Monday 29 November 2021

Brazil-Yoruba Agitators Plan To Visit Benin Rep. Embassy In Brazil, Demands Igboho Release

In view of the stagnated situation of the Yoruba self determination leader, Chief Sunday Arête I, aka Igboho, arrested and detained by the police authorities in Cotonou, Benin Repúblic, the Yoruba self determination agitators in Brazil have decided to lead a peaceful visit to the embassy of Benin Repúblic in Brazil to make a formal request to the President of the Repúblic of Benin through its embassy in Brazil.

According to the group in Brazil, the detention of Chief Sunday Igboho in Cotonou is illegal, it should be addressed by the President of the country with immediate effect.

Comrade Olanrewaju Popoola.

Heritagenews learnt that the agitation groups in Brazil are also willing to lead a campaign in the diaspora for all agitation groups in diaspora to visit the embassies of the Benin Repúblic in their various countries to formally complain against the unlawful detention of its leader in Cotonou.

Heritagenews, In an exclusive interview with an agitator in Brazil, Comrade Olanrewajfunctional, aka Larry, said that the intention is just to present a formal complaints against the attitudes of the authorities in Cotonou who have detained an innocent person for months, he said that Benin Repúblic has disappointed the Yoruba race worldwide for detaining a Yoruba agitator, he said the gods are annoyed with them.

Brazil in the recent times has become an active center where all Yoruba self agitation groups are functional and within the law of the states of Brazil.

By Adeyinka Olaiya /Brazil

Source: HeritageNews

Chemistry or alchemy?

“The master was asked what was the difference between chemistry and alchemy in couple relationships and replied with these beautiful and wise words:

- People who seek ′′Chemistry′′ are love scientists, i.e. they are used to action and reaction.

People who encounter ′′Alchemy′′ are artists of love, constantly create new ways of loving.

Chemicals love out of necessity.

The alchemists by choice.

Chemistry dies with time,

Alchemy is born through time...

Chemistry loves the packaging.

Alchemy enjoys the content.

Cheistry happens.

Alchemy builds itself.

Everyone is looking for chemistry, only a few find alchemy.

Chemistry attracts and distracts sexist and feminist.

Alchemy integrates the male and female principle, so it transforms into a relationship of free individuals and with own wings, rather than an attraction that is subject to the whims of the ego.

In conclusion, the master said looking at his students:

Alchemy brings together what chemistry separates.

Alchemy is royal marriage, chemistry and divorce we see everyday in most couples.

′′ Let's start building conscious relationships, because chemistry will always make your body age.

′′While alchemy will always caress us from within′′

Artist Dark Natasha

The Palace Called Ile Nla At Ile Ife

I was at the Aafin Ile Ife and this is the interior of Ile-Nla built by Eng Taft or so in the 1920s. This is one of the early examples of colonial architecture that are not strictly Greco-Roman as the nearby Museum. Check out the two Opomulero (carved posts) used merely as decorative elements. In the pre-colonial days, these Opomulero were structural elements and not decorative elements. Early colonial architecture transformed them as we see here into decorative elements. By 1950s, colonial architecture was more defined by modernism, without space for Opomulero, but forms following functions. Making my Opomulero structural again is what it means to decolonize. 

Saturday 27 November 2021

Museveni to surrender Uganda’s only international airport over Chinese loan

Uganda President Yoweri Museveni shakes hands with his Chinese counterpart Xi Ji-Ping. (Photo: AFP)

On Tuesday, 17 November 2015, the Uganda government signed an agreement with Export-Import Bank of China (Exim Bank) to borrow $207 million at two per cent upon disbursement. The loan had a maturity period of 20 years including a seven-year grace period.

It has now emerged that the deal signed with the Chinese lenders virtually means Uganda “surrendered” its most prominent and only international airport.

The Uganda Civil Aviation Authority (UCAA) says some provisions in the Financing Agreement with China expose Entebbe International Airport and other Ugandan assets to be attached and taken over by Chinese lenders upon arbitration in Beijing.

It also emerged that China has rejected recent pleas by Uganda to renegotiate the toxic clauses of the 2015 loan, leaving Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni’s administration in limbo.

According to the Daily Monitor, the Ugandan government waived international immunity in the agreement it signed to secure the loans, exposing Entebbe International Airport to take over without international protection.

In desperation, Uganda in March sent a delegation to Beijing hoping to renegotiate the toxic clauses of the deal but the officials came back empty-handed as China would not allow the terms of the original deal to be varied.

Last week, Uganda’s Finance Minister Matia Kasaija apologized to parliament for the “mishandling of the $207 million loan” from the China Exim Bank to expand Entebbe International Airport.

Progress of works at the airport, built in 1972, has reached 75.2 per cent, with two runways having reached overall completion of 100 per cent.

Entebbe International Airport is Uganda’s only international airport and handles over 1.9 million passengers per year. Its seizure by China would greatly dent the legacy of the 77-year-old Museveni, who came to power on the back of an armed uprising in 1986, and expose him to election defeat.

Source: editor.guardian.ng  26 November 2021


NO BODY IS AN ORDINARY PERSON IN LIFE

Holandia yogurt Is Expensive, But It Does Not Quench Thirst, Like Ordinary Water.

O'level (WASC/SSCE) is just an Ordinary certificate but without it you can't obtain a degree, Master's and PhD.

That Thing Called ‘Ordinary’ Does Not Mean It Is Not Valuable.

Water Might Be ‘Ordinary’, But Without It, There Is No Life.

Value Ordinary People! They Can Save Your Life.

Don’t Be Too Proud To Respond When Your Gateman Greets You.

Don't Be Too Proud To Adjust When That Junior Staff Calls Your Attention To Issues.

Don't Be Too Proud To Listen To The Advice Of Your Follower Because Some Of Them Are Even Better Leaders But You Are Only Privileged.

Don't Be Too Proud To Listen To Your Subordinates As A Leader Because You Don't Know It All.

Remember, it was an "ordinary" man that presented Solomon with the bed of Queen Sheba before he could blink his eyes.

If You Treat The Ordinary People In Your Life Like Garbage, You May Die With Your Ailments.

Low-Class People Are Not Necessarily Low Life People.

Who Says You Are Better Than That Ordinary People?

Those Ordinary People Were Made By God And God Has Deposited In Them Strength And Weakness.

Don't Allow Your Pride To Destroy You, Call That Ordinary People, He or She Is Ready To Help You.

Wisdom Is Profitable To Direct And When We Do Things Together, We Do It Better.

LET IT SINK INTO OUR MINDS THAT ANYTHING CALLED ORDINARY HAS ITS VALUES.

Thursday 25 November 2021

ELIMINATION OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

Painting: Nubia by Horacio Cardozo

(Note To The United Nations General Assembly)

Violence Against Women is any act of gender-based violence causing harm or suffering to women or girls. Violence Against Women is a violation of human rights and it's a dangerous offence punishable by law. There are different types of Violence Against Women which are physical violence, sexual violence, emotional violence, economic violence and psychological violence. In eliminating Violence Against Women in our society, the preventive measures against the causes of any form of violence against women or girls must be implemented and enforced by parents and every institutions in the society.

Most girls and women are vulnerable to violence in the society because of poverty. Bad economy results to mass poverty and it poorly affects the lives of many people (most especially women). Government should be economically constructive about the lives of women, by providing financial empowerment to poor women. Government should also provide social infrastructures that would be helpful to the welfare of women and girls. Accessible opportunities of free quality education for young girls and sustainable job employment for women should also be made possible by the government. Education and employment enables women to become financially-independent and can be very useful in eliminating violence against women.

Girl child is as important as boy child and are to be treated as equals. Moral education is primarily important to train a child responsibly and it should be a disciplinary call for every parent to train their children responsibly with good character and noble lifestyle. A child that's responsibly trained wouldn't become a bully to others. Most women experience violence from young age as a result of being the victim to a violent man who isn't responsibly trained by good parents or guardians. Every parent should act as moral teacher in teaching every child against the maltreatment of anyone. Moral education in homes, schools and every places would help eliminate violence against women.

In our modern society, fear is a weapon of mass-control, while women are the ones majorly at risk of threats and intimidations caused by fear. Many circumstances of life often put women at risk and which in most cases results into violence against oneself. Examples of such violence against women include suicidal attempt, physical harm to self, destruction of personal property, drug or alcohol abuse, unconscious state of mind and personal isolation from friends or families. Psychological violence experienced by women can be life-threatening and often leads to untimely death. Women and girls should be positively encouraged at all times by friends or families and government should also include “Psychological Counselling Programme” in the health sector, so as to rehabilitate and prevent against psychological violence.

Women experience emotional and sexual violence through gender-based relationships. In both friendship and marriage, women suffer domestic violence of physical abuse, betrayal, self-worth humiliation, character abuse, verbal abuse, emotional jeopardy, sexual maltreatment, sexual harassment and rape. Domestic violence is a pandemic affecting almost every gender-based relationships and as a major violence against women, it can be prevented and stopped through the total elimination of economic, physical and psychological violences.

