DELE MOMODU: In Search of A Refreshing Nigerian

The Pendulum By Dele Momodu, Email: Dele.momodu@thisdaylive.com

Fellow Nigerians, I’m happy to send you this letter from Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, where I’m attending the wedding of a young Nigerian journalist, Jide Agbeniyi and his Zimbabwean colleague and partner, Miss Josey Mahachi, the beautiful presenter of the popular Click Africa Show on Africa Magic. This piece was inspired by the manner of greetings I discovered here: “A refreshing noon or a refreshing evening to you”, are the commonest ways of salutation in this tranquil country. It is almost a mantra as everyone I met greeted me thus and it sounded so sonorous and genuinely welcoming that it then occurred to me that what human beings require in essence to enjoy life to the fullest is a refreshing existence. This is what has eluded most societies that are in deep turmoil such as ours.

SIMON KOLAWOLE: What Does Obasanjo Really Want?

Simon Kolawole Live!: By Simon Kolawole, Email: simon.kolawole@thisdaylive.com

With former President Olusegun Obasanjo, you buy one and get one free. Problem is: you never know what you are getting. You could be getting a peacemaker and a troublemaker in one bundle. I am always conflicted trying to decode Obasanjo’s personality. One moment, I find myself describing him as the best president Nigeria has ever had. The next moment, I am cursing him as the worst thing that has ever happened to us. The best of humans live with their own contradictions and underbellies, but Obasanjo easily stands out, perhaps because of the prominent role he has played in our nationhood - and, more so, the way he keeps intruding into our lives.

Riot in Adamawa Prisons over Killing of Inmate

Nigerian Prisons Service

There  was riot Monday in  Numan Prisons, Adamawa   State,  following the  alleged  killing of an inmate by warders who moved to check an escape attempt. Eyewitness account said    that   the inmates went wild when the prison warders allegedly beat one of the them to coma which   resulted to his death.

Woman Gives Birth on Board Arik Flight to London

Arik Plane

An Arik Air flight with over 100 passengers en route to London Sunday was forced to make an emergency landing in Palmas, Spain, as a woman went into labour and gave birth while the aircraft was airborne.

We Have Decimated, Dislodged Terrorists, Says SSS DG

Director General of the service, Mr. Ita Ekpenyong 

By Chiemelie Ezeobi

The State Security Service (SSS) has said the continuous executed strategies of security agencies  have decimated terrorists thereby dislodging its stronghold. This is just as the federal government disclosed that it had spent at total sum of N800 million in training and re-training personnel of the service in order to position it to tackle terrorism in the country.

The Director General of the service, Mr. Ita Ekpenyong, made this disclosure at the weekend during the passing out parade and commissioning of 385 members of the Cadet Officers Basic Course 27 (COBC27), in Lagos.

SEGUN ADENIYI: Jonathan, PDP and 2015…(1)

THE VERDICT  By OLUSEGUN ADENIYI  Email: olusegun.adeniyi@thisdaylive.com

"…The National Working Committee (NWC) members of PDP had held an elaborate meeting at the party’s Wadata House national secretariat in Abuja with the aim of adopting a common position. At the session were Chief Vincent Ogbulafor, Prof. Rufai Ahmed Alkali, Hajiya Inna Ciroma, Dr. Musa Babayo, Dr. Sam Ortom, Chief Uche Secondus, Mr. Olusola Oke, Mr. Tukur Mani, and the late Muyiwa Collins. At the end of their discussion, they had all accompanied Ogbulafor to the meeting with the PDP governors. So, it was evident the position that he canvassed—that zoning would remain an article of faith within the PDP for the 2011 presidential elections—was not his personal opinion. The implication—even if it was not expressly stated—was that it foreclosed the possibility of Dr Goodluck Jonathan emerging the PDP presidential flag-bearer for the 2011 general elections. But that was all that the governors wanted to hear. That was also the highlight of the meeting.

Maku: FG Did Not Place Order for Gold-plated iPhones

  Labaran Maku,  Information Minister

The Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, has denied the allegation that the federal government ordered 53 customised gold iPhones ahead of the country’s 53rd independence anniversary on October 1.

Maku, in a statement signed by his Press Secretary, Joseph Mutah, denied the report credited to the founder of Gold and Co., Amjad Ali, who claimed  that the Nigerian government had ordered the iPhones, which would be engraved with Nigeria's coat of arm, a shield and two horses.

Police Bar Amaechi from Entering Govt House

Rivers State Governor, Chibuike Amaechi 

Following the closure of the premises of Rivers State chapter of the New PDP, a faction of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Rivers State Governor, Chibuike Amaechi, was  Thursday barred from accessing the Government House, Port Harcourt.

The governor was returning from an inspection tour of some projects and had wanted to access the Government House through his private gate at Forces Avenue at 7.05 pm. But on getting to the Port Harcourt Club end of the road, about six police patrol vans had barricaded the road, and even when his security detail approached the policemen to tell them that it was the governor of the state that wanted to gain access to his house, they refused.

A MUST READ: An Unusual Soldier

Obi Abel Umahi 

Adeola Akinremi unveils the unusual soldier whose raid on suspected Boko Haram members in Lagos and Ogun States recently saved the cities

Just over six weeks after, I finally met him. The road to his office was familiar. I knew the houses and the adjoining streets. The landmarks too had not been removed, so it was easy. But I had no idea what he looked like. After the news broke in the morning of July 30, 2013, that his division, the 81 Division of Nigerian Army (comprising Lagos and Ogun States) arrested some 42 suspected members of the outlawed Boko Haram terrorist group, I did not sleep well that night. I tossed from 

one corner of the bed to the other. My mind had become enveloped with several thoughts; the chief of which was death in the neigbourhood. I thought of several families that could have been wiped out 
and the number of widows, widowers and orphans that could have been added to the statistics.  So the next day, I requested to meet with the man who saved the cities. 

Slum2School Project: For the Future of Slum Children

School Children in Uniform

Chiemelie Ezeobi writes that the Slum-to-School, a social advocacy group, has embarked on the 1000 Voices Campaign targeted at enrolling 1000 less privileged slum kids into school this September at no extra cost to their parents

"I had always wanted to go to school but my parents could not afford it with the little money they make from fishing. I was always sad each time I see school children in uniform. I did not want to end up a fisherman like my father or fish seller like my mother."