Have you noticed that Iwo has been in the news since January?  Have you wondered why this ancient city has been in the news consistently for the past 8 months since the current King His Imperial Majesty, Oba Adulrasheed Adewale Akanbi, TELU 1, the Oluwo of Iwoland came on.

Since December last year a lot has happened in that city that has put Iwo in the news. First is the vibrant approach of the new King to Obaship. He is a 21st century monarch who feels the modern day traditional ruler should be relevant to the needs of his people and must seek to affect them positively.

Two, are the long list of initiatives Oba Akanbi has brought about from the weekly feeding of Iwo people, to the introduction of the cloth bank, to Kabiyeesi’s new Telu Jeans.

Thirdly, more controversial is his decision to make his wife wear a crown like Olokun, the wife of Oduduwa.

Fourthly, the Oluwo who changed his title to Emperor Telu 1st has dug into history to unearth historical narratives to show that the Oluwo has deep links with not only Oduduwa but with Ile-Ife. He has shown that his great, great grandmum was the only female Ooni of Ife in the history of Ife. Not only did he trace his roots to Ife, he actually visited Ile-Ife a few weeks back to rediscover his roots. A thousand years ago, between the 11th and 12th century, Adekola Telu, the conceiver of the first Iwo dream and son to the then Ooni of Ife ( Ooni Luwo Gbagida) may God bless her …. the first female King ever and the first and only female Oonirisa of the Owodo Royal family of Okerewe compound  migrated from Ile Oodua ( Ooni’s Palace) in Ile-Ife to establish an empire in the abode of the parrots. Just like the scriptural Moses, he was a sojourner for numerous years who never looked back and didn’t get to his destination. It was a journey of no return for PRINCE Adekola Telu, who left Ile-Ife with a crown he was never to wear and not to stop till he find the abode of the only thing that speaks apart from human which happens to be the Parrot.

About a thousand years later, on Sunday 31 July 2016, I, the Oluwo of Iwoland King Dr Abdulrasheed Adewale Akanbi  who not by accident or coincidence but divine inspiration  has chosen the cognomen and patronym _Telu 1_ will be paying a royal visit to Okerewe in Ile-Ife. The visit symbolises the triumphant return of Telu to the source of his crown and royalty. This time around, Oba Ilufemiloye Telu 1 returned back to his roots fulfilled and accomplished as a KING.

Oba (Dr) Adewale Akanbi Ilufemiloye Telu 1 made this trip not only to mark the return of Telu but to reconnect the dots in history and make it whole again. This step is necessary to renew the bond between the root and the shoot, a bond that has been disconnected naturally with the passing of time.

What is all these meant to achieve? What point is the Oluwo of Iwo trying to prove? There and many other questions that City People Publisher, SEYE KEHINDE put to HR Majesty a few weeks back when they had breakfast on his recent visit to Lagos. He told City People point black that there is a big revolution taking place in Iwo!!! Read on.

Iwo has been in the news since January when you became King. Why is that so?

I am on a mission from God. My coming to power was divine. Everything about my choice as King is destined so what is happening in Iwo is not usual its Gods message being transmitted through me. Its a revolution happening in Iwo.

And its not only in Iwo, its all over the Yoruba race. A lot is wrong with our society that needs to be corrected by our Kings. But there is a problem now is that some of us the Kings have lost it.

We are not talking about making changes only in Iwo. We are talking about making changes in the whole of the kingship hierarchy. What is Kingship all about? Have we lost it? That is the big question. Why is Yoruba suffering? Why is Nigeria suffering? Do you know the problem of Nigeria is more spiritual? The problem of Nigeria is the problem of the whole black race. What caused it? People have lost their roots. Once you lose your root you will lose what it takes for the crown. You see, only God is the King. Men are not Kings. But God gave you the grace to become King. You are like a messenger. Somebody that God sent.

To do what? To actually bear his name when God made man he told all the creations even angles to bow down to man, Kings that is very deep and spirituals. Only God is the King.

Where did your Kings lose it?

Where we lost it is that the Kings are the head. And when the head is rotten what can the body do? The kings are those who represent God. What we have found is the monarchy system in Nigeria is in disarray. Kings are not even respected anymore. It is not about only Iwo. The message is just coming from Iwo because sent me to tell them, that they have to be the one to sit right.

There should be a very quick conference its an emergency. All these governments we see are not the head. The Kings are the head. Government is what the white men brought our government, the first government was Oduduwa.

He was the 1st one that wore the crown that made the government. Why did he wear the crown? He wore the crown because he knows that the only thing that can protect his children, he had a premonition that he is going to be great. He did not know to what extent. But today we have seen over 30 to 50 million Yorubas and the cradle of black race comes from him.

The kingdom of Oduduwa is extensive and big. It went all the way to the way to the republic of Benin and Togo. Let us ask ourselves a big question? All these deities that people are worshipping, should they worship it? When God made man what did he tell the Angels and even the Devil himself? He said bow down for man. Why would man, somebody that God has given his own name, now go and bow down for something lesser. If you send somebody to go and do something and he started doing bad things will you be happy.

God has sent the Kings with his name, King. God is the King. Only God. He now gave you the grace to bear his name.

Many don’t know that apart from being a King, I am also a preacher. God is actually using me for this purpose. The purpose of my becoming the King is for me to come and change a lot of things.

Even from my name, you can see, Abdulrasheed. It means the person that shows people the way, the right way. It is the name of God, Rasheed. What we are talking about here is that there is no hell fire. That is what God told me. Have you ever heard that before? It is confirmed. Why there will be no hell fire is because of God the most forgiven, God the most merciful. He loves his creation. He loves the work of His hands. He is the God of love. Will He now put fire in what he has created? It is only a wicked God that will do that. But God is not wicket .

The truth of the matter is that the problem with Nigeria is more spiritual. And we cannot get it right until the Kings come together, make a meeting, and we give them the message. I can give them the message that God want me to give them. So, that they know that they know they are not the kings. Only God is the king and God wants them to do right by is name. His name has been smeared. His name has been battered.

Now, other people in the society are more recognized than Kings. Because we have lost it somewhere. We have lost the spirit that Oduduwa himself used to wear that crown as a father role. Love your people. Don’t be kings to only the rich and the people in position of power only. You should be the king to the poor, the orphans, handicapped, look for them, go out, talk to them mingle, don’t just be in the best posh cars in the world or Mecedes Benz. Let your people see you. Go into the community. I do that. Meet the people. There should not be any of your children who is hungry in your domain. I am a royal father and the way I think, I think not only for Nigeria but for the whole black race, what is going. That is one of the things that led to the Telu jeans project. The project is to promote our own brand, for us to stop thinking Gucci.

The problem with us is when you see that Gucci name on a suit you can buy it for $2,000, $3,000. But take that Gucci name out and they won’t buy it. The Tell jeans is about if you can’t beat them joint them. We have lost our children to many things, most of it foreign, of the western world.

The first thing you have to take care of is our identity. Something that speaks for you without you making a statement. Oji does not have an English name. We call them local fabrics. Why I did was to brand our Oji and call it Telu Jeans. What is lacking here is that the head has become rotten. The head is no longer taking care of their children. As a king, you should be a father who takes care of his children. It is like that with kings and the people. That is why the white people came years back. That is why another government was imposed on them.

What is the solution?

For the kings to come together and how we are going to make things right. And how we would not be smearing the name of God anymore. God is really angry with the kids who don’t do the right things. That is what kingship is all about. Since I became king all I think about is God because He is the king. The kings are the closest to God because they bear his name. He is the one bearing the name of God. He is the one God gave the grace to bear his name. Olorun ni kan loba. If he gives you his name to bear that is his name. It is not yours. You cannot be king for life unless you do the right thing in the position that you are. When you don’t the right in the position that you are, they can take your soul and put it somewhere, and you won’t be a king anymore.

Since you came in as King you have done very many remarkable thing. How did you decide on all these initiatives?

I don’t want to take credit for that. I can’t I don’t want what I do. I am supposed to be a father to my people. I plan to do more I can do anything for my people, for the black race. That is why you see me as a king, I wore the Ofi Telu jeans so that people can see that we need to wear our own clothes. Lace is not our own. Ofi is our own. Let’s buy Ofi. If you love yourself you will love what you have. We have lost our identity. We have lost our names. We have lost  everything. How do we come back?

That is the job of the kings. Things are the ones to actually tell those children, to tell the kids. I can’t start counting all the things I have done in Iwoland. That is what I am supposed to do. It is normal. It is ot something extraordinary. The only thing is maybe they have never seen those kind of thigns before. We brought in drugs, food, clothes, all these are things we the kings should do normally. Te king is a servant. The king is the servant of the people. l they are not supposed to serve me, I am supposed to serve them. A good leader must serve his people diligently. People have smeared the monarchy they make it look fetish. They make people running away from it.

People are so scared of it. People don’t want to become kings. That is why I a advocating that we should clean up the place. A king should cover his head all the time with a crown. The crown is what makes you a king. God has prepared me for this. God is my model. I look at Him. How does he do it? He is the boss of all. We men cannot even serve God. He serves us more. So I will serve the people diligently. Look at the people he sent. Jesus Christ, Prophet Mohammed. Look at their lives. I is about serving the people, been good to the people. When you give you will always get back. Then you look at where you are coming from. I am from Oduduwa. Oduduwa never served any god other than the only God we all serve.

Oduduwa is my role model, my hero. I am from Oduduwa lineage direct. The Oluwo of Iwoland has a direct link. I a from Ife Okerewe. It is behind the palace in Ile-Ife. That is where my mother came from, Luwo Gbagida that is the first female king ever. She is the greatest woman that ever lived in our history. She is the first woman to become Oonirisa, the 16th Ooni of Ife. I am the reincarnation of his son that is supposed to being the crown to Iwo.

I am Telu. I am the 16th Oluwo of Iwo. I didn’t plan my own coronation day. I gave them 2 dates. They rejected it. It was the governor himself that picked the 16th of January, 2016. You can see 16 repeating itself, 4 times. This is divine. This is not coincidence. This is not by accident. That is why in everything I do I go into history, the history of the crown, Oduduwa, my very good father. He never worshipped any idol. So when the history of my crown never worshipped any idol, should I? That is the question. It is a trillion dollar question. I repeat. If the source of my crown, Oduduwa, (God bless him) never worshipped any deity, should I?

All these other deities are man-made. This is what is wrong with Nigeria. This is what is wrong with the black race. Because the head is rotten. Today the kings have lost it. Now, the deities have become greater than the kings. Even these days kings have to bow down to many people now. Many people in position of authority when they have money kings have to bow down to them. It is very wrong. It is       sad. The kings have lost it. These days, people will see a king coming and nobody will stand up.

why was there a need to visit Ile-Ife?

You went  to Lafogido Ruling House of Okerewe in Ile-Ife, the cradle of Yoruba race, to re-establish your roots in the ancient town. Why?

I who was accompanied by prominent indigenes of Iwo, including Chief Abiola Ogundokun. We were received by the head of the ruling house, Sooko of Obaraso of Ife, Babatunde Adediwura Omolaso.Omolaso, who described the visit as important. He maintained that it would remain a significant trend in the annals of Ile-Ife in particular and the Yoruba people in general.

Omolaso further explained that Lafogido Ruling House produced the 16th Ooni and the only female king that ever reigned in Ile-Ife, Luwo  Gbagida, whom he said gave birth to Adekola Telu, the founder of Iwo town.

According to him, in his bid to expand and acquire more territories, Telu moved to Ogungbaro, and later to Igbo-Orita, and eventually settled at the present day Iwo. Omolaso said Iwo was a contraction from the “expression of the adventurers, (Ewooo) when parrots were sighted as the sign of appropriate location of settlement.

He said We welcome Oluwo to his ancestral home. This is his roots, his forebears left this place to establish Iwo town. The heir of Ooni Luwo,  Adekola Telu, founded the town,” he said.

Responding, I said the royal family in Ile-Ife today is one, describing the Osinkola, Ogboru, Giesis and Lafogido ruling houses as one and from the same father, same source.

I maintained that Iwo is from the same source as “these ruling houses.”

I told them “Iwo has a ruling house here in Ile-Ife. So, this means that an Ife Prince can come to Iwo to be on the stool just as an Iwo Prince too can come to Ile-Ife and still want to do the same.

“The last time a historical event such as this happened was about 1,500 years ago when Oranmiyan came back to his father’s house. Although he became a king, by the grace of God, we will see what the future holds for us. This is for the future of our great land. The mother of Iwo is Luwo Gbagida. I want you to know that Ife and Iwo are from the same father,” I said.

My move to merge Iwo and Ife stool is a technical one but at the same time  what happens is the first in history ! The only instance close to this was over 1500 years ago when Oranmiyan came back to Ife but he was only able to come during the time when have to fight and achieve that feat but it is now about law and gazzeted declaration…… For now,  only the son of Lajodogun which happens to be gazzeted in the declaration of rotation of the revered Ooni stool can venture to lay claim to it ….. many kings comes from Ife but not everyone has a ruling house !!! You must have a ruling house in Ife and for now as a bona fide Ooni’s Luwo Gbagida (may God bless her )  Son ….only Iwo has a ruling house.

Osikola, Ogboru, Giesi and Lafogido are all from the same father and we should not see ourselves as divided people ….we should see ourselves as one , Ooni Adeyeye Ogunwusi is my brother from the same father and I wish him all the best of reign in long life and posterity for himself and  Ife but what I did is to let  my people know  where they are coming from and to know where they are going coupled with potentials for the future ….its not about me but about the future of my children (Iwo) TELU 1 OLUWO OF IWOLAND

The post “There Is A BIG Revolution Going On In IWO” OLUWO Of IWO, Oba AKANBI Tells City People appeared first on CityPeople Magazine Nigeria | Nigerian Celerbrities | Entertainment | Stars.

Not many people know that the King of Fuji, K1 De Ultimate has a few of his kids who have taken after him in music. At least 4 of them have gone into music after complying with their dad’s laid down rules and regulations of first completing their schooling.
Mustapha is one of them. He sings Hip-Hop. This look alike son of the Oluaye of Fuji recently relocated to Nigeria from Canada where he had lived for about 10 years. Unknown to many people, K1 is big in Canada and he has a big house there. It is like his 3rd home, after his Ijebu and Lekki homes.
Mustapha, who likes to call himself M. Marshal, is currently busy with a big music project which he plans to launch into the market next month. He is doing a remix of about 10 popular songs of his dad and it will come out in an album to be released by popular music producer, 1K Dancet.
Last week, Musty dropped by at the Gbagada office of City People to talk to City People Publisher SEYE KEHINDE about his music and life.

