iBasam: Article

The Tyranny of the Young on Nigerian Twitter By Kadaria Ahmed

<blockquote>
<strong>The
 censorship and gagging, the attempt at cyber-bullying is unacceptable 
because it narrows the conversation. The good thing is that many of us 
simply refuse to be quiet. We won’t be cowed by the tyranny of 
government and politicians and we certainly won’t be cowered by the 
tyranny of often nameless, faceless ‘young’ trolls on twitter.</strong></blockquote>
I am in my late forties so I cannot be considered young by any 
stretch of the imagination. I am satisfied with my journey through life 
thus far and comfortable in my skin. However, some people believe I 
should actually be ashamed of my age.<br />

Not once, not twice on Twitter, I have witnessed ‘young’ people 
employing the word ‘old’ when attempting to insult or shame people who 
are older than them, when an older person has dared express a view they 
find disagreeable.<br />

They wear their ‘youth’ like a badge of honour. They strut and preen 
almost as if being young is an achievement like bagging a degree, 
setting up a successful business or having a positive impact on the 
lives of people.<br />

The attacks that I speak of mostly occur when they can not engage 
with the subject under discussion because it is intellectually 
challenging. They are victims of our fault lines and are therefore 
incapable of cold, objective engagement with any issue. Their immediate 
solution is to obfuscate and muddy the waters but when that doesn’t 
work, they resort to abuse. It doesn’t matter what the subject is – 
music, the Arts, culture – but nothing riles them up more than an 
opposing political view! They pounce and before long, the word ‘old’ 
makes its debut. It’s the ultimate slap-down!<br />

Given the many challenges we face in Nigeria, from our non-existent 
healthcare, to bad roads and the stress of earning a living in a 
difficult economic terrain, all of which have lead to a declining life 
expectancy; growing old is actually a feat that should be commended. It 
is a badge of honour that says look at me, I have survived, against all 
the odds. Instead, age has become a twitter weapon used to terrorise the
 not so ‘young’.<br />

Maybe it is frustration with a generation that they believe has 
failed this country and therefore hasn’t earned the right to have an 
opinion. While this point might be pertinent, it is important to note 
that although I have witnessed a few men being ‘insulted’ by the tag of 
‘old’, the most vitriolic instances are reserved for women.<br />

If one is female, one faces a more virulent attack if one even 
ventures to express an opinion that may be controversial in any way, 
shape or form. Age, gender, and marital status ‘shaming’ by an army of 
young trolls is now the order of the day on Nigerian twitter, actively 
and tacitly encouraged by a wider Nigeria society which remains mostly 
patriarchal, parochial and in some cases even misogynistic.<br />

While the focus on marital status is clearly a result of patriarchy, 
which promotes the idea that women have no worth unless they are tied to
 a man, why would a woman’s years determine whether or not she should 
have an opinion? One explanation is that because we are ‘old’ we are 
seen to be somewhat ‘deficient’. Which leads to the question: What is 
the main difference between young and ‘old’ women? Well the most obvious
 and visible differences are tied to reproduction, in short sex.<br />

As women approach fifty, they stop producing certain hormones, as 
result of this, most of us stop being able to conceive and begin to see 
changes in our body. The general belief is that we stop becoming 
desirable. So again, it comes back to our worth to men. While this is 
actually not true, the fact that female aging is seen as a ‘deficiency’ 
speaks to a system organised again to measure women through the eyes of 
patriarchy.<br />
<strong><br />
</strong><br />

<blockquote>
<strong>…trolling ‘old’ people on Twitter, and targeting 
single women will not solve our problems. Despite our shortcomings and 
failures, and they are significant, most of us believe that we have to 
contribute to nation-building.</strong></blockquote>
I remember a certain Senator saying if he were to rape a woman it 
wouldn’t be one who is past her menopause. Where does one begin to even 
engage with this sort of statement? Is it to talk about the seeming 
normalisation of a hideous crime or the attempt to imply that women who 
are past menopause are unworthy of even having something so base and 
atrocious as rape committed against them?<br />

On Nigerian Twitter today, it is not unusual for an argument on 
politics with older women to end with suggestions that they need to find
 a man to have sex with, to rid them of their ‘bitterness’. This is how 
smart, articulate women are reduced to nothing more than sex objects.<br />

In this society today, there is no attempt at subtlety by men who 
have no respect for women. They are all too aware that their actions 
have no consequences and life goes on as normal, regardless of how 
egregious the remarks.<br />

What is surprising is the number of young women who take part in this
 taunting. It amuses me no end and then it saddens me because at best 
they are unwittingly building and nurturing a process that 
systematically reduces them and which eventually, is likely to be used 
against them. They are active connivers because they have bought into 
the cultural ‘values’ that underpin and promote gender discrimination 
and misogyny. This is tragic.<br />

Trust me, this isn’t an attempt to stifle debate. With any 
conversation, it is important to have multiple viewpoints. These are 
particularly critical as we seek to address significant problems ranging
 from violent religious and ethic clashes that have lead to thousands of
 deaths in a country which seems to simply refuse to grow and develop.<br />

Inter-generational dialogue is also key as we have a large youth 
population (18 to 35) more than half of whom are disenfranchised and 
without hope. They need to take their destiny into their hands and force
 a change in an establishment that has let them down.<br />

However, trolling ‘old’ people on Twitter, and targeting single women
 will not solve our problems. Despite our shortcomings and failures, and
 they are significant, most of us believe that we have to contribute to 
nation-building.<br />

The censorship and gagging, the attempt at cyber-bullying is 
unacceptable because it narrows the conversation. The good thing is that
 many of us simply refuse to be quiet. We won’t be cowed by the tyranny 
of government and politicians and we certainly won’t be cowered by the 
tyranny of often nameless, faceless ‘young’ trolls on twitter.<br />

<strong>Kadaria Ahmed writes from Abuja.</strong>

The Tyranny of the Young on Nigerian Twitter By Kadaria Ahmed

The censorship and gagging, the attempt at cyber-bullying is unac...

link to this post

Pendulum: As Ghana heads to General Elections by Dele Momodu

BASAM 0 Article 23:44:00

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghSnUbTagN7gbDZJuMGIx1WeG7GYH0ZQKWB0oWy7uwfnvr7uzPNOH-5WLPh24XsX1cCjbY4ZJQZIEuXyEIInjfLh5DsR1UlHtEDwADOs7CKk2V6eDKAgWK7_5VY21WG2owOguJdiVGAQVY/s1600/IMG_20160716_080928.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="399" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghSnUbTagN7gbDZJuMGIx1WeG7GYH0ZQKWB0oWy7uwfnvr7uzPNOH-5WLPh24XsX1cCjbY4ZJQZIEuXyEIInjfLh5DsR1UlHtEDwADOs7CKk2V6eDKAgWK7_5VY21WG2owOguJdiVGAQVY/s640/IMG_20160716_080928.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
By Dele Momodu </div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
Nigerians, this seems to be the season of elections in different parts of the world. We can start from Nigeria, our dear beloved country. Two critical elections have come and gone in recent months. The first was in my home State of Edo where the APC candidate, Godwin Obaseki, trounced his arch-rival, Pastor Ize-Iyamu of PDP. Godwin Obaseki has since been sworn in as the Governor while the PDP stalwarts and teir gubernatorial candidate continue to lament like the Biblical Jeremiah. It is not clear if their lamentations and grumblings would be limited to their homes and party offices or if they would pursue the matter to the Supreme Court, starting with a Petition to the Election Tribunal.<br />
Elections are seemingly forever contentious everywhere including, even now, America where some Hillary Clinton supporters are already seeking a recount of some swing States. It is apparently in the nature of human beings to reject defeat even where there has previously been concession. We all love to win. But the truth is that only one contestant can win in an election that requires just one victor.<br />
In Ondo State, another APC candidate, Rotimi Akeredolu has just overwhelmed the PDP candidate Eyitayo Jegede and the AD candidate, Olusola Oke. It was bound to happen as a result of the war of attrition rocking PDP, a party that once boasted to be Africa’s largest political congregation. Theirs was a classic case of a house divided against itself cannot stand. The division within PDP has been so deep that it would seem someone somewhere has hypnotised them so much that they can no longer see that they are miserably on the road to eternal perdition. Again, whilst all the other candidates and even the outgoing Governor, Dr Rahman Mimiko, have congratulated the victorious Aketi, the PDP candidate by Supreme Court fiat, Mr Eyitayo Jegede still seems to be in a state of shock and stupor and has been ominously silent.<br />
What looks obvious to all discerning minds is that APC is determined to stamp its full authority on Nigeria. The party is working, some people are saying by hook and crook, while others believe that the change mantra is working even if many Nigerians are grunting aloud. Those opposed to the Buhari government are convinced in their opinion that the ruling administration is merely manipulating the system in its own favour to create the impression that it is loved by the generality of Nigerians. On the other hand the pro-Buhari supporters are boasting that these elections have demonstrated clearly how much Nigerians love and adore our no-nonsense President and that this is clear manifestation of their endorsement of Buhari’s policies, no matter how draconian it may appear to the so-called wailing-wailers. So far, so good, the winning streak of APC is confirming the latter view. screenshot_2016-12-02-21-58-29-2-1-1<br />
From Nigeria, let’s make a brief stop-over in Banjul, The Gambia, one of my favourite tourist destinations, where reports oozed out yesterday that the strongman, President Yayah Jameh, has finally lost his grip on power, after over two decades of iron-fisted rule. He lost resoundingly to a political tyro, Adama Barrow, after most of the opposition parties formed themselves into a strong coalition to focre what observers are calling a real political paradigm shift in Africa because nobody believed it was a possible feat. Even international observers stayed away after the country was plunged into international information darkness by the banning of international calls and internet activity. The outcome of the elections in The Gambia should however not be surprising to any student of history because whatever has a beginning must have an end. A good actor should always know when to quit the stage. I strongly believe that no President or Prime Minister should ever spend more than a total of two terms spanning a maximum of eight to ten years in power. After that, the law of diminishing returns would naturally set in. Whatever a leader can’t achieve in those eight to ten years may never be actualised in an entire lifetime. A serious leader must set a powerful template in his first tenure and consolidate decisively if lucky to get a second term. The tendency to become an autocrat or dictator after eight or ten years is simply too strong and can only be managed by constitutional means which limits terms to two and no more.<br />
This is what has happened before our very eyes in Ghana, where President John Dramani Mahama would face the battle of his life next Wednesday, December 7, 2016, when he seeks a re-election. It promises to be a battle royale between President Mahama and his strongest challenger Nana Akufo-Addo. Ghana is currently on edge as both the President’s NDC party and the opposition NPP are taking this election like the Mohammed Ali/Joe Fraizer rumble in the jungle fight. Neither of them is willing to yield any ground or quarter.<br />
President Mahama comes with very powerful commendations from party faithfuls and non-partisans. He is largely believed to have changed and transformed Ghana like no other leader since the time of the great Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah. In fact, his aggressive investments in infrastructure development has earned him the sobriquet of Kwame Nkrumah II. The manner he has been commissioning new projects daily has also attracted his latest nickname of The Commissioner-in-Chief, a positive change from the Commander-in-Chief that is the favoured moniker of most African leaders. It is doubtful if any President has surpassed Mahama currently in the area of infrastructure within the past four years in Africa. If infrastructure alone could win an election, this election would have been a no-contest and President Mahama would have won with automatic alacrity.<br />
His most vociferous critics are saying people need jobs and food in their stomachs and not infrastructure. His humble response is that he appreciates the hardship Ghanaians are facing and pleads that they should endure a little as he is not engaging in quick fixes but enduring legacies. President Mahama insists that the best way to solve the excruciating problems of unemployment is through deliberate and total commitment to investing heavily in infrastructure development. The schools he is building will afford more students the opportunity to get enrolled, educated and finish with skills hitherto denied them. The schools would employ many more teachers. He is skilfully shifting attention away from humanities to technical studies. He says this would make it easier for Ghanaian youths to be more readily employable. He wants Ghana to train her young ones to become the best artisans in West Africa. As a matter of fact, he has converted and upgraded Polytechnics and Technical Colleges to universities. This has generated a lot of excitement.<br />
President Mahama has built some incredible hospitals of international standards. The aesthetic and clean hospitals have even been likened to hotels. He says these hospitals would employ more Doctors and nurses and other medical personnel.<br />
He has virtually contained the erratic power outage that ravaged Ghana not too long ago and this is probably his greatest achievement, even if many of his fellow citizens may not appreciate such miracle. As a Nigerian, I know what we have suffered because of electricity failure. Any leader who is able to tackle and bring an end to the intractable issue of power in Nigeria would be worshipped forever. The gains are only too evident because no nation can seek to be an industrial power with electricity and other alternate forms of power supply in which President Mahama is also investing..<br />
On his part, the main opposition leader, Nana Akufo-Addo is an accomplished lawyer and was a Minister of Foreign Affairs under President John Agyekum Kufuor. He is widely respected at home and abroad. This would be his third attempt after losing to the late John Evans Atta-Mills in 2008 and to John Dramani Mahama in 2012. It remains to be seen if he would be third time lucky now that he is facing an extremely popular leader and incumbent President whose slogan TOASO (a Twi word for Continue) has resonated massively across the nation.<br />
Nana Akufo-Addo prides himself as an anti-corruption agent and has promised to sweep corruption out of the Ghanaian system. The present Government asks for evidence of such corruption but Nana and the opposition have not been able to point to any corruption or scandal to substantiate the label of an anti-corruption crusader like President Buhari was able to do in Nigeria. His slogan of Change is however popular among his dedicated followers who love him to bits. The issue is what kind of change? His cerebral composure has been taken for ivory tower arrogance by his critics. His supporters have been labelled as being too volatile and querulous and ready to pick a fight at the slightest provocation. They are generally disparaged as intolerant of any other view or candidates but theirs. Nana has come a long way since his first attempt. This looks like his last chance at 72 years old. If he fails this time, it may be difficult for him to come back at 76 to run another race. President Mahama on the other hand was born in 1958 and turned 58 only a few days ago.<br />
There is therefore so much at stake in this election. Will Ghanaians abandon a youthful President who has laid a good foundation on which to build a superstructure next term or reject a much older but very idealistic candidate who has promised them a radical change very similar to what we promised Nigerians last year? It is a big dilemma for many Ghanaians. Change has become a very complex slogan in Ghana. Mahama says he has already brought change to Ghana by transforming the country from an analogue infrastructure era to a digital age level. Nana dismisses Mahama as incompetent and mediocre. He and his party have not seen much to trumpet about Mahama’s much-advertised achievements. The most astonishing aspect of this electioneering campaign has been the way the opposition has pooh poohed and dismissed Mahama’s monumental achievement, the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange, easily the longest flyover in West Africa, as a non-event, and ordered its bigwigs to avoid driving on it so as not to validate its importance of what Ghanaians now call their own Dubai.<br />
As always with Ghanaian elections, it will be a very close race, and whosoever wins can only do so by the whiskers. Most recent polls have predicted a win for President Mahama by a slim margin but no one can be absolutely certain until the results are finally announced hopefully on December 8. The tension in Ghana is so thick and palpable right now that you can literarily cut it with a blade. My prayer is for peace to reign in Ghana and for the victor to be magnanimous and the loser to be graceful in defeat.<br />
May almighty God help the Republic of Ghana.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghSnUbTagN7gbDZJuMGIx1WeG7GYH0ZQKWB0oWy7uwfnvr7uzPNOH-5WLPh24XsX1cCjbY4ZJQZIEuXyEIInjfLh5DsR1UlHtEDwADOs7CKk2V6eDKAgWK7_5VY21WG2owOguJdiVGAQVY/s1600/IMG_20160716_080928.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <br /> </a> </div>

