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Politics / Re: Greenfield Students: Killing Of 3 Of The Abducted Students Heartbreaking - Atiku by NextPresido: 5:03am On Apr 24, 2021
Nigeria is officially a failed state. Thanks to the chief nepotist Buhari and his APC gang of failures

43 Likes

Politics / Re: Why Pantami Must Resign Or Be Sacked- Punch Editorial by NextPresido: 1:32pm On Apr 20, 2021
Not sacking Pantami would be clear evidence that the government is only paying lip service to eliminating Boko Haram.

I’m sure he feeds his terrorist friends information from security meetings because there’s no way a country that spends hundreds of billions on defense would be struggling to defeat a bunch of illiterate pigs

15 Likes 1 Share

European Football (EPL, UEFA, La Liga) / Re: FIFA 'Disapproves' Of European Super League Plans by NextPresido: 4:57am On Apr 19, 2021
I blame Buhari

71 Likes 3 Shares

Music/Radio / Re: Burna Boy Wins Grammy With 'Twice As Tall' Album by NextPresido: 9:41pm On Mar 14, 2021
Waiting for Adesina, Garba Shehu and Lai Mohammed to claim this as an accomplishment of the APC-led government

Agbayas

Congratulations to the African Giant!

73 Likes 2 Shares

Politics / Re: Tinubu Cannot See Presidency Gate In 2023 - Wike by NextPresido: 6:04am On Feb 05, 2021
Tinubu will be president of a cow republic if he is allowed to have his way. Agbaya

5 Likes 1 Share

Politics / Re: Dino Melaye Flies Like A Bird As He Mocks APC Over Pigeons' Refusal To Fly by NextPresido: 8:33pm On Jan 16, 2021
This man no well. Na COVID-20 dey worry am

5 Likes 2 Shares

Foreign Affairs / Re: 33 Years Old Democrat, Ossoff Has Won The Georgia Senate Runoff - Decision Desk by NextPresido: 11:57am On Jan 06, 2021
Where are those who were prophesying that trump will win? We no hear from them again grin

7 Likes 1 Share

Properties / Re: How Much Is Cement In Your Area And Why Is The Price Of Cement Still High? by NextPresido: 7:01pm On Jan 01, 2021
3,800 in Enugu.

The price is increased because cement transporters are on strike

5 Likes 1 Share

Politics / Re: Nigeria Keeps Mum About Financial Times’ ‘failed State’ Verdict by NextPresido: 1:10pm On Dec 23, 2020
The worst administration in the history of this country

If you want to argue with me, save your energy and go argue with bandits and Boko Haram

9 Likes 1 Share

Politics / Re: APC Apologises To "Kankara Boys", Says Incident Won’t Repeat Itself by NextPresido: 11:50am On Dec 19, 2020
The most incompetent government in Nigerian history. Hundreds of children went missing and the president chose to go tend to his cows instead. Officials and supporters of this government will reap what they have sown in 1000x abundance

4 Likes 1 Share

Politics / Re: Hamisu Chidari Emerges New Speaker Kano House Of Assembly by NextPresido: 1:08pm On Dec 15, 2020
From Somalia local government?? shocked

1 Like

Politics / Re: Lekki Shootings: CNN Shuns Summons By Lagos Panel by NextPresido: 5:59pm On Dec 12, 2020
They will appear when Buhari appears before the National Assembly. What a banana republic

14 Likes

Politics / Boko Haram And Buhari Trending On United States Twitter by NextPresido: 2:08pm On Nov 29, 2020
People are talking about the Zamfara massacre

Foreign Affairs / Re: Donald Trump Fire Director Of Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Agency, Chris Krebs by NextPresido: 5:41am On Nov 18, 2020
The "genius" who hides his grades.
The "innocent man" who refused to testify.
The “Christian man” who has been married three times and cheated on all three wives.
The "philanthropist" who defrauds charities.
The “man of the Bible” who doesn't go to church, declined to name one Bible verse, and who said he never asks God for forgiveness.
The "tough man" who hides in his bunker because protesters are outside the white house.
The "playboy" who pays for sex.
The “strong man“ who wears makeup and hairspray, but never a mask.
The “patriot” who dodged the draft several times and attack dead veterans and their widows.
The "brave man" who fires employees via social media instead of face to face.
The "businessman" who bankrupted casinos, several failed businesses, lost over $1B in 10 years, and who has been sued over a thousand times.
The “self-made man” who tax dodged a $413M “gift” from daddy’s real estate empire.
The “President” who takes no responsibility for anything and blames everyone else.
The "billionaire" who hides his tax returns.
The “defender of our borders” who married an alleged undocumented immigrant who sponsored her parents into the country by chain migration. He was also caught having undocumented immigrants work at his golf resort hotels.
The “Republican” who donated to Democrats at all government levels: John Kerry, Anthony Weiner, Harry Reid, Andrew Cuomo, Terry McAuliffe, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, and Eliot Spitzer.

