Monday, 10 March 2014
HOW WE BECAME BOKO HARAM
As the Boko Haram “intifada” continues to transmogrify in monstrosity; upping the ante in barbarism and savagery, more Nigerians, undoubtedly, will be martyred. This is not a prognosis of doom, but a cringing deduction from the exegesis of the terror group. However, this article does not broach Boko Haram’s future killing statistics.
All around the navel and fringes of north-eastern Nigeria, Boko Haram roams cutting down feeble “usurpers” who are pawned by fate. From the rustic communities of Borno to the slumbering towns of Yobe; it is the same fate that binds them in one tragedy loop. Boko Haram has become to the inhabitants of this axis of infamy and horror a festering sore which they have to live with; a nightmare that has become a daylight reality.
And so it is, today Boko Haram has become the spitting image of evil; the belch from the bowels of hell. True as this representation of Boko Haram may be, the fact is that it has always been with us. Boko Haram has always been the subservient, quiet and docile demon in our ultra-religious space. And when that demon has soaked up enough contaminated religious water, it unleashes itself fiercely on obverse people knifing, biting, mauling and mowing. All tools in its killing kit, it unleashes to relieve itself of religious concupiscence.
“Religicide” (killing in the name of God) is the child of ultra-religiousness. It is common where religion trounces reason. And in Nigeria, an ultra-religious country, reason is a prisoner. Again, what ultra-religiousness in Nigeria connotes is incessant frictions and clashes arising from the collision of different religions or faith. And that means, even if Boko Haram is subdued today, something greater than it may rise from its ashes.
As a matter of fact, Boko Haram is a manifestation of the loss of reason, and it can be apparelled in the robe of Islam, in the hood of Christianity, or in the raiment of any religion. The Anti-Balaka, a collection of Christian militias giving the Boko Haram treatment to Muslims in Central Africa Republic is a clear indication that a delicacy of terror can be prepared and served by Christians too. The truth is, a mind fecundated by religion is schizophrenic, and as a result, it is dangerous behind the trigger.
Come to think of it, have we wondered why terrorism is common in ultra-religious societies? The Middle East, in spite of all its resources is a hotbed of violence, rape, child marriage and gender discrimination. One would have hoped that being ultra-religious; societies in the Middle East would be front-liners in promoting democracy, fairness, gender equality and peace. But sadly, that is not the case.
Ours is an ultra-religious society with little care for reason. We hold our religious beliefs arrogantly to our chests, and cease to reason out or think through what our religious lords feed us. We gulp down large morsels of religious tommy-rot, and challenge any authority that disputes our “truths”. We keep contaminating our minds with religious poisons until our guts cannot contain them, and then we puke the poisons on people of obverse faith.
Besides, while Boko Haram is waging a Jihad against the country, churches in Nigeria are waging crusades against the pockets of their adherents. Nigerian churches employ mind-bending strategies to keep their faithful mass of penitents under a regimen of compulsory and thankless giving. Nevertheless, that is a subject for another day.
Truth be told, beyond the political and economic reasons that have been given for the rising and thriving of Boko Haram, one neglected reason that may be the kingpin of the other reasons is religion. Boko Haram is the fallout of our ultra-religious society. Our society being ultra-religious gives expansive room for the mushrooming of dangerous sects and groups. It also engenders religious conflicts and schisms.
In the 1980s what appeared to be a harbinger of today’s Boko Haram rampaged through the north. It was Maitatsine and his boys. Then later, it was Musa Makaniki and the residue of Maitatsine boys. Many lives were lost in the riots that these ultra-religious men caused. These terrorists rose and thrived because the society in which they operated was ultra-religious.
So, as it is now, if the economic and political causes of terrorism in Nigeria are addressed, the same problem will persist because of the ultra-religiousness of its people.
The battle to stifle terrorism must be taken to the minds of Nigerians. Ridding the country of its ultra-religious garb is a necessary action that must be taken to salvage what is left of it.