Pendulum: As Ghana heads to General Elections by Dele Momodu

By Dele Momodu Nigerians, this seems to be the season of elections in different parts of the world. We can start from Nigeria, our...

link to this post

Behold He comes by Fani Kayode

BASAM 0 Article 05:37:00

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrVGXcDjwDfT-fF2bzGbzFeOSFAborfhez8E9NfbLYo8SNtPsOqsFc318iqDQmC-_pr_JtW626AC61VLMvpg7CBLjP8z9hTlVB-tnzd85dQNmfS-H4Y-CafhBt0q3L3m7WGr88yS0D-wKe/s1600/Fani-Kayode1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="388" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrVGXcDjwDfT-fF2bzGbzFeOSFAborfhez8E9NfbLYo8SNtPsOqsFc318iqDQmC-_pr_JtW626AC61VLMvpg7CBLjP8z9hTlVB-tnzd85dQNmfS-H4Y-CafhBt0q3L3m7WGr88yS0D-wKe/s640/Fani-Kayode1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
There is a deep rage in me that rises by the day. When I hear the 
voices of the voiceless and I see the suffering of the despised and the 
oppressed in our land it wounds my soul.<br />

When I hear the cries of the poor and those that have been reduced to
 eating one meal a day by a King and court that delights in spreading 
nothing but hardship and poverty it stirs my anger.<br />

When I hear the wailing of mothers and fathers whose children, 
whether they be Shiite Muslims, Biafrans or northern Christians, have 
been butchered by the military or any of the other agents of our King 
and state, it kindles the spirit of the Man of War that resides in me.<br />
When I see the tears of the mourners where entire communities have 
been subjected to genocide and where the weak, the vulnerable and the 
innocent have been slaughtered simply because of their ethnicity and 
faith it kindles a fire in my soul.<br />

When I see the injustice and the wholesale persecution that is meted 
out to all those that dare to say “no more” and “enough is enough” to 
the tyranny of the tyrant I marvel at man’s inhumanity to man and the 
sheer depths of his cruelty.<br />

Yet why bother feeling anything at all? Why cry more than the 
bereaved? Why should I care?What is the essence of writing poems in a 
nation that despises prose?<br />

What is the point of lamenting about an evil regime before whom 90 
per cent of the population that they torment cower, tremble and bow.<br />
What is the point of risking life, liberty and limb for a docile and 
stoic people who are not prepared to stand up and fight for their own 
liberty and freedom and who have an obsessive aversion to opposition, 
activism and dissent.<br />

Alas they do not possess the strength and power of the Vikings, the 
fighting spirit of the Spartans, the courageous soul of the Romans or 
the ferocius tenacity of the ancient Greeks.<br />

They do not have the braveheart and decisiveness of the Zulu, the 
firm resolve and yearning for freedom of the American, the unconquerable
 resilience of the Russian, the gallantry of the French or the 
lion-heart of the British.<br />

They do not share the passion and indomitable spirit of the sons of 
Israel, the courage of the Abyssinians, the pride of the Carthaginians 
or the decisive ruthlessness of the Hun.<br />

Submission, conformity, timidity and a weak, debilitating and telling
 silence in the face of tyranny, persecution, incompetence and injustice
 has become the order of the day in our shores.<br />

The more our government takes our people for granted, destroys their 
lives, sheds their blood, crushes their spirit, breaks their bones, 
shatters their dreams, drains and devalues their money, takes their 
jobs, violates their God-given and constitutionally-guaranteed rights 
and makes them suffer, the more they applaud them, cringe before them 
and smile.<br />

What manner of “broom and change”-inflicted witchcraft is this? They 
say that it is only in hell that the suffering and afflicted worship and
 praise the one that torments them. Yet it happens in Nigeria as well.<br />

Just look at our modern-day kings and rulers as they sit and feast in
 their opulent palaces of pomp and pageantry and their citadels of 
wickedness and darkness whilst hunger ravages the people and hardship 
pervades the land.<br />
heir wealth is both obsessive and obscene and their tyranny and 
oppression has no limits or bounds. They are the darkness that seeks the
 darkness and cruelty is their plessure and delight.
<br />
They came from the second heaven and they are known as the Nephilim. 
Half human, half demon entities: hybrids whose life-force is satan and 
whose disposition and genetic make-up is reptilian.<br />

They rule our nation with an iron fist: killing, maiming, robbing, 
destroying, detaining and shaming all those that dare to oppose them. 
Not even the women and children are safe from their wicked vice and 
relentless torment and perfidy.<br />

Yet for the sake of our nation, our loved ones and our children, we 
that are strong must resist the harbingers of poverty, misery and 
suffering. We must reject the messangers of death and disease.<br />

We must oppose the sons of perdition and the destroyers of our dreams
 and aspirations. We must fight the servants of the Baphomet, the 
children of the devil, the bondsmen of Lucifer and the seed of the 
Midianites and the Amalekites.<br />

And in this battle we must not fear because the Lord is with us, 
victory is assured and I hear the sound of abundant rain. The Finger of 
God has been loosed. The Hosts of Heaven have been stirred.<br />

The army of the Lord is on the march. The Ancient of Days has risen with a two-edged sword in his hand.<br />

Behold He comes, riding on a cloud, shining like the sun, at the 
trumpet call. Lift up your voice, its the year of Jubilee, out of Zion’s
 hill salvation comes.<br />

The Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Defender of the Faithful and the 
Bright Morning Star rises and roars in His power and glorious splendour.<br />

He is the Alpha and the Omega, the Rose of Sharon, the Lily of the 
Valley, the Creator of the Universe, the Beginning and the End before 
whom the stars, the sun, the moon and the entire firmament bow.<br />

Regardless of the darkness and suffering that we see in the land 
today and the evil grip of the tyrant, for our nation, deliverance is at
 hand and salvation beckons.<br />

Why? Because the Lord is our light and our salvation, whom shall we fear?<br />

Why? Because He is mighty in battle and none can stand before Him.<br />

Why? Because in the end He makes all things beautiful.<br />

Why? Because He is the comforter of our souls, the father of the fatherless and the husband of the widow.<br />

Why? Because regardless of the darkness of the night, joy comes in the morning.<br />

Why? Because there is no God like Jehova. Why? Because He never 
forsakes His own. Why? Because no matter how long it takes light always 
dispels the darkness and good always prevails over evil.<br />

Why? Because at the mention of His name all things visible and 
invisible and all that is tangible and intangible must stand to 
attention and bow.<br />

Why? Because all tyrants die and meet a bitter end. If nothing else 
remember this: behold He comes, behold He comes, behold He comes.<br />

