A Lagos-based chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mrs Sola Oyedele has congratulated the President-elect, Gen Muhammadu Buhari, his vice, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, Lagos State Governor-elect, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode, his deputy, Mrs Risikat Adebule and other APC elected candidates on their victories in the just concluded general elections.
Their victory, she said, is a plus for democracy and the beginning of new things to come for Nigerians.
According to Mrs Oyedele, the newly elected APC members across the country will definitely bring back the lost glory of the country.
She urged the leaders to lead well to ensure that dividend of democracy for all.
According to Oyedele, the opposition party Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was defeated because of its corruption, non-transparent mode of administration, lack of focus, selfishness, greed, arrogance and lack of control.
She advised the party to embrace unity and avoid ethnicity and tribalism in the ongoing zoning of crucial national positions, for it not to disrupt the peace, harmony and love in the party.
Mrs Oyedele appealed to the party leaders to avoid wrong selection and imposition in the forthcoming local government election. She urged Lagos State Governor-elect, Ambode to continue to build on the legacy of the National Leader, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu, which was sustained by His Excellency Babatunde Raji Fashola.
Oyedele also urged him and his deputy to work harder and increase the APC followership in the state.
She appealed to the President-Elect, Gen Muhammadu Buhari to tackle corruption which has become endemic in the country and has drawn Nigeria back among the comity of nations.
According to her, Buhari looks like the needed messiah that will redeem the country from the current hopelessness and drift.
She therefore urged Gen Buhari to appoint credible people into his cabinet so that governance can again have focus and Nigerians can again gain from selfless service of true patriots.
Family Planning clinics in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital are receiving more patronage thanks to renewed awareness among women. TAYO JOHNSON reports.
Hundreds of women in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, are now embracing different types of family planning techniques to delay pregnancies, to enjoy social and economic input, as well as have good healthcare.
And credit for this goes to the Nigerian Urban Reproductive Health Initiative (NURHI), which has in thelast four years been sensitising people in five local government areas in the city about the benefit of the health initiative.
At one of the primary healthcare centre at Basorun, Ibadan where the women have been receiving family planning tips, the former Chief Nursing Officer of the clinic and Mrs Christian Solagbemi, disclosed that over 200 women are registering for family planning monthly at the centre.
•A client, Mrs Risikat Adigun
She told The Nation that :”We record about close to 125 to 200 new clients every month because NURHI gave us everything for free and the client doesn’t have to pay for anything. They also provided a conducive environment. They made things to be comfortable for the clients and the provider, and this attracted the clients.
“In the last few years, women in Ibadan communities are embracing family planning due to much awareness on it and it’s safer and better for a healthy lifestyle for women and single ladies.It has reduced unwanted pregnancy among married women and youths.
“Although we have a lot of misconception about it but with public awareness, people have started recognising it’s benefit. Some women believe that having family planning will make their tummy to be swollen, cease or change their menstral cycle, while others think that it will not allow them to be able to bear a child again.
“Also some husbands are of the belief that with family planning their wives will be cheating on them” she said
•Waiting room at the family planning clinic
To address all this misconceptions Solagbemi said the first step is to tutor the client on the importance of family planning after which they will be allowed to choose the method they desire. However, she said the Clinic at times choose a family planning method for a client but on few occassions.” She said
Explaining how it works, Solagbemi said:” Before we used to have Intra-Urine Device (IUCD) method, it use to be giving to our client who probably has hard enough clinic and given might decide she doesn’t want children again. It last for 12 years. But in case she wants children again it can be removed and we also have the shortest one which is the use of pills and implants. Test will first be conducted on the client to know if she is not pregnant and which method will be more suitable for them.
“The effect of this has given our clients more confidence, and it enables them to space their children, take care of their children and family. Before they were worried about the finances involved in family planning, bearing in mind that poverty is very high in the country and some women cannot even afford to pay N300 for it, but since it is free, more women are embracing embrace the family planning technique. Some of them are even bringing in more of thier firends and they now have happy homes with their husband”
She further stated that in the past, some women were ignorant of family planning, but with the assistance of NURHI and Ministry of Health, more awareness has been created.
Sharing her experience on family planning, 33-year-old Omowumi Kehinde, a mother of three, said the injection method of family planning has been of great assistance to her health since she started three years ago.
Although she stated that she was scared to go into it in the first place, but after she eventually delved into the family planningmethod, it has been effective and there is no side effect attached to it as it was being speculated in some quarters.
“My husband was aware when I wanted to start the family planning method and , he encouraged me and it has helped my home to grow. I will urge other women in the country to embrace family planning technique” She said
Roundabouts, parks, road and road medians in Ibadan and Osogbo, capitals of Oyo and Osun states are wearing new looks, thanks to the urban renewal initiatives of Governors Abiola Ajimobi and Rauf Aregbesola. The company behind the beautification projects is Ershaw, an indigenous firm. It’s Chairman, an Architect Olumide Eso, spoke with BISI OLADELE and gave an insight into the company’s world.
The Nelson Mandela Freedom Park in Osogbo is a state-of-the art facility. What’s the idea behind the project?
The Nelson Mandela Freedom Park primarily serves as a facility for the recreation and relaxation of the dwellers of the Osogbo city, the state capital as well as people from the State of Osun in general. The park would naturally provide the necessary and hitherto non-existent past-time recreational or entertainment opportunity which is required after the daily activities of the dwellers. On the other hand, the park is conceptualized to be a hub for such activities as tourism, hospitality and pleasure, art, visual art performances and so on.
But isn’t it an example of what one could regard as a white-elephant project?
I disagree with the view that the Freedom Park could be regarded by anyone as a white-elephant project. A white elephant project is one that is of no tangible value to the people but the Freedom Park has changed the story and face of Osogbo for good. Let us even not talk about the name, which makes it a memorial for someone that Africans and people from the world over should emulate, the late Nelson Mandela, that project helped in formalizing an otherwise disorderly and informal relaxation and recreational life of the Osogbo city dwellers. Apart from that, it has remarkably reduced and curtailed the inevitable spread of squalor, filth and slums noticeable in Nigerian major cities, which usually result from lack of plans for urban growth and disorganised living.
