Results for Lifestyle

DV Lottery: Only Nigeria is the African Country Not Allowed to Participate

May 27, 2019
What Hope Does Nigeria has Anymore for we the Citizens?  

Imagine 🇳🇬 Nigeria Is the only African Country not allowed to participate In the DIversity Visa Lottery.

https://hopfulme.blogspot.com/2019/05/dv-lottery-only-nigeria-is-african.html?m=1

It's Been Ages Now that Nigeria Has been banned from participating in the Diversity Visa Lottery.

It was Said that After Five Years Nigeria will be Added back to countries that will be Eligible and it's been over Ten years Now,  Nigeria Haven't been Added back.

Now Discover that Nigeria is the Only African country that can't participate now.

https://hopfulme.blogspot.com/2019/05/dv-lottery-only-nigeria-is-african.html?m=1


Our Leaders are failing Us every now and then....

The following countries can participate in the 2019 DV Lottery. The list is updated every year in September, so please check for updates if your country of birth is not among the qualifying countries. Important: Make sure to get your application submitted for the 2019 Diversity Immigrant Visa Lottery as soon as possible. Apply online today to get the best chance of being selected so you can live and work in The United States.

Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Canieroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Democratic, Cote D'iviore (Ivory Coast), Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Tee, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Republic Of The Liberia, Rwanda, Sao Tome And Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe.


African countries not qualified for this 's diversity program:
Nigeria


We have to get this news to reach our leaders,  They take our Raw crude oil to these Countries and gets it sold back to us,  Which country is supposed to get more advantages if not Nigeria?????


America will tell you they have the fuel in reserve they will use for the next 100 years,  But Can Nigeria Say the Same???

This Country is Ruined and Damaged
DV Lottery: Only Nigeria is the African Country Not Allowed to Participate DV Lottery: Only Nigeria is the African Country Not Allowed to Participate Reviewed by Revolutionary on May 27, 2019 Rating: 5

THE HEARTS AND MINDS OF AFRICAN YOUTH

May 04, 2019
*There is an Unfolding Revolution in the Minds and Heart of African Youth!*
_By_
*Martins Chiedozie Ugwu*
_Johnmartinsworldonline@gmail.com _

_*"As a young African, I believe that I am part of a critical generation. A misunderstood generation. A bold generation. An unapologetic generation; rising up against injustice. My experiences in activism have taught me that young people, here and across the continent, are increasingly demanding radical change. My immediate point of reference is that of the recent protest from Algeria to Sudan, and guest next, Uganda!*"_

Whether Africa’s youth bulge will be a boon or a ticking demographic time bomb will depend on the extent to which African Governments implement sound policies and invest in human capital sectors such as tertiary education, vocational training, skills development, agriculture and food security, health, labour intensive job creation and encouraging entrepreneurship, as well as peace and security. Effective policies and measures are critical to harness the benefits of the potential demographic dividend. In addition, African Governments need support from a wide range of international partners and stakeholders as the Sustainable Development Goals will not be achieved without the active engagement and contribution of Africa’s youth to identify their priorities, partner with development actors to foster robust implementation of the various development priorities.

Bad leadership they say is our problem and I totally agree. Is obvious that Africa’s current crop of leaders lack the political will, are out of touch and unwilling to change the status quo on the continent. With such a gaping age difference between the majority of people in Africa (the youth) and those who rule them, it’s no surprise the continent’s current leaders have no clue how the world is changing, and how it affects young people.

However, I’ve observed some interesting and powerful trends that indicates we’ve all been making a huge mistake: For decades, Africans have been looking up to its political leaders and the outside world to solve the continent’s problems but the truth is, leadership is not exclusive to the political class. And African youths need to understand this point very well. Young people in Africa have an untapped revolutionary leverage. Right now, they number over 700 million. By 2050, their number is expected to reach over 1.2 billion, the largest population of young people in world.

With 70% of Africa’s population under the age of 30, we as a continent are presented with a great opportunity and, possibly, a great challenge. Young Africans today are taking actions that not only have an immediate impact, but will also determine the future of the continent for decades to come. More need to be done and no better time to step up this effort than now.

Never has there been such weighty responsibility on the shoulders of young people. Never has there been the influence in the hands of young people like the influence they carry now. But for Africa to reap the dividends she has longed for, it is up to our generation to make sure that influence is channelled correctly and directed towards relevant issues that affect not only ourselves, but generations after us. This can only be achieved if we come together as young people and begin to address the challenges before us as a continent.

Together as Youth, we can build a new world in Africa soil.
……. Join the revolution.

Fellow Martins Chiedozie Ugwu is the Former International President of All African Students, Former Country representative of World Students Assembly,
Facilitator, Students for Change Initiative and Chancellor - Noble Youth Organisation of Africa.

➕2⃣3⃣4⃣8⃣0⃣3⃣7⃣5⃣5⃣3⃣1⃣9⃣0⃣
Johnmartinsworldonline@gmail.com

#Revolutionary
THE HEARTS AND MINDS OF AFRICAN YOUTH THE HEARTS AND MINDS OF AFRICAN YOUTH Reviewed by Revolutionary on May 04, 2019 Rating: 5

Moon Not Sighted Yet

May 04, 2019
*LAGOS STATE MOON SIGHTING SUB-COMMITTEE (LMSC)*

*UPDATE ON RAMADAN 1440/2019*

Today's date according to the Lagos State Moon Sighting Committee (LMSC) is Saturday 28th of Sha'ban, 1440 and not 29th as assumed.

The new crescent (hilal) will be born today Saturday 4th of May, 2019 (28th of Sha'ban) at 11: 45pm (after sunset). This means that it is impossible to sight the new crescent today at sunset (6:55pm).

