UNWISE DEATH

                

                                              

          

  But death, ye be no respecter of circumstance of person

          And your actions, you perform without regards to understanding

You serve as cape to further the fuel of the mysteries of the diabolic

Balance to check the superiority of the highest medics

And incontestable fact beyond and without burden of proof

that any judicial line could testify.

        But death, little do you know that silence itself is a supreme answer to every question

And the sovereign solemnity of eternal quietness

Is more a confusing mystery than death itself

         A mystery to those who acquire it.

And being humans that we are,

Silence we know can only relate to negativity

Unrolling rivers of tears and deep hearts full of grief

            The mistake you make death, unknown to you is that

             You put the good ones to rest

             Censor silence on the wicked and

             Storm up confusion in the hearts of the living wicked

Death, ye be no respecter of circumstance of person

And even at that, the swift and unthinkable ways you perform

Depict that ye be the least of the wisest of unnatural emotions.

                         

              By  AKIN-DEKO OLUWABUNMI.

THE MOST HANDSOME REWARD

      I grew up always believing that the many foodless days I and my siblings experienced, and our many holefull clothes had constituted poverty, but my opinion changed when I got to see poverty on a firsthand basis. On my arrival at Ajegunle; blessed A.J. City of Lagos. I empirically felt poverty in its strictest sense. There, rats, the size of small cats, were busy scavenging and darting to and fro the shacks made of rusted zinc and termites-infested boards which the inhabitants called home. Mosquitoes, as big as butterflies were siphoning what little blood they could suck from the glistening bodies of the brown-haired, kwashiorkor-imprinted and skeletal children playing. Among the sights that met the eye were naked children jumping in and out of pits, which I guessed had to be the latrines because of the pungent smell emanating from within. The women, tying their threadbare wrappers with exposed breasts sat huddled with that faraway looks which were not of this world, but of the world beyond and I heard that they were living in an urban area.

     My August discovery was made even more profound by what my companion had to say “ These people have scores of people collecting a constant supply of emoluments and other numerous benefits on their behalf at councillorship level, local government level, state level, Federal level and even International level! “ What crime had these people committed to be rewarded with such was still a mystery to me.

   My personal experiences had necessitated my desire to become a writer, not because my little arsenal of words should be used to impart a life in what little way I could, but because I strongly felt that my extraordinary childhood afforded me the right to create my own world of refuge; where I would always run to and hurl blame at other people. At least, I had a roof over my head (even though we usually collected a substantial amount of water through the ceiling whenever it rains, and God help us when it rained during the night, we would have to kiss sleep goodbye). Yet here were a group of imperturbable people living despite these inhumane conditions and they didn’t even have the slightest intimation that they had the right to better lives.

   2015 is around the corner, and as usual, posters and billboards will spring up at every road one bothers to look, televisions and newspapers will all tell of the American-wonder type of achievements of these various office seekers, and why they should be ‘duly’ rewarded by being elected or re-elected as the case may be, for they self- assuredly believe it to be so.

   I have always engaged in a personal war on the proliferation of fake politics in Nigeria, not because I understood the simple fact that much, if not all of what we need to live a quality life in Nigeria can only be guaranteed by the quality of politics we receive but because I now solidly understand that, every upright citizen, no matter the position occupied in society, as a matter of natural logic, has a duty imposed on him/her to see that the lives of people around him/her are positively touched in the least manner possible. For the reward that awaits can only be the most handsome reward.

                 ARIKOR COLLINS……..   

WAY BACK WHEN....

       In honour of children’s day, I just wanted to take a moment to remember the craziest parts of our childhood. All the good times before physics, beards, work and life itself began.

       Do you remember when we were little and would believe anything, our parents would tell us all kinds of stories to make us behave. My mum always tells me about the time I was wailing because I wanted the peppersoup my dad was having and so she went in and poured meat stock in a plate and gave me to drink. And then there was the very popular ‘if you eat too much of this, it will grow in your stomach and out of your mouth’. That one worked so well on me, after my aunt told me, I stayed away from groundnut for a long time. Even with all the lies our parents told us, they weren't as bad as the ones we told ourselves and our siblings. It always cracks me up when someone talks about how they deceived their younger siblings into thinking half meat was better than full meat lol.

