I am excited as ever to get your timely correspondence. It was a timely balm that soothes the strained joints of our daily struggles. More so, it was an insight into a higher mind that proffers pragmatic panacea to our constant societal problems from a distant world, while opening a vista for dialectical discourse on our continued existence as humans and as citizens of a highly soldiered sovereign alliance.
“This is a court of law, young man, not a court of justice”, are words attributed to Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., one of the U.S. Supreme Court’s great Justices (as he then was). They were uttered in response to the argument of a young lawyer who mentioned severally while arguing that his client sought justice before the court.
Again, and in response to your well-articulated exposé on the mob-action against the wellbeing of justice in our dear country, I reiterate the words of Holmes, “This is a court of law, young man, not a Court of Justice”. Continue reading LETTER FROM THE SON OF MAN. Vol3 by ‘Lakunle Jaiyesimi→
My conscience bleeds this morning for my country. Not because of the many upheavals, trials and tribulations we face daily, these could be surmounted by the repositioning of the human mind, but because the country completely wallows in indulgence that conveniently metes out justice as a selective, eyes wide opened sword wielder, rather than the blind lady with an impartial sword, ready to give it to anyone, irrespective of status, class or creed, according to the measurements of the scales in her hand. My conscience actually bleeds because I belong to a nation that has lost its soul. The irredeemable path taken by us as a nation had revealed our recidivism and only a soulful diagnosis and conscientious surgery of the root cause can redirect us from this annihilating path that leads to nothing but perdition. Continue reading LETTER TO THE SON OF MAN. Vol3 by Adeojo Kolawole Adeyemi Hannibal→
(Editorial note: This was received about a week ago.)
My 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→
It is with much sadness, I believe, that we have, together, watched our country inexorably degenerate into a total fiasco in the over 60 years of its independence. What is more painful and disheartening is the fact that our crops of politicians are those who have not learnt any notable lessons from the country’s past or the current events around the world nor get moved by the tears and agonies of the oppressed Nigerian souls who constitute the majority of the entire Nigerian population. Perhaps, they either don’t read what the papers and social media reveal each day about their misconducts (I want to believe) or they read them aloof while we read a posteriori, or they are just too busy looting every aspect of our economy with the very worst form of predilection for pilfering that they’ve become so deaf to and unmoved by the cries of the oppressed, and thus fail to call to mind the realities of history and current times. Continue reading DEAR NIGERIANS, IT IS TIME TO ACT by Yemi Czar→
The past weeks have witnessed unprecedented action by members of civil society across the world against the injustice of Israel’s disproportionately brutal response to the firing of missiles from Palestine.
If you add together all the people who gathered over the past weekend to demand justice in Israel and Palestine – in Cape Town, Washington, D.C., New York, New Delhi, London, Dublin and Sydney, and all the other cities – this was arguably the largest active outcry by citizens around a single cause ever in the history of the world.
A quarter of a century ago, I participated in some well-attended demonstrations against apartheid. I never imagined we’d see demonstrations of that size again, but last Saturday’s turnout in Cape Town was as big if not bigger. Participants included young and old, Muslims, Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, agnostics, atheists, blacks, whites, reds and greens … as one would expect from a vibrant, tolerant, multicultural nation. Continue reading My plea to the people of Israel: Liberate yourselves by liberating Palestine by Desmond Tutu→
I write this piece to quickly draw our critical consciousness to this “infamous”, yet significant, speech of P.W Botha, the erstwhile President of the apartheid South Africa, which a friend drew my attention to in the course of the week (even in the overwhelming ambiance of my grudges against Nigerian leaders, but gratifying reluctance in discussing them), after reading one of his email’s entitled “Now That Botha Must Be Taken Seriously (or whatever that means)!”. For the sake of emphasis, I decided to retain the title.
The reason for bringing up this speech anyway is to enable us have a rethink of the horrifying events that have plagued our nation Nigeria, and by extension Africa – corruption, civil unrests and wars, leadership crisis, kidnappings here and there, consumerism and underdevelopment, and more recently, terrorism – since independence. These horrible events, we must recall, have for a while now been attracting blatant reactions from sensitive and oversensitive people to an extent that even the silence of phlegmatic individuals has become the din that prevents us from hearing ourselves anymore. Therefore, at this critical time, existential questions demand immediate answers as they continue to gaze at us shamefully and a need for us as Blacks to reconsider Botha’s chauvinistic and supposed malign speech. This speech, of course, seems the only formula that couched, thoroughly and fittingly, our rhetoric of confusion, most especially at this moment when our entire socio-political realities continue to draw hoots of derision and despair from us, thus, making us all becoming improvised, nay, accidental social critics of Continue reading “NOW THAT BOTHA MUST BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY” by Yemi Czar→
Anti-apartheid hero, imprisoned for 27 years, later became democratic South Africa’s first president
Nelson Mandela, one of the greatest leaders of modern times, passed away Thursday at his home in Johannesburg after a prolonged lung infection. He was 95.