Tell us a little bit about this son of K1 who sings Hip-Hop?
My name is M. Marshal. My real name is Mustapha Ayinde Marshal. I merged my real name to my last name. I don’t want to call myself Marshal because that is my dad’s name. It is a big name. M. Marshal means Mustapha Marshal.
I grew up in Lagos. I went to school in Lagos, up till secondary school. After that, my dad decided to take me to Canada so that I can finish up my education. I relocated then. That was in 2008. That was 8 years ago. That is where I have been. I went to school. I graduated. I studied English and Business from York University, Toronto. I graduated in 2013 in double major.
At what point did music start for you?
Music has always been there. I was born into it. Music has been all I wanted to do. My dad knew that. So, he had to find a way for me to do what he wanted me to do and then allow me to also do my things. The deal was I had to finish school first. He was always telling me how I could get succeed in if I try it. He said once I go into music, I would forget about school. He said once I jump into it and I start making money, I will be addicted to that and forget about what really matter like having a good education. He always rubs it of my face that there are things he would love to achieve in life if he had the opportunity to go to school. So music has been what I wanted to do from my growing up years. I don’t have to do anything to get inspired and motivated to sing or write songs or come up with a great piece of artwork. I am a poet, I am a writer.
What led you to sing Hip-Hop, why not Fuji?
I would have done Fuji. But my dad is already doing that. I have some Hip-Hop artistes I like and I was looking up too, I like Hip-Hop. I thought I could do something else, and incorporate what my dad has done into it. However, upon my return to Nigeria, I found that music industry has grown so big. So, I looked at it like it is better for me to do everything. I can sing. I can rap.
What I am trying to do right now is to fuse the two into one. Hip-Hop in Nigeria. But they are not really making as much as they should make. I can see how diversified Olamide is. He can sing, rap, and just play around. I will call myself a Hip-Hop artiste and an all rounder. So I sing plain Hip-Hop and I sing other types of songs and I fuse all of that into one music. I want to be versatile. I don’t want people to get confused with my music, with who I am and what I stand for.

Have you done an album before?
Yes. I have done 2 videos, for my previous singles which was aired on Soundcity, HipTV, and TVC. Their titles are LOKE and MYWAY. Those are the 2 singles I dropped. Loke means I am top of the world. Its about a guy who fought to get to the top. It applies to everybody in life who wants to achieve something. Loke goes with the philosophy that finally I succeeded.
My Way is like a story telling song. It has to do with somebody that has a bad beginning but ended up having a great ending. So, what I am trying to do with those songs is to teach some lessons. Initially I recorded them in 2012. I would have said let me just shoot the video and move on but it was like a turning point in my life.
I was in the University and I just wanted to return to those times when I had so much energy. So, I wanted to rub off on that energy that I had back then. I wanted to go back to the beginning.
How has been K1’s son helped or not helped you?
It has been good. It also has its negative sides. It opens door. But some people once they know K1 is my father they don’t want to help you any longer. Some will want to help you, some will want to charge you to the brim. They want to extort you.
They will say oh, he is K1’s son? Then, he must have money. Lets charge him. There are 2 sides to it. In other places I get there and they are like oh, he is K1’s son, lets help him and a lot of people will even do things for me for free. Some others are like you. You have the money pay us. They will charge me double the amount. I know its because of the love they have for him.
And so they expect a lot from his son. Because I am K1’s son a lot is expected of me. I can’t shoot a mediocre video. I can’t do anything that is not up to the part. It has to be great. It has to be amazing because of his legacy. I can’t even shoot a viral video because people are going to be looking at him and they are going to be judging me. That is why I spent a lot of money on the video I shot.
I had to travel to South Africa from Canada to shoot it. I shot it with Unlimited LA. It went well. Whatever I play the video, more experience artists look at me. And they tell me, you don’t look like somebody who just started. My philosophy now is I will rather not do anything now, if I can’t really come correct more than my last performance. So people have high expectations now. I didn’t want to raise the bar to that level before now but its because of his legacy. I don’t want to do something that will rub off negatively on me.
You are not the only child of K1 that sings. How many of you sing?
We are 4 in number. Me, Honey B, Sultan and Farouk. My brother Femi, plays with music, so I can’t really count him as an artiste. He is not really serious like that. Farouk, I call him the future. He is a great artist. Honey B too is great. Sultan is also talented.
How do you feel coming from such a great family?
Its a great feeling. You will be inspired to actually do things everyday because there are challenges all over you. A lot of people see challenges as something that pulls them down.
But I see it as something that pulls you to actually go up. In the music industry, if there is no competition you can’t come up with the best work. That is why Nigerian music is growing. So big. Many of these artistes are talented. I see that as a motivation.
You need to see when all of us are in a room talking music, it is like something that is natural. Different ideas comes. It inspires me. It helps you make good songs.
You resemble your dad a lot. How does that make you feel?
It pretty much shows I am my dad’s kid. People tell me that all the time that I look like my dad. Some will walk up to me at events to ask: are you K1’s son?
Tell us about your new project?
Oh yes, we have gone far. We have picked the songs. They are all meaningful songs. I am taking the music all the way back to 1984 when my dad started. The title of the project is The King’s Legacy. I am his legacy. Its like the remix of all his works. I have seen other artistes like Olamide, Eldee use his works.
Actually it was my dad who gave me that idea when I graduated in 2013 when I came back for my sisters wedding. And he knows I want to do this on my own. So he said why don’t you just pick up all my old works and try to remix it. He said it will make my journey faster. He gave me that idea in 2014. I didn’t do that at first because I wanted a signature and identity. I wanted people to know me first.
So, the name of my project is The King’s Legacy and it is a remix of all K1s great works. I know I can’t do everything. I am going to pick the best 10 or 15 songs and it is going to come out with a big bang and great! because it is already sounding amazing right now.
How far have you gone with it right now?
We have gone so far. We have done a lot. We wanted to drop it this month before, on the 17th of August but we need to create so much awareness for it. We have pushed it to next month. We are 65% ready. We are planning a formal launch.
The marketer is I.K. Dancet . He suggested that. But my focus now is to get the album ready first. It is the launch of my own career. But I don’t want it to rub off negatively on my father’s if not I won’t do it. Why ruin something that is great already if I can’t make it better. I want to focus on that aspect and make sure that all the songs come out great. That is in the work already. We are most likely going to do industry night I don’t know yet. But we are going to do something as in a proper launch.
I am not dropping any singles. Its just going to be the whole body of work, and I will let people catch up with it and let them take it far.

The post Meet K1’s Look-Alike Son, Mustapha, Who Sings Hip Hop; Set To Remix Fathers’ Hit Songs appeared first on CityPeople Magazine Nigeria | Nigerian Celerbrities | Entertainment | Stars.

In the next few months, popular Lagos Lawyer, Chief Ladi Williams (SAN) would be 70 and he plans to celebrate it big. He is the eldest son of late legal icon, Chief FRA Williams, popularly called “Timi The Law”, in his life time. His dad died 11 years ago. He is also the head of the family (Oloriebi), a family made up of his 3 brothers, children and several grandchildren.Chief Ladi Williams hardly grants interviews but several months ago he granted City People an extensive interview about his life as he gets close to becoming a septuagenarian.

How has life been 10 years after the exit of papa? How do you feel?
Ten years after my late father went to join his ancestors, I am glad to say the family is now united. The grandchildren and great grandchildren are unified. The snake among the family has been systematically dealt with so that it won’t cause more havoc among the family. Once we have identified the snake, the family shall grow and multiply in happiness, cohesiveness, and unity. That is what is happening now. Before we resolved our differences, our grandchildren had become united; all these while they had been in communication when we celebrated Papa’s remembrance my son and daughter told me how all the children had been together. They said to me nothing can separate us.
But I noticed all through the ceremony we had that there was a particular woman who was very unhappy to see my siblings and I united. My wife greeted her she refused to answer. When the preacher asked us to shake each other’s hands I was about to shake her she turned away from me. So, I said ok if we the brothers, children, and grandchildren can be embracing what is your own? I thought this was very funny.
Many people didn’t think you and your brohers can reconcile…
Don’t forget that we are from the same mother and father. Anybody else is an outsider. The Yorubas say if the wall does not open, a Lizard will not get in. That wall is closing now. The process of reconciliation has been on for a while. Let me also say sometime in November 2014 my brothers came over to my house. They came in the company of my 2nd junior brother to my house. They came unannounced and we were very happy to see each other. We embraced and spoke. That is the position as at the time we are having this interview. The aspect of asset sharing of who gets what has become irrelevant in the sense that the cohesiveness among brothers is beyond that. Most likely after settling some debts here and there we are likely to dedicate a substantial portion of it to help the needy and if our bias is towards the legal profession don’t be surprised because we believe the law has made us, and our name is synonymous with Law. It might be more likely to be bias towards assisting the legal sector. This is not to say we would not assist in other areas. What fuelled our crisis the more is how this person will become and tell me one thing and go to my brothers to tell them another thing.
Eventually we now saw the light, I am happy that the Rotimi Williams family is one and by the special grace of God, I happen to be the head of that family.
Does it mean you and your brothers have all agreed on the way forward?
Yes. We all agreed on the way forward. We all agreed that all the misunderstanding and misapprehensions can now be contained because we now know the real root cause. And we have learnt the lesson that there is no problem, no matter how intractable that cannot be solved, if there is mutuality, after all what we are talking about is not something which we worked for. It is just icing on the cake. We are all old men. The youngest of us is older than Pres Obama. By the grace of God in 2016 December I will be 70.
I think one other problem we have as brothers is the age gap is so huge. Our friends are different. Our tastes in music, in dressing, outlook is completely different, because the growing up that shaped us are at different periods of time. That notwithstanding you can still relate with your young ones, maybe not on the same plane as people of your age group. None of them dares call me by the name. They call me brother. We are 4 boys. I am the eldest. Chief Rotimi Williams never had a daughter. In fact, my mother used to tease my dad that Timi you are incapable of producing a daughter, it is only male, male, male. (laughs).
Ten years after the passing away of your dad, what are the things you miss about your dad?
As today I have been practicing for 42 years, what I have to show for it is that half of that number of years (20 years), I have been a member of the inner bar, Having been called in 1995 April. What I miss about him most is that when the chief give you work to go and research, on, the point of law. Maybe it is a point upon which the law is recondite, you will take time go to the library. But when you pose the question to him you will be amazed how my father will tell you, ok, Ladi go and look at the case X versus Y. He will give you the citation and he will be correct up to the last page. I miss that.
But now you have to be computer literate. The computer has taken the place which his brains used to play in my practice. I am not exaggerating at all, the man was just too much.
When you practice with him, if your intention is to go to the Bench, you will get there, because of the legal discipline that he will give you. If you don’t believe me ask the Chief Judge of Anambra State who spent some time with us at Ilupeju. Ask Justice Idris Kutigi of the Federal High Court. I can go on. If your intention is to get to the top of the professional ladder there are so many Senior Advocates who at one time or the other had worked with him including my humble self. You had to be disinterested for you not to make it in practice and be outstanding in the profession, especially if you work hard. That is one thing I missed about him. The direction he will give you. How he will inculcate the habit of formulating issues for determination. I have tried to do it in my own small way here as well. And it is enjoyable. You see when you are in the profession you have to be married to law. You cannot do law and say you are also doing business. You just won’t get there. It is either you are into Law, Law, Law or Business, Business, Business.
In the early years of my practice I had one leg in legal practice, one led in business. Yes, I made some good money at that time. If that is what you want, no problem. But you won’t be professionally satisfied with in you. Professional satisfaction is something which everybody looks forward to.
Chief Williams was married to Law in his lifetime. On the day I was getting married, in the morning I had to go and tell him, Papa it is time to go to church. We are going to the Cathedral. We shall be late for church. When I saw that I was not getting through I had to go and call my grandmother, because there is no sense in going to call my mother it will have same effect. So, when he saw mama, he said mama I am not reading again, it must have been Ladi that came to tell you. She said no, it is Ola (my mum). So he got up and we all entered his Rolls Royce and drove down to the Cathedral.
Even when you travel with him in the aircraft he has to have a law book with him that he is reading. Even when he is not preparing for a case, he is reading it because he is enjoying what he is reading. So, I miss that. I don’t know if there are other lawyers that are like that today. I sincerely miss that. We had a very good professional relationship which has stood me in good stead today. I used to think he was very hard. But when I now look back I say to myself he was not hard enough. And then the good will that he left is what one is enjoying today.

The post My Late Dad Was Married To Law – FRA Williams Eldest Son, Ladi @ 70 appeared first on CityPeople Magazine Nigeria | Nigerian Celerbrities | Entertainment | Stars.

Segun Adisa is the presenter of the popular Yoruba Programme, LABE ORUN. He recently returned from his overseas trip and met with the management of LTV 8 to resolve the stoppage of his programme on their station. In this interview, he explains what led to the yanking off of his programme.

