The Nation Newspaper

Category: Saturday Magazine

  • Stop security votes

    I AM appealing to the delegates to the National Conference to come up with decisions that will stop the obnoxious security votes. This money is not being used to provide security in the strict sense of the word. Those who are managing the votes are largely using them to benefit themselves and their families.

    The votes should be used to provide housing for the poor in this country. This is highly necessary because most of the masses are homeless.

    The delegates should stop impunity; make Senate membership part time; make education free up to the basic level; provide health insurance to orphans and widows; and attract massive industrial investments to create jobs.

    Uche A C,

  • Francis Inegbeniki takes heartthrob to altar

    Francis Inegbeniki takes heartthrob to altar

    The social scene in Lagos is experiencing some feisty changes, and a watering hole on the Island is at the centre of this revival. It is none other club than Quilox, a fun spot owned by Shina Peller, son of the late popular magician, Prof. Abiola Peller.

    That the re-invigorated fun spot is one of the hottest in Lagos at the moment can hardly be disputed. It has suddenly become a point of relaxation and recreation for Lagos big boys and girls, after the lull the night club experienced a few months ago.

    Since Shina, a London-based businessman, opened the night club on Ozumba Mbadiwe Street, Victoria Island, Lagos, it has literally become a social terminus for night life freaks. The fun spot is swanky and relatively large, providing a cozy ambience with a kind of table setting that adds to its romantic theme.

  • Fabulous presence and the belt

    Fabulous presence and the belt

    THE fashion scene continues to be a tale of the survival of the trendiest. So how can you continue to thrill and maintain that fabulous outlook on a daily basis. If you do not want to compromise your outlook, then you may have to spend so much money buying new items on a regular basis.

    Alternatively, you can get creative mixing and matching separates to look good without tears. Interestingly, you can achieve this by making use of a set of colourful and mature belts, depending on the event as well as the mood that you want to create.

  • Lanre Ogunlesi lays father-in-law to rest

    Lanre Ogunlesi lays father-in-law to rest

    Even the wealth of the wealthy offers no shield against death. Death claims the affluent just like it visits the common man. That much was evident in the recent death of Prof. Cornelius Taiwo, the father-in-law of prominent Lagos socialite, Lanre Ogunlesi. He was aged 103.

    The lawyer, author and educationist passed away quietly in his GRA, Ikeja, Lagos home, and Modupe, the dark and lovely wife of Lanre Ogunlesi, and her siblings gave their father a befitting burial. Of course, Lanre played a major role during the burial ceremony and dignitaries from all walks of life stormed Oru-Ijebu to pay their last respects to the deceased.

    The funeral ceremony boasted a kaleidoscope of guests, sumptuous local and international delicacies, choice wines and impressive eulogies to the departed soul. With the huge number of eminent Nigerians and Africans who graced the occasion, one needs not be told that Lanre, the deceased’s son-in-law, is not just a famous dude but also a respected crowd puller.

    The late Prof. Taiwo was a fellow of the Commonwealth Council for Educational Administration and the Nigerian Academy of Education, among others. He bagged degrees in Literature, Mathematics and Law and was once the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council of the University of Ilorin. He was also a solicitor and advocate of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.

    He is survived by prominent Lagos lawyer, Chief Ladi Taiwo; consultant radiologist, Dr. Bayo Taiwo, and Modupe Ogunlesi, among other children, grandchildren and great grandchildren

  • Repair Aba roads

    Repair Aba roads

    ANY time I am in Aba or any time I think about the town, I am always unhappy.

    The reason is that most of the roads in the town are bad. The following roads: Ikot Ekpene, Ohanku, Obohia, Ngwa, Uratta and Faulks need urgent repair.

    I am calling on the present governor of Abia State to do something about these roads in order to make the people of Aba happy.

    I believe in the governor of the state. He will swing into action, and all of us in the city will be happy.

     

    Chikezirim U.

    Aba, Abia State.

  • We need base stations at Ikhin

    We need base stations at Ikhin

    HON. PALLY Iriase is a good lawmaker representing his people well. I mean the people of the Owan Federal Constituency in Edo State.

    When we needed electricity at Ikhin in the Owan East Local Government Area, he gave us without wasting time. He has always been giving us dividends of democracy.

    Now, we need base stations (masts) in our community in order to boost mobile communication. People in the area are suffering as a result of poor communication being experienced.

