Y' Ardua Doesn't Have to Be Hercules to do his job as President !

Those who want to snatch the office of president from Alhaji Musa Y' Ardua had better find a more imaginative way to do it, for mere ill health can not keep him from doing his job if he feels up to it!
As long as whatever is ailing him does not affect his mind or judgement the man should be allowed to execute his policies. Only if he lacks the courage to continue, and expresses such himself, should it be considered to replace him.
For crying out loud, the man's job is 'brain-work', not manual. All he has to do is give instruction, or summon anyone to appear before him with progress report on issues and it's done. Can he still read, can he comprehend, can he appraise issues reasonably ? So, what's the problem ? It's his head we need to be intact. If we have it, we have our president. Though desirable, Mr President does not have to be as strong as Hercules to do his job ! 
I see what is happening seems to be that the man is out-living the time allotted him by the political book-makers.
 It's only God who can say when a man would die. So, except some people want to commit murder they should leave the poor man alone.
It's bad enough that with his frailty he is having to clean up the mess made by such healthy people as they think that they are ! And Christ ! why do they always bandy this rumour every time he travels for medical check-up. Is the man not entitled to visit his doctor, just because he is in office!? Would they rather he dropped dead while working without a break?

El-Rufai's Corrupt Enrichment Trial!

Many things dey happen here o! You know, these people are fast turning me into a town-crier. I beg, I wan have fun, wan be light-minded. This blog thing sef..... I just want take am send my voice in the wind to carry my memory in case I yamutu. At least, even if man no write a proper book wey dem go take remember am, dis wan go do!
Anyhow, one cannot but say ones own thoughts regarding the happenings in our days. At least someone far away might read and see that all of my land do not agree with the gimmicks and semantics going on here.
When we were growing up, we were taught to never fear accusations if we knew our hands were clean. And honorable people do not rely on technicalities to wriggle themselves out of tight spots.
These days I have time to listen and even watch the news on TV since being released from firstbank. So it was that I stumbled upon the news of our erstwhile man-of-the-year, Mallam El-Rufai, being arraigned for corruptly enriching himself during his tenure as the FCT minister. What interested me in the news wasn't much the fact that he was being tried, but rather the defence that his lawyers put forward. They said the court had no jurisdiction to hear the case! And I say, that was lame ! Sham ! Lacking in character. An honorable man shouldn't follow the multitude to take the easy way out.
Nigerian top people so easily accept office but do not think of maintaining the character needed for the office. When the chips are down they seem to plead ' we are humans too '. Well, you are not anymore, you've been made gods and you accepted to be. So, for heavens' sake have the character of gods .
I have seen that the Nigerian system in all spheres have so much loopholes and is un-accounting that only a godly-angel would not fall for it. In fact corruption is built into the Nigerian reward system. People take it as a matter of course that you should enrich yourself by your office. I think they say it this way ' na turn by turn.... you go chop your own, then leave; and another person go go chop!'
So, the system never provides for adequate rewards attached to offices since it expects you to sort yourself out according to your own ingenuity. And so it has been. Even now that attempts are being made to restructure remuneration for office holders the focus has been largely on the politicians, as it seems they are the greater thieves. But that said, people of honor as our El-Rufai, who was even decorated as a national role model should have been open to investigation for the mere fact that he owes the people to clear his name even at the street level.
A thief caught stealing should not be telling his captors they have no right to accost him just because they are not the police. He should be willing to submit himself for investigation to prove he is not a thief.
To me therefore, Rufai's counsel's plea is no defence at all. Not for a supposed icon that he is ! They are just stalling, and lesser men do that in court when they have something they are hiding !

With Rulers This Greedy,Nigeria Doesn't Have to Have Enemies!

What can one say? Another year has rolled by for Nigeria and the pastors and priests of all religious sects in Nigeria are still praying God to touch the hearts of rulers of Nigeria.
If the known men and women of God would but speak with one voice against the lies and deception and corruption and the greed seen in this day's politicians, they would at least become uncomfortable.
How can we live in an age when we have such men of God as Adeboye, Olukoya, Kumuyi etc and this gross mis-rule is going on?
Bakare is a lone voice. Oyedepo is more engaged in building an empire that one wonders if he wouldn't be praying that Jesus shouldn't come again. Young Okotie wanted to wield a sword like Peter did for Christ, and it's looking like he got himself wounded!
Hark! Can't they learn of Desmond Tutu!
Instead, Adeboye is telling us to pay taxes that he knows is being embezzled. I suppose he is mimicking Jesus who said to give Ceasar what was his. Valiant Akunyili has been turned to 'chukwumerije'. She should have just retired and gone back to her profession. I suppose her daughter bringing home an American man is a big deal! That points to where their hearts ly.
The church is serving her members the opium of escapism by telling them that no matter how bad the rulers get, their situation would not be adversely affected. And so they console themselves, sleeping in the light, while the nation lies in darkness. 
How without brains these rulers are! The Niger Delta agitation has been silenced yet again, for now, until the next generation of teenagers grow up and begin to ask for their rights! Will nothing good ever happen here?
They make believe they are being diplomats, optimists or nationals, but all they are doing is avoiding telling the truth and taking the needed steps to correcting wrongs. Priests and politicians have all turned liars. They don't want to rock the boat, yet the boat is not getting anywhere!