21st century exposes women to digital violence on the internet. Online or digital violence against women is committed by the use of information and communication technology against a woman because she is a woman. Online violence against women include cyber-bullying, non-consensual sexting and doxing. Strict and disciplinary regulations against online violence should be implemented and enforced on the internet. Protection of women's human rights should also be ensured online authoritatively.

The elimination of violence against women requires the health sector to act most importantly in ensuring that every preventive measures are considered and utilized. The health sector should advocate to make violence against women unacceptable and for such violence to be addressed as a public health problem.

The health sector should provide comprehensive services, sensitized and train healthcare providers in responding to the needs of the survivors of violence against women. The health sector should prevent recurrence of violence against women through early identification of women and girls who are experiencing violence silently and they should be provided with adequate support and paramedical attention.

Government should change social norms related to the acceptability of violence and the subordination of women. There should be an implementation of law promoting non-violent masculinities oriented towards gender equality and respect of women's human rights. Government agencies should disciplinary address child abuse and promote healthy families and violence-free environments for children. There should be an outreach for the sexuality of every girl child and boy child through which the government can promote healthy sexuality in children and prevent against forceful sexual entitlement and sexual violence perpetration.

Government agencies and health sectors should work with communities to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls, and create long-term change for good. Government should fund women's groups and networks across the world, who train parents, teachers, local police and legal advisers to recognize the signs of violence and to report it. Government institutions should teach girls about their rights and help them build confidence. Government should also support women and girls to earn sustainable livelihoods, so they can afford life's necessities without being exploited. Because when women and girls know and claim their rights, their courage and resilience is astonishing.

Almost on every level, most of us participate in the modern culture that supports and encourages violence against women and girls. We should all teach and encourage the good habits against violence. We should educate ourselves on violence against women. We should believe and support the survivors of violence against women. We should contact our local legislators and political leaders and advocate for tougher laws against perpetrators of violence against women. We should contact the local school board and ask them to address sexual harassment in schools. We should always speak out against all forms of violence. We should respect gender-equality and embrace diversity. We should speak out against the media’s portrayal of violence. We should ask permission before pursuing physical or sexual contact with someone. We should teach young children that respect is the minimum in a relationship and we should lead by good example. We should advocate for violence against women victim’s rights. We should avoid committing, supporting or encouraging sexual harassment by speaking up when we see or hear it. We should speak out against racist, sexist or homophobic jokes. We should advocate for more youth violence prevention programs. We should encourage others to speak out against sexual violence. We should avoid listening to music or watching of films that glorifies sexual violence and the objectification of women and girls. We should applaud others who speak out against violence and oppression. We should pledge to never commit or condone acts of violence. We should avoid alcohol or drug abuse and we should also stop others from taking advantage of someone who is intoxicated. We should encourage our local college and universities to offer prevention education to students. We should hold perpetrators accountable for disrespecting their partners whenever we see it or hear it. We should engage others in discussions about violence against women. We should always report to authority whenever we witness sexual harassment in our schools or workplace. We should post Violence Against Women awareness materials in public and private places for easy & confidential accessibility. We should campaign and spread the message against violence.

By EMPEROR ALAFIA ॐ

Copyright: © NOVEMBER, 2021

SIX SECONDS SILENCE!

I was on my way to the airport sometime in 2008 when at the popular Ajah bus-stop in Lagos, a commercial bus driver slightly hit my car.

Impulsively and with rage, I jumped out of the car to confront the driver, who had stopped a few meters in front to pick up passengers. I screamed at him and threatened that he will not move.

At this time, I had created a scene, yet the man didn't even recognize my presence, let alone apologize. Instead, he unleashed unprintable insults and even attempted to beat me up. Of course, in Lagos, the passengers will always support the driver, so you can imagine the quantum of insults and embarrassment I got in less than 5 minutes that the incident lasted.

But that wasn't all. When I got back to my car, I met no valuable left. The car had literally been swept by street urchins. I broke down.

It was then I realized how emotionally foolish I was. Leaving the car at the bus stop with the engine running, doors unlocked!! In fact someone could have  driven it away. Guess what? I lost a new phone, laptop,  cash... name it, and I missed the flight too. 

Hmmm.. difficult to forget. A damage that cost about 5k to fix. I know, someone will say you were not smart enough. Perhaps yes! But here is the point, and  this summarises the import of this story.

Any time you react to provocation  based on impulse, the outcome will  always end in regret, no matter how smart you are. In emotional intelligence, it is called Amygdala Hijack or Emotional Hijack. Sometimes, the consequence could be lethal and irreversible.

About 2 years ago, a responsible  gentleman in Lagos argued over N50 balance with  an Ikeja-bound bus conductor and died in the process. Anytime you suffer Amygdala Hijack, you regret. The question is, how do you react when provoked? What words come out of your mouth when offended by colleagues, okada men, danfo drivers, business partner,  relatives etc? Do you express or explode? Do you respond or react? Words sometimes could be more hurtful than injuries.

Now here is the good news, everyone has an imaginary Mental Pause Button. Once provoked, press the mental pause button in your mind. Do not talk or react for 6 seconds. At that point, take a deep breath and by the time you breathe out,  the action you will take will be rational and will not lead to regret. The 6 seconds pause may just be the difference between death or life, friendship or enmity, peace or war.  Emotions are subject to individuals' control   Learn to manage your mental pause button, choose emotional intelligence.

Don't allow one moment of 'madness' to destroy your day or even your future.

Wednesday 24 November 2021

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

When Emperor Constantine(325AD) wanted to Unite Rome, he simply Fused paganism with christianity to appease both pagan/christian communities.

"The Vatican Itself was Constructed upon the ruins of an Ancient pagan sanctuary, Christianity has its roots in Paganism".

"This recent reMasonry (Christianity) is neither New nor strange, as it is merely a pale reflection of Earlier pagan beliefs" - Celsus (360AD).

The "Resurrection" of Jesus was a common pagan Myth of the Early Ages. Over 18 pagan "sons of gods"were said to have "Resurrected"before him.

The "Five Books of Moses" also known as the "Pentateuch" was actually stolen from the Egyptian "Tarot" adored in Ancient Egypt (3000BC).

Pope Urban II ordered the deaths of over 10million people during his reign and is Listed on TIME Magazine's "Most Evil Men in History"(1976).

Emperor Constantine (325AD) changed the christian "Holy day" to Sunday to tally with that of the Roman pagan sun god Sol Invictus.

Biblical Jesus Descended from a Generation of 12, had 12 Disciples and Dined with them at a "Last Supper"..So did Krishna(4000BC).

During the Inquisition, an Entire carthan Village of Women and children numbering 120,000 were completely Murdered by Catholic Knights.

In order to Encourage Slave Trade, Pope Nicholas V Lied that God told him in a Dream it was alright for christians to"Buy and Sell heathens".

The Word "Amen" uttered after every christian prayer has its roots in Egyptian Masonry(3000BC) as "Amon-ra" which means "The Hidden one". 

Source:

http://www.reunionblackfamily.com/apps/blog/show/25198765-when-emperor-constantine-325ad-wanted-to-unite-rome-he-simply-fused-paganism-with-christianity

Murder At Hilton Honors Hotel, Ile Ife. A Nigerian reacts:

Broadcaster Soni Irabor Posts:

I was outraged by the news of murder at Hilton Honors Hotel, Ile Ife and the allegation that the Hotel owner may have a hand in it. That was really shocking knowing also that the owner is a famous prince of Ile Ife and renown as an "Educationist". In the circumstance, I would expect the police to have complete dossier of the accused.

And really, if Nigeria has effective regulatory institutions, one would expect the Intelligence Services to scrutinize the background and dig up any criminal record of anyone that would be provided license for hotel business;  And the University Commission to look into the background of proprietors of all educational institutions.

My brief glance at wikipedia already raised some doubts about the credentials of Rahman Adegoke Adedoyin.

Born in 1957, he had first degree at Ife in 1983.

He founded The Polytechnic Ife in 1984!!!!!

Could a Youth Corper be licensed to float a Higher Institution????

He had Masters at Centurion International University, California (Non existent in California); He had PhD in 1996 at All Saints University School of Medicine, New York (Non existent in New York and no thesis traceable). He founded Oduduwa University in 2009.

Rahman Adedoyin has connections with high and mighty in Nigeria. However, I pray Almighty God will let justice prevail.

Dr Boniface Chizea.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

When Ifá talks of Òtù Ifẹ̀, do you think it refers to only the location in present day Ọ̀ṣun state?

Then you will misunderstand Yoruba history and demography, and even misinterpret some Ifá as you won't get the deepest essence as it relates to retracing our ancient history.

Òtù Ifẹ̀ is the name given to the earth in its perfect (Olódùmarè ordained state).

The leader "Odùduwà" is the mortal human who led in the civilization of the homosapien evolving from our prehuman ancestor.

