President Goodluck Jonathan has commandeered the newly constituted Presidential Board on Job Creation in the country to go ye and create jobs, jobs and more jobs for the jobless Nigerians. The President made it clear that it is not safe for the country to continue harbouring millions of able Nigerians with no jobs. The President who inaugurated the board today at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, enjoined members to create at least 3 million jobs in the next 12 months. The board is headed by Vice President Mohammed Namadi Sambo with Chief Tony Elumelu, representing private sector as vice chairman. Alhaji Aliko Dangote, petroleum minister, Diezani Alison-Maduekwe, health minister, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu, trade and investment minister, Olusegun Agaganga; labour and productivity minister, Chief Emeka Worgu and agric minister, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina are some of the members of the board.
The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, has incurred the wrath of Igbo people over the recent creation of additional 30,000 polling units across the country. Jega’s INEC had defended the creation by saying that the action was meant to bring the total polling units in the country to 150,000 and that it would decongest the polling units ahead of the 2015 general elections. He also said it would help in easing the log ousts challenges of the commission during elections. But the Southern Nigeria Peoples Assembly, made up of, among others, former Vice President, Chief Alex Ekwueme; a former Federal Minister of Information, Chief Edwin Clark; and Sen. Femi Okorounmu, today in Abuja disagreed with INEC and asked Jega to resign immediately. It was also the opinion of the group that President Goodluck Jonathan should immediately re-organize the composition and the structure of the commission immediately. According to a communique issued at the end of the group’s meeting in Abuja, Igbos said that it was wrong for Jega to have done what he did, saying: “Jega cannot exculpate himself from being a proponent of ethic agenda; we are the least surprised that he has been recruited to perfect the ploy of some persons from parts of this country to truncate our nascent democracy. “With the indefensible employment of proportional representation and equality as parameters, Jega decided not to equilibrate but to marginalize the entire southern Nigeria by arbitrarily and capriciously allocating 21,615 polling units to the North as against 8,412 polling units to Southern Nigeria. “Whereas we have clearly argued the lack of need for any additional polling units given the reduced number of registered voters consequent upon the Automated Fingers Identification System. “Creating a phantom 30,000 polling units and whimsically allocating them to favour the North is the height of insult to the people of Southern Nigeria.” They said Jega might have thought the country was still under military rule when the said actions and decisions were taken without discretion to undermine and trample upon the rights of people without challenge. In the additional units, the commission allocated additional 7,906 to the North-West, North-East got 5,291 while the North-Central had 6,318 units The South-West was allocated 4,160, South-South had 3,087 while the South-East had 1,167 units.
South African goalless draw with Nigeria in their Group A 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier at the Cape Town Stadium today has pushed Nigeria to the third position while the South Africa goes for second in the group on four points behind Congo Republic, who defeated Sudan earlier in the day to move to six points. Coach Shakes Mashaba made two changes to the starting line-up from the team that beat Sudan 3-0 on Friday evening, with Keagan Dolly and Tokelo Rantie making way for Sibusiso Vilakazi and Oupa Manyisa. South Africa created the first clear chance of the game in the sixth minute. Mandla Masango’s cross from the right of the box was deflected into the path of Manyisa, who shot on target but saw his effort well blocked by Efe Ambrose. The home team looked the more fluent of the two sides in attack, though lone striker Bongani Ndulula was often left a little isolated and struggled to have any influence on the game despite his admirable industry. Nigeria created nothing more than half chances, the best of which fell to Nosa Igiebor in the 36th minute, only for the attacker to shoot off target under pressure from Bafana Bafana’s defence. However, in Ahmed Musa and Emmanuel Emenike, the Super Eagles had arguably the two most dangerous players on the pitch. However, they weren’t receiving particularly good service from their midfield, mainly due to good work from the likes of Andile Jali and Dean Furman. Bafana made a change at the start of the second half, with Tokelo Rantie replacing Ndulula up front in a straight swap. The English-based striker had to wait until just past the hour mark to have his first sight of goal, but then he only managed to hit the side netting from a tight angle.
