Category: Online Special

Hannah Ajakaiye

Natasha Akpoti warmed her way to the hearts of Nigerians in 2015 when she addressed the National Assembly to advocate for the revival of Ajaokuta Steel Mill in Kogi state.

A candidate for the Kogi Central Senatorial election in February 2019, she was also the only female candidate in the Kogi state gubernatorial election where she emerged as one of top three contenders.

Holding her fort in an election described by international and local observers as fraught with violence and irregularities, Akpoti, who contested under the platform of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), became a reference point for courage and determination for women aspiring for public offices in Nigeria’s muddy political space.

A lawyer and a social entrepreneur, Ms Akpoti told The Nation that her foray into politics was inspired by a desire to serve.

“I did not want to be one of those who would sit on the sidelines and criticize without trying to participate actively with some authority,” she said.

Nigeria is one of the world’s biggest democracies with the lowest representation of women.
In the 2019 elections, 2,970 women vied for political positions, forming 11.36 percent of nominated candidates according to research by the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD). However, after the elections, only 64 women got elected into political offices, making up a meagre 4.17 percent.

Facing the giants

In a country where cultural stereotypes, gender-based violence and harassment often debar women from active political participation; Natasha bucked the trend, waging through a path where many often fear to tread. Few days to the gubernatorial election, she was attacked while making her way to a political stakeholders meeting organized by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) at a hotel in Lokoja. This is aside other cases of assaults including burning of properties, loss of lives and injuries on her supporters.

“I realized politics in Nigeria is much more dangerous than I imagined. It’s just by the grace of God that I’m still alive today. When you sit down and read about political killings, these things are real,” she said in a phone interview conducted before the gubernatorial polls.

Akpoti who prefers to be seen as a political reformer rather than a politician, said she literarily lost sleep the moment she declared her intention to participate in the governorship election. First, she was disqualified by INEC for filling Mohammed Yakubu, a 34-year-old engineer as deputy, a decision which she adjudged as a conspiracy by the ruling party, especially since the #NotTooYoungtoRun bill had been signed into law.

“The deputy governor of Zamfara state today is a 33 year and nobody has taken him to court,” she added.

Although Yakubu was substituted with Mr Adams Khalid Ogbeche, a 44-year-old engineer, she was still excluded from the election, making her lose ample time for campaigns. It was until a week to the election that a federal high court siting in Abuja ruled that she was qualified to run, adding that INEC was wrong to have disqualified her in the first place. Ms Akpoti had since called for the cancellation of the election which she said was anything but credible.

Newbie in politics

When Natasha contested for a senatorial seat to represent Kogi Central in February this year, she polled 48,326 votes to claim second place, displacing the incumbent Ahmed Ogembe of the PDP to third position.

“My performance was based solely on merit, I did exceptionally well for a newbie in politics. As a woman there were odds, but I already had a message. I had already become an idea— the idea of reviving Ajaokuta steel company which is the main asset of our people,” she reminisced.

Banking on women

Akpoti said one of the things which encouraged her to take a shot at the governorship election was the support she got from grassroots women in Kogi state. However, she confessed to being disappointed with women in the elite space, many of whom she said were silent during her disqualification ordeals with INEC.

“Several times I tagged some of them on Twitter but it’s only Kadaria Ahmed who reached out to me. I wanted more women to claim the fight as their own, especially since we’ve never had an elected female governor in Nigeria,” she lamented.

Her admonition to young women aspiring for political office is; “just start!”

“The steps do not unveil themselves all through. When you start with a large dose of courage and determination, you begin to see that you are building resilience to manage the next hurdle. That’s how you keep going until what ordinarily looks impossible would look possible.”

A firm believer that women can unlock the greatness of Nigeria, there’s no gainsaying the fact that the 39-year-old Ebira woman has the potential to buck the trend of low women representation in Nigeria’s political space if she does not give up the fight.

Report supported by the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD).

