There’s no year I attend the Wreath Laying Ceremony marking the Armed Forces Remembrance Day Celebration that I don’t shed a tear or two. Secret tears. Yes, secret, as men don’t want to be seen giving way to emotions in public. But why not?

Charles Dickens wrote: “Heaven knows we need never be ashamed of our tears, for they are rain upon the blinding dust of the earth, overlying our hard hearts.”

So brothers, when you need to shed a tear or two, do it. When rainfall needs to come from your eyes, let it come, let the rain of blessings fall, as they are “rain upon the blinding dust of the earth, overlying our hard hearts.”

Why do I usually give way to emotions at the wreath laying ceremony, as it also happened last Friday, at the event commemorating the 2021 Armed Forces Remembrance Day Celebration?

I hear the dirge, mournful tunes played by the military band:

Shall we gather at the River?
Where bright angels feet have trod
With its crystal tide forever
Flowing by the throne of God.

Yes we’ll gather at the River
The beautiful, the beautiful river
Gather with the saints at the river
That flows by the throne of God.

Or this other tune:

Abide with me, fast falls the eventide
The darkness deepens, Lord with me abide
When other helpers fail and comfort flee
Help of the helpless, oh Lord abide with me.

Those songs kindle something in your heart. What? Sorrow. Empathy. Esprit. And when you see the widows of dead soldiers, officers and men, under a special pavilion, clad in somber dresses, something breaks in you. Women who once had their men to themselves, gallant souls, smart and resplendent in their uniforms, fighting for their country, shooting from the land, the air, and the sea. Now, those men are gone. Young, spry, with hopes and plans for the future. Decent men, killed by indecent people, the just for the unjust.

And the young ladies, some in the mid-morning of their lives, or in the early afternoons, now left forlorn and lonesome. Disconsolate. No cuddles, no warm embrace even in chilly weathers. In the words of John Keats the poet, they are “alone and palely loitering, the sedge is withered from the lake, and no birds sing.” You can’t but feel for them.

And the clincher. An electronic board was mounted at the venue. Scrolling the pictures of those gallant officers and men, cut down in their prime, paying the supreme price for the unity and wholesomeness of their country. A country in which some indecent souls don’t even appreciate the sacrifice. Smartly turned out in their uniforms, some in armored tanks, others in fighter jets, some others in trenches and battlements, all now gone to the hangar in the sky, to the officers mess beyond the blues. Your eyes become misty. They were just like us. Sons to somebody. Husbands to tender wives. Fathers to toddlers, young boys and girls. They had hopes, dreams. Service to fatherland. Decorations for bravery. Retirement. Old age. And so on. But like George Orwell wrote in A Hanging: “He and we were a party of men walking together, seeing, hearing, feeling, understanding the same world, and in two minutes, with a sudden snap, one of us would be gone-one mind less, one world less.”

The colorful parade was led by Major Abdulmalik Sulaiman of the Nigerian Army. It was a worthy tribute to Comrades-at-arms, who had passed on. And wreaths were laid in their memory. By President Muhammadu Buhari. Vice President ‘Yemi Osinbajo. Senate President. Speaker, House of Representatives. Ministers. Service Chiefs and Inspector General of Police. Representatives of Diplomatic Corps, Nigerian Legion, and widows of late officers/soldiers.

The widows were represented by the wife of Major S.K Umar, who met his death in December 2015, while serving at the 143 Battalion, in Adamawa State. The decent killed by indecent insurgents, the just for the unjust.

Mrs Umar is young. Too young to be a widow. But does death give time and date? Cruel, malevolent death. Dressed in a blue, sober and somber dress, Mrs Umar taught me a lesson. No matter your state, even if shattered and crestfallen, you can still lend a helping hand. As she went to lay her wreath, next to her was Chairman of Nigerian Legion, Brigadier-General Adakole Jones Akpa. The latter is apparently a bit infirm, and needed some steadying hands. He found it on the shoulder of Mrs Umar.

The representative of the widows steadied the Chairman of the Nigerian Legion to lay his wreath, and back to his seat. Didn’t she have enough grief, enough problems of her own? Wasn’t her heart aching to breaking point? But she still offered a helping hand. Please try a little kindness, shine your light for everyone to see, so matter what you may be passing through. Bravo, Mrs Umar.

Now, something for those who twist my every word, turn it upside down, to generate hatred. Something for them to wail about. The release of the pigeons.

At every Armed Forces Remembrance Day, after the laying of the wreaths, the sitting President releases some pigeons, to symbolize peace in the land. Emblems of National harmony. It was not different last Friday.

The pigeons had been kept in a cage. For how long, I do not know. And when birds and some other roaming animals have been circumscribed for a while, they get accustomed to their new status as lawful captives. Therefore, when you offer them freedom, they first baulk, thinking it’s too good to be true. It’s a natural phenomenon.

President Buhari opened the cage that held the pigeons, about a score or so. One hesitated, then flew, followed by another. The others temporized a bit. And then, two, three minutes later, they all took to the sky. Nothing extraordinary in the development, you would think.

But not to the idle and indolent, most of who populate the social media. It was time to major in something minor, cavil, find fault unnecessarily. The pigeons didn’t fly, they refused to fly, it’s ominous, they wailed like wailing wailers. And you began to wonder: are people this idle? Don’t they have productive things to do with their times? Are their minds so addled, and all they want to do is find faults against their President, ascribing spiritual connotations to a non-issue? For their information: Muhammadu Buhari has no time for such frivolities. He just continues to serve the country with his heart and mind, trying to make a difference in security, economy, and anti-corruption. And he will get there, by the grace of God. But if they don’t change, the wailers will be losers, standing small.

