OCCUPY 2012

                  

Before the 1^st of January this year, the word "occupy" was just a random word to the average Nigerian but by the end of the first week of 2012 there was only a handful of people who didn’t know its meaning. According to the English dictionary the word “occupy” as used in this context refers to the act of taking over a place: to invade and take control of a country, area or building. There were two major occupy protests this year, the first one was OCCUPY Nigeria and these protests which grounded the country to a halt for 5 days occurred as a result of the Federal government announcement on the removal of the fuel subsidy on the 1^st day of the year. The second one was the OCCUPY UNILAG protests. The latter didn’t ground the nations economy but activities in the school were suspended because of the riots that ensued the democracy day (may 29) speech of the President in which he announced the changing of the name of the university to Moshood Abiola university of Lagos (MAULAG). This announcement did not go down well with most people as protests began that very day as early as 9 a.m. Let’s go into the nitty gritty of the whole story.

OCCUPY NIGERIA

What started as a happy day being the 1^st day of the year ended up with a lot of mixed feelings.

I woke up that faithful morning and all I was hearing was the exchange of pleasantries between neighbors and the usual “happy new year, same to you” greetings. I went to church, grateful to God for the gift of 2012 and when I got back home, I decided to watch t.v and that was when I saw the news. The next thing I knew people were spitting fire and brimstone on social media i.e twitter, facebook and even on the streets. People who didn’t even know the meaning of subsidy were suddenly enlightened. Then activists and other organizations decided to embark on an industrial strike action so that the government would retrace their steps. ]

 

       

The protests began in the 2^nd week of the year and the first two days of the protests were thorough. Lagos state was at the center of it all. People also gathered in other states like Oyo, Abuja, Kaduna, Edo and even outside the country like in NEW YORK to hold their protests. In Lagos, the Gani Fawehinmi freedom park was the camping ground for the protests. The protests were coordinated by the SAVE NIGERIA GROUP and other activists. The protesters would start marching from yaba and would be joined by other protesters along the way. then they would all converge at the freedom park. The freedom park was likened to the Tahrir square of Egypt where protesters camped till they had their revolution. 

 

During the protests, the streets were empty.Its either you were on the road protesting or you were in your house watching the protests. People were afraid to come out because of the riots which were getting worse by the day. The fear of tear gas, random shootings et all kept a lot of people indoors.

By day 4 of the protests, the freedom park gathering was starting to look more like a concert because various musicians were performing and since the youths constituted the highest number of people around, it wasn't difficult to engage them. while they were enjoying themselves, the convener of the SNG advised them not to forget the main reason for their gathering. Many celebrities were present and so they decided to thrill the crowd so they don]t get tired. We can conclude that this worked because more people were trouping to the freedom park.


 

 

 There was a meeting earlier that week between the Federal government and executives of the NIGERIAN LABOUR CONGRESS (NLC) but it was more like an ego battle because none of the two parties was willing to come down from their high horse.it was a grid lock. They had another meeting on saturday and the price of fuel was reduced to 97 naira per litre. Of course, some people were not happy with the resolution but the protesters had agreed to stop and so Occupy Nigeria died down.










These are some of the pictures of the protests.  


 

 

     

Yes...they also occupied the north.  
 
 

The crowd was MASSIVE....

 

Some people really took it personal ....
 
  



....while others were calm about the whole thing







yeah....the police and army were also present :)        

 

  ...and some people decided to occupy the streets 

 



Hmmmmm.... I had a pretty good laugh looking at these pictures, I hope you did too. The last set of pictures  reminds me about the average Nigerian's sense of humour. Let's not forget the subsidy songs like "wa gba petrol" and cartoons that were produced. Our ability to smile even in the midst of so much suffering cannot be overestimated.
Look out for OCCUPY UNILAG in my next post.


GRACIAS.

TRUE CHRISTMAS

It is not about the number of chickens you kill, neither is it about the number of beers you take. It has nothing to do with the number of parties you “rock”, same way the number of heads you turn with your pretty hair and beautiful dress remains irrelevant. Even though Christmas seems “impossible” (to some people) without these things, we have to remember the reason for the season. 

