Issues
Ageing Process And Cycles Of Life
Chronologically, age is determined based on the day that an individual was born, but psychologically, mentally and emotionally, age varies quite widely. Chronological age does not always correspond with the degree of psychological, mental or emotional maturity of an individual. Thus ageing process should not be seen only from the perspective of physical maturity or chronological age. For various reasons there are a number of people who, inspite of their chronological age, have psychological, mental and emotional capacities far below or above the number of years that they are.
There are extra-ordinarily intelligent children, geniuses and people endowed with inexplicable abilities, and there are also mentally retarded and unstable people, with various forms of abnormalities in their patterns of development and maturity. Thus, ageing process should be seen from the perspective of inward development. There is also official age, having to do with sworn affidavit which an individual can present and is used in official documents as the age of the individual. There are situations where public servants claiming to be born in 1960, through sworn affidavits, have First School Leaving Certificates issued in 1958. Two years before birth!
The sad issue about official age is that some public officers alter their age several times through sworn affidavits for the purpose of staying longer on the job. This is a reality which is not healthy, even though some people justify the practice on the ground that at 60 or above, some people can be as virile as a man of 30 years.
Thus the arguments about ageing process include the issue of virility and mental alertness of an individual. Such arguments go on to say that some people develop and perform better and thus become more useful in their old age. It was based on such logic that the retiring age of some public servants was raised to 70, even when some of such officials, by chronological age, can be over 80 and working. The use of hair dye becomes a handy cosmetic measure.
The ageing process is a mechanism of its own, whose interweaving factors include heredity, lifestyle, manner of exercising the body, diet and eating habits as well as living environments. In the first place, the process of a child being born is by no means an accident. Similarly, the process of a man and a woman coming together, whose union results in the birth of a child is also not an accident. The attraction of a soul into the circle and union of a man and a woman is governed by strict rather than capricious regulations. It is not a speculation or accident that the particular circumstances and period, as well as the environment, that a child is born are not arbitrary but specific design. These are issues that many people rarely reflect on.
It is particularly important that expectant women should be mindful of whose company they keep on a regular basis. This is so because souls longing for incarnation need a platform to serve as anchors to prospective parents. Women in particular provide such anchorage, with an additional supplement coming from regular companions of expectant women. The character of an individual can be known by the kind of companion that one keeps regularly.
Cycles of life
A peculiar law governs the progression of human ageing process as well as the events and experiences which different people have at different stages of life. The cycles of human life, beginning with the embryo, start with the formation of the head which contains the brain. The brain or encephalon can be described as the organ of coordination of sensory and extra-sensory functions of the human system. Consequently there arises what can be called encephalocodal law. Briefly, within the human system there is some kind of programming, regulating sequences of physical development and growth. Also around the middle of pregnancy when a blood system comes about in the embryo, blueprint of the coming baby gets connected via the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). There are beings handling these processes.
Like musical sound-waves, with a progressive pattern of sevens in the octave, the cycles of human life are arranged in similar order. Musical notes are arranged as A B C D E F G, thus the order of sevens is a regular pattern, which can be called septimal law. From birth to the age of 7 as the first cycle, other scales are 14, 21, 28, 35, 42, 49, 56, 63 and 70 and above. What we find is that there are three phases in the progressive cycles, namely: from birth to the age of 21, as the first phase, up to the age of 42 as the second phase, while the third phase ends at the age of 63.
The remaining years up to the age of 70 and above, can be described as a period of Sabbath for people who are able to live up to such old age. “Three score and ten years” was given as man’s span of life.
The first phase of the first three cycles in the life of an individual which brings him to the age of 21, can be described as a period of preparation. Up to the age of 7 as the first cycle, lawyers would say that a child has no “mens rea” or criminal intention, and therefore no legal responsibility. But between the age of 18 to 21, the Constitutions of many countries confer full responsibility upon an individual adult. It is a period of transition and the beginning of adulthood and possible parenthood. Assertion of individuality begins!
The second phase of another three cycles of seven years each, which brings an individual to the age of 42, marks a period of struggles, stabilization and service. From the hard struggles and hustles, coupled with vital personal experiences which this period provides, an individual can become either a fool, or a “physician”. Yet we do have fools at 40!
Shakespeare would tell us that “they stumble that run fast”. It is usually between the age of 21-42 that many people stumble through vaulting ambition, vanity and arrogance, seeking to run faster than their legs can carry them. The third phase of the third cycle of another 7 years x3, bringing an individual to the age of 63 as the peak, marks the highest point in life.
