My First Week of Freedom After 10 Years On Death Row

When I called my mother from prison to tell her I’d been
pardoned after 10 years in jail, she fainted.
I was told they had to pour water on her to revive her. Later,
when she saw me for the first time after all those years in
jail, she grabbed me and held me so tight. She wouldn’t let
go for almost 15 minutes. The whole time she had tears of
joy streaming from her eyes.
Football and juice: celebrating with my death row friends
I was also overwhelmed with joy when I found out about my
pardon, at 4pm on 28 May. Initially I couldn’t even speak, I
was so happy.
The day after hearing the news, I celebrated in prison by
organising a football match between death row inmates and
other prison inmates. I’d been the death row team football
coach during my time in prison. We won the match 3-0!
Everyone was so happy to play.
That Sunday I went to the prison church. I bought some
biscuits and fruit juice to share with other inmates in church
and an announcement was made that I was being released.
Everyone was happy. I had friends in prison; I had been
teaching English and Maths to fellow inmates and those
students who were keen became my friends.
I was released a few days later. That first evening at home,
my mother prepared a special dish – Okro soup with beef.
The whole family ate together at the dining table.
Afterwards, there was a party with family friends and we
sang songs, played music and prayed.
We prayed for all the activists who campaigned for my
release, those from Amnesty international and Justine
Ijeomah [the Director of HURSDEF, Nigeria’s Human Rights
Social Development and Environmental Foundation] and his
wife, Goodness Justine. Drinks were shared around with
everyone at the party.
The sleep of the free
The first night I slept in my new bed, I slept so well. What
struck me most was that at 5am, I did not hear the prison
wake-up bell. I waited for it, and then realised that it was
not a dream, but in fact I really am free.
When I realised that, I felt freedom deep in my spirit. Things
had changed for good. I went back to sleep and slept until
10am, fully enjoying my ‘freedom sleep’. My family came to
wake me up but I told them to let me sleep longer. It was
such a good sleep.
In those first days of freedom I bumped into an old school
friend and he looked at me like he’d seen a ghost.
We have a local belief that if you pour sand on a spirit it will
vanish, and he started to pick up sand from the ground and
pour it on my body! I told him – ‘don’t pour sand on me, I’m
alive, I’m not a ghost!’ At that, he touched me and hugged
me: he thought I had been executed.
He told me he would never forget the last time he saw me
before my arrest 10 years ago.
At home, everything felt strange to me, even though I’m so
relieved to be free. Lots of things have changed in the 10
years since I was arrested: new bridges have been built and
the use of laptop computers and phones is common now.
People keep asking me ‘What happened to your finger?
[After I was arrested] my fingernails and toenails were
pulled out. The scars people see are the lasting marks that
torture has left me with. When I wear sandals, seeing my
toes reminds me of what I went through.
Torture affects people in so many ways. It’s inhuman:
heating cutlasses on a fire and then flogging a person’s
back is barbaric. It affects people mentally: it causes
madness. They pass out because of the pain and admit to
things they never did.
What I went through – the torture and being on death row –
affected me in so many ways. It affected my plans for life
and my ambitions at school. I spent ten years in jail. By now
I could have finished school and have started working.
What struck me most is that you can live in a country where
you can face so much tragedy for no reason, and yet still
have to live there. I will always pray for change in Nigeria,
but I advise others living here to be very careful, so that they
will not fall victim to what I went through.
I’m joining the fight against torture
My plans now I’m free are to continue my education and get
as far as I always dreamt – I want to be a doctor to fulfill
my late father’s wishes.
But I’ll also be a human rights activist and help others who
face the same challenges that I did. I have already filled out
an application form and had a passport photo taken – the
requirements for becoming a volunteer activist with
HURSDEF.
The Director, Justine, welcomed me warmly as ‘Comrade
Moses Akatugba’. I told him: Justine, I’m joining the fight
against torture so that others will not go through the pain
that I did.
If I have my way, and can stop torture, I will be the happiest
man on earth. I don’t want any future generation to go
through what I went through in that torture chamber.
Moses Akatugba was tortured to confess to a crime he says
he never committed. His ‘confession’ was then used to
sentence him to death.
On 28 May 2015, Moses was pardoned after nearly 10 years
in jail. Over 800,000 of you around the world took action
demanding justice
Moses Akatugba was tortured to confess to a crime he says he
never committed. His ‘confession’ was then used to sentence
him to death.
On 28 May 2015, Moses was pardoned after nearly 10 years in
jail. Over 800,000 of you around the world took action
demanding justice

Failing: The Last Law School Taboo

Law students spend a great deal of time in discussion with
one another. Be it the elements of a contract, judicial
activism or even something as banal as where to get the
best and cheapest coffee on campus. The one thing we
don’t seem to talk about is failing. It’s like we are scared of
some Macbeth style jinx if any of us dares utter the word.
