You Really Can Do It! (Discoveries Path 1)

You've got this project, and you're so convinced it’s the right thing to do now….but then, the challenge of 'knowing' how to get it done stares you hard in the face , or maybe its the overwhelming effect of the volume of work that needs to be done, you're de-moralized and cannot help feeling 'helpless' sometimes.

You're filled with visions of that dream, your dreams are so real to you, but right now, you're at a loss on how you would accomplish it and even doubtful if these dreams would ever become realities.

You've been given the task, that opportunity…….but you're clueless as how to proceed, and you cannot guarantee that you'd be successful at it, so.... fear becomes a constant companion.

You are at a crossroad, your destination is so clear to you…..but what direction would you take to ensure you arrive at the right place and in good time too?

You've got plans of where you want to be later this year, next year, in the coming years... but you are doubtful, and confused, and no longer sure of anything, except that you're sure that at the rate you're going, those plans would never materialize

You know what you should do, but you are just not sure of how to do it!

I could go on and on and on………. Oh! the contemplations of the human mind!
We often find ourselves in the different scenarios above.
In as much as I believe I can do a lot of things, the analytical/pragmatic part of me never lets me escape noticing the scary, intimidating realities of my in-capabilities, or/and the challenges, obstacles and odds against me, and most often than not I loose faith and doubt if I could/would ever get things done!.....but the truth is that we really can do anything!!!

While reading the book of genesis some years ago, I discovered this.......Let me call it Noah's task


NOAH'S TASK!!!!
The world no longer pleased its creator. God was going to put an end to everything and everyone, He planned to wipe them all away by flooding the earth, but Noah found favour with God.
Noah would build an ark (a ship sort of) where himself and family would be kept safe from the impending flood. Noah and his household would be spared……but not just them! (Gen 6:1-22)
God gave Noah the herculean task of taking in (to the ark) with him EVERY living creature on earth, BOTH sexes of ALL specie of animals………..ooops!

I have read this part of the bible many times since I was a child, for the first time in my life…..while reading this passage, some questions popped up on my mind;
• How would Noah know ALL species of EVERY living thing?
• Even if he knew them all (very lofty dream!), would he be sure he got them all?
• Even if he got them all, would he be sure he got BOTH sexes of ALL?

But I did not wonder for too long, as I read that chapter through to verse 20

“20 Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive”


Whao!!!! I could not believe my discovery, Noah did not have to kill himself on how to be sure he got ALL the species in this world!
God always knows the way, He's got a support system, an enabling condition, an execution plan, He would watch to see that you succeed at that task!

I was like Olufunke..... see God is El-shaddi, ( the ALL sufficient)
He is proactive, He knows our needs before we do! He sees ahead of us, knows the obstacles we’ll face, the temptations that’ll come our way, and he prepares us ahead and prepares ways/things/and even people ahead FOR us!
Are you saddled with a task/project/dream/vision? and you are wondering how you would meet up or make it…..God is able and willing to help you and see it to a successful completion. (2 Cor 9:8, Philp 3:9)

I could not agree more with the thought that “If God has brought you to it, He WILL bring you through it” believe me! Trust God!

Se na like this e go dey be????????????

I guess I should first issue a Caveat...

Beware: it’s ranting all through....... not proffering any solutions here, I however welcome your kind comments, help, advise, prayers etc, it is not an attempt to discourage anyone either.......
I need to vent.......or maybe I'm just Melancholic today......

I watch with a very heavy heart the drama being played out in this country every day.
I wonder....sometimes I know, I hope...other times I despair......I pray and later I doubt.I keep asking....., is this is how things would continue to be?
So many issues are on my mind about our dear country.

Where do I start from?..... Most of us heard about the bizarre event that took place on the Lagos-Benin road, where the death of some Nigerians was caused by armed robbers. Different versions of the 'truth' has been relayed to us; Some claim that a bus was ambushed by some armed robbers, who after raping and robbing the passengers of their possessions, asked those passengers who did not have money to lie in a row on the road while driver of that passenger bus was forced at gun point to drive over these unfortunate individuals....killing them all ( and that this happened just early this year), another version claims that the robbers after raping and robbing the passengers, asked those who did not have money on them to lie on the express road in a row and while they continued their 'operation', an unsuspecting truck carrying some food stuffs approached and as these thieves started to shoot at the oncoming truck, the truck driver on seeing/hearing gun shots in his bid to escape ( from these armed robbers), hurriedly drove over the people lying on the road thinking they were logs of wood and that this happened sometime last year. There are lots of sites with the stories and the disturbing pictures on the internet like here and here.

