Resonance

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  • Vessel of Honour: Becoming Great in the Authenticity of your Design

    Becoming successful is an undying trend in the 21st century. This is because of the realization that virtually anybody can become successful. Unlike in past centuries, your success is not primarily dependent on the status of your family, level of education and other social privileges that put a select few at a ridiculously high advantage. This is good news. Anyone can become successful.

    However, climbing the ladder of success has become a systematic approach, a mathematical formula, a scientific method. One needs to have something, do something in a certain way, act like a certain kind of person. We seem to have made a god out of the standard for attaining success that people legit think they have to lose themselves to attain it.

    What if I told you that the only way you can be great in your unique way is by simply being your authentic self? If you have to be like someone to be great, you will only be an inferior copy of the person. You have unlimited potential to be the greatest version of yourself. Don’t waste it trying to be a duplicate of another person. Nonetheless, you may have some discrepancies that make you feel less of a conqueror;

    Maybe you’re dumb

    Samson got tied up 3 times by Delilah, who desperately wanted to know the secret of Samson’s strength. Ei so Samson couldn’t figure out that this girl wanted to destroy him? After 3 attempts? Don’t tell me he was blinded by love. Being in love is different from being stupid. Samson had both, yet God used him so mightily. He was blinded by his own lust for a forbidden woman. Nevertheless, how God used Samson is unique and very different from every other Bible character.

    Maybe you’re weird

    If you’re like me, you probably do some weird shit regularly that leaves people wondering if what they just witnessed was real. You even surprise yourself. Even you yourself cannot figure yourself out, how much more others? Indubitably, that cannot be compared to the weirdest guy of all time; John the Baptist.

    He ate locust and wild honey as food, wore camel’s hair and leather belt (Matt 3:4), a kind of fashion that still hasn’t come into style, and lived in the wilderness. Yet, he was so great that “all of Israel went out to meet him”. He was that weird preacher’s kid, coming from a highly religious background. However, when his parents’ friends – the Pharisees – came to be baptized, he called them a brood of vipers. I’m only hoping his parents weren’t so ashamed of him.

    Maybe you’re not qualified

    Sometimes we disqualify our ownselves. Jeremiah thought he was too young. Yet, one of the best kings in Israel’s history was Josiah. He was only 8 when he became king. You think you’re ugly – bad teeth formation, disproportioned nose, unattractive countenance – so you so shy away from public speaking. You think you’re uglier than Abraham Lincoln without a beard? Lincoln had a bone disease that made him so ugly that a little girl told her to grow a beard when he was running for Senate.

    You need to understand that you don’t need to be perfect to be great. Study all the greats in history and you’ll be amazed by their weird shortcomings. That’s why I love the Bible. None of the characters are photoshopped. Moses was a murderer. David was an adulterer. Noah was an alcoholic. Yet, their greatness was unique. Noah was the only righteous man on earth in his time. Moses was the meekest man on earth in his time. David was the man after God’s own heart.

    This is a trustworthy saying; God doesn’t call the qualified; He qualifies the called. Greatness lies within the authenticity of your design. Nowhere else. So relax yourself in the Potter’s hand. Let Him make you a unique vessel, a masterpiece fashioned beforehand for greatness. Be yourself. You’re great just the way you are.

  • Stubborn For More: How to Channel your Energy to do Greater Things

    Our bodies were fashioned to protect us. Instinctively, all we do is towards survival. We eat, drink, sleep, walk, talk and go about our daily lives basically as a means of survival. However, there is little to no satisfaction in doing the usual stuff all the time. This is because we are more than our physiological makeup and deep within us, we want a challenge.

    The best of us never comes out without a challenge. Thus, we begin to desire greater things; greater things our brains register as a “threat” since it could ruin our survival. Our survival is our comfort zone and stepping out of our comfort zone is risky and a threat. Nonetheless, we are excited to push beyond our limits when we actually do. The more risk we take, the more excited we become.

    For instance, our fear of falling may not allow us to jump off a moving plane. When we finally do, there’s nothing compared to that kind of excitement. However, in a light of taking good risks, some of us will never jump off that plane. Never! The question now becomes, how do you break free from your comfort zone and survival mode and jump head-on into the unknown?

    Persistence is key


    Water has a very high surface tension. This is why some insects with low body mass can settle on the surface of water. In fact, that explains why some objects float on water. As humans, we can float on water if we relax our body mass on the water body. Our legs would hang and our arms would shield, keeping our torso afloat. Nonetheless, with a slight persistent application of pressure on the water body, we could swim deeper. The happy and sad part about persistence is that it is more difficult at the beginning. Good riddance. This means the beginning is the more difficult part. It also means when you become persistent in an area you shouldn’t – like drinking alcohol – since you have broken the “surface tension”, it become easier the next time to “dive deeper”. Persistence comes in two folds and that leads me to the next issue;

    Consistency over Intensity

    Consistency and Intensity are important ingredients in their own rights. As humans, we soon realize that there is no such thing as inconsistency. You’re either consistent or consistently inconsistent. Since you get to choose your pattern of consistency, why not stick to the ideal? Before you can be consistent for real, you need to understand how it doesn’t relate to intensity. Many of what we practice as consistency is intensity in disguise. Consistency is doing great things in little ways. Intensity is doing little things in great ways.

    Consistency is about the long-term. Intensity is about the short-term. No one can be consistently intensive without being intensively consistent from the start. It’s not brushing your teeth for 2 hours non-stop that will make a difference. It’s brushing it for just 2 minutes twice for about 2 years. If you focus on intensity as a beginner, you’ll break down even before the real journey begins. Long-term consistency will always triumph short-term intensity. Sadly, in the world of quick fix, consistency looks like a thing for losers.

    Just remind yourself that short-term intensity does not equal long-term results. If you get injured, if you burn out, or if you stop, all the progress up to that point does little good. The LONG-TERM success is what you’re after. Consistency is the vehicle that will help you achieve those long-term results.

    The “No Matter What” mindset

    If you’ve been around for long, you’d realize that there is always something. Something always comes up. Ironically, we think we don’t have time to do the things we deem important to us. Yet we all know that if something is important to you, you’ll make time for it. We wait forever for the right time to start when the actual reason we’ve not started is because what we want to do is really not a priority to us. On paper, it’s a priority. In practice, nothing shows that it is.