The Freedom Park project is a bold and robust attempt by the Governor Rauf Aregbesola’s administration to ensure urban regeneration and renewal and you can see that it occupies a strategic point in his agenda and the evidences are there in the many number of roads and other urban renewal projects he is carrying out in the state. You will also agree with me that with the Nelson Mandela Park, the re-engineering of the total well-being of the state’s citizens through the remodeling of the environment has been carried out. This has been precipitated in the provision of visual, atmospheric, recreational and pleasure-enhancing structures and components in the park.
With the Nelson Mandela Park, the status of Osogbo city has been repositioned and strengthened as a world-class art and culture destination. And, for your information, the park is designed to be a revenue-generating project; it has helped in creating revenue through the attraction of exhibitions, performances, culinary and visual art & cultural activities as well as hospitality & pleasure, trade, commerce and investments.
Usually, at the beginning of projects like that, some people would have been affected either through displacement or other means. How did the people react at inception and what is their reaction after its completion?
Well, the people’s reaction at the beginning of the project was mixed; while some were hostile, others were just indifferent. Yet, there were a few of them who saw sense in what was being done and encouraged us.
However, when we completed the project and it was put to use, the reaction has been quite exciting and appreciative and you could see the joy and pride on the faces of anyone who has been to that place. It is world-class, and a project like this can only bring happiness to the people of Osogbo, which is why I disagree with you that some people will call it a white-elephant project.
Maybe the people that see the park as needless considered the level of poverty in the land and the fact that a project such as this could only have contributed more to it through capital flight. Don’t you think so?
As I said earlier, the Nelson Mandela Freedom Park is a revenue-generating project. There is no way anyone can say that a project that can generate funds for a state has contributed to poverty. On the contrary, it is contributing to wealth. Secondly, there is no such thing as capital flight with Ershaw; we are not only indigenous, we have been able to make other interventions through steady increase in the contribution to and participation in the city’s growing economy in the area of real estate, employment generation, commerce and so on. For example, Ershaw Nigeria Limited has a staff strength of about 250 in the State of Osun alone and 175 of that number are indigenes of the state. As a matter of fact, the government of OgbeniRauf Aregbesola deserves to be commended for using home-grown quality contractors in his urban renewal drive in the state and this government has, with fear of being immodest, reduced poverty greatly through different interventions across all sectors. The Freedom Park is one of such interventions.
Your company is also handling the beautification projects in Ibadan. How has it been able to maintain the historical ambience in the projects carried out so far?
A landscaper that knows his onions will tell you that Ibadan is a delight because it has great potentials. The hilly and undulating terrains and the natural embankments are good for the creation of an attractive sight but the deep historical connections and cultural heritage could be lost in such creations unless one makes a conscious effort to retain them. That is why you see our modern designs of roundabouts with symbols of talking drums and so on. But you have to give credit to the Oyo State Government under the leadership of Senator Abiola Ajimobi, a man who pays attention to aesthetics, for his urban renewal programme, which enabled us to carry out the beautification projects. And we have a robust, continuous and extensive maintenance of the various sites under our supervision to make sure that the ambience and beauty already created are not sabotaged.
The Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi 111, has described as affront, impression by some foreign scholars that traditional Africans were incapable of rational thinking, but possessed ‘primitive mentality which was characterised by mystical participation.
Oba Adeyemi stated this at the installation of Barrister Wale Adeoye, as the Bobagunwa of Akinmorin in the Afijio Local Government area of Oyo State.
The paramount ruler said the idea and structure of human society for traditional Africans, are essentially part of a world-view that is fundamentally holistic, sacred and highly integrated.
‘’Human community, therefore, has its full meaning and significance within the transcendental centre of ultimate meaning. Hence, the belief in ancestors and the supernatural order, in addition to its inherent religious import, provides traditional African groups a useful over-arching system that helps people organise reality and impose divine authority and sanction to their life.’’
According to him, traditional Africans, like their counterparts in other parts of the world, are acutely aware of the distinction between the physically living (men and women of flesh and blood who constitute the actual visible community), and ancestral spirits and other supersensible beings who belong to the invisible order. It would be wrong therefore, to conclude from the fore-going explanation of the myth,
‘’The sense of community and humane living are highly cherished values of traditional African life. This statement remains true in spite of the apparent disarray in the experience of modern politics and brutal internecine wars in many parts of the Continent. For traditional Africans, the community is basically sacred, rather than secular, and surrounded by several religious forms and symbols.’’
It is an essential article of belief in African traditional religions, Alaafin asserted that a fundamental delicate balance and equilibrium exist in the universe, between the visible world and the invisible one.
‘’The Creator, Olodumare among the Yoruba or Chukwu among the Igbo, created everything that exists and set everything in its place. Traditional Africans basically view the universe as comprising basically two realms; the visible and the invisible realms. They grasp the cosmos as a three-tiered structure, consisting of the heaven above, the physical world and the world beneath. Each of these is inhabited by different categories of beings. The Creator and a host of spirit beings, including arch divinities inhabit the heaven above, other divinities, ancestors, and myriads of unnamed spirits dwell in the world beneath, while human beings occupy the physical earth. Human beings may be less powerful, but their world is the centre and the focus of attention. It belongs to human beings as sensible beings to maintain the delicate balance in the universe. This is what assures the happiness and prosperity of individuals and the community.’’ The monarch said.
Harmonious living, Oba Adeyemi argued, is clearly a pivotal value, adding that African traditional religions, which have been rightly referred to as the womb of the people’s culture, plays a key role in the realisation of this all-important value among every traditional African group.
‘’Traditional Africans hold the ancestors as the closest link the physically living have with the spirit world. “The living-dead are bilingual; they speak the language of men, with whom they lived until ‘recently’, and they speak the language of the spirits and of God…They are the ‘spirits’ with which African peoples are most concerned: it is through the living-dead that the spirit world becomes personal to men. They are still part of their human families, and people have personal memories of them. From early childhood through adolescence to full adulthood, the traditional African is formed to hold tenaciously to the belief in the ancestors, to reverence them as powerful and benevolent members of the community, although not in a physical but rather mystical sense. Ancestors are held up as models to be copied in the effort to strictly adhere, preserve and transmit the traditions and norms of the community. The African is psychologically, fully equipped and motivated to promote the delicate balance and equilibrium believed to exist in the universe through ensuring harmony in his relationship with the invisible world and among members of the community’’
Extolling the virtues of Barrister Adeoye, Alaafin described him as an ‘’epitome of trust, diligence and dedication to justice, whose contributions imparts impressively in the society.’’
