ShortStory I Broken Jinx

BROKEN JINX

       Life had been so miserable for Mr. Emeka Okere who was repatriated from Germany a couple of weeks back. His almost five-year stay in the said country was summarily a waste, to assert the least. While in the country, he could obtain not even a pin owing to his uncalled lifestyle; he was so randy, and a drug addict to the core. Ever since he returned Nigeria, precisely Mbaohia in Abia State – his ancestral home –, he had remained restless and mesmerized; the only thing he returned with was the earring he usually wore on the left side.

        He kept roaming from one locality to another confusedly as he earnestly wished Nigerian diplomatic ties with Germany would forgive him of his past sins towards conveying him back to the latter. He was accused of theft, thus rather than prosecuting him, the concerned authority chose to retrace his steps back to Nigeria as that would be the only way the revered European nation would be freed from individuals of his like. In spite of the untold misfortune that befell him, at the moment, all he could think of was how he would return abroad and continue with his rascality; hence, the reality was apparently yet to dawn on his person.

        Being the first born of his parents, everyone initially hoped on him not until sometime ago when they got the news of his unbecoming behaviour in overseas. It suffices to say that his abrupt deportation was absorbed as a welcome development by his siblings and kinsmen – particularly his aged mother – Madam Ndozi Okere, 76, who joined the widowhood fraternity about two years back when he was still in Germany. They saw the repatriation as a golden opportunity to persuade the 45-year-old dude who wasn’t privileged to witness his late father’s burial ceremony, perhaps owing to lack of Permanent Residency Permit, to at least pick a marriageable lady in the village and settle down. On the contrary, Emeka was thinking differently from their kind and candid plans that they became of the view that the ostensibly good-for-nothing man was under a spell.

       “Emeka, my son.” his mum, Madam Ndozi called.

       “Yes mama.”

       They were both seated adjacent to each other in separate settees in the family’s lounge at about 5:32pm on Saturday. The septuagenarian wore a single multi-coloured wrapper, grey top and low-cut hairs, whilst the dude who seemed not unlike a docked culprit was clad in brown three-quarter jeans, black T-shirt, plaited hairs and of course his earring as usual. The irony of their outlook was that the hairs of the woman were cut low while those of a man were plaited.

       “Why are you doing this to yourself?” the septuagenarian continued.

       “What mama?”

        The old widow shook her head. “At 45,” she said. “Look at what you are doing to yourself.” She added, gesticulating.

        “I don’t understand you, mama.” he reiterated in false pretence. “What exactly are you talking about?”

        “I can see you are sick.” She observed. “I mean, very sick.”

        “Me, sick..?”

        “Will you shout up,” she quarreled. “Are you looking normal?”

        “So, how do I look?”

        “Your two younger brothers are happily married with kids.” She enthused frankly. “And they are doing very well.”

        “So?”

        “Is that all you could say?” quoth Madam Ndozi, surprised. “So Emeka, that is all you could say?” she reiterated amid intense fury.

       “And what did you expect me to say?” he said. “Or, I should start crying because my younger ones are all married and are doing well?”

        She shook her head again sympathetically. “Whosoever that did this to you will never see peace in his life.” she cursed.

        “Mama, I am okay.” claimed Emeka. “Stop bothering yourself.”

        “You are okay like this?” she said, gesticulating.

        “As you can see,” he insisted, spreading his hands. “I am perfectly okay.”

        “My son,” quoth Ndozi. “What I can see in you is nothing but doom.”

         He was speechless and calm, became uneasy.

        “You really need deliverance.” she presumed. “That is the only way you can free yourself from this mess.”

        She just hit the nail on the head. Apparently, his son Emeka was deeply in need of rebirth towards overcoming the seemingly fathomless quagmire that beclouded his person. He needed not a soothsayer to come up with such a suggestion before he could have a rethink, yet it appeared his old mother was speaking in tongue right before him.

       “What kind of deliverance are you talking about?” quoth Emeka, frowning. “Do I look abnormal?”

       “You look crazy and rejected, if you don’t know.” She ranted unequivocally.

