I was unable to concentrate on the film that I was editing in the studio today, so much so, that my colleague that was handling the editing equipment kept asking me if all was well with me because I was easy to be satisfied today. My mind was restless, my thoughts were all over the place. Especially the towns and villages that I have visited all over the world, the ones that I have seen their documentaries and the ones that I have read about.
But it was Athens and Greece, that featured mostly on my mind because this is a City and a Country that I know more than any other in the World, including my Country of birth, Nigeria.
Because it is in Greece that I spent my youth in the seventies.
I went to Greece as a young student and I left Greece as a grown man with all that implies.
I travelled extensively in Greece, I visited most of the Ancient Sites and Ruins all over Greece. I visited from Knossos in the Crete Island in the South (Knossos is the largest Bronze Age archaeological site on Crete and has been called Europe's oldest city. Settled as early as the Neolithic period, the name Knossos survives from ancient Greek references as the major city of Crete).
To The Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, a museum in the Biblical City of Thessaloniki, Central Macedonia, Northern, Greece. It holds and interprets artefacts from the Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic and Roman periods, mostly from the city of Thessaloniki but also from the region of Macedonia in general. It is this Museum that made me understand how the World works.
I saw artefacts from thousands of years to hundreds of years before me. With each generation contributing its own development to the Human Civilization Process.
From the Temple of Artemis in the northwesternmost part of Greece on Corfu Island in the Ionian Seas (The Temple of Artemis is an Archaic Greek temple built in around 580 BC - that is about 2,597 years ago- in the ancient city of Korkyra (or Corcyra: Latin), in what is known today as the suburb of Garitsa. The temple was dedicated to Artemis. It is known as the first Doric temple exclusively built in stone. [1] It is also considered the first building to have incorporated all of the elements of the Doric architectural style.
To the Archaeological Site of Olympia, an ancient site on Greece's Peloponnese peninsula that hosted the original Olympic Games, founded in the 8th century B.C.- That is 2,817 years ago - Its extensive ruins include athletic training areas, a stadium and temples dedicated to the gods Hera and Zeus. The Archaeological Museum of Olympia exhibits finds from the site, including a statue of Hermes attributed to the sculptor Praxiteles.
A bit of History that is not known to the general public, is that in ancient times, the Olympic Flame was Lightened with Incantations.
But Athens was my City, I embrace the Athenian Culture and way of Life as mine, so much so that at a stage in my life, my Thought Processes were an Athenian Greek.
The Athenian Culture that I cherish above others is Democracy, they invented it. Especially the Freedom of Speech and Expression. It is a deep-rooted Culture in Athens particularly and Greece in general. I hold this ideal so dear to my heart till this day, that, I will rather lose my Life than lose my Freedom of Expression.
My most favourite place in Athens is the Plaka Area beneath the Acropolis. The Acropolis of Athens is an ancient citadel located on a rocky outcrop above the city of Athens and contains the remains of several ancient buildings of great architectural and historic significance, the most famous being the Parthenon, there have been documented habitations in Attica from the Early Neolithic period (6th millennium BC) That is over 8,000 Years ago.
This is where the Athenians offer sacrifices to their Pantheon of Gods and it was here that Apostle Paul preached Christ to the Athenians. Acts 17:16-34.
Although Athens is over 8,000 years old, it is every bit a very modern city today. Over the centuries, the Athenians improve the city structures according to the dictates of that period in History.
In reality, all over Greece, you will find a newly built modern building beside the ruins of an ancient building or a neo-Classic and may be a Baroque period.
I hope my readers will understand the depth of the frustration that I felt when I heard that my Beloved Hometown of Igbogbo was under attack.
IGBOGBO is on Co-ordinate:
6°35'29.85"N 3°31'4.5"E
(You can copy and paste this Co-ordinate on Google Earth it will take you straight to the doors of my Ancestral Compound right in the centre of the Town).
Before I go any further, I need to apologise to all my Readers, fellow Nigerians, and the Abuja Clowns that Collects 9 Billion Naira Yearly for the Purchase of their Gown of the Clowns; while they refuse to increase our National minimum wage from $50 to $100 per Month.
I apologise to them, that, I thought they had the monopoly to Harlequinism.
I categorically say it here and now, that I was not playing the politics of "My Thief is Better than your Thief" which is prevalent among Nigerians. To me, either from East, West, North or South. A Thief is a Thief, is a Thief.
What happened is that I bought into the Lagos State Propaganda Machinery. Because the last time I was on the ground in Nigeria, was until 1985, when I came to work in Nigeria for LTV8, during the wonderful Government of the Famous Trinity of Jakande, Jafojo and Olorunfunmi Basorun. I now realise that was the Golden age of honest and Sincere Governance in my beloved State.
I thought that the politicians that inherit their offices continued in their Tradition of Integrity. I did not realise that all the doing this and doing that, I was reading in the News were just propaganda.
That, while, I concentrated on the Clowns in Abuja, I have agents of Destroctruction in my Backyard.
I will explain, the extent of their Destruction in the Second Part of this article next week.
I did not know that they are FELA'S "BEAST OF NO NATION".
