Ogiri John Ogiri

By Ogiri John Ogiri. Sex is a very interesting but special experience created by nature (God) for the enjoyment of His creatures so that both the human society and animal society can continue to create and recreate itself in an unfettered evolutionary process. In fact, God ended the creation of man and animals several centuries ago. Consequently, the over 7 billion people who occupy the earth today were not created by God's traditional means of moulding a clay and breathing air into it. They were conceived through man's recreative ability through sex and other means of having children.  In the same manner, several millions of different species of animals on earth today were created through their own God-given abilities in sexual evolution.  Sexual intercourse is so crucial that, despite the increasing technological sophistication in child-bearing, it is still the dominant and most preferred means of having children today. Aside procreation, sex is equally had for the pleasure ...

By Ogiri John Ogiri. In your pursuit of power, remember this: 1. Have what to say. Know when and where to say what you have to say. Do not speak to impress; speak to communicate. Use a variety of language options if you can.  2. Be humble: You can win the most recalcitrant people with this. 2. Be loyal but be as wise as a serpent. You can break into the minds of the most difficult kings. 3. Do not overlook too many people and things. Everyone is important. Attend functions in religious houses. Talk to people- intellectuals, religious leaders, market women, youth groups and associations among others. If you find a community with an electoral power indispensable to your future victory, court their king. If possible, take a wife from an influential family in that community.  4. Do not trust too many people. Be wary of the few ones you trust. 5. Keep to the basic principles of the game. Avoid scandals by all means. 6. Choose your enemy wisely. 7. Do not be anyone's fri...

By Ogiri John Ogiri. I do not intend to provoke, by this piece , what philosophers would refer to as a conceptual crisis.Hence, I have decided to evade any academic attempt at a conceptual definition of the term "Critical Thinking" in order to focus on practical areas I think we should use it.  ( You can consult Silvano Borruso's The Art of Thinking published by Paulines Africa in 1998 for more on Critical thinking) Over the years, I have observed, of course, through personal interactions and pen contacts with some Africans particularly Nigerians, that Critical thinking is an area dreaded and avoided by many. Yes, critical thinking, the type that can dislodge and expunge from our minds, false religious beliefs and restore our minds to critical consciousness and bring about a fundamental change in what we believe, how we believe and the way we do things, is avoided by most Nigerians. Many believe that, there is nothing we can do, usually ending by saying "...

By Ogiri John Ogiri. Let me be straight with this. Our dear Governor, His Excellency, Very Revd Fr Hyacinth Alia PhD is the brainchild of a constituency with an interesting organizational structure and institutional arrangement.In that constituency, unalloyed loyalty and submission to a higher authority is usually more emphasized and condoned than an obedience to democratic ethos namely free speech, majority rule, rule of law among many others. All authority originates and terminates at the highest hierarchy. That constituency is the Church.  I am sorry but there is no democracy in the Church. Yes, in the Church, the majority does have a say but the minority, represented by the highest authority, usually have their way. Decision-making and general administration takes place within the hierarchical framework of what obtains in a purely theocratic government. Yes, the Church may be the most organized institution in the world but one could quite outrightly say that this en...

By Ogiri John Ogiri. As important as love may be in any relationship, it may not be enough to sustain the relationship until the end. Mutual tolerance and accommodation can prove quite instrumental.  Being deeply in love with each other is not the issue. The question is " can you live with him? Can you live with her? Can you live with each other? Can you tolerate or accommodate each other? For instance, some partners have bad breath. Some are very dirty. Some are gossipers. Some love hanging out; some do not like hanging out. Some smoke, drink and club. Some do not. Some love sex without any apology. It is not because they are wayward. It js who they are. Some do not like sex at all.It is not because they are unexposed to modernity, it is who they were brought up to be. Some love children; others do not. Some love reading books. Some can even argue over the most trivial issue. The list is inexhaustible. Can you live with a partner who exhibits some of these traits? Unfortunately, ...

