An INEC adhoc staff's election experience

Having been tempted to enroll and work as an adhoc staff in the Nigeria 2015 elections but my dad stopping me, I couldn’t help but hold on to the idea of what it would have been like to participate. I also kept wondering, amidst the fear of the unknown and violence in the country some young people like me especially corp members were bold enough to still go ahead with the task and work mostly for the money I suppose.

Although reading the punch newspaper Monday, pg3, I realized that some corp members were actually really too scared to show up at their centers, causing delays. Do I blame them? No . Anyway I have decided to share the experience of someone I interviewed, who worked as an adhoc staff in the south south part of the country, calabar to be precise.

“the night before the elections , I was really in a bad mood. We had to sleep on benches at the rack center, in preparation for the following Saturday. I had a terrible time sleeping, of course I had not much choice since I already agreed to do this. The rack center as we call it is where the election materials for the ward was distributed. The following morning which was the election day, as early as 8am we left for our different polling units. At first in my unit we set up at the wrong place, the residents then had to show us another place where they say is more accessible to the residents. After setting up at the ‘right” place , the residents present, party agents present, we still couldn’t commence accreditation. For some reasons I being the assistant presiding officer (APO1) couldn’t set the time and date on the card reader machine. Yes we were trained but our training only involved them reading out their manuals and how to set up polling boots. So all my efforts to correct the error proved abortive. When I saw that the crowd was becoming angry and the party agents were beginning to boil I rushed to the nearest polling unit to us to see if the situation was the same, lo and behold it was. I found them battling with the card readers too. So we had to wait for technical support from INEC , I really don’t blame Prof Attahiru Jega for these unforeseen challenges, there were about 150,000 card readers brought into the country, they couldn’t have ascertained all to be in good and perfect condition. Anyway as the technical support fixed it, I tried to see what she was doing in case I needed help again but she shooed me off, I didn’t like it but I thought within myself she was right in a way, what if I got a hang of things and then manipulate the number of accredited cards later on. So I kept my cool and well accreditation started shortly afterwards. Over 300 people had registered and gotten pvcs for that location but surprisingly by 1.45 pm when we started voting, just 60 voters showed up. This was a bit discouraging more discouraging was the fact that some of the party agents present were drinking and smoking publicly despite having policemen around, patrol vans passing every 3hrs.

As at 4.30pm when we were certain no one was returning to vote, we started counting, the party agents present, monitoring as we counted,the presiding officer and assistants as well. In all, it wasn't a bad experience for me"
From all indications, despite postponing the elections, all arrangements made still couldn't forestall challenges. But one good thing is there was minimal violence, considering how much fear had earlier on been envisaged, one can definitely say the electoral process was a sixty percent success. As there were reported cases of attempted violence at some centers, where some adhoc staff's were held at gunpoint and asked for the state of the result after collation.

Tension brewing up everywhere today concerning who will emerge as the next president, all thanks to social media, I have had to laugh so much at various wall papers and caricature drawings with different humorous remarks. I only have one statement to make though " May the best man win"... God bless Nigeria

Living off campus 9

Riike usually didn’t go home often. She didn’t have the perfect family setting, we all understood and really felt for her. This particular weekend she returned to school sad after having had a quarrel with her mother. Kunle had been more than willing to give her shoulders to cry on. This made me and other housemates realize that Kunle must have always had soft spot for her. She herself took to him and was going in and out of his room to hers, he likewise. To think that Riike had a serious fiancé and she still encouraged serious closeness with another guy was surprising.
_

I was of course annoyed and surprised. If Kunle had always wanted Riike, why get close to me in the first place? Why do guys do that? Kunle must have realized that I wasn’t really pleased as he stopped coming to my room and our relationship became strained. We hardly saw each other in the house and when we did it was just “hi” hello”. Activities in the house remained the same and somewhat boring. Wole and Laura still held on to their epileptic relationship, frequent quarrels and make up sex. Tunji still came home with different ladies, I often wondered, didn’t these girls know he had many of them at his beck and call?

_Doyin still maintained 'me and my husband/boyfriend relationship. She was always in the room with her boyfriend, cooking, playing doing all sorts. The only times she liked to talk was when she wanted to do amebo or ask about something. They all already quit asking me about Ife since they realised that I myself knew nothing more than they did concerning her. As for Timothy he was either , fellowship or reading in school. Bukky was always having lousy friends come over. At times she would have male visitors and lock up in the room without coming out.

