The Nation Newspaper

Tag: departs

  • An Amazon departs

    Winnie Madikizela-Mandela dies at 81, leaving behind a controversial trail

    Winnie Madikizela-Mandela (1936-2018), who died on April 3 at 81, after a protracted illness since the turn of 2018, was different things to different people. Beside her saintly former husband, the late Nelson Mandela, she was the essential human, with all the attendant flaws.

    Mandela may have evinced a Christlike dictum of “turning the other cheek”. To be sure, that saved South Africa from a possible bloodbath, after the evil years of apartheid. It also transfigured the Madiba into some universal hero, especially among the white folks.

    But Winnie, unfazed, bold and mercurial, would rather go with good old Moses, and his grim retaliatory law: “an eye for an eye”.

    Sure, that would have plunged South Africa into catastrophe. But it still left the Black romantics and air-punching radicals in the streets, with a rueful sense of what could have been — or more grimly, what should have been, had the Blacks tackled the Whites in final sweet Armageddon, to once and for all settle apartheid scores.

    Yet, don’t hurry to condemn this woman. She was only a victim of an oppressive system that brought out the beast in almost everyone — except the very few like the Madiba.

    When the stunningly beautiful Winnie married Nelson in June 1958, she was a young ravishing social worker, looking forward to nothing but matrimonial bliss. Indeed, the earliest account of the young Mandelas portrayed Winnie as a trendy and fashion-conscious woman, who immersed herself in fashion and style magazines, while Nelson had nocturnal meetings with his liberationist comrades.

    But Mandela’s long gaol term, after a slew of banishment and harassment, finally radicalised her to box the oppressive and obnoxious apartheid system, toe to toe, without wincing, even with all of the harsh security architecture stacked against her.

    With Mandela in the can for 27 cold years, most of that on the notorious Robben Island, Winnie took charge as both mother and father for their two daughters; and a mother of the nation in her own right, facing fierce danger. Indeed, she was condemned to offering leadership, with most of the top men in the African National Congress (ANC) and the competing but slightly more radical Pan-African Congress (PAC), in the slammer.

    For her effrontery, the South African apartheid regime hit her with a fist of mail. Hers was endless troubles under the racist regime. 1969: gaoled for 18 months for opposing the apartheid regime; 1976: banished to rural Brandfort; 1991: convicted for kidnapping, though that conviction would, after appeal, be converted to a fine; 2003: convicted for fraud; and 1996: suffered perhaps her most serious personal tragedy — divorced from her husband, after a few years of official separation, because of her indiscrete love affairs with younger men, especially the young lawyer and playboy, Dali Mpofu, to the utter angst of her husband, Nelson.

    Between Mandela’s release from gaol and negotiations to inaugurate South Africa as a multi-racial democracy, Winnie would plumb new controversies, bordering on savagery.

    Her Mandela Football Club was accused of perpetrating black-on-black violence in Soweto, with the most celebrated case of “Stompie” MoeketsiSeipei, 14, who died from torture, allegedly sanctioned by Winnie, as “mummy” of the Mandela Football Club.  The victims’ alleged offence was that they were police informers. That black-on-black violence further tarnished Winnie, even in the eyes of some of her own black folks, with the white establishment only too happy to amplify the roasting.

    Abroad, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela had a more nuanced image, with about everyone acknowledging her apartheid era courage and activism. Within South Africa, however, it would appear more iron-clad — the Blacks, holding her up as a heroine but the Whites trying to paint her as a villain.

    As in the United States, which catalogued the pacifist Martin Luther-King as a hero but marked down the radical iconoclast Malcolm X as a villain, yet both fought a just cause their own different ways, the international media has rallied to paint Winnie as a villain, while hoisting up her late husband as saintly icon.

    But that is nothing but vaulted hypocrisy. If indeed Winnie Mandela was a villain, she was brewed by an atrocious system, spawned by decades of needless crime against the black people and other non-whites of South Africa.

    The unflinching Winnie fought an epochal battle — and won, at least in the eyes of her oppressed and dominated people. Even with her flaws, history should be kind to her.  Good night, fiery Amazon!

  • Joseph Achuzia departs

    Joseph Achuzia departs

    •A war hero dies at 90

    His alias, Hannibal, spoke volumes about his military prowess. The original Hannibal was “a Carthaginian general, considered one of the greatest military commanders in history.”

