AHANONU KINGSLEY BLOG

Did you buy that car, land or house you hoped to get in 2021? Did you acquire that visa, wife, job or contract you had dreamt to have in 2021? Did you loose that weight, gained that body, achieved that look or shape you set out to have at the beginning of the year 2021? For some others, there are endless list of plans they'd envisaged to achieve as the year 2021 begun. Did you achieve them? Kudos! If you did not achieve them, don't bother and don't get demoralized. Even as the year gave opportunity to grow, it was similarly and very visibly traumatic: the Covid-19 pandemic and its accompanied effects of recession, inflation and economic summersaults continued to have their biting effects on almost every sphere. It is quite understandable. Nonetheless, your being alive is enough assurance that you could achieve them in the new year, 2022; and you'd so do if you're willing to trust the process and try again. Clutch them along and move with them, but this time around a...

The ending of a year brings a binary fusion of emotions: that of stocktaking and that of expectations. The year is ending, so it's essentially right to look back and take an appraisal of what the year ending has turned out for the individual. At the same time, the year rolling out, is obviously an indication that a new one is being launched, hence it'll also be right to make plans and designs of how the new year is to be approached. Credit: Shutterstock The year 2021 began with many of us clutching tightly our expectations and plans already and willing to execute them. Many of us made resolutions, be they financial, spiritual, personal- all geared towards making us better versions of ourselves and contributing effectively to our spheres of influence. Indeed, 2021 afforded us the rudimentary 365days to make do with the plans/aspirations we had in it; and it's within this period, as it winds down, that it becomes incumbent to check and analyse our victories, failures and near...

Just a day to Christmas, and yet it smells like there's no Christmas; not in sight, no feel nor in sound! Christmas Tree(credit: iStock) There were times, and it seems so long time ago- we do not search for Christmas, Christmas itself reminded us of its presence, by its signifying sights and sounds. Is it the ''Jingle Bells'' and the ''Feliz navidazes'' and the ''So This is Christmas'' that not only fed you with the excitement of the moment but very strongly reminded you that it was indeed Christmas that's got all the feelings? Is it the Christmas rendezvous as cursorily and very loudly sold out by the radio stations of the funfairs and yuletide shows to be hosted for families and especially children? Father Christmas, of course, was the spice and the very credible reminder for the kids that indeed it was Christmas. Is is the new clothes, shoes and dresses that were very customary to the kids (and some adults) that Christmas is he...

The long awaited harmattan weather finally came just when we are getting into December. Cloudy Harmattan Though it came behind schedule, for reasons obviously attributed to the crippling underpin of climate change, it nevertheless arrived with the vacillating dynamics associated with it. The rumpus it caused the mornings of yesterday and today, with the accompanied stormy wind and swipes of dust particles it blew, I became concerned over its straddling effects on the human body. I was therefore forced to write a few note oh how to weather through the harmattan and beat it within its domain.  Here are just a few recommendations: 1. The Harmattan breeze is chilly especially in the wee hours of the morning. Ensure to have enough covering to buffer the biting chilliness and to enjoy your sleep. (Someone said the early morning sleep of the Harmattan could make you forget your morning appointment). 2. As you wake up in the morning and make your way to the sink to brush your mouth, be car...

Life gets to a point where it seems it has to pause a bit- the moment wherein you have to wait in a perceived voidness, that moment that nudges you out of its silence to ponder, reason, ask some questions and answer them yourself. Young adult/credit: bridgestorerecovery This is life's moment of turning point, a phase that precedes an eventual journey that will mark a new beginning. It's the moment that calls for concern and care, for it is the moment that would eventually make or mar the evolving individual, depending on how it's managed. Cursorily, every individual passes through this phase at a point in their lives. Whether or not you realize this as a crisis situation, it is one significant moment that, in deep introspection, you realize that it is there with you- happening and revolving around you.  The moment of essential turnaround it is called. And I think I am currently passing through this stage! I'm at that point in my life, where I'm drawn to myself to th...

BLEEDING: Not Only the North, But the Entire Nation Yes, the north is bleeding. But indeed, it's the entire nation that's bleeding, burning and squelching. Nigeria has become bloodied. Bloodstained flag/Pres. Buhari And though the carnage of the bleedings and the burning squelch are the hands-on actions of bestial beings parading as humans- be they named as terrorists, bandits or gunmen, the relapsing responsibility for this shameful infamy still falls squarely on the irresponsibility that the current administration of Muhammadu Buhari has shown. Yes, I hold the blood, the woes, the cries and the pains of the growing numbers of the victims of the everyday horror unleashed by elements of terror upon these heartless, callous, bestial and shameless individuals and groups that wield naked wickedness and distasteful bile upon Nigerians- be they in the North or in the South. But similarly, I chide and condemn in the strongest terms the inefficiency and lack of administrative courage ...

