The Nation Newspaper

Category: Saturday Magazine

Facing death taught me to live – Esther Omojafor, survivor of 2006 ADC Airline plane crash

October 29, 2006, three women emerged from the ruins of the ADC Airline’s Boeing 737-2B7 aircraft. Together, they ambled through the mangled cabin, mindful of the litter of corpses and spurts of fire, remnants of the Aviation Development Company Airlines (ADC) Flight 053. Its innards strewn across a maize farm, the aircraft splayed like a vastly flattened purgatory; 100 passengers and five cabin crew mauled within its confines, like Gothic platitudes slipshodly carved into the burning tragedy.

An eerie and indiscriminate crackle seemed to desecrate its flaming tomb;

They wandered through the ruins, like a company of accidental shadows, their hard noises pirouetting across the scene, drifting back and forth, in a grisly tenor.

Few minutes earlier, they shouldered each other in a forced but passionate recoil from the fangs of death. One of the trio was 24-year-old Esther Olamide Jeyibo (now Omojafor). And her recollection of the incident was searing.

Speaking exclusively to The Nation, she said, soon after takeoff, the aircraft took a turn and stabilized, then it descended abruptly. In that instant, a flash of lightning and an eerie thump of thunder lacerated the morning sky, frightening the 24-year-old and fellow travellers.

Omojafor completely lost her wits the moment the aircraft started to heave in an awkward manner. Through the tumult, her eyes scanned the aircraft in fear; its harassed angles rose and plummeted, like a violent picture-puzzle hiding a story that only death could reveal.

“There was panic, then we started to face down, I saw the seat belt lights flick on, I still see the images when I close my eyes, I saw the cockpit door fling open. At some point, I felt it was turbulence and it would settle, but it didn’t. My seat was at the back, so I saw the front row descend, people were screaming, I remember clenching my seat handle, shouting ‘Blood of Jesus! Holy Ghost fire!’ Then I blacked out,” said Omojafor.

When she regained consciousness, the plane had crashed to earth, static. Everywhere was dark, silent. But she was still strapped to her seat. Her head was bent. The cabin luggage hold was open and a piece of hand luggage had fallen on her back, forcing her to slouch. She screamed: ‘Is anyone there, can somebody hear me?’ But there was no response.

She said, “I tried to unbuckle my seat belt but I couldn’t do it, I remembered that Esther Kemmer-Amoda (now Longe), a fellow corps member, was seated beside me during the flight. I called out her name; when she responded, I remembered what I needed to do was to lift the seat belt buckle lid to free myself, then, I asked Amoda to assist with the luggage on my back. We walked out of the only part of the aircraft that was still intact.”

Her seatmate, Kemmer-Amoda (now Longe), eventually answered her; like Omojafor, she was air-bound for Sokoto State in continuation of their mandatory National Youth Services Corps (NYSC) programme.

Omojafor and Longe walked out of the aircraft at the risk of getting burned in a few minor explosions sprouting across the scene of the mishap.

“While we stood by the debris, I saw that Esther (Longe) still had her handbag in her hand, then I remembered, I also had a handbag during the flight. I went back into the aircraft to search for mine. I went into the only part of the plane that was still intact, where we sat. My bag wasn’t there. I came out, looked around, and asked Longe to keep watch and alert me if the fire burned too close. I went inside again but checked the direction opposite where we sat and found my bag. I picked my slippers from underneath my seat, held them tight to my chest, walking bare feet.

“I was in shock. On my way out, I saw Longe trying to pull someone up. There was a seat on top of her. I helped lift the seat and the lady trapped under got up and became the third person standing.”

Subsequently, she removed her phone from her handbag and called her dad. “I said, ‘Daddy, Daddy, the plane has crashed!’ My Dad went silent for a few minutes and responded, ‘Are you okay?’ I said ‘Yes,’ and he said ‘How is your leg, your hand?’ I said, ‘I am fine and he said, “Are you alone? Who is there with you?’ I said, ‘Esther is here, she joined the flight from Abuja.’

Then he said, a plane crash is a national issue, and that we would get help soon. He advised me to move away from the aircraft to ensure my safety.

While walking away, I dialed several people’s phone numbers, some I knew were on board the flight but there was no response.

“We met some villagers on our way from the scene. They tried to check us, but we told them, we were fine, and that there were other people at the site of the incident that needed help. Along the way, we met an ambulance that took us to the hospital at the airport, Flying Officer Stella, from the NAF base Abuja, came to get me, then we went to the National Hospital Abuja, where we received treatment. All casualties and survivors of the incident were taken to the National Hospital Abuja.”

According to her, the full import of the disaster dawned on her while they were at the National Hospital in Abuja. “The enormity of it all dawned on me as I watched them wheel dead bodies in from the scene of the mishap,” said Omojafor.

Until then, it was just the three of them, who walked out of the mangled aircraft initially. According to Omojafor, she wouldn’t have been part of the tragedy. She said, “I didn’t have to be on that flight. Although I was a ticketing staff of ADC Airline at the time, my return ticket was not confirmed before I left Sokoto, my Dad ensured I went to the ADC office during the week to confirm my return date. I was feeling really ill, but, I had to obey. My parents took me to the airport that morning, I was told the flight was full and there was no seat for me (I was placed on request, Rq1). I reached out to my office in Sokoto to intervene and I was asked to see the Deputy Airline Manager in Lagos, who told me not to worry that I will get a seat because most of the time, people buy tickets and don’t make the flight.

“I called Gbenga (a friend and cabin crew who came with the Aircraft from the base), he asked me to come to the Tarmac. On my way, I met Mr. Johnny (a passenger, deceased) I greeted him, we joked. I checked in my luggage, met the Macivers (passengers, deceased) at the waiting area, we had a chat then I went to see Gbenga, who took me to the Lead crew, Kanu (deceased) at the foot of the Aircraft, to assist. He asked me to just go straight to the back of the Aircraft and wait. I met Peter (a friend, cabin crew, survivor) there, we had a chat, then he said, sit here (seat 19E), Ahmed(a passenger) boarded and sat on 19D, then, the journey began. It was a smooth flight from Lagos to Abuja. Ahmed and some passengers alighted at Abuja and other passengers boarded. I switched seats, to 19D, saw Esther (Longe) and called her to join me at the back, she sat on 19E.”

The ill-fated aircraft took off from the domestic wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja, where it had stopped in transit from Lagos. But about two kilometres into take-off at 11:30 a.m, from Abuja, the Boeing 737 aircraft, with registration number 5N-BFK, came down at Tunda Madaki Village, close to the airport.

Debris from the shattered plane was strewn over a corn farm the size of a soccer field about two miles from the end of the runway.

The pilot reportedly ran into a thunderstorm on take-off. Although it had three and a half hours of fuel endurance, the impact of the thunderstorm ignited a fire which made it burst into flames.

Ninety-six people died among the 100 passengers and five crew members. Muhammadu Maccido, the Sultan of Sokoto and spiritual leader of Nigeria’s Muslims, the sultan’s son, Senator Badamasi Maccido, Dr Nnennia Mgbor, the first-ever female West African ENT surgeon, and Abdulrahman Shehu Shagari, son of the former president Shehu Shagari, were on the passenger list. In the end, nine people survived, including the three daughters of the then governor of Kogi State, Ibrahim Idris.

Looking back, Omojafor considers herself extremely lucky to have made it out of the aircraft alive. According to her, she was favoured by divine grace from God to be one of the nine survivors out of 105 travellers.

Initially, when she received a posting for her NYSC programme and discovered that she had been posted to Sokoto State, she was apprehensive.

She said, “I was scared to travel as far as Sokoto for national service. But my brother, who was then in the military urged me to give it a try. He said I had never been outside of Lagos and that it was an opportunity for me to know the country. Surprisingly, I loved serving in Sokoto. I enjoyed the environment while I was there. It was calm. It was free. At some point in my service year, I considered staying back in Sokoto at the completion of my national service.”

The disaster, however, changed her perspective about staying back, after her national service, to live and work in Sokoto. Among other things, she developed a phobia for flying.

Omojafor recalled that fresh from her air mishap, she had to fly in the company of her brother, now late, Flt. Lt. Odafe Jeyibo, who flew into Abuja from Benin to be with her at the hospital.

“We had to fly back to Lagos on Aero Contractors two days after the crash, and it was one of the scariest flights of my life. The flight was smooth to Lagos but, I was so scared. A few days before the crash, before I came into Lagos for the Sallah holiday, that year,

my brother Christopher called me in Sokoto, told me he got a message from a close family friend (Prophet Oladele Joseph, CPPC Ogba), that I needed to fast and pray for three days so that no evil will befall me. Those that know me well, know my relationship with food, but I tried, I prayed and fasted for three days, breaking at noon daily, not knowing the fate that was about to befall me.”

In the days that followed after the incident, every time she closed her eyes, all she saw was burning fire. “I saw fire dropping from the sky, and an aircraft dropping from the sky,” she said.

Afterward, she avoided air travel to her base in Sokoto. On subsequent trips, she travelled by road, not minding its insecurity and rigours.

It hardly dawned on her that her fear of air travel was intense until she met the Managing Director (MD) of Virgin Nigeria in 2007. “He asked me if I had flown since the plane crash and I said ‘no.’ He said I ought to do that and that he was there to assist me when I am ready. At that point, I realised that I hadn’t treated myself for the trauma suffered from the air disaster. That was when I decided to go back to the hospital for psychological evaluation. I enrolled in mental health therapy in April 2007. After about three months of therapy, I decided to fly in a plane again. I called the MD of Virgin Nigeria and told him I was ready to board an aircraft again. And he encouraged me.

They got me a ticket, and I flew to Abuja to stay two days with a friend. That was in September 2007,” she said.

On August 22, 2008, she took another trip to Paris, in France thus stifling her phobia for air travel decisively. Subsequently, she has embarked on numerous flights. “I make sure I travel by air, at least once in a year,” said Omojafor.

Reacting to a video made by a fellow survivor, that went viral earlier this year, about the air mishap of October 29, 2006, Omojafor stressed that some contents of the video were exaggerated and misrepresented. Contrary to the claims of the narrator, she said, the aircraft did not fling her off her seat to anywhere else on the plane during the crash.

“After the crash, I was still on my seat, strapped in my seat belt, my head was bent downwards, I was right there, beside Esther (Longe). My hip was never dislocated. Scientifically, anyone with a dislocated hip will not be able to walk and I walked out of the scene of the incident. We assisted a lady to her feet who became the third person to walk out of the incident.

No one made it out of that incident unscathed but we are very grateful to God for healing and the gift of life,” she said.

The Manager, ECommerce and Social Media for Consumer and High Net Worth Clients for Stanbic IBTC Bank has since devoted her life to humanitarian work. According to her, coming face to face with death changed her.

She said, “Before the air crash, I was very fashion-conscious. For instance, I was very much into the Black Opal cosmetic line. Everything I used was a product of the brand. I was smitten with it.”

But being caught in a flailing plane as it crashed to earth changed her in no small measure. Among other things, it rid Omojafor of her enthrallment with the Black Opal cosmetic line and imbued her with a fascination with the things that actually matter.

She said, “I realised that if I had died, nothing would have become of my love for the cosmetic line. Facing death taught me to appreciate the things that really matter.”

And what are those things that matter? Generosity. Humility. And the fear of God. Omojafor revealed that soon after the incident, she realised that dead bodies don’t wear Black Opal.

As her plane crashed, her mind was vacant of collagen and face powdering tips. It was filled with the fear of death and a struggle to live.

October 30, 2021
Brutal madrasat flogging: torture or culture?

When does corporal punishment become torture or brutality? The recent viral video of Quranic school pupils being brutally flogged under the pretext of correction in Kwara State has again brought the trend to the front burner, stirring huge outrage and controversy. Gboyega Alaka explores the Islamic perspective.

