THE SELL OUTs: One week with members of Authors and Orators Chamber...

... Still on my refreshers; I made another shocking observation. Though it shouldn't be shocking, what however struck me was that I did not for once try to build the similarity between the two experiences! I'm talking about the dark moments of African history (slave trade & colonization period) and the gloomy moment of Africa's re-awakening (21st century leadership re-orientation).

Historians would tell you slave trade and colonization lasted more than necessary in Africa for a simple reason; as much as we had scores of activists who resisted, we also had droves of gluttons who sold out. They are known in history as the collaborators. Kings, Chiefs, and Emperors alike; they all sold out the people given to them by God to liberate.

History for history, what beats me however is the fact that, there is a repetition of history already. I keenly monitored all the interplays of the recently concluded elections in Nigeria; I saw pastors, opinion leaders, youth leaders, business leaders, and pressure groups alike selling out. They all called themselves Orators, Authors, and all what have you. I saw youths fighting over the ownership of money-making political concepts. I saw pastors leaving altars for carrots. The list is endless. One of those moments on my writing table, I then remembered George Washington, who in his work-MORAL MAXIMS- says "few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder"

In case you are not following, my drift is very simple; you and I will not be able to effect the changes we so desire if we can't resist the dangled carrots. The carrot comes in shapes, and they are baits that crippled our integrity and conscience. Tell me who we are without integrity and conscience? Tell me what is left when honor is lost?

Imagine yourself on an evangelism team visiting a brothel, and one hooker recognizes you as her patron? Your day and dream is over! Know this; when you sell out, you are sold out and you can't seal up.

As an Orator/Author, (change agent) to be persuasive we must be believable; to be believable we must be credible, and to be credible we must be truthful. Remember; we speak and write to change the world, our world.