The Ingredients

The Ingredients of Success in Life are clear:
Determination
Hard work
Faith in God
Vision
Wisdom
Struggle (sometimes)
Team Work
Study
Discipline
Integrity
These are the attributes i strive to cultivate.
May God help me
Yemi Olakitan

About Life

It is not Life that Matters but the Courage we bring into it- Obafemi Awolowo

My Favourite Barack Obama Quotes

Purpose

“If you’re walking down the right path and you’re willing to keep walking, eventually you’ll make progress.”


Potential

“Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. Because it’s only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential.”

-Barack Obama

Finding Strength in Life

Many Times, Life throws you from side to sides
You don't know which side to turn and it seems that life is meaningless
And that you should get some pills to swallow and end it all
Have you not felt that way sometimes?
In the midst of trouble
Only then, we need to stop and think
Life is not all rosy
But in the midst of darkness, we can appreciate lights
I believe that if we have courage, and faith and if we paddle through with determination
we can embrace the light and become one with it
And the darkness will be overcome
We are all God's children
Our heavenly father cares, even in the midst of trouble
Pray

Osama bin Laden by David Johnson and Beth Rowen

Alleged U.S. Embassy terrorist Osama bin Laden. (Source/FBI)
On Sunday, May 1, 2011, U.S. troops and CIA operatives shot and killed Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan, a city of 500,000 people that houses a military base and a military academy. A gun battle broke out when the troops descended upon the building in which bin Laden was located, and bin Laden was shot in the head. News of bin Laden's death brought cheers and a sense of relief worldwide.

"For over two decades, Bin Laden has been Al Qaeda's leader and symbol," said President Barack Obama in a televised speech. "The death of bin Laden marks the most significant achievement to date in our nation's effort to defeat Al-Qaeda. But his death does not mark the end of our effort. There's no doubt that Al-Qaeda will continue to pursue attacks against us. We must and we will remain vigilant at home and abroad."

While Bin Laden's demise was greeted with triumph in the United States and around the world, analysts expressed concern that Al-Qaeda may seek retaliation. U.S. embassies throughout the world were put on high alert, and the U.S. State Department issued a warning for travelers visiting dangerous countries, instructing them "to limit their travel outside of their homes and hotels and avoid mass gatherings and demonstrations." Some Afghan officials expressed concern that bin Laden's death might prompt the U.S. to withdraw troops from Afghanistan and said the U.S. should maintain a presence there because terrorism continues to plague the country and the region.

"The killing of Osama should not be seen as mission accomplished," former interior minister Hanif Atmar told the New York Times. "Al Qaeda is much more than just Osama bin Laden." Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, an Egyptian doctor who is al-Qaeda's theological leader, will likely succeed bin Laden.

The fact that bin Laden was hiding in Pakistan in a compound located in close proximity to a military base will likely strain the already distrustful relationship between the U.S. and Pakistan. Indeed, Pakistan has long denied that bin Laden was hiding within its borders, and the U.S. has provided Pakistan with about $1 billion each year to fight terrorism and to track down bin Laden.

Considered the world's foremost terrorist, Osama bin Laden was the leader of a terrorist organization known as Al-Qaeda, or "The Base." Bin Laden was the alleged perpetrator of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center, damaged part of the Pentagon, and resulted in a plane crash in Pennsylvania. At first he denied involvement in the attacks, referring to them, through an aid, as "punishment from Allah." In recent years he took responsibility for "inspiring" the events of Sept. 11, 2001.

Bin Laden has been implicated in a string of deadly attacks on the United States and its allies: the 1993 World Trade Center bombing; the 1998 bombings at the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed more than 200; and the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen. Bin Laden also claimed responsibility for a 1993 gunfight that killed 18 U.S. troops in Somalia and the 1996 bombing of the Khobar military complex in Saudi Arabia that left 19 U.S. soldiers dead.

