NIGERIA DECIDES!!!

I am so excited, haven’t been this excited in a long time! Today, the 9th of April is a day that will go down as one of the most significant days in the history of Nigeria. Today, in my opinion laid yet another block in the foundation that is a New Nigeria. Why? Are you even asking?

When Egypt happened earlier in the year, I was excited at the strength of the people, the collective will of the people that transcended religious lines (producing one of the best pictures I have ever seen in my entire life, christians protecting muslims and vice versa), transcended socio-economic statuses, age, creed, you name it. The people had one demand, that Hosni Mubarak and his government leave power. It took a while, but he left, and every day, the symbols of his government are being removed too.

Someone said shortly after that Nigeria was/is not ready for a revolution, that we are not ready to die for the country. I remember replying that we don’t need to die for our country to be what it should be, that if change was a product of bloodshed, we’d shed enough already to make us a ‘world power‘! He said that we were ‘twitter/facebook activists’, who wouldn’t make any difference; I said that the fact that we existed as activists at all was a sign that we had had it, and promised, even in absentia, to prove him wrong.

Organizations like ReclaimNajia, EiE Nigeria, Vote or Quench, Rally For Nigeria, What About Us, Light Up Nigeria were the response by young people to issues that our elders have hitherto been unable to answer. Issues like electricity, security, health, education, employment, crime, you name it. From the 16th of March 2010 when young people under the auspices of the Enough is Enough coalition protested to the National Assembly, I knew it, I knew our time had come. For the first time in the history of the country, youths asked questions of their leaders. What About Us? What are your plans for our country?

Young people (18 – 35) in Nigeria make up 70% of the 150 million that is our population; that has been the driving force behind the campaigns to Register, Select, Vote,and Protect the vote. If only half of this demographic voted, rigging would be difficult. And thanks to mobile technology and apps like ReVoDa that birthed citizen journalists round the country, I knew something would give.

Then on the day of the National Assembly elections, there was the ‘logistics’ excuse and the elections were postponed. Originally, it was to be National Assembly : 2nd April,  Presidential : 9th April, and Governorship/State Assembly : 16th April. Attahiru Jega, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral commission (INEC) moved the National Assembly elections to the 4th of April, but moved everything forward by a week the night before the 4th. The new dates became National Assembly : Sat, 9th April(today), Presidential : Sat, 16th April, and Governorship/State Assembly : Tues, 26th April.

Apart from the postponement discouraging people, last night we heard of an explosion in the INEC office in Suleja, Niger State. Amongst the dead from that blast were 6 corps members. Unconfirmed reports from yesterday had it that a young man in Kaduna who was ‘planting’ a bomb made a mistake and set off the bomb, on himself. Talk about karma being swift. Like I said on twitter last night, may God comfort all the families who have lost mothers, fathers, sons and daughters in any of these horrible blasts, and may the souls of the departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

Despite all these, the turn out for today was at least 150% above what it was in 2007, when less than one-third of the voting population voted; some people were not even aware of the aspirants that would be representing their constituencies! Despite bomb scares, tales of violence, the scorching sun, snail-like activity at the polling centres, people went out, got accredited, and when the time came, they voted. Not only did they vote, but they waited for the votes to be counted, and then they tweeted the results. Nigerians challenged people who came to snatch ballot boxes – there are several reports of people overpowering and disarming thugs who came to cause confusion at the polling centres – they provided snacks and drinks for their brothers and sisters who had to wait in long queues for their turn to ‘press their hand’.

Today, according to Nigerian hip-hop sensation Naeto C, “things are not the same….levels don change now….” The revolution that has begun today will remain with us for years to come. And even though I am worried that from the results coming back we are voting largely along ethnic lines with the Coalition for Progressive Change (CPC) winning most of the seats in the North,  Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) seizing the West and All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) trying to remain relevant in the East, I think that we are on the road to getting it this time, and that’s all that matters for now.

I’ll wrap for now with a tweet from @segundemuren, that “we exercised our right to vote because we want to develop. My prayer is democracy should lead to development”.

Related Articles

• Social Media and the New Dimension to Nigerian Politics (fairygodsister.wordpress.com)
• Jonathan votes, says Nigeria will not be deterred by anti social elements (vanguardngr.com)
• The Value of My Vote……. (fairygodsister.wordpress.com)

THE VALUE OF MY VOTE…….

