I write with a deep sense of dismay. But before I continue, I want to beckon on the Admins of this noble forum to allow this topic thrive. I regret every uncomplimentary word that may ensue from my mouth, I am just writing the way it is in my mind.
It is a thing of dismay, it is regrettable, it is pathetic, it is appalling, it is profoundly heartbreaking that "our husbands have gone mad again". The Nigerian Lawmakers have broken my heart. I feel ashamed of answering a Nigerian as it stands now.
Nigerian Lawmakes fight in the house even before an International TV.
Nigerian lawmakers Jump gate.
Nigerian lawmakers insult and abuse themselves inside the chamber.
Nigerian lawmakers abuse symbols of authority entrusted unto their custody.
Oh my country! **shades tears**
What is the cause of all these? Selfishness? Egocentricism? Ignorance?...Chai, Nigeria is gone! We have lost it all!
Our dignity has been grounded before the international community.
Our might has been abused.
Our pride has been basterdized.
Our Unity has been compromised.
Our Prestige has been relegated.
Our Sovereignity has been mistranslated, Misappropriated and abused.
...Should I concur with Achebe that "There was a country"? Oh! My Nigeria!
Arise o Compatriots, Nigeria's call to obey...The Labours of our heroes past, shall never be in Vain...To build a nation where peace and Justice reign.
O Lord, come over to Macedonia and help us.
Oga Innocent Writes from his hideout.
A Lifestyle Blog that Borders on the Youths, Marriage, Relationship, Family, Religion and Politics.
Thursday, 25 June 2015
Tuesday, 23 June 2015
'Buhari Has to Belong to Somebody' - A Must read Article
I read the piece, I loved it. So I decided to bring it home. It was actually published on This Day Newspaper; written by Ethelbert Okere. Here comes the sugar 
There is a saying in my native parlance to the affect that a dog owned by the entire community usually dies of hunger. This is simply because nobody in particular would take the responsibility of feeding it. That was my first problem with President Muhammadu Buhari’s famous: “I belong to everybody, I belong to nobody.”
.
As attractive and appealing as the statement was, I felt that it was merely targeted at the sentiments of Nigerians at least at the point it was made. And not unexpectedly, Nigerians chorused it with enthusiasm. But for purposes of partisan tenacity, I felt the statement was not only too open ended and populist, it was also fraught with danger, especially as it is not in sync with partisan idiosyncrasy. Of course, skeptics took their positions and it was not long when the first salvo came.
.
The president was accused of plagiarising the statement. The “I belong...” jargon that was contained in his inauguration speech was said not to be original to him but lifted from an earlier saying by another famous man outside this clime. Pronto, the president’s “enemies” (really, does he have any?) had a field day through the social media. The plagiarism charge seems to have been settled in favour of the president but my worry now is that so early enough, we are seeing the other side, if you like, the real implications of the “I belong to nobody…..” mantra.
.
For, shortly after that ‘wise’ saying, President Buhari, oven-fresh and draped in magisterial aura conferred on him for “defeating a sitting president”, the first in Africa, headed for Germany to attend the 41st summit of the G7. There, according to reports, the Nigerian president, to the astonishment of the whole world, alluded to Germany, the host of the summit, as “West Germany”; and to the head of government (state) of Germany as “President”. President Buhari was also said to have wrongly pronounced the name of the Chancellor of Germany as “Mitchele” instead of Merkel, Angela Merkel, that is.
.
Again, the presidents ‘enemies’ went to town through the social media. Understandably, not much mention has been made of the gaffes in the local print media and I am personally of the view that as grave as the slips are, there is no need crying over spilled milk. Fortunately, Nigerians so love their president that they were quick in laying the blames on the door steps of his handlers, some say aides. Did they (aides) brief him properly? Was there a pre-summit debriefing between the president and his handlers? Did his aides or handlers take pain to understand that at his age (72), the president is not supposed to be conversant with the tittles and proper names of heads of state of other countries? To avoid a reoccurrence in the future, some analysts say the president should take a briefing on global etiquettes. Others suggest that he should be shielded from unnecessary (global) exposure.
