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Toast to your good health

    I’m not one of those guys that always gets caught between trying to eat healthy and trying to eat tasty, I go with tasty every time. But when you find something that caters to your taste buds while still focusing on your health, it’s worth many mentions. Nigeria is one of those countries that has an alternative to almost everything, you will find out that most of the juice and beverages we drink are made up of sugar, flavor and coloring. But nothing as good and as truthful as Scubed Juice. Right off the bat, it tells you exactly what it is. 100% fruit content with no sugar, coloring or preservative whatsoever.  
 

Wide array of flavors

We haven’t gone all the way in on the vegan lifestyle yet, so in a bid to be health conscious, most food supplements place more emphasis on a products health requirement, abandoning its taste. But Scubed although not a vegan alternative or food supplement, dances on that thin line between health and taste as it satisfies both. 
Staying true to its fruity roots, it has a lot of Flavors and combinations you could pick from. As opposed to just one standard flavor, this gives you options: where you can try different fruits to get exactly the blend you want. 
 

100% fruit content

It tastes wonderful, and can be served as both a leisure beverage and for cocktail purposes. It’s a true testament to not sacrificing one for the other because, it takes both its taste and your health into account.
This isn’t a paid advert, it’s more of a public service announcement: and I deserve accolades or some sort of reward for putting you onto Scubed juice. It’s so refreshing, it would be a crime to keep it to myself. You could send an Instagram direct message to @scubedfreshjuice or check them on Facebook at Facebook.com/Scubed juice or better still, just call them on 08023743414 to order yours now.
Don’t say I never did anything for you. Peace and Love


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Rain and Wins

    Hi, how was your weekend? Mine was sort of great (drops of rain here and there), but ultimately it went well. I met comedian Ebiye: super great dude. Imagine, he apologized to me for insulting Singer Aramide at the headies. Can you believe it? Lol, I don’t even know her, so I couldn’t care less.  You may still be basking in the Euphoria of Wizkid selling out the 02, or Real Madrid winning the champions league, either way, it was a great weekend. Asides from the fact that I think Sergio Ramos should be kept in a cage, it’s nice to see everybody winning. 
Davido sold out a 10,000-seater arena at Suriname too (only God knows where that is). But I can’t hate, a win is a win. And I’m glad because, after the ‘Assurance’ thing, he just wasn’t doing it for me anymore (great artist/big show off). I hate to be a sour puss, but the whole assurance hype has made it like 1000x harder to be in a relationship. In as much as you have the grounded girls that aren’t really phased by it and know that not everyone and every situation can be rosy like that, you also have the girls that have carried that whole situation on their heads and are making ridiculous demands from their spouse.
 How do I feel about it? Mixed feelings really. If the man is crazy about his babe and decides to show her off and splurge on her, let him be. You will find out that most of the people chatting about it online are jealous because it takes a certain amount of hurt to go and dig up old information about someone and try to bring them down. Jealous because they are not in that situation, they would do anything to make sure Davido and his babe break up (why are you hating from outside the club? You can’t even get in). I don’t even take internet comments and criticism too seriously, there’s an abundance of angry and misguided people on there. As a man and as a lover, he has set the bar high in terms of romantic gestures and what is expected. 
All I’m saying is he should have thought of people like us that can’t afford Toyota’s for ourselves talk less of a Porsche for our girlfriends. After seeing some comments online, I’m steadily wondering why people feel entitled to another person’s money? It’s his money: he made it, so he can spend it anyhow he wants. What appears like a waste on your own path might not necessarily be a waste to another person. Peace and Love
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Announcement: Trust has left the building!

    Why can’t people just be trustworthy? I went to a store a couple of nights ago to buy baked beans for my now almost nightly routine of bread and baked beans, and the baked beans I bought was expired. I didn’t even think to check it or realise it sooner until I got home, opened it and took a couple of spoons. I’ve tasted a lot of baked beans to know when one tastes funny. So, I looked at the bottom of the can, and lo and behold it expired last year. Is it my fault for trusting the supermarket that they would sell me the right thing or is it my fault that I didn’t carefully inspect what I was buying? 
That’s a rhetorical question: because either way, it’s still my fault and I know it. In as much as I should have checked what I was buying, what is the world coming to where people stock and sell expired products? You might say to yourself ‘haven’t you been in Nigeria since? This is normal’, Yes it happens a lot, but no its not normal. I guess I should apologise for subconsciously adopting a sense of normalcy in my life.  I thought of going back to make trouble, but I figured to let it slide: as the shop is owned by a husband and wife duo just trying to survive, plus we don’t have much of a legal system in the country that supports suing small businesses anyway. 
They aren’t even registered to begin with, so that’s a waste of time. The whole thing got me thinking, we wont die if we do the right thing? I remember the Nigeria I used to read about in old books, where people would leave their wares unattended, then if you want to buy something you just come and drop your money. Trust. Now if you do that, I guarantee you all your things would be gone by the time you get back. I’m also reminded of Dora Akunyilis fight against fake drugs. 
Why in the world would you parade and sell concoctions as a drug that can cure people, when in actual sense it kills? What if I had eaten that baked beans and died? The last time I saw goods unattended in a market setting, was a couple of months ago in an Abuja village. I guess village life also has its perks. We can be true ever time if we try. Peace and love
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Poor Little Rich

