Biafra

The Cost Of Freedom

/ Adeola / 1 Comment

Unless a country or a group of people are willingly to genuinely give their today in the name of true freedom, their children will never be free tomorrow.

The Cost Of Freedom

Which Way Nigeria?

Which Way Nigeria?

By Adeola Aderounmu

Nigeria’s 54th year as a so-called independent country was marked in several ways. One headline that caught my attention was the one that stated that poverty in Nigeria has been reduced by 50%.

The headline is first class fraud.

Statistics was one of my favourite subjects during my first and second degrees at the University of Lagos. It is one of those subjects that I really felt comfortable doing. At Idiaraba it was Medical Statistics and oh, how I enjoyed every bit of it and the lecturer was awesome.

Poverty may have been reduced by 50%, it depends on the sample size or the part of the population where you draw your samples from.

So I can conclude that if we take the population of the follow-follow people flocking Aso Rock since the inception of Jonathan’s administration, he has successfully tackled the poverty among 50% of the ass-lickers including the expanding society of Aso Rock Bull Dogs.

If I cast my dragnets at the places that I know like Oshodi, Ojuelegba or Okokomaiko, my data will produce a result that will make nonsense of the results produced by some drunkards in Aso Rock. More than 90% of the people will be below poverty level and living on less than N500 a day.

For more than ever before majority of Nigerians groan under an increasingly senseless and insensitive government. Increasing the death rate and lowering the life expectancy of a population does not mean that poverty has been reduced.

In several essays I have depicted the nature, spread and characteristics of poverty in Nigeria as one of the worst hidden tragedies in the world. I have also been very quick to dismiss the claims of the few people who escaped the threshold of poverty sometimes through luck or unmerited opportunities that their situations cannot be used as the yardstick.

The title of this essay came as a result of my feelings in recent months. I’ll approach it.

I do know, and convincingly too that there are a few people in Sweden who have cultivated the habits of reading my articles, not because they want to be “my readers” but because they “enjoy” this culture of gossiping about “what did he write this week”?

I am happy for them, that they found a weekly delight.

I’ll keep them in the dark by not defining their range but amongst them are people who need to understand though that I have the right to my views about Nigeria no matter what they think or feel.

I cannot help those who found out too late that they had been talking to someone who has been writing about Nigeria since 2001.

One of my pictures on Facebook must have tilted the table over. I had a T-shirt with the inscription Oduduwa republic on my mind. It is one of my ideas of freedom. The image must have gone viral among some folks. I am still happy for them and I hope they get a pat on the back when they make their reports.

I wonder how much shock my Swedish-Nigerian readers suffered in the last 4 weeks when I had written stories about love. I will choose love any day over a failed country under the bondage of crazy and deaf rulers.

The love stories came to me after a recent trip to Finland. I think my ancestors love nature and they prefer the solitude of a calm sea to bring me teachings and guidance.

Today I wanted to write a story about “The Dreamer Boy” but I thought some people will like to know if I am still in tune with Nigeria and how the drunkards have reduced poverty by 50%.

What is more interesting than this blatant lie is the growth and spread of individuals, groups and associations that are intensifying their doubts about their continuous recognitions as Nigerians.

They are weighing the options of bailing out of a jaga-jaga Nigeria. There are many t-shirts nowadays with a lot of messages and one boy even tore his green passport and posted it on YouTube.

I have a lot of reflections on this emerging trend especially among “Nigerians” who are far away from their regions in Nigeria, based mostly in Europe, Asia and America.

For the Nigeria we have today became a total mess as a result of our collective failures as citizens and participants or onlookers in the successive corrupt and useless governments in Nigeria over the years and even to this day in October 2014.

The Nigeria of today was not the dream of the men and women who fought collectively to wrestle the country from the colonialists.

The reason we write or recite or even highlights repeatedly our failures as a country is because some people need the education at some point on what has happened and what we expected. Where Nigeria is today on the scale of human development and quality of life is a complete disgrace to the intellectual abilities of the African race.

One failed government blames the other and the cycle of idiocy rotates as nobody tackles the menaces of corruption, federal character (yes, it is a menace), nepotism and tribalism.

It was the greed in Nigerians and the corruption in their veins that exposed the madness of the colonialists who married different nations into one entity. “Irreconcilable differences” is an expression made in Nigeria. The crazy rulers destroyed the institutions of governance and many crazy people in government stole for themselves, their friends and their unborn generations-even to this day.

Since the mid-1960s, no government has made efforts to return power and freedom to the regions just the way it was when education, health and technological developments were functional until greed and outright stupidity reared their ugly heads.

The process of divide and rule, looting and total disregard for the rules of law continued and reached a new dimension since the inception of pseudo-democracy in 1999.

For Nigeria I have oscillated between hope and hopelessness and my understanding of statistics says it is time to try something else.

I am all for the freedom and the emancipation of the people who are currently enslaved in Nigeria.

It is imperative to define the modalities and the cost of freedom so that the sycophants and the major players of today do not ruin the future of our children and grandchildren the same way they ruined our parents lives and displaced us to different places around the globe.

