Goodnight Professor Adetayo-Foluso Fagbenro-Beyioku

August 1, 2015August 1, 2015 / Adeola / 2 Comments

Goodnight Professor Adetayo Beyioku

By Adeola Aderounmu

My former lecturer and supervisor Professor Adetayo Foluso Fagbenro-Beyioku passed away on April 18 2015. She was aged 67.

Professor Adetayo Foluso Fagbenro-Beyioku

Mummy as we fondly called her was born on April 16, 1948. She attended Queens College in Yaba between 1960 and 1964. She also attended Walthamstow Hall, Sevenoaks, Kent for her Advanced Level G.C.E in Physics, Chemistry and Biology between 1965 and 1967.

She was awarded the Bachelor of Science Degree in Biology in 1971 by Georgetown College, Georgetown, Kentucky and Master of Science Degree in Microbiology in 1975 by Roosevelt University, Chicago, Illinois.

She returned to Nigeria and attended the University of Lagos where she was awarded the Doctorate Degree in Medical Parasitology in 1988.

Adetayo Fagbenro-Beyioku joined the services of the University of Lagos as Research Fellow II in 1980. She rose steadily and was appointed Professor of the Department of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, in 2003.

Professor Beyioku was a former Deputy Provost at the College of Medicine of the University of Lagos. She was also a former member of the University of Lagos Governing Council.

She was buried according to her wish (after a private ceremony) on the same day she died.

Until her death she was one of Nigeria’s leading voices in the field of malariology.

In various ways, ranging from research, publications, participation in health programs, formulation and implementation of policies to mentoring students mummy was one of those who ensured that the study and knowledge of the malaria parasites remain relevant in Nigerian medical schools and research institutions.

A quick survey of some recent publications in malariology indicates that mummy contributed immensely to our knowledge of malaria epidemiology, immunology, chemotherapy and prevention.

Recent publications with Professor Beyioku’s name:

A current analysis of chemotherapy strategies for the treatment of human African trypanosomiasis

Variable geographical distribution of Blastocystis subtypes and its potential implications

Identification and characterization of microsporidia from fecal symptoms of HIV-positive patients from Lagos, Nigeria

Comparative studies of entero-parasitic infections among HIV sero-positive and sero-negative patients in Lagos, Nigeria

Strongyloides stercoralis and the human immune response

____________________

Mummy wrote her name in the Nigerian Medical Hall of Fame. She did with an indelible ink as her name and contributions will be cited in literatures and projects for generations to come.

People will talk about her as a good mother, a dedicated wife, a wonderful mentor and an exemplary lecturer/supervisor.

For a long time to come mummy’s work will be carried out and reflected through her postgraduate/research students. Some of her previous students are now professors, associate professors and senior research fellows in various institutions and universities around the world.

Below are the tributes written by some of mummy’s former students: (in no special order)

___________

Tribute 1 Written by Bolaji N. Thomas, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Immunology & Molecular Biology, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester NY 14623. Email: bolaji.thomas@rit.edu

I write not just as a former student, but as a member of the “family”. Professor Beyioku was an advisor and mentor. We call her Mum because she does that one thing, which others would not or cannot, and does it superbly well-LISTEN. She was the support we needed to go through our programs, the calm when things seem difficult and the laughter needed to break the tension and unexpected awkwardness. I recall the days of chatting over coffee, generating research ideas and brainstorming on how to bring the ideas to fruition; the sense of equanimity and the gentle guidance along the way. I learnt a lot from you. You left too soon but be sure we will keep the banner flying. Goodbye.

Tribute 2 Written by Dr. Adekunle Sanyaolu, Associate Professor of Medical Microbiology & Immunology, Saint James School of Medicine, Anguilla, BWI.

This is a tribute to a great mother, Mentor, and Teacher. Professor Adetayo Fagbenro-Beyioku was a dedicated teacher and a loving mother to her children. She made a great impact in the lives of her students and children with her compassion. As a good teacher, she took us, shaped our thoughts and nurtured us in our career path in life. In addition to imparting training, she also inspired us to be good leaders and be compassionate to others. Reminiscing our school days, she showed great interest in our career development and provided advice and guidance to our social lives. Without her guidance and support, we will not be where we are today. We will miss her support forever. Adieu! RIP.

“Most people end up with no more than few people who remember them, however, teachers have many more people that remember them forever”……..Anonymous.

Tribute 3 Written By Dr. Nnaemeka Iriemenam

Professor Fagbenro-Beyioku was a great tutor and mentor to all her students. Each one of us benefited from her immense and vast expertise. Mummy as we fondly called her nurtured us to be what we are today in the world. Her dedication to service, humility, hard work, and intellect shaped our respective career development. You are highly missed by your students and your legacy lives in our days. Adieu!

