The Nation Newspaper

Category: Online Special

  • Tears as remains of slain Iyaloja is interred

    Tears as remains of slain Iyaloja is interred

    Tears flow unrestrained from the eyes of thousands of market women and men in Ijebuland as the remains of the slain Iyaloja of Ijebuland, Alhaja Sadia Elewuju, arrived her Itorin – Sabo residence preparatory for burial according to Muslim rites.

    The hearse bearing her remains was draped in white clothes pulled – up at her home by noon amid crowd of mourners and sympathizers who bemoaned the gruesome killing of the 82 years woman.

    Security agencies who had earlier cordoned off the residence near Otunba Gbenga Daniel Estate, Itorin – Sabo area of Ijebu – Ode, had a hectic time trying to control sympathizers who kept wailing and cursing the suspected murderers.

    The Nation gathered that the assailants struck when her male househelps were away to the market to buy food items for entertainment of guests ahead of the break of the Ramadan fast.

    However, the Ogun state Police Command have vowed to arrest the killers of the 82 years old Iyaloja of Ijebuland, Alhaja Sadia Elewuju, and bring them to justice as a new Police Commissioner, Abdulmajid Alli, resumed on Thursday afternoon.

    Alhaja Elewuju was said to have been attacked around 4pm am on Wednesday when her suspected assailants invaded her Itorin – Sabo home, Ijebu – Ode, shooting and also inflicting severe matchet cuts on her before leaving the octogenerian in a pool of blood.

    Alli, who took over from Mr. Valentine Ntomchukwu by 12:34 pm on Thursday said hoodlums and cultists terrorising Ijebuland would be flushed out, adding that Ogun state would also be made unsafe for criminals.

    Also, the Ogun Police Command’s Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, told reporters that people suspected to be “hoodlums” attacked the elderly woman and the Police found her in a pool of blood when someone informed them about the attack Adejobi, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) said the police are on the trail of the Elewuju’s killers, assuring that the Police would put measures in place to avoid similar killings in future. According him, the woman was taken to a hospital in Sagamu but later transfered to a Lagos based hospital where she died.

    He explained that the new Police Commissioner,  Alli, will visit the family of late Iyaloja soon to commiserate with them and also give the family the assurance that the culprits would be brought to book. According to him, the Command is not unaware of the peculiar nature of crimes being committed in Ijebu – Ode as the Police would not leave any stone unturned in ensuring that innocent lives are not wasted by criminals.

    The Police in Ijebu – Ode and detectives from the Igbeba Police Area Command were said have swunged into action to unravel the circumstances and motives behind her gruesome attack.

  • Supporters of Jonathan attack Buhari

    Supporters of Jonathan attack Buhari

  • 2015 Women in Journalism conference

    2015 Women in Journalism conference

  • Man disappears over wife’s third set of twins

    Man disappears over wife’s third set of twins

    Where  is Citizen Emeka Benjamin Uche, a Lagos factory worker?

    That was the big question yesterday as his wife, Ruth, 34, from Abia State broke the news of his disappearance since February.

    Uche, 39, fled home when he learnt that his expectant wife was carrying a set of twins – the family’s third.

    Mrs Uche was at the Lagos State Secretariat, Alausa yesterday with her six children, pleading for help.

    Not many knew what she wanted as she stood under a tree, close to the Press Centre, carrying the babies. Her first two sets of twins, much older, stood close to their mother, and did not in any way seem intimidated by the sea of cameras and faces focusing on them.

    Mrs. Uche was receptive when  our reporter approached her to narrate her ordeal.

    In 2009 when she first conceived, she was delivered of two girls – Goodness and Godnews. The second conception, two years later, produced another two – a boy and a girl, named John and Joyce.

    But when her husband, Emeka, learnt that the third pregnancy was another set of two he fled their number 32, Awori Street, Agege home on the outskirt of Lagos to an undisclosed location in Ikorodu, Lagos.

    The third set of twins arrived last month. They were named Daniel and Daniella.

    Mrs. Uche said she could no longer cope with widening needs for food, clothes, drugs and school fees.

    Her meagre earnings as a teacher in a private school in Lagos can no longer meet their needs.

    Her story: “I met my husband in 2002 but we got married in 2008. We met in the village at Umuahia. I don’t want to leave the children and run away. This is why I want government to help us,” she said.

    She recalled that she never wanted the third pregnancy, but her use of traditional means of family planning (counting fertile and infertile days) failed her.

    “I was using traditional way of family planning where I calculate some days before having intercourse. It was working for me. You can see my first set of twins is four years old.

    “You know as women, we cannot deny our husband that thing whenever they request for it. Whenever I mistakenly take in, he would say that I was pretending. Sometimes, I would go through long process to abort the pregnancy. After that, another one would happen. I would still have to go through the process again to abort it. When this one happened he still insisted that I was pretending until the pregnancy became obvious.”

    “My Church was responsible for the payment of the first delivery. The church paid N120, 000 for the delivery of the first set of twins. The two deliveries of the twins have been through Caesarean Section for which we paid N120, 000 each. The last twins are through normal delivery”.

