HOW GOD USED OGBENI RAUF AREGBESOLA FOR MY SPIRITUAL UPLIFTMENT ( PART TWO)

One of my god fathers in politics, Chief Shuaib Afolabi Oyedokun used to say that there is a world of difference between being religious and being spiritual. 

Indeed, the high walls between the two are similar to the high walls separating a man of reputation from a man of character. 

Most times,it is what you are when people are around that makes you a man of reputation while it is who you really are when people are not around that says a lot more of you and about your character. 

No wonder why Plutarch, the great thinker wrote that :" man's most conspicuous achievements do not always reveal his best strength or his weakness. Often, a trifling incident,  a word or a jest shows more of his character than the battles where he slays thousands,  his grandest ministering of armies and his siege of cities.

In the name of religion, many people often believe that nothing good may be expected from those who are not in the same worship centre with them.

It is only the man with the third eye of spirituality that understands rightly that God in the affairs of men , sits down in Heaven doing whatever pleases Him ,and He is never, never seeing with the hollow spectacles of any man.

It is however an irony of fate that most of us as critics  often play God in the way we are always too hasty to serve others ultimatum while passing judgement over others , writing off people and situations irredeemably as if they can never turn round to humble us out of our cocoon. 

The proverb of the wisest King Solomon had warned:" Do not go hastily to argue your case before  magistrates, lest you know not what to do in the end when your neighbour humiliates you ."( Proverb 25:8)

Probably, this is why the adage of our elders in Yoruba land has also counselled those who care to listen never to dig the hole of your enemy too deep ,lest you end up being the casualty in the pit, as deep as the well of Democritus. 

Here , let me digress a little to attend some people who appear to have read the first part of this write-up in a hurry, and had been asking what moral lesson was I trying to draw ?

This kind of attitude reminds me of some time in the late 90s when youthful exuberance mixed with impetuousity of a child took better part of me on a divine story which opening chapter God was communicating to me on His Imperial Majesty, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi. 

Ostensibly taking my usually privileged access to the palace of the Alaafin of Oyo,  Iku Baba Yeye at Oyo for granted, and without even confirming or clearing it from Almighty God whether the vision was a sealed one or one that was due for declaration, the next one hour after I had disembarked from the trance found me at the gate of the palace which strangely refused to open to me on the fateful day. 

I had with all religiosity, ( I say this with all modesty ) served God's message to the Alaafin who had always confirmed their potency and fulfillment , but it was the spirituality of the  closed gate of the palace  which taught me a spiritual lesson never again to be hasty or jump the gun on spiritual matters. 

The Lord then told me that He was going to show me a ten chapter book on the Iku Baba Yeye, but that my exuberance had found me hurried away from His presence, tail between my legs , when He had only showed me just its opening chapter. 

What moral lesson  ? 

We would resume our discussion shortly on how God used Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola for my spiritual upliftment. 

OLALERE FAGBOLA

HOW GOD USED OGBENI RAUF AREGBESOLA FOR MY SPIRITUAL UPLIFTMENT ( PART ONE )

GOD has been the Almightiness behind my repentance from sexual immorality which constituted the greatest affliction from which I  suffered, especially during my childhood days, and which details are contained in this book :" THE EXCELLENCY OF KNOWING HIM. "

He has used Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, when  he was the Governor , ( as a vessel of honor in view of the fact that my spiritual contact with him  strengthened my long-drawn resolve to live a life of chastity and obedience to God. 

 I am used to one conviction in my life and it is christened: " Christ,  a-head of my Crises ." This conviction is ever true in my Christian life.  How ? I have discovered that God often , out of mercy , sent  helping hand to me , either to forewarn me( a-head ) of impending danger or provide escape route from any approaching cataclysm .

This is where exactly Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has come as a vessel of honor whom God , in 2017 , used for me as  a direct escape route from impending  danger. He came as an answer to my prayer and a helping hand to consolidate my spiritual resolve to lead a life free from sexual encumberance.

Ironically, this was after some years in which  I had opposed him and his government , doing my job as one of his arch critics.

As far back as 2001, I had  withdrawn from all form of sexual immoralities but my meeting Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola helped me to renew my commitment to the abstinence. 

It all happened  in 2017 when I was appointed by the  Yoruba Students Association In Egypt YOSTANEG as its Media Consultant . The executives of the association had flown into Nigeria from Cairo, wanting to meet Governor Rauf Aregbesola. 

Knowing the general attitude of politicians and civilian Governors to people who are their critics , I was not expecting any good reception from him , especially as I was billed to lead the team to his office.  Characteristic  of my spiritual training to pray before I embark on any professional assignment , I went on my knees to seek the face of the Lord to assist us in this mission. 

I got a pleasant surprise when the Lord brought me to the remembrance of an occasion in which He had  asked my team of prophets to intercede in prayers for Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola  in 2006 when we had never in life seen him face to face. 

It was during  the period of the hijirah 2017 that we however met one on one  for the first time  , and in appreciating  God Almighty for ensuring  the success of our mission, I was divinely inspired to enter into a vow , which  the Yoruba Bible translation rightly translated  as " Ileri ife" , being  the pledge or the promise of Love " to God Almighty. 

 It was on that day the Lord led me from deep inspiration to enter into a vow of chastity to consolidate my spiritual journey.  It may not have readily meant much to me then , except that I realised that a vow is sacrosanct , but it was thereafter that I sensed that it was a kind of "Christ a-head-of -my -crises " vow, intended by God to save me from impending danger and provide escape route from the usual afflictions that had dogged my steps in life.

No sooner I entered into the vow of renewed chastity in which I had since 2001 promised never to engage in sexual  immoralities than different temptations such that I had never witnessed began to  haunt me left, right and center.  In fact, if it were not for the sacredness of the vow that had bound me , I could have not only returned to my old vomit but could  have continued to wallow in it .

Almost a year after the vow, I came face to face with a book written by Kola Olabisi in which I read that Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola was never a womanizer and that he is a faithful husband of one wife . It really impressed me that God has chosen the right vessel for His use .

OLALERE FAGBOLA

NEW DIMENSIONS TO MENTAL HEALTH CARE AND MENTAL HEALTH CARE JOURNALISM

(1) HATH THERE NO CAUSE  ? 

 PREACHERS' SACCHARINE APPROACH TO 

THE SONS AND DAUGHTERS THAT ARE FOR SIGNS AND WONDERS: NIGERIAN CLERICS AND THEIR SACCHARINE GOSPEL OF MOTIVATIONAL SERMONIZATION :

( PASTOR ENOCH ADEBOYE , EVANGELIST FABIYI OBEY AND THEIR RIGHT ATTITUDES TO THIS SPIRITUAL INJUNCTION)

(2)WRITING AND YOUTHS PSYCHOLOGY AND PERSONALITY : 

 (3)LEADERSHIP AND CHARACTER STUDIES : THE PLACE OF 

 COSMOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE TO LEADERS' DESTINY AND PEOPLES BLESSING OR BURDEN.

(4)WRITING AS A FORM OF THERAPY THAT SERVED MENTAL HEALTH ROBUSTNESS. 

(5) MODERNITY DOES NOT CANCEL SPIRITUALITY :

NEW DIMENSIONS TO MENTAL ILLNESS

(6)NEW DIMENSIONS TO BULLYING: EMMANUEL , AS A CASE STUDY

(7)ECHO OF CONFESSION AND WRITING MYSELF INTO LUNACY

(8)THE CONNECTION BETWEEN NAZIRITE ,DREADLOCKS AND LUNACY

(9) MY ANGER AGAINST OVER TOPICALIZATION , OVERSECULARIZATION AND OVERGENERALIZATION BY WESTERN MEDICINE MENTAL HEALTH CARE GIVERS 

(10) SIGNS OF  OUR TIME

(11)DIARY OF MY AGONIZING EXPERIENCE WITH DADA , THE NAZARITE AND THE HELPLESSNESS OF WESTERN DOCTORS. 

(12)MY RESPONSIBILITY IN HIS TRAUMA

(13) UNMET EXPECTATIONS, ANXIETY AND FEAR OF LIFE AFTER OFFICE AS WELL AS SUCCESSION BIDS ARE EQUIVOCATIONS FROM THE PIT OF  LUNACY ( DIE ) LADY MACBETH  MACBETH, KING SAUL AND KING NEBUDCADNEZZER;AS CASE STUDIES  IN DIRECT INTERPRETATION OF EQUIVOCATION

(14) DEIFYING NAZIRITES :DYNAMIC EQUIVALENT INTERPRETATION AND THE PLACE OF THE HAIR ON YOUR HEAD AS DETERMINANT OF  THE STATE OF YOUR MENTAL HEALTH: YOUR  SANITY OR INSANITY :

(15) EXPOSITIONS ON CHAPTER THREE OF TRAUMA OF THE DREAD-LOCKED: AND THE BEDLAM CALLED NIGERIA .

(16) MOVEMENT AGAINST OUTDATED LEGISLATION AND HOSTILITY AGAINST MENTAL DISABLED NIGERIANS : THE COSMETIC APPROACH TO REHABILITATION OF MENTALLY DISABLED PEOPLE 

(17) STOPPING GOVERNMENT'S  CROCODILE TEARS FOR MENTALLY DISABLED PEOPLE IN NIGERIA 

 (18)INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES AND THE HYPOCRISY OF WESTERN PARADIGM APPROACH TO MENTAL HEALTH CARE

(19) MENTAL HEALTH CARE JOURNALISM: THE PLACE OF UNWRITTEN HAZARDS OF JOURNALISM PRACTICE IN NIGERIA 

(20) WHEN SCHOLARS AND JOURNALISTS FAILED TO PUT PEN TO PAPERS. 

