Fellow country men and women,
Over four years ago, I was sworn in as the President of our beloved country. I was charged with various responsibilities, amongst which was the protection of lives and properties of our citizens. It was the highest of all my responsibilities.
I regret to say that I have failed you all in that regard.
In the last few years, we have been confronting a big and vicious band of terrorists who are determined to bring our country to its knees. We have approached the challenges through various means available to us. We have tried dialogue, to no avail. We have tried to secure our borders and upgrade our security systems but our efforts have fallen short. We have also taken the fight to them but we have not vanquished them. I personally accept responsibility for these failures.
In all our efforts, what we have not done is treat them as irredeemable enemies. In everything we have done, we have considered them as one of us who have only gone astray.
That approach ends today.
I’m declaring full war against all the enemies of this country who are working to bring Nigeria down. I’m committing the fortune of this country to their total annihilation. I will not be the last president of Nigeria. Also, I do not want to hand over to my successor a country that is in worse shape than it was when I took over.
Every day that our daughters are held by those monstrous terrorists is another day that demands from us all a deeper commitment to the ideals of crafting a just and sane society for our children. We must sacrifice personal ambition for our nation’s revival. We must shake ourselves off the ambivalence chair, if our nation must stretch to touch the sky. We must discard the lure of cynicism for a drive into the horizon on the hill. We must sacrifice the comfort of today for the nation to reap the rewards of tomorrow.
To that end, I have decided to impose full martial law across the three North Eastern states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa. I’m suspending all the democratic institutions of the states for the next six months. I have ordered our military to move into these states and take control of law and order, and preserve lives and properties. Military administrators will be appointed tomorrow to head the three states for that time period. Northern Nigeria must be restored to order in my own time.
Along the same line, I have decided to commit the rest of my days as president to the fight to bring back peace and tranquility across the North East and beyond. There is no folly as grave as watching the soul of our nation wither away while we engross ourselves in the fight to gain and preserve power. Consequently, I will not seek and will not accept the nomination of my party for the presidency of Nigeria in 2015.
This is not a time to play politics. My job from now until May 29, 2015 is to restore the dignity of Nigeria. I will get the North back into the fold of regions of this nation where every citizen is free to live, work, and prosper. Come 2015, I will conduct a credible election that will give Nigerians an excellent opportunity to elect their next generation of leaders.
Working with the National Assembly and the delegates at the National Conference, I intend to bequeath Nigerians a constitution that makes sense. State governors must assume full responsibility of securing the citizens of their states. To achieve that, they need the necessary tools. I will ensure that the next set of governors resuming on May 29, 2015 will have state police to help them achieve that.
I reject the argument that we are not ready for state police. The existence of state police will not mean the elimination of federal police. The federal police will still supersede the state police and will ensure that potential excesses and abuses are prevented. Those we give responsibilities must have the resources to accomplish the task we ask of them. And with that responsibility and resources they owe us results. And when they fail, we have every right to hold them accountable.
Similarly, I’ll work with the National Assembly and the delegates to the National Conference to ensure that from May 29, 2015, a clear and equitable system that rotates the presidency of this country is enshrined in the constitution of Nigeria. The premium for power at the center is the chief cause of our strife. Until we get to the point when it does not matter who is the president, the rotation of the presidency across the geopolitical zones will reduce tension and give every nook and cranny of this country a sense of belonging.
In issues large and small, I have renewed my commitment to strengthening our foundation and to bringing about a more equitable society for us all. We cannot have peace without addressing lingering injustices of the past and the present. To create a nation that will last for thousands of years to come, we must move our politics. That is my new calling and for the next 300 and so days, I am dedicating my whole energy to remedying such.
I reject the idea that our fate is that of Afghanistan or Somalia. Not this land of our fathers. I reject the conclusion that we are on the path of Pakistan. I proclaim an alternative path. I believe we can march to Malaysia by way of the boulevard to Brazil following the signs of Singapore. The first step to such pursuit is a disengagement from politics. My days of playing politics with the future of this country are over. That’s the debt that I own our girls who have been suffering in the forest of Sambasi for over forty days and forty nights.
We cannot wish away our challenges. We must confront them with seriousness. I recognize that corruption is at the heart of the wastes that have stunted our growth. In this 21st century world, we must get the works of the government of this country out of dark rooms. Transparency and accountability must not just be catch phrases, we must live in them and them in us.
I hereby declare a total war against corruption.
Tomorrow, I will publicly release my assets declaration forms that I submitted to the ICPC. And I will direct all my ministers to do the same. State governors and local government chairmen must all make public their assets. I am directing the secretary to the government to publish the salaries and allowances of all civil servants in the country beginning tomorrow. Nigerians have the right to know how much they pay the people who work for them.
I’m ready to work with all those willing to clean up our country. We must heal the wounded spirit of this nation. We cannot allow ourselves to be crazy because some crazy men are after us. We have serious challenges in this country and we need serious minded platoon to come and join me in tackling them. Come today for today is still timely. Let us go and bring back our girls. And in the process, bring back our country.
I’m your platoon leader. I’m reporting for duty.
God bless you and may God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Saturday, June 7, 2014
Saturday, March 23, 2013
Billionaires offered immortality via brain transplant into robot bodies
A Russian entrepreneur, who heads a hi-tech research project called 'Avatar', has contacted the world's richest to offer them immortality.
Itskov claims that he will personally oversee their immortality process in exchange for an undisclosed fee.
Itskov, a media entrepreneur, claims to have hired 30 scientists to reach this goal and aims to transplant a human brain into a robot body within 10 years.
"You have the ability to finance the extension of your own life up to immortality. Our civilization has come very close to the creation of such technologies: it's not a science fiction fantasy. It is in your power to make sure that this goal will be achieved in your lifetime," the Daily Mail quoted Itskov as writing in a letter delivered to billionaires listed in Forbes magazine.
He has contacted a list of billionaires with a proposal for funding his quest for immortality - which Itskov refers to as 'cybernetic immortality' and the 'artificial body'.
The initiative is opening its San Francisco office this summer, and will be launching a social media project connecting scientists around the world.
"The 2045 team is working towards creating an international research center where leading scientists will be engaged in research and development in the fields of anthropomorphic robotics, living systems modeling and brain and consciousness modeling with the goal of transferring one's individual consciousness to an artificial carrier and achieving cybernetic immortality," Itskov's official site said.
"Such research has the potential to free you, as well as the majority of all people on our planet, from disease, old age and even death.
"For anyone interested, but skeptical, I am ready to prove the viability of the concept of cybernetic immortality by arranging an expert discussion with a team of the world's leading scientist working in this field.
"I will also be willing to coordinate your personal immortality project entirely free of charge for the sake of speeding up the development of these technologies," it said.
Itskov also commented on hi 'immortality' project.
"This project is leading down the road to immortality," Itskov said.
"A person with a perfect Avatar will be able to remain part of society. People don't want to die.
"I understand these are some very big challenges for scientists.
"But I believe in something you call 'The American Dream.' If you put all your energy and time into something, you can make it a reality," he added.
Itskov envisages surgically 'transplanting' human consciousness into a robot body within 10 years.
He hopes to then 'upload' minds without surgery, leaving human bodies as empty husks as their owners 'live on' inside robots.
The project is called Avatar after the James Cameron movie, set far in the future, where human soldiers use mind control to inhabit the bodies of human alien hybrids as they carry out a war against the inhabitants of a distant world. (ANI).
Itskov claims that he will personally oversee their immortality process in exchange for an undisclosed fee.
Itskov, a media entrepreneur, claims to have hired 30 scientists to reach this goal and aims to transplant a human brain into a robot body within 10 years.
"You have the ability to finance the extension of your own life up to immortality. Our civilization has come very close to the creation of such technologies: it's not a science fiction fantasy. It is in your power to make sure that this goal will be achieved in your lifetime," the Daily Mail quoted Itskov as writing in a letter delivered to billionaires listed in Forbes magazine.
He has contacted a list of billionaires with a proposal for funding his quest for immortality - which Itskov refers to as 'cybernetic immortality' and the 'artificial body'.
The initiative is opening its San Francisco office this summer, and will be launching a social media project connecting scientists around the world.
"The 2045 team is working towards creating an international research center where leading scientists will be engaged in research and development in the fields of anthropomorphic robotics, living systems modeling and brain and consciousness modeling with the goal of transferring one's individual consciousness to an artificial carrier and achieving cybernetic immortality," Itskov's official site said.
