I woke this morning not really mindful of what today’s date was and went about going through the normal routine  that precedes my day.

After I finished getting prepared for the day’s work ahead, I headed for the studio to catch an appointment I had with one upcoming artiste.

We had listened to his upcoming tracks which look promising and in the midst of the analyzing his sound mixing and harmonization of the sound and all that stuff, I got a sms from a colleague.  The text read, “Breaking News:  Obama Assassinated---CNN.”

To tell you that I was shocked is an understatement: I started shedding tears. My exclamation drew the attention of everybody in the studio.

Some of them started cursing, saying that they feared this would happen. I discovered I was not alone in the clique of people, Africans, Americans, Chinese, Afghanistans, Iranians, Iraqis and every other person in every part of the world that had admiration, likeness, love and appreciation for this young man that have defied the laws in human history to be able to make whites, blacks, Hispanics, Spaniards and Muslims alike to look beyond colour, race, religion and origin to believe in one creed because of this man; Trust in humanity.

Someone quickly wiped away our tears by mentioning that the message might be an April fool and then it hit me.

I started making calls to people I know are always clued to CNN. My first point of call was to Uche Nworah; he is now in Nigeria and he was about telling me to call him back as he was in a meeting when I asked him the question, “I heard that Obama has been JFK’ed.

“It is a lie, I am on CNN right now and nothing like that happened,” he replied.

I felt the first flow of relief coming back to me.

Still trying to consolidate my assurance of the unknown, I placed another call to my Editor-In –Chief at National Daily Newspaper, Mr. Sylvester Egbodaghe and he equally confirmed the news was a hoax. Then I got settled.

Then I got thinking, “what if this happened?’ What will be the reaction in the world?

I remembered the assassinations of John Kennedy, Martin Luther Kings Jnr, Malcolm X, Dele Giwa, Funsho Williams, Chief Bola Ige and the likes and I could not fathom what would have happened but I sure know that the reaction would really be one that will start up something that would really shake the world.

I left the studio alone and went on with the day’s activities but my mind was not settled.

This is definitely a bad April fool prank that is not even fit to be imagined not to talk of being experienced.

I put a call to my friend that sent that message and told him point blank, “This is a very evil seed that you are sowing and I did not find it funny at all notwithstanding the Fool’s day April 1^st was meant to be.”

He informed me that he got that this in the morning and that it threw him off balance. As I arrived the office, I discovered that this was the prank that has been going about as close to four people got that same message,

As I asked myself what in the world should someone play pranks with a very delicate and sensitive issue like this, I was still scared what if it happens.

I knelt down and prayed a prayer of safety for Obama.

As I got set to start typesetting the stories I had for my organization, a little voice in me was still probing, “What would happen should this ugly prank played out in real life?”

I don’t want to think about it, do you?

Robot  Villager

# 1 I woke this morning not really mindful of what today’s date was and went about going throug...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 01.04.2008 11:24

Oru-Ama  Villager

# 2 Wow! my husband got a similar message this morning from a friend of ours in Canada as early as 6.50a.m. He quickly shouted April Fool. They really got you:biggrin: I pray that Obama will never be JFK-ed. Our prayers for him will be a covering and God will not allow his enemies to have the last laugh. Posted by Oru-Ama| 01.04.2008 12:36

Jucihart  Villager

# 3 =Robot;4295000818>I woke this morning not really mindful of what today’s date was and went about going throug...Read the full article. That was very scarry indeed. and not good for even a joke. i was thrown off balance alongside my caribian friend. we had already started shedding tears before we knew it was a joke. Abeg person wey bring this idea, make u stop am oooooooooo. Obama is too good a guy to be thought of something like that. Posted by Jucihart| 01.04.2008 16:00

Akinyi  Villager

# 4 This is NOT an April fool's joke. CUT IT OUT. Do not plant seeds of evil in fools' minds. Those of us raising money and campaigning for Obama will not treat this as a joke. CUT IT OUT. April fool my ass. You just don't know where to cut it out, do you? Posted by Akinyi| 01.04.2008 19:29

Justin Case  Villager

# 5 I remembered the assassinations of John Kennedy, Martin Luther Kings Jnr, Malcolm X, Dele Giwa, Funsho Williams, Chief Bola Ige and the likes and I could not fathom what would have happened but I sure know that the reaction would really be one that will start up something that would really shake the world. How about that, comparing paperweights like those bolded with heavy weights of the American Experience. You Nigerians self. What is this penchant with everything American by the way? And that was a very expensive joke that could land you in jail if you were here in America. Posted by Justin Case| 01.04.2008 20:33

okenikpoto  Villager

# 6 =Justin Case;4295000948>How about that, comparing paperweights like those bolded with heavy weights of the American Experience. You Nigerians self. What is this penchant with everything American by the way? And that was a very expensive joke that could land you in jail if you were here in America. I don't know what you mean by paper weights and heavy weights, these men touched an aspect of our lives and some of us still miss them. I don't know why you are making a fuse about this, it was April Fool and these unfortunate sms flew about; why limit it to Nigeria alone. Someone just posted that it was noticed in Canada. I hope you read the post again and understand the tone it was written with. Talking about landing someone in jail, maybe if you were President of the US, people like Michael Moore will not exist. Brother, attack the message that was sent out flying and not the messenger. The joke did not originate from the person that posted it OK. Posted by okenikpoto| 01.04.2008 21:53

truthsayer33  Villager

# 7 Obama will be eliminated if and when he threatens key vested interests period.If they can't do it with smears and other dirty tricks they will use the 'nuclear' option. That is the American way. But Obama,God bless and protect you. Posted by truthsayer33| 02.04.2008 16:28

10Kobo  Villager

# 8 I hope you guys realize that the "tongue (the word) has power"? Just by saying the word, even as in prayer, a lot of things come to manifest, so please, the prankster should have.......quoting my colleague, "used a more appropriate person" and when l enquired sarcastically whether that person was himself, he selfishly said GWB! I quickly went back to my office. :D Well, my own prank was a card l saw on the net, it was a bumble Bee that was having a buzzing dance and at a point, a message will be displayed on their screen, that "there is some problem with their volume, they crank it up to max-volume". And l added my own line, you will enjoy this more if you use a headset to listen to it, at max volume. They did exactly that and what next? The Bee, turned around, with its exterior part facing the screen and the listener, and gave a very loud FART, which was amplified further by the "advised" increase of volume! Well, the rest is history though a lot of people swore for me today! Happy fools day. 10Kobo Posted by 10Kobo| 02.04.2008 21:12