Chasing Heaven: From Jesus to Juno

(By Rudolf OgooOkonkwo)--While some of us are sure of the number of gates to heaven and the kind of visa needed to get in, some scientists are scratching their heads trying to figure out how to locate the 9th planet. Those who have mastered the layouts of heaven, including the postal code of their mansions, are waiting for death to come and take them there. Well, not really. Most of them are not in a hurry to make the journey. It is, however, slightly different for scientists. For scientists, they are willing and are working to send spacecraft on a journey of over 2.8 billion kilometers in search of the 9th planet.

When most of us were in school, the 9th planet was Pluto. It used to stand shoulder to shoulder with the likes of Venus and Saturn. In 1992, questions were raised about its status as a planet, following the discovery of several other objects of its size within the area called the Kuiper belt. In 2005, an object called Eris was discovered. It has mass that is 27% more than Pluto. So in 2006, Pluto was demoted from a planet to a mere dwarf planet for failing to clear the objects around its orbit. On July 14, 2015, the New Horizons spacecraft tapping the gravity of Jupiter flew by Pluto accurately measuring it and providing conclusive proof that it wasn’t a planet.

Uche Ogbuagu: Chineke E Riela Ariri

Ugwumba TV: Emume Ndi Igbo

Nollywood Celebrates Bowler Hats Bash 2 in Style

L-R: Bowler Hats Bash founder Azuh Amatus, Saint Obi, Azuh Arinze, & D'Lectura

(Chika Chimezie)--It was indeed, the gathering of some of the biggest names in Nollywood, music

and comedy sectors respectively, at the second edition of the annual Bowler Hats Bash (BHB).

The memorable and fun-filled evening of comedy, music, dance and more, held elaborately on Independence Day, October 1, at the prestigious Coliseum Events Centre, Ikeja, Lagos.

Just like the maiden edition, it was also hugely attended by leading entertainers, revered celebrities and upwardly mobile revelers.

The problem with Nigeria 2.0

“The day we all stop celebrating thieves, I believe we will all have a better Nigeria. Evil servants (sorry civil servants) see their offices as shops for buying and selling. The politicians see position of authority as license to loot and treasury as war trophies. Our Obas, Obis and Emirs end up granting and awarding them undeserved chieftaincy titles as a reward for looting well done. The Pastors and GO [General Overseers] then cover their loots with Holy Ghost fire anointing and the blood of Jesus.

To crown it all up, the FG further oil their looting and stealing wheels with National dishonor award of CFR, MON etc. The day we start stoning these bastards AND THEN ask questions, things will change.”
                                                                                                                                        Daniel Osazuwa

Moving Nigeria Forward, Reorienting Perspectives

When Your Community Church is the Largest

(Okenyi Kenechi)--Place the massive Nigerian churches and mosques on a side of a table, place the massive homes of our politicians on the other side of the same table. The similarities between the two sides of the table is that dilapidated school or hospital in your village.

Place the massive cars and private jets of your pastors on one side of a table, place the hotel bills, private jet bills and investments of your politicians on the other side of the same table. The similarities between the two sides of the table is that poor teacher owed tens of months of salary in your area.

You need more? OK, come with me..

I have never seen a dilapidated or abandoned church in this country since I was born.

I have seen hundreds of dilapidated and abandoned schools since I was born. I have visited more than 18 states in Nigeria.

I have never seen a church where members sit on the floor because they don't have seats but I have seen school children sit on the floor, under mango trees just to learn.

Odimma Onodu Umu Nwaanyi n'Ala Igbo

When the Gods Have Had Enough

(Dimeji Kayode-Adedeji)--Pastor goes numb while destroying traditional shrine

There was drama in Ketu Community of Ogun State on Saturday [September 24] when a pastor became numb after attempting to pull down a shrine.

The cleric, identified as Wale Fagbenro, reportedly claimed he was directed by the “Holy spirit” to destroy the traditional worshippers’ shrine.

A witness said Mr. Fagbenro became “speechless‎ and motionless” upon entering the shrine‎.

Residents of the area in Yewa North Local Government Area subsequently raised an alarm attracting a crowd to the scene.

The witness said when the priests in charge of the shrine were approached, they declared that the cleric would only regain consciousness after some rituals were performed.

