The Nation Newspaper

Category: Life and Style

  • I enjoyed a lot of respect being married to TOS, a cabinet member then – Opral Benson

    I enjoyed a lot of respect being married to TOS, a cabinet member then – Opral Benson

    At over 77, Chief Mrs. Opral Benson still radiates beauty and charm. She came out of her consulate office with air of officialdom to usher us in. And from her carriage and the countless number of awards and other laurels that abounded the place, it was much easier to understand why the then Oba of Lagos, Oba Oyekan bestowed on her the title of The Iya Oge of Lagos in 1973, few years after she arrived Nigeria.

    With a privilege background, of being born into the home of Honourable Johnson Boto Mason and Lilly Melissa Mason in Monrovia, Liberia, Opral Mason as she was then known, grew up knowing how to live a charm life. And when she was through with her early education, Opral left Monrovia for United State of America.

    There she obtained a B.Sc. degree in Education from Morris Brown College, in Atlanta, Georgia, USA in 1958, and a Master of Arts Degree in Education from Atlanta University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA. She obtained a Diploma in Administration from Pittsburgh University in 1961 and a Certificate in Communications from Michigan University in 1961.

    When she returned to Liberia, she did so as a celebrity, with a top job in government. Sooner, she met a Nigerian Minister, Theophilus Owolabi Shobowale Benson, who was attending a conference in Liberia along with the then Nigerian Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa. It was love at first sight with reception held in Lagos, Monrovia and London. In this interview with Paul Ukpabio, she shares the attraction of her marriage and her new appointment as Consular of the Republic of Liberia. Enjoy

     

    Congratulations on your recent appointment as the Consular for the Republic of Liberia. Can you tell us how you came about the appointment and how have you enjoyed it so faring the office?

    Her Excellency, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of the Republic of Liberia, told me that Liberia does have an embassy in Abuja but nothing in Lagos and being that Lagos is the economic heart of Nigeria, the President said they will like to have representation here too. She thought I was the best person to play that role. So that is how I got about being the Consular.

    But when it comes to how I have enjoyed it so far, I would say that I do not think it’s something for enjoyment. Actually, I think it is an appointment that calls for sitting down and making some contributions for a country like Liberia. That is why I think and believe that I was appointed. And in that regard, I think we have started, we have put up an office at least, we have that in a good location in the city, with staff to support it.

    I, along with others are committed to it and our main concentration is to take advantage of the commercial aspect and centre of Lagos to see what we can develop and use to move forward both countries in the consulate assignment. We have started with making enquiries and making contacts with such needed people. Some people have also contacted us, so we are trying to see what we can do and achieve, by getting people together.

    We are also trying to see to the development and growth of Nigeria and Liberia Forum, get people who are interested in that country and also get those who are interested in this country together, to rub minds, to see how best two countries like ours, can work best. That is the whole idea.

    How settled will you say Liberia is presently to attract such interest and investment that you anticipate?

    I think Liberia is very settled actually, we have gone through political problems like most other countries in and out of Africa, and I think we have settled down. The current president has made quite an impact on the country. We are moving forward. So I would say that Liberia is in a good position presently, to work with other countries.

    What kind of businesses do you think could fit into the developmental expectations of present day Liberia?

    I may not want to start here with listing out all the kind of businesses that could fit in, rather, I would leave that to the people who would want to do the business themselves. People who are here and would love to do business in Liberia, I expect, would make the necessary research and then we can give them the necessary assistance if they are truly interested. I think it should start from this side, rather than I insisting that this should be it, because that won’t be exactly, what we are trying to achieve.

    With a settled Liberia, as confirmed by you, are you saying, it is okay for Liberians who have been seeking refuge in Nigeria to go back home?

    Of course, I would want to encourage our people to go back home. But that also depends on the reason they are here. If they feel they have been here for some years and they want to relocate to Nigeria and they have had a good time here, it is then not my responsibility to tell them that they must go back home. But if they are passing through a hard time one way or another, and they are wishing to go back home, then I would say that Liberia is a land of opportunity for them, they should go back home. So I think going back home for them, should depend on their situation here in the first place.

    With the on-going success of the present female president of Liberia, what would you say about women and leadership role in Africa?

    I think we have said that over and over again in Africa. Women have an important role to play in the leadership of this continent and of other countries outside this continent. This is because there is no difference between being a man and being a woman, it just depends on who you are, what kind of training you have, what kind of orientation you have and not about your sex. So I think women have important role to play and they should not just sit down and say, I am a woman; if you are a woman, so what? You have to go further than that.

    It is not out of place that any visitor coming into your office should be intimidated by your laurels that are struggling for space on your walls and on available spaces on your tables. At over 77, how do you feel when you look back?

    I think I have done a lot in Nigeria, and I also think that I am being rightly rewarded by the personalities that I have worked with, along with the governments that I have worked with. I feel that I have been appreciated and I also feel that I have made the right contributions. I have two National Awards from Nigeria, Member of the Order of the Niger, and Officer of the Order of The Niger.

    Even before I left Liberia, I had what they call the CSA, Commander of The South Africa, from the President of Liberia way back in those years, I am a person that likes to give the best of myself wherever I am, even at this present stage of my life. So that is what you see on the walls when you come to my office. It is a good thing to see that you have contributed and that people have appreciated you too. I feel very happy about it.

    Wherever I go, I meet people who are very appreciative, they are nice to me, they are kind to me, I think this is what anyone should aspire to and expect in life. It shows that you have made some contributions and it shows that those you contributed to, have appreciated what you have done.

    What motivated you to marry a Nigerian?

    I married this Nigerian (points to the framed picture of Late Chief TOS Benson on the wall) 50 years ago, last December made it 50 years and when he passed on, we had been married for 46 years. I think it was a case of two people who met and fell in love and decided that they wanted to live together.

    And that is what marriage is all about. We met in Liberia. Before then, I had never thought of coming to live in Nigeria. He was in Liberia with the Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa for a conference. I met him at that conference. I had just returned from the United State of America where I had gone to get education. I was in the conference where he saw me and proposed. We went on like that for a year until we finally decided to get married. So it wasn’t because he was from Nigeria that we got married. It was because the two of us believed in each other and we made a go of it.

    Prior to meeting him, had marriage been on your mind?

    At that time I had not given a thought to who I would marry. I was not thinking about marriage at that time as a matter of fact. Like I said, I had just been trained and returned from the United State of America and started working. I wasn’t thinking whether I would marry a Nigerian, French, Liberian, Polish, Danish or English. I was just doing a job and when the issue of marriage came up, it was a case of I see you, I like you and I want to marry you. So at that time, I wasn’t sitting down to think and bother about who I would marry and where he would be from.

    What was your first impression of Nigeria when you got to Lagos?

    I was very impressed with the people of Nigeria and the size of the country and the idea of deciding where to live. My husband happened to have been a member of the cabinet at the time so of course working in the cabinet in Nigeria meant that you had lots of respect, I think a lot of people respected me and I was impressed when I arrived Nigeria, I stayed (laughs).

    You were honored as the Iya Oge of Lagos which meant you were in the eye of celebrity, style, fashion, in the country’s capital city, which was the heart of the country. What did that mean to you?

