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Tag: ecstasy

  • Ecstasy at Ewi’s 25th coronation anniversary

    Ecstasy at Ewi’s 25th coronation anniversary

    The Ewi of Ado-Ekiti, Oba Rufus Adeyemo Adejugbe, Aladesanmi 111 had cause to thank God as he rolled out the drums to celebrate his 25th anniversary on the throne of his ancestors. ODUNAYO OGUNMOLA reports

    It was celebration time for the Ewi of Ado-Ekiti, Oba Rufus Adeyemo Adejugbe, Aladesanmi III as he marked his 25th coronation anniversary. Other eminent guests from far and near and his subjects joined him in the celebration of his silver jubilee on the throne.

    For the Ewi, who ascended the throne in 1990, the occasion calls for appreciation to God for giving him the opportunity to realise his dream to become a monarch.

    Apart from this, he is also fulfilled that Ado-Ekiti became the state capital and had grown in leaps and bounds in the past 19 years of its creation.

    The role played by Oba Adejugbe and personalities such as Chief Afe Babalola, Chief Deji Fasuan, Chief Paul Alabi, Chief Ojo Falegan the late Prof. Sam Aluko, among others has remained legendary.

    Apart from being the state capital, Ado-Ekiti now plays host to two universities, two polytechnics; several businesses and is being daily besieged by people from all walks of life seeking greener pastures.

    Governor Ayo Fayose led eminent personalities to the coronation anniversary which took place at the newly-completed Palace Amphitheatre to join the Ewi in adding glamour to the ceremony.

    Those who attended the event included the former Governor of Niger State, Dr. Babangida Aliyu (who was represented), wife of the former Governor of Benue State, Mrs. Yemisi Suswam; former Deputy Governors, Chief Paul Alabi; Dr. Sikiru Lawal and Prof. Modupe Adelabu; Catholic Bishop of Ekiti Diocese, the Most Rev. Felix Ajakaye; retired Anglican Archbishop of Ondo Province and Bishop of Ekiti Diocese, the Most Rev. Samuel Abe; retired Supreme Court Judge, Justice Olufunmilola Adekeye, top government officials, community leaders and captains of industry.

    Babalola, the Founder of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD) and the Aare Bamofin of Yoruba land was the chairman of the occasion.

    The Kabiyesi was joined by his brother monarchs led by the current Chairman of Ekiti State Council of Traditional Rulers who is also the Ologotun of Ogotun Ekiti, Oba Samuel Oladapo Oyebade.

    A compendium on the life and times of Oba Adejugbe, Echoes of the Throne, edited by Mrs. Rolake Adewumi was launched at the ceremony.

    Fayose launched the magazine with N5 million on behalf of the state government while Aare Babalola launched it with N2 million. Mrs. Suswam launched with it N1 million.

    The Ewi received homage from members of his traditional cabinet otherwise known as the Ewi-in-Council, the Omo Owas; honorary chiefs, Iyalojas, Ado-Ekiti Progressive Union (APU), clubs and other tribes in the town.

    Mrs. Suswam, a native of Emure Ekiti said she was delighted to identify with Ekiti people, saying: “I will continue to be proud to have been born an Ekiti girl.”

    She revealed that she had her first encounter with Oba Adejugbe at the University of Jos (UNIJOS) where he served as Chancellor.

    Mrs. Suswam said she was impressed by the Ewi’s speech as UNIJOS Chancellor, describing the speech as “excellent and brilliant.”

    While saying she is proud of Oba Adejugbe, Mrs. Suswam prayed for a long and peaceful reign for Kabiyesi, saying Ekiti State would continue to benefit from his wise counsel and experience.

    Former Deputy Governor Alabi said the Ewi will be eternally remembered for being in the forefront of the creation of Ekiti State out of the old Ondo State.

    Alabi, who served as Director of Budget in the Presidency during the Abacha era when agitation for the creation of Ekiti State reached its peak revealed that he followed Oba Adejugbe to the late former military ruler to push for the creation of a new state.

    “I remember Kabiyesi telling Abacha that Ekiti people would not allow him back home if the state creation wouldn’t be a reality.”

    The Ologotun of Ogotun, Oba Oyebade, said the entire members of the State Council of Obas celebrate with one of them for witnessing the landmark. He wished the Ewi more fruitful and prosperous reign.

