AFRICANS AND AFRICAN AMERICANS - THE DISCONNECTION

  The only way colonialism could have turned around to be beneficial in a way to the black people was if blacks in places like the U.S, Great Britain et al, wielded strong mediatic, political, scientific and industrial powers today like their white counterparts which could then develop into their looking back home to Africa and other parts of the world where the black race continue to suffer some sort of injustice, poverty, neglect and sometimes systematic genocide, And fight against such injustices.

  How many world renowned black scientists are there in the U.S and Great Britain? What tools or scientific discoveries for the enhancement of the Black race have they invented? We are all waiting on a white scientist to develop a vaccine for malaria some day, a sickness which kills 3000 African children every day, one child every 30 seconds. Why would an all white government spend its money, energy and resources investigating a sickness that does not affect its people, except it is a gimmick to siphon the wealth of the African people, or worst still as is often the case use them for experiment with a hidden motive?

  And when you talk to blacks in the U.S a great number of them are quick to dissociate themselves from Africa, some of them slight, ridicule and even discriminate against Africans, none of their popular stars have any investment that directly links them to Africa, it is still the white slave masters who continue to exploit all the gold, diamond, petroleum, uranium, coltan among many other rich mineral resources in Africa. In fact, some of the companies still benefiting from Africa today are the same companies that made huge sums of money from the slave trade or in some cases the direct and indirect affiliates of these companies. Majority of the blacks in the U.S are being misled to believing what they are not and at the slightest demand for their civil rights they are shot to death by those who once hid under the klu Klux klan cloaks to perpetrate the most barbaric, unjust and inhuman acts on the Africans stolen into slavery centuries ago, but who now have even been uniformed and legalized by the American authorities to continue to carry out the same barbaric acts on the descendants of the same Africans but this time under a legal framework that certifies them as police officers.  

  Every now and again, African American youths are killed by white cops in the U.S on any flimsy excuse, yet the worst thing still being that majority of African Americans themselves, have lost touch with their reality, their origin, and outrightly lost their focus and their orientation. Rather than begin to make the best use of the little advantage they have as American citizens and look for ways to be useful to themselves and their race like all other races in the world, they buy into the vague idea of one human race and even begin to estrange themselves from their own people and anyone that looks like them, thereby denying their reality.

  Until I see some real level of Black consciousness in our people, that will propel Blacks all over the world to begin to make a yearly pilgrimage to Africa as the Muslims do in Saudi Arabia and the Christians do in Jerusalem or Rome in the case of Catholics, we will continue to be what others want us to be. Africa should be a holy land for Africans at home and in the Diaspora. We must fight for our own respect as a people and stop pleading with others to accept us as human beings, anything short of this is slavery. We are not Caucasians, Arabs, Chinese, Indians etc, WE ARE AFRICANS!  

DOCTORS VS THE PRESIDENCY, LET US SEE WHO WINS

  For some time now I have been reading about the Nigerian doctors strike on the Nigerian daily newspapers and what it reminds me of  is one of the music of late Fela Anikulapo Kuti where he sang …. “Na old news be dat”, let us be candid to ourselves, has there really ever been a time when Nigerian doctors worked? maybe their colleagues in the private sector, who most times are the same doctors employed in public hospitals just taking advantage of gross irresponsibility and blatant corruption in our society to set up their private clinics/hospitals and exploit the masses of our country while the public sector is left to decay as in all other public institutions in the country.

  Now I am hearing that the President has decided to sack all the resident doctors in the country, about 16,000 in number, and they have sworn a faceoff with the government. This is actually one of those battles where it is wise for one to sit back and watch both parties do their very worst. Neither of these two groups has really been beneficial to the masses of this country.

  In other countries, medical doctors and other professionals fight the government especially when the government decision affects the smooth running of their professions or prevents them from carrying out their duties in the very optimum condition. In Nigeria, as long as nothing happens to the sacred salaries of our doctors whose roles in recent times have been reduced to that of mere consultants who helplessly watch their patients die of curable sickenesses because of lack of necessary medical facilities, every other thing in our health sector can remain as it is or even regress beyond a humanly acceptable level, Nigerian doctors are really not concerned about that.

  Most of the times, we blame our elected leaders for some conspicuous gaffe in the administration of our nation and in the implementation of their offices, undermining the fact that most of them are politicians requiring the continuous professional and technical expertise of our professionals to be able to manage arising national affairs and issues. How many times in the history of Nigeria have you heard or seen our medical practitioners going on strike to demand that the government updates all public medical facilities or promote quality and affordable health care system for Nigerians?

  Honestly, the victory of any of the two sides, the presidency and the medical practitioners does not benefit the average Nigerian in any way, so for all I care, they can go for each other´s neck, it will not affect my sleep beyond what their inactivity and incompetence has already provoked in majority of us. 

WHO IS A REAL MUSLIM?

  Have you observed that when Muslims are killed extra judicially in any part of the world, even those who are not Muslims come out to condemn the act, but when Islamists kill innocent people who do not share the Muslim doctrine; Muslims never join in any public manifestation to condemn the act.

