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Tag: George

  • Sorrow, tears and agony left behind by men who killed Soboma George

    Sorrow, tears and agony left behind by men who killed Soboma George

    In the evening of August 24, 2010, a prominent former Niger Delta warlord and factional leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), Soboma George, was killed in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.

    The incident occurred on Nembe Street, Borokiri area of the Garden City. Security agencies blamed it on cult-related violence. It led to the shooting and death of unspecified number of persons.

    None of the victims suffered as much as Princess John Ejims, who is battling gunshot wounds she sustained from the incident.

    Miss Ejims was with her sister when gunshot rent the air. Her immediate younger sister, Joy , was also shot and died at the spot.

    She still has pellets of bullets lodged in her body. Her father, she said, died from heartbreak weeks after the loss of his daughter.

    Doctors believe she may become paralysed if the pellets are not removed from her body.

    Miss Ejims said: “It was on August 24, 2010, at Approved Field, Nembe Street, Borokiri, Port Harcourt, Rivers State. On that day, Soboma George and some of his men were playing football at that field, and other people were also watching the game as usual.

    “My late sister and I were selling boiled groundnut. The crowd at the field watching the game for us made a good site for sales.

    “While I was arguing with a young man who tasted my groundnut before buying, I just saw a vehicle on speed and the next thing I heard was a war-like sound of gun. That was all I could remember; when I regained consciousness, I was in the hospital.”

    She was rushed to the Teme Hospital, then operated by the Doctors Without Borders. After several hours of medical battle, the doctors were able to save her life.

    She said although the doctors removed several bullets and pellets from her body, there were some that could not be dislodged because they were embedded close to her spinal cord.

    Two years after, she is yet to regain her full health.

    She is constantly weak and cannot participate in the activities she used to do.

    “Despite my condition today, I give God the glory because my spirit left my body at the hospital and I was watching the doctors battling to save my life. So, how I got back to life is something that only God knows,” she said.

    Doctors, she said, told her she needed a delicate surgery, which could only be done abroad to remove the remaining bullet in her waist.

    She said she has been living “half life” made even more difficult by her precarious situation and inability to return to her trade.

    “My father died a heartbroken man because he saw my sister’s death and then couldn’t bear to see me continue in this bad condition.”

    After losing a daughter and her husband, Mrs Ejims, relocated from Port Harcourt to Elele because she could not pay rent.

    Miss Ejims pleaded with the government, public-spirited individuals and organisations to assist her.

    She said: “The ex-militants, who killed my sister, shot and put me and my family in this condition, are today enjoying amnesty. I want to appeal to the government and the Amnesty Office to come to my aid and help me become a human being again.

    “Some of them (ex-militants) have received different trainings abroad but nobody wants to talk about those who were wounded or killed by the weapons of the militants. I want the Federal Government to assist me out of pity by offering to end this severe pain as part of the amnesty programme.”

    Mr. Higher King, a human rights activist, said Miss Ejims was threatened by some persons who wanted her to give evidence in the trial of George’s suspected killers.

    King said they should first think of her interest and well- being.

    He said he had written to President Goodluck Jonathan, Senator Magnus Abe and the House of Assembly and the member representing her constituency but all efforts have proved abortive.

    “One thing is certain; she is seriously in pain and anyone, who needs her attention, should assist to save her life. The doctors said she may be paralysed as long as she lives with the bullets. So, I am begging the governors, National Assembly and the President to come to her aid.”

    He appealed to Governors Rotimi Amaechi and Rochas Okorocha (the governor of her home state, Imo) to have pity on the young lady.

     

  • South West PDP: ‘George cannot impose our leader’

    A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun State, Chief Buruji Kashamu, has berated attempts by another chieftain of the party, Chief Olabode George, to impose a new National Vice Chairman of the party on the South West zone.

    Speaking in an interview with The Nation, Kashamu, who is the major financier of the party in Ogun State, also accused the former Governor of Ekiti State, Engr. Olusegun Oni, for acting out George’s script to stop the South West congress of the party, which was earlier scheduled to hold yesterday.

    Some days ago, Oni had purpotedly obtained an injunction at an Ekiti High Court, stopping the zonal congress. The court has since denied issuing the injunction.