    I was made the Iya Oge of Lagos by the Late Oba Oyekan of Lagos in 1973. I think it was because of my love for beauty and fashion. First of all, when I came to Nigeria, I worked at the University of Lagos for many years. I was appointed Registrar for Students Affairs. I worked there for ten years with staff and students, and I’m proud to say that many of the students I worked with are today the daddy’s and mamas of Nigeria.

    They are now in big positions, but I knew them way back in the school then. But throughout the time I worked at the University of Lagos, I was all the time thinking of the beauty industry because; it is something I like and something that I appreciate. So after those years in the University, I decided to leave to open a beauty spa for facials and all other types of beauty care.

    It was at that time that the Oba of Lagos at the time, considered it fit to honor me with a chieftaincy title. They called me and told me that is what the Oba wants to do. I didn’t know much about it at the time, and I didn’t know that being an Iya Oge of Lagos would be something that I would merit.

    But later I found that everybody seemed to like it and feel that it suits me. I have been in the beauty industry since then, giving beauty care to many women and advising them too. I also decided to start a beauty school. This is the eight year we have had that, and we have graduated many students from The Opral Benson Beauty Training Institute, some of them are all over this country, while some are working outside this country.

    I think that it has been a way of making my contributions towards the development of the industry and to also say to the Oba that I appreciate that honor he gave to me way back 1973. It was after I got that honor that I decided I should make it worth it, instead of just sitting down on it. Since the honor was for that industry, I thought that I also ought to work in that industry.

    Between fashion and beauty, which one do you tilt more towards?

    I don’t tilt at all. I keep fashion and beauty together because I think that the two go hand in hand. I don’t tilt at all. I have a beauty school but I think that fashion and beauty are two brothers or two sisters. I don’t stay in their middle; I put the two together because I think that both are very essential.

    Simply said, what is beauty to you?

    Beauty is making people feel nice and happy about themselves, look nice, the kind of things you do to yourself and to others. It is putting on something that says much about you because there is something that comes from within, it is something from the outside and something that is general.

    It should not be confused however, because there is something that is inner beauty and another outward beauty. I appreciate beauty and many Nigerians that I have met in and outside the industry appreciate beauty. That also means that it is something that is important because, when I started, many people thought that this was not a place for educated people. People then thought that it was a place for those who didn’t have education. But I told them that beauty has to do with how you feel to yourself and for others.

    When is a woman fashionable and when should she be fashionable?

    I guess that is for the individual to decide. When a woman is fashionable depends on what she wears, how she carries herself, what her outfit looks like, how she impresses herself, how she impresses others and how she feels about it. A fashionable woman is what others see and how she feels. It is very difficult to say just like that, that a woman is fashionable until all these are in place.

    What is your style?

    My style is how I feel like presenting myself. Its difficult for me to pick one word and say this is my style. Style is how you carry yourself. It is how you feel and present yourself. You are how you make yourself from the inside and how people see you outwardly and appreciate you. So my style is presentable to myself and to others.

    I wear all kinds of attires, African, English and so on. It depends on where I am going, what I am doing and how I feel about myself. I appreciate all kinds of attires, fabrics, foreign and local. In saying local, I mean traditional attires.

    What would you say about our society events against the background that people are criticizing the growing cost of having simple celebrations?

    I cannot speak for what people are spending, I don’t know, but I think everybody should spend according to their pocket and what they can afford. I am not one who insists that this is the amount you must spend on yourself. I think it should be about what you have to spend, how you feel and how you want to dispose of it.

    Having had a successful marriage to a Nigerian, would you advise women from foreign countries to marry Nigerian men?

    I have no problem with foreign marriages or marrying a foreigner. I think everybody should marry according to their heart desires and what they want to do because, whether it is a foreigner or not, it is still about two people that have met and coming to live together, and how they feel about each other.

    I also don’t think that anyone should tell the other that he or she should not marry this person because he or she is a foreigner. It should be about individual feeling, how you feel about that person and how the person feels about you and whether the person wants you too. And also whether he wants to live with you and marry you.

    The same goes for marrying into other tribes within a country, whether, Ibo, Hausa, Yoruba, Kanuri and so on, all that does not follow, it is still about the two individuals that are going to come together to live with each other. I don’t think barriers such as this should be in the way of two people who like each other, who want to live with each other and have agreed and decided on what their future should be together. Anyway, I say all this because I didn’t follow or allow a barrier come between my husband and I.

    What does wealth means to you?

    When I get wealthy, I will find out! Right now, I’m still trying to find out what wealth means (laughs).

  • My regret: ….not believing God as much as I ought to

    My regret: ….not believing God as much as I ought to

    Since she sprang into national consciousness three and a half decades ago, Bishop Bola Odeleke’s path has been laced with fame, controversy, miracles of healing and great bravado. Before becoming a preacher of the word of God, youthful Bola Odeleke had some measure of popularity as a businesswoman who operated a boutique and happily married to a general in the Nigerian Army.

    However, growing up, brought with it, a particular consciousness that her life would be a tool in God’s hands, to bring peace and salvation to mankind. In those days, it was unheard of to find a woman climbing the pulpit in Jesus name to preach. But with God’s assurance, Bola Odeleke fought the conventional and eventually emerged the First African Lady Bishop.

    Tragedy struck early in her marriage when she lost her husband, Brigadier General Lasun Odeleke to a motor accident. He was a member of the then Provincial Ruling Council, during the regime of President Ibrahim Babangida. It slowed her down but she now admits, she weathered the storm and emerged stronger. The proponent of Agbara Olorun Kiibati (the power of God never fails), celebrated recently and spoke to Paul Ukpabio.

    You just celebrated your church’s 30th anniversary how has the journey been so far?

    The 30th anniversary celebration was about the year I entered Okota, an outskirt of Lagos, with my ministry: Though I had been in Christian ministry since 1974. That means I will be celebrating my 4o years in the ministry next year. In

    February 1983, God sent me here. This is the first church I established in my ministry but before then, I had established many church branches for Christ Apostolic church. So we felt we needed to celebrate God’s grace for our existence. When I got here, we were the only thing you saw around here. No other structure was in sight except one went further inside to Ago junction where the land-sellers location was.

    In the entire Okota, we met only one church here and that was Foursquare Church. Now there are over 3000 churches all around Okota by the grace of God. This spot that we are located was a groove for masquerades. I still recall all the fetish things that we found and dug out of the ground, when we got here.

    I used to go on all the road paths of Okota and pray over them. As you can see today, those road paths are now major roads to a big town, which Okota has now become. We also did massive radio publicity to open up the town. Whenever I was on radio or television, I used to clarify to listeners, the difference between, Ojota and Okota. So we indeed attracted a lot of people down here. I bought 3 acres of land for N48,000, but today, one plot is going for N30m on the major road, while inside the town it goes for N20m. So things have changed.

    Can you compare what the ministry looks like now to the period when you set out?

    It is better now. I started at Christ Apostolic Church where I received Christ. God called me in 1974 as Lady Evangelist because the church was not ordaining women. I was there for almost 18 years. God used me to do a lot of remarkable things there especially in the area of establishing new church branches and revival crusades.

    But a time came, when the church started a revolution. The church came up with ten laws, with one of the laws being that a woman cannot lead a church. Meanwhile, I had been leading churches since 18 years. So there was a problem, how was I going to drop all that? Was I going to turn to a floor member, more so, when I knew my calling? I decided, that the laws were man-made, that I had to follow God instead of man.

