The Nation Newspaper

Tag: bound

  • Keshi possibly AFCON bound

    Keshi possibly AFCON bound

    Former Ghana coach Milovan Rajevac has applied to manage Equatorial Guinea national team, ahead of the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations, which the central African country will be hosting from January 17 to February 8, 2015 but so has Stephen Keshi.

    The Nzalang Nacional are in search of a renowned coach for the tournament and are likely to fire current coach Andoni Goikoetxea, whose performance is widely criticised in the country.

    The Equatorial Guinea Football Federation has confirmed the receipt of several applications, with Rajevac showing as a strong candidate, according to local officials. The Serbian led the Black Stars to the quarter finals of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

    Nigeria coach Stephen Keshi also figures on the list and remains a top favourite, officials said.

    Although Keshi failed to qualify the outgoing African Champions Super Eagles to Afcon, he could participate at the competition if given the job.

    Rajevac’s agent Marc-Antoine Kiplé has also confirmed the 60-year-old’s bid for the post.

  • Bound by love

    Bound by love

    A Ghana-based businessman Henry Okechukwu Ichetaonye and his lovebird former Miss Boma Celestina Okoro, who works at Unity Bank of Nigeria Plc in Lagos, got married in Owerri, the Imo State capital. OKODILI NDIDI reports

    It was a day for love. It was dream come true for two lovebirds. The dream of spending a life time together for charming Mr Henry Okechukwu Ichetaonye and his damsel, Miss Boma Celestina Okoro, finally came to pass as they were joined in holy matrimony at the Asumpta Cathedral in Owerri, the Imo State capital.

    The groom is a Ghana-based businessman, who buys electronics from China and sells in Ghana while the bride is a staff member of Unity Bank of Nigeria Plc in Lagos.

    The story of the pair, who began the journey to the aisle one year ago, can best be described as the triumph of love. It was a day that love conquered.

    On that day, nine other couples were also joined, thus turning the event into something a little less than a ‘mass wedding’. But standing out of the impressive and colourful crowd of lovers was the pair of Celestina and Henry, who was aptly described as perfect.

    The presiding priest, Revd Father Austin Opara, charged the couples to continue in love and tolerance, describing marriage as a mysterious and holy union initiated by God to sustain mankind.

    He enjoined men to love and appreciate their wives just as Christ loved the church, urging the women to be obedient and submissive to their husbands.

    But for couple, their union was actually built around the two key words of the admonition, which was love and tolerance; this was much confirmed by their parents who said they agreed they were made for each other.

    The mother of the bride, Mrs. Rebecca Okoro, described the day as her happiest.

    “For me to witness the wedding of my daughter is the happiest and one of the greatest things to happen in my life. My prayer is that God should bless them with the best things of life. I also want to advise them to continue to love and show respect for each other. It is, indeed, a perfect union,” she said.

    Mother of the groom, Mrs Liza Ichetaonye, said it was the best thing to ever happen to her. She described the bride as the best companion for her son.

    “I am happy that my son made the right choice. I know they will both be happy. My prayer is that God will bless them abundantly and keep them in good health,” she said.

    The joy of the bride knew no bounds as she recounted her experience of love with her spouse. Dressed in a radiant white over-flowing gown with a bouquet of flower in hands, Boma said: “I am very lucky to have Henry as my husband. He is everything a woman needs in a man. I feel happy having him as a husband. He is one man in a million. And the most beautiful thing about Henry is that there is no dull moment with him. He is intelligent and different from every other man. I would love to have him as my husband 10 times over.”

    The visibly elated groom, who wore a sparkling suit, said: ”Today is one of the best days of my life. I have dreamt of this day. It is just beyond explanation and I just thank God. My woman is a woman of peace. She is an exciting person to be with and she is simply perfect.”

  • One nation bound in corruption

    SIR: Everybody talks about corruption. Everybody laments the level of corruption

    in the country. One way or the other — consciously or unconsciously, directly or indirectly — everybody fuels corruption. We pretend to fight corruption. Sadly, everybody is in trouble.

