Posts

Is Stupidity a Name?

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Every element that constitutes what makes like a reality must be in one form or shape, colour and size. Whether in a countable physical form or intractable spiritual appearance, the Creator knows what everything stands for. No one knows exactly what He knows and there will never be anyone who shall justify his/her instinct before the Maker. The reason is simple; the peace-establishing mechanics of human societies are in His reaches. God is the only one who establishes them and that is why the “earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof; the world and they that dwell therein.” (Psalms 24, verse 1)  God is the only Decision Maker who sees the entirety from the beginning to the end without brainstorming. Such a quality makes Him the Creator. Whether He is called Olódùmarè or Mvelinqangi or Jehovah or Ngai or Allah or Adonai, no one can associate stupidity with His thoughts, humanly presumed inaction or creations. Everything He does is...

I Love You

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Love, as God’s created phenomenon, is the most important connection that could make the world the best place for human existence. The purposes of love to humanity are many and with its many sides and flexibility, it could be a tool for several situations. Love, if humanity wants it in its pristine form, is the only nucleus that could kill capitalism, eliminate racial supremacy, extinct same-race oppression, erase legal domination, abolish xenophobia, and end repressive sharing of natural resources. Besides, the wars in Yemen and Syria or ethnic cleansing, as once experienced in Rwanda, would have remained in the imagination of global history, if love is the cornerstone of human relations. The phenomenon with which the Creator keeps the world together is love. In every home, on the streets, in the corner offices, within churches and in schools, etc. love represents different concept to everyone. As practically used by humans for different purposes, love is now an instrumen...

Terms-and-Condition Robbery

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What banking, as an industry, and the bank, as an institution, represent on pages of business and finance/management textbooks are different from what is practically obtainable in Nigeria and probably some countries in the world. To all customers of banks in Nigeria, every cash deposited in their accounts is vulnerable to any category of deduction, either acceptable or otherwise to the account holder. In fact, mysterious or magical deductions of funds is not a strange thing to more than 99% of bank account holders in this part of the world. A screen shoot copy of the email from Access Bank Plc. For the banks, members of their managements have become specialists in the creation of excuses for stealing. However, to have such deductions well packaged and legitimately coloured in corporate garments, the name of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) must be associated with it. With phrases like “as directed by the Central Bank of Nigeria…” and “the CBN has directed all banks...,” every...

An Autocratic Democrat

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Praises, criticism and condemnation are three identities with which people’s comments in politics could be described. No matter what any social commentator says, his/her standpoint must fit into at least one of the three. Even those who claim neutrality in public or/and political discourses hardly realise that their remarks do fit into one of the three aforementioned identities. From 2014 to 2015, Lai Mohammed, as the spokesperson of the All Progressives Congress (APC) – a political party in Nigeria – vigorously applied one of the three during all his media addresses and descriptions of the presidential administration of Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. Lai Mohammed Despite the intensity of Lai Mohammed’s condemnation of Goodluck Jonathan before the 2015 presidential election, it was hardly reported that the then national secretary of APC was detained or arrested or his phones were bugged. There was no report that Lai Mohammed’s wife or his family members were detained by the police ...

A Mockable Fire Service

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If Nigerians who are knowledgeable about public services in the UK or/and the US are asked to make comments on the efficiency of the fire departments in the two aforementioned countries, what their responses might be could be guessed. Even if the respondents have never been to the West, a 2013 thriller titled The Call that features Abigail Breslin and Halle Berry is enough to convince anyone that public services in the US or Canada are not for jokers or façade public administrators whose priorities are self-interests and social media posts of imaginary achievements. Here is an important question that requires our attention: Is it logically possible for two fire service trucks to arrive at a scene of a fire outbreak without water two hours after emergency numbers were called? Rescuers at the scene For anyone who lives in France or the United Kingdom or even Egypt, such could be a fiction. But for residents of Lewis Street in Abule Taylor of Alimoso, Lagos, Nigeria, is ...

China and Covid-19

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When the so-called Covid-19 virus was first reported last year (2019), it was not imagined that Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province in China, was a location for the kick-off of a global pandemic. Few weeks after the lockdown of Wuhan, cases of Covid-19 infections were reported in South Korea, Italy, Spain, the UK and the United States. What appeared shockingly suspicious was the minimal number of infections in Chinese provinces like Beijing, Shanghai, Fujian with 587, 536 and 350 cases, and eight, six and one deaths respectively. The figures are different and represent far contrasts to the number of infections and deaths in New York, Milan, London and Madrid. In the four cities, over 100,000 cases and more than 10,000 deaths have been reported in each. A logical question that should be asked is this: how is it possible that the source country of the virus experienced less number of deaths, unlike the recipient states? Such has never been the case in the history of an epidemic...

Love: The Only Nucleus*

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Whatever name the Creator is called – God in English, Allah in Arabic, Yahweh in Jewish perspective, Olódùmarè in Yorùbá, Dieu in French, Dio among the Italians, Jumala in Finnish language, or Unkulunkulu by the Zulu people – by those who believe in His existence, it must be recognized that Creator is the Force that exists before human creation. The Creator actually is Love. With love as the basis for human creation and existence, God gives humans everything – land, seas, waters, the solar system, intelligence, air, animals, and so many – to enjoy them equally . Despite the thousands of years of human explorations and research, all the goodies of the Creator have not been discovered. In reality, such would never be accomplished because that is what make Him the Omniscient. As God so much love the world and He gives all to humanity without taxation, why is there unfairness and injustice in the world? Why are there boundaries and racial discriminations? Where are there poverty ...