    I left. However, I was the only one that was given a peace letter when I decided to leave and I guess that is why I can still preach in CAC today. They told me “let the peace of God go with you.” That was when I started the Power Pentecostal Church Ministry. During the period I was in CAC, I was famous because of what God was doing through me. People were seeing God in me and not the church that I belonged to. If it had been my power, when I changed church, it would have affected me. But the power was of God.

    But you were into business before you started preaching God’s word

    Yes, but when I was selling clothes, I was not much known. The fame I got was because of God that I carried in me. I could not heal headache on my own. It was the spirit of God that was performing miracles through me; that also built the new church that I founded. I was in Umuahia last week for a crusade, the lame worked, the blind see, and many marveled. This is the power of God. It has nothing to do with me as a person. I preach the gospel of peace, healing and deliverance. And people are receiving these.

    What have been the challenges that you have been facing?

    I have been my own challenge. Most of the time, I doubt God! I sometimes do not believe as much as I should. When God does a marvelous thing, I just stop and wonder about such power. But as I keep growing, I get to know more and more about God’s ways and His acts. The way God started with me was strong. I was just 23 when God called me into the ministry. I had not even found my feet when God began using me beyond my imaginations.

    Sometimes then, God used to tell me, don’t do that! The next thing would be that I question God on why I should not do it. I sometimes went ahead and did such things and fingers got burnt. But the good thing was that, when I returned to Him, He was always there, waiting for me.

    As a matter of fact, He would even be the one that pulled me back to Him as if nothing had happened. That is why I can say that, God has been very good to me, despite everything. When my husband died, my first child was merely 16, but thanks God today; she has her own home and children. All my children are all okay and having their own families. God comforted me when I had the challenge of losing my husband early in life, He took care of everything. I thank God for men and women who God used to help me get to where I am today. Right now, I have no challenge that is bigger than God.

    How did you receive your calling?

    My calling was a great miracle in itself. My husband and I received Christ in 1974, but before then, God had been talking to me about my ministry. During those days, any prophet that came round to our home, used to say to me that they see me holding a bible and bell. I used to question them which bible? Don’t you see my boutique? However, I was in the habit of reserving gifts for ministers of God who stopped by.

    So to me, that was enough God’s work that I was already doing! But in 1973, the spiritual pressure on me to go into the ministry became very obvious. That year the Lord asked me to observe a fast for three days. I was perturbed that, why does God want me to die food denial. I did not do it until the October of that year. I felt God touched me, like somebody pushed me to do it.

    After the fast, God started showing me different things. As a matter of fact, most of the things that are manifesting in my ministry even till date, are things that God showed me in those three days. When I took a nap, I went into vision or trance. When I sat or knelt to pray, prophecy poured out. On the night of the second day of my marathon prayer, I was sitting outside our compound, in Akure, reading the scripture. My husband was in Kaduna where he had just been posted.

    All of a sudden, I felt something drop on my forehead, I thought it was an insect, so I rushed to brush it away, but alas, it was oil! I was shocked. Where could that had come from, I asked myself. I was not sitting under a tree, I reasoned. So where could it have dropped from?

    I touched my head and I noticed that oil had soaked my head. I became frightened and started to tremble. I ran quickly to see Pastor Obadare, but was told that he had gone to Lagos for a crusade. I went to meet the president of CAC then, being an elderly man, he understood immediately. I was trying to describe to him the experience, and even told him to touch my head. He simply said that they already knew, that God told Pastor Babalola and them, that He will bring up a woman, and anoint the woman Himself. He assured me that I should not panic that nothing is wrong with me, that it is an anointing from heaven. He suddenly began to pray for me and before I knew it, he busted into prophecies and ecstatic prayers. When he was through, he told me to continue with my fasting, that I should listen to God, that whatever He tells me to do, I should do it.

    So what happened after?

    I went back home and in the night about 5am, I saw the door of my room open. Immediately what came to my mind was that armed robbers had come into the house. I quickly put my children’s legs under me for protection. But as the door opened further, there was this strange light that beamed into the room. My cloth became transparent I could see the person coming in. I could not see the down part or the upper part of the person. But I knew it was somebody that is tall. He came in and said peace to me. He told me that he had come to confirm to me the prophecies that I had been receiving. He prayed for me and gave me a bible. As he was giving it to me, the bible entered into me and I saw a sign of nail in my palm representing Jesus. He gave me a bottle of water, and that is why I bless water for people. He also gave me a ringing bell. He told me that any where I ring bell or stand to shout Jesus, people will gather and I will win souls unto Christ. He told

    me that these are the signs; that I should go out there and preach salvation message: That I should tell people what He did and that He is coming back. He told me that when I’m doing all these things, that miracles will happen. When he finished the prayers, and left, my clothes became normal.

    But before he left, he told me that for me to know that all what he had told me is true, that I should to Oke Igbala Itura, Pastor Obadare’s church, that a mad woman is tied down there, that I should go and meet her, and loose her. As soon as I remembered, I stood up and headed there in outright curiosity. I did not even wait for my driver; I jumped into the car and drove away. Behold, as I packed the car, I saw the woman tied down. I walked towards her, but Pastor Owoeye who was the pastor in charge of the parish, saw me and shouted, trying to warn me against going there, that the woman is dangerous. They ran towards me, but before they could get to me, I was already with the mad woman. I laid my hands on the woman and said be healed in Jesus name, and right there, she became healed.

    It was a big story. The woman upon realizing herself asked where she was. The pastor and the other people had reached me then and they all marveled at the difference in the mad woman’s sudden change. That was when I told them how God asked me to come to loosen the woman. They all started looking at me like I was an angel. They told me that in truth, God has called me because nobody could go near that woman. She used to break the chains that were used to tie her down. That same woman is today a pastor. That was the day that I started to believe that God had given me a ministry. It was also during that 3 day fast that I saw it that I would one day, become a Bishop, and that I will be praying even for foreigners in foreign lands as it is happening today.

    But how did your husband receive all these?

    I went to Kaduna to tell my husband. He believed because we were friends, we were childhood friends in Ibadan. We believed so much in each other. However, we didn’t know what to do, we had to consult with spiritual superiors. We therefore went to The General Evangelist of CAC. We met him and I began to relate my experience. He was busy and appearing not to be listening. At a point, God told me to stop talking. He turned to my husband and asked him to mention any woman who was doing such things. But truly, there was no woman doing such things at that time. He instructed him to take me home, to hold and keep his wife of five years, that he should not let me do these things; else pastors will take his wife away. The man rubbished the whole thing and we left. But as we were going, God told me not to listen to him, that He has already shown me a sign to show that He is the one that has called me.

    The next day however, at 6am, we heard a knock on the door and it was the man. He was shouting “please woman of God, you are called!” His mouth had bent to one side. So I told him, “but you said I am not called?” He replied, “No, you are called, I was beaten terribly all through the night. I was even asked, who told me that you were not called,” he said. He told us further, that he was told that his own calling is not even as high as my own. That made me even more afraid because the next thing was that the man asked me to pray for him and I did. His bent mouth straightened back to normal. It was amazing. This led to a crusade in Kaduna and there were many miracles and healing. Miracles started coming even through my blessing of water for people. I don’t keep water, people bring their water. Yesterday someone with stroke was brought with water, I prayed on it and the person is now walking. The person is even a pastor.

