Holiday snaps: A lounge to lunge from

An apology, I say

If anything, the “lounge” at the Madrid Barajas International Airport is a complete let-down, it exudes the worst of Spanish hospitality and comfort.

The furniture that probably looked cool years ago is dated, the fittings are cheap, the sockets are broken and falling apart, the choice of snacks leave much to be desired and to add insult to injury, one has to pay for wireless access.

Apart from the peace and quiet from the hustle and bustle of the airport terminal below, one can easily sit elsewhere with ear-plugs and be at peace.

Just not up to scratch

For a capital city airport, it is appalling, but then, I have been to the lounge at the Barcelona airport too and really, that takes the concept of lounges to a new depth of despair, it is the equivalent of the Ryanair of air travel comfort.

A bargain basement allocation of space for travellers to swear never to visit again; even if offered a bye to enter on the cheapest class of air travel available. Generally functional, rudimentary to the core and primitive at best.

I am surprised that there has been no clamour to get the managers of these lounges to polish up their act, with all the resorts and holiday locations the Spaniards squandered billions on in the property boom, upgrading these lounges to the healthy status of Spanish friendliness and comfort should have been a doddle.

Lunge from this lounge

It is not like one wants to spent the whole day here for any reason when you are on your way somewhere, either waiting to depart from Madrid or in transit through Madrid.

On the ratings scale my verdict is, the Madrid Barajas Airport lounge is a lounge to lunge from, probably headlong too.

On the 8th day, the shop opened

Times are moving

One might just venture the idea that progress of sorts has come to my neighbourhood and that is in my local supermarket, 7 floors below my apartment and round the side to its entrance.

When I moved here just over 8 years ago, the supermarket opened for 6 days and closed at 19:00 hours, then a few years after it closed at 8:00 PM and soon after it closed at 9 ‘o clock.

The shelves were probably most empty on a Saturday night just as people rushed in for last minute shopping only to realise the goods had been cleared by those who shopped earlier in the day.

A different competition

If you found you had to shop for morning goods, you had to wait till Sunday morning for a shop opening 4 tram stops away.

Just about 2 months ago, a Turkish corner shop opened its doors on a Sunday and whilst you could not get the great variety of goods, it was nice to see that what you could get there was much different from the Dutch fare you got from the supermarket chain.

If I could muster the energy, I made the 500 metre walk to that store to feast my eyes of high capsicum factor peppers and other tropical foods I would have no idea how to for eating.

The look and the taste

The other day, I picked up what I thought were sweet potatoes only to peel them and find they were orange in colour, I was in two minds between binning or potting them, in the end they went in the pot and disintegrated into a pudding of sorts.

It reminded me of seeing “coco-yams” in an English supermarket and on cooking them they fell apart disastrously that the bin got well fed and I had an empty stomach, they were in fact dasheens.

Appearances are so deceptive, the grapes from my supermarket taste so different from the grapes in the corner shop, so synthetic as plastic behoves the beauty of supermarket chains over corner shops – food does not necessarily come from the farms without scientific intervention that changes it into something different and probably cheap too.

Open for the Sabbath

The perception of any of the Western European countries being Christian is slowly but surely gaining the spectre of secularism, very few shops except in tourist prone areas tend to open on Sundays and then we have Sunday-shopping days, usually once a month.

The Sabbath is losing its significance to Mammon, on the 18^th of April 2010 my local supermarket 7 floors below will be open on Sunday for the first time – I do wonder how many people in my neighbourhood would postpone their late Saturday shopping to brunch-time shopping on Sunday.

Forget the idea that Sabbath might be the Friday evening to Saturday evening, the Saturday or even the Sunday – man never seems to rest on any of the 7 days of the week, maybe we need an eighth day.

Is this progress or what?

A partner drawn through a list of musts

An observer one is

I was reviewing my Google Reader list the other day and happened on one of my infrequent posters with an interesting take on issues.

What jumped out to me was the search for a partner which we all sometimes do in a world where companionship of sorts is an essential component of life.

As an observer and sometimes spectator of life because for so long I do not seem to have successfully fostered a partnership that hasn’t brought me to grief that I have reluctantly opted out of the scheme but maintained interest where I can to help people believe more so in relationships.

For long, I have surmised that break-ups teach you amazing lessons, what you take away from a break-up is usually what you do not want and not necessarily what you desire in the probable next relationship.

Must be, must be

How, with a wry smile, I read all the conditions of a new relationship the writer put down all listed as “musts”.

Yes, must be this, must have that, must do thus, must say how, must think big, must touch not – by the time I got to the 4^th must, I was beginning to rule myself out, not for the reasons of qualification by location but by the notion that this innocuous list of expectations began to read as aggressively demanding and high maintenance.

Surely, any relationship might just have the hope of eternity but people would rather be eased into the commitments that lead to lifetime relationships.

The perfect grows on you

We are the products of our experiences and in no way would I begrudge the expectations of anyone who seeks new partnerships.

It is strange how after reading that, I was almost inspired to create my own list of “musts”, then I realised placing insurmountable hurdles in the way of smoothing out possible companionships might well have me looking for the perfect.

Then I remembered, none of my partners were ever perfect when I met them, they became more perfect to me over time till it seemed I could not do without them – then something happened progressively that lead to break-ups – I think.

I have some preferences, probably some expectations; I will pass on the “musts”.

Nigeria: General T. Y. Danjuma - a very influential Nigerian

Dished out willy-nilly

Some three weeks ago a very influential Nigerian revealed an interesting power dynamic in how the resources of Nigeria were profligately handed out without accountability or scrutiny.

This man was endowing $100 million to a foundation and revealed how he made $500 million in profit [1] from the allocation of an oil block tossed to him by the then Head of State, General Sani Abacha [2].

