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.
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.
Look at the headline of this Vanguard Newspaper dated October 21, 2023. I did not read the content. If you have time, you could read it. The headline is enough for me to know that stupidity is dangerously widely spread in Nigeria
I have no idea that a country called Nigeria is still fighting corruption. Really? Are you mad?
I don’t even know where to start my analyses. I don’t even know what to write. Nigeria is fighting corruption? Which Nigeria?
If Nigeria is fighting corruption, there will be no government in Nigeria. Tinubu would be in prison by now for all the forgeries and several other offences he has committed in Nigeria and abroad. Atiku and Obasanjo would still be eating beans in Kirikiri for that 8 years of looting and destruction of lives and property.
APC, PDP and Labour Party would not be in existence if Nigeria is fighting corruption and more than 99% of the politicians and a large chunk of the key players in both private and public institutions would be in prison or exile.
The criminals are even planning to buy or they may have even bought SUVs. If this was another country, it would have been ungovernable by now because the common, hungry, homeless, jobless, noble people (some of whom are working hard but living in poverty) would have stormed the streets and earned their freedom. In a country where the above can happen, it only means the rest of the populations are slaves.
What kind of foolish headline is that ni to ri Olohun?
Please o, Vanguard, stop that type of headline. You can write about what is going on in Nigeria and anywhere in the world. But please stop using Nigeria and “fight corruption” in the same sentence. Just stop it!
Nigeria itself is “corruption” founded by some British gangsters for the orgy of the Royals in Britain. The expired colony is now sustained by the erections of the political thieves and elites in Nigeria. The only legitimate fight is to dismantle the corrupt entity and allow the entrapped Nations like Biafra and Yoruba Kingdom to find their way out and pursue peace, harmony and progress in their respective nationalities.
Living in denial does not obscure the realities of our lives, how miserable this country Nigeria has become.
My Generation Also Wasted Away
By Adeola Aderounmu
That my generation also wasted away is one thing I have come to accept. I never saw it coming (especially when I was a little boy, full of hopes and dreams of what I thought the future would be and what I would make of it).
Now, rather than shape our days and prepare our children for the future, the people I grew up with are fighting tooth and nails to ”vote”. That people are fighting to vote rather than fighting for freedom is a big disappointment. My generation has also come to symbolize emptiness, vanity and hopelessness.
To understand my essays, you have to brush aside your personal achievements or the achievements of some of the people in my (or your) generation. You must have a holistic mind of viewing the whole picture. If you tell me about people that made it in the rat race, then we should look at 200 million others who are members of the community of the poverty capital of the world.
The useless government of Nigeria made a decision to shut down universities so that election can hold in Nigeria. In 2023? I cannot find all the words to empty my frustrations and sadness in the few lines you read here.
That kind of decision is not only stupid and senseless, but also extremely irritating. It’s the kind of decision that make you rate the mental capacities of rulers of Africa very low. To make such a decision means that there is absence of minimum-level brain activities in such adults, a sort of mental retardation, so so speak.
For everyday that passes, for every hour that we wait or waste and hope on stupid Nigerian elections, the day of glory for the unborn generation shifts forward significantly. It is a very, very sad situation.
Again, this is 2023. In several countries around the world, elections are done so effortlessly that you would not even see a paper blown off the table. Personally, I have participated in several elections that allowed me to cast my vote even before the election day. No sweat, no stress, no labour. Just a walk in and a walk out after ticking some boxes. And we are all humans? So, how do we think in Nigeria?
Nigeria will never get to that point where sensible elections will be done,even 1 million years from now because Nigeria is a country founded on British fraud. Nigeria is a business enterprise created for the pleasure of the British. Nigeria is never going to be able to organize and prosper as a country.
The country is so disorganized and stressful that it is probably the worst place in the world today to be born or live. Do you think that the electoral commission in Nigeria can send people’s voting cards or registration numbers to their homes by post? The answer is NO!
There is a price, a cost for freedom but what commonsense can accomplish is priceless. Freedom for the nations entrapped in Nigeria represent the last hope for the unborn generations.