For the new crescent to be sighted it needs about 15.15hrs-17hrs or more. Thus, Sunday 5th of May, 2019 (29th of Sha'ban) is the first day to search for the new crescent. Crescent can only be sighted after sunset. So, if the crescent is reportedly sighted tomorrow (Sunday, 5th of May), then Monday 6th of May will be the first day of Ramadan, 1440.

Note that Ramadan cannot start on Sunday 5th of May, and any reports on the moon being sighted on Saturday, 4th of May should be rejected.

Ramadan Kareem in advance!!!

 *IRFAN*

 *Please share with other Nigerian Muslims.*
Moon Not Sighted Yet Moon Not Sighted Yet Reviewed by Revolutionary on May 04, 2019 Rating: 5

CONGRATULATIONS on This Special Day!!!!!!!

April 28, 2019

Congratulations on making the decision to love and be loved and to commit yourselves to one another.

We need others around us to support us, to love us and to help us live out this commitment for years to come.

We also need our friends and our families to gently remind us of the flame of love they witnessed when we exchanged our vows.

Their belief in our commitment fans the flame of love. I hope you embrace a life of faith as individuals and as a couple.

I cannot imagine being married without God in our lives. 

Marriage requires that we leave, we cleave and protect one another for the rest of our lives.

The first step in giving oneself in marriage is that we must be willing to leave our homes and build a new life together.

On this your wedding day, dear Bride and Groom, I wish you every heavenly blessing, every earthly experience of love and laughter and the grace to see each other through every storm.

Know that your marriage is made in heaven, lived on earth and carries with it the hope of generations to come.

From your love one

Mutiu Ridwan Adewale
CONGRATULATIONS on This Special Day!!!!!!! CONGRATULATIONS on This Special Day!!!!!!! Reviewed by Revolutionary on April 28, 2019 Rating: 5

Dear Church Girls!!!!!!!

April 27, 2019
Dear Church Girls, (To whom it may concern)
I want to appreciate you for your decent dressings, no loud makeups, no earrings, coming to church early , serving in the altars and all the good things you do in church...
But I must tell you that your character is killing, your stubbornness is too much, your anger is disastrous...
Some of you are bombs waiting to explode a day after you get married to the unlucky brother...
We know you make nice facebook posts, we know you are hungry for revival and wants to be used by God especially those of you who are in ministry, believe me we appreciate but some of you,your pride is higher than the one that sent Satan down from heaven...
From your speech we all know that the part where the Bible says wives submit to your husband is not in your Bible, it has changed to husbands submit to your wives...
Mind you, I'm not the type that puts a woman under a man's feet, try to understand my point
Have you ever wondered why after all the jobs you do in the church most brothers still go out and marry one sister with Mimi skirts and poster colour face?
It's simply because we all know that this good morning sir good morning sir you greet us bending down in church, is just pretence, we know you don't even greet the male neighbours in your compound and even your own elder brothers...
I have been opportune to speak with some of you and most times followed some of you on facebook, believe me there is nothing to keep a home in you, forget all this garagara...
You think God is partial when he gave brother Patrick whom you love another sister from another church who's not even in the choir? It's because brother Patrick like me has been asking the Lord for a wife and not a knife in a foil...
You don't expect God to give him someone like you who doesn't take words from anyone yet pretends to be humble...
Some of us are people's only son and child's and we want someone who can give us peace and not destroy our family when they come in...
Work on your character and stop blaming Satan, the young man is not even aware you are single...
Some of us are hundred percent ready and we have a little cash to start the journey of seeing your dad but we want evidence...
Love is not stupid my dear...
I hope you understand

#Revolutionary
Dear Church Girls!!!!!!! Dear Church Girls!!!!!!! Reviewed by Revolutionary on April 27, 2019 Rating: 5

AN EPITOME OF LOVE AND APPRECIATION MESSAGE TO MY INDISPENSABLE,INESTIMABLE AND INDEFATIGABLE BROTHER

April 22, 2019



✍🏼

*AN EPITOME OF LOVE AND APPRECIATION MESSAGE TO MY INDISPENSABLE,INESTIMABLE AND INDEFATIGABLE BROTHER*
*_MR. BABTUNDE ABIDEEN IDOWU_*

*Location---Germany*

*Job-Successful Businessman*

*Hobby--Football*

*Lifestyle---Neatness,God-Fearing,Calm,Humble,Hardworking, Religious Leader*

*Girlfriend---Adegbenro Ganiyat Aderonke*

The family of BABATUNDE are really proud to have you big brother but am most joyoto of having you as a brother🤝🏼
_I can pretty much see your face right now as you start to read this_ Probably at your desk listening to the new music obviously. I think somewhere along the way I stopped telling you how much I look up to you in almost every single way. I bet it gets old sometimes, always wearing a red cape in my eyes, as if you could never do anything wrong. But you’re human and I forget that sometimes. I need to tell you some things I’ve been meaning to tell you for a while. We both know I’m a better writer than verbalizer.
*You are a neat person to the core, a God Fearing man, A calm and humble somebody. A very hardworking Human. Religiously okay and happens to be a very good example to others for you is a religious leader. I am proud of you brother*
You’ve influenced almost every decision I’ve made, even if you don’t know it.
You probably don’t remember (because you have the memory of a goldfish) but one time you said you wanted to be a worldwide Footballer. You are now  a footballer so clear yo everyone that you have a target in life.
When I was deciding what I wanted to do with my life, your love of sports came into my mind. As someone who always liked playing sports, I never imagined a life in which I worked for a football team. But in the end I did (and loved every second of it) because I really wanted you to think I was cool. Hell I joined a fantasy school in Nigeria so we’d have even more in common. Mostly though it was so I am a very brilliant student base on intellectuality

*I’m proud of you*
I am so proud to claim you as my brother. I get a weird pride feeling when people ask me if I’m your brother. Also the person that I’ve watched you turn into, a loving brother and friend and successful professional, makes me realize and hope that anything is possible in my own life. You’re pretty awesome.

