(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.
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