My weekend was one partly spent in the city of Owerri and partly spent in my village. There was a basis for why my weekend had to be rationed between my place of residence and my village of origin. I was prompted to travel home by a notification, which albeit seemed a command, to be present at home for the community exco meeting. My presence was needed, I was informed. As the deputy secretary and the handy scribe, my presence would be a fulfilment of service to community. And this too gives basis to why I'd seen it as a command! I returned Saturday evening and the meeting held on Sunday, after I had worshipped earlier. And very remarkably, I undertook my responsibility. I returned to Owerri having spent my weekend worthwhile- serving community and seeing my parents, who were elated to see me!

Just recently the new media was awash with the news of sextape involving one of Nigeria's most popular female musicians. Tiwa Savage's intimate affair with her partner was recorded (supposedly by them with their mutual consent) and it became a subject of attention and interest to so many when it suddenly went public. Remember, it was not a subject of discourse, and not even interest nor attention when it was within the confines of their covert privacy. After all, haven't they be getting intimate all these while? Privacy is an attempt to conceal oneself from the prying attention of beyond the individual self; it is the denial of exposure to outside sentiments.  The purpose of privacy could be to restrict the self from the disturbances and distractions that could emanate from prying outside senses. The situation that warrants the self to commit to a sense of privacy could be censored or uncensored.  Whereas situations like the Tiwa Savage case could be censored and thus warra...

Each morning, we roll over the bed, to an awakening brightness that tells us it's a new dawn and we are alive to it. What indeed literally goes in our minds on this realization? Methink it should be that of gratitude to the omnipotent power that made it possible. Possible to be alive and to witness another new opportunity. Each day indeed is an opportunity that we ought to be grateful for. It's an opportunity that we need to explore, for the purpose of practically evincing gratitude and to better self. Succintly, what each day of our lives presents to us opportunity to make-up for past errors, impact on the present world and to prepare for a better future. Today, Monday and first working day of the week in the city of Owerri was a reflection of the ingrafting status quo within Southeastern Nigeria, the obfuscation of the sit-at-home held almost everyone and wedged our commitment to activity. But then, we can't deny that we are alive! And so we can't deny the offer...

The first appreciation to which affection reveals kick starts the journey of any would-be lasting relationship. It doesn't just end in the two expressing a likeability that's primarily emotional.  As important as the likeability of an emotional attraction creates, such must go down well to demand an understanding that's chiefly worked out by the mind's appreciation.  The two individuals who suddenly have become emotionally wrapped up must do well to pass the next stage of ''inter-understanding'' -understanding who is and what's in the other- if indeed their camaraderie is something to take far and yonder. Thus the relationship must be sketched in the bricks rationality and coated with the nice and exciting colours of affection. Contrary to a flings faultily termed relationships nowadays that has no bearing, no knowledge and understanding of what their engagement is other than the restricted idea of the moment as is the rampant cases, true relationshi...

Today, I'll be talking about relationship- particularly the kind that exists between a male and a female who have found interest in themselves and are become ''loved up''.  Isn't it a topic worth discussing, after all everyone is (or claim to be) in a relationship? Of course, it's been overrated that people want to fit in by seemingly being in supposed entanglements! The goal of the kind of relationship in focus, just like every other associations, is to find a mutually benefitting result built chiefly by a commitment that's a function of deep understanding of both partners shared values. But then, in adding to understanding, inna relationship that's a function of being ''loved up'' place of affection is necessary to lubricate this commitment. In other words, the elemental factors that are key for a romantic relationship that seeks to grow into the future and thrive so well are understanding (of what's the vision of the parties in...

Virtue is that which builds and upholds the common good. In a world that's communally shared and that's inhabited in an innate social harmony, virtue is highly needed to make same a better place for all. From my end, virtue is good thoughts, good actions that are geared towards the common good. Although, decoratively, virtue is defined as behavior showing great moral and ethical standards, its purpose is to make humans be really humans to both their species and their environment. Everyday, even as much as society seems to wander apart from the fabric of humanity, tilting rather fearfully to heightened acts of intense antagonism to what's virtue, the place of virtue in sustaining the elementary focus of the human race cannot be downgraded. The fact is that the whole of nature is fashioned in a discreet fabric of morality and takes the fibres of virtues and ethics to hold same stronger. Straddling aware from the core elements of nature just merely impresses the passing elemen...