Nigeria very nearly broke the deadlock with just 10 minutes to play when Musa’s cross from the right found substitute Christian Osagona. He headed on target, but Erick Mathoho positioned himself brilliantly to clear off the goal line.
Tokelo Rantie then had the best chance of the match, using his pace to sprint in behind the Super Eagles’ defence and find himself one-on-one with Austin Ejide, but the goalkeeper made a fine save to keep the score line blank.
Nigerian minister of Health, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu has assured the nation that schools are safe to open to students on September 22 as the incidence of Ebola Disease has been brought properly under control. He said that the first decision by the government to shift resumption date for schools to October 13 and the subsequent decision to bring the resumption date down to September 22 were based on expert advice from his ministry. Answering questions from newsmen at the Presidential Villa shortly after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting today, Professor Chukwu wondered why no Nigerian queried the first decision to shift the school resumption date to October 13 but now many people are opposing the new date. “Health ministry gave experts advice to the ministry of education on the basis of which school resumption date was put at October 13 from the prevailing circumstance then. It is the same ministry of Health that gave an expert advice on the basis of which the ministry of education also brought the resumtion date to down to September 22 also from the prevailing empirical circumstance. “People should allow us to do our job. There is absolutely no reason why schools should not open on September 22. “We should be rational in what we are doing and avoid rumour. Rumour is not welcome in this business because it causes panick.” The minister said that as at now, there is no fresh case of Ebola in Nigeria, saying that the only cases now being attended are old ones 19 with 15 in Lagos and 4 in Port Harcourt. He said that 10 cases have been treated and the patients have been discharged to go back home, adding that the total number of those who have survived the disease so far are 12: “the wife and sister of Port Harcourt doctor who died of the disease. “Active centres in Lagos and Port Harcourt are now empty,” he said even as he gave the number of contacts that are still under surveillance as 16 in Lagos and 490 in Port Harcourt. Professor Chukwu said that 338 people have completed 21days surveillance in Lagos and have been discharged to go home. This is even as he said that only seven people have died of Ebola since it came into Nigeria, adding that five of such deaths were from Lagos and two in Port Harcourt. The minister dispelled the rumours flying around about the existence of Ebola Disease in Kebbi, Sokoto, Zaria, Enugu and other places. “However, we are investigating the case of Ebola on female student of Obafemi Awolowo university in Ile Ife and result would be ready in the next few hours.” Professor Chukwu said that the cheering news is that Nigeria has no community transmission of the Ebola unlike in other countries with the endemic. The minister announced that the United States of America had recanted on its earlier promise of giving Nigeria 30 body scanners, but that some individual Nigerians, including Alhaji Aliko Dangote, have taken up the challenge with promises to provide the 30 body scanners. “This means that we don’t need to really depend on any foreign assitant for us to move forward. We can really stand on our own.”
Chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Lamorde has cried out over what he said is the overwhelming corruption that has been flying around in the country. He is particularly alarmed by the rate of corruption at state government level. This even as he made a threat that he would deal ruthlessly with such states in the course of time. He listed some of the ways the states have been indulge in corruption to include inflation of prices, embezzlement, misappropriation, over-estimation of cost of projects, ghost workers syndrome, award and abandonment of contracts and outright payment of money to godfathers. Lamorde was represented by Secretary to the Commission, Emmanuel Adegboyega Aremo at a flag off of a three-day ‘Anti- Corruption, Fiscal Responsibility and Good Governance’ training for state governments officials across the country at the EFCC Academy, Karu- Abuja. He called on participants to appreciate the sensitive role they play as managers of commonwealth.