    Over the years, I’ve learnt to respect everybody and their life expectancy. The term ‘success’ is a construct that appears to be all inclusive but subjective at the same time. Its definition varies from person to person, as success might not mean the same thing to me that it means to you: and that’s what I mean by respecting everyone’s life expectancy. You would be surprised to find that some people don’t want to drive hummers or live in mansions like a lot of people do, before they deem themselves successful. 
But does that make your definition more valid than theirs? Some have that as their dream, but others don’t: and there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s not that they’re lazy or thinking low, that’s just what they want. I know people that will kill to work a thankless job, and I know people that would rather take low income jobs, just if they have peace of mind. We might not understand it, but that’s the way it is. I was lying in bed recently, mind racing from topic to topic (as usual) and somehow, I started thinking about banking. As much as some people will swear to you that it’s a boring job, you will find that that boring job is actually someone else’s dream. 
On one hand you have someone barely getting through the day, and you have another person that wants to do that for the rest of their life. The subjectivity of success. There are people that just being able to send their kids to school or being able to provide for their family is success. Irrespective of how meagre their salary is or how irrelevant their job is, or however inconsequential in the society they appear to be, if they can reach the goals they have set for themselves, they are fulfilled. The fact that they don’t want what you want doesn’t mean they deserve less respect or they sold themselves short.
I’m in no way saying we should all dream in black and white or partake in any injustice by not living up to our full potential, but if a person decides to stop or not pursue, he owes you no explanation as to why. He can offer it, and it’s your duty as the next man to respect his/her decision. What really matters is happiness and contentment. Definitely dream in HD, but before you question the hustle of another person and make that judgement, you must first find out how that person defines success. Peace and Love
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Whenever you’re ready, father Time

    In my alone time, I always beat myself up and question why I hadn’t ventured into certain things earlier? If I had started writing or blogging a while back, who knows where I’d be by now? I would have owned my skills to the point where I’d be maybe dragging popularity with the likes of Linda Ikeji, but I realised something: everything is all about timing. Back then, I didn’t even know what I didn’t know, so I guess I’m better off right now. Then, I didn’t think the way I think now or frame my thoughts and opinions in the way they’re shaped today. 
Yes, I was writing: and it was good stuff, but still. I’m not saying right now I know everything or I’m pulling all the right stops, but I’m getting there. Sometimes, the things I didn’t really understand when I was younger I go back to revisit now that I’m older and more mature. Because at that time, one or two constructs were just too advanced for me to understand. A lot of my perception as a child was shaped by things around me. For starters, irrational as it may seem, I had resigned to naming my first son ‘Biker’ based of a movie I had seen: it was called ‘Nam angels’. You will find that at times, when the human mind can’t comprehend certain concepts, it places it on the back burner awaiting a time it would be better understood. 
Even as an adult, no matter how much you try, you can’t understand some things. You just couldn’t get it before, but your mind will open to it at another time: pointing to the fact that maybe that thing you were trying wasn’t meant for you at that time. It’s hard to be a slave to time, it’s always a dicey situation. Time can be nice to you and sometimes it may not.  I was speaking to a big homie some days ago who was telling me maybe the reason I wasn’t super rich by now was because God was trying to protect me from something drastic. like if I had money, I may have gotten in an accident or something. 
My first thought was ‘whatever, I still want the money like that’, but on second thought, what if I wasn’t ready for it? Having said this, in life there are things we aren’t ever supposed to understand. Like the movie inception, I’ve seen it about 5 times at different intervals and still don’t understand it,or the cryptic lyrics to a lot of songs. You might know this but let me remind you, timing is key. Peace and Love.
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Blurred Lines Pt 2