An oil block in the general sense is a prospect that requires surveys and analysis that might yield the possibility of oil and gas which can be exploited to its full potential for great profit.

Oil for money, gas for nought

Where there is the discovery of oil, the owner of the oil block might well have hit the jackpot, unfortunately, the dearth of imagination and professional ability has also left oil blocks abandoned if gas was discovered because the infrastructure in Nigeria has not been developed sufficiently to profit from gas exploration through to the market.

General Theophilus Danjuma (rtd.) [3] was Chief of Army Staff in the 70s and the Minister of Defence between 1999 and 2003, but some 12 years ago he was influential enough to profit from the generosity of being tossed an oil block.

If he not being in government were able to get a piece of Nigeria’s resources without recourse to some due procedure by the big chief under whom power and authority is exerted for the Nigerian entire beyond any accountability, one can only wonder what those in power did and what everyone who could peddle influence could get in oil blocks and more.

A really lucky chap

The oil block that General Danjuma got was sold off on its potential for $1 billion and after paying off his dues, taxes and other matters he was left with $500 million profit that he could not find much to do with.

Many questions arise from this revelation of truth as to how Nigeria’s great fortunes and potential has been squandered off for patronage and the maintenance of power along with the quest for power by others who might want to have access to the means of doling out these resources for unspeakable amounts of wealth and amazing influence. [4]

Retired at 41

General Danjuma is 72, he had risen to the highest ranks in the army allowing him to retire at 41 – I would not suggest that he did not attain this position by merit and dint of hard work but it is rather exceptional that anyone anywhere in the world in whatever profession can retire at 41.

After retirement, he apparently did not sink into the background per se, he engaged in business activities that probably bought him some grief that he was readily able to have the sop of an oil block tossed to him by a Nigerian leader though not in our name.

It would be nice that some oil block were awarded for meritorious services to Nigeria as a whole, but no, this was all for personal enrichment at the expense of Nigerians, banditry attempting to gain respectability and even succeeding in Nigeria.

Half a billion with no sense

This oil block was award according to the time frame in 1998 and it was held on to for 10 years and sold in 2008 having not yet been exploited but having the potential persuading some other company to shell out $1 billion for it.

General Danjuma, a not so notable businessman in Africa somehow acquires liabilities totalling half a billion dollars – you wonder how he could have been under the radar for so long with no one realising he was a man of such considerable means.

Then with $500 billion in hand, this is cash in the bank, not assets as other businessmen are usually valued, he finds himself in a Midas dilemma; all this money and no sense of what to do with it – this again exemplifies the Nigerian story, so many resources, so much money, maybe so much talent but no wherewithal to do something wonderful and beneficial to the nation that supplied the means to be raped and plundered with impunity.

What oil does to Nigerian politics

Now, General Danjuma, revealed this as a microcosm of how Nigerian resources have been expended as well as the underlying psyche of why there is a quest for power by many interests that might make a grab for that power if they are not kept comfortable by sharing that largesse in a circle of the corrupt palliation of rivals and power bases.

There is no telling that this plunder continues under the stewardship of whoever is leader of the country even if it seems to be more transparent than during the military era, but a good deal of the people who claim to be leaders were once in the military, at least 3 of them have run for presidential office with one having ruled for 2 terms.

With this in the public domain, it is no wonder that there is unrest in the Niger Delta when people see the rich pickings that people with influence can take at the expense of the indigenes who suffer in squalor and penury.

It goes without saying that, if a non-player like General Danjuma could have access to an oil block and make so much money, many others would have made much more along with the usurpation that might have occurred exploiting the more viable oil blocks – the mind-boggling figures of over hundreds of billions made from oil but lost in the system cannot be far from the truth.

Prescription for good health to Nigeria too

Lest I forget, though I can no more find the source, it was General Danjuma who having fallen ill a few years ago got a prescription from his doctor to spend two weeks of recuperation in the French Riviera – now, that is a prescription I would want to swallow till I am overdosed; on the Nigerian people’s money to boot.

General Danjuma, is back in a position of great influence [5] advising the Acting President just because every Nigerian leader still has to have some influential retired general in the background to ward off other pretenders – despite this blot on General Danjuma’s seemingly questionable record, in all honesty, he is perhaps the most acceptable of all the other generals the Acting President had to choose from.

General Danjuma, was launching an endowment of $100 million to his foundation established to tackle health issues that might hopefully allow him and our comatose President to seek treatment in the country, one wonders if this is his purgatory presaging absolution.

He is left with $400 million that he could disburse to other worthy Nigerian causes and maybe persuade other looters of our resources to put something back into Nigeria or allow his children to squabble and destroy themselves fighting to be sole inheritors of the loot – such is the tragedy of power and money in Nigeria.

Sources

[1] I made $500 million from oil block -TY Danjuma

[2] Sani Abacha - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[3] African Success : Biography of Yakubu Theophilus DANJUMA

[4] The Punch:: How Nigeria lost billions of naira to discretionary – Google advisory – harmful website

BBC News - Explosions hit Nigeria oil amnesty talks

FT.com / Comment - Observer: Hu and cry over Chinese oil deals – Comment in 2006 talking about the prospect of General Danjuma making $1 billion from the oil block he was gifted by General Sani Abacha.

The Nigerian tale of two oil blocks – Some additional background to how oil blocks were retained or usurped depending on who was wielding power and influence.

[5] Danjuma to Jonathan: Act now, time is short – After his appointment as chairman of the Presidential Advisory Council.

Pambazuka - Nigeria: Executive Director - T. Y. Danjuma Foundation (TYDF) – The foundation swings into action.

Where has my taste gone?

Where is my taste?

Encoded in my memory somewhere is the remembrance of tastes of things I have enjoyed eating giving the pleasure you get from good food.