Since you returned to the country can you tell us your findings regarding the suspension of your programme?
Let me start by giving all glory and adoration to God Almighty for journey mercies and for enabling me to record one hundred percent success in all I set out to do in the US especially on LabeorunTV for which I was able to secure extra seven thousand free subscription for our ever teeming viewers among other things, otherwise no one would have been able to subscribe further free with just their email without payment when we reached ten thousand mark two weeks ago.
Now we are around 10,200 subscribers. My profound gratitude also goes to all our sponsors and viewers for their unanimous concern, support and understanding in the face of persecution against the God’s own television program “Labeorun Strange-But-True”. My findings since my arrival are nothing short of a “Transmission Coup” against Labeorun. However I strongly believe that God Almighty that has been fighting for the program whenever the need arises like this is up to the task just like He did in 1998 on Radio Nigeria Ibadan when I had to resign my appointment amidst heavy persecution. On arrival from United States,I took off few days to rest, then paid a visit to Lagos television to hear from the horse’s mouth Mr. Deji Balogun,but before I got to his office he came down to my producer’s office knowing that I branched there and apparently to prevent me from entering his office as usual since he became the gm and boiling with anger saying “Mr.SegunAdisa, you have not done enough by going to the press,you will still grant interview to CNN and the BBC,you are owing me almost two million and you claimed in your press interview that you’re not owing us a dime “At this point I wanted to calm him down and correct him but he angrily rushed upstairs to his office.
Upon all these after about an hour, I still went to his office in company of my marketer believing that he must have calmed down; but I was wrong because immediately he sensed my presence through his secretary, he rushed out of his office saying “I am going to Abuja right now and I can’t attend to anyone now”as he brushed past us out of his office.
In spite of his negative reaction to me I was still resilient to hear directly from him, so I sought the assistance of his immediate boss, Mr.FolaAdeyemi, the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Information who out of his busy schedule convened a reconciliatory meeting on Monday 8th of August at 10am in his office between myself and Mr. Deji Balogun who came in company of LTV Head of Marketing Mr.Tunde Ogundare.
Lately we’ve heard reports that a businessman friend of yours allegedly influenced your program been yanked off from Lagos Television station. How true is this?
Even to me it was a rumour until Mr. Deji Balogun confirmed his involvement when he was speaking during the meeting we had in the PS office and I quote “The second reason for the stoppage was about the program itself, I received an order from a politician who claimed that the businessman reported to him that his name was maligned onLabeorun and he as the General Manager should do something about it and in order to protect my job I had to stop the program. I knew SegunAdisa was out of the country but I can’t be telling him even when he called me, I saw his text messages and ignored them, the only thing I said was Baba Labeorunbawoni New York? Please call me back in two hours because I am at a function”
Meanwhile before the GM confirmed his involvement, he had raised the issue of money we are owing the station and how he had been under financial pressure which is understandable. Though the head of marketing also confirmed some payments made even on the day I was to travel because they came with the program’s file to the meeting.
The third reason for stopping the program according to the GM was that “Labeorundoes not fit into Lagos Weekend Television concept which should be an all-round entertainment from Friday to Sunday”At this point the PS asked him whether all the programs between that period to now are all entertainment, and the GM said no,but that the owners have all been notified. One can now ask Mr.DejiBalogun why wasn’t Courage Media notified before Labeorun was removed and why he avoided Segun Adisa until the PS intervened?
Was there no notification or prior notice before your program was yanked off completely?
Like I said earlier on, there wasn’t any form of notice before and after the removal of the program, and that’s why I called it a transmission coup because it was a planned work targeted at when iI am out of the country to bring down the program formally known as Iriri-Aye on radio Nigeria,Ojuayereeon NTA,AwodiOkeon Galaxy and later ChristianedLabeorunon Mitv and LabeorunTV(Strange-But-True) on Google and YouTube.
Don’t you think there is a political underplay of power between the bodies involved against the program Labe Orun?
From the interview I granted while in the New York, I said we are all political animals and wherever you find we humans beings, there must be politics, but when politics is blended with bitterness, envy and acrimony, then it becomes deadly as we now have in this case.
Unfortunately Deji Balogundabbled into an issue of an unknown depth forgetting that “A wise king that reigns to the elevation of his domain shall have his name on record; And the one who reigns with ineptitude lowering the bar of his domain shall also have his name on record”. The matter between me and this businessman goes beyond the program. We are very good friends and we were close to each other’s families. He is a man I respect and love so much and I will never ill-wish him under any circumstances because I have benefitted from him, just as he had also benefitted from my Labeorun concept in the past. In fact if not for the crisis we had, he would have remained the best man I ever met; Unfortunately he wants to be worshipped even above the Almighty God which I cannot do for any beings. Our crisis started really when he told me that my obeisance (Ijuba) before the program was wasting of time barely one year into the programme on Mitv,. Then I told God that I didn’t want his money anymore because our initial agreement before I brought the program from Galaxy Television Ibadan to Mitv Lagos was twenty-five thousand per episode for me and five thousand naira for Mr.WaleLawalwho facilitated the relationship and also supervise the program every week, However Wale bolted out when his overbearing attitude became unbearable,especially when Wale did some advert jobs for a competing herbal brand and for my insistence on starting the program with obeisance (ijuba) to God he slashed my payment to twenty thousand per week.
With my belief in God who has been providing for me on the program as Awodioke on Galaxy Television Ibadan years before I met him; I approached AlhajiGbadeyankathe Mitv Chairman to help me negotiate with the businessman such that he could release three advert spots for me and stop the payment of twenty thousand per episode allowance, On the long run he reluctantly released two spots to me with a lot of conditions and this is what I survived on for almost thirteen years. However, occasionally he gives money, maybe when I am traveling out or just coming from out of police cell, then there was a day he saw my daughter in London and gave her one 100,000 and fifty thousand naira and that was the highest amount of money given to me,even when I collapsed in his presence on a Sunday evening at Mitvand still went on air, but later hospitalised for over three months. He sent hundred thousand through his wife without a single visit to the hospital with an excuse that he didn’t want to see a dead body. But as for his wife, she is the best mother I have ever seen and a virtuous woman to the core and God will always be with her…I had to say all these publicly for the records and to get my brother Deji Balogun prepared should there be any agreement between him and any other competing company personally or officially on LTV as being speculated as the actual reason for stopping Labeorun. Finally on the man telling people that he did everything I have for me,well I don’t know what he means by that, because apart from all I mentioned above and the fact that he accidentally facilitated a job for me from former Ekiti governor whom I met in his house because I was already pushing the job with a classmate in the Governors cabinet then, but in fairness to him, his involvement fast-tracked the job from which I realised six hundred thousand at the long run, He can’t claim to have done anything in terms of my properties, vehicles or overseas trips, Meanwhile I expect him well to enumerate my good deeds to him personally outside the program.
Do you think there would be moves in the nearest future towards a reconciliation and your return to the station with the Labe Orun program?
To me as long as we live, nothing is impossible for God. Even as separated as I am now with my former partner, if God wishes, we can still get back to each other, just like I said on air on 12th of June 2016…that if he brings his advert to us either online, cable or terrestrial, we shall use them and for LTV if the program could be restored unconditionally we are ready, though we have signed an agreement with another cable station but they can run together while our online platform LabeorunTVremains on air worldwide.
Why didn’t you consider going to another terrestrial television station rather than going online?
We can never dump the terrestrial platform because that is our base but that will be on contract basis from any interested sponsor.
In summary I don’t hold anything against anyone in the whole saga because I believe God is in action and he won’t come down to move us ahead, surely some people must be used; may be if I was not persecuted out of Radio Nigeria just as we have it now on Lagos Television during the tenure of Mr.Adedeji Balogun, no one would have heard the name “SegunAdisa” today. God is up to the task!!!

The post Real Reasons Labe Orun Was Suspended On LTV 8 – Presenter, Segun Adisa Reveals appeared first on CityPeople Magazine Nigeria | Nigerian Celerbrities | Entertainment | Stars.

Star actress Chika Ike is a UN Ambassador, a Nigerian actress and the CEO of Fancy Nancy Collections. The multiple award winning actress started her acting career in 2005 and has featured in over 100 movies. She is a Human Kinetics and Health Education graduate of the University of Lagos. Chika started her acting career at the age of 5 in church plays. In 2005, she landed her first role in the movie Sweetlove and has since then starred in over 100 movies. She has added many feathers to her cap, as a producer with her production outfit Chika Ike Productions which has produced 3 hit movies. She is also an entrepreneur as she runs a big fashion outfit Fancy Nancy and has delved into the booming Real Estate sector.In a short interview with City People Head of Movie Desk, VIVIAN ONUORA, the talented actress speaks about acting among others.

How did you get into acting?
I went for several auditions until I got my first role .
What was the inspiration?
Events and Happenings in life.
How long have you been acting?
Professionally 8 years
How has the journey been so far?
It’s been awesome, It’s been a roller coaster ride of Excitement, challenges, ups and downs.
What are some of the movies you have featured in?
Just to mention a few. Bless the child, Miss Teacher.,Happy Ending. Painful soul, locked up. One fine Day.
How did you get your first role in a movie?
I heard about an audition and I went for it, I got one scene.
Which movie would you say brought you. Recognition?
Bless the child my first lead role
What are the movie projects you worked on in the last one year?
Happy Ending, Miss Teacher, locked up, one fine day, yes we will.
How has acting experience been for you so far?
It’s been a lovely and a Rewarding experience
What are some of the challenges you have encountered as an actor?
Managing your privacy is a top on the list.
Why did you choose acting rather than any other profession?
Acting has always been my passion, and Growing up I was always told I will make a good actress, and that I was dramatic.
What else do you do apart from acting?
Real Estate and My accessories line. fancy Nancy collection.
How financially rewarding has acting been for .
We thank God , He said he will bless the woks of our hand and he surely has. I am grateful for that.
What kind of role appeals to you most and which has been most challenging?
Every New role is a new challenge , My recent movie is called Happy Ending it was challenging because I had to play a prostitute and speak broken English through out the film.
What’s your educational background?
I went to Ronik International primary School, Saint francis Secondary School, University of Lagos.
What was growing up like for you?
Growing up was fun. I have a lot of siblings so we had so much fun playing.
What do you love most about yourself?
I am driven, I set goals and I work towards archiving them.
What has been your most embarrasing moment as an actor?
When a fan lifted me off my feet and turned me 360 in public.
What do you enjoy most about being an entertainer?
Being able to make people happy and change lives through my movies
What are some of the nominations and awards you have won?
City people awards best actress, Africa movies Academy award. Two nominations. To mention a few.
How do you feel about your City people entertainment award nomination?
I want to say thank you for for appreciating my work. A nomination is a Pat on the back to say keep up the work. So I appreciate it. Thank you.

The post “Aside Acting, I am Into Real Estate” – Star Actress, Chika Ike Reveals appeared first on CityPeople Magazine Nigeria | Nigerian Celerbrities | Entertainment | Stars.

• Reveals How She Set It Up 12 Yrs Ago

Lawiza Creations is one of the big fashion brands in the fashion industry today. It has become so popular that many know of it and little is known about the beautiful lady behind that label.

It is deliberate 12 years ago Mrs. Bose Adegunwa set out to build Lawiza into a formidable business that will cater to the needs of celebrities who wanted good designs. So she took a back seat and allowed her label Lawiza to enjoy limelight quietly and steadily, she built Lawiza into the big fashion label it is today.

What the secret of her success? Why did she set up a fashion school? These and many others were the questions City People SEYE KEHINDE put to the lady behind the Lawiza, label, Mrs. Bose Adenuga last Monday when he interviewed her at her Magodo Shop/School. He found in her a lady who has a deep passion for what she does for a living, which explains why her fashion business which she started from a little shop in Ikeja has grown into a big business she runs from a whole building in Magodo. For that past 12 years Lawiza has grown into a business that occupies a whole building and she is still expanding. Below are excerpts of the inspiring interview.

Can you share with us when and why you set up LAWIZA Fashion School when you did?

The school was set up to empower a lot of women, both young and old, so that they can be their own boss they can follow their hearts desire and do what ever is their passion.

LAWIZA Creations as a fashion business has been in existence for the past 12 years, as a fashion house. But the school has been in existence for about 6 years now.

How far have you gone in trying to realise the dream of setting up of the school?

I think with persistence we have been able to achieve what we set our mind to do. We have trained a lot of women that are on their own now. And that way they will empower other people too.

Why did you decide to go into fashion at the time you did? Why fashion? Why not something else?

Its because I have always been a fashionable person since my University days. I like dressing up, I like dressing people up. My name is a very fashionable person. So, I took it up from her. I always dress her up when she’s going to parties as far back as when I was small. I would always put everything together for us.

At what point did you decide to make fashion a business?

I didn’t set out to be a designer at first. I went to University, did Sociology. And I did a lot of Buying and Selling. I worked in the bank, I just decided one day that why don’t I do what I really like to do. Why don’t I just go into it.

So, how did you start?

I started very small. And with persistence and consistency I was able to build it up. I had a small shop on Olowu Street, Ikeja. I started with just one Tailor. We bought 3 threads and with very small capital. I raised more capital.

And I started adding more. The cost of machine then was like N4,000 or so. I mean normal Black head machine. We now graduated to buying industrial machines and all that. I started with very small capital.

What has made you continue for 12 years?

It is passion that has really made me to still stay on and to still be in the business. If you look at every other thing in Nigeria, I mean all the challenges, you will want to opt out. But because its my passion, its my dream, to train a lot of people, a lot of women, especially, to be able to do their own stuff.

At the time you started off 12 years ago, did you factor the school into the plan or you just veered into it?

When I started, I went to a fashion school, and when I finished I thought about doing something like that because I saw a lot of women who ordinarily would have been housewives there and I said to myself, if all these women can come here and if I can go to a school, after finishing my University and everything, after having my children, why can’t other women do this. That is why I decided to go into training aspect of fashion.

You see to have a bias for African fabric. Why is that so?

You are right. We do a lot of African fabric. I am a lover of the print. But we do other ones. We just make our designs like a contemporary style, fusion of European with African touch.

Which fabric do you like to play around with most?

I like my Ankara any day. And I like Silk. I like to work with silk.

At LAWIZA, how does it work out? Is it the case that people bring fabrics or you do ready to wear line?

We do both. But we are more into ready to wear like if people are going to parties and they want to wear something different, they come to us. You don’t have to wait till they make an outfit. They can just come and pick up, off the rack and go to wherever they want to go.

Do you also do Aso-Ebi?

Yes. But really I don’t do Aso-Ebi, as in people just walking in to do it. But when people come as a group and they want to sew. We sew for them.

Whats your message to women who want to learn how to sew and design?

They should follow their passion because if you go into fashion because of money, without knowing much about it you may encounter some problems. If its your passion, then go for it. The sky is the limit because its a very viable business.

How have you been able to build LAWIZA Creations into the big brand it is today?

It is through a lot of handwork, a lot of sleepless nights, a lot of persistence and prayers and support from family and friends.

How do you see the Nigerian woman, fashion wise?

Nigerian women are very fashionable. Whenever we are we just must stand out. Nigerian woman cannot be brushed aside anywhere in the world because we go out of our way to really dress well with our colours, fabrics, we have gone beyond the limits. We are known all over the world, especially all over the African countries. We are one of the top most fashionable women.

Who are the kind of women you sew for?

I sew for the educated, fashionable, women that know what they want. We sew for a lot of celebrities.

How does it make you feel when you look at how big the baby you gave birth to 12 years ago is now?