  I am appalled at how Nigerian Muslims come out to march on the streets of Nigeria, swearing vengeance when there is a problem against Muslims in far away Indonesia and they cannot come out when a terrorist group used their name to abduct and kidnap over 200 innocent Nigerian girls for more than 100 days and still counting or when they slaughter and kill innocent Nigerians for no just reason, in fact, I am still waiting to see Muslim groups in Nigeria march on the streets to condemn the barbarity that the Islamic state of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) are committing on innocent Christians in Iraq, does it mean that they are in support of this?

  Although many will be quick to say that the Islamists are not the real Muslims, but like all other Muslims, they also employ the “Allahu Akbar” (God is great) slogan before carrying out any act, so if the Muslims believe that the Islamists are tarnishing the name of their God or misinterpreting their religion, why is it that they are not prepared to fight them and restore the blameless name of Allah? I have seen Europeans, Americans and people from different parts of the world come together several times to show their anger on what is happening in Palestinian and even during the invasion of Iraq by the American and the allied forces, I have seen people from different parts of the world condemning the manner in which Muammar Gaddafi and Saddam Hussein were killed even though they do not like the way these two ruled their nations, what I have never witnessed is the manifestation of any Muslim nation in the face of any injustice perpetrated by any Islamist sect against innocent people in any part of the world. I may be wrong; maybe there has been some that I do not know of, please if you know any, feel free to share  

WHO IS AFRAID OF SEGUN ODEGBAMI?

  That there is something vitally wrong in the system is not a secret, what is unacceptable is the manner in which we try to justify our failure and our corruption, I read with disgust and incredulity this morning that the NFF electoral committee has disqualified the only candidate among the pack who understands our football, haven served our nation as a footballer for more than a decade, a member of the glorious nations cup winners in 1980, Chief Segun Odegbami, M.O.N, who has been closely involved with football even after he resigned as an active player.

  The excuse given by the committee was that his form was not endorsed by his state F.A commisioner and that it came in late. Nigerian football, especially our local league has been in the doldrums for ages, all the youth programs put in place in the late 70s and the early 80s that helped consolidate our football during those periods are all derelict and corrupt today. There has not been any feasible innovations in recent times, year after year we read and discover with great disappointment about the wanton corruption plaguing our football governing body, the NFF. while our football, one of the few remaining, if not the only national unifying activity in this country is left to suffer. 

  Time after time, our national team players and their coaching crew are made to undergo their preparation for a big competition in which nigerians are very optimistic, under a very unsuitable condition, sometimes our football and our nation are brought to international disrepute because while other teams arrive at big competitions, concentrated fully for the competition, our players are still involved in an endless haggle with our nation´s football governing body, the NFF on the issue of match bonuses and winning allowances.

  And rather than look for the right person to put the dirty house in order it appears as if those who have corrupted the system will stop at nothing to maintain the status quo and make way for another square headed football ignorant to continue to live at the expense of our major national unifying factor. What is wrong if for once we allow a real football expert to manage the affairs of football in our country? Why do we always prefer to regret than to do the right thing and begin to advance in strides? Who amongst all the listed and cleared candidates understand football better than Segun Odegbami? It would be recalled that this is not the first time that the former national team captain, Segun Odegbami would be stepping forward to make known his intention to run for the presidency of the NFF and each time it appears some people who are hell bent on never allowing progress to come into our football delibrately mark him out of the line.

  What does it take for a people to stand up and do the right thing? Who is afraid of Segun Odegbami?      

BIAFRA: A HALF SUN LOOKING FOR ITS OTHER HALF

  A photograph making its rounds on the social media has left me completely perturbed and revived unsavoury memories of the inglorious and dishonorable part of our modern history as Nigerians.

  I have always maintained that our problem as a nation is often caused by our swiftness at forgeting our problems; we have this unhealthy and very awkward way of sweeping our problems under the carpet without first proffering solutions to them. As a student, the darkest page in our history book was intentionally torn off by the policy makers, because we have a weird mentality of thinking that by not talking about it, it would be forgotten and people will learn with time to move on with their lives, yes, move on they did, but getting along is where the problem is revisiting us daily.

  How can a war where over a million civilians were killed be ripped off our history books just like that, are we trying to pretend that nobody died? And if they did, why? Have we stopped for once to ask ourselves why in the first place that shameful and gruesome event occurred? What was done immediately after the war to ameliorate the impact of the war on both sides of the divide? – nothing, we just handled the issue as we are wont to handle several serious issues in our country, sweep them under the carpet and pretend all is well.

The federal government troop assuming victory, charted a condescending agenda where the presumed losers of that war, the Igbos, became a maginalized group who were better out of the corridors of power than within it. Nigeria has produced about 10 leaders after the civil war and coincidentally, none of them have been of Igbo extraction.

