Thursday 22 August 2013

Ma beru, I'm here

Love in pain’s place
I'm here to brighten the plane
To teach you forgiveness
To shame anger

Prayer in tear’s time
I’ll listen to bring you here
And my words will make you strong

Laughter in fear’s chair
I’ll walk with you
Fire will seem feathers in the breeze
And storms will be a mild rustling of bubbles of air bubbles

Ma beru, let it go
Let this fear be nothing to be
Ma beru, I'm here
To teach you laughter
To teach you Love
To listen
To make you strong
Ma beru, I'm Olorun
Ma beru, It is Me

Sunday 18 August 2013

Education can Change the World

Proferring definitions are difficult because terms have multiple meanings and are hard to articulate. Thus single definitions would not be all encompassing but misleading. However, explanations within the context would be more expedient. Education springs from the Latin word ‘Educatio’ which translates to English words such as train, erect, breed or take out. ‘Most powerful’ hints certitude in a state of superior effectiveness. ‘Weapon’ may pass for either an instrument in hand or one within reach. ‘Use’ denotes application. ‘Change’ translates to either a slight alteration or complete transformation in the state of affairs of a particular concern. ‘The world’, I dare to say, is space, humanity, environment and time within a definite chronological and geographic confine. In this light, all is fused and explained as ‘training can hit the world so hard, it can transform space, humanity, environment and time’.
The world has been hit one time too many in the course of history. These hits have been occasioned by servitude, natural disasters, world wars, revolutions, the holocaust, gay movements, technology, terrorism, social networks...the list is endless. These invasions by factors (however not external) have weathered and brought the world to where it is today. This is more so the case as it has set the world on the journey beyond the designation of day, night and seasons- The destination of a higher rationality, a more worthwhile existence. It has led the world to the practice and search for consciousness, enlightenment and freedom. Invariably, all three concerns put together are very nature of education. In the light of this, education beams as the most formidable of the actors, factors, objects, goals and weapons capable of changing the world.
The alteration or transformation of the world through the leadership or training of human minds and trust has stood its ground in the past as it is doing today. However, the measure of good or bad that shall result for such transformation would be a reflection of ‘who’ or ‘what’ controls the process. Thus giving light to the words of Mahatma Gandhi ‘Non violence (vice or virtue) is not a garment to be put on and off at will. Its seat is in the heart, and it must be an inseparable part of our being.’ The mind, the human seat of consciousness is the target.  On December 25, 2009, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab stood as the Nigerian proof that the human is capable of defending that which is ‘good’ as he has been taught to believe and love.

John Dewey opined that ‘...education is life itself’; scepticism is ‘the mark and even the pose of an educated mind’. Nigeria needs to fearlessly rise above our cliché system by capturing and training Nigerian minds with the expedient methods- an X mind matching an X method, alongside a revolutionary impartation with the more expedient versions of truths, facts, visions, goals, laws, policies, rights and duties, and thus wield this weapon.

Let Afro spark...