    In his speech, Fayose, who was the guest of honour, promised to attend any similar event organised in honour of any traditional ruler in the state.

    “The governor is for all traditional rulers and people of the state. I want to assure our royal fathers that occasion such as this is not limited to Ado. As many of our royal fathers that have such a great event like this, the governor is at your beck and call.

    “Ado is central to us all as a state and I am for all royal fathers. Any event that tells the history of your existence, I will always be part of it. I also promise that by God’s grace, the new Oja Oba Market, if not completed by this time next year, will be near completion,” he said.

    Fayose added: “I pray that new things will be happening in this palace anytime we come here. We have spent over a year in office and in another five months, it will be two years.

    “I look forward to the time I will say bye-bye as the Governor of Ekiti State. I work hard to ensure that value is added to governance.”

    The Ewi told the gathering that he had prepared a 22-page address but said he would not want to bore the guests with long speech other than to appreciate them for making the day a glorious one.

    Oba Adejugbe thanked Governor Fayose for his tremendous efforts at developing Ado-Ekiti and the state at large.

    “Ado people cannot thank you enough. You have helped us a great deal and we pray that God will continue to support and bless you. I thank you also for the pavilion here in the palace. It was through your great support and effort that it has been completed.

    “I appeal to all Ado sons and daughters to support the administration,” he said.

    Oba Adejugbe said his longevity on the throne was due to the grace of God and the people over whom he reigns as king.

    He said: “I give glory to God. Twenty-Five years is just like yesterday. The mountains I thought I won’t be able to climb, I was able to climb them.

    “I want to appeal to my people, let us give peace a chance. It is when there is peace that the governor can think of the right thing to do for the people. It is when there is peace that Aare Babalola will think of what to do for our people.

    “I have no other job other than to pray for the peace and overall development of Ado-Ekiti. I want to urge every one of us to go back to the basics. Let us go back to farming.

    “There is no house in Ekiti that does not have a PhD holder but we must go back to the farm irrespective of your status.

    “If salaries are irregular and if you have yams in your farm you will have something to sell and eat. In those days, terminal ailments are rare and people enjoy long life because they eat fresh food unlike today when people eat food treated with chemicals.”

    Earlier, Babalola had listed the qualities that made Fayose excel as a governor.

    He described Fayose as a realistic and pragmatic person, who has brought that to governance.

    He said with the dwindling revenue base of the government at all tiers, those in leadership positions have to make extra efforts to meet the yearnings and aspirations of the people.

    “Thank God that we have a governor that is realistic and pragmatic. When he says yes it means yes and when he says no it is no.

    “We have a governor that is truthful, honest and transparent and that has been helping us in the state. It has also manifested in the recent award given the state government.”

  • Ecstasy in Ekiti community over 32-bed hospital

    Ecstasy in Ekiti community over 32-bed hospital

    Going by the World Health Organisation (WHO) records, the average life expectancy in Nigeria is 47 years. Even though that of Ekiti State is put at 54, the highest in Nigeria, Group Political Editor EMMANUEL OLADESU reports that the member representing Ikole/Oye Federal Constituency in the National Assembly, Hon. Bimbo Daramola, regards the figure as low. To further enhance the well-being of members of his constituency, he built the Joan Taiwo Daramola Memorial Hospital 

    He is famous for his penchant for the welfare of people of Ekiti State. This proclivity to people’s well-being is better enhanced by his political belief, which the All Progressives Congress (APC), a party that preaches overall development of the human person as against stomach infrastructure.

    By means of this political platform, Bimbo Daramola has become an unquantifiable driving force for human capital development and empowerment. He is consistent in pontificating politics of welfare and development, which he always emphasised and recommended as the only panacea that would bring succour to the suffering Nigerian masses.

    Being a consistent and seeming incorrigible proponent and vanguard of good governance, Hon. Daramola has endeared himself to the Ekiti masses. This is so because not only does he preach it, he also acted it since his election in 2011 as a member of the National Assembly to represent Ikole/Oye Federal Constituency.

    On November 8, this year, Hon. Daramola added another first to his dossier as a trail blazer among public servants in Ekiti State. He built a 32-bed hospital worth over N100 million for members of his constituency for improved health care delivery.

