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Blog, Poetry, Writers

If I Were Jesus: A Poem by Chukwuemeka Oluka

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Come to think of it; Jesus was quite humble while on earth If I were Jesus that resurrected from the dead, I would run round the streets of Jerusalem with my disciples I would run shouting, ‘who dey breeeeeet!’ I would walk me like a king before the Jews I would walk with my shoulders high I would walk before Caiaphas, Pilate and Herod If I were Jesus, I won’t ride on a donkey I would ride on their guilt I would rub it on their faces With majesty and power, I would ride If I were Jesus, I would lash out on my disciples They doubted my resurrection story They sold their faith and bought fear Small wonder, they left me lonely at Gethsemane Oh Gethsemane! Many were thy sorrow How can I forget thy torture? How can I forget the pain and anguish? My sweats of blood dotted thy garden Oh Gethsemane! Jerusalem’s Olives Mount Green were thy leaves, green were thy memories Scene of agony, betrayal and arrest Yet Zebedee’s sons found thy garden a sleeping bed If I were Jesus, the chief priests would find unrest The people will find them liars On blasphemy they accused me, The Jews would know the true story If I were Jesus, Would I drink that cup of suffering? If only Zebedee’s wife knew, She wouldn’t dare make the request. How dare me be Jesus, slain The spotless lamb without stain Slain for sin; slain for my gain Jesus Christ is that lamb The Lamb was beaten in gangs On Calvary’s tree, He hangs Jerusalem’s women beheld the pangs Of our dying Jesus on good Friday Now, how good is Good Friday? What is good about the day? Good my sins were washed away Jesus died for my sins This is why I won’t shout, ‘who dey breeeeeet!’ I would reflect on the mystery of salvation All things have become a new edition On Easter, heralds the celebration If I were Jesus, I wouldn’t revenge He forgave me when I was at the edge I am glad, I sing no dirge Jesus died that I may live Heaven is wedded to Earth Man is reconciled to his creator This is why Jesus rose from the dead Halleluiah! This is Easter! Jesus broke the chains of death He destroyed sin forever He rose triumphant from the grave Halleluiah! This is Easter! I adore you, O Jesus, and I praise you By your death, I am born anew By your rising from the dead, you paid my due Halleluiah! This is Easter! How can I celebrate new life at Easter? ‘If I were Jesus’ I will never say again ‘I want to be like Jesus’ I say, instead Wearing a new life in His image

Blog, Poetry, Writers

Celebrating New Life: A Poem by Solomon Ekoja

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Tick after tick Three decades beckoned Like spider webs Woven with spurned promises Around the scripture ceiling Of Matthew: 1:21 On came the anthem From river Jordan With sounds of an acapella baptism Till the spirits solo Echoed within the wilderness Forty days and forty night Fasting all along Like a lonely iroko On an icy oasis From stone to bread Through the pinnacle jump Temptations came calling Till the written word Knocked off the tempters plot It’s Good Friday But nothing seemed good Coz heaven’s filled with tears For a broken communion With the earth bound Son At Gethsemane Flowers became thorns With each groaning stroke From the saviours side Came bloodlike sweats Like athletes Running across an Olympic track Hell quaked in jubilation When thirty pieces of silver Sealed the transaction For the final sacrifice Like a mighty hurricane Came soldiers in droves Guided by a foes kiss To seize the Messiah Who was the true Light That lightens the world Lash after lash Sicknesses flew Wounds after bruise Transgressions gave way Till mortal man condemned the eternal creator Sent from the Father Heaven’s silent At man’s ignorance For substituting Barabbas With the Lord from heaven On the cross hung my sin Like a prisoner Awaiting the firing squad On Lagos island Should’ve been my death But mercy said no It’s Sabbath But Sabbath smelt foul Without the crucified Christ From tent to tent Animals’ necks kissed knives To atone for sin Already paid for in full By the Sinless one Early Easter Sunday morning Maidens went to anoint The precious body Of their buried Lord Alas! The tombs empty With tears like a river The Angel quipped for joy He is risen Alleluia! Jesus is risen To give us life For new life to come Strike the firework of bad character To knock out sin He that stole, steal no more He that fought, fight no more He that lusted, lust no more He that lied, lie no more He that fornicated, fornicate no more He that coveted, covet no more He that strove, strive no more She that envied, envy no more She that cursed, curse no more She that seduced, seduce no more She that slandered, slander no more She that gossiped, gossip no more She that brawled, brawl no more She that nagged, nag no more For the malicious, shun malice For the Unforgiving, learn to forgive For the hater, learn to love For the drunkard, drink no more For the backbiter, backbite no more For the angry, be angry no more For the jealous, rejoice with others Care for the sick Help the helpless Visit the bereaved Give to the needy Clothe the naked Shelter the homeless Pray for others Then Believe on Jesus’ resurrection And new life will spring forth Like a golden hibiscus Emerging from a fertile humus Under the charming smile From heavens sun.