The baby we celebrate this day was already a king before he was born (talk about swag!), he came down on earth to bring peace to all men (not only to the rich, but also to the poor). Of course, he had a choice to stay back and watch over us from heaven but he decided to come to the earth like every normal baby just to show you that it is possible to live a just life even in this present age.

As you go about eating, drinking and celebrating today do remember that there are those who cannot afford the fun you are having either because they are poor or because they have no other choice because they’ve been on admission in the hospital for a while. To them Christmas may have no meaning because it is pretty hard to see the joy in the midst of so much suffering and pain but that’s where you come in. you are happy and able to celebrate this period with joy why not share some happiness with them. You don’t have to do the extraordinary because it’s the little things that count. It may be in your place of work or even on your street. You may be a doctor in a hospital, going personally to wish some of your patients a merry Christmas, sharing ice cream and even taking pictures with them will go a long way to give them that beautiful smile.

The true definition of Christmas is seen in that smile you are able to bring to the face of someone who hasn’t had the course to smile in a long while. We are all our brothers (and sisters) keeper, let’s show love to one another just because.

In the spirit of the season, yours truly is wishing you all a MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!.... Put a smile on someone’s face today like this ;) :). Let me know how you spent your Christmas too, please share your experience here.

GRACIAS

2012 IN RETROSPECT

 






DEAR DIARY:
"2012 is ending already???..... oh well!"

Its the end of another year and all I can say is thank you. Its been a year of mixed feelings for me but some good things happened along the way..yeah, like this Blog. I didn't know that by the end of 2012 I would have a blog where I would share stories and people would read them and even comment, I never knew. A lot has happened this year to me as a person and to us as a nation. All of us in one way or the other have seen the good, the bad and the ugly this year. We {well, most of us} made a lot of plans and resolutions at the beginning of the year, I wonder how that turned out.

Well to mark the end of the year, yours truly is going to be dishing out all the cool stories and major events that made 2012. Its going to be a PHOTO BLOG...yeah you heard right, you are going to be seeing a lot of pictures with stories to compliment them. I haven't done something like this before though so let keep our fingers crossed and see how it turns out.

As you read the posts I'll like to remind you that the year wasn't entirely beautiful, there were some really sad tales that did us in but still we thank God for grace. That you did not accomplish all you hoped to, does not mean you failed, it only reminds you of the fact that you are human and liable to make mistakes. Look on the bright side, for every "NO" you got this year, you've come out a wiser and stronger person waiting to face 2013.

Lets go down memory lane and have fun together. Please feel free to drop comments and criticisms, I'll really appreciate them. Also do tell a friend, to tell a friend to read the posts. DEAL??..... DEAL!!


 I would like to know how your year has been, what rocked and sucked for you in 2012? do describe 2012 for me in your own words.... beautiful? horrible??...let's hear it.



GRACIAS.

FROM THE WOMB.

……And we are back from the break. You are still tuned in to 94.3 Stehllar Fm Lagos and it’s still the show “RISING STARS”. In the studio with me is fast rising act and the voice behind the hit song “It’s my time”. —————>Raydon-G *applause*. We are going to be asking him a lot of questions this morning because we want to feel his pulse, we want to know what makes him tick. So feel free to call in and ask any question, the phone numbers are 01-2712943 and 01-2713943. Here we go!

OAP: Good morning Raydon-G. How are you today?

Raydon-G: I’m good. I’m really happy to be here this morning.

OAP: yay!!!… That’s cool.

Raydon-G: yeah… Yeah. *smiles*

OAP: hmmm…..so let’s start from your identity. Your name sounds weird, how did you come about it?

Raydon-G: yeah…people tell me that all the time.

OAP: oh yeah?

Raydon-G: yeah….everywhere I go, they ask me the same question.

OAP: so let’s hear the story.

