I had earlier argued that we should treat Coro with respect, which
is why I have been addressing it as ‘Oga’ since then. I know that the
irrepressible Fela was and is the one and only Abami-Eda, who did
many strange things, including marrying 27 wives at a sitting. However, when considered on a
multidimensional scale, Oga-Coro is indeed strange, another ebami-eda
(in small letters in deference to Fela!) It is strange because one year after
it invaded the globe and stole our peace, a lot still remains to be known about
it. It is strange because people have turned the health emergency into an
avenue for criminal entrepreneurship. It is strange because the why and how of
it has torn the world apart, rather than bringing them together for coordinated
response. It is strange because as we were celebrating its eclipse, it came
back with vengeance, with a bang. It is strange because it is central to the
American elections and the current Trumpocratic quagmire. It is strange because it hits hard where the
government is capable and willing, showing mercies to places like Nigeria where
, as some people say ‘we don’t have a government’.( Please tell
Lai I am just quoting somebody!).It is
strange because it uses the big and mighty to show its vicious strength
as it has just sent our dear JJ Rawlings, a Ghanaian, African and global
citizen to the great beyond.
It is strange because even
though it is not human, it knows how to afflict those who dare make a mockery
of it just as it has dealt with Trump2, after dealing with his hard-to-describe
father. Trump2 had deliberately spread misinformation about Coro and had
recently said that the deaths from Coro were insignificant, when the toll was
as high as 228000 in the US. That was how it afflicted David Lah, a
preacher in Myanmar who declared that Christians were immune to Coro. Beyond
the affliction, he also ‘earned’ a 3
month jail sentence for holding a church
service against the Coro protocols. It is
also strange because certain things about it are simply WEIRD, as exemplified
by these two stories.
Recently, the Coro-test on the Iconic Singer, Erykah Badu, came out both
negative and positive. The testers took swabs from the left and right nostrils.
Weirdly and to the chagrin of the scientific community, while the sample from
the right nostril came in negative, that from the left nostril came back
positive! And that was with the same machine, repeated twice thus yielding 2
positives and two negatives. Rather than voting to decide which one to accept,
they went for a third test, which turned out negative.
In a
second strange case, Perpetual Uke, a rheumatology consultant at Brigham City
Hospital, delivered a set of twins while in Coro-induced coma! She was 6 months
pregnant before she was coronised and was in coma for almost a
month. She became a patient and ended up
in a ventilator in her own place of work! You will recall that earlier in May,
President Maxfully of Tanzania had announced to the world that samples from
Sheep, Goat and Pawpaw ‘tested positive’ of the virus. I am yet to fathom out
why he assembled and tested those strange samples.
Oga-Coro
is still powering seriously across the globe where the figures are increasingly
alarming and fresh restriction protocols are being introduced. As at 24/1/20,
there were globally 59.2m active cases
and 1.4m deaths; 12.5m cases and 250000 deaths in the US. The Pope has just intervened in the matter through
his latest book “Let Us Dream:A Path to a Better Future,taking a
swipe at anti-maskers just as China has allowed in foreign researchers to
interrogate the animal origins of Coro( we have to know from where the rain
started beating us!). King Felipe of
Spain in quarantine while Qantas Air has decreed that anyone who wishes to
patronize it must be vaccinated .
Toronto, parts of Italy and France, and Denmark are in modified lockdown just
as North-Dakota has experienced its ‘worst day’ with 9224 daily score. Greece
has also shut down all schools as the number of deaths continue to rise un
abated
In
Nigeria, we have had 743288 cumulative
tests, 66439 confirmed cases ( Lagos,22968; Kogi,5) and 1168 deaths with 6
states( Kaduna, Lagos, FCT, Oyo, Plateau & Ogun) responsible for 84% of
confirmed cases in the preceding week, not because they had the greatest
numbers but because they are the only ones testing and reporting repeatedly!
138 Corpers have tested positive while 45% of the international
travelers(39000) have refused to undergo the mandatory Coro Test. We have also
made the startling discovery that the recent fuel price increase was due to
the ‘announcement effect’ of the new
vaccines while the FG has magnanimously blessed Ekiti State with multi-million
Naira medical equipment and facilities including an armada of 12 ‘keke’
However, there is an avalanche of good news as an anti-Coro nasal
spray has been developed in Australia, a face-mask that kills more than 90% of
Coro has been invented in Nottingham by
Gareth Cave while a mouth-wash that can kill the dreaded virus within 30
seconds has been developed by Scientists at
Cardiff University. On the other hand, while G20 was promising to help LDCs
with vaccine funding,, Bill Gates has in a ‘talk-and-do’ fashion, donated $70m
for that purpose. More vaccines with
efficacy of 95%+ are also in the offing, including the Moderna and AstraZeneca, products while Britain,
which hopes to obtain the vaccines by next week is planning a ‘mass-attack’ in which the
several mass-vaccination centers will attend to at least 5000 daily. Russia also claims that its vaccine candidate Sputnik V has an efficacy over 95 per cent and is
expected not to sell more than $10 in the international market while India
plans to prioritise its 10m health workers in the vaccination process. We
rejoice with our own Dr Ogbuagu, who played a critical role in the Pfizer
vaccine.
