The Nation Newspaper

Tag: history

  • History of the wedding veil

    History of the wedding veil

    There are many stories of the origin of a bride’s veil. Some say that the veil was introduced in ancient Rome. People of that era believed that evil spirits would be attracted to the bride, so they covered her face with a veil in order to conceal her features and confuse them. The definition of veil is to “obscure, shroud, mask or cover, so perhaps that is how the bridal “veil” got its name.

    It’s also said the in medieval times, the veil was used to protect her from “the evil eye” and was a symbol of purity, chastity, and modesty.

    Others say the the origin of the bridal veil was due to the circumstances of an arranged marriage. In days past, men bargained with an eligible young lady’s father for their hand in marriage. AFTER the ceremony, the veil was lifted to reveal the brides features. This was to keep a groom from backing out of the deal if he didn’t like what he saw.

    Some say that the veil was used in days past as a symbol of a bride’s submission and willingness to obey her husband.

    Certain lengths of bridal veils got their names from how or where they were worn. At one time, Cathedral Veils were only worn in wedding that took place in cathedrals.

    Well, times have changed the meaning of the tradition of wearing a bridal veil! Now, wearing a bridal veil: signifies a special event  A Wedding!

    signifies joy highlights the bride’s appearance and features is the final crowning touch! Bridal Gowns are transformed with the addition of a veil.

    The past history of wearing a bridal veil has given way to new traditions. Over the past 20 years, traditions surrounding the bridal veil have changed even more. Veils were worn more frequently over the face (a blusher). Now, you don’t have to wear if over your face all all if you don’t want to.

    Brides of our day are making their own wedding veil history! Star Jones of the popular Television show “The View” wore a 27′ FOOT long Veilthe longest known veil in history. It’s dubbed the “Star Cathedral Veil”. Her veil was two feet longer than Princess Diana’s Bridal Veil.

    It also used to be that brides marrying for the second time were not supposed to wear a veil, especially a white veil. Nowadays, it’s perfectly acceptable to wear a veil (even a white one) for a second marriage if you want to! (Don’t let anyone try to tell you different. It’s YOUR day! If you want to wear it, go ahead!)

    The wearing of a bridal gown and veil is one of the big days in a woman’s lifeChoose what YOU feel comfortable in and enjoy your special day!

  • History students contest in debate

    Members of the National Association of History and International Studies at the Imo State University have held a debate titiled: “Did Europe actually underdevelop Africa?”at the Faculty of Humanities.

    In her remarks, Chairman of the session, Ekeanyanwu Chinmma,  said the inter – class debate was aimed at inspiring positive change on the mindset of students.

    President of the department, Nwadiaro Sylvester, stated the initiative would help provide answers to the intellectual needs of the students.

    He thanked the Staff Adviser, Mr Jerry Nwoke, Head of Department, Prof John Cliff Nwadike, Dr Martins Woko and students for turning out en masse for the debate.

    Nwoke said he was happy to see his students engage in healthy intellectual engagements, adding that the debate would deepen the knowledge base of the students.

    He praised the executives and organisers of the event, stating that the department would work effortlessly to improve the debate.  After series of argument from both sides, the supporting team won, convincing the judges that Europe underdeveloped Africa mainly through the enthronement of boundary dispute, political dependency, slave trade, capitalism and neo-colonialism.

    Speaking to CAMPUSLIFE, Chima Anaele, 300-Level, said: “I am happy to be one of the speakers in this debate. I feel more needs to be done to improve the standard of the debate from the binary style to the global debating standard which is the British Parliamentary system of debating”.

  • EKSU celebrates history

    EKSU celebrates history

    •Gives out certificates at convocation

    For the first time in the history of the Ekiti State University (EKSU), Ado-Ekiti, certificates for all graduands were ready for presentation at the institution’s 19th convocation held last Friday and Saturday.

    The announcement made by the Vice-Chancellor, Prof Patrick Oladipo Aina to that effect attracted cheers from the students, their loved ones and special guests that attended the convocation.

    The Vice-Chancellor noted that the step was in line with the university’s vision to become a world class institution, where things are done seamlessly.

    Aina said that the convocation formalised the graduation of 3,057 full-time, 695 Part-time, 885 Affiliate Colleges, 664 Sandwich students. Of the full time students, 11 graduated with first class honours degrees; 710 got second class Upper honours grade; 1,808, second class Lower; 498, third class, and 30 obtained a pass degree.

    At the postgraduate level, there were 558 graduands in all, comprising 15 doctorate degrees, 425 Masters Degrees and 118 Post Graduate Diplomas.

    The best graduating student, Badmus Ayodeji Folahan of the French Department, finished with a Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of 4.65.

    The Vice-chancellor told the graduands that the university has made giant strides in both human and academic endeavours. He said the pursuit of its world class goal has led to the erection of many state-of-the-art buildings within and outside the grounds of the University, reinstatement of functional municipal facilities, acquisition of laboratory and workshop equipment and cultivation of corporate Social responsibility.