Sure you’re a good looking guy. I mean we’re cut from the same cloth and I’m pretty good looking myself so it’s bound to happen that a few of my girlfriends will make comments on your looks. I hate it. *Thanks for never dating any of my friends.* LMAO😁
*You’re stupidly funny.*
Sometimes it takes me a second to get your jokes because they’re always witty and smart. As soon as I do get them the same thought goes through my brain, “How the hell did he think of that?” When someone calls you quiet, I laugh because I know that as soon as you open up, everyone around you is going to want to hear the hilarious one liners you have. Especially the ones about mom.
You’re my hero.
One of mom’s friends one time asked me why I talked about you like you walked on water. It’s because in my mind you do. You always have. There was a time when I wondered if we were going to be the kind of siblings that just stop talking. But we talk almost every day whether in the form of cute puppy pictures or songs that we need to tell each other about. It’s the best part of my day.
*I freaking love you*.
It’s true. Every time you go to leave to travel back to our new hometown, I almost tell you but there is something holding me back. Must have something to do with my need to always look tough. But I love you so much.
My life wouldn’t be anywhere near to what it is if you didn’t exist. I’m almost scared to wonder what would have happened to me if you weren’t there helping me pave my way. So thank you for reading my articles, listening to my boy troubles and for being my big brother. I’d be so lost without you.

I pray to Almighty' Allah to make your forthcoming wedding a successful one.
May you live long to eat the fruit of your labour.

Note--This is to informing you big brother that am coming with all those Friends who have also in way or the other be a pillar of support and helping hands to me in Nigeria to celebrate your Great day with you.😁

*Love always*
_Your most Dearing Brother_
*_Mutiu Ridwan Adewale_*
AN EPITOME OF LOVE AND APPRECIATION MESSAGE TO MY INDISPENSABLE,INESTIMABLE AND INDEFATIGABLE BROTHER AN EPITOME OF LOVE AND APPRECIATION MESSAGE TO MY INDISPENSABLE,INESTIMABLE AND INDEFATIGABLE BROTHER Reviewed by Revolutionary on April 22, 2019 Rating: 5

Unknown Ritualist kills Boy,

April 21, 2019

A boy that is yet to be identified has been found dead, with his manhood cut off, dumped in pig shrine, at kelebe, Testing ground, Oshogbo.
The cause of the death of the young man and how his corpse got to the area is yet to be clarified but information gathered has revealed that the private part of the deceased has been cutoff by suspected ritualists.
However, security operatives have been deployed to the area to uncover the cause of the death, the mystery behind how the corpse got to the pig shrine and restore peace back to the community.


Unknown Ritualist kills Boy, Unknown Ritualist kills Boy, Reviewed by Revolutionary on April 21, 2019 Rating: 5

THINK BLACK

April 19, 2019
*BLACK CONSCIOUSNESS*

                      ```Black Culture```
                            present

                      *BLACK FRIDAY*

Do you know who you are?
What is your name?

[Hook:]
```Sometime you wonder why?
And wonder how?
Don't be alarmed, just stay calm
Cos' even if you choose or not to find
Through all the bullshit
With no dirty shoes
Finding the truth Is not hard
To figure out your life
Take your time and let it rain on you
Blessings from mother earth are always
Always true
Take your time and meditate on you
(do you know who you are?)
(what is your name? what is your worth?)

[Verse 1:]
My child recite the words of this ancient mythology
The wisdom I disperse in this verse, no apology
Memorise to keep you from evil theology
For you that I can hear you're denied your equality
See for generations we perpetrated psychology
Divide and conquer each other, Willie Lynch policy
You cannot build each other up?
How would you build economy
How you think is how you are
Its just basic neurology
So please recite the words of this ancient mythology
The wisdom I disperse in this verse, no apology
Do you realise the Negros a hunted commodity?
Look around you nigga, observe your ecology
See they gon try to tell you it's in your biology
They gon tell you niggas ain't good at technology
That's why we have to re-write our anthropology
Until they acknowledge me nigga follow me into knowledge, gee
[Hook:]
Take your time and let it rain on you
Blessings from mother earth are always
Always true
Take your time and meditate on you
(Do you know who you are?)
(What is your name? What is your worth?)

[Verse 2:]
Yeah, tell me the value of a free born Nubian
In all his habitation death will keep pursuing him
Black is beautiful is truism or is it?
Generation raised just to ruin em, revisit
Shipped across the seas or be conquered, the options
Labour in the mind or be shackled for auction
Whatever path you take, your existence is function
Centuries later things will still be the same with caution
Blackman meditate on your pain
Hesitate in the rain
Let it wash you of the curse
And immerse in the hurt
Let your words be rebirth
Have a thirst for the truth
Find protection for youth
Niggas open your wings
Let your woman be king
Let your children be dreams
Then you find em the means
Give em reasons to smile
Maybe last for a while
As I bequeath you a better future my child
[Hook: Tay Iwar]
Take your time and let it rain on you
Blessings from mother earth are always
Always true
Take your time and meditate on you

[Interlude]
We got two major issues
An identity crisis and psychological homelessness
We hate our Africanity
Even within the Black consciousness community we are still anti-African because deep down within our subconscious; we were all conditioned by the same superstructure that made us feel that Africa wasn't anything worth claiming
Our problem is totally mental, we are a trillion dollar people. We got all the degrees we need, all the expertise but you know what we're lacking? That cultural commitment to ourselves
Until we hate racism, more than we hate eachother; nothing is going to change

[Outro: M.I Abaga & Caryn Solomon]
```It was a learning process for me to understand that the world does (hate you!?) yes
The world discriminates, the world is full of prejudice and bigotry and racism and hatred, it's real. I completely agree with you and that's the sorta explicit world against you, there's a more insidious world against you which I think is to do with socialisation process. The expectation of men to be the strong one is a hell of an expectation, it's actually terrible; because what do you do with all the real human vulnerability? and then it goes back to what we started off talking about, you have to become the superhero. The big muscle man and you aren't, you're just a person. Some of you are strong and some of you are weak, you're just a person and a full person has all the vulnerability in the world. We need men's liberation, to liberate men from the shackles of having to be a warrior and perfect and a soldier and a killer and a big strong muscle man; to just be a person```


