GistNews

17/06/2023

AN ODE (ESSAY, PHILOSOPHY) FOR NDIIGBO

1. I am Igbo.
I am proud of who we are.
I love Nigeria.
I love the best of her peoples and the many strengths.
I love what she can be.

But dear compatriots, I will not apologise to anyone who thinks that my success is a threat.
...WALK WITH ME...

2. I am Igbo.
Go to Onitsha. Go to Aba. Go to Alaba. Go to Kano and see wealthy men who brag with how many millionaires they had minted in the course of their lives more than how many millions they personally had.
Millionaires who sold the same things oo, competing with their former masters and taking on more competitors who will still create more competitors over and over !!.
Does it destroy the master?
No!
This is a mastery over greed that is not found elsewhere in the entire world.

I am Igbo. And I am so proud of it !

3. My ancestors were the ones who, in 1803, walked into the Pacific rather than be slaves.
That legendary spirit is mine to claim.

4. Every Igbo man has a personal god, his 'Chi'.
My success is determined by how much I want it, not by obstacles, nor by what people call impossible.
It is not by how rich or poor my father was. Not by avoiding danger, but by a simple agreement between me and my Chi.
“Onye kwe, Chi ya ekwe”. If you believe, your personal god will validate it.

5. I am Igbo, I was raised this way --
to create success and share it without begrudging our neighbours and our hosts.
We will teach our hosts' children our way of life if they would rise above their suspicions. We don’t mind a Yoruba or Hausa boy-boy or Edo.
We only ask that the person be smart and dependable.

6. We are not particular about kings or queens. We don’t want to be your king.
We don’t do very well with them.
Before the whiteman, we barely had any king.
A child who came of age had the right to speak in a village meeting when it was his turn.
No one could stop them.

7. The community came together to build houses for each other.
People who were struggling were supported and those who had lost children or had none were lent children for their farms. When my ancestors saw that education was good, they contributed to send the village brightest to school.
Even people whose own children were olodo, happily contributed for other people’s children.
You know why? We believed that a child belonged to everyone.
I am Igbo.
I will not apologize.

8. In those days we had leaders who were chosen purely on what they could do. Nothing was hereditary. Even the chief priest was chosen by the spirits from kindred to kindred, without a set pattern.
Basically, we don’t want to rule in your land.
We want to build wealth.

9. Again we are happy to share.
We will build schools, hospitals, markets without a single prejudice. Everyone is welcome. And no, we don’t only go to already-made cities. We particularly love to do virgin lands and make decent towns out of them.

10. I am sure there are many things for which you can be proud about your ancestors.
I know a few, because I try to educate myself.
I will celebrate them with you , your art & culture - ancient & modern.
The warrior spirit of your ancestors. Their industry, I celebrate them all.

11. I dare suggest that if other Nigerian ethnicities who prefer political power understood Igbos, they would rule forever and Igbos wouldn’t mind.
Any Igbo will tell you: Provide a level playing field, promote law and order and Igbos will largely ignore politics.

12. Let me reiterate.
We don’t do well with kings and queens. Respect is earned not inherited. That’s how we see it.
We only hate injustice with a terrible passion.
How do you think the boy-boy system is sustained?
If you don’t “settle” your boy, or scheme on how much, nobody will beat you, but you won’t be able to live down the shame.
You will forever be known as the riffraff that doesn’t “settle” his boys.
Just like that, your respect is gone. When a child who has “washed” his hands is chosen over you, your pariah status is sealed.

13. You may resist and ask, “What about Igbo governors? How come they do Ndị Igbo dirty and get away with it?”
The answer is simple.
No one chose them. They’re imposed with guns at every election cycle.
They are vassals of Abuja.
In Free and fair elections, none of these clowns will smell that seat.
If not for the guns, even a small child will walk up to them and tell them that they’re full of sh*t.

14. Ideally, everyone can speak -- from the drunk to the village mad man. You are allowed to laugh at their craziness but you’re not allowed to silence them.
“Mba nụ. Ị bụ Chi ya?” Are you his God?
They commune with the spirits. So once in a while they say things that save the community.

15. But a Peter Obi can live in Onitsha & walk into the market with little or no es**rt, Why?
He embodies the best of us. His attitude is what our forefathers built over thousands of years -- Industry without excessive greed.
A peaceful man with grit and a truckload of bravery. Someone who pursues justice for all and uses public money for public good.

