MY LADY

I am not sure you’ve met Martha, but Martha is it! Beauty unparalleled, I thought I was doing ok till she came along (I found out I wasn’t!). It was like the sun shone like gold through the trees, how else can I describe such beauty? Ecstatic unbridled magnificent angelic loveliness! When you meet Martha, you become.

I promise not to bore you with the details but the first “date” (I can’t really call it that) was a candle light dinner at a friend’s place, destiny had it that we were on the same table but it was sheer dexterity that made me broach her (trust me). Later she told me that she would have sat there all evening without saying a word had I not taken the lead! I thank God that I did and History has shown the wisdom of those actions.

Martha is no failure, no, not at anything. She is the kind of a lady that would take shit and keep taking and yet still believe the best of everyone she met. She gives and gets to give again, if you heard her speak you would think the earth was paradise and we were all angels! My time with her has made a believer of me. Martha wouldn’t celebrate evil, even of her foes. Give her a good news, tell her of something beautiful and true and she would wake the neighbours with joy, for someone so blessed in Life, Martha lacks pride. If you heard a rude word from her, it’s probably you lacked some sense of humour!

She taught me that one of life’s best compensations is that one can never truly help others without helping oneself; that I should be ashamed to die without winning a trophy for humanity. Martha could sleep through a storm; she hardly get’s provoked and you could describe her mind as “beautiful”. Peradventure I am reading your mind right, she’s got lovely sisters too!

At our first “date”, I told myself that she must be the proud type, you can’t look that beautiful without it getting to your brains, she proved me wrong. She is the epitome of humility, and she isn’t acting. Like my mum (ha ha), she is not the type to parade herself; life is not Broadway. Her friends say she is not envious, I agree. Is Martha patient? Her patience could be trying at times! The most remarkable thing about Martha is her kindness; she always reminds me that there is no reason for an unkind word.

When folks think of “the lady”, they think of Martha. Though she is an allegory of Love, she is a real person. She lives on the inside of us. She is the person we must become and the person we hope to live with. It was Apostle Paul who said that the best of a blessed man without love is noise, a distraction, unharmonious piece of music (a clanging cymbal)! The best of his feats are ineffective and the best of his sacrifices are unrewarding.

It is a choice we must make every day; the one I do daily, to love God, to love you, to love my Lady and to love myself.
“As for us, we know that we have already passed out of death into Life--because we love our brother men. He who is destitute
of love continues dead.” 1 John 3:14 (WNT)

BUSINESS SERIES 7: WHAT GATES DID THAT YOU HAVEN’T

INTRODUCTION

The marketplace is an interesting arena; few people understand it because few people study it. Folks go there to obtain goods, services, wages and returns on investment but it took certain folks to conceptualize and create the marketplace. The point is that the marketplace is man-made!

Like the “father Christmas” and “Valentine’s day” euphoria that generates billions of dollars in sales volume each year, business men will keep on creating cash yielding concepts  that  can be factored virtually into everything, religion not excluded.

Business to some “practitioners” is all about the bottom line; cash returns, but to some others it is a vocation, any potential and practicing business person if he/she would go far must be able to understand trends. Things don’t just happen, people happen to things and one has to understand why. When next you see a new product on the shelve, look closer and meditate on the concept behind it, the rationale of the developer, the response of the industry and the merit of the venture. You’ll be surprised to learn that you could predict trends from mere observation and deductive reasoning even in industries you know little about. For instance certain stocks on the Nigerian stock market would shoot up for the next two years to an astronomical level e.g. Diamond bank because they have a clean bill of health compared to their contemporaries and Pension funds must be invested! (I happen not to deal in stocks much). And certain pension stocks are much devalued (though the pensioners don’t know yet) because they have been invested on the stock market which is just reviving.

GATES

What did he do?

 In a nutshell Bill Gates unlike most folks was able to understand the nature of the computer industry, to project into its future and to (the hardest part) to convince himself that his idea is the next big thing on the planet.

The problem in Africa is that we lack self-belief; even those that believe in God limit Him to a “spiritual experience”. Folks, everyday, everyday, except you’ve no relationship with God, His seed on the inside of you is crying out for expression in everyday issues but most time you’ve looked at yourself, your surrounding and have despised the seed! The worst lie we tell ourselves is that if it is a good idea someone else should have done it, that someone else is you.