"Such research has the potential to free you, as well as the majority of all people on our planet, from disease, old age and even death.
"For anyone interested, but skeptical, I am ready to prove the viability of the concept of cybernetic immortality by arranging an expert discussion with a team of the world's leading scientist working in this field.
"I will also be willing to coordinate your personal immortality project entirely free of charge for the sake of speeding up the development of these technologies," it said.
Itskov also commented on hi 'immortality' project.
"This project is leading down the road to immortality," Itskov said.
"A person with a perfect Avatar will be able to remain part of society. People don't want to die.
"I understand these are some very big challenges for scientists.
"But I believe in something you call 'The American Dream.' If you put all your energy and time into something, you can make it a reality," he added.
Itskov envisages surgically 'transplanting' human consciousness into a robot body within 10 years.
He hopes to then 'upload' minds without surgery, leaving human bodies as empty husks as their owners 'live on' inside robots.
The project is called Avatar after the James Cameron movie, set far in the future, where human soldiers use mind control to inhabit the bodies of human alien hybrids as they carry out a war against the inhabitants of a distant world. (ANI).
Thursday, November 22, 2012
IF YOU DARE CALL ME BLACK! by TOPE FASUA
Most of us Nigerians don’t understand the problem that we face. Do we know that we are really, on balance, the most hated and distrusted among a hated and distrusted ‘race’ or people? Perhaps if we knew what exactly our chief problem was we would act differently, think differently, spend differently, behave differently, plan differently.
As a frequent flyer to Dubai for about three years now, I have realized certainly, that gradually, and pointedly, the discrimination against ‘black’ people is increasing. Taxis often shun you like never before. Given an Indian, Bangladeshi and Chinese standing with you in a row, the taxis (mostly driven by Pakistanis), would find a way or another to avoid you and collect any of the others. At other instances, free taxi cabs would pointedly speed past you, while standing forlorn seeking for a reprieve. One cannot help but feel bad about such things when one bears the brunt of a renewed racism. Well, such actions are more poignantly carried out by illiterate and poor peasants too anyway. But it is a pointer to greater grief ahead. And of course, since Martin Luther King Jr, no one is articulating any views for Africans, or ‘blacks’ as they like to call us. Blacks? More on this later…
A Bangladeshi taxi driver was ‘unlucky’ to collect me at a taxi rank the other day. He showed much surprise that I wasn’t heading to Sabkha, the favourite haunt of most Africans, and much dreaded by taxis because of the ever-present traffic snarl around that area. He beamed at me, grinning from ear to ear and in his semi-illiterate parlance, told me, absolutely without guile “Black, I don’t like black!”. He didn’t mean it with malice, as I was already seated in the taxi, but he explained further; “Allah said anybody black will not enter heaven, so me I not like Black”. Now I am not exaggerating and would never lie on this page. But we may as well come to terms with the fact that religious books are often misinterpreted by different people from different backgrounds, and the under-educated often fall victim. The beliefs in the Christian religion that I am very used to, varies almost according to each church, so you better believe it, in Bangladesh, they believe that the darker you are, the less your chances of ever making heaven, and they believe the Almighty God himself has sanctioned this!
What I also know is that in India, there is such a big do about skin colour, with mothers rejecting/disliking their children for being dark (such instances are all over Bollywood), and a thriving trade in bleaching creams. This was once an issue in race-sensitive UK a few years ago, where one of the creams being marketed to Indians there had racial connotations. Perhaps in India, a very class-sensitive society, the darker your skin colour the lower your echelon in society. The Bangladeshi taxi driver actually told me that there were some black people in his country and he was sure they could never make it to heaven no matter how hard they tried. “I love white” he exclaimed in his uninformed delirium. Can anyone blame him? Truth be told, because of the 18th century incursion of the British into India, with many Brits ‘going native’ ie never returning to Britain, a certain section of India – and neighbouring countries – have a burgeoning population of ‘white’ natives, products of inter-racial trysts and unions in those days.
Maybe the world should be thankful that Mitt Romney did not become the president of the United States. One of the main beliefs of Mormonism – his brand of Christianity – is that darkness of skin is a specific curse from God, and that if one prays hard enough, God may well forgive one and lighten your skin colour, and of course reduce the load of sins you carry. Maybe that was why Michael Jackson decided to abandon the rest of us. In the Bible itself, many references were made to the holiness of ‘white’ and the evil of ‘black’. The other day, I saw a church pamphlet given to my children in which the archangel Michael was very white with blonde hair, and was standing over a fallen devil, whose skin was dark brown – like any Nigerian – with two horns on his head.
Brigham Young, successor to the founder of Mormonism, Joseph Smith is quoted to have said:
"You see some classes of the human family that are black are uncouth, uncomely, disagreeable and low in their habits, and seemingly without the blessing of the intelligence that is generally bestowed upon mankind.. Cain slew his brother.. And the Lord put a mark on him, which is a flat nose and a black skin…. "Shall I tell you the law of the God in regard to the African race? If the white who belongs to the chosen seed mixes his blood with the seed of Cain, the penalty, under the law of God is death on the spot. This will always be so."
Does all this matter? Can we generally breeze through life ignoring how we are perceived by others? Or can we seek to recreate who we are and therefore set a new agenda for generations unborn? Are we today making the mistakes, the very mistakes our ancestors made that resulted today in us as a people occupying the very lowest rung of the pecking order of humanity? What were those mistakes? They never thought far enough. They never fully understood the implications of anything. They probably were so naïve they didn’t know what really mattered and why. They never really planned for generations ahead. In recent times, we have had people who steal money for their own children and great grandchildren unborn, but that is not the kind of planning I am talking about. In the first place, such provision for generations unborn is self-centred (it’s all about separating your children and grandchildren from the pack, while the vast majority becomes even poorer by your actions). On the other hand, I am not talking of making provisions of money for generations unborn. I am talking of knowledge, history, philosophy, innovations. These have been totally neglected.
If they were not, I would not meet that black man recently – probably a civil servant from some African country – who came to a high-profile shop to buy shoes worth $4,000 (N700,000) for his straggly, bow legged, son, who was prancing about and behaving badly one could be sure that his parents had destroyed his life! If we knew what to concentrate on, Nigerian big men would not be building vast mansions all over the place and gallivanting around the world displaying how much they can spend and how quickly. Our leaders – yes finally I believe that we have a leadership problem – have absolutely no clue what they should be concentrating on. We have no thinkers in our society who can help set the tone and direction that the country should move towards. I am not one to merely complain. I believe I am trying my level best in my own way. Many have asked me to stop talking and stop writing, and to act! Act where, how? I believe that we need to define the agenda properly before jumping into the fray. I believe we need in Africa, people who can help articulate our history, define what we should be doing in the present, and explain exactly what the consequences of our past and present actions and inactions, will be, in a bid to jar us all awake! And those people MUST NEVER tire in their advocacy, until the awareness reaches a critical mass!
With the way we are going, the future will see more discrimination against ‘black’ people from even more quarters. And those children of ours who are attending private schools and shopping at designer shops today, will get the most grief certainly! If their fathers had shown some concern for lifting up our poor vast majority, things could have panned out better. But they don’t care. Our leaders show disdain to the poor, and so they, and the rest of us, will be disdained by the world. QED. It used to be that a black man could hardly get a cab on the streets of Manhattan, New York. Now we can include Dubai among such countries where we are treated as trash. But more is coming, since we treat each other like trash, we damage our own reputation ourselves through criminal conduct, and of course NO ONE is advocating positively on our behalf as a people. I will try if I have the opportunity, but for now, I see none, except on this page where I express myself. And all I am trying to tell the world is, ‘we didn’t ask to be born where we were born, but we are ready to make the most of our circumstances and contribute positively to humanity’.
