(Opinion Article) OF THE PROPOSED HATE SPEECH BILL AND THE IMPENDING FATE OF THE GOVERNED

OF THE PROPOSED HATE SPEECH BILL AND THE IMPENDING FATE OF THE GOVERNED
By: Yusuff Uthman Adekola

The Nigerian populace has been recently fed with an acidulous legislative proposition which many have found uncanny and misrepresentative. The sour proposition, one that insidiously —like the creepy manifestation of HIV/AIDS— contravenes the tenets of democracy which we claim to practice, was that 'hate speech' be accorded certain legal punishment. Then, one's mind cannot but be forced into the wondrous search for what really could have been meant by the phrase, 'hate speech’. Could it have been the unpleasant jibes political parties as well as politicians make at one another in certain political situations— such as during campaigns and other electioneering processes? Or the democratically expected checking and criticism of the representative leaders by the citizens? These questions amongst many more have seized the deck, for contemplative consideration.

To the dismay occasioned by the proposed bill, I, as a citizen, am obliged to further curiously ask: are we still in a democracy or we are introducing a new one blended with dictatorship— perhaps thus giving us a ‘militro-democratic’ governance system? The fact however is, there is no magnitude of elusive or delusive definition that will satisfactorily exonerate the intended bill from its undemocratic blot. And this blot being pointed at is the portended suffocation and suppression of the freedom of speech and expression, a sine qua non of democracy at that. Another question, thereon, takes a seat in the mind: what is a representative government without the tolerance of a reactive populace?

Although the senator who is the proponent of the bill did laudably provide an explanation of the so-called ‘hate speech bill'— as he mentioned unhealthy inter-tribal, inter-religious and some other inter-ideological talks that may incite undesirable clashes—, we still cannot and should not gullibly take it as all that there is to it. I mean, it is quite vehemently arguable that that so-wanted bill and its advocated ‘Independent National Commission for Hate Speeches’ could possibly be none but an instrument of inhibiting criticisms from the public, as the citizens will consequently become bullied into the fear of being sentenced to death. Fact be told, this, actually, is inferable to be a subtle means of patching the supposed political leader's impunity with more power, since all prospectively challenging mouths must have been gagged.

To bring the argument to a clean platter, one must of course state that there really might be some who go past the bearable, in tackling certain sensitive issues. They go about engaging in injurious name calling, character defamation, amongst other possible bellicose engagements, so much so that detrimental resultant effects come springing up. But, I posit: it is left to whosoever falls victim of such to seek redress in a court of law. And, yes, in such cases where there is a life-threatening augury, the security agencies and establishments we have across the country should suffice, except that it is quite pathetic that the porosity of our security system remains unmatched by a sandy soil's.

As can be deduced from the foregoing, there are more sorely pressing issues at hand than the issue of death sentence for the dubitable 'hate speech bill'. Let the security forces be well empowered with adequate funding and management; let the selfishly secured policemen guarding the so-called 'VIPs' and politicians be truly relieved, as recently promised by the erstwhile errant IGP, for it will eventually be to the masses' needed favour; let unnecessary political monetary and other entitlements be considerately excised, all for the betterment and uplift of the nation and her inhabitants. Let all of these and other necessary positivity be ensured and see how ‘love speeches’ would seize the air with wide condensation.

The A-Z of my argument is simply that this proposed bill beams at the possibility of stifling voices that would normally challenge certain dubious actions or considerations. It is hence portentous of a situation where no one is free to express their opinions; where protests must have been a product of deep ruminations, for lack of knowledge of whether death sentence would be the end, and where political analysts and commentators constrainedly shuffle, examine and pick their words. All these, aforementioned, may be so, because nobody will know for sure where or when they may make a 'hate speech’, as so-called.

The government is therefore urged to kindly ensure doing away with the proposed ‘hate speech bill'. May we please focus on more attention-requiring issues?

READ ALSO: FOR THE NOBLE NIGERIA: GRATIFYING OUR LEADERS OF HONOUR

Writer's Bio:
Yusuff Uthman Adekola is a student of the Department of English at University of Ibadan. He may be reached via adekolayusuff@gmail.com .

(POETRY) I will Write a Story \\ by YUA

PHOTO SOURCE: Pinterest


I WILL WRITE A STORY
By: Yusuff Uthman Adekola (YUA)

I will write a story,
A story about this mother
Whose bosoms droop
And hang in a limp stance
That speaks the words
Of age long over-sucking
By the proboscis of sadness...

I will write a story,
A story about this mother
Whose face is a bruised board
Where piercing darts domicile,
Together with a mate of agonies,
And inject the ravaged beauty
With the vastness of faceless wrinkles...