IT’S no longer news. Virtually everyone who owned a smart phone and could afford data or access the internet in the geographical space called Nigeria and beyond must have seen or caught a glimpse of the brutal beating of pupils of the madrasat (Arabic/Quranic School) in Ganmo, Kwara State. The Yoruba call it Ile kewu, while the Hausa\Fulani call it Makaranta. To many, the beating those pupils received is probably worse than the world saw Kunta Kinte, the recalcitrant African slave receive from his masters in the now legendary slave history novel, Roots by Alex Haley. And this has again called to question the practice, with many asking, is this religiosity or savage/master culture conveniently brought into the religion by vested interests. It must be noted that the Arabian Peninsula, where Islam first took roots through its prophet, Muhammed, was a bastion of slavery and slave practices.

The question many have therefore asked is, how could anyone inflict such brutality on anyone in the name of religion? Many have also argued that if the crime is so heavy, why not let the law of the land take its course and reform, rather than brutalise us and dehumanise. Many have also condemned such beating as more likely to harden rather than reform.

Interestingly, Islamic rights activist, Professor Ishaq Akintola has also condemned the beating as ‘too harsh.’ However, that did not stop him from sounding a note of caution on Nigerians who have been quick to jump to conclusion and pass judgment on the maalim of the Quranic school, Musbahudeen Madrasat. According to the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) founder, the fact that parents of the pupils requested the school to punish them should count for something.

In a statement released by MURIC, the professor stated: “While we regard the punishment meted out to the students as too harsh, we maintain that the action of the school authorities should not be judged in isolation. The fact that the parents requested the school to discipline their children must not be ignored.”

The professor who never shies away from controversy also took a swipe at those condemning the beating, stating that: “Those who are condemning the parents and the teachers today are those who will gladly encourage their own children and wards to participate in BBNaija’s shameful sex in public.”

Stating that MURIC is in possession of another video in which the pupils confessed to engaging in shameful and unIslamic acts such as visiting a nightclub, drinking alcohol, bathing themselves with alcohol, the statement said, “Arabic schools are the repository of morality and the vault of uprightness. They are the conscience of the Ummah. The offence committed by those students becomes more unacceptable when the actors are students of an Arabic school who are expected to be the epitome of morality and religiosity.”

Curiously, some of the pupils have also been speaking. One of them, Nasirudeen Muhideen, said they were flogged for attending a birthday party last Sunday, where they were alleged to have taken alcohol.

He however said only one of them drank a bottle of Trophy beer while the others drank Malta Guinness and energy drinks, which are non-alcoholic.

He said it was this act that provoked some parents and Imam to cause them to be beaten. Some of them, he revealed, were beaten on Wednesday while others were flogged on Saturday.

Another of the pupils, Abdulmumin Jibrin, has however, thanked the school authorities for “disciplining” them.

He said, “We went for a party last Sunday and we were many. Three of us were flogged on Wednesday, while the rest were flogged on Saturday.

“As they flogged us on Wednesday, we believe we deserved the flogging as a form of discipline. We deserved it, but some of the students that were flogged went to post it on social media and I told them not to.

“The way some of our parents called the Imam to express support is what good parents should do because discipline will ensure that we don’t do that again.”

Some have however dismissed Jibrin’s puritan rationalisation as a result of brainwash, insisting that such beating, for whatever reason, should be condemned.

Consequently, the governor of Kwara State, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, has set up a committee to investigate the circumstances surrounding the flogging. Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Rafiu Ajakaiye, said the 10-man committee to be chaired by Retired Justice Idris Haroon, is made up of 10 prominent Muslim scholars, community leaders and government officials.

“The terms of reference of the committee include to meet with the affected students, their parents, and the school authorities on the circumstances around the corporal punishment meted to them following the students’ organisation and participation in a birthday party, alleged consumption of liquor and publication of the video footage of same on the social media; review the reward and disciplinary methods in such schools, and make recommendations to the government on how to prevent a recurrence of such in the state.

“The committee has one week to submit its report, beginning from their first sitting.” Ajakaiye stated.

Beating in that manner, not Islamic – Islamic Scholar

In an exclusive interview, Saeed Salman, Director, Center for Islamic Reawakening, BA. ED and Med Guidance and Counselling, University of Lagos told The Nation that “beating in that manner is not allowed in Islam.”

He was however quick to point out that beating, nonetheless, is allowed in Islam, although it has to be a s last resort, when other means have failed to yield the desired result.

On the kind of offences that can evoke flogging as punishment, Salman said there are instancing in the Muslim holy book, the Quran, and the sayings and traditions of Prophet Mohammed (PBH), the Hadith, where Allah and the prophet spoke about beating.

“The first instance is in Quran 4.vs 34, where Allah spoke of marital discord. The Quran makes it clear that when you find that your wife is being difficult, disobedient or not doing what is expected of her, the first point of discipline is to enlighten her and sermonise. After that if the woman does not change, desert her on the bed; and the last one is beat them. The question now is what kind of beating are we talking about? According to all scholars, the beating here is the type that cannot have negative impact on the woman. That is to show that the beating we’re talking about is symbolical, to send a message to the woman that we’re not expected to get to this level.

“Another instance is in Suratul Sad vs 44. Here Allah is talking about Prophet Job whom we Muslims call Ayub. His wife had offended him and he now vowed to beat him 100 strokes of the cane. But as we all know, Job was sick and the woman was very compassionate with him; so he intended to pardon the woman. In order to now appease Job and have him fulfil his vow, God instructed him that instead of beating his wife 100 strokes of the cane, he should combined all the 100 canes together into a bunch and beat her just once.”

Salman said that Sura underlines the fact that if beating was not allowed, Allah wouldn’t have instructed Job the way He did.

“In the same Holy Quran 24 vs 2, Allah talks about fornicators being given 100 strokes of the cane; while for the sin of calumny, where one deliberately lies against another and you cannot substantiate it, Allah said such person should be given 80 strokes of the cane.”

Going further into the traditions of the Prophet, Samna said, “the Prophet said when your child is seven, teach them how to pray. When they are ten and refuse to pray, beat them. But that beating is conditional. It must be beating that does not draw any blood or inflict any injury on them. The prophet also said you must be conscious of the face of the child while administering the beating. In another instance, He also recommends that parents should hang a cane in your house, where the household can see it. It will serve as a deterrent to them.”

Reasons for beating in Islam

The question therefore is what are the reasons that can warrant a teacher or imam to beat in Islam? “The first,” according to Salman, “is that you must have employed all other methods and means of correction without achieving the desired result. For example, there is what we call encouragement. If you encourage someone, he or she may change for the better. It is similar to what some (managers) call incentive. The second one is conviction. Convince the person why he should do that thing or why he should not do it. Also, you can decide to deprive someone. You can tell a child, if you do such, for one week, you’re not going to watch cartoon, or for one week, you will eat rice without meat or fish. You can also use threat. I will beat you if you do that again. When you now use all these methods and you’re still unable to achieve the result, beating can now come in.”

Not More than ten strokes

According to Salman, Islam is also particular about considerations when beating. “The first is that you intention must be to correct, not to punish or brutalise. There is what we call Behavioural Modification. There is nobody in this world that does not have a past. Therefore the intention must be to educate, to teach, not to brutalise or inflict harm on the person.

“Secondly, when you are beating, you must not transgress. You must not over do it. Also you don’t beat without reason. You may have heard some people say, ‘my hand is itching me…’, no. Islam does not accept that. The beating must also come at the appropriate time and place. You cannot say somebody offended you last year and you now want to beat him today. That is wrong. The person you want to beat must also know his offence. Importantly, you must also consider the age when you are beating. You don’t beat a seven year old like a 15-year-old. Islam especially stresses that beating must not exceed ten strokes of the cane.”

At this point, this reporter pointed out that the beating inflicted on these young people clearly exceeded ten strokes, maybe over one hundred, Salman paused and then said, “Perhaps it is the gravity of what those pupils did that caused them to be beaten in that manner; say when the person or persons commit fornication, adultery or calumny, as I stated earlier.”

When reminded that the pupils were accused of clubbing and drinking alcohol, Salman said, “When you drink alcohol in a city or country where they use Islamic Sharia, there is a stipulation of either 40 or 80 strokes of the cane. But this is Nigeria, where we don’t use Islamic laws; rather, we’re still trying to make people understand what we mean by Sharia.”

What does he think about the argument that such culture of beating has hardened rather than reform or correct?

The University of Lagos education graduate begged to disagree. “When you are doing something and you are enlightened about it, positive result will automatically come. But if you do it ignorantly, you don’t expect anything other than the negative. There is this popular saying in Islam that if you engage in any action without knowledge, what you spoil at the end of the day will be more than what you set out to reform. However, I must be frank with you; you cannot abrogate flogging totally. But it must be in accordance with the tenets of Islam for those who are Muslims. And for non Muslims, it should be in accordance with their scripture.

About the argument that excessive flogging has caused many Muslims to abscond Arabic/Quranic schools, thereby depriving them knowledge of Arabic and by implication deep knowledge and ability to practise their religion, Ustaz Salman said, “I quite agree with you that some left Arabic school because of this corporal punishment thing, but I have to be frank with you, I attended Arabic school when I was very young and I can recall that our Maalim beat us. However, I did not leave; rather persevered, and today I am benefitting from it. I think whether a child perseveres or leaves due to the flogging, boils down to the parents. You cannot tell me that your child was not beaten at school; did you ask the child to leave school because of that? You can afford to take that decision because you know that in Nigeria, you don’t need the knowledge of Arabic to work in any office. You forget that if you don’t know the Quran, you may not have enough knowledge to worship Allah properly. Yes, you are correct that excessive beating has sent a lot of children away from the Madrasat but at the same time, they are the ones missing out because they lose out on the knowledge. I, however, agree that madrasats should be reformed, especially in the area of flogging. In fact, the reform is already taking place. I can actually tell you that most of the madrasats, in fact 85 percent of them, don’t beat again.”

On suggestions that this culture may also have caused some children to change religion, Salman said, “I don’t want to agree with that because we’re talking of young people, a good number of them teenagers or below 13. I think it depends on the parents. You don’t leave everything to the malam in the madrasat. If the child comes from a home where the parents are up and doing in their Islamic practice, then it’s very unlikely that this will cause them to change religion.

Asked what he thinks of the committee set up by the Kwara State government on the matter and the purported move to reform the madrasat system in the state, the Director, Center for Islamic Reawakening, said, “It is the right step in my own noble opinion. Don’t forget we’re talking of Kwara State and Ilorin, the capital city, where we have lots of Islamic scholars to guide them. So I believe the government will not wrong them. Rather, they would assist to reform.

October 24, 2021
ICYMI: ‘At 59, I gave birth to a set of twins. I thought they said people that have cancer cannot give birth?’- Olori Olusola Adedoyin Alao

Olori Olusola Adedoyin Alao is a former Managing Director of the now defunct City Express Bank and wife of Oba Francis Olusola Alao, the Olugbon of Orile Igbon, Oyo State. In this interview with INNOCENT DURU, the daughter of billionaire businessman, Samuel Adedoyin, among other issues, spoke of how she survived breast cancer after medical doctors had told her that she had no more than four days left to live and asked her to name anything that could make her happy for the few days they believed she had left. Excerpts:

What memories do you have of your time as the MD of City Express Bank?

My memorable experience is that we had the best of business development, and when people came and succeeded, we celebrated them. Those are my memorable experiences. There are so many people that we made billionaires. I am not a billionaire, but to the glory of God, the Lord has used us to build their businesses. They don’t know me today. They don’t even know that I am alive. But at times when I see people in the bank that I have worked with, they will say do you know so, so person that we did XYZ for? I would say thank God. I am happy and I feel comfortable at this level.

Do you miss the banking industry?

That is a difficult question for me. I miss not having a career. I miss my career being cut short. But whether I miss the banking industry or not is another question, because I don’t know if I want to be part of what the Nigerian banking industry now is. When we were in the banking industry, we were concerned about profit because investors wanted profit. That is why they invested. But we were more concerned about development and building a nation than what banking has become now.

Banking in Nigeria is gradually becoming faceless and they don’t offer developmental support. If you have a startup, for instance, I don’t know if you can get support. The way we were then, if you brought a startup for us, we would work on you developing. We would look for financial solutions and help you to launch yourself and grow. I am not in the industry but I don’t think they give that kind of support.