    Kashamu alleged that the recent visit of George and some leaders of the party to the Presidential Villa was to deceive President Goodluck Jonathan to sanction the postponement of the South West congress using the purported court injunction as an excuse.

    He said, “George and his group knew that the president will not disobey a court order. They fraudulently claimed that there was a court order stopping the congress, but there was nothing of such.”

    Kashamu, who said his goal is the unity and cohesion of the party in the South West, also denied insinuations in certain quarters that he is supporting the aspiration of the party’s former interim National Vice-Chairman, Chief Ishola Filani, to become the substantive leader of the party in the South West.

    “I’m not backing any candidate. What the true members of the party want is for all the aspirants to test their popularity through a free and fair congress. And I assure you that anybody that wins will have my full support. This culture of imposition by one man must stop!”

     

  • ‘George is Lagos PDP headache’

    ‘George is Lagos PDP headache’

    Lagos State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain Dr Abayomi Finnih spoke with Assistant Editor LEKE SALAUDEEN on the protracted crisis in the troubled chapter.

     

    What are the PDP leaders in Lagos State doing to reconcile the factions in the state chapter?

    Well, the party leadership is doing everything possible to ensure the unity of the party is in the state. We have issues, which the former reconciliatory committee has not been able to solve. We are trying to bring every member on board to work together and guarantee electoral successes. We don’t have statutory meeting time, but we have all come to realise that dialogue is the way to move the party forward and to avoid any form of acrimony within the party. We believe that, if the party must remain solid, peace has to prevail and we have to ensure equity and fair play.

    Is it true that the party has succeeded in reconciling Chief Bode George and Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe?

    I am not in a position to confirm or deny their reconciliation. If they have, it’s good for the party. We all have to come together to make a success story. We have invested our time, energy and resources towards building a virile party in the state, but the personal ego of few individuals is pulling us back. I think this time around, we should put the party interest above personal interest, so that the party can win elections in the state.

    Some members of the party have gone to court to seek the removal of Chief Bode George from the PDP Board of Trustee because he is an ex-convict. Is it a collective decision?

    I read the court action on the pages of newspapers. I was upset by the action of the members. I found it uncomfortable that the members are taking themselves to court on party matters. This is an issue that could have been dealt with at the party level. In any case, we are in democracy and people have freedom of decision making on any issue. The court is there as an arbiter.

    Lagos PDP has disowned the Minister of Trade and Commerce, Dr Olusegun Aganga, as state representative in the Federal Executive Council. When are you getting a replacement?

    Yes, the clamour for a true Lagosian as a member of the federal cabinet has been on for a while. It is a legitimate demand we are making. The constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria says that each state should have a minister. Dr Olusegun Aganga is not from Lagos State. I have not been able to discuss with him to find out where he comes from. We have discussed the matter at the party hierarchy, we have made representation to the Presidency, we have written letters calling on the President to give Lagos State its slot by appointing a true indigene of Lagos State into the Federal Executive Council. I am not sure, if Dr Aganga himself is claiming to be an indigene, but all we know is that he is not from Lagos State.

    Before the present cabinet was reconstituted, we made efforts to get Mr President to correct this anomaly. But what we heard was that, because Aganga is doing very well in his position, the President prefers to retain him. It is not clear to us how that should be a justification for Lagos that is being short changed, in view of the constitutional provision. What the President should have done is to appoint another minister from Lagos State. Anyway, we are still hoping that an indigene of Lagos State will be given a ministerial appointment, in fulfilment of the constitutional requirement.

    Is Aganga a registered PDP member in Lagos State or does he attend party meetings?

    When we were planning for the election of President Goodluck Jonathan in 2011, he attended some of the strategic meetings. He is not a politician. He is a technocrat. He is not expected to perform like a politician appointed as a minister.

    Your group is critical of the congress that produced the current state executive of the party. What went wrong?

    That is the bone of contention. Few people hijacked the process. The court halted the congress from holding, but the Olabode George faction called “the Establishment” defied the court order and went ahead with the congress. So, a faction is in control of the party executive. The other two factions namely: the Union, which I lead, and the Non- Align group are left in the cold. This action has further brought the party down. A serious party should open its doors for every member to be part of decision making.