16. I am Igbo and I am happy to emulate the best of you.
If it is a thing of value we will adopt it and we expect that as we are willing to share, you will extend us the same hand.
But even if you decided not to teach us, we only need to see it to learn.
I know this is what gives you pains and whips up fears that we want to take over.
Let me assure you that we wish to build a bigger market to accommodate all of us. Please let us try it our way. Our competition is not winner takes all.
We share.
We enrich. We make better.

17. I am Igbo, my mantra is “O je mba enwe ilo”. The traveler mustn’t make enemies.
I expect that you will not understand me.
But I believe that this is not your burden.
So, I learn your ways. Teach my children your language, learn your customs and obey your laws.

18. Stop trying to crush my spirit.
You will fail. My spirit is my gift to Nigeria.
It is rare in all the earth.
I don’t know how NOT to compete.
I can’t accept to be less than anyone.
I can’t be enslaved.

19. Because I am Igbo & all I have to do is to believe and my Chi will validate it.
... Copied but slightly edited by the Poster....

16/05/2023

Some Marriages are actually made in Hell:

Read the sad story of Saint Obi 😭 😭

THE MARRIAGE AND DEATH OF SAINT OBI.

His social life was blunted. Perhaps by his reticent disposition.His persona, two dimensional. To a distant public, he was upscale and cool . His manly bearing spoke loud. His onscreen image ironically amplified some idiosyncrasies ; heroics, romantic adventures and traits that did not gel with the mortal privacy that eerily define his quiet and lonely life.

Saint Obi, real name, Obinna Nwafor, was shy, almost bordering on timidity and insecurity. He cherished the pleasantly tranquil interractions among a few friends. He would vanish at any outburst that could upset the poise of such small meetings. As he repeatedly told me, he just wanted to live a cool, quiet and fulfilled life.
But, has he lived this cool and fulfilled life he envisioned ? I have my doubts.

I tell Saint's story here with painful tears in my eyes ; because he was a star, a super star whose life turned out a gleam of irony .
Yet, it was this stardom that fetched him his much professed financially strong and powerful wife . And their wedding, that solemn ritual of love would drastically alter the cause of his life and tragically yank him off the creative community that threw him up for the wife to capture and indeed conquer.

Their marriage was at best a dramatization of love. It was quick. He barely told us that he found a wife . Then, the marriage happened. It was something of a mystique, only those involved understood the histrionics that played out . None of us who were his closest pals, who walked with him through the crucible to the crest of his career in Nollywood, none of us was invited.

The distance between us and the guy I admirably called Saint of the Storm had begun . This gulf would widen with each year. We saw him perhaps once in a year after this marriage.
And life actually seemed to have given him a fair shake of the dice. He dressed well, drove big cars and even his skin, in literal lingo, spelt wellness.

The Saint would be blessed with three beautiful children. But not on one occasion were his friends in Nollywood invited for christening or birthday. We were told that his wife was of the topmost hierachy in telecom giant, MTN . But even if their celebrations were designed to be a rendezvous of the elites of the technocracies that his wife chiefly belonged, you expected that Saint would reach out to a few of his fellow creatives, for even if they would herald his small beginnings , there could be no tinge of shame to it because we all have our journeys and our stories.

And even at that, the actor or cineaste in Nollywood is by no means poor.
But more tragic is the fact that his marriage did not only take away Obinna from his friends, it took him away from Nollywood. Saint stopped acting, absconded from his career and perhaps his calling. It would seem prognostic now. Yes, because I recall leaving my house in Lagos Mainland for his massive office in Lekki, Victoria Island, Lagos.

It was about six years ago. There, I demanded to know why my friend abandoned our industry. He told me with his usual shy expressions that he wanted to focus on some other businesses and also to work behind the camera.

Because his visage was unconvincing to me, I told him in stark terms, that whatever his new vision and pursuits, he must not abandon the trade that made him who he was.

It took another three years for Saint to return to his homies. But when he did, some of the deeply disappointed ones sniggered behind him. This was because the simmering rumours of cracks in his marriage had hit home.