OLALERE FAGBOLA REPORTING FOR worduniversity.online

TAKING RESPONSIBILITY OVER : TRAUMA OF THE DREAD-LOCKED

 

 Kindly allow me to seize this opportunity to inform you of my intention to bring to public view , my new book christened:"TRAUMA OF THE DREAD-LOCKED " in which I have unzipped my mind concerning my three years of agonizing experience where-in I shuttled through five different hospitals seeking mental health care for my son, Dada , who had put up with mental illness since 2019.

 73 years old designer of the World Trade Center, Robertson Leslie, had during his lecture  on Post-September 11- attack , been asked by one of the engineers :

"what could you have done differently in the design and construction of the international edifice ?"

" I wish I had made the pillars to stand up a little longer, " He answered in an emotion-laden voice.

 " I mean every person was important, everyone deserved a chance to get out ." He added, still trying  to fight back tears.

Just as the whole world had indicted terrorists who carried the dastardly act in which America's single largest loss of life was recorded , Robert Leslie also had all the reasons to pass the buck and blame it all on the terrorists , but he was no man to do so.

 By that singular and uncommon act he gave a new definition to personal responsibility. 

It is along this frame of 

 Robertson Leslie's school of thought that I have also contemplated what my answer would be , should my son and future generation turn around to ask why I have decided to bring issue of mental illness (which they consider as private matter) to public forum , even as a topic for a book  ?

There is no doubt that in the past three years in which we have been putting up with untold agony of shuttling through five different hospitals for the treatment of my son, the question that had seriously nagged my mind and constituted a weight on my conscience is this :

" Are you not one of the architects of this mental illness  ?

Knowing what the spiritual connection between the two words ; "Trauma "and "Dread-locked " portends for insanity, I have  been wondering if this lunacy of a thing would have  become the portion which my son ought to have nursed for so long if I had functioned FULLY in the three areas of spiritual office and gifts which God endowed me  ?

First , I am a writing Prophetologist, gifted in prophetic utterances; second , I am a Psalmist endowed richly with composing and singing songs of praise and thirdly , I am naturally  empowered as a youth mobilizer, having been involved in youth leadership in the past fifty years .

Regrettably however, I have in all of these three fronts behaved like the Biblical recalcitrant Prophet Jonah , who in shirking responsibility, is used to delegating others  to carry out messages which God had directly asked him to deliver to the world.

 One of the ways which  therefore opens up to me towards fulfilling personal responsibility lies in writing this book , being an echo of confession and repentance while allowing it to co-exist with the second book, ( THE EXCELLENCY OF KNOWING HIM) itself being a confession of testimony and path to living a life of chastity .

I intend, soonest , to launch the two new books to raise an endowment in my concerted effort to assign value to my collective experience on this matter and I am hopeful that, given your good disposition to helping humanity , you would not hesitate to assist me in ensuring the attainment of my lofty goals for the mentally disabled people and right orientation for our youths. 

OLALERE FAGBOLA

WHY RAISING AN ENDOWMENT FUND FROM THE TWO BOOK PROJECTS  ? 

(a) Part of the proceeds realisable and realized at the launching  would be committed to mass production of the two books in three major languages other than English language towards full sensitisation of the public .

(b ) Register a non governmental organisations with interfaith disposition to champion the following aims and objectives. 

( MAIN OBJECTIVES)

(1)To give  rehabilitation to selected mentally disabled patients who have successfully undergone medical treatment .

(2) Conduct sensitisation campaign in pursuit of an understanding of the problems associated with the mentally ill. 

(3) Helping the family of the mentally disabled patient to cope in pursuit of the welfare of their relatives. 

(4)Conduct and support research that promotes mental health. 

(5) Encourage  holistic attitude  to mental health care in order to embrace interdisciplinariness. 

(6 ) Encourage movement that would lead to the reviewing of our obsolete legislation and change of hostile attitudes of society against the mentally disabled people.

 ( OTHER OBJECTIVES)

(7)Liberating the Church ( African Instituted churches) from mental and spiritual laxity and laziness especially on their ill-informed perception of Dadas or Nazirites who are often  bamboozled into wearing dreadlocks as a result of religious doctrine. 

(8) Freeing innocent children from spiritual and societal bullying through re-defining bullying and parental/social responsibilities. 

(9 ) Liberating mental health care givers from parochialism and western-oriented paradigm. Reorientating them on sound mental health care /ethical values.

(10) Liberating  the perception of society on mental illness and legislation on mentally disabled patients from mental cruelty. 

(11)Liberating the Nigerian youths from being victims of unmet expectations which often lead to needless depression through over reliance on DIRECT INTERPRETATION OF EQUIVOCATION ( DIE) which is  the style peculiar  to motivational speakers. 

(12) Liberating mentally disabled patients from stereotype rehabilitation in which they are prematurely discharged from hospitals only to face stigmatisation and hostility from the society. 

(13) Liberating Nigeria's educational system and institutions ( especially tertiary education) from unintended evil consequences of industrial action/ strikes .

Investigations which I have conducted revealed that ASUU prolonged strike has tolled negatively on the mental attitudes of undergraduates in the South western part of Nigeria, judging by the number of mentally disabled students admitted at hospitals during this period. 

* Comparative data analysis is being processed to confirm this.

OLALERE FAGBOLA

MISSION STATEMENT

There have, in recent times, been upsurge in youth delinquency and suicide rate which I suspect is not unconnected with unmet expectations of youths who are the immediate casualties.

My findings reveal that this sad development might be traced to the influence which motivational speakers wield irrevocably on the media generation through their Direct Interpretation of Equivocation ( DIE)system  in reaching  out to the youths whose desires  are often fired up but are themselves robbed of the strength of actualisation.

Another crisis on hand in our society is the gale of hate literature ( in circulation) as occasioned by irresponsible media reporting ,even as our media generation is being befuddled by mental laziness as a result of their delusion that technology is there to think for them. 

As if this is not enough, the society is retrogressively witnessing the underdevelopment of reading culture through the abuse of and unguided public launching of intellectual material ( books) while losing moral compass from saccharine gospel of instant prosperity in religious houses.

 (2)POSITION AND CURRENT SITUATION. 

There are weak  attempts by educational institutions to design and implement dynamic curriculum to deal with emerging challenges, even as both governments and the media have been found to engage in over- topicalisation and over-secularisation of issues of high public concern. 

In the Management of conflicts, the country is awash with selective activists and Democrats of convenience. 

Most unfortunate is the fact that statesmanship within our university system is not boldly thinking out of the box towards having co-responsive interaction with statesmanship outside the university walls for the much - needed breakthroughs.

 (3)PROPOSAL THEREFORE 

If Effective presentation of public speaking is ten percent external and ninety percent internal and psychological, we are then missing the entire point to effectiveness in speaking, if we miss out Psycho-linguistic and memory concentration studies in the scheme of training on the Art of speaking well. 

This is exactly where-in, psycho linguistic comes as my area of competence and training option in motivating motivational speakers.

Rather than the permutation option to persuasion ,"Reputation" management to effective leadership and Direct Interpretation of Equivocation ( DIE) to motivational speaking, I have successfully explored Dynamic Equivalent interpretation (DEI).

Such is still the ongoing fruitless case when school curriculum,towards rescuing the media generation from the media bathroom in which they are drowned, attempts to groom them using moral instruction and biographies which thrust are built on mere stereotypes .

Thinking outside of this box,I have successfully initiated the teaching  of media studies  and cosmological perspective to writing biography, as this is the ideal way to character-study, noting that  leader's destiny is tantamount to nation's blessing or nation's burden.

When governments,as crisis managers ,fail in their conflict Management strategy to give pride of place to value-reorientation for the  media ( as professionals who manage themselves through crisis)I pioneered the teaching of media studies as effective replacement of moral instruction in schools of science in Oyo and Osun states.

Equally, I organised the first inter-faith ( value-orientation )seminar for working journalists in Oyo state on the platform of an ngo,Movement of Non-Violence in Africa MENVIA ,founded from the proceeds of the launching of former Governor Lam Adesina's biography of my authorship in 2000.

A CALL TO DUTY .

" A true man does not seek the path where advantage lies only but rather, the path where duty lies.The only practical man is he whose dream of today will be the law of tomorrow. He who looks back on the upheavals of history and has seen civilisation going up in flames, crying out in bloody struggle throughout the centuries, knows that the future well- being of man without exception lies on the side of duty."

AREAS OF IMMEDIATE ATTENTION. 

(1)  There is a need to organize Psycholinguistic workshops for Motivational speakers,  public office holders, Executive officers and other professionals on Effective presentation skills. 

We would be replacing the current Direct Interpretation of Equivocation ( DIE) with Dynamic Equivalent Interpretation ( DEI) as the ideal and dynamic system of communication. 

(2)  Introduction of Media Studies in place of half-hearted teaching of moral instruction in schools . This would necessitate organising seminars for teachers and students on Rhetoric and the Art of speaking well while encouraging debates among schools and encouraging reading culture through distribution of books and organizing book lectures in schools. 

(3)INTERFAITH DIALOGUE FOR THE MEDIA.

In view of the recurring situation in the country, where-in some unpatriotic people often whip up religious tension whenever general election is approaching,it would be strategic to organize interfaith seminar for working journalists and other social media activists.

MAKING A CASE FOR INTERFAITH WORKSHOP FOR THE MEDIA , CLERICS AND OTHER STAKEHOLDERS IN CONFLICT MANAGEMENT. 

(1)

 CONFLICTS ,RELIGION AND THE MEDIA.

Holy wars between Christians and Muslims were fought in the midd le ages while religion is oftentimes, the cause of devastating conflicts in Africa, even as evident in recent facts released by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, issued on religious persecution world wide. It featured Nigeria, Iran,Sudan, Vietnam, North Korea and China as the nations where religious conflict is rampant.  

Nigeria is said to have a configuration in which both Christians and Muslims each have no fewer than sixty million population. 

