Thought For Today

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM <chidi...@gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, June 7, 2021 11:09 AM

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Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Thought For Today

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Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM

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Jun 7, 2021, 12:35:29 PM6/7/21

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I remember Olu Falae telling a reporter in his NADECO days that he cannot in all conscience allow a newly married young man for example, to be in the NADECO protest front lines when people like him who have been married for decades are around.

-CAO.

On Monday, June 7, 2021, Harrow, Kenneth <har...@msu.edu> wrote:

i wanted to add to chidi's thought, older people are more likely to a stand than younger people, but not so much a stand in the street. i feel increasingly out of place in public demonstrations; but i take many many stands on line. i understand when there is a dangerous line, on-line. there are risks that might mean different things as we get older, and here i disagree most with oaa. it's not protecting what we have, so much, since as we get older, it becomes more protected in various ways, and what we have becomes increasingly our children and grandchildren whose health and finances become increasingly independent of us.

we are more protected by the state as we get older; but we are more vulnerable as well. it just isn't a simple formula

ken

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

517 803-8839

har...@msu.edu

From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM <chidi...@gmail.com>

Sent: Monday, June 7, 2021 11:09 AM

To: USA African Dialogue Series <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>

Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Thought For Today

The NADECO revolt of 1993/1994 was spearheaded by middle aged and old people.

-CAO.

On Mon, Jun 7, 2021, 3:09 PM Oluwatoyin Adepoju <ovde...@gmail.com> wrote:

the older people are less likely to rebel bcs they want to protect what they have achieved

On Mon, 7 Jun 2021 at 10:56, Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM <chidi...@gmail.com> wrote:

A Nigerian writes from abroad urging rebellion in Nigeria, no problem about that, only that his family is with him abroad. Does that ring a bell as per urging rebellion in Nigeria?

I am not against rebellion, but those urging rebellion should be ready to loose as much as the other participants.

For example, if I am participating in a rebellion with a youngster of early 20s, chances are that such youngster would loose much more than myself.

I do not need further formal education, the youngster does. I am married for 29 years now with grown children, the youngster isn't. I have made appreciable advancement in my careers, the youngster does not even have a career yet.

If both of us are killed or incacerated, who, in practical and realistic manner lost more?

The youngsters can join rebellion, but should be stationed in sectors where consequences are minimal.

-Chidi Anthony Opara (CAO)

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Chidi Anthony Opara is a Poet and Founder/Publisher of; PublicInformationProjects (www.publicinformationprojects.org)

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Toyin Falola

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Jun 7, 2021, 12:37:07 PM6/7/21

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Senior Chidi:

You don’t want a country!

Jesus Christ died for me!!

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM <chidi...@gmail.com>
Date: Monday, June 7, 2021 at 11:35 AM
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Thought For Today

I remember Olu Falae telling a reporter in his NADECO days that he cannot in all conscience allow a newly married young man for example, to be in the NADECO protest front lines when people like him who have been married for decades are around.

-CAO.

On Monday, June 7, 2021, Harrow, Kenneth <har...@msu.edu> wrote:

i wanted to add to chidi's thought, older people are more likely to a stand than younger people, but not so much a stand in the street. i feel increasingly out of place in public demonstrations; but i take many many stands on line. i understand when there is a dangerous line, on-line. there are risks that might mean different things as we get older, and here i disagree most with oaa. it's not protecting what we have, so much, since as we get older, it becomes more protected in various ways, and what we have becomes increasingly our children and grandchildren whose health and finances become increasingly independent of us.

we are more protected by the state as we get older; but we are more vulnerable as well. it just isn't a simple formula

ken

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

517 803-8839

har...@msu.edu

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM <chidi...@gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, June 7, 2021 11:09 AM
To: USA African Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Thought For Today

The NADECO revolt of 1993/1994 was spearheaded by middle aged and old people.

-CAO.

On Mon, Jun 7, 2021, 3:09 PM Oluwatoyin Adepoju <ovde...@gmail.com> wrote:

the older people are less likely to rebel bcs they want to protect what they have achieved

On Mon, 7 Jun 2021 at 10:56, Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM <chidi...@gmail.com> wrote:

A Nigerian writes from abroad urging rebellion in Nigeria, no problem about that, only that his family is with him abroad. Does that ring a bell as per urging rebellion in Nigeria?

I am not against rebellion, but those urging rebellion should be ready to loose as much as the other participants.

For example, if I am participating in a rebellion with a youngster of early 20s, chances are that such youngster would loose much more than myself.

I do not need further formal education, the youngster does. I am married for 29 years now with grown children, the youngster isn't. I have made appreciable advancement in my careers, the youngster does not even have a career yet.

If both of us are killed or incacerated, who, in practical and realistic manner lost more?

The youngsters can join rebellion, but should be stationed in sectors where consequences are minimal.

-Chidi Anthony Opara (CAO)

--
Chidi Anthony Opara is a Poet and Founder/Publisher of; PublicInformationProjects (www.publicinformationprojects.org)

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Oluwatoyin Adepoju

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Jun 7, 2021, 3:36:06 PM6/7/21

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may all protest as they are able.

ENDSARS was youth driven.

NADECO may have been middle age driven.

some can do street protests.

others can do keyboard protests.

all should pitch in as they can.

no one can legislate for another or prescribe for another.

just do your bit.

thanks

toyin

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Oluwatoyin Adepoju

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Jun 7, 2021, 3:36:21 PM6/7/21

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she was the voice of the final stand at lekki, the person who recorded and described the shooting of the protesters.

na wa for you chidi.

qs-what do you suggest we do about the twitter ban?

please respond. dont refuse to do so after counselling hiding from the govt.

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Harrow, Kenneth

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Jun 7, 2021, 3:37:34 PM6/7/21

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amen amen

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Oluwatoyin Adepoju <ovde...@gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, June 7, 2021 1:47 PM
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Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM

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Jun 7, 2021, 5:48:44 PM6/7/21

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Oluwatoyin,

EndSARS was a failure. The failure was inbuilt. They were not serious, just having fun. How can a group of serious protesters say that they do not have leaders, that they do not trust any of themselves?

Even at that, are there no persons of integrity in Nigeria they could appoint to negotiate on their behalf?

They were expecting United Nations. Would the whole body of United Nations come to Nigeria? Of course not. The United Nations would send a delegation, who would expect to meet with the government delegation and of course theirs. Were they expecting the United Nations delegation to come and negotiate with all the protesters at the toll gate?

The government made some concessions and called for dialogue, they would have commenced dialogue with the whole of their demands. The refusal to start dialogue casted them in the mould of trouble makers.

They were not strategic, they hoped that if they hold the Nigerian flag, that soldiers and security personnel would never shoot at them, thereby exposing crass ignorance of the type of soldiers and security personnel we have in Nigeria and of course in Africa.

They called their jamboree a revolution. How many successful revolutions were led by Disc Jockeys/musicians with music blaring and rice and chicken flying all over the place?

On the Twitter ban, I go with the tendency who opine that using Twitter is a fundamental human right as provided in the United Nations universal declaration of human rights of 1948.

The ban should be first resisted by people like you and I to test the waters, the youngsters can join later. I have been trying to tweet but Twitter is telling me that something went wrong, that I should give it another try later.

Thanks.

-CAO.

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OLAYINKA AGBETUYI

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Jun 7, 2021, 5:49:31 PM6/7/21

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This is far from certain. The older people are more likely to put in better perspective all they have fought for all their years, now being friterred away by gross ineptitude.

The ASUU president Professor Ogunyemi brought back a poignant reminder that all they fought for in the past which brought better remunerations in the 90s have now been frittered away so that a professor of 20 years standing now earns far less than the remunerations they fought for in the 90s so that such professors now earn just a paltry $1000 a month ( thanks to forced devaluation of the national currency due to the political ineptitude of successive administrations) compared to their diasporan contemporaries, that they have to sit their own university student wards and children who are getting struggle - weary down, and convince them why they ( the older adults) have to keep up the struggle, while their children are among the students forced to sit at home.

So this demonstrates the older generation may be prone to more struggle because they no longer have much to protect.

Also, I have had to remind my American Black students who do not take their studies seriously that their older adults fought for the rights to be in college which they treat with levity by oerennial class absenteeism.

OAA

Sent from my Galaxy

-------- Original message --------

From: Oluwatoyin Adepoju <ovde...@gmail.com>

Date: 07/06/2021 15:09 (GMT+00:00)

To: usaafricadialogue <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>

Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Thought For Today

This message is eligible for Automatic Cleanup! (ovde...@gmail.com) Add cleanup rule | More info

the older people are less likely to rebel bcs they want to protect what they have achieved

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Harrow, Kenneth

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Jun 7, 2021, 6:47:54 PM6/7/21

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dear oaa

your point is well taken. i was really thinking more from my corner in the states about the situation of old people in africa or elsewhere.

i also realize many in the states who survive on minimal income, especially after retirement, means more fragile circumstances.

ken

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

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Subject: RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Thought For Today

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Cornelius Hamelberg

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Jun 7, 2021, 8:25:54 PM6/7/21

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I picked up this update from the Facebook page of the person who is the proprietor of the world’s best Black Mag: Shola Adenekan: The New Black Magazine ( my opinion )

This is not science fiction: Facebook and Twitter are international bodies, are mega social media platforms which are not necessarily governed by Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which declares:

“Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”

And of course, that everyone includes Nigeria’s President Muhammdu Buhari , who is unfortunately taking a lot of flak just now , and the country is receiving a lot of unhealthy publicity, ironically with much of the sympathy going to the miscreants that President Buhari would like to deal with, in a proper manner. I still understand why he be censored by the hypocrites, for saying that he wants to break the bones of Boko Haram or anyone else that wants to take up arms against Nigeria, especially as another insurrection, as if history has taught us nothing.

Until this later twitter debacle, unarguably, freedom of the press is not foreign to Nigeria - in the olden days there was the example of Dele Giwa. Yes, the olden days, nothing like that now...

But, the way things are going now, should things get worse – continue in the same trajectory, it’s unlikely that there will be any peaceful, free and fair elections by 2023. To begin with, if the security situation deteriorates, there will be no alternative but to declare a state of emergency where necessary, and should large areas succumb to lawlessness, wanton banditry, terrorism and anarchy, the powers that be will have no alternative but to declare martial law and to postpone the elections indefinitely...

There are many forces at work, simultaneously, and their main aim is to create the conditions that will topple the current Buhari Administration, first and foremost by making Nigeria “ungovernable”, and, if the Buhari Government doesn’t do anything about containing the general lawlessness and anarchy by which the rebels want to usurp Government authority, then de facto it would be fait accompli – the legitimate government authority would have been replaced by the bandits, a legitimate, democratically elected government displaced and replaced by banditry. If we’re not careful, in Nigeria’s Northern hemisphere, Boko Haram's caliphate flag raised over Abuja, in the East, the House of the Rising Sun, another flag will be blowin’ in the wind and gathering sympathy and fanatical support for their cause from all corners of Nigeria, the Diaspora and even internationally, whilst in the West ( Western Nigeria) the moment the conflict between the Federal Government and their Security Authorities ( the military?) and what looks like the beginnings of the Southern Governors Confederacy - the moment that begins to escalates on the thorny issue of SECURITY for the South – at that very moment, if the need to keep the country one is not a dream , before it sinks into a nightmare, most importantly of course, the central government would like to secure the economic lifeblood of the nation, namely the oil rich delta and obvert the possibility of a Sea blockade of the North, should push come to shove, long before people like Kalabari Brother Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari starts getting some funny ideas such as declaring their own sovereignty over the Oil Rich Niger Delta and raising their own flag of secession over all of their oil deposits over there and to hell with the idea that “All the land in Nigeria belongs to the Fulani”

This evening, Baba Kadiri told me that what we are seeing are the symptoms, not the cause/s

“But the enemy I see wears a cloak of decency” - this line and the liens before and after it can’t help coming to mind when I read the Great Ojogbon Falola quipping

“Senior Chidi:

You don’t want a country!