I feel good. I thank God because I remember very well. We started very small. Some times when I look back and see where we are coming from, it amazes me. Its just the grace of God. We still have a lot to do. We hope to expand more. We hope to have branches and branches of the school. I am happy the business is growing, the school is also growing. To God be the glory.

Many people choose to call themselves fashion designers, only very few people say they are Tailors. What is the basic difference?

Anybody can be a Tailor. A tailor basically sews. You can learn and be able to sew. But a designer designs. A designer can make a piece of fabrics to be something out of this world, something you will not be able to imagine that an ordinary person can design or turn the fabric into. That is the difference. If you are just a tailor you won’t make it as much as if you are creative.

When you went into fashion years back, how did your friends take that decision of yours?

They all supported me because they know it is something I like to do. They all patronised me. All my friends and family rallied round me.

What role does passion play in been successful in business?

A lot. A lot of us go into what we don’t really want to do. Just because my friends is doing this or that so they go into it. Or because some other people do it and get money from it. If you encounter any problems if it is not something you really what to do, you will just opt out of it quickly, that whats all these. So, I think one should go for one’s passion, because it will be the driving force after all else fails.

Lets talk about your forthcoming graduation in your school.

Yes we are having a graduation soon. Its coming late. We were meant to have done it since we have graduated a lot of women. But we just thought this time around lets have these women do their graduation. We want to celebrate them and do a competition whereby winners will emerge and the best student will emerge. I think graduation is what they should do after their course.

What courses do you offer?

We have the Beginners class, we have the intermediate and we have the Advanced class. We also have other aspects of fashion added to it like illustration, beading and all that to make a complete outfit. We teach them all the aspects.

How did you coin the name LAWIZA? Is it an alias?

No. LAWIZA is a combination of my name, that of my husband and my children.

The post How Lawiza Creations Became A Big Fashion Brand – Lagos Designer, Bose Adegunwa Tells City People appeared first on CityPeople Magazine Nigeria | Nigerian Celerbrities | Entertainment | Stars.

To get out of the economic recession Nigeria has found itself, Pres Muhammadu Buhari must take some bold economic steps. That is the view of a popular public policy analyst, Opeyemi Agbaje who feels the President is not doing enough. He needs an economic team in place, he argues in this interview with City People Publisher, SEYE KEHINDE.

Since the Buhari regime came in, you have been advocating some basic principles to tackle the challenges facing the Economy. Are those principles still valid and relevant?

Oh yes. When the government came in there were some principles advocated and I remain on that. First of all, it was clear that we need infrastructure desperately, and that we needed to improve the state of infrastructure and it was clear that we could not support it with government money because government money had disappeared through the crash of the prince of oil. So there was a need for strategy for private capital to be invested in infrastructure. There is private capital available in excess globally to fix our power situation, rail, roads, all that. The problem we have is that there is no strategy to go after it. We need that as a matter of urgency.

One of the problems was the exchange rate. But beyond that, there was also no clear efforts. If we had a strong strategy for private capital you will see the ITRC that was not the focus. So, we need a strategy to attract private sector capital into Nigeria’s infrastructure. It is one of the fundamental things we need to do.

Two, in May 2015 we needed a strategy to improve Taxation. And as of May 2015, increasing VAT was an option. It is no longer an option, at least for now, because we have taken the economy into negative, we have taken a lot of people into poverty and unemployment. So, Value Added Tax at this point will be a disaster. We have to defer that now. We have lost an opportunity. I blame government for that. At an appropriate time we need to focus on improving government revenue, not through sale of oil but through Taxation. When the appropriate time will now be going forward is when the economy recovers because you don’t increase Taxation in a recessionary economy. It will just lead to social crisis. So we need to fix that Lego.

Those two factors, namely: improving infrastructure and with little reliance on Oil will give us space to then focus on exports. So, if our power situation improves you will have more manufacturing, building and agro strategy for agro manufacturing, business and processing so that we can begin to exports the manufacturers from Agro, processed food materials. If we had done the right things in the power, in the Oil and Gas sector and we start building refineries over 3 to 4 years we would have even exporting refined petroleum products, and to continue to boost the efforts of non-formal things broadcast, entertainment, music, so the key point is this.

We also need to diversify our exports. So, all that phrase about diversification, diversification is really today abut diversifying government revenue aw ay from just oil and diversifying the source of our exports away from just crude oil, so that when next the oil prices collapses our economy will not collapse.

And there are many things we could export like solid minerals, agricultural processed goods, human capital, social, entertainment. So diversify exports, improve infrastructure and you will see changes.  There is an element that the government has tried to do because the truth is that we also had a social crisis. A very high poverty rate which have both gotten worse.

So, I endorse the fact that government chose to do a social programme because there was a need for an effort to do that. But my preference has always been building the capacity of people, through education rather than handing them, hand out. I would have advocated a focus on social spending on the education sector. By that I mean not just schooling but education and acquisition of skills.

We need to improve the quality of education, the access to education particularly in Northern Nigeria and even in Southern Nigeria. It would make more impact on poverty and unemployment going forward than hand outs.

For the already adult population who can no longer go to school, what they need are skills, artisanal skills and they can be helped to become self sufficient, in terms of employment and technical abilities, they can be Barbers, Bricklayers, Plumbing. We need a massive scheme to give them the necessary skills needed. I mean world class skills. All these will help reduce unemployment and crime rate in society and they can be useful to themselves. All these are some of the things I will like to see. I think they are the things we need to do.

How do you see Pres Buhari’s economic team? Or do you believe government does not have an economic team like some people say?

Certainly, this government does not have any economic team. One of the gross reasons we are in this economic mess is because there is no economic competence in government. When you talk of knowledge where does it reside, abut economic management in this government? It is not visible. So, it has to be redressed. I can’t understand it. But it is visible that across some of the key positions in which strong economic competence needs to reside is apparent that it does not exist and it was apparent from day one that those skills are not present. We need to redress that.

And then there is this curiosity that the President essentially does not have any Economic Adviser, at least that we can locate or see. I is obvious that he probably gets economic advice from some informal sources we don’t know. If a foreign investor should ask who is the point man on the economy today. What do we say? It is not clear what the answer will be. That is why the Central Bank has become the place where all economic decisions are been taken, and he Central Bank can only take decisions on momentary policy and there is a gross insufficiency and inadequacy in terms of fiscal policy.

How do you see the Buhari governments efforts to recover looted funds?

There is no Nigerian that opposes that effort to deal with corruption and to recover stolen funds. I totally endorse it. But there are 2 reservations that people have which I share. One is that we have almost turned that into the sole business of government and two, it is almost as if we are using it as political strategy to distract people from focusing on our deficiency whilst we do other things. We all want corruption tackled but we cannot do it at the expense of managing the economy, at the expense of national reconciliation because the President has a responsibility to reconcile the country when he came in May 2015. He was to have reconciled the Niger-Delta, the South-South. I don’t think we have done that and it has worsened the political climate, and it has even worsened the economy now because of what is happening now in the Niger Delta at a time we need more revenue. We are losing revenue to a crisis through bombing. You will recall that didn’t happen for one year, so there was an opportunity to draw everybody into the tent.

How do you see the handling of this loot recovery?

That is one of the problems we have, this lack of transparency with loot recovery. Where is the money? Where is the Transparency around it? Who? What? Where? Nobody can answer those questions. Now we have an absurd situation in which we are told we have 3 trillion naira in the TSA and we have recovered N1.5 Trillion but we are searching for money to fund the 2016 budget. It doesn’t add up. It is either you did not recover that money or it is not clear what is going on.

So, we need Transparency as to what is going on. I suspect the propaganda around the loot recovery. Is more than the actual loot? It may also be that some of these so called loot recovery are still subject to judicial action.

So, you have taken an interim order of forfeiture pending when matter is resolved. The judge has to rule at the end of the trial to make it final. The bottom line is there is no transparency. There is nobody who can talk with authority.

How do you see the President’s attitude to handling economic issues? Why does he not have a clear cut economic policy?

To be sincere, I think one of the problems we have is that President Buhari has some strange views about the Economy. I think that comes out. I think he believes you don’t have to have an economic policy, once there is no corruption.

You will be ok. Once nobody is stealing we would be ok. There is no economic problem. The problem is corruption. That is not the truth. Yes you must deal with corruption but you must also have very clear, very sensible and modern and rationale economic policy to ensure development happens. No. country develops without a clear strategy an economic strategy that identifies what is your strength? What are you going to promote? How are you going to grow this economy? This is the President’s mindset about the economy. You can see that in his decision not to have economic advisers.

His position is: What do they want to tell me? So, the problem is not about political will. The man has a strong mind set on political will for what he believes in but the man is skeptical about economic management. He does not think it is a big deal. Basically, he probably thinks he understands it, and he probably regards it as grammar and all he needs is for you not to steal and use your commonsense. So he needs to find somebody he trusts, who is strong in Economic issues who he can make a Chief Economic Adviser. If he thinks that puts too much power in one person’s hand he can set up a council of Economic Advisers. That is what the US Presidency does. They then have to the debate issues. There is a chairman. They can have from time to time considered recommendations to the President. But that lack of an economic adviser is not something that is sustainable.

Look the Minister for Budget and Planning is a lawyer, who is certainly not an Economist. The Minister of Finance is an Accountant who is certainly not an economist. The Vice-President is a lawyer. The Vice President economic adviser does not have economic powers. He can’t make decisions.

Then the Central Bank Governor is a banker who is not an Economist and has not demonstrated strong economic knowledge who essentially has surrendered his autonomy over momentary policy to the president. It is a recipe for chaos. And then you have a Vice President who is a Lawyer.

The post Why Pres. Buhari Has No Economic Adviser Or Policy – Public Policy Analyst, Opeyemi Agbaje Reveals appeared first on CityPeople Magazine Nigeria | Nigerian Celerbrities | Entertainment | Stars.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arrested Francis Ayade, a brother to Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River State over alleged N2.4billion contract scam.

Francis, the Managing Director of Leophina Nigeria Limited and Hally Brown International Limited was arrested on Tuesday in connection with alleged shady deals involving diversion of public funds into his companies’ accounts.

It was gathered that four different allocations from the Federation Accounts were allegedly diverted into Hally Brown International Limited’s account owned by him.

EFCC operatives told The Will that the suspect allegedly took a loan of N350,000,000 (Three Hundred and Fifty Million Naira only) from First Bank Plc, on behalf of Cross Rivers Rural Access and Mobility Project to finance a N2.4billion road construction contract awarded to Hally Brown International Limited in 2011.

However, investigations by the anti-graft agency revealed that the loan was unused for the contract but transferred into the Mobility Project.

Also, Francis, who was also implicated in suspicious transactions involving Obudu Micro Finance Bank, has been offered administrative bail but is still in the custody of the EFCC until he fulfils the bail conditions

The post EFCC Nabs Governor Ayade’s Brother Francis Over N2.4Billion Contract Scam appeared first on CityPeople Magazine Nigeria | Nigerian Celerbrities | Entertainment | Stars.

She is one of the pretty actresses in Nollywood. She has featured in so many movies and soaps. But Moyo Lawal hardly grants interviews.

A few days ago, she spoke to City People Publisher, SEYE KEHINDE about her life and career.

What have you been up to in the last one year?

It’s been work, work, work. And of course taking care of family. It’s been a good period. For the past 2 years, I have been concentrating on basically movies.

What has kept Moyo going despite all the challenges?

I think it is the fact that acting for me has always been a job first and foremost. It’s sort of stayed that way because at the end of the day it’s still a job. I think I have been really lucky and blessed. I keep on getting new opportunities everyday. I think acting has been good to me.

 I started acting 2012, that is when I was out of school, that was when I had done my NYSC and I made up my mind that what I was going to do is to act and whatever else I will like to do will come later.

What was the attraction acting had for you?

I was in class one day. One guy called Ifeanyi walked up to me and said you look really young, could you come and read for a series. I went to read for it. And I got the role of Chioma in Shallow Waters which everybody still seems to remember till today. That was in 2005 when I was in UNILAG.

Working on Tope Idowu’s set was an experience that helped to redefine my life. For me then it was just more like extra pocket money income, apart from the pocket money that my parents were giving me Shallow Waters also gave me an income that I could use to play around with. An episode was like N5,000. It was good pocket money and it thought me how to come out of my shell because by nature I am a really quiet person.  Chioma has so many lives and I had to come on set and talk so much. I was in a department that involves so many people coming out of your shell and all of that and I never used to participate and I am earning a living by coming out of my shell. It helped me earn an extra pocket money because then it wasn’t something I thought I could do. I didn’t see myself becoming an actress because I didn’t have any of its qualities. I wasn’t talk, pretty or like any of those people you see on TV. I was just that glasses-wearing, want to read, stay in her room all day kind of person.

What made you continue after your initial attempt?

Because when I meet people on the streets they kept telling me haa Moyo you are so good, this is what you should do. And I am like me act? Noo. It’s not for me. It’s just extra pocket money for me. It’s not something I am going to do for a living.

So what now made you take it up as a profession?

It is very interesting, because I just kept running away from it. I had so many years that I kept running away from it and I kept going back. Like the whole of 2010, 2011. I didn’t film. I just felt like acting for me is a very cool thing but the whole 9 yards that come with acting is what I wouldn’t control or handle. By that I mean the press, exposure, loss of privacy, tension, were a bit too much for me to handle. I was getting so much attention that I do not know how to handle.

I am getting people walking up to me all the time. I just didn’t think it was worth it. I didn’t quite understand why my extra income was bringing me so much grief. So if something happens that I don’t like, I just run and I will tell them I am not acting anymore.

What course did you study?

Creative Arts. The course just kind of shaped me. By nature, I naturally get along with everybody but I am more of an introvert. I do not like to go out. I am not someone you see at every event. Oh no! I think life just sort of shaped me. I am very cool with acting but I am not cool with other aspects of being an actress, like the exposure it gives you. If I have my way I would only come out to act and run back after that.

Has that aspect of you changed?

No it has not. (Chuckles) I still like my privacy. I still like my private life.  Honestly, I am still scared of the whole 9 yards. I am still scared of attention. But I think with time I have sort of grown older and I have been able to learn to sort of manage. It hasn’t gotten easier. I must admit. I think I have learnt that with every profession comes its own downside. So when I made a conscious decision that this was the career I was going to pick in 2012, I decided I was going to just roll with whatever comes with it.

How have you coped with a lot of media attention and the tons and tons of stories written about you?

