Little One

The Little One stood out like a sore thumb.
Her face had patches of white caused by powder that wasn't applied properly or from a powder of inferior quality.
Along with her were two smaller ones, who she was trying to keep in check.
She couldn't have been more than than 8 years old but she was burdened with the responsibility of taking care of her two younger siblings.

The Little One stood in one of the ultra modern shopping complexes that was fast becoming part of the economic landscape and was helping to promote the false impression of a booming economy and a growing middle class.
Along with her siblings, she had a huge shopping cart in front of her seemingly trying to decide what she was supposed to do.
I couldn't tell whether she was waiting for someone (hopefully she hadn't just been abandoned) or she was out in a world she didn't fit into.

Around her were little ones of her age group, little ones of expatriates and well to do citizens having fun, pushing shopping carts along with their mummies or nannies and reaching for products they had seen on TV.
In the midst of these activity was this Little One, who was forced to grow up fast, abandoning the joys of what it meant to be a child, would this Little One be the next legend that would take her world by storm? Unfortunately, in the country this Little One lives she would be lucky to get a good education.
This Little One is most likely taking her siblings on a treat, from the little money she had earned from crisscrossing major roads to hawk food items rather than being in a classroom receiving an education, which the country's government has not seen as a worthwhile venture to adequately invest in.
Even if this Little One was off the streets and in a classroom, the education she would get would be from teachers who were teaching with the same syllabus/curriculum used 10 years ago,how then would she be able to compete equally in this dynamic global village.

This Little One would be lucky not to be sold into a marriage, without an understanding her body or what the institution of marriage entails.
This Little One would be fortunate not to be forced into a marriage to satisfy the sexual perversions of a man, much older than her, especially one who ought to know better, but rather hides under the cloak of religion.
Luckily these Little One may just be sold into the household of a wealthy politician who has embezzled enough to satisfy every whim of his third and fourth generation unborn, so that she can have a lavish happily ever after, even though the pains of her childhood would haunt her.
This Little One was most likely born into earth to make an impact but because of a lack of proper family planning on the part of her parents, she is one of 15 and still counting from a child making factory.
This Little One would be lucky if her father was sober when he named her and can remember her name despite the number of children he has.

Sleeping Heads

I am seated in a bus to Lagos, feeling like a ball in a game of ping pong, just that I have to avoid being hit.

The batons are the heads of the individuals seated beside me. And I am forced to dodge being hit by their sleeping swinging heads.

And the score is 1-0 the first hit delivered from the man on the left, and it’s just 15minutes into the journey can I possibly hope to dodge any more hits before the game is over. I hope so.

No, the guy on the left just got a hit in leaving the game 2-0, Advantage Server.

The situation of the roads helps to contribute to the intricacy of the game. From the countless potholes that the driver dodges left and right to avoid entering, to having to choose which of the potholes are a lesser evil.

I am forced to continue this game of sleeping heads, its 20minutes before halftime when the driver will park by the roadside for undisciplined passengers to have a pissing contest on the side of a major expressway.

After some careful manoeuvrings the man on the right gets a hit, despite apologizing for hit number 2 leaving the opponents a very good advance with a 3-0 lead.

I wonder who's gonna get the first hat trick, @audience place your bets now. Just as if the guy on the right can hear my thoughts from the deep recesses of his open mouthed sleep he gets a hit in.

The game is progressing quite well, thankfully it looks like the guy on the left is not going to score any more hits since he appears wide awake.

And our man of the match at the moment gets another hit, leaving the game at 5-0.

I wonder what it would take for me to get a hit in, because anything I do would be paramount to revenge. Well the other option would be to pretend to be asleep so that I change from being the ball to a baton

No, am too much of a pacifist to do that.

And the option of revenge would most likely blow up in my face, what can a skinny all bones individual like me do in a fist fight?

Well except a miracle of Darman repeats itself I am going get crushed in this game.

After more careful dodges on my part the guy on the right gets two consecutive hits in leaving the game at a 7-0 lead, disadvantage receiver. It’s almost a few more minutes into that halftime I spoke about earlier.

And it looks like the game is going to end, as the guy on the right has finally gotten a good sleeping position

We have reached the end of the game and I want to thank all of you that for sticking to the end of the commentary. From yours truly SultanWais.

To my dear hosts; the caretakers of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway (whoever that is or if it exists) get the road fixed or the railway working effectively to international standard rather than beating your chests over restoring a deadbeat train.  So that people like me won't be forced to participate in a game of sleeping heads.

The Race

It's quarter to 3 and you still lay on your bed as if you didn't hear the pistol signifying the start of the race.