However, the priests eventually treated Mr. Fagbenro after the traditional ruler of Aiyetoro, Abdulaziz Adelakun, intervened.

Nigeria and the "Facebook Feminist"

(Temidayo Ahanmisi)--You are all being manipulated, but you are either too clueless or too pompous to realise this.

This is why you lend your energy to being agents in turn of the grand delusion.

It is social media. It doesn't take a genius to control the minds of anyone in this matrix. The subjects lend themselves for use and control.

Once you realise this, everything falls into place and you see your own silliness for what it is.

So I saw one of those "submission matters" post by a dear friend this morning, and gave in to the urge to say this much, because this friend largely "gets it" when it comes to the matter of Feminism vis a vis Matrimony.

This much I submitted:

Feminism and Submission are contrived battles on the social media. Those who argue on either side are caught in a spiral of delusion and manipulation of their reasoning as well as the thoughts of the other.

Nollywood Counts Down to Bowler Hats Bash 2

(Chika Chimezie)--This is cheering news for Nigerians looking for premium events to attend, relax and spend quality time with family members and loved ones on Saturday, October 1, Nigeria’s 56^th Independence Day.

The organisers of Bowler Hats Bash (BHB) the high-net-worth evening of undiluted comedy, music, dance and more, have agreed to hold this year’s show, which is the second in the series on Independence Day, at the upscale Coliseum Events Centre, Ikeja, Lagos, amid glitz and grandeur.

Of Churches, Televangelists, and Prosperity Gospel

Nigeria's Comic Language and National Identity

(Chika Ezeanya-Esiobu)--A well respected and accomplished Nigerian comedian recently chided his

colleagues for being local champions who are hardly marketable outside the shores of Nigeria and Anglophone West Africa. Global fame has eluded his counterparts, he regretted, as a result of the 90% reliance on Pidgin English as the language of comical communication.

The comedian clarified his understanding of ‘global’ as being the western world, specifically the United States and English speaking Europe. South African comedians, he charged his Nigerian colleagues, have been able to penetrate the high walls of America and Europe’s s stand-up comedy business due to their ability to render jokes in the sort of English embraced by these nations. For his colleagues to make progress, he admonished, they must leave behind the local pidgin language and reach towards its more ‘refined’ counterpart.

In trying to understand the implications of the comedian’s - no doubt – well intentioned advice for the Nigerian comedy industry, the question of a sense of self-pride, self-assurance, self-acceptance and collective sense of national identity of Nigerians as a people comes to the fore. Along that line, one realizes that the comedian’s admonition can be located within the age old conviction of Africans that to make progress, they must shun their authenticity in favor of Westernization, often labeled modernization.

The Journeys of Jollof Rice

(Sonala Olumhense)--This much can be said about the geographical origins of jollof rice: West Africa. 

Beyond this, there is no agreement as to an actual location.   Nigerians claim it, perhaps because, owing to our population, we eat more of it than anyone in the world. 

Jollof rice is claimed by the Senegalese, perhaps because of the historical and cultural background of the Wolof and the Jolof peoples of the area. 

To Everything, Its Place

Soyinka

(Wole Soyinka)--The issue, I understand, is the flaunting of religious markers in public educational institutions. Let me begin by confessing that I envy the French to whom those choices have only been recently thrust to the fore – they have always been with us in Nigeria. I also envy those to whom the issues are straightforward, and permit of dogmatic positions. In normal circumstances, perhaps I would agree that it should be a non-issue. It is tempting to simplify the debate by evoking the nature of club membership - a public school has certain rules, and if you wish to be a member, or make use of its facilities, then you must conform to those rules or seek alternatives elsewhere. 

However, the world we inhabit has changed vastly and dramatically over the past few decades, and club rules – like race or sex differentiated membership rules - are no longer sacrosanct. In addition, the genie is out of the bottle and the beasts of intolerance, suspicion and polarization stalk the streets. Dialogue is mostly relegated to the status of a poor relation of terror and intimidation, barely tolerated, often mocked. Conscious of the fact that the present dialogue is being conducted within such an atmosphere, it may be helpful if I began with a reference to my personal response when a directly contrary policy was announced in my own country, Nigeria,  and not just recently. It happened about twenty years ago, long before the introduction of the Sharia – the Islamic law – in a number of states within the country.