Ok, this is one of those ‘emergency’ posts. I say emergency because I’m writing to get over something that has really made me angry today, and I desperately need something to distract/take my attention away from it/the person before I do something silly. Writing for me has always been a good way of escape, same way some people would work out (I’m too lazy), or pound the wall with their fists/head (I have a low threshold for pain).

Ok, so it looks like I’ve been a little silent about Nigeria, our elections, and the stunts INEC has pulled in the last week or so. I haven’t been silent, I’ve just been drinking it in (whatever that means).

As the general elections draw closer (barring any more postponements), politicians are getting desperate to get more people to cast their votes in their favour. I won’t mention specifics but one of the aspirants to the National Assembly has been kidnapped, there’s chaos in one of the states in the South South following the arrest and slamming of  a treason charge on one of the governorship hopefuls, there’s a war of text messages, accusations and counter accusations in the South West, and even from very far away, the tension is almost palpable!

Who are you voting for? Why? Are you voting for that person because your friends are voting for him? Are you voting because you believe in the person? What is the place of their track records, integrity, and more importantly the company they keep? Whether we like it or not, the maxim ‘show me your friends and I’ll tell you who you are’ is very true. You cannot be friends with murderers, thieves and scoundrels and not be impacted/influenced consciously or unconsciously.

As we go to the polls again tomorrow, let us remember that planting mango seeds and expecting to reap strawberries is sheer insanity. We know who we should vote for, for all the positions. Note that I’m not (I’ve not) mentioned any names, or endorsed anyone. I just want you to, with your vote, tell the truth.

I’ll leave you with a story I read that captures the essence of all I’ve just said…………enjoy!

THE VALUE OF MY VOTE
Last week, I witnessed an amazing drama unfold as a politician tried frantically to convince my neighbour to cast his vote for a party. When the politician realized that his effort was getting him nowhere, he decided to use the power in his pocket. He brought out a bundle of N200 notes and dangled it in my neighbour’s face, basically the way you would dangle some bait to an animal you are trying to catch.

“How much is your vote?” he asked, with a deceptive smile on his face.

My neighbour hesitated for a moment, and then he grabbed a piece of paper and began to scribble down something. When he finished writing, he handed the piece of paper to the politician saying, “This is the value of my vote.”
The politician went through the paper briefly and then squeezed and threw it away, in my direction. He hurried away, saying that my neighbour wasn’t being rational.

My neighbour, realizing I was watching, picked up the paper and said, waving the paper at me, “Am I being irrational?”
I collected the paper and took a quick look at it. He had written on the paper the breakdown of his family’s expenses, which the government (according to him) had so far failed to provide or make available for its citizens. He then multiplied everything by four (4) years. Something like this:
Security – N20,000 per month x 12 months x 4 years = N960,000
Generator – N40,000 per 2 years x 2 = N80,000
Fuel for generator – N1,000 per day x 365 days x 4 years = N1,460,000
Potable water – N500 per day x 365 days x 4 years = N730,000
Healthcare Insurance – N10,000 per month x 12 months x 4 years = N480,000
Education – N5,000 per month x 12 months x 4 years = N240,000
Housing – N500,000 per year x 4 years = N2,000,000
Total – N5,950,000 (five million nine hundred and fifty thousand naira)

Realize the worth of your vote. VOTE WISELY.

Related Articles

• As We Vote Again (vanguardngr.com)
• VIDEO: Nigeria prepares for second vote (bbc.co.uk)

3, 2, 1: AN HOUR WITH ZUBAIR

So it’s been a little while I did a chronicle that wasn’t school and learning related, and that’s due to the fact I’ve gotten to that point where I’m pleading with God for extra hours at the end of the day…. It’s also because there’s too much happening! From Nigeria to Ivory Coast, Zimbabwe to Egypt, to Yemen, Bahrain, Libya, and Japan, it’s almost impossible to keep up!

Anyways, I’m back, and repeating my promise to give you something to engage with every week, and I’ll keep that promise; at least I’m not promising 50,000 posts in one day!

On to the business of the day; I’ve wanted to run interviews on this blog for a while because despite all the ‘sad’ things around us, there are young people who are doing exceptionally brilliant stuff! Especially the ones that if you’re not told of, you’d likely miss.

The idea for the first interview came about a week ago, when I was researching facts for an article that would show the impact social media has had/is having on politics in Nigeria and I stumbled on ‘Nigerian Constitution App for Blackberry’, developed by a Nigerian, Zubair Abubakar.

Zubair Abubakar, fine boy  abi? Brains too!