He said the legal practitioner has not only proven to be erudite, but his passion for the down-trodden and zero- tolerance for deception remains source of inspiration
More than one year after the death of Hon. Raphael Nomiye, a member of the House of Representatives representing Ilaje/Ese-Odo Federal Constituency on November 22, 2013, his widow, Oneabire, has cried out over the non-payment of his entitlement. She spoke with DAMISI OJO.
How has life been after the untimely death of your husband?
It has not been easy at all. I feel incomplete, dejected and deserted without my husband. I am now more committed to God because He is my hope and nobody else. I have a lot of challenges because everything my husband left for me is a liability.
Liability in what sense?
You know my husband was a man of valour. So he left good legacies behind which are too expensive for me to maintain. The House, cars, companies, all these are too expensive for me as a woman to maintain. My husband had 10 children including the ones he had from other women. Today, they are all under my care and nobody knows how they feed except members of my husband’s family. All his friends, political associates have turned their backs at us including the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal and his colleagues in the National Assembly. Whenever I call them, they won’t pick my calls. I have even met with Governor Mimiko and his wife on the need for government to pay my husband’s salary and entitlements but nothing was done. My brother, life has been hellish and unbearable for me.
But the Speaker of the House of Representatives Aminu Tambuwal and Governor Mimiko personally attended your husband’s burial and publicly announced that they will stand by you and the children
So they said but nothing has come from them. It is by the grace of God and the support of my husband’s family that we live today. During the burial, they all promised the heavens and earth but they have reneged on their pledges. On several occasions, I went to Abuja to press for the payment of my husband’s salary for the month of November, 2013 but the security guards didn’t allow me to see Hon. Tambuwal. You know he died November 22, 2013 but as I am talking to you now, his entitlements and salary for the month of November, 2013 have not been paid. I am calling on Nigerians to help me ask the Speaker of the House of Representatives to explain why he is avoiding me and why he doesn’t want to pay my husband’s entitlements.
Do you suspect any foul play?
Only God knows what is actually happening. Remember what the Bible says that “whosoever deprives the widow of their rights will never see mercy”. My husband’s salary for the month of November, 2013 was between thirty to forty million naira while the severance allowance will be determined by the years he spent in the House before his death. Though, I appreciate the efforts of some of my husband’s colleagues in the House, like Hon. Debo Ologunagba and Hon. Akinleye. They are not relenting in helping us to get the money paid.
Your husband was from the oil producing area of Ondo State and his community, Molutehin is a major beneficiary of oil derivation fund. Why are your children not enlisted in the community scholarship programme?
They are not enlisted. What the oil producing communities in the state did in compensation and honour of my late husband was that they asked me to nominate the chairman of the representatives of the oil producing communities in the coastal area of Ondo state. I nominated my brother-in-law but the Olugbo of Ugbo land HRH Oba Akinrutan Obateru didn’t allow the arrangement to work. We have taken the case to the Governor but nothing has been done. My late husband was the pioneer chairman of representative of oil producing communities in Ondo State and he used the position to develop his people in the communities. His impact was felt throughout the nooks and crannies of the coastal area of Ondo State. It is as a result of that that the committee again asked me to bring somebody who will in turn take care of me and my children.
You said you met with Governor Mimiko concerning your predicaments and payment of your late husband’s salaries.
Yes I did. But nothing has been heard. I also met his wife who also promised to assist but nothing has been done with regards to that. I am trying to sustain the standard of education my husband gave to his children when he was alive. This is a lot of responsibility. I am surprised that those who wined and dined with my husband, those who cried and wailed during his burial, those who came here with big promises have all deserted us.
Things were looking up for Okechukwu Ugochukwu until two years ago when he went to Ikorodu to conclude a business transaction. An accident involving a commuter bus and China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC)’s vehicle left him paralysed for life. Assistant Editor, SEUN AKIOYE recounts his story.
There were many items on the schedule of Ugochukwu Okechukwu on February 20, 2013 as he boarded the Toyota Hiace commuter bus from Ikorodu en-route Ketu for an important business transaction. There was the burial of his mother in a few days and his thriving event and food business to attend to. The N123, 000 in his possession assured him that as the major bread winner of the family, preparations for the burial would go unhindered.
About 10 minutes into his journey, fate played a cruel joke on him, one that would change his life forever. It was an incident that confined him to a hospital bed for the next two years and destroying his hopes and dreams.
“You know the Chinese construction company was doing the Ikorodu Road. As we got to Majidun by the edge of the bridge, the crane fell on the bus. I was sitting between the driver and another passenger. One of the passengers died on the spot. I noticed that I couldn’t move my hands or body. Blood was oozing out from my body as a deep cut was on my forehead. Then people came and pulled us out. We were first taken to Ikorodu General Hospital but we were rejected and referred to Igbobi Hospital,” Ugochukwu said.
The crane driven by Makasuwa Haruna, a staff of CCECC was working on the expressway when the sheaf of the crane suddenly came off dropping on the commuter bus and causing horrific death to a passenger and life-changing injuries to others. The driver, Abdulkareem Gbadegbeshin and Ugochukwu lay prostrate in the mangled remains of the bus. The driver, like Ugochukwu, was paralysed from the waist down.
A changed life
In the male spinal cord injury ward at the National Orthopedic Hospital, Igbobi Lagos, Ugochukwu occupied the fourth bed adjacent to the exit door. Save for his head and torso, other parts of his body were immobile. Unable to pass out waste on his own, a large tube had been inserted into his side which helped him to pass both solid and liquid unwanted wastes.
His legs are bent permanently and he has to constantly lie on his side. It was a position he has maintained for over two years. His disability has extended to his hand and his fingers are closed up. For over one year, he has been unable to open them.
“I have been in pains for over two years and the fact that I am still alive is by the Grace of God. These people are just wicked, I think the plan was for me to die but I am alive. Imagine they just dumped me here at Igbobi and I am suffering,” Ugochukwu told The Nation on his hospital bed.