Motivation is not just a condescending attrition of being an act of influencing to want to be; it is an admiration that strikes deeply the conviction. It is to say that in being motivated, an individual is stricken into a deep impulse to want to be led into an action by whatever that motivates him. You do not just desire and just want to be, but you're engineered to want to replicate. In admiring something just out of its desire, the affective emotive sense is nudged unlike in the case where a deep sense of conviction is involved. Here effective sense is put into use, pushing the individual to act and become. The best way, therefore to motivate oneself is to gather the relevant information needed for impact and tell yourself- consciously been aware of yourself- that yes, you believe that you can take this, that you can do that and that you can achieve that which your knowledge presents to you. Take that which excites you a step further- into a conviction backed by germane reasons, ...

The planned move by some richer nations to rollout booster shots for their already fully vaccinated citizens just seems not to go down well with the WHO and other smaller nations who feel it's an egotistical show that reflects insensitivity towards the plights of other nations. They term it global vaccine inequity. The criticism for this comes from the consideration that there are still many countries yet to have their adult populations fully vaccinated. But what's the sense behind the anger against this so-called vaccine inequity and what's Nigeria's place in it? The delta variant, first discovered in India in late 2020, gave rise to the surge of the second wave. This more infectious strain threw nations back into another disconcertment, making them wonder what would be the fate of the socio-economic situation that was beginning to find footing just after the incontinence of the sudden explosion of what was a novel pandemic. Swiftly, control measures- which included...

Finally, the Talibans overran the Afghan capital of Kabul and took over the  presidential palace as the President, Ashraf Gani flees from the country. It is indeed shocking the situation that the Middle East country of Afghanistan has found itself. Seeped in a far-stretched war with the militant group, Taliban, the country has finally become subdued by one of the notorious terrorist islamist organizations. This is coming just on the heels of the withdrawal of the United State troops just some weeks ago after engaging in more than a 20-year engagement- the longest military mission of the US anywhere! With hard prices, in thousands of servicemen and billions of dollars paid, the United States thought it was time to quit and save itself. The consequence of the fall of Kabul to the rampaging terrorist organization brings to the fore some really critical questions. These are issues to be looked at separately from the hard point, which is the reputation of the United States in the face o...

I learnt with concerned anger of how the main market in the Orlu town of Imo State has remained under closure for such a time spanning the Biafra Day sit-at-home observance of 30th May 2021. It become more conscionably worrisome to realize that this state of affairs came to be from the highfalutin, unwarranted and daring order allegedly of the military division located within that area. In the strongest term possible, I condemn this misplaced order, which no less shows the high-handedness of the military. This is the exhibition of such galling stifle unheard of in a legitimate society nonetheless a democratic one. What this portends is that for upwards of 60 days, people who legitimately undertake their businesses and finds their daily means of livelihood in that market have by this unconscionable lock been denied their constitutional and natural rights to seek for subsistence. I call on the Imo State nay the federal governments to stand up to this madness and bring to an end this care...

The failure of the Department of State Service to provide Nnamdi Kanu in court for today's proceeding is beyond disappointing, obviously questionable. It once again bring to the fore the abysmal question whether the Muhammadu Buhari administration is ready at all to understand that Nigeria is presently in a democracy and be ready to give the rule of law the very deserving place. Nigeria's democracy has oftentimes been put to question by the penchant disposition of the president who has shown no willingness to be democratic, even in the most pretentious form. The respect for the rule of law, which is a major and basic determinant of a virile democracy, has been so alien since the very beginning of this current administration. President Buhari has not failed to show his dissent for what's constitutional and democratic. He blatantly disrespected th courts, not once, not twice. He has treated much of the concerns of most Nigerians with utter disdain and has recently begun the p...

Nigeria presently is in a precipice, witnessing a heightened crises that find root as always in the existential fissure. The security challenges bedeviling it has plummeted, now it is no longer just Boko Haram terrorism, but banditry, widespread kidnapping, Fulani militancy and the emergence of UGM; all of this talking about and emphasizing one statement of how the Nigerian union isn't a real union in itself. But in all, I find it sadly curious the suggestion that some past leaders of this country form a delegation to deliberate on current national issues and meet with President Muhammadu Buhari with the hope to resolving the brawl. They call them past leaders and elder statesmen. The call was made by some elders, who sat and reached at a resolution that former Head of State, Yakubu Gowon should lead this mission. My concern is on how feasible is there a break from the norm when selfsame people that plunged this nation into the shameful state it is now and who had the chance to beq...

