As We Enter 2011

here are the top ten things I still like to keep in mind because year in year out,

they never change.

1.

The best things in life are still free

2.

No one else holds the key to ur destiny. It is only you, and God.

3. 

Full responsiblity for ur actions doesnt just mean, I know i did it, iM SORRY. It is also,

I did it, what can I do to make it better?

4.

Nothing in this world is given. We have to work at everything.

5.

Popularity is not a substitute for respect.

6. 

Success is not an accident. You only get where u wholeheartedly believe you can.

7.

Every failure is a lesson. That maybe you didnt work hard enough, or believe enough, or sacrifice enough. Or that maybe, it was just not meant to be.

8.

That everyone you meet has a role to play in ur life. Looking down on anyone is not an option.

9. 

Success is more than money, or grades, or popularity. That success is peace of mind. The assurance that

no matter what happens

Life is good. 

10.

Nothing can be done without God. He remains the Alpha, and Omega. 

Sometimes, I let go of these things, and lose focus. But always, I am brought back to them. As I am now.  

Happy 2011 everyone. 

Lost Angels: 5 years of Broken Dreams.

I tried to do a real post yesterday but I couldnt manage it. Too much emotion..I had to do a dedication instead. Truth is, all the posts and articles I have read have been emotionally charged. Real loss and grief never truly goes away. It just lies under the surface waiting to be unearthed, and every year we are forced to relive the gruesome and needless death of those 60 young men and women.
They were sons, daughters, friends, brothers and sisters. I can remember calling Kechi's mom over and over again, during those agonizing moments when we did not know whether she had made it out or not. Few minutes before, a friend Amarachi had called me, sobbing as she asked me to 'pleease, pray for Kechi'. That was how I tuned into TV to watch the most heartbreaking tragedy I have ever witnessed. What I saw then wasnt angels dying. I saw friends. Zikora and Chidinma Okafor had been on that flight. Their dad was a good man, and they had been our neighbours for a long time. He had lived for them. They had been his pride. But they were gone. Forever.
More than the pride of their parents, they had been our friends. We had gone off to boarding school at relatively the same time, and even though we kinda becamse quasi-strangers, due to the fact they only came back one a year, our families had known each other too well. The shadow of their loss hung around for a long time. It hasnt fully gone away. Im not sure it ever will.
Ifeanyi Ubah had been a little whizkid. Energetic, fun and yet decidedly studious. He was far brighter than his brother Chibueze, who is my close friend. And if u know Chibueze, then that is saying a lot. He had big dreams and that spark of genius. But he was also just a fun kid. I wonder what he wouldve been now. But one can only wonder..we can never really know. We were talking about it yesterday and someone suggested a seance. Maybe we will do that. Maybe it will help us know.
The only silver lining in my experience with this tragedy has been Kechi. From childhood we had been close. We fought over puss in boots storybook in the back row of Primary 5 room 211. We went to kiddies xmas stuffs every december, and she kept going even till 2003, long after all our mates had stopped. She just had the gentle, upbeat, childlike personality. And she was extremely bright. So when Amarachi called me on Dec 10th 2005, asking me to pray for Kechi, I prayed with everything in me. And it seemed even God was not ready for her to leave. She made it through the crash, 7 long months of coma, during which her mom stayed at her side, and we stayed on the phone; years of several skin grafting procedures, in S.A. then in Texas. And whenever I think about her, this tragedy leaves a little room on my face for a smile. Becuase she is alive, well, and on her way to those dreams we dreamt as kids.
The rest of those kids had dreams too. That will never materialize. And knowing Nigeria, Im left to wonder, will they be remembered? Will their death have been in vain, forgotten under the daily tragedy that defines life in Nigeria? Or will we someday see a society where trageides like this are less likely to happen??
I believe the future will tell. Que serai, serai. But we have a part to play. 60 dreamz to live.

#LJC60

This is not the day 

for Eulogies.

Today in 2005

Sixty angels took flight

And I prayed vehemently for Kechi's life.

Five years on

It still seems like yesterday

Kechi lives, but the scars remain, 

few on her body

But many more on her mind.

And while we all remember, some remember more than most.

And in all honestly

None of us will ever really forget. 

We Still Far Behind....

Despite all the advances Africa has been making to make people understand that we are not just about the negative media portrayal, sometimes, there is a real reason for alarm. ish like this shouldnt have a place in 2010



Africa needs to wake up mehn and stop compounding issues. I mean, its bad enough that the whole world prefers light skinned girls, should we now throw away one of the things going for us (i.e. proud full breasts that give a brother standing ovation) joor oh

Homophobia-Make the Change

If you know me, then you know I used to be a homophobe. I knew a couple of queer people in boarding school and being at a stage when we usually ganged up, or walked in groups, it was relatively easy to absorb prejudices against gay people. and against
As I grew as a person though, and matured into thinking for myself, I started evaluating these attitudes I had, to understand why I held them. Why didnt I like to be around gays, even though I had nothing against them? And I found out...nothing.
There was no reason whatsoever.