    Challenge of being the first woman in the ministry

    At that time nobody believed in a woman coming out to do ministry work. But it was only miracle that made people to start believing. It was God that started proving to them one after the other, that yes she is a woman but He has called me to the ministry. There was a time I decided to go to the bible college because I wanted to know more about the word of God and His ways: Though at night God was revealing lots of things to me. During the day too, I used to drift into trance.

    So in 1975, I went to Baptist Seminary in Ogbomosho to get enrolled for studies. The principal told me outright that I am a woman. That my place is in the kitchen I told him that God called me but he replied that I should go and meet the God. Tears rushed that my cheeks. I implored him that he should allow me to buy my own table and chair and sit at the verandah just t be listening. That was when he told me to leave. But before I left, I stood at the middle of the compound, lifted up my eyes and asked God to teach me His word by himself. I told God my desire to know His word and also my desire to have a bible college like that, to teach people especially the women. With anger, I left the place. In 1978 and for three years from that day, God taught me the bible Himself. Those who wrote the books of the bible like Moses, Luke, all came to teach me.

    When I went back to Ogbomosho to do a crusade, the man came there. He asked me if I still remember him. “Of course I do, I can’t forget you, I replied.” He said he was sorry that at that time he did not understand but he now understood.

    God makes way for me even till now. When I want to break into new grounds, God sends somebody to me and it will be done. When it was time for me to go to South Africa for evangelism, somebody came from there to meet me here. Same thing when I was to break into America, a woman came all the way from there here, to meet me. That was in 1988. Someone introduced her to me, she saw what was going on here, and then invited me over. I went there and I was treated like a queen because they saw what I was doing here. I don’t beg for doors to open, when I get near the door, it opens. I have travelled to several countries. London, America, Italy, Amsterdam, I have preached in Singapore, Malaysia, South Africa, Kenya, Cotonou, even in Egypt. When my children opened the Face book page for me, more connections poured in. it is God.

    As a Lady Bishop, what is your life style like?

    I am a social person, but I do not go out. When I do, it means I’m going there to preach. People come to see me and I give God the glory for that.

    How did you hit the limelight?

    The media shot me into fame through a miracle that came through me. When we were in Yaba, Lagos Mainland, I was still at CAC then. One evening, a woman that had been pregnant for over 38 years, gave birth on the crusade ground to something that looked like a monkey. As it happened, a ‘Daily Times’ reporter who was covering something else in the area, heard the pandemonium from the crusade ground and checked it out. He took the picture of the monkey-like creature and it was on front page of the paper the next day, and that was how I got to limelight. Even how I got to preaching on television, was like that. I was invited to an interview but ended up being given space on television to be preaching regularly. So it is usually God at work for me. The goodwill of God is always at work for me.

    What material things has success in ministry given you?

    I have enjoyed a lot in my private life. God has given me people. Everything I have is gifts from people: Happy people who love me from all around the world. The day you meet me, you fall in love with me and the next thing is that you are asking me, what can I do for you? That is not limited to us ‘blacks’ alone; the ‘Whites’ love me too.

    What keeps you going?

    I enjoy my peace of mind. I do not worry over anything. People tell me they can’t sleep. But I am not like that; I sleep and sleep when it is time for me to sleep. I pray and go to sleep. I enjoy myself on my IPAD, my free time I use it counseling people on the internet.

    What is your view on women, gold, trinkets and trouser wearing to church?

    I thank God that I am a woman, the first African Lady Bishop. I am an authority in my field; I have written books on aspects of Christianity, so I can say that, they should leave my women alone! Please just take us as we are. Let people concentrate on their own lives and stop petty worries about what women wear. That is because, whatever you wear, has nothing to do with your soul. Jesus came to save souls and not trouser or earrings. He came to save souls and if your soul is saved and you love God, that love makes you want to wear anything.

    I must tell you that there is joy that belongs to a redeemer in Christ and with that joy; you want to adorn the image of God in you. That is what female dressing is all about. Female dressing is not about attracting opposite sex. A mad woman is attractive to the opposite sex. So it is not until you are adorned that you become attractive to the opposite sex: So female adornment is about rejoicing in you. A woman looks at the mirror and she is happy. We look in the mirror and see our beauty and we say ha father, I thank you for this beautiful image that you have given me. It has nothing to do with salvation.

    People who criticize female dressing give me the impression that they don’t know the bible. Eve was to make Adam happy for eve to be eve. Adam didn’t know that eve was inside of him until God brought her out. And Adam was surprised that this kind of beauty was inside of him and called her a ‘woman.’ And woman means ‘mother of all living’ that is what it means in Hebrew. Without a woman there is no production. When a man has trouble, where does he go, but to his woman! There is a special place for a woman so let no one rubbish them. When a man sees a woman that is well dressed, he is happy except he is deceiving himself. If your woman is not dressing well, it’s likely there is no happiness in that house. That can even make the man to look outside and probably commit. When a woman is a prostitute, she doesn’t even need to dress well. It is modest women who dress well, because a modest woman has rest of mind. Where it is said that the adornment should not

    be

    too much, is an advice, it doesn’t mean not to use at all. Using it doesn’t mean a woman doesn’t love God. Some people say a woman should not preach, but can you stop the police woman when she catches you, or a female judge who sends a man to jail? So why not listen to a woman of God who brings you peace? So what I can say is that it boils down to ignorance and then jealousy because God answers women faster than men because we can cry more.

    What accessories do you not do without?

    I don’t miss anything; the beauty God has given me is there already. Sometimes though, I use make up and sometimes I don’t because I always think that it may stain people’s clothes when I hug them. You know as a preacher, I hug a lot. But that does not mean that I hate powder. I use it when I do photo-shoot. I can do with anything and do without anything. I advice women that when they have money, they should use it to buy properties, build houses for their children, and use the excess for trinkets and gold. Women should think of the future in case they die before their husbands, who may marry another wife.

    Tell us your regrets?

    It is, not believing God as much as I ought to. Sometimes I doubt Him until he performs yet another miracle. When it comes to my personal issues with God, I drag things with Him. I ask Him why He tells me not to do some things. That has been my regret. I wish to be a better woman, a better preacher, I am still growing, things are different now, I want to speak to the youth and speak their language, speak to the rich and get across to them and reach out to everybody. And I will love that President Goodluck Jonathan who we know is a good man should also be more strong and bold. He should make decisions and stand by it. The bloodshed in the country is much. Let him come up with a resolution to stop it. I am not saying that he should be like Obasanjo but please let him act now and fast.

  • Vanishing beauty pageants

    Vanishing beauty pageants

    A few years back beauty pageants were quite popular in Nigeria. Now, the business is no longer booming and the pageants are diminishing. Yetunde Oladeinde takes a look at the problem affecting the industry and how the queens are faring.

     

    Women all over the world love to look good and a lot of fairy tales paint beautiful women as heroes and personalities many adore. Hence the creation of pageants to discover beautiful women destined to rule their world. Scroll down memory lane and you find the Miss Nigeria, the premier beauty pageant in the country. It was established to showcase the positive attributes of Nigerian women.