Banking now seems to be more about profit generation which I don’t know would have defeated my own desire. Money is good, but it is not everything. It is only good for what you can do with it. If you cannot better people’s lives with it, of what good is it? Actually, I don’t see the banks performing that role that I would have wanted or what we were. City Express consequently had the best export desk. We were known for export. Our export desk was fantastic because we would start from the scratch to the finish and ensure the money turns back and it is turned around the year. I don’t know if the banks are still financing exports.

There are so many things I would have wanted them to do that I don’t see the banking industry doing. It is becoming faceless and too mechanical. It is only the savings aspect that I see getting to the grassroots. If I were in banking, I would be more interested in something like Peoples Bank or something that can touch the masses and not just about profit. That’s not my interest. I don’t have that in my personality and I think I am born to serve. Thank God I am always in a serving capacity. As an Olori, I am serving. In everything I do in my life I want to serve, I want to impact.

What is your experience dealing with cancer patients?

My experience is that we have intelligent doctors, skillful, knowledgeable but no equipment. The only way you can fight cancer is early detection, which is what I told you that abroad, they are investing heavily on prevention and detection. If we can do the same thing here, we will beat cancer. In Nigeria, people don’t even know till now that there is something called cancer and that it can affect them.

Pancreas and liver are very dangerous and very difficult cancer, and you cannot detect it until it starts to be painful. It is either you go through prevention or investigative medicine, which means going for a test all the time, and you need good machines to do the test. Colon cancer and jedi jedi (dysentery) have the same symptoms.

When people have colon cancer, they think it is jedi jedi and they are taking herbs which makes it worse because if it is not adequately measured can be damaging too. It could weaken the liver, weaken the kidney, and once those things are weak, the cells would spread very fast because your body is already weak. A lot of our parents abuse herbs.

What prompted you to establish a foundation on cancer?

I am a cancer survivor. Between 2005 and 2006, I was diagnosed of breast cancer. After I went through the treatment, they now came out and said they were sorry, that what did I want for my life, and I said which life? They said you only have a few days left on the face of this earth and what do you want to do? They said there was an Angel Foundation that could arrange anything. They said do you want to meet with the Queen of England, the Prime Minister, see the president of America; whatever would give me joy for the few days that were left.

You know white people honestly can be callous. If they want to break such news to you here, they would call your grandfather, grandmother, your pastor, your alfa and everybody, that before she dies from shock, please be present. They would pray and fast. The whites don’t care about all that. I call it callousness because it is not in my culture that you will just call me and say that I have just four days to live. What kind of madness was that?

They gave you four days to live? How many days have you lived since then?

I have stopped counting. I just gave birth to a set of twins. I thought they said people that have cancer cannot give birth.

Which of the happiness options they gave you did you choose?

I didn’t choose any. I just wanted to come back to Nigeria. Even if I was going to die, I didn’t want to die in a foreign land. I was even too confused and just wanted to come back to Nigeria, because it was a shock and I couldn’t digest it. But fortunately, my father in the lord, Pastor Adeboye, called me and said, “Sola, how is your health?’ I said Daddy, they told your daughter to go home and die. They said all treatment had failed.

The following day, he called and said that the Lord told me to come and lay hands and rebuke the cancer from the cells. He had a revival in Enugu that same day. He laid hands on me and two days later I went to the hospital and they didn’t see anything. When they didn’t see anything they said it had gone into remission. Something you don’t see, how do you know it has gone into remission? It is something you see you know where it is. They said it had gone into remission. I don’t know the meaning of that. That means it is no longer functioning, abi?

When you were told you had four days to live, what was your immediate reaction?

Honestly, I went cold, almost dead, because I couldn’t think, I didn’t know where I was. That day, I didn’t even process what they were saying. It was not until Pastor Adeboye called that it dawned on me the meaning of what they had said. I didn’t call or tell anybody. I was just numb. I didn’t even hear anything. I heard and understood, but I couldn’t process anything.

Have you been relating with the doctors that diagnosed you and what has been their reaction?

The statement my oncologist, I would never forget her name, Dr Margaret Spittles, made then, I was very fortunate. The head of the Oncology for European Union, now retired, was the one that treated me. He was a Jewish doctor. My family doctor then happened to be a Jew. He used his Jewish connection to get the best doctor for me in England. What they said was that you Africans are very strange. That was the first reaction. What did you eat? What did you drink? I was staring at them because I didn’t understand what they were saying.

They told me I had four days to live, and you didn’t see anything after that and you are asking me what I did. What could I have eaten? When you have chemotherapy, you can’t eat, you can’t drink, you are uncomfortable. What chemotherapy does is that it kills your good and bad cells together. You are uncomfortable and nothing goes right in your system because poison is being injected into you. So how can you be normal? People lose memory in the process of treating cancer. Afterwards, it starts to come back gradually. They cannot access if it is everything you will get back. It is a very difficult and painful treatment.

I became a Guinea pig. I was going to the hospital usually every week. Then it became every other week, then every month, then every quarter and then every six months and every year. After five years they just told me to be coming for my yearly routine check.

Aside being an Olori and running a foundation, what else do you do?

I am a student. I am a Ph.D student and also a master’s degree student in Maryland University in the US. I am also a financial consultant. I am a mother. I just gave birth to twins, one of the greatest joy of this year, even though I have had so many tragedies this year. I am going to be 59 in November.

You had children before now. Why did you decide to have more?

Did I decide to have more children? Interestingly I don’t know if that decision is my or God’s. It made me very happy because I had always wanted an equal number of boys and girls but it never happened. I had just one boy and three girls. Now I have two boys and that makes it equal. That is one thing that has been my greatest heart desire. I now have all the boys on one side and all the girls on one side. I had a medical challenge last year and we thought the cancer had come back. My stomach would just be hot. I was having pains internally. We didn’t know what it was. One of my doctors said you use Zoladex meant to stop your hormonal production when I had cancer. I thought I would die but fortunately, I did not die. They thought maybe it was the effect of the medication. But the doctor said it should have gone since but since it is still happening, it may be a brain function or whatever. We are going to now put you on hormone treatment but anything can happen from there. Anything and everything happened.

What are the challenges in cancer management?

At the same time, they are very strong on preventive, i.e. they have developed machines that can easily pick the minutest cancer cells in the body. It can be picked up by pet scan and not MRI. But how many pet scan machines do we have in the world? You can find it a lot in the UK. Even in London, you can’t find pet scan everywhere. You have to book, be on queue before you can get a pet scan done. In America, you can easily get a pet scan done within a week or two. But here, I don’t even think we have a single pet scan machine, because it is an extremely sensitive power consuming machine. In a place where they take light all the time, it will break down. When you talk about radiology machine, how many of them are functional in Nigeria? Very few. Because the problem is an extremely expensive to treat, a lot of foundations like mine, MariaSam Foundation, would not survive for too long. But because I am a survivor and I have personal interest, I keep evolving and keep holding on to ensure the foundation is alive despite the cost it takes to manage it. That is the greatest challenge of cancer.

The foundation came into existence in 2006, and to the glory of God we are still around. When I am buoyant enough, we will go and do free screening. Nigerians don’t like to give except there is a show. I am not a very showy person. I am not a loud person. That contrast is there. My husband does not even like the idea of me soliciting for money. So, what I have I give. I found it easier to help manage and coordinate treatment because the foundation has been around for a very long time. We have a good doctor-network- doctors that we have worked with in the past, doctors that one way or the order we have organized a training for, so it is a bit easier for me to continue my networking with patients and doctors.

How much help did you get from corporate bodies and wealthy individuals in the treatment of cancer?

Yes, we had initially. You know when you start and you have assisted one person or the other that they know, they would be eager to assist you. First Bank had assisted us before. A few other corporate bodies too. And once they do it once, they don’t do a yearly thing. Two years ago, the Bank of Industry assisted us once. I spoke with one of the former MDs of First Bank and he said sick people don’t open accounts, so what benefit is there for them? Where they want to put their CSR is where they can be seen, heard or there would be returns. It is a bit challenging except you get another survival that shares common passion in assisting. Cancer is so expensive and after, even you survive, the trauma chemotherapy, because there might be certain organs or tissues that chemotherapy might destroy in the cause of the treatment. You still have to spend money.

Some people may have damaged thyroid gland. If their thyroid gland has been affected by chemotherapy, they need to keep taking medication, going to see the doctor, check up from time to time or most of the time. It depends on the level of the damage. They will keep spending. To now find somebody that instead of spending their money on their own survival now give it to you to run a foundation can be very difficult. That is why basically to get a sponsor for cancer is a bit difficult.

Is the government forthcoming in assisting cancer patients?

The government is not forthcoming in too many things. If the government is not forthcoming in feeding its people, which is an everyday essential, when government is not forthcoming on electricity, when government is not forthcoming on water that you need to survive, isn’t it a bit strange expecting them to be forthcoming when it comes to cancer treatment? Every house in Nigeria is a factory. You are basically providing everything you need. Why would you be expecting them to be forthcoming when it comes to medicals?

Talking about that, would you say our leadership has failed?

I would not say they have totally failed. Nigeria is still together as one. So, we should give them credit. As failure, yes. But as in totally, that is 100 percent, then there won’t be Nigeria.

As a former bank MD, what do you think is the solution to the declining value of the Naira?

What did Ghana do? Ghana woke up one day and decided their currency would be one to one. Did they devalue? Must we listen to the World Bank and all the IMFs of this world? You mean we cannot be innovative. Our brain cannot function unless there is a white face to it. Even when our forefathers were doing trade by batter, they were prospering. The Europe that we are following they have fantastic economy. Why are we not getting it right? Can’t we think that it is exploitation? They are still colonising us indirectly.

What is the interest rate in America? The maximum you can get in America is three to four per cent. What is the interest rate in Nigeria? Call Godwin Emefiele today, I worked with him, he was my staff. Call him today; nobody has the correct inflation rate for Nigeria. Is it the risk rate that you want to mention? Look at Carlifonia’s economy- how many trillions? Their economy is bigger than that of Nigeria as a whole because they are practising true federalism. The day Nigeria starts to practise true federalism, we will be the greatest nation alive, and that is what they are trying to prevent. Talking about the dollar rate, if I am the minister of finance today or the governor of CBN, I am telling you, within two years, Nigeria would be the wealthiest country in the world.

Could you share your idea with the CBN governor, being your ex-staff member?

He does not need my idea. If he needs it, he knows where I am. He does not need my idea. If a leader succeeds, what percentage of his decision makes him a success? Go and do that research.

October 23, 2021
My 120-hour ordeal in kidnappers’ den — Kogi varsity professor

The Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the Kogi State University, Professor John Olatunde Alabi, could be regarded as the Daniel of our time after his safe return from the den of kidnappers following his abduction from his residence in Anyigba, the university’s host community, by dare-devil gunmen on September 27. The difference, however, is that the biblical Daniel left the lions’ den unscathed while Prof Alabi returned emotionally bruised and traumatised. He relived in this interview with GBENGA ADERANTI the trauma of being kept in a dark and lonely room blindfolded for five days. He would, however, rather blame the system more than his abductors for the ugly fate that befell him as he warns eloquently that the nation is sitting on a keg of gunpowder.

Alabi, who was still looking exhausted when he spoke with The Nation more than one week after he was set free by his abductors, recalled that he was accosted at the gate of his private residence, which is about 10 minutes’ drive from the campus of Kogi State University.

Unknown to him, his assailants had been trailing him since he left the campus on that day for home. So, it was no sooner than he alighted from his car that his abductors emerged like a bolt from the blue and pointed guns at him. They told him that they were neither robbers nor assassins, but it would be in his interest to cooperate with them.

He said: “They did not allow me to remove my belongings from the car. I attempted to remove my key, but they said no, we are going with you in your car.”

Alabi said he had thought initially that they would not be able to take him away because the car he had just parked in the compound started but refused to move after the many attempts they made to take him away in it.

He said: “I didn’t install any security device in the car, but by divine intervention, it refused to move. One of the car’s tyres just got stuck as they tried repeatedly to move it out. Some of them accused the one behind the steering wheel of not knowing how to drive, so they appointed another member of the gang to take over. But the second person also tried and the result was the same.”

