Golden Jubilee Anniversary: I’ve Never Known Fear, Says Emir Of Kano

Five months after a bloody attack on
his motorcade by suspected insurgents, the
Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero, has declared
that nothing frightens him.
No fewer than three palace aides were killed
in the January 19 attack while the emir and
two of his sons who sustained injuries were
flown abroad for treatment.
Speaking in a rare interview in the palace on
Thursday night, Alhaji Bayero said: “In fact,I
don’t even know what shock is.”
He was responding to a question on if he had
ever been in a state of shock or frightened by
anything to which he responded: “What do
you mean by shock? In fact, I don’t even
know what shock is. What I believe is that
whatever happens to me on this earth is
destined to happen to me by Almighty Allah.
“So there is no point in showing any fear, as
whatever happens to any person is already
pre-destined to happen to him. Therefore,
wherever such things happen, whether good
or bad, what is required from that person is
to thank Allah; if it is for good, exercise
patience.”
The interview was to mark the emir’s 50th
anniversary on the throne.
He praised Allah for his long reign, saying: “I
have nothing much to say than to thank
Allah for sparing my life to witness these
years on the throne as the longest serving
Emir of Kano. It is not by my doing. It is
through the help of Allah that I was able to
have a good and understanding relationship
with all the governors that governed the
state during my reign.
“Alhamdulillah, all praises are due to Allah
who, through all assistance, made it possible
for me to witness these years on the throne,
a feat that none of my predecessors
achieved.
“I thank all the people of Kano and the
country at large for showing me great love
during this time and to have succeeded
despite challenges because as I always say
whoever puts his trust in Allah and follow
instruction as prescribed by Islam in
whatever he does, that person has nothing to
worry about. So it is through Allah’s
assistance that we succeeded all these
years.”
The special Juma’at service in Kano was
witnessed by thousands of well wishers from
near and far.

BeeCube Bwala

Tom Sharpe, Porterhouse Blue novelist, dies aged 85

The British author Tom Sharpe, who wrote
the 1974 novel Porterhouse Blue, has died
aged 85.
Sharpe, who was born in London in 1928, died in
the coastal town of Llafranc in north eastern
Spain on Thursday.
He wrote 16 novels, including Blott on the
Landscape in 1975, which was adapted into a six-
part BBC television series, starring Sir David
Suchet.
He also wrote the Wilt series of comedy books, the
last of which – The Wilt Inheritance – he penned in
2010.
“Tom Sharpe was one of our greatest satirists and
a brilliant writer: witty, often outrageous, always
acutely funny about the absurdities of life,” said
Susan Sandon, Tom’s editor at Random House.
“The private Tom was warm, supportive and
wholly engaging.”
Porterhouse Blue, published in 1974 told the
story of Skullion, the head porter of a fictional
Cambridge college Porterhouse.
The story, a satirical look at Cambridge life, was
later made into a television series on Channel 4 in
1987.
The four-part TV series starred Sir David Jason in
the lead role of the head porter, Skullion,
alongside Ian Richardson as Sir Godber Evans and
Barbara Jefford as his wife Lady Mary.
The son of a Unitarian Minister who was a Nazi
supporter in the 1930s, Sharpe was educated at
Lancing and Cambridge.
He spent time in the Royal Marines, serving
overseas on ships during the 1940s.
In an interview on Desert Island Discs in 1984,
Sharpe told Roy Plomley he was initially
influenced by his father’s ideas.
South African
inspiration
His National Service
experience and the
death of his father in
1944, brought the
discovery “that Hitler
was not the man I
was led to believe he
was”.
“My mind was blown
by the horror of what
had been happening.”
Sharpe moved to
South Africa in 1951,
working as a social
worker, teacher and
photographer, and
writing anti-apartheid
plays during the 1950s, however, he was
deported to Britain in 1961.
His experiences in South Africa inspired him to
write his debut novel, Riotous Assembly, in three
weeks in 1971, and his second novel, Indecent
Exposure, in which he mocks the apartheid
regime.
In 1975, he wrote Blott on the Landscape,
centred on the proposed construction of a
motorway in a fictional rural county in England.
The book was adapted into a six-part series by
Malcolm Bradbury for the BBC in 1985.
“Books and films are totally different things,”
Sharpe said during his interview on Desert Island
Discs.
“I say throw the book out the window and use the
characters.”
His next book, Wilt, published in 1976, was
inspired by his experiences working a lecturer in
History at the Cambridge College of Arts and
Technology.
The first in a series of six comedic novels, Wilt was
based around the lead character, Henry Wilt, a
demoralised assistant lecturer who teaches
literature to uninterested construction
apprentices at a community college in the south
of England.
It was adapted into the film Wilt in 1989, with
Griff Rhys Jones and Mel Smith in the lead roles.
Sharpe, who had been living in northern Spain for
two decades, was married with three children

BeeCube Bwala

Well before Dr. Benjamin Carson ever set foot at the podium to face the audience at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington D.C. on Feb. 7, the renowned neurosurgeon was already a brand on his own in the field of medicine.