       “Meaning?” he said. “How?”

        Madam Ndozi was silent. “My dear,” she called tenderly, gushed out tears. “Your father died because of you.” She informed amidst the choking sobs.

        “Died because of me?” he echoed, got flushed.

        “Yes.” quoth Madam Ndozi. “After he learnt of your unruly behavior in Germany, he fell sick.” she clarified, paused. “And he didn’t recover from that sickness.”

        Emeka became sober, shocked over the information. “Are you sure of what you are saying?”

       “Am I sure?” she quarreled as she gasped for air. “I am telling you what happened in your absence, you are asking if I am sure.”

       “Is okay, mama.” He enjoined, walked toward and began to console her.

        She was seemingly pleased by his gesture. She never knew he could still be kindhearted despite his weird transformation, social wise. “It is not okay, Emeka.” she argued. “It would be okay when you agree to get married and live like a responsible man.”

        “Mama, that is not my major plan right now.” He frankly notified as he was seated in the same settee with her.

       “Not your major plan?” she verified. “Did I hear you right?”

       “Yes.” He clarified, looking elsewhere.

       “So, what’s your major plan?”

        There was absolute silence. “I want to go back to Europe.” He broke the brief silence.

        “Go back to where..?”

        “Europe, mama.”

       “If you try it, I will kill myself for you.” She shouted at the top of her voice.

       “Mama, mama…” he urged calmly.

       “Don’t mama me ooh..” she said. “I can’t be a mother to someone who doesn’t know his left from right.”

        Before she could finish the last sentence, one of her sons – Chima – who lived in Calabar, Cross-River State walked in unannounced. It seemed he took them unawares.

        What transpired afterwards ought to be a story for another episode, so stay tuned.

FDN NWAOZOR

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Opinion I Today is Int'l Day of Sport!

ELEVATING NATIONAL UNITY THROUGH PARTICIPATION IN SPORTING ACTIVITIES AS THE 2017 INTERNATIONAL DAY OF SPORT IS MARKED ON THURSDAY APRIL 6

        

         

Today Thursday April 6, the world over is commemorating the 2017 International Day of Sport. On 23^rd August 2013, the Sixty-Seventh (67^th) session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly decided to proclaim April 6 of every year as the Int’l Day of Sport for Development and Peace. Previously, the fifty-eighth (58^th) session of the said Assembly proclaimed 2005 as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education to promote education, health, development and peace.   

           

In regard to the aforementioned resolution, the UN General Assembly also recognizes the role the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) plays in showcasing the achievements of athletes with impairment to a global audience and in acting as a primary vehicle to change societal perceptions of disability sports.

        

Sport can be defined as any form of usually competitive activity that requires physical effort and skill, which through casual or organized participation, tends to maintain or improve the said ability and skill; and also provides entertainment for the participants as well as the spectators.

        

Indeed, sport has been confirmed as the only common language spoken by mankind in their entirety irrespective of age, background, race, status, or social affiliation, due to its universality, entertaining nature and unique economic value. This is why it is being referred to by most people as one of the backbones of the socio-economic state of any nation.

          

Generally, there are thousands of sporting activities in existence, from the one requiring only two participations, to those with hundreds of simultaneous participants, either as a team or competing as individuals. Sport is basically recognized as an activity that is based on physical athleticism or physical dexterity. However, a number of competitive but non-physical activities claim recognition as mind sports.

         

Sports are usually governed by a set of rules or customs, which serve to ensure fair competition and allow consistent adjudication of the winner. Winning or victory can be determined by physical events such as scoring goals or crossing a line first; it can also be determined by judges who are scoring elements of the sporting performance using either objective or subjective measures including technical performance or artistic impression.

         

In organized sport, records of performance are often kept; but for popular sports, the information might be widely announced or reported in sport news. Suffice to say; sport is also a major source of entertainment for non-participants. Thus sport which often draws overwhelming crowd at its venue, also reaches wider audiences via broadcasting.

         

In recent years, there has been an increase in the application of the term ‘Sport’ to a wider set of non-physical challenging activities to include electronic games owing to the large scale of participation and organized competition witnessed in the sector. But the truth of the matter remains that this set of sports are not widely recognized by mainstream sport organizations.

