Tag Archives: Nigeria

SARAKI AND THE PANDORA OF STREET MUSIC by ‘Lakunle Jaiyesimi

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For many years, until recently, I can conveniently say that I was largely selective with choice of music, as against my almost indiscriminate stance with food. However, on a certain recent day, the discovery of the strange pose of the corpse of the legendary music artist, Michael Jackson, in his casket constituted the needed stimulus for me to, even if momentarily, take an amateur plunge into the world of African American music.

It was a Pandora’s box. Like unsolicited pop-up windows, certain question marks popped up at my face. Why is it exclusive Continue reading SARAKI AND THE PANDORA OF STREET MUSIC by ‘Lakunle Jaiyesimi

Like Play, Like Joke: This state will change by ‘Lakunle Jaiyesimi

“E go land…e go land…na em butterfly dey take enter bush” is a direct translation of an expression of dynamism. In this piece, it is the dynamic nature of all human relationships and activities and how they influence our choices that constitute our concern.

Just recently, like play…like joke…, a well-known bald-headed friend of mine and I digressed into a heated argument from a general discussion about a Nigerian woman – Kemi Omololu Olunloyo, who many perceive as having a mental challenge and who has recently gone public with the claim that a popular Nigerian Pastor, Daddy G. O. (as Continue reading Like Play, Like Joke: This state will change by ‘Lakunle Jaiyesimi

Dying In Public by ‘Lakunle Jaiyesimi

from 071208

“Felix X is dead” was the bold newspaper headline that was never made. It never saw the light of day, but remained on the whispering lips of all and sundry.

On that fateful morning, the neighbourhood of a very old patriarch was roused from slumber to hear the news going round of the death of the youngest and most promising man in their neighbourhood. There and beyond, stories of the death of worthless men, accompanied with stretched portraits of their fat-stuffed faces, graced the front pages of the National Dailies. Contrived smiles concealed the atrocious underbelly of corporate and disguised crimes lived through their years on earth. They died and a simulation of public service on public news sheets is their consolation.

“Felix X is dead” but no one cared to mention it. The stars shone at night; and the Sun rose at dawn. Continue reading Dying In Public by ‘Lakunle Jaiyesimi

THESE ‘LOWER ANIMALS’ by ‘Lakunle Jaiyesimi

Lion-ManA case to prove man, especially the Nigerian (as far as I’m concerned at the moment having factored in the reality of my human fallibility), has inadvertently, deliberately or serendipitously summoned cultures to be and almost true to the inaugural force of God during CREATION, according to the Holy Bible, these cultures, degrading, shameful, retrogressive and almost inhumanely unique, as they are, have come to be.

Man is an animal. An animal with a brain like every other animal? Maybe not! Maybe with a top-up to think? No! To speak? No! To build? No! To praise God? No! Then, what? Whatever it is, it’s a top-up to be able to organize ourselves, better than those ‘lower animals’, into tribes, religions, peoples, professions, neighbourhood and associates. Continue reading THESE ‘LOWER ANIMALS’ by ‘Lakunle Jaiyesimi

RE: Memo to the Nigerian Street by Pius Adesanmi & the mataz at hand by ‘Lakunle Jaiyesimi

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Dr. Bukola Saraki…going…going…g…o….

“Listen to Nigerian leaders and you will frequently hear the phrase, “this great country of ours.” Nigeria is not a great country. It is one of the most disorderly nations in the world. It is one of the most corrupt, insensitive, inefficient places under the sun. It is one of the most expensive countries and one of those that give least value for money. It is dirty, callous, noisy, ostentatious, dishonest, and vulgar. In short, it is among
Continue reading RE: Memo to the Nigerian Street by Pius Adesanmi
& the mataz at hand by ‘Lakunle Jaiyesimi

RE: Memo to the Nigerian Street by Pius Adesanmi & the mataz at hand by ‘Lakunle Jaiyesimi

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Dr. Bukola Saraki…going…going…g…o….

“Listen to Nigerian leaders and you will frequently hear the phrase, “this great country of ours.” Nigeria is not a great country. It is one of the most disorderly nations in the world. It is one of the most corrupt, insensitive, inefficient places under the sun. It is one of the most expensive countries and one of those that give least value for money. It is dirty, callous, noisy, ostentatious, dishonest, and vulgar. In short, it is among
Continue reading RE: Memo to the Nigerian Street by Pius Adesanmi
& the mataz at hand by ‘Lakunle Jaiyesimi

Tale Of Two Nigeria – A Short Story by ‘Lakunle Jaiyesimi

poorOnce upon a time, the diseased elephant lay dead beside the flourishing rat.