Jesus Christ died for me!!”

And then there are other brave souls like Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju – either brave or foolhardy, because some people love their country in a foolhardy way, such as when - to hell with personal consequences , someone defiantly issues the following statement , maybe as an act of Civil Courage and self sacrifice: “Calling all Nigerians to Defy Twitter Ban in the Name of Democratic Freedom”

Biko, him no fear God?

But it is not a call to arms, to face the wrath of the Buhari Government; at this stage of defiance it is merely some lame, keyboard jihad to be conducted via the social media, not about actually taking to the streets in their hundreds of thousands calling for regime change - via democratic elections, to elect either a better or a worse set of leaders.

This is already much longer than I intended and so, I should just like to add , in reply to Chidi ,Kenneth, and Oluwatoyin, that in the realm of the living, there are the old, the older, the young ( like my late grandmother nee Maud Young and another dear now late great friend Izzy Young) there are the also the Middle aged, the in-between and most spectacularly in Nigeria we should not lose sight of the facts on the ground with regard to the age distribution of the population, that “half of the population is aged under 19 years.” Somebody please tell us what percentage of the population is under 30 and under 40, and under 45 years of age. What's certain is that the unemployed youths, the army of the unemployed will be those who are most likely to be out demonstrating as that singer sang, “You got nothing to lose,to lose, to lose, to lose, to lose” - and what do you think the long-suffering, traumatised, unemployed youths want from their government?

Long way to go! This is where we are going with Sweden right now, the latest proposal from our Prime Minister Stefan Lofven ; https://www.facebook.com/stefanlofven

“Now we are conducting the biggest security reform in the Swedish labor market in modern times. Workers, regardless of their employment form, will have the opportunity for conversion support and study support to change and further educate themselves throughout their working life. At the same time, we strengthen the employment protection for those with unsafe employment.

The state and the social partners are now taking a joint comprehensive grip on both the employment protection and the education policy. This lays a completely new foundation for security, change and lifelong learning in the Swedish labor market. The reforms mean that:

- A new study support is introduced that makes it much easier to educate yourself in the middle of life and represents 80 percent of the salary for the most. The support is aimed at training that strengthens the individual's position in the labor market. For example, you can get support for reading a nurse or reading an educational education to become a professional teacher on the vehicle program. In addition, it will be possible to read most of all vocational college educations, which we know is close to the labor market. -

More will be helped to change when the employment is about to end. A new conversion aid is introduced for employees who are not covered by collective agreements. Whether you are working full-time or part-time – are a fixed-term employee - you will have the opportunity to receive conversion support when the employment is about to cease.

- The employment protection is strengthened for those with precarious jobs. Anyone who works part-time in healthcare is employed via a staffing company at a warehouse or is store assistant in grocery shopping should be entitled to a safe employment. Now there is an end to eternal fixed-term employment. It should no longer be possible to stack precarious employment on each other and the time for a permanent employment from a fixed-term employment is halved. We put a stop to the possibility of lowering working hours from one day to another, so-called planing. The rules of the tour order and conversion time will be followed in the future also when it comes to working hours. And now full-time is written as a norm into the Employment Protection Act (LAS).

As in all negotiations, it is about giving and taking. In this case, the employer has gained greater predictability and flexibility, among other things through increased opportunities for exemptions from the turn order. But overall, this means a balanced change of LAS. And this in a parliamentary position where right-wing proposals have strong support in the parliament for unilateral deterioration for wage earners and weaker union.

With today's message, we make a clear choice of roads. Sweden will continue to compete with competence, security and high conversion ability. Not with low wages.”

Oluwatoyin Adepoju

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Jun 7, 2021, 8:26:10 PM6/7/21

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To Chidi on the notion of ENDSARS as a failure-

If social change were to be organised in terms of a group of people deciding who should protest first, change would not happen.

One of the world's most prominent climate change campaigners is a teenager, Greta Thunberg. Going by your style of thinking, she should leave such campaigns for adults and restrict herself to schooling. Is school not demanding enough?

One of the most prominent campaigners for women's rights in the then Taliban Pakistani controlled region of Swat was Malala Yousafzai, who survived a Taliban assassination attempt at 15 in her struggle for women's education, the award to her of the Nobel Peace Prize at 17 making her the youngest ever Nobel laurate.

Going by your kind of logic, she should have avoided such dangerous advocacy in the face of radical Islamists who have little regard for women's rights and perhaps leave the job to men, since her being a woman and a young woman, for that matter, put her in great danger.

Your honest statement on your inability to access Twitter evokes the limitations of your understanding of the intersection of technology, leadership style and impactful advocacy through which ENDSARS has forever reshaped the Nigerian mindscape and its social, economic and political future.

It also suggests the limitations of your grasp of the current social media and technology battlefield. You are operating in terms of a gerontocratic, prescriptive leadership model that indicates those operating that model need to be led, not to be leaders.

You cant access Twitter, you say.

Have you tried Googling how to bypass Twitter blocks?

Does the suggestion that you have not done that and read the various, readily accessible info on how to bypass this block not evoke the question of how attuned you are to the fact that we now live in a world alive with information at a level never before known in history?

Yet, you are insisting people like you should be the ones to first ''test the waters.''

When the Nigerian govt blocked donations to ENDSARS protesters' bank accounts, they successfully switched to BitCoin. This calibre of anti-govt maneuvers may have become possible in Nigeria only in the last five years, yet you expect that people who grew up before the computerization of bank accounts or whose most sophisticated exposure to currency transactions is the now traditional electronic banking model emerging in Nigeria in the past ten years should lead what is unfolding as a technology centred movement against repressive govt, with the Twitter ban being the govt striking back at the central medium through which which ENDSARS was mobilized and publicized.

ENDSARS represents a fundamental change in Nigerian history. Its foundational reorientations of Nigerian possibility can never die. The dinosaur brigade of Nigerian politico/economic management is dead, its death sealed by the lives of martyred ENDSARS protesters. This death is unfolding, though those who run the system do not know it.

In a system where public management is equivalent to to legalized appropriation of the wealth of the majority by the leading few, compounded by corrupt enrichment by that few, leading to poverty of the generality, a group of youth sustained a movement in which food was freely shared, those in need cared for through medical care and money to start businesses, as the Feminist Coalition, a group of young women, ran the donations and delivered on a daily basis the accounts of the monies received and monies spent, at the end of the exercise working out how to use for charity what was left, in a country where women still need visibility in politics as primary system managers and where, in spite of significant progress, they are still not adequately empowered, all this achieved through deft management of advanced technologies in a non-industrialized nation and through a movement that eschewed traditional leadership models since these are readily corrupted in the Nigerian polity.

ENDSARS, particularly the Lekki centre of the movement, showed us the potential of Nigeria, particularly its youth, and particularly in Southern Nigeria, a distinction that needs to be made in the light of the differences of response to ENDSARS in both regions. The North localized the protest to ending banditry while in the South it expanded to a demand for a reworking of the entire parasitic political system, even as the Southern momentum was not replicated in the North as the Northern elders collectively denounced ENDSARS as a quest for regime change-of their ethno-religious son-even as some Southern civil society and most Southern political leaders, realizing something unusually powerful was afoot, cleverly maintained a self preserving silence with an eye on history, allowing the Lekki massacre to take place and kept silence, in the spirit of self preservation whatever the outcome would be. Those unwise enough to speak agst ENDSARS were speedily shown to have better kept silence.

ENDSARS, particularly in its Lekki expression, is the future of Nigeria. It was a mini-nation, where people had fun in the midst of serious business, where religious leaders, even the Catholic church, offered their spiritual services, where entertainers performed for free in the spirit of collective aspiration for a superior nation.

Political and civil society leaders from various parts of the world openly gave their support to the movement, indicating a shift of symbolic power from the traditional govt to this revolutionary movement, a shift that is likely to have galvanized the fed govt to dismantle the Lekki centre of the protests through military massacre.

Whatever the govt had to offer was to be spoken to the world and the protesters would respond. They had demonstrated ability to clearly articulate their demands and did not special representatives in a country where money often speaks louder than conscience.

The naïve belief in the sanctity of their lives as ENDSARS protesters as protected by the symbolism of the Nigerian flag indicated they did not witness the iconic anti-govt protests of most of Nigeria's history in which youth played central roles- Anti-SAP, Ali-Must-Go etc and in which the bloodthirsty wickedness of Nigerian govt was in display in mobilizing the also oppressed police and army to suppress their fellow oppressed people in a replication of colonial strategy.

That naivete, however, suggests faith in an idea, the idea of Nigeria, an idea spat upon by the state and fed govts that murdered the protesters simply for demanding for a better life for all Nigerians in the face of poverty of material well being, poverty of opportunity and poverty of vision.

Such faith in nationhood, not the bloodstained opportunism of the like of Buhari in his ethno-centric enabling one Nigeria rhetoric, is the future of Nigeria. ENDSARS gave me faith again in Nigeria, a Nigeria where people can decide how they want to live, even if not as one nation.

thanks

toyin

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/CABTLsgj4vZs%3D%3DVrkXgASbg4ra6zHmS8d-VHQiTNUWq2j72yT0A%40mail.gmail.com.

Oluwatoyin Adepoju

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Jun 7, 2021, 8:26:24 PM6/7/21

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Edited

To Chidi on the notion of ENDSARS as a failure-

If social change were to be organised in terms of a group of people deciding who should protest first, change would not happen.

One of the world's most prominent climate change campaigners is a teenager, Greta Thunberg. Going by your style of thinking, she should leave such campaigns for adults and restrict herself to schooling. Is school not demanding enough?

One of the most prominent campaigners for women's rights in the then Taliban Pakistani controlled region of Swat was Malala Yousafzai, who survived a Taliban assassination attempt at 15 in her struggle for women's education, the award to her of the Nobel Peace Prize at 17 making her the youngest ever Nobel laureate.

Going by your kind of logic, she should have avoided such dangerous advocacy in the face of radical Islamists who have little regard for women's rights and perhaps leave the job to men, since her being a woman and a young woman, for that matter, put her in great danger.

Your honest statement on your inability to access Twitter evokes the limitations of your understanding of the intersection of technology, leadership style and impactful advocacy through which ENDSARS has forever reshaped the Nigerian mindscape and its social, economic and political future.

It also suggests the limitations of your grasp of the current social media and technology battlefield. You are operating in terms of a gerontocratic, prescriptive leadership model that indicates those operating that model need to be led, not to be leaders.

You cant access Twitter, you say.

Have you tried Googling how to bypass Twitter blocks?

Does the suggestion that you have not done that and read the various, readily accessible info on how to bypass this block not evoke the question of how attuned you are to the fact that we now live in a world alive with information at a level never before known in history?

Yet, you are insisting people like you should be the ones to first ''test the waters.''