I found him on Twitter, asked for an interview, and below is an hour’s worth of our discussion, reproduced as taken off Gtalk!

Enjoy…!

FGS: hey, good evening!

ZUBAIR: hey!!!

FGS: good evening…… Nice day?

ZUBAIR: good evening ma, yes, I had a nice day. You?

FGS: yes, I’ve had fun, especially since I finished a report I’ve been trying to write since Wednesday

ZUBAIR: ah, great!

FGS: yup! So basically, I wanted to do this interview because as part of my research on Social Media and Nigerian politics I stumbled on @techloy’s site, and I saw your work

ZUBAIR: oh ok…..

FGS: And I believe that it’s a platform for people to get to know you, and the work that you do…and it’ll help our knowledge base so that our arguments and requests from government are backed with a knowledge of what we are entitled to..

ZUBAIR: ok, sure!

FGS: great, thank you. Let’s start with, what is the one thing you hate?

ZUBAIR: WOW, I love so many things, I cant even pick one thing that I hate…but I would say dishonesty from people and people trying to take advantage of others.

FGS: Ok, we’ll pick through your answer but please tell me three things you love, since you said you love ‘so many things’

ZUBAIR: I love to impact in peoples lives

FGS: that’s one…

ZUBAIR: I love reading and learning basically

FGS: that’s 2a and 2b

ZUBAIR: I love God

FGS: three! Ok, back to the things you hate, have you ever felt someone was taking advantage of you? Tell me (us) about it..

ZUBAIR: yea couple of times;well a typical example is the way Nigerian leaders rule over us without caring about be accountable to us(me)

FGS: Isn’t that a function of their knowledge of the fact that we didn’t care? I say ‘didn’t’ because we do now…

ZUBAIR: Well, exactly!

FGS: Why would you say then that they ‘took advantage’ of you, since you agreed with me that they had a reason to?

ZUBAIR: well, in the moral sense, because you have a reason or power to take advantage of someone doesn’t make it okay to do so!

FGS: Agreed…. Forgive my manners, I forgot I didn’t ask who you are, and what you do…

ZUBAIR: LOL, I guess you already know that

FGS: No(insert smiling smiley)

ZUBAIR: I am a web/mobile application developer, a TED fellow, a volunteer amongst other things.I currently work with connectnigeria.com as a lead developer

FGS: Wow….And your name is? I know your twitter handle is @zubairabubakar

ZUBAIR: you can get more here: http://www.ted.com/profiles/9272, http://www.facebook.com/zabubakar,zubairabubakar.com,

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/zubair-abubakar/3/329/935. Zubair Abubakar is my full name

FGS: Have you always been a ‘techie’? By that I mean is it something you’ve always had a flair/skill for, or you studied and acquired it?

ZUBAIR: yes I have always been a techie, but my studies helped a great deal to develop the skills

FGS: What/where was school?

ZUBAIR: I first did a diploma in Information Systems Management at APTECH Computer Education, Lagos,then a BSc. Computer Science at Ashesi University Ghana

FGS: How long have you been building apps?

ZUBAIR: web apps or mobile?

FGS: both

ZUBAIR: since 2003, so that’s roughly about 8yrs!

FGS: Wow….what’s the first app you developed? (web and/or mobile). By the way, I was in first year for the greater part of 2003

ZUBAIR: oh really! Well, it was a web app, a diploma project, where customers can create accounts, deposit(virtually), check their account balance

FGS: neat…Can we digress a bit? How do virtual deposits happen? I can understand online transfers, deposits via ATM’s et al but I don’t really get virtual deposits, and I’ve been too lazy to google it!

ZUBAIR: a simple implementation could be the use of recharge cards

FGS:ok….

ZUBAIR: so a website may sell the recharge cards and ask users to buy a card of certain value (say N5000) and then load the value of the card into his/her account on the website

FGS: oh ok…

ZUBAIR: then the account reads that he/she has N5000 on the website and can use it to buy stuff or transfer to another user

FGS: Nice….is it in use now? The app?

FGS: Zubair? (he was gone for like 8 minutes)

ZUBAIR: hey sorry for the break in transmission…thanks to NEPA.. lol

FGS: that’s fine; one of the reasons we’re all going out to vote next month abi?

ZUBAIR: exactly! And no, the app is not in use

FGS: Did you register in February ?

ZUBAIR: no; in January, why?

FGS: January I beg your pardon… DO you have your voters card?