And when He does, we shall rebuild and restructure our nation, end 
the suffering, take away the hunger, restore our economy, strengthen our
 borders, enhance our unity, recognise and honor our ethnic 
nationalities, bring self-respect and dignity to our people, guarantee 
our civl liberties, engender and defend our freedom and make Nigeria 
great again.<br />
<br />
<br />

Behold He comes by Fani Kayode

There is a deep rage in me that rises by the day. When I hear the voices of the voiceless and I see the suffering of the despised and the...

link to this post

Truths You Should Know About Porn Addiction

BASAM 0 Article 14:28:00

<img alt="1" class="attachment-full size-full wp-post-image" height="469" src="http://4a7jjc25uykf24u8sd3k8m5n.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/1-195.jpg" width="940" />         
        
       </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<strong>1. The digital age allows a crazy amount of access to porn. </strong>In
 this way, access might contribute to addiction. “I think the dawn of 
the internet age of porn has definitely increased our access — it’s 
everywhere,” Drucker says. “You could literally be looking at porn now 
24 hours a day if you were so inclined, when that hasn’t always been the
 case.” Anderson agrees, equating porn addiction to alcohol addiction: 
“Because of this easy way to access everything and this kind of 
technological age, we have so much access. So we have to just think 
about it because it’s rampant .</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<strong>2. In order to understand porn addiction, we must first define addiction. </strong>There is some controversy over whether porn addiction <a class="body-link" href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/30/porn-addiction-_n_7696448.html" target="_blank">actually exists</a>.
 But recovering addicts are adamant about the legitimacy of their 
addiction. “I think it’s the act of disconnection from your world and 
not wanting to be present,” Lauren says. “And I think for me, that 
defines addiction, and if that’s taking you away from your career, your 
responsibilities, from your love life, then it’s an addiction. So if I’m
 going off that philosophy, then 100 percent porn is an addiction.” 
Still, sex addiction has been <a class="body-link" href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/women-who-stray/201212/sex-addiction-rejected-yet-again-apa" target="_blank">repeatedly rejected by the American Psychiatric Association</a>.
 “I really think it’s important to differentiate between experience and 
what the data says. If you have a specific experience and you believe 
it, then it’s perfectly valid. But you don’t want to generalize that to 
everybody else. That’s why we have experts who are combing through the 
data,” O’Reilly says.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<strong>3. The stereotype that porn 
addiction is some guy with a gallon of lube in his mother’s basement is 
unfairly taking women out of the equation</strong>. “When I sought 
recovery, talking about females dealing with porn addiction was rare,” 
Lauren says. “And I ended up in sex addiction anonymous and was one of 
the four women in the state of Alabama seeking help, and, on top of it, I
 was the only one under the age of 30. So today, I’m so grateful to see 
that there’s programs popping up for women specifically because they are
 a part of this demographic dealing with porn and sex addiction.”</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<strong>4. Porn addicts say the aftermath of the addiction is a disconnection from actual sexual intimacy, or “sexual anorexia.”</strong>
 Schmuley believes that as the addiction grows, porn no longer 
stimulates sexual intimacy. “It actually becomes the substitute,” he 
says. Lauren says when combatting that, you can end up going on the 
other end of the spectrum. “Something I learned right when I entered 
therapy is when people are in there for porn and sex addiction, they go 
from having a compulsive behavior to completely turning it off and 
losing all sex drive. And I was stuck in this — they call it <a class="body-link" href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/sex-lies-trauma/201408/the-devastating-pain-sexual-anorexics" target="_blank">sexual anorexia</a> — for five years. I could not get out of it worth the life of me.”</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<strong>5. Porn addiction may not be the main problem; it may be a symptom of something else. </strong>“I
 think for me, it was the act of disconnecting from the world that I 
lived in,” Lauren says. “I grew up in a very toxic Christian environment
 where it was very black-and-white thinking, where women’s value was in 
their sexual purity … So I grew up in a world where sex is so taboo, and
 for me, masturbation and pornography really disconnected me from 
reality, and it was something that helped me run away from stress and 
insecurities.”</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="body-text" style="text-align: justify;">
<strong>6. A huge part of the recovery process is reshaping what sexuality means to you.</strong>
 Lauren’s therapist has pushed her to reframe sex positively instead of 
associating it with guilt. “I think the beautiful thing that I found in 
recovery is I know that sexuality is a beautiful part of being human and
 a part of a way of connecting with people. I’ve had to work really hard
 in reshaping my beliefs around that, which has been a huge crux of the 
last eight years … I personally do not watch porn, but it’s funny. My 
therapist has challenged me to watch it and test out those boundaries.”</div>
<div class="body-text" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="body-text" style="text-align: justify;">
<strong>7. Sexual intimacy and openness can be regained after recovering from porn addiction.</strong>
 Lauren says that her recovery has made it a possibility to using porn 
in future relationships. “There was dormant years of me avoiding 
intimacy at all costs. I just didn’t want to be apart of it. I was so 
upset. I felt broken. But today, I feel like I have this clean, 
beautiful slate that I’ve worked so hard for. I’ve worked so hard to 
reframe my belief system around sexuality, and so if that was something 
my partner and I wanted to do 100 percent, I would be open to it. One 
hundred percent.”</div>
<div class="body-text" style="text-align: justify;">
Credit: <span style="color: red;"><a href="http://www.cosmopolitan.com/sex-love/a8352509/things-you-should-know-about-porn-addiction/" style="color: red;">cosmopolitan</a></span></div>

Truths You Should Know About Porn Addiction

1. The digital age allows a crazy amount of access to porn. In this way, access might contribute to a...

link to this post

4 Reasons Why You Should Never Hold Your Pee For Too Long

BASAM 0 Article 08:33:00

<h3 class="body-h3" style="text-align: justify;">
1. An Embarrassing Accident</h3>
<div class="body-text" style="text-align: justify;">
Just to keep it real: <a class="body-link" data-tracking-id="recirc-text-link" href="http://www.redbookmag.com/life/mom-kids/a44114/helloflo-music-video-postpartum-incontinence/" target="_blank">Peeing your pants</a> is a real possibility because the <em data-redactor-tag="em" data-verified="redactor">crossing your legs really tight </em>trick
 is only going to work for so long. “As your bladder gets fuller and 
fuller, there’s a good chance you aren’t going to make it to the 
bathroom on time,” Streicher says. Imagine your bladder like a water 
balloon that’s filling up — the longer you hold off going to the 
bathroom, the bigger and heavier it gets. And the muscles that contract 
to keep your bladder sealed can only withstand the pressure for so long 
before it will start to leak.</div>
<div class="body-text" style="text-align: justify;">
So the next time <a class="body-link" data-tracking-id="recirc-text-link" href="http://www.redbookmag.com/home/decor/advice/g1049/bathroom-decorating-ideas/" target="_blank">the bathroom</a>
 feels like 11 steps too far away and you just can’t even, think about 
this: Do you really want to be the grown-ass woman who just peed her 
pants because she didn’t feel like prying herself away from her 
deadline? It may not be a super scary medical condition, but still.</div>
<h3 class="body-h3" style="text-align: justify;">
2. Your Pelvic Floor Might Get Weak</h3>
<div class="body-text" style="text-align: justify;">
When you force your bladder to constantly carry around a bowling ball’s worth of pee for hours, <a class="body-link" data-tracking-id="recirc-text-link" href="http://www.redbookmag.com/body/features/a39273/release-pelvic-floor-goop-gwyneth-paltrow/" target="_blank">the muscles in your pelvic floor</a>
 start to lose strength. “Pelvic floor muscles contract in a coordinated
 fashion to help you either release pee or hold it,” Streicher says. 
“But if you’re continually holding urine, you can end up with some real 
dysfunction of your pelvic floor muscles.” Over time, that can cause you
 to lose control of your bladder functions.</div>
<div class="body-text" style="text-align: justify;">
Don’t freak out if you
 feel the urge to go and your boss pulls you into her office for a quick
 brainstorming session when you were about to jet to the ladies’ room, 
or <a class="body-link" data-tracking-id="recirc-text-link" href="http://www.redbookmag.com/life/a21808/5-amazing-american-road-trips-youve-gotta-take-this-summer/" target="_blank">if you’re on a road trip</a>
 and it’s an eternity till the next rest stop. “There’s a big difference
 between someone who holds it once in a blue moon and someone who does 
it all the time,” Streicher says. “Every now and then isn’t going to 
cause huge problems.”</div>
<h3 class="body-h3" style="text-align: justify;">
3. Long-Lasting Pain</h3>
<div class="body-text" style="text-align: justify;">
That feeling you get after you’ve been holding it forever and <em data-redactor-tag="em" data-verified="redactor">finally</em>
 go? Sweet relief — but maybe not. If it’s been too long, you may 
continue to hurt. “Once the pain signals have been trigged in the lower 
abdomen, the pain may not just go away,” Streicher says. “Your muscles 
are clenching and are almost in a spasm, so they’re not able to just 
relax.”</div>
<div class="body-text" style="text-align: justify;">
And the pain may last 
for days. “I see a lot of people who come in with lower abdominal pain 
and think that something is seriously wrong, and one of the things I 
look for is does the person have normal bladder habits,” Streicher says.
 “And a lot of times, they don’t. Well, that causes pain that may stick 
around for awhile.”</div>
<h3 class="body-h3" style="text-align: justify;">
4. Your Bladder Might Get Stretched Out</h3>
<div class="body-text" style="text-align: justify;">
As mentioned above, 
your bladder is (thankfully) not going to blow up, but it’s certainly 
going to get stretched to its limits. One of the big side effects of an 
overextended bladder? Your body may start missing cues that your bladder
 needs emptied, and those messages your brain sends to your body that it
 needs to go to the bathroom are important (for obvious reasons).</div>
<div class="body-text" style="text-align: justify;">
But wait — before you start bolting to the bathroom every time <a class="body-link" data-tracking-id="recirc-text-link" href="http://www.redbookmag.com/life/a43356/why-you-have-to-pee-at-night/" target="_blank">you feel a pang to pee</a>,
 know that “you don’t have to urinate the minute you feel the urge to 
go,” Streicher says. “A good measure is that it should never get to the 
point that you’re uncomfortable. Holding it to that point is too long.”</div>

4 Reasons Why You Should Never Hold Your Pee For Too Long

1. An Embarrassing Accident Just to keep it real: Peeing your pa...

link to this post

Fidel Castro: An Unforgettable Revolutionary Icon By Rauf Aregbesola

BASAM 0 Article 03:45:00

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhMNkUuHMk0_w-EVKuY_T7E9sv2kOyHkF21YbaNObBmRlArjjELMZinfgUWxaan_yU8eCzIHqSh8r3YgiUHI3pmqxFwRPbh1P4pP9V-JqS1zs-McIAFULQ1f6Mb89qhypHNZBaBV6GUN8H/s1600/castro-fidel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhMNkUuHMk0_w-EVKuY_T7E9sv2kOyHkF21YbaNObBmRlArjjELMZinfgUWxaan_yU8eCzIHqSh8r3YgiUHI3pmqxFwRPbh1P4pP9V-JqS1zs-McIAFULQ1f6Mb89qhypHNZBaBV6GUN8H/s640/castro-fidel.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<blockquote>
Fidel Castro has completed his earthly assignment 
but the ideas for which he struggled, defended, sacrificed, lived and 
died, like his other immortal colleagues, will live forever.</blockquote>
<strong>
</strong><strong></strong><br />
<em>“Died in beauty, like a rose blown from its parent stem”</em> <strong>– Charles Doyne Sillery</strong><br />
<br />