" In Nigeria, they are two equal majorities starting each other in the face .That makes the country, more so than any other Arab or other Asian country, the most strategic laboratory or test case of how these two different peoples can live in harmony. "

(2)

CURRENT 

POSITION 

OVERTOPICALISATION 

Two ailments plaguing religionists and journalists of our time are lack of vision to recognise the danger of overtopicalisation and the courage to oppose it.

Rather than viewing every topic in our religious tenets parochially as if it were intended to serve only our sect and selfish interest, it is high time we began to debrief ourselves of this bigotry while deducing principles there-from for universal application. After all, the basic fundamentals of every religion worth its salt is based on " doing unto others as one would be done by ."

It is strange that too many religious bigots have found it inconceivable to appreciate  the fact that  the underlying principle behind the world shrinking into a wall less society ( in which events in one ripples effects into another) is the challenge that we are our own brother's keepers. 

(3)

CURRENT 

PROPOSITION 

EFFECTIVE MOBILIZATION.

If our political dispensation is today failing in view of lack of commitment to governance by politicians  and the lack of understanding by the electorate of the sacredness of  vote ,it is because the media and religious houses as well as non governmental organisations,including  governments, are grossly failing in their duties of giving proper orientation on the sacredness of vow and vote.

One cannot afford NOT to be fanatical on matters such as one touching Vow and Vote;(the two being temple matters ) for it is in the inner satisfaction derivable in one being allowed to exercise one's right to cast vote ,even from one's own decision, based on conviction and on ideology, that matters ,rather than on pandering to the winning side through carpet-crossing master minded by coveteousness.

 Not many people appear to understand that the  huge role which MAMSER ( during President Ibrahim Babangida's era ) played in the social Mobilization of the electorate for the 1993 Presidential election, considered as the freest ever , accounted for the way Nigerians participated actively in the election which was won by Bashorun MKO Abiola.

 In view of the fact that true development of the people is the development of their minds, MAMSER believed that a politically conscious,effectively mobilized and properly motivated population is the greatest deterrent to bad government, it raised the political maturity and consciousness of the masses while reorientating interreligious dialogues among religious leaders in the country .

Among the objectives which the directorate of social Mobilization executed were three key programmes namely, Mass education, political education and Mass mobilization for self reliance, social justice and economic recovery.  

" When  a Muslim, MKO Abiola ,being the Vice President of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs became a presidential candidate for the Social Democratic party in 1993,Christians  warned that he should be careful not to present a religiously one-sided team by selecting a muslim to be his running mate.

The president of the Christian Association of Nigeria  the Most Reverend Anthony Okogie intervened with his statement that it did not matter whether the candidates  were Muslims or  Christians: what mattered  ,he said was whether the candidates were God-, fearing .

Abiola went a-head and announced a Muslim  running mate and the team became a winner North,East,and West .

 NOT JUST THE  TIMELINESS BUT THE APPROPRIATENESS; NOT JUST THE FAITH BUT THE VIRTUE; NOT JUST A DIALOGUE BUT THE DIALOGUE.

In the media,the race to keep deadline is usually a heavy race . According to Larry Arhaga, "It is a moment for the Editor in  a newspaper to forget all side attractions, including his wife, his children...Those who work to meet deadlines are his friends; others who do not are instant foes ." 

In view of the fact that the tasks of gathering, processing and disseminating information must be done within very limited time,even when the news is still news, this deadline in the media world could be a death line if not tampered with Appropriateness. 

In emergency period or when faced with very sensitive issues such as matters having to do with religious values, care must be taken not to allow the quest to beat deadline result in deathend for the society. 

Just as integrity is not enough until it coexists with knowledge,  faith is not also enough if it doesn't work along with virtue.

This principles are operating both in the media as well as in Religion , as both belong to the consciousness industry.   

Virtue is transparency solidified ; one must not only be seen as one exactly is,  but one must be seen correctly in the light of what  one is claiming to be. 

It must go beyond all reasonable doubts while one must allow one's light to so shine before the world that people would have no option than to glorify God.  

Any intention, one holds,no matter how laudable , it is still subject to suspicion in public domain and which is why every move having to do with religious values is better handled with all the care necessary to ensure that it doesn't become a death end.

CRITICISMS 

Different criticisms have continued to hit the Nigerian governments over their sponsorship of pilgrimage  to Mecca and Jerusalem, with many critics describing it as wasteful,unconstitutional and intended to compensate government's cronies. 

"Some critics who took historical surveys on past and present governments since the period of the old Western government of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, being the administration that first began the hajj project for muslims ,have concluded that government's motives in sponsoring pilgrimages are self-serving as they are :" mid-term populist tactics to seek re- election for a second term ticket, retain power and maintain the status quo."

DIALOGUE OF THE DEAF

 With the argument  by some Northern state governments that they were expanding the scope of shariya in their own states in line with the constitution, those who opposed them ,mainly Christians and Christian organisations disagreed with their stand amid tough tactics by those who kicked against it and saw it as an agenda to islamize Nigeria.  

Although the shariya controversy was older than  the administration of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, the debate on shariya having reared its head in 1992 and suspended at the constituent Assembly in 1992, the President still claimed that shariya was instituted in 1999 to truncate the fledgling democracy with his Information Minister, Professor Jerry Gana also stating that the adoption of shariya was a ploy to destabilize the government of the day.

No doubt, matters of religion often excited passion and animosities in believers, the ideal thing has always been to engage groups and stakeholders in civilised and frank discussions and eschew the dialogue of the deaf.  

(4)

MY 

PROPOSAL 

BEING THE

WAY FORWARD

MAKING A CASE FOR 

INTERFAITH SEMINAR FOR  THE MEDIA ( Journalists, Bloggers, Clerics and other stakeholders including public office holders. )

Just the same way interdisciplinary studies through the link between Medicine and Literature have humanized medical practice and its practitioners, it is high time we also explored interfaith dialogue through the genetic link between religion and media to bring about sanity in the relationship between Christians and Muslims in the country. 

Without doubt ,a profession is as strong as its spiritual and intellectual foundations and if the Media should be assigning positive value to its collective experience and responsibility along this line,there is no better time than now to tap the inner resources available to the media in fostering peace in the country through interfaith dialogue. 

 Either in America or in Nigeria,  the media were the first intellectuals in the society, as journalism precursors were printers which pioneered intellectualism in the real sense. 

Looking at the origin of Journalism education in America, it is said that it originated from a rich intellectual tradition, with printers as the forebears of today's editors,publishers and broadcasters, renowned as well-read leaders of public opinions. They reshaped the minds of their different societies. 

In his book :"Reshaping The Media", Everette E. Dennis wrote :" The character one encounters in Isaiah Thomas's history of printing in America or the autobiography of Jamin Franklin were often culturally and intellectually well a-head of the lawyers and doctors of their time. Journalism has always been more than pure craft .It was often a point of entry to the literary life .

It is the same thing in Nigeria where most of the Nationalists who fought for the independence of Nigeria, even without firing a single bullet were journalists.  

Even though every Nigerian is a potential agent of religious conflict, the press and now ,the social media, have become the platform for spewing ethnic  and religious tensions of greatest proportions. 

There is no doubt that crisis has become the structural feature of modern society ,with the media as the agent of social communication through which crisis is made PUBLIC.

It is however regrettable that the media have not been sufficiently involved in making peace PUBLIC. 

There is no peace or conflict resolution initiative made in the country by government or private organisations without the media being asked to providing " paper " coverage to such programme but ironically, the case is like the proverbial "Water,Water Every where ,but not a drop is available  to drink. Converesly , the media 

 have not been given value reorientation in order for them to domesticated and internalise the virtues therefrom, being the educator and guardian of public morality. 

WAY FORWARD 

In the Declaration on the relations of the church to non-Christians,  Nostra Aetare promulgated by the Vatican Council in 1965,  pleaded with Christians to forget the past centuries of quarrels  between them and the Muslims and urged that a sincere effort be made to achieve mutual understanding, even for the promotion of peace, liberty, social justice and moral values.

Also quoting the Islamic concept of criminal justice,  Ibrahim M. Zikirullahi stated that no Christian should be compelled to forsake his religion, arguing that the action of those who introduced sharia was contrary to the injunctions of the Holy Qur'an. 

" Prophet Mohammed further advised that even in time of war ,moslems should not harbour feelings of hatred and enmity against the Christians.

 In view of the fact that the promotion of religion and mutual understanding is not exclusively the domain of religious leaders, non governmental organisations and individuals have taken it upon themselves to initiate inter religious discourse and dialogues ,hence the initiative by Movement of non violence In Africa MENVIA ( an ngo co-founded by Alhaji Lam Adesina and I) towards encouraging interreligious understanding and peace in the country.

A prerequisite in any constructive dialogue is that both communities should not learn about each other through sources that are unsympathetic, critical or even hostile... a meaningful Muslim-Christian dialogue must take place on the basis of our respective scriptures and our understanding and experience of them. ( Al-Hajj UNS, Jah.

This could begin through an interfaith seminar .

  

PROVIDING LIVING EVIDENCE THAT INTERFAITH CULTURE IS A MARK OF DISTINCTION. 

 (7) As the initiator of the project which the former Governor ( of blessed memory) actively supported before the PDP-led administration that succeeded him chased us out of our secretariat and killed the dream physically ( but not spiritually) it has been gratifying to note that it had been in the settled habit of my interfaith antecedents that my interfaith body language is committed. 

This has been a culture I grew up with from my mother's ( Oba Toyese Laoye's )royal family in Ede and advanced in most of my writings and biographies. 

For instance, my first Journalism textbook:" JOURNALISTS AND THE HANDS OF GOD " being a bestseller book in use across departments of Mass Communication in Nigeria and in some West African countries, fulcrums on the principles of interfaith. 

Other biographies of my authorship, notably, :"A SWORN ENEMY OF CONVENTION " being Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola's biography of my authorship is a deep reflection of my interfaith disposition. 

Uniquely resourceful on interfaith matter is my new book :"THE EXCELLENCY OF KNOWING HIM " being an  intelligent and divinely guided follow-up work on the biography .

