Solomon Ede was in the habit of never failing to wear his face mask in order to protect himself against the dreaded coronavirus otherwise called Covid-19. At bed time every night, he would usually remove the loose-fitting piece of protective cloth. Penultimate weekend, however, he made a costly error that sent him into early grave.
On Friday, August 28, the 50-year-old private guard popularly called Baba Rita and attached to a building in Alako area of Abeokuta, was said to have gone to bed without removing his face mask shortly after he took a local gin popularly called ogogoro.
His lifeless body was found face down with his face mask the next day, suggesting that he died of suffocation from the face mask.
Sources revealed that neighbours who came to fetch water at the compound of the house where the deceased worked as a guard until his death banged on the gate of the building endlessly but Ede did not come out to grant them access to the tap.
It was said that the noise at the gate of the building alerted Ede’s boss who opened the gate for the visitors and decided to check on Ede in his room, but the door to his room was firmly shut. His boss then forced the door of the apartment tucked inside the security house of the building open only to find Ede lying face down on the bed lifeless and with his face mask in place.
The boss was said to have raised the alarm which attracted other residents to the building, with many blaming the deceased’s tragic death on his obsession with alcohol.
The news of the guard’s death triggered emotions as sympathisers had a hectic time consoling his widow, who had rushed to the scene on receiving the news of her husband’s death.
It was said that the expectant wife of the deceased’s boss was shell-shocked and almost passed out at the scene but for the quick intervention of female sympathisers who took her away.
A source said: “But for the noise from those who came to fetch water in the early hours of the day, no one would have known that a tragedy had occurred.
“It was when the deceased failed to come out of his apartment to attend to those fetching water in the premises of the house that his boss came out and discovered his body.”
Shocked by the discovery, the unnamed Ede’s employer reported the matter to a police division at Kemta, Idi Aba.
Sources said the deceased was recently persuaded by his boss to open an account in a bank for the purpose of receiving his salary, following the way he was lavishing his money on alcohol.
A neighbour who spoke in confidence said: “Earlier on the day of his unfortunate death, his employer reminded him of their previous discussion about opening a bank account so he could be paying his salary into the account without delay, especially when he is out of town.
”He was to be paid his salary same Saturday his lifeless body was found in his room.”
Some sympathisers revealed that Ede took to alcohol after suffering depression. He was said to have been warned by his employer and residents of the neighbourhood many times to desist from excessive consumption of the local gin.
“He usually removed his face mask before going to bed. But he took some ogogoro late in the evening and was downcast. Those who saw him at the entrance of his apartment asked him to remove the mask on his face and go to bed, but he refused.
”However, he went to bed forgetting to remove his face mask and slept face down. He was probably choked to death by the face mask,” said a source who spoke in confidence.
The source added: “No one would believe that he started working as a guard in the building in March this year, because he was a likable fellow who related with everyone pleasantly. Hence, he had unhindered access to his boss’ apartment.
“He was a very easy going man, only that he could not restrain himself from indulging in the consumption of local gin which eventually led him to wear a face mask to bed, leading to his death.”
A resident identified simply as Olamilekan disclosed that the deceased had rebuffed those who pleaded with him to retire to bed when he was discovered to be drunk.
“He was sighted on Friday seated at the entrance of his apartment at the security house where he worked. He was looking downcast and was asked to go into his room but he refused. It was shocking that he died overnight.
“From the look of things and without prejudice to police investigations on the cause of his death, he was so drunk and probably forgot to remove his face mask before sleeping face down and suffocating to death.”
Policemen from Kemta Police Division in Idi Aba were said to have evacuated the body of the deceased to the mortuary at the State General Hospital at Ijaiye, Abeokuta.
The spokesman of Ogun State Police Command, Abimbola Oyeyemi, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), promised to revert to our correspondent when he was contacted on the phone.
He said: “I haven’t heard about the incident, but I will confirm the story from the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in charge of Kemta Division and get back to you,” he said.
Sexual abuse is on the rise. Unfortunately, not much is said about cases of little boys left to cry and dry their tears after being sodomized. Grace Obike reports on tales of hapless boys raped by older men.
Travails of male children raped by homosexual adults
Kano centre admits 573 sexually- abused boys in three years
About two years ago, Adamu(not real name), a seven-year-old indigene of Kano State, had to deal with the trauma of being repeatedly raped by a man who was in the habit on grabbing him on his way to school. Adamu became severely sick and had to be hospitalised when his mother found that maggots were coming out of his anus.
Three years old Mohammed(not real name) did not seem to understand why his mother was fussing over him, or why she was taking him to see the doctor at the Waraka Sexual Assault Referral Centre unit of the Murtala Muhammad Specialist Hospital Kano, who might give him an injection. But his mother, Hindattu Adam, had just discovered that her brother-in-law had been abusing her innocent son. According to the poor boy, his uncle was making him to fondle his manhood. He would put his manhood in the little boy’s mouth to suck and push it into his anus whenever his mother was not around.
For four-year-old Ahmed(not real name), his parents felt that allowing him go to the mosque with his older brother at 4 pm for prayers was quite safe since the mosque was located around the corner from their house in the city of Kano. Unknown to them, a paedophile that has been trailing the young boy took the opportunity to perpetrate his act.
“He grabbed me as I was going to the mosque, pulled down my pants and put it (manhood) into my anus, then I saw mucus coming out.” Ahmed explained to a social worker at the Waraka Centre.
All Sadiq(not real name) wanted after his evening prayers at about 9 pm was a hot meal before crawling up to sleep in the place he shares with his fellow Almajiri’s. Unfortunately, fate was not ready to smile on the 14-year-old that night. As he waited for his teacher to return from where he had gone to after their prayers at the mosque, a man he knew as a friend of Alhaji Ibrahim, a man he sometimes goes to clean his house and fetch water for a token, walked up to him and asked if he was hungry, to which he said yes. Alahaji Ibrahim asked Sadiq to follow him to the house of his rich friend around the Murtala Muhammad hospital, who would give him food.
Sadiq grudgingly agreed. But he soon began to worry when the man’s friend caught up with them as they were going. And instead of going to the rich man’s house, they took him into a dark part of the hospital. The man proceeded to hold him down, removed his trousers and started touching his private parts and causing Sadiq to protest.
“I asked him, what is this, Mallam? You said that you were going to give me food, why are you touching me?” he recalled.
Sadiq, a native of Asiri in Jigawa State who had lived as an Almajiri in Kano for six years, explained that as the man was raping him, another man appeared with a bright torchlight, catching them in the act and taking them to the security men. The hapless young boy, whose face was badly bruised and swollen from severe beating at the time of he was being interviewed by The Nation correspondent, said the man must have targeted him because he must have heard about what his friend, Alhaji Ibrahim, was doing to him. Alhaji Ibrahim had formed the habit of taking him into his room each time he went to the compound to fetch water and clean his house, removing his trousers and raping him.
Sadiq said: “Each time I tried to protest, he would threaten that if I shouted, he would report me to the police. I am afraid of the police so I keep quiet and he puts his manhood in my anus.”
But on this occasion that they were caught in the hospital, they were taken to the police station. And just like he had always feared, the police turned on him. They asked him to tell them the truth, which he did, but they did not believe him. They said he was lying; that he enjoyed what was being done to him.
Sadiq was beaten mercilessly until the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of the station got wind of their actions and asked the policemen that were manhandling him to take him to the Waraka Centre because he was a minor and had been sodomized.
Three years ago, another victim, Salim(not real name), was sodomized repeatedly by his teacher, who was eventually caught and jailed. Unfortunately for the nine years old, his nightmare had just begun. He eventually fell ill and it was found that he had been infected with HIV.
His mother had died a couple of years before, leaving the poor boy behind with his father and stepmother. His illiterate parents, hearing of his afflictions, kicked the young boy out of the house. He was made to sleep outside with goats. He was also not allowed to share the family utensils. Hence he was served his pap in a shovel.
