Welcome to Damiete Braide's Blog: July 2013

Wednesday 31 July 2013

Imo women threaten to go naked over failed roads

Residents of Nekede, Eziobodo and Ihiagwa communities in Owerri West Local Government Area of Imo State have threatened to go naked in protest over the terrible condition of roads in the area. Read more

The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Dr. Bamanga Tukur, on Tuesday described as “unguarded” the comments by some PDP governors demanding his sacking from the party. Read more

Policemen attached to the Badagry Police Division, Lagos State, and some hoodlums have been accused of killing a 25-year-old undergraduate of Delta State University, Ifechukwude Nwainokpor, and his friend, identified simply as Kazeem. Read more

…As man kills friend over ownership of phone charger

A 27-year-old man was at the weekend killed by his friend over the ownership of a mobile phone charger. The tragedy occurred at Isapodo area of Ijebu-Ife, in Ijebu North-East Local Government Area of Ogun State on Sunday. Read more

For the second time running, in less than two weeks, officers and men of the Aba Area Command of the Nigeria Police were thrown into mourning following the death of one Inspector Friday John serving in the area. Read more

An armed robbery suspect has been arrested by the Tolu Police Division, Ajegunle, Lagos, for allegedly attacking the station’s Divisional Police Officer, CSP Godwin Eze. Read more

Last Saturday, the MTN Project Fame Season Six opened amid pomp with the unveiling of 16 contestants at the Ultima Studios, Lekki, Lagos. Read more

The Forest Dames of war and resilience

Soldiers may be shaped through training and discipline to wage and win wars but the victims of conflict have always been women and children, who often stand in the crossfire from the day the first shot is fired and long after the war is won and lost. Every chapter of The Forest Dames by Ada Okere Agbasimalo interrogates this very issue.

The 207-page The Forest Dames by Ada Okere Agbasimalo published by Author House UK Ltd last year, tells the story of a civil war and its horrifying consequences in the lives of women.
The book of fiction also chronicles the suffering that continues many years after war has ended, asserting that only justice can bring peace and guarantee progress.
The book opens with ‘the forest dames’, Gonma, Deze, Sofuru and Lele, who suddenly find home in the forest owing to their being pursued by randy soldiers for sexual pleasure. Chapter after chapter records the exploits of the forest dames.
Described as ‘The Endangered Species’ in the second chapter with the same title, the girls try to make a home in the forest far away from the conflict and other human beings.
Incisive dialogue, awe inspiring intrigue and conflict play out in this chapter and in the rest of the 22 chapters in the book that capture their challenges and even rare moments of joy.
There is the return of Deze’s family and others from the northern part of the country where anarchy and ethnic killings reign, air raids and the degeneration of the crisis into full-scale war.
This may be a fictional narrative but the author is so painstaking with facts and figures that those who have never experienced a war situation can glean a glossy gory picture of the agony from the start of hostilities, death and whatnot.
There is, for instance, hunger, sickness and death far from the battleground but which is the direct result of the fighting. War may bring out the worst in people but as the battle rages, saints can also be found among the soldiers.
Among the saints are the humanitarians in the International Red Cross who attempt to take care of poor civilians and those afflicted by the scourge of kwashiorkor.
Chapter 10 titled: “The First Move” quotes Jacob Killenberge (2001) saying that; “protecting women in war is not merely a question of law. It is also a matter of social responsibility and common sense.
Because it is of thanks to women that life goes on in terms of upheavals”. This is the crux of the foreword by Chief Justina Offiah, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, which states that the gender dimension of the book reveals a lot about the vulnerability of the female person and deficient government capacity to protect her in times of war.
The plot of **The Forest Dames** is that of a community at war, the woes occasioned by the battle, how they manage to live through the tragedy and come out a stronger people. It is one book that everyone who loves a good story should read as the writer is a storyteller of no mean consequence.
Also, there are a lot of lessons to be gleaned from the attractive book. The author has done well in exposing the ills of war, so that those fanning the embers of conflict can beat a retreat because anybody’s daughter, niece or sister could be a prisoner of the ‘girl happy’ soldiers and their different bullets. In fact, anyone could be a casualty or even a victim of war.