The deceitfulness of riches didn’t hinder Gates (the idea that if you don’t have money you’re probably stupid and vice versa); He practically gave away Microsoft Windows but retained ownership. Study his story, if you don’t have money like Joseph Jacob Isaac give the idea away to one with the means (it would have been lost anyway) and bargain to retain ownership/executor rights.

When people with marvelous ideas and no money complain it is because they are either too selfish or are unable to package themselves for a bargaining process. If you are really blessed, you must have noticed the ability of God to always give you better ideas. So to someone reading this article that idea in your heart probably is the only thing that can bring you before the king, don’t despise it, don’t be too selfish to share it, and don’t be too foolish to lose ownership completely.

Most times what will retain ownership for you is competence; the fact that no one else can be trusted to do it as good as you can. This is why reputation is everything, especially when you are starting out. For Bill Gates, the king was the president of IBM.

When you are passionate but Kobo less remember.

                                                Give thanks for the situation (at least you have something!)

                                                Dig; the resource/information is always around/beneath you

                                                Offer what you’ve got to commoners and then to the king (in that order)

God is faithful; He will not leave anyone without a talent at least. Where is yours?

Redeeming the Arts

Redeeming the arts
“He turns revolt into a style, prolongs
The impulse to a habit of the time.

Thom Gunn (1929 - 2004)”


British poet.
The Sense of Movement, "Elvis Presley”

Man by nature is a fan of the arts (probably because he was made by an artist!), He can sway to the tunes of a melody in an unknown tongue, appreciate a wonderful drama in which no words were spoken, the duo of music and drama is common fabric of every culture.
In the African forest, it was tales by moonlight, the beautiful young daughters of the land swayed like gazelles to the melody of the drum and the flute. Old men and women spun tales that would fire imaginations of the young and bear retelling many years later. Man has for centuries longed for entertainment and has found ways to satisfy that yearning. Central to this universal need is the creative genius in man; this genius is seen in the life of a child with his/her capacity for wonder. Tell a child of Alice in wonderland and you’ve found a friend, let the child grow up a little and Peter Pan would do, with the advance in years comes the need to stretch the limit in order to achieve the same degree of wonder and man has tried over the years to climax a climax, at 11 it would take a “Terminator” to thrill him.
Chinua Achebe stirred our creative genius and we applauded, Wole Soyinka did the same and we all remember him for that and Shakespeare too. A great story it would have been until Hardley Chase showed up to illustrate our darker nature, it didn’t take long for pornography magazines to give the lurid details. Stephen King then dared us to stand the tale of it, Harry Porter asked since we didn’t believe in God we could try the witches!
The effect of the Arts always begins from literature (tales, logic and books) to drama, then the logical progression to kitchen table talk (our experience). 45 years ago, nobody thought we would come this far, when the Blues replaced Afro-American spiritual and country Waltz we believe it told the tale of the heart making way for a billion dollar industry that peddled love. From love, the attention shifted to sex, man needed greater stimuli, we had developed tolerance! Madonna’s “material girl” hit the airwaves, at first it shocked some but we later made her a star.
Drama (movies) had to play catch up and over the years it has provided ample illustration to the strides of music and literature.
In Jackson, we saw the progression from “cool” to “wild” to sheer “Wacko”. It would have been ok if the wacko stopped at the screens but it has entered most bedrooms from the sitting room, man had underestimated the arts. It entered in and abused little boys and girls, signed divorce papers and bolstered gay issues, sold drugs and started shooting guns, now it is delivering home-made bombs!
In Presley, we should have known that it wasn’t real. The modern art as you know is a maze of Mundane unrealities becoming existing realities i.e. if you behold it long enough, in the beginning we created arts now it is creating us. The recent Grammies illustrates this point quite well; man is trying to achieve another climax after attaining psychological dependence. if the divorce stats, depression rates, prescription pill related deaths, boobs and tummy tucks, uncanny affections, HIV rate and the average American star emotional life is not sufficient to alarm us then the thought is alarming!
The classical theatrical make-up now involve Botox needles and scheduled surgery visits, man has aromatized himself to impotency. Teenagers not only throng pharmacies for condoms now but for Viagra too!
A frog would jump out of a pot of hot water, but if you put him in a cold one and bring it to boil gradually you have a Chinese dessert, like John Nash in “a beautiful mind” it is time we realize that “it can’t be real, she never grows old”. There is always enough indices to separate reality from unrealities and one is rationality, our modern art has enough inbuilt contradictions to be explained away but man has refused to hearken, not when he is working on another high.
If drinking sea water is the only option for a man stranded in the middle of the sea, it is still a death sentence. Contemporary man is a thirsty man in on a sea of contemporary art, He has looked around, drunk a mouthful, a bottle-full and has adjusted to the taste.
Jesus on the other hand, knows that sea water would never do and had made a candid plea that still bears repeating when He said, “Are you thirsty? Come”.
You don’t have to drink sea water.