Featuring
Tay Iwar
Produced By
Tay Iwar
Written By
M.I Abaga & Tay Iwar



```Join BLACK CULTURE next week as we continue to explore our Africanity from an African perspective,``` *Be Black, THINK AFRICA*

#Revolutionary
THINK BLACK THINK BLACK Reviewed by Revolutionary on April 19, 2019 Rating: 5

Men Will Never Learn

April 19, 2019
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
A woman and a man were involved in car accident.

It was a  bad one, caused by the woman's reckless driving.

Both of their cars were badly damaged but amazingly neither of them was hurt.

After they crawled out of ... cars, the woman says;

“So, you're a man. That's interesting. I'm a woman.

Wow, just look at our cars! There's nothing left, but fortunately we are unhurt.

This must be a sign from God that we should meet and be friends and live together in peace for the rest of our days."

The man replied," I agree with you completely. This must be a sign from God!

The woman continued, "And look at this, here's another miracle.

My car is completely damaged, but this bottle of wine didn't break.

Surely God wants us to drink this wine and celebrate our good fortune."

Then she handed the bottle over to the man.
The man nodded his head in agreement, opens it, drinks half the bottle and then handed it back to the woman.

The woman takes the bottle, immediately puts the cap back on, and handed it back to the man.

The man asks, "Aren't you having any?"

She replies, "Nah. I think I'll just wait for the police to come and collect their evidence."
(drunk driver's offence)

Adam ate the apple again !

😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀

Men will NEVER learn !

Women will Never change!!!

😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀

Don't laugh alone. Kindly share and put a smile on someone else's face. 

#Revolutionary
Men Will Never Learn Men Will Never Learn Reviewed by Revolutionary on April 19, 2019 Rating: 5

Politics: Imagine Some Foolish Nigerians using Our Money to Order pizza from London

April 02, 2019
Some Foolish super rich Nigerians using our Money to Order pizza from London.

Super-rich Nigerians are ordering pizza from London and having it delivered by British Airways, government minister claims




  • Nigeria's minister of agriculture claimed that wealthy citizens are ordering pizzas from London and having them delivered back home on British Airways flights.
  • Audu Ogbeh's comments come as Nigeria tries to cut down its reliance on foreign imports, which is seen as a status symbol.
  • Ogbeh said the imports were harming local farmers.
Some wealthy Nigerians are ordering pizzas from London and having them delivered back home on British Airways flights, a government minister has claimed.
Audu Ogbeh, Nigeria's minister of agriculture, told a senate committee last Tuesday: "Do you know, sir, that there are Nigerians who use their cellphones to import pizza from London? [They] buy in London, they bring it on British Airways in the morning to pick up at the airport."

"It is a very annoying situation," he added, "and we have to move a lot faster in cutting down some of these things."
Ogbeh doesn't name the Nigerians who allegedly make the orders, and it's not clear whether they personally fly to London for the pizzas or get someone else to do it.
Ogbeh's comments came as Nigeria tries to cut down on its reliance on foreign imports, which the minister said was costing local farmers,

Ogbeh also slammed citizens who rely on imports, which are seen as status symbols.
Some citizens import daily necessities like rice and tomato paste because they think "it shows status, class, that they only eat imported things," Ogbeh said, 

Amara Nwankpa, a director at the Yar'Adua Foundation in Abuja, responded in jest: "Dear @British_Airways, how come you didn't tell us you run a pizza delivery service to Nigeria? Is there an app for this?"
Business Insider has contacted British Airways for comment on Ogbeh's claim.

Politics: Imagine Some Foolish Nigerians using Our Money to Order pizza from London Politics: Imagine Some Foolish Nigerians using Our Money to Order pizza from London Reviewed by Revolutionary on April 02, 2019 Rating: 5

Gabriel Imomotimi Okara (1921-2019)

March 31, 2019
Early in 1994, I had gone to visit the poet Gabriel Okara in Port Harcourt. He lived then in the Rumuibekwe Estate, and was under the loving care of his daughter. I spent a long day chatting and drinking tea. What struck me was the poet’s mental acuity. His memory was sharp as razor. His surroundings were Spartan, almost depressingly so, but it had one, very well preserved Piano, and Okara did tell me quite a bit about his love of the Piano as a musical instrument which he played when he was much younger. I regret that I did not get him to play a snatch for me. But the utter simplicity of the man was charming. He was an elegant bohemian, and this was one aspect that was always missing in the descriptions of him in writings about him. Nonetheless, that rude angle of his famous “newsboy’s cap” which he’d made famous wearing over a great tuft of white hair, did speak in a fashion about his predilection.

   Gabriel Okara

The libertine side. Gabriel Okara, for as long as we have known him, always seemed to be the grand old man of Nigerian letters, and was easily composed. He was fixed and iconic. Among school kids in the United States, when they want to quote the canonical poem of the American tradition which every school child seemed to have read, it was always most likely to be Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken”: “Two roads divide/in a yellow wood/ …And I took the one less traveled…” For us in Nigeria, in my generation of school kids, it was always Gabriel Okara’s “Piano & Drums” or his “The Call of River Nun” which we read from the collected anthology of African poets by Donatus Nwoga, or the study by Senanu and Vincents, from which we also learned by heart, the Akan dirge, about “Valiant Owusu,” the “Father…whose footprints are on all parts,” first translated by the great Ghanaian musicologist, J.H. Nketia, who also passed on two weeks ago in Accra.