Someday,
I will write a story,
A story about this mother:
A story of conquered corruption;
A story of interred terrorism;
A story of stifled disunity;
A story of blooming love;
A story of wakeful security;
A story of teeming honesty...

I will write a story,
Someday... Someday, soon...

READ ALSO: (POEM) Retired Night; Sacked Day

WRITER'S BIO:
Yusuff Uthman Adekola, presently a student of the University of Ibadan, the Department of English, is a campus journalist, a poet and an essayist who believes in the correctional cum enlightening power that the pen commands. He can be reached via +2348166599760 ; adekolayusuff@gmail.com ; FB: facebook.com/adecaller01

(Opinion Article) FOR THE NOBLE NIGERIA: Gratifying OUR Leaders OF Honour

FOR THE NOBLE NIGERIA: Gratifying OUR Leaders OF Honour
By: Yusuff Uthman Adekola

I remember having been once told, a long time ago, about two men who happened to be victims of different but not unrelated experiences. One of them would hardly laugh but his eyes were always a usual source of teary rainfall, as he experienced series of calamities intermittently bubbling at different times. The other one always had smile stuck upon his lips and never knew what feeling comes with bitterness, as he was often deluged with a good deal of goodies even when not sought. Each of the two men, however, only tasted one side of life and were bored to the bone; so, they oftentimes sought to have a share or the whole of what either had. But, they finally died with no change of condition on either end.

Now, as can be said of the two characters, both of them significantly constituted a related binary of opposing forces. While one wallowed in the death of happiness and the other, in the dearth of sadness, one thing was inevitably common— monopoly of situation and its resultant boredom. Hence, none was describable as being different from the other as the end of their respective dystopian and utopian stories had consequently been a dessert of banality. In essence, their similar ends, notwithstanding their dissimilar life experiences, had made none of them worthy of emulation. Therefore, it can be inferred that a mixture of both the good and the bad makes life really worth living. They could have enjoyed life more, had they not been stuck in the redundancy of a single experience.

Based on the aforementioned, I am obliged to lay it bare before my compatriots of the great nation, Nigeria, that thanking the sailors of our politics is most needed. This, without borrowing from their political equivocation, is simply because they have shown us how unabatedly passionate they have always been in all matters of national interest. Our already politically derided lives of near impoverishment have had additive economic, social and more stringencies included, in all magnanimity. Who knows: perhaps, they have only intended to ensure that life is not made boring, for variety, as often said, is the spice of life. How else can one define considerateness? We have, indeed, got to be thankful to them.

Yes, I have heard of how an earlier generation to ours lived life at an enviable magnitude of blissfulness. The first time I heard about it, I was overtaken by awe and stolen away into the wish that the imaginative picture I had of their own “Nigeria” could come overriding that of ours. But it was not possible and I was disillusioned; I was pained. However, I later got convinced that I was wrong; for little did I know that theirs was a world less of liveliness, compared to ours. Theirs had more of reasons for them to smile —breeding 'boredom'— but ours abound with teeming laughter in abject sorrow— breeding 'liveliness’. Theirs was a half-complete world, barely different from that of the above anecdote, but ours is a totally complete one, no way near what holds in the anecdote. So, I ask: shall we not be thankful to the ones who have perverted the themes of our national story?

Apart from the straitened national economic power and individual financial capability within which we all wallow as a nation, there consistently have been security perforations as well. Killings incessantly topple killings at different instances, as if the culprits were engaged in a battle for who is supreme at the game of the murderous spree. For even that may not be satisfactory enough, there have as well been gory spates of kidnappings and abductions. Yet, not so much has been tangibly achieved as to either the rescuing of the kidnapped or the protection of the yet to be. Our national security men seem to forever remain only for men bestriding the top echelon, while mere 'sekuriti’ is calmly reserved for the deprived masses. Well, this is of course an apt explanative schooling still emphasising the need for a life of mixed experiences— elation today; desolation tomorrow. The archetype of a balanced life bipolarity! So that our lives may be different from that of the two men in the anecdote above. So, shall we still not be thankful to them, the best of leaders?

In fact, amidst the appalling upsurge in violence across the country, there have recently been the mongering of a series of amusing tales purported to be the truth. There has been the money-hungry snake saga which seems to have now slid into forgottenness. There has also been the farm-invading monkeys who, against the naturally expected, did not make away with bananas or maybe banana trees, but confoundingly absconded with a huge sum of money. Most recently, there also has been the second coming of the mythical dragon beast which also gave an offering of its robbing portion, perhaps because even the plotlessness of the nation's story is myth-like. While Nigeria teemed with the pervasion of these tales, everywhere was agog with laughter, such that many momentarily forgot about the surrounding gloom hanging across the atmosphere. An important feat was thus achieved: the heaviness of Nigerians' hearts was lightened through comic conspiracy. By that, we had a mixing of our suffering with smiles, that our mind was briefly robbed of the serious issues underlying the amusement. We have had a lively experience best provided at a time of perturbing tension; so, shall we not be thankful?

