Fiction and Articles

Today’s post is as a result of the New York Times podcast (which I listen to everyday) streamed on Wednesday 5th December and Thursday 6th December.   The title of the podcast is what the west got wrong about china and it was streamed in two parts. I believe Nigeria adopts a lot of western values and that’s why I’m certain the lessons not only apply to the west but also to us as a country. Please find below an excerpt from the online post on the New York Times titled five takeaways from our new china project by Megan Specia. Read, Enjoy and Share. How did China do it? When The New York Times set out to take a big-picture look at China, the what was obvious enough: Across the Pacific Ocean from the United States lies the world’s newest superpower, a rival to American interests both economic and political. The how was another matter. How did the land once commonly — and with some disdain — known in the West as Communist China come to lead the world in the nu...

So, the 27th of November 2018, was the day I got the welcome call into the Nigerian Bar. 5 years at the University, 1 mandatory year of internships and 1 year at the Nigerian Law school, Ladies and Gentlemen, it all came down to this day. Please, don’t ask me how I feel, this piece says it all. Those welcoming words were made and I realised, this is it. In a way, life in another dimension begins with this call. As many things ran through mind, I could’t help but relate this new association with life itself. So let’s pretend the Nigerian bar is a liquor bar and you just arrived. The bar man, ready as ever to serve you whatever you demands from the beautiful array of the variety of drinks displayed on the shelf.  Yes, I was intentional with the word demand, as I am of the opinion that as it is with life, the Nigerian Bar will only give you what you demand and not necessarily what you deserve. And if karma decides to push you in the direction of what you deserve, trust me, I ...

Dear Child, I see you, And even though I don’t know your struggles, I heard of it all. How mummy abandoned you at a mosque, How daddy made you sit on hot coals after he got drunk, How uncle P defiled you even though you were only 4. I see your bravery, I see your courage, I see your laughter, I see your pain, I see you when you feel like you’ve finally got family, I see you when you feel all alone in the world. We may never understand, we don’t know it all, but I want you to know that you’re beautiful and you’re great, You’re unique in each and every way, And if you’ve made it this far, you’re going to make it to the end, With your dreams, goals and a smile on your face. #Youknowyourself

By the time he regained consciousness, he was still in the same room with Bosco. This time around, he noticed an awkward silence. He moved out of the room shaking and in shock towards the living room and discovered that the whole place was empty. He thought of running away but he didn’t know where he was or where he could go. He went back to the room and tried to propel Bosco’s body forward. After all Bosco was his friend. Maybe he wasn’t really dead. Maybe he had just fainted he thought. “oya turn round” were the next words Joseph heard as he held on to Bosco’s body. He turned about to see two uniformed policemen and another man in brown native attire. Joseph was very excited to see that people had come to the house to help. He ran towards the uniformed men in excitement only to receive a huge blow on his face. He was hit so hard that he fell to the floor and hit his head against the wall. At that point Joseph began to wander if all along, he had been in a dream. He closed his eye...

He didn’t want to stay any longer but Bosco had forced him to. He felt uneasy by the presence of Bosco’s friends and he missed the bunk he slept on at the workshop more than anything. It was fine when the friends started trooping in and the music getting loud. It was fine when they started to smoke cigarettes and sniff white substance but it wasn’t fine when they tortured their dogs for the sake of it. Something about the act felt distasteful and sinister to joseph. It reminded him of the day his mother was disgraced in the market when her skirt tore and people began to mock her because she had no underwear on. Joseph approached Bosco and politely asked to be taken back to the mechanic shop but Bosco only laughed and walked away. He was obviously intoxicated and high on narcotic drugs. At about 12am in the middle of the night, many ladies were in the apartment dancing, drinking and smoking away. Joseph was initially interested in seeing the ladies move their tiny waist and big but...