To be honest, something has happened to my taste, things do not taste like I once knew they did, it makes me wonder if I would ever get that taste back again.

One month after my last chemotherapy treatment I went over the notes the hospital gave me about undergoing the therapy and what I should expect – it would appear after 5 months of therapy I probably need just about 5 months for my body to fully recover and with that, I hope the other cognitive things that have confusing indicators.

Not like I knew then

Before I went to hospital, I used to have natural Greek yoghurt and honey, nowadays, I cannot seem to stand the taste of honey and that of yoghurt is just so strange as to be unpalatable.

Fish tastes funny and certain high-protein meals have become completely off meals, in their place, I have taken to beef casseroles and Nigerian dishes like yam porridge called asaro in Yoruba.

The other day, I bought some spiced chicken, either roasted or fried, the taste just does not go down well with me considering I used to gulp that down and that took me to my highest weight of 83kg well over a year ago.

Lemons and limes

Drinks too have suffered, in hospital long before chemotherapy I went off the high-energy drinks, whilst I seem to handle milk quite well, all other milk based drinks taste horrible.

I also found that most of the tropical mix drinks that contain mangoes, oranges, guava and so on are a complete put off, I take to lemon and lime based drinks, however, I have also found strawberry and raspberry based drinks are quite tasty.

Needing some normalcy

With the reintroduced of pain management though on half dosage, the salivation is considerably reduced and the stomach ache is a lot less frequent, my sleep is getting regulated though I have not exerted myself enough to discover how much strength I have to expend.

In general, I have to control my anxiety which gets agitated by letters, bills, emails and threats, I can only do what I am able to do, though the welfare service is comfortably dragging their feet without a care in the world.

I need to get busy, busy with productive work doing something useful and rewarding – where is that sterling opportunity?

Nigeria: Yar'Adua cannot resign because of 2015

Party politics influence

Somehow I am disappointed that contemporaneous circumstances are beclouding the ability of people to see the reality of why we have the phantom of a comatose President Umaru Yar’Adua lurking the Acting President Goodluck Jonathan’s corridors of influence.

It goes without saying that party politics in Nigeria has a way of supplanting due process and offers the ruling party the opportunity to become the machinery of state.

Just like we had in the Second Republic [1], the ruling party was the National Party of Nigeria and chieftains in the party seemed to have a higher public profile than the elected executives, face of the government then was Chief A. M. A. Akinloye the chairman of NPN whilst the President, Shehu Shagari was the figurehead façade of rampant kleptocracy.

The snouts in the trough

Now, in the Fourth Republic [2], the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has progressively dominated all the levels of government with the patronage that allows for the abuse and misuse of power.

Worse still, the PDP operates a constitution that relegates the Nigerian Constitution to a subsection of their procedures and rules of engagement – that has become so evident with the saga surrounding the departure from the public space of the President Yar’Adua due to suspected ill health.

In order to appease the conflicting egos and forces of influence in the ruling party they arranged that executive power would alternate between the Christian South and the Muslim North, neither the North nor South is exclusively Muslim or Christian but that is the accepted view of Nigerians.

8 for us and 8 for them

A Christian Southerner held power for 2 terms adding up to 8 years with his Muslim Northerner running mate and from May 2007 a Muslim Northerner with his Christian Southerner running was selected to run the country and approved to take power through one of the most widely rigged elections ever in Nigeria.

The little detail in this matter was that the Muslim Northerner had a pre-existing illness which probably has been exacerbated by the burden of office and forced him out of public view since November 2009.

We now have an Acting President who was the running mate and a Christian Southerner as well as a conundrum that leaves the ruling party in a quandary.

Resignation leaves them with 7

Their perverse constitution requires for power to be vested in the North until 2015 which is the two terms of 4 years each starting from 2007, but if the seemingly incapacitated substantive President were to resign the ruling party would have a Christian Southerner in charge, albeit for just a year because they do not intend the Southerner to run in 2011.

By 2015, the Northerners would only have had 7 years with their snouts to the trough, the Southerners would want their candidate for 2015 and the clamour would be around fulfilling the 8 years with the Northerners running for 11 years and all the mess that would be a right old mess.

For that supposedly obscure reason, the ruling party would rather have a comatose Northern President lurking in the background of the Acting President until the next elections in 2011 than risk the trough-sharing opportunities they have projected for the future.

The issue is in 2015

That way, the 2-term 8 year power sharing arrangement of the pre-eminent constitution of the ruling party is kept without much regard for the Nigerian Constitution or Nigerians.

It is the reason why the entire clamour around the presence or absence of President Yar’Adua must stop and we should start to bolster the authority of Acting President Goodluck Jonathan, thereby, forcing the hand of the ruling party to bow to the inevitable.

The issue today is not about the health of the President or 2011, it is really about the consequences actions of today might have on 2015 – that is where the problem really is – in 2015.

Sources

Nigerian Second Republic - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Nigerian Fourth Republic - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A walk of healing

Coming a long way

The neighbourhood nurse was here today and he was the first here just after I left hospital, he has paid the most visits and basically knows the most about the progression of the lesion wounds under my feet to date.

We both inspected my left foot and came to the conclusion that it was healing very well and apart from patches of dry skin that were pulled off, the only thing left was for the sole skin to thicken up just as it should be for normal soles.

Critical to his observation was the fact that the wounds which were quite severe had healed over a relatively short time. The neighbourhood nurse is used to seeing and dressing wounds like mine which never seem to heal.

A miracle, no doubt

In my case, it appears the natural process of healing had been speeded up in what one would call a miracle without bating about the bush. When I suggested it was like a healing miracle, the nurse who is generally an agnostic quickly concurred. We agreed his last visit would be on Friday.

