₦airaland Forum

anthonyuncle:
when it gets to your turn,
do as you please

OK Sir.

Logic and reason must prevail over simplistic sentiments!

How a man chooses to bury his beloved mother is his inalienable right, naturally derived from his intimate biological relationship with her. No one has any right to blindly criticise him for expressing himself in any way and measure that is legally and morally permitted, and such that pleases him, and perhaps, his precious mother who is no more.

I have buried my father, and I know the things that my mum wouldn't want me to do on her burial day. My mother has consistently maintained the view that, whatever a man cannot do for her while she's alive, that person shouldn't bother doing it on her demise. God listened to her and blessed me with a wife who has become like a daughter to her.

And as her first son, apart from other statutory responsibilities, one of the very first major thing that I ever did for her was to renovate my family house few years ago - my mother used to sleep in a room with a leaking roof. In fact, apart from the leaking roof, she was also struggling with flooding: each time it rained, she would spend hours upon hours scooping water out of the entire house. It was that bad. So according to her desire, I solved that problem, albeit strenuously in terms of resources, time and energy.

So to me, my mum's view is my guiding principle when it comes to burial. And as a philosopher, I know that death is a gradual process. Therefore, a man ought to start preparing for his burial and that of his people the moment he gains a certain level of maturity.

And this is where sound reason and logic comes in. Since death is inevitable, why should we wait for a single day, the ultimate end of the race, to show our love, when we know that the dead can't witness anything again. The dead is dead. In the words of Jesus Christ, "Let the dead, bury the dead."

My mother wouldn't want me to throw money into the air on her burial day. What my mother would rather want is that I should utilise all the available resources to live a meaningful life, and reach out to as many people as I can.

The poverty in Nigeria is too much. Sincerely, the lifestyle of Nigerians when it comes to burial bothers me a lot, and I think that poverty has a way of turning money into man's enemy. Why do we live like slaves and get buried like kings and queens?

I hereby assert that prolonged and extreme lack can create two possible outcomes:

1. A tendency to be extremely frugal - what I call the "imprisonment syndrome", might arise. Do you imprison (keep in the dark/solitarily confine) what you like?

Or,

2. Reckless, highly emotional, and thoughtless dissipation of scarce resources. No man destroys what is not his enemy.

In summary, the owner of a given resource, is empowered by natural and man-made law to do whatever with it as he so pleases, and he is very free to bury his mother however he wants.

However, humans have survived/still surviving so many natural and artificial disasters not because they allowed poverty to transform money into their enemy. We are thriving, because as higher animals, we believe that empirical reasoning and sound logic, instead of sentiments, recklessness and wanton rowdiness, must guide and guard a very large percentage of our actions and inactions. Last last, Oba cannot overshadow logic and reason.

Solomon Okocha

He who must beat the war drum,
Must try and avoid too much rum,
Guide his hands well, and keep mum;
For the sounds of war won't let him hum!

He who must sing a war song,
Must know that it's not ding dong,
But a series of very high-pitched, long,
Scary sounds, made only for the strong.

He who must yell the battle cry,
Must be fully prepared to say bye
To all the luxuries and peace supply,
And embrace agony, the surest war ally.

He who has heard the war alarm,
Must try and stay far away from harm,
As sounds of war will make you squirm
Like a farmer caught up in a raging storm!

Solomon Okocha

Burna Boy: A Lesson in Dynamism

By Solomon Okocha

Life comes in boundless dimensions, uncountable shades and mutiple colours, and humans must as a matter of fact, and urgency too, begin to acknowledge, respect and explore the vastness and borderlessness of existence.

The creative sector, is perhaps, the only part of life that attempts a shot at its comprehensiveness, and the Nigerian singer, songwriter, rapper, and dancer, Damini Ebunoluwa Ogulu, known professionally as Burna Boy, is one individual, that I consider as an ambassador of this truth.

Burna Boy, possesses and portrays a certain type of vigour that is strongly opposed to sedentariness, mediocrity, myopia, sectionalism, and tribalism. To him, the world is his village, and it clearly shows why he was able to rise from the streets of Port Harcourt to the present height of International fame.

