The Nation Newspaper

Category: Arts & Life

‘Who paid N2m into my bank account?’

Omobowale Adekoya Adeoye, 29 , is a brick maker who clearly needs money to grow his business. But when some people paid a huge sum into his account without his knowledge, he became suspicious. Now he claims his life is being threatened by some land speculators. Taiwo Abiodun reports

Eor the past six months, Omobowale Adekoya Adeoye has been having sleepless nights. Reason: he alleges that his life is not safe. According to him, some ‘landowners’ who allegedly sold a 19-room bungalow bequeathed to him and his uncle’s wife, deposited N2 million into his bank account. They then demanded for the property’s document from him and vowed to kill him if he does not produce the papers.

The visibly Adeoye lamented “I no longer sleep at home. In fact, I cannot predict where I would sleep this night as my life is being threatened over the documents of the bungalow which was sold without the family’s consent.”

The controversial building is located at 57, Ehin – Ogun Street, Mafoluku, Oshodi in Lagos. When The Nation visited the building, it was under lock and key. The entrance has been sealed while the following words ‘THIS HOUSE IS NOT FOR SALE. BUYERS BEWARE. CAVEAT EMPTOR’.

Despite this bold inscription, however, the house has been bought and many are wondering how anyone could buy a house without laying hand on the original documents nor meet the two principal joint owners.

According to investigation, the building belonged to the duo of Alhaja Mujidat Opeodu and Adeoye who both inherited it from their family. According to reports, the two did not agree to sell the building but wanted to renovate it. In the course of planning to renovate it, the tenants were served notice to leave and were ejected. It was at this point that some speculators quickly went ahead and sold off the bungalow and began to threaten Adeoye either to collect the money and bring the documents or have his life snuffed out if he rejected the offer.

He recounted the whole episode: “My late mother and late uncle were from the same mother, and she had three houses located at Ikorodu, Ketu and Oshodi, while the Ikorodu and Ketu houses were shared between my mother and uncle, the last controversial one located at 57, Ehin-Ogun Street, was left for the them to be collecting the rent and this was religiously followed for some years as we both shared the proceeds.” He continued “when the two (his mother and his uncle) died, my uncle’s wife and I were collecting the rent for our upkeep and to take care of the building. But early this year, we planned to renovate the house. Some of the tenants accepted and left while others were ready to pay more after renovation, but along the line I started receiving calls from land speculators that I should bring the documents of the building. I asked why, but they did not tell me until they started sending text messages to me that I would be dead if I did not comply.

“However, I quickly contacted the police who advised me to play along with them in order to get them. I went to my lawyer to inform him of the threats I had been receiving. Later, I learnt that my uncle’s wife was also threatening fire and brimstone if I did not comply with her to dispose of the building. But I reiterated that we should not sell the family building, and if need be, we should come to terms and agree with other siblings. Not only this, the elders in the family instructed us not to do so as they said it is a curse to sell our family property where we always meet, and when we still have other property elsewhere. In July, she surfaced with some hoodlums who came and chased the tenants out. “

Adeoye later contacted his lawyer who wrote on his hehalf a petition to the Inspector General of Police (IG) to save him. According to him, “My life is threatened anytime I surface to know what is happening while they always demanded for my account number.” He added that when he reported at Mafoluku Police Station, he was instructed to give his account number and play along. “Last month, one of the speculators called me on phone to inform me that they had deposited N2 million into my bank account. I quickly alerted the police and my lawyer. Since then, my life is being threatened as they keep on demanding the documents of the building from me.”

A twist in the tale

When The Nation visited Alhaja Opeodu at her residence in Ketu to tell her own story, she was not at home, but her daughter, Tolu, said her mother was not a party to the selling of the house and that the N2 million paid into Adeoye’s account was the cause of his problem because he does not want to share the money with her mother.

Opeodu, who later came to The Nation’s office, said all what Adeoye said is false, and that he is a prodigal son. According to her, “He sold one of the grandmother’s land for N5 million and when they discovered that he brought an estate agent to the said house looking for buyer for it contrary to our agreement to renovate it.” She added that the land speculators must have sold the house based on his promptings.

According to her, she is yet to receive her own share of the N2 million paid to Adeoye, alleging that he always comes to the house with his cult members to chase the tenants out. She said “It is true that we jointly owned the building. My husband died few years ago and just four days after his demise, he (Adeoye) came to our house at Ketu, demanding for the papers of the land of which I told him I don’t know its whereabouts. He then started to blackmail me. He was among those who accused me of being a threat to him in spite of the death of my husband. I am a business woman I don’t have time to bargain with land speculators not to talk of conniving with them.”

The house, which has about 19 rooms with two shops, has been deserted and according to one of the tenants there are about four other tenants, still living there because they have n where to go.

One of the tenants confirmed their fear, saying, “We live in fear as the hoodlums come at any time to harass us.” A former tenant, Segun Adewale said Alhaja Opeodu was behind the problem. “When I was still living there, we used to hear that the land speculators were on hand to sell the house and had been threatening Adeoye who did not want the house to be sold . His life was threatened by the land speculators, and he could be killed as life has no meaning to these hoodlums.”

The land speculators may have seized the opportunity of the misunderstanding between Adeoye and his uncle’s wife to sell the house. Some believed the house was sold for N15 million, while others said it was N20 million while they sent only N2 million to Adeoye’s account who has now refused to release the documents and sign the agreement. It is believed that a retired military officer who does not want his name in print bought the house and has refused to pay the remaining on hearing that what he was given were forged documents.

We sold the house, landowners admit

When contacted, the landowners agreed they sold the building. According to them, they have the right to sell the house and this cannot be challenged in any court of Law. Defending their action, one of them, Mr. Tajudeen Salami, said the land was leased out from their father in 1972 to Adeoye’s grandmother who is now deceased. According to him, “The land was leased out for the woman and she was entitled to be paying land rent on the land annually. But from our records, they defaulted. However, when we heard that they were fighting over it we asked them to produce the papers or proof of ownership but none of them could produce it .We later heard that one Omobowale (Adeoye) was planning to sell it as he had been bringing estate agents while the woman was also bringing others to the place. We then held a meeting over the matter and sold it. This is not the first time we are doing it. “

On how much it was sold, Salami said “We sold it for N8 million and gave Alhaja and Omobowale (Adeoye) N2million each. In fact, Alhaja has just collected her own share yesterday (Wednesday, October 2).” He denied the threat allegation “We are law- abiding citizens, we do not take laws into our hands, but for this case we have our rules, if you are not paying your land rent you will forfeit the land and we went into records, discovered that the deceased woman who was the owner owed many years of land rent coupled with the crisis in the family. We called the two parties that we would sell the property and share the money for them which they accepted.”

