Baba Aye's

"Four things come not back: the spoken word, the spent arrow, time passed and the lost opportunity" (Omar Halif, 14th century philosopher) Dear Osita, I will be very brief after your last mail, subsequent to my response to Rot Fash's. I do think it would however be "disingenuous" to circumscribe any response whatsoever from me after some of your assertions below, based on that. The most I could do is to assume a non-polemical and summary stance in response. I am glad you assert I seek to subscribe views to critique. The views I actually pass through the most severe of critique, if you must know, are actually mine. I believe that it is in the process of critique that knowledge is expanded. It is also not my brand of dialectics. It is a materialist Hegelian-Marxist brand actually. I do take exception at your considering my approach 'pompous' though. I am sure that if it were not yours that we are talking of and you were asked to consider which approach is

Dear ATL, You could be right about the duality of possible uses of nationalism as an ideology. This is one reason why strictly nationalism or patriotism as ideologies can hardly ever lead to lasting social transformation. I have argued earlier on nationalism itself that without radical 'nationalists' coming to terms with the truism in Malcolm X's assertion that there really are two nations in each 'nation' (that of the masters and that of the enslaved; that of exploiter rich and that of the exploited poor; that of the minority elites and that of the immense majority of dispossessed) strategies they propose would always be deficient. It is in this light for example on a 'black nationalist' note for example that while I am pan-Africanist, I do not stand for an 'I am black and proud' unity of Africa and while I do stand for a new Nigeria, I have no illusion that it would be the same Nigeria an Abacha or Obasanjo had as their visions. I must also say, wi

My dear Baba-Aye, I thank you for felicitating with me on this very important moment in my life. As is customary with our people, "ire akari"....The joy will spread around. I am greatly tempted to break my earlier promise in order to 'shed' more light on a few things, especially my position on the need for REVOLUTION in the land - which i hold tenaciously to as the panacea for the myriads of pervasive misgovernance and subterfuge in the Nation state- but i will NOT. NOT for wanting to abandon a lively debate and by extension, an opportunity to expand the rich discourse of charting a course for a progressive Nigeria, but I strongly believe as you do that this debate and many others(in the past) must be surbodinated to the more needful convergence of revolutionary ideas for a trully great Nation. Undoubtedly, i admire your doggedness and clarity of thought which are essential ingredients for inspiring others. Fare thee well, brother. Ol

Dear DK, Thanx my brother, but I must say over to us all . The challenges ahead stare us all in the face, to bring our country's ship home...or at least genuinely strive to. I would also not say I am a 'veteran'. When people who have given their hearts, their souls, their strengths, their minds to the cause of a better society, from their youths still remain unbowed as 'senior citizens', the least we can do, is to keep the torch ablaze. When we fight, we fight not just for ourselves and the future of our children, we fight that the labour of our heroes past shall never be in vain and that our veterans shall have hope that they have not fought in vain. Our veterans are the Eskor Toyos, Hassan Summonus, Edwin Madunagus, Balarabe Musas, Baba Omojolas, Ali Chiromas, Gani Fawehinmis, Ishola Williams, Jonathan Ihondes, Toye Olorodes, Idowu Awopetus, Abayomi Feirreiras, Festus Iyayis...to mention a few, please. I am more concerned here in discussing on your thesis on the

Dear John Dada, Thanx for yours, from the penumbra of internet activism on this serve, or as you could put it the zone of 'lurkers' (lol)...who none the less are not any less concerned or in agony about the fate of our dear country than those of us that choose to be 'basket mouths', not just for the fun of it though!.I had come to the conclusions of broader concern on the serve than shows itself through debates here not from speculation but from off serve interactions with a number of persons, I never knew where on the serve, many of whom I never knew before, in diverse manners, especially during the debates when I was in Germany. From the site link, you provided I must say it does seem, Fantsuam Foundation is bringing more than just tuwo and amala to some tables. Bringing happiness to hearts, hope to souls, does also make a the difference in situations of poverty, and stigmatization of persons living with HIV. Such function of civil society programmes aimed at ameliora