Author: Adeola

A Questionable Democracy

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A Questionable Democracy

Adeola Aderounmu

What kind of democracy gives the presidency to a convicted felon, a criminal?

When a convicted felon, a criminal is sworn in as president in a democracy, then democracy should be placed under the spotlight and questioned.

There is every reason to discuss about the consequences of the type of democracy that the US is displaying to the world. It’s hypocritical. Put rightly, it is a like a dictatorship mimicking democracy, or a democratic face painted on tyranny. It is a dangerous experiment.

What kind of government, what kind of democracy gives the opportunity for a criminal to become president?

What kind of law system makes a person to be above the law. Prisons across the US are filled with convicted felons, citizens who have been found guilty of one crime or the other, and dully serving time for their crimes. Fair enough. But Trump as a free man in the US, even becoming president means that not all animals are equal, and some animals are more equal that some others.

A democracy that placed a criminal in the position to make laws, to amend laws and to dispense laws, in my opinion, is not better than any form of dictatorship. I would find it hard to state the benefits of a criminal making laws in a supposedly democratic dispensation. I would find it difficult to place the value of a criminal-president in a pseudo-democracy above a tyrant in a non-democracy. I can’t come to terms with the possibility to accepting the conducts and leadership of a criminal-president in a civil society.

I started writing this article before trump was sworn in and I was already going to suggest that Trump could close all the prisons in the US and send all fellow criminals’ home. I was not shocked by the executive orders to send home more than 1 700 criminals few hours after he returned to the White House. Nothing trump had done in a few days or nothing he would do in 4 years would shock me. Tyrants don’t send shock, they radiate the characteristics of tyrants.

Nowadays I have so much to do that my articles are late and not covering the depths of my thoughts. But I must put them down anyway just to make sure that I wrote my views.

We are in the early days of Trump administration. So, the only thing to do now is to fasten our seat belts and be prepared for one of the bumpiest rides in world history. Every day will unfold with drama, with threats and with vows to reverse the world order. Denmark should probably start preparing to go to war if she must keep Greenland.

A few years ago, in my first article about trump, I wrote to the American people that MAY THE WIND BE THEIR WAY.

Now I am writing to the rest of us. Under a Trump rule as a convicted felon, may the wind be our way.

Na-Kutsa: A Village By The Kidnapper’s Den

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Na-Kutsa: A Village By The Kidnapper’s Den

Adeola Aderounmu (A view From The Scandinavian)

There are many stories of families waiting for their loved ones across Nigeria. After a certain period of waiting, the expectations of seeing them alive again drop and the worst is assumed.

Just imagine boarding a cab along the road because the car park was devoid of regular taxi services and being abducted by criminals who transported you to a place close to Na-Kutsa village in Zaria. This was what happened to innocent people regularly in Zaria, Kaduna State. It would continue to happen until the den of kidnappers, or the villagers in Na-Kutsa are shaken. No village should harbor murderers and kidnappers, as a way of life.

I recommend that you read the sad experience of Baraka Abdulkarim as narrated to the Punch Newspaper. She was kidnapped by notorious cab operators and handed over to kidnappers. The first 2 weeks in December 2024 was a real trip to hell for Baraka and other passengers who thought they had boarded a regular cab. A woman who had 6 children on the trip saw two of her children shot to dead because they walked slowly through the forest.  

Baraka Abdulkarim

Image source: Punch Newspaper, Nigeria

Baraka Abdulkarim

For 2 weeks, Baraka and the others defecated on their bodies. They pissed on themselves and were rarely fed as the kidnappers waited for ransoms from the victims’ families. During the period of her captivity, Baraka, according to the Punch Newspaper underwenrt her menstrual cycle bleeding all over her body and the blood drying up on her. The mess can only be imagined! 

The person or persons who deliver ransoms are usually held back, killed or re-cycled for the next ransom. In some places in Northern Nigeria, like the Na-Kutsa village in Kaduna, kidnappers are well-known, and the profession is a way of life, a means to easy wealth.

I am writing about this, not just because it happened in Kaduna, because this could have been a sad occurrence anywhere in Nigeria. But I am writing about it because the village is known, and the den of kidnappers is also probably known. It is shocking that the notorious cab driver(s) are out there waiting for their next set of victims.

The cooperation between cab drivers and the kidnappers is a very profitable evil business. It rakes in millions daily. We know about Baraka and the others kidnaped along with her because she was released after the ransom was paid. Sadly, the person who delivered her ransom was held.

We don’t know about thousands of other missing kidnapped people. Many of them are killed like goats and left to rotten in the forests. There are many stories of families waiting for their loved ones across Nigeria. After a certain waiting period, the expectations drop, and the worst is assumed.

Kidnapping is a profitable business in some parts of Nigeria. Sometimes, it can occur at some random locations if you, your friends, of family members run out of luck. It’s like a gamble sometimes if you are safe or not.