   Then there were the cartoons, as far as I'm concerned, kids nowadays don’t know cartoons. These things they watch now just come with long straws to suck their IQs. The real cartoons were Tom and Jerry, Scooby Doo, Wacky Races and all the rest. I remember rooting for Daphne and Fred’s relationship and how happy I got whenever they showed any Tom and Jerry episode when Tom was ‘in love’, with his pupils turning into hearts and then New Year Tom and Jerry marathons, heaven! Then there were those hilarious dwarfs in Wacky Races .

    It was good to not have to worry about anything; back then my biggest problem was that I thought 10 + 10 was 100. Don’t judge me. All it took to impress girls was goody goody and shapes if you were rich.  Whatever happened to goody goody anyway and Nice biscuit and that ring sweet? Thank God kidnapping wasn't rampant then though, because with that ring sweet they could probably have kidnapped my entire class.

   I remember I used to want to be an artist, I would imagine that I had painted flowers and the sun in a room. I traced pictures from all those activity books and my siblings would be hailing me like I was Da Vinci. I was so convinced that I was the next best thing in art until I got 3 out of 10 in visual art in JS1, at what point I quickly advised myself and changed career.

    Watching movies when I was young, if I even sensed from a mile away that they were about to kiss, I would cover my eyes for  like five seconds, that was the deepest it went back then. If there was a sex scene that they covered with blanket that was the end of the movie, to your tent O  Israel! That movie would find itself at the bottom of a cupboard somewhere, blue films were things you only heard of in church ‘ Don’t watch blue film or you will go to hell’. No one even says blue film now.

     Most of my childhood memories are probably too embarrassing to be shared; I'm sure most of us have the one where we forgotten in school. I remember they didn't come to pick me and my siblings, I was probably in primary 2 or 3 then, I remember being the one that directed them home though, funny how I was better with directions then than I am now.

    And then there was the time I was preparing for common entrance, all that Ugo C. Ugo stress while everyone else was playing and enjoying themselves. According to my parents, I wrote a note saying ‘ mummy and daddy, please I'm tired’. That sounds like something I would do though. Most of the childhood memories are just pictures, like the first time I used a pen and the pen I used; then I remember the seat arrangement of my primary 5 class. I remember the 1^st to 6^th position in my primary four class. Weird? Maybe. Share your own funny childhood memories, I’d love to hear them. Happy Belated Children’s day to all our inner children!

THE LIE THEORY

                