When the Nigerian govt blocked donations to ENDSARS protesters' bank accounts, they successfully switched to BitCoin. This calibre of anti-govt maneuvers may have become possible in Nigeria only in the last five years, yet you expect that people who grew up before the computerization of bank accounts or whose most sophisticated exposure to currency transactions is the now traditional electronic banking model emerging in Nigeria in the past ten years should lead what is unfolding as a technology centred movement against repressive govt, with the Twitter ban being the govt striking back at the central medium through which which ENDSARS was mobilized and publicized.

ENDSARS represents a fundamental change in Nigerian history. Its foundational reorientations of Nigerian possibility can never die. The dinosaur brigade of Nigerian politico/economic management is dead, its death sealed by the lives of martyred ENDSARS protesters. This death is unfolding, though those who run the system do not know it.

In a system where public management is equivalent to to legalized appropriation of the wealth of the majority by the leading few, compounded by corrupt enrichment by that few, leading to poverty of the generality, a group of youth sustained a movement in which food was freely shared, those in need cared for through medical care and money to start businesses, as the Feminist Coalition, a group of young women, ran the donations and delivered on a daily basis the accounts of the monies received and monies spent, at the end of the exercise working out how to use for charity what was left, in a country where women still need visibility in politics as primary system managers and where, in spite of significant progress, they are still not adequately empowered, all this achieved through deft management of advanced technologies in a non-industrialized nation and through a movement that eschewed traditional leadership models since these are readily corrupted in the Nigerian polity.

ENDSARS, particularly the Lekki centre of the movement, showed us the potential of Nigeria, particularly its youth, and particularly in Southern Nigeria, a distinction that needs to be made in the light of the differences of response to ENDSARS in both regions. The North localized the protest to ending banditry while in the South it expanded to a demand for a reworking of the entire parasitic political system, even as the Southern momentum was not replicated in the North as the Northern elders collectively denounced ENDSARS as a quest for regime change-of their ethno-religious son-even as some Southern civil society and most Southern political leaders, realizing something unusually powerful was afoot, cleverly maintained a self preserving silence with an eye on history, allowing the Lekki massacre to take place and kept silence, in the spirit of self preservation whatever the outcome would be. Those unwise enough to speak agst ENDSARS were speedily shown to have better kept silence.

ENDSARS, particularly in its Lekki expression, is the future of Nigeria. It was a mini-nation, where people had fun in the midst of serious business, where religious leaders, even the Catholic church, offered their spiritual services, where entertainers performed for free in the spirit of collective aspiration for a superior nation.

Political and civil society leaders from various parts of the world openly gave their support to the movement, indicating a shift of symbolic power from the traditional govt to this revolutionary movement, a shift that is likely to have galvanized the fed govt to dismantle the Lekki centre of the protests through military massacre.

Whatever the govt had to offer was to be spoken to the world and the protesters would respond. They had demonstrated ability to clearly articulate their demands and did not need special representatives in a country where money often speaks louder than conscience.

The naïve belief in the sanctity of their lives as ENDSARS protesters as protected by the symbolism of the Nigerian flag indicated they did not witness the iconic anti-govt protests of most of Nigeria's history in which youth played central roles- Anti-SAP, Ali-Must-Go etc and in which the bloodthirsty wickedness of Nigerian govt was in display in mobilizing the also oppressed police and army to suppress their fellow oppressed people in a replication of colonial strategy.

That naivete, however, suggests faith in an idea, the idea of Nigeria, an idea spat upon by the state and fed govts that murdered the protesters simply for demanding a better life for all Nigerians in the face of poverty of material well being, poverty of opportunity and poverty of vision.

Such faith in nationhood, not the bloodstained opportunism of the likes of Buhari in his ethno-centric enabling one Nigeria rhetoric, is the future of Nigeria. ENDSARS gave me faith again in Nigeria, a Nigeria where people can decide how they want to live, even if not as one nation.

thanks

toyin

Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM

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Jun 8, 2021, 3:24:30 AM6/8/21

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Oluwatoyin,

You have gone way off the mark.

What type of protest are Malala and Greta involved in? What are the risk factors? Would you realistically compare the Malala and Greta type of Protest with confronting ill trained, trigger happy security and military personnel on the streets of Lagos for example?

You brought in issues that has no relevance to to my points to try and buttress your academic argument.

Is it my inability or my reluctance to seek ways to bypass Twitter ban?

I can download any version of VPN on Google App shop and use that to circumvent the ban for example, I don't need to search that on Google or on any internet search platform. I would however never use VPN because of safety concerns.

Are you suggesting that someone like me who started using social media from the years of "Myspace" and have been publishing on the web since 2007 does not know how to use Google search?

Haba Oluwatoyin!

-CAO.

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Cornelius Hamelberg

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Jun 8, 2021, 3:24:36 AM6/8/21

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Correction: Should read :” I still can’t understand why he (Brother Buhari) should be censored by the hypocrites, for saying that he wants to break the bones of Boko Haram or anyone else that wants to take up arms against Nigeria, especially as another insurrection, as if history has taught us nothing.”

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Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM

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Jun 8, 2021, 7:06:57 AM6/8/21

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To my Igbo brothers and sisters:

Onye huru okuku na avo nshi, ya chuoya, oweghi onye ma onye gi taa agbirigba ukwu ya(Igbo proverb)

Translation:

If you see a fowl scattering shit with its leg, pursue it because nobody knows who will eat that leg.

-CAO.

Oluwatoyin Adepoju

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Jun 8, 2021, 7:07:12 AM6/8/21

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Malala was not involved in a dangerous protest, as you claim, yet survived an asssisination attempt by the Taliban.

You are canvassing an age centred approach to protest, thus Greta example is relevant to your claims.

You can use a browser such as Tor to bypass the Twitter ban. There are various ways.

Its good to know you have been online for a long time. Thus, perhaps you might realise a more realistic approach is that of urging Nigerians to massively defy the Twitter ban, thereby making it difficult for the govt to prosecute the scope of breach rather than urging older people to ''test the waters'' waters of seeing if its safe to defy the govt, thereby defeating the purpose in the first place.

You claimed EndSars was a failure. I responded to all your points in support of this claim, demonstrating the limitations of your understanding of that movement.

thanks

toyin

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/CABTLsghiSN%3D7dwra709Y5JgN%3Dx4UDYT-M1w0VMuYx8Bj-eyrcQ%40mail.gmail.com.

Oluwatoyin Adepoju

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Jun 8, 2021, 7:07:29 AM6/8/21

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Cornelius,

you need to read more analyses of the subject.

this one could be useful - ''Buhari: Tweeting Asaba Massacre On The Road To Rwanda,'' By Festus Adedayo

thanks

toyin

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/CAFYPD-TYAjL5NPnP-hDXLWtAfXP-tmhRR0SO3D%3DGELrM9oW%3D-w%40mail.gmail.com.

Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM

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Jun 8, 2021, 7:30:54 AM6/8/21

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Oluwatoyin,

Malala was not kidnapped and raped by ISIS during a protest. She was not even an activist prior to her kidnap and rape. It was her ordeal that motivated her activism.

Greta's is white collar activism. The risks are minimal and not fatal.

I am weary of using most browsers for safety reasons.

-CAO.

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Oluwatoyin Adepoju

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Jun 8, 2021, 7:48:40 AM6/8/21

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You need to be better informed on Malala. Try Wikipedia.

She was doing the very online activism you are counselling Nigerian youth against engaging in, in response to which the Taliban tried to assassinate her.

Going by your stance, Greta could be confined to school so as not to risk her education.

Toyim

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OLAYINKA AGBETUYI

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Jun 8, 2021, 5:26:48 PM6/8/21

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Oga Cornelius.

People deliberately want to interpret any attack on miscreant Igbo as attack on ALL Igbo as if there is no Igbo in his government. That means all Igbo are either perfect or all evil.

Its like saying by fighting Boko Haram ( no matter how unsuccessfully) Buhari is fighting all Northerners of which he is a part simply because he is reported to have goofed in the past by stating that an attack on Boko Haram is an attack on the North.

OAA

Sent from my Galaxy

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From: Cornelius Hamelberg <cornelius...@gmail.com>

Date: 08/06/2021 08:24 (GMT+00:00)

https://www.gistmania.com/talk/topic,335043.0.html

Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Thought For Today

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Correction: Should read :” I still can’t understand why he (Brother Buhari) should be censored by the hypocrites, for saying that he wants to break the bones of Boko Haram or anyone else that wants to take up arms against Nigeria, especially as another insurrection, as if history has taught us nothing.”

On Tue, 8 Jun 2021 at 02:25, Cornelius Hamelberg <cornelius...@gmail.com> wrote:

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Cornelius Hamelberg

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Jun 8, 2021, 5:43:38 PM6/8/21

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Brave Soul,

Bearing in mind that he’s still very much what you call a “Buharist” (Buhari loyalist) please continue to feel free to say to Cornelius Ignoramus, “you need to read more analyses of the subject” just as you say to Chidi, “You need to be better informed on Malala. Try Wikipedia.”

BTW, I think that I have to read more of the Talmud.

I have just checked your reference and come to the conclusion that one has to read these kinds of emotion-driven theses or so called “analyses”, critically, not just take everything in, hook, line and sinker. Who does he think he is writing for/ speaking to? Not only is your man obviously emotion-driven but in his first person witness testimony in the name of verisimilitude he also tries ( painstakingly) to create the emotional effects. Assuming that all that he says is true, beginning with his melodramatic “Like a suicide bomber ready to sacrifice his life, I slid into the Nigerian war theatre last week” and his other exaggerations such as “ I was in Igboland where the second Nigerian civil war, unbeknown to many, has begun in earnest”. (is that what Brother Buhari was complaining about, in earnest?) the piece, littered as it is with many, well-intended but wholly unsuccessful ad misericordiams, limp emotional effects and puerile attempts such as the extended, unimaginative bit about ““Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Seas” only succeed in showing what a bombastic egoistical sod he himself is - and once again – assuming that all that he says is true, the unsuccessful “effects” do not subtract or distract from the brutal facts, in fact, on the contrary, the literary failures make the brutality of the butchering even more heart-wrenching - poignant, wherever they occur or are said to have occurred.

Today’s BBC’s Focus on Africa reports that the Twitter Ban is being circumvented but nonetheless is impacting business, with losses to the tune of $6 million a day (since it’s the BBC, maybe they said £Sterling. Six million.

The program also reported that the Ghanaian LGBT people who were detained a few weeks ago have been denied jail...should this happen in Nigeria the Oyibo people will be foaming at the mouth and pointing an accusing finger at you know who – connecting it with the Twitter Ban, adding it as one more repressive measure: “look at how repressive his regime has become, people are not even free to love who they like.” and maybe posting this kind of message.

A reconsideration: After banning, getting too big for their boots, Twitter now believes that there’s nothing that they cannot do. Mind you though, they didn't ban President Buhari, they just (no respect) unceremoniously deleted his tweet.

Does Twitter need President Buhari more than President Buhari needs Twitter?

Is it just another case of “when elephants fight, it’s the grass that suffers” – the grass in this case being you, Festus Adebayo (I hope both of you don’t get arrested) the Nigerian people, the African people + Kenneth Harrow, human, humane, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Honorary African

Curragh of Kildare (Live)

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OLAYINKA AGBETUYI

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Jun 8, 2021, 11:07:19 PM6/8/21

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I used to lump CAO and Toyin Adepoju together in the same mould in the past.

This is deeply regretted. I can see now that there is a gulf of difference.