Justin Bieber continues worldwide search for lost shirt

Having assembled a crack search-and-rescue team, Justin Bieber hit the streets of NYC Tuesday morning to continue the grueling quest for his lost shirt. Read more

No fewer than 20 persons were believed to have been killed in Sabon Gari area of Kano on Monday as suspected terrorists detonated about four bombs in the neighbourhood. Read more

• Recommends appointment of judges, kadis

The axe of the National Judicial Council (NJC) has fallen on the head of the acting Chief Judge (CJ) of Abia State, Justice Shadrack Nwanosike for allegedly falsifying his age. Read more

Kano State Governor, Rabiu Musa Kwakwanso, on Tuesday morning led a delegation of government and security officials on a sympathy visit to victims of Monday night’s bomb and gun attacks. Read more

Daybreak: The calm after the storm

Due to recent unsavory events, the Tanzanian lad Nando who had been a very outspoken contender in the game was disqualified last night following his provocation towards fellow Housemate Elikem from Ghana. Read more

Since 2011 when he entered the governorship race and later emerged candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and the eventual winner of the February 2012 governorship election in Bayelsa State, Governor Henry Seriake Dickson’s relationship with former governor, Timipre Sylva, has remained anything but smooth. Read more

The Ado Ekiti High Court has sentenced a middle-aged man, Innocent Eze, to eight years imprisonment for assaulting and raping a 12-year-old girl. Read more

Members of dreaded, Boko Haram, went on rampage again in Borno State, killing no fewer than 20 persons. Read more

The Lagos State Police Command will on Monday (today) begin an orderly room trial of Razaq Alowonle, the police sergeant accused of killing a nine-year-old boy, Timilehin Ebun, in Ketu, Lagos State. Read more

She is dark, daring and beautiful. Her name is Bunmi Jedidiah Nelson, a Nollywood actress currently making waves in the industry. After successfully hosting a TV programme, Youths 2 Youths, Nelson moved into Nollywood in 2000 and has continued to dazzle movie lovers with her unique acting skills. Read more

The Presidency on Sunday dismissed the reported insistence of five northern governors on the sack of the Peoples Democratic Party National Chairman, Dr. Bamanga Tukur. Read more

OUTCRY against its £3,000 tourists visa bond notwithstanding, Britain will commence the scheme in the six listed Commonwealth countries in November, Financial Times report quoted the Home Office as saying. Read more

An assistant pastor (names withheld) with one of the pentecostal churches in Abeokuta, Ogun State was among 12 armed robbery suspects arrested by men of the Ogun State police command in two separate raids at the weekend. Read more

Party: Tonight we party!

The Housemates were all dolled up and ready to party to the sounds of the Sierre Leonean disc jockey Grandpapa Foxxy DJ. Read more

President Goodluck Jonathan on Saturday had a closed-doors meeting with five Northern Peoples Democratic Party governors in a step towards resolving the crisis rocking the ruling Peoples Democratic Party. Read more

For 18-years-old Anna Ebiere Banner, winner of this year’s edition of the Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria pageant, there is a thin line separating dream from reality. The student of Linguistics and Communication Studies of University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State has always dreamt of donning the crown of a beauty queen. Read more

The Congress for Progressive Change has said the proposed mega opposition party, All Progressive Congress, will not change its name. Read more

Senate President David Mark yesterday took stock of the delivery of democracy dividends in the states and declared that some state governors have merely engaged in propaganda with nothing on ground to show for their performance. Read more

The Presidency and the National Assembly were at loggerheads on Friday over the decision of the Senate and the House of Representatives to take over the legislative functions of the Rivers State House of Assembly. Read more

Relatives of the Gbadamosi family of Kajola-Ijesha in Atakumosa West Local Government Area of Osun state are yet to come to terms with the shocking death of four members of the family who were burnt to death in a late night fire, the cause of which remains a mystery days after. Read more

Jonathan is ungrateful –Gov Nyako •It’s Nyako who is ungrateful to President –Presidency

Adamawa State Governor, Murtala Nyako, has accused President Goodluck Jonathan of ingratitude and unfairness. Read more

•Woman flees with 6 months pregnancy, sells baby for N100,000

The police in Imo State are now investigating how a 27 year old housewife, Mrs Njideka Okorie eloped with six months pregnancy and went into hiding where she was later delivered of a baby girl which she sold to one Agatha Okoronkwo at Isieka Ihiala in Anambra State for N100,000. Read more

Dr. Victor Olaiya tells ‘Nonye Ben-Nwankwo about his recent collaboration with singer, Tuface Idibia. Read more