Okwonna Nelson

Business Series 6: STARTING OUT AIN’T EASY

A friend of mine just made it big in business (as in big!) and we are rejoicing with him but I remember just two months ago he was telling me of his first few months in business, then He was dating the very lady he married and stepping out almost cost him the relationship (most Ladies love security (men too!)), but the fire within was too much and my friend took the dive! He survived and I can afford to tell the story.
I remember his summary of the whole scenario:
1. Hunger is the biggest motivation (i.e. secondary to desire, Hunger comes after you’ve gone with the desire!)
2. A tough path does not necessary mean a wrong path.
This article is for those with a desire, the worst thing would be to rouse desire in the wrong individual, it is wise to remind a motivated individual that “yes he can” and to persuade a pessimist is never a good approach. He/she will learn, we all did.
Have You Set Out or do you intend to?
Count the cost! Entrepreneurship is not easy and it is not hard either. It is a question of whether it is your thing, it takes a certain mindset:
“I can” attitude
Decisive personality
Forgiving (forgive thyself quickly after you’ve learnt the lesson)
Stick ability (like glue you are their till proven otherwise)
Flexibility (not implying lack of commitment)
Sociable: you can work with people
Durability: you can stick out the harmattan!
Tough: that it ain’t working doesn’t mean you’re stupid
Faith: You believe in things!
Well, having all these qualities does not really imply you can be up to it, the thing I have learnt is that besides your competence, your patience and emotional maturity is one of the most determining character for success.

TALK THE TALK
If faith is inside you, it must come out on your lips except if it a mere dream (the one you dream at night), but if it is your (note the personification) dream (the day type) then start talking the talk. A lot of folks have quit talking because they are scared of people stealing their ideas. What they don’t know is that ideas are a dime a dozen, what is lacking is people who believe in them and have the ability to bring them to pass. But can your idea be stolen? Not really, it can be shared though! You get my point.
If you keep talking, at a time you’ll keep quiet without being told to, that is when the results starts appearing or when you discover the work it will take! At such times you’ll come to learn that the real reason why we speak is to release creative forces in the atmosphere. Forces that forges convictions even in us, yes in you; the speaker. You are the ultimate beneficiary. At such a time your speaking literally increases but the company diminishes.
WHEN THE FROST BITES
There are no free trade zones in the world! They may remove the other charges but you’ll still pay money and handle the transportation issues. In enterprise development the frost has a way of coming early and uninvited, but surviving the frost is the source of a Polar bear’s strength.
Do you know that Nokia was a paper manufacturer, the frost drove them to realize that communication is not limited to paper, that airwaves is a lot better.
The frost drove America to become a world giant.
Rules of the thumb: Hunger will motivate you only if you have a burning desire and are not ready to quit. Some people ensure they don’t quit by deleting all other options possible (burn the boats!)!
When you sack your boss, don’t take her/him back. Learning inexpensively (when you can) is a lot wiser and once you are out there judge God Faithful.
We will continue.
Okwonna Nnamdi Nelson

