InspireGrow

They call him “Twenty-Four.” Yoandri Hernandez Garrido’s nickname comes from the six perfectly formed fingers on each of his hands and the six impeccable toes on each foot. Hernandez is proud of his extra digits and calls them a blessing, saying they set him apart and enable him to make a living by scrambling up palm trees to cut coconuts and posing for photographs in this eastern Cuban city popular with tourists. One traveler paid $10 for a picture with him, Hernandez said, a bonanza in a country with an average salary of just $20 a month. “It’s thanks to my 24 digits that I’m able to make a living, because I have no fixed job,” Hernandez said. Known as polydactyly, Hernandez’s condition is relatively common, but it’s rare for the extra digits to be so perfect. Anyone who glanced quickly at his hands would be hard-pressed to notice anything different unless they paused and started counting. Hernandez said that as a boy he was visited by a prominent Cuban orthopedist ...

One will always be loyal to Nigeria but one cannot guarantee loyalty to its government at anytime. Loyalty to a system is earned not given. Sophists of repressive and non-performing governments often make it look like the government of a country and the country are the same. But are they? It is obvious they are not. Nigerians have celebrated the death of at least one of its Head of government. The celebration was not because they were not loyal to their country; it was because they were indeed loyal. More often than not the position of loyalty one takes with a government depends on the loyalty of that government to the state itself. If a government is found to be loyal to select individuals rather than the majority of the people, the people lose belief in that government. A supposed pastor said Nigerians remain loyal to the European clubs irrespective of the kind of season they have but are not loyal to their country in difficult times. That’s bollocks. Nigerians are more loyal to...

Members of a terrorist gang that has targeted and bombed civilian centers; murdering and maiming the innocent in droves deserve severe punishment. Therefore the prospect of an amnesty for Boko Haram rankles and boggles the mind. In its gross unfairness, it disregards the comeuppance of Boko Haram and ignores the pains, sorrow and tears of its victims and their families. Only a spineless and craven government can countenance amnesty for Boko Haram. But the Goodluck Jonathan administration, wobbly under the weight of ineptitude, corruption, thievery and terrorism – indirect and inconspicuous terrorism – against the people cannot defeat a terrorist insurgency. Therefore, it has no choice but to placate terrorism. In a passionate and unassailable newspaper article against amnesty for Boko Haram, Femi Fani-Koyode wrote, “No one should ever sing the amnesty song again...What do …we tell the families of those slaughtered by Boko Haram? How do we wipe away their tears and ensure that t...

When graces fall upon my musing ink Of songs, of notes or of diverse poesy, I laugh, what grace befalls undainted ink? Which upliftment awaits in tint'd feigncy? For countless time i walked through these dried trails, And countless time the leaves in mocking swings, The wind like none whisp'ring symphonic hails, At my defects and stings by rhythmed strings. These have i felt and these my songing lines To sit and gaze upon the waning moon The coldness betiding my wearying lines So have i felt my days undefined tune. When graces fall upon my musing thought. By heavens shall my lines ever besought.

I’m neither a prophet nor a prophet’s son. Yes, I’m not a pastor. But I have a message for Nigerian Pentecostal pastors. I’m here to warn you. The Lord is angry with you. If you choose, you can ignore the message at your own peril. Because you have sided with the tyrannical government of President Jonathan to oppress and terrorize the poor, you are fighting God: it’s a case of God vs. gospel comedians. And we know who’s going to win. I call you gospel comedians because you teach and practice false gospel. You’re hypocrites. And from the body of evidence, that’s who you’re! The time to change your minds about God, yourselves, and your wickedness that characterize your life is now. In a word, you must repent. Not long ago, we were inundated with stories of pastors who went shopping with audacious frenzy for jets. In the past week or so, the story of Pastor Chris Oyakhilome’s offshore company clogged the news arteries of different media outlets. In a cache of d...

Fellow Nigerians, please allow me to set the records straight before I go into the main meat of this letter. On a personal note, I have no problem with President Goodluck Jonathan seeking a second term in office. It is his legitimate Constitutional right. It does not matter if he truly reached an unwritten gentleman’s agreement with some members of his political party, openly or clandestinely. When did it become a criminal offence for Nigerian politicians to renege on their promises? At the very worst, he would have committed a moral offence of being a reprobaterather than a gentleman who keepsto his words. Finito! But that is an act of indecorum which is not punishable under any of our Acts or Statutes. My take is simple and straight-forward: let Jonathan run, if he wants to. It is cowardly to stylishly force him out of the race. The essence of democracy is to give every aspirant a chance except we can establish legal reasons to debar him. The Nigerian Constitution permits ...