    “The new buildings constructed in the past two years include the Medical Library, Biochemistry/Pharmacology, Medical Students’ Hostel and Animal House buildings finance by Ekiti State Government and the university’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR); TETFund sponsored Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Faculty of Education, School of Post graduate Studies and Entrepreneurial Studies Centre, while a modern Students Centre was donated by Hon. Kingsley Kuku, one of our distinguished Alumni,” he said.

    In the area of academics, Aina said some new programmes, including Gender and Development studies, Peace, Security and Governance, Theatre and Media Arts were developed in emerging fields of knowledge that will enhance the global competitiveness of EKSU graduates and raise the university’s profile.

    Commending the university for its recent academic achievements and improving the learning environment, the Ekiti State Governor and Visitor to the university, Dr Kayode Fayemi assured its leadership of continued government support.

    While inaugurating the new Medical Library, Fayemi praised the institution’s improved Webometric ranking from 79th to 17th in Africa. He also acknowledged the overall development noticeable around the campus covering municipal infrastructure and human capital development.

    The Governor also flagged off the construction of the 2km road project jointly financed by the Ekiti State Government and Ado-Ekiti and Irepodun/Ifelodun Local Governments.

    Dignitaries at the ceremony included: Prof. Adebiyi Daramole – Vice-Chancellor, Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA); Prof. K.K. Immanangha – Provost College of Health Sciences, Niger Delta University Wilberforce Island; Mrs. Bolatito Oloketuyi, Registrar Redeemers University; Prof. Oluyemi Adebowale from Adekunle Ajasin University, Prof. Olusegun Areola, Bells University of Technology Ota; HRM, Oba Dr. Rufus Adejugbe, the Ewi of Ado-Ekiti and Tonbra Moris- Odubo, Registrar Niger Delta University, Wilberforce Island.

  • Culture vital to history, say Awujale, Balogun

    The Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Adetona, and the Olori Omoba of Ijebu, Otunba Subomi Balogun, have urged rulers to preserve the people’s cultural heritage.

    They said a people’s cultural heritage was “a sacred institution that should be protected”.

    The duo spoke in Ijebu Ode at the weekend at the inauguration of a multimillion naira Oba Adesimbo Tunwase Museum and Hall, facilitated by Balogun.

    Oba Adetona said the institution should be protected against brigands in the ruling house, “who intend to destroy the family’s peace and legacies.”

    Speaking on his “ordeal” with aggrieved members of the royal family, who filed a case to challenge Balogun’s position as the Olori Omoba of Ijebuland, the Awujale described the plaintiffs as ingrates.

    He said: “The royal family is a sacred institution, which should not be allowed to be polluted by charlatans. It is unfortunate that people with dubious character are finding their way into the royal institution and this has to be checked.”

    Balogun said a people’s culture is the only means to trace their history.

    He said many past rulers in Ijebuland were buried at the spot where the museum is situated.

    Balogun said an ancient crown, staff, books on the origin of Ijebu and the grave of the late rulers were preserved in the museum, adding: “People can travel from all over the world to the museum because there are many ancient and historical artefacts here.”

  • Nwabueze’s distortions of Nigeria’s History (II)

    Nwabueze’s distortions of Nigeria’s History (II)

    In the first part of this article last week I tried to debunk Professor Ben Nwabueze’s thesis in his recent essay on the 1914 amalgamation of Northern and Southern Nigeria that the idea of a “Northern Nigeria” was a subterfuge by the country’s British overlords to keep it permanently divided and empower the North to replace the British as its permanent overlord after Independence.

    He gave six reasons for his position that the North is a creature that has no basis of unity in its sociology, culture, language and religion. I tried to show how each and every one of those reasons was banal and specious. I concluded the article by promising to show the reader this morning how the professor’s thesis was a hatchet job for President Goodluck Jonathan in his undeclared war to remain on his seat beyond 2015.

    In my rebuttal, I showed how the learned professor did serious violence to the historical fact that, long before the British came to our shores, the people who lived within the area that became Nigeria in 1914 had related with each other through wars, internal migration, trade, religious propagation and diplomacy. I should have added then that the professor’s origin itself was a symbol of these varied historical intercourses.

    According to The New Who’s Who in Nigeria published in 1999 by the Nigerian International Biographical Centre, the professor comes from Atani in Ogbaru Local Government of Anambra State. Atani, as the man knows all too well, or at least should, was originally an Igala town. Old folks in that town, I am told, still speak and understand the language. And its inhabitants still look up to Idah, the historical capital of pre-colonial Igala Kingdom, as their spiritual capital.

    Before the jihad of Usman Dan Fodio which begun in 1804 and reached Nupeland and further down the Niger-Benue confluence region by 1810, the Igala Kingdom had extended over parts of Yoruba, Nupe, Ebira, Doma and other neighbouring tribes. It had even extended to parts of Igboland on both the Western and Eastern banks of the Niger, including Asaba, Nsukka and Enugu and, of course, Atani, the professor’s hometown.

    Dan Fodio’s jihad contributed to the decline of the kingdom at the same time that it led to the expansion of Nupe Kingdom. But then the Nupe Kingdom itself had its origin partly in the Igala; Tsoede who founded the Kingdom in the 15th century was an Igala prince whose mother was Nupe.

