₦airaland Forum

Gajagojo:
Do not forget Achebe wrote that book at the age of 28. He was still learning his craft .

More the genius.

Rest of your comments - thanks for the revert, but agree to disagree.

Gajagojo:
The truth is literature is not commercial writing otherwise James Hadley Chase and Jackie Collins would win Nobel prizes

Great point. I love this point.

Things Fall Apart was nothing spectacular literally.

Oh no no no - now this here is nothing but literary blasphemy. Things Fall Apart is a classic. Beyond being as beautifully written as Elechi Amadi's "The Concubine" - it dwells on a bigger subject - the invasion of Africa by the whiteman.

Please do not say things which are simply abominations in the world of literature. That book is a classic.

Soyinka wrote plays. He is a playwright like Shakespeare as well as a poet. He is not primarily a novelist. His plays have been performed at the Natiional Theatre in London. Literature is not just about novels

WS is a great writer and beyond that a famous activist who ranks with the likes of Fela Kuti, Bob Marley, and may even approach the level of respectability of a Martin Luther King or a Mandela. I simply love the man. He is a titan of a man, and exudes natural greatness.

However I am sincere when I say I struggle to find which specific work of his is a true classic. Don't get me wrong - his works are intellectual. But his choice of words is so much on the complex side that you find it hard to find flow and beauty therein. The sort of flow that a George Orwell accomplished with an "Animal Farm." And no, I don't think he wrote anything as deep and profound as Things Fall Apart - although I must hasten to add that the Nobel is given for a body of work and not a single work.

Word of advice: To celebrate WS, you dont need to denigrate Achebe (or vice versa) or call Things fall Apart a "secondary school" level book. The book is a classic - a work of art - and also a significant one on a significant subject. Truth is both are great writers.

So.if you want to talk Nobel Prize in literature for the last 20 years do not look for the author of Harry Potter,Robert Ludlum ,Jackie Collins etc
Look for INTELLECTUAL works

Gbam. Well said again.

Ben Okri,Christopher Okigbo and many other Nigerians have published much greater works than Achebe who wrote for children

It is true that there are many Nigerian writers who have put out great works which compare well to those of Achebe and WS. I used to be a lover of Ben Okri in particular but found that his style of prose which borders on philosophical and fantastical poetry easily wearies the reader.

LegendHero:
Why I love God is that he always make Yoruba triumph, we have bested the Ibos in all strata of achievement if we go head to head.

This is why you love God?
Interesting.

What a limited tribalistic God he must be then.
Ah! Just like the God of Israel - who was rooting for Israel above all nations. As "his" chosen people!
I see! I get it now. That's the way this chap rolls right? Tribe by special tribe.

Well done.

thesicilian:
Osimhen and Haaland will likely replace the Messi and Ronaldo rivalry within the next few years

Story, Mbappe is the next King of World Football. In fact already.

festacman:
The fact that Peter Obi was honest about the leaked audio will count in his favour politically in future. He should have gone the way of the old order to deny flatly like Ganduje even in the face of obvious evidence. No, he chose to own up and take responsibility at the likely cost of loss of political goodwill. That's a move away from what we are used to. That's a positive.

The truth is, there is nothing, I repeat, nothing whatsoever special or wrong about that audio. Nothing.

wirinet:
It's callous to force a woman to carry a pregnancy and birth a baby she dies not want, as a punishment for sexual immorality, just to make the religious fundamentalists happy. So who are they punishing, the immoral woman, the baby or both.
I would have supported anti abortion if they can provide external gestation for an unwanted baby, whereby they free the woman from carrying and birthing an unwanted pregnancy. Or they nurture and care for the woman through pregnancy and then start taking care of the baby immediately it is delivered, so the woman can be free of burden of caring for a baby she does not want.

Not to speak of instances such as incest and r.ape.

superCleanworks:
The total money spent on this back and forth hullabaloo must never be disclosed.

- total cost of printing
- legal fees
- cost of distribution of new notes
- cost of collection of old notes
- total collateral damage (damaged businesses & lost lives)
- cost of pushing back old notes to society
- cost of overtime paid to bankers
- cost of failed transactions & POS inflations.
- total time wasted (time is money)

Its the most pitifully and ill thought out policy ever.

jumper524:
It has kept me exceptional to my peers in the eyes of adults.

