MY LIFE AS A YAHOO BOY.

It all started with my curiosity. I was wondering what the yahoo boy does that makes him really rich and influential on our Nigerian campuses. I wondered what it will be like to actually be in the shoes of the yahoo boy, to examine the process from the beginning to the end so I would be able to think like them and participate in the process from beginning to the end.

Thus started my sojourn into the life and activities of a yahoo boy and I shall try to break down the process into stages and try to explain each stage accordingly based on my experience. This write up should not be seen as a guide to yahoo yahoo but as an independent observer’s thoughts on the process and implications of being a yahoo boy. I tried to become a yahoo boy myself and learnt the process to be able to analyze the whole matter. Up until now, many of my friends that knew me when I embarked on this project would still not believe that it was just an experiment but then, I had to make it look real as that is that only way through which I will be able to relate with these people and learn from them.

TYPES:

There are various types of yahoo yahoo common on campus today but I shall dwell mainly on the two most common types basically because these are the types that my research was based on. These two types are the DATING and the CLASSIFIED types of yahoo yahoo. I shall be explaining what each of these kinds entail in details later in this write-up but first, I will like to examine the basic stages involved in the yahoo yahoo business.

THE INTEREST STAGE:

This is the stage where an individual shows interest in the yahoo thing after he has been intimidated and bamboozled into thinking it is the only way through which he would make it to the big leagues on campus. This stage involves getting close to the guys in the business and trying to learn from them, the intricacies of the yahoo yahoo ‘profession’. This is the stage where the student is taught the various ‘formats’ to be used and the various ways to go about getting a ‘client’ as they call it formally or ‘maga’ or ‘mayee’ informally and how to get your ‘client’ to trust you and to fall hopelessly in love with you (in the case of yahoo yahoo by Dating) or taught how to go about ‘bombing’ clients (in the case of the kind of yahoo yahoo called ‘Classified’).

This stage is usually the introductory stage and it is at this stage that you are told the very important materials required in the yahoo yahoo business. These materials include a laptop or desktop computer with constant internet connection and the most important material of all; your time. To succeed in the ‘Dating’ kind of yahoo yahoo, you need at least 5 to 6 hours a day of chatting with your ‘client’ so as to get the maximum benefits of the game while in the ‘Classified’ kind of yahoo yahoo, you need about 4 to 5 straight hours of internet browsing to get the most benefits. Having done all these, you are now ready to move to the next stage in the game.

THE START-UP STAGE:

This stage involves setting up your equipment and logging on to the internet. This is where the real work is and is the stage that determines whether you will be a good yahoo boy or not.

THE PAYING STAGE:

This is the stage where your ‘client’ sends money to you through western union or money gram depending on the transfer method you asked him or her to use.

THE COLLECTION STAGE:

This, in my opinion is the most important and yet dangerous stage of all but to some, it is the easiest part of the game. This is when you go to the bank or western union center to actually cash the money that has been sent to you by your ‘client’. You go to a fake ID card center, get a fake ID card made in the name of the person to whom the ‘client’ has sent the money and proceed to the bank to cash the money. It is easy to get caught at this stage because you are actually putting yourself out in the open and you could be easily arrested by the EFCC and other law enforcement agencies. Please note that what is done here is you have a bank where one or more of the employees is on the payroll of these yahoo boys. This ensures that whatever transpires is completely under the radar and shielded from the knowledge of the law enforcement agencies, on getting there, you simply walk up to your man and present your fake ID cards. He in turn checks the western union portal to confirm that such an amount of money has been sent and then pays you accordingly.

I shall try to explain the 2 types yahoo yahoo we are dealing with here:

DATING:

This basically involves you getting a ‘client’ from an online dating site and introducing yourself as a widower or young and sexually attractive lady as the case may be who wants to go into a relationship and is searching online for true love. This is done in order to get unsuspecting rich ‘oyinbo’ men or women to take interest in you. Of course, you don’t use your real name but a name that you created and a profile picture that you also downloaded from the internet. (Please note that in order for your ruse to look real, you have to download many different pictures of the same person). After doing this, you get men or women who are interested in you or you show that you are interested in them by sending them a message that in the case of a man, may read something like this;

HELLO

My name is *your name* and I am interested in meeting mature ladies for a long term relationship. Seeing your picture, I have a feeling my search is over. My yahoo mail address is *whatever*@yahoo.com. you could add me to your messenger list if you don’t mind and let’s get to know each other better on there. Eagerly expecting your reply.