I began to spend more time at my friend’s place who lived close,we were also in the same department. it was the only appealing option after lectures in school. Besides it afforded me the opportunity to avoid pests. I usually returned in the evening, yet on some evenings immediately I get in I hear knocks on my door as if they have been waiting for me to return. Some people can be unrepentant pests you know.

One day I just felt like totally sleeping over at my friend’s place. Since we didn’t have lectures early the following day. So I did, which was why I didn’t witness what happened that fateful day. As I returned home the following morning I was already hearing rumors from passers by and other students, I got to the house only to meet mournful looks..

FIrst tutorial : How to write an essay/ article

I have been thinking of what the first tutorial on this blog should entail. I realise that readers here have different interests at the same time while catching fun, I like knowledge being acquired. That is why I will be discussing how to write a simple essay. This can work for students who still need to write essays to pass their school leaving certificates, other young writers or those who would love to become better at writing, for those writing on a research too. Here are a few tips:


Find subjects you truly care about and write on them
Except you are being tasked to write a specific topic, or given an assignment in school you will be helping yourself improve and building confidence by writing on subjects of your personal interests. Be it politics, religion, human rights, societal vices, sports, emotions and lots more


Have an outline before you start writing
It helps you to arrange your thoughts brilliantly in your first draft, before the final draft. Yes! have a first draft, except you totally have your thoughts arranged perfectly in your head you need to have a first draft. In your draft, outline everything you know or can think of about your topic. It helps arrange the final article beautifully.
If along the line you get stuck and can’t continue, move away for a while, then return to it when you are settled. Even in an exam situation go and answer other questions, do not panic then return to it.


Be concise and watch your grammar
Bad grammar is a total turn off, except you need to do it on purpose to prove a point, avoid bad grammar totally even typographical errors. It will make you lose marks in an examination setting and even as a professional your readers might lose faith in you
Read! Read! Read! Be a reader to become a better writer. Online articles, research articles, other writer’s books read them.


Have a dictionary close to you while you are writing
You cannot have all the vocabulary in the world and their meanings in your head. Sometimes people get stuck forgetting spellings or switching meanings. This is why a dictionary is needed to be certain always, except in situations where you cant have it close.


Read over when you are through, you may read out aloud to yourself also have people read over for you to ascertain you are truly through except you are in an examination hall.
Be disciplined, all of these points mentioned earlier can only be achieved through discipline


Finally practice makes perfect, if you want to be better at writing, write more.




EXAMPLE
WRITE AN ARTICLE ON THE EFFECT OF BAD GOVERNMENT ON THE EDUCATION OF A CHILD.


Suggested outlines

A brief introduction to what the educational system is like in your country. E.g 6-3-3-4 system of education.
The role of government
The role of parents
The role of the child
Challenges faced by all parties
The effects on the child.
Conclusion , here you may include brief suggestions.

Tutorial

HI, i am about to introduce some tutorial series to the blog. here we can get little ideas about a few skills, as they say, no knowledge is lost. look forward to it, it starts soon.

#ThinkitWearit

This is for the majority who love style, swag and fashion. People like me who appreciate sense of imagination, people who love to standout and be distinct and finally people who like to be branded: ozee clothings..

Its no longer new that clothes and other personal wears are branded according to individual taste but ozee clothings stand - out, wears ranging from hood wears, joggers, t-shirts, polo shirts, tank tops, face caps and so on are designed to suit your taste and also to help express how fashionable you can be. You can decide to trust their judgements as to giving you designs you will love and at the same time if you are so imaginative and fashion savvy you can give speculations for your preferred designs and it will be done at a reasonable price!

I have experienced this branding outfit and I can say it is worth it! That’s why I m bringing it here in the first place *winks*. For more enquiries call : 08137268964. See some of their wears below, Start ordering for yours , remember you only have to think it to wear it..

Living off campus 8

This series ‘Living off campus’ is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead or actual events is purely coincidental.

As is expected, new sessions bring new surprises. It was already as if ife’s episode was closed as no one knew or asked of her whereabouts. I decided I was going to live alone since there was no room mate in sight besides I was done with and tired of roommate issues. The other housemates were glad I remained in the house, not certain its because they had so much love for me though. On Sunday morning, the second week of resumption, kunle knocked on my door early in the morning. I was surprised to see him that early, especially when we had only being greeting each other from afar, as per new housemates.

He then told me that ugo and uche already informed him that I was the only one in the house who attended the particular fellowship he would love to attend, that was a bit surprising to me but I decided not to make a big deal out of it, even when he told me he would want us to go together. I quickly dressed up and we left, as we walked on I felt a bit awkward as I hardly knew him but I still managed to assess him. He was dressed too casual for church, such that I began to wonder didn’t he have any better church clothes? Or did he think because it was a student fellowship he could dress so casual.

