POWER

When power is abused in excess,
when the rulers hip shy’s away,
pretending not to hear the cry,
when the ruled complain in anguish,
when the society frowns at it,
when the good advisers refrain,
when opposition becomes taboo,
when the imam says “a daidata sahu”,
when no one says the same to the imam,
then, prejudice overshadows the king,
pride and arrogance rules the king,
seeing no fences and feeling no bounds,
there seems to be no limits at all,
self admiration and self worship ensues,
in a manner only befitting a dictatorship,
history has it in store that,
all tyrannical leaders since Moses,
they ended up self destroying,
ironically, history goes in cycles,
power abused in excess,
power seized by fraud,
comes haunting its culprit,
until it leads to self annihilation,
a word is enough for the wise,
a word of advice for future leaders,
do not seize and abuse power.
Muhammad Tijjani Nakande, a freelance writer, neo pan africanist. You can reach him at www.muhammadnakandesworld.blogspot.com or email him at memzycool@yahoo.com .

THE gods are not to blame.

[Pure confessions of a hypothetical sister gone sober]
Sincerely , I do not blame the God of time for a lack of husband or a set of difficulty in finding or keeping a date,
At 25+, I look back and I say what if,
When I look back through the hands of time and the joyful memories, left to me now I ask myself a very sincere question?
The last person I intend to lie to is myself though,
What was at the top of my priority list when I was young and tender?[when I was 16-18+],
A time my skin was as firm as a rubber band, and my whole being as succulent as a pumpkin from a royal pumpkin tree,
And remember!, no additives involved then!!,
Boys my age with fairy tale hopes asking me to marry them and alight,
Men much older and matured, proposing to a diamond in the dark,
Men and boys all in a seemingly endless journey of wooing a priceless work of art,
The thrill and fun that came along being clamored around intensified and I was beginning to think it will never end,
And at that time I had a list of my greatest priorities, neatly folded and tucked beneath my boundless heart,
As for the innocent proposers, it was either he was too short or too tall or just too cute for my liking dad,
And after all, marriage against my western induced will in the 21st century!?, that’s utterly silly dad,
Higher education and western influenced independence was all I yearn for inside silently though,
Marriage at this point to me is portrayed as being a burden which will tie my hands down and deprive my independence [babies and university!!!?]
Establishing a promising career was all I yearned for,
Financial independence is all I foresee,
All had to wait till I had my fill,
My biological clock would not stop ticking though, and my skin would not stop sagging as I grew older,
The natural allure and sharpness of my succulent skin is all but a mirage now,
Now I am plagued by enormous cost of maintenance, new gel, new soap, latest wears,
And now I look back at it all and say to myself silently,
Whatever was at the top of my priority list then should have waited,
Today, I do not want to blame the God of time,
For the God of time gave me a chance at a tender age,
this chance I thought would last a lifetime,
Indeed the gods are not to blame.
Muhammad Tijjani Nakande is a freelance writer, wrote in from the university of Maiduguri, borno State, Nigeria.[2008]

कानो!!!

“ No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all by himself, or get all the credit for doing it”
Andrew Carnegie [1835-1919].
“True leadership must be for the benefit of the followers not the enrichment of the leaders. In combat, officers eat last”
Robert towns end [1920].
“We have to stop personalizing politics and be ready to accept genuine critism”
Aminu bello masari.
The above quotations are a food for thought for our dear readers.
The cardinal objective of a leader is the happiness, peace and progress of the followers. It is therefore pertinent for leaders to consider the teeming masses first, as their primary target, in order to change their lives for good. Anything contrary to this remains counterproductive and anti people.
As long as the world lasts, there will be wrongs, and if no man objected and no man rebelled, those wrongs will last forever.
Empty vessels they say makes the most noise. Achievement! Achievement! Achievement! Is all we ever hear. Ideally, a good leader should not blow his own trumpet all by himself.
Each succeeding generation of leaders should patiently await the testimony of the people they ruled over, it is from the joint testimonies of the teeming g masses that a historical account could be adequately documented and laid to rest in the annals’ of history whether good or bad. At first when votes were sought, it was low tone voices and a sense of pity for losing a first attempt; with high expectations, a majority of congress voted although some electoral misappropriation was employed. Still sober and timid, executive support was geared towards retrieving the unions most valued possession, from then, it has always been busy days, pride and unlimited arrogance. A crooked ruler just like a good liar will surely have an excuse for every misdeed when confronted, so, at first they might seem spotless.
The best attribute of a good leader is that which is inclined towards accepting genuine critsm and not making excuses and trying change for the better. An exemplary rule within a student union like ours will definitely be passed on to the outside world, back at home; if we are asked to give testimony of the leadership habits of a supposed senatorial aspirant who was a one time leader within our cycles back in school, guess what our general response will be? how much support do you think we will give? Do you and I think that we will forget so easily the busy spree? No!, I do not think we will.
Thus, I say this, even though the leader maybe as wise as a sage, he must humble himself and yield to the inclined public pressures and demands, only then will the intelligent and the wise offer to him their good counsel and the braveness to exert themselves in full submit to his course.
Muhammad Tijjani Nakande is a freelance writer, a neo pan africanist. You can reach him at www.muhammadnakandesworld.blogspot.com or email him at memzycool@yahoo.com .

