told me that I have ego problem, he said I need some attention, someone to probably save me from myself, the way he described it, he said i'm too much into my head, that i'm not easily led from my crazy ideas, and my tempers are just bizarre.

• I looked at him furiously, I tranquilly picked up the wooden chair I was sitting on and carefully stroke it against his shinning forehead, his glasses that were thickk enough to read my mind were broken into particles and all over the floor was filled with blood...
  

That was exactly what I got in mind for him, but I knew I wouldn't dare that, I just asked him “what's so strange if you found out that you're already a brainiac at the age of four ?”
I had a brain and that was insane, I had a dream and that was atypical.
He also refer to my ex's analysis of who she thinks I am, she said and he quotes “... he is that kind of guy that creeps upon a girl, make them feel loved and let them down when they begin to fall for him, we have been together for two years and he hardly say “I Love you” I think he also has that problem”

I picked up my phone, rang Hajarat to tell her how much I love her, miss her and promise to make the queen of my life...

My Analyst thinks he can put me in a box, so he can say “...alright this is who you are” but I get him so pissed, 'cos my complexity is not just making his job easy. I asked again “what will you do if you have a temperament that will not just let you be, I mean one that could just turn your five year old dreams of BLUE to RED in just one hour? A temperament that doesn't conform to any written rule, culture, nation, notion, religion, philosophy, profession etc. One that makes an African feel American at times when in Europe, or feels European when in America and something else when in Africa, one that makes a dancer wear the cap of a circus artiste, take up the job of a writer and critiquing, in the next moment making documentary film and writing poetry and making street art, and taking up the expertees of a sociologist and preaching the gospel of Islam, quoting Fela Kuti and the bible, and spends all day listening to Bob Marley and Obesere while socializing on facebook and soliloquise on the stage. Yet trying so hard to remain simple, 'cos i'm in the process of establishing my truth, accuracy and validation of something that circulates around my existence which i can never verify if it is right or wrong".

My analyst will not give up, 'cos he need to authenticate his hard earned degrees, my analyst thought he was accessing a young man who is pretending to know what he wants. NO, that's where he got it all wrong, because one thing I know is that I am a successful young man that doesn't know precisely what he wants but doing all he can to reject completely those things he doesn't want.

My Analyst told me I got an ego problem, I sat back, I was tranquil, fixed my gaze on him and I see smiles forcing their way out of my upper lips, I watch his lips dangle with passions like a performer of rap music, but this is a full grown man that knows his onion, meanwhile, I was long gone in my world of thoughts, I feel so high, I even touch the sky...

in Nigeria, we are allowed to be a dreamer.

In Nigeria we are allowed to dream, 
'cos what are we really left with
our best moments had been robbed, 
bargained for and mortgaged ages before 
the sad good news of our conscious birth. 
in Nigeria, ideas are not what we search for, 
we have them in gross, cos we permit ourselves to dream 
and enjoy the fruits of our ecstatic hard work 
only in the comfort or our beds.

Crying out the notorious phrase "This will be great" 
'cos from the moment we step our feet 
out of our illusive heavens, 
we face the daily reality again and unconsciously forget 
about those abundant dreams, until we get back to our bed, 
to begin another dream that will ease us of all the dailies 
of our daily lives.

then we have just one ambition,
and that ambition is to pester our long gone distant cousin
about joining him in the quest for a greener life 
than that of the Nigerian flag,
we compile the sweat of our hard earned money
and dream about the day we will leave...
our departure is not about leaving the country 
but walking away from these troubles of our life,
hoping that dreams come true across the Niger

When you become a Nigerian in the diaspora
you are still allowed to dream.
'cos you don't have much you are left with
Some moments in life, everything stops working 
as sudden as they started, leaving one in a complete stand still
you feel so lazily hard working and call yourself silly names like "Shit... Merde"
'cos nothing seems moving in the direction of your feet.

Then you've got just one ambition at this point
and that ambition is just to be where your heart is,
you dream of your return,
speak to yourself in loud voice,
in a very Nigerian way
words of self confidence in your hallucinatory 'home - coming" 
you raise your personality high with two stars,
you brag about how you alone will turn the town up-side-down 
and paint it all RED.

