The Nation Newspaper

Tag: cradle

  • ‘I will come when quilt warms my cradle’

    •(From Ajantala to prospective father)

    Forgive me for tarrying with my response. It is beautiful up here and I couldn’t bear to smear heaven’s beauty with earthly haste. Such pleasantness shouldn’t be sullied by the ugliness of earth. I am coming to earth father. I will weigh 11 pounds at birth, having stayed two extra weeks in the womb. Do not fret if I come starry-eyed, blame it on wonderment. I will come flabbergasted, aghast at the depth of your infamy, on earth.

    Even as I write this, my heart thumps precariously. My head aches with fantasies of your world. My thoughts grope with harsh, cold realities you wrote about, like cherubs wrestling mischievous sprites off the Elysian playground.

    The tone of your missive is frightening. On the flipside, it stresses and illumines the dark, crevices of earth’s wild. It enlightens me. It imposes the weirdest feelings on my infant husk and mind. Some angels I know said I am experiencing ‘earth jitters.’ They called it the burden of humankind. And that its best cured arriving stillborn – thus I could fast track my life and departure from your wild, wild world.

    As an alternative, they recommended generous doses of ‘Aiye Bitters.’ When I asked them where and when I could get the alternative bitters, they concluded that I was ready to be human. I shouldn’t be curious about ‘Aiye Bitters.’ I shouldn’t be having such feelings; having them means I am ready to be part of humankind, they said.

    Every day, I peep through blue firmament, to see the old, shimmering nothingness you call life. Green scaly moosewoods attract me, tenants of the lost Eden. Tell me, why isn’t your world as picturesque as paradise? Why do you behave strangely on earth?

    Tell me, why are your lives fouled by stress and discord? Why have you left the simple paths with no complications? Why do your people die young? I worry because very soon, your people will become my people and heaven help me if, like you, I have to “stir to strife, live in chaos and sleep one-eye open to endless threats of volatile nights.”

    At times, I trouble that your words might be true. Most times, I think you are just trying to scare me from coming. Perhaps you shirk your responsibilities to me even before I am born. How pathetic.

    Every second, earth folk arrive heavenly gates. Some make it through. Some never do. Many struggle to return almost as soon as they arrive. They say they have unfinished business. We call them wretched souls with unfinished lives. It’s their stories that fascinate me.

    Contrary to your expectations, I cannot tell you how Moshood Kashimawo Abiola died. I can’t tell who killed Dele Giwa, Bola Ige and the Igwe couple neither can I tell you who stole your N55, kulikuli and garri back when you were in high school.

    I can’t tell you what my calling will be or what role I would play for humanity. Up here, we are bound by certain confidentiality clauses. I have to honour the codes of silence.

    Like you, I ask my own questions. If you must know, I am yet to see Eledumare.

    To humour you, I will write answers to your questions on an almond nut and I will come clutching it as I arrive on earth through the moist, pink pathways of my intended vessel, your wife.

    Better still, I could cram the answers and scream it as the doctors pat me to cry but I doubt if you understand baby-speak. Tell me baba, do you speak gibberish?

    I have learnt some bits about your world, from what the earth folk often tell us. I have learnt that in your world, kids desert their parents as they grow old. They leave them to suffer till death. When they die, they spend millions throwing parties and carnivals. They say they are celebrating their parents’ lives.

    I have learnt that parents find it difficult to pay their children’s medical bills and school fees although they find it easier doling out money for aso ebi, the acquisition of new wives and other wasteful ventures.

    I have learnt that your leaders are wary of building schools; they would rather build prisons to incarcerate and destroy youth who may have turned out better had they enjoyed the right to quality education.

    I have learnt that husbands subject their wives to treatment they would never let any man mete to their daughters. They love to ruin the lives of other men’s daughters while they seek the best among men for their girls. I have learnt that wives spend their lifetime domesticating and enslaving their men by crook or diabolism, only to become monster-in-law to their prospective daughters-in-law. No woman wishes her type as wife for her son.

    I have learnt that being a good wife does not necessarily translate to being a good mother. These days, earth women fail at both, and their husbands and kids are the worse for it. When they fail as women, the society is the worse for it.

    I have learnt that money rules your world and the lack of it makes a man an aberration to his kind. I seek the noblest of roles for humanity but you have scared me from the noble callings. To be a teacher you say, is to sign an oath of poverty. To be a doctor, you warn, is to lose my conscience. To be a cop is to become an armed robber. To be a banker, you say, is to become a fraudster and to tread your journalistic path, you claim, is to commit eternal professional and emotional hara-kiri.

    I wish I could caress your ego and become a journalist but oftentimes, I have seen you flounder at the crossroads of truth and injustice. Most times, I fear you would opt for the dark side but painstakingly, you choose the path of light while you wither in want and the darkness of everlasting grief.

    These days, I can’t tell what I would do. Would you mind if I come as a politician? Rumour has it that they enjoy the best of earth spoils. Wish I could tell what becomes of them in yonder. But you need to be dead to find out. Here in heaven, they are separated from the pack. Word on the street is that they are judged very differently. Who cares though?

    Eager as I am to grace your household, I fear what fate may befall me at my arrival in your homestead. You talk of the great plague but I hear of several great plagues: HIV/AIDS, Poliomyelitis, Leukemia, Stroke, Human Ebola, Tomato Ebola, Diabetes, and so on. They say some are transferable from mother to child. Will you test mother to be sure she carries none? Would you test yourself to be sure you aren’t a vector?

    Just so you know, I would like to come when your farm swells with lush and tuberous burdens. I would like to come when quilt and satin warms my cradle. I would like to come when schools offer the best education and moral guidance. I would like to attend public school for I hear the best of earth folk attended free schools.

    Under the thick beams of our mustard tree, heavenly cherubs are clustering. I see them huddle in together, hopes alight, fire at heart. Their talk is of humanity. I hope to join them soon on the earth-journey but these days, it’s hard to be keen for mortality.

  • The hand that abs the Cradle

    The hand that abs the Cradle

    Everybody called her “Princess” because her parents named her so, which was almost too far-fetched as Princess Asaye hailed from a humble background. Fairy tale royalty are born into privilege and affluence. Princess  hardly fit that bill: her father was a truck driver and her mother sold cucumber and carrots at the street junction. That Princess had a special, enchanting aura was, however, not far-fetched.

    “She was funny and lively,” said a neighbour describing the kid’s brilliant smile and dazzling black eyes. “Everybody loved her,” claimed 52-year-old Balkis Ahmed, a grocer who lived very close to the child’s family. “I loved that child,” she added with conviction.

    While Princess became the darling of neighbours and first time acquaintances, she enjoyed even greater love at home, according to the neighbours. Thus it was  given that her parents would treat her to a feast when she clocked three; on January 16, Princess’ parents threw her an expensive bash to celebrate her new age.

    Four days later, her mother, Eno, drugged her to sleep with Phenergan and local gin. Then she kept watch outside their apartment while her husband, Leslie, chopped off the three-year-old’s head with an axe. Princess’ decapitation was carefully planned. The victim’s mother made sure nobody accidentally walked into their apartment; she locked her husband in with the child and sat outside their door purportedly to enjoy fresh air. So goes an account of the child’s fate as rendered by Isabella, the child’s maternal aunt. Isabella, 19, claimed that her sister, Eno, confided in her five months after she connived with her husband to commit the dastardly act.