When you hear of Òtù Ifẹ̀ then, you should understand it as a state of universal harmony between humans and divine with the human conduit being Ọlofin - the Odùduwà office that represents the presence of Godinman - the oneness of man and divine.

To restore the universe back to Olódùmarè ordained harmony, we must understand the social understanding that established Òtù Ifẹ̀.

The physical location called Ifẹ̀ today in Ọ̀ṣun state is called so because of the stool of the Ọọ̀ni which is the seat of Odùduwà from where Organization/human civilization came.

By Ayobami Ogedengbe

Tuesday 23 November 2021

COLLAPSED 21–STOREY BUILDING: MATTER OVER MIND, SPIRIT (2)

ONLY the watchers of earth-men can exactly tell what is happening to the 45 persons who were killed on 01 November 2021 when Femi Osibona's 21–storey building under construction at 44 Gerrard Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, came down like a pack of cards. But it is almost certain many of them may be behaving as "WANDERERS IN SPIRIT LAND". As I wonder about them, earth-men have not ceased to wonder about what may be happening to people they knew who have gone on. My grandmother died in 1980 but I still see her in my dreams, implying that she is still much around. Wasn't it my mother who left the flesh on 5 August 1959 who told me in a dream on 24th August 1998 "your father has left the earth?". Did my father not bow out two days later? Almost 20 years after, did my father not tell my sister "H.A. has gone?". Pa H.A.Olubanjo was his bosom childhood friend through whose help my father married my mother, his cousin. So, when my sister told me our father informed her "H.A. has gone", I advised her to keep the news to herself for sometime. She did not know H.A. was Pa Olubanjo.

There is none of us who has not experienced correspondence with departed ones in one way or another. Even among the Caucasian (Euro-American) race, who have overcultivated the intellect to the point that they tend to no longer believe anything outside the realms of the five physical senses, concerns about life beyond the earth are not completely eradicated. These concerns have been kept alive among them by persons such as FRANCHEZZO, author of "A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LAND". He wrote the book in 1896 for the reasons that will soon be stated. At that time, science and the intellect, that is the cerebrum or frontal brain, had not tried to completely usurp the throne of the spirit as they do today, to suppress SPIRITUAL REALITY and establish INTELLECTUAL REALITY or MATERIAL REALITY as the REAL REALITY.

We must be thankful to persons such as photographer SEMYON KIRLIAN who have made it impossible for man to obliterate his SPIRITUAL ANCESTRY. He is reported to have "accidentally" discovered a photographic technique which has helped to shed more light on GHOST PAINS and reopen the debate as to whether the physical bodies of men are not mere coarser or denser versions of prototypes and immutable archetypes which survive physical or material demise. When science and the intellect says SEMYON KIRLIAN "accidentally" discovered the now widely celebrated photographic technique, they are trying to deny that there is a higher guidance from the forces which watch over men on earth and guide them.

In GHOST PAINS, a man or woman whose leg is amputated from the knee who, therefore, in physical or material reality has no lower leg or foot, sometimes develops pains where his physical lower leg or foot had once existed. Doctors used to write off such complaints as hallucinations and drug their patients to sleep. But what does the patient do when the high priest of medicine had spoken but he continues to feel and believe his lower leg or foot are still where they used to be and he is experiencing serious pains in them.

Semyon Kirlian photography showed a whole leaf and, later, other objects in two dimensions. The first dimension was physical reality. The second dimension was real, also, but of a different consistency from the first. When the whole leaf was cut into two and rephotographed, the first dimension appeared as a half leaf physical reality. The second dimension appeared as a whole leaf, as if nothing had happened to it. This sparked a controversy of archetypes and prototypes and of whether physical earth bodies are not mere reflections of prototypes and archetypes.

Of SEMYON KIRLIAN, Google says:

"Kirlian photography is a collection of photographic techniques used to capture the phenomenon of electrical coronal discharges. It is named after Semyon Kirlian, who, in 1939, accidentally discovered that if an object on a photographic plate is connected to a high-voltage source, an image is produced on the photographic plate. The technique has been variously known as electrography, electrophotography, corona discharge photography(CDP), bioelectrography, gas discharge visualization(GDV), electrophotonic imaging(EPI), and, in Russian literature, "Kirlianography".

"Kirlian photography has been the subject of scientific research, parapsychology research, and art. Paranormal claims have been made about Kirlian photography, but these claims are rejected by the scientific community. To a large extent, it has been used in alternative medicine research".

Long before Kirlian photography, the MEDIUMS of old had tried to establish communication between earth persons and the departed ones. It was, and still is, a function of RADIATIONS or of SENSITIVE persons who have reported seeing images of persons who had just departed, hearing knocks or footsteps at night around the dwelling of being irradiated or worked up by certain fragrances of inexplicably origins.

In the days of FRANCHEZZO, people paid mediums to help them communicate with departed persons. The book A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LAND is one of such efforts. Here is the author, FRANCHEZZO, telling us about this book:

"I came across this experience written in 1896 London by a medium, Franesse, who was in contact with the soul of a man known as Franchezzo when he was alive who related through this medium his experience after his death on earth. For those who probably do not know, a medium is someone with psychic powers or heightened senses able to see or hear souls/spirits. Through these people or mediums, loved ones or people who have died are able to communicate to their loved ones still living or pass on certain messages to certain people through them.

"Franchezzo lived a very materialistic life, in his own words, while on earth, living only for the highest earthly sensualities and had very strong addiction to material possessions. He paid little attention, if any, to anything regarding spiritual matters or life after death. He tells his story, through the medium, of the effect of materialism on his soul, how he got stuck after death and the efforts he made in the afterlife to rise through being stuck. Franchezzo tells his story through the medium as a lesson to earthlings still living on earth about the dangers of getting addicted to materialism or earthly distractions.

"His story is quite interesting that it tells a different reality of the so-called 'hell-fire' as popularly brandished in organized religion (Islam, Christianity). 'Hell fire', so to speak, does not exist. An unconditionally loving God would never condemn any of his own to 'burn forever' just because they made the wrong choices while on earth. The theory of hell fire is a wrong teaching introduced by the early church fathers that has been cycled around for generations, however experiences like this or from people who have been near death (near death experiencers), tell a different story altogether. The afterlife is not all bliss and there exists another place full of darkness and lack of love, often called the void and this is, oftentimes, where souls who accumulated heavy negative karma through their actions while on earth go to for temporary restitution, reflection on their just concluded life, etc. There is hope for these souls to progress as our unconditionally loving God never condemns any of his own to eternal damnation.

"For those who think that there is no life after death, the soul does not exist or after death is nothingness, you may need to have a rethink after reading this".

DR RAYMOND MOODY

True humanity has had the gift of RAYMOND A. MOODY, a firm believer in the paranormal, philosopher, psychiatrist and author of LIFE AFTER LIFE who has reopened this subject more powerfully in our time. He interviewed several people who had near-death experiences, who were thought by their doctors to have died, whose bodies were sent to the mortuary, but who "woke up" and told stories of their existence in other worlds from which, in some cases, they did not wish to return to the earth. The near-death subjects Dr Moody interviewed came from different backgrounds which included age, gender, social, economic, linguistics, religious, nationality, profession etc. Their stories about how they left the earth, of how they passed through a "dark tunnel", how they arrived in a brightly lit environment lit up not by a sun, of how the lighting was not scorching, of how there was neither dawn nor dusk nor night, of how they did not realize they had "died", of how they saw their pets and relations who had long "died" or of some persons standing by to help but who would not unless he was asked for help. This (LIFE AFTER LIFE) was the book Obafemi Awolowo at his last birthday on earth asked to be given by anyone who had a copy, and which for me, an honour to give him, free of cost, one of the two copies in my library.

According to a review of Life After Life by Goggle:

"Raymond Moody is the “father” of the modern NDE (Near Death Experience) movement, and his pioneering work Life After Life transformed the world, revolutionizing the way we think about death and what lies beyond. Originally published in 1975, it is the groundbreaking study of one hundred people who experienced “clinical death” and were revived, and who tell, in their own words, what lies beyond death. Life After Life introduced us to concepts including the bright light, the tunnel, the presence of loved ones waiting on the other side that have become cultural memes and have shaped countless readers notions about the end life and the meaning of death".

DR MOODY'S CRITICS

We would not be the humans that we are, standing at various heights of the perception of reality, if Dr Moody's work was not roundly criticized by the doubting Thomases. The criticisms re-enacted the battle of old between MECHANISTS and the VITALISTS understanding of existence. The mechanists believe nothing exists unless they can see it, touch it, smell it and taste it. They call themselves REALISTS and their civilization was termed the age of realism. They thought the human being was no more than his/her bones, blood and brain and that he/she was no more than a collection of organs working mechanically, like the parts of a mechanical device such as a motor-car. The vitalists recognize the existence of bone, blood and brain and...something else which makes them to function the way they do, the human soul, a vital aspect in the equation of human existence on earth.