    The area that became Nigeria had (and still has) four hydrographical systems: Niger-Benue, along with the many of the tributaries of the two mighty rivers, which is by far the largest, and Chad, Cross River and Atlantic.

    These four hydrographical systems were the arteries around which many empires, kingdoms – most notably Kwararafa, Borno, Sokoto, Borgu, Oyo, Benin, Nupe, Igala, Ijaw and Efik – rose and fell and many so-called stateless people like the Igbo, Tiv, Ebira, Kambari, Dakarkari and Idoma and the many tribes on the Jos Plateau, fought, with various measures of success, against subjugation by the larger hegemons long before this corner of Africa was colonised by Europeans.

    None of these empires, kingdoms and so-called stateless peoples existed in isolation. For example, as we have noted already, the founder of Nupe Kingdom was half Igala. Again History teaches us that Sango, the Yoruba god of thunder and the third Alafin of Oyo, was born of a Nupe princess.

    East of the Niger, Calabar, as the late Dr Bala Usman said in his seminal paper I referred to last week, may have been an Efik polity, but the majority of its people were Igbo, Ekoi and Ibibio while further west the city states of the Lower Niger were of mixed Ijaw, Igbo, Igala, Edo and Nupe origin. Indeed, Opobo, established by King Jaja in 1873, was predominantly Igbo.

    So for anyone to say, as the professor has, that the people of Nigeria were strangers to each other within or between the regions until the Whiteman came along and eventually amalgamated the two in 1914 is to do great violence to the pre-colonial history of Nigeria.

    However, important as it is to expose the professor’s distortion of our pre-colonial history, it is really besides the point of today’s piece. This, as I’ve said, is to show that his amalgamation essay, stripped of any pretence, is a hatchet job in support of President Jonathan’s war to retain his job for another term.

    It has since become a notorious fact that the greatest opposition to the president’s wish has come from the North. What better way then could there be to help the president achieve this wish than by exposing the whole idea of a Northern Nigeria entity as a sham created and nurtured by a colonial master than never wished the country well?

    Unfortunately for the professor, even the most casual reading of his essay will show that he was determined not to let any inconvenient fact get in the way of his objective. Instead, he was determined to square and squash any such inconvenient fact.

    Perhaps the most glaring of such inconvenient facts was the widely accepted notion that Plateau State, along with Benue, is the core of the Middle Belt region. However, through the kind of “monstrous act of gerrymandering” he has accused the British colonialists of in creating Northern Nigeria, he curved out the state out of the Middle Belt and added it to his not-so-Middle Belt states of Niger, Nasarawa and Taraba. The lately departed Chief Solomon Lar, a, if not the, chief protagonist of Middle Belt, must be turning in his grave at such monstrous “travesty.”

    This gerrymandering was deliberately wanton; a little over halfway through the essay, the professor claims that “no Executive President of Nigeria has ever come from the Middle-Belt states of Benue, Taraba, Kogi and Kwara, and the South-East.” Obviously the man had to squash the fact that General Yakubu Gowon, as the longest serving military ruler of Nigeria 1966 to 1975), comes originally from Plateau State and is your quintessential Northern minority Christian.

    Similarly, it seems everyone, except the professor, knows that Taraba State has always been part of the North-East geo-political zone in what is now widely accepted as the country’s six geo-political zones, the others being, North-West, North-Central (aka Middle Belt), South-West, South-East and South-Central. For the professor, however, Taraba, is in one breath Middle Belt along with Benue, Kogi and Kwara and in the next breath not-so-Middle Belt along with Niger, Nasarawa and Plateau in an area he concedes half-heartedly “may arguably be grouped with the states in the True North as having some, albeit tenuous sociological, cultural, linguistic and religious as well as geographical nexus with them.”

    Third, the man says one of the ways the idea of one North poses a threat to the country’s unity has been its “persistent demand for power shift to the North which reared its head in…2007…”

    This demand, he adds, has failed to take into consideration the fact that, except for General Olusegun Obasanjo (February 1976 to October 1979) “all the rulers of Nigeria, military and civilian, were from the North.” It is truly amazing how the professor could have forgotten so soon that the first military ruler of this country was his fellow Igbo, Major-General J.T.U. Aguiyi-Ironsi (January to July 1966), and it was that first military misadventure by essentially an Igbo cabal of military officers which lies at the root of the country’s long running predicament.

    As for the North’s “persistent demand” for power shift rearing its head in 2007, again the professor seems to have forgotten it was his Igbo compatriot, Chief Alex Ekwueme, who planted and popularised the idea of power shift as far back as 1995 during General Sani Abacha’s Constitutional Conference.

    Our professor, it seems, suffers from schizophrenia on Northern Nigeria. In one breadth he says it is a fiction foisted on Nigeria by its British colonisers and in the next breadth he says it has had “a powerful hold…on the thoughts, attitudes and views of the people of the area,” such that it poses a grave threat to the country’s unity.

    Clearly the illogic of the argument that the unity of one section of a country necessarily poses a threat to the unity of the country seems to have escaped the fine mind of our professor. One would have thought until the various sections of a country are united, the country as a whole cannot be.