In church after about 30minutes, I noticed he looked pleased with the activities and I made up my mind to ask him if he would permanently decide on the church. Closing hours came, I waited for him to finish with the first timer’s meeting as courtesy demanded so we could go back. Up till now I m still trying to guess what transpired as that Sunday was the last Sunday kunle went to my church, he said something about it being a student church (as if he didn’t know before), he transferred to an Anglican church in town where church was 8 to 10am (no offence) and he got to church 9am.

My suspicions of kunle being a happy go lucky, lazy and carefree person deepened when Riike visited my room to discuss with me that she hardly sees kunle fetch water. Yeees….. he hardly took his bath (how did I find out?) he told me. Despite the fact that our church episode ended disappointing we still became good friends, almost more than friends too, that was when he told me about bathing being such a big deal. He started to talk about his days outside the country and how a bath wasn’t considered important there. Kunle was friends with other housemates too, he was also “generous”. Although Doyin, and Ronald treated him, like he didn’t exist, well does ones hardly regarded others except when they needed help. All the while I thought he was only interested in me but I later discovered I was wrong one day after Riike got back from home sad…..

FEBRUARY 14

Its february 14
When I first saw on a friend’s status that the guys had to be grateful to GEJ (Jonathan) for postponing valentine this year, I thought it was a joke until I started seeing ‘febuhari 14” hashtags and dps everywhere. Lover’s day turned elections day.
So all this fuss about Buhari finally birthed a pun, even GEJ didn’t know he was helping his opponent’s campaign. Too much uproars, disagreements, arguments on social medias over the forthcoming elections got me wondering “why are we like this in this country?”
Why are we so gullible in Nigeria? We keep getting played like pawns. I remember in 2011, everyone was clamoring for GEJ just like GMB now, we thought our change had come then too, we thought a PhD holder who had no shoes will understand the society and make things better but alas the position proved to be too much for him to handle. Why then do we so much believe that Buhari who (for some reasons I don’t totally accept or find trustworthy) found it an herculean task to produce his complete certificates be any better?
Another question begging for answer is, is Buhari and Jonathan the only eligible men to vie for the seat of president? Why does it have to be either one of them? A rather funny but serious allegation was made, first it was said that Buhari collapsed , then because he sneezed at a gathering he was said to have prostate cancer. As funny and ridiculous as all these allegations sound is GMB truly strong enough physically to face the battles of Nigeria? Or perhaps he is one of the progenitors of the battles.
As for GEJ, he has fought the fight and from all indications has given the best he canoffer; Nigerians are not all foolish and lacking courage. The reason he and his supporters have refused to accept that they have failed is why they might eventually crumble totally.
I am not trying to discourage voting in this forthcoming election, I have just gladly given my point of view, which is that we still have leaders and aspiring leaders who are selfish, not trustworthy, wicked and unconcerned about the society as well as cheats trying to play smart ones on us. Its so unfortunate that we still have to continue to live in fear and darkness , we think we know but majority of us don’t really know what is going on .
I leave here as my conclusion what I once told a group of people, Nigeria is still a long walk from freedom but we will wait and we will achieve it.

January baby ....

First of all I personally think its so cool to be born in the first month of the year! *smiling* very significant. This year I really don’t know what came over me I just felt the urge to really celebrate January babies. So far so good I know I have tried and I have gladly celebrated all the January babies I know.


Despite not believing totally in astrology or zodiac signs I agree that people born this month are great and can be really cool.i believe they are people who truly standout in the crowd, even if they can be stubborn (N.B every human being is stubborn in his or her own way) and can be” big heads” like someone once said I still maintain… you just gotta love a January baby. They are charming, loyal and in any way you can think of fun to be with. Also a true January born finds it difficult to lie…. No kidding……okay I agree there might be some rare exceptions. lol


Anyway its January 26, my special day and I just want to give glory to God for keeping me “superwoman in the making” alive through the storms and the rain..the good times and the bad times.. I' m grateful to all that have been with me in my former year, I' m definitely carrying you guys with me into my new year, I mean those who have truly been with me. Anyways… happy birthday to an awesome January baby!