    Mrs. Uche explained that her husband, a factory worker in Iju Road, Agege, has since refused to pick her calls. She learnt that he stays in Ikorodu.

    “Since I gave birth to the children, I have tried calling my husband but he would not pick once he knows that it is me. I contacted his mother and other relatives to tell them that he has run away. They promised that they will call back. Since then, none of them has called me. It is not easy for me at all.

    “I know only two of his relations. One of them lives in Ikorodu; the other one lives at Ajegunle. My elder brother, who could have also helped, is very angry with me for giving birth to another set of twins. He warned me before not to have any other child after the two sets of twins, especially with the kind of husband I have.

    “I cannot put my hands in blood shedding by committing abortion. I want Nigerians to help me because there is nobody to pay their school fees.

    “I went for immunisation some days ago and I told them my condition and why they have not been seeing me. It was there that they advised that I should come to government. Government should please help my children; no one to help me with house rent, electricity bill, school fees, food and so on,” Mrs. Uche said.

  • Gmail introduces undo option

    Gmail introduces undo option

    Ever hit the send button before realising you made a great mistake you wish you could correct in that mail? Better times are here as Google’s electronic mail account, Gmail, now has the option for recalling such mails.

    Google added the option to its Gmail settings in order to enable users undo messages they sent out of errors.

    Interestingly, users have the choice of choosing the undo time between 5 seconds to 30 seconds within which any mail sent out of error could be recalled.

    To enjoy this new settings from Google, users would simply go to settings then scroll down gradually. The option is just beneath ‘Send and Archive’ but before ‘Stars’.

    Users can then enable or disable the option.

  • 5 things about #BeingAWomanInNigeria.

    5 things about #BeingAWomanInNigeria.

    @GeorgeNjideka

    #beingawomaninnigeria You must not complain if your hubby refused to contribute in family expenses if not U’re exposing your family

    Otunba ‏@deboshenko

    “@gboukzi: #BeingAWomanInNigeria You must be irresponsible to be eating at Bukas; It’s meant for only men who don’t have wives.”

    Iyke ‏@Iyke

    If You go to the club alone to have a drink and spend quality time alone. Ahh you be Olosho #BeingAWomanInNigeria

    Queen B ‏@dqu33nb

    #BeingAWomanInNigeria means you call your inlaws Aunty and brother even if you are way older than them

    1. ‏@_sizwee

    #BeingAWomanInNigeria. Where your husband can be impotent and you will still be blamed for not having a child.

     

  • Unique celebration as Jega bows out

    Unique celebration as Jega bows out

    Professor Attahiru Jega has finally bowed out as Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Tuesday after five years of meritorious service to the nation.

    Kindly find the ways Nigerians celebrated the hero of the 2015 general elections on twitter below:

     

  • Nigerians in UK to organise disability day

    Nigerians in UK to organise disability day

    All is now set for the first ever Nigerian disability day scheduled to hold September 19, 2015.

    The event is expected to provide Nigerians in the UK a platform to hold an open day for all disabled diasporans in the country is also aimed at enabling parents of children with disabilities to network with each other and share their experiences.

    Organised by the Central Association of Nigerians in the UK (Canuk), the event has been christened Canuk Disability Day and will take place at the Enfield Town Hall in north London.

    Already several Nigerian charities and organisations that work with disabled people including the Pamela Douglas Foundation Worldwide, Ovo Foundation, Star Children Initiative and the XN Foundation have indicated support and preparedness to be part of the event.

    Speaking on the expectations of the event, Babatunde Loye – Canuk chairman said; “It is expected to attract many Nigerians living with disabilities across the UK and the day has been designed to provide them with a range of activities and entertainment. Starting from 11am and lasting until 6pm, the event will have Nigerians with disabilities at the centre of its activities, with many of them taking leading roles in managing affairs.”

    According to Loye: “This is the first step in a move designed to reach out to our disabled community who we have not really got involved with up until now. As things stand, nobody knows how many Nigerians living with disability are in the UK and we have not put together a programme to involve them in Canuk’s activities.

    “We are hoping that with this event, those with disabilities and the parents of children with disabilities can come together and get to know one another. If they network, get to share their experiences and offer each other support, it will go a long way to help address the isolation many of them feel as well as address the stigma within our community.”

    An earlier event held in April this year, had brought hundreds of Nigerian together in south London.

    The programme titled Poverty & Disability: An Overview in African Context, led to a communiqué on how to address disability within Africa.

    The Nation learnt that this draft is being sent to several African countries with a view to getting them to put measures in place to care for the disabled.

    Former mayor of Enfield, Kate Anolue, who helped book the venue, said that the matter has now become urgent as Nigeria, like a lot of other African countries is doing nothing about the growing number of disabled people among the population.

    She added that with the rest of the world taking the issue head on by providing disability access to all public buildings, visual and hearing aids, as well as training and assessment, it is time to try and catch up.

    Ms Anolue added: “It is unthinkable for a public building to be built in Europe today without a disabled ramp being provided but in Africa, we are not even looking at the basics. Primary things like wheelchairs Braille and hearing aids are not provided for the disabled but hopefully, this open day will kick-start the fight back.”