So the issue about ‘black’, defined in the English Dictionary as DIRTY, DODGY, EVIL, SINISTER, CROOKED, GUILTY, DAMNED, UNLUCKY, UNFORTUNATE, as against being ‘white’, which means to be HOLY, NICE, GOOD, STRAIGHT-DEALING, INNOCENT, LUCKY, and of course FORTUNATE! Your guess is as good as mine whether every ‘black’ person you know, including yourself, should be described by the above adjectives, and whether every white man qualifies for all those accolades and best wishes. I believe the greatest injustice ever is that which splits the world into BLACK and WHITE, when we all know that the world is indeed a mixture of several shares of grey, cream, and brown. I actually prefer being called colored – now that is colourful – than being described with such negative connotations that even has bearings for one’s future…
I see my work as one of a philosopher. Yes, Karl Marx did say, “Philosophers interpret the world, BUT the point is to change it…” One of our biggest problems in Africa is that we did not even interpret our world ourselves until others came and did it for us. And till now, we are not attempting to. Who was our Plato, our Socrates, our Hobbes, our Marx, our Engels, our Maslow and so on? Perhaps we had a few in the very ancient days, philosopher kings who had a vision of what they expect society to be. But did anyone document their works? And how extensive were those works? Yet, since colonization, we lost the plot. Can we say we have not had a breathing space, away from the daily hustle for bread and butter, to actually articulate our future and tell ourselves the home truths that will save our children from destruction. Or perhaps we are spending way too much time chasing way too much money, and most of us are way too absorbed in ourselves that we cannot see the dangers ahead, for ourselves, for our children unborn.
Since Martin Luther King Jr and a few others like Malcolm X, Marcus Garvey etc, no one has bothered again. It is as if Africans stopped thinking. Maybe we are all chasing the ‘American Dream’ so blindly, and we are daily misinterpreting the concept of Capitalism, in such a wanton manner, that our society has gone to the dogs. Ordinarily, I refrain from criticizing leaders, but it is more than obvious that for a long time, one thing most of our so-called leaders have lacked consistently, is vision. And we are not only speaking about Nigeria. Say, in the issue of black vs white (which is a great fraud), how come someone as cream-coloured as Barack Obama is considered ‘black’? Anyone who sees someone like Obama and says ‘this man is black’, must either have a serious problem with his vision or brain, or must return to kindergarten to learn his basic colours. But the world conspired against us and labeled us with such an awful tag and no one is complaining. Employment forms and other such are filled in Europe and the USA, where one is expected to tick such a box which ‘boxes one in’, literally into some sordid race or the other!
I dream of one day addressing the United Nations on this and other issues, even though I know that body is part of the grand agenda. I don’t know how it will happen but yet I dream of it. Someone has to help our people, someone has to intercede, someone has to cry out so that we will be heard, pitied, or helped. Whatever works.
For the best our leaders understand about the issue on hand, is perhaps a need to build infrastructure, without building or improving the people. I have said elsewhere, that there is a need to build the people else they will destroy the infrastructure – if we are lucky to even get that one right. Nations where leaders are visionary are already giving back dignity to their vast majority. In the UAE, where the first part of this article refered to, the poorest of the poor ride their public buses and use the bus stops. But because of the seasonal heat, all the bus stops are installed with air conditioning. The leaders there have not treated their people with disdain. Even menial labourers from India/Bangladesh/Pakistan/Myanmar, have provisions of hostels that they live – even if many in a room. But in Nigeria, it takes a report to the Public Complaint Commission for the Minister of FCT to go borrowing from the World Bank in order to build pedestrian bridges even while speeding cars kill dozens each month while they try to cross the roads, and of course, the man admitted that some houses were supposed to be built for the poor people but even he does not know when (or whether), they will ever be completed.
‘Black’ people have done badly over time, and we are still doing badly. We destroy our own environment and majority of us do not understand decorum and disciplined living. Our people down in the poor suburbs still lynch human beings with glee and happiness. The other day it was four students in Port Harcourt Nigeria, a few days later, a video surfaced from East Africa, of the lynching of four old people, perhaps for witchcraft! The world is totally integrated today, and will not see such things as mere exceptions. There should be a zero-tolerance to such events, but do our governments care? Of course our leaders are selected from among us, and so we may be wrong to expect them to do the right thing and behave properly, since they cannot be different from the rest of us. Still they should have learnt. They should know, in their lucid intervals, when they get one or two minutes of sanity, that the problem we face is collective, that their children cannot hope to escape the disdain shown by the rest of the world, that they are great, we are great, ONLY if we give dignity to the lowliest among us. We will be forever judged by the way that the most vulnerable among us fares.
Talk about how we think! The other day a thieving minister in Zambia ran back to his village when he was being sought by the police. They later caught him hiding in a tree, naked, because he believed that with some incantations, if he was naked he would be invisible. Those are the same kind of ‘leaders’ who have concentrated on feathering their own nests in Africa, buying shoes worth $4,000 for their stupid 10 year old children, even as Africa regressed into even more poverty and illiteracy. Nigeria is chief among such visionless countries. Today, terrorism has mixed up with mass illiteracy and caught up with us. To make matters far worse, are religious houses who continue to perpetuate the belief in voodoo and magic, and daily increase laziness among their adherents, while fueling greed and a warped sense of entitlement. Pastors acquiring $50million private jets in a country where most cannot even feed twice a day! All Good!
African leaders must return DIGNITY to the people. Yes the leaders may lack dignity themselves, but they travel abroad and see how leaders of other countries treat their own people. Nigeria comes to mind again. Our glistening FCT, with the most exotic houses the world over, is a massive toilet. You cannot drive five minutes without seeing people peeing and pooing on the streets! It’s about a lack of DIGNITY. The Kenyans are slightly ahead, but they too needed the one of Bill Gates’ NGOs to help finance public toilets/bathrooms in many parts of Nairobi. The NGO went ahead STRICTLY BECAUSE IT WAS ABOUT HUMAN DIGNITY. So there you have it. It takes Bill Gates to build us toilets and bathrooms in Africa. And it takes a World Bank loan for Nigeria to finance pedestrian bridges so that cars stop spilling human brains on the tarmacs! What does that say about us as ‘black’ people? When will our leaders realize that they need to slow down on luxury and deal with the basics?
Those who are into tribalism and other useless ventures, should know that theirs is a hopeless quest. Some people have spent lifetimes pursuing phantom segregation, trying to show that their tribe is better than others. The taxi drivers/immigration official/policeman in New York or Dubai will not ask whether you are Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa or Efik. They see you, you look dark, and something activates in their mind. They interpret ‘black’ in their native languages, and all the meanings pop up ‘fraud’, ‘stealing’, ‘evil’, and then they enter the racist mode – even if many of them are good at heart! They will not care how much money you have stashed in the bank, and how many rooms are present in the mansion in which you slept the night before. They don’t even care if you are a big government official in your country, all they know is that some of us behave badly, are loud, lousy, fraudulent, dirty, arrogant, quarrelsome and even downright nasty and they have taken their decisions based on that. Just when we should be properly integrating into the world, what we are seeing for our people, is more discrimination ahead. I am sad indeed!
If Africans were wise, what we should do us to assist each other with the virtues we have. Those who know the value of enterprise should quickly and actively assist those who are laid back, those who know the value of humility should actively assist those who are riding their high horses going to nowhere. Those who understand the value of structured societies should infuse their knowledge far and wide. THIS IS THE TIME, AND WE MUST SHARE ALL WE HAVE. AFRICANS MUST REALISE THAT LIFE IS NOT WORTH LIVING IF IT IS ONLY FOR ONESELF. LIFE IS ONLY WORTH LIVING WHEN LIVED FOR OTHERS. Whatever we desire the most, we must be ready to give it away, in order to get more of such, and to enjoy what we have. We must not hesitate to share the intangibles; knowledge, love, values, systems, for oftentimes, sharing such takes absolutely NOTHING from us, but adds a whole lot back. Just what are we afraid of as a people?