Now, I charge every Nigerian, who knows what promethean requirement it takes to be a representative of many, to be heartily thankful, especially in this season of mixed experiences that keep surfacing with all passion. I daresay: had our leaders not fed us with so much varieties of decisional ineptness which afford us the abundance of vicissitudes, life could not have been more interesting. These leaders of ours are, no doubt, phenomenal cognoscenti of unmatched humour dispersal. With unretarded level of acumen, they lend the masses some doses of comic relief as and when deemed necessary by them. Our life, as one big nation, is never made boring; never one-sided, but ever balanced with expertly provided amalgam of the good and its non-identical second. Of course, WE ARE MOST GRATEFUL! And WE CANNOT BE THANKFUL ENOUGH!

READ ALSO: (ARTICLE) God Bless America and may God Redeem and Uplift Nigeria


WRITER'S BIO:
Yusuff Uthman Adekola, presently a student of the University of Ibadan, the Department of English, is a campus journalist, a poet and an essayist who believes in the correctional cum enlightening power that the pen commands. He can be reached via +2348166599760 ; adekolayusuff@gmail.com ; FB: facebook.com/adecaller01

(Poem) Retired Night; Sacked Day

RETIRED NIGHT; SACKED DAY
By: Yusuff Uthman Adekola (YUA)

Tell the night:
No need to sit here
When the sun recedes to rest,
For our nation, already,
Is a reflection of the sobbing dark.

Tell the day:
No need to peep through the sky's chink
When the moon hides from the eyes,
For our country, truly,
Is a murderer of the teenage light.

There is a carnage of love here;
A smashing of our brittle bond;
Bloated blisters upon filial splices:
Woes, spreading in rippled tears...

The day is timid; the night is hackneyed;
Our home is already darkened.

WRITER'S BIO:
Yusuff Uthman Adekola, presently a student of the University of Ibadan, is a campus journalist, a poet and an essayist who believes in the correctional cum enlightening power that the pen commands. He can be reached via +2348166599760 ; adekolayusuff@gmail.com ; FB: facebook.com/adecaller01

YOU MAY LIKE ALSO: (POETRY) One is Born; One is Gone

(ARTICLE) God Bless America and may God Redeem and Uplift Nigeria

GOD BLESS AMERICA AND MAY GOD REDEEM AND UPLIFT NIGERIA.
By: Adedolapo Timileyin


I have been to America countless times; in my dream and also in imagination after watching American films.Honestly, I wish my impending dream could serve as a surrogate means of conveyance  to America. The image of America I see in hallucination goes beyond  just a place which land is laden with well trimmed grass, beautiful  orchard flanking palatial edifice. America is truly a place for commoners and patricians.

Have you seen how citizens' lives and properties are  held with high esteem in America?. In America that I know of, in an emergency situation,say an accident,call certain number and the ambulance will appear at the accident scene just like a snake will sneak up to someone within moment. In contrast,call for security in a situation (like robbery)in my glorified country,Nigeria,and you will be given alibi like "there is limited fuel in the van".
 
I still maintain my stance— God bless America,one may ask where my patriotism for Nigeria is? well, I will not dilly-dally in answering that, I can only be proud of Nigeria when it is actually the Giant of Africa,which we claim to be.

Nigeria is one of the countries that practises representative government otherwise known as  democracy . But in actual terms,true democracy has not been in practice .Politicians, who are supposed to be representative of the masses  are office loafers in the guise  of servant.They indulge in more saving than serving.Well,who are Nigerians that officials should serve?. In the eyes of the politicians, "Nigerians are mere citizens whose dominant responsibility is to elect government officials and after election,crawl back into their crib". "We are just people who inadvertently give power to Politicians based on our ignorance and we never ceased to pay for our ignorance. In contrast, America is a true definition of democracy,to an extent. Americans always have a say or opinion in decision making process of their country. Americans are the majority(who almost constitutes average citizens).

If we are still on the same side of the coin, without any doubt,you will believe with me that God bless America and may God redeem and uplift Nigeria. Has Nigeria been perpetually cursed by angry gods?. There is always one menace or two crises at one time or the other.If it's not IPOB,it will be BOKO HARAM.If it is neither BOKO HARAM nor IPOB,it will be HERDSMEN. Of course America face their threats too but they employ tact to ensure the crisis is under control.