Let’s face it, sometimes clever, educated, hard working
students will fail a subject. It happens. It is emotionally and
mentally crushing when it does but, trust me on this; it is
not the end of your legal career or the world. You need to
take some time to reflect, feel downright melancholy and
then, dust yourself off and get on with the next semester.
Speak with your lecturers and tutors. Get some feedback
about where you could have improved and why you got the
mark you did. At the very least, something positive will
come from it, in that you will get a much better insight into
what they want to hear from you next time .
To perk you all up for next semester, I have collated a list of
brilliant minds that have at some stage failed a subject or
two.
United States Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton
failed the Washington DC Bar Exam in the 1970’s.
Prime Minister Winston Churchill spoke from experience
when he uttered “Never give in, never give in, never, never,
never, never – in nothing, great or small, large or petty –
never give in except to convictions of honour and good
sense. Never, never, never, never give up” as he too has felt
the cruel sting of failure, after flunking grade six.
Louis Pasteur ranked 15th out of 22 students in chemistry
– a fairly ordinary mark, for a fairly extraordinary mind.
Albert Einstein, a brilliant thinker and mathematician whose
face adorns many a student’s wall, failed the entrance exam
to Zurich Polytechnic School.
Leo Tolstoy completely failed his university studies and was
described as “unwilling and unable to learn”. I wonder how
many descendants of his former teachers had to read his
works as part of their studies?
On a more personal note, I know a brilliant legal mind who
currently presides on one of Victoria’s esteemed County
Court benches, who made me smile one morning by saying,
“Oh don’t worry so much about your marks at uni, I failed
two subjects in my first year”. That little conversation has
kept me going in my darkest days.
So I say to you, down with the taboo. Let’s get it out there
in the open. A spider in the dark is much more frightening
than the one you can see and measure (and squish). My
name is Jennifer, and I too, have failed a subject at law
school.
Good luck with this semester. I’ll get back to my con law
reading.

How Nigeria Stopped Chadian Troops From Overunning Boko Haram

Having defeated al Qaeda in Mali two years ago, Chad’s
military believes it could finish off Boko Haram alone. It has
notched up victories that have pushed the Nigerian militants
back from the Cameroonian border.
But with presidential elections this month, Nigeria is keen to
press ahead with its own military campaign against Boko
Haram, aiming to push it out of major towns before the
March 28 ballot.
In a country proud to be a major African power, it would be
an embarrassment to President Goodluck Jonathan as he
seeks reelection for a smaller nation to tackle Nigeria’s
security problems, diplomats say.
In their forward base in the town of Gambaru on the Nigeria-
Cameroon border, Chadian soldiers displayed dozens of
guns seized from Boko Haram and a burnt-out armoured
vehicle painted with black and white Arabic script.
“We turned back because Nigeria did not authorise us to go
any further,” army spokesman Colonel Azem Bermandoa
said.
Nigeria’s spokesman for operations in the northeast, Mike
Omeri, said cooperation between Chadian and Nigerian
forces has brought some major military successes and any
issues would be resolved via existing command structures.
But the Chadians say there have been no joint operations
between the two forces. Chad’s offer to join a Nigerian
offensive to capture Baga, site of one of Boko Haram’s
worst atrocities in January, was rebuffed, Bermandoa said.
Officials from Chad, Niger and Cameroon say lack of
cooperation from Nigeria has for months hampered efforts
to put together a regional taskforce against Boko Haram.
Chad was compelled to take unilateral action in January,
under a deal that allows it to pursue terrorists into Nigeria,
after Boko Haram violence started to choke off imports to
its economy .
With Niger and Cameroon deploying thousands of troops on
their borders, blocking escape routes for Boko Haram, the
tide may be turning. In what Nigeria has branded a sign of
desperation, the Islamist group has carried out wave of
suicide attacks and threatened to disrupt the election.
Francois Conradie, analyst with South African-based NKC
Research, said that if the current offensive can be
sustained, Boko Haram could quickly be driven out of the
remaining towns it holds. It would, however, remain a
deadly rural guerrilla force.
“All of this is good news for stability and will probably be to
Mr Jonathan’s electoral advantage,” he said.
Many in Nigeria ask why it took so long to act. Boko Haram
killed thousands last year and kidnapped many more in its
six-year campaign for an Islamist emirate in Africa’s largest
oil producer.
Niger, Cameroon and Chad say Nigeria neglected the
uprising in its economically backward northeast, an
opposition stronghold. Borno state is home to two percent
of Nigeria’s 170 million people.
But in recent months, Muhammadu Buhari, a former military
ruler who is running as the presidential candidate for the
opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), has gained
popularity with voters desperate for tough policies both on
corruption and Boko Haram.
Amid pressure from the ruling People’s Democratic Party
(PDP), Nigeria’s electoral commission announced a six
week postponement to the Feb. 14 election, to allow the
army to tackle the security situation in the northeast so
voting could go ahead there.
