JOS - NIGERIAN CITY OF CHILLS AND OF UNFORTUNATE BLACK AMERICANS; My beautiful trip to the Nigerian Land of hippies and hoppies.

“Traveling – it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller.” – Ibn Battuta
As I read the above quote all that came rushing to my head like dry cold in harmattan in the Sahara was my beautiful sojourn to a Nigerian city trapped in the middle of her Nothern region. My very first expedition into the north, I have as a kid to Sokoto but I can't remember, all the stories are in the head of my mother, I have no memory of it, so I don't have a story of mine to it and that means I didn't visit at all.

It all started on the 30th of September, I was giving an invite by a cousin to come visit Jos and have a feel of it, especially of its coldness - which I thought was over exaggerated because Nigerians are dramatic and can overblown the littlest of things and also for its coziness and cosmopolitan-ness too.

Although before visitin I just didn't agree Jos could be as cold as it was told by many that have visited, I'm sorry I'm a skeptic but that's what pushed me into learning a lot about my life and the universe. I'm actually a replica of Thomas in the bible, you need prove me more than doubt. I still will not like to be blessed by not seeing facts as they say "Blessed are those who believe without seeing". Such quotes ain't coined for my kind because I believe Assumption, Guess, and hastened conclusion is the mother of fuck ups. So I took my bag and packed my stuffs, armed to the teeth like a guerrilla fighter and was off for Jos. I just didn't take chances I came with a thick sweat shirt and all that transpired is close to detailed.

I took a bus from Maraba in the outskirts of Abuja and headed for Jos. As I embarked on my voyage all that came into my adventurous mind is how much bombs were going off in Jos and how I could be a victim. Then the case of the herdsmen also left terrifying chills on me and I felt we'll encounter an attack but as we moved on, I saw cars moving freely and I felt safe a bit. I disembarked at Maraba-njama and took another cab for NTA taxi park and that's when the true ugliness of Jos came to play. The roads were terrifically ugly, the ugliness can only beat the masqueradish face of Jonah Jang the past governor of the face and for once I felt a new saying should emerge "Show me the face of your governor and I'll predict your state" but then I was already judging the book(state) by its cover(entrance).

I'll spare you the other details of how the people were ready to help me with every little means they can, showing me routes and very quick to say me a welcome like I was in heaven and the angels were eager to have me in. So I took another cab to terminus to meet my cousin who was waiting to pick me up and take me home, the others are just a concise detail of what made me love, hate and weep for Jos and Josites as they'll love to call themselves.
Jos is a beautiful city, A city with a semi-African consciousness because the dress sense disconnects of the African reality and that's pitiable because of the cold(Jos is so cold) but they are so much African in the food. They are hip hop goons, I love their English accent, their American styled life and their hospitality especially the girls who are ready to please your venereal desires.
I really miss Jos, especially the serene and quiet roads of Tundu Wada, Apollo crescent and wase road. All these roads reminds of American quarters in Onireke, Ibadan where I had my elementary education with whites in the most beautiful roads with trees in awesomeness and near perfection. I miss the evening walks with my cousin, the cheap beers and famed lewd entertainment at "rest of mind" area. I miss the good staffs of City Lodge hotel who really took me in on the goodwill of my beautiful cousin Ijeoma Arupuo . I miss the noodles with all them fruits and Spanish omelet with a bottle of chilled coke. The combination is priceless.

I miss the good priest Fr. Bid at the Novetiate seminary. An old man but who never minded we talk about marriage, spirituality, politics, morals and many more, I'll always disagree with authorities, I'm a rebel and he took all that with so much admiration. I miss the three course meal he offered me, it's so priceless but these men dey enjoy shah. I'll love to debate with him again, he's such a welcoming man with a large beautiful soul.

I miss the cheap transportation and seeing stoned niggas - the real unfortunate Americans, who are so high on cheap burukutu, a bowl cost 50naira and that shit knocks them down more than what crack does to a homeless American, I could only weep at the sight of all that. This thing enslave their souls, I can see it in their eyes.

