MAKING MONEY ONLINE WITH AFFILIATE MARKETING

Content is written by Ayo Sodipo

Making money online and affiliate marketing is almost synonymous with the newbie who wants to make a living online. If you are one of those who want to go on an online entrepreneurial journey, you’re in the right place. Using real-life examples, you’ll be walked step-by-step through the way to achieving affiliate marketing success. Let’s get right to it.

Source - www.clickfunnels.com

• Introduction.
• What affiliate marketing is all about.
• An illustration of the affiliate marketing process.
• The 3 types of affiliate marketers.
• The profitability of the affiliate marketing business model.
• Affiliate marketing role models.
• Having the right attitude for affiliate marketing success.
• Choose a niche and grow your audience.
• Follow the masters' footsteps. 

Introduction

In the last few years, making money online has become quite fashionable. This situation became even more prevalent when the Covid 19 pandemic kept everybody in their homes for ages.

    The fact was that people had to survive. This meant that they had to look for a means of livelihood. Since they couldn’t go out to do this, it meant that they had to do it from their homes.

      Most people’s journey into making money online usually starts with affiliate marketing. The term affiliate marketing is so popular that, almost everybody you talk to about the subject of making money online is referring to affiliate marketing. However, what does this mean?

What affiliate marketing is all about

 A quick visit to the Wikipedia page on the subject says that “affiliate-marketing is a type of performance-based marketing in which a business rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor or customer brought by the affiliates own marketing efforts.” This is a very precise definition but, what does this mean in simple English?

      In simple English, affiliate marketing is an arrangement between two people, whereby a person who has a product or service to sell allows the other person to advertise and sell for him in exchange for a commission. It’s as simple as that.

      This is an arrangement we’re all familiar with. The only difference with this one is that everything is done on the internet, that is, online. An affiliate marketer is an online salesman.

However, that would be the situation in an offline line scenario. In an online scenario, the arrangement will be among three people. The first is the guy who owns the product or service. The second is the guy who wants to sell it for him and the third is the guy who creates the environment for such an arrangement to work seamlessly and fraud-free. Everything happening online. Understand this: these three guys will never meet each other physically in most cases, yet, they may be engaged in a business relationship for years.

An illustration of the affiliate marketing process

 Let’s illustrate what we have just said with an example. It’s like when my friend Joe developed unique software that could cut an organization’s dependency on a large accounting staff to the bare minimum and do the job faster and accurately in a tenth of the time, he knew he had a winner.

      Joe then created a website to market his app. He then decided that he needed to maximize sales, so turned his product into an affiliate product. Therefore, Joe as the owner of the app is the merchant. Joe now approaches an organization that acts as a go-between for guys like Joe and people who want to assist in advertising and selling his product for a commission. These guys are known as affiliate networks. The guys who visit the networks looking for products to promote on behalf of their owners are the affiliates. The last part of the equation is the customers, the guys who the excitement is all about.

      What happens is that, when an affiliate picks a product to promote, he is given a unique link attached to his promotion so that when anybody buys the product through him; the merchant and the network know and he is paid a commission. That’s how the deal works. It’s quite simple, isn’t it?

The 3 types of affiliate marketers

There are three types of affiliate marketers. First, we have the type we call unattached marketers. These guys when promoting a product are very disconnected from the process. They do not have any connection to the product or, service and don’t pretend to want to. They don’t have skills relating to what they are promoting. They have no authority about its usage. Their general attitude is that they are not interested in anything except getting paid.

      The second type of affiliate marketer is the type that is attached. This guy is the complete opposite of the first one. First of all, he cares enough about what he’s selling to want to know about it. He is relatively knowledgeable about his wares and can confidently speak about their benefits and usage. Although his customer relations are much better than the first guy, it needs very drastic improvement.

      The third type of affiliate marketer is the involved one. Of all the three, this guy is the one who is primed for success. He knows the product inside out. He is skilled at its usage and knows everything that is to be known about it. His knowledge is authoritative and deep. However, what makes this fellow unique is his deep knowledge of his customers. This knowledge is borne out of a need to help and, sincerely alleviate their pain points. He has empathy for his customers. This attitude guarantees that he will be extremely successful in the industry.

The profitability of the affiliate marketing business model

With all the hullabaloo about affiliate marketing, it is necessary to ask this question - Is affiliate marketing truly profitable? The answer to that question is in the numbers. You can’t argue with numbers. According to Statista, the highly reliable database company situated in Hamburg, Germany; the affiliate marketing industry is expected to grow from 5.4 billion US dollars in 2017 to over 8.2 billion dollars in 2022. According to the report, these figures are very conservative.

Source - www.statista.com

The point is that, given the increased attitude of organizations in favor of out-sourcing and remote workers,  a huge shift toward freelancing; and the pervasiveness of the new economic reality. Affiliate marketing as an industry is still in its infancy.

Affiliate marketing role models

Now, let’s get real. Are there any affiliate marketers out there that we can point to as role models? Sure, there are.

      According to popular legend, at the very top of the affiliate marketing totem pole is a dude called, Pat Flynn. Pat said that he got into affiliate marketing in 2008 after he was fired from his job. He created a site called LEED blog and decided to monetize it. He used GoogleAdsense as his campaign instrument and by 2013 he had made over $50,000. He has not looked back ever since and is a bonafide seven-figure operator.