    Joseph Achuzia earned the nickname based on the heroism he displayed fighting on the Biafran side during the Nigerian Civil War from 1967 to 1970. His death at the Federal Medical Centre, Asaba, Delta State, on February 26, reignited a public debate about the civil war that was fought to keep Nigeria united. His family said he was 90. Achuzia had left the Nigerian Army to join the secessionist army of Biafra in the east where he became a Major and played a major role in the tragic conflict that consumed millions of lives.

    It is a striking coincidence that Achuzia died at a time when the unity of the country has become a subject of intense public debate, with various stakeholders calling for restructuring. It is noteworthy that Achuzia was chairman, Supreme Council of Elders, Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). His link with IPOB, a controversial organisation that resurrected the Biafran struggle for secession, suggested that he was passionate about the separatist project till he died.

    Achuzia’s exploits on the battlefield were legendary and spawned stories about him that created a mystique. A revealing account said: “After Biafran soldiers were forced to retreat across the River Niger Bridge into Onitsha on September 20, 1967, Achuzia was promoted to Major and given command of the Biafran 11th   Battalion, responsible for defending the area between Atani and Ndoni from an imminent Nigerian attack. After the Biafran 18th Battalion under Colonel Assam Nsudoh was forced to retreat from Onitsha after eight days of bloody house-to-house fighting, the 11th Battalion under Maj. Achuzia linked up with the 18th Battalion east of the city and made plans to counter-attack. The 18th Battalion swung south along the Old Market Road while the 11th Battalion under Maj. Achuzia swung north along the New Market Road in a coordinated Pincer movement. The majority of the 5,000- man Nigerian 2nd Division stationed in Onitsha were either massacred or taken prisoner by Achuzia’s men.”

    The account continued:  ”Achuzia was given total control of the Biafran 11th Division on January 19, 1968…On May 19, 1968, Achuzia was transferred to Port Harcourt and made commander of all Biafran soldiers within the city… Maj. Achuzia stubbornly continued to fight against the Nigerians before narrowly escaping death after almost being run over by an armored car.”

    It is a measure of Achuzia’s stature in the Biafran Army and his loyalty to the rebellion that towards the end of the war the Biafran authorities ”officially placed all remaining Biafran soldiers under the command of Maj. Achuzia.” Indeed, Achuzia was among the important Biafran actors who eventually surrendered to the federal army in January 1970. The end of the war marked the end of Achuzia’s military activities, but not the end of his Biafra consciousness.

    His son, Onyeka, who announced his death, said: ”My father was the Ikemba of Asaba. A 21-gun salute has been fired in his honour and to announce to Asaba indigenes that he is no more.” It is notable that although Achuzia hailed from Asaba, which is outside the Igbo heartland, his heart was with his ethnic group.

    Achuzia’s death 48 years after the civil war meant that he had enough time to reflect on that bloody chapter in Nigeria’s history. It is ironic that after the war, he lived and died in a country he had fought to break away from. It is worth noting that he lived with the memory of military defeat but lived undefeated.

  • A grammarian departs

    •Bayo Oguntuase, journalist, teacher will be missed  in writing circles  

    He described himself as a “language activist,” and he was indeed linguistically active. For decades, Bayo Oguntuase, who would have turned 79 on May 25, was a populariser of correct English usage. His campaign, which he carried out as a teacher and writer, attracted public interest, especially in writing circles across the country.

    It is interesting that Oguntuase was a textile technologist who was better known for his interest in the dos and don’ts of English usage. His column “Mind Your Language” in the defunct National Concord was a popular platform on which he pontificated on good and bad English.

    A 2012 article which he titled “Bayo Oguntuase’s critique” captured his essence. He wrote: “You must try to read Andrew Fergus’ book entitled “What they are doing to your child at school.” It is an interesting educative book. Fergus made it known that all over the United Kingdom, traditionalists (trads) and trendies are fighting in classrooms over correct usage. I am a traditionalist and “I love everything that is old.”