I miss the hoods and sagged pants and the English accented tongue, obviously African Rap was built in Jos, for Jos and by Jos. It's one thing I couldn't take away from them. They're a really proud folk, proud of who they're and what they're so lucky to have but others see as a curse.

I miss that feeling of a bomb going off at every step I took, lol. I really don't want that feeling but I love Jos though, it's a beautiful old city with terrifying chill in the dawn of the day. My next visit I'll hike the sherry hills and picnic at the Wildlife park.

Finally, I don't miss tuwo shinkafi, I can't understand it at all, I guess I'm not cut for new meals. I also do not miss hard dock corn chowder with palsy vegetable - a white cuisine that looks so scary, I'm still trying to wake up from that gory sight. Lol

I will leave you with this kind words from Augustine of Hippo which says, "The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page."
I miss JOS, it's a beautiful city!!!

Emmanuel Kelechi Ejionye writes from Abuja and he is a Writer, speaker, activist, grassroot leader, photographer, humanitarian and many more. He's also a graduate of Engineering from the prestigious University of Nigeria. He can be reached through
Facebook: Emmanuel Kelechi Ejionye
Twitter: @kaycee_ejionye
Email: emmanuelejionye@gmail.com
Phone: 07036344833

Youths the future of a nation; more than just a lie but a vicious hypnosis. 

It was Kurt Cobain that said "The duty of a youth is to challenge corruption." The first time I read this what came rushing into my mind like waters falling from the Niagara was another saying that "Youths are the future". Quite contradictory quotes but then one is the truth and the other ain't.

Cobain's opinion is beautiful, it's one I'll always speak of everywhere I had the chances of speaking because I don't see the young man as the future but rather he's the present, he can do it right only if he puts his energy and strength to effective purpose to nation building.

Corruption as we know is the bane of the Nigeria problems. It is that single word that describes all of our shortcomings and it's a problem of today not future, so why are we called the future when there are problems we as youths need to tackle today and be a part of its solution than push it to tomorrow. Corruption affects us the most.

Youths are not the future, we're the present, we're today, we're not tomorrow, there's nothing like tomorrow, don't get fooled. There will never be a future if we don't act now. I recount an incident with an uncle he said I was the future because of the vigor I put into community development, youth awakenness and other movements I did and I stopped him and said i am today not the future, and that's why I have put my usefulness to work today and he got infuriated at me, for trying to act the Robin hood to a clichéd quote which to me is a great injustice to the youth, who are young at mind and strong at the bones. I found out his only pain was because I was posing a threat to him because he feels his own future as youth was close even at the old age of 56.

People say I'm disrespectful and arrogant and I'm unapologetic if they feel so when I say old men should just sit at home and tell us how to go about the business of nation-building. They say knowledge is dealing me a blow negatively but yea wisdom ain't strength. Is it? Well it is in a way, intellectual strength but i'm talking about physical strength that will make you work a couple more hours.

In saner societies the Roman Empire as a model and example, the old goes to the senate and congress. They debate and proffer solutions bedeviling the nation because they've worked as young people too and now should have a wide view of national issues.
The young possess strength and strength is what we need most times with the herculean tasks of nation building while the old has the intellectual strength, the very wisdom and experience to pinpoint us the mistakes of the yores and making sure we avoid a repetition.

Let's take a critical look at the Nigerian leaders at independence, the same people recycling themselves now. Yakubu Gowon was the head of state at 32, Zik was in his early forties and he was the oldest of them all and so many others too and I ask in modern Nigeria political and leadership affairs how many people at 40 holds sensitive positions in government? I doubt if there's any and if there's any they simply are people who are compensated for their father's rule.

Forgive my overly activeness on National issue, there are still exceptions to these. I do not suggest a total overhaul of the old from government issues, I'm only saying they should go to where experience and wisdom is necessary. Actually it doesn't mean there ain't exceptional old ones with both attributes(strength and wisdom) same with the young too. We can get it done when such people emanates and show us they have that vigor.

Dear youths, I will say the biggest lie youths of today have been told and they end up believe in and have gone an extra mile to make them intellectually and motivationally incapacitated is to believe they're the future. I have fought old people who told me this, I won't stop till this tool of hypnosis is canceled out from the mouth of the old, blackmailing us subconsciously and also making us insensitive to issues that affects us the most.