          

Against this backdrop, there are opposing views on the necessity of competition as a defining element of a sport, with almost all professional sports involving competition and governing bodies requiring competition as a prerequisite for the recognition of any sporting activity by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) or SportAccord. Other bodies advocate widening the definition of sport to include all physical activities. For instance, the Council of Europe recognizes all forms of physical exercise or calisthenics including those done just for fun, as sports.

           

Considering the overall impact of sport in both individual and national developments, there is no gain reiterating that sports have contributed immensely in the uplift of the socio-economic state of most individuals, communities or nations across the globe through various avenues such as rejuvenation of physical fitness, human capital growth, provision of entertainment, and most importantly promotion of unity, just to mention but a few.

          

It is noteworthy that, the physical fitness and thorough entertainment derive from, either participation in or observation of, sporting activities have continually helped tremendously in sustaining as well as uplifting the healthy living status of the individual in question thereby helping to intensify the number of available manpower in the affected country.

         

Also, the recent total commercialization of sports has enabled the activity to be universally recognized as a lucrative profession. No doubt, most human capital developments witnessed among several youths or young ones are mainly attributed to sports or the entertainment industry at large. Taking the Nigerian football league as a case study; on the average, a player on a monthly basis smiles to the bank with not less than half a million naira (#500,000).

          

In addition, sports have succeeded in booming the global broadcasting industry due to its lucrative nature, which has made many potential investors to venture into broadcasting business. It is worthy to note that most media firms, regarding both the print and electronic, were established for the sole purpose of transmitting or publishing sporting activities having acknowledged by the prospective investors the financial implication of such investment.

         

Among all, the level of unity that is being derived from sports cannot be overemphasized. Several sport participants or organizers can attest to the fact that, sport has been the major engine room behind international unity among most countries. Survey shows that presently sport remains the only tool that truly unites the gathering or meeting involving millions of individuals from diverse backgrounds, races, or affiliations. Surely, it is only a dummy that is yet to know that it is only absolute unity that guarantees thorough peace and development among any group of persons, which is one of the paramount desires of any society.

           

As the global community marks the annual International Day of Sport, we are expected to embrace sport as a major tool for cordial unity/relationship among individuals or nations, thus ought to be taken seriously by any individual, government, or authority, as the case may be. Therefore, its teachings in every citadel of learning at all levels should be considered paramount and sacrosanct. More so, every parent or guardian is expected to encourage his/her child or ward in sports participation regardless of age considering the social, cultural, health and economic consequence of the said participation.

         

Above all, the governments at all levels such as local, state and federal ought to in their various capacities not hesitate to finance any sport activity or competition taking place at their respective areas. Also, the various schools ranging from primary to secondary and tertiary, should intensify efforts on the usual annual hosting or organization of sport competitions in their respective schools, and should endeavour to intimate or reach out to the entire public whenever such event is being organized.

          

It is obvious that in Nigeria recently, sport has been politicized by most concerned stakeholders. In view of this pathetic anomaly, the law makers should enact a strict law that would sanction or severely penalized a member of any sport governing body in the country, such as the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF), that is found guilty of any fraudulent or selfish act while discharging his or her official duty.

          

On the other hand, the civil society should endeavour to consistently condemn or criticize the ongoing fanaticism witnessed among sport lovers. They should be meant to understand that fanaticism, which invariably leads to extremism, is a cankerworm that might end up eradicating the prime essence of sports which is unity, peace and development. Statistics indicate that sport fanaticism has succeeded in killing thousands of people, as well as maimed millions of them across the globe.

          

It is needless to state that we all, either individually or collectively, have a role to play in sustaining the overwhelming impact of sport in human development. Think about it!     

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Opinion I One Word On Melaye's Certificate Conundrum

ONE WORD ON MELAYE’S CERTIFICATE CONUNDRUM

       

The last time I checked, the Nigeria’s eight National Assembly – particularly its Red Chamber – had been characterized by series of distractions, that, any observer could insinuate that all is not well with the country’s current polity. One of the distractions emanated from the recent allegation leveled against the Member representing Kogi West Senatorial District, Mr. Dino Melaye by the online news outfit Sahara Reporters, stating that the senator never graduated from the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria, Kaduna State as claimed by the legislator.

