Life

Asiko L’aye-Life is transient

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Asiko L’aye (Part 1)

Adeola Aderounmu

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.

Living Abroad Is Not Immortality

/ Adeola / 1 Comment

Make love. Make friends. Refresh your spirit. Laugh. Cry. Move, Run. Look back. Look forward. Reflect. Think. Read. Watch. Live! Find happiness and motivation within and around. Don’t take good health for granted. Exercise your body, mind and soul.

Living Abroad Is Not Immortality

By Adeola Aderounmu

Let me drop these few lines from the perspective of a Yoruba living far away from the land of my ancestors. These few lines will be based on my personal experiences.

I met a guy in Sweden in 2013 or thereabout. Indeed, it is a mystery how I didn’t meet him in Festac Town, Yoruba Country before I came to Sweden at the beginning of 2002.

We shared common childhood friends like the Olisehs and he knew many of the guys I played football together with, like Ubaka, George and several more. At that time of my life, my football skills took me near his own place of residence in Festac town precisely along 711 road/ 24 Road. But we met first in Stockholm at the reunion of Festac people in the Scandinavian, the first edition, which I hosted. In the subsequent edition in Finland hosted by Ebunoluwa, he could not make it.

During my visit to Malmö in 2019, he came to my hotel room and as usual we spent some quality time together.

Onyebuchi had probably arrived from Japan in the early 2000s and he contemplated whether to settle in Sweden or not. A few years later, he sent me a private message thanking me for inspiring him to stay in Sweden especially after we met in 2002. If you asked me what I told him or how I inspired him, I have no idea.

I have listened to people saying I (Adeola) did this and I did that, but often I have no recollection of what they are talking about. I just do the things I do and always stay positive that everything will work together for good. I remembered someone said I gave him the opportunity for his first white collar job in Sweden. How was I supposed to know that? It was a job that we needed someone to do, and I found him suitable. That’s just it.

In 2019 I travelled alone to Malmö in Sweden. In fact, it turned out to be my last major travel before the covid pandemic, and the last time I saw Onyebuchi in person. I drove all the way and stayed at a hotel in the central part. But I was visiting 3 friends, all with Festac connection, and Onyebuchi was one of them. It was 2 or 3 days well spent during the summer holiday. Seeing Adex and senior Tolu will always be a pleasure.

If I knew Onyebuchi had issues or could depart so soon (around Jan 1, 2023), I would have strained myself to make another drive to Malmö. Who knows what would have happened? Together, we may have changed the sequence of history. He may still be with us today. But we are mortals. We will die. That we will exit this planet is the surest thing in life. Nobody will leave planet earth alive no matter how long/short, or how good/bad we live. Death is our common denominator.

It’s just very sad to die far away from home when life has not been fully lived, when that dream of growing old is cut short. I’m happy that Onyebuchi made Malmö his home and that he loved his young son with all his heart. The agony that is felt by the families we left in our home country is the sad aspect. It is therefore imperative that whilst we are alive, that we see ourselves as living things that want to survive, that crave for happiness and fulfilment but in the end, not afraid to die. It will happen anyhow.  

We left motherland to live in faraway places. Mostly it is in search of comfort, the pursuit of happiness and fulfilment. But our accomplishments of these feats do not make us superhumans. Those who left home to faraway places are not superior beings. They are made of flesh, bones and blood. They are humans living with pains, hope, laughter, good times, bad times, thoughtful and thoughtless times. They fall sick, they get depressed, they may be curable or incurable of their illnesses. It’s still all the same about our frailty and mortality no matter where we find ourselves.

The opportunities we have to succeed are also still relative. They depend mostly on our competences and then that element of luck or coincidence that place us at the right places at the right time. A sad outcome of chasing dreams far away from home is ending up worse than what you could have become elsewhere (home or another place).