    Oguntuase further illuminated his position: “The truth of the matter is that Dr. Samuel Johnson, through his Dictionary, published in 1755, removed all improprieties and absurdities from the English language. In short, he (like a number of current priests of usage and literary sophisticates) became a linguistic legislator attempting to perform for English those offices performed by the French Academy.”  This background is useful in situating Oguntuase’s role in the service of English. In a noteworthy tribute, Ebere Wabara, a language critic who described himself as Oguntuase’s “mentee,” gave an insight into the late septuagenarian’s life: “Pa Oguntuase was quite old but very agile and youthful. A voracious reader who stocked books of multifarious disciplines with emphatic interest in the English language, he knew almost something about everything. His exposure overseas, particularly Germany, exposed him to a goldmine of knowledge and broadened his views about issues.”

    It is a reflection of Oguntuase’s passion for correct English usage that he carried on with his corrective work even as he advanced in age. Beyond column writing, he taught in journalism schools and worked as a language consultant. More specifically, he lectured at the Nigerian Institute of Journalism (NIJ) and the College of Journalism (CoJ), both in Ogba, Lagos. Even in his seventies, he maintained a weekly column in The Sun and organised media-related lectures and workshops.

    His experience-based observation deserves attention: “The current generation of collegians and university graduates are just literate – literate enough to be dangerous! They are not educated in the broad sense of the word. Besides, they are killingly monolingual. It is sad and saddening. An awful lot of them can’t write grammatical paragraphs.”

    Oguntuase’s focus on grammaticality and acceptability conferred on him the identity of a grammarian. The status of English as an international language demands that its non-native users should be conscious of standard usage. It is commendable that Oguntuase left no one in doubt as to his objective of promoting standard usage among English users in the country.

    Not everyone agreed with his views on usage, but everyone appreciated his energy and purity of purpose. Indeed, Oguntuase’s interventions were usually marked by a puristic perspective that was sometimes hotly controversial.

    A few weeks before his death, his intervention was published as feedback in a language column in THISDAY on April 15. Oguntuase was quoted: “The governorship ticket, “on a platter of gold” (on a silver platter), was, therefore, a befitting compensation for Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s role in the democracy struggle. (Advertorial, The Nation, October 10, 2014) Usage note: The idiom known to correct English is “to have something handed to one on a silver platter, which means “to get or be given something (e.g. independence/a job or governorship ticket) without having to put any effort into it.”

    By his commitment to publicising the need to get English communication right, Oguntuase played an invaluable social role.

     

  • Obumselu: An intellectual icon departs

    ith the death in the early hours of March 4, 2017, of Benedict Ebele Obumselu, Africa and indeed the world have been robbed of one of the most formidable minds in recent times.  Whether in oral pronouncements or in writing or even in the manner he walked and gesticulated, Obumselu exhibited delightful scholarship—graceful, elegant, calm and measured in all circumstances. He was one of the most learned men I have ever met anywhere.  Michael J. C. Echeruo, poet, critic and university administrator who was to retire as William Sapphire professor of Modern Letters at Syracuse University in New York, called Obumselu the greatest African literary scholar of his generation.

    Obumselu was the first president of the association of Nigerian university students and the first English graduate of the University College, Ibadan. He was studying for a Bachelor of Arts (General) degree at Ibadan, then affiliated to the University College, London, when the degree programme in English was introduced in the 1950s; he switched to the new course because the single honours programme was very prestigious in those days in Nigeria. He had yet to graduate when he was offered admission at Oxford to study for the Doctor of Philosophy degree without reading for a Master’s. The admission was based on the strong recommendations of his lecturers at Ibadan who had been at Oxford.

    He returned to Ibadan in the 1960s, teaching people like Stanley Macebuh, Dan Izavbeye, Ken Saro-Wiwa, Jim Nwobodo, Theo Vincent, Molara Ogundipe, etc. Saro-Wiwa, not a man generous with praise, told the audience at the presentation in 1989 of his Prisoners of Jebs at Sheraton Hotel in Lagos that he was privileged to “learn at the feet of eminent scholars like Obumselu at Ibadan.” Obumselu displayed scintillating scholarship in his review of the book, delighting the audience with his range of philosophical speculation as he spoke on human freedom. Agreeing and disagreeing with various authorities, Cyprian Ekwensi, Ray Ekpu, Theo Vincent and Odia Ofeimun, among others, were swept off their feet, all the more since he spoke without notes. Ken never ceased to thank me for bringing Obumselu to speak at the book launch.

