LET US NOT FOLLOW THEIR PATH
Let us not follow their path
Those who took turn to loot this country dry
Laundered monies they will never finish in ten lifetimes
Took education away from public schools and made it exorbitant
Left the masses in the agony of poverty
Denying them the basic amenities

Let us not follow their path
Those who are very insensitive to the plight of the masses
Who after 50 years watch and made Nigeria underdeveloped
Those who love to hear the incessant shout of N.E.P.A whenever power is restored for decades
Cease to do anything that is developmental

Let us not follow their path
Those who made us talk about owning railway after 50 years of independence
When others talk of improving on their present ones
Those who marred agriculture and replaced it with rural urban migration

Let us not follow their path
Those who made suicide an exercise of ease
Youths travel to other lands to sell own kidney for money
Masses roast in flames of petrol they tried to scoop from fallen tanker
Some detonate bombs on self and others

Let us not follow their path
People whose favourite past time is corruption
They attend leaders’ conferences and meeting with no achievement(s) to present
Those who took the patience of Nigerians for granted

Let us not follow their path
Those who have no manifesto(s) and developmental plan
But likes to be in the position of authority
Who made leadership a do or die affair
Playing predator politics

Let us not follow their path
Those who are leaders of regions but like owning homes abroad
Those who refuse to import civilization but import goods
Those who refine our oil outside Nigeria when we own refineries

Let us not follow their path
They have no interest of their own people in mind but incite ethnic and religious violence
They feed from their people’s ignorance

Let us not follow their path
Let us come together as one
Understanding and tolerating our divides
Working towards better tomorrow
Where foreigners will see Nigeria as greener pasture
:SML

Who are chatting with? Here are ten tips to help you avoid the negativity of social media:

1.     Never disclose family or own secrets to those you meet on social media: disclosing information which reveals the finance status, up coming business transaction, financial expectation expose you to great danger as the person at the other end might be a criminal.

2.     Avoid immoral chat: never allow any one lure you into chat that is considered immoral and dirty

3.     Don’t share picture of yourself: sharing pictures of yourself with strangers is at times a big mistake as some can use the picture to impersonate you or commit fraud. It is worst when you share nude picture.

4.     Be cautious: caution is the first thing to learn when using the social media, don’t disclose too much about yourself and family background.

5.     Don’t send money to anyone unless you have more than enough and want to use a part of it for charity. Business discussion with strangers should be avoided and be verified when it occurs to avoid being defraud.

6.     Meeting or visiting should be avoided or done with great caution: meeting or visiting should be avoided and when it must happen it should not be done alone, go in company and try to know more about the person physically.

7.     Display not some property pictures: display not your home pictures especially the inside, your accessories like gold, diamond or other valuables that might invite robbers or burglars.

8.     Be careful with what you reveal: this is common with twitter users, tweets like “I’m in the bank cashing N1m for dad” is an invitation to criminals.

9.     Allow only friends to access your pictures: with photoshop and other technologies available, strangers may decide to clone whatever picture they want of you.

10.                        Engage in fruitful chat: engage in chats that can develop you and not just meaningless discussions

Grieving a Loss.

LOSING A DEAR ONE TO DEATH

Like the night’s darkness, death falls on everyone sooner or later, we all have our appointed times. Finally, the night falls and a beloved is gone, covered in darkness and from that distance he/she may be seeing those alive and in the light. Maybe the dead lives in a brighter and better world and darkness falling on them should not be a better way of describing their departure. The night falls on our own heart taking away joy and happiness, our heart dwells in darkness and the dead savour their new world, a world of indescribable happiness for those on the side of God. They may be seeing our cries, gloom and wailing in continuous grieves and aches mourning the loss of a friend, father, wife, mother, sister, confidant, sister and everyone that was dear to our heart.

Late night sobs, tears and cries replace good night sleep, everything meaningful in life at this point becomes worthless. Carrying on in itself is a big burden. Good times are over and can only be remembered in tearful smiles or painful cries. Why is the world a place that we can’t stay forever? Maybe it’s not worth it with the existence of sins and evil. Laughter and words re-echoes in our heads. Touches felt can no longer be reached for, the spouses bed space is empty, a father’s moral supports disappear, a mother’s care is no more, lacking of basic needs may become a daily problem, brotherly protection and love fades into memories and the sister care ceases. Living becomes a burden but those who left were well wishers and from their new world may be urging us to move on and reach for our dreams.

Grieve is like the dust, the longer we dwell in it, the more it settles on us causing dirt that may take longer time to come off. Praying for the soul of the departed is a necessity; rising to the challenges of our new condition is a sacrifice that will gladdens the dead. And hoping to meet them in a happier re-union lies in our dedication to worshiping and obeying God.