JOS CRISIS: A “CROSS” VIEW

Last week a cousin of mine looked me in the eyes and asked me if there was a meter for pain, if there is an apparatus to measure the level of pain he was going through. He was quite serious so I did my best to hide the tears that were coming; at that level words become so inefficient.
One doesn’t need to be a mother, a loved one or a friend to feel the loss. One doesn’t need to see the corpses or hear the grimy details to appreciate the level of pain that is currently in the hearts of many, and one wouldn’t need a meter to read it. Like my cousin someone in Jos right now, an affected individual or a concerned citizen is feeling the pain of Sunday morning incidence right now. As I write this my heart is bleeding and I lack words to fully express the thoughts except that evil has triumphed here.
I dare say that the figures are not important, as someone aptly said; “kill one individual and I will call it murder, kill a million and I will call that statistics”. None the less an individual’s death is enough to warrant this article.
Where is the explanation for this madness? When will it stop? What does God say in the face of this tragedy? Where is Jesus in this crisis?
Where is Christ in the face of this wanton destruction?
Answer: On the cross, weeping. His heart bled not only for those that were martyred last Sunday morning but more so for those who committed the detestable act. He shed His precious blood for them all and lest we should forget He made a profound statement: “Father forgive them for they do not know what they do!”
But then what are they doing?
They flared the church and killed individuals known to be Christians, Christ in His words acknowledged that yes they have done a very evil act (he prayed for their forgiveness) but in reality they do not know what they are doing. They did theirs out of religious zeal; Christ too was crucified out of religious zeal. Man has been a religious zealot for ages, trying to please God! Someone might suggest that the acts were politically motivated but then the individuals that executed the acts weren’t.
God cannot be pleased by the efforts of sinful man; I repeat, a Holy Righteous God cannot be pleased or appeased by the mere efforts of sinful man, efforts conceived by a heart God himself described as “desperately wicked”. Man’s problem is not that he is unethical it is that his very heart is lost in sin. God’s Holiness unlike our “righteousness” is not due to the absence of sin but due to the presence of something. Christ on that Cross has paid a price man for centuries have tried to negotiate and man’s righteousness before God can only be inputted.
At the heart of every religious view is man’s desire to please God and Man is so aware of his sinful state. The individuals that murdered these citizens in Jos cannot be celebrated as saints even by an atheist. Christ came and made a statement, a very simple one; “Man He said, Man, your sins are forgiven. I am the lamb for the sacrifice, the only qualified sacrificed. Just believe in me”. Many a men have heard that statement and had said “No sir, I want to do something”.
It is only a heart that has accepted His Love that can love and this is another ultimate test for Christians for Christ also said “Love your enemies, pray for those who spitefully use you”.
So I pray for the individuals that murdered potentialities on Sunday morning, individuals that have “pleased” God yesterday. I pray for the family members and individuals that encouraged them on this act. I pray for their children, as they recount their ordeal to their sponsors, I pray for them. I pray for them at those nights when the seed of God inside them will remind them that those individuals were also made by the same God they worship, I pray for them on the day they will lose loved ones and remember the pain they have caused others, I pray that as they discover that we mourn at the loss of loved ones because our spirit realize the eternality of that event, I pray that God will indeed forgive them for truly they do not know what they are doing.
It is not time for hate. If a child should mistakenly place a hot coal in my eye in a domestic accident I would not like it, I would be very sad at it, I would have done my best to prevent it if I could, but I won’t hate him for that incident even if my loss were for life.
In Christ we find meaning to every expression; everything that is happening in the world today is a fulfillment of His Word, from Jos to Haiti. The details are all there in red ink and that brings a certain assurance that a knowing God loved me, sent His son to die for my sins, gave me His Word to explain and instruct me on my pilgrimage on this earth and reminds me that it is His will that none should perish especially the murdering hoard at Jos. He reminds me to tell them that more than half the written testament was written by a man who was known to be the terror of the Christian faith and I pray they meet the Lord. Hear Mr. Paul, ex-religious zealot, fanatic and self acclaimed righteous man, well trained on the facts of the law, a lawyer by training, award winning persecutor:
“even though we can list what many might think are impressive credentials. You know my pedigree: a legitimate birth, circumcised on the eighth day; an Israelite from the elite tribe of Benjamin; a strict and devout adherent to God's law; a fiery defender of the purity of my religion, even to the point of persecuting Christians; a meticulous observer of everything set down in God's law Book. The very credentials these people are waving around as something special, I'm tearing up and throwing out with the trash--along with everything else I used to take credit for; and why? Because of Christ. Yes, all the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life. Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant--dog dung. I've dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ and be embraced by him. I didn't want some petty, inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ--God's righteousness.
I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally, experience his resurrection power, be a partner in his suffering, and go all the way with him to death itself. “
Mr. Paul of Tarsus in his letter to the children of God at Philippi, the 3rd chapter

From this view I am apt to allow Christ to bring His comfort to my bleeding heart and not make room for bitterness for the Love of Christ compels me.
Okwonna Nelson

BUSINESS SERIES 5: MONEY IS NOT ENOUGH

Last time we spoke on the need for one to develop competence, to look within and to harness the raw material; to teach our selves the necessary attributes required to achieve the desired end.

Most times an idea of today is not necessary for today but rather to send you to today’s learning arena.

The greatest burden I’ve always believed is that of potential, when you are aware of the possibilities within you but caged by the immediate it can be quite frustrating; every great achiever encountered this dilemma. We stressed that should you be in such a case the best step is to develop more competence or to give birth to the idea in a manger. Start small and keep listening to the music within.