    In the light of this, I am calling on Hon. Iriase to use his position to bring base stations to our area.

    He is our leader. We shall always support him because he has been treating matters concerning our welfare with urgency.

     

    Bright Aigbokhai,

    Ikhin, Owan East,

    Edo State.

  • Prints with black

    Prints with black

    THE African print has indeed come a long way, and as you search the archives, you are likely to find a number of designs that keeps coming back in different ways. These items in our collections are now making contemporary statements and the options available are as creative as the designers scattered all over the country.

    One unique way to rock the print now is to match it with a plain black fabric. It brings a sharp contrast that reveals the exciting details of the designs. You can also match this with trendy accessories that help to rejuvenate the new image you just want to portray.

  • New marital life for Grace Enenmoh

    New marital life for Grace Enenmoh

    A maiden, they say, marries to please her parents, while a widow marries to please herself. Many months ago, the Group Managing Director of Ascon Oil, Grace Enenmoh, decided to shed the toga of widowhood for the garb of marital bliss. That was after she lost her beloved husband, Engr. George Enenmoh, in a plane crash, leaving her with the task of catering for their children all alone.

    All entreaties made to her to remarry initially fell on deaf ears as she stuck to her guns, insisting that the vacuum her late husband had left in her life could never be filled by another man. But several years later, the story changed and the well-built woman eventually found someone she felt could help her out of the abyss the death of her first love had plunged her into.

    Some months ago, she got married to an accountant, Bankole Olowofoyeku, in London. No longer for Grace the lonely nights as she is now enjoying a new lease of life.

  • Why I won’t marry again -Femi Kuti

    Why I won’t marry again -Femi Kuti

    Femi Kuti, first son of the late Afro beat King, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, has come of age as a respected musician/songwriter and composer, many years after he cut his musical teeth playing on stage with his father as a young boy. In this interview with PAUL UPKABIO and VIVIAN OKORIE, he bares his mind on life as Fela’s son, the challenges he faced in his career, coping with bad press, views on marriage, joy of fatherhood, the Nigerian music scene and other issues. Excerpts

    How will you say that your background has influenced the person that you are today?

    It has most definitely shaped a lot of things in me

    What memories do you recall of your early beginnings?

    What part are you talking about?

    Your early childhood, things that you recall that now influence the person that you are today

    I have a lot of memories about my father; so that has definitely shaped my career and what I am doing now.

    Who will you say influenced you most, your mum or your dad?

    It is hard to say. I am very much like my mother, I like my privacy. But then my father was always in the limelight, and his music, his political views. But I will say 50-50.  I will not say one has more influence over me. People don’t know my mother but I have a lot of my mother in me.

    Was your mum a quiet woman and how much of her did you see?

    I saw her probably every day, I lived with her for a very long time. I grew up with her, and so I do have a lot of my mother in me.

    Was your mother a music-loving person too? Did she play any instrument? What kind of person was she?

    She studied a bit of piano but nothing too serious. But in our family, our father was a trombonist, a band leader in England. In our family, our mother too played a bit but nobody is as big as my father.

    At which point did you decide that music is what you wanted to do?

    I have always known; it is just a question of when and how. When I was very young, I decided to leave school and join my father’s band in 1979.

    Understudying your dad at that early time, did you think at that point in time that you would continue the legacy after he might have gone?

    It was about continuing the legacy. It was about, will I be able to live up to what he was doing? He was a magnificent, big person in front of me. To play in the band for me was already a big deal for me. I knew all the composition. My challenge then was, will I be able to live up to the big heritage in front of me? That was more of my worry. Then I told myself that I won’t be here forever. At that point, I knew I had to break off from the shell, get my life, feel my pain and experience my own down fall, lift myself up again.  I suddenly knew that I had to live my life, not his life. So I left.

    What were the challenges of breaking out?

    Probably the biggest challenge of my life was that everybody was totally against me, everybody, including journalists, criticised me.  Just one or two journalists were in support of me. And they were the ones who told the others to give the young man the chance to express himself. I decided to make my name more in Europe and in America before I broke into Nigeria. So I was touring with my own band from 1988 extensively outside Nigeria and I was already making a big name for myself outside Nigeria. This is because people outside Nigeria liked the fact that I wasn’t copying my father totally and I was trying to express myself and find my identity. That gave me an edge and they probably wanted to see what will become of me.  So, they gave me more of the chance.

