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Is it me or something is truly wrong somewhere? Years have gone by and I’m yet to find someone to give me a good reasonable explanation for the belief in some quarters that Nigerian artistes’ delivery of songs in Pidgin English is a sign of illiteracy or better still to put it in their usual word “inability to speak good English”. Even with successes achieved by Nigerian music and musicians in recent years, some people just don’t get it! With due respect to the very many people who earn their living through their white collar jobs across different sectors of the Nigerian economy, I may be right to say only few of them can boast of higher educational qualification than many in the entertainment business and this observation also applies to their general command of the English language. What amazes me however is that when bankers, doctors, advertisers… speak Pidgin English, it is considered a matter of choice, simply code switching or code mixing as the case may be but for an average musician to do the same, he is labeled “razz” illiterate or whatever name you can think of. I don’t get it.

As much as I value speaking right, never wanting to compromise on it anywhere I find myself, I will not be deceived into believing that this is all that defines me, even if it helps to make the best first impression. Without any disrespect to the ladies, I will have to speak from the perspective of a young single and sexually conscious guy. I have met and chatted with many intelligent ladies who struggle with their spoken English, making few errors here and there, what Naija people will call bad English – depending on their “marking scheme” and I’m pretty sure many of us will have few jokes off such experiences too but ladies and gentlemen! Have you met a girl that speaks the entire phonetics in the world but can not maintain an intellectual dialogue for five minutes? The ones that speak bad English with American accent are even worse! Guys you don’t wanna go down there; it is simply injustice to a man!
Ladies please feel free to do the same check and see if you’re not better off with that intelligent guy that speaks that carefully put together English with his Ibo accent than the one with Queen’s or Yankee English but no quality mind or manners or ambition.

I still remember the over blown grammatical blunder of juju musician Sir Shina Peters’ “soonest recover” and the endless issue that was made of it, why then would it be hard for me to truly appreciate the modest eloquence of musicians like Pasuma, Salawa Abeni, K1 and Obesere who’s genre does not even necessarily require the language? As much as I will like to say that being a musician or entertainer is not an excuse for not having a good command of our lingua franca – a language taught in our schools and on which every other subject is taught, rather is the more reason why we need it as music require some elements of poetry, literature and figurative expressions; I am usually forced to come back to the question what really is Nigeria’s lingua franca?

Just the other day I was fixing my car at the mechanic’s somewhere in ibadan, then came along this young – very young boy with a hammer in his hand with which he constantly hit the small wooden box hanging on his shoulder and I beckoned on him to quickly shine my dusty shoes. As his tiny little fingers struggled with the weight of the shoes, I wondered if he had been at this all day or the time being around 4pm it was just another after school work done to support his parents as the child labor thing has always been a common sight in many poor and even average homes – that being a topic for another day. I couldn’t bear the sight any longer and decided to settle my curiosity.

In my usual self I asked “are you in school”?
I got neither a response nor a reaction after repeating the same question twice, then hoping this sounds common, I asked “what’s your name”?
Then he looked up at me, looked back at the shoes and smiled as he continued his task, apparently sorry for a young good looking man showing early symptoms of madness by talking all to himself – my dreadlocks off course did not help matters.

It was already getting embarrassing and not the type to smile about but more of “if ai ssslap you…” but then I still had an idea, I switched swiftly to the famous, wonder working Pidgin English. “wetin be your name”? Low and behold! His vocal cords came to life in a manner that reminds you of Pastor Chris Oyakhilome’s miracle crusades.
“Dawoudi” he replied in his concentrated northern accent.
“Wonderful! what a miracle” I said to myself, then pressed on “you dey go school”?
“Me I noo dey go” Now feeling a little vindicated, I asked him why
“My phapha I noo get…” and the discussion went on.

It is also common knowledge that an average person from the eastern part of the country even with absolutely no formal education will communicate with you in Pidgin English comfortably. Then I ask myself “does it make sense for a recording artiste hiding under the saying that music is a universal language to make all his songs in total English language and fail to communicate with the larger percentage of his society but please a few misguided minds? That is nothing but a myopic sentiment borne out of regrettable propagandas or perhaps deliberate bigotry on the history of the evolution of Nigeria’s pop music! When politicians want our votes; they go to villages to speak Pidgin English and it works! Now someone wants to tell me “pidgin na wowo language”? Even our Honorable Speaker Dimeji Bankole will not speak his Queen’s English to the people in his constituency! For what now?

This is my point; music is about telling a story, sending a message and if the language that reaches your primary market most widely is Pidgin English or your mother tongue, why avoid it? If Jamaicans had avoided their unique patois (patwa) would it have become so globally accepted that we even try to copy it? Whatever language you speak, make sense. That is music.

I learnt an international organization rated three songs by Nigerian musicians among the best 10 african songs of the past century;
- Water by Fela Anikulapo Kuti – sang mainly in pidgin and Yoruba language
- Sweet Mother by Prince Nico Nbaga – another legendary hit song recorded totally in Pidgin English.
- African Queen the monster hit by Tuface Idibia – the only song of Nigerian origin in this class recorded totally in English language.
Ironically Tuface happens to be one of the pop acts that have been worst hit by the Pidgin English criticism but then “nothing dey happen”.

