HAVE YOU BEEN CANTABBED?

 

I was thinking this morning..... as I drove into the parking lot in front of the church auditorium last Sunday, I observed that our early bird pastor had not arrived. Having tried severally to beat him to early arrival, I was surprised that 15 mins before service he was not in church. When I called him to find out why he was running late and to gleefully announce that I had eventually beaten him to it, he laughed and said, you did not only beat me, you gave me 'cantab.'

Wow! It's been a lifetime since I heard the term 'cantab.' It was such a common word those days that I thought it was an English word. But when I asked Google, what I got was 'Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB). Kilon jebe? Cantab was a term we used while playing table tennis those days and it describes a situation when a player's score is double or more than double that of his opponent. A very good player will boast of cantabbing a weak player.

Our journey in life is somewhat like playing the game of table tennis. When we started, we all looked forward to being ahead of the curve, achieving our dreams and winning big. However, for many, mid way into life, it is not going as planned. If you dreamt of having a high paying job or a thriving business that makes you financially independent, but you are living from hand to mouth, you have been cantabbed by life.

Yes, many expected to have a lovely, peaceful family life, but ended up with the opposite. The spouse is a headache and having children, a prayer point. Some dreamt of studying and obtaining a PHD but life came hard at them very early and they ended without a degree. In summary, you can say life had cantabbed them.

The thing about being cantabbed is that it gives the person being beaten a sense of hopelessness even before the game comes to an end. Being cantabbed is a humiliation and usually no one comes back from a cantabbed situation to win a game. However, in 2005 during the World Championship in Shanghai, Danish Table tennis player Michael Maze came back from an impossible 'triple cantab' situation to beat Chinese player Hao Shuai.

So can you ever recover and win the game of life? Yes, it is possible. Life may be cantabbing you for now, but keep hope alive because the game is yours to lose. Romans 4:18 'Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations.' You can turn the cantab around.

Stay hopeful. God's got your back.

Happy Sunday.

......Just the thoughts of a certain Wey Mey

DEATH IN THE POT

 

I was thinking this morning...... Returning from Church one Sunday morning, I was desirous of having fruit salad. On getting to the fruit shed at the junction of my street, I noticed something bizarre. I observed the 'aboki' trader pour some sachet detergent into a bowl of water, stirred it to foam and then started dipping the pawpaw and pineapple in and washing them like a piece of dirty shoe. In my shocked state, my head spurn as my thoughts screamed.

Then I recalled the incident of 26th August in Umueze, Umuahia North LGA of Abia State, where seven members of the same family died after eating the popular barbecue known as suya, with an undisclosed brand of juice drink. Ahh! What's going on?

As I pondered days ago, I watched a video of how a stockfish (okporoko jabajaba) seller was seen using the popular Sniper insecticide to preserve stockfish at Oyingbo market in Lagos. As the lady that caught him on video lamented and asked the aboki why, he responded 'No any fish wey dey for Nigeria wey dem no put this medicine.' Really?

Sniper insecticide belongs to the DDVP chemical family (dichlorvos) and is adjudged by many as being potent in killing cockroaches and other insects. It has also become the handiest chemical used by suicide victims in Nigeria to terminate their lives. Yet, the aboki says 'No any fish wey dey for Nigeria wey dem no put this medicine.' Chai!! Oh God, there is death in the pot.

I have watched videos of fruit sellers washing the fruits in open sewer drains (gutter). Another video showed a petty trader sprinkling a detergent solution to hydrate his tigernuts before tying them in small packs for sale and consumption. An unsuspecting buyer will buy these contaminated fruits and nuts, not realising that 'there is death in the pot.' God abeg o!

We've focused on death from guns (bandits and BH) and death in the air (Covid), but we've been silent on 'death in the pot' that is causing all manner of diseases including cancer in Nigeria.

Who will deliver Nigerians from this death in the pot? Now I am scared of mama-put and party food. Should we stop eating food that we know not the source of the ingredients? Should I start subsistence farming to harvest the food I will eat or should I just port from Nigeria? Whatever the answer, I join my voice to that of the sons of the prophet in 2nd Kings 4:40 'And it came to pass, as they were eating of the pottage, that they cried out, and said, O thou man of God, there is death in the pot.'

Please join hands to kill the ignorance and not Nigerians.

#safefoodfornigerians

Stay hopeful. God's got your back.

Happy Sunday.