    “She asked me to pray for her. She said they had sent Princess on a long journey. Instinctively, I knew they used her for money rituals…Three months after my niece disappeared, my brother-in-law bought three vehicles in one day. He bought one Range Rover Evoque for my sister, his wife; he bought one Toyota Camry for himself and one haulage truck for his business,” said Isabella.

    Bilkis Ahmed, 52, is a grocer who lived very close to the family; according to her, “Everybody wondered how they came by their sudden wealth and immediately rumour started going round that they must have used their daughter for money rituals. Our fears were confirmed after husband and wife got into a fight. The wife got drunk and stabbed her husband on his arm. She said he was an ingrate. She said because of him, she would never have another child in her life yet he went ahead to impregnate another woman. After the fight, they said they had made up and the  husband blamed his wife’s utterances on drunkenness.”

    But the neighbours knew better. Tongues wagged and when the rumours became unbearable for them, the duo departed their abode two months before Christmas. “They said they were travelling for Christmas but they left two months before Christmas and never came back. I knew they were running away. But wherever they are, God will punish them for what they did to that poor girl,” stated Ahmed.

    Corroborating her, Biyi Ojo, a bicycle repairer in the area said, “Nobody knows their whereabouts.” According to him, he alerted his fellow landlords that the sudden disappearance of the Asayes’ three-year-old daughter smacked of foul play but no one heeded his complaint.

    “They were too scared to challenge them. The parents said they had taken the child to spend time with a relative but how is that possible when school was still in session? Now, they have disappeared. Nobody knows where they are but it’s not my problem. It’s their child, not mine,” said Ojo.

    Several miles from the Asayes’ mindboggling conundrum, a sore, reddish bulge of blister protruded where Adunbarin’s head used to be, soon after she encountered her beloved uncle. The latter, Samuel Omosaba, made a clean cut hacking the three-year-old’s head off her tiny frame. In one deft strike, Omosaba, 42, beheaded his niece in order to use her head for a voodoo ritual that would make him rich. But luck ran out on him as Bunmi, mother of the child, returned in time to discover what he had done yet too late to save her beloved daughter. This led to the arrest of Omosaba.

    The incident which happened on a Tuesday afternoon shook the whole of Ilepa quarters in Ikare-Akoko, Akoko North East Local Government Area of Ondo State from the eaves to the rafters. Omosaba, who is said to be jobless and unmarried, allegedly approached a herbalist to make him rich. The herbalist reportedly demanded that he produced a child’s head for a money-making ritual.

    After thinking about it very carefully, Omosaba resolved to use his niece for the ritual.

    The 42-year old planned the dastardly act knowing that the child’s mother, would bring her to stay with her mother-in-law and the child’s grandma, while she went to the market. Omosaba lives in the same house with the said grandmother. He had also assured the child’s mother of good care to the deceased three-year-old. The child’s mother returned to see her decapitated corpse in the culprit’s room. Omosaba reportedly confessed to family members that he killed the girl. He was nearly lynched by aggrieved youths before the police rescued him. The police in the state said the matter had been transferred to the state criminal investigative department, CID.

    The suspect reportedly tried to flee the scene, but he was prevented by the youths of the area.

    The state Police Public Relations Officer, Femi Joseph, confirmed the incident and said that the matter had been transferred to the state CID in Akure, the state capital. “It was an unfortunate incident; we don’t know what came over the man to have been involved in such a dastardly act, but we have started our preliminary investigation into the matter,” Joseph said.

     

    Minors murdering minors

    Few months earlier, Tajudeen Azeez, 16, lured his four-year-old neighbour, Ibrahim, to a primary school in Ijaniki, Lagos. There, he stabbed the child, strangled him and removed his intestines. He removed the child’s kidney and cut off his manhood. According to Azeez, he committed the dastardly act at the prompting of a man named Osho. The latter allegedly approached him and asked him to get him fresh human parts, promising to pay the 16-year-old the sum of N50,000.

    “At first, I did not want to succumb to the temptation but it kept coming. When I woke up, I saw Ibrahim at the back of the house. I told him to escort me to a primary school not too far from the house. The name of the school is Anglican Primary School, Ijanikin. He followed me to the place and on arrival there, I stabbed him with a knife from behind. He fell down and I strangled him with a rope. I then cut his stomach open with the knife. I am sorry for what I did,” said Azeez.

    The 16-year-old was subsequently arrested and remanded in the homicide section of the State Criminal Investigations Department (SCID), Lagos State Police Command, Yaba.

    According to the Acting Police Public Relations Officer for the State Police Command, Patricia Amadin, the body of the deceased has since been deposited at a government mortuary. She said Azeez was arrested following intelligence information.

    “Based on the strength of the information, the DPO and his men raced to the place. On arrival, they found the lifeless body of a four-year-old boy while the suspect was soaked in the deceased’s blood. From close observation, it was discovered that some vital organs such as the kidney and intestine had been removed from the deceased. All the organs were kept in a black nylon bag. The suspect was promptly arrested and taken to the station,” Amadin said.

    In another incident, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) attached to the Delta State Police Command arrested Silas Anidi, 15, for allegedly beheading an 11-year-old girl, Aghogho Igbi, for ritual purposes.

    Anidi, who is the only son a pastor in Sapele area of the state, was caught by neighbours when he also attempted to kill the deceased’s sister, Favour, aged 13.

    The suspect was said to be a family friend to the Igbis and in the course of a visit, beheaded the victim and was about to do same to Aghogho’s sister, Favour, when neighbours got him arrested. Anidi while confessing to the crime, claimed that he was lured into the act by his friend, Christian. The latter is reportedly at large, according to the police.

    According to Anidi, “I started monitoring the Igbis family because I know that they used to leave their children at home and go out. Luckily on November 28, 2015, I visited their house and as God will have it, their elder sister, Janet, said that she wanted to go to school for evening lesson. I was excited that I was left alone with the younger ones.

    “I sat down on the rug and was watching cartoon network with Aghogho. While she was busy enjoying herself, I dragged her head back and sliced her throat. I rushed to the next room where Favour was sleeping and tried to do the same but she woke up and started struggling with me. I tried to slice her throat but she started screaming. I only managed to stab her in the head but her screams were too much and neighbours were attracted. I was about to escape when neighbours caught me.”

    The 15-year-old pleaded for clemency, claiming he cannot explain what led him to commit the act. “ I am ashamed of myself because my family especially my dad, will be disappointed, in me. I was not satisfied with the little money that we made in the church; that is why I wanted to travel to Ghana to make money. I was deceived that until we get human head that we will not succeed. He promised to pay N50,000 for each human head”, he added.

     

    The Ghanaian connection…

    Anidi revealed that it was his friend, Christian’s brother who lives in Ghana that gave them the contract. “He promised to pay us N50,000 and also help us to relocate to Ghana,” he said.

    In another incident, Akpotejere Osuna, 39, was arrested by operatives of Delta State Police Command for allegedly killing the eight-day-old daughter of his step-daughter for rituals while the latter visited her mother for post-natal care. The culprit allegedly killed the baby, decapitated her and removed her heart, tongue and other intestines.

    Osuna allegedly made confessional statement to the police that he killed the child for rituals. He confessed taking the baby away from the side of her mother while she was sleeping and taking her to a nearby bush, where he decapitated her.

    Luck, however, ran out on him when he was arrested by the police. The latter acted on intelligence reports apprehended the suspect at Jese Town.

    “The suspect sneaked into the house of the mother of the baby, took the baby into the bush where he murdered the child, cut of the heart and the tongue, wrapped them in a polythene bag, pocketed them and melted into the bush,” said police spokesman, Charles Muka. Muka disclosed that upon report, the suspect was traced into the bush where he was arrested, adding that “he confessed that he was taking the parts to Ghana where he was going to make use of it for money making rituals.”