And though secretive in his ways, he knew it was time to open up. And he did. " I do not know why my wife's sibblings see me as a gold digger. They confront me, harass and fight me in my own matrimony. And my wife did nothing to stop them. I work hard, I earn my money . I have never depended on my wife ", he lamented, eyes blurred with tears.

You could tell he was in deep pain. By the next visit, the Saint returned with a deep cut from knife on his left eye. His wife's brothers, he said , scaled the wall fence of their house to attack him.

They were captured by hidden closed-circuit television, CCTV, installed for surveillance and security, he revealed.
He reported them at the police station and subsequently acquired a gun to defend himself.

This effectively marked the beginning of the end of his marriage and perhaps Saint Obi's long walk to a sad end. He moved out of his marital home to a new house to begin the reconstruction of his destiny, alone without his wife and worse still without his three beautiful children.

Meanwhile, his wife went to the police to defend her sibblings using her financial power to manipulate the cause of justice, Saint stated unequivocally. The wife also sued for divorce, not in Lagos, but in Ogun state. As Saint put it, "It was to make the journey difficult for me.

But I will not bend neither will I break. I will fight with my last blood to take custody of my children. They love me and they know it will be hard for me to live without them.The divorce is not an issue. My marriage has long been over ", he said with a mix of courage and a quaky heart that betrayed his distress.

About mid last year, however, Obinna took ill. But he told no one. He simply became scarce. He was in and out of hospital, we would later learn. He sold two of his three big SUVs to take proper care of his health and to acquire six camry cars he'd use for Uber. But his vanishing health continued unabated. He seemed to have a premonition of his own passing as he wept repeatedly about not seeing his children.

He emaciated. Life took a grim picture. When I saw him by chance in January 2023, the dude called Saint looked 15 years older than his age. His macho cut had shrunk. His fat wallet was gone. What was left was only his fat will. His eyes seemed lost in their socket. This would be the last time I would see him.

Saint snuck out of Lagos to hang in with his sister in Jos. He told no one.
But a month ago, in April precisely, the once delightful actor who brought joy to many a home broke his icy silence. He called our mutual friend in US to give him a devastating message. He was on a deathbed, he said and wanted our friend to pray for him. " It's not looking good, pray, pray for me ", he appealed passionately.

His next call came on May 1, 2023. This time to his mentor, the man who made him a star with his productions, Zeb Ejiro, OON. He told him with a wavering voice that he had had three surgeries but was still in hospital in Jos. He averred again that his situation was not looking good, that he is also in a deep pain, distressed that he could not see his children. But still he begged him not to tell anyone about his ailment.

Such was the life of this creative hermit, a lonely trouper.
I was the first to hear the news of his death late on Sunday, May 7. Having confirmed it, I called Zeb Ejiro . " I have a very bad news my brother, Zeb ", I began. " What is it, what is it, ", he asked anxiously. "A big star has fallen in Nollywood ". Zeb broke down in tears. I hadn't said who it was. But sobbing helplessly now, he said, " Don't tell me it is Saint Obi ". Sadly, he was right. May his soul find peace.

© Zik Zulu Okafor

16/02/2023

Most beautiful dog breeds in the world😍

14/01/2023

“I have been married to my husband for 14yrs now. We have four children together, all girls. I used to be sad about it but my husband has always assured me that he was okay with having only female children.

I started dating my husband when I was 18yrs old. This is to say I have spent over half of my years on Earth loving this man.

One of the policies I created for my marriage was that I will never check my husband's phone no matter what. My husband has never given me a reason to even check his phone. He always come home early and he is a very dedicated husband and father.

"Why create a problem where there is none?".

Our anniversary was on the 26th of October. He was away in Abuja for a business meeting but he promised to fly back home for the celebration that day.

With the help of my girls, I was able to organize a surprise dinner party. I invited some of his close friends and even his immediate younger sister was present.

It was getting late and my husband was still nowhere to be found. I tried his line severally but it was switched off.

Disappointed, the guests had to leave one by one. I cried my eyes out that day.

I didn't hear from him that night. My girls and I didn't close our eyes through out the night. That was so unlike my husband.

Around 8:30am the next day, my phone rang, it was my father in-law.

"Bisola, Andrew is admitted in St. Phillips general hospital, Ogun State. Please go there now".

"But He is in Abuja". I said without noticing that the line was already disconnected.