    As Nigeria’s political crisis of the late 1960s deteriorated, Obumselu, like most Eastern Nigerians outside their homeland, fled back home. He became one of Biafran leader Emeka Ojukwu’s closest advisers. He played a vital role in producing Ojukwu’s famous Ahiara Declaration of 1968,one of the greatest speeches by any African leader ever. This role was to put him in danger when the war ended.

    Obumselu then travelled to Oxford which was pleased to offer one of its brightest alumni a job, thus making him one of the few Africans ever to be given an academic position at the most prestigious British university. But the post would not be available till the next academic session. This was quite tough for someone who had just emerged from a ruinous war with practically no money, and so he settled for the University of Birmingham, another prestigious institution. He then moved to the Sorbonne, Europe’s second oldest university and the most prestigious in France. Disenchanted with little global attention to African affairs, Obumselu returned to Africa where he became a peripatetic scholar. He taught at universities in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo), Zambia, Lesotho and Botswana. He was on his way to the American University in Egypt when Jim Nwobodo, then Anambra State governor, pleaded with him to join his government.

    I was watching the newly established Anambra Television Service in Enugu when Dan Ibekwe, a banker turned broadcaster who spoke with a BBC accent and endowed with an incredible forensic skill, introduced Obumselu in his current affairs programme. I was surprised that the programme’s guest was already a full professor because his exceedingly good looks made him look like someone in his early 30s. I was charmed by the guest’s great insights and eloquence and calmness. The next day I set out to meet Ibekwe so that he could link me to his guest whom I had never heard of till the previous night. Good a thing, Obumselu’s office was a stone’s throw away. Obumselu was so genial and humble when we met.  We struck a lifelong friendship from that very day in 1982, despite the considerable difference in age. Far from saying “You are wrong” or “I disagree with you,” he would rather state: “I understand your point, but some person may think that …” He was so cultured and sensitive.

    His influence on me is far-reaching, even in speech. I profited tremendously from his vast learning. In our several discussions and debates over sundry issues, he would say something like this: “C. Don, you have spoken well about the concept of change in society. Now, address me on change from the perspective of Hegel’s Phenomenology of the Mind.” He delighted inphilosophy. Obumselu was also at home with economic and development matters. I frequently picked his brain. The trio of Ukpabi Asika, Pius Okigbo and Obumselu were among my greatest sources of informal learning. I am proud Obumselu and his delectable wife Fidelia were the official witnesses at my private wedding at St Agnes Catholic Church in Lagos, even though he was Anglican.

    Obumselu was deeply worried at the political decline of the Igbo people and devoted the last two decades to the Igbo cause. He relocated from Lagos to Enugu and worked with Ohaneze Ndigbo. He provided intellectual leadership in the emergence of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). He had earlier worked hard at getting the Igbo and the Yoruba to work together in what was famously known as the handshake across the Niger. He was the Ohaneze candidate for the post of Secretary to the Government of the Federation in 2011, but President Goodluck Jonathan eventually settled for Pius Anyim.

    An indigene of Oba in Anambra State, Obumselu was born in 1930. Though he did not return to the university environment since he retired from the Imo (now Abia) State University as the dean of the arts school in 1988, he was still publishing in some of the world’s greatest academic journals up to the time he took ill recently. An illuminating essay for Johns Hopkins University’s journal on literary ideas revealed new sources of James Cary’s fiction. He disagreed with Chinua Achebe that Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness is a racist novel, arguing that Achebe read it “as a generalist rather than a researcher.”

    His article on African writing and the influence of Marxism has been published in books and journals, including World Literature where I read it over 20 years ago. Obumselu was an authority on Russian literature and South African social and literary history. Only a few days to his death I found myself re-reading his “Andre Brink: A Historian of the South African Liberation”, published in African Commentary in June, 1990. I did not know his spirit was hovering around close friends as his own way of telling us that it was time to go.

     

    • Adinuba is head of Discovery Public Affairs Consulting.
  • Dream Team VI departs for Morocco today

    Dream Team VI departs for Morocco today

    Dream Team VI will leave for Morocco either today or tomorrow for the final part of their preparation for the CAF U-23 Championship slated for Senegal between November 28 and December 12.