This is it! The most unimaginable nightmare! This is it! The most painful column I have ever written or will ever write. The column I wished I never wrote. The agonizing column. The column written amidst sorrow, tears and blood. Please, pray for me. More than any time in my life, I need prayers. Prayer is the only healing balm for me now. Prayer is the only thing that can save me from these troubled waters, from this ocean of sorrow threatening to consume me. I write with a heart brimful with sadness. By the Orwell River in Ipswich, England, where I am sitting, I am scribbling these painful words. By the time you are reading this, I should be home to face the shocking reality. You know why I am writing, you Father of the fatherless, you Creator of all things good and bad, you giver of life and taker. You gave him to me, now you have taken him. You gave me a friend and a brother. Now, you have taken both. Who will be my friend? Who will be my brother? Sadness is now my name. Sadness like those missing girls stolen from us in the middle of the night and taken into captivity. Sadness is the tattoo mark emblazing my face like Mike Tyson’s facial tattoo. I have been reading Mike Tyson’s bizarre memoir: MIKE TYSON, UNDISPUTED TRUTH, MY AUTOBIOGRAPHY and I was planning to write on it. But I am compelled to jettison that to write this sad column. Oh, my God! You know why I am sad. My best friend is gone. My twin brother is gone. A good man is gone. A generous man is gone. A man who gave all his life serving God and journalism is gone. A man who is the other part of me is gone. Dimgba Igwe is gone. What will I do now? Who will I turn to now? Who? Why must all my friends and heroes in journalism die so cruelly, landing on the front page? My editor Dele Giwa died the same way: killed dastardly through a letter bomb on October 19, 1986. And up till today, the riddle of his death remains unsolved. It has become “a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma,” to use a phrase by Winston Churchill. Like Giwa, Dimgba Igwe in the throes of death was crying: “I don’t want to die.” For four hours, he was bleeding on the road to Golgotha. No ambulance. No oxygen mask. No Samaritan hospital. From St. Raphael Hospital to the General Hospital Isolo where there was no surgeon to attend to him, it was the story of Nigeria’s systemic failure as a country. He finally gave up at Lagos State University Hospital, Ikeja. If I am angry at all, it is not with the bloody coward who killed him and fled in panic. I will forgive the hit-and-run killer. And the Dimgba Igwe I know, will forgive the man who killed him. What I cannot forgive is a nation with health institutions that can do nothing, once your life is in danger. It’s the same story all over Nigeria. Of course, you know that once you are taken to LUTH on emergency, you are as good as dead. And this is a country without a functional 911 which you dial in emergency and get help. Only in Nigeria will you commit this heinous crime and vanish. In a civilized country, the killer would have been caught on camera. The security agents would have tracked the car down. Not so in Nigeria. I remember the sad death of my other Sunday Concord friend May Ellen Ezekiel whose death in a Lagos hospital shook the nation. Dimgba Igwe and I were at the helm in Weekend Concord where he was my deputy. The best decision I ever took in life was to choose Dimgba Igwe as my deputy. He complemented me in every way. Now, he is gone. Like everyone else, I am confused. I am lost. Please, pray for me. More than any time in my life, I need prayers. Lots of them. Because I don’t know how I can cope without my friend, my business partner, my co-author, my soul mate, my chief critic. He was the voice of restraint—always fearing for my life, because of my constant prone to accidents. I remember an accident in Paris, when I stumbled, crashed on the street and seriously injured my arm in the bid to protect my camera and photos. Dimgba Igwe was there for me when I was down and out in Paris. And at the Golden Tulip, where we had lodged to write Governor Fashola’s biography, I had another accident in the night after my writing, resulting in a deep cut on my lower and upper lips. Again, Dimgba and the hotel medical staff quickly rushed me to hospital where I was told I could have bled to death, if the broken glass had cut my throat. You read it all in this column! Against this backdrop, I was the one more prone to death. In his last interview, Dimgba Igwe told YES INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE how he nicknamed me “Iniquity Man” because I won’t sit in one place. As his twin brother four years older, I used to imagine a future where two of us would be old and I would die first and Dimgba would be there, paying me tributes, looking back at the lives we lived. But alas, the imagined future is dead and Dimgba is gone in his prime. The Dimgba I know was a kind man who didn’t deserve this cruel death. If anything, he would have hated this big embarrassment of being on front