Some of the songs that are contained in the fifteen track album that earned him a Grammy in the category of Best Global Music Album, are sharp deviations from the normal Nigerian-Afro hip hop songs. His hits are a fusion of the Naija spirit, (at the foundation) and the African culture (at its core), laced with a blossoming global unity amongst young people.

For instance, the third track on the Twice as Tall project "Monsters You Made" in which he featured Chris Martin (the lead singer, primary songwriter, and co-founder of the rock band Coldplay), is a masterpiece that resurrects global black consciousness; revisits the barbaric marginalisation and looting going on in Nigeria; xrays the flawed European educational system; condemns slavery and white supremacy; preaches liberation, and demonstrates youth power.

Dynamism is the quality that involves vigorous activity and progress. Burna Boy's songs are full of energy, new and exciting ideas. And those are the major things that are lacking but needed in our world today. A million thanks to Oluwa Burna for waking us up from our miserable hibernation.

Variety is the spice of life and beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. We must dump our primitive biases and jaundiced prejudices, and begin to accept the fullness of life. In the sacred words of Diogenes, “I am not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of the world.”

N:B. My sincere gratitude goes out to Governor Nyesom Wike, who on behalf of the Rivers State Government, summoned the rare political will to recognise this great star of our time. Indeed, the government conferred on Burna Boy, the Distinguished Service Star of Rivers State (DSSRS) Medal, the second highest award in the state. This will go a long way in motivating upcoming stars to also begin to aim for the zenith of their distinctive careers.

Rumuokoro Junction is one area in Port Harcourt that dwells permanently in my memory. It was through this point that me and my siblings navigated to University Demonstration Secondary School (UDSS), everyday, for about six years of our teenage life. Even throughout my sojourn in the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT), I had to endure the nightmarish feelings that this section of the East-West road often evoked.

It is the first port of call for travellers from Warri, Benin City, Lagos, Abuja, Owerri, Onitsha etc., and the Port Harcourt International Airport. This strategic location links communities that host the Federal Government College, Nigerian Army 2 Amphibious Brigade (Bori Camp), and part of the Air force Base, amongst other notable institutions.

Initially, my experience of this once chaotic, dirty, dangerous and under-managed part of the Garden City, was a passing one. However, when change took away the car that usually took me to secondary school every morning, I was faced with another type of reality that was in complete contrast to the view from an air-conditoned 505 Peugeot utility vehicle.

The experience was a horrible one. The traffic was so hectic that, it almost defied planning and time-management. If you like, get to this spot by 7am, you would still experience some serious level of discomfort before you finally get to your destination.

Aside the demonic gridlock that greeted drivers, commuters and pedestrians every morning, they still had to contend with the deadly, foul smell oozing from the poorly constructed drainage system; the sight of hoodlums positioned at conspicuous corners; and the overall primitive rowdiness of this central linkage point.

Each time 'I walked through that valley of the shadow of infrastructural decay, economic backwardness, social malaise and political insensitivity', I posited within myself that, it would take only a leader that has walked the walk, to talk the talk and do what must be done, in order to remove the gloom that was rapidly pushing this all important spot to doomsday.

In Governor Nyesom Wike, that thought of mine has become a living reality. Today, Rumuokoro Junction has an international-standard flyover (Okoro-Nu-Odo), constructed by the renowned and reputable construction giant - Julius Berger. Apart from the bridge and its accompanying aesthetics, every spot around this area has been properly outlined, including walkways, pavements, properly constructed drains, traffic signs etc., have all been put in place to give the drivers, commuters and pedestrians, a wonderful urban experience.

I cannot rewind the hands of time but I can suppress the distasteful memory that I have of this particular area, with this incredibly beautiful and interesting architectural face-lift that has been bestowed on the people of Rivers State, by a thinking leader who understands the language of the masses.

Everyone, including students of UDSS and UNIPORT, can now freely navigate this axis without the fear of harassment, intimidation, violence, rowdiness, unreasonable traffic jam and putrid smell. Indeed, things have really gone from bad to good in Rivers State.

Solomon Nmam Okocha writes from Port Harcourt, Rivers State