Whichever of the ‘truths’ is correct, the fact is that our roads are not safe!, armed robbers do as they like on our express roads day in- day out! I tried to imagine how much time it would take to stop a bus (by ambush), ask the passengers to highlight, rob them of their possessions, rape some of them and even lie them down on the road in a row ......the ugly truth is that these robbers knew they had ALL the time in the world to act out their scripts on our roads -their stage, ....they knew of a fact that NO law enforcement agent would catch up with them, and that we had no emergency response systems in place! Whether they asked the driver to ride over them or if another truck driver did it, is immaterial. We all know the particular robbers were sure of not being caught, our roads are play fields for all sorts of men of the under world.

It’s even more disheartening to see the way our lawmakers, government officials and leaders (who at that time were not even sure of the exact picture of things) speaking eloquently, brandishing bogus vocabularies, debate the issue of national security, some condemning the driver of the said truck, asking for his head, calling down hell, fire and brimstone, asking for all sorts of safety measures to be put in place on our roads. Its been many weeks since then....we are yet to feel as little as a finger… the impact of all these talk, we are yet to see more armory or security posts on our roads, neither has the roads been repaired or street lights fixed nor have we had emergency /medical posts stationed on the roads. A lot of 'preventalbel deaths still occur on our roads from accidents and all sorts of evils. I keep wondering for how long our roads will continue to be death traps.

So much for religious crisis....as for the recent Jos crisis, a lot of people have taken time to do good justice to the stories like here and here and here. I watch with shame the way our media, law makers, government official are all calling for immediate action, and all kinds of expedited actions in response to the situation in Jos, while the killers are still having a field day counting more and more victims .............will things continue like this?

In the same breath, still on religious crisis... Its the 3rd year since Toyin Oluwaseesin was brutally wasted by some zealots, her live cut short, her children and husband deprived of the love and embrace of their loved one. Toyin's story can be read here. 3 years! And no one has been brought to book, our country has not been able to give her family justice, it's obvious we are in a country where any person(s) can take laws into their hands, kill others and still go scout free...............for how long will this continue?

I don't want to go into the recent bombings in the south east, the boldness with which the Nigeria delta militia keep claiming they are responsible for different bombings and their ‘dare-you –whole-nation-to-do-anything’ attitude. I don’t even want to talk about the credibility of elections carried out across the nation, the lip service and greed of the leaders/politicians, the corruption and indiscipline that has eaten deep into the fabric of our society, the warped mentality of the average youth growing up in Nigeria which is “anyhow, just get the money, forget integrity, forget a good name, forget humanity” the ineffectiveness and lack –luster state of the of the Nigerian police, the continuous deplorable state of our infrastructures…..I could go on and on, but you know about all these already.

But you see why I’m a bit melancholic today......
The more I think about all the issues around the great nation Nigeria; the more my heart sinks, the more I loose my faith in the unity, the purpose and essence and the bright future of the nation called Nigeria.

What breaks my heart the more is the fact that it is still business as usual in Nigeria. Everyone still carries on like ‘that is how life should be!’Citizens like me (home and in diaspora) just carry on with our lives .....We sigh, we complain, we analyse, we debate, we speak plenty of English and then just ‘go- on’ with our lives. The religious institutions (that should be a voice, pillars of truth and part of the conscience of the nation) are carrying on with their businesses as usual too! I don’t want to talk about the lawmakers or the judiciary. Tthe few Nigerians that try to do something positive are criticised, discouraged or even silenced.

It’s exasperating to see how money is being embezzled, wasted all in the name of allocation, contracts, etc
It seems like a curse or the nation is jinxed; because whenever some silver lining seem to appear, the dark clouds just show up again, ...like we all thought Alhaji Yaradua was a fresh breath from the 'crudeness' of 'Baba', in a short while we discovered that we got in a deeper ‘shit’ instead, and I just cant help to wonder, if this is how things would continue.....