page, killed doing what he loved best: jogging. He believed the best way to prolong life is by exercising, by running and pumping oxygen into the heart. He was the one who introduced me to jogging. And for more than 10 years, I have been jogging with him. Our houses are next to each other on that God-forsaken Dele Orisabiyi Street in Okota which has not for once seen any government repairing it in years. Recently after returning from a first-time trip to Banana Island where he had gone to visit our friend, Elder Ekeoma whose daughter was marrying, Dimgba Igwe had an epiphany. He was so sad that he would be leaving the well-tarred streets of Banana Island and be returning home to that hell of a street in Okota. “Ogbeni, we must work harder and have a place in Banana Island,” he told me. Dimgba was a hard-working man, a visionary who should have lived long to reap the fruits of his toil. The greatest honour that the Lagos State government can do in memory of my departed friend is to tar his street. I am sure even the inhabitants wouldn’t mind if the street is renamed Dimgba Igwe Street after this great son of Nigeria—if the road is tarred for his sake. That would make him happy in his grave. That was what he yearned for and even begged our friend, the governor who gave us his word that he would assist. Every morning, we run on that bad road. I couldn’t join him last Saturday because I was in the UK with my family for my son’s graduation—a day I was looking forward to with the pride and joy of a father. Dimgba opted to stay and take care of the home front while I was away. Somehow, I feel guilty. If I had known it will end this way, I would have taken my beloved brother along. Pastor Igwe must have prayed that morning. His first act at the break of every new day is to go on his knees. He sings in praise of God, blesses the name of the Lord, speaks in tongue and prays for the Lord to deliver him from all evils. But on that Black Saturday, the devil struck. On the eve of his death, I had called him from Ipswich and told him the books I had bought for him. Books like JFK’s Last Hundred Days, by Thurston Clarke, The Virgin Way, by Richard Branson,God is not a Christian, by Desmond Tutu and an epic book on the history of Jerusalem from the days of David up to the current day. He was so excited. He was waiting for the books. He loved books. Now, the evil forces have brought him to book. Adieu, my friend, my brother. Like King David mourned his friend Jonathan, I cry: “How have the mighty fallen! Tell it not in Gath. Publish it not in Ashkelon.” For a great man of journalism has passed away. Our latest book is a book called 50 World Editors, featuring conversations with editors around the world whom we met in the course of our travels. We were planning to launch it, but see me now! This morning, I came across the New Men’s Devotional Bible you gave me on my 60th birthday. Oh, you really tried on my 60th birthday and I was looking forward to celebrating in grand style your own 60thbirthday. But, see me now! In the Bible you gave me, you wrote: “Ogbeni, be strong in the Lord and the power of His might.” (Ephesians 6: 10). My friend, I will be strong in the Lord. I will fly the flag and search for heaven that you so much cared about. Ogbeni, thank you. Good night and enjoy your freedom.
All Progressives Congress (APC), has alleged President Goodluck Jonathan knows more than he is willing to admit on the issue of those who are behind the Boko Haram insurgency or he is willing to sacrifice the battle against terrorism on the altar of political expediency.
Reacting to the President’s journey to Chad with former governor of Borno state, Ali Modu Sheriff who has been fingered in the sponsorship of Boko Haram, APC expressed shock in the action of the President, saying that it is in bad taste.
In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party wondered what message President Jonathan was sending to his compatriots and indeed to the international community when he took Modu Sheriff along during his visit to Chad Monday to confer with President Idris Deby on cooperation against terrorism.
‘’This action by President Jonathan confirms what the APC has always believed: That the President either knows more than he is willing to admit on the issue of those who are behind the Boko Haram insurgency or he is willing to sacrifice the battle against terrorism on the altar of political expediency. Either way, this action by the President is the height of indiscretion at best, or a palpable exhibition of callowness at worst.
‘’It also confirms our fears that Modu Sheriff was planted as a mole in the APC by his friends in high places, who are jittery about the birth of the party and would do anything to destabilize it,’’ it said.
APC said the President could not pretend not to be aware of a report sent home by Nigeria’s Defence Adviser in Ndjamena, Chad, in 2011, detailing the suspicious activities of Modu Sheriff in Chad concerning alleged Boko Haram sponsorship and asking the Federal Government to investigate him.