The hilarious film— Head of State culminates my disposition about America and its citizens. Basically,the film is about struggle for Presidency. Mays Gilliam,a young civilian was picked at the roadside and he was persuaded to represent their cause---in a nutshell,son of nobody becomes somebody.I  guess this can only happen in America and some other parts of the world but not definitely in my glorified country, Nigeria. In Nigeria,it is rare for son of nobody to become somebody in Nollyhood let alone it will happen in real life or it is either you know somebody before you can get something.

This article,God bless America and may God redeem and uplift Nigeria,in my opinion, should be a Clarion call that will redeem, uplift and transform Nigeria.


WRITER'S BIO:
Adedolapo Timileyin is a student of University of Ibadan, Department of Communication and Language Arts (CLA). He is also a campus journalist.



YOU MAY ALSO READ: (ARTICLE) Social Media: A Tool for Effective Human Interaction?

Call for Submissions: 20.35 Africa: An Anthology of Contemporary Poetry

An opportunity for poets all over the African continent to submit their works for publishing, in an anthology meant for global consumption, has been offered, for individuals aged between 20 and 35 years.

The anthology, tagged 20.35 Africa: An Anthology of Contemporary Poetry, is described as a project intended to "curate contemporary African poetry".

On this, a press release from Brittle Paper reads: "20.35 Africa: An Anthology of Contemporary Poetry is a project with the intention of curating contemporary African poetry.

"The anthology, which has in its editorial team, Ebenezer Agu, Gbenga Adeoba, Chisom Okafor, D. E. Benson, and Osinachi, is with a focus on the young and the established African poets—about 30-40 poets, all within 20-35 years.

"The anthology is guest-edited by Safia Elhilo (joint winner of 2015 Brunel International African Poetry Prize and 2016 Sillerman First Book Prize winner) and Gbenga Adesina (joint winner of 2016 Brunel International African Poetry Prize), both of whom will be working with the team of editors for the period of the anthology’s production.

"It is the sincerest wish of the editors that the anthology, when published, would be the first of its kind in Africa, would go a long way in covering areas in African poetry which has, until now, remained bare and fallow.

"Therefore, 20.35 Africa: An Anthology of Contemporary Poetry would create a platform for the best of the generation’s poets from Africa, present a representation of the outlook of Africa’s contemporary and possible future poetic voices, make poetry accessible and available  to African readers, and reassert the authority of young African poets (within 20-35 years) on the world stage.

"The anthology will be available for free download when published."

As read in the list of instructions, submissions are allowed only from African poets.

In explaining what is meant by African poets, 20:35 define an African poet as "someone born in Africa, or whose parents (at least one) is African, or someone who currently lives in Africa, at least for a minimum of 10 years."

"Poets who were born in African countries, and have lived up to ten years of their lives there, but are currently pursuing an academic course in non-African countries can also submit." The explanation continues.

Entries are also expected from budding and established poets whose ages are 20 and 35 years.

Submissions may cut across various themes and a maximum of three poems is also allowed.

For full instructions and explanations, you may CLICK HERE


SEE ALSO: Call for Submissions: Praxis Magazine for Arts and Literature

(SCHOLARSHIP) Apply For Fully-Funded KNUST/MasterCard Foundation Scholarship

The MasterCard Foundation, in collaboration with Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana, is currently giving offers of scholarships to students from Ghana and other African countries.

This scholarship covers the 2018/2019 Academic Session and is meant for undergraduates.

About the eligible fields of study, it is stated that there is a preference for Science students; however, all subjects are considered.

As sourced from schoolnewsng, the scholarship offers a comprehensive financial support which includes full tution, on-campus accommodation, transportation and monthly stipend.

It also offers the opportunity to be enrolled on an accelerated Master’s Degree after undergraduate studies with an MCF Partner institution in the USA.

As contained in the post, the offers of the scholarship read: "Comprehensive financial support (full tuition, fully paid on-campus accommodation, learning materials, transportation and monthly stipend).

"Regular group meetings with other scholars that focus on personal and professional development opportunities and activities tailored to build societal relationships and scholars’ capacity.

"Continued academic support through academic mentoring, virtual learning, life and career coaching, and tutoring.
Opportunities to participate in leadership congresses, community services and mentoring (Go-back Give- Back), and uniquely sourced internships.

"An academic environment where faculty and students engage with global issues.

"The prestige of becoming part of the growing family of the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Alumni and the Global Scholars Community.