    There is a need to make firm decisions. Making decisions is the easy part. Standing by the decisions you made is the main deal. Are you going to make the main thing the main thing? Are you going to stick to plan when irrelevant matters arise? Trust me, almost everyone knows the right thing to do. Those who make the difference are those who take action and stick to it till it bears fruit.

    All things are difficult before they become easy. We get better with time. It doesn’t change the fact that it gets hard sometimes. If only you can be stubborn. Be unrelenting. Not intensely. You may break down. Practice makes perfect. Consistently, every dream becomes a reality. Are you going to keep on keeping on no matter what?

  • Narcissistic Disorder: How To Avoid Being Great In Your Own Eyes

    One thing we learn from history is that people do not learn from history. Every now and then, there is one world leader or two who is dangerously admired and has such a loyal and aggressive following. One of such historical atrocities is that of Adolf Hitler. His era was just about 100 years ago in the midst of all the talk about democracy, social justice, social inclusion and enlightenment. Yet, he pulled it off in what was the craftiest deception in modern history. The deadliest, nonetheless. Virtually everyone has heard of Adolf Hitler but many barely know about his personal life. Born of both Jewish and African descent, one would find it shocking that he was that brutal against other races. How did he develop the narcissistic disorder? To me, the secret lies in his upbringing.

    In Adolf Hitler’s autobiography, “Mein Kamph”, he writes that he was afraid of his father and only loved his mother. The reason was simple. Hitler’s father was an angry man, always wanting to beat him whenever he brought his usual bad grades home. His mother, on the hand, was too protective of him and would boost his small ego. She was always there to baby him and tell him how amazing he was no matter how badly he behaved. Growing up, Hitler sang in the church choir and it was his dream to become a Catholic priest. He had even started preaching to the other children. There was a little glitter of hope that Adolf could turn well like a normal human being but he lost his younger brother when he was only 11.

    His mother had lost two children in childbirth before giving birth to Adolf and Edmund. Edmund died of measles and was buried in a cemetery only across the street. One would find deeply depressed Adolf lying next to his brother’s grave deep into the night and talking aloud to him as if his brother could hear. Not being able to properly raise Adolf to take responsibility for himself, Adolf’s father died three years later. Adolf then convinced his mother and dropped out of high school. This woman seems to give Adolf whatever he asked for or wanted. As if it couldn’t get any worse, Adolf lost his mother four years after losing his father.

    Being only 18 years, he took the hefty inheritance his parents left for retirement, travelled to Vienna and spent it prodigally in a year. Having lost everyone and everything, you’d think he would look for a job to fend for himself but no. Adolf wrote to his relatives and convinced one aunt to send him a monthly wage. Adolf never really worked a day in his life and was a NEET (Not participating in Education, Employment or Training). When asked why he won’t work, Adolf said one day he would be the greatest artist in the world. Yet, he was rejected when he applied to the Academy of Fine Arts to his utter surprise.

    His mother had built his ego so much that he truly believed he deserved to have everything simply handed to him just because he existed. He joined the army and gave up his dream as an artist, which was clearly not going well. The army put discipline in his life but couldn’t save his ego. After World War 1, he was sent as a spy to the German Workers Party meeting. There he agreed with all the nonsense he heard; they blamed the Jews for Germany’s demise and wanted to make Germany great again. This party was the prelude into the national socialist workers’ party called the Nazis.

    He joined the Nazi and the rest is history. Millions of people died simply because one man decided to take everything he could possibly get while convincing others to do. Adolf gave thousands of speeches that were full of hyperbole. Everything was “the greatest” and he made outlandish promises about the future of Nazi Germany. He established the Third Reich and claimed that it would be an empire that would last for 1000 years.

    Narcissism is a personality disorder. Some of the many symptoms is an exaggerated sense of self-importance, sense of entitlement and the need for constant admiration. They see themselves as the best, the finest, the greatest and expect to be recognized as such without any achievements to warrant it. When they do achieve anything little, they exaggerate it alongside their talents. They are always preoccupied with success, power, brilliance, beauty and/or perfection. They want everything to be about them and relate themselves any little thing that becomes great. Even if they were uninvolved, they still attribute every passing achievement to themselves. Who does this paragraph remind you of? Donald Trump? Joseph Stalin? Kanye West? Madonna? Or you?

    What about when something goes not very great? If they are not directly involved, they quickly disassociate themselves from such shortcomings. When they are directly involved, they never admit defeat. It was either they were cheated or another person is to blame. In their minds, everything about them must continue to be great and special and the best. Perhaps, that is why such people are easily nationalist, racist and/or sexist. Why? Because they believe everything about them is the greatest; their country, race, religion, culture, style, taste etc. and that all others are inferior to it.

    Nobody can correct you when you’re wrong because you’re never wrong. Every wrong decision of yours was actually a masterful long-term strategy, apparently. When you’re right, you want everyone to know you’re right. You will make noise about it every now and then till you’re right the next time. When you are like this, people would naturally want you to fail so that you would shut up. Yet when you do fail, it’s either you make noise about it never being a failure but a master strategy or you blame others heavily for your demise or even worse, you never admit the failure. You are hypersensitive yet lack empathy, so you hurt others often without realising it.

    Be great. Do great things. Think great. Reach for greatness. No one is stopping you but yourself. Nonetheless, stop yourself from being so consumed by the idea of greatness. Perhaps, you are confused and you may ask, “where do I draw the line?”. I will say; be confident, don’t be arrogant. Confidence inspires others to be as confident. Your energy uplifts people’s self-esteems whenever you flaunt your confidence. Arrogance, on the other hand, is only about yourself. Your self-image is so high that it thrives on inferiorizing someone or something. Your energy sparks negative emotions in others. Yet, you will barely notice others being negative because pride is attractive to the proud. Soon enough, all your friends flaunt that proud character and an “elite class” is established.

