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Showing posts from May, 2022

FACT CHECKING BOLA TINUBU'S BACHELOR'S DEGREE

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By Akin Ojumu Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has at various times and in sundry places claimed he earned a bachelor’s degree in accountancy, with distinction, from Chicago State University in 1979.  In his now archived online bio, Tinubu wrote: “The brilliance of this young Nigerian showed in his ability to make the honours’ list of Richard Daley College. He subsequently transferred to the Chicago State University, Illinois, graduating with honours in 1979 and earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration (Accounting and Management). During his first year in Chicago State University, young Bola was given the rare privilege to partly teach other students of his Faculty remedial tutorial classes. Most of his colleagues and contemporaries at the university attributed their improved grades to his tutorial lectures.” He continues: “Throughout his undergraduate years, young Bola was on the Dean’s List and was honoured with the Outstanding Student’s Award, the University Scholar’s Award a

IT’S THE GUNS, DUM DUM!

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By Akin Ojumu One of the arguments we often hear the NRA, and its stooges in the right-wing echo chamber, make in support of their stance against gun regulation is that “Guns don’t kill people, only people with guns kill people.” Well, what do you know? The following are a few things that don’t kill people but are still regulated anyway: automobiles, pharmaceutical products, alcohol, cigarettes, pesticides, insecticides, poisons, bombs and explosives, etc. A parked vehicle can kill no one, unless and until it’s operated by someone. That’s the reason there are established regulations that stipulate the proper use of automobiles. It’s why we have driver’s license requirements, minimum age for driving, speed limit, driving lanes, when to overtake, children crossing, driving under the influence of alcohol, etc. We have these regulations because we know that the improper use of automobiles can lead to devastating consequences. What about alcohol? That bottle of Hennessy sitting on the shelf

TOWARD A MORE PERFECT UNION

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By Akin Ojumu Since Nigeria became an independent nation, it has had 13 heads of state. Nine of which were Hausa-Fulani, 2 Yorubas, and 1 each of Niger-Delta and Igbo origins. The only head of state of Igbo extraction Nigeria has had was Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi, and that was by mere happenstance. General Aguiyi-Ironsi assumed the role of head of state for a measly 194 days just to fill the leadership vacuum created by the 1966 botched military coup that led to the death of the civilian Prime Minister, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa. The following is a roster of Nigeria Heads of State: (1) Abubakar Tafawa Balewa (Prime Minister)/Nnamdi Azikiwe (President) (2) Aguiyi Ironsi (Military) (3) Yakubu Gowon (Military) (4) Murtala Muhammed (Military) (5) Olusegun Obasanjo (Military) (6) Shehu Shagari  (7) Muhammed Buhari (Military) (8) Ibrahim Babangida (Military) (9) Ernest Shonekan (10) Sani Abacha (Military) (11) Abdulsalami Abubakar (Military) (12) Olusegun Obasanjo (13) Umaru Yar’Adua (14) Goodluck

TIME TO BAR PRO-GUN POLITICIANS FROM RECEIVING HOLY COMMUNION

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Dear Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone, In your 20 May 2022 letter to your Diocese, explaining the reasons you decided to bar Speaker Nancy Pelosi from being admitted to Holy Communion, you wrote, and I quote: “Pope Francis has been one of the world’s most vocal advocates of human dignity in every stage and condition of life. He decries what he evocatively calls the “throwaway culture.”  There can be no more extreme example of this cultural depravity than when direct attacks on human life are enshrined in a nation’s law, celebrated by society, and even paid for by the government.  This is why Pope Francis, as much as any pope in living memory, has repeatedly and vividly affirmed the Church’s clear and constant teaching that abortion is a grave moral evil.” In the letter, you also expressed your responsibility to those under your pastoral care, writing: “As the Archbishop of San Francisco, I am bound to be “concerned for all the Christian faithful entrusted to [my] care” (Code of Canon