• Ugochukwu on hospital bed
Before the accident, Ugochukwu has been a successful entrepreneur, a specialist in event management, supplying ushers and security and other logistics. He also ran a chicken and chips buffet restaurant at the National Stadium, Surulere Lagos. Every weekend was a celebration as he made an average of N150, 000 on all his investments.
Under him were two brothers who came to Lagos through his industry and a wife who, at the time of the accident, was heavily pregnant with their second child. She was later delivered of her baby boy while her husband dangled between life and death.
His journey to Igbobi has been long and brutal. On the second day, he was taken to Bamby Specialist Hospital in Ibadan where he underwent an urgent spinal cord surgery and a wiring implant was inserted into his body.
His stay at Bamby Hospital did not last long as he was subsequently returned to Lagos and “dumped” at Amodu Adesola Memorial Hospital in Ikorodu.
“They dumped me at the hospital as if I was nobody,” he said.
His stay at Amodu Adesola Hospital lasted over one year during which his condition gradually got worse. Ugochukwu alleged that the doctor in charge of the hospital was merely interested in his fees which were still paid for by CCECC. He said the doctor, Muhammed Adesola, was not qualified to treat him and merely piled him up with pain relievers and blood tonics.
It was at this point that fate brought him in contact with Alaba Odunlami, Principal Partner at Alaba Odunlami & Co who decided to take up his case with the Chinese company.
Legal battle
Odunlami tackled the case with frenzied enthusiasm. “His condition was so bad by the time we got into the case that it was evident he would have died if nothing concrete was done immediately,” Odunlami told The Nation.
The lawyers wrote the first letter to CCECC on August 30, 2013 asking for a better specialised treatment for the victim. The letter was allegedly rebuffed, forcing the lawyers to write a reminder on September 10, 2013.
“The lawyers to the Chinese company were asking for what we want as compensation but this is not a matter of compensation until we are sure of the state of health of this guy; the level of his disability and what can be done to remedy it. The victim’s health and saving of his life was paramount. That was what we wanted them to do at that time because the victim himself believed that his situation may still be remedied at the time,” Odunlami said.
Odunlami said he bore the costs of the examination at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) Ikeja but the result was bad news: He is quadriplegic and wheel chair bound, he has had 100 percent disability and would never be able to walk, stand or make use of his limbs again.
Ugochukwu was brought to Igbobi Hospital on September 19, 2014 by the Insurance brokers to the Chinese company I & S, and he stayed until May this year, but the case of neglect was never completely out of the picture as Odunlami claimed that the victim was abandoned by the CCECC and its agents as they refused to give him adequate help, including a request for a caregiver.
Disdain for Nigerians
•The vehicle in which Ugochukwu was travelling
Ugochukwu is convinced that his case is especially bad because the Chinese company responsible for his predicament places little or no regards for his life as a Nigerian.
“These people did not behave as humans at all. They just dumped me and we wrote so many letters to which they replied none. When I call them too, they do not pick the calls, the insurance company won’t pick my call and when they do, they do not treat me kindly,” he said.
“During the doctors’strike at Igbobi, there was nobody to care for me; there was no food or money. My brother that was helping me lost his job. They have refused to see reason and it is like they are tired of me and would just wish am no longer here,” he added.
But more dramatic scenarios are still to play out on the case. On May 5, a medical report from Igbobi Orthopedic Hospital confirmed the earlier result from Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) that the victim is 100 per cent disabled. A day earlier his lawyer alleged those representatives of CCECC and their insurance brokers had stormed the hospital in order to forcibly discharge Ugochukwu.
“They came here without informing my family. I asked them where they were taking me to and that I don’t have a house as I had been staying in the hospital for two years. They just refused to listen,” he said.
Luckily, the insurance brokers were prevented from taking him away. “You need to see the ramshackle ambulance they brought to take him away. We asked them which address they were taking him to and they said the one he gave. But they never verified if he was still living there, maybe the plan was just to dump him in the house to his fate,” the lawyer said.
The Chinese defence
Attempts to speak to the management of CCECC were futile as The Nation was told at the company’s head office in Oyingbo that there were no interpreters to help in translation.
But a broker to the company, Ibrahim Abdullahi, in a telephone conversation with The Nation absolved the company of blames.
Abdullahi said: “There are two of them, we gave the first one N18 million but this one we offered him N25million, and the lawyer refused, saying they want N100 million.
“So the matter is in court. I know that after the second sitting the lawyer will come around for dialogue. The house the guy is staying in, I am the one that paid for the rent. We want to settle this amicably but our lawyer too is ready to go with him anywhere he wants to go. We will go to the court, just do your work,” he said.
The Medical Director of Amodu Memorial Hospital that treated the victim, Dr. Muhammed Adesola, is also defending himself. Apparently angry that such claims of incompetence were made against his hospital, he seemed determined on exposing all the pent-up ‘dirty secrets’.
“Don’t mind him. Somebody who had an accident, spinal cord injury that is paralysed, such a person is prone to bed ulcer. So, when you have bed ulcer, the only thing you can do is to treat it,” he said.
Continuing, he said: “If we had not treated him, he would have died along the line. We know what we went through to be able to keep him alive; he also gave testimony to his people that we did our best. So, if he developed bed ulcer, did we cause the bed ulcer?”
Adesola said he continued to treat him even when the Chinese company owed him for several months; he also accused Ugochukwu of being an arrogant and selfish person who refused to take his drugs.
For now, Ugochukwu lives at the mercy of others. His once-flourishing business has collapsed and his self-esteem gone.
When a strange disease suddenly descended on Ode-Irele, a community in Irele Local Government Area of Ondo State ,last week killing no fewer than 22 persons at a go, the fear was rife that the dreaded Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) had arrived in the town, but that was not the case. DAMISI OJO reports that both the locals and the government are however in disagreement over the cause.
This is not the best of time for the people of Ode-Irele, a sprawling Ikale community in Ondo State that was thrown into mourning last week following the sudden death of no fewer than 22 young persons in strange circumstances.
Horror has enveloped the ever bubbling town, headquarters of Irele Local Government Area of the state since a strange disease was reported in the community leading to the death of the young men.