________________

To conclude these tributes in honour of our former lecturer and supervisor, l asked one of her daughters (Yele) some personal questions. I wanted to know what she missed most about her mother. She told me that she missed everything about her. That sums up mummy: She was very caring and she meant the world to her children.

It was this motherhood that she brought to her office and to the job.

Professor Adetayo Foluso Fagbenro-Beyioku

Personally, I remember all the laughter l took with me whenever l was leaving her presence. It touches me how she remembered all the things/information l shared with her during my postgraduate days at CMUL. I remember how at just 29, she allowed me to lecture one of her courses-Medical Parasitology for 300 level medical students.

Mummy’s death came to many of us as a shock and one of us Dr. Ninan Obasi is yet to find the words to express his shock.

Professor Adetayo Fagbenro-Beyioku will be missed by everyone that knew her. She touched many lives directly and indirectly and in special ways.

Mummy is survived by children and grandchildren.

May her gentle soul rest in eternal peace.

Goodnight mummy!

_________

Footnotes

The University of Lagos honoured late Professor A-F Beyioku with Academic Procession/Commendation Service at The New Great Hall, CMUL, Idiarabla on July 31 2015.

This piece is published to coincide with her Final Burial Ceremony (Thanksgiving and Reception) on Saturday, August 1, 2015 at 11:00 a.m. at the Divine Events Centre, Shepherd Hill Baptist Church, Obanikoro Bus Stop, Lagos.

Acknowledgements

Thank you for your contributions:

Dr. Bolaji Thomas

Dr. Emeka Iriemenam

Dr. Adekunle Sanyaolu

Thank you for our discussion:

Dr. Ninan Obasi

With additional information from

http://campuslife.unilag.edu.ng

http://www.akahitutors.org

aderounmu@gmail.com

2015 Most Wanted Report

January 3, 2015January 4, 2015 / Adeola / Leave a comment

If the calls for the trial and imprisonment of George Bush Jr. for example cannot be found in the report for 2014, maybe a call for pardon or amnesty (and not a justification) for Charles Taylor will not be out of place as well.

All men are equal and what is good for the goose ought to be good for the gander.

2015 Most Wanted Report

By Adeola Aderounmu

The Human Right Watch Report for 2015 is one of the most anticipated world reports of the year. It will read 2015: The events of 2014.

What keen observers will be hoping to read will not only be the events of 2014 but more accurately the revelations of 2014. This means that known but hidden/classified reports covering the human rights violations of the United States and her allies during recent wars and occupations of other countries will be expected to make the reports.

In 2014 the United States, was described as having medium risk of human rights offenses and she ranked 139th among the 197 countries. The ten worst countries were

10. Nigeria

Yemen

Myanmar

Iraq

Afghanistan

Somalia

Pakistan

The Democratic Republic of Congo

Sudan and

1. Syria

The conditions that made these ten countries the worst places in 2013 were largely unchanged in 2014.

For example the Syrian civil war with the rise of ISIS in the Middle East still places Syria and Iraq amongst the worst places to be born in 2014. Religion despite all its rites of morality unfortunately also remains the most dangerous tool when brothers set out to kills their own kinds.

Boko Haram kept its hold on North Eastern parts of Nigeria and continues to control many local government areas in Borno and neighboring states. The terror group remains specialists in abducting and raping young girls. With Boko Haram, slave trade and human trafficking are kept alive in the Sahara.

The rise and successes of Boko Haram may stall the February elections in certain places in Nigeria. This may be so significant that it may result in the postponement of the elections with expected mayhem and escalation of the drums of war.

In Southern Nigeria it appears Mr. Jonathan has equipped his local militants with weapons from Norway, South Africa and Pakistan in readiness for war. The Nigerian military on the other hands is ill-equipped and had forfeited many grounds and weapons to Boko Haram.

In the 2015 Human Right Watch Report, Nigeria will be presented not only as an extremely corrupt country but a geographical region where human rights violations are rife and face escalation.

The rest of the world will not be disappointed with the established activities of the Taliban. Their yearlong crimes in 2014 culminated in massacre of 132 school children in Peshawar.

But back in the United States, there were more provocative revelations about the roles of the United States military in Iraq and Guantanamo. The revelations have heightened the call for the trial of George Bush a former president of the United States and some of his military chiefs.

Apart from the war crimes there were serious internal challenges in 2014 that rightly positioned the US as a serious contender as one of the countries with the worst human right violations in 2014.

