The Nation Newspaper

Tag: First

  • 136 bag First Class as UNIUYO graduates 14,866

    136 bag First Class as UNIUYO graduates 14,866

    No fewer than 136 students of University of Uyo will be awarded first class degrees during the combined convocation of the institution scheduled for Nov. 11.

    The institution’s Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Nyaudoh Ndaeyo, stated this at a news conference heralding the convocation ceremony in Uyo.

    Ndaeyo put the total number of graduands for the convocation at 14,866, consisting of 2,672 post-graduates, 11,795 under-graduates, 318 diploma graduates and 81 with certificate programmes.

    He said the 2017/2018 session produced 49 students with First Class honours, while the 2018/2019 session produced 37 and 2019/2020 (50).

    “This year’s convocation is very unique and significant in diverse ways. First, it is a three-in-one convocation ceremony, comprising 26th, 27th and 28th in the series of this great university.

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    “This ceremony is the first to be conducted since my assumption as the vice-chancellor of University of Uyo. The 26th, 27th, and 28th combined convocation has a total of 14 ,866 graduands,” he said.

    The vice-chancellor said that the university was presently running a total of 93 programmes, 82 of which had received full accreditation.

    “The University of Uyo is determined to uphold the already established high academic standard and service delivery,” he said.

    According to him, the university is making frantic efforts to enhance the welfare of its students by improving facilities in various hostels and halls.

    He also said that the university management attached high premium to staff welfare, while ensuring that they received their promotions as and when due.

    Ndaeyo said honorary degrees would be conferred on three eminent Nigerians during the ceremony.

    He listed the honourees as including: Nigeria’s Super Eagles Goalkeeper, Mr. Vincent Enyema, a philanthropist and Adviser to Inoyo Toro Foundation, Mr. Udom Inoyo and Sen. Daisy Danjuma.

    The vice-chancellor highlighted some of the challenges of the university as: inadequate funding, encroachment on the university land and shortage of manpower in some critical fields of study.

  • Treatment first

    •New law makes it compulsory for hospitals not to reject gunshot victims

    Just before President Muhammadu Buhari signed the Compulsory Treatment and Care for Victims of Gunshot Act, 2017, in the last week of last year, an incident in Bayelsa State had further highlighted the need for the law.

    It is worth recounting in detail the lamentable experience of a gunshot victim in the state on December 8, 2017. The gun attack raised the question:  What is expected of a hospital in an emergency? When a situation poses an immediate threat to life, it certainly requires urgent intervention to prevent a worsening of the case. But this clear picture was not clear to a hospital in the state when it faced a life-threatening emergency case arising from a gun attack.

    It was tragic enough that Africa Independent Television (AIT) reporter Miss Owe Patience was robbed and shot in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital. It was a greater tragedy that a hospital rejected her.

    Here, the story as reported: “A Good Samaritan, who rushed her to the hospital, narrated how the journalist was shot. The source, who identified himself as Bokoru said: “Last night (Friday night) at about 10:40pm, I had an urgent call from James Baridi a few metres from my house. When I went it was the fresh scene of a rather violent robbery. A girl I would later identity as an AIT staffer was laying half-conscious in a pool of her blood. Witnesses said it was a lone gunman who had trailed her from Shiloh. Just in front of her house he showed her the gun, took her phone, jewellery and cash. But the animal didn’t end there. He took steps backwards and shot her at close range even as she gave him no problems.”

    This is the point where the story gets unbelievable: “Her landlady, James and I rushed her to Tobis Hospital at Akenfa. To our surprise … They would not save her life except we provide a police report and a wholesome amount.”  Who are those that rejected her?  Does it mean they didn’t care whether she lived or died? The story continued: “We took her to another hospital at Igbogene, the people here were humans and they commenced treatment instantly including fresh pints of blood…Patience Owe will make it and we have God to thank.”

    In this particular case, the victim was lucky. Sadly, it is on record that many lives have been lost because gunshot victims could not readily pay preliminary hospital charges or could not readily supply police clearance, or could not easily do both. This situation begged for a solution.

