The ‘pause’ of Benji in bereavement

In death we find kinship

Every once in a while, you find similarities between cultures and that is quite instructive. I knew years ago in Nigeria, there were sections in the dailies where obituaries and “in memoriam” notices were placed, some taking up whole pages as the graveyard vista of mere tombstones and humongous mausoleums played out either the achievements of the dead or the aggrandisement of the living.

In some way, they all made very interesting reading, so it is no wonder that sometimes, I find myself reading having traversed a link from the Wikipedia main page the Recent Deaths section.

Deaths are sometimes a reflection of life and it bothers me when one month had young people barely half my age dying from violence in the streets, then you have middle-aged people dying of conditions that only used to affect people a lot older, indeed, you take something away, be it a warning, a clue, an instruction or some weird feeling – what would one want written about oneself when you do not have the means to seek edition of the detail?

Brief illness syndrome

However, back to the listings, another thing I noticed then was that as I commented in a blog a few days ago – I cannot remember where I placed the comment, methinks, blogs require a comment tracker for the commentators to keep track of territory one has marked in the “Blogosphere”, I really hate that word.

Nigerians rarely die of some chronic, protracted or even terminal illness, most die of the epidemiologically pathogenic brief illness – it needs to be properly researched, this is in light of the clean bill of health the President of Nigeria gave the presidential candidate selected to replace him.

Family notices

So, I was reading one of the Dutch high-brow papers, well, skimming it, the standard of Dutch in those papers is radically different from the Dutch you see in the free metro rags which is somewhat easier to read.

The family notices can be found on the back page of Economic section, exactly, and there was three notices – obituaries – about the same lady, where her family and nieces and nephews addressed her fully, all names, six in all with the obligatory title of Jonkvrouwe – which is a rarity in the Netherlands except for royalty, the English equivalent is Dame.

The siblings however still see her as sister, as one would without all the trimmings.

In the main family notice, usually the persons are listed with their locations and her husband of 51 years appeared first and then the children many away some abroad, nice enough.

The importance of Benji

Then, there was Benji who appeared just below the husband but before the children and a little picture to the left of what I think were paws. I had to ask, do these paws mean anything?

Benji magnified 800% - taken from the obituary.

Well, there were only two; it could be a bear, a kangaroo or well, just the representation of a pet; dog, cat or something so cuddling and definitely not a Tamagotchi or an Aibo.

Well, a pet just feels as much loss for its owner even if we do not recognise that pets do have feelings, apart from the fact that pets in some homes are almost substitute companions for human beings.

We live and we learn, I pray Benji finds that fortitude and strength to bear the loss.

PS: Pause in the title should really be paws

Dummies Guide to Hanging

Blood-thirsty voyeurism

I did not avail myself of the opportunity to view the humiliation of Saddam Hussein, the reports were graphic enough, and one had to be spared that additional savage voyeurism that came with the true videos of the real judicial murder.

As if that were not enough, additional videos were published taken by stealth of a large gash to Saddam Hussein’s neck and some bruising to his face which hopefully was caused by the hanging rather than the rats who rejoiced around the corpse as they worked out the frenzy of revenge.

Now, the other two condemned ones were hanged just before dawn and we are informed that this was also filmed, this time; I hope the government would not lie to us about the events, most especially the shameless lying National Security Advisor; I just cannot bring myself to like him on any level.

Most importantly is the hope that the witnesses were more circumspect than the first mob of disrepute, but that would not take away from the certain other detail that has now been revealed.

Hangman’s Manual 101

No one it seems attempted to determine that the body plunge at the releasing of the trap door and the dislocation of the spinal column in the neck area might exert a greater effect as to have the head rolling off, probably into the laps of the onlookers.

The BBC link offers a general idea of what should happen

Execution intended to break the neck, not strangle

‘Long drop’ method developed in late 19th Century

Length of rope calculated using prisoner's weight

Drop is usually 4ft-10ft (1.3m-3m)

Too long a drop leads to decapitation

It would appear the method used to hang these men is Victorian – in 2007? Thus far has civilisation brought us that we return to crude methods of killing that make mean savages of otherwise intelligent men.

Even this simple exercise of hanging could not be conducted with a modicum of professional application.