     

    A harvest of infant heads

    In another incident, four men allegedly kidnapped Bakare Teslim, a four-year-old, on October 9, 2015, around 6.17pm at Agbelekale area of Iragbiji in Osun State before beheading him with a knife. The men were remanded at the Ilesa Prison for allegedly killing the four-year-old. The accused persons, including a 60 year old Ganiyu Abidoye, Taju Ganiyu, aged 25, Aremu Moshood, 48 and Agboola Abdulwasiu, aged 31 were docked on Monday, October 26, 2015 by the Osun State Police.

    Another sad episode occurred few months earlier on Friday, June 19, 2015, in Oju Ore area of Ota, Ado Odo/Ota Local Government Area of Ogun State, where an eight-year-old pupil of a private school on Funmi Ayopo Street, Olamilekan Olajide, was allegedly killed by one of his teachers for ritual purposes.

    Olamilekan’s teacher, one Sunday Anaeto, allegedly connived with two others, Uche Isaac and Opeyemi Shodeinde, to carry out the dastardly act. The suspects reportedly lured the pupil into a corner of a classroom and killed him for rituals. Subsequently, they threw the mutilated corpse of the boy into an uncompleted building behind the school. They were, however, caught by residents of the area and promptly handed over to policemen at the Obasanjo Farm Police Station, Ota. The school building was destroyed by an angry mob while the suspects were arraigned an Ota Magistrate Court in Ogun State.

    And very few people would forget in a hurry, the tragic case of the Folorunshos. The police command in Kogi State arrested middle-aged Hosea Folorunsho in Egbe township, Yagba West local government council, for the alleged gruesome murder of his son, Sunday, for ritual purpose.

    Briefing journalists on the arrest in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital, the Commissioner of Police, The state’s Commissioner of Police Mohammed Katsina, said the suspect, a herbalist, also buried the child in a shallow grave in his compound. Katsina while parading the suspect at the state command headquarters in Lokoja, the state capital, disclosed that the herbalist killed his son for an alleged ritual.

    Narrating the police investigation, the police boss disclosed that on the eve of the new year, at about 11:55pm, the suspect quietly took his baby who was asleep, in the middle of the  night, and murdered him in gruesome circumstances.

    He added that having accomplished his mission, the suspect dug a shallow grave in his compound and hurriedly buried the corpse of the baby. The police subsequently escorted Folorunsho to his compound where the baby’s corpse was buried; there he was asked to exhume the corpse.

    Folorunso thus exhumed the corpse of his child and handed it over to a pathologist who conducted an autopsy on the dead baby. The autopsy result read that the child died of multiple fractures through the application of blunt object and trauma. The 48 year old suspect, a native of Egbe in Yagba West Local Government Area (LGA) of the state is married with three other kids.

    Four years ago, in Abia State, two men kidnapped and killed two children, aged four and six. They removed their vital organs and buried them, before being arrested.

     

    State’s response

    There is no recognised, institutionalised response to ritual murders from the Nigerian police or state. However, in the wake of such dastardly acts, very few public officers have spoken out and instituted deterrent measures against the malady. In October 2012, the Governor of Zamfara State, Sanni Yerima, in response to reports of incessant killings and disappearances of persons, especially children, reportedly warned ritual killers and cultists in a public address to leave the state, adding that they would be subject to the death penalty if found guilty of murder.

     

    What the law says…

    According to the Criminal Code (1990) of Nigeria, a person who commits a murder will be sentenced to death. Similarly, a person who subjects another to a “trial by ordeal” that results in death is also punishable by the death sentence. A person found in possession of a human head or skull within six months of its removal from a body or skeleton may also be sentenced to five years in prison.

    The Criminal Code also states that: Any person who by his statements or actions represents himself to be a witch or to have the power of witchcraft; or accuses or threatens to accuse any person with being a witch or with having the power of witchcraft; or makes or sells or uses, or assists or takes part in making or selling or using, or has in his possession or represents himself to be in possession of any juju, drug or charm which is intended to be used or reported to  possess the power to prevent or delay any person from doing an act which such person has a legal right to do, or to compel any person to do an act which such person has a legal right to refrain from doing, or which is alleged or reported to possess the power of causing any natural  phenomenon or any disease or epidemic; or directs or controls or presides at or is present at or takes part in the worship or invocation of any juju which is prohibited by an order of the  State Commissioner; or is in possession of or has control over any human remains which are used or are intended to be used in connection with the worship of invocation of any juju; or makes or uses or assists in making or using, or has in his possession anything whatsoever the making, use or possession of which has been prohibited by an order as being or believed to be associated with human sacrifice or other unlawful practice; is guilty of a misdemeanour, and is liable to imprisonment for two years.

    Ritual murder of minors is, however, not limited to any specific part of the country as every region, tribe and state has its own share of the scourge. In 2009, a confidential memo from the Nigerian police to registered security service providers reportedly indicated that ritual killings were particularly prevalent in the states of Lagos, Ogun, Kaduna, Abia, Kwara, Abuja, Rivers, and Kogi States.

     

    Why ritual murder?

    The motives for ritual murder may be cultural, religious or economic. Local psychiatrists observed that ritual murder while being illegal, may occasionally be conducted when a paramount chief dies. It is traditional that he should be buried with some other deceased person who would serve him in the next life. However, The Nation findings revealed that several culprits convicted for the offence of ritual murder, had done this, to obtain parts of the human anatomy for ritual ceremonies to enhance material fortunes. Some ritualists believe that the most powerful “juju” should contain parts of the human anatomy which can only be obtained through murder. A “juju” consists of .various herbal and animal products used in rituals to enhance personal fortune.

     

    Monsters or victims? Inside the mind of a child murderer

    For years, clinical psychiatrists and social psychologists have laboured to understand why child murderers are driven to murder infants and toddlers. Their inquiry is predicated on the need to know if such individuals’ condition is genetic, hormonal, biological, or the result of extreme cultural conditioning.

    “We all experience rage and inappropriate sexual instincts, yet we have some sort of internal cage that keeps our inner monsters locked up. Call it morality or social programming; these internal blockades have long since been trampled down in the psychopathic killer. Not only have they let loose the monster within, they are virtual slaves to its beastly appetites,” according to Oluwafunmike Odukale, a psychiatrist.

    According to her, child murderers have tested out a number of excuses for their behavior. Many have been known to blame their upbringing; others claimed that they were born with a “part” of them missing. Some others claim that certain voices in their heads urge them to do it. But a familiar refrain and pattern of belief among killers of children in the country is that, they would get rich by using severed heads and other body parts of minors for money-making rituals.

     

    Why are they so difficult to spot?

    They are so difficult to spot because oftentimes, a child murderer is a familiar face, a known member of the family that the child is fond of. It could be an uncle as in the case of three-year old Adunbarin or the child’s parents as in the case of Moni.

    It is never easy to spot a child ritual murderer, according to Biodun Onaopemipo, a clinical psychiatrist. According to him, “On the bus, in the street, it is the mentally ill we avoid. We sidestep the disheveled, unshaven man or woman who rants on over some private and invisible outrage. Yet if you intend to avoid the path of a child murderer, your best strategy is to sidestep the charming, the impeccably dressed, polite family member, distant relative and friend. They blend in, camouflaged in contemporary anonymity. They lurk in our homes, churches and malls, and prowl the freeways and streets.”