Alao Abiodun

According to statistics, Nigeria currently ranks highest in number of internet users with over 111.6 million internet users in African.

This active use of the internet by Nigerians is in diverse areas such as work-related activities, social media engagements, online transactions, purchases and so on.

The Nigerian Senate on Tuesday, November 5, re-introduced a bill that will regulate the use of social media in the country. The bill, ‘Protection from Internet Falsehood and Manipulations Bill 2019’ was one of the 11 bills read for the first time at the floor of the house.

The sponsor of the legislation, Sen. Mohammed Sani Musa, said the bill was aimed at curbing fake news on the internet but this action has been greeted by controversial reactions.

Musa, who is representing Niger East Senatorial District, said that his bill on social media was aimed at guiding the users and not to gag media practitioners in Nigeria.

Read Also; Guild of Editors hits FG on proposed social media regulation

However, this is not the first time the government has mulled the passing of a bill to regulate the use of social media.

In 2015, there was a sponsored anti-social media bill but, the bill was kicked against by many Nigerians who believe it negates citizens’ fundamental rights and would restrict freedom of expression.

It should be recalled that on June 26, 2018, the Chairman of the Nigerian Senate Committee on ICT and Cybercrime, Abdul Fatai Buhari, announced that the Nigerian government lay before the Senate a Bill set to regulate social media because many Nigerians were misusing it.

With the re-introduction of this bill in an interview with journalists, Musa said it was aimed at ensuring sanity on social media.

He said individuals who post false information on the internet, when found guilty would be asked to pay a fine of N150,000 or they are sentenced to three months imprisonment.

The Senator added that any corporate organisation that refused to block false information after the regulating agency had alerted it would be asked to pay a fine ranging from N5m to N10m.

While social media is a place to connect with friends and family, these platforms have become a critical part of political mobilization in Nigeria and the world at large. It has also helped to expose government’s wrong doings and mobilize mass action to hold leaders accountable such as ‘Occupy Nigeria’, ‘Bring Back Our Girls’, etc.

Different school of thoughts have raised their concerns as regards the bill, while those against the bill argued that if the law is passed, the law could mean an unwarranted policing of citizens freedom of expression.

While others who are in support established that the law would allow for censorship of libelous or defamatory material on social media. The law will make it possible for persons inciting hate or making hate speeches online to be liable to arrest and prosecution.

Similarly, Nigeria’s minister of information Lai Mohammed affirmed that no responsible government would want the activities of social media that is capable of setting the country on fire.

By Samuel Oamen

Coconut is a complete food rich in calories, vitamins and minerals. Although, its meat is excessively high in saturated fats in comparison to other common edible nuts, coconut has many health promoting bioactive compounds. It contains lauric acid which increases good high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels in the blood. HDL has beneficial effects on the coronary arteries by preventing vessel blockage (atherosclerosis).

Coconut water is packed with simple sugar, electrolysis, minerals and bioactive compounds. Although, these enzymes aid digestion and metabolism. A particular research study shows that cytokine (small secreted proteins released by cells) in coconut water showed significant anti-ageing, anti-carcinogenic and anti-thrombotic properties. The kernel is an excellent source of minerals such as copper, calcium, iron, manganese, magnesiumvand zinc. It is also a very good source of B-complex vitamins such as foliates riboflavin, niacin, thiamine and pyridoxine. These vitamins are essential in the sense that the body requires them for external sources. Coconut meat and water contain a good amount of potassium.

Coconut contains a high amount of saturated fats but these could be harmless depending on the person’s health (not mostly recommended for someone who is obese), they contain medium chain medium chain triglycerides which are fatty acids of medium length. These fatty acids are absorbed differently by the body. They go straight to the liver from the digestive system, they are further turned into ketone bodies, which can have therapeutic effects on brain disorders like epilepsy and Alzheimer’s. Other health benefits of coconut include the following.

Read Also: Breakfast and its health benefits

1. Fibre content: Coconut is rich in dietary fibre. Its fibre slows down the release of glucose then transports it to the cell where it will be converted into energy.