I do not know about you but I do not belong to any future because there are no future in my dictionary. I'm today, I am now, I can't be tomorrow because tomorrow never comes.
Youths are the now, don't get fooled with the promise of a tomorrow that you ain't sure of seeing. Grab the future now, tomorrow might just be too late like the Christian's salvation preaches.
To be continued.....

Emmanuel Kelechi Ejionye writes from Abuja and he is a Writer, speaker, activist, grassroot leader, photographer, humanitarian and many more. He's also a graduate of Engineering from the prestigious University of Nigeria. He can be reached through
Facebook: Emmanuel Kelechi Ejionye
Twitter: @kaycee_ejionye
Email: emmanuelejionye@gmail.com
Phone: 07036344833

Top American constitutional lawyer publishes scathing open letter to President Buhari  

U.S citizen and constitutional/international lawyer Bruce Fein has penned an open letter to President Muhammadu Buhari regarding what he considers as the President’s selective prosecution of corruption charges against former officials in the Goodluck Jonathan administration. Fein points out that the current administration’s anti-corruption move was not even-handed in the pursuit of justice, advising Buhari to “make the hallmark of your administration justice, not retribution, and you may live for the ages.”

Fein, who served as a senior official in Ronald Reagan’s Justice Department, is a principal in a government affairs and public relations firm, The Lichfield Group, based in Washington, D.C.

See the full text of Fein’s letter below:

Aso Rock, Abuja
Nigeria

Dear President Buhari:

When you visited the United States Institute of Peace last July, you pledged that you would be “fair, just and scrupulously follow due process and the rule of law, as enshrined in [the Nigerian]constitution” in prosecuting corruption.

Such loftiness is laudable. As the Bible instructs in Amos 5:24: “Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”

But to be just, the law must be evenhanded. It cannot, in the manner of Russian President Vladimir Putin, be something that is given to punish your enemies and withheld to favor your friends. If so, the law becomes an instrument of injustice bearing earmarks of the wicked rather than the good.

In the United States, you declared a policy of “zero tolerance” against corruption. You solicited weapons and other assistance from the United States government based on that avowal. But were you sincere?

During your election campaign, you promised widespread amnesty, not zero tolerance. You elaborated: “Whoever that is indicted of corruption between 1999 to the time of swearing-in would be pardoned. I am going to draw a line, anybody who involved himself in corruption after I assume office, will face the music.”

After you were inaugurated, however, you disowned your statement and declared you would prosecute past ministers or other officials for corruption or fraud. And then again you immediately hedged. You were reminded of your dubious past by former Major General and President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, who succeeded your military dictatorship. He released this statement:

“On General Buhari, it is not in IBB’s tradition to take up issues with his colleague former President. But for the purpose of record, we are conversant with General Buhari’s so-called holier-than-thou attitude. He is a one-time Minister of Petroleum and we have good records of his tenure as minister. Secondly, he presided over the Petroleum Trust Fund, PTF, which records we also have.

We challenge him to come out with clean hands in those two portfolios he headed. Or we will help him to expose his records of performance during those periods. Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones. General Buhari should be properly guided.”

You then swiftly backed off your zero tolerance policy because you would have been its first casualty.
You opportunistically announced that zero tolerance would be narrowed to the predecessor administration of Goodluck Jonathan because to probe further would be “a waste of time.” That conclusion seems preposterous. In 2012, the World Bank’s ex-vice president for Africa, Oby Ezekwesili, estimated that a stupendous $400 billion in Nigerian oil revenues had been stolen or misspent since independence in 1960. The lion’s share of that corruption spans far beyond the Jonathan administration.

Your zero tolerance policy seems to come with a squint to avoid seeing culpability in your political friends. A few examples are but the tip of the iceberg.

A Rivers State judicial commission of inquiry found that N53 billion disappeared from the Rivers State Reserve Fund under former governor Rotimi Amaechi. Former Lagos governor and head of your campaign finance team Babatunde Fashola was accused of squandering N78 million of government money to upgrade his personal website. The EFCC has ignored these corruption allegations, and you have given both promotions: the Ministry of Transport to Mr. Amaechi, and the Ministry of Power, Works, and Housing to Mr. Fashola.