You lie on your bed tussling and tumbling as if tortured by a nightmare

Rather the only torture you feel is that of laziness already tired of your presence in it's kingdom

He is tired because his worshippers want to crown you lord over him

And he's having none of it, so even he is giving you a nudge to take get off the side tracks and get onto the race.

You had actually thought you had had the others beaten, thus you decided to take a break. 

You look back to realize that they are upon and you again take off, 

Unknown to you, they are running the third lap of the race while you at still at the second.

True you shouldn't compare yourself with others but you still need to set a bench mark for yourself

Did you really think you would be at the lead forever, when all you have desired is take short intermittent stops.

Your mates are flying and you want to fly to but you can't enlist in flight school because you haven't gained enough mileage on the ground, thus you can't gain air miles that will qualify you to fly into space.

Its not just being bond to the ground that annoys you rather it's being giving the opportunity to fly in the skies but not knowing it.

All the opportunities lay at your feet but the eyes to see them don't seem to exist

You don't want to go trampling upon the opportunities that lay at your door step 

Thus should you stay home bound scared of doing anything that would opportunities.

You don't want to go foiling your opportunities thus you decide to play safe with everyone you meet but the problem is that some of the people you meet need to be shaken up a bit, like a tree so that they can drop the fruits stuck to their stems.

Your playing safe would leave nothing for them recall you by, asides from your distinctly remarkable features, which would at best cause a few moments of talk after they have met you.

In the race you have to choose what side you want to be on; the sidelines or on the tracks.
The sidelines are for those that have run the race well and have set a record for those coming after them. Its also for those that chose to give up much sooner than they should have and those that never started the race at all.
The tracks are for those that are running in the race, they may stumble but they continue, they don't give up until they reach the finish line they set for themselves or are brought to a stop by oppressors who are threatened by their efforts.

Hidden Princess

Throw down your hair o fair maiden that I may have a glimpse of that face which has me thinking long and hard
O that your person is all I have imagined it to be.
Not docile or submisive but willing to take a challenge and throw the first punch, disregarding society's take on gender.
I had seen you from far off, as I took the road the journey led me through.
Already the harvest of the treacherous journey has already been revealed if you are a part of it.
Or except I am mistaken and have missed a turn, thus meaning you were one of the many temptations I had heard of
If so I have succumbed to the temptation and will loose all the lead I had gained before
Should I go back to the road and continue my journey or stay a little while in your presence. Disregarding all the consequences that there will be.
Or are you just an apparition that would tease and arouse giving me nothing but longing for what may be thereby leading me to a merry go round.
Whatever the case may be, I shall still stand at the bottom of the tower calling for you let me up. A few times will I try to climb up on my own when your silence remains but an answer to my calls. Many more times will I fall, from the dumb attempts I make to climb up to you, the scars and fractures that I shall gain will become heedless to count but all the same I shall stay at the bottom of the tower pleading and waiting, even if nothing remains of my voice I shall stay and continue to croak.
Choose to ignore or answer me but someway, somehow I will get on that tower and claim you. Not for my self alone but for all adventurers who choose to venture into the unknown.

 A tribute to Wisdom, Well-being and Wealth the three entities that I personify as one

The prayer of a young chap

Father, thank you because I understand a bit more last week, than I understood the week before.
I understand now that it took me 20 years to get my degree, something I considered and felt was your will for me.
Now I understand that you never mentioned that I would rise to the top straight after the degree.
I know now that the steps to greatness are a process in time, and when that time comes I would fly like eagle.
Until then I must go through the necessary processes and not expect that a few strides of my long legs would get me to where I want to be.
I understand now that I may stumble a bit along the way, but I should keep my head focused.
I may not get all that I want when I expect it but to carry my jotter along the way and write down the lessons I will learn from the journey ahead
I know that neither my creativity, my shrill voice, or my intelligence is enough to take me where I want to go. But absolute faith combined with all that you have given will get me there.
And I must strive to build all of them to get tougher and better at what I do, in order to adequately face the challenges ahead.
Like a great man once said
"God, harden me against myself,
The Coward with pathetic voice
Who craves for ease and rest and joy.
Myself, arch-traitor to myself,
My hollowest friend,
My deadliest foe,
My clog, whatever road I take".

The Approaching Army

Look around you

What can you see?

Is it just houses, trees and people?

Then it means you have not seen them cladded in their shining armor and raising high their lances and shields

Wiling and waiting to defend all that they hold dear to them

Open your ears wide

What can you hear

Is it just the sounds of sirens, horns, and the distant whistling of the birds?

Or is it the sound of shuffling feet and moving cars you hear?

Then you have neither heard the sounds of their trumpets nor the sounds of their marching feet as they approach

Ready to take on all who dare to do wrong or too scared to do the right thing

What do you feel

Is it just the freezing air or the heat from the scorching sun?