Hey there! I was up till the early hours of today and felt this incline to share my thoughts with you on one of the simple ways to revolutionise Africa. It is actually an excerpt from my Undergraduate Long Essay.
'Unarguably, a better defined Africa and Nigeria is needed. In the light of this, I dare to search beside Lord Denning for a new outlook (which is now not only needed in Equity but also in field of the African Human Rights). On this note he submits (and I agree with him):
But where is it to be found? It is I think, to be found in the new spirit, which is alive in our universities. The law schools there do not content themselves with recording the law as it is. They are more concerning themselves with the law as it should be. They are exposing the fallacies and failings of the past and are beginning to point the way to a new age and a new equity. When the present generation of students comes to take their place amongst the judges and practitioners of the future, there will, I trust, be found among them many with a new outlook, which will give us the new equity (Africa and African Human Rights) we so badly need.[1]
In this light we opine here that Africa’s morality should be thrown open to the African youths and undergraduates(from all over the continent) to define after the latter has been transformed through and in course of an organised week long festival set aside to exhibit, celebrate and imprint Africa. This festival shall be known as the Afrospark Festival. It shall run as described below within a selected African state which has been prepared to be good enough to reflect Africa’s unity.
In the course of the festival, the youths shall be given by of Essay Topics, Future Rights. Future Rights, as referred to here, connotes the rights given to the Festival participants to apply. Through writing, their own self-enacted laws and philosophies to events not occurred yet, perhaps one fictitious in accordance with what they think is expedient half way into the Afrospark Festival week.
On the first day we shall have the registration of participants (undergraduates and historians who shall serve as judges), opening ceremony, announcement of Essay topics. On the second day there shall be the moon light play programme- wherein there shall be viewing of movies that tell the truth of African stories such as Amazing Grace and Black November (both produced by Jeta Amata); there shall also be plays, poetry session, moonlight tale telling in the open with every one seated on the sand, interactive tale and movie review and cultural dance performances.
On the third day there shall be essay rounds which shall include written and oral interview rounds. On the fourth day there shall be excursions to places of interest which are of historical African relevance. There shall also be crafts and gymnastic display by the natives.
On the same day, there shall also be the Secrets and the Sand Session wherein the men and the women shall split into two groups (All males in one group and the other all females in the other). In the course of this they shall share and constructively discuss, analyse and criticise the norms and values that accrue to their gender under their native African custom. After these, the best nine essay entries shall be announced.
The next day the top nine shall be allowed to express their essay idea in any manner they deem fit. It could be videos, slide presentations, poetry, dance, singing, reading, and speaking. But creativity will be highly rewarded. The judges shall be a select few from the natives of the town in which the festival was held alongside academics, artists, writers and artistes. The winner shall be judged on his/ her ability to see the good in Africa, celebrate and develop it for him or her and the generations to come. After this round, the all the participants shall all be taken to where we shall have the burn fire dance, dinner and photographs in the course of which the winners shall be announced and other awards shall be presented for other categories. Albeit the case, all these shall be forecasted life on the satellite so that the world may see Africa and the life within her and may also join in the activities therein by updates on the Afrospark blog or website. Invariably, we shall be giving Africa voices and real faces. The effect of this is that we would be training the future legislators, presidents and judges. We would be giving them an invaluable experience that they will cherish for the rest of their lives. They shall also be guided by the light of their collectiveness and the leading to preserve and realise all that they have learned. Thus bringing it into their lives and making these values have a louder voice both in their lives, and in their relation with one another and with the society at large.
It is pertinent note here that the first edition of the Afrospark Festival was concluded at the time of the writing of this long essay, however, it was not a full blown one week event but was an essay competition (organised by the Organised Press- Crew- a service unit in the Pentecostal Fellowship of Madonna University)[2] calling to the Nigerian graduate to solve the Nigerian problem with intuitive Nigerian solution having been given a defined scope and subject matter-humanity.'


For more info look up afrosparknigeria.blogspot.com, and theorganisedpresscrew.blogspot.com



[1] Fabunmi, J. O, Equity and Trust in Nigeria, Ile-ife. Obafemi Awolowo University Press (2006) 2nd Edition P.7.

The Nigerian Tomorrow


“Nigeria is such a mess right now. Just when we thought that Boko Haram is permanently resident in the North, Rumuokoro got bombed. It is terrible I tell you. See what is happening at the Federal level.... The future of Nigeria is only the same here at another time. Trust me, fifteen years from now, we will still be witnesses to the mass bloodshed, poverty and corruption....Let us be realistic, nothing is changing anytime soon.” As guilty as I am to be part of this reality, I cannot swear on my doubt of Chuks prediction. Unfortunately, it was the future we both discussed -The future of Nigeria.
Nigeria’s status quo is no secret. Awareness of it is enough rape into the guilt of being part of the system that feeds it. Amongst a lot, today Nigeria thrives of the misconception of what may constitute true religion and acceptability of certain practices. Many do not know the genesis of this, but today the dance is quite a trend. Christmas Day 2011 was not much of an amusing joke and the several Jos bombings too. Painful as it was and still is, some of our very own men regard the bombing and mass killings of fellow men as necessitated by the ‘Nigerian circumstance’- the same circumstance that we share and should work together towards ameliorating. 
Nonetheless, efforts have been made by the government to salvage the situation. First it was the employment of dialogue, amnesty, and now arrests. As commendable as they may seem, they do not negate the fact that, everyday, at least one Nigerian child somewhere is fed with a very good measure of hatred, disappointment, poverty, frustration and anger for her society- her country. She may only be seven years old and may not know what a bomb or pistol looks like, but she recognizes the hunger in her belly, the bareness on back, and the hatred in her heart. She is nurtured to accept her individuality and independence as the description of her fate to the detriment of a society who regard her existence a burden, humiliation or even a mistake. On the other hand, there is another who may have sprung up from ‘nobility’ but has been taught by her kin that propriety demands that she spills human blood to be ‘saved’. They are just two out of the millions of other categories of Nigerian children who are born and fed with the similar darkness on other days of the year. The three things these children have in common is their mind, time and the magnitude of their energy.
I am a writer, child tutor, brother, son, mentor and training to be a lawyer. Yet the truth is, I am also a slave and victim to as much stubborn misconception as thrives in our society today as constitutes a threat to our existence as a people bound by a common ancestry and destination. But then, have we not all at one time in our lives or the other been guilty of this same misconception? Forgivably, concession to guilt is the first step to progressive restoration.