It assists in relieving stress on the pancreas and enzyme systems which reduces the risk of developing diabetes.

2. Boost immunity: Coconut nutrition is excellent for immunity system m it is anti-viral, anti-fungal, and bacterial and antiphrastic. Intake of coconut oil can help the body to mount resistance to both viruses and bacteria that causes illness.

3. Treat abdominal fats: Coconut is also beneficial in treating dangerous fats in the abdominal cavity.

4. Overall health: Research has proven that people who consume coconut daily are healthier when compared to those who don’t.

5. Treat epilepsy: This first can dramatically reduce the rate of seizures in epileptic children.

6. Fights cancer: Coconut nutrition has proven to have anticancer properties. It is especially beneficial to treat colon and breast cancer.

7. Prevent urinary tract infections: The natural diuretic property of coconut treats urinary tracts infections. It improves the flow of urine to get rid of the infections.

8. Extremely beneficial during Pregnancy: Coconut water is sterile and is very good for pregnant women. It improves the immunity and health of mother and baby and prevents infection and other diseases.

9. Healthy bones and teeth: Eating coconut regularly supports the development of healthy teeth and strong bones. It improves the body’s ability yo absorb calcium and manganese which aid bone development.

10. Fights dryness: Coconut oil, if used on the skin prevents dryness and flakiness. It keeps the skin moisturized and supple.

11. Prevent scalp infections: The antibacterial and anti-fungal properties of coconut protect the scalp from dandruff, lice and itchy scalp which often slows down hair growth. It gives a healthy, shiny and silky hair

Praise Olowe

David Lyon has been declared winner of the just concluded gubernatorial election in Bayelsa State by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Sunday, November 17, 2019.

Lyon of the All Progressives Congress (APC) will succeed outgoing Governor Seriake Dickson, who has ruled the state since 2012

Here are 1O things you should know about Lyon

1. His full name is David Lyon Perewonrimi

2. He is the CEO of Darlon Security and Guard, a private security firm in Bayelsa state.

3. He was born into the Olodiana clan of Southern Ijaw local government area of the state.

4. He is not a very popular face in the Bayelsa political landscape.

Read Also: It’s landslide win as INEC names Lyon governor-elect

5. He contested under the platform of PDP as an aspirant to represent the Southern Ijaw constituency IV in 2011.

6. He defected from PDP in 2015 to join the ruling APC.

7. He was born on December 20, 1970, in Olugbobiri community.

8. He attended Saint Gabriel’s State School Olugbobiri, from 1978 to 1983

9. He attended community secondary school, Olugbobiri, from 1984 to 1988.

10. He went to Rivers State College of Education 13. He possesses a National Certificate of Education (NCE).

Our Reporter

Red lipstick and shiny eye shadow were unlikely but important weapons deployed by members of the Dutch resistance when taking on Nazi soldiers.

Freddie and Truus Oversteegen, two sisters, and their best friend Hannie Schaft would put on their best clothes and fastidiously apply their makeup before going into bars to seek out unsuspecting targets.

The young girls, who were active in the Dutch resistance during the Second World War, would then strike up conversations with Nazi soldiers or Dutch collaborators. They would giggle and bat their eyelashes as they cajoled them into disclosing classified information.

Then they would lure them into the woods on the pretext of a “romantic walk” – and shoot them dead.

Freddie and Truus survived the war but Hanniea, who is far more famous than the Oversteegen sisters, was caught and executed by the Nazis just three weeks before World War II came to an end.

The last words she uttered are said to have been “I’m a better shot” after her executioner wounded her with the first attempt.

Sophie Poldermans was a close friend of Freddie and Truus, who both recently died at the age of 92, and intimately and regularly spoke to them about their memories of the war throughout their lives.

Ms Poldermans, a lawyer who specialises in women and war crimes, has now written about their harrowing experiences in a book titled Seducing and Killing Nazis – Hannie, Truus, and Freddie: Dutch Resistance Heroines of WWII.