( Available with me is a catalogue of testificatory remarks of working journalists: participants in MENVIA Interfaith workshop which commend the interfaith project as a unique weapon in entrenching peace and harmony in inter-religious relationships and in educating media in promoting in the country. 

RADICAL APPROACH TO THE BLIND SPOT ON BULLYING

Much have been written on bullying and its criminal effects on society in general, but without any appreciable and constructive understanding of many areas of loopholes which  (in our quest for solutions)  have been left uncovered, leaving the larger society , particularly youth worse for it .

This wide gap is what my stay at Imodoye Residency Enclave , Ilorin has in recent times  been addressing .

Based on the proposal I submitted concerning my plan to unravel this short sightedness, I was selected as a Writer-In-Residence , having submitted a new book work plan in which I am evidently assigning value to my collective experience on the mental illness of my son, Emmanuel , who has  gone through five different hospitals for treatment in the past three years ( 2019-2022 )

 As a veteran journalist and author , coupled with my brief stint at Ahmadu Bello University Teaching hospital, Zaria, where I worked as media consultant/ Editorial to its bi-annual magazine publications, it occurs to me , by credible insight 

  that, I  may be fooling myself ( and ofcourse injuring my boy further) if I fail to come out openly on my discoveries ( either in fiction or non fiction genres) on what I perceive as the blind spot  which bullying as an

" unintentional " hurting, has caused Emmanuel right from his childhood. 

Though unintended, the (sacrilegious ) evil consequences of Emmanuel passing through certain religious bigotry , which amount to bullying,  have affected his mentality and those of  other innocent children while this sad development deserve to be studied with  the likelihood of bringing  a positively social and religious change .

This becomes even more pertinent and vital in a society like Nigeria where

an average of 50 million people suffer from mental illness ( with one out of four Nigerians accounting  statistically  as insane) even in a country in which less than ten percent of its population is having access to professional ( mental) assistance while government's annual budget devoted less than three percent to mental health.

In fact, hell could not have found a nearer haven of a bedlam than Nigeria where this has persisted for too long .

And does it not by itself amount to delusion of lunacy on our part as Nigerians generally, amid the usual daily headline news reporting cases of  top public office holders , ( allegedly for fear of life after office ) looting public treasury as they cart away billions of Naira where staggering poverty is nakedly staring majority of Nigerians in the face ?

Little wonder why the former Secretary General of World Health Organisation W.H.O. Professor Adeoye Lambo did recommend sometimes that politicians aspiring to contest either as a Governor or a President of Nigeria should first of all be subjected to mental test towards determining his state of health for obvious reason. 

EMMANUEL AS A CASE STUDY .

During a psycho therapy  session which Dr. Ajayi of Osogbo Central hospital Osogbo had with Emmanuel, I learned to my rude shock that  my son began smoking Indian hemp as a secondary school student, having been recruited as a choreographer by someone whom he referred to as " leader ". He was used to  leading him along with other teenagers to churches to entertain their congregations with dancing acrobatics.

This is nothing but bullying in which innocent creatures are psychologically subjected to repetitive and hurtful acts by a superior power .

The view of Dr. Oyewole of Balm of Gilead Specialist hospital, Osogbo in 2019 that Emmanuel is a victim of parental pampering ( among others) has also not ceased to echo both in my consciousness and in my conscience where it reverberates consistently. 

I suspect that we may have gone wrong where we, as his parents  and members of Aladura church addressed him as Dada, the Nazirite whose heavy dreadlocks at birth , almost placed him on an oracular platform in which we ( like other parents of Dadas ) exhibited zeal without knowledge as we didn't march the moral and spiritual discipline that ought  to go rigidly along with the training of children whom the bible referred to as Nazirites.

This is nothing but bullying even though it was not intended.

 It was owing to his reckless passion for choreography  that made him abscond from home for three years , and when at last he surfaced, he had ended up becoming a victim of another brand of bullying from those with whom he worked as stylists, even as his immediate boss allegedly abused him sexually. 

His trouble took another dimension when upon mentioning this heinous activities to police  during an unrelated case brought against his master , hell was let loose as he was harassed  and brutalised  by those who were recruited by his master to bullying him to a standstill.

Just few years ago, he revealed this story to me following my persistent enquiries on why he was increasingly shuttling from one salon to another, while he came  up with the excuse that some boys with whom he had rough deals at Ibadan were already at Osogbo, monitoring  him and that he wanted to avoid them.

I became more worried when he told me that he had already on his own volition,narrated his ordeal in a confession statement to a charismatic church in Osogbo some years back. 

I became more worried for the fact that the church authorities could not , as and when he made the confession, take we his parents into confidence over how both of us could jointly manage him spiritually and mentally .

There is no doubt that all of these factors may have culminated in his further embrace of  Indian hemp smoking to either cover his tracks psychologically or as a way of regaining lost confidence while ending up with mental illness.

The worst effect which his problem is causing me is that the intermittent relapses of his mental illness have been robbing me of peace of mind vital to authorship while the attendant interruptions on my studies have stalled three biography projects which I was commissioned to write .

 His insistence that he is not at all sick and that he would not take his drugs if discharged from hospital have not helped matters as this stance has been the source of the relapsement of his illness.

The sole objective of my new book on bullying is  primarily to raise an endowment through the launching and sales of the both online and offline.

 it is my intention to use the proceeds raised there-from  to register a faith-based governmental organisation which would  crusade against drug abuse ,sensitize religious leaders on the danger of the new form of bullying while empowering them with the right knowledge .

The writer-friendly and enabling environment which Imodoye Residency Enclave programme has afforded me in the past one month has no doubt provided me great opportunity to prepare my manuscript .

The other production processes which include type setting, designing and publishing as well as corresponding to prospective launchers towards planning programmes for the launching would entail operating undisturbed under a conducive environment while accessing financial grants to accomplish the task .

The  tragedies which his mental distress has caused us, his parents and family members have come to us in manifold dimensions.

* We have been the direct victims of his verbal and physical assaults and the trauma that go by this is better imagined than experienced. 

*  Needless to say here that the huge financial burdens ( about two million naira)which his medical treatment has caused us in the past three years have led us, his parents to seek financial assistance from friends and other well-wishers while we are on the verge of selling our properties to meet up  with bills accruing from his treatment, welfare and travels ( often accompanied by police escorts) from one hospital to another.

THIS IS MY STORY ; THIS IS MY CRUSADE

This is the abridged story of what is now leading me to leave all I have to pursue this crusade( Rehabilitation for the mentally disabled) on the fulcrum of my agonizing experience( on my son's ordeal: DADA DODONDAWA) to which I am assigning spiritual value.  This would not be my first time as I gave up my job and voluntarily resigned from the Punch in 2000 ( after the successful launching of Governor Lam Adesina's biography) to found an ngo ( Movement on Non-Violence in Africa MENVIA) which mission was first , to give value-reorientation to the media ( being agent of social communication, well-equipped to make crisis PUBLIC as well as making PEACE PUBLIC. ) as a strategy to reaching the whole society effectively and efficiently. 

No wonder why our ngo ( a joint initiative between Governor Lam Adesina and I ) organised the first inter-faith workshop for journalists in Nigeria. 

To start with, my son, Emmanuel Fagbola ( referred to as Dada Dodondawa in the nonfiction creatively approached and now with university of Ilorin press ) would this weekend be discharged from Unilorin teaching hospital, Behavioural department) and it is my plan to first take him to the Redemption Camp for the salvation of his spirit, having received psychological salvation at the hospital. 

I have already booked an accommodation there and hopefully, some pastors of the Redeemed Christian Church of God ( at the camp) would join me in prayers during the short period of our family retreat there. This is why I want to tap on your strong connection and membership of the church to introduce me to them. 

Many people who knew the agonizing  experiences I have gone through in the past three years (2019/2022) since his mental illness began, and seeing me giving up all other activities towards this crusade, are uncomfortably askance as to whyfore of the first priority I have accorded his case ( when I have other children five of whom have received university education to be proud of )

It may not have occurred to them that Jesus Christ, the true Shepherd ( on the highest scale) has shown us and practicalised same when He gave us His Glory and wore humanity to touch humanity. Going into the root of words itself, as a lover of languages, it occurred to me that even the word shepherd, (rooted from the word herdsman ,as both of them are of same cognate family) is not a lone ranger as far as herding sheep or shepherding congregation is concerned. The word :" herd" is a COLLECTION of cattle or sheep when all are TOGETHER as ONE. The herdsman ceases to bear his name the moment one is missing from his fold, herd. 

This explains why I am only a father when I leave the rest children to do my best to ensure he gains Christ Jesus while pursuing my mission to commit proceeds from my new book now in the press to raising an endowment for the rehabilitation of the media generation, most of whom are drowned in the media bathroom of insanity of different colours.

SELL YOUR VOTE AND LOSE YOUR DESTINY

 IN the character-study of leadership,  it is a truism that a Leader's destiny is either a nation's blessing or a nation's burden . 

It is however regrettable  that here in Nigeria the root cause of our excessive love of money,as being manifested in vote-buying ,even in which democratic principles are  disregarded , result from the saccharine gospel of prosperity which has taken over the pulpit in religious  houses. 

Says Chaucer: If the priest in whom we believe be a fool ,no wonder the common man would rust. 

Wouldn't it surprise you that today's ivory tower of learning emanated from the same church ? ( old monastery, and even the mosque ) 

During my recent contribution to a programme by the American space, online, concerning vote-buying,  my submission was and is still this 

: We have been wrongly oriented by INEC ,THE MEDIA AND OUR RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS CONCERNING THE WORD : VOTE .

Interestingly , the word VOTE and the word VOW  share same Latin root called VOTUM .It is not coincidental. 

But " we  human beings are today living from hand to mouth; We learn today what we ought to have done  yesterday and are  still at a loss to know what is to be done tomorrow. INEC ,being our electoral body in charge of the sanctity of our VOTES is ignorant of  the sacredness of  the word VOW . Its public officials have no regard for oath of office. 