    Here in Nigeria, it was like, you must be like your father, nothing less; we don’t want to hear anything. If you are not going to be a carbon copy of your father, forget it. There wasn’t room to express myself. So, I decided to make my name outside there. It wasn’t until ‘Wonder wonder wonder’ in 1994 that people started hearing my music here.

    That means there were earlier achievements before Wonder wonder wonder outside.

    Yes, because I was touring the biggest festivals. I was playing in big club I had already made a name outside before here.

    It was not just the burden of fitting into his large shoes, but also the burden of taking over the administration and also his women. How did you overcome all that?

    Well, it was something that I already knew as a child, people were already telling me from childhood that I would take over. So psychologically, at the back of my mind, I had already known. So I will say that I was mentally prepared for it. It wasn’t much of a big deal. I didn’t change to please people. That is because I knew that if I fail, I will not have the people to blame for my failure and if I succeed, I will not blame people. I will have to take the praise. Therefore, I do not allow people to influence me or decide for me, a way for me to go. I will rather fail on my own than have somebody make me succeed because of their own wish. I am not that kind of person. What I am doing now is no big deal for me. I knew what I wanted to do, how I was going to do it, and what it will do for me. So till today, you will still see me practise.

    You may not have chosen everything about your father. But you definitely chose some things like his style of songs, part of his stagecraft and even his dance steps…

    I didn’t take his dance steps o, but even if once in a while I dance like him, I believe it is okay. I mean if I don’t look, talk, sing sometimes like him, then you will have to ask my mother some questions about who my real father is. So whether I like it or not, I have to do some things like him. I think every son wants to be like their father. You grow up wanting to be like your father. If something happens in your family and you branch out, and decide not to go the way of your father, it is understandable. But a child grows up admiring the father. And this is just human trait. It is a culture in Africa. A son understudies the father. There was no exception in my case. I wanted to be like my father. I wanted to play music because my father was playing music.

    Three things that you admire about your dad till today?

    His courage, his honesty, and sincerity. When he believed in something even if he was supporting what was wrong, just because of his pride, he would stick to it till his death. There, I am a bit like him. If he gave you his word, even if both of you were wrong, he would defend you. That is because he had agreed to defend you. And he would protect you because of the love he has for the person. If he had given you his word, even if death comes, he would stick by you. He was very honest and sincere.

    Your dad had many wives. But you chose to have one. Why did you do that?

    I am divorced now. I won’t tell you that I don’t like women. I like women but I do not believe in marriage. I got married but I do not believe in marriage. I know that in Nigeria, many people are against my views but that is their business. It does not stop what I believe. I still do not believe in marriage. People have a right to believe in what they choose to believe. I believe that if two people want to be together, they should live together. And if they do not want to do so any longer, they should just agree within them. If they want to involve their family in their relationship, that is their wahala. But they should know that the more people they put in their relationship, the more problems they will have. I love a very peaceful, quiet life. When you start getting involved with family, then you won’t rest. There are some families, they won’t let you rest. I am not saying that of my ex-wife’s family, but I don’t like the idea of somebody saying to me, I pronounce you husband and wife. I don’t like it. Who is the person to pronounce me husband? Maybe it is my upbringing.

    Then again, when you are married, the problems that you get into when you don’t want the marriage again is so complicated. The family will come, everybody will talk, they will discourage you. Meanwhile, both of you know that you are tired. Then again both of you will continue and become very unhappy again. If the two of you are tired and decide to go your separate ways, it is easier, but it is another wahala again because you have to go to court, sign papers upon papers, everybody puts their mouth into the matter and the wahala over it is so much. The more popular you are, the more complicated it is.

    So, all that discourages me from that institution. Like I said, I have a little of my mother in me. I like peace and quiet. I hate to be disturbed. I do not like it when people bring their problems all over me. That is because I already have my problems too. So I mind my business and face my problems squarely. My relationships are already complicated, so if I get married to all the women in my life, it will be a total mess. Most of my children are from different mothers. They all play together. We all have an understanding that I take care of the children; they see their children and they go about their own businesses. The children are here enjoying their lives and I try as much as I can as a father to make them happy. My children mean the world to me.

    But are you looking forward to marriage again?