  The first civil war in Nigeria had started with the attempt of the Nigerian state to quickly nip the new Biafran nation with a force that was largely military and fully brutal. It was a critical plan that had the mandate to quell the secession in the shortest possible time; within three months specifically. The combined Nigerian armed forces, in achieving the mission, had taken the subversion to the doorsteps of the seceding nation and so fired the first shot that was to ignite the eventual Biafra/Nigeria Civil war. This war was prompted by the desire of the people of the old Eastern region (dominated by the Igbos) for self-determination, a desire to stay on their own and pursue their economic and political excellence in a manner peculiar to them and made possible by their distinct, unadulterated ingenuity- and a legitimate right recognized by the United Nations Charter for Human Rights. The war motive essentially was to prevent the fear of a state in losing its ingenious entity ...

Yet again, the supposedly distinguished Senator Oluremi Tinubu, senator representing Lagos West at the Red Chamber and wife of the national leader of the ruling APC showed her robust nature to react badly and to argue as though the decision of the matter must end by her and on her side. This recent incident happened just yesterday at the public hearing for the constitutional review at the Lagos venue for the Southwest zone. It was precisely at Marriott's Hotel when, as reported, invited members of the public had come to actively participate in the public process to which they were called to submit memorandums. Fine, for orderliness and sanity of the process, people were asked to organize themselves, file along a queue and maturely step into the Hall. Fine also was the restriction given, when supposedly the Hall could no longer contain more crowd as to warrant some latecomers to be barred from further entry to avoid bubbling up the place. But what was not understandable was the sele...

 Ibori's £4.2million Loot The federal government of Nigeria had successfully negotiated the release of looted funds belonging to Delta state by its jailed former governor, James Ibori from the UK government. The next action is to return this loot amounting to over £4.2m to the government and people of Delta state as part of the repatriation deal. But I hope that when, eventually, the whooping £4.2m is returned to Delta State -where it rightly belongs, same will be judiciously utilized to serve the benefits of the majority of the people of the state. It will be disheartening to see my utmost concern and the huge source of my fear comes to pass, to wit, that Mr James Ibori, the chief looter in question, having been released from his UK incarceration and having returned to the state and having yet that influence as a political godfather even to the current Chief Executive of the state, it smells rat that the loot could be more probably relooted and yet by the chief looter! That's ...

Foremost, I want to say I just hope that the spurious order given by Nigeria's Commander-in-Chief to the effect of a shoot-at-sight for arms-bearers (which supposedly was meant to tackle arms-wielding, killer herdsmen) doesn't leave the primary motive and begin to turn the South-East into an easy field for bloodshed and a curious theatre of bloodletting, where innocent people, living peacefully and working legitimately, are sacrificed in a free-for-all, the helpless-are-sacrificed manner. The unleashing of the combined forces of both the military and the police upon the South-East in what's seen as response to the escalation of the newfound threat of unknown gunmen (UGM) might have turned the zone into a warzone of sort, one such that citizens- even the peaceful, law-abiding- ones are scared to move around to undertake their legitimate business, simply for fear of stray hits, whether from the blossoming UGM or the reactionary national forces. Just the other day, 24th of May...

I've always maintained that, to a greater extent, the life we live is an outplay of relativism. Apart form the clearly defined boundaries of life and death, there might just be a handfuls of absolute situations that subsumes the practicality of relativism. There are no absolute good and absolute bad, except as viewed from the perspective of the considering subject. In the same vein, there could only be a right or wrong application of a framework as appreciated by the framers. This is a more obtainable reality that does not in anyway dismiss the also reality of the few significant absolutes that splashes across life. Think about a particular scenario where you could be wrong in trying to undermine the entirety of it and where you could as well be right to consider it- each aspect of the decision happening in differed appreciation, albeit. Consider this, and consider the place of influence in it. Influence is a phenomenon that requires discretion to get the best of value. One wherein...

It's so unfortunate the death of Ibrahim Attahiru, Nigeria's Chief of Army Staff. I just learnt of his tragic death via a military plane crash and I sincerely wish to express my most deepest grief and sense of sympathy to his loved ones. It's nevertheless most tragic and the height of insensitivity to try to attribute his tragic end to whatever insinuation of any declaration or statement he purportedly might have made. The truth is that we all are human and inevitably must die one day. The means to that end might seemingly differ! Nigeria indeed has lost a fine General!