Pat Flynn

Source - seowebfirm.com

 Pat’s core affiliate marketing value is rooted in the principle of service. Pat believes that your audience, that is people who visit your site, who are on your email lists, who listen to your podcasts, who watch your YouTube videos, who never miss a webinar, and, for reasons of relationship, trust you. He believes that you should treat these people like they’re your blood. You should know their needs, empathize with them. Feel their pain points. And then recommend solutions to these pain points through the products and services you promote.

Kirsty McCubbin

Source - www.facebook.com

 Another affiliate marketing superstar worth mentioning is Kirsty McCubbin. According to Kirsty, she got her first job in 1999 as an SEO specialist. One of her assignments was to assist in the creation of an affiliate marketing site. She got trained on the job, that is, affiliate marketing; and she was hooked. From that point on, affiliate marketing has been her profession and passion. She now travels around the world with her husband and kids enjoying the life of a true digital nomad.

John Chow

Source - johnchow.com

Another affiliate marketing superstar worth mentioning is John Chow. John is at the head of digital warrior entrepreneurs in the Canadian homeland. John said that he entered the digital life in 1999 when he created a site called Moto’s Project 504. It was about a computer that he had built by himself. Sure enough, after he had worked on it for some time it acquired its domain name and a list. With this done, he started The Techzone and joined the Maximum PC Network. His monthly checks grew from $250 to $2500 in short order. This is how quickly his list grew. John has not looked back since then.

Ian Fernando

Source - ianfernando.com

Another guy worth checking out is Ian Fernando. Ian has been in the game for 15 years. According to him, he started in eCommerce and then moved into affiliate marketing through AzoogleAds. He quickly learned the importance and correct uses of keywords and his income blew. From making $100 a day to making $1000 a week, to making $1000 a day, all through knowing the right keywords to use.

Having the right attitude for affiliate marketing success

Now, let’s get down to how we are going to do our own affiliate marketing business. The most fundamental issue is your attitude towards the business. If you’ve noticed anything about the successful people we have spoken about, is that they took their time. Affiliate marketing is not a get-rich-quick game. It’s a business, and like any other type of business, it has a growth cycle. It takes time to grow any business and affiliate marketing is no different. If you are the type that wants to start today and get rich today, then affiliate marketing is not for you. No type of business is for you. It’s better that you take up scamming and be ready to pay the price. This game is a marathon, not a sprint. You must cultivate a resolute attitude, a never-say-die attitude. You know that the industry is legitimate and growing. You know that there’s money to be made in the business. You know that any average Joe can do the business. You know that if you follow simple tested techniques you will get the desired results. It means that all you need to have is the correct attitude. Stick to it, until it happens for you.

Source - www.youngquotes.com

Choose a niche and grow your audience

After making sure that you are mentally prepared for the job at hand, the second step in your affiliate marketing business journey is for you to choose a niche. This is very important. Don’t spread yourself thin by choosing several niches at the same time. You will only delay your progress. Choose one of the evergreen niches and then own it. A friend of mine usually said that it is better to be one inch wide and a mile deep, than to be one inch deep and a mile wide. What does this mean in plain English? It means that if you concentrate on one thing, you will go much further than when you scatter your concentration on a lot of things. 

      Your next step is to start growing an audience. You can do this by starting a site on your niche and offering solutions to your niche’s challenges. If you are financially able, you can drive traffic to the site using paid advertising. If you don’t have cash then you have to quickly teach yourself SEO. No matter what, you must grow your audience by growing your email list. On the other hand, you may rent another guy’s list while growing your own gradually. I recommend the second option. You can quickly scale up your earnings using this framework.

      Make sure that your voice is on all the platforms - websites, social media, YouTube, and podcasts. Make sure you gather an audience on all these platforms by making yourself useful to their needs and challenges.

Source - www.amnavigator.com

Follow the masters' footsteps.

I’ve always believed in sitting on the shoulders of giants. Our giant is one of the best, Pat Flynn. Using Pat’s advice, you first understand your niche inside out. This is the only way you can understand the challenges and pain points of that niche. Then you begin to build your audience in that niche.

Use Google Adsense and learn SEO

Pat said he used GoogleAdwords for this chore. Even when you’re using this, you must know about SEO. Search Engine Optimization, SEO, is easily learned, you don’t need more than grade school comprehension to grab them. Even if you have limited financial resources, a rudimentary knowledge of SEO will make a difference and assist you in building your list.

Build a relationship with your audience.

Build a relationship with your audience by supplying quality continuously. Give value and nurture trust. Your slogan should always be  - Audience first, always. This is an online business, always look for and feed your audience with information that is useful and factual. This is how to develop a relationship and build trust. Through this interaction, you are better able to understand your audience.

      With this knowledge, you can choose and promote products that serve their needs. When you’re doing this, you must follow a fail-proof procedure.

