Crisis In PDP: Atiku,Oyinlola,Amaechi And 6 Other Governors Form New Faction.

Exactly 15 years after the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was formed, it broke into two factions on Saturday  in Abuja.
The spate of crises afflicting the party  since inception reached its peak when top leaders of the party walked out on President Goodluck Jonathan at the party’s Special  National Convention to form what has been christened New PDP.
Those who left the convention venue to form a factional PDP were a former Vice-President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar,  seven governors, three ex-governors and scores of Senators and  members of the House of Representatives.
The aggrieved leaders addressed a crowded press briefing at about 4pm at Shehu Musa Yar’Adua where  they sacked the Bamanga Tukur-led National Working Committee of the party.
A former acting National Chairman of the party, Alhaji Kawu Baraje was appointed the new National Chairman of the party.
The sacked National Secretary of PDP, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola was reinstated  as  the party’s scribe.
Sam Jaja was also  returned as the Deputy National Chairman of the party.
Other members of the new National Working Committee would be announced on Monday.
Amidst backslapping and liberation songs, the PDP leaders said there was no going back in putting a new leadership in place for PDP.
Those at the session were Atiku, Governors Sule Lamido; Rabiu Kwankwaso; Abdulafatai Ahmed; Babangida Aliyu; Aliyu Wammako; Murtala Nyako; and Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi.
Others were the Deputy Governor of Sokoto State, Mukhtar  Shagari; the Deputy Governor of Niger State, Musa Ibeto; the Deputy Governor of Adamawa State, Bala Ngilari; ex-Governor Abdullahi Adamu ( who was a former Secretary of the Board of Trustees of the PDP); ex-Governor Mohammed Sha’aba Lafiagi; ex-Governor Olagunsoye
Also in attendance were  some members of the National Assembly including the Chairman of the House Committee on Finance, Abdulmumin Jibril, the Chairman of the House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Hon. Mohammed Zakary; Hon. Dakuku Peterside; Senator Magnus Abe; and all statutory delegates and members of the National Assembly from the seven states.
As the presence of each of the political heavyweights was announced, shouts of ”  Chanji  dole 2015″ ( Change in 2015 A Must) filled the hall.
The confidence radiated by all the governors suggested that some notable leaders of the party were pulling the strings to effect change in PDP.
In his speech,  Baraje, who was a former National Secretary of the party, said:”We address you today as leaders of PDP, who are worried by the increasing repression, restrictions of freedom of association, arbitrary suspension of members and other such violations of democratic principles by a faction of our party led by Alhaji Bamanga Tukur .
“While we have done everything humanly possible to bring to the attention of critical stakeholders within the party the dangers inherent in the course being charted by that leadership, it has become very clear that the desperate permutations towards 2015 general elections have blinded certain people from the consequences of their actions.
“Not only has the constitution of the party been serially violated  by Alhaji Tukur and fellow travelers, all the organs of the party have been rendered virtually ineffectual by a few people who act as though above the law. “Unfortunately, it is obvious that that they get encouragement from the presidency whose old calculations are geared towards shutting out any real or imagined opposition ahead of the party’s presidential primaries for the 2015 elections.”

Culled from The Nation

Ali Afifi, Egyptian Man Addicted To Stealing Cuts Off Own Hands In Line With Sharia Law

An habitual thief who was left so ashamed by his uncontrollable urge to steal, took the drastic step of cutting off his own hands.
Ali Afifi is believed to have been motivated by Sharia law when he amputated both hands in separate incidents.
The Egyptian lost his first hand by holding it under the wheels of a train five years ago.




His shocked father had him institutionalised, but the 28-year-old repeated the action with the other hand upon his release.
Afifi, who posed for these pictures this week, is said to have asked a Muslim scholar to sever his hands because he could not stop stealing “after losing the war against the devil,” Emirates 247 reported last year.
Afifi said: “But the Sheikh refused my request, saying he is not a ruler or in a decision-making position to take such a decision… he advised me to repent and seek God’s help... I then decided to cut my hands off.”
Describing his addiction as a "disease", Afifi began stealing lunches from friends as a child, before moving onto items in shops, mobile phones and gold jewellery, the Mail Online reveals.
Sharia law is practised in many strict Muslim countries and typically involves harsh punishments for murder, theft and adultery.
Interpretation of the law can vary between cultures, but it is commonly agreed the punishment prescribed for theft is the removal of the thief's hand.
“[As for] the thief, the male and the female, amputate their hands in recompense for what they earned [i.e. committed] as a deterrent [punishment] from Allaah. And Allaah is Exalted in Might and Wise,” Islam Web cites the Koran as saying.
Amputation for habitual stealing is still practiced in countries such as Iran, Saudi Arabia and northern Nigeria, the Inquisitr points out.
The Egyptian courts have not permitted judicial amputations for many years, though last year an MP called for the application of Islamic law for certain crimes.
"This is God's law and is not optional," said Adel Azzazy.

Culled from Huff Post

BABY DADDY SYNDROME (BDS)

Trends are quick to catch on in Nigeria. Once somebody does a thing and it's successful or gets a favourable response, a lot of people tend to follow suit.
It happens with business, religion, politics, even child bearing.
It also happened in the music industry. Sometime ago, the music business wasn't as attractive as it is now. Then, it was seen to be a venture for the never-do-wells and academic castoffs. But then, "2face" happened, and the sun of the industry began to shine brighter.
That's when a lot of other people began to have interest. Even people who were doing God-knows-what overseas returned home to catch a piece of the action. And very soon, they dominated the industry (that's a story for another day).The bandwagon effect. That is why lots of people are dropping out of school to pursue music. It's the reason why graduates keep their certificates locked away and head to the studio.
However, there is another bandwagon effect catching on in Naija. It may be detestable to some people though.
I'm talking about nothing other than the baby daddy culture that is fast taking seed among our musicians.
According to my definition, Baby Daddy Syndrome (BDS) is a culture of impregnating a woman without marrying her, yet carrying out other obligations.
The first and the most legendary baby daddy is 2baba himself. That man is such an addicted baby daddy that he had to do it six times. Yes...you can close your mouth now. 2face Idibia actually put three different women in the family way six different times without being or getting married to any of them. Thankfully, he has finally gotten married to one of them now, but that is not our Area Of Concentration.
Following behind 2face is Peter of P-Square fame. This brother is a (proud?) father of two children, all delivered by one woman. When Peter first impregnated his older lover, Lola Omotayo, some of us thought it was a mistake. But then, some years after, another "mail" has arrived; Peter was blessed with another baby boy early this year in January through his regular Baby Mama (BM).
And just as if it's a competition, or a status symbol, Peter's twin brother, Paul, has also made sure that when they are calling sufferers of BDS, his name wouldn't be missing. And he was successful, as just a few days before compiling this report, he was blessed with a son, Andre, through his BM, Anita.
Another famous Baby Daddy (BD) is MayD. The former Square Records signee didn't stay too long with the label, but he stayed long enough to imbibe the BD culture. He had a baby boy with his girlfriend, Debola, in January this year.

