So I want to talk about something that’s bothered me since I read about it. It’s about the 13yo boy in Kano sentenced to 10yrs in prison for blasphemy.
Like a lot of us, I read it and it saddened me, but i was determined to unlook. There’s so much in this country to get one down, and in a lot of instances we have to choose between the paralysis of helpless despair and the stoicism of propelling onwards with our lives.
However, the larger systemic things that militate against us as Nigerians manifest themselves also in small ways. Indeed, the endless killings in different parts of the country and the ease with which we condemn young lives to death or cruel sentences are one and the same.
The God that many of us profess to worship is allegedly a God of Mercy. The word “mercy” appears no less than 113 times in the Quran because 113/114 of the chapters begin with a pronouncement of God’s mercy. We, however, made in his image, do not mirror this quality. Why is that?
Even Islamic jurisprudence recognizes mercy, and the role it plays in achieving justice. If a state government has decided that its stands in the word of God to proclaim a child guilty and ultimately ruin his life, then it has chosen religious adherence over the mercy of God.
It is not an accident that we are a country where life has become so cheap to claim, for herdsmen and terrorists and even police alike. This is the link between economic injustices of mass poverty and the fire that has long been set to our values and morality.
The @AuschwitzMuseum Director wrote to @MBuhari offering to serve this young boy’s sentence. We have somehow been so inured to how cheap Nigerian lives have become that this story did not make most of us bat an eyelid. It has freed our govts to make our lives even cheaper.
And our lives will only get cheaper.
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I'm going to start a thread of these incidents of insidious racism in the media coverage of the Ukrainian crisis, because I've just been seeing so damn many.
Grilling this jerk chicken tomorrow for lunch with a friend. There’ll also be jollof and plantain. Gonna be awesome.
So my jerk seasoning is always: soy/Worcestershire sauce, sesame oil/a neutral oil, thyme, chilies (as much as you can handle), spring onion, ginger, honey/treacle/sugar, a little water. The sugar/honey or whatever you’re using isn’t to make it sweet really; it just gives balance
Marinade for tomorrow’s chicken — lime zest and juice, grated ginger, garlic, Thai palm sugar, fish sauce, half a tin of coconut milk, 2 Tbsp. Peanut oil, some black pepper. #SaratusEats
Scenes from a Marriage s1e1, and I’m once more confident that there’s nothing more embarrassment-inducing than being around a couple arguing.
Also apropos: Oscar Isaac is such a fine man.
There’s so much that goes into us being able to get this representation on marriage and wanting/having a baby. Not least of which is women being more open about what having a baby is really like. I’m grateful for that work.
So I spent the morning yesterday visiting project sites in village communities outside of Yola where there are informal banking clusters. These clusters have been in operation at least 3 years, at most 5. This particular 3yr one has 25 women in it. Ave. loan repayment? 100%.
This is the first session for the new cycle. You buy “shares” worth 200 Naira each, and the amount of shares determine how much you can borrow. Highest amount borrowed this year, 63k. Lowest, 16k. Loans used for stuff like buying engines for Agro processing or school fees.
I think that one of the reasons many Nigerian marriages are a sham is because we have made giving a shit about someone sound like the worst thing. I get it, people can be shitty. But I think it also stops people from being as emotionally invested as they should.
It’s a wonder how much of our actions is driven by the logic of “it’s going to end anyway, so let me not be the idiot that got fooled by this person.” We end up doing awful things and hurting people because at least we get to control that.