The International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) Kano got wind of the poor boy’s condition, took him away from the home and, according to FIDA, he was being cared for by a good Samaritan and was doing well in his new home in Kano city centre.
In Sokoto State, the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) announced that it apprehended 30 years old Lawalli Bala for sodomizing a 12-year-old boy whose parents had sheltered in their house.
Last year in Jos, Plateau State, a call was placed to the child helpline of the Cece Yara (save the children) Foundation. The caller reported that a three-year-old boy was being sodomized by a 15-year-old boy who was a distant relation of the young boy’s maternal grandmother.
The foundation said it investigated and realised that the 15 years old had not only been sodomizing the three years old but had also begun doing the same to the boy’s nine months old baby brother. The case was transferred to the child welfare unit of the Ministry of Women Affairs in Jos.
“May last year in Lagos, the centre received a report of a father, sodomizing his two sons who were both less than 10 along with his friend, the centre took up the case, investigated and realised that the report had some truth to it but had to be satisfied with just counselling the boys because the mother of the boys was not ready to testify against her husband so the case was transferred to the adequate authority.”
A similar case was reported in Benin City last year. The centre’s attention was drawn to the incident of a 30-year-old man who sodomized a 10-years-old boy. As Cece Yara began investigation, it realised that the man had done same to four other boys in Benin, and when the police tried arresting him, he absconded.
Suppressed menace
With the advent of the social media and several rights organizations giving people the voice to speak up, the society is constantly being flooded with news of rape and sexual offences. Unfortunately, not much is being said about sodomy. Most men raped by their fellow men or women tend to keep the secret more to themselves than speak up, says the Director General NAPTIP, Dame Julie Okah-Donli, in an interview with our correspondent.
“I would tell you that cases of sodomy are very many but people don’t report. We cannot shy away from the fact that it happens every day. It is probably even higher than that of girls now. But people don’t report, and that is the predicament and one of the challenges that we have.”
She added that so far, NAPTIP in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) had only handled two cases of sodomy and both of them were still in court. Unfortunately, most of the non-governmental organisations in the FCT could not provide better information on such cases in Abuja. But The Nation investigation revealed that Abuja is not left out in the hideous act.
A visit to Life Camp, the seat of the government of the FCT Minster reveals horrifying cases of boys whose innocence have been defiled by men that should know better.
Behind Efab Estate, close to the Kado Fish Market in Life Camp, are arrays of shanties spread around different locations. As one drives towards the estate, one is confronted with the sight of a set of shanties with a carpenter shop beside it.
A carpenter who gave his name as Gayah said: “Four boys, all below age 12, recently reported that they were raped by one man who always comes in the afternoon to hang around the area when most people must have gone to work. We believe that he might have done it to more boys in the area, but these are the ones we know of.
“We reported the case to the police, but the perpetrator absconded and they have not seen him since then.”
Another man who claims to be a big player in the music and movie industries in Abuja, is suspected to be engaging young boys in the horrible act. Confronted by our correspondent, he denied the allegations, insisting that he is a musician with a music video on YouTube. Asked to prove his claim, he brought up a Hausa/English Christian gospel music by another artist titled “Yesu na gode” in which he can be seen jumping around in the background.
“I don’t do anything with children or anyone else. I only spread love around because I like to see people happy. But if you see anyone looking for people to act in a porn film between men, I will be interested, because I am an actor,” he said.
paedophile victims
Statistics on sexual abuse of male children
According to UNICEF Nigeria, 10 per cent of boys in Nigeria have been victims of sexual violence. And of the children who reported violence, fewer than five out of a 100 received any form of support.
In Kano, the Waraka Centre reports that 573 sexually abused boys were brought to their centre from January 2017 to March 2020. The office of the Attorney General/Commissioner for Justice in the state reports handling 95 cases in 2018, 94 in 2019 and 20 in the first few months of 2020.
The Nana Khadija Sexual Assault Referrals Centre (SARCs) in Sokoto reported that since the centre started in March 2020, it has provided medical care and psychosocial support to 29 male victims of sexual abuse. NSCDC reported that it handled 18 cases of sodomy while NAPTIP reports 25, all in Sokoto.
Enugu State Tamar SARCs said it has so far handled eight cases. The Mirabel Centre on its part reports 102 cases of male sexual abuse between January 2017 and July 2020 in Lagos State.
Cece Yara foundation said it had received quite a number of cases. Data analyst and centre manager, Abuja, Oludayo Ogunbiyi, in a chat with The Nation, revealed that although it did not have a comprehensive data on the subject, it had recorded 21 cases from Lagos, Ogun, Plateau, Benin and Abuja.
Wanda Adu, the Director of Wanda Adu Foundation, explained that a lot of sodomy is going on in the country, but most times, such cases are covered up. She said her foundation had handled a case of a father in Benue State who defiled three of his sons. But when it was reported to the police, they said it was a family issue since he was the father. All they did was to caution and warn him that he should not repeat it.
She said that speaking from experience as someone that works with men who have sex with men, cases of sodomy is common in every part of the country, with high number in Cross River, Benue and other states.
“In June this year, my foundation received a case of a teenage boy in Abuja who reported being defiled by a priest, but his parents decided not to talk about it for fear of offending God even though the boy wants justice,” she said.
Chairperson Kano State FIDA, Huwaila Ibrahim, explained that FIDA has handled quite a number of cases. “The number of cases we had last year scared me. It was more than 50 and all little boys,” she said.
She said one of the cases that stuck with her was the case of an almajiri her office handled about three years ago. It is that of a Mallam with a school on the outskirts of Hadeja Road, who picks seven boys at random from his pupils, who can be as young as five or four, to be his wives. She said the seven boys would be his wives for three to four months and then he would recycle them. “We don’t know how long it had been going on, but he had run the school for a long time and he also had two female wives and children,” Ibrahim said.
The Public Relations Officer (PRO) Kano State Hisbah Board, Lawal Ibrahim, said that last year, about 14 cases were reported to their office.
He added: “We noticed that there are some areas that have become notorious for molesting underage children. Most of them are street children. They pretend to give them shelter but take advantage of them at night in areas like Gata, Gadan Kaya, Rigiyan Lemu, etc.”
On his part, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) Kano State Police Command, DSP Abdullahi Kiyawa, insists that “cases of sodomy are not as rampant as those of rape in Kano State. When you take statistics of them and compare them to sodomy, which we call unnatural offence, you will realise that we record more rape cases than unnatural offences.”
How society reacts
Stakeholders like Huwaila Ibrahim and Wanda Abu agree that perpetrators of sodomy feed off on the culture of silence that the society adopts when it comes to issues of rape, especially sodomy. Most families worry about the stigma that accompanies the revelation that their sons are sodomized so they try not to pursue the case, hence the perpetrators often walk free.
Islamic cleric, Ibrahim Kura explains: “Because the society stigmatises people involved in this, even if it is the victim, most people or families prefer to forget about it rather than report. Another problem people see is that it is just litigation and maybe jail term for the perpetrators and no compensation. If there was a level of compensation, people might be more willing to come forward.”
For instance, Hindattu Adam, after realising what her brother-in-law did to her three-year-old, refused to confront him, tell anyone about the incident or report to the police. Whenand all little boys,” she said.
She said one of the cases that stuck with her was the case of an almajiri her office handled about three years ago. It is that of a Mallam with a school on the outskirts of Hadeja Road, who picks seven boys at random from his pupils, who can be as young as five or four, to be his wives. She said the seven boys would be his wives for three to four months and then he would recycle them. “We don’t know how long it had been going on, but he had run the school for a long time and he also had two female wives and children,” Ibrahim said.
The Public Relations Officer (PRO) Kano State Hisbah Board, Lawal Ibrahim, said that last year, about 14 cases were reported to their office.
