PROFILE

 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.