Saturday, April 16, 2011

nigeria votes 2011: big day

in a few hours, nigerians go to to polls to vote in a new president and governors. so many things have happened since the start (or almost start) of the elections. there was the postponement, and then the 2nd postponement. the shellacking (in nigerian terms) of the ruling party in the parliamentary elections, and theres the collapse of one of the opposition party presidential candidates who many young people initially believed could bring about change. this was ribadu, the former chair of the anti-corruption agency. as i've mentioned in an earlier post, this guy completely turned me off when i watched him debate. i'm still impressed with the party and its organisation and seeming desire to deliver services in areas they control (like lagos), but im not at all convinced in the candidacy of mr ribadu. and apparently neither was he, as he and his party tried had to merge with another opposition, as theyve tried many times in the past. its all politics folks!

so at this moment, im feeling very proud and hopeful that things are happening in nigeria. im so inspired, not by politicians or empty promises, but the committed activity by ordinary nigerians who tweet and blog endlessly, given people like me a feeling like we were actually there. another journalist widely respected, christian purefoy, has set up a site and uploads videos and reports on whats happening. ive known about this guy for some time now and he's covered nigeria for several years and im constantly impressed with the way he covers nigeria and the sorts of stories he tells. stories that are not always the mainstream. i think i have a man-crush! keep up the good work. check out his site: http://christianpurefoy.tumblr.com/.

good luck nigeria. let change and development reign!

meet kristy and tayo

move over kate and william. theres a new hot royal couple! really, they're hot! and they're royalty!

stunning!


last weekend, i was honoured to be asked to be the best man at my brother's wedding. and it was a completely beautiful affair. the wedding was full of laughter, crying (quite a bit), some very pleasant surprises, some not so nice moments, more laughter, lots of emotions, and lots of love. leading up to the wedding, i actually tried not to think about it too much, because for those of you who know, it was a pretty emotional thing for me. I wasn't sure what to expect. Even trying to write and practice my best man toast was such a mission and emotionally draining that i put that off as well until the very last moment!

hole in 1? more like 100...
but alas, the wedding was totally beautiful. we had an amazing time. the mix of cultures with roots in africa, north america, asia, europe, etc was really an awesome sight and setting. i even played golf for the first time. ever. as my brother thought it would be a good idea to hit the course the morning of the wedding. it was. lots of fun. and the day couldnt have been more beautiful. oh, and the church was stunning, the photographer amazing, bridesmaids beautiful, the guests lovely, and on...


so, even though I've done some toasting of the couple already, I wanna do it again publicly. Here's to tayo and kristy! my big bro has always been a mentor, a guide, and a great example for me to emulate. I can see exactly what kristy sees in him and what he sees in her. they match. i can understand the countless people that came up to them to tell them what an inspiration they, individually and collectively, have been in their lives. I pray, and i know!, that you guys will continue to be more of an inspiration and light to those that are around you. I can't wait to watch you as you grow in your love and marriage. And please please please dont feel like you have to wait for those pikin's to start poppin' out! I want little nieces and nephews already! and i promise ill babysit - as long as you bring them over to SA first! 


she's really nigerian now!

keep livin, lovin, & laughin. here! here!

 




chillaxin'. too school for cool!
  



those kids can move!

Monday, April 4, 2011

nigeria votes 2011: bad start?

foremost, and with extreme jubilation, i can now announce that this blog has received an audience (a couple actually) in nigeria for the 1st time! what an achievement.

secondmost, and also with extreme jubilation, i just arrived in the us of A and spent an amazing 2 days in chicago. i really love this place! looking forward to the rest of my trip elsewhere and my foray into best-man-ing!

thirdmost, and not-so-jubil-ious, nigerian elections! so the 3 part elections were set to start on saturday, april 2. however, due to some ballot boxes not being received in certain locations, the decision was made to postpone the elections by a week. the new dates: parliamentary elections will be held on the 9th, presidential on the 16th, gubernatorial on the 22nd. about 15million people had already voted before the elections were postponed.

for the past couple of days and hrs, i've been gauging people's reactions to this on cyberspace and it aint pretty. granted, the sheer mention of postponement or hint of annulment or malpractice brings back ghost of past botched elections and stolen votes and disappointments. i get that. but, as i mentioned in my previous post, the chairman of the election commission is a widely respected man . based on that, i can't help but think he's a bit embarrased by how this has all started. that being said, it seems he would only postpone this if he was witnessing already some malpractices and things that were simply not right. the whole world is watching. nigerians are on the edge. he needs to get this right. im i being overly optimistic?

i think we, nigerians, should chill for a moment and give this some thought. yes, some say a developed country would have had a plan b and would not have allowed such a thing to happen. well, guess what?. nigeria aint a developed country. some say that we should expect more from our country already and stop lowering our expectations. well guess what? our expectations should be pretty low, seeing as nigeria has rarely held a valid and credible election, ever! lets take things a step at a time. in the US, hundreds if not more lawsuits get filed on and after election day citing malpractices. in the US, millions of people get disenfranchised and turned away from voting when they shouldve cast their votes. this is supposed to be the most matured democracy in our time. so lets face it shit always happens. elections will never be smooth. taking an extra week to get things righted is no problem for me. in fact take a month or so. whatever you need Dr. jega!

this site is awesome for following the latest: http://elections.234next.com/

soo impressed by this site: http://www.reclaimnaija.net/
and read about it here: http://blog.ushahidi.com/index.php/2011/03/30/using-the-ushahidi-platform-to-monitor-the-nigeria-elections-2011/comment-page-1/#comment-8522

and fourthmost, i will unfortunately/fortunately be following the nigerian elections for the next month. likely more so on my twitter page, so people are more than welcome to follow me on twitter. for those that care little about politics, i apologise in advance (again) and promise to return to the regularly scheduled programme in may! :)