Use the product or, service yourself

First, you should buy and use the products yourself. There’s no risk in this since practically every product or, service comes with a money-back guarantee. If the product is okay, you do a personal and thorough assessment of the benefits and the drawbacks, if any. This is apart from the sales pitch of the product’s manufacturers. Then you introduce it to your audience using the following procedure.

Do a lot of demonstrations

When introducing the product, you don’t go straight ahead to make a pitch. The first thing you do is to demonstrate it using all your available platforms. This automatically gives the product a human face and, since you are already intimate with your audience, they are more receptive to your offer than they will be to a cold call.

Answer questions

 It is at this point that you begin to answer the questions that are both spoken and unspoken regarding challenges and pain points that your offer is going to take care of. At the same time, you are building confidence in the potency of the product to solve a problem.

Schedule interviews

If it is possible you schedule and air interviews with the product’s manufacturers as guests. This shows that there are real people behind the stuff you’re pushing on to your audience. An interview further legitimizes the product in the minds of people.

Show proof always

Make sure that you show proof all the time. Your reputation and financial well-being are at stake here. You are not looking for a one-off purchase, what you want is a repeat customer. Human beings are very timid when it comes to money. Once they get burnt the first time, they run away with their wallets. At the same time human beings have spending habits, one of them is that, if a person buys something from you the first time and, is satisfied, the person will continue to buy from you forever. This is what people in marketing call brand loyalty.

Never shy away from a call to action

The crunch! Get your product in front of your audience! Always do this. Most people are very shy when it comes to selling. This is because of the fear of rejection. They do a fantastic job in the build-up, but when it gets to the reason for the build-up; they freeze up.

ACTION IS MAGICAL - Ayo Sodipo 

 

                       

You should always put a call to action in every aspect of your promotion. A call to action shows that you are a serious businessman. The CAT, that is, call to action - the action of buying. Make sure that you sprinkle your affiliate link liberally throughout your promotional efforts. Never be shy about asking people to purchase what will solve their problems. It’s the ultimate win-win scenario.  That’s the reason why we are in the game of affiliate marketing.

Don't duplicate offers

 A note of warning here, never recommend more than one of the same kind of product to your valuable audience. What you will succeed in doing is to confuse them. Confused people don’t bring out their wallets. Although some people say that you can do this for differentiation. My take is that you should be on the side of caution - don’t do it.

      Affiliate marketing will continue to grow and has come to stay as a business model. It is never too late to join the party. Have fun guys.           

 

NIGERIA'S SURVIVAL AND EXISTENTIAL CRISIS

Only three categories of people do not know that the Nigerian state is in a deep crisis, and has been in it for the last six decades. The first category is children and infants. These are the little angels who go about their existence, completely oblivious to the fact that they have been born into a boiling cauldron.        The second category is those who are too ignorant to make sense of what is going on around them.         The third category is those who know exactly what is going on but, are too scared to admit it. This category buries its head in the sand like an ostrich, preferring to live in the self-delusion that everything is okay.

       The first two categories can be excused their ignorance. However, the scathing effect of their environment on their psyches and persons, quickly clue them to the fact that something is horribly wrong. Nevertheless, the third category cannot be excused. This set of people know exactly what is going on but pretend otherwise out of fear or, avarice or, both.

      Existentialism teaches us that entities, be they human or corporate, are born or, created, and put into their environments without purpose. They now have to find their purpose through choice and the deliberate expression of their will. Conversely, an entity’s purpose may be given to it by its creator, thus, its will may be an expression of its creator’s own purpose.

      The colony of Nigeria was created by the British as a colonial business enterprise. Its purpose was to enrich its creator by being a monopolistic market and a steady source of very cheap, primary raw materials. It fulfilled these purposes well, until uncontrollable circumstances, namely, the second world war; forced the British to relinquish control of its creation. Thus, the modern independent state of Nigeria was born.

      The new “state” of Nigeria still continued to fulfil the purpose of its creators as a neo-colonialist enterprise. But, right from inception made pretences at having a purpose within the comity of nations. It is this self-deception and the shying away from a set of crucial questions by its political and intellectual elite; that has created the existential crisis we’re now in. This existential crisis is the root cause of the threat to Nigeria remaining a state. It is what has plunged Nigeria into the long persisting survival crisis that it has found itself.  These questions are – What is Nigeria? Why should there be a state called Nigeria? Is there a need for a state called Nigeria? It’s the fear of confronting these questions that had prolonged the agony of its citizens.

      A nation may exist without a state but, a state as of necessity is made up of a nation or, group of nations. A nation is a group of people having a common origin and history, a unique language and culture, a perceived belief in a common destiny and, a unique way of viewing creation and the universe.

       The objective realities of global geo-political history are that; a nation may grow organically into a state. An example of this is the nation of Japanese people growing organically to become the state of Japan. The same thing can also be said of the French, Chinese, Russians, Arabs, Israelis and, many others. Thus, their reason for being is easily expressed in the spirit of “one people, with one destiny under the same sky.”

      On the other hand, a state can come about through the negotiations of a group of nations among themselves. In this instance, a group of nations come to a round table and hammer out the details of state creation. In other words, these individual nations become part of one country because they desire to do so. This may be done for any number of reasons, which may include – security, prosperity, obvious similarities, combined advantageous potential elements that enhance and uplift the individual component nations. The key aspect of this is, the nations are in such a state by choice. They are there because they want to be in such a union and, not due to coercion. They are there because they can see the clear and overt advantages of being in such a union. The oldest examples of such states are Switzerland, Canada and, the United States of America.

