Straight Talk with Chukwudi Obi

I am not going to convince you on why you must fast today. No. Hell No. The Holy Book has done justice to this and I will be doing a great disservice to the honourable gentlemen who laboured to ensure that what we have today called Holy Bible will serve its purpose. I will not convince you to fast because I will be duplicating the roles of our brothers coordinating the fast and prayer sessions. I will not embark on such mental exercise. Let the wise hear, understand and practise. But I will tell you a story; a story of my life. This is my story. As a boy growing up, I had dreams. But, like many others, my parents had a different dream for me. Though I found it difficult to choose a career path, a hand was steering me to my calling. (I will fast for all those who are passing through this same situation today that God will steer them to their professional calling) My mother bought me ‘ABABIO’ (those who studied Chemistry in the secondary school know this book very well. I

Umunumo is located somewhere in Ehime Mbano Local Government Area of Imo state. I bet not many people have heard the name but there is always a first time (so you have heard the name now). It is the place of my birth and every year since I was born, I keep returning to place of my root to see my kit and kin. For the records, it comprises of ten large communities and all of them are yet to develop. Tarred roads are few, health care centres are even fewer. I am yet to drink from a public water tap in my village. Though my people pay huge sums of money, electricity has eluded them. I always put my 11kva (noisemaker) generating set in my boot when I am travelling as an alternative source of power. Many of my mates in the villages are still roaming the streets. Employment seems to be a mirage for them. They look at those in the city with envy and are always expecting something from them. Of course this is not part of our culture but they cannot help the situation. However, the

Death is something inevitable. It is a necessary stage in life we all must pass. It is a corridor we must pass to reach the afterlife; to reach Chukwu Okike, God the Creator. So do not flinch or have second thoughts when it is discussed. However, the focus of this mental exercise is not on death itself but the manner, nature and form in which it comes. Alot has been said about the ‘Aluu 4’ killings. While I pray for the repose of their souls, I baffle at the nature of death these four passed through; despicable to say the least, barbaric as many had tagged. Truth is that the only people fit to die this way are those at the top echelon of power who add 57 kobo on every litre of petrol for no just sake; those who use their ‘good and high’ offices to take loans that mortgage our collective future; those who doctor reports for a fee and have the effrontery to deny it even when evidence proves otherwise. Reports had it that the four undergraduates were beaten, clubbed and hacked t

FREEDOM AT LAST (1) F reedom is a very relative concept. Much as humans want freedom (as free as air or bird kind of thing), therein lies alot of responsibilities. As an adolescent, I practically fought to be free from the clutches of my parents and ‘enjoy’ the good things of life like my peers. I grew up not playing as much football as I wanted. Once I heard the sound of my mother’s milk- coloured Peugeot 504 then, I would race up the stairs three at a time, though I was bow legged; and it was often. The only opportunity I had to be free was when we were enrolled for evening lessons in some place a long distance away from home. We were given some money for our transport, but we preferred to walk the distance with friends as a group with. Later, we would buy groundnuts or sweets in the spirit of freedom ‘since we don’t enjoy them at home’. All these tantrums did not prevent me from excelling in my grades. I was among top three each time and was chosen in many occasions as part o