 

The rat had blown his flesh with the meat of the elephant. The rot lay beside the freshness. And a warm breeze descending the poles came to merge the disparity. The gentle wind delayed, had been brewed from a plant in a refined region away from our branded reality. It brought with it, its own ways. It had its own eyes, its stance, its culture, its people and its life.

 

In the wind, I saw it all…the field of cold and warmth, as of two cities resolving to live together. The intermingling of splendour and squalour; the breaking of hearts by hearts. I saw it all in the air, the culture of the land so far away from our touch that we only basked in the gigantic appellation of her name. The name of a chord of people of Continue reading Tale Of Two Nigeria – A Short Story by ‘Lakunle Jaiyesimi

#Pausibility:  Modulating Our Knotty Affiliations by Adebayo Coker

affiliation“How good and how pleasant it would be, before God and man to see the unification of all…”
– Bob Marley, Africa Unite.

That a man is amongst many connections a son, a brother, a friend, a classmate, a colleague, an uncle, a community leader, a tribesman, a state man, a country man… His many affiliations are brought into play at different levels of his life but let me share this experience of mine with you.

I know a big farmer. His primary goal is to ensure everything works not because his other investments are not yielding good returns but he made me understand that if he closes down the farm the aftershock will be greater than what ordinary eyes can behold. That made me cherish his ingenuity and zeal in ensuring that everything works even though it wasn’t that smooth running; such a large farm, especially with the diverse expertise that he needed to run it efficiently. So he sent his relatives to acquire skills in one Continue reading #Pausibility:  Modulating Our Knotty Affiliations by Adebayo Coker

#Pausibility: Voices From The Hallowed Chambers by Adebayo Coker

Nigeria-National-AssemblyMy dear President,

It will be too early in the day to start sending you notes but this is very important especially with the task you have before you. It is an enormous task and it is bothering me already how you will start.  Just last week I asked that people should give you some space especially when we are awaiting some deliverables in about 80 days time. But as it is, my impatience to tone some words to you cannot endure a second longer.

Early March this year, I encountered one of the most gentlemen I ever come across in my short existence. He calls Jagaban Bola because they were contemporaries in Mobil. He acknowledged the sagacity of Bola on any given field of his interest. He was even jumping like a puppy while expressing his joy of being alive to witness your coming back to serve the nation. He congratulated my generation that we Continue reading #Pausibility: Voices From The Hallowed Chambers by Adebayo Coker

#Pausibility: The Frailty Of Our Ingenuity by Adebayo Coker

InauguaDear Compatriots,

We sure had a wonderful Inauguration last Friday. It was awesome even though there were obvious lapses in the protocols during the Swearing-in proper and other activities that followed. From the foregoing, you should be able to tell what I am set out to talk about. The side dis(at)traction!

These past few weeks I have deliberately fed my laziness to blog. Not necessarily because I couldn’t write anything but I knew the last few weeks of Jonathan’s administration were tales of woes and that was what many bloggers cum columnists would air . I was right as so many valedictory notes I read were just as I had thought. Jonathan, A Failure! Scorecard…!! Good Riddance…!!! Continue reading #Pausibility: The Frailty Of Our Ingenuity by Adebayo Coker

#PAUSIBILITY:  Thank You!  For What? by Adebayo Coker

KEROSINE QUEUE/PRESS-2/MY DOCUMENT/MY DOCUMENT/JUNE 09 NIGERIANS STRUGGLING TO BUY KEROSINE AT NNPC MEGA STATION IN ABUJA ON WEDNESDAY (10/6/09). PHOTO; NAN
KEROSINE QUEUE/PRESS-2/MY DOCUMENT/MY DOCUMENT/JUNE 09
NIGERIANS STRUGGLING TO BUY KEROSINE AT NNPC MEGA STATION IN ABUJA ON WEDNESDAY (10/6/09). PHOTO; NAN

Last week Thursday, I got a shark-bite feeling that fuel scarcity inflicts on one. I got the news that PMS was being sold at a filling station in Ajuwon and I harmed myself with a 25 litre keg, hoping that at least I could get a scoop that would be enough for me to power my generator (contrary to the  ads, there hasn’t been power in my locality for days running) so I may at least submit my column for the week; but I returned home frustrated.

True to the news, fuel was being sold and I quickly joined the long queue.  For several hours that I was there, I couldn’t get to the nozzle even though I saw that the product was being dispensed. Some street urchins came with a truckload of kegs, hijacked the nozzle from the attendant and sold the product to themselves. Immediately a keg got filled, they would move it few metres away from the filling station and start hawking it at Two Hundred and Fifty Naira per litre (the pump price from the filling station was Continue reading #PAUSIBILITY:  Thank You!  For What? by Adebayo Coker

#PAUSIBILITY: WE ARE AFRICANS! by Adebayo Coker

(Editorial note: This was received about a week ago.)

africaaaMy dear people, I must start by congratulating us for the consolidation of democracy. Two weeks ago we had both Gubernatorial and House of Assembly elections. Even though there were pockets of skirmishes, I can submit that we are all determined to make this system work and with time the imbroglio will be dealt with, then our nation will be one of the exemplified democracies in the world.