𝕭𝖞 𝕯𝖗 𝖀𝖌𝖔 𝕰𝖌𝖇𝖚𝖏𝖔 William Shakespeare said, “Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown.” Had Shakespeare encountered your political godfather, he might have advised you not to take a crown from him. Not because your head is too small for the crown but Shakespeare had warned in The Tempest, “What is past is prologue.” In other words, history will always come to haunt the present. Edmund Burke said it differently, “Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.” The man crowned Ali Sherrif. Once Sheriff became tired of being his zombie, he went for Sheriff’s jugular. Then he crowned Chief Secondus and put him in his pocket. Once Secondus crept out of his pocket to get fresh air, he discovered that Secondus was a chameleon. After discarding Secondus, he crowned Professor Ayu. When Ayu refused to be used like an aju — a head cushion for carrying loads, he discovered that Ayu was corrupt. Had Shakespeare encountered that your godfather, he might have said to you, “Bewar...

"Agreed, God can do all things; it is in His nature to do so. But we must be careful not to make God a substitute for our natural efforts.That will amount to an inexcusable laziness. We should not abandon to God what we can do on our own. For instance , it will be foolhardy to abdicate to God my responsibility to light my gas and prepare my dinner because I have faith in the omnipotence of his nature to do all things.  The reality is that what God cannot do exists not because He naturally lacks the power to do it but because it will be a contradiction of His gift of dominion and "Free Will" to man. This is why I find it hard to accept that, the same God who handed the earth to man to dominate and control in Genesis 1:28 would then expect us to give up our duty and wait for Him in everything. " And God blessed them, saying: Increase and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and rule over the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the air, and all living creature...

  By Ogiri John Ogiri. Let me use myself as a case study. I haven't made money yet. I still live in a rented apartment. I still trek; I do not own a car even though I desperately need one as I write. I am still struggling to make money but I am patient enough to work with due diligence and wait for my time.  Look, there is a time for everything and everyone. When that time comes and meet you prepared, you will smile and have the last laugh. I believe that as long as I remain committed to doing my little best everyday, I will definitely breakthrough the dark wall of poverty into the green zone of prosperity and secure happiness. I won't take to crime because I want to make money.  This is the conviction that drives my daily life. My fellow Youths,  There are socially-approved gateways to wealth. So, stay in the queue, do your duty and wait for your time. Avoid the temptation to breach the socially-approved protocols in your attempt to make money. You won't...

God is not a Being over whom we should divide and fight one another for relevance, God is definitely not a phenomenon to be debated; He is an unwinnable argument. On the contrary, God is a worthy Being to be accorded perpetual adoration and worship by the examples of mutual love and kindness we show one another. God did not create any religion. He created the community of humans who in turn created religion as a medium for expressing their awe for the omniscience, omnipotence and omnipresence of God.  I should suppose, therefore,that it couldn't have been in the nature of God to have encouraged his followers to hate, denigrate, maim and kill one another to prove His supernatural supremacy. Can we therefore see religion as a means to the end, not as an end in itself? © Ogiri John Ogiri.

By Ogiri John Ogiri. Do you know? What you lack can be used as a bait to lure you into crime or kill you. What you desperately need can become a weapon someone might use to kill you. Yes, money, cars, accommodation, love, jobs, etc have been used to lure many desperate people into crime and grave before. They are still being used to lure many young people into crime and untimely death. Be careful. Control your appetite. You must not buy or consume everything your heart desires particularly if those things are not yours. Be patient with yourself. Do not blame yourself, your parents or your roots for your predicament. The most important thing is that, you are here now and you can change your past for good but do not rush yourself into success. Work yourself into it. Take your time; take it slowly but diligently. Avoid the unnecessary comparison and the competition with others. Live within your means. Know this: what you cannot genuinely afford now does not belong to you. If you cannot p...

We are at liberty to regret our actions but we should never be bogged down by regrets of our past mistakes.We should rather appreciate that it is a privilege to make mistakes, for every mistake we ever make provides for us rich experiences and new learning opportunities for the future. Learn your lessons and move on. Forgive those who may have hurt you; ask forgiveness of whoever you may have hurt,learn your lessons and move ahead exuding such a beautiful smile as common to you. Never stop smiling but never forget the lessons! © Ogiri John Ogiri.

By Ogiri John Ogiri. In recent times, perhaps accentuated by the current harsh economic conditions of our nation, some self-seeking profiteers, who have made a lot of money from the God enterprise in the past using God's name, have decided to adopt a more forceful approach to the collection of their perceived "entitlements" from the congregation, (many of whom are highly gullible and economically vulnerable) in order to continue to remain financially liquid in the highly volatile economy. The latest approach is to de-emphasize and deflect the focus of Christian giving and charity far away from the Needy to the greedy.  While this may mean nothing to the enlightened because they know better what the scripture says, it may not be so for those whose investments in Faith alone is higher than their investments in both Faith and Reason. It therefore becomes imperative to emphasize a few points that can help to give a proper perspective to the essence of Giving and T...