Like a mad woman, I quickly put one and two together and carried my children to my parents house who were as surprised as I was. From there, I made my way to Ogun State.

I got to the hospital and met my husband in a very critical condition. He was on life support. There were bruises all over his body. I thought it was an accident until the doctor told me my husband was stabb*d 15 times.

I started crying. I called my in-laws who told me they were already on their way.

I held my husband's hands and was crying.

"Baby please don't leave me alone in this wicked world. I can't do this life thing without you".

In the evening, my husband's parents and his elder brother arrived from the village.

It was then I got to know that my husband was brutalized by his baby Mama. Apparently, my husband has a 3yrs old son with another woman.

They had an argument and my husband hit her. With anger, this woman called her boyfriend who is a cult*st and they did this to him. Thanks to good neighbors who rushed him to the hospital. Unfortunately, only the boyfriend was apprehended. The woman is still on the run.

Tears dried up immediately from my eyes. All I felt was disgust and hate for my husband.

"Did you need a male child so bad that you did this to me???? You told me you were okay Andrew. You told me female children are also important. You told me to stop crying and worrying myself over having a male child. Why didn't you tell me you weren't okay ". I said these words with tears. I was inconsolable. My mother in-law tried her best to pacify me.

"We warned him to leave that woman but he wouldn't listen ". My mother in-law said.

So, they were even aware of their son's affair. I felt a fresh wound in my chest. I never would have guessed my husband would do this to me.

I stormed out of the hospital in anger and boarded a taxi to take me to any nearby park. My husband is reaping what he sowed and I won't be part of it.

I was still in the taxi when I remembered our marital vows.

"For better or worse... In sickness and in health... Till death do us part".

I felt a sharp pain in my stomach. I was short of breath and couldn't even breath. The driver had to park somewhere and made sure I was good.

When I was a bit calm, I asked him to take me back to the hospital.

I returned back to the hospital and tended to my wounded husband. I hated him but I still needed to do what I have to do as his wife.

The next day, his parents and his siblings travelled back to the village. I was left alone with him. My mother came the next day and stayed with me for two days before traveling back to cater for my children. I put my life on hold to stay by the side of this undeserving man.

It wasn't easy for me at all. My husband was in coma for two weeks before he finally regained consciousness.

He couldn't look me in the eyes. He couldn't speak yet but his face showed he was ashamed of his actions.

He began to get better day by day although some of the injuries were looking so bad.

One evening, I was dozing off by the side of the bed when my husband held my hands.

"My wife, I am so sorry".

I was startled. I didn't know he has even regained his voice.

"I didn't want to bother you. I just needed a son to bear my name. I am sorry, that woman is far beneath you ". My husband said.

He was in so much pain. I just told him to stop speaking and wait till he gets better for us to settle scores.

I held his hands and we were both crying. I fell asleep.

That was the last time I heard from my husband. He died that night.

I cried my eyes out. His family came and took his body to the village.

I finally got reunited with my girls. They were asking about their father and I didn't know the answer to give them.

My husband was buried two weeks after.

I was in the palour with my mom when two men came into the house. I was given a notice to quit. I was surprised. My husband built this house. Who is quitting me

"Madam, this house was sold to my client last week. I would advise you to vacate this building before the due date". One of the men who is a lawyer advised.

"Who sold this house". I asked perplexed.

I was presented with the house documents which now bear the name of a new owner. The house was sold by my late husband's baby mama who is still on the run.

My agony got tripled. "This house was built by my husband and I. I contributed to the building of this house, I don't deserve this". I cried out.

I decided to go to the bank to make enquiry about my husband's finances when I got the shock of my life.

My husband changed his next of kin from my name to his son's name. The son his baby mama had for him."

©The Humans of Nigeria

14/01/2023

The python suffocated the pit viper while the pit viper bit it; Both died, one from asphyxiation and the other from the poison.

And that's how people destroy each other, friendships end, relationships end, families end up decimating themselves, because one always wants to be better than the other, some "Smothering" people with their ego of superiority, others end up poisoning with gossip, envy and deceit until they destroy each other.

Don't be the poisoner of the world!

Don't be the dream killer either.

Whether light!

Be life! Be love!

Bring peace!

Bring hope!

Bring truths!