    On his part, Dr Ife Akintunde, of the XN Foundation, a visually impaired Nigerian harped on why the disabled should know that they can have a fulfilling life like everyone else.

    He pointed out that he ended up getting a PhD despite being visually impaired.

  • Widow’s Day: Foundation gives scholarship to 135 students

    Widow’s Day: Foundation gives scholarship to 135 students

    As part of activities marking the 2015 International Widows Day, the Rock of Ages Empowerment Foundation, RAEF,  has provided scholarship to eighty-five primary school pupils and fifty secondary schools students in the Federal Capital Territory.

    The gesture according to the Founder and Executive Director of the RAEF, Ignatius Newman Ezeigbo is aimed at providing succor to the mothers of the 135 students who have become widows.

    Speaking at an event marking the 2015 International widows day in Abuja Wednesday, Ezeigbo  said his foundation have also trained 95 widows for bakery, 105 for soap making while a sum of N4, 800,000 have  also been set aside to equip the women with all the materials needed for the initial take off in their businesses.

    “The Foundation have so far spent N70 million on about 3000 widows since 2012, about ten elderly ones here will get grinding machine value at about N40,000 while 1200 bags of rice and also wrappers will also be shared to the widows today”

    Speaking on the future plans of the foundation that have been assisting widows in the last five years, Ezeigbo said it has concluded arrangements to embark on a programme tagged, “Vegetable for life” where lands have been procured in various locations in its branches to be leased to beneficiaries and crops supplied to them for planting.

    “Additionally, boreholes are to be provided in various locations to make for an all year round farming since some vegetables are grown all seasons,” he said.

    Ezeigbo called on Nigerians to seize the opportunity of the International Widows Day to start helping widows around them no matter how little, saying they need assistance.

    The Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, Ezekiel Oyemomi in his goodwill message at the session said the Federal Government has launched a widow’s empowerment scheme in collaboration with the MTN Foundation with a strong commitment to address the plight of widows in Nigeria and to ensure their integration into the National transformation processes.

    “In addition, the Ministry in continuation of its drive to promote the economic empowerment of women is proposing to train about 100 widows in basic skills and also give them start off grants and tools

    “I wish to call on all stakeholders to support these empowerment schemes as a sure way to ensure that widows vulnerability issues and concerns are positively addressed and be encouraged to participate in economic and other activities geared towards improving their status and ensuring full integration into National Development,“ he said

    Sister Faith Owoicho from Benue State and Rosemary Joseph from Cross River State are among other widows who spoke at the event. They said they encountered hardship after the death of their husbands but with the help of the foundation, they now adequately feed their children, pay their school fees and started a trade of their own.

    They urged people to extend helping hands to widows.

    Other activities that formed part of the celebration includes free medical screening as well as distribution of drugs to the sick persons.

  • Xenophobia: Affected Nigerians seek assistance

    Xenophobia: Affected Nigerians seek assistance

    Nigerians affected by the recent xenophobic attacks in Sternkopf and Poffader in Northern Cape Province of South Africa have called for assistance to enable them resettle.

    Mr Emeka Muo, a businessman in Sternkopf, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on phone from South Africa on Wednesday that he lost everything to the xenophobic attacks on June 15.

    ‘’ My family and I are now taking shelter in a neighbouring community. The attackers looted everything we had and we are left with nothing.

    ‘’ My wife and our little baby are now taking refuge in a family friend’s house in Springbok, a neighbouring town.

    ‘’ We appeal to the Federal Government to direct the Nigerian Mission in South Africa to come to our aid.

    “ We need urgent assistance to survive the winter period in South Africa,’’ he said.

    Mr Christian Onovo, the Ward Chairman of Nigerian Union in Springbok, said property such as cars and house hold items were burnt by the attackers.

    ‘’ As I speak to you, more than 11 Nigerians and their families are stranded. They have been forced out of the community and there is fear of more attacks.

    ‘’ We are living on the edge in Springbok. We need assistance to resettle Nigerians affected by the renewed attacks,’’ he said.

    The President of Nigeria Union, South Africa, Mr Ikechukwu Anyene, said some members of the national executive of the union had visited the affected communities to assess the situation.

    Anyene said the union met with senior police commanders in the affected areas.

    “ After the meeting with the police and Nigerians, it was agreed that the police should provide security for all residents of the community and address the concerns of local residents.

    ‘’ The police assisted by providing temporary accommodation for three Nigerians.

    “ The situation is stable and there are no more attacks. The authorities assured that measures have been taken to prevent further attacks,’’ he said.

    Anyene said the union had written to the Nigerian High Commission in South Africa, but had not received any response yet.

    ‘’ Nigerians affected by the attacks want urgent response from the Mission to salvage their situation.

    ‘’ We were able to interact with the natives and found out that issues bordering on poverty, crime and operating businesses without permit were the main reasons for the attacks.

    ‘’ The union proposed for periodic meetings with foreigners and South Africans in the community to sort out the concerns and bridge the communication gap that could cause crisis,’’ he said.