According to the critique of Life After Life extracted from Dr Moody's biography in Wikipedia:

"The philosopher Robert Todd Carroll has written that a characteristic of Moody's work is the omission of cases that do not fit his hypothesis, confirming the aspect of cherry picking. Carroll writes that what Moody describes as a typical NDE may be due to brain states triggered by cardiac arrest and anesthesia. Moody believes NDEs are evidence for an afterlife but Carroll states they can be explained by neurochemistry and are the result of a "dying, demented or drugged brain".

DR STEINPACH

Dr Richard Steinpach took Raymond Moody's study one step further with his book WHY WE LIVE AFTER DEATH.

Amazon.com says:

"Why We Live After Death is one of those rare books that encapsulates deep and far-ranging ideas with an articulate and engaging style. Austrian-born Richard Steinpach was an attorney by profession, a seeker-after-truth by inclination and temperament. From 1979 until shortly before his death in 1992, Dr. Steinpach delivered hundreds of lectures throughout Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

"Why We Live After Death is a small book with a big message...the author has added value to understand the experience of death, a subject long denied and little understood. Steinpach's explanations are consistent with the prevailing ecumenical thought on spirituality and the essence of the soul. He challenges the reader to expand preconceived ideas about religion and spirituality, and to allow understanding to establish firmer foundations in our lives and in our world.

"Why We Live After Death accomplishes what no other book on life after death does. Steinpach takes the basic Laws of Nature and applies them to the ethereal realm. By doing so, he demystifies the world beyond, and opens the door to a fuller understanding of the totality of our existence. Why We Live After Death makes it possible for readers to answer the eternal question, What is the meaning of life?"

REMARKS

The foregoing were thoughts which made me wonder what could have been going on under the rubbles of Femi Osibona's 21–storey building in Ikoyi, Lagos. Many people do not know they, or rather their bodies, have "died" when they vacate these bodies. In the battlefield, some soldiers who have been "killed" still go on fighting, dodging bullets and hiding from their enemies believing they are seen. They are surprised their enemies do not see them. They try to kill an enemy nearby, severally shooting him and are shocked the bullets have no desired effects. Weeks or months later, they may breakdown. They may not realise they now exist in their astral bodies, which, sooner or later, they may also discard in their ascent homeward.

Tired of it all, they may send out a genuine prayer for help to understand what is happening to them. A helper may approach them and inform them that they have died. They may fall on their faces and cry in disbelief. To help their unbelief, helpers may bring them to their homes to see their families. Their widow and children may be at table for breakfast. The woman's head may swell, her blood radiations having been irradiated by the visitor's. Some of the children may develop goose pimples. Some may see images. He may speak to them. But no-one may hear him. He may try to embrace his wife, and his hands and arms may pass through her. He may get the message and begin to cry again. He may now be led away to that part of the Universe, usually for many people just around the fringes of the earth plane, where his SPIRITUAL GRAVITY permits him to rise not beyond. In this place, as in other places, there are rehabilitation centers where care givers help in-coming souls to settle down in their new environment or plane of existence. Often, the convinction that they have died on earth comes when they are taking on visits in their new environment to the homes of friends and relations who had left the earth a long time before them. Their existence in this new world becomes a new reality which the human brain left behind on earth cannot visualize or recognize. These teaches us that only the instruments of the same consistency with an environment can investigate or navigate it. The brain which produces signs is consistent with the material world. It is the inner cloaks which many of us live undeveloped that are consistent with the worlds of new realities beyond the earth and can investigate them. It takes the new comers to the worlds beyond the earth time to learn about THE LAW OF THOUGHT, for example. They may not realise they need no food, sleep or have no need to walk. They may take time to learn their helpers and caregivers "float" along.

At 44 Gerrard Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, will the disembodied souls accept that they deserved to end their earthly lives the way they did? Would they accept that there is NO ACCIDENT in the Universe? Will they be at Femi Osibona's throat, accusing him of bringing about their fate? Are there squabbles going on there that our mortal eyes are not beholding? Will the site be haunted by "ghosts" for sometime? There are official records of public places in the Western world even till this day that are haunted by soldiers killed inside them. The internet had a list of haunted places in Rome, London, Edinburgh, Bucharest, Madrid etc. Will Femi Osibona seek help to detach from the decaying body, forgive his wife and siblings feuding over his property within one week of his gruesome death, and go on his journey to wherever he deserves to be, or will he become earthbound, still chasing the material after the music has stopped playing and risk the chances of another incarnation?

May our prayer be granted that the departed souls wander not in the land of spirit which Franchezzo's book, A WANDERER IN THE SPIRIT LAND, describes to us but awaken to joyful and beautiful activities in consonance with upbuilding in the wonderful and magnificent Creation of the Almighty Creator and Ruler of All the Worlds. May it be granted, also, that all of us still on the earth learn from the experience of the collapsed building that there is only one step between life and death and, therefore, make hay for the development of our spirits while the earthly sun still shines upon us. Whoever learns no useful lesson in the events around him/her lives in a FOOL'S PARADISE.

By: Femi kusa

The Holy Odu Ifa Ogunda Meji: says

It is Ori, Ifa repeated

It is Ori alone

That is capable of following his devotee without turning back

If I am lucky to become rich

I would give thanks to my Ori

My Ori, it is by your grace

If I am lucky to have children on Earth

I would give thanks to my Ori

My Ori, it is by your grace

All the good fortunes that I make on Earth

I would give thanks to my Ori

My Ori, it is by your grace

I greet you my Ori

The entity that never forgets one

The one that favors one swiftly than even Orisha

There is no Orisha that can unilaterally bless a person

Without the consent of one’s Ori

I salute you Ori

That makes it possible for children to be born alive

Anyone whose sacrifice is accepted by Ori

Should rejoice exceedingly

The main message of this verse is that there is no other Orisha that is as capable of aiding one in critical situations as the Ori. The Ori is the one that is there at all times in the life of the person whether poor or rich, short or tall, happy or sad. One who chooses a good Orí and destiny will have an easy time obtaining the good things in life. They will find it easier than not to have a peaceful home, a job they truly enjoy, a good relationship with their spouse, and good children, along with the wealth and health needed to enjoy it all. Good things will come easily to them. A healthy mind will help you find your way through life, from birth through childhood, through teenage years, adulthood and into our older age. An unhealthy mind, on the other hand, chooses an imperfect Orí that will experience many hardships in life. These people will find that the good things in life are hard to achieve and that tough times are common. It will take great change to make things better for them. Potentially they can change through the implementation of ritual and sacrifice, vehicles for change and transformation, to repair their Orí’s and their realign destinies, thereby turning their lives around for the better. The principle “Ori Apeere” as I mentioned before translates to mean the pattern, the example, or the sign of consciousness. Ifa teaches that Apara-Inu is the principle of the internal disposition towards building character, balance and a stable and healthy life.

Through successive reincarnations, the Orisha that molds the Ori Apeere of a particular individual will change, adding layers of depth to the evolving consciousness of each reincarnating soul. Throughout Yorubaland, a person venerates his or hers Ori as a personal spirit that guides them towards their personal destiny. The physical symbol of the inner head is the pineal gland, which is in turn secreted in a larger container with a conical lid called Ile-Ore, literally, "house of the head,” (the brain). The Ile-Ori serves as a physical shrine to the Ori-Inu. The human Ori is the reflective source of consciousness of Odu (wisdom) which is the reflective consciousness of Olodumare. There is an old saying among the Elders that says, “If God wished to hide, God would choose man to hide in”. That is the last place man would look for God.

The trouble with the masses of humanity today is that they are too busy looking outward for something divine that is already right within themselves. This is why it is very important to create healthy thoughts and healthy choices in life. The spirit of God lives within us, interconnects with us and interpersonally plays a very vital role in our spiritual development every moment the Sun shines on us and we take in oxygen. Ifa teaches us that Olodumare is not just some almighty being just sitting up in heaven in the sky watching down on us. Olodumare’s spirit is of the same natural spirit that lives within us, in the air we breathe, in the natural waters that we drank and in the earth that we walk on.  It is what makes us spiritual beings, Gods and Goddesses in hue man form, and the spiritual foundation for our source of supernatural powers that we were designed to adapt to the prevailing level of light (Truth) that would enable us to see clearly into the whole spectrum of our lives and the world as it really exist.

By Baba Olutunde Olufemi

Source: Ifa Spirituality Group.

Did Elon Musk use human body parts for money rituals?

Is there any causal link between human body parts and wealth? Without any prejudice to the outcome of police investigation, this discourse was again provoked last week when the body of Timothy Adegoke Oludare, an MBA student of the Obafemi Awolowo University, (OAU) was found buried in a shallow grave in Ile-Ife, Osun State. Oludare had lodged in a hotel in the university town and suspicions are rife that he had been a victim of the thriving market of human rituals among a Yoruba people for whom the indigenous epistemology of prosperity through human body parts rituals has become a centuries-old pastime.