Shalom! 🙏🏾

31/10/2022

30/10/2022

HRH Igwe Kenneth Onyeneke Orizu III, the traditional ruler of Nnewi Kingdom and Nigeria's longest serving monarch is 97 today.

Igwe Orizu III ascended the throne of his fathers on 6th February, 1963 succeeding his father, Igwe Josiah Orizu II, his grandfather, Igwe Orizu I (Eze Ugbonyamba), and great-grandfather Igwe Iwuchukwu Ezeifekaibeya. He is a member of the Nnofo Royal lineage. After the death of Queen Elizabeth II, Igwe Orizu is arguably the longest serving monarch in the world having been on the throne for 59 years and counting...
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30/10/2022

PHOTOS: Journalist, Isha Sesay, Announces Pregnancy

Journalist, Isha Sesay, has announced that she is pregnant.

In a piece of Today, the popular TV journalist revealed that she never thought she would be divorced, single and having a baby on her own at age 46. Sesay also recounted her battle to get pregnant.

Sesay, who worked with CNN for 13 years said, “My first IVF attempt was unsuccessful, and I cried for days afterward, before I could find the strength to start the process all over again a few months later. But with each passing day, I grew more fearful and anxious about my chances of being able to successfully carry a child.”

Sesay further revealed that when she found out she was pregnant on her third trial, she fell on her knees and cried.

“The day before I was scheduled to return to the clinic, I finally caved in and bought a home test because I couldn’t bear a repeat of the hours-long wait before the clinic called with the results. The next morning I got up long before the sun was up, anxiously headed to my bathroom and opened the box. The minutes ticked by and I cycled through a myriad of emotions. When the word “pregnant” flashed up on the tiny screen, I screamed and fell to my knees before bursting into tears.

“In the weeks ahead, I plan to share more of my life-changing experience in the hope that if there is anyone out there being held back from chasing their heart’s desire — no matter what it is — maybe my story will spark something in them and provide the little nudge they need to go for it,” she said.

Credit: Today
--
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25/10/2022

Jose Mourinho wants FIFA to prevent African players from representing countries other than their country of origin. He thinks such a rule would help African countries win the World Cup. 🏆🔥😎😋

08/10/2022

08/10/2022

BREAKING: Baby Chioma Now The Symbol For The Child Campaign

13/02/2022

Naija_Conscience
4 hours ago
IGBOS BY PROF TEKENA TAMUNO

I always insist that the greatest merit for Igbos in recent times is *not simply the advent of the internet on the surface!* _It is the social media aspect of the internet_ which now allows independent thinkers to *challenge the lies of history.* In Nigeria, our little corner of the world, *through social media presentations,* scholars are now debunking the false stories perpetuated by the Yoruba press *(with the help of the north who has always been paranoid about Igbos).* The Yorubas took advantage of their civil war take-over of the press *to rewrite the history of Nigeria as it favors them...,* and if you believe them, *"every post independence success in Nigeria was Awolowo influenced"* and every problem in Nigeria was *"instigated by Azikiwe, Ojukwu and the Igbos!"*"The truth is reluctantly coming out"* and _Igbos are gradually being vindicated!!!_ Read this masterpiece below by *Professor Tekena Tamuno, a great historian and former Vice - Chancellor University of Ibadan.* By the way, he's not an Igbo man!👇🏽
===============

"IGBO ARE THE MAKERS OF MODERN NIGERIA" -- PROF TEKENA TAMUNO

The problem with writing skewered history is that it equally misinforms its target: Kayode Esho was a great jurist, but Akunne Oputa was the "Socrates" of the Supreme court. Enahoro was a young editor, but Azikiwe made him that young editor with Osita Agwuna as his assistant, at his paper, the Southern Nigerian Defender in Ibadan, where my own father incidentally started as a rookie before shortly abandoning journalism for the stable berth of the civil service. The myth of Awolowo as building the first this and that does not match the documented economic history of the period.

Between 1954 and 1964, Eastern Nigeria was described as "the fastest growing economy in the world," by the Harvard Review; faster than China, faster than Singapore, and all the so-called "Asian Tigers." Awolowo is often credited with "free education".