Blog, Lifestyle, Resources

Happy New Year: Let’s Create Value Together.

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It is a new year but what changed?
What will change?
The answer is very little.
The difference between last year and this year is just one second.
And that can’t be adequate for any serious change.
It is not something you achieve overnight.

How then can you make the change significant?

Essays, Writers

What Happened To Our Usual New Year Resolutions and Prophecies? by Emmanuel Oluka.

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  Reading through status updates on Whatsapp as well as friends’ posts and comments on social media especially on New Year’s Eve and on New Year day, no doubt, inspired this essay. Indeed, over the years, I usually keep myself busy all through Christmas and New Year festive periods with my phone by reading a plethora of messages on social media. Sincerely, it is a remarkable experience as I’d get to be thrilled with most messages because they’d contain prayers, funny resolutions and prophecies for the New Year. So, in the end, I’d always find myself looking into the New Year with a lot of relish and anticipation. The Whatsapp status updates and social media interactions of friends within the first few days of the year, 2021 revealed a dearth in New Year prophecies. I also observed that people no longer set New Year resolutions. The only thing I noticed closest to a New Year resolution was the trending Stingy Men Association of Nigeria (SMAN). To be candid, I was dying of laughter whenever I saw different versions to the trend on social media. It was so hilarious that I would “laugh myself to stupor”. While it was all fun and cruise, a few were quick to adopt it as their New Year resolution as they refer to it as a decision and a movement to stop obliging every woman (except a wife, mother, daughter or female relative) with money. To these men, they claim it will help them curb financial wastages especially on “side chicks” and girlfriends. To one member in particular, he said, “it is a resolve to choose wisdom over foolishness”.  As interesting as that may seem, there were still a paucity of New Year resolutions from my experience on social media. On “cross-over” night, I left social media and had my eyes fixated on various channels on television to listen to the king of prophecy, Prophet T. B. Jushua. Guess what? He claimed he went to the mountain where God gave him New Year prophecies which would be released later; because, according to him, he had to study it very well. Pastor E. A. Abeboye in his own New Year message said, “the year will be full of testimonies of God’s goodness and Nigerians will hear sounds from heaven”. In Bishop Oyedekpo’s words, he said, “from 2021, you shall not wander in life again. You shall not know disappointments in 2021”. I curiously waited for Prophet Odumejje’s prophecies to no avail. In all these scenarios, there seem to be a paradigm shift in the “usual” New Year prophecies and resolutions; in fact, there is an obvious dip in the willingness of people to make New Year resolutions. Even pastors, preachers and prophets are becoming very careful in their prophecies concerning what the New Year brings. This sets the tilt for this essay, as an attempt is made to unravel the situations surrounding the dearth in the usual New Year prophecies and resolutions; hence, the essay title, “What happened to our usual New Year resolutions and prophecies?” So, in my quest, I engaged some friends. The following dialogue ensued… ***   “Cheers to a New Year Chizy, this one you’re beaming with smiles on your display picture, you definitely have a lot in stuck already for 2021. I can see it appears you’ve set goals and resolutions for the New Year and can’t wait to hit the ground running, right?” Chizy responded saying, “my dear, who New Year resolutions help? No doubt you’ve forgotten last year, 2020 was a mad year, right? I can’t kill myself abeg… I need to study this year carefully.” I exploded into laughter and said, “Babe, you’re always filled with fireworks anytime. You can never be caught on the wrong side at all. Best wishes my dear”. Then, engaging the next friend, I became a bit intentional… “Jacy, have you made your New Year resolution as requested by the Ketogenic food group members on Whatsapp? Remember you promised you were going to eat more healthily and punish some body fats to keep your modeling dreams alive”. However, Jacy chuckled and replied, “No be small thing o… I had finished two wraps of ‘akpu’ when I remembered I even made a resolution yesterday. The temporary closure of the fruit market due to covid-19 safety guidelines lured me into the temptation and I fell for it”. The next thing I blurted was, “Eiyaa… I really feel your pain”. And the laughter continued… I engaged Kizito, my childhood friend at Federal Government College, Ugwolawo (FGCU). “Paddi, how far… How the New Year go be na? Recall that by this time during our formative years at Ugwolawo, we already had our New Year resolutions figured out to be submitted to our form masters upon resumption. Does such practice ever exist in schools these days?” No sooner had I finished than he responded, “Oh nostalgia… Nna, the question rather should be, ‘how many students nowadays know what a New Year resolution is all about?’ Meanwhile, Covid-19 pandemic have so disrupted FGCU’s resumption calendar already”. Then, I said, “good old days are obviously lost; lost with time; lost with the pandemic.” I also had some time with my cousin. See excerpts… “Tony, I rang you few minutes after 12 o’clock on New Year day, but you did not respond. Wetin happen?” “No vex…” he said… “I was at the crossover night in church”. “How did it go?” I asked… Tony was really a crazy dude. He replied saying, “Prophet Odumejje was busy shouting up and down. I was expecting strong prophetic New Year message from him. But it’s clear I wasted my time and my sleep yesterday. That was how he was not able to predict the dreaded Covid-19 pandemic last year”. He finished his response with a hiss.   *** Well, do not ask me how the rest discussions ended…   To a large extent, something was common from the engagements; year 2020 and the Covid-19