Born with a Silver Spoon

Bin Laden was born in Saudi Arabia around 1957 to a father of Yemeni origins and a Syrian mother. His father, Mohammed bin Laden, founded a construction company and with royal patronage became a billionaire. The company's connections won it such important commissions as rebuilding mosques in the holy cities of Mecca and Medina.

Mohammed bin Laden took numerous wives and fathered about 50 children. Osama was either the 17th son, or the 25th son, depending on various reports. Regardless, in a society where status within a family is highly important, bin Laden would have been of relatively low rank.

Bin Laden studied management and economics at King Abdul Aziz University in Jedda, Saudi Arabia, coming under the influence of religious teachers who introduced him to the wider world of Islamic politics.

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The 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan galvanized bin Laden. He supported the Afghan resistance, which became a jihad, or holy war. Ironically, the U.S. became a major supporter of the Afghan resistance, or mujahideen, working with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan to set up Islamic schools in Pakistan for Afghan refugees. These schools later evolved into virtual training centers for Islamic radicals.

By the mid-1980s, bin Laden had moved to Afghanistan, where he established an organization, Maktab al-Khidimat (MAK), to recruit Islamic soldiers from around the world who later form the basis of an international network. The MAK maintained recruiting offices in Detroit and Brooklyn in the 1980s.

The Taliban, the former rulers of Afghanistan, arose from the religious schools set up during the mujahideen's war against the Soviet invasion. After the Soviet army withdrew in 1989, fighting erupted among mujahideen factions. In response to the chaos, the fundamentalist Taliban was formed and within two years it captured most of the country. The Taliban gave bin Laden sanctuary in 1996.

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After the Soviet withdrawal in 1989, bin Laden returned to Saudi Arabia and worked in his family's construction business. He founded an organization to help veterans of the Afghan war, many of whom went on to fight in Bosnia, Chechnya, Somalia, and the Philippines. Scholars have suggested these loosely connected bands of seasoned soldiers, ready to fight for Islamic causes, form the basis of bin Laden's current support.

In 1990, in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, the Saudi government allowed American troops to be stationed in Saudi Arabia. Bin Laden was incensed that non-believers (American soldiers) were stationed in the birthplace of Islam. He also charged the Saudi regime with deviating from true Islam.

Bin Laden was expelled from Saudi Arabia in 1991 because of his anti-government activities. He eventually wound up in Sudan, where he worked with Egyptian radical groups in exile.

Anti-U.S. Attacks

In 1992 bin Laden claimed responsibility for attempting to bomb U.S. soldiers in Yemen and for attacking U.S. troops in Somalia the following year. In 1994 pressure from the U.S. and Saudi Arabia prompted Sudan to expel bin Laden, and he returned to Afghanistan.

In 1998 bin Laden called for all Americans and Jews, including children, to be killed. He has since been accused of increasing his terrorist activities, such as the 1998 bombings at the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. The date, Aug. 7, was the anniversary of the deployment of U.S. troops to Saudi Arabia.

U.S. cruise missile attacks against targets in the Sudan and Afghanistan in Aug. 1998 are not believed to have seriously hampered bin Laden's network. Bin Laden continues to call for the destruction of the U.S., Israel, and the Saudi monarchy, stating that with these obstacles removed, Islam's three holiest sites, Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem, would then be liberated.

International Terrorist Network

Yet, even as he is reviled in the West, bin Laden is a hero in parts of the Islamic world, according to intelligence reports. His organization is called al-Qaeda, "the Base," and has approximately 3,000 followers, which he funds with his estimated $250 million fortune. Experts have said that bin Laden could represent a new trend in terrorism—privatization. Until his emergence, most large-scale terrorist organizations are believed to have been connected to governments. With his money and disciplined followers, however, bin Laden is believed to have the ability to launch even more devastating terrorist attacks. He has not denied that he is seeking nuclear or chemical weapons, saying that it is a religious duty to defend Islam.