    It is understandable that gunshot injuries might prompt suspicion, but hospitals need to provide treatment first because even a criminal has to be alive to face justice. It is noteworthy that the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, had emphasised what was expected of doctors in emergencies at an event in Abuja:  ”Hospitals are sanctuary for the sick and injured… Doctors must show no restraint in treating emergencies, even with gunshot wounds you must treat them, thereafter raise questions. You must also treat emergencies before asking for money because life is more precious than money.”

    The beauty of the new law is that it stipulates that a person with a gunshot wound shall be received for immediate and adequate treatment by any hospital in Nigeria with or without initial monetary deposit and shall not be subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment or torture by any person or authority, including the police and other security agencies.

    It is expected that the Act will be enforced to ensure that gunshot victims, regardless of the circumstances of the shooting, get prompt and proper medical treatment from hospitals without complicating preconditions.  Also, hospitals are expected to bring cases of gunshot patients to the attention of the police. But the government has to find ways of taking care of the bills because the hospitals were not established for charity.

    Hopefully, this law will work and resolve an important public health issue in the country.

  • ‘Economy must come first’

    ‘Economy must come first’

    Dr. Austin Nweze, political economist, is currently a member of the faculty team at the School of Media and Communication (SMC), Pan Atlantic University, Lagos, Nigeria. In this interview he gives useful suggestions on possible policy direction to drive the economy in the coming year. Excerpts:

    You have to look at the past to know why we are where we are in the present and you have to look at the present to know where we are headed in the future. The Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) that the federal government came up with, is not enough to really help the economy. They need to take risk; this government is not taking risk. We really need to take risk to say, okay, this is the path we want to follow; I know the pains and sufferings but in the next few years we can be alright again. What has happened is that the government is doing their own thing but the citizens are even fed up with the government. The government has overpromised but underdelivered and that has been a very dangerous situation.

    We need to take risk so that we would be able to encourage local entrepreneurs because the policies that are being made favour just foreigners at the detriment of the local entrepreneurs. It is Nigerians that would develop Nigerian economy, as such we need to encourage them to be able to do so and willingly too.

    Any society where the people are not highly motivated cannot succeed. The spirit is down. You can’t grow an economy with that kind of low morale. You need an inspiring leadership so that he people can be gingered up positively. Everything boils down to leadership. We don’t have inspiring leadership and there is no magic. There is too much politics in the air. When there is too much politics it would be difficult to think about any other thing. Don’t forget, Presidential election is in February or March 2019, now campaigns have already started so we are entering an election year and budgets that all the tiers of governments would make is not for governance or to grow the economy but for political campaigns. And the economy is artificial. There is so much money I the system all because of politics, they are not productive money. Productive monies are what we need to grow an economy; they are the ones you need to invest in infrastructure, job creation.

    Take for instance, a construction is going on, if you give a foreigner the job, everything he uses will be imported. But that way, you’re building the economy of those foreigners because at the end of the day, there would be capital flight. Government need to find a strategy and ensure that those that can do it and be able to do it are given the opportunity instead of relying o foreigners for everything.

    Look at the global economy. How we are going to compete in the global economic space? What is our competitive advantage? Not comparative advantage. People don’t compete anymore based on natural resource. It’s based on the brain power. The new thinking is towards how innovative, creative can you be as a nation. In 2018, not much will happen based on some of these things. The economic decision they have made will determine the political outcome come 2018. These are current realities. As an individual I’m optimistic that even though things are not exactly okay economically, I will be more creative enough to make money for myself. But Nigeria has a great opportunity now to really grow as a nation. You can see where we are headed, I don’t even need to say it. With what I have told you, you can now project and know how 2018 is going to fair. It’s an election year. The money circulating around is unproductive money.”