Babatunde Raji Fashola, can You Honestly Say....

These days one should be careful about easily giving praises to men. For more often than not, we've had to eat our words! Particularly, when a man begins to receive accolades from all sorts of people, especially in Nigeria where mob psychology seem to have taken hold, a lot of people say things just because others are saying so. They are so mentally lazy as to reason out things themselves. Only God is good in totality. No man should be trusted hands down!
Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola, the rave of the moment governor of Lagos State of Nigeria was on TV some days back. He was appreciating and commending individuals and firms for now voluntarily paying their taxes. A good civic development no doubt. But Mr Fashola should not be too quick to feel good about himself. Can he honestly say that he is not aware that the Personal Allowances, Children Allowances and Dependent relatives relief are not reflective of today's prices. While government over the years have made sure to upgrade the tax rate to favour the state, the components of the non-taxable income have remained as it was over 30 years ago :
1. Personal Allowance of 20% of income + N5000
2. Children Allowance of N2500 per child, maximum of 4 children
3. Dependent Relatives relief of N2000 per dependant relative, maximum of 2 dependants.
Now how could a sensitive government expect me to spend N2500 on each of my children per year. What can that amount cover of all expenses associated with raising children these days? Is it school fees which even Fashola's model nursery and primary school requires up to N40,000 per term ( not to talk of the private schools which ask of me up to N130,000 per term for a toddler in kindergarten class). Or is it going to be sufficient for health care needs of a child? Government, again of course having no reliable service of health care. Why would government have me keep less of my money when they give me no service in lieu?
Then the government expects me to spend N2000 per year on each of my aged parents - and you know, they usually are not our only dependants. Government has no program even for its retiring and retired staff, they often die while waiting hopelessly to be paid their retirement dues. So, how would they know one needs to provide for one's aged parents! And Fashola tells me he is a lawyer, that his regime has a human face. He is just like all the rest of them. His government officials are misappropriating money all around him e.g via the grass-root fund allocation, and he pretends he does not know.
Well, Fashola, it does not matter what the mouths of praise-singers say you are; if you are not, you are not!
Not that we advocate non-payment of tax, but how can members of your state assembly, for instance, get away with paying taxes less than N20,000 p.a while from some like us our employers extort over N35,000 per month in the name of tax. No one knows whether actually these monies really are sent to the government as deducted.
Bottom line is this , Mr Fashola, if I earn N5,000,000 in a year of diligent and honest sweating you'd be nuts to ask me to spend only N1,005,000 on myself, N10,000 on my 4 children; N4,000 on my aged parents and none on my wife, just so that you would have about N4,000,000 of it available to your cohorts to be taxed.
Government would seem to me to be wanting to reap where it has not sown.
The matter I have spoken of above is not only in Lagos State, it is nationwide since we all use the same tax law. Let those who make laws review this aspect of the tax law or do they want us to carry placards before they realize it is archaic. Still, why would they show concern - they do not really pay tax, and even the money realized into government coffers anyhow gets embezzled, anyway you look at it.

Central Bank of Nigeria, Give Us Our Money Back.

Since Mid-2007 the Central Bank of Nigeria together with the Securities and Exchange Commission ganged-up to forcibly close down a number of Fund Managing firms they had personal vendetta against. Appeal after appeal followed but the Government agencies always bullied and beat down the under-dog firms.
This July makes it exactly two years since the Central Bank Confiscated the investors' monies with these 'renegade' branded firms. However, no attempt has been made by the apex financial institution in Nigeria to return the money to the owners to this day. Sources even have it that the top officials of the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Securities and Exchange Commission have greedily converted these 'un-tagged' monies to their personal use.
How so like them!! Who would be the wiser? Officials daily steal government monies allocated for projects, and no one asks questions here. Who then would ask them about our monies, seeing they have already branded the Fund managers as ' wonder-banks'. Even the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is dead. Or was it ever really alive?!
But as God lives, those monies will be a curse unto them and all their own to a thousand generation unless they pay the monies back to every subscriber of the fund managing firms.

