HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

Childhood was fun.My first major break,that saw me winning a prize, was at the annual Christmas party,way back in the good old days,at St. Thomas' Teachers College,Ibusa.All the kids residing in the staff quarters are hosted to a Christmas party every Christmas day.We were made to recite poems.The then Principal of the college,Rev.Fr. Jones,an Irish priest,playing the Santa Claus,will hand out toys and books to us,after every good poem,well recited.I can still recall vividly,how I stood before the huge Priest and other children,with sweat on my forehead and knees shaking, to recite what was then my most favorite 'poem': 'Sweet mother,I no go forget you...For the suffer wey you suffer for me yee! When I de hungry,My mother no go chop,When I de sick,my mother no go sleep...She no de tire eh,Sweet mother............'

Everyone reeled with laughter.I was unperturbed.My excitement knew no bounds when after I had recited my 'poem',Fr. Jones handed me a beautiful cartoon book of Walt Disney characters.Honestly, even though Prince Nico Mbarga's 'Sweet Mother', did the trick,It took me years later before I could really appreciate the meaning of the 'poem' I rendered. Today,as Mothers in the Catholic Church observe mothers day,I will gladly recite that good old poem again...A very wonderful Mother's day to all great moms all over the world.

PICTURES FROM VICTOR KAYODE'S WEDDING

Got very beautiful pictures from Kayode and Esther's wedding which took place in Port Harcourt last week.It was so colourful.Victor Kayode is the Eastern Regional Investigator for Telecommunication giant,MTN Nigeria.Happy married life to the couple.

IF ONLY WISHES WERE HORSES..

Easter Sunday was cool.Had great fun. I spent the better part of it visiting as many Naija blogsites as I could get to.The experience of this cyberic adventure was enriching.Pride simply overwhelmed me,as I savoured the effect of the Nigerian spirit in the various blog postings.If you want to have a good feel of your Nigerianness,do the Niaja blogging thing.Nigerian,be them at home or in the diaspora are deeply passionate about their country.Everone is wishing that things really gets moving. Just immagine if all the trillions upon trillions of Nairas fritted away,through corruption, since independence were judiciously utilized on infrastructural development,Education,Security,Health,Science and Technology and citizen's welfare? We sure would be in leagues with those countries in the West,Asia and the East where quality of life has value...

To all Nigerians on Blogsphere:Thank you for keeping the faith!May you have a very fulfilling week.

HAPPY EASTER

May the significance of the Easter season bring you so much blessings. Live love...keep peace...be true.

To Orikinla Osinachi (http://www.kissesandroses.blogspot.com/): Thanks for the comments.More thanks too for the correction. I had erroneously referred to him as 'she/her' in my last posting.

A GATHERING STORM

Orikinla Osinachi-www.kissesandroses.blogspot.com will surely be stirring the hornets nest within the Naija Bloggers community, with the contents in her recent post titled 'Many Nigerian Girls and Women Are Shameless Liars.'She accused Nigerian female bloggers of lying 'about many things to hide their insecurities and indignities.' Specific mention is made about a 'young Nigerian publisher of a glossy fashion magazine who shamelessly lied' in her blog about a Valentine's day romance that never happened and so on.Do we need all these mud splashings and dirty G-string washing in the Blogger's community? Or could this be another prologue to a new adaptation of the V-monologues stuff? We don't need this drama.

THE CROOK OF ARGUNGU

These are indeed not the best of times for Bello Ya'u,the winner of the recently concluded Argungu Fishing Festival Competition,in Kebbi,Northern Nigeria.The man,who some days ago won the star prize of a Honda Car,2 seat tickets to the next Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca and 2 Million Naira cash for catching the prized 65.95 kg fish at the fishing competition,has turned out to be a fishy crook,a cheat,a fraudster and a disgrace.Officials of the festival alleged that the fish was already dead when it was caught.Ya'u and an accomplice known as Zazzagawa,had smuggled the dead fish into the river,a day before the competition.Both men had since been arrested and handed over to the police,with Ya'u stripped of the winner's title and all prizes withdrawn from him.What a sad and disgraceful end for a young man who wanted to win at all cost,by every crooked means.

THE BEAUTY AND THE BEAST OF NIGERIAN DEMOCRACY

Benin City,the ancient capital of Edo state was frenzied up in wild jubilations after Justice Peter Umeadi,Chairman of the Edo State election petition tribunal, at the end of a six hour judgement ruled that Comrade Adams Aliyu Oshiomole,and not Prof. Oserheimen Osunbor,is the rightful Governor of the state.Justice Umeadi,ruled that Oshiomole,the flagbearer for the Action Congress (AC) Party in the April 14 2007 Gubernatorial elections,polled 166,557 votes against 129,057 for PDP's Prof. Osunbor.By this,Oshiomole 'satisfied the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the provision of sections 41 and 147(2) of the electoral Acts 2006.Adams had sought the annulment of Osunbor's mandate on the grounds that the election was grossly marred by fraud,voters intimidation,multiple voters registration,over voting and electoral violence.