    Well, it is easy to think you can never be like Jerry John Rawlings, who never admitted to any wrong he did Ghana and yet wanted June 4th and 31st December – the days he started a coup and overthrew the then governments – to be National holidays. One interview had him say that the democratic rule in Ghana started technically in 1981 and not in 1992. He went silent on the atrocities and killings he instigated till he died, not in any way admitting them. It’s easy to think you can’t even be like Joseph Stalin, who beat his own son mercilessly just because he wasn’t man enough in his sight. His son attempted suicide and survived the gunshot. When Stalin was told, he made fun of his son by saying that his son can’t even shoot straight. It is not beyond you. Watch your attitude. Watch your character. The world doesn’t need another local “Hitler”. Watch your steps lest you fall.

    There’s no cure for narcissistic personality disorder, but therapy can help. Ironically, people with narcissistic personality with all the big egos have very low self-esteem. Having a high self-image, narcissists know they are narcissists and even believe in the importance of narcissism. Therapy for narcissism can take a long time, and progress may happen slowly. Understand when they’re making progress. You might notice some changes early on, such as attempts to control outbursts or avoid dishonesty or manipulation. But other behaviours, like anger in response to perceived criticism, may persist.

    Is this the path you’re treading on? Is it difficult for people to approach you? Can you simply admit that you are wrong when you are? Do you always blame others for blemishes and never blame yourself in any given situation? We all know someone like that but the real question is, “is it you?”. Lord have mercy!

  • Reach for Greatness: Unbecoming an Epitome of a Mediocre Lifestyle

    Has anyone ever spoken ill of you? Have you ever been cornered and criticized unfairly? The person or group of people will gather around and spew hurtful words on you and it hits you like a tornado. It dampens your mood and you feel so low and really irritated. And if what they are saying is not even true, it is even more hurtful. As if spears came out of their mouths and pierced right into your heart.

    We may never talk to such people again and definitely won’t be as close to them as we used to be. If such a group happens to be your family, your self-esteem becomes so low and resentment builds up within you. Though eventually you’ll be fine, it doesn’t take away the fact that it hurt you deeply and left you bitter. That is not even the most interesting aspect yet. This is it; do you know we do this to yourselves every now and then?

    We beat ourselves up internally. We are so hard on ourselves for literally insignificant things. We dampen our mood and leave ourselves helpless while convincing ourselves that we deserve this mental and emotional self-punishment. We are so “over-aware” of our flaws and mishaps. Our shortcomings and failures never leave any self-analysis we make. Though people are not right to do it to us, it is meaningless that we think we deserve it when we do it to ourselves. Thus, our egos keep on increasing while our self-esteem drops like food in the oesophagus.

    What are you beating yourself up for? You must be hard on yourself for important things, yes, but do you need to be so hard on yourself for the same damn thing for so long? We speak 150-300 per minute to ourselves everyday. It is called self-talk. That is about 50,000 words a day. 70% of our self-talk is subconscious, and about 70% of everything we say to ourselves is negative. 95% of what we say is repeated most of the time. Just imagine how you keep telling yourself in your mind all the time that you’re not good enough.

    Why are you always speaking low about yourself? You know everyone’s strengths and strongholds but do you even consider yours? You’re always putting yourself in a constant state of “not measuring up” that you don’t even feel as fulfilled when you live up to your expectations. Yes, you don’t need to lower your standards. That will gradually lead you to another form of mediocrity. Rather, use the energy you would have used to condemn yourself for not reaching your targets to push yourself up harder the next time.

    Don’t take life too seriously. Even movie monsters have a good laugh sometimes. You’re not wasting your life when you take a long break. Life is not about crossing all the T’s and dotting the I’s. It is more about having people around you who want to see you win and are there to celebrate you when you do. If you want to reach out for greatness, stop limiting yourself in your own mind. Stop speaking ill of yourself. “As for me, I’m not that good o, it is so-and-so that is good.” Your self-talk is always about what you can’t do, how you’re not that good, and why you can’t do it. False humility is true pride.

    You’re amazing. Your nose shape is beautiful, trust me. You have such a lovely voice. You have the courage to be a public speaker. You’re good enough. You’re strong. You’re wise. You’re decisive. You’re loved. You’re cherished. You’re capable. Nevertheless, always remember this: Until you believe it about yourself, you’ll never believe anyone who tells you no matter how many times they tell you.

    How do you see yourself? 🤔

  • Dare to Dream Again: Being an Instrument for Generational Greatness

    Growing up, Alice was an epitome of a “dare to dream” persona. She wanted to try everything, be everything she could be and basically be great. Alice wanted to sing with the angels when she heard the church choir on a Sunday morning. She wanted to be an architect when she observed the Art Nouveau of building façades that evoked feelings of awe and beauty. Alice even wanted to be a philanthropist so she could help the needy in society. She never understood why people blinded their eyes to beggars on the streets.

    Nothing hindered her dreams. She wanted to be so great. She dreamed freely and fully, but as she grew her reality of the world began to fade. Her reality wasn’t all flowery and colourful, it was full of dreads and limitations. With time, she had lost her sense of positive imagination. She never dared to dream anymore. It was never the right time to make a life-changing decision. She never lost sight of any obstacle, any hindrance, any existing problem that blocked an open door in her life.

    Alice now saw people who were positive as childish, ignorant and blind-sighted. She believed that it was more matured to consider both sides in every situation but the negativity bias of the human mind made her weigh the possible negative outcomes more without realizing. Motivational speakers were unrealistic to her and even absurd most of the time.


    With time, she no longer believed in the supernatural or the miraculous. Too logical and “metrics-minded” to play the card of luck or grace. Until she walked herself into a quarter-life crisis. Now she desperately needed something life-changing. Eager but too depressed to take action. She knew all the decisions to make but lacked the drive. She was drained. Consistently. She now doesn’t see herself as a “generational-anything”.

    You may not realize but perhaps, you may be living life like Alice did and walking right into Alice’s pit. What is your excuse? You see all those logical meaningful reasons you make up when someone pictures you as the greatest there will ever be? They are excuses. Nothing but excuses. People who changed history greatly were “normal” people, like you and me. So what is your excuse?

    You don’t need to be “special” to be great but it does take something special to realize you’re great: the audacity to dream in spite of the current realities

    Daniel Good

    To become great, realize you’re great. You’re born great. Greatness is within you. Greatness is not a mountain to be climbed or a medal to be won. Before great people climbed that mountain, won that race or left a legacy, they already believed they were great. Not everyone who believes in themselves becomes great but there’s no one who became great without believing in themselves. Therefore, greatness is not an attainment. It’s self-actualization.

