Get MAD! (You Can Make A Difference)

By ABIOLA "CHAMP" SALAMI

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2012 Abiola "Champ" Salami
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4685-5456-4

Contents

Endorsements.............................................................................vPrologue.................................................................................xiDedication...............................................................................xviiAcknowledgement..........................................................................xixForeword.................................................................................xxiiiChapter 1. Champions Of Madness..........................................................1Chapter 2. Do The Right Thing No Matter Who Is Doing The Wrong Thing.....................13Chapter 3. Lose Your Luxury Not Your Integrity...........................................20Chapter 4. Stand For Justice.............................................................26Chapter 5. Win The Nobel Peace Prize.....................................................32Chapter 6. Learn From These Barbers......................................................36Chapter 7. Be Peculiarity-Centred Not Popularity-Centred.................................40Chapter 8. Be An Innovator...............................................................44Chapter 9. Quit The 'I Better Pass My Neighbour' Mentality...............................49Chapter 10. The Guinness Book Of Madness.................................................58Chapter 11. Make A Contribution To Make A Difference.....................................80Chapter 12. Write Your Obituary..........................................................99Conclusion When I Am Gone................................................................103

Chapter One

Champions Of Madness

What comes to your mind when you see the following names?

President Barrack Obama: First Black President of the United States of America.

Dr Christopher Kolade: Dependable Diplomat, Exemplary Educator & Legendary Service Leader

Angela Dorothea Merkel: First Female Chancellor of Germany

Jose Mourinho (The Special One): Globally recognized exceptional Football Coach

Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola: Compassionate Governor of Lagos State, Nigeria

Obiageli Ezekwesili (Madam Due Process): Vice President World Bank, Africa Division

Bill Gates: American business magnate, philanthropist, author and chairman of Microsoft

Paul Adefarasin: Author, International Speaker & Motivator

Mo Abudu: Africa's Top Talk Show Host & Media Personality

Professor Stephen Covey: Author, professional speaker, consultant & management-expert

Donald Duke: Exceptional Nigerian Leader

Biola Alabi: Young & Visionary MD of MNet Africa

Austin Jay Jay Okocha: World Renowned Football Entertainer & FIFA's 100 footballers of all time

Kobe Braynt: Top NBA Star

Serena Williams: Professional Tennis Player and former World Number 1

Nelson Mandela: First President of the Republic of South Africa

Pat Utomi: Nigerian Exceptional Business Strategist, Corporate Leader & Nationalist

Late Maria Corazon Sumulong Cojuangco-Aquino: First Female President of the Philippines

Engineer Ernest Ndukwe: The Brain Behind Nigeria Telecoms Success

Tyra Banks: America's Super Model & Media Personality

Tuface Innocent Idibia: Multiple Award winning Singer-songwriter & Producer

Fola Adeola: Exemplary Corporate Leader

Tara Fela Durotoye: Nigeria's Premier Makeup Artiste

Gen T.Y. Danjuma: The Soldier Who Feels the People's Pulse

Wole Soyinka: Nobel Laureate & Nationalist

Mrs Patience Jonathan: Nigeria's 1st Lady & Exemplary Marriage Partner

Professor Dora Akunyili: Ex-NAFDAC Director

Abike Dabiri Erewa: Front-runner in Nigeria's Legislative House of Representative

Late Steve Jobs: The Brain behind Ipad.

Late Tayo Aderinokun: The Entrepreneur at heart & former MD GTBank

Late Oladapo Olaitan Olaonipekun (aka Dagrin): Musician Who Projected African Culture With HipHop Music

And of course, Late Mr. M.O. Salami and Mrs. M.A. Salami My Parents

You may think of them as great leaders, people of great influence, top achievers, famous people, visionary citizens, motivational leaders, philanthropists, models, sports stars, character centred people and the list may continue but do you know that they are not different from you? Regardless of what you may know about them and what you call them, I see them differently. For me, I see them as MAD people. MAD men and women!

I salute the courage of President Barrack Obama the politician who rose from obscurity to become the first African-American President of the United States of America. He was mad but not insane with his "Audacity of Hope" and The Movement for Change in America's democracy. In one of the craziest elections in American history, he overcame a lack of experience, a funny name, two candidates who were political institutions and the racial divide to become the 44th President of the United States of America!

Times Magazine cited that Obama's unlikely run for the presidency, his ability to energize voters and the expectations abounding for his presidency at home and abroad as some of its reasons.

I salute the tenacity of Angela Dorothea Merkel, the current and first female Chancellor of Germany who was mad and not insane. Her stern commitment to Get MAD saw her becoming the second woman to chair the G8, after Margaret Thatcher in 2007. In the same year, Merkel was also President of the European Council and chaired the G8. She played a central role in negotiating the Treaty of Lisbon and the Berlin Declaration. In domestic policy, health care reform and problems concerning future energy development have thus far been major issues of her tenure.

I applaud the love for country and people displayed by Nelson Mandela when he chose to respond differently to his assailants and relinquish the power he bled to obtain after a single term. His story is far more about his social and political morality than his achievements as a leader. He was MAD and not insane.

On 5th August 1962 Mandela was arrested after living on the run for seventeen months, and was imprisoned in the Johannesburg Fort. The arrest was made possible because the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) tipped off the security police as to Mandela's whereabouts and disguise. Three days later, the charges of leading workers to strike in 1961 and leaving the country illegally were read to him during a court appearance. On 25th October 1962, Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment. Mandela was imprisoned on Robben Island where he remained for the next eighteen of his twenty-seven years in prison.

While in jail, his reputation grew and he became widely known as the most significant black leader in South Africa. On the island, he and others performed hard labour in a limestone quarry. Prison conditions were very basic. Prisoners were segregated by race, with black prisoners receiving the fewest rations. Political prisoners were kept separate from ordinary criminals and received even fewer privileges.

Mandela describes how, as a D-group prisoner (the lowest classification) he was allowed one visitor and one letter every six months. Letters, when they came, were often delayed for long periods and made unreadable by...