The voting papers or cards will surely disappear in transit and those that will arrive would be distorted and manipulated. The level of criminality and dishonesty in Nigeria is way out of this planet. It is in all facets and aspects of life. I posted some copies of my latest books to Nigeria in February 2022. One year later, they have not arrived the destination to which they were sent. Thieves everywhere! The books I posted to other countries in the world arrived safely.
Do you see what is going on with money change and new currency in Nigeria? That is another story for another day. If not for madness and mental retardation of Buhari and Emefiele, I do not know what else in the world that would qualify 2 idiots who changed old currencies to new currencies that were not printed. Just imagine the suffering and how people are dropping dead or going mad by taking off their clothes in banking halls and other places like the gas stations.
Let me tell you something. There are no solutions to Nigeria’s problems for as long as the people think that elections are the solutions. We have been on this trail even before the 1959 elections, if we draw our attention to just the year before the scam called independence. Personally, as a long-standing blogger, a consistent one for that matter, I have maintained that Nigeria has no business with elections.
In the time past, I thought that if we organize the system and become normal people, that we could arrange something acceptable and sensible. But now, Nigeria does not even have a reason to remain a country, so conducting elections make no sense. In the face of the reality of the diverse nationalities that cannot have a common goal, I have come to terms that something that did not work for more than 100 years will never work. It must take madness to think that Nigeria will work.
It pierced my heart, and virtually I bleed, for I do not understand why anybody that has brain cells would want to vote in or for Nigeria. Why? I have been convinced before 2011 that Nigeria will never make it through elections. Was it about 10 years ago that I wrote ”Why God will not save Nigeria”? In many ways, I have been spot-on. I will only repeat here that 20 years from now, Nigeria will be worse than it is today if the country is still in existence.
We need clarity in our minds and in our heads (brains), that even after the disintegration of Nigeria, the various nations entrapped within it would need between 50 to 100 years to normalize, make progress and establish permanent prosperity for their citizens and unborn generations.
So even if Nigeria disintegrates today, my generation remain wasted. There is no more cure for my generations. It is over. We are just waiting to grow old and die. Living in denial does not obscure the reality of our lives. But there is hope for our children and children’s children if we get back our entrapped nations today. Then we can start the journey to rebuild, the journey to reinstate and the journey to repair what was truncated by amalgamation of people with different destinies, cultures, traditions and ideologies. Nigeria is a volatile, destructive mix.
In my opinion, this fraud called Nigeria is the only country in the world that did not make progress since the 1960s. I cannot point out one country in the world that was prosperous in the 1950s where the people are living in extreme poverty in 2023. While it got better for others, Nigeria became the dustbin of the world. The elites in Fraudgeria have made a mess of existence for the masses.
It is amazing how I have written about the same thing since 2002. I mean I have given more than 2 decades of my life writing the same thing, week in, week out. Me, I salute myself. I could have looked the other way when I left Bongo in 2002 but I saw it as a call to remind myself and the people who care to listen what we missed out and how we can rescue the future for the unborn generations.
My generation has a few years left to get something right. Imagine if we convert the years of our lives that are left to days or even weeks, perhaps it may open our eyes to the essence of life and how life should be ”live” and ”let’s live”. Life is transient. Our days are soon gone, and we have so far failed to justify our existences on this planet. It’s a huge shame to all creatures on the geographical space named Nigger-Area by the gangster colonialists.
Any generation of Yoruba that want to enjoy their existence and purpose in life on the land that their ancestors left behind for them must fight early and take back control of their lives. My generation has failed and is wasted. My parents died living on hopes that Nigeria will be better. My grandparents did the same. I refused to go to my grave thinking Nigeria will make it under a senseless unitary system.
Voting, participating or getting involved in Nigerian elections means that you have no sense of history and you are very selfish. You are actively destroying the unborn generations. Your legacy is a scam. In 4 years’ time, you will still be worse off and still be voting, senselessly!
No matter what happens, no matter how it goes, these words I write will be golden because the nations entrapped in Nigeria will remain the key to a happy life, a fulfilled existence and permanent prosperity for the slaves living in present day Nigeria, when they become free. The nations entrapped in Nigeria represent the last hope for the unborn generations.
There is a price for freedom but what commonsense can accomplish is priceless.
A View From The Scandinavian 