Another important member of the BDS club is none other than the Akpako master himself, Terrible Gabriel aka Terry G. You know, I have often wondered on how Terry G would perform as a father (a mischievous fellow even said his baby will be born high). Anyway, it turns out he is a good one. The singer was spotted recently shopping with his baby (whom he flaunts at every oppourtunity) and his baby mama.
Of course, my list wouldn't be complete if I don't mention the Kid who has a kid. Yes, I'm talking about the pakurumo crooner, StarboyWizkid. When he sang "I love my baby" in 2011, we thought he was talking about his girlfriend, but now we know he was singing to his child. Even though the young millionaire and silky voiced singer has come out to repeatedly deny the claims that he has a baby, how can we explain some pictures which surfaced online a while back in which he was posing with a baby who looked exactly like him? Well, he can deny all he wants, but God is watching him in 3D sha.
After all has been said, the kernel of my story is that though celebrities are not preachers or imams, they have huge moral responsibilities to the people. Whatever a musician does goes a long way in influencing millions of other individuals, most especially youths.
The African culture believes strongly and reveres the sanctity of the marriage institution, and one of the reasons for marriage is procreation. As a matter of fact, most religions frown at pre-marital sex.
So what are our celebrities actually teaching us? That we don't need to spend a whole lot of money organizing a wedding? That we can just impregnate someone and voila, a baby is on the way.
Methinks, these entertainers should stop acting so darn irresponsible. If they aren't ready for wives and families, then they shouldn't attempt making babies.
Apart from pregnancy, how about AIDS and the battalion of other Sexually Transmitted Diseases out there?
Surely, BDS is one bandwagon effect that I don't want to catch on

Culled from E24-7 Magazine

Image Of The Day: NEPA And Same Old Story.

Did you see the news headline? That is our once beloved NEPA screaming and  promising ' No More Black-Out' and stating 1986 as a deadline date to achieve this. Here we are in 2013,27 years after, NEPA has change name to PHCN ( name change only) but we are still on the same page singing same old tune.Singing Sunny Okosun song, we are waiting for, waiting for the wind of change.........

Mike Tyson Confession- I Am On Verge Of Death From Drugs And Booze

The ex-heavyweight boxing champion,Mike Tyson, has claimed he is on the verge of dying due to his ongoing problem of drug and alcohol. He said on ESPN's Friday Night Fights,'' I wanna live my sober life. I don't wanna die. I'm on the verge of dying, because I'm a vicious alcoholic.
He admitted to being a continual substance abuser but was hopeful he was finally becoming clean.
"I haven't drank or took drugs in six days, and for me that's a miracle," he revealed.

Nambia's Dillish Wins Big Brother Africa- The Chase

Beautiful Dillish Matthew, representing Nambia, will be going home tonight with $300,000 prize as the winner of this year Big Brother Africa- The Chase.She beat Zambia’s Cleo to the second place to win the ultimate prize.
Congratulation to a beauty with character!

Stowaway Teenager Travel In Arik Aircraft Wheel From Benin To Lagos

A young lad named Daniel Ikehina sneaked into the tyre compartment of a Lagos-bound Arik flight from Benin airport and flew safely with the aircraft to Muritala Muhammed airport, Lagos. The boy beat the airport security at Benin but he was not that lucky in Lagos, where he was arrested after passengers saw him emerging from the aircraft tyre hole.
According to Punch Newspaper, the situation has become a major source of worry among the authorities and has also led to a blame game between FAAN and Arik Airline.
FAAN, in a statement on Saturday, said it held “Arik Air liable for the circumstances leading to the stowaway of a teenage boy on its aircraft at the Benin Airport.”
In a statement signed by Dati, FAAN, said, “Arik Air acted with impunity by not stopping the aircraft to check when the crew and ground personnel’s attention was drawn to an abnormality on the tarmac.”
According to the FAAN spokesman, the procedure for such infraction is for the crew to abort the flight and return to the apron for check-up.
He blamed the airline for the alleged impunity, warning that the airport authority would not tolerate such infraction from any operator.
He said, “This is arrant display of impunity. The aircraft should not have taxied further, but return to the apron until a proper check is carried out on all parts of the aircraft.  FAAN will not tolerate such impunity henceforth from Arik or any airline. Any violation would be met with applicable sanctions.
Dati, however, said the teenager was already giving useful information to unravel this ‘misnomer.’

In a swift reaction, Arik, in a statement, blamed FAAN for the huge breach in security, noting that the incessant cases of security breaches at the nation’s airport had become a major source of concern to the airline.

Cheryl Cole Bum-Covering Tattoo Revealed

This is massive and it is on Cheryl Cole, it goes all the way from her lower back covering her bum.Tattoo artist, Nikki Hurtado , who worked on Cheryl Cole, posted the image above on his Instagram with a caption "Here is a in progress shot of a Tattoo I've been covering up and reworking."Really excited to show healed shots. It was some intense tattooing sessions. She's tough as nails,"
Cheryl confirmed it took 15 hours in total but painful.
I can not imagine what this tattoo will look like when Cheryl grow old and her body is saggy including her bum.
.

Image Of The Day: Wedding Cake

Lesson: Cut your coat according to your size (pocket)

Legal Luminary and Human Rights Activist, Mike Ozekhome Kidnapped

Mr Mike Ozekhome(SAN) was kidnapped on the Auchi-Ehor route yesternight. Edo state commissioner of police, Mr Foluso Adebanjo, while confirming the story,said four policemen were killed during the attack on Mr Ozekhome.

Image Of The Day: Mr Barber

Can you allow this barber to give you a nice hair cut. 

Lesson: Desperate times call for desperate measures

8 Successful Women Who Were Once Fired

Most people who have made it to the top of their field have hit some roadblocks along the way, such as failed projects, bad bosses and being passed over for a promotion.

What about those who were actually fired, and worked their way up from the bottom again?

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate for adult women is 6.5 percent. Over 500,000 U.S. workers were laid off in 2012. Getting fired happens, for reasons ranging from the practical to the purely ridiculous. But losing your job does not mean that your future is over.

Here are eight women who have been let go from jobs, but didn't let it stop them from finding huge success later on.

1. J.K Rowling

According to Business Insider, Rowling was fired from her job as a secretary because she spent too much time daydreaming about book ideas. Clearly that daydreaming served her very well down the road when she wrote the "Harry Potter" series.

2. Anna Wintour

In October 2010, Wintour spoke about losing a job early on in her career at Teen Vogue conference, telling the audience: "I worked for American Harper's Bazaar ... they fired me. I recommend that you all get fired, it's a great learning experience."

3. Kate Walsh

Before the "Private Practice" and "Grey's Anatomy" star got into showbiz, she was fired from her after-school job at Burger King. "The assistant manager didn't like me!" she told People magazine.

4. Kerry Washington

In May 2013, the "Scandal" actress revealed that she had a number of "heartbreak moments" before gaining success. "Before 'Scandal,' the only other two pilots I'd ever done were shows that got picked up, but I got fired," Washington said at theHollywood Reporter's Emmy Roundtable. "They recast my character on both shows." We're glad she stuck it out anyway.

5. Oprah Winfrey

The queen of daytime television was once fired from her job as a news reporter for Baltimore’s WJZ-TV. “I was removed from the 6 p.m. news exactly April 1, 1977,” Winfrey told the Baltimore Sun in 2011. “The general manager called me upstairs, and I thought it was an April Fool’s joke when they told me, ‘We have bigger plans for you; we’re going to put you on the morning cut-ins.’”