But no one yet has pointed out any surviving school buildings of the period built by Awo. But all over the East there were quality schools built by the various communities using the Town Development Unions from 1954, and acessing the matching grants of the Eastern Nigeria Development Corporation. And this was the East with the poorest revenue resources of any of the regions. The Mbaise secondary school exists, the National High School Okigwe exists, the Ngwa High school exists, the Enyiogugu Grammar School exists, etc. These were solid schools built all over the East with matching goverment grants. But where are the buildings of the Modern schools in Western Nigeria? They do not exist. They were makeshift.

The Catholic church forced the Azikiwe government from its scholarship program, but it is also on record, that the Eastern government was the only government in the world that invested 45% of its revenues in education. The East had the highest number of schools; the highest school enrollment; the broadest pe*******on of medical services; and the best modern road network in west Africa.

Indeed if we look carefully, the only public hospitals and most of the schools still standing in the East today, at various stages of run down are the schools and hospitals built by Azikiwe/Okpara. Every division of the East had a Joint Hospital as part of the Eastern Medical services. So it is often claimed Awo built the first television station; the first sky scraper, and the first Sports stadium, the liberty stadium in Ibadan. Well, these are prestige or white elephant investments.

First, the Eastern Outlook, the government paper of Eastern Nigeria was the first newspaper established by any government in Nigeria, and it was of such quality and impact that the literacy level of Easterners, and the depth of public information retailed by Outlook was without compare. This is besides the fact that Western Nigerian Broadcast Services, WNBS-TV founded in 1958 only preceded the ENBC-TV founded in 1959, by only seven months. But Outlook preceded Sketch by about 15 years.

Now Azikiwe built the Onitsha Modern market, the first modern mall or trade emporium in West Africa. Onitsha was effectively Dubai before Dubai. People traveled all over Africa, from as far as the Congo and Sudan and Egypt, to come and buy and trade in Onitsha. The economic impact of this was humonguos. So, give me the vast Onitsha modern market over Cocoa House in Ibadan. Azikiwe built the first Nigerian University at Nsukka with the first School of Law, the first School of Engineering, the first Business School; the first school of journalism, and the first school of music and performance, etc. By the time its first graduates took the Nigerian civil service exams in 1963, everybody began to raise the cry of "Igbo domination" starting with Akintola and Ayo Rosiji. Give me UNN over Liberty stadium.

Azikiwe began the first modern library system in West Africa. The East had a system of city libraries starting with the very modern Ziks Library in Enugu. I Literally grew up in the Umuahia Divisional Library. These libraries were built all over the East. Schools in the East were built with libraries. Moreover the Eastern Nigerian Library Board had a sysem of rural amd mobile libraries. There was nothing like it anywhere else in Nigeria: kids having library cards and able to borrow or order books from the public library. Give me the the first library over the first TV. I do not by this mean that Awolowo did not make his contributions, but the regular skewering of the facts, and angling of contemporary national narratives often makes it seem these days like the greatest contributor to the founding of Nigeria and its development is Awolowo and the Yoruba, when the actual facts speak differently.

The great Ibadan historian, Tekena Tamuno, was unambiguous in stating once at NIPPS, Jos, that "the Igbos are the makers of moderm Nigeria. When they abandoned their project, Nigeria collapsed." We must remind Nigerians, particularly Igbo children, daily of these fact, to achieve what Achebe called " a balance of stories." And that also means we must read beyond the surface of things. Babarinsa's Guardian essay is angled carefully to maintain a revisionist narrative. And that is to be always challenged, however innocent it might seem.

Even today, most Yoruba think that Awolowo founded the Universities of Ibadan and Lagos. No one has reminded them that it took Azikiwe's pressures for a university for Nigeria, in his meeting with Arthur Richards in 1946, that led to the constitution of the Eliot commision and subsequently the founding of the University College, Ibadan. This fact is even clearly conveyed in Michael Crowder's eponymous book, The Story of Nigeria. Nsukka was Azikiwe's critique of what he felt to be the conceptual limitations of Ibadan. The University of Lagos was the result of NCNC's ideological contributions to the federal policy during the ill fated coalition government with the NPC. UNILAG was an NCNC project, shepherded by Aja Wachukwu as minister for education. Even the great UNILAG in her 50th anniversary failed to mention Prof Eni Njoku as the pioneer Vice Chancellor of the university, a man that layed the solid foundation of what made Unilag is today.

These facts must be made known and put as forcefully accross as possible. Again, until the lion tells his own story, the story of the hunt will belong to the hunter.