How Our world is Changing

Happenings in our days are taking new turning. People are being replaced. People leaving the world. People passing away.
It's fast becoming another world, with a different set of people coming up. The people who defined the world of an era are fast dieing out and soon it would seem that one does not belong to the time anymore. And this is because all the people by whom we have identified and described our world have all gone!
It's another world with a different story, with it's own troubles and struggles to face.
Another time is setting in. Oh! how our world is changing.
What a life, life we have seen. Pain unrevealed feeling like water slipping through our fingers. Oh! my life. Oh! my life!

Is Michael really Dead?

How can it be? Has Michael been that sick? But he recently went about planning a show in the UK for 13th July. Isn't that queer? Most people would avoid fixing a show on the 13th, but not Michael. I read that a certain doctor resigned from his practice to give Michael full time care eleven days to 25th June. Michael was really ill then. It could not have just started. The ailment. Had he known he was going to die? If Michael was so sick, how did he imagine he could do the planned show? Typically Michael, was he hoping to die on stage, like Jimi or Elvis. Or has it happened exactly the way he wanted it to? To sell out tickets for a 'good-bye' show with the whole world expectant and focusing attention on him, and then 'poof' he goes and dies.
It's like a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing... as Shakespeare would say. Suddenly, Michael is gone and it's as if he never was. Matter-of-factly, I would say Michael stopped living when his music stopped occupying centre spot in the industry. And I think that happened a long while ago!
Well, Michael, angel, do rest in peace. Oh, may it please God to welcome you home.

About Obama Being ' Whitish ' !

Hi, sorry I did not realize my last blog post could be objectionable to some people.
That goes to confirm that everybody won't necessarily see things the way we see them.
Really I was expressing the impression I got from my location, which I concede is rather limited in view of the fact that my source was mainly CNN footage.I have a friend, my country man, there in the U S A who has told me that Mr Obama actually has been doing the rounds to everywhere. Meaning he has been going to all communities. This is very good to know and I am deeply sorry for any bad feeling he has had as a result of my writing.


However, even such misguided writings as my post have their use too. My Bro is not supposed to sit relaxed in the notion that things are going on well. Things have to go exceptionally well for bro Obama. From how I see America now Obama has to deliver to the level that he'd be toasted at the end of it all. He cannot afford to be one of the guys. Obama has to be the guy!

Why, isn't Obama looking rather white these days!!??

Well, well, well!!! Isn't Barak Obama looking rather white these days. And why not, bro! Everywhere I see Barak he is swarmed by white people. Aren't there other colors in America?
Barak should watch against being made a president for the whites alone. Barak should not be afraid to take his 'talking rounds' to black communities, especially, and to the other non-white communities. He better not end up like Michael Jackson. For he cannot hide from the fact that he is a black man.
There'd be those whites who'd attempt to tailor Barak to become white-like, so they'd be comfortable with the idea of him being their number one citizen. He should be smart not to fall for it. Yes, he is a president for all of America, so he should be to all Americans, particularly to the blacks. And that's the reality whether Barak likes to agree or not!!!!
Barak Obama should be himself and operate from his heart, not necessarily from his head. He's got nothing to lose. This chance may never come to a black man in America again in a long time to come after Obama.
So Bro Barak, make your reign in the 'whitehouse' memorable. Make it count for all Americans. Don't be straight-jacketed into the usual civil-service political routines. You cannot afford to waste your tenor as president playing the ropes!

Stealing is not right!

How long has it been? Wow!! Never thought I could stay away this long. You see, my employers had this funny idea that they wanted to assign me a higher responsibility job. Now they got me coming home late and all tired- out like I could barely watch the evening news before I crash!

Situation like this is why I want to be financially free. Which is how come I ran into

http://www.grantsforyounow.com/

of Lisa Fitzgerald, and

http://www.emillionaire.com/

of Brock Felt.

These sites promised to refund my money if their program was not okay by me. Well they took my money alright and sold me nothing. Worse still, they have refused to refund my money. Fitzgerald $94.89, and Felt $197.

Somebody should have these crooks arrested for crying out loud! Stealing is not right no matter by whatever shade it comes.
I am still a man. A black one, an african. I am a Nigerian. Yes! I am a NIGERIAN. I am a christian. I follow Christ. I am a person. Am a man who'd rather starve than loose my integrity. And you see, there is good and bad everywhere, afterall.