I first came in contact with this epistemological body of knowledge in my pre-teen years. This was in the 1970s Nigeria. Parents sternly warned their wards to religiously avoid being alone in desolate places. It was the period when that caustic-mouthed Yoruba Apala songster, Late Fatai Olowonyo, released the vinyl that bore that iconic track entitled Laye Gbomogbomo (In this world of kidnappers). Padding the song up with his rhythmic acoustic guitar sound that literally sent dancers into gymnastic fits, Olowonyo had warned, especially the young ones, to avoid lone-walking as kidnappers luxuriated in lonely places. When they grabbed their victims, he warned, such victims honked like mouse in a trap. “Iwo nikan ma se da rin mo, bi won ba ki o mole labe agbado, wa si ma dun fin bi omo eku…” he sang.

I lived with my parents in a town called Ikirun, also in today’s Osun State. There was this highly dreaded spiritualist called Baba Aladokun who specialized in the spiritual healing of mentally-challenged patients. His house, which I frequented every Saturday with my father, was usually filled to the brim with all manner of patients, many sent to his herbal sanatorium from several lands away. When his patients were in the twilight of receiving their healing, he loaned them to farmers like my father to work on their farms for fees. The farmers in turn gave him reports of the perceived level of the patients’ sanity. Dark, pot-bellied, Baba Aladokun sat cupped up in a corner of his herbal hospice, welcoming oncoming people afar off by saying, “e wee”, a style of greetings which a pre-teen boy like me smothered the urge to laugh at.

A few years after, Baba Aladokun was embroiled in a criminal allegation of human body parts ritual. The Police Criminal Investigation Department (CID) had received report that the herbalist had veered into human body parts rituals. A police detective who pretended to be mentally deranged was promptly seconded to his sanatorium. In the course of simulating mental derangement, she had reportedly witnessed the herbalist pounding bodies of a newly born baby in a mortar which was then garnished with black soap and other accoutrements. Baba Aladokun was subsequently arrested, remanded in the Ilesa prisons and later released for want of evidence. Not long after, one of the old herbalist’s mentally ill patients was said to have beheaded him right inside his sanatorium.

Traditional African Spiritual System (TASS) believes in the centrality of spiritual beings and has its roots in relationship with the spirit world. This world is believed to be responsible for happiness, protection, material wealth and health. Any dislocation with TASS was believed to lead to sickness, barrenness, death, among others. A scholar once explained that in human body parts rituals, the soul of the sacrificed victim is sent on an errand to the supra-physical realm. There, the soul then engages in the laborious exercise of harvesting wealth for the usage of the victimiser.

In African films, worldviews and the totality of our social engagements, instant riches not accessed by sweat, mental rigour and tenacity jut out prominently. That is why our children no longer engage in works that take them through byzantine and laborious paths of hard work. Nollywood, though teaches that voodoo wealth leads to calamity, dwells on its sociology and its reality, thus legitimizing it.

This same spiritual and occult economies in wealth generation are also being deployed in the sustenance of cyber crimes committed by youths called Yahoo Yahoo or 419, a Southern Nigerian version of banditry in the Northwest. Recently, the incidence of theft of female underwear became pandemic, with this trade traced to the rituals of Yahoo Yahoo boys using them to spiritually keep on the trade of cyber fraud.

For centuries, human sacrifice was prevalent in traditional Africa. For example, archaeologist, Graham Connah discovered 41 skeletons belonging to women thrown into a pit in Benin in the 13th century AD. In his submissions, Connah indicated that human sacrifice or murder was prevalent at the time. During the early days in most parts of Africa, human sacrifices were considered to be an essential component of state religion, while sacrifices to the god of iron, Olokun the water goddess, source of economic power were rife, mostly done with human beings. Worship of many other deities was common. Olokun, the water deity, is culturally and popularly believed to possess immeasurable riches in its kingdom beneath the sea. Poet John Pepper Clark, dwelling on the ancient mythology of the Benin kingdom on the Olokun goddess, had developed the significance of this deity. He had written, So drunken, like ancient walls//We crumble in heaps at your feet;//And as the good maid of the sea,//Full of rich bounties for men,//You lift us all beggars to your breast.

The practice has since continued. Despite the huge influence of Christianity and Islam, Nigerians have maintained very deep syncretic link to traditional African magic and rituals and indigenous epistemologies of prosperity. Pastors, Imams and worshippers of the two major religions have not severed their links to this past and still strongly associate wealth, health and societal advancement, alongside other existential matters, with mystical and spiritual powers. Though religionists ascribe those existential matters to God’s intervention, the invisible world of magic and the spirit world are believed to hold the ace as the source of wealth and earthly glory in their hearts and acts.

Apart from politics, one of the central things that many Nigerian elite, on the route to seeking wealth, engage in is money rituals. This happens when perpetrators murder their victim and gorge out vital parts of their bodies for rituals. Spiritual epistemology says this makes its perpetrator acquire money in the process. This is because, like Nigerian politics where easy and unearned wealth resides, rituals that are believed to lead to accumulation of wealth involve less arduous perspiration and most times, less engagement of the mental faculties of proponents of such evil processes.

Many people have asked what constitutes the efficacy of that thinking. In other words, what is the causal link between human body parts and wealth? How does harvested human parts lead to money? While the ontology of that belief system, like all spiritual things, may be very illogical and even silly to science, the fact that the practice and belief in it have endured for centuries is a pointer to two binary possibilities: either that believers in the efficacy of money rituals are downright stupid, naïve or conversely, that there is a reality about human parts rituals that lures people into it. And our people cannot be said to have been stupid for centuries now.

Apart from the criminal implications and moral burden of having to kill a fellow man and harvest their organs for money-making rituals, a spiritually embedded economy like ritual killing disadvertises itself to many people in Africa. This is because wealth gathered by doing so does not endure and has been known to attract fatal repercussions. Conditionalities attached to them are oftentimes stringent, leading to early deaths of the perpetrators and evaporation of the acquisitions in their lifetime. It is said that children of the perpetrators reap the evil seeds sown by them and the wealth vamooses suddenly like vapour.

However, the major reason why rituals involving body parts thrive in Nigeria and Africa as a whole is because the bulk of Africa rests on a pagan and unscientific past. While the world scientifically reasons itself into wealth and its acquisition, Africa’s wealth-creating modem is founded on metaphysics which is not only unexplainable but crude. The metaphysics of African wealth creation does not conform to the nine features of science which are objectivity, verifiability, ethical neutrality, systematic exploration, reliability, precision, accuracy and abstractness. This is why Africa is nowhere to be found on the loop of wealth in the world. The few Africans who are there, like Mike Adenuga, Aliko Dangote and Femi Otedola and co must have chosen to shun all those burdens of our crude and unrewarding approach to wealth. If not, they won’t be there.

World richest man, Elon Reeve Musk, was born on June 28, 1971 to a Canadian mother and South African father. Raised in South Africa, Elon attended University of Pretoria for a brief period before moving to Canada at the age of 17. In America, he got bachelor’s degrees in Economics and Physics. Elon however had to delink the African wealth-creating mentality to be able to get to where he is today. The land of his birth is very rife with metaphysics of wealth and existence. In Southern Africa and some parts of the African Great Lakes region for example, in what is called muti or medicine murder, body parts of albinos are believed to have the power to transmit magical powers. Witch doctors in these areas are renowned to ask for such victims so that their parts could be used as ingredients for concoctions, potions and rituals to divine prosperity for the user. In Nigeria and other parts of Africa, hunchbacks are endangered species as they are deployed for money making rituals.

However, Elon has been able to systematically rise to become a world-class entrepreneur and business magnate whose wealth can be tracked scientifically, deploying all those afore-mentioned indices of science. Gradating his business development growth, he established Space X, the aerospace manufacturing company and became its founder, CEO, and Chief Engineer. In 2004, he moved over to the giant electric vehicle manufacturing company called Tesla Motors, Inc to become its chairman and product architect. He became its CEO in 2008. Today, Elon has an estimated net worth of over US$250 billion.

Why then is it that in Nigeria and Africa, we are still trapped in the puddle of occultic wealth creation that causes pain, sorrow and death for victims and families of our fellow man? Why do we still believe in a wealth model that demonstrates that we are what Trevor Roper and other racist historians said we are – a bunch of unthinking, crude animals jumping from one tree to the other?

Human rituals thrive because there is a contemporary socio-economic demand for them. Though majority of the people do not believe in it, virtually all of us have strands of the dark practice in our closets. As shocking as human body parts rituals are, many people justify and even legitimize them. Until we begin to reason scientifically like other people of the world, we will forever be trapped by these centuries-old epistemologies, rather than the ones of a post-modern world. Unfortunately for us, when Forbes brings up the names of wealthy people of the world, we cannot see names of those who scooped up wealth by killing human beings for rituals. Why then do people still follow this path that leads to obvious, irredeemable perdition?

As an aside, the autopsy on Timothy Adegoke Oludare must not be allowed to be compromised. The Nigeria Police has the institutional notoriety of perverting the course of justice, for whatever inclination. That autopsy holds the key to the culpability or otherwise of the accused. The moment it is perverted, Oludare’s death would be in vain and there will be no lesson learnt for the alleged malefactors in the case and for us all as a society.