Raydon-G: well I got the name in high school from a couple of classmates. Then I always liked to sing like the late ray charles and so I was called Ray. Initially it was “don ray”, but everyone was “don-something” those days so I decided to reverse it and that’s how I Got the name.

OAP: ha ha….”Everyone was don-something”, Alright that’s cool. The “G” part??

Raydon-G: yeah, its from my name Gabriel.

OAP: okay… So what’s your full name?

Raydon-G: my name is Gabriel Coker

OAP: let me guess, you are from Lagos?

Raydon-G: yes I am…. How did you know??

OAP: well most people I know from Lagos bear such english names like that as surnames. You guys have names like williams, baker, johnson and the likes.

Raydon-G: ha ha…. That’s true.

OAP: someone said it has to do with the colonization era.

Raydon-G: yeah, I guess so.

OAP: Alright now….let’s get to your music. When did music start for you when did you discover your talent?

Raydon-G: *clears throat*….. Well music started for me way back when I was a little kid.

OAP: really??

Raydon-G: yes. My mum even told me that I had been singing right FROM THE WOMB, that she felt me singing in her womb even as she carried me…………………………




By this time yours truly had stopped listening. He was still talking but all I could see were his lips moving. There’s so much a man can take but this is the height of it all. I mean…… “Singing from the womb??!? Did you use your placenta as a microphone or guitar??!”… I was asking myself as he kept talking.


(Welcome to stehllar’s SUBCONSCIOUS…let’s discuss)

A lot of artists, actors, dancers these days claim to have had their talent from the womb. Its now becoming synonymous with their success. When they become successful they say they’ve had the talent from the womb but when they are yet to make it, they tell you their life history and how they are struggling to get to the top.

The phrase “……from the womb” has been over-flogged, beaten and dragged. Why would you tell me that you have had a particular talent from the womb? It just doesn’t add up. As a neonate (new born), the only thing you can do is cry, your eyes are not even open yet!. So if you call “crying”, “singing” that partly explains why you are still struggling to make it.

As a child you may have an innate ability or likeness for a particular thing but having this “likeness” does not guarantee that you will succeed if you decide to make it a career. This is where terms like NATURE and NURTURE come in. While NATURE refers to something that you came to this world with, something that is already in you, NURTURE refers to act of growing something so it can mature. Mother nature has blessed us all with an innate ability but it takes nurturing on our part as individuals to make sure that it grows to be successful.
 The fact that you have an inbuilt love for an art means nothing if you do not grow and develop it. You have to challenge your talent, feed it and nourish it so that it does not die of MALNUTRITION.

Someone once said ——->”CREATIVITY IS LIKE A FART, U CANT FORCE IT WHEN IT’S NOT THERE, NEITHER CAN U HIDE IT WHEN U GOT IT”…….hahaha, need I say more???



GRACIAS.

IN LOVING MEMORY

"How did it get in here???"

.....we asked ourselves as we heard it scrambling and making it's way through the books in one corner of the room. It seemed like it had been in the room for some time because the manner in which it ran from bunk to bunk showed that it was no "jjc". We were at a loss, because we didn't know what to do with it. Its not like we were scared or anything of the sort because we had tried chasing it out before but yours truly almost broke an arm. No one was ready to be tied up in P.O.P (plaster of paris) so, we decided to let sleeping dogs lie.

We waited earnestly and prayed fervently that it would one day, leave the room. Day by day we hoped that it would find the door open and scramble away. ...But this did not happen. One day, our prayers were answered. The student body had placed a circular on the notice board stating that the hostels would be fumigated within the next week. Our joy knew no bounds as we waited in excitement.


They came fully clothed in their attire looking like the ghost busters one morning, and they were ready to carry out their business. They sprayed different chemicals in the room and even placed certain tablets on the floor. All we needed now was time so we could see the effect.

I was rushing to class one morning and was about to pull out my shoe and Voila!.....there it was all cuddled up in the shoe lying cold in death. It must have eaten one of the tablets placed by the fumigating team. It looks like it crawled and crawled with pain after it had eaten the "forbidden fruit", looking for its final resting place. Then it saw it, that beautiful shoe (more like a casket) where It would lay and say its final prayers. It curled itself into a comfortable position and drifted into eternal rest.