Its so distasteful the kind of popularity we get for being the 'unpopular' giant of Africa....no thanks to the Mutallabs of recent. I see how the world media disparage any of our efforts at something good, honourable or noteworthy ......and I don’t blame them!

you see, I'm, wondering......................
If my generation would see that great Nigeria we dream, pray and hope for.
If my children would know a country where its citizens are proud any day, any where to flaunt their green travel passports.
If stories that are exported about Nigerians would once again be those that would inspire and gladden the hearer.
If we would ever know a leadership that is sincere, could be trusted and ready to work for the good of the citizens of the country
If the hard working, honest Nigerian would be recognized and be proud that ‘there is dignity in labour’
If trust, truth and Integrity would ever be synonymous with the word Nigeria,
If this, If that, If, If, If, If, If, If.............

Because........
I live in a country where ‘abnormal’ has become the new ‘normal’
I am a citizen of a country where you are not sure of authenticity of anything, infact you need to double check whenever you are greeted good morning in Nigeria that its not yet past 12 noon.
I own a passport of a nation who’s chief security officer, leader, commander-in-chief, president, and chief steward has been missing for over 4 months! and all sorts of unimaginable drama attends his disappearance.
I am in a country which is one if the largest exporter of crude oil, and its citizens still suffer untold hardship in the name of ‘fuel scarcity’

and because
We still live in darkness .....with constant ‘no-power’, no electricity supply, and dealers of generating sets/diesel/petrol/gas are having a field day smiling to the banks and have formed a strong-hold against the nation having constant power supply.
We are our own government, we provide, our own electricity, provide our own water, provide our own security, and some people even have provide their own accessible roads to their homes/offices themselves!
We still 'sleep' at different embassies, suffer humiliating treatment there just to get a 'pass' to leave this country.
We have so much, our budget value keeps increasing every year, we make so much revenue from oil export and others, yet we lack so much, the average citizen still lives in poverty!
We seem to be citizens of some banana republic
We know how to add colour to any story of the world....trust Nigerians, ours will be always different with some interesting, corrupt and disappointing twist!

In as much as I belong to the school of thought that believes in miracles, in the eventuality of change, the victory of hope, and the persistence of faith!
The more I see, read, hear and think about the current happenings in this great nation,
My heart fails me,
My faith in challenged,
My hope kinda diminishes,
My mind cannot stop asking................

The more I ponder, the more the lyrics of a popular Nigerian musician's song keeps coming to my mind .... Se na like this we go de dey?

I have faith! I pray for my country, I long for the new Nigeria of our dreams,

But then............ I cannot help but ask.....se na like this e go dey be?*




*Se na like this e go dey be? = local pidgin English in Nigeria for 'Is this how things would continue to be?'

Another Year!

I am a year older today!
I am a year wiser too (I hope)......
I am thankful to God.
I am hopeful.
I am expectant...and
I am very, very, very, very, very glad to be alive!

( This past year I have known the death of many promising, strong and good people ( that in my own opinion did not deserve to die, at least, not yet!) more than before)

I think this is just going to be a thankful birthday!
I think I should just take is eazzey.......and party......
I think I should sit, count my blessings one after the other
I think I should thank God for all the people I have been blessed with.
I think I should celebrate love…….and life.
I think I should beat the drums for the joys, the victories, and blissful moments of the past year, I think I should just not dwell so much on the disappointments, the losses, and the failures of the year past.



In the past year..........................
I have seen the mighty fall, and the weapon of war taken away from them,
I have seen money fail so many people,
I have also been reminded that no man in infallible, that the best of men is still just a man,
I have also seen that not everyone that calls himself your friend really is one sincerely,
I have learnt to walk with the wise and seek wisdom
I have received so much mercy, seen the favour, and preferential treatment of God,
I have seen that God has a way of showing up especially when we have given up and lost hope

In the past year, I came to this realization....

There is only one thing that we can all be sure of - NOTHING! (No position, status, income, people....) except God.


