Ayodeji Jason

architecture & sustainability

[Crazy Vibes @CrazyVibes_1]

When the President of France visited the United States in April 1960, he asked the FBI to help him find a man.
The man he was looking for was an American citizen. He was sixty-four years old. He had been awarded fifteen French military decorations and — six months earlier, in a ceremony in Paris — had been made a Knight of the Légion d'honneur, the highest civilian honor France can give. The medal had been pinned to his chest by the President himself, who had publicly called him un véritable héros français. A true French hero.
The FBI located the man within a few days.
He was operating an elevator at Rockefeller Center in New York City.
The elevator operator's name was Eugene Bullard. He had been born in Columbus, Georgia, in 1895, the son of a man whose own father had been a slave.

He had run away from Columbus at the age of eleven, after watching a white mob nearly lynch his father.
He spent the next several years drifting through the American South. At sixteen, he stowed away on a German freighter at Norfolk, Virginia. He landed in Aberdeen, Scotland. From there he made his way to London, where he learned to box. By 1913, at eighteen, he was prizefighting in Paris.
When Germany invaded France in August 1914, Bullard was nineteen years old. He had no legal obligation to fight. He had no French citizenship.
He went to the recruiting office on October 19, 1914, and signed up for the French Foreign Legion.
He spent the next eighteen months as an infantryman in some of the worst fighting of the war — at the Somme, at Champagne, at Verdun. He was wounded three times. The third wound, on March 5, 1916, tore open his thigh and left him with permanent damage to his leg.
He was twenty years old. The doctors told him he would not return to the infantry.
He decided he wanted to fly.

In a Paris café in the spring of 1916, while he was recovering, Bullard mentioned to three white American friends that he was thinking of joining the French air service. A Mississippian named Jeff Dickson laughed.
Gene, Dickson said, you know damn well there aren't any Negroes in aviation.
Bullard answered: Sure do. That's why I want to get into it. There has to be a first to everything, and I'm going to be the first.
Dickson bet him two thousand dollars he would not make it.
Bullard took the bet. He earned his pilot's license on May 5, 1917. He won the bet.
He reported to the front in August 1917 and flew approximately twenty combat missions over the next three months in a SPAD VII. The fuselage was painted with a bleeding heart pierced by a knife and the French phrase Tout le Sang qui Coule est Rouge — All Blood that Flows is Red.
He carried, on every combat flight, a small capuchin monkey named Jimmy in the front of his flight jacket.
The French press began calling him L'Hirondelle Noire — the Black Swallow.

When the United States entered the war in 1917, Bullard immediately applied to transfer to the U.S. Army Air Service.
His application was rejected.
The U.S. Army Air Service had a policy, in 1917, of not accepting Black pilots. The other American pilots flying for France in his unit, all of them white, were transferred to the U.S. Air Service.
He was the only one who was not.

For the next twenty years, he was one of the most familiar faces in the Montmartre nightlife of Paris between the wars. He owned a nightclub called L'Escadrille. He spoke fluent French, English, and German. Hemingway drank there. Fitzgerald drank there. Langston Hughes drank there. Josephine Baker performed there. Louis Armstrong was a personal friend.
When Germany invaded Poland in 1939, Bullard was forty-four. His fluent German and his ownership of a nightclub frequented by German officers made him useful to the French Resistance. He became an intelligence agent — eavesdropping in his own bar on conversations between German officers who did not know he understood every word.
When France fell in June 1940, friends in the Resistance smuggled him across the Spanish border before the Gestapo could arrest him.
He came back to the United States for the first time in twenty-eight years.
He arrived in New York with thirty dollars in his pocket and a permanent limp.

He did not return to a hero's welcome. He returned to a country that had no idea who he was.
He worked at a perfume counter. He worked as a security guard. He worked at the Staten Island shipyards. By the late 1940s, he had taken the job that he would hold for most of the rest of his life.
He operated the elevator at Rockefeller Center.
He was wearing the elevator uniform on the day a producer from NBC came down from the studios upstairs to ask if he was the man Charles de Gaulle had been looking for.
A few weeks later, NBC sent a film crew to interview him in the lobby. The studios where NBC produced The Today Show were on the floors above. He had operated the elevator that took the network executives up to those studios every morning for nearly ten years. He had not been recognized as he did it.
He went back to operating the elevator the following Monday.