ZUBAIR: yes

FGS: Ok, I would have been very worried if you didn’t! That would have been one less vote…. What was the experience like? Easy, difficult?

ZUBAIR: well ok, could have been way better

FGS: ok, that’s what everyone thinks… What prompted the Nigerian constitution for BB app? And don’t worry, we’ll be talking about things other than work in a bit…

ZUBAIR: lol its ok. Well I was learning how to develop for blackberry phones at the time so I thought about what app I could develop to make an impact and coincidentally, I was lazily reading the constitution then

FGS: ok…

ZUBAIR: and then it occurred to me that Nigerians don’t read or don’t even have access to the constitution; what if I developed an app that would let them read it on their phones……and that was it!

This is what the app looks like, get familiar!!

FGS: neat!!! Now to the stuff that sells papers…how old are you?

ZUBAIR: lol, 27

FGS: ok, back to the app. Has it been successful, how popular is it?

ZUBAIR: well, I would say yes, I has been downloaded 15,000+ times, here you go

http://mobileappsnigeria.com/nigerianconstitution/ (that’s the link to download it guys)

FGS: wow…that’s a lot of downloads! @techloy did a little analysis of the amount of money you would have made if you sold the app

ZUBAIR: it has also set a record of most downloaded app in Nigeria within 72hr – 10,000 downloads

FGS: Yes, I am aware of that…kudos!!!

ZUBAIR: yep, I know right! Thanks; a big thanks to social media

FGS: How are you publicizing the app, because there are currently more than 80 million Nigerians using mobile phones; placing this app in the hands of even a tenth of that number would be great.

ZUBAIR: my plan exactly; so far its has been, bb broadcast, facebook posts, twitter, and blog posts

FGS: ok, nice. When you are building apps, what do you do?

ZUBAIR: do you mean when I am NOT building apps?

FGS: yes, excuse me

ZUBAIR: ok, well couple of things, reading, volunteering, sports, hang out with friends

FGS: Any ‘special’ friend?

ZUBAIR: LOL, wife you mean?

FGS: whatever…wife, girlfriend, boyfriend, cat, dog, you choose….

ZUBAIR:LOL, not really, I’m mostly a loner

FGS: are you lending credence to the saying that techies are ‘loners’?

ZUBAIR: yep to some extent 

FGS:You’re not even trying to deny it! Anyways, my final three questions (and I must thank you for being a sport), what’s your favourite childhood memory?

ZUBAIR: lol, you are welcome

FGS: what’s your favourite childhood memory?

ZUBAIR: I’ve had couple, I think I first time on a plane would be the one

FGS: What’s your favourite meal?

ZUBAIR: tuwo rice with fresh fish stew

FGS: who’s your most favourite person in the world?

ZUBAIR: dead or alive?

FGS: You choose

ZUBAIR: Gandhi

me: thank you very much!!!

And that my dear friends, is Zubair, and the end of the interview (and this chronicle)… Feel free to talk to him on Twitter, he’s an easy, approachable fella, and please download the app, and forward the link! Knowledge of the law will enable us lead more productive lives, and ensure that no one tramples on our rights. Thank me later!

Related Articles

• Social Media and the New Dimension to Nigerian Politics (fairygodsister.wordpress.com)
• A Nigerian Revolution? Or Maybe Not (africaunchained.blogspot.com)
• Seun Osewa Founder of, Nigeria’s Biggest Website Nairaland Interviewed (afrinnovator.com)
• Curtains Close (zubairthedream.wordpress.com)

SOCIAL MEDIA AND THE NEW DIMENSION TO NIGERIAN POLITICS

Below is a blog post I did for an event the MA Social Media class (my class) is organizing. The theme of the event is ‘We Are What We Tweet : From Birmingham to Cairo and local to global, exploring how social media drives change’. The agenda, speakers, and breakdown of the event is here www.wearewhatwetweet.com and you can register here; it’s free but you need to reserve your seat, and they are going fast!

I decided to reflect the changes (in my opinion) that social media has had/is having on politics and the polity in Nigeria, and my thoughts on where these changes will/might take us. Feel free to agree or disagree, but let’s talk about it!

Originally, I was to write on ‘Social media when internet access is low’, using Nigeria as a case study, and I had worked on the document, with some interesting insights from the research I did.

The focus changed on the night of the 17th when I received a BBM (Blackberry message) from a friend (and developer) introducing ReVoDa, a mobile app by the Enough is Enough (EiE) coalition that once downloaded and installed on a mobile device, enables eligible voters become independent observers from whatever polling booths they may be at during Nigeria’s general elections in April.