  • Shettima’s ‘first and last words’

    Working with a newspaper for about 10 years, I had the learning experience of reporting and managing reporters across the north-east, the Niger Delta, and some states in the south-east geo-political zones. At work, I met different categories of people and seen scenarios. Of particular note, I have monitored relationships between governors and appointees in the north and south. I have seen humiliated appointees get running stomach on the mere sight of governors.

    Just when I wished I never had to share the experiences of these appointees, I was appointed by a governor in February, 2012. Leaving Port Harcourt for the political office, my prayer was never to face the kind of humiliation I had seen appointees face under two particular governors, one in the Niger Delta and another in the North-east.

    Incidentally, I came face to face with my fears a month after my appointment. Governor Kashim Shettima had given me some specific assignments. They were complex. The man’s standard, especially on writings, is very high. Shettima reads line by line, takes copious note of accuracy in names and dates, corrects punctuation marks, restructure paragraphs and he screens every sentence in a plagiarism checker he has on his laptop. Being a university lecturer, Shettima is very tough on plagiarism and insists on citing sources even if he paraphrases what someone unknown once said. Meeting these standards, the assignment kept me indoors for a whole day. I had done substantial part of it but there was something I couldn’t achieve.

    Governor Shettima was reading some document when I walked into his office one night in March, 2012. He collected the papers I brought, looked at them and didn’t say anything. It was my vest first major task under him. I stood by the side, watched him drop the documents I gave him and shifted his attention back to what he was reading before I came in. His mind wasn’t with me anymore. I was totally disappointed in myself, thought I should leave but I didn’t want him to see me leaving. I thought of vanishing but didn’t have witchcraft or some Nollywood powers to disappear. Humanly, I decided to leave noiselessly; taking steps as soft as a cat and as quite as an unarmed thief whose safety would only rely on how quiet he is able to sneak. I retired home. Just when I had perfected plans to avoid the governor for a number of days, I got phone calls from two persons, one a security aide and a commissioner, calling my two lines. I picked that of the security aide and he said, ‘Oga dey call you’. It was a troubling invitation. I returned the commissioner’s call and he said the same thing in Hausa, ‘Oga na kira, kazo yanzu yanzu’ (the governor wants you now now). As I was driving to the Government House, I was recalling how aides get humiliated.

    Back in 2008, I had seen one governor in Borno State publicly calling his commissioners stupid. I had seen one commissioner rushing to the mosque near a governor’s office to seek divine intervention after he was told a governor in Borno was calling him. That governor was feared like Mr. Fir’auna (a.k.a Pharoah). He was feared because he could say just about anything to humiliate his aides and he never humiliates privately but publicly. His commonest insult in public was, ‘You are very stupid. Idiot’. I just couldn’t imagine reacting to that kind of humiliation.

    Finally, I arrived Governor Shettima’s office, met three persons in his office. Soon as he saw me approach his seat, he said, ‘Honourable, sorry, I didn’t know when you left my office. Actually when you came in, I was reading a security intelligence report, my mind was completely on the report. I called you back because I forgot to say thank you when you delivered that work. I have gone through it, I noticed the one you didn’t address but I will do it tonight when I get home. I will be closing as early as 8pm tonight so I can work on it at home. I am very grateful and I deeply appreciate your good efforts’.

    I was confused. So, I said, ‘Your Excellency, but I don’t know why you asked me to come back’. He said there was nothing else, he just realized he didn’t thank me and it was for that he sent for me. The governor said he didn’t want to speak to me on phone. ‘Ikon Allah!’ I sighed. When he closed a little after 8pm, I got home wondering. However, my instinct as a journalist said to me, the governor was probably acting drama. I found it unbelievable that a governor would invite his own appointee to ‘merely’ thank him. Of course I knew that most people, particularly politicians, have two (oftentimes, distinct) sides. There is ‘who they are’ and there is ‘who they want you to think they are’. So, I secretly decided to monitor Governor Shettima’s relationship with not just me but all of his aides. In over five years of working with him, Shettima’s ‘last’ words to aides who impress him, is ‘thank you so much’. My monitoring led me to identify he not only uses ‘last’ words but also a ‘first’ word. This first word is ‘PLEASE’. Governor Shettima will never ask anyone, (including his messengers and drivers) to do any task without using the word, ‘Please’. This is known to all. If he is not speaking in English, he will say ‘dan Allah’ (because of God) which is the commonest alternative for ‘please’ in Hausa.