‘’If this is a joke, it is one joke taken too far, especially at a time that Nigeria has been losing territories after territories to Boko Haram; at a time that the same Modu Sheriff has been fingered by another source other than the Nigerian Defence Adviser in Chad, and at a time that calls are being made for an independent investigation into the allegation that Modu Sheriff and former Army Chief Azubuike Ihejirika are Boko Haram sponsors.
‘’Or could it be the case of it takes a thief to catch a thief?’’ it queried. [myad]
President Goodluck Jonathan has described the signs and banners known as #Bring Back Jonathan 2015 that are flying around in Abuja, the nation’s federal capital, as offensive and repugnant and has directed that they should be removed immediately.
The signs and banners are materials being circulated in Abuja to campaign for President Jonathan’s second tenure moves that is said that have attracted about 10 million Nigerians across the country, and to foreclose the government search for the over 200 female students of the government gilrs secondary school, Chibok in Borno state, by members of Boko Haram on April 14 this year.
A statement today by the special adviser to President Jonathan on media and publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati quoted the President as saying that the campaign signs are highly insensitive parody of the #Bring Back Our Girls hash tag, and that they were being circulated without his knowledge or approval.
The President “condemnes the #Bring Back Jonathan 2015 signs which appear to make light of the very serious national and global concern for the abducted Chibok girls.”
He assured Nigerians and the international community that his administration remains fully engaged with efforts to rescue the abducted girls and that he will not knowingly promote any actions that will fly in the face of the seriousness of their plight and the anguish of their families.
Jonathan however expressed appreciation to what he called ‘broad range of stakeholders’ for the enthusiastic show of support for his administration. [myad]
The President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan’s Meetings to stem the growing tide of insurgency with Idris Derby, Chad’s President, should give Nigerians something to cheer about. It is important that a country that chose an isolanist policy is seeing the need to open up to its neighbors on the important issue of fighting terror. Without their help, there is no way the insurgency can be cornered and smashed. My question and that on the lips of many is where does Cameroon stand in war along our common borders? Is Cameroon as committed as they should be or they are just interested in a game of one-upmanship? Let me concede that this and the other countries of the Lake Chad basin have sufficient reasons to not be happy with their neighbor, Nigeria. This country under the present government has become something of a 1,000Kg Panda, throwing the entire neighborhood into a state of nervous excitement and agitation. We failed to nip the Boko Haram in the bud. Now it has grown into a phenomenon threatening, not only the territorial integrity of the country but the peace of our neighbors. At the rate they are growing, Boko Haram can use their newly declared Caliphate as a territory to launch attacks against Mr. Obama and David Cameron. We suddenly have become a nuisance to ourselves, the neighbors and the international community. Problems between us and our neighbors, especially Cameroon, are often forced by this country’s arrogance. Our officials always behave like they are running puppet regimes in Nigeria’s interest in the neighboring countries. When the Boko Haram violence first hit the sky, we behaved as if it was the neighbors who were feeding it and without putting much thought to it, shut our borders with Chad, Niger and Cameroon. This is why the meeting with Derby is important. The border closure has been hurting the booming informal trade between us and these countries. The informal trade routes are like blood supply veins in the body. As a consequence of the continuing closure, prices of goods on both sides of the border have spiraled beyond the reach of ordinary people. For example, the food additive, Maggi Cube sold for two Naira, eighty kobo at Wuse, Abuja market sell for fifteen Naira (N15) at the border crossing. A senior diplomat revealed at the early stage of this conflict that our government never showed that it was important to speak to the countries of the Lake Chad Commission on the need for joint efforts to tackle the then emerging threat. Without gainsaying it, every leader in the neighborhood felt hurt by apparent snub. Nigerians have a wishful thinking that Cameroon in particular is our country’s ally without realizing that they see themselves first as a French outpost before anything, and that they are often forced by circumstances to see things in Nigeria’s way. To be fair, though, to Cameroon, we all know that there is a shared feeling of envy and deep hatred against Nigeria by most countries on the continent. They lurk in dark corners, waiting for the day opportunity shows up to slight us. It is a