DEPRESSION; ANGER WITHOUT MOTIVATION 
by Onyeka Ehiwuogwu 

Perhaps, my dear reader would be wondering why Depression of all topics.If so, then this week's issue is probably for you.


Depression is not that point when you feel heartbroken or very downcast because she said "No" or "Let's be friends", or " I see you as a Brother". Its is not that low financial ebb, when you are very broke and believe the world hates you because it hasn't come to your aid in a rescue 911 fashion.

Depression is when a mother of a 2 weeks old baby gives in to an urge to commit suicide by scuba-diving into the Gwagwalada River with neither a snorkel nor an oxygen tank. It is when a graduate from a certain private University in the South-East broods for weeks before he opts to dissect himself or a German goal keeper treats himself to a head-on-collision with a moving train. That is Depression!

Depression can make one's life seem painful, empty and meaningless. Simply dismissing these feelings as ‘irrational’ or a symptom of ‘illness’ is the stock-in -trade of most of us Nigerians. The Nigerian notion is that the word 'sickness' or 'disease' only refers to 'PHYSICAL conditions or depreciation in health'. 

Hence, the idea of mental  or psychological ill health is totally banished to an afterlife or to a very few rich and enlightened people. Thus besides malaria, typhoid, catarrh, pneumonia, 'jedi', etc, all other mental or psychological conditions of ill health are classified into water-tight compartments like insanity, madness, 'kolo' or control from some negative extra-terrestrial forces like 'Ogbanje' and 'remote controls'.


Newsflash! Depression is even a greater killer than most of 'our common conditions' put together. Its termed a killer because at its crest, it either pushes the 'depressed' over the edge, or makes victim of an innocent person who finds himself in the bulls-eye of the depressed.
From a recent study involving the World Health Organization World Mental Health (WMH) Survey Initiative, in which 20 centers collaborated to investigate the prevalence of depression around the globe comes this stunning facts;

       'To be classified as having had a Major Depressive Episode (MDE) a person was additionally       required to fulfill five out of nine criteria including sadness, loss of interest or pleasure, feelings of guilt or low self-worth, disturbed sleep or appetite, low energy and poor concentration. Based on detailed interviews with over 89,000 people, the results showed that 15% of the population from high-income countries (compared to 11% for low/middle-income countries) were likely to get depression over their lifetime with 5.5% having had depression in the last year".

Thus,one can reliably say close to 11% of Nigerians might currently be depressed. That being the case, it stays to me ironic how this scourge has meteorically risen, quietly, in a manner that even the very conscious and cautious among us do not notice.

Some of the big existential questions which we grapple with everyday include:
Who am I?
What is the meaning of life?
Is it possible to make meaningfully relate with others or are we all alone?

These questions no doubt constantly feel our minds and they never fail to pop-up even at the most unwanted times. Mind you, they are normal, and if you don't, please do not scream 'uhuru' yet because your case might be worse.But that’s another story.
The fact is that questions about the meaning of life are endless thoughts which we face every day and are not confined to just one person. It is a common question which we must resolve within us to set the part straight for better self realization, examination and ultimately, self-development. According to Socrates "an unexamined life is not worth living".

There are a barrage of questions plaguing the human race as a whole- famine, war, terrorism, racism, cancer, HIV/AIDS, global warming, SYRIA, devastating natural disasters, widespread human poverty, and BAD GOVERNMENT to name a few. They challenge us all with grand questions about our future and these questions we MUST answer. In the words of a depression survivor, Tade, “I just needed answers ,I wanted to runaway or achieve something bigger, but I couldn't find any meaning at all. I couldn’t find anyone to tell about my pains or share my feelings with"

Depression as I see it, is a failure or rather inability to answer or confront these life's puzzling questions as they come and as they stare us in the face. At every point in time, those questions, which remains in constant evolution, presents appropriate quizzes to us at every stage we find ourselves. Hence, it never asks you questions on issues and stages you've passed in life. No! They address your current and future affairs! 

Some think that the pain of depression can be seen as a kind of ‘signal’ for stock-taking and reassessment of our lives. At the very least, we may need to recognise and change unhelpful habits like depressed thinking and dwelling too much on issues. It may also be the opportunity to figure out how to make our lives more meaningful.
The point being made here is that what answers you give to those questions are up to you. There is no predetermined, 'generally accepted' standard or meaning to life–it is up to us to try to make our lives meaningful and become the 'right standard'. Create the yardstick for its measurement. No individual should help you answer them. Because like finger prints, different people; different questions.

 As individuals we have to find what values or goals or occupations will give our own peculiar lives some meaning. The answers will be different for everybody.
Finally, having done a little research on some anti-depression tips, permit me to suggest a few tips from my lay point of view which should help to some extent.
1. Love yourself. Become selfish if you have to.It’s called self-preservation. See yourself as too precious to be wasted.
2. Learn to talk to/ and listen to family and good friends, good friends I said!
3. Avoid brooding or dwelling too much on issues.Let it go!
4. Love what you do, or do what you love to.
5. Love people just as much as they love you. Treat love like a business- don't invest all you've got .You give as much as you get. It pays to be mindful of how much attention you show people, especially when you're not guaranteed of reasonably proportionate returns.