He died of stomach cancer on October 12, 1961, three days after his sixty-sixth birthday.
He was buried in the French War Veterans' section of Flushing Cemetery, in Queens, in the uniform of the French Foreign Legion. The casket was draped with the French flag.
In 1994 — thirty-three years after his death — the United States Air Force formally commissioned Eugene Jacques Bullard as a Second Lieutenant, posthumously.
It was the first commission the U.S. military had ever offered him.
He had been the first Black combat pilot in American history.
The French had been calling him a hero since 1917.
The Americans got around to it in 1994.

[Sizwe SikaMusi @SizweLo]

Many Africans are proud of Ethiopia for being the only African nation that was never colonised.

However, they rarely say anything about how when Ethiopia defeated European colonial invaders at the Battle of Adwa in 1896, the Ethiopian army was actually marching under the banner of the Christian Orthodox Church.

This was not even a result of modern European colonisation either, as Ethiopia converted to Christianity 1200 years before transatlantic slavery and 1500 years before Africa’s colonisation, around the same time the Roman Empire was only just beginning to tolerate the faith.
In fact, Coptic Christianity in Ethiopia and ancient Egypt developed entirely independently of European colonial influence.

The Nubian kingdoms of Sudan converted to Christianity in the 6th century AD, influenced by Egyptian Coptic and Ethiopian Christian missionaries. The resulting Nubian Christianity persisted for nearly 1000 years, only gradually giving way to Islam after the 13th-14th centuries.

It was actually Islam that prevented Ethiopia and Egypt from spreading Christianity across the Sahel and into West Africa.

It’s true that Western/Protestant Christianity spread through colonial missionary activity in Sub-Saharan Africa. In places like Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa, the modern religious landscape was shaped by European missionaries and colonial institutions. But that doesn’t take away from 1500 years of indigenous African Christianity.

So, while Christianity is not originally African, it’s also not originally European, having originated in the Levant in West Asia. In fact, large parts of Africa were Christian before many parts of northern and eastern Europe were.

So, when we focus on just one screenshot of Christianity’s spread by European colonisers as the whole story, it erases a rich chapter of African history while attempting to defend it.

The bigger picture is that there was a continuous tradition of African Christianity that existed for centuries as an African phenomenon, completely independent of Europe.

[Ayodeji Jason @AyodejiJason]

The tragedy of education in Nigeria is that the goal is the award of grades, not learning.

[Ayodeji Jason @AyodejiJason]

Beyond all doubts; both reasonable and unreasonable, God is a good God.

[Ayodeji Jason @AyodejiJason]

Good move from Enrique Riquelme making play for Jurgen Klopp. When Florentino Pérez announced José Mourinho will be his choice if returned to office, I expected Enrique to make a statement move.

Klopp did well at Liverpool, and Mourinho is a known commodity to Real Madrid voters, so it will be interesting what choice @theMadridZone folks make on Sunday.

I love the delimma this is creating for @MadridXtra fans, the club will grow stronger from Monday morning whatever the choice made on Sunday.

[Abdool Moh. @abdool_moh]

Never forget that Bandits stormed a baby’s naming ceremony. They handed the father of the Newborn a knife and ordered him to slaughter his own baby. He refused. They handed the knife to the wife and told her to kill her husband, she refused. In front of her, they killed both her husband & her Newborn baby and then left her alive. That woman might never ever recover from such trauma for the rest of her life. We don’t realize how much this government has failed us. Any of those women could be your sister or your mother, yet there are people waiting for 2027 elections so they can vote for the continuity of these atrocities upon us. SHAME! SHAME! SHAME!

[Babangida @iambabangida_]

I thought I have seen it all, until i saw the footage of bandits rap!ng their victim.

It was said that the woman is a mother of 2, in Sabon birni, what a cruel world we live in.

SHAME on all of us.

💔

[Kalu Aja @FinPlanKaluAja1]

Back in the day, I had a friend from Liberia.

Her parents were upper-middle-class and lived in Monrovia.

She said they woke one day to find rebels at the doorstep of Monrovia, and there was a mad dash to the airport. She said a country had sent planes to evacuate its citizens from Liberia, but the Liberians were buying the seats on those planes to escape.

Her parents could only afford to send her; she never saw them again.

I asked, “This war didn't start in one day; why didn't you leave earlier?”