The  media( which ought  to be guardian of public morality and democracy) keep displaying unethicality against Apollo, the god of Poetry, Medicine and politics .

They are ignorant of the fact that philologically , the three words : Apollo, Poll and " Opele " ( by which diviners: Babalawo guard impartially ,the sanctity of choice of leadership) are of same cognate family. 

Religious houses which ought to guard the Spirituality of VOWS are themselves abusing the word ( VOW ) by equivocating with it ,extracting Vow ( through  the backdoor) in the name of the word PLEDGE which they also plunder and plagiarise through back-stabbing it with reckless abandon. 

Yet the Lord has warned in the scriptures that it is better not to Vow than to vow and not fulfil the vow . It implies that both VOW and VOTE are sacred matters which are better left to the conscience to decide ,never to be influenced by any outsider ( no matter how highly placed ) or by pecuniary reasons. 

Pledges in our religious houses today are as easy as winking the eyes , with the clerics ever ready  to dispossess the ignorant and the gullible of their money through their:" Holy how do you do salutation which points you straight to the altar of " Promise now and pay later ." 

Where do we go from here  ?

( highly loaded and still loading )

OLALERE FAGBOLA REPORTING AT WORD UNIVERSITY ONLINE.

CALLING OUR HUMANITY TO QUESTION

Where in a society you sense issues of mental insanity being hushed up in silence as if it were not existing while lunatics in the streets are either avoided like plagues or jeered at or are sexually abused, it is the collective humanities of the people that are being called to question. 

If one may ask what are the common attitudes peculiar  to people commonly referred to as lunatics  ?

Bushy hair, ragged clothing and walking the streets naked while soliloquizing or muttering unintelligibly. 

But there are lunatics and there are lunatics. 

Take it or leave it;

the common reason of madness which is today ravaging our streets  is caused by much anxiety over many things and the irony of this mental illness is that there are more lunatics in suit and skirts than those who are walking naked in the streets or receiving treatment at Behavioural department of mental homes. 

The perpetual fear of life-after office and the perpetual fear of succession are the major causes of madness and incidentally most victims are not in the streets but are in mansions and palaces. 

It was for this reason Jesus Christ pointed out that the way to avoid delusion of Lunacy is to be anxious over nothing. 

So when it comes to rehabilitation we may need to ask ourselves the question: Should it be a one-way rehabilitation which attempts to rehabilitate only those we perceived as lunatics in the streets ? 

What of the Executive lunatics in office who are stealing billions of naira from public treasuries simply because of their fear of life after office?  

What of those who perceived themselves as normal people but are hostile to their fellow human beings ( and would not want to associate with them) simply because their addiction has yanked off their reasoning  yet the so-called " normal people are running errands for the Executive lunatics in suit  ?

Kings and Presidents are victims of mental illness and insanity and this dated back to ancient times while it is still happening till date. Hence the stigma that is always driven around the illness and those inflicted by it as if it were unheard of is borne out of ignorance or out of downright wickedness.

King Saul and King Nebuchadnezzar were examples of heads of empires who were afflicted with insanity because of their perpetual fear of life after office and  perpetual fear of succession .

 We also need to get it straight that lunatics are not necessarily those who are worst sinners or people who have sinned beyond pardon. 

It was during the ASUU prolonged strike that I came across university students who are in different psychiatric hospitals receiving treatment for mental related disorders, especially depression which came about from their inability to cope with the trauma resulting from the disruption of their studies.

 SO MUCH FOR REHABILITATION

 With my experience in recent times inside and outside of mental homes , it seems to me that the society is the first victim to be rehabilitated and saved from obsolete legislation which is comparable to an application  of  medicine on somebody who is already dead .

Again, next to be revisited are some of our proverbs in Yoruba land which are anti-therapy to mental health care.

It is common to hear people say :" were dun wo loja kose bilomo " ( That it is always fascinating a scenario to watch lunatics dancing at the market square but repulsive to have them as one's children. "

Is this a therapy for being one's brother's keepers or  one in which one is being asked to do unto others as one would be done by ?

 What is it to Rehabilitate ? The original sense of the meaning of the word was :" to restore formally to former privileges , rank and possession. Then to re-establish the good name or reputation of ...

The word is from:" habilitate: to become qualified for. It is taken from the Latin " habilitas "  ABILITY. 

Hence when one is rehabilitated, it means one is being restored with ABILITY; being made to be able to do again. 

He is restored with Habit ; tendency to perform certain action .

What were we able to do as normal human being and image of God before we lost ability to do ? 

What knowledge were we fortified with as images of God originally  ? 

( Read Genesis 1:31 )

Also read Act. 10:15)

When it comes to rehabilitating the public , it is sufficient for the members of the public to have a change of attitude by reflecting on the Biblical verses here below:

 REHABILITATION 

" What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common. ( Act.10:15 )

" And God saw everything that He had made , and behold, it was very good. ( Genesis 1:31)

When it comes to the rehabilitation of kings and people in high places, it is sufficient here also to make meaning from the Biblical remarks of King Nebuchadnezzar who underwent rehabilitation in which his ability and glory were restored. 

"At the same time my reason returned unto me ; and for the glory of my kingdom, my honour and brightness returned unto me ; and my counsellor and my lords sought unto me ; and I was established in my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added unto me." ( Daniel 4:36)

By OLALERE FAGBOLA

WHY RAISING AN ENDOWMENT FUND FROM THE TWO BOOK PROJECTS ?

(a) Part of the proceeds realisable and realized at the launching  would be committed to mass production of the two books in three major languages other than English language towards full sensitisation of the public .

(b ) Register a non governmental organisations with interfaith disposition to champion the following aims and objectives. 

( MAIN OBJECTIVES)

(1)To give  rehabilitation to selected mentally disabled patients who have successfully undergone medical treatment .

(2) Conduct sensitisation campaign in pursuit of an understanding of the problems associated with the mentally ill. 

(3) Helping the family of the mentally disabled patient to cope in pursuit of the welfare of their relatives.…

[6:46 AM, 4/14/2023] Mr Olalere Fagbola 2: THE TRIUMPH OVER PRINCIPALITIES

Anyone, who with open mind and reasoning, studies the almost recalcitrant mental illness afflicting Emmanuel across three solid years and juxtaposes it with the echo of confession guiding the divine mission before his parents over this case, would realise that this is a battle of principalities which requires the strategy of an open show of the triumphants. 

"And having spoiled principalities and powers he made a shew of them openly , triumphing over them in it ."( Colossians 2:15)

After our divine encounter in the past one month of giving Emmanuel some form of domestic rehabilitation, Christ Against Drug Abuse Ministry , CADAM,Lagos would have been the next proper abode for him , but would he agree to go there ?

And at this j…

[6:46 AM, 4/14/2023] Mr Olalere Fagbola 2: THE BEDLAM OF A NATION. 

Where an average of 50 million people suffer from mental illness ( with one out of four Nigerians accounting  statistically  as insane) even in a country in which less than ten percent of its population is having access to professional ( mental) assistance while government's annual budget devoted less than three percent to mental health, hell could not have found a nearer haven of a bedlam than Nigeria. 

Does it not amount to delusion of lunacy, with the usual headline news of top public office holders , allegedly for fear of life after office , looting public treasury as they cart away billions of Naira where staggering poverty is nakedly staring majority of Nigerians in the face ?

Little wonder why the former Secretary General of World Health Organisation W.H.O. Professor Adeoye Lambo did recommend sometimes that any politician aspiring to contest either as a governor or as a President of Nigeria should first of all be subjected to mental test towards determining his health status and thereby save Nigerians the risk of putting their collective destiny in the hands of lunatics in flowing Baban riga and agbada. 

However, it is in this same country, Nigeria, where the masses of people, especially the charismatic religionists have ironically dismissed politics as a dirty game; consigned the exercise of voting rights as mere gamble while resigning their fate to God to work out the electoral mathematics for them, even as they foolishly believe that luck would automatically carry a man who has refused to jump well across the ditch of misgovernance. 

 Do they think it was for fun that King David rightly  observed that:" With the merciful, God will show himself merciful; With an upright man , He will show himself upright, but that with the froward, ( such as we are ) God will show Himself froward  ? ( Psalm 18:25-26)

Each time I reflect on the way Nigerians are conducting their search for the next Number One citizen for 2023, amid a gale of memoranda and hourly predictions flying presumptiously too late across religious houses where-in clerics are also compelling worshippers to produce their voter's card before entering their sanctuaries, I am often reminded of the lesson in the proverbial story of the  missing horse of Alaafin of Oyo and a search party.

The story had it that within this same search party put together to look for the missing horse, were parties with different motives.

There was a party that craved to find the horse; The other party wished the horse should not be found while the third party planned to chase the horse further if found. 

Sometimes I often wonder if Hubert Ogunde's popular lyrics " Yoruba Ronu ( Yoruba think hard) should not be adopted as our National anthem for the nation, especially in this unguarded dark age when most of our so-called marginalised southerners appear to be playing the proverbial nihilists who are tired of living but are afraid of dying while hanging on to a theory of nihilism which neither put them here or there .( Apology to Justice Adewale Thompson)

At this juncture, I cannot but sing again my song of :" Delusion of Lunacy" in my collection  of poetry  titled:" Heroism , Songs and Troubles wherein my lamentation goes thus:

"When reality points its fingers at Nigeria , Nigerians often sink in their cushions to talk Nigeria; 

And I am always amused by their hot adjectives as they wag their tongues in mere frivolities,

 They call for a quick annihilation of something that needs reparation; saying it's without reservation that they are calling for its condemnation; 

Today it's about qualitative this ; Tomorrow it is all about quantitative that ; 

we daily dream of great expectations without working towards their realisation; 

We are always quick to propound new ideologies little caring about their workability ; 

When shall we stop shadow-pugilism to embrace constructivism  ?

