Black Sunday

Today makes it exactly a month since the nation was thrown into a state of mourning. June 3rd, 2012 will forever be remembered by many Nigerians as the day they lost a loved one. In Northern Nigerian, Boko Haram struck in Tudun Yelwa, Bauchi State and in the South, Dana Air MD-83 aircraft crashed into a residential area in Iju-ishaga (Agege), Lagos. In one day, the nation lost over 200 lives due to preventable circumstances.

The death streak began at 9:15am when a suicide bomber tried to drive past a security checkpoint into Harvest Field Pentecostal Church which happens to be situated between two other churches, Living Faith Church (aka Winners Chapel) and Deeper Life. According to the Bauchi state police commissioner Mohammed Ladan, rumours of an attack on churches in that area had been received, hence the police set up check points close to the churches. The checkpoint helped to restrict the bomber’s direct access to the churches, thereby forcing him to ram his Honda car into the security gate where his explosives detonated causing the collapse of the wall of Harvest Field church and the deaths of members of Living Faith Church who were just closing from the first service and heading home. The Bauchi Chairman of CAN, Rev Lawi Pokti has claimed that 8 people were killed when the military came to protect the peace after the blast. In all, about 16 people (including the bomber) were killed and 61 persons were injured by the attack as stated by the the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Teaching Hospital (ATBUTH), Bauchi, Dr. Mohammed Alkali.

While we struggled to comprehend the reason for such a vicious attack on Christians the North, death was closer South than we thought. At about 3:30pm, eye witnesses say the aircraft was seen flying low and making some noises before its belly hit a church, a two-storey building, a printing press and a woodwork studio. The aircraft which was headed to Lagos from Abuja, was said to have issued a May Day call stating its engines had failed at 11miles from Lagos after the plane caught fire just before it disappeared off the scope of the Lagos Air Traffic Control and lost communication with the control tower, according to Nigerian Aviation News website. The distressed plane took down 153 passengers and crew including the American pilot that was aided by an Indian co-pilot and an Indonesian flight engineer. While on ground, about 40 persons’ lives were also cut short unexpectedly by the crash. Blackberry broadcast carrying the names of victims on the flight, sent even those who had no idea they knew someone on the flight into fits of tears as the tragedy was brought closer home.

Over the next few days, pain turned to rage as people sought who to blame for the tragedies. One of the rumours that circulated social media involved the information that a dignitary’s arrival at Lagos airport was responsible for why the plane could not land at the airstrip as at when due (http://www.nigeriafilms.com/news/17686/34/i-didnt-cause-dana-air-crash-presidents-wife-patie.html). Another information dispersed through social media was the history of the American-built aircraft and its numerous maintenance challenges which should have deemed it unfit to fly within the Nigerian airspace in the first place. While accusations, that the proximity of the police checkpoints to the church, filled the newspapers as the reason for effective attack on the churches in Bauchi. The Nigeria’s Civil Aviation Authority felt the blow the hardest as issues of unresolved inquisition into Bellview Boeing 737 airliner crash in 2005 resurfaced. It seemed despite the efforts made by both the Police and the Aviation ministry; tragedy was destined to strike that fateful day. Could anything have been done better to prevent those incidences from ever occurring again?

Prior to this occurrence, Nigeria had been granted top air-safety ratings known as Category 1 by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration because of its strides in aviation safety which included revoking the certifications for all airlines and allowing new airlines to take flight under increased scrutiny by a newly formed civilian aviation body. Apparently not enough had been done aggressively to take aging aircraft out of our airspace. This begs the question, what are our aviation regulatory bodies really doing? This is the 10th plane crash in Nigeria since 1992, do we always have to wait for a plan to crash before more is done to improve our aviation industry like decisively monitoring the state of airplanes allowed to fly in our airspace? In that fateful week, I too felt the loss experienced by most as a friend of mine died in a car accident along the Benin-Agbor road when her vehicle ran into a stationary broken down tanker parked along a winding road. These tragedies could have been avoided if monitoring and regulatory bodies did their jobs well.