Bin Laden has been disowned by most of his family, including a brother, Sheik Bakr Mohammed bin Laden, who has established scholarship funds at Harvard Law School, and the Harvard School of Design. In 1991 his Saudi citizenship was revoked.

Wanted: Dead or Alive

After the Sept. 11 attacks, the U.S. issued an ultimatum to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan to turn over bin Laden—this was just the last of several such demands made by the U.S. and the UN after bin Laden was implicated in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in East Africa (the U.S. also responded then by launching retaliatory missile attacks on Sudan and an al-Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan). Binding their fate to bin Laden's, the Taliban became the target of air strikes by the U.S. and Britain beginning in October 2002 that swiftly toppled the regime within two months. But Bin Laden, the object of the military campaign in Afghanistan, remained at large. He was believed to have fled to the mountainous region of Tora Bora, but the heavy U.S. bombing campaign that followed failed to vanquish him.

Since the attacks, Bin Laden has released several video tapes broadcast on Qatar's Al Jazeera network, the first of which praised the Sept. 11 hijackers, but stopped just short of claiming responsibility for them. In subsequent tapes, he threatened that more attacks against "the infidel" will occur and warned that "America will not live in peace." Bin Laden's whereabouts remain elusive, but he is thought to be somewhere in Afghanistan or Pakistan. The FBI has placed a $25 million bounty upon his head.


Read more: Osama bin Laden — Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/spot/osamabinladen.html#ixzz1Mcp0hwGP

Michael Jackson Doctor On Trial, by Harriet Ryan, Loss Angeles Times

A judge stripped Dr. Conrad Murray of his state medical license Tuesday after ruling that prosecutors have sufficient evidence to try him for manslaughter in the death of Michael Jackson.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor said testimony presented during a six-day hearing into Murray's treatment of the pop icon had convinced him that allowing the cardiologist to keep his license "would constitute an imminent danger to public safety."
Evidence presented by prosecutors, the judge said, showed "a direct nexus and connection between the acts and omissions of Dr. Murray and the homicide in this case," Pastor said.

The judge's decision to send the case to trial was widely expected, including by Murray's attorneys, but the defense had strongly contested the suspension of his license, with one of his lawyers calling it a "nuclear option" that could destroy the 57-year-old doctor's ability to support his family and mount a criminal defense.

Murray is licensed in California, Texas and Nevada, but does not practice in California, his attorney said. As part of his ruling, Pastor gave the doctor 24 hours to inform medical authorities in the two other states that the court had suspended his California license until the conclusion of the criminal case. The notifications could have repercussions on his practice in the other states, his attorney said.

The judge denied a request by prosecutors to raise Murray's bail from $75,000 to $300,000. Murray is to return to court for arraignment Jan. 25 and is expected to again plead not guilty.

Jackson died June 25, 2009, from an overdose of the surgical anesthetic propofol. Murray acknowledged to police that he had used the drug for two months to treat the 50-year-old singer's chronic insomnia, but insisted that on the day of Jackson's death he had only administered a small amount that should not have been fatal.

How lethal levels of propofol got into Jackson's system was the focus of the final day of testimony in the case. Through the testimony of 20 previous witnesses, including police officers, paramedics and the performer's household staff, the defense had hinted that Jackson might have given himself the fatal dose.

But with the last two witnesses — both medical experts — the defense delved directly into the issue, with a lawyer suggesting that Jackson either injected himself with propofol or drank it when Murray wasn't looking.