On whether they had the right to sell it, he insisted they do.

Another land speculator, Tajudeen Oladega who is the General Secretary of the Mafoluku Ago Oyo family, said “We leased some land out and we know those sold. We have our records. It is a pity he did not play smart. He came here begging us to sell the property and give him his own share. Now he is accusing us for selling the property. He should go and work.”

An old man, who does not want his name to be mentioned, called on government to rescue Lagosians from hoodlums called land speculators. He queried the rationale behind what they did. “Why should they sell other people’s property without their consent and saying they wanted to settle it between the two? How would one pay money into someone’s account by force?,” He continued, “Is it possible for land speculators to dispose a building without the consent of the owners? Is it possible to dispose a house with fake documents to an unsuspecting buyer? How would a buyer purchase a building from land speculators without verifying? These and many more are what the public and the government should ask the buyer and the court should assist in addressing the issue.” he insisted.

The story was confirmed by Officer incharge (Monitoring) Police Headquarters Obalende, Lagos.

October 6, 2013
The other side of social media

Social media have become part of life in Nigeria. In this report Hannah Ojo takes a look at their uses and abuses.

Until he was almost scammed by some unscrupulous elements, Daniel Olusanya used to believe social media is the best thing that could happen to him. If not for the tenacity of his mum and the heated exchange he had with his siblings, he would have parted with his miniature life savings. The journey to the land of swindlers began when he met a female friend on Facebook who claimed to be a Filipino working in a London hotel. They started interacting through chat messages and she enquired about his occupation. On learning that Daniel has been out of job for over a year when his former employer relieved him of his duties as an audit associate, Sarah Chito, as she gave her name, promised to help him talk to the boss of an hotel in London that is recruiting staffs. It was hard to take her as a fraud as she appeared real since they have built a relationship from their Facebook chat interaction. Her profile information which gave her away as a waitress at Marriot Hotel, Manila also helped sell the image she portrays. When this reporter also read through the chat history between Sarah and Daniel, her tone and speech mannerism didn’t betray her as a fraud but someone showing genuine concern.

Soon afterwards, she connected him to John Rocco Forte whose Facebook profile reads; “owner/ President at Browns Hotel, Newham, United Kingdom.” Failing to discern that on social media, anybody can claim to be somebody, Daniel sent his CV as directed to brownshotelrecruitment@yahoo.com. Daniel did. The process swung into full swing: he was told he would be recruited as cashier with his HND qualification in Accounting. After filling the visa form online, he got this reply; “When it’s ready (the Visa)…I will send it down to British embassy there and I will get the contact of the approval agent. All you need to do is get ready with your approval fee. As soon as your visa is ready, I will link you with the agent as soon as possible”(sic). The approval fee for his visa was pegged at one thousand pounds E1000 translating roughly to over N200, 000 in Nigerian currency. To gather funds, he sold his shares in quoted companies and was set on gathering funds from family members when his mum took it personal. It took a conviction from warnings from prophets in his church before he could be dissuaded from chasing after the wind.

Social media addiction

Dr Kehinde Ayoola, a senior lecturer in the department of English, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife commands great respect from his students. Unlike his older colleagues, he does not have a phobia for the internet. He responds to his mails almost immediately and he is comfortable with his students sending their projects and assignments to him via email. Hearing him talk about how social media has impacted on learning, he commented on the sad reality the popularity of blackberry phones and other high tech gadgets has wreaked on the learning standards of most students. “Many students are so attached to their phones that they engage in pinging even while lectures are in progress. It is not unheard of that students contact themselves for assistance even while examination is in progress”.

With abbreviations such as: TTYL (talk to you later), GGMUB (God go make you bigger), LWKMD (laugh wan kill me die), TCCIK (take care because I care), BRB (be right back), GOAT (Girl of all talents), ROFTL (rolling on the floor) and many more hilarious sorts making spellings and grammar to be sacrificed on the altar of being social, the trend is also being carried into formal writing unconsciously. To this, Dr. Ayoola responded; “Students write more sloppily these days; they use SMS spellings and are rather lackadaisical in their style. Outside the classroom, they spend too much valuable time on social network sites. To excel in today’s competitive world, students need all the time at their disposal to devote to their studies. In a situation where students major in the minor, too many students end up as underachievers”.

With a nation blessed with the larger part of the population as young people, it does not come as a surprise to learn that Nigeria constitutes 81.2 percent of the 900 million active Facebook users via mobile phones. This is not to mention the huge presence of Nigerians on other social media platforms such as twitter, google+, instragram, whatsapp, and others. With the level of flippancy among the younger generation, the nature of discussion that occurs in most of these online medium is not hard to tell. “The largest followership on Twitter are those in the entertainment circles. It’s not to say this is bad, but the truth is that no nation develops simply because it has a thriving entertainment industry. The quality of discussion is skewed towards the banal more than deep and critical issues. There are, however, crops of young people online too who have benefitted from the social media given the access they have to more materials to develop their capacity. They are, however, in the minority”, says Sola Fagorusi, a youth development advocate and active social media user.

Life is always a twist of ironies, thus it comes with a tinge of paradox that where others are experiencing ruin is more or less like a cash cow to Dr Biodun Awosusi, whose practice has been boosted as a result of his social media activities. “ As I speak, I am considering accepting an invitation to be a guest post for an Ethiopia blog on our experiences on universal health coverage in Nigeria. My likely response is a yes, and a lifelong relationship ensues! I have published a piece on the use of social media on the Commonwealth website. So I appreciate the value of the social media”, said the young medic whose blog was recently dominated for the World Summit Youth Award (WSYA), a United Nations – sponsored event. He, however, admitted to the fact that social media can be a big trap as it can lead to distraction. “I felt victim with the BB so I stopped using it. Sometimes I get carried away with twitter! But I think the trick to dealing with these necessary evils is to limit the use to the barest minimum, especially when you have completed essential tasks for the day or just on a break!”.