    There is the common evidence that Shettima’s ‘first’ and ‘last’, are part of his unconscious normal but perhaps unknown to him, these words define the willingness with which aides sincerely key into his vision for Borno.

     

    • Gusau is Special Adviser on Communications and Strategy to Borno State governor.
  • World’s first ATM marks 50th birthday

    World’s first ATM marks 50th birthday

    The world’s first Automated Teller Machine (ATM),a technology which brought transformation in the way people obtained and used cash, yesterday clocked 50 years.

    According to the Metro News, the world’s first ATM was unveiled by Barclays at its Enfield branch in North London on June 27, 1967.

    As a tribute to the golden anniversary, Barclays transformed the ATM at its Enfield branch into gold, added a commemorative plaque and placed a red carpet in front for its users.

    The original ATM was the brainchild of Scottish inventor Shepherd-Barron, and was commissioned by Barclays to create six cash dispensers, the first of which was installed at Enfield.

    English actor Reg Varney, who starred in the British TV comedy show “On The Buses”, was the first person to withdraw cash from the new machine.

    The ATM was designed to transform people’s ability to manage their finances by giving customers access to cash outside bank branch opening hours.

    Despite the rise in other new technologies such as online and mobile banking, the ATM remains popular 50 years on.

  • Cross River’s first private varsity holds matriculation

    The first private university in Cross River State, Arthur Jarvis University, has held   matriculation for its new 100 students in two faculties – Basic and Applied Sciences and Social Management Sciences.

    The institution is located in Akpabuyo Local Government Area of the state.”

    Head of Service of the Federation, Mrs Winifred Oyo-Ita, who declared the university open, praised the proprietor, Mr Arthur-Jarvis Archibong, for establishing the institution, saying that it would improve the economy of the host community and the state.

    According to her, investment in education is the surest way to achieving success and breakthroughs in any society.

    Mrs Oyo-Ita charged the management to inculcate good moral values in the students so that they could graduate and become useful citizens.

    She urged management to ensure that the institution is hinged on strong moral and Christiian values.

    Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Julian Osuji, said the university was founded on strong academic principles.

    He said the focus of the university was to groom students to be future ambassadors of the university and the country through moral discipline and academic excellence.

    “As we commence proper academic work of this great institution, I wish to advise the students to be dedicated to their studies with strong moral values.

    “Arthur Jarvis University is a great institution that stands proudly as a citadel of moral discipline and academic excellence,” he said.

    Board of Trustees of the university Chairman, Prof. Bassey Asuquo, said the university took off with 10 departments and 15 programmes.

    Asuquo, a former Vice Chancellor of the University of Calabar, said the institution holds a great future for the academic progress of the state.

    He said the university would complement the government’s efforts in bringing the state out of its educationally disadvantaged status.

    The Obong of Calabar, Edidem Ekpo Abasi-Otu, said people of the state should support the proprietor of the university by investing in their homeland.

  • BANKADESUA: FIRST NOLLYWOOD FAiRYTALE MARRIAGE

    BANKADESUA: FIRST NOLLYWOOD FAiRYTALE MARRIAGE

    Thank you for agreeing to be my wife – Banky W

    I’m sorry it took me so long to realise it was you –Adesua

    I’m not sure what the future will bring, but I’m completely sure that I am ready to face it with you by my side

    LIFE imitates Art far more than Art imitates Life” is an anti-mimesis philosophical position that has just played out in the love story of new celebrity couple; Nigerian singer, rapper, label owner and actor Oluwabankole Wellington, aka Banky W and award-winning actress Adesua Etomi whose marriage engagement was announced on May 3, 2017 – a surreal mix of fact and fantasy – earning the excitement of many.