The charm of Okara’s poem, “Piano and Drums” was in its great sentiments about cultural or racial unity and affirmation, and its rhythm staged in the powerful world that Echeruo clearly situates within the airs of Rachmaninov’s First concerto. I first met Okara in those works, and certainly later in real life, during one of those “Homecomings” in the 1980s, always in the Harmattan term, when the “old boys” came to Umuahia for a weekend of activities. It might have been earlier too, when those old “Umuahians” arrived during the Golden Jubilee and caused a ruckus in town, parading a long line of “super stars” – Ministers of Government, Ambassadors, famous politicians, high-flying academics, Justices of the High and Supreme Courts, powerful Permanent Secretaries, world renowned writers, with the novelist Chinua Achebe arriving in his rather long and impressive Mercury Monarch of those years – and there was certainly the poet, Okara, sprightly and legendary. It must have been in one of these “returns”, and there is something that happens powerfully in in the mind of a child who sits at lunch in the dining hall with all these famous men. Okara was a thorough Umuahian, who loved his great alma mater, and was constantly involved in its affairs. One of his last acts of generosity to the school was not long ago, to donate his life-savings to the Fisher Trust for the on-going restoration initiative of the Government College Umuahia. He was among the first to do so.

Gabriel Okara was part of the mythologies in an era in Nigeria where the poet, the intellectual and artist, carried the weight and promise of cultural retrieval and renaissance. We learned much by reading and invoking them.  And Okara taught me the word, “ack-ack” from one of his poems about plane’s flying low and scattering and killing people during the bloody war in Biafra. That poem was written I later understood after the bombing of the hospital in Aba that killed his friend Dr. Onyejiaka in November 1967.

Among the wreckage of that war were Okara’s lost poems – completed before and during the war – which he could not recover from his moving in the fluid events leading to the end of the civil war. He was born in Bomadi, Nembe, by the River Nun in 1921. That’s the date recorded officially for him, but it may have been earlier. He lived to a great age, and was the oldest living modern African poet until his death last week.
Gabriel Okara was admitted to the Government College Umuahia in 1935. He was one of the boys whom the famous artist and modernist, then Arts master at Umuahia, Ben Enwonwu taught in his arts class. Enwonwu taught Okara drawing at Umuahia, and Okara’s first artistic career was as a painter. After graduating from the Yaba Higher College, Okara was employed by the Nigerian Publishing Company, then a government owned publishing company as a book binder.

But by the 1940s, he was among a pioneer group of young Nigerian modernist artists who began to produce and exhibit their works in the colonial city of Lagos. Okara’s first exhibition of his Water colours was at the Gallery of the Glover Hall. He was also writing for radio. By the 1950s he began publishing his poems, and he was one the earliest of the Nigerian/African modernists that were first published by Ulli Bier in the Black Orpheus magazine, then leaning in clearly Negritudist camps, when it began publishing in 1957.

Okara won the Nigerian Festival of Art poetry prize in 1953 with his now famous poem, “The Call of the River Nun.” By the 1960s, Gabriel Okara was clearly established as one of Africa’s, and certainly the black world’s most important poets of the 20th century. His novel, The Voice, was path-breaking for its bold stylistic experiments, and even as a surrealist novel, was enormously gripping and innovative. It earned Gabriel Okara a place in the pantheon of the great novelists of the 20th century and in the canon of African literary modernity. As the critic Michael J.C. Echeruo declared, “Even when it did not seem responsible to read him within the European artistic and intellectual traditions that gave importance to the work of the poet Tchicaya U’Tamsi, still we could not think of rhythm, language and expression – in short, of surrealism – without thinking of both Okara’s prose and poetry.” He was present at the foundational moment of modern African literature, at that First Conference of African Writers in Makerere in 1962, and in that second conference in Freetown on African Writing and the University Curriculum. In each event he was active and involved. In 1956, Okara was on a Journalism Fellowship at Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois.

Among those who met him in the same program/fellowship at Northwestern was Harold Evans, the famous editor of the Sunday Times of London, who gained fame with his handling of the tragic thalidomide story in the UK, and the publication of the uncensored portion of the diaries of Richard Crossman, the raw material from which the British comedy, Yes, Minister was created. But this was years down the line. At Evanston, they hit it off. Okara’s journalism was however not for the newsroom. He was a poet and Bureaucrat; a gentleman in the pure English sense of that word. He was the Chief Information officer of Eastern Nigeria, and when the hostilities started, was one of Biafra’s key propagandists. He travelled extensively to the United States and Europe with Achebe, Ekwensi, and others as Biafara’s “Ambassadors,” speaking, and seeking support for the Biafran cause. He helped organize the Biafran Information Bureau with the likes of the scholar and poet, MJC Echeruo, and young artists and scholars like Obiora Udechukwu and Chukwuma Azuonye. They were at Ogwa, Ikeduru, when the war ended, and Echeruo has written poignantly about that moment and its significance for the poet, Okara: “Okara, at that point, was a doubly defeated man,” wrote Echeruo. He had fought and lost the war against a formidable army. He was about to lose a war against metaphysical injustice. After our surrender, we were all asked to report to our former stations.

For Okara, that should have been Enugu, the capital of Eastern Region. No, Okara was told. He had to report to Port-Harcourt, where he had been declared a saboteur and traitor to the cause of Rivers state, and where he did go, exhausted, clutching a few scraps of innocuous papers, including one poem that would have served as the Biafran National anthem had Dr. Azikiwe’s offer of Claude McKay’s “If We Must Die,” set to the tune of Jean Sibelius not been imposed at midnight.” And so it goes: Gabriel Okara won the Commonwealth Poetry Prize in 1979, served as General Manager of the Tide Newspapers in Port-Harcourt, and was conferred the honorary Doctor of Letters by the University of Port-Harcourt.