The third phase of cycles of sevens can be described as the highest point of progression, which is meant to be followed by a period of Sabbath, which would include retirement, retrospection and giving back to society one’s accumulated experiences. The additional cycle of seven years after the age of 63, brining an individual to the age of 70, is a particularly significant period which many senior citizens waste away.
The Septimal Law or cycles of seven years in the progressive scale and music of life can be better appreciated by dividing 63 by 7 which would be 9. The significance of 9 in human cycles of life can be expressed in the 9 months of gestation in the conception and birth of human babies. Similarly, from birth, the cycles of seven years terminate in the 9th cycle which falls at the age of 63. In our hurry through life, we ignore apparently insignificance indicators that would have led us to higher recognitions.
The cycles of human life progress in sequences of seven years and in three phases which, ending at the age of 63, calls for a Sabbath which has deeper meanings than. Adventists day of worship. The cycles and phases of life have some definite contents, demanding that things be done at definite times prescribed for them. Increasing cases of prostate enlargement in men and fibroid and breast cancer in women are indicative of right adjustments that humans need to make. Taking a clue from music, we find that there are certain range of sound-waves, measured in what is known as decibel, which the human ears cannot pick up.
What is known as span of control in management is also indicative of the fact that there are prescribed range and limits of what an individual is meant to handle, which differ widely among human beings. One common mistake which many people make is the over-stretching of individual limits, range or span of control, thereby over-taking elasticity limits. Common idiom expresses it as biting more than one can chew. Ranging from politicians sitting tight in office, to civil servants altering their age so as to stay longer in service, individuals distort their life-cycles.
From over-stretching our energy, to over-stretching our finances, a part of the problems which visit individuals in old age arise from inability to observe the Jubilee and Sabbath prescribed in the cycles of life such observances are meant to provide for stability and balance in the journey of life, like we find rests and stanzas in music.
What we call melody and harmony in music come about from an orderly combination and coordination of sound-waves from various instruments. Like the musical octave and notes arranged in a definite pattern of progression, melody and harmony can arise if appropriate rhythms, chords and rests are recognized and observed. One of the purposes of the cycles and phases of life is to ensure that progression from below upwards is done in a systematic order, like the arrangement in the production of musical sounds. Similarly, learning process demands going from the immediate and nearest, to the distant or remote.
Apart from the encephalocodal law mentioned earlier, there is also a proximodal law, in human cycles of progression. This second law prescribes that growth and endeavours must start from what exists readily at hand and at one’s immediate proximity and disposal, before stretching out further for what lies at a distance. From child upbrining, family relationships, to other engagements, harmony and stability can be facilitated where things are done at the most appropriate time and manner. Neither is it proper to put any resources to the use which it is not meant to serve.
Challenges associated with ageing process
Although geneticists would tell us that the fate of every individual is stamped in the genes through DNA, every individual is endowed with a personal volition which is meant to serve as a means of modifying and reshaping destiny. Ailing health which is one of various challenges that humans face, can be addressed and managed through disciplined and healthy lifestyle, including balanced diet and regular exercises. The mind also plays a vital role in health matters, such that drugs play secondary and supporting role.
Ailing economy also brings financial strains to many people which individuals address according to their resourceful abilities and connections. From unemployment to having to cater for large families, financial challenges are quite widespread in Nigeria, which people try to bear as much as they can, including cutting down on food and other necessities of life. For older people there are challenges of having less activities to engage in. This situation is particularly worse for retirees whose children have grown and are on their own. Many people address these challenges by engaging in religious, political and humanitarian activities, or belonging to some clubs of various kinds.
Diligent and effective use of leisure hours can be the challenges which some people have, but these can be addressed by going back to the land to farm, rear some livestock or engage in creative hobbies. The most disturbing challenge is having to live with a troubled conscience, arising from unethical and corrupt practices in the course of growing old.
Dr Amirize is a retired lecturer from the Rivers State University, Port Harcourt.
This is an open letter to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Chief Nyesom Wike.
Your Excellency,
Sir, ordinarily, I would not be writing an open letter to you, but like a wise man once said, “Silence would be Treason.” So I prefer to stay alive than face the consequences of silence in the face of crime. With each passing day, and as the socio-political tides continue to turn, it has become more pertinent that more people speak up in a concerted MANNER to prevent the death of our party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as we appear to be, in the words of W. B. Yeats, “turning and turning in the widening gyre” heading for an end where the falcon will no longer hear the falconer
It is unfortunate that since losing control of the Federal Government, with the loss of President Goodluck Jonathan at the poll in 2015, our party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has continued on a downward spiral. It is much more painful, that where it is expected that leaders within the party should rise to the challenge and put an end to this decline of our great party, some have instead taken up roles as its undertaker.