Their nightmares begin

Anyone who was within earshot of the gruesome straining sound that had the body snap off to make a hanging an outright decapitation would remember that sound for a long time, the ones who saw the body separate from the head would dream of it till the day they die – it is no curse.

Men have had nightmares unspeakable for seeing or hearing a lot less, we shall see if the justice done for those of Dujail shall now been read as justice served for those of Halabja.

The lament I hear is that of death and destruction that has been visited upon Iraq, unwarranted, illegally, unabated and continually – May the souls of all Iraqis dead – Rest In Peace, be it of the good or the evil, we leave the rest to God.

I have a dream

Where is that dream today?

Today in America they celebrate Martin Luther King Day, however, the speech he gave on the 28^th of August 1963 at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC still resonates as a dream still unfulfilled - I have a dream.

Not only in America where the “great vaults of opportunity” have been closed to many who still live “on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of prosperity”, but around the world where disease, poverty, illiteracy and a deficit of leadership lead people not to the land of promise like Moses did but entrench them in disappointment, despair, desolation and destruction.

We still live in a world where bitterness and distrust by those who claim to carry on the mantle of that great man stops us from walking in partnership and brotherhood with the white man to achieve the dreams that cannot be realised in isolation and singularity.

I shall not take away from the message of the day as I have highlighted some points in the speech – but take time to read the speech and listen to the voice of the great man – I have a dream (Google Video) – and wonder about yourself, your community, your world and your people – are they indeed – Free at last?

The transcript of that speech courtesy of Steve Mount @ The U.S. Constitution Online

The speech – I have a dream

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of colour are concerned. Instead of honouring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt.

We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check — a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.

Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquillity in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvellous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.

As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality.

We can never be satisfied, as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We can never be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, When we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

The people who do not believe

As we celebrate this auspicious day, comments appeared alongside the video and I place some of them here.

On this day, the 15^th of January 2007, somebody has written this.

+ Take a niggger out of the cotton patch, put a suit on him and feed him with peanut butter and what do you get? A lying communist whoremonger who needed to be shot.

+ NEGROS WILL NEVER "OVERCOME" ANYTHING They only wish that they had the ability and native intelligence to get beyond the sad state of their condition. I feel sorry for them.

+ MUCH ADO ABOUT ABSOLUTELY NOTHING This video is yet another incredibly weak example of how far negros have to go to find a hero. Let us lament the condition of the negro while celebrating the fact that we were born white.

Stop and think! It is our world today, many other comments are just too despicable to publish.

Who pays the price? Boxer versus Rice

Boxer and Rice again

This is not the first time that Barbara Boxer a Democratic Senator from California has had pugilistic exchanges with Condoleezza Rice the US Secretary of State, when Rice was being confirmed the fiery exchange ended on a curt note, but sometimes the gloves do have to come off to know when you have been hit hard.

As we know with any political exchange that lifts the veneer of niceness to reveal the deep truth, people would fall on either side of the battlefront in America it become the ground for conservatives and liberals to castigate, denigrate, condemn and fulminate against each other.

Let us take sides

In the blue corner is Barbara Boxer and the red corner Condoleezza Rice – no low punches, no holding each other, fight fair – may the best girl win.

The latest exchange between Boxer and Rice can be read in all sort of ways from a straight lunge for an understanding that people who have no personal family in the Iraqi debacle may not fully understand the price of the sacrifices being demanded; through the backward leap for women’s rights if a single unmarried woman has her judgement impaired which leaves her unqualified to serve her nation; to an inconsiderate and despicable personal attack highlighting another woman’s childlessness.

I remember during the Israeli-Lebanon skirmish, Rice talked about witnessing the birth-pangs of a new Middle East, this is from a woman who just like me, a male, has no inkling about what the pain of birth can be. The Boxer exchange is not out of place.

People have taken their sides already, I feel there is a bit of all in the matter, but it takes away from where in all objectivity the inquisitor intended, what the respondent understood and how people want to see it.

Ring-side I see an upper cut

This is the statement that started the furore, make in the context of the escalation and troops surge that Dr Rice redefined as an augmentation – really, an unfortunate choice of words – however, this is the upper-cut – “Who pays the price? I'm not going to pay a personal price. My kids are too old and my grandchild is too young,” Boxer said. “You're not going to pay a particular price, as I understand it, with an immediate family. So who pays the price? The American military and their families.”