psychological thing which, in the case of Ghana and Cameroon – and the new-comer South Africa – they used soccer to assert their dominance over us. These past few years when Nigeria re-discovered its football talent and prowess, we are no longer being treated as anybody’s doormat. Boko Haram has however, changed that equation. In the war against the insurgents, Nigeria’s military appears all but exhausted. Americans are warning that the prestige and integrity of the armed forces is being eroded and the British, in a report by their semi-official think-tank, the Chatham House starkly projected that the sitting administration lacked the structural capacity to end the Boko Haram threat. Parents of the kidnapped Chibok school girls said earlier in the week, on Monday on the BBC that events in the North-East show that all hope is lost and that the search for their girls is not on the radar of the army, which is now barely managing to cling on to their foothold in the area. In international relations, any country that appears to be going through a turbulence – economic, security or democratic is bound to be taken advantage of and I think this is what Cameroon is attempting to do. From the way things are going, Paul Biya looks as if he has played into the hands of hard-line elements in Cameroonian establishment who are trying to ratchet up tension between us and them. Agreed that no country, Cameroon inclusive, must remain silent when there is a border incursion of the type they have been experiencing from the Nigerian side by both Boko Haram and the army. I don’t think it speaks to good faith that Cameroon should disarm the 500 Nigerian troops who for “tactical reason” strayed into their country. To turn the screwdriver a few notches, Cameroon announced a complete border closure following the initial report of Ebola fever appearance in Lagos. Local and international radios have been kept abuzz with reports that 27 armed (and highly spirited) Cameroonian troops “saved” the 500 Nigerian soldiers from Boko Haram. Nigeria is being projected as “hostile” and its fighting army as “spineless.” These do not bode well for good relations. I don’t know if President Biya has sincere desire for peace with Nigeria but if it is true that he has, there ought to be a demonstration of this through a toning down of the anti-Nigerian rhetoric among their public officials. To de-escalate the rising tension and allow our forces and the policy-makers remain focused on the issue at hand, the Government of Nigeria should call for an all-inclusive dialogue among the members of the Lake Chad Commission. More than at any time, we need better relations with all our neighbors. The meeting with Derby makes for a good start. But the old fox in Yaoundé should be the main target of our outreach.
[su_heading size=”11″ align=”left” margin=”10″]Read More Articles From This Author:Garba Shehu
Catholic Archbishop Emeritus of Lagos, Anthony Cardinal Okogie has blamed the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC, which registers every organization which goes about deceiving people in the name of church, noting that there are several “useless” institutions that have been registered as churches which are currently painting the Church of God in bad light.
Okogie was speaking on the divorce crisis rocking the Christ Embassy church founder and senior Pastor, Chris Oyakhilome, describing the drama going on between Pastors Chris and Anita Oyakhilome as disturbing. He said that when pastors refuse to honour the vows they took at the altar of God, what then should be expected of ordinary members of their congregation?
“When the going was good, they took vows on the altar of God to stay together in sickness and in health, until death do them part. They promise to make one another faithful partner in the presence of God, their family and friends and vow to be each other’s faithful partner in sickness and in health, in good times and in bad, and in joy as well as in sorrow. (with their separation ) It shows that they cannot live by what they preach. The Bible says: ‘What God has joined together, let no man put asunder.’ So why are they putting asunder what the good Lord has joined together if they are men of God as they claim?”Okojie said
Asked what the development portrays for the Church of God, the cardinal replied with a question: “What Church are you talking about?” He went on “It is not good. Are they true pastors? Good shepherds of the Lord are expected to do everything to shepherd their flock including their spouses even when they err. If God forgave us in spite of our filth, why can any man who is truly called pastor not forgive any malfeasance?”
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, has incurred the wrath of Igbo people over the recent creation of additional 30,000 polling units across the country.
South African goalless draw with Nigeria in their Group A 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier at the Cape Town Stadium today has pushed Nigeria to the third position while the South Africa goes for second in the group on four points behind Congo Republic, who defeated Sudan earlier in the day to move to six points.
