Words have continued to fail me in trying to come to terms with the demise of one of my closest friends Adelanke Temitope Osunmakinwa. A couple of years back, I had this idea about writing a book that the title would be “It’s our turn to die”. Even while trying to write this tribute, I thought about the book I never wrote: It’s our turn to die. I come from a world where writing or talking about death is almost a taboo, despite the fact that it is the necessary end to all of us. The last time I checked, it had not been reported that someone left this planet alive.
I met Tope around 1988 when he started at my high school Festac Grammar School. We were already in the 4th year of our 5-year high school journey. We became friends too easily for a few reasons. We both spoke the same language, though he had his Ekiti dialect which he took with him from Idanre, Ekiti state. He was living in the same neighbourhood which makes it possible to walk to school and back together. He came often to my place where he would play with my nephews who were small at the time.
I spoke to my friend in Germany after Tope’s demise on 7th May 2024. I told him that Tope deserved more in life than what he got. He agreed with me and said that aptly described a summary of Tope’s 53 years on planet earth. Each time I’d visited Nigeria since 2002 that I left Lagos, Tope and I have been in touch. In 2018, he followed me to my house in Lusada and was very happy for the progress I’d made-getting a roof over my head.
When we left high school, my personal expectations from Tope were high. He was an average student, but there were a lot of things that were in his favour at that time though I’d not go into the details in this essay. I will also not discuss his weaknesses in this essay because we all have our weaknesses. We all have our weak points in life. We have all failed at some points. That ability to utilise our second chances can be a very important determinant in going forward. My absence from Nigeria made me unaware of Tope’s second chance(s) and how he responded.
One thing I know for sure: he died serving Lagos State. He went to work and was still online at about 18:45 on May 7th, 2024, he was somewhere in the service of motherland.
There are so many memories of him that will stay with me while I am still above the ground. The days we went to school. The days he drove around Lagos dropping Christmas gifts to friends and families. The days he came around to play with my nephews. The days he would talk to my dad and siblings like he knew them from genesis. There were days we did what boys would do: we drank for sure and sometimes went over the limits. We ate and merried together.
He honoured my invitations when I call for a small house party. I cannot forget the days of Festac Town. I cannot forget the days of Satellite town. I cannot forget the visits to the girls we never married. I cannot blame myself or anyone for the bad times or for the times when things didn’t go as we planned them. Adelanke, I will keep the memories of the good times and the laughter.
My dear friend, farewell and have a good time with the ancestors.
In 2008 when I turned 36, I started this series called My Random Reflections. Today I’m writing my random reflections @ 52. Usually, I’d write the article the day before my birthday or exactly on the day and publish it.
This year, I’m working hard to put my thoughts together 3 days after. It is not for the lack of random thoughts. It is not because there are no issues to reflect upon. How do you even choose what issues to reflect upon albeit randomly? England have just lost the EURO football second final in a row. The best English defender, arguably, Fikayo Tomori, did not even make the team. When a goal is conceded in the dying seconds due to the wrong positioning of 2 defenders, first Walker, then Guehi, I can say: serve you right England! Fight for your best to represent you!
My focus on my random has always been Nigeria. Sometimes it is a general focus or reflection on life from my perspective. The reasons are obvious. I lived in Nigeria for 29 years before relocating to Sweden in 2002. Over the years my views of Nigeria have changed. It started from my wish for Nigeria to be one indivisible super (world) power to my sarcastic article in the Nigeria village square wondering what would happen if Nigeria was recolonized.
Today, my opinion about Nigeria is constant because having observed Nigeria politics since 1979 as a 7-year-old, I have come to the irreversible conclusion that Nigeria should be dismantled so that the prosperous nations that are entrapped in Nigeria could emerge.
Unless the system of government in Nigeria is abolished, I don ‘t see a bright future for the unborn generations entrapped in it
At some point in the time past, I was one of those focused on putting all the problems on the president(s) and politicians in the country. Indeed, in this Tinubu’s jaguda government, one can still describe the politicians as criminals for that has not changed. I mean, my knowledge of Nigerian politicians and the military regimes that intersected the periods from 1979 to date gives me the right to classify both the civilian and military governments as pure gangsters in power.