I had a miracle working in me all the time and I never really realised that was happening, in the last few weeks, the progress has been quite rapid, I am off most of the pain medication apart from the patch which seems to run well over the 72-hour period without any noticeable discomfort.

I have not crawled round my home for about week, the crawling necessitated by a few areas of acute pain I used to have in my foot, for the first time in almost 3 months, I was also able to wash under running water my right foot.

Walking has been very comfortable, it might end up giving up my orthopaedic shoe after meeting with the consultants today and start using normal shoes from now on.

I still use crutches for support but soon, I might just need a cane and eventually ditch that altogether.

Thanks and gratitude

Great thanks indeed should first of all go to God, there is no way I could have successfully come through any of this without His mercy and His grace upon me, I have also seen amazing advances in medicine and healthcare that have helped me through these times and finally my friends and well-wishers who contributed in ways that leave me in deep gratitude, I just have not found ways to be thankful enough.

My neighbours who cared for me in the darkest times doing the most menial tasks and feeding me at strange hours when I was completely without strength, my dear friend who came to live with me and cared for all my needs beyond what friendship demands – I thank you all.

The only way is up from here, God who has seen me thus far is helping me rebuild my life again, my hopes are high, my expectations are great, my vision is gaining clarity and purpose.

Thank you.

Condolezza brings condolences - maybe more

Would Condi be doing Condolences?

One can only begin to wonder what Condolezza Rice would be attempting to achieve when she gets to the Middle-East today.

There is no argument that Israel does have the right to defend itself and it should be done vigorously, however, the manner and strategy at play does leave one wondering what they intend on achieving.

I am still of the view that focus has shifted – if that was ever the focus - from dealing with Hamas and Hezbollah militarily to the point that it is looking like the economic obliteration of those societies and psychological propaganda with the hope that wanton destruction of all types of infrastructure would make people withdraw support from those organisations.

Whose terrorists are they anyway?

Until we move from the view of looking at those organisations through the blinkered view of terrorists, because only Israel, America and Europe labels elements of Hamas and Hizbollah as terrorist – we would fail to realise that these groups also represent the aspirations of people who have been deprived and wronged on the one hand, they are also the least corrupt of the leaderships emanating from their peoples.

There is no doubt that Europe and America are very well at variance on the matter in the Middle-East, it was evident in the eavesdrop between Bush and Blair – where Bush thought Syria held the keys to stopping the shit and Blair saw a bigger issue.

Arms away

To now hear that in the midst of the outrageous abuse of military might Israel is acquiring new precision weapons from America leaves one completely gob smacked – America is helping to add fire to an untenable situation which might now go on for another few weeks.

The Arabs would take good note of that and hopefully would give a Condi a stern view of this atrocious development.

I could be that it is American weaponry that is used to cause suffering, pain and loss in the Middle-East, the availability of which feeds Israeli bravado to the drunken swagger of believing there is a military solution to this conflict.

I think NOT.

Peace born of negotiation

Like it or not, Israel would have to negotiate with these “terrorists”, if they do succeed to eliminating military threat of Hezbollah by bombing television stations amongst other things, they had better be ready for guerrilla warfare.

Taking a foothold in Lebanon might bring in a less desirable grouping of terrorists – Al Qaeda in Lebanon on the border of Israel would be the least acceptable conclusion to this military escapade.

I have my doubts any of the proponents can achieve the objective of peace with this indiscriminate bombing and the possibility of new arms from a seemingly rotten cause.

The Cult of the Burnt Fornicator II - Judgment Day

A Jesus impostor in your vicinity

Judgment has come upon the man who deluded many and who as the leader of the Christian Praying Assembly in Lagos proclaimed himself as Jesus Christ with power on earth to punish sin.

Just like something out of a witch-burning activity in the 15^th Century, anyone caught in the sin of adultery or fornication – if that means anything to people today – was doused with petrol and set alight.

One of the said sinners did burn and lost her life in the process before the law in Nigeria waded in to seek justice for this abuse of power and criminal act. Months ago, in Cult of the Burnt Fornicator I wrote about this episode.

What is most disconcerting is the number of people who would follow a lie and engage themselves in cultist activities that seem to create more adherents as their increasingly bizarre and uniquely outrageous acts gain notoriety.

Proselytisers bring friends who feel they would be protected from greater evils by submitting themselves to a lesser evil which holds sway over their freedom, their liberty, their rights and their freewill; the stupid and gullible being lead by a con – there can be no greater partnership.

Ignorance that grates

Beyond this, it is the ignorance of the rule book that grates the most, a person going to church should and must be able to read a Bible in whatever language they speak, nowadays, Bibles are in pictures, in audio and fully dramatised in audio-visual sometime crass acting, but there is almost no excuse for not checking if what you have heard is really true.

We have a case where Jesus had to deal with the issue of adultery, it was a lesson in understanding the gravity of the offence but greater still, understanding the greater good of forgiveness, giving the adulterer the opportunity to repent and spread the news of forgiveness.

Men had arraigned to stone the adulterer to death as is expected of the law of the day, but rather than carry that sentence out, they approached Jesus to hear his view of the matter.

Knowing the law, knowing humanity

Jesus did not argue either the law or the sentence of the law, but he highlighted that fact that those who stand in judgment should themselves be free of guile and sin – let the man without sin throw the first stone, he said – then you all can then have a killing party, he implied. From the oldest to the last, they dropped their stones and walked away as conviction came upon each and everyone – meanwhile, the adulterer stood waiting for judgment deserved as Jesus scrawled in the sand.

At the end, there was not one accuser left and he who could pronounce judgment spoke mercy – “Neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more”. How, then can another man impersonating Jesus then be carrying out gruesome petrol burnings when the Jesus we know would not do such a thing?

As we have seen through the ages, the man involved in the act is often never caught or brought to judgment that is another issue.