    As the two entertainers become man and wife today, following a traditional marriage at the bride’s Lagos family house in Maryland, Ikeja, the reality of a relationship that, though planted sparingly, sprouted from the duo’s interpretation of a couple’s characters in the biggest Nollywood box office earner, The Wedding Party, will remain a reference point for a long while, and perhaps, a comparison to the usually controversial-eroding celebrity marriages in the entertainment industry.

    Just as many doubted the authenticity of the engagement, which had a suspicious timing, knowing that the couple were on the set of The Wedding Party’s sequel, veteran colleagues of the couple, including Richard Mofe-Damijo, Mo Abudu, Sola Sobowale and Kemi Adetiba among others were on hand to dismiss the possibility of a marketing stunt for the star-studded film.

    “For these top celebrities sending congratulatory messages, the news of the engagement must be real,” people say, assuring themselves that their intelligence is not being taunted with another marketing stunt.

    “It’s actually real guys,” said Obi Asika on a social media forum. Just as Richard Mofe-Damijo asserted; “Very real. …Been working with the couple. Both are my peeps.”

    “It’s like the first real fairytale engagement in Nollywood that I can remember. Others before now were folk tales by moonlight,” quipped Charles Novia. He added: “Two ‘Ajebutter’ lovers in the entertainment industry getting engaged. That’s a Fairy Tale Engagement. Retro the past ones we know through the years; it’s either ‘Ajekpako’ meets ‘Ajebutter’.

    The groom could not convince anyone less, with his two-part social media epistle. Here is how he put it:

    “Dear Susu, …I knew pretty early in the process that I wanted to spend forever with you. Prayed about it fervently. But it took you FOREVER (okay fine… maybe a year and a half or so) to see things my way. But I kinda knew all along… I was just waiting for you to catch up.

    “In that time, I got engaged to you in my “Made For You” music video… and then by coincidence, we both got cast to get married in “The Wedding Party” movie… But all the while we were the very best of friends. I guess, in our case, real life will now imitate art.

    “I’m not sure what the future will bring, but I’m completely sure that I am ready to face it with you by my side. I pray that God continues to build me into the kind of man that you deserve. I love you Susu.. I feel safe and at peace with you. You mean the world to me. Thank you for agreeing to be my lover and best friend. Thank you for agreeing to be my wife.”

    Allaying all doubts, he said: “The timing of this may make some people think this is promo for another video, or a movie. It isn’t. Ironically, everyone who has seen us together in art, or in life, always insists that we have amazing chemistry. I guess you can say we have been hiding in plain sight. I fell in love with an Actress. Now my life is a movie. In February of 2017, I asked Adesua Tolulope Oluwaseun Etomi to be my wife. She said Yes.”

    Fans may not be privy to Adesua’s yah in the real sense of it; not that scripted line from ‘The Wedding Party”: Her actual expression, her state of ecstasy or if she betrayed her calmness by jumping at Banky W’s proposal, but one could read between the lines as published in her social media post.

    “Our friendship opened my eyes to a lot of things. Opened my eyes to the type of man Olubankole is and WHAT A MAN. WHAT A MIGHTY GOOD MAN. Olubankole, Your Heart is pure and good, to the very core. You are proof that God is real; you are proof that what’s on the inside is greater and so much more powerful than what we see on the outside and you are the evidence of what I hoped for. I bless God for entrusting my heart in your hands because I know it’s safe. You are everything I prayed for and so much more.

    Thank you for praying with me, fasting with me, always making time for me, laughing with me, and caring more about me than yourself. Thank you for being kind, loving and full of Integrity. And I’d like to say one more thing. I’m SO SORRY that it took me sooo long to realise that it was you. It has always been you. It couldn’t have been anyone else.