"The opportunity to be enrolled on an accelerated Master’s Degree after undergraduate studies with an MCF Partner institution in the USA."

A brief description of the scholarship is also given thus: "The MasterCard Foundation Scholars Program at KNUST provides academically talented yet economically disadvantaged young people in Ghana and Africa with access to quality and relevant university education.

"It embodies an array of mentoring and cultural transition services to ensure student academic success, community engagement and transition to employment opportunities which will further social and economic change for Africa."

You may check the full instruction—CLICK HERE

(POETRY) Words around my Home Country

WORDS AROUND MY HOME COUNTRY

These words are  s c a t t e r e d
Pieces of  b r o o m s t i c k s
Broken into blinded lonely letters
That wander the Savannah of knotted disunion
Where only tattered rags
With holes agog like polka dots
Bear the face of the abandoned bond.

These words are a once radiant curtain
Dancing with stuck  smile of unstained candour,
But now gently encroached by sizzling lies
For its hem is gradually taped
By dripping slime of stifled promises
Dispelled by the robbing rotten rulers
That sway our hap-stolen lines into faceless zig-zags.

These words are frowning drops of caning tears
Slipping off the watery firmament's shuddering grip
As smile is interred in the ministry of dead plenitude
And plenitude raised in the cemetery of murdered smile
Where sprawling hundreds of evening-skinned children of the green-white land
Make the bartered trade for a lone child of the milk skin.

These words are the shards of crashing hearts...

Yet,
These words are the cooling breaths of f l o a t i n g  l e t t e r s
Redolent of a calming wind with fondling fingers
Tugging at the bubbling spring of flowing hope
That beckon on the planted seed of patting change,
So that the darkling sky may bloom
And the clouds muster their watery sticks
Drumming awakening beats for the slumbering growth...


WRITER'S BIO:
Yusuff Uthman Adekola, presently a student of the University of Ibadan, is a campus journalist, a poet and an essayist who believes in the correctional cum enlightening power that the pen commands. He can be reached via +2348166599760 ; adekolayusuff@gmail.com ; FB: facebook.com/adecaller01

(POETRY) A Pained Pen Speaks

Photo Source: Mjcob


A PAINED PEN SPEAKS...

What shall I write?
Shall I write a prose
Of endless fountain of words
Continuously outpouring
Like Ikogusi Cool Spring?
Shall I write a play
Of life-like exchange of words
Like Olympic relay sprinters
Pass onto one and another the baton?
Shall I write a poem
Of entangled verbiages of words
Which hone the slumbering brain
Like the whetstone does the dead sword?

Why shall I write?
Shall I write for this rocky land
Where no green grass grows
Except with growl and wriggling
Like a whip-lashed hungry angry dog;
And like a gun-sought snake
Hoping to escape deathly gunshots' kisses?

I am that pained pen
Whose ink boils but spews calm words
Cementing crumbling or cracking walls
And quelling nose-stiffening dust,
Cheerfully parading the body-calming air.

I am that pained pen
Who catapults silent shouts
Into wooly un-hearing ears
So that hearts may be soft
As the gentle mother earth.
I am that pained pen
Getting fettered flayed bleeding skins
Un-pained...


WRITER'S BIO:
Yusuff Uthman Adekola, presently a student of the University of Ibadan, is a campus journalist, a poet and an essayist who believes in the correctional cum enlightening power that the pen commands. He can be reached via +2348166599760 ; adekolayusuff@gmail.com ; FB: facebook.com/adecaller01

(POETRY) Moos: Souls Gone Soon {A Short Poem}

Moos: Souls Gone Soon

Moo... Mooo...

The voice of guns,

Silent, creepy, friend-like,

Camouflaged in the look

Of a nomad's ranch stick,

Buried in dreary cattle cries...

Dreary cries; scary cries...

Moo... And Mooo!

Blood trickling down the horns:

Fiery bloods of smothered souls smoulder,

Gently gallivanting

As weedy food across paths,

Throwing lives into hastened rest.

WRITER'S BIO:
Yusuff Uthman Adekola, presently a student of the University of Ibadan, is a campus journalist, a poet and an essayist who believes in the correctional cum enlightening power that the pen commands. He can be reached via +2348166599760 ; adekolayusuff@gmail.com ; FB: facebook.com/adecaller01

(POETRY) I KNOW WAR FOR I HAVE KNOWN WAR!

I KNOW WAR FOR I HAVE KNOWN WAR!

Phantoms of peace
Roam this land of ours
Where drips of tears
Hang around like the blinding mist
And shower smiling bitterness
Upon our slumping plants
Yellowed by the mirth-burrowing voice of war.