Ernst Hogendoorn, Crisis Group’s Africa deputy programme
director, said the government appeared to have engineered
the delay in the hope the APC would slip up or the military
could boost Jonathan by defeating Boko Haram.
“Boko Haram has certainly suffered a strategic setback …
Clearly this improves Goodluck Jonathan’s chances
somewhat,” said Hogendoorn. “The question is do any of
these forces have the ability to maintain this tempo,
particularly the Chadians and to a lesser degree the
Nigerians?”
With Chad already squeezed by a slump in the price of oil,
its main export, the government says it can only sustain the
offensive in Nigeria for a short time, diplomats say.
Buhari, however, has already criticised Jonathan for relying
on Chad to push back Boko Haram, saying his government
would tackle the problem alone. Many in the military and the
government are keen to limit foreign involvement on
Nigerian soil, diplomats say.
When Chadian forces last month entered the town of Dikwa,
they were told to leave by Nigeria’s military, which said it
was planning air strikes, Bermondoa said.
After Nigeria’s army retook Baga last month, Army Chief
Major General Kenneth Minimah said his soldiers would
recapture a handful of remaining towns before the elections,
listing Dikwa as one of them. “The war is almost ended,” he
said.
Boko Haram was long regarded by neighbouring countries
as an internal Nigerian problem, but attacks in Cameroon
and Niger last year prompted the regional response. Niger,
Nigeria, Chad, Benin and Cameroon agreed in May to join
forces against the militants.
Since then, however, distrust and misunderstandings have
stymied preparations for the force, due to take effect by the
end of this month. Nigeria initially sent low-level
representatives to planning meetings, angering its allies.
Cooperation between Cameroon and Nigeria has been
dogged by long-running border tensions, while Niger
accused Nigerian troops of cowardice.
“Nigeria must get involved and honour its promise of
providing between 2,500 and 3,000 to the multinational
force,” said Cameroon’s defence spokesman Colonel Didier
Badjeck.
Cameroon has stepped up its activities since July, when
Boko Haram attacked Kolotafa, the hometown of its deputy
prime minister, killing dozens and kidnapping his wife.
The government has boosted its security forces in northern
Cameroon from 700 to around 7,000.
“We have to do whatever it takes to make sure the sect
does not occupy any town in Cameroon,” said Colonel
Joseph Nouma, in charge of Operation Alpha, the mission
against Boko Haram.
However, Nouma said he has orders not to enter Nigeria,
and Cameroon has denied Nigerian troops the right to
pursue insurgents into Cameroon.
Along its 400 km (250 miles) border with Nigeria, Cameroon
has created 14 new bases, with heavy artillery batteries. It
has also deployed surveillance drones, a senior intelligence
officer said.
Another senior Cameroon military figure said they were
attempting to choke off Boko Haram’s revenues, including
the trade in fuel with Cameroon, Chad and Niger.
“All of this looks to be paying off,” the officer said, with no
incursions since mid-February.

500 Nigerian School Girls Rescued From Boko Haram

A civil rights worker in Nigeria's restive northeast
organised the dramatic rescue of nearly 500 schoolgirls
from a town under attack by Boko Haram.
He has been credited with averting a repeat of the
abduction, in April last year, of 279 students from the
town of Chibok, most of whom are still missing.
Ibrahim Garuba Wala, better known as I G Wala, a leader
of Nigeria's National Consensus Movement (NCM)
arranged for the daring evacuation of the children from
deep in the bush, where they had fled with their teachers.
His rescue operation was conducted under the noses of
the Nigerian military, which had reportedly refused to
enter the area because it was too dangerous.
The incident happened two months ago, but has remained
virtually unreported, even in Nigeria. I G Wala has
provided photographs and video of the rescue, showing
the 470 girls, all wearing school uniforms, running in
single-file through dusty terrain, many barefoot.
Liaising with their teachers, who had alerted the NCM
leader to their plight by mobile phone, I G Wala agreed a
rendezvous point near a remote village accessible by
road. He hurriedly arranged a fleet of passenger vans
from the state capital, Gombe, 50km away, which
whisked the girls to safety.
They had been boarding at the Federal Government
College in Bajoga town, which had come under fierce
attack by the jihadi insurgents, who entered the town in
stolen Armoured Personnel Carriers. They attacked the
police station, robbed the bank and looted shops.
A heavy gunfight ensued between the insurgents and the
Bajoga police, alongside a few dozen soldiers based near
the town. An unknown number of militants, police and
military personnel were reportedly killed.
As the Boko Haram fighters entered the school
compound, I G Wala was on the phone to a member of
staff at the school.
"I could hear the teachers screaming at the girls just to
drop everything and run. All I could think of was the girls
from Chibok and I knew that we could not let this happen
again," he said. I G Wala has been an active member of
the Bring Back Our Girls campaign.