.
On the latter option, Nigerians, they say, elected Buhari for just one reason: to fight corruption and that as such, he has no business cat-walking on the runaways of every international airport. President Buhari, they say, should get into the trenches to deal with corrupt Nigerians instead of making every international summit. Witness the bizarre counsels to the leader of Africa’s most important country and Africa’s largest economy, indeed Africa’s most populous nation in the proportion of three Nigerians in every five Africans.
.
In my view, such counseling is coming because Nigerians were dazed by the presidential slips but that does not warrant the resort to presidential recoil. Of course, Nigeria must continue to showcase our handsome president with the great poise. I am sure every Nigerian was quite proud to see President Buhari in the crowd of other world leaders, his magisterial gait and elegance. There was this particular photograph, where the president was alighting from an open vehicle and I recall one lady saying “Wao, this president!”
.
On a more serious note, however, Nigerians are willing to give a pass mark to President Buhari on the things he has done so far at the domestic front. At least his attitude to the issue of the emergence of principal officers of the 8th National Assembly gives him not less than a B+. Still, go to the international arena, he must. There are so many things to go and talk about abroad.
.
For one, the nation’s economy is so bad that it needs no exaggeration to state that Nigeria needs a bail out from the international community at least for the next one or two years. And it is not what the president can do from Daura. So, while I disagree that the president should stay put at home and like in 1984 begin to put former governors to jail, there is one thing he must do: he should repudiate the “I belong to Nobody” mantra. In my view, President Buhari has to belong to somebody; not, of course, to Asiwaju Bola Tinubu as in being commonly feared.
.
President Buhari has to make himself available. He has to work with Nigerians. Of course, I disagree with those, who blame his aides. With my little exposure to top political office holders, most principals get only the advice or assistance they want to have.
.
Most principals, in the Nigerian context, put up body language that freezes all good intentions from their aides. I hear the president is an easy going man but my fear is that he may still be operating with the same mind set as when he was running for his present office. Majority of Nigerians saw him as stand-offish and a fellow with a “you-can-go-to-hell” disposition.
.
An example was when the issue of his academic certificate arose. Yes, the election was won and lost but the truth is that Nigerians did not like the seeming arrogance with which he handled the matter. He had referred INEC officials to the military authorities when the latter asked for his academic credentials. Granted that Nigerians did not buy the talk that he had no certificate to show, not a few were piqued by that attitude because that was another way of telling Nigerians that he owed them no explanation. My hunch is that President Buhari might not have asked his handlers for a pre-summit briefing. To be quite candid, I do not buy the idea that he should not at his age bother about certain things. For goodness’ sake, he now has to.
.
In my article, titled “Igbo Did Not Make a Mistake on 2015”, which was published a few days after the presidential election, I argued that most Igbo did not vote for the then president-to-be because he was not properly presented to them. General Muhammadu Buhari (GMB then) now President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB), as some newspapers now write, was wrongly packaged: as a religious fanatic, a Boko Haram supporter and a fellow, who did not possess the minimum educational requirement for the office he was looking for. Going by his body language then, it seemed all that did not matter to the then GMB.
.
Now as PMB, my fear is that he is yet to believe that he has to make himself to be truly or better understood by the people. His fabled anti-corruption disposition notwithstanding, President Buhari has to know that what he can achieve in that regard will be largely dependent on the extent Nigerians understand him. “I belong to nobody…” is too vague for the social and economic milieu Nigerians currently finds themselves in. A dog owned communally usually dies of hunger.
.
-Okere wrote from Owerri in Imo State
There is a saying in my native parlance to the affect that a dog owned by the entire community usually dies of hunger. This is simply because nobody in particular would take the responsibility of feeding it. That was my first problem with President Muhammadu Buhari’s famous: “I belong to everybody, I belong to nobody.” .