Well, it does look like a upper cut from where I was viewing the match, however, there is a possibility that some judge might see a punch below the belt, hey, judging a boxing match can be subjective and three subjective judges does not an objective result create – rather it is one of aligned perception.

Facts as they lie

Fact 1: Neither Boxer nor Rice have immediate family in the Iraqi war.

Situation 1: Only two congressmen have had their children deployed to Iraq, these kids are currently back in less volatile assignments, it is valid to ask if any politician or influential person is suffering the anxiety, fear, uncertainty and potential loss by having blood relations running the gauntlet of a merciless insurgency in a foreign land.

Fact 2: There is a price being paid for this war in Iraq and since the day war started on March the 20^th 2003, it is a daily average of the death of just over two American soldiers and $2 billion.

Situation 2: Besides the seemingly demigod-like reverence that the President of the United States sometimes commands that people can see him do no wrong, are people really aware of the cost of this war in terms of lives and resources and if that has been justifiably accounted for?

Situation 3: It is clear that no one even the most optimistic of the President’s men can certify that the new plan would be successful and what additional cost would be borne. The concern is that the sacrifice being asked for is to get the President out of a rut rather than solve the problem that grew out of American belligerence.

Fact 3: One patriotic minority of the American People who definitely need the support and back of the populace at large is paying a disproportionately high price in the Iraqi war and something it is not clear if they are sure the freedom they are fighting for is the freedom they should be fighting for.

Fact 4: Neither Boxer nor Rice can send their kids to Iraq, a fact that Boxer acknowledged – Boxer will not offer to bear that sacrifice and Rice cannot bear that sacrifice – the devil however, is the detail of whoever wants to explore the reasons why neither can send their children.

Twisting the facts

With all guns and vitriol blasting out the conservative press like some mega-volcano, the emotion of the moment that highlighted singleness and childlessness rather than the underlying hard questions that need real answers.

The care for those affected by war has to move beyond sympathy and the occasional opportunistic chat to family and relations of those fallen or wounded at war.

Both Barbara Boxer and Condoleezza Rice are seriously smart women, but when it is comes to the politics where decisions send men to war, the gloves do have to come off sometimes sailing very close to the wind and someone has to take it to the limit.

Barbara Boxer has never shied from addressing issues in matter-of-fact words that everyday man can understand, it is a duty to be expected of legislature in which they have grossly underperformed until now.

If the Republican controlled congress had asked tough questions then, it is unlikely that we would be ending up with almost indecent questions now.

Sentiments aside – who really pays the price?

Obviously, conservative commentary is apoplectic with rage about what is termed an intemperate slap on a childless woman, rivers of almost pity might want to flow from many to Dr Rice and that is the prerogative of the many that have “feelings”.

But the question at the end is the most important question at all, given all said and done, given the grand schemes and ideologies that pus h them, given the goals after extensive deliberation that discounts the advise of many for some narrow perspective that probably would take the day, for all those who are in power and have the power to call men to arms and send them to victory, détente, defeat, incapacity, pain or even the ultimate – Death.

Boxer said. “I know you feel terrible about it. That's not the point. I was making the case as to who pays the price for your decisions.”

Exactly, who really pays the price for all the mistakes in Iraq that the President has taken responsibility for in word but does not seem to sacrifice anything for apart from the musical chairs of personnel that report to him?

Who pays the price?

References

Dems burn ‘kidless’ Rice – New York Post

Sec. Rice Attacked by Sen. Boxer Over Childlessness – Mens News Daily

White House Spokesman Blasts Sen. Boxer's Exchange With Secretary Rice – Fox News

Senator’s utterance to Rice sets off uproar – The Kansas City Star

Exchange Turns Into Political Flashpoint – The New York Times

[Most of the guns have been firing on the conservative wires and hardly any on the liberal ones.]

The year of Armageddon upon us

The gambler makes his bid

I think by now we can come to the conclusion that Mr. George W. Bush is taking orders from higher authority which transcends the logic and thinking of mere mortals like you and I.

This Iraqi plan (Full Text of the address) to feed more cannon fodder to the meat-mangler of sectarian violence in Baghdad and other volatile regions of Iraqi seems to have the support nobody but Bush and the mortals elevated to the status of Cabinet or advisor with the occasional legislator and commentator to boot.