THE GOP GATHERS AT THE SHRINE OF THEIR GOD

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By Akin Ojumu Tuesday, May 24, 2022 A gun toting lunatic – wearing a tactical vest and carrying assault rifles with high-capacity magazines – walked into the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, barricaded himself inside, and shot dead, in cold blood, 19 children and two teachers. Friday, May 27, 2022 The 2022 Annual Convention of the National Rifle Association (NRA), the nation’s preeminent gun advocacy organization, kicks off today in Houston, Texas, less than 300 miles from the grounds where the blood of 19 children and two teachers was spilled. The lineup of Speakers billed to address the conclave of idol worshipers include disciples of the gun god such as the forever lying narcissist Donald Trump, carnival baker Texas Governor Greg Abbott, the two Senators representing the state of Texas, the most hated man in US Congress, Ted “Rafael” Cruz, and a man who has exceeded his mechanical limit, John Cornyn, as well as several other followers of the gun god in the GOP. Less than 72

CAUSE OF AMERICA’S GUN VIOLENCE: CAIN KILLED ABEL

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By Akin Ojumu The Republican Party has the unflattering reputation of fielding unelectable candidates in national elections. Over the years, some of the most colorful and wacky candidates you can think of have been picked as the party’s flag bearers in US Senate races especially. Predictably, the candidacy of many of these weirdos quickly flame out and they often implode long before the first vote is cast. Take for instance Tea Party Christine O’Donnell, the GOP candidate in the 2010 race for the Delaware Senate seat that the then Vice President Joe Biden had occupied for 30 years. In the run up to the election, her campaign was bedeviled with several missteps and unforced errors including an admission in a TV interview that she once was into witchcraft. “I dabbled into witchcraft – I never joined a coven. But I did, I did. I dabbled into witchcraft. I hung around people who were doing these things. I'm not making this stuff up. I know what they told me they do,” she said. Ms. O’Do

THE GOP WORSHIPS GOD…THE GUN GOD

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Members of the Republican Party fancy themselves as pro-god. Indeed, they are. They are worshippers of a “god” – the god of guns and instruments of mass murder. As faithful followers of the gun god, they loyally and dutifully sacrifice American children in burnt offerings. In a ritualistic orgy, they drink the blood of the innocent and eat the shredded flesh of slaughtered citizens. If you think I’m being hyperbolic, all you need to do to know that I’m deadpan serious is to check out where many of them stand on the proposed legislation that’ll make background checks a requirement for the purchase of firearms in the USA. This is a simple, commonsense law supported by an overwhelming majority of Americans. Majority of Republicans in Congress oppose it anyway. The New York Times reached out on Wednesday to all 50 Republicans in the Senate to see whether they would support a pair of House-passed measures to strengthen background checks for gun buyers. Within hours of the elementary school

TEXAS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL MASSACRE: UZIYAH GARCIA, AGE 8

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“The sweetest little boy I've ever known,” says his grandfather. Uziyah Garcia was 8 years old. He was a football savant and a future Tom Brady. This innocent soul died needlessly because GOP politicians in the pockets of gun manufacturers have erected all kinds of roadblocks in the way of enactment of sensible common sense gun safety legislation. They would not allow any law passed that would limit access to military-style assault weapons and large capacity magazines to mentally deranged individuals who have no business owning such weapons of destruction. Remember his name, you NRA stooges. The blood of this child is in your hands all you who care more about the right to bear arms than the right to live long.

THE CONTRIVED OUTRAGE OF TEXAS NRA PUPPETS

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By Akin Ojumu Texas Governor, Greg Abbott, held a press conference today where he provided updates on the massacre that occurred at the Robb Elementary School, Uvalde, Texas. Joining the Governor on stage at the presser were Texas Republican Party local, state, and national leaders including Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan, and Senators John Cornyn and Ted “Rafael” Cruz, among others. There’s one thing that all the GOP political figures on that stage have in common, every single one of them is a puppet of the National Rifle Association (NRA) and they are all stooges of the gun lobbyists. In exchange for political power, they’ve all sold their souls to powerful people who profit from manufacturing instruments of death. Their campaign coffers are filled with blood money flowing from the ill-gotten gain from sale of machine guns that maim and kill. Throughout their political careers, these men have been held captive by their masters. When the NRA asks them