As attractive and appealing as the statement was, I felt that it was merely targeted at the sentiments of Nigerians at least at the point it was made. And not unexpectedly, Nigerians chorused it with enthusiasm. But for purposes of partisan tenacity, I felt the statement was not only too open ended and populist, it was also fraught with danger, especially as it is not in sync with partisan idiosyncrasy. Of course, skeptics took their positions and it was not long when the first salvo came.
.
The president was accused of plagiarising the statement. The “I belong...” jargon that was contained in his inauguration speech was said not to be original to him but lifted from an earlier saying by another famous man outside this clime. Pronto, the president’s “enemies” (really, does he have any?) had a field day through the social media. The plagiarism charge seems to have been settled in favour of the president but my worry now is that so early enough, we are seeing the other side, if you like, the real implications of the “I belong to nobody…..” mantra.
.
For, shortly after that ‘wise’ saying, President Buhari, oven-fresh and draped in magisterial aura conferred on him for “defeating a sitting president”, the first in Africa, headed for Germany to attend the 41st summit of the G7. There, according to reports, the Nigerian president, to the astonishment of the whole world, alluded to Germany, the host of the summit, as “West Germany”; and to the head of government (state) of Germany as “President”. President Buhari was also said to have wrongly pronounced the name of the Chancellor of Germany as “Mitchele” instead of Merkel, Angela Merkel, that is.
.
Again, the presidents ‘enemies’ went to town through the social media. Understandably, not much mention has been made of the gaffes in the local print media and I am personally of the view that as grave as the slips are, there is no need crying over spilled milk. Fortunately, Nigerians so love their president that they were quick in laying the blames on the door steps of his handlers, some say aides. Did they (aides) brief him properly? Was there a pre-summit debriefing between the president and his handlers? Did his aides or handlers take pain to understand that at his age (72), the president is not supposed to be conversant with the tittles and proper names of heads of state of other countries? To avoid a reoccurrence in the future, some analysts say the president should take a briefing on global etiquettes. Others suggest that he should be shielded from unnecessary (global) exposure.
.
On the latter option, Nigerians, they say, elected Buhari for just one reason: to fight corruption and that as such, he has no business cat-walking on the runaways of every international airport. President Buhari, they say, should get into the trenches to deal with corrupt Nigerians instead of making every international summit. Witness the bizarre counsels to the leader of Africa’s most important country and Africa’s largest economy, indeed Africa’s most populous nation in the proportion of three Nigerians in every five Africans.
.
In my view, such counseling is coming because Nigerians were dazed by the presidential slips but that does not warrant the resort to presidential recoil. Of course, Nigeria must continue to showcase our handsome president with the great poise. I am sure every Nigerian was quite proud to see President Buhari in the crowd of other world leaders, his magisterial gait and elegance. There was this particular photograph, where the president was alighting from an open vehicle and I recall one lady saying “Wao, this president!”
.
On a more serious note, however, Nigerians are willing to give a pass mark to President Buhari on the things he has done so far at the domestic front. At least his attitude to the issue of the emergence of principal officers of the 8th National Assembly gives him not less than a B+. Still, go to the international arena, he must. There are so many things to go and talk about abroad.
.
For one, the nation’s economy is so bad that it needs no exaggeration to state that Nigeria needs a bail out from the international community at least for the next one or two years. And it is not what the president can do from Daura. So, while I disagree that the president should stay put at home and like in 1984 begin to put former governors to jail, there is one thing he must do: he should repudiate the “I belong to Nobody” mantra. In my view, President Buhari has to belong to somebody; not, of course, to Asiwaju Bola Tinubu as in being commonly feared.
.
President Buhari has to make himself available. He has to work with Nigerians. Of course, I disagree with those, who blame his aides. With my little exposure to top political office holders, most principals get only the advice or assistance they want to have.
.
Most principals, in the Nigerian context, put up body language that freezes all good intentions from their aides. I hear the president is an easy going man but my fear is that he may still be operating with the same mind set as when he was running for his present office. Majority of Nigerians saw him as stand-offish and a fellow with a “you-can-go-to-hell” disposition.