May the souls of our heroes rest in peace. May their widows be comforted. Their sons, daughters and dependents cared for. We were together, walking, seeing, hearing, and understanding the same world. And in two minutes, with a sudden snap, they were gone. “One mind less, one world less.”

*Adesina is Special Adviser to President Buhari on Media and Publicity

"It would be better for those that were oppose to cattle ranching to provide lands than to die in the herdsmen’s attacks.What would the land be used for if those who own it are dead at the end of the day...."

http://saharareporters.com/2020/04/23/deacon-femi-adesina-shameless-sanballat-bayo-oluwasanmi

After telling beleaguered families and communities to surrender their lands for killers to dominate them, Femi Adeshina is now coming to say -may the souls of the soldiers & people unjustly killed RIP? Nope! You got blood on your hands man.

The Alaafin of Oyo-Oba Adeyemi have also written an open letter to your demigod oga detailing again the atrocities of the same killers you've been defending in Yorubaland.Let's hear you call him "wailing wailer" as usual.

Imagine! So of all the many problems and gaffes of ill governance bedevilling this nation from the APC regime, it is explaining the ominous badluck behind the refusal of pigeons to fly @ independence ceremony that is your problem? People like Femi Adeshina are the biggest problem of this cursed government.

Just dey yarn dust!

You will only be remembered for your insensitive comments

Hmmmm
It is well

Again?

Yawn ...

Femi Adesina is making noise more than a towncrier these days

When will sense fall on this one with his subsistence politics?

This man should know when to keep quiet...

He has been talking a lot of jargons lately...

Na this mata still dey ur mind

Shut your mouth Femi

Femi Adesina needs to remember that even the devil is brilliant. We are no longer swayed by his grammar. He has lost his humanity to power. Do you need a powerbank to charge all the phones in your house and even power your fans? Talk to me

Not much of a sense

BTW,
Our UK used laptops are still very much available with discount and warranty
Contact in signature

TRASH, this mad man again.

This man talks too much. If you like laugh naa wetin concern us.

You ain't brilliant Mr. Man........

Hypocrisy on display. If you feel emotionally distressed and wrecked why can’t this translate into practical help for spouses and children of late military personnel. And what about retired soldiers whose entitlements remained unpaid? Truly those idiots in the corridors of power know exactly what they should do but are simply busy layering their pockets with Nigeria’s money. May the fatal visitation of COVID-19 be your portions this 2021.

Okay

NL mods keep forcing this man's useless posts up our throats. Enough of Adeshina and his litanies of nonsense.

Nah eh! No qualms
Another long written trash

I wont read it

Femi Adesina to his Yoruba brethren...

Give up your Land to the Fulani to avoid being killed....

Enudapan:
Nah eh! No qualms
Another long written trash

Your posts are irritating...

Who can summarize pls

E never do?

This man no get any better thing to do with him time abi?

presidency:



Now, something for those who twist my every word, turn it upside down, to generate hatred. Something for them to wail about. The release of the pigeons.

At every Armed Forces Remembrance Day, after the laying of the wreaths, the sitting President releases some pigeons, to symbolize peace in the land. Emblems of National harmony. It was not different last

The pigeons had been kept in a cage. For how long, I do not know. And when birds and some other roaming animals have been circumscribed for a while, they get accustomed to their new status as lawful captives. Therefore, when you offer them freedom, they first baulk, thinking it’s too good to be true. It’s a natural phenomenon.

President Buhari opened the cage that held the pigeons, about a score or so. One hesitated, then flew, followed by another. The others temporized a bit. And then, two, three minutes later, they all took to the sky. Nothing extraordinary in the development, you would think.

But not to the idle and indolent, most of who populate the social media. It was time to major in something minor, cavil, find fault unnecessarily. The pigeons didn’t fly, they refused to fly, it’s ominous, they wailed like wailing wailers. And you began to wonder: are people this idle? Don’t they have productive things to do with their times? Are their minds so addled, and all they want to do is find faults against their President, ascribing spiritual connotations to a non-issue? For their information: Muhammadu Buhari has no time for such frivolities. He just continues to serve the country with his heart and mind, trying to make a difference in security, economy, and anti-corruption. And he will get there, by the grace of God. But if they don’t change, the wailers will be losers, standing small.

May the souls of our heroes rest in peace. May their widows be comforted. Their sons, daughters and dependents cared for. We were together, walking, seeing, hearing, and understanding the same world. And in two minutes, with a sudden snap, they were gone. “One mind less, one world less.”

*Adesina is Special Adviser to President Buhari on Media and Publicity

Unfortunately for MR femi, lack of jobs for teeming youths in the poverty capital of the world will create idleness . His paymaster is oblivious to any suffering in the land same way “the idles” are acutely aware of all his failures.
Because it’s his turn to chop national cake , doesn’t mean he should talk with his mouth full .

This moniker should be able to tell the paymaster that Nigerians are hungry from sampling on Nairaland, you are here telling us pigeon story. What if the pig no heel on, se Nigerians will not eat it ni.


No mind me, my brain never settle from yesterday's hunger till this morning you dey talk pigeon wey some Nigerians don catch chop where dem fly go
Se na our problem be that ni?

Femi Adesina, not again my man.

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Who is still taking this one serious again, gone are the day’s when he was a respected editor during his time at The Sun newspaper.

History won’t forget him for his dumb/senseless statements under Buhari

This guy trying to defend his boss at all cost...i hope DSS have arrested the doves that refuse to fly...my instinct is telling me they have killed those innocent birds...