Emmerson Mnangagwa: An Angel of Poverty

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In his arguably the most philosophical novel titled Ninety Eight-Four , Eric Arthur Blair (popularly known as George Orwell) affirms that for those at the top position of power to fall for the rise of those who are in-between the top and the Emmerson Mnangagwa, President of Zimbabwe middle ground, the support of the lower class is inevitable. Without doubt such was believed to be the case in Zimbabwe when the military pushed Robert Mugabe out of presidential office in November 2017. To the populace, Mugabe who was then 93 years as the world’s oldest head of state and his wife, Grace Mugabe (as called Grace Gucci because of her patronage of the brand) were seen as the only fellows at the top of power. His former vice president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, and top military officers with whom Mugabe had ran the former British colony were coloured as parts of the people. In Harare, Bulawayo, Mutare, Kwekwe and other cities, the celebrations were exceptionally huge and the euphoria las...

Silence and Propaganda

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The positive changes the world had ever felt in politics, sciences, literature etc. and those that are being enjoyed by millions of people all over the world are results of significant intellectual efforts. President Trump and President Xi Jinping How programming codes for software developments and hardware controls were conceived and brought to reality enjoyed productive silence too. But for those who fall into the opposite category, they make more noise. Practically, noisemakers in politics are inherently insecure and become under achievers. Even with so much noise made by Adolf Hitler and other allies of his, Germany collapsed and it was rebuilt through the hard work of intellectually determined people. Ironically, the names and efforts of most of them are not accounted for by books of history. They were not recognized because they were never in positions of political or military authority. Don't wonder much. The globally known example of a noisemaker in the world today ...

Trump’s War against China

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I n all societies, there are two sides to a coin. On one side, the haves exist in mansions and castles. On the other side, the haves not find their abodes. Since such is the reality, then the belief that all holders of political offices serve the interest of the people is relatively incorrect. Those who are in public offices are certainly within the fortress of wealth and pleasure. And as a result, they don’t make policies that would circumvent their interests. Larry Kudlow, White House Economic Adviser and Director of the United States National Economic Council For the people, they are usually the victims of “public” policies which in reality are never made by the public. Why? The public is the people not a man or a league of friends in any parliament. Every human’s agenda or pursuit would never be equal to the thoughts and targets in the minds of millions (as applicable in the United States of America) or over one billion (as applicable in China) who are the peoples . In ...

Trump and the Hanoi Summit

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P olitics is a two-sided coin. To some individuals, it is characterized by fake achievements and loud media coverage of nothing. And to some, it is the source of inevitable power. Therefore, its propaganda of success is always preceded by noise or media publicity. To experienced people in politics, failure to deliver a well-advertised policy is similar to a billion-dollar advertisement of a product that would never see the light of the day. Such is similar to pre-elections promises all over the globe. They usually end in imagination; not reality. Once, Donald Trump and the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, made so much noise on nuclear weapons and ammunitions of their countries. In fact, in the media competition for the most efficient nuclear warhead, Trump affirmed to Kim that his nuclear button is the bigger one. Kim and Trump at the Hanoi Summit Either big or small, are nuclear weapons tools for building global peace or greater economy? If the answer is in affirmative, how ...

Democracy versus Voter’s Cards

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How wise or otherwise Nigerians are could be determined by anyone based on a particular criterion in a specific period. For some, the rationale of the Nigerian people is difficult to determine within the field of science or engineering or arts. For some others, the smart level of thinking among Nigerians is evident in the survival mentality of the youth. However, many in political science believe how wise Nigerians are can only be known during elections. Though some great scientists, engineers, novelists etc. have emerged from Nigeria, in some cases, such fellows thereafter get settled outside the country so that they could be far away from the claw of its ever declining economy. Whenever it is time for elections, hullabaloo of ideas and opinions are usually shared on social media platforms, on public buses, at newsstands, in saloons, offices, and even at religious places. The varieties of views about the incumbent and challenging candidates are reliable criteria that could be u...

A Successful Failure

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Irrespective of façade social status, manipulated records of righteousness or financially publicised reputation, what rules over humans is time. Some people do say "time is God"; but for atheists, time could be the intractable force that exposes the truth in future, despite the efforts of humans that veil the reality today.  Muhammadu Buhari Prior to the 2015 presidential election in Nigeria, the present occupier of the presidential office – Muhammadu Buhari – promised Nigerians jobs, constant electricity, affordable housing, an extremely subsidized health services and one meal a day . In the aspect of job creation, the man from Daura created a N 30,000 monthly salary employment for thousands after his economic policy had resulted to the retrenchments and sackings of millions of professionals in all industries. Besides, thousands of small businesses were forced to make exit. Consequently, hardship becomes nourished in the glorified fight against opposition mem...

Police Terrorism

About seven years ago when I first heard of the acronym SARS, during a tête-à-tête with some friends at a café in Lagos, I felt like a stranger in Moscow. As the chat continued, I was able to understand the meaning of the police unit as Special Anti-Robbery Squad . Expectedly, the name defines the core goal of the squad’s operations – to work against ALL robbery-related matters. Also, if the name of the police team is anything to go by, then raiding of the citizens should never be a practice of the unit. After all, the name of the group is not Special Citizens Raiding Squad. Practically in the past half a decade, anti-robbery operations are hardly the concerns or interests of SARS officers in Lagos. Innocent residents and hikers are now the main goals of their raids. In several locations in the state, the common man is now a prey while SARS officers remain the legal predators. In my experience, more than 35 persons who I know or heard of had been unjustifiably arrested by SAR...