Anambra: Obiano, Bianca Ojukwu And 2021 Governorship

Bianca Ojukwu

BY LAWRENCE NJOKU

The former Nigerian Ambassador to Spain and wife of Eze Igbo Gburugburu, the late Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, Mrs. Bianca Ojukwu is not new to controversy. She is also not cowed by circumstances that could make her not to speak her mind the way it matters to her.

Last Monday, the former beauty queen stirred controversy that has garnered both praise and condemnation from the public, with her description of Anambra State governor, Willie Obiano as an “ingrate.”

The event was the second memorial lecture in honour of her late husband, held inside the Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University (COOU), Igbariam, Anambra State. Obiano was absent at the event.

Bianca, who was apparently enraged by the governor’s absence, had thrown caution to the wind when it was her turn to address the audience. Rather than speak on the event of the day, she turned her fury against Obiano and gave him a piece of her mind.

Observing all protocol at the capacity-filled hall, which also included the Deputy Governor of Anambra State, Nkem Okeke, who represented Obiano, she had expressed regret and consternation that it was the second time the governor would stay away from the programme.

Apparently referring to the role the late Ikemba played in installing the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) government in the state since 2006, through former Governor Peter Obi, who handed the baton to Obiano, the widow of the respected Igbo leader reminded the governor to be guided by history and not bite the fingers that fed him.

Turning to Okeke, she said: “Tell the governor that today is yet again the memorial lecture and posthumous birthday of that man he rode on his political structure to stardom and he is once more not present. Tell him that his actions regarding the man who everyone is here for, but he couldn’t find time as governor of his state to be here, is very much like that of an ingrate. Tell him that he shouldn’t be afraid because there are no evil spirits here to attack him.”

Her comments have since continued to elicit reactions, even from her immediate family. While there are those who have excitedly cheered her for her boldness, others wondered how the governor’s absence from a posthumous birthday could elicit such jabs, especially since Obiano sent his Deputy to represent him, to enable him attend other official engagements.

Interestingly, it was Obiano who signed into law the change of name of Anambra State University to Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University. He was also privy to the second memorial lecture.

Meanwhile, the Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, which provided the platform that was used to disparage the governor, has also denied Mrs Ojukwu.

Also, Chief Emeka Ojukwu, son of the late Ikemba Nnewi, had distanced himself from Mrs Ojukwu’s outburst.

Indeed, it was revealed that the state government had continued to care for the family of the late Ikemba right from the days of Peter Obi as governor. The family is reportedly receiving a statutory monthly allocation, while the position of Special Adviser is said to be exclusively reserved for the family, as a way of appreciating Ojukwu’s contributions to the party and state.

Sources said this position was once occupied by Emeka Ojukwu, and when he left, one Robert Okonkwo, who was allegedly nominated by Bianca took over the position. Bianca is not only seen as the APGA leader’s wife but also as a member of the party’s Board of Trustees (BOT).

Possible Reasons That Stoked Tension Between Bianca And Obiano
Although it was not the first time Mrs. Ojukwu was said to have indirectly attacked the governor, many reasons have continued to surface on what possibly could have derailed the relationship that resulted in the recent brickbats. While some hinged it on a possible stoppage of the statutory allocation and position in government, others said it goes beyond what Obiano can handle.

Indeed, many who have closely followed developments in the state would readily agree that the vituperations might not have arisen because of Obiano’s failure to attend the memorial lecture and posthumous birthday ceremony of the late Ikemba, especially since he was represented by his Deputy.

The Guardian gathered that it might not be unconnected with a broken-down relationship that occurred, following Bianca Ojukwu’s inability to grab the Anambra South senatorial ticket of APGA in the 2019 National Assembly election.

Sources indicated how much she had wanted the position and had “recruited” certain individuals and groups to “pressure” the party to award the ticket automatically to her without having to contend with any other aspirant in the name of the party primary.

It was further gathered that most people were of the opinion that she would easily win the ticket, considering that her late husband was APGA leader until his death.

There was also the thinking that since Ojukwu’s death, Bianca had associated with APGA and has been participating in all its activities. Indeed, during the last governorship election, there was hardly any major political rally she did not attend to deliver powerful speeches.

Many political analysts were of the view that it was Ojukwu’s influence that made it possible for APGA to have the strong hold on Anambra State politics, and that one way to appreciate the late Ikemba’s contributions for APGA’s consistent excellent performance in the state, would have been to allow his widow to take Ojukwu’s name to the Senate. Her closeness with the governor was seen as another great advantage.

Things moved smoothly in her favour. Many prominent people across Igbo land were said to have come together in a bid to sponsor her for the race by contributing needed fund for her campaign.

However, hitches began to emerge, when the Ojukwu family held a press conference in Abuja, saying they were opposed to her becoming a senator for Anambra State. Their main reason was that she hailed from Enugu State and that it was improper for her to occupy a position meant for someone from Anambra South.

The dust raised by the press conference was yet to settle, when Obiano, who is the party leader, and Chairman of the Board of Trustees (BOT), announced that a level playing ground would be provided for all aspirants for the position.

Among the contestants were Prince Nicholas Ukachukwu, Bianca Ojukwu, Chief Ifeanyi Uba, who was later disqualified on the ground that he did not obtain a waiver from the party to contest on its platform in line with its Constitution and Anslem Enyimba, a banker.

Obiano was said to have reasoned that the candidates were so formidable and qualified that anything short of equal playing field could affect the state going forward.

When the primary eventually held, Ukachukwu floored Bianca and was declared the winner and issued with the certificate to contest the election, to the former beauty queen’s dismay.

It is being interpreted that Bianca sacrificed much in ensuring the governor’s victory and had expected him to reciprocate the gesture. She was, therefore, disappointed that he could not bring his influence in the party and government to bear in determining the election, which could have been won for the first time by the party.

The source added that since then, cold war had begun. Some of the attacks that Obiano had allegedly suffered on social media are linked to the media team, the IBOM Group; she set up during the botched senatorial election.

We Will Not War With Her – Government
However, Anambra State government has said it would not engage in any manner of press war with Mrs Ojukwu who is revered in the state.

Mr. Don Adinuba, Commissioner of Information, said the state government was interested in accelerating developments that could uplift the people’s wellbeing, stressing that it would not want to be diverted from its focus.

Furthermore, a release made available to The Guardian from the Deputy Chief Press Secretary, Emeka Ozumba, also dissociated the governor’s wife, Eberechukwu Obiano from statements making the rounds that she had responded to Mrs. Ojukwu.

Ozumba said in the release that the purported statement was the handiwork of those not happy with the phenomenal progress the state had recorded in various areas in recent years, leading the whole country in such fields as financial resource management, security, education, peace and stability, among others.

He agreed, however, that Mrs. Ojukwu “choose an event to honour the husband to make remarks which infra dig, that is, incompatible with her status.”

Bianca’s Vituperation And 2021 Governorship Election
There are growing concerns that the deepening animosity should be checked, especially considering APGA’s desire to retain the state in 2021. Although sources have queried Mrs Ojukwu’s capacity to win the Anambra South senatorial election had the ticket been granted her, based on the presence of heavy politicians paraded by other political parties in the zone like the Ubas, the feelings are that prosecuting the election as a united front would impact the party’s chances.

A chieftain of the party, Slyvanus Okoro, stated that the implication of such public remarks showed that “even our BOT is not working together.”

He said: “We don’t need this kind of divisions in the party. Not after what we went through during the 2019 general elections in the state and other parts of the country that still linger here and there.

“I think if the BOT, which should show direction, is working together, it will help salvage this party and prepare it for the battle ahead. We cannot afford another round of crisis.

“Politics is about to give and take. It has never been smooth. It is filled with disappointments. What we didn’t get today, we can get tomorrow. We cannot leverage on lost opportunity to create an air of disunity. There are many opportunities we can create in the party if we work together.

“So I beckon on Iyom Bianca Ojukwu to sheath her sword. The lost opportunity should be used as an added political experience to prepare her in the future. Let us not pull down the roof of the house for our individual benefits.”

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN

Ernest Azudialu-Obiejesi: Defying The Odds

Earnest Azudialu-Obiejesi. Image: Facebook

BY THIS DAY

Chiemelie Ezeobi reports that in defying the odds, Dr. Ernest Azudialu-Obiejesi, Group Managing Director of Nestoil, has transformed his humble beginnings from a trading business to the commanding heights of corporate Nigeria which has also established a foundation – with far more reaching impact on communities

The Nestoil Tower in Victoria Island is an unmistakable edifice in the heart of Victoria Island of Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital. This amazing piece of Architectural genius has not always been the Head Office of Nestoil. The journey began in a one room office in Idumagbo Avenue in Lagos Island. This was Nestoil’s first corporate office. Starting out as a young businessman, he had always desired to build something that will have its roots in the local environment; one with global appeal, creating exceptional value and outliving him.

Early Start
From his humble beginning in Okija in present day Anambra State, Azudialu-Obiejesi had set his eyes beyond the confines of his village on lofty targets in distant and difficult terrains. He knew quite early that the world out there is competitive and unforgiving of errors, he therefore took time to study in order to gain inspiration for the task he had envisioned.

