Through My Glasses

Once upon a time in secondary school, I was given an assignment to do and I did that assignment to the best of my knowledge expecting the highest of scores. Alas, when my assignment was returned, my expected score differed from my received score, the way Paul Pogba 's recent performances differ from the over £89M Manchester United paid for him. To say I was shocked is to understate the matter. I rushed off to my teacher to ask questions and I was told that 'I didn't use the teacher's exact words'. Does this sound familiar anybody? If we could all be honest, we would admit that at some point in our educational life in Nigeria, we have lost marks in an exam or a test for choosing to put our answers in our own words rather than use the teacher's exact words. There is a term for using another person's words verbatim. That term is 'plagiarism'. Last week, precisely on the 8th of September, President Buhari formally launched the #ChangeBeginsWit

Let’s face it, romantic novels can lie. Choi. Before there was Lai Mohammed, romance novel writers were the original lying liars. *looks around for DSS*. As someone who read her first Mills and Boon novel in Primary 5, and went on to read over 1,000 romantic novels (I kid you not) by the time she left High School in 2004, I believe I have earned the right to say this. During over 8-years romantic novel reading binge, I read everything from Mills and Boon, to all the different categories of Harlequin (Harlequin Super Romance, Harlequin American Romance, Harlequin Presents, Harlequin Medical Romance, etc). I sampled bad ass, extremely descriptive romance novel writers like Elaine Barbieri, Beverly Jenkins, Nicole Hawkins, Robyn DeHart, Adrienne de Wolfe. I read them all. Sometime in University, I finally gave up that romance novel addiction, because they pedaled nothing but L-I-E-S. And yours truly done had enough of them lies. Here are the common lies romantic novels sold to

An article on www.memefest.org titled ‘LoveAbuse’ has the following as its opening lines: Love: the strongest driving force on the planet. The most abused word in use today. The most inspiring mysterious concept. I agree totally with the second line. Lots of things get abused in the world today but I think this four letter word l-o-v-e easily takes top spot, without question. The evil and stupid things we do in the name of love are absolutely baffling. People blow up places and butcher people into tiny little bloody pieces because of the love they have for a deity. People abuse and maim those they say they love in the name of love. Love is often the reason given when a jealous lover disfigures the object of his/her love with undiluted acid. They love them too much to let them go, they say. People stay in toxic relationships because they are in love and do not want to be alone. It is this same love that makes two people with incompatible genotypes to take the ris

Nigerian hair salons are very interesting places. It is in hair salons that you get unabridged gists of who is sleeping with who, who snatched whose boyfriend, who has been battered black and blue by whose spouse but is still forming couple goals, whose sudden hot body is just N30,000 body magic and of course who is keeping up with the Joneses while pretending to be wallowing in cash. The stories are just endless. Some of these stories often have you shaking your head in utter disbelief. On this particular sunny Saturday afternoon, I strolled to a nearby salon to get my hair washed. While awaiting my turn, the discussion switched to wife materials and those who want to purchase them. This lady was sharing a story about how she visited her bobo for the first time. The bobo had spent several months asking her out before she succumbed to the plenty love and attention he showed her. Afterward, she accepted his invitation to visit him in his apartment. Then the story got interesting…

I battle it every day.... To go forward or not to go forward. To allow things be or to rock the boat. F.E.A.R. of the unknown. Of my thoughts. My feelings. My strengths and my abilities. MY inadequacies and my flaws. F.E.A.R. of stepping out of my comfort zone and stepping into the spotlight. Of emerging behind the humor and chivalry that has characterised my life. F.E.A.R of laying it all bare and confiding in another about my fears, hopes, aspirations, and dreams. The F.E.A.R that after all is said and done, I am just another random, ordinary being. F.E.A.R... Of falling for you. Of having you dominate my thoughts. Of getting protective and extremely jealous over you. Of getting too close to you and not wanting to leave. Of losing control. F.E.A.R of finally peeling off the layers upon layers of toughness and letting you see into the fragility that is my heart. F.E.A.R..... Of trying and failing. Of disappointment.