Essays, Writers

Five Reasons For A Dearth In The Usual New Year Prophecies And Resolutions by Bolaji Alade.

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  Writer’s note: This piece employs in its entirety the use of satire and comic to present factual reasons for the dearth in the traditional new year prophecies and resolutions in year 2021. It is by no means an attempt to scoff at your belief or otherwise on this topic. There is no better way to identify a man or a woman of Nigerian descent other than their thirst for new year prophecies. After all, the elders say, a fly that has no counsellor follows the corpse to the grave. Hence, as a Nigerian, if you genuinely desire to maximize a new year, it is a must to consult one of the selected few who have unlimited access to divinity to give you heads up on how your year will be. Know this and know peace. Your bucket list of new year resolutions will be an exercise in futility if you fail to do this. For accurate new year resolutions are only those borne out of  crystal clear new year prophecies. Could you read that again and let it sink deep? However, there seems to be a scarcity of new year prophecies, and its ripple effect, resolutions in 2021. Consequently, there are many flies in the absence of counsel headed for the grave with the corpse. But how did things get this bad? Just relax. Grab what’s left of your new year’s chicken and enjoy the ride. Covic- 1,9 Please, no disrespect to Bubu. (You’re not Nigerian enough if you need anyone to explain this joke to you.) Back to the matter, the public health emergencies ravaging the seven continents brought the world to its knees during the first wave. By its second wave, it’s now apparent the virus intends to keep the world grounded as long as there are covidiots who refuse to take precautionary measures. That said, the covic pandemic is causing more uncertainty than fatalities. In one breadth there is a lockdown, in another, there is the imposition of a curfew. And as you already know, the strength of prophecy lies in its certainty. But that’s what 2020 was all about; bursting bubbles. Case in point was Musa who received a prophecy that he will be in America by April but had his dream knocked down by national lockdown both in his supposed country of departure and arrival. So since Musa carried over last year prophecy do you expect him to request for new projections? Think about it. Sadly, owing to the annual prophecy receiving ritual codenamed crossover night cancelled to curtail the spread of  Covic 1,9 many religious faithful in Nigeria could not gather to receive prophecies for the new year. Anyways, Pandemic 1- 0 Nigerian religious faithful. Vibes and inshallah There is no better way to lead a fulfilled life than to live by the impulses of vibes backed up with inshallah. And although it took Nigerians 60 years post Independence to realize this, it was the most significant discovery of 2020. Isn’t it cute to live without the pressure of fulfilling specific prophecies or bounding yourself all in the name of resolutions when You Only Live Once—YOLO! Nothing’s been cuter, and Nigerians are keeping it a hundred. I have never been more proud of this country. This youth propagated liberating school of thought frowns at overthinking, deliberate planning and a visionary mindset which at a closer look is stressful at best, and frustrating at worse. With the increasing acceptance of this philosophy, the archaic practice of new year prophecies and resolutions has lost its grip on Nigerians. Therefore, we’re free like a bird.   The gods are angry The gods are angry and rightly so. In fact, at this junction, I cannot agree more with my mentee Ola Rotimi when he said, The Gods Are Not to Blame. You see, to receive prophecies, the gods must be at peace with you. Little wonder why they say, If the vulture fails to hover at the end of a sacrifice, then you know that something happened in the land of spirits. In this case, the disregard for the gods has grieved the spirits. As a result of one or two inaccurate prophecies given by the gods last year, many cast aspersion on the gods’ legitimacy only to turn to them this year for prophecies. And shall we continue to cast aspersion on the gods and request for prophecies to abound? Tufiakwa! When dealing with the gods, a man must not speak out of both sides of his mouth. So as it is, the gods have locked up, hence lack of prophecies and proper resolution you’re witnessing in the year 2021. Inflation At exactly midnight on January 1 2020, all Nigeria’s myriad of problem disappeared. It was the national dimension of, New Year; New Me. Old things in Nigeria passed away, but inflation didn’t. I believe it must have crept into 2020 while Nigerians are lost in the euphoria of how all planned for vision 2020 is about to become a reality suddenly. After all, if we did think it, we can achieve it, Lol. Creeping inflation soon gained its ground and skyrocketed. When it did, it dealt with everything on the Nigerian soil, beneath it and above. The government says it was due to the pandemic, but you know this is a common NIGER-AREA epidemic, as old as miss Flora Shaw herself. To hit the nail on its head: the year 2020 inflation proved abortive all resolutions and resolution makers. Typically, a disappointed Amaka could not save up to six figures as she can’t even afford three square meal. What next? The battle of survival began. This battle threw Nigerians into great turmoil late 2020, and all that filled their minds were survival strategies. At this moment, you would agree the least on their mind would be hunger or thirst for new year’s prophecies. And since it takes appetite and desires to receive it, many Nigerians failed the test while preoccupied with survival means. Hence,

