MAAMI!

THURSDAY 17TH JANUARY WAS MY MOTHER’S BIRTHDAY. ALL THANKS TO OUR BELOVED SERVICE PROVIDER, I COULD NOT DROP THESE FEW LINES OF POETRY TO CELEBRATE HER. IT IS HOWEVER BETTER LATE THAN NEVER. THIS GOES TO SAY WE LOVE YOU MOTHER. WE DAILY APPRECIATE THE FACT THAT GOD BLESSED US WITH A RARE AS YOU ARE. ‘SEYE, ‘YINKA AND NIFEMI

 

OF WHAT USE IS A MOTHER

OF WHAT VALUE IS SHE

SURELY MORE THAN RUBIES

FAR ABOVE RUPEES

                                                                          

                                                                           SHE KEPT ME FAR REMOVED

                                                                           FAR AWAY FROM THE DOOM

                                                                           OF A WORLD IMMUNED

                                                                           FROM ALL THE GOOD

 

 

MAMA OH MAMA

YOUR CARE IS LIKE NO OTHER

AND I SO SHUDDER

THAT I SO MATTER

                                                                                  MOTHERS THERE ARE

                                                                                  MOTHER YOU ARE

                                                                                   AND I AM SO PROUD

                                                                                   THAT YOU ARE MY MINE

LIKE A DIAMOND

MOTHERS DO SHINE

OF THEM ALL

YOU SHINE BRIGHTEST

THE MANY ‘FRIENDS’ WE LOSE

Few days ago, I woke up to the red light on my ‘girlfriend’ (the name I call my blackberry device). As it has come to be, it was a message from someone with whom I start, live and end each day. This someone was a classmate way back in the university. We just made it the small matter of exchanging greetings whenever we sat together during practicals, lectures or when we all stabbed classes for different reasons. The closest we got was at our 4 day stay in Porto Novo during my class excursion in 2007.

The beauty of friendship…Company

Fast forward years later, the one I never saw as a friend because I was busy minding my own ‘crew’ while he held his own ‘side’ has become more than a friend to me. He is the confidant, the paddy, the amebo and what have you. It took us a few years to recognize and appreciate what we meant to one another; it took us a while to draw one another closer as friends and confidants.

My interaction with this fellow brought back memories of the potentially beneficial individuals I have judged too soon in the years on earth. There have been people who would have added a few things to me that I pushed away for reasons that are irritating, reasons that cannot be justified for any reason at all, or reasons that hold lots of water.

Allowing people the chance to come in, being open, is key to not lose ones who can make you happy

A friend sent me a text message recently appreciating me for a few favours I did for her. At the end she made a remark in Yoruba language which translates as “getting closer to a person exposes his/her true nature”. She said she’s always judged me on face value as someone who has a ‘haughty spirit’; whatever that means. The few things she said I did, which was nothing to me, was what changed her perception of me.

I became convicted within myself at that instant. It means that is what I have also been doing to some people in my life and on my way. Maybe I should add that I am a paranoid person. No apologies though because I have seen a few things that made me that way – betrayals of trust, disloyalty and the like. I have however learnt to judge each person based on what he shows himself or herself to be.

Judge each person by their merit, not on what you are told

Many of us have been hurt by the ones we hold close to the extent that to open up to make new friends from among the people with whom we daily interact has become difficult. I urge you to do as I have agreed with my friend who triggered this piece. We decided to be “a bit more open to and with people this year”.

Sometimes we judge people based on what we have heard about them from other people. That, while it can be safe, can also be unfair in all regards. I believe in personally relating with individuals and not based on whatever I might have heard about such people. I know of people whom different things have been said of by different people. So why base your judgment on what someone said about someone?

Friends for life: Weathered the storm together, and have stuck together for long

I noticed I have maybe lost a few opportunities to make friends with those who would have added value to me, pushed away people who would have benefited from me and even been indifferent to those with whom I would have had a symbiotic relationship. The time has come to change that. Now is the time to change and explore what the people around us will add to us and vice versa.

Ask yourself about the friends you should have had, the ones you have lost, the ones you can still have again; and make that move.

I’m out of here…xoxoxoxoxo

CHECK THIS OUT

GOOD MORNING EVERYONE. A FRIEND SENT THIS TO ME AND ASKED ME TO SHARE WITH YOU ALL. I BELIEVE IT WILL SPEAK TO SOMEBODY’S NEED.  COMMENTS WOULD BE WELCOME. HAVE A GREAT WEEK AHEAD OF YOU. ME!

I remember saying “happy new year” to someone and then I received a joyful “identical to you” as a reply and we all laughed at that, basking in the joy of seeing a new year.  You know all these excitements and the greetings are the things that usually herald the coming of the New Year. Nevertheless, amidst the whole excitement, there are some things that are peculiar to the New Year. It amazes me when you see people putting on an air of seriousness at the beginning of the year.

One of these is the “so called new year resolutions a lot of people claim to write yearly. Interestingly, I wonder if they eventually get to accomplish some of these resolutions. Well the answer is not farfetched! Some people only make it as far the second or third month while for some they make it till the fourth month or thereabouts and then they become frustrated and give up. Only few eventually achieve all these goals.