    Like all evolved predators, they know how to stalk their victims by gaining their trust. Child ritual murderers don’t wear their hearts on their sleeves. Instead, they hide behind a carefully constructed facade of pleasantness and normalcy. They put on a mask of sanity. It is all a manipulative act, designed to entice their victims into their trap. They are actors with a natural penchant for performance.

     

    The child-victim through the ritual murderer’s eyes

    When they are stalking a victim, ritual murderers don’t consciously feel anger, “but the violence shows the dissociated effect.” Many killers seem to go into a trance during their predatory and killing phases. They reduce the child to a symbolic totem meant to serve as a catalyst to instant wealth and acclaim. In some cases, the murderer summon angst from within to colour his reason and serve as a shield against his emotive and empathetic faculties. Thus it becomes easier for him or her to visualise the child or infant as the only stumbling block to his financial breakthrough and the life of his dreams, so argued Dele Otun, a clinical psychiatrist.

    Indeed, 15-year-old Azeez claimed that he seemed to go into a temporary trance while he decapitated his four-year-old neighbour. The teenager admitted that he was driven by the promise of financial reward by the man who contracted him to commit the dastardly act. Likewise, Omosaba’s confessional statement revealed that he beheaded his niece driven by the belief that he would become very rich by using her head for voodoo money-making rituals.

     

    After the murder

    According to Joel Norris, a psychiatrist, there are six phases of the serial killer’s cycle:  The Aura Phase, where the killer begins losing grip on reality; The Trolling Phase, when the killer searches for a victim; The Wooing Phase, where the killer lures his victim in; The Capture Phase, where the victim is entrapped; The Murder or Totem phase, which is the emotional high for killers; and finally, The Depression Phase, which occurs after the killing.

    Norris states that when depression sets in, it triggers the phases into beginning again. There is no means of ascertaining the workings of the Omosabas, Asayes and Osunas of this world; the Nigerian criminal justice and clinical psychiatry are yet to evolve a dependable measure of addressing such societal malaise, according to Olumide Kehinde, a social psychologist.

    According to him, “Parents need to be more vigilant in ensuring the safety of their children. They should endeavour to report suspicious persons in their neighbourhood to law enforcement agencies immediately they notice them in their vicinity.”

    But what happens when the assailant is a parent, uncle, aunt, close relative or neighbour of the child? The answer is reflective in the poor, tragic fate of three-year-olds like Princess  and Adunbarin.

  • Ruined from the cradle

    Ruined from the cradle

    • Pathetic tales of children whose dreams are shattered by cancer

    His voice quaked and despondency covered his face as he began the distressing story of his battle with a form of cancer known as Hoghkin Lymphoma. Six-year-old Tofunmi Adebayo became even more emotional as his eyes came in contact with those of his mother who was seated opposite him. The red rims of his misty eyes blinked and tears began to roll down his tender cheeks.

    “It is very sad that I am living with cancer at this tender stage of my life. It doesn’t make me feel happy at all. Some of my peers have died as a result of this, and each time they die in the hospital, we cry and beg God to spare our lives. I want to live; I don’t want to die,” he said.

    Tofunmi is not bothered only by the pains he suffers but also by the trouble his condition has put his parents through. “I really pity my parents and wish I could save them all the pains they are going through because of me,” he said. “But it is not my fault that this has happened to me. I have not done anything to warrant this kind of challenge.”

    Added to his anguish is the fact that doctors have asked him to stay away from school for fear that he could contract infections that would compound his condition.

    “The fact that I have been asked to stay away from school makes me even sadder,” he said. “I love going to school and I am worried because I don’t know how long this will last.

    “I feel sad when I see my colleagues going to school and I wish I could join them.”

    Explaining why he was asked to stay away from school, Tofunmi’s mother, Mrs Omolara Adebayo, said: “He stopped going to school in February because doctors said he is prone to infections. They said that chemotherapy usually weakens their immune system and if he catches any little infection, it can worsen his health condition and that could lead to anything.

    “They gave us a number of examples. And if you have been to that department in LUTH (Lagos University Teaching Hospital), you will see children dying every day.

    “When we went there last week, three children died. I keep giving God all the glory because the same kind of treatment that my son went through without me by his bedside, they did it for two children after him and they died.”

    Narrating how Tofunmi’s predicament started, she said: “When it started, I didn’t know it was cancer. The right side of his neck was swollen when he came back from school one afternoon. I also discovered that his temperature was very high, but I took it for malaria. We treated him and both the swelling and the temperature subsided. That was in 2013.

    “After some time, the swelling came up again and we gave him the same treatment. Then in the afternoon of January 15, 2014, he came back from school and a woman, who is a nurse, saw him and shouted, ‘What is wrong with you?’ I took him to the school clinic where the doctor prescribed a drug called Augmentine for him.

    “Five days after, the swelling didn’t go down. With the help of the nurse, I took him to the medical centre where she worked. We did series of tests and scans. They suspected tuberculosis or lymphoma.

    “There was a test we were supposed to do at the medical centre but they couldn’t do it because of his age. We therefore took him to LUTH where the test was done. We took the result to the laboratory where it was confirmed that he is suffering from Hogkins Lymphoma.”

    Three-year-old Ebuka Agwu’s condition is even more heart-rending. He was barely four months old when he was found to be suffering from cancer of the eye. He has since lost both eyes to the sickness. While Ebuka’s age mates are being conveyed  to school, his parents have to take him to the hospital.

    His distraught father, Christopher, explains the genesis of his problem thus: “My son was barely four months old when his eyes started shinning like those of a cat. Suspecting that it could be a medical condition, we took him to LUTH where they asked us to go and do a scan. The cost of the scan was very high and we couldn’t afford it.

    “We waited for a while and travelled to the Federal Medical Centre in Owerri where a test was done and the two eyes were found to be having some challenges. They referred us to Enugu.

    “When we got to Enugu, they wanted to do a surgery but because he was underage, they couldn’t do it. He developed high temperature each time they took him to the theatre. I eventually asked them to refer us back to LUTH, where the operation was done 11 months after he had lost one of the eyes. After that, they said he would go through chemotherapy, which they said would cost N1.8 million. I couldn’t afford it, so I asked them to discharge us. They did and we went home.

    “One and a half years later, the growth in the other eye burst. I was away from the house when my other children called to say that the growth had burst. When we got back to the hospital, the doctors were shocked and could no longer recognise him. Thereafter, we started the chemotherapy.

    “He is on the seventh stage of the nine stages now. This is a very terrible sickness. It kills children on a regular basis. No fewer than 10 children that I know have died since I started taking my son to the hospital.”

    The innocent boy, according to the father, has been psychologically traumatised by the hurting treatment he gets each time he visits the hospital. He runs away from everybody apart from his mother, believing that they could be doctors.

    The experience played itself out when our correspondent visited their house. All the efforts made to convince him that the visitor was a teacher and not a doctor proved abortive. He cried uncontrollably until he was left to move away from the visitor’s sight.

    “He runs away from everybody including me,” his father said, “because I have been the one taking him to the hospital. It is only the mother that he allows to carry him. If I go close to him, he will run away because he would think that I want to take him to the hospital again.”

    His mother added: “I am moved to tears each time I see Ebuka and other children of his age. A lot of his peers have died in the hospital ward since we started his treatment. I know that God has a purpose for keeping him alive till today.”