Here the points are quite clear and obvious, pidgin English is not a barrier to international acceptability as long as we keep it simple and sensible; broken English or your mother tongue in music is not a proof of deficiency in speaking English as stated by a popular celebrity couple in an interview some years back, and let me state and be sure it is also not enough reason to say “Nigerian artistes do not go to school” considering how many of us has tried to go beyond the first degree. However, all said and done, make we too stop to dey misfire; the Nigerian artiste needs to draw the line between a formal and informal setting and learn to speak appropriately. Enough said… I think.

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The Ondo State police have arrested five persons in connection with the kidnap of Mafe Ibrahim, the mother of Jimoh Ibrahim. According to an assistant commissioner of police who prefers anonymity, the suspects were arrested in the environs of Igbotako and are helping the police in their investigations. The police officer told NEXT that the kidnap was not politically motivated.

The state police command had recently announced that the case has been transferred to the Criminal Investigation Department for further investigation.

Playing politics with the kidnap

While the PDP, Mr Ibrahim’s party alleged that the ruling Labour Party was behind the abduction, the state government advised Mr Ibrahim and his party men to look within themselves for the kidnappers.

The state government through the commissioner for information, Ranti Akerele, accused Mr Ibrahim of “playing politics” with the kidnap of his mother.

The commissioner faulted Mr Ibrahim’s account of the kidnap saying, “Ibrahim presented the case as if the kidnap was masterminded and executed by the state government, hence his demand for the declaration for a state of emergency in the state.” Mr Akerele added, “the security agencies that have already been drafted to effect the release of this woman should look beyond the ordinary and search the confines of Jimoh Ibrahim’s household.

“They should look among his political associates who seem to be rejoicing at the sad development and his myriad of business associates.

“It is the height of immorality for anybody to think of scoring cheap political goals with the kidnap of a 65-year-old woman.

“If a beneficiary of the kindness and love of one earlier victim could organise and mastermind the kidnap of his benefactor, who says desperate political rookies cannot plan and execute the kidnap of a poor old woman?” He asked.

The commissioner also noted that the act could be carried out by the PDP, “in order to create a band of phantom stakeholders whose only tangible solution to the incident is to call for a state of emergency in Ondo State.” He said: “With all the powers at the disposal of the peace-loving government of Ondo State, issues of security have been pursued with unprecedented focus since April 2009. Such that in all the reported cases of kidnap, not only have the victims returned to safety but the culprits have been apprehended to the eternal shame of those who cry wolf when there are none.”

They wanted Jimoh out

But the PDP in a statement by its Director of Publicity, Ayo Fadaka, alleged that the Labour Party carried out the act, “to discourage Jimoh Ibrahim from further participating in politics.” Mr Fadaka said, “Our attention has been drawn to the kidnap of Madam Ibrahim, the mother of Barrister Jimoh Ibrahim who is a solid pillar of our Party both in this state and nationally. It will be recalled that our state has been going through lots of security challenges in recent weeks and this is occasioned by the garrulity of Labour Party leaders and rank and file whose concept of politicking is to stand the laws on its head and use under the table tactics to secure victory. Their approach so far has led to the death of Emmanuel Adebayo in Ose and scores of brutalised and wounded people across the state. Their latest action is the kidnap of this old woman, this development is not only evil, but sadistic, comprehensively wicked and unacceptable.

“In their imagination it is the needed trump card that is needed to disorientate, disorganise and discourage Jimoh Ibrahim in his quest to join others in leading the party to victory in the forthcoming elections in Ondo State. But we want to assure them that their calculation is not only shallow but will fail to achieve their desired goal.” Mr Fadaka called on the law enforcement agents to treat the matter with urgency, adding that the culprits and their sponsors should be brought to book.

Mr Ibrahim’s mother was kidnapped from her Igbotako home on Sunday evening by four unidentified gunmen. It was gathered that the gunmen arrived at the house, a one-storey building located in the outskirts of the town around 8pm, and pretended to be customers who wanted to buy some locally made mats which the woman was selling.

By Victor Ehikhamenor  234next.com

.EXCUSE ME: My mother, information management czar

When I was growing up, my mother took me through some gruelling training in public behaviour and information management. I doubt if CIA, NSA, FBI, KGB or SSS operatives go through the kind of exercises my mother designed for me. Some of the poignant ones came to mind after I read WikiLeaks’ public laundering of the US envoy’s private conversations with my dear President Jonathan in the Yar’Adua dark days.

Growing up in the village, there were unwritten manuals on how to navigate the high wires of surviving a tough terrain. My mother started early on me because I was a bit exuberant and quick to trust people. She knew she needed a strong arm to manage me, so she would tell me to curb my enthusiasm whenever strangers were around. She focused on keeping secrets mainly because many embattled couples came around to my father to resolve their differences and at a young age I was privy t o all sorts of adult crises....