Personally, I have no idea if being a professor of Parasitology in Yorubaland would have made me happier than my life in Sweden as a special education teacher (of mathematics). Can I still become a professor? Yes. Will I aspire? I do not think so because it seems I have reached a point where I do not want my knowledge about things and my ways of reasoning to be subjected to measurement any longer. I believe with the right tools; every person can see how infinitely the human brain can function. I have been infinitely influenced by a phrase I saw in my cousin’s hose in Ibadan around 1995/96. Bloom where you have been planted. How do you know where you have been planted though?

If you have family members abroad, you need to start seeing them differently. Indeed, there are several millions of Africans scattered around the world today and the reasons are no longer due to direct slavery (even if some circumstances are similar to it). Abroad is anywhere that is not home. So how many people do you have to take into considerations when you think of the people you know abroad or in different geographical regions from where you are?

People abroad are not superhumans. They will develop new ways of thinking and acting after a long spell in places different from home or birthplace. They will make mistakes; they will fall, and they will try to rise again. They may be out of jobs, and let’s hope that is temporary. Young people generally, will lose their minds and stability if they are out of jobs permanently. Some of us will be crossed due to unstable family relationships. Humans are social animals and any attempt to find a way around that socialization is unhealthy.

Whether we are at home or abroad, we should make efforts every now and then to reach out to another (but not in cases when reaching out can cause you trauma or discomfort). Make efforts to build a new bridge if the old ones get burnt. One of the harms you can do to yourself is to be static. Make love. Make friends. Refresh your spirit. Laugh. Cry. Move. Run. Look back. Look forward. Think. Reflect. Find happiness and motivation within and around. Don’t take good health for granted. Exercise your mind and body. Read. Watch. Observe. Live.

If you open your eyes every morning, if you get out of bed every morning, think about what you can do better this day than what you did yesterday. Think about newer opportunities and if there is a little effort you can make to achieve something great. Within the limit of your human capabilities, not doing harm to yourself, see if you can make a positive influence in somebody’s life. If you can do without a payback, ask them to pay forward. If all you can do at a certain time, is for yourself, to be happy, make it clear.

In the end, home or away, we are all mortals with the same basic needs: air, water, food, companionship, and shelter. The major differences in societies, mainly due to types of government and use of common sense, are access to these things and the infrastructure that adds quality to our lives.

Malmö 2019

adeola.blog

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This essay is for you Onyebuchi Echigeme. May the city of Malmö remember you. May your son grow to be strong and worthy. Farewell my friend.

Rest in power bro!

aderounmu@gmail.com

Nigerian President Wants Ballot Snatchers Killed

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By Adeola Aderounmu

“….at the expense of his life”

This means death.

 

We have said it that this man should be taken off the ballot.

How can you say….”expense of his life’?

Because of ballot boxes?

Nowadays, nobody even snatches ballot boxes. Buhari is not even aware how the APC rigging machine brought him to power in 2015.

What a shame!

Rigging is done by manipulating results digitally through INEC.

In several states, like we saw in Abia state last week, results are written even before the elections are conducted. Yes. It is so in many places in Nigeria.

In Lagos, Tinubu can make anyone or anybody governor or assembly members. How is that possible? Buhari should just go home and stop disgracing his family in public.

Expense of his life….because of ballot box. This guy is not normal at all.

 

This video was viral on the day of the cancelled election, 16th february and it showed how election results are written by some state governor and passed to state INEC for announcement. This guy was unfortunate and surely somebody tipped the opposition or the police.

The guy did not snatch a ballot. He had results in his hands and the voting did not even take place.

Buhari’s statement is reckless, hopeless and taste of blood and vengeance. I maintain that Buhari is not a normal human being and should not be running on the platform of the APC.

History will remember that some of us kept to our stance/stand on this issue and many more in Nigeria. People may not care now, but the future generations will be guided by the mistakes of this reckless and slave-like generation of Nigerians.

 

Life, Still A Passage

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Just 2 weeks ago, (actually 3 weeks) l wrote: death either abroad or at home appears to be the only leveler between the corrupt and the saints, the rich and the poor. Life will remain a passage and only fools don’t see the vanity of primitive accumulations.