It is saddening, particularly to note that not many people understand the meaning of vote to enable them understand the power of vote .

"Then I will sing in praise of your name and fulfil my VOWS" Psalm 61:8

Vow is regarded as serious promise ,or solemn declaration of promise especially made to God or to a saint etc. 

Cassell's dictionary of Word Histories by Andrian Room defines vow as an undertaking or an act of sacrifice, obligation etc. It is derived from Latin "Votum" and it's of same cognate family with Vote;

Vote itself, being from the  Latin word "Votum".

Noting the harmony between vow and vote,especially as both words are from same spirituality, once an oath is taken or a vote is given ,there is no going back on it .This is because what informs the rule of NO DIVORCE  in a real Christian marriage informs the NO CROSS CARPETING ideology in a real political party .

 Just as it is sacrilegious for ministers of God to coerce worshipers into taking vow which does not come by divine inspiration or voluntarily ,it is criminal for politicians to induce electorates with money, or worse still ,deny him the right to cast his or her vote. 

This is why the sacred matter of vow  as in the ideological issue regarding vote ,requires careful consideration and orientation, particularly for voters , with no room for rashness or intimidation. 

If our political dispensation is today failing in view of lack of commitment to governance by politicians  and the lack of understanding by the electorate of the sacredness of  vote ,it is because the media and religious houses as well as non governmental organisations,including  governments, are grossly failing in their duties of giving proper orientation on the sacredness of vow and vote.

One cannot afford NOT to be fanatical on matters such as one touching Vow and Vote;(the two being temple matters ) for it is in the inner satisfaction derivable in one being allowed to exercise one's right to cast vote ,even from one's own decision, based on conviction and on ideology, that matters ,rather than on pandering to the winning side through carpet-crossing master minded by coveteousness.

 Not many people appear to understand that the  huge role which MAMSER ( during President Ibrahim Babangida's era ) played in the social Mobilization of the electorate for the 1993 Presidential election, considered as the freest ever , accounted for the way Nigerians participated actively in the election which was won by Bashorun MKO Abiola.

 Let me quickly add here that in sane culture and scriptures ,even in ancient times ,there is no place where a person ( except in barbaric culture ) was coerced or enticed or ensnared against his or her wish into oath-taking or to vote momentarily on the impulse of monetization as witnessed in the recently concluded primaries of our major political parties in the country. 

I have always loved what the sage ,Chief Obafemi Awolowo was once quoted as saying that :"If you don't trust him ,don't engage him, but if you engage him, don't doubt him."

Rather than repudiating vow or oath impetuosly, a man is enlightened very well enough to realise the implications of the solemn act.Most importantly is the fact that God-inspired vow is sacrosanct and without burden, and it is a pill which potency has no expiring date and the mystery there-in is like God-inspired marriage which does not accommodate divorce because what God gives, He keeps from being broken. 

 I am tempted at this juncture to conclude with this message of wisdom as contained  in a poem written by Dike Chukwumerije :" FIX THE POLITICS meant for all ages, even as copiously quoted here : 

" A broken road does not understand Igbo

It will not maim the Fulani and let the rest of us go

The accidents it will cause will take all lives

For when a vehicle somersaults it breaks all bones 

So, you can speak Nupe till morning comes

It will not build libraries in our public schools

And when a woman, a young woman, lies dying in childbirth

Your fluency in Ijaw will not save her life

 

For Christian or Muslim, it makes no difference

When you’re being driven around in an ambulance

From hospital to hospital in search of oxygen

Northerner or Southerner, you will die suffocating

You will die of causes easily preventable

Like no fuel for police to respond to your distress call

No water, no light, no nurses, no jobs

Nothing kills as efficiently as bad governance 

As Politicians in Office who do not pay salaries

Whose response to bad roads is bigger SUVs

Who set up committees, and publish white papers

Presiding over affairs that never improve

Politicians in Jeeps, with minds in London

Perpetual latecomers to every meeting

Irritated by anyone with a different opinion

Who see ‘The People’ as a throne to sit on

Politicians in Power, who personalize the State

Who criminalize criticism, and terrorize dissent

Nothing in society kills as efficiently

As a Politician in High Office with low mentality

For you see? Boko Haram will burn down a classroom

But a Politician can swallow the entire school system

Can fold our Power Stations and put in his briefcase

Can roll up the Railways and keep in her house

Politicians can file our sea ports away in a drawer

Can cripple all our farms with no fertilizer

No matter the passion you bring to your start-up

Government can kill it with just one pronouncement

And no degree you hold, no grammar you speak

No decision you make to just face your work

No protest you stage can save you from those

Elected to make and enforce our laws

The way they see things is a wall around you

For you cannot drive faster than the person driving you

No matter your wealth, education or achievement

You are subject to the mentality of those in Government

Politicians in Office hold the yam and the knife

For to elect is to give the elected power over life

Which child will remain almajiri or become someone better?

These things are in the hands of the people in Power

Politicians in Office hold the farm and the seed

For to elect is to give the elected the power to decide

Whether Security operatives can murder citizens and walk away free?

These things are in the hands of those who run the country

So, if you are tired of it all, then strike at its roots…

If you are tired of needing a letter from a Senator to get a job

If you are tired of seeing your hustle frustrated by public policies

If you are tired of insecurity, then fix the politics

If you’re tired of the hunger, the anger, in our streets

If you’re tired of the number of children who die before age 5

If you’re tired of the dreams suffocated in our youths

If you are tired of this shame, then fix the politics

For until they are there in Public Office

Men and women with a heart for public service

No tribe, no tongue – just a commitment to build

A functional nation that fills us all with pride

Until they are there in the highest Office

Men and women with a heart for selfless service

No region, no religion – just commitment to Nation…

Until we elect them , we labour in vain."

BY OLALERE FAGBOLA.

REFORMING HOSTILE LEGISLATION AND EMPHASISING REHABILITATION FOR THE MENTALLY DISABLED

As the world through the United nations, marks Mental health for all as priority for global community, it is harrowing to observe the rude fact that mental illness has become rampant judging by alarming number of Nigerians, particularly youths being admitted at psychiatric hospitals for treatment. 

For instance, in the month of June 2022, spaces available at relevant wards in Federal and state government owned hospitals in the South western part of the country were so overcrowded beyond capacity, even to the extent that those who were rushed there could not be admitted while their families had to patronise private hospitals with their huge bills. 

Even though mental health problems affect quite a large number of people, especially youths , the issue of mental insanity is hardly discussed in public for obvious reasons, amid its attendant unhealthy implications of worsening Nigeria's legislation and attitudinals against the mentally disabled people. 

Believing that realism is a product of positive thought; even being the very opposite of ignorance and prejudice, I am here assigning value to my personal experience on mental health issues and which is what informs why I have written a new book tentatively titled :" TRAUMA OF THE DREAD-LOCKED 

,being  a creative nonfiction, is detailing the diary of agonizing experience of a father whose boy ( Dada ) along with other media generation of youths got drowned in the media bathroom of mental insanity. 

A victim of a new form of bullying, Dada , is a Nazirite who at a tender age, was exposed to narcotics as a choreographer while he ended up in five different psychiatric homes within the spate of three years. 

Having experienced same agonizing encounters peculiar to relations of mentally ill patients, amid my access to volumes of literature on mental health, it becomes pertinent for me ( towards assigning value to this collective experience) to stress the need for society to make fundamental change in our attitude to and legislation on mental matters. 

Going by an anonymous conclusion contained in a paper presented at a workshop on legislation and the mentally disabled people, ( which available shred does not contain the name of its writer) the author of the paper ( a legal  luminary) argued that such radical change could only be attained through a revolution in Nigeria's legislation.

 According to him, existing laws governing mental illness both under the Northern Penal code and the Criminal code in the Southern Nigeria are out of tune and deficient on the criminal responsibilities facing the mentally disabled people. 

The writer contended that neither the mentally ill, kept in the custody of their relation, nor those confined to asylum by the court is beneficial to the society , adding that their confinements are capable of aggravating their illnesses. 

He stressed further that there is a need to accept the mentally disabled as part and parcel of the society while Nigeria, more importantly, requires new legislation that emphasizes rehabilitation, especially for patients that have suffered long-term mental illness. 

The paper which frowned at the way people often jeered at mentally disabled people, described the attitude as irresponsible, arguing that existing legislation in the country is further compounding this irresponsibility.

"It is my considered view that our existing laws in respect of the mentally ill are deficient in that they do not satisfy the aspirations expected of them. 

"Chapter 26, comprising sections 320 to 331 of the CPC ( Criminal Procedure Code) and Chapter 25 comprising Sections 222 to 235 of the CPA ( Criminal Procedure Act ) which provides for persons of unsound mind as it relates to their criminal responsibilities are completely out of tune with the role expected of the law ."

It added that :" Releasing a mentally ill to a relation or a friend does not benefit the mentally ill because  our society's attitudes towards such people are hostile. 

" They will simply not come up .To keep them in custody to avoid danger to the public often aggravated the illness. " 

" What we need about mentally ill are laws that emphasise on rehabilitation.  

The attitude of the society could be changed by a dynamic legislation to accept the mentally ill as part and parcel of the society. " 

" And by such legislation, such persons are assured of opportunities to contribute to society. 

The paper then submitted : "Our present society still boos and jeers at the mentally ill and law can be made to change the society in this respect. 

"The society is absolutely irresponsible as far as this is concerned and our existing legislations tend to compound this irresponsibility. "

Without a dynamic rehabilitation of existing legislation and attitudes of people, a mentally ill person, particularly at teaching hospitals may soon end up as objects of sterile experiment in the hands of western-oriented psychiatrists who do not believe that there are spiritual dimension to healing mentally disabled people. 

For fear of offending existing legislation and tampering with the fundamental rights of patients to choose whether or not to embrace rehabilitation, psychiatrists ( tails between their legs ) are always quick to discharge patients from their wards to go to their relation. 