Think about this. A hundred years from now what will be said about Africans? Would we, can we, continue like this? Or would some global cataclysm have come and wiped us out of our ignorant existence? Those are questions for the ages. But for now, do yourself a favour – share your knowledge, and try and see that you are nothing except you cause an African renaissance…h
As a frequent flyer to Dubai for about three years now, I have realized certainly, that gradually, and pointedly, the discrimination against ‘black’ people is increasing. Taxis often shun you like never before. Given an Indian, Bangladeshi and Chinese standing with you in a row, the taxis (mostly driven by Pakistanis), would find a way or another to avoid you and collect any of the others. At other instances, free taxi cabs would pointedly speed past you, while standing forlorn seeking for a reprieve. One cannot help but feel bad about such things when one bears the brunt of a renewed racism. Well, such actions are more poignantly carried out by illiterate and poor peasants too anyway. But it is a pointer to greater grief ahead. And of course, since Martin Luther King Jr, no one is articulating any views for Africans, or ‘blacks’ as they like to call us. Blacks? More on this later…
A Bangladeshi taxi driver was ‘unlucky’ to collect me at a taxi rank the other day. He showed much surprise that I wasn’t heading to Sabkha, the favourite haunt of most Africans, and much dreaded by taxis because of the ever-present traffic snarl around that area. He beamed at me, grinning from ear to ear and in his semi-illiterate parlance, told me, absolutely without guile “Black, I don’t like black!”. He didn’t mean it with malice, as I was already seated in the taxi, but he explained further; “Allah said anybody black will not enter heaven, so me I not like Black”. Now I am not exaggerating and would never lie on this page. But we may as well come to terms with the fact that religious books are often misinterpreted by different people from different backgrounds, and the under-educated often fall victim. The beliefs in the Christian religion that I am very used to, varies almost according to each church, so you better believe it, in Bangladesh, they believe that the darker you are, the less your chances of ever making heaven, and they believe the Almighty God himself has sanctioned this!
What I also know is that in India, there is such a big do about skin colour, with mothers rejecting/disliking their children for being dark (such instances are all over Bollywood), and a thriving trade in bleaching creams. This was once an issue in race-sensitive UK a few years ago, where one of the creams being marketed to Indians there had racial connotations. Perhaps in India, a very class-sensitive society, the darker your skin colour the lower your echelon in society. The Bangladeshi taxi driver actually told me that there were some black people in his country and he was sure they could never make it to heaven no matter how hard they tried. “I love white” he exclaimed in his uninformed delirium. Can anyone blame him? Truth be told, because of the 18th century incursion of the British into India, with many Brits ‘going native’ ie never returning to Britain, a certain section of India – and neighbouring countries – have a burgeoning population of ‘white’ natives, products of inter-racial trysts and unions in those days.
Maybe the world should be thankful that Mitt Romney did not become the president of the United States. One of the main beliefs of Mormonism – his brand of Christianity – is that darkness of skin is a specific curse from God, and that if one prays hard enough, God may well forgive one and lighten your skin colour, and of course reduce the load of sins you carry. Maybe that was why Michael Jackson decided to abandon the rest of us. In the Bible itself, many references were made to the holiness of ‘white’ and the evil of ‘black’. The other day, I saw a church pamphlet given to my children in which the archangel Michael was very white with blonde hair, and was standing over a fallen devil, whose skin was dark brown – like any Nigerian – with two horns on his head.
Brigham Young, successor to the founder of Mormonism, Joseph Smith is quoted to have said:
"You see some classes of the human family that are black are uncouth, uncomely, disagreeable and low in their habits, and seemingly without the blessing of the intelligence that is generally bestowed upon mankind.. Cain slew his brother.. And the Lord put a mark on him, which is a flat nose and a black skin…. "Shall I tell you the law of the God in regard to the African race? If the white who belongs to the chosen seed mixes his blood with the seed of Cain, the penalty, under the law of God is death on the spot. This will always be so."
Does all this matter? Can we generally breeze through life ignoring how we are perceived by others? Or can we seek to recreate who we are and therefore set a new agenda for generations unborn? Are we today making the mistakes, the very mistakes our ancestors made that resulted today in us as a people occupying the very lowest rung of the pecking order of humanity? What were those mistakes? They never thought far enough. They never fully understood the implications of anything. They probably were so naïve they didn’t know what really mattered and why. They never really planned for generations ahead. In recent times, we have had people who steal money for their own children and great grandchildren unborn, but that is not the kind of planning I am talking about. In the first place, such provision for generations unborn is self-centred (it’s all about separating your children and grandchildren from the pack, while the vast majority becomes even poorer by your actions). On the other hand, I am not talking of making provisions of money for generations unborn. I am talking of knowledge, history, philosophy, innovations. These have been totally neglected.
If they were not, I would not meet that black man recently – probably a civil servant from some African country – who came to a high-profile shop to buy shoes worth $4,000 (N700,000) for his straggly, bow legged, son, who was prancing about and behaving badly one could be sure that his parents had destroyed his life! If we knew what to concentrate on, Nigerian big men would not be building vast mansions all over the place and gallivanting around the world displaying how much they can spend and how quickly. Our leaders – yes finally I believe that we have a leadership problem – have absolutely no clue what they should be concentrating on. We have no thinkers in our society who can help set the tone and direction that the country should move towards. I am not one to merely complain. I believe I am trying my level best in my own way. Many have asked me to stop talking and stop writing, and to act! Act where, how? I believe that we need to define the agenda properly before jumping into the fray. I believe we need in Africa, people who can help articulate our history, define what we should be doing in the present, and explain exactly what the consequences of our past and present actions and inactions, will be, in a bid to jar us all awake! And those people MUST NEVER tire in their advocacy, until the awareness reaches a critical mass!
With the way we are going, the future will see more discrimination against ‘black’ people from even more quarters. And those children of ours who are attending private schools and shopping at designer shops today, will get the most grief certainly! If their fathers had shown some concern for lifting up our poor vast majority, things could have panned out better. But they don’t care. Our leaders show disdain to the poor, and so they, and the rest of us, will be disdained by the world. QED. It used to be that a black man could hardly get a cab on the streets of Manhattan, New York. Now we can include Dubai among such countries where we are treated as trash. But more is coming, since we treat each other like trash, we damage our own reputation ourselves through criminal conduct, and of course NO ONE is advocating positively on our behalf as a people. I will try if I have the opportunity, but for now, I see none, except on this page where I express myself. And all I am trying to tell the world is, ‘we didn’t ask to be born where we were born, but we are ready to make the most of our circumstances and contribute positively to humanity’.
So the issue about ‘black’, defined in the English Dictionary as DIRTY, DODGY, EVIL, SINISTER, CROOKED, GUILTY, DAMNED, UNLUCKY, UNFORTUNATE, as against being ‘white’, which means to be HOLY, NICE, GOOD, STRAIGHT-DEALING, INNOCENT, LUCKY, and of course FORTUNATE! Your guess is as good as mine whether every ‘black’ person you know, including yourself, should be described by the above adjectives, and whether every white man qualifies for all those accolades and best wishes. I believe the greatest injustice ever is that which splits the world into BLACK and WHITE, when we all know that the world is indeed a mixture of several shares of grey, cream, and brown. I actually prefer being called colored – now that is colourful – than being described with such negative connotations that even has bearings for one’s future…
I see my work as one of a philosopher. Yes, Karl Marx did say, “Philosophers interpret the world, BUT the point is to change it…” One of our biggest problems in Africa is that we did not even interpret our world ourselves until others came and did it for us. And till now, we are not attempting to. Who was our Plato, our Socrates, our Hobbes, our Marx, our Engels, our Maslow and so on? Perhaps we had a few in the very ancient days, philosopher kings who had a vision of what they expect society to be. But did anyone document their works? And how extensive were those works? Yet, since colonization, we lost the plot. Can we say we have not had a breathing space, away from the daily hustle for bread and butter, to actually articulate our future and tell ourselves the home truths that will save our children from destruction. Or perhaps we are spending way too much time chasing way too much money, and most of us are way too absorbed in ourselves that we cannot see the dangers ahead, for ourselves, for our children unborn.
Since Martin Luther King Jr and a few others like Malcolm X, Marcus Garvey etc, no one has bothered again. It is as if Africans stopped thinking. Maybe we are all chasing the ‘American Dream’ so blindly, and we are daily misinterpreting the concept of Capitalism, in such a wanton manner, that our society has gone to the dogs. Ordinarily, I refrain from criticizing leaders, but it is more than obvious that for a long time, one thing most of our so-called leaders have lacked consistently, is vision. And we are not only speaking about Nigeria. Say, in the issue of black vs white (which is a great fraud), how come someone as cream-coloured as Barack Obama is considered ‘black’? Anyone who sees someone like Obama and says ‘this man is black’, must either have a serious problem with his vision or brain, or must return to kindergarten to learn his basic colours. But the world conspired against us and labeled us with such an awful tag and no one is complaining. Employment forms and other such are filled in Europe and the USA, where one is expected to tick such a box which ‘boxes one in’, literally into some sordid race or the other!
I dream of one day addressing the United Nations on this and other issues, even though I know that body is part of the grand agenda. I don’t know how it will happen but yet I dream of it. Someone has to help our people, someone has to intercede, someone has to cry out so that we will be heard, pitied, or helped. Whatever works.