I read some stories and I shout wao! Who did this? I am like are you serious? Moyo? You did this? But I really appreciate the love the media has for me. It’s not easy to get so much attention. But I think the media need to give me a break.

What has really changed about Moyo since the very first time you started acting?

I don’t think anything has really changed since 2005 or 2012 but I think the difference is that, I am older and I have now made a conscious decision myself, not as a result of people telling me it was fine ooo, but I made a conscious decision myself that this is something that I think I can do. It does not mean it has gotten easier. But that conscious decision just makes it a whole easier for me to deal with a lot of things that comes with acting that I do not necessarily like.

Who is the real Moyo?

Nooo! I am not doing that. The real Moyo is not in any way for public consumption. I think I will still like to keep a few details close to my heart.

The post “I Never Thought I Would Be A Full Time Actress” – Star Actress, Moyo Lawal Tells City People appeared first on CityPeople Magazine Nigeria | Nigerian Celerbrities | Entertainment | Stars.

Read Full Interview On CITY PEOPLE PROPERTY Website

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Read Full Interview On CITY PEOPLE PROPERTY Website

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The wait is finally over and we have the answer to Don Jazzy’s worst day in business. In the exciting 5th episode of the riveting talk show hosted by Forbes Africa correspondent Peace Hyde, the music mogul shares on his most challenging day in business.

What really happened between Don Jazzy and D’banj?

Catch the exciting full episode now!

The post Watch: Don Jazzy Reveals His Worst Day in the Music Business appeared first on CityPeople Magazine Nigeria | Nigerian Celerbrities | Entertainment | Stars.

Real Estate player, Dr. Lanre Shonekan was one of the stakeholders who listened to Housing Minister, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola’s speech two Fridays back in Lagos, when he unveiled his new housing policy at the 1st City People Real Estate Lecture.

Dr. Lanre Shonekan is a leading property developer who in just 5 years, has built LASHONE Property into a big brand that it is today, with several housing schemes located across Lagos, Ogun, Port Harcourt, Abuja and Accra, Ghana.

There is Lashone Estate, Agbara, at Simawa, Ibeju Lekki, Ibeshe, Magboro, Ikorodu. Over the last 5 years, Lashone has created much value in the housing sector by providing mass housing units in a value driven environment at affordable prices.

Shonekan was one of the stakeholders who asked the Honourable Minister questions during the Question and Answer time. He asked him about the state of the Land Use Law and what the Minsiter is doing about it.

Last Week, City People asked Shonekan to analyse the Minister’s speech he explained that, it was a welcome development. “Like the Minister did, “various goverments have come up over the years with new policies. But the problem we have been having is not in bringing up ideas, or creating policies, I think most of the issues have to do with follow through.

From what he said I can see transparency, I see a concerned personality. I see a man who is ready to deliver. From his speech, he is a man who has his facts right. He is not just working from a point of assumption.

He has done a lot of research and work. But we need to look at some of the challenges he will be faced with.

What he has come up with is a policy he is not going to be there to implement. He is going to be working with various sectors, and individuals. He needs to look at the various bottlenecks like land. He does not see any problem with the Land Use Act.

He said the problem is with the system and the people. Land is available, but the problem is with the system, the government people who handle titles and documentation. He has come up with a very robust solution that I see to housing deficiency in this country. With all the prototypes he has put in place, for affordability, with the varous land he has gotten from the states, with the  decision to work together with the various players and sectors in the industry, I see that if we have a well tailored and supervised, also implement these policies and we have people who are drivers of these ideas, I think Nigeria will be rated very soon as one of the countries that has come up with a solution to housing.

What point was he trying to raise at the lecture that day about the issue of land?

“I was trying to emphasise the importance of land. You can’t build without the land. In accessing the land, we are not talking about the land, we are talking of title to the land. This is because land without a title is not a land. The custodian of the title is the government. If you go to apply for a government land, meaning a land that has been gazetted and you want government consent, there is an amount tied to it.

And in the alternative if you want the land cheaper and you go to the land owners you can buy outrightlyy at a price. But then, the cumbersome nature of processing and getting your documents in place can wear you out.

Why I mentioned the Act is because all land belong to the government. That means the governments are custodians of this land. If we have developers who need this land to develop they can come together with the government to develop the land. Even if its at a fee, payment of that fee eradicates the bottle necks of trying to register. So, in all these, land is a key factor to development. If the land is not available, we are going to find it a bit difficult to even provide houses generally.

What are the things the Housing Minister can do to help Property Developers perform better he was asked?

“One we need than to help them with infrastructure which is a key factor in development. Most of the time, we developers go into outskirts or virgin land or areas that we feel are upcoming where land can be cheap but the challenge with such place will be infrastructure, there is no roadnetwork, there is no electrification. With this will make the hinterland to be congested.

Where people call rural today will become urban tomorrow. We have a lot of land wasting all around because there is no meaningful infrastructures in place.

So, one of the areas the government can look out is how to help upcoming developers who can’t afford to pay that luxury for land within developed environment and taking opportunities to the rural areas and see how they can come up with infrastructures, help put up good road network. It can be a joint venture, even at a cost. They should help us to look at water, and also electrification. These are basic things which will help fast track development.

Secondaly, I will also like them to look at the Economy that has to do basically with building materials. Till date we are still importing common building materials like iron. Billions of money have been pumped into many of these projects. We have a lot of imported materials. I heard the Housing Minsiter saying we are going to fall back on about 80% to 90% of local made materials, that will be great.

If we can industrialise it will help developers, most of these institutions can produce the materials we need. Up till now, so many developers import wood they use for furniture.

Same thing with electrification. The fittings are all imported. By the time you look at the cost of importation of all these materials and you put it in the house definitely the house can’t be said to be Affordable.

So let us look at industrialising and embracing how we can use our own locally sound raw materials to produce some of the things we need for building.

Another key factor is funds. Finance is key and it is one of the issues here. We need to look at some of the initiatives exisiting in the industry and ask ourselves some honest questions: Is this process attainable and achievable? How many developers can get the kind of funds that is required for house. There are a lot of bottle necks in the documentation and implementation of some of these funding that has been made available. The Federal Mortgage Banks and the other funds should be made a bit attractive. Let us be sure we have these things. The waiting time to access these funds is long before it becomes your turn. We need funds with low interest rates.

Government should also help us hasten the process of getting registration and titling done. I commend Lagos State about this. I also commend Ogun State. Abuja land has already been perfected. There is no land you buy in Abuja that does not have a title. Government has done extensive mapping.

All the land in Abuja have been mapped. If the government can accelerate the process involved in getting titles out I think it will go a long way. What I mean by the process is that as long as you can submit and count days or months or years, we are good to go.

The instability in government also worsens the situation interms of one administration going and another comes in and contests the policy on ground and already established plans. So you have to start all over again. We should have a substantial continuity in terms of policies that have been put in place in government.

We should protect these process away from people who have their own selfish interest. I think that has been the bottle necks. They are the people who ask for settlements and make sure your files disappear.

The post How Housing Minister Can Help Property Developers – Lashone Property Boss, Lanre Shonekan appeared first on CityPeople Magazine Nigeria | Nigerian Celerbrities | Entertainment | Stars.

Everyone simply calls him M.I. Okoro. But this stylish real estate player is a high chief who has done remarkably well in his field. He is simply in love with real estate. No wonder he convinced his only son to take after him by going ahead to study the same course he studied. A few weeks back, he told City People Publisher, SEYE KEHINDE how he left his trading business to go study Estate Management to help actualize his dream of becoming a big real estate player which he is today.

How did your interest in Real Estate and Properties start?

I started out as a trader. I used to trade in Electrical Parts and partly used clothing. But somewhere along the line, I had contact with somebody who studied Quantity Surveying. And I overheard him when he was telling his brother that he should go and study Estate Management that the future of Nigeria is in real estate. This was as far back as in the 70s.

That was how I first of all knew what is called Estate Management and it stuck to my brain. As providence will have it, I now one day decided that I wanted to go to the University, and what was I going to study? Estate Management. My first choice was Estate Management. My 2nd choice was Estate Management and my 3rd choice was also Estate Management.

I had to begin to ask questions to now those who have studied that and what subjects will lead you on to that. By the grace of God, I had a very sketchy information. But I leant that English, Maths, Economics, Physics, Geography, Chemistry will take me. I said fine, so I did all those. I knew my direction where I am going. So, the journey became easier for me.

One of the motivations was that even in our elementary economics we are taught that the 3 basic necessities of life are: Housing, Clothing and Feeding. Come to think of it, anybody who specializes in any of these components or factors of production or the necessities of life, that person is bound to continue to be in business.

Housing is key. Everybody in this world wants shelter. God created the universe and the earth upon which we live. The physical quantity of land is constant. It is defined by the earth that we can see and touch. And from creation to date, no man had ever increased the quantity of land. But the population increases at a geographical proportion, whereas the supply of land is constant.

So what it means is that the demand for land and housing will be infinitely inelastic. As the population grows everybody wants a house. Every single soul is a potential land owner. So there will always be demand for houses of various types. So also with feeding, same with clothing.

That was why how and where I derive my passion for real estate business. So I went to the University, I read and I came out in flying colours. That was why UNILAG trusted me. I was the first Estate Valuer, in Nigeria to convince the University Senate that they need to value the assets of the University. I was challenged to go and do it. It is more than 2,000 copies with over 200 volumes. If you go to Unilag library you will see all the volumes by M.I Okoro. And it was from there that Bradley University accorded me recognition with a doctorate degree (Honourary Cause) in Business Administration. That is my journey. That is how I got into real estate. And I do not regret doing so.

What happened when you finished at UNILAG? What next?

After university I went for my Youth Service in Gongola State. I made sure that while I was there I was posted to an estate firm. They were the foremost real estate practitioner in the North in those days.

Immediately after Youth Service I came back to the South here to settle. I got my first job at one of the foremost estate firms in Nigeria. I was there for 2 years, and then I moved to the banking sector, where I also had to go and work in the mortgage aspect of the bank. I became the Mortgage Operations Manager of Morgans Savings and Loans (Mortgage bankers). I was there till 1994 and I resigned to set up my firm – M.I. Okoro & Associates. Since then, the journey has continued.

What gave you the confidence to set up M.I Okoro & Associates?

I was driven by passion to contribute my own quota. I was also driven by the passion to explore the industry, to dig deeper to know what the real estate industry had to offer. Up till today, I have had no regrets. I have thoroughly enjoyed it. Honestly, in my life, I don’t do any other thing apart from real estate. I have been able to specialize and focus in real estate and nothing but real estate.

And how has it been?

When my son was going to the university to study, I talked him into studying Estate Management he did. Since when he was a child. I started molding his character. So when it was time for him to go to school, I also continued to guide him. He was able to choose subjects that led him into studying Estate Management and today, he has graduated in Estate Management  from Covenant University. A few weeks ago, when they had their convocation he came out in 2nd Class Upper.

 So, it is still a product of that passion. That made me to ensure that my son goes to study Estate Management. So, apart from me now married to this profession with every zeal, I have also produced somebody who went ahead to study. He will continue to fly the flag.

The post “Why I Left Trading To Go Into Real Estate” – Popular Estate Surveyor & Valuer, M.I. Okoro appeared first on CityPeople Magazine Nigeria | Nigerian Celerbrities | Entertainment | Stars.

Talk of one property developer whose company is doing well in the industry right now and Adron Homes & Properties Limited will be mentioned. While other real estate companies are complaining of low sales, Adron is doing so well, thanks to the aggressive marketing strategy adopted by the MD/CEO.

That explains why everywhere you go today around Lagos you will see Adron marketing executives driving round in branded cars and buses, aggressively marketing their products. And he has over the last few years come up with several packages and offers, the latest now is the Ileya offer, which is currently running.

Last week, this handsome real estate expert, was our guest at the City People Real Estate roundtable session and for 2 hours, ADETOLA EMMANUEL KING blew the minds of City People team with his success story at Adron Homes.

How do you see the problem of Omo Onile?

Its a problem that has faced the real estate sector for a long time. The issue of Omo Onile and land grabbers is a problem that the government has left to fester. Each time people ask me about what I feel about Omo Onile I usually tell them that government themselves are the biggest and major land grabbers because the Land Use Act has helped them. It states that, land can be acquired for public projects and public purpose. Let’s ask ourselves  how many land has  government acquired for public use. All you just see is what they call global acquisition here and there. And when you ask them what they want to use the land for, they have no idea. They can acquire 2 million hectares of land for government purpose. But really for which government project? So at the end of the day, you hear government has sold the land to the Chinese, to foreign investors, and people they collected their land would now begin to ask questions.

So, on this issue of land grabbers we really need to look down at it from their acquisition, on the part of government. When they first acquire that land they promised to build various public projects and things like that.

We need to learn from the United Arab Emirate. When I look at their Land Tenure System or land ownership system, if we apply it, you will see that on the part of both the land owners and the government there is synergy between them. When I look at this system if we apply it, the issue of Omo Onile and Land grabbing issue will totally become extinct. It will not surface again. What they did there is that government is in perpetual synergy with the Omo Onile there. They call them the locale. Nobody in UAE as a citizen will sell land. They have all given their land willingly to the government being the Chief administrator. So when you want to buy land, you will buy it from the Sheikh of Dubai who has acquired the whole land. There is about 70% that will go to the government. 30% of that will go as royalty fee to the family that owns the land. And you will pay a certain ground rent every year. The government will now say the reason I collect 70% is that I will now use the money to reinvest in that land to build the greatest acquarium, the tallest building in the world, and things like that. So you already know what govern ment wants to use your land for. When they build that tallest building investors will begin to come. That is why they said Dubai is the centre of now. The whole world comes to Dubai. When the investors come they will now tell the investors that 51% of the ownership of your business you must go and get a locale. You must go and get a citizen of UAE to be a director in that company. When Adron first went to Dubai and we wanted to have an office, they told us we have to get a local person.

That made me to start probing further that, what is readyhappening here. I have never seen a beggar on the street of Dubai. Their government works for them. They pray for the Sheikh everyday that he should live long. And they treat investors well because you are the cashnow you are the ATM. They treat you well because every money that comes to Dubai the locale is getting out of it.

Now, let us look at Ogun State and  Lagos State. For every land that is being acquired (don’t say you are acquiring for government purpose) Forget about that. But make sure that for every land being acquired the land  owners earn in perpetuity. Nobody will carry guns or chase anybody on the land. The town will be well planned from the beginning make sure the land owners get royalty in perpetuity.