But barely few weeks after being discharged into the society which does not welcome him as normal human being , the mentally  ill soon relapsed into more grievous symptoms which increase the risk of discord and ineffective behaviour in him or her. 

As if the treatment of the mentally disabled people depends only on western drugs, Psychiatrists often play the proverbial ostrich  by dismissing unorthodox  mental health systems as impotent  and inconsequential while forgetting that in the restoration of deranged mind , holistic approach encompassing therapy in its gamut to healing is essential to the restoration of the mind.

For instance, it took the divine intervening musical therapy of the Psalmist David to heal the Biblical King Saul who was struck with the spirit of lunacy orchestrated against him for disobeying the commandments of God .

This has been the experience of Dada and other mentally disabled patients who barely after their discharge from hospital soon returned there with greater relapsement of their mental illness. 

Dada  has gone through five different hospitals,(2019-2022 ) for treatment but no sooner his discharge was perfected than his mental illness relapsed .

The idea of rehabilitation is  to move the function of psychiatric hospitals to go beyond the mere treatment of patients for survival and existence in confinement while giving him holistic healing , peer support, respect, self-direction and empowerment.

This is why a school of thought remarked that:" it is pertinent that psychiatrists who find themselves saddled with reporting on accused persons should go behind such labels as mental disease, psychosis, sociopath and endeavour to describe in detail the mental state in terms of every day decisions and conduct .

While the interminable shuttles to hospitals by the mentally ill people may be a pleasant development to research  for medical professionals and medical students who often subject Dada and his fellow inmates to different rounds of interviews and prescriptions of drugs , it is not a development that is pleasant to their parents who are paying through their noses to buy food and drugs .

 From different authorities sampled online, it is clear that the idea of rehabilitation is to help develop in the mentally disabled patients , the emotional, social and intellectual skills needed to live, learn and work in the community with the least amount of professional support. 

In fact , the ultimate goal of rehabilitation is to give the patient hope , motivation, respect for oneself and skills that can efficiently and effectively reintegrate him or her back to the society. 

Although it is mostly targeted at patients with long-term mental disorders, if they are supported  by continuous learning , they could experience personal growth even in the face of likelihood of stigmatization which is already waiting for them in the society.

 

OLALERE FAGBOLA

TRAUMA OF THE DREAD-LOCKED: HOW THE JOURNEY STARTED; HOW IT BLOSSOMED AT IMODOYE RESIDENCY ENCLAVE.

PROBLEMS NEEDING URGENT ATTENTION. 

There have, in recent times, been cases of  upsurge in youth delinquency and suicide rate which I suspect is not unconnected with unmet expectations of youths who are the immediate casualties.

My findings reveal that this sad development might be traced to the influence which motivational speakers wield irrevocably on the media generation through their Direct Interpretation of Equivocation ( DIE)system  in reaching  out to the youths whose desires  are often fired up but are themselves robbed of the strength of actualisation.

Another crisis on hand in our society is the gale of hate literature ( in circulation) as occasioned by irresponsible media reporting ,even as our media generation is being befuddled by mental laziness as a result of their delusion that technology is there to think for them. 

As if this is not enough, the society is retrogressively witnessing the underdevelopment of reading culture through the abuse of public launching of intellectual material ( books) while losing moral compass from saccharine gospel of instant prosperity in religious houses.

 POSITION AND CURRENT SITUATION. 

There are weak  attempts by educational institutions to design and implement dynamic curriculum to deal with emerging challenges, even as both governments and the media have been found to engage in over- topicalisation and over-secularisation of issues of high public concern. 

In the Management of conflicts, the country is awash with selective activists and Democrats of convenience. 

Most unfortunate is the fact that statesmanship within our university system is not boldly thinking out of the box towards having co-responsive interaction with statesmanship outside the university walls for the much - needed breakthroughs.

 PROPOSAL 

If Effective presentation of public speaking is ten percent external and ninety percent internal and psychological, we are then missing the entire point to effectiveness in speaking, if we miss out Psycho-linguistic and memory concentration studies in the scheme of training on the Art of speaking well. 

This is exactly where-in, psycho linguistic comes as my area of competence and training option in motivating motivational speakers.

Rather than the permutation option to persuasion ,"Reputation" management to effective leadership and Direct Interpretation of Equivocation ( DIE) to motivational speaking, I have successfully explored Dynamic Equivalent interpretation (DEI).

Such is still the ongoing fruitless case when school curriculum,towards rescuing the media generation from the media bathroom in which they are drowned, attempts to groom them using moral instruction and biographies which thrust are built on mere stereotypes .

Thinking outside of this box,I have successfully initiated the teaching  of media studies  and cosmological perspective to writing biography, as this is the ideal way to character-study, noting that  leader's destiny is tantamount to nation's blessing or nation's burden.

When governments,as crisis managers ,fail in their conflict Management strategy to give pride of place to value-reorientation for the  media ( as professionals who manage themselves through crisis)I pioneered the teaching of media studies as effective replacement of moral instruction in schools of science in Oyo and Osun states.

Equally, I organised the first inter-faith ( value-orientation )seminar for working journalists in Oyo state on the platform of an ngo,Movement of Non-Violence in Africa MENVIA ,founded from the proceeds of the launching of former Governor Lam Adesina's biography of my authorship in 2000.

RADICAL APPROACH TO THE BLIND SPOT ON BULLYING:

HOW NOT TO TREAT PIMPLES, AND LEAVE LEPROSY OF INSANITY ON RAMPAGE. 

Much have been written on bullying and its criminal effects on society in general, but without any appreciable and constructive understanding of many areas of loopholes and lacuna which in our quest for solutions, have been left uncovered, leaving the larger society most vulnerable in view of our short-sighted  conclusion in which nothing practically  constructive has been concluded. 

This wide gap is what my second book ( on Emmanuel : Victim of bullying) is attempting to fill ecclesiastically and professionally as a writer, journalist and gubernatorial biographer of no fewer than forty years experience. 

Having put up with my son's (Emmanuel's) mental illness in which we have moved from one hospital to another,(2019-2022 ) while patronising other spiritual bodies who appear to have tried their best but who are not chanced to know the root of his problem, it occurs to me, by credible insights , that, I  may be fooling myself ( and ofcourse injuring my boy further) limiting his treatment to western medicines and spiritual  areas without assigning value  to my collective experiences and coming out to the OPEN ( either in fiction or non fiction genres) to divulge my discoveries , and indeed , the blind spot which has largely been ignored by the society to our perils. 

What are the areas of bullying which have been ignored and left uncovered? 

They include the aspects of definition, scope, slogans, synonyms and tips for helping children to be buddies , with major writings on the subject ignoring key elements in its definition and behavioral aspects. 

Specifically, three major areas of bullying left unexplored are in its definition which limits it to a repetitive and intentional acts without considering the " unintentional " hurting, giving the impression that bullying only becomes hurtful or criminal when it is intentional .

We do not need to be lawyers to know that crimes committed either intentional or unintentional ( borne out of ignorance of the law ) are still punishable crimes because ignorance is not a defense for breaking laws.

Just as the unintended evil consequences of unbridled technology on society are not a pleasantly memorable story simply because technology may have its good intentions, the unintended (sacrilegious ) evil consequences of religious bigotry through its bullying doctrine on innocent children can simply not be pardonable in the society.

Have we considered the aspects of spirituality to becoming  a buddy instead of being a bully and why the  word :" bull" has some symbolism with being a bully or a buddy in some major religions such as christianity, buddhism and Hinduism ?

These are some of the areas my story is covering while explaining through this true- to- life  story how the society , either individually or collectively) have been victims of the devastating effects of this areas of bullying left unsurveyed .

( A peep into the true life story of a victim of spiritual bullying. )

THE BEDLAM, CALLED NIGERIA. 

Where an average of 50 million people suffer from mental illness ( with one out of four Nigerians accounting  statistically  as insane) even in a country in which less than ten percent of its population is having access to professional ( mental) assistance while government's annual budget devoted less than three percent to mental health, hell could not have found a nearer haven of a bedlam than Nigeria. 

Does it not amount to delusion of lunacy, with the usual headline news of top public office holders , allegedly for fear of life after office , looting public treasury as they cart away billions of Naira where staggering poverty is nakedly staring majority of Nigerians in the face ?

Little wonder why the former Secretary General of World Health Organisation W.H.O. Professor Adeoye Lambo did recommend sometimes that politicians aspiring to contest either as a Governor or a President of Nigeria should first of all be subjected to mental test towards determining his health status and thereby save  Nigerians the risk of putting their collective destiny in the hands of lunatics in flowing Babanriga or Agbada .

SHUN KADARA AND GET KODORO ( SHUN THE SEAT OF DESTINY TO YOUR PERIL 

When ‘Ori’ Head Becomes Talking Point.

Was it by mere coincidence that the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Eniitan Ogunwusi and Nigerian billionaire business woman,Folorunsho Alakija, in separate interviews granted both of them recently by different media,gave pride of place to “ORI”(Yoruba word for Head )being part of the body to which is associated the idea of primacy,chieftaincy ,headship and captaincy ?

When Nigerian music lovers,particularly youths also sing with ferocious hilarity ,jumping and shouting as they dance to the golden music of Adekunle Gold that “Dangote and Otedola” ko lori meji “(Dangote and Otedola each does not have two heads ),what message are they trying to convey about the same “Ori”(head)being the concrete part of the body ,personifying luck,fate and destiny.”?

Doing justice to the subject in an exclusive interview documented in a video titled :”Treasures of our Ancestors”,the Oonirisa explained that it was a herculean task as he assembled the world-class archival resources in which “Ori” and other issues of high traditional importance to Yoruba featured prominently.

In a chat with the Punch as she turned 70, the billionaire business woman who is involved in the fashion ,oil ,real estate and printing industries also explained how God confirmed to her in dream about the sacredness of “Ori” head and how it became a rule in her family that none of their children should come home with funny hairstyles.