At last the curtain fell on the exemplary life of the Commandante of 
The Army of the oppressed and dis-inherited people world-wide. Fidel 
Alejandro Castro Ruz has passed on after 90 eventful years, 49 of which 
he held sway as the Prime Minister and later President of Cuba. Indeed, 
Castro became a permanent feature of political and ideological discourse
 in the past five decades, such that we almost thought he would live 
forever.  <br />

The feeling is mixed. Yes mixed! To lose such an inspiring and 
profound personality is eternally painful but for such a legend to 
depart at such a ripe age of 90, deserves a huge celebration in a world 
where the average life span hardly surpasses 50 years, but not more than
 70 years for men in the most advanced nations on our planet.<br />

On behalf of the government and people of the State of Osun, and in 
recognition of the historical and cultural bond between the Cubans and 
Yoruba in the State of Osun in Nigeria and worldwide, we salute the 
courage, determination, vision, resilience and revolutionary zeal of 
Fidel and his companions, the indomitable spirit of Cubans, and 
solidarity of all people of the world committed to human dignity, 
freedom and happiness.<br />
From the July 26 movement of 1953, the Granma Expedition of November 
25, 1956, the ultimate victory of the revolution on January 1, 1959, to 
his final departure from our realm at about 10 pm, November 25, 2016, we
 are sure that our Commandante lived a fulfilled life that history will 
never forget.<br />

Millions of people – students, academics, poets, politicians, trade 
unionists, artisans, revolutionary cadres and humanists – including my 
humble self, drew inspiration from him, his rhetorics, writings, 
reflections, dedication, integrity and commitment to building socialism.
 There is no doubt that the world is a better place because of him, 
consequently a gem has been lost indeed.<br />

He was a symbol of resistance to injustice and oppression, as all the
 oppressed people of the world drew inspiration from him. He held the 
unenviable record of being the man with the most assassination attempts 
on his life, without any succeeding. He stood for what he believed in 
and not for once did he flinch in the face of the most formidable 
military encirclement and daunting economic and financial strangulation.
 Ironically, the man who the greatest powers on earth could not break 
finally succumbed to illness and ultimately the cold hands of death, in 
the way of all mortals.<br />
<strong><br />
</strong><br />
<blockquote>
…we join the people of Cuba in their 
national grief and urge them to renew and redouble their commitment and 
duty to the struggle and ultimate victory of socialism.</blockquote>
<strong>
</strong><strong></strong><br />
As Africans, we remember the solidarity, partnerships, high level of 
discipline and sense of DUTY of the Cubans to the  liberation struggles,
 healthcare delivery, education, sports and youth development and 
political consciousness in Africa under the leadership and direction of 
Fidel and his administration. Although Castro’s Cuba is a nation with 
modest means, yet she has a gargantuan spirit of internationalism, 
support and assistance to the poor and exploited peoples and nations of 
the world. We proudly acknowledge the heroism of Cuba in this 
unparalleled show solidarity and humanism.<br />
Nevertheless, in death, Castro has joined the pantheons of immortals 
whose ideas and praxis continually dominate and influence their world 
and therefore live forever in the hearts of people, in literature and 
politics, and in the physical monuments that will be named after him all
 over the world. Millions will carry on the struggle from where he left 
it.<br />

Fidel Castro has been rightly described by <em>The Guardian of London</em>
 as a ‘revolutionary icon’. It is expected that well deserved encomiums 
and heartfelt tributes will pour in for a life of struggle, Spartan 
discipline, selflessness and sacrifice that he lived.<br />

As we mourn and celebrate the passage of this international 
revolutionary legend, hero of the oppressed, fighter of oppression and 
exploitation, promoter of social justice, soldier and Commandante of 
ideas, we join the people of Cuba in their national grief and urge them 
to renew and redouble their commitment and duty to the struggle and 
ultimate victory of socialism.<br />

Fidel Castro has completed his earthly assignment but the ideas for 
which he struggled, defended, sacrificed, lived and died, like his other
 immortal colleagues, will live forever.<br />

Long Live Cuba !<br />
Long live the revolution !!<br />
Till  Everlasting Victory !!!<br />
<br />

Fidel Castro: An Unforgettable Revolutionary Icon By Rauf Aregbesola

Fidel Castro has completed his earthly assignment but the ideas for which he struggled, defended, sacrificed, lived and died, like his...

link to this post

Goodbye, Fidel Castro By Reuben Abati

BASAM 0 Article 07:18:00

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUAUBfpa4yHTAJLVmDzFtlRzg-2senmlbhjRk-bzO-yVKHnXIo39wq81yk17FQexY88bxDNZxZVaLer-NFQ_MFQ6dWR_MuXrmdXvj-L0Hd9qDN4Q8RE1zMdMHf10ltgh5XTQzmBxN2JWc1/s1600/castro-fidel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUAUBfpa4yHTAJLVmDzFtlRzg-2senmlbhjRk-bzO-yVKHnXIo39wq81yk17FQexY88bxDNZxZVaLer-NFQ_MFQ6dWR_MuXrmdXvj-L0Hd9qDN4Q8RE1zMdMHf10ltgh5XTQzmBxN2JWc1/s640/castro-fidel.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
The death of Fidel Castro was long expected and when it finally 
came on Friday night, there was very little surprise across the world. 
He was 90, and in August, he had himself predicted that he would not 
live beyond 90. He had been sick for about ten years, compelling him to 
hand over power as Cuba’s leader in 2006. It is instructive that 
Castro’s death, like his life, was attended by divided opinions. No 
other man has been more controversial in Latin America and indeed in the
 whole of the Americas in the last 50 years.<br />

He was hated and loved in almost equal measure, praised by 
those who admired him, and denounced by those who objected to his 
politics and style. This much was illustrated as the news of his death 
spread: while Cubans in Havana and across the country mourned the death 
of the<em>El Commandante,</em> the father of modern Cuba, and perhaps the last of the iconic revolutionary figures of the 20<sup>th</sup> Century,
 145 kilometres away to the North, in Miami, Florida, many Cubans in 
diaspora celebrated the death of the man they consider a tyrant who 
drove them away from their homeland.<br />

Fidel Castro, having survived countless assassination attempts
 over the years, was fully aware more than anyone else, of the emotional
 reactions to the choices he made by all categories of persons including
 ideologues, capitalists, family members and plebeians alike. His 
response to this was the iconic declaration: “Condemn me. It is of no 
importance. History will absolve me.” This was in 1953, after the 
Moncada Barracks event, but that statement more or less defined his 
life-long attitude to power, leadership and situations. As Cuba’s strong
 man, he ran his country from 1959 to 2006, like a messiah, giving the 
people one of the best human development indexes in the world: a 
developed medical system, free healthcare, free education, advancements 
in science, research and agriculture, the transformation of Cuba into a 
centre of culture, and a strong presence in global politics.  <br />

But it was Fidel’s politics that turned him into both the 
symbolic and controversial figure that he became. When he drove out the 
Fulgencio Batista government in 1959, he was regarded as the messianic 
revolutionary, along with his band of freedom fighters, who had come to 
save the people in what became known as the 26<sup>th</sup> of July 
Movement. Batista’s military dictatorship imposed enormous misery upon 
the people and encouraged the transformation of Havana into the 
playground of the rich, the Mafia, the criminal and the corrupt.  Fidel,
 as he was simply known, promised his people “Fatherland or Death” – (<em>“patria o muerte”</em>),
 constitutional rule, free and fair elections, and a brighter future. He
 soon embarked on a series of brutal executions, victimization of his 
political opponents and mass repression, justified on the basis of the 
need to consolidate the revolution.  His transition from freedom fighter
 to an autocrat, and the gradual shift from a people’s revolution to a 
one-man revolution, is one of the striking contradictions of his 
legacy.<br />

Perhaps the most defining marker of this legacy is Cuba’s 
relationship with the United States under his watch. By 1960, the 
would-be socialist democrat had declared that he is a Marxist-Leninist 
and with his embrace of the Soviet Union, he brought the Cold War, one 
of the most significant events of the 20<sup>th</sup> Century to the 
doorstep of the United States. This marked the beginning of more than 50
 years of strained relationship with the United States, beginning with 
Cuba’s introduction of a nationalized planned economy which resulted in 
the state take-over of foreign businesses and investments which were 
mostly American, the Bay of Pigs invasion of 1961 and the nuclear 
missile standoff of October 1962, which brought the world to the brink 
of a nuclear war as the Soviets attempted to set up a nuclear base in 
Cuba, a few miles away from the United States. <br />

Fidel Castro’s face-off with the United States earned his 
country economic and military blockades, which proved punitive for his 
people, the flight of many Cubans to the United States, sustained, 
vitriolic American propaganda against Fidel and Cuba, as well as 
assassination attempts. By 1961, America broke off diplomatic relations 
with Cuba. Fidel proved to be a fiercely single-minded, iron-willed, 
unbending political figure. He resisted both capitalist restoration and 
American imperialism. He emerged in the long run as a symbol of defiance
 and a source of inspiration for many of his compatriots and others who 
drew patriotic zeal and fire from his resistance, nationalism and 
patriotism.<br />

Cuba was the centerpiece of his revolutionary and 
ideological exertions. He wanted the best for his country and his 
people, and in pursuing a pro-worker, pro-people agenda, he stood firmly
 against the intimidation of the capitalist mega-power to the North. He 
turned towards the Soviet Union as trading partner and source of 
subsidies.  He lowered racial barriers, preached equality and 
sovereignty and railed endlessly against capitalism in 
characteristically fiery and long speeches. With the end of the Cold War
 and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1992, the subsidies ended, and 
the people’s economic hardship increased but Fidel Castro remained 
stubbornly committed to his agenda and vision. He survived the end of 
Soviet subsidy with the help of Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela.<br />

He was a very strong, impressive personality, a master of 
rhetoric, and a notable man of style, with his trademark fatigue, 
classic Cuban cigar and scraggy beard. He was the oldest and the most 
enduring of the communists. His example inspired radical politics in 
Venezuela, Chile, Grenada, Bolivia, Ecuador and other parts of Latin 
America.  He defined the left in Latin America. He changed the Latin 
American game.<br />

His impact on the larger international order was no less 
significant. Many Fidelistas emerged in other parts of the world, 
including Africa, particularly in Congo, South Africa, Angola, Namibia 
and Mozambique where he supported revolutionary change morally and 
materially. The Nigerian Left also owes much inspiration to the politics
 of Fidel Castro and the ideas of his friend and ally, Ernesto “Che” 
Guevara.  Cuban doctors served as volunteers in Angola and Namibia, 
while over 36, 000 troops and another 300, 000 troops took part in the 
anti-apartheid, liberation struggles in both countries respectively.  
Cuban troops were also involved in Algeria, Guinea Bissau, Equitorial 
Guinea, Sierra Leone and Libya. Africa owes Fidel a debt of gratitude. 
Comrade Fidel became the hero of many across the world who wanted to 
stand up for their countries and become like him, champions of the 
interests of the downtrodden and apostles of the values of equality and 
sovereignty. He was one of the strongest political, if not moral, voices
 in the 20th century.  He may have been guilty of human rights abuses at
 home, for debatable reasons of pragmatism, but he was a champion of 
social justice on the global stage.<br />

