KURUTYA PART 2

And when he was done with his speech the morale of the people became very high, and quietly, they retired to their homes. Their minds in deep thought over The Kurutya's words.

In the privacy of their individual homes the men brought out every gadget that could pass for a weapon, polished their long unused spears and arrows and applied 'Megh' (Poison) on them; they spured on their male children with war stories of the past and re-echoed the Kurutya's resolve of going to war. Their muscles tingled with excitement, and they could not wait to see the blood of the Fulani herdsmen who were gradually taking over their lands, flow like the Red Sea.

 The women on their part understood why their men had to go war. The older ones who where now grand, or great grand mothers told their daughters what sacrifices the women of old had paid during waring times in the pre-colonial Tiv nation.

The girls were not to indulge in sacrilegious activities like seducing the youngmen who were going to be part of the Kurutya's army in order to sleep with them.

The wives were to stay clear of their husbands' beds till such a time the Elders will consider appropriate. Special and recomended meals were to be prepared by the women and taken by the men.

The Medicine Men were consulted and fortifications carried out. All these were done in preparation for the inevitable war.

 And so the time was come for The 'Ityô' (Elders), to meet with the Kurutya and his army at 'Ijirtamen' (The Traditional Council).

The 'Tor Tiv', who is the Paramount Ruler of the Tiv nation was seated flanked by the 'Tyoors and Uter' (his league of Chiefs).

On the other side of the Council Hall was a group of selected able-bodied men, carefully picked by The Kurutya himself for this meeting.

"Ayatutu ka uno?" Began the Tor-Tiv in the traditional form of salutation, and there was a resounding "Ka se!"
There followed a dead silence that paved way for the Tor-Tiv's words. He continued;

"My Chiefs and I have recieved your petitions concerning the manslaughter brought upon us by the Fulani herdsmen whom we gave grazing rights in our communities. Our hospitality has been repaid with brutality, and it is nolonger acceptable to us! We had driven away their Father & Queen in the time past, driving away their descendants won't be any difficult task." There were sounds of approval and the ovation died down, he continued;

"Kurutya!" he called out!
The warlord respectfully answered "Zaki" and stepped forward distinguishing himself from the rest.
 "You shall lead our sons to, and back from this confrontation. 'Aondo u Abaver' & 'Aondo u Youkor' (gods of the land) shall go with you and return with you".

Buoyed by the words of their Ruler the Kurutya and the rest of the warriors began to make hysteric sounds and displaying their muscles.

"Go my people, and send the Fulani herdsmen out of our lands" The king ended his address.

The Kurutya raised a war song;

"Mnyam cie mo er Uke hide,
 hoo Uke hide;
Shimayam ngi awambe awambe,
hooon ngi awambe awambe...."

Translation:

(I dreamt the foreigners are back and my heart is bloody...)

 And with a signal from the Kurutya, they marched out of the Hall... They were going to war....

To be continued...

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FRIENDSHIP

God redirect my steps, take me out from the midst of strangers who call themselves friends and family, place me in a pool of true friendship and family ties.

Sometimes I get a little bit depressed knowing that a friend you actually call 'friend' can become an enemy in just a second that you look the other direction. I get so pissed when a relation of mine that is supposed to be a 'relation' turns out to be an enemy of your progress.

That wonder grows every minute when you end up getting help from someone you least expect. Someone whom to you is a 'stranger' but has done more than a friend. Makes me begin to reexamine the meanings of these three words "friend", "relation" and "stranger". The contradictory behavior of those you call these names, is indeed worth the reexamination.

I think its better not to expect anything at all than expect and your hopes dashed. A friend that doesn't understand the meaning of the following words;

- Respect

- Loyalty

- Faithfulness

- Commitment

- Selflessness

- Honesty

- Love

- Forgiveness

- GOD

... is not a friend. We all need each other and that's why we should constantly pray for each other, watch each others back try to be there if not physically then mentally. Think for each others' good. When we grow in our individual endeavors we should also think of how to assist others grow. There's no joy in being successful while your friend is not! When a friend errs, meet with him or her and let him or her know he or she erred don't use any of them as a subject of gossip.

Whenever we go in our rooms to sleep, when we kneel down in prayer we should remember not to be self centered in our pleas to God. He is merciful and just to answer and do for both you and your friend. Some people can be selfish to a point of even not chipping in a word for their friends. You don't know how much that word will go to change things for that friend.

Today I elect myself to be a point of contact between my friends and God almighty, may we all as friends give new meanings to friendship. Understand the core values that hold and bind people together. May the spirit that destroys good relationships depart from us and may we together actualize our individual dreams.

