Nollywood actress and producer, Ivie Okujaye and her fiancee, Ezie Egbo’s journey into holy matrimony kicked off yesterday, April 17 with a traditional wedding ceremony held in Abuja. She sure looks stunning in her attire.
Brand South Africa has joined the rest of the country in condemning the acts of violence that have been levelled against some foreign national residing in some of the nine provinces of South Africa.
We assure all our partners in the continent that South Africa stands firmly against all intolerances such as racism, xenophobia, homophobia and sexism. As such security forces are hard at work around the clock to protect vulnerable communities in the country.
The country remains true to its founding ethos that any problems or issues of concern by South African citizens must be resolved peacefully and through dialogue.
Brand South Africa assures our partners that South Africans are generally not xenophobic; this is attested to by the high number of foreign nationals who have been successfully integrated into communities all over our country, in towns, cities and villages.
Preliminary work done towards resolving this current challenge indicates that the root causes are socio-economic issues that have been raised and are being attended to by all South African role players.
Brand South Africa expresses its sincere sympathies to the regrettable loss of lives and injuries suffered during this unfortunate occurrence.
We are one Africa bound by many areas of commonalities and our spirit of UBUNTU (humanity – I am because you are) will prevail even under the trying circumstances.
Brazilian soccer super star, Ronaldinho has refuted rumours going rounds that he is planning to hang his boot. The ex Barcelona player who signed a two-year deal with Queretaro last year set the records straight in a press conference on Friday.
“First of all, I had to tell you that the rumour about my retirement is not true. I’m so happy at the moment and the idea of quitting is not in my thoughts.
“I don’t know if I’ll stay on for five or six years, but while things are still going well, there’s no reason for leaving.
“I’m happy and in my best moment since I arrived in Mexico, so I’m going to continue doing what I know how to do best.
“I’ll keep working on being the player providing the most assists until the end of the season. I need to score more goals, but I’m still helping the team.”
I was told that every Igboman who heard Ojukwu’s speech after the Biafran war was filled with a renewed sense of pride and hope. A hope that one day the Igbo nation will rise and become a force of reckoning not just in Nigeria but in the entire black world
I have read that speech over and over and each time I read through, I am filled with pride and imagination of how those who heard the words pouring out of the mouth of the warlord himself must have felt. Before going any further, let me recount a little part of what the late sage said while addressing the press:
“In the three years of the war, necessity gave birth to invention. During those three years of heroic bound, we leapt across the great chasm that separates knowledge from know-how. We built rockets, and we designed and built our own delivery systems. We guided our rockets. We guided them far, we guided them accurately.
For three years, blockaded without hope of import, we maintained all our vehicles. The state extracted and refined petrol, individuals refined petrol in their back gardens. We built and maintained our airports, maintained them under heavy bombardment.
Despite the heavy bombardment, we recovered so quickly after each raid that we were able to maintain the record for the busiest airport in the continent of Africa. We spoke to the world through telecommunication system engineered by local ingenuity; the world heard us and spoke back to us!
We built armoured car tanks. We modified aircraft from trainer to fighters, from passenger aircraft to bombers. In the three years of freedom we had broken the technological barrier. In three years we became the most civilised, the most technologically advanced black people on earth.”
Ojukwu, with those few lines, defined the ingenuity and never-say-die spirit God has embedded in the marrows of the Igboman. But my question for Ndigbo is, where has this ingenuity for which the entire world has given them a standing ovation, gone?
Why can’t it be used today to enhance the cause of Ndigbo? Can’t we re-enact the same war time feat to launch ourselves back to reckoning again in Nigeria and in the entire black world?
Since Ojukwu died, Ndigbo have been like sheep without a shepherd. Those who we thought could take up the mantle of leadership are nothing but selfish entities who care for nothing but their personal interest.
As I am writing this article, I just got words that a senator in Imo State has been discovered as a saboteur working against the interest of his people because he has been promised to be made Senate president in the new political dispensation which begins on May 29. What is it with Ndigbo and greed?