Ben carson

In 1987, he became the first surgeon to
successfully separate conjoined twins and
stamped his place in medical history. When his
biography, Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson
Story was subsequently published in 1990, the
Christian doctor who rejects the theory
of evolution became a global inspiration.
His story of triumph over crushing poverty in
Detroit to become the director of pediatric
neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital in
Baltimore, Md., at the age of 33 became a well-
known and compelling narrative. And the doctor
has been speaking and inspiring with his
message of personal responsibility, moral
integrity and discipline ever since.
From a passion wrought out of his personal
experience with education, Carson and his wife,
who have three adult sons, also decided to start
the Carson Scholars Fund sixteen years ago. The
Fund, according to Carson, celebrates and
supports the achievements of “intellectual
superstars” in schools across America.
But on Feb. 7, when Carson hit the podium,
America heard his thoughts on something else –
government. The neurosurgeon surprised the
audience, which included President Barack
Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, with his
thoughts on government policy in areas such as
taxation, education and debt management.
Now, with a growing chorus of social
conservatives clamoring for him to run for
president, everyone wants to know, who is
Benjamin Carson?
“We don’t know much about Ben Carson except
for his personal biography,” said noted Columbia
University political scientist, Fredrick Harris in an
interview with the Christian Post on Tuesday.
Those who know Carson or are familiar with him
will only talk about Benjamin Carson the man,
not his politics.
“I don’t know him more than anybody else. I
know of his good deeds. He is a good man as far
as I know,” said Dr. Franklin W. Knight, Leonard
and Helen R Stulman Professor of history and
director of the Center of Africana Studies at
Johns Hopkins.
“One of the things that we are committed to
here at Spencerville is that we guard Dr. Carson’s
privacy very much,” said Patrick Morrison,
associate pastor at the Spencerville Seventh Day
Adventist Church in Maryland, where Carson is a
member. He would only say that Carson, who
also sits on the board of several for-profit
companies like The Kellogg Company and Costco
Wholesale Corporation, is an active member of
the church. He attends services regularly and
teaches a class as well.
“He is quiet and humble. He is a man of faith and
a man of integrity,” said Morrison of Carson. And
that’s the mantra repeated by almost everyone
who knows him… WHAT WILL PEOPLE REMAMBER YOU FOR? (Food for thought)

BeeCube Bwala

The life of Mother Teresa (Biography)

Mother Teresa was born as Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, on August 27, 1910, the map of the heavens at her birth has the following stellar signature: Sagittarius, Virgo and Libra. Her Sagittarius ascendant makes her attuned to philosophy, religion and she has a deep longing to understand God. Several of the planets were in Virgo, the sign of service, and her Midheaven was in Libra, the sign of equality and peace. Throughout Mother Teresa’s life she expressed the best of these signs and, which the energies of Pluto, which rules fate, and Neptune, the planet of mysticism, which actively influenced her life as they transit around her horoscope, she was able to come up with a new brand of practical spirituality.

She took the vows of chastity, poverty and obedience, made herself pure and fit for divine communication. Later in her life, as Mother Teresa, she regarded her life and works as an expression of God’s love on earth. When she was eighteen, Neptune entered her 9^th house-the area of education, higher learning and yearning to be with God. There was a call to be in union with the higher forces of the universe and she heeded the call.  She left her home in Skopje, Yugoslavia and became a nun in Dublin, Ireland. She was changed forever; she came to be known as “Sister Teresa.” Her life was transformed as she dedicated it to doing God’s will. The order she joined ran convent schools in India. She later went to India to teach and eventually adopted it as her home and the base for her saintly work.

On September 10, 1948, while on the train heading to a retreat, she had a remarkable spiritual experience. There was another message form God, instructing her to leave the convent and to help and express God’s love to those who are poor, suffering and downtrodden. In this year, she started her special mission; she left the convent to seek the poor. She attracted 12 followers who were very devoted to her cause. They sought the most miserable of society and lived with them. Early in the existence of their order they endured abuse and humiliation but they persevered. In 1950, the Vatican established the Missionaries of Charity and Sister Teresa became Mother Teresa. Unlike other missionary orders, they took and additional vow- a life of dedication to the care of the poor and the needy.