I wish we will strictly adhere to the meanings of the words 'friendship' and 'family', God bless us all.

Good day people, I am Conan-Moses Orseer Anyamikegh and I want to be your friend.

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SKELETONS

I am moved to write this piece following my recent outings on Facebook and the holier than thou attitude portrayed by many social media commentators. Life is full of ups and downs, and believe you me, no one can boast to have lived a spotless life. The fact that you thrived to better your life, does not mean you haven't for once made terrible mistakes you wish you never had and was locked somewhere inaccessible to others. Yes, you can call them skeletons! We all have them. And sometimes they scare us bad, we live in fear thinking someone might open our closets and discover our skeletons; our filth! Here on social media, plenty people act as though they don't have skeletons in their closet. Some would claim theirs are not as many as others. But does it really change the fact that they have skeletons? No! We must understand that when criticizing others, it should be done with an objective mind meant to correct, improve and better the life of the person being criticized or to prevent other potential culprits from toeing the same path. We should not do it with an intent to ridicule, make worse the life of the person, or even cause others to judge the person and pronounce them BAD people. We should also at all times be conscious that we also have a closet full of skeletons or having few of them. This is to enable us talk or act with caution concerning others. Many of us today are judge and jury, we are quick to condemn and hardly see the positives of any situation. How then can we have a positive or progressive life when we don't utilize the positive side we get? The government is criticized daily because of bad policies, and because we feel the pangs of hardship. But this doesn't mean we should turn a blind eye to some positive things done by the government! (Funny, some people who criticize have had spells as terrible administrators, yet they forget these skeletons). Its even worse when it comes to private life, at least government officials are subjected to more hasty and rash criticism because its public life (that's why people talk without thinking of their own skeletons). But in private life, we must not judge as though we are spotless; no one is perfect, this is a common line used by many. Funnily some people will talk to you as if they are the standard for perfection. Please before one will misconstrue me to be an advocate of passiveness when a wrong is committed let me stress that I am more concerned with the tone and approach of our reproaches and criticisms. The way you scold or rebuke someone in public should carry a tone that will 'make better' not 'make worse' the person's case. Condemnation of the person, instead of the person's action, is detrimental to the person's penance and subsequent rehabilitation of behavior. This is what's mostly obtained amongst people today in different media. I can't pretend not to have things in my life I don't wish even my would be wife or children to know about; no one can do that if he is truly human. This is just there to remind us of our fallibility as human beings and to play God, Judge or Jury when we are actually culprits in some sense doesn't hold water at all. Criticize with an objective mind not a biased one. Thanks and God bless.

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KURUTYA PART 1

And the man simply known by his kin & folk as 'Kurutya' meaning 'War-lord' rallied all who were around him in a wide space in front of his 'Ate' (hut).

This gathering was not only symbolic to the traditions of the Tiv people where elders would call for family meetings to look into vital issues that were bothering them, but also significant considering the menace that was tormenting the Tiv nation.

In a voice that was not peculiar to a man of his staus and rank (yes he was a warlord but had the voice of the gentlest of Lovers), he addressed them;

 "We have over the years watched in silence the systematic destruction of our dear nation by these spineless lot, The Fulanis" he watched their faces and allowed his opening lines to sink before progressing;

 "Back in time my kind had stopped their Father figure Uthman Dan Fodio, when he tried to cross our borders! Back in time too their Queen mother Amina, was stopped also by my kind when she embarked on her quest mission!" Their countenances, now of mixed emotions and that of pain due to their bereavement and also excitement from the Kurutya's solemn words began to reflect in their faces and entire bodies.

He continued; "You and I in our day, can't be different from our kind who stopped Dan Fodio and Amina. We can also stop their progenitors, same way our fathers stopped their fathers..."

 "YES"  interrupted the flow of his words but he continued;

"Let every man, husband or son, talk to his conscience and let him go inside his hut and wear back the warrior-nature of a Tiv man. Let him bring out his Quiver of Arrows & Bow, if he has a Gun let him bring it as well. It's time to go back to History, it's time to set things right; no more waiting, no more negotiating, no more relying on the unperturbed government. Let all the woman, mother and daughter, go into the farms and harvest enough food to last for seven market days; let them gather all the children and take them in, let them stay in their hideouts until they hear the victory songs of their men! We are going to war!"

"YES! YES! TO WAR!" the crowed thundered...

Click Here to Read Part Two Now!

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