6. Felicity Huffman

The "Transamerica" and "Desperate Housewives" actress was fired from TV sitcom"Thunder Alley" in 1993. She went on to win a number of awards including an Obie in 1995, an Emmy in 2005, and a Golden Globe in 2006. She also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

7. Monica Potter

The "Parenthood" actress was fired from her role on "The Young And The Restless.""I was fired because I was terrible," she said in a 2010 interview. Lesson: when you fail, it's always best to have a sense of humor about it.

8. Sallie Krawcheck

Krawcheck, often called one of Wall Street's "most powerful women," was fired from her high-level position at Bank of America in 2011. She is now a business leader at 85 Broads. “I got grateful when I got fired,” Krawcheck said at the Third Metric conference in June 2013. “I said ‘how many people get to get fired and it’s on the front page of The Wall Street Journal?’”

Culled from Huff Post

Who Is Lying? Dame Patience or Amaechi?

Madam Patience released a press statement  earlier during the week in response to why she shunned the Deputy Governor of River State government at P.H airport in her last visit to the state to make final arrangement for her mother's burial. She said that while several groups and individuals from across the country came to condole with her, no official of the Rivers State government deemed it necessary to pay the family a condolence visit.
But the Rivers state government released the above picture on Tuesday, showing  the wife of the Rivers State Governor, Judith Amaechi, signing the condolence register during her visit to the First Lady, Patience Jonathan, on the death of her mother.

So who is lying but picture,they say, do not lie.

APC Governors: The Hope Of A New Nigeria By Joe Igbokwe

Every nation has its own heroes and villains, cerebral and non-cerebral, strong and the weak, educated and non-educated, performers and non-performers, the good and the bad leaders, etc. In every serious nation, it is the work of the intellectuals to help fish the good guys out for the good of the commonwealth. It is the same intellectuals (the honest ones) that set the template for the leadership. They prepare the road map and the way forward. This is because they know that whatever good things that are happening in any successful country are byproducts of the good thinking of the honest intellectuals. They act as a bridge between the poor and the rich, the leaders and the followers. They are stars in conflicts resolution mechanisms.
Today, I want to once again take the calculated risk of engaging Nigerians on the need to embrace the eleven APC governors and some performing PDP governors as the new face of leadership in Nigeria. As we get closer to 2015, history is beckoning on anybody that wishes Nigeria well to stand up to be counted in the quest for a New Nigeria. We must admit that we have a leadership crisis in Nigeria. We must ask questions on how we got to this sorry pass in a country so blessed with both human and material resources. I am told that crisis in any serious country helps to usher in good and dedicated leaders. Yes, we must ask questions because those who ask questions can only be fools for five minutes but those who do not ask questions remain fools forever. The future belongs to the curious, the man who wants to know and the efficient.
Asking the right questions and opening our eyes to the realities of today can compel us to look at the direction of the opposition governors in APC and their friends and colleagues in PDP. I am talking about the Fayemis, Okorochas, Fasholas, Aregbesolas, Oshiomoles, Al-Makuras, Amosuns, Ajimobis, Shettimas, Yaris and the Geidams. Their colleagues in PDP like in Babagida Aliyus, Amaechis, Nyakos, and others are also in the picture. These men have what it takes to drive Nigeria to greatness. Nigeria is like a brand new vehicle without a driver. A brand new car needs a good driver to move it to a destination. The APC has thrown a frontal challenge to take Nigeria away from the paths of ruination. They are doing this through the performance of their governors and staking that as the most enduring requisite for future leadership of a misgoverned country like Nigeria. We have wasted fourteen long years of our national life and the APC is advertising itself as the credible alternative to recovering the long years lost to locusts.
A school of thought suggests that since we go to driving schools to learn how to drive a car, why should our leaders not go to leadership school before governing. Having served their states for four or more years and did well too I want to believe that they have got some reasonable training to move this country forward. Nigeria cannot be still looking for leaders with these trusted and tested guys in place. I suggest that Nigeria should trust these men even for a change. This is the time to make investment on these men for the benefit of Nigeria. This is the time for Nigeria to put its best men forward for the job to recue the sinking giant. This is the time we make deliberate efforts to fish out the brightest and the best for leadership. Leadership of Nigeria should no more be a game for mediocres and incompetent men who do not know the route to progress and success. I believe that is the greatest challenge the APC offers to Nigerians today. It is the greatest issue the coming of the APC and its make up brings to the Nigerian table.
The biggest problem facing Nigeria today is what to do with federal government of Nigeria. When you look around, there is nothing on the ground to justify the trillions of Naira Nigeria budgets every year. The positive developments one sees in Nigeria are always at the state level which leaves one to wonder why the center records little or no progress while appropriating hefty chunk of the national revenue. How do we get good drivers to drive the functional vehicles? How do we manage the huge human and material resources to build the new Nigeria of our dreams? How do we address the excesses of impunity in Nigeria? How do we deal with the power problem? How do we create jobs for our children? How do we feed our teeming population? How do we deal with the health sector that has gone almost bankrupt while our people die from preventable diseases? How do we create a healthy population? How do we deal with the problems of insecurity in Nigeria? How do we reduce corruption to the barest minimum and free our national wealth to work for our people? I can go on and on.
One good man on the Presidential chair in Abuja in 2015 can make the difference. One good man supported by these governors cannot derail. We cannot solve our problems with the level of thinking that created them in the first place. This is the central message the APC governors are sending today and they have shown, by words and performance that they are the future hope of the country. Nigerians should hearken to this call.

Rhyme Of The Day: Ise Loogun Ise

Did anybody remember this rhyme? If you do, then you are from 'Alawiye' set (meaning you don tay small). However, the words of this rhyme is ever relevant and it emphasised on the importance and beauty of hard work. It is written by J.F Odunjo, the author of  Alawiye series and other Yoruba novels such as Kuye : Itan omo odi ti eda ro pin.

Check out the meaning below:

Work is the antidote for poverty

Work smart my friend

Work brings Success

When there is no one to rely on, its like we are lazy

When there is no one to trust, we focus more on our work

Your mother might be rich,

Your father might own a thousand and one horses

If you rely on them,

In truth, you might be on sinking ground

Your arm is your family, while elbow are like your extended family

If you are loved by the world today

If you are rich, they will love you tomorrow as well

Or you in an exalted position

People will keep on cheering you

If you unfortunately lose money or position

See how people will turn their back on you

There is suffering for the foolish child

There is sorrow for a wayward child

Do not waste your formative years, my friend

Work hard because time wait for no one

*Hard work does not kill, wrong work does- Bishop David Oyedepo*

FG Vs. ASUU: The Game Goes On By Raheem Oluwafuminiyi

What has consistently escaped most Nigerians in this entire travesty is the fact that mediocrity destroys the very fabric of a country…ushering in all sorts of banality, ineptitude, corruption and debauchery. That…is precisely where Nigeria finds itself today! —Chinua Achebe