    No, I don’t believe in marriage. I will never marry again. I never believed in it. When I got married, I was not sure it would work. I wanted to give it a try. I knew that being in showbiz, to have a wife that will be like my mother, is probably impossible; someone who will tolerate women hanging around you even when you do not have anything to do with them emotionally. It is difficult for women to be tolerant and understand at such points. It doesn’t mean that a man always agrees to every woman who wants him. But a wife will not hold her jealousy and let you be. It is very hard to find such women who will hold themselves, comport themselves and not complicate your life.

    It is the same way with a man who marries Madonna in the US, for instance, or Beyonce and you think that men will not be flirting with her, then you have a problem. It is not a matter of a masculine saying, it is the nature of that business. So to find a partner that understands is very difficult, so why starting that kind of relationship that will even complicate your life that is already complicated? Because when your are in the music business, you have to keep writing songs, you are selling your talent and people must admire your talent and you are trying not to sell your lifestyle. So it is very complicated because then, many people put your lifestyle ahead of your talent, and Nigerians have not fully developed into a position where they accept your talent over your lifestyle or they marry the two or they put your lifestyle ahead of your talent.

    Most times when they put your lifestyle ahead of you, they give you a very bad name, they forget your talent and your career can come to a close. When you are dealing with this kind of business, you have to be very observant of the industry you are relating with, and I knew this because of my father’s lifestyle. Everybody might be talking of Fela today, but I tell you Fela did not have it easy in the press and even in many homes. Even us as Fela’s children, we were kicked out of the house if they heard we were Fela’s children, my sisters had the same problem with their boyfriends. ‘You want to marry Fela’s children? No, don’t come here again!’

    Growing up, we knew in many circles in this country that we were not loved because we were Fela’s children. So all this is part of my upbringing, all these made me come to a lot of decisions in my life that ‘When I’m independent, this is what I am going to do’, this is what I am going to ignore’. And I can still assure you there are still many homes that, if they hear Femi Kuti, they don’t like my name. Even if am popular in the street and in many areas, they will still say he is too much like his father. But if I as an artist starts to put my mind in that, I will never progress because my objective is to write as many good songs as possible in my life. I am selling my talent, I am not selling my life.

    How do you manage with those things you read about yourself in the media?

    We live in a quite terrible society, if I let those things I read about myself bother me, I will not attend to you. I will judge every journalist that comes here as a bad journalist, I will generalise. In my life, I don’t generalise. Nigeria is a difficult and sometimes bad country, but we are not all that bad. There are good Nigerians but they are not even in the limelight. And there are honest Nigerians too. It’s just that some people are bad heads and they generalise that Nigerians are bad. I don’t fall into that category.

    If you go with what they said about me, you will totally misjudge me but when you see me, you will see a different person altogether. In the beginning of my career, they first lambasted me that why will I leave my father? When I started to be successful, they say you are only successful because of your father. They gave every excuse not to give me honour for my hard work, and I’m hardly praised; only in a few quarters that I have been praised for my own hard work. By the time I built the shrine I thought it was a good deal, they said, oh he built a shrine, he has gone mad, he is smoking igbo (hemp). I was in the toilet one day, I was reading. Femi was seen in Ojuelegba walking stark naked holding a big igbo and I said, ‘Am I mad?’ as I checked the mirror.

    I left here for five months.I was even thinking of moving to Paris. I was seeking political asylum in Holland. I had a lot of diplomatic friends who were willing to help because they all knew me and they were wondering that how can your people be so nasty to you? Don’t they see all the things you are doing to your country? Don’t they see how you put your country in the world scene? They even came to me, I don’t want to mention their names, they blackmailed me, if I don’t pay them a lot of money they will keep on writing bad stories, and I said, ‘Ha in this Nigeria! It has gotten to this point?’

    I remember winning the Kora award. There was a time they said I brought in N27million; armed robbers came to meet me. When did Kora ever give me N27 million? I have never had N27 million. If I had N27 million, I don’t think they would have even been able to talk to me. I was still struggling to pay N35,000 rent in Omole then because I was not getting the kind of shows. I was travelling with a 15, 16/17 piece band at different times. Then, it was N5,000 to travel out, it was a lot of money to travel out of Nigeria then. Now, we are paying N250,000 as ticket, it is still a huge amount of money. They never thought that I was struggling then as a young man. These journalists just hated me for no good reason. There are maybe two or three of them who are very friendly to me. If you go by what you have read about me, there is no way you can love me, there is no way you will even want to listen to my music. It has been a battle front between me and this group of people for my career.