The durability of Castro’s politics and influence was further 
consolidated by the longevity of his life.  Many young Cubans may 
remember him as the old man, and probably be less excited by his 
politics, which they may not understand, but he is bound to remain the 
most influential figure in Cuban history for a very long time to come. 
The United States must be relieved that its arch-enemy is finally gone. 
Fidel Castro stood up to 11 American Presidents from Eisenhower to Obama
 and did a lot to promote anti-American sentiments in the global sphere.
 Even when Jimmy Carter (he removed travel restrictions in 1977 and 
visited in 2002 and 2011) and Barrack Obama (the first sitting American 
President to visit Cuba in 90 years) sought to extend a hand of 
friendship, he was unimpressed. <br />

America’s hope that his death will mark the end of his legacy 
may be too much of an expectation, but definitely Cuba after Fidel 
Castro will no longer be the same, but the change will be gradual. 
Castro’s brother and successor, Raul is 85 years old: some day, a Castro
 will no longer be in charge of Cuba, and the end of that dynasty may 
well mark the beginning of another transformation. But before that 
happens, Donald Trump, Paul Ryan, Marco Rubio, Newt Gingrich and Ted 
Cruz should stop gloating: their responses to Fidel’s death are too 
cheap, vilely opportunistic and indecent!<br />

As it is, many Cubans are no longer afraid that America poses a
 threat to their country’s sovereignty: the psychological weapon with 
which Fidel controlled the population for decades. Cuba without Fidel 
draws closer attention to the gains of the Cuban revolution, as to 
whether or not it has fulfilled its promises. Raul Castro has made the 
Cuban economy more open and allowed more opportunities for 
self-expression, there are plans to restore diplomatic relations with 
the United States, commercial flights to and fro the United States are 
now possible, future movements may also be in the form of extension of 
the scope of human freedom.<br />

Fidel never wished that there would ever be a 
counter-revolutionary capitalist restoration in Cuba, as happened in 
Russia and Nicaragua, hence he had declared in April, that “the ideas of
 Cuban communism will endure.” He is no longer in a position to 
determine that, but like Jose Marti (1853-1895), before him, Fidel 
Castro (1926-2016) will forever occupy an important chapter in the 
history of his fatherland and the world. When his remains are submitted 
to the furnace of the pyre on December 4, if the dead could speak, 
Comrade Fidel could well be heard proclaiming afresh: “<em>La historia me absolvera!”. </em>Certainly,
 it has. He got away with his principled opposition to imperialism and 
provided leadership when the world needed it most.

Goodbye, Fidel Castro By Reuben Abati

The death of Fidel Castro was long expected and when it finally came on Friday night, there was very little surprise across the world. ...

link to this post

Una Go Just Die For Nothing - Charly Boy

BASAM 0 Article 10:22:00

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqSyPWn4-Gl6ZF5MWzZGNPkFt9pIF6XvcaCw9I9Wdjq1RUSBSmEBw_K95shSOXGyYAkXuZ5KtUnwU_m_7-cqeczXm4EH7NqNUQaEiyXN4WTY0smwSJhxDmRBdHw1hIIGvWeO3uI2PAn0Iy/s1600/charly-boy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqSyPWn4-Gl6ZF5MWzZGNPkFt9pIF6XvcaCw9I9Wdjq1RUSBSmEBw_K95shSOXGyYAkXuZ5KtUnwU_m_7-cqeczXm4EH7NqNUQaEiyXN4WTY0smwSJhxDmRBdHw1hIIGvWeO3uI2PAn0Iy/s640/charly-boy.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div id="m_6174717890444914096yui_3_16_0_1_1480177730707_12905">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span id="m_6174717890444914096yui_3_16_0_1_1480177730707_12897" style="line-height: 115%;">Greatest
Nigerian Youths!</span><span id="m_6174717890444914096yui_3_16_0_1_1480177730707_12900" style="line-height: 115%;"> Shey
una go still answer,  Great!</span><span id="m_6174717890444914096yui_3_16_0_1_1480177730707_12903" style="line-height: 115%;"> When
it is clear that most of you guys are silly, foolish, ignorant, confused, </span><span id="m_6174717890444914096yui_3_16_0_1_1480177730707_12906" style="line-height: 115%;">useless
and downright lazy. Shame wan kill me here on una behalf.</span></span></span></span></div>
</blockquote>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div id="m_6174717890444914096yui_3_16_0_1_1480177730707_12911">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span id="m_6174717890444914096yui_3_16_0_1_1480177730707_12909" style="line-height: 115%;">You
guys are a Big disappointment to this generation, and a disgrace to the
greatest</span><span id="m_6174717890444914096yui_3_16_0_1_1480177730707_12912" style="line-height: 115%;"> Nigerian
youths of the 50s, 60s and early 70s. Dem swear for Una?</span></span></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="more"></a></span></div>
</blockquote>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div id="m_6174717890444914096yui_3_16_0_1_1480177730707_12914">
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div id="m_6174717890444914096yui_3_16_0_1_1480177730707_12917">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span id="m_6174717890444914096yui_3_16_0_1_1480177730707_12918" style="line-height: 115%;">Most
of you guys have become a docile entity that is driven by the insatiable desire
to reap where una no sow, expecting miracles when you have not worked and
seeking  help in all the wrong places( illuminati, native doctors and
night vigiles) The frustration in our humanity is exemplified in the confused
non-ideological and non-intellectual capacity of today’s youths. The anger of
your hunger is not hitting the minds of our youths and the vexation that has
trailed governance nationally is almost unheard of among our youths even though
the new Nigerian reality is most felt by these same youths. Kai!!! Una Mumu
never Do?</span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div id="m_6174717890444914096yui_3_16_0_1_1480177730707_12920">
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div id="m_6174717890444914096yui_3_16_0_1_1480177730707_12923">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span id="m_6174717890444914096yui_3_16_0_1_1480177730707_12924" style="line-height: 115%;">For
the past four decades, I have been fighting the course of the Nigerian youths
and I still believe that Nigeria will be saved by its exceptional youths. After
all, many great NigerIan youths have passed through me and have grown to become
masters in their game. Like, Tunde and Wumi Obe, the great Majek Fashek, Dede
Mabiaku, Gloria Anozie Young, Jim Ike, ALi Baba etc etc. They all passed
through the Charlyboy University. </span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div id="m_6174717890444914096yui_3_16_0_1_1480177730707_12926">
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div id="m_6174717890444914096yui_3_16_0_1_1480177730707_12929">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span id="m_6174717890444914096yui_3_16_0_1_1480177730707_12930" style="line-height: 115%;">I
have made and encouraged Big Stars who are even Bigger today. Because of me,
millions of Nigeria never gave up on their dreams, because they have been
inspired by my tenacity, my focus, my hardwork,my consistency, belief in self
and my Never say Die spirit.. So, how can my honourable intentions for the
youths ever be in question. But when  I see how so nonchalant and
clueless most of them have become, I sometimes get demoralized.</span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div id="m_6174717890444914096yui_3_16_0_1_1480177730707_12932">
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div id="m_6174717890444914096yui_3_16_0_1_1480177730707_12935">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span id="m_6174717890444914096yui_3_16_0_1_1480177730707_12936" style="line-height: 115%;">When
I called the youths to action, to fight to retrieve their stolen and kidnapped
future, I was confronted with youths who are incapable of taking the bull by
the horn and leading movements geared towards the Nigerian realignment. With
the Social media platforms that cut across facebook, twitter, whatsapp,
instagram; which should be one of the deadliest weapon against our yahoo yahoo
leadership, yet the Nigerian youths slaked. Rather what did I see, ignorance
and an illiterate bunch that trades on insults, with their horrible english wey
dey purge belle, incapable of moving from the virtual reality to the reality of
their present situation. </span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div id="m_6174717890444914096yui_3_16_0_1_1480177730707_12938">
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div id="m_6174717890444914096yui_3_16_0_1_1480177730707_12941">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span id="m_6174717890444914096yui_3_16_0_1_1480177730707_12942" style="line-height: 115%;">When
a few exceptional Nigerian youths came to me for support to lead the protest to
fight corruption starting with the National Assembly I knew that this was the
beginning of a new dawn. I immediately jumped on it.  It was purely
out of my desire to see and feel the reawakening of the lost breed of youthful
activism and sustained engagement of old. It became personal. With the interest
of the youths at heart, I saw a platform for sustained resistance against
audacious political criminality to be presented to those who are ready to
change Nigerian from the top to the bottom. It was done to activate the
firebrand spirit lost to the destructive generational problems; to inform the
youths and ring it loud and clear that the moment of continuing engagement has
come.</span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div id="m_6174717890444914096yui_3_16_0_1_1480177730707_12944">
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div id="m_6174717890444914096yui_3_16_0_1_1480177730707_12947">
<span style="font-size: small;">
<span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span id="m_6174717890444914096yui_3_16_0_1_1480177730707_12948" style="line-height: 115%;"> Our
youths must wake up with the urgency of now.  Leadership is not a
gift, it must be earned. You must show willingness to lead. You must be
tenacious. You must show support to those who take the risk to speak for you
instead of throwing stones. We all should educate ourselves on good governance
and mass mobilization for a sustained activism because Nigeria is failing and
we are known for notoriously destructive government.</span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div id="m_6174717890444914096yui_3_16_0_1_1480177730707_12950">
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div id="m_6174717890444914096yui_3_16_0_1_1480177730707_12953">
<span style="font-size: small;">
<span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span id="m_6174717890444914096yui_3_16_0_1_1480177730707_12954" style="line-height: 115%;"> It’s
time to stand up and be counted; it is time to say enough is enough.
Governments over the years have succeeded in creating youths who have
absolutely no idea about the processes that necessitates real success in the
society; it is time to recreate the Student Unionism of old and the major
driving force behind youth empowerment that is capable of waking the docile
sleeping Nigerian youth.</span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div id="m_6174717890444914096yui_3_16_0_1_1480177730707_12956">
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div id="m_6174717890444914096yui_3_16_0_1_1480177730707_12708">
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div dir="ltr" id="m_6174717890444914096yui_3_16_0_1_1480177730707_12959">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span id="m_6174717890444914096yui_3_16_0_1_1480177730707_12960" style="line-height: 115%;">No
matter my disappointment from time to time with the youths of this great
country, I will Never quit on you guys no matter how juvenile you all make out
to be. Regardless if my intentions are some misconstrued, I will always stand
firm, because I no send. I am confident that with my constant appeal for
standing up in defence of your hijacked future you can begin to be emboldened
to be more vocal about your predicament. As a fada I will never be too far from
you. This is a fight we cannot loose, and we cannot fail. All obstacle placed
in our way to derail this movement will Never succeed in Jesus mighty name. The
Nigerian youths sooner than later will retrieve their stolen future. I believe
in the exceptional youths and I believe in Nigeria. I shall and must be well
again with us, God punish bad people.</span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div dir="ltr" id="m_6174717890444914096yui_3_16_0_1_1480177730707_12959">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Facebook -Charlyboy</span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div dir="ltr" id="m_6174717890444914096yui_3_16_0_1_1480177730707_12959">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Twitter and Instagram- @areafada1</span></span></span></span></div>

