Friday, April 27, 2007
KT TO CATCH FIRE?
This is the time of the year when life in Katsina becomes unbearable because of the stifling heat. The temperature rises steadily in the mornings and by 12 noon it climbs to 38 degrees Celsius. You call that real hot but by about 2 pm the mercury rises to 40 degrees. And that’s the time folks restrict themselves to any available shade. People desert the streets and engage in reverse hibernation.
This year the heat is particularly intense and perhaps that has to do with the on going global warming. Temperatures go beyond 40 degrees outside thereby forcing room temperatures to go beyond 30 degrees. In my upstairs room it is a bit cooler and that’s where I usually retire to from 12 noon. What about the air conditioner? Well, they make sure I don’t use it by supplying low voltage current all the time. I am talking about NEPA here.
The bad thing about excessive heat is the prospect of diseases like CSM (cerebro spinal meningitis) outbreak.
Ay any rate judging by the way everything gets hot, it is really not far off the mark to conclude that KT might just catch fire.
WELCOME TO NEW PLANET
European astronomers have reported discovering a planet that resembles our earth in several ways. They said it’s located in the constellation Libra and is more than 22 million light years away. The European southern observatory telescope based in
This is good news considering the fact that we are on the verge of destroying this earth with either a nuclear catastrophe or the incessant depletion of the ozone layer. Both of these are imminent in the world we live today and so what a relief to know that some of us could actually escape to another far away planet in future.
I only wish that people like Carl Sagan and the others who pioneered SETI were around. SETI is the abbreviation for search for extra terrestrial intelligence, a body established by astronomers and others interested in finding life elsewhere in the universe.
ELECTIONS? WHAT ELECTIONS?
It’s no more news that an exercise which some people call elections took place recently in
That day ANPP was to wrap up its campaigns at Polo ground in Katsina. Trouble broke out somehow and property and lives were destroyed. Irate youths from both parties roamed the streets burning old tyres, smashing cars and creating mayhem along the way. They chanted war songs as they moved in mobs. Buhari did come that day but was as soon shepherded out of town along with his entourage. By evening the mood of the town had changed dramatically and troops in full military gear were drafted to man the streets. Soldiers brandishing AK47 rifles mounted road blocks and checked every one passing with a menacing face. That really scared many people including yours truly.
On Friday the town was still tense and that made my family to stock foodstuff and beverages against Saturday. We believed then that violence would erupt across town during the elections.
The house remained locked through out Saturday and no one went out to vote. The same thing happened the second Saturday of voting. Of course no violence broke out. The only activity that was rampant that day was ballot box snatching and ballot box stuffing and the sudden appearance of alien ballot boxes at collating centres.
Well, no sooner the election results started coming out than condemnations broke out from left, right and centre. The opposition parties led the charges. The elections were indeed marred by all manner of fraud. International observers have attested to that and even Obasanjo himself has concurred. Indeed elections all over the world are fraught with fraudulent practices. However it remains to be seen what Nigerians will do about that.
The opposition parties are calling for an interim government while the winning and ruling party is asking for those aggrieved to go to court. The opposition has also called for a massive peaceful rally on Tuesday to coincide with May Day. The winning and ruling party replied by banning all rallies, marches, groupings, meetings etc henceforth. The die appears to be cast and the question on peoples’ lips is “Whither
Meanwhile many Nigerians must be amused by the litany emanating from the embattled Vice president. He is crying blue murder now thereby forgetting completely what happened in 2003. But we Nigerians are afflicted with chronic mass amnesia. We forget so quickly and completely that criminals who had served time roam the streets with us holding their heads high. And so Atiku ride on.