But the regimes that emerged are also direct products of the citizenry. However the worst thing about Nigeria is the crazy system of unitary government where the president and the politicians for example are simply above the law. The unitary system of government in Nigeria is the dumbest system of government on planet earth. The charade called elections to get into this system of government are also a complete disgrace to the lowest of intellectualism.
What this has led to, for me, is that whilst I can call Tinubu’s government a jaguda government or Nigerian politicians complete criminals, I am at the same time aware that even a criminal Peter Obi as governor of Anambra state would not fare better than Tinubu in power in Aso rock. A Phd Jonathan was as useless as a senseless Buhari in power. A cunning Obasanjo stole as much as he could to secure his finance. Atiku almost sold all of Nigeria! If one is criticizing Tinubu and assuming that Peter Obi or Sowore would do a better job, I think intellectualism is far from that individual.
In my opinion, what took (Nigeria) to stardom and placed development in Western Nigeria (Yorubaland) ahead of London or Paris in the 1950s remains the only permanent solution for Western Nigeria to come back and retain that position (probably in the next 50 to 100 years) if Nigeria is dismantled today or reverted to the old order. In those days the Eastern part of Nigeria was also making advancement in technology (evidentially proven later in the civil war) and the Northern part was a rising agriculturally independent nation. It was jolly to live in the 1950s Nigeria because of the economic and political independence of the regions. There was focus in / on the regions and political corruption was minimal but not detrimental to development, as it is normal even till today in the most developed countries of the world.
Allowing the poorest people on earth to exist in the most blessed region on earth, in my opinion, is a very disturbing occurence in the history of Africa.
I’m not the best official custodian of Nigerian geography and history but I know enough that by carefully re-carving Nigeria under conditions of mutual respect and understanding, the various nations in Nigeria can seek independence again and, in a few years, rub shoulders with the most advanced countries in the world. It is the people who must demand this and see it to a logical end.
The fallacy and the error propagated by the elites and the political class is that greatness can be achieved as one indivisible Nigeria. Time, space, politics, events and the ambitions that I have witnessed since 1979 have shown that the views of the elites and the political class are mirages. I have waited for Nigeria to be great since 1979. I would be foolish in 2024 to think that that greatness would come.
I have discussed extensively on my blog how Nigeria’s fourth generation is wasting away believing in the same nonsense and false hopes like their parents before them. This blog you are reading is one of Africa’s oldest individual blogs. Let that sink in that my goal is to see you in that geographical region come out prosperous and that your unborn generations need not suffer like you and me or our parents and grandparents.
I would like to leave it there so I can discuss other things, randomly. I’m trying hard to stay away from US politics but it’s hard not to feel embarrassed on behalf of the American people when their current president, Mr. Biden continued to speak nonsense while at the same time sitting tight in power and vying for a new term. I remember how African rulers have been called sit-tight rulers by the western press. What does one call Biden? How does one move on from the stupid debate that Biden and Trump participated in? We are currently waiting for the report of the security apparatuses in America regarding the assassination attempt on Trump. Interesting times ahead for the world.
In other reflection moments, when I’d reflected on conflict/war in the Middle East and the Ukraine-Russian war, my conclusions always took me back to one point: that humans may be suffering from deficiency of what I called “collective global intellectualism”. I’m now sure that humans, despite all our achievements and advancements, are devoid of sound reasoning power in conflict resolutions. I’m not particularly a good student of history, so I might need help to remember where one party had been right in a war and examples of using wars to resolve conflicts and misunderstanding.
My knowledge of Nigerian history, Nigerian civil war and what my mother (now late) told me about the Nigeria remain good bases for me to understand how Nigeria is the mess it is today and how keeping it as one country would continue to favour poverty, impoverishment, and a hopeless life/existence for several millions.
There are so many aspects of our lives in the geographical entrapment called Nigeria that must be looked to at the same time.
How is our level of education today? How does it compare to the global situation?
How is our transport network on land, water and air? How do we limit accidents?
How is the level of security of life and property? How is our night life for work and pleasure purposes?
What is our plan for our good life and a good life for three generations from now?
