TOMIWA

TOMIWA

My name is Omobolanle Agbaje.  I met my boyfriend when I was in the University.  We loved ourselves very deeply.  He was in year three in University of Lagos when I got admitted into the same school.

It happened that on my first day on campus, I was looking for my department, Home Economics, to do registration.  So I looked around and saw a guy standing close to the school hall, I moved close to him and asked where the department was.  I said "Please, my brother, can you direct me to the Home Economics Department?", he answered "I won't just direct you; I will also take you to the place".

While we were going, we began discussing.  He told me that he was a Human Kinetics student in year three and his name was Tomiwa Aderounmu and that he was also very popular because he played for the school team, from our discussion we also discovered that we came from the same town, Ibadan.  He told me the history of the University and our Faculty.  From there on, we became good friends.

what surprised me to make me write this piece about my life history was that Tomiwa never wooed me.  It was the very first day when I asked him to direct me to my department that we knew each other and became friends and from there we had became inseparable.  Tomiwa was a kind guy that knew the real meaning of love.  He was never a playboy.

In school we were always together.  It was later on in my year two that I realised how popular my boyfriend was and how the University held him in high esteem.  He was very brilliant and also played for the school team.  In two years he won six gold medals for our school, and also a team member of the Lagos State Sports Academy.

When we were going around in the school, his name was on the lips of everybody: Tomiwa! Tomiwa! Everybody wanted to be friends with him.

It happened that a lady called Kemi Adewale really fell for my boy but he was not interested.  The girl tried all avenues to get Tomiwa all to no avail.  One day, as I was coming from the library in the evening, I just saw a person who passed by me and gave me a hard hit on my shoulder.

When I looked up I discovered that it was Kemi and two of her friends.  As I was about to talk, Kemi started raising abuses on me that "can't you see me or are you blind?" "But you hit me first." I said.  She was about to raise her hand against me when somebody coming stopped her.  "What is wrong with you girls, why are you fighting?" "Is this what you come to do in school?"  Asked the passerby.

"She is a husband snatcher, she is trying to get someone else's boyfriend", said one of Kemi's friends.
"But I saw you, (pointing at Kemi) you hit her first", said another passerby.
"She is too wayward for our liking; she is trying to get what is not hers".  Kemi said irritatedly.

"Okay, please, let all of you go in peace.  You have come to study in school not to fight over boyfriends." "Is that right?" said the first passerby.

"Okay ma," we answered.
As I was going, I heard Kemi say "we shall see".  I didn't utter a word.  It was from there I realised Kemi was stronger than I am.  I went straight to Tomiwa's hostel.  When I gave him the report of Kemi's action, Tomiwa was mad.

"Do you mean, Kemi did all that to you?"
"Yes!" I yelled.
"But is this girl mad, is it by force that I must be her boyfriend", said Tomiwa.

You could imagine how Tomiwa mobilized his friends to Kemi's hostel.  They gave her the beating of her life and made sure the whole school heard how she fought over what was not hers.  She became talk of the town.  Kemi really regretted her action.  I was happy and thanked my God for giving me the kind of man like Tomiwa.
 

Tomiwa graduated and went for his youth corps service in Bauchi, a state in the northern part of Nigeria.  He was sad that he would leave me behind in School, likewise myself but we had no choice than to accept our fate.  It was in this dreaded service year that my Tomiwa lost his life.

In Bauchi, a day never went without Tomiwa phoning and sending me love text messages.  If he sees somebody coming to Lagos from Bauchi, he would give them 'something' for me.  All these love play was going on interestingly when we heard of a terrible fracas in Bauchi.  I did not first know, it was Tomiwa's sister, Bimpe who informed me that they showed it on Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) that Bauchi was boiling.  That they were killing corps members because they believed it was they who helped the government to co-ordinate the 2011 election and the expected party of the 'Almajiris' did not win.  This news brought a halt into my life.  I became very scared and thought of my boyfriend.  I also did not hear from him again.  Then the news!  It was his friend who came home to announce his death.  He said he was coming from the field where he and his friends went to play ball when one of the hoodlums who recognized them as corps members announced to others.  As Tomiwa and friends ran into a police station, the hoodlums wet the station with some petrol and burnt the whole place.  That none of them inside the station survived it.  I did not see him or his dead body.  The Bauchi government gave them a mass burial.  This news tore me apart.  I thought of what will become of me after the death of my Tomiwa and I pitied myself.  What a cruel world.


Balogun Sade

CAREFREE DRIVING OF TOP GOVERNMENT FUNCTIONARIES’ CONVOY

The incessant road accidents caused by the carefree/reckless driving of top government functionaries’ is really disheartening and nothing to write home about.  Honestly, nobody is happy about it.  There were many occasions when government convoys had killed innocent Nigerians on the road with their excessive speedy drives.