Since the beginning of yet another strike embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities ASUU last month, which not surprisingly has entered its second month, one wonders when we as a nation would remove ourselves form this wanton mortification of making the education a laughing stock among comity of nations. The question all stakeholders enmeshed in this opprobrium should be asking is whether something fundamental is not wrong with our collective consciousness, else, how come that in every two to three years, the news of ASUU demanding that its overlords in Abuja implement an agreement both entered into and which in turn leads to a painful strike, reverberates the whole nation?
Are we lacking in foresight as to understand that the Nigerian universities are dying gradually? Have we looked around to ask ourselves why the nation, whose youth out-numbers the old and very young, cannot remove itself from the shackles of societal malfeasance and hold forth the appellation: “we are the future leaders of tomorrow” by taking their destinies into their hands? For as long as the Nigerian youth accepts redundancy, fails to think for himself, cannot see where the rain began to beat him or take the bull by the horn, like many of their counterparts in developed nations, then it will be succinct to claim that the education sector which is supposed to train, build, inculcate, mould and educate vibrant youths against the morrow have failed in its entirety to bequeath such for a people who will take up the reigns of leadership from the old guards, a fault which is not theirs anyway.
If ASUU once again and for the umpteenth time has called for a strike, it is not because they do not see the peck in their own eyes, as it is evidently known that their own house is also not in order, but because from the very first day government whose responsibility is to pay very good attention to the education sector keeps faltering and reneging on agreements she entered into. For many who are of the belief that ASUU has no reason or justification to embark on this strike which has become one too many in recent times, they must understand that though it may look more like Oliver Twist asking for more, in the situation our education sector finds itself, once and for all, drastic measures ought to be taken in ensuring we do not become a pointer to ridicule anywhere in the world anymore.
If we have to look well enough the reason ASUU had decided embark on this strike and we feel the shame our universities have put up with, especially if we have to balance it with the education the likes of our parents had in the 60s, 70s and 80s and the pitiable ones our children have today, we then must understand ASUU’s pain and anger. Nobody likes to strike, nobody wishes to allow it take so long, in fact, it is not a good story to tell in our nascent democracy. Yet when a country is bequeathed with leaders who have no foresight, lack understanding of the socio-political terrain, remain clueless in tackling simple political arithmetic, and is occupied with how to remain in power until 2090, then strike becomes an option and a weapon to bring such government to its senses.
Many Nigerians cannot understand how we practice democracy in the country. Democracy and good governance go hand in hand and therefore, policies embarked upon by one government or the other must necessary be a continuum and should not shift unless necessary. One finds it very difficult to grasp well the story peddled by this government that the agreement it voluntarily entered into in 2009 with ASUU should be re-negotiated. It is the worst of arguments this writer has heard in decades and one wonders if this government is truly committed to transforming the education sector, if the so called campaign promise in 2011 is anything to go by. One would have thought the government of the day should have put forward the same argument during negotiations with the Nigerian Labour Congress NLC in the last subsidy protest. Perhaps, the vast majority of Nigerians wouldn’t be where they are today looking weary, fatigued and hopeless in the midst of plenty.
Even if government in its usual volte-face had thought the agreement needed to be re-negotiated, why didn’t it bring it to ASUU’s table long before the latter deemed it fit to embark on its ignoble strike? From this, there is no disputing the fact that there is so much insincerity among those in power and it is the reason the vast majority of Nigerians do not trust their leaders.
It is an irony that the education sector, more than ever, faces this type of humiliation, especially when the president of this country was once a university teacher and his minister of education, a professor in a vibrant field of academic study. No country in its right senses would have such individuals in power and watch as rot engulfs their education sector. With leaders like that who cannot engineer viable transformations within the sector they once held sway, we cannot but feel sorry for the entire country.
Our universities are no more role models for other countries to follow. Even the so called first generation universities have lost it, while mediocrity reigns supreme in the new ones. Individuals who lack the capacity to teach or engage in ground-breaking discoveries now fill our faculties and departments. Students who lack the intellectual vigour to learn now fill our departments with little or no capacity to communicate, write or engage their lecturers in intellectual debates. Most worrisome is the fact that one cannot find viable tools to hold experiments in our respective laboratories, reminding one of the total neglect in our secondary school laboratories. The structures which the Sardauna, Azikiwe and Awolowo had patriotically erected over 48 years ago still stand rickety today with nothing to show for a better one or even critical repair of the old. One could count the number of ICT-driven universities in the country and if one is lucky to find any, the structure is not enough to train students who are supposed to have pre-requisite knowledge of the ICT world like their counterparts elsewhere.
Our classrooms have become a national embarrassment where students now sit on windows and outside to receive lectures. University libraries are littered with books the like of Isaac Newton had used during his time yet librarians are employed year in and out without any innovation coming from them to transform their departments into world class. It is most saddening that more than 80 Nigerian universities cannot boast of a state-of-the-art library where students can get up-to-date books to embark on their research. It is no wonder that even reference materials used for PhD thesis today are as old as the country itself, when new materials have been churned out by the same author over five times. Most PhD thesis today appears unconstructive, lack coherence and almost adds nothing to problem-solving. A don once pathetically noted that there are a lot of questionable PhD’s today in Nigeria.
We seem to forget that strikes in our ivory towers have lasting implications for the future direction of the country. A medical student who is supposed to spend seven uninterrupted years in medical school suddenly faces a three month strike in his quest to become a medical doctor. At the end, he spends about eight to nine years for a seven year medical programme and is in turn given license to practice thereafter. If we do not know, we have bred a murderer and with his shaky training as a medical doctor in the murky world of medical school as a result of incessant ASUU strikes, we are bound to find our loved ones at their mercy. God help us if they survive with the way things keep going in this country!
If we continue to pretend as if all is well, we will only find ourselves to blame if not now then tomorrow, as the future does not even hold anything to cheer about

Actor KOK, At Last, Get Federal Appointment

Nollywood actor Kanayo O Kanayo has been appointed board chairman of The National Institute for Hospitality & Tourism Studies. He is amongst those who made the list of chairmen and members of the governing board of federal government agencies and parastatals as announced by the Secretary to the Government yesterday. 

There is time to sow and time to reap. Congrats to KOK.

Nollywood Stars Do Care About Flat Bellies

This is a rejoinder to an article written by a blogger (no name please) that said Ghollywood stars care more about their bellies than their Nollywood counterparts. He  mentioned the likes of Jocelyn Dumas, Yvonne Okoro, Juliet Ibrahim and Eassy as the likes of  Ghollywood stars with flat tummy but I think he need to look further into real nollywood stars and not wannabe stars.
Below are the pictures of some Nollywood stars that have given birth to kids (yes, even some have got up to 4kids) and still rock their shapes with flat bellies.

Omoni Oboli : A-list actress married with 3 boys, in her mid 30s.




Genevieve Nanji: 'Julia Robert' of Africa. In her early 30s and a mother to a 15years old daughter.






Omotola Jalade Ekehinde: A married mother of four kids.






Dakore Egbuson: A married mother of one.





Kate Henshaw: An ever relevant face in Nollywod, a 42years old mother to a 13years old daughter.

