Sooo long 2012...

Just a few hours till we bid 2012 goodbye! It was a good year...a very good year! Oh so there were more than a few hitches as it ran its course but at least we survived, you see, that's all that matters. Or is it not?
      Ok! Twenty-twelve didn't really start on a very good note for me. For one,on the first day of the year, just a few minutes after we shouted "happy new year", a dear uncle was rushed off to the hospital on account of food poisoning or (as some of my relatives chose to believe) attack from evil forces (rolling my eyes). Whatever the case was, he didn't come home alive.
          That same day, we were slammed with the fuel subsidy removal news(story for another day). Poor us! We were torn between bemoaning the announcement and grieving our loss. What a way to start a year!
          Along with u all, I bore the shame of a medal-less olympic, I grieved the hundreds of lives lost in the ill-fated Dana crash. Two incidents that could have been avoided, if we'd taken more care, if we'd shown more seriousness!
          For a good part of 2012, we were witnesses to the inhumanity of man to mankind. We saw the devil's face.! Oh yes! We saw it in the thousand and one Boko Haram bombings, we saw it in the atrocious murder of Tekena, Ugonna, Lloyd and Chidiaka, who we've come to know as Aluu4.#sadstuff.
            We watched one of the biggest music empires this part of the world break up, and on a personal note I nursed a broken heart *sad face*. Hell of an eventful year it was! But we survived through it all and that is something to be thankful for.
            Dunno 'bout y'all but, 2012 made me a better person, a stronger person, a more focused person! If it didn't do same to you, well at least it let u live, invariably, giving u another chance to better yourself. 2013 should be a wake-up call friends, don't just dream about it, be about it!
             Wishing you all an ah-ma-zing 2013! Xoxo

Private Jets Brouhaha

                                                                                                                                                                And so I woke up this morning and grabbed my daily devotional,sorry, my blackberry. I navigated to my Twitter to see what the news is today. You see, there is no such thing as a 'no-news-day' in my country Nigeria; there is always something everybody is talking about. This morning wasn't any different. My timeline was flooded with arguments about the justification of men of God owning private jets. Apparently, there was a new entrant to the league of "pastoral" private jet owners.
       Just as expected, there were people who didn't see anything wrong with pastors having private jets of their own and then there were people who saw everything wrong with it. The "against" side however, considerably outweighed the "for" side in this case. I scrolled through the vents and rants and smiled to myself, "but boy, are Nigerians mouthed! 
        You know, I've always refrained from engaging in debates/arguments about men of God out of fear of mis-speaking and consequently incurring the wrath of the Almighty. Yes, because I was taught never to speak evil against an annointed... God forbid that I ever do.
Moreover, I didn't quite understand the reason for all the ranting. I mean, this wouldn't be the first or second time we'd be hearing of a pastor getting a private jet, so how is this news? I scurried to Google anyway to check out the cost of jets and I was astounded by the results I got. I saw the reason for the rantings.
        People were ranting because some members of these men's churches can barely afford a three-square meal yet their "daddies" are proud owners of jets worth millions of Nairas. They are venting because they believe that these men of God should follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ whose life spelt humility and flying around in private jets while your flock walk about with growling stomachs does not exactly portray one as humble. And yes they understood that some of these jets were gifts but they couldn't, for the life of them understand why these men of God wouldn't point d direction of their hungry flock to the gift bearers.
        But again I wondered, why the much ado over pastors owning private jets? Eh? Or don't these people realize that times have changed? The belief that priesthood involves sacrificing material wealth to a very large extent, does not hold water in these times. Yes! In these times, our pastors are allowed to own jets just like pop stars, politicians and business moguls. In these times, they are allowed to trade their Bibles for iPads. I mean, who doesn't like the fine things of life?
         So brethren, the next time we so much as find a single fault in these men, please and please, let us pretend we do not see and let God be the judge. Amen.