Does “the common good” exist in our vocabulary, in our thoughts and deeds?
What is our state of basic infrastructure for supply of electricity and water to every home?
What is the housing policy for workers, the elderly, the young people and the pensioners? What are the plans for now, the future?
What are our plans for health care and medicine?
What about research and development?
What happened to dignity in labour? How do we want to reposition education?
Let me be clear, trying to do resolve all our problems in Nigeria under a unitary system of government will never fully work. That is why I’m just looking at people shouting at Tinubu. I think they might get some changes if they shout at their governors or local government chairmen. They might get a better response if they shout at their constituent representatives.
Imagine then a system of government where all the changes needed are concentrated in a region or a smaller nation like the Yoruba Nation or the Biafra. Have you thought about the ease to get your thoughts across?
Jonathan did not see you, Obasanjo did not see you, Buhari, Yar Adua, and now Tinubu. Even Babangida was busy lining his pockets. Abdulsalami nko? That is what they all do, they eat and quench. They take care of their families and friends. That is what a unitary system of government does. It turns men to gods, saints to (d)evil people.
Bring on the regional government or even separate nations that would compete with one another and see how the other countries of the world would start to shiver. Biafra, Arewa, Yoruba and the Delta are prospective world powers and until they are set free, their existence in a British-made, elite-sustained Nigeria would continue to mean a life time of hopelessness, poverty and impoverishment such that it would be impossible to remove Nigeria from her position as the poverty capital of the world.
Allowing the poorest people on earth to exist in the most blessed region on earth, in my opinion, is a disturbing occurrence in the history of the African. The region around the heart of Africa is well endowed so much that the entire continent and beyond can feed from the flow from the heart of Africa. Unless the system of government in Nigeria is abolished, I don’t see a bright future for the unborn generations entrapped in it.
We cannot keep relying on religion and think that we can catch up with the rest of the world. Great nations are built on simple and common things like common language, custom, culture trust, common good, service to humanity, respect for law and order, sound education, developing infrastructures, accessibility to public servants/politicians. These things can be built and created in nations like Yoruba, Biafra and Arewa but never in a fictitious Nigeria.
Homecoming For Meghan Adetokunbo Markle, The Duchess of Sussex
By Adeola Aderounmu, Sweden.
The homecoming of Meghan Adetokunbo Markle with her husband Harry to Nigeria in May 2024 was almost unreported in the western media. In Sweden, the visit did not make a single headline (that I know of anyway). In other spaces, the reports have been unfair and in bad fate.
Only the Nigerian media did justice to the visit and they could have done more. They could have published editions of their newspaper entirely devoted to the visit and with thousands of pictures/images. That would have made the western media go crazy for sure.
Meghan Adetokunbo came home to Nigeria with her husband the Duke of Duchess because she found out that her ancestry lies in the heart of West Africa, in Nigeria. She is a royal and she came home to a royal acceptance from all the corners of Nigeria.
I am just making this entry to let it go down in records that the Swedish media is unreliable as much as the BBC and the other nonsensical western media. If young children are kidnapped in Nigeria, the Swedish media will be rolling over itself to report the bad news. DN, SVD, TV 1, TV2 and TV 4 will be all over the place to spread the bad news.
But a royalty made gallant entry to the land of her ancestors, and I still cannot remember hearing it on radio, seeing it on major newspapers or TV stations in Sweden. Even my favorite radio station P 4 did not mention it. They are probably stuck with reporting the traffic in mainland Stockholm.
Dearest Adetokunbo Meghan, this is wishing you all the best in your lifetime. May your enemies continue to be put to shame. Yorubaland stand behind you and the ancestors guide your ways and paths. Be careful in all you do, be meticulous in your decisions. Your enemies, our enemies are waiting for your mistakes. You know that more than I do.
Be careful in all ways. Take care of your family, the prince, and the kids.
You have a home with us and you are always welcome to be with the people who love you now and who will always love you forever.
I was visiting the US over a period of 10 days and I will write about a few things that I observed about New Jersey, New York and Maryland.
I had the opportunity to see a musical show on Broadway. The Book Of Mormon was present as a musical comedy with lots of dance, songs and laugh.