Physical combat may stunt the growth of terrorism for a while, but it cannot kill its seed. The seed of terrorism in Nigeria today is religion.
Boko Haram’s ideology is pickled in religion. Steering the minds of Nigerians away from ultra-religiosity through seminal re-education may be the one way out of the one-end street of naked violence. We must de-emphasise religion!
The truth is, we are Boko Haram because we are an ultra-religious society.
Fredrick Nwabufo is a writer and a poet. He writes from Abuja. Email:fredricknwabufo@yahoo.com. 08167992075.
HISTORY OF CHELSEA FC
Chelsea Football Club, an English association footballteam based in Fulham, West London. For a general overview of the club, see Chelsea F.C.
Founded in 1905, Chelsea quickly gained a reputation for signing big name players and for attracting large crowds, but failed to win a major trophy in their first fifty years. They spent thirty of their first forty seasons in the First Division, although often found themselves finishing in mid-table or battling relegation. The closest Chelsea came to success was in the FA Cup; they were runners-up in 1915and losing semi-finalists in 1911, 1920, 1932, 1950 and 1952. The duck was finally broken by manager Ted Drake, who introduced a series of changes at the club and led Chelsea to the League Championshipin 1955.
The period 1963–72 saw Chelsea regularly challenge for honours for the first time, although they often narrowly missed out. The League Cupwas won in 1965, the FA Cup in 1970and the UEFA Cup Winners' Cupin 1971; they were also FA Cup runners-up in 1967and League Cup runners-up in 1972. Several problems over the next decade, principally the debt burden caused by an ambitious attempt to redevelop Stamford Bridge, brought the club to the brink of extinction, before a revival under John Nealin the mid-1980s saw the club win the Second Divisiontitle and ultimately re-establish itself in the top flight.
A further revival under managers Ruud Gullitand Gianluca Viallifrom 1996 to 2000 saw Chelsea win the FA Cup in 1997and 2000, the League Cup and UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1998, and qualify for the Champions League for the first time; the club have not finished outside of the top six in the Premier League since the 1995–96season. In 2003, Chelsea were bought by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, ushering in the club's current phase of success. José Mourinholed them to two league titles, an FA Cup and two League Cups in three seasons. The club added a further FA Cup in 2009, and then their first League and FA Cup " Double" in 2010. Under the stewardship of former player Roberto Di Matteo, the club won a seventh FA Cup in 2012, before going on to win its first UEFA Champions League title.
Founded in 1905, Chelsea quickly gained a reputation for signing big name players and for attracting large crowds, but failed to win a major trophy in their first fifty years. They spent thirty of their first forty seasons in the First Division, although often found themselves finishing in mid-table or battling relegation. The closest Chelsea came to success was in the FA Cup; they were runners-up in 1915and losing semi-finalists in 1911, 1920, 1932, 1950 and 1952. The duck was finally broken by manager Ted Drake, who introduced a series of changes at the club and led Chelsea to the League Championshipin 1955.
The period 1963–72 saw Chelsea regularly challenge for honours for the first time, although they often narrowly missed out. The League Cupwas won in 1965, the FA Cup in 1970and the UEFA Cup Winners' Cupin 1971; they were also FA Cup runners-up in 1967and League Cup runners-up in 1972. Several problems over the next decade, principally the debt burden caused by an ambitious attempt to redevelop Stamford Bridge, brought the club to the brink of extinction, before a revival under John Nealin the mid-1980s saw the club win the Second Divisiontitle and ultimately re-establish itself in the top flight.
A further revival under managers Ruud Gullitand Gianluca Viallifrom 1996 to 2000 saw Chelsea win the FA Cup in 1997and 2000, the League Cup and UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1998, and qualify for the Champions League for the first time; the club have not finished outside of the top six in the Premier League since the 1995–96season. In 2003, Chelsea were bought by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, ushering in the club's current phase of success. José Mourinholed them to two league titles, an FA Cup and two League Cups in three seasons. The club added a further FA Cup in 2009, and then their first League and FA Cup " Double" in 2010. Under the stewardship of former player Roberto Di Matteo, the club won a seventh FA Cup in 2012, before going on to win its first UEFA Champions League title.