MASS SHOOTING AT TEXAS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

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By Akin Ojumu Another day, another mass shooting. What else is new? This time around, the killing spree was at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. A gun man – a gun kid, really – walked in and opened fire instantly killing nineteen (19) children and two (2) adults. It’s the deadliest shooting at an elementary school since the 2012 devastating attack at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut which claimed the lives of twenty children (between six and seven years old) and six adult staff members.  Motive? Search me! It’s just another day in the paradise of mass shootings and bloodletting, called the United States of America. These senseless killings have become so commonplace, the American public has become numb to the incessant tragic shedding of innocent blood and the response of the their political leaders is by now quite typical and predictable. Especially gnawing, though, is the attitude of the dimwits of the Pro-God and Pro-life cycle to this reckless destruction of liv

YOU’RE NORMAL IF YOU’RE WHITE & SPEAK ENGLISH

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By Akin Ojumu Deservedly, James Bode, a local Pennsylvania Lyft ride-share driver, has gone viral for calling out racism during a recent ride. Bode, who himself is white, was on the job two weeks ago when he picked up a couple outside the Fossil Last Stand, a bar near Allentown, Pennsylvania. The female passenger, named Jackie, was the first to get into the backseat. As she was sliding in to make room for the male passenger, Jackie was thrilled to find that the driver was white. She expressed her delight by saying,  “Wow! You are a white guy.” The Lyft driver, James, who initially appeared not to have heard what Jackie said asked her courteously,  “What’s that?” Not understanding how inopportune her comments were, Jackie went on to restate for the driver what she initially said, “You are like a white guy.” Having now fully grasped Jackie’s prejudiced commentary, Bode, who was visibly shocked, quizzically responded,  “Excuse me!?” Still totally clueless that she has put her white foot i

MARK ESPER’S PHONY EPIPHANY

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By Akin Ojumu Mark Esper served as Defense Secretary in the Trump administration. He was one of the Trump’s officials who took the walk of shame on June 1, 2020, from the grounds of the White House through Lafayette Square to the historic St. John's Episcopal Church where Donald Trump hoisted the Bible upside down for a photo-op, after forcefully dispersing peaceful demonstrators with smoke canisters, riot shields, pepper balls, and horses to pave the way for a walk that lasted less than 20 minutes. Esper, who served as Trump’s Pentagon chief from July 2019 to November 2020,  has written a new book about his experience in Trump’s tumultuous administration. The book titled, “A Sacred Oath: Memoirs of a Secretary of Defense During Extraordinary Times,” is another one in the long line of gossipy tell-all books written after leaving office to cash-in while still relevant. It’s an attempt at image laundering by an unscrupulous Trump appointee who served the most corrupt, vile, and dange

I NEED YOU JESUS, COME TO MY RESCUE

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AN ODE OF THE DESPERATE By Akin Ojumu Despite the outward bravado In spite of all the seeming braggadocio Notwithstanding the exaggerated machismo I’m but an insecure soul With income coming in like a fusillade Money pouring into bank accounts in a barrage Investment portfolio growing into an avalanche I’m but an all hat no cattle flat broke bloke Although I live in a magnificent mansion Exotic cars line the driveway like decoration Closet full of designer outfits is an obsession I’m but an inadequate person Often I think I’ve got it all figured out There’s nothing I haven’t yet thought out Seem to have all of life’s equations worked out I’m but a know-nothing sort Behind closed door Away from the pretentious glamor Switching off the light of ostentatious grandeur I’m but an empty geezer When it’s all said and done Deep down in my heart of stone Even within the marrow of my bone I’m nothing but a lost bloke On my own I am nothing Of myself I accomplish nothing In myself I know nothing

THE LOW BAR OF GOOD GOVERNANCE IN NIGERIA

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By Akin Ojumu If there’s one explanation for the perennially horrible governments in Nigeria, it is the subservient attitude that a broad swath of Nigerians has towards the people they elect to public office coupled with the rather low expectation of what they hope elected officials will do while in office. This servile attitude and undersized expectation are in full display in a recent video by Njenje Media TV which showcased the King David University of Medical Sciences (KDUMS) located in Uburu, Ebonyi State. Billed as part of the effort by the independent news media to demand accountability from the government, the video featured a tour by Mazi Ezeoke, a correspondent of Njenje Media TV, of KDUMS facility currently being built by Ebonyi State. As he walked around what appears to be a glittering state-of-art facility of colorful buildings with delicate fittings and multiple floors high, Mazi Ezeoke couldn’t help but gush effusively over the massive project, hyperbolically describing