NEW BOY ON DA BLOCK

 NEW BOY ON DA BLOCK

by Mom Godfrey

Every star has a story to tell and when they do, its up to all and sundry who care to listen to take it, or leave it. Though a lot of rich kids have flooded the Nigerian music scene in recent times, from Wizzy to Davido and the rest, yet we still have a myriad of upcoming acts whose stories may be difficult to take, hook, line, and sinker.

DBJ, Dan Boor Junior is toying the unconventional path that beats all norms and will surely beat the odds to stay on top of his game. With a entry that is so professional for a starter, I can see him achieving all (what he started). He is good to contrive his critics.

Image 1. Dan Boor Junior.  

On the unconventional side, and making strides.

The video of his single "Sugar" speaks volumes about the heights he is poised to attain in his trades. Keep a lookout!

Video 1. Visual to the Song, "Sugar." 

A medical student at Benue State University, DBJ holds his own brand, his own style, and soon to be, his own patients!

We look forward to seeing more from you, DBj; soar higher and make us proud!

STOP THE FIGHTING, MY DEAR BROTHERS

by Mom Godfrey


Conflict is one of the oldest behaviors of man. 

The Holy Bible makes it clear to us that Lucifer was thrown from heaven to earth owing to the conflict that emanated between him and his Creator. Shortly after landing on earth, he wandered into the garden of Eden and masterminded that mindless disobedience was going to cost man's eternity. The destructive instincts were passed on to the remotest seed of man, and we saw how Cain murdered his younger brother, Abel, while they were out in the field. Cain was a farmer while Abel was an animal rearer. This fact pointed some biblical historians to the fact that the conflict between them was the origin of the war between cattle rearers and land tillers.

Truly, as a farmer its not easy to tolerate animal rearers, I can boldly say this without reservation of any kind. Experience has taught me that owners of animals claim they value their animals more than humans, and whatever matters to them. This applies to the common dog owner (whom most of the times let their untreated dogs on the loose to attack people), and the careless and mindless owner, who turns around and apportions blame to the victim.

When a free range goat rearer let loose his goats and they invade his neighbor's garden, the goat owner is quick to absolve themselves of any blame when the gardner complains to them. The commonest thing the rearers of such animals say is that farms are not meant to be in towns, foolishly forgetting that animal rearing is also part of farming which is even far more inappropriate to do, especially free range in the mist of people.

Image 1. Pointing Fingers at Another Still Points Three Fingers at Yourself. 

Courtesy BingPictures.

Everyone values their means of livelihood or at least that which they took their time to do, from that little garden close to the house to the large farm they sweat to put up out there in the farmland proper.  A land tiller has every reason to jitter each time animals come close to their farms because most of the farmers have nothing elsewhere to fall back to if their farms get destroyed. I still have a clear mental picture of how my own mother was so passionate about her own farm in which she put her all, to make sure it yielded its best.

Sometimes when we are about to close for the day and she saw that some goats or sheep were wandering around waiting for us to leave so they can invade and destroy her efforts, she could hardly leave the farm at such occasions, hoping that by the time she left late at sunset the wandering animals had gone back to their stead.

Most times when a complaint come to those that rear animals in villages, they respond with careless abundance. They look at the complainers as the ones fomenting trouble where there was none. When a rash action is taken by an aggrieved crop farmer the animal rearer's action always bears down heavily on the crop farmer. All animal rearers have a similar attitude.

The fulani cattle rearers  have killed a lot of people throughout Nigeria, especially in Benue state. The killings have gone on unchecked for too long. Nothing has been done to put a stop to this madness, that is almost becoming a norm in our communities!

If the cattle rearers live by rearing cattles, crop farmers also need to live by their crops. There should be no interference of any kind. We must learn to respect each other's vocation to give peace a chance. Period. 

#saynotothemindlesskillings#

THE TREND GIRL

By Mom Godfrey

Meet the trend girl of the moment. She is calling on 

all and sundry to get trendy with her and get the 

best out of themselves.

 Image 1. Trendy Girl. Hey! what are you waiting 

for? The Trendy Train is just about to leave! 

Can't you hear the sound of the whistle? If you miss 

the train today tomorrow is yet another day, so 

braze up and never miss out again.

Love you all as you join The Trend Train!

............BENITA.

WITCHCRAFT AND THE LITTLE MINDS

By Mom Godfrey

The information sparingly filtered through the community that a king witch hunter was going to pay a grand visit that will change her fortunes. The nugget of information was a bit vague to most of us, I particularly had no idea of what it was all about. It became more confusing getting to know that a huge sum of money was put together to host this master witch hunter to take care of him throughout his stay in the community. As days of his visit drew closer a great deal of his intents were explained by persons who had some fair knowledge of what we were anticipating.