I am sorry

Ndo, I am sorry
Dear God, I am sorry
I hope I am not making this prayer too late
I am sorry
This is pain
This is pain, I can’t deal with
I am sorry
Ndo, nwannem
I am sorry
I saw you fall before you did
I am sorry
I did not warn you
I am sorry
I did not help you
I am sorry
I did not mourn you
I am sorry
Ndo, I am sorry
I am sorry, I am sorry
There is nothing I can say
Even now to a stranger
I am sorry
I refused to help you
I am sorry
I did not pray for you
Ndo, I am sorry
When the flames took you away, I was asleep
I am sorry, I am sorry
I don’t have an excuse
I am sorry
I did not run after you,
I am sorry, I am sorry
I am sorry my brother
I am sorry my neighbour
I am sorry my hall rep
I know it’s certainly not early enough

But my heart won’t quit saying I am sorry.

Oju Iwe Madiba


Hush world! Let my Madiba speak
Let the stellar black star speak!
In worlds of large and little
My Madiba’s words echo
Like dark marble pearls tossed in the silver silence
His expression of past and plenty
Washing the dust off our feet and heart
His writing. His art of strange but soothing magic
My Madiba. Oh let my Madiba speak!
Let our hearts and feet race in this light to where it points
And let the silent sun water the seeds of his tears
Let the wind minister so subtly to his prints in the sand
In the day and night, let my sweet Madiba write
I want to read oju iwe Madiba everyday clear
I want to read oju iwe Madiba everyday new
I confess I love his words everyday fresh

And world blessed by Allah, should read and love him too.

Bawoni and Hello




Dear unwanted and far,
You live in an obi where no one but you calls home
But you dream of a love that tastes like oroma
And when you pray there is doubt in your heart
But a part of you believes in the onwa  magic
Where all the future kings and army dance in circles
Still the love of oroma and the magic you believe in
I still know that your heart is brave
It wants so badly to heal your scars
But ancestral tales won’t let  you be
With the nightmare of fighting you and angry me
You know you can love me
And you really want to try
I know I can love you
In your arms there is a good I identify
Bawoni? Please let my silly tongue say so
And the awful stench of ancestral wisdom fall and die
Broken ripples in our ancestral stream
Where our mothers and sisters use to bath and swim
The memories of our dancing dad’s who conquered the world
And told us it was beautiful to believe
My heart says hello and I can swear you eyes say bawoni
But we must dance history’s beats
Feigning ignorance in the truth that we can be free
Bawoni and good bye, let’s fight another day
As prisoners of custom and secret lovers of the onwa play



I Speak of Love also

I speak of love also
I speak of the times
I speak of silent rooms where tears know soil and pain knows heart
I speak of prayers that are said out of instinct
Because we are human, we can’t help it
And when I shut my eyes
I dream of a freedom to stand pure from our regrets and self-torture
To see for a fact that Nice is great and Love is light
But the clouds soon gather beneath my sun
A celestial mask to mislead me
But I know better
I know of a love also
A love that I must not see to believe
I know a brotherhood that my sacrifices can inspire
I believe in the virtue that my thoughts shall erect
And the dance whose music I can begin
And in all these
I speak of a love also
I speak of a life
I speak of a happiness that to which I can pray and drive
I speak of will and wisdom
I speak of peace

I speak of love also.