Just as it appears sensible to eat and drink measuredly so as to defy the mediciner’s visit, so is it important to apply moderation when indulging on the social media radar. While the platform has been used by some smart chaps to generate income, others have had to pay dearly for their indulgence. The tale of Cynthia Osokogu, the slain daughter of an army general remains a point of reference in Nigeria’s tale of digital calamity.

October 6, 2013
POETRY: For Kofi Awonoor

Oh death, where is thy strength,

Where is your mischief?

Why have you taken him away?

This pride of African literature,

This epitome of humanity,

One whose pen drips with rhyme and

Fame,

Kofi Awonoor, oh, Kofi, This master of

poetry, Why is death so cruel,

Mowing you down

In the foyers of this wicked Westgate

The den of death in Nairobi, Kenya

Terrorists have done their worst

But, will not forever silence this great bard,

You are the darling of Ewe people of Ghana.

The people for whom your pen and ink never

ran dry.

Africa will never forget you.

The world sees your penchant

For literary excellence and beauty.

You were so evergreen and mighty,

Seeking the face of Africa

Rest in peace, in this earth my brother,

Not in this Westgate of scandal, rest in peace.

kofi Awonoor a Ghanian poet and writer was killed by terrorists at Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya

September 29, 2013
Making a distinction

With the title of the exhibition as Distinction, seven prominent Nigerian artists, Abiodun Olaku, Bunmi Babatunde, Alex Nwokolo, Fidelis Odogwu, Edosa Ogiugo, Duke Asidere and Reuben Ugbine are rocking the art scene at Terra Kulture, Lagos, at the moment. Edozie Udeze who attended the opening ceremony, reports

Entitled Distinction, this unique art exhibition by seven distinguished Nigerian visual artists whose pedigrees as some of the best artists of their generation, indeed speaks volumes. The exhibition which began at Terra Kulture, Lagos, last weekend, is billed to portray the picture of a set of artists who believe in perfection; artists whose impeccable approach to style and attitude to their profession have been considered luminous and extraordinarily flawless and brilliant over the years.

Abiodun Olaku, a studio artist of over 30 year’s experience, who packaged and curated the show, explained that he had intended it to be a solo one. Somehow along the line, it dawned on him that he could not do it alone. This was why he had to invite other six artists of like minds to have a more robust and comprehensive outing that comprised four painters and three sculptors.

Olaku explained the circumstances this way: “This presentation is like a child of circumstance. I had intended it to be a solo presentation but out of the realities of Nigeria, I couldn’t make up. This was why I adopted it to a seven man group exhibition. Actually, I looked around me, that’s my immediate constituency before I chose those to be part of it. As you can see, they are mainly members of the Guild of Professional Artists of Nigeria (GFA).”

In the main, the works range from realism to surrealism and the exposition of the social issues that beset the society nowadays. In GRA Extension I, which is a satire on the socio-economic problems of Nigeria, Olaku gives a mockery of a nation where neglect is at its worst currently. The painting is a slum, the worst of its kind, where people build shanties on the edge of a canal. There, they perch on their huts as if they control the entire world, yet opposite them are beautiful houses of opulence and splendour. “It is the irony of Nigeria”, Olaku said, “It is a satire too. It shows a society where no one cares. You are the only one who knows what you feel”, he explained.

The painting is too real to be easily wished away. It is a total metaphor on a government rejected area, a coinage commonly used to mock the poor man’s abode with its immense neglect. It all shows that the Nigerian terrain is not only harsh, but that the reality of it seems more intense with each passing day.

In the works on display, the application of colours to juxtapose the earth helped to bring out natural beautiful scenes. Duke Asidere, one of the artists, in his restless creative acumen, expresses his deep concern for a people long steeped in squalor. His love for realism and deep sense of colour is euphoric. In A Concept of Peace, he shows his true love for women who work tirelessly to attain peace. If women are at peace with one another and are fruitfully engaged, then there will be order for everybody. This is why he said that he does not make his art complex. “Yes, I look at art from a very simplistic point: just get it done… I am interested in today, in a better Nigeria.”

As an artist, Odogwu Fidelis loves metals and irons with intense and unbridled passion. He handles them with passion and carefully and professionally infuses life into them. To him, out of a meticulous approach to the handling of discarded issues, so to say, one can give life to a being. “It is a painstaking process” he enthused. In Like Minds, for instance, there is a manifestation of his love for togetherness, friendship and unity.

In it, Odogwu gives vent to an inspiration drawn exclusively from bond of friendship. “It is my idea of what one can get when one works in harmony with his colleagues and friends”, he said. Odogwu believes that everything around him helps to shape his artistic views. “Yes, water, air, plants, earth, fire and events happening around me are major tools and inspirations that shape my idea.” And so, his works show all that too.

Other artists whose works adorned the exhibition include Alex Nwokolo, Bunmi Babatunde, Edosa Ogiugo, and Reuben Ugbine. These are artists whose works also adorn important public and private places in Nigeria. They are also among the crop of Nigerian artists whose works have featured in major exhibitions at home and abroad.

This is why the exhibition has been termed a testament to hard work, resilience and consistency. It is indeed a celebration of distinction in the context of artistic reminiscence and excellence.

September 29, 2013
‘He wanted a son so he drowned his daughter in rage’

A man in Pakistan who confessed to drowning his one-and-a-half year old daughter says he now regrets his actions. His family says it was because he wanted a son, but it highlights the grave issue, across South Asia, of female infanticide. The BBC’s Aleem Maqbool met the family in Lahore, Pakistan.

We meet 28-year-old Umar Zaib as he waits, shackled, outside court. “It was a mistake,” he tells me. “I made a big mistake. I don’t know what was going through my mind when I did it.”

Umar Zaib is talking of the crime he committed against his daughter, Zainab, who was just one-and-a-half years old.