Azudialu-Obiejesi commenced his primary education at St. Johns School, Fegge Onitsha Anambra State in 1964. However, this was truncated by the Nigerian civil war which raged from 1967 to 1970. After the war, he got into New Bethel Primary School Onitsha to complete his primary education. In 1973, he gained admission into the elite Dennis Memorial Grammar School, Onitsha (DMGS) for his secondary education which he completed in 1978. After his secondary education, he attended Government College Owerri, Imo State for his Higher School Education.

Upon completion of this program, he worked with his father at the family trading business, DA Ifeanyi & Brothers Trading Company, where he participated in trading activities. This was to be his first real exposure to the business environment. During his tutelage under his father, he was able to learn the rudiments of the trading business and started thinking of ways to transform, expand and revolutionise the family business.

In 1983, with encouragement from his father, he set up what was to be the first of many business ventures – Obijackson West Africa Limited. The company engaged in direct procurement from overseas suppliers and manufacturers of household goods and consumables, engineering and carpentry tools, cosmetics and beauty products. The company’s head office was located in Lagos, and branches set up in Onitsha, Aba, Maiduguri and Cotonou. Azudialu-Obiejesi nurtured the company from inception, grew and diversified it, with extensive interest in Manufacturing, Haulage and Real Estate development.

Upon leaving Okija, his comfort zone in Eastern Nigeria, he realised that the future, though pregnant with promises, requires starting out early, with diligence, out-of-the-box thinking and hard-worn genius for the promise to be liberated from the clutches of obscurity.

Humble Beginning

Unknown to many, Nestoil started from a one room office on Idumagbo Avenue in Lagos Island in 1991. Dr Ernest Azudialu-Obiejesi had decided to give up the trading business and chart a new course in his entrepreneurial journey. He settled for the Oil and Gas industry.

From a staff strength of about 10 persons, he has nurtured Nestoil into a conglomerate which has created about 2,000 direct jobs. The conglomerate renders services spanning Pipeline Constructionrepairs and maintenance, Fabrication and Pressure Vessel Manufacturing; Detailed Engineering Design and consultancy; Civil Construction Works as well as Dredging and Shoreline protection. These companies virtually cover the entire value chain of the Oil and Gas industry and they all operate from the very impressive 59-hectare Abuloma industrial layout.

At the time Dr Azudialu-Obiejesi ventured into the Oil and Gas industry, Local Content in the industry was still a figment of people’s imagination. He saw the landscape move from a tranquil one to a stormy one with locals demanding more say and involvement in the industry.

After nearly 20 years of literally weathering the storm alone in an industry dominated by foreign companies, government finally signed the Nigeria Content Bill into law and set up the Nigeria Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) to enforce compliance and protect the interest of local players in the industry. The move has seen the emergence of new indigenous players in the Oil and Gas space.

Seeking Solutions to Festering Challenges

Like great entrepreneurs and inventors whose paths to greatness seem impossible and were first derided for taking on arduous and risky ventures, young Azudialu-Obiejesi took the road less travelled. He walked the path of greats like Alexander Graham-Bell who invented the telephone in 1876, from a small workshop after working through the years on ways to transmit multiple telegrams and discovering that voice could travel through wire. He walked the paths of the likes of Thomas Edison, the inventor of the incandescent light-bulb who did over a thousand experiments before eventually stumbling on the formula for creating a light bulb.

In deciding that his next move was going to be Nestoil, Azudialu-Obiejesi must have raised so much dust carving a small office out of a retail shop with a mandate to capture the commanding heights of Nigeria’s Oil and Gas value-chain. Through dint of hard work and focus, he has established an indigenous Oil and Gas conglomerate that will seek to maximise Nigeria’s energy potential through value-additions such as B&Q Dredging, Energy Works Technology (EWT), Impac Engineering, Hammakopp amongst others.

What’s more fascinating is that he dreamed big dreams that had no semblance with his reality at the time. From his small shop in Idumagbo avenue, he built a business better known today as the face of local content in the Oil and Gas industry. All men dream dreams but few bring them to life.

Brand Builder – Creating Novelty from Obstacles

Charismatic leaders usually define the life, character and personality of the brands they help nurture to success. Such brands are defined by the character and personalities of their founders or those who run them. It is virtually impossible to divorce Nestoil as a brand from its iconic founder Dr Ernest Azudialu Obiejesi. Indeed, the Nestoil brand has taken on the doggedness of its founder earning it the reputation of “King of the Swamps”.

The Shell Nembe-Cawthorne Channel Trunk Line Replacement Project (NCTL) project is a case in point. This was the largest single pipeline construction under the SPDC Joint Ventures Asset Integrity Programme that replaced more than 1000km of deteriorated major pipelines and flow lines in Nigeria. The 97km Package A of this project was executed by Nestoil under the leadership of Dr. Azudialu-Obiejesi. This project involved major construction in a harsh mangrove swamp terrain and traversed 3 cluster communities and hundred autonomous communities in both Bayelsa and Rivers state of Nigeria at the height of militancy in Niger Delta. Nestoil completed this project one month ahead of schedule without a single fatality. 99% of the workforce in this project were Nigerians including the Project Manager. This pipeline has the capacity to evacuate about 600,000 barrels of crude oil per day.

The Shell Kolo Creek Trunk Line (KCTL) Replacement Project is another project that validates doggedness and innovation. This project, which is a first of its kind involved a method of pipeline installation that preserves the delicate natural environment of the Niger Delta. It is well known that the Niger Delta is an incredibly well-endowed ecosystem that contains one of the highest concentrations of bio-diversity in addition to supporting abundant flora and fauna and more species of freshwater fish than any ecosystem in West Africa. The fact that this pipeline was laid by Nigerian engineers without disrupting this unique environment is quite remarkable.

One project that may have thoroughly tested Nestoil’s resolve to deliver in spite of very harsh terrain, militancy, and frequent kidnappings is the Obiafu, Obrikom, Oben (OB3) gas pipeline. The section of the project that Nestoil is working on is the swampy areas starting from Omoku in Rivers State to Umukwata in Delta State. A large portion of this section transforms from dry land to swamp during the rainy season, hindering work on the pipeline for about seven months each year. Part of the Nestoil scope is to cross the 48-inch diameter pipeline under the bed of the River Niger over a 2 km span. This has never been done anywhere in Nigeria but Dr Azudialu-Obiejesi is confident that despite setbacks the company has faced till date, Nestoil will deliver on this project sooner rather than later. The 48-inch diameter and 65-kilometre long gas pipeline is the largest gas pipeline ever built in Nigeria and is expected to boost domestic gas supply by two billion standard cubic feet per day (bscf/d) when it begins operation.

A Heart to Give

As his businesses began to flourish, Dr Azudialu-Obiejesi set up the Obijackson Foundation as a platform to propagate his humanitarian endeavours. Through a well-thought out strategy of empowerment, the Obijackson Foundation became a catalyst for growth, job creation, skill acquisition, healthcare delivery, infrastructural overhaul and cultural renaissance. The evidence is overwhelming. Roads are being tarred in Okija and beyond, Street lights are being installed and street sweepers employed to clean Okija streets; scholarships are being awarded to indigent students, widows are being supported with seed capital to set up businesses. The list of social and infrastructural intervention is endless.

There is also the Obijackson Women and Children’s Hospital in Okija which he has built and developed into the foremost Women & Pediatric health-care institution – first of its kind in eastern Nigeria. The hospital with state-of-the-art diagnostic, surgical and other equipment has delivered over 300 women with zero mortality till date. Patients who have no funds to pay for treatment are catered for by the Obijackson Foundation. Nobody is turned away from this hospital on account of inability to pay their bills. Dr Ernest Azudialu himself says the sheer profile of the hospital and the impact in saving the lives of women and children across eastern Nigeria makes this project extremely humbling and fulfilling. This hospital directly employs about 100 locals. Hundreds more are indirect employees in the form of contractors and other service providers.

The Power of Education

Despite being introduced into the trading business at an early age, Dr Azudialu-Obiejesi found time for formal education. He believes in the power of Education as the only springboard that can actually lift humanity out of poverty. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Accountancy and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from the University of Benin. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate degree in Business Administration (DBA) from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He is also an Honorary Fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (FNSE). He was a finalist in the prestigious Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2012 and gained recognition from the Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN) for Industry Achievement of the Year Award 2014. Under his leadership, Nestoil companies were nominated in 2017 and 2018 by the London Stock Exchange Group as a Company to Inspire Africa, being companies that generated vital employment opportunities, contributed to sustainable economic growth and are the bastions of best practices and good corporate governance practices.

Succession in the Radaar

After nearly 30 years of founding a business, Azudialu believes it is time to hand over to the next generation. His shoes may appear too large to fill but Azudialu-Obiejesi disagrees. He says he has seen enough talent within his pool of Nestoil employees that are driven by uncommon passion – a restless spirit seeking answers to Nigeria’s engineering and technology challenges especially in the Oil and Gas industry. Their relentless quest to deliver exceptional value continues to define the Nestoil Brand as it takes on more audacious mandates within the oil and gas industry.

Power Equation And Igbo President

Michael I. Okpara

BY CHARLES ADINGUPU

Undoubtedly, nationalists fought assiduously to extricate Nigeria from the intricate web of colonialism by arousing sentiments, activities and organizational development, all aimed at self-government and emergence of an independent of nation state. Though, the struggle for socio-political and economic cohesion in a heterogeneous Nigeria was, indeed, a herculean task, given the frightening reality that the colonial powers deployed weapons of discord and Machiavellian policy of divide and rule to thwart the nationalists’ mission and perpetuate their imperial presence. This development, sadly, heralded the tribalization of political groups that emerged thereafter.