living off campus 7

I was really disturbed and sad, Tunji had driven out of the house still angry, wole and his friends left after he banged on our door to serve as a reminder I guess. Even after the girls were gone and everyone was gone I knew there was no sleeping or reading for me that night. Whoever says a bad roommate couldn’t affect one’s academics should have a re-think. My ordeal with Ife had proven so many things.
Bukky later knocked on our door late in the night, after her visitors where gone I guess. I knew what she was coming for,of what benefit was re-telling a bad story so I pretended I was asleep, hoping that ife wouldn’t be stupid as to open up. Luckily she didn’t.
The following day, I made sure I left the house early, I needed to read for my test as well as avoid further questioning from housemates. They didn’t know that, they even knew more about Ife than I did. I was grateful that Uche and Ugo as well as Timothy were not at home to witness the show of shame the previous night. They had probably gone to read in school, they would have been more disappointed than I was.
In the afternoon around 2pm I had just finished my test and was still in school when I received an urgent call from Laura telling me that she and Bukky were on their way to the health center with Ife. I was still about to ask what was going on when the phone went dead. When I got to the health center, I discovered that Ife had gone for an abortion and complications had risen. She was to be transferred to a specialist hospital.

The nurses who kept on calling us all sorts of names suggested that we informed her parents. Everybody agreed that I was the best person to call.
Now here was the real problem, this was something I should have done before things got to that stage. Ife often told me of how wicked and impatient her mother was, she had a hypertensive father. How was I to call and inform her parents that their daughter who was supposed to be in school had not only had a failed abortion, but was still pregnant and had been avoiding lectures and tests?

Weighing out all of the possible options, I summoned up courage, encouraged ife and we called her parents. I felt more sorry for her father who was the best father anyone could wish for , who was sadly hypertensive. How was he to take this heartbreak which he didn’t deserve from his beloved daughter? As for her mother well , from all I had seen and was told, I would largely blame Ife’s rebellion and predicament on her for being such a failure of a mother.
Days and weeks passed and i got tired of answering questions from individuals concerning Ife’s predicament. To crown it all in a bid to salvage what was left of her pride and education, she was advised to defer the whole academic year. Surprisingly her mother blamed me for her daughter’s waywardness, she said we were all thieves and only those who were caught at dawn are exposed.

If I felt bad earlier, this remark made me worse. Ife and her mother packed her things and left to an unknown destination. Exams came and I managed to read and sit for all my papers with a heavy heart. During and after exams, all efforts to reach Ife at her home, phone and social networks proved abortive during the session break. I was tempted to move out of the apartment and get another, just to clear up memories but all efforts to find another apartment of my taste during the break, proved abortive. So I decided I was going to live alone.

Time passed, still no word from Ife, the new session resumed. Surprisingly but rather expectedly, the session resumed with lots of surprises, such as Ronald moving into the apartment with Doyin. Both began to co-habit as couples. Not that it was new or odd so to say but because of the frequent fights and quarrels they engaged in, one would have thought they will both decide to let each other off the hook. Alas the reverse was the case.

More surprises rolled in as Uche and Ugo had to go on industrial training and their room which we thought would be vacant was let out to another guy, Kunle. Kunle was a corper, whose place of assignment was close to our house. He was lucky to meet with Ugo and Uche who needed someone to use the room while they were away. The appearance of Kunle into the house brought about new but surprising developments….

Living off campus 5

My initial indifference turned to concern. Why was Ife crying? Had Tunji hit her? If he had done that, that was the height of it. I kept asking her what was wrong with her but couldn’t reply. All she did was weep. After a while, she spoke up tunji had brought another girl into the room and he had the effrontery to send Ife out. What further added insult to Ife’s injury was the fact that the girl was more beautiful than she was.

I tried to console her without giving her the ‘I told you so’ attitude. She kept on cursing and lamenting, she even threatened to go into Tunji’s room and embarrass them but I stopped her. Rather I advised that she wen later to get her things when the other girl was gone.

Ife was still lamenting when we started hearing voices at he passage , it was definitely Doyin’s voice. She was raining curses heavily on Ronald. We were surprised, we kept quiet and leaned against our door to hear every bit of what was being said but all we did hear was Doyin cursing Ronald bitterly even in vernacular, the sound of door slamming, Ronald must be leaving angrily we thought. I began to wonder wasn’t this the perfect Ronald that Doyin treated as her mini god? Things were really happening…..
Few hours later, Ife went to pack her things back into the room. I really felt sorry for her she looked used and abused.
As if all the events that had occurred earlier in the day wasn’t enough, we started hearing laura’s voice inside of Wole’s room, she didn’t sound like she was on good terms with him. We weren’t really surprised at these, Laura and wole had a strange perception of a relationship. Their own relationship meant ‘relationfight”. They only got along when they were eating together or sleeping together. They were always fighting, wole had tried to break up the relationship several times, he claimed he couldn’t cope with Laura’s jealousy but it seemed he was hooked for life. Like he was already captured by her.