Then the police jostle him and push him towards the courtroom. He is under arrest and yet to be charged but has admitted to the police that he drowned his daughter.

He insisted it was all because of a fit of rage. But when she described the horrors of what happened, Umar Zaib’s wife told us a very different story.

“It was late at night but my husband told me we all had to visit his sister, but we stopped close to the river,” says Sumera, 24.

“I had both our daughters with me. My husband told me I wasn’t holding Zainab properly and he took her from me.”

“In front of my eyes, he threw her in the river.”

“I was helpless, I started crying, Zainab was screaming in the water but when I tried to save her he beat me.”

Pleading for help

On the outskirts of Lahore, we visit the place beside the powerful River Ravi where Umar Zaib has now told investigators he killed his daughter.

On the Ravi Bridge towering over the spot, devotees hurl meat for the flocks of carnivorous birds that circle close by, hoping for blessings in return.

This dirty bankside, where the stench of the brown waters mixes with that of rotting meat, is where Sumera says she last saw little Zainab struggling and pleading for help.

A short distance downstream, we find two divers still looking for her remains in the fast-flowing waters.

They are ill-equipped, and admit to us that so long after the event they have all but lost hope of finding Zainab’s tiny body.

Sumera says her husband threatened to kill her as well if she told anyone, so for several days she was too scared to go to the police. But finally she found the courage to tell her parents.

They will now support their daughter and her young baby.

Sumera says she is certain of her husband’s motive in killing their daughter.

“Since our first daughter has born, he wasn’t happy, he wanted a son,” she tells us.

“He said if I had another daughter, he’d kill our first child, Zainab. When, eight weeks ago, I did have another girl, he kept threatening more and more, then he did it.”

She says her husband, a rickshaw driver, and his extended family all looked down on female children, thinking them a curse, but she says their family was not alone.

“My life is empty without Zainab,” she says. “But he has forgotten her already and he told me she’s gone where she is supposed to go.”

Cultural pressures

The disturbingly prevalent tendency, across this region, to kill babies purely because they are female is been well-documented.

The United Nations Children’s Fund, Unicef, has a team dedicated to the issue in Pakistan.

It says girls are murdered primarily because of cultural pressures and poverty. But for years, rights groups in Pakistan have also accused law enforcement agencies of not taking the issue seriously.

“Yes, of course cases like that happen in Pakistan,” says Basharat Ali, the investigating police officer in Zainab’s murder case.

But then he suggests that Zainab’s mother has questions to answer too.

“How can a mother, who sees someone else throw her daughter in the river, just leave quietly and not report it for a week?”

He may be behind bars now, he may even have admitted to killing his daughter, but in Pakistan there are no guarantees Umar Zaib will be properly punished for killing his child, apparently just for being a girl

September 15, 2013
From shrine to pulpit

Her life story reads like an interesting book. Born into a family of Ogun worshipers at the Ijomu area of Ikorodu, Prophetess Hannah Olude, aka Iya Adura, tells her story of escape and reformation from the shrine to the altar. Hannah Ojo met her.

Her abode has no misleading; at the mention of Iya Adura’s house at the Solomade area of Ikorodu, a bike man sets the ignition in motion and stops after some minutes at a striking edifice in a street adorned with other beautiful structures. Her garage boasts of the latest brands of Land Rover Jeep, Camry, Honda and other exotic cars. Is she a business woman? Yes, she deals in perfumes and importation business but that is not where the bulk of her wealth comes from. Her clients are diverse and include politicians such as the late popular Ibadan politician, Lamidi Adedibu, who she said used to shower her with gifts.

From the shrine to the altar

Chronicling her runaway experience at age 16, Prophetess Olude said she was already getting fed up with the constant incisions (marks) on her body and other rituals. Escape eventually came when she found solace in a Celestial Church where a neighbour took her to seek cover. Something akin to a supernatural encounter also rekindled her resolve to stray from the tradition of Ogun worshipping which her father was an adherent of. She further clarifies: “Before running away, whenever I sleep, I would see myself in a white garment; singing. There is a woman around our house called Aunty Dupe that I told my dreams and she replied that God wanted me. I didn’t believe that because looking at my background, I couldn’t fathom why God could be interested in someone like me. She helped me to escape. My family searched for me for four years but to no avail. By the time I returned home, I had become a prophetess and also married.”

She later converted her father whom she said became sick and could not be healed by his gods. “I was the one that took him to church and he became healed. He converted to Christianity and followed me to church for nine years before he finally died. I thank God my family saw the glory in me. My brothers didn’t have jobs and I told them to come to Celestial; I did ‘blessing work’ for them and they got jobs,” she said. She traces her being a prophetess to her husband, the shepherd of a popular Celestial church in Ketu, whom she said helped groom her and made her have a better understanding of her calling.

Marital experience

She was married for 31 years before she left her husband. Interestingly, she married at 20. She became wife number 18 in the line of 28 wives! Narrating her marital experience, she didn’t seem bitter as she said all the wives lived comfortably and were all prophetesses. She gives her take on how women can survive in their marriage. “My advice for women is this: We all know 2+ 2 is 4 but in marriage your husband may tell you 2+10 is 4, if you want peace, you need to take it. If a woman gives the husband the respect he needs, she is not doing it because of her husband but for her children. Women should respect their husband and be calm, there is no perfect marriage, just make it perfect for yourself.” Her decision to separate from her husband eight years ago came as a result of her inner cravings to fully concentrate on her ministry. According to her, “With the glory God has given me, I knew that if I remained with him, the glory will go to him. He has many children, I have only four.” However, she maintains that they still have a cordial relationship.

Why she cannot head a church

Despite the followership she commands due to the testimonies that have trailed her prophetic ministry, she says she cannot be moved to establish a church even though the phenomenon is common in other denominations. “I have seen many prophetesses who tried to raise a church but they ran mad, I can count about seven of them. A prophetess should not establish a church except if she is under a shepherd, that is the instruction given by God to the founder, the late Reverend Samuel Oshcofa. Any prophet who stays in line will be successful,” she submits. She also denies the allegation that the church engages in blood sacrifice by using animals and engaging in other fetish practices. “ I can take you round my house, there is no hidden corner where such occurs. The only time you see blood is during harvest when we kill cows to feed members.”