The Microsoft Encarta Dictionaries defines the verb to lie as to: ‘deliberately say something untrue: to say something that is not true in a conscious effort to deceive somebody’ ©Microsoft Corporation 2009 (Make I put copyright before them sue me abeg).      The important thing to note is that before somebody can be said to have lied: his statement must be deliberately untrue, and it must be made with a conscious effort to deceive. *clears throat** This means that if an untrue statement is made, but in the absence of that conscious effort to deceive, it cannot be said to be a lie, even though the false statement was made deliberately. Thus, if the intention or effort to deceive was subconscious or unconscious, then it is not a lie.             Similarly, if someone makes a statement, which at the time of stating it, he had reasons to believe his statement was true, and it turns out to be in fact false, then it can be said that the person has not told a lie.            Consider the example of a person who is asked about the whereabouts of another, and he gives a location based on where he reasonably believes this other to be, he cannot be presumed to have lied.           Then the case of a girl who is expected at a party, but is sleeping at home, receives a call from her friend who asks her, “where are you”, and she replies, “I am on my way.” Can it be said that she lied? If she had the intention of putting that statement into manifestation at the time of making it, then she is justified, even if she doesn't actually carry out that intention. Besides, the statement was not made in a bid to deliberately deceive her friend as to her location, but rather with the intention of lessening the concern on the part of her friend.           What about the case of the secretary whose boss instructs her to inform visitors that he is not around. When a customer eventually comes in asking for her boss, and she replies in accordance with her boss’ instructions, can it be said that she lied? It can be said that she fulfilled the requirement of consciously deceiving the person, but the issue of whether or not her action/statement was ‘deliberate’ comes into play. She was no doubt acting under express instructions, which can be presumed to be against her will. At law, it will be said that she acted under duress. The same Encarta Dictionary which I am relying on defines ‘deliberate’ as something carefully thought out and done intentionally. In the instant scenario, the secretary didn’t carefully think out her actions, rather, it was her boss who fulfilled that requirement, and her boss also fulfils the requirement of intention, because the original intention to tell a mistruth originated from him. It can be possibly that the secretary had no intention of telling the lie, but had no choice in the matter. Hence, she is excluded from any liability. Besides, it can be argued that her deception of the customer was not conscious, since it was not intentional.           The same principle applies where a father instructs his wife or kid to inform his creditor that he is not at home when he is in fact hiding under the bed. In fact, a kid acting under this scenario cannot even be said to be acting deliberately especially when he is below the age of 12. Neither can his action/words be said to be conscious or even deliberate because he lacks the capacity to carefully think it out, and it was obviously not intentional because it was under the express authority of his father, with the threat of sanction in case of non-compliance. That’s why sometimes we hear things like: “My daddy said I should tell you that he is not at home”.            But where a wife acts under the same circumstances, she may be liable, depending on the degree of interest she has in the matter. Where she supports or encourages her husband to make such deception, or where she has spent out of the money that the creditor wants to collect, then she has fulfilled all conditions of deliberate intention, and conscious effort to deceive.           Therefore, since deliberate intention, and conscious effort to deceive are the key factors in determining lies, anyone wishing to justify a lie not in any of the aforementioned categories just needs to show that the lie did not originate from him. Or he can train himself in such a way that he himself is unconscious to the fact that he is telling a lie. For instance, engaging the use of split-second timing i.e. answering questions immediately they are asked in such a manner that would seem to be your sub-conscious answering. When one wastes time before answering a question, there is a presumption that he has carefully thought out his answer.         There is also the doctrine of necessity. Where a lie is told to protect the person being lied to. It cannot be said in such circumstances that you are deceiving the person-not when the lie is told for his own benefit.                     But the crux of the matter is that he who lies unjustifiably is going to hell. And when you try to justify an unjustifiable lie, you are going straight to hell. I am Oluwanonso_Esq on Twitter; and that is not a lie.

UNIBEN FACULTY OF LAW LOSES A LEGEND.

He was 19 years old.

He was in 400 level.

He had been the Class representative since 100 level.

He was very brainy, and very handsome.

His name was Caesar Austus Ekeoba.

He just returned from Washington DC for the Jessup Moot Cup Competition.

He went to represent Nigeria.

He did well there.

This was not the first time he had represented Nigeria in an international competition.

He was a veteran of the Faculty of Law Jural Court

He had represented the Faculty of Law in countless competitions.

The last time I saw him ,

Just after he returned from the US,

He was smiling, as always

You can never find him frowning.

Always friendly, ready to help anyone out.

Loved by all, despised by none

On his way to be a foremost politician

Ready to play the dirty game by the accepted rules.

The stage was his, already conquered

All that left was his ascension.

But alas! death came like the proverbial night thief 

Snatching our colleague and friend from us

Just after his return from America

Where he had done Nigeria proud

With a wealth of knowledge to bless the nation.

Had not death struck; we would probably be laughing by now,

Night class would be lively with Caesar greeting everyone,

The Faculty of Law would be a joyous place,

And UNIBEN would be a bastion of blessing;

Because Caesar lives!

We have lost a gem, a prophet of change

We have lost a politician, a man of the masses

We have lost a lawyer, a custodian of the law

We have lost a colleague, like no other

We have lost a friend, irreplaceable in our hearts.

The doctors say he died of Cerebral Abscess

But we all know he died as a result of man’s vileness.

A rabbit does not just run into a burning bush

Without something at its heels.

Whoever killed Caesar, shall have rest no more.