Sorry, I just could not help but pause and smile at this. Chest beating much? A tiger does not declare its tigritude.
No disrespect to the rest of your post - much of which I agreed with. Much - not all.

omoluka:
An average black person has a very low iq

Nah, they dont - they are just blinded by indoctrination as many around the world are.
If you think black people have low IQ, go and try some Nigerian 419ners. You will see how their brain cells will light up when they are at it.

Sleekfingers:
Religion that was forced down your throats by your slave masters abi?

They condemned your religions , but gave you theirs through slavery and their language .......

In fact, they condemned ours as pagan and ritualistic and replaced them with a religion which teaches that the murder of one man is the salvation of all men - in short - ritual human sacrifice.

GreyLaw:
Meanwhile Muslims who worship a different God have not been asked to keep shut in Israel.

How do Muslims worship a different God? Is the Quoran not a book of Abraham an of Isaac and of Jacob and of Moses and all the very same prophets of the same God?

Dtruthspeaker:
Yes He is.

And He is The God of Israel and Africa and this world, so what is the problem?

Don't miss the point. African Christians often have a silly attachment to Israel ( and its interests ) - a country that completely rejects Jesus and attaches no importance to him whatsoever.

benalvino3:
Also, Chauvin's knee was never on Floyds neck for 9 minutes. the prosecution even admits that.

Ok, so how many minutes do you agree he kept the knee there?

I am not talking about the time in the handwritten part... I am talking about the lethal level of fentanyl found in Floyds system.

Could the knee press exacerbate the issue?

@ benalvino3

Indulge me please a few more random questions.

1. Is there systemic racism in the USA against coloured people - with particular reference to African Americans?

2. Is there any significantly excessive police brutality towards African Americans in the USA?

3. Is it true or false that the history of African Americans in the USA - from slavery right through the major events of the 20th century and up till date provide sufficient reasons to conclude that African Americans have been historically economically deprived in the USA in such a way that they cannot reasonably be at par with the white population?

benalvino3:
The problem with you is onesidedness. That document I presented shows conclusion from both sides. I clearly stated that with a link to the document. See where you did not screenshot.

“AB (Andrew Baker) said that if Mr. Floyd had been found dead in his home (or anywhere else) and there were no other contributing factors he would conclude that it was an overdose death,” he said people have been pronounced dead on OD with less than what was in Floyd's system. Couple that with multiple disease Floyd had, including covid.

grand read the handwritten part of the document I presented.

Chauvin did not wake up one morning and decide he will kill a black man in front of multiple cameras.

I read the reports and I seriously fail to see how you could construe them the way you did, particularly the handwritten bit.
I doubt you understand the length of time represented by 9 minutes, to be honest.
If you did, you would not say some of the things you say.

YorubaRonuuu:
I think you can do the correction since you think I'm not correct with that statement... In as much you can realize she's FORMER PRESIDENT meaning it's past and not the present president.. Dindinrin omo

Perhaps you dont understand the status of a person who is not just the first female president in Africa but also a Nobel Peace Prize winner., having presided over one of the worst conflict ravaged spots on this blighted continent. Maybe you also think all former Heads of State, are, by that very fact, of no import.

I'd better leave you alone, you are probably 16 years old or thereabouts and your moniker says all there is to be said about you.

benalvino3:
I have answered question one before you even asked it. Do you not read? Lol
These are my words "To me, I will say there was negligence on his own part. for staying too long."

To you second question. You cannot claim his death was as a result of racism. You have to prove Chauvin is a racist first. When Tony Timpa died, why did no one say it was racism? Black cops were involved. So, we know you cannot prove a negative. You claimed he is a racist so prove it to us.

Like I said, I think the highest he could have gotten is manslaughter.

OK, thank you so far.

@ Wirinet: I have interrogated the suspect and so far, I am not sure he is saying what you suggest he is saying. To be clear, I don't agree with his suggestions, but they are not on all fours with what you have depicted. Let me place the caveat here that I have not read his past posts in this matter so I may not be as well informed as you are.

