Through My Glasses

  The time is 10.15PM. Date is September 30 th , 2013. Today is Independence Day eve in Nigeria. In a few hours time, it will be October 1 st - The day Nigeria celebrates her independence from Great Britain.    If today were 15years ago, I would have been giddy with excitement; unable to sleep. 15years ago, I would have been prancing about the living room while staring at the giant wall clock in our sitting room, inwardly cursing daylight for taking longer than usual to come.   From time to time, I would have run back to my room to make sure that my well ironed March Past uniform, together with my pair of socks and gloves were still neatly laid out on the bed, where I had left them since 9am in the morning. Each trip to the room would have taken me past the standing mirror, where I would pause at intervals to admire my new corn row hairstyle. It wasn’t my fault you see.   Back then, October 1st was a huge deal. Smiles. Yeah, even though my only understanding of the significance of I

When I decided to start a blog, I didn't think it was going to be a stroll in the pack. Yeah, I know I am a lot of things, but delusional isn't one of them. So after my opening two posts post which garnered me quite a few comments (and had me feeling like some nouveau riche super star), major panic mode set in. What was I going to post next? How will I get inspiration? What if I have writer's block? (Seriously, I know one doesn't have to Chinua Achebe to have one). So, there I was, taking a walk round the beautiful Gwarinpa neighborhood and mentally dissecting recent issues hitting up the polity, when I found it- my muse. You know that feeling you get when you find something and you instinctively know you have to stop and take a second look? Well, this one was in the form of a small crowd gathered in front of this beautiful house. As I got closer, I imagined that probably someone had died because everyone was trying to talk at once, and you could catch the occ

Exactly what is wrong with us Igbos? These are the words screaming in my head ever since news of   the intra-deportation of some Igbos from Lagos to Anambra State broke some weeks back. My loud mental screams are not so much about the deportation act itself, as it is about the reaction of some Igbos to the issue. As we all know, there have been criticisms and reactions following   Fashola’s infamous deportation act.   While some are   patting Fashola on the back for a job well done:   others like   my Igbo brothers and sisters scream. ‘crucify him!’ Reading through comments on various social media sites, I saw comments such as, 'Lagos is a no man's land', 'Without Igbos, Lagos is finished', 'The Igbos developed Lagos', 'Fashola hates Igbos' ...etc. while every one is entitled to his/her own opinion on issues, I am very worried that the Igbos have refused to see  Fashola's action for what it really is- a wake up call.    We Igbos are

"You can't say you know a man until you know how he thinks" - Anya Oko The above quote is from my mentor, and I think it makes a whole lot of sense. Many times we say we know who this person or that person is. The question is, do we really? That friend, that neighbor, that colleague you say you know, are you sure you really do? Because until you know how someone thinks, you don't really know them that much. Notice I said, how someone thinks, and not what they think. Sometimes, we preempt what someone thinks and when it turns out to be right, we go, 'I said it! I know how you think'. Don't be too quick to gloat brah, you may have just been lucky. When you know how someone truly thinks, then you can start popping the champagne and dancing azonto to Inyanya's Kukere. Over the course of my life, I have heard people say things like, 'you are too complicated', 'you confuse me', 'I never know what you think, 'babe, you no