Money will never satisfy you, for every covenant child, every child of destiny, material abundance is not designed to satisfy your inner longings and it can’t.

When one has a great desire to start a particular creative venture on the face of the globe, at first one would need to make sacrifices to attend to that venture (it is not usually profitable at the early stage). Just to create time for that idea is a major risk considering the opportunity cost (friends are moving on e.t.c.), then the individual has to invest the scarce means (means he didn’t have).

To take the above steps an individual who is on the path of destiny and is interacting with the seed of God in Him must have come across certain things which I will highlight below:

1.       Money for money sake is not enough motivation, in fact when one is involved in a business just for money sake he or she had left the plane of the creative, the selfish tendencies of man I’ve come to learn has a way of stealing divine inspiration which is our greatest asset.

2.       The seed in you has an inbuilt corrective mechanism; anytime you are either moving out of alignment with that seed or moving in unbelief (the cares of this world) there is a chastisement that should point you to an inward communion with God. I have learnt from experience that just after every “corrective affliction” is a new wave of revelation and progress. So move in the direction of the sun (heat/food). The symptoms are that you’ll lose your peace and the usual amicable atmosphere then becomes hostile all of a sudden, it is easy to mistake this for an enemy’s challenge.

3.       Independence is the name of the game: spiritual, emotional, physical and psychological independence are an all important criteria to bring about the birth of destiny and this doesn’t come cheap. You might think you are really independent until the internal corrective mechanism gets into motion, our value system in Africa places a lot of emphasis on support groups (families, friends and connections), that is why a lot of businesses, marriages and other ventures rises and falls with the mood of the “life support partner”. Teachers are mentors are necessary but learn to do your own digging. A nanny is not a life affair, we all need nannies at one point but then having more understanding than one’s teachers come from private meditation.

4.       Another level of dependence is the “deceitfulness of riches and the cares of this world”: when my mood, plans and gait is influenced by the amount of money in my bank account I am lost in unbelief and in the arena of faith unbelief is a crime. I have learnt that the most important thing is the Word spoken to me and my interaction with that Word, The Word makes everything.

5.       When one has learnt to be inward (enjoy your own Spirit inspired thoughts), to master his/her emotions and to seek direction when the corrective motions sets in, the other thing is the power in making those internal convictions and beliefs external utterances.

 Many times we are quick to speak, to confess what we don’t really believe. Inasmuch as one needs to be vocal, it is best to develop roots within before undertaken such venture as you might fail to defend all the opposition that comes with speaking! Talking of opposition, you don’t need to defend your view (though you might want to at first), just ask God to confirm them.

There is great power in the spoken Word; words are the only things that have equal value in both the spirit and the physical realm. When God worked He spoke and Adam’s first work was naming every creature. We are in partnership with a speaking Creator.

In conclusion, I would say that for many for whom the seed of destiny has been crying within. The incorruptible seed that secured salvation, our greatest task is to feed that seed, to develop competence; to learn the art of independence and absolute trust on God as the source, to recognize that there is a creative genius within us that has created all of the inventions we see today. To recognize that the cries of this nation Nigeria is only parallel to those of the seed within you crying for expression, potentialities that can die on the altar of our own selfish plans. We must then therefore pay careful heed to the Words spoken to us, to pay the price of consecration that the seed of God demands and to speak Spirit inspired and energized words.

By these I believe we will qualify to be a receptacle and a depository for more of God’s divine and accurate wisdom (epignosis); manifesting Zoe (the God kind of Life).

The Supremacy of Love in a Hating World

If Love is the greatest ethic then freedom is a necessary component because love cannot be coerced. That is why coerced ethics practiced in most religion is not able to produce love in the adherents but rather to foster hatred, hatred because of the displeasure at the inability of the object to see issues at the same plane as the subject. Christ however compels us to love even our enemies because it is only in the absence of hate that love can thrive and relationship with God thrives only in a love atmosphere because God is love personified.

A lot of time one has wondered at how could a good and loving God exist in the face of much evil? A good answer I’ve found is that for one to ask that question, there must have been an assumption that good exists (as evil can only exist in the presence of the good), but for good and evil to exist there must of necessity be a moral law (that says what is good and what is bad), and for this moral law to exist there must be a moral law giver (God), so the question kind of disappears!
A better question is what does God say about the evil around us? (We will answer this question later)

Ok, the responsibility of a Christian is to love. But is love acceptance?
Love is not the acceptance of people with all their prerogatives; there is a difference between accepting people and accepting their worldview. Love demands that I acknowledge and respect your God given right to choose your path, it in no way demands that I celebrate it. The first man (Adam) loved his wife so much that he decided to die with her; the second man (Jesus) loved us so much that he died for us! He didn’t like our state but he understood it.

