UN-PROGRESSIVE EQUATION

By: Odunmorayo Olalekan Matthew
        Author and speech writer.

"Our journey as a nation has never been easy, it has always been TWO STEPS FORWARD, ONE STEP BACKWARD"
Those were the words of the 44th president of the United States of America, Barack Hussein Obama in his last address to the nation as president.

Democracy in any country has never been easy. It's full of ups and downs, political drama, sabotage, imbalance equation between the few positive minded and numerous negative minded people majorly influenced by the rich, powerful, selfish, score-settling individuals to jeopardize the progress. When their plans work out, then Barack Obama words would read as ONE STEP FORWARD, TWO STEPS BACKWARD.

Mathematically, that is one minus two. We don't need to look for a professor to provide answer to this. A smart nursery school kid would tell you it's MINUS ONE. Still getting out of the mud.
Nigeria what are you doing?! What is wrong with being black?! Why are we still where we were?! Do our problems defiled positive solution?!

'If our party had been in power, things would have been better'... dear politicians and political bloggers, don't feed us that nonsense. The same government was in power at the federal and cross river state yet TINAPA failed to work.

Having been to the Dubai Mall and Tinapa dozens of time, the only major thing which separates them is that there's traffic of human beings in the former while the latter has traffic of toads making irritating sound.

In this present world, a country that will compete favourably ought to have uninterrupted power supply and her poorest citizens living far above miserable one dollar the world powers are measuring us with.

Until we fix those things that are urgent and important for our existence, the negative equation will continue its consistent ugly run.
We do not really need to suggest so many solutions to our problems because the solutions are begging the questions. All that is needed is COMMITMENT, PLEDGE, and LOVE FOR THE NATION CALLED NIGERIA.

God bless our nation and good leaders who have masses interest at heart and ACT.

How Whistle Blowers and Other Reasons Cripple Celebrities' Marriages

One marital mistake every soul makes is the zeal to meet up to the standard expected by people watching them, and this however stretches the line of competition which succinctly ends most people with spouses that are not compatible with their personality. This ideology is rampant amongst adults of marriageable ages these days and it is chronic among people mostly celebrated in all sectors,  especially entertainment industry.

In recent times, wedding is highly classified than marriage itself, and the real meaning of marriage is no where to be found than the bin where it is trashed. In order to avoid exaggeration, most wedding ceremonies have huge expenses ruined on them, while little efforts are avoided to make the marriage work or successful.

These are some of the reasons most celebrities' marriage crash;

- Whistle Blowers: The whistle blowers are everywhere around almost all the celebrities.  They are the rumour mongers, stalkers that follow them on social media, they come as friends,  and they aim at nothing but to help you blow your weakneses to the world. Sometimes some celebrities are the whistle blowers of their private lives because their fingers are readily on their tabs to expose both good and bad they encounter on a daily basis, and all these complicate matter more.

-  Lack of Love: A marriage counsellor once said to me; most people getting married these days are merely interested in the "tag". They want people to see that they are hooked up with rich, famous, and good looking personality and these make them to lose focus on what the selflessness of love in marriage entails. They mostly gun for the name calling ' she's married, he is married'.

-Internal and External Pressure: Most celebrities settle for people they are not compatible with because of the pressure from both parents and colleagues, and fans inclusive. Some say ; 'You don tey for market', and the next line is to settle for someone who is an acquaintance whose intention is not verified just because he/ she showed interest for a short time.

- Pride: What pride can destroy in few minutes, it cannot build in several years in most cases. Most celebrities that encounter hiccups in their marriages have been victims of pride. There is no crime in correcting one's spouse, and there is no crime being submissive when corrected.  No marriage rule forbids begging when one party hurts the other, and no rule says rejection of plea is absolute.

- Privacy: Most celebrities have jeopardized the place of their privacy by divulging all their activities to the world. Their marital news is everywhere, on air, social media, like their fans care about their private life so much not to criticise them.

- Unnecessary Entertainment of Interviews: Did your fans get you married to your spouse? Why do you think they need that part of your life story? Would your interview vindicate you to be a saint? These are the questions you should ask yourself. Some celebrities feel that every inadequacy in their marriages needs explanation to the world.  They often want to rebuild their image when they sense failure in their marital lives, hence they take up interviews that put the whole event to the face of the public. Mind you, a fan that supports your private life going public doesn't have your interest at heart.  True fans often love unconditionally,  and what they firstly fell in love with should be your art and skill in your field, but when it goes beyond that, you are beginning to be their crush. Don't be afraid when such fan jubilates when your marriage hits the rock. Your fans are not interested in your in abilities, they only need you to make amendments and represent them.

- Priority: Do not prioritise your career than your home, and do not jeopardize your career as well. Some celebrities are single because they enjoy the independence,  but your ability to choose marriage has given you a responsibility that you musn't fail to do diligently.

These and many more are the reasons some celebrities fail in their marriage. Let's take a clue from Olu Jacobs and Joke Silva, they are both not perfect, but they keep fighting on, because marriage is a commitment and not some melodramas to be played to the world.