He claims he begged a Nigerian military commander to
send in his troops to rescue the school girls but was told
that the situation there was out of control. When I G Wala
insisted on leading a group of civilians to rescue the girls,
the commander, he says, agreed to supply two military
escort vehicles.
Pictures show a handful of armed soldiers observing the
evacuation. From where the road ended, the rescuers had
to continue into the bush using motorcycles borrowed
from villagers.
She ran up to me, crying, and hugged me. I told her and
her friends not to worry and that everything would be OK
now. You should have seen their faces
The civil rights worker took with him the speaker of the
Gombe State Assembly, Inuwa Garba, who has confirmed
the entire account to Channel 4 News.
Mr Garba said military aircraft were bombing Boko
Haram positions in the bush which is why the army
commander had been reluctant to let the civilian rescue
party enter the area.
While travelling by motorcycle, a preferred mode of
transport for Boko Haram, they had to fly white flags so
that military pilots above would not bomb them.
The girls ran a total of 15km through the bush. They had
been unable to take any water and many were severely
dehydrated, I G Wala said. One had been injured by
treading on a spike with bare feet.
"We carried some of them on our backs for the final
kilometre back to the nearest village, which was as far as
our vans had been able go. We had brought with us a
vehicle loaded with bottles of water for the girls."
The children and their teachers emerged from the bush at
dusk. The area was extremely insecure and "we had to
get out quickly," he said. The girls were driven to the
Government Girls' Secondary School in Gombe city.
'Uncle!'
One of the students was I G Wala's own niece, 13-year-
old Miriam Mohammad Garuba Wala.
"When she saw me, she cried out 'Uncle!'" he said. "She
ran up to me, crying, and hugged me. I told her and her
friends not to worry and that everything would be OK
now. You should have seen their faces," he said. "They
were distraught."
"When we finally arrived in Gombe, we were met by
teachers and many parents of the girls from Bajoga.
There was nothing quite like that feeling. It was very
emotional," said I G Wala.
"I had a sense of accomplishment on completing this
task," he said. "After the whole thing, what is important is
that whenever you feel that you just have to do
something, you just have to do it, regardless of risk."
The militants have led sustained attacks in the Gombe
area in recent weeks. Ten days ago, a car bomb exploded
200m from a stadium in Gombe city, just minutes after
President Goodluck Jonathan had left a political rally
there. The bomb killed at least one bystander and
wounded seven. The previous day, a suicide bomber killed
five and wounded eight near a mosque in the city.
Boko Haram, an Islamist group which has affiliated itself
with Islamic State and has established a self-declared
caliphate across northeastern Nigeria. The group's name
roughly translates as "Western Education is Forbidden." It
has repeatedly attacked schools and abducted children.
Those who have escaped say they are used by the
insurgents as porters for weapons, as cooks and sex
slaves.
In February last year, the insurgents killed 59 boys at the
Federal Government College of Buni Yadi in Yobe State.
One month ago, an attack on a boy's school in Potiskum,
also in Yobe State, killed nearly 50, when a suicide
bomber, dressed in school uniform, detonated his vest
during morning assembly.
'No thanks'
I G Wala's civil rights organisation, the National
Concensus Movement, is a coalition of youth groups
across northern Nigeria. It agitates against "the gross
insensitivity of the Federal Government of Nigeria,"
towards those who have suffered "unimaginable atrocities
and calamities."
I G Wala said he had received no word of thanks or even
acknowledgement from the Nigerian federal authorities or
the military, only from the principal of the school in
Bajoga. He has remained friends, he said, with the ten
soldiers "who shared this ordeal" and escorted his rescue
convoy.
The Nigerian military has reportedly refused to confirm
that any of the events described here even happened.
Channel 4 News has repeatedly called the Nigerian
military spokesman but so far has not received a
response.
The girls of the Federal Government College in Bajoga are
now back at school. There is now a heavy military
presence in the town. The day after the girls were
rescued, the Nigerian military is understood to have
deployed reinforcements to Bajoga town but the convoy
was reportedly ambushed by the insurgents and 28
soldiers were killed.

9 Reasons Why Some African Ladies Will End Up Single For Life

1. Many African ladies will end up singles for life
because of media exposure - it is so disheartening how
a lady will glue her eyes on a mobile phone from
morning to night, only to raise it up to focus on
television to watch another celebrity entertainment
channel. Tell me, what else will dominate this lady’s
mindset aside how to live a fake celebrity life being
promoted on television channels?
2. Many African ladies now dislike cooking and home
chores [/b]just because they had been totally
brainwashed by movies showcasing men playing the
role of women in a family, and due to excessive
exposure to modern media that promotes gender-
equality in a destructive way that’s aimed at
destroying the unique African family setting that made
our previous African marriages everlasting and envious
to the westerns. Now, with this attitude, how do you
expect a African man to desire to marry when he knows
he is only buying more headache and trouble than
helper for himself?