    In February 2017, you said you couldn’t be without me and asked me to be your wife and I said YES because I can’t be without you. It will be an absolute pleasure and one of the greatest blessings of my life to walk the path of life with you. Thank you for being who you are. My goodluck charm, my King, my lover, my bestfriend. I love you till eternity and beyond. No, This Is not a movie. Future Mrs. W.”

    At a time when holes in celebrity marriages are blamed on too much media exposure, some entertainers are a bit worried for the couple. “I just pray that the public display will eventually not end in shackles. With all the marriage drama happening on social media, one begins to wonder if it isn’t better to keep private love matters private,” one said.

    “We can only pray for them and hope for the best. There are exceptions to every rule,” replied another.

    “Yes o. Prayer must follow oh, because the devil walks around like a roaring lion seeking whom to devour. When we put our businesses out there, (private or otherwise) we should be ready for war; spiritually and otherwise. Devil dey fight marriages wella,” the former concurred.

    However, for ‘Editor in Chief and Publisher of Genevieve Magazine, Mrs. Betty Irabor, the present media hype is just a spur-of-the moment, as the couple have a history of keeping their private affair private.

    She said: “So happy about this new trend where celebs spring engagement and wedding surprises. I hope the trend catches fire. Less shared the better!”

    Indeed, Bank W’s best friend and husband of celebrity OAP, Tunde Demuren attested to their maturity with privacy. “He asked. …She said yes” Love you guys!!! Congrats Susu&Bubba. This was tough keeping coded for so long,” he said on Instagram.

    Corroborating this, Nigerian hip-hop recording artist and entrepreneur, Chukie Edozien, aka Lynxxx, described it as the biggest secret he has had to keep. “Officially the biggest secret I’ve ever had to keep in my entire life! Congratulations brother! It’s been a long time coming!”

  • Seven students to represent Nigeria in FIRST global robots olympic

    Seven students to represent Nigeria in FIRST global robots olympic

    Seven Senior Secondary students from public and private secondary schools in Lagos State would represent Nigeria in the FIRST Global Robots Olympic (GRO) in Washington DC.

    The FIRST GRO is the maiden edition of the robotic competition.

    The goal of the competition is to expose students to collaborate on techniques to solve global problems.

    The students selected to represent Nigeria are SS2 students from New Era Girls Secondary School, Oxbridge College and Dansol High School, Lagos, within the age bracket of 15 to 18 years.

    The students are: Tawakalitu Giwa, 15, Omotayo Oluwaseun, 15, both from New Era Girls Secondary School; Agoro Oluwalase, 16, from Oxbridge College; Adegba Tetisimigbe, 15 and Fahad Ayodele, 15, both from Dansol High School.

    Mrs Remi Willoughby, an Education Consultant, said that Roboglobal Educational Consulting and Alofos Science and Technology Foundation would manage the competition for FIRST GRO.

    She said the competition would be an annual event with a focus on the use of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) to solve global problems.

    Willoughby said: “The advanced robotics competition for students is the contribution of the founders of FIRST to excite youths worldwide.

    “FIRST is the acronym of For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology.

    “It will help to build the STEM skills needed by nations to work on global challenges together because of the belief in the value of investing in and pursuing STEM education.

    “The intent is to enhance the global call for STEM education of the international student community while emphasising the value of nations’ cooperation to address the global grand challenges of our planet and people.

    “Our planet and people’s challenges must be addressed for the world to thrive.”

    The education consultant said the competition is “all-expense paid trip’’ for participating students and their mentors.

    She added that the trip would be sponsored by the founder of FIRST and the chairman of International Global Initiative.

    “The sponsors are Dean Kamen, founder of First and Congressman Admiral Joe Sestak, Chairman, International Global Initiative.”

    Willoughby said that the students selected to represent Nigeria had commenced training on the use of robotics.

    Robotics is the interdisciplinary branch of engineering that deals with the design, construction, operation and use of robots for control, sensory feedback and information processing.

    It is also used in promoting the power of creative thinking.