    A mother’s agony

    Reliving the circumstances in which his son, Abayomi, died of stomach cancer, a bereaved mother, said: “He was 11 years old when the problem started. He came back from school one day having high temperature. I took him to the hospital and treated him for malaria and typhoid. After some time, the problem started all over, to the extent that he couldn’t sleep at night.

    “When we took him to Federal Medical Centre, we were asked to do some tests. The tests showed that he was having cancer of the stomach. We then took him to LUTH.

    “After some time, the sickness affected his eyes, made the head to be swollen and the stomach to shoot out. I am a widow. I did all I could to save his life, but he passed away after two years.

    A survivor’s story

    Chidera, a 13-year-old junior secondary school student, is one of the few survivors of the lethal sickness. Recalling her ordeal while the sickness lasted, she said: “I was scared when the doctor said I had cancer. I kept praying that God should save my life. My harrowing experience has kindled my interest in becoming a medical doctor. I also want to save the life of other people just the way my life has been saved.”

    Her lucky mother recalled how she became victim of leg cancer, saying: “It happened while she was having her bath. She slipped on the tiles and injured her leg. We took her to local bone setters for treatment but the problem didn’t abate. We later took her to Igbobi (orthopaedic hospital) and she was diagnosed with cancer of the leg.

    “We later took her to LUTH for proper medical attention. I thank God she is better today, although we still visit the hospital for treatment and tests.

    “It has really been a challenging period for me because I lost my husband in the heat of the problem and have nothing to fall back on again because we have lavished everything on her treatment.”

    Distraught parents narrate ordeal

    Owing to the huge cost of attending to the health conditions of their children, the parents lamented that they have literally become beggars as they have spent all they have on the treatment of their children. Mrs Adebayo said: “His (her son’s) predicament has affected everybody in the family. I have not been feeling well for some time now. It has not been easy in terms of finance. We have become gravely indebted taking care of his health condition.

    “It is an understatement that I earn nothing at the end of every month even though I am working and getting paid. To go out, I often ask my colleagues to assist me with N200, N100 and so on. My son would be going for chemotherapy next Thursday, before that, he would have to do some blood tests and other things like that. I don’t know where we would get the money for all that but I am trusting God for help.

    “We need help. It is not an easy task to take care of a cancer patient. It is not an easy challenge to manage. My husband and I take turns to stay with him in the hospital. I often sleep there with him in the hospital.”

    Mr Agwu also noted: “Ebuka’s condition has affected the upkeep of his siblings, as I have withdrawn them from private schools and enrolled them in public schools. The costs of managing his health condition are killing. What you encounter today is not what you will encounter tomorrow. That is how it has been all along.

    “For instance, his red blood cells dropped drastically recently and we rushed him to the hospital. We were asked to buy five bottles of a particular medication that would boost it. Each bottle of the medication, which is not more than four inches long, costs N27, 500. At the end of the day, they used only four. When I tried to return the last one with the hope of having the money refunded to buy food for the other children who had been without food for some time, the pharmacy refused to take it.

    “Hair does not grow on his head anymore because of the strong antibiotics he is taking. I was trading at Alaba before but have shut down my business since my son’s problem started, because I have used all my capital and savings to pay his bills. It is people of goodwill that have been helping me and the family all this while.”

    The late Abayomi’s mother bemoaned the painful and untimely death of her son, saying: “His death has affected me badly. I have not recovered from the shock I suffered after his death.

    “How he came about the sickness is still a mystery to me because we all ate the same food. It also caused me untold financial crisis that affected the well being of his siblings. They couldn’t go to school all through the period he was sick. I am still struggling to repay the money I borrowed to pay his bills.”

    Dr. Nneka Nwobi, the Executive Director of Children Living With Cancer Foundation, said: “It is very, very expensive to treat childhood cancer. The chemotherapy is expensive, the drugs are extremely expensive, the support systems are expensive, the blood transfusion, the radiation and even the investigations are expensive. CT scan is expensive. There is no way you can have it done for less than N20, 000 to N30, 000.

    “Not many parents can afford that. Screening a pint of blood costs N5, 000. Everything about childhood cancer is expensive. From the investigation to the treatment and maintenance, it is really very expensive.

    “Children who have cancer of the bone often have their legs cut off. To get the artificial leg is very expensive. These children that we care for come from poor homes, and they need whatever assistance they can get.”

    Recounting her experiences working with the victims, she said: “I have happy and sad stories working with these children. The happy story comes when a child is cured and I get to see the child after two to three years.

    “There was a child I met when he was two and a half years old. He was suffering from cancer of the kidney then. We did everything possible for him, up to the point of radiotherapy. He is seven years now and very much alive.

    “There was a nurse there at LUTH whose son had leukemia. We did everything we could but the child passed on. Before he passed on, he called the mother and blessed her and also called me and did the same.

    “He said to me, ‘Come, I want to see your face. You are a good woman.’ He said the mother should not cry for him because he knew that she had done a lot to save his life and that if it was possible for her to give up her life for him to live, she would have done so.

    “He said that he was going to a happy place and pleaded with the mother not to cry. When you hear such, it brings tears and joy. The joy is that he is going to a better place while the tears are that he is leaving too soon.”

    She added: “Some of these children are very spiritual. They know when they are dying. Some of them curse their fathers because the fathers are always not there for them. One of them said for the fact that her father had to abandon her in her moment of crisis and need, he would not find anything good. Shortly after that, the man was deported from America.

    “When we meet some of the parents for the first time, they are always in tears because they could hardly provide for their children let alone have the resources to take care of their health problem that suddenly crops up.

    “I guess this is why some fathers don’t stay, because they can’t watch their children go through the pains. But the mothers always stay to see them through. At the end of the day, when the children are passing on, they are calmer and would even begin to talk about their passing away.

    “There was a child, the parents, knowing that she was going to pass away, asked what she would like them to do for her. She said she wanted to have a party with her friends. They organised a big party for her and she felt very happy. Shortly after that, she passed on. They did this to give her a painless exit.”

    She lamented that the government is not doing anything to help the victims, adding:“This time around, I am hoping that in this year’s cancer week, childhood cancer will be given the attention it deserves and therefore make the government to sit up and do something urgent about it.”

    Prof Adebola Akinsulie, the Head of Department of Pediatrics\ Head of Hematology and Oncology Unit at Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), said: “Cancer actually occurs in children and there is no age group that is exempted. There are different types for different age groups and we have to detect it very early because these little children may not complain about it. Cancer is an abnormal growth that can occur in any part of the body. If you have a small bump that is growing abnormally, it is cancer. The cells inside the blood can grow and when you have such abnormal growth inside the blood, it is also cancer.

    “Cancer can be in form of solid which we call solid tumours or solid cancer. It can also affect blood and we call that leukemia. Some children can have leukemia while some may have solid tumours. They all occur in children.

    “The type of leukemia that we commonly have in children is called acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The good thing about some of these cancers is that they are curable if they are detected on time. When I say it is curable, I mean, after we have done five -year survival rate and have followed many of these children for a long time, we discover that they are free of the disease. Five-year survival rate means that the possibility of that thing coming back after five years is very small.

    “But once the abnormal growth spreads and establishes itself in distant areas, then it becomes incurable. When you notice the eye of a child shinning like that of a cat, or a swelling in the stomach, or abnormal growth anywhere in the body, quickly contact your doctor. It is very expensive to treat and practically incurable if presented late.”

    Asked if it is possible to prevent it in children, he said: “It is difficult to answer yes or no because we don’t know the cause of some of them and when you don’t know how some came about, it is very difficult to say how it can be prevented. Some of them we say are associated with certain things. Just like we associate smoking with the cancer of the lungs in adults, we associate some infection with solid cancer in children.