Addressing supporters after the court's judgement,Oshiomole described it as a victory for the ordinary people of Edo state.' We said that we will defend the votes...together,we will start afresh to rebuild our state.It is bye bye to bad governance..'

However,Prof. Osunbor has said that he will head for the supreme court to challenge the verdict.If only this Prof would listen to the voice of his conscience telling him 'don't bother going to the Appeal court. Adams will still floor you yaakaataaa!!'.

FOUAD: FREE AT LAST!!

The leading good news today is that the jailed 26 years old Moroccan Blogger,Fouad Mourtada has been released from prison,after spending 44 days behind bar.He is reported to be in good health and happy to be free.There have been several calls for the release of Fouad,who was jailed in February for creating a facebook profile of Morocco's Prince Moulay Rachid.

The pardon was granted by King Mohammed IV in commemoration of the Eid-el-Moulud celebrations,marking the birth of Prophet Mohammed (SAW).Fouad,who has already been transformed into a celebrity of sort,should get his life back on track.This experience would have provided him with so much,to build himself with.

HAPPY EID-EL-MAULUD

Today,Muslims all over the world are celebrating Eid-el-Maulud,to mark the birth of Prophet Mohammed (SAW).To my muslim brothers and sisters,I rejoice with you all,especially Bashir Shawai,Usman Abubakar,Baman Abubakar,Abdulmuminu Yusuf (Big Abdul),Gambo Shuaibu,Olasukanmi Akinsanmi (sukeke),Anty Rabi,Anty Nike,Yusuf Mohammed,Musa Bamidele,Jimoh Amodu and Salisu Abdullahi.Happy Eid-el- Maulud

LINDA 'SUPERWOMAN' IKEJI

Linda Ifeoma Micheal Ikeji, is one young Nigerian lady I greatly admire.She is such an equal combination of beauty,brain, hardwork,discipline and humility.She runs a modelling agency, single handedly publishes a Magazine,consistently blogs, among other things.She is already a Super woman at this young age.You need to visit her blogsite www.lindaikeji.blogspot.com to better appreciate what I am saying.Reading through her latest posting titled 'You will...when you believe' I couldn't just resist doubling my admiration and respect for this lady.She is a charming example of positivism,commitement,passion,dedication,honesty and faith.

Keep it all up,Girl!

THE LEGENDS ARE RETURNING

Over the weekend,I forcefully dragged myself to join some friends to cool off in one of the popular 'joints' in Owerri,capital of Imo state,The Eastern heartland.It was such fun.Owerri,on weekends,especially on Sunday evenings, is a package of excitement.There is something I have really come to enjoy about Owerri-its music.

Owerri has a very unique kind of music,largely epitomized by the character and quality of the group known as Oriental Brothers International Band.This group held sway in the highlife genre,in Eastern Nigeria and beyond, back in the late 60s and through the 70s.Tracks such as 'Akwa uwa','Nwanyi di ya bu Eze''Muritala'(in memory of theLate Nigerian Head of state who was assasinated in 1975,General Muritala Mohammed) performed by the group have remained evergreen.The Death of the groups lead vocalist,Christognus Obinna aka 'Dr Sir Warrior' brought to a standstill,this musical revolutionary effect the group was revelling in.Internal squables amongst the group members,according to reports, further dealt a painful blow to whatever remained of this great oriental musical symbol.Oriental Brothers varnished into history.But like the legendary Phoenix,this group is making a come back into the Nigerian music scene,with the release of a new VCD Albulm titled 'Ozo wu iwe m'.The albulm consist mostly of rehashed tracks earlier done by the group,now packaged on VCD,in remembrance of 'Dr Sir Warrior'.It seems the group wanted to catch up with the technological advantage it missed out back then,when musical videos weren't in existence in Nigeria. I have been privilaged to watch some clips from the new musical.The surviving members of the original Oriental Brothers-Dansatch Opara,Kabaka,Chiha and Akwila gave a good account of what made them dominate the musical scene,back in those golden days.Not even ageing could take away the Oriental magic.However,I was not impressed by the choreographic displays of the dancers featured in the video.They were out of tune,rhytm and colour.The video was no doubt hurriedly and poorly done.A better packaging is required to project 'the face of Imo'.

Talking about the Legends making come backs,I learnt that Bongos Ikwue,the guy who did the hit sound-track for the NTA sponsored soap opera that rocked the airwaves in the 80s, 'Cock crow at Dawn' is set to release a 26 track albulm.The title is still being kept secret.But be rest assured that Bongos will blow ya mind,like he did with tracks such as 'Show me a Virgin','Maryam','Cock crow at Dawn','What's gonna be' etc.Bongos' originality,way back those good old days was really amazing.He sonorous voice is his greatest asset.It's still so hard to believe that Dan Seal,Don Williams and Kenny Rogers weren't apprentices under Ikwue's tutelege.Honestly,the guy took his bow from the music scene,so early,even before ovations could be given.