Una Go Just Die For Nothing - Charly Boy

Greatest Nigerian Youths! Shey una go still answer, Great! When it is clear that most of you guys are silly, foolish, ignorant, conf...

link to this post

Before Everything Falls Apart By Dele Momodu

BASAM 0 Article 00:06:00

<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHFcJ8sc-2WtwYCkidkbgVr9C0xURvEzp-UjcBOLGFrs3WuN77PXBf114ngB2W3bVA02qE4oYXeOUMQgBr6BlHfF2EMNkbvrYK_L7nHbszMsmnM12D1z4BndtQahEYTUet32pMXaKXik1k/s1600/DELE-MOMODU-COLUMN-SIZE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHFcJ8sc-2WtwYCkidkbgVr9C0xURvEzp-UjcBOLGFrs3WuN77PXBf114ngB2W3bVA02qE4oYXeOUMQgBr6BlHfF2EMNkbvrYK_L7nHbszMsmnM12D1z4BndtQahEYTUet32pMXaKXik1k/s400/DELE-MOMODU-COLUMN-SIZE.jpg" width="398" /></a></div>
By Dele Momodu <br />
Fellow Nigerians, something big is about to happen in our dear beloved 
country. I wish I could foretell a pleasant development. I truly wish. 
But what I see is total confusion. I refuse to see mayhem out of faith 
and not by conviction. I’m praying, fasting and hoping that our 
benevolent God would avert yet another dangerous crisis hovering over 
our great country. Nigeria has suffered too much since attaining 
Independence in the year of our Lord 1960. We have tried all sorts of 
permutations and configurations but nothing has work to our collective 
benefit. Each time we thought we were close to Eldorado, something came 
from the blues to dash our hopes and put us all into absolute disarray.<br />
I sometimes wonder who we have offended as a people and a country. 
Why are we so jinxed? A gracious God actually provided us with 
everything we needed to make our lives as comfortable as we wanted or 
desired. God did not just provide us with what was necessary for 
existence HE lavished upon us goodies that many nations crave for but 
have never seen. However, for some unbeknown reason we chose to be a 
country of excruciating pain and debilitating agony.<br />

We have tried scholars, mediocres and even stark illiterates in 
government, none has taken us far. What exactly is the matter with us? 
This is a question begging for answer. The resolution may well be our 
salvation.<br />

I have gone through this preamble for one major reason. Say what you 
will about former President Olusegun Matthew Okikiolakan Aremu Obasanjo,
 he is one man who knows Nigeria inside out. If you like, call him 
tempestuous, egocentric, cantankerous, or what have you, but you cannot 
remove the word patriotism from his qualifiers. He is a one-man riot 
squad. He is a true General who is not afraid of battles, never mind 
wars. When he talks, the world listens, no matter what he says, or how 
he says it.<br />

The trick he used to acquire such respectability was simple. As our 
military Head of State, General Obasanjo voluntarily handed over power 
to a civilian government at a time it wasn’t fashionable to do such. If 
he wanted, he could have engaged in a merry-go-round transition 
programme but he was very smart by presenting the image of a lover of 
democracy to the world. Everyone, especially, the Western powers, 
applauded him for that singular action. He has reaped the reward many 
times over and indeed is still enjoying the accolade and plaudits that 
are a consequence of his rare feat.<br />

Also, General Obasanjo earnestly attracted and surrounded himself 
with some of our greatest names in academia and started his regular 
summits in Ota farm where he promptly established a humongous poultry 
farm. This was how he began his own personal intellectualisation process
 as well. He was thus able to transfigure from a rambunctious dictator 
to a world statesman. In fact, he was close to becoming the United 
Nations Secretary General. He travelled the globe several times over. At
 a time, he was trailing only The Madiba, Nelson Mandela, in popularity.
 He became the voice of our continent and was invited to chair many 
international occasions and bodies.<br />

Obasanjo seized every opportunity presented to him with both hands. 
He catapulted himself very skilfully to the pinnacle of leadership in 
his home country, Nigeria, and became almost indispensable in matters of
 governance. Obasanjo’s ability to speak up boldly and vociferously 
completed his transformation into the consciousness and conscience of 
our complex and complicated country. He criticised every government that
 came after him but met his nemesis in General Sani Abacha who brooked 
no rascality from any quarter. Before one could say Jack Robinson, 
Abacha had roped Obasanjo into some phantom plot to unseat him and 
pronto Obasanjo landed in an unfriendly archipelago of a prison where he
 languished forlornly before he was mysteriously freed several years 
later. His former deputy, General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua wasn’t that lucky.
 He died in prison under strange circumstances. No one ever expected 
such an ugly fate to befall these highly esteemed and gargantuan leaders
 but this is Nigeria, a country of all possibilities.<br />

As fate would have it, Obasanjo’s excruciating stint in prison was 
compensated by the Nigerian Mafia after a short while following the 
demise of both General Sani Abacha and the man who had won the fairest 
election in Nigeria, Bashorun Moshood Kashimawo Abiola. It is 
interesting that Obasanjo inherited all the goodwill and sacrifices of 
Abiola, his kinsman, but yet never expressed gratitude or appreciation 
to his saviour and benefactor.  That is a story for another time.<br />

Obasanjo was unceremoniously freed from imprisonment and recalled 
from retirement to lead the People’s Democratic Party. By then, Obasanjo
 had become dressed in the robe of invincibility. In a jiffy, he won the
 election against a very cerebral economist, Chief Oluyemisi Falae and 
instantly became one of Africa’s most powerful leaders and secured 
another fist of being a former military dictator turned civilian 
autocrat.<br />

For eight blistering years, whilst Obasanjo was at the helm of 
affairs of this country, he swiftly moved to stamp his authority not 
just on our nation but also on world affairs. He assembled a very 
formidable team. His economic blueprint was awesome. He was somehow able
 to pay off our debts, although the jury is still out on the practical 
effect of the debt forgiveness deal that went hand in glove with this. 
He embarked on aggressive infrastructure development. Everything was 
going well for his government. His vast knowledge of Nigeria and the 
world came in handy for him. He looked poised to truly create a new and 
greater Nigeria. But there was a snag.<br />

Obasanjo and his Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, who 
incidentally turned 70 just yesterday (I congratulate and rejoice with 
him), engaged in a debilitating war of attrition that exposed their 
government to incredible perils as things fell apart. We all watched 
incredulously as things spiralled out of control. Obasanjo unleashed 
terror against known and imaginary enemies. His most effective weapon 
then was the war against corruption. A war that now seems to have come 
full circle! Two powerful agencies, EFCC and ICPC, helped to pursue the 
sinners and saints alike with the agility of a thoroughbred warhorse and
 the savageness of a wounded lion. No one dared challenge that 
government.<br />

Time flew at the speed of light. Before long, it was obvious that a 
third term agenda was being laid and hatched from the innermost recesses
 of Aso Rock to the hallowed chambers of the National Assembly. Many 
legislators were being coaxed or coerced into assenting to a bill to 
change the Nigerian Constitution and set the stage for the possibility 
of a third or more terms in power for the President. Somehow, this 
ambitious plan was torpedoed and Obasanjo and his acolytes abandoned the
 ship of third term and started singing a new song.<br />

It remains a mystery how Obasanjo arrived at his decision to force 
Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan on Nigeria as 
President and Vice President respectively. A party that paraded Governor
 Donald Duke, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iwealla, Governor Bukola Saraki, Mrs Oby 
Ezekwesili, Mallam Nasir El Rufai, Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso, Governor 
Rotimi Amaechi, Governor Olusegun Mimiko, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, and many 
others threw up this less than sparkling combination. Though Yar’Adua 
appeared to be a good leader, his ill-health would soon prove fatal and 
he couldn’t do more than his weak strength could carry. The mantle of 
power fell on the laps of Dr Goodluck Jonathan, a university scholar who
 was expected to push his team hard in some key sectors. That dream also
 evaporated.<br />

The ubiquitous godfather, General Obasanjo, would soon emerge from 
the grove he had retreated into and shred Jonathan, his cohorts and his 
party into smithereens. It is difficult to decipher what truly went awry
 between them but one thing led to another and the falcon could no 
longer hear the falconer. And that was the beginning of the end. Had 
Jonathan known, maybe he should have done everything under the sun to 
offer Obasanjo whatever pacifier was needed and necessary. Obasanjo soon
 assembled a group of strange bedfellows in his bid to get rid of 
Jonathan, by fire by force. The strangest face at his Hilltop mansion, 
in Abeokuta, was that of his former sworn enemy, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed 
Tinubu. Somehow, they were able to brew the concoction that finally 
killed the ruling party and usher in another former enemy, General 
Muhammadu Buhari. Many of us provided the media platforms for this 
conspiracy forged in Hades out of our deep frustration with the manner 
Jonathan ran the affairs of our nation.<br />

Anyway, Buhari took power and many things have happened. Nigeria has 
eventually and ostensibly entered an unprecedented recession. No one has
 a clue of how long it would take before we are out of the woods. The 
voodoo economists have been busy cooking up cocktails upon cocktails of 
economic experiments but none has resolved the intractable crisis.<br />

I had predicted that the romance between Buhari and Obasanjo would 
soon evaporate and many of my friends doubted. I’m sure they did not 
know Obasanjo and his uncommon antecedents well. Put a gun to his 
throat, Obasanjo would still gasp like a stricken chicken but muster 
enough stamina to spit out and regurgitate whatever he had in mind to 
say.<br />

Now the chicken has come home to roost and it seems the same man that
 invented the pencil can also quite easily manufacture the eraser. 
Obasanjo has started talking in sinister overtones. Tinubu has gone 
quiet and cleverly eased himself out of circulation. I don’t know who is
 deadlier, a voluble Obasanjo or a taciturn Tinubu.<br />

I can see some of Buhari’s guys trying to take on both men. I read an
 article credited to Dr Kayode Fayemi on a certain platform and I prayed
 it was pure fabrication and not an interview he actually granted. It is
 gratifying to note that my friend has since come out to deny authorship
 of this Satanic Verses!<br />

It is too early in the tenure of this government to begin the 
hocus-pocus of re-election. Nigeria is dangerously haemorrhaging to 
death on all fronts and what we need is urgent rescue not electoral 
rhetoric. All this in-fighting won’t do us any good. The political 
pugilists should please save Nigeria from this fiendish war of egos. No 
matter what happens, Buhari should cool temper and manage his 
benefactors. Even if the leper cannot squeeze out milk from a cow, he 
can spill out the ones already produced.<br />

No one is above the law but Nigeria deserves some respite after a 
long period of higgledy-piggledy. All men and women of good conscience 
should beg our powerful forces to allow President Buhari and his Vice 
President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo SAN to run their full course of four years
 out of which two are almost gone.<br />

As for me and my house, I’m willing to exercise some patience hoping 
that a miracle can still happen in the life of this government. If 
nothing tangible occurs by the end of next year, then let Nigerians 
start working on how to assemble a new team and strive to attract our 
best materials from every part of the world. It can be done and it 
should be done. I have seen examples of the giant strides being made by 
young African leaders in Rwanda, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Botswana, Tanzania 
and Senegal. Ours should not be too different, after all we remain the 
Giant of Africa!<br />