Time to frighten EndSARS report vultures off their carcass

The excitement about the unNigerianness of the report of the panel of inquiry into last year’s massacre at the Lagos Lekki Toll Gate lasted for fleeting hours. The Nigerian virus then wriggled itself into the report almost immediately. In the leaked report, the Nigerian military that had made mealy-mouthed denials of its culpability in the shooting and killing of unarmed Nigerian youths who were protesting police brutality in Lekki, got deeply bruised and stripped naked.

Leaked just a few hours after its submission to the Lagos state government, the panel found that 48 casualties were recorded in the calamity, with 11 people killed, and four people missing. Their names were affixed to the report. The panel concluded that what happened on that eerie night in Lagos was indeed a “massacre,” a gross departure from official mendacity of the last one year which claimed that opposition blew it out of proportion. Apart from shooting and killing defenceless protesters, the report said that the Nigerian Army personnel at the Toll Gate that night even committed the unpardonable and inhumane sin of blocking ingress and egress around the protest area, specifically to block ambulances from rescuing victims.

The initial commendation actually went to the Lagos State Government. In a Nigeria where the hearts of people in government are as dark as tar, it was very unNigerian that a report set up by government would end up indicting that same government. It was the scenario of a piper whose tune was its crucifix. Those who could think deeply concluded that the report indicated one of two things: Either that the Lagos government gave the panel a wide range of latitude to be independent or that there was a huge dislocation between the Lagos and Federal governments, for the sake of politics.

No sooner had the report been submitted than systemic spanners began to be thrown into the works to destroy the achievement made for the Nigerian state by the report. Fifth columnists, ostensibly on the payroll of federal and perhaps the Lagos state government, went into action to discredit and dissemble it, preparatory to a White Paper that will be a total negation of the report. The disagreements of the vultures sent out to mop up the carcass of the victims of the massacre, with the report range from typographical to the content of the report, with some wondering why the panel was unprofessional as to allow its leakage.

One of those who went to the media to discredit the report was Abiodun Owonikoko, SAN. His submissions are so tepid and incongruous with reality that the only justification for them is an excuse that he was merely trying to earn his pay as counsel to the government of Lagos State. Not only did Owonikoko travel on that discredited route of denial of massacre in Lekki, he waffled effeminately on Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s complicity in the bid to cover up the truth and shamelessly embraced technicalities in the service of that subterfuge. Can you imagine Owonikoko bothering about a supposed breach of confidentiality by the panel and abandoning the eerie cries of victims killed dastardly in their prime? The question to ask the SAN is, did people die at Lekki and did they die of natural causes?

The reality that is visible to the whole world is that the panel didn’t have any reason to make up the victims of that massacre. Also, Nigerians know that the philosophy of the panel’s operations synchronizes with that of the Nigerian people who are victims of their government.

The whole scenario of the brutality inflicted on unsuspecting youths at the Lekki Toll Gate smacks of same brutality inflicted on protesters at the black township of Sharpeville on March 21, 1960. Sharpeville, in South Africa, witnessed same horrific scene of police firing on a defenceless crowd of Black people during a countrywide demonstration against apartheid. The protesters had specifically called for the abolition of the notorious pass laws in South Africa.

Just like Nigeria where the panel report of the brutality has helped the world to have a window into the messy state of human rights under the Muhammadu Buhari government, the Sharpeville massacre report also helped the world to focus international lens on South Africa’s apartheid policy and the need to abandon it. The white government was never the same after the Sharpeville massacre. Thankfully, America and some governments of the world have weighed in on the report, asking the Buhari government to implement the recommendations.

While it is obvious that the federal government is totally embarrassed about the revelations of the panel and how the lid on its mendacious binge was blown so effortlessly, it is better advised to implement the report as the only self-regenerating route out of its self-imposed mess. Soldiers and police who committed those gross atrocities must be named, shamed and sanctioned so that their families would forever be held as the vermin that punctured and licked the blood of innocent children. 

Government must also face the task of providing a future for the Nigerian youth, a future that is more cogent and definite than the tokenism that it is engrossed in at the moment. More fundamentally, government must collapse the huge colony of termites it had unleashed on the information highway; termites busy polluting the space with revisionism, cants, sophistry and raw lies in the name of offering the other view about what happened on October 20, 2020.

By Festus Adedayo

Source: (Premium Times, November 21, 2021)


Monday 22 November 2021

Queen Nzinga of Ndongo

Queen Nzinga of Ndongo (Angola) was a powerful monarch who successfully kept the Portuguese out of her land for 35 years.

In order to fight off Portugal, (who wanted to conquer the area to further the slave trade) Nzinga conquered neighboring kingdoms to expand her territory. Nzinga led her warriors in battle until her sixties and defied numerous assassination attempts to die peacefully in her sleep at 81 in 1663.

Nzinga impact was so strong that she prevented the Portuguese from reaching deep into Southwest Africa until her death. Angola would finally be free of Portuguese control centuries later in 1975.

Source: www.pocatribe.com

Baba Suwe: 5 things to know about Babatunde Omidina

Babatunde Omidina simply known as Baba Suwe was a multi talented Nigerian Nollywood actor, majorly featured in Yoruba movies, until his death on Monday November 22, 2021, he was a delight to viewers.

Nigerians and Yoruba movie lovers will definitely have a strong connection with the actor due to his funny and comedic roles who has transcended into memes in recent times amongst the youths.

So we can safely say everyone had a feel of who Baba Suwe was when he was alive. Well, we have come out with five things about him.

He was born and bred in Inabere Street in Lagos Island but hails from Ikorodu local government area of Lagos State, southwestern Nigeria.Baba Suwe had his primary education at Jamaitul Islamial Primary School in Lagos and Children Boarding School, Osogbo before he proceeded to Adekanbi Commercial High School in Mile 12, Lagos state but obtained the West African School Certificate from Ifeoluwa Grammar School in Osogbo, the capital of Osun State, southwestern Nigeria. Baba Suwe began acting in 1971 but came into limelight after he featured in a movie titled, Omolasan, a film produced by Obalende.He became more popular after he featured in Iru Esin, produced by Olaiya Igwe in 1997.He had featured and produced several Nigerian movies such as Baba Jaiye jaiye, a movie that featured Funke Akindele and Femi Adebayo.In 2011, he was accused of cocaine trafficking by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, an allegation that was described as false and defamatory by the ruling of the lagos high court of law.

Source: XtremeNews

Sunday 21 November 2021

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

The brainwash is gradually fading. A good number in this new generation of Africans are nothing like our parents.

There is a fearlessness that resonates around this younger generation. You can see it in every field of endeavor; technology, arts, etc.

Many parents will see these pictures of their children and say "blood of Jesus". But these same children whom were forged into Christianity and the lies of "the evilness of the African spirituality" have gotten to university, and are smiling, fearlessly in their attires.

Interesting times are ahead of us.

******

These are pictures from the induction ceremony (initiation) for the newly matriculated students of the theatre arts department, Rivers State University...

This is truly African!!!

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Culture is Not Religion. Religion is Not Culture. Our Cultural objects were produced by people among us, endowed by God, with special creative skills. Such creations go to manifest our society's philosophies,  social life, economic systems, art, language, beliefs, forms of government and our cultural core values, during their life time. We need to embrace and Not discard, our cultural objects, as they are the representations of our real identity as a people. We must stop throwing away the baby of our culture with its bath water. No matter what else we claim to be, to wherever we may relocate, we can not be who we are Not and would only be constantly reminded about our falsity The current monetization and decadence of our societal values, is mostly the result of our long discard and lack of grooming in the Enviable Core Values embedded in  indigenous cultures. Begin to embrace our culture, groom our children to love, than discard our culture, for the good of our future as a people.

By Prince Yemisi Shyllon

DO YOU REMEMBER THE PACESETTER, SARKI ABBA FROM KANO STATE?

In the cold harmattan of 1984, a Kano Indigene from SCIENCE Secondary School Dawakin Tofa did the unthinkable!!!

He scored 9 distinctions (8 A1 and 1 A2) in his West African Senior School Certificate (WASC) Exams. This achievement seemed unrealistic and never happened that the WASC Headquarters in Nigeria, Lagos assumed it was a cheat.

In order to prove their assumptions right, a car was sent to pick up 16yr old Sarki Abba straight from Dawakin TOFA where he was made to retake the whole 9 exams in the duration of 3 days.

After marking the rescheduled exams, he scored 9 A1 (the only 'A2' he had in English Language before the retake, became 'A1' resulted to 9 A1).

Faced with shock, the Lagos officials saved face by apologizing and instituting the National Merit Award making Sarki Abba its first recipient.

In 1989/90 school session, also at 21, Sarki Abba graduated as OVERALL BEST Medical Student, OVERALL BEST Graduating Student at ABU, Zaria. Sarki was then invited to U.S.A where he continued his studies, work and lives there since then.

In 1994/95 academic session, at the age of 26, Sarki Abba acquired his PhD: Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore Maryland, USA.