Like the cover of this week’s Economist – Baghdad or Bust – Mr, Bush might be unto something, a conviction that goes beyond nominal reason that the confidence that exudes beyond every contrary advice leaves us almost saying, this might work and maybe it would.

Read report do opposite

After the report of those eminent persons in the Iraq Study Group (ISG) which gave us a feeling that some reason has come into this Iraqi debacle, Mr. Bush has taken a completely opposite view of that report.

Basically, by redeploying everyone of importance in the Iraq venture before the ISG report be they military commanders, ambassadors, intelligence chiefs or personal advisors and in the process created a new “Team Iraq”. One thing is clear; many of these newbies have been long in their careers and are hardly driven by ideology.

One might however wonder if this quality allows the primacy of the Commander-in-Chief to hold sway over objective analysis and hence lead to less opposition the President’s resolution on these matters.

Still giving the cold-shoulder to Iran and Syria

We have been told that Iran and Syria are contributors by ways and means to the instability in Iraq, the ISG was quite particular in emphasising the need to engage Iran and Syria diplomatically by milking their relevance to Middle-East stability and clearly highlighting their compromised interests if they are uncooperative.

It would appear, this is not a path that the President would adopt, his Secretary of State is now in the Middle-East speaking to the wrong people in the hope that ignoring and isolating Iran and Syria would bring the necessary peace dividends to Iraq, well, and she must also know something we do not.

Rather than engage with Iran, a raid was conducted on the Iranian Consulate in Irbil, Northern Iraq by American troops; this escalation in reckless militancy cannot have been done without the knowledge of the president, considering the possible consequences of this action.

The nuke of Armageddon is primed

And as we are still being fed the view that Iran is busy developing military nuclear capability, we must not forget that Seymour Hersh reported in November 2006 that a secret CIA report indicated that there was “no proof” – their qualification - that Iran is developing nuclear arms in tandem with the civilian developments that have been declared to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

It could be that Israel might decide to launch a nuclear raid on Iranian nuclear infrastructure though denial might as well have an element of surprise to it.

This leaves us in a bit of a quandary, the possibility of a “U-See 3 EyeS” (US, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Syria) eye sore of the carnage of war that involves the United States, Iraq, Iran, Israel and Syria – maybe, 2007 is really the year of Armageddon – again – Mr. Bush probably knows more about this than we could every phantom.

Gauging the Nigerian 2006 Census

Counting the incredible

The Nigerian blog boards have been rife with disputing about the validity of the 2006 census as many are derisively rejecting the returns as both a waste of money and a fantasy of figures.

Two points really stick out on this matter of numbers, the fact that Kano State, in the North has more people “counted” than the state of the commercial capital of Nigeria, Lagos and that there are many more men than women in the country.

None of this really seems all that strange when one really examines the numbers returned and the circumstances around the conduct of the census last year.

First, we need to understand the changing demography of Nigeria, there was a time when Ibadan in Western Nigeria was the largest city in Africa in the 1950s, and the city gave up that title to Cairo in the 1960s.

See the figures

As it happens, the whole of Kano State came to 9,383,682 whilst Lagos State counted 9,013,354 a difference of 370,148 coming to just about 0.041% [1] - this has become the subject of interesting debate.

However, when you look at the zoning of the South West of Nigeria which includes Lagos the total population comes to 27,581,992 which is 8,204,952 less than the North West with 35,786,944, where each respective state numbers more than the corresponding state in the South West, alluding to the generally accepted view that the North of Nigeria has always had more people than the South.

What to do with a holiday

When the census took place proper, the whole country was given a week off [2], however, no special restrictions were placed on movement except for 2 days – the 24^th and 25^th of March 2006 having been on holiday since the 21^st of March – many could have gone off since Friday the 17^th of March to return on Sunday the 26^th of March without being subject to the restriction.

This meant people in highly populated conurbations could have availed themselves of the opportunity to travel to their villages and one can say the greater mobility would be in the South than in the North.

This can seriously skew the numbers since non-indigenes probably make up the majority of the residents of Lagos State.

There might be other reasons why the fertility rate and population demographic presents a higher figure in the North than in the South; however, exploring those ideas can be too subjective for appropriate discourse.