    I’m a very consecutive, private and peaceful person. I understand the entertainment world. Even in my younger days, I could take off my shirt when I would be doing one hundred press ups and sit up which was part of selling my talent at that time. Now at 50 I don’t see why I want to be showing that, I don’t even have the muscles to do press ups again. Don’t see why I should suffer at this stage and be doing press ups, is it a young girl that I want to attract? My conception of selling my talent now has changed. Now I sell more of my music, the intelligent part of me and not the physical aspect of me. I got a phone call from South Africa saying that they have been reading many bad stories concerning me and wondered why. This just happened last week. She said she seems to be talking with a very intelligent person, so why is this?

    And I had to explain the same thing to you. It was a time when in the social media, you cannot defend yourself, now you can defend yourself on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, you can say your own side of the story and people might listen to you. Then, it was the journalist that had a say, if they put a bad story on you on front page, you are in trouble. You owe your life to the journalist. You have no say, instead you will go begging. They could manipulate and say all kinds of things about you, so you owe them your career, so it was me that now said, ‘ok I have had enough of Nigerians and the press, go to hell. And I just decided to concentrate on the shrine, my business and just live a quiet life and I have been doing that. But in doing so, I have never decided that every journalist is bad or every Nigerian is bad because then I will be generalising myself too, saying am bad. And I have a lot of friends that are good. A lot of friends too in the media that are good.

    What about the Grammy award?

    If it is not about Nigeria, I will not even think about it. I didn’t start my career based on awards, I thought I will have  a very quiet smooth life. Which was my wish, just to play music to the best of my ability and die. I am somebody that knows and have accepted that death would come one day, so I have decided this is what I want. I know I would die, so I wanted peace. Unfortunately, maybe because I’m Fela’s son, I have had trauma upon trauma, problems upon problems but I’m thankful that I have been able to overcome most of these problems.

    If I was thinking of awards, I know that I would get more awards now. If I had wanted the Grammy so badly, so many times I would have moved to America to play the game, I would have won the Grammy. I don’t know how to play; I don’t know how to hustle; I don’t know how to hustle for you to like me or love my music, but the fact that my album four times consecutively have being nominated means I’m doing well whether I won or not. It takes a lot to win the Grammy, you must be in America, you must be promoted on the radio stations, going from city to city, town to town, I can’t do that.

    How do you feel about doing music with wizkid?

    I have done music with most misicians, Olu Maintain, the girl Eva, Weird MC, JJC. I have done over 10 collaborations, the last one with Dbanj and others

    How do you feel about the growing music industry and what the younger generation of musicians are doing?

    The only problem I have with them is that I wish most of them play musical instruments. What they are doing is good. I think you should be thankful that they all want to progress in their lives. And they are finding a way in this very difficult situation we find ourselves in Nigeria. What if they were drug addicts or peddling guns or doing terrorism? We will not sleep. It shows that there is a lot of energy, and young people want to do things, it’s for the government to want to set up avenues for young people to excel. Unfortunately, the country is not like that. The only problem I have which is not their fault because they want to play music is just they never have the means to study it. Or the means to learn an instrument. I always tell them it is never too late to pick up an instrument, it is for their own good. The kind of music they are playing is for a young audience.

    One day they will be 50, what will they do? In music, if you don’t have anything to offer at any point in your life, you will just fade away. And it is such a very terrible profession, it’s not like a doctor, with the more experience you have, people will say that man has an experience, he’s a heart surgeon. So you will get more customers, or lawyer, you will get SAN. The day you don’t have anything to offer, the world will bring you so down. If you don’t have any savings or other avenues to make money, it is the same people that would say, now look at his life, useless bobo. He was popular before, now he drinks and smokes.

    So I can only prepare them like I would prepare my children. Take it and do these for the rainy day; there would always be a rainy day in everybody’s life and if you are not prepared for it, that would be your end. End does not mean death. You will see some people, they live very old, they pray every day to die and God won’t take them. I even think death is a very easy way out of this life. The worst is to be alive and be suffering. Won’t it be better to be dead than be alive and suffer? I will rather be dead than suffer. So I will rather prepare the young people because they all want to do this, nobody wants to pick up and study the musical instruments. If I am relevant after nearly four decades of my career, it’s because I have something to always offer musically, so whether the world critics like it or not they cannot toy with my achievements musically, I may not have won the Grammy but whether they like it or not, I have been nominated four times and they just have to bring one Nigerian that has achieved the same.