The man the con

The problem is, as the man takes his sentence for murder and more heinous crimes, there are many who still believe that this religious tyrant is some messenger, a messenger of death and terror, I would say, as he tries to model his sufferings on the sufferings of Jesus.

No, people should not buy into that lie, I am no supporter of the death penalty, however, if he must die, I am happy that no one has decided to take the joke as far as to crucify him – however, it is evident that Jesus cannot die twice, a revealing truth that makes this religious cad, a false prophet and charlatan.

It would appear Nigeria needs a Religious Cons and Cults Tribunal to ascertain the qualifications of these preachers of woe, vet their practices, audit their accounts and testimonies, close their operations if found wanting and prosecute them to the limits of the law if they have been dishonest, deceitful, deceptive, cajoling and threatening.

I have seen many and they perform their deeds with impunity because the hold and sway of the superstitious and the incredible prevents seemingly rational minds from questioning the veracity of outrageous claims, all fearing a great wrath would befall them.

That is the power of these purveyors of evil, the ability to maintain an atmosphere of pervasive awe backed by the fear of evil rather than the courage of good.

This sentence would go to appeal, but it is time for the courts to hold up the mantle of justice for those who have been sacrificed on the altar of retaining the awe of the spectacular. The blood of the innocent, albeit gullible must be requited by a suitable punishment as a lesson to those who still seek to deceive.

References

Jesus Forgives Woman Caught in Adultery

Churches should be sanctuaries not prisons

How to spot religious abuse

Opinions on cults and religious abuse

Somehow, strange sexualities excite Africans

Using Homosexuality as a damaging tool

Having dealt with a number of topics on sexuality on NaijaBlog in the last few days, one concerning homophobia and other a lovers’ spat, it is strange that there are still issues around sex that tend to hammer the dark into the continent of Africa.

In Malaysia years ago, the accusation of sodomy was used to depose the vice president and persecute him into incarceration and ill health, but he survived.

The first black president of Zimbabwe had his legacy completely rubbished as the tyrannical Mugabe allowed charges of homosexuality to thrive to the disgrace of Canaan Banana.

Whilst the accusation of homosexuality in Africa can create a level of revulsion, some have concentrated that response by alluding to the acts rather than just the life. Some people’s lives could be affected by being named homosexuals, but definitely destroyed by being called a Sodomite.

Publish and be damned

In the light of this, it is first interesting to read that a newspaper in Uganda has decided to publish the first names and professions of alleged homosexuals; this atrocious act is defended as exposing people who are cheating on their partners.

One wonders when it became the duty of newspapers to publish private infidelities, if that be their goal, why single out those who have cheated on their partners with a deviation into same-sex liaisons? It really cannot be justified.

Harking back to Victorian times when sodomy was criminalized, it was said that Queen Victoria did not believe there was anything like lesbianism, this paper has not published names of lesbians for so many reasons, but one can really be that men are quite titillated by lesbian sex, it cannot be said that women find pleasure in the converse.

The law should rise to protect

When a publication of names happened in Cameroon earlier in the year, the courts came down heavily on the editor that he did prison time where he might have learnt to pick up the soap; I cannot muster any sympathy for such people.

I would surmise that the publication of full names might attract litigation that could really do more damage to the paper and editor than the aggrieved.

One voice of reason in that news write up does say this is the time for the government to protect rather than persecute and prosecute – unfortunately, the railing against homosexuality has a way of congregating people to a mob of bigots but does nothing to address everyday issues of life and wellbeing – it is a useful primitive political smokescreen that gets abused by any unscrupulous politician in the West and anywhere else.

Read my story

Then a defrauded Nigerian railing against cronyism and nepotism that has allowed the criminals to abscond from justice has labelled the Minister of Federal Capital Territory a homosexual; this smokescreen reveals a more compelling catalogue of woes and corrupt practices.

We might just say, if you want your story to gain maximum interest in Nigeria, accuse the principals of homosexuality and see your story become a best seller, however, it does not guarantee you will get justice, especially if the big man decides to accord you the courtesy of suing the big pants off your backside.

The medicine man

I remember that the most feared medicine man in the town when I went to secondary school had a name in Yoruba that translated to Sodomite. If you really did have a problem you wanted sorted out in the animist traditions, you went to see him – he had not other name than that, and it drummed fear into those who as much as whispered his name.

I cannot say if the name was supposed to be literal or figurative, but whatever it meant, people must have thought he drew more magical strength from the seemingly abominable and bizarre practice – anyone who might have been done by him would definitely not dare go to the press.

A dowry for a goat

And so a house owner in Sudan wakes up in the middle of the night to sort out a kafuffle in his compound only to catch that a man in the act of using “a goat as his wife”. The shame and guilt of it all paralyses the culprit that he gets tied up and reported to the elders.

The smart grey heads decide there is no point involving the police in this, but impose a dowry on the culprit who is then allowed to take the goat home for a wife.

It is strange that the act of bestiality can attract so smart a remediation, but one of sodomy is a beheading if Sharia has a peek into that case.

Sex in Africa though common in terms of population growth, horrible in terms of rape and abuse and also paternalistic in terms of the rights of women, is still a very difficult topic of ambivalent values of traditions, religion and simple village wisdom – somehow, those in the village seem to understand the issues better.

It may also be that some even knew that sodomy long before condoms and pills was a form of contraception as long as it is practised between man and woman.

An admission in remission

The end does not justify the means

When President Bush yesterday admitted to the existence of CIA secret prisons along with the consideration that information obtained from certain of the imprisoned has since prevented terrorism attacks, I thought I could see in the background Niccolò Machiavelli being introduced as Press Secretary (Minister of Propaganda would be too 1930s to contemplate.).

The thought that hardened terrorists would voluntarily divulge information to Americans about plans they might have painstakingly arranged to bring ill to America does take a bit of imagination.