He has
simply lived his name, Ogbuagu , which means a slayer of lion! Meanwhile for those who believe in ‘seeing tomorrow’, Nicolas Aujula, a self-proclaimed psychic and regression
therapist has revealed that Coro restrictions and panic will be with us up to
2022. So? We have been lucky but let us be on our guards rather than taking
Gods mercy for granted!Other Matters: The
Demystification of America
On
9/2/17, after watching Trump on duty for a few weeks I wrote: ‘. . The fact
that a Trump won the nomination was bad enough, and that he even went on to win
despite his queer Unique Selling Propositions is shocking and indicates that
the America that we knew- in terms of culture, values and dispositions- was
actually fake. But our people say that the type of firewood available in a town
should suffice for their cooking needs. So that is what Americans wanted and
that is what they have. However, my attention took a quantum leap when I
noticed the extent to which we have exported our political practices to the
U.S. In the first instance, it was a replication of ‘Ekiti 2014’ in which
Goliath (Fayemi), was roundly defeated by David ( Fayose). In the U.S.,
Clinton, with deep commitment to uplift women, children, and other minorities;
a most distinguished career in public service; an unprecedented level of
preparation for the job and compelling experience was defeated by Trump who had
a legendary penchant for self-love that hovers on the borders of narcissism,
unusual combination of ego, arrant lack of critical experience, a particularly
inappropriate temperament, and embarrassing ignorance of the nuances of global
diplomacy. As for the first ladies, it has been class (Michelle, Doctor of law
from Harvard and Dean, Princeton University) and trash (Melania: a nudist model!)
America now has a president who ‘lies promiscuously, destabilizes the
government with impulsive, discriminatory, and inhumane policies backed up with
jarring firings, and cannot allow his White House to apologise or admit error
under any circumstances’… We also have a new world in which America, the
cornerstone global world and free trade is now under Trump, doing everything to
destroy and destabilize the world. As at now, nobody is sure of anything under
a president who deliberately disrupts the world, works with aids who openly
disagree with him on everything. He is at war with NATO, UN, EU the media and
in particular, CNN, fellow republicans, immediate past president, and market
forces . He is driven by a transactional mentality and many of his ideas
disparage the principles, institutions, and alliances central to U.S. foreign
policy.
... This is what the
Americans asked for (is it?) and so they have to live with it. Unfortunately
however, the troubler of America is also troubling the world. Instead of an
inclusive, peaceful, healed, unified and transformed world, Trump is working
furiously towards a traumatised, divided, and hate-full world that is in
pieces. The bull is on rampage and everyone is running for cover. Even the Trumpeteers
are terrified. Who or what can stop him? How prepared are the U.S. constitution
and the Judiciary for this strange phenomenon? Can Trump serve out his term? Is
he the last president of a united America? Are we headed for WW3? I am afraid,
both for the U.S. and for the world! Meanwhile, I insist that Trump be
pressurized to undergo that full medical and neuropsychiatric evaluation as
advised by U.S. psychiatrists. It will be good to see what the outcome will
be’( Ik Muo, Trumpocracy; A new Year, A New America and A New World,
Guardian, 9/2/17). I wish that a proper psychiatric evaluation of Trump
was undertaken 4 years ago. Now he has demystified America and is bent on
destroying the country, especially its democracy. How can US issue
sanctimonious statements on the principles of democracy, rule of law and
corporate integrity after what Trump has
done?. Four years ago, I asked ‘how
prepared is the U.S. constitution and the Judiciary for this strange
phenomenon? Is he the last president of a united America? Today, despite the
fact that he has grudgingly started the transition process, I am still asking
the same questions.
Meanwhile, while we
await how US citizens and institutions
deal with the plague called Trump, it is on record that in generations to come,
people will read in the records that America once had as a President, ‘a
billionaire who hides his tax returns, a genius who hides his college degrees The businessman who bankrupted 3 cassinos and lost over
$1bn in 10 years, a playboy who pays for
sex, a Christian who does not go to Church, a philanthropist who defrauds
charities, a patriot who dodged the draft 5 times, an innocent man who refuses to testify, a
president who takes no responsibility, a tough strong man who wears a makeup
and hair spray and a deal maker who has yet to close a deal’ Sad indeed!
Gbam!
ReplyDeleteA wonderful exposition indeed .
Ha Oga, you finish Trump patapata!
ReplyDeleteA president who truly takes no responsibility. Glad the American institution stood firm in this trying time. Always a great piece to read Sir. Thank you
ReplyDelete