  • Where are they?

    Where are they?

    Relations grieve over rising cases missing persons

    Experts explain upsurge

    Are there in Lagos State, parched forests that soak innocent blood like Soka, the evil forest of horror in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, where a number of decomposing human bodies and dry skulls were found recently?

    The question appears germane following the incessant cases of missing persons that have been coming up in the state over the years. From announcements on the pages of newspapers, radio, television and at times posters on major streets and roads, pieces of information about missing persons are regularly passed to the public.

    Where are these people and what could have happened to them? A recent experience of Abeke, a journalist based in Lagos State, gives an idea of the fate that might have befallen some of these people. She went to work on that fateful day and found herself in the ‘valley of the shadow of death’ after she boarded a vehicle to go home.

    Her account: “After closing from work, I boarded a bus to go home.  When we got to Cement Bus Stop along Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway, the bus turned into a narrow street before Dopemu bridge instead of going straight.  It drove into a building. When we got there, we started alighting from the vehicle one after the other. The other passengers before me were led into an inner room,  a dark huge man stood on the way with a cutlass together with another man.

    “When I alighted, my identity card that I wore on my neck came out from my cloth.  The other man that was standing with the huge man was infuriated when he saw me. He started asking the huge man why he had to bring somebody like me to the place. He instructed him to get me out of the place with immediate effect. Without wasting time, they quickly moved me back to the road.  After some time, I started regaining my consciousness gradually.

    “The people in the environment were confused about my mental state. But a young Igbo boy who stood close by kept saying that I couldn’t be insane. After taking a detailed look at me, he maintained that my dressing did not show that I was in any way insane.  I eventually left for my house after I became much conscious.

    “The incident happened at a time I was still nursing a new born baby.  What surprised me was that some people were caught with 13 fresh human heads the following day. These might be the heads of the co -passengers that were not as lucky as I was.”

    An unidentified young lady whose body was dumped along Cele Bus Stop along Oshodi-Mile 2 Expressway was, however, not as lucky as Abeke. A resident of the area, who simply identified herself Zubby, told The Nation that the victim had vital parts of her body cut off by people suspected to be ritual killers.

    “It was a pathetic sight for us in this area when the lifeless body of a young lady was found lying on the road recently. The loose cloth she had on her was very clean but her breasts, tongue and private were already chopped off by people suspected to be ritual killers. Leaders of the area opened her bag and got in touch with her family members using her phone. When they came to pick her body, they said she travelled and was obviously on her way back home when she suffered the wicked fate,” he said.

    The whereabouts of Felix Olugbenga Aliu, another journalist based in Lagos State, is equally still unknown. He left home on the eve of year 2014 and has not returned till date. A family member, who simply identified himself as John, said the family has been in anguish since they could not find him.

    He said: “We have been in deep sorrow since Aliu got missing. We have searched everywhere we could think of. We also went to Soka, the evil forest of horror in Ibadan to search. The efforts yielded no fruits. He is in his mid 50s. He is married with four kids who are terribly disturbed about their father’s mysterious disappearance.

    “On that fateful day that he got missing, he left the house at Ijaiye, a suburb of Lagos State, without his phones.  He attended Times Newspaper Training Centre, Lagos now known as Times Journalism School. We are at a loss about what could have led to his unfortunate predicament because he was a kind-hearted person that could not hurt a fly.”

    The family of Alhaji Rasaq Aremu Gawat, a Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) Muslim programme presenter is also still nursing the pains of his mysterious disappearance. He got missing since July 10, 2102 and is yet to be found.

    Nnamezie Umeohia, 25, has equally been missing since February 21, 2014. He had barely spent two months in Lagos before he got missing.  The uncle, Stephen Okwonkwo, told The Nation that he was brought to Lagos from his home town in Anambra by his brother who returned from abroad late last year. The visibly worried uncle narrated that they had searched for him in all police stations, prison yards, mortuaries and every other place they could think about to no avail.