    Sometimes as older people, we kill the dreams of younger people. We don’t want them to be too hopeful or keep their hopes high. They want to be the greatest there has ever been. Instead of riding on their hopes to aim high ourselves, we cloud their mindset with our negativity-bias reality. Just because we’ve seen more of how the world works doesn’t mean we’re right to do that. Do you even believe that “nothing is impossible” anymore?


    Do you want to dare yourself to dream like a child again? In the last days, the Bible says that old men will dream dreams. Maybe that’s you. Your mindset is “old”. Your way of going about things is “old”. You’re still stuck in the past of how things work and how things are supposed to be. Lack of initiative, no innovation but it’s not too late for you. It is time to blow your mind. Bombard your mindset with impossibilities made possible. There and then will see the spark of greatness ignite in you.

    I love you ❤️

  • EndSARS! Let’s Continue to Create the Awareness

    What is the full meaning of SARS?

    SARS is the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, a special unit within the Nigerian Police Force. Contrary to its intended purpose and similar to its counterpart in the medical field, SARS is a disease that has been eating into the freedom and justice and even the fundamental human rights of the Nigerian youth. Thus, the need to EndSARS.

    What was the reason for establishing SARS?

    SARS was founded in 1992 by Simeon Danladi Midenda, the then Police Commissioner. SARS was one of the 14 units in the Force Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, which was established to detain, investigate, and prosecute people involved in crimes like armed robbery, kidnapping, and other violent crimes. It was part of the Force Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (FCIID), headed by Deputy Inspector General of Police Anthony Ogbizi.

    The major reason SARS was formed was when Col. Rindam of the Nigerian Army was killed by police officers at a checkpoint in Lagos in September 1992, later leading to the arrest of three officers. When the information reached the army, soldiers were dispatched into the streets of Lagos in search of any police officer.

    The Nigerian police withdrew from checkpoints, security areas, and other points of interest for criminals; some police officers were said to have resigned while others fled for their lives. Due to the absence of police for two weeks, the crime rate increased and SARS was formed with only 15 officers operating in the shadows without knowledge of the army while monitoring police radio chatters.

    Due to the existence of three already established anti-robbery squads that were operational at that time, Midenda needed to distinguish his squad from the already existing teams. Midenda named his team Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS). After months of dialogue, the Nigerian Army and the Nigeria Police Force came to an understanding and official police duties began again in Lagos. The SARS unit was officially commissioned in Lagos following a ceasefire by the army after settlement.

    How did SARS become the opposite of what it’s meant for?

    In the early days of the unit, combat-ready SARS officers operated undercover in plain clothes and plain vehicles without any security or government insignia and did not carry arms in public. Their main job was to monitor radio communications and facilitate successful arrests of criminals and armed robbers. For 10 years, SARS only operated in Lagos, but by 2002, it had spread to all 36 states of the federation as well as the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

    Emboldened by its new powers, the unit moved on from its main function of carrying out covert operations and began to set up roadblocks, extorting money from citizens. Officers remained in plain clothes but started to carry arms in public. Over time, the unit has been implicated in widespread human rights abuses, extrajudicial killings, torture, arbitrary arrests, unlawful detention and extortion. Amnesty International released a report in June 2020 detailing 82 cases of torture, ill-treatment and killings perpetrated by SARS between January 2017 and May 2020.

    SARS officers then allegedly moved on to targeting and detaining young men for cybercrime or being “online fraudsters”, simply on the evidence of their owning a laptop or smartphone, and then demanding excessive bail fees to let them go.

    How did the #EndSARS protest begin?

    Many young people have shared their stories of police brutality on social media. Now, Nigerians say they have had enough. Since 2017, protests have been building momentum across Nigeria, stemming from online advocacy to street protests. The anger about the unit’s activities culminated in a nationwide protest on the streets of 21 states this month after a SARS officer allegedly shot a young man in Delta State.

    On Wednesday, 7th October 2020, young people in Lagos took to the streets and began protesting for the end of SARS. However, the complaints of Nigerian youth over police reforms did not start today. The fact that it escalated in recent times does not mean it is a recent uprising. Nigerian youths have simply had enough of the oppression. Thus, the reason for the mass unending protests this month.

    The hashtag #EndSARS started in 2017 as a Twitter campaign to demand the Nigerian government to disband the police unit. After experiencing a revitalisation in October 2020, mass demonstrations were occurring throughout Nigeria in major cities, and the hashtag had 28 million tweets. Nigerians shared stories and video evidence of how members of SARS were engaged in kidnapping, murder, theft, rape, torture, unlawful arrests, humiliation, unlawful detention, extrajudicial killings, and extortion in Nigeria.

    SARS officers have been alleged to profile youths based on fashion choices, mount illegal roadblocks and searches, conduct unwarranted temperature checks, arrest without warrant, rape women, and extort young Nigerians for driving luxury cars and using expensive electronics.

    Has SARS been disbanded?

    Nigeria’s police chief has announced the dissolution of a notorious anti-robbery unit following days of widespread protests against police brutality. In a statement on Sunday, Muhammed Adamu, inspector general of police, said the unit had been abolished “with immediate effect”, a move that was “in response to the yearnings of the Nigerian people”.

    He added, however, that all SARS officers would be redeployed to other police commands, formations and units, drawing condemnation by some activists online who pledged to keep up their campaign demanding accountability and justice for the victims of police brutality. The Nigerian presidency also said in a Twitter post that the police unit, which was founded in 1992 in a bid to combat robbery, would be disbanded immediately.

    If SARS has been disbanded, why are the #EndSARS protests still ongoing?

    But this has not quelled the protests as young people continue to occupy the streets in large numbers demanding the immediate release of arrested protesters, justice for victims of police brutality, the prosecution of accused officers as well as a general salary increase for the police force to reduce corruption.

    Young protesters say they have heard it all before. This is not the first time the government had disbanded SARS and promised reforms. This time, the call to annihilate the entire system of police brutality. The cry goes beyond EndSARS.

    What is Lekki Massacre?