[b]3. Excessive makeup turns most decent and
serious-minded men off- if you have observed, you will
discover that most men dislike excessive makeup, and
more don’t even like it at all; reason they often times
discourage their true loved ones to do away with it cos
it speaks ill of a lady even though so many men will
applaud and complement you for looking like an
Egyptian mummy. A slight makeup is okay; but if you
are out for marriage, try always to look simple and
natural, it will attract better men, decent and serious-
minded, except you are still living in your high school
life and not thinking towards marriage.
4. Stop Giving Your Number Out To Every Dick &
Harry! No man would want to propose marriage to a
lady whose phone is always talking and laughing with
less serious calls. You may not be a playgirl, but he
would judge you as one, and will likely flee at the
slightest chance or disagreement.
5. You Don’t Bring Any Value Into The Life Of Men You
Date or Are Dating- because your best friend married
without contributing anything to the man that finally
married her, doesn’t mean it will work for you that way.
Think, work towards equipping yourself so that you can
be a value and also add value to his life to convince
him that you are worth committing to. Adding value to
his life isn’t by giving him money, or material gifts,
nope….good counsels, being his best friend, helping
him attain his goals in life, lending him moral, mental
and spiritual support, and by not just being a liability
that only bring requests and problems to be solved.
6. Your Friends Run Your Life - how do you expect to
find a husband when you still allow your clique of
friends to be dictating which man you meet is worthy
of your love and which is not? When will you wake up
and face the fact that those your best friends even
though they cherish you, wouldn’t want you to marry
before them or to marry the best man?
7. You Give Everything Out During Dating- As a single
lady who has not been taken to the altar, you need to
reserve some things for your husband to be, especially
your body, respect it and preserve it at all cost. In the
past, men rushed to marry to get certain things or
privileges they had been constantly denied while being
single. Such privileges include and not limited to:
constant sex and companionship, good food and tidied
home, etc. But today, a single man gets even the best
and of course more of constant sex, good food and
excellent home-keeping more than his married
counterparts, so tell me how the hell you want him to
desire to marry you when you have given him virtually
everything he desires from a wife while being his
girlfriend? And the most painful part of it all is that he
knows that you are prepared to cut down on sex
supply, cooking, home-keeping, etc once he marries
you, so why would he not want you to remain his
girlfriend for life?
8. You Package Yourself Wrongly - in your attempt to
look sexy, adorable and maybe appealing to guys, you
have derailed from appealing to appalling. In fact you
look more whorish than modest; more distractive than
attractive, and more disgusting than adorable. Your
dressing style determines who gets attracted to you
most times. If you dress high school, only high school-
thinking guys will be attracted to you, and if you dress
excessively sexy and provocative, only randy men will
come to you for urgent satisfaction of their immediate
sex urge, so don’t be fooled by media hyping of certain
kinds of dressing, they are meant for certain set of
ladies you wouldn't like to be associated with, be
careful. Remember, not all clothes that look sexy are
good for a seriously searching for a soul mate single
lady.
9. You Lack Manner, Character, Wisdom and Good
Home Upbringing- definitely, your ‘hot girl’, ‘pretty girl’,
‘sexy girl’ looks will win you so many men; both the
good, and the bad, but your inner beauty, your
character and manner are the things that will determine
whether any of those men would stay or run after
accomplishing their evil missions. In order words, do
away with nagging, being possessive, challenging with
men in negative ways, the mentality of ‘what a man
can do a woman can do better’, a lie devil has used to
deceive and destroy so many ladies today, please do
away with it.

Funny Nigerian Nicknames And Their Meaning

HOMEBOY: This name is for a young man (now 20ish) who
spent the bulk of his teenage years fantasizing about life in
America. He can tell you all the scenes from New Jack City,
White men can't jump, Poetic Justice and 8 Mile. He spent
his teenage years folding up one leg of his pair of dirty
baggy jeans and walking like he's on the moon. Today, he
enjoys his kind of smoke and talking about how life would
have been for him in Yankee or Jandon.
MY GUY: You will be called my guy if you are fond of
sharing drinks/cigarettes with your other guys in the
evenings. All you guys get to talk about is the latest car that
drove along Allen in Ikeja or Cocaine Avenue in Festac. The
first thing you ask your friends every time you meet them is
"how farrr? Sometimes you waste a hell of a time talking
about chicks.
CHICKS/BABES: Young men usually talk about chicks when
they mean pretty girls. All they ever wanted is to sleep with
chicks without showing them respects. It is not certain why
men think that they must see beneath the skirt of every girl
they call a chick or babe.
PADDY MI/EEYAN MI: The strictly Yoruba people's version
of my guy. But here, the gist is more about Tinubu,
LASTMA, Councillors, latest pictures in OVATION and
Adenuga.