Nyam or (meat man) was his name. The name was obviously adopted by him to suit his vocation. An arena was specially prepared for him, it was a vast expanse of land ceremoniously cleared to host the expected spectators and the master's victims to be. The build-up to the hunter's coming brought with it diverse reactions. A great number of people were excited about his coming, according to them he was going to cleanse their land that was riddled with witches and wizards. Just a few people and myself expressed indifference at the whole idea.

The year was 1999, it was about the first quarter of the year and a time all farming activities are usually on the low. The place was 'Alien' in the out sketch of the head quarters of the local council of Ushongo, Benue state Nigeria. It was a huge crowd my eyes saw on the first day I showed up at the event. The crowd beat my imagination, the event also attracted economic activities. People displayed various wares for sale while others hawked theirs. I and my friends moved closer to the main arena to scamper for a standing space to catch a glimpse of what was going on. We finally got ourselves some space to stand and observe events unfold. It was a bit weird to me what my eyes saw.

A good number of elderly men in their sixties and seventies were made to sit in the middle of the arena. They were the supposed wizards that were hunted on day one of the event. Some traditionally designed objects were placed right in front of each of them. The objects were the supposed portions they used in attacking and destroying their perceived enemies.  I became curious, my eyes wondered round the arena. I was looking for the man of the event as though I was acquainted with him.

Having no clue of him I finally asked a man beside me. He told me the master and his crew had gone on a break. He assured me that they will be back soon. Fifteen minutes later, a mad rush towards the arena by people around the place made me scared to the bone. It was almost a stampede scenario. A tall and dark complexioned man made it straight into the middle of the arena were the elderly men sat. It dawned on me he was the reason for the mad rush. The crowd around the arena swelled. I felt a bit lucky I was just on time to be where I was.

He began the second phase of the business of the day. He called out his assistant who went by the name principal to come out. A short but slightly stout man came out. He ordered him to complete the story of how he himself was captured.

To be Continued...................

                                              .........Continuation.....

The principal had a bad eye; I can't recall whether it was the right or left side. He was always turning to the side of the good eye. He began to narrate the much anticipated story of his capture.

"Once upon a time I was a perilous wizard, I killed and destroyed lives and everything thing that was meaningful to anyone in the my community. Farms yielded far less than they would naturally do, women went barren and children fiercely rebelled against their parents, all because of my demonic spells.  I went as far as interfering with the weather. I determined when the community had rains.

One faithful day I heard Nyam or was in my community to carry out his first ever task of purging the land of its evil doers, so I decided to make it to his event. It was really a tough encounter." The principal paused and took a deep breath.

I kept turning in to different things, yet it was difficult to escape from the master witch hunter. I turned into a spider, synthesized cub webs that was as long as I was able to run up to the clouds, yet I was followed up there.

Finally I changed into a crab and while trying to make it into a narrow hole he grabbed me by the eye. I tried to move but the master would not let me go. He grabbed me firmly; when it became obvious I had met my waterloo, I "surrendered." The crowd broke into an exclamation typical of the land in a coincidental unison.......................................To be Continued........... 

ONCE UPON A GRADUATE

by Mom Godfrey

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a step that goes a trite dictum, yet a step in the right direction with the right attitude entails fulfilment. The recent water splashing spree by the excited graduating Fellows has left me deeply thoughtful. Truly a "Degree" is worth celebrating, especially as it steals quite a worthwhile number of years from me, essentially draining me of some mental and physical vigor.

As I sat watching the randy youth from the vantage point of the window of my afforded room, I had a mixed feeling of interest and rumination. The energy exuded by these Fellows was spectacular and it crossed my mind that it could also be usefully channelled while moving forward.

Image 1. Mom Godfrey Reflections.  What is needed is for men and women, especially the young and educated, to be primally interested in and protective of their surroundings and their wastelands. They should not slip away. 

One thing that I observed about the celebrations was that it was dominated by the ladies and the reason was pretty obvious. Many a young men are far more aware of the reality they are about to transit into so rather than the exuberant jubilation will give themselves to quality moments of sober reflection. To a few it would be a high point of depression, while the minutest, richest, and privileged ones go home to mummy and daddy as we all know the usual story.

The ladies are a far cry from being perturbed in all of these because they have diametrically depraved themselves of a good knowledge of their environment leaving them vulnerable to some fantasy of sorts that they derive from watching 'Telemundo' and some irritating Indian drama series in recent times. To them, it is always that expensive so called black and white wedding, or nothing less. It is either they sit and wait for some luck to shine on them, or they energetically track some jet leg and stalk a man to get their desired, remote fantasy. They talk about how expensive they want the so called wedding to be, as though they are the ones to sponsor the wasting galore.

A few are lucky while most are left high and dry, but it can always be the sure way if they want.

I urge the guys to rise up against the realities of the times and be as proactive as possible. The energy I witnessed them celebrate with reminded me that we are still very much agile and can front a good course against those who owe us a great deal of responsibility.
To the ladies, life is not an all fun galore and choosing to settle down when you so wish. Try to be a part of your dream and be concerned what goes on in your environment. For it is yours, too, and you also bear the responsibility.