It will be hypocritical to claim aloofness to what I believe is your grouse with the PDP and I am not a hypocrite. It will be uncharitable on my part to discountenance the role you have played in strengthening the PDP from 2015 up until the last Presidential primaries of the party. It is my belief that your grouse against certain members of the party who you perceived worked against the party and abandoned it in 2015 and then came around much later to take control of the party, is justified. Also know that your decision to remain in the Party and stifle its progress on the other hand, as a sort of payback, stands condemned. For a man of your pedigree and stature, it is a dishonorable act, highly dishonorable and stands as testimony against all you claim to stand for.
At least, it can be argued that those who you hold this grudge against, abandoned the party completely and did not sit back while actively working to destroy it from within. But what then can be the argument on your own part, seeing that those you are currently working with against your party are the same people who set in motion, and executed surgically, the plans that not only ended our Party’s leadership at the centre, but ended up dislodging the first Niger Deltan to occupy Aso Rock as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces. Is this not akin to “cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face?” That will be worse than folly. Let us not throw away the baby with the bath water because we do not like the soap used in bathing the baby. It will be a grave mistake.
Honourable Minister, sir, it is rather unfortunate that of all people, you have also decided to play the role of an undertaker not only for our party, but for our dear Rivers State.
I will like to take you down memory lane a little. Let me remind you of your emergence as Guber candidate of the PDP in Rivers State, against all fairness and justice in 2014. You will remember that despite the reality being that you as an Ikwerre man was poised to replace a fellow Ikwerre man in Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi in our multiethnic state, Rivers people overwhelmingly stood by you and pushed for your emergence as Executive Governor of Rivers State in 2015. I dare say that your popularity in the entire Niger Delta region was at an all-time high at this point.
I want you to understand why you were loved across board leading to your eventual emergence as Governor of Rivers State in 2015; it was because when it looked like all were against the second term ambitions of the first Niger Delta man to emerge as President of Nigeria, you became not just a pillar but a beacon of resistance by standing for Goodluck Jonathan. Rivers people, as grateful and rewarding as they can be, paid you back by ensuring your electoral victory against the incumbent All Progressives Congress (APC) led by your predecessor. On your emergence, where there were second term Governors in the region, you, a first term Governor, was seen by the people as not just the leader of the PDP, but the leader of the entire Niger Delta region. You earned it, and no one could dispute it.
In 2019, when your re-election bid was being challenged ferociously, Rivers people once again stood solidly behind you. Many were killed in the process of defending your votes. Do you remember Dr. Ferry Gberegbe that was shot and killed while trying to protect your votes in Khana Local Government Area? There are many more unnamed and unrecognised sons and daughters of Rivers State who sacrificed their lives so that you could emerge as a second term Governor of Rivers State.
In 2022/23, Honourable Minister, you oversaw a party primary across board that saw some candidates imprisoned and internal party democracy jettisoned for your wishes, leading to the emergence of flag bearers of our party all singlehandedly picked by you. You have on more than one occasion publicly stated that you paid for all their forms. Even those shortchanged in this process licked their wounds and continued to play their roles as party members to ensure the success of the party at all levels. In what will go down as one of the most keenly contested elections in recent Rivers history, with formidable candidates like Senator Magnus Abe of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Mr Tonye Cole of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and the vibrant youth driven Labour Party (LP), PDP emerged victorious across board except for Phalga Constituency 1 that was lost to the Labour Party. (Not that you did not loose in some other LGA’s but let’s stick to the official figures declared by INEC).
It begs the question, why then do you want to burn down Rivers State, when everyone who now holds political office emerged through a process designed and endorsed by you? Is it that you do not care about Rivers people and you are all about yourself? If so, I am forced to believe that those around you are not telling you the truth. The truth being that in a state where your words were law; where houses and businesses could be demolished or closed down without any recourse to legalities, where Executive Orders could be deployed to stifle the opposition, that your popularity is now at an all-time low. Probably because they are afraid of you, or of losing the benefits they gain from you, they fail to tell you that what you might perceive as a battle against your successor, has slowly but gradually degenerating into a battle against Rivers State and Rivers people. You know, there is a popular saying that, a man can cook for the community and the community will finish the food, but when a community decides to cook for one man, the reverse is the case.