Just like a Dream

You appear just like a dream to me
A sweet sermon that drips from the morning flower
With you I forget who I used to be
In you I find who I want to be
There is nothing I think
There isn’t a thing I want to believe
But like you I need inspiration
With you I find guarantee
Like A light that punctuates the night
Either way the earth has to respond to your call
In your eyes I see forgiveness
I see the future
I see the truth
I may not be an angel
But I see the stars so clearly I can touch
I’m no mermaid but I float ashore
I hate to return home
You have made the wild more peaceful
You are indeed beautiful
Just like a dream anymore
I desire more than breath to be lost
I f I cry, then its cos I’m in love
If I run then its because I’m afraid of hurt
I never want to lose you
I never want to forget
I dare the rain because you are my shelter
I swear at the sun because you are my shade
I step on the sand because I’m unafraid
Unanswered
With our reflection in the picture
You are Sweetest

Just like a dream to me.

Life in a Picture


I am glad a whole lot has been left behind
My tears, my hunger and mistakes too
I take a fresh start
I become once more new
To take a love and play with tools
I am off to a new life where the sun is brighter and the grass is greener
And when there is colour it is pink
Where there is sweet it is butterscotch
When it is cold it is winter
And when I am tickled it will be white girl
I leave home
I leave all behind
I am glad, perhaps I am
To a make mistakes a new
T o unlearn the art of farming and take up intellect
To unlearn the art of hunting to embrace catching my train
I leave all behind to become novice afresh
I leave my home to make myself someone else
In another room in God’s green earth
I leave to find life again
This time a stranger to homes I shall see
And a warning to the love I may find

I leave for another picture

Olonija

Oloibiri began this dark day
A scarlet sun rising from the South
Broken dreams that started wild
The West rushed
The East gurgled
I woke to it all
I woke to the energy
The life of surprise
I watched in ewe
I watched in excitement
Vessels sprouted from the earth
Mud turned mansions
And wildernesses grew silver manes
Broken from this wild picture
Searching in these growing thoughts I sort
For the bright promise of my dream
The bright tomorrow for my brothers
My sisters love for cassavas
And my father’s love for fish
All buried, killed, forgotten
Oh Naija, how you broke me
Bruised me against my own loyalty
Bore me drenched in my blood
Bore me hungry, empty, wild
Naija you stole my heart and my innocence
You raped me endlessly in the darkness promising me life
You promised hope, love and all that I looked forward to
Naija, Naija, Naija! How can I?
How can I once again trust the lips that lied?
That kissed the bruises of my heart ache?
That cursed the vulnerable breasts of my ignorance?
Naija yet, Naija forever
Naija shocking
Naija, Naija, you are hurting...

So am I.

Out-scream the rain

What do you think of when you sleep at night
When all you trophies are place before you?
What do you hope for when you think of time
When your past is behind you?
And in your prayers, do you feel so small
Just like a shell beside the raging seas
And in that chair, do you feel s lost
Like a storm drowned in the earth
Can you out-scream the rain when the sky gets angry?
Can you out-walk the waves if they were your enemies
Can you rule the sun and tell her when to set?
Hold the trees and ask them not to fret
Can we live together , even in times as dark as this?
Can we love forever even in life’s little wind?
Can we be gods unto man or unto ourselves
Or can I be still unto you, hide in my shell?
My heart be simple, wiser I refuse to be
That I may love and trust so endlessly
I can’t out-scream the rain or out-walk the waves
I can’t rule the sun, or explain life’s pain
But I can live and love and believe
I can fight and pray and perceive
And when I pray, I love to feel so small
Like a mute brown shell bejewelling the sharp white shore
When I sleep, I enjoy being numb
Trusting, but thinking nothing
Because, I let nothing bother me
And I pride in my littleness

Because indeed, little means free

Saturday 10 August 2013

I Stand Forever for You

I stand forever for you
Defending you in my prayer and thoughts
Defending you in my victory
I kneel forever for you
Speaking the laws
And making them true
I died yet live for ever
I survive with you
To see you through
To win with you
That your wrong may be right
And the clearest sight may see
That from all these hurdles
You are victory and more than free
So I stand forever
I have danced for you
I have paid your price
I kneel for you before flames and fan
I defend you because through faith and love I can
So be strong, simple and free
And grow like age, spring and trees
For all that was absent I have brought here
Thus you no longer have to fight