    There were several reconciliatory moves made from outside, such as Southwest zone, the Presidency and PDP Governors Forum, all to no avail. The panels recommended a harmo-nised executive that would embrace all the factions, but the George Group is adamant. Even, the INEC wrote the party’s national chairman that the Lagos congress contravened the party guidelines and the constitution and that the commission does not recognise the congress. That was over a year now. Nothing has changed.

    Some of us have bent backward by reaching out to George and his group to find solutions, but their incalcitrant attitude does not allow to reason with us. Politicians don’t behave that way. There must be compromise. My concern is that the situation on ground will jeopardise our chances in 2015.

    The Southwest Zone met in Ibadan recently and picked Professor Ladipo as a replacement for Oyinlola, the erstwhile national secretary. Is Lagos a party to that decision?

    There is no issue on this because there is a subsisting order on choosing a replacement for Oyinlola. I was at the congress that produced Oyinlola. Everything was fairly and transparently done. The party’s constitution does not allow anyone to hold position in acting capacity. We (my group) stand with what the law stipulates. The appeal on the removal of Oyinlola is still pending in court.

    Will the party use the zoning formula or adopt consensus in picking its governorship candidate for 2015?

    Consensus should be the right thing because going to the primaries has always led to disenchantment and acrimony. At the end of the day, the party is broken into different factions such that you spent most of the time settling crises and having little or no time for field work. I hope, this time, we should look for a consensus candidate that would boost our chances at the poll.

    Is it true that the PDP is wooing Mr Jimi Agbaje to be its governorship candidate in 2015?

    Jimi Agbaje hasn’t joined the party. He has to join first before any other thing. Once he joins and shows interest he will be given equal opportunity like other members who have shown interest for the office.

     

     

     

     

     

  • Finidi George named coach at Mallorca

    Finidi George named coach at Mallorca

    FORMER Nigeria international Finidi George has been appointed the Youth Team coach of Spanish La Liga side, Mallorca.

    The former Sharks winger, who made his Super Eagles debut in the 7-1 whitewash of Burkina Faso at the main bowl of the national stadium in Lagos in a Nations Cup qualifier, had played for Real Betis in Spain.

    Finidi also played for Ajax Amsterdam, where he won the UEFA Champions League alongside Nwankwo Kanu. He also played in England with Ipswich Town.

    Finidi also achieved a bit of world wide fame with his celebration at the 1994 FIFA World Cup, when he went an all fours and aped a dog urinating after scoring against Greece.

    Finidi had taken time out to serve as an intern coach at Dutch side, FC Zwolle on the way to earning a coaching badge.

  • I wish I knew my father —Shan George

    I wish I knew my father —Shan George

    KNOWN for her down-to-earth and unpretentious persona, sultry actress Shan George in a recent interview, without mincing words, opened up on the pain of not knowing her father. The actress while trying to relive some of her childhood memories became quite emotional. She said, “It was quite enjoyable. It’s just that I wish I knew my father. I’m the only child of my mother, and my father was a white man. My mum is a very wonderful person, but I guess there is always going to be that part of me that keeps wondering who my father is. I tried several years to trace his whereabouts to no avail. While in search of him, I once travelled to where he used to work then, Turner’s Asbestos in Enugu.

    “The company consulted their files and brought out his old address in Manchester. Consequently, I travelled to Manchester in search of the man that fathered me. But my mission was not accomplished. I even had to cross-check phone books and called about 100 phone numbers, all in the bid to trace his whereabouts. One question I asked each time I called any of the numbers was whether any member of his family ever visited Africa or Nigeria in particular. I gave up hope of meeting my father at the age of 35.”

    The star actress also spoke on her movie roles and how they are far from the real Shan George.

  • ‘Bode George should not be member of PDP BoT’

    Two groups in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are challenging the membership of the former Chairman of the Board of the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), Chief Olabode George, in the party’s Board of Trustees (BoT).

    The groups are the Movement for Change and Empowerment (MCE) as well as the Forum for Equity and Justice (FEJ).