This is the sort of feeling that occupies my busy mind at times.
is it a dream? or an objective? or mere optimism?
Optimism itself, isn't it a dream, 
the song playing in the mind of the oppressed is for sure "optimism"
and that's what we are left with, 
for that is the only moment we are able to enjoy those things we miss
even if it is for a minute, we live that moment as robustly as we can
'cos we are sure of loosing that enjoyment in the next wind that blows on our sensibility.
Well i am allowed to be a dreamer. 'cos i am 101% NIGERIAN.

I don't know about other nations but i think there is a particular kind of dream that is very peculiar to nigerians, there is the issue of our aspiration that has been trampled upon by some few that makes us even dream of the very basics of life, like electricity and pipe borne water, you know the more tribulations you go through in life, it forms you, refines your sight and make you see just money in everything, money becomes the numero uno of our motivation, when poverty (not just financial) creeps upon you, you become vulnerable and anything goes, and in a situation where anything goes even your dreams go. 

A very personal anger is that of my fellow Nigerian dancers, there was a time when guys were aiming big, thinking of projects and how to make things happen both internationally, nationally and locally, but there comes a little shift in recent times, where guys makes "nice cash" through salsa dance, "reality" tv shows, music clips and animating for oil companies and banks etc. 

So "Success" in that definition can as well be another kind of dream killer, because when we had nothing we were quite young so we could do a lot of sacrifice but now guys are in serious need of meeting with daily expenses and responsibilities, so there is a huge rush for the daily bread and of course the money is coming but where are those dreams?

In Nigeria we trade dreams in exchange for anything, in which its popular demand is "material success" 
in the Diaspora i wonder if we even dream again, cos we never have the time... 

GUYS DEY HUSTLE FOR ABROAD.

Nigeria, comment ça va!

Nigeria, a nation richly blessed with poverty
a perpetual ignorant of her abilities due to her disabled condition 
for her metamorphosing sons, from man into homosexuals overnight 
raping her in broad day light.
she sells her offsprings to the vulgar opportunists.

Nigeria, a nation situated in the midst of illusion
deaf to the cries of her beloved visionaries
most intelligent intellectuals, 
that is only good for the benefit of other lands
because the intelligent ones at home 
are left with scamming machines.

Africa looks up to Nigeria
as Nigeria look down to the world
Nigeria musing over joining the up north
as she takes-in illusion
the World explains to Nigeria comment çava up north
but Nigeria is just a crippled nation, optimistically sitting on her ass
struggling to get unto her axis, struggling to get her center right

Nigeria, is just a notion, 
a customized dead giant in motion
a politically correct expression, 
a brand for amalgamation,
a geographical illustration.
Nigeria, seen from all angles yet we see the same.

Nigeria... hmmmm. yaaaawwwwnnnn!

Every man has got the right to decide his own destiny,
And in this judgement there is no partiality.
So arm in arms, with arms, we'll fight this little struggle,
'Cause that's the only way we can overcome our little trouble.

Yes brother you are right! I am very optimistic too 
but very soon we shall find out who the real revolutionaries are, 
cos i don't want my people to be tricked by those amongst us 
who are primarily concerned with material reward 
at the expense of ethics and revolution. 
In everyman chest, there beats a heart but 
i have fears hidden in my breast, i don't know why...

Nigeria, A nation blind to her disgrace
a nation of disillusioned adults
turning the whole town into a sex city,
pedaling at the same velocity since dawn
yet, a mob of celestial favors, youth, talents, work force, intellectuals
hopelessly anticipating the future in the punk way
Chauffeured by a playboy puppet, not woman enough to drive his home safely.

there are tears hidden inside of her, 
the world look at her with scorn 
and offering her a transplanted heart.
and they ask in a witty voice, comment çava Nigeria
for the world knows, she is just a brand new second hand.

With the thought of the 1960 Nigerian madness
I learn how to dialogue
with the thought of the future heroes I contribute to my world
with the grace of my parent I'm alive today
in the name of my family I thank you listeners, audience 
and readers of my poetry, Article and essays
in the name of my nation, I pledge to be humble
for the pleasure of many antagonizing folks, i promise to step aside.