Out of frustration, they dragged Alabi out of the car and made him trek for about 100 metres all in their attemptto get him into captivity.

“At that point, I started shouting the blood of Jesus. I couldn’t get anybody to assist or intervene because they were armed and they were firing gunshots in the air. Meanwhile they had already contacted their roving car. They pulled me into it as soon as it arrived, and that was all I knew,” Alabin recalled the near-death experience.

Life in the dungeon

From his residence, Alabi was transferred to a house where he stayed for five days. He said that throughout the period, he was blindfolded such that it was impossible for him to know when it was day or night except the cocks were crowing or his abductors were smoking, drinking and playing their loud music.

Alabi said although he was not the only one in captivity, he had no way of seeing the other captives because he was blindfolded and kept in a ‘VIP’ cell.

He said: “They had a camp where they detained people. It was a cell with only a small window. The windows had been blocked anyway. No light. I was there from Monday September 27 till October 2nd.

“I never knew when it was night or day. I could guess that we were in the morning when the cock crowed, and I knew it was night when they started drinking, smoking and listening to loud music. I would know that they had returned from their exploits that night.

“It was horrendous. They drank at night. They watched films, because I was listening to the sound system. They were in the habit of watching films that inspired them to do what they do.

“I sit down for 14 hours and lie down for 10 hours. That was how I was spending my 24 hours for about six days,” Alabi explained.

The professor of Entrepreneurship said he was not allowed to stand up or move around as he was guarded by a gun-wielding member of the gang whose main duty was not only to keep watch over him day and night but also inflict psychological torture on him.

“They threatened me continuously, asking, ‘What do you have? Who are your people? What are they going to do?’”

He said they also told him that keeping him with them in the house was the first stage of the operation. If he failed to deliver, the second stage would be to take him into the bush on top of the rock “where I would sit on a stone with my hands and legs tied backwards. If that did not produce a result, the third and final stage would be to whisk me away to human parts dealers who would take me for a fee, and dismember my body without firing a shot.”

But he said he found favour with his abductors as he was not taken through the other stages or taken outside to be tortured.

“They would ask me whether I wanted to eat solid food or rice?” he said. At other times, they would ask him ridiculous questions which he said he was not afraid to answer.

He said they must have thought that university lecturers are wealthy people and that made them to demand a ransom of N20 million.

He said: “I asked them why are you asking for N20 million from a teacher? But one of them told me that if I had been saving N1 million every year, I would have been able to provide the money they asked for.

“I asked them from which salary? From the state government? The guy pointed a gun at my belly and threatened to shoot me,” Alabi said.

While he lost appetite for food in captivity, he said that praying and fasting also helped. He said the few times he had to eat he did so without seeing what he was eating.

“They would put food on my lap and say eat. I could perceive the aroma of good soup. What I usually did was to use a spoon to remove the top of the rice and eat the white rice without soup or meat. By the time I ate between six and ten spoons, I would be okay.

“They gave me food once a day, and they could bring it at any time.”

By divine coincidence, he said, he was not given any food until evening on Wednesday, which incidentally is the day of the week he usually fasts.

He said: “I was eating rice every other day. I was only entitled to a sachet of ‘pure water’ in a day. When there was no sachet water, they would give me water in a bowl. I loved it that way because if you take too much water, the system would be disturbed and you would want to pooh whereas it was the same place where I was kept that I had to pooh or ease myself.

“They gave me a paint bucket to urinate in and would not empty it until a day or two had passed. So I had to live with the stench.”

Typical day in captivity

For the period he was in captivity, the university teacher said he would sit down for 14 hours and lie down for 10 hours.

“You can’t sleep anyway on a bare floor or a mat. It was an undulating ground. My sides and buttocks were aching. I was not allowed to stand up.

“But God was with me all through; I never received any beating from them.”

With the benefit of insight, Alabi could tell from the voices of his abductors that they were young people in their 20s and definitely not up to 30.

Interestingly, the Kogi-born academic said the young men were generally friendly, contrary to the shock treatment kidnap victims get in order to force their family members to pay ransoms.

Read Also: Govt links Igboho to Boko Haram sponsor; Kanu to #EndSARS protests

“I enjoyed the grace of God. They said they had information about me that I was a nice person, that they had no quarrel with me. But they said they had a problem with my generation because we were wasting their lives.”

‘Why they are into kidnapping business’

Alabi said from his interactions with his abductors, they were not really happy doing what they were doing but were largely forced by country’s economic situation. “Can you imagine a kidnapper asking you, ‘do you think I like what I’m doing?’

Alabi recalled that one of his abductors told him that he graduated in 2018, but because he was unemployed, he came to Lagos to do okada (commercial motorcycle) business. Unfortunately after a while, the business was banned in the area and he was invited to Kogi to join a kidnapping syndicate.

“The other one said he had graduated for more than six years. He got employment with the state government during the last regime but was told that he was on the waiting list, so he had not been paid for four years.

“The third one said he dropped out of Kogi State University and asked if I could help him to get the institution’s certificate.

“I said if you are sure you dropped out of school and you have medical reasons, write to me. As a Dean, I would make a case to the school to consider giving you extra years. If it is not medical, if it is financial, write to the school.

“He said his case was different, saying that he dropped out because he needed money to buy the certificate. I said we don’t sell certificates in the faculty. I said it is the Senate that issues certificates.”

Apparently miffed by Alabi’s response, the last speaker insisted that Alabi must pay N20 million as ransom.

“I will not reduce it,” he threatened.

Kidnapping no longer exclusive to any group

While many believe that kidnapping is exclusive to a section of the country, Alabi warned that kidnapping is now localised because every group in Nigeria is involved in the ugly business.

“You just need an insider to form a gang. But these ones are collaborators. We have collaboration of locals joining outsiders. The youths are ready to be used by outsiders,” he said.

Alabi described the members of the gang as young and intelligent.

He said: “The message they have for Nigerians is that our education system is in shambles. We produce graduates but we don’t match them with skills. They leave school but no job.

“Politicians engage them during elections, arm them and they cannot wait till the next election.

“They believe that our generation is corrupt. They can’t get jobs. Our generation is enjoying it and we cannot pay N30,000 minimum wage to them while politicians feed their dogs with N100,000.

“They believe that our generation has failed them, and what we are seeing now is a tip of the iceberg because the youths are angry.”

He said his abductors confirmed that they abducted him not because they had anything against him but to make a statement.

“One of them said he knew me; that he is a graduate of Kogi State University. I asked what department and he threatened to blow my head off.

“He said I told you I’m a graduate and you want me to remove my hood?”

Unknown to Alabi, those who abducted him had information because his profile was not only checked on Google, the abductors went round town to know the kind of person he was.

“They said I was a nice man; that I help people,” he said with a tinge of excitement.

Unfortunately for the professor, raising the sum demanded was a big issue, as it is the policy of the Kogi State University not to pay ransoms for their kidnapped staff. This is on the premise that the kidnappers would be insatiable and would be encouraged to keep abducting lecturers.

Alabi said as unpalatable as his experience with the kidnappers was, “the incident made me resolve that whatever opportunity I had, I would let people know that we have serious problems on our hands as a country. Kidnapping business has been localised and it is no longer an exclusive activity of any group of people.

“These are an army of unemployed youths. These guys are very intelligent. They said they were businessmen and ransom must be paid.”

It was not until four days after he had been captured that he was allowed to reach out to his family members, using his own phone to call them.

“They said they were businessmen and ransom must be paid. I was worried. I had to reach out to my HOD (Head of Department), who reached out to my wife,” he said.

Although he would not disclose how much was eventually paid as ransom, he said he had no way of paying the amount demanded so his wife had to take a loan. The professor of entrepreneurship said he was in serious debt, which might take him a while to offset.

He said: “As a salary earner, it will take me up to two years to repay the debts. Where do you want me to get that kind of money? I’m a professor, but I have not earned the salary of a professor for two years.

October 23, 2021
How sex-enhancing fruit turned Gombe communities into tourist attraction

The saying is common in Gombe State, the entire Northeast up to neighboring countries of Chad, Niger Republic and Cameroon: marry a Tula woman and you will never taste of another woman. While that might sound as a myth, recent developments in scientific research into herbal medicine, particularly in the past one decade, seem to confirm the popular saying as the development has been traced to a fruit called gorontula.

Goro is the Hausa word for kolanut, the caffeine fruit commonly consumed in the tropical part of Nigeria. Gorontula therefore literally translates to Tula’s kookaburra, meaning that unlike the common kolanut, gorontula is only found in Tula communities in Kaltungo Local Government Area of Gombe State and Michika in Adamawa State, both on the mountainous belt stretching across the two states.

In English language, gorontula is known variously as tree hibiscus, snot apple or African chewing gum because it is sweet and chewy with lots of fibre. Botanically, it is known as azanza garckeana or azanza for short.

There are four Tula communities, namely Wange Tula, Yiri Tula, Baule Tula and Kaltin Tula, all located in the mountainous and rocky parts of the state. But for reasons that probably border on climate or weather of the mountain, gorontula can only be found in Tula and Michika and nowhere else around the world, hence the reason it is called gorontula; a kind of kolanut peculiar to the Tula tribe in Gombe State.

The Tula communities were predominantly agrarian until recently when Gorontula began to attract the attention of fun seeking men and women who are rushing to the affected communities to obtain the fruits in order to satisfy their sexual fantasies.

“Men who want to satisfy their women come from as far as Chad, Niger and Cameroon to buy gorontula because it makes sex sweet for both women and men. It also works for fertility, diabetes and high blood pressure,” said Heman Ephraim, the Seriki Gorontula.

Tula Entrance

“I have a history of high blood pressure, and each time I notice the sign, I just take the Gorontula and I will sleep and become normal,” he added.

Until 10 to 12 years ago, gorontula was just a fruit the Tulas took to the farm to assuage hunger and derive energy while working on their farms.

“We can work long hours on the farm taking only water and gorontula without feeling hungry,” said Salisu Malare, a gorontula produce trader in Tula.

According to him, the wide acclaim about the sexual ability of Tula women and men did not originate from Tula. “It was the testimony of men who married our women to confirm that they were brought up well,” he said, laughing.

Indeed, talks about sex usually elicits excitement from both sexes around Tula communities. Serah Jodah, for instance, said she had been eating gorontula from childhood and could not imagine that any other women could beat Tula women on bed. She said: “It is very true that gorontula makes our women sexually active and also repairs and cleanses the reproductive organs. We have been using it for long without even knowing the medicinal values of the fruit.”

On her part, Esther Umar said: “We took it for granted because we have always seen the gorontula as our own and it has become part of our daily food.

“Some women also use gorontula to cure infection, boost their fertility and increase libido.

“If a woman finds it difficult to conceive, we often take gorontula to enhance our fertility. Even those who experience dryness during intercourse use gorontula. And it is not only for women; both sexes use it. Men, in particular, come from different places to get it.”

gorontula is an essential ingredient of Kayamata, a popular sex enhancing herb among Hausa people.

“Its honey, seeds and leaves are extracted and used for various medicinal purposes. It is the mainstay of the economy of Tula communities.

Read Also: Daddy Freeze to Tiwa Savage: continue owning your sex video

“This fruit has taken me todifferent parts of the country and beyond. I receive calls from as far Niger, Chad, Cameroon and even Europe by people demanding for it,” said Malare.

The Secretary to Mai Tula, Malam Yakulma Yaro, said the Mai of Tula, Alhaji Abubakar Buba Atare, often takes the fruits with him when travelling out of the country to create awareness for it.

Yaro said: “He is not just our traditional ruler and father but also our ambassador plenipotentiary.

“As the chancellor of a university in the Republic of Benin and a widely travel royal father, he preaches the gospel of gorontula wherever he goes, and that has helped to increase awareness about gorontula.

“It is also the reason why many researchers are working and discovering more about its medicinal values.

“Gorontula is our own, and because of that, we take it along with us wherever we go.”

Asked whether claims on the ability of the fruits to increase sex potency are true, Yaro laughed and said the judgment is better passedby those who have eaten or used it for that purpose.