We are writing this sad story as a result of Saturday February 1^st 2014 accident where the Ondo State, Deputy Governor convoy ran into the car of Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) Akure Journalist and the Chairman of the NTA Chapel of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Mr Alex Akinwale, his pregnant wife, Kehinde Akinwale, their two children and a househelp and killed all of them at the spot.

ALEX AKINWALE (Deseased NTA Akure Journalist)

Wrecked Akinwale's Vehicle at Akure

A traditional ruler, the Osunmakinde of Ife Tuntun, Osun state, Oba Obawure Taofeek Olaposi, who was also involved in the accident, survived but was seriously injured and his on admission in Ondo State Specialist Hospital, Akure.

There had been many other car crashes incidents with top government functionaries’ convoys from time immemorial.  We could still remember a case precisely December 23, 2000 when a car in the then Minister of Works, Chief Dapo Sarumi’s convoy crashed into a just wedded couple’s car (Mr & Mrs Victor Umoren) and killed the two of them, instantly.  The lady was carrying two months old pregnancy.  The couple was coming from a three day retreat at the Eko Beach Resort along Lagos-Epe Expressway to plan for the future.

Another recent scenario was just last year, 2013, which involved an accident of the convoy of Kogi State Governor, Idris Wada.  It was reported that a vehicle in the Governor’s convoy rammed into the bus conveying some members of the University of Benin branch of Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, to attend the National Executive Council meeting of the association in Kano, forcing it to somersault three times.  Other passengers in the bus sustained varying degrees of injury while Professor Festus Iyayi, former President of the ASUU lost his life. 

It is not only government convoy that is involved in the reckless driving; the Police Force is another entity that should be held responsible too.  There were many occasions that the Police armored vehicles conveying money to Banks had killed human beings on the road and they go away with it.  I could remember a year when I was in Yaba College of Technology as I was coming out of my school, a Police armored car almost knocked me down.  It was by God’s grace that I escaped a car crash that day; it was as if they even tried to scare me off the road because the driver of the vehicle seemed to shift his steering towards me with fun and they were not remorseful about it.

I think it will be very kind enough if our government could address this inhuman attitude most especially as it involved them before it become a crisis.  It is causing lost of lives and everybody kept quiet about it.  People’s precious lives are being wasted.  Can you imagine how a whole family was wasted as in the case of February 1^st 2014?  a just new year,  and the rest of the people mentioned above.  The lives of the families of these people can never be the same again.  They will always have a wounded hearts each time they remember the death of their beloved.  These people could have been among able Nigerians contributing their own quota to the development of our nation.

I am sure it is not like that in the so called developed countries.  Please let us make a change and don’t let us be enemies of ourselves. 
...a word is enough for the wise

#ShakirahSays#

A Wasted Life

Jerry was a young boy of 27.  He lived in Ojo barracks with his parents. Jerry was naturally lazy and did not think of future.  His father Benjamin Joshua loved him and tried to satisfy him with  the little he had but Jerry was never satisfied.
When he was still in secondary school, Jerry always refused to go to school particularly if they asked them to bring anything and his father could not afford the item.  Jerry would refuse to go to school instead he would throw himself into the street and played away his life. His mother Debby could not talk to him. At the age of 14,  Jerry dropped out of school and went to join touts at a motor park. His parents were worried about this unruly behaviour but Jerry did not see anything bad in it.  By the time Jerry was 18 he had become a full 'agbero' at Agboju garage, extorting money from bus drivers and he was really good at it.  He did the 'agbero' job till all his siblings finished school and went to tertiary institutions.  His dad decided to go and report him to one of  his uncle, called uncle Williams. Uncle Williams was a nice man and he helped in the Joshua's family matters. Uncle Williams sent for Jerry at Agboju barracks and surprisingly he showed up.
"Jerry, why are you wasting your life,  all your mates are in the University. What are you doing to have a good future", asked Uncle Williams.
"Jerry could not answer, he knew he had actually wasted his life by then he was aged 27.  But he enjoyed his 'agbero job and the free money he got from it.
"You see uncle. "Jerry started, "I have wasted enough time; I can't go to school again.I want to play football".
"You?can you play football"? asked his uncle. "Very well sir, when I was in school. We used to organise street matches and our team always take the lead" answered Jerry.
Truly Uncle Williams remembered that Jerry was a good player but he just could not trust him for anything. He was too much a truant. But when he insisted that he would play football, uncle Williams accepted and said he would help him in one of the clubs in his companies.
"I will look for a good football team and include your name.  I hope you will be a good boy and don't go there to drag my name in the mud". said Uncle Williams.  "No sir, I promise to be a good boy", answered Jerry.
Uncle Williams was great; he helped Jerry to join Mobil International Football team.  Jerry passed the interview, arranged by his uncle.  Both Jerry's parents and uncle Williams warned Jerry not to go back to the garage.  But Jerry being a natural truant turned a defiant ear and went back to the garage.
It happened one day at the garage, a member of his gang was fighting one bus driver to pay his due and a policeman intervened that Femi, as the boy was called should stop fighting the bus driver.  Femi insulted him and said that he was doing his duty that the policeman should mind his business.  Argument ensued between the two.  This attracted the rest in the garage including Jerry.
"Excuse sir, Na hin work he dey do and this na our domain, e no concern you". chorused the boys.
The policeman out of annoyance gave one of the boys a slap and tried to shoot him.  Another boy in the gang snatched the gun from the policeman.  He too tried to harass the policeman not knowing that his hand was on the trigger as he pulled the trigger, a bullet came out of the barrel and shot the policeman.  The Policeman fell down and died.  The boys were greatly scared as this brought fear upon them.  Before anybody could raise alarm, they had took to their heels and disappeared.  Jerry did not first know where to run to.  He ran as fast as his legs could take him.  When he got to Badagry the second day he remembered his credentials and letter of appointment from Mobil International Football Team was kept in the garage and he could not go back their because of what had happened.  Already, he had started to see the news of the dead policeman in the newspapers.  Government had vowed to deal with the killers if they were caught.  So Jerry ran further to Topo at Badagry, he remembered the warnings of his parents and uncle not to go back to the garage.  The day he would resume at Mobil International came and went he could not resume because of his credentials kept at the garage and he could not return home for fear of being caught.  Jerry lost the job and lost everything too.