    According to Amnesty International, shortly before the shooting, CCTV cameras were allegedly removed from the toll gate. In addition, Nigerian authorities cut the electricity to the toll gate so that it would be dark and filmed evidence of the shooting would not emerge, the advertisement billboards at the toll gate which is owned and maintained by Loatsad Media were also turned off.

    Loatsad Media stated, “On 20th October, when the curfew was announced we heeded the governor’s warnings and didn’t want our staff in any danger, hence by 3 pm our staff had been ordered to leave the site and the board was switched off based on the governor’s curfew request.” 

    It was also reported that network providers switched off the network antennas in that area as protesters who used MTN and Airtel as their network providers reported that they were unable to make phone calls or use the internet at that time, MTN Nigeria released a statement later that night apologizing for the loss of network coverage in that area as at the time of the shooting.

    According to one witness, after the lights were switched off at the toll gate, soldiers arrived and allegedly began shooting directly at the crowd. Another witness stated that the shooting continued for fifteen to thirty minutes and that after the shooting he observed multiple bodies on the ground. The soldiers were said to have walked in a formation towards the protesters with trucks flashing lights before they opened fire.

    How Did the Nigerian President respond to the EndSARS protest?

    Two weeks after #EndSARS protests against police brutality began, president Muhammadu Buhari finally gave a national address. But what should have been an opportunity to unify the country and, more significantly, empathize with grieving families, proved to be anything but. President Buhari’s speech also came with demand—and a thinly veiled threat—for protesters to call off street demonstrations that have seen thousands gather at different locations across the country.

    “For you to do otherwise will amount to undermining national security and the law and order situation. Under no circumstances will this be tolerated,” he said. He also called for the non-interference of international powers and bodies.

    Keeping with his long-running style as a former military general and dictator, president Buhari’s speech came off instead as high-handed and tough, made no mention of troubling events at Lekki toll gate in Lagos on Oct. 20 when numerous witnesses say Nigerian soldiers fired into a crowd of peaceful, unarmed protesters who had remained at the toll gate following a hastily announced curfew. It simply lacked empathy and brought about more confusion and frustration.

    What can we do to help the EndSARS protests?

    The battle never ends until there is change.

  • Who Am I? Understanding the 5 Dimensions of Personality Traits

    We all come with varying and complex personalities that can be classified for simpler understanding. No matter the decade of your life I meet you, there’s a part of you that would barely change although you keep on evolving as a person. It’s your personality; the fundamental root on which your core values and principles are based.

    There are five dimensions of personality traits, spelling out the acronym OCEAN; Openness to experiences, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness and neuroticism. One must note that how a person is in any of the aspects to be discussed is not necessarily wrong or right in its self. There are good aspects and bad aspects of each of them.

    Openness / Closeness to Experience

    There are some people who dislike a particular experience for no reason but will never try it out for themselves to know for sure. Others will still be willing to try it out again although the previous experience was bad. It is more like a spectrum. Some on one extreme are very open-minded about new extreme experiences while others on the other side of the spectrum stick to familiar experiences and never try anything out of the blue. It’s in someone’s nature to quickly let go of old experiences in search of exclusively new ones. It’s also in another’s nature to stick conservatively to only what they know and what they came to meet, and have the tendency to paint black any new unfamiliar experience.

    Conscientiousness/Lackadaisicalness

    Ever come across a “serious” guy or girl? Always diligent. Give him a small task and he or she will go at it like the world depends on it. Usually such people have the enabling energy to keep them on their toes. Not everyone can keep such an energy at such a level for a long time. If you aren’t built for it, you’re likely to crumble or break down. Those who have a lackadaisical attitude rather care less. Their slogan is “why so serious?”. They don’t want to make anything – no matter how serious – look so serious. They believe that at the end of the day, the task will get done. They just don’t need to kill themselves for it.

    Extroversion/Introversion

    This is the most well-known and well-understood personality science. Virtually everyone can identify themselves as either of them or a blend of the two called an ambivert. Extroverts are simply people who prefer socially stimulating environments. Introverts rather feel drained after socializing for a long period and regain their energy by spending time alone. Introverts may sometimes act in pseudo-extrovert ways and may have to withdraw for a longer period after that. Extroverts can be out-of-character too but they’d need more stimulation to feel alright. They also communicate differently. Extroverts go straight to the point and can almost always say how they feel. Introverts let much slide but when they do communicate, it’s not as straightforward as it is in their thinking.

    Agreeableness / Disagreeableness

    Some people just don’t like it when we all seem to agree on one thing. They’d quickly pick up the counter side and argue it out. To them agreeableness is a sign that a few are thinking for a lot; People are not using their brains. Someone must disagree; we can’t all think alike. They can disagree with you even before they hear you out. There’s always the other side of the issue they can stand for. Some other people also easily agree with you. You may be totally wrong but they’ll still find a way to agree with how you’re thinking. They may not necessarily agree with you but they understand where you’re coming from. They don’t seem to have a problem with whatever you have to say on any given issue. After all, that’s your opinion.

    Neuroticism / Emotional Stability

    Ever met someone who’s so hard on himself or herself? She cried because she had A- and not A+. When he succeeds massively, he still needs someone to convince him that he did well. You can easily give him a bad day by ruining his mood. She’s insecure and asks too many irrelevant personal questions. “Do you think I’m pretty?”. “You haven’t said hi to me for the 34 days.” Their mood swings are the worst. Those on the other hand can keep a “perfect composure” regardless of how stressful their situation is. Never too happy or too sad. To them, life simply goes on, whether it gets smooth or gets rough. They are not easily angered or annoyed. Their large threshold to tolerate nonsense makes them patient and unperturbed.

    All of these personality traits are on a spectrum. It’s not necessarily fixed. One amazing thing about life is that our brain is highly neuroplastic, that is, you can evolve into anything you want to be. It all depends on your decisions and how you choose to make them. This change doesn’t permanently alter our personality. It modifies it. We are not only our “superpowers”. We are also our flaws. It’s about time you embraced them because they may not be bad after all. It’s all part of your idiosyncrasy.

    This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t work on yourself. We tend to act based on our thoughts. Our thoughts are based on our beliefs. We easily believe in values pertaining to how we are (introverts believe so much in peace of mind whereas extroverts believe in expressing yourself) and how we behave according to our personalities. But do work on becoming a better version of yourself, devoid of all the toxic traits associated with your personality.

