Christmas Wishes…

Christmas is here again people. I would’ve loved to wish y’all a merry Christmas & happy new year but I don’t really roll like that. This year has been rather traumatic for me, mainly because I joined twitter and became aware of all the fuckery that goes on there.  As this is the season of giving, it’s somewhat customary to write down what you want for Christmas so that those buying you gifts know will what will be appreciated & what will be tossed to the trash. This year, I put together a list of things I want desperately from Nigeria and Nigerians on the internet. See what you think 

• Vic O/Speed Darlington:

For real, this joke has to stop. I don’t know when y’all decided this would be a great gag but we can all agree that it has been a resounding success. These niggas actually think their sewage quality music has merit and that they have ‘talent’. You people that obviously do laundry for the heavenly host, have washed these niggas so much they’re earning money off imaginary talents. This is almost like some sort of inception. Let us end this now before this thing gets out of hand and Majela gets signed to Mo’ Hits with a Kanye feature in the works.

• Linda Ikeji’s Blog Comments:

We need to appeal to Aunty Linda to moderate the comments on her blog. Every time I think that Nigeria has made significant progress, LIB comments slap me to my senses. I believe part of the blame lies with Aunty Linda because some of the things she puts on her blog (e.g. Aunty Amara’s post ) is just downright trolling. However, the creatures that find their way into her comment section probably need no help at all.  I am currently drafting an online petition for y’all to sign and support but it might not be ready in time. Anybody that wishes to help in this noble endeavor should contact me on twitter (@_BlackTeach_).

• BIS Prices

There was a time (albeit a very brief one) that owning a blackberry was sort of cool and was only available to certain groups of people. Unfortunately, this did not last. Suddenly everybody wanted a blackberry and could afford one. As a result of this, the fuckery on the internets increased and became worrisome. Now, I’ve always imagined that MTN was out for the destruction of Nigeria but if what I’m hearing about Glo BIS prices is true then certainly Glo is working closely with the enemies of this country. I keep saying that some people should not have access to the internet and twitter is my prime exhibit. We saw what happened when the bus conductors and orange sellers found Facebook; the same shit is happening to twitter. Barely literate daredevils that tweet without enabling autocorrect or spellcheck, liter our timelines and camp in our mentions. Let us get Glo to stop this fuckery because when your mechanic starts asking  you for your pin, it’d be too late.

• The Nigerian Government

How these clowns got into power amazes me greatly. From the anti-gay marriage bill to the 2012 budget, these people keep finding new ways to fuck around in office. I suggest we help them find constructive avenues to mess around without putting the country at risk. I suggest participation in reality shows like Senate Idols, Nigeria’s Next Top Governor, Shit My Elected Representative Says etc. A wrestling federation for the legislators wouldn’t also be a bad idea considering their violent track record. I should think Ben Bruce would be able to arrange the production of these shows for the good of the country.

This by no means an exhaustive list. These are the few things I could think of off the top of my head. Please feel free to use the comments section to tell us your Christmas wishes

Is He A Gay?

#WhyLawd?

SOGI Naija Is Born

*Editor's Note: You guys are obviously aware of the "gay bill" already. Well, the horse isn't really dead so...yeah. One of our readers, Z, has decided to take more action.*

I had started my project a while back, working on the template lazily, playing around with logos on Photoshop. My ex even told me over and over that I needed to get started with it, put it on my CV, get into it- but I wasn’t ready. I had too much in life going on to start putting time and energy into it. That all changed last week when the Nigerian Senate voted on the anti-gay bill, which I refuse to call a marriage bill because it’s actually not about marriage, no matter how much people want to pretend it is. The concept of being gay in Nigeria and pushing to get married is preposterous to me. If there are gay people in Nigeria who have gay marriage on the top of their priority list, please introduce them to me. I want to meet them so I can find out how they bypassed the eleven thousand other pressing issues that confront them as gay Nigerians and decided to settle on marriage. I want to meet their families and discuss whose village they’re having the traditional ceremony in- in fact, I want to meet their families because that would be not one, but TWO whole Nigerian families who are down to have a fabulous glitterified gay wedding for their children. Oh, you couldn’t find them? I thought as much.