You no longer have to shed a tear

Friday 9 August 2013

Farewell to my ola

I bid farewell to my Ola
Who once made the younger me
I said goodbye to my long lost brother
Who had set the man in me free
He returned the night of endless dreams
That once had stolen my smile
He tickled my heart in sweet ordeal
That once stood a ragged pile

I felt my love bounce off my chest
And return so swiftly to its place
I felt my youth return to me
As I burned from love’s furnace
But he returned a prince
A soulmate to another
As I had known some years before
“I believe”, I thought
But now I saw, I doubted even more

I spilled my blood to hurt my mind
That I be distracted by the pain
But all the while as I had earlier loved
I basked in endless love’s rain

The night returned and so did the dreams
Of endless love reborn
But they were dreams
As a wild goose chase
And to my heart a simple thorn

As the hadith pages my spirit read
I felt pain in my heart red
I said a prayer for a dead mild lover
And laid hurting on my bed
The morning was dark, we treaded the path
To the point where bid farewell
 Again I never believed  as I now stood before death’s well

I craved to hug but didn’t dare
Because now I knew
This love as I felt
With my sanity few
Was more than a heartache tomorrows away

My brother-friend and lover still
Had brought this sweetness to an end
Allah be praised as the morning rise
And I bath in my heartache and cries

I had lost my friend
To the world’s extreme end
And I to another unfound
Today I forget my lover’s smile
As it was as mere as a dream

As we now pray to one Sweet God
In beds afar and distant tongues
In worlds we had once not known of
Nothing stood in love’s place now but memories
As we have been claimed by life
By transcendant books and sweet matrimonial stories


Yet Unhappened


The colours of eternity
With whom all the promises of life are bound
With endless rage and subtle doubt
When our eyes are shut and hearts abound

Red, the colour of beauty
That gives life and baths our heart
Nurtutring our dreams and passions
The soul of erection and orgasm
The wine for death and bread
The petals for love and viking pain

Orange, the colour of bonding
That knots the blossom and bloom
And tends our dreams with sweetness
That preserves our secrets
And makes the now seem sweetest
Conquering our tommorow in today’s tempest

Yellow, the colour of friendship
That tours the soul of man
And arrests his sour misery
That tickles man’s tears
For every trouble that man is worth

Green, the colour of hope
With whom our tomorrow lies
As petals may or may not grow
That reflects our humanitty
And betrays our pride
Where creation is watching, where the mighty died

Blue, the colour of oeace
The prize of freedom
That sirens man’s imagination
And unleashes his thirst
That may never stand to be true
That may never see the end

Indigo, the colour of betrayal
That unveils the heart
And punctuates the soul
After all the ‘fiery-forever’ is gone
And love no longer seems to shower
After the fields are yellow and dry
And orgasm ceases to ponder

Violet, the colour of wisdom
After the broken heart
And the flesh of her being, deflowered
That preserves the unseeming
And directs the beauty yet unshowered
And the secrets yet unhappened

Yet unthundered skies are unkissed by her misery
And virgin soil untouched by his mystery
We remain virgins even after violation
For ignorance had no fair prize
Even woman’s womb knows

And man’s unrevealing eyes

Eka aro my love

The morning is beautiful my love
With the brilliant sun greeting us afresh
God pleases that we see another day
Eka aro my love

Please wake up to the daunting freshness of this peaceful day
When all but the darkness is awake
That I may share life and light with you at least one more day
Eka aro my love

I am once more open to new adventures
Affectionately embracing both you and your imperfections
I am once more beside you and in love with you
Eka aro my love

You are not responding my love?
And the sun’s sweetness no longer tickles you
Please wake up my love, my loving heart awaits
Eka aro my love

I am closer now my love
With my palms greeting your hair and face
Is all well my love? I yearn for your love’s embrace
Eka aro my love

You are no longer breathing- I am scared my love
My heart has now one new emotion
Please do not tease me, you are my solution
Eka aro my love

I am still beside you
Just like that morning you passed away
I am still loving and, like this morning, here to stay
I greet you, Eka aro my love

It is raining my love
And  like the sun, our love is still brilliant and silent
So I am standing here for all you mean
Because you are still sweet and true

Eka aro my love, it is I who greets you.

Excerpt from 'Abali'

I want to fall madly in love with soccer. I want to know the chest beat that the last few minutes bring. I want to be genuinely excited abou...