ReVoDa is a ‘social media solution’ proffered by EiE Nigeria to allow citizens report incidents of violence/fraud, police and electoral staff behaviour (proper and improper), and results of the elections in their polling units, all with a couple of clicks of their mobile phones. This is to checkmate the irregularities and fraud that have attended the elections in the country since it returned to democratic rule in 1999.

ReVoDa is ground breaking news, a major leap in the technology sector as it is the first of its kind to be developed in Nigeria, and by Nigerians. It comes close on the heels of the ‘Nigerian Constitution App for Blackberry’ which was developed by @zubairabubakar and recorded 10, 000 hits in the 72 hours. From a country where its first mobile apps development conference held in August last year, this is definitely newsworthy.

On the 18th of March, between the hours of 7 and 9pm, more than 80% of Nigeria’s population was glued to NN24, one of the newest television stations in the country, for a live presidential debate involving three of the eighteen aspirants who will be standing for elections in April. This comes on the heels of the vice-presidential debate which held and broadcast live a week ago.

For the aspirants to the nation’s highest office, that is but a prelude to the much publicized, twitter trending March 25th virtual interview to be moderated by two young people, Chimamanda Adichie and Ebuka Obi-Uchendu under the auspices of a coalition of youth activist organisations.

While I am concerned about the debate last night and the performance of the aspirants, I am more intrigued by the discussion and analysis of the debate on Twitter and Facebook. Using the hashtags #Presidentialdebate #NN24PresDebate, and making up more as the night wore on, young Nigerians analysed the strategies and policies that each of the aspirants discussed and as I scrolled through the tweets, …..miles away, it occurred to me that Nigeria is experiencing a revolution just as powerful as the Tunisian and Egyptian: A social media revolution.

Young Nigerians have suddenly realized that they make up the majority and are coming together to ‘take charge’ of their country. Politics and indeed the political arena has been flooded with young people who are not just interested in change but are in a hurry to see it happen. Youth led groups like Vote or Quench, RSVP (Register, Select, Vote and Protect), Reclaim Naija, What About Us, Cool To Vote, and a host of others creating awareness, educating, holding town hall meetings and calling on Nigerians to actively take part in selecting their leaders, the 2011 elections will not be left to politicians alone.

The efforts of these groups online (and offline) has not been without some success. In the just concluded voters registration exercise, 67million Nigerians registered, up from the 35million in 2007 (almost double) and the new ones are within the youth demographic.

These now viral online groups are riding on the success of the Light Up Nigeria movement that started in 2009 on twitter with the hashtag #lightupnigeria. Light Up Nigeria called for an overhaul of the nation’s power sector but simply said, ‘give us light’. Even though it was criticised as a ‘twitter campaign’, it got international attention, prompting the government to respond, and most importantly, has become one of the key issues any aspirant to any political position is getting tasked over.

What is new, and exciting about aspirants selling themselves to the electorate through debates? What is all the ruckus about young Nigerians and internet based campaigns? What does social media have to offer Nigerians, and Nigeria? To put this all in perspective, below is a little background on Nigeria and her history with ‘technology’ (read as interaction with the internet and forms of communication).

A country of approximately 150million people, Nigeria’s internet has been stunted by an underdeveloped and largely unreliable fixed line structure resulting in more Nigerians using mobile telephony as their preferred mode of connection, expensive as it is. The introduction of wireless broadband access (however scanty), competition by multiple GSM providers, and the promise of fibre optic cables have been the catalysts for the growth in that sector.

Between the year 2000 and 2010, internet user penetration shot up by an astounding 21, 891.1% with internet access for more than 43million people while the country in 2004 passed Egypt and Morocco to become the fastest mobile phone market in Africa with 87,297,789 users.

The prevalent and most subscribed to social networking sites by Nigerians are Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, in that order. There are currently 2, 985, 680 Nigerians on Facebook, ranking 39th out of 213 countries; above 70% of this number are aged 18 – 34.

Demographics of Nigerians on Facebook, courtesy SocialBakers

It is the realization of the strength that these numbers portend that young Nigerians are orchestrating the revolution the country so desperately needs, and ensuring that after the awareness campaigns, mass mobilization of their peers to register, their votes count (or at least the incidences of rigging and electoral malpractices are reduced) by ‘creating’ citizen journalists using instruments like ReVoDa.