Though the disease which manifests itself in several ways including severe headache has been traced by experts from the Federal Ministry of Health and World Health Organisation (WHO) to Ethanol poison found in the local gim (ogogoro) drank by the victims shortly before their death, the locals are blaming the theft of the town’s historical artefacts, kept in the sacred “Malokun” shrine by some unknown people for the outbreak of the disease.
They claim that their gods are not happy with the stealing of the artefacts and out of anger have sent the disease down on the community, particularly on the thieves.
It was indeed a strange development in the history of the town as the people of the community lamented that such unfortunate incident has never happened since the inception of the town almost 200 years ago.
Although controversies had initially surrounded the death of the victims thought by many to have contacted the dreaded Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), the picture somewhat became clearer when the traditionalists among the people disclosed that the victims died following their involvement in the theft of some ancient artefacts after they had visited the Malokun shrine, located in a secluded area of the town, without performing the necessary rituals.
This submission was however countered by medical experts including the state Commissioner for Health, Dr Dayo Adeyanju who stated that the position of the community has no scientific backing.
He posited that the strange disease could be linked to the presence of Ethanol poison in the alcoholic substance consumed by the victims. “We strongly suspect ethanol poison and in view of this, We have ordered for another toxicology test for surviving victims’’ he said.
•Ode-Irele women fetching water for spiritual cleansing to appease Malokun
However, the people insisted that the epidemic was from the gods of the town who were angry with the community following the appearance of some unauthorised persons at the traditional shrine and the subsequent theft of some ancestral artefacts by these unknown people.
As at the press time, no fewer than 22 natives have been confirmed dead while many are still lying critically ill in various hospital beds.
The development has brought negative publicity to the town as the world is now aware of the report of the outbreak of the strange disease in the town.
When The Nation visited the community, many shop owners have returned to their shops and social activities gradually picking up despite the incident, but the issue is still being discussed in hushed tones by the residents.
Many were also seen mourning their beloved ones who died as a result of the strange disease.
The traditional ruler of the ancient town, Olofun of Irele kingdom, Oba Olanrewaju Lebi was said to be away in Lagos when the ugly incident happened, but it was gathered that he had ordered that arrangementments be made for the rituals which would be used to appease the gods of the land.
The Oluomo of Irele Kingdom, Chief Jimi Adekanle who spoke on behalf of Oba Lebi explained that the disease was caused by the blatant disregard of some individuals for the tradition of the community.
Adekanle said the gods of the land sent their wrath on the town following disobedience of some individuals who visited the Malokun shrine located in the town without performing the necessary ritual and carted away some traditional artefacts which are synonymous with peaceful co-existence in the town.
His words “some individuals who we believe are robbers went to where we called ‘Oju Malokun shrine” in Ode-Irele with an attempt to steal some antiquities at the Malokun shrine. It was impossible for them to steal many of the antiquities but eventually they stole some artefacts which are useful to the town, and that was the major cause of the problem we had in the town.
“The gods became angry and we informed the people accordingly, sending words round that anyone who stole or knew any person that stole any of the artefacts at Malokun shrine should return same within seven days, but they thought it was a joke. When we consulted the gods, the gods insisted that after seven days if the artefacts were not returned they will strike.
“This message was passed round the town. At the end of the day, the gods struck in a
strange manner and lots of people were killed.
“There are ancestral artefacts and antiquities in this town that should not be seen by people including the traditional ruler of the town, except the custodian of the shrine. Some of these artefacts are deposited at Malokun shrine.
“These artefacts were stolen and the thieves felt they could go scot free,”
Adekanle emphasised that only the custodian of the artefacts are allowed by the gods to visit
the shrine and that could only be done at night.
But he said “from our findings these hoodlums and thieves went into the shrine which is located in a secluded area during the day and carted away the artefacts, hence the disease that cut their lives short.”
Also, the Oyewoga of Irele kingdom, Chief Moses Oyewole said it was the palace chiefs who met at the palace of the Olofun after the artefacts had been stolen that invoked the deity on the hoodlums and cursed them with strange disease for stealing their cherished and historical artefacts after due warning for them to return them.
Chief Oyewole said the deity only visited the perpetrators of the devilish act through strange ailment to expose them.
His words “the disease was not anything short of the wrath of gods. It was meant for those involved in the stealing of the precious artefacts and not for the people of the town. Any one of those who stole the artefacts would be struck down by the ailment even if he or she is outside the town or even outside the country.
“We knew that none of the thieves will reveal that they stole the artefacts, because if they say the truth they will die. Many of them are the miscreants residing in the town. They are mostly commercial motorcycle riders. The effigies and historical artefacts they carted away were important to our existence in this community.
“We specifically told Malokun, the god of our land to punish those who looted the shrine. We asked the god to make them blind and kill them all. Few days after, we started hearing that some persons had headache, went blind and eventually died few hours after some of them turned black no matter how fair skinned they were before the illness.”
The Octogenarian traditional Chief who said such incident has never happened in the history of the town informed further that all the victims were males whose ages were between 25 and 35.
He appreciated the state government for deploying medical experts to the town, but said” the truth is that the matter is beyond orthodox medicine, it is purely traditional”.
Chief Oyewole regretted that the community has not been able to recover any of the stolen artefacts, as according to him some of those involved in the theft “ were not able to talk when we saw some of them before they finally died. The government recorded 22 deaths, but the truth is that some were buried without the knowledge of the community or the government. So, those who died are likely to be more than what was recorded.”
One of the victims of the strange disease who is still in the hospital, Mr Gabriel Adegbehin however denied involvement in the looting of the shrine.
According to him, he was sitting at home when he discovered that he could no longer see well and later went to the hospital through the aid of his daughter.
He said: “I did not enter any shrine to steal anything. I lost my wife recently and I have been mourning since she died some days ago. Later, I just discovered that I had chronic headache and after some hours I could not see well again.”
The state Commissioner for Health, Dr Adeyanju and his Information counterpart, Hon Kayode Akinmade have however allayed the fear of people that the disease was an Ebola Virus, saying that the samples from the victims had been taken for laboratory tests and the results did not suggest Ebola Virus Disease.
He said the state government influenced the deployment of World Health Organisation (WHO) officials to the town in an attempt to cure the disease, adding that the state government was also responsible for the treatment of the victims who were hospitalized.