For the best our leaders understand about the issue on hand, is perhaps a need to build infrastructure, without building or improving the people. I have said elsewhere, that there is a need to build the people else they will destroy the infrastructure – if we are lucky to even get that one right. Nations where leaders are visionary are already giving back dignity to their vast majority. In the UAE, where the first part of this article refered to, the poorest of the poor ride their public buses and use the bus stops. But because of the seasonal heat, all the bus stops are installed with air conditioning. The leaders there have not treated their people with disdain. Even menial labourers from India/Bangladesh/Pakistan/Myanmar, have provisions of hostels that they live – even if many in a room. But in Nigeria, it takes a report to the Public Complaint Commission for the Minister of FCT to go borrowing from the World Bank in order to build pedestrian bridges even while speeding cars kill dozens each month while they try to cross the roads, and of course, the man admitted that some houses were supposed to be built for the poor people but even he does not know when (or whether), they will ever be completed.
‘Black’ people have done badly over time, and we are still doing badly. We destroy our own environment and majority of us do not understand decorum and disciplined living. Our people down in the poor suburbs still lynch human beings with glee and happiness. The other day it was four students in Port Harcourt Nigeria, a few days later, a video surfaced from East Africa, of the lynching of four old people, perhaps for witchcraft! The world is totally integrated today, and will not see such things as mere exceptions. There should be a zero-tolerance to such events, but do our governments care? Of course our leaders are selected from among us, and so we may be wrong to expect them to do the right thing and behave properly, since they cannot be different from the rest of us. Still they should have learnt. They should know, in their lucid intervals, when they get one or two minutes of sanity, that the problem we face is collective, that their children cannot hope to escape the disdain shown by the rest of the world, that they are great, we are great, ONLY if we give dignity to the lowliest among us. We will be forever judged by the way that the most vulnerable among us fares.
Talk about how we think! The other day a thieving minister in Zambia ran back to his village when he was being sought by the police. They later caught him hiding in a tree, naked, because he believed that with some incantations, if he was naked he would be invisible. Those are the same kind of ‘leaders’ who have concentrated on feathering their own nests in Africa, buying shoes worth $4,000 for their stupid 10 year old children, even as Africa regressed into even more poverty and illiteracy. Nigeria is chief among such visionless countries. Today, terrorism has mixed up with mass illiteracy and caught up with us. To make matters far worse, are religious houses who continue to perpetuate the belief in voodoo and magic, and daily increase laziness among their adherents, while fueling greed and a warped sense of entitlement. Pastors acquiring $50million private jets in a country where most cannot even feed twice a day! All Good!
African leaders must return DIGNITY to the people. Yes the leaders may lack dignity themselves, but they travel abroad and see how leaders of other countries treat their own people. Nigeria comes to mind again. Our glistening FCT, with the most exotic houses the world over, is a massive toilet. You cannot drive five minutes without seeing people peeing and pooing on the streets! It’s about a lack of DIGNITY. The Kenyans are slightly ahead, but they too needed the one of Bill Gates’ NGOs to help finance public toilets/bathrooms in many parts of Nairobi. The NGO went ahead STRICTLY BECAUSE IT WAS ABOUT HUMAN DIGNITY. So there you have it. It takes Bill Gates to build us toilets and bathrooms in Africa. And it takes a World Bank loan for Nigeria to finance pedestrian bridges so that cars stop spilling human brains on the tarmacs! What does that say about us as ‘black’ people? When will our leaders realize that they need to slow down on luxury and deal with the basics?
Those who are into tribalism and other useless ventures, should know that theirs is a hopeless quest. Some people have spent lifetimes pursuing phantom segregation, trying to show that their tribe is better than others. The taxi drivers/immigration official/policeman in New York or Dubai will not ask whether you are Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa or Efik. They see you, you look dark, and something activates in their mind. They interpret ‘black’ in their native languages, and all the meanings pop up ‘fraud’, ‘stealing’, ‘evil’, and then they enter the racist mode – even if many of them are good at heart! They will not care how much money you have stashed in the bank, and how many rooms are present in the mansion in which you slept the night before. They don’t even care if you are a big government official in your country, all they know is that some of us behave badly, are loud, lousy, fraudulent, dirty, arrogant, quarrelsome and even downright nasty and they have taken their decisions based on that. Just when we should be properly integrating into the world, what we are seeing for our people, is more discrimination ahead. I am sad indeed!
If Africans were wise, what we should do us to assist each other with the virtues we have. Those who know the value of enterprise should quickly and actively assist those who are laid back, those who know the value of humility should actively assist those who are riding their high horses going to nowhere. Those who understand the value of structured societies should infuse their knowledge far and wide. THIS IS THE TIME, AND WE MUST SHARE ALL WE HAVE. AFRICANS MUST REALISE THAT LIFE IS NOT WORTH LIVING IF IT IS ONLY FOR ONESELF. LIFE IS ONLY WORTH LIVING WHEN LIVED FOR OTHERS. Whatever we desire the most, we must be ready to give it away, in order to get more of such, and to enjoy what we have. We must not hesitate to share the intangibles; knowledge, love, values, systems, for oftentimes, sharing such takes absolutely NOTHING from us, but adds a whole lot back. Just what are we afraid of as a people?
Think about this. A hundred years from now what will be said about Africans? Would we, can we, continue like this? Or would some global cataclysm have come and wiped us out of our ignorant existence? Those are questions for the ages. But for now, do yourself a favour – share your knowledge, and try and see that you are nothing except you cause an African renaissance…h
Thursday, November 15, 2012
THE MOST GULLIBLE PEOPLE IN THE WORLD BY COSMAS ODOEMENA
A Harvard study said the most gullible people in the world are the Filipinos. The study said, “The causes of this gullibility include the inability to question information and an over-reliance on interpersonal sources.” The study also said, “For Fillipinos, a tsunami warning from the government does less than a mother’s directive to avoid the sea because of syokoys (mermen).” According to the Mosquito Press that reported it, “The study involved content analyses of over 500,000 historical documents from 300 societies. The documents were then evaluated according to a quantitative metric called the Gump Index.” The study went on, “What’s curious about the Filipino condition is despite a respectable literacy rate, many of its people still believe that condoms cause cancer – or that Appolo Quiboloy, CEO of kingdom of Jesus Christ, The Name Above Every Name, Inc. is the son of God.”
The Harvard Institute of Socio-political Progression may have gone through a rigorous effort in arriving at the Filipinos, but the same can be said of Nigerians. Recently, a 62-year-old male patient was brought to us by his son who was not satisfied with the treatment he was getting in a ‘home’ in Cotonou in Benin Republic where the children had taken him for treatment because the man was “behaving abnormally.” What amazed us was that we were the ones who pointed to the injuries which we discovered on the man’s body. Apparently, the old man had been traumatised to ‘remove’ whatever was ailing him. And it took our pointing these out for the man’s relatives to realise this. The face, the body and even the genitals were all assaulted, for the dementia we found he has.
All too often, Nigerians fall easily to swindlers, especially money doublers. Usually, the customer brings a small amount of money say N10, which they hide under a scrap of cloth. The trick is for a few customers to win small amounts to convince those with big money to play. Those who win the small sums are smart when they take their winning and walk away. But the greedy will stay and stake a bigger sum. The customer is given the cloth with the money and warned not to open it for a given period of time. When the customer opens it, he finds no money but scraps of paper. And when he returns to complain, they lay the blame on him, he must have opened it before the given time. Even now, Nigerians will go for ‘wonder banks’ that promise unreasonable returns.
Aristotle said, “Youth is easily deceived because it is quick to hope.” In Nigeria, the youths are lured easily by politicians for their own selfish purposes. And when the politicians have no need of them they discard them. Looking for work to do, and finding none, the youths become a menace to the society.
At no place than the church is the gullibility of Nigerians most manifest. Nigerians, believing that whatever the pastors tell them is divinely inspired, accept everything in ‘faith’. People have been flagellated to exorcise their purported demons. Men have allowed their pastors sleep with their wives believing that it would be the solution to the couple’s infertility. Nigerians, seeking for any means to get wealthy, go to witchdoctors who are poor themselves. Idolaters carve images and call them their god.