My expectation is a police investigation into the notorious hideouts of the kidnappers which is either in or around Na-kutsa village. It is not a rocket science to find the village, to find the kidnappers and to apprehend the kidnappers. In my books of investigations, this is supposed to be a very easy raid and conquests of the criminals.

Unless the authorities are accomplices, or the intelligence gathering around the Na-Kutsa village is compromised, I don’t see any reason why the cab drivers and the kidnappers should not be apprehended this January 2025.

One worrisome aspect of the Punch report was that the kidnappers have young wives who could be as young as 12 years old. I am sorry for them. I am sorry for that part of the world where children are raped in the names of early marriages. I am sad to be associated with these types of MOFOS. There is nothing in this world that will stop me from longing for freedom.

This is my view from The Scandinavian. The rest, you know!

My American Diary (Part 2). Family Appreciation.

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A Photo Story

By Adeola Aderounmu

One of the things we take for granted, and often too, is the basic unit of the society. Family.

Family was the major reason I travelled to the US in 2024. I will share of the details with you, in no specific order.

New York with Uncle Gbaike.

This photo was take in New York at the residence of uncle Gbaike. Beside me is my nephew who took care of his cousin (my daughter) from the first day she arrived in New Jersey. He helped her to get to school and to see that there was always a family around the corner if she needed anything. My niece did not appear in any of these photos because she got married and lives in Texas. I understood she opened up her home to my daughter during one of the holidays.

The issue of how family works, or not work is beyond the scope of this essay. I just want to appreciate the Aderounmus’ in the United States for rallying around one of their own who came calling from Sweden.

New Jersey.

This was on one of the 2 graduation days ceremony. My nephews whom i have not seen in over 2 decades and who have now become mes standing by those of us who came from Sweden. The celebrant herself was not in this photo. She was up stage getting her rewards and awards.

I have to thank Damilola John for taking care of Eniola from day one until the day of her graduation. Guarding angels are not made in heaven. They are made by kind actions of humans to humans. As mentioned earlier, Debby acted as a big sister and opened up her home in Texas. All these under the guidance of Uncle Gbaike in New York.

Lawrenceville School New Jersey

We took a table at Lawrenceville and had a great time at the graduation ceremony.

Family is everything. May the future shine bright for you.

Aderounmu.

Extra picture showing the African community of graduating students from Lawrenceville 2024 along with the school principal.

My American Diary (Part 1): The Value Of True Friendship.

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Adeola aderounmu.

The value of true friendship is inestimable.

I decided to write this, like many other stuffs I have written over the last 3 decades because if we don’t write our stories, someone else will do, and the distortions will not only be unimaginable, but also irreparable.

When I travelled to New Jersey with my family in May 2024, there were 3 friends already on the alert and holding brief on my behalf in different American states. Dele had travelled a day before our arrival from Houston to NJ. He had teamed up with Raphael. They were looking at the clock. Adeola is coming. Morrison was driving down from Maryland heading to Trenton.

My reason for travelling to America was to attend the graduation ceremony of my daughter. She graduated in May 2024 from Lawrenceville School, near Princeton. Prior to this event, there had been no other factor strong enough to convince me to travel to the US.

But here I was at Newark Airport, sitting comfortably in an American Ford we hired from Avis, heading to our first destination in Trenton. I would become bold to drive on American roads and adapt to some crazy driving, in a massive vehicle, for the next 10 days.

Dele and Raphael arrived at out Trenton residence about 7pm and guess what they brought with them. Made in New Jersey Nigerian jollof rice with Nigerian spiced meat. We were in the middle of the jollification when Mo arrived, and the amount of bottled water we stored away in the fridge increased exponentially.

Dele, Raphael, and I attended Festac Grammar School and graduated in 1989. Mo lived in the same building as me in Festac and he was not just another guy on the block, he also became my student. I will be unable, in a single essay, to describe my full connections to these guys. I mean, I knew Raphael before we became schoolmates. I first met him on the football field before we became teenagers. I knew he was good with his feet. Dele and I were just more of pals (old schoolmates) until he visited me in Sweden. I don’t know how to stop Dele from (telling) that I invited him to Sweden and paved the way for his eventual sojourn. Mo also visited me in Sweden, of his own accord, and he was my number one dependable ally in Nigeria before he settled in the US.

Dele won my heart on my visit to NJ for leaving his job, his wife and children back in Houston for a few days to enjoy our company in New Jersey. He attended the graduation ceremony on Saturday before he flew back to Houston. Morrison also attended the ceremony before he drove back to Maryland to prepare for our tour of Maryland and Washington DC. In Maryland, Mo gave us roof over our heads for as long as we wanted to stay. He even organized a welcome party for us, and the attendance was massive. The best part was seeing his dad, brother, wife and children. We re-invented Festac in Maryland. We were home away from home. I thought I would see Raphael again when he came to Maryland, but we were all so busy that our journeys at that point did not intercept.