......Just the thoughts of a certain Wey Mey

MAN AND NICKNAMES

 

I was thinking this morning.... as I listened to Pst E.A Adeboye give his sermon last Sunday at the dedication of Rev Esther Ajayi's new church in Lagos, I went down memory lane thinking about the multiple nicknames or aliases I have been known by since birth.

For most people, your dominant nickname depends on the phase of life you are in. After I was born, my parents gave me the Itsekiri name Oritseweyimi meaning 'God's got my back.' But as a baby, I am sure many called me 'bomboy' because that was the name Warri people called every male child.

As I grew up and ready to begin school, it became obvious that I wasn't as tall as my mates. That immediately gave me another nickname as adults started calling me 'ete' (short man) or smallie. Though I found this alias quite annoying, there was nothing I could do. The alias stuck through primary school until I got into secondary school. As my academic brilliance shone, a new nickname emerged. For some reason, my parents and uncles chose a profession for me and started calling me doctor. Depending on who is doing the calling, one might wonder if the aim was to see me become of medical doctor, academic doctor or native doctor. Lol...

Finally, I got into the University and for the first time, had the opportunity to influence what my nickname will be. It was after we did Botany 204 in our second year that we had to give ourselves scientific names. Having been intrigued by such names as Mangifera indica (Mango) and Bamboosa aridinarifolia (Bamboo), I chose 'Weyimiliscus Kpoliae' birthing my alias for the next 20 years. Friends and those that knew me from university started and still call me 'Kpoliae' which was derived from my family name, Kpoli. Others called me Wemo.

As time went by, I joined the corporate world, began writing and became an author. I upgraded my alias to be 21st century compliant and was now to be simply called Wey Mey.

As I started a family and became a leader in church, I was now being called by new names. While my children call me daddy, in church circles, they call me pastor or bishop and sometimes 'daddy.'

Fact is, when you are young, people call you by what they think of you. When you are of age, you determine what you should be called but as you get older, people will call you by the impact you make on their lives. The difference between 'Baba-agba' and 'Baba-agbaya' is impact. Which would you rather be in your latter years? Are you making the right impact, because whether you like it or not, people will call you a name. No wonder Jesus asked in Mark 8:27 ' Who do people say that I am?'

Stay hopeful. God's got your back.

Happy Sunday.

......Just the thoughts of a certain Wey Mey

NAIJA HIRED ASSASSINS

 

I was thinking this morning.... Nigerian clergyman and actor, Mike Bamiloye, of the Ishawuru fame, has posed a humorous question that got people talking days ago. The 61 years old founder of Mount Zion Movies and Faith Ministries, had written on his Instagram page 'You dressed seductively to church, you dressed to kill. You danced suggestively to praise and worship songs. You danced to kill. You tag yourself 'Slayqueen' in the house of God. Are you a HIRED ASSASSIN?' My answer is yes, they are Spiritual Hired Assassins.

As I mused, I realised that there are many other hired assassins around us. So many uneducated entertainers and yahoo boys have been pushing the narrative that 'school na scam.' This was made worse, when we see scarcely educated touts becoming politicians and ending up being members of the state and national assembly or even holding other critical executive positions. What kind of message are we passing to the younger generation?Situating it with the Slayqueens, these people are 'Educational Hired Assassins.'

I visited the hospital last week. While waiting to be seen, a car drove in with a patient breathing with the aid of a cylinder of oxygen. He obviously had Covid-19 and was being prepared for ICU. I understand  that treatment of Covid-19 patients in private hospitals in Port-Harcourt cost about N3m while in Lagos it costs between N5m to N10m. Yet, the Government allowed the resident doctors and health workers to go on strike (10th time in 6 years) at the peak of the Covid-19 third wave. How else do you describe our leaders if not as Public Health Hired Asassins?

On Thursday, the Social Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) presented a 61-page report stating that over 27 million Nigerians earn less than N100,000 per annum (i.e $0.5 per day). When they pointed at budget fraud, procurement fraud, embezzlement of funds among other illegal actions, as being responsible, I nodded and said 'Economic Hired Assassins.'

It is obvious that we are a society of hired assassins with our actions and inactions resulting in the death of people all around us. One big mistake the government is making is focusing on the fight against the 'religious Boko Haram' in the North-West  while ignoring the silent hired assassins and circular Boko Haram all around the country. Mathew 18:7 says 'For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes!' My question to you is 'Are you a HIRED ASSASSIN?'

Stay hopeful. God's got your back.

Happy Sunday.

......Just the thoughts of a certain Wey Mey