The extra judicial killings that have been watered down for several decades reared their ugly heads and took on a non-suppressive dimension in 2014. It will be unfair to blame this awareness on media hype. I do not agree that the media blew the unfortunate events out of proportion. It is just the right thing to do rather than remaining silent when a persistent evil repeats itself with clear precisions.

Human Right Index 2014

No amount of media hype will be excessive to seek justice and redress for the killings of Eric Gardner, Michael Brown, Kajieme Powell, Vonderrit Myers Jr and Antonio Martin just to mention a few that got our attention in recent months. Who knows exactly how many John, Jane and Baby Does went down in the US in 2014?

There are quite a handful of images and videos emanating from the US and going viral on the social network that depict in extreme situations daylight executions of colored people by white cops.

The 2015 Human Right reports will be of interest, a waiting thriller perhaps.

The place of the killer drones is hard to define but it has come to represent a form of repressive, excessive force, large unaccounted for. The American killer drones under Mr. Obama widen the stretch of international war crimes.

The world is waiting. Where will the US be? Based on current knowledge and events, will the authors miss the position of the US among or near the ten worst countries? Shall we be distracted to Russia, Ukraine and North Korea as a reprieve?

More so the double standard of rating human right abuses is condemnable.

What makes Charles Taylor suitable for prosecution / jail term based on human right abuses in Liberia and Sierra Leone but the presidents of the United States and the Prime Ministers in Britain unsuitable for prosecutions despite all the war crimes committed on their behalf around the world?

Charles Taylor is serving a 50 year jail term for aiding and abetting war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sierra Leone and Liberia. His arrest, detention and trial brought about a weird diplomatic drama among many countries including Nigeria, Liberia, the US, Britain and the Netherland.

Charles Taylor spoke of injustice early in his trial because he pointed out that George Bush and Dick Cheney are guilty of the same crimes he was accused of. All his other lines of defense also fell flat.

The world is watching closely again. The United States is expected to be among the worst countries in the world where human rights violations became an issue. This view is shared by several independent human right observers.

It is expected that Human Right Report will be clear on highlighting how different forms of torture were used in Abu Dhabi, Guantanamo and so on.

The world is waiting to read the report about the innocent American citizens who fall to police bullets everyday on home soil without recourse to justice.

So many things are unclear. For example, there are more colored people in jails for crimes related to drug possessions but the white population has the larger percentage of drug users. The tilted nature of criminal prosecutions in America does not favor the African-Americans.

The Human Right Watch report for events of 2014 is under a special watch light.

The reports of the watch dog will be closely monitored. If the calls for the trial and imprisonment of George Bush Jr. for example cannot be found in the human right report for 2014/2015, maybe a call for pardon or amnesty (and not a justification) for Charles Taylor will not be out of place as well.

All men are equal and what is good for the goose ought to be good for the gander.

aderounmu@gmail.com

Sex, Drugs and Aviation

November 30, 2014 / Adeola / Leave a comment

In another place Femi will be in jail for corruption and face fresh charges for violence against women. The hierarchy system in Nigeria enslaves the police and the judiciary as institutions of justice

Sex, Drugs and Aviation

By Adeola Aderounmu

Adeola Aderounmu

Chioma was working at a fashion design outfit at the International Airport, Lagos. She was responsible for procurement and marketing of the products that included imported wears and Nigerian made attires.

One day Femi met Chioma at the Airport. As the minister for aviation, it is probably not unwise to have your eyes on every moving object at the airport. If you are into women, it makes it more interesting to scrutinize the cameras for the best female images in skirts and sometimes jeans.

When Chioma graduated she served at the ministry of aviation. It was easy to get such a posting. If you are from a family with an influential mother and uncle and you date the minister for aviation in Nigeria, there are almost no closed doors for you anymore.

It was easy for Chioma to find national service placement under Femi. It was also an easy automatic retention at the ministry of aviation. Eventually Chioma left the IT department for the position of personal assistant to the minister for aviation. Too easy!

There is no accountability or probity in Nigeria. Added to the heavily compromised law system and a very weak judiciary, this lack of probity makes it possible for public office holders to launder money, among other crimes. They can steal or loot without control.

Femi was one of the financially reckless federal ministers under Mr. Obasanjo. Who among them is not reckless? All Nigerian politicians have stolen from the treasury and they still do so as you read. Annual budgets in Nigeria are annual rituals for self-enrichment.

To Chioma, Femi promised the world. For real he rented a house in Abuja and bought another at Stillwater Estate in Lekki.

He promised to divorce his wife fondly referring to her as the Ghanaian who had his children.