    Who am I? I am Me, and I embrace it.

  • Who Am I? How Am I Really Like & Why Am I Like That?

    Who am I? A relevant question that anyone can ask themselves, no matter their age. It’s a question that can leave you frustrated, however, if you don’t search for the answer early on in life. Inasmuch as it’s an unending well of discovery, – some of your actions much later in life will still continue to shock you – understanding just an iota of solid truth concerning your identity can be life-fulfilling.

    Since You Are Who You Are and You Are Who You Are Not, removing the impurities of identity confusion is equally important. Who you are is not manufactured. It already exists. It is only discovered. Your identity unfolds before your eyes and resonates within you as you journey through life. What we fail to realize is that we are like all other people, like some other people and like no other person. Let’s dive in.

    We Are Like All Other People

    How am I like? I am like everyone else. Differences spring from similarities. Look around you, it’s the order of nature. Different children coming from the same womb, different rivers flowing from the same source, different plants sprouting from the same ground. In fact, everything can be traced all the way back to having the same source. Our identity is no different. We are first of all like everyone else before we can be like no one else. In the broader picture, we are like each other. We all have the same basic needs and instincts. There are several instances where human behaviour is so predictable that basically everyone will behave the same or in a similar manner in a given circumstance, given the same conditions.

    As individuals, we fancy the idea that we are special. There’s nobody like us. We are different, in our own world, in our own lane. Then we face a situation that makes us realize we are not that special. We are not as fanciful as we thought we were. The truth is, we are special, just like everybody else. “Special” doesn’t mean you’re different and everyone else is the same. Everyone is special. Everyone is unique, individually. How can you be special if everyone is also special? Doesn’t that put everyone on the same stage again and defy the meaning of the word? Well, only if you judged your uniqueness by comparing yourself to others.

    Scientifically, how we are like everyone else is our biogenic nature. Neurophysiologically, all humans are the same. We all want the same basic things in life, from the hardest criminal to the most innocent civilian; to minimize pain and maximize pleasure. Our choices and decisions towards this goal and what pain and pleasure means to us individually is what creates the differences. Metaphorically speaking, we all have the same book but we are all not on the same page. We all need love, attention, appreciation, affection, and everything else on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. However, what it looks like to us and how we want it defers from one individual to the other.

    Who Am I? Am I Who I Really Am or Who I Think I Am?

    We Are Like Some Other People

    How am I like? I am like some other people. How we are like some other people is our sociogenic nature or second nature. It is more about how we relate with others. The socio-cultural aspect of ourselves. It’s about your habits, attitudes, temperaments, preferences and behaviors; how we are, where we live and how we were brought up. Whether we admit it or not, there’s a way females behave that cut across board. There’s a way blacks behave. A way evangelicals behave. You may not notice because you are a part of it, but others you’re observing from the outside see it clearly. It starts from a broader grouping like perhaps how an entire nation behaves, all the way down to how a family behaves.

    Your individuality and ability to conform cannot be separated. They go hand-in-hand, just like how your soul draws your body and spirit together. We are social beings. We were designed to belong. Our sense of belonging is so central to our wellbeing that feelings of belonging influence an individual’s identity and the extent to which they feel accepted, valued and able to take on a role in society. Once in a while, the universe brings us into contact with people who are likeminded, who share the same mindsets and have the same weird ideologies. These encounters can live us in shock. We thought we were the only ones who believe that or disbelieved that, liked or disliked that. But here we are, with a “stranger” who holds the same virtues, values and opinions emphatically.

    Have you ever met someone you instantly connected to? After meeting the person for one or two times, something clicks. You definitely know for sure that that’s the kind of person you need to be rolling with in your life. You can try this experiment. Go to a place where you don’t know anyone and stay there for a while – another country, another school, another city. After a considerable amount of time, your circle will still be a reflection of the kind of person you are. All your close friends are like you in some way. As a matter of fact, this is a well-known concept and I can’t stress enough on it. The people you have around you are a representation of who you are.

    This is a good enough reason to surround yourself with good people. Just like how you live an imprint of your DNA on anything you touch, our identities rub off on each other. Others are rubbed so hard that they pick up another’s identity as theirs. One terrible mistake people tend to make is that they pick the idiosyncratic nature of their role model or the person they look up to. See, you’re allowed to be like someone else, but not to the point of losing your unique nature. It’s natural to admire and aspire to be like how someone is like. But don’t lose your originality and try to be someone’s counterfeit copy.

    Who Am I? What Is My True Identity & Where Is It Found?

    We Are Like No Other Person

    How am I like? I am like no one else. One funny thing about humans is how we so easily complicate simple matters. When it’s right side up, we tend to turn it upside down. This is no different. People can argue about how they are different from everyone else when you talk about they being like everyone else. When it finally comes to how they are different from everyone else, they tend to struggle to know their own unique style and lifestyle. I think this is because everything in life is intertwined and it’s difficult to separate conjoined things. Thus, not everyone discovers how they are different from everybody else. We don’t even know why we do the things we do, sociogenically.

    Your uniqueness is tied to the intention of your design. That is, we are not just a bunch of personality traits. There is that inner being that draws people to you. That makes people love you. Sooner or later, everything you need externally will find you. Destiny will find you. Your path will find you. Purpose will find you. Your circle will find you. But it’s up to you to realize that this is it. If you don’t know what you’re looking for, you wouldn’t know whether you’ve found it or not. Finding yourself and what resonates with you is a matter looking for the roots rather than the fruits. What is underneath what is underneath? It is about finding the source of the river, not the river itself. If you find the source, you can connect to the ecosystem of Life everlasting.

    Isn’t it amazing that for all people who have ever lived, are alive and will ever live, there is only one YOU? There is nobody like you and there’ll never be anyone like you. That’s true authenticity; a kind of perfection that can only be divinely orchestrated. Yes, you may have the same nose as your parents, the same handwriting as a stranger or even the same interest as a friend, but you’re unique and there’s none like you. No one comes close to being you. They can be like you, you can be like them, but you’re holy, consecrated, set apart, unique. There is none like you. None can be compared to you. There’s only one kind of you, beautifully and wonderfully made. Empathically, you have a unique fingerprint like everyone else does, and you leave an imprint like no one else can.