Sarki Abba is presently a Professor of Urology and Pathology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, USA. Also, MD, PhD, at the John T. Grayhack Professor of Urological Research.

Prof. Sarki Abba's research program is focused on understanding the molecular mechanisms that drive cancer initiation, progression and recurrence with the ultimate goal of developing therapies that interfere with these processes. His work has particularly focused on Prostate Cancer.

Prof. Abba's most recent Award was:

Has been named the winner of the 2020 Tripartite Legacy Faculty Prize in Translational Science and Education for his work investigating the molecular pathways that drive prostate cancer.

He is Now Among the WORLD Leading Medical DOCTORS in History.

By Sadiq Basheer

Saturday 20 November 2021

HEALTH BENEFITS OF SLEEPING WITHOUT LIGHT

(1) The body is able to produce a hormone (Melatonin) which fights diseases in the body while asleep at night in the dark only.

(2) While asleep in the dark, the brain cells are able to rejuvenate back to their original state ( cells which were damaged due to excessive sunlight and electricity) and function properly. 

(3) A study shows that Intelligent people all over the world do not sleep at night with lights on. Take note.

(4) Sleeping in the dark or without light at night, helps the body to fight Insomnia (check the meaning)

(5) Melatonin decreases in the day time due to the presence of sun light. Hence you should not allow light at night when the body is ready to produce it again.

(6) Melatonin tells us its time to sleep. Lack of it causes sleeplessness.

(7) Sleeping without light at night, makes an individual look fresh, lives longer and looks younger all the times. (Healthy).

Learn to sleep at night without light for your good. Nothing bad happens to those who practice it. Don't be scared.

A COUNTRY WITH NO VALUES

ÑA British Lieutenant General Sir Fredrick Stanley Maude was tasked to conquer Baghdad in 1917.

Upon arrival to Iraq, he came across a shepherd and his herd in a field, he asked his translator to offer a shilling to the shepherd and ask him to slaughter his dog.

A dog is very important companion to a shepherd. It warns him of all impeding dangers and guards the herd from wolves and thieves. But at that time, with a shilling one could buy half a herd.....

The shepherd agreed to the deal, grabbed his dog and slaughtered it at the feet of the General.

General Maude said to the shepherd: "I'll give you an additional shilling to skin the dog!

The shepherd took the shilling and skinned the dog. Then the General offered the third shilling to cut the dog into quarters.

The shepherd took the shilling and chopped the dog.  

Now the shepherd told the General that for a fourth shilling, he would eat the dog, to which the General answered: "I wanted to learn about your values in this country, and I discovered that you slaughtered, skinned and chopped your most trusted friend and companions for three shillings!

You were even ready to eat it for an additional one....That's all I needed to learn about your country!".

Then he addressed his soldiers and said:

"As long as this kind of mentality prevails in this country and you can buy anyone, don't fear anything and no one!' 

Since that time, and till our days in that part of the world. Officials have sold their countries, their People, their friends, their honor and their principles for a house In Europe, or a bank account in Switzerland.

Are you any different from that shepherd? 

Are our shepherds in this country different from shepherds in Baghdad, Iraq of old and indeed other parts of the corrupt and selfish world??

Let's change the face of our country for the Better!

HYPOTHETICAL REASONING: MORAL DECADENCE IN AFRICA

Moral decadence soared in Africa when Africa came in contact with Europeans several centuries ago.

Yes, the same Europeans who funded the spread of Christian religion into Africa.

Today, Africa is advancing in corruption and moral decadence, but still trails behind its European teachers as far as corruption and moral decadence is concerned.

Africa wants to embrace the religion (spirituality) of the one who is morally bankrupt yet wonders why its society continues to go increasingly morally bankrupt.

Here is why Africa is lusting after the Europeans, it is because of Money. They started with Mirrors, imported gins and guns, today they have graduated to smartphones and other stuffs. Now, majority of Africans lust after these European stuffs and only a few pause to think, "why is Africa not producing these things or anything at all as a global product?", Some, majorly Christians and Islamic apologists would fallaciously blame such inability on what they refer to as an idolatrous past.

Some White Supremacy apologists will claim that the White race is somewhat better equipped in the brain with some levels of reasoning that is superior to that of an African (Black).

But on interacting with the philosophical foundations of Africans and Europeans, judging from what is documented in history, I can say that the past 2000 years has witnessed the dominance of a paradigm that is crazily driven by the love of money such that at the top of parameters for social relevance is MONEY, how much of it you have - this is the driving force behind capitalism.

Looking into the Wisdom of the ancient Africans as scribbled in the hearts of its philosophers (Babaláwos) by Ọ̀rúnmìlà, I see that a dictum has been set down by Ọ̀rúnmìlà on how humanity should relate with money. This dictum can be found in Ogbè-ṣẹ́ which Babaláwos call Ogbè-Olówó.

The Irunmoles heard that there is a city where money grows on a tree, the name of the city is "Ìlájé", Ògún, the divinity of Iron and technology was the first to go there. He went on a divination and was told to offer sacrifice so that he can go safely and return safely. Ògún, being a natural warrior couldn't fathom what could make him go and not return safely. "I make war with kingdoms and I overpower them, what will defeat me on a quest to go take money?", he blatantly refused the counsel of the Babaláwos to offer sacrifice and went on his way.

On getting to the bottom of the tree, he rushed the tree, shaking it with all his might for the money to fall in large quantity so that he can take as much as he desires, the money did fall down but it fell on him and he died under the large heap of money.

This was the case for other Irunmoles, as they all relied on their personal prowess to make money without heeding the instruction (wisdom) of Ifá.

Orunmila, who considers himself 'weak and frail' decided to follow Ifa's injunction.

He was asked to have a pigeon to offer to Ajé (Wealth divinity) , a ladder, stool and a mortar. He was also asked to give a he-goat to Èṣù (the divinity of the crossroads and the keeper of secrets), he complied.

As he got to the base of the tree, he wondered what to do as he saw the bodies of the other divinities. Èṣù, whom he had earlier propitiate had come to place the ladder with which he offered sacrifice somewhere close to the tree. Then Èṣù told Ọ̀rúnmìlà to take the ladder and climb the tree, he was told to take only as much as his hands could take and then come down to put it inside the mortar, Èṣù told him that he could repeat the process for as long as he wanted.

This was how Ọ̀rúnmìlà was able to access wealth and escaped the fate the other Irunmoles suffered.

The name of the Awos that made Ifá for Ọ̀rúnmìlà in those days are "Gbẹ̀dẹ̀rẹ̀ Gbẹdẹrẹ làá l'ọ́rọ̀" , which loosely translates, we have wealth gradually. This is speaking of the process of wealth creation and the posture that we need to take when dealing with money.

The quest for money is good but it can be destructive, just as we see manifesting in our society today.

The ladder in Ifá story is symbolic of the gradual process one has to employ when reaching out for wealth. One must respect the rites of process. This is a caution to our young ones in today's generation who are on the quest to get rich by all means within the shortest possible period.

It is also a clarion call to the entire continent of Africa, we need to reevaluate our values. The hold that money has on our leaders is one of the leading causes of the moral, economic and intellectual death that Africa is experiencing.

Ẹ̀là Ìbọrú.

Ẹ̀là Ìbọyè.

By Ayobami Ogedengbe

Copyright: © 2021

NAMES OF SOME COMMUNITIES THAT PAID THE LEVIES IMPOSED BY BANDITS IN SOKOTO EAST

DailyStar Nigeria investigators have compiled names of 43 (out of many other) Sabon Birni Communities that have already paid their levies to bandits.

The communities that have paid the levies imposed on them by bandits as at Sunday October 7, 2021 are:

1- Garin Idi 1 Million Naira

2- Rambaɗawa 500,000 Naira

3- Tudun Wanda 370,000 Naira

4- Nasarawa 600,000 Naira

5- Zangon Ga Itace 300,000 Naira

6- Makuwana 1Million Naira

7- Tsauna 200,000 Naira

8- Tagirke 600,000 Naira (First payment) 800,000 (Second payment) 700,000 (Third payment)

9- Allakiru 3.5 Million Naira (Paid 2.9 million, to pay 600,000 balance)

10- Dogon Marke 2.2 Million Naira

11- Dakwaro 100,000 Naira

12- Kwarangaba 3 Million Naira

13- Adarawa 300,000 Naira (First payment) 1.5 Million Naira (Second payment)

14- Atallawa 400, 000 Naira (First payment), 400,000 Naira (Second payment)

15- Ƙiratawa 500,000 Naira (First payment), 600,000 Naira (Second payment), 1 Million Naira as levy for the release of their Chief Imam

16- Hawan Diran 80,000 Naira

17- Kuka – 100,000 Naira

18- Kwatsal 2 Million Naira (First Payment), 2 Million Naira (Second payment)

19- Dukkuma – 1.7 Million Naira (First payment) 400,000 Naira (Second payment)

20- Takaki – 600,000 Naira

21- Dabagi 100,000 Naira

22- Dan Maliki – 400,000 Naira

23- Ɓore – 2 Million Naira

24- Mallamawa 1 Million Naira

25- Kimba -350,000 Naira (First payment), 1.5 Million Naira (Second payment)

26- Katsira 1.5 Million Naira

27- Masawa 5 Million Naira (Payment not yet confirmed)

28- Faru 4 Million Naira

29- Sha Dawa (Farming for bandits by Villagers)

30- Gidan Gyara – (Farming for bandits by Villagers)

31- Dungurum 500,000 Naira

32- Gamuzo 1 Million Naira

33- Jinjira- 4 Million Naira

34- Walkiya Sabuwa 1 Million Naira

35- Walkiya Tsohuwa 300,000 Naira

36- Kitamau 600,000 Naira

37- Gangara Levied individually and as Community after initial payment of 1.5 Million Naira by the community

38- Kaihin Aska  – Each Man 1,500 Naira, each woman 1,000 Naira (After the community had paid 1 Million Naira)

39) Garki 4 Million Naira

40- Ahifara 1.5 Million Naira

41- Dan Aduwa 1.5 Million Naira

42- Zangon Abamu 2 Million Naira

43- Gatawa 5 Million Naira as Second payment.