He added: “We noticed that there are some areas that have become notorious for molesting underage children. Most of them are street children. They pretend to give them shelter but take advantage of them at night in areas like Gata, Gadan Kaya, Rigiyan Lemu, etc.”
On his part, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) Kano State Police Command, DSP Abdullahi Kiyawa, insists that “cases of sodomy are not as rampant as those of rape in Kano State. When you take statistics of them and compare them to sodomy, which we call unnatural offence, you will realise that we record more rape cases than unnatural offences.”
paedophile fighter
How society reacts
Stakeholders like Huwaila Ibrahim and Wanda Abu agree that perpetrators of sodomy feed off on the culture of silence that the society adopts when it comes to issues of rape, especially sodomy. Most families worry about the stigma that accompanies the revelation that their sons are sodomized so they try not to pursue the case, hence the perpetrators often walk free.
Islamic cleric, Ibrahim Kura explains: “Because the society stigmatises people involved in this, even if it is the victim, most people or families prefer to forget about it rather than report. Another problem people see is that it is just litigation and maybe jail term for the perpetrators and no compensation. If there was a level of compensation, people might be more willing to come forward.”
For instance, Hindattu Adam, after realising what her brother-in-law did to her three-year-old, refused to confront him, tell anyone about the incident or report to the police. When confronted with the fact when she spoke to our reporter, she said that she would only take it up if the doctors told her that her son was sick or infected with something. Other than that, she would make her children avoid the in-law and leave him to God.
Counselling psychologist with the Cece Yara Foundation, Sarima Worgu, explains that the effects of sodomy on a boy can be physical and psychological.
She said: “Apart from the physical, the psychological effects range from hyper arousal to experiencing avoidance behaviour, depression, poor school performances, anxiety and sexual behavioural problems.
“There are so many effects that this could have on children, but these are the long term impact on the kids, including substance abuse, especially for children who did not get help and support from their loved ones. The older they grow, the more they begin to engage in unhealthy lifestyles, risky behaviours and some of them even consider suicide.”
In some other cases, the society tries to deal with perpetrators on their own rather than hand them over to the police, says Ibrahim of Hisbah. He added that they always send their men out to patrol trouble spots because they realised that most communities would rather kill the perpetrators when they find them than hand them over to the authorities.
At the Waraka Centre, Fauziyya Ishaq from Gaida in Kano, who brought her 13 years old brother Mohammed Ishaq to be checked by a doctor after he escaped being raped by one Mallam Ali, told the story of how the perpetrator was almost lynched by an angry mob of men with sticks and stones, and women who came out to beat him with pestles.
Mallam Ali, whom she said hails from Kaduna State, had invited Mohammed to his shop to assist him in cleaning. But when the young boy walked in, he shut the door, overpowered the boy, pulled down his trousers, laid him down and tried to rape him. But the boy pushed him away, and while running out of the shop, he was injured by a nail he stepped on and had to be stitched up at the hospital.
The young boy reported the incident to his friend who naively thought he could confront Mallam Ali on his own but narrowly escaped the same fate. So he went back home and reported to his elder brothers, who in turn gathered the community members and attacked their brother’s attacker. Mallam Ali was fortunately rescued by a local vigilante and taken to the police.
She added: “When he realised that he was safe with the police, he arrogantly told us that we were making a fuss over children that he was yet to defile. He bragged that if we counted our fingers and toes, they would not add up to the number of young boys he had defiled in Kano and there was nothing we could do because he had friends in high places.”
An accused gay rapist, 28 years old Sadiq Mohammed, who spoke to The Nation while being paraded at the Police Command in Bumpai explained that he started having sex with men in primary school.
He added: “I did not mean to defile 17 years old Salim(not real name). I just did it because I enjoyed it. But he is the only child that I have ever touched. I only did it because my lover was not around.”
What the law says
The Senate on July 14, 2020 passed a bill removing the statute of limitation on rape and including boys in the definition of rape. It amended Section 357 of the principal Act, specifically substituting the words “woman or girl, without her consent, or with her consent”, with the words, “any person, without consent, or with consent.”
The bill was sponsored by Senator Oluremi Tinubu and titled, ‘A bill for an Act to amend the Criminal Code Act CAP. C.38, Laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 2004’. But this new bill is yet to be implemented in the states.
Huwaila Ibrahim said: “Kano State lawmakers are presently trying to amend some laws concerning rape. Unfortunately, right now, sodomy, according to the law, is still under unnatural offences and not rape.”
She added: “Why the case of sodomy breaks my heart is because the offence in Kano State comes with a maximum sentence of seven years imprisonment and N50,000 fine.”
The FIDA chair said: “There is no case I know where one is given more than five years, and all the perpetrators I know are perpetual offenders. There is a person that I am hoping will be nailed again and we will make sure he is returned to the particular judge that convicted him twice so that he can be convicted for life.”
But the Director Public Prosecutions Ministry of Justice, Kano state, Sanusi Adomaji says it sometimes goes beyond that. Adomaji, who said that the ministry in the last eight months has got about 18 convictions for sodomy, added: “The duration of the convictions ranges from seven to maybe 10 years, and the court could direct the accused to compensate the victim in monetary forms apart from jail term, which could be N100,000 to N200,000 maximum, for the pains and trauma caused such a victim.”
Way out
In Kano the police, FIDA and the Waraka Centre said they were trying to sensitise Kano residents on the need to protect their wards and report rape as soon as it occurs. Huwaila and her colleagues, at a town hall meeting in Kumbotso Local Government Area, informed residents that the area was becoming notorious for paedophilia and, unfortunately, the parents of most of the victims refuse the report while some who do wait for days and contaminate evidence before reporting.
So far, twenty-two SARCs centres supported by the European Union, British Council and other organizations are spread across the country with some states like Lagos and Kaduna having three centres each, some like Kano have just one while some states are yet to set up theirs.
One of the coordinators of the Waraka SARCs, Abba Ahmed, explained that the centre supports and assists survivors of rape and other sexual assaults. He added that they are proposing to have more centres in the state because of the people in remote communities instead of just having only one in the whole of Kano State.
Abu said that if the country wants to contain cases of sodomy, more campaigns and sensitization should be carried out by the government, civil society, media and religious leaders.
“If you know that same sex exists then you should know that sodomy would. So there should be laid down laws with strict penalties,” she said.
This report was supported by the International Center for Investigative Reporting (ICIR)“
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Hon. Moji Ojora, a member of the Lagos State House of Assembly, recently celebrated her 40th birthday. But because of the Covid-19 restrictions, the celebration was devoid of the fanfare that usually goes with such occasions, prompting her family to organise a private party for her. Still, many of her friends and acquaintances were part of the celebration in a virtual manner, courtesy of the Zoom online platform where it was transmitted live. Ojora spoke with PAUL UKPABIO afterwards about her childhood, her political career and social life, among other issues.
What was the feeling like when you turned 40 recently?
I felt a sense of achievement when I looked back at the things that I had done and where I was coming from. We had a family party and I recalled that people like President Muhammadu Buhari even became a head of state after turning 40. I felt good as a youth that I belong in such category, making it to the House of Assembly before 40.
Coming from the famous Ojora dynasty, you have a name that rings a bell. Did the name open doors for you while you were growing up and did you enjoy special privileges?
Maybe at a point I felt privileged. But we were mostly treated the same way at home. We lived just normally like every other child. My early childhood was at Apapa here in Lagos, and in a way, it was a privileged area. But then, Ijora was also part of Apapa and my dad, the late Chief T. A. Lawal Akapo, was a traditional ruler. He was the late Ojora of Lagos. That was where I started my early life, then moved to Surulere to join his younger sister. From then, it was Surulere for me until I moved back to Apapa much later.
What memories of childhood do you hold dear?
Oh, I will say I had freedom to mingle with neighbours and everybody, unlike what we have today where we pay a lot of attention to our children. I would not want to use the word cage, but today, we try to protect our children, unlike then when children were free to move around in the neighbourhood.