LOVE

*your name*

This kind of message is called a ‘bomb’ and it is the introductory message you send after identifying a particular ‘client’ and after you are convinced the client is rich enough for you.

Of course, the client replies and you follow up with something like this;

Hello my name is *your name* and thanks for accepting my friend request. I hope this will be the beginning of a rewarding friendship because i don’t think I've seen a more beautiful lady in all my life. Hope you won’t mind us chatting on yahoo messenger cos I think we could really get in touch more on there. My username is *whatever*@yahoo.com. I would like you to add me to your messenger list if you have a yahoo account so we can chat more and get to know one another there. Looking forward to your reply and eagerly waiting for you on yahoo messenger. I Can’t wait to get to know you.

LOVE

*your name*

By this time, you have the yahoo messenger address of the ‘client’. You then proceed to add the person as a friend on your yahoo messenger and this is when the real work begins as you have to get your ‘client’ to fall in love with you as it is only at this point that the client can send you money. When you client asks about you and what you do, you send something like this:

HELLO,

Hi... i could not get to tell you about me so I am sending it by email..my name is mark as you already know and I am from *wherever* and I work as international project supervisor for *whatever* company out of *wherever*......I have been married with a kid and my wife died in Africa last year where she had gone with my daughter *name of daughter* cos she got custody after the divorce....I am currently searching for a mature lady like I said from any part of the world who will love me for who I am and with whom I will share all I have and who will share all she has with me......I am a fun loving and generally fun to be with...this is what I will tell you about me..I leave you to find out the rest yourself from interaction with me...I hope to get to know you more cos I think I will like your kind of person cos from your picture, you seem like a very adventurous and fun loving kind of person...I will appreciate if you can reply my mail so that we can kick start the friendship from there and hopefully if things work out the way we want, we can take the relationship to another level cos I don’t mind settling down in any part of the world as long as it is with the woman I love and who loves me back...

I'll be waiting for your reply and like I said before i hope this will be the beginning of a bright and rewarding friendship...bye for now and please take care of yourself....

LOTS OF LOVE

*your name*

After this, you have successfully introduced yourself to your ‘client’ and you have by now, got to know who your ‘client’ is and what she does for a living. You have introduced yourself to be a very responsible and caring man and have to yourself in a position to be loved.

Hereafter comes what in yahoo yahoo circles, is called the ‘birthday billing’. This is when you ask your ‘client’ to send money to your daughter so as to get her a gift on her birthday. This is usually done after about 4 or 7 days of your meeting the ‘client’ depending on the length and intensity of your conversation. After attaching your pictures and that of your daughter, the birthday billing ‘bomb’ reads something like this:

HELLO,

Hello dear, how are you and everyone over there?..., my daughter *daughter’s name* sends her greetings too... she can’t wait to get to know you...by the way her birthday is in four days and I was thinking she might be pleasantly surprised to receive a gift from you....I try to send her things but she does not get them cos the postal service in that part of west Africa is so bad, nothing gets delivered so I send money to have those things bought for her. I used to send the money to her mum but now that she is no more, I send the money to her guardian.....please do not bother if this is a problem...I just think it will be a very good idea to have her know that her soon to be mother cares about her enough to send her a gift on her birthday. She likes you so much and she tells me she can’t wait to meet you...I'm hoping you can make this work and I am counting on you...anything you want to give her for her birthday is fine and that is your choice to make but i still insist do not bother if it is going to be a problem....I hope to get her out of there soon enough so I can come to join you and with our kids we can be one big happy family...I think I just found the kind of person I have been searching for all my life and I promise never to let you go.....I just need some time to arrange all these things cos I plan to get my girl away from that place called Africa....