In Agbodi village, a stretch of land between Maba and the Redeemed Camp, on the Lagos–Ibadan Expressway, two contending forces, the community and the Deeper Life Church are laying claim to about 44 hectares of land. The former said it never sold the land to the church and the latter claimed to have bought the land from the community’s older generation. An amicable resolution, however, could douse the tension the dispute has created, reports SEYI ODEWALE.
The sleepy community of Agbodi on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway would not have appeared in the news, but for the skirmishes that occurred last month in the area. What perhaps could have registered the community to anyone is a not too conspicuous nondescript green signboard nailed to the fence of a building at the entrance of the community’s expansive land and possibly the existence of the Deeper Life church in the area. And this possibly could have been when the church has its camp meetings at either Easter or Christmas periods.
However, the community was in the news some weeks back, not for something cheery, but for some acts of alleged lawlessness and brigandage by some youths of the area against the Deeper Life Bible Ministry Church, whose camp ground is in the community.
The church in a press conference held recently alleged that the youth demolished its perimeter fence of about 1,500-metre long worth N25million while trying to encroach on its land. In the words of the church’s building committee head, Pastor Alfred Ogene, the land was duly bought by the church from the community. “This land was bought by the Deeper Life Bible Church many years ago. After paying millions of naira to the owners, they issued us their families’ receipt, which we used to get the Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) from the last administration in Ogun State. We paid N750million for the papers.
“But some people, who claimed to be children of the owners, pulled down our fence in 2009, which was worth N10million. We decided to rebuild the fence and demarcate what we had left after they had resold a large portion of the land. But they came back and demolished that one too,” he said at the briefing.
•Ogunkayode
But the community has since picked holes in the church’s claim, saying it is far from the truth. According to the community’s Baale (traditional head) Taiwo Ogunkayode, the church never bought the land from them. The land, which is about44 hectares, Ogunkayode said, was cunningly taken from the community by the church. “In 2008 we just noticed that Deeper Life Church had entered our land and was erecting structures and not that we sold the land to them. We then challenged them. What we noticed then was that there was one Franklin Ehi, who was always coming to the land to hunt game. He used to come from Lagos to hunt on our land. And they said they were interested in our land. The land actually belonged to many families, but being held in trust for them by the Baale.
“So, they then said we should allow them survey the land first to know its extent before coming to negotiate the value with us. And we agreed with them, but asked them to pay Owo iwoko and Owo ilagbe, which literarily means the money for entering the land and that of charting it. This is the tradition anywhere land matters come up. It is compulsory for anyone, who wants to purchase land in Yoruba land, to pay these levies to the land owners, otherwise called Omo Onile in Yoruba.
“They said after they must have known the extent of the land, they will start negotiating with us. We agreed based on the trust we had in them, particularly, Ehi, who was their middleman. Ordinarily, it is after someone must have paid for any land before he or she can be allowed to enter the land, no to talk of surveying it.
“Actually, the issue was before I became the Baale of the town. But when they had completed the survey, they did not fulfill their promise despite our repeated calls on them to do so. When I became the Baale in 2012, the town mounted another pressure on me to address the issue and ask them to pay for the land and since then we have been on the issue, Ogunkayode said in his narration.
But the church affirmed that the land was actually bought from the community and the only challenge it has is that some of those that actually sold the land to them were dead. “The challenge we have is that some of the men who sold this land to us are already late, and their children are saying they were very young as at the time the land was bought from their families and that they too want to ‘eat’ from the land,” Pastor Ogene said, adding that the land was bought to serve as the church’s camp and conference venue anytime the need arises for such.
Corroborating Pastor Ogene was the church’s camp administrative manager, Enabulele David, who said the land in question was acquired since 1996. “We started acquiring the land since 1996, apart from paying to the families, the church has equally paid about N750million to Ogun State for global C of O and of course, you cannot start the process of C of O without showing an evidence of family receipt or payment for the land in question. The Baale you met had gone with us to settle some problems when some other people secretly sold our land to some people. This same Baale, called Taye, had gone with us to the police to witness that the land in question had been sold to the church. Not only that, when the former governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel toyed with idea of using our land for trailer park, this Taye was among those that went to the governor to say that the land belonged to them, but had been sold to the church,” he said.
He continued: “Normally, Owo Ilagbe will come up whenever anyone wants to enter the land and we have paid all those including Owo Iwoko. Now, we want to start erecting structures and we have agreed with them that we will pay them what they normally collect anytime anybody wants to start work on the land. In fact, the owner of that Green land Estate, the late Chief Esuruoso, was aware of the transaction on the land. He was a member of the family. He built on the portion of the land given to him by the family. If he was alive all this none sense would not have happened. In fact, they would not move an inch near the land. Part of the land they are laying claim to belonged to the man and he sold it to us. This Baale you are talking about collected money from the church he even signed for it. We will not buy anybody’s land without paying for it.”
Aside claims and counter claims of the ownership of the land, were allegations of attempted murder, breach of public peace and malicious damage of property by the church, its agents and proxies. The petitions, which were written variously to different organisations such as the police, the Chief of Army Staff and the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 81Division by a firm of Tunde Popoola and Associates, counsel to the community, the church was accused of using armed military men and police to harass, intimidate and take over the community land.
In a petition sent to the Chief of Army Staff, Abuja, some military personnel were allegedly used by the church to take over the community land. The petition read in part: “Kindly be informed that some unscrupulous uniform men who claimed to be officers from the Nigeria Army had connived with some armed hoodlums to invade Agbodi Village in Obafemi Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State and caused a total breakdown of law and order and forcefully take over the community land.”
It continued: “The fact of the matter was, there is a land tussle between Agbodi Community and Deeper Life Ministry and the matter is currently pending before Ogun State High Court, Suit No AB/246/14. Rather than defend the matter in court, Deeper Life had chosen to employ the services of a land agent known with his deadly antecedent to invade the community with his hoodlums armed with sophisticated weapons, and with the active connivance of military men caused total breach of law and order. The villagers had been sent on compulsory exile as their lives are under serious threat. The whole place is presently littered with cartridges from gunshots.”
But the church refuted all the allegations, saying they were ridiculous. According to them, it was the community that brought a land grabber, Ajagungbale, named Owoeye. “The family went as far as bringing an Ajagungbale called Owoeye to the land who, later saw that the family had sold their land to the church. He told them pointedly that you people have sold your land to the church,” Enabulele said.