........................

In my opinion, Northern Nigeria is gone, it is no longer part of Nigeria, in time we will all come to accept that.

The governors and leaders in the region have elected to relinquish control of the zone to terrorists.

To stay in their exalted position, they have to pay the terrorists and negotiate with them to stay alive and safe in their government seats.

Believe what you like but that is the reality of the situation.

To reclaim the North back after Buhari will require a huge non compromising military action, the like we have not seen since the civil war.

Let us stop pretending, the North as we used to know it is no longer part of the Nigerian state.

The ordinary peace loving fulani man, woman and child is also a victim in all of this, we will do well to remember that too when the time comes.

The question now is, will the terrorists advance south before Buhari tenure ends or will they be content with owning the North?

In my view, their strategic decision would be to advance South so that when the battle starts it consumes the whole nation.

One of the measures  that will save the south is if the resistance can hold out till the end of Buhari tenure. However Buhari is doing this best to weaken southern resistance in cahot with collaborators and enablers from the region.

For now we can forget any international assistance, we are on our own.

The international community want to see mass action from Nigerians before they will lift a finger. They want to see that we the masses are not content with this lot. In their view, as far as things stand, Nigeria is relatively stable and that is good enough for them for now.

That is the bitter truth, brothers and sisters. 

It does not matter what we choose to believe, that is the real situation as at today.

By Tony Smart Okpala

Source: ©️ Daily Star Nigeria [17/11, 21:11] 


Friday 19 November 2021

OONI'S TEAM PRESENTS 'TREASURES OF OUR ANCESTORS' TO BLACK LEADERS AT THE UNIDOS DE VILA MARIA COURT

The visit of the delegation from The Ooni of Ifé, Ooni Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi Ojaja II to the city of São Paulo in Brazil on Thursday brought together leaders and influencers willing to promote the proposal of the Oduduwa Heritage Home within the project “Treasure of Our Ancestors”, an initiative of the African foremost king; Ooni Ogunwusi with the purpose of strengthening ties and building bridges that facilitate cultural, tourist and economic exchange between Brazil and Nigeria and, in particular Ile-Ifé, Cradle & Natural Headquarters of  a the Yoruba people and Oduduwa Race at large.

Representing His Majesty, the delegation formed by the kings Joseph Adebayo Adewole the Ajero of the kingdom of Ijero-Ekiti and Oba Kayodee Adeenekan Afolabi the Alapomu of Apomu) Chief Adekunle Sumbo the Saagba of Ogbagi Akoko, Prince Adekunle Olokooba, a specialist in traditional medicine and Comrade Moses Olafare, head of communication at the palace of the Ooni of Ifé  in addition to visiting the Unidos de Vila Maria shed at Fábrica do Samba also visited the association's rehearsal court to Learn about the school's social project and talk a little about “Back To Home”, program that will be officially launched the Ooni of Ifé in 2022, precisely in the month of March, when he will visit the country for the second time.

In his introductory speech, the Ooni's Director of Media and Public Affairs, Comrade Moses Olafare urge the Afro Brazilians to proudly comport themselves as ambassadors of African nobility and royalty. He admonished them to take their huge population as an advantage to own the the country where they were once treated like slaves. 

“It is paramount on the agenda of your father back home in Ile-Ife which is your ancestral home; Arole Oduduwa Olofin Adimula Ooni Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi Ojaja II to stand by you and ensure you are connected to your continent of Africa.

"First of all, we need to understand that we are descendants of African royalty, we are heirs to kings, you are all princes and princesses, our ori(head) is blessed and your descent is noble. We can not think otherwise.  You the Oduduwa descendants hold almost 60% population in this country Brazil, it means you own this country and you can not be treated like second class citizens. You are heirs and sounds of Oduduwa",  Olafare said. 

Received by the president of Unidos de Vila Maria, the royal representatives watched a small Samba Dance Show presented by the school's cast that proposed a collaborative partnership between the social projects of Nigeria and Brazil. Former Brazilian Ambassador Mrs Maria Auxiliadora Figueiredo, and Oba Ogboni Adekunle Aderounmu, highlighted the importance of the connection between the sister countries in addition to the fatherly messages from the Ooni by the duo of Ajero of Ijero-Ekiti and Alapomu of Apomu Kingdom.

My Lord, Tell me Where to Keep your Bribe

Prof Niyi Osundare Raps Criminal Judges And NJC in an illustrative poetry entitled: My Lord, Tell Me Where To Keep Your Bribe.

A lovely piece of poetry that will make your day.... 

Do I drop it in your venerable chambers

Or carry the heavy booty to your immaculate mansion

Shall I bury it in the capacious water tank

In your well laundered backyard

Or will it breathe better in the septic tank?

Since money can deodorize the smelliest crime

Shall I haul it up the attic

Between the ceiling and your lofty roof

Or shall I conjure the walls to open up

And swallow this sudden bounty from your honest labour

Shall I give a billion to each of your paramours

The black, the light, the Fanta-yellow

They will surely know how to keep the loot

In places too remote for the sniffing dog

Or shall I use the particulars

Of your anonymous maidservants and manservants

With their names on overflowing bank accounts

While they famish like ownerless dogs

Shall I haul it all to your village

In the valley behind seven mountains

Where potholes swallow up the hugest jeep

And Penury leaves a scar on every house

My Lord

It will take the fastest machine

Many, many days to count this booty; and lucky bank bosses  

May help themselves to a fraction of the loot

My Lord

Tell me where to keep your bribe?

My Lord

Tell me where to keep your bribe?

The “last hope of the common man”

Has become the last bastion of the criminally rich

A terrible plague bestrides the land

Besieged by rapacious judges and venal lawyers

Behind the antiquated wig

And the slavish glove

The penguin gown and the obfuscating jargon

Is a rot and riot whose stench is choking the land

Behind the rituals and roted rigmaroles

Old antics connive with new tricks

Behind the prim-and-proper costumes of masquerades

Corruption stands, naked, in its insolent impunity

For sale to the highest bidder

Interlocutory and perpetual injunctions

Opulent criminals shop for pliant judges

Protect the criminal, enshrine the crime

And Election Petition Tribunals

Ah, bless those goldmines and bottomless booties!

Scoundrel vote-riggers romp to electoral victory

All hail our buyable Bench and conniving Bar

A million dollars in Their Lordship’s bedroom

A million euros in the parlor closet

Countless naira beneath the kitchen sink

Our courts are fast running out of Ghana-must-go’s

The “Temple of Justice”

Is broken in every brick

The roof is roundly perforated

By termites of graft

My Lord

Tell me where to keep your bribe?

Judges doze in the courtroom

Having spent all night, counting money and various “gifts”

And the Chief Justice looks on with tired eyes

As Corruption usurps his gavel.

Crime pays in this country

Corruption has its handsome rewards

Just one judgement sold to the richest bidder

Will catapult Judge & Lawyer to the Billionaires’ Club

The Law, they say, is an ass

Sometimes fast, sometimes slow

But the Law in Nigeria is a vulture

Fat on the cash-and-carry carrion of murdered Conscience

Won gb’ebi f’alare

Won gb’are f’elebi

They kill our trust in the common good

These Monsters of Mammon in their garish gowns

Unhappy the land

Where jobbers are judges

Where Impunity walks the streets

Like a large, invincible Demon

Come Sunday, they troop to the church

Friday, they mouth their mantra in pious mosques

But they pervert Justice all week long

And dig us deeper into the hellish hole

Nigeria is a huge corpse

With milling maggots on its wretched hulk

They prey every day, they prey every night

For the endless decomposition of our common soul

My Most Honourable Lord

Just tell me where to keep your bribe.

Large, extremely tough bags used for carrying heavy cash in Nigeria

They declare the innocent guilty

They pronounce the guilty innocent

By Prof. Niyi Osundare


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