Now the Nigerian people are left with what ifs. If only the high airfare paid by travellers were invested more into the maintenance of the air crafts and not into taxes paid to the government who are not doing their jobs effectively. If only the government took a more aggressive approach in curbing the menace of Boko Haram rather than telling us ‘...we are doing all we can...’. Even the US government believes the solution to the Boko Haram attacks involves a broad-based strategy that includes addressing national security as well as being involved in community development to eradicate poverty which feed the underlying grievances that promote acts of violence in the nation. The upside in all this was that for once, both north and south were one even in grief. For now, we can only pray that we never have to face such a terrible national loss again.

Kittens in my home!

I love certain animals especially since I’ve had the privilege of being raised up with them as pets. Our family pets ranged from a Cat and a Monkey to Dogs, Chickens and finally Fishes – electric fish, catfish, goldfish, etc and yes all these pets had names. In my University days, a friend of mine, Jeme, was working on her final year optometry project which was about how effective the use of mushroom extracts were in curing cataracts. Her test subjects, three adorable cats which I named: Hopper, Stealth and Baby.

When she brought these kittens to my off campus apartment, my siblings and I fell in-love with them. I was particularly overjoyed because I felt our rat infestation issues would be solved. Since purchasing cat food is not an African thing, I decided to feed them with vegetable soup filled with pieces of smoked fish. For a while, it seemed like they enjoyed every morsel until a strange scent filled the air. We traced it and found our beloved kittens were stooling all over our apartment!

We tried to let them out but their ‘need to go’ was so frequent, we had to opt for getting them a sand filled kitty litter box. At the end of the day, Baby who had eaten the most had lost the most amount of weight. After that experience, I became a firm believer in the need for pets to have their own special kind of food packaged just for them. I know as a Nigerian, the concept of canned animal food is not popular because we believe they should eat what we eat. It’s important that we know that the pet foods are made with generic nutritional ingredients needed by your pet. If you really love your pet, you’ve got to do right by them because whatever affects them will invariably affect you.

Now that I’m married, my husband and I can’t agree on what pet to keep. He wants a cat, I want a dog but part of my reluctance to even come to an agreement on the subject comes from knowing that pets need a lot of special attention/care and can be pretty expensive to manage. If you are looking towards having a pet just know that you’ll have to feed them, bathe them, brush their teeth, immunize them, comb their hair/fur, take them for routine check-up at the vet’s when they're sick or having behavioural problems. if you must own pets, let your focus be on the benefits you’ll gain from having them healthy; which is a faithful companion. As for me, I look forward to having kittens in my home someday.

Sing with Joiy Live!

In Nigeria, especially in Edo State, Benin City to be precise, not everyone has a reason to have a great night out on the town. So you can imagine how delighted people were to see a star-studded program tagged ‘Sing with Joiy’ Live! By my friend, Joy Okobi. It was the combination of music and discussions on the issue of abuse and abandonment of the girl child.

When I first heard musicians such as J’odie, Liora, Big Splash, Dr. Foy. Kemkedis (my friend Mrs Fidelia Uyi), my girl Annivon (Ann Eguavon), my buddy Freon (Barr Frank Ohikhuare); comedians like Efex, Paul and Zina; last but not least, my pastor, Mrs Osamen Arheghan would be performing, I knew it was a musical night not to miss. But beyond the ‘Cause’ and star studded appearances a few behind the scene activities made this program irresistible to me. One of which was the calibre of people working to make this program a success – the likes of the great sound engineer Uzo Nwabudike, Sunny Snares on the Drums, Eze Osisiogu and Kelvin Brave on the guitar, my church Choir members as the backup singers, Philip Asaya and Teajay Chunu (CEO, Imaginit & DOTBOB publishing) as organizers, the list is endless. Also, from the sound check the day before, I couldn’t wait to attend the program. Then there was Joy’s articulate and professional interview published in Vanguard Mobile [http://www.vanguardngr/2012/06/i-like-giving-without-holding-back-joy-okobi] on the 9th of June.