      Conversely, states that have come to be without the active negotiations of their component nations have been plagued with unrelenting existential and survival crises. This has been the case with most states that originated from being colonies. This fact is the fundamental contradiction creating the crises.

     The people of the various nations in sub-Saharan West Africa are not new to operating in the survival mode. In the last four hundred years, the people of this region have lived through consistent trauma. They have had to live through self-serving jihads. Inhuman slave trading. Humiliating colonial domination. Thoughtless civil wars. Soul numbing ignorance. Gangster political leadership. Disease and excruciating poverty and, much more. It is quite right to say that the component nations that make up the state of Nigeria have been through all this, and more.

      It is reported that one out of every four people of African descent can trace their roots back to one of the nationalities that make Nigeria. This makes Nigeria crucial to the development of people of African descent worldwide. Thus, it is very important to examine the contradictions causing the crises that had stymied the growth of this country. This can only be done by looking at the issues from the beginning, dispassionately.

       It is very important to point out a fundamental understanding of the fact that, colonies were never designed by their creators to function as states. Although they had structures and institutions that mimicked those of a real state, all these were deliberately perverted by their creators to enhance and accelerate primitive exploitative functions. Absolutely, none of the sub-systems of a colony is designed to function the way they should. They were all designed to subjugate and exploit the indigenous population with undisguised rapacity. The fact that colonies metamorphosed into independent states are an accident of global history.                                                               

      The colony of Nigeria which became the state of Nigeria was never designed by the British to function as a normal state. What they designed was a contraption that mimicked a state, but was programmed to appropriate and send an outflow of resources to the United Kingdom and its western allies. It is painful to point out that the Nigerian state still carries out this function.

      The colony of Nigeria was an odd contraption of more than three hundred and fifty nations, most of whom were brought to heel by force of arms. It is this amalgam of strange bedfellows that became the independent state of Nigeria. It may be argued that the terms of “independence” were negotiated, it was between a highly suspect political elite and their slave masters. True negotiations between supposedly co-existing nations never took place. This is the fundamental contradiction that is at the root of the existential and survival crisis Nigeria has found itself in since independence.

      The implementation of the Independence and Republican constitutions did not ameliorate the institutional and systemic contradictions that characterised deep-seated animosities and suspicions that had always existed between the nations that occupied the state of Nigeria. Matters were not helped by the invisible but, dominant hand of the colonial masters who continued to operate their business through local proxies.

      Deep cleavages became obvious in the political landscape immediately after independence. The rancour, treachery and, back-stabbing that characterised the six years after the gaining of independence is another story on its own. Suffice to say that, all the elements that were needed in building a viable newly created state were totally absent. This was so because of the fact that the most crucial element to creating a viable state was missing in the thinking of the political and intellectual elite – a unified sense of purpose.

      Despite the fact that, individually, the top-ranking members of the Nigerian political class were extraordinarily brilliant individuals; their personal biases destroyed that brilliance. At the root of this was deep primordial suspicions that had existed before the white man came on the scene. This was due to events that took place over a century before the coming of the colonialists. Thus, despite their education, eloquence, brilliance, there was an endemic xenophobic streak inherent in all the members of the Nigerian political elite. It is this basic character flaw in all of them, that made the building of a viable state impossible and, still makes it impossible. Thus, every action of the political elite had almost always had unintended disastrous consequences.

      The colonialists agreed to give the newly emerging state of Nigeria an administrative structure of three regions. However, this structure was obviously skewed in favour of the north. This automatically created an imbalance in the country’s administrative structure. This fundamental contradiction was inserted into the state structure by the colonialists, deliberately.

      It must be noted that nothing in politics occurs by happenstance. Things may occur due to the laws of unintended consequences but, never by happenstance. Nevertheless, all primary actions in the realm of politics are due to deliberate thought and intentions.

      Thus, the singular deliberate policy of an imbalanced administrative structure by the colonialists, was a deliberate action, from inception, to make the Nigerian state unworkable. This is because it gave the northern region an unnecessary and undue advantage in the political power structure. This made the other regions automatically disadvantaged and challenged within the political power matrix. A situation like that is humanly intolerable. Nobody or, a group of people like to play second fiddle and, the colonial masters knew this.

      Thus, with this fundamental policy of destabilisation firmly in place, and the basic existential questions deliberately ignored due to greed, ambition and, fear, the foundation for endless crises was hammered into place. Even before independence, it was obvious to anybody of average perception that things were not working out. The endless bickering, antagonisms, back-stabbing, betrayals, and openly domineering tendencies of the elite political elements, the details of which will be treated in subsequent discourses, was very disheartening to the enlightened segment of the citizenry.

      How this bunch of mutual antagonists came together to form a state called Nigeria can logically be explained on the basis of two facts – the need by the British to preserve its neo-colonial business enterprise and; the greed and personal ambitions of the apex political actors in all the regions. It was obvious to neutral intellectuals around the world that Nigeria, just like a majority of colonies agitating for independence was a tragedy waiting to happen.