It is then importance for us to understand when Jesus said “For God so loved the world (sinful world) that He gave His only begotten Son, that he who believes in Him may not die but have everlasting Life” the ultimate Love is redemptive, it gives us the chance and the will to choose Life.
When we kill or attempt to kill people for God, we act out of ignorance of the knowledge of Love, that is why religion (man’s zeal for God) can never bring out the life of God because man is incapable of such. It is in accepting His Love that we obtain the power to live the life.

Where is God in the face of human suffering?
Answer; On the cross, Christ has taken on the sufferings of sinful man so that should you and I can come into a relationship with him, acknowledge our weakness and come into a fellowship with that finished work, we would find meaning and rest for our souls.

Man is not at peace with his neighbor because he is not at peace with himself; he is not at peace with himself because he is not at peace with his God.
In the words of Mahatma Gandhi, “the essence of the Cross is without parallel”.
More thoughts at www.nelsontalks.blogspot.com

UMARU SHEHU MUSA YAR’ADUA: THE MAKING OF A FAILED STATE

UMARU SHEHU MUSA YAR’ADUA: THE MAKING OF A FAILED STATE
As we commiserate with our president at his moment of ill health, I wish to use this opportunity to join voice, hands and legs with numerous Nigerians who are dissatisfied with the imbroglio Nigeria has been subjected to in the eyes of the whole world.
A government that prides itself by the mantra of the “rule of law” should and must at this crucial moment of our National history live up to its name, promises and chants.
I know that my president will come back to govern this nation again but I also know that we cannot afford to have a vacuum at the highest seat of governance, the resent listing of Nigeria as a terrorist Nation (by implication) should bring the attention of any right thinking individual to a crucial observation; our handshake with folly and ineptitude has certainly passed the elbow. We cannot and shall not allow a cabal of selfish Nigerians to thwart the hopes, dreams and destinies of the 140 million majority, we refuse to agree that this circumstances is the making of God, though it would serve His purpose but then we; you and I are born for a time like this and evil will only thrive because we allow it. What am I saying? My point is the very thing my dear president has been chanting for a while; the rule of law, let him handover to the vice president in an acting capacity until his health status is confirmed.
It is on this note that I urge every Nigerian to join us on Tuesday, the 12th of January as we undertake a peace walk from the Millennium park Maitama Abuja to the State House to say no to the foolhardiness we have been forced to explain away for the last 5 weeks of our president’s absence.
I also wish to add at this junction that all Nigerians should start thinking of creative ways to thwart the schemes of the vile men and women of this nation; a minority that has undertaken to subjugate the better masses, specifically as it relates to 2011 election. Thank God for facebook and other social websites, let us buy cameras (long range view would be wiser!) and prepare to capture the show of shame our country men are definitely preparing to hoist on us once again.
Let it be that evil triumphed despite our efforts rather than we failed to even try, for the sake of the unborn generation, for the sake of the potential hazards of war, for the sake of the embarrassment at the embassy, for the sakes of the lives lost at our expressways let us arise and for once live up to the meaning of our national anthem that “the labours of our heros past shall never be in vain” before we wake up one morning to the gluttonous voice of one military man reciting “good morning fellow Nigerians”.



The Story
The Tales of of our hearts
yet untold, if ever
tales of hope and love.
Of love turn to hate of hope turn to sighs.
Our hearts tale, a nation's tale

young as kids, papa told us tales
tales of time past.
Old tales of fame, love and life.
Of men before, men with stories to tell.
Ancients though. Yet they had some tale.

Sooner young hands would touch mine, calloused though.
Soft voices, eager and lively would say:
papa tell us some tales, tales of love and hope.
Of deeds done before, of men.

Though gentle of heart,
a heart most endeared with passion.
A passion of old,
a passion for my nation.
I would mutter "no stories my children, see, your momma calls"

alas this might be a nation without tales.
Though it be seemingly so
I would forever cry "yes my children, thus the story began"
how this might be you ask?
I am the story I answer.

Copyright@Okwonnanelson2003.
Thanks .