As children then we were cautious not to do wrong, because even when we were outside our homes we knew that if we did wrong, our neighbours could report us to our parents. That does not happen anymore. Today, neighbours mind their business, which is not too good for the society. In those early years, I had lots of friends. But as I grew older, the number of my friends reduced. I am more of an introvert.
In spite of your privileged background, you did all your schooling here in Nigeria. Was that your choice?
Yes, it was my choice, because the schools here were okay. There was Queens College, Vivian Fowler. We had good public schools and my friends were there too, so there was no point thinking of travelling out for education. I also had other siblings who had studied here and were already doing well. So there was no motivation for me to go abroad to study. I had everything here that was obtainable over there.
Why did you choose to study Law?
I actually didn’t study Law as a degree course. I did a diploma course, though I wanted to be a lawyer. Unfortunately, I didn’t make the cut-off mark required to study the course, so I opted for something else. I still went on to do the diploma course because of the interest I had in Law. But, of course, growing up, I discovered that there were other courses that one could do apart from Law.
So you went into business?
It was actually my love for charity that led me into business. Gradually, I realised that I was reaching out to people and that was giving me satisfaction. I love to give and open doors for people to earn a living, but I needed extra cash to do so. So I decided to start something small, which God took control of and it became big.
When you say small, what business was small?
I started with cleaning services. I employed people and we were getting jobs. Initially, it was not regular. We asked around for people who needed their rugs washed or offices cleaned. So I bought different kinds of cleaning equipment. After a while, other things started coming in, and it became a general merchandise company.
Initially to me, it was not really about creating a business to make money, but to use the income to help people. It used to sound strange to me when I met people and they told me that they didn’t have school fees. I believe that education is the most important empowerment one can give to anybody, and if the person does not have the capacity to study, at least let the person be productive in something else.
And that really helped. Because some of the people we started out with as a team in the cleaning services were able to get some money and went back to school while some used the money to do other things. In fact, recently, one of our legislators in Apapa Local Government asked me if I could recall that he was one of the members of my cleaning team. I had totally forgotten. So those are the kind of results I get now. And such results motivate me more to empower more people.
What was life like growing up in the palace?
It was fun. As a child, I had the opportunity of having access to many dignitaries who came around to see my father. That actually motivated me to go into politics and desiring to play a role in the public service. I used to see him hold sessions as people came to lay complaints, and then there was conflict resolution which he played a major role in. Those things gingered interest in me to think of public service.
As a lady, did you not think that conflict resolution is a man’s role?
No, I didn’t see it that way at all. I saw politics as a thing of the mind. Before my dad became a traditional ruler, he was also a legislator at the local government level. Perhaps it is in our blood. I just love it. There is a difference between wanting to do something and actually loving what you do.
Are there other siblings of yours who are into politics?
Yes, there are. I have two brothers who are active in politics until recently, one became a traditional ruler. Another one is in politics on one side and business on the other side. But there are others too who are into politics.
Politics is generally considered a dirty game. How do you handle that as a lady?
Well, it depends on how you want to look at it. To some extent, it might be dirty. But then, what definition are we going to give the word dirty, and to what state of dirtiness? My definition of politics is marketing, just like you market your products. For instance, you go out there, you engage people, meet your customers, promote your products and let them see the need to buy your products. You don’t have to hurt your neighbor before you can achieve that, except you think you don’t have that marketing skills or strategy, then you decide that you just have to get there by all means. At that stage, politics becomes a dirty game. But to me, it mustn’t get to that point or stage!
What is the worst scenario you have seen in politics?
I have not had it rough like that, maybe because I do a lot of things with levity. I do things my own way. If it works, fine, if it doesn’t, I walk away. It doesn’t have to be at all cost.
May be because Apapa seems to be a sane area…
No, I don’t think so, because even in Ikoyi, there are different kinds of people. There are the elites, the middle class and every other kind of person. So it is not about the area because the kind of people here are also the kind of people there. It is about how I present myself and how well I can engage them.
Have you ever needed something but could not get it?
Moji Ojora
Yes. In life it is not possible for us to get everything that we want. So whenever I strive to get something and I can’t, I move on. I believe that I should learn from the reason why I didn’t get it and then re-visit the process that made me not to get it and improve on it. I let that rejection, because I wouldn’t want to call it failure, to serve as a foundation, a worksheet to be improved upon. You make a presentation for a project but unfortunately you couldn’t get the contract; you definitely go back to office to ask yourself questions where you went wrong and then improve on it.
What fashion or style appeals to you?
I love to dress responsibly and neat. I really don’t bother about how expensive a dress or an outfit is as long as it is presentable and clean. I am not an extravagant person, so excessive fashion does not really freak me.
But do you do designer wears?
I am not a freak for designer things. I do anything I like or that interests me. If it is a no-name brand that makes me comfortable and happy, I go for it. On the other hand, if it is a designer brand that makes me comfortable and happy as at that particular time, I go for it. I am not strictly particular about any.
What fashion accessory would you say you can do without?
I am not a jewelry freak. So I can do without it.
Can you recall any special moment you have had at the House of Assembly so far?
Yes, it was the first time that I walked into the House of Assembly: The day of the proclamation. I was so happy and I said to myself, yes, this is one of the days that I had so much looked forward to. And I thanked God for it.
As a lady in the House, are you given equal opportunities with the men?
I will say yes. It depends on how you approach it. The slate is on the board, we all have equal opportunities to make use of what we have all been given.
No complaints?
Of course there are one or two complaints, but you know, we have all been given same opportunities. We are all committee chairmen, both male and female. So it really shows no difference. But it still boils down to how you can play your card.
But the House is still male dominated. Does that mean that the female members are more or less laid back?
I don’t think so. Maybe the dirty part of it may not attract participation and one could say look, I’m not just ready for that part of it. During the electioneering period, there are challenges. But again, it depends on what you want. You won’t say for instance you are a student in a higher institution and one day you witness a violent riot during a student protest, and because of that, you say you are not going to school again. So we all get involved; no sitting at the back. As a lady, you keep pushing and pushing till you get to the Promised Land. What I want, I want, I go for it. If I don’t get it, life goes on.
Before marriage, were men intimidated by your family name?
It is the individual that really would be able to explain that. Some people got to know or heard the name and didn’t care, while some others heard the name and said to themselves, I don’t want to go there for one reason or another. So that’s life.
But were you affected in anyway by that?
No, because I believe that if you are not good enough for me, then why are you hanging around? You might as well take a walk!
What kind of Lagos are you looking at in a few years from now?
My wish is that we have a Lagos like Dubai; a Lagos like New York. I also believe that we will get there with determination especially if we all play our part and pay our taxes. We should not all the time be waiting for government to do this and that. We should also ask ourselves what we can give back to our communities and the society. We should all be responsible and take charge in our environment and communities, and we will get there.
The best of leaderships is often not provided by the most intelligent. The best of leaders in history have been known to be good managers of men and materials. However, the ability of the people to hold leaders to account is equally a factor in how a nation fares because political philosophers already affirmed that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
So the essence of the three arms of government, the executive, legislature and the judiciary is for powers to be evenly handled in democracies through proper checks and balances. On the other hand, the people themselves must be involved in making sure that they keep the elected people in check to ensure that the democratic tenets are adhered to for the good of everyone.
The Roundtable conversation this week wanted to find out how the abdication of responsibility by citizens has successively led to the poor performance of the nation economically and socially. It does seem that the office of the citizen has been vacant as most of those who ought to provide leadership are left to grandstand in their vacuity.
Chido Nwakanma, a veteran columnist and a journalism lecturer at the School of Media and Communications at the Pan-Atlantic University believes that the total apathy of the elite seems to be the fire in the flame of bad governance. He feels that all the elite do is sit back and complain without the necessary participation in leadership at their community levels. To him, everyone must not be in government but an active citizenry must hold the leaders to account in ways that they force them to realize that democracy is a government of the people and by the people and for the people.