THE END ;'(


To its fellow creatures, I say weep not!.......for it is only a matter of time before you all join your fellow compatriot. Enjoy the life that you have now because it may be taken from you in the twinkling of an eye.


R.I.P --------> Rattus Rattus
.......Your "athletic skills" will be missed and your memory will remain indelible in THEIR hearts. ADIOS :'(



GRACIAS

GRANDMA IS AGING!!!!

This is for those of you that haven’t gotten the memo…. my ”GRANDMA IS AGING”.

I know it’s normal for people to grow old but there is this joy I feel inside me every time my grandma adds another year. I love her so much that it bothers the people around me. Why wouldn’t I love her?!.... she has taught me how to survive and how to be independent at such a young age.

My grandma is rich today not because she is the smartest amongst her peers or anything of the sort but God has really blessed her. She owns one of the biggest plantations amongst her friends. Business partners come from different nations and continents just to trade with her.  She has a lot of farmlands where she grows rice, cocoa e.t.c and exports them to other countries in other to make profit. She hasn’t always been this rich. In the past she had very little resources and could barely feed well but even with all the problems she faced, she could still smile and stand tall.

My Grandma has had her heart broken a lot of times by people who claimed to love her. They would promise her the world but the moment they are given the opportunity they milk her dry. She has been taken for a ride a lot of times that her grandchildren {me and my cousins} are ready to stand up for her.

One unique detail about my grandma is that she is such a religious fanatic that when the religious/political crises were rampant, she actually thought she would be destroyed… but “to the shame of the devil” (like she always says) she’s still growing strong.  She has been lucky because all her life she hasn’t experienced any natural disaster like earthquakes et all.

My grandma is trying very hard to take her place in the "new school" era (sounds funny but it's true). She now has a facebook and twitter account where she shares her pains, joys and future plans. Sad thing is that a lot of pessimists comment on her updates. There are a few optimists though, people who believe she will make it through all her woes and pains.

We are planning a big birthday party for her in 2015 where we would expose all those that have swindled and cheated her in any form. A lot of people are going to attend it and it will be the talk of the town for generations to come. Despite the pain and suffering my grandma might be going through presently, I know she will come out strong like the fighter that she is. I am happy because with all her experiences (both good and bad) I have learnt a lot.

There’s only one thing in this world I’ll trade you for grandma and that is NOTHING.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY GRANDMA…….I love you!

P.S:    I forgot to mention a tiny detail about my grandma. My grandma’s name is NIGERIA.

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE ANNIVERSARY NIGERIA……

You   are   not   BUILT-TO-FALL,

You   are        BEAU-TI-FUL.

GRACIAS.

DEAR NOLLYWOOD

HELLO ladies and gents…..i’ve really missed you Guys. It’s been a while. .Yours truly has been quite busy of late but I managed to stumble on a trend on twitter…..#ThingsNollywoodTaughtME. It basically talks about various things we’ve been made to believe as a result of the Nollywood movies that we watch. For your information, Nollywood refers to the Nigeran movie industry It’s just for Fun though……ENJOY!! .#ThingsNollywoodTaughtME…..

That the soundtrack of a movie can tell you the whole story.

That you can carry a hair-do for 20 yrs.

That you can actually get hit by a parked vehicle.

That the wife of a poor skinny man is always fat.

That all mother-in-laws’ are wicked and evil.

That a poor farmer can afford brazilian hair.

That when a couple can’t have a male child it’s the woman’s fault.

That the native doctors are always poorer than those they make rich.

That witches must always laugh during their meetings.

That once someone is poisoned the person must scream, cough and then die.

That all kidnappers stay in uncompleted buildings.

That you can cry foe 1 hr without tears coming out of your eyes.

That all long-bearded men are always evil.

That you can hear a Nokia ringtone from a Blackberry phone.