How long are we going to kill ourselves? Isn’t it a gargantuan shame that a tribe as populous as Ndigbo can’t provide a single individual that is seen to be credible enough to be elected president of Nigeria?
A casual observation of the performances of the governors of the south eastern states will reveal their level of under-performance since 1999. Case point, take Aba which has failed to enjoy any meaningful development since the 1929 Aba women riot. The place is a total mess.
What have the governors done with what has been accruing to the state in the last 16 years of democratic rule? The fact that these individuals who have mismanaged fortunes of the state consider themselves fit to even contest election is a slap on the faces of Ndigbo. Ndigbo, are we cursed?
The red-cap goons known as Ohaneze do nothing but crawl from one place to another offering themselves for sale and for use. This has been their money-making scheme for too long and it can no longer hold water. Can’t we take a cue from the style Dangote adopted and made a kill?
The Yoruba have already adopted it and it is working. We have to restrategise to become that economic power house we crave. The idea that every Igboman who makes money whether through his ingenuity or by accident becomes misguided and begins to push for political office even though they are clearly not professional politicians should be discarded.
We hear of Dangote, the Dantatas, Otedola, Mike Adenuga, the Okoyas, where are the Igbo equivalent in terms of their organisational set-up? Most of our businesses are largely one-man businesses and whenever the founder dies, the whole thing dies.
Ndigbo must do away with their selfishness and personal greed, otherwise we will continue to languish as a people. We must redirect our thoughts away from the deeply engrossed notion of “to make it in life,” “we must make money at all cost.”
What Ndigbo should learn from the just concluded elections is that without a harmony of opinion, all our efforts will yield nothing. Igbo kwezuenu.
Chelsea players, Diego Costa, Thibaut Courtois and Eden Hazard, Tottenham’s Harry Kane, Liverpool player, Raheem Sterlin are some of the players that have made the shortlist for both the Professional Footballers’ Association Player and Young Player of the Year prize.
Full List:
Men’s Players’ Player of the Year shortlist
Diego Costa (Chelsea)
David De Gea (Manchester United)
Philippe Coutinho (Liverpool)
Eden Hazard (Chelsea)
Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur)
Alexis Sanchez (Arsenal)
Men’s Young Player of the Year shortlist
Thibaut Courtois (Chelsea)
Philippe Coutinho (Liverpool)
David De Gea (Manchester United)
Eden Hazard (Chelsea)
Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur)
Raheem Sterling (Liverpool)
Women’s Players’ Player of the Year shortlist
Eniola Aluko (Chelsea)
Lucy Bronze (Manchester City)
Jess Clarke (Notts County)
Karen Carney (Birmingham City)
Kelly Smith (Arsenal)
Ji So-yun (Chelsea)
Women’s Young Player of the Year shortlist
Freda Ayisi (Birmingham City)
Hannah Blundell (Chelsea)
Aoife Mannion (Birmingham City)
Nikita Parris (Manchester City)
Amy Turner (Notts County)
Leah Williamson (Arsenal)
The strange disease known (for now) as Ondo X that broke out at Ode Irele, the headquarters of Irele Local Government Area of Ondo State on Tuesday has killed 28 people.
The State Commissioner for Health, Dr Dayo Adeyanju, who confirmed this developement said some other affected patients are being treated at an isolation unit in the General Hospital in the town.
The disease is not similar to Ebola as there were no cases of diarrhoea, vomiting and haemorrhage that are usual symptoms of the EVD. However, samples from dead victims have been taken to laboratories in Lagos.
Symptoms include headache, blurry vision/total blindness, convulsion and then death. WHO are said to have started investigation.
The commissioner has advised the relations of the dead victims to bury them at cemetery not at home and be very careful during burials. Residents have also been advised not to touch dead bodies, wash hands thoroughly before and after food preparation
He added that the State Disease Surveillance Team and volunteers that were engaged during the ebola cases as well as Personnel Protective Equipment had been deployed to the area to control the ailment.