Balogun Sade

Restrain of 'Okada' motor bike from major roads

Okada was banned from major or high road in particular in May 

2012.

I am not a perfect 'okada' rider but occasional because I dread the 

fatal accident of okada riding.  I did not quickly observe the scanty 

number of the vehicle on roads until I observe that when you move 

near the drivers and mention areas close to high ways they instantly

reject your offer.  I first thought may be they have certain areas that

they ply or maybe the fee mentioned by the commuter is small.  But

when I see the snobbish way they reject the dreaded areas and run 

with their okada or also the way they run for dear lives at the sight 

of any policeman made me smell some rats.  So I moved close to 

people as my usual practice of getting information. They told me 

that Governor Babatunde Fashola had banned the 'Okada' drivers 

from major roads due to the very bloody nature of their ('Okada') 

accidents.   

Never Ever Give Up

The life of Thomas Edison is a lesson to inspire anyone who thinks giving up is an option. Let me share his story with you. December 1914 he had worked for 10 years on a storage battery. This had greatly strained his finances. This particular evening spontaneous combustion had broken out in the film room. Within minutes all the packing compounds, celluloid for records and film, and other flammable goods were in flames. Fire companies from eight surrounding towns arrived, but the heat was so intense and the water pressure so low that the attempt to douse the flames was futile. Everything was destroyed. Edison was 67. With all his assets going up in a whoosh (although the damage exceeded two million dollars, the buildings were only insured for $238,000 because they were made of concrete and thought to be fireproof), would his spirit be broken?  

The inventor's 24-year old son, Charles, searched frantically for his father. He finally found him, calmly watching the fire, his face glowing in the reflection, his white hair blowing in the wind. "My heart ached for him," said Charles. "He was 67--no longer a young man--and everything was going up in flames. When he saw me, he shouted, 'Charles, where's your mother?' When I told him I didn't know, he said, 'Find her. Bring her here. She will never see anything like this as long as she lives.'" The next morning, Edison looked at the ruins and said, "There is great value in disaster. All our mistakes are burned up. Thank God we can start anew." Three weeks after the fire, Edison managed to deliver the first phonograph.

This story portrays the importance of being persistent in whatever you do. Sometimes things go wrong and not as planned. Sometimes challenges come knocking seeming overwhelming. But it is important to keep at whatever it is you are doing and to be optimistic. For every great achievement, there are setbacks and failures at some point. Your story will be no different except you settle for less. But as long as you aim big and remain focus, hurdles will come up and would be overcome. However, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade out of it. It is never over until you call it over. Stand up and win over any discouraging feeling, challenge and unexpected happenstances. Don’t give up now not even later.  If you give up too soon, you will never know what you will be missing, keep going and never quite. Remember, many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they quite.

Well, you may cry if need be, moan, whine, snivel, lament, grumble, complain but never ever give up. Forget all the reasons why it won’t work and believe the only reason why it will.  Success…