According to him, if the experience of those that are using it was contrary to their expectations, there would not be continued influx of visitors to Tula for gorontula every year.

Beaming with smiles as he answered the reporter’s question to him, Yaro said: “My friend, don’t leave Tula today without a load of gorontula in your pocket, because I know you will come back for it, and by then, the question you asked me now would have been properly answered by your experience.”

At a military checkpoint on the road from Tula to Kaltungo, a group of women hawking Gorontula rushed towards motorists who were stopped by soldiers, shouting Gorontula.

The reporter asked what it is used for and one of them responded “abuna ne”, meaning it is for sex.

•Mai Tula Alhaji Abubakar Buba Atare

•Serah Jodah

•Water Umar

•Seriki Gorontula, Heman Ephraim

•Gorontula produce trader, Salisu Malare

As the soldiers passed the vehicles the gorontula hawkers continued to chase the motorists until some of them parked to buy from them.

Among the travellers that patronised them was Yahaya who had come in from Adamawa State.

Yahaya said he always bought the gorontula each time he passed the place to give to his wife. Asked why, he looked into the reporter’s face and said, “You know.”

Mr. Patrick Umeh, a Gombe based herbalist who said he had used gorontula for more than 10 years, said it is capable of increase libido, lubricate the vagina, boost fertility and get rid of vagina odour.

•Gorontula produce trader, Salisu Malare •Patrick Umeh, herbalist
using Gorontula

He added: “With all these medicinal value of gorontula, you would understand why some men may go beyond looking for gorontula to look for Tula women, because the gorontula is traditional to them.

“I have heard of that popular saying myself, but I did not marry a Tula woman because the same work that gorontula does in a Tula woman can also be done in your own woman if you get gorontula for her.”

Although gorontula is out of season for now, it has not reduced the demand for it by Nigerians who are trooping to Tula for the African chewing gum.

Salisu Malare said in the pick of the season, a mudu of gorontula can sell for between N6,000 to N7,000 while a bag sells for between N60,000 and N70,000.

“You would not find many visitors now because the harvest season for gorontula is between December and January. By that time, the price will come down and many people will rush here to buy at cheaper price,” he said.

October 23, 2021
How we kidnapped Kaduna commissioner’s grandchildren, killed pregnant woman, others – Suspects

Two kidnap suspects, Umar Adamu a.k.a. Meagwua (21) and Idris Mustapha (35) arrested by the Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT) have revealed how their eight-man gang, led by one Isah Ibrahim (Danwasa), kidnapped three grandchildren of a Commissioner in Kaduna State, killed a pregnant pharmacist, Hanatu Rufai, and a professor’s son in different operations in the Northwest region of the country.

The suspects were alleged to be among those who attacked the National Leprosy and Tuberculosis Training Centre, Zaria, where about eight persons were kidnapped.

According to the police, the gang stormed the centre with two General Purpose Machine Guns (GPMG) and five AK47 rifles which they used to wreak havoc before proceeding to a house behind Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), where they kidnapped the pregnant pharmacist and killed her for not walking fast.

The Nation gathered that the gang was responsible for the kidnap of an Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi professor, Alliu Mohammed, and the murder of his son during the operation.

A gang member identified as Aminu was said to have fired the shot that killed Prof. Mohammed’s son while others whisked the man into the bush and held him until N10 million ransom was paid.

It was learnt that they also kidnapped and murdered a vigilante member known as Japenti at Wusafa area, attacked the owner of Najiwa Filling Station and whisked away his wife and child until N18 million ransom was paid.

Giving details of some of the gang’s operations, Adamu, who claimed to be a herdsman, said Isah (at large) usually brought the guns they used for operations.

He denied being among those who went to the commissioner’s house to kidnap his grandchildren but admitted taking part in other operations.

According to him, the pregnant pharmacist was killed for being stubborn and refusing to walk fast, adding that Isah usually gave him and others resident in the city N2,000 for transportation after each operation, and would contact them to come to the bush for their shares once ransom was paid.

He said: “I joined the gang last year. I was rearing cow. That was where I met Isah. He is also a cattle rearer. Isah brings guns to us. After the operation, they would give me and others N2,000 and tell us to go that they would call us when they collected the ransom.

“I don’t stay in the camp. I only go for operation with them. I refused to go to the bush because my father said he wanted to marry a wife for me and that I should not go to the bush.

“I did not participate in the kidnap of the commissioner’s grandchildren but I know they were three. It was Idris Mustapha that provided information about that particular operation.

“My job was to lead the gang out of the community after each kidnap operation, because I know the terrain. I never handled gun. I just showed them where to follow and how to locate where they parked their motorcycles.

Read Also: Two suspects held for supplying fuel to bandits

“They usually parked their motorcycles at a distance and walked into the village. Sometimes they stormed the villages around 9 pm or 10:30 pm, depending on the terrain. So, when they pick victims, I show them the routes to follow to locate their motorcycles without being caught,” said Adamu.

Mustapha, a neighbour to the commissioner, claimed he was threatened by Isah to provide information on wealthy individuals and cattle owners or risk being killed.

He said he knew the gang through a friend of his called Dambaba, whose cousin, Isah, was the leader.

According to Mustapha, Dambaba sent his number to Isah, who called and requested that he should buy drugs for his cows and bring them to the bush.

“He sent N20,000 first through one Bagobili that I should buy the drugs and bring them to the camp. But I said I would not do it. Isah threatened that he would come to town in the night, pack all our cows and kill me. I was scared, so I agreed.

“Bagobiri returned the money to me and I bought the drugs and gave him to take to Isah. He sent money two other times. The second time, it was N30,000 and the third was N25,000. He told me to buy cattle drugs and give to Bagobiri.

“The last one I bought, Isah said I should come to the camp to deliver the drugs myself. When I got there, I saw members of the gang all armed with AK47 rifles. They kept me there and Isah threatened me, saying that he asked me to do a job for him and I didn’t.

“He repeated that he had the right to come to town and kill me and make away with all our cows. He said if I didn’t want that to happen, I should cooperate with him. He gave me food and took me to the main road to return home.

“He told me to feed him with information about people who have money or cows in Zaria city. We were communicating with the phone. He sent one Idi and another person to me. They came and I pointed the commissioner’s house to them.

“The father of those children and I are close. The same Idi came in motorcycles to survey the place and went back. After some time, they came back to operate at night.

“The Commissioner was not at home; he was in Kaduna. They didn’t kill anybody. I didn’t go to the house after the kidnap, but their father came to my house.

“I greeted him but refused to go to their house. I refused to go because of the presence of security agents. I regret my action.

“I was given N10,000 for the Commissioner’s grandchildren kidnap.”

October 23, 2021
‘I plotted my cousin’s kidnap, murder to avoid repaying N1.4m I owed her’

The Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT) have arrested a 36-year-old man, Abubakar Halilu, for plotting the kidnap and murder of his cousin.

The suspect was arrested after detectives investigating the victim’s kidnap found her car keys in his custody.

It was gathered that Halilu lured his cousin, a businesswoman, to kidnappers’ den at Galadimawa area of Kaduna State where she would be killed and he would not repay the sum of N1.4 million he owed her.

The suspect was said to have driven the victim’s car on the day they were both supposedly kidnapped and held hostage in different parts of the bush only for her car keys, other belongings in the vehicle to resurface in his custody.

He allegedly made arrangements with the criminals to collect N100 million as ransom from the woman’s family and kill her afterwards, but luck ran out of on him as the victim escaped from the camp where she was held when her captors went out for an operation.

Confessing to the crime, Halilu said the woman bought some Keke Marwa (tricycles) amounting to N3.9 million and gave them to him on hire purchase.

He said he successfully paid N2.5 million and was owing her a balance of N1.4 million which he did not want to pay, adding that the day she was kidnapped, he told her to escort him to recover money from a debtor.

He said: “I was supposed to have finished payment in December 2020. The total amount was N3.9 million. I have paid her N2.5 million, remaining a balance of N1.4 million.

“When she called to ask for the balance, I told her I was going to collect my money from someone. After discussing with the person I claimed owed me money, I lured her to accompany me to collect the money from the person but took her to bandits in Galadimawa.

“Before I got there, I had discussed with the kidnappers. I knew them at the farm I was going to in Kubu area. I knew they were kidnappers. They were about five in number.

“In the camp, they have about 50 different gangs. They took me to their house. They have houses in the bush. They have huts where they keep kidnapped victims.

Read Also: Two dead, others injured in Rivers auto crash

“So, as we arrived the place, they kidnapped both of us and took us into the bush and separated us. My plan was for them to kill her.

“They were supposed to collect N100 million ransom and give me my share before they would kill her. I spent five days with them.

“While at the camp, somebody came to take me away. My cousin was able to escape from the initial gang but fell into another kidnap gang’s hands. I don’t know the people in hose hands she fell because I was taken to another camp by the gang that abducted me.

“I was the one that drove her in her car to the place I told her I was going to collect money. After we were kidnapped, the kidnappers took the car away to a junction.

“I told them they should take the car to the road so that people will see it and it would look as if we were indeed kidnapped, but they said people would see it where I parked it.”

Halilu said his co-conspirators however held him hostage and demanded that his family should bring money for his release. He said he didn’t know the amount they negotiated with his family but managed to escape the day the ransom was to be paid.

“I managed to escape from their camp on the day payment was supposed to be made. As I was escaping, I begged a farmer I met on the road to give me his phone to contact my people. I told the stranger that I was kidnapped.

“I told my people on the phone not to bother to pay money to anybody. I told my people that I escaped when the kidnappers went out. I told them to come and meet me at Iredachi Junction. From there, one of my brothers that came to pick me handed me over to IRT office.”

According to the police, the suspect apparently thought his plans had succeeded and decided to collect everything that was inside the woman’s car, adding that he confessed to the crime during interrogation.

October 23, 2021
$We’ve demoted lecturers on account of infractions against students – Rector$

We’ve demoted lecturers on account of infractions against students – Rector

Rector of Federal Polytechnic Nekede, Imo State, Dr. Michael Chidiebere Arimanwa, speaks on cultism, the COVID-19 pandemic and other issues concerning the school in this interview with CHRIS NJOKU

You are already three years in office as Rector of Federal Polytechnic Nekede. How has it been?

It has been a challenging time. When I came in 2018, I already had a direction and a focus, and I made that clear during my inauguration on 3rd of October 2018. I made it clear that we were going to digitalise the institution. I made it clear that we are going to turn the institution into a smart campus. I made it clear that we would get relevant government agencies to give the school befitting access roads. The roads leading to our school were impassable when I came in. I made it clear that our operations would run on digital technology thereby reducing human contacts between students and staff to the barest minimum, because the issue of extortion or all kinds of bribery will only happen when you see people. If you don’t see them, you cannot collect money from them.

We have been able to significantly achieve that because now, our students can register online, check their results online and pay fees online. By what we have done so far, we are in the direction of achieving all the goals we set for ourselves, all the focus that we established and the promise we made during the inauguration. It has not been an easy thing because some people have intentionally tried to stop us, tried to slow us down. But all the obstacles are being overcome, and by the grace of God, I can inform the entire world that we have done very well in these three years.

What do you mean some people want to slow you down?

It has to do with civil service mentality. I have a private sector background. In the private sector, we do not give excuses; we must achieve results. There are people who started their career as civil servants, and the idea of civil service is you have work to do, you go on break. When you come back, it is 4 O’clock and you go home. Tomorrow, you go for burial. The next day, you go for something else. The job that can be done in 10, 20 minutes or one hour will remain on your table for two weeks because there is always something else you prefer to do.

Also, it is difficult to sanction civil servants. It takes a lot. But we are in a public service; we have to follow the rules. A lot of people are creating issues where there is none. I remember that when we launched the Smart-campus initiative, some people didn’t want to go that way; they preferred the manual method, contacts with students because of things falling out from such contacts. Some people were saying I should buy them generator, laptop and data for them to queue into the vision of Smart-campus, and of course, you know that it is not possible for management to buy laptops for all the staff of the institution, give them generator, data and maybe buy fuel for them to power their system before they can queue into the vision.