He realized he was dreaming again as he woke up in a fit banging his head against the exhaust pipe of the vehicle he was under. It was a reoccurring dream where his shoulders were being held by a masquerade and while his head was deep in a pool of water and he would struggle not to drown. He woke up and said the Lord’s prayer. The only prayer he could recite from the beginning till the end. He had started as an apprentice after the ill fated incident that claimed one of the legs of Uncle Korede and often left him in seizures. Time and medication only soothed their physical wounds but Joseph had lost out of the lifetime he dreamt of working as an house boy in a decent environment that had a bed and clean water. His prospective employers had rejected him. They believed his omen was not right and they didn’t want any bad luck. Uncle Koredes wife however pitied the young lad and recommended him to one  ‘Alfa Jimoh’ , a short and robust cleric who immediately took him in as an app...

On the day Esther also known as Mama Kekere passed on, it rained heavily. The whole village was flooded and no one dared to come out. No one except 9 year old Joseph who had managed to drag his heavily pregnant mother to the house of Mama Nonso a short and brutish midwife who had delivered all Mama Kekere's children including Joseph. Joseph’s mother gave up the ghost six hours  after trying to have her baby who also didn’t make it. He was a boy.  Joseph loved his mother dearly, she was his rock.  she fended for the family when all seemed to be failing with no one to help and  even though Joseph had often tried to prove that he was old enough to take care of the family, she would still step in to treat him like the child that he was and make sure everyone was okay. Often times she referred to Joseph as her husband and said she had the best husband in the world. This seldom made Joseph happy, he was nothing compared to the deadbeat father he had who spent his lifetim...

Joseph was particularly excited on this Tuesday morning. The rain was pouring heavily and it seemed the sun would not rise in time, but that was not a problem for him because  life as he knew it is was about to change. He hurriedly packed his bags and went to the yard to shower before anyone else woke up. Not because he was an early bird or loved to shower on time but because he wanted to show their guest who had travelled miles from his destination that he was the right candidate for the job. The water from the well seemed refreshing and soothing as Joseph scooped it from an iron bucket which he had used in fetching water the previous night.  He had heard several stories of people who lived in places where you didn’t need to fetch water from the well, he had even seen a tap once in his lifetime when ‘Baba Show’ who was bidding for a political position several years ago installed a bore hole some kilometres away from the village. During that period, it seemed the whole vi...

You see, much of this life is about waiting and hoping, waiting and hoping, waiting and hoping. I wonder what God thinks; He has given us tools in our hands. Cutlasses, shovels and hoes to dig and find treasures. We are here standing on a giant farmland and waiting. Waiting for the sun to shine more, for it to rain more, for the pests to die, waiting to be in the right mood before we start digging and planting. Yet we want harvests, we are so hungry and impatient, we wonder why they wouldn’t just appear: we forget that we have our part to play and the right instruments have been placed in our hands. You see, God is not an unjust or wicked father. He has blessed each and every one of us with resources to succeed but we fail to recognize these blessings and start doing something about what he has given us. It is time to start digging, planting and then harvesting. In life there are two kinds of people; the Spectators and the Players. Decide that you are not going to sit idly and ...

"I've fooled a lot of people in my life. Not one, not twice, not thrice. Initially it was a mistake, again another mistake, then it became an art, it became fun. But who am I really fooling? Aren't I the greatest fool for being foolish with the idea I seem to have embraced that it's easier to make people think what it's not than what it is. I seldom like that, but then again, if I didn't I won't be a fool."  Author: Fadeke Alabi 26/08/2018 All rights reserved. No part of the publications on this blog may be used or reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of the author.

Did you know that understanding your personality would help you better in your relationships with others either at home, work, school, place of worship and most importantly marriage? Below are the four major temperaments that have been discovered. Identify yours, know your strength and weakness and how to cope with others with different personalities. The four temperaments were conceptualised many years ago in one of the oldest known systems of personality types. People were categorised by their mood. Here are the four temperaments/personality types : Sanguine , Phlegmatic , Choleric , and Melancholic . Sanguine People with sanguine personality type tend to be lively, optimistic, buoyant, and carefree. They love adventure and have a high risk tolerance . Typically, Sanguine people are very poor at tolerating boredom and will seek variety and entertainment. Needless to say, this trait may sometimes negatively affect their romantic relationships. Because this temperament is p...