  • Why we founded first ‘Special Children’s school in Lagos

    Executive Director MD Nursery and Primary School, Ikeja Lagos, Omolara Adedugbe, has said the school has been able to achieve its vision over the last 30 years of its existence.

    According to her, the school which caters for students with special needs, was founded to challenge doubting thomases that children with disabilities could also live normal lives.

    Adedugbe, who founded the school with her late husband Dr. Anthony Bamidele Adedugbe 30 years ago, said the school could sing a song of victory, despite many challenges.

    Adedugbe, spoke at a briefing to celebrate three decades’ anniversary and thanksgiving of the school at its Agidingbi, Ikeja, Lagos State complex,

    Going down memory lane, she recalled how her husband, a specialist doctor in dealing with children with disabilities, conceived the idea to convince parents that they do not have to keep their special needs children away said some of the special needs children have grown to become prominent members of the society, with one teaching in the school, having obtained a National Certificate of Education.

    “The whole idea was to erase the stigma associated with being a special child,: Adedugbe said.

    “We were the first in Lagos, but after the success we recorded, many others have also followed suit.

    “We initially had challenges with parents who had regular children allowing them to mix with the special children.

    “I must say the journey in 30 years has been challenging, but with lots of successes. One special child is now a teacher in the school here; many are professionals in different fields.”

    Adedugbe advised parents with special children not to keep them at home; rather, they should give them the opportunity to develop their God-given talents.

    “If they mix with regular kids, they will overcome their challenges,” she added.

    She continued: “We are happy that a lot of parents are now coming out with their special children; and those with regular children have seen that being a special child does not come with anything contagious.”

    She said for the school to be thriving after the death of her husband shows that structures have been put in place to sustain the initiative.

    “With or without me, the school can go on,” she added.

    “The vision is now being run by others; I started the school with my husband who had the vision. He died 10 years ago and 20 years after, we are still standing.”

     

  • Love at first sight

    Love at first sight

    The Onanugas from Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State and the Ajayis of Osun State, have become one, following the union of their children, Adefemi Mohammed and Olubukola Abosede, reports NNEKA NWANERI.

    With a graceful poise, an elegant physique,  Abosede–all smiles– walked down the aisle of the Harvesters International Christian Centre along Gbagada Expressway, Lagos, in a glittering fitted white gown.

    She was in company of her father, Pastor Kolawole Ajayi, who with pride, held her hands and led her all the way to stand on the front row before Olufemi Mohammed Onanuga.

    It was their day and the family members and friends of the lovebirds ensured it was a memorable and colourful outing.

    By this time, it was no longer news that they had fulfilled the obligations of the traditional rites of marriage earlier  before proceeding for the church solemnisation.

    Olufemi, tall and dapper in a white fitted suit, matched Olubukola as they said their ‘I do’ to begin their journey as one.

    Afterwards, a sermon, entitled “Becoming One”, was delivered by one of the lead pastors of the church, Tunji Sapara. From there, the train moved to the Agape Centre, Gbagada for the reception.

    With the Integrity Band and DJ Shot dishing out hit songs, there was never a dull moment for guests, who having filled the arena to capacity had to make do with the chairs and tents right outside.

    The Nation spoke to the couple, who told of how they met two Easter Sundays ago, following their introduction by a long standing friend, Bolaji, who proposed the toast.

    The two years courtship has been a blissful one for Olufemi, the first and only son of his father amongst three children, Mr Babatunde Onanuga. The accounting graduate of Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU) and member of the Jaiz Bank staff, had loved Olubukola at first sight.

    “After due diligence, I was able to study her character, attributes and became more convinced afterwards. She makes me happy always, he said.”

    For Olubukola, it’s been good all along and was glad they have gone past the ‘forming’ and ‘norming’ stage.

    “We got along very well as good friends so by the time he popped the question, proposing with a ring in his hand and standing at the balcony of his house, it just felt the natural thing to do, although I wasn’t expecting it.

    The Guarantee Trust Bank staff and second child in the family of five said she was stuck by his loving nature.