So we have such people who keep trying to bring difficulties along the road, but we are overcoming all of that because we also had opportunity at some points to contact some people like Chief Leo Stan Ekeh of Zinos Computers who subsidised laptops for staff. He brought HP laptop and offered it to us at N60,000, which was very cheap because he was subsidizing. It was made open, but only about 130 members of the staff bought because only 130 pieces were sold when he was ready to give us 600.

Within your tenure, the school has witnessed the outbreak of COVID-19, EndSars protest and other challenges. How have these affected your administration?

Read Also: Protests as residents reject new Ibarapa polytechnic acting rector

Thank you very much, the challenges seriously affected us. In 2020, we couldn’t do much because the Coronavirus came and crippled all activities. In fact, apart from payment of fees, we really had it rough with our Internally Generated Revenue (IGR). We really struggled and the effect of the Covid-19 outbreak is still on us. Till now, we are not able to meet certain financial challenges because of the difficulties created by COVID-19, but we also rose to the occasion. Immediately after Covid-19, there was EndSars protest, and after that, there was a strike by Academic Staff Union. So the entire 2020 was almost unproductive for us. But we rose to the occasion when COVID-19 came.

We developed devices to fight COVID-19. The first one we developed was normal bucket water. The second one was semi-automated hand washing device which was pedal operated because we didn’t want people touching anything. We also developed fully automated device, which works by sensor and is solar powered. We developed that and we applied for patent right because we believed it was original to us, and the government, after going through our submission, granted that patent right. Today, we have a certificate for that.

At what stage would you consider using the devices as revenue generation for the institution?

It would be a very good revenue source for the institution. We gave two copies to the Imo State Government and we were commended for it. A number of people have come to buy, but it is not an easy thing for us to turn it into a commercial venture because we need money. We don’t have the resources. In fact, the first one that was produced was produced with my personal money. We have sought assistance from the State Government, the Federal Government and the agencies of the Federal Government. We wrote to the Central Bank, we wrote to the Ministry of Education, we wrote to NCDC, but we have not received any positive response.

The ones we developed, we distributed them round the school. It has not been sustained because we’re not able to produce in large quantity. We haven’t made an effort in trying to sell the patent rights to maybe bigger manufacturers. We wanted a situation where we will produce another version of the device we have, when we get that version where we can make the units in single forms and then couple on site and then maybe package in a cartoon so that it will be easy to convey. Right now, to transport it is not an easy thing.

During your inauguration, you talked about how you were going to take care of students and staff welfare. In what other ways has your administration affected the staff and students?

We have done a lot even for me to mention in a moment. There are so many things we have done. For example, we have been able to facilitate the employment of more than 500 people. In fact, in my heart, that is the most important achievement, and that is the largest number that this institution had ever employed. So we have taken people off the streets. We have empowered families. Some of those people employed are relations of staff and relations of host communities. We have made it possible for staff to be promoted. We have a lot of our staff who are being trained in the UK, US, Australia, virtually all parts of the world, and also in Nigeria. We have staff who are being trained here to obtain masters, Ph.D and all that. We have a long list of them who are not with us here because they are undergoing one training programme or the other. We really have done quite a lot for staff.

For students, we have ensured that individual students are protected. We came up with laws and policies of anti-sexual harassment. Against extortion, students have a reporting mechanism. When we met with students, we gave out three phone numbers that they could send reports to us and a number of reports are coming which we are handling. As a result of those reports, we have suspended some people. We have demoted some people. We have denied people promotion on account of infractions against students.

A lot of time when we talk about welfare, people zero it to how much I am going to get. Welfare is not only about money, because the management doesn’t have money to share. But we make sure that in this environment you are protected; in this environment you are not molested. Almost 80% of our students leave outside the campus, but we didn’t just abandon them. We have organised conferences on two occasions for landlords and caretakers of the hostels outside the campus to meet with us. We invited the Commissioner of Police Imo State Command, we invited the DSS Director, we invited other security agencies. The whole purpose was to ensure that the hostels outside the campus are not exploiting our students and that they are in good living conditions. We have asked them to register with us so that from here we will be able to send students to them, because we found out also that a number of people who are not students come into this environment, rent rooms like every other person in a hostel and stay there. And some of them stay there and commit all kinds of crime. Because of that, those that are registered with us, we now supply students tenants from our school. For the first time, they have designated hostels outside there for female and male. Before, male and female used to live in the same place. In fact, in some cases, the same room. But now we have male hostels and female hostels outside our school and those who have registered with us are getting patronage because we’re sending students to them.

We have also informed our students that it’s safer for them to patronise hostels that are registered with us because those that have registered with us cannot take tenants from the side. We have provided scholarship for students of our school. Every matriculation day, it’s almost statutory that some people are given scholarships. But the rector on his own has also given out scholarships. In fact, since I came, beginning from 2019, I have given school fees scholarship to about 40 HND 2 students who are not able to pay. We are still going to do for 2021. And that is apart from polytechnic scholarship that happens on matriculation days.

We have also provided opportunities for our staff, students and the host communities to receive vaccination. We started with COVID-19 test at no fee. Nobody paid one naira, and the Rector was the first to be tested. Those who were positive from that test were isolated and given further treatment. We have also provided opportunities for vaccination. I have taken two jams of the vaccine. The vaccine is also free. Anyone who is able to access our facilities on the days that they are here receives test or vaccination as the case may be free of charge.

We have also paid stipends to physically challenged students who cannot walk or are having visibility challenge. We give them hostel accommodation at no charge. These are some of the things we have done to ensure that both staff and students are doing well and are looked after in our environment.

We have done so many other things. If you go round the institution, you will see that we have provided physical infrastructures. But we have spent more money in equipping labs and workshops. We have also maintained a clean environment, which is very important for the health of everyone. For the security of students and staff of this environment, we provided six motorcycles to various vigilante groups. By the way, apart from the police, DSS and other security agencies, we have vigilante groups working in this environment. Our staff who are drivers, we provided tricycles for them so that when they are off duty, they can use it to run around to make more money.

October 23, 2021
Federal character principle has destroyed Nigeria – Dokpesi

In spite of the predictions made about him early in life that he would not live longer than 35 years, the Chairman Emeritus of DAAR Communications Plc, High Chief Raymond Dokpesi, has braved the odds to survive till 70 years. His authorised biography, “The Handkerchief” will be launched to mark his 70th birthday on October 25. But he spoke with a select group of journalists on his travails and triumphs. YUSUF ALLI, MANAGING EDITOR, NORTHERN OPERATION was at the session.

What have been your highest and lowest moments?

My lowest moment in recent times has been my prison arrest, trial and the alleged looting of treasury by the past administration, which led to my detention in the EFFC and at Kuje Prison. That has been so remarkable and painful time recently for me. My best moment, the moment of my joy and fulfillment, was December 15, 1993 when RayPower came on air. I thought I crossed the hurdle to do what Nigeria was unprepared to do. But in between, there has been quite a number of high and low moments.

You were given a chance of living only three years but you are now 70. Will you describe that as a miracle or a divine intervention?

Thirty-five was the benchmark I was given. The very early years, I was sickly. As I was growing up, I do recall sitting by the side of my father in Ibadan every evening while he used to sit on his relaxing chair with his friends, talking about village stories. Then, I was feeling handicapped because I could not talk from the very beginning of my life. Many people assumed that because I couldn’t talk, I could not also hear. I would normally look and watch things as they happened, and I vividly recall when one of my father’s very close friends came to intervene about my schooling. He condemned every effort to invest in me outright because I was very sickly and a handicapped child of a southerner. That was a very tough stage of my life. I felt highly discriminated against and that I would likely be denied the opportunity to live.

My mother was very helpless. She was an illiterate and I couldn’t talk. Even if I attempted to write anything, she could not read it. It was a lot of God’s intervention after going through treatments at the University College Hospital, Ibadan. By the time I was getting to about 12 and 13 years, I was terribly sick. My parents were taking me from hospital to herbalists, from churches to prayer houses and looking for an opportunity for me to survive. The doctors gave up on me because they couldn’t identify what the perennial ailment was. I left the Loyola College, Ibadan after the school felt I might die on the campus. I went back to Benin and seeing the struggle of my mother and the determination of my father at that time, I almost believed it was best for me to die. I saw the pains and the amount of struggle they were putting in for me to live.

They later took me down to Agenebode around 1965 and 1966 when my father had almost given up that I was not going to survive. I went through the bank of River Niger which was full at that time. We went into a small village called Osunene, having travelled two and a half hours on the River Niger. I was not given any injection but they said I had been poisoned and that the people that committed the atrocity were present. Everyone was asked to swear by the river and a lineage was coincidentally involved in it. There and then, I went into a fit and vomited extensively. That became the beginning of my revival.

Until I got to Poland for school, after doing the medical examinations, they felt I was not going to live beyond age 35. I collected the results and forwarded them to my father who asked me to have faith in God. He was sure that if I went through all those challenges in my early life, that I would live older than his father who was acknowledged to be the oldest person in Agenebode, having died at the age of 120 in 1956. I kept on. When the 35th year was approaching, because of the fear that had been planted in me, I enjoyed my life maximally. Here I am, 70 years old and all those challenges put behind me. I am strong and healthy and I thank Almighty God and all Nigerians who have supported me to get to this age.

My eldest sister, Mrs. Grace Juliana Agbame (Dokpesi), in the course of my struggles and battles in life made a pledge to God that if I survived all these, they would dedicate me to God’s service. That was how I got into the seminary. My mother had 13 children and I am the only surviving son in the middle. I’m tied by the cord of those ahead and below me. I’m a covenant child.

On October 25, 1986 when you were 35, what went through your mind?

I counted it as the day when I was to see the end of my life but I was very joyous that I crossed the Rubicon. I had been a Chief of Staff, I had a PhD, I had even been a multimillionaire. I was happy in life and I said that all these things were happening for a reason. Possibly that 35 years was why God so ordered my life to be smooth sailing as it was up to that time. The next 35 years have even been more joyous.

Did the 35 years encourage you to be polygamous?

I’m a Catholic and I will tell you that one of the greatest errors of my life is polygamy. It was not something that I desired; it was a situation that developed in which I had no alternative. A lot of people feel it was wealth that distorted my behaviour. But the truth of the matter is that there were internal family challenges that led to it. I was married to a Polish woman and I wanted to remain with the Polish woman and I still desire it in my old age. She left Nigeria on reasons that she was the only child of her parents and needed to be with her parents. I went to Poland 16 times to beg her to return. My mother was also anxious that I have children; that I don’t need to enter aeroplane to go and see them. Those were the internal factors that later on affected my life.

You are a Marine Engineer, business mogul and media entrepreneur. Don’t you think the Nigerian economy should be better than it is today? Why is it difficult to bring the changes?

The fact is that the then Military Head of State and Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Gen. Olusegun Aremu Obasanjo, had moved through parts of Europe in search of ideas that could help transform and expand marine business in Nigeria before our paths crossed in Poland. Obasanjo is a non-discriminatory leader who wooed me back from Poland in 1977 to come and serve my fatherland.

As a consultant to the Polish government on matters relating to Maritime Transportation and Economic Science, I joined the Polish team to hold talks with General Obasanjo when he paid a state visit to Poland in 1977. Chief Obasanjo was surprised that he found himself negotiating with a Polish team which had a black man as a member, who also served as the interpreter.

When I came back to Nigeria in December 1976, he was very enthusiastic about building ship yards in Nigeria. He wanted ship yard in Burutu, ship yard in Lagos and one other ship yard in Port Harcourt. He had three ship yards in mind. So, it was a great privilege, a great honour and a great opportunity to come in. Even when I thought it was very difficult for me, the same Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo, who got me into the Federal Civil Service, got me posted to the Federal Ministry of Transport under Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife before the Nigerian Ports Authority started claiming ownership that they sent me out to Poland on scholarship.

He will attest to the fact that I came filled with patriotism and hope that Nigeria will become that prosperous land flowing with milk. When I came back to Nigeria on a visit in 1975, Nigeria was at the same level of development with Poland, Singapore and Taiwan. The ports that I visited during the course of my maritime training, it was always a beauty coming into the Lagos Port. True, we had congestion in 1975 and the country was undergoing rapid development but the First, Second and Third National Development Plans were of men who had visions and meant well for Nigeria. After those, we derailed. There was no basis for measuring the standard of men and quality of people that took over leadership of Nigeria with what we have now.