Nevertheless, it was a good reunion not just for me and my friends but also for Mo who hadn’t seen Eniola since she was two and now to watch her graduate. Dele had not seen her since she was about 8, and to see her graduate too. They also get to see her mum and the little sister who is not little anymore. Raphael met all the 3 of them for the first time. I was uniting everyone and creating new bonds for Houston, Maryland and New Jersey.

I must mention that we stopped briefly at a major center on our way to Maryland. One of my former students came to say hello briefly even at a very short notice. I got to know that we drove through Delaware, thanks for her. It was also nice to see her husband. Two jolly, nice, amiable down-to-earth couples they are.

The value of true friendship is inestimable.

My American Diary, to be continued.

Appreciation.

Thank you Dele for your effort and for the gift of love and friendship.

Thank you Raphael for receiving Dele and for your good intentions..

Thank you Mo for also taking time off your schedule to show us Washington DC.

Thank you to Mo’s friends and family,

Thank you the Adenegans for driving from Delaware to meet us halfway on the way to Maryland. My dear Pinky!

I am indebted to Uncle Gbaike for receiving us in New York.

To my family, without you, I have not, these memories to share. 

A Rethink on British-Made Nigerian Independence. Is It Worth Celebrating?

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A rethink on Nigeria’s independence. Is it worth celebrating?

By Adeola Aderounmu

The idea of Nigeria celebrating indpendence from the British gangsters should actually be re-considered. Is it worth celebrating in ways that glorifies the slave masters? I do not think it is worth celebrating that way, or in any other way anymore. We ought to get over the hangover of an unnecessary occurence (enslavement of our grandparents and the plundering of our resources). 64 years after the scam called independence, we the people do not still have any control over our resources and how we want to use it to improve our lives.

We need to get over the disappointments of the failures of our grandparents and parents in securing their dignity and self-preservation. Self-preservation is probably the most powerful instinct in safeguarding the existence of any (living) species. Therefore we need an affirmation that, for example, I am a Yoruba and that I existed before the British gangsters and fraudsters created a colony over my head for the pleasure of the Queen of England.

In a way, it hit me bad to see how the British colonial thugs would sit back and watch us dancing annually, laughing at us as we dance to our escape from their shackles. Sadly enough, many African countries are not even free yet. Several of them are still tied to their slave masters one way or the other. The influx of the Chinese and the continuous draining of our resources-material and human-attest to the fact that the Nigeria created by the British is far from being free and independent.

So, what the heck is the celebration for actually? Is it hard to see why Nigeria is in shackles and shambles? Is it not obvious that Nigeria will never be free? Is it hard to see that the nations within Nigeria need to be set free before we can even talk of anything close to independence?

Our days of ignorance can be overlooked. However our days of stupidity are unforgivable. There are so many traditional days and events in the nations that are entrapped in Nigeria such that  everyday could be a holiday. There are so many days in the Yoruba calender as much as there are in the Igbo calender about our original Yoruba New Year, The Igbo New Year. Our festivals abound and there are countless number of days we could set aside to honour of our deities. We cannot even exhaust all the possible things we can celebrate in our different nationalities yet we stuck as real slaves choosing to celebrate the Nigeria that was created as an entrapment by British thugs who fooled and dishonoured our grandparents.

There is a reason why the so called nonsense independence day is held high. It is not unconnected to the criminal politics and waywardness of the people who own Nigeria. Imagine how sad they will become to know that we disregard British-made Nigeria and sought our own nationalities to lift, behold and uphold. Those who spend several billions of dollars annually celebrating Nigeria’s ”independence” are happy to keep it going. They are happy the way Nigeria is today, a wretched, worn out and devastated country where poverty and penury have shred into pieces the souls of the citizens,

My personal opinion is that Nigeria should stop celebrating October 1st. What has the British-made country achieved compare to the most advanced countries in the world? A country that cannot produce electricity is celebrating independence. Independence from what? It is laughable. A country that is not navigable in and out by road network is wasting funds on celebrations. I am not going to bore you about how disgraceful it is to flaunt the Nigerian identity in some situations. It is mostly on personal levels and the achievements of mostly young people over the years that the British-made Nigeria have made global impacts. A national identity will remain a mirage and all attempts to achieve prosperity for all will never come to light in a British-made country.

In all, it is not about forgetting the efforts of those who partly set us free from the shackles of the colonial thugs. The likes of Awolowo for example, I can honour as a Yoruba man. Let the other nationalities within Nigeria lift their heroes and let us ”worship” them as we like. But not on any fake date like October 1st.

We need to stop glorifying the colonial thugs and we need to stop flaunting our inferiority complex in the name of ”independence day”. Every man was born free and that glorification of those who chose to infringe on the universal rights of others either through slavery, colonisation or outright invasion must be stopped, now!

On Yoruba Kingdom, I shall stand. I was created a Yoruba, but forced to retain a British-made Nigerian identity. I celebrate my identity. Yoruba, Omo Oduduwa.