SHORTY: A global nickname for short girl or boy. Usually
friendly and funny person but very quick to let his/her
presence known by being loud. On a close encounter, a
Shorty can be mean and wicked. In Nigeria, it is forbidden to
curse or address people using their disorders but people do
it anyway. They think it's fun.
BABA GIGA: reserved for an abnormally tall boy but instead
of being a curse, it sounds cool. Baba giga can be a very
useless person. He goes around with his obvious height
misbehaving and attracting attention for the sake of been
yelled at-BABA GIGA!
AKOWE: Definitely a Yoruba boy most likely from the rural
area who came to town for the purpose of completing his
education. Realities will make that impossible and he would
end up been a vulcanizer or a carpenter. Because of his
small stature, a lot of people don't know he is about 27
years old and that he has been secretly dating Bisi, the girl
who sells Ewa Aganyi. Bisi's bulging stomach means
Akowe must find a one room in face-me-I-face-you house.
For other people, your in-law can call you Akowe with the
serious hope that your visit (to her relief) is temporary.
NNA: An Igbo boy who is not popular by his name but very
well known to be loud. People think that he is funny either
by the way he talks which reveals that he is an Igbo boy or
by the way he dresses because he is full of colour riots. Nna
finds it fashionable to wear sunshade glasses in the late
evenings.
Yoruba-Yoruba: A Yoruba boy probably new from the
village. This boy speaks Yoruba to everybody regardless of
whom they are or where they come from. To him, Yoruba is
a universal language and you must be silly not to know his
language accompanied by a thick accent. Sometimes, other
people fall into this category when they are lumped together
by tribal sentiments of non-Yoruba people. "No mind dem;
dem don use their ngbatingbati to scatter everything"!
Useless Yoruba people, Shonekan Abiola, Obasanjo dem!
Northerner: This man is usually from the north or from
Niger Republic. In his eyes, Lagos is London. He goes home
every other year with a lot of money which he earned selling
water. The irony of his business venture is that the water
belongs to the people he is selling it to. This people from
Lagos (his own London) don't mind as long as the water
comes anyhow. Sometimes this guy is like a security man
(again this gives him greater pride) but the problem is that
when there is religious riot, this Northerner does not mind to
kill his landlord (an ordinary infidel!). An Northerner can
become an industrialist if he spends a long time in Lagos.
He could own a small kiosk or a make shift supermarket.
Sometimes, he pretends to be a security man when in fact
he has sold out as an informant. Don't ever argue with this
man, he is known to have killed a student of Yaba Tech on
21 Road just because of ordinary N5 change! He is always
armed!
OLOYE: A Yoruba man who is not rich but whose friends
have decided to console him by calling him Oloye just to
make him feel good. Oloye is fond of wearing a funny
version of the Agbada dress-Danshiki. He thinks high of
himself. Actually, Oloye could be rich but his riches are very
temporary. He is dubious, always looking for contract that
he doesn't intend to complete before moving on to the next
one. Oloye likes women too much.
EGBON: This man is a good listener. He talks last as if that
is what everybody has been waiting for. For real, the
younger people around want to listen to him. He is older and
assumed to be wiser. He pretends to be full of experience. If
anyone is called Egbon in Lagos, tendencies are that such a
person has not made it. Otherwise instead of Egbon, he
would say please don't call me Egbon, call me Mr.T or Big-
K.
CHAIRMAN: A chairman is someone who has no direction
and he is suffering from self-deceit. People call him
chairman because of what they anticipate to get from him.
He thinks he is the richest man in his group but in reality he
is been made to foolishly drop more than he can afford. He
gets home and quarrels with his wife and shouts on his
children. He blames it on tiredness and stress when all he
needed to do is to stop himself from been called chairman
or he should stop acting like it. Sometimes, a chairman
thinks he is the lord of the boys who pretends to be serving
him. If your friend is calling you chairman especially on the
phone, tell him to stop it because he is mocking you. This
Chairman is called Chief by his neighbours. Behind his back,
it sounds more like thief or mischief.
MR. CHAIRMAN: This is the original chairman who heads a
company or a renowned association. His children are in the
boarding houses or on campus. They may even be abroad
so there are no kids to shout on. Mr. Chairman could be a
dubious contractor or a politician enjoying looted funds. He
could as well be a decent man rewarded for his hard work.
Who knows?
BROS: Someone who does not realize he is getting old, so
he is acting foolishly. Bros is almost invariably jobless or he
claims to be self-employed. He could even tell you that he
has some boys working for him. Bros is usually the first
born male in his house of many children, cousins, and other
extended family members. Everybody looks up to him even
if his examples are extremely bad. He hides his laziness by
pretending to be a mentor.