She says her leaving the world of shrine for the pulpit has brought her closer to God, her Creator.

September 15, 2013
Read The Tragedy of Victory and think

Title: The Tragedy of Victory
Author: Gen. Godwin Alabi-Isama
Publishers: Spectrum Books, Ibadan
Year of Publication: 2013
Reviewer: Alfred Ilenre

The Tragedy of Victory is a book written by Brigadier General Alabi Isama, providing the inside knowledge and information about the separatist war in Nigeria from 1967- 1970

Many books have been published on both sides of the war, since the combatants laid down their weapons in 1970. Yet, non has provided vital information about the conception, execution and end of the Nigeria- Biafra war, backed by facts, evidences and witnesses, illustrated with photographs, maps and monuments like the Tragedy of Victory.

What made a great difference in Alabi- Isama’s book is his ability to provide new information backed with hard facts, by refusing to make use of the already over-worked and over-played press releases, resumes, newsletters, interviews, opinion and views produced by both the Nigerian federal government and the Biafran side, made popular by the Nigerian media. The book is the work of a man who is not only just scrupulous but meticulous to the minutest detail in rendering on – the – spot account of the Nigeria – Biafra war in the Atlantic theatre.

As one traverses the pages of the Tragedy of Victory, it becomes very clear that the military, in 1966, plunged head long into the Nigerian political crises of the immediate post – independence era, without realising the gravity nor the complexity of the issues involved. It soon discovered that ethnic bias, tribalism and sectional feelings were not exclusive to the political class; that the pervading societal vices were equally prevalent within the small but unique population of the Armed Forces.

Brigadier – General Alabi Isama was an officer at the 4th Area Command of the Nigeria Army in Benin City, the Midwest capital before the Nigeria – Biafra war broke out in July 1967. He had a stint in the Biafran Army during their two months, occupation of the Midwest from August 9, 1967, until he had an escape route to join the federal troops, taking all forms of dangerous risks:

After the liberation of the Midwest by the federal troops, he was summoned to Lagos by the then Head of State, General Yabubu Gowon, only to find himself at the Kirikiri prison. He was later released and posted to the newly established third Marine Commando Division (3MCDO) as the Chief of Staff under the Command of Col and later Brigadier Benjamin Adekunle. He remained at the war theatre throughout the three years duration of the war. Retired from the Nigerian Army in 1977, Alabi-Isama now lives in the United States of America as a communication consultant.

The Tragedy of Victory is compartmentalised into three parts. In part one, the author in a chronological order narrated the story of his early life. The only son of a mother in a polygamous inter-tribal marriage. His mother from Ilorin and his father from Ukwuani, an authentic ethnic minority tribe, linguistically related to the Igbo tribe and culturally linked to the Edo tribe. He decided to join the Nigerian Army at the age of 20, on leaving the high school against his mother’s wish.

The author tabled the records of his military trainings in Nigeria and overseas and his service in the Congo during that country’s national crisis of the early 1960s as a member of the United Nations peace keeping force.

Having a vast knowledge of Nigeria’s pre-and post independence political history, he touched on the contradictions in the Nigerian geo-political system; the beginning of the national political crises; the military coup of January 1966; the rumples within the Armed Forces, the vengeful counter coup of July 1966 that followed; the eventual blood bath and the pogrom against the Igbo race and other southerners in Northern Nigeria and the Igbo exodus to their original homeland in Eastern Region. The blood letting led to the break away of the former Eastern Region from Nigeria, becoming the Republic of Biafra led by Col. Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu.

The outcome of the declaration of Biafra was a war between the two sides which started in July 1967.Things started happening in sequence as Biafran soldiers invaded and occupied the Midwestern region. Most of the Midwest Igbo military officers defected to Biafra, while Alabi-Isama made good his planned escape to the federal side on the liberation of the Midwestern region by the Nigerian Army, 2nd Division commanded by the late General Murtala Muhammed, then a colonel.

On joining the 3 MCDO in Calabar after his brief Kirikiri experience, he suggested the idea to attack Port Harcourt from Calabar.The wisdom of the strategic plan to march from Calabar for the liberation of Port Harcourt, a distance of over 400 kilometres, instead of Bonny which was nearer, was a subject of long debates for many days by the war commanders, and at last the Alabi-Isama proposal prevailed.

In part two, Brigadier – General Alabi – Isama related in details the strategic plots and all the ordeals experienced in the liberation of Port Harcourt and all the rivevine cities, including Oron, Eket, Obubra, Ugeb and other major points in the old South Eastern and Rivers states. The role of the Navy and the Air Force in the battle for the capture of Port Harcourt added strength to the exercise.

The book traced the politics behind Brigadier Adekunle’s replacement by the then Brigadier Olusegun Obasanjo. On Obasanjo’s assumption of office at the 3 CMDO, political intrigues came to the war front. Obasanjo was not very good at listening to genuine advice and this led to many wrong orders which claimed the lives of thousands of troops at the Owerri sector.

With both sides tired and exhausted by the fatigue of a baseless war, the final push and fall of Uli- Ihiala, the Biafra last strong hold, hosting the Biafra Headquarter, the Airport and Radio station was a dramatic encounter led by the self-assured General Alani Akinrinade, then a Colonel. His meeting with the sensational Colonel Joe Achuzia, the rugged Biafran Army all-rounder, was a graphic, solemn and sombre affair as both sides laid down their weapons, after over two million people have been killed in an unnecessary war.

At the end of the war, the military embarked on re-organisation, involving itself everywhere into civil administration. Thus intrigues penetrated the Armed Forces as many officers took over the civilian functions for which they were least qualified. The authors talked of the attempt made to blackmail and dent the records of his long years of service in the military and the design to frame him up in the Dimka attempted coup of 1976. He finally withdrew his service from the army by resigning his commission in 1977.

By the time he left the army 36 years ago, the military had been divided into two groups, the group that believed in professionalism and the political group that believed in coup making festivals and the hustle to amass wealth.