    From Miss Nigeria to Miss Tourism, Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria, Sisi Oge, Miss Telecom, Miss Bold and Beautiful and many more.

    Most of them focused primarily on the physical beauty of its contestants but incorporated other criteria like personality, talent, self-esteem and public speaking abilities. Women and girls were targets and promos and advertorials like this was quite familiar: ‘Confident ladies aged 18 and 26 years, 5 feet 7 inches and above, and fluent in English are called to enter for the pageant.’

    Gradually, men and boys also caught the bug and promoters filled the vacuum with body-building contests like ‘Mr Macho’.

    Whither the pageants?

    It became very lucrative with eye-popping gifts and international trips waiting for potential queens. Unfortunately, things appear to be falling apart in the sector and pageants are vanishing. So the question that needs to be asked is what is happening to pageants?

    For many, one of the reasons for the decline is that organisers have refused to redeem the pledge of prizes and most times they actually promise things that they cannot deliver.

    Lisa Oyaka, a former Miss Valentine, is a victim and she tells her story this way: “I heard about the pageant through a friend of mine. Then I was into modelling and we had just come back from a cast for Hip-Hop world. It was organised by NTA Channel 10 and we had rehearsals for two weeks. It was tedious and I had to spend so much on my outfits and accessories.”

    On the D-day 20 ladies took part and it was a very keen contest. “Initially, I wasn’t so sure that I would win because there were many other girls with potentials. But gradually I began to gain confidence in myself. My skills in cat walking, my regalia and quiz gave me an edge over the other contestants”, Oyaka recalled.

    She continued her story: “When they finally announced that I was the winner, I cried and I felt really happy. I was later crowned by the former queen, Miss Ebele Chukwulobe.”

    After basking in the euphoria, she expected the prize to fall on her laps on a platter of gold. Unfortunately, this did not happen. “Just before the competition, they told us that the winner would travel to America and get some modelling contract over there. Unfortunately, when I won this did not happen. Instead of them doing this, they gave me a Plasma TV and there was no way I could say anything because it was televised.”

    Obviously disappointed, Oyaka got a lawyer who wrote the head office in Abuja. “They promised to investigate the matter. Shortly afterwards, another edition of the pageant took place and as the outgoing queen she was not even invited to the event. “I only read about it in the papers. They did not also allow me to hand over to the next queen which was the tradition. I was blanked out. I really felt shocked that they could do such a thing.”

    One other thing that has affected pageants are scandals and the controversies that trail those who wear the coveted crown. In 1981, Tokunboh Onanuga was demoted after a flaw was discovered on her WAEC certificates. In year 2001, City People magazine revealed that the reigning Miss Nigeria, Valerie Peterside, 31, had lied about her actual age and forged her university qualifications and NYSC certificate. She was reportedly expelled from Ahmadu Bello University prior to graduation due to examination malpractices.

    Next you have the Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria Pageant which originally began as Miss Universe in 1983 and it was created by Ben Murray Bruce.

    Last year the pageant recorded a milestone with its twenty fifth anniversary. Unfortunately, the controversy surrounding the winner of the pageant affected the achievements over the years.

    On Saturday, May 5, 2012, Isabella Ayuk was decorated winner. It, however, turned out to be a very short reign. She was disqualified and subsequently dethroned on the basis of age falsification. Ayuk interestingly is a professional beauty queen who had participated in over five pageants just before this experience. These include Miss Niger, Beauty queen of the South –South and Miss Global Nigeria.

    Like Ayuk, a number of beauty queens have been in and out of scandals. This has therefore discouraged a lot of other potential queens from participating in pageants. However, we also have queens who continue to be on top in different spheres of life. Sabina Umeh Akamune is one of the pageants ambassador and she says that: “I felt that winning the title would be a great springboard for my career in entertainment. This was the singular reason I did it.”

    Some of the outstanding queens include Bianca Ojukwu, Regina Askia and Nike Osinowo, who in 2010, after a six year attempt, finally bought the Miss Nigeria franchise from the former organisers, Daily Times of Nigeria and became the executive and creative director of the pageant.

    Last year, however, the franchise for the pageant was given to another person. Osinowo was mentored by former Miss Nigeria, Helen Prest Ajayi and she represented Rivers at the MBGN pageant where she emerged as the first Yoruba winner of the pageant in December 1990.

    Bianca Ojukwu inspires the younger generation of beauties in so many ways. In December 1988, Ojukwu, who had previously won Miss Martini but turned down the prize – a modelling contract in Tokyo – to continue with her education, was crowned Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria, and she reigned for most of 1989.

    She also won Miss Africa 1989 which was held in The Gambia, then represented her country in Miss World and Miss Universe, but achieved greater success at Miss Intercontinental 1989 and was named Miss Congeniality at the now defunct Miss Charm International in Russia where she was also a semi-finalist.

    On the international scene, pageants are also having some hard times. The Miss World pageant is the oldest surviving major international pageant. It was created in the United Kingdom by Eric Morley in 1951. Interestingly, it has also had so many controversies like the pageants in other parts of the world. In 1974, winner Helen Morgan representing the United Kingdom was forced to resign four days later when it was discovered that she was an unmarried mother. Six years after, Gabriella Brum of Germany resigned claiming that her boyfriend disapproved of her participation. A few days after, it emerged that she was forced to resign after it was discovered that she posed naked for a magazine.

    A black chapter in the history of the pageant opened in 2002 when it was to hold in Abuja. Unfortunately, the controversies over the case of Amina Lawal, who was condemned to death by stoning, and a newspaper publication which was termed offensive by a section of the country caused a boycott and other controversies and it was moved urgently to London.

    Reflecting on the waning fortunes of beauty pageants, Yinka Adewunmi, chief executive officer of Catwalk studios, a modelling, grooming and events said, “At a point things literarily fell apart in the industry and a lot of us who were professionals actually saw it coming. It became an all-comers thing and we had a lot of mediocres parading themselves as professionals in the industry. There were lots of sharp practices and they crowned all kinds of people which led to scandals and controversies. For a number of these people the motive was money and once they discovered that it wasn’t a goldmine they just moved on.”

    Adewunmi, who had been on the panel of judges for different pageants, added: “That was why I had to take a break on my pageant Miss Catwalk and moved on to other areas like ushering and protocol services.” It was the beginning of the exodus of professionals from the runway especially as scores of scandals rolled in further tarnishing the credibility of the pageants.”

    For Yomi Onanuga, a former manager of Miss Nigeria and organiser of ‘Miss Environment’ many of the pageants were built on a faulty foundation. “First, you have lack of fulfilment of promises on the part of sponsors. Then you also find that most of the pageants lack glamour and can also be traced to sponsorship. Sometimes, you would have gone to press to announce sponsors, only for the date to draw near and you find sponsors giving excuses that their budget cannot carry what you have proposed. In that case what do you do? You can’t cancel the event at this point and you would be forced to go ahead with your plan.”

    Some others agreed with Onanuga that the withdrawal of sponsors from the pageants dealt a death blow on the event. However, a few others who don’t want their names in print pointed at the scores of scandals that have dogged some of the competition. For instance, a respondent pointed to a particular pageant where a winner was discovered to have been a consort to some of the judges on the panel. To this the respondent asked, “If you are a sponsor will you be encouraged to sponsor such an event that has been tarnished? I don’t think so.”