    Paradoxically, having misdiagnosed the country’s problem the man still arrives at the sensible and rational conclusion that the way to cure the country’s North-South divide is “by the creation of a national front for the activist pursuit of the NATIONAL TRANSFORMATION AGENDA.,” (emphasis mine) needless to say, the worn out mantra of President Jonathan’s administration and a choice of phrase which speaks volumes of where our professor was coming from.

    How this national front can be created, he does not say. Whichever way this can be achieved, a national conference of ethnic nationalities, as seems to be currently on the cards, is certainly a non-starter.

    This, however, is a subject for another day, possibly next week.

     

  • PDP’ll be history soon, says Akume

    PDP’ll be history soon, says Akume

    •Team up with APC, Sani urges breakaway faction

    Senate Minority Leader George Akume has said the breakup of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is a signal to its imminent collapse.

    He said the party’s crisis was a repercussion of abandoning the principles on which it was built.

    Akume spoke with reporters yesterday in Makurdi, the Benue State capital.

    He said Nigerians should no longer waste time on the PDP, because the party would soon be buried and forgotten.

    Akume said he was one of those who nourished and nurtured the PDP to stand, adding that he had to leave when he discovered that the party was being run by unpatriotic, insincere and excessively greedy people who were not ready to change for better.

    He said: “Some of us who were there at the beginning and knew how this party was formed saw a great disaster waiting for it. We left for good and aligned ourselves now with people who have the interest of the nation at heart. I tell you, PDP will fall and never stand again.

    “APC has come to stay and ours is a party of and for the people. It is going to be a general movement, for the youths, the women, the old and all that. We will move and continue to move until Nigerians decide on who they want to rule them. We will be there in 2015 and all the wrongs will be corrected.”

    Kaduna-based civil rights activist Mallam Shehu Sani urged the breakaway faction to negotiate with the All Progressives Congress (APC) on a merger deal.

    Sani said the break-up of the PDP was long overdue and a welcome development, adding that the development exposes the inherent rancour, confusion and disorder in the party.

    Sani’s statement reads: “The break-up of the PDP is a welcome development. It exposes the inherent rancour, confusion and disorder that pervade the ruling party.

    “The breakup will automatically ventilate the political atmosphere that had been polluted by years of chicanery, shenanigan and a catalogue of fraud. The break-up of the PDP will dissolve the shackles and manacles that impede the socio-economic and political progress of the Nigerian state.

    “The demise of the PDP is long overdue and its split is long expected. The PDP is a rallying point for people allergic to clean politics and politics of principle. It is a shade for self-serving men and women and carrier bread and butter politicians. The PDP is a breeding ground for cancerous politics of self-interest, cronyism and parasitism.

    “The implosion of the PDP will give birth to a new politics of purpose, vision and collective democratic advancement. The split will herald a new political dawn to end the famine of leadership and the drought of governance that has become of our bewildered polity.

    “For fifteen years, the ruling PDP has ruined our great country by unleashing a succession of thieving and inept government, bankrupt of ideas. The PDP is a menace and monstrous evil whose death will bring prosperity and glory to our fatherland. The PDP has criminalised the democratic process and turned government into a crime scene.

    “The new PDP faction is made up of men of conscience and their resistance and objection to the dictatorial tendencies of Jonathan/ Bamanga confraternity is commendable. I wish to advise the new PDP to immediately enter into dialogue with the APC with the aim of exploring the possibility of merger.

    “For fifteen years the ruling party has unleashed deaths, untold hardships and poverty on Nigerians, it is time for it to die as a price for its toxic and lethargic legacies.”

  • ‘The true history of the national anthem’

    ‘The true history of the national anthem’

    Contrary to the widely held impression, Pa Benneth Odiase, who died on June 12, 2013, was only the composer of the music and not the wordings of the national anthem. Dr Sota Omoigui, a Nigerian consultant anesthesiologist and pain specialist based in the United States, who was one of the five composers of the wordings of the anthem, in this interview with LEKAN OTUFODUNRIN, speaks on the history of the anthem and other related issues.

     

    Pa Benneth Odiase who composed the music of the national anthem died during the week; what kind of tribute do you want to pay in his memory?

    I am saddened by the passing away of Pa Benedict Odiase who composed the music of our national anthem. As one of the five co-authors of the wordings of the anthem, I had looked forward to the day when the country would bring us all together – composers of both the words and music – to celebrate what we created in 1978 – 35 years ago.

    The words and music replaced the old colonial anthem of “Nigeria, we hail thee” and were composed to inspire all of us -citizens and leaders – to build a great nation. Alas, death gave our leaders a long time to get this done, but death can only wait so long. I wish Pa Odiase God speed and journey mercies as he unshackles the bonds of this earthly world. May the good Lord console his family and give them the strength to bear his loss. They should take solace that where the Lord abides, death will have no sting and grave no victory.

    The nation can be comforted that whenever the drum roll of our national anthem is played, Pa Odiase would be smiling from heaven. May we continue to be

    one nation bound in freedom, peace and unity.

     As one of the composers of the words of the Nigerian national anthem, it must mean much to you than all of us who recite it. What kind of feelings do you get when you hear the anthem?