In part three, Brigadier General Alabi-Isama simply made a critique of “ My Command” a book written in 1980 by General Obasanjo who took over the command of the 3CMDO after Brigadier Adekunle, six months to the end of the war. After his review and analysis of the book, backed up with documents, memos, and pictures, “My Command” looked more like a package of made-up stories and fibs told for self esteem

Demonstrating with maps and statistics, the author observed the inherent incompatibility in the Nigerian formation created by the British. The northern regional government occupied a land area and population, bigger than the whole area occupied by the governments of the Eastern, Midwestern and Western Nigeria put together.

The author no doubt was very emotional while relating certain aspects of the events that happened during the war, which is understandable. One cannot help being emotional while relating a situation where you see colleagues you had just spoken to or even shared the same dinning pit shot dead the next moment, from bullets, fired by fellow Nigerians turned enemy in a war that was virtually needless. How the Ijaw nationalist Adaka Boro died was particularly a painful incident, evoking emotion.

Alabi- Isama highly elevated, valued and commended the role played by the Nigerian womanhood during the war. So many of them, young and old, volunteered as intelligence gatherers between the war borders. Some lived to tell the story, while so many others paid the supreme sacrifice.

The author paid a merited posthumous tribute to the late Ken Saro – Wiwa, the matyred Ogoni self determination and environmental rights intellectual and activist, who he mentioned worked hard effectively to organise the civilian population in support of the federal troops in the liberated areas throughout the war.

At the launch of the book on July 18, 2013, which was attended by many important persons at the NIIA in Lagos, the sight of many of the retired soldiers and officers was very pathetic, some came on wheel chair, many looking frail and many others struck by total or partial stroke, shaking with the wasting ailment of Parkinson diseases, abandoned in misery, after fighting a bloody war for ‘unity.’

Said Alabi-Isama, “Sometimes I begin to wonder if the Nzeogwu/Ifeajuna January 1966 coup was worth it and when we all got there, what good came out of it for the people other than to some opportunists at the expense of the masses.”

The book is coming at a time military rule all over the world has been condemned and discredited, even by the military rulers themselves.

The whole narrative portrayed the military adventure into politics in 1966 as a mission in self annihilation. Lacking the basic skills for civil administration, as soon as the coup plotters succeeded in dismissing the politicians from power, the hard core civil servants seized the rein of authority from them and started creating wealth for themselves and their favourites. The Tragedy of Victory published 43 years after the end of the Nigeria- Biafra war is a book for the younger generation who were not born or were toddlers during the war; many of them now holding responsible positions in the private and public sectors of the Nigerian establishment. They deserve to know about what happened in order to avoid past mistakes in planning for the future.

Before the military intervention in 1966, members of the Nigerian political class had sufficiently discredited themselves. Once again, Nigerian politicians are behaving in a way that suggests to members of the public; “get what you can, today, for there may be no tomorrow”.

What the Alabi- Isama book has eloquently told the Nigerian nation in the Tragedy of Victory is the cold fact that Nigeria is working but doing the wrong job; that the country is solving the problems of its socio-economic theory base but arriving at answers with the wrong formulas; that we are moving but advancing on the wrong road, leading to a wrong destination

Rich in details, the book did not just reel out only grievances by telling readers about what went wrong in Nigeria, but it also produced an outline on how to get about solving the problems, stressing on restructuring. The Tragedy of Victory is a book any body that cares about the future of Nigeria should read and think.

•Ilenre is Secretary General, Ethnic Minority and Indigenous Rights Organization of Africa (EMIROAF)

September 15, 2013
Boosting girl child education with books

Members of the Soroptimist International, Lagos, an organisation dedicated to bettering the lot of women in Nigeria, on Sunday, September 8, donated books to the Ansaru Deen Girls Secondary School.

According to the President of the Non-Governmental Organisation, Abiola Agusto-Agoro, the decision to donate books to the school was tied to the World Literacy Day which was marked on the same day.

“We had earlier donated books to Methodist Girls High School and we felt we should also give the Muslims a chance as we decided to come here to donate books. We are here to fulfill a part of our pledge. The idea is to encourage the girl child. As women, we are not as privileged as the men hence we are trying to create awareness so that they will know that education is very important. We are the mothers of the society. What a woman teaches the children goes with them for life so once you teach the woman, you have already taught the nation,” the president said.

The principal of the school, Mrs. Olaitan, said that the donation makes her feel excited. “Reading is another form of travelling. If you read a book about Germany and you understand it very well, you would have travelled through Germany. These books will assist the students expand their knowledge and give them more exposure and we are grateful to the organisation for this opportunity,” she stated.

September 15, 2013
‘Grandfather‘of nutrition goes into retirement

Professor Babatunde Oguntona, who recently turned a septuagenarian is popularly called ‘Grandfather of Nutrition in Nigeria’ because of his contributions to the development of the nutrition in the country. Oyeyemi Gbenga-Mustapha writes on his accomplishments as he goes on retirement.

In 1978, when he branched into academics to teach nutrition, each time, he had to wrestle to justify that the course be given a chance in the university curriculum. Now as he proceeds into retirement, he is happy that at least five Nigerian universities now offer food sciences and technology as well as nutrition at degree levels.

Prof Babatunde Oguntona puts it succinctly: “Unfortunately, that has not changed our attitude but we believe we shall get there. It is not too easy to convince people to understand the essence of good nutrition and in the academia, accepting it to be a course was always a challenge. For me to have been able to develop a programme for the Department of Animal and Food Science of the University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID), was indeed a thing of joy for me.”

Working through the past 35 years, first as a teacher and administrator at the level of developing programmes for the take-off of the Department of Animal and Food Science, which later metamorphosed into department of Food Science Technology at the University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID), as well as developing the curriculum and programme for the take off of the present College of Food Science and Human Ecology at the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB) was not a mean one.

Even at that, Prof Oguntona said: “Nutrition is a profession I look back at and I cherish with nostalgia. I will surely miss that real passion for teaching in my retirement but then the good thing is I am not going to entirely quit teaching. In the first instance, I already have a year consultancy with FUNAAB and I will take postgraduate students and afterwards, I will take on to some other things, which would unfold.”