LEARN TO BE HAPPY

6. Learn to do 'crazy' occasionally. A little bit of crazy once in a while helps to re-assess you- your likes and dislikes. Play!
7. Try to be your mirror. Never use other people's view of yourself to conclude. Establish your standards, create your yardstick, and don’t borrow people's own. Saving the best for last;
8. Fear your God. Not some lip-service/'let them know I'm holy' stuff. Be realistic. Having a religious belief or a value system which gives meaning; being in touch with the natural world; or simply each day reminding yourself what you are thankful for.

Soludo's Intellectual Fraud vs El Rufai's Solution Of Anger And Innuendo.

Who ever invented the saying that "When two Elephants fight,the grass suffers" clearly never had El Rufai and Soludo in Mind.He omitted the fact such a fight could be very entertaining to the 'grasses and trees' watching. 
In between the jabs, DDTs, close lines. brogue kicks,shell-shocks and KO punches,these two intellectual cum political greats obviously never saw the need to be less personal and more objective in their tirades. 

Game face

No doubt, "all is fair in love and war",but not in mud-slinging or "spilling the beans" (to borrow El Rufai's diction.For anyone,whom like, me is fascinated by men who speak from the guts, he'll be quick to applaud the writings of Prof Soludo in these words: 

Contrary to his narrative, most of us in government knew that El-Rufai desperately wanted to succeed President Olusegun Obasanjo as president. He plotted and schemed, destroying anyone perceived to be potentially in his way. Obasanjo scorned him; the scheme through the PDP Reform Forum failed; and with the bid to replace Major General Muhammadu Buhari in Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) still a work in progress, it is understandable that the bitterness would find succour in a book to smear and destroy any known potential threat. 

But wait a minute.As much as I value these guttural 'Confessions of a bankaholic',what I do find unacceptable and questionable is the fact that all these 'beans' of El Rufai's were existent in the knowledge stash of Prof Soludo ,but weren't deemed necessary to be spilled  until TAPS was published, read by Prof and found to smear him and his.

The simple deduction from all this is the truth that Prof's revelation as contained in the quote is plainly borne out of personal,retaliatory,and 'an-eye-for-an-eye'motive ,rather than objectivity, altruism and true patriotism or for  'public records' as some might be moved to think.Who knows? Perhaps, there are other acts and omissions which he has deliberately contrived to keep a secret, maybe until the publish of another offensive TAPSesque memoir.. 

Turning now to Mallam El Rufai,he puts in a quick sturdy defense as such-hear him;

Still spilling the beans

"He repeats the frequent charge about my ambition for the presidency in 2007, a charge that is untrue but that is often echoed as if that ambition, if it existed, is akin to treason. Charles knows that I do not consider illegitimate his desire to be governor of his state or his current hopes to be a presidential running-mate.But he should know better than most that ambition for office is not the only reason for being active in politics. Since Charles has claimed that I ‘schemed desperately’ to succeed Obasanjo, he should please tell all – inform Nigerians what I did, who was involved and spill the beans"! 

Granted, gunning for the apex political position in the most populous and powerful black nation, with the most lucrative political offices in the world would be a sure lure for even a Tibetan monk.His perceived interest in the seat of the boss could never be seen as 'akin to treason'.Never! 
However,what baffles me is how he continues to speak of himself both TAPS and his rejoinder to 'Intellectual fraud'. The highly enlightened Mallam found it very attractive to see himself as the most, if not the ONLY honest and pious member of the  much maligned Obasanjo crew. 

Since I read Mallam's rejoinder on this issue,I have tried to practice what he claimed to have to facilitated his verbatim quotations of meetings,consultations and even private conversations.To empirically follow his theories,5 notebooks were procured by me for this purpose and shared among 4 young men  myself inclusive, with fair brains (if the WAEC, JAMB, UNIBEN and Nigerian Law School standards are anything to go by). But I must hastily confess that the retrieval of an accurate, verbatim record of our conversations with people, have been a total fiasco.Let the reader not be pushed to think these 5 men are intellectually deprived in the least. Except of course El rufai's brain is so perfect that the need for a recorder would be obviated after all. Still yet,Science has it that most details and conversations becomes vague and faint in the mind of the average human being within 3 to 5 minutes.
Thus, if Mallam El Rufai took out his note books and Diaries every 5 minutes to record his transactions with people, rumours of his compulsive note taking disorder would have sipped into our ears.But since we never heard that,then El rufai,never took notes intermittently or made his jottings several minutes or hours after those conversations!Need I tell you how unreliable and inaccurate such recordings would be?
Well,till Prof decides to hit back again,or maybe publish his much awaited book, lets continue to relish the sight of two elephants in a rumble since such scenes don't come too often.
Till I feel irked to punch my keyboard again, its bye for now.Just do me a little favour;keep praying for our Nation!