Mr. Nwakanma cites the example of Belarus that recently held their presidential election but had the citizens stand out for a month to protest the flawed election in that nation. They decided to protest peacefully until they get what they deserve – an election where the voices of the people are heard through the ballot box. He believes that as a people, Nigerians must reactivate the spirit of community. As the saying goes, charity must start from home. Most citizens are too self-centered to think about their communities. We have to be engaged citizens at every level. How many people are involved in their communities, town unions, estates, resident associations or streets in ways that they are aware of the problems that they themselves can solve and the ones that require the different tiers of government?
To him, all the people involved in governments have school mates and classmates and townspeople and these are people that if they care at all would be in positions to caution their mates in government if they derail from programs that uplift the people. Most of the elite are too aloof to be productively functional in making sure they keep those in leadership on track.
The market women for instance are organized but seeing that the elite are complacent, they go to the politicians and are satisfied with the little they are given, the middle class must get involved and that cuts across genders. The middle class seems unwilling to pay any price because when their friends and mates access leadership, they are often surrounded by the no ‘hopers’ who ultimately worship the leaders for crumbs while the elite that can stand up to their mates dissolve into thin air in self-preservation that is always counter-productive.
The middle class of both genders must be ready to pay the price, sit it out with the leadership, and attend nocturnal meetings knowing you are doing that for a long term result. The men whose wives show capacity to lead must begin to disabuse their minds of the assumed dangers for women in politics because there are many capable and ready to-lead women that we as a country are losing out on their high productivity levels.
Women must start grassroots politics instead of feeling that higher posts must be reserved for them as women. They must be willing to fight for power. Community involvement is the key, women must not just want to jump out to the peak without the grounds work of community growth politically. It might take time but a journey of a thousand miles starts with a step. The Nigerian middle class must wake up and do the right things and equally recognize that today’s woman has risen above being boxed into the ‘women affairs’ ministries and other parochial roles in a world ruled by ideas and technology.
A lawyer and former Minister of Women Affairs and Woman leader, Iyom Josephine Anenih believes the leadership challenges the country is experiencing cannot be divorced from the fact that instead of the mutually shared leadership roles between men and women, men tend to have edged out the women and naturally cannot handle what hitherto were shared leadership roles.
She recalls that in pristine times, in her community, there were the Nze, Ozo and Isi Akpu titled men that spearheaded the leadership roles for the men, on the other hand, the women had their Awo Mmili, the Omu or Iyom as the arrow heads of the women. None of the gender roles were seen as mutually exclusive and she believes all other communities had their distinct leadership roles as well.
The men and women played complimentary roles in communities and none was seen as really superior to the other. The men were in charge of land and territorial issues and were charged with protecting the communities. Women on the other hand were in charge of markets, shrines, streams and some other social institutions. There was clear but non-disruptive division of labour. Curiously though, the women were adjudicators in most disputes and their decisions were as objective as they were final. Even when polygamy was a way of life, children were identified by their mother’s names and that did not diminish the ego of any man.
Iyom Josephine therefore sees the fundamental chasm created by a holistic appropriation of western culture by Nigerians as disruptive and anti-development. The fact that men seem to have surreptitiously appropriated leadership she sees as very dysfunctional and each community must begin to go back to the basics and ask questions about the past where all humans irrespective of gender could provide different levels of leadership. Like Mr. Nwakanma said, Iyom Anenih believes that Nigerians must begin to be more community-oriented, think more of shared leadership amongst the competent and ready rather than the present situation where there is a lot of inequities which ultimately affect both the leaders and the led.
As a co-founder of Women Foundation Nigeria, an organization that helps Nigeria women exchange views on global issues and empower women in politics, she feels that from her experiences professionally and politically, women must stop accepting the false narrative that leadership is a male duty. Being a member of the Gender Electoral and Constitutional Memoranda Committee, they worked very hard to incorporate women’s own perspective in Nigerian electoral laws.
She was at the forefront of the domesticating Beijing affirmative action and worked very hard lobbying the National Assembly to review laws that are detrimental to women socially and politically. Even though she had supporters in her project, she believes the narrative would change when the laws and the electoral acts recognize the rights of women in the country. Women of Nigeria have achieved a lot academically, economically and otherwise but remain unsung and under-celebrated. Celebrating such women achievers to her would be up to fellow women as the men would never do that.
However, she believes women must come together as a formidable group to chart a new cause of action not just for themselves but to help the men who are seemingly almost helpless. She wants the younger women interested in politics to develop a very thick skin because one of the strategies of the men is always to denigrate such strong politically competitive women as women of easy virtue just to scare and scar them psychologically. To her, women must win the psychological war posed by the men and meet them at the barricade.
Nigerian women must realize that no man can lift you to prominence. Women must have the confidence to struggle for power on their own merit and capacity. She urges every generation of women to try to nurture and mentor other women and live their lives as examples through their personal efforts. Gender loyalty is the only virtue to her that can encourage more women participation in politics.
Nigerian women have done so well but more often than not, the men deliberately tend to obliterate their contributions in all sectors but she has always been determined through her many political roles, social organizations and platforms to re-orientate the society to have a broader perspective about political participation. Women must own the process as much as the men too and back it up with a loud voice that must be heard. To Chido and Iyom Josephine, we must return to our sense of community and the elite must play their roles and not sit on the fence complaining pepertually.
Emeka Daniel Udeogu popularly known as Emiboy has dropped a new single called “I Go Pay” featuring Teniola Apata known as Teni Makanaki.
The 23-year-old artist who is known for his distinctive style and flow, featured the “Uyo Meyo” coroner and song writer, Teniola Apata, on the single.
This latest record, “I Go Pay” is released under Oga Ndi Oga Entertainment. Emiboy joined the record label in 2019 after four years of releasing music independently.
Emiboy with his few years in the industry, described the new single with Teni as a dream collaboration. As an an amazing singer, his sound is dynamic and filled high energy fusion. Among his favorite musician are famous Nigerian contemporaries like Tuface, Wizkid, Tekno, Kizz Daniel and Teni, who he described working with as mind blowing.
“Teni is a whole vibe,” the artist said, while speaking on studio making of the new single. She’s so friendly and she actually welcomed me. She took me like her own.”
“Some artists, because they’re already big and established, they tend to look down on young artists. But Teni never such a thing; she was cool with me and we had such a great time in the studio.” he added.
This new record was produced by the seasoned beat maker Killertunes who Emiboy refers to as a “wizard” owing to his dexterity behind the boards, a renowned beat maker owing to his record.
Smart, intelligent and charming. These are the words that aptly describes the 55th Alara of Ilara Kingdom In Epe, Oba Olufolarin Olukayode Ogunsanwo, TELADE 1V. In this interview with Yetunde Oladeinde, the economist , talked about the journey to the throne, early life, how he joined the Lagos State Civil Service as an Inspector of Taxes in 1991 and rose to the top of his career as Executive Chairman of the revenue agency.
How did you emerge as the Oba?
I was selected by the Kingmakers as the 55th Alara of the Ilara Kingdom, this took place due to the demise of my predecessor, His Royal Majesty Alayeluwa, Oba Akeem Okunola Adesanya ll, who joined his ancestors in October 2018 having spent 58 years on the throne. As at the time of joining his ancestors he was the longest reigning monarch in Lagos State. He became the Oba at the age of 16 and he reigned for 58 years, so he passed on at the age of 74. May God continue to bless his soul. After that in November last year, 2019 the Kingmakers requested that it is the turn of my ruling House, which is the Telade Ruling House to produce the next Oba Alara of Ilara Kingdom.