The Gitmo Workbook

In fact, the Abu Ghraib abuse which appeared routine as a means of warped entertainment and in reality blatant torture appears to have come of the Guantanamo Bay workbook since the man-in-charge there was brought in to toughen up the regime at Abu Ghraib.

Somehow, we just have found it difficult to believe protestations of Americans about not torturing their prisoners; caught in the web of the broad terror principle and this Machiavellian notion that subscribes to extraordinary rendition, the existence of Guantanamo Bay, the military tribunals and the unwarranted eavesdropping on Americans.

Immoral grounds

One by one, each of these has been completely discredited if not declared illegal, but we have torturously drawn water from stone as this admission now comes into the light of day.

One more admission is required, by whose authority was the CIA agents shopped to the press?

In all, everything that allows America to maintain the high moral ground in this war on terror has been lost to hubris and bluster, the former is the delusional confidence in the projection of American power and the other can easily be championed by Donald Rumsfeld.

Where truly we have been saved from some terrorist attack we are grateful for those mercies, however using the fear of terror to justify actions and activities that would not stand the scrutiny of basic terms of justice and fairness whilst we are continually stripped of our liberties for the sake of our supposed safety is nasty, unconscionable and Machiavellian – the end will never justify the means.

We have become our own terrorists

Why? Because we become the terrorists we are trying to fight, we deny ourselves the power of our democracies just as the terrorists would have liked to do and our so-called freedoms are rolled back into the bondage of a police state, worse than where those terrorists came from.

As it stands, the only leadership quality America now serves is in having funds and having guns, it is left to others to play the deft hand of real diplomacy in the New World Order.

The Day of the Toothpicks

Piffle at Westminster

In politics, the Night of Long Knives has resonance, be it, 1934 when Hitler purged Germany of his opponents or 1962 when Harold Macmillan sacked 7 members of his cabinet, 2006 brings us the Day of the Toothpicks, people at the bottom rung of the ministerial ladder act to impose a resignation on the Prime Minister.

So, seven junior ministers resigned from the Blair government yesterday saying they had lost confidence in the leadership of Tony Blair to take the party forward and in readiness for the next election.

It is clear that since Mr Blair the Prime Minister had announced that he would not run in the next election which at the earliest would be 2009 or very latest 2010, a good few impatient people would be on his case to abdicate from the day after he won a third successive victory for the Labour Party.

The restless press and Labour Party have been on the verge of apoplexy trying to read when the Prime Minister would depart, we cannot entirely discount the machinations of an organ grinder who lives next door and who has played second fiddle to Tony so long, the tune is sounding like – Now is my time, get out of the way.

Chancellor of the executor

Gordon Brown cannot be blameless in what has lead to Tony Blair’s accusation of disloyalty and discourteousness from the most senior of those who resigned; it would make one wonder if Gordon Brown is the right man for Prime Minister of Great Britain in this dispensation of the New World Order.

Mr Watson who was a junior Defence Minister might have managed a pen knife as opposed to the toothpicks that the other Parliamentary Private Secretaries lanced into Mr Blair’s back. It would appear the only damage caused would be to the material of the PM’s suit, none of those people have a patch of Caesar’s Brutus even if Mr Blair accorded a polite – Et tu, Brute? – to Mr Watson.

And so, it appears Mr Blair would make an announcement today to clear up the air about when he is leaving, it might gladden Mr Brown’s heart, but it may not be as smooth sailing as everyone would want it to be.

The raid on Peking, London

Duck but not in Peking

Having just ordered Peking Duck in the local Chinese restaurant on a night out with friends and family, one would really have been put out that the only duck that became the highlight of that outing would have been the act of ducking under the table as rioting and terrifying terror police raided the restaurant to nab suspected, wait for it, logistical support to terrorism.

Somehow, through intelligence and surveillance, rather that raid the homes and other more private meeting points of these people, they went for the spectacular, hit them with their guard let down at a vulnerable but very public social meeting place, this no doubt saves a lot of money, rather than concerted raids all over the place.

It is however nice to know that so-called terrorism suspects have an international palate.

Probably not that smart

It might however be that the raid was conducted to establish association amongst groups of people and alliances, something discrete photography would have done, since they are still going to visit the homes of the arrested persons to dig for evidence.

Now, I have no problems with the need to put as many resources as possible into ensuring that we do not have another terrorist mishap like we did on July the 7^th 2006, but, the way this is barging into our way of life with the premise that the little discomfiture of the few helps the convenience of the many is flawed logic.

What is to say, another vulnerable public gathering place like a mosque, church, bowling alley, ice rink or lido is not on the list of some smart aggregating detective in cahoots with the police bean counter?

Worst still, some social activities like weddings and burials are going to lose their veneers of solemnity as we all suspect everyone around us who attempts to show any signs of life.

Suffer for the offer

So, when British Airways launched a television advertisement for World Offers, their seemingly cheap air travel offers, I thought, for all the fuss of not being able to carry my lipstick or having to dangle my tampons at Heathrow before boarding my flight and considering a decent sized paperback might have to be split in 2 to fit into those sizing contraptions, the deal must be so good to assuage the pain of the customs/security check.

As the fifth anniversary of September the 11^th approaches, expect the bizarre, the atrocious and the scandalously unacceptable as we fight our fear of the fear of the fear of terror without discerning the link between what we do and how that sometimes feeds into the causes of terrorism.

Ahmedinejad-Bush coming to your television

Looking at a rather smart Iran

I can only wonder who is making brisk business selling seats for the debate of the Century, two presidents of states that are arch-enemies squaring up against each other to discuss world affairs.