    “In an area like ours where malaria has affected our ability to fight certain infections, certain viruses can cause certain cancers. So it is difficult to say this is the way to prevent it.

    “Exposure of everybody including adults to excessive rays (not the usual x- rays we have occasionally), like the kind of radiation that occurs where nuclear plant is damaged in a place like Japan when they had the tsunami, such radiation can easily cause cancer.

    “Another thing that we know as a cause is excessive smoking in mothers. It can cause some abnormality, especially cancer in children. We have certain kinds of drug usage in mothers while they are pregnant. This is also associated with cancer. Such causes could be prevented. But like I said, we don’t know about 70 to 80 per cent of the causes.”

    He continued: “We can say that some of the causes are genetic and others hereditary because some children have genetic problems. For example, children suffering from the Down syndrome may have the tendencies to develop certain kinds of cancer like leukemia. Few cases like that have been associated with genetic problem. It is not like you can transmit it from mother to child. It is a genetic make-up, but it is not everybody that has that. They only have the tendency to have cancer in future if you have certain abnormalities of the genetic make-up we call chromosomes, like a breakage in what constitutes gene.”

    He noted that good nutrition does not prevent cancer, stressing that it is only generally good for the body.

    “Good nutrition is good for the general well being of the body against illnesses, but people who take good nutrition may also develop certain cancers. It is not the case of if I take this kind of food, I will not have cancer.”

    The victims, he said, have the chance of attaining old age in spite of the terminal nature of the sickness.

    “Like I said, if the cancer is detected early and treated…in the case of a person suffering from cancer of the kidney, an affected kidney may be removed because we need only one to live. If it is done early, the victim can be actually cured. Many of them can be cured when they are detected early, even the ones that have gone round the body, like leukemia, can still be cured with certain drugs and radiotherapy, provided it is detected very early.”

    Asked if the sickness is more endemic in the country than it is abroad, he said: “It is difficult to say categorically that we have more or they have more. There are some kinds of cancer that we have more, for example, if we mention some cancers that tend to be more around the blast and among the people with low social economic power. But they tend to have cancers like leukemia than we do.

    “Cancer is a worldwide phenomenon. Just as it happens among black people, it also happens among the white people. The only difference is that they are able to cure more of their cancer cases because they detect them early.

    “Then our advocacy is that parents should be educated that cancers can occur in children. When you notice abnormal behaviour, swelling, limping and growth, see your doctor immediately and avoid the temptation of using self medication. “

    Appeal to government

    Worried by the enormity of the cost of treating the victims, Akinsulie said: “The assistance I will appeal to the government for is to make the treatment of cancer in children free. Such would definitely encourage the parents to present their children early to the hospital.

    The World Health Organisation is interested in all ailments, but they like to concentrate on those that affect large number of people. The percentage of children affected by cancer is less than one, but any home where it occurs, because of the cost of management, it usually ruins that home. By the time they spend N1 million or N2 million, they must have sold their television sets and other properties. That is why individual government, rather than WHO should come into the matter. We should do more public awareness about it and get the public to assist these unfortunate children.

    “The death rate may be as high as 100 per cent if they are presented late, and that is the kind of presentation we have in Nigeria. When people have kidney problem, it is when the whole thing has been destroyed and part of the tummy has been destroyed that victims are brought to the hospital. The death rate is very high in Nigeria, like I said, because of late presentation.”

    Describing the psychological impact of the sickness on victims, Lateefat Odunuga, a psychologist, said: “The physical symptoms of cancer and the treatment of it can have serious social and emotional consequences for the child. Research indicates that the negative perception of self-appearance often found in children with cancer is associated with academic, social, and psychological impairment, low self-esteem and symptoms of depression. The traumatic experience of having cancer places children at significant risk for a range of short- and long-term social, emotional, and behavioral difficulties.

    “The chronic strains of childhood cancer, such as treatment-related pain, visible side effects such as hair loss, weight gain or loss, physical disfigurement and repeated absence from school negatively impact children’s social and psychological adjustment.

    “Children with cancer and survivors of childhood cancer may experience: severe anxiety, inhibited and withdrawn behaviour, behaviour problems, excessive somatic complaints, intense stress, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), academic difficulties and surrounding frustration, peer relationship difficulties, and worries about the future in relation to career and relationships.

    “Research indicates that childhood cancer survivors also experience academic difficulties that contribute to social and emotional maladjustment. Contributing to the learning problems which many students with cancer face is the high rate of absenteeism that may result from hospitalizations, treatments, and treatment of side effects.

    “Children with leukemia miss between 10 to 20 weeks of school in one year, and as a result, many of them repeat grades. Furthermore, when a child is out of school for a long period of time, he or she may experience reactions such as depression, apathy and poor self-concept.”

    Explaining the psychological impact on the family/care givers, she said: “Family members of a child with cancer often suffer various forms of distress with regards to the child’s illness. Parents report feelings of anxiety, depression, symptoms of PTSD and distress related not only to the child with cancer but also to the adjustment of the child’s siblings. Some parents may resort to substance abuse while some others may be tempted to consider euthanasia for the victims.

    “The siblings could also be feeling anxious, stressed, overwhelmed, neglected, and guilty. Some could end up becoming deviants in society as a result of the parents’ inability to provide their basic needs caused by the huge money they are spending on the victims.”

    In spite of the daunting challenge faced by the victims and their family members, she noted that there are psychosocial interventions that can give promising results to the victims.

    She said: “There are numerous factors and interventions which seem to predict better psychological adjustment for children with cancer. For example, having high levels of support from the family, classmates, the school, and the hospital predicts better adjustment.

    “Research has also shown promises in the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral interventions for children, parents, siblings and the family as a whole, which include teaching effective coping strategies for children, targeting social skills development, group therapies alleviating siblings’ emotional and behavioral problems, and improving overall and long-term family functioning via family therapy.”

  • Buhari: From cradle to candidate

    Buhari: From cradle to candidate

    General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), is an enigma viewed in different lights by many. To some he’s a Muslim fundamentalist, while others see a disciplined, honest and modest family man. His reputation is under attack by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which is facing the first truly competitive electoral contest since the outset of the Fourth Republic. In this piece, YUSUF ALLI and TONY AKOWE tell the story of the soldier turned politician, stripped of myths and caricatures.

    But for providence, the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (born 17 December, 1942) would have been unheard of. From birth, the odds were not in his favour but he withstood all hurdles to survive and shine in life.

    He was born on a Thursday – an anonymous day in the week reflecting his equally unprepossessing roots. About him Abiyamo.com reports: “Unlike many other Northerners who were born into aristocratic backgrounds and climbed up using the prestige of their families and the influence of their fathers, Buhari was born into a humble family, what we call pako in my area…His mum had given birth to a set of twins before Buhari but they both died shortly after birth. That explains one of his nicknames, ‘Leko’ which means ‘someone born after twins who died’, something like Idowu in Yoruba land.”

    He was a product of a Fulani father and a Hausa (Habe) mother, Hajiya Zulaihat (nee Musa) who was the daughter of Sarki Dogarai (head of infantry) of Daura military forces. So, Buhari inherited soldiering from his maternal side because his maternal grandfather, Kauran Daura Lawal was the head of Daura’s military forces.