    I can’t remember the last time one of my tweets got as much as 70 retweets or one of my opinions caused large scale uproar, but tears and mind bulging discussions are just some of the reactions that have trailed Kanye West’s tweet ever since the now infamous MAGA and ‘slavery is a choice’ incidents. I realize the details of the issue have been over flogged (you must be living under a rock if you haven’t heard), but here’s a quick rundown of the facts.
 A couple of weeks ago, rapper Kanye West tweeted for the first time in a while, stating his album release date and other things. The tweets were coming in such quick succession it was hard to keep up. And any real Kanye fan will tell you when Kanye goes on Twitter rants like that, something phenomenal usually happens.  Kickstarting this whole episode was a picture of him wearing a MAGA hat (Make America great again): President Donald Trump’s signature hat, with a caption that read ‘it’s all love over here’. While people were still reeling in that shock, he followed it up with tweets saying he and the president both have dragon breathe, sorry dragon energy, and ‘the Donald’ is his friend bla bla bla. It all really goes downhill from there so I’ll spare you.
The problem with that is, Kanye is a beacon in the black community (a man that once attacked President Bush for not caring about black people), so to see him align himself with someone that is supposedly a minority hating racist is unbelievable. A couple of days later, he grants an interview to TMZ, in which he states, ‘slavery was a choice’. You can imagine the horror. This is another classic example of how free speech without consideration of its aftershock can be disastrous. Once again, in as much as I understand Kanye’s rant about slavery being a choice: as an illustration of a defeatist mentality, it just shows that he should have put a little bit more thought into what effect it would have and how it would be perceived.
 Through his series of tweets in which he tried to offer up an explanation, you could sense he was approaching this from a liberal standpoint. ‘He loves Donald Trump’? That’s his opinion and nothing wrong with that. No coonery or buffoonery there, and no uncle tom shenanigans either. Could he have passed that message in a better way? Yes, 10 times better. But because we have free thought doesn’t mean we can willy nilly make ridiculous statements. It’s no secret that recently, black people in America have been using racism as a crutch for everything. I mean, there are situations that are blatant racism and there are some that are not. Like the genius that Kanye so painstakingly points out that he is, he should be able to take into consideration every factor and cater to every sect of his fan base and the world in general: which is filled with people from diverse educational and social backgrounds. 
We all know Kanye has no filter, and we all know he’s a free thinker: but does that make it excusable? People shouldn’t be held accountable for what they say?
 No matter how nice and rosy the place your statement is coming from, when it’s not properly conveyed or is ambiguous in nature, it will always be met with mixed reactions and misunderstanding. But, in as much as it’s the responsibility of opinion molders to responsibly think freely, it’s your duty as the information consumer to sift out the fact from fiction and not believe or follow blindly, as these people are just normal human beings themselves and are prone to mistakes. Peace and Love
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Blurred Lines

    Honestly, there should be a limit to which we listen to opinion molders and influencers; because as I always say, you must run your race by yourself. So, what applies to Mr. A, might not necessarily apply to you. In as much as we may follow, we shouldn’t follow someone so blindly we refuse to see or admit when they’re going the wrong way and support them regardless. You’re just damning yourself. As in, you on an individual level – singular you. We all have the power to convince people. Now, that power or degree varies from person to person, some more than others; and with that power comes responsibility, which is closely followed by a voice.
No, not the voice inside your head, a voice that’s heard and revered by the public which you use to express your opinions. In some cases, your words carry and become the norm, but in others, they don’t. Cases in question – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie of Nigeria and Kanye West of America. These two present extremes from separate schools of thought and continents. In the past weeks, both Chimamanda and Kanye have taken for granted their elevated positions and committed the ultimate blunder. Nobel laureate and feminist – Chimamanda, while interviewing former American presidential candidate – Hilary Clinton, asked the ex-first lady why the title ‘wife’ appears first on her Twitter bio? No harm intended; simple question, yes? But no. 
First things first, the interview began on a great note, with smiles all around. It was a very intellectual discussion, as both women know their metal. Left to me, Ms. Adichie was trying to approach that statement/question from a ‘wife is not an accomplishment or achievement’ perspective, which I totally understand and agree with. Obviously, it was largely misconstrued. Her error was not considering the effect of her words, and how easily they can be mistaken and turned against her; which is exactly what happened. At times, a lot of people won’t understand or look beneath the surface, so it’s your duty as a speaker and Nobel laureate (even more), to put it in the easiest way ever so it doesn’t appear ambiguous. 
I also believe that you can’t tell people what and how to feel. If they feel the need to brandish the fact that they’re wives or mothers, it’s not your place to tell them that is wrong. Feminism is about equality, and being a strong independent woman – a woman that doesn’t depend on a man to survive. But if you reduce it to guidelines or a set of instructions, your initial narrative will be abandoned, and it will take on a new form. Now on Kanye West, what to do with Mr. West?
(Story will be continued in the next post)
Peace and Love.
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Saints and Sinners