       

It’s pertinent to acknowledge that Sen. Melaye’s political career hasn’t been spared of various controversies cum accusations. Sometime ago, it was alleged that he continued to operate a checking and savings account with a US-based bank, in violation of Nigeria’s extant law. It’s noteworthy that the Nigeria’s Code of Conduct Bureau prohibits the use of foreign accounts by elected and public officials. Melaye criticized the former Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole for ‘importing his wife’ rather than marrying a Nigerian woman. Sometime penultimate year, he threatened to beat up one of his female colleagues Sen. Oluremi Tinubu on the floor of the Senate.

         

Sen. Melaye’s claims not only did he graduate legitimately from ABU, but had successfully earned seven degrees from various other institutions across the globe to include the revered Harvard’s University Kennedy School for Educational Leadership, and the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE); a claim that had been refuted by both institutions, with the former alleging that Melaye only presented himself for a week-long professional development course in late 2016, whilst LSE alleged there was no evidence on its database that the lawmaker ever obtained any degree from the institution.

        

Regarding that of ABU, Sen. Melaye was cleared by the Vice-Chancellor (VC) of the university Prof. Ibrahim Garba who appeared before the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions on Monday 27^th March 2017, to confirm that the embattled senator graduated from the institution, though under a different name ‘Daniel Jonah Melaye’. There are intriguing factors that ought to be closely considered towards clearing all elements of suspicion.

        

It was disclosed by Prof. Garba that Sen. Melaye graduated from ABU but with a different name, which implies that he was enrolled into the university with a name he is not currently bearing. Since the lawmaker had testified at the floor of the Senate that he once had a change of name, we need to inquire from him what actually informed the decision. Also, Melaye reportedly secured admission with only three credit passes as against five credit passes usually required by virtually every institution of higher learning ab initio. Although he had refuted the allegation, claiming he had up to five credit passes, I think it would be wise to consult the West African Examination Council (WAEC) for onward clarification.

        

It was equally gathered that Sen. Melaye underwent his National Youth Service in 1999 whereas record has it that he had his first degree in 2000. This implies that he did his NYSC programme prior to his graduation. How do we reconcile this? It is saddening that the VC didn’t use the occasion to throw more light on this complication. Maybe the Senate Committee equally needs to invite the NYSC for clarifications.

        

These things have to be well explained by all concerned towards quenching some lingering doubts completely. Besides, was the VC in better position to appear before the Senate Committee than the Registrar of the university? We are strongly not unaware that issues pertaining to admission procurement as well as graduation have to do with Office of the Registrar, thus I saw no reason the VC chose to hold brief for the University’s Registrar.

         

However, I’m of the view that it’s high time authorities in Nigeria stopped attaching so much importance and relevance to a mere paper qualification. A certificate does not in any way guarantees one’s competence and reliability; rather, what he/she has upstairs. Paper qualification should only be seen as a means of identification, and not a symbol for the bearer’s ability or prowess.

       

Believing so much in certificates has been the sole reason several Nigerians have resorted to indulging in all sorts of social-vices, including examination malpractices, admission racketeering, impersonation, forgery, and what have you, in order to acquire a degree certificate, thereby unleashing mockery and disgust on the country’s polity. I want to state unequivocally that several of our present public servants never visited the four-walls of any higher citadel of learning let alone obtaining a degree certificate, which they purportedly have in their respective possessions.

        

In view of this, it’s only Sen. Dino Melaye’s ‘course mates’ that can prove to Nigerians beyond doubts that the legislator truly attended as well as graduated from ABU, among the other institutions he claim attendance. Meanwhile, now that Sen. Ali Ndume who supported the blown whistle had been outrightly suspended by the Senate, thereby making him share similar fate with Hon. Abdulmumin Jibrin of the lower chamber, what next? Think about it!

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