    In a statement yesterday, MCE’s National Publicity Secretary Mr. Dele Awopoju and FEJ’s National Coordinator Mr. Enitan Ayelabowo said: “Given George’s conviction for financial impropriety and corrupt practices, it is repugnant for such a character, who ought to bury his head in shame, to be parading himself as the leader of the PDP in Lagos State and the Southwest.

    “More than ever before, the PDP is now better positioned to win Lagos State, hence, we do not want George’s moral and political deficit to rob our great party of its bright chances of winning future elections.

    “Come to think of it, if the PDP won all states of the Southwest in 2003 except Lagos, where George has been calling the shots for close to 15 years, is it now that he is an ex-convict that the sophisticated people of Lagos State and indeed the Southwest will listen to him?”

    The groups hailed the PDP’s national leadership for denying George the privilege of moving the motion for the vote-of-confidence passed in President Goodluck Jonathan at the party’s recent National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting in Abuja.

    They urged the PDP’s leadership to “either remove George from the BoT or render him redundant to avoid embarrassment.”

    The groups said: “The Yoruba are decent people who will not give any position of responsibility to a questionable character, more so when the reason for the personality cum moral deficit has to do with financial impropriety and corrupt practices.

    “It will be an insult to the sensibilities of the sophisticated people of the Southwest if he is allowed to remain in the BoT, which is the conscience of our great party, and lay claims to the PDP’s leadership in the Southwest.”

  • …Extend to Bode George, Tafa Balogun and others

    …Extend to Bode George, Tafa Balogun and others

    SIR: Whoever says President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan is not conscious of the federal character principle when doing his things should check the list of those recently granted pardon to see how magnanimous the president was in ensuring that the beneficiaries were drawn from almost all the geo -political zones of the country.

    But the truth of the matter is that President Jonathan would still have to do more; if he could be so good to Alamieyeseigha, what precludes his goodwill from flowing to his contemporaries in the crime of money laundering and abuse of office?

    Mr. Tafa Balogun who was Inspector General of Police, Chief Lucky Igbinedion, former Governor of Edo State and Chief Bode George, former chairman of the National Ports Authority would have appreciated the goodwill more than the dead paraded on Jonathan’s list, after all, these individuals are still alive and kicking.

    The President may have forgotten that extending such gestures to them would be a good tactic of preparing towards 2015. If he is truly the president of all as he claims, then he should not have been selective in his choice of money laundering convicts to be pardoned, after all, ‘all convicts are equal’ or is it that Alams is more equal than the others?

    Chief Alameseigha’ pardon is no doubt a presidential endorsement of illegal accumulation of wealth; the whole scenario is a mockery of the administration’s fight against corruption which has been shown to be bogus in its entirety anyway. It has only shown that public officials who loot public treasury can freely succumb to the warm hands of temptation, all they need do is to steal as much as they can, strike some plea bargaining deal with the prosecution in the event of one, get some very light sentence (which substantial part is to be served in the hospital), go home and enjoy the loot for some years and thereafter apply for state pardon. All they need ensure is a that they are in the good books of His Excellency, once that is guaranteed, there would be no problem.

    One thing that should be kept in mind is that Alamieyeseigha’s pardon is just a gateway for others that are still being hatched in the nooks of the presidential villa. Tafa Balogun, Lucky Igbinedion, Bode George and others of their kinds may someday carry the day as Alams has done now.

    • Vincent Adodo

    Legal Aid Council, Ilorin, Kwara State.

  • The return of Roli George

    The return of Roli George

    Roli, the beautiful wife of controversial Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain, Olabode George, is back in her groove. The delectable former House of Representatives aspirant is again taking her place in the social firmament.

    The former friend of Pastor Chris Okotie had slowed her roll when her loving husband landed in the big mess concerning his role in the alleged multi-billion naira contract scam at the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), where he held sway as the chairman a few years ago. This coupled with the uproar that greeted her appointment as a member of board of the National Population Commission (NPC) forced her to become a scarce commodity in the social arena.

    Today, her husband is back from prison into her warm embrace and she is one of the 23 commissioners appointed for NPC. She has cast away her gloomy attires for colorful ones that express her joyous mood. The former Ankara model has now re-entered the social scene she once bestrode like a colossus.