Until justice befitting is done to him.

Rest in Peace Caesar,

Till we meet again.

THE LORD HELP NIGERIA

              Following the recent spate of events in the country, I couldn't have agreed less with Achebe that,'When the society is ill,then the task facing the writer to portray the ills of the society is an uphill one.' Evidently,the unhealthy Nigerian polity begging for our indulgence disposes any iota of doubt as to the enormity of the task facing the Nigerian writer. Infact, the unstable nature of the situation  had to a great extent,exhausted the flow of my pen.            
                     Our own society had been besieged by some obscure and indescribable situation,which often appears to promisingly curve upward,but,nonetheless is doomed to fall,though it is besotted with hopeful figurants. The situation is made more worrisome and unfortunate by the actions-rather, inactions of those whom we've put in place to guarantee the non-occurence of such turgid disturbances. It is saddening and heart-aching to know that even as such upheavals are boldly staring at us in the face,those whom public trust have been entrusted upon to steer us out of the wavering murky waters cannot even steer themselves out of their own personal murky waters. They have repeatedly proven their mastery at failure!                        
                    Is it not painful enough that some erratic fellows will only gain happiness when they've harvested human life in the same way chickens meet their fate every 25th December, and the government to a large extent grant them a thriving platform to carry out their carnage by always giving a laconic We-are-on-top-of-the-situation response?. So,the federal government only felt obligated to the Nyanya bomb blast victims by just dishing out some photo-shopped pretentious presence whereas their minds were impatiently waiting for the jollification at Kano? Honestly, one surely cannot help but wonder if we still have a thinking man as President or a dummy as the Commander-in-Chief. What on earth could move our President to declare a national day of mourning,thereby postponing a weekly Federal Executive Council meeting, on account of the death of the Vice-president's brother? So,the traumatised survivors of the Nyanya bomb blast merely deserved some studio-composed faces at their bedsides -only for the 'concerned' faces to vigorously try to outdo each other with some Micheal Jackson stunts in a rally which couldn't wait,because 2015 is just around the corner,or that the opposition party members were seen on their way to take over the government.                
                             For over two weeks and, over 234 school children have gone missing and the government still hasn't heard about it because the children were unfortunate enough not to be born by Dame Patience Jonathan-who has untenably wasted enough public funds,claiming to be a Mother-General figure for the whole country-that those innocent children should not be rescued? The Nigerian populace are certainly wandering in a world of calculated eccentricities,indirections, and seeming hopelessness where their calls for responsible leadership is overwhelmed by extravagant ineptness.                                          
              Since the Nigerian government had sworn to continuously uphold their principles of failures,true Mothers and Mothers-to-be have decidted to take the bull by its horns to cleanse the house of its filth. To this end,a nationwide march has been organised to remind those elected officials that they still owe us some duty of care,even though we know they don't give a hoot. They must bring back those abducted kids! Enough is enough this time around! Everybody should join in this clarion call to BRING BACK OUR GIRLS!!!                                       #BringBackOurGirls.


       NB While we are complaining, yet another bomb blast has just hit Nyanya in Abuja, May the good Lord lead us out of these trying times.

                                                                                      COLLINS ARIKOR

5 major reasons why girls never get Mr. Right

   Yeah, I specifically chose this topic; because a Mr. Right like me has really gotten tired of seeing young ladies try to get me, only to end up becoming lesbians. So I decided to come up with reasons why I didn’t show up after the first date… (Coughs)

(1) Settling for perfection- Yeah I said I was Mr. Right…but ain’t nobody said I was Mr. Perfect. For crying out loud I don’t have a car…deal with it. Why, must I own a car? Why don’t you just buy me one then? If you feel it is a passage rite…mtcheeewww. And yeah am also short like Kelvin Hart and I currently rent a small room. but I have a bright future not just because I am a graduate but because I have a vision. You observed this through my conversations with you. I explained  to you my short and long term goals. Women always ask me, ‘What’s wrong with wanting someone who makes money, owns mansions, loves kids, tall like Xexes, cute like Absalom, and gentle like Romeo?’ I’ll answer ‘Because you are looking for an image of a man from the movies, a superman and a Taylor swift musical’. Truth is, I promise to buy you a gallardo, but you gatta chill, girl….. if you put me on hold….till I have the money, I’ll hang up when the money shows up …pronto.