How do you see the new Omo Onile law?

We need to go deeper than laws we need to address the fundamental issues. People see the government as land grabbers. This is the problem. They will say when government takes land, 40,000 hectares, they will find out later that they only need 2,000 for the public projects, the remaining 38,000 hectares, directors have taken part of it some P.A’s have taken some, some have been sold to the Chinese. So they will carry cutlass and chase some people away. It will pain the original land owners that  their fathers land, their great grandfather land is being resold at 2 million dollars or 3 million dollars and the government originally said it wanted to use the place for airport or a public project. What these Omo Oniles to want is for their families to earn in perpetuity and get royalties on that land. Then nobody will carry gun, nobody will be pure. They will protect the investment on that land what these families are saying is whatever project you want to do in that land give us royalties.

The UK has a similar thing there is Social Security. We here have land. Land in our greatest asset from God to mankind. The way the government goes about it gets the families angry so atimes you can blame. So it is not enough to xxx laws and say anybody doing land grabbing will be arrested. Let us look at why our people are carrying guns and doing Omo Onile. Omo Onile has become an industry. We need to look at what is the cause and address it. All the wars that have been fought in this world is about land. We have to be sincere with out land tenure system. What usually happens is government needs about 500 acres but they acquire 500,000 acres. No amount of compensation can justify in any imperpetuity. Never. Lets be sincere with ourselves. Let royalties be paid in perpetuity.

How do you see the recent Housing plan  the minister revealed at the first City People Real Estate Lecture?

It is a nice one. But he is faced with solving a gigantic problem. Solving Nigerias housing problem is a herculean task. All I will say is in a bid to solve the housing problem let there be 6 Housing Ministers in the 6 geo-political zones.

Housing needs, housing design of a typical Hausa man is far different from the man leaving in Lagos.  We need to take stock of the energy demands in the North, Lagos all over. What we need in Lagos is different from their needs in Sokoto. There is no cluster housing in the North. I believe we still need a housing expert to handle our housing issues Fashola is a fantastic person, but he will still need to be asking questions to learn about that sector. That is why all the Minister has been doing since is to convey meetings with experts to ask questions and pick expert  opinion.

But somebody who is an housing expert will hit the ground running. He will just start work. We need experts in these fields Housing like I keep saying is innate, in born thing inside every human being, inside every living creation. And one of the things this country lacks is decent houses. You see them building house without drainages, without good road network. We don’t lack houses, we lack housing, infrastructures.

How do we now resolve the 17 million housing deficit?

First, let’s determine the housing need of each geo-political zone, since we believe that, Nigerian problem can be resolved by political issues. In the North, what do they need, in South, what do they need and in the South West, what do they need? So, when we get our calculation right then we can begin to say this is what they need, in terms of numbers of housing units to be provided.

Can you share with us what you have been doing in the last one year, because we also understand the state of economy has impact on the real estate?

What I have been doing in the last one year is work, work. The Publisher has been trying to get me. He has invited me several times. I have not slept in my house in the last 3 days, from Ogun State to Abuja to Owerri. I just came back this morning. So, all what we have been doing in the last one year is work and when you are working, expansion will follow suit.

Talking about your products  how is it doing?

It’s increasing. If it does not increase we will not expand. In fact, we just opened offices in some places. We just acquired a property in front of our office to expand more.

What are you doing differently?

Well, I will say sincerity. First of all, when you want to start a business, be sincere, have a vision that, this is what I want to achieve. For instance, when I heard about 17 million housing deficit in the year 2000. I said if we were to solve 10 percent, which is about 1.8 million. How do we go about it? The energy from the beginning was to solve 1.8 million housing deficit.

Knowledge is the second thing. You must be able to solve every problem that comes your way in the course of doing that business. Then hardwork is also another thing we  put in place.

How can we have affordable housing and how can we  use mortgage or pension fund to access affordable housing?

Mortgage on its own still have a lot of bottlenecks. If you want to have a decent housing, you will have nothing less than 15 million naira to have a decent 3 bedroom bungalow.

What is the concept of affordable housing? How can someone who earns 50  thousand monthly have access to affordable housing?

The theory of social housing is the job of the government to make it cheap. But like the private developer like ours. I woke up yesterday I heard Dangote Cement is now 2,500. Dangote Cement will not give me free products, land owners will not give me land for free, I will still go and perfect my title document, get C of O, Iron rod is not free, and sand is not for free.

The cheapest of our product, the two terrace houses goes for 12.5 million. Now, housing is not cheap in any part of the world. I keep saying that because when I talk about housing I am not talking about the house. I am talking about  the environment, the road network, the road system and everything put together. That’s what we are doing in most of our estates.

Most of our estates look like Dubai. We make flexible payment plan. Somebody just bought our bungalow house in Grand View at Atan, he is to pay for 5 years. If an average civil servant has been in the government employment for 10 years, the first 5 years of any average Nigeria would first battle with is marriage and settle down. It’s after 10 years an average Nigerian  will think of own a house.

Adron is unique in terms of its marketing style. You are everywhere. Is that a deliberate attempt and how did you come up with that?

I keep saying the demand keeps driving us. I tell my marketers that you don’t need to allow somebody to get to work before you can market them. People are everywhere. People are at the bus-stop, people are attending parties. So any where we can talk we leverage on it. Any where people gather we leverage on that.

If you were to make a case for property developers what will you tell government?

Honestly, we can all work together. We have always been saying this. Government should see us as partners. Like our first project in Shimawa, we are the only estate that has light there. I had to go as far as Ibadan to get light. The electricity project power alone in Shimawa is above 120 million naira.

Government can liaise with us (developers), we can synergise. The issue of land title given by the government, we come together to plan it. I think with that,  Nigerian housing needs would be met. Because government alone can not do it.

But with the current prices of housing materials, how would that help or not help the estate developers?

Under the umbrella of Real Estate Developer Association of Nigeria (REDAN), we don’t only have developers, we have manufacturers. Government can synergise with them and create an alternative use of building materials. Our Imota Scheme, Town Park and Gardens in Ikorodu, we are using bricks just like we have in Amen Estate. And when we look at this technology it’s fantastic. It’s far, far cheaper compared to sandcrete blocks. The bricks are hollow  you don’t need to break the wall to pass the electricity pipe.  And within 15 days the whole house will form. It’s very affordable. Government should start using it.

When you want to build the government house, the government projects, government should use it. It’s what we see that we copy. If government is saying we are promoting local material and we are seeing government houses built with sand and cement,  Let local manufacturer encourage and synergise with government, then a lot of these items will go down automatically.

How many estates do you have now?

For now we have Imota Park and Gardens, Rehoboth Park and Gardens Phase 1 & 2, Grandview Park and Gardenview series, we have the Hajj, we have the Strong Tower Estate, we have the Peninsula… In Treasure Park and Gardens, we have the Glass House, we have Treasure Park, and Gardens, City of David Phase 1 & 2, we have Treasure Park and Garden Golf Estate, and we have Treasure Park and Gardens, Down Town Estate. We have in Abuja and a couple of others around.

What about the US and Dubai?

In the US, we have an office there. We have an office in the UK and Dubai. We have some projects in the pipeline most especially in the US.  We want to acquire 5 hectares for the projects and we are calling it Naija Community Estate. This is to meet the demand of Nigerians Housing needs there. It’s a Nigerian Community, once you go to that estate you see Nigerians speak Yoruba, you can see Amala Joint, Clothing, and Attire.

How do you cope running all these offices? I mean everywhere you go you see Adron Homes?

God has been able to help me, in the sense that we have worked. my first 8 to 10 years experience was with government. I was with Power Holding. I know how a parastatal can work and I used to be a Station Manager. So I know what I need to put in place for a system to run well. When you start of your company you know who to put there.

In terms of Marketing, is that part of the previous experience?

Yes, I will attribute it to that. Work also, I have been privileged to work under CEO’s, I will keep giving kudos to them.

Majorly, PHCN taught me a lot because I was selling a bad product. You know PHCN is a bad product.

How do you deal with the challenges of your customer if you are unable to deliver at the appointed time?

It’s just for you to have a good customer service. We experience that also, especially when you have a strong clients base. Our client base is running over 50,000 client base. So, there are issues at time, it’s not even with us at time. Some of them are highly tempered. And one of the things we do at Adron Homes is we teach our marketers psychology, because they are dealing with human beings.

What informs your new promo. Buy a land and get a ram. How has it helped?

Yes, like we say housing in totality. We live, we move. We are starting our Golden Gate Cemetery. It is a volt, where you can bury your dead. We don’t want to make it like a traditional one. We want to create small, small house for the dead. We want to say that, even when you die it’s a house. This Golden Cementry would be in Shimawa and we are going to have that in all our estates. So, they don’t need to travel to bury their dead or bury them in front of their house. It’s a beautiful place for anybody to bury their dead. It’s also a place where you can go to visit. The project will commence mid next year.

We also looked at the season that’s coming, “Ileya”. People will gather, families will gather. They will be happy they bought a land from Adron Homes and they gave us Ram(s). And after this we are rolling out our 20, 20 Lemon Friday, which will kick out immediately after “Ileya”.

Last year we distributed bags of rice, over 1,000 bags of rice distributed. This year we are looking nothing less than 2000 thousand bags of rice, because our estates and customers are increasing. And people that buy outrightly all our houses, they will not only attend our End of the Year Party with Adekunle Gold, Kiss Daniel and about 3 more of them, they will also go to Dubai, from the 26th to 30th of December in Dubai. And if you buy a land worth 12 millions, you will also be given the opportunity. They will be given a ticket and all expensive pay.

What next should we expect from Adron?

A lot in terms of our housing products, we are getting better and better everyday. Anytime I travel abroad and I see good things I love to replicate it back home because I know housing affects our thinking our development. A boy raised in Akute and a boy raised in VGC there will be a clear difference.

Their developmental growth will be quite different. Their social relationship will be quite differs. So, Adron Homes will continue to set the pace in the housing sector.

The post Why Adron Homes Is Giving Out Rams This Ileya – MD/CEO, Adetola Emmanuel-King appeared first on CityPeople Magazine Nigeria | Nigerian Celerbrities | Entertainment | Stars.

• Reveals How Asiwaju Tinubu Trained Him

+How Late MKO Abiola Gave Him His Alias, Baba Eto

Can you believe that Cardinal Odunmbaku is 70. By the time you are reading this Lagos APC Chieftain and man of God,  that would have celebrated his 70th birthday. He turned 70 last Sunday 4th September 2016. This energetic grassrooter, mobiliser, popularly called Baba Eto because of his outstanding mobilising skills has over the years combined 2 demanding assignments – Politics and the Ministry. And he has done the two so well.

 Although many see him at events and hear him preach only few know his story, how he was born on 4th September, 1946 into the family of late Pa Daniel Somorin and Ajike Jimaima. He had his education at African Church Primary School and African Church Modern School both in Abeokuta between 1955 and 1964. Determined to hit the mark of success and fame early in life, the youthful and promising Omolaja did not wait for too long under his parents after his Secondary Education, he moved to Lagos.

Shortly after moving to Lagos in search of greener pastures, Omolaja got his first job in 1966 at Millet Nig. Ltd. Three years later, he moved to Dunlop Nig Ltd. where he rose within a very short time to become a production supervisor due to hard work and dedication.

Still not satisfied with his attainment at that point, he moved to Nigerian Maritime Services which was then a subsidiary of Henry Stephens Group as a Personal Assistant to the Chairman of the Group, late Chief Henry Fajemirokun. After the death of the businessman, Omolaja Odunmbaku went into private business during which he registered his first Company; Bakujofam and Company LTD which dealt in supplies, clearing and forwarding.

This enterprise subsequently expanded and led to the establishment of the Omolaja Odunmbaku business and political empire.

As a confirmation of his accomplishments, Omolaja Odunmbaku has received innumerable awards attesting to his multi-task personality. Most recent of these are United Nations Ambassador of Peace Award, the 2011, Lagos State Man of The Year Award and European American University Honorary Doctorate Degree (Doctor of Humane Letters D.HI).

He has a rich work experience. He started as Clerical Assistant at Millet Nigeria Limited, Supervisor at Dunlop Nigeria Limited, Director at Everly Brothers, Personal Assistant to MD at Nigeria Maritime Services, Managing Director at Bakujofam Nig. Ltd, Managing Director at J.O. Oduns Farm Nigeria Ltd.

Managing Director at J.O. Oduns Farms Nigeria Ltd, Managing Director/CEO of Highways Managers Limited and Founder of Centre for Humanitarian Support (Drug Abuse Awareness NGO).

He has also had a rich political career. He was Chairman, Campaign and Mobilisation Committee of Action Congress (2007, 2011). The Director of Mobilisation of Independent Campaign Organisation (ICG) 2003. The State Chairman of Bola Ahmed Tinubu Campaign Organisation (BATCO) now “The Mandate Group” (1998 till date), Member Central Working Committee of Alliance for Democracy (1998-2006), Patron of Community Development Council, Lagos State (1992 – 2006).

Prominent Member of Social Democratic Party (1993), Prominent Member of Unity Party of Nigeria (1978-1983), Grand Patron of Jerusalem Pilgrims Association, Lagos State, Patron of Christian Association of Nigeria, Ikeja Chapter, Special Adviser, “HOPE 93” Social Democratic Party (Grassroot Mobilisation).

He is deeply involved in a lot of religious activities. He is the General Overseer, Christ Ambassadors Soul Winners Ministries Int’l, Founder, Cardinal Interdenominational Theological Seminary Inc., Atlanta Georgia, Founder, Cardinal Interdenominational Theological Seminary, Lagos Nigeria, General Overseer Canadian Diocese Celestial Church of Christ Ontario Canada, Member Supreme Council – Celestial Church of Christ Worldwide. He got Dr. of Divinity (Ph.D) – Indiana Christian University in 2000. He received Award of Commendation – The Apostolic Church, Lagos and Western/Northern Areas (LAWNA) Nigeria in 2002. He got Recognition Award – Celestial Church of Christ Majemu Olowa Parish 1, Ojodu, Ikeja, Lagos in 2001. Merit Award – Celestial Church of Christ, Ijaye Olifi Parish 1, Ojokoro Lagos in 2002, Award of Excellence Performance, Celestial Church of Christ, Oko-Oba, Agege in 2002.