       Within a decade of Nigeria gaining statehood, a monumental humanitarian disaster occurred. Oceans of innocent blood were spilt, all because of the hatred, arrogance, thoughtlessness, mind-numbing stupidity, with the youthful exuberance of a paltry few. It has been observed that the disaster could have been averted if only a little humility and common sense had been applied by the political actors of that sad drama. A repeat scenario is already playing out again, slowly. The only observable difference this time is that the situation is more insidious because there will be an implosion rather than an explosion. This is really dangerous because of the devastating effect it will have on the citizenry in general, and not a particular section. This can already be seen through the current observable fracture in political authority.

      In conclusion, due to the deliberate reluctance of the oligarchic political elite, their inheritors, with the newly emergent collaborator class to face existential realities; the various crises plaguing state survival will continue unabated. Meanwhile, the extraordinary citizens of the nations that make up Nigeria continue to battle against debilitating material conditions and, poor standards of living that are not of their own making. It is the writer’s intention to examine the crisis of state survival and confront the fundamental existential questions in subsequent discourses. 

   

      

FIRE GUTTED ACCOUNTANT GENERAL’S OFFICE: AN ARSON OR ACCIDENT?

It is no longer news that the Capital Unit of the Treasury House where the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation is located, was gutted by fire on Wednesday morning, 8^th April.

      The Capital Unit in the OAGF’s office is where the money to be spent by the ministries, departments, and agencies of government are made and released.

      As would be expected, this incident sparked reactions, albeit, negative ones from the polity. The first vitriolic reaction came from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). According to reports gotten from highly credible national dailies, the party’s national publicity secretary made its position known by wondering why the fire incident should occur when it did.

      According to reports from the national dailies, the PDP was highly suspicious of the timing of the fire incident. They wondered why the incident should occur at the time calls were being made for “a forensic audit into the hazy oil-subsidy regime of the President Buhari-led administration for which trillions of naira are being claimed to have been spent”.

      The main opposition party’s spokesman, according to reports, went further by saying that; “this is in addition to recent demands”, into allegations of financial wrongdoings and fraud in relation to the alleged diversion of COVID-19 intervention funds and, the administration’s social investments programmes since 2015. He went further by saying that, the PDP spearheaded the demands by Nigerians to the National Assembly to investigate these social incentives programmes spending.

      Thus, the PDP demanded an unbiased investigation into the unfortunate fire incident.

 The body’s spokesperson wondered why the fire incident occurred a few hours after a normally “docile and pliant National Assembly” raised issues of suspicion of fraud and misuse of public funds running into multiples of billions of naira.

       Speaking on the same fire incident according to highly respected national dailies. The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), viewed the incident with huge disapproval. The body’s spokesperson wondered why the fire incident occurred a few hours after a normally “docile and pliant National Assembly” raised issues of suspicion of fraud and misuse of public funds running into multiples of billions of naira.

          The HURIWA spokesperson wondered why a fire would suddenly gut the OAGF’s office only hours “after the Senate uncovered an alleged monumental heist in the Federal Government’s school feeding programmes.” They insisted that a forensic investigation be carried out, to ascertain the true causes of the fire.

         The human rights organisation and other highly placed personalities in the human rights community were highly cynical about the timing of the fire incident. They couldn’t help pointing out how shoddy the management of government resources was. This they said was evident from the fact that media reports are always claiming that the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS), and other entities; claimed to have generated billions of naira in revenue for the government. Yet, the minister for finance still has to run helter-skelter, with cap in hand, seeking foreign loans. This makes the government’s position very watery.

           However, when all is said and done, was this truly an accident; or an act of economic sabotage? The answer to that will always be highly speculative. Now, let’s take a closer look at the issues.

         No government in the world, no matter how backward, deals with physical cash in its operations. Although countries like Nigeria are still relatively unsophisticated compared to the western world, money issues are mostly electronic. This means that no really significant sum of money could have been lost in the fire, except, petty cash used in running the office. It would be extremely absurd for anybody, no matter how disturbed, to torch a government building to cover up the stealing of petty cash.

          Conversely, the loss of extremely sensitive documentation would be staggering. Files, internal memoranda detailing sensitive instructions, sensitive intra-departmental policy thrusts, top-secret documentation, etc.; would definitely have been lost to the conflagration. Unless all documents also existed in soft copy, which is highly unlikely, given the sensitivity of certain documents, some things of importance are gone forever. Then there’s the issue of continuity, which cannot be done in an electronic format.

        However, the authority’s explanations that the fire was caused by a faulty air conditioning unit are also highly plausible; since that has been known to happen. Air conditioning units have reduced many houses to ashes. This is a fact. Unfortunately, the timing of the incident makes it highly suspicious.

        Whichever way you look at it, the losers in this unfortunate incident are Nigerians. So, what do you think happened? Let me know through your comments below.   