And in their contemplation of what they considered to be an ideal constitution for Nigeria, the duo, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and Chief Obafemi Awolowo repeatedly and consistently argued that cultural factor must remain the ultimate and overriding criterion in the territorial organization of Nigeria. Against this backdrop, Chief Awolowo stated that the ultimate goal was a true federal constitution whereby every group, however small, is entitled to the same treatment as any other, however large. This position has remained a lay fret around the edges of our political history.

However, in the nation’s current march towards political rebirth, social equality and economic emancipation, every ethnic nationality struggles in this momentous epoch in our political evolution to rightly possess that which is theirs. It was in the light of the above, that the rotation of power among the geo political zones upon the enthronement of the Fourth Republic became a welcome relief to ethnic nationalities that would hitherto not dream of grabbing political power. Though, the strands which define the normality of the Nigeria’s political phenomena must be nipped on the bud in order to break down the giant walls of prejudice and misconceptions.

Since the adoption of this unwritten consensus of power rotation, the major ethnic groups, comprising Yoruba and Hausa, including the minority Niger Delta, have had their fair share. But the Igbos are yet to take a shot at Aso Rock Villa, the power house of Nigeria. Indications are rife that there are moves to thwart this political arrangement, ostensibly to checkmate the Igbos from serving their term. Political horse trading, brickbats and treachery are the undercurrents that ironically define our democracy Only recently, the main opposition party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) openly accused the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) of attempting to exterminate opposition parties. Despite the denial by the APC, there are clear signals that Nigeria is gradually and systematically drifting into a one party state. This dangerous signal is an ill wind that would blow no one any good in our democratic space, and endanger the political aspiration of the Igbo ethnic nationality.

It was even alleged in certain quarters that the partial closure of the nation’s border was aimed at crippling the financial empire of the Igbos as such measure would help to put to check their agitation for political power. Since the end of the civil war, the Igbos have made a lot of compromise in Nigeria’s political space for peace to reign.

The Igbos in their fair-mindedness, devised a proverb which states that “It is difficult to ask a man with an elephantiasis on the scrotum to take a smallpox as well when thousands of other people have not had even their share of small diseases”.

Just recently, Elders of Igbo extraction led by the Chairman of the Pan Igbo socio cultural, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief John Nwodo, paid an official visit to the ruling President, Muhammadu Buhari at the Aso Villa, to ventilate their perceived marginalization in this political dispensation. Though, further discussions they had with the President are still in the wraps, political pundits were of the opinion that their discussion with the President would centre round the cohesion of the Igbos in this present regime and how to create a sense of belonging of “one Nigeria” with the Igbos through the provision of social amenities in erosion ravaged territory.

Many Nigerians believed that this is the time for the Igbos to truly take the President slot come 2023. Though it is difficult to assume that success would attain their efforts as previous attempts and opportunity had been bungled by the “who are you’ phenomenon in Igboland. This is much true in this political season where greed and pride have turned angels into demons.

In days gone by, the entire Igbo nation looked up to their leaders as bearers of the torch of enlightenment and as beacons of a new civilization. Such revered leaders’ opinions were sought; their remark weighty and hailed and their sense of judgment unquestionable.Sadly, a handful of Igbo political leaders had compromised their faith of self-allegiance. “Their hearts are full of mischiefs; their tongue flatters with deceit and their throats had become an open grave.”

All these unfortunate turn of events, create the impression in the minds of Nigerians that the Igbos would indeed have a rough ride to the Presidency come 2023.However, the Chairman of the socio-cultural, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, must realize that Ndigbo’s quest for the Presidency is indeed a herculean task. Therefore, all hands must be on deck to forestall any chance that would encumber their aspirations and the advancement of the Igbo race. Chief Nwodo must not allow politicians to sacrifice the Igbo identity on the altar of money and mediocrity. As at today, Ohanaeze Ndigbo remains the only veritable platform that would help to give expression to the aspiration of the Igbo nation.

The Chief Nwodo- led team must be wise as a serpent in endorsing a noble Igboman who would right the centuries of wrongs and articulate their collective interest in their struggle to bring about the kingdom of truth and justice. Otherwise the Igbos would either become kings amongst men or pun in the hands of kings.

The Igbos must realise that in civilzed clime, power is negotiated, therefore, the IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kalu should appreciate that the time of using war to acquire power only lies in the forgotten past. There is no gainsaying that an Igbo President would bail Nigeria out of its industrial and technological stagnation. A visit to the economic and industrial hubs of Igboland-Nnewi, Onitsha and Aba attest to this assertion. There are credible men and women with impeccable records in Igboland who would rescue the nation from her economic quagmire.

Though, it has become imperative for governance to change direction if Nigeria is not to nagivate rudderless into a future of uncharted uncertainty. No one ethnic group is superior to the other. We must play the unity game which produces harmony, peace and unity.
Adingupu, a journalist wrote from Lagos.

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN

I Never Apologised For Hailing Gowon, Says Moghalu

Kingsley Moghalu and Yakubu Gowon. Image: Moghalu via The Guardian.

BY LAWRENCE NJOKU

ENUGU (THE GUARDIAN) -- Former Presidential candidate of the Young Progressive Party (YPP), Prof. Kingsley Moghalu, has clarified that he never apologised to Ndigbo or any other Nigerian for hailing former head of state, Gen. Yakubu Gowon (rtd.) in a personal message he sent to him during his birthday recently.

The former deputy governor of the Central bank of Nigeria (CBN) said that in his speech at the second Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu Memorial Lecture held at the Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University (COOU), Igbariam, Anambra state on Monday, he apologised to persons whose sensitivities were offended by his use of the word ‘humane’ in describing Gowon based on his personal knowledge of the general.

“My apology to the sensitivity of such persons is a very different thing from repudiating my birthday message to Gen. Gowon, which I did not do.

“Having information and a perspective from my personal relationship with Gen. Gowon, which was not available to those who reacted on the social media to my message, their misunderstanding of my birthday message as an ‘endorsement’ of the deaths of their loved ones is understandable but regrettable.

“That is why I felt an apology and further explanation on that particular point was necessary. But I did not repudiate my birthday message to Gen. Gowon.”

The Guardian had reported yesterday that the politician apologised for hailing Gowon.

Moghalu stressed that it was wrong to interpret a birthday message he sent to Gowon as “being insensitive to the deaths of our family members, young and old, during the terrible civil war.”

He added, “This was far from my intention because in my message I urged Gen. Gowon to step forward and play a leadership role in bringing the painful issue of the civil war and its lessons to closure so that Nigeria can heal. Because clearly, despite the no victor, no vanquished policy, Igbo people have remained heavily discriminated against in Nigeria in many ways, in particular in the political terrain in which there appears to be an unspoken conspiracy to prevent a person of Igbo ethnic nationality from becoming president of Nigeria.

“I am deeply sorry and apologise, to everyone whose sensitivity I offended if I mistakenly conveyed the impression that I, as an Igbo man, was uncaring about the millions of people, mostly Igbo, that perished in the war. Nothing could have been farther from the truth or my intentions.”

Moghalu, however, asked Ndigbo to put the pains of the civil war experience behind them and move on for the peace and development of the nation.

South-East Commuters Lament Harassment, Extortion By Soldiers

Army Chief Tukur Ysuf Buratai.

BY RAPHAEL EDE

ENUGU (PUNCH) -- Commuters and drivers plying various roads in the South-East have lamented the high level of intimidation and extortion by soldiers at checkpoints.

Some of them, who spoke to PUNCH Metro, said the worst was that anybody making calls close to the checkpoints were having their phones seized, smashed on the road or required to pay between N500 and N1,500 to retrieve the phones.

In some cases, commuters and drivers of such vehicles are detained for hours before they are released after much pleading.

A commuter, who identified himself as Victor Okonkwo, who witnessed the atrocities of the soldiers recently, narrated his experience to our correspondent on Monday.

He said, “On Tuesday, October 22, 2019, I was returning from Owerri in a Sienna car and there were seven passengers in the vehicle. When we got to the Ihe community, one of the passengers received a call and he was on that call till we got to a military checkpoint near the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital.

“The man got the shock of his life when a soldier spotted him and seized his phone for answering a call while passing by the checkpoint. He paid N500 to retrieve his phone after we had spent over an hour begging the soldiers. There were more than 10 mobile phones seized from other commuters by the soldiers, while the owners were there begging for leniency.”

Okonkwo stated that he had experienced the cruelty of the soldiers in 2014 at the same checkpoint, even as he said he heard that soldiers at other checkpoints around Enugu State boundaries were committing similar atrocities.

He said, “I was coming back from Owerri in a bus with other passengers. On getting to the military checkpoint near the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital along the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway, a lady’s phone was seized and smashed on the road for answering a call while passing through the checkpoint.

“There was a similar incident, when a passenger’s phone was seized by soldiers for also answering a call; it took the intervention of the driver and some commuters before the phone was returned to the owner.

“This is what commuters experience on a daily basis in the hands of soldiers at the checkpoints.”

Checks by PUNCH Metro revealed that the soldiers had devised other means of collecting money from drivers and commuters at the checkpoints, as they now commission young men from the communities, who act as fronts to collect money on their behalf.