I need you to look less at the disheartening things that seem to abound, you just might find a silver lining……..
I need you to look out for people who celebrate you, and who would bring out the best in you, you know you deserve more……
I need you to be more thankful, God never ignores a thankful heart, He also never forgets, and you will never be the same when you adopt a thankful lifestyle……
I need you to laugh more, dance more, and invest more in things that make you really really happy……….
I need you to keep it simple, to have child-like faith again. There is truly beauty in simplicity.
I need you to be all you can be, dream big and reach for the highest height.


I need to remind myself more importantly to never forget to apply to my life ALL I have written above.

And finally, I need you to wish me HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

THANKFUL TUESDAY!!!

It's Tuesday, and I am thankful! I decided some days ago that I should learn to say more thank yous to God, less requests, less complaints, less ranting etc

(I started writing this post with just like 3 things I wanted to be thankful for....My list started to get longer and longer, is true that ‘count your many blessings, name them 1 by 1 ….it would surprise you what the lord has done, I actually have 10!)

Ok, so here go my Ten Things Tuesday!

1) I was involved in a very serious car accident some weeks ago, for like an hour, I thought the other party involved in the accident was dead, and for 30mins, it seemed my world stood-still, it was like I was a character in some feature film, I could not believe what was happening was reality. I was almost mobbed that day, but for the intervention of some police men passing by, my car was seriously damaged, the police impounded my car, I was in an hospital, the police station, another police station for hours that day and I was due to travel that same night! I am thankful to God, that I came out of the accident whole, the other party in the accident got around very well, I got my car from the police that same day, and I got to the airport early enough that evening to catch my flight, God showed up for me!....and on time too!

2) I am thankful for my mind,. …you may be wondering, your mind? Yes o…we know a lot of disheartening things happen around all us, and for me, I tend to think about issues a little too much. Thoughts of a suffering child I see on a street could stay with me for days. I find myself over burdened with other people’s plights, other ‘s reasoning, attitudes, decisions, injustice in our worlds, man’s inhumanity to the fellow man etc, I’ve also known what it is to perpetually live with FEAR, ( fear not of things imagined, but of terrors that stare you right in the face!). I’ve had to fight for my faith, I’ve questioned my own convictions, doubted my doctrines & fought my theology. When I ponder on this issues so much, I sometimes feel like I’m gonna loose my mind. Some days, I rant like I did here, but most of the times, I internalize these thoughts and feelings.

And I know that If there is anywhere the devil likes to win his battles, its in our minds! It amazes me today that, despite all I have to contend with ….I am just myself, whole, together, better and sound minded, see this scripture just came to mind now.….He has not given us the spirit of fear, but the spirit of LOVE, POWER and a SOUND MIND! God has helped me put it all together…..I like Col 1:17(NIV) In Him, ALL things hold together

3) I just changed jobs, my new job is not my idea of a dream job though…..but I got this job in a season where people are loosing their jobs, most companies are not recruiting at the moment and new jobs are hard to come by. You need to know I got this offer on a platter of gold (just a phone call, no dreaded interviews, no drills) plus my former employer still wants me to stay, in fact I have been privileged .Its not me, its God ALWAYS working ALL things out for our good!

4) I am thankful for friends, someone might say ‘no big deal!’ but I’ve noticed a lot of people do not have friends (I don’t mean acquaintances that you say hi to on the street or your colleagues in school/work) I mean people that share your life with you; they share your pains, they relish with you every sweet moment, celebrate every victory with you, the give, they sacrifice, they stand by and show up for you! I am thankful that when I something or a favour, there is someone I can call (not that I do not know that my sufficiency is in God, or that no man is infallible, I have also known the betrayal & neglect of friends too), but it’s a special blessing to always have a hand to hold on to, and a shoulder to cry on. I am thankful for my friends!

5) I am thankful for 'hope'. I don’t know if life is worth living at all without hope....God has given us this remarkable ability to hope! I am thankful that every morning I wake up, there is always something to look forward to, something special to hope for , a dream to achieve, a milestone to hit, a target to meet, a job to be done, a road to cross etc, ..........