    I have mixed feelings when I hear our anthem. I have pride in our country and its potential to take its place as a great nation. Nigerians are achievers who thrive anywhere in the world they go. But I feel sadness that we as a country have lost our way. We are a giant shackled to the underclass of nations, and kept in bondage by our leaders  whose corruption and avarice demonstrate a lack of love for their own people. Love is mentioned in each verse of the anthem. But our political leaders show only love for themselves and their immediate family. Our hospitals can remain mere consulting clinics with few drugs and outdated equipment as long as they can travel abroad for medical treatment and earn foreign exchange for themselves and their family while receiving the best medical care. This is the opposite of all the virtues we called for in the anthem. Our leaders are living in a bubble and fail to see a train crash waiting to happen.

    Can you recall your involvement in composing the anthem?

    Very much so. I was in Kings College, Lagos at the time, and there was a national competition for the anthem organized by the National Publicity Committee on the Draft Constitution/Return to Civilian Rule in Nigeria. I sent in my entry, and, to my great surprise, I saw my name in the Daily Times newspaper as one of the top five selected out of a total of 1,499 entries submitted. The final words of the national anthem were formed from these five entries.

    What particular words are yours in the anthem?

    The last lines of each verse.

    What informed your words in the anthem?

    It was my desire for a great nation bound in love, social justice, peace, freedom and unity. Justice and peace are two sides of the same coin. As the late great Fela Anikulapo-Kuti would say: No justice, no peace. And that is the story of Nigeria to date. When the undertrodden have no justice, the ruling class will find no peace.

    You said in your press release that the anthem was composed to inspire all of us -citizens and leaders – to build a great nation; has this been achieved?

    Unfortunately, we as a nation have failed to achieve our potential. In fact we have lost our way. I will give you two examples.

    First,when I drive on the 405 freeway which passes next to Los Angeles International Airport, I can see planes coming in to land. The national insignia on the aircraft is very visible. I see national airlines from many developing countries, such as Ethiopian Airlines, Philippine Airlines, Malaysian Airlines and even from small pacific islands, such as Air Tahiti Nui. But I feel a pain in my heart that I do not see the Nigeria Airways insignia on any aircraft. We cannot even run our own national airline. And that is a nation that has lost its way.

    Second, the Channels TV video that showed the rot at the Police College, Lagos – This is a glaring example of leaders who do not care for their people.

    How do you go to work in the foremost police college ofthe country with any conscience and supervise the training of future police officers in such dilapidated and appallingconditions ?

    How do you sleep at night knowing that your trainee officers are living in such squalid conditions?

    How did we as a country deteriorate to such an extent, where no one is held accountable? I will take the liberty to quote my sister-in-law, Mrs Moira Omoigui, whose response to the video was a prayer that “May you and your loved ones never meet the products of such an institution at a checkpoint” That prayer sums it all.

    These and the underdevelopment of our nation bring up the salient question whether we were ready for independence and if we can rule ourselves.

    Who are the other co-composers?

    These records are available online. The other co-authors of the anthem lyrics are John A. Ilechukwu, Eme Etim Akpan, B. A. Ogunnaike and P. O. Aderibigbe. The music was composed by the Police Band under the directorship of

    Benedict Elide Odiase You said you had looked forward to the day when the country would bring together – composers of both the words and music – to celebrate what you all created in 1978 – 35 years ago; why do you think this didn’t happen?

    The origin and history of the anthem had been forgotten by those in government. Pa Odiase was awarded the MON in December 2001 for the anthem.

    However, the composition of the anthem comprised both music and lyrics. This was a lost opportunity to bring together all those who created the anthem. Do you feel cheated that you and your co-composers have not been acknowledged and rewarded like Pa Odiase?

    Not at all. The origin and history of the anthem have been forgotten and that explains why none of the other composers has been acknowledged. This is a reflection of our government as well as the state of our media when our journalists go to press without doing the minimum research or fact finding.

    ALL the newspaper reports since the transition of Pa Odiase have described him incorrectly as the composer of the national anthem. This is not to take anything from the greatness of Pa Odiase and the indelible musical legacy of the anthem he has left behind for our country. I am very pleased that he was acknowledged in his lifetime.

    But history is history. It cannot be altered and we must document it as it is. With a few keystrokes search on the Internet, any reporter or government official can obtain the proper history of our national anthem, including the names of the composers of the lyrics as well as the music. This is just recent history dating back to 1978, and we cannot get it right. Compare that to the UK where they acknowledge their history dating back a thousand years such as the conquest of King Harold by William the conqueror on October 13th, 1066. This should be a wake-up call for all of us.

    A nation that forgets its history has no guide to its future.

    Now irrespective of our failure to remember our history, I cannot feel cheated when the average Nigerian is cheated of constant power supply, cheated of potable water, cheated of good roads, cheated of basic health care, cheated of good education, cheated of security for life and limb and cheated of good governance.

    Will you still be willing to participate in a get- together of the composers?

    Yes I will.

    Do you think Nigerians have imbibed the message of the anthem?

    If not, what should be done to ensure that it is not just a song, but acall to action?