Amaechi: Okupe is Jonathan’s Worst Enemy

Rivers State Governor,  Hon. Chibuike Amaechi, has described the Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, as President Goodluck Jonathan’s worst enemy, urging the presidency to check his activities.
In a statement issued yesterday by his Chief Press Secretary (CPS), David Iyofor, Amaechi described as “grossly irresponsible, repugnant and contemptuous” statements, which Okupe made on a radio programme last Saturday against the person and office of the governor.
He said Okupe’s comments on the political crisis in the state, especially the role of the Commissioner of Police, Joseph Mbu, did not reflect the true position of things in the state.
Amaechi said Okupe’s arguments were warped and showed his lack of understanding of the real issues, and the interest of the presidency in the whole crisis.
According to the statement, “Okupe sank to a new low when he falsely and indecorously claimed that Amaechi used the police to harass, intimidate and punish people unjustly and could not provide one instance or any evidence to back up his claims. He bragged about some phantom text messages from ‘ordinary people’ whose families have suffered grave injustice in the hands of Amaechi and, yet again, did not tell us the content and senders of the text messages. What does Okupe take Nigerians for? The phantom text messages exist only in the devious mind of Okupe.
“The presidential spokesman then sank even deeper as he condescendingly descended to become the chief advocate and defender-in-chief of the Commissioner of Police in Rivers State, Mbu Joseph Mbu, whom the National Assembly had resolved categorically, should be removed from the state.
“Okupe’s warped argument is that the call for the redeployment of Mbu from Rivers State by the state government is because Mbu has refused to be a ‘tool in the hands of Amaechi’. Pray Okupe, if that is the case and Mbu is such ‘a professional with dignity’, why then did the House of Representatives and the Senate (which sent committees to the state to investigate the issues) pass two separate resolutions calling for the immediate removal of Mbu from the state?  If Okupe’s trend of agbero logic is anything to go by, his likely response would be that it’s because Mbu refused to be a tool in the hands of the National Assembly!
“With comments like that coming from a presidential aide and spokesman, Nigerians now have a better insight into why Mbu is still in Rivers State and continues to act with impunity, in spite of the call by eminent Nigerians and the resolution of the National Assembly that Mbu should go. What interests does Mbu serve for Okupe and his co-travellers that they are bent on keeping Mbu in Rivers State?”
He noted that it took a lot of resources and political will to restore peace, security and order to the state from the dark days of pre- October 2007.
“To destroy all that in the name of playing politics portends grave danger for our polity and will do no one, more especially, the presidency any good. No responsible government plays politics with the lives of its people,” he said.
The statement also said: “It is certainly rude, uncharitable, ill-mannered and hypocritical for Okupe to falsely and superciliously allege that Amaechi is a ‘willing tool’ to any person or group against President Jonathan.  Where was Okupe when Amaechi led Rivers State electorate to overwhelming give the president over two million votes, the highest by any state in the last presidential election?
“For the likes of Okupe and his ilk in the presidency and Abuja, Amaechi only became ‘willing tool to the opposition’ when he, like most other governors, insisted on governors and governors alone, to determine who would be their chairman, the Governors’ Forum (NGF) chairman and not some hawks in the presidency. Amaechi’s only ‘sin’, to the Okupes in the presidency, is his penchant for seeking justice and fairness for all, and his ability to speak his mind and say the truth at all times. This, obviously, is not in conformity with the kind of politics Okupe knows and understands.”
Iyofor said Okupe’s constant comments against Amaechi and other Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors would not help Jonathan or the party in future elections.
“Pray, how will Okupe’s uncouth, relentless and constant tirades against Amaechi and some other PDP governors assist his principal now or in 2015? Or help our party, the PDP, in winning elections? Nigerians are more interested in what the PDP controlled presidency is doing to better their lives, not the petty, cheap politics of hatred, acrimony and unbridled outbursts of an inconsequential presidential aide who is trying so hard to play to the gallery and earn his pay,” he said.
Meanwhile, as the political crisis rocking the state chapter of the PDP rages, the Minister of State for Education, Chief Nyesom Wike, has said Amaechi would not control the structure of the party again.
Wike said this yesterday at the dedication and inauguration of members of the Grassroots Development Initiative (GDI), at Ahoada, that he learnt that one of the conditions being peddled by Amaechi’s supporters for an end to the crisis was that the party structure should be returned to the governor.
He said since the state did not operate an emirate or a monarchy, the structure of the state PDP would not be returned to Amaechi.
His words: “I was watching television last night and I heard some of them saying one of the conditions they have given is that they should give the party structure to the governor.
“But I say we don’t operate emirate system. We don’t operate a monarchical system. So, we don’t ‘dash’ out party structure. It is the people that voted for them. So, we cannot ‘dash’ out party structure. It is you (the people) that voted for him. So we cannot ‘dash’ them anything.
The minister commended members of the GDI for their support for Jonathan and urged them not to relent in their effort to mobilise for the President should he decide to run again.
He noted that Jonathan has performed excellently and should be encouraged to run again.
Wike insisted that the people of the state and the South-south geo-political zone would not settle for any position less than the presidency in 2015 and rained abuses on anti-Jonathan politicians, praying that they would continue to cry.
“Those working against the ambition of President Jonathan are now moving from one place to another crying and crying shall be their portion in Jesus name,” he said.
Earlier, the former deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, Chief Chibudom Nwuche, explained that the people had been deceived in the past, adding that the masses would not be deceived again.
He said the people had decided to take their destiny in their hands and that they would mobilise the people for Jonathan.


Source: Thisdaylive

Money Laundering:Akwa Ibom LG chairman arrested for smuggling $82,000 into the US

The Maryland State Police Department, USA on Sunday morning confirmed the arrest of the Executive Chairman of Udim local government area of Akwa Ibom state, Mr. Nse Ntuen, for smuggling $82, 000 into the United States without declaring it with the Customs officials both in Nigeria and the US.

Nse  Ntuen, the Chairman of the Akwa Ibom State Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), was on Friday arrested by operatives of the Maryland State Police Department at the BWI International Airport, Baltimore.

When contacted by our correspondent, Mr. Strike Thomas, an official of the Maryland State Police Department at the airport, said that the suspect only declared $5,000 when he got to the airport, adding that it was further security checks that indicated that he was still having some bundles of US Dollars in his bag.

The official who agreed to be quoted pressed further that the chairman who flew into the United Stated from London, United Kingdom was later taken to their investigation room where an additional $77, 000 was found in his bag.

It was gathered that Hon. Nse Ntuen accepted that he truly smuggled the money into the USA with the aim to use it as donations at the just-concluded Annual International Convention of the Akwa Ibom Indigenes in the United States and Canada which was held at the Marriot Hotel in Washington, DC.

The suspect was later made to write and sign a statement where he accepted that he brought in items which he failed to declared to both the Nigerian and United States Custom agencies.

The official, who spoke with our correspondent, further disclosed that the Akwa Ibom state ALGON Chairman who was held for over five hours was later released after the whole $82, 000 he admitted to have smuggled into the country was confiscated by the Maryland State Police Department.