I need you to reply me so I know what your decision is and so that i can send you the details for the money transfer. Life is about trusting the person that you love isn't it? Whatever you decide will be fine and I promise it won’t make me think less of you cos I think i might be falling in love with you already and I just can’t hide that feeling. Take care of you honey and chat with you soon. By the way i sent the pictures. Hope you got them...

LOTS OF LOVE

*your name*.

Your ‘client’ feels important and if she wants to send the gift truly she replies. You then reply her mail asking her to send the money to jenny’s guardian while giving her a name and address that you have created for that purpose. This is the first time your ‘client’ sends you money and you could get up to about $400 to $500 this first time depending on the intensity and level of intimacy you have got to with your client. After this is done, you are then ready to go in for the big kill.

After about 2 or 3 weeks of chatting and getting to know your ‘client’, you then tell her you are going to Africa and to Nigeria specifically to get your daughter with the intention of both of you coming over to see your ‘client’ in whatever country that she is. On the day that you are supposed to land in Nigeria, you are ready to go in for the big kill and you send her a mail that reads something like this:

HI LOVE,

Hello honey, how have you been? I am in Nigeria now as I told you and I really need your help..The plane landed at about *pm local time cos the flight took about * hours...I came out of the airport looking for a cab to take me to my hotel and i did not know that I was going into a trap...I was beaten to a pulp and left to die after been driven to a dark place by the cab driver and his accomplices who were already waiting for him there and because i did not know the way, i did not know I was not being driven to the hotel. I had to crawl back to the roadside and shout for help before some good Samaritans got me here. All my personal effects including my clothes are gone, the boxes containing *daughter’s name*'s ps3 and other things, my phones, my laptop, my international passport, my credit cards, the gifts i bought for *daughter’s name*, her friends, her guardian and her children, all the cash i had in my briefcase and everything including my wallet which had the address of the house where jenny is and the phone numbers with which I communicate with her ...I am at a hospital now and I have really gone through a horrifying experience and i need you to do me a favor... I need you to send me some money as soon as you can. I promise to make it up to you I just need the money right now and i don’t know where else to turn and i am stranded here...please honey I am counting on you to do this for me and I will be waiting at the hospital though i have to log out now cos the doctor is only doing me a favor by letting me use his computer and I have to pay hospital bills...I really need your help love and I promise as soon as I get back on my feet I will repay.....I need about $4000 at least and I will be expecting your reply..please I am stranded cos I have never been in this kind of situation in my life and you are the only person I know that I can run to right now....I know this might be difficult but I have no one else to turn to right now...you will have to send the money by western union cos there is no other way for me to get it..I am sorry to put you in this position but I am really stranded here and I don’t know where else to turn to and you are the only one whom i think can help right now....please I will be here waiting for the money..Expecting your reply...

THANKS IN ANTICIPATION

LOVE YOU

*your name*…

Of course there is no doctor and there hasn’t been any accident. All that is just a scam; lies just to get your ‘client’ think you are in danger and considering that you are in a country where you have never been to and that Nigeria is known for its notoriety, your client thinks you are in real danger and quickly sends you the money. Hereafter, you then send another mail that might read something like this:

HELLO HONEY,

Thanks for the last time honey, your intervention was really timely and I will forever love and appreciate you for that. *daughter’s name* sends her greetings too and she is really dying to meet you but honey, there is another problem. *daughter’s name* has an ailment and I hear from her guardian that she has had pains in her lower abdomen for a while now. The doctor says she needs appendectomy and the surgery will cost about $5000 combined with her post operative costs. This normally would not be a problem but for the fact that I have no access to my money from here as this place is a real hellhole, I am going to need your help again to save my daughter so she does not die. Please understand that I would not be putting this on you were it not for the fact that I have no other person to turn to and you are the only one that I can ask without being ashamed. I promise to repay as soon as I have access to my bank account. If I had my credit card, it would not be a problem but since my credit card has been lost in the attack, there is really nothing I can do from here. Please homey, I need your help! Don’t let my daughter die as her fate rests firmly in your hands now. I am waiting honey and time is of the essence now. Please dear make this work and I and jenny shall be eternally grateful to you. I don’t want to lose my daughter honey! Please save my soul! Thanks honey! Expecting…