Before Everything Falls Apart By Dele Momodu

By Dele Momodu Fellow Nigerians, something big is about to happen in our dear beloved country. I wish I could foretell a pleasant devel...

link to this post

The threat of a new political party - Reuben Abati

BASAM 0 Article 03:57:00

When
 aggrieved politicians within the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) 
decided to join forces with members of the Action Congress of Nigeria 
(ACN), the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), the All Nigeria 
Peoples Party (ANPP) and the All Progressives Peoples Alliance (APGA) to
 form the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2013, they had 
well-defined, if not so clearly stated, even if poorly conceived 
objectives: to send President Goodluck Jonathan out of power, displace 
the PDP which had clearly become a dominating hegemonic party, exert 
vengeance and offer the people an alternative.<br />

<br />

The triumph of the APC in the 2015 elections resulting in victory at 
the Presidential level, in 23 states out of 36, and also in the 
legislature, state and federal, was propelled on the wings of the 
people’s embrace of this slogan of change. Change became the aphrodisiac
 of Nigeria’s search for democratic progress. The new party’s promises 
were delivered with so much certainty and cock-suredness. Those who were
 promised free meals were already salivating before casting the first 
vote.<br />

<br />

The permanently opportunistic players in Nigeria’s private sector 
could be seen trading across the lines as they have always done. 
Everyone knew the PDP had too much internal baggage to deal with. The 
opposition exploited this to the fullest and they were helped in no 
small measure, not just by the party’s implosion, but also the 
offensiveness of the claims by certain elements within the PDP that 
their party will rule Nigeria forever. This arrogance had gone down the 
rank and file resulting in bitter conflicts among the various big men 
who dominated the party. The party failed from within, and even after 
losing the 2015 elections, it has further failed to recover from the 
effects of the factionalism that demystified it and drove it out of its 
hegemonic comfort zone. It took the PDP 16 years to get that hubristic 
moment. It is taking the APC a much shorter time to get to that same 
moment.<br />

<br />

The displacement of the PDP gave the impression that Nigeria’s 
political space, hitherto dominated by one party, and a half, out of 
over 30 political parties with fears of a possible authoritarian 
one-party system, had become competitive. But the victory of a new party
 over a dominant political party in power such as occurred in 2015, has 
not delivered the much-expected positives: instead, questions have been 
raised about the depth of democratic change and the quality of Nigeria’s
 political development. The disappointment on both scores has been 
telling.<br />

<br />

The ruling APC has not been able to live up to expectations. In less 
than two years in power, it has been behaving not like the PDP, but 
worse. Not a day passes without a pundit or a party member or a civil 
society activist suggesting that the only way forward is the formation 
of a new political party. There are over 30 registered political parties
 in Nigeria; no one is saying that these political parties should be 
reorganized and made more functional; the received opinion is that a new
 political party would have to replace the APC.<br />

<br />

The implied message is the subject of political science. Many 
political parties in Africa, not just in Nigeria, lack substance. They 
reflect the problematic nature of party politics in the continent, even 
after the third wave of the continent’s democratic experience. Party 
organizations are weak, their organs are inchoate, their fortunes are 
mercurial. In Nigeria, this seems to be more of a post-military rule 
reality, for in the First and Second Republics, some of Nigeria’s 
political parties appeared to be more relatively people-based and 
socially-rooted. The military left behind an authoritarian streak at the
 heart of Nigeria’s party politics, producing political parties since 
1999 that do not fully reflect or assimilate the people’s yearnings.<br />

<br />

There isn’t therefore yet in place a mass-based, people-driven 
political party to replace the elite-based hegemonic parties we have, 
despite early efforts in the past in this direction by the likes of 
Aminu Kano and his People’s Redemption Party (PRP), Fela 
Anikulapo-Kuti’s Movement of the People (MOP), Tunji Braithwaite’s 
Nigeria Advance Party (NAP), Gani Fawehinmi’s National Conscience Party 
(NCP) and Wole Soyinka’s Democratic Front for the People’s Federation. 
There was also the Labour Party, mentioned separately here, advisedly, 
because it ended up abandoning its social democratic base, and became 
like the regular parties, an elite cabal, with the initial progressives 
who championed it on the platform of the Nigeria Labour Congress, moving
 ideologically to the right in an attempt to align with the Nigerian 
mainstream and its ready benefits. A profile of this political party and
 its initial principal promoters would reveal just how alimentary 
Nigerian politics is.<br />

<br />

Our immediate concern, however, is to argue that those who are 
raising the flag of a new political party as the answer to the emerging 
failure of the APC and the growth of factions among its members, and by 
extension, the spreading despair in the land, are missing the point. 
They are not promising any revolutionary change nor are they interested 
in deepening Nigeria’s democratic change. Permit me to quote Danjuma 
Gambo, of the Enugu Chapter of the Civil Liberties Organization (CLO) 
who reportedly said: “A new political party is what we need. A new party
 with new plan, (and an) ideology that will bring succor to the 
sufferings of Nigerians is the answer.”<br />

<br />

Gambo deserves some credit: he phrases the matter delicately as a 
commentary on the incumbent dominating political party and government. 
His “what we need”, “new plan” “ideology” means change, another form of 
change to end, he tells us, “the sufferings (sic) of Nigerians”. We ask 
him, although he seems to have answered the question already: what 
happened to the change that happened in 2015? So we ask another 
question: if the formation of a new political party did not solve 
Nigeria’s problems since 2015, what is the guarantee that a new party 
would gain power and perform better than the ruling APC? Professional 
politicians don’t comment on the matter as carefully as Gambo attempted.
 They are brazen about it and they have been loud too. They make it 
sound like a threat and a given solution. When you hear them boasting 
that a new political party is on the way, you are left in no doubt that 
they are issuing a threat. But is a new political party the solution to 
Nigeria’s foreign exchange crisis or the people’s angst?<br />

<br />

The conundrum is easy to resolve. It is easy for the political elite 
in Nigeria to change their garments, sans remorse, ideology or sentiment
 and that is how some of the most prominent political figures in Nigeria
 today have changed party membership cards more than five times in the 
last 17 years. The politics of elitism in Nigeria is simply about access
 to power, position and privileges. It has nothing to do with the 
people’s interests. The APC is in crisis for this reason, very much like
 the PDP, and even the smaller parties, because these are political 
parties of big men of influence. Conflict results when they are not 
allowed to exercise that influence by other competing big men, who are 
similarly if not equally driven by ego, religion and superior ethnic 
considerations.<br />

<br />

The exercise of influence as a party big man follows a known pattern:
 after electoral victory, the big man wants the spoils of victory; he 
wants positions for his followers, contracts for wives and children and 
the freedom to have a say in the new government. Any attempt to shut him
 down, oppose him, or sideline him or her, immediately creates a crisis 
within the party. The greater the number of such big persons who feel 
short-changed and marginalized, the greater the chances of such 
factionalism that would trigger threats of a new political party. New 
groups can create new tendencies in society, but in Nigerian politics, 
new groups don’t really emerge, it is the same recycled set moving from 
one political party to a new or another one, looking for benefits.<br />

<br />

Poverty, low literacy and the weakness of public institutions make 
the people vulnerable. The people embrace slogans and the dividends of 
what is now known in Nigeria as “stomach infrastructure.” They are 
deceived by the politicians’ display of affection and empathy. Because 
they are hungry, they accept money to attend rallies to help create an 
illusion of populism and acceptability. On election day, they sell their
 votes and sign off their freedom. After the election, they are too 
ashamed to speak up or they compensate for their psychological distress 
by subscribing to the politics of vengeance. A patrimonial and 
neo-patrimonial political system such as we run in Nigeria promotes 
nothing but difference, disappointment and distrust. Those who are 
plotting to create a new political party should be told that the harvest
 is predictable: more intense leadership competition, high level 
conflict among big men, greater deception, increased difference and 
tension within the polity. Political parties are governed by rules: the 
Nigerian political system operates above rules. It is possibly one of 
the most Machiavellian in Africa.<br />

<br />

What do we need? Not recycled politicians posing as new party men and
 women. But this: effective party organizations, like the NCNC, the 
NEPU, the NPC, the AG, APGA, UPN, UMBC of old which belonged to the 
people and reflected their aspirations. The only difference should be a 
necessary disconnect with the politics of ethnicity at the heart of the 
party formation process in Africa which, as seen, defeats the objectives
 of true democracy and modernization. Institutionalization of the 
political party system will also ensure stability within the democratic 
order: after a bitter political contest in the United States in 2016, 
the two dominant political parties – The Republican and the Democratic 
have remained stable, and the country is being projected as supreme.<br />

<br />

We should end this then where we started: leadership is the principal
 challenge. Until we sort that out, Nigeria’s politics will remain 
trapped in the throes of ethnicity, patrimonialism, authoritarian 
dominance, the threat of system volatility and fragmentation and the 
politics of revenge.

The threat of a new political party - Reuben Abati

When aggrieved politicians within the People’s Democratic Party (P...

link to this post

#Pendulum: The Second Coming of Goodluck Jonathan

BASAM 0 Article 03:32:00

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg90lL0nT7jl5i86DilFkBFlS1gSq1BeZQH6XfppheGgWUN5ybZlGEnAG0JMFx7cnRSG3IqVQkPwE3TfSldlUFEscFKPKTVG1yU8cMurah1ndKQSZ9TTMKOuCcXjPczQ0YBqfK715Yf_OSn/s1600/jona.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg90lL0nT7jl5i86DilFkBFlS1gSq1BeZQH6XfppheGgWUN5ybZlGEnAG0JMFx7cnRSG3IqVQkPwE3TfSldlUFEscFKPKTVG1yU8cMurah1ndKQSZ9TTMKOuCcXjPczQ0YBqfK715Yf_OSn/s640/jona.jpg" width="422" /></a></div>
<br />
Dele Momodu<br />
<br />

Fellow Nigerians, before I get into my main gist of today, let me 
quickly apologise for my inability to write this column last week. Truth
 is I had a mental block, pure and simple. Contrary to speculations that
 I couldn’t write because my great heroine, Hillary Clinton, lost her 
election, I was just so physically and mentally fatigued because this is
 one year that I’ve worked so hard on every project at hand. There was 
no doubt that I was solely disappointed that Donald Trump won the 
American presidential election but I was able to adjust quickly. My 
darling mum had taught me about the wisdom of the ancient. You can put 
your all into any project but the results ultimately remain the 
exclusive preserve of God. Only God determines the winner or the 
outcome.<br />

There is so much to learn from the political trajectory of Nigeria. 
What happened in America had happened repeatedly in our dear beloved 
country. I will explain in a jiffy. Who would have expected Alhaji Shehu
 Usman Shagari to defeat a political colossus like Chief Obafemi 
Awolowo? Who would have expected a Shagari to beat a political 
philosopher like Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe so black and blue? Who would have 
expected a stupendously wealthy man like Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale
 Abiola, without any political experience to take on the likes of Baba 
Gana Kingibe and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and come out victorious?<br />