    Many who had gossiped about her in her trying moments are trying to worm themselves back into her embrace. How times change.

  • They’ve been trying to get me to perform in Nigeria for 25years —George Benson

    They’ve been trying to get me to perform in Nigeria for 25years —George Benson

    Multiple grammy award-winner, George Benson, was here in Nigeria for the first time as he performed alongside Lagbaja at the 3rd Love Music Love Life Luxury Concert recently held at the Expo Centre of the Eko Hotel and Suites. He spoke with AHMED BOULOR about his trip to Nigeria and other sundry issues.

     

    TEN-TIME grammy award winner, George Benson is a jazz colossus who has overtime been able to carve an enviable niche for himself. Born and raised in the Hill District in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, George started honing his musical skills at the tender age of 7 playing the Ukulele (an instrument like a guitar with four strings, associated with Hawaiian music) in a corner drug store for which he was paid a few dollars. At the age of 8, he was playing guitar in an unlicensed nightclub on Friday and Saturday nights which was later closed down by the police.

    For a man who released his first single at the tender age of 10, travelling and seeing new places would definitely be a constant activity and according George his first trip to Nigeria for the third edition of Smooth FM’s Luxury Concert is proving something to him once again.

    “This trip is proving something to me once again; don’t always believe what you hear. By coming here, already I see differences from what I hear in the action of the people. From the point I got out of the airplane, people spoke kindly to me. When I got to my hotel, it’s nothing but warmth; people know us; they respect what we do. We are very famous in this country (Nigeria); I didn’t know that. I know we have some measure of popularity because we’ve been on the radio for many years. I didn’t know how famous we were until I landed in Nigeria. The truth is that I love the warmth, and I feel comfortable that everybody knows who we are and what we do and they love us. That’s the important thing,” he said.

    But does he have any impression about Nigeria and its people? George says he does as he has come across some faces which he described as very recognisable. “When I look at the people, I see faces that I’ve been seeing a lot, but I didn’t just know they are Nigerians; in other countries, including my country, United States. Now I see a face that is very recognizable; features that are very easy to recognize. Now, I realised that I’ve seen a lot of Nigerians, but didn’t recognise they are Nigerians. Now, I know what to look for; I’ve leant something already.

    “Nigerians are very proud of their country; I’ve never see a Nigerian say anything bad about their country. So far, there are things I’ve picked up coming here and I’m sure that more are coming,” he added.

    Considering the fact that George has a huge fan base here in Nigeria, many are of the opinion that the Jazz legend should have been here before now. Were there any efforts to bring him over in the past? George posits that there had been efforts to bring him to Nigeria which had failed but he decided to come now because he found a promoter he was comfortable with.

    “They’ve been trying to get me to this country for about 25 years. I never had an offer that made any sense; we were trying to get here, but we didn’t find the promoter we were looking for, but we finally found a promoter. It’s not all about the money; money is important but you still have to work with people you are comfortable with. Like every place you go to, people would say one thing or the other, but you have to go there and see things yourself. When you go, you see something different.

    “At this point, it wasn’t about looking for the greatest deal in the world; at this point, I don’t want to say that, all through my career, I never went to Nigeria. So, I wanted to come and find out things in Nigeria. So, we made arrangement and found a promoter that we are very comfortable with. When I got to the radio station, I found out that we are greatly loved here. So, I feel very comfortable here,” he averred.

    Being a worldwide brand, and considering the fact that he was to lineup for performances with Lagbaja, George was expecting a sold out crowd at the venue for the event and he was not let down at the turnout of guests for the concert.

    “I would think the promoter wasn’t doing any job, because there’s no reason why it shouldn’t be. If they’ve been selling our records here for many years…we’ve sold over 70 million albums and I’m sure we sold some here. Again, people don’t like to miss what they think might be a once in a life time opportunity; people have to be here tonight. So, there’s no reason the tickets shouldn’t be sold out. Now, I know why. I was on a radio station before the concert and the programming was very diversified and full of art. Every artiste I heard on the station had character; they are masters of their acts.

