AFRICAN PLUME

By Akin Ojumu There’s nothing worse than going through life and letting it pass us by. It is easy to spend every moment of our existence counting time and yet fail to make the time we have count.  We often lose sight of the precious moments we are buffeted with on a daily basis, and we fail to appreciate the little showers of blessings life brings our way.  To truly be alive, we must embrace the life we have. For us to squeeze the last drop of the best out of life, we have to rely on the help of the Holy Spirit. It is only God that can keep us in the moment. Without God we’ll be consumed with regret of what we don’t have, could have, or should have and completely miss out on enjoying that which we do have.  _________________________________ "Keep Me In The Moment" - Jeremy Camp I’ve been thinking ‘bout time And where does it go How can I stop my life from passing me by I don’t know  I’ve been thinking ‘bout family and how it’s going so fast Will I wake up o...

By Akin Ojumu Lately, I have been unusually loquacious about my past. For those who regularly follow my musings on social media, you’d have noticed that, in the past couple of days, I have cranked the window open, ever so slightly, into some of my life’s experiences during my college days and early adult life. If you are one of those keen observers of this space and have picked up on your well attuned radar on these my reminiscences, you are absolutely spot on.  Indeed, this has been a week of reflection for me. From time to time – maybe not as often as I should – I slip into a state of rumination that surprises even myself. At such rare moments, I find myself pondering about life in general, thinking about what should have, could have, or would have. Perhaps it is midlife crisis or old age, I cannot tell you the reason for my contemplative melancholia, and that’s because I do not know why I fall into this state. But whatever the reason, thinking about these things has brought to f...

By Akin Ojumu Like moths drawn to flame, people who crave the limelight are often consumed by the heat of the light they seek. Cameras and the klieg lights have a way of blinding the mind and stealing the soul. Consistently and habitually seeking the affirmation of man is a sickness of the soul and a disease of the insecure. My close friends know I’m tightlipped when it comes to my personal affairs. Drawing attention to myself is not something I’m comfortable with. In fact, it is a behavior I detest a great deal. An impenetrable wall of privacy is built around my life, only a few are let in and that is on a need-to-know only basis. Except I'm convinced an event in my life or family is something worth sharing, and one that I strongly believe will lift somebody up or bring hope to someone else, I generally, as a matter of principle, keep it to myself. That’s just who I am and there’s nothing to it. The story you are about to read is one I never wanted to tell. The reason I decided to...

By Akin Ojumu Almost exactly 22 years ago today, I boarded an Amsterdam bound KLM flight from Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, on my way to New York. I was just another one out of many young Nigerians who couldn’t wait to flee the killing field of dreams of our motherland. Just about the time I was to head for the airport, the heavens literarily opened up, and it started to rain old women with clubs, as they say in Afrikaans. It was as though Mother Africa was weeping for another one of her children fleeing her arms for the safety and security of another woman’s bosom.  Such was the torrential downpour in Lagos on that fateful day that I was soaked to my underwear. In no time, Lagos streets were flooded, and the roads had quickly turned to a mayhem of parked vehicles going for miles on end. As they are wont to do, the characteristically impatient Lagos drivers were blasting their horns all at the same time in a deafening cacophony. Inching my way through the log jam, ...

As a share of the population, Nigeria has one of the lowest rates of COVID-19 vaccination in Africa. With a rate of 0.57 percent, vaccination uptake is well below the average for the entire African continent (0.89 percent). The rate of COVID-19 vaccination for Ghana, 2.71 percent, is almost 5 times that of Nigeria. Even in Togo, Nigeria’s little brother, the vaccination rate is 1.93 percent, and more than double that of Nigeria. Here are a few to know things about the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccines in Nigeria: 1. Which vaccines are currently available in Nigeria?   The AstraZeneca Vaccine is the only COVID-19 vaccine in use in Nigeria at the moment. Nigeria has received doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine through COVAX – a program co-led by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, along with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness (CEPI) – to ensure equitable vaccine access for low- and middle-income countries. Nigeria is also expecting another 40 mil...

  This is how it sounds when a thief is caught with both his hands deep in the cookie jar and the hot wrath of justice is about to fall on the knucklehead. It is pitiful, cynical, and phony.