He has distinguished himself in community Activism, Conflict Resolution, Grassroot Mobilisation, Leadership and Human Resources Management.

For 2 hours last Thursday, City People Publisher, Seye Kehinde  spent quality time with this outstanding leader of man and Prophet. Excerpt.

Congratulations on your 70th. How do you feel? You are still bubbly, agile strong and you look young. What’s the secret?

Turning 70 years on earth is a thing of joy personally when you look back at all the ups and downs of life and what it actually takes to be a man. The sojourn in practical life, as a church man in your spiritual life, if you are a Moslem in your life as a Muslim, when you turn 70 it is a major landmark. It’s real. It’s a thing of joy. It’s a grace bestowed on me by Almighty.

You are 70 but you keep looking young in the last 70 years, what has not changed about you?

My faith in God. I am rigidly for God. And whoever believes in him will never taste old age or look old. If your faith in God is solid you will continue to remain as young and strong and vibrant all days of his life because the Lord is my strength. I am rigid about it and there is nothing I have touched that is not giving me joy, whether it’s palatable or not. God is the ultimate.

There is nothing that you can do as a man to make me unhappy. What I usually do is if you think you are doing something to make me unhappy, that is when I will dress up, properly, I will sing to God and I will dance. I will come back refresh. That’s the story of my life.

What are the lessons life has taught you at 70?

When things are not going my way, I have learnt that it is just for a while. I should expect good things later because God is not a stagnant God.

That is why there is Sun, Rain. He said I am still I am the same God. I believe after danceness usually is a glorious dawn. I am a believer of Christ Jesus. One with God is a majority. That has been keeping me going. I am happy. And that is the philosophy that I teach all my children and those who come my way or across me. When things are not going your way, remain constant with God, remain happy, remain steadfast, and just pray to him. If things comes your way say thank you. If it does not say thank you. God is there watching. God is on the throne. God is there to reward you if you are steadfast in believing in him.

How did you start life? Whats your background life?

My father is from a Christian background. My mum is from a Christian background. It was very interesting. They are from the Cherubim & Seraphim sect. We have learnt that without God, there is nothing you can do. In that level of believe you don’t go too much outside our way to look for things which really is not coming to realisation. God will do what people cannot do for you. That is our believe. And as I grew up that grew up with me, that helped formed me and shaped me.

I will tell you something that will shock you. As I am a razor has never touched my head. Yes. I can pull off my cap and you can see. I use to leave my head open without wearing a cap until they said to me don’t open your head again, don’t leave your head again always make sure your head is covered. That was when I became a Cardinal. I have never cut my head. You can ask my mum. She is still alive. She is over 90. She can attest to it. I have never gone to a barbing shop.

They have never barbed my head before. I am a born Narcism, I am a Prophet of the most high. So, I believe what God says he will do is what he is going to do. If you like cry if you like don’t cry. What  He will do is what He will do, whether you are rich or poor.

He is God. If you believe in him, he is God. If you don’t He is still God. So you better believe now before it’s too late.

When you were young, what did you have in mind that you were going to do in life?

That I was going to work in the Vine Yard of God. That has been my joy. That has been my focus. That has been my own area. That is my constituency. Where ever I am in church I am happy, I don’t think of any other thing. When I read the Bible I digest it in and out.

Let me tell you another secret, do you know I have never gone to a Bible College? Of course let it be known to you that I have never gone to a Bible school. I have never trained under anybody as a Prophet. I can tell you that I have very rare gifts given to me. As you sit there I know you. I can see through you. It’s deep, incommunicado.

I have never prophesised and they won’t find it to be true, I just say it is as it is. I don’t prophesise to you because you are rich. I don’t prophesise to you because I want to take money from you.

And because of that, God has blessed me. So I am a blessed Prophet. That which is in me is greater that is in the world. Halleluyah!

When did you receive your calling?

From the age of 7. They used to abandon me in the church. I don’t care. I will meet them at home. Usually they will come to the Catechist and say to him, please can you release our boy. They will then be told that it is not the Catechist holding him back but I am the one who doesn’t want to go home. So sometimes they take me back home.

But whenever I am around the church, or wherever they are talking about God either in the Christian way or Islamic way, you will find me there. God did not teach me to segregate or choose one faith or don’t associate with one faith. I associate with everybody.

From the age of 7, I have been like that and nobody can convince me to do any other thing. I used to predict for my father. Whenever I tell my father don’t go out he does not. And if he goes something negative usually happens.

I have always been like that and nobody can convince me to do any other thing, I also tell my mum what to do and what not to do. When I tell my mum stay, she is going to stay.

Whatever I say she does. Like I said to you that is in me is greater than is in the world. I am a born Prophet, a born Narcism, from birth up till now. And as at that time during my birth, my parents knew I would be great. It was prophesised that I would be born and I would be great. During my birth, it was prophesised by the greater Odunmbaku, that a male child is coming to this family Behold Razor must not touch his head or hair, unless he decides at some point to barb his hair and I know he will not and in our family, there is a situation they call Irun Abon. So they will barb right round and leave some here and some there. They did it for my sisters and the other boys but they didn’t do it for me.

Why?

Because it has been prophesised that they should not do so, that nobody should touch his head. It has been predicted that he is going to be a Prophet and he is going to be a big Prophet. So the situation came out of Prophecy. That is why today. My primary constituency is the church and preaching about God, and how he is coming back again to judge us all. That is very certain. So you can see the differences between me and other people, you can see the difference between me and other prophets.

You can see the difference between me and those who make church their company and an avenue to make money. The only thing you can do to make God happy is to make people happy because he said I have created man in my own true image, in my own livelihood, let them at least enjoy the fact that I am God, through you, that I have blessed you, bless others, not to take from them.

Don’t take from them, don’t take the little your congregation has if you do that God will never forgive you. Don’t tell them to go and use their credit card to bring in money.

I, Cardinal James Omolaja Odunmbaku the Prophet of the most high, says God will never forgive you and you will suffer for it. Yu will pay for it. And your children and generations unborn will reap the fruits of what you have sown. That is the gospel truth. I am not saying I am clean. I am not saying I am saint. I am just telling you what God wants.

Where were you born?

I was born in one village in Obafemi Owode Local Government called Olofin in the outskirt of Sagamu, Ipara area. There I grew up. I took my primary education there before I left for Abeokuta to meet my Uncle who was a Principal of a Modern School. I also attended that  Modern School.

Let me shock you. For your information, I did not go to Bible College. The highest educational qualification I have is Modern 3 in 1964. So, you can see I am gifted. And I speak English fluently to you.  Even at that I have become a Doctor of Theology, I have received thousands of awards. You can see that this is not an ordinary ting. It is an act of God. I give Him all the glory, honour and adoration.

And let me tell you another secret which you don’t know. I am a product of MKO Abiola. After his death I continued to serve under Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu who has graciously taken me as his own blood brother, giving me that opportunity to serve in the political arena. I give him that kudos and I pray that God will continue to guide and protect his life and that of his family. Wishing him many more useful years to humanity. I owe him a lot.

Up till now, I am still serving. You have to serve before you can lead. Jesus Christ also served until his death. I have been serving from the days of MKO Abiola to that of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu up till now.

What did MKO teach you?

He taught me a lot. He taught us to give. MKO taught us to be a cheerful giver. He used to tell us that the hand of the giver is usually on top whilst the receiver is under. He will say the hand of the giver is always on top. I used to help him carry his money. He will arrange for money and spend everything on people.

Late MKO Abiola gave me the nickname Eto. He used to call me Eto, Eto. He will say Eto I want us to do this and that. He will say I need you to assemble a crowd of 1,000 people or 3,000 people and in a jiffy you will find them. I will assemble them. I am a mobilize of people. He used to ask: how do you do it? Eto ni eleyi. This is more than ordinary Eto Baba. Baba eto niyan. That was how the name Baba Eto stuck.

He will call his late wife, Simbiat. He used to call her Mummy. He will say Mummy come and see this ooo. Eto I eleyi ooo. I have never seen a human being like that. He gives freely. From his gate you will see a sea of heads. Once he sees people around his house he will tell me in the car, Eto come down, go and give them money. Give them money, one by one. Don’t join them together. He will wait in the car. Often times he will miss his flight. He wouldn’t mind. Every time we always pursue aircrafts on the tarmac . we are always missing our flights.

I am not as rich as he was. But I used to pray to God then to just give me, to tray me and see how I will use the money to help people. I told God if you give me the opportunity to have money I will share it like MKO.

The man is just too happy to be sharing. I don’t understand and he never told me why he was doing that. At the end of the day I realized that his proverbs are true that ok, the hand of the giver is always on top. I can see that he was always on top, getting more and more. And the presence of God was so felt in his life.

After him came Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. This is another big cheerful giver. After MKO, I started serving Asiwaju and I am serving him till today. His own style is even more than MKO Abiola. There is no money that is in Asiwaju’s kitty that he can’t spend, from what I know, that he can’t spend as gift or distribute. He will just call his aide go and bring that money I have there. It could be N500 million. He will start spending.

He is the one that pays the bill of many people from his pocket. The way he spends, I used to have headache. I used to ask him Asiwaju you are not even afraid you may go broke. He says God will take charge. God will provide. He is an optimist. He is right. God is with him and he is still waxing strong. He is not broke. He has never been broke.

Before he asks for money, there are many people who are always ready to spend on his behalf. This is one man who when his enemies are looking for his downfall, that is when God keeps lifting him up. A man who helps people can never go down lailai. That is the lesson of life. He will continue to rise. Join me to say Amen. I mean a big Amen.

Those are the 2 people I emulate. That is why till I die I will continue to serve the people. Abiola kept helping people till he died. Asiwaju has old me his followers that he can never stop sharing and giving out. It is in his DNA. That is him. He trained me and I thank him for that. He taught me how to mobilize and galvanize people.

The post Baba Eto, Cardinal Odunmbaku Opens Up On Life @ 70  appeared first on CityPeople Magazine Nigeria | Nigerian Celerbrities | Entertainment | Stars.

Bishop Charles lghele is the General Superintendent of Holy Spirit Mission Church aka the Happy Family Chapel, and his wife, Carol Ighele, is the Head of Training and Doctrine of the church. The couple is part of a multi-faceted ministry where miracles are regularly recorded. The church’s ministry to the poor, marriage and families has made positive impact on people.

The respected bishop and his wife are the presenters of the marriage and family intimacy (MAFI), a Television programme known as the Happy Family started since 1995. Recently, City People’s GBOLAHAN ADETAYO visited them and the couple spoke extensively on why many men sleep with their maids, why many marriages are daily crashing among other problems in relationships. They also proffered solutions on how people suffering from any of the problems could over come it among other interesting issues you need to know about your spouse. Excerpts:

How did the ministry start?

The ministry started in 1974 by a man named Michael Marioghae. The headquarters was in Benin City and at a stage, I became a Pastor in the Ministry under him, I joined the Ministry in the 80s after I left the University. I became a worker in the church after which I became one of the pastors.

In 1996, the Church founder was 70 years old, so he called about 19 of us who were pastors in the ministry. He told us that God told him that his time was up as he would soon die. He said God told him to hand over to one of us. He called me out and told everyone that I was the person God told him to hand over to. Every other pastor there accepted. He anointed me right there and that was it. Five years later he died.

What brought about the idea of marriage counseling?

It’s a gift that God gave me and my wife, who is sitting here with me. It’s a gift, which requires a measure of wisdom. We found more and more people coming to us for counseling. We started many marriage related programmes and people always come back to thank us.

The vision also came that we should take the message to television to reach more people. We really wanted people to be blessed.

We have never been interested in popularity. All we have always wanted is for people to be blessed.

Can you share with us the most difficult marital issue you have handled?

They are many. I could remember receiving a call many years ago before the advent of GSM, a woman called and told me how fed up she was in her marriage as regards a child that her husband had outside marriage, and she is the legitimate wife. She was really fuming. The marriage was in serious distress from the way she sounded and the things she said. So, I counselled her. We chatted for more than an hour. About a year later, my counselling line rang and I picked. It was a top army officer on the line. He introduced himself and told me that about that time last year, his wife phoned over an issue. He said he was in another room and picked the extension to listen to the call from the other end.

He said that what I told his wife was very matured and he thanked me for saving his marriage. He then said, anyway I’m phoning you for another advice. We laughed. It made me so happy. There have been many instances as that. Many marriages that had crashed have been revived. Many cases owing to one reason or another such as a woman accusing her husband of sleeping with their househelp and, therefore, it’s over because she felt disappointed.

So many cases with odd reasons. We’ve had cases of the man or woman having H.I.V without the other person knowing her/his status and so on and so forth. Things that ordinarily will never bring a marriage together. We’ve been able to help restore such marriage.

What do you think is the cause of many men sleeping with their househelps, because this seems to be rampant nowadays?

You see, the issue of men sleeping with their househelps is rampant as you’ve rightly said. I will let my wife respond to that

(Caro Ighile responds): Men sleep with their househelps when the couple are not on their guards. We are talking about God-fearing men here, who would not ordinarily sleep with their househelps, but somehow find themselves doing it. There is always a division of labour in the home. As the Bible puts it, the man is the head of the home and the woman is the helper. She is the keeper at home. Therefore, according to the Bible, everything about the domestic affairs is for the woman. From what God Himself told Haggai in the Bible when her househelp ran away, God asked her, “why are you running away from your mistress…Go and submit yourself to her.” Therefore, the househelp is under the woman. She submits to the woman. When a maid needs to buy things such as undies, body cream,make her hair or she has to report to the man when she is seeing her period, then there is going to be problem. When it is the man now asking the girl, ‘what’s wrong with you?’, why are you sad?

“Do you have tummy ache? Ok, come and see me in the room’ etc. There is fire on the mountain. There are certain boundaries that must be set in the home. When the woman fails to take charge of her responsibilities and passes them to the house help and the husband takes them up. She is setting up the husband for temptation.

Even if the husband pays the girl’s salary, he must give it to the wife. Also in cooking, it should never get to a level where the househelp is asking the husband, “Daddy, what would you eat today?” So you must know where to draw the line.

Also, in terms of dress, appropriate dressing must be enforced in the home. A man is enticed by what he sees, therefore, the woman must not allow the househelp to dress indecently in such a way that all her contours are revealed and everything is dangling around the house because the man may be tempted even when he didn’t plan it.