A source, who witnessed an incident a few months ago, narrated how a young man was shot dead by soldiers in the Isiala Ngwa South Local Government Area of Abia State.

According to the source, a drama played out on the day of the incident when a military officer spotted the man collecting money at the checkpoint on behalf of the soldiers.


When accosted, the soldiers denied ever knowing the young man.

“One of the officers immediately ordered one of the soldiers to shoot the tax collector for denting their image and he was instantly shot dead. My greatest surprise is that till today, those soldiers have not been held accountable for the gruesome murder of the young man. Many of such cases have gone the same way without anyone being held accountable.”

It is the same story at almost all the military checkpoints in the boundaries of Enugu-Ebonyi, Enugu-Nsukka, Enugu-Obollo-Afor, and the Enugu-Awka-Onitsha Expressway. Extortion, intimidation and outright corporal punishment are the hallmark of the checkpoints.

“Are we in a war situation that somebody receiving phone calls cannot pass by military checkpoints in the South-East without harassment and intimidation and our so-called leaders are not talking?” a commuter asked.

When the Nigerian Army Human Rights Desk was contacted, there was no response as the phone rang out.

When the Deputy Director, Army Public Relations, 82 Division, Enugu, Col. Aliyu Yusuf, was contacted, he said in a text message, “Good afternoon, inform the affected persons to call and give details for further necessary action immediately.”

Copyright PUNCH.

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Imo Monarchs Voice Displeasure To FG Over Abduction Of Justice Iheme

Chioma Nwosu Iheme

BY CHINONSO ALOZIE

OWERRI, IMO STATE (VANGUARD) -- The Imo state traditional rulers yesterday, cried out to the federal government of Nigeria, over the abduction of Justice Chioma Nwosu Iheme, by gunmen along Benin/Agbo road last week. The Chairman of the royal fathers, Eze Imo, Samuel Ohiri, alongside his Deputy, Eshi of Nkwerre, Eze Chijioke Okwara, made the call at the Eze Imo Palace at Mbari street in Owerri.

Vanguard was at the palace of Eze Imo, where he said that the people of the state, at the moment are not happy that after seven days their daughter, Iheme, was nowhere to be found. They also said that so far no communication has been established with her abductors.

Ohiri briefly said: “We are not happy that our daughter was kidnapped and taken away to an unknown destination. “The people of Imo state have not heard from our daughter and we are pleading with the federal government because she is a government employee that we have not happy and we want our daughter back simple and short, is just that the people of Imo state, want our daughter back to us.” Also speaking, the Deputy Chairman of Imo state traditional rulers, Eze Okwarra, of Nkwerre local government area, where Justice Nwosu Iheme, hails from said that he has canceled ceremonial activities in the area as a sign that they are currently pained over the abduction of Justice Iheme. Eze Okwarra said: “As the Deputy Chairman of Imo state traditional rulers, we are not happy that Iheme, is still in the den of the kidnappers and the untimely dead of her police escort. “We are not happy that judiciary who ate suppose to serve the public, their duty which is contained in the I999 constitution to interpret the law and now facing this kind of threat. “For the past months we have been hearing that judges are kidnapped and we want to appeal to the Federal government and 36 states governors to do something quickly.

“We the traditional rulers of Imo state, want to see our country with solid security network to allow our people do their work without fear. We are saddened that we have not heard anything about her since her kidnapped for the past 7 days now. “Let me expatiate on it, we have made every contact and we have contacted the judiciary and after seven days it is right to ask where she is. We are asking her employers to do something. “If we allow the judges to be picked anyhow then they will be afraid to give justice. As a result of this incident, I have cancelled all ceremonial activities in the community.”

Ekweremadu Urges Leaders To Honour Odumegwu Ojukwu By Restructuring Nigeria

Ike Ekweremadu. Image: Twitter

BY CHRISTIAN CHIME

ONITSHA: IGBARIAM, ANAMBRA STATE (THE GUARDIAN) -- Former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, has said that the greatest honour political leaders can accord the leader of the defunct Republic of Biafra, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, is to build a united but restructured and just Nigeria, which he lived and died for.

Ekweremadu disclosed this yesterday in his opening remarks as chairman of the second Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu Memorial Lecture at the Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University (COOU), Igbariam, Anambra State.

His words, “From the structural imbalances, which inescapably counts against the South East zone in particular in its voting power at the National Assembly, the distribution of national offices, revenue sharing, and other blessings of democracy such as infrastructure, to the defective federalism that has made it impossible for Ndigbo to fully harness their potential, Ndigbo have many grounds to be dissatisfied.

“This state of affairs has effectively reared two schools of thought in the South East region on the way forward. There are those, mostly the younger Igbo generation, who believe that the best way forward is total separation from the Nigerian state and the actualisation of a sovereign state of Biafra. This has resulted in agitations, which got to its crescendo in recent years.

“On the other hand is the school of thought, to which I belong, and which believes that Ndigbo can indeed blossom, actualise their potential and be happy in a restructured Nigerian state.”

The Enugu senator elaborated on this in his Position Paper entitled ‘Biafra: The Legal, Political, Economic, and Social Questions’, presented at the July 2017 meeting of the highest echelon of Igbo leadership at the height of the pro-Biafra agitations and military operations in the South East.

Ekweremadu added, “This position resonates with the thoughts of Ezeigbo Gburugburu, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, in the lecture entitled ‘Nigeria: The Truths that are Self-Evident’ he delivered on February 22, 1994 and was affirmed in the Awka Declaration where Ndigbo affirmed their commitment to a united, but restructured and just Nigeria.”On immortalising Ojukwu, he stressed: “Ikemba came ahead of his time, he lived ahead if his time, and he died ahead of his time because the laudable visions he longed for are yet to be realised.

“Therefore, our nation and her leaders owe it to the memory of Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu to strengthen Nigeria as a political entity where justice, peace, love, and unity reign; where national interest is supreme and where every Nigerian and every part thereof are free and able to actualise its legitimate dream unmolested and irrespective of religious, political and tribal affiliations and origin. This is indeed the greatest honour and tribute he can get from us.”

Bianca Taunts Obiano Over Absence At Ojukwu Memorial Lecture

Bianca Ojukwu

BY THE NEWS AGENCY, NOV. 4, 2019

AWKA, ANAMBRA STATE (THE CABLE) -- Bianca, widow of Chukwuemeka Ojukwu, has expressed dissatisfaction with the absence of Willie Obiano, governor of Anambra state, at the second memorial lecture of her late husband.

Speaking at the Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University (COOU) Igbariam, Anambra, on Monday, Bianca told Nkem Okeke, deputy governor of the state, who represented Obiano at the event, that there was no evil spirit at the venue.

She was taunting the governor over his recent comment that there were evil spirits at government house, Awka, Anambra.

Bianca, who spoke shortly after Kingsley Muoghalu, a former deputy governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), said Obiano was one of the greatest beneficiaries of Ojukwu’s legacy.

“Tell Obiano that there is no evil spirit in the venue of Ojukwu memorial lecture. This is the second time the event is holding and Obiano doesn’t want to attend by himself,” Bianca said.

She called on the governor not to erode the legacy of her late husband especially regarding All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).

“Lastly, tell him that he is gratuitously handing over the credentials for history to call him an ingrate, who step on fingers of all the benefactors that held the ladder for him to climb to political power,” she said.

She thanked Peter Obi, a former governor of the state, for renaming the university after Ojukwu whom she described as a hero in life and death.

Okeke attributed Obiano’s absence to “other official engagement”.

“It is unfortunate that Obiano has not attended the memorial lecture since it started last year, but that is not to say that he will not attend. The governor still has time in office and could still attend in future,” he said.

Moghalu, whose lecture was titled: “Ndigbo in the contemporary Nigerian politics, problems, prospects and way forward”, said the Igbo people must be given equal treatment like other ethnic groups.

He said the effect of the Nigeria/Biafra civil war is still holding the the nation backward.

“I suggest that key actors during the war like retired Gen. Yakubu Gowon should speak to heal the wounds to ensure lasting peace,” he said.

Ike Ekweremadu, former deputy senate president, who chaired the event called for restructuring of the country and introduction of state police.

He said restructuring and de-centralisation of the police were key to addressing the mirage of problems plaguing the nation.

Nnaji's 'Lionheart' Disqualified For The Oscars, Sparks Social Media Uproar

BY YOHANA DESTER

Back in April, the film Academy announced that it was renaming the best-foreign-language-film category to best international feature film. The reason? The term “foreign” felt “outdated within the global filmmaking community,” the Academy said in a press release. At the time it didn’t stir as much of a debate as the quickly scrapped best-popular-film category had the year before. But now the Academy is taking the heat this week because Lionheart, Nigeria’s first movie submitted for best international feature film, has been disqualified, according to the Wrap.

Lionheart, a drama starring and directed by Genevieve Nnaji, was reportedly disqualified because even though it is filmed partly in Igbo, a Nigerian language, it is mostly in English. That means it violates the Academy’s rule that a submission to the category has to have a “predominantly non-English dialogue track.” Voters were made aware that Lionheart would no longer be eligible on Monday, just days before the Academy was set to screen it for voters in Hollywood.

The announcement has sparked a debate online, with some users noting that Nigeria’s official language is English. “Are you barring this country from ever competing for an Oscar in its official language?” Oscar-nominated director Ava DuVernay wrote in a tweet directed at the Academy’s official account.