She also embarked on training me to read her unspoken language in public, like grunts, eye movements or outright rough handling. Many times when I failed, she would be left with no other option than to resort to her beautiful black hands. My mother’s hands were elastic in dishing out some Guantanamo Bay spanking, no matter how fast I tried to run from my crime scene.

As kids, when some aunties would come from the city with Cabin Biscuits and Goodie Goodie during Christmas, I’d get carried away by misguided excitement, knocking off tumblers and China. I’d forget myself and run my mouth without sifting the kind of information I wasn’t suppose to release. I’d also think my mother was in the same euphoric state at seeing my city aunties. When my excesses got too many, she would excuse herself from the visitor and arrest the situation by delivering justice faster than a Balogun market mob on a thief. In all fairness to her, she would have sent out all the warning signs like a few grunts, two seconds silence in the middle of her conversation, one minute stare without a blink, shuffling of her right foot on the floor, knuckle crackling, go-get-me-a-cup-of-water even if she had just drank the entire River Niger - warnings which I’d ignore because when the gods want to kill a dog, they inflict it with deafening insanity.

Seriously, nothing irked my mother more than you endangering the family with your basket mouth in the midst of strangers. A stranger by this definition was anybody other than my father, grandmother and four other siblings; these were the only people that got my mother’s high level security clearance. This meant if anything bothered us the children, we were to tell her or my father. She must not hear about it elsewhere or she would not spare her elastic hand.

For instance, I was ten years old when my brother got the elusive visa and admission to go and study in America and I couldn’t go screaming down our street telling all my friends that my brother will soon go to the white man’s land and start sending me toys and cool T-shirts and jeans. Do you know what it takes to contain such excitement for a ten-year-old? O my belly was on fire! And even later on when I could talk about my brother in America to neighbours, I was not to blab about every detail I read in his letters home. As my mother would say, you never know who would misuse information they receive – listen more and talk less. You could say she ran an air tight Costa Nostra, with her eyes and ears everywhere in the village and other places we her children went. So we never broke her rules.

And during those strenuous training sessions, which were so many, I couldn’t honestly tell you it was fun at all, but she balanced her stringencies with supersize love. She would buy me the coolest gifts, including an unforgettable silk bow tie and a blue velvet suit that I wore on my 11th birthday. So you can say my mother believed wholeheartedly in Hebrews 12:11 “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”

The reason why I have gone into all this history about my mother’s training style (which by the way if she were to read now, she would give me one of her long looks of “did you not learn anything”?) is WikiLeaks’ revelation about President Jonathan. The information is not damning as such, it only shows a meek political lamb in a land filled with heartless hungry lions. Only if he knew that my mother would have considered Sanders a “stranger” and telling her his most kept secrets, what he would’nt tell us ordinary citizens, was like taking a leak in a public toilet built of glass. So to my good friend, President Jonathan, I would say, next time please bridle your tongue even in your innermost sanctuary because you never know when that innocent looking visitor would put uzonta in your mouth for ulterior motives.

Bello Garba Bello, the first son of the late senior official of the state security service killed on Monday in Kano, has allegedly confessed that he was the one who actually stabbed his father, Garba Bello, his mother, Habiba and his three siblings to death in a murder case that has shocked residents of the city.

Twenty-two-year-old Mr Bello (Baba) made this confession yesterday at the headquarters of the Kano State Police Command, Bompai Kano..

The state Police Commissioner, Mohammed J. Gana, showed journalists a handwritten confessional statement allegedly written by the suspect, in which he confessed to killing his family and said that after he killed them, he tried to commit suicide but couldn’t after realising the enormity of what he did.

Mr Bello, who is a 200 level Physics student of the Kano State University of Technology, Wudil (KSUT), had also all egedly confessed, in a hand written statement submitted to the state command of the State Security Service (SSS), that he single-handedly carried out the killings. He also claimed that his anger was that his father was going to die because of his terminal illness and that he could not bear the responsibilities of catering for his mother and siblings that would follow subsequently.

He said in the statement that he stabbed his parents and three of his siblings to death at about 2am on Monday this week. “My father cannot provide for my basic needs, so I killed them all with knives,” the statement to the police reads. “It was painful to me and the entire family. It was an unbearable, irreparable loss. My father has been bedridden and I know he is not going to survive. I did the job alone.

“The intention was to wipe out the entire family and after that, I called my neighbours, Isiaku and Buhari immediately after the incident.”

Speculations not at rest

Security officials say his confession puts to rest speculations about the motive behind the killing of 54-year-old Bello and four members of his family.

The incident also saw 40-year-old Habiba strangulated and three of their children, 16-year-old Hafsat; 14-year-old Khalifa and five-year-old Murjatu murdered in cold blood.

One Umar Danjani, who claimed to be a relation of the deceased SSS official, has, however, disagreed with the police and the said confessional statement of Mr Bello.

Mr Danjani said that Farouk, the other surviving son of the late Bello, told the family that he saw another man who was wearing a white singlet, called Aminu, kill his family members. He also said some neighbours heard the sound of a whistle and sound of many persons.

“This means that the younger Bello did not carry out the killings alone,” he said.

Story from Daily Trust