I could not write my column last week because I was busy coordinating my son’s first birthday. As I moved around town during that period, a thought kept coming to mind: If posters could cry, we all would be flapping our arms and feet through the pool of tears that our nation space would be submerged in. Also if posters could laugh we all would be running with a finger in each ear in a bid to block out the maddening Continue reading #PAUSIBILITY: WE ARE AFRICANS! by Adebayo Coker

THE DEMYSTIFICATION OF THE IROKO THE ONDO STATE GOVERNOR by Iffy Peter.

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On April 14th 2007, I was at the Christian Corpers’ Lodge in Alagbaka, Akure, Ondo, waiting for Maurice Iwu’s (or Iwuruwu as my friend calls him) INEC to announce the Winner of Ondo State Gubernatorial election. The wait lasted more than two days and allegations of rigging out Mimiko started flying round. Against public opinion, Dr. Olusegun Agagu was announced as the winner and this was followed by mass protest in Akure, Ondo, Owo and several other towns and villages in Ondo State.

 

Dr. Olusegun Rahman Mimiko was the people’s choice by a wide margin but the PDP rigging machine that was well oiled by the then president; Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and manned by the controversial Prof. Maurice Iwu returned Dr. Olusegun Agagu (they love this Olusegun name in that state) as the Continue reading THE DEMYSTIFICATION OF THE IROKO THE ONDO STATE GOVERNOR by Iffy Peter.

#PAUSIBILITY: The Day Of Reckoning Is Here by Adebayo Coker

cokerrIt will be gubernatorial elections tomorrow. No doubt, I will urge everyone to go out en masse, just as we did during the Presidential Elections, and cast our votes for any candidate of our choice. Nobody is going to drown especially if you take caution and do not go near the lagoon if you cannot swim.

Please and please, stop degrading the palace of The Oba of Lagos. We all have failed to realize that there is no  superhuman. What happened was just an act of the gods as it occurred to me that someone had been sharing in the drink of the deities for a long time but the day in question was just the day of  reckoning.

The task before us is to make a choice of who will govern our states. And I wouldn’t want us to be carried away by any side attraction or distraction. Continue reading #PAUSIBILITY: The Day Of Reckoning Is Here by Adebayo Coker

The Laws of ‘Matrimonial’ War by ‘Lakunle Jaiyesimi

Boko haraammmmThis piece was first published on  (by meronymofmeroe) and the conclusive plea towards eradicating the actors called Boko Haram seems to be most appropriate now considering the concluding words of this article “it is expedient for the nation to plead for the help of superior nations at this time that the armed struggle has taken a new form other than freedom-fighting. Terrorism is alien to Nigeria as much as it is baseless”. Hence, this might just be the best time for the piece to resurface. Enjoy.

“Since independence, our governments have been a matter
of few holding the cow for the strongest and most cunning
to milk. Under those circumstances, everybody runs over
everybody to make good at the expense of others.”
– Obafemi Awolowo

WAR could be an interesting subject especially when properly painted by an Architect of words. Although, it is definitely never going to be a sweet experience if you ever had to live through one – just one war-experience is enough for a lifetime, there are ways wars are described that make them as Continue reading The Laws of ‘Matrimonial’ War by ‘Lakunle Jaiyesimi

#PAUSIBILITY: The Silhouette Of This Presidential Election.

Jonathan-x-Buhari-1The dark clouds that gathered on our nation has finally  cleared. The jubilation on the streets could be likened to the celebration we had when that killer wolf, Abacha was announced dead (no apology to the Abachas as I am not responsible for their father’s irrationality). The good Lord loves this nation. The doomsayers and those prophets that had in their own flesh believed the elections will not hold  and if at all it held, the incumbent will be returned, should be left alone in their pulpits as I would want to believe that people would stop Continue reading #PAUSIBILITY: The Silhouette Of This Presidential Election.

Shoki for Change: Once upon a time by ‘Lakunle Jaiyesimi

IMG-20150401-WA0010Oh little flower, can I touch?

The air is cool and princely so,

That one’s frame glides through,

Like a piece of fine cake no one can eat,

As my motherlan’ dances to a new home

 

Once upon a time, Abraham Lincoln… Continue reading Shoki for Change: Once upon a time by ‘Lakunle Jaiyesimi