    The message of the anthem can only resonate when we have moral leadership, starting from President Goodluck Jonathan and permeating all branches of the government from top to bottom. Corruption is not a problem in Nigeria. It

    is an institution and a way of life. We are too greedy and selfish to realize the old saying that a rising tide lifts all boats. 300 years ago, our ancestors sold their brothers and sisters into physical slavery. Today the majority of Nigerians are in economic servitude. More than 100 million Nigerians, about 61 per cent of the population, were living on less than $1 a day at the end of 2010. That’s up from 51 per cent in 2004, as reported by the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics. Despite the fact that the Nigerian economy is growing, the proportion of Nigerians living in poverty is increasing every year, as reported by the statistician general. We cannot solve the problems of Boko Haram with an iron fist. Neither can we solve the environmental and economic devastation in the Niger Delta by paying off the militants.

    Our people need a coherent economic plan and a leadership that work for them. Our constitution with its party system that prevents honest men and women from rising to leadership positions, its failure to provide for independent candidates, lack of checks and balances of an all powerful executive branch and numerous other failings has set us up for failure.

    We need an independent Office of the Inspector General at all levels of Federal, State and Local Government to audit and prevent crime and an independent transparent EFCC to prosecute the crime. All past and present office holders must match their assets with their income. But alas, until we adhere to the words of our anthem, Nigeria can never take its place of leadership in the community of nations.

    Tell me more about your background, relocation abroad and your present work?

    I left Nigeria to the United States in 1986, after finishing medical school at the University of Ibadan, College of Medicine and serving my internship and national youth corps service.

    This is my bio below : Sota Omoigui M.D. is a consultant anesthesiologist and pain specialist. He is an expert in all types of acute and chronic pain syndromes and treats patients in the USA, Nigeria as well as around the world. He is Medical Director of the L.A. Pain Clinic in Hawthorne, California and former member of the FDA Advisory Committee on Anesthetics and Life Support Devices (2008 – 2011).

    Dr. Sota Omoigui is author of The Biochemical Origin of Pain (State-of-the-Art Technologies, 2002), Sota Omoigui’s Pain Drugs Handbook (Blackwell Scientific Publishers, 1999), The Anesthesia Drugs Handbook (Mosby Yearbook Publishers, 1995), The Pain Drugs Handbook (Mosby Yearbook Publishers, 1996), Pain Relief—The L.A. Pain Clinic Guide (State-of-the-Art Technologies, 1998), The Universal Drug Infusion Ruler (State-of-the-Art Technologies, 1995) and co-author of The Nigerian National Anthem (198). Dr. Sota Omoigui’s drug handbooks are used worldwide and have been published in five other languages (Italian, Japanese, Malaysian, Polish and Portuguese).

    Dr. Sota Omoigui’s research focus is on inflammation and pain, anesthetic and pain pharmacology. Dr. Sota Omoigui pioneered the technique of audio-capnometry and holds a United States patent for the audio-capnometer monitor and a patent for the process of continuous non-invasive hemometry (measurement of hemoglobin).

    THE NATION, SATURDAY, JUNE 22, 2013

    •Omoigui ‘The true history of the national anthem’

     

  • Elina : Ghana castle where dark history comes to life

    Even today, it towers above its surroundings like a white beacon of hope. The scenery is beautiful, peaceful and serene with the huge structure framed by the surging ocean on one side and ringed by rows of tall coconut trees on the other.

    This cool ambience, though is deceptive, for in its heyday, this majestic building, the Elmina Castle, Elmina, Ghana, was the location of one of the most horrendous, horrible and brutal acts ever committed by man against his fellow human being. It was in this place that thousands of African slaves were kept in subhuman conditions, brutalized and eventually shipped to America, the Carribean and other far-flung parts of the world to work as slave labourers.

    “It is difficult for us today to imagine what these captives or slaves went through both while they were kept in this place and even before they arrived,” said Phillip, a guide at the castle.

    On this bright and sunny afternoon, he was taking a small group of foreign tourists, including this reporter, round the huge castle. He is very knowledgeable about its history, often giving graphic descriptions of life within its walls both for the captive slaves and the slave masters.

    It’s a tale of immense misery, pain and suffering beyond belief. Indeed, the contrast between the beautiful castle and the horrors that took place within its thick walls is just too hard to contemplate.

    A hellish life

    The castle was like a transit point for captives before they were to be transported to foreign lands. They were brought from all over the west coast, trekking barefoot all the way, sometimes about 300 miles from the places where they were captured to the coast.

    “The slaves walked from all over West Africa- from the present day Nigeria, Togo, Benin Republic, Ivory Coast, other parts of Ghana and other places. The journey could take months,” he explained.

    He noted that the captives, who were in chains, were given very little food and water and never bathed. Those who became very weak and sick, he added, were left in the forest to die or to be at the mercy of wild animals.

    “By the time they arrived the castle, they would have grown very weak, sick and exhausted. Many died in the process. Those that survived were kept in the dungeons inside the castle,” disclosed Phillip.

    There are several dungeons for male as well as female slaves in the castle. The main female dungeon is a long, narrow room. Apart from a little opening at the upper side of the wall, there are no windows. In this stuffy, airless enclosure were kept about 400 women slaves.