    “This is my first experience with this industry, but I’m already hearing incredible things about Lagbaja. I don’t think anybody has demystified him, all you get is something like, ‘I think he does this, I like him when he does this…there are lots of talking drums and stuffs like that,” he said.

    But with the western world waxing lyrical about Nigerian music and the seeming growth of the industry, George seems not to have been caught up in the bug as he says he has little knowledge about Nigerian music.

    “I don’t know a lot about Nigerian music, this is the reason why I’m coming here. It’s the reason I wanted to come,” he said.

    With five decades of experience in music under his belt; one begins to wonder how George has been able to stay relevant over the years? He reveals the secret behind his staying power.

    “Well, first of all, I had the best of the best; Quincy Jones produced the album. At the same time, he was working with the number one, Michael Jackson. At one point, I actually sold more albums than Michael Jackson in the very early stages. I remember working with Quincy Jones, he asked me one day, “George, do you want to make the greatest jazz album in the world or do you want to go for the throne?’ I laughed and I said, “Quincy, go for the throne baby.’ So, he brought his A-team, the same guys, who were working with Michael Jackson. Don’t forget, a lot of the artistes that support popular music, R&B and every other genre, are lovers of jazz music,” he added.

    For an artiste who waxed his first single at the age of 10 with RCA-Victor in New York, one wonders which song he holds dear to his heart among the many songs he has recorded. But George readily reveals his favourite single with a smile on his face…

    “That would definitely be the song ‘Turn Your Love Around’; It is the biggest single of my whole life; it is bigger than all my songs. You know how it happened, after we did the album with Quincy Jones, they selected another producer for me and the record label didn’t like the album that we produced. They said we were not going to put the album out, they decided we do a George Benson’s Collection. It ended up being a collection of my hits and they said we should put up two new songs on it. So, one of the new songs was Never Give Up. It was number one in Europe and ‘Turn Your Love’ around was number one in the United Sates. So, in an album that had nothing but hits, I had two more. So, I was very, very fortunate,” he said.

    Perhaps, George’s life changed when he started playing the guitar. One of his many early guitar heroes was country-jazz guitarist Hank Garland but his step dad gave him the first opportunity to play the musical instrument.

    “My mother met my stepfather when I was seven years old; my stepfather raised me. When he met my mother, we moved into a house that had electricity; before then, we lived in a house without electricity. So, he couldn’t bring his guitar. He finally brought it out and he plugged it in and I heard what I’ve never heard before; it was like magic. From that point on, I was hooked to the guitar; my fingers were small then to play guitar. So, he found ukulele (an instrument like a guitar with four strings, associated with Hawaiian music) in a garbage can; he fixed it and gave it to me. I learnt how to play music very fast; I went around the street corner at seven playing. I made more money every night than my mother made working two weeks in the hospital. One day, she discovered all these money under my pillow and she asked, ‘where did you get all this money from?’ At seven, money didn’t mean anything to me, so, I said, ‘Mom, I made the money every night.’ Two years later, for Christmas, he bought me a $14 guitar; I was nine years old. I went to street corners and learnt to play very fast. I got a recording contract; not as a guitar player, but a singer, who had a guitar in his hands, because guitar was getting popular. I was among the people in my hometown that owned a guitar so they called me for everything. I used to tell them, “I’m not a guitar player, but they said ‘you can do this.’

     

    “So, when I was a teenager, I moved around with Jack Middof and he embarrassed me every time because he knew I wasn’t on the guitar. But when he embarrassed, he forced me to practice. For me, it was like a gift; I hear something, I could play it. But I never practiced incessantly. Later, I was looking at a newspaper and they were doing a review about Jack Middoff and he called me a guitarist. The review wasn’t good; he didn’t say anything nice about me, but he called me a guitarist. I was always called a guitar player, not a guitarist; I like that title. That’s why I became a guitarist,” he informed.

    In some quarters, Jazz is considered as a genre that has the highest elitist fan base while some people feel that it appeal across the board but George has a different opinion.

    “I think classical music doesn’t appeal across the board like jazz; that’s one thing that classical musicians envy about jazz. Jazz music is here to stay, but the popularity depends on the exposure. Don’t count jazz out; it will be around for many, many years,” he stated.