    The General Secretary of the Nigeria Football Federation(NFF),  Mohammed Sanusi who revealed this to SportingLife said everything has been sorted out and that the U-23 team will depart for Morocco unfailingly by weekend.

    The Samson Siasia tutored U-23 team will be leaving for Morocco with 26 players from where five players will be dropped to make way for the 21 players that will represent Nigeria  during the Championship.

    Nigeria failed to make it to the last London 2012 Olympics after the team led by Austin Eguavoen couldn’t qualify for the first round in Group A which had Algeria, Morocco and Senegal.

  • 2015 AFRICA WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPS: Team Nigeria departs for Egypt

    2015 AFRICA WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPS: Team Nigeria departs for Egypt

    •We won’t disappoint, says Igali

    NIGERIA’S 25-man wrestling contingent yesterday departed the shores of the country for the 2015 Africa Wrestling Championships holding in Alexandria, Egypt. The team was led by the President of Nigeria Wrestling Federation, Hon. Daniel Igali.

    Commonwealth Games gold medalists, Aminat Adeniyi and Adekuoroye Odunayo, African champions Amas Daniel and Ebikewenimo Welson are among a strong group of 18 wrestlers to the championships with six athletes each competing in Greco Roman, Freestyle and Female Wrestling.

    Speaking on the importance of the tournament, Igali said being the first outing of the year for the wrestlers, the African Championship would afford the federation the opportunity to gauge the wrestler’s preparedness for the All Africa Games which comes up later in Congo Brazzaville.

    “Since wrestling was left out of last edition of the All Africa Games by hosts Mozambique, we are really looking ahead to compete in this year’s edition. The African Championships will no doubt afford us the avenue to prepare them for the Games,” Igali told SportingLife.

    Technical director of the federation, Damian Ohaike also expressed optimism of a good outing for his team, stressing that despite being the first tournament for the wrestlers in 2015, he had no doubt that the Nigerian Wrestlers will perform according to expectations at the African championships.

    “This will be the first tournament our athletes will be attending this year, but we have being in camp for some time now. They are in top shape and I believe that we are not going to Egypt just to make numbers,” Ohaike assured.

    The team is expected back to Nigeria on the 2nd of June.

  • Daddy Dearest Departs

    Daddy dearest departs

    Ascending the founts of Elysium

    On diamond wings of flight

    Begetter of dream angels.

    Ani Baba Kan!

    Our one and only

    Father of all

    Chief J. Adeleke Lakisokun!

     

    Father calls Father Time

    In the benediction of passing

    Now the age is ripe

    For the harvest of all seasons.

    Ani Baba Kan!

    Our one and only

    Father of all

    Chief J. Adeleke Lakisokun!

     

    From earth to sky

    And deep into the seas

    The eye courts wonders

    Of the deeds of Daddy Dearest.

    Ani Baba Kan!

    Our one and only

    Father of all

    Chief J. Adeleke Lakisokun!

     

    You are the one tree

    Maker of the vast forest

    In the future tense

    Marking eternal blessedness.

    Ani Baba Kan!

    Our one and only

    Father of all

    Chief J. Adeleke Lakisokun!

     

     

    – Uzor Maxim Uzoatu

  • ‘A generous soul departs’

    ‘A generous soul departs’

    The remains of Pa Elkanah Olatunji Kobnah Williams, father of Mrs Olanike Disu, director in the Lagos State Board of Internal Revenue (LSBIR), have been buried after a funeral service at the St. David’s Anglican Church, Lafiaji, Lagos. JOSEPH JIBUEZE, was there.

    The late Pa Elkanah Olatunji Kobnah Williams was many things to many people. He was a loving father to his children, a dependable ally to his friends and a supportive grandfather to his grand-children, who found him approachable. His death was a shock to those who knew him.

    Though sad, the family is consoled that he lived a fulfilled life.

    Born to a Ghanaian mother and a Nigerian father on February 6, 1928, the late Williams began his career in maritime at Elder Dempster Shipping Lines. He also worked at Transcot, before joining the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) in 1957.

    He was a staunch member of the St David’s Anglican Church in Lafiaji on Lagos Island. He was a chorister for 42 years, and a member of the parish council.

    The late Williams is survived by Margaret, his wife of 62 years; children, grand-children, brothers, sisters, nephews and nieces.