ALAYE: This guy is a nuisance to the society. They call him
Alaye because he takes what is not his and he fights when
he is least concerned about the matter at hand. He dropped
out of class 2 and has been controlling the area bus stop
since he was 17. He is not a full time areaboy or agbero
because there are many other useless things he must
occupy himself with otherwise he may lose the title of Alaye.
Alaye usually goes together with the name like Alaye Femo,
Alaye Taju, Alaye Muyisco and so on. Alaye's eyes are
usually red. I don't know why.
OGBOLOGBO: A synonym for Alaye but you can receive a
beating of your life if you address an Alaye as Ogbologbo to
his face. It sounds less dignifying for him. You must
respect him.
BABA LONDON: Most likely a Yoruba man who had spent
some parts of his life in the UK (might even be outside
London or the US) but people just call him Baba London
anyhow. All that matters is that he has been abroad for a
time too long for the neighbours liking. This man is now
settled in Lagos and he owns a two-storey building near
Lawanson area. He is the landlord and caretaker at the
same time. He does not tolerate indebtedness otherwise he
is quick to tell you about his exploits in the oyinbo's man
civil service. His children are definitely back in the UK
considering the un-conducive living conditions in Nigeria.
He and his wife live in his second house near Adekunle Bus-
stop where they also have some tenants downstairs.
LAYABOUT: This guy is very famous in the University
environment. He comes in different shades. There is one of
him that is a very conning guy because while most people
see him as unserious, he knew in himself that he is a
serious person. He attends every show on campus and
there is nothing going on that he doesn't get a wind of. He is
attracted to all the girls around and he sees lecture times as
the longest periods of the day. At the end of the semester,
this conning layabout excels in his studies sometimes even
better than the effecos. He had been studying at odd times.
There is a type of layabout that gets blown away by
everything that makes him a layabout and his carry-overs
speak volumes. He ends up with an extra year or more!
EFFECO: A university language reserved for the bookworms.
An effeco usually has no social life and he alienates himself
from the school. His types pass through the school without
allowing the school to pass through them. An effeco is not
necessarily the best or the most intelligent student in his or
her class. He doesn't talk much for fear of losing all that he
had stored in his cerebrum. That could explain the
difference between an intelligent mind and an ordinary
effeco.
NFA: A secondary school version of layabout. This guy is
late to school, late to lessons, doesn't wash his uniform
regularly and for the most has a serious apathy for books.
All he wanted is just to finish secondary school. He knows
how to bribe teachers and invigilators during examinations
but how to go about this under NECO, WAEC and GCE are
great puzzles for him. He must find a way or just fail
anyhow. He doesn't care much. In his mind, he would try
football. If that does not work out, he would ask Chike how
to use the yahoo email that has brought Chike so much
money working under Chairman.
GODFATHER: A name usually reserved for illiterates or
semi-literates who stumbled on money because of the
corrupt nature of Nigerian politics. A godfather is violent
and ruthless and he has the power to produce election
results before the Election Day. A godfather usually talks
before thinking.
LEPA: Usually a skinny girl who likes to make some funny
tiptoeing when walking around with her bony body. This girl
is highly breakable and if folded, she can fit into a carton of
green sand shandy.
OROBO: a very fat and sweaty girl. Many men who call
orobo as if to detest her are actually her secret admirers.
They wish they could lay her in bed. Orobo, though fat, is
very agile and brisk in her movement. Her chest is huge and
her backside is mountainous but she is proud of her natural
endowments. In appreciation for these features, some
Nigerian men would give their right hand for an Orobo wife.
It's true!
MAMA APATI: This woman could be young or old but her
fatness is not refined like that of Orobo. Mind your
language: don't go about calling an old woman mama apati!
Her children could resurrect from nowhere just to use your
broad nose to sharpen a blunt knife.
OMOBA: this is the fakest prince in Nigeria. A Yoruba or Edo
boy who lives under the illusion of his nickname-the king's
son. Sometimes he behaves like babagiga by attracting
unnecessary attention to himself. Don't believe a word this
boy tells you because he spends most part of the day
visualizing the lies people can swallow easily.
PRINCESS: The female version of Omoba. At 17, this girl will
realize the foolhardiness of her name which has almost
turned her into a prostitute. The biggest challenge before
she turns 20 is how to tell everyone, especially her name
admirers that her real name is Jumoke.
PEPPERLESS: This is a name made popular at Yaba Tech.
The male students address some of their female
counterparts as pepperless because they talk from their
nose and pretend like they don't visit the toilets. Tell an
alumnus of Yaba Tech to mimic a pepperless, you'll get a
good laugh with your head spinning.
OPEKE: Quite similar to pepperless but Opeke shows less
concern for education. She would rather show herself on the
street shaking her body and turning her painted face from
side to side. Baba Fryo sang well about Opekes in dem go
dey pose, dem go dey denge denge.