I wish that all the groups and associations around the world will emerge from their clandestine positions and start to talk openly. The Scottish people just had a vote. The outcome was not as important as the action they took but it will define the things to come in the future. Their children will grow up feeling more secured.

It is old fashioned to seek freedom in the dark rooms. It is very primitive to seek independence through confidential emails or social media closed groups.

If you want something, make it open, make it plain. Go for it and carry the people who need the change along.

Healthy debates, open groups, open discussions and other form of transparent dealings may help to check some of my personal fears regarding the stakeholders in all these clandestine groups scattered around the world.

What is the cost of freedom?

The cost of freedom lies in service to humanity. It is not looting the treasury and telling stupid lies about security and poverty.

The cost of freedom in public service lies in willingness to die at the altar of truth. It is not in building houses of gold on the polluted land across Nigeria.

The cost of freedom is the deprivation that comes with the belief that humanity comes before self.

The cost of freedom will be correlated to conventional free thinking and explorative mindedness.

It will not be locked to dying for the sake of acquiring virgins in an imaginary place. It will not have anything to do with deadly assembly at the feet of gangster mortals called prophets. The cost of freedom will rid a nation of the defenders of evil.

Unless a country or a group of people are willingly to genuinely give their today in the name of true freedom, their children will never be free tomorrow.

For the nations entangled in Nigeria these sacrifices are non-negotiable.  Along with the irrepressible truth, they will be the ultimate cost of freedom.

aderounmu@gmail.com

US Army, Nigerian Army and Boko Haram Playing Hide and Seek In Sambissa Forest?

/ Adeola / 1 Comment

By Adeola Aderounmu

I don’t know who is having a laugh or a rough time now among these 3 gangs. I mean the US promised intelligence and provided it. At what cost I don’t know and I’m sure many people do not care the cost as long as the “Chibok girls” are found and Boko Haram esterminated from the surface of the earth.

But many people have been disappointed and they are like: you mean the girls have not been found! You mean the US in Nigeria is not doing the magic? wao!

Well, sources have it that the US provided images on the movement of Boko Haram to the Nigerian Army. But what is the Nigerian Army doing? The Nigerian Army is avoiding the locations where Boko Haram operates. So rather than use the information from the US assistance to curb Boko Haram, it turned out that the Nigerian Army is using the information to actually avoid Boko Haram. This is very serious but laughable.

The Nigerian Army over the years have sold many of its weapons and ammunition to Boko Haram. Boko Haram is a big threat to the Nigerian Army that is full of treacherous fellows. We knew that before the US came, but now we have a confirmation that they are not only treacherous but also fearful.

This is the same army that stopped the war in Liberia, Sierra Leone and made impacts in Congo. At home the Nigerian army is a failure. But this is not a sudden occurence, it was a systematic breakdown coming from the failure of governance and the roles of the Northern elites.

The Northern elites remain pleased with Boko Haram if that is what we bring them back to the presidency in Nigeria in 2015.

The way this whole mess is playing out and with the murder and massacre of Nigerians in Northern Nigerian and Abuja, the Northern elites will wake up soon to realise that they have been chopping off the fingers that feed them knowingly or unknowingly.

Governance in Nigeria is a huge joke anyway with the ruler Mr. Goodluck apparently not feeling safe outisde the Aso rock and bursting off any visit around troubled areas. He is so scared of the Nigerian army he feels like one of them can sniff his life away. This is the state of loyalty of the Nigerian army to the Nigerian nation.

Goodluck Jonathan is a coward, but playing smart in a small confine. He should have rounded up all the former and serving generals and civilians who promoted, supported and financed Boko Haram. He was so slow things got out of hand. He may have been part of a terror cell himself which will seem logical too. I agree it is more complicated than that but doing nothing at all because of selfish interest and political power is costing Nigerians innocent life. Add to the injustice and madness of corruption in Nigeria, this is hopelessness for the common people.

So, no the girls are probably gone a long time ago. Boko Haram had all the time in the world to diaply arrogance and “freedom”. The hide and seek game is very insultive to the collective inteligence of informed Nigerians.

I don’t know how Nigerians can co-exist in 2015, it will be one of the greatest miracles of all time if Northern Nigeria (now harbouring PDP “settled political prostitutes”) goes along with a Jonathan presidency in 2015. How are they going to conduct elections around Nigeria with bombs dropping daily? If elections are held only in certain parts of Nigeria, will that count as national elections? How far will Boko Haram take this war as the Nigerian Army plays the handicapp? The thriller will be another box office hit.

Northern Nigeria: It is Finished!

/ Adeola / 1 Comment

By Adeola Aderounmu

Terrorists continue to rein terror on Northern Nigeria. It is impossible to keep track of all the attacks and killings in Northern Nigeria.

A bus exploded in Kano killing mainly easterners of Igbo descent, probably about 30 of them.

There were attacks in Borno and the list goes on.

In Northern Nigeria, the lazy governors all collect security votes every month from the oil revenue of the south. What do they do with the security votes when terrorists have taken over the government?

Northern Nigeria is probably a lost region and that makes the segregation of Nigeria on course, or not.

Well, I want to be on the side of the people who have suggested that the clueless Goodluck Jonathan will be Nigeria’s last president.