    Having lost his father, Hardo Adamu Buhari, at three going on four years, there were limited opportunities for the young Buhari because he was 23rd among his father’s children, but the 13th and the last child of his mother, Zulaihat. Though his father was the Ardo of Dumukorl Village near Daura, the chiefdom added no aristocratic value to his life. The only feasible alternative was to be a cattle herdsman as a Fulani man. Not being the type who easily succumbs to fate, Buhari strove hard to excel in primary and secondary schools as well as at the military cadet institutions he attended.

    HIS EDUCATION

    Although he had contested elections in 2003, 2007, and 2011, the general’s educational attainments have become an issue this time around after he filed an affidavit stating that his credentials were with Nigerian Army authorities. The PDP has sought to make capital out of this. Rather than ask under what circumstances (war, coup , detention, military ethics etc) Buhari’s credentials had been in the custody of the Nigerian Army, political expediency has kept the issue alive – although the PDP failed to take advantage of the one week period of claims and objections to challenge Buhari’s eligibility.

    Beyond the political shenanigans, there are two issues to be determined: Did Buhari go to school? Does he have certificate? His profile suggests an affirmative answer. He attended the Central Primary School in Daura  and Kankia Primary School (where he completed  lower education in 1956) before proceeding to the Provincial Secondary School in Katsina in 1956 after which he enrolled at the Nigerian Military College (now Nigerian Defence Academy) in 1962.

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in its  latest publication of the list of presidential candidates for February’s polls ascribed West African School Certificate (WASC) to Buhari as his qualification. Possibly, INEC is in possession of what most people don’t have.

    Investigations, however, indicate that Buhari earned a Diploma (equivalent of a Master’s Degree) in 1980 from the United States Army War College (USAWC). Responding to enquiries from a Nigerian, Sunday Iwalaiye, on Buhari’s status as a graduate of the college, Carrol Kerr of the Public Affairs Office of USAWC said: “Nigerian Col. Muhammadu Buhari is a graduate of the US Army War College Class of 1980 and earned a US Army War College Diploma. Note: The Army War College first awarded master’s degree to the class of 2000”.

    According to a book by the Federal Ministry of Information, “Muhammadu Buhari: Nigeria’s Seventh Head of State,” Buhari went to Provincial Secondary School (now Government College, Katsina) in Katsina. Some of his classmates in secondary school were a former Chief of Staff Supreme Military Council, Maj-Gen. Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, Alhaji Fathu Abdullahi. It was at the Provincial Secondary School that Buhari started demonstrating his leadership qualities because he emerged as a Class Monitor in Form 2. The book claimed that he later became a school prefect, a house captain and head boy of his set.

    Wikipedia give insights into Buhari’s sojourn in the military as well as the long chain of elite schools he attended. It says: “Buhari joined the Nigerian Army in 1962, when he attended the Nigerian Military Training College (in February 1964, it was renamed the Nigerian Defence Academy, (NDA) in Kaduna.

    “From 1962-1963, he underwent Officer Cadets training at Mons Officer Cadet School in Aldershot in England (Mons OCS was officially closed down in 1972).

    “In January 1963, Buhari was commissioned as Second Lieutenant, and appointed Platoon Commander of the Second Infantry Battalion in Abeokuta, Nigeria. From November 1963- January 1964, Buhari attended the Platoon Commanders’ Course at the Nigerian Military College, Kaduna. In 1964, he facilitated his military training by attending the Mechanical Transport Officer’s Course at the Army Mechanical Transport School in Borden, United Kingdom.

    “From 1965-1967, Buhari served as Commander of the Second Infantry Battalion. He was appointed Brigade Major, Second Sector, First Infantry Division, April 1967 to July 1967.

    “Buhari was made Brigade Major of the Third Infantry Brigade, July 1967 to October 1968 and Brigade Major/Commandant, Thirty-first Infantry Brigade, 1970-1971.

    “Buhari served as the Assistant Adjutant-General, First Infantry Division Headquarters, 1971-1972. He also attended the Defense Services Staff College, Wellington, India, in 1973. From 1974-1975 Buhari was appointed Acting Director, Transport and Supply, Nigerian Army Corps of Supply and Transport Headquarters.

    “He was also made Military Secretary, Army Headquarters,1978-1979, and was a member of the Supreme Military Council, 1978-1979.

    “From 1979 -1980, at the rank of Colonel, Buhari (class of 1980) attended the US Army War College (established in 1901) in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, United States of America and gained a Masters Degree in Strategic Studies. Upon completion of the on-campus full-time resident program lasting ten months and the two-year-long, distance learning program, the United States Army War College (USAWC) college awards its graduate officers a master’s degree in Strategic Studies.

    “Other roles include: General Officer Commanding, 4th Infantry Division, Aug. 1980 – Jan. 1981; General Officer Commanding, 2nd Mechanized Infantry Division, Jan. 1981 – October 1981. General Officer Commanding, 3rd Armed Division Nigerian Army, October 1981 – December 1983

    In August 1975, after General Murtala Mohammed took power, he appointed Buhari as Governor of the North-Eastern State, to oversee social, economic and political improvements in the state.

    “In March 1976, the then Head of State, General Olusegun Obasanjo appointed Buhari as the Federal Commissioner (position now called Minister) for Petroleum and Natural Resources. When the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation was created in 1976, Buhari was also appointed as its Chairman, a position he held until 1978.

    HeMajor-General Buhari was selected as Head of State to lead the country by middle and high-ranking military officers after a successful military coup d’etat that overthrew civilian President Shehu Shagari on 31 December 1983.

    LIFE AS A FAMILY MAN

    An addict of the Spartan life, Buhari resisted cultural pressure in the North for early marriage. He was also determined to see to the end of the 1967-1970 Civil War to keep the nation united before taking marital vows. His first wife was betrothed at 14 but he waited till she was 18 years to tie the nuptial knot. But at 29 years in 1971, he succumbed to the irresistible beauty of ex-First Lady Safinatu (née Yusuf) by going to the altar with her.

    Wikipedia reports: “They had five children together, four girls and one boy. Their first daughter, was Zulaihat (Zulai) named after Buhari’s mother. The other children are Fatima, Musa (deceased), Hadiza, and Safinatu named after her mother, Buhari’s first wife. In 1988, Buhari and his first wife Safinatu got divorced. In December 1989, he got married to his second and current wife Aisha (née Halilu). They also have five children together – one boy and four girls. They are Aisha, Halima, Yusuf, Zahra and Amina.

    On 14 January 2006, Safinatu Buhari, the former first lady of Nigeria and Buhari’s first wife, died from complications with diabetes. She was buried at Unguwar Rimi cemetery in accordance with Islamic rites. In November 2012, Buhari’s first daughter, Zulaihat (née Buhari) Junaid died from sickle cell anaemia, after having a baby two days earlier at a hospital in Kaduna.

    HIS UNIQUE QUALITIES

    Buhari has a huge cult following because he is firm, a nationalist, trustworthy, honest, hardworking, dependable and broadminded. Half of his cabinet as a military Head of State was made of Christians with portfolios assigned on merit and competence. He lives a modest life and is always decisive in dealing with any situation even if it involves his closest friend.

    Abiyamo.com quoted a former Protocol Officer and Interpreter at the State House, Dodan Barrack, Mr. Femi Segun – now deceased – as saying that  there was a time ex-Military President Ibrahim Babangida was almost retired by Buhari-Idiagbon regime over an issue. In spite of the fact that he was the Chief of Army Staff under Buhari’s regime, IBB was asked to leave a meeting where his fate was to be decided. He said: “IBB was asked to step out of the meeting which was going on because they wanted to discuss him. For about three hours, IBB , as the then Chief of Army Staff was just walking up and down outside without shoes and cap thinking seriously. We didn’t know what was going on but it was clear that he was asked to step out of the meeting.  A few days later, he staged a coup.