I had files of civil servants and ministers who served this country between 1951 and 1975. They got burnt in my house. If you see the brilliance, patriotism and commitment of those people, you will want to serve this country forever. Unfortunately, the federal character clause that came in brought a lot of inexperienced people and mediocre. Excellence was sacrificed. There was no basis anymore for taking people except sentiment. In the Ministry of Transport, the Nigerian Ports Authority wanted to build an ocean terminal in Lagos towards Badagry, and for political reasons, it was decided that we should go to Onne. For political reasons, we decided to build a port in Warri. Obafemi Awolowo promised a port in Warri to satisfy the Itsekiri people. Shehu Shagari came in 1979 and said we should build a port in Sapele for the Urhobo people. There was no economic reason.

The ocean terminal in Lagos was projected ahead of when larger vessels would be coming in was abandoned. Rivers State made it possible for Shehu Shagari to win the 1979 election with the last votes that came in. In order to appreciate them, we shelved the idea of the ocean terminal. This is haunting us today. The ports in the Republic of Benin and Togo are better than ours because they are at the deep end of the sea. The basis of decision making became emotional. Today, they are building naval base in Kano. That is how we lost a lot of the visions that were expected.

How can we address the setbacks?

It boils down to leadership and followership. I believe that we need to restructure this country effectively. Whether you like or hate the word “restructure”, it is just the foundation and the first thing we must do in moving ahead. We need a leader who believes in restructuring and moving Nigeria from an oil-based economy to a diversified economy. We need a leader who believes in productivity. The same people who closed down steel companies are the same people today running around and borrowing money to build railway lines. Shagari saw this problem way back and went ahead with the development of the Ajaokuta Steel Mill, the Delta Steel mill and the Katsina Steel Mill. By the time Ajaokuta was to start production, the 1983 coup took place. The then Minister of Steel, Alhaji Mamman Makele was described as corrupt and a thief. So, he ran for his life to the UK where he died.

For that reason, Ajaokuta that required only N500 million ($500 million) as at that time was abandoned. All the steel required for our rail lines which had been planned to connect every village in Nigeria and was to cost N30 billion were to come to Ajaokuta. Shagari at the Federal Executive Council had said we should fund it from the treasury and not borrowing. We were almost finished with Ajaokuta Steel Mill. We would have created employment and generated opportunities for Nigerians. No country will come to develop Nigeria; Nigerians must develop their beloved country.

The country today is divided along ethnic lines. What do you think is responsible for the divisions?

Bad leadership. Completely bad leadership. When these issues come on, people run away from the reality. It is not the Fulani man that is bad. Shehu Shagari was a Fulani man who served Nigeria very meritoriously and conscientiously. We have had military heads of state that are northerners but they were visionary and ready to accommodate others. They pulled together the best brains that were available and brought about development. I remember my uncle, Chief John Amodu who was a Mayor in Port Harcourt but from Agenebode. In Lagos and Enugu, northerners contested and won elections. People were living freely in Kano. Growing up, the whole idea was that it is going to be a country flowing with milk and honey. But all of a sudden, things changed. When you have religious extremists, people that exploit the very thin lines of unity, then you will find yourself here.

I believe that there are still Nigerians who believe in one united Nigeria. Those Nigerians must come out. Most of these younger generation, people that are clamouring for the disintegration of this country, I sympathize with them. But I feel very strongly that they are in that position because of the injustices that are going on in the country.

There are two different laws operating in different parts of the country. In the Electoral Act in 2015, what was not permissible in the South was allowed in the North. People were able to vote manually in the North. Borno State, in which there was a bomb blast that morning, returned 1.7 million votes while Lagos that is densely populated could hardly get one million votes. You created 44 local government areas in one state but it’s the federating units that fund that. A lot of the states are not economically viable, they cannot sustain themselves. For how long can we sustain the unsustainable states? They need to merge together.

In simple terms, in the northern states, the job that was done by a permanent secretary is now being done by 19 persons most inefficiently and ineffectively. The same with the Eastern region. It has not helped our development. We must sit down and discuss. If we must move ahead, we must reduce our administrative and consumption cost. We must give attention to development. Over 70 per cent of the money we have in our budget is for recurrent expenditure. We must reverse that to move forward.

You are a member of the PDP BOT and you are canvassing for Northern presidential candidate. Is it a matter of who wins or doing the right thing?

In 1998 when the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was being setup, we had Nigerians who went through the trauma of military dictatorship and elder statesmen who believed in Nigeria. Some of them were sentenced to ridiculous number of years in prison by those who are occupying the same positions today. I was arrested and tried. My offence was just that I held a political office and yet they are holding political offices today and they are not tried.

The constitution of the PDP states clearly that there shall be rotation and zoning of both party and political offices. I have remained very consistent in my argument. In 1998, after the meeting of the G34, it was Alhaji Isa Lawal Kaita who moved that Chief Alex Ekwueme should become the next president. Alex Ekwueme said that G34 was still a group and not a political party and that when we transformed into a political party, we can canvass whether he should be or not be the president.

When the party came in, they decided that because of the injustice that has been done to the South West, the zone should be given the opportunity to produce the president. That was in Jos and AIT transmitted it live even into the United States for the first time. President Bill Clinton called Obasanjo to congratulate. Obasanjo was surprised at the call and Clinton told him that he was watching the news even through a Nigerian channel, AIT.

Zoning was also recommended in the draft constitutional conference report a former Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha signed in 1995. Each geopolitical zone was to have a term of five years so that in 30 years, we would have ended as one united Nigeriaand then start exploring merit. After deciding on the four-year rotation when Obasanjo came in, there was an expanded party caucus where it was canvassed that the military had done a lot of damage and that the PDP programme cannot be attained within those years. They said it should be extended because the constitution has provided for two terms of eight years.

Again, the elder statesmen agreed that Obasanjo will do eight years with a proviso that after him, a northerner will also do eight years. I travelled round the country to lobby for a South-South president. Obasanjo agreed and said that Dr. Peter Odili had done very well and that if we go into the convention, he will win overwhelmingly but that the party already had an agreement with the North and begged him to allow the North produce the President. That was how Umaru Musa Yar’Adua became the President. Yar’Adua did only two and a half years and died. I argued that the North should be allowed to finish up their remaining four years.

I suggested to Jonathan to allow a Northerner become President and that he can still be the vice president or go on vacation and prepare himself to become the President after the end of the term. Some people especially from the South-South, disagreed on the basis that one cannot be so close to power and relinquish it. Jonathan did another four years and we came to 2015. By then, the PDP had been 16 years in power with 14 years of the South and two years of the North. That is the situation up till today. In 2015 when we fielded Jonathan, the North was clamouring that the South has done 14 years and should allow them to do their four years. That is what plunged the country into this crisis. I am PDP and I am being guided by the constitution of the party which in its preamble said that the unity, stability and growth of this country, we must rotate such that every part of this country (will be carried along).

What of the eight years of the APC?

The APC on their own also chose to adopt zoning but first started with a northern candidate, knowing full well the sentiments of the North to stand against a southerner. At the end of that election, my position has been that Jonathan did not lose that election. But in any case, he didn’t contest it even when there was ample evidence to that effect. He has become a statesman but that has not solved the problem of Nigeria. APC has its own rules and constitution. In my own party, I cannot win election because there is so much injustice and unfairness while we are not guided by certain rules and regulations.

Let us be fair to ourselves and remain one as this party started. In doing so, please let us choose a candidate from the North. In 2019 we field a northern candidate as recommended by the Ike Ekweremadu’s report, but we were out- maneuvered by the other party. I don’t believe Atiku Abubakar lost that election, but INEC had said so. I am criticising APC for failure, for making Nigeria the world poverty capital and for the level of unemployment. These are not PDP policies. I cannot be dragged into APC policies. It is because the APC policy that has failed to recognise the federal character that has brought us to the condition we are today – everyone is suspicious of one another. We have a security council made up of people from one side of the country and speaking one language.

I want a Nigeria that recognises our diversity and one that will bring back the principles of PDP, and the person for that is from the North. We the southerners had power and monopolised it. That was what gave birth to APC. Otherwise we would have not been in this mess.

What has accounted for your latest position on Asiwaju Bola Tinubu? You also eulogised Bola Tinubu a few days ago on AIT? Where do you stand?

Bola Ahmed Tinubu and I were close friends right from the time he was working with Mobil and before becoming a governor. As young men, we ate and drank together. He became governor and God blessed him. Does that remove the fact that we are close friends? Should I because he belongs to another party say he is my enemy? He is the godfather of my second to last daughter. If there is an interview, would I say I don’t know him? He is a kind man and a philanthropist. He is supportive of the ordinary person that is available. I praise him and wish him the very best in whatever he puts his hands on. It has nothing to do with politics but about the good relationship we share.

There are rumours that former President Goodluck Jonathan is hobnobbing with the APC. Should he defect to APC?

He has not told me that. Goodluck Jonathan is a statesman. He sacrificed his ambition and did not fight after the 2015 elections because he wants a united Nigeria. Don’t forget that the person that is now mentioned globally is Olusegun Obasanjo. He is ageing but Jonathan is a younger person and he is able to represent Nigeria, attract friends and investments into Nigeria. That role falls on his shoulders very well and I encourage him to keep that position and be Nigeria’s number one image maker. He is well-suited for that and I wish him the best of luck in achieving that. He is an adult and he takes his own decisions. He is able to assess the circumstances. But I don’t believe he will go to APC.

October 17, 2021
OLUWO OF IWO: I’m not in hurry to remarry

Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdulrasheed Akanbi is the traditional ruler of Iwo, Osun State. Regarded by many as controversial, the flamboyant monarch spoke with GBENGA ADERANTI on many issues including his estranged former queen, his war experience in Liberia and the need for monarchical revolution. Excerpts:

You seem to be bringing a kind of revolution to the monarchical institution by doing away with some traditional practices. How receptive are your people to this?

Change is something that is not easy. Everything in life is about sacrifice. Sacrifice means to make yourself uncomfortable for the benefit of others and to impact the future generation. When you want to make a change, you are trying to take people away from oppression; you try to open peoples’ eyes. I don’t want to oppress my future. My future is the youths of today. What they were used to that make them to be in this situation today, should we continue doing things this way that is not working or should we toe another path? When we keep doing the same thing, you don’t expect different results.

If some leaders of today even know that their generation failed these youths, are the youths of today going to follow the path of the failed generation or will we find our own paths by ourselves just like the slaves that we sold but found their own path to make a living? Some of them studied Law. Some of them went into the army, and when they came back, they became leaders. I will not oppress my future which is the youths of today. I would rather free them so that I will meet a free people; a people that have room to grow. Those are the things I want to meet in the future in 30, 40 years I’m on the throne. I want to look back and say yes, these people have been liberated and they are happy.

It is going to be a pyramid effect, a domino effect which is going to work on larger population, even people that are not mine; the black race entirely. My own idea of monarchy is that we have to define our position. If my forefathers did not define their positions, I want to define it. Yoruba culture, Yoruba tradition is deeply rooted in the existence of Olodumare (the Supreme Being). It is deeper than what the eyes can see. It is deeper than what you can talk about in the physical. We are so deep that our culture and tradition is the best in the world. We must be free from the myths and superstitions of idolatry and deities which are bastardising our culture. Idolatry and deities are not a culture; they are tradition. It is a religion. The idolaters and deity worshippers want what we call our own existence which we call our culture and tradition, which came from kingship. They want to put it under their own religion.

What is kingship? It is not about Christian God or Muslim God; it is about one God, Olodumare, the creator of heaven and the earth. When it comes to God, it is not about race, it is not about colour. We have a supreme being that is the creator; that is the king. He is the real king. The Yoruba are the only ones that call their king by the name of God, that is kabiyesi … ka bi o ko si (you are unquestionable). That is the way they greet their king. No other race in the world greets their king like that. Who is Kabiyesi Olodumare? That is the real kabiyesi. So who are these earthly kings in Yorubaland? They are the representatives of the Almighty Olodumare. They are more than humans when they are elevated from humans and princes to a king.