*your name*

After this mail has been sent and you get the money, there is one more ‘bomb’ you will send if your ‘client’ is the very rich type. Your daughter has had the surgery and she is well and okay. Of course you can say there were complications from the surgery and so you need more money but that depends on the pocket of your ‘client’. Okay she has had the surgery. Now is time for you to go over to your client and with your daughter to meet her for the first time and because you lost your travelling documents in the attack, you send something like this:

HELLO HONEY,

Thanks for the last time and the time before that. How will I ever repay you honey? You have been a real blessing to me and I thank you for that. May God keep us together forever! Now we are ready to travel to come to you as *daughter’s name* is doing well now and has recovered from her surgery very well but my travelling papers have been lost in the attack and I need to make a new set and to do that, I will need about $2000. I am counting on you this one last time honey as I am really tired of this country. There is no electricity honey! Can you imagine that? It’s really hell in this place and I can’t wait to get out so honey, I am counting on you to please get me out of here so I can repay all my debts to you. Please honey I really am counting on you to do this last favor for me .it’s just my documents that I need as I had sent money to have *daughter’s name*’s done before I came here. Thanks honey, you are a real blessing to me. I will be expecting…

LOVE YOU…

*your name*

So this is the last and final official ‘bomb’. After this, you release your ‘client’ and this can be done by just adding your ‘client’ to your ignore list on your messenger or deleting her ID altogether. This will make sure that you never get mail or message from her again.

Please note that in this type of yahoo yahoo, you could have up to 10 ‘clients’ at a time so you can start to imagine all the money at every stage multiplied by ten!

CLASSIFIED:

This type of yahoo yahoo deals with buying items from online auctioning websites. It is in two phases; actually buying the goods and sending them to a contact in the country of purchase who then sends it to the original buyer in Nigeria after certain commission has been paid and explaining to the seller via mail that you intend to send extra cost to take care of the shipping of the goods. You then ask the seller to send the extra cost by western union or money gram to the person in charge at the shipping agency who of course will be you or your contact.

You don’t actually pay. You just mail an alert in the name of pay pal or some other online payment solution websites or even some banks in the US for a given amount to the sellers ID. The seller of course on seeing the mail will think the money has actually been paid and will ship the goods to you or send the extra after deducting the amount you agreed on to the shipping agent (you) by western union or money gram. You will have the money and by the time the seller discovers he has been scammed, it will be too late and you address will be totally untraceable because it was just made up for that purpose.

This process of course is not this simple as I have intentionally omitted some important steps so this write-up is not taken as a yahoo yahoo textbook or guide. This is just a researcher’s experience in the world of yahoo yahoo and should be taken as such.

THOUGHTS AND OPINIONS ON WAYS TO CURB THIS MENACE

First, I would like to state here that the above write-up is strictly my experience and I cannot give any names of anybody involved in this research so that the integrity of the research will not be compromised so law enforcement agents, I am sorry I cannot help you. Having said that, I shall proceed to analyze ways I think that this menace can be curbed and ways through which our campuses and the society at large can be made yahoo boys free.

First and most important way is to create an enabling future for the youths in this country. A future where every youth can stand up and be counted, this kind of future is a function of an enabling society; a society where intellect thrives, a society where the youth are not taught by our so called leaders that wealth is everything and that being rich and flaunting the wealth is all that matters. The society should honor integrity and honesty more than wealth. As an ordinary observer can see from this write-up, the process of yahoo yahoo is a very simple yet complex process. The yahoo boy has to put his brain to task every time, he has to think ahead of his ‘client’ and must already have a prepared answer for every question his ‘client’ might ask. He must anticipate questions in advance and must not mumble. He even has to mimic a foreigner’s accent when talking with his ‘client’ on the phone just to make sure he earns the ‘clients’ trust and love. It this is not intelligence, I wonder what is. This goes to show that the ordinary Nigerian youth is intelligent and he only needs to re-direct his intelligence to something not criminal.