OBASANJO,ATIKU AND THE REST OF US

Did you see the pictures of Ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo and his former Vice,Atiku Abubakar,at the lecture marking the 10th Anniversary of the death of General Shehu Musa Yar'Adua in Abuja?I know some people would have expressed shock at the picture which showed the two men in a more friendlier disposition than expected,after all those 'fire-for-fire' jabbins we witnessed after the centre fell apart between both men.Someone said they must have been having a good laugh on Nigerians who are yet to understand the nature of Nigerian polithiefcians,I mean Politicians,who are only keen about personal interest and nothing more.A Nigerian politician only cries out when his interest is threatened.For all those who expected OBJ and ATK to square up a la Samuel Peter and Oleg Maskaev style,sorry for the dissapointment.I only hope that this recociliation smiles are deeply rooted from the hearts.

THAT RALLY BY NIGERIAN ARTISTES

Last monday,some Nigerian artistes under the aegis of Coalition of Aggrieved Entertainment Practitioners,held a rally,which they say is the first in a series of planned actions to protest the incessant attack on them by Armed robbers in Lagos.The coalition which include Teju Babyface,Tee A,Howie T,Ego,D'bang,DJ Tee andKunle Afolanyan, lamented the insensitive manner the Lagos state government is handling the onslaughtof armed bandits on the city.'It appears the Police force is sleeping.It appears the government is looking the other way.It appears like no one cares.We are helpless,and that is why we are crying out for help before the situation gets completely out of hand'The group complained in a statement.

The artistes have been on the receiving end of this onslaught.Award winning crooner,TufaceIdibia narrowly escaped death last December when Armed robbers pumped bullets into his thighs in an attempt to rob him and other occupants in his vehicle.Some months back,a Jeep was snatched from the same Tuface.Actress Uche Jombo also lost her car to robbers.Comedian Tee A was the latest in the list of those who have fallen victims of violent armed robbery.But,of a truth,these artistes travails are self-inflicted.Some of them have unknowingly made themselves targets of these criminals due to their reckless and irresponsible display of flamboyance.Any Artiste whom mother luck suddenly smiles on,assumes the status of a 'star',some even 'super stars'.Efizzy and over forming becomes the order of the day.To match this new found status,expensive cars are acquired,with security implications not taken into consideration.How on earth could someone be driving an expensive car like an SUV at about 11:30 pm in a crime prone location inside Lagos with no security details,in view of the attendant circumstances?

It is now time the Government put in placeproper security measuresthat would stem the tide of this ugly development before things really get bad.We can't afford to have another incident like that of South African's Reggea Star,Lucky Dube.Afterall,'who don kpai don kpai...' God forbid!

VICTOR KAYODE HOLDS PORT HARCOURT HOSTAGE

As I write this,my heart is elsewhere.I couldn't make it to the wedding of my good 'Oga',Victor Olumide Kayode,who at this very moment is exchanging marital vows with Esther Ekeneoche Gwunireama at the El Shadai Ministries,Amadi-Ama Housing Layout,Port Harcourt,Rivers State.But thanks to GSM.I am able to get a vivid minutes-to-minutes update on events in PH,courtesy of my friend,Freedom 'freedo' Iwebema on phone. Freedom tells me that the Church service is full to the brim,with all the 'who is who' of Port Harcourt in attendance.I am not surprised.'Oga' Victor has his way of doing his things.He is a smooth achiever.No doubt,he is going to make a very wonderful husband.How I envy Esther Ekeneoche.She is so lucky to have a man like Victor for a husband.Smooth talking Vic,is every woman's dream man.Hearty congratulations to the newly wed couple...Meanwhile,I am still receiving very interesting up-dates from my man,Freedom,about the wedding.For sure,I miss the thrills and colours that will characterise this wedding,not to talk of the mouth watering menus and assorted drinks which the guests are being lavished with.

FOUAD-HANG ON!

There have been protests worldwide over the adamant posture of the Moroccan authorities to release Blogger Fouad Mourtada who was sentenced to three years imprisonment for creating a Face book profile of a Prince of the Moroccan Royal house.On March 1st,over one Hundred and fifty Moroccan bloggers took to the streets in Rabat,demanding for Fouad's release. Some Moroccan Bloggers have suspend their blogging activities in solidarity with the jailed Fouad.Protesters have also protested in Paris,London and some other major cities.The Moroccan authorities are making a hero out of Fouad.Lets keep hoping that with this level of protest,the Moroccan authorities will yield to the voices of public protest and set the innocent young man free.His family needs him.To Fouad:Hang on,with your head up.!