            

                   

THE POISONED HAPPINESS (PART 4) (FICTION)

To really enjoy the story read Parts 1,2&3 first

      Although some people hinted at this, I knew that it wasn’t true. I had seen Vicky, and I knew she didn’t need to use charms on any man. I guessed she would be between 25 and 27 years of age, and she was truly beautiful. She was very light-skinned, in fact, in Europe, only her features would have given her away as a coloured person. She had the face of an angel and, a body and figure that could only have been designed by Satan himself. I have never seen any woman who could have competed sexually with her. Giorgio wasn’t under any magic spell; he was simply besotted. He was a middle-aged man who had fallen hard for a sexually attractive younger woman and was trying to relive his youth through her.

      Things reached the climax about a week later. Giorgio had not come home for about four days, and Maria was worried. So, she decided to go and check up on him in the office. When she got there she walked in unannounced, and she was greeted by a scene out of a horror movie.

      Vicky was wearing high-heeled shoes and was naked from the waist down. She was bent over from the waist and was holding her ankles. Giorgio was standing behind her; he was also naked from the waist down. He was “doking” her vigorously.

      Maria was too stunned to talk or react. The people coupling saw her but continued their exertions in disdain of her presence. They simply didn’t care.

      She left the office in a daze. I don’t how she managed to drive to our office without having an accident. In between sobs, she told me about the whole sordid scene she had witnessed. I gave her two sleeping tablets and told her to calm down. After she fell into a troubled sleep, I went to see our parish priest. By the time I came back, Maria had left. I called her and found her at home. I advised her not to do anything crazy.

 Vicky was wearing high-heeled shoes and was naked from the waist down.

      Maria simply packed up and left Nigeria with the children as soon as she got home. The strange thing was that Giorgio was completely oblivious of the fact that his family had left him for Italy. He just carried on as if everything was normal. He was completely mad. His desire for Vicky was like possession. Giorgio was completely in her power.  I was completely mystified.

      I tried desperately to reach Maria in Rome but was unsuccessful. Her brother said that she trying to come to terms with the situation, and should give her time. I was worried and ashamed at the same time. Although it was unjustified, I felt guilty about what had happened. Yusuf told me that this was unreasonable. However, I still felt that everything was my fault.

      About three months later, Yusuf came home with some disturbing news. Giorgio, Yusuf, and a lot of other people including security agents were searching for Vicky. Apparently, Vicky had made Giorgio transfer all his personal and cash assets to her and, had then vanished into thin air. Vicky had disappeared with everything including the company’s cash and paper assets. The business simply collapsed.

        Investigations later revealed that Vicky had absconded with a young man who had been working in Giorgio’s company as a member of the accounts department. He had actually been employed by Vicky with Giorgio’s approval. She had told him that they were cousins. They had run away with US$7 million.

       Giorgio went into a deep depression and suffered a massive stroke. He died before help could get to him. His corpse was flown back to Rome where he was buried in the same church he had married in.

        I had thought that this was the end of this horror story, but it wasn’t. About two years later, I got a surprise call from Maria. She sounded upbeat and happy. I cautiously asked her about how she was doing, and she filled me in with what happened after Giorgio’s death.

       A lot of people in Rome had been very unhappy about what had happened to Giorgio and Maria, and some “friends” decided to take up the matter.

       The “friends” and their “friends” came to Abuja and, traced the money all the way to the United States where Vicky was living with her boyfriend in baronial splendour. They were both picked up, and “persuaded” to return the money they stole. This they eagerly did. A little over US$6 million was recovered from them. But that was not the end of the matter. Somehow, Vicky and her boyfriend got themselves involved in an FBI “sting operation” and, an FBI agent had been killed. At this moment, they are serving life sentences in American high-security prisons. Their lives might as well be over. It was nemesis!!!!

THE POISONED HAPPINESS (PART 3) (FICTION)

To really enjoy the story read Parts 1&2 first

With both families now in agreement, Giorgio and Yusuf entered into discussions. This went on for about a month. Everything was discussed in detail, especially, the corporate and political infrastructure of the business. Giorgio secured the necessary technical support and Yusuf cemented the necessary political and bureaucratic pillars that would make the business a success. Both husbands visited Rome and Abuja several times to fine-tune the business and, within six months they had a workable business machine in place.

        A year later, Giorgio, Maria, and the children relocated to Abuja, and business commenced in earnest. Maria partnered me in my interior design business and we were having the fun and times of our lives. It was like when we were in the university, we were reliving our youths. The men were also having their fun. Money was rolling in, one job after the other was being done. Life was good.

       Seven years later, and completely out of the blues, things began to go sour. Maria came to my house one evening, very distraught. I calmed her down and listen to what she had to say. She claimed that she believed that Giorgio was having an affair. She said that he was now coming home at odd hours and, he always seemed to have “foreign” smells on him. She said she was getting tired of his lies, and his excuses were becoming ridiculous. I told her to be calm and watchful. She should also have a serious heart-to-heart with Giorgio, she should remember that they’ve been together for a long time.

 Giorgio’s madness now seemed total.

       A week later, Maria told me that she had information that Giorgio was having an affair with his secretary, who was employed six months earlier. I knew she was not given to flights of fancy, and whatever she was saying was the truth. I advised her to take the matter to our local parish priest. She agreed to do so and did.