He bought different cars that included a fondly remembered Benz and a Peugeot 607. Life was good. They travel together and they attended functions together. They had such great fun!

Festac Town never departs from my essays. I grew up seeing how Nigerian criminal politicians polluted the 4th Avenue and we called the place Naira Burial Ground. O! How they blew our treasuries away. They stole our commonwealth and built mansions after mansions on our nature reserve.

Femi was not in the picture when the criminals that ruled with the tropical gangster General Babangida destroyed Festac Town but he drove to Festac a few times when he dated Chioma. The police escort and the sirens disrupted our neighborhood. The people around could feel the oppression.

It was not clear to many people who the visitors were at that time. But that rotten aura of power and money drenched the atmosphere. Femi and Chioma’s dating was very special. She was so in love that she was keenly looking forward to the wedding bells.

Some men can carry along with a lot of arrogance and air of false impressions. But they cannot run away from the truth. The other things they cannot run away from are their past, who they are and who/what they fear.

Femi’s wife lives in Ghana. Still it appears that the fear of her is the beginning of his wisdom. He became a spiritual man when he was cured of his addiction to drugs. He remained thankful to his wife’s religious denomination for his deliverance. It may have been a wellness center or a Rehab with spiritual undertones. Whatever, he claimed victory in Ghana.

Why did Femi become a drug addict? What is he trying to run away from so that drugs were the solutions? When ex-addicts share their stories, they help contribute to the wealth of knowledge about abuse and prevention. They save lives.

Chioma and the other women in Femi’s life before and after her will be the best people to answer these questions. She became a subject of domestic violence, constant threats and abuse. On those days when there are disagreements that normal couples have, Femi would make a storm out a tea cup and send mobile policemen to eject Chioma from her residence.

Sometimes it takes a counter order from Chioma’s mum to neutralize these matching orders. The type of security at the estate where intruders are well kept off was also helpful. Who knows how many times Chioma would have been homeless in Lekki? Is this part of the pains of living with people with a history of drugs?

Who can comprehend the influence of insane minds on the Nigerian political scene? Isn’t this more significant now that a former drug baron is the PDP chairman in SW Nigeria? How many drug barons, drug addicts and other people under the influence are roaming free in government establishments across Nigeria? Don’t they need help?

In Nigeria, as long as a politician is acting like the others, there can never be a problem of prosecution for crimes or embezzlements. Femi was probably under the influence at the time he stepped on some toes that were bigger than Chioma’s. If you are a talkative and an unstable person, there is no limit to the number of enemies you’ll have to cope with in your life time.

Obasanjo who brought Femi into his PDP government was also the one who had to arrange a settlement meeting between Femi and the some elements from Northern Nigeria. Nigeria is messed up! Femi probably crawled while the begging and apology tendering lasted. Who knows how long his trials would have lasted? But they did last even after Obasanjo’s intervention.

It was not a surprise that he was exposed to a lot of probes and prosecutions after his days as a minister. He was not forgiven. The enemies from the North, who in no small measures have drained Nigeria and her economy, while contributing almost nothing, pounced on Femi as his immunity expired. Femi will remain eternally grateful to Goodluck Jonathan for his freedom.

Obasanjo, a friend of the Fani-Kayodes, was not enough to quench the flames in Femi’s political struggles and travails. His defection back to the PDP like the prostitute he is was the final option. He had to lick the boots of Jonathan after describing him vigorously as the man without balls (he was on point though).

Jonathan is Femi’s saviour. The man without balls now has balls that Femi was forced or lured to lick!

On a phone conversation last week, I had a laugh with my pal as we discussed this “freedom” because we know the guilt is written all over Femi. If he didn’t step on toes with his wagging tongue, he wouldn’t have had anyone exposing his criminal acts under Obasanjo.

But no matter how one looks at it, the judiciary in Nigeria is almost totally useless. The Police are useless too when it comes to handling political crimes committed by politicians. The hierarchy system in Nigeria enslaves the police and the judiciary as institutions of justice. Too shameful!

The freedom that all Nigerian politicians enjoy as criminals is a complete disgrace to the intelligence of all Nigerians, cumulatively.

It will be impossible to find a Nigerian minister who did not loot while in office. The presidency has always been rotten and corrupt. We didn’t need a NYT report to tell us that Nigerian politicians are guilty or that the present occupiers of the presidency are very bad and incompetent people. It has always been so.

So who are you as an ex-minister to claim sainthood or righteousness, even if you are set free by a useless court and dundee judges? People should leave the God of the Israelites out of their defective cerebrum when addressing the rest of us.