*See the highlighted- A local govt chairman donating 13million naira. Donation indeed.*

Source: Leadership Newspaper

Ribadu: We Don’t Need Jokers As Leaders

Former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Nuhu Ribadu, on Saturday said Nigeria was suffering from collapsed institutions and needed more than mere change of leadership to survive.
He also said hurdles were placed on his way to fight corruption when he was appointed as the pioneer chairman of the anti-graft agency.
Ribadu, who spoke at a mentoring session with corps members in Abuja, likened Nigeria to a man “who sows maize grains yet expects to reap mango fruits.”
He said, “Our trouble in this country is principally the collapse of our institutions. Our potential is lost in our civic decadence, which stares us in the face wherever we go. We see the decadence in the eyes of the policeman flipping through our particulars; we see the decadence in the eyes of the university registrar demanding bribes to grant or facilitate admissions; we see the decadence in the eyes of every citizen who has lost hope in Nigeria.”
Ribadu, who said he rejected offers from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Afribank, Corporate Affairs Commission, United Bank for Africa and a big family business to pick-up a career in the police, maintained that he had no regrets for his actions as the EFCC boss.
He advised the corps members to be the change agents the country needed.
Ribadu said, “To inspire change you must become something different; do something worthy of emulation, something whose memory even comforts you no matter what.”
“My appointment as chairman of the EFCC, for instance, was to a turbulent task. I had to follow the statements of my previously written will to serve in a country where, there is a lack of functional institutions to check mismanagement of public funds and related criminal misconduct. Trust in public institutions had been demolished and perpetrators went about wearing their crimes like badges of honour.
“I was given an appointment to stand in the way of these celebrated fraudsters, without an office and funds to launch my operations. But we went on to form what became a prime anti-corruption body in the country. Our activities are left for history and honest critics of political evolution to gauge and tell of our impact.”
Speaking on the theme of the lecture, “Nigeria: A Generation’s Quest for Home,” the former presidential candidate of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria, said, “What Nigeria needs to realise its potential is, unfortunately, not mere change of leadership.”
“We don’t need anyone from outer space to come organise our polity. What we need are ourselves–our virtues and belief in a collective struggle for good governance.
“What we need are functional institutions; we need institutions that pander to the principle of honesty, that socialise successions of citizens who will extol this principle. We need leaders for whom the sufferings of the masses are immediate concerns, not jokers that insult the yearnings and honest observations of the electorate.”

Source:Punch News

“I Asked the Lord to Make It Clear!” Read Lola Akindele’s Narration of How She Got Confirmation of Dayo Busari Being “The One”

Read the amazing love story of Lola Akindele and his beau, my home boy, Dayo Busari. It is so inspiring.

How We Met
Before I start, I just want to say that I actually started writing this testimony early last year, before I got my breakthrough, for I believe in doing things in faith as I knew that God would surely deliver His promises. I then completed writing the testimony after the breakthrough had actually come to pass…which happened about 6 months after I had started writing it.

At the end of July 2010, I had just come back from a holiday with my sister and friends and I was also rounding up my dissertation for my masters program. I was ready for the next stage of my life and I prayed for God to reveal my future husband, as I didn’t want to be lead astray by some of the guys in my life who had shown interest at that time.

I decided to do a week of prayer and fasting for God to please lead me to my future husband and to give me a discerning spirit throughout the whole process.

Being 26 years old, from the age of 16 up until I was 23, I had had 3 different boyfriends at different stages throughout that time. The reason for breaking up with each one however, had always been the same.

None of them could understand or accept my views on having no sex until marriage (even though they said they were fine with it at first). I had made this decision when I was 13 at my old church, KICC, after reading Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo’s book, “Let’s Talk About Sex” and it’s a decision that God has allowed me to keep, by His Grace.

So this time, I really needed God to bring the man that He had already destined for me to be with and not someone who I wanted to chose with my own reasoning.

The first day of my fast for the week was in August which was the first day that Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo had given out his mobile number for people to call him, just before IGOC 2010. My mother encouraged me to call him and so I did. I told Pastor Matthew my prayer points regarding my future husband and we both prayed for a discerning spirit so that I would know the right one whom God has chosen for me.

Strangely, throughout that week, I randomly received messages and calls from my ex boyfriends, telling me that they still wanted to be with me etc – but I was able to dismiss their advances without being drawn back in. Furthermore, for each of these ex boyfriends, God revealed things to me about them that were warning signs, confirming that He did not want me to be with them.

On the last day of my week of fasting I received a message from an old friend from University called Dayo. We had studied at Queen Mary’s together in 2006, until he left for a different university (UCL) where he completed his masters program. We occasionally kept in touch from time to time. But at this point, we hadn’t spoken for a while and I didn’t know his intentions and was not prepared to ‘waste’ time with another guy who was not ready to deal with my views on abstinence, so I ignored his message without blinking an eyelid.

Surprisingly, later that day, my mother randomly asked after him, saying that she hadn’t heard me mention him for a while. I was shocked and told her that he had actually sent me a message that morning. She urged me to reply to his message, which I did reluctantly.

He Was The Answer to My Prayers
We eventually started speaking, and when I asked why he had decided to contact me after so long, I learned that for some reason, after such a long time, he just felt an inexplicable urge to send me a message on the morning that had turned out to be my last day of prayer and fasting.

And thus began the start of something good. Until the night after our second date, when we were speaking on the phone and I asked him which church he attended. It was at this point that he went silent on the phone. He then said he had something to tell me, something that he had wanted to tell me face to face. I urged him to go on and that’s when he finally told me that he was a Muslim!

I honestly felt like I’d been slapped in the face by a mighty wave of shock and disbelief. Nevertheless, I simply informed him that we would just have to be friends and that as a believer in Christ, there would be no way that our relationship could go further towards the road of marriage.

I informed my parents and they supported my decision, however, I could feel a strong urging in my spirit, telling me not to break up our relationship and to just stay where I was with him. Of this I was certain but what I was not certain of was of how God wanted this to go. Was I just supposed to be a friend to him who would introduce him to Christ and after a period of time we would go our separate ways?

Angelic Intervention
It was not until January 2011 that God began to speak to me so clearly. At the start of January, I awoke at 3am to a bright light shining in my bedroom. There, standing by my wardrobe was a very tall angel dressed in sparkling white robes.
I was so afraid and I could feel a strange sensation surging through my body that would cause me to shake, like my whole body was vibrating and shock waves were going through me but at the same time it was a beautiful feeling.

And then the angel spoke to me. It said that God has seen that I’ve been worried about Dayo being a Muslim, but that I shouldn’t worry about it because in the Lord’s own time, He will bring Dayo to Christ and that the Lord has called for us to be together as husband and wife.

I was shocked, afraid, amazed and glad all at the same time. I couldn’t even speak and the Holy Spirit instructed me to write everything down that the angel had told me. I also wrote down the date and time that it happened and told my family about the visitation.

I was so happy. I had no clue when Dayo’s salvation would take place or when our wedding would be but I trusted in the Lord and even bought my wedding dress and started making wedding plans.

After this, for the next two years, every night at 3am, I would be awoken by the Holy Spirit and be taken to Heaven where I would spend time with the Lord and He would tell me various things about what would happen in my life in the future, as well as about the relationship that he had planned for Dayo and I.

One of the key things that Jesus told me during one of my visits was that He himself would bind Dayo and I together with cords of love that cannot be broken and that we will be joined together when we are made of the same material.

At one point in 2011 the Lord told me that when Dayo gives his life, a sign will take place and that sign would be: one of the elders in my church will come up to me after I have taught my Sunday school class, and enquire of Dayo and the wedding plans.

I wrote and documented everything down, sharing the Lord’s messages with my family but not with Dayo, as the Lord had said that I was not to reveal these things to him. That He himself would reveal Himself to Dayo so that all of the Glory would go to God and not to any man.

Each time that God spoke to me, I would feel that same sensation of shock waves surging through my body and His voice would sound like thunder in my ears, so loud and mighty but also very distinctly clear and full of love.

