Blankness

In that brief moment
blankness stared back at you
full of emptiness

In that sterile void
buoyed by frayed hope moon color
you looked and beheld

Dope float like dead weight
Hope heavy as feather spots,
skip heart beats

Dry lips and lead tongues

Struggle but in vain

As blankness held sway

Avoiding corrupting practices in anti-corruption campaigns

Anti-corruption rhetoric and dramatics are now very popular in Nigeria. I totally support campaigns to rid this country of corruption but I also insist that such campaigns must carried with the right level of professionalism, detachment, neutrality, integrity and honesty. Anything short of these is plain dishonest. Anything short of these really amounts to the continued enthronement and celebration of corruption in efforts to combat it. where anti-corruption are not neutral, detached and honest, then they are likely to abuse their powers and influences, applying inconsistent rules and procedures in their treatment of persons and agencies. Double standards also represent critical threats to anti-corruption campaigns as they throw up different evaluations and reactions for the same behaviour. Such practices, where they occur, amount to corruption! 

Here are a few reflections on this subject matter.

• Double standards are outcomes of corrupt thinking. A nation of double standards will thus remain corrupt. 
• You cannot have one set of scales for persons in one party & another for persons in the other. Such a habit results from a corrupt mind set.
• If you practice selective hysteria for allegations of corruption against persons in one party, then your mind is gradually being corrupted.
• If you practice selective targeting in your campaigns against corruption, then your campaign is already steeped in corruption.
• Anti-corruption practices must be fair. They must be conducted without any trace of favoritism or fear. Fail to do these and the campaign fails
• To be credible, anti-corruptions must be consistent, even handed and transparent. They must be devoid of all forms of double standards.

When Body and Beauty fade

By

Noel Ihebuzor

Prompted by a poem by Nomzi Kumalo

Peel away all
layer by layer
strip bare, bare
the peripherals
to the till of the core!

Can you hear the core still hum
do you feel the peal of the core
in the still of new time
– if YES, then it was worth it all!

Balancing and balancers

By Noel Ihebuzor


Unbalanced wailers in quest for balance wailed, wept sore, till "I don't care" said, things go change, your balance turn go soon come,

Revealing Unravellings

By Noel Ihebuzor 

Fanciful filas cover crowns filled with fetid filth, sleaze, rot and scum

and we watched

and we lauded

and we wowed

Runts grew big guzzled funds like pigs 

in hot rut

The arrogance of ignorance

Installed ignorance wafts rancid fart fragrance loud, 

excessive in self assurance clad in gaudy arrogance

What is the Measure of Success?, Articles | THISDAY LIVE

What is the Measure of Success?, Articles | THISDAY LIVE