Having received a notice to jump start the process from the state government through the Eredo Local Council Development Authority then eight of us were picked as contestants and the list was forwarded to the Kingmakers in Ilara. The rest as they say is history. I was crowned on Thursday August 6, 2020 and His Excellency, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu presented me with the Staff of Office and Instrument of Appointment on Sunday August 16th, 2020. History was made that day because the community had just witnessed another installation of a new Oba after 60 years. The elderly and the youths were all excited to see a new king being installed.
Was this an easy decision to make?
It is only God that chooses kings and when he wants to do things he makes everything perfect. So for me, I see it as another call to service having being in service of Lagos for 26 years and rising through the ranks to become the Executive Chairman Lagos State internal Revenue Service. Even my stint in the service, was also a call to duty to assist the government to get revenue for the betterment of citizenry. It is with tax money that most things are done, infrastructure, roads, education, transport, health services and so on. So when the opportunity came and I was called, I prayed about it, I consulted and I said why not, let me go and serve my people. As the Yoruba’s will say ‘Ile la bo, isi mi Oko’ all that we have been trying to do in the service let us come and try it here and see how we move this community forward.
What are the potentials of Ilara Kingdom?
It only takes a visionary leader and someone that has the passion for his people to actually want to be on the right side of history to come and change things and to ensure that the community excels in every aspect. We are blessed here with agriculture, in terms of farming and fishing. We have a lot viable land, good soil, good weather and then we are surrounded by water all over the place, up to the lagoon then to the ocean. So fishing is part of the natural resources that the Almighty God has given to this community.
There is a huge potential also for tourism here, and then we have a lot of human capital resources as well. We have capable hands; we have people that are well read. And if we all join hands together and put our heads together, I want to believe that this community will become a mini London where everybody will want to be and the community will be very, very proud of. So part of what we intend to do is to partner with the Lagos State government, through The THEMES AGENDA of Mr. Governor, Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu.
What plans do you have for young people?
The empowerment of youth is also very key. We will also try and see that we assist our children to continue to be educated and not only educating them but also to be self-reliant. This is because you can’t wait for the government to do everything for you. So with that we intend to create some vocational institutions where when our children go to school during the day and at the weekend they can come back to learn some things. Things like renewable energy, welding, art works since we intend to also go into tourism development, so that they will be able to create some art works that can be sold. And we also look at areas where modern techniques of producing or providing farm products.
For instance, if you have a cassava farm, it is not only to be producing that cassava and be selling but we can have an industry, a kind of cottage industry that can use the cassava to produce garri. We are Ijebus here and all of you know what they call garri Ijebu. These are things that we are known for even our fishing industry also, we want to see how we can micro manage it in such a way that we can preserve the fish and we can package it in such a way that we can even begin to export to other neighbouring countries and internally within Nigeria.
You have lived in the city for so long, aren’t you going to miss this?
When you came in here didn’t you see that there is a lot of peace around here away from the hustle and bustle of Lagos? Everything is fresh here, the ambiance and everything is just great, and everything is just fresh. So, those are some of the things that people don’t know that they can enjoy here. With all the road networks that the government is doing now, this will be the next place that people can actually come and live. And once the government is able to put the 4th Mainland Bridge and improve on the multi modal transport facilities: the use of water, land and by road, people can move from one end of the state to another. So many people can actually live here and be working in Lagos and it will decongest Lagos.
Why did you study Economics at the university?
I actually wanted to study accounting but when I took my JAMB exams, I don’t know how my file got to economics department and I was given that admission straight away at first batch. As an economist, you will be a manager of resources. As if God knows that I will still get to this point of becoming a King. I even had to acquire a master’s degree in economy. So, I have no regrets as well that I studied economy and I can tell you that economy is a bit more dynamic.
What has changed about you, now that you are an Oba?
I have been my normal self even up till now nothing has changed. A friend sent a congratulatory message to me. We attended primary school at the same time in Ibadan and he started saying things like from my young age, I have always lived and comported myself like a king. That everything about me, the aura radiates that of a king and that there is no quality that they are looking for in a king that I don’t have. Even my past experiences made me realised that this is divine.
What was it like growing up?
Actually I was born in Ibadan; my parents were working in Ibadan then, even though my dad was born in this community. I grew up in Ibadan but every year we come home for Sallah. My parents were Moslems, they were born Moslems though they converted to Christianity later. So we used to come home for Ileya just like the period that just past, and each time we come home, I remember those days, we will go to the stream to fetch water. We go to swim in the river and all those things, so each year I always look forward to it. I am in love with the community, I am very, very proud to come from this community, I love my people and I have always been coming home. I built a country home here and I didn’t know God was preparing me ahead. So, like I said everything was divine.
Tell us about your favourite food?
I think amala is my best meal. I also like pounded yam with vegetable and I like yam and eggs as well. Maybe fried eggs or steamed one.
How do you relax when you are not working?
I enjoy traveling, I enjoy reading, I like to read a lot and I enjoy listening to music. I am more of an academic.
What genre of music appeals to you?
I like Sunny Ade, Ebenezer Obey, Orlando Owoh and I like Wasiu Ayinde.
Can we say that Kabiyesi is very stylish?
I have always been a conservative dresser. I love to wear suits to the office as a corporate man… And when I am wearing my native I am a bit detailed about it too.
Now that you are Oba what is going to be your signature?
White is good, blue is good. White is purity and blue is peace. My dressing will always go along that line, you know white and then blue and at times you just want to mix the thing, I don’t believe in dressing expensively but I like very decent way of dressing.
Being a public person now you might have lost some privacy, how are you going to manage it?
I have always been a private person, even with the throne you can see that it is a very, very traditional stool. There are certain things I can’t do definitely anymore. That is what the throne demands and I have accepted it.
How has the community been coping with the impact of COVID-19 ?
We held some palliative programmes, at a point even when the pandemic was really on during the lockdown. We had to come down to do some palliative for all the communities around here, and they are have been very, very grateful and I will continue to do that for our people by the special grace of God. Because you can see that it is purely an agrarian community where people have very low level of income. So while we are trying to bring development to the community we also see how we can assist, particularly the young ones, the widows and then the elderly within our community.
Recently, you were honoured with the Honourary Doctorate degree by the European-American University of Commonwealth of Dominica?
I feel highly honoured and elated to be honoured with Honorary Doctorate Degree of Arts by the –European- American University of the Commonwealth of Dominica. You don’t know that people are watching your actions or inactions and they give honour to whom it is due at the appropriate time.
The honour is what I continue to cherish for the rest of my life very because it came at a time that i just ascended the throne and will be a constant reminder of my responsibility and pact with my subjects.
Admitting and treating snakebite patients at the Snakebite Treatment and Research Centre of the General Hospital in Kaltungo, Gombe State is a phenomenon that residents of the community as well as those of Biliri, Balanga and other mountainous settlements in Gombe State have had to live with for decades.
But there was something extraordinary about a patient that was rushed to the emergency unit of the centre recently. The doctor on duty, identified as Dr. Agom Ibrahim, was shocked to find that the patient, a victim of snakebite, was heavily pregnant and had fallen into labour at the time she was rushed in.
Sarah had been brought in from the farm by her relatives after she was bitten by a species of snake known as carpet viper, which is reputed as the most dangerous of the three poisonous species of snakes that are common in the area.
“Sarah went into labour simultaneously as she was bleeding from the snakebite, and that meant additional loss of blood,” explained Ibrahim.
The hospital was naturally thrown into panic, prompting the director of the centre, Dr Mohammed Suleiman, to be called to the emergency unit as the battle to save the lives of both the mother and the unborn baby began. Although the area is notorious for harbouring three species of poisonous snakes, namely carpet viper, cobra and pofadder, the carpet viper is regarded as the one with the deadliest bite.
It is believed that this species of snake hot tempered and can strike even without being provoked, and its bite usually results in heavy bleeding and loss of blood on the part of the victim. Unfortunately, it was this most deadly species that bit Sarah. Thus, Agom’s first task was to control Sarah’s loss of blood to save her life and deliver her of the baby.