We have always known that those who go to jail or appear in the court of law at all are those who stepped on toes of the reigning power. Some went to jail a long time ago because the military led by treason perpetrators and gangsters like Buhari and Babangida sent them there.

When Obasanjo almost spent on all Nigeria’s reserve on his third term ambition, nobody could stop him. No one dare to probe or prosecute him even many years after he was disgraced out of office.

It’s kind of a funny circus because Obasanjo recently called Nigerian lawmakers thieves. They are all the same.

When Obasanjo’s camp gave practical and authentic evidence of how Atiku looted Nigeria because of Atiku’s opposition to his third term ambition, nothing happened.

In Nigeria, it pays to be a criminal in political attires, even to this day.

One day, long before the corruption court cases against Femi sprang up, all the cards started to fall apart.

Chioma was on her way to the US when she was stopped by some security agents at the Airport, a place she knows so well. It is where everything started, and almost ended. For a while Femi faded in the background and lived in denial. Talk of men without balls…I hear you loud.

But in the end, according to how impunity and lawlessness reign in Nigeria, Femi had to clean up the mess. It was already out of control, but manageable. I guessed that much he owed her.

It is not clear how many times they had done this before: that is travelling with loads of raw cash or just purely going on a money laundering trip.

However this unexpected arrest of Chioma was one in a cascade that will end the story of a castle that was built in the air.

Despite his erratic behavior, Femi was obsessed with Chioma. He almost put a gsm tracker on her to monitor all her movements. He has a lot of rules and regulations that Chioma must follow. He had the intention of cutting her away from her friends.

In plain terms, it appears that Femi wanted to breed a sex slave at home and a lover in the eyes of the world. There was a lot of air of jealousy and not wanting to share Chioma with her family. That was extreme and definitely not normal.

Chioma was occasionally battered at home. Her family grew increasingly worried about the relationship. The brewing songs of marriage was called off before it happened.

We are concerned for your life; her family told her in plain terms.

Her residence at Lekki was put up for sales when the bubbles were getting too large. She must get away to be free from sex and domestic abuses. She packed and left.

Chioma’s fairy tale ended. Before that she mingled in some of Nigeria’s powerful circuits. When she was having fun and spending time with the unstable man that was always saying bad things about his ex-girlfriends, she met Nigeria’s most powerful men-the rulers destroying the country.

No one is sure that Femi is free from drugs or the residual effects of the previous abuses. When Chioma left, bad things have been said about her. Femi cannot stop talking ills about his ex-girlfriends. It will be interesting to know what he did to the Northern mafia who almost finished him.

Chioma is rebuilding her life in Eastern Nigeria while Femi continues to wiggle in political wilderness trying to find his way back to relevance through political prostitution.

In another place he will be in jail for corruption and face fresh charges for violence against women.

There are so many things wrong with Nigeria. One of such is allowing very bad people and criminals to escape justice and to even rule.

The day leaders arise in Nigeria, the walk to freedom will start.

aderounmu@gmail.com

The Madrilenean

September 14, 2014 / Adeola / 2 Comments

“I will go to a place where nobody knows my name, a place where the language is different”

The Madrilenean

By Adeola Aderounmu

Adeola Aderounmu

Pablo grew up in Girona. This town has about 100 000 people. His childhood went too quickly or maybe not. It depends on which perspective he chose. When he thought about the years he had to endure with his sisters, then it was a long, uneventful childhood.

On the other hand when he thought about what could have happened if he could turn back the time, then it was a period that went rather quickly. As a result of his feelings during his teenage and college days, he forgone many things that many other children his age did.

There are many things that Pablo will like to forget. There are so many things he hoped will be left in his thoughtless moments.

But what happened to Pablo actually that almost destroyed his life especially his relationship with his family. Here is the story.

Pablo has 3 sisters. He is the only son of his parents. At a very early age, he started to pull away from everyone in his household. He felt totally different. When his parents noticed his strange withdrawal, they tried to pamper him. Pablo’s withdrawal became more intense and his parents regretted that they did not consult a professional. Where did we go wrong? His mother pondered.

One day his father decided to take a long walk. He thought deeply about his family situation-how his daughters are having the best days of their lives and how his only son is turning to a complete stranger. He slipped at the edge of the pavement and broke a toe. He is a man who believes in omen. His favourite is the spirit of the puma.

Once he had a twisted ankle when he was taking a walk in the woods and thinking about Pablo. When he got a broken toe walking on the other side of the town, he decided that he will never worry about Pablo again. He thought he may develop a serious health problem like stroke if he worries more about Pablo. A twisted ankle and then a broken toe will do. The spirit of the puma will guide Pablo, he reasoned.