    However, efforts to speak with some of the past sponsors were rebuffed as they preferred to stay away from the controversy. But just as the the as the fortune of beauty pageants are fading, rising on its ashes are talk and reality shows. It is the new bride in the showbiz world as sponsors are falling over each other to be part of the new game in town.

     

  • Many sides of a scholar and an activist

    Many sides of a scholar and an activist

    At 33, Prof. Akinwande Bolaji Akinyemi was appointed Director-General of the Nigerian Institute for International Affairs (NIIA). It was a rare feat then for a young person to be given such a plum job. Cynics thought he could not stay long in that office, but he ended up spending eight years at the NIIA. He subsequently became External Affairs Minister. Akinyemi has come a long way – from the classroom to governance, politics, diplomacy and activism. Last week in Lagos, he was honoured with two books written by his colleagues, Precious IGBONWELUNDU reports.

     

    It was an impressive gathering. The movers and shakers were there. They all came to honour a man to whom honour is due; Prof Akinwande Bolaji Akinyemi, former External Affairs Minister. Two books: Perpectives on Nigeria’s National and External Relations: Essays in Honour of Prof. A.Bolaji Akinyemi and Nigeria and the World: A Bolaji Akinyemi Revisited were presented in his honour at the Bolaji Akinyemi Hall of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Lagos last week.

    Akinyemi was Director-General of NIIA before he became Minister under former Military President Gen. Ibrahim Babaginda.

    Akinyemi was described as “a man who not only talks the talk but also walks the walk.”

    Some called him a hero of diplomacy, who left his mark in the academia and socio-political spheres. Others called him an astute scholar; a colossus of knowledge and more.

    Babangida described Akinyemi as “an enduring factor in Nigeria’s foreign policy”. His presence at the event, he said, was a demonstration of the services Akinyemi rendered to the nation.

    “That he was my first External Affairs Minister is an established fact. That before then he was the director-general of this Institute for eight years is also an established fact. The fact that as part of today’s programme, there is a symposium on the Technical Aid Corps (TAC) scheme, one of Akinyemi’s enduring legacies in government, is ample demonstration of the relevance of Prof Akinyemi to Nigeria’s foreign policy, a relevance that has lasted for over 40 years.

    “That it is not just one but two books that are being launched in honour of Bolaji Akinyemi is a testament to him being an enduring factor in Nigeria’s foreign policy. If I say that he is often controversial in his views, I am only stating the obvious. He is controversial because he is years ahead of his time in the ideas he articulates. Some people pass through offices and leave nothing but their portraits on the wall. Akinyemi passed through this Institute and the ministry and we are witnesses to his achievements. My presence here and I am sure that your presence here is a demonstration of a grateful nation for services well rendered,” he said.

    Ondo State Governor Olusegun Mimiko described Akinyemi as his hero. He noted that Akinyemi is among the few Nigerians who left academia for governance and exited both with his integrity intact. He said his first encounter with Akinyemi gave him a different view of life entirely, noting that his respect for Prof. Akinyemi cut across all spheres as he remained one of the “true heroes of the country”. He said the prof’s perspective on issues which he canvassed over 40 years ago were needed in today’s Nigeria. Mimiko praised the authors “for honouring a great man in his life time”.

    Mimiko said: “The first time I ever met Prof. Akinyemi was when he was DG of NIIA. I came to interview him as an undergraduate and he offered me a stick of cigarette which I rejected. Talking of dialogue and not revolution like the people from the other blocks we were used to, you made an impression of someone moderate in his thoughts. My encounter with him that day changed my perception of issues.

    “Prof Akinyemi is cerebrally engaging. For him, dialogue is a religion. Even at that time when the rest of us thought revolution was the solution, he believed and still believes there is nothing that cannot be achieved with dialogue.”

    Abia Governor Theodore Orji, who was represented by Secretary to State Government, Mpa Mpa, said he has always admired and respected “Akinyemi’s enthusiasm, commitment to public service, keen intellect and never-ending drive for new ideas that made the difference”.

    Akinyemi’s ideas, he said, helped in building the many legacies the prof is known for. He listed these to be Akinyemi’s idea and intellectual thoughts on Nigeria’s global and regional policies as a middle power.

    He said: “Akinyemi’s legacies have also been evident in the number and quality of his scholar disciples and the human capital that he raised in the area of scholarship in our nation and beyond; his ability to build durable and dependable support institutions for the country’s foreign policy-making and participant elites; and his giving of vibrant life to such institutions, including this great centre – NIIA, where he once held sway.

    “He has proven to be a colossus in more than half a century of Nigeria’s academic history as a leading scholar, teacher, technocrat and philosopher in the study and practice of Nigeria’s international relations and domestic politics. These books’ presentation is a worthy and eloquent testimony to the world that Akinyemi’s legacy will continue to propel our foreign policy elites and scholars-modelling their thoughts and writings and those of the younger generation of scholars. We can through his works, further confirm the creative force of bold and relentless ideas in changing this nation and the world for good.”

    He described Akinyemi as an inspiration, adding that the occasion was a celebration of the power of knowledge and investment in human resources. “For me in particular, I have always been inspired by Prof Akinyemi to know that in leadership and public service, there is no greater attainment we can make in life that is worthier than building memorable foundation legacies that make the difference; legacies that seek to introduce meaningful and sustainable changes and legacies that focus on changing lives. It is a celebration of one man’s resilience to make a difference and of the value of staying strong to the end in defence of knowledge and excellence in public service,” Orji said.

    The books were edited by Thomas Imobighe and Warisu Alli; and Akinterinwa.

    Perpectives on Nigeria’s National and External Relations: Essays in Honour of Prof. A.Bolaji Akinyemiwas reviewed by Ambassador Mark Egbe, Nigeria and the World: A Bolaji Akinyemi Revisited was reviewed by Sokoto State University Vice-Chancellor, Prof Nuhu Yaqub.

    The books were published last year. The former, which is a collection of 22 essays by cerebral Nigerian scholars in honour of Akinyemi, was initially meant to celebrate the prof during his 70th birthday…; the latter comprises 391 pages with 17 chapters, arranged in four parts.

    In his review, Egbe said the book gave some insights into Akinyemi’s personality, scholarship, diplomatic exploits and political activism. He said issues ranging from the role of Nigeria in the United Nations, including its quest for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council to regional matters within the context of the African Union and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) were discussed.

    Egbe described the “Akinyemi Dream” as that of a greater Nigeria able to deploy its clearly enormous economic, political, socio-cultural and diplomatic resources, to advance its own interest and those of the African nations and the black community globally. He recommended the book to the political class, practitioners of foreign policy and the Nigerian intelligentsia.

    In his own review, Yaqub saidAkinterinwa focuses on Akinyemi’s many revolutionary ideas on foreign policy making and its implementation which include the concept of the Concert of Medium Power; Balance of Power; Nigeria’s Africa Centre-piece Foreign Policy; TAC; the necessity of Reciprocity in the relationship of nation-states; Black Bomb; Consultation Doctrine, among others. “All in all, the book is a very solid contribution to scholarship. There are few errors the authors would have to look at, in case there shall be an opportunity to have a new edition of the work in the years ahead,” he said.