Clay Shirky in his foreign affairs essay ‘The Political Power of Social Media’ said, “a public sphere is more likely to emerge in a society as a result of people’s dissatisfaction with matters of economics or day-to-day governance than from their embrace of abstract political ideals.” I couldn’t agree more. Conversations on real issues affecting Nigerians have started online, and continue offline in town hall meetings, concerts, religious gatherings and schools. It is obvious that regardless of who wins or loses, the April 2011 elections usher in a new dispensation of politicking that go beyond rallies, bribes, and noise to intellectual conversations about what people seeking office have to offer the people with the right/power to put them in those offices.

And while I personally do not believe that we should expect a ‘miracle’ because of massive campaigns (both online and offline), I can imagine that if only half (1, 492, 840) the Facebook community go out and vote, we would truly be able to say that our revolution is here.

Related Articles

• A Nigerian Revolution? Or Maybe Not (africaunchained.blogspot.com)
• NN24 Presidential debate: Why Jonathan won’t participate (vanguardngr.com)
• 9ja Youths Call 4 Presidential Debate (teesdiary.wordpress.com)

Still on that ‘vote’ matter…..

So it’s 2.17am and this daughter of Zion still cannot sleep. It’s amazing how I could almost never stay up beyond 11pm back home but sometimes, up till 4am my eyes will still be ‘shining’ here! And I have tried to help myself, even going as far as stopping my late night mocha but nope, that I’m writing this now is testament to the fact that it hasn’t worked!

I think it’s because I have to make a little trip today, that always happens. I’ve found that whenever I have to make a trip, the night before I won’t be able to sleep, and I always wake up like four minutes before my alarm. All that means that whoever sits beside me on the coach/train/plane would be left wondering if I was drugged because from the minute I buckle my seat belt, that’s it o! I won’t wake up till we get to our destination. Except of course, if it’s a really cute guy (not)…that’s not even enough to keep me awake!!

Away from me and my sleeping habits, I’ve been thinking about Nigeria a lot in the last 48 hours, especially because I can’t wait to be back home, and more especially because of the elections that are closer than we think. There’s been a lot of drama around the aspirants to various positions, especially those vying for the ‘HNIC’ office. There have been accusations, and counter accusations, misrepresentations, and I would assume that tensions are running high at this time.

Image via Wikipedia

It’s a welcome development (without the violence of course), a clear departure from the ‘it’s not my business’ attitude we’ve had during the recent past elections we’ve had. People are actually beginning to ask questions, and our politicians are slowly realizing that they’ve got to do better than just promise to build 300 primary schools in 15 minutes and in the next breath send their nuclear family on a 4year ’round the world’ vacation with tax payers money!

It is in our hands now, a friend of mine would say, ‘you have the yam, you have the knife; if you cut and share, we will eat’. We own the thumbs, we have our voters cards, please people, go out and vote o!! Our votes will count, if not for anything, a vote by us for candidate B is one less vote for candidate A, abi? Imagine if 1000 of us vote candidate B? That’s 1000 fewer votes for candidate A! Who said your vote won’t count? Please o, so that you won’t be a ‘weiste’!

Most importantly, we know that evil triumphs/prospers when good people do nothing, these thugs, kidnappers, robbers, ‘riggers’ are our people, we know people who know them, we know them; for how long will we mortgage the future on the scruffy payments we receive to turn a blind eye? For how long? The money will finish (and quickly too) because there are too many issues to sort with it! Why not install the right people (based on their track records, ideologies, integrity) who will sort out those issues for everyone?

Away from my ‘preaching’, I stumbled across two videos recently, and I loved them so much I had to share, and I promise to go to bed after embedding them!

This is a collaboration by artistes in Abuja for Nigeria’s 50th anniversary celebration, and includes heavy weights like Lindsey, Styl Plus, Jeremiah Gyang, Six Foot Plus, Solomon Lange, Naydo, Bem Sar, Pherowshuz, Samsong, Dayo Laniyi Benjamin, and a host of others. Beautiful song….

This next video is a short film that’s pushing the ‘go and vote’ message and features Julius Agwu, Adaora Ukoh, amongst others. I salute all the organizations that have sprung up to educate people on the need to go out and vote, and protect their votes….I’m talking organizations like the Enough is Enough Coalition, Vote or Quench, Cool to Vote, What About Us, and every other organization, keep the flame burning people!!

Bottom line, we’re all better off voting o, and for the right people too!!! I’m off to bed…(praying I wake up on time, I can’t miss my train)!