She said, “We simply heard about an attack here and there and never assumed it would come to Monrovia.”

[Department of State @StateDept]

SECRETARY RUBIO: "On Nigeria, where many were very concerned about violence against Christians, we are now actively in counterterrorism cooperation with the Nigerian government and Nigerian security forces."

[TERRORIST SURVIVOR 💪🏽 @GbolahanOlanyi0]

As a survivor of kidnapping and banditry, I can tell you that these criminals believe that no matter how much they take from you, you will eventually work and earn it back after your release.

Let me use myself as an example. After my family paid the ₦15 million ransom they demanded, along with other items worth over ₦600,000, they still weren't satisfied. They continued demanding more money and eventually asked for ₦55 million. They even told my mother to sell her house and car to raise the money.

Because my family rented a vehicle to deliver the ransom and other requested items, the kidnappers assumed we owned the car and were wealthy. They kept insisting that we sell all our properties and hand over the proceeds to them.

Omo, it was a terrible ordeal. The fear, pressure, and emotional torture were overwhelming. Watching my family struggle to meet their endless demands was heartbreaking.

One painful reality is that they often target ordinary and struggling people like us because we are easier to capture than the elites, who usually have better security and protection.

This is why we cannot continue to stay silent. Kidnapping and banditry have destroyed countless lives, families, and dreams across Nigeria. We need to raise our voices, stand together as a nation, and demand urgent action against insecurity.

Today it may be someone else's family. Tomorrow it could be yours. Enough is enough. 💔🇳🇬🙏🏽

[❗️ @Drealad0nis]

Three weeks ago, my 23-year-old neighbor was kidnapped on her way to Kontagora in Niger State.
While in captivity, the bandits repeatedly raped her taking turns sleeping with her night after night. Still, they kept bargaining with her father over the phone, demanding ransom even as they violated her.

Her father fought with everything he had. He hustled day and night, borrowed from everyone, took loans, sold whatever he could determined to bring his daughter home.
When he finally gathered the full amount, he called the bandits and begged them, ‘Please, give the phone to my daughter. Let me speak to her. I want her to know I’m coming for her.’
They gave her the phone.
In a broken, traumatized voice, she told her father: ‘Dad, do not suffer yourself looking for the money. They have been sleeping with me. I’m traumatized. I can’t forgive myself. Even if I’m released, I’ll kill myself. Don’t bother paying the ransom.’
Those were the last words she ever spoke to him.
While her father was still holding the phone, he heard the gunshot. He heard his daughter being killed. Moments later, the bandits sent pictures of her remains to him, a final act of cruelty.
A 23-year-old girl. My neighbor. Someone’s daughter, someone’s sister, someone’s friend gone in the most horrific way possible.
This is not just one story. This is the nightmare too many families are living in Niger State and across Nigeria. Young women snatched on the roads, violated, used as bargaining chips, and discarded like nothing.
Living in Nigeria has become truly scary. You wake up, you step out, and you don’t know if you or your loved ones will return home. The fear is constant. The pain is constant. And too often, justice never comes.

Rest in peace to my neighbor.

[Dr. Maalouf ‏ @realMaalouf]

HEARTBREAKING: Her 10-month-old baby was cut in half with a knife in front of her, her husband shot dead, and she watched them split her second child's skull with a machete. They also cut off one of her hands.

This is life for Christians in Nigeria. The media remains silent.

[The Yoruba Times @TheYorubaTimes]

BREAKING 🇳🇬⚔️: Armed bandits storm Ori Oke Ajaye Prayer Ground in Ikerin Opin, Ekiti LGA, Kwara State during a midnight vigil on May 23, 2026, killing three worshippers and abducting over 15 others, including children, while a young boy identified as Kola was among the dead.

[Ayodeji Jason @AyodejiJason]

@PSG_English Thank you @PSG_English you saved us from the noisy north Londoners.

[🔥SANGO OLUKOSO🔥 @Otunbakush1]

I bought an engine at Ladipo about two years ago na appearance engine. Few minutes after we started it, the thing begin knock badly. I called the seller, he told us to bring it back.

When we got there, he said if I want another one, I should add 300k. I just laughed and went home. For like four days, baba dey run me around.

One evening, I went to his shop area and waited for him to close from Ladipo so I could confront him properly. As he reached Toyota bus stop, IRT squad picked him up. He spent the night there.