Having now proved to all that precision weapons are not that smart enough to disarm a guerrilla movement through their proxy in Lebanon and commissioned a heavy water reactor plant for Uranium enrichment, Iran is playing a rather deft diplomatic hand that is leaving the United States rather flat-footed.

I can pointedly note that Condoleezza Rice has not been able to set foot in the Middle East having brought forth through the serious birth pangs of a New Middle East a baby that would spit out milk that comes from America.

In fact, it is now left to Kofi Annan and the UN to clean up the debacle of that inconclusive 34-day war.

Let us talk to the world together

So, as we await Iran’s response to proposals of hypocrisy that aim to preclude Iran from the enrichment of Uranium on suspicion of dual-use intentions that could lead to a nuclear bomb; Dr Ahmedinejad who only the day before in a released statement about a letter to Angela Merkel sent in July about the Holocaust being a debilitating hoax to hamstring Germany, has now challenged Mr George Bush to a live television debate.

This challenge would obviously be dismissed as expected by the White House as a diversion from global concerns about Iran’s nuclear weapons.

But then I ask whose concerns exactly? Apart from those of the privileged nuclear world whose main actors surround Iran on all sides with wars and unrest whilst sponsoring opportunities for insurrection within Iran.

I think both presidents do have something to say and it is time that those presidents met and thrashed things out rather that employing megaphone diplomacy and railroading the UN into precarious resolutions that bring more trouble into an already troubled world.

It is also poignant to note that Laura Bush took the podium in New Orleans at the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina; Mr Bush’s ratings do not put him in any reckoning apart from accepting more faults and responsibility for the poor management of the Katrina aftermath.

New ideas needed

North Korea however is probably busy planning another sabre-rattling missile fly-past over Japan as they beat their chests over having nuclear weapons and getting away with it all, the whole concept of nuclear deterrence has failed and new ideas with safeguards that even-handedly address global issues for security, energy and military might need to be debated on an equality and partnership forum.

It is now not enough for some countries to hijack the debate to meet ulterior ends whilst purporting to act on behalf of the world, those arguments which have been played back a broken vinyl record no more excite the resonance of ground-breaking, inspired or worthwhile points – rather they all look like ways of getting at that axis-of-evil.

A high wooden horse

It is now time for America to climb down from their high horse and begin to do the anathema, address the causes of terrorism, address the problems in the Middle East from the occupied lands to the support of tyrannical regimes and worst of all, maybe it is time to talk to Osama bin Laden, because this mad war on terror is doing nothing for peace on earth and goodwill to all men.

On a final note, would this war on our liberties, freedoms and privacy masquerading as the war on terror have any bite if we all knew that Osama bin Laden were dead?

My contribution to the war on terror - suspicion

Getting on a first class coach

Suddenly, I have found that I am being subconsciously programmed into the mindset of the war on terror as subjective analysis and profiling upset my peace of mind as I travel from place to place.

On my return from Brussels, I had the unfortunate situation of not travelling light which meant I could not move between coaches that easily.

Unlike the German or French trains, the platforms for Belgian trains in the Netherlands or Belgium are not signposted to signify what part of the train has the first class carriages which are usually at one end, so one has to stand in the centre and then run either way as the train arrives to the right end.

I got on, reclined my seat and dozed off as I usually do when I get on any moving vehicle where I am not the driver.

Passengers from hell and beyond

When we got to Antwerp a group of people got on, probably eight in number all adult from middle-aged to probably pension age.

The older men had dulcet sounding tones to their conversation, the middle-aged ones were like claxons at full blast and the women were like banshees shrieking at a ghoulish congregation of fearsome festivities in a cemetery at some utterly forsaken place.

I prayed they had second class tickets, hoping the ticket conductor would move them on, but no, they had paid to be in company and be completely inconsiderate of other passengers.

Then one of their number started playing with phone tones at peak volume, at which point, I should have gotten up and shouted some abuse at them, but someone else beat me to it, it only helped the situation a little.

Crude profiling praying for action

Then all this disturbance was done in a foreign language I could not understand, it was probably Turkish or Turkic and then I suddenly had a kindred feeling with those who had two Asians thrown off a plane travelling from Malaga to Manchester and I just could not be objective about it.

If only we could get the conductor to throw these people off at the next minor train stop for not conforming to accepted first class passenger conduct and speaking a foreign language to the inconvenience of us all.

Unusual behaviour feeding suspicion

Then when going to church yesterday, some four Moroccans got on the metro and rather than sit down considering the carriage was half-empty they were walking up and down the length of the coach without any order to whatever they were doing.

That really made many of us uncomfortable, could they be planning something like a mugging on the train or some dastardly terrorist act?

Once again, I felt like calling the police to see into what they were up to and get them off the train.

What is acceptable anyway?

Why can’t people just board public transport with the modicum of decency to behave in a generally unsuspicious and civil manner?

My fear is that I am slowly getting assimilated into a mindset that suspects everything and gets weary of people if they look or act differently, the problem is I can easily fall into the category of someone who looks different, and in desperate situations would I also get betrayed on needless suspicion and by atrocious bigotry?

This war on terror does make everyone vulnerable in these uncertain and interesting times.

I take this opportunity

The nuisance of association

I have for years shunned gatherings of Nigerians for any kind of activity. The one I joined recently which pertains to my membership of the Nigerian chapter of students on my Masters course more or less ended up looking like subscribing to a SPAM generator and as if that was not bad enough, one email inadvertently sent to all included a squabble that was far from edifying to all concerned.

I was of the good mind of withdrawing from that chapter, however, the moderator prevailed on me to accommodate a few of those nuisances as part of what is Nigerian rather than protesting from a too Westernised perspective.

From buyer to guest

So, the proprietor of the African foodstuffs and goods store at the entrance to the Central Station Metro platforms in Amsterdam passed me an invitation to her 50^th birthday celebrations which I gladly accepted.