LEAVE FUBARA ALONE
You have gone on and on about being betrayed by Governor Siminalayi Fubara. You point fingers forgetting that some of those same fingers quick to spot betrayals point straight back at you. It is not Governor Fubara that has betrayed the PDP by working against it in the just concluded General Election, and working with the opposition at the State and Federal level to destabilise the party. It is you, Honourable Minister. It is not Governor Fubara that betrayed Rivers people by instigating a political crisis with propensity to escalate ethnic tensions in Rivers State. It is you Honourable Minister. It is not Governor Fubara that has declared himself God over all in Rivers State and has no qualms with burning the state to the ground to prove a point. It is you Honourable Minister. It is you Honourable Minister who told the world that the APC was a cancer and you can never support a cancerous party. It is you Honourable Minister who ended up facilitating the emergence of the same “cancerous” APC that has accelerated the economic decline of this country and further impoverished our people with no remorse. All so you can be a Minister of the Federal Capital Territory? The lack of self awareness is gobsmacking.
Some days back I came across a video where you talked about death and how you do not cry when you hear about the death of some people because you have no idea what might have caused it considering many a politician swear “over dead bodies” and still go back on their words. Those words made me think, and I could see the reason behind them. You see, in chosing to be God in the affairs of Rivers people, you have closed your eyes and ears to reason; you see nothing and hear nothing that can cause you to rethink on the path you have chosen. In your quest to “show Fubara” you have unwittingly united a vast majority of Rivers people behind him, so much that even those who despised him because of you, now like or love him, because of you too. In your scheming, I will advise you not to forget that “the voice of the people is the voice of God”.
Note that the war which you have or are waging against Governor Fubara, has gone beyond being merely political as you might see in your minds eye. It is now one that, fortunately for some and unfortunately for others, has evolved into a war against Rivers people. It is good to point out that no one has taken a stand against Rivers people and won. No one has gone against God and won. In your defiant characteristic manner, it will be unfortunate if you believe your own hubris and that of those around you on the possibility of you being the first to successfully go against Rivers people. It will be a needless gamble; one where if you win you create more enemies for yourself than you can withstand on your political journey, and if you lose, your legacy becomes an inglorious and irredeemable one in Rivers State, the Niger Delta, and Nigeria at large. For your sake as regards posterity, it is my greatest wish that you have a moment of sobriety and a deep reflection and introspection on this path you have chosen.
Honourable Minister, sir, what is left of your legacy is on the brink of being completely desecrated and relegated to the dustbin of our political history, and it will be a sad end to what I will say has been a wonderful political career that many can only dream of. The ball is in your court, and may God Almighty have mercy on us all and forgive us for our shortcomings.
Gabriel Baritulem Pidomson
Dr Pidomson is former Chief of Staff, Government House, Port Harcourt and former member, Rivers State House of Assembly.
In 2015, I made a conscious decision to invest my financial resources, my time, and energy into supporting Nyesom Wike’s gubernatorial campaign. I poured my heart and soul into ensuring Nyesom Wike emerged victorious even at the risk of my personal safety.
Again in 2019, I doubled down on my commitment. I invested a significant amount of money to procure campaign outfits for all twenty-three Local Governments Areas of Rivers State. I spared no expense in supplementing Wike’s election efforts in my own local government, and once again putting myself at great risk to safeguard the fairness and transparency of the electoral process.
However, despite my unwavering loyalty and sacrifices, I found myself abandoned and forgotten by Wike. Throughout his eight-year tenure, he failed to acknowledge my contributions or fulfill his promises and agreements. Even as a former Deputy Governor, Wike denied me my severance benefit.
My investment in Wike’s governorship was not just financial – it was a commitment of passion, dedication, and belief in a better future for Rivers State. Yet, his leadership style of dishonesty, greed, drunkenness and rash abuse of senior citizens brought me nothing but disappointment, misery and losses.
By the grace of God, today I speak not as a victim, but as a hero. I have accepted my losses, and I have moved on. And as I reflect on my experience, I cannot help but urge Wike to do the same and allow peace and development to reign in Rivers State.
Nyesom Wike, when you speak of investing in Governor Sim Fubara’s election, remember those like me who also invested in you. Remember the sacrifices I made, the risks I took, and the promises and agreements you left unfulfilled.
It is time for you, Wike, to let go of the past and allow Governor Sim Fubara the breathing space he needs to lead Rivers State forward. Allow him to focus on the challenges of good governance and the aspirations of the people. Spare him these unwarranted and ill-conceived political manoeuvrings founded on personal agenda and not for general good of Rivers State and her people.
I may have lost my investment on Wike, but I have not lost hope in the future of Rivers State. And together, we will continue to strive for a brighter tomorrow.
Long Live the Governor to Rivers State, Sir Siminialayi Fubara!
Long Live the Good People of Rivers State!!
Long Live the Federal Republic of Nigeria!!!
Engr Ikuru is former Deputy Governor of Rivers State.
Tele Ikuru