He continued: “What Owoeye now said was that the only money they could collect from the church was Owo foundation and roofing, which we calculated at N18million and we paid them N10million, that when we now want to start the foundation we would pay the balance.”
Similar petitions were also written to the GOC 81 Division of the Nigerian Army on the alleged participation of some soldiers in the purported invasion of the community.
•Road leaking to the disputed road
When The Nation sought to know if there was a pending suit on the disputed land, the church said it got an order in 2012 to restrain the community from trespassing on its land. It said the court on January 18, 2012 in suit AB/251/08, granted an application “restraining all the defendants, their servants, agent, privies and or whosoever from committing any further acts of trespass or in any way entering any part of the claimant’s parcel of land…situate at Mowe in Obafemi/Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State on the Lagos-Ibadan Express Way or from allotting, transferring any part or portion of the said land to anyone whosoever, or from interfering in any way with the claimants possession of the said land.”
On allegation of thuggery and brigandage both parties are accusing each other of being guilty. The church said two of its members, Frankly Osezua and Festus Orimolade were being made to undergo mental torture and humiliating interrogation by the police. The alleged introduction of police into the matter by the community according to the church made the issue to be messier.
The church said it was made to sign an undertaking under duress that it will not enter into its own land again. It accused one Banjoko of influencing the police to intimidate members of the church. But the Baale said Banjoko is the head of Shodiya family, one of the four families laying claim to the land, hence his involvement in the matter.
However, the church said though it obtained an interlocutory injunction to restrain the community, their proxies and agents from trespassing on the land, it has not foreclosed amicable resolution of the problem. “We have made efforts to settle with them. We, as a church, are not opposed to amicable settlement of the dispute. Last year we asked them to bring proposal on the resolution of the dispute and I believe we can still discuss with them. We have bent over backwards to discuss with them. We could have ignored them because we have the documents and the C of O on the land. And the courts are there to make declaration on the land,” Enabulele said.
Two years after the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) Commission was established as a response to yearnings for and an ambition to foster development of Southwest Nigeria, its Director General, Mr Dipo Famakinwa, spoke with BISI OLADELE on the journey so far.
The DAWN Commission was established to harmonize socio-economic potentials for regional prosperity. Do you think the commission has justified its establishment?
Certainly, the Southwest region will always look for the opportunity to move forward, that is who we are. Since 2013 when the commission was set up, we have tried to create an institutional framework around those ambitions which are very clear. We want the best for ourselves as far as education is concerned, healthcare and some of the best infrastructure in the world to be in our region. We want to ensure that our region is attractive for investment, to ensure that we have engaged people and citizenry, people who understand what development is about and ready to make their own contributions too. We want our cities to become more optimal and our economy to become more competitive. This is clearly our region’s ambition and I do not see anyone who will disagree with it.Our own is to build an institutional framework and ensure that those ambitions are realized. And how have we done that? First is to realize the fact that the states hitherto used to think as an individual state. But we needed to create a collaborative work whereby the states begin to have engagement and interaction among themselves, begin to see what they can copy from one another, what they can also learn from one another, and begin to identify the common challenges and create common solutions along that common challenges, identify the common problems and see how they can build a collaborative framework around that common problem. So, those are the things we have been doing.
Beyond that we have also recognised the fact that if you want to move forward you have to create strategic plans of actions. The commission, for instance, has helped in creating a regional plan of action for economic competitiveness, in general planning, for security law and order. It is the regional line of action for the creative economy which we consider to be a very critical component of our developmental progress, the regional plan of action for the development of tourism and so many areas where we have tried to create strategic line of action. Out of what we have done also is to ensure that we recognize the civil service as a critical development institution along the line with the ambitions earlier mentioned. The seventh summit of the heads of service held in Lagos around February was a very successful one. Part of the resolutions of the summit is that we need to begin to see how we can create a regional framework for building the capability of our civil service. We have a lot to look back to. So, clearly talking about the civil service, there were talks on how we can try to create a better civil service. So, those are the kinds of things going on and we are proud to say we have been a very good facilitator in ensuring that those things happen.
In the order of priority what three major challenges will you say the commission has faced?
In order of priority, one, is to keep what is working, in the areas where we are doing well. One needs to ensure that we have sustainability in those areas. Second, is to look for areas where there could be immediate possibility of regional actions. If you want me to be specific and mention the sectors, I will say we need to take education very seriously. It is not yet producing what I will call learning and character. We need a lot of impact on our social character, we need to do a lot more on education. We also need to do a lot more on agriculture. Agriculture gives us a lot of opportunities to take people out of poverty and we have the latent capabilities here, so we need to sweat those capabilities. It is also important for us to look at our communities and see how they will become more optimal, both the rural and urban. So, in areas of priority, those are the areas we are looking at. But if you want me to go beyond that, I will mention the issue of security. That is very critical. A secure region will enable us attract investors, a secure region will also enable the people in the region to be able to pursue their daily economic and social activities without fear. Security, law and order are also important to us. Of course, we have to build our institutions to enable them deliver on their mission, both our economic and governance institutions. So, those are the areas we consider to be very important, even though there are so many other areas we are working on.
For two years now, there must be challenges that have slowed down the pace at which the commission is supposed to move, Could you please share them?
One of the challenges we have is the political environment. There are lots of activities in the political environment that if we are not careful, will impede our development progress. We need to manage our political environment to achieve anything. The Nigerian environment is highly politicized. You find a lot of a things that should not have political or partisan consideration suffering that fate. We need to ensure that the political environment enables development. Again, in the Southwest, especially when you are working with governments that do not belong to the same political party, creating conversations can be a little bit more difficult. But, we have not allowed that to affect what we are doing. In cases where there are occasions for us to move together on certain actions, that is what has been the big issue for us. For example, all the states have participated in all the actions we have taken on development and cultural tourisms in the region. All the states have participated in the civil service summit. This has held twice. In agriculture, we had a meeting with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture last year to present ourselves as a regional block, all the states participated in the conversations and the actions that followed. What we tried to do is to not only create conversations, but also dialogues and then we build collaborative actions from the issues that arise from the deliberations. We do not just leave it at the level of discussions, we make sure that we follow them to the level of being put on the table. Also for instance, there was a game competition organized for secondary schools in the region, all the states participated, especially in the discussion that led to the hosting of the games in Lagos. Quite a number of those issues have happened, but of course we will expect that the political environment enables development more than it currently does.