I'm silently pleading for the airstrikes, the bombardments and the rocket-firing to stop. For goodness sake, people are dying, lives are wasted, properties are destroyed and very unnecessarily. Innocent lives, mostly children, are the major victims, can't you imagine. And these are people who knows nothing about the history, the provocations and whatever mechanics of this warfare. And just so soon, children could no longer close their eyes at night to sleep because of the reality of shelling, bombing and massive explosion around them. And these are children, vulnerable and puerile who ought not to be exposed to such nightmares of realities. Women, mothers are all worried, with fear and apprehension decorated in mockery all over their faces, concerned not only about their safety but also those of their children and families. What's is this for crying out loud? Just today, all 21 members of a family were all wiped out in a single day by a single ammunition all as a result of ...

Dabble : take part in an activity in a casual or superficial way. (cf: dictionary.com) The other day, exactly on a day to mark the 2021 World Communications Day, the Archbishop of the Catholic Diocese of Abuja, the Rt Rev Ignatius Kaigama, as part of his press briefing, had opined that the Rev. Fr Ejike Mbaka, was dabbling into politics, which according to him was outside of the jurisdiction of his priesthood. The statement of censure directed to the fiery priest had come just down in line after His Lordship, the Archbishop had made statements lampooning the present administration on their mismanagement of the security situation in the country, calling on the current federal government to do the needful in keeping kidnappers out of business, rounding up bandits and dismantling elements of banditry. This call for Mbaka to desist from or be cautioned on dabbling into politics is just one among streams of similar calls along the years. The history of Mbaka and his many politcally-related ...

 It is disheartening to learn about the abduction, by yet another set of unknown gunmen, of the students of the Abia State-owned University located at Uturu. Information gathered indicates that the students were abducted in their vehicle while travelling along the Okigwe road. That's on Thursday, 6th May. Curiously as the incident could be, it is indeed frightening to know that these kidnappers or bandits or herdsmen or terrorists or whatever moniker these criminal elements are referred to as have come down home to roost even in our region. The call is as ever; for the government to live up to its responsibility of providing security and ensuring the wellbeing of citizenry. The admonition still remains the same. That, in the wake of bludgeoning insecurity, the people need to be aware and careful about their daily activities and stand up to protecting themselves, however possible.

Death, deaths and grief. That's the current reality in India. Covid-19 pandemic has shattered the people and their processes. The situation in India is becoming worrisome, very terrific. With a daily record of Covid-19 death broken by 4000 on Thursday, 6th May, the reality of the Covid-19 pandemic over there could only be described as drastic. Daily, there are surging infections, rising deaths and increased cremation. People are cremated, ashed that firewood shortage has become a huge concern. Yes, people are contracting the virus daily, and each passing day, the infection rates just seems to get worse with daily world records broken. If care is not taken, soon India might overtake the US in overall infection and deaths! Institutional failure and attitudinal misdemeanor by unwilling and recalcitrant citizens, all combined, have continued to surge this dreary situation. May God, who it is only can, help India and the common Indians as they struggle out from this challenge.

First and very importantly, I must say that the purpose of this piece is not to delve into the tensed issue regarding Ada Jesus, the consideration or otherwise of her pleas for forgiveness and all the sort. So many opinions already have been woven around it. But rather I'd seek to talk here about the theatrics of the popular Odumeje in a rather broader view and how it relates to people and their expression of faith. For me, it's totally ridiculous and practically inexplicable how people, in the search for spiritual enlightenment and faith-deepening, end up exhibiting features characteristic of sheer gullibility and deep faith-failure that discountenance the very reason that supposedly prodded them. The trend seems to be more profound in our clime, as the deeply religious people we are. How else can one explain the place of spiritual rejuvenation in a situation where people are seen to submit themselves to be cajoled into dehumanizing and obviously ludicrous gesticulations. They...

It is no news that there's a serving minister in the executive chamber of the current administration that's in the terror watchlist of the United States government. Honourable(?) Isa Pantami -you decide, for as I'm concerned, I decide not- the minister in charge of Technology and Digital Economy was named to be linked to terrorist organization by the Central Intelligence of the United States. And this news should get you worried. We have heard it been said by then President Goodluck Jonathan of the presence of collaborators of terrorists in government, but I had never thought it to be a reality as real as having an executive member of government, who presides over a sensitive ministry as Digital Technology and who sits right in the forum where the running decisions of government are taken. It was indeed shocking and very terrifying for me to get wind of this. It reeks in me a delirious ponder and feeling of forebodings. What has happened in this country has been so deva...