YorubaRonuuu:
That's actually her cup of tea... Her congratulatory message doesn't matter. Moreover she's a former president, what benefit does she brought into Liberia during her tenure, bunch of hypocrite

Anyone who writes that up there (in red bold) should hide away in a kitchen cupboard and remain quiet for all time, rather than be seen attempting to come to the table of proper discussants.

benalvino3:
He was following his department's policy. To me, I will say there was negligence on his own part. for staying too long.



https://www.mncourts.gov/mncourtsgov/media/High-Profile-Cases/27-CR-20-12646/ExhibitMtD08282020.pdf

Whichever findings you pick... It is fine. Me i am going by the effect Fentanyl has and how others are affected and are dying from it.

I have stated in the past that Chauvin had his fault... But GF was shouting in could not breathe long before Chauvin got there and GF asked the cops to place him on the floor.

Again, Tony Timpa died in exact same manner Floyd died. He overdosed on cocaine.
These guys are making it look like Chauvin is a racist who was looking for a black man to kill. That's, not the case.

Thank you for your answer. Hoping you dont mind a follow up question or two -

1. Don't you think any reasonable person would remove that knee especially after -
- The subject was already restrained (so there was no point or purpose keeping the knee on his neck - and 9 minutes is a long time - that is a deliberate action rather than merely being negligent. In negligence, you fail to do something - in this case, he was actively doing something while being warned against it)
- People standing by were repeatedly warning him that the subject might die
- The subject kept saying he could not breathe.

2. Given his actions, how exactly are you so sure that Chauvin was definitely not racist? I mean, do you have some special access into his mind which sees beyond his actions?

3. Do you think Chauvin should have been found not guilty?

correctguy101:
See this man sha

There's never a source for such.

And those two ancestors made such comments based on personal feelings or opinions.

Wetin this daddy dey type sef, . I tire for me

His personal feelings led to this kind of precise figure - 98.974%?

benalvino3:
your god George Floyd died of a drug overdose. Cry me a river.

Sorry I have not followed your posts in the past so I don't want to make any assumptions. Just as small question - Do you believe Derek Chauvin was right to kneel on that man's neck for almost 9 minutes?

Zonefree:
The last virgin girl here died in 1969 during the civil war.

Zonefree:
Aside the virginity, she got moderate and succulent standing boobs, something 98.974% Nigerian girls can't boast of

I am highly interested in the source of your figures and statistics, good sir.

Minister of Aviation?
Waguan?

plaetton:
My dear sir.
Just in this discussion alone you have already offered 3 different excuses for our perennial failures in nation building.
First , when it suits us , we blaming colonialism, then neo-colonialism. From there we blame history and geography.
Yes, history, geography and colonialism played very important roles in defining our nationhood, they are NOT legitimate excuses in this modern era.
In this modern era, right before our eyes, we have seen many equally poor and previously exploited nations shake off their past and define new blazing paths for their nations.
It is no magic, it is not even as complicated as we think. It only requires deep sense of patriotism, clear vision, sincerity and consistency.

I can't recall offering either colonialism or neo colonialism as excuses - even though it is legitimate to point them out as factors to consider.

Anyone who dismisses history and geography is simply ignorant or unschooled.

Yes, there are nations that have done better, but each nation has to be assessed on its own circumstances. You are probably one of those who will compare micro homogeneous nations such as the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Singapore (or even other small places such as Botswana or Ghana) to a complex giant like Nigeria. That is a pity. Complex nations will need to wade through their complexities and that takes time. There is no magic about it.

Between the fall of the Roman Empire and the Renaissance, Europe went through almost a thousand years of stagnation. They had to resolve many things and fought bloody war after bloody war, battled plague after plague and tore themselves to shreds for centuries before getting things right. There is no magic anywhere - we are going to have to do our time.

Wake up, read up, school up and stop thinking lazy. There are reasons for everything.

plaetton:
As you can see from the his post, it was a long mishmash of ramblings that had no coherent and logical flow. I was loathe to respond to that post on a point by point basis.
I have gotten extremely fed up with my fellow Africans blaming the west for all our tragic failures.
Even if agree that the west are thieving and cunning people, at least we should credit them with consistency, consistency for the self-interest of the nations and generations of the children.
For we African cry babies, what are we consistent with in terms of the self-interest of our nation's and future generations? The answer is Zero.

Agreed, we have a long way to go, but that is the nature of the ebb and flow of history and civilization. When places like Egypt and Persia ruled the known world, places like Brittannia and Germania were in the stone age.