The next morning, they delivered a correct, clean engine for me, added engine oil and oil filter. even told sent is engineer to come and install it himself. We ran the engine for about 6 hours before I told them to release him….

Those ladipo people dem no dey handle them with sane head.

[Ayodeji Jason @AyodejiJason]

If you are a Christian;
After suffering defeat, have a personal session of praise. You want to cry? Cry as much as you want while praising.

The praise session will do two major things for you;
(1) Calm you.
(2) Usher you into God's presence where you can truly be made whole.

If you are not a Christian;
Seek a quiet place.
Cry if you want, but recall your past victories.
Know for certain - Life Is Interesting

[Ayodeji Jason @AyodejiJason]

Daukaka, da iko, da yanchi.
Na ka ne.

Sujada, da girma, da yabo,
Na ka ne.

Yesu babu iyaka,
Mulkin ka babu iyaka,
Salamar ka babu iyaka,
Ceton ka babu iyaka

Yesu babu iyaka.

Translation:

Glory, power, and freedom.
It's yours.

Worship, glory, and praise,
It's yours.

Jesus has no limit,
Your kingdom is infinite;
Your peace is unbounded,
Your salvation is infinite

Jesus has no limits.

[Fox News World @FNCGlobalNews]

A new report from the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) confirms Fulani militants caused more deaths than Boko Haram or ISIS over the past year by mostly targeting Christian farming communities in Nigeria.

Commenting on the report, Open Doors CEO Henrietta Blyth said:

"My heart has been broken as I have heard stories from women and men who have seen their beloved family members butchered in front of them or carried off into a life of slavery."

[J.K. Rowling @jk_rowling]

I challenge every single person who believes minors should be enabled and even encouraged to transition to read this first person testimony to the end.

1/3

via @IWF https://t.co/3276o4tg8J

[Bronwyn Millar @gingerhaderach]

Our child got a phone age 11, in 2020 when she was SO lonely and isolated. We'd just moved countries and the local kids were being shits. Within 10 days she "came out" trans. We didn't know WTF was going on but when the school found out they sent us for mandatory "counselling". The 2 psychs (wearing masks on zoom) spoke with such thick Cork accents we didn't understand most of it. They then asked to speak to her alone. I listened at the door. They didn't even ask about the horrible bullying the local kids had put her through, and she spent 15 mins saying "pardon" because she couldn't understand them. Then they told us she was trans and we had to affirm or she would khs. Sent us breastbinding info and sent our GP a letter telling him to refer us to the gender clinic. They put our name down for some bizarre "Big brother" type programme where an adult trans person, a total stranger, with no clinical training, was going to pick her up and take her for an ice cream so she could talk about her feelings. We of course refused, but as the Irish CPS has a horrific reputation for removing kids whose parents don't toe the line, we were deeply uneasy about all of it. We left Ireland shortly after that, returning to South Africa, where the govt does NOT trans your kids.

We found out that she had been groomed online, on her phone on tiktok and other social media, lovebombed by ADULT groomers like Fuzzz99, Jacob Tobia and Jeffrey Marsh (If you think you might be trans, YOU ARE TRANS! Cut off any family that doesn't affirm the REAL you... etc). She begged for blockers and T, which we refused. We did the pronouns and the name change but were very firm that hormones etc were NOT on the table. Natural puberty hit like a freight train. She started wearing push up bras for the breasts she used to tell us she wanted amputated, nails, hair, make up became super NB. Noticing boys, falling in love with her body.

She's now the MOST FEMME creature imaginable, has a long term boyfriend, is fantasising about the names she wants to call the children she told us she was never going to want.

Of the 14 trans kids in the support group we joined in 2022, only ONE is still "trans" and he's a super femme, super autistic "aromantic" and "asexual" gay boy. One of the other girls now has a deep voice and facial hair and is furious at her parents for puttin her on the T she begged for - that she had said she would khs without.

We have been through absolute hell. But thank the Goddess I trusted my instincts and KNEW MY CHILD. It was a trend, a gaslighting cult, an inhuman attack on the family. We were told we were bigots for daring to question any of it. Affirm, affirm, affirm was the only avenue allowed. The mothers have their voices back now and we are NOT GOING TO SHUT UP ANY LONGER.