Then it means you haven’t began to feel their impact

Which would change your world as you know it and create a new order

Well I will tell you what I have seen, which is beyond mere gossip

Boys like men riding on wishes as if they were horses. Tired of waiting for the next time the thugs are in need of idle hands to come dazzle them with ill-gotten wealth, only to leave them to dry in the sun, when they get what they want

Boys like men riding on wishes as if they were horses

Whoever said if wishes were horses beggars would ride

S/he has most likely not met this generation

They don’t just ride on wishes

They fly on them, like they were carpets from Aladdin

Let me tell you what I heard which is embedded in the prophecies

Youths who call themselves innovators, entrepreneurs and change agents

Leveraging on any and all the opportunities they can find

Conquering the challenges and hurdles that life dishes out at them

Ready to take on positions that would change the world and are not willing to make compromises with their integrity or their worth with mere pieces of gold coins

They have taken an oath not to fail their neighbors like the generations before them.

They are willing to lay down their lives for the cause and prove that their generation is what putting hopes and trusts in.

They refuse to be blind sighted, as to gather supposed wealth just for themselves because they know they would only be leaving curses for their generations unborn to inherit.

To all those who would dare to oppose them

Know that they refused to be ignored or silenced

So take this as a warning so as not to be trampled upon if you stand in their way.

Unbridled Trust

The day reaches a close and the shadows begin to appear 

As every hour passes, they draw nearer bringing closer and making more  potent the shadows that we mere apparitions in the day

As each second passes, fear begins to mount, fear of the known, fear of what the shadows and the night represents and brings with it,

For some they conquer this fear with a shot or two

A few rush homes to be with their families

A couple others beat their chest as they cry for help

At the climax of the night the sound of snoring is heard not from one who has no fear but from one puts his trust implicitly in a being that he serves, knowing fully well that no matter the thickness of the shadows or the sound of the howling wind like a screaming child. He stand under an umbrella of protection that nothing can penetrate.

The process of anticlimax begins and the potency of the shadows reduce hour by hour, second by second, just at it came so it goes, leaving behind sadness and horror.

But the one who trusts wakes up refreshed knowing no sadness or sorrow,

Rising to a greater day than the former, cos for him everyday only gets better, for no yesterday can be better than the greatness he wakes up into.

A thanks he says, a prayer he says to the one he trusts implicitly not because he understands everything or anything but because he knows that he is safe and can suffer no harm or hurt.

Though as the day progresses, it may seem like what he did not pray for, but in the end it is greater that he hoped, cos his expectations cannot be cut short.

The ever incomplete words of the Sultan

Is it sickness or is my soul just fizzling out

Is it me or are the sands of time turning against me

My heart yearns for self expression but it is strangled for a lack of opportunity 

I search for fulfillment but even the stars seems to have abandoned me

My every step sets me on a path of confusion

What hope do I have than to let myself be carried into oblivion by the whirlwind of the south

Indeed the center is falling and all hope appears lost

The sun rises with hope and sets with despair

Am I done for or are my efforts not just good enough

In my heart of hearts I say a tiny prayer but does it go beyond the ceiling of my room?

Questions, questions from every direction but a lack of sufficient answers leaves me in desperation

Maybe it's time I just slept and lets things turn around, but who has it ever worked for?

Yet if I stay awake, anxiety would but kill

When would things change, when would light shine in my corner of darkness

My soul, my spirit, my heart, they all fail me

(It's as though I have been visited by a fictitious dementor)

The doctor procures patience as a cure but how much longer can I wait

Suicide I have considered, death is a option not too far off, yet even that option fails me.

I am bound to this earth my mere flesh, O! What method of un-yoking avails me

But wait is that a glimmer of light in the distance, No, I ignore it for too many of such glimmers have I seen only for nothing of it.

True, I may have missed that glimmer but what else can desperation and anxiety lead to but confusion

Pen and Paper

O robber you came to steal from me

Thinking you would go off with more than enough

Only to realize I had nothing but a pen and paper in the bag I carried

You left angry, leaving me beaten black and blue

But what you did not realize, was that the pen and paper meant a lot more to me than the silver or gold you desired

For they are the instruments I shall use to impact my world

And so many lives around me

Even yours I hope

If our paths ever cross again, which I shall be glad, if they do

I may not be so forgiving as Pope John Paul the 2nd

But I would surely not leave you in the same way you left me.

Job Hunting

Searching the web I was, only for a job

Found one and along went my CV to them

For an interview I was called for

The interview I went

Only to find every one including me having the basic meal ticket (a Bachelors degree)

For that was what it had become

And a dime a dozen they were

No longer hard to find

Thus what differentiated us, was nothing but our skills, composure and exposure.