    Life in the dungeons was hellish. The captives were held in there for a maximum of one or two months, depending on the availability of ships to take them away. Given enough food and water to keep them barely alive, they were rarely brought out for exercise and sunlight, nor allowed to bathe.

    “In the case of the women who had their menstrual period, they were not given clothes or pads for the flow. So, they just did it there on the floor. Those who were too weak to ease themselves in the containers placed at corners of the dungeons as toilets were forced to do it on the floor,” said Phillip. Thus, the floor on which the captives slept was often filled with human waste, blood, urine and vomit. All this stench, coupled with the heat, made life harrowing and unbearable in the dungeons. “It’s no surprise that many of the captives died before they were transported abroad,” Phillip stated.

    As if the dehumanising conditions under which the captives lived was not bad enough, they had to contend with all forms of harassment from their captors. The female captors, for instance, were sexually abused by the slave masters.

    Hear Phillip: “Whenever the governor of the castle wanted a woman, he went about it this way. He would stand on the balcony overlooking the female dungeons and order the women to be brought out and assembled. He would then pick the woman he wanted.”

    The chosen female would be by this time, filthy looking and unkempt as she might have been in the dungeon for a month or so without a bath or other forms of personal hygiene.

    “Since she could not meet the governor in her condition, she was usually cleaned by the soldiers, dressed, fed and taken up a flight of stairs and through a trap door off the inner courtyard known as the private entrance to the governor’s bedroom,” said the guide.

    These regular sexual assaults by the captors resulted in pregnancies among some of the captives. Those who became pregnant were freed, but it was a bittersweet freedom as many could not make their way back to their places of origin.

    “Since the captives came not only from present-day Ghana, but also from Togo, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Benin and a host of other places, when these women were freed, they could not return to the villages where they originally came from,” Phillip explained.

    Some of the captors who had impregnated the women subsequently built houses in the village where some of them were kept to deliver their babies.

    Door of no return

    When the ships that would take the captives away arrived, those sold were taken to a room now known as the “room of no return”. A very low door leads to this room. Unless you are a dwarf, you will need to bend to enter. The captives, all in chains, were led to this room and made to exit through another door. From this door (known as the door of no return), they were taken down a ladder to canoes and finally the ships that would take them to unknown places in the world. This journey called the “middle passage” saw the captives being shipped across the mighty Atlantic Ocean to Europe, the Caribbean, the Americas and other places. It was a long tortuous journey in which many of the slaves died from hunger, disease and brutality and horrible conditions in which they were kept. Those who perished were thrown into the sea.

    “Over 60 million Africans were captured during the three centuries or so the evil trade in humans lasted. Only 20 million survived and ended up in foreign lands to work as slaves under terrible conditions,” stated Phillip.

    From one power to the other

    The castle, which was at the epicentre of the evil trade, began life innocently enough. Built by the Portuguese in1482, it was originally used as a trading post for goods. The Portuguese first arrived Elmina in 1471 and began to trade with the Africans. Back then, the system of trade was by barter, that is the exchange of goods for goods. The Portuguese exchanged items like guns, hard liquor, gunpowder, enamel bowls, tobacco, iron bars for such items like gold, ivory, spices and artifacts from the Africans. The locals had a lot of gold to exchange with the foreigners. This gave them the impression that the village was full of gold. Thus they called the place, “El Mina” (the mine). This name was corrupted to today’s Elmina.

    This mutual trade in goods continued till the early 16th century when the trans-Atlantic slave trade began. In 1637, the castle was taken over by the Dutch after a fierce battle. They held fort there, using it as a transit for shipment of slaves to the West until the British gained possession in 1872. By this time, the trade in slaves had mercifully been abolished.

    Today, the castle, with its different sections such as the courtyards, dungeons, cells, official quarters for the slavers, church, mess, kitchens and others, stands empty of both slave masters and ill-treated captives. All that remain within its thick walls are echoes of a past that saw the worst form of man’s inhumanity to man. Well- maintained by the Ghanaian government, it’s a magnet for tourists from all over the world. Briana Wilson, an African-American from Atlanta, Georgia, is one of them.

    “I had heard so much about this place that I just had to come here. This is my first visit to Africa. Seeing the place where my ancestors stayed before being taken away to other parts of the world gives one goose pimples. There are no words to describe the feeling. You can read all you want and watch all the documentaries you like about slavery. But they don’t give you the same experience as being there and seeing and feeling how those people must have suffered. It’s an unforgettable experience,” the 56 year old school teacher stated.

  • It is not yet the End of History in Rivers (2)

    It is not yet the End of History in Rivers (2)

    Yesterday, Hardball suggested that the events of the past few days in the Rivers State legislature had prompted fear of impending impeachment of both the Speaker and the governor. He also argued that going by history, the fear of impeachment was not unfounded. Today, he continues the argument with references to similar situations in other states: In October 2006, eight out of 24 members of the Plateau State House of Assembly served impeachment notice on Governor Joshua Dariye. Many Nigerians laughed it off as a despicable and unrealistic plot that would misfire or implode. But a month later, Dariye was out of office. Though the Supreme Court reinstated him on April 27, 2007, less than two weeks to the expiration of his second term, the damage was done, and a horrible impression of the polity was created. It also became clear there was absolutely no altruism left in President Olusegun Obasanjo, notwithstanding his vaunted claim of maturity, balance and patriotism.