BOMBOY: Most likely an Igbo boy. Unless you are in the
same class as this boy, you'll only get to know his real
name when he is about 20 years. Bomboy will be careless
as a teenager and he will glow with excitement just to match
the sound of his funny nickname. He will be stubborn and
always thinking that you have no right to tell him what to do
just because you are older than him. At 20, having failed
JAMB thrice and with his growing interests in girls, he will
realize his fictitious past and the childishness of his name.
Now, he is going to insist that everyone calls him
Chuwkuka-his real name and then he will start to be more
respectful and more serious with everything he does from
now on.
O-BOY! : How a family will name their son interjectively is
unclear but imagine that the couple wanted a girl and yet
another stubborn boy arrived. This guy is like Bomboy but
less glowing and more respectful. If you probe him in a
friendly manner, he will tell you the story of his birth, the
reason for his nickname and his real name-Godson.
Everything he does is to give his parents a reason to like
him since they were not expecting him in the family. He is
God's son and still his younger brother is Godswill. This boy
will show his real self when he gets to the University.
BABY: A man and a woman will name their daughter BABY if
in their eyes, the girl looks similar to the doll they had seen
through the transparent glass that protects Kingsway Stores
in Ikoyi. Baby has round head with big eyes just exactly like
the toy in the shop. At 25 years of age, Baby still thinks that
her name is cool.
IGWE: This is supposed to be a respected title in Igboland
but one miscreant in Lagos who is finding it hard to lay his
hands on money acquired the nickname as a consolation.
OTUNBA: The Yoruba people's version of Igwe. If your
family name is Otunba for real or you have been given this
title because of your positive contribution to your
community, you don't want to meet the man who is called
Otunba just because his friends want him to be happy. If
you do, you'll give him a dirty slap. All his attributes are a
taint to the name Otunba.

Chadian Soldiers Not Violating Nigeria's Integrity-DHQ

The Defence Headquarters on Tuesday denied media
reports that troops from foreign countries operating in the
ongoing campaign against the insurgency in the North-
East were violating the nation’s territorial integrity.
The Defence authorities stated in a statement posted on
the official web site of the military that the involvement of
troops from Chad, Niger and Cameroon had not in any
way compromised the territorial integrity of the country.
It was stated that contrary to insinuations in some
quarters that the foreign forces were moving into parts of
the North-East without authorisation from the Defence
Headquarters, Nigerian Forces were in charge of the
planning and prosecution of the campaign within the
country.
It was added that while Chadian Forces had been
deployed in Baga Sola, a Chadian territory, there had been
a joint deployment of troops from the participating
countries in Kirawa, Ashgashiya and other areas along
the borders of Nigeria Chad and Cameroon.
“The Multinational Joint Task Force in which Nigeria,
Niger, Cameroon, and Chad have contingents that are
part of the ongoing onslaught against terrorists in this
region.
“The countries that make up the Lake Chad Basin
Commission also had some understanding, which now
enables a massive move against terrorists from all
angles.
“Contrary to the impression being pushed in some
quarters, it is the Nigerian forces that planned and are
driving the present onslaught against terrorists from all
fronts in Nigeria; not the Chadian Forces as is being
propagated by some media.
“For instance, Chadian forces have been deployed in
Baga Sola, which is a Chadian territory.
“There have been some joint deployments and patrols
around Kirawa, Ashgashiya and other locations in borders
of Cameroon, Nigeria and Chad as part of these
operations.
“Chadians and others are however keying into and
working in concert with the overall plan for an all-round
move against the terrorists as agreed.
“Nigeria’s territorial integrity remains intact,” the
statement read.
Although, the military authorities have been quiet about
the intensified military operations in the North-East,
investigations revealed that troops had commenced
invading the Sambisa Forest locations of the insurgents.
It was learnt that the soldiers started the invasion of the
Sambisa Forest in the early hours of Monday and had
been in pursuit of feeing insurgents.
A security source said that the military operation involved
massive deployment of Air Force personnel and platforms
and ground forces who were said to have dislodged the
insurgents from their location.
It was learnt that many of the insurgents had been
dislodged from their Sambisa strongholds into the
Michika, Madagali and Gulak and other areas of
Adamawa State.
It was said that the troops and forces from the
collaborating countries had been engaging the insurgents
in several fronts in the North-East.
Our correspondent contacted the Director, Defence
Information, Maj. Gen. Chris Olukolade, on the telephone
for his comment on the ongoing invasion of Sambisa
Forest by troops, but he declined to speak on any specific
battle.
He said that the military was carrying out a lot of
operations in the area.
Chad’s military had four days ago captured the border
town of Gamboru from Boko Haram.
The capture of the town is the latest in a series of the
Chadian’s soldiers incursions into Nigerian territory as it
battles the Islamist insurgent group.
According to report, Chadian forces have also liberated
Baga, Dikwa, Malam Fatori, Damasak, Ngala and parts of
Bama in the past four days, Jubrin Gunda, a spokesman
for a Nigerian militia group, said.