         By   Emmanuel Gandu  SETTING THE TONE Political and religious upheavals have characterised the life of Nation States over the centuries. Nations and nationalities have found the use of both politics and religion not only as a stepping stone but also as veritable weapons for the attainment of power for the purposes of achieving the means  to governance, for control of resources, socio economic, territorial conquest and boundaries. They go to war internally and externally because of this urge for dominance and control. A few of the instances for mention include the following : (1) The 30 year war between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland over the British Protestant settlers domination of the indigenous Irish Catholics. This conflict lasted from 1968 until the Good Friday agreement of 1998. (2) The unending Arab - Israeli war that have continued to take the lives of thousands including then Egyptian president Anw...

Photocredit: One Politician. By Ogiri John Ogiri. Every time in each election year that a new political party or a new administration comes into power, a phenomenon, which many observers find both disturbing and disappointing, is set in motion. That phenomenon is the gale of defection. It hits every political party from all sides. No political party is immune to defection. Politicians indulge in it in order not to lose their closeness to the corridors of power. They engage in defection to the party in power for the purpose of interest alignment in order to continue to participate in the sharing of the largesse of power. " We are the ones in power" is a powerful self-assurance tool that every politician proudly brandishes before their contemporaries. However, when they do this, most supporters who are emotionally attached to those politicians feel disappointed and betrayed. Others simply move with their leaders and life returns to normal. The second group has no em...

By Ogiri John Ogiri.  How often do you tell your trusted someone your secrets and how often does he or she betray you? Yes, oftentimes, we trust people too soon after being with them for a while. We tell our friends and relatives many things about us that ordinarily ought to have been kept inside us. We do this because we feel they may be able to understand us and support us in order to heal or recover our lost self. After all, the desire to be honest with our significant others is alive in us. So we feel honesty-bound to be true and open with every thing about us.  But, instead of gaining their kind understanding and empathy when we share our secret fears, concerns and deeds with them,  what do we get in return?  Betrayal, mockery and unkind judgements. In the end, we become painfully disappointed with them. The truth is, nobody deserves access to your most treasured secrets unless you want publicity. The only way a secret will remain a secret between tw...

By Ogiri John Ogiri. It appears that the most important purpose for which many ladies exist today and to which they aspire is to get married and have children. They don't even realize that getting married and having kids is not enough and that life's purposes extend beyond this end. If you have no ambition beyond getting married and having children, you soon discover that even in marriage, life is a boring adventure without ambitions. Having an ambition provides some kind of emotional lubricant needed to oil the wheel of marital bliss, for without an ambition, life in marriage tends to become vulnerable to frictions that eventually lead to wear and tear of the fractional parts that make up the marriage structure. As a young lady, when you were in the university, polytechnic or college, you had many dreams of learning a skill, starting a business and growing it, getting a job and rising through the ranks to the top, furthering your studies, participating in active po...

Anyone teaching or praying back-to-sender does not understand Christianity. Evil/satanic forces exist. Human beings employ the services of satanic powers to do harm to other humans. These are absolute facts. Believe it or leave it.  Consequently, a Christian should pray against evil forces. Jesus teaches us that in the "Our Father" which is a deliverance prayer because it says, "deliver us from evil" (Matthew 6:9-13 & Luke 11:2-4). Paul also gives us a clear teaching on praying against evil powers (Ephesians 6:10-18). A very wrong but ironically famous way of praying against evil is what has become known as "back to sender (BTS)." It simply means the evil another person sends to harm others should go back and harm the sender (the person who sends it). BTS is famous among Christians and even some clergy pray it and teach and lead others to pray it. All of that is the result of ignorance. Back-to-sender is against the will of God and a contradiction of J...