Dr. Suleiman said: “It was a tough battle and we had little or no time to act because the poison was spreading very fast around her body.”
By the time Sarah was delivered of her baby, the doctors found that she had lost a lot of blood from both the snakebite and the process of child birth. “She had no money to buy blood and it was already late in the night, yet we had to save the life of the mother,” said Agom as he relived the experience.
But just as everyone was wondering what to do, Suleiman, the Director of the Centre, came to the rescue by calling some of the hospital’s workers to donate blood to Sarah. They responded positively and her condition was stabilised, following which the hospital commenced her treatment for snakebite.
“She received six pints of blood and six vials of anti-snake venom before we were able to stabilise her,” said Suleiman who gladly displayed the picture of the baby on his mobile phone.
Common occurrence
While the incident involving Sarah was a rare incident in the hospital, snakebite is a daily occurrence, especially during planting and harvesting seasons. It is nothing unusual in the hospital to find snakebite patients who are less than a year old.
Our correspondent’s first visit to the hospital revealed 11 patients on treatment for snakebite. The following day, four fresh victims of snakebite had reported at the centre between 9 am and 12 pm. “Our daily average record of patients is 10, especially during planting and harvesting seasons and during the heat periods,” said Suleiman.
The prevalence of snakes and snakebites in the area is attributed to the mountainous terrain which provides habitation for snakes and the rodents that serve as food for them. Farmers, however, frequently come in contact with them and suffer snakebites in the process.
Jeremiah Daniel, one of the snakebite patients in the hospital, described the agony that comes with snakebite as terrible. Daniel, who was brought to the hospital unconscious, said he had spent five days trying to recover from the attack. He had lost a lot of blood before he was rushed to the hospital, consequently, he had to receive three pints of blood before his condition could stabilise.
Lying on the hospital bed and looking frail, he recalled that he was going to the farm on the day the incident occurred.
“I was going to the farm when a snake emerged from nowhere and bit me. Before I knew it, I had started feeling unconscious. That was how I was rushed here,” he said.
Another victim, Adamu Ado, who was rushed to the emergency ward, said he was clearing weeds on the farm when a snake struck.
But the presence of snakes is not limited to the farms or the mountainous parts of Gombe. The state’s Commissioner for Health, Dr Hammed Gana, recalled how he narrowly escaped snakebite twice in one day in the premises of his house in Gombe.
He said: “It was in the morning on one weekend and I was trying to wet the flowers. I noticed a movement as I stretched my hand under the flowers and quickly withdrew my hand. As I looked carefully, behold, it was a carpet viper. I quickly picked a stick and killed it.
“On the same day, while I was trying to get water from the tap, I noticed another snake between my legs. I jumped like I had never done before and again killed it with a stick. Our people are highly vulnerable to snakebites.”
Yet most painful for Gana was the death of a young man who was bitten by a carpet viper near his farm in Gombe South. “The young man died within one hour while he was on the way to the hospital. It was so sad,” he said.
Centre in dire need of funds
However, despite becoming a unit in Kaltungo General Hospital since 1940 and its subsequent upgrade to a centre in 2019, access to funds remains a major constraint for Kaltungo Snakebite Treatment and Research Centre.
“The patients are mostly people without voice, who cannot afford to pay for even a vial of anti-snake venom. So the state government has been the one solely bearing the burden of their treatments,” said Gana.
According to him, a vial of anti-snake venom costs as much as N40,000, and to treat a patient fully requires a minimum of three vials, amounting to N120,000.
He recalled that Governor Inuwa Yahaya have had to make emergency provision of N5 million for the purchase of the anti-snake venom produced only in one Latin American country, Costa Rica.
“We can also get them from India, but the Indian one is not as effective as the Latin America one which gives us results within one week,” he said.
“The Snakebite Treatment and Research Centre is the only one serving the six North East states of Gombe, Bauchi, Taraba, Adamawa and Borno.
“We also used to have patients from other parts of the country like Plateau and Benue states. But because of proximity, our patients are mostly from the six North East states.”
Suleiman said Taraba State alone accounts for more than 40 per cent of patients in the 150-bed hospital with just three wards for male, female and paediatric patients.
He said: “The issue of snakebite is a huge one in Gombe State because a great portion of our state is actually within that belt and we do have quite a number of incidents of snakebites literally across all the eleven local government areas of the state.
“As a result of that, previous governments thought it was very necessary that we have such a specialised hospital with facilities that take care of snakebites. But more prominently is the axis of Biliri, Kaltungo and Balanga; those hilly and mountainous areas of the state where our people, especially the farmers and rural dwellers do come into close contact with reptiles.
“Ultimately, the hospital was created initially from a department of snakebites in the general hospital at Kaltungo to a specialised treatment and research centre, doing research around different species of the snakes that we have in the areas.
“Recently, we ran short of the anti-snake venom. The state government has been doing everything possible to make sure that we have adequate stock of the anti-snake venom, but, of course, the uptake is quite high, especially at the peak of the season, when farmers are on the farm.
“Now we are in the rainy season and farmers are on the farm. And you know the processes that are involved in natural farming. Farmers come in contact with them as they come out of their holes looking for food,” said the commissioner.
•Aliru, a one- year- old snakebite victim
The situation is further compounded by snakebite victims who rush to traditional healers for herbal treatment. While they do succeed at times, the victims see no improvement in most cases and then rush to the hospital. “But by then, it might be too late. Some come one or two weeks after the snakebite. The lucky ones do survive it though,” said Suleiman.
On the viability of the option of herbal medicine for snakebite treatment, Suleiman said: “Even the traditional snakebite medicine healers, when snakes bite them, they rush to the hospital. But they beg us not to let the people know.
“You see the problem with herbal medicine is that snakebite victims only respond to medicine produced from the actual venom of the type of snake that has bitten them. So the anti-venom is generated from the venom of the snake, and once it is given, it clears the venom from the body of the victim.
“That is why traditional medicines have not been effective for persons that we have established that there is venom in their system.
“For those who say traditional medicines work, sometimes the snake would bite but do not inject venom into the person’s body. And when they go to traditional healers and get healed, they do not know that it is not all snakebites that has venom injected into the body of the victim.”
A childhood friend of mine, Taiwo, is currently having huge accommodation issues. Not because she cannot afford to get any place of her choice, but because the selfish, self-conceited, self-centered landlords we have in this part of the world are giving her a particular condition that she must meet before becoming their tenant.
The condition she has been giving is not financial. Taiwo, being a big girl in her own rights, can financially afford any apartment of her choice. The condition is that she must produce a husband.
What on earth is the meaning of that? That a lady must be married before she can have a decent accommodation of her choice? Oh; so if there is no man or stable man in her life because we still have very unstable men around. The type that will date you for years, yet refuse to the knots with you. She should remain homeless? Or worse still, she should become a squatter in some friend’s apartment even though she can afford to have her own place?
Inasmuch as landlords should have the sole decision who their tenants should be, it is important that there should be laws checking things like this. The reason is that Taiwo is not alone in this. There are thousands of ladies out there who find themselves imaginary husbands. Some present their elder brothers, friends or even co-workers to act as their husbands just to enable them get accommodation.
The reason, according to a landlord I had a chat with, is that single ladies are dangerous to accommodate. They bring into the compound all sorts of men and there is the danger of bringing in armed robbers to the house.
A married woman, according to him, is more responsible. Her husband is there to keep a tab on her, but the single ladies are not held liable by anybody. She can leave the house when she likes and even take off for days on end without having to explain her movement to anybody which is not good. What if, God forbid, anything bad happens to her?
“What if she is kidnapped or something terrible happens, the police will naturally choose to harass the landlord. These and many more reasons are why I cannot give my apartment to any single lady, rich or poor”, he concluded.