    But how did Nnamezie get missing? The uncle recounted: “They went to church on that fateful day. After the first part of the service ended, they quickly left to go and eat at home. When they got to the road, the brother gave Nnamezie some money to buy petrol that they would use to power their generator, while he left for the market to buy what they would eat.

    “After buying the things, he went home. Unfortunately, he didn’t see Nnamezie at home. He thought that he went back to the church and quickly went there to check him. He didn’t still see him there. We have checked all the places that we felt he could be but did not find him. We have even been to mortuaries, prisons and all that, yet, we have not found him.

    “The mother is not even aware of this yet. We go out looking for him both in the morning, evening and night. It is traumatising.  How do you explain to her that the son that left her a few months ago is nowhere to be found today?”

    The same plight is currently being suffered by Reverend Gabriel Oyediji of Number 6, Compassionate Street, Greenland Estate, Isheri, a suburb of Lagos State. Their ward, Aminat Oyediji, has been missing for some time, causing them to be having sleepless nights.

    The embattled clergy told our correspondent that their efforts have yielded no fruits since they began to search for her.

    “She left home in the morning on the fateful day and has not returned till date. We pasted posters all over the estate to draw the attention to this and also made reports at relevant places but she is still nowhere to be found.  Initially, we thought she eloped with a young man in the neighbourhood but a search in the whole place showed she might not be within the vicinity,” he narrated.

    Chinonso Alagbasor Nduka, a female, was declared missing for six days after she went to church and could not be found thereafter.   The 25- year- old, it was learnt, left their 7/9, Prince Bello Street, Ilufe, Ojo, another suburb of Lagos State for a vigil at her church along Lagos-Badagry Expressway. After the vigil, she left for her house. Unfortunately, she boarded the wrong vehicle. Instead of finding herself in her known place of abode, she found herself in a strange building.

    In her absence, the brother, Paul Nduka, gave the account of her tortuous journey thus: “My sister left for vigil on that very day. When the day broke, we expected to see her back at home as it was the practice but we didn’t. It continued like that all day. We thereafter formed a search party for her. All our efforts yielded no results.

    “It was after six days that we heard from her. She told us that the bus she boarded from Iyana Isashi, along Lagos-Badagry Expressway, was operated by hoodlums. She said they took them to a strange house where they kept them for a few days. She said the hoodlums collected everything they had on them.

    “After some days in the strange building, she said the hoodlums, moved her and few others to Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, and kept them in another building. She said it was after the sixth day that she miraculously found her way out of the place. She could not even explain how she managed to get off their hook. She is presently in our hometown where she is trying to recover from the horrible experience.”

     

    Security experts express fears

    Security experts have expressed fears that the ugly incident may assume a worrisome dimension if serious security measures are not put in place to check the menace. The incident, they opined, may escalate as political campaigns and elections draw nearer.

    Wilson Esangbedo, a security expert, said: “Now that the elections are coming, you are going to see politicians trying to make money at all costs to fund their campaign. This is why the incident could increase around this period. This is a time everybody needs to be very careful because the ritual killers are actually on the prowl.”

    “Rituals purpose is the primary reason people get missing so mysteriously. The incident is happening frequently in this period of politics,” Dr. Ona Ekhomu, a security expert hinted.

     

    Other reasons why people could be missing

    Apart from ritual purposes, Dr. Ona listed other reasons for which people could be missing: “The other one is kidnapping for predatory reasons. An example of that is the abduction of young girls in Borno by suspected Boko Haram members with the aim of turning them to sex slaves or for enforced marriages. Amorous purposes are also another reasons people get missing. Some people run away to be with their lovers who their parents may not have sanctioned.

    “Another reason why many young people get missing is when they are maltreated by their parents or guidance. When this happens, the young ones will prefer to run away from their parents’ houses to where they would not be found. There is also the case of revenge kidnapping when cult members kidnap their opponents. There is another group of people that get missing because they are new in their environment and because they can’t find their ways back home, they would settle where they find themselves.

    “Highway accidents also account for why people get missing. When people get smashed in accidents, and their identities cannot be traced, they end up being dumped in a public morgue. Such bodies are eventually given to medical students to use for practical. Some of such bodies without identity are sometimes buried in mass graves. These are some reasons why people go missing,” he expatiated.

    Esangbedo also noted: “Many people get missing because they enter the wrong vehicles. It is very difficult to know the right bus to enter because when you stand at the bus stop and you have a vehicle going to your destination, when you enter such, you may end up to know that the other people in the vehicle are criminals. If the reason for picking such individual is for ritual purposes, that person can never be found.