Nnaji herself also addressed the controversy, responding to DuVernay’s tweet and saying Lionheart “represents the way we speak as Nigerians. This includes English which acts as a bridge between the 500+ languages spoken in our country; thereby making us #OneNigeria.”

“It’s no different to how French connects communities in former French colonies. We did not choose who colonized us,” Nnaji added. “As ever, this film and many like it, is proudly Nigerian.”

The disqualification marks a divide between the category’s name change and its perhaps impractical, uncomfortable application in the real world. As film critic Guy Lodge noted on Twitter, the broader title does not specifically disqualify films in English, even if the rules do. “If you permit an English-language film from Nigeria to compete, then you have to permit English-language films from the UK, Canada, Australia, etc, to compete,” he wrote. “If you do that, the category's purpose in giving a platform to under-represented cinema is effectively compromised.” After all, he noted, best picture should technically be the best international film.

But perhaps the disqualification should come as no surprise to Oscar watchers. As Bong Joon-ho recently declared in a Vulture interview, the Oscars “are not an international film festival. They’re very local,” a sly burn of the century that highlight the awards ceremony’s myopic view of the global film community. Meanwhile, Bong’s latest film, the Korean-language Parasite is predicted as one of the front runners of the best international film category.

Lionheart’s disqualification now brings the number of international film contenders from 92 to 93 entries. Qualified films in the category will be announced on October 7.

Expert Outlines Strategies To Attract Global Institutional Investors

Nicky Okoye. Image: Twitter

BY CHINWENDU OBIENYI

AWKA, ANAMBRA STATE (SUN NEWS) -- The Founder and Chief Strategist, Nicky Okoye Organisation(NOO), Dr. Nicky Okoye, has outlined six strategies that can reposition and usher in monumental wealth and prosperity for Nigerian and African businesses over a short term period.

Okoye spoke at the Global Capital Strategy Session hosted by NOO in Awka, Anambra State, which was attended by over 600 entrepreneurs Nigeria and Ghana.

According to him, the strategies, which were developed by his team, if adopted by entrepreneurs, will receive favorable attention from global capital institutional investors.

He talked about the China Strategy, which he said Nigerian and African entrepreneurs could use to gain from over 85 million jobs that will be leaving China for new manufacturing bases over the next five years, as China joins the high income countries.

Okoye spoke about having a Digital Strategy in which over 10 million African businesses need to adopt a new digital profile and reposition using cutting edge technologies of virtual reality, artificial intelligence, nano technology and robotics.

Other strategies he outlined, included an Agricultural Strategy which will convert strategic sites in Nigeria into a global base for processing and export of processed agricultural products, especially citing industrial processing estates for cassava, cashew, cocoa, sorghum, sesame seed and palm products, all agricultural products that Nigeria leads as top three or top ten in global production today.

The NOO boss also mentioned a Local Content Strategy which has achieved success in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry, saying it needed to be extended beyond hydrocarbons.

This is an Africa Content Strategy which would allow entrepreneurs and businesses to build capacity on the back of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area agreement currently being established and there is also the Diaspora Strategy which gives entrepreneurs and businesses the possibility to start looking at the $270 billion in annual earnings of the Nigerians in Diaspora population as a market into on itself,” he said.

Okoye , who worked with Merrill Lynch, Nigerian Stock Exchange, Transcorp and NITEL, advised entrepreneurs to adopt a new approach to raising capital and investment which he termed a Global Capital Strategy.

“Entrepreneurs should follow already designed and researched laid down procedure for achieving an investment grade business structure which includes a business excellence matrix, a determined value proposition and a business strategy framework which all together form the basis for a successful global capital strategy and subsequent investment in your business,” he said.

The Influence Of The Umu Ada Sect In Igboland

Umuada Igbo Diaspora, the Raleigh, North Carolina Chapter Induction May 21, 2016. Image: Life and Times Magazine.

BY FRANKLIN UGOBUDE

Most communities in Nigeria are deeply patriarchal, and the Igbos, one of the largest ethnicities in West Africa, are no exception. In many parts of Igbo land, it is a common belief that men are superior to their female counterparts, and this view is enforced in many aspects. Making of laws, inheriting property are responsibilities seen to be exclusive to men, while women are groomed to be better daughters, sisters and wives’ right from infancy.

However, Igbo land makes room for Umuada, an association of indigenous women who are influential and powerful and have been for hundreds of years.

Umuada is a compound term derived from the two Igbo words umu which loosely translates to people and ada which means the first daughter. This group goes beyond the first daughters and encompasses all the daughters whose ancestry are traced to a village or town.

It is open to them whether married or unmarried, young or old, widows, divorced or separated. They are highly respected at local gatherings and are accorded such in private and public gatherings.

At this point, it is okay to describe the Umuada as a socio-political group that acts as a functional forum for women. Depending on the community, their roles can either be grouped into two: secular or spiritual.

The secular roles are almost general and cut across many communities in Igbo land. They include the settlement of disputes among fellow women and the community, infidelity issues involving offending wives, conflicts involving physical fighting between parties, assault or physical attack of a wife on her mother-in-law, and other issues under these categories which may fall under their jurisdiction.

In communities like Isuokoma in Ebonyi state, it has been recorded that the Umuada had contributed in settling disputes between fighting communities, management of domestic crises and other forms of conflict in different Isu communities especially when women in their community were involved.

Aside from this, the Umuada may also be involved in spiritual duties, depending on the community. In Osomala in Anambra state, the Umuada owe their allegiance to the visionary deity of Ohai.

Ohai is the deity to which all women in Osomala, including indigenous women and wives, married from outside the community, do obeisance. The devotees meet on designated days to dance and chant in worship to the deity. Through this deity, some members of the Umuada are endowed with foresight and can prevent impending danger in the community.

Thus, through their constant dance worship at the shrine of Ohai, the psychically gifted ones are given a revelation of things to come. The Umuada is also responsible for bathing the body of deceased female relatives and preparing it for burial. Apart from this, they are involved in the celebration of the ritual passage of the deceased into the ancestral stream and spiritual cleansing of the community during feasts and festivals.

In some cases, the Umuada has also served as checks on the abuse of power by the Council of Elders. Being a sect that represents the interest of women, it has served as a bridge between the women and the men.

The women group, in this case, include the ndi inyom- the wives of their brothers. When the wives are not pleased with certain things and when they are displeased with the state of affairs in their fatherland, they interfere in this capacity.

It can be argued that the Umuada has been instrumental to women empowerment in Igbo land and Nigeria generally and thus, important for the feminist movement. The Umuada respects tradition and works under the structures of modernity but remains insistent that men are the heads of the family, leaving them unaffected by modern developments in a way.

Nonetheless, it has led to some sort of balance in the community for the women. The forum is the vanguard in the struggle for equal opportunities for women and children in society.


SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN

Anambra Moves To Upgrade Agency After Onitsha Fire Outbreak

Fuel truck fire in Onitsha. Image: Silver Bird TV

BY OSIBEROHA OSIBE

After the latest fire incident in Onitsha, Anambra State and the destructions that came with it, the State Fire Service appears to have woken up from slumber. The Guardian learnt that Governor Willie Obiano has ordered the agency to step up its activities to forestall a reoccurrence of such incident. Meanwhile, the statistics of fire incidents in the state has been on the rise. In 2018, the Fire Service recorded 110 fire outbreaks across the state while no fewer than 30 fire incidents have been recorded this year.

Nevertheless, investigations showed that the Fire Service has fire stations located in strategic places in major cities state but were hitherto not well-equipped to discharge their duties effectively. For instance, at the state capital, Awka, there are three fire service stations located at the state command headquarters situated at Eze-Uzu junction, Agu-Awka. In Onitsha, the commercial nerve-centre of the state, there are three fire stations, namely, the Main Market fire station, Nkpor fire station and Okpoko fire station, Obodoukwu road. It was learnt that the state was planning to build an additional fire service station at Okpoko to tackle incessant fire incidents around Onitsha and Okpoko axis.

In Nnewi, the fast-growing industrial city in the state, there is the Nnewi fire station at Nkwo Nnewi Main Market, Nnewi. Other stations are the Building Market fire station, Ogidi, Idemili North local council headquarters; Ekwulobia fire station at Sports Stadium, Ekwulobia and Otuocha fire station in Anambra East local council.

There are also newly-established fire stations at Umunze, Orumba local council; Agulu in Anaocha local council and Ihiala in Ihiala local council.

Meanwhile, there are areas in the state that ought to have at least one fire station each have have none. Such places include Abagana/Enugwu-ukwu axis in Njikoka local council; Awka North local council, Okija in Ihiala local council and Oko in Aguata local council.

It was gathered that the state has about 20 fire-fighting trucks in all, including back-up water tankers spread across the fire stations. Out of these, eight are non-functional, but following the recent fire incidents in Onitsha, the state governor directed the repair of all the non-functional trucks of the Fire Service.

Further investigations showed that the State Fire Service is an appendage of the Ministry of Power and Water Resources. The ministry had as estimated capital expenditure of N1.827 billion in 2017; N2.375 billion in 2018, and N2.850 billion in 2019. Out of this amount, N3,756, 183 was earmarked for the Fire Service in 2017; N4,131,800 in 2018, and N4,544,982 in 2019.