Sex Ratios

The issue of there being more males than female is not particularly strange either, sex ratios which is a major area of study indicates that globally there are really more males than females, the natural sex ratio at conception is estimated at 1.05 males/female [3] and this falls as it evens out in adulthood and then to more females at over the age of 65.

Then view the extremes, like Qatar with 1.87 males/female and Sierra Leone has 0.96 males/female, the People’s Republic of China with a population of 1,315,844,000 (2006 Estimate) [4] has a sex ratio of 1.13 males/female, so why should Nigeria with just over a tenth of that population be so radically different having a sex ratio of 1.02 males/female?

The outcry

The only way to determine a census is to count the people, there is no doubt that logistics in the matter of the Nigerian census were very poor, my mother informed me that people on her street had to pay to be enumerated, one can only wonder about the less enterprising ones who did not get counted because they did not participate in the “Nigerian Way” of getting things done.

Census issues have always sparked controversy, usually between the North and South and this time is not different as politicians pluck figures out of the air to corroborate unverifiable statements – people believe there are 15 million people in Lagos but no one has assuredly counted 15 million people on location in Lagos [5] – this pandering to ethnic dominance by numerical strength does not serve Nigeria well and it would appear we have not grown out of this cancer of tribal ascendancy.

The count

I remember one Saturday morning in 1973 when an enumerator visited our well-appointed bungalow in Rayfield, a suburb of Jos in the then Benue-Plateau State, the young man was invited into the house where he asked my parents a number of questions, we had our thumbs inked as our household included our housemaid and a gardener.

When I got to school on Monday we were all showing off our black thumbs as one of the counted, that was the only census I have ever attended, since then, our family was grown, that is a blessing.

It is strange that we expect a higher number from the South when it appears what some news organ calls Biafran separatists refused to be counted [6], there is no telling how many were not counted out of omission and others who refused to be counted, all that gets reflected in the final results.

Need for objectivity

It is easy to get carried away on the emotion of the occasion as we seek kinship for a perceived injustice and gather in the mass hysteria of castigating a process that did cost a lot of money.

Sadly, this census would not reflect in the realignment of the federal constituencies for the 2007 elections [7], but it is of concern if only 40 million are registered to vote if almost 80 million are over the age of 15, 18 being the voting age.

The projections and figures are almost in agreement and the debate is in the superficial detail of who has the most and where.

For now, it is the best census we have, if it should change, then we need to get our logistics right, educate the enumerators and understand the greater service to our fatherland to ensure we are counted fairly and without corrupt duress – before that, Kano State has more than Lagos State and sorry, you cannot have more than one wife, there are not enough to go round.

References

[1] Demographics of Nigeria

[2] Nigeria shuts down for key census

[3] Sex ratio

[4] List of countries by population

[5] Rejections greet census result

[6] Nigeria’s population tops 140 million

[7] Census: INEC Uses Current Constituencies for April Polls

CIA – The World Factbook – Nigeria

The Nigerian Census – a review in April 2006

Celebrating Guantanamo Bay at Five

The legacy of the war

We have traded our liberties for a chance to make our democracies our Big Brother. We have terrified ourselves that air travel is now the joy of masochists, the appearance of a gloved hand is the pleasure of an intrusion of a different kind.

We decried their assault on our way of life and then housed their brothers out of the reach of due process, they got a new name and what is the Geneva Convention when you can offer a Pentagon Conundrum.

Then for holiday photos with inspiration from the house in Cuba, a man in a poncho transmitting electricity like Benjamin Franklin’s first experiment.

The only detail they haven’t asked of us is how many pints of blood course through our veins, but it would not be long before your life is The Truman Show to every peering voyeur that works for that government agency that your taxes fund.

Privacy is word that means your government is the custodian of confidential matters with which they dictate your place in society, if you deviate from the script you are a terrorist to be hunted down in a fashion that hounds would find humane.

There is a war, a war on terror, a war that presents greater terror to our peace than the terrorists every imagined.

Did, Benjamin Franklin not say - Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.

Of all we have given up, we have a party to attend – Camp Delta - Guantanamo Bay is 5 today, let us celebrate our bondage in the quest for safety, we are indeed free to be bound. Let’s Party! However, below are your directions - The Road to Guantanamo.