With his sacred obligation to enlighten the world about the authentic story of the origin and identity of the Yoruba race ,the Oonirisa who stated that he had consulted widely on Yoruba archival resources which he described as materials which are rare globally, submitted that it is in Ori,the spirit head, that all senses of human existence reside.

“Ori is Spirit head for everything one does ,for that’s where the greatest thing emerges. Mythologically ,Ori used to be a unit , and after consulting with the eyes,brain,nose,lips,ears and neck, all the parts of the body of man agreed to dwell where Ori is, as it is the brain box where reasoning and power reside.

His Imperial Majesty added:”It is from Ori that the transition of divinity equally resides

To have a head is to have a sense of direction;Ori shall forever be relevant as the headship in dynasty ,and Yoruba do not joke with it while we pour libations to Ori to lead us a right. ”

Answering question on her Apostleship and dress sense,Alakija explained :”By November this year , it would be two years that God told me (in a dream) to stop wearing wigs .”

“When I woke up ,I said God,If this is you speaking ,then you have to confirm it through others before I would take any step.”

“About ten days later,I got a call from a married couple that God said “No more wigs” I screamed and right there ,I undid my braids and did an afro to work. ”

“Meanwhile I had just bought twelve wigs of different types and colours at a TD Jake’s event,I wore a black and white wig and again at the crusade .That was the last time .”

Curiously,my own attention on this development could not but watch with keen interest, the golden lips of the Oonirisa and the Nigerian billionaire woman over their sacred treatment of this vital part of the body ,having myself sometime last year, addressed the importance of head ,Ori,as a seat of destiny which must not be toyed with.

Discussing the head as a sanctuary of the divinity under the title:”Shun your “kadara” and get “kodoro” meaning shun your seat of destiny and you mar your luck and fate, I expressed dismay at how people especially the youths often fail to accord dignity to their heads,even though they echoed like cats in chorus ,songs that idolized Ori as a reality in human person .

: It is common trend to hear people sing different songs by music idols celebrating Ori as the sacred place where the governance of mankind’s actions spring and here, mention should be made of Hubert Ogunde ,I.K.Dairo and Adekunle Gold among others whose music were testimonies of the prominence of head as foreknowledge of a man’s destiny.

According to Hubert Ogunde’s lyrics:

“Bi o ba maa laya,

Bere lowo Ori re,

Bi o ba maa ko le,

Bere lowo Ori re.:”

(When you want to get a wife,

Ask your Ori,head,

When you are about to build a house,

Consult your Ori ,head…”

It was same thing with the Music genius,I.K.Dairo who thus sang:”

“Ise Ori ranmi mi ni mo Nse,

Eni ba jale lo bomoje. ”

(It is the errand which Ori head sent me that I am running,

It is him who steals that disgraces manliness.”

With the savvy generation,the music by Adekunle Gold is saying the same thing,but the rendition is however ,daring the youths to take the bull of economy by the horns and reach out to the topmost mountain where money resides,afterall, billionaires like Dangote and Otedola do not carry two heads on their shoulders .”

“Baba God O,

Emi na fe wa Range Rover,

Dangote Olori meiji

Na beg I beg O;

Olorun Orun

Pick up the call.

Emi na fewa Bentley,

Otedola O lori meji,

Pick up the call

Na beg I dey beg O.”

What has however sparked off fury into my own Pen today is the way too many youths are paying lip service to Ori (head) through the way they are desecrating the sanctity of their heads by the careless manner in which they handled their hairdos ,yet singing glowing tributes to the head as the seat of divinity.

I had once watched to my chagrin ,the suicidal way in which a young lady ,riding on an okada motorcycle, got her flying hairdo, laden with a web of heavily coloured attachments (braids),trapped in the spoke of a moving okada and this accident eventually wheeled both of them crudely to a halt on the crazy lane .

As pedestrians attracted to the scene by her shout for help ,fought tooth and nail to disentangle her wig(already fragmentized into tatters,) from the okada wheel,it became evident that she had escaped with injured neck ,even amid jeers by same samaritans who could not help tongue lashing her for her frivolous hairdo in the name of fashion.

Much spirituality and ideology could be gleaned wisely from the intelligent application of the word :”Ori” (head ) in Yoruba religious discourse .

For instance, the author of “The Vocabulary of Yoruba Religious Discourse, says that when an English man cries:”Oh me ! “,a Yoruba man says :”Ori mi O” (O my head )An ill-fated person is called :”Olori buruku ” a person with a bad head” Luck is called :”Ori ire ,” head of goodness ”

This is why the head is seen as the source and the “ever present place ” of both blessing and curse .

“Oh my head ” in English is :”Ori mi o ” in Yoruba ,and with the head (Ori,) being the source of both good and bad luck, is it not therefore possible to cleanse a person’s luck and change his or her ill fate by simply buying and wearing a good and expensive wig in replacement of the natural hair of “ori buruku”?

IDEOLOGICAL DEDUCTIONS FROM THE HAIR YOU WEAR.

Much spirituality and ideology could be wisely gleaned from the intelligent application of the word :”Ori” (head ) in Yoruba religious discourse .

For instance, the author of “The Vocabulary of Yoruba Religious Discourse, says that when an English man cries:”Oh me ! “,a Yoruba man says :”Ori mi O” (O my head )An ill-fated person is called :”Olori buruku ” (a person with a bad head”)while Luck is called :”Ori ire ,” (head of goodness ” ) This is why the head is seen as the source and the “ever present place ” of both blessing and curse .

Since what :”Oh my head “in English is what :”Ori mi o ” is in Yoruba ,with the head (Ori,) being the source of both good and bad luck, is it not therefore possible for someone living in one of the God-forsaken streets of Ajegunle in Nigeria to cleanse his or her luck by changing his or her ill fate through buying and wearing a good and expensive wig designed and made in America, even in replacement of his or her natural hair of “ori buruku”?

Probably this is what the African woman is trying to achieve by her rejection of her afro hairdo for the imported wigs of many colours.

The Oonirisa has done his beat ;The Adimula has even hit the streets for the sake of buying back our youths from colonial mentality through telling our own story ourselves , it is up to us to either run with the Ooni’s philosophy or continue to oversecularize and overtopicalize things that require simple common sense and native intelligence.

It has also taken the divine intervention of a billionaire business woman in the person of Alakija to preach the virtue in staying true to womanhood, bringing sense to the Nigerian ladies that self emancipation or woman liberation is a charity that begins from home and it goes beyond mere Affirmation Action doled out from the National Assembly.

 DADA DODONDAWA.

 I am Dada, Ogbegun; 

Every day is my birthday;

I am recalcitrant, a truant  , dropping out of school like a Teddy boy. 

I dared the forest of ten thousand demons

With the midas touch of my terrific hairdo,

Even against sense, reasoning and common sense; 

I smoke weeds of different cannabis in the wee hours of the night .

You would find me at Iya Fatality's joint 

Smoking like hell.

I am the senior brother of Ojo, the Troublemaker. 

Paradoxically, John and Emmanuel are my cousins, 

But I have not in anyway dignified their heroic faith .

Bob Marley and Rastafarians are my collegiates at the school of samba, Afro and the Rocks.

I smoke hemp  like hell, sweet grass like a teddy grass. 

I wear  dreadlock that is as fascinating as it is incriminating .

With my hairdos, I break into garden of fantasy , recruiting into fashion every fad of a fallacy 

What an array of youths whose vision and mission are as blurred and as dead as dodo.

Fake prophets in their artificialty, sorcery and sophistry 

Are all at the street corners disciplining the riff-raffs in their hundreds 

Even with reckless housewives  who fill the ilks with insanity of the highest order.

I am Yediydiyyah of the ancient Hebrew 

(Beloved and darling of Jehovah)

I am the Dodondawa of the hausa land 

The Ataturky of Turkey known as Atta of Ebira land

I do not spare people's turkeys without giving them a kick .

I am still the Dawid  of the Hebrew generation 

The only Dawodu whose David is without the sceptre of honour.

I exercise power without responsibility as I am Lemuel 

Who has rubbished the sanctity of my mother's vow

Poor contemptible Bobby who has continually disgraced his father's corrections. 

I shunned my mother's pruning as a wild cannabis which twines 

Have twinged my mother's heart a thousand times. 

I am not like the obedient  Samuel who stood rooted  to his mother's post at Shiloh. 

I am Dada, Ogbegun, the senior brother of the proverbial Ojo, the Troublemaker. 

What does it cost me 

Shuttling from one hospital to another? 

It costs me nothing except my freedom being looted by caregivers at my asylums. 

And I hate them with every passion within my grip.

I have desecrated every rule of Nazirite 

Dragged in the mud the name of Orimolade, the first Dada of honour

 known for the dreadlocks of his umbrella .

Oh when you see Moses Orimolade Tunolase face to face ,

You have seen Dignity  and Diligence standing before kings and Governors par Excellence. 

 By the Power of his miracle, 

He confounded King George fifth of England with the soothing and pleasantry of his words which Balm of Gilead healed him from faraway Nigeria. 

Born as a strange creature holding tight in his hands his umbilical cord even  to the amazement of dumbfounded midwives 

Orimolade was a beautiful Nazirite to behold. 

With his dreadlocks of an umbrella 

And the cord of his umbilical cord which does not take umbrage no matter the temerity with which people views his dreadlocks 

He stood as a kingly knight for the protection of Saints and the Body of Christ. 

Nazirites have come ; Nazirites have gone 

Na soso sorrow remains !

Knights are no longer knights but knaves

Nazarites have ceased to be nice 

Notoriety is now the stock in trade of Nazirites, even 

With all manner of Dadas

Wearing the dreadlocks of stupidity. 

They have bullied you into this spiritual enterprise without your consent 

Even with its unintended sacrilegious consequences upon the land.

OLALERE FAGBOLA.