Tuesday 20 September 2016

EXERTING YOUR FRANCHISE; A POLITICAL ILLUMINATING EPISTLE.

As the 28 day of September crawls near, the tension on the various political parties gubernatorial candidates in Edo state South South Nigeria grows more and more.
It is no news that in Nigeria, aspirants and their political parties always point accusatory fingers laced with fear at their strongest opponents. This is done all is a bid to dissuade the electorates from pitching tent with their strongest opponents.
At such crucial points, opposition camps find ways of bringing "wrongdoings" of their opponents into limelight. This is often carried out in mal afide. The painful part of the whole thing is that the electorates, whose ears are itching to hear even a tinge of incriminating statements about any candidate aspiring for a political position, tend to blow any little information out of proportion without finding adequately the truism of such claims.
Most electorates only savour the "bad blood meal" served by political parties all in a bid to bring down their opponents, the electorates often fail to adequately and critically examine what the aspirants are capable of offering and rather pay attention to trivial issues. Most time this behaviour tends to poise a negative outcome which might last for the whole tenure of the elected representative.
Also I believe that in a situation where a party becomes too comfortable in power and also poses as a "recurring decimal" then the main aim of a democratic system of government would have been defeated.
This does not in the slightest way imply that for true democracy and independence to prevail in governance then a different political party should be giving the opportunity to produce leaders at the expiration of the tenure of one party... no not at all.
What I mean in every Sense of the word is that whereby a political party is well aware that the masses have the power to either make or mar their return bid then they would work as they should; both in their first and second tenures.
Also even when a party performs wonderfully in two terms of governance, it does not automatically mean that they would perform or not perform well enough if allowed to continue their rule.
In ascertaining this, there is a large difficulty and that is what points to the obvious fact that we are "Mortal Men" who have limits.
In as much as we must pray to God to lead us aright in our choice come 28th of September 2016, we should also have an inner conviction of whom we would vote for on that day before leaving our abode to the voting centres so as not to be confused by those political urchin who rigmarole all in a bid to canvas for votes for their candidates.
As the saying goes "A people divided  against themselves cannot stand". Let us do well to turn out to vote on that day and ensure your vote counts before leaving the voting centre.
Also remember that....."THE FUTURE IS NOW!!! "

Da Jandy.

Saturday 17 September 2016

Spiritually or Manually Inflicted...part 2... (Fiction)

Daddy asked Damian about school and Damian replied that School was fine. Dad also inquired whether the car which Damian owned had reduced stress for him (I was standing at a corner quietly and in my mind I said "of course it has reduced the stress of taking a cab to go clubbing at least now he can drive down to the club at anytime with his squad") Damian accented to that fact.
Dad went inside to relax as usual, the family enjoyed the evening with everyone around... and at about 10pm, every one went to sleep.
The following day our ritual(morning devotion) was done and everyone went their way. Damian returned to school that day and through out that week I reminisced about the "drunken state" incident and in my mind I said a prayer to God to protect and guide my elder brother so as for him not to encounter danger in his escapades.
  Like the saying goes "he whom an elder loves, he chastise". Fast forward to about 2 years later, Damian was a final year student and I had almost roundedoff my secondary schooling my little sister wasn't left behind either she had progressed as expected. It was second semester for Damian and of course the last semester of his 5 year acquisition of knowledge journey.
Mum and Dad had called him specifically at the beginning of the session and sitted him down to admonish him on how to continually "be a good boy that he had always been". He thanked them and said he would be a good boy.
He went to school and knowing fully well that it was his last lap he actually decided to be subtle on his unproductive movements and rather give all his energy to his academics so as to graduate with a very high grade. It worked out well for him because he also distance himself from his friend.
On the day of his last exam, haven just concluded his last paper and being in a state of jubilation, his friends came and suggested that they all go to a "location" to merry haven successfully completed their final exams. Damian thought about the call he received from mum and Dad that morning intimating him about a dream which mum had concerning him having an accident. He silenced the thought and said he would drive carefully and also not drink too much after all it was the last "chilling with his guys".
Evening came and Damian in company of his friend drove to "Club Iyalobo" which was situated at a distance away from the campus. They had a nice time and at first Damian was conscious About his alcohol intake knowing fully well that he would be driving them back to school later on and also the dream which mum had concerning him having an accident,  but after much persuasion by his friends on him to drink a little more he obliged them and despite not being too "high" he didn't have a calm spirit while driving... also loud music was banging from the car stereo all this put together and in a jiffy he closed his eyes..... and that was all he could remember by the time he woke up in the hospital. He and his friends survived but the car was a "write off". Mum and Dad were mad at him but at the same time greatful to God that it was not a fatal accident. Dad wondered what people would have said if He as a devout Anglican had lost his senior son in a motor accident.
Damian recovered fully and began to live a normal life and even secured a job with a company but he never forgot that incident the only thing that kept and is still flickering in his mind is whether the accident was perpetrated by "Evil ones" spiritually or whether it was perpetrated manually due to his negligence.... Till this very moment he is still in a dilemma as to what to believe was the actual causative of the accident.

Da Jandy.