I have known the man called war!
I know the man called war!

On his face are scars of deadened laughter,
On his lips roam guttural words that flay the heart,
Around his body do I see fluttering feathers
Dripping of wailing blood.

I know the man called war!

Hours climbing upon hours,
With seconds stampeded by the restless feet of time,
Sprawling bodies with ousted souls
Litter all nooks of the land whose shoulders are sagged,
As heads are gulped by raging BOOMS!
And legs, gorged by roaring GBUMS!

I know the man called war!

On this wailing land,
Dreary shrieks shuffle with their saddened feet.
With majestic paces,
Agonies parade that weeping land.
And around the rubbles of the ravaged land,
Only roving wraiths of calmness bear the words on the wind's lips.

I know the man called war!

To them
Whose chests are heavied by stomping sighs;
To them
Whose minds are shrouded in tangled woes;
To them
Whose eyes are sunken by the excavated souls of their progenies;
To them;
Whose jumping hearts are garbed in billowing fear,
Deluge of showery salve shall salvage all
And we shall conquer the man called war!

WRITER'S BIO:
Yusuff Uthman Adekola, presently a student of the University of Ibadan, is a campus journalist, a poet and an essayist who believes in the correctional cum enlightening power that the pen commands. He can be reached via +2348166599760 ; adekolayusuff@gmail.com ; FB: facebook.com/adecaller01

(ARTICLE) BENUE MASSACRE AND A DIALOGUE WITH THE DEAF

BENUE MASSACRE AND A DIALOGUE WITH THE DEAF.
By: Mojoyinola Abd'Afeez

Thank you lord for giving us the best of leaders in the whole world. Thinkers, intellectuals, and the visionary leaders are those who continue to rule (I mean not ruin) us and have made us great and great again. An ingrate will deny the miraculous and amazing developments in the economic, security and the educational sectors of this country. In fact, a report has it that other world leaders like Trump have been struggling to get in touch with our president so that they can drink from his spring of ever flowing intelligence. To borrow a line from the UI anthem, he is a 'soothing spring for all who thirst…' for ingenuity . Or who will deny his ingenious approach to the crisis that is ongoing in Benue state? His deafening silence could be construed as a punishment for the atrocities committed by the Benue farmers? Yes. The farmers must pay  the price of their folly!

On January 11, 2018, it was reported by the OpuroNation.com (OpNation) that president Muhammadu Buhari, visited the burial of the victims of the attack by the Fulani herdsmen and commiserated with their families. The same Newspaper has it that, he ordered a battalion of soilders to move down to Benue state, thus to safeguard the lives of people and their properties. Why should one not believe that news? Was he not the same president that deployed troops on some eastern parts of the country when there was  agitation for the state of Biafra? Was he not the president that ordered the arrest of the Shite leader, El Zakyzaky cum his followers who were alleged to have used arm against the Nigerian Army  and disrupted the peace of Kaduna and Zaria state? Or was he not the one that stationed the headquarters of Nigerian army in Borno where the Bokoharams were feasting on the blood of the innocents? Was he not the one that sent the security operatives to Delta state when  there was vandalization of oil pipes? Then, how will Benue state be an exception?

Enough of indirectness. Nigeria is a country where tribalism thrives like a bushfire in the harmattan season. It is a personification of favouritism which is easy to find in Nigerian dictionary. Many Nigerian leaders have continued to find solace in its hut. Whenever they want people to elect them for any post, they thrust the dagger of tribalism on their throats… Vote for your brother. Do not sleep on the altar of forgetfulness that this "Iblis" or tribalism (the spirit of Evil, he who enjoys stirring up ill-feelling between individuals and the communities), has continued to steer us apart from our first day of independence. Take for instance, after six years of independence, we stood on a sprawling soil soaked in fratricidal blood. That is the evil of tribalism which the presidency wants to wear its cloak again. Should it not have been better for the president to address the issue of the killings by the Fulani herdsmen in Benue state now before peace is impossible?

Journalists and analysts have provided many solutions to the seeming unending rift between the farmers and the Fulani herdsmen but the government has turned a deaf ear. For instance, in an article written in The Nation by Professor Biodun Jeyifo titled ," First, Disarm the Herdsmen (and Famers); then Work for a Just and Honourable Peace between them", he explained that, the state should have and exercise a monopoly over the means and instruments of violence but  special cases where private companies and individual citizens are allowed or licensed by the state to carry arms for their self-protection. However, it is crystal clear that only the Fulani herdsmen have the authority and audacity to thwart this law and will not be brought to justice. Look around your community, you will see them with sword and guns. Eyes bloodied by rage.