Blog, Essays

Agenda For The New APC Leadership by Thisday

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Thisday dissects what is expected of the new APC leadership in this editorial….read on ———————————————————————————————————————————-   For the Oshiomhole-led new national executive to earn respect, it must promote the common good Ordinarily, as the party in power at the national level and in majority of the 36 states, the All Progressives Congress (APC) should be a beacon of democratic tidiness. That, sadly, is far from the reality, going by the mayhem and utter disorder that characterised the ward, local government and state congresses that eventually culminated in the national convention held yesterday in Abuja. It is, however, a credit to the party that the process by which about 6,800 delegates elected their leaders last night was transparent and devoid of the usual acrimony, despite the mild drama between factional delegates from Imo, Delta and a few other states. We congratulate members of the newly elected National Working Committee of the party, especially Comrade Adams Oshiomhole who succeeds Chief John Odigie-Oyegun as the APC national chairman even as we urge him to walk his talk. “We will subject everyone to the dictates of our constitution and remain faithful to the manifesto of the party on the basis of which we were elected by the Nigerian people. To my recollection, we haven’t had any serious platform as a party where the agenda was to debate policy options and choices attached to each policy we fought for. To me, this is what a political party should represent”, said Oshiomhole last week. We agree with Oshiomhole that political parties should be more an avenue for the contestation of ideas about how society should develop and thrive than a vehicle for seeking political offices. The challenge is that the APC, like the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) it dislodged, has hardly articulated what it stands for in terms of ideas let alone canvass its platform to ordinary Nigerians. Meanwhile, to the extent that political parties remain the framework for democracies to recruit and organise the populace for power contests, when they exhibit incoherence in policy formulation and disorder at local levels, it is democracy that is endangered. Unfortunately, for the past three years, impunity and arrogance have found expression within the APC where unmanaged factions have in recent months emerged as the ambitions of rival political war lords clashed openly and in some instances, violently. Besides, its mechanisms for internal democracy such as periodic congresses, conventions, National Working Committee (NWC) meetings, etc., were hardly convened while its membership and leadership at ward, local government and state levels were left to conjecture. Those of its members who found themselves in government have carried on more or less like an exclusive club of the ‘chosen’. Yet a party without a definable ideology, structure or institutional memory ought to have spent more time in internal engineering than in seasonal electioneering contingency. It is indeed noteworthy, as we highlighted only recently, that the democratic credentials of the principal promoters of the APC are thin but what is even more worrisome is that after three years in power as the ruling party at the centre, they have yet to show Nigerians that their party is a serious political platform driven by the core value of promoting the common good. By aggregating and representing the interests of their members, fielding credible people for public offices and holding government to account when in opposition, political parties have a huge role to play in any emerging democracy. But with prohibitive costs of expression of interest and nomination forms, for instance, many otherwise good candidates are usually denied the opportunity to stand for elections in Nigeria. And with that, we have a preponderance of incompetent politicians in strategic public offices. For that situation to change, the APC must lead the efforts since political parties are important in the recruitment of credible leaders at all levels of government. It is against this background that the Oshiomhole-led new national executive has its job cut out for them. We wish them the best of luck in their new assignments. Quote By aggregating and representing the interests of their members, fielding credible people for public offices and holding government to account when in opposition, political parties have a huge role to play in any emerging democracy

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