  • Who Am I? What Is My True Identity & Where Is It Found?

    From the gathering of Greek philosophers to the congregation of great theologians to the inscription on the Apollo temple, “know thyself”, identity remains the most unknown and/or the most “unsure of” subject in the history of studies. It is a subject academicians have debated about, musicians have moaned about, artists have abstracted about and wise men have hypothesized about. All their provided answers have an iota of the revelation of truth but none truly answers the simple question, “who am I?“. Indeed, it’s the simplest questions in life that has the most complex and hidden answers.

    Humanbeings have so many dimensions to the extent that some of the dimensions overlap and are still unknown. Therefore, knowing our identity in an unknown dimension becomes virtually impossible. We don’t even know for sure if the question, “Who am I?” is a philosophical one, a scientific one or even a theological one. Before you get to know yourself, you’re old enough to die. Such personal knowledge is of no or less use to a younger individual since he/she has to also go on a personal journey to “know thyself” exclusively. Thus, very little experiential knowledge of identity passes on from one generation to another.

    Growing up, I believed the earth was a living being in and of itself because humans were just like planets. I saw humans as entire planets. We have millions of living things dwelling on us and within us. Thousands of pathogens, microbes and microbiomes. There are also entire systems within us that function outside of our consciousness. They each have an identity of their own and function accordingly. Not just the systems or the tissues but even down to the cells. Within each cell is the DNA 🧬 that contains the code of our identity in various dimensions; our physical, mental, physiological, neurotical, psychological, emotional, material and fundamental makeup.

    Also, growing up, standing beside my mother brought about an outstanding revelation. My mother gave birth to me but my present body would be too big to carry in her womb and deliver. Nicodemus, a great theologian, said it well, “How can someone be born when they are old? Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!” The body she gave birth to is not the same body I have now. Little by little, newer cells replaced each cell in the body I had as a baby until no cell in the body I had as a baby remained.

    Every 7 to 10 years, our body replaces itself with a largely new set of cells. More or less, we have a “new body” every 10 years. In humans, as many as 100,000,000,000 cells die in each adult each day and are replaced by new cells. (Indeed, the mass of cells we lose each year through normal cell death is close to our entire body weight!) The DNA code within the newer cells mostly remain the same as the old but some go through genetic mutation. So who am I? Am I the baby me, the present me or the granny me?

    According to the law of the Conservation of Mass, matter can neither be created nor destroyed. Since the beginning when everything was created out of nothing, everything that existed from then on continue to exist forever. Do you understand? Our bodies weren’t formed out of nothing in our mother’s womb. It’s the materials that exist that formed you. When you die, your material makeup doesn’t disappear into nothingness. It decays and forms the dust of the earth. It’s an entire cycle of matter changing forms. We are everlasting. Not eternal. Anything that has no beginning and no end is eternal. We have a beginning but we have no end, both physically and spiritually.

    The source of all identities is the only Eternal One. That ought to mean that our identity, though found within us literally, goes deeper and further than our material makeup. The source of our identity springs from an immaterial world. As answered in the previous post, Who You Are Who You Are, right now, right here. You’re the same yesterday, today and forever. Just like the Eternal One, who we are, though always present, is not static. It consistently expands into eternity. Since our identity is engrafted in Him, the more we know Him, the more we know who we truly really are. It is not just a theological, theoretical or spiritual understanding. It’s an all-round multi-dimensional encapsulation. It is where all false identities fall off us like flakes and our innermost reality awakes.

    “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.”
    ‭‭I John‬ ‭3:2‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

    Your journey of life into knowing yourself begins with a journey of walking into knowing Him.

  • Who Am I? Am I Who I Really Am or Who I Think I Am?

    Who am I? Who are you? What are you? Do you know?

    The bride gracefully walked down the aisle in absolute eloquence. There were tears in his eyes as he stole glances at his bride. He couldn’t believe that this day would ever come. Now it’s here. At the altar, they stared into each other’s eyes. They were so much in love: Everything felt so surreal. Nothing could possibly go wrong. It was an atmosphere of ecstatic love. Everyone could see two people getting married but in reality, they were six. Who the bridegroom is, who the bridegroom thinks he is, who the bride thinks the bridegroom is, who the bride is, who the bride thinks she is and who the bridegroom thinks she is.

    Who are you? No, I’m not asking of your name. Who are you? No, I’m not asking of your position. Who are you? No, I didn’t ask what your nationality was. Who are you? No, I didn’t ask what species you belong to. Who are you? No, I didn’t ask what your beliefs are. So you see? “Who am I?” is a question you should be in no hurry to answer. It’s a question that should leave you in deep thought.

    This is the reality of life. If who you are met who you think you are, the two wouldn’t recognize each other. Who others think you are is a different ballgame altogether. We know for sure that who others think we are is obviously different from who we are. But it will shock you to know that who you are is not even who you think you are. It takes a lifetime to fully discover who we really are. At a particular time where you think you’ve actually figured out who you are, you are going to do something that will shock you. It will shake the foundations of the built-up image you have of yourself. Then you’ll question yourself subconsciously for the one-millionth time, “so who am I?”

    Who you are is equally as important as who you think you are. If you know how the universe works, you’ll understand that you’re already who you are. Everything that makes you who you are meant to be is already inside you. Do you understand? Just like the I Am, you are. You Are Who You Are. Who you are is not in the future or in the past. It is yesterday, today and forever.

    Moreover, You Are also Who You Are Not. It is equally important. Not just in the sense that you’re not a liar, thief or murderer. Come to the understanding that you cannot be everything. Some things are just not meant for you. You can only be great in your lane. If you don’t find your lane, you can really struggle. As a matter of fact, Albert Einstein said it better, “Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid”.

    So if who I am never changes like the “I Am That I Am”, why am I different from who I was in the past? It’s because we live from who we think are, not who we are. That is why who we think we are is equally as important as who we are. It is who you think you are that keeps changing. If you think you’re a failure just because you failed a couple of times, don’t be surprised if you live the life of a failure. The fruit doesn’t fall far from the tree.