(2) Bitch Mode Syndrome- I was at the cinema, one day I could almost swear this pretty girl was looking at me, but just when I was about to reciprocate with a wink. I got the greatest turn off…THE BITCH MODE face…damn, you should have seen it, mehn. This girl suddenly frowned and twisted her neck to the left like a Spanish flu patient who just lost her pills and had been condemned to die miserably. I later learnt from a reliable source that she was purportedly sending me coy messages. I gatta admit it was pretty scary when I saw that girl’s face. I was even more scared when I realized that all that stunt was a charade to communicate with me. HELL NO…like say she wan tell me about marriage unkur, which ‘BITCH MODE face’ she go cum pull (sleepy hallows or underworld?). Ladies it will not take life from you if you can walk up to me, someday and say ‘hi, I love your name Mr. Right, can I be your woman’…ok that’s kinda too far, but hey, a simple smile could boost my morale to converse with you. #justsaying

(3) Conversation Frustrater- Check this out;    Mr. Right: hello,
Chick: hi//
Mr. Right: so what’s up now?
Chick: nofin //
Mr. Right: yeah, you look really pretty,
Chick: thanks//
Mr. Right: so I am a student of UNIBEN. What about you?
Chick:lol, kk, later.
Obviously this is an online chat conversation but It gets worse if this is a face to face conversation. Listen ladies, men only fall in love with you when you can maintain a good, meaningful conversation. It only amounts to frustration on a man’s perception when all a chick does is to look him in the eye and mutter those emotionless, truncated and somewhat witchlike words like cool, great, nice, very funny, nothing, lool, aii, okay bye. Etc. then it baffles me when I am with a lady and the only thing she talks about is CREDIT, EX BOYFRIEND, ANNOYING ROOMATE, SHOPING (eeeee yeeee) etc.

(4) Li-on-ess Path- The greatest turn off for me is lies. Be a flirt, be a gold digger, be a hoe, be a thief but don’t lie to me. Ok don’t be any of what I previously mentioned. But in all sincerity I gag when a good-looking lady tells me she is serving her NYSC in New York and she’s a graduate of Edo girls High School University of Nigeria (true story). Ladies It doesn’t hurt to be honest; any man who doesn’t love you for who you are does not deserve to be your Mr. Right. When a lady lies she gives a different picture of herself to her listeners and makes it hard for her Mr. Right to identify her…she becomes a queenserpent or a lie-on-ness.

(5) Not-my-problem-syndrome- It’s crazy when a young pretty girl will watch you sweat your fluids out as your verve card shames you in a shopping mall or restaurant, it’s really sad when ladies views men as piggy banks. Look, my mom told me, when she was dating my old man, that she always carried an extra change…she always playfully offered to foot the bills and my father gradually appreciated her coy effort to show responsibility, she won his heart and hey, they gave birth to Mr. Right(I can’t shout). Ladies all over the world especially in Nigeria. Men only treat you like shit if you behave like shit. You look like a prize because he spent a lot of money getting you and you broke no sweat giving in. Mr. Right will never go on a second date with a lady who lacks responsibility.

   In conclusion, a lady with a beautiful exterior does not have a license to a good man, until her mental and psychological powers are discerning with all sense of humility, truth and responsibility. In a nutshell a woman that hardly smiles is a hater, a woman that always wait for you to compliment her is a player, a woman who states what she’s not is a lie-on, a woman that neglects common courtesy lacks maturity and should be locked up in my room for a cleansing ritual after which she should not call my number or remember my name or even look back. After all its not her problem. Women who are more approachable and have a visage graced with smiles earn respect and admiration from Real Men…period

By Essay Palmer (@essaypalmer)

Palmer is a debut writer for the Legal Watchmen.

IT'S A HOOK! IT'S A SICKLE! OH WAIT, IT'S AN EYEBROW.

