In the name of the Almighty the Beneficent the Merciful “Pay the worker before his sweat dries” –Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w)

THESE are happy times. These are ordinarily joyous moments. Happy indeed is this season particularly for those who have money to celebrate the ‘Eid. Happy ‘Eid to those who can afford to buy rams and goats to sacrifice come on the day of ‘Eid. The ‘Eid is indeed happy for those who can afford to buy newspapers to read. Yes. It is he who has had enough to eat and drink and still have enough to spare that buys newspapers. It is those who enjoy special privileges from the Almighty –privileges they do not recognize let alone appreciate- and are paid millions of naira as newspaper allowance who could afford to buy journals and magazines. Happy indeed are those compatriots of mine who could afford to buy newspapers they cannot read; those who would purchase tabloids they would not read. Not my colleagues in Ladoke Akintola University, (LAUTECH). Not my compatriots who presently live on the fringe of life; not my compatriots whose dignities have been thrown into the abyss no thanks for the dehumanizing experience they have had to go consequent upon months during which their salaries have not paid; not my compatriot who has lost his masculine ego for his failure to ‘win the bread’ for his family and for his inability to buy charcoals for his homestead.

These are ordinarily happy times indeed. Yes. This city is indeed happy. It is presently under ‘invasion’. Our villages are being “occupied”. Not by soulless spirits. Not by agents who have turned the ‘overground’ and the ‘underground’ to cathedrals; cathedrals of the faithless. No. Rather, our cities and villages are