Olodumare is the one that appoints these kings; it is not by votes. He is the one that will make the king to get there. So when you are a king, you are representing God. Pastors, prophets, alfas, babalawos (priests) are all messengers. Is a messenger greater than the representative of God? No. So, we are working with our head in Yorubaland. Power must go back to the kings. I’m not telling the olorisa not to worship their orisa, but the kings have the authority of the land in their hands that rules the land. Olodumare told them to represent Him. God is the owner of the land.

The palace is the home of God on earth. So in the home of the Almighty on earth, should we have two kings there? There cannot be two kings in the palace. When there is a deity or idol in the palace, we have two kings. That is why I said kings can have idol worshippers as subjects, but a king must not bow to idol or idol worshippers. In Yorubaland, they call the king the deputy of the deities. Does a deputy have power? It means we are deputy to the deity and idols. Then it means that a king does not have power as long as the orisa is still there, which they want to use our throne to promote. As long as the orisa is still there, it means that kings will never be relevant. Our own father that brought the crown even fought Orisa Obatala. Obatala prostrated and he ruled over Obatala. How can the kings worship idols? The only enemy to the crown is the deities.

The palace had been in existence before Islam and Christianity. We are the representatives of God on earth and we are put under orisa. Show me any deity Oduduwa worshipped. If they can bring one, then I will remove myself as king.

What have been the reactions of your people to this reform in the palace?

Some are falling in line. Many believe that I’m their voice to take kings out of slavery of these olorisa who are just few. They try to use stool to promote their own deities and many kings have now seen that we can get our powers back, if we do away with these deities. How can a king worship deities? Any king that worships deity in Yorubaland can keep on worshipping it. There is no hierarchy, any king that worships deity, I’m bigger than them. You are laughing? That is for real, because we will do it according to the dictate of the real king.

Our subjects say they are better and greater than deity. They don’t reckon with idol worshipping. So if you, a whole king, are a deputy to the deity, you are a slave to the deity. Which one would you prefer: to be a representative of God or a deputy to a deity? To be a representative of the Almighty will bring more respect. Do you know how the Yoruba greet their kings? They lie down and say, ‘Kabiyesi ooo.’ That is the name of God.

You are the most reported Yoruba traditional ruler. How do you feel about this?

It is the definition of monarchy in Yorubaland to be a servant, day and night, to your people. When you serve the people, you are planting a seed of service. The service will grow for you. When you see something wrong in the country and you don’t care whose ox is gored, you said I’m going to make things work; I’m not going to remain silent. Fools will multiply when wise men are silent. So, if you are a wise man and you don’t want fools to multiply in your land, which can even impact your child, you talk. I am a father; you can see my age. I’m a father to this race and I would always act as a father regardless of what you think. Most talk about, most social media friendly; yes the social media is the thing of the moment. Let them shut down instagram, Facebook, Whatsapp, you will see how your life would be. You call me a social king; that means I’m the king of the moment.

You have fought so many battles, but one way or the other, you have managed to survive. What is the secret?

The secret is Olodumare, the creator of everything. I hold Him high. It is a king that exalts a king; a king does not exalt orisa. When you start raising God, God will raise you in truth. Not that you say you are praising God and when something happens you are scared. You see a little storm and you shiver. Faith comes from being confident and bold. Confidence and being bold is equal to faith. When you have that absolute faith in the unseen God, the almighty will never forsake you. It doesn’t matter what you do.

You preside over a community, a town where they believe so much in Islam. In one vein, you said you were not against tradition. But you are against worshipping of idols and idolatry…

I’m against what is bastardising our culture.

Where do you draw the line? Some of the traditional practices are against Islam…

Tell me what is against Islam and Christianity in our tradition?

The mode of dressing, for example. In Islam, a woman is expected to cover her head, but in our culture, it is not compulsory

Are you talking about culture or are you talking about manners?

Way of life…

When you are talking about the way of life of some people, that is what they prefer. Some people prefer that their women should be covered. They don’t want people to see the shape of the body of their wife. I actually like it. I like it when women are covered. They don’t see the shape of my wife. Everybody looks, even if a man is passing, people look. If a woman is passing, people look, not to talk of a woman showing her shape. There are many women who can be a side show, but when you are a wife at home, I think that one should be for your husband. That is my belief. As a way of life, it is good for a married woman to be covered. And if any other person decides not to cover up, that is their own way of life; that is the freedom to dress the way you want. When it comes to my own wife, I think I will like her to cover.

There is nothing against our culture that is against anyone. The only one I see against our culture and tradition is Olorisa who never made our people wear adire, ofi. They want everybody to wear white. Orisa is against the culture and tradition of the Yoruba people. Orisa promotes their own. If they had their way, they would make everybody wear white in Nigeria. You will never see an olorisa that wears ofi, sanyan, alari coloured dresses. They will tell you to wear white. They themselves don’t understand what they are doing.

Even Ifa tell you to wear white, but it is not telling you to be wearing this white clothes; it is telling you that your inside should be clean and your outside should be clean. Your ways should be clean to man. Deity worshipping is a religion. It is not our culture, and it is not our tradition.

Should I then assume that you appear colorful always because you don’t want to associate with the orisa?

I’m so colourful because it is our identity. I’m so colorful because I’m odidere (a colorful kind of bird) personified. Iwo is odidere and I talk because odidere speaks the truth. I represent the full odidere. Odidere is the only creation of God that speaks apart from humans, nothing else. Odidere is the only one that speaks the truth. And I get the inspiration of the true Yoruba history from Olodumare. When you are a king and you are close to Olodumare, everything will be given to you. You will see things. You will hear from God and you will see what God wants you to see. You don’t need any oloris. You don’t need any babalawo (herbalist). The authority is in you, you only need to say let this land be great and it will be great. You tell your children who are sick to be healed. The God that blesses is the God that takes. The God that gives good health is the God that takes good health. You can even say the bad health that is in you should come and take the king, because I’m not the king, God is the king. I do that with testimonies. You can ask the people that work with me.

An Oba should bring alleviation of poverty. He should serve his people and make the land grow and develop. A king should be a servant and treat his subject like a king. You should be the best servant to be the best king. I want to be the best king, that is why I want to be the best servant ever.

Read Also: Just In: Oluwo of Iwoland divorces Jamiacan wife

Sometimes you get criticised in the media. When you read such reports, how do they make you feel?

When I’m doing the right thing, I see this as ignorance. There was a time, I don’t know, I would criticise people. But since I became a king, God has given me a lot of wisdom to know the right from wrong. When I see those things I ask what about when I didn’t know, I would like to make them known. Common sense is not common, not to talk about special sense. You let them know, you have to let people see what common sense is, you teach them.

When I see that, I don’t pay attention to that as long as I’m doing the right thing.

What has been your greatest challenge as a traditional ruler?

My greatest challenge is that I know the work God has given me to do is a lot but I have signed. I want to serve my people. I left Canada. Imagine me leaving Canada as a Canadian holding a Canadian passport, to come and sit in Iwo to come and serve my people. I want to build Iwo just like the fathers of other nations that built their nation. I will stay in Iwo to build Iwo to modern day. I will suffer for it. I will strive for it. I will serve my people. I will make Iwo great by the grace of God, and God is doing it. I’m going to be six years on the throne in November. In six years, there have been tremendous achievements in the history of that land.

You mentioned your civil war experience in Liberia during the civil war. What was it like?

It was a real physical war. War of guns, ambushed, bombed. When you see people dead by your side, people you saw one minute before they are dead, your friends, your acquaintances, when you see how bombs split people into two, you see jet fighters blow people’s brains off, you can look at yourself and say it could have been me.

You are ambushed. In a war there is no wife, there are no children. Even you will leave your children, your wife and run. During war, you don’t change clothes. During war, no kings, no government, no president; the only spirit that is there is the spirit of evil, looting, destroying even when people don’t need to destroy things. Things that they can need they can destroy because it is a kind of different spirit. Children, even the President will become refugees in other countries. People will be looking for food, handouts from the sky.

Nobody wants war. I’ve seen death face to face more than eight times. I’ve been shot at. Gun has been put to my head. Gun has been put everywhere. I was taken to where I was to be killed but I’m still here, I’m still surviving. War kills, war destroys, war loots, war rapes. War destroys humanity.

I fought war; I became a commander in a war. I know what war is. I survived.

Oba Abdulrasheed Akanbi

You said a gun was put to your head. How did you manage to escape?

I survived. It was God. I became a king today because God wants me to see things to be able to experience things. Rags are not riches; they are experienced. May Nigeria not witness any more war. This is why we want peaceful resolution to any problem we have in Nigeria.

What do you think should be the role of traditional rulers in this dispensation? It is like the traditional rulers have been relegated…

The Yoruba traditional rulers have relegated themselves to the second in command to the deities; deities that cannot move. Deities are for the past. You can only reference history, you can’t apply it. Many things have relegated the traditional rulers, especially in the South West. We have to stand up. We have to break the shackles of enslavement we are in. But the Yoruba own is more spiritual; they have offended Olodumare who they represent. They said it was what their fathers were doing. Who do you represent? Who are you working for? If you work for a chairman and you don’t take orders from the chairman, you are fired.

Why are you complaining that your kings are relegated? You have relegated yourself already and we are trying to take you out of that enslavement. Some of them are fighting it. Some of them are saying it is because it is Oluwo that is saying it. Because I’m the one saying it, you can keep on being in slavery.

You were once suspended by the Osun State Council of Traditional rulers. Initially you said it was not going to work. At what point did you make a u-turn to listen to the council?

That was a media charade. Forget it; I’m not going to talk too much about it.

I’m a paramount ruler with over 30 kings being crowned by the Oluwo. I’m not just a paramount ruler; I’m a natural paramount ruler in Yorubaland, one of the crowns since inception in Yorubaland. I’m not a crown that was made by a white man. I’m not a crown that was created by elevation. I was not elevated. I’m a crown from the inception, Oluwo of Oluwo. I was one of the king’s in the Western House of Chiefs. My number is three. Oba S.O. Abimbola, one of my predecessors, was a minister without portfolio in the Western House of Chiefs. How many kings were ministers without portfolios then? We were not more than three.

A powerful stool in Yorubaland is the stool of the Oluwo as a paramount ruler. When it comes to paramountcy, no king has power over me.

Majority of Yoruba Obas are polygamists but you prefer monogamy. What is the reason for that?

It is not that I prefer monogamy. Polygamy is a cultural thing. It is a way of life for some people. It did not start today. If you check the bible, you will see that Isaac, Jacob, they all had many wives. It is the way of life of some people. Our fathers used to have many wives. But me as a servant of the people, it is not that I prefer monogamy. I have a lot of work to do as the servant of the people, so I will like to stay just with one wife. If I can have the strength and power later, maybe I will take one more. But if you have a lot of work to do outside, you have to rest; you have a lot of work to do inside also. You have to satisfy your wives. But if it is only one, we can still be managing out of love. We serve the community together.

How much pressure are you getting from your community to marry another wife?

No pressure, because I’m serving them. That is my personal life. Kingship is different now; you have to be able to serve your people. Getting a wife is a personal thing. I know that they don’t want another wife that will poison me again. A wife that because she is not getting enough money, she wants to poison you, she wants to sell you out to people that contested the stool with you; a wife that wants to take ransom since she came into the palace on contract basis with her handlers.

I didn’t know her from Canada; I knew her from Nigeria. She had handlers who set her up for the palace. Guess what they told her to do? Many things. Since the day she got in, she had been recording. Why would a woman be recording for four years? When I got her and I said this is what you have been doing and she started asking for ransom, threatening that she would release the video to the public, I said go and put it out. If God is the one that put me on this throne, nobody can remove me. Olodumare, God vindicated me.

How soon are we expecting another queen?

I will take my time. I’m not in a rush. Let everybody go and take it easy. I’m not in a rush. I will take my time; I will have a great wife.

October 16, 2021