 That you can shoot someone on the leg and then blood will come out of the mouth.

That once a woman vomits, she‘s pregnant.

That an actor does not die…. If he dies, his ghost must appear in part 2.

 That all poor people drink Garri and the rich people drink juice.

That mad people always like bread.

That a ghost must look left and right before crossing the road.

That poisoned food always tests better.

That all the village elders wear the same cloth everyday.

That you can cry with only one eye.

That you can watch someone travel from Lagos to Ibadan.

That you can actually SKYPE using a calabash filled with water. *LAUGHS OUT LOUD*……


 I do hope you enjoyed it. Now its time for you to make me laugh, What has NollyWood taught YOU???? Stop looking back, I’m talking to you…yes you!!!.

GRACIAS.

THE CONVERSATION

Adamsa was really tired of all she had been going through. She had experienced a lot of problems in her life that she felt she must be the worst person living on planet earth. Really what other explanation can there be??? She had written her WAEC exams 6 years ago yet no admission into the university. The truth is that JAMB has been “jamming” her. As if that is not enough, she has to battle it with her father everyday each time he compares her to other people. He calls her names like “idiot, stupid, empty head e.t.c” most nights she cries herself to sleep. Her pillow is always soaked with tears, as she asks herself “where did I go wrong??”. The boyfriend that she thought loved her, only wanted to sleep with her. To think that she thought she was in love…*sigh*. She woke up in the midnight one day feeling very hungry. She then decided to watch t.v while munching on the biscuit and tea that she managed to find in the kitchen. She stumbled on a “preaching session” on T.V and decided to watch. The pastor kept emphasizing the fact that the only way for us to get rid of our challenges is to talk to God about them. “hmmmm…that’s a new one, haven’t tried that before” Adamsa said to herself. Then she decided to give it a try. “Really, what is there to lose??”

 ADAMSA: OK….not sure how this works, but I’ll try my best. DEAR GOD, I HAVE A PROBLEM!!!

GOD: Go on…..I’m listening.

ADAMSA; oh my….you can hear me??

GOD: of course I can, I’ve been waiting for you to call on me.

ADAMSA: Lord it seems so impossible to succeed in this life….i’ve tried everything *sigh*

GOD: My child ”all things are possible”

ADAMSA: but I’ve tried my best….i’m tired already.

GOD: don’t be, just “come unto me and I will give you rest”

ADAMSA; why is it that nobody really loves me? They all pretend to, but really they don’t.

GOD; it doesn’t really matter. Just know that “I love you”

ADAMSA; thanks Lord. But where have you been all my life. Is it that you were around and watched all these things happen to me??

GOD; I was, I am and will always be with you. “I will never leave you nor forsake you”

ADAMSA; it looks like I’m not smart enough…haba!...i’ve been trying to enter school for the past 6 yrs yet no luck. Some of my mates have already graduated. It’s not like they have 2 heads….what is wrong?

GOD; you must have heard of the phrase “ask, and it shall be given unto” but do you really do it? Ask me in faith and “I will Give you Wisdom”

ADAMSA; is it even worth it? all these stress I’m going through…I feel like I can’t go on.

GOD; don’t relent, “it will be worth it in the end”…..never forget that “my grace is sufficient for you”

ADAMSA; why is it that you have so much confidence in me? I don’t even believe in myself, I feel I can’t do it.

GOD; Hahaha…. I am you creator, I made you and I know you. Trust me, “you can do all things”.

ADAMSA; but I’m afraid ….i’m scared Lord.

GOD; my child “I have not given you a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind.” You are stronger than you know.

ADAMSA; how will I manage? ,,,I have nothing. Who will provide for me??

GOD; “I WILL SUPPLY ALL YOUR NEEDS”

ADAMSA; WOW!!!.....with all I’ve done to you?? I’ve slandered your name and caused harm to the people around me. I’ve cursed people et all……still you will do all this for me?

GOD; my child “I FORGIVE YOU”



 GRACIAS.