         Before I begin, If you know you have high blood pressure or fear of crooked lines, you might want to overlook the pictures in this post lol. Now that we have that out of the way, in my not so many years on this earth I can definitely say my eyes have seen so many things whose descriptions would put Patrick Obahiagbon’s vocabulary to shame. One of those things my people, is drawn eyebrows.

       From the ones that look like they were drawn with rulers and French curves to those that might have been traced with the bottom of Pringles containers! There is really no shortage of shapes and sizes of  eyebrows these days. We all see the beautiful pictures of brides and makeup artists on Instagram and our Barbie senses start to tingle and we all want to get the look. But the thing is that getting the look takes practice and knowledge of what an actual eyebrow actually looks like, this knowledge seems to be becoming very difficult to find because more and more women leave their houses with what looks like the less than symbol standing on its side (‹). We all make fun of face-to-face houses but in these kind of situations, one of the cures may be remanding such people to such apartments just so there are enough people to ask ‘ How do I look? ’ before they leave the house.

THE HOOK!

THE SICKLE....

     At least every other day, I see a girl or woman either with horrible eyebrows or a very good demonstration of the colours of the rainbow on her face. Makeup, contrary to popular opinion isn’t meant to drive clowns out of business, I believe its meant to enhance beauty. Funny as this topic may sound, especially when you start to remember that woman you know who is guilty of drawing the  sickle eyebrows, we all have a big role to play in ridding our eyes of this menace. Firstly, if you know someone who leaves the house everyday looking like something out of Scooby Doo, be your sister’s keeper and call her aside and tell her nicely that her makeup doesn’t look nice. Yes, you will encounter some stubborn ones who will stand on the fact that they look prettier than they ever have, if you try and they don’t listen, she’ll probably listen when she starts to trend on twitter #sicklebrows.

     Also, those of us who admire the perfection of eyebrows we see on other people and don’t know how to achieve them have the choice of meeting professionals and paying them to get it done for us or leaving your eyebrows as they are. Natural is beautiful. The last piece of advice goes to NTA, AIT, Channels or whatever national TV station would like to improve their ratings. I think it would be a good idea to have a get ready with me segment as early as 6 or 7 so women who are getting ready for work or school could tune in and have a step by step guide on how to apply their makeup. Whichever station picks this  up should pay me for my idea oh.

      Have a great week and remember to buy a mirror and ask your neighbour how you look. Don’t push clowns out of business.

Trending Accountabilty;Are we finally losing it?

   It has been over a week now but I am still hunted by those gruesome pictures of those innocent job seekers murdered (yes murdered;and by you know who) by virtue of their unemployment status…its really sad that
some people take glee in taking advantage of others and that was exactly what happened.
About 19 or so citizens of this great nation lost their precious lives due to the incompetence and negligence of certain persons whom we have entrusted with our freedom and more importantly our future…when one
considers the fact that over 70 000 applicants paid 1000 Naira as application fees for only 3000
vacant seats which when calculated runs close to 7 hundred million naira it becomes rather clear that the pecuniary gains was the master target; all part of a sinister plan to fill their pockets at the expense of others. And all that amounts to scam.
    Nevertheless, I need not press on that matter anymore. Enough articles have been written on how insensitive, greedy and negligent the NIS have been.what bothers me right now is that we as Nigerians
probably because we are now accustomed to bad news (unfortunately) now tend to see evertything as normal. The general aura now is that we have given in to the conditions we find ourselves in and we take whatever is thrown at us. At the risk of sounding downright pessimistic and unpatriotic I dare to say that we have not seen the last of these avoidable mishaps. My question now is this? How do we react. Do we do what we ve seen too often: Condemning the government for a few days and then downing our tools?. Do
we use these ‘trending’ topics as conversation starters just to prove to our friends and colleagues that we don't live under rocks? Or yet do we react with the occasional ‘eyah’, RIP to the dead’, ‘too bad’, ‘the government is wicked’ clichés only to go about our business again like nothing happened? That will not only be hypocritical but cowardly and will amount to a betrayal of the dead!
I have always maintained that the citizens are no better than the leaders-in-title because when all is said and done we still act like them-we only care about ourselves and our relatives or close friends. Everybody is too cautious to be their neighbour’s keeper and it is disheartening to say the least. Now I know the question running through most of your minds…WHAT SHOULD WE DO WHEN THESE SITUATIONS ARISE?
I am not saying we should burn Aso rock,lol no..there are better and legitimate ways to go about it but I am just going to sum it all in one word..ACCOUNTABILTY…if our so leaders are held accountable for
everything that happens in this country, things would be a lot better. A question if I may ask, what is the net worth of your local government chairman, what are your governors' assets(oops I asked two)..well your guess is as good as mine. I don’t know..i honestly do not blame those government officials who loot anything loot-able because they are only yielding to the temptation handling things unsupervised…don't get me wrong.I am not justifying their actions, I am just trying to drive home the fact that progress is a collective
effort. let us make our leaders accountable for everything that relates with their duties to us. It is no more than we deserve. Ultimately it all falls on us,our realization that we owe our fellow citizens a moral duty of
care and our willingness to move forward....remember; history judges us not only by our actions but also by our inactions..

