President Yar'dua served as Governor of Katsina state from 1999 to 2007 under the umbrella of the People's Democratic Party.
“Tell Me No More” was penned by Swazi author, Senzenjani Lukhele and released in 1986. The story mostly focuses on the important rule of adoption, and the rights of a child via adoption. The story revolves round the main character Gugu; who is thrown out of her home by her father, after being accused of adultery and insulting the village’s chief. Gugu’s crime- if one can call it that- was actually speaking out of turn by giving an opinion during a discussion. However, one of the parties- the chief’s incensed messenger- gives a false report to the chief and his council; Gugu’s father Cele is one of the members of the council. Cele, to Gugu’s shock as well as her mother’s, disowns Gugu, calls her a ‘bastard’ and orders her out of his household, hence disowning her. Gugu denies the allegations against her in vain. Cele refuses to relent, dismissing her own account of what really happened. La-Mncina, hence is forced to reveal the truth of Gugu’s paternity to her before sending her off to her older brother, who lives in Manzini. It’s only after Gugu leaves that Cele is made aware by the chief that he violated the rules of adoption, instead of consulting with the Chief and the council on how Gugu should be dealt with. He stubbornly prefers that Gugu return and ask the Chief's pardon, rather than admit any wrongdoing.
One could argue that Gugu should not have involved herself in a discussion that had nothing to do with her. Maybe, but she meant no harm by it. She is deferential towards her elders but refuses to apologise for something she didn’t do; a hard task given how women in that society are to be seen and not heard. Still, one can applaud her for standing her ground over her innocence.
La-Mncina, Gugu's mother clearly dotes on her daughter, selling wares like pots and mats to fund her education, even keeping cows to sell to pay for Gugu’s eventual tuition for Nursing school. She was apparently fond of Cele and grateful to him for giving his name to Gugu. His actions however left her disillusioned and in the end, wants nothing to do with him.
Cele, clearly the antagonist of the novel, is a tyrant and a misogynist with a superiority complex. He hates being challenged and is quick to anger; he would rather pass the blame to someone else. These flaws eventually lead to his downfall at the end of the novel. His refusal to even admit that he was wrong further makes him an unsympathetic character and one would wonder if he was always like that before the incident( blown out of proportion) ever occurred.
Probably not, since his actions and attitude shocked Gugu and his wife La-Mncina. More so his brother-in-law, Mncina who returns to Mahamba with Gugu to resolve the matter. Cele further violates tradition by refusing to be lectured by Mncina, even threatening to spear him down. When advised by the chief to ask for his brother-in-law's pardon:
'You mean I will never be head of family again. In future, if I do anything to any member of my family, she will call her elders, and I will have to ask for pardon. I can't.'
His chief, the only one he listens to, disapproved of Cele’s decision to kick Gugu out of the house, even though he had asked him to take action against her. But he is also a traditionalist, once he finds out Gugu is an adopted child, he regrets telling Cele to do anything. He is more concerned about keeping the good reputation of the council as well as his own, so the matter finds its way to the court.
There, customary law is made clear. Mncina was La-Mncina’s oldest brother, hence an elder and he had the right to act on his sister’s behalf. All Cele succeeded, in the end, was making a gigantic ass of himself, yet remained in stubborn denial.
The book- 16 chapters- highlighted how important the rules of adoption were in Swaziland, now Eswanti. And how one rash decision could grow into another, leading one to face the ramifications. Gugu was painted as the one who erred, yet Cele ended up being the wrongdoer.
“It is a rule meant to protect some and to guide others. It was designed to give protection and status to does who had nothing."
The Pacesetters series (an imprint of Macmillian Publishers) was a series of books written by various African writers, targeted at young readers, ranging from romance to drama, mystery to thrillers.
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| Omotoyosi a.k.a @_misterious |
The country is still reeling from the news of the Abuja-Kaduna attack, which left several people dead and the survivors captured. The attack itself was sad enough but what even made it more heart-rending was the final tweet of one of the passengers, Dr Chinelo Megafu Nwando:
which, to many people's outrage, brought the reaction of several trolls who taunted her...calling her a liar and 'clout chaser' and some even asking if she was dead yet.
Once word got out the attack was for real, several culprits hastily deleted the damning tweets and blocked their accounts, while others openly made their apologies. All I can say to that is "go, and sin no more," and RIP Dr. Chinelo and the other casualties.
Yesterday, alarm broke out when a Twitter user, Omoyosi (@_misterious) made this chilling tweet:
The final nail to the coffin was a video posted by her brother, where he was scolding her for causing a mass hysteria on social media and upseting their parents, whom he'd informed. Currently, she has been arrested for the false alarm and for disturbing the peace and will be arraigned in court.
In this period of fear and insecurity...this slip of a girl cries kidnap and rape on social media and then reveals it was a prank when the police arrive.
A f***ing prank!
I'm not going to even bother pondering over what the hell she was thinking when she posted that tweet (which of course she has now deleted) or what she hoped to gain from it. What really bothers me now is, if crying wolf will now be a trend on social media, merely to see how people will react. Because crying wolf, especially in these worrisome times in Naija, is definitely not a thing to do. Dr Chinelo's final plea for a prayer was vilified until the news of her death, shaming those who didn't believe her with the vow not to doubt such tweets again.
But then this silly girl goes and tweets an actual false post and not only did the police end up wasting their time, doubt returns in full force. Will the police be quick to the rescue if there's another plea for help? Will there be more such pranksters like Omotoyosi making fools out of the police and other concerned citizens, JUST to get cheap popularity?
Omotoyosi has definitely achieved that... the stupid girl who cried wolf!
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| George Menta (1932-2012) as protagonist Bello and Tola Awobode Akinjobi Cattage (1957-2010) as his daughter Lare, in 'Cockcrow at Dawn' |
Did you know that the beloved 1985 telenovela " Tu No Nadie" (No One But You) has a 5th version? I recently discovered this by ...