    It’s been a very intriguing past couple of weeks, and social happenings just show you need to have a strong sense of opinion to live in this Nigeria. Intriguing for me because, it’s been great to watch people take in and react to certain information. To start with, the false sense of morality Nigerians carry around and use as a yardstick for judging most things is still one kind. But for the sake of this write-up, I’m going to use Big brother Nigeria. For a show that clearly states its age restrictions and requirements at 18, I wonder why Nigerians always bring out the morality stick when discussing it?
 Not every show is going to be for everybody and if its not for you, just pan out to something else. There are a thousand religious programs and stations you could change to. I hate to inform you, but your tv isn’t permanently fixed on that channel so why the complaints? How can the adults in society who are supposed to be able to discern right from wrong, be complaining about the immorality the program teaches, like it was forced down their throats? Being an adult constitutes a maturity of mind, but If the ‘adults’ we’re supposed to look up to can be so easily confused by big brother, then we have a problem.
 After giving that a brief rest, they decided to attack it from the angle of its massive youth audience and voting. Implying the youths are stupid, as they were more involved in its voting process as opposed to societal ills and politics. Uhn? When the youths were screaming about SARS, where was everybody? Wasn’t it these same youths that used social media to initially bring to light the Badoo killings in Ikorodu? This segmented remembrance is just annoying. As opposed to finger pointing and name calling, shouldn’t pro-active ‘matured minds’ be more concerned with how the massive youth voting in Big Brother can be replicated in the actual electoral process of the country? 
I don’t know about you, but I always choose to look ahead for a solution, and never spend too much time wailing. So now, its safe to say that our morality is sacrosanct to the progress of our country? A progressive Northern governor (I can’t remember which), after congratulating the winner, commented on the massive figures recorded during voting; and asked youths to suggest ways in which they could be better involved in the country’s electoral process as they were with big brother; now that’s someone looking and thinking forward. I in no way shape or form, love Big Brother (to each his own). But I believe it’s the least of our problems and shouldn’t be used as a defence mechanism or diversion instead of addressing the real problems and coming up with solutions. Peace and Love
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Death of a big brother

    NLC. Does anybody still know what that means? Ask a kid if they know the meaning and function of the NLC, and I can bet money or my left arm they wouldn’t give you a concrete answer. That’s a very apt example of if not a dead giant, a sleeping one. The Nigerian Labour Congress as an institution was once a force to reckon with, but now is nothing more than a name filled with people who parade their dodgy and ineffective ways on the news. Over the weekend, my cousin and I were reminiscing about our younger days and the role NLC had to play in it. 
Why was it easier for Nigerians to stand up and protest back then as opposed to this social media activism we see nowadays? Those were the days people were willing to bleed for Nigeria, and keep in mind that protests were a lot more violent back then; with the tear gas and police brutality, but we didn’t mind (pardon me for saying ‘we’, I can’t understand why). People were arrested in droves. I remember through mixed feelings being ushered out of school into the waiting arms of our parents, because a ‘peaceful’ protest had started. And I also remember there were always strikes which led to the school being closed temporarily on more than one occassion. As a kid; there was nothing sweeter, as both my cousin and I agree we always looked forward to it. 
I loved the sombre atmosphere of a strike; the anxiety, the scantiness of people on the street, the whispers, even the leaves on people’s windshields when passing through a protest ground to be allowed safe passage. There was always a march or some sort of protest that usually turned bloody. Even as a child I didn’t understand much, but I knew they were fighting for me. So, is It a wonder the civil service is almost lost? As there is no adequate leadership to steer the boat, and no big brother figure to fight the case of anybody unjustly treated? Ever since a certain strong NLC leader left to venture into politics, it’s been a rapid decline for the institution. 
But to be fair, should we focus more on the death of the institution or the lack of patriotism of Nigerians now? Either way its pointless.  Fast forward to 2018, where all the youths know is social media activism and taking to twitter streets to address our issues; neglecting the use of the real streets and forgetting how effective our voice is plus how scary we are to anybody when we appear in numbers. We don’t hear of a student union anymore, the type that used to pester the government like a rash? 
Those days of warning strikes to herald the beginning of the main strike. If someone was unjustly fired, there was a protest. If the president hinted at something unpleasant; there was a protest. I mean there were strikes to quell a strike. Gone are the days. That being said, hope you enjoyed your May Day celebrations and you at least had light? If you didn’t, I’d like to welcome you once again to Nigeria. Peace and Love