Zan rattaba!!

“I do not believe in running cap in hand begging people or organizations for money to run our humble union. We must have a source of raising our revenue so as to truly make us independent to pursue our goal of equity and justice for all our members”
Muhammad Garba , N.U.J president.
Any organization that is not capable of generating its revenue internally and running itself at least for survival is not considered by business administrators to be an establishment deserving to maintain its name for much longer.
A good leader is suppose to be an innovator, creative and dynamic, not in terms of sweet begging the rich money bag politicians or elder state people; but in terms of being able to utilize revenue internally generated to put forth simple little achievements for their humble union.
A good leader ought to be a good manager and use funds and fund raising material at his disposal to churn out money for well defined projects.
The most prestigious N.AK.S.S is Bayero chapter. But even they put their vehicle to tread the equivalent of “accada to complex” generating nothing less than 15,000 naira monthly, which will be enough for fueling and general maintenance over time. Sometimes I wonder how show off on campus with public property could bring some cadre of people supposed happiness, while the masses are generally grumbling against unfair marginalization.
We are generally meant to believe that the essence of taking our unions vehicle home was to chase money bag politicians around for funds or their equivalent, visiting sick or bereaved congress members, attending their weddings and events e.t.c , yaeh!. So?, ideally under such arrangement the use of the vehicle should have been restricted within the bounds of this venture and not too much inclined towards personal gratification. Yes the vehicle serves as a personal as well as an official car to Mr. president! Agreed!, but how personal? There are and should be restraints. Ideally, personal engagement should be 30% and union issues take up 70%, in its absence, let the vehicle sleep and rest.
Almost everybody back at home, maid student or not will tell you where they saw your unions vehicle, Kaduna- Abuja express way, bachirawa, hotoro,shagari quarters e.t.c and in almost every unguwa within the metropolis , one thing I live to ask you and I is, are we the only union with a car or it’s just that we have a leadership with no screws in them?
Trust is burden and every one of us is but a Sheppard that will be called upon to account for their flock on the day of recompense. Public property is too sensitive to be employed for personal gratification. I remember we used to have a business centre that is decaying out of empty promises, if only the money making tools within the leadership had been put to effective use? Sometimes I look back and I say what if?
Thus we do not believe in a system that is so dependent on external support to survive. Going cap in hand, begging money bag politicians for dimes and pennies will no develop vibrant future leaders with a zeal for creativity and success which is independent of external support, at least not until it becomes an absolute necessity.
An ce “wai daga na gaba akan ga zurfin ruwa”, I hope the next cadre of leaders will learn from the blunders of history and steer us to greater heights.
Muhammad Tijjani Nakande is a freelance writer, a neo panafricanist. You can reach him on www.muhammadnakandesworld.blogspot.com or email him at memzycool@yahoo.com .

NATURAL SUCCESSION AND THE HUMAN MIMICK THROUGH THE RISING OF MEGA CITIES [SKYCRAPER ORIENTED].

In the field of ecology, succession is the natural process by which a community of organisms in an ecosystem gradually replaces another. The process of succession begins with a group of simple, rapidly growing organisms called the pioneer community. The final stage of ecological succession, which consists of the most complex and stable community, is called the climax vegetation.
The human societal development takes a similar pattern as such, through an increase in population. In the field of population and urban geography, it is believed that people move into a favorable area in drifts from different places and tend to settle down permanently. Over time one generation succeeds the order beginning with homogenous group to a vast heterogeneous pack of people with advancing technology for shelter and thus the emergence of complex buildings.
Through the stages of succession which are nudation, migration, excess, competition, stability, the ecosystem reaches a stage of structural complexity and subsequent climax. This is achieved while the vegetation undisturbed passes through stages where plants and animals compete to establish themselves, reproduce, compete for space, sunlight, nutrients all in a quest to survive leading to an endless struggle known as the survival of the fittest in which only the strong can survive.
In comparison, the human society tries in earnest to outdo each order in wealth and property. High rise apartments are thought to be trendy and cool, offering a paradise view, lots of sunshine and free flow of natural air. Thus competition between tall buildings developed as technology and affluence evolved. A ten story building in the middle of Manhattan in new York city will be deprived of essentials such as sunlight, free flow of air for comfort and thus has to be pulled down for a fifty story building [that is before many seventy story buildings cover the sky overtime]. Thus, the climax of human succession could be said to have been reached.
In the plant community as explained above, a stage of structural complexity is reached as well, as such only the most advanced species could carry on living.
Thus the above keen observation of mine attempts to put forth the glaring similarities inherent within ecological succession and human territorial expansion and quest for survival.
Muhammad Tijjani Nakande is a 300 level student, department of geography, university of Maiduguri, Borno state Nigeria.
You can reach him at www.muhammadnakandesworld.blogspot.com or email him at memzycool@yahoo.com