In time, we will come of age.

To day that geography is the issue that determines the level of civilization is rather poor, a 'D ' for you.

You probably say this either from ignorance or a level of intellectual laziness, no offense.
Any well schooled person understands the strong co-relation. It is probably lost on you that all the developed countries of the world fall along certain latitudes and are mostly in the temperate regions of the world. This has been well established by advanced research in the worlds leading universities.

If the average African expends as much mental energy and passion against bad governance as they do against homosexuality, they could actually make a positive difference in their national lives.

The average African spends almost no time on LGBTQ issues.

Even where I live, during election time, other races asking questions about education, health care, job creation policies of political candidates, but in many forums that I belong to, my fellow Africans would almost be solely concerned with whether the candidate supports LGBT friendly policies or not. It's like we seem perpetually unable to see the world beyond our primordial prejudices .

Did you hear a single word about LGBTQ issues in the campaigns and debates for the just concluded Nigerian Presidential and NASS elections?

This man should just stay the course. He has achieved something great already. He should focus hard and start his work for the next election right away. He has time on his side, God willing, and can very possibly become a future Nigerian president regardless of what the courts decide this time around. He has started something unstoppable.

ceaser:
I hope they won't try to hoodwink Tinubu into this nonsense.

Anyways I'm sure he won't even want to compromise himself being a professed Muslim and his wife a Christian clergy.

The western countries, thought they may appear desirable on the surface, are already ghosts of their former glories by the adoption of some of these crazy ideas which even birthed other terrible trends like gender dysphoria in children as young as 5 years.

The ones that have managed to stay off this trend like Russia and some middle Eastern countries are still able to keep their sanity.



Waoh! I didn't hear of this but I would love to have links to the full details.

But the hard fact is that many Nigerian politicians, wealthy men and people in the entertainment industry have at one time or the other needed to do things like this in order to be admitted into the circle.

Atiku was famed to engage in it. Nnamdi Kanu in one of his broadcasts (which I listened to) mentioned that Peter Obi is Atiku's receptacle.

FFK has at one time in recent past clap-backed at Dino Melaye as a gaybriel. And I won't be surprised if he (FFK) also has or engage in such fantasies because "only a thief sure can tell the footprints of another thief on the rocks".



Yet another. Such shame. May the heavens not bless us with hard-to-manage children.



Its sad really, the way Africans takes some issues unquestionably.

It makes us to see ourselves as inferior to a supposedly aryan or Caucasian race. Meanwhile Africa is the bedrock of civilization and it was only decades of pillaging by the whites that destroyed the rich African history and culture.

You should know that this "freedom to do things between adults" that you preach vehemently equally has strong opposition from many populations amongst the whites but they have sadly been forced by the few misquided that run their governments to align with such strange dictates. The small population that still manages to brave the storm and speak out, act out and point out against these abnormalities are the senior citizens who find it difficult to justify how these strange laws and way of life reflect the dreams of their founding fathers.

The west is the greatest hypocrite if you must know. It is they that perpetually labour to keep Africa underdeveloped through various means including sponsored coups, regime changes or outright assassinations of perceived great/promising African leaders. They act sanctimonious but they try to lobby your leaders, or force them at times, to keep doing evil or acting dictatorial and getting corrupt in order to further their own (west's) interest. Then they turn back to accuse you of failing to develop or of being held down because of corruption.

Recently,they come here to accuse African leaders of getting too close with the Chinese. But they have forgotten that the foray of the Chinese into the African continents has been less than two decades, yet their presence is trailed by lots of infrastructural developments in the road-and-belt initiative. But for the west that have frolicked with Africans for close to a century, it has been wars, famine, currency deregulation and all sorts of underdevelopment that they've offered us.

When China comes to Africa, it is to do mutually beneficial business. But when the west comes to Africa, it is to tamper with your domestic policies to their benefits and to your disadvantage.