Nigerians have an unrivalled herd mentality. Suicide bombers have continued to bomb their own fellow Nigerians in the dubious belief that they are carrying out a divine injunction. And because of gullibility, there is no shortage of recruits. Without asking questions, without examining facts, Nigerians gang up to mob and burn fellow Nigerians alive; petty thieves, anybody whose voice cannot be heard allowed, with the Aluu Four the latest victims. It has happened many times where Nigerian men, women, children, or even a whole family follows the leader who has gone to vandalise oil pipelines or gone to scoop oil when it has burst, as if they are all in a trance, and getting roasted in the event.
Tribalism is not left out of the consequences of gullibility. Nigerian children grow up hating other tribes because their parents told them that those other tribes are their enemy. When the children grow up, they pass it on to their children and the cycle goes on. It is this deep-seated prejudice that has made Prof. Chinua Achebe’s new Civil War memoir, “There was a country”, an issue of truculence.
Perhaps, the most gullible among Nigerians is the government, particularly to organisations such as the International Monetary Fund and World Bank and some other so-called international lenders. As of today, Nigeria’s debt profile is $44bn, and recently it signed a new deal to borrow $600m from China’s Export-Import Bank, supposedly to build a railway to service Abuja and its environs, a deal said to be in dispute. If our earnings from oil are judiciously used and leprous hands of corruption don’t touch them, we would not need to borrow money to finance any projects. Our creditors sold Structural Adjustment Programme to us, and we took it because anyone in debt is a slave to the one who lends.
Debt is a tool for manipulation by neoliberalists led by these institutions and other institutions known as the “Washington Consensus”. They sold to a gullible Nigerian government the idea of fuel subsidy withdrawal. They preach privatisation but are on hand to make sure local industries are not protected, and do not survive, so that they will have a leeway for their own exports. They are the ones who sold devaluation of currency and high interest rate to our government.
The line usually starts with “Fellow Nigerians…” and the yarn goes on. Only gullible people are taken in by “Shelter for all by the year 2000”; “Food for all by the year…”; “Health for all…” or that by 2020, Nigeria will rank among the 20 biggest economies in the world.
I am not done yet. Gullibility fosters corruption. That is why fuel subsidy thieves can manufacture any figures to get undue payments under the nose of gullible Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and government officials and still get away with it.
In Nigeria, many still ascribe the cause of stroke to an attack from the ‘enemies’ or from the gods. Such is the way of Nigerians that the very sight of two goats fighting can attract a crowd and keep them standing there and even cause a traffic hold-up, or even an accident. It is in Nigeria where a juju man has more credibility than a professor of science. It is in Nigeria we vote politicians in because they had no shoes growing up.
If we must develop as a nation, government, institutions, individuals should be critical and refrain from swallowing everything hook, line and sinker. As G.K. Chesterton, journalist, novelist, and essayist said, “Do not be so open-minded that your brains fall out”.
- Dr. Odoemena, a medical practitioner, wrote in from Lagos via cuzdetriumph@yahoo.co.uk
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
True Confession: How married man I met on BBM almost killed me with drugged drinks, sex
Since the case of Cynthia went viral, ladies who were before now ashamed to share their experiences in the hands of bad guys have started talking.
Below is the near-death experience a young lady had with a man who was her BBM friend:
I am a girl who has fears, beliefs, reservations and just your regular typical Nigerian girl. This past few weeks has been one hell of a game for me. I have really been unsettled and I thought I share this story with you.
When Cynthia (the lady killed in the hotel room in Festac, Lagos) surfaced on the internet and various news media, I was scared and it brought back a whole lot of memories to me and also served as and eye opener. Many people castigated and criticised Cynthia (may her gentle soul rest in peace), but my point is, it could have been anybody, anybody at all.
We have met people through various social media. Some have ended up well, some have not but with painful memories. To cut the long story short, let me kindly share with you my encounter with social media especially the very popular Blackberry Messenger (BBM).
I am a graduate and currently serving in Kaduna. I could have runced it, but I needed somewhere to clear my head and forget about my ugly encounter. Here is my story.
I happened to have a married man as a contact on my BBM. He had been asking me out for over six months and I refused to date him. As time went on, he invited me clubbing with him when his wife was outside the country, and I went with him all night. We spent most of the night at Swe bar, Lagos.
I also met his clique of friends, married as well with their various mistresses. We had ‘mad’ fun. After all the clubbing and drinking, he lodged me in a hotel somewhere in Obalende. I felt sort of safe with him. We did not have sex, but he made sweet love to me and touched me in places I had never ever imagined.
He kissed me passionately but guess what? He did not have sex with me. We did all sorts but there was no penetration. So, to an extent, I trusted he was a good person to be around with. I did not know that it was all part of the plan.
He gave me N10,000 and put me in a cab to go home the next morning. We kept talking and chatting and sending naked pictures to each other and he told me naughty things of how he wanted to whisper things in my ear, I blushed. We didn’t see for two weeks and that was because his wife just came back from Turkey.
One faithful evening, he pinged me that he was organising a beach party/boat cruise and that he would love for me to be his date and that he wanted to open a BBM chat, as a medium for his friends and my friends to interact. I was excited about it, I just wanted to have fun. I was able to get five of my very hot friends.
The BBM group opened and we got chatting. I also realise that majority of them were married and working in reputable firms. It was fun and we didn’t mind if they were married, we just wanted to have fun, as well as some other girls apart from my friends in the group.
We chatted exclusively, sent pictures to the BBM group to introduce ourselves, and we had opened group conversations pending the beach party. And as excited as we were, we went shopping for nice sexy beach wears.
The D-day finally came, we all assembled at the Lagos Island Boat Club. I was wowed because it was a high class party. We were cruising in a boat loaded with goodies drinks and hot babes, and as well ‘MARRIED MEN’. I did not care, I just said in my mind that I would not roll with married men anymore after this, that for now, all I wanted to do was to catch some fun. After all, I wasn’t paying bills.
We got there, it was a private beach resort. Most of the beach facilities I got to see there were owned by multinational companies. We got out of the boat, and went to where we were partying. It was a duplex made with wood. It was a very nice setting.
I felt comfortable because it even had a fence around it separating it from other beach houses around. So, there was privacy and of course bouncers (heavy looking guys) guarding the place. I said to myself, this must be heaven, I must be dreaming.
Anyways, we felt free with each other because we had been chatting. It was 5:30pm and the party just started. We had drinks flowing from the private bar tender which happens to be owned by one of the men in the group. Reality struck when I realised that I was feeling dizzy and feeling really funny and light headed. Not only me, but other girls around me too noticed there was something strange about it.
I was also feeling HORNY as hell! I had been drugged. They monitored us and when they knew the drug had really gone deep into our system, they moved us up into the main beach house. I could still see faces, but was too weak and horny to react.
Mr B, the man who took me clubbing, carried me in his hands like a sacrifice and put me down on the floor just as other men also did with their girls. We were eight in numbers; 8 girls, 8 guys, and they all stripped us down and had sex with us.
I enjoyed it a bit because I was horny. It was a mixed feeling because I cried, I moaned, but I did not know how many times he came into me. He pounded me hard. I was dizzy, but he grabbed me with force. All I could notice was the wedding ring on his finger. I thought of how wicked and miserable some married can be. How inhuman and heartless they could be.
All of them took turns in switching partners and slept with all of us. I passed out. That was the last thing I could remember. I felt water poured on me. I noticed all the other girls around me too were half naked and some stark naked.
We spent the night at the beach, but the men were no where to be found. I looked round me and all I could see was packs of used condoms. I ran to pick my cloths and possibly raise an alarm. I got dressed, found my phone with an envelope. It contained N16,000 and a note asking us to take N2000 each for transport. Tears of anger and rage filled my eyes and the girls around me as well.
“We were drugged and used like tissue paper. I grabbed my phone and noticed a ping came in. I checked my phone and I noticed the BBM group had been deleted, and a message via BBM from MR B came in. He threatened me that if I say a word to anyone, I would regret it.
I told him he was a bastard, and he said try it. A picture came in, several pictures. In fact, they were pictures of us being naked on the floor. Pictures of the humiliating us but they blurred the faces of the men. In total, I got 20 pictures. I was not myself for a month.
I went back to school, I had no one to talk to. The rest of the semester was hell for me. My CGPA dropped drastically. It was the worst out of the worst result I ever had.