6) I am thankful for my health, I used to be known for being ‘weak’, but that is changing very faaaaaaaaast! Now, I am strong, I can do ALL that I choose to do, I even push and over push my body sometimes, I have been on the other side of ‘strength, I know what it is to be weak, not to have any desire to achieve or do anything in this world, ‘cos you just know you are not up to it, and probably wont be around for long. So, I do not take for granted the fact that I can jump up any time, go anywhere, dance all I can, shout all I want drive all I could, sleep and eat all I can, God been ‘health and life’ for me

7) I thank God for protection, I am learning to always remember that God is with me, everywhere I go! He watches over me,

8)I am thankful for my family, I used to take for granted the fact that my family members are safe everywhere and every time, you can imagine how your altogether, well planned good life changes if something terrible happens to a member of your family....all busy schedules suddenly comes to an halt, savings dip, you loose your peace of mind and so many other terrible things better imagined.

9) I am thankful for my country Nigeria, I just think somewhere deep down my heart ( even though my mind disagrees with me) that Nigeria would be a better place. I am grateful though for the fact that I can go to church, pray anywhere and preach if I want to without fear of being persecuted. Can I say I am proudly Nigerian? This is thankfulness in faith, because so many things happen around that makes one wonder if our generation would really see a better Nigeria. Anyway, God bless Nigeria.

10) I am thankful for blogville, I know this has been over sung. The undeniable truth is that I have become a better person since I started to blog. I have been blessed by you, yes, you all, you read my blogs, you make those comments, you send me those mails, some of you call me, and you post those wonderful things ...that challenge me to be a better person, that entertains me or just makes me relax. I am just awed!.....I have and I am still making some special friends in blogville even from very far ends of the earth. I am glad I did not stop blogging.

What are you thankful for?

Oh the brevity...........................

NOTE: I know I have not blogged in a very long while, and belive me, I planned to blog about more interesting things, things more 'alive', but I am sorry I have to talk about death again.............


I lost a dear one early hours this morning.
It started with a call that he was being rushed to the hospital, we sure panicked, I found myself assuring everyone not to despair, I prayed, asked God for a miracle and was waiting........
It ended with a call that he was being taken to the mortuary....Mortuary ke? Oh God!

I can see the faces of those around me, heavy eyes, all worn out from hours of crying
I can hear the different anguished voices ( over the phone) of those being informed about the tragedy.

I wish I called him, I promised to call him.......
We've been discussing some issues, He asked me to do somethings, I have avoided calling him, thinking....'he would 'harras' me about the issue again.
I wish I allowed him stress me, bug me, harass me and do anything else he wanted to do.

I wish I had not procastinated, I wish I had asked him 'how far'?
He's been helping me pursue somethings, and for some days now I've been thinking I needed to call him to know how far he had gone, but I kept saying 'I would call him',...'he is always there'
A friend asked after him 2 nights ago, I said I was goign to call him to ask how far
I wish I called to get a feedback from him, I wish I knew the latest developments, his last efforts

I never had the opportunity to say good bye,
I did not get to know his last thought about the issues we discussed last.
I deprived myself the pleasure of hearing his voice for the last time, of knowing his last thoughts

I made a decision today; to say everything to whoever I need to say it to, call whoever I needed to call ASAP and not push it to later.....the reality is that I AM NOT SURE they would always be there.

I feel like asking God if this is fair, He knows some people should not die now.
but then, I have been convinced long before now that "God is good' and that we would understand somethigns better at the other side of eternity

I am wondering ......
Does it mean that till my dying day I would not see his face again in this world?
Does this mean that this man would no longer be a part of my life?
Is it possible that I would learn to live in a world without him?
Is it possible that he would not have the pleasure of witnessing one of the most happiest events of my life coming soon as he had so wished?
Is it possible that he did not live to see the one thing he desired most and we all prayed day and night for, for him?
Did he know he would not live to see the transaction he was trying to conclude just 7 days ago?
Did he know that he was not going to live to see the people he asked to meet him some place tomorow?
Oh the brevity of life!

Words fail me..................
Adeiu Kabiru Adesina!

More to this Life.................

I have been away from blog ville for too long, I tender my unreserved apologies, especially to all those who kept on checking on me including Kemi Penelope, Beulah, the GNG, Aloted, Enkay, yankeenaijababe, Rita, Olamild, Omo oba etc.


I had no real reasons for being away for that long, I really cannot place my hand on what caused my being MIA….....I guess I lost my flow, I needed a break or just needed some time to gather my thoughts together again…I don't know jare, Nonetheless I’ve had the pleasure of reading interesting posts on some blogs.
Anyway, I really hope I’m back for good.