“They were extremely brave women,” she told The Independent. “I would not want to have stood in their shoes. They started out small in the resistance – carrying illegal newspapers printed by the resistance news about Nazi troops. They would ride their bicycles and deliver them to specific addresses. They would also steal false identification papers for Jewish people in hiding.”

Freddie and Truus, who was two years older than her, were born and raised in Haarlem, a Dutch city close to Amsterdam, by a single mother.

The parents had divorced and their mother was a communist. She would get the young girls to make dolls for children who were victims of the Spanish Civil War.

Ms Poldermans, who worked with the siblings for over a decade as a board member of the National Hannie Schaft Foundation but also knew them personally, said Truus and Hannie would help transport Jewish children to safe houses but Freddie,14 at the beginning of the war, had been too young to help.

“People also could have easily thought she was a Jewish child herself because of her appearance so it would have been too dangerous for her,” Ms Poldermans said. “But Truus and Hannie would take Jewish children from one safe house to another on their bikes if they knew there were traitors around. It was not suspicious for them to be carrying young children because they were women. They would sing songs to distract the children.”

But the three girls roles and tactics in the resistance grew increasingly dangerous as they got more heavily involved.

“They would use explosives to blow up railway lines and trains to make sure Germans were not able to transport soldiers or weapons or Jewish people,” Ms Poldermans explains. “This was a heavier type of resistance. They wanted to make sure it was chaos on the railway line.”

READ ALSO: Art stolen by Nazis returned to heirs of Jewish couple

It was not long before the teenage girls started seducing and shooting Nazis – with commanders assigning them particular targets.

“They did what they did because it had to be done,” Ms Polderman says. “They believed in justice. They did not believe there was another way. At the same time, they tried to remain human. They suffered from depression and had nightmares and what we would now call PTSD.”

The lecturer says it took a long time after the end of the war before the sisters got the recognition they deserved – explaining many people wanted to look forwards rather than backwards, and stories of the resistance were dominated by men.

Ms Poldermans adds: “They had to fight for recognition. Truus was very outspoken. She would always tell her story but Freddie was much traumatised. She couldn’t talk about the war and it was only in the last few years in her life that she could. Freddie got all the recognition for her work after she died. It is too bad she doesn’t know.

“War affected everything in their lives. Truus became a well-known sculptor but the war was present in all of her artwork. The trauma never went away for them. Every day around liberation day in May, they would wake up screaming, having nightmares about the war. All the memories came back to them. It was so bad that Freddie would have to leave the country for a couple of months during that time of year.”

(www.newsnow.co.uk)

By Praise Olowe

A former Minister of Petroleum, Prof Tam David West, passed on in the early hours of Monday.

He died at the age of 83.

Here are ten things you may not know about him:

· David-West was born in Buguma, Kalabari in what is now Rivers State.

· He received his higher education at the University of Ibadan (1956–1958).

· He earned a BSc degree at Michigan State University (1958–1960), an MSc degree at Yale University (1960–1962), and a PhD degree at McGill University (1964–1966).

· David-West was consultant virologist and senior lecturer at the University of Ibadan in 1969 and was subsequently promoted to professor of virology in 1975.

· He served in Nigerian government as commissioner of education and a member of the Executive Council of Rivers State (1975–1979)

Read Also; ‘How David-West died’

· He also served as a member of the fifty-person Constitution Drafting Committee for the Federal Military Government of General Murtala Muhammed (1979).

· He was also federal Minister of Petroleum and Energy under General Muhammadu Buhari (1984–1985)

· He was Minister of Mines, Power, and Steel under General Ibrahim Babangida (1986). He was eventually removed as minister and arrested by the Babangida regime for allegedly contributing to the economic adversity of the country.

· He was discharged and acquitted of these charges by Nigeria’s Special Appeal Court on 8 August 1991.

· He died on Monday, November 11, 2019 at the age of 83

https://www.wikipedia.org/