SERAP Demands Detailed Financial Statement of Centenary Celebration

The non-governmental organisation made this known in a statement issued in Lagos, yesterday, by its executive director, Mr. Tokunbo Mumuni, condemning what it called a celebration of corruption by the government, especially for giving out “public awards to indicted corrupt public officials, sending a wrong message that amounts to a triumph of corruption over public probity and integrity.”
SERAP also in its statement lauded Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka’s rejection of the centenary award, saying any public award for corrupt people was not portraying the government as ready to battle corruption in Nigeria.
“The award to the late military dictator, Gen. Sani Abacha, considered one of the most corrupt leaders the country ever had, cannot be justified on any ground whatsoever, and in fact send the message that corruption pays.”
Watch her eyes
"A little boy asked his mother, "Why are you crying?" "Because I'm a woman, " she told him.
"I don't understand, " he said. His Mom just hugged him and said, "And you never will."
Later the little boy asked his father, "Why does mother seem to cry for no reason?"
"All women cry for no reason, " was all his dad could say.
The little boy grew up and became a man, still wondering why women cry...
Finally he put in a call to God. When God got on the phone, he asked , "God , why do women cry so easily?"
God said
"When I made the woman she had to be special.
I made her shoulders strong enough to carry the weight of the world, yet gentle enough to give comfort.
I gave her an inner strength to endure childbirth and the rejection that many times comes from her children.
I gave her a hardness that allows her to keep going when everyone else gives up , and take care of her family through sickness and fatigue without complaining.
I gave her the sensitivity to love her children under any and all circumstances , even when her child has hurt her very badly.
I gave her strength to carry her husband through his faults and fashioned her from his rib to protect his heart.
I gave her wisdom to know that a good husband never hurts his wife , but sometimes tests her strengths and her resolve to stand beside him unfalteringly.
And finally , I gave her a tear to shed. This is hers exclusively to use whenever it is needed."
"You see my son , " said God , "the beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears , the figure that she carries , or the way she combs her hair.
The beauty of a woman must be seen in her eyes , because that is the doorway to her heart - the place where love resides."
Monday, 12 August 2013
Things You Need To Stop Doing To Yourself
THIRTY FIVE (35) THINGS YOU NEED TO STOP DOING TO YOURSELF
1. Stop spending time with the wrong people
2. Stop running from your problems.
3. Stop lying to yourself
4. Stop putting your own needs on the back burner.
5. Stop trying to be someone you’re not.
6. Stop being ungrateful.
7. Stop focusing on what you don’t want to happen.
8. Stop trying to hold onto the past.
9. Stop worrying so much.
10. Stop being scared to make a mistake.
11. Stop berating yourself for old mistakes
12. Stop trying to buy happiness.
13. Stop trying to be everything to everyone.
14. Stop exclusively looking to others for happiness.
15. Stop being idle.
16. Stop thinking you are not ready.
17. Stop getting involved in relationships for the wrong reasons.
18. Stop rejecting new relationships just because old ones didn’t work.
19. Stop trying to compete against everyone else.
20. Stop being jealous of others.
21. Stop complaining and feeling sorry for yourself.
22. Stop holding grudges.
23. Stop letting others bring you down to their level.
24. Stop wasting time explaining yourself to others.
25. Stop doing the same things over and over without taking a break.
26. Stop overlooking the beauty of small moments.
27. Stop trying to make things perfect.
28. Stop following the path of least resistance.
29. Stop acting like everything is fine if it isn’t.
30. Stop blaming others for your troubles.
31. Stop disrespecting your parents and elders.
32. Stop cheating your neighbor
33. Stop backbiting, lies, fornication and adultery
34. Stop doing anything negative and unpleasant.
35. Stop following the path of Devil.
Remember, when you know better you do better.
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