Secondly, vigorous awareness should be embarked upon by all and sundry about the dangers inherent in this way of life. Apart from being caught and sent to jail, there is also the danger of declaring negative things into your future as a youth by the kinds of things you have to say to your ‘client’ just to convince her to send money to you. Religious groups should embark on this awareness as what you declare now I believe, lies in wait for you in future. If you say your wife has died now and that your daughter has a specific disease or that you are attacked by armed robbers and beaten to the point of death, I believe you are declaring this things into your future and are putting you, your wife and your children in danger of the what they know nothing about.

Thirdly, I think the society should honor, reward and encourage creativity. Government should put long term rewards in place for creative achievement. Creativity should not just be praised and forgotten a while later. It should be encouraged. I also think laws should be put in place to protect creative ideas as is done in advanced countries of the world. The government should encourage the notion that wealth is not just money but ideas are also wealth and should be protected as they are intellectual properties. If the ordinary youth knows that his creativity will make a way for him in the society and that his ideas are protected by the constitution, he will be forced to think in constructive lines and work hard to make his money.

Fourthly, our educational sector should be revamped and made such as will make students creatively busy with an end in sight. Students don’t just want to study in school and then come out to start looking for jobs on the streets. A process should be put in place whereby the best students get the jobs and the security and jobs should not just be given out on man know man basis as is the case in our country today. Entrepreneurs should also be encouraged right from our institutions of higher learning so students can understand that they can be self employed right from tertiary institutions.

Fifthly, parents and guardians should monitor their children and wards well most especially when they go off to higher institutions as it has been discovered that on getting to the campus, students are in a world of their own and think they are free to do anything they like. This has encouraged nefarious activities and should stop henceforth. Parents should pay their wards occasional impromptu visits in their higher institutions of learning so as to have a feel of what the child is doing and the kind of life their child is living while their backs are turned.

Sixthly, morality should be preached at every nook and cranny of our society. Emphasis should be placed on integrity and honesty as against wealth and riches. A morally upright person will not engage in yahoo yahoo.

Seventhly, our internet service providers should also be properly monitored by government agencies and regulations put in place to put an end to unregulated surfing of the internet because it seems government is lacking in this regard. Internet service providers should be encouraged to put internet traffic monitors in place so that any illegal activity going on on the internet will be quickly and easily picked up and necessary investigations made.

Eighthly, the corporate world should also be sensitized and sanitized so that they cease to aid and abet illegal activities. Banks should be notified and properly monitored and any member of staff found to be aiding and abetting criminals should be handed over to the law enforcement agencies and stringent measures taken to serve as deterrent to others.

Ninthly, law enforcement agents should also be properly monitored as it has been discovered that many of these agents use the arrests of these yahoo boys to enrich their individual pockets as the boys seem to have realized that all they need to do when they are caught is ‘settle’ the officer that caught them and all will be uhuru. This should stop and any agent found to have been involved in this act should be dealt with severely. Also, anyone caught engaging in this illegal act should be made to face the full wrath of the law to serve as deterrent to others.

I believe that if these steps are taken, the menace called yahoo yahoo will be reduced to its barest minimum if not completely eliminated from the Nigerian campuses and the society at large.

GOD HELP NIGERIA!!!

www.maengboukzi.blogspot.com

DEATH OF YA’RADUA AND DAGRIN; SIMILARITIES, IMPLICATIONS, EFFECTS AND OTHER MATTERS ARISING.

Just when I was thinking and brainstorming about what to write about the death of the self proclaimed chief executive omo-ita, my brother and friend the only street born rappertainer in Nigeria (in my own opinion), Oladapo Olaitan Olaonipekun a.k.a Dagrin, the commander in chief of the armed forces of the federal republic of Nigeria, president Umaru Musa Yar’adua also decided to give up the ghost. I wondered what significance these two deaths have on the Nigerian youth and I shall attempt to compare the achievements of these two great men (each man in his own right) and the effects that such achievements have had on the life of the average Nigerian youth and the effects that the death has also had on the average Nigerian youth. I will also try to analyze the circumstances surrounding their deaths and try to analyze the part that the society played in both their deaths.