20 Likes 8 Shares

Celebrities / Re: Lekki Toll Gate: DJ Switch Speaks About Shootings by NextPresido: 4:22pm On Oct 23, 2020
Buhari is a lazy coward

22 Likes 1 Share

Politics / Re: PMB Deserves Praise For Not Discarding GEJ's Kano-Niger Republic Rail - Lauretta by NextPresido: 5:14am On Sep 29, 2020
Is this one for transporting cows or what?

1 Like

Health / Re: Wuhan Pool Party In China Sparks Outrage Amidst Covid-19 - Video by NextPresido: 2:50pm On Aug 19, 2020
These people no well
Career / Re: Inner Galaxy Group Treating Nigerians Like Slaves by NextPresido: 1:39pm On Aug 12, 2020
The National Assembly should investigate this matter seriously as we don’t have a president in this country

38 Likes 6 Shares

Business / Re: World Trade Center Abuja On Fire (Photos, Video) by NextPresido: 2:48pm On Jul 13, 2020
Chai
Politics / Re: Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala: I Saved Billions Of Dollars As Finance Minister by NextPresido: 2:47pm On Jul 13, 2020
Yet bubu the liar in thief said he did not meet any money. He should explain himself

4 Likes

Travel / Re: Woman Upset Over Failed Relationship, Smashes Plane Window Mid-flight In China by NextPresido: 8:30pm On Jun 15, 2020
This kain of nonsense does not happen here in France where I go to school

4 Likes

Politics / Re: Reno Omokri To Buhari: You Are Always In Shock, We Don't Need A Shock Absorber by NextPresido: 3:25pm On Jun 12, 2020
The way bubu dey shock he can supply 24hrs electricity to the whole Nigeria

36 Likes 1 Share

Travel / Most Popular African Countries To People From Outside Africa by NextPresido: 5:19am On Jun 10, 2020
People from 124 countries outside Africa were asked to list names of African countries from memory. These are the results

2 Likes 1 Share

Politics / Re: Abdullahi Sule Sacks Tijani Aliyu Over Alleged Fraud by NextPresido: 4:43am On Jun 09, 2020
And PMB was raising Gandollar's hands for reelection campaign after watching that video


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGCvXTISNns

Education / Only Black Med Student In Canadian Uni, Chika Oriuwa Graduates As Valedictorian by NextPresido: 10:55pm On May 30, 2020
As the child of immigrant Nigerian parents, Chika Oriuwa was taught early she had to do more, be much better than the competition and leave nothing to chance — because the odds were not in the favour of a little Black girl with kinky hair, African features, an ethnic name and parents who talked funny.

She had a natural affinity for science. The ability to process and understand medical concepts comes easy. And when that landed her at University of Toronto’s medical school in 2016, hello, she was the only Black medical student in the class of 259.

In Canada’s largest city, with the country’s largest Black population, in one of the world’s most diverse cities.

“It was very uncomfortable, acutely exhausting,” Oriuwa says. “I was going to be crippled or empowered by it.”

On Tuesday, Oriuwa graduates as valedictorian, the first Black woman so honoured at the school and the first woman in 14 years.

She won’t be able to walk up and collect her honours and then attend the bash her mom, Catherine, had been planning for 300 guests.

But her valedictory address is already videotaped and ready to run in the planned virtual graduation Tuesday morning.

And thanks to her stellar efforts as the face of U of T’s Black Student Application Program (BSAP), and a recruitment magnet, the graduating classes of 2022 and 2023 have 14 and 15 Blacks, respectively.

“I never want anyone to feel like I felt,” says Oriuwa, 26, days before graduation. “It’s not easy representing your race. Being the only Black person, you are acutely aware of race and identity at all times. There are these tropes people assign to you if you step out of line. It was chronic exhaustion.”

There is this thought: that one can doff or don one’s identity at will. Some appear to pull it off. Others move in and out, choosing the injustice to internalize.

Oriuwa is made to confront the challenge head on.

“I have this innate characteristic. If I see injustice, it’s hard for me to be complicit in being observant. I feel an urge to speak on it … in a way that’s productive.”

And she’s seen a lot — starting with her parents and the discrimination they faced in their professional lives and in society, even as they tried to shield their three children from its sting.

“That moulded my advocacy. I heard the stories of overt racism in Montreal, the passive words against mom and her accent, the passing comment about my hair, nose, ethnic name, the dark-skinned woman, and colourism in high school with so few Blacks pursuing sciences — just a disproportionate trajectory, so I started to question things. Pair that with my curiosity and desire to speak out and it was the perfect storm.”

That first valedictory address at Thomas Aquinas Secondary School nine years ago challenged her high school grads to go seize the world. Tuesday, she will talk about a world coloured by diversity and inclusiveness — her world, the new emerging world that her peers must see.

Oriuwa said all she ever wanted to be was a doctor — except for when she flirted with being a writer and her dad, Stephen, skillfully manoeuvred that by telling her doctors can write.

As classes ended during undergrad years at McMaster University, she and three Asian classmates went on a New York shopping trip to blow off steam before preparing to write the critical medical school admission exam MCAT. They were in great spirits approaching U.S. border security.

After the cursory questions yielded the information they were all students preparing for med school, the officer leaned forward, looked at Chika incredulously:

“Even you?” he asked.