    “At times, people enter buses that are filled with robbers popularly known as ‘one chance’ operators. When they rob their victims, they always push them down from the moving vehicle. Such victim may die in the process and if such person does not have means of identification on him, he would never be found. People who drink themselves to stupor also risk being killed by reckless drivers and if there is no means of identifying such persons, they may not be found.”

     

    Experts offer security tips

    “The citizens should always disclose the destinations they are heading to and who they are going to meet. It is unfortunate that many people don’t do this. They just get up and leave. This is very common with young people, they just leave home without telling anybody. If something goes amiss with that kind of person, there would be no ground for anybody to begin an investigation about what might have happened.

    “If somebody gets missing for about three days, it is very difficult to find that person. It will take an act of God to find such person,” Dr Ona stated.

    He added: “There must also be a way of identifying every citizen of this country. The national identity programme was a failure. It shouldn’t be a national programme. Rather, it should be a state programme. People should also not be moving about alone at night. Certainly, there are many things that the police should be doing. One of these is regular patrol. The check point system is easier to beat. Once a check point is known, criminals just walk around it.

    “We must have a system where people who are in distress can call in. This can help to trace the area where the distress call comes from for the purpose of rescuing the victims. A lot of these atrocities are committed in the evening within the cover of darkness, so there is the need to deploy plain-clothe detectives to areas that are most affected. By so doing, some of them would be arrested and their ranks reduced. There is also the need to punish the perpetrators in order to serve as deterrents to others who may want to engage in similar criminal act.”

    Esangbedo, however, believes that the best form of defence is public awareness. “The police can’t really do much except their public relations department becomes more active than it is. It is not really the duty of the police to increase the security awareness of the people. It is the job of the National Orientation Agency to do that but they have gone to sleep. When you ask them, they will tell you they don’t have funds to place adverts.

    “You have to be wary of the kind of vehicle that you board. You have to watch the faces of the people in a vehicle before you enter. We must also learn to listen to ourselves. If you want to board a vehicle and your mind tells you not to board it, let it go. People should also learn to live a low profile life,” he advised.

    Hon. Dipo Okeyomi, a security expert and consultant, canvasses for ‘be your neighbour’ approach to checking the menace. “It is high time people began to question any stranger or suspicious moves they find in their environment. It is important that people should begin to be mindful of what is happening to the next door neighbour. You should be aware of what your next door neighbour is doing and what is happening around him and when you notice any foul play, report such to the security agents. Some of the people that parade themselves as destitute persons should also be closely monitored. Some of them appear insane in the morning but do nasty things in the the cover of darkness.”

     

    FG should also assist the state govts in security issues

    The idea of having one inspector general for the police force all over the country is out of place. This is why calls for state police should not be ignored. Another way of checking the menace is by providing job opportunities for the youth. If they are gainfully employed, they would think less of crime.”

     

    Nigerian Police’s position

    The Police Public Relations Officer, Lagos State Command, Ms Ngozi Braide, told The Nation that the police do not treat cases of missing people with kid gloves. “When people report, we commence investigation immediately. There is no case that is reported at the station that is handled with kid gloves. We have been handling every case with all seriousness,”she said.

    She added: “The problem we have is that when people go to the stations to  make reports of missing people, when they eventually find the people, they don’t come back again to the police to say that they have found the persons. We have manifests for people to fill when they are boarding vehicles. Every passenger is meant to key in his personal data in the manifest so that if there is an accident, the person can be traced.

    “If you don’t give this personal information when embarking on a long distance journey, it may be difficult for you to be traced in case an accident occurs.  There are times you hear of accidents here and there but there would be nobody to come and claim the bodies and they are eventually taken to the mortuary without any clue about how their families could trace them.”

    She could, however, not make available the figure of reported cases of missing people and statistics of previous years when our correspondent requested for them. She said: “I don’t have the number of reported cases off-hand. Even if I give you, you cannot work with that because when people come to report cases and they eventually find the person they don’t come back to say that they have found them. So, whichever figure I may give to you may not be accurate.”

    She asserted that most people caught with human heads often got them from cemeteries: “The people arrested with human parts made confessional statements that they got those human parts from the graveyard through the collaboration of the security men,”  she submitted.