OAA

Sent from my Galaxy

-------- Original message --------

From: "Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM" <chidi...@gmail.com>

Date: 08/06/2021 12:12 (GMT+00:00)

To: USA African Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>

Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Thought For Today

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To my Igbo brothers and sisters:

Onye huru okuku na avo nshi, ya chuoya, oweghi onye ma onye gi taa agbirigba ukwu ya(Igbo proverb)

Translation:

If you see a fowl scattering shit with its leg, pursue it because nobody knows who will eat that leg.

-CAO.

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Cornelius Hamelberg

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Jun 8, 2021, 11:08:56 PM6/8/21

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Lord Agbetuyi,

The Ignorance extends well beyond Nigeria's borders.

The Igbos are very sensitive to criticism. In that regard, they are like the Jews and the Mende of Sierra Leone. If only the Igbos could coin a powerful, all encompassing blanket term like “anti-Semitism” to fit so many occasions, situations, then criticize one of them and they will accuse you of “Igbophilia”, and as the feeling of clannishness grows, it gets to the point where they may believe and feel (strongly) that an attack on one (just one) of them is an attack on all of them, some kind of collective self-defence.

They would, if they could, first of all define “Igbophilia” with greater precision - and within a legal framework, make Igbophilia a criminal offence, impose heavy fines for any violations, have the magistrates and high court judges send their critics to long periods in jail for vile Igbophilia.

2017 : Nnamdi Kano on al Jazeera

No joking matter. Just as the Jews & world Jewry suffered the Holocaust, so too the Igbos also feel that they suffered their own holocaust/ genocide in the Biafra War and the feeling of difference and victimhood lingers and persists – without reparations . If we are not careful should the shit begin to hit the fan, once again they could soon be a persecuted minority outside of Igboland proper, especially in the North where the sharp religious differences are now politicized beyond belief. The Buhari Twitter debacle is a clear warning that has been given international publicity that any Biafra insurrection will be hammered – suppressed with an iron fist.

The last time I got to understand how much alive the dream of Biafra is in the hearts of pro- Biafrans was when Chigozie Obioma was in Stockholm on 11^th April 2016 to discuss his “The Fishermen” with Nina Solomin at the Kulturhuset. I had an extra ticket to the event which I gave to my Igbo Bro and after the show my Igbo Bro and I went up to the stage to greet him , briefly. On the way to the station, inevitably my Igbo Bro and I discussed Biafra , a theme that had been taken up earlier in Obioma’s discussion with Nina Solomin. It got to the point where I said that I didn’t want to see any death and destruction, and he got very angry, more or less saying what Professor Falola said a while ago, that “The sacrifice of suffering and the suffering of sacrifice are the ingredients of transformation” - and that I had hurt his feelings deeply, that Biafra must be free!

I say my Igbo Bro – I haven’t given his name, for obvious reasons.

Baba Kadiri knows better, but I believe that there is tremendous support for Biafra, among the Swedes that I have met so far in and out of this country ( Sweden) . The only misunderstanding that I’m aware of is that most Swedes - by a general comparisons infinitely better informed than Americans ( US) about almost everything, still get it wrong about Nigeria, believing that on the one hand you have the Igbos and they are the most educated , the most talented, like Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie,& women’s rights, feminism etc.,, the Igbos are the most entrepreneurial, the most Christianised people in Nigeria, and that at the same time they are the most oppressed, suppressed, marginalised, victimized and that it is they, the Igbos that have all the oil in Nigeria in their enclave known as Biafra whilst the Muslim North are the bloodthirsty Boko Haram People, the bloodsuckers...

And the Yoruba? They believe that O the Yoruba, they are Art, Sculpture and Culture : Wole Soyinka & King Sunny Ade & the Benin Bronzes, that’s what they know or think they know...

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Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM

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Jun 9, 2021, 4:38:56 AM6/9/21

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"I used to lump CAO and Toyin Adepoju together in the same mould in the past.

This is deeply regretted. I can see now that there is a gulf of difference"-OAA

OAA,

Oluwatoyin and myself have some similarities.

He is Critical and Independent minded. As for me, you know who and what I am.

There are also differences.

-CAO.

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Cornelius Hamelberg

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Jun 9, 2021, 4:38:56 AM6/9/21

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Sorry, not Igbophilia but Igbophobia

OLAYINKA AGBETUYI

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Jun 9, 2021, 4:38:57 AM6/9/21

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The truth Festus Adebayo refused to tell as he panders to the whims of the Igbo nationalists is that Kagara succeeded in burying the Rwanda past because all Rwandans wanted it buried and there are no equivalents of Biafranists who wanted to relive the past and restage the war all over again with unending recriminations against their erstwhile antagonists. It was not Kagara's handiwork alone.

If Buhari made it an offence to be called Igbo, or Fulani or Yoruba but only Nigerians as was decreed in Rwanda, the accusers of Buhari the dictator General would have an eternal field day stating, ' we told you so!'

OAA

Sent from my Galaxy

-------- Original message --------

From: Cornelius Hamelberg <cornelius...@gmail.com>

Date: 08/06/2021 22:49 (GMT+00:00)

The Biafrans still want their state.

Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Thought For Today

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Brave Soul,

Bearing in mind that he’s still very much what you call a “Buharist” (Buhari loyalist) please continue to feel free to say to Cornelius Ignoramus, “you need to read more analyses of the subject” just as you say to Chidi, “You need to be better informed on Malala. Try Wikipedia.”

BTW, I think that I have to read more of the Talmud.

I have just checked your reference and come to the conclusion that one has to read these kinds of emotion-driven theses or so called “analyses”, critically, not just take everything in, hook, line and sinker. Who does he think he is writing for/ speaking to? Not only is your man obviously emotion-driven but in his first person witness testimony in the name of verisimilitude he also tries ( painstakingly) to create the emotional effects. Assuming that all that he says is true, beginning with his melodramatic “Like a suicide bomber ready to sacrifice his life, I slid into the Nigerian war theatre last week” and his other exaggerations such as “ I was in Igboland where the second Nigerian civil war, unbeknown to many, has begun in earnest”. (is that what Brother Buhari was complaining about, in earnest?) the piece, littered as it is with many, well-intended but wholly unsuccessful ad misericordiams, limp emotional effects and puerile attempts such as the extended, unimaginative bit about ““Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Seas” only succeed in showing what a bombastic egoistical sod he himself is - and once again – assuming that all that he says is true, the unsuccessful “effects” do not subtract or distract from the brutal facts, in fact, on the contrary, the literary failures make the brutality of the butchering even more heart-wrenching - poignant, wherever they occur or are said to have occurred.

Today’s BBC’s Focus on Africa reports that the Twitter Ban is being circumvented but nonetheless is impacting business, with losses to the tune of $6 million a day (since it’s the BBC, maybe they said £Sterling. Six million.

The program also reported that the Ghanaian LGBT people who were detained a few weeks ago have been denied jail...should this happen in Nigeria the Oyibo people will be foaming at the mouth and pointing an accusing finger at you know who – connecting it with the Twitter Ban, adding it as one more repressive measure: “look at how repressive his regime has become, people are not even free to love who they like.” and maybe posting this kind of message.

A reconsideration: After banning, getting too big for their boots, Twitter now believes that there’s nothing that they cannot do. Mind you though, they didn't ban President Buhari, they just (no respect) unceremoniously deleted his tweet.

Does Twitter need President Buhari more than President Buhari needs Twitter?

Is it just another case of “when elephants fight, it’s the grass that suffers” – the grass in this case being you, Festus Adebayo (I hope both of you don’t get arrested) the Nigerian people, the African people + Kenneth Harrow, human, humane, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Honorary African

Curragh of Kildare (Live)

On Tue, 8 Jun 2021 at 13:07, Oluwatoyin Adepoju <ovde...@gmail.com> wrote:

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Oluwatoyin Adepoju

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Jun 9, 2021, 1:03:20 PM6/9/21

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Wow, CAO.

I'm deeply honoured.

May I truly be as you describe me.

Toyin

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Oluwatoyin Adepoju

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Jun 9, 2021, 3:17:12 PM6/9/21

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The anti-Igbo positions do not seem to discriminate in the way being suggested by Agbetuyi and Cornelius.

How much do Igbo spare parts dealers have in common with Fulani herdsmen terrorists and kidnappers?

Yet Attorney General Malami equates them.

Are all Igbo part of IPOB?

Yet a coalition of Northern groups recently declared that Igbos should leave the North beceause they share IPOB's sececionist agenda and are complicit in drug abuse in the North, using that as a strategy for causing social breakdown in the North.

Or did you guys not read those declarations?

Try as hard as you like, you will eventually have to come face to face with the reality of the worst govt in Nigerian history- the Buhari govt.

The Fulani herdsmen militia terrorist internal colonisation agenda is at last steadily unfolding in the SW, Buhari's allies.

When it ravaged the Middle Belt, "intellectual"efforts were made to deny the reality, even in the face of Miyetti Allah's sponsorship of what is an effect a continuation of the Fulani jihad.

By God's grace, we are all still here and will still be as events unfold.

Toyin

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Cornelius Hamelberg

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Jun 10, 2021, 2:30:25 PM6/10/21

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The truth is that there are many truths that Festus Adebayo playing the role of devil’s advocate is reluctant to reveal, “as he panders to the whims of the Igbo nationalists”

Absolutely not funny: His silly ad hominems directed at President Muhammadu Buhari.

Since when did Nigeria’s twice democratically elected President Buhari deserve to be mocked and given these titles once given to Idi Amin?

The most heinous distortion of all is Festus Adebayo’s revisionist account of what happened at Asaba which has been rejected and serially clarified before, by Baba Kadiri (ogunlakaiye), in this forum

In South Africa there was The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a matter on which Wole Soyinka reflects so profoundly in the first chapter of his The Burden of Memory, the Muse of Forgiveness

For Sierra Leone, it was The Special Court and a Truth and Reconciliation Commission

How does one begin to compare and contrast Biafra from then to now with the Rwanda Genocide and its aftermath?

Boko Haram of course, wants all of Nigeria and maybe all of Palestine as well

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Uyilawa Usuanlele

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Jun 10, 2021, 2:31:02 PM6/10/21

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Hello Sir Cornelius,

You wrote that :"They believe that O the Yoruba, they are Art, Sculpture and Culture : Wole Soyinka & King Sunny Ade & the Benin Bronzes, that’s what they know or think they know..." Permit me to correct you, please. Benin Bronzes are Edo Bronzes and not Yoruba. They are different and you can talk of Ife Bronzes as Yoruba. Thanks.

Uyilawa

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Cornelius Hamelberg <cornelius...@gmail.com>
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Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM

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Jun 10, 2021, 2:57:09 PM6/10/21

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M.K.O Abiola's emergence as the Social Democratic Party (SDP)Presidential candidate in the June 12th 1993 Presidential election, a prelude to his purported winning of the election was undemocratic and so illegitimate.

One who must go to equity must go with clean hands.

Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu's and Shehu Yar'Adua's emergence as Presidential candidates of the two registered Political Parties(SDP and NRC) was cancelled with military fiat to make way for Abiola and Tofa to emerge.

M.K.O Abiola and Bashir Tofa were close friends of the then military ruler, General Ibrahim Babangida.

Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM

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Jun 10, 2021, 2:57:29 PM6/10/21

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There are processes leading to a referendum.

If those processes are strictly adhered to, the referendum will be legitimate, if there is even a slight deviation, the referendum wouldn't.

Precisely, if people in a particular location cannot freely exercise their freedom of choice, any referendum conducted in that location would not be legitimate.

