iPostThisWeek

Introduction The word viaticum carries a double resonance: one literary, one theological. In Birago Diop’s poem Viaticum , a mother prepares her child for the journey into life. She marks the child with ritual gestures, invokes the breath of the ancestors, and sends them forth with the assurance that they are not alone. It is a poetic initiation, a covenant of protection. … With her three fingers red with blood, with dog’s blood, with bull’s blood, with goat’s blood, Mother touched me three times…. Then Mother said, ‘Go into the world, go! They will follow your steps in life.’… In Catholic tradition, viaticum refers to the final sacrament given to the dying, “food for the journey.” It is the Church’s way of saying: You will not walk this last road alone. We will accompany you with prayers, Holy Communion, tenderness and dignity. Both meanings converge on a profound truth: A community that cares prepares its people for the journey: whether into life or out of it. ...

Diana Ross's lyric phrases in her album Upside Down : “Upside ‑ down, … inside ‑ out … round and round ” , reflects Nigeria's national mood shaped by years of corruption and misgovernance. It captures a condition. A lived experience. It mirrors the dizzying spin that Nigerians have been forced into by decades of corruption, misgovernance, and institutional decay. Nigeria’s leaders have not merely failed; they have inverted the very logic of governance. What should lift the people up has instead turned them upside‑down. What should stabilize their lives has twisted them inside‑out. And what should move the nation forward has left citizens running “round and round” in circles: exhausted, disoriented, and unsure of where the next step leads. A Nation in Perpetual Spin Corruption in Nigeria is not an occasional misstep; it is a system, a culture, a rhythm that plays on loop. According to Transparency International, Nigeria ranks among the top quarter of the most corrupt coun...

In Julius Caesar , Act 1, Scene 1, the tribunes Flavius and Marullus confront the Roman plebeians who have rushed into the streets to celebrate Caesar’s triumph. In frustration at their fickleness and blind adoration, Marullus thunders: “You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless things!” ( Julius Caesar , Act 1, Scene 1) It is a rebuke not only of the people’s forgetfulness but of their willingness to surrender their agency to spectacle and power. Shakespeare’s line, though centuries old, echoes eerily across the Nigerian sociopolitical landscape today. The Nigerian Political Class and the Roman Illusion Nigeria’s political elite often behave as though the masses exist solely to applaud them. Their motorcades demand instant reverence. Their speeches assume unquestioned loyalty. Their campaigns rely on the predictable choreography of crowds, dancing, chanting, waving flags, and lining the streets like the Roman plebeians who abandoned their work to celebrate Caesar. Th...

Introduction “Iheọma adịghị onye ọsọ,” meaning “No one rejects goodness.” It is one of the simplest truths in Igbo philosophy: a truth sung, danced, and passed from generation to generation. This truth was immortalized by The Oriental Brothers International Band , the legendary highlife group that emerged in the early 1970s, just after the Nigerian‑Biafran War. Their music became a cultural balm for a people rebuilding from trauma. Through rhythm, proverbs, and communal storytelling, they reminded the Igbo nation, and Nigeria at large, that dignity, hope, and goodness were still worth striving for. In their song, they proclaim: Toyota Motor: who would reject it? Mercedes Benz: who would refuse it? Honda 175: who would say no? If your father were a king: would you dislike it? If your brother prospered: would you not rejoice? The message is simple and universal: Goodness is desirable. Goodness is human. Goodness is for everyone. Yet in today’...