I arrived EWR the airport in New Jersey on 24th of May. Lived in Trenton, NJ for 3 days, in Maryland for another 3 days and then Long Island in New York for 4 days. Left the United States on 2nd June and arrived Stockholm on 3rd June (Stockholm is 6 hours ahead of New Jersey).
Being on Broadway was a great experience. I’m not doing a full review of the show. It was however very interesting and I can recommend it if you want to laugh and enjoy musical artistry at it’s best.
I also walked Manhattan, took the Long Island Ferry, and took a peep at the Time Square. I saw Wall Street but didn’t walk down that path.
I will try to find time to write more about my trip to the US in the days ahead.
Only a lucky bastard can decide to organise a Nigerian seminar in London knowing that there are no consequences for being a lucky bastard
In 2016, I wrote an article about The Lucky Bastards. It means that for a very long time Nigeria is ruled by very bad people who remain lucky to be in power because the people they ruled over do not really know how to use rage and other means at their disposal to change the order of things. I do not in any way imply a senseless military coup because it is the same lucky bastards that are in the military and civilian rulership in Nigeria. It is even 2 senseless military coups in Nigeria in 1966 that disrupted the development of Nigeria as a powerhouse in the world.
In 2024, as you read this piece, Nigeria is still under the rulership of some Lucky Bastards. These bastards are scattered all over the country and they are the menace behind the spread of poverty, underdevelopment, violence, kidnapping, and other vices that characterized the society. The greatest crime of these lucky bastards is however the sustenance of the criminal unitary system of government. It is the system that will continue to favor their misdemeanors and their insatiable urge for stealing/looting.
There is no amount or level of scandal that can shake the existence of the lucky bastards unless the people decide to do something about the useless system of government that sustains the scandals and corruption now under the supervision of Tinubu’s jaguda government. It is not even enough for the criminals ruling Nigeria that they were selected to rule in a stupid system of government, the audacity to commit crime daily and rub it in the faces of the people is beyond human comprehension.
The 2024 budget just like all the budgets that have been made in all the previous governments has allegedly been padded. This means that the already inflated allocations are re-inflated, and you hear of criminal senators (your dear brothers and sisters) walking away with 500 million naira for making the stealing x stealing possible. But nothing will happen because this is the history of Nigeria’s senseless unitary system (used by the military since 1966 and then sustained by the civilians).
Everyday, the senseless unitary system sustains a criminally inclined presidency, a criminally inclined senate, a criminally inclined house of representatives, criminal governors, criminal ministers, criminal commissioners, criminal civil servants, criminal private and public workers, decayed infrastructure, uneven development, permanent rural-urban migration, permanent japa, collapsed health and collapsed education, and so on and so forth. Nigeria remains one of the steadfast poverty capitals of the world because the lucky bastards are living a very good life, an ostentatious one and show no action towards dismantling the system of government that turned one of the most promising countries in the world to a ground for breeding poverty specialists, cultists, terrorists, kidnappers and a people almost totally disconnected from the meaning and essence of life.
As we write and read, a lucky bastard is relocating his children, family and friends to the developed country in the world. He or she has looted 100 to 200 million in the last few days, flaunt his or her stolen wealth knowing you can do nothing about it.
I heard one idiot called the accountant general of the mentally deranged country even organized a training/seminar/workshop using London as the location. Only a lucky bastard can move a Nigerian conference from Nigeria to London knowing there are no consequences for being a lucky bastard. He will not return to a crowd of stone throwing angry taxpayers. Imagine if Nigerians in London stone the MF and on return the Nigerians at home lock him out of his office. Just imagine!
But the lucky bastards have so demobilized and disorientate the people so that that there are no consequences for being stupid. You can even be mad and be dictating to the normal people if you are a mad lucky bastard.
I do not see a (bright) future in a useless unitary system of government under the rulership of lucky bastards. Not in 2016, not today, not in eternity.
There is a need to end the useless system of government that select and promote criminals. It is important that that nations entrapped in Nigeria be set free and allowed to pursue own happiness, way of life and system of government.
A View From The Scandinavian 