    He was interred at the Ikoyi Cemetery in Lagos after the funeral service. Reception follwed at the City Hall on Catholic Mission Street, Lagos Island.

    The setting oozed class. The glittering expansive hall was decorated with white drapes, hanging round the walls and across the hall.

    The tables had an assortment of grey, red and white linen overlays; gold-coloured stands  added beauty to the setting.

    The day’s colour was royal blue, white and tomato red. Many men and women turned out in eye-catching attires.

    At the service, a moment of silence was observed, while hymns were sung, including the late Williams’ favourite (I.O.M 309), which was rendered by the children.

    Venerable Jide Adebayo, who gave the sermon titled: ‘Two sides of the gospel”, said the late Williams was the “father of the church cathedral”.

    He said the family could take comfort in the knowledge that their father knew Christ while alive. The preacher urged the mourners to repent. “Repentance is key. Without it there can be no forgiveness,” Adebayo said.

    According to him, death is a sign of God’s sovereignty. Man, he said, may be rich and wise, but “the Joker of life is in God’s hands.”

    He said death comes to both the young and the old, but everyone would answer to God on how they lived.

    “One day we’ll say bye-bye to this world. Death is inevitable; the only thing that is uncertain is when it will come. My prayer is that God will give you enough years in your life to make amends,” the venerable said.

    He described the late Williams as a forthright man who fought passionately for any cause he believed in.

    “He was a proper ‘Omo Eko’, but he had listening ears. He was always at the Elders’ Bible study. He was a man known for honesty and was so well-respected and celebrated,” Adebayo added.

    His first son, Tunde, said his father cared for his family till death.

    “He is a mother in a father’s image (like a foul to her chicks). He was a defender of the weak, and fought other people’s fight when cheated,” he said.

    The late Williams’ daughters, Mrs Ronke Adewale and Mrs Olanike Disu, in their tributes, described their father as very caring.

    “He loved to a fault. He lived a life of sacrifice. He was kind hearted, humble, a good and loving husband to his wife and a caring father to his children,” Mrs Adewale said.

    For Mrs Disu, who is a director in the Lagos Board of Internal Revenue, her father’s life was full of loving deeds.

    “I remember days he went to work even when he didn’t feel well just to make some extra money for his family.

    “Education meant so much to him such that he used his land at Ijeshatedo (Lagos) as collateral for a loan to pay my fees while I studied in the university in the United States,” she recalled.

    The late Williams’ grandchildren also had fond memories of him. His grand-daughter, Omoyeni Disu wrote: “My ice cream partner as I always call him, always readily available to have ice cream and cake with me while we sit and talk about the most random things from clothes to women and politics, it was never a dull moment with grand-pa.”

    The late Williams studied at the St Saviour High School and St Gregory’s College, Obalende, where he sat for and obtained his Cambridge certificate. He retired from NPA in 1988 after 31 years of service.

  • Chukwumerije departs for WTF Manchester Grand Prix

    Chukwumerije departs for WTF Manchester Grand Prix

    Nigeria’s sole representative in the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) Grand Prix holding in Manchester this week, Chika Chukwumerije will today depart the country aboard a Lufthansa Airline to Manchester, United Kingdom (UK).

    However, the Beijing Olympics bronze medalist is expected to face stiff oppositions from 31 top taekwondists including the current Olympics champion, Gabon’s Anthony Obame in the men’s +87kg.

    Chukwumerije qualified to take part in the tournament following his world rating, while he will compete against the best in the world at the three-day championship holding at the Manchester Central Convention Complex

    In total, 250 of the world’s best players will gather for the three day event and after series stop-offs in Suzhou, China and Astana, Kazakhstan.

    The Team Nigeria captain to the 2012 London Olympics was in danger of losing out on the prestigious Grand Prix, after missing out in Suzhou, China, but he ensured he competed at the 2nd Grand prix of the year in Astana, Kazakhstan, held 29th August – 2nd September 2014, in order to gain enough momentum to make it to Manchester.

    In Kazakhstan, he fought his way into the last 16 to be able to secure a spot at the Manchester Grand Prix this month.