Knock Knock.. *Enters and clears cobwebs. Swallows a tickling sneeze. Not today catarrh* Mehn, it’s been a while on this blog. Sister girl has been so busy at work lately. Talk about maximum increase in stress levels. *Whew*. What can one do? That mega dough isn’t going to earn itself. Hope y’all have been doing great. If you are in Naija, how is the fuel price hike treating you? Omo, the price of fresh tomatoes is stroke-inducing. What????? I can't deal abeg. Stew has become a luxury in Nigeria. Who knew that day would ever come? Seriously, I have really missed writing my thoughts on this blog. Most importantly, I have missed engaging with all of you on this platform. So today, I decided to get a little personal. Okay scratch that….a promise of a brand new original Arsenal jersey was the deal breaker. But yea, for someone like me who abhors talking about herself, in anyway personal, this was a huge challenge. But of course when an Arsenal jersey is involved, I throw

I can't exactly remember when it was that I penned down my first list of things I wanted in my man/spouse. It was a long time ago (I think in my teen years) and I had just read this book that laid a lot of emphasis on writing down our expectations and desires. So, I took out a book and started writing... Omo, come see list. I wrote and wrote and wrote and asked for extra sheets. The guy had to be this and that and these and those. He had to have A and B and C and D. He had to do X, Y and Z. He mustn't do I, J, K, L and H. I wouldn't tolerate Q, U, V and W. The list went on and on and on.... In the entire list I wrote, there wasn't a single line that listed what I would bring to the table. In fact, it never occurred to me that I had to be bringing something too. I took it for granted that the damn guy would consider himself lucky that he was considered in the first place...lol. Chai, the things we think and do as kids. Thank God I sha received sense on time. And thank Go

Those who really know me know that I am actually a very private person. Forget my social media persona, I am really really PRIVATE. Yea, that private, especially with regards to affairs de Coeur. I have had people badger me to death to regale them with tales about who 'the lucky guy' is. When I post messages on relationships or love, the next thing that follows is a flurry of messages into my FB inbox and other social media platforms, asking for details. Some people assume that my posts on love and relationships are actually a cryptic message for HIM. Of course, I always play coy. Or at worst, I give them a simple LOL or its emoji equivalent. (We all know that lol is the easiest way to knock off a question you don't wanna answer. What? You didn't know? Ngwa, write 'thank you' on the comment section sharply). Anyways, back to the flaunting of relationships on social media. In simple terms, I am not a fan. I have said it severally on this platform that the only p

I met *Kane at a conference in Port Harcourt two years ago and we hit it off immediately. He was one of the speakers at the event and I was impressed with how he infused Christian perspectives to youth political engagement. I sought him out during the meet and greet and complimented him on an excellent presentation. We exchanged contacts and that was the beginning of our friendship. He was a Christian Youth Leader in the headquarters of his church and in his words, ‘a crazy Jesus lover who couldn’t imagine a life without Jesus’. I was impressed really. It wasn’t every day one met extremely good looking young men who weren’t ashamed to profess Jesus as their Lord and Savior. A few months into our friendship, Kane wanted us to begin dating. I didn’t think it was a bad idea. He was an enterprising, cute and intelligent young man who loved the Lord. Some feminine part of me was already ‘husband-zoning’ him. I totally saw him fitting that role perfectly. I am however not the sort of person

Gender equality (n): a social order in which men and women share the same opportunities and the same constraints in the economic, social and political realms of life. One week after the world celebrated the International Women’s Day 2016 tagged, ‘Pledge For Parity’, a Bill for an Act To Incorporate And Enhance Certain Provisions Of The United Nations Convention On The Elimination of All Forms Of Discrimination Against Women, The Protocol To The African Charter On Human And People’s Rights On The Rights Of Women in Africa And Other Matters (popularly known as the Gender and Equal Opportunity Bill), sponsored by Senator Abiodun Olujimi, who represents Ekiti South Senatorial District was presented on the floor of the Nigerian senate for its second reading. The bill seeks equal rights for women in marriage, education and job. It also seeks to open up discussion on issues around women’s right with regards to girl child education, economic activity, equal rights in marriage, divorce, l