.
An example was when the issue of his academic certificate arose. Yes, the election was won and lost but the truth is that Nigerians did not like the seeming arrogance with which he handled the matter. He had referred INEC officials to the military authorities when the latter asked for his academic credentials. Granted that Nigerians did not buy the talk that he had no certificate to show, not a few were piqued by that attitude because that was another way of telling Nigerians that he owed them no explanation. My hunch is that President Buhari might not have asked his handlers for a pre-summit briefing. To be quite candid, I do not buy the idea that he should not at his age bother about certain things. For goodness’ sake, he now has to.
.
In my article, titled “Igbo Did Not Make a Mistake on 2015”, which was published a few days after the presidential election, I argued that most Igbo did not vote for the then president-to-be because he was not properly presented to them. General Muhammadu Buhari (GMB then) now President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB), as some newspapers now write, was wrongly packaged: as a religious fanatic, a Boko Haram supporter and a fellow, who did not possess the minimum educational requirement for the office he was looking for. Going by his body language then, it seemed all that did not matter to the then GMB.
.
Now as PMB, my fear is that he is yet to believe that he has to make himself to be truly or better understood by the people. His fabled anti-corruption disposition notwithstanding, President Buhari has to know that what he can achieve in that regard will be largely dependent on the extent Nigerians understand him. “I belong to nobody…” is too vague for the social and economic milieu Nigerians currently finds themselves in. A dog owned communally usually dies of hunger.
.
-Okere wrote from Owerri in Imo State
Wednesday, 17 June 2015
Ten (10) Irresistible ways to ask a girl out - MUST READ
Ya. You wanna have her on a date? You don't know to go about it? Then there are ways. Read now. 
.
#1 Let them eat cake.Not the most original of the methods listed here, but it is very cute, and the girls love it. Basically, send her a cake, doughnut, or whatever other confectionery you know she likes with the proposition written upon it in icing. You could even have it written upon a number of cupcakes all reiterating the same message in different ways.
.
#2 Balloons.Arrange for a number of balloons with letters upon them conveying the all-important message to be displayed somewhere that she’s sure to see. This could be on her desk if you work with her *although play that particular one very carefully*, on her car, or outside her front door.
.
#3 Chalk-tastic.This one is great if she lives somewhere with a quiet country road leading to her home, a long driveway, or a similar stretch of highway that she regularly drives along. Simply get the chalk out, and leave the message in front of her in long letters, so that she can see it even when at speed.
.
#4 See the light.A bit of time is needed for this one, and you need to be sure that the physical site used to get the message across is somewhere that she regularly sees. All you need to do is get an extension cord and a series of light bulbs and spell the message out in lights. Just watch her jaw drop in sheer amazement at the audacity of your move.
.
#5 Star struck.You know those luminescent stars that you can get at crafts shops and the like? Well, buy a few packets of those and arrange them somewhere where she is likely to see them when the lights are turned off. Obviously, her own home is out of the question, unless you want to risk a conviction for burglary, but maybe some favored bar or restaurant with a dark corner would provide the perfect location.
.
#6 Photo-sympathis.Create a photo montage of multiple shots showing you holding up signs of words spelling out the message to ask her out. There are plenty of available forums on the internet to post this where she can “accidentally” come across it.
.
#7 The power of pizza.Similar to number 1, but for the less fluffy type of girl. How about sending her the invitation to go out on a date upon a pizza with the message spelled out in salami, olives, or whatever her favorite topping is? #8 Hit the right note.If you have any kind of a musical talent, why not do what crooners have been doing for millennia, and write her a song. Try and avoid the classical Shakespearian midnight serenade, however, especially if she still lives with a father who possesses a shotgun and a particular dislike for his daughter’s taste in men.
.
#9 Jig it up.This sounds more complicated than it actually is, but create a jigsaw that she has to complete, with the invitation to a date spelt out upon it, and send it to her home address. You could do this professionally or just with a piece of hacked-up card.
