Imran.

Not Ibrahim. Imran? Yup. Imran.

He is the reason why 2013 will be unforgettable for me and his mum. A gift from Allah.
We experience few moments (only few) in our life where 'happy' isn't strong enough to capture the intensity of our ecstasy. Not 'elated', not overjoyed. Nothing. In such moment, you just scream for joy or simply smile like I did on the birth of my son.

The wait was killing. More than his mum who carried him for 9months with the associated discomforts and sacrifices, I just couldn't wait. Especially at the threshold of the last trimester. It was just like a must win football game heading into the 70th minutes. Anxiety increased. So was my imagination. Many thoughts. What would he look like? When will it happen. Will I be around when it happens. How do I carry him. Whom do I call first? I imagined the color of his eyes, texture of his hair, shape of his nose, fingernails (how I love fingers of new born).

And not forgetting how I became acquainted with pregnancy terminologies. Edd, contraction, mother craft, water breaking etc. His mum wanted him on a weekend. Me? I just wanted him ASAP.

And the nine month course came to a screeching halt. Not like we weren't expecting. Of course we were. The moment is without predictive precision. On the 25th of November, our bundle of joy arrived in the early hours. I was speechless. Grateful. And full of smiles. I have conveniently excused the agony of labour his mum went through. Not because it isn't worth the mention, but the joy of his arrival is what overwhelms us. Respect to all the RESPONSIBLE mothers out there!

Imran Oluwatimilehin Balogun.....May Allah make you the coolness of our eyes. Proudly daddy#

NAKED JUSTICE

For Hobbes, the "state of nature" refers to the human condition without government. If humans were left to themselves without government, Hobbes claims, then life would be "solitary, nasty, brutish, and short." This means that human beings are essentially selfish and without government humans would hurt and kill each other without hesitation. In a related saying, a society without laws has no punishable offence nor any offence to begin with. Where there are laws, there are crimes for anyone who runs foul of the provisions of the law. In the world over, stealing is a punishable offense. The punishment could range from warning to first time offenders to imprisonment either short term or life sentences. There are however no such laws that prescribes undressing thieves. This is not far fetched. Of what benefit is the nudity of a thief? Everyone has the right to self dignity. Even thieves! Lest we forget, a thief is a HUMAN BEING who has taken the possession of another human being without the consent of the latter. The key word is here is that a thief is human. A thief, being human, is therefore entitled to dignity. According to Rick Bragg, every life deserves a certain amount of dignity, no matter how poor or damaged the shell that carries it. Dignity is one of the few common denominator in life. others are life and death. Everyone alive is entitled to life. No one has more right to life than the other. Every living thing shall die. Every man shall have dignity in equal amount. The volume of respect, praises and related values may differ from person to person, but dignity shall be accorded to all men. Universal declaration of human right says, All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. Before i become an ambassador for thieves in the world over in what would be an historic groundbreaking and trending occurrence that would shape year 2013 and grant me more fame than the sign interpreter at Madiba's funeral rite, let me quickly disassociate myself from all things theft. I do not support nor condone it. I openly condemn stealing of all varieties. Oh, yes there are varieties. You didnt know? do you consider theft committed by our 'leaders' in public offices to be of the same pedestal with the street urchins? The internet fraudsters operate on another level. What i seek to condemn in the strongest of terms is the unexplainable desire by men (could a woman be involved?) to undress female 'thieves'. In a non hobessian state, the proper thing to do is to handover anyone so accused of stealing to the appropriate authorities. Sadly, this is the last thing our over zealous anti- thief activist would do. Conveniently, they prefer to get such accused female thieves naked and feast their starved eyes and bring their lustful imaginations to reality In other cases, they fondle with all that characterizes their womanhood. In a scene reminiscent of jungle justice, able bodied young men would swarm around the accused and begin to administer their dose of NAKED JUSTICE. No interrogation, no identification of object of theft, no plea, no witness account. They are the accuser, the judge, the prosecutor and the 'undresser'. Lust is the motivation, undressing is the destination and poor education is their characterization. The activities of our unlicensed anti-theft activist do not cover armed robbery incidences. They also do not have interest in the daily 'privatization' of our national wealth by our greedy rulers. I thought to myself, these jobless anti- theft crusaders might as well frame up a crime scene and administer their dose. I shiver. Someone's sister and perhaps mother is been visited with this indignity All convicted thieves must face the consequence of their action. No one should lust for their nudity. can we stop this madness please?

AM BEHIND YOU!

As i write this piece, someone just uttered those words. Or.....let me guess, you said it today at the bank! Not a day goes by in our banking halls, supermarkets, cinemas, hospitals (depending on which one you use) without someone murmuring out ‘am behind you’ or its sister version ‘am at your back’. I choose the word murmur because no matter how clear and audible you make yourself, once what comes out of your mouth the moment you decide to activate your right to and sense of speech are those annoying words, i find it incoherent, and downright inaudible. Use queens English voice if you so desire, same! My grouse with a stranger who arrives in line after me informing me of his/her position in the queue is bi-dimensional. I think it is plain wrong to customise a spot in the queue. You don’t think it is? Put on your imaginative mode and picture yourself in the bank waiting to be served. On the queue, you have got one person ahead of you as you watch the teller/cashier attend to those presently being served. Why are these people too slow? They obviously need more hands here and they keep sacking people. How long will it take her to count? All of these questions and more in a one way conversation as you dialogue with yourself. And the drama? the annoying counting machine that counts 99 instead of 100 thus forcing a recount, the guy who needs to sign (he knows he would have to sign) but without a pen, the occasional unexplained leave the teller takes after attending to a customer and many more. You endure the tortuous wait and as the cashier screamed ‘next’ as though the waiting time/service delivery has been super efficient, someone (sometimes 2) walks right in front of you and says ‘i was at his back’ (or i was here before). Its a rude and unpleasant feeling. You can’t verify! You just accept it. Not everyone will take it. Shouting matches, insult trade has been the consequence when someone objects to the existence of a customised position. I have always thought the net effect is the same if everyone could stay in queue and wait till they are served. If you aren’t ready, go ahead and conduct other business(es) of yours. The twin grouse i have is that you burden me with the responsibility of informing anyone who comes behind me of your customised slot. Now it gets weird. The person (latter) who arrives after the man (former) who assigns me the unsolicited responsibility also decides not to stay and informs me of his position. If i could afford one, i would definitely buy a reverse camera and it has got to be for my car and not to be used in the banking hall! It is fantastic if you are subscribed to internet banking. Lets hear how you deal with ‘am behind you’ at the airport, cinemas and shopping mall.