As the year draws to a close, Loladeville Blog takes a look at 14 people, issues or events that shook Nigeria in 2014. From the Bring Back Our Girls campaign, Ebola and the shocking deaths of Prof. Dora Akunyili, Amaka Igwe and others. These are the stories worth reviewing before the year ends.
(1) NIS recruitment tragedy- The Nigerian Immigration Service recruitment tragedy of March 15, 2014 is one that will not be easily forgotten. The issue is not that over 6million people paid an application fee of N1,000 for 4,000 vacant positions but that 23 Nigerian job seekers who left their homes were trampled to death whilst trying to gain entrance to venues, several others were injured and rushed to nearby hospitals.
(2) Bring Back Our Girls– Albeit interest in it has waned considerably, the abduction of nearly 300 Chibok school girls on April 14, 2014 in Borno State Nigeria by Islamic sect, Boko Haram topped social media’s most trending topics list in Nigeria in 2014. The kidnap prompted a global campaign tagged ‘Bring Back Our Girls’ to ensure the safe release of the poor girls. The #BBOG campaign drew unprecedented attention from the international community, protests were held severally in different parts of the country and abroad. High-profile international figures shew their support/solidarity via placards with the #BringBackOurGirls caption, tweets, instagram and facebook posts etc. Today marks the 261th day of their captivity and sadly the the girls have not been brought back
(3)Patience Jonathan’s viral bant– All Nigerians picked from an “emotional” 2-minute video of Nigeria’s first lady, Mrs. Patience Jonathan addressing Mrs Asabe Aliyu Kwarmbula, the Principal of Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State over the abducted 234 students of the school at a press briefing was her pidgin English. We all agree that her relationship with English is strained, Nigerians had a field day with the video just like they did with last year’s ‘Oga At The Top’ bant. The video went viral, (and of course it was available for download) and phrases like “Diaris God”, “Na only you waka come” became an anthem on the lips of both young and old.
(4) Dora Akunyili– Will Nigeria ever forget Dora Akunyili? Certainly not. The widely revered woman of substance passed on on June 7,2014 after a 17-year battle with uterine cancer. She was aged 59. The amazon was an ex Minister of Information and former Director General of The National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control. Needless to say she was a passionate campaigner against fake and substandard drugs in Nigeria. She will be sorely missed.
(5) Amaka Igwe– The sudden death of one of Nigeria’s iconic filmmakers, Amaka Igwe which occurred in Enugu on April 28, 2014 left several if not all entertainment practitioners in shock. According to reports, the 51 year-old multi award-winning movie producer suffered an asthma attack on a movie location and gave up before she was rushed to the hospital. Her death has been described as an irreparable loss to the motion pictures industry.
(6) Kefee– It all started with the news of her collapse in a Chicago-bound plane. The plane we gathered had to make an emergency landing so she could receive medical attention. Fans, family and friends were however shocked out of their wits when the news of the death of the sapele-born frontline Gospel singer, Kefee Don-Momoh seeped into the air. The Branama queen died in an undisclosed Los-Angeles hospital after 15-days in coma.
(7) Ebola– In Nigeria, the name Patrick Sawyer is synonymous to Ebola. The 40-year-old Liberian brought the deadly Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) to Nigeria on July 20, 2014. He vomited frequently during his flight and on arrival was hospitalised at the First Consultant Hospital, Obalende. His arrival set a chain of transmission that got 19 people infected, 8 of whom died. He died on 25 July. But for Dr Stella Adedavoh, a senior consultant at the hospital who promptly alerted health institutions after a malaria test carried out on Sawyer came out positive and stopped the Liberian from leaving the hospital for a conference in Calabar, the death toll would have increased. Sadly Dr Stella died few days later after a direct contact with the Ebola victim. Nigeria was declared Ebola-free by World Health Organization (WHO) on October 20, 2014
(8) Psquare’s alleged breakup– The news of their breakup started with Jude Okoye, the elder brother of singing duo, Psquare’s tweet one fateful day, “After 10 years of hardwork, I am done”, it was difficult to believe all was well with the Okoye brothers. There were reports that they fought severally at rehearsals and had to be separated by their dancers. Shortly after that fans, celebrities and friends of the singers took to several social media platforms to advise them to sheathe their swords and shelve their planned break-up. Fans however heaved sighs of relief after the brothers debunked the rumour via their various twitter accounts. “Forever Psquare”. “Psquare! Stronger than ever.” They wrote.