But though he deserved it, he was never offered the Nigerian National Order of Merit, even when those who could not untie the laces of his sandals had been so honored. And this speaks volumes of the “merit” in the award itself. However one sees it: Gabriel Okara, poet of the “mystic inside,” was an iconic figure of his century. What a long, tenured, and magnificent life!
Gabriel Imomotimi Okara (1921-2019) Gabriel Imomotimi Okara (1921-2019) Reviewed by Revolutionary on March 31, 2019 Rating: 5

Police Arrest 10 For Alleged Involvement In Akwa Ibom Violence

February 20, 2019
Akwa Ibom State Police Command has arrested 10 persons alleged to be involved in the burning of 11 buses close to the office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) office in Obot Akara Local Government Area of the state.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Odiko Mcdon, paraded the suspects on Tuesday on behalf of the Commissioner of Police, Bashiru Makama, at the police headquarters in Uyo, the state capital.
He said the suspects committed the offence on Friday, hours before INEC announced the postponement of the general elections.
The command’s spokesman disclosed that weapons recovered from the suspects included two locally-made shotguns, 25 live cartridges, substances suspected to be Indian hemp, two machetes, and charms among others.

According to him, the suspects will be transferred to the Force Criminal Investigation Department for further investigation.
Mcdon urged politicians to abide by the rules and advise their supporters to conduct themselves peacefully during the elections.
He also revealed that the police seized 179 Permanent Voter Cards (PVC) and 27 temporary voter cards in two different operations.
The command’s spokesman added that 41 people claiming to be elections observers with no proof of their claim were arrested by the police.
He denied reports that 400 political thugs were arrested in the state, noting that only 20 persons were arrested, and they had not yet been linked to any political party.
Mcdon said the police in the state were non-partisan and would act professionally at all times, as well as remain neutral and committed to free, fair and credible elections in line with international best practice.
He called on political stakeholders in the state to play the game according to the rules.

Source: Channels TV
Police Arrest 10 For Alleged Involvement In Akwa Ibom Violence Police Arrest 10 For Alleged Involvement In Akwa Ibom Violence Reviewed by Akande Seun on February 20, 2019 Rating: 5

Busted: Mother And Daughter Nabbed For Stealing 4-year-old Child In Anambra (Photos)

February 19, 2019
A woman and her daughter have been nabbed by the police for reportedly stealing a four-year-old girl in Anambra.
the suspects nabbed with a stolen child
 
A 42-year old woman and her daughter have been arrested for allegedly stealing a 4-year-old child, Mesoma Ikoko in Onitsha, Anambra state, The Nation reports.
 
The suspects, Ngozi Ede and Kosiso Ede (17), were said to have stolen the baby from the custody of her mother.
 
The Nation gathered that the suspects had sold the baby for N250, 000 to another woman before they were apprehended.
 
Confirming the incident, the State Police Public Relations’ Officer, Mohammed Haruna, said the suspects, including the buyer were arrested following discrete investigation.
the little girl who was stolen
 
 
He said the sum of N250, 000 suspected to be part of the proceeds of the illicit transaction was recovered as exhibit.

He said, “13/02/2019 at about 5:20pm, Police detectives attached to Awada Division arrested one Ngozi Ede ‘f’ aged 42 years and her daughter Kosiso Ede ‘f’ aged 17 years of No 4 Ukaegbu Junction, Awada.

“Suspects have conspired and stole one Mesoma Ikoko aged 4 years from the custody of her Mother, one Nneka Ikoko ‘f’ of Mammy market, Army Barracks, Onitsha on the 10/02/2019.

“Preliminary investigation further led to the arrest of one Ifeoma Okeke ‘f’ aged 45 years who collected the child from the above mentioned suspects and handed over to one Ifeoma.”
 
In a related case, two persons, Nwakaeze Chukwuebuka (29) and John Udechukwu (28) were arrested over alleged threat to kidnap a 58-year old woman in Ihialla.
 
The suspects were said to have also made a demand of N2million ransom.
 
The police spokesperson, Mohammed Haruna, confirmed the incident, saying the case was being investigated.
 
“On 8/2/2019 at about 9pm, following intelligence report, Police detectives attached to the Command Special Anti-robbery Squad arrested the suspects.

“Suspects had on the 4/2/2019 threatened to kidnap one Mrs. Anatestial Orji ‘f ‘ aged 58 years of Umueze Ihiala through a strange phone call or pay a ransom of two Million Naira.”
 
He said the suspects had confessed voluntarily, listing the exhibits recovered in their possession to include the phone used in perpetrating the crime.
Busted: Mother And Daughter Nabbed For Stealing 4-year-old Child In Anambra (Photos) Busted: Mother And Daughter Nabbed For Stealing 4-year-old Child In Anambra (Photos) Reviewed by Akande Seun on February 19, 2019 Rating: 5

Ex-JAMB Staff Arrested by EFCC For Allegedly Stealing N10m

February 19, 2019

A former staff of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board has landed in serious trouble over N10 million fraud.

Mr Kola Al-Amin
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ibadan Zonal Office has arrested one Kola Al-Amin, a former staff of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board, JAMB over alleged forgery and obtaining money by false pretences.
 
His arrest followed a petition alleging that sometime in November, 2010, Kola who operates under the name of “Cool Technologies Consult Limited” with office located at No.4/900, Taiwo House, Second Floor, Yemetu Total Garden, Ibadan, Oyo State approached the complainant, a microfinance bank (name withheld) with a Local Purchasing Order (LPO) for the supply of internet hardware which he claimed was from JAMB headquarters, Abuja.
 
He requested the microfinance bank to advance him a loan of 10,000,000.00 (Ten Million Naira) only to finance the LPO.
 
The petitioner further alleged that Kola was granted the loan with the agreement that the proceed of the LPO from JAMB will be paid directly into his account with the microfinance bank but that at maturity time for repayment, he allegedly disappeared and on verification of the LPO in JAMB headquarters, Abuja, it was discovered that the LPO provided by the suspect was forged and that he was no longer a staff of the organization.
 