Although I arrived ‘fashionably’ late, I was able to enjoy most of the great performances of the night. The speakers of the day were eloquent and surprising brief, the talk show was partly interactive and the guests on the show included Miss Uniben 2012 (Lillian Unabu), award winning designer for Niger-Delta 2010 Joan Edwards and Dr. Osa Tosan. Turnout was impressive with a few dignitaries in attendance like the representative for the Honorable Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Dev. in Edo State, Mrs Comfort and the State Head of Standard organization of Nigeria (SON) Benin Office, Mr Akogun. The audience were so responsive especially when Jodie climbed the stage and sang ‘Under the mango tree’ and her hit single ‘Oh Baby (Kuchi kuchi)’. When Joan Paul & Annivon gave soulful renditions of their songs, the audience erupted in screams. Even when called upon to make contributions for everyday people (Miss Lizzy Onouha & Mrs Ada Peters) doing extra ordinary things through their upcoming NGOs (total Girl International and Success Youth Foundation respectively), the audience were ever supportive.

It was a great event and I had a blast! I hear the next edition of the program would be coming up soon, who knows, it might just be where you live. One of the things that amazed me was that it was pulled together by people that I know personally. Right now I feel so blessed to even be known by such talented individuals and I’m inspired to dare for the seemingly impossible feat because greatness is achieved in essence by ordinary people following their passions. You too can achieve great feats of monumental proportions if you put your heart to it. So go on and Soar.

With so much grief and sadness in Nigeria at the moment, I found it hard to write about anything else without being considered insensitive. If you don’t know what I’m referring to, don’t despair. When the speculations and heated emotions faced by Nigerians about the multiple church bombings of Boko Haram in Bauchi state which coincided with the June 3rd Dana Air crash in Lagos state blows over, I’ll give you my take on the issue. In the meantime, I’d like to share with you a little bit of sunshine on such a cloudy week.

GOOD DEEDS (MOVIE REVIEW)

It’s nice to watch a good movie, predict the outcome and still be emotionally touched by the story. I’ll admit, I’m a weeper, I cry when faced with sentimental movie moments. Nicole Sparks’s novel adaptations just leave me in tears. Stories with the pain of abuse, the effects poverty on the life of a child, sibling rivalry that spins out of control, death and love lost, really do get me. But not all movies get to me.

When Tyler Perry’s début movies, came out, I would say I wasn’t a Madea fan.

I really started paying attention to Tyler Perry when I heard he was one of the top movie earners in Hollywood. I wondered “what was it about his black movies that got everyone so psyched?” When I watched ‘Why did I get Married?’ Part one and two, I sympathized with the characters. In ‘I Can Do Bad All By Myself’, beyond loving the fact that one of my all time music divas (Mary J Blige) did her thing in the movie, I found myself drawn to the storyline. When I watched ‘A Family that Preys’, I fell in love with the fact that it wasn’t racially restrictive or centered around the black American community. I would say it was more like the female version of ‘Bucket List’ (starring Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson).

Recently, I got to watch ‘Tyler Perry’s Good Deeds’ and not only did I love the movie, I guess I’ve become a fan of Tyler Perry Studio (TPS). ‘Good deeds’ was not only the portrayal of a man trying to find himself but also the pain faced by people not so privileged as we are. The dialogue felt fresh and original, no curse words of any kind. I also loved how bits of information were properly given off like Wesley Deeds’ (played by Tyler Perry) affinity for bikes and his being lactose intolerant as the reason why he didn’t know the cost of a gallon of milk. It had none of those clichéd romantic moments or climax. There was no running to catch up with the love of your life and no gasp-filled embarrassing moment; although the scene where Walter (played by Brian White) got sidelined from managing the company and scene where the brothers (Wesley and Walter) fight each other in front of company staff was pretty embarrassing (I just love that they had the sense to take it to the elevator out of everyone’s sight).

The twists were pleasant and might I say, effectively pulled off. The actors were great. You can’t have a cast with the likes of Tyler Perry himself, Thandie Newton, Gabrielle Union, Phylicia Rashad, Eddie Cibrian and Brian White and not expect a great performance.

Not to mention the use of timeless classics such as Tupac’s How do you want it? and Richard Marx’s Right here Waiting in the movie. Overall, I’d give this movie 41/2 star. It was a great movie and a must watch for anyone in need of fresh new movie.