    “However, it must be said that Buhari was not blindly punitive. When 250 politicians from all over the country were declared by investigators not have any case to answer, he ordered all of them released. These included Adamu Ciroma, the late Ikemba of Nnewi, Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu, Audu Innocent Ogbeh, Alhaji Aliyu Maitama Yusuf, Dr. Bode Olowoporoku, Mrs. Mobolaji Osomo, Chief Michael Koleoso.”

    One of the classmates of Buhari,  Malam Mukhtari Zango, was quoted in the Federal Ministry of Information’s book  as follows: “He used to baffle me. He was so strong-willed and principled. He always stood his ground and did not follow the crowd.”

    A former Public Affairs Manager with the NLNG, Ilyasu Gadu, who was one of the co-writers of the book on Buhari, said: “Everyone we interviewed spoke glowingly about high-level of discipline, commitment to efficiency, selflessness and incorruptibility of Buhari. Yet little was known about these qualities. This was why the Publication Department of the Federal Ministry of Information through Mrs. Roseline Odeh came up with a proposal to unveil Buhari’s real person. I took the proposal to the then Chief Press Secretary to Gen. Buhari, Alhaji Wada Maida, who was also a former Managing Director of the News Agency of Nigeria.”

    HIS CONSISTENT VISION

    Like the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo and social critic, Tai Solarin who devoted their time to preach the gospel of quality education for all, Buhari has been a consistent advocate of anti-corruption war. He still does not mince words on this. When he assumed office in 1984 as a military Head of State, he said: “While corruption and indiscipline have been associated with our state of underdevelopment, these two evils in our body politic have attained unprecedented height in the past few years. The corrupt, inept and insensitive leadership in the last four years has been the source of immorality and impropriety in our society. Since what happens in any society is largely a reflection of the leadership of that society, we deplore corruption in all its facets. This government will not tolerate kick-backs, inflation of contracts and over-invoicing of imports etc. Nor will it condone forgery, fraud, embezzlement, misuse and abuse of office and illegal dealings in foreign exchange and smuggling.”

    Despite the fact that he left power about 30 years ago, Buhari’s perception of the solutions to the nation’s problems has not changed.

  • Again, Olanipekun lifts his cradle

    Again, Olanipekun lifts his cradle

    Nobody is remembered for the amount of money he left in the banks. No one is ever remembered for the amount of wealth he accumulated. Nobody is remembered for the amount of money he stole. But one is ever remembered for the positive impacts one made on humanity.”

    These words by Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), a former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), perhaps put to rest, the minds that had for long, remained hungry for why the courtroom firebrand had remained inseparably wedded to philanthropy.

    It was at the premises of the High Court situated in Ikere-Ekiti, the legal giant’s home town. And the outing was the formal commissioning of the multi-million-naira Wole Olanipekun Bar Centre the frontline lawyer built for the Ikere Branch of the NBA.

    Oyo State-born building expert Yusuf Adeoye, an engineer, who handled the project, told The Nation that he executed the project in five months. “We reclaimed the site because it was waterlogged. Last October, when I started the project, Chief Olanipekun briefed me that he wanted a befitting Bar Centre for Ikere Branch and I set out for it. It has seven toilet facilities, six air-conditioners, plasma televisions and a water borehole. Built with qualitative materials, its premises will easily accommodate 50 vehicles,” he said.

    An architectural masterpiece, the 400-seater structure pleasantly tortured guests’ eyes and lips for moments while the event lasted last Friday.

    On hand to witness the event were notable names in the Bar and the Bench from across the country. They were led the President, NBA, Chief Okey Wali, Senior Advocates including Chief Yusuf Alli, Chief Mike Ozekhome, Funke Adekoya, Niyi Akintola and Dele Adesina stepped out to be counted. They were received by the Ogoga of Ikere, Oba Adegoke Adegboye, accompanied by his chiefs, and Mr Funminiyi Afuye, the state Commissioner for Civic Orientation and Inter-Governmental Cooperation.

    Residents of the ancient town were not left out. They stood in groups around the sprawling premises to behold another index of the trademark magnanimity of their own ‘SAN’ as they fondly address the legal icon. With a groundswell of prayers, they gleefully recalled how he had proved a treasure to the town; how he had been empowering unemployed youths and the elderly. They did not forget his annual Wole Olanipekun Scholarship Scheme for students from across the state and the multimillion-naira vicarage he built for his church, St. Peters Anglican Church, Oke-Kere, which was commissioned last year.

    Before the kick-off of the event, the Chairman, Ikere Branch of the NBA, Olubunmi Olugbade, knew no rest in sheer excitement. He paced up and down pumping hands with visitors as they arrived. “This is my day and Chief Olanipekun made it,” he tacitly told himself. And to him, the donor is a major pillar of the association who, by the gesture, has written his name in gold in its annals.

    Cutting the tape to commission the edifice, Alli was profuse in praises for the donor. He added: “I was there when Chief Olanipekun made the promise to donate this to the association. Now, he has delivered on the promise. The monument will surely produce more SANs and leaders of our noble profession.”

    Adesina, who said he was not surprised in the least by the gesture, said he had known for long that it is in Olanipekun’s character to share his wealth among the needy. “He has continued to express his love for the profession; for this, he remains an inspiration to us,” he added.

    Ozekhome, who recently got off the hook of kidnappers who seized him on his way back to Lagos from his Agenebode, Edo State home, praised Olanipekun for his “uncommon love for his people and home town.”

    With kind words for Olanipekun and the contractor for its enthralling finesse, everyone admired the beauty of the structure as they filed in to inspect it. “This is a wonderful gesture that will be of immense benefit to the branch and its members. It is worthy of emulation,” remarked Chief Benjamin Ogunsemi, a member.

    Afuye described it as “another addition to the long list of value creation to the profession, the community and his family by Chief Olanipekun. The monument will be there for posterity.”

    Another son of the town, an Ibadan-based legal practitioner, Ola Alonge, said: “We can only continue to pray for him (Olanipekun) for all the wonderful things he has been doing for our dear town and its people. He is an asset to humanity and a cheerful giver of no mean order. To us, he is a model.”

    Swell refreshment later took place at Olanipekun’s palatial Iyaniwura House on Moshood Road, GRA. His delectable wife, Princess Omolara was personally in charge, serving the dignitaries. Residents who thronged the place ate and drank without let.

    It was a good outing for a local band that was on stand-by. Though uninvited, its members ate and drank to satisfaction before entertaining all. It was another opportunity for Osekhome to thank God for his safe journey from ‘Golgotha.’ He was the cynosure of eyes as he danced spiritedly, ‘spraying’ the band’s leader with naira notes.

    In his characteristic fashion, Olanipekun did not disappoint the boys. Beaming with toothy smiles, he dipped his hand into his pocket and blessed them with N1000 notes.

    Explaining his passion for the town, Olanipekun said: “I hold the concept of nativity very dear to my heart. I have travelled far and wide, but there is no place like home. Ikere is my cradle; the onus is on me to use my God-given endowments to leave it better than I met it. Nothing is too much for one to sacrifice for one’s cradle. It is my avowed commitment.”

    The town, The Nation learnt, might soon receive another “blessing” from the accomplished lawyer as he is making arrangements to secure a land at its General Hospital to erect a monument in memory of his late mother.