Additional investigation revealed that the suspect has been involved in several other fraudulent deals under the same guise of being a JAMB official.
 
He will be charged to court upon conclusion of investigations.
Ex-JAMB Staff Arrested by EFCC For Allegedly Stealing N10m  Ex-JAMB Staff Arrested by EFCC For Allegedly Stealing N10m Reviewed by Akande Seun on February 19, 2019 Rating: 5

Nigerian Soldier Killed By Boko Haram Months After His Wedding (Photos)

February 19, 2019
A Nigerian soldier has reportedly gotten killed just about three months after he got married to his wife.

In what will come across as a really shocking development, a young Nigerian soldier has died shortly after being married.
The soldier who got married less than three months ago, was killed by rampaging members of the Boko Haram sect in the northeastern part of the country.

The deceased soldier identified as John Moses from Benin in Edo state, tied the nuptial knot with his wife in November, 2018 in a ceremony which was well attended by family, friends and colleagues.
Friends and colleagues of John Moses have taken to social media to mourn the loss.
This is not the first time newlywed Nigerian soldiers are being killed at the battlefield.
Over time, there have been reports of soldiers who have died in the line of duty while fighting to ward off Boko Haram.
Nigerian Soldier Killed By Boko Haram Months After His Wedding (Photos) Nigerian Soldier Killed By Boko Haram  Months After His Wedding (Photos) Reviewed by Akande Seun on February 19, 2019 Rating: 5

How An Employer Deceived His Salesgirl With Marriage Promise And Seized Her N840,000 Salary

February 19, 2019
An employer has reportedly gotten himself into very serious trouble after he allegedly deceived his salesgirl with a marriage promise and seized her N840,000 salary.
 
A Karshi Grade 1 Area Court, Abuja, on Tuesday remanded a 42-year-old businessman, Timothy Onwumere, in Keffi Prison for allegedly intimidating and duping his girlfriend of N840,000, NAN reports.
 
The judge, Aliyu Kagarko, ordered his remand in prison and adjourned the case until March 22.
 
The defendant, of Nyanya, Abuja, is being tried for criminal breach of trust, cheating, criminal misappropriation and intimidation, offences he denied committing.
 
The prosecutor, Ayotunde Adeyanju, told the court that one Silas Agbara on February 13 petitioned the Police on behalf of one Happiness Iheanacho of Karu, Nasarawa State.
 
“In the course of Police investigation, it was revealed that sometime in December 2016, the defendant employed the complainant, Happiness, as a salesgirl in his shop located at Power International Market, Abuja.

“They had an agreement that the defendant will be paying the complainant N25,000 as monthly salary and N800.00 as daily allowance.

“In the course of performing her duty, the defendant promised the complainant marriage and deceitfully lured her to allow him to be saving her said salary, amounting to N840,000.

“The defendant assured her that he will add money to the savings and establish family business after they are married.

“However, the complainant, after discovering that the defendant was already married with children, demanded for her money, but the defendant refused and instead threatened to kill her,” Adeyanju told the court
 
The prosecutor said that the offences contravened Sections 312, 322, 309 and 397 (c) of the Penal Code.
How An Employer Deceived His Salesgirl With Marriage Promise And Seized Her N840,000 Salary How An Employer Deceived His Salesgirl With Marriage Promise And Seized Her N840,000 Salary Reviewed by Akande Seun on February 19, 2019 Rating: 5

Iconic Fashion Designer Karl Lagerfeld Dies At 85

February 19, 2019
Karl Lagerfeld

Haute-couture designer Karl Lagerfeld has died at the age of 85, French media reported on Tuesday.
Lagerfeld was artistic director at Chanel. A spokesman for Chanel was not immediately available for comment.
From his perch at Chanel, the German-born designer presided over the most famous of all fashion houses like the 18th-century absolute monarchs he modelled himself on.
With his powdered white pony tail, black sunglasses, and starched high-collared white shirts, he was as instantly recognisable as his celebrity clients.
While other designers came to be associated with a particular look, Lagerfeld’s greatest invention was “Karl”.
He put himself at the heart not just of his own label, but also of Chanel and Fendi — the Italian house he headed for more than half a century.
Such staggering stamina and longevity in a world as ephemeral as fashion, where talents regularly crash and burn, added to the mystery this steely survivor loved to wrap himself in.
His waspish wit — “Anyone who wears jogging pants has lost control of their life” — added another layer of fascination and ensured he hogged the headlines even when his clothes did not.



A renovator rather than a revolutionary, his genius was for subtly, or sometimes not so subtly, updating classic luxury labels with street style influences.
His streetwise smarts sent Chanel sales surging to $10 billion in 2017 even as Lagerfeld entered the second half of his eighties.
“Karl doesn’t so much design as reign,” one fashion insider remarked.
Lagerfeld was never in any doubt that he was born to lead, confessing he had asked his Prussian mother for a valet for his fifth birthday.
His origins, however, were not quite as aristocratic as he may have liked.

 Rivalry with Saint Laurent 

His father ran an evaporated milk company in the northern port city of Hamburg, and although the family were comfortable, he was far from the precocious artist prince of later lore who lived in a castle with a retinue of servants.
Like his age, from which he shaved up to five years at times, much about the Lagerfeld legend is hazy.
In 1952, his mother packed him off to Paris to complete his education, saying he could do whatever he wanted as long as he did not become a priest or a dancer.
Two years later he shared the prestigious Woolmark design prize with Yves Saint Laurent.
It was the beginning of a friendship that would later turn to romantic and professional rivalry, with Lagerfeld once dismissing the great designer as “very provincial, very middle-of-the-road French, very pied-noir”.