Funding is also an issue, we are not able to get the required level of funding that we need. So, it is a long way battle for us to win because the legitimate sources of funding are the government. If our states are bleeding, then it will be difficult for us to have the sustainable level of funding that we require. That is an issue for us. Though we are also working on a lot of strategy to create sustainability for ourselves, in which case we can look at alternative sources of funding. Part of the challenge we have is that our people also are disengaged from the development projects. We need to take the development to them. The masses are too busy trying to survive. The middle class people are trying to consolidate, not to drop lower. Everyone is busy. So, we need to ensure that everyone comes on board for the development project, we need to take it to them. How we are doing that is to create levels of consultations across stakeholders, we cannot succeed without the people behind us.
How are you taking the gospel of the DAWN commission to the common man in the region?
Like our people say, we need a lot of money to reach out to all stakeholders but we are not relenting. We use every opportunity that we have, especially regional programs and meetings, to take advantage of what the states are doing. We take advantage of the Ministry of Information to get our message to the people. We can do more, this is one of the reasons why I am talking to you. We need all the help that we can get. We are communicating this to our people. One of the programs we have in view, is “Pagede Agbajo Owo”, which is a grassroots oriented program where we intend to bring all our people across the region, especially grassroots people, and have an ongoing engagement on the development agenda of the Western Nigeria. We expect to do it now that the election is over. Hopefully, from that, we will have more successes to ensure that what we are doing gets to the grassroots.
How open is your door to every Yoruba son and daughter that has something to contribute to the development of the region?
Our doors are open not only to Yoruba people but to anyone who can help us. The vision of the development agenda is to make the Southwest part of Nigeria the preferred destination for people in Africa to visit, work, live and invest. We want an enabling environment for everybody whether you are a Yoruba man or not, as long as you have anything meaningful to contribute to our region, you are part of the development project. Yoruba land cannot be for Yoruba people alone. By nature, we are very accommodating; our environment is attractive to different people in the world, not only Nigerians. Clearly for us, is to see how we can create an environment that makes contributions. Our doors are open to everyone. If we can speak to the Japanese to come and invest in our region, it means we are open to everybody. We are also asking the Americans to come. Clearly, we cannot have a region that is exclusive to Yoruba people.
We also want to build communities. There are strategic points where we need to get more traction behind what we are doing. For instance, we want to build a young agropreneurs community in the West. We have recognized the fact that young people are abandoning agriculture but we have seen some success stories in terms of young people involved in agriculture and they are doing well in it. Some of our states have interesting programs for some of our young people in agriculture. I know about the WICARD in Ekiti State and the young agropreneurs in Lagos which is situated in Epe. I know about the one in Ore, and also know Oyo State has one. So, we want to create a regional young agropreneurs community.
We also want to create a community for the creative industry, Southwest creative community. We are looking at a community generating a lot of start-up business, that is, a start-up business community. We are also considering private sector communities. Part of our plan is to see how we can build communities around these strategic points of our society where development is happening. Part of what we want to do is to engage the policy environment development. And like I said earlier, unless the political environment is better, we cannot do much. Part of our program is to engage more in the policy environment in terms of influencing policies, ensuring that the policy environment is networked all across the region and nothing is missing as far as the policy environment is concerned.
We also want to promote policy commissions. We believe that in the states in the region there should be some level of interaction going on. For instance, we want a policy commission between Lagos and Ogun, Oyo and Osun, and Ekiti and Ondo. So, if we have those policy commissions we will provide them opportunities of looking at things they should be doing together, even between themselves. For example, Lagos and Ogun can look at some infrastructure programs. The policy commissions are expected to facilitate interactions between these states. We are not just trying to do them, converstaions have started towards ensuring that these things can happen. They must happen at the right time. For instance, we have finished the regional competitiveness strategy document.
Less than four months in the hospitality industry, De Xambdra International Hotel, Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, is making waves and breaking new grounds in the sector.
The management of the hotel has launched a special security package for its customers in a bid to give them the best treatment they deserve.
The special security offer is already generating interest in the sector among residents and visitors who had enjoyed the offer.
The Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of Dexambdra International Hotel, Mr. Gbenga Bankole, said the package is a new innovation in hotel business in Nigeria which he said was to prove the fact that “customer is the king.”
Speaking with The Nation on the package, Bankole said security will be provided for guests to any part of the country at their request with full compliments of police escort and other privileges.
The hotel boss said the offer comes without any additional cost to the expenses of guests throughout the duration of their stay at Dexambdra.
He added that the security package has also been put in place for those holding parties in neighbouring towns within and outside Ekiti State.
Bankole said: “If anybody lodges here or uses our facilities, we provide a mini bus that can take you to your destination to and fro with police escort.
“If they are lodging with us, we do this without any additional cost to lodging fees and we also provide entertainment for our guests.
“Apart from providing security for our guests within and outside the town, the security stays with them throughout to ensure their safety wherever they go.
“It is also a safe haven for politicians who want to have private meetings, those who are having big ceremonies like burials and anytime they are going back, they will do so with full police escort.
“This is an innovation in hospitality industry as far as Ekiti State is concerned and we are doing this because we believe we must give people within and outside Ekiti the very best.”
Bankole disclosed that Dexambdra’s presidential wing has been equipped to provide special services for families and individuals to give them “home away from home.”
He said: “The presidential wing is a secure, highly private for families or individuals that want to travel away from home and still enjoy the facilities of home.
“At our presidential wing, there is a private swimming pool, bar and a club house for only people lodging there.
“We also have special services for bachelor’s eve, spinsters’ night, honeymoon and those who want to hold special conferences, meetings, seminars and retreats.”
Bankole revealed that a leading financial institution in the country recently lodged 300 of its staff at the hotel for training because of the special services on offer.
He said the hotel was his private contribution to the economic development of his hometown, Ado-Ekiti in particular and the state in general having spent about 25 years overseas.
Bankole said he would always contribute his quota to assist the government in providing employment for teeming youths and carry out corporate social responsibility services for the community, residents and indigenes.