    One doesn’t have to be a pessimist to realize that we’re all in big trouble. Even though corruption hurts the poor disproportionately, the rich are not immune to the pains and sorrows that accompany endemic corruption.

    Corruption is a virus eating away at the very fabric of society. By subterfuge, it destroys institutions and values that contradict its nature. Corruption ruins families and communities. Corruption pollutes religions of love and peace with greed and violence. Corruption turns centres of learning into epicentres of decadence. Corruption converts the judiciary from the temple of justice into a fortress for corruption itself. Corruption substitutes the virtue of honesty with the culture of impunity. Corruption prefers the cacophony of sycophancy to the strength of moral character. Corruption jettisons the tradition of meritocracy but embraces the celebration of mediocrity. Corruption turns the world upside down, for instance, by associating celebrity with indecency; and so on.

    But who is really fighting the monster that is threatening our existence? Is it the political class that the revered Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka aptly summed up as “The very quagmire of corruption, nurtured on corruption, sustained by corruption and dependent on corruption for its very survival”? Or, the public-private partners that occupy strategic positions in the web of corruption! Could it be the impoverished citizens who have common enemies to fight against, but are being knocked down by ignorance and deeply divided by forces stronger than the bonds of brotherhood? Maybe, the endangered species in our midst whose wisdom and genuine voices are eternally being despised!

    Corruption! We have gone abysmally down this perilous way. But why has it become so difficult to halt the country’s slide into destruction? Are we hopeless as a people?

    Whereas most of our woes are attributable to corruption, bad leadership — corruption’s closest ally — is the main culprit. Bad leadership fuels corruption, and every attempt to confront corruption is neutralized by bad leadership, and vice versa.

    At the centre of corruption is the system that breeds bad leaders. This notorious system in the remote past had irreversibly set in motion a chain reaction leading to a self-propagating, self-amplifying and self-sustaining series of crises. That explains why we have been busy all along chasing shadows and hopelessly treating mere symptoms of an ailment whose root is continuously been nourished by a pool of structural defects.

    The episodes in our “fight” against corruption in the last one year—let’s pretend we have short memories—including the presidential pardon for Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, a former Bayelsa State governor—more and more people, even born optimists, are beginning to doubt the possibility of Nigeria ever winning this battle.

    Corruption in Nigeria is like a cancer in its advanced stage. And as we watch the disease run its course, may God have mercy on our souls.

     

    • John Adebisi

    Abuja, FCT

  • Bound by love

    Bound by love

    Where there is love, there is no barrier. This altruism rings true for Abisoye Ogunnusi and her beau, Lanre Balogun, who got married in Lagos Last Saturday. Their different religion did not stop them from taking a vow to love, hold and cherish each other for life.

    They tied the nuptial knot at the St Agnes Catholic Church, Maryland, Lagos.

    Two days earlier, the engagement was held at Oregun, Lagos. Peach and blue were the colours of the day. Guests got a foretaste of what to come on the D-day at the event.

    Last Saturday, St Agnes Maryland brimmed with activities. The church was festooned with colourful balloons and fabrics.

    Many Muslims, who attended the church ceremony, joined in the celebration of the Eucharistic mass. It was a show of emotion that depicted the love they have for the couple.

    The couple occupied the front pew of the church. The clean-shaven groom was clad in a black suit, white shirt and a golden tie. His bride was full of smiles. She wore a V-neck simple wedding gown.

    The girls in the bridal train wore long fitted dinner gowns like the bride. The grooms’ men wore blue fitted suits and red ties with roses to complement their look.

    Having taken the Gospel reading from John 17:20-23, the officiating minister, Rev Fr Clement Abiodun, who came from Cote’d Ivoire, urged the couple to profess undying love for each other.

    The cleric ended his sermon by leading guests to sing the hit song of the late music diva, Whitney Houston – I Will Always Love You.