Till today, my friends and I have not discussed this with anyone, but all I could do when I heard of Cynthia’s story was to narrate my own ordeal anonymously and spread the news, the word, and pray they (ladies who do runs) see it and changed their ways.
I am now born again. I have given my life to Christ. I fear men so much that I cannot even move close to them. I still have nightmares, but with time, God will strengthen me and I will move on. My advice to single ladies out there is, do not be desperate for fun. Pray to God to open your eyes of understanding, and pray hard. He who kneels before God will stand before kings and queens.
To all married women, pray hard to God to intervene in your marriages and turn your husbands from bad habits and bad friends. As for me, I do not think I ever want to get married or date a man again. That chapter has been closed for good in my life.
Please, do not ignore my mail. Please post it. There are a lot of things we ladies need to learn. Please post it on your blog and save a soul. It could be your friend, sister, cousin, neighbour.
God bless you as you pass it on. To all readers, I do not care if you insult me or rain abuses at me. My job is to share this encounter with you and save you from any mishap. God bless you all. Amen.
Sunday, September 2, 2012
Female Orgasm (adult content)
First I’d have to start by defining “Love Making” in my own language. “Love making is an art, the lady is the canvas and the man the painter. If painted properly and with care, you end up with a master piece that can last as long as the Mona Lisa”. I’m so tired of hearing inexperienced guys come in the bar or wherever, and brag about how they made her want more only to eavesdrop on the conversation and I just feel sorry for the Lady. Guys I’m not saying you are not giving your woman what she needs or how she wants it, I’m just going to say the truth and if you feel it’s directed to you then just learn from what I’d explain here. It is said that 85 percent of African women go through their life time without having an orgasm just because most African men would skip foreplay, oral sex to just sex.
Now I got the guys thinking and some cocky guys saying hell no I get her to cum all the time. Okay I have heard so many guys brag and say I did it so fast, she was moaning and came, she told me she came too, and I saw so much wet stuff there. Huh? Is that your definition? Then I’m really really sorry she doesn’t want to hurt your ego. When a woman gets to have an Orgasm you will know if you are experienced, it is the dumbest thing to ask your woman “baby did you cum”? As her man you have to know when she did and how to get her there. Just because your woman is really wet doesn’t mean she just came, it means she is aroused and wants you to perform your duty as her man. Guys come on! don’t think that you stick a finger or two for 15 seconds pinch her nipples for 9 seconds suck on her breast 6 seconds and the penetrate her will make her have an orgasm. That’s just being plain selfish and uncaring.
A woman’s orgasm is different from we guys who could afford to burst a nut just by watching porn, a woman’s orgasm has to be built up to the point she can’t take it no more and explodes with pleasure. For the nerds a lady’s orgasm is like charging a dead phone to the point it’s full and the light indicators start going off with an alarm. Now I know some guys reading will say what the hell are you feeling like?
Okay guys, if your girl just had an orgasm she would not have the strength to stand up and dress up 15 seconds after you think she just came and say “I’m going home”. When a woman reaches her orgasm, her heart rate, blood pressure and breathing increase. Tension builds within her pelvis, muscles contract throughout her body especially in the vagina which is accompanied with series of contractions. Contractions also occur in the uterus, rectum and pelvic floor. Occasional speaking in tongues you never heard, Grabbing of your sheets, Toe curling up like she about to have mad cramps or mild stroke, Scratches on your back, Love marks from her biting your arm because she doesn’t want to scream out loud. She ends up having a good sleep afterwards. Yeah trust me a lot goes on.
Now the good guys who care about their woman are ready to ask me, hey how do we achieve all these in bed? It’s simple son. Good communication in the bedroom with your woman will help you a lot; don’t assume that screwing your finger in her or finger banging her here and there like you are searching for coins in vagina is fun to her. Ask her how she wants her body touched, ask her how hard she wants her nipples bitten, sucked, licked or pinched because it’s different strokes for different folks after all, ask her how to play with her clitoris and how she wants it licked, nibbled, eaten etc. when you go down on her. Don’t just assume. A woman’s body differs from the long shaft in our boxers.
For all those guys that just skip foreplay and head to sex, I’m really sorry for you because when she comes in contact to the real deal, you would be an ex soon. 75 percent of women say they achieve orgasm via oral sex almost every time it is done well. Dudes don’t be selfish and expect her to give you a blow job when you not ready to down and eat the hell out of her pum pum and even when you do, you just go down and give it 5 licks and you are up. 5 licks!!!??? Come on son, spend some quality time down there and give her the best oral sex she ever had, occasionally look up and watch her flap her legs around like butterflies and see the gyration of her waste from so much pleasure, then when she gets an orgasm you can have a personal experience of what a vagina does when she has an orgasm because I am not going to tell you that.
Also put a little swag in your sex life. Make it so nice she wants to be by your place tomorrow. Guys always have a romantic atmosphere, a good flow of natural lubrication so that the delicate female parts don’t get sore, never forget to stimulate her clitoris no matter what you doing. Please bear in mind and forget whatever you guys think or how big you think you packing. Sexual intercourse by itself is not likely to produce an orgasm. This is because intercourse alone is not very good at stimulating the woman’s clitoris and nearly all females need additional stimulation of the clitoris by fingers or mouth.
So even if you are having sexual intercourse with your woman, reach out and stimulate her clitoris and your other hand should get busy on her breast or grabbing some of those her lovely curves. Don’t just ignore her body; work with every part that is exposed and don’t bore the crap out of her.
Remember these:
Don’t be in a rush because it’s a turn on for women if they see you know what you are doing
Don’t be too demanding – Love making is not an Olympic event
Always ask her what she wants but please don’t bore her out with questions. Just shut up and drive
Give her lots of kisses and cuddles before you make an approach to her sexual area
Take things gently and see what she wants
Use her own natural lubrication to moisten her clitoris and learn how she masturbates because women have a specific way they stroke their clits just like every guy here knows how you jerk off his Johnny boy better. You learn from the owner just like we want to teach them how to hold yours.
Always remember that stimulation of the clitoris is the key to female orgasm weather by mouth or stroking it with your finger. So guys pop in some Marvin Gaye set the mode right and stop starving your woman an Orgasm. Please practice safe sex or stick to one sexual partner AIDS is real.
Culled from https://africanboythatwrites.wordpress.com
Now I got the guys thinking and some cocky guys saying hell no I get her to cum all the time. Okay I have heard so many guys brag and say I did it so fast, she was moaning and came, she told me she came too, and I saw so much wet stuff there. Huh? Is that your definition? Then I’m really really sorry she doesn’t want to hurt your ego. When a woman gets to have an Orgasm you will know if you are experienced, it is the dumbest thing to ask your woman “baby did you cum”? As her man you have to know when she did and how to get her there. Just because your woman is really wet doesn’t mean she just came, it means she is aroused and wants you to perform your duty as her man. Guys come on! don’t think that you stick a finger or two for 15 seconds pinch her nipples for 9 seconds suck on her breast 6 seconds and the penetrate her will make her have an orgasm. That’s just being plain selfish and uncaring.
A woman’s orgasm is different from we guys who could afford to burst a nut just by watching porn, a woman’s orgasm has to be built up to the point she can’t take it no more and explodes with pleasure. For the nerds a lady’s orgasm is like charging a dead phone to the point it’s full and the light indicators start going off with an alarm. Now I know some guys reading will say what the hell are you feeling like?
Okay guys, if your girl just had an orgasm she would not have the strength to stand up and dress up 15 seconds after you think she just came and say “I’m going home”. When a woman reaches her orgasm, her heart rate, blood pressure and breathing increase. Tension builds within her pelvis, muscles contract throughout her body especially in the vagina which is accompanied with series of contractions. Contractions also occur in the uterus, rectum and pelvic floor. Occasional speaking in tongues you never heard, Grabbing of your sheets, Toe curling up like she about to have mad cramps or mild stroke, Scratches on your back, Love marks from her biting your arm because she doesn’t want to scream out loud. She ends up having a good sleep afterwards. Yeah trust me a lot goes on.
Now the good guys who care about their woman are ready to ask me, hey how do we achieve all these in bed? It’s simple son. Good communication in the bedroom with your woman will help you a lot; don’t assume that screwing your finger in her or finger banging her here and there like you are searching for coins in vagina is fun to her. Ask her how she wants her body touched, ask her how hard she wants her nipples bitten, sucked, licked or pinched because it’s different strokes for different folks after all, ask her how to play with her clitoris and how she wants it licked, nibbled, eaten etc. when you go down on her. Don’t just assume. A woman’s body differs from the long shaft in our boxers.