In my opinion, the reasons given above are petty. How come houses are rented to our male counterparts without conditions? Is it a crime even in this computer age for one to be a woman? Or worse still, a single woman? Should woman now begin to force marriages on themselves in order to get a decent apartment?
I recall a recent incident that occurred in one of the outskirts of Lagos, when a lady was relocated by her office to resume at their Lagos office with immediate effect. Lagos, for her, was a new terrain, so she needed a chaperone to show her around the metropolis. Top on her to-do list was getting a decent accommodation for herself at least that would enable her find feet before looking at other factors.
Fine, the finance was made available by her company. So, it was not a problem of how much the rent was going to be, it was rather a question of where she chose to reside.
Unfortunately for her, the agents she contacted to help out with the accommodation told her conditions that she might face with the landlord. She was told that she had to look for a man at all costs and present him as her husband. It was only on those terms that she would be listened.
Another landlord gave an instance of when he gave accommodation to a single lady, recalling that time with bitterness. He said the lady on a number of occasions invited more than one man at a time and they ended up fighting each other. It did not stop there. It went further to become a police case and the scandal that followed was worse than imagined.
Initially, she ignored the counsel of the agents until she continually met brickwall with the landlords. When she got tired of squatting from one friend’s place to the other, she had no choice but to present her chaperone as her husband. She now has a decent place she lives in under the guise that she is a married woman.
I feel it is criminally wrong for things like this to still be happening. I feel that there should be a law in place to guide against things like this.
I know of so many single ladies today in Lagos who have come up with imaginary husbands, just so that the landlord will see them as ‘responsible’.
A kidnapping suspect arrested for allegedly abducting the wife of an Appeal Court judge and killing her aide has said that he joined the gang that kidnapped the wife of an Appeal Court judge, a Cameroonian envoy and an Igbo businessman, among others, when commercial motorcycle was banned in Calabar, Cross River State.
According to a police source, on Saturday, July 4, 2020, Ekwele Agube, the wife of a judge at the Court of Appeal, was kidnapped by six armed men who accosted her along Ministry Road, off NPA Junction in Calabar, Cross Rivers State and killed her aide identified as Glory Egbela before whisking her away to an unknown destination in their operation vehicle.
The victim, who spent 14 days at the kidnappers’ den, was released after a ransom of N6.8 million was paid to her abductors.
But few weeks after her release, operatives of the Force Intelligence Response Team (IRT), who were detailed to investigate and track down the kidnappers, succeeded in arresting six suspected members of the gang.
The suspects in police net include Nsense Bassy, Edet Ene, Christopher Effaeyo, Etim Offiong, Bassy Effiong and Luis Otubassy. Two locally made guns and 15 live cartridges were allegedly recovered from them.
A police source revealed that the husband to the victim, Justice Ignatius Agube, had contacted the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu, informing him about the abduction of his wife, following which the IGP was said to have swiftly deployed operatives of the IRT led by a Deputy Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari, to track down the suspects.
The source further disclosed that the IRT made a breakthrough when it trailed one of the phone numbers used in negotiating the ransom to one of the gang leaders identified as Nsense Bassy a.k.a. Lion, and during interrogation, he confessed to the crime and led the operatives in arresting five other members, including the gang’s informant, cooks and boat boy.
In an interview, Bassy confessed that he led other members of the gang in kidnapping two other persons, including a Cameroonian diplomat and an Igbo businessman. He said the victims, who spent one week each at their den, were released after a ransom of N2 million was paid for each of them.
The 30-year-old father of four and indigene of Akam Local Government Area, Cross Rivers State, said he took to kidnapping because he had no means of feeding his children during the lockdown which followed the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
He said: “I am a primary school dropout. My father has no job, my mother left me and I was left on the streets of Calabar to fend for myself.
“I couldn’t learn a trade; I was just roaming the streets. But five years ago, I met my wife and we became friends. I impregnated her and she ended up having four children for me.
“I was doing menial jobs to sustain my family, but when the Covid-19 pandemic started and there was a lockdown, I had no job and my family was hungry.
“One of my friends known as Christian was the one who introduced me to kidnapping. I joined because there was no way I could get money to feed my children.
“Our first operation was at White Market area of Calabar, where we kidnapped an Igbo man selling auto spare parts. We were six that went for the operation and we had six pistols with us. We kidnapped the man on the road.
“We took him to the waterside and I left him at that point and went home. My other gang members were the ones who took the man into our camp, and it was Christian who introduced me to the gang that negotiated for the ransom.
“Two million naira was eventually paid as ransom and I got N300,000 as my own share. I also bought cloths and food items for my children, and I gave a part of it to my brother who has no job. I also gave N50,000 to my wife to start a small business.
“One month later, we kidnapped a Cameroonian who we found on the street trying to buy something. When we kidnapped him, Christian took the man’s car away and sold it. Later, we took the man into the creeks across the river but I didn’t go with them because I don’t know how to swim.
“Christian was also the person who negotiated for the ransom and the man spent one week in our camp. Two million naira was eventually paid as ransom and I got N270,000 as my share.
“I bought my pistol from one Chris who sells locally made guns at Ikang area of the state and I used it for the third operation, which was brought by one Luis who is a friend to Christian.
They told me that the woman we were going to kidnap was very rich, and if we succeeded in kidnapping her, her husband or relatives would pay a huge sum as ransom.”
Continuing, Bassy said: “Luis was the one who monitored the woman’s movement. When we eventually kidnapped the woman, we had an exchange of gunfire with some policemen on patrol. I did not know that somebody died in the process.
“It was when we were arrested that I heard that someone died. It was Christian that did the negotiation for ransom, and he took N4.8 million first from the victim’s family and absconded with the money.
“The boys who were looking after the woman in the creeks refused to release her. They insisted that they must get their share of the ransom before they would release the woman. I went after Christian and he refused to see me. Then he dropped the woman’s phone at a place and directed me to where I found it.
“I then called the victim’s family, requested for another N2 million and they gave it to me. I called the boys at the camp then they released the woman for me. I got N350,000 as my share and gave the informant N100,000.
“A few weeks later, I got a call from pastor, who asked me to come to the church. When I got there, I was surrounded by the police and I was arrested.”
On his part, the gang’s alleged informant and motorcycle operator, Luis Otubassy (25), who is also married with a child, said he took to kidnapping after the government enforced the ban on commercial motorcycle in Cross Rivers State.
He said: “I am a motorcycle operator and I joined the kidnapping gang when the government banned motorcycle operation in Calabar. Nsense, who we call Lion, linked me to the gang and I was using motorcycle to carry the gang members around town to look for whom to kidnap.
“On the kidnapping of the Appeal Court judge’s wife, I didn’t know that her husband was a judge. I thought she was a contractor.
“I was the one who pressurised other members of the gang to kidnap the woman and her aide was killed in the process.
“I was given the sum of N70,000 as my share. I didn’t know that they got N6.8 million from the woman. I was only looking for money to buy pampers for my child. Now I feel very sad that I got only N70,000 out of N6.8 million.”
Another suspect, Edet Ene (28), a native of Apkabiyo area of Cross Rivers State, who claimed that he had only primary school education, said he was the gang’s boat operator and regularly ferried the gang’s victims to their camp.
He said: “I am the person paddling the boat into the creeks, and we used to spend 30 minutes on water before we would get to the camp. I am also the person that used to buy food for the victims.
“I am an orphan and I have no one to help me. That was why I joined the gang.
“On the first day, they called me and I ferried their victim into the creeks and stayed with them. I was paid N180,000 when ransom was paid for the release of the victim and I used the money to rent a house for myself.
“My mother died while I was five years old and I do not know my father. I have been struggling alone all this while. I fell for them because I was hopeless.
“I also got N100,000 from the second operation and I bought a N70,000 mattress from the money.
“I need the police to forgive me. I will never go into crime again.”