In contrast, you have played judge, jury, and prosecutor in the newspapers to convict former PDP Petroleum Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke of corruption.

Is this evenhanded justice?

United States Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson taught: “There is no more effective practical guaranty against arbitrary and unreasonable government than to require that the principles of law which officials would impose upon a minority must be imposed generally. Conversely, nothing opens the door to arbitrary action so effectively as to allow those officials to pick and choose only a few to whom they will apply legislation and thus to escape the political retribution that might be visited upon them if larger numbers were affected.”

To investigate or prosecute based on political affiliation or opinion also violates Articles 2 and 7 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is unworthy of a great nation like Nigeria.

Make the hallmark of your administration justice, not retribution, and you may live for the ages.

I am a United States citizen and lawyer. I have no political standing in Nigeria. Some might argue that my speaking about the administration of justice in Nigeria bespeaks impertinence But you chose to visit the United States to solicit weapons and other assistance from my government–a government of the people, by the people, for the people. The United States government represents me. What the United States government does reflects on me. I thus have an interest in addressing the actions of foreign governments that receive United States government aid.

Sunshine is said to be the best of disinfectants.

Sincerely,

Bruce Fein
Fein & DelValle PLLC
300 New Jersey Avenue, N.W., Suite 900
Washington, D.C. 20001

(Source: THE BREAKING TIMES)

CORP MEMBERS FORCES TO CUT GRASSES YESTERDAY BEFORE GETTING THERE CLEARANCE LETTERS IN AHOADA EAST LOCAL GOVERNMENT OF RIVERS STATE: SEE PHOTO AFTER CUT.....

Kwarshiokor Of Hope

"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift of God, which is why we call it the present." Bil Keane
I stumbled on this quote days back and I started pondering and reflecting on the unending journey called Nigeria. The strive that tomorrow will be better and that all we wish today could become a substance of fulfillment today and I researched, debated with the older generations on hope and to be terribly disappointed I see how much hope these failed generations have.
I know you'll go cursive at me on why I should call my old ones name, a thing that's unafrican, a xenolithic norm to the African scenario and I'll look and just feel bad on how hypocrisy has been misconcepted with African values and ethos but that will be a discourse for another day.
Like I've said the older generation is a failure and I'm unapologetic about it but I see my own generation will turn out a greater failure if things are not set right. Failure is not a question of age nor status but if a team like Barcelona losses Messi who is an individual success on his own stands to be called failure with the others. So I'm spitting it again that the older Generation failed us and we're living out the mentorship of their training.

Few days back I got a call from a Nigerian friend resident in America and we talked about a lot of things and tried to catch up on our various lives and when talked about Nigeria and it's undelivered promises we were enveloped in an ixora of sadness and he told me "Nna Echi di ime" which means tomorrow is pregnant of hope and I striked him back that probably our Tomorrow has kwarshiokor and we're mistaken it for pregnancy.

As all these transpired and the call ended, I was hit by a cacophony of voices and pains, sounds with the most vicious reverberation and when I tried to catch my cool, it dawned on me that Nigeria is a nation filled with good people but hopeless optimists. We're all pregnant but is it of true pregnancy of hope or a protruding tummy filled with void and air which we mistaken for hope.

I urge Nigerians, we need more than hope, we need actions. Hopes don't come with crass passivism, a hopeful man must still work and strive to achievement. We can't pride ourselves as pregnant with hope when this is worse than a fibroid. We're malnourished to start hoping, we must fight nepotism in high places and speak up against these morose of leaders. We must drop this sheer hedonism. We must revitalize our lives and kick this hopeless optimism which is simply a Kwarshiokor of Hope.


Emmanuel Kelechi Ejionye writes from Abuja and he is a Writer, speaker, activist, grassroot leader, photographer, humanitarian and many more. He's also a graduate of Engineering from the prestigious University of Nigeria. He can be reached through
Facebook: Emmanuel Kelechi Ejionye
Twitter: @kaycee_ejionye
Email: emmanuelejionye@gmail.com
Phone: 07036344833