    It is not only the monetary value of the project that speaks volume, but its conception and being the first of its kind by any federal legislator in the history of the 18-year-old  Ekiti State.

    The hospital built with his personal funds is equipped with state-of-the-art equipment. The project was not executed with funds provided by the National Assembly under the constituency projects’ funds.

    In fact, Hon. Daramola had always been on the good side of history as far as the politics of Ekiti State is concerned. He is a man of unblemished records of service and his political antecedent in a generation that lays much emphasis on stomach infrastructure has not been tainted in anyway.

    One of these scintillating services he had rendered to the people was that he and ex-governor Kayode Fayemi joined efforts to fight for the liberation of Ekiti State for three-and-a-half years under the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).

    Today, the gains of the protracted battle are being savoured by the people in terms of infrastructural facelift which the immediate past government engendered in the state.

    He also served as the Director-General of the Kayode Fayemi campaign organisation in a bid to consolidate the gains of democracy for Ekiti people in the June 21, 2014 Governorship election. He is still in the struggle to rescue the people from the claws of locusts masquerading as friends of the masses.

    Shortly after his victory at the polls in 2011, he instituted a programme called Abo Mi Re, which means “this is my scorecard” through which reeled off his empowerment programmes for his constituents and even beyond. This was in a bid to banish poverty among the masses.

    The project is the flagship of the numerous programmes he had instituted on this platform.

    The hospital, christened ‘Joan Taiwo Daramola Memorial Hospital’, built in memory of his late mother, was located in Ire Ekiti, his country home in Oye Local Government Area of Ekiti State.

    The number of eminent Nigerians who were at the well-attended inauguration ceremony of the hospital confirms that it was not a child’s play or one of those programmes shoddily conceived under the guise of empowerment to delude the people.

    The important personalities at the epoch-making event included were former Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar, Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal ex-Governors Kayode Fayemi, Segun Oni, Niyi Adebayo, State Chairman, APC, Chief Jide Awe and many others.

    Speaking at the event, Hon. Daramola said with the medical equipment installed in the hospital, it is now one of the best in the state.

    He said making it the best or creating unhealthy rivalry with other health institutions was not his intention, adding that his aim was to make it play complementary role to hospitals such as the Federal Medical Centre, Ido-Ekiti and the Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital, Ado-Ekiti for efficient and robust medical services that can enhance the health  of the people.

    Hon. Daramola, who said Ekiti State has the highest life expectancy in Nigeria, which was put at an average of about 54 years, going by the records of the World Health Organisation, was emphatic that the 47-year average life expectancy in Nigeria is a shameful and frightening trend that needed to be combated at all costs.

    He expressed discontentment with the 54 years average age for Ekiti, even as he described it as too low to be happy about. He was of the view that health status of the masses determines their life expectancy.

    Considering the enormous resources available in the country, Daramola said no Nigerian would have been expected to die prematurely due to poor medical facilities, if the leaders have been prudent and focused. The lawmaker urged government at all levels to place high premium on adequate investment in the health sector to reverse the frightening level of low life expectancy in the country.

    Nostalgic of the experiences he had with her late mother, whom he described as  pillar of the family, Daramola clarified that the multi-million Naira hospital aims at contributing to the well-being of the downtrodden, who suffer ill-health daily for lack of adequate and affordable medical care.

    Hon. Daramola said Ekiti State’s status as having the highest life expectancy in Nigeria with an average age of 54 years, had confirmed the pervasive rot and mismanagement in the system.

    For smooth running of the hospital, the APC chieftain said he would partner with the Anglican Communion, owners of Ile Abiye Hospital in the running of the institution for optimal efficiency, saying his dream is to make the hospital one of the best in the country.

    He said: “I instituted what I called Abo mi re, which is my scorecard. This donation is the flagship of all that I have done for the people since they sent me to the National Assembly to represent them. Political office holders must learn to give back to the society. I have given out a lot of things. Everything I have done in the past may be denied or run out of season, but this one is the flagship and will be in use even when I am dead.

    “I built the hospital as a way of giving back to the people for entrusting in me their mandate in the House of Representatives. The stride is one of the ways to improve on the abysmally low life expectancy among the rank and file of the downtrodden masses.

    Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, who inaugurated the project after being honoured with a traditional title by Onire of Ire-Ekiti, Oba Victor Bobade, lambasted President Goodluck Jonathan for running the most inept government in the history of the country.

    Particularly, Atiku said the country never had it so bad in the area of health care delivery, which he said is fast becoming the most retrogressive sector in Nigeria.

    Speaking about the state of the country’s economy, which he said brought about the pervasive rot that had permeated other sectors, the presidential aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, said: “Nigeria was sick under PDP misrule and there must be serious efforts to salvage it.”

    He posited that the fortunes of the country would have been better managed if competent and those with passion for service like Daramola were elected into positions of authority, particularly the Presidency.

    Continuing, he said: “Certainly, Nigeria is not healthy. When you look at the issues of economy and insecurity in the country, you will know that certainly, Nigeria is not healthy. The only thing that can salvage Nigeria’s situation is to seize the opportunity to bring about a change by voting in APC.”

    Atiku, who praised Daramola for the initiative, advised the Ekiti people not to mortgage their future for a bag of rice.

    “I believe the people of Ekiti surely don’t need stomach infrastructure. Would you forego education for stomach infrastructure? Would you forego health care for stomach infrastructure? Would you forgo infrastructural development for stomach infrastructure?

    “Today Japan is the third biggest economy in the world. They don’t have the farmland that you have in Ekiti State but they have education and technology. Anybody who is telling you all you need is a bag of rice; no. No; Ekiti people, no.”

    The immediate past Governor of the State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi and his predecessor, Mr Segun Oni, urged the people to give priority attention to infrastructural development, rather than anything that will serve immediate needs.

    They said: “For us as progressives, health is wealth. The health of our people matters most to us than simplistic and populist sharing of public money.” They described the initiative as a model that will improve the life expectancy of the people.

    A resident of the constituent and native of Ilupeju Ekiti, Mrs Mary Olatunji, described the lawmaker as godsend to Ekiti people. She said Daramola was one of the few Nigerians who put his political activism into play in his service to the people.

    “Hon Daramola is our own. He can win election anytime here not minding the party in power. He always put the masses first and the way he does his things is unique. He has brought uniqueness to governance in Ekiti,” she said.

    Mrs. Olatunji said the people of Oye and Ikole Local Government Area can now seek medical help in the hospital as alternative to hospitals in Ido and Ado-Ekiti.

     

  • Ameyo’s apparition and Amosun’s ecstasy

    It is imaginable that she was an unseen presence at the show, and possibly other ethereal beings were in attendance.  “Why not now?” she might have wondered.  Those in a position to answer the question could easily have acted in a way that would have made the poser out of the question. But because they didn’t, the September 29 National Honours’ investiture seemed like an event that had lost its soul and had become soulless; these two conditions may not be the same.

    Speaking of souls, particularly the souls of the dead, perhaps such apparitions were at the venue, International Conference Centre, Abuja, just to see the spectacle organised by the living dead.  Or is there a better description for those who are biologically alive but morally dead?

    The celebration of deadened consciousness, which the event projected on account of glaring and jarring omissions in the list of awardees, represented yet another instance of institutional insensitivity. In this specific case, the institution is no other than the country’s presidency, or more precisely, the Goodluck Jonathan administration.

    It would take a phenomenal leap of the imagination to grasp the administration’s tactless treatment of the memory of those who recently paid the ultimate price and made a supreme sacrifice for the country. It would probably be more appropriate to call it an egregious insult which the departed do not deserve.

    What is even more unacceptably unthinking and unfeeling is the brusque defence by Dr Doyin Okupe, Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs to President Jonathan, who reportedly said via his Twitter account that the national honours were not given posthumously.  It is instructive that between September 19 when the full list of awardees was publicised and September 29 when they were decorated, there were loud calls from concerned quarters highlighting the nauseating exclusion.

    Two of such wake-up calls will suffice. The Chairman, Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), Cross River State chapter, Dr. Callistus Enyuma, said: “One would expect that she should not be neglected when honours are given. I believe it is not too late for her to be included on the honours’ list. She must have that honour.” Next, the President of Jojaina Deck of the National Association of Seadogs, Mr. Fabian Avoh, said: “Let us ask the Federal Government or precisely the presidency what yardstick was used in including all sorts of people on the list of the highest honour in the land when Adadevoh, who sacrificed her life, was not on the list.”