    The WTF Grand Prix, is currently the most interesting and competitive series on the WTF Calendar, and has had the Taekwondo global world buzzing since the inaugural edition in December 2013. Only the world’s top 31 athletes in each weight category, based on their recent 2014 WTF Olympic ranking, are eligible for the tournament, and the Grand Prix series have a direct impact on qualification for the RIO 2016 Olympics, as a massive 40 Olympic ranking points are at stake.

    Meanwhile the host – Great Britain has named a 14-strong squad for the Manchester leg of the World Grand Prix series including Olympic champion, Jade Jones, and London 2012 bronze medalist, Lutalo Muhammad.

    Great Britain’s Performance Director, Gary Hall, wants to replicate and potentially better the 2013 performances when Manchester Central again stages the tournament later this month.

    The event sees the world’s best athletes come together to compete not just for the Grand Prix title, but also for valuable ranking points in the lead up to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

    Chungwon Choue, World Taekwondo Federation President, said: “We are extremely excited about the WTF World Taekwondo Grand Prix”.

    “The inaugural event in Manchester last year was a great success and served to highlight the passion and enthusiasm that exists amongst fans to see regular Olympic-standard competition between the world’s best athletes.”

    Chairman of GB Taekwondo, Jeremy Beard said: “Having worked closely with the World Taekwondo Federation over the last couple of years to develop the concept of the Grand Prix, we are delighted to be hosting it in Manchester once again.

    The best Taekwondo athletes will gather to reach the valuable 40 WTF Ranking Points and the $ 5,000 cash prize.

  • As Dimgba departs

    As Dimgba departs

    “live all you can; it’s a mistake not to. It doesn’t so much matter what you do in particular so long as you have your life. If you haven’t had that what have you had? … I haven’t done so enough before—and now I’m too old; too old at any rate for what I see. … What one loses one loses; make no mistake about that. … Still, we have the illusion of freedom; therefore don’t be, like me, without the memory of that illusion. I was either, at the right time, too stupid or too intelligent to have it; I don’t quite know which. Of course at present I’m a case of reaction against the mistake. … Do what you like so long as you don’t make my mistake. For it was a mistake. Live!” – Henry James

    One afternoon in 1997, I walked into Mike Awoyinfa’s office and it was not the clatter of his type writer that ushered me in. Nor his familiar voice calling out for a copy. The air collapsed under an aroma. Before my eyes caught him as I stood on the threshold of his door, I wondered aloud. Who had turned the office of the Weekend Concord into a kitchen of rare delicacy?

    When I saw Mike, he was crouching in furious enjoyment over a plate. Pounded yam and what?

    “It’s Igbo soup,” he said between swallow-fulls. I was evidently an unwelcome guest in his hour of union between palate and plate.

    “Ask Dimgba,” he commanded. I was already hungry. I went out and asked Dimgba whose palate was also talking to plate.

    “It’s oha soup,” said Dimgba Igwe. It was my induction to that Igbo delicacy, but it was also a moment in national unity. Mike did not know the name of the soup. But he tried it because his friend, Dimbga, an Igbo man, ordered it. He also ordered it, and enjoyed it. Theirs was not a culinary union. It was a union of hearts that transcended tribe, history, family. They were twins by soul.

    “We are birds of different colours,” crooned Mike at the service of songs held for him at the Evangel Pentecostal Church on October 4. But they flocked together in stunning harmony in a friendship that lasted 30 years. It had the potential of another 20-year run if the impetuous madness of a car driver had not ended Dimgba’s life while jogging on September 6.

    Those of us who witnessed the friendship of Mike and Dimgba saw a mini-Nigeria. Tongues and tribes did not differ. In a corporate life where heads and deputies often did not agree, they were an alloy. The chemistry was unlikely given the trajectory of a larger Nigeria. I witnessed this unfolding, and it never occurred to me or anyone I knew that there was any tension, any suggestion that anything could bring them apart. Ordinarily, anyone who wrote such a script would be tagged a dreamer. Mike a free spirit. Dimgba a contained personality. Mike a lover of the social tempers of the day, such as music, drama, Sina Peters, etc. Dimgba in thrall of gospel music. Mike of the outdoors. Dimgba a home buddy. Mike a poet. Dimgba a word processor. Mike the adventurous. Dimgba the cautionary tale. Mike a Yoruba man. Dimgba an Igbo man. Their paths tracked in the opposite.