So I’m not a zealous football fan and my loyalties to the club of my choice can be questionable, but I do love to watch a good match. The final of the 2012 UEFA Champions league was such a match for me. Having the five times UEFA champions Bayern Munich play against Chelsea, a newbie to the European champions winning streak, the match could easily have been a done deal in regards to who could win. Initially when the game started, the 76% ball possession as well as the 13 on target shots by Bayern gave Munich supporters the hope that Bayern would walk away with the cup. As a sucker for the underdogs, I cheered for Chelsea whose 71% ball possession revolved around defense. The fatal flaw on Bayern’s side began when Bayern’s striker, Thomas Muller who scored the first goal of the match in the 84th minute, was substituted with defensive midfielder just about 8minutes before the end of the game. How incredulous was that? Everyone knows the end of a match is the most crucial time where a team has to be at its best.

Last minute goal surprises are not news to the world of football. Just when Bayern got comfortable, Drogba turned the tides by scoring an equaliser in the 88th minute. Chelsea who had strategically played defense the entire time was suddenly energized and the usual suspense that accompanies great matches began to keep the like of me at the edge of our seat. Before we knew it, we were on an emotional roller coaster with Chelsea and the entertainment factor of a good football match kicked in with Chelsea players picking up 2 yellow cards, 1 missed free kick and 1 awesome penalty save by Peter Cech. Bayern’s offside goal by Franck Ribery was quite a disappointment for Bayern supporters who were so sure their team would pick up the pace and strike back especially since they were playing at home.

The 30 minutes extra time led the 1-1 goal stalemate to the dreaded moment, penalty shoot outs. By this time, BB display messages reeked with excitement as non-football fans joined the guessing game for how the playoffs would be in BB chat groups. Chelsea fans wasted no time in broadcasting messages of symbolism such as the founding of Chelsea in 1905 and the date of the present match which was 19-05-2012. Statistics showed that Bayern had a better chance of winning based on penalties as has been done 5 previous matches while the odds were against Chelsea because the two matches they had played that ended in a penalty was a no-win for them. Chelsea started on a bad note with a miss, I found myself praying for a miracle but when Bayern Munich missed twice, I screamed for joy as the journey to the champions’ cup for Chelsea had its happy ending.

With a grueling journey which began with Chelsea making it only as far as the quarter finals in 2000, also to the semi final match in 2004 and ultimately losing at the 2008 finals, it would seem Chelsea were destined to win even though Bayern was the better team for the night. With Chelsea going home with not only the engraved silverware trophy and gold medals but also billions of dollars, all we spectators can say is “All is well that ends well”. In the end, we are left with two moral lessons from this year’s champions (who have joined the list of 10 teams to win the trophy at least once) which are: never quit trying and taking chances/risks because the reward is guaranteed success.

A BRIEF INTRO TO RAP MUSIC'S ORIGIN

The history of Rap had never been a big deal to me because I always saw it as rhythmic poetry recited to tight beats. Rap is a form of music in the Hip Hop Culture which is a means of self expression which tends to reflect the rapper’s personality. Take the rap styles of Twista and Mase as a case study.

Rap began among the African Americans in the late 70’s and early 80’s where disco was popular. Rap started in the west Bronx of New York by a Jamaican Disk Jockey (DJ) known as Kool Herc. Back then rap was called MC-ing (emceeing). He used to DJ and MC at parties but after a while he left the MC-ing to his friends so he could focus on the complexities of Dj-ing. This blend can be seen in the ‘collabo’ of fresh prince (the MC) and jazzy Jeff (DJ).

In the absence of rap records, people used to gather around at street corners just to listen to MCs or anyone who could ‘spit bars’. This could go on all night. The ultimate aim? To be perceived as ‘def’ by those in attendance. Most of the MCs rhymed on a count of four beats as opposed to the complex patterns of 16 bars we enjoy today. The cheer of the crowd meant that they were ‘tight’ while the ‘boo’ of the crowd meant that they were whack. Back then the DJs used an audio mixer and two identical records to elongate the instrumental or percussion sections of popular songs. Break beats became popular as MCs sought to find new ways of rapping longer.

The MCs would use a microphone to holler at the ‘homies in the joint’. It usually would evoke a response from the crowd.

With time more complicated, already written rhymes where being used. And rappers had to practice the art of showmanship by creating routines that made their rhyming more entertaining. Unlike the crotch grabbing and prancing around rappers of these days do. I reserve my comment on whom. Soon the battle for respect became the focus of the rap content.

Take my advice; watch the movie, Eight Mile. If you look closely, you will notice that it’s the rappers who project the most of the Hip Hop culture.