It didn’t matter what anyone did, Pablo did not feel that he was loved. At home the conclusion was that Pablo was acting the last child or the last born. One day Aleksandra the eldest sister told a joke and said, mamma, maybe you should have let pappa make the 5th baby. Maybe Pablo wanted a brother to play with. He doesn’t like us because we are girls.

Pablo was 10 years at the time and the joke turned out to be a bad one. He locked himself in the room and skipped school for 3 days. He came out only when everyone had left home and helped himself to some juice and biscuits. His mother cried. She was completely devastated how bad things turned out socially for Pablo.

Pablo had always thought that his sisters are getting all the attention at home. No one is sure exactly when he got that perception but it must have registered in his brain quite early. His mother even said, maybe he heard too many voices when he was a foetus and got fed up with everyone even before he was born.

On the surface everyone at home knew that Pablo’s feelings or perceptions were incorrect. But deep inside they don’t know what approach would make him cherish and love them the way they love him. So the most difficult task at home and sometimes at school and at the playgrounds was how to correct the impressions and help Pablo get along socially. He was growing up and his family feared that he may become a social misfit. This trait is uncommon in Catalonia.

What was obvious was that Pablo did not know how to feel as a boy because everywhere he looked in the house, he saw girls and things that belonged to girls. This made him uncomfortable and sad and he thought he was different from the other boys in his class. His heart continued to grow cold as he grew up.

Pablo hated school. It is a place that brought him in contact with many other categories of people. However he learnt to dissociate his social deficiency from his academic needs. Therefore he excelled even as a withdrawn student. This was one of the reasons his parents did not seek professional help for him. His future looks bright, his mother said to his father one day when they looked at some of his results after a quarterly conference with the school teachers.

When he was 18 Pablo started to work at the postal agency. He saved a lot of money because this is a work he had no need for. His father is wealthy and even his mother inherited a lot of fortunes from her grandparents. His parents understood that Pablo took the job so he could skip encountering his sisters at home. It was one of his weird ideas of what freedom means.

By the time Pablo became a graduate at the age of 23, there was only one of his sisters left unmarried. With only Cecilia at home, Pablo was beginning to see the world from another perspective. But he had a hard time to express his feelings. He never liked his sisters yet he’s feeling the vacuum created when Aleksandra and Viveca left home forever.

When he was a young boy he promised never to love anyone because he doesn’t know what it means. I will never know what it means to love, he told himself. He hated his childhood. He does not like to remember it. He felt lonely, quite often. These women have ruined my life, so he thought. He cannot remember when he started hearing their voices but it appeared like forever until now that Cecil is the only one left.

Despite all his troubles Pablo turned out to be one of the outstanding engineers in Girona. People have noticed that he likes to be alone but they have also come to appreciate his effectiveness and productivity at work. This was also an outstanding observation his former boss made when he worked at the postal agency.

Pablo found the courage and will to rent his own apartment. When he was 25 and Cecil was preparing to get married, Pablo decided it was time for him to move on. That’s what he did.

One day Pablo was tired after work. It was his third year at the factory and he had accumulated his annual leave. So he decided he will travel to another city in another country. He made up his mind to travel to a place he had never been before.

I will go to a place where nobody knows my name, a place where the language is different. So he left. He travelled by road to Barcelona and flew from there to St. Petersburg.

One day he stood at the central station at St. Petersburg. He was looking at the map, trying to find his way around.

But the map he was looking at was inside a frame made of glass. So it also looked like a mirror. He saw himself as he looked at the map for directions.

Suddenly he saw the image of a woman too. There was a pretty woman looking at the same map. She stood behind him.

(Read Part 2 Next Week)

aderounmu@gmail.com

Postcards From Legoland, Denmark

July 25, 2014August 26, 2015 / Adeola / Leave a comment

LEGOLAND, Denmark

By Adeola Aderounmu

Happiness is one of the most important things in life.

When I set out on this holiday trip with my family, I knew my next article would be written in Denmark and I would like to find some inspirations, taking the time off my holiday mood and punching my keyboards. I write from Lanladia-Legoland.

Lanladia is a small settlement in Billund which is about 265 km from Copenhagen. We took a long road trip all the way from Stockholm. That was the plan.

Before we left Sweden we made quite a number of stops on our way. We spent the first night at a small town called Vetlanda in Småland, in the heart of Sweden. Actually we visited a friend of my wife and her family and spent the night at their country home. It’s situated on a farm area. The children had fun with the kittens and the cows on the farm.