Over the last weekend, it happened that co-incidentally at different times I got involved in discussions about death; the gists were about that person’s death, this person’s tragedy, that lady’s husband just died, Oh..I didn’t hear she died too, ha….sorry about XYZ’s death, Oh my God…this life…….etc

All of this got me thinking...........The news of someone’s' death is a reminder that life has an end, and the best thing to do is to spend one's life for something that outlasts it

I had this email that I edited and sent years ago.

When you fully comprehend that there is more to life than just here & now, and you realize that life is just preparation for eternity,( just as nine month spent in your mother’s womb were not an end in themselves but preparation for this life, you begin to see this life as you are......in the womb in preparation for the next life “ETERNITY”)

You will begin to live differently. You will start living in light of eternity & this will colour how you handle every relationship, task and circumstance.

Suddenly many activities, goals & even problems that seemed so important before will appear trivial, petty & unworthy of your attention.
The closer you live to God, the smaller everything else appears

In short: This life is preparation for the next If you have a relationship with God through Jesus, you don’t fear death. It is the door to eternity. It will be the last hour of your time on earth, not the last of you, but the beginning of you i.e your birthday into eternal life.


I didn’t intend to preach, I only meant to share my thoughts:

- Very few things are certain in life, but our final departure from this world (no matter what form it takes ) is one very certain thing, no matter how much we try to ignore the fact, or how much we hate to talk about death or just like wish it away and enjoy ourselves for now.

- I want to live my life to the fullest, I have great dreams (dreams bigger than myself) of things I want to have and do during my lifetime. I love to enjoy myself and have all the beautiful things life has to offer, but then I constantly try to remind myself that there is more to life…..there is some place after here.

- It would be wisdom on our parts to face this reality and live with the consciousness that there would be an end and we should not just live for this world. We should not allow ‘the now to distract us from thinking about the future”. One of the bible passages that I try to always remind myself of is:

"If our hope in Christ is good only for this life, we are worse off than anyone else".1 cor 15:19 (CEV)

- I made a decision to settle that part of my life, I pray you are doing something too and not getting carried away.

May the new week bring to you new joys, new achievement, new levels, new status etc. and may the next six months of the year be our better half of the year

Cheers!

Credit Crunch (3)

What is recession?

A lot has been said and done about the ongoing recession, it’s so sad to see/hear the loss and effect of the global meltdown all around us. I had done a serious post here and a not too serious :-) post here on the credit crunch. This post is just to help us lighten up, lets say...... my attempt at humour.

Please enjoy this story.....

This story is about a man who once upon a time was selling Hotdogs by the road side, He was illiterate, so he never read newspapers. He was hard of hearing, so he never listened to the radio. His eyes were weak, so he never watched television, but enthusiastically, he sold lots of Hotdogs.
He was smart enough to offer some attractive schemes to increase his sales.

His sales and profit went up; He ordered more and more raw material and buns and sold more.

He recruited more support staff to serve more customers, he started offering home deliveries. Eventually he got himself a bigger and better stove. As his business was growing, the son who had recently graduated from college joined his father.

Then something strange happened.
The son asked, “Dad, aren’t you aware of the great recession that is coming our way?” The father replied, “No, but tell me about it”. The son said, “The international situation is terrible! The domestic situation is even worse! We should be prepared for the coming bad times.”

The man thought that since his son had been to college, read the papers, listened to the radio and watched TV, he ought to know and his advice should not be taken lightly.

So the next day onwards, the father cut down his raw material order and buns, took down the colourful signboard, removed all the special schemes he was offering to the customers and was no longer as enthusiastic. He reduced his staff strength by giving layoffs.

Very soon, fewer and fewer people bothered to stop at his Hot dog stand, and his sales started coming down rapidly and so did the profit. The father said to the son, “Son, you were right.” We are in the middle of a recession and crisis. I am glad you warned me ahead of time.”

I am not in anyway trying to undermine the effect or the gravity of the recession, just that I am more interested on how we allow it affect us.

In as much as it looks like we are helpless, there is still a "little" lot we can do,
like I wrote here.
but in all I think we just should not FUEL the recession more than we should, and if it helps anyone, our prayer and confession this season should be;

………..in this recession, God help me experience a progression!