 

Life, Still A Passage

 

Adeola Aderounmu

By Adeola Aderounmu

I have made references to my essay ”A Passage Called Life” on several occasions. The essay was first published in the Nigerian Village Square on November 7, 2007.

At that time Ms. Bunmi Etteh was already brushed aside as the speaker in the Nigerian House of Representatives.  One Aminu Safana had also suddenly kicked the bucket.

In that 2007 episode l wrote about the recommendations of the Japanese.

I don’t remember where l got it from but the Japanese gave only 3 recommendations for a fulfilling life. These recommendations are 1. Have children 2. Write a book and 3 . Plant a tree.

I wish l knew where l got this from but it does not matter now. I can make my own inferences.

I remember also an ex-colleague of mine who told me that he was no longer afraid to die. When I asked him what he meant, he said now he has a child and all his fears are gone.

The meaning of the expression is deep and l leave it to my readers,the fathers and mothers out there to interprete.

For my ex-colleague, his thoughts may be in line with what the Japanese inferred.

Can everybody write a book? It depends on how you look at it. I think what will be relevant here it to tell our stories. Ideology and traditions have been sustained even in the absence of books. We can tell our stories and the custodians of history can write them for us.

Since we want our stories to be beneficial to mankind or humanity, we want it to contain good deeds.

It will be hard to read the minds of the Japanese but l do hope they realise the imperfection of mankind.

Not all of us will have children especially now that biological rules have been rewritten. We will not all plant trees because we depend on some institutions in the society to do so on our behalf.

Our stories will be our books if we write them. If we don’t, still we should not fail to share them with those we love and trust.

Then, just 2 weeks ago, l wrote an essay (108 Modern Hospitals Now) and in the conclusion l stated that death either abroad or at home appears to be the only leveler between the corrupt and the saints, the rich and the poor.

Life will remain a passage and only fools don’t see the vanity of primitive accumulations.

In the recent essay l threw a challenge to the government of Nigeria and the politicians as the custodians of our commonwealth. It was my response to the death of Diepreye Alamieyeseigha and all the Nigerian politicians who want to go abroad to die.

Why not build hospitals for yourselves and the citizens of Nigeria?

Nigerian criminal politicians and in fact all greedy and selfish people need to be told (because they do not appear to know) that life is transient and nothing last forever.

Was it Akon who sang and mentioned that tomorrow is not guaranteed?

Whilst the poor people and the masses are still clamouring for the dividends of democracy 16 years on, some fools are already scheming for the 2019 elections.

This means that they are already looting and stealing monies in small and big amounts from different corners of the country and piling them up to execute the 2019 elections.

At the same time, they-the politicians continue to earn undeserved wages, award themselves contracts and buy houses from Dubai to the US, from Britain to the Carribean.

The tradition of the Nigerian politicians since the exit of the colonial thugs remain to suppress the people and continue to impoverish them. To an extremely large and unbelievable extent they have succeeded.

Hence no matter how we have preached about the need and importance of good governance, the priority remains their selfish gains and how to make their families and friends wealthy.

It was not a good omen when people jubilated in the streets in those days when dictators or crook politicians died.

Nowadays the jubilation is on the social media. Invariably the majority of Nigerians wish that many of the politicians could drop dead one after the other.

So far, many have dropped dead actually. There is no pity here because like l mentioned in 108 Hospitals Now, we have all lost some of our loved ones due to the recklessness of governance and disorderliness in the society.

Nigeria is on rampage daily.

But our political problems are not solved by death at home and abroad because the spread of wickedness and insensitivity are still irredeemable in the souls of the conquerors of Nigeria.

Today the conquerors are the men and women parading themselves in APC and PDP folds.

I have come to the conclusion that the APC and the PDP are birds of the same feather in different nests.

Fot them there are no lessons to be learnt about the transiency of life. No lessons are learnt from history.

Nigerian politicians do not give a damn. As long as there is yam, they are glad to remain the goats until they drop dead, whichever way.