Nigerian minister of Health, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu has assured the nation that schools are safe to open to students on September 22 as the incidence of Ebola Disease has been brought properly under control.
President Goodluck Jonathan has described the signs and banners known as #Bring Back Jonathan 2015 that are flying around in Abuja, the nation’s federal capital, as offensive and repugnant and has directed that they should be removed immediately.
The President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan’s Meetings to stem the growing tide of insurgency with Idris Derby, Chad’s President, should give Nigerians something to cheer about. It is important that a country that chose an isolanist policy is seeing the need to open up to its neighbors on the important issue of fighting terror. Without their help, there is no way the insurgency can be cornered and smashed. My question and that on the lips of many is where does Cameroon stand in war along our common borders? Is Cameroon as committed as they should be or they are just interested in a game of one-upmanship?
I Wish I Never Write This, By Mike Awoyinfa
This is it! The most unimaginable nightmare! This is it! The most painful column I have ever written or will ever write.
The column I wished I never wrote. The agonizing column. The column written amidst sorrow, tears and blood. Please, pray for me.
More than any time in my life, I need prayers. Prayer is the only healing balm for me now. Prayer is the only thing that can save me from these troubled waters, from this ocean of sorrow threatening to consume me. I write with a heart brimful with sadness.
By the Orwell River in Ipswich, England, where I am sitting, I am scribbling these painful words. By the time you are reading this, I should be home to face the shocking reality.
You know why I am writing, you Father of the fatherless, you Creator of all things good and bad, you giver of life and taker. You gave him to me, now you have taken him. You gave me a friend and a brother. Now, you have taken both.
Who will be my friend? Who will be my brother?
Sadness is now my name. Sadness like those missing girls stolen from us in the middle of the night and taken into captivity. Sadness is the tattoo mark emblazing my face like Mike Tyson’s facial tattoo.
I have been reading Mike Tyson’s bizarre memoir: MIKE TYSON, UNDISPUTED TRUTH, MY AUTOBIOGRAPHY and I was planning to write on it. But I am compelled to jettison that to write this sad column.
Oh, my God! You know why I am sad. My best friend is gone. My twin brother is gone. A good man is gone. A generous man is gone. A man who gave all his life serving God and journalism is gone. A man who is the other part of me is gone. Dimgba Igwe is gone. What will I do now? Who will I turn to now? Who?
Why must all my friends and heroes in journalism die so cruelly, landing on the front page? My editor Dele Giwa died the same way: killed dastardly through a letter bomb on October 19, 1986. And up till today, the riddle of his death remains unsolved.
It has become “a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma,” to use a phrase by Winston Churchill. Like Giwa, Dimgba Igwe in the throes of death was crying: “I don’t want to die.”
For four hours, he was bleeding on the road to Golgotha. No ambulance. No oxygen mask. No Samaritan hospital. From St. Raphael Hospital to the General Hospital Isolo where there was no surgeon to attend to him, it was the story of Nigeria’s systemic failure as a country. He finally gave up at Lagos State University Hospital, Ikeja.
If I am angry at all, it is not with the bloody coward who killed him and fled in panic. I will forgive the hit-and-run killer. And the Dimgba Igwe I know, will forgive the man who killed him.
What I cannot forgive is a nation with health institutions that can do nothing, once your life is in danger. It’s the same story all over Nigeria.
Of course, you know that once you are taken to LUTH on emergency, you are as good as dead. And this is a country without a functional 911 which you dial in emergency and get help. Only in Nigeria will you commit this heinous crime and vanish.
In a civilized country, the killer would have been caught on camera. The security agents would have tracked the car down. Not so in Nigeria.
I remember the sad death of my other Sunday Concord friend May Ellen Ezekiel whose death in a Lagos hospital shook the nation. Dimgba Igwe and I were at the helm in Weekend Concord where he was my deputy.
The best decision I ever took in life was to choose Dimgba Igwe as my deputy. He complemented me in every way. Now, he is gone.
Like everyone else, I am confused. I am lost. Please, pray for me. More than any time in my life, I need prayers. Lots of them. Because I don’t know how I can cope without my friend, my business partner, my co-author, my soul mate, my chief critic.