Love is forever!

Well, that was a serious one. Wow! I have to give you my apologies for not meeting up with my promised everyday update to val's day. Over here we say, as you people over there know too, that ' man proposes and God disposes!'
Well, it's all over and done with, but love continues. Hope you had a nice experience. Lets get on with living.
I want you to know that I realize that I have a thousand things going on here on my blog, as revealed by my recent google adwords site analysis. And that might not be too cool for you, you wanting to straight-jacket me, you know! Well, heck ' I aint gonna fall for this' Take me as I am. I got to be me. I just got to be me. Let me be free to coin whatever the universe says to me.
Thanks for indulging me.

Get The Best Out of Your Bank

You can learn to use your bank. Your bank wants you to use them. It is in your favour to use your bank well. I have often spoken with bank customers who say things like ' I don't want to be seen to be troubling you' or ' You may start thinking I come to the bank too often' You have to be visible to your bankers. By this I mean transaction-wise. It is the record of activities on your account that gives your bank an idea of how your account is performing.
. Some bank customers make the mistake of assuming that accumulating deposit only into their accounts is what their bank wants. Not so. You need to bring in and take out, bring in and take out, bring and take out ! This shows balanced activity. Shows your operation is dynamic. It is a healthy flow. You use money and you make money which you bring back to the bank.


Your bank will be more willing to listen to you when you want to talk because you have a real account picture. A picture which shows you know what you are doing and that you have a healthy financial habit and life. There is no other compelling way to assess your financial skill other than reviewing your account history.


. Some other bank customers mis-out on another opportunity to enhance their account picture when they pay cash directly into another person's account in the same bank when they have the need to do that.

Here's what I mean : A and B have their accounts in Mybank plc. A is obligated to make a payment of 50 units of money into B's account for value received. The long term beneficial way for A to do this is to pass the money through her account into B's, (even if the cash was not already in the account of A). Unfortunately, often, if A brought the cash fresh for the payment she pays the money directly into B's account -thereby missing an opportunity to enhance her account position by hitting it with the activities ( the deposit and transfer ). She thinks she has done smart by avoiding her account, and possibly the charges she may have paid. In this way she throws away so many position building opportunities. When she needs assistance from her bank, she sadly discovers she has not created sufficient history to help her request. Note also that some banks with well articulated IT program do not even make charges for intra-bank fund movements, to begin with.


. Leverage on your bank's fund. You can get rich using your bank's money for a fee, usually called interest charges. You have more money to execute your works than you would using your own earnings and this affords you a greater capacity. This interest charge is spread over the duration of the facility granted, and as such the impact is not as painful as those who are wont to dread bank charges would imagine. Usually, interest charges are set when the loan or overdraft is being set-up, meaning it is programmed into the bank's process software, and normaly the output does not vary from the original instruction. However, atimes you see interest charges either failing to drop on schedule or wrong amount is calculated to the disadvantage of the customer. The customer could contest both these grounds and get reprieval or reduction respectively. Even an outright waiver of the remainder of interest could be granted the customer, upon application, in cases where the interest payment has been going on for a very long time, albeit within the agreement.

. Another bank charge called commission on turnover ( COT ) is one which also causes customers to be unhappy. Simply, COT is the product of 1/1000 of the value of all cheques drawn on a current account over a period of charge (usually a month) multiplied by the rate applied by the bank. What most customer's do not know is that this rate can be bargained. All the customer has to do is ask. If you do not ask, the bank won't yield any ground. Unfortunately, your bank will usually start you off on the maximum rate. And you will stay on it until you find out by yourself that you could negotiate it downwards.

We Want to Stay Loved

Not long ago the frenzy of end of year festivities was hot. Now a few weeks on we are soon to be caught up again in another bang of celebration. 14th of February. St. Valentine's day.
And I wish that all God's children, which we all are, would truly live in love with our neighbours the world over.
How good and pleasant it will be when we all dwell in unity. The good feelings that pervade the air during Val's day celeb should go on throughout life. Daily. Not the erotic feeling between man and woman only, but brotherly love. The like I figure existed between David and Jonathan. The world would be a place probably greater than the garden of Eden, if we do.
Remember I have been sharing my songs' lyrics with you, a serial for the Val's day. Well, here's one I feel suits my drift today. Hope you enjoy it.

'Wanna Stay Loved!