Deeply Spiritual Revelations
It was fantastic being so close to God and knowing that He truly does care about the individual lives of His people. However, it was also a very hard period in my life, when my faith was tested time and time again and when I was receiving words of doubt from certain people around me and even threats of being disowned because of my relationship with Dayo, I would cry and ask God ‘why is this happening to me? Why couldn’t I just be with a good man from church, where I would have none of these complications’.

But God is so faithful. And He always has a plan. Just before my 25th birthday last year, an angel came to my bedside, bringing a loaf of bread for me to eat. The Holy spirit explained to me that the bread is the Word of the Lord and that dwelling on the Word will bring strength to my spirit.The word of the Lord is the bread that sustains us and that is exactly what kept me going through what was set to be like the lowest point during the two year period of waiting on the Lord for Dayo’s salvation. It was a couple of days after the angel had brought me the bread, that my father had informed me that Dayo had asked for my hand in marriage – and that he had objected to it.

It was at this point that I cried out to the Lord and asked Him for help. I couldn’t stop crying. Then I remembered that the word of the Lord is my strength. Like Hezekiah who laid out his letter before the Lord, I wrote a letter to God, reminding him of His promises regarding Dayo’s salvation and our marriage – and I took the letter to the Lord in prayer and placed it in my Bible by Psalm 27, which states that we should wait patiently on the Lord.

Since the Lord had already told me about Dayo’s salvation, I needed to know if He wanted us to be married first and then Dayo would be saved -or if he was to be saved first, before we were to be married. So I asked the Lord to please make it clear. I did not tell anyone about what I had asked of the Lord that night, yet the next morning, my mother came to me saying that she had had a dream last night, where the Lord was wiping away my tears and comforting me, telling me that He knows that I want Dayo and I to be married now but that I must wait for his salvation first . I was so amazed when she told me and I then revealed to her that I had asked God for a sign regarding this the night before.

I knew that for certain, when God decrees a thing, it will surely come to pass. Exactly 3 months after this, on a Friday, Dayo informed me that he had finally finished reading a book called The Shack, that I had given to him almost 18 months previous to this time, which helped him to understand the God Head and the dynamics of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

Dayo’s Salvation
That very same night, my mother had a dream that the time for Dayo’s salvation was now. At 3 am, she woke up everyone in my family and told us to pray for Dayo, for his salvation was almost at hand.

I prayed, believing in God’s promises but also having a slight sense of doubt and despair, for I knew that the past two years had been so difficult. Furthermore, at this point in time, Dayo and I had taken a break, as I wanted him to seek Christ and the truth for himself, and to not accept Christianity just because of me or to just accept Islam because he had grown up in a Muslim home.

I explained that the truth is found in having a true personal experience and relationship with God for yourself and then you will truly know which is the right way to follow God.

God told me that He would put spiritual wings behind Dayo’s ears so that when He calls him to salvation, he would hear and know that Jesus truly is the Lord and to God be the glory, the very next night, after my mother’s dream, Dayo gave his life to Christ and he later explained that he had had a dream that revealed the truth of Christ to him.

The next day was a Sunday…and it was the week that I was scheduled to teach my Sunday school class. And in accordance with the Lord’s perfect promises, after the service, as I was walking out of Sunday school, the very same elder that God had told me about over a year ago, approached me as I was leaving and asked me about Dayo and the wedding, just as God said it would happen.

Straight after I had spoken to this elder, my Pastor, Pastor Ashaye called me aside, saying that he wanted a meeting the next week to discuss the progress regarding Dayo’s salvation. At this point I hadn’t told him about Dayo’s salvation yet and I truly knew that God was moving.

I can only give God the glory because it’s all by His doing. His plans for us will never fail and His pure love for us goes beyond anything that we could imagine.

I am truly grateful to God for blessing me with a man who, despite not being a Christian before, still respected my love for Christ and my views regarding no sex before marriage – a view that even my ex Christian boyfriends could never accept.

God has blessed me with the man of my dreams and brought me my true prince. In fact, at a time when I questioned God about His decision to bring me a Muslim man instead of a Christian, and I was beginning to feel envious of typical young ladies who found their husbands in Church, God’s exact words to me were: You have your prince in Dayo.

I truly bless the Lord for His faithfulness and I thank God for the encouragement and support of my close friends, my siblings, my father and especially my mother, because God revealed things concerning Dayo’s salvation to her and her support throughout it all has been an incredible blessing.

The Glory of My Success
My prayer is that each and everyone of us will never leave the path that God has laid out for us, for when we are in right standing with the Lord, He will surely speak to us and direct us in our lives.

And for all the women and young ladies who are trusting in God for their future spouse, my prayer is that we will always put it into the Lord’s hands. He will surely tell you if He does not agree with you being with a certain individual but the choice will always be ours to either follow His perfect will for our lives or not.

Furthermore, the Lord has blessed me with the ability this year, to complete and publish my first book “Papa’s LITTLE Girls”, which shows the love that God has for His daughters, no matter what they go through in their relationships with men.

This relationship between God and His daughters and their focus on the opposite sex has now become one of the key aspects of my research for my PhD course and I thank God for filling me with the passion to be a mentor to young ladies and to encourage them to love Christ first, before any man.

I give the one and only true Lord, Jesus Christ, the highest praise, as He continues to direct and guide Dayo and I in our Christian faith together as we prepare for our wedding.

Culled from Bella Naija

Prophet Ireti Ajanaku Is Dead

Prophet Ireti Ajanaku of 'Olorun Ajanaku' fame made popular by Tope Alabi is dead. The General Overseer of Christ Victory Chapel International passed away in his sleep between Saturday evening and Sunday morning at his home town,Gbongan, Osun State.
May his soul rest in perfect peace... Amen.

A Word For Those That Call Me A Tribalist By Femi Fani-Kayode

Those that call me a tribalist are simply misguided. Perhaps they do not know the meaning of the word or its true import. Those that know me well can confirm the fact that I am not a tribalist, a racist or a bigot and that I consider such sentiments as being unworthy of a man of class, good breeding and culture. I am however a firm believer in the propagation of truth and I appreciate the value and importance of history. Sadly many of our igbo compatriots do not believe in that. For them history consists of only one thing- how other Nigerians have always marginalised them and treated them badly.

If only they knew their own history, where they are coming from, what they used to be, where they were 100 years ago and what their forefathers did to the rest of Nigeria over the last 80 years they would know why they have always had such a hard time in this country. Sadly because they dont know any of these things they cannot learn from them. And if they cannot learn from them they will continue to make the same mistakes. That is why they can come to another mans land and territory and call it their own and when we say ”no” they tell us to shut up and call us tribalists.

I was not a tribalist when I wrote a tribute to Colonel Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu after he died or when I condemned the ’60′s pogroms that took place in the north in which their people were slaughtered like flies. I was not a tribalist when I wrote against my good friend Senator Ahmed Sani Yarima and child marriage in the north. Yet now I am a tribalist because I spoke the truth about our history and who the yoruba are. I was not a tribalist when I had a long-standing and intimate relationship with Miss Bianca Onoh, an igbo lady, who many years later married Ojukwu and who is now our Ambassador in Spain. I was not a tribalist when I had a long-standing and intimate relationship with Miss Chioma Anasoh, another igbo lady, who I almost took as a second wife. I was not a tribalist when I had a long-standing and intimate relationship with Miss Adaobi Uchegbu, another igbo lady, who was exceptionally close to me and who is now at the National Headquarters of the ruling PDP.