By Ogiri John Ogiri  It's weird how our mothers who didn't eat sharwama ( that bread-grass stuffed delicacy) and pizza in an eatery, stayed longer in their marriages than their daughters who eat sharwama and pizza in eateries. They didn't have the luxury of being taken out to eat fresh fish pepper soup, Isi-ewu and odeku yet they gave everything to the marriage without complaining. Now their daughters who enjoy these luxuries are hurrying out of marriage. Our mothers who knew nothing about being publicly proposed to or engaged had a lasting marital life than their daughters who got proposed to with a ring in a Jeep parked in a park. Our mothers who didn't go to school had a longer marital lifespan than their daughters who are proudly graduates in various fields of studies. Our mothers, even in their illiteracy, intelligently respected, worshipped and honoured their husbands without reservations. They were happy for it because they understood that being married to a man ...

By Ogiri John Ogiri. I have decided to pen this here for the lavish consumption of those who have been conditioned, by their foretaste and actual experience of the pangs of life's many challenges, to think and hold that money is better than education; that money is better than a degree certificate. I do not agree with this line of thought because I think it is dangerous to so hold and espouse. I am convinced that money can never replace and displace knowledge from its enviable position as the origin and destination of everything in the society as well as in the life of mankind.  For this reason, I think we should discourage our younger ones from holding and promoting this kind of a mentality. Agreed, in this part of the world, we have not been able to conquer the basic necessities of food and water, clothing, shelter, security and education. Many still wallow in abject penury even to the embarrassment of their God who created them. However, this should not become a sufficient groun...

  By Ogiri John Ogiri. My dear hardworking Priests and Religious,  I hope this finds you in good shape. Let me begin my letter with an appreciation of your painstaking sacrifices for God, man and Church. I do know that most of those sacrifices of yours are not celebrated because they are mostly done off camera and public viewership. People are quick to publicize your scandals but too slow to generously publicize your sacrifices. But those of us who had desired to become priests but could not achieve the desire; those of us who are still very close to some of you are aware of these sacrifices. You are doing well. I do not suppose that you have no errors, I choose to focus only on your strengths because I am aware that some of those errors are characteristics of human frailty. I do not expect you to be perfect either; I expect you to just be enough; just be yourselves. Having said this, I would like to remind you that, as humans with all the essential characteristi...

 By Ogiri John Ogiri. Growing up was quite tough for me. I was not born with a silver spoon in my mouth, so I experienced poverty firsthand. But then, living in a highly superstitious neighborhood meant that one was expected to take on a line of belief to explain why some people could be living in affluence while others lived in squalor. The popular explanation was that a force, a devil, could be responsible. Consequently, more efforts were invested in fighting the imaginary devil than were committed to solving the problem of poverty through a simple but practical method of achieving breakthrough namely tackling the scourge of a disastrous ignorance through education. For some of us, the devil was responsible or so we were conditioned to hold. Every subsequent religious teaching I got in my early childhood days seemed to point the root of the problem to one unfortunate figure, the devil. Oh poor devil! That was the mindset I grew up with until, some years ago when I acquired a new...

 Ogiri John Ogiri The weakest point in a every man is love; she can strip the mighty king of his power and make him a slave. Yet the strongest point in a man is love; she can make the weakest into a powerful man of valour and influence; she can transform an ugly soul into a beautiful being, whole and complete in kindness.Indeed, love is a necessary evil we must become and give to others.  It is a necessary dilemma. Either way, we get to drink from her many fountains of bitterness and sweetness. She gives us no straight choice to live without facing the task of unraveling her many puzzles. Her mystery is dreaded yet adored by the mighty and the lowly alike.  Whenever, we are stung by her poisonous venom, we curse the day she was created as she leaves a sour taste in our mouths and the deafening sound of her silence in the tremulous agony of our heart, gives no succour to the house in which she once sojourned, wined and dined.  But whenever, we drink from the well of...

 By Ogiri John Ogiri. One of the very first attempts to remove subsidies on petroleum products by the federal government was in January, 2012. The then president Good Luck Jonathan-led administration, had announced that the subsidies on petroleum products was no longer in the interest of the common man but that it was a tacit way of subsidizing the rich. Hence, they were removing it outrightly. As usual, people, both well-intentioned and those driven by selfishness and greed, came out to denounce the president's action which they had interpreted as wicked and anti-people. Within a few days into January that year, protests were organized by many prominent Nigerians so that the government was forced to reverse itself, and as they say, the rest became history as the government suspended the implementation of the fuel subsidy removal policy. By 2015, when the APC-led administration of former president Muhammadu Buhari came on board, it began to grapple with the reality of the fraud sur...