An Open Letter to Our Fans The last few days have shown us yet again the depth of feeling our supporters around the world have for this great club and the game we love. We needed no reminding of this but the response from supporters in recent days has given us time for further reflection and deep thought. It was never our intention to cause such distress, however when the invitation to join the Super League came, while knowing there were no guarantees, we did not want to be left behind to ensure we protected Arsenal and its future. As a result of listening to you and the wider football community over recent days we are withdrawing from the proposed Super League. We made a mistake, and we apologise for it. We know it will take time to restore your faith in what we are trying to achieve here at Arsenal but let us be clear that the decision to be part of the Super League was driven by our desire to protect Arsenal, the club you love, and to support the game you love through greater solida...

If you knelt down on the neck of a living and breathing human being for 9 minutes and 29 seconds, while that person is handcuffed and lying face down on the street begging and pleading with you that they couldn't breathe, until they passed out and died, and months after you still didn't show any remorse for your actions and even believe you did nothing wrong, you are a real monster who shouldn't be allowed to roam free among other human beings. You belong behind bars among your fellow heartless monsters for the rest of your pathetic life.

By Akin Ojumu Saint Luke the Evangelist, that great physician who was a companion of Apostle Paul on several of his missionary journeys, recorded in his eponymous Gospel a parable Jesus once told his disciples about a rich man whom the Lord Jesus described as a fool. According to the parable, a man from among the masses of people surrounding Jesus who came to hear His message of salvation asked Him to tell his brother to share their family inheritance with him. Now, it is not clear that the brother was amongst the crowd. But Jesus said to him, “ Man, who appointed Me a judge or an arbitrator over the two of you? ”  Then Jesus warned His disciples, “ Watch out and guard yourselves against every form of greed; for not even when one has an overflowing abundance does his life consist of nor is it derived from his possessions.” The Lord proceeded to tell a parable, saying, “ There was a rich man whose land was very fertile and productive. And he began thinking to himself, ‘What shall I ...

According to popular Televangelist, Pat Robertson, "The problem with the police is not the lack of proper training. We do not have the brightest or the finest people in the police department. They need to hire a more superior workforce. We can't afford to have a bunch of clowns running around that are underpaid and who really aren't the best or the brightest." The moment the police loses the support o f an uberconservative like Pat Robertson, or be on the receiving end of criticisms he typically reserves for communists, socialists and Black Live Matter activists, you know for a fact and without a shadow of doubt, that the institutionalized lynching of black people by the police has gone too far and their systemic assassination of black folks has crossed a line that even the bleeding heart of Grandpa Pat cannot live with.

IFN-λ4 IS ASSOCIATED WITH INCREASED RISK AND EARLIER OCCURRENCE OF SEVERAL COMMON INFECTIONS IN AFRICAN CHILDREN Ludmila Prokunina-Olsson, Robert D. Morrison, Adeola Obajemu, Almahamoudou Mahamar, Sungduk Kim, Oumar Attaher, Oscar Florez-Vargas, Youssoufa Sidibe, Olusegun O. Onabajo, Amy A. Hutchinson, Michelle Manning, Jennifer Kwan, Nathan Brand, Alassane Dicko, Michal Fried, Paul S. Albert, Sam M. Mbulaiteye & Patrick E. Duffy  Genes & Immunity 23 March 2021 Abstract Genetic polymorphisms within the IFNL3/IFNL4 genomic region, which encodes type III interferons, have been strongly associated with clearance of hepatitis C virus. We hypothesized that type III interferons might be important for the immune response to other pathogens as well.  In a cohort of 914 Malian children, we genotyped functional variants IFNL4-rs368234815, IFNL4-rs117648444, and IFNL3-rs4803217 and analyzed episodes of malaria, gastrointestinal, and respiratory infections recorded at 30,626 clini...

Our beloved Billy is in a better place now. He has gone to be with the LORD and he's resting at the bosom of His Maker, free from the pain and troubles of this sinful world.  We rejoice in the knowledge that Billy is dancing with the angels now. We totally and completely surrender to the will of the Almighty God because we know that He loves us limitlessly and cares about us passionately. God has got our back. He knows, and desires, what's best for us. And He is able to make something good come out of heart wrenching situations such as the passing of our Billy, the Rose. The Scripture says, “The memory of the just is blessed.” That is to say, “We have happy memories of the godly.”  When it's our own turn to depart this world, and having done all to stand in all things, may we have lived in such a way that people will have fond memories of us and may they have good testimonies to give about how our lives impacted them positively.  Much more importantly, may we hear ou...