Well I don’t blame them because more often than not, the New Year resolutions of some people are only “the amplified version” of their last year’s resolution.  For some, it is just the new living translation and for others, it is the contemporary and revised standards of their resolutions. So you can see why little progress is made at the end of the day.

You may be wondering if am against making resolutions, which of course am not against, but I just want to encourage you my readers to have a positive outlook towards the future and download directly from the throne of grace.

Take time out to plan goals and vision in line with what God has told you. Then and only then can we fully come to the accomplishment of our goals at the end of the year. Be strong, determined and courageous and I see you becoming everything God has in plan for you.

WELCOME TO THE SEASON OF SUPERNATURAL EXPLOITS!

By Dignified. damivictoria@yahoo.com.

AND YET ANOTHER ONE EXITS…

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2013. THERE SHOULD BE LOTS TO READ AND DISCUSS HERE THIS YEAR BY GOD’S GRACE. I WILL TRY PUSH THE DISTRACTIONS AND WHAT HAVE YOU TO THE BACK EVEN AS I SHARE WITH YOU FROM MY INNER MOST THOUGHTS. WHILE I WAS DOING THE PIECE FOR THIS WEEK, THE NEWS BROKE OF THE PASSAGE OF A FATHER FIGURE IN MY LIFE. I THEREFORE LEFT EVERY OTHER THING TO PEN THIS TRIBUTE TO CELEBRATE THE LIFE OF ENGR. (DR.) OLUSEGUN AJANI ADEGBOYEGA WHO WENT TO BE WITH THE LORD ON THE 2ND OF JANUARY. PLEASE TAKE A FEW MINUTES TO READ AND LEARN FROM THIS LIFE. BLESS!!!

Whoever told me my first blog post of the year will be a tribute would have been rebuked without second thought. It however played itself out again as the news broke of the passage of Engr. (Dr.) Segun Adegboyega; a brother, an uncle, a father and one who was regularly concerned about all of us.

The second day of the year started on a very happy note for me. Work and all went smooth. I even had the great news of the birth of a baby into a family we hold dear. A family that suffered barrenness for over two and half decades with the first child after the father has attained three scores on this planet. Cheering news indeed. It all changed in the afternoon when I got home and right at the door, the sad news was broken to me.

I took in the dry harmattan air and a bitter taste coursed through my mouth. As bitter as the sorrow in the London home of the departed. I cannot say per se how the pangs of hunger left me but everything just looked like it had stopped. I picked up my phone and decided to look through my Facebook thread. The first post I saw was that of my Pastor cousin. It was true, Daddy Ore has passed on.

Dr. Segun Adeboyega was a man of many parts to many people. There are too many things I cannot say or write. He was one who doggedly followed his dreams. He got all the education he could up to his doctorate level. Pre-ND and National Diploma from the  Federal Polytechnic Ilaro, his Bachelor’s degree in University of Ilorin. He proceeded to Tanzania for his Master’s degree.

On arrival from Tanzania, he formed the Student Association of St. Paul’s Apostolic Church which metamorphosed into the present day Salvation Proclaimers Anointed Church. He always gathered the young ones, students in different levels of their education, from primary to tertiary, gave them inspiring talks and lectures every Saturday evening.  He went as far as inviting people from outside the Church for seminars, to address the students.

I remember vividly that I was in his bridal train as a six year old. The buzz was everywhere during the weeks leading up to the wedding. The ‘Mobola weds Segun’ souvenir is still available in my family house.

He thereafter got a Commonwealth scholarship to study in the United Kingdom. Dr. Adegboyega was loved by all and sundry. He constantly put us on our feet. Before anything, he would ask about your academics. That was Uncle Segun as many called him.

Tributes have rolled in from those we know as friends and family here in Nigeria. I am sure it is the same in the United Kingdom where he was based. Baba Ore will always greet you with “ema nlee”. He was not one to look down on anyone. He gave to people as if his life depended on it and remembered everyone of us by name. He did not class people based on class or cash.

He was a colossus, whose life will always be a lesson to us all in humility, selflessness and loyalty. Dipo Owoyemi wrote “Akowe Ajani was what my mum fondly called you. Akowe indeed, you followed your passion for education with the whole of your heart right from ND to PhD…”

Emmanuel Olulola said “Uncle Segun, I feel part of your assignments on earth is to ‘make people’ which you have done with all zeal. Sleep on Daddy Ore”. A lot of other people also bared their minds in black and white but the fact remains that Uncle Segun or Daddy Ore as different people called him is no more, but his labour of love remains still.

A builder of lives, a maker of men, an encourager, and a determined achiever has gone to be with the Lord. Many lives owe their achievements to you Baba Ore. I remember too many to put in this piece. This is the way I can grieve, the only way I can mourn. I pray Aunty Mobola and the beautiful children the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss.

A word for the family he left behind – Passing through this phase of life could be as through fire but remember, an angel went through the fire with the Hebrew boys (Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego). You are not alone in all of these. God is with you.

Ma sun olufe

 ki o si maa sinmi

Gbori le aya olugbala re

 A fe o sugbon Jesu fe o ju

Sun re; sun re; sun re

Uncle Segun goodnight, o digba o. We’ll meet at the saviour’s feet.

I am @oscarpoems