    The couple, accompanied by their parents and friends, danced to the altar during thanksgiving after their union was sealed and the marriage certificate signed.

    Soon after, members of the Christian Women Organisation (CWO) presented the bride with their wrapper uniform, automatically enlisting her as a member of the CWO in her parish. They also presented her with a candle, signifying that she will be a light in her home, community and nation; the rosary beads and Bible.

    Guests started relishing old school music on entering the Grandeur Events Place, Oregun, Lagos. The colour at the venue was red; red curtains and table overlays. Scented flowers were on the floor and a red rug lay from the entrance of the hall to the centre where the five-layer cake stood. It had red roses on top it. Different coloured disco lights illuminated and added glamour to the arena.

    Demola Olota and his band also turned out in the colour of the day. DJ Larry dished out music for the young ones. There was a cultural presentation by a group. Comedian Tee A anchored the ceremony.

    The bride, Abisoye, and her father, Hon Yomi Ogunnusi, stole the show with their dance steps. While her father swirled around the hall to the guests’ admiration, she did the Azonto dance steps with her beau that left many spellbound.

    Chairman of the Island Club, Prince Demola Dada, chaired the ocassion. He urged the couple to be tolerant of each other.

    In proposing the toast, Francis Edien recalled that the first time the couple met was at his wedding where Abisoye served Lanre food. He also told the guests how the groom, in the last five years, quit playing the Play Station games they were addicted to, so as to beat the daily 5pm traffic to see Abisoye.

    As guests clicked their glasses, the first song the couple listened to after they met, Tuface’s True Love, was played.

    In his vote of thanks, the groom thanked his mother-in-law, Mrs Emmanuella Ogunnusi for not discouraging her daughter from marrying him.

    He also presented his bride to his mother and thanked his elder sister for her motherly love.

    Since he didn’t get the chance to dance with his mother on the ocassion because she died 11 years ago, he danced with his mother-in-law and stepmother, Oluwatoyin. He wept while dancing.

    Mrs Ogunnusi said she would miss her daughter as she has been her best friend all these years.

    Lanre said of his bride: “Abisoye completes me and has made me the man I am today. I am the luckiest man to have her.”

    In attendance were the Chairman AIT/Raypower Chief Raymond Dokpesi; Speaker, Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon Adeyemi Ikuforiji; Hon Abike-Dabiri-Erewa; Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora; renowned essayist Prof Adebayo Williams; Chairman of the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) and CEO of Prima Garnet, Mr Lolu Akinwunmi, and other members of the House of Assembly.

     

  • GUS jungle bound 12 emerge tonight

    GUS jungle bound 12 emerge tonight

    THE final 12 contestants that will compete in this year’s edition of Gulder Ultimate Search (GUS) will be unveiled tonight, in a ceremony scheduled to hold at the New Expo Hall of Eko Hotel, Lagos.

    The unveiling of the jungle bound contestants, follows a series of physical and mental screening exercises in Owerri, Benin, Makurdi and Lagos for the over 30,000 individuals who registered to participate for the contest which enters its ninth edition this year.

    Nigerian Breweries Plc, organisers of the show, say only 12 will proceed to the Usaka Forest in Obot Akara Local Government area of Akwa Ibom State, location of this year’s showdown, where a winner is expected to walk away with N9 million, N500,000 swagger allowance and a brand new SUV worth N10 million.

    It is also expected that the host of Gulder Ultimate Search 9 will be revealed at the event. Last year, two anchor persons hosted the programme for the first time in the show’s nine year history. It remains to be seen whether the show will retain the Gulder Ultimate Search 8 two-anchor format, or whether it will revert to the single anchor format as in the show’s preceding years.

    For this year, three past winners of Gulder Ultimate Search will be playing the role of Gatekeepers. They are Dominic Mudabai (Gulder Ultimate Search 4 winner), Michael Nwachukwu (Gulder Ultimate Search 5 winner) and Christopher Okagbue (Gulder Ultimate Search 8 winner).