From the start, the fast-talking, lisping Lagerfeld honed his reputation as a brilliant provocateur who could play to the gallery in four languages.
He designed the shortest skirts ever seen on the Paris catwalk in 1962 for Jean Patou and later, during the hippie years, sent a model out wearing nothing but a feather in her pubic hair.
Having pushed Fendi into the big league, he was brought in to save Chanel in 1983 when only its celebrated range of perfumes was making money.
And revive it he did.
He took its trademark quilted handbags, tweeds, and cardigan jackets and exaggerated them into something more gaudy and refined at the same time, while still true to the spirit of the brand’s founder Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel.
Along the way, Lagerfeld helped create the “supermodel”, elevating the likes of Ines de la Fressange, Claudia Schiffer, Linda Evangelista, and Stella Tennant into household names.
He even helped popularise the yellow hi-vis vest by posing in one for an official French safety campaign — “It’s ugly, it goes with nothing, but it could save your life” — only for it to become the uniform of recent anti-government protests.

 ‘Cultural bulimic’ 

But as fast as he made money, Lagerfeld spent it, throwing millions “out of the window”, as he described it, for art, furniture, and homes in which to display his treasures.
He once described himself as a “cultural bulimic”.
Despite being at the centre of fashion’s social whirl, Lagerfeld was always a solitary figure. His only long-standing relationship was with the philandering French aristocrat Jacques de Bascher, who cheated on him with Saint Laurent.
“Karl’s multilingual loquacity and his constant sociability belie a solitary nature and a visceral isolation from others,” his biographer Alicia Drake wrote.
After de Bascher died of an AIDS-related illness in 1989, Lagerfeld, who said repeatedly that “I have no human feelings”, piled on the pounds and lavished gifts on several young men with whom he became infatuated, she said.
But he later lost all the weight and more — 92 pounds (42 kilos), he said — so he could “squeeze into Hedi Slimane’s suits”, and wrote a bestselling diet book.
As the years went by, Lagerfeld assembled his own alternative jet-set “family” comprised of his male and female muses including US model Brad Kroenig, whose son Hudson — Lagerfeld’s godson — became a fixture of the Chanel catwalk.
“I have a sister in America who I haven’t seen for 40 years. Her children never even send me a Christmas card,” Lagerfeld complained.
Despite the company of his fashion family and the small coterie of male models known as “Karl’s Boys” who often accompanied him, Drake argued that Lagerfeld “is alone in a crowd. At the centre of this solitary soul is a denial of intimacy,” she added.
It was an insight that Lagerfeld himself seemed to confirm when he said, “I live in a set, with the curtains of the stage closed with no audience.
“I am like a caricature of myself. It is like a mask. For me the Venice carnival lasts all year long.”
“I have nothing to say,”  the designer declared in December 2018, scotching rumours he was writing his memoirs.
“I’m actually trying to make sure that I won’t be remembered.”
AFP
Iconic Fashion Designer Karl Lagerfeld Dies At 85 Iconic Fashion Designer Karl Lagerfeld Dies At 85 Reviewed by Akande Seun on February 19, 2019 Rating: 5

Breaking News: Hoodlums Disrupt Tradermoni Disbursement In Abeokuta

February 19, 2019
Some hoodlums have reportedly disrupted the disbursement of the TraderMoni loan in Abeokuta, Ogun state.

Traders receiving trader moni loans

Hoodlums have distrupted the planned disbursement of ‘TraderMoni’ disbursement for traders at Lafenwa Market in Abeokuta ,Ogun State, Punch Metro reports.
 
It was gathered that the suspected political thugs distrupted the planned disbursement when officials of the programme were compiling the names of prospective beneficiaries at the stall of the Iyaloja, Mrs. Ramotalai Olatunji .
 
It was gathered that the prospective beneficiaries were forcibly dispersed by the hoodlums and that the Iyaloja was whisked away by the hoodlums .
 
When Punch Metro visited the market after the distruption, some scanty number of women were seen sitting under the canopy waiting for the officials of the programme .
 
‘Trader Moni’ is a Federal Government intervention programme for petty traders under the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme
Breaking News: Hoodlums Disrupt Tradermoni Disbursement In Abeokuta  Breaking News: Hoodlums Disrupt Tradermoni Disbursement In Abeokuta Reviewed by Akande Seun on February 19, 2019 Rating: 5

Actress Anita Joseph Boldly Shows Off Cleavage

February 19, 2019
33-year-old mother of one, Anita Joseph has been sharing a lot of lewd content on social media in a desperate quest to be relevant.
Anita Joseph


Anita Joseph who is self-styled the 'Mother Hen' might be ditching her acting career to focus on modelling.
 
The curvy actress has been showcasing so much women's wears in recent times and she has a way of attracting public attention whenever she wants to.
 
Her recent picture in which she displayed her cleavage in style has become a talking point on Instagram with some men complaining about being sexually aroused.
 
Actress Anita Joseph Boldly Shows Off Cleavage Actress Anita Joseph Boldly Shows Off Cleavage Reviewed by Akande Seun on February 19, 2019 Rating: 5

Pictures Of Clean And Educated Babalawo Go Viral (Photos)

February 19, 2019
This young man who is reportedly educated is practising the African traditional religion in style.



The photos of a clean and educated Babalawo identified as Orunmila Jogbodo Oluwo, has gone viral on Facebook. 
 
Facebook user Adekunle Al Miftau Adeite, who countered Nollywood stereotypes of native doctors with photos of the clean and educated babalawo, wrote; "Nollywood's stereotype of Babaláwo is a dirty raggedy human being. Let's puncture that. This young man is not just a babaláwo, he's an Oluwo. Clean. Neat. Educated."
 
The African traditional religion has been relegated to the background since the advent of Christianity and Islam.
 
See more images below:



Pictures Of Clean And Educated Babalawo Go Viral (Photos) Pictures Of Clean And Educated Babalawo Go Viral (Photos) Reviewed by Akande Seun on February 19, 2019 Rating: 5
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