It is even funny that this US diplomat that has been travelling across the African continent to discourage African leaders from forming alliances with China has been travelling through African airports constructed by the Chinese, driving on "African roads built by China", using "African trains built by the chinese", yet condemning African leaders for aligning with China.
.
The west was able to transit through her period of industrial revolution using fossil fuels and built herself to achieve this new dispensation of digital revolution. Now that Africa is on the trajectory of getting through her own industrial revolution (which can only be guaranteed with the use of fossil fuel), the west suddenly realized that there is something called global warming. Throughout their years of industrialization, they contributed 80 percent of greenhouse gasses that is giving us the current climate problems in the world, Africans contributing nothing throughout all those periods. Now that Africa is to need fossil fuel to industrialize and contributing less than 5 percent of greenhouse gasses in the process, the west is trying to mandate us to transit to non-industrial sustainable renewables.

Hypoxrisy is you building your own house with bricks but trying to encourage others to build the few they need to build with straws quoting depletion of earth sands as a reason they need to do that.

To know how deep the west is wicked even to themselves, you can't go to an Scottish bar and say that you want an "English breakfast". It will be seen as an insult. The US blew the NORD stream pipeline that supplies cheap gas to industrialised Europe, starving them of cheap energy source and almost plunging Europeans into deadly winter. Yet they come to Africa to preach to us about managing relations between African countries. Nigeria supplies Ghana and other neighbouring countries with electricity and gas, sometimes even to the disadvantage of Nigerian citizens, but the US, France and Britain have ganged up against Russia, using powerless Ukraine as a pawn in this game.

I can go on and on about the hypocrisy if the west, even to themselves. So please don't look down on yourself. You don't need to kowtow to the west in setting your own standard. As an African, I have had my own fair exposure with a brief sourjon in the west but I managed to keep my sanity all through it. As Africans, we have our own values and cultures that are sufficient to set our own standards and there is nothing wrong with preaching our own standards to the westerners too rather than allowing them to overrun our own standards with theirs.

Bravo. Quite a lot of sensible points you have touched on here.

plaetton:
Say everything you want to say about the west doing this or doing that to Africa. But one important point that eludes you and people like you is that if Africans loved themselves as much as other races loved themselves, the west, no matter how cunning, would not control you to work against your
self-interest and those of your unborn generations.

The west did just about three same to India , China and just about every emerging and third world nation.
India and China, for good examples, love their future generations so much that they shook off all the shackles of colonialism, and are today equal rivals and indispensable economic powers to the West.

Our problem is Africa is that we are genetically wicked, wicked to even our future generations of children.
We are always looking for the slightest excuse to hate ourselves.

See you , for example, amount of mental gymnastics you attempted, just to correlate your intolerance for homosexuals with your so-called western imperialism.

Is it homsexuals or western imperialism that causes persistent fuel scarcity in Nigeria or is it the avarice of your elites?
But for folks like you, it is much easier to project primordial prejudices and victim syndrome than it is confront the Satan of corruption, self hate and cowardice that perpetually bedevil us.

Africans are not only mentally messed up, but world class cowards.

For the depth and variety of points the gentleman raised, your response is disappointingly shallow. Also your comparison with India and China is rather off - you are not comparing apples with apples. One of the biggest factors in civilization is the effect of climate and environment - the geography of a place plays a huge role in its civilization - and aside from this, a China for example is probably the oldest continuous civilization in the world.

It is true that we have our own demons and foibles but your response was way too shallow for what that gentleman put out.

AbdulMagaji:
No problem as long as Obi will get the chance to photocopy all the election materials and copy the BVAS files

I truly support Obi's legal contest of the results, but I worry about the attitude of many of you who endorse anything so long as you imagine it would favour Obi. This is how you all supported the disastrous Naira confiscation policy simply because you imagined it would favour Obi. Please start supporting policies or decisions because they are good for the country and opposing them because they are bad for the country instead of making up your mind based on whether you imagine it favours Obi or not.

tuoyoojo:
Oh mehn this bubu's parting gift nor pure at all o

I tell you. For all the misery he inflicted on Nigerians he still had to do one last nasty prank. This is a man who lusted after the presidency so much that one would have thought he really wanted to help the country. As it turns out he was just on a desperate ego trip. He felt entitled to it, thats all. In every respect he has been a capital failure and just sheer torture to this country.

tuoyoojo:
Mehn!!

I didn't even think that far

It's obvious oga bubu wants to continue this redesign policy till the gubernatorial elections o to get back at all those governors

Let's see how it goes

Its not funny at all but person when don see 99 nor dey fear 100

Gbam! You have said it all. I have even closed my mind that things may reman like this till May 39th/ Early June.