In 1952, the House for the Dying was opened, caring for the helpless and guiding them to die in dignity. In 1957, they started to work with the outcast of society-the lepers. Wherever there was a calamity, missionaries from her order were present, giving moral support and helping raise funds for the people in distress. Mother Teresa’s strong dedication has won her many admirers and supporters worldwide. By her selfless example she has proven that despite economic issues that divide people, human beings are the same-they share the same pain and sorrow. Her work has transcended national and religious boundaries.

She has won the support of world leaders and other benefactors form different backgrounds, hence, she did not have to worry about the source of funding for her projects. In 1985, then US President Ronald Reagan honored her with the Medal of Freedom. In 1996 a poll was made and she was voted second to Princess Diana as the World’s Most Caring Individuals.

Mother Teresa has helped millions of people who were suffering and have inspired the rich and the poor alike into another way of compassionate living. Some individuals were born to embody a universal principle that if more people would emulate would lead to a more peaceful and spiritual planet; Mother Teresa was such a light, she pointed us a way to be closer to God, through the path of service.

P.R….

Solidarity for Africa by odumchi

As Africans we are blessed by our creator who
generously endowed us with many gifts. Our
continent boasts a wide range of environmental
variety: ranging from the icy peaks of Mount
Kilimanjaro in East Africa to the thick jungles of
Central Africa, and the dry plains to the south. Our
homeland is flowing with natural and mineral wealth:
as evident in the diamond mines of South Africa, the
gold pits of West Africa, the oil fields of North
Africa, and the magestic Nile which meanders its
way down through East Africa.
Our peoples have grown strong and accustomed to
the rugged lifestyle which our environment demands.
Thousands of years of struggling have led us to
perfect our societies and cultures, enabling us to
survive on the land and use it best for our needs. In
associating and interacting with ourselves we have
formed powerful unions and relationships with one
another, advanced cultures and societies, and
powerful kingdoms and empires.
Our ancestors layed the bricks with which fabulous
cities and villages were built, forged the swords and
spears with which thousands were conquered and
subjugated, and formed the rituals and practices
which have guided our spirituality ever since.
However, where are we today?
Today, the world mocks us as the “most backwards
continent”; we are known for being poor and
diseased, and our countries continue to play second
fiddle to their more-powerful and influential
Western “allies”. Abroad, our peoples face
harassment, embarrassment, and violence, and
unfortunately those at home do not fair any better.
In the name of unity and togetherness we have
sought to exterminate one another. In the name of
political interests we have sought to deny one
another the very instrument which validates their
humanity: their freedom. In the name of wealth we
manipulate the poor and powerless, taking from them
what little they have. We steal milk from the thirsty,
food from the hungry, and opportunity from the
ambitious.
Our political systems, modeled around that of
Westerners, have continue not only to slowpoke our
progress, but also catalyze our destruction. In the
political sphere, corruption and ethnocentrism reign
supreme; in the economic sector, manipulation and
outright subjugation are the rules on the game; and in
the educational world, millions of our children
struggle to go to school and gain qualification for jobs
that don’t even exist.
Africa why? O ngen mere?
How are we to help ourselves when we are part of
the problem? How are we to usher in a new era of
economic and social development in our continent
when we continue to view ourselves and our
cultures as inferior to those of the world? How are
we to return to the “good days” if hundreds of
thousands of our sons and daughters have forsaken
our shores?
These are the questions that rumble through my
young mind. Although a sound solution to our
problems will surely take time and effort, I suggest
we begin with solidarity. The late Igbo highlife
musician, Chief Stephen Osita Osadebe, said “nke
onye kwulu ibe ya kweta nu; onye kwuo nma anyi
ewelu; onye kwuo njo anyi aju”. Translated, this
means: let us agree with one another and
wholesomely accept good and reject bad. Osadebe,
and many like him, urge us to seek solidarity in
whatever we do for it is the first step in changing
the state of our beloved Africa. It doesn’t take a
Nelson Mandela to contribute to the bettering of our
continent. Rather, each and every one of us,
whether servant or master, is capable of doing his
small part in order to contribute to the greater
picture. The truth remains that no matter how many
billions we receive in foreign aid, if we continue to
war amongst ourselves, progress shall remain a
distant and forever-unattainable mirage.
-Odumchi
………..pls drop your comments on the Essay kindly.

P.R….