Dagrin, whose real age has caused a little controversy among many of his fans and the ordinary observer alike, was a hip hop artiste who until his death had hit songs such as kondo, pon pon pon, etc he was a really talented guy even in the opinion of this writer and having listened to some of his songs, I can categorically say that It will be very difficult to find a replacement for him in the Nigerian music industry. His word play was incredible and how he managed to string those individual words together to form rhymes still beats the shit out of my imagination being a rapper myself that is.

He was a real phenomenon and according to artistes that have worked with him and from various one on one testimonies, he was a really humble guy and even ruggedman says he is the most humble artiste he has ever had the privilege to work with and as if that was not enough, most of the guys with whom he has done collabos also say he is the most humble guy they have met. He was a guy with talent and he had all the usual vices you would expect an ordinary Nigerian youth to have; drinking partying and the likes. It was said that he was on his way home from the house of a friend when he had the accident that eventually claimed his life. A bottle of Hennessey was supposedly found in his car and his car according to eye witness reports, reeked of alcohol. These being true, I can imagine what the brother must have been doing on his way home from a friend’s house, cruising at top speed on a seemingly free road and in a car that moves so quietly, you would not even know if you were going at 140 miles an hour until it is almost too late, listening to his own music (presumably) blaring loud from the six changer stereo system, and sipping some booze while doing all this and please don’t forget this was all in the middle of the night in fact it was more early morning than night, if I was Dagrin, I would not even stop for the routine check by the police on the highway because to tell you the truth, I would be in a world of my own in that car.

It is easy therefore, to imagine what will happen if suddenly, I look up from my car and I see a stationary truck or trailer parked on my side of the road obstructing my right of way while I am travelling or cruising at a speed of 140 miles an hour. In fact, I can imagine what happened when I read in the dailies that the car in which he was travelling was a write-off after the accident. Of course there is also the school of thought that says that he was being chased by the police for refusing to stop at the check point and it was during the chase that he had the accident. This however, does not eliminate the fact that he was going at top speed and he was probably moving too fast, or fast asleep or too drunk to realize that there was a truck parked in his way and that he should stop and think about the safest way to negotiate the bottle-neck.

There is also the almost definite possibility that the road on which he was travelling was bad and as such going at top speed on such a road could at best be described as suicide except of course you are too drunk, moving too fast or very fast asleep to realize. So he had the accident and was rescued by the same policemen who were chasing him (presumably) and was rushed to a nearby ‘hospital’. On getting to the so called hospital he was referred to another hospital as there was not enough facility to manage his injury. I began to wonder, what kind of hospital does not have first aid facilities to at least manage the injury of an accident victim before sending him off to another hospital but then, I realize that in Nigeria, a self contained building with only 2 rooms could pass for a hospital and could even get licensed if only you are ready to grease the right palms. Such is the situation that Nigeria has found herself in but that discussion is for another day.

So Dagrin was referred to another hospital and he was placed on admission and attended to, he was stable for a while and just when everyone wanted to roll out the drums to celebrate his survival, he started having heart attack after heart attack and before anyone could play the first note of the first thanksgiving song, he was dead. Thus ended the life of a very promising youth who discovered his talent and decided to use the only thing that he knew to do to make a way for himself in this society. Thus ended his dreams and his aspirations and thus, his mother lost a son and his sister lost a brother and his family members lost a relative.

What do we stand to learn from all of this as youths? Do not let fame and stardom get into your head and even when you are at your peak, always do everything with caution. Life is not all about enjoying yourself and killing yourself in the process. Enjoy yourself of course but do not go over the limit. Always know where to draw the line so you don’t end up regretting what could have been. If Dagrin had not died, I’m sure he would have carried a big mark from the accident for the rest of his life. And please guys and ladies, if you must drink, don’t drive in daylight let alone in the night and if you must drive, please don’t drink. What do we stand to learn from this as a country? We need to revive our functionality as a country. We need to pay attention to the basic needs of life as a people and as a government. The government should also learn that if it continues to ignore the basic necessities of life, then the people die and they should stop asking people to stay in this country and build because by the time people realize that opportunities abound in other countries for them to make it with less wahala, then very soon, there will be no youth left in the country even the so called rich kids will prefer to stay abroad than come home.