    Akinyemi said he was humbled by the honour done him by his colleagues. He attributed his success as NIIA’s DG and minister to Babangida’s support.

    He said: “I feel very humbled at the same time honoured. In a country like this, it is unusual to be honoured by one’s colleagues. Usually, what you get is jealousy and envy. So, that my colleagues decided to honour me this way, is something I am proud of and it is a trait in our character we should learn to emulate.

    “I am also overwhelmed by the presence of President Ibrahim Babangida who was my boss, whom I served, because it has been over 30 years since I served in his government yet, the bond that bounds us together is still there. It is now stale news that I was appointed in 1975 as DG of this Institute at the age of 33 years after several years of turbulent existence of the Institute. I was not expected to last in the post. I was supposed to go the way of the previous DGs. Well, I lasted for eight years…Today, I can reveal that one of the people responsible for that survival is President Ibrahim Babangida. Of course he was not the president then. He was a Lt-Colonel and Commander of the Armoured Corps. More importantly, he was a member of the Supreme Military Council.”

    On the state of the nation, Akinyemi said the poor have out of hopelessness, declared war on the middle class and the rich. “The poor cannot sleep because they are hungry and the rich cannot sleep because the poor are awake. The poor feel that their own country has declared war against them. I would have thought this is the time for a robust debate about how to build a more just, equitable and egalitarian society where there will be a safety economic and social net below which no one will be allowed to fall, where the needs of the poor, orphans and widows will command the attention of government; but what I hear, what we all hear, is a raucous debate about whose turn is it to rule Nigeria in 2015. What will it benefit anyone to rule a house whose roof is about to be blown off and whose foundation is in danger of collapse? Zoning, federal character, rotation, marginalisation of the brightest and the best will only make the much prophesied collapse of Nigeria in 2014 a self-fulfilling prophecy. We cannot build a nation on a system that takes care of the few while condemning the many to penury. A system that cannot take care of the many who are poor cannot save the few who are rich,” Akinyemi said.

    Among those in attendance were Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido; former Ogun State Governor Segun Osoba; former Ekiti State Governor Niyi Adebayo; former Foreign Affairs Minister Gen. Ike Nwachukwu; former Federal High Court Chief Judge Rose Ukeje; former Inspector-General of Police Musilu Smith; Air Vice Marshall Hamza Abdullahi (rtd.); renowned political scientist, Prof. Adele Jinadu; Professors Jide Osintokun, Ben Iwogie and Bolanle Iyinla; late Moshood Abiola’s wife, Dr Doyin; former Director-General NIIA, Prof. George Obiozor; Director-General, Technical Aid Corps Directorate, Mamman Daura, Senior Special Assistant to the President on International Relations Daniel Hart and former Edo State Commissioner for Information, Louis Odion.

     

  • Is oil thicker than blood?

    Is oil thicker than blood?

    In a film, Delta Boys, an American, Andrew Berends, traces the Niger Delta struggles. He looks at the region’s challenges through the lense of former militant leader Ateke Tom. Berends, who was once held hostage by militants, writes from the position of one who could be described as an ‘insider’, having observed certain things first hand. But his documentary is generating heat as some Niger Deltans perceive it as derogatory. Victor Akande reports

    It is the goose that lays the golden egg. Then something snapped, and the oil-rich Niger Delta erupted in violence. The agitations are yet to cease despite the amnesty for militants by the Yar’ Adua administration in 2009. The woes of the region were brought home when the militant groups across the creeks, started abducting expatriates, blowing up oil installations and seizing control of oil flow stations.

    This action by the inhabitants (who are fishermen and farmers), over alleged neglect by government and its multinational partners disrupted the region’s economic activities.

    Some film makers saw the potential of a motion picture, as a tool of international mediation and have captured the dramatic moments of the rebel camps, from various points of view.

    Jeta Amata’s film Black Gold is one. It once made it to the film market segment of Cannes International Film Festival, France. It addresses the sufferings of inhabitants. The award-winning filmmaker was said to have fled the country at a time, claiming to have been threatened by a group which felt he did not make adequate consultation on the true state of affairs in the area.

    Another effort is coming from Andrew Berends, an American documentary filmmaker, who was arrested and charged with spying in Nigeria in 2008, while working on a film about militants in the Niger Delta.

    Whereas Amata’s account may have offended the supposed disgruntled leaders who have been playing politics with the people’s lives, as captured in the film, Berends’ film, on the other hand, may be seen to offend the advocates of the struggle. According to the American, the militants have called for greater distribution of wealth and jobs. But many feel that while the Niger Delta cause is just, the militants’ motives are not so pure.

    Changing the film’s title from Black Gold, which seems to debase the essence of the struggle, to Black November, which underscores the bloody climax of the agitation, is a better way to present the story of Nigeria’s wealth tussle. But critics are querying the pay off in Berends’ movie that “oil is thicker than blood”. They reason that Berends’ position makes a mockery of the maxim: “Blood is thicker than water”.

    Since negative stories from Africa and other developing countries constituted a chunk of the archival materials for the western media, the story of the struggle, beginning with the stunt pulled by pioneer armed Niger-Delta activist, Major Isaac Adaka Boro to the late Ken Saro Wiwa saga and the activities of militants who now enjoy amnesty, has continued to attract attention.

    Berends, who hit the limelight during his 10-day ordeal and the campaign to secure his release, is obviously fulfilled at the moment: the resulting documentary, Delta Boys, was released online a few weeks ago.

    The 55-minute film was largely shot inside the camp of the rebel leader, Ateke Tom, who at the time led 2,000 young men, claiming to fight for the people. A slice-of-life production with minimal narration and a smattering of news reports for context, Delta Boys doesn’t present alternate points of view, though Berends raises the question of whether the militants are in it for justice or just for money and violence.

    Delta Boys follows the lives of militant “godfather” Ateke Tom and Chima, a 21-year-old who left home to join the fight. The film also shows life in a tiny fishing village caught in the crossfire of the conflict. Mama, a 22-year-old, struggles to give birth without access to modern medical care, while rebels launch raids from a camp across the river.

    Berends said the struggle in the Niger Delta caught his attention, because of its relation to oil, a subject on which he had earlier shot two films in Iraq: “I had seen striking images of heavily armed militants moving throughout the creeks of the Niger Delta in speedboats, sabotaging flow-stations, blowing up pipelines, and kidnapping foreign oil-workers. I researched the story and learned that while Nigeria is the fifth largest supplier of oil to the United States, the inhabitants of the oil-producing Niger Delta region live in poverty. So, I travelled to Nigeria to try to meet the militants, and start my next film,” says the filmmaker.

    But what is the position of Ateke Tom on the essence of the struggle? he shares his thoughts on some of the issues revolving around the situation with the E4PR team, with which this reporter visited his Lagos home.

    “We fought because we couldn’t bear the continued injustice any longer,” he says, as he opens up to the interviewer in his tastefully furnished Ajah home, close to the highbrow Lekki in Lagos.

    “We decided to take up the struggle because if we didn’t, our children would face the same problems and blame us for doing nothing about it. The situation was very unfair and something other than talk, which had hitherto fallen on deaf ears, had to be done.” He speaks calmly in pidgin, his expression almost hard to decipher behind gold rimmed dark shades.