“Well, yes.”

“Really?” the officer persisted.

“It was like he was trying to catch me in a lie. A Black woman and medicine was not possible. And I’m heightened by the realization of police violence against Black bodies. How hard do I push back? I was in an intimidating position.”

Besides, Chika would never see a Black woman doctor in the flesh until she was in her 20s.

The students drove away in eerie silence. Her classmates soon apologized for what they had just heard. The incident won’t be forgotten.

“It’s imprinted in my memory. Even thinking about it makes me emotional. I wish that border patrol officer could know where I am now, seven years later. How dare you question the aspiration and dream I have had for 17 years? It’s there, the hurt and alienation, right under the surface.

“So, advocacy, for me, is a form of self-preservation. I’m writing my own narrative. My wanting to get into medicine was an improbability. So, it stoked the flames. Of the persons in the car, I was the first to enter med school.”

It’s not that academics came easy for Oriuwa. She likes learning, but not in a nerdy way. Not that there is a problem with that reality.

“I never ever not tried. And because I tried so hard, I can’t say I just rode my natural ability. I have confidence that I am a smart young woman. But I won’t rest on my laurels. I want to be known as someone who is driven — intellectually, professionally. I’m very, very keen.”

She was also very, very disappointed when she arrived at U of T to find they had a Black Medical Students Association, but no Black students.

The university had a summer mentorship program for prospective medical students, in conjunction with community groups, the Black Physicians Association of Ontario and its own Black students.

But they needed a catalyst.

Oriuwa was what the doctors ordered.

“She’s an icon to so many, here and abroad,” said Ike Okafor, who heads the BSAP. “She was intensive, the public face of that program, and was on television, before the provincial task force, and handled numerous correspondences.

“She made us really proud.”

Some study medicine intent on cutting open bodies to perform improbable surgeries. Oriuwa has other designs, such as reconstructing minds, repairing the damage of institutional racism, making her people whole again.

This is the world of Trayvon Martin, Minnesota’s George Floyd and countless others Black bodies sacrificed on the altar of endemic, institutionalized racism; it’s a reality confronted by Black Lives Matter, football player Colin Kaepernick and others.

So Oriuwa settled on psychiatric medicine that “allows me to have close connection with my community and continue the advocacy and outreach within my community.”

While most graduates were concentrating on preparation for their licensing exams, Oriuwa couldn’t shake the latest assault on a Black body in the U.S.

“I’m affected when someone is murdered mercilessly in the U.S.

“That could be my brother; could be me.

“In predominantly white spaces, where you encounter racism, they don’t care if I’m a doctor. That’s why I align myself so strongly. It’s hard to understand unless you are part of a community that experiences violence and can’t carry on your normal day because of pervasive trauma of anti-Black violence.”

Put another way, the “demonstration of the deleterious effect of compounded institutional discrimination and intersectional oppression,” gets you down so you sit and grieve instead of studying for your doctor’s licence exam needed to start your residency.

“There is this misconception that even I had — that when I reach a certain level of professional competence and respect I can shed my skin, in some way. They won’t see me as Black. They will see me as a doctor.

“No, no, no. There is no escaping.”

https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2020/05/28/the-only-black-medical-student-in-a-u-of-t-class-of-259-chika-oriuwa-graduates-as-valedictorian.html

1 Like 1 Share

Politics / Re: President Buhari Directs Kick-Off of PPI; Approves Funding by NextPresido: 7:09pm On May 27, 2020
Is this going to provide the 24hrs electricity they promised Nigerians in 2015?

5 Likes

Crime / Re: White Woman Calls Police On A Black Man Over Dog Leash In New York (Video) by NextPresido: 1:47pm On May 26, 2020
GamalNasser:
Very Dangerous woman..If you check now she will be a Pro Biden Democrat ...That's how these useless liberal snowflake weaponise the gender and race card at everything that threatens their stupidity!!!!

you are forming expert on US matters...all the way from Ajegunle.

Well done sir

3 Likes

Politics / Re: British Government Congratulates Gambari As New COS by NextPresido: 3:14pm On May 13, 2020
See as everybody dey run to congratulate new COS like say we elect new President. Goes to tell you that PMB is not in charge at all

7 Likes

Health / Re: Mike Pence Didn't Wear Face-Mask During Visit To Clinic by NextPresido: 2:25pm On Apr 30, 2020
Trouble dey sleep yanga go wake am

1 Like

Health / Re: COVID-19: Father Refuses To Accommodate Son Who Returned To Ekiti From Lagos by NextPresido: 3:01pm On Apr 29, 2020
the guy wey dey film think say this situation na joke abi?

9 Likes 1 Share

Foreign Affairs / Re: I Won’t Close Churches, Corona Can’t Survive In The Body Of Christ - Pres. Magu by NextPresido: 11:20am On Mar 25, 2020
natural selection
Politics / Re: External Reserves Slides To 27 Months Low by NextPresido: 8:19pm On Feb 17, 2020
And they keep borrowing money. What are they using all of it for?

2 Likes

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