As it was suggested by the presidency, ranching, a modern approach to cow rearing, which a country like Mexico is into, should be adopted so as to find a lasting solution to the farmer-herdmen crisis. For we should stop facing the deadly impulse of antiquity in the age of rocket science and computers. Herdsmen should not be seen as unchangeable.

What all these boil down to is that Mr President should  break the silence and embrace the solutions being proffered. If not, to paraphrase the saying of Gbanabom Hallowell, a Sierralonean poet, "our dinner tonight may come with gun wounds and our desert tongues may lick the vegetable blood…the pepper strong enough to push scorpions up our heads."

 God forbid, another civil war.

WRITER'S BIO:
Mojoyinola Abd'Afeez is a student of University of Ibadan, Department of English; a writer and campus journalist. He can be reached via mojoyinolaavicenna@gmail.com

Before you Say no... [or: I am Right; you are Wrong]

Photo Source: LeaderChat

BEFORE YOU SAY NO... [or: I AM RIGHT; YOU ARE WRONG]
By: Tope Lanre Bello

The human world manifests the same reality and will not seek our permission to celebrate itself in the magnificence of its endless varieties. Civility is a sensible attribute in this kind of world we have; narrowness of heart and mind is not – Chinua Achebe, 1996.1

Achebe’s speech quoted above is a call to reject the notion of universality of experience. More than twenty years after the late Nigeria’s most celebrated novelist delivered the speech, a lot have changed to alter our perception of the reality of the world – most importantly, Information Communication Technology. ICT has greatly enhanced globalisation and the idea of the world as a global village is increasingly becoming daring. The internet has enriched our appreciation of differences in cultures and beliefs. Unlike Alexander, the Great2 who erroneously believed he had conquered the whole world while in actual fact, the farthest he had got was India; our generation cannot afford to bask in such ignorance because of the enormous pool of information, facilitated by technology, available at our disposal. The world is now on our palm. We cannot feign ignorance to the fact that there are around eight billion human beings in the world with several differing cultural backgrounds and experiences which have informed their beliefs, aspirations and worldviews.

Yet, despite the foregoing, most people still live lives, think and act as if the physical and social spaces they interact with are the whole world. When confronted with seeming improbable argument or point of view, they are prone to easily say ‘nay’. A Yoruba proverb says “he that has not got to another father’s farm will cheerfully boast that his father has the largest farm in the universe.” This is the danger of a single story, borrowing from the title of Adichie’s speech3. Had Adichie’s roommate been told by another American, rather than a Nigerian, that English was the official language of Nigeria, she might have argued and say nay to a fact.

I had been taught in Government class and at other platforms that the United States practises the Presidential system of government and that presidential system emphasises separation of power. I was therefore shocked the day my friend (name withheld) told me that the Vice President of USA is also the president of the US Senate. I called him all sorts of nasty names ranging from ‘fool’ to ‘moron’ because as I thought then, the United States of America was the symbol of the democratic world. I was so sure of my correctness that I did not even bother to check the internet. The argument took place in 2015 and so, such arguments had already become needless because of the internet. I later checked: I was wrong; he was right.

Notwithstanding the massive evidence available to our generation, many a person has still not been able to comprehend the fact that the world is large and that universality of experience is a mirage. It is for this purpose that many are always quick to say ‘nay’ or counter an argument that they deem improbable. They seem not to be aware that the world is vast and that experiences differ. The lethal dimension of this “narrowness of heart,” using Achebe’s words, is what Nobel Laureate Soyinka attacks as “if you do not accept that I’m right, I have a right to kill you”4.

Narrowness of mind-set is mostly evident in the display of religiosity and this is a universal phenomenon, perhaps the only reality that is universal (besides death). From the Pharisees’ prejudice (in the Christian Bible) to the persecution of the earliest Christians to the Inquisition to Jihad to Crusades to modern day fundamentalism, what we have is the sentiment of extreme sense of rightness (of self) and wrongness (of the other). The most unfortunate dimension to these extremisms is the underlying notion of ‘I am right and I have a right to kill you if you do not share my view.’ And the question is how many lives have been lost to this barbarity? Yet, there are more than eight billion peoples in this world with differing religious views. The human world will not seek our permission to celebrate itself in the magnificence of its endless varieties, said Achebe. Our duty as a human race is to join in the celebration of the varieties of our reality. After all, do the English people not say variety is the spice of life?