    Their friendship did not make Dimgba less an Igbo man or Mike less a Yoruba man. It only made them more Nigerian. But reality trumped imagination. Anyone who anticipated tension at the beginning now rooted for them. But they did not need anyone’s prayers. They were always together, in Lagos, in London, in the New York, in Germany.

    “It is not as if we did not quarrel,” Mike announced at the service of songs to a hall packed with media icons. Doyin Abiola. Sam Amuka. Ray Ekpu.  Dan Agbese. Nduka Irabor. Etc. He referred to his jeans affection. Dimgba did not like jeans. He was always formally dolled up. He recalled an occasion when the even-tempered governor of Delta State was looking for them. Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan did not see Mike but noticed Dimgba. According to Mike, Dimgba poked fun at him afterwards, saying how could the governor have noticed him when he was dressed like a mechanic? Ditto when they travelled business class when his sartorial humility was out of sync with others. Or when they drove to a fuel station and Mike would not want to pay for petrol, and Dimgba poked at the “Ijebu man.”

    Dimgba alone could reel out a biography of Mike at his 60th birthday. Affectionate and unflattering, it was executed with the candour of a brother. Dimgba trusted him saying he could leave everything in Mike’s hands and “go to sleep.”

    New Telegraph Managing Director Eric Osagie and I saw them in their Weekend Concord days as a study of human harmony. Osagie worked under them. I wrote a regular column. In fact, Mike was the first person to believe in me as a columnist and made me write every week based on the day’s cover story. Dimbga was the one that enforced the discipline. Dimgba also made the point of getting me paid for it.

    “Would you take your column to your landlord at the end of the month?” quipped Dimgba.

    Eric and I saw how Dimgba made Mike shine. Mike was impulsive as Dimgba was the stabiliser. Mike bubbled with ideas but the technocrat in Dimbga delivered the goods. Mike wanted to work for money but Dimgba knew how to turn it into bread and butter. They played without jealousy or envy. That is why private and work life merged.

    Their homes are next to each other, and there is no fence. Between this Yoruba man and this Igbo there is no barrier. That is the trust we do not have in the real world. Mike lamented that when he fainted on a Paris street years ago, Dimgba revived him. But he was not around for his friend when death visited him on a Nigerian road. He was out of the country.

    The church launched a trust fund for Dimgba’s family, his wife, boys and girls. All the governors and the president ought to deposit something handsome now into that purse before their attentions move away as humans do. Dimgba was a special journalist.

    Mike also now carries the burden of both families. It was evident when Dimgba’s son, Chinazam, paid tribute to his father. He broke into tears, especially when he said the hit-and-run driver “killed a legend, but not his legacy”. Mike put his arms around him like a fatherin consolation.

    He also nodded in approval as Dimgba’s daughter, Victory, rendered a song of plaintive power for her dad. Victory’s voice, kinetic and electric, is a talent that must be nurtured to stardom.

    But he also lived a good life and enjoyed it. Mike spoke about their travels, how in Helsinki he exulted at Sibelius Monument in honour of the composer Jean Sibelius, whose song inspired the Biafran anthem. In Egypt they saw Pharaoh’s tomb where Dimgba mused on the vanity of power. In Israel at River Jordan and how now he regrets turning down Dimgba’s offer to baptise him.

    Dimgba lived his life well in tune with Henry James’ advice in The Ambassadors: “Live all you can.” Dimgba did.

     

     Giving unto Caesar what is God’s

    The leadership of the Anglican Church gave a political award to President Goodluck Jonathan last week. They called it the Primatial Award for Excellence in Christian Stewardship. It is a shame that an offshoot of the Church of England could stoop so low to give an award that has no bearing in the Bible. What has the president done to warrant the citation that he has distributed Nigeria’s resources equitably to all Nigerians. What Nigerians. They also mentioned Al majiri. Almajiri school is not going to solve the boy or girl education in the North. In fact, it will become a term of derision and discrimination in future. Do schools for all. Such tokens are no virtue. There are more almajiri than the schools can take. Where did Nicholas Okoh and his errant clergymen get their statistics of equity from? They were playing the politics of religion at a time that the Nigerian church is under a moral attack. With all the corruption story around this presidency? They gave Caesar what belongs to God, or stellar men of God in our midst.