For now, people in Southeast Nigeria are not free to make a free will choice because of the activities of the pro referendum killer cells known as "unknown gun men"

So, any referendum conducted in Southeast Nigeria now would not be a true representation of the opinion of the people of Southeast Nigeria and so, such a referendum would not be legitimate.

OLAYINKA AGBETUYI

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Jun 10, 2021, 3:13:14 PM6/10/21

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Ken.

It really depends on what we mean by elders or older. For me it is between 30 and 70.

After 70 I agree with you we are talking of the very old and all your observations then apply.

My learned senior (WS)was still at the barricades against Abacha in his 60s when many younger 'leftocrats' shielded when psychopathy bared its fangs. It will be lunacy to require the same of him against Buhari in his 80s.

OAA

Sent from my Galaxy

-------- Original message --------

From: "Harrow, Kenneth" <har...@msu.edu>

Date: 07/06/2021 17:11 (GMT+00:00)

To: USA African Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>

Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Thought For Today

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i wanted to add to chidi's thought, older people are more likely to a stand than younger people, but not so much a stand in the street. i feel increasingly out of place in public demonstrations; but i take many many stands on line. i understand when there is a dangerous line, on-line. there are risks that might mean different things as we get older, and here i disagree most with oaa. it's not protecting what we have, so much, since as we get older, it becomes more protected in various ways, and what we have becomes increasingly our children and grandchildren whose health and finances become increasingly independent of us.

we are more protected by the state as we get older; but we are more vulnerable as well. it just isn't a simple formula

ken

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM <chidi...@gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, June 7, 2021 11:09 AM
To: USA African Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>

Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Thought For Today

The NADECO revolt of 1993/1994 was spearheaded by middle aged and old people.

-CAO.

On Mon, Jun 7, 2021, 3:09 PM Oluwatoyin Adepoju <ovde...@gmail.com> wrote:

the older people are less likely to rebel bcs they want to protect what they have achieved

On Mon, 7 Jun 2021 at 10:56, Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM <chidi...@gmail.com> wrote:

A Nigerian writes from abroad urging rebellion in Nigeria, no problem about that, only that his family is with him abroad. Does that ring a bell as per urging rebellion in Nigeria?

I am not against rebellion, but those urging rebellion should be ready to loose as much as the other participants.

For example, if I am participating in a rebellion with a youngster of early 20s, chances are that such youngster would loose much more than myself.

I do not need further formal education, the youngster does. I am married for 29 years now with grown children, the youngster isn't. I have made appreciable advancement in my careers, the youngster does not even have a career yet.

If both of us are killed or incacerated, who, in practical and realistic manner lost more?

The youngsters can join rebellion, but should be stationed in sectors where consequences are minimal.

-Chidi Anthony Opara (CAO)

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OLAYINKA AGBETUYI

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Jun 10, 2021, 3:13:25 PM6/10/21

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Shehu YarAdua's cancellation of elections was fair because as Arthur Nzeribe demonstrated false results were being declared for YArdua all over the country.

Nzeribe caught them red handed because before the elections he bought all the voting cards for the East so no voting took place. , yet YArdua Babangida's preferred military candidate was declared winner as happened in the West.

No such event happened for Aare Abiola whose election was declared fairest in the nation's political history.

OAA

Sent from my Galaxy

-------- Original message --------

From: "Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM" <chidi...@gmail.com>

Date: 10/06/2021 19:57 (GMT+00:00)

To: USA African Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>

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OLAYINKA AGBETUYI

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Jun 10, 2021, 3:21:17 PM6/10/21

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You seem to have missed the point.

If all Igbo are not part of IPCB and Buhari as commander in chief of Nigerian armed forces targets IPOB as proper contextualisation of his comments show, why should all manner of Igbophiliacs suggests he is targeting all Igbo in a manner they did not assume his comments in the same speech about Boko Haram targeted all northerners?

Second lumping Malami's speech with Buhari's presupposes they share the same brain and coordinate their speeches in a way that is self fulfilling of all northern collusion in anti South particularities. This is hard to sustain even though it is clear they share similar geo- political interests.

Should Buhari have targeted his field experience only at Boko Haram and pat IPOB on the back for beating the drums of war and secession? Are the activities of both not similar? Was Biafra part of the vision of Nigeria in 1960?

Why should it now be dominant in a section of the East after the war it heralded ended formally 50 years ago? After the man who led that war symbolically proclaimed himself a Nigerian, afterwards, was treated as such by all and sundry and died as such?

What is your own fixation about Biafra, how many troops are you prepared to raise to actualuse your cause since the federal authorities are not prepared to give an inch of federal territory to any group except they are strong enough to take it by force?

The colonisation scheme which you have railed against presupposes Buhari will be in power for ever to be realised. How will it be sustained in a post Buhari era?

For you it is a stratagem to soread the venom of anti- North hate. Why should a group of the North not give Igbo in the North ultimatum when it is clear the Igbo groups making hay in the North's sun who should have formed counterpoint groups all over Nigeria and particularly in East to hold anti- IPOB and anti- MASSOB rallies each time these centrifugalist forces hold rallies pointedly refuse to do, creating the impression they tacitly as a matter of principle support their kith and kin but only want to eat their cake and have it? These counter- rallies are the ways things are done in the West to let everyone stand up and be counted.

Except the likes of CAO, how many intellectual Igbo in this forum ( who should know better) are actively denouncing the antics of IPOB and MASSOB?

OAA

Sent from my Galaxy

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From: Oluwatoyin Adepoju <ovde...@gmail.com>

Date: 09/06/2021 20:18 (GMT+00:00)

To: usaafricadialogue <USAAfric...@googlegroups.com>

Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Thought For Today

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The anti-Igbo positions do not seem to discriminate in the way being suggested by Agbetuyi and Cornelius.

How much do Igbo spare parts dealers have in common with Fulani herdsmen terrorists and kidnappers?

Yet Attorney General Malami equates them.

Are all Igbo part of IPOB?

Yet a coalition of Northern groups recently declared that Igbos should leave the North beceause they share IPOB's sececionist agenda and are complicit in drug abuse in the North, using that as a strategy for causing social breakdown in the North.

Or did you guys not read those declarations?

Try as hard as you like, you will eventually have to come face to face with the reality of the worst govt in Nigerian history- the Buhari govt.

The Fulani herdsmen militia terrorist internal colonisation agenda is at last steadily unfolding in the SW, Buhari's allies.

When it ravaged the Middle Belt, "intellectual"efforts were made to deny the reality, even in the face of Miyetti Allah's sponsorship of what is an effect a continuation of the Fulani jihad.

By God's grace, we are all still here and will still be as events unfold.

Toyin

On Wed, Jun 9, 2021, 09:38 Cornelius Hamelberg <cornelius...@gmail.com> wrote:

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OLAYINKA AGBETUYI

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Jun 10, 2021, 3:57:22 PM6/10/21

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Well Uyi,

You will need the Solomonic adjudication sword for the two quarreling women over the maternity of a baby.

The bronze sculpture bearing the ' Ida Ajaka' Oranmiyan's royal sword handed down the Edo royal line, is it Edo or Yoruba? We've been here before.

I asked you where the word ' Ado originated and if it is an Edo word. I received no answer. I can confirm it is Ekiti, hence Yoruba.

What of the word Edo itself? Is it not Yoruba ' Èdúró' variation 'Adúró' shortened to ' Adó' in Adó Èkìtì or site of establishment of a town.

My town is the last Ekiti township on the road to Asaba and Edo country.

OAA

Sent from my Galaxy

-------- Original message --------

From: Uyilawa Usuanlele <big...@hotmail.com>

Date: 10/06/2021 19:33 (GMT+00:00)

Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Thought For Today

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Hello Sir Cornelius,

You wrote that :"They believe that O the Yoruba, they are Art, Sculpture and Culture : Wole Soyinka & King Sunny Ade & the Benin Bronzes, that’s what they know or think they know..." Permit me to correct you, please. Benin Bronzes are Edo Bronzes and not Yoruba. They are different and you can talk of Ife Bronzes as Yoruba. Thanks.

Uyilawa

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Cornelius Hamelberg <cornelius...@gmail.com>

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Oluwatoyin Adepoju

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Jun 10, 2021, 4:14:39 PM6/10/21

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Oga Agbetuyi,

The war has reached the SW, your home.

Please use your intellect to help us understand the massacres by Fulani herdsmen militia at Igangan and the murderous activities of Fulani brigands elsewhere in the SW

After all, criminals exist everywhere, so why should the ethno-occupational identity of these ones be a point of interest, as a view along your line of thought argues.

In fact, what proof is there that they ate not Yoruba or Igbo while people cry wolf trying to profile other ethnicities, as that view may hold?

Oya, start work on these qs.

Why worry about the SE and IPOB when the war is at your doorstep.

From the Middle Belt to the SE to the SW to Edo, the same problem.

Help us understand.

Thanks

Toyin

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Cornelius Hamelberg

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Jun 11, 2021, 2:41:59 AM6/11/21

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Sir,

Of course you are absolutely right!

As I put it, “that’s what they know or think they know...” (The Ignoramuses and the Besserwisser)

When there was a Benin Bronzes Exhibition at the Ethnographic Museum in Stockholm in 2018, you should have seen the endless stream of proud, chest-beating Africans, from all over Africa and from all walks of life, wearing their traditional attire, dashikis, agbadas, sporting badass bubba & sokoto, all of them basking in the glory of our The -Benin-Bronzes trying to give the Swedish Svenssons and other international museum visitors the impression that they all come from Benin City which is in Nigeria, and that it was their majestic great genius grandfathers that created those exquisite works of art. I asked a fellow visitor who was so enraptured and in wonder that the bronzes were after all not Greek artefacts, “Aren’t you going to ask me where I come from originally? “ She asked me and I told her “Abeokuta”. And what difference does it make to her if Abeokuta is only a few hundred miles away from Benin ?

My late friend Jerry Harris says that after talking about art for a couple of hours he took some connoisseur up to his flat and showed him some of his creations. Anti climax: The guy asked him, who did this? He told him. Apparently the connoisseur could not believe the unbelievable. The only way I know about this is because Jerry wrote a full page article which climaxed with this story, in Dagens Nyheter

Uyilawa Usuanlele

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Jun 11, 2021, 2:42:28 AM6/11/21

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Adamu (Biblical), Eve (Biblical), Osama (Arabic) Domo (Japanese) Nosa (Dinka), and many others are words that exist and have some meanings in Edo language, but Edo people have never and do not claim them as theirs. So feel free to believe your fabrications as the world begins and ends in Ekiti. U ru ẹse.

Uyi

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Harrow, Kenneth

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Jun 11, 2021, 2:45:34 AM6/11/21

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better ask cornelius about thatg 30-70 rule!

ken

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

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OLAYINKA AGBETUYI

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Jun 12, 2021, 4:47:19 AM6/12/21

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May I ask for the Benin meanings of the words I mentioned.

They may indeed have different meanings.

OAA

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Adamu (Biblical), Eve (Biblical), Osama (Arabic) Domo (Japanese) Nosa (Dinka), and many others are words that exist and have some meanings in Edo language, but Edo people have never and do not claim them as theirs. So feel free to believe your fabrications as the world begins and ends in Ekiti. U ru ẹse.

Uyi

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OLAYINKA AGBETUYI

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Jun 12, 2021, 4:47:19 AM6/12/21

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Addendum:

And the rider is: Are there connections between Edo Bronzes and Yorùbá bronzes?