My argument is that we must not be too quick to discountenance another’s opinion, position or belief. The fact that the ‘self’ is right does not mean the ‘other’ is wrong. Sometimes, and, in fact, more often than not, reality is multifaceted. An Igbo proverb says, “when one thing stands, there is another thing standing beside it.” So rather than saying the ‘other’ is wrong, the most correct statement would be ‘I am right; you may be right too.’ I do not, in any way, advocate that every proposition is correct. What I advocate is a little bit of hesitation before writing off an argument, a belief, an opinion or position. A little bit of research will make enormous sense. In the case of metaphysical discourses, the best course to take is to celebrate our differences, creating for ourselves, therefore, unity in diversity.

[Endnotes]

This is an excerpt from Chinua Achebe’s address to the graduating class of Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, United States, on 27th May, 1996. The address is copied from Element of World Literature, Sixth Course: Literature of Britain and World Classics. 2000. Austin. Holt Rinehart and Winston. P. 1169.

Alexander the Great was a King of the ancient kingdom of Macedonia; conqueror of Greece, Egypt and Persia.

Chimamanda Adichie is arguably Nigeria’s most celebrated writer of the contemporary age. She delivered a speech in the year 2013 with the title ‘The Danger of a Single Story’ in which she advocated bringing in perspectives to a narrative.

Professor Wole Soyinka, Africa’s first Nobel Laureate in Literature mentioned this in an interview he granted freelance journalist Simon Stanford on 28th April, 2005. Sourced from www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1986/soyinka-interview-transcript.html

Writer's Bio:
Tope Lanre Bello, a seasoned essayist and once a campus journalist, studied English Language and Literature at the University of Ibadan. He can be reached via: radicalbeylow@gmail.com

(SEE THIS) An Interesting Poem You Will Love

Photo Source: 8tracks


ONE IS BORN, ONE IS GONE
By: Yusuff Uthman Adekola (Y.U.A.)

The wintry breeze of the night
Dances around to the honey melody
Of rising songs that extol the sleep’s awakening;
Humble silence creeps in,
Encroaching the land cast in buoyant dimness
From which the unbridled din darts away.

One before one, one after one,
All are drowned in a weak merciful death
That throws a banquet of amnesty
At the birth of the exuberant sky-bulb
Whose flitting robe spreads its open palms
That spray the sparkles of a new sight.

One is born, one is gone.


WRITER'S BIO:
Yusuff Uthman Adekola, presently a student of the University of Ibadan, is a campus journalist, a poet and an essayist who believes in the correctional cum enlightening power that the pen commands. He can be reached via +2348166599760 ; adekolayusuff@gmail.com ; FB: facebook.com/adecaller01

(FLASH FICTION) No more Dawn or Dusk Here

Photo Source: Pinterest

NO MORE DAWN OR DUSK HERE
By: Yusuff Uthman Adekola (Y.U.A.)

Danjuma, despite being a twelve-year old, knew that nothing remained as it once was. A thought, like the turbulence of a whirlpool, was roaming deep within his mind as he silently sat on a raffia mat, under their green tent.

He occasionally shook his head, in rejection, as he tried assuaging his pestering thoughts. The more he tried resisting the thoughts, the further he lucidly remembered all that he tried casting away.

He remembered how he had always helped his father on the farm; how his infant sister did tenderly suck at their mother’s breast and how he did outshine his peers at school. By now, his eyes were already getting bloodshot as he looked around him and could see the old and the young looking wistfully downcast with their necks limply bent downwards.

The feeling was no more tolerable such that welled up tears found their way off his now tightly-closed eyes— tears dribbled down his cheeks. His father, mother and infant sister had gone with the booming of the bomb and the rattling of the gun. His only family of strangers left, were stricken by endemic and rather infectious diseases and were unhealthy to stay with. He thought about the nonchalance of the government and shook his head in distrust.

Suddenly, he heard a cock crow. It was dawn already—he had been lost in thought all night. He felt undisturbed by this but only heaved a sigh accompanied with the fall of a drip of tears.

He looked at his sleepless cohabitants, amongst whom are either the ones busy scratching their skins covered with rashes or simply those grabbing at their stomachs occasionally as they try to relieve hunger pangs through caressing.

He sighed painfully as he mumbled to himself, ‘Is this how we all will slowly die here, forsaken?’

He haggardly shuffled with his gaunt body out of the tent; raised his face towards the sky and again muttered as he shivered in the cold, ‘There is no dawn or dusk here, anymore. If only we could be back in time.’


WRITER'S BIO:
Yusuff Uthman Adekola, presently a student of the University of Ibadan, is a campus journalist, a poet and an essayist who believes in the correctional cum enlightening power that the pen commands. He can be reached via +2348166599760 ; adekolayusuff@gmail.com ; FB: facebook.com/adecaller01