Odigili Uche


Please feel free to disagree as differing opinions will be widely entertained and appreciated

WHOSE INTEREST ARE YOU REPRESENTING?

It is common place in Nigeria for pressure groups like the Civil Rights Association, Society for Women Empowerment and other non-governmental organization to stand in for the interest of the people or a group of persons when the occasion calls. And it is also not rare to find in this same country some bodies who claim federal titles, proclaiming to represent the peoples interest. Hardly will a day pass by without the usual jingles on the radio about the Copy Rights Society of Nigeria (COSON). They claim that no music shall be deployed or played in any public centre, radio or television stations, night clubs, restaurants or bars, hotels et cetera without the appropriate license from them. They also cautioned that to avoid big time legal palaver, the above must be adhered to. But they also failed to qualify the term license and tell Nigerians through media chat or any other orientation channels how they intend the outcome of the granted license to be communicated to the various musicians concerned since they own the musical work. Rather, all they keep telling Nigerians is just the superficial aspect of it, never willing to reveal the undercurrent beneath.
If I am to interpret the word license in its contextual usage, it will mean the authorization granting a person or group of persons the right to deploy or play a particular or different kind of music after such money has been paid. Obviously, if it will not mean monetary attachment, then the jingles will mean that any one upon reasonable grounds can come obtain the permit to play music anywhere. And if this be the case, COSON wouldn’t have issued the jingles initially. If I am to stand on this interpretation, then the ambiguity created by that advert would have been clarified.
The music industry is regarded as a money-spinner in Nigeria. Considering the busy schedules of musicians; some in the studio working out their next smash-hit, others going for concert and other programmes for rendition and other meaningful musical venture that will enhance their profession, how then do they who even care less about whether their music is been played in one hotel, restaurant or bar receive the monetary benefits from COSON as their royalty? How does COSON intend to channel the monies evenly to those Nigerian musicians who are scattered all over and even beyond the country? Or does COSON intend opening a bank account for these musicians were the monies will be paid in their favor? I stand with COSON that permission should be sought before the playing of any music in public places but I split grounds with them on whether the full interest of these musicians will be represented. Will the so called license culminate into interest representation? Or who does COSON think they represent? Article (27)(2) of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) etch out that; ‘’everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author,’’ if the law can make this clear, why can’t COSON; a body claiming to protect the interest of Nigerian musicians and their music, take the pains to enlighten the people (who pay the royalty) on how indeed the collective interest of the Nigerian musicians will be represented.
  The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) of recent sued Airtel, Glo and MTN to court because of the poor service delivery to their users. They were claiming about N647.5 million from these network providers just to register their presence that they indeed represent the people’s interest. Whether the N647.5 million if granted them will be shared to the users of the various networks is a million dollar question.It seems as if COSON and the NCC have borrowed wings from our politicians. They are succeeding every day   in getting what they can, canning all they get and eventually sitting on the can. By hook or by crook, they keep parading themselves under the false color of interest representation, but let them not be quick to forget that Nigerians are fun loving people, quick to forget their difficulties and slow to forget that music is what makes them groove afterwards, but forget to remember that there is a restriction attached.

