Just in case you think you missed anything in the last week, I have great news for you.
It’s just the past recycled as news.
Nothing has changed.
As it has been in the last 76 years since Israel’s independence in 1948, here’s the past as present.
The conflict in the Middle East is no nearer a resolution today than it was when Iraq, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia gathered together to declare war against Israeli independence and existence.
This is the deal, dear reader.
It was prophesied that Jerusalem would be destroyed. It was destroyed in AD 70. It was prophesied that they would gather again. They reassembled in 1948.
It was prophesied that the children of Hagar will forever be adversaries to the children of Sarah.
So, why is anyone surprised?
Let it be clear. There will be no peace in that part of the world the way we understand peace. The people there would have to come to some form of (modus vivendi) to the end that they are just gonna have to find away to coexist.
Fire rages in the region.
Hezbollah has been firing rockets since October 7, 2023. Israel has been employing the deadly weapon of a sledgehammer to respond in triple kind. The world only sees the Israeli response. The world cries: Enough.
Unfortunately for the world, if ever there was a man of steel, Netanyahu is that man. He is as much a man of blood as his forebear, King David was. He will not yield one inch on anything. Nothing.
So, here’s the deduction.
The situation in the Middle East will get out of hand. Everyone, whether it be an individual or a village, a State or a country should find a way, and innovate a way to navigate an uncertain future.
Meanwhile, the United States which already has 40,000 troops in the region is sending more out of an abundance of caution.
So much for peace with deaf ears everywhere in the region.
Climate Issues.
As in Bangladesh, so it is in Borno. Flooding has engulfed cities across the world in ways never before imagined. It would appear that no amount of infrastructure can contain the heavens when it decides to rain for 9 straight hours at the ferocity of Noah’s deluge.
What therefore, can we do about it?
Maybe we should change the way we build our homes, no matter where we build. Imagine 10 feet of flood and lay your foundations accordingly.
Remember the story of the man who built his house on the hill. That’s your cue right there to combating climate change.
They are Poisoning our Blood.
That’s present and ongoing rhetoric from Donald J. Trump about immigrants. It is an old tactic being recycled. This is pure and undiluted racist trope.
Only an ignorant person believes that blood can be poisoned. Beneath the skin we wear, whether it be Pink, Yellow, Brown or anything in between, the entirety of humanity everywhere is divided into blood groups that can be found in Benin City as well as in faraway Germany, Finland or Russia.
If you know the story of Emmet Till, (A 14-year old boy) who was visiting his cousins in Money, Mississippi who was brutally murdered by two White supremacists, then you would understand what he said that infuriated the two vandals.
To begin with, when they came to drag him out of his uncle’s house at midnight, he asked to put on his socks and shoes before leaving with his eventual killers.
In the course of torturing him, they asked him — “Do you think you’re better than us?”
He replied: “No one is better than anyone. We’re all the same.”
His reply infuriated them the more. They tied a barbed wire around his neck, shot him in the head and dumped his body in the Tallahatchie River. The two men were tried and acquitted by an all White jury.
So, whenever you’re motivated to support a man who’s ignorant enough to think that anyone is coming to poison anyone’s blood, think about the killers of Emmet and think about Emmet Till’s words.
And, by the way, it won’t matter whether Trump wins or Kamala wins. One thing is certain—-the heavens will not fall and Seed time and Harvest time shall not cease.
The Nigerian Economy and the Dangote Factor.
Finally, it would appear that relief has come the way of long-suffering Nigerians. Dangote has achieved a feat in the order of, and bigger in its sheer magnitude than the construction of the Hoover Dam which put over 2.6 million people to work and helped to pull America out of the Great Depression that began in 1929 and lasted for 10 years.
I hope the President can see the monumental impact which the Dangote Refinery represents and declare Dangote a National Security Asset. The President should set up an Army Battalion to protect Dangote. It is in our national interest.
To this end, it is the unequivocal declaration of the writer that:
“What is good for Dangote Refinery is good for Nigeria.”
Edo Election and Great Relief.
Elections were held in 192 Wards across Edo State on September 21. One thing I’ve looked forward to is the cessation of hostilities after September 21.
Now, that the votes have been cast, and a winner has been declared, we must all sheath our swords, roll up our sleeves and get down to work. There’s a State to build.
Oktoberfest.
Wherever you live in the world, this is the time to get yourself a German friend. The Germans love their beer so much that they dedicated a holiday to celebrate their great love. The celebrations began on September 21st, and will end on October 6th.
Liberate yourself. Indulge yourself. After all, it’s just for 2 weeks. Caution: Use Uber only during the Oktoberfest season. Do not drive.
Other Worlds.
As we already know by now, for the sake of an abundance of caution, the Starliner Craft that took two astronauts to Space has since returned to earth safely. The astronauts remain there until February, 2025 when some friends of theirs from Space X are supposed to be paying a visit from down the road called Earth. Meanwhile, man’s quest to conquer the universe has led to a new quest. NASA is sending an unmanned craft called the Europa to go out there to investigate life forms in a moon of Jupiter. They want to see if they can go and populate the place. So much for man’s many adventures.
That Guy in North Carolina.
Donald Trump called him Martin Luther King times 2.
His love for the North Carolina candidate for Governor was put to the test after the fellow was accused of extreme rhetoric, including the propagation of Nazi doctrine, and the return of slavery. According to him, he is a black Nazi, and were slavery to be reintroduced, he would love to own a few slaves.
Here’s the deal. Someone probably needs to remind him that if he had lived in Germany during the Nazi era and gone for their first meeting somewhere near the Bundestag, they would have welcomed him as much as Turkey for lunch.
A man like him ought to be pitied.
It was therefore no surprise to anyone who knows Donald Trump’s playbook that he dropped the fellow as quickly as one drops live hot coal when he denied him an invitation to his rally in Wilmington, NC on Saturday.
The Nigerian Economy Suffocates.
In Nigeria, the hot topic continues to be the economy. Businesses are shutting down, and families are reeling as inflation rises and wages shrink. We find ourselves in a situation unknown to Management economics.
The crucial question arising in the case of Nigeria has nothing to do with scarcity, or drought as is the case in many countries that have experienced crises. Ours, it would appear, rests on the inability, unwillingness, or the depth of greed that blinds us against the pursuit of the greater good.
I took some time to speak with a former banker, Stockbroker and economist during the past week and here’s what he had to say.
“Every country has one form of subsidy or another,” he continued. “In the case of Nigeria, our rulers chose a product which God had endowed our country with—Crude Oil. This is barefaced fraud, he concluded. You cannot subsidize what you already have.” He went on—“If a farmer harvests 100 tubers of yam from his farm, he sells 80 and reserves 20 for his family’s consumption—would you call that a subsidy?”
He went on to explain why energy ought to be the main driver of economic growth—“Because it is one thing that affects everything. This is supposed to be our advantage which has been turned into a disadvantage.” He added, “Every time the price of Oil goes up in the international market, we begin to panic instead of rejoicing. Why should it be so?”
He concluded, “If we want to change the face of the Nigerian economy and help businesses to thrive and grow our economy phenomenally, and create jobs, it is not only enough to sell the Crude Oil to Nigerian refineries in Naira, it should not in any way be linked to the dollar. It should only reflect the cost of extraction and transportation to local refineries. If we have a government that understands that this is what needs to be done, the future of the Nigerian economy will be on steroids,” Mr. Edwin Ikhinmwin concluded.
Michael O. Ovienmhada.