The State Director of Fire Service, Martin Agbili, an engineer, who is also the state chairman of Nigeria Society of Engineers (NSE), could not be reached for comments. However, a member of staff of the Service who pleaded anonymity told The Guardian that the governor has ordered for the provision of six additional big trucks to the Service.

“In addition, orders have been placed for four mini-fire trucks that will act as first responder and be able to penetrate the nooks and crannies where the big ones cannot access,” he said.

The staff also noted that the welfare of employees in the Fire Service has been improved, saying: “Salaries and allowances of the fire service officers have largely been improved by about 100 per cent from what we earned before now. Also, our hazard allowance has been increased to N20,000 monthly.” But he bemoaned poor budgetary provisions to the Service, noting that it was hampering their efficiency.

He added: “The staff strength is not anything to write home about. In fact, the conditions of service were not encouraging. But with the recent fire incidents, the state government has come to the realisation that the Fire Service needs adequate attention to perform efficiently. The governor has ordered the increase of the staff strength from 70 to 120.”

Another source, who also pleaded anonymity, said the government was being reactive, questioning the rationale behind the many years of neglect the Fire Service had endured.

“How could past governments place staff on salaries and allowances that are not motivating. Also, there are no boreholes to make water available for the Service and where they exist, they are dilapidated and non-functional. It is now that government is rising to the occasion,” he said.

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN SATURDAY MAGAZINE NOV. 2, 2019

Fire Service: Neglected At The Peril Of Citizens

Image via The Guardian


BY ONYEDIKA AGBEDO

…Despite increasing incidents of fire disasters, Fire Service departments across the country are in shambles

At the maiden meeting of the present Federal Executive Council (FEC), President Muhammadu Buhari explained why he created the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management. His reasons were not far-fetched. The country was contending with a lot of humanitarian issues, which were occasioned by unforeseen situations like the Boko Haram insurgency that has displaced thousands of people in the Northeast region of the country, flood disasters and fire outbreaks, among others. People affected by these unfortunate incidents no doubt needs support from wherever it can come from, especially the government. Although the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has been on ground to tackle such cases, the President felt that creating the new Ministry was necessary “to fully institutionalize our various interventions that support some of the poorest and most distressed citizens of our country.”

As is the practice in our political system, it will not be surprising to see the states follow suit with time just like they did with the creation of State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), their own replica of NEPA.

But at the bottom of Nigeria’s humanitarian crisis is the ill preparedness of the agencies mandated to either nip foretold disasters in the bud or mitigate the effects of unforeseen disasters on the victims. Thus, a million humanitarian affairs ministries across the country without the enablement to function effectively will absolutely not yield the desired result.

For instance, the recent fire outbreak in Onitsha, Anambra State claimed five lives and razed over 500 lock-up shops on Iweka Street Market. Although, the state has a Fire Service Department attached to the Ministry of Power and Water Resources, they were just not prepared to intervene. But for firemen from the Delta State Fire Service that were drafted to put out the fire, more casualties could have been recorded.

The Federal Fire Service would later explain that a mob prevented its men from accessing the scene of the incident. “The Federal Fire Service received a call about the fire outbreak around 2.00p.m. The control room at the headquarters in Abuja immediately turned to its nearest station at Asaba, Delta State, to attend to the fire. Our men immediately headed to the scene, but it was not possible to contend with the heavy traffic at the Niger head bridge, coupled with the behavior of an angry mob who pelted stones at them.

“Thus, it was not possible for the firefighters to get to the scene of fight in such a hostile environment,” Ugo Huan, spokesman of the agency, said in a statement.

There must always be excuses for failure. But where was the Anambra State Fire Service? They didn’t come into the picture and no explanation has been offered. Were they so much ill-equipped that they couldn’t even stage an attempt to save the situation despite having three fire stations located in strategic places in Onitsha?

Fire outbreaks are precipitous and therefore require strategic reactions from the Fire service, the agency trained and equipped to respond to such situations. But as seen in the Onitsha incident, this is not always the case. Hence, The Guardian examined the state of the Fire Service in the country, especially at the state level. The findings showed that while some state governments have come to the realisation that the Fire Service is an important agency of government and have steadily upgraded their capacities, many remain hapless fire fighters as inferno continues to wreck havoc in cities across Nigeria. Reports below capture the sordid state of these inept agencies.

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN SATURDAY MAGAZINE NOV. 2, 2019

INTERVIEW: Why Igbo Celebrate New Yam Festival – Eze Olikenyi

Emume Iri Ji Ohuru Na Ala Igbo.

BY LAWRENCE ENYOGHASU

Dr Peter Olikenyi, popularly known as Ide Omenife, is a native of Umuodochi Abor Lilu in Ihiala Local Government Area of Anambra State. He is a successful businessman in Lagos, notable for his pioneering role in stabilizing the famous Alaba International Market in Ojo area of Lagos. Aside his iconic achievements in the world of business, he is the traditional head of Ebonesie Ihiala Local Government Masquerade Council, a prominent member of his native town traditional leadership elite council and an altruistic vice-chairperson of Ndi-Eze in diaspora. In this interview with LAWRENCE ENYOGHASU, he speaks on the Igbo age-long new yam festival traditional practice and other issues of concern.

Can you share with us a little about the history of new yam festival?

Thank you for this question. New Yam festival is one of the most, if not the most important and glamorous, festivals in the entire Igboland, southeast of Nigeria. It is celebrated between August and October to thank God for a good harvest. It also heralds the harvest season and provides an opportunity for a social gathering of the tribes. From history, it is culturally rooted in ancient agrarian Igbo society, where wealth is measured by yam, just like those in the north measure with livestock like cows. Yam was the king crop. It’s importance spread to ownership, anyone with a large barn or barns of yam then was definitely an indication of great wealth and commerce, likewise a big yam trader. Yam fufu instead of cassava or any other kind of fufu was a sure sign that the visitor was considered important to the host, rich. To a large extent, this association lingers till today in lifestyle. A prestigious party or occasion will have pounded yam fufu on its menu. I need not spell out other benefits or products from yam. It’s still very important to our economy till tomorrow if we carefully tap into its provision because it’s a good commodity for export or can be processed to gain other byproducts.

The new yam is harvested earlier than August, but anyone who considers himself a true son or daughter of Igbo land will not eat it before the festival which is the cultural approval or signal to mark the commencement of its consumption as a sign of respect to our culture.

The festival usually begins with a public ceremonial harvesting and roasting of whole yam tuber by the Eze, chief or titled elders of the community, after the yams have been first offered to ‘Ohajoku’ or the yam or earth gods; Christians like myself, offer thanks to Chikwu-Okike or God Almighty after which the rest are shared and the community can then feel free to consume new yam without incurring the wrath of the gods. In modern times, this festival provides an opportunity to call home sons and daughters abroad to renew and reaffirm brotherhood and a sense of belonging and to plan for community development.

It is characterized by elaborate personal and communal preparations and competitions; new masquerades, dances and performances vie to outdo the other; new clothes and designs on parade vie to outshine the last one, though the duration and grandeur differ from one community to the other.

In recent times it has begun to attract national and international attention. The Ofala of the Obi of Onitsha and Iriji of Arondizuogu are two of the notable ones that I can easily mention to you because of its popularity. It is a great occasion to meet up with relatives and friends and perhaps a future partner as one young person confided. You don’t get to see such a rich and diverse crowd every day, you know, so we make the most of it. For me, this year, we have different groups of Igbos living within Oto-Awori LCDA, Ojo, Lagos, coming together to compete in various old games like Draught (or draft), Whot (or cards) and Ludo with mouthwatering prizes to be worn.

As a king with vast wealth of knowledge of the rich African culture, what is your take on the deplorable state of our cultural value chain in relation to the corruption rocking the nation today?

I do not know your reason for asking, but truth be told, we lost it long ago. But I feel that it’s a question we, as members of the Nigeria state, must answer traditionally or ethnically because we all contributed in one way or the other. For the Igbo ethnicity, our culture forbids evil, more so ill-gotten wealth. In those good old days, if found wanting, the entire community will be united against not just the person that committed the offence, but his entire household would be looked down at, while the person in particular would be dealt with in accordance with the Omenala (tradition or laws of the land) and for such, there was nothing attractive in crime or corruption as you call it because even when you are bold enough to want to venture into it, the rest of your family would turn around against you to say no to it because they knew that it will eventually rub off on them as well and should such individual be hell-bent on threading the wrong way, they will report him to a higher authority for caution and to spare the rest of them of any future punishment that might be meted out to such offender. Today, we have made corruption far more attractive than hard work and diligence less attractive, then tell me, why the youth will not dwell in corruption? In those days, when you want to take up any title in the community, you will be carefully investigated to know the true source of your income and certain positions like Nze were allocated on merit to the right person and not as we have today where money has become everything. A young man with no history of hard work suddenly shows off unprecedented wealth and the next thing you will hear is that he is been honoured. A vulcanizer by the roadside sweating out profusely for his money would be carelessly abused by a man in a tinted-glass luxury car and he cries out, but no one cares to ensure justice for him, even the police around will instruct him to respect men of such class regardless of any wrong they do and this is where I praise the Buhari-led federal government. How can corruption not grow in a system where some animals are more equal than the others as captured in Animal Farm? How many commoners are there in our government? Check from the list of ministers down. Only once we had a President that once had no shoes and that was a great sign of hope to members of the lower class. We must learn to shift attention to the main thing and stop siding mediocrity and support meritocracy. It’s not a government matter alone; we ourselves do create room for mediocrity ourselves. When hiring, we do not seek the best hand, we rather focus all our attention on certificate and for this, people keep buying certificates day in day out. When you meet someone who might have done the job excellently, the first question you ask is, are you a graduate and next is what institution? When he is not a graduate, you try not to place him well because of certificate even when he understands the job well enough. Education I must affirm is good but emphasis should be on competence. If it is possible assign the job to them all and put them to practical test to know the best. A return to our original cultural values will do us a lot good; don’t forget that good moral is everything, but it pains me that our elites are not thinking this way. They are rather looking for more money to take abroad to further strengthen the indirect colonization of the Western world.