In his active 35 years of developing nutrition in Nigeria, he said he considers his major achievements that give him intense satisfaction to include initiating and, “galvanising the establishment of nutrition programmes in many Nigerian educational institutions. I have published (with another colleague) the only text on the Composition of Foods commonly consumed in Nigeria.

“Published about 15 years ago, it is standard text for nutritionists and dieticians in Nigeria. The only truly national survey of ‘Food Consumption and Nutritional Status of Nigerians’ were conducted between 2001 and 2003 by a team of which I was the zonal co-ordinator. That was a seminal work that surveyed families in every nook and cranny of this country and it is an indication of the state of commitment of the cognate federal ministries to Nutrition issues that such a survey has not been attempted ten years after.

“As President of the Nutrition Society of Nigeria, we took nutrition advocacy all the way to the Presidency in Abuja and got the President (Obasanjo) and Ministers of all relevant ministries and other stakeholders to listen to why government should do more for the nutrition of Nigerians. Regrettably, despite the president’s commitment and directive on that day, not much has happened.

“In the last five years, I am very happy to be able to establish a fruitful linkage between the private sector and academia. About 50 students studying nutrition at postgraduate level in several Nigerian universities have been beneficiaries of scholarships provided by a food manufacturing company through this linkage.”

That is not all, to further create awareness on nutrition, he floated an idea by starting a Nutrition Club, “a small club where we brought together all the people who were in disciplines and in peripheral to nutrition because we couldn’t find anybody with a nutrition qualification. One of the achievements of the club was the production of a newsletter which circulated in the community and we were able to invite notable people to come to major activities like the World Food Day on October 1.

“This galvanised into celebration of world Breastfeeding Day which later metamorphosed into the Breastfeeding Week which is still celebrated till today. The most important effect of the club was that we were able to generate sufficient awareness to encourage people to want to study and become nutritionists. To cap it all, we succeeded in hosting the National society of Nutrition in 1984/1985.”

Recalling the early years of his life and what inspired him to pursue his vision, he said, “My first university degree was at the University of Ibadan (UI). At that time, it was fashionable to do either medicine or science but I wasn’t too keen on medicine for so many reasons.

“I’d always loved agriculture and so I applied to study agriculture in UI and was admitted; but in the programme, there were several options and one of these was agricultural biochemistry and nutrition. My first love was biochemistry and I was really enjoying it but then, biochemistry at a point became a very dry subject and so my introduction to nutrition was there at the University of Ibadan.”

Against the grains

Though it was unheard of that men be found studying such a course as ‘food and nutrition’, Ogunbona was undeterred: “people around me including my mother actually saw nutrition as cookery. But I was determined and I had mentors to encourage my passion while I was in the university studying for my first degree. There was a lecturer who was not an Agriculturist, Dr. Emmanuel Idusogie. He was the first person that taught me nutrition then and he made so much impression on me and one couldn’t but fell in love with the subject.

“He emphasised so much on the importance of nutrition, pointing out that no matter what we were doing whether in medicine or agriculture, the end point was really the nutrition of the people.”

After graduating with a B.Sc. in Agriculture, the windows of opportunity to pursue the reverie of becoming a food nutritionist were somewhat narrow for Oguntona, but he found his feet at the University of London, where he was offered admission for his Masters’ degree in animal nutrition and so began his sojourn into the world of nutrition.

“I didn’t come back to Nigeria immediately because there was nowhere to practise my programme. Ibadan was not doing a degree programme in nutrition. Subsequently I got an offer from the University of Nottingham to pursue my Ph.D programme and it was easy to go there since there were awards to support the course – the British Petroleum awards called BP Proteins, a food product.

“I was fortunate to be chosen to work on the product and it really opened so many opportunities. Incidentally, it was in the same laboratory that I met my wife who was working also as a postgraduate student in nutrition from Argentina.”

The desire to return to Nigeria grew in the mind of Oguntona who had left the shores for seven years (1970 to 1977) like all his other peers who had gone overseas to study. “Nigeria was very good at the time and there was attraction for us to come back home. A lot of people were in UK recruiting for the second generation of universities that were taking off then, and I applied into three, University of Ife, Ahmadu Bello and university of Maiduguri; all offered me employment but I chose UNIMAID because my wife was also offered employment there”, he said.

But on returning to Lagos in 1977, Prof Oguntona with his wife, Prof Clara Oguntona, whom he met in a laboratory and married while he was conducting research in the US, and also in an academic world with him at UNAAB, was met with a big jolt. “I had told my wife how beautiful Lagos was, the Marina, the Bar Beach, the seashores and night life of the 60’s among others. When we got home I took her to Lagos Island, where we got the rudest shock ever. Lagos had transformed and was no longer the beautiful city I was born in and grew up with through the 50’s and 60’s,” said Oguntona.

The Oguntonas, however, got the desired relieve when they got to Maiduguri to begin a career in teaching and were buried in developing the curricula for the Department of Animal Science and Nutrition as well as Biochemistry where Clara was equally a pioneer staff. Both taught there for 12 years and had all their three children in Maiduguri.

On how people should perceive nutrition and harness the best from it, Oguntona said: “For me, nutrition means life and quality of life. The whole essence of life is nutrition and for me what are important in proper nutrition are knowledge, food, and care. Knowledge because if you have all the money, resources and you can’t put it together to get good food, it is a waste; then the food can be grown or bought. If care is not seen as important because it includes health, hygiene, environment, sanitation and all that, then death can come. Care is very complicated but very essential as an element of nutrition and if one is missing, there is no nutrition.”

The ‘Father of Nutrition’ summed it all up why nutrition is so important to life: “The start of life in the embryo needs good nutrition to form and become healthy and no one must lose sight of this. There is the school of thought which has propounded that whatever a child is fed on while in the embryo stage come to really affect the lifespan of the child.”

September 15, 2013
Why we’re reviving ethnic-based theatre

At a time when plays, dances and songs in local languages are going extinct, Professor Femi Osofisan, a prolific writer and renowned playwright, has chosen to discuss and organise a national conference to revive people’s interest in ethnic-based stage theatre. In this interview with Edozie Udeze, Osofisan speaks on the need to look closely at D.O. Fagunwa’s works to see their relevance to national issues, the need to ensure that issues raised in plays conform with the problems of the society and lots more

You translated one of D.O. Fagunwa’s work Igbo Eledumare into English. What does it mean to have his work on stage?