Remembering Zulu Sofola

Friday, March 19, 2010
Remembering Zulu Sofola: Great woman of theatre
By Yemi Olakitan
IN the 50 years of Nigerian independence, many theatre practitioners,
dramatists and playwrights came on the scene to develop Nigeria's theatre.
The late Professor Zulu Sofola, first female Professor of Theatre Arts in Africa
was one of them. In looking at 50 years of theatre in Nigeria, we will be looking
at the lives of those who have contributed immensely to the development of
the stage performance.
Zulu Sofola was perhaps, the most important female playwright in Africa during
her time. In a male dominated world where the voice of women seemed
unheard and under-appreciated, Zulu Sofola stepped forward and
distinguished herself as a literary icon and an excellent dramatist.
It was a dream that started from her parents. In those days, it was not
fashionable to send female children to school. There was the fear that
educating a girl-child might prevent her from getting a good husband. Zulu's
parents made a different choice from the norm and sent their beautiful
daughter to school not only in Nigeria but also in the United States of America.
Born in Isele Uku to the Okumabua family of Ogbeutu quarters, Zulu attended
secondary school at the Mary Mount College, Agbor, in Delta State before she
traveled to the United States for her university education. She studied at
Virginia Union Baptist Seminary and The Catholic University of America. It was
while she was in the US that she met her husband, the late Professor Adeyemi
Sofola.They both came back home to Nigeria and began their careers in
teaching at the University of Ibadan where she later obtained a PhD in Theatre
Arts.
Zulu Sofola was a woman with a strong passion for African Drama and
Literature and she used her privileged education to tell the story of her people
through her numerous works. She also projected the culture in such a way that
those that belong to other culture were able to appreciate her people. The
theatre scholar used her plays to address issues of justice and individual
freedom. She also used her talents as a playwright to explain the relevance of
culture and traditional practices and their boundaries and limitations in human
relationships and happiness.
In a chat with one of the directors of Zulu's plays, Abiodun Abe, the Technical
Director of the National Theatre of Nigeria, he said Sofola's plays are both
culturally entertaining and educative. ''They are largely traditional and
instructive and they tell tales of love and royalty through tragedies and the
various experiences of human life in such a way that readers and audience
alike are both entertained and informed in one scenario or the other.''
Abe began directing her plays in 1988. He directed Wedlock of the gods in
1988 and Wizard of Law in 1996, as well as King Emene in 1999. Other
directors who have worked on Zulu Sofola's plays include Yomi Adebamigbe
and Kunle Adewole who is the head of the Department of the Performing Arts
in Jalingo, Taraba State University. Till date Zulu Sofola's plays are being
performed in theatres in Europe and America.
Zulu used some of her plays to criticize the mistreatment of females, although
some of her critics have portrayed her as a liberal feminist. They however
acknowledged her status as a brilliant playwright.
In the play, Wedlock of the gods, the playwright questions the tradition that
reduces women to a piece of property that could be passed from one man to
another. This is aside addressing the issue of political savagery often exhibited
by dictators. In King Emene, for instance, she exploits the themes of anger,
jealousy and selfish ambition to mirror the evils of society.
She was the founding coordinator of the three arms of the Performing Arts
department at the University of Ilorin, Kwara State. Each of the departments
was headed by various professionals in their fields such a Dr. Bode Omojola
who headed the School of Music, Chris Ugholo who was the head of the
Dance School, while Professor Akanji Nasiru and Dr. Ayo Akinwale were both
senior lecturers alongside Zulu Sofola at the Drama School. She ran a
professionally bubbling theatre department that kept the university busy and
she was an inspiration to all.
Zulu's writing style was simple and her deep knowledge of the people's culture
reflected in her plays. In fact, her treatment of romantic love in her play is a
reflection of true-life experience, as her storyline seems to mirror society. In
Wedlock of the gods, Ogwoma falls in love with Uloko. The young stars
strongly held on to a belief that the gods have ordained their relationship from
the heaven and that they cannot part.
This story line seems to have a replay in Zulu's life when she met her husband
who was from another tribe. Adeyemi Sofola was a Yoruba man while she was
from Isele Uku in Delta State. There was opposition to the relationships by
both families but Zulu and Adeyemi stood their grounds and they got married.
Their strong love ended when Adeyemi died in 1996 after many years of
marriage. At the funeral service, Prof. Zulu Sofola repeatedly asked what she
was waiting for and in few months later she joined her husband. According to
Abiodun Abe, "it seems that her storyline and plot in Wedlock of the gods,
played out in her own life.
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