What is your take on Igbo presidency in 2023?

I know you may be disappointed with my response. For me, good governance doesn’t really care about ethnicity; rather, it’s because we have selfish looters who care about themselves and not the good of the people and as such we need to pass it turn by turn and even in that, the Igbo are grossly marginalized, but the truth remains, like Professor Charles Soludo suggested, we must have good crop of leaders that will plan our tomorrow. If you provide Nigerians with the needed basic social amenities and bring crime to a minimal level and then good food and shelter, nobody will question your ethnicity. The dichotomy was created due to repeated failures of past leaders. Don’t forget the new and better Nigeria task is not only on the government’s side, but also on the electorate. It must be collectively pursued. We are very smart and quick to trade blames in this part of the world. The electorate will quickly tell you that the leadership is corrupt and will fail to tell you that they requested and received some monies to vote for them. When you place huge financial demand on them at the point of seeking your vote and you make them give you what many will call stipends of maybe N500 or N1000 and some even get far more than that to pull their followers for you and at the vote seeker’s end he spends hundreds of millions to buy his way through you need to multiply the N500 by a million people) and know how much you get) then after victory you want him not to recoup his monies, you must be the greatest thief, not the politician. We must collectively correct these errors and not point at others.

Can you tell us about the new yam festival in Oto-Awori LCDA?

Yes, we are holding it here just to ensure that our rich culture is protected from going into extinction as we sojourn in search for greener pasture. Like I explained before, the new yam festival are usually observed in October and the previous month, but due to other pressing traditional engagements (I had to observe it first in my home town of Lilu in Ihiala Local Government of Anambra State where I am the Ezemuo, King of Spirits, September 5 and then here in Oto-Awori where I am the Eze Ndi-Igbo) this one holds today Saturday, November 2.

SOURCE: DAILY SUN

Tribute To Herbert Ekwe-Ekwe

Herbert Ekwe-Ekwe

BY ABIA ONYIKE

The sudden death of Professor Herbert Ekwe-Ekwe in London on Thursday, October 17, 2019 came as a rude shock to his friends, admirers, students, comrades and loyal followers in Nigeria, Africa and the world at large. He was a top-flight intellectual who had distinguished himself in scholarship and activism as a creative thinker and strategist. He was concerned with African renaissance and wrote extensively on African politics, the state and human rights. He was an outstanding literary encyclopaedia, an internationalist and pan-Africanist.

He wrote 17 books, including 63 publications, all in English language, spread in 1, 102 world-cat member libraries all over the world. Some of his books include The Biafran War: Nigeria and the Aftermath(2006); Biafra Revisited(2007); African Literature in defence History: An Essay on Chinua Achebe(2001); Readings from Reading: Essays on African Politics, Genocide, Literature(2003); Conflict Intervention in Africa: Nigeria, Angola, Zaire(1990); Africa 2001: the State, Human Rights and the People(1993); Does Chinua Achebe’s Arrow of God anticipate the Igbo genocide?(1995) etc. Ekwe-Ekwe’s postulations on Nigeria’s national question and the crises of the Nigerian federation were indepth, incisive and breath-taking.

Professor Herbert Ekwe-Ekwe was born in Jos, Plateau State, on June 14, 1953. His parents, from Uburu in Ohaozara Local Government Area of Ebonyi State migrated to Northern Nigeria in the decade following the end of the second world war, in search of the golden fleece. A naturally intelligent and gifted child, Herbert attended St. Paul’s Primary School, Bauchi(1958-64) and proceeded to Boy’s High School, Gingiri, Plateau state(1964-70). He gained admission to University of Ibadan(1970-74), where he read Political Science, graduating in flying colours. He later obtained scholarship to the University of Lancaster in the United Kingdom and got his Masters and Doctorate degrees(1974-77). After his academic pursuits in Europe, Ekwe-Ekwe came back to Nigeria and became a Lecturer in Political Science at the University of Calabar in late 1977. He left UNICAL in 1983 as a Senior Lecturer and joined The Guardian newspapers as a Member of the Editorial Board.

That was a period when Dr. Stanley Macebuh, the then Managing Director of the newspaper had invited many egg-heads into the newspaper’s Editorial Board, then referred to as the ‘Flagship of the Nation’. Other intellectual giants at The Guardian at the time included Chinweizu, Dr. Edwin Madunagu, Ashikiwe Adione-Egom, Prof. G.G.Darah, Ama Ogan etc. Ekwe- Ekwe had to leave Nigeria through Benin Republic, en-route Ghana to the United Kingdom, ostensibly to escape the Tunde Thompson and Nduka Irabor treatment. Recall that the duo was jailed after their trial under a military decree promulgated to silence the free press.

In a period of thirty years from 1989 to 2019, Ekwe-Ekwe underwent a fundamental metamorphosis in his scholarly underpinnings. He would soon devote his intellectual energies by researching into the crisis of the ‘nation-state’ in post-colonial Africa. He probed into the wobbly governance structure in post-independence Africa and succeeded in providing logical answers and convincing explanations to the causes and sources of the politics of pestilence, wars and senseless killings which characterized and dominated the African scene since the immediate post-independent period.

He condemned the European powers for their role in instigating political instability in Africa and frowned at the role of Pan-Arabism and political Islamism in fomenting violence in sub-Saharan Africa.

In the specific case of Nigeria, he investigated and interrogated the developments in post-second world war Nigeria, identifying the elements which set the stage for the 1966 crises and the Igbo genocide/ Biafran self-determination struggle(1966-1970), during which 3.1 million Igbo were massacred. Ekwe-Ekwe was a vocal supporter of the Biafran restoration project in the 21st century and spoke in various conferences and scholarly gatherings all over the world to defend the case of Biafran independence. He labelled the Igbo genocide “as the foundational genocide of post-(European) conquest Africa’’.

According to him, “the Igbo genocide inaugurated Africa’s age of pestilence. To understand the politics of the genocide and the politics of the post-Igbo genocide is to have an invaluable insight into the salient features and constitutive indices of politics across Africa in the past 51 years’’. He lampooned the British government for standing against Biafran independence, thus: “Historically, the state is a transient phenomenon. Where are the world’s once great empires? Europe, with just a third of Africa’s population has produced 23 new states from the late 1980s. There is no point in insisting that the Igbo people, victims of Africa’s worst and on-going genocide, who want their own state, must remain in Nigeria’’. Ekwe-Ekwe was equally concerned about the continued military occupation of Igboland through numerous check-points which dotted the Igbo landscape. The check-points have since become barriers of extortion and appropriation, intended to hamstrung and destroy the socio-economic viability and heritage of the Igbo nation. He was even more worried that Africa and the rest of the world largely stood by and watched as the perpetrators enacted these tragedies, most ‘relentlessly and ruthlessly’. “Africa and the world could have stopped this genocide; Africa and the world should have stopped this genocide.

After teaching in some of the word’s leading universities such as Oxford, London School of Economics(LSE), Harvard, Sorbone and the University of Brazil, amongst others, Ekwe-Ekwe relocated to Africa in 2011, where he became the Director of the Centre for Cross- Cultural Studies in Dakar, Senegal. Certainly, the greatest regret for humanity lay in the fact that the Igbo genocide was coming 20 years after the Jewish holocaust/genocide in Hitler’s Germany during the second world war(1939-45) and exactly after the 21st anniversary of the liberation of Aushwitz had been marked with a solemn declaration never to repeat such heinous/horrendous incidents in world history. Of course the repetition was only possible because the world never handled the matter seriously. After all, the Nigerian authorities had the backing of the world powers, especially the then British Prime Minister, Harold Wilson who in 1968 ordered the Nigerian genocidal commanders/commandants to kill 500,000 Biafrans , if that would force them to stop their political resistance.

Ekwe-Ekwe would also be remembered amongst progressive intellectuals in Nigeria for his contributions to the formation of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). The key players then were Madunagu, Profs. Uzodinma Nwala and Biodun Jeyifo who started it all with the formation of a body, known as the “Revolutionary Directorate’’ in 1978. Others were Profs. Inya Eteng, Ola Oni, Bade Onimode etc. Ekwe-Ekwe belonged to a generation of committed scholars who shared the indomitable spirit of audacity and the motto that “the end of all intellectual activity is the service of mankind’’.

SOURCE: SUN NEWS

A Missed Flight Leads To A Connection

Wedding guests spray money at the bride and groom, a tradition in Nigeria’s Igbo tribe. Image: Houston Cofield /The New York Times

BY VINCENT M. MALLOZZI

Brooke Watson and Nelson Madubuonwu dated briefly at their Memphis high school. A “magical” misprint on her plane ticket brought them together several years later in New York.