The Super Girl

Years have gone by and I now look very classy and elegant, people celebrate my presence everywhere I go and the whole affairs of my life feel like having a wound and tending to it until it healed and relieved you of every pain you were going through. Several nights I have woken up to ponder on how I was able to wade through all the waters of my tribulations and I always heave a sigh of relief and then going down on my knees to thank God profusely before going back to sleep. Life is funny, terrible and can always bring forth surprises and hardship. My life would have been worthless but out of God’s grace,determination and cheer struggle; I managed to upturn every stumbling block that comes my way and make them stepping stones, at times the experience gladdens my heart for it made me a stronger and intelligent person. My name is Rahma, families are said to be supportive of kids until certain age but ours was a very different story, myself in particular happens to be the first child in a family of four female children. Life was tough on us that as the first daughter I took the role of a mother to all my siblings at a tender age of five.
Our mum was a very caring petty trader and our dad a primary school teacher, we were not rich but we had most things we wanted until disaster struck, mum became sick and her ailment defied all medications until she gave up the ghost. It was until her death that we understood she played a very crucial role in the upkeep of the family, everything started changing for the worse and we started suffering as dad’s salary was so meager to cater for all our needs. Everything from our clothes, school fee to feeding started becoming hard to easily come by but we had something that kept us happy no matter the troubles then, it was our bond to stay together, encourage one another and pray. To worsen the situation, dad’s family brought him a wife from the village. She made life a hell for all of us as she maltreated us and made us dejected, hopeless and always crying; she made sure she always told one lie or the other and made our dad to hate us. The house became unbearable, she took our joy from us, and we could no longer play together anymore as we were always scattered about running errands for her. We went through all sorts of torture because she was always throwing us out of the house at nights and exposing us to great danger as at that time we were already developing into grown females.
A night to my final examination in secondary school, I cried until sleep overwhelmed and took me. My fear was about what will happen if I stay at home with my step mum all day for months or even years as I was already aware I could not further to the university or any tertiary institution  since dad’s income would not be able to afford it. I thought of my life through out that night and the next day as I watched my mates celebratingafter the final paper, my heart was heavy with sorrow and even as I walked home it was like I had my legs chained to logs of woods and I was dragging them along. The fear of what failure may turn my life into made me stood up against my problems. It was common for people in my condition then to stay at home for years telling anyone who cares to listen that they had no money to enroll in school but I took the bull by the horn. Yes, I stood up for myself and enrolled in a tailoring training for six months, after completing the training I worked very hard to buy myself a jamb form. I prepared very well and pass the examination in flying colours scoring 240 which I used to secure admission into the University of Lagos to study English Language.
Before I started schooling, I had already saved enough to cover my registration fees from my tailoring job, my drive and motivation became the hunger for success and how to cater for my younger ones. Though I was working under an employer who agreed to allow me keep forty percent of everything I earned and I sewed so well as I was always introducing creativity into every dress I made. Customers throng to my place and I was always on ground to deliver promptly and in the best quality. Since I grew up and also based in Lagos, schooling never separated me from my job. I was already becoming successful as my savings had already grown into a hundred of thousands and more, I made sure I paid my sisters school fees on time and also bought books and clothes for them as well. We were happy together once again as I catered for my dad also and his wife was never a problem to us anymore because I was already an adult and had confronted and warned her to desist from making troubles with my siblings.
Before my graduation, I volunteered as a writer to a magazine named Sapphire. I contributed articles and stories like they were meant to be sold. Every publication they made, my write-ups were always generating influx of comments and that gave me joy and pride making me to drop more stories and articles that were greatly inspiring, educative, entertaining and informative. At times I chipped in my life stories and the readers enjoyed those ones a great deal because my pen was dropping the lines from the depth of my soul. Though I was writing as a volunteer but I also dedicated time to my first novel titled “The Super Girl”. The piece is a first-hand account of what I went through as I was growing up.
When I finally finished writing my novel, I had already saved for the design of its soft copy but I had no fund to make the publication in hard copy. I made sure the soft copy was well designed and the back cover looked very attractive. In my next contribution as a volunteer of Sapphire Magazine I published the back cover alongside an insight into what the story was all about and readers and the fans I had already accumulated from my previous articles and stories became anticipatory.
On one fateful Saturday afternoon I got a call from the publisher of the magazine who invited me to his office the next Monday and there and then he requested for a copy of my novel stating he would be interested in reading the story but I had to confess to him that it was still in soft copy. I expected he was going to express disappointment but lo and behold! He offered to organize a book launch with the soft copy displaying on a projector. The next month, he brought together people from all walks of life and my book was launched. The donations was more than enough for a hundred thousand copies and that marked the beginning of my success as I was also offered a full time paid job with the magazine.