       However, things didn’t get better. Giorgio continued with his bad behaviour. He continued to behave horribly, coming back to the house at odd hours. Things got to a head when Maria asked for housekeeping money. Instead of paying it into the account meant for that purpose, as usual, he told her to come to the office. After a bitter argument, she reluctantly agreed.

      Maria went to Giorgio’s office the next day as agreed, only to meet his absence. He left a message that she should collect the money from Vicky. This really infuriated her, but she went and confronted her tormentor. To her chagrin, Vicky had the guts to ask her what she needed the money for. Maria was so furious that she beat her up, took all the money in the office and wrecked the place.

      Giorgio was very mad when he got home. He scolded Maria and they had a terrible fight, and they weren’t on speaking terms for a week. The situation at home became progressively worse and it started affecting the children. The hostile atmosphere was very palpable.

      Giorgio’s madness now seemed total. He went everywhere with Vicky and the whole city was agog with scandal. This was a very horrible time for Maria and the girls. Imagine the shame of everybody knowing and seeing, that your husband is openly having an affair.

       I told my husband to do something about the situation, in fact, I begged him. In fairness to Yusuf, he did his best to correct Giorgio’s errant behaviour but; Maria’s husband was beyond salvation. His behaviour at home and in public became more and more obnoxious. It was as if he had been bewitched.          

This amazing story is to be concluded in Part 4. Watch out!!!      

       

THE POISONED HAPPINESS (Part 2) (FICTION)

To really enjoy the story read the Part 1 first

This couldn’t work out because Yusuf was on a government scholarship and was ready to return to his country as soon as he finished his studies. On my part, I was ready to follow him anywhere he went, even to the ends of the earth.

      When it became obvious to my parents that I was going with Yusuf, come what may; they accepted the inevitable.

     We got married in my neighbourhood church in 1988, and less than a year later returned to Nigeria.

     Around the same time, I was getting involved with Yusuf, Maria was also falling in love. Maria’s beau was a young and handsome civil engineer called Giorgio. Giorgio worked in his uncle’s construction firm. He was a nice, easy-go-lucky chap with curly red hair, something very unusual in an Italian. Maria and Giorgio had a fairy tale romance and got married around 1989, just as I was leaving for Nigeria with Yusuf.

       In Nigeria, the federal government took up Yusuf’s employment and, his rise within the bureaucracy was very rapid. By 1992, we moved from Maiduguri in northeastern Nigeria to Abuja the country’s capital. All this time, I was in constant communication with all my family and friends in Italy. This was before the internet, so all communication was by telephone and snail-mail. Maria and I were still very close and, the distance didn’t change anything.

 Little did I know then that my seeming act of benevolence would be the disastrous seed that would destroy a close, loving, and kind family.   

      By 1995, we were both mothers of three daughters each. Maria’s husband was now a partner in his uncle’s construction business, while my Yusuf was not doing badly. The two families were progressing nicely and everybody was happy.

      After the transfer of power to civil rule in 1999, my husband found himself in a position where he could exert considerable influence on the nation’s policymakers. With this in mind, we started thinking of expanding our fortunes.

      In Nigeria, the government is the biggest customer of any good or service, and the best goods or services to sell to the government are either related to oil or infrastructure. Nigeria is an infrastructure poor country, and as strange as this may sound given the country’s economic resources; the need for construction work was enormous. With this in mind, I discussed the idea of inviting Giorgio to Nigeria with Yusuf. My husband thought this was a good idea, and told me to discuss it with Maria. I agreed to do this.  I called and discussed my thoughts with her, she liked it and, promised to discuss the issue with her husband.

       Maria called back a week later. She said that she had spoken to her husband about our discussion, and he liked the idea. The plan was that they will come to Nigeria, make their fortune in 10 years, and retire rich in Italy.

      I was thrilled to hear this. Imagined all the fun that Maria and I would be having within the high-octane expatriate community in Abuja. Little did I know then that my seeming act of benevolence would be the disastrous seed that would destroy a close, loving, and kind family.    

This amazing story is to be concluded in Parts 3-4. Watch out!!! 

ARE COVID-19/CORONAVIRUS PROPHECIES REAL?

The coronavirus appeared suddenly, completely out of the blues; and is ravaging the world. As of the last statistical count, over 300,000 have been infected and more than 20,000 have been killed; and there seems to be no end in sight for the pandemic.

      Social media has been awash with stories, prophecies, and conspiracy theories related to COVID-19. However, the most interesting of all are the prophecies related to the pandemic. The most interesting ones are related to three individuals, namely, Michel de Nostradame a.k.a Nostradamus; Dean Koontz, and Sylvia Brown. Let’s look at what they had to say and, what people are saying, starting with Nostradamus.

      Michel de Nostradame a.k.a Nostradamus was a 16th-century scientist and philosopher who made predictions about the future in four-lined poems called “quatrains” around 1555 and 1556. Check out these two amongst many, which seem to be related to the COVID-19 pandemic and, tell me what you think of them.

      The first goes like this –

      “From the vain enterprise honour and undue complaints,

        Boats tossed about among the Latins, cold, hunger, waves,

        Not far from the Tiber the land stained with blood,

        And diverse plagues will be upon mankind.”