    Your goal is to make sure that “who you think you are” is as close to “who you really are” as much as possible. I’m not saying be narcissistic and overlook toxic areas of your life. Do not see yourself bigger than you really are. Rather see yourself become bigger than who you think you are. After all, who you think you are and who you really are will never be the same. We all have blind spots. Some aspects of our lives can be hidden from us for a very long time.

    This is one of the major reasons why people continue to live in the past; they’ve not been able to figure out their reactions and triggers. It’s like we can only understand ourselves when we look back. Our mind uses the past to understand the future. It looks like it’s the only way to understand yourself. Yet, it also means who you think you are is not up-to-date. It’s always stuck in the past. You are who you are right now.

    Even so, today I want you to sit down and write 25 sentences about what you think about yourself. Choose 5 people close to you who give you honest feedback and ask them to tell you 5 different ways of how you’re like. Compare it to who you think you are and see if you’re on the same page. This will give you a fair idea of how you portray yourself and how others perceive you. In addition, you can also ask them how you ought to be from their point of view. Sometimes we limit ourselves as a form of humility when it’s actually pride. Honest feedback can remove blind spots and break down those walls.

    How you live your life is not shaped by who you are, it is shaped by who you think you are. Embrace it and use it to your advantage.

    I love you ❤️

  • Class of 2020 Virtual Graduation | KNUST Architecture School Diaries

    If you wanna Excel, choose his Office. Your dissertation? You will excel but he won’t bother reading. He is Essel for a reason. Your studio? Well, he will rush ya. Nigga studied in Russia. Worked his ass off over there. After school, you will be remember what Essel learnt and it’s all excellent.

    From DK to PK, the swag increased like T-Pain. But his perfectionism for the research will give you just that; “ti” pain (headache). He’s got great ideas to revolutionize the department, but he didn’t realize what depart meant.

    Lois, are you going to Miss Asmah? Oh there is she comes. Will you miss us, Ma? You help us a lot. You take under your wings. Not to Rwanda though. Rhanda, Pokuaa and Baffoe. All they say is thank you loads.

    How can I be assigned to someone who’s barely around? Is it compulsory to supervise if he’ll be almost always absent? ‘Cause this man is super busy. He’s all over the place. He’s Assassie. He can sweep me off my feet and leave me hanging. Spare me the insolence of your pedagogy, Sir, I just want to graduate.

    Going to his office can make you sick like you had a mouthful. Call a doctor, Marful. He disgusts me. Said it plainly that I am failing. Well, I failed failing so I guess I’m a success. An ironic plot twist though ‘cause it’s a virtual graduation but we virtually didn’t graduate.

    Let’s remember all those hard times in studio. Jury marks are only Incomplete, D,C. You’ll Marvel. So this stress who go help me? Thor, Tini anaa Fury (or Fury)? Or make Jesus come so say we go skip jury? You’re not alone. You have 43 disciples. So intimidating and shouting ɛna nti me dating ɛɛbegu? (‘cause of this, my relationship risks being ended?). Well, take a good look back ‘cause you made it through. Yɛ Dzidza bi wɔ hɔ (though we left Dzidza), we pray, come next year, it will be his turn too.

    Congratulations, class of 2020

    P.S. This piece is about architecture school. I took a different turn to add some variety to the contents of Resonance. I hope you loved it. Please leave a comment of your favorite line 🙃

  • Nocebo Effect: What Is Your Brain Looking Forward To?

    We’ve known times without number how powerful the brain is. Sometimes we can trick our brains to do the seemingly impossible. Other times, our brain tricks us that the situation is seemingly impossible. Placebo and Nocebo effects are no different. Hope you’ve heard of Placebo before; A patient swallows a sugar pill that lacks active medicine and yet pain falls away, nausea recedes, mood lifts. It was first experimented by John Haygarth, a British physician, in 1799. God knows how many years the pharmaceutic industry has made money from this. Since you have heard a lot about Placebo, let’s delve more into Nocebo. How is it applicable in our everyday lives?

    Nocebo is on the other side of the extreme; it is when the placebo makes you feel worse. So, basically, a doctor gives you a sugar pill and tells you there will be side effects; every time you take the medicine, you will feel dizzy, nausea and a little migraine. Though the drug has no medical effect, you will still anticipate and experience the side effects for real. Have you ever felt sick and then googled it before? What happens after you know all the symptoms you are supposed to have and how deadly the disease is?

    Sometimes what we know causes us to worry, be anxious and fear. This is why we say ignorance is bliss. Not that being ignorant is a good thing, but sometimes not knowing how painful or distressing something is, makes us more positive to face it upfront. The word “melancholy” relates to both intelligence and sadness. When you know a lot, it can easily make you sad. You simply look all around and all you see is people living in bondage without knowing they could be free. It’s simply heartbreaking to see people choose folly, stupidity and mediocrity time and again. As if they have been programmed to be that stupid.

    Sometimes what we know can stop us from experiencing what we don’t know, even if it may be a good experience. Our brain is super excellent at relating seemingly unrelated things together. Like when someone who promised to text you forgets and it reminds you of when your teacher in Primary 4 promised to reward you for your outstanding performance but didn’t. It was the beginning of you not trusting people too much anymore. This Nocebo effect cautions us from experiencing something tremendous in our lives just because we remember a similar situation in the past where we failed or were disappointed.

    Our brain not only picks the cue from only our experiences but from other people’s experiences we know of as well. Perhaps, the reason why certain unnecessarily weird circumstances keep coming our way is that we keep “hoping” for it to happen. Just because it happened to your mother; it’s a thing in your family; it happened to the only one who was courageous enough to try; it happened to someone you feel you are a really like; doesn’t mean it will happen to you. Until you get it out of your subconscious mind and stop anticipating its manifestation, it is more likely to happen. It is unnecessary to know everything that can go wrong if you don’t care to know what could go right. You don’t want sound mental health?

    nocebo effect exists but placebo your way through

    So I entrust you to look for the good things in life; look for the good in people you relate to and hope that they manifest in your life as well. We all know that there are bad times and tough seasons in life but please; don’t carry that burden in your subconscious mind and be anticipating weird negative scenarios. You are not a hero for predicting doom accurately. Rather anticipate you coming out of the difficult times stronger and better. Let your hopes be good.

    I love you