For all those guys that just skip foreplay and head to sex, I’m really sorry for you because when she comes in contact to the real deal, you would be an ex soon. 75 percent of women say they achieve orgasm via oral sex almost every time it is done well. Dudes don’t be selfish and expect her to give you a blow job when you not ready to down and eat the hell out of her pum pum and even when you do, you just go down and give it 5 licks and you are up. 5 licks!!!??? Come on son, spend some quality time down there and give her the best oral sex she ever had, occasionally look up and watch her flap her legs around like butterflies and see the gyration of her waste from so much pleasure, then when she gets an orgasm you can have a personal experience of what a vagina does when she has an orgasm because I am not going to tell you that.
Also put a little swag in your sex life. Make it so nice she wants to be by your place tomorrow. Guys always have a romantic atmosphere, a good flow of natural lubrication so that the delicate female parts don’t get sore, never forget to stimulate her clitoris no matter what you doing. Please bear in mind and forget whatever you guys think or how big you think you packing. Sexual intercourse by itself is not likely to produce an orgasm. This is because intercourse alone is not very good at stimulating the woman’s clitoris and nearly all females need additional stimulation of the clitoris by fingers or mouth.
So even if you are having sexual intercourse with your woman, reach out and stimulate her clitoris and your other hand should get busy on her breast or grabbing some of those her lovely curves. Don’t just ignore her body; work with every part that is exposed and don’t bore the crap out of her.
Remember these:
Don’t be in a rush because it’s a turn on for women if they see you know what you are doing
Don’t be too demanding – Love making is not an Olympic event
Always ask her what she wants but please don’t bore her out with questions. Just shut up and drive
Give her lots of kisses and cuddles before you make an approach to her sexual area
Take things gently and see what she wants
Use her own natural lubrication to moisten her clitoris and learn how she masturbates because women have a specific way they stroke their clits just like every guy here knows how you jerk off his Johnny boy better. You learn from the owner just like we want to teach them how to hold yours.
Always remember that stimulation of the clitoris is the key to female orgasm weather by mouth or stroking it with your finger. So guys pop in some Marvin Gaye set the mode right and stop starving your woman an Orgasm. Please practice safe sex or stick to one sexual partner AIDS is real.
Culled from https://africanboythatwrites.wordpress.com
Thursday, August 16, 2012
"And in 35 to 40 years, we basically will be immortal"
In 30 or 40 years, we'll have microscopic machines traveling through our bodies, repairing damaged cells and organs, effectively wiping out diseases. The nanotechnology will also be used to back up our memories and personalities.
In an interview with Computerworld, futurist Ray Kurzweil said that anyone alive come 2040 or 2050 could be close to immortal. The quickening advance of nanotechnology means that the human condition will shift into more of a collaboration of man and machine, as nanobots flow through human blood streams and eventually even replace biological blood, he added.
That may sound like something out of a sci-fi movie, but Kurzweil, says that research well underway today is leading to a time when a combination of nanotechnology and biotechnology will wipe out cancer, Alzheimer's disease, obesity and diabetes.
It'll also be a time when humans will augment their natural cognitive powers and add years to their lives, Kurzweil said.
"It's radical life extension," Kurzweil said. "The full realization of nanobots will basically eliminate biological disease and aging. I think we'll see widespread use in 20 years of [nanotech] devices that perform certain functions for us. In 30 or 40 years, we will overcome disease and aging. The nanobots will scout out organs and cells that need repairs and simply fix them. It will lead to profound extensions of our health and longevity."
Of course, people will still be struck by lightning or hit by a bus, but much more trauma will be repairable. If nanobots swim in, or even replace, biological blood, then wounds could be healed almost instantly. Limbs could be regrown. Backed up memories and personalities could be accessed after a head trauma.
Today, researchers at MIT already are using nanoparticles to deliver killer genes that battle late-stage cancer. The university reported just last month the nano-based treatment killed ovarian cancer, which is considered to be one of the most deadly cancers, in mice.
And earlier this year, scientists at the University of London reported using nanotechnology to blast cancer cells in mice with "tumor busting" genes, giving new hope to patients with inoperable tumors. So far, tests have shown that the new technique leaves healthy cells undamaged.
With this kind of work going on now, Kurzweil says that by 2024 we'll be adding a year to our life expectancy with every year that passes. "The sense of time will be running in and not running out," he added. "Within 15 years, we will reverse this loss of remaining life expectancy. We will be adding more time than is going by."
And in 35 to 40 years, we basically will be immortal, according to the man who wrote The Age of Spiritual Machines and The Singularity is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology.
Kurzweil also maintains that adding microscopic machines to our bodies won't make us any less human than we are today or were 500 years ago.
"The definition of human is that we are the species that goes beyond our limitations and changes who we are," he said. "If that wasn't the case, you and I wouldn't be around because at one point life expectancy was 23. We've extended ourselves in many ways. This is an extension of who we are. Ever since we picked up a stick to reach a higher branch, we've extended who we are through tools. It's the nature of human beings to change who we are."
But that doesn't mean there aren't parts of this future that don't worry him. With nanotechnology so advanced that it can travel through our bodies and affect great change on them, come dangers as well as benefits.
The nanobots, he explained, will be self-replicating and engineers will have to harness and contain that replication.
"You could have some self-replicating nanobot that could create copies of itself... and ultimately, within 90 replications, it could devour the body it's in or all humans if it becomes a non-biological plague," said Kurzweil. "Technology is not a utopia. It's a double-edged sword and always has been since we first had fire.''
In an interview with Computerworld, futurist Ray Kurzweil said that anyone alive come 2040 or 2050 could be close to immortal. The quickening advance of nanotechnology means that the human condition will shift into more of a collaboration of man and machine, as nanobots flow through human blood streams and eventually even replace biological blood, he added.
That may sound like something out of a sci-fi movie, but Kurzweil, says that research well underway today is leading to a time when a combination of nanotechnology and biotechnology will wipe out cancer, Alzheimer's disease, obesity and diabetes.
It'll also be a time when humans will augment their natural cognitive powers and add years to their lives, Kurzweil said.
"It's radical life extension," Kurzweil said. "The full realization of nanobots will basically eliminate biological disease and aging. I think we'll see widespread use in 20 years of [nanotech] devices that perform certain functions for us. In 30 or 40 years, we will overcome disease and aging. The nanobots will scout out organs and cells that need repairs and simply fix them. It will lead to profound extensions of our health and longevity."
Of course, people will still be struck by lightning or hit by a bus, but much more trauma will be repairable. If nanobots swim in, or even replace, biological blood, then wounds could be healed almost instantly. Limbs could be regrown. Backed up memories and personalities could be accessed after a head trauma.
Today, researchers at MIT already are using nanoparticles to deliver killer genes that battle late-stage cancer. The university reported just last month the nano-based treatment killed ovarian cancer, which is considered to be one of the most deadly cancers, in mice.
And earlier this year, scientists at the University of London reported using nanotechnology to blast cancer cells in mice with "tumor busting" genes, giving new hope to patients with inoperable tumors. So far, tests have shown that the new technique leaves healthy cells undamaged.
With this kind of work going on now, Kurzweil says that by 2024 we'll be adding a year to our life expectancy with every year that passes. "The sense of time will be running in and not running out," he added. "Within 15 years, we will reverse this loss of remaining life expectancy. We will be adding more time than is going by."
And in 35 to 40 years, we basically will be immortal, according to the man who wrote The Age of Spiritual Machines and The Singularity is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology.
Kurzweil also maintains that adding microscopic machines to our bodies won't make us any less human than we are today or were 500 years ago.
"The definition of human is that we are the species that goes beyond our limitations and changes who we are," he said. "If that wasn't the case, you and I wouldn't be around because at one point life expectancy was 23. We've extended ourselves in many ways. This is an extension of who we are. Ever since we picked up a stick to reach a higher branch, we've extended who we are through tools. It's the nature of human beings to change who we are."
But that doesn't mean there aren't parts of this future that don't worry him. With nanotechnology so advanced that it can travel through our bodies and affect great change on them, come dangers as well as benefits.
The nanobots, he explained, will be self-replicating and engineers will have to harness and contain that replication.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)