    A not-so-different crazy political mathematics was also employed in Oyo State in 2005 when 18 Lamidi Adedibu-inspired members of the House of Assembly out of a 32-strong legislature decided to impeach Governor Rashidi Ladoja. Since the 18 did not have the required two-thirds to impeach the governor, they devised the brazen formula of first arbitrarily suspending five of the 14 members still loyal to the governor, and then deriving the required two-thirds based on the remaining 27. If Oyo simplified mathematics beyond limits to impeach their governor in January 2006 (the courts reinstated Ladoja in December of the same year), Bayelsa State, which actually began the crude application of impeachment weapon, used a novel method in 2005. Like Rivers today, Bayelsa House of Assembly was first coerced to suspend Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha from the PDP, then an impeachment notice drafted in Lagos inside the EFCC pressure cooker was served on him, and by December 2005, 17 of 24 members had endorsed his impeachment.

    The auguries are not good at all for Rivers. The country must therefore brace up for very perilous times in the near future, not only in that beleaguered state, but all over the country, as the presidency embraces self-help in dealing with its enemies. Yet, no matter what the PDP does, the party will find it difficult to muster the number necessary to impeach the governor, except of course it opts for the Dariye method. In addition, as a direct consequence of the heavy-handedness of the president, the mutual suspicion between his home state of Bayelsa and Amaechi’s Rivers States over boundary adjustment and oil wells dispute will continue to foul the well of trust and engender more bitterness between the two neighbouring states. Moreover, that Obasanjo got away with murder during his tenure, when many Nigerians were willing to sacrifice anything to consolidate democracy, does not mean Jonathan can get away with the same provocations. And at a time when the country is convulsing with unrest, kidnappings and sectarian rebellions, it amounts to sailing near the wind for the president to stoke more rebellion close to home.

    Mr Amaechi has his faults, and has perhaps not shown enough restraint and prudence in some of his speeches and policies, but at least he was not elected to preside over the country. The PDP can misuse its powers and oppress its members as much as it wants, but it must not be allowed to flout the constitution by attempting to subordinate a state legislature to party whims or to destabilise the polity in order to advance narrow-minded party goals. The president, his party and Mr Amaechi can still pull back from the brink if they recognise that the country is greater than winning the next set of elections, and if they are smart enough to know that they are making, not ending, history. But perhaps, to them, this advice is unacceptable idealism.

     

    •Concluded

     

  • It is not yet the End of History in Rivers (1)

    It is not yet the End of History in Rivers (1)

    The fight for control of Rivers State is far from over; in fact, it is just beginning. But contrary to what many people think, perhaps even some of the combatants themselves, the war is not simply about the disagreements between the President Goodluck Jonathan government and Governor Rotimi Amaechi. Nor quite visibly is it about whether the governor harbours presidential ambition. Nor still is it about whether the president feels his pride has been injured by a governor who he believes will wilt before a withering display and application of raw state power. The war, which is getting nastier by the day, is simply about keeping Rivers safe for the president when he throws his hat into the ring for the 2015 contest.

    Much of the Northwest and Northeast is virtually lost to the president, and the North-central is a tossup. The Southwest is virulently anti-Jonathan, while the hitherto safe South-South is not only restive, it is seething with discord. For Jonathan, therefore, damn the niceties of democracy; damn federalism; and damn human rights and any talk of posterity. If his 2015 ambition is to be saved, he knows that Rivers must be kept secure in the pouch of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), indeed in the warm embrace of Jonathan himself, no matter what it takes. Therefore, any talk of restraint and civilised behaviour is likely to fall on deaf ears.

    To many non-Nigerians, it is disconcerting that an Abuja High Court had to be secured to sack Godspower Ake as chairman of the Rivers PDP. The attempt by a Rivers High Court to reverse the sack has met with little success because the powerful forces behind the turmoil in Rivers are too connected to be pushed aside. With the installation of Felix Obuah as the new chairman about three weeks ago, the Abuja power game has gone into overdrive. Using the pretext of the House of Assembly’s suspension of the Chairman of Obio/Akpor Local Government, Timothy Nsirim, his deputy, Solomon Eke, and 17 councillors since April 22, Mr Obuah has managed to rewrite the Nigerian constitution by equally suspending 27 members of the state House of Assembly, including the Speaker, Otelemaba Dan Amachree. A stalemate has thus been procured, and the state reels under dreadful unease.

    The Rivers House of Assembly has 32 members. With the party presumptuously suspending 27 members loyal to the governor, the Abuja mafia now ‘proudly’ musters just five members with which it hopes to unsettle and probably unhorse the governor. The five have proved powerful, considering how they were escorted into the premises of the Assembly two days ago by the police, while the pro-Amaechi lawmakers were compelled by circumstances to go into hiding for fear of attack. The events of the past few days in the legislature have prompted fear of impending impeachment of both the Speaker and the governor. Going by history, the fear of impeachment is not unfounded.

     

    To be concluded tomorrow