 Women prefer successful men to loyal men; men prefer loyal women to successful women.  ( As inspired by Stephen Wise ) This is a beautiful irony. This is why, despite your handsome look and unflinching loyalty, you still get dumped easily by your girlfriend the moment she sees a successful man. This is why, too, despite your beauty, money and influence, you still get dumped by your boyfriend once he finds a loyal, humble lady. Everyone is in search of different levels of satisfaction in different indeterminate ways However, a man who is both successful and loyal is the ideal choice; a woman who is both successful and loyal is wonderful but these may be available only in heaven, not on earth; not in Africa, never in Nigeria. We are a complex expression of an insatiable specie of higher animals but we are constrained by the limit of our choices! My advice:  It is not enough to be humble and loyal as a man, be successful too. It is not enough to be successful as a woman, ...

 As long as you are ready to believe anything without asking intelligent questions, you are a source of income for somebody. This is why the prophecy and prayer enterprise is a booming business in the religious industry in Africa, and Nigeria in particular.  It is not every religious centre that shouts and preaches in the name of Jesus that is working for God and Jesus Christ. Some just want a free, untaxed access to the luxuries of money, power and women. You can be milked out of existence if you are not wise.  If you cared enough to interrogate the theological substance of what they often sell to you, you could be shocked by a discovery of two possibilities; the depth of their unbeliefs and the profound errors of their beliefs. Be careful! Test every spirit to know if it is from God. The devil can even shout the loudest hallelujah in the midst of angels. © Ogiri John Ogiri.

 Know Your Worth One of the most expensive things in this life is being cheap. The funny thing is that, offering yourself so cheap won't earn you the respect you yearn for. That will only bring ridiculous humiliations to your person and what you stand for in the end. Know this: people don't value it when it is cheap and easily available. They value it when it is expensive and scarce. Honestly, the cost of being cheap can be embarrassing. This is why you should always understand your worth and uphold it. Never sell yourself so cheap that you lose the only vestige of value in you at the end. I'm just being sapient here! © Ogiri John Ogiri.

By Ogiri John Ogiri. In failure, we learn victory. In pain, we learn to appreciate pleasure. In tears, we learn the value of a smile. In ignorance, we learn to value knowledge. In unemployment, we learn to appreciate Employment. In despair, we learn hope. In pride, we learn the value of humility. In loneliness, we learn the necessity of companionship. In sickness, we learn the value of health. In blindness, we learn the value of sight. In deafness, we learn to value the importance of the ears. In forgetting, we remember. In lameness, we learn the value of a leg. In old age, we learn to appreciate the value of youthfulness. In death, we learn the value of living a life. In loss, we learn the importance of a gain. In silence, we learn the beauty of a speech. In a hateful union, we learn the value of love. In destitution, we appreciate the value of a home. In nakedness, we learn the importance of a cloth. In hunger, we learn the value of eating food. In thirst, we learn to value water...

By Ogiri John Ogiri  Introduction  I understand that my articles can sometimes be as long as the windy road from Sokoto State in northern Nigeria to Lagos State in southwestern Nigeria. This is why I do appreciate those of you, my readers, who invest a great amount of time, resources, courage and patience into the reading of my works online. Honestly, I do try my best to write with you in mind. It is just that sometimes, I cannot help but elongate the progression of my piece so as to be able to explain my points to your better understanding. I urge you, therefore, to Keeping reading me and keep offering your informed opinions and criticisms that can help shape, for the better, my worldview or perspectives on issues of life Having said that,  let me begin with the thesis, though subject to debate, that, the secret of Keeping a secret successfully is to be positively secretive. It lies in protecting your most treasured secrets. As I sit in my sitting room, facing the mini l...

By Professor Toba Alabi. One of the most outstanding authorities on the Western capitalist imperialism in relation to the crisis of development in Africa is Walter Rodney. In his epic work titled 'How Europe Underdeveloped Africa', he analysed the genesis, dimension and effects of the European exploitation of Africa. The African contact with Europe started in 1444 AD and since this period, Africa has consistently been oppressed by Europe in various ways. These oppressive tendencies have taken various forms and dimensions. Africa lost millions of its citizens to the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Millions of them are currently in Europe, North America and South America as second-class citizens as a result of the legacy of the slave trade. In addition to this, the mineral resources of the continent were looted by the colonial powers for the development of their own countries. The distortion that attended direct colonialism in Africa are monumental. The worldview and the ...