What Abiola did in Jos at the National Convention of the Social 
Democratic Party in 1993, when he mesmerised and hypnotised the party 
chieftains was what Donald Trump did recently in the United States of 
America when he razzle-dazzled the Republicans and virtually hijacked 
their party. Trump was lucky that he and Abiola belonged in different 
realms and climes. Abiola was not able to realise his dreams of running 
government like a business but Trump is set to take power and display 
the wizardry he flaunted endlessly before the elections. The world is 
waiting to see if Trump would plunge America into the abyss or perform 
the miracle of turning water into wine.<br />

The main reason many of us non-Americans opposed Trump so vehemently 
was because of his supposed bigotry and divisive rhetoric on all fronts.
 But on a personal note, I’m not too bothered. I have learnt my lessons.
 Politicians can tell any ignominious lie just to grab power. Voters can
 believe obvious scams and vote for artful pretenders out of foolish 
emotions and live to regret it. There is nothing we have not seen 
before. It is very obvious even this early that the millions of 
Americans who voted for Trump may never get a quarter of what he 
promised. Every man has the right to change his mind or beliefs and no 
one can hang him for it. Trump obviously knew what the Americans wanted 
to hear and knew how to sell a dead horse at a premium. That is 
politics. His message resonated with his core base no matter how 
retrogressive it sounded. As a matter of fact, it became even more 
attractive the crazier it sounded. Politics and religion are quite 
similar in that they thrive on pure faith.<br />

The same Trump that appeared a rabid hater of President Barack Obama 
has since visited his “sworn enemy” in the White House. You would have 
expected both former warriors to exchange some terrible blows but far 
from it; they came out behaving like two newly joined love birds. Trump 
now says Obama is actually a nice guy. Obama also reassures a jittery 
nation and a confused global community that Trump would actually behave 
decently and that their allies have nothing to fear. The two opponents 
must have known that it was all a game all along while their followers 
actually believed and embraced the charade. One of the things I love 
about America is the ability of its leaders to rise above pettiness. 
Every leader comes in after a bitterest electioneering campaign to 
embrace the one who lost. I do not hear sing-songs of wasting too much 
energy on the past. Who would have thought Obama and Bush would become 
as close as they are now? American leaders are wise enough to know that 
we are all actors and must quit the stage after playing our assigned 
roles. We may have sharp differences but we must be able to calculate 
the cost of war-war against the price of jaw-jaw.<br />

When tomorrow comes, I’m sure Donald Trump would have calmed down and
 welcome everyone in the true tradition and character of America. No 
American leader can ever be allowed to transfigure into an Adolf Hitler 
or a Benito Mussolini. Americans collectively are stronger than their 
leaders. This is one of the major reasons I’m not worried about Donald 
Trump and his tantrums. If he returns to the giddiness of his 
pre-election period, Americans across party lines would know what to do.
 That is the power of their democracy.<br />

This now brings me back home. I have been reading about the rising 
profile of our former President, Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, and wish to
 state without equivocation that no one should rule him out of the 2019 
presidential race. I first hinted this possibility about two months ago 
and wish to reiterate that Nigerians should prepare for the shock that 
awaits us. The story of Donald Trump should bring us back to our senses.
 Nothing is impossible. The second coming of Goodluck Jonathan may be so
 far-fetched or even belong in those categories of impossibilities but I
 wish to plead with our government and my fellow citizens not to rule it
 out. As one of those who made our modest and humble contributions to 
the coming of this Buhari government, I’m pleading with trepidation.<br />

Jonathan’s popularity is rising not because of anything he has done 
to atone the sins that must have led to his waterloo but as a result of 
what our change government has failed or refused to do. The obsession of
 our government with going all out after Jonathan is the main reason the
 Otuoke man is beginning to smell like roses after the odoriferous 
position he landed himself last week. Only if our government had 
succeeded in maintaining the economy it met, Nigerians would have been 
ready to enter fire with Buhari. But there are just too many unresolved 
problems and challenges. The excuses that Jonathan and company left this
 peculiar mess behind has refused to fly. The groans might not be loud 
enough to reverberate all the way to the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, as
 of now, but trust me it may become deafening, sooner than later. I do 
not care if men and women of power dismiss my submission with a wave of 
the hand but they should mark my word, there is a thickening conspiracy 
in the clouds. It would be a shame if we inadvertently play into the 
hands of those hovering and ready to pounce on Buhari.<br />

I read about “persecution complex” long ago and I understand how it 
works. If you beat your own child so ruthlessly as if you want to kill 
him, the tilt of public opinion would always go against you. Many would 
wonder why you want to kill your own child. In our anger, let us pick 
our fights. There is too much tension in the land. I would be delighted 
if anyone could educate and convince me that Nigeria has gained much 
more than we’ve lost to this war of attrition. If we haven’t, we may 
need to retrace our steps urgently.<br />

The BBC reported on Friday how Jonathan caused a stir in Sokoto State
 during his visit to the state to pay his respects to Ibrahim Dasuki, 
the late former Sultan of Sokoto. According to the report, Jonathan was 
received by a large crowd of admirers, some holding banners bearing the 
words “Come Back Baba Jonathan”. The same voices that chanted “Sai Baba”
 and “Jonathan Must Go” are now fiddling with the tunes of the 
possibility of a Jonathan to stage a comeback. Here lies the irony of 
political triumph and the paradox of high expectations.<br />

<br />

The euphoria and momentum that saw the exit of Jonathan and the 
emergence of the Buhari change administration has since begun to wane 
following the inability of the new government to hit the ground running 
with the tenacity of a government in a hurry!<br />

<br />

There are many who believe that the poor management of the ensuing 
economic recession didn’t help matters. Suddenly, Nigerians who had high
 hopes and voted massively for change are now caught in a limbo between 
confusion and uncertainty. As it stands today, the average Nigerian is 
confronted with the reality of an economic recession they never planned 
for; a situation they did not experience under the Jonathan 
administration and under previous governments.<br />

<br />

Many of President Buhari’s supporters are worried that the humongous 
goodwill that engineered the Buhari change mantra is now being frittered
 away at the speed of light. The unfolding plot has now thrown up former
 President Jonathan as a new protagonist in Nigeria’s theatre of the 
absurd. For many of us who are ardent students of history, we have since
 learnt that nothing is impossible in the game called politics. Will 
history repeat itself again? Time is pregnant with answers!

#Pendulum: The Second Coming of Goodluck Jonathan

Dele Momodu Fellow Nigerians, before I get into my main gist of today, let me quickly apologise for my inability to write this column...

link to this post

Buhari And The Child That Was Set Ablaze By Sabella

BASAM 0 Article 00:57:00

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9L9WxfuxmElM5xTEJu-EZMYynFsM25macGce5uMdP3Exedp223UDQG5IqMK3ZtdAGZ9yC1tN_yopmypGFAS1WOqPrG_L5QjLNDZhxI2tpfa1IY8zEMK0kqmPMBrbvaw0HYb8ZjIhQxB8B/s1600/why.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="468" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9L9WxfuxmElM5xTEJu-EZMYynFsM25macGce5uMdP3Exedp223UDQG5IqMK3ZtdAGZ9yC1tN_yopmypGFAS1WOqPrG_L5QjLNDZhxI2tpfa1IY8zEMK0kqmPMBrbvaw0HYb8ZjIhQxB8B/s640/why.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="first">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span> </span></span><span class="page-header-attribution-title"> </span></div>
<div class="first">
<span class="page-header-attribution-title">By Sabella Ogbobode Abidde</span></div>
<div class="first">
<br /></div>
<div class="first">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span>A boy, less than 10 
years, was set ablaze in Lagos – causing an uproar and condemnation at 
home and abroad. Yet, President Muhammadu Buhari is silent on this 
gut-wrenching and barbaric incident. Dead silent! Haba, is he not a 
father and a grandfather? What would it take for him to address the 
nation – or at least issue a statement condemning this most inhumane </span>act.</span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span class="container container-pod container-pod-short"></span>
</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Does this President not know that 
in addition to his many other roles and responsibilities, he is the 
sympathizer-in-chief? Does he not know that he must order the Police to 
immediately investigate the killing, and send condolences to the parents
 of the dead child? Does he not know? Or he simply doesn’t care. Showing
 compassion, and expressing sympathy, is part of what it means to be 
human and member of the civilized world.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span>If this president does not show 
compassion in times like this, then, he forfeits his claim to 
respectability and morality. Not only is the President silent, Vice 
President Yemi Osinbajo is also silent – and so is Governor Akinwunmi 
Ambode (in whose jurisdiction the killing took place).</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Members of the clergy are also 
silent. What manner of a country is this? Where are our men and women of
 conscience? Is the leadership of the country so out of touch, so 
inconsiderate, so indifferent, so callous, so iniquitous and so devilish
 that they are not touched by the killing of a child? Are they devoid of
 human feeling?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span>If Buhari, </span>Osinbajo<span>
 and Ambode refuse to address the people and the parents of the dead 
child, then, Nigerians must reassess their relationship with these men. 
If members of the clergy fail to condemn this killing, then, we must 
think of them as no better than those who killed this child.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span>May the sleep and happiness of 
those directly responsible for the death of that innocent child be 
disturbed. May their lives be forever haunted.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Those who stood by -- hands folded
 or askance, laughing, jeering and deriving joy from the barbarism -- 
are also guilty of the crime. Law enforcement officers and elders who 
should have saved our child, but who watched without attempting to 
exhibit their humanity, are also as guilty as those who directly 
administered death. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span>In times of war and conflict, 
women and children become causalities. Women and children and the 
elderly lose their lives in places like Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen and 
many other forsaken conflict zones. But in Nigeria, women and children 
and the aged are causalities almost every moment of the day. Even if 
there is a lull, Boko Haram is on a </span>killing spree<span>.
 The Niger Delta Avengers are gleefully destroying the nation’s oil 
infrastructure. While armed-robbers and criminal syndicates are busy 
preying on the people. That’s Nigeria – our Nigeria.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span>My hope is that this unfortunate 
incident will raise public awareness against necklacing. And assuming 
there are no such laws, that the Nigerian National Assembly would enact 
appropriate laws that address this and related issues. By the way: how 
did we get to be a people that does not value human life? You go to 
Church on Sunday…you go to Mosque on Friday…you call on your God and 
gods; but then you turn around and destroy an innocent life?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span style="font-size: small;">Sabidde@yahoo.com</span>

Buhari And The Child That Was Set Ablaze By Sabella

By Sabella Ogbobode Abidde A boy, less than 10 years, was set ablaze in Lagos – causing an uproar and condemnation at home an...

link to this post

iBasam

The Tyranny of the Young on Nigerian Twitter By Kadaria Ahmed

Pendulum: As Ghana heads to General Elections by Dele Momodu

Behold He comes by Fani Kayode

Truths You Should Know About Porn Addiction

4 Reasons Why You Should Never Hold Your Pee For Too Long

Fidel Castro: An Unforgettable Revolutionary Icon By Rauf Aregbesola

Goodbye, Fidel Castro By Reuben Abati

Una Go Just Die For Nothing - Charly Boy

Before Everything Falls Apart By Dele Momodu

The threat of a new political party - Reuben Abati

#Pendulum: The Second Coming of Goodluck Jonathan

Buhari And The Child That Was Set Ablaze By Sabella

Popular Posts

Labels

Blog Archive