According to prophecy aficionados, the interpretation of this cryptic poem is as follows -

Line 1: From the vain enterprise honour and undue complaints – This refers to the alleged artificial creation of the virus and, the stupidity of the reality.

Line 2-4:         Boats tossed about among the Latins, cold, hunger, waves,

                        Not far from the Tiber the land stained with blood,

                       And diverse plagues will be upon mankind.   

This refers to the people of the Mediterranean, especially Italy. The River Tiber runs through Rome and Italy and, the way the disease has ravaged the region is a classic example of a plague.

So what do you think?

       The second Nostradamus prophecy goes like this –

        “The sloping park, great calamity,

          Through the lands of the West and Lombardy,

          The fire in the ship, plague, and captivity,       

           Mercury in Sagittarius, Saturn fading.”

     Prophecy aficionados claim that the correct interpretation of this cryptic poem is as follows –

Line 1: The sloping park, great calamity, - According to reports, Hankou Jiangtan Park in Wuhan, actually slopes down to the river and, people can walk into the water. The supposed accidental release of an alleged bio-weapon is the supposed great calamity.

Line 2: Through the lands of the West and Lombardy – Everyone knows that the West is America, Europe, Australasia and Lombardy is in Italy.

Line 3:  The fire in the ship, plague, and captivity, - Ships are symbols of commerce and wealth. Fire in the ships symbolizes the destruction of these, for example, stock price plunges and obstruction of global trade and activity. Plague is the coronavirus and, captivity is the social and physical lockdown of countries and cities.    

Line 4:  Mercury in Sagittarius, Saturn fading. – According to astrology freaks, this line supposedly refers to a period of waning?...

So what do you think? 

Prophecy freaks are falling over themselves trying to predict the pandemic's rise and fall

       The second supposed prophecy we will look at is that of Dean Koontz who published a work of fiction in 1981, titled, “The Eyes of Darkness”. In Koontz’s novel, the Chinese had an ultra-secret bio-weapons manufacturing laboratory in Wuhan. It was there that a deadly virus called Wuhan-400 was created. So do you think Koontz saw into the future when he wrote that novel?

       The last prophecy we’ll be looking at (although there are many, many more), is that of late American psychic, Sylvia Brown. Brown published a novel in 2008 titled “End of Days”. Here is an excerpt from the novel which people are claiming proves that she saw into the future – “In around 2020 a severe pneumonia-like illness will spread throughout the globe, attacking the lungs and bronchial tubes and resisting all treatments. Almost more baffling than the illness itself will be the fact that it will suddenly vanish as quickly as it arrived, attack ten years later, and then disappear completely.”

        So what do you think?

THE POISONED HAPPINESS (FICTION)

This very pathetic but, true story, was narrated to me by a friend of the victim. The lady who told me this story is an Italian woman and married to a Nigerian. Her name’s Sonia. This is Sonia’s story. 

I was born in the suburbs of Rome. The neighbourhood was middle class and, childhood was great. We all knew each other and, it was like living in one huge extended family. This was how I met Maria, my friend, the person whose story I’m now telling you.

      Maria and her family lived two houses away from ours. Both our fathers worked in the same Agnelli Techniko plant situated a few kilometres outside the city, and our mothers were good traditional Italian housewives. We both belonged to large nuclear families and, even larger extended families. In fact, you could say that Maria and I had a lot in common.

      With such similar backgrounds and being born and growing up so close to each other, it was natural that Maria and I were not just neighbours, but friends; almost like sisters. We both attended the same Catholic basic and middle schools. Later on, we were both fortunate to be admitted into a university in Roma.

      Even though Roma has been the greatest city in the world for over two thousand years, and we were indigenes of this great city; attending the university was a unique experience for both of us. At the university, we were exposed to people from different parts of the world. The staff and student population at the university were like a tiny United Nations, with scholars and learners coming from different parts of the world; just like in the days of the ancient Caesars. It was in this environment that our lives changed.

My decision to marry Yusuf was very disturbing to my parents and all my friends.

      I was in my second year at the university when I met Yusuf. Yusuf was a young and exotically handsome African who hailed from the northeastern part of Nigeria. He was studying engineering on a government scholarship and had just a year left to finish his programme. Our meeting was both strange and funny. I had just finished confession and was leaving the church when this tall African fell in step with me. He said that he would have loved to be my priest and know what a lovely creature like me had to confess. The way he said it and the expression on his face, made me burst into laughter; and that is how we hit it off.

      Over the next few weeks, we kept seeing each other and, within a few months, we were inseparable and deeply in love. It was at this stage that we decided that we were going to spend the rest of our lives with each other.

      My decision to marry Yusuf was very disturbing to my parents and all my friends. My parents couldn’t understand how I could decide to marry an African, abandon my family and everyone I knew, to return to Nigeria with him. They used every trick in the book to try and dissuade me from marrying Yusuf; including committing suicide and pretending to have a stroke, but nothing worked. My brothers threatened to harm Yusuf, but I made it clear that if anything bad happened to Yusuf; something bad would happen to me. After some time, they shifted ground and gave their permission for the union, but they insisted that we remain in Italy.

 This amazing story is to be concluded in Parts 2-4. Watch out!!!