When there's no more thing to feel
When there's no more love for me
That's the time that I don't wanna see
That time is not for you, not for me :

got to be loved
those little things you do mean much to me
wanna stay loved
those meaningless words you say count too much
you may not know, but you make me so strong
I find my joy in hearing you just ramble on
and no matter what time says
what situation is
I'll be satisfied with you
always...........my love !

Sometime in life we've all had to cry
Sometime in life we've all needed change
Well, love is something I never understood,
How I could get hung on someone this way !


(Again I implore you to note that these are copyright-protected works. Should you desire to use any of them, be good and ask properly) Thanks.

Say This !

Well, here comes the day.

Congratulations America as Barak Obama leads you today.

Here's the next song counting down to Val's day :

Say This !

Lovers have said it all.

Through the years they have painted

Love in words.

And am feeling sort of small -

What can I really feign that's

Not been said !

But I have to

Say this to you

In my simple way .... My heart longs for you.

( I've just got to ) Say this to you

Please, be my friend .... My soul longs for you !

Lovers have lived in time,

Love I could never match - up

No, not I.

But, this way I feel is mine.

I won't claim I could stir - up

Your heart to mine !

(Well, that's it) See you on the next one.

My Child !

Dear Readers,
( am actually assuming that there are good people out there who care a hoot about this my pastime waste-of-time).
You say that that's hard on me!? Well, none of you has ever left a comment on the blogs to let me know you've been here!. So, am still wishing am not just thinking to myself all this while.
So Valentine's day is here again. The nightmare of loners. The joy of lovers. And the doom of many young people who just got it all wrong. For the period am going to be sharing excerpts from the lyrics of the songs I used my youthful blood to write. You see, I lived the days of my youth in songs. Songs which fate seem to have sworn never to let heard. I share portions of these lyrics with you my friends because you can't be that many yet as to point me out in the street and say
'there he is "booooooo!"
and because I myself was a hopeless romantic. Although when I married, it was not for love. I just had to move on. To keep going or else die on one spot.
These works are copyrighted, so if you dig some of them ask properly, please. That goes for the creative ones.
You see, I was so late on things that I wrote songs about future experiences, like this one for a child I had not yet had :

My Child ( written Tue 22/09/1992)

I've changed a lot.
I've changed a great deal, my child.
Oh that you you knew me when I was young.
When I was strong and new and care free.

Oh that God had given you to me ealier than now, my child.
Then together you and I
We would have played, and laughed and shouted aloud
In pure and simple joy.

But now, I've grown wise.
I've learnt to stand again when I fall.
I've learnt that life is both pain and joy.
I've learnt to restrain myself, and it has
Taken the fun out of living.
And I know that to you am boring.
So, I understand if you rebel at my back.
Only, do not over do it.
So that you won't sorrow much
When you too grow wise.
Yes, you too must grow wise
Someday, my child !

A Very Exciting Money Experience !

You know, I kind of stumbled on this blog thing looking to find my way trading forex. Whichever way I looked at it then always seemed more technical than I was prepared for.
This was so, until one day, I saw a curious advert on my e-mail. This is the site

www.etoro.com/A8773_TClick.aspx

or

www.etoro.com/TJoinT2_A8773.aspx

You'd love it, I guarantee you. It's so much fun trading there and it's no less real than others. Finally, it's a forex trading platform that welcomes and allows everybody, whosoever, to have a go at it without feeling intimidated.
This new year, talking about money, you could try it. See for yourself.

What a world!

Hi,

 am glad to see you too made it into this new stretch of time called 2009. May the new year bring us new hopes, happiness and peace of mind.

 But something I experienced driving back from work this evening really made me sad as a human being. It left me feeling empty inside.

At about 8.15pm I drove past a car which had its hazard lights on. From behind it looked to be moving slowly. But as I approached and over-took it, I saw a slim-built man pushing the car from the driver's side. Apparently trying to just keep moving, to get out of that lonely road. Full lights blazing, his engine had to be on or his battery would soon be gone.  

As I sped past I could see what seemed like a flat. I wanted to stop and offer my help. Perhaps he needed a jack or wheel-spanner, I thought. Whatever it was he was in, I just wanted to give a hand.

But it was dark and I feared for my own safety. What if the whole scene was a con, a ploy. Even if he was genuine, does it make sense exposing myself, as well as my car, to the same danger he was exposed to.

Then I thought, if it was me in his situation I'd be real; I'd want to be believed. But most likely, no one would take a chance on me too! What a world we now live in! It's no longer safe to be just plain human being to your fellow man without fear of being compromised. What a shame!

I just hoped he'd make it by himself. What a shame!! This- is this the world we now live in.