Particular elucidation on Oranmiyan"s Idà Àjàká which I have mentioned at least twice in related discussions ( other non Edo historians may come in on this learning trajectory. After all non Europeans study and teach the Holocaust).

OAA

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Happy Birthday Mingus !

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Adamu (Biblical), Eve (Biblical), Osama (Arabic) Domo (Japanese) Nosa (Dinka), and many others are words that exist and have some meanings in Edo language, but Edo people have never and do not claim them as theirs. So feel free to believe your fabrications as the world begins and ends in Ekiti. U ru ẹse.

Uyi

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Cornelius Hamelberg

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Jun 13, 2021, 3:28:14 AM6/13/21

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Re - “better ask cornelius about that 30-70 rule!”

I don’t know anything about any “ 30 -70 rule” , but I do have an older Yoruba friend Femi, whose rule is this:” No women over nineteen!”. For him that’s an abiding principle. He says that he likes the “lambs”, not the “UAC” (Used and condemned). The sour pussy older ladies tell him “ Be your age man!”

When I was nineteen and I saw a forty-something year old wannabe talking to my girlfriend, I used to chuckle, what can such an old fellow do? It is only when I turned forty that I began to realise that 40-year-old oldies can also be very dangerous fellows.

Kenneth says, “ask cornelius” because he knows that Cornelius is going to take off on a rant that will most probably veer off course into familiar occupied or unfamiliar, unoccupied territories, apparently unrelated to the matter at hand, so here goes, obliquely:

Kenneth Harrow doesn’t have to be the last prophet to know that. Unbeknownst to him, fact is that Cornelius Ignoramus believes that all matters are related. Cornelius Ignoramus too doesn’t have to be the last prophet to know the meaning of Tawhid

Surely, there must be some handbooks written by some radical Nigerian community organiser on the simple subject on how to to arrange a demonstration or how to start a revolution?

I know all about Che Guevara and Emiliano Zapata but have very little practical experience in the field. In the early seventies, a CIA man appeared unto me from nowhere cursed Che for 45 minutes, told me some fanciful stories about underground city networks in the USA and then disappeared into thin air. Before and after that I have only been to very few demonstrations in my life, maybe, only three. The very first one was when Ian Smith declared a White Minority Government in Rhodesia on 11^th November 1965. We demonstrated outside the British Embassy in Freetown and were dispersed - viciously - by the Sierra Leone Uncle Tom Police, just ask Jasper Jones. The second demonstration I took part in was against the 1986 United States bombing of Libya – and that’s where I met Shia Muslims for the very first time, apparently they had organized the demonstration, the women pushing prams and the children in the front, the rest of us behind them chanting “Down with Reagan & Thatcher!” After the demonstration they kidnapped me - forcibly bundled me into the back of a car and drove off furiously to the mosque and started teaching me Shia Islam, on the spot. The last public demonstration I participated in was in Stockholm in 1987, when Shia Muslims had been massacred in Mecca.

Re – the various fears being expressed with regard to the extra vulnerability that comes with age these days, we know that whether in Uganda or Nigeria participating in an anti-government demonstration is the same as risking your life/ signing your own death warrant no matter how young or old you are, and there’s always the likelihood of being decimated as happened with some demonstrators who were martyred by Operation Python Dance 1 & 2, in Eastern Nigeria.

So, since attending a demonstration in some countries is like going to the war front to be mowed down by trigger-happy police brutality, I think that both the older and the younger organisers the organisers of such demonstrations in e.g. Owerri had better take a good look at Devarim / Deuteronomy 20 : 5 – 10 which delineates those unqualified to Fight! ( Good to know: Judaism and warfare )

Re - The age business. When quoting the universal Shakespeare about these matters we had better understand what was life expectancy in Shakespeare's time and this bit of Dover Wilson that was compulsory reading in Secondary School. And then, unto The Seven ages of Man by which token most of the people in this forum are in category 4-7 ( we’re all in the same basket) whilst half of Nigeria’s population today has not yet got past stage three. About 20% are at stage four, that of “the soldier”. If the Nigerians at stage 2– 4 in this life were to all turn activists overnight, turn out en mass in nationwide actions known as “Civil Disobedience” then the nation would come to a complete standstill. Brother Buhari’s newly commissioned trains linking Lagos and Ibadan wouldn’t run, the danfoes would remain parked at Chidi’s Motor Park and all the other Motor Parks and along the roads all commercial traffic would be at a standstill; with all the School Children ( stage 2) and their parents and grandparents – including some of the Chibok Girls that have been since married off to the Boko Haram Jihadists and are now mothers (stages 3- 7) the school system would come to a halt. The factories too would grind to halt, oil production plummet to zero. I suppose that the only men and beasts that would still be moving would be the Fulani herdsmen and their cows still be romping southwards , the cows munching other farmers cabbages, grazing, foraging, continue dropping their dung, wherever they can find some rich foliage.

Long life is what we pray for, but every time I expect some sympathy and brotherly empathy from Baba Kadiri, he laughs uproariously and he only succeeds in making me nervous. This happens frequently. E.g., I tell him that weighing in at 77 kilograms / 170 lbs in my underwear, I have to lose weight or perish and then hopefully ascend to be reunited with my ancestors in heaven. He agrees that some people don’t want to die but want to go to heaven. He laughs uproariously and tells me that I’m not going to go to heaven, that there is no such place for me to go to. He then tells me to eat to my heart's content, so that I may feed the worms. And then - paradoxically, he quotes from the very Bible that talks of Heaven, a passage that he learned at Sunday School, something about us being allotted a lifespan of three score years and ten, that we are living on overtime, thus making existential philosophers of us all. That we may be living in “the last days” only increases anxiety in the The Age of Anxiety

Fact too is that people age differently, biologically, mentally, musically etc. From day to day, some people look and feel old or older than the day before, others aspire to Forever Young due to genetics and other factors and I suppose that if you have Methuselah as a direct ancestor you could continue to count time differently.

There’s also Babaji

There’s a famous Sierra Leonean, and old Creole guy who was said to still have his natural black hair in his seventies, and the rumour was that this was so because he was a “Kabbalist “

“The rich seduce the poor and the old are seduced by the young”

Who among us wants to contest that this is so? Blame it on the wily serpent. I daresay that sometimes it’s the older, chest-beating professors that are tempted then charmed and willingly or unwillingly finally submit or surrender - as in a war - overwhelmed by their beautiful female students. I daresay, at other times it is the opposite that takes place, when the long-time horny professor threatens her, saying, “My dear beautiful daughter of Eve, if you want to have a passing grade I will have to nack you at least five times.” He says without any qualms whatsoever, feels that that it comes with the job and that’s why he became a professor it’s part of a professor’s entitlements and endowments, this thing known as “powerful relations”: “Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die”, and to hell with the pretensions of the senate’s so called “ Ethics Committee”

It’s hierarchical and essentially patriarchal starting with the ageless, transcendent, immanent, most merciful, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent king of the universes.

And on this earth which He created, in the kingdom of mankind, His servants, on the realm of the visible power structure, at the very top of the pyramid I don’t know whether it’s Aliko Dangote, since we seldom talk about him, he who seems to have most of the money in Nigeria, the land of milk and honey. Is it him sitting at the apex of the pyramid or is it President Buhari ? No money, no honey, and no funny, in whose shoes would you prefer to be, Dangote or Buhari ? I know that just like my pastor Olorubtobaa you are not a materialist, that it will be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to go to heaven and that you are exceedingly a “ nationalist”, even a Pan-Africanist, but be honest now, Dangote or Buhari?

Since he is the one that e.g. Kperogi is fixated on – maybe not fixated on Dangote since Dangote may be capable of proposing an offer that he can’t refuse, offer him something like Trump Towers thereby causing him to abandon his professorship forever...

Some people are more fixated on President Buhari than they are fixated on the Almighty, Allah subhan t’ala or Jesus – pray less than three times a day, criticize Brother Buhari at least five times a day as if on the Day of Judgement, they will be asked about President Buhari and not their own crimes, sins, shortcomings.

The purpose of life?

“Build me a cabin in Utah
Marry me a wife, catch rainbow trout
Have a bunch of kids who call me "pa"
That must be what it's all about,
That must be what it's all about “

( Sign On The Window

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Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM

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Jun 13, 2021, 2:12:53 PM6/13/21

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If, for example, I start saying publicly that nobody should welcome a certain person in their houses and offices, that that person is bad(without evidence), am I not doing (psychological) violence to the person and his/her loved ones?

Why do we limit the definition of violence to physical violence, neglecting psychological and other forms of violence?

My point is that some organizations that claim to be none violent are actually violent organizations.

Harrow, Kenneth

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Jun 14, 2021, 2:39:34 AM6/14/21

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i have to admit loving cornelius's rants. cornelius you have an amazing mind, and breadth of knowledge. i thought for sure you could tell us when old age begins. all i know is it aint 30! (much less 40, or 50, or 60, though that's getting closer)

maybe 60 starts to end the middle age chapter...

ken

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

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Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM

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Jun 14, 2021, 2:39:34 AM6/14/21

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You think that peace would reign in the middle East because Netanyahu is no more Prime Minister of Israel?

My question is; what if tommorow, the thugs start throwing bangers from Gaza into Israel?

-Chidi Anthony Opara (CAO).

Oluwatoyin Adepoju

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Jun 14, 2021, 8:48:40 AM6/14/21

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If the govt of Gaza are thugs,what is the Israeli govt?

Toyin

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Cornelius Hamelberg

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Jun 14, 2021, 8:49:28 AM6/14/21

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That was kudos to Professor Kenneth Harrow for being as gracious as always and also sometimes allusive and not to be taken on the surface and when he says, “maybe 60 starts to end the middle age chapter” that kind of statement is in need of disentanglement for the uninitiated, life’s pilgrimage only being half way through at sixty when you wish your fellow human being a Happy Birthday and say “May you - like Moses – attain to the age of 120! “

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Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM

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Jun 14, 2021, 8:49:28 AM6/14/21

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Thought For Today:

Christains should be peace makers in what context? What of in a context trouble is brought to a Christian?

According to the bible, when Lucifer brought trouble to God in heaven, didn't God raise an army and fought back?

That response did/does not make God a none peace maker, it even reinforced/reinforces the fact that he is a peaceful being because the fight and defeat of Lucifer brought peace to heaven.

Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM

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Jun 14, 2021, 12:16:54 PM6/14/21

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Oluwatoyin,

Is it the government that "throw bangers from Gaza into Israel"?

-CAO.

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Cornelius Hamelberg

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Jun 14, 2021, 12:17:18 PM6/14/21

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Chidi,

Please!

You know how it is with “The Religion of Peace” and that's why Adepoju doesn't deserve an answer.

The New Israeli Government leadership says that they aim at improving the lot of all Israeli citizens, in all areas (education, health, access to justice) and that includes the Arab-Israelis – that’s why the Ra’ am Party also known as the United Arab List is in coalition with the current ( New) Israeli government which came into being yesterday after narrowly defeating Brer Netanyahu & Co by a Knesset vote that was only 59 to 60. A very slim majority of exactly ONE vote. So it's tough days ahead for the partners of the ideologically diverse new Israel government that has been cobbled together when you have Benjamin Netanyahu as leader of the Opposition. Lets lean back and watch Israeli Democracy at work...

Seriously, do you think that the new Israeli leadership is like that of our President Buhari in his fight against e.g. Boko Haram?