Monday 5 September 2016

Spiritually or Manually Inflicted...part 1... (Fiction)

The day started like every normal day with myself and my parents alongside my siblings gathering together in the living room to have morning devotion. My Dad was a devout Anglican and if you observed him from afar you would conclude that he was a deacon or better still a Priest. My mum likewise was obsessed with the duties she carried out in the Women's guild... flowing from this insight on my family, one could say that we were a Christ like family.
The devotion started with my Dad leading us to recite the Apostles creed... He never missed it. Later on he prayed for me and my siblings admonishing us to be godly children and eschew societal vices which youths engaged in.
My Elder brother Damian was the only one in higher institution, he was about 20 years of age and although he portrayed a Christ like attitude at home, in school he wasn't much of a religious person. You would wonder as to how I knew about this being that I was barely a teenager (13 years) and still in secondary school. I knew because he would always keep late night's at school when I go over to his apartment which he stayed in school. Dad was wealthy and willing to spend money on his family (both nuclear and extended) so as for them not to seem impoverished.
Damian to my knowledge kept bad company in school I was well aware of this but He had chastised me not to mention anything I saw happening in his school at home. I didn't want to annoy my elder brother so I "religiously" kept shut even when mum and dad inquired about how Damian was faring at school all I did was to reply saying "he is doing fine" and that was all I was permitted to utter.
 Damian despite his lifestyle was not academically weak as a matter of fact he was one of the scholars in his class and all the lecturers would sing of his academic gusto little were they aware of his escapades with his friends who ironically also did well academically. At a certain level Dad decided to buy Damian a car, mum supported the idea (of course which mother wouldn't... at least her son was doing well) and within a week my elder brother had a brand-new Automobile.
He was glad and when he was returning to school he took me along because as at this time my school was on holiday and I had days to spare with him. I could make some meals too... that also made Damian to always crave for my company even though he knew I saw somethings which ordinarily I shouldn't have seen.
At the end of class the following day,  Damian came back to his apartment and whisked away some outing outfits of course he was in company of his "not so friendly" friends. They came back very late at night and of course I was already asleep they banged on the door and when I opened the door they rushed in slowly they had gone clubbing or drinking as the case may be. They asked for food Damian asked me to bring the meal which I had earlier on prepared. I brought it and they all devoured it soon after they were all snoring. The following day was a week day and they ought to have had a class but "dem broses" slept past their time for class thereby wasting the full day.
At about 1pm in the afternoon, they woke up and headed their various ways leaving myself and Damian behind. Damian freshened up and went to read. Later that evening he drove both him and myself home I took along my things telling him I would love to spend my remaining holiday at home.
We drove home and on our way, no one uttered a word concerning what transpired the previous day until we got to our street and then Damian told me that not a word of what happened should be heard at home, as always I kept my mouth shut.
When we got home, mum sighting my luggage inquired about the reason why I returned so soon.. the quickest reply that hovered around my mind was... "mum I missed you so I decided to come back home".
  Daddy came back from work alongside my little sister who accompanied him to work. My sister was glad to have me back because the house was becoming boring with only herself at home.

To be continued.....

Friday 2 September 2016

After the rain comes what?

Nigeria as we all know is currently experiencing recession.
The naira has fallen drastically when compared to the American dollar.
A few days ago the Emir of Kano(His Eminence Sanusi the second), was talking about the economy in an occasion he attended. The Emir who was the governor of central bank some months ago once again as he has always done, gave an insight into the causality of the recession currently plaguing the nation Nigeria.
The former CBN boss stated that the dependence of the Nigerian economy on crude oil alone has plunged the nation into its current economic saga. He further went on to state that he had known the economy would dwindle with time. He urged the President (His Excellency Muhammadu Buhari) to as a matter of urgency find a lasting solution to the problem so as to ameliorate the sufferings of the populace.
Flowing from the above report, it is clear that Nigeria needs to really diversify its Economy. The fall of crude oil price at the international market has really affected the nations economy. It must not escape mention at this point that before crude oil became an economic product, Nigeria's economy was hinged on the exportation of agricultural products.
But after the discovery of crude oil and it's economic benefits, the leadership of the country and indeed the citizens dropped their agricultural implements and "played the harlot" after crude oil exploration and exportation thereby relegating agriculture to the background gradually and at a certain time dealt agriculture a final blow.
The only solution or at least the most achievable solution to the current economic "higgledy-piggledy" is for more Nigerians to indulge in farming even if it is on a minimal scale. I must tell you that as a farmer myself, and as someone who is acquainted to large scale farmers, the economic benefits that comes from farming is capable of alluring anyone to enter into the agriculture business. If at least there is someone interested in agriculture (even as an aside) in each family, then the economy would progress rapidly.
The only issue now mostly amongst youths in contemporary Nigeria, is the fact that most of them see agriculture as a "poor man's" job and this has further created apathy for agriculture on the side of the average Nigerian youth.
I must tell you that the saying "the rich become richer and the poor become poorer" clearly explains the condition which we face and would continually face as a result of the non interest we show towards agriculture.
At this juncture,I would expatiate on the above quote, through the use of live scenarios.
The owners of Mega Farms in Nigeria are very wealthy and most of them were already well to do through other economic sources before they delved into agriculture in other to expand their wealth.
If those who are already "satisfied with life" can go into agriculture just to make more profit, how much more the average Nigerian who is paid #18, 000 monthly and still buys things like yam and fish which he can easily cultivate and rear in his compound.
We all must at this crucial point in time, indulge in agriculture either crop farming or livestock farming or better still both so as to expand and  build the economy of Nigeria.

Da Jandy.