(9) 2014 World Cup– The World Cup is unarguably the biggest sporting competition in the world. The 2014 edition held from June 12- July 13 2014 in Brazil. 64 matches were played, 32 countries were represented, 12 venues were featured and 1 winner emerged- Germany. There were those who jetted out to Brazil, some saw the games in the comfort of their homes, viewing centres and in large malls. There were others who followed the games on several social media platforms and got connected to a community of football fans around the world. They followed live updates, analysed matches and players/teams’ performances, talked about goals or funny/bizarre goal celebrations, praised or lashed out at players, won prizes for predicting games correctly etc.
(10) Ayo Fayose- The return of Ayodele Peter Fayose to the Ekiti State Government house is one of the issues that dominated political discourse in the country in 2014. Fayose who was impeached from office in controversial circumstances in 2006 defeated Dr Kayode Fayemi in the Ekiti gubernatorial election held in June this year. He made history in Nigeria as the first politician to defeat two incumbent Governors for the same office twice. He was sworn in on October 16,2014.
(11) Entertainers in politics– The year 2014 saw many Nigerian entertainers expressing their interests in qualifying for one political office or the other. Roll call of celebrities who vied for political seats include: Julius Agwu (Rivers State Governor), Desmond Elliot (Lagos State House of Assembly Surulere Constituency), Abolore ‘9ice’ Akande (House of Assembly Ogbomosho North/South Orire Constituence Oyo), Kenny Saint Best (Lagos State House of Assembly Ikeja Constituency 1), Daniel Chibuzor a.k.a Dan D’ Humourous (comedian) (House of Assembly Ikweme Constituency), Kate Henshaw (Federal House of Representative Calabar Municipal/Odukpani Federal Constituency), Bob Manuel Idokwu (Anambra State House of Assembly Idemli North) and a host of others. Sadly, majority of them lost out in the primaries.
(12) AFCON – Two goals from Super Eagles’ Sone Aluko didn’t help Nigeria to qualify for the African Cup of Nations 2015 to be held in Equitorial Guinea. Nigeria crashed out after failing to beat South Africa at the newly commissioned stadium in Akwa Ibom. Nigeria garnered a total of 8 points and came third in a group comprising of South Africa who qualified with 12 points and Congo who occupied the second spot with 10 points. Nigeria is however the only country who has not defended the nations cup after winning it in 1996 and 2013.
(13) Primary Elections- Primary elections were held in several states of the nations for candidates vying for Gubernatorial, Presidential and other positions in the 2015 elections. While President Jonathan emerged PDP candidate for the Presidential election, General Muhammadu Buhari garnered a total of 3,430 votes to emerge the presidential candidate of APC. Who wins a ticket to Aso Rock next year? That’s one question Nigerians will find answer to in 2015.
(14) Keshi’s sack and reinstatement – National team coach, Stephen Keshi was highly commended for helping Nigeria to win the African Cup of Nations in South Africa last year. The story is different today. The ex international was relieved of his job on October 15, 2014 after a disastrous AFCON 2015 qualifying campaign and a former handler, Amodu Shuaibu took over.
Two weeks after, Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan ordered his reinstatement to oversee the two remaining qualifying matches. That didn’t help matters as Nigeria failed to pick the 2015 AFCON qualifications ticket. The debate for Keshi to remain as the Super Eagles coach is one of the most controversial issues in the Nigerian sports circle.