Oh, it is not really a direct translation. What I have is a stage adaptation of one of his works into English.

When you did that, what were the essential issues you encountered?

Well, it is more or less what many scholars have been talking about. Anyway, in my own case, we had a project, a contract with one of these computer companies. We wanted to do all the Fagunwa’s stories on stage. It is one of the issues of reviving and showing interest in his works and then helping to promote indigenous literature.

It is also part of the reviving of Yoruba culture. In fact, ours was essentially to revive Nigerian cultures but we were to start with Yoruba and later move to other cultures. So, we chose D.O. Fagunwa’s works first. I was appointed the consultant for that project. So, that was it and we were to do seven works of different artistes every year. I also have my own agenda too, which is to help actors to stage plays throughout the country. If we are able to employ about 50 actors and 50 crews every year that would be fine. But we were able to do only two when they stopped the project. So that was it. My own concept of it was to do two adaptations of Fagunwa’s works and one in English, the other in Yoruba. It was then I hired Professor Akinwunmi Ishola for the Yoruba adaptation and then I’d do the one in English. So, every year we did one and we started Ogboju Igbo Olodumare which we had produced. Then we were to go on with the third one when that problem cropped up. So, we’ve not continued with the adaptations so far.

The play was too frightening to watch on stage. How were you able to situate all the mysteries and strange forests and human beings to give the play its proper bent?

You know, I had a good director in the person of Dr. Tunde Awosanmi of the University of Ibadan. Yes, he did justice to the play on stage. He did a good directing and was able to bring out the true colour of what I had in the translation. I hired him to handle the English one and he did it so well that people who watched it came out not only fascinated, but better informed about the works of Fagunwa. Our first problem was to get the script. It was not really a big problem for me to translate it into stage. The narrative was a bit clearer – a bit more understandable.

However, in the other plays and other books, the narratives were not as clear and as understandable. Sometimes, it was not that clear to situate it. So, the first thing we did was to sit down and decide which one to take. As we heard from the panel thereafter, there was a lot of ambiguity concerning Fagnwa’s works because of his Christian background combined with his traditional beliefs. All we did was to give all that their tonal phases. And as a writer, he had his own artistic pedigree. So, all these things clashed again and again as we worked on the project to get the best translation for the stage. And so sometimes the stories are not really resolved. You know the hunters and so on, travelled to places and in the end what happened? It talks about the morality of a people, the morality of a society and so on.

So, there are lots of moralising, a lot of sermonising and also a lot of contradictions in the works. So, how do you bring them all to bear on stage for people to watch and be conscious of what the story is all about? Ogboju Olodumare even seems to be the clearest of all his works. Yet at the end of it all, it was like the people were being tricked. When they came back it seemed people did not even remember them. I mean the hunters. Although there are issues there to make them look like national heroes and so on, but the actual story shows that they wasted their time undertaking that adventure. Look at the story again and you’ll see it clearly there.

So, there are lots and lots of ambiguities in the story, that is in Fagunwa’s works. But as a playwright you have to situate them properly to suit the stage, to appeal to the audience. You need to decide the real emphasis for the stories, for there are many stories therein. So, for us to find a coherent theme, we had to arrange and rearrange and then said okay, what were the main stories in all these?

And then we decided which would form the main part on stage. We also worked Ireke Onibudo out to see how it relates to his primary aim. While investigating around, we discovered that that name was given to one of the Ibadan army generals. It is the lion of the people, yet it is a metaphor for love.

So, we decided to concentrate on those love motives. It was a time really to find out what to do about that. Then the other thing again was to go back to the more narrative aspect of it. Finally, the second part goes to the hunters. The thing is that they were tricked by the Oba of the town. The question now is why did Oba do that. So, you have to read the story, read between the lines and reading between the lines, you’ll see what happened in the town.

That meant also, there was contest of power. The Oba discovered that if you are too powerful, you ought to be made an ambassador to throw you away from his domain. He was thinking the hunters will never come back. You have to look at it properly to get how that story happened. I have just completed Igbo Olodumare. When Wale Ogunyemi did Langbodo, he just ignored the first part of it and just went from there to the time of the hunters who went on that journey. But the question is what of the first part of that story?

Therefore, it has been challenging. When I gave Akinwumi Ishola his own part of the Yoruba language to work on, without discussing it, he thought somehow that my own story is different. So, what is the principal line? While he worked on his own, I did mine on my own. What I did was to ensure that both the English and Yoruba films should not be exactly the same thing. Now they look a bit different and that makes it more interesting.

Yes, in terms of love and social issues raised, is there any relationship between this and the Women of Owu, your own play?

Well, in Women of Owu, to me, our theatre has always emphasised on entertainment, dance, songs and so on. That is what appeals to people. People here love to watch total theatre where you have plenty of entertainment mixed with the story itself. If you have to have a good play, all those features have to be there. That is what Women of Owu stands for. But I don’t restrict my attention to only dance.

I have done other plays without total emphasis on love and dance. But in Women of Owu, I feel when you are dealing with that sort of issue you need to do that. So, even in Fagunwa’s works, you’ll always see musicians there. That is the whole essence of that. If you go through them you’ll see singing, dancing and so on. These played vital roles to get people out of danger, that’s with the songs, the dances. So you cannot avoid that. And also since it is the aim of our producer to revive our dying cultures and all that, they ensured that we did it to bring in certain essential theatre elements to make people love what we do.

What do you think is the role of mother tongue in Nigerian theatre?

It is very interesting. In fact, I think I will call for a conference may be in January next year on the issue of mother tongue and literature. We need to talk about it. We need to discuss it. What we are doing is to raise interest in local theatre or ethnic theatre. Be it in Igbo culture or Urhobo. The thing is if you do not do it, how do you now say theatre in local languages does not happen at all? How do demonstrate that it does not write. So, we need to situate that in our cultural parameters. But while we are doing that, what do we say now is happening to the national agenda, with the National Theatre, the Nigerian theatre itself? How do you propagate these ethnic-based theatre? This is why I said I have to convoke a national conference on this next year.

September 15, 2013