    In a reasonable context, the inclusion of Dr. Ameyo Stella Adadevoh who died on August 19 should have been beyond question, even if by way of special mention at the event and by immortalising her.  She was the most prominent among the country’s health care workers who died of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) after contracting it from the Liberian- American Patrick Sawyer who brought it into the country and died from it on July 25. It is noteworthy that the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris, said of her role: “She it was who took the initiative to intimate the ministry concerning the index case; and substantially to her credit, the moderate containment achieved we owe to her and her colleagues.” There is no doubt that the professional intervention of Adadevoh and others arrested the possibility of a wide-spread dispersal of the deadly virus. The Jonathan administration must be suffering from inattentional blindness.

    Even more intriguing is the likelihood that the government may also be afflicted with complicated confusion. Two days after the disquieting silence on the EVD-related deaths of health care personnel who worked at First Consultants Medical Centre, Obalende, Lagos, Jonathan referred to the tragedies superficially. He said in his October 1 address on the country’s 54th Independence Day: “I appreciate and welcome the spirit of collaboration, unity and partnership with which we confronted the threat of the Ebola Virus Disease. I thank all Nigerians for working together to prevent what could have become a major epidemic. I particularly thank the medical personnel, some of whom paid the ultimate sacrifice.” Could this be interpreted as thanking the dead for dying?   What a way to reward heroic self-sacrifice!

    Interestingly, Jonathan’s idea of reward seemed suspect, if not mischievous, especially in connection with three personalities who made this year’s national honours’ list of 305 awardees: the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and a former governor of Edo State, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun; the Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun; and the Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, who is on his way out, having lost controversially in the June governorship election to Ayo Fayose of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) . Considering that the men are members of the APC, the intensely critical opposition party with a strong ambition to rule the country, their inclusion may have been no more than a wily attempt to present the Jonathan administration and the PDP as perhaps dispassionate and uninfluenced by zero-sum mentality. They were given the title, Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON).

    It is food for thought that these particular honourees, who could have exploited the publicity opportunity to further rubbish the administration and what it stands for by maintaining a respectable distance, chose the path of counter-productive accommodation. Odigie-Oyegun was represented at the ceremony. Fayemi, rather than be in Abuja to receive the national honour, attended the opening ceremony of the Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi Centre for Gender and Social Policy Studies donated by his wife to the Obafemi Awolwo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State. He was quoted as saying: “It is thus at great cost that I am here in demonstration of my dedication to a worthy cause. Nothing can be more important than this. The CON can be posted to me by courier, but nobody can post this to me.”  In both cases, there was a sufficient indication of acceptance.

    Amosun surpassed them by displaying a petty ecstasy. Not only did he attend the investiture, he apparently got carried away. Listen to him: “When you are given an award like this, you are honoured; it is a call for more service. It is like describing an elephant; it is from the perspective from which you are looking at it. Yes, there may be one or two misgivings about it; people will talk anyway. I think whoever is given, it is a call to serve more, render selfless service to the nation and to our different states.”

    It would appear that Amosun may not have reflected on the governmental performance of the giver. Has Jonathan himself shown a satisfactory understanding of the concept of service in political office?  Why would he desire to encourage what may be indeed alien to him? What is the subtext of this dramatic political scheming?

  • Heartland in ecstasy after Rangers win

    Heartland in ecstasy after Rangers win

    Heartland of Owerri players are in dreamland after another convincing home win over Enugu Rangers at the Dan Anyiam Stadium, Owerri yesterday in one of the matches of the Week 13 Glo Premier League.

    Two goals, one in each half through Julius Ubido aided the Naze Millionaires’ home victory which catapulted them to 16 points on the log from 12 matches.

    The first goal in the first half came from Ubido’s free-kick which was helped in through a deflection, while the second was a master class nodding from close range.

    Heartland’s Cajetan Nkwopara described the mood in the Owerri camp as happy and expressed that they were more than delighted to beat a club in the mould of Rangers for their third consecutive home win of the season after wins over Enyimba and Giwa FC.

    “We are happy to record another win. One must be happy after beating a club like Rangers 2-0 without any rancour. We are glad to have recorded another home win and we won’t relent until we recoup all lost points,” Nkwopara told SportingLife.