I will change sides if someone can tell me how elections will be successfully conducted in Boko Harm Northern Nigeria. Perhaps Goodluck is
counting on Obama’s drones to eliminate the terror. That could work anyway and it means the drones will be there forever.

How I wish the people of western Nigeria can start to think ahead and rescue their people now and forever.

My twitter updates coming in says that there have been more suicide bombings and all sorts of terror attacks in the north…you can’t even finish writing about one before the next comes in.

Please divide this nonsense country and let me know where to place my worries for the Yoruba race.

A memo to Barack Obama and the world media

/ Adeola / 2 Comments

By Adeola Aderounmu

The world needs a rethink about the expressions Nigeria and Nigerians

I am a yorubaman from western Nigeria.

The Yoruba people are not terrorists and we don’t kill foreigners.

The people of the other regions can also speak for themselves. They also have bloggers and media outfits around the world.

In northern Nigeria, a place I have vowed never to visit or travel to in my lifetime, many of the states are occupied by terrorists and they are the ones giving the bad terror image to the “rest”.

In my write-ups I will now start to use the following expressions from now on

Western Nigeria
Eastern Nigeria
Southern Nigeria
Middle-Belt Nigeria
Terrorist-Occupied Northern Nigeria

I am not a fan of Obama’s drones and I hate that men, women and children can be sent to their graves by unmanned machines called drones. The drones go against protection of human rights.

However, please when sending your drones, as you and your allies may be thinking, be clear on your mission and statements.

Don’t ever tell the world you are sending drones to Nigeria.

Your drones are likely heading to Terrorist-occupied Northern Nigeria.

I speak for my people, the Yorubas. We live in an area called the ODUDUWA LAND or ODUDUWA KINGDOM or ODUDUWA REPUBLIC

I do hope the world is watching and taking notes that Nigeria as a country is a complete fraud made in 1914 by the British.

Nigerians as you call them will never be one people, will never be one country. We all made mistakes in the past and now thinking it will work as one country. That will NEVER happen.

The people occupying that area are too diverse. I am a yorubaman and I don’t even understand 99% of the Yoruba languages. The languages are so diverse that you only master your own mother tongue.

If I don’t understand all of my own people-their languages, their behaviours, their mentalities and so on- what time do I have to accommodate an insane terrorist from the North?

The bulk of my friends are from Eastern and Western Nigeria and I am pleased with that.

So, please let us start to reconsider our vocabulary when talking about the people of the regions until now called Nigerians. We are not the same and I bet many people would like to dissociate themselves from the useless terror-prone and terrorist-occupied Northern Nigeria.

CNN, BBC, The rest of the world, please take note.

So, Goodluck Jonathan’s visit shuts down Maiduguri!

/ Adeola / 3 Comments

Adeola Aderounmu

Nigeria’s ruler is visiting Borno State on Friday the 8th of March 2013 and it appears the state has shut down already.

Reports have it that the “entire” Nigerian security has been deplored to Borno State with high and tight security in place ahead of the president’s visit.

Residents are in panic and have piled up food and provision as it seems that there will be movement in Borno State on Friday.

In my opinion this is a very sad development from several perspectives.

This visit will not allow the ruler of Nigeria to see firsthand how the people of the states have lived under normal circumstances being murdered and decimated daily by terrorists (aka Boko Haram) and through government recklessness/maladministration.

Goodluck Jonathan may be visiting Borno State as a ghost town. Little wonder he said he can’t grant amnesty to ghosts. Of course he won’t see any terrorist during his visit because the state if shut down for his visit. If he is unlucky Boko Haram may disguise and blend in with his security men and do a great harm. A ghost town sometimes is more dangerous than the town of the living.

But trust the deceit of governments in Nigeria. They can rent a crowd at any time, t, and moment m. they can even bring the government-owned crowd from Abuja.

Does anyone remember the mad women and other people who demonstrated against Wole Soyinka recently? Some people in Nigeria are inexplicable useless and worthless, like the ones who organized and participated in the “rent a crowd” against Wole Soyinka after he took Patience Jonathan to the cleaners.

In any case, as per the matter at hand, would it have been out of place if Goodluck Jonathan paid an unannounced, unscheduled visit to Maiduguri?

That would have given him the opportunity to see a real life situation of life in Borno State.

This is a state that collects money from the Niger Delta oil revenue every month and yet provides no form of security for the people living in the state. Borno State doesn’t appear to be under the control of the Nigerian government. All types of terrorism network are fully established in Borno State. They come from far and near and settle in Borno. They are above the law and above the government of Borno. They have network across northern Nigeria.

In the past 2 years it is hard to know if a governor representing the Nigerian government exists in Borno State.

Suddenly the governor is giving a Friday-holiday. Why? What for?

The streets are already drying up of human and commercial activities. The holiday further makes it official that no one is expected to be on the streets when the ruler of Nigeria comes visiting.

How would Jonathan be able to access the real situation on ground after creating an artificial environment for his visit? I think, before his arrival, the purpose of the visit is defeated. For me a visit to a ghost town is useless. Why not visit the grave year instead?