Nigeria won Quran recitation in Saudi 🇸🇦🇳🇬
Abdurraheem Almufti Yelwa made us proud. The Ummah is proud. Islam is proud.
Yet most Northerners didn’t even post him.
We celebrate negativity fast, but silence our own wins.
May Allah increase him. May Allah raise more like him. Ameen 🤲
We both left home at 18.
You cleared JAMB
I got recommended.
You got UNIVERSITY,
I got NDA.
You pursued your degree,
I had the toughest training.
Your day started at 7 and ended at 5,
Mine started at 4 till 9 and
Some nights also included.
You had your convocation ceremony,
I had my POP.
Best company took you and
Best package was awarded,
I was ordered to join my platoon
With 2 stars piped on my shoulders.
You got a job,
I got a way of life.
Every eve you got to see your family,
I just wished i got to see my parents soon.
You celebrated festivals with lights and music,
I celebrated with my comrade in bunkers.
We both married,
Your wife got to see you everyday,
My wife just wished i was alive.
You were sent to business trips,
I was sent on line of control.
We both returned,
Both wives couldn't control their tears, but
You wiped her but,
I couldn't.
You hugged her but,
I couldn't.
Because I was lying in the coffin,
With medals on my chest and,
Coffin wrapped with tricolour.
My way of life ended,
Yours continued.
We both left home at 18.
I dedicate this to every soldier and uniform person out there, we don't understand what you do and the sacrifices you make, but know that we are eternally grateful!
Here's how I got to present my string art to our mummy @NOIweala the DG of World trade Organization at my prestigious Universities 45th convocation ceremony lecture.
Mama said and I quote, "Please tell your own story and let it be a story of success" this is me telling mine❤️
Privilege blinds because it's in its nature to do so....
Privilege is two faced because it’s not just about individual ignorance, it's about a system designed to make certain people comfortable enough not to look.
Privilege isn’t inherently malicious but it insulates. It places cushions between people and the consequences of reality.
If you’ve never had to worry about food, safety, being profiled, or having your voice dismissed, you start to assume that no one else truly does either or if they do, they must’ve caused it somehow.
It’s not that privilege makes people evil. It makes them unaware, and that unawareness is dangerous, it's very dangerous especially when it’s paired with power, influence, or even just a vote.
Because when you don’t have to see something, you often won’t.
You scroll past it.
You justify it.
You center yourself in a story that was never about you.
And the worst part? Privilege often rewards you for staying blind. It tells you that speaking up is uncomfortable, that rocking the boat risks your position, that listening to others will somehow threaten your truth.
But here’s the thing, privilege is good and also evil at the same time, recognizing privilege isn’t about guilt, it’s about responsibility.
To see more.
To hear better.
To unlearn what comfort taught you.
Because if you’ve been blindfolded by privilege, the most radical thing you can do is choose to see anyway and see you must.
We can not really understand what it means to be in other's shoes but we can at the very least understand the reaction that comes with being in their shoes.
So yes privilege blinds because it's in it's nature to but we can choose to see.
Choose to see today.
On March 15th, I’ll be attempting to break the Guinness World Record for the “Fastest Time to Visit All Seven Continents” - one of 2 records this month.
This is the scariest tweet I’ve ever written, but it makes sense because it’s about the scariest thing I’ve ever had to do…
I’m going on an adventure from Antarctica all the way to Australia stepping foot on every continent in between in less than 70 hours - with my Nigerian passport - to beat the current record of 73 hours set by Sujoy Mitra and Dr Ali Irani from India.
Why am I doing this?
I got my first passport in 2019, and since then, I have visited about 30 countries, created beautiful memories, but had a few sour ones too thanks, in part, to my green passport.
I want to shed more light on passport privilege, or in our case… the lack thereof.
When I fully recover from having to apply for 10+ visas for this, applying for 1 of them 4 times and another 3 times before getting approvals, I’ll go in-depth about why we simply cannot afford to accept and be silent about the second-class treatment we’re subjected to…
when it comes to travel and visa requirements for citizens with low-mobility passports, as well as all its surrounding issues.
I’m pushing the limits of one of the lowest-ranking passports in the world on this adventure.
The goal?
To show you what’s possible and inspire you to see the world regardless of the limitations, while shining the spotlight over a much overlooked subject that affects over half of the world’s population - with the most affected people being Africans - at home and in diaspora.
I’ll share more updates on this journey with these hashtags #AlmaChasingContinents#7in70 so follow me @almaasinobi to get first-hand updates as I go from Antarctica all the way to Australia in 70 hours and back to Lagos to break another world record, this time with you guys 🥳
If you’ve read this far, please retweet so we can get this conversation going. Share your visa refusal story or your travel experiences with the hashtags #AlmaChasingContinents#7in70 ✊🏽
Or just leave a word of encouragement 🥹 I want to read them all!