There is another death that shook the country very violently. A death that was meant to be but was too painful to bear; the death of the President and the commander-in-chief of the federal republic of Nigeria; president Umaru Musa Yar’adua (G.C.F.R). His was one death too many and at this stage in the life of this country, his death was uncalled for and totally unnecessary. Considering however, that the man was virtually handpicked by the powers that be and literally put in place by the same powers and that the man himself was too carried away with the possibility of him being president (and his wife with the possibility of her being first lady) that he ‘forgot’ that his had a very fragile state of health and that he could not handle the stress and wahala of the presidency. Little did he know that it was nothing compared to being governor of a state. When eventually he became president, he could not handle the stress of the office and his state of health was the worse for it. Throughout his tenure as president, I don’t think there was a month in which he did not go abroad for medical checkup. Then came December 2009, everyone thought the president was going for the year’s holy pilgrimage to Mecca. Little did we know that the president was embarking on a journey of no return or at least, a journey that he wouldn’t return alive from because he did return, just not alive. There is also the school of thought that said it was more of his wife wanting to be first lady than the man himself wanting to be president. Anyways he became president and went on the pilgrimage.

The next thing we heard he was ill to the point of death, he could not even perform his constitutional responsibilities as president and we began to get deceived with all kinds of news. Then came the BBC report that the man was dead, the claim was vehemently debunked by the presidential aides with some swearing on their lives that they saw the president even yesterday. Some even claimed they were with him when he signed the supplementary budget and sent it to the national assembly. In other countries of the world, the president would have been impeached with his inability to perform his constitutional function as reason but here in Nigeria, we were enjoined by the national assembly to pray for the safe return of the president and anyone that called for the impeachment of the president was looked upon as an enemy of progress and those asking the president to hand over to his vice were thought to be enemies of the government.

The so called kitchen cabinet that wanted to rule Nigeria by proxy while telling us that the president said so and so, had a field day playing on the intelligence of the majority of Nigerians. When finally the now ex-president was ‘smuggled’ into the country, it was In the middle of the night and under a very tight cloak of secrecy all in a bid to ensure that their cover was not blown. Then on the 5^th of May, we were finally told that the president was dead, the whole nation heaved a sigh of relief and that marked an end to the drama that had played out for about six months. We got a new president in the person of the erstwhile vice and he went to work immediately though I still believe that the structure is still the same and until a certain party in Nigeria is dismantled, there cannot be serious progress. Some people are asking him to run for 2011 presidency without even waiting to see what the man has in stock for the country in the short period of time he will use as president. Such is the effects that sycophants have on the polity of this nation.

Having said all these, what do we learn as a people? A situation where even the president does not trust the health sector of the country and has to go abroad for treatment and checkup should get our so called leaders thinking, what does it take to make our health sector among the best in the world? We just need to look inwards and we’ll see that God has already given us everything we need to be a great nation then again we need to re-arrange our polity, the process is too complex and cumbersome. Also we should make our political offices less attractive so people will not kill to get there. I also think the office of the first lady of the federation should be decommissioned and if not, it should be renamed and called the office of the first woman so any woman that gets there will know that it is a responsible position and not one that should be abused to save our future presidents from spousal abuse and from being turned into Unidentified Flying Objects (U.F.O’s) as aptly described by the Nobel laureate professor Wole Soyinka.

In conclusion however, the death of both men has been a monumental loss to Nigeria as a whole but it does show us leadership should not be by position but by action. Each of those men was a leader of some sort and each of them will be remembered for such things as they did while they were alive. What will you be remembered for when you are gone? This, I think, should really get us thinking.

I don’t know if this would sound odd but in my own belief I think that we killed them both with our own hands as a country. Why? You ask, because they both died from improper medical attention an off shoot of our archaic and obsolete medical structures which for long has killed many people than saving them but who dares talk? No one. With these words, I rest my case. The evil and good that men do live after them. You say the hunter has killed himself with his own arrow.

GOD HELP NIGERIA!!!

www.maengboukzi.blogspot.com

tribute

ok just when i started to think about what to write as tribute to the c.e.o, mr president also decided to kick the bucket...ooops! its coming people.. the tributes watch out........