He was the voice of restraint—always fearing for my life, because of my constant prone to accidents. I remember an accident in Paris, when I stumbled, crashed on the street and seriously injured my arm in the bid to protect my camera and photos.
Dimgba Igwe was there for me when I was down and out in Paris. And at the Golden Tulip, where we had lodged to write Governor Fashola’s biography, I had another accident in the night after my writing, resulting in a deep cut on my lower and upper lips.
Again, Dimgba and the hotel medical staff quickly rushed me to hospital where I was told I could have bled to death, if the broken glass had cut my throat. You read it all in this column!
Against this backdrop, I was the one more prone to death. In his last interview, Dimgba Igwe told YES INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE how he nicknamed me “Iniquity Man” because I won’t sit in one place.
As his twin brother four years older, I used to imagine a future where two of us would be old and I would die first and Dimgba would be there, paying me tributes, looking back at the lives we lived. But alas, the imagined future is dead and Dimgba is gone in his prime.
The Dimgba I know was a kind man who didn’t deserve this cruel death. If anything, he would have hated this big embarrassment of being on front page, killed doing what he loved best: jogging.
He believed the best way to prolong life is by exercising, by running and pumping oxygen into the heart. He was the one who introduced me to jogging. And for more than 10 years, I have been jogging with him.
Our houses are next to each other on that God-forsaken Dele Orisabiyi Street in Okota which has not for once seen any government repairing it in years.
Recently after returning from a first-time trip to Banana Island where he had gone to visit our friend, Elder Ekeoma whose daughter was marrying, Dimgba Igwe had an epiphany. He was so sad that he would be leaving the well-tarred streets of Banana Island and be returning home to that hell of a street in Okota.
“Ogbeni, we must work harder and have a place in Banana Island,” he told me. Dimgba was a hard-working man, a visionary who should have lived long to reap the fruits of his toil.
The greatest honour that the Lagos State government can do in memory of my departed friend is to tar his street. I am sure even the inhabitants wouldn’t mind if the street is renamed Dimgba Igwe Street after this great son of Nigeria—if the road is tarred for his sake.
That would make him happy in his grave. That was what he yearned for and even begged our friend, the governor who gave us his word that he would assist.
Every morning, we run on that bad road. I couldn’t join him last Saturday because I was in the UK with my family for my son’s graduation—a day I was looking forward to with the pride and joy of a father. Dimgba opted to stay and take care of the home front while I was away. Somehow, I feel guilty. If I had known it will end this way, I would have taken my beloved brother along.
Pastor Igwe must have prayed that morning. His first act at the break of every new day is to go on his knees. He sings in praise of God, blesses the name of the Lord, speaks in tongue and prays for the Lord to deliver him from all evils. But on that Black Saturday, the devil struck.
On the eve of his death, I had called him from Ipswich and told him the books I had bought for him. Books like JFK’s Last Hundred Days, by Thurston Clarke, The Virgin Way, by Richard Branson,God is not a Christian, by Desmond Tutu and an epic book on the history of Jerusalem from the days of David up to the current day. He was so excited. He was waiting for the books. He loved books. Now, the evil forces have brought him to book.
Adieu, my friend, my brother. Like King David mourned his friend Jonathan, I cry: “How have the mighty fallen! Tell it not in Gath. Publish it not in Ashkelon.” For a great man of journalism has passed away.
Our latest book is a book called 50 World Editors, featuring conversations with editors around the world whom we met in the course of our travels. We were planning to launch it, but see me now!
This morning, I came across the New Men’s Devotional Bible you gave me on my 60th birthday. Oh, you really tried on my 60th birthday and I was looking forward to celebrating in grand style your own 60thbirthday. But, see me now!
In the Bible you gave me, you wrote: “Ogbeni, be strong in the Lord and the power of His might.” (Ephesians 6: 10).
My friend, I will be strong in the Lord. I will fly the flag and search for heaven that you so much cared about. Ogbeni, thank you. Good night and enjoy your freedom.
[myad]