You know what, I’m getting off topic. My original point was that I heard about this bill, which I’d actually done research on earlier in the year, and I knew I had to kick off my project. I didn’t have time for a fancy launch, for weeks building up to a great unveiling, I just went ahead and started. Gbam. No shaking. It’s called SOGI Naija, and that stands for Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in Nigerians. I kind of love the logo, I’m not going to lie.

The site is a space dedicated to sexual and gender minority Nigerians (ie gay, lesbian, transgender, bisexual, intersex, asexual, pansexual, questioning, queer, gender-non-conforming, etc). In a culture that is often hostile and oppressive, SOGI Naija celebrates who we are without apology. We provide relevant resources and news, creating a forum for community engagement and discussion. Whether you are at home or abroad, SOGI Naija is the place for you to connect and share who you are, as you are.

Now, as the founder and moderator of the site, my personal system is obviously going to influence how I run it. My thing is, I don’t like to argue. I’ve been blogging for the past 6-7 years, hopping from blog to blog, and the longest one I’ve kept open consistently is Leave In The Kinks. I used to argue with people there and cuss them out, even got a bit of a rep for being quite vulgar. Nowadays? I don’t have energy. I have strong opinions as a queer Christian, but I’m not a fan of entering theological debates because in the end, it’s between us and God, really. To be clear, SOGI Naija is definitely a space for discussion and debate...just don’t expect me to personally engage all the time #kanyeshrug. My opinions, along with those of allies and other queer Nigerians, will be featured on there in the form of articles and features, so if you’re curious to familiarize yourself with a different perspective, head on over.

I’ve been blogging as a queer and genderqueer Nigerian via The Feel Of Free for over a year now, and in that time, I’ve heard from several gay Nigerians around the world who reach out to me, we gist, we connect. They are the reason I started SOGI Naija, they are the reason I continue to be as out and vocal as I am, because I know I have already started making a difference. Also, I remember how lost I felt when I didn’t know any other queer Nigerians and I felt there was no one else like me out there. I’m fortunate enough to have my chosen family in New York include other queer Nigerians, and I believe we all have the right to community. So. Voila. SOGI Naija.

You can follow us on Twitter as well- @soginaija, feel free to drop a comment, share the link, gasp scandalously, tweet at us, the usual. We dey.

Guest Blog: Speak For Yourself

*Editor's note: All issues with this post should be be forwarded to the writer's twitter or you can fight in the comment section. 


I have always believed in letting writing speak for itself, so lets get into this then.

The human psyche is one of greatest remaining unexplored vistas left to man. We have managed to come so far in so short a period of time. We have conquered the depths of the oceans and have driven buggies on celestial beings but we are yet to fully understand ourselves. The person we live with constantly. Our thought processes. The reasons we do the things we do. We tend to put these ideas away from our common consciousness and instead have devoted the most of our mental capacities into survival. Whoever as 2011 rolls slowly to a close and with the advent of better living standards, we are being forced to dwell more on our inner person. 

Humans are fond of “games”. We play these games for a variety of reasons. To avoid confronting reality, to conceal ulterior motives, to rationalize our activities or to avoid participation in activities for which we lack inclination or motivation. These “games” which my imply gaiety are far from such and emotions and personalities are fully vested in the games being played with serious consequences for failure such as suicide and social rejection being punishment for failing to comply with the rules set forth by society. 

The game I shall discuss today is the “Everyone has so I must have” game. Personal tastes have been discarded to fall in line with popular culture which only panders to the capitalist notion of mass production for cheaper cost. Billions of research dollars are spent yearly by corporations to determine how to get into your friends heads. The advent of social media such as twitter and facebook has only fueled this bonfire of materialistic consumption. The inability to be content with ones possessions. The feeling of gratification from spending hard earned legal tender on commodities that have been produced for next to nothing and then embossed with a logo thereby making you a walking billboard.

 Stop being a clone. Find your inner Jedi. Fuck a logo

Look! More Troll Baiting!

Troll baiting sensation, Linda Ikeji, has put up another post on this anti-gay thing.

 We have decided to explore the comment section for the wisest of wisdoms.

#LindaWon