    “Of course, for now, amnesty is in place, and that’s why we have decided to give peace a chance in order for the government and others concerned, to redress the wrongs done by many years of untold hardships and pains.”

    Now living as a free man, after embracing the amnesty, he spends most of his days attending to guests, friends, business associates and the like, who throng his home daily.

    Life in the creeks, however, had its fun moments, which he relives with nostalgia.

    “Life in the camp was fun,” he says to the guests, as he calls one of the boys to play us a video. “Sometimes in a bid to relieve tension and to boost morale, we used to have sessions where we ‘gyrated’ to drum beats and singing. Even the soldiers (Joint Task Force (JTF) meant to combat the ‘freedom fighters’) afar off could hear our voices and singing from deep within the hearts of the creeks but could do nothing about it’; here he manages a smile.

    “Some other times, we had girls, lots of them, coming in from the nearby university, who came of their own volition to make the camp lively. If I was indeed a bad person who cut off human heads and killed at will as some would have you believe, would that have happened?” He has worked himself up to a state of excitement now as he remembers some of the unfounded stories about him.

    “I was made out to be a beast, a terror and an unfeeling machine, who mowed people down whenever I felt like. But even you have seen for yourself the kind of person I am,” he looked across everyone in the living room.

    Indeed, it was clear, from the video recordings and interviews conducted on him in camp, that Ateke, has an amiable side that attracts people to him. And as described in one of the editions of The Nation newspaper, the ex-militant, or ‘freedom fighter’ as he prefers to be called, is a Nollywood friendly lion.

    During this reporter’s visit to his home, a number of Nollywood stars were spotting having pleasant time with him. Interestingly, some of the videos of activities in the creek were shot by notable Nollywood filmmakers and actors.

    But it appears that the bargains for amnesty have not finally been met; an indication that film sequels on the struggle may still be forthcoming. The amnesty programme, he said, has not finally settled the grievances that led to the insurgency in the first place. ‘They (government) said they were going to train the boys and give them good jobs; up till now, not much has been done.

    “In my own case, after having been granted amnesty, why then am I still being hunted? My house in Okrika was raided and bombarded by soldiers who were looking for Ateke Tom. I used to have a lot of dogs there too, but one day, they came and shot all of them, because when they didn’t see me, they assumed I had turned to one of them and decided to kill them all.” There was laughter across the room.

  • Being a beauty queen doesn’t conflict with my serving in the church —Miss Nigeria-Florida 2012

    Being a beauty queen doesn’t conflict with my serving in the church —Miss Nigeria-Florida 2012

    It was a moment of glory for the pretty, young Nigerian lady. The venue was the city of Miami in the United States. The occasion was the friendly match between the Nigerian Super Eagles and Venezuela. Miss Ayoyemi Ajimatanrareje was accorded the honour of walking on the field with the Nigerian football stars. This was in recognition of her status as the current Miss Nigeria – Florida for the year 2012. Shortly before that, Ayoyemi had featured in the Soi Women’s Empowerment Gala as one of the many roles she is called upon to play as Florida- Nigeria’s reigning beauty queen. But any opportunity to identify with Nigeria means so much to Ayoyemi who moved to Florida at the age of 11 on May 17, 2003 and mingling with the Super Eagles players still excites her.

    Stressing her patriotic fervour, Ayoyemi says: “I am extremely proud to be a Nigerian. I can’t stress it enough. I love my country, my Yoruba culture, my language, my Iyan (pounded yam) and efo (vegetables), my iro and buba, my braids, whether in suku, patewo, all back or just plaits. I’m proud to be a Nigerian because it distinguishes me from all others around me. I think Nigeria is a very fruitful country that can do better with a better government with sacrificial leaders that are ready to serve selflessly.”

    But why did she decide to participate in the Miss Nigeria Florida 2012 contest and what was the experience like? “I decided to contest because a school mate and friend of mine persuaded me to. I also felt well, why not? What do I have to lose and I love my culture so sure. The contest was quite keen, considering I was running against six other pretty and talented Nigerian/American young ladies. It was also important because this specific pageant was the most publicised in Florida. About 1000 people showed up for it. To qualify, you had to be 18 years but not older than 30 years of age, not currently married and never been married and no children as well. You also had to be a permanent resident or citizen of the United States residing in Florida. You had to be in a clear standing with the United States concerning immigration as well as having no criminal record. My predecessor was a 23-year old Nigerian lady named Adekemi Akinwole. She is currently a college student at the University of Miami.”

    Ayoyemi has a passion for caring for those who hurt and helping those in need of physical or emotional healing. This is why she is very serious and passionate in her current pursuit of nursing as a career. “I actually just got accepted into a nursing college university called Azure College of Nursing here in Miami, Florida, which I started attending on the 15th of October”, she says. “I am currently working on receiving my second degree, Associates in Sciences and Nursing as a Registered Nurse. I will be graduating next year November. I plan on moving to California to start working as a registered nurse, as well as furthering my studies in nursing like getting a Bachelor’s degree”.

    But then, Ayoyemi has bigger dreams beyond nursing. Her hobbies include singing, performing, acting, dancing and cooking. Thus, she says “My purpose in life is to be great and touch lives with my greatness. To perform and sing music that will change people’s lives, touch their souls and move their feet. I also believe that I was made to serve God and let everyone know of his greatness. I intend on pursuing my music and acting career especially with Nollywood.”

    Who are Ayoyemi’s motivators and role models? “I admire my stepfather, Otunba Funsho Ajayi, a former Major in the Nigerian Army. He’s a very hard working man. I also admire my mum, Olori Yinka Ajayi, she’s the life of the party. She has proved that you’re never too old to enjoy life and have fun. Genevieve Nnaji I will also say I admire. She worked her way up to where she is now doing what she loves, acting, despite all odds.”

    Ayoyemi’s attitude to America is mixed: “I dislike the racism aspect of America, sometimes the darker coloured people like us Africans might be treated differently due to our skin colour. I like the fact that everyone has equal opportunity though and if you set out to be great in the US, the country makes it a little easier for you to accomplishing that greatness”. And what about the Nigerians in Florida? “Nigerians are actually welcomed and accepted well by the non-Nigerian Floridians here. Unfortunately, the Nigerians that live in Florida are not too supportive of each other; it almost seems like a competition sometimes. Some stick to themselves, some don’t come out much while others are simply kind.”

    The beauty queen attends Jesus the Christ Church where her father, Reverend Dr. Yemi Ajimatanrareje, is the pastor. She is indeed the Praise team leader and music director of the church. But how does Ayoyemi reconcile her spiritual values with the rather glamorous and worldly lifestyle associated with being a beauty queen? She calmly but forcefully affirms her values: “Being a beauty queen doesn’t at all conflict with my serving in the church. This is because I know who I am as a child of God and that is what I use to gauge my activities and attires as a beauty queen. If it doesn’t please God, I’m neither wearing it nor doing it. That’s just my motto. I mean as a young adult, there will be temptations and things that glitter and catch my attention but I also know the daughter of whom I am so certain things don’t deserve second thoughts. I want to be seen in a specific light and that doesn’t include drinking, partying or being in relationships with different men. I’m not trying to say I’m perfect but yes, I’m trying very hard to live a life that fulfils me and neither brings shame to God nor my parents”.