Izuu's Turn

Okay! Having talked about my last subject here, I think I have broken down the boundary of fear. My heart goes out to beautiful, little, chilled city of Oslo! A bomb that went off penultimate Friday ensured it got a listing on the board of terrorist-endangered locations on earth. The initial suspects yewe of course the usual ones since 9/11. But now, we are being told another tale: a Christian Right Wing Fundamentalist. He allegedly blew up some government offices and then crossed over to Utoya, an island across Oslo, where he openen fire on innocent bystanders with a sub-machine gun. Okay, again. What does this tell us? I do not know except that it tells me that our problem isn't in our religious or ethnic differences. The problem lies in intolerance which has become a favourite pasttime of folks. No one wants to accept that we cannot all be the same, think the same way, and see things from the same perspective. Forgive as I succumb to the temptation of saying that we...

Fact 1: According to The Vanguard Newspaper on Tuesday 19th July 2011, even Nigeria's lower legislative house is reportedly scared of reprisal attacks if they deliberate on "boko" let alone adding "haram" to it. Fact 2: Someone said on FB yesterday: "If you are married and your spouse claims not being in the habit of checking out your wall, change your status to 'single' and then wait 5 minutes." Bottom line, my wife will have my hide for broaching this subject here. Fact 3: You may think me cowardly, but I need to ask the yet-to-be-ascertained face of this group to please not see my comments as insolence. Please, please and please, do not put me on your wish list or any of your lists at all. A bomb for me isn't what I think you need now or at any time. Now to my thoughts! It's just a question and I ask it because I need to be rightly informed. My people say that a person who asks questions hardly misses his or her way. So p...

Everyone wants to be loved. Even the most sadistic of humans wants to be liked. And in a bid to gain approval we all do certain things that sometimes border on the very ridiculous. I had a classmate back in my undergraduate days, whom I will choose to call by his nickname, Ogun Priest. In our second year or first, we had departmental night somewhere in another city. A beauty contest was organised for the event. Among the contestants was a girl that I have to be very careful in describing. I do not have the right to say that anyone is ugly because I believe that we are all beautiful in our own ways. It is also true that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. But for this lady, 'ugly' seems to be the most appropriate adjective for her physical features. Ogun Priest did not mince words when he wondered aloud why this lady chose to make herself a laughing stock. And I trying to rationalise her actions said, "May be her friends deceived her!" To this suggestion ...

Rupert Murdoch? I like him already. Did you see the advertorials? It got to me, especially the part about News of the World holding others responsible but not doing same for itself. Calming words, I daresay, to soothe frayed British nerves. But that isn't my concern. Script writers are often intelligent folks though never often in the public eye. My concern is the British government's reaction over the phone hacking scandal. Ed Milliband! Ed Milliband! Ed Milliband! How many times did I call you? Do you think this issue would have been any different if you were the present occupant of 10 Downing Street? This matter seems to have played into your political territory and you are now almost always in the news spitting fire and brimstone. I will keep my counsel and leave British politics to British politicians. Nevertheless, can you imagine what could be going on in the minds of despotic rulers past and present as they see the events unfold? By events I mean the hac...

Having spent this weekend in a permanent power outage that has survived till this Monday afternoon, I guess I am now in the proper state of mind to do justice to this topic. Working from my now-on-low-battery phone rather than from a laptop, due to lack of electricity, also stirs my Muse in the queerest of ways (permit my grammar please). I spent a greater part of this year in Europe, three months plus. And in the entire period I experienced just one power outage while working at the office in the university. I quickly grabbed my laptop to Facebook it. In my mind of minds, I just wanted to discredit Europe's much touted invincibility. But when I got home from the office, the light was on and didn't look as if it was ever off. Later on, when I asked about the office incident I was told that the outage was just for the university building due to repairs on the ever-efficient elevators. Did I say repairs? My bad! They were installing brand new ones. And I was among t...

A long time ago, I read that government has two hands, each of which it uses to take and to give respectively. The one it uses to take/collect is very long and it reaches every where. The other with which it gives is very short and it only reaches those who are around. I think it was in good old Readers' Digest that I read that way back. With the realities of today's growing public angst against governments ccthe world over, I am compelled to go back and think about this epigram. And then reflect on what it is exactly that folks want from their government whether it is elected or selected. Due to space, I'll not be able to run through the entire gamut of complaints about governments that abound. I'll rather summarise them thus: PEOPLE ARE TIRED OF BEING TREATED AS IF THEY DON'T KNOW ANYTHING! In more precise words, government needs to respect the intelligence of the people under their authority! For instance, how can they be talking of austerity an...

A peculiar thing happened recently: a teacher confided in his student about something he hasn't told anyone before. He duly asked the student to keep it a secret, a proposal she quickly accepted. One leaving his office, she is seen by a friend of hers who asks her what she was doing in their teacher's office. The student tried everything she could to fend off her friend's enquiries. But eventually she succumbs and after extracting a promise from her not to divulge the matter, she tells her friend the very thing their teacher made her promise never to tell anyone. But while they were talking, some of their roommates begin to wonder what the two were being secretive about. One of them eventually succeeds in getting the same information from the second girl who also made her promise never to tell another soul. And before long, everybody has been told the lecturer's secret "in confidence." Every initial recipient of this secret promised never to repeat...

No less a president than the French Sarkozy suffered this demeaning act a couple of days ago. Being so accustomed to the cosmetic smiles with which politicians greet their subjects and the reciprocal cheery waves that the privileged security-cleared few are wont to deliver, the French leader was for brief moment at a loss as he was unexpectedly pulled by his lapel by a 32 year old man. Obviously, his security personnel must have satisfied themselves that there was no danger with the individuals that were there to shake the president's hand. Alas, they didn't bargain for what was waiting for them. How would they have known what was lurking in the young man's mind. Was it not Shakespeare that said that there is no art for knowing the mind's construction from the human face. Science hasn't been able to help us determine with exact certainty the thoughts of those around us. And so long as it remains that way, expenditure on security and defence both by gov...

Honestly, I almost wrote a piece condemning Strauss-Kahn but something at the back of my head kept shouting: CAUTION! And I am most grateful that unlike my usual self, I heeded that voice. Ordinarily, I would have started this piece with an apology to him. A little history: Am not good with dates (forgive me), the former IMF boss was arrested a couple of months back for sexually assaulting a New York maid. Our televisions were awash with images of this man in handcuffs being led away by security men. Someone made sure we saw those pictures and ensured that they remain with us owing to the boring monotony of its repetition. Just in tow, some women groups join the "crucify him" chant. Everyone, at least on TV seemed to be crying for blood. It was just unimaginable: IMF boss and an ordinary hotel maid. I can't remember her colour or nationality. Had she come from any of the IMF-victim nations of the South, their people would have been induced by their governments t...