We continually have all this idle banter about all sorts of events and issues that leaves us all with belly laughs that could leave some in tears too. When she said she was looking youthful, I asked for the secret and if it was on sale; exceedingly nice lady.

Hail Mary or Bloody Mary

The Africa House was to be the venue of the event which would have started with a Roman Catholic Service at noon, but since I was already going to my church, it meant I missed having to mouth my Hail Mary’s which might lead to the Mother of God streaming tears down from the eyes of a statue somewhere on the premises – Our Lady of Africa House might leave some thinking the shrine was animist rather than Roman Catholic.

Anyway, as I got there, it was obvious that we had gathered for a big party, most of the women in traditional wear with skyscraper headgear and antennas pointing in all directions.

Scruffy dressers in esteemed company

Many of the men were in jackets or suits, but the sloppy dressers with all buttons done up really irritate the dormant snob in me, I still cannot believe any well brought up person would do up all the buttons on their suits or jackets.

If one were to quote Sir Hardy Amies – one time dressmaker for the Queen, one would say, “How scruffy you look today, dear boy”. I do remember him saying you could not trust a man who did up all his buttons; somehow, subconsciously one takes a dim view of such appearances, if their conversation could ever result in anything better than piffle.

The look the problem

On the woman, I could not help but notice the ones who probably in the Igbo tradition had been fattened for marriage that they had a rolling or maybe revolving gait visible from behind, if that was not arresting enough, some definite accentuated the gyration, it was so deliberate they would be needing a hip replacement not too soon.

The men approaching middle age who had their hair shorn all seemed to have these double folds of flesh at the back of their heads, in fact, I did remember my father has those folds, they were substantially muscular and felt like Achilles tendons only that they were at the back of the head.

It had me feeling the back of my head towards the neck for signs and the silent prayer that if it is avoidable, then I do not want that additional feature as part of my pose in a silhouette.

Ceremony or cacophony

There was a programme distributed and the MC arrived a bit late, but as things got going, 30 minutes of getting people to the high table must be a record, because it Nigeria, it takes a lot longer with speeches from everyone that is anyone.

Every introduction started with, “I take this opportunity to invite …” from chiefs to untitled proletariats, space was found to be occupied by the honoured and privileged.

The celebrant all dressed up beautifully and flamboyantly made an entrance; a group of ladies all bedecked in the same attire waving white handkerchiefs surrounded her signing songs and dancing.

Then later the children of the celebrant presented her with flowers to the music of Prince Nico Mbarga of Sweet Mother fame, then I noticed money being sprayed – flinging, throwing, flooding or pasting of currency – on the celebrant.

Dollars trump the Euro

Ah! The Euro does not lend itself to this kind of hedonistic aggrandisement that characterises Nigerian parties, European notaphily begins with the 5 Euro note, and so, it was dollars (one dollar notes) which by the time I left had been gathered to fill a decent sized bin bag.

This, apart from the brisk business of money changers that could fill you with Jesus rage, only that one cannot go upturning the high table.

Food and drinks flowed along with situations where certain favoured guests end up with unopened bottles of wine to take home and I did attain favoured status in company.

The Master Chatterbox

The MC however never really got to excite or control the crowd, be it for getting up for prayer, or getting people to respond to chants of Praise the Lord or Igbo Kwenu, but I definitely did give apploss (sic) when it was asked for.

I never got to meet the celebrant but I got her daughter to deliver my card and present after attending for 3 hours in what looked like it would go on late into the night. Interesting event and strange practices, I think I have become a lot less Nigerian than I thought I was.

The job just comes

Fortunate and grateful

In my career life, I have been so fortunate. In the last 12 years, I have hardly had a job where I have had to do all the footwork, rather, there has always been someone, some company, some contract in which I have worked that has lead to another opportunity somewhere else.

I realise, I am never so aggressive about looking for work even though in some cases one should be concerned about knowing when the next bank bloat would be.

But then, I learnt the most important lesson about work just when I went freelance contracting that each day you are appearing at work, you are writing your reference and laying out the paths to success or destruction of your career.

The evil men do

Two CVs came in prospecting for work from people who had worked in that company a few years before. The department manager was new and knew nothing about them so he sounded round other staff about these people.

The report was so bad, I cringed, one had spent all his time running another business rather than doing his work, the other was considered lazy and lackadaisical have done some unmentioned damage to the systems in their tenure.

Basically, this report made them unemployable, since the IT world is fluid, the dispersal of people means that this message would propagate eventual to other opportunities, to redeem themselves they have to be aware of this situation and begin to rebuild their reputations anew – what is almost impossible is rebuilding that with old contacts.

Certification is just the beginning

The lesson reinforced my views about character and professionalism at work, most especially when you are on a short-term contracts, my next job came about through two avenues; a contract that barely lasted 5 weeks and an agency I have worked for since the beginning of the year, it would probably lead on to other things.

I remember when there was a rush by people to attain vendor certifications to move from postal clerk jobs of £7.00/hour to the entry-level £20.00/hour contract jobs in IT Support. Many saw the MCSE and CNE as ends rather than means of developing new careers.

The contracts usually only lasted no more than 3 months before they moved on, having left jobs as fumblers, problem creators and unprofessionally aggressive people with eyes for the money only. By the time they had the first pay packet, they were in the car showroom looking for a show-off Lexus automobile.

I would want to believe that that generation of sorry and hapless contractors have either been eliminated from the market or they have learnt to make better use of their acquired certification to improve their knowledge and usefulness to industry.

Giving thanks

In the end, I believe my life is encompassed with favour and grace rather than sheer luck and good fortune, though in a secular world they all seem to matter.

What better thing could I have done with all these wonderful happenings than to go to church and give thanks for all the blessings that pour into my life everyday.