Vetlnda Farm House

We also saw a friend of mine Olutayo Adegoke before we arrived at the farm house. It was an impromptu stopover but he was glad to take a short break from his work as we had lunch in a park near his office just outside Nörrköping. It was almost incredible when Tayo told me he would be travelling to Nigeria that night. What a stop we made!

Adeola Aderounmu and Tayo Adegoke

The next day our first stop was Avesta, also a small town in the South of Sweden. There lives Kelechi Udeh, a youg man I knew from Festac Town. We had lunch again in the open and near a car park at the center of the small town. We mingled with Kelechi for about 45 minutes and off we drove. He told me he is very happy to be settled in Avesta and I was marvelled how a Festac Town found happiness in a small town. Variety will remain the spice of life. It will always be in order to bloom where one has been planted.

With Kelechi Udeh in Avesta

We reached Malmö in the early evening. Tolu Taylor agreed to host us for dinner. We were not going to say no. Tolu, a big brother, was my senior at Festac Grammar School. Adeolu Sunmola who was my junior and my student at the same school joined us. Onyebuchi Echigeme completed the mini reuniuon of the Festac Boys in Malmö when he later joined us for dinner at Tolu’s house. Indeed, Festac Town and the people from Festac are always close to my heart.

With Tolu Taylor and Adeola Sunmola in Malmö City

With Tolu Taylor and Adeolu Sunmola in Malmö City

We spent the night in Malmö and drove off to Denmark the next morning. We left home in Sweden on Tuesday morning and arrived Legoland in Denmark on Thursday shortly after lunch. We have driven close to 1000 km without encountering a single pot hole. I called European (E) roads paradise roads.

with Onyebuchi Echigeme

When this essay goes to publication we will probably be on a homeward journey. If our plans work fine, we will make surprise stops at Gothenburg and Örebro to vist more of my friends and incredibly it’s all about the Festac Town connections. They were built connections built from 1977 to 2002. They will last for life. In Copenhagen, we will be lucky if Mary Owolabi is home when we make our journey out of Denmark. She spoke of other plans, but we’ll see what happens.

The children are having a blast. I read one day ago that Denmark is now the home of the happiest people on earth. It’s a good thing to be here when it happened. LEGOs are made or born in Denmark and it is a good experience for the children to see where some of their toys come from and how they come to life in Billund, Denmark. They are old enough never to forget the experience. The adventures have been awesome.

What will be hard for them to know is my heart felt wish or desire for the country where I was born. Unfortunately our experiences together in Nigeria in 2010 were mostly unpleasant. We spent 2½ hours at MMIA before our luggage were complete in our care, ran on generators for 2 weeks, nearly suffocated in heavy and static traffic, had limitations to where we could go and things we could do. The best thing about Nigeria was the warmth of our families and friends.

I have read the news, followed my twitter stream and stayed in touch with global events. I have read so many conspiracy theories on the Malaysia Airline plane that crashed in Ukraine. There are always more sad news than good news or maybe the good things are not always newsworthy. I am mostly worried about the things that are going on in Nigeria, a paradise lost.

Yea, Malala came to town. She was in Abuja to press for the release of the Chibok girls. Then the “bringbackourgirls” campaign group entered a one chance roforofo fight with the corrupt Nigerian presidency. Mr. Jonathan was at the fore front of a “fight” for once in a lazy presidential life time. I learnt he was bitter when he was refused the chance of meeting the Chibok parents.

I know there was an allegation of a missing $20 bn from a government that is now trying to borrow $1bn to fight Boko Haram. Who are the clowns in Aso rock? Everyday several billions of dollars are lost to oil theft only in Nigeria. Everyday too, Nigerian politicians loot several billion of dollars in the executive, legislature, state governments and local governments. That’s the way to explain their sudden riches and capabilities to buy up anything including the former tallest building in Lagos/Africa. They can buy customized private jets anytime they want. How much do they earn legitimately?

The government that steals so much money should be ashamed to even ask for the least borrow-able amount from any creditor. The same government is paying huge sums annually to foreign PR firms and lobbyists to help it repair its battered image and to label Nigerians in such ways as to promote the corrupt government. Only dubious creditors will be willingly to lend money to government that is supposed to be richer than it-the creditor. They call it business when they do.

There is no greater PR than eradicating corruption and serving the people rather than selves. The extremely low level of mentalities of the Nigerian politician leaves one in awe and shock. From the view of the rest of the informed world, it is mockery and easily set Nigeria among the countries ruled by nonentities. The classification, “among the most corrupt” is too easy.