  Rather than initiate a reconciliation policy and see to it that we do not only move on chaotically, without any national driving nuance we have damned the consequence of that war for far too long and its unhealed wounds are coming back to revisit us today. Human lives have become worthless before the different sections/regions of our people, from the south-south through the east and the west up into the north stopping by in the middle-belt, killing of innocent persons have become a diversion.

  Nobody has yet told us who armed the Niger-Delta militants, who is arming and sponsoring the Boko Haram terrorists in the north and now this, a group of nigerians from the eastern region of the country inaugurating a Biafran embassy inside Cataluña, a region of Spain that is also fighting to secede from Spain and form a country of its own. The internationalization of our internal issues is what bothers me, because by so doing, mercenaries will begin to get involved and foreign countries will begin to look for ways of maximizing their selfish interests in our country, as I am sure they are already in the case of the Boko Haram terrorist group.

  My position is that more need to be done in the area of uniting us as a people than mere wistful utterances on the part of our stake holders, let no one be deceived, right now more than ever before, Nigeria is according to what the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo said many years ago, “a mere geographical expression” And a very delicate and dangerous one at that.  Let us not sweep our problem of disunity under the carpet as is custom in us and if for any reason we become convinced some day that things have fallen so apart beyond what the center can continue to hold, let us agree on a peaceful dissolution as we agreed before the British authority in 1960 on a peaceful union. 

      

EVERY D´BANJ NEEDS A DON JAZZY IN THEIR LIVES....

  The reason why there are so many people in the world is that we need so many ideas to solve the possible myriad problems and obstacles that we will be faced with from time to time, and since no man is an island or a compendium of ideas we resort to one another as a solution to our qualms or to enhace us to the next and a better level in our fields of human endeavour.

  Sometimes this solutions or enhancement comes from one´s parents, biological brothers and sisters, friends, partners, wives, husbands and even strangers. Lucky is the man that finds a wife that enhances his life and vice versa and that who might not need to go outside of his family to get the needed push when necessary. And when you have a friend(s) who helps to improve your life or your trade, be grateful to them and keep them dear to your heart, because good friends are really hard to find.

  In whatever we do in life, it takes two to tangle, no true development will come to anyone who thinks only about himself; a man´s real development is that which can automatically be translated into the develoment of his community, which is where a lot of our people appear to be making a big mistake. We are too self-centered and egocentric that rather than have an investment that yields a 50/50 profit on a daily and continuous basis, we swoop on a lone 100% profit that is likely never to come our way again, undermining the interests of other collaborators. There is no way a man can be successful all by himself, whoever tells you the contrary is telling a big lie.

  Every D´banj needs a Don Jazzy in their lives; that person who knows what beat to create for your song to make it a hit, and whenever you are lucky to find a person like that in your life, treat them right.  

REAL MADRID VS SEVILLA FC, (FOOTBALL FIESTA)

  The european super cup will be played this night in cardiff to officially commence the european 2014/2015 league season, Gareth bale´s real Madrid are favorite to win the first major campetition of the season against Sevilla football club who apparently are the underdog in this competition, but not withstanding in a final that will be decided in just one match, everything is possible and anything can happen.

  The Real Madrid players with Christiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale in the lead have already made known their intention to clinch the title and the remaining five titles they will be vying for this season, they say that although they know it won´t be easy but they will be fighting spiritedly to win all six trophies the season, a feat only their arch rival Barcelona are the only cluside that can boast of after winning all the six competitions they played during Guadiola´s first year as Barcelona coach.

  Real Madrid with their two quality sign up this season, columbian playmaker and highest goal scorer in the recently concluded world cup, James Rodriguez and German national team ace midfielder, Toni Kroos will be contributing their qualities in their main debut this season for Real Madrid.  But all eyes will specially be on two main protagonists today, the Prince of Wales as he is known by football pundits in Spain, Gareth Bale will be playing for the first time in front of his country men and women, wearing the Real Madrid Jersey, A final specialist whose important goals has won Real Madrid a couple of trophies since his arrival last season will be striving to have a good match in front of his home fans no doubt.

  But most especially all eyes today will be on Iker Casillas whose form has been under a lot of debate recently, moreso now that Diego Lopez has had to leave the club for what some people say is as a result of the bad relationship between both goalkeepers. For the first time in a long while, Iker Cassillas was spotted smiling at the training and even conversing with his other competitor, newly signed Levante and Costa Rica goalkeeper Keylor Navas, something that has not been observed in recent times with Diego Lopez whose fans will sure be waiting in on any blunders from Iker Casillas to start a heated debate.  

  Sevilla´s chances are very slim in today´s match, but if there is any team capable of causing an upset for Real Madrid as was confirmed last season, that team is Sevilla football club, with Columbian striker Bacca in its attack line, Bacca who has proved to be specially motivated whenever he plays against Real Madrid will be trying to take his chance and that of his team today. A team that is still under construction with the exit of some of its key players from last season including its captain Rakitic. The good news for Sevilla football club is that it will not be under any pressure to win the match, a situation that could be beneficial for its real aspirations. Kick off time is 7:45 PM (BST; UTC/GMT +1, local time).