Davidson .I. Obabueki 

THREAT TO SECURITY

Recently, virtually every national daily has as its  headline the unwonted killings of innocent Nigerians. Hardly will a day pass by that I will not hear on the radio station or watch on the television that some people have fallen to the sword of one blood thirsty group. Through acts of bombings, slashing of the throats of innocent souls and sniping, the Boko Haram guerrilla sect seems to be at the moment the greatest threat to Nigeria’s security. From the bombing of the police force headquarters and the United Nations building in Abuja, to the massive gory invasion of churches, mosques and other vulnerable centres, this unholy, blind and vision less alliance has rendered some North-Eastern parts of Nigeria securely insecured.

            The Federal Government last year declared a state of emergency in Yobe, Adamawa and Borno states, and by the ratification of the senate, he has extended it to another six months and yet it seems as if their tide of operation and sophistication is growing everyday in leaps and bounds. Just late last year, this diabolic sect invaded the Federal Government college of Agriculture, Yobe killing many students who were lost in their sleep. Few days before the centenary celebration, they unceremoniously laid siege on the Federal Government College, Yobe killing over 50 pupils. And at about 6:30pm on the 1^st of March, a twin bomb exploded in Borno state killing over 40 persons. And all the presidency keeps saying to Nigerians is ‘we are on top of the situation’, ‘we will bring the perpetrators to book’, ‘we will compensate the bereaved’, ‘we send our heartfelt condolences…’ to mention but a few. When El-shabab attacked the West gate mall in Kenya, the Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta ordered that the Kenyan flag be flown at half mast and three days of national mourning be observed. But nothing tangible and visible that portrays the Nigerian spirit except the usual one minute of silence has been seen to be done to those victims of the Boko Haram onslaught.

            The Federal Government has ordered that the chief of Army staff be moved over to Borno State in a bid to curtail the excesses of this sect. He has also ordered that the Northern borders between Nigeria and Cameron, Chad and the Niger republic be blocked. But that has not in the short-run stopped the Boko Haram sect from invading at will. We know that the members of the Boko Haram sect have no true identity and that the security of this country lies on the general responsibility of Nigerians. But one cannot be security conscious only when he or she cannot see visibly the security apparatus put in place by the federal government. When some of the members of the Boko Haram sect where set to assail the Federal Government college in Yobe state on Tuesday, February 25, 2014, it was said that the security sentinels strategically positioned to cordon off the premises, took to their heels because of the calibre of weapons they saw, and now more than 50,000 persons have fled Borno state for their dear lives. So while people are been clutched and clawed to death in the North-eastern parts of Nigeria, others in political positions are left carousing, reveling, promising and laughing out their senses in the Southern and Western parts and other parts not affected of Nigeria. The families of the late legal icon; Chief Gani Fawehinmi and the late afro beat singer; Fela Anikulapo Kuti did not just reject the centenary awards out of sheer jealousy rather the feelings that what they fought for and against still prevails in the country.

              I understand that robots are rarely used in this country. Why can’t that industry be developed and its products used as security network and personnel. The creation of state police has been one of the hue and cry of some people. But the fears that in the time of disputes between the federal and state government, an order made by one and the neglect of it by the other in dire situations may plunge the country into her long list of unresolved problems.

            When the ring leader of Al-Qaeda, Osama Bin Laden bombed the World Trade centre in the US on the 11^th of September, 2001, the American Government wasted no time in bringing justice with action by putting him to the sword. Abubakar Shekarau has been detected to be the ring leader of Boko Haram, instead of the media to keep peddling false information about his death, the armed forces should as a matter of urgently change strategy in bringing justice with action so that when the shepherd is put to the sword, the sheep will be bound to scatter.

                                                                                                GOD DIRECT OUR LEADERS

                                                                                                Davidson .I. Obabueki