Meet Glo X Factor’s Top 9 contestants

After weeks of painstaking auditions held in Nigeria and Ghana, Top 9 contestants have emerged in the Glo X Factor music reality TV show. Read more

The Rivers State House of Assembly on Friday raised the alarm over the whereabouts and safety of its detained Majority Leader, Mr. Chidi Lloyd. Read more

The leader of the Boko Haram Islamic sect, Sheikh Abubakar Shekau, may have been cornered by operatives of the Joint Task Force in Gwoza hills, Borno State. Read more

There are indications that the Independent National Electoral Commission may suspend the registration of the new mega opposition party, All Progressives Congress. Read more

N’Assembly takes over Rivers legislature … demands redeployment of state CP, Mbu

The Senate passed a resolution on Thursday empowering it and the House of Representatives to take over the legislative functions of the Rivers State House of Assembly. Read more

Journalism has suffered a big blow, with the death yesterday of veteran Hadj Alade Idowu Odunewu.
The late Odunewu, who wrote with the pen name Allah De, was former Editor of the Daily Times. He died at St Nicholas Hospital, Lagos. He was 85. Read more

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has arraigned two suspects, Joseph Badmus and Akeju Bola, before Justice Mudashiru Oniyangi of the FCT High Court, Abuja on 30 counts of conspiracy, impersonation and forgery. Read more

A trailer yesterday crushed a taxi in Ibadan, killing the driver and two passengers. Read more

The Chairman of the Actors Guild of Nigeria, Abuja Chapter, Onwurah Agility, has expressed concern over the controversy surrounding the breakup of the marriage between Popular Nollywood actress, Funke Akindele, and Almaroof Oloyede . Read more

First Lady returns

Two days after her foster mother died in a fatal accident in Port Harcourt, the First Lady, Mrs. Patience Jonathan, last night, at exactly 9.40pm, returned to the country from Geneva. Read more

MTN Group has named Mr. Michael Ikpoki, currently the CEO of MTN Ghana as the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of MTN Nigeria. A statement by the Group said, “Ikpoki replaces Brett Goschen, who took on the role of MTN Group Chief Financial Officer and Executive Financial Director on the board on Monday. Read more

One of the warring factions in the Mushin crisis turned on its own recently, shooting an ex-convict, Kunle Ojoye, barely a week after his return from prison. Read more

A couple has appeared in a Magistrate Court in Port Harcourt, Rivers State for allegedly killing their two-year-old son, Miracle, over a pot of soup. Read more

The police in Lagos have commenced investigations into the death of a 67-year-old cleric, Monday Ojajuni, who was allegedly killed by a woman, Temidayo Oladele, in front of his church in Mile 12. Read more

Senate to pass amended budget today …approves one-year salary for sacked NIMC workers

The Senate Committee on Appropriation, on Wednesday, formally laid its report on the amendments to the 2013 Appropriation Act before the entire house, preparatory to the passage on Thursday (today) of the amended budget. Read more

… It ’s not true –Lagos govt

The Lagos State Government has allegedly deported no fewer than 67 persons from the city of Lagos to Onitsha in Anambra State. It was gathered that the people who were transported in a truck arrived Onitsha at about 2.30am yesterday accompanied by armed policemen who returned to Lagos shortly after the ‘human cargo’ was off loaded. Read more

A two-month old baby and her parents lost their lives in a midnight inferno that razed their residence in Kajola community, Osun State, in the early hours of Wednesday. Read more

… Over murder of car dealer

A naval court-martial has convicted an officer of the Force for allegedly killing a car dealer in Lagos last year. The court-martial, which was constituted in 2012 shortly after the incident, handed out a life imprisonment sentence to the officer who was identified as Lieutenant Baba Adamu. Read more

Camera rolls for Soyinka’s Ake

The production of the film adaptation of Prof. Wole Soyinka’s childhood memoir, Ake, commenced last week at various locations in Abeokuta, the home of the Nobel Laureate. Read more

The story was all over town last week over the suspension of the former Public Relations Officer of the Actors Guild of Nigeria, Frank Dallas, which the president of the guild, Ibinabo Fiberesima, has officially announced. Read more

The Majority Leader of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Chidi Lloyd, on Tuesday showed up at the Force Headquarters in Abuja, exactly seven days after he was invited by the police over the free-for-all by some members of the assembly. Read more