The prejudice i had against them was just that: a prejudice. Does the bible condemn it? Maybe, maybe not. Did scripture condemn adultery, yea. Did Christ condemn the adulterous woman? No. Do we today condemn adulterous people? Nope. Judge them, maybe. And while I cannot claim to understand them, gay people, are first and foremost, people. Not a subset, like society wants us to believe. There is no such thing as a subset of people. We are all fallen, reaching back to the vision of perfection : gay, straight, trans, all races, all classes, all religions.
If we want to criticise people on moral grounds, be equally moral for all gender expressions and sexual orientations. This is one area where Africa, is unfortunately, still too clingy towards its past. People justify their bias by saying , homosexuality is not in our culture. Well it is now! C'mon son! Neither was cinema, clubbing, facebook, flying in planes, Christianity, Islam, democratic politics and gin and juice but they're all part of it now. So will you be the wife of Lot that will stare back at visions lost? or will you welcome a new African culture, a blend of the past, present and near future?  All Im saying is, times have changed. Arent you all the ones going on about change? If Greece had held on to 'culture and tradition' they would have died as city-states. If America held on to tradition, black people would still be slaves. Our modern age would never have arisen gaddamit! We cannot hold on to a culture that glorifies dehumanisation, or continue to live in denial of the reality of our times. There are parts of our culture that deserve being held on to, our arts, our history, our language, our dress, our sense of worth and value and work ethic, our spirit of tolerance. People are all too quick to sweep these under the carpet, but when it comes to homosexuality, we suddenly become African ambassadors. Never mind the fact that some of these people have done more to keep and promote African culture than we have.

I guess all Im saying is, we need to join the rest of the world in the new age. Lets bring our African flair into it, and let us not, in the new global culture be known as the continent of homophobes. Let people see the hospitality, tolerance and communal bond we are known for. Change is inevitable. Maybe we were a dogmatic society in the past. But new information and new realities demand a new orientation.Instead of finding justification to hate in your religion, find justification to love.  Thats what humans are about. Now its your turn. Make the change. For love's sake.

Why This Boy Disgrace Fela Like This??

I mean did you see that?!! I cant even say nothing. In between fits of laughter, I managed to be annoyed at this as well. And the other judge guy took it really personal. "This is obscenity!" (someone want to bet hes ghey, lol i kid! i kid!)
 And the fat judge was just like "now thats having fun" over and over again. Ask me, he didnt know what else to say. Some things just freeze ur brain in autopse.
This naked boy got the dress down he deserved finally! I mean, he had the nerve, the neeerrrrrrve, to even  remotely link Fela to his psycho-display. Extreme hand-fallage. He should have just said he was doing a traditional costume display and pretend not to speak English like these guys:



. That would at least give him an excuse to get away with whatever he does. I mean see how they said yes to these folks. Tell me he didnt do far better. You see, its all about the packaging. Go take lessons, my friend. Stop insulting the greats like Fela. Its not cool.

Haikus At Nite

Hearts dont, when they break

break even

-Jagged edges

Uneven, the piece

of heart break

cuts and bleeds

Broken piece of heart

cuts deeply

to bleed sweet peace

Tears, blood and peace

melt evenly

to glue broken hearts.

The Top Ijebu Idiosyncracies -- #Ijebuism

DISCLAIMER: the views present here make a hefty generalisation and in no way constitutes a prejudice against people of Ijebu descent :D It is a spin off of a tt and so majority of them are other people's views. If u find it offensive, you can like to go somewhere else. Its strictly for laffs. 

So apparently, Ijebu people (in case you dont know, Ijebu is a community close to Lagos state) have a reputation of being miserly. Now, I dont know how true that is, seeing that am an Ibo boy. But stereotypes rule the world so people shaa went in on the trending topic #ijebuism to give expressions to the most beautiful mizer attitudes people display. Im only going to pick my top twenty funniest.
So here they are, in no particular order...the things #Ijebuism causes are:

1. Getting high on cough syrup. (weed is not just as cheap as it used to be abi?)
  
2. Building your house with one window facing the neighbours living room so you can watch TV from there.

3. Mixing Tony Montana deodorant with water to use as deodorant.

4. Writing your name as 'Homorlorlah' and when you pronounce it , you still pronounce it as 'homorlorlah' (okay, that wasnt miserly but apparently ijebu people are the kings of h-factor) so ijebu people like to hEAT hEBA!

5. Going alone on your honeymoon because a trip for two is too expensive (chei, iDead)

6. Chewing agbalumo skin until it changes to chewing gum.

7. Pouring water inside beaten egg before frying. (also applies to dusting the sugar off your doughnut so you can use it to soak garri later)

8. Cutting agege bread into a U shape so it looks like a croissant

9. Washing sanitary pad so you can use it again (wince!). and before yu guys walk away self righteously, some of yall do the same with condoms =)

10. Bathing with your clothes on so u can wash them at the same time.

11. Having a Polo shirt where the horse is holding the stick and chasing the guy.

12. Using one beat for all the tracks in your album. (What do you say 9ice?) or rapping into the spinning fan so it will sound like autotune :D

13. As you outgrow them,u cut ur trousers into 3 quaters, then shorts, then booty shorts, then pants. (why u no make am g-string too?) HABA!!

14. Pouring Zobo into a Nuvo bottle. (if you dont know what nuvo is you need to #slapYourself

15. Uve graduated but you still hold ur UniLag card just to watch movie for cheap (I totally know someone who did this, but I shaa no go talk)

16. Pricing school fees.

17. Lapping ur babe at the cinema

18. Asking people to remain the liquid for you when they're taking cereal so u wont have to buy milk.

19. Using aluminium plate for TV antennae.. (I kid you not, this happens)

20. Having two TVs on top of each other becos one shows pictures and the other one gives sound.

Like I said, there are countless others, to sample all of them just go here . Thats it folks. If ur my friend and have ijebu blood, i mean no harm. Like i said, its all for laffs. abi ur doing ijebu with your laff too?

Naija Police Met their Match

You heard the incident a while back that a popular actress was harrassed by the nigerian police? well it seems from every indication, she harassed them right back lol



can you see that not everyone walking je-jely for road is to be messed around with?? I respect lol, and i imagine the cops did too.