One difference in approach could be based on the fact that Brother Buhari thinks that the members of Boko Haram are also flesh and blood members of his own people, and, of course, believing in the One Nigeria and the “one country and one people”, the very words he used to wind off his last big address to the nation, then we should take it as fore-granted that to some extent this is what he thinks and feels about all Nigerians, including the various insurgents, not to mention his blood brethren, the Fulani Herdsmen.

Secondly, with regard to Boko Haram's intentions, to raise the flag of the Caliphate over all of Nigeria, I daresay that deep down, President Buhari is in essential sympathy with the idea and if this could be achieved in a peaceful manner, President Buhari would not be wholly adverse to the total Islamization of Nigeria, it’s just the terrorisation method of “by any means necessary” that he’s opposed to.

Thirdly, as I told you earlier, “the Prophet Moses was eighty years old when he led the children of Israel out of Egypt”, whereas, comparatively speaking, the “Biafran Nationalists” / Igbo-Nigerians may believe themselves to be uncomfortably and unequally yoked, being lumped/ welded together with diverse others in Egypt (Nigeria) and would like to be led by their own Moses, out of bondage, except for the fact that you are, geographically speaking already in your own Holy Land, it’s just that you cannot declare complete sovereignty and territorial integrity over all of it, over all of Eastern Nigeria’s Igbo majority states within the Federal Nigeria territorial system, its system of Government. You would like to be able to choose your own president and run your own country, etc. etc. etc.

Of course, the freedom, liberation, independence to be attained does not have to be merely political, regional, territorial, administrative, more significantly I would suppose that it would also be spiritual, psychological, perhaps so that you are motivated to give of your very best and to exert yourself to the fullest when investing in the future and in that in which you believe in...

You ask, if “peace would reign in the middle East because Netanyahu is no more Prime Minister of Israel... what if tomorrow, the thugs start throwing bangers from Gaza into Israel?”

Chidi, please!

If you could take a looka here, you would know that that’s the kind of question that you don’t need to ask. If Iran has the good sense of not throwing any of their most advanced bangers at Israel because some-ones’ ess would be grass / toast, so too in the name of self-preservation even the Hamas leadership and jihadist field commanders are all mentally equipped to understand that the new Israeli government is not going to renege on their election promises and that they therefore should not test the resolve of Brer Bennett and Brer Gantz by firing any of their weakest firecrackers at any Israeli civilian, industrial or military targets.

Bennet himself has said that he intends to “decimate” Hamas, and there are more extreme religious Zionists who even use the term “exterminate” - with Amalek in mind.

Hamas ought to know all this, better than we do. I fear for Hamas.

Search for Hamas, here in Memri and you will find the answers to your question.

I hope that they will amend article seven and article eleven of the Hamas Charter.

I foresee that within the next four years Gaza will be turned over to Egypt – to be administered by Egypt – as was the case before the 1967 War // Six-Day-War, when Gaza was being administered by Egypt and the so called “West Bank” was being administered by Jordan. As you know, more than half of Jordan’s current population is Palestinian, From that point of view, some argue that the Palestinians already had a state: Jordan. However, somehow after 1967, Egypt and Jordan would like to wash their hands off taking such responsibilities for the Pals...

Please, you don’t have to take my word for it: For some balance about all of the above, you could consult with the Palestinian media

Dylan : Masters of War

Dylan: Neighborhood Bully

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Gloria Emeagwali

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Jun 14, 2021, 12:17:42 PM6/14/21

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Ken,

I posted a few days ago, a video of an 80 year old, one of the world’s oldest bodybuilders, who does not classify herself in the old age category, strictly speaking.

As we know, aging depends on a number of factors, and for some individuals, the proverbial old age comes earlier or later, depending on the combination of variables. There may also be a gender factor, too. It is also influenced by prevailing cultural norms.

The telomere factor has been identified as crucial in aging, and intake of red meat, processed food, alcohol and substances of abuse,

for example, affects the length of one’s telomeres, making them shorter and accelerating aging.

Consistent gym activity, without steroids and other substances, has a positive impact on the aging process, and slows down aging, and so, too, dietary choices. Obesity from intake of sugary and fatty foods invariably takes a toll. Gradual loss of vision and hearing, decreased motor skills, even dementia and erectile dysfunction, for men, make their appearance at different levels and age range for individuals, depending on some of the issues earlier discussed.

Psychological factors and self-fulfilled prophecies, also have an impact, as does stress.

So should we equate old age with wisdom? Well how about the numerous politicians in their 70s and 80s, that you and I know, who seem to be the antithesis of wisdom? The most we can conclude is that folks in their 70s and beyond may be more likely to exhibit traits of wisdom, but not inevitably so.

In the long run, we should be cautious about ageism, especially when used as a means of discrimination and exclusion.

Question: When does old age begin?

Answer: That depends.

Prof. Gloria Emeagwali

emea...@ccsu.edu

Vimeo.com/gloriaemeagwali

On Jun 14, 2021, at 02:39, Harrow, Kenneth <har...@msu.edu> wrote:

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Oluwatoyin Adepoju

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Jun 14, 2021, 5:00:26 PM6/14/21

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superb analysis from gloria

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Gloria Emeagwali

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Jun 14, 2021, 5:00:26 PM6/14/21

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From: Gloria Emeagwali <gloria.e...@gmail.com>
Date: June 14, 2021 at 10:54:08 EDT
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Thought For Today

Oluwatoyin Adepoju

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Jun 14, 2021, 5:01:12 PM6/14/21

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Oga Chidi,

The question is about relative justice between Gaza and Israel.

What motivates the rockets from Gaza?

What is the Israeli response to the rockets from Gaza?

What are the moral implications of the answers to both questions?

That is the beginning and the end of the story.

To begin and end with referring to the Gazans sending rockets as "thugs" is not helpful to addressing the situation.

Thanks

Toyin

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Gloria Emeagwali

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Jun 14, 2021, 5:01:12 PM6/14/21

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Begin forwarded message:

From: Gloria Emeagwali <gloria.e...@gmail.com>
Date: June 14, 2021 at 10:54:08 EDT

To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Thought For Today

Oluwatoyin Adepoju

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Jun 14, 2021, 5:01:12 PM6/14/21

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Cornelius states that Buhari is in agreement with the vision of Boko Haram but disagrees with them about method.

Can Cornelius justify and sustain this view?

I wonder.

My experience is that he does not give sufficient effort to explaining his views, preferring to bury them in other issues you have to wade through to arrive at his positions.

He also seems to feel free to contradict himself without explanation.

Thus, you could find him a Buhari advocate another day.

Thanks

Toyin

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Harrow, Kenneth

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Jun 14, 2021, 5:01:12 PM6/14/21

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gloria, you give a medical response, like a doctor giving sound advice on keeping fit, the key to living longer.

i was looking for two answers. one is the somewhat hokey but still somewhat real answer framed entirely in african terms: whom do we term an elder. not simply by so-called traditional measurements (each culture might be different), but in today's world. the last time i was in nigeria, inexplicably lots of people, who did not know me, deferred to me in this and that way. i was told pretty clearly it had to do with my white hairs--i looked old!

it is odd for people who don't know you to "treat you like an elder" just because of your old-age looks.

but two things are going together there: one, the purely physical appearance, which doesn't signify anything, really. and the cultural side, that we all know is both honored and honored in the breach.

the breach: anyone in africa who gets on public transport, a bus, a "matatu" or whatever it's called where you live, "car rapide" in dakar-- knows that age gets you no favors.

in the right circles age is still respected, and once you start to experience it, it confers privileges and obligations, which i love, and miss often here in the states.

the other thing is that we, the elders, form a cohort. that's why i jokingly called on cornelius because i know we are more or less of the same age-group. we should be able to josh with each others as i wouldn't like from a younger person.

people who know french would understand this: i permit myself now to tutoyer younger people, especially youth or young adults. it would be insulting for them to do the same to me. that doesn't always go over in france, but still it is a privilege of age.

all it says is, i am the older one here.

it should mean more in africa than outside the continent. in many ways, usually small, but indicating respect--respect for ourselves, respect for our shared culture.

ken

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

https://www.facebook.com/parisinstitute.org

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Biko Agozino

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Jun 14, 2021, 6:15:14 PM6/14/21

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Prof GE,

You are always on point. Telomere is a new concept for me but it is self-explanatory the way you deploy it. Age is a number and you are right that healthy ageing is possible. We should study people of African descent who age healthily and see what they can teach us to help reduce health disparities. Abstinence from sugar and tobacco (produce from slavery that we all should boycott) may help but so also should intermittent fasting and turning water into wine by drinking lots of water and enjoying it like wine. Better sleep too.

Biko

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Cornelius Hamelberg

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Jun 14, 2021, 7:45:34 PM6/14/21

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Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju,

Why must you insist on talking through your ass when it comes to Islamic or Middle East issues, for instance in this thread, asking this kind of dumbass question: “If the govt of Gaza are thugs, what is the Israeli govt?”

You are of course familiar with the episode of Balaam and his ass?

What about Harkabi's Arab Attitudes to Israel and Raphael Patai's The Arab Mind?

My views? My positions? I should state them clearly and then explain them to you? Who do you think I am, your Sunday School Professor? You shouldn’t have to wade through anything, nor do I have any positions, postures or views (all very commonplace) that should be beyond your immediate grasp. All you have to do is acquire a basic understanding of Islam and then you will understand some of the basic premises on which e.g. the Hamas Charter is based.

If you don’t understand the basics of Shia Islam for example, how do you intend to understand e.g. the Islamic Revolution in Iran or Hezbollah’s, eloquent Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah? You have never heard of my mentor’s Ze'ev Jabotinsky and you seek elucidation from me? You gotta do the groundwork yourself, start with the fundamentals before your star treks to the furthest corners of the cosmos in search of more gobbledegook

So you think that the Prophet of Islam (salallahu alaihi wa salaam) Shehu Usman Dan Fodio, the Muslims in Nigeria would start crying if everybody in Nigeria converted to Islam?

The Islamic position is the Islamic position. Get to know that. Sorry, it’s not my function and I don’t feel under any obligation to have to explain that to you or to anybody else in this forum. But please feel free to go ahead with the kind of supremely intellectual discussions, arguments, tittle-tattle that would be meaningful to you.

If you're serious, you could begin to improve your deficit in understanding, here, at Ahlulbayt TV

Cheers!

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Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM

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Jun 15, 2021, 4:50:50 AM6/15/21

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Thought For Today:

Social media is the latest and greatest mass communication tool.

Are we expecting that political parties, religious organizations and other modern organizations would not leverage on social media to reach their audiences?

Whether we hang positive or negative labels on recruited social media aides would depend on where we stand.

The important thing is that using social media to reach audiences is the order of the present day.

-Chidi Anthony Opara (CAO)

Oluwatoyin Adepoju

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Jun 15, 2021, 1:13:18 PM6/15/21

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True

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Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM

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Jun 17, 2021, 2:13:43 AM6/17/21

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Thought For Today:

The context of "village gathering" and "village square" have shifted from the traditional type to the type I am typing from now.

So now, our social media/internet contacts are our village people and daily, we have village discussions on our village squares.

Cornelius Hamelberg

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Jun 17, 2021, 2:14:01 AM6/17/21

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Virus-free. www.avast.com

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Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM

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Jun 20, 2021, 11:18:38 AM6/20/21

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Biafra, in its present presentation is an extreme reaction that needed to be debunked fast.

Please do a clear headed comparative study of the Ojukwu and the Kanu/Uwazuruike Biafras and you would see that the later Biafra exponents have not explored a good number of options, like Ojukwu did, before plunging headlong into this extremity, now known as Biafra agitation.

Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM

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Jun 24, 2021, 1:36:18 PM6/24/21

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The suggestions that Gumi, the negotiator of the bandits in Nigeria should be arrested, if listened to and acted upon, would create more problems than solutions.

The bandits are shadowy and dangerous, this means that they do not have a known voice and a known face.

For now Gumi is the known voice and known face of the bandits.

He is the only person who the bandits receive and listen to. If such person is removed from the scene, how would the Nigerian government reach out to the bandits?

If Nigeria had had a policy of not negotiating with criminal elements and had built her security architecture into a solid state, there would not have been need for the role Gumi is playing currently.

Gumi have become a necessity in the context of managing the bandits aspect of insecurity in Nigeria, let us let him be, until when our security architecture can take care of our insecurity.

People who will best appreciate this article would be people whose loved ones were kidnapped and released through the intervention of Gumi.

Salimonu Kadiri

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Jun 25, 2021, 3:08:01 PM6/25/21

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For now, Gumi is the known voice and known face of the bandits.

He is the only person who the bandits receive and listen to. If such person is removed from the scene, how would the Nigerian government reach out to the bandits? - Chidi Anthony Opara

Is it not a thoughtless superstition to believe that whenever Gumi visits bandits/kidnappers, he turns himself into air or a spirit to get into the forests where bandits and kidnappers congregate? Maybe that is why irretrievable intellectual nincompoops would want us to believe that the law enforcing agencies can never track the steps of Gumi-turned-ghost while visiting bandits and kidnappers. Nigeria is a wonderful country, where bandits and kidnappers can freely communicate with relatives of their victims to demand and receive millions of naira in ransoms without being apprehended by the law enforcing agencies. Through what technology do the bandits/kidnappers communicate ransom demands to their victims' relatives? Are we to thoughtlessly believe that the ransoms are spiritually transported to the kidnappers/bandits in the forests unknown to the law enforcing agencies?

S. Kadiri

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM <chidi...@gmail.com>
Sent: 24 June 2021 13:59

To: USA African Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>

Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Thought For Today

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Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM

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Jun 25, 2021, 3:09:11 PM6/25/21

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If there are no older men willing to date her, would she be dating an older man?

That man was old enough to be her father and he was doing illicit drug with her instead of advising her on becoming a great woman.

By the way, if she is 21, when did he start dating her and stuffing her with illicit drugs? May be before 18.

If he must be a bad guy in that direction, why did he not pick ladies in their late 30s and early 40s, who must have fulfilled a good percentage of their life ambitions?

If that man did not die, he probably would have become a Senator, House of Representatives member, governor of his state and/or even the President of Nigeria and we will keep wondering why things are the way they are in our country. This to me, is the most worrisome aspect.

The man however did not deserve to die, he should have been in prison.

FB_IMG_16245679990850545.jpg

Ibukunolu A Babajide

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Jun 25, 2021, 8:49:00 PM6/25/21

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CAO,

It is early days yet. Stop jumping into conclusions. Wait until all sides of the issue are ventilated then come back to me with evidence based reasoning. Not these surmises and conjectures.

So far on social media we are told the victim does not even smoke talk less take drugs. Also, this girl may not have worked alone. She may be a bait used by her gang members.

At 21 with limited resources, she could possibly not get the false identity she used, the foreign number used to book the air bnb. Maybe her story was given to her by her crew and she is saying all these under duress.

Relax. Do not jump head first into a shallow stream. Let us wait and see what happens after all the investigations are done and the case file is prepared.

Cheers.

IBK

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Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM

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Jun 26, 2021, 4:36:13 AM6/26/21

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IBK,

I usually work from the known to the unknown. If however, the unknown (when it becomes known) contradicts the known, I change gear.

By the way, I used preliminary information provided by the police, that for now is the evidence, so I am not jumping in.....

I am however not a legal practitioner, so don't expect me to compress my viewpoint into a legalistic perspective.

I am a poet and humanist. I gaze at the bigger picture.

Regards,

-CAO.

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Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM

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Jun 26, 2021, 9:00:50 AM6/26/21

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If you are from a very poor home like me and you did not go to prison at the age of 21, you are lucky.

You struggle for things your mates take for granted.

Almost everyone takes advantage of you, nobody respects you. You don't have dignity and you hate society for these.

I however have to sincerely thank the (Roman Catholic Church) Sunday school teachers, who kept drumming it into our ears then that any slight moral and legal infractions would land us in "hellfire".

I also must sincerely thank my late mother for that singsong of hers even in the midst of poverty, that "Chidi, any day you commit any criminal act, you will cease to be my son".

Society should for the sake of its safety, work towards reducing extreme poverty.

Toyin Falola

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Jun 26, 2021, 10:19:49 AM6/26/21

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Chidi:

Poverty, with due respect, does not necessarily lead to crime. Indeed, it is one of the strongest motivation to succeed in life. It carries a body of dignity and hope.

See a current movie, White Tiger

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yNZsomWa7U

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM <chidi...@gmail.com>
Date: Saturday, June 26, 2021 at 8:00 AM
To: USA African Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Thought For Today

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Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM

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Jun 26, 2021, 1:53:12 PM6/26/21

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Oga Falola,

It isn't if one is lucky to have certain factors in place, like my mother's and the Church's moralistic influences, otherwise, Prof, one would do anything to survive.

Oga, let me tell you as someone who was there, that beating poverty to come up to where one is now is a heculean task that one would not wish to even one's enemies.

-CAO.

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FJ Kolapo

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Jun 27, 2021, 12:30:20 AM6/27/21

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agreed, prof. but worryingly, it seems that it is increasingly associated with crime in Nigeria. It is usually said that poverty is beastly. But poverty in Nigeria seems to be a new type of beast, with new fearsome features. Its nature seems to have changed in the last 30 -40 years and the morality and philosophy associated with it in the minds of youthful Nigerians with how to understand and manage it have changed or are changing faST. For one, much of poverty used to be communal, a fact that ameliorated the material and psycho-social devastation that individuated poverty would otherwise have caused. This sense of communally shared experience and management of poverty is evaporating fast. Also, poverty used to be associated with rurality and illiteracy and was defined in terms of the experience of the subsistence agriculturalist, the unskilled urban laborer, the unskilled unemployed or of the informal sector vendor in shanty towns and city margins. With their tenuous access to cash and run-down housing, poverty manifested in their generally limited access to the national and international markets and to imported use goods, and in limited but not totally absent food and dietary choices. It is now worse. Today poverty is also experienced by mobile, literate or rather Western-educated youth; it is foregrounded by their frustrated and thwarted hopes and ambitions; hopes and ambitions born of the knowledge via modern communication technologies of the boundless and seemingly readily available possibilities of individual flourishing and happiness out there in the wider world. to these people, poverty seems to have acquired a new horrible visage and many of them are handling it without bothering with religious or philosophical reflection. Unfortunately, crime has emerged to be one major way that an increasing segment of Nigerians see themselves escaping the stultifying hand of poverty - blue-collar and now "red"-collar and blood-colored crime. Sad. Terrifying.

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Toyin Falola

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Jun 27, 2021, 12:34:54 AM6/27/21

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In combination, is what you are describing far more than what has been stolen under the Jonathan and Buhari administration?

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of FJ Kolapo <fj.k...@gmail.com>

Date: Saturday, June 26, 2021 at 11:30 PM
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Bosoma Sheriff

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Jun 27, 2021, 9:15:27 AM6/27/21

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Chidi's experience is coeval with the ethos of 'honoured poverty' in our village in the 50s and 60s in Borno State. How can we reclaim the young from the current perversely enticing songs of the Mammon?

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OLAYINKA AGBETUYI

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Jun 27, 2021, 9:17:41 AM6/27/21

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FJ:

Poverty has taken this new turn because the Social Contract - the tacit basis of all societies- is broken in Nigeria leading to social injustice which they epitomize.

Unemployed youths especially the 'Alhaji Baakudi' (Educated poor) are well aware via the new digital technologies you referenced (- social media- those which I have said, often, were provided by the Primal Equalizer -Èşù from the womb of time), they are well aware that the public officials are willfully breaking the Social Contract they were elected to- and which they took oaths to- uphold, with the connivance of crooked judicial officers who have bastardized the goals of justice.

That they are willfully standing social justice on its head and carting away the colossal amounts of funds meant to create jobs for them into private accounts, and thereby the victims sought to square the circle by their retributive violence.

But retributive violence can never be equated with redistributive justice and is thus messy in its targets.

They need to be re-÷educated by a new political formation to put their faith in a totally new dispensation of a new party of government in waiting with which they will work to redeem their shattered hopes.

OAA

Sent from my Galaxy

-------- Original message --------

From: FJ Kolapo <fj.k...@gmail.com>

Date: 27/06/2021 05:35 (GMT+00:00)

Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Thought For Today

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agreed, prof. but worryingly, it seems that it is increasingly associated with crime in Nigeria. It is usually said that poverty is beastly. But poverty in Nigeria seems to be a new type of beast, with new fearsome features. Its nature seems to have changed in the last 30 -40 years and the morality and philosophy associated with it in the minds of youthful Nigerians with how to understand and manage it have changed or are changing faST. For one, much of poverty used to be communal, a fact that ameliorated the material and psycho-social devastation that individuated poverty would otherwise have caused. This sense of communally shared experience and management of poverty is evaporating fast. Also, poverty used to be associated with rurality and illiteracy and was defined in terms of the experience of the subsistence agriculturalist, the unskilled urban laborer, the unskilled unemployed or of the informal sector vendor in shanty towns and city margins. With their tenuous access to cash and run-down housing, poverty manifested in their generally limited access to the national and international markets and to imported use goods, and in limited but not totally absent food and dietary choices. It is now worse. Today poverty is also experienced by mobile, literate or rather Western-educated youth; it is foregrounded by their frustrated and thwarted hopes and ambitions; hopes and ambitions born of the knowledge via modern communication technologies of the boundless and seemingly readily available possibilities of individual flourishing and happiness out there in the wider world. to these people, poverty seems to have acquired a new horrible visage and many of them are handling it without bothering with religious or philosophical reflection. Unfortunately, crime has emerged to be one major way that an increasing segment of Nigerians see themselves escaping the stultifying hand of poverty - blue-collar and now "red"-collar and blood-colored crime. Sad. Terrifying.

On Sat, Jun 26, 2021 at 10:19 AM Toyin Falola <toyin...@austin.utexas.edu> wrote:

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Harrow, Kenneth

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Jun 27, 2021, 3:17:39 PM6/27/21

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i like the summary given below, by kolapo. i don't think the communal vs individual distinction will get us much mileage. how can we understand the factors that generated this change? with a small shift in language he could be describing how people turned to trump, based on their despair over job loss and the lack of a future. even those with a high school diploma might be feeling some of this.

i wonder, however, if you need to factor in the larger economic landscape. not then corruption of state figures, which doesn't change the situation today from the past; but the larger global situation which undermined the ability of the state to generate enough resources to buy off its citizens as was done by patronage in the past. why is that not working? i think geschiere and others point to the failures of the state since the world bank stepped in; and now especially with resources increasingly stolen from the state and the nation by global capitalists, those getting the massive mineral wealth, or the fish, or timber. with local people getting small change, and in places like east congo trying to control it themselves. i read there are 126 militias in east congo

nigeria seems different; but is it, up north? who is in charge in the northeast? and if there aren't minerals, then kidnapping begins. in the sahel there is both.

ken

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university