.
#10 Mock proposal.Get dressed up, get down on bended knee, and perform the question with all the panache and importance of a wedding proposal. You could even replace the ring with a circular piece of paper emblazoned with the name and address of the restaurant you intend to take her to.
.
#1 Let them eat cake.Not the most original of the methods listed here, but it is very cute, and the girls love it. Basically, send her a cake, doughnut, or whatever other confectionery you know she likes with the proposition written upon it in icing. You could even have it written upon a number of cupcakes all reiterating the same message in different ways.
.
#2 Balloons.Arrange for a number of balloons with letters upon them conveying the all-important message to be displayed somewhere that she’s sure to see. This could be on her desk if you work with her *although play that particular one very carefully*, on her car, or outside her front door.
.
#3 Chalk-tastic.This one is great if she lives somewhere with a quiet country road leading to her home, a long driveway, or a similar stretch of highway that she regularly drives along. Simply get the chalk out, and leave the message in front of her in long letters, so that she can see it even when at speed.
.
#4 See the light.A bit of time is needed for this one, and you need to be sure that the physical site used to get the message across is somewhere that she regularly sees. All you need to do is get an extension cord and a series of light bulbs and spell the message out in lights. Just watch her jaw drop in sheer amazement at the audacity of your move.
.
#5 Star struck.You know those luminescent stars that you can get at crafts shops and the like? Well, buy a few packets of those and arrange them somewhere where she is likely to see them when the lights are turned off. Obviously, her own home is out of the question, unless you want to risk a conviction for burglary, but maybe some favored bar or restaurant with a dark corner would provide the perfect location.
.
#6 Photo-sympathis.Create a photo montage of multiple shots showing you holding up signs of words spelling out the message to ask her out. There are plenty of available forums on the internet to post this where she can “accidentally” come across it.
.
#7 The power of pizza.Similar to number 1, but for the less fluffy type of girl. How about sending her the invitation to go out on a date upon a pizza with the message spelled out in salami, olives, or whatever her favorite topping is? #8 Hit the right note.If you have any kind of a musical talent, why not do what crooners have been doing for millennia, and write her a song. Try and avoid the classical Shakespearian midnight serenade, however, especially if she still lives with a father who possesses a shotgun and a particular dislike for his daughter’s taste in men.
.
#9 Jig it up.This sounds more complicated than it actually is, but create a jigsaw that she has to complete, with the invitation to a date spelt out upon it, and send it to her home address. You could do this professionally or just with a piece of hacked-up card.
.
#10 Mock proposal.Get dressed up, get down on bended knee, and perform the question with all the panache and importance of a wedding proposal. You could even replace the ring with a circular piece of paper emblazoned with the name and address of the restaurant you intend to take her to.
Tuesday, 16 June 2015
Are you a woman? You like taking Drugs? These drugs can reduce your fertility
Drugs regularly taken to alleviate back pain 
'significantly' reduce a woman’s fertility, doctors have warned.
Researchers found a group of drugs, known as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), ‘significantly inhibit ovulation’.
.
NSAIDs are among the most commonly used drugs worldwide, and are taken by more than 30 million people every day. Available without prescription, they are largely used for the treatment of pain, inflammation and fever - all common features of conditions involving joint and muscle pain. They include naproxen, diclofenac, ibuprofen and aspirin.
.
'After just ten days of treatment we saw a significant decrease in progesterone, a hormone essential for ovulation, across all treatment groups, as well as functional cysts in one third of patients,' said study investigator, Professor Sami Salman, of the University of Baghdad, Iraq. 'These findings show that even short-term use of these popular, over-the-counter drugs could have a significant impact on a women's ability to have children. ‘This needs to be better communicated to patients with rheumatic diseases, who may take these drugs on a regular basis with little awareness of the impact.'
.
WHAT ARE NON-STEROIDAL ANTI-INFLAMMATORY DRUGS (NSAIDs)?
.
Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are a medication widely used to treat a range of conditions. NSAIDs are used to: *.relieve pain *.reduce inflammation (redness and swelling) *.bring down a high temperature (fever) They are used to treat headaches, painful periods, toothache, soft tissue injuries such as sprains and strains and the symptoms of infections, such as the common cold or the flu. They are also prescribed to treat most types of arthritis, including rheumatoid arthritis, other forms of inflammatory arthritis and osteoarthritis, back pain and neck pain. Source: NHS Choices
.
As part of the study, Professor Salman and his team tested three of the most commonly prescribed NSAIDs: diclofenac, naproxen and etoricoxib. They recruited 39 women of childbearing age who suffer from back pain to take part in the study. The women received diclofenac (100mg once daily), naproxen (500mg twice daily) and etoricoxib (90mg once daily) or a placebo. The drugs were given 10 days after the beginning of their menstrual cycle - the first day of a woman’s period. Researchers tested whether the women had ovulated by analysing the level of the hormone progesterone, via a blood sample. They also measured the diameter of the dominant follicle, a fluid-filled cavity in the ovaries that contains one undeveloped egg, using ultra sonography – a form of ultrasound. Rupturing of the dominant follicle, and subsequent release of an oocyte - an unfertilised egg - is essential for ovulation to occur. Of the women receiving NSAIDs, only 6.3 per cent of those taking diclofenac ovulated, they found. And only 25 per cent of women taking naproxen and 27.3 per cent taking etoricoxib ovulated.
.
source: Dailymail
'significantly' reduce a woman’s fertility, doctors have warned.
Researchers found a group of drugs, known as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), ‘significantly inhibit ovulation’. .
NSAIDs are among the most commonly used drugs worldwide, and are taken by more than 30 million people every day. Available without prescription, they are largely used for the treatment of pain, inflammation and fever - all common features of conditions involving joint and muscle pain. They include naproxen, diclofenac, ibuprofen and aspirin.
.
'After just ten days of treatment we saw a significant decrease in progesterone, a hormone essential for ovulation, across all treatment groups, as well as functional cysts in one third of patients,' said study investigator, Professor Sami Salman, of the University of Baghdad, Iraq. 'These findings show that even short-term use of these popular, over-the-counter drugs could have a significant impact on a women's ability to have children. ‘This needs to be better communicated to patients with rheumatic diseases, who may take these drugs on a regular basis with little awareness of the impact.'
.
WHAT ARE NON-STEROIDAL ANTI-INFLAMMATORY DRUGS (NSAIDs)?
.
Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are a medication widely used to treat a range of conditions. NSAIDs are used to: *.relieve pain *.reduce inflammation (redness and swelling) *.bring down a high temperature (fever) They are used to treat headaches, painful periods, toothache, soft tissue injuries such as sprains and strains and the symptoms of infections, such as the common cold or the flu. They are also prescribed to treat most types of arthritis, including rheumatoid arthritis, other forms of inflammatory arthritis and osteoarthritis, back pain and neck pain. Source: NHS Choices
.
As part of the study, Professor Salman and his team tested three of the most commonly prescribed NSAIDs: diclofenac, naproxen and etoricoxib. They recruited 39 women of childbearing age who suffer from back pain to take part in the study. The women received diclofenac (100mg once daily), naproxen (500mg twice daily) and etoricoxib (90mg once daily) or a placebo. The drugs were given 10 days after the beginning of their menstrual cycle - the first day of a woman’s period. Researchers tested whether the women had ovulated by analysing the level of the hormone progesterone, via a blood sample. They also measured the diameter of the dominant follicle, a fluid-filled cavity in the ovaries that contains one undeveloped egg, using ultra sonography – a form of ultrasound. Rupturing of the dominant follicle, and subsequent release of an oocyte - an unfertilised egg - is essential for ovulation to occur. Of the women receiving NSAIDs, only 6.3 per cent of those taking diclofenac ovulated, they found. And only 25 per cent of women taking naproxen and 27.3 per cent taking etoricoxib ovulated.
.
source: Dailymail
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