I was not a tribalist when I wrote essays defending the rights of the igbo and every other Nigerian nationality to exercise their right of self-determination and leave Nigeria if that is what they wanted to do. I was not a tribalist when I consistently wrote that Nigeria must have a Sovereign National Conference where the rights and obligations of all its various nationalities would be clearly defined and agreed upon. I was not a tribalist when I employed more igbo people as a Presidential spokesman and a Minister of the Federal Republic than even my own yoruba. I was not a tribalist when I wrote an essay, just two years ago, extolling the virtues of igbo women and telling the world about their sudden and meteoric rise and how far they had gone in the power circles of this country in the last 10 years. I was not a tribalist when I condemned the bombing of predominantly igbo and catholic churches and the killing of the igbo and others by Boko Haram in the north over the last three years.

I was not a tribalist when I risked my life by consistently writing against Boko Haram and urging our President to do a better job at protecting the lives of all Nigerians even though I live in the north. I was not a tribalist when I wrote against political sharia in the late ’90′s and I participated in protracted and sometimes acrimoniuos debates with islamic fundamentalists and islamists. I was not a tribalist when I was in NADECO and when we fought against military rule in Nigeria. I was not a tribalist when I fought for a President from the south-south or the south-east. I was not a tribalist when I wrote in defence of the igbo when it came to the abandoned property issue. I was not a tribalist when I wrote about the excesses of the Federal troops during the civil war.  I was not a tribalist when I commended Azikiwe and the virtues of the NCNC in Nigerian history. I was not a tribalist when I wrote that it was unfair and wrong for the Federal Government of Nigeria to leave the igbo with only 20 pounds each after the civil war. I was not a tribalist when many years ago I attended and gave my life to Christ in a church called TREM which was established by a great igbo man by the name of Bishop Mike Okonkwo. I was not a tribalist when my grandfather, Justice Victor Adebiyi Kayode, taught Chief Nnamdi Azikiwe at Methodist Boys High School in Lagos and when my father, Chief Remilekun Fani-Kayode, was appointed as the leader of the predominantly igbo NCNC in the Western Regional House of Assembly. I could go on and on. These people have very short memories and anyone that does not agree with them all the time or that says one word against them at any point in time is labelled a tribalist for life.

They called Chief Obafemi Awolowo a tribalist, an igbo-hater a genocidal maniac and a child-killer simply because the man refused to join sides with them in the civil war yet they forgot that on one of the occassions that Awolowo ran for the Presidency his running mate was from the east and not from the north. They called Chief Festus Okotie-Eboh, Chief S.L Akintola and Sir Ahmadu Bello igbo-haters and tribalists simply because they saw through the igbo agenda at a very early stage in our history and they marked and killed them all for it. They called General Yakubu Gowon a genocidal maniac, a child-killer, an igbo-hater and a tribalist simply because opposed Biafra, stood up to Ojukwu and insisted on keeping Nigeria together and even though he declared that there was ”no victor and no vanquished” after the civil war.

They accused President Olusegun Obasanjo of being a tribalist and an igbo-hater even though he appointed an igbo man as the first GOC in the Nigerian Army since 1966 and even though he appointed more igbos into key positions in his government than any President before him. They accused President Shehu Shagari of being a tribalist and an igbo-hater even though he pardoned Ojukwu and allowed him to return back home after a long period in exile. They have accused the Nigerian people of being tribalists and igbo-haters simply because we have not had an igbo President since 1966 forgetting that Nigeria was magnamonious in victory and that she not only gladly welcomed them back into the fold after the civil war but that she also gave them the Vice Presidency of the country only ten years later. They have labelled the northerners as tribalists and igbo-haters simply because the north has refused to tolerate their excesses and accept their complicated ways. They have labelled the Niger Deltans as tribalists and igbo-haters simply due to the ”abandoned property issue” and because historically many of them have always resisted the idea of igbo domination.

They have labelled the yoruba as tribalists and igbo-haters simply because we have refused to accept their claims to our land and territory and even though we were more charitable, hospitable, accomodating and generous to them than any other nationality in Nigeria after the civil war. The yoruba particularly have been too kind and gentle with them. That is the problem. They see our liberal and accomodating nature as stupidity and weakness. That is why they always call the yoruba cowards forgetting that the history of the yoruba proves otherwise. It is now time to tell the truth. They despise the yoruba and they only pretend to believe in one Nigeria as long as they can always have their way and laud it over others. Worst of all, generally speaking, they have no restraining factors because money and the acquisition of wealth is their sole objective and purpose in life.

Someone ought to tell them that this is not a virtue but a vice. It is a cultural deficiency which is borne out of not having any history. If they did they would be less aggressive, more restrained and far more civil to others even where and when they disagree with them. If speaking these bitter home truths and yearning and fighting for a better Nigeria makes me a tribalist then it is a toga that I would be happy to wear. I will not sit by quietly and allow my people, the yoruba people of south western Nigeria, to be rubbished, insulted and cheated by anyone no matter how aggressive and given to extreemities that anyone may believe he is. I make or offer and no apology for my views. My numerous assertions on the igbo stand.

Meanwhile I have read all sorts of strange submissions in various newspapers and blogs that have held themselves out as rejoinders to my two articles titled “Lagos, The Igbo and the Servants Of Truth” and “The Bitter Truth About The Igbo”. Sadly other than the usual abuse and ungodly clap-trap not one of them has been able to address ANY of the issues that I raised in either of the two articles, answer any of the questions that I posed in them or successfully challenge my presentation of historical facts.

The bellicose nature and sheer crassness of these so-called rejoinders goes to prove two things. Firstly that those that I have descibed as being collectively unlettered, uncouth, uncultured, unrestrained and crude in all their ways really are all those things and a lot more and secondly that they cannot put up any reasonable or serious arguement to discredit or refute the message so instead they are attempting to destroy the messanger. Meanwhile the two essays have been published in various newspapers in our country and outside and it will continue to be published by others long into the forseeable future.

The message is clear and it is already out there. It cannot be called back in. The horse has bolted from the stable and the falcon has left the nest. No matter how hard those that are attempting to intimidate us into silence may try it will not work and we will not be cowed. The message is already out there and the genie is already out of the bottle. Those that seek to continue to denigrate and belittle the yoruba and lay claim to what is rightfully ours should desist from doing so. They should grant us our peace and give us our due respect and they will get the same in return. If they do not do so those things will elude them and eventually history will repeat itself again in this country.

Meanwhile when anyone reads a rejoinder that addresses the issues that I raised in my essays and that has some level of scholarship and intellectual content they should please let me know and I may well dignify it with a response. The shameless and emotional thrash and disjointed verbiage that have been described as rejoinders so far are just not up to scratch. They are bereft of any scholarship and intellectual content. They also invoke pity in me for the faceless plebians that wrote them and those they claim to be speaking for. When the igbo, or anyone else, find a real champion that can cross swords with me and give me a good run for my money someone should please let me know. I am itching for a real debate with a worthy adversary on this issue.

Like the great Achilles I feel that I have no match. Are there no Hector’s out there? Sadly it appears that my accusers, traducers, opposers and haters cannot find one. All they have is their hate, their ignorance, their insults and their inbred crudity and vulgarity.