There is at present a wave and fear of impeachment going on in Nigeria only in APC controlled states or in states where a governor brought a PDP-stolen mandate to the APC fold. My bigger expectation is for the Nigerian revolution that will totally impeach, sack and sweep altogether what is probably the most corrupt government in the world with headquarters in Aso Rock, Abuja.

Unless such happens, several million Nigerians will never experience the real meaning and essence of life. The witch-hunting and cosmetic approaches of politicians against politicians who are themselves the major problem with Nigeria are not close to the cleansing solution that Nigeria and Nigerians need. The Promised Land is getting farther.

I knew since 2011 that governance is on a long recess in Nigeria. The trend is common and predictable. Once an election period is over and the new captors of Nigeria settle down to amass, steal, loot and drain the treasuries, the struggle that will sustain or produce the next conquerors of Nigeria quickly goes into motion.

In the last three years, such a condemnable trend has produced the largest number of political prostitutes ever in Nigeria’s history. It is part of the reasons the wave of impeachment became the strongest weapon today, for rather than service to the people and fulfilment of electoral promises it was business as usual and psycho-egocentrism peculiar to the Nigerian political class. It is therefore too easy to line up impeachable offences against those on the other side of the power divide.

Nigeria’s politics is driven by insatiable lust for money and the highest bidders always buy the consciences of the ever-hungry looters called politicians (and sadly the populace too). In all, they are all birds of the same feather and 99.9% of them from Aso rock to Badagry and Sambisa local government areas ought to be spending time in jails by now. But we know that the institutions are dead in Nigeria, the worst hit being the powerless police and the strikingly corrupt judiciary.

The in-thing in Nigeria today is rice politics and stomach infrastructure. Nigerians have short memories and those who are old enough have learnt nothing from history. Even as a boy in primary school I was aware of the consequences of the politics of stomach infrastructure championed by one Shehu Shagari in the late 70s slash early 80s. The NPN was a short-sighted political group that distributed rice, clothes and even apartments to members to ensure that they rig and won the elections back in the days. The rest is history.

That history that includes the extensive reign of tyranny and dictators is what Nigerians have not learnt from. That the PDP, APC or any other party can distribute rice directly or through criminal sponsors is an indication that Lagbaja’s theory of 200 million mumus is a fact. I am short of words or expressions. The situation is not normal; Nigerians are caged, mentally and psychologically!

No matter where I go, no matter what I do. I will always argue for and on behalf of more than 90m Nigerians suffering in silence, disconnected totally from governance and having no idea of the meaning of life, how much more the good life in this temporary passage called earth or world.

I will always argue for social justice, the common good, and a clear understanding of the meaning and essence of life which is not far from the principle of live and let live. I know that illiteracy and total ignorance play huge roles in some parts of the country. I know that the North is a catastrophe based on narrations of friends who went up North.

What I saw in rural Oyo State during my service year in 1995/96 broke my heart. I saw very young and immature people having more children than the number of meals they can have daily. Even most of the adults have no clear scope of what types of life they were living. There is a lot of work to be done across the nations within Nigeria eventually. Education is a top priority now and in the future no matter what becomes of Nigeria or the regions enclosed within it.

My hope for Nigeria and the nations within it is that they will rise again and be on the path they were on the eve of October 1st 1960. The hope includes the rise of functional regional institutions that will usher or return good governance politically, economically and socially. Security of life and property through functional regional security is not the least of priority in a terrorist infected geographical space.

Nigerians are broken almost beyond repair and they need more than a miracle. Nothing short of a revolutionary ideology can save the day, nothing! It must be possible to wipe away corruption, nepotism, tribalism, looting and anything at all that stands in the way of the common happiness. There must be a way forward to build trust and comfort.

Happiness is all that matters in life. The excessive wealth piled up by Nigerian politicians is a reflection of their ill mental statuses, insensitivity to the plights of the deprived and an absolute lack of the understanding of the meaning and essence of life.

There must be a way to knock some senses into the politicians and public office holders that in a transient world, the senseless accumulation of wealth through direct stealing or looting is barbaric, meaningless and inconsistent with expectations of public services directed at humanity. If it takes a revolution of ideology or the over anticipated Saharan revolution, so be it. Silence on the part of a people being oppressed and misruled is not golden.

“Postcards from Denmark” is dedicated to:

1. A friend, Gbenga Akinbisehin (1973- July 16 2014). I heard about your death as a checked in at Malmö, you left too soon, too sudden. You’ll be missed.

2. Every non-corrupt Nigerian working genuinely hard everyday and never having the right to holidays. Your freedom will come.

aderounmu@gmail.com