Night came and we managed to sleep amidst the hostile atmosphere. The following day as I dressed up for school I noticed that Ife remained on the bed. I asked if she wasn’t going to school, she replied that she wasn’t. I tried to convince her to go but she claimed she wasn’t fine. I left her behind hoping that she would have a change of heart. I decided to walk to the busstop with Riike who also had early morning lectures

As we walked Riike started to talk about the real reason for Ronald and Doyin’s fight. She told me of how Ronald’s other girlfriend had insulted Doyin in public. The poor girl had been shocked and embarrassed. She also told me of how laura kept threatning Wole over some messages and pictures she saw on his phone. I was about to pass my own comment on the abnormal relationships when Riikeasked me a shocking question .she asked me what Ife was going to do about her pregnancy, I argued with Riike and almost fought her for suggesting that Ife was pregnant . but the issue kept coming to my mind, truly it had been long I saw Ife have her period. I made up my mind to find out.

A lot of people asked after Ife in school, i ran into her classmates who told me of all the tests she had missed. I became worried again ,ife was definitely playing around an extra year. I decided to go home early and talk sense to her. I also made up my mind to call her parents if she refused to change. As soon as I got home I stated hearing loud voices of laughter, Bukky our part time room mate as we often called her because she often didn’t sleep at home was with her male visitors again. She claimed she had a boyfriend who lived in Lagos but Ife and I see different men visit her each time. One wonders which is actually her boyfriend. I got close to our room and heard another loud noise like something crashed, I rushed into the room and saw Ife vomiting. As she vomited she bent down to pick up the broken toilet sink, I stood still.

LIVING OFF CAMPUS 6

“Did you lean on it too much”I asked even as I bent to help her pick the pieces. Mixed feelings of annoyance and surprise enveloped me. Why was she even vomiting in the first place? Definitely Riike was right. As I dropped the broken sink outside the house, I could still hear Bukky and her visitors chatting loudly but I wasn’t concerned anymore about that.
Worry over Ife and what could become of her if she was truly pregnant took over. I was about entering the house when Doyin whose room was closest to the backyard where the dumpsite was came out.” That loud noise came from your room?” she asked in vernacular I replied in the affirmative “how did it happen? “she continued, I knew if I was going to safe Ife from any form of shame or embarrassment I had to cut the conversation short, so I just replied that I didn’t know because I just came into the room when it happened. I had just gotten free from Doyin who kept trying to draw out information from me, only for me to enter our room and meet Riike and Laura.

Wow, there was no way we could escape these ones, I thought. I greeted them, it was then I knew Ife had told them she was ill and was vomiting when the sink fell. I knew the girls would never accept that story but somehow they played along. After a while they left for their rooms while I prepared for the next day which happened to be a test day for me.

Later in the evening I tried to encourage Ife to visit the school clinic, since she still held on to the story that she had chronic malaria. She kept on telling me there was no need for that, all she had to do was get to the chemist down the road and she would be fine. I became angry again, exams were only two weeks away and my obviously pregnant roommate was avoiding school yet still lying.

I was about leaving the room angrily when Tunji burst into the room. I was so infuriated at the manner in which he came in that I had to ask him why he couldn’t knock. He didn’t even respond to me he only turned to face Ife on the bed and started to call her names. He tried to hit her then I had no choice than to call for help when I couldn’t stop him. He kept calling her a prostitute, fool, all manner of terrible names despite the fact that our housemates were gathering at the door. Some of our male housemates, Wole and his friends tried to get him out of our room, as he was being dragged out he kept shouting “she is a crazy idiot, a dirty fool, she was collecting money from me and giving Toye my friend she was also sleeping with him”

I had never been more shocked my whole life, no wonder Toye left us some of the properties in the room for free. I was so embarrassed and ashamed, Riike, Laura and the other girls came in to show concern and question Ife as to why she did all she did but I knew they were only mocking her. As if that wasn’t enough Wole shouted from outside his room “Ife, please you have to return my money o sharp sharp” as he cursed under his breath.
I looked straight at Ife and asked if it was true, I was filled with annoyance when she replied that she borrowed just ten thousand naira from him. What on earth did Ife need the money for, she was still owing me some amount of money which I’d already written off because I knew she would never mention it not to talk of pay back. The other day some foodstuff and provision sellers in the neighborhood approached me to help tell her to pay them the money she owes them. Why was Ife borrowing so much money and yet she was still broke?