The job I was given 1 out of 70, leaving the others to keep on plowing the labor market and scavenging for opportunities, like I was, searching the web for another Wanted AD.

Shattered Hopes

The abstractive preamble

The very scenario I had tried to avoid played out before me.

My hopes had been dashed into a thousand pieces. And all over again I had to start gathering the shattered pieces. 

Each piece, regardless of how small was too significant to leave for the wind to blow away.

I was standing on the fragile lid of a very deep well and couldn't afford to make any more mistakes. Because I stood the risk of having to climb from the bottom all over again.

The Story

After the final phase, I had been quiet certain that I had gotten it, only to receive a blow that threw me into a realm of anxiety and confusion.

Try as much as I could, hoping that it was a mistake, but even then, that thought didn't hold.

My mind flashed back to each step of the final phase, trying to figure out where I had got it all wrong,  but as at that time, it had been beyond my understanding.

True, I had to acknowledge the fact that I hadn't performed splendidly, though I had left there quite certain that only a word would set things straight. Unfortunately, the word that came served to confirm the veracity of the blow, which on it's own served to deliver another blow of a greater magnitude.

When I had finally gathered the pieces of my hopes together, I sent a message, hoping that it would change things, which it failed to do. Although the reply I got was a ray of hope shining in the dark corner of where I stood on a long forgotten island.

The abstractive epilogue

At that point my hopes had began fading fast as I grasped for straws, so as not to dwell again in the darkness of depression.

Youthful Aspiration

I used to wish to be the youngest pilot
I used to wish to be the youngest writer
I used to wish I could draw so I could paint the stars like I see them
In all i used to wish to be the youngest star in all that is there is to be
But in time I realize now more than then that I need to be my own self
Making my own impact in every way possible
And doing what I know best.
Which is being myself and standing out for it

The quest for integrity

A man of integrity they described him as,
But who is a man of integrity?
A man pure in heart
A woman true in her intentions
A man true to his word
A woman who stands for what is true and just
In all who is this man or woman of integrity
For here I am willing and able to scout through all the earth,
To embark on the road never gone before,
Where is he or she that I might find them
Is she in the forests of Africa
The skyscrapers of the West
or does he dwell in the planes of Australia
Or concealed even in the desserts of the middle east
Where does he lay that I may find him in his place of comfort
Shower him with gifts he has never before imagined
All in order to see the thinking of a like mind

A man of integrity is indeed hard to find
Thus, we must begin to groom and forge
the hearts of young men and women
before they tread on the path of generations before them

What I would do if I were Goodluck for a day OR What my new year's resolution would be If I were him.

"P.S: Nobody should take this personal or too seriously, because this is just a bunch of words from a guy who dreams and talks too much for his own good (Don't mind him O, he just feels like a wise guy)”

If I were Goodluck,  I would start by mornings by jogging down the road of a highly populated area in a state far away from Abuja or Lagos and 100 meters away from my security team so at blend in with the crowd, hoping that stones don't come flying my way when I am noticed rather shouts of praise.

I would read the newspapers myself while having my million naira breakfast rather than waiting for my numerous advisers read selected cutouts from newspapers that don't paint the true story of what goes on in the country.

I would go on to confer with my overfed and overpaid advisers what I could do or say on Independence Day so that I would achieve my vision of being the most remembered President Nigeria has ever had, rather than renaming an institution because nothing else seems news worthy. 

I would ensure, I zero in on one point (most likely power) that would make me remembered when I achieve it rather than panning across several issues and achieving none.

By mid day I would most probably order an air strike on several areas in the north to deal with a long standing issue that has caused death and chaos there, rather than continuously offering amnesty. Hopefully, there's correct intelligence not to bomb innocent civilians and the military has the capacity to carry out the air strike effectively.

I would most likely draft a policy and setup a monitoring committee that would ensure that top multinationals invest their taxes into the education sector rather than paying it to the government since it might end up being diverted into private pockets. I create an employee volunteering scheme for employees of the multinationals to volunteer some hours every week to teach in a school.

 By night fall I would create an act (or one of those things that they do) that all governors, ministers, members of both houses of assembly and myself would sleep without light (neither PHCN, renewable energy, inverter nor generator) for two nights every week so as to have a feel of what's goes on  in the country.

Before my night cap, I would introspect to determine if my name's charm has worked as well as its rumored to have. 

Finally, by God's grace I would wake up the morning after suffering from a hangover of too much power and hope that all I have done doesn't get undone in the blink of an eye. 

In truth I know that Goodluck most likely has the most difficult job in the world, thus I cannot begin to imagine or fathom how he spends his God given 24 hours, what I am certain I would attempt to do, would be to retrace my steps to see my progress in the past months compared to leaders that were in a similar situation to see what milestones I have made and what techniques, strategies or ideas remain unthought.