South African President Jacob Zuma announced that Mandela, “the founding president of our democratic nation, has departed,” adding that he “passed on peacefully.”
“Our nation has lost its greatest son. Our people have lost a father,” Zuma said.
“Our thoughts are with the millions of people who embraced Mandela as their own and who saw his cause as their cause.… This is the moment of our deepest sorrow.” Continue reading Nelson Mandela dead at 95→
In the event that the question is posed “Who constitutes the African first-timers?”, they are the Africans who, in spite of the status quo at their time, belled the cat whether by choice or by chance. By that, we mean Africans who did things that were hitherto considered impossible, too risky or just way above the reach of any African and trust me we have more than enough names that can get mentioned in a single piece as this.
Let’s do ourselves a favour by mentioning some.
BARACK OBAMA This is the first African (African American, as some call him) and 44th President of the United States of America. Born by a Kenyan father, what drove him to the top of the American government must have been internal much more than external. An inner resolve and drive to get to the top. In this vein, quite a number Continue reading Role Models: African first-timers…→
Dem don suspend eight South African police wey arrest one Mozambican taxi driver, Mido Macia, 27, cuff am to a police van and begin drag am along the street. The guy later died.
Even Naija Police people wey no send no fit do that kind thing, lailai. People dey craze pass people sha.
70% of Africans use or have access to a phone. A decade ago less than 1% didRoman general Scipio Africanus was named after the continent after his successful military campaign there, where he defeated Hannibal
If-U-Miss-am, Zimbabwean whiz-kid Maud Chifamba grew up in grinding poverty, having lost both her parents at a tender age but at 14, she has defied adversity and hardship to break academic records.
Maud Chifamba, middle, started her studies in accounting September 10, 2012 at the University of Zimbabwe. Aged 14, she is the country’s youngest ever university student.
The extremely bright teenager became the youngest ever university student in Zimbabwe and in the whole of southern Africa.
Maud, standing next to Munyaradzi Madambi, the dean of students at the University of Zimbabwe, received last week a donation of a laptop by the TZU CHI Foundation
Now pursuing a Bachelor of Accountancy Honors Degree at the University of Zimbabwe, the country’s oldest and most esteemed educational institution, her intellectual prowess and hard work have earned her a four-year scholarship of nearly $10,000 after she excelled at 2011 Advanced Level exams.
She has been granted a four-year scholarship from the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA), valued at nearly $10,000
Find below the Transparency International (I wonder why WIKILEAKS never take over the ranking things sef) ranking of global corruption by countries between 2002 and 2012. Increasing value of numbers mean say the country dey get better with corruption while decreasing value mean say the country dey get worse.
If-U-Miss-Am, Sibusiso Mthembu, 64, na South African from KwaZulu-Natal wey don walka go heaven wella.
This story na for the future although dem don report am severally in the past.
guy don walka go heaven like four times. The first time na for 1998, then 2004, 2006 and 2008.
Explaining his map
The first reporter of the news yarn say the matter start for 1993, when a white man (an angel, apparently. No be so dem go yarn?) visit am and yarn am say dem need am for heaven.
Na so my guy begin walka go heaven o. The guy don dey draw a map to make sure say we all see wetin em dey yarn say em see for heaven.
My guy yarn say na 11 heavens dey, and the fifth one, Crista, em go first. Na there, in a city wey dem (I no know who dem be o) dey call Sharmoy (dem follow my guy yarn?), na there em yarn say em meet Jesus. The main heaven na Salem, and na there God dey. God still dey young and em complexion na Gray. Jesus na white (interesting combo for the same person).
Again, my guy yarn say na on top (or inside a planet called Jadalem) em see God for the first time during his second trip. Na water and Ice cover this planet.
Em see Moses, Elijah, and Abel. Em do excursion enter the Marshnode City, na where dead body dey go to do reincarnation be that.
Here’s wetin Oddity Central get to yarn as quoted by Ynaija! “But here’s the weirdest of all his tales – he says that the people who predicted the end of the world in May last year weren’t entirely incorrect. Mthembu seems to have eavesdropped on an important meeting in the heavens, where the biggest war against Satanism was being discussed. The war is supposed to have been launched on May 23rd, so we’re basically on a countdown to the absolute end.
“The map isn’t ready yet, but Mthembu is already worried about counterfeit versions. “People must come and see the map as one day someone from Japan or China or Britain will design a map of heaven and the people of South Africa will have forgotten that the map was originally made in South Africa,” he says. Perhaps he needs to patent his creation. And while he’s at it, write a fantasy novel and strike a movie deal too?”
Dear, Son of Man.
Dear Hannibal,
lAkUnLeScReWs 