Once upon a “magical airline ticket,” Brooke Watson and Nelson Madubuonwu made a connection that brought them to a special place in each other’s hearts.

“Everything happens for a reason,” said Ms. Watson, a 28-year-old senior data scientist with the American Civil Liberties Union in New York.

Ms. Watson and Mr. Madubuonwu, a 28-year-old product manager for Facebook in New York, first met in 2007 as students at White Station High School in Memphis. They lost touch for six years before finding each other again on social media.

“Brooke and Nelson have always felt like they have this wonderful, kind of magical connection,” said Ms. Watson’s father, Dennis Watson. “They’re both very bright and interested in similar things, and they have very interesting careers — they’re just a nice match.”

The two dated briefly in December 2012, but were just friends in August 2013 when they boarded a train for Kennedy International Airport, where Ms. Watson had a one-way ticket to Australia and dreams of starting a new life there after graduating from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville with a degree in microbiology. She was a four-year athlete there on the swimming and diving team, and competed in the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Trials in swimming.

“I had a couple of interviews set up in Sydney, but I was also ready to work in a bar or on a farm there if I had to,” said Ms. Watson, a daughter of Karen Watson and Mr. Watson of Memphis. (Her father is a lawyer there and her mother an executive with a charitable foundation.)

“I was caught up in the adventure of it all,” Ms. Watson said.

But Ms. Watson, who had asked Mr. Madubuonwu upon arrival in New York to help her navigate the city’s subway system to the airport as he was now living in Manhattan, soon found herself in an unexpected adventure. The travel agency she used to book her flight had printed the wrong name — “Brooke Wa” — on her ticket. With the last four letters of her surname also missing in the airline’s database, she was not allowed to board the plane.

“I was sort of freaking out, and to make matters worse, the flight was delayed several times,” Ms. Watson said. “I called my mom, who proposed that I come back to Memphis. But that really wasn’t an option.”

She tried canceling her ticket and buying it back, but the new fare, she said, was $6,000, which she could not afford.

“At some point the plane left and I wasn’t on it,” she said. “I sort of meekly turned around, holding a backpack filled with all of my belongings and with nowhere to stay in New York City, a place where I had never been.”

Her plane had departed, but Mr. Madubuonwu had not.

“I was just about to leave when I heard this kerfuffle at the check-in counter,” he said. “Then Brooke came back and told me what had happened, and I told her that she could stay with me and my roommate at our apartment in Morningside Heights for as long a she needed to.”

Ms. Watson accepted the invitation, and rebooked a ticket she would use three days later. In the interim, she and Mr. Madubuonwu walked around Manhattan, enjoying museums and restaurants, and most of all, each other’s company.

“I think I had always really, really liked Nelson, but I didn’t let myself think we could have a future together because our lives were going in different directions,” said Ms. Watson, who also has a master’s degree in epidemiology from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

“Nelson was this extremely attractive and charming 22-year-old man living in New York,” Ms. Watson said, “so the thought of him wanting to date someone exclusively who lived in another country didn’t make sense to me.”

But it all began to make better sense after spending that small stretch of unexpected time together, which Ms. Watson referred to as “our very wonderful delay.”

“During those three days, I think I saw a little bit more of who Nelson really is,” Ms. Watson said. “He’s a very caring, very smart and very thoughtful person.”

Mr. Madubuonwu, who graduated from Yale with a degree in political science, said those 72 hours “created a feeling of inevitability about us becoming a serious couple that was both incredibly powerful and palpable.”

“I had already seen Brooke as a wonderful person who could be a great partner, but it didn’t seem likely as we were going to be living in different parts of the world,” said Mr. Madubuonwu, who is the son of Paul Madubuonwu and Sandra Madubuonwu. (His father is an associate professor at Meharry Medical College in Nashville and past president of the Anambra Family Association of Memphis, the largest membership organization of the Igbo tribe from Anambra, Nigeria. His mother, is the director of maternal health at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital in Memphis.)

“Brooke and I were never going to work unless somehow we happened to be in the same place at the same time,” he said. “But as it turned out, that magical airline ticket gave us a glimpse of how great our lives could really be together.”

By the time Ms. Watson took off for Australia, Mr. Madubuonwu was grounded in the belief that he had found the woman with whom he would spend the rest of his life.

“At that point, I didn’t want to be with anyone else,” he said.

During the next six months, Ms. Watson lived and worked in Sydney before backpacking through parts of Southeast Asia, including Indonesia and Thailand.

During that time, they visited each other twice, she returning to spend the holidays with him in December 2013, and he traveling to Sydney in March 2014.

“Nelson was incredibly supportive of my time spent abroad,” she said. “He never tried to persuade me to come back.”

Their long-distance relationship continued, each sending the other old-fashioned letters and a never-ending stream of emails, exchanging everything from jokes to newspaper articles to their deepest-rooted feelings for one another.

“Our relationship was built on a bedrock of communication,” Mr. Madubuonwu said. “Given our far-flung time zones, I would be in my bed talking to Brooke at the strangest times of the night or early hours of the morning.”

On one of those nights, in August 2013, Ms. Watson, who had spurned numerous offers to date other men while she lived abroad, called Mr. Madubuonwu to tell him, for the first time, that she loved him.

“I thought about Nelson constantly, and it got to the point where I could no longer hold in the fact that I loved him,” she said. “So I called him and just threw the “L” word out there because I wanted him to know how I was feeling.”

Mr. Madubuonwu returned the “L” word on the spot, and when Ms. Watson returned from Sydney in June 2014, they began dating immediately.

“Every time I learned something new about Nelson, I fell in love with him a little bit more,” Ms. Watson said. “There was never a time when I wasn’t interested in him or fascinated by him or excited about seeing him.”

There was a time, however, when Ms. Watson wondered if she would ever see Mr. Madubuonwu again.

In May 2016, Ms. Watson, who was in England, received a call telling her that Mr. Madubuonwu, who was in New York, had been rushed to an emergency room after his appendix had ruptured.

“He was so sick, we thought he was just going to die,” the groom’s mother said. “Brooke was in London at the time and flew all the way back and stayed at Nelson’s bedside the whole time — that’s when I knew she was the one.”

They were engaged on New Year’s Eve 2017 in the company of friends and family in Memphis.

“My father appeared in a dream for me and gave me signs and indications that this actually is the woman for Nelson,” the groom’s father said. “I should not object. Because it is not uncommon for families from Africa to object to this kind of marriage — an interracial marriage. But my father gave me a clear sign that this is the right person for Nelson.”

The couple had a traditional Nigerian wedding ceremony on Oct. 4 at Memphis Botanic Garden. The following day, they were married in a legal ceremony at Shelby Farms Park, also in Memphis, where the Rev. Ken Zelten, a senior pastor ordained by the Order of Franciscans Minor, officiated, with Sanket Karuri, a close friend of the groom, taking part.

“It’s funny, because they both kind of liked each other in high school, but they kind of tiptoed around each other, so I don’t think they were ready at that point,” said Mr. Karuri, as he gathered for pictures before the Nigerian wedding in an outdoor courtyard. He and other groomsmen were dressed in white Igbo garb, called a senator, and leaning on canes beneath a fading sun, while the bridesmaids wore gold dresses and geles (headpieces), another Nigerian cultural wedding tradition.

Music began blaring from inside Hardin Hall, a ballroom at the Memphis Botanic Garden where members of both families began entering in small groups. Some marched into the room, others danced. The groom wore a red tunic, called an agbada, the bride a red dress. The bride’s family formed a cluster on their side of the ballroom to symbolize their home or village as it would be in an Igbo state in Nigeria. Members of the groom’s family walked across the ballroom bearing gifts for the bride’s family that included beer, wine and a platter of food.

The groom’s father, wearing a large crown and holding a staff, wore an elaborate blue garb, as did other elders of both families.

A member of the groom’s family then declared to the bride’s parents that the groom had brought gifts as a symbolic exchange for their daughter. A representative of the bride then formally introduced both families to each other, telling them a bit about the couple’s history. The ceremony then continued as the bride’s father told his daughter to go to the groom, but unbeknown to her, the groom was hiding among the 275 guests.

“Brooke loves hard, and the Madubuonwus love her,” said Chelsea Cravens, the bride’s older sister. “She’s made a real effort to know all of them individually and learn parts of their culture, that’s just who she is, always.”

Afrobeat music began pulsating as the bride danced rhythmically around the ballroom, holding a glass of wine as her bridesmaids tried to help her find the groom. Each man in attendance was encouraged to shout out to the bride that they were the groom in an effort to confuse her.

But as was the case years earlier, she found the man she had been searching for.

ON THIS DATE

When Oct. 4, 2019

Where: Memphis Garden

Families United Perhaps the most emotional moment of the evening was when the bride and groom’s maternal grandmothers walked into the ballroom hand in hand.

Made in Nigeria Chinekwu Osakwe, the best friend of the groom’s younger sister, helped coordinate the wedding and also got both parties outfitted in tailored clothing from Nigeria.

Spraying Cash As the ceremony wound down, guests danced while celebrating the bride and groom by “spraying” them with money, an Igbo tradition.

SOURCE: THE NEW YORK TIMES