So once again, as Nigerians continue with their daily struggles looking for food and water to put on the table, one hopes that sense will prevail and that gradually Nigeria will move towards finding a lasting solution to the problems plaguing country.

Not least is the political solution that is even now more urgent.

If a man participated in an election in the morning and dropped dead in the afternoon, then it is not just tomorrow that is not guaranteed but also the rest of today

Life will remain a passage. We are all here, only for a while.

Nobody leaves this planet alive. Live and lets live..!

aderounmu@gmail.com

 

Maryam Babangida, The End of a Chapter

/ Adeola / 11 Comments

By Adeola Aderounmu

Maryam was 61 when she finally succumbed to the cold hands of death. She battled with ovarian cancer for several years.

Maryam for the record was the wife of one of Nigeria’s former evil ruler-Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida. Babangida is famous for plotting coups and he ruled Nigeria for 8 wasteful years (1986-1993).

Babangida stole more than 12 billion dollars during the gulf war alone. It is not known how much he stole in 8 years of tyranny. Maryam Babangida was obviously part of the evil reign of her husband.

Babangida could probably learn a lesson from the death of his wife and give us back our money. Life is transient and nobody will leave this world alive!

The money stolen by the Babangidas was meant for millions of Nigerians who are now living in extreme poverty and hopelessness. Meanwhile the Babangidas have been living large and far beyond the means of their military father.

There are a lots of online responses to the death of Maryam and many of them have not shown any sort of sympathy to the Babangida family. This ia largely because they consider Maryam to just be one person like anyone of us. Therefore her death is a childs’play compared to the effects that the rule of her husband had on the nation.

Babangida is reputed to have institutionalise corruption in Nigeria. his greatest evil against Nigeria and Nigerians was that he oversaw the annulment of the June 12 1993 elections. That election remained the only peaceful, free and fair election in the history of Nigeria.

But Babangida annulled that election that would have brought MKO Abiola to power as the president. MKO was killed later in detention by the Nigerian military and probably with the help of some American collaboration. Abiola died while receiving visitors sent by Bill Clinton. One question the US has not been able to address…what roles did the American entourage play in the death of Nigeria’s legitimate president?

Anyway, Babangida annulled the election/ results and created confusion that resulted to the deaths of hundreds of Nigerians in the aftermath as riots broke out nationwide.

It is not uncommon for Nigerian politicians to pay homage to Babangida. This is because the man stole Nigeria’s money like no other; he allowed corrupt people like him to occupy key offices and indeed many useless politicians in Nigeria owe their wealth and breakthroughs to Babangida. This is why the Minna home of the Babangida has become a point of rally for evil and political absurdities.

So don’t be surprise by the eulogies that will come from the political circle to honour Maryam and don’t be surprised that in the next few months from today-all roads lead to Minna.
This is Nigeria, the land of bad politics and tyranny.

Maryam is dead. Is there anything that she would have changed if we could turn back the hand of time? What were her last wishes? Definitely nothing close to evil desire of looting money!

Are there any lessons for our greedy politicians about the essence of life? Is Babangida going to give back to the Nigerian people the money he stole or would he continue to live above the law?

What will happen in Nigeria or to Nigerians that will lead to the re-emergence of good?

Judgment is coming to town and those who have eyes, let them see. Those who have ears let them hear. Yar Adua is wasting away in Saudi Arabia. There will be no greater judgment than the “feedback-evil” befalling those who knew the right thing but ended up doing the wrong thing.

Those who are still looting and doing one little thing or the other that adds up to destroy Nigeria will be rewarded accordingly while they are alive and before our very eyes.

As I close this blog entry I am completely indifferent to the passage of Maryam. If her husband and the rest of the evil rulers in Nigeria have done what they ought to do, she would have been in a Nigerian hospital rather than an American hospital. Now that Yar Adua is in Saudi Arabian hospital, let it be known that judgement may have come to town.

Death is certain, life and power are transient.

Live and let’s live..!