Nice week, you all!

Oluwatoyin Chrstiana OLUWASESIN.

It was in Gombe state, Nigeria, 2 years ago, she was doing her job…. when she met her death.

'Toyin was a teacher at the Government day secondary school, Gandu.

On March 21 morning, she resumed for work as usual, it was during the examinations period, she was invigilating a class, we learn t she distributed the question papers and announced the commencement of the paper.

A few minutes into the session she observed that Fatsuma a female student was copying answers from a book concealed in a newspaper. Confiscating the newspapers and its hidden contents she dumped the lot on the teacher’s desk and some slips of paper containing Arabic writings floated to the floor. They were later confirmed to be pages of the Hadith and Koran, as soon as 'Toyin did this, the female student stood up began to scream Allahu Ahkbar! Allahu Ahkbar! The cheating female ran out of the classroom as the others joined her in the chant. The whole school was thrown into confusion.

When' Toyin saw that the female student had raised a false alarm, she decided to report the incident to the school principal Mallam Sadiq Mohammed.

Her husband said she also called him and told him about the chaos in the school. He in turn alerted a friend in the Gombe metropolis and the family friend promptly turned up in the school premises with uniformed police men but was rebuffed by the principal who said everything was under control.

As soon as the policemen retired, the Muslim students mobilized a huge crowd and demanded that 'Toyin be released to them by the principal, when threatened that his office would be burnt the Principal came out with 'Toyin in tow to face the mob. The Principal was helpless when the students seized her.

We learnt she was tied up, striped naked , beaten up and then a boy slit her throat with a knife, while this was going on, some other students went to burn her car, they brought the spare tire of her car, put it around her and set her ablaze.

After this, they also tried to kill her 10 month old baby, but thank God for a brave woman that agreed to sneak the baby out under her cloth.

It was also more saddening to hear that she had tendered her resignation and the 21st of March (the day she was brutally murdered) was to be her last day at the school. Her husband had secured a job appointment at the Federal Medical Centre in Abeokuta of Ogun State. Her husband was to pick her from Gandu in the last week of March.

I came across a ministry that are involved in seeing that justice is done concerning the deceased and her family, they have been fighting, praying, meeting and going lengths.... The details of her gruesome murder is here

I remember 'Toyin…….,we served (our 1 year National youth Service Corps program me, NYSC) together, we were in the Nigerian Christian Coppers Fellowship (NCCF) together.

'Aunty' we fondly called her, (she was the Assistant Secretary General of the NCCF, Lagos branch). I remember her agility… she was always up and doing and was very firm.

I remember the last time I was opportune to see her, she was gaily dressed (on her way from a function), we were at an alumni meeting, she was explaining she was now at Gombe state, (her husband had been transferred to work there). We all were discussing ideas of jobs she could do there, business opportunities in Gombe state etc......I didn’t know that was the last time we would see on this side of eternity.

Her death really troubled me and every time I remember how she was wasted I shudder.

I am not sure if the real perpetrators have been brought to book, or if her family has been given an official apology or if her children would see evidences that our nation was genuinely concerned and is sorry for the unfortunate incident that happened to their mother.

I am not sure if anything as been done to sanitize the society and children especially of the value of human lives and how it can never be right or justifiable to take another person's life in the name of religion.

I pray her death will not be 'for nothing', I pray her children will grow up and live in;

- A country where a lot of value is placed on a human being's life.
- A country were the barbaric and senseless killings of people in the name of religion would cease.
- A country where people respect the rule of law and where the law prevails

- A country that has laws that protect the right of an individual to life.

- A country where they could freely choose to live anywhere, walk anywhere freely and freely make friends without fear of being prejudiced, segregated, ostracised or even mobbed

I spoke with her husband not too long ago, (they are holding up fine he said), the family launched a foundation in her memory. Her children are doing very well.

We take consolation in the fact we believe Oluwatoyin has gone to better place, where she is watching, smiling, resting and waiting.

Oluwatoyin, we believe you lived for a cause, Good bye till we meet again at the side of our Lord Jesus!

Adieu!

NB: A lot was written and said about her death like here, and here