So the couple must have rules in the house, as you cannot just come into the kitchen or sitting room with only your nighties on or tie a towel or wrapper around your waist moving around the house. Those are troubles for the man. He should not say, “oh, she is only 14, there is nothing she can do”.

“No, she is a woman and the man seeing her nakedness could be thrown off balance. Sometimes, the househelp themselves could be cunning. She wants to seduce the man. So, a man must be very careful. Then, the man must show his wife love all the time. The housegirl must not be allowed to see cracks in their marriage. The husband must not disrespect his wife anytime, especially in the presence of the girl, such as shouting on the wife and so on. Doing that will make the girl lose respect for the woman. These are just a few of the very many reasons men sleep with their househelps. If you as the man begins to find yourself attracted to the househelp, just send her away.

(Bishop Ighile chips in) As my wife said, when you begin to have feelings for your househelp, the best solution is to pay her off and let her go. If you are a man who wants to save your marriage and wants to honour your marriage and God, let your housegirl go. I know that when a man begins to have feelings towards a woman, his defenses weaken so the strength to even send her away is no where to be found. But struggle with your weakness to send her away. I have handled a case as that where the man has already slept with the househelp. Interestingly, the wife is by far more beautiful, but it’s not a matter of beauty now, it’s a matter of the more you live with somebody the more you see something that attracts you to the person which outsiders might not see.

Thank God the man was able to summon courage and confessed to me. The case was handled by my wife and I. I told him, this is how we are going to handle it; “you would go home and then make some noise and insist your wife pays the girl off and send the girl away. Harp on some of the faults of the girl and insist she must go. Excuses, such as this girl doesn’t cook on time, etc make noise about those petty faults and let her send her away”. Ofcourse, we both knew that that’s not the main reason. The main reason can not be told the wife. He already started a relationship with the girl, but the wife must not know. That was the only solution that saved that marriage.

Another case as that we handled was a married woman who was in love with a boy. She couldn’t help herself anymore and the boy knew. So, when the boy came around, the woman’s defenses would be weakened. So one day, the boy helped her and kissed her and she couldn’t resist. She was happy too. She began to be scared knowing that she is in trouble already. She came to me after somebody directed her.

She asked, “what should I do Pastor I’m in trouble, I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I said ok, this is what you will do. When next the guy comes to your shop, give him a shocker, make noise, cause some drama and embarrass him. Scream at him”.

So she said when he came the next time, she shouted at him and screamed, “get out of here, you boys coming to people’s business to cause trouble and wreak havoc, don’t let me see you around this premises again before I open my eyes, blah blah blah”. So, the woman screamed at the boy and other business owners came around, asking what the problem was, but she told them to just chase the out out of that environment.

And that was how the guy left. She said the young man was shocked. She came back to tell me that when the guy was at a distance, he looked back and saw the embarrassment on his face, then she began to feel for him again and started missing him.

She said she  felt like running after him to beg him to come back. But she said she couldn’t because of the shame as people would think she was mad. She actually thought she was in love. Even up to a week or two, she was not herself, but after the weeks of having a feeling of agony of not seeing the boy again, her eyes cleared.

She became normal and realised that it wasn’t love but infatuation, that was at work.  So, she again came back to thank me. When you find yourself in such a situation, with your househelp, or anyone. As you are getting attracted to your secretary or worker or a colleague in the office, just know that it’s a false world you are in. It’s never a true love. Just ask yourself, how can I get out of this false world?

How do you know a wife material?

You know a wife material. Everyone knows a wife material. You know them by their ways and characters. Most men know a wife material, but they get carried away by the wrong things. The Bible says, by their fruits you will know them. One of the best ways for a man to know a wife material is through interaction with the woman. It’s not hard at all. But a wife material is a wife material.

Many men of marriage age are no longer getting married because they complain that Nigerian women don’t want to settle for a struggling guy. What should be the level of a guys financial strength before getting married or before a lady accepts to marry him?

There are different types of women. You who wants to get married, what is your taste? It starts from you who goes to search for a wife. Are you the greedy type who wants a flashy lady? When you go to pick a happening lady and say you want to marry her, then you will have problems because your salary will become a peanut to her.

Are you also the kind of guy who says you have to hit it big before you can settle down? All this must be considered. But if you truly want a wife, you will get a wife. You only have to go for a wife material.

Anybody can get married anyway, according to the Bible. Marriage is not only for the rich. As long as you have some income and a roof over your head. Even if it’s only a room. Then you plan a better life with your wife. You harness her pay and yours to build a life. So, you cut your coat according to your cloth, not your body size.

What do you also want to say about ladies and men who turn down good prospective partners because of physical attributes, such as he or she is short, not tall enough or doesn’t have six pacs?

When you go to buy a tin of milk, do you buy the tin or the milk?

The milk, ofcourse. So, this is physical. You, as a guy, are not marrying a woman because she is size this or size that. The Bible says, beauty is vain, but a woman that fears the Lord is blessed. So, you look beyond the container and focus on the character. Ask yourself, who is occupying this fine container? If you marry a beautiful woman, with a bad character, you will run to the rooftop later, that’s what the Bible said.

It is better to stay at the roof top than be In the house with a growling woman. When she starts showing bad characters, you will not see her beauty again. So, make sure that beautiful woman has good character. Same applies to a good looking man. But, you might just find a not so beautiful woman with a unique character that brings you peace of mind. So, you ask yourself, what do you really need?

How do you differentiate between infatuation and love?

Infatuation is a feeling, love is a character. Many people often reverse that. To them, love is a feeling. Infatuation is a feeling. Once you see the person, you can no longer eat nor sleep. Your system becomes disturbed. You are talking to her 24/7. Give yourself a break. 3months, 6months, one year or even more. It will go. It’s not real. It will go. But, if you studies a lady, you would see what she is made of. Her values and so on; we can say infatuation is temporary, it has expiry date as every product.

In love, you fall in love with the person’s character. You might physically be attracted to the person at first, then you begin to be more attracted to the content of that person. So that even when you get married to that person and she is growing fat, you don’t care because she has those good contents that keep you loving her.

There was a controversy on social media recently about men not marrying women who can’t cook, what’s your take on this?

It was Pastor Adeboye, who said that,but the man of God has said that the message is not for everybody. He was talking to his church members. What many don’t realise is that as ministers of God, we know the state of our members. We know where we want them to be, so we counsel within that context. Pastor Adeboye said that within the context of the Redeem.

But from a Pastor point of view, what’s your take generally?

The thing is that it is good for a woman to know how to cook. You find a woman, who you love so much, but she can’t make you food, as a young man how would you feel? And I know you’d like good food(laughs). So, I know that you would want to teach her to cook. Pastor Adeboye didn’t say you can’t teach your woman how to cook. People should not get it wrong.

Cooking is teachable. Most woman gets better with cooking. You can learn cooking with practice. So, if you think you can teach your wife how to cook or get her to go learn it somewhere, that means you still agree with Pastor Adeboye. Even my wife, cooks better now than when we first met. People learn on the job. You get better everyday with practice. Even women who don’t know how to cook don’t like it. Initially, you may be good with making only stew, but not much good at making vegetable soup. However, later your vegetable cooking skills could be better.

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The General Overseer of Omega Fire Ministries Int’l, Apostle (Dr.) Johnson Suleman, recently had the South Africa edition of ‘Festival of Miracles’, which was, like others before it, a huge success. A caring preacher and charity agent, Suleman’s evangelistic missions have taken him to all the continents of the world. In this interview, he shares his views on Christianity and modern day challenges. Excerpt…

There are a lot of Christian teachers who introduce ideas that are not biblical.  On the other hand, there are many pastors who teach the word of God faithfully. What would you say is the cause of this discrepancy?

Well, there is nothing we can do about that, it must happen. Christian teachers who introduce ideas that are not biblical* is a fulfilment of Bible prophecy and is the sign of the end time. End time prophecy speaks about the good and the false teachers according to 2Timothy 4:3-4 which says  “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables”. But the only thing we can do is to pray that innocent souls should not fall a victim. And every genuine and godly teacher should do their best to teach sound doctrine of Christ always.

 Some are saying that when you ask that enemies should be scattered with prayers, you indeed mean that we should not pray for our enemies. Is that correct, and what is the true position?

When we talk about enemies, it is deep in the sense that several meanings are attached to it. We have different categories of enemies. We have known enemies who curse or abuse you, or hate you or despitefully use you. All these happen because they are short sighted. You should pray for them to change as Jesus put it in Matthew 5: 43-45. And in Deuteronomy 28:7.

Speaking in tongues is a common affair in the Church; is it really a manifestation of salvation?

Speaking in tongue ought to be a sign of Salvation  because the early Christians who started Speaking in tongues were saved before the encounters with the Holy Spirit that produced Speaking in new to guess came. However, when a believer who is already speaking in tongues backslides, the speaking in tongues might still be there but without potency. It is therefore an empty tongue which has no spiritual bearing. So unsaved or backslidden souls can speak in tongues but the effect of the tongues is the difference.

When the people are subjects to the government, how should they react when the government begins to act in contrast to their expectations?

When there are no people there is no government. In the first place, if there are no people who would the government rule or lead?  People of a community or a nation are to obey the government of the land. In democratic setting, every government comes to power because the people under voted them based on the sweet promises made to the people, if it happens that there is deviation, the people should write the government through their representatives but if that fails, they should cry to God who owns governments to give them a better government because the Bible says God raises one up and brings one down. Psalm 75:6-7.

 Change, is a common slogan these days, especially in Nigeria. What should a real change look like, and how can Christians enjoy change in truth?

The only thing that is constant on earth is change. Change may be for the better or for the worse, whichever one it is change. In my opinion, a real change in Nigeria should be that: There were no job opportunities before for graduates but employment opportunities are everywhere now. Roads were very bad before but all road networks are good now. Government functionaries were looting the treasury and corruption is everywhere before, but no more looting of treasury and corruption now.We  used to import nearly everything before including toothpick but our country is now a producing nation not a consuming nation again and that our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has increased. People are dying before because of inadequate health facilities but well equipped hospitals everewhere now etc. All these would be a change to me. As for how Christians can enjoy change in truth is by following after righteousness in truth which exalt a nation including Nigeria according to Proverb 14:34.

There is the news of attacks on churches and church leaders. Does it encourage peaceful co-existence if we should answer radicalization with radicalization?

In Christianity our God fights for us, but in other religions they fight for their gods. We do not look for trouble but if you trouble us, we will trouble you. If you give radicalization, we shall give radicalization as option for peaceful co-existence. Naturally, human beings are meant to stay together by default but when there is no peaceful harmony altogether, it might be difficult.

 How do you prepare yourself for the pulpit facing a large audience?

When a man is sent on assignments, he is empowered or endowed with the necessary resources needed for the success of the assignments. We enjoy door of utterances from above. That is the major difference. Another factor is when there is no adequate preparation towards facing such large crowd, such minister may become tongue-tied on the podium. In all, performance enhancements on stage are the function of the Holy Spirit at work.

 What do you think are new set of challenges facing men of God whose goal is to proclaim and teach the truth of God?

Men of God called to proclaim the Gospel of Christ in truth cannot be separated from having challenges in their various assignments as challenges are part of the call. Challenges can be grouped into different classes, but the new set of challenges depend on the location of the call, the type of call,  nature of the environment and the Personal lifestyle of the called pastor. In other words, the challenges of a prophet are not the challenges of a teacher or a pastor. The challenges facing a pastor in Abuja might not be the challenges facing another pastor in Ore for example. The challenges of well-educated pastor will not be the same with the uneducated pastor. The general challenge in respective of the call is the flesh and the devil. If these two things are removed, there won’t be any challenge.

 A section of the Christian world seems to have embraced the gay marriage campaign. Don’t you see this as one of the issues causing division in Christianity, and what is your stand on the issue?

On the issue of gay, I don’t have any stand other than the stand of the Holy Bible’s stand. Jesus said ‘it was not so from the beginning’. From the beginning God made them male and female, Adam and Eve.  What is wrong is wrong, and what is good is good as there is no right way to do a wrong thing. And there is no wrong Way to do a right thing. There is nothing to debate on the matter. Those who have been swayed on the part of gay marriage are not Christians but anti-Christ.

How do you think Nigerians should address the spiritual state of the nation? Are we really to trust only in governmental powers and processes to heal Nigeria?

No, we cannot really depend on governmental powers to address the spiritual state of the nation because power and the Government of any nation on earth belongs to God. In Psalm 22:28, the Bible says ‘For the kingdom is the Lord’s: and he is the *governor* among the *nations*’. The government of any nation is upon God’s shoulder. When God decides to remove any load from His shoulder, it’s finished. In other words, any nation God dishonours or abhors can never succeed and it’s finished with such a nation. With God’s intervention, Nigerian government can succeed.

 What are your greatest challenges and achievements as the spiritual head and founder Omega Fire Ministries?

The greatest challenges so far is wickedness in the hearts of men everywhere which is not a challenge to God anyway; and as for the achievements, we have several daily,  weekly, monthly, yearly achievements but the greatest of it all is that we have the Most High God with us in all our ways.

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When former beauty queen, Ibidunni Ajayi, got married in 2007, her expectations were predictable. Like many married women, a leading anticipation of hers was the hope to give birth to children. Her wedding to accountant and clergyman, Itua Ighodalo, was celebrated, even if it was attended with a heat of debate from his previous union.

 Nonetheless, friends and family members rallied around to give them the much needed support, while other interested members of the public attracted by their individual and combined eminence followed with keen enduring attention.

 Close to one decade on, the loathing generated in some quarters at the onset of their relationship has definitely receded. The rumour mill which spewed torrents of lopsided and coloured tales that caused the couple a lot of trauma, even if a bit, has withdrawn, but the pain of those turbulent years live with her still. For one who keeps to herself, the scrutiny of her marriage in the public, led her to sew-up. She reduced the number of persons she called friends to a handful, becoming more and more engrossed with her husband.

 Apparently, the media is one of the perpetrators of the wind of ill-perception blowing around her; so letting this reporter into her Ikoyi-Lagos home was a decision she weighed thoroughly. First, she insisted on a questionnaire against the suggestion she should have a sit-down with the reporter. She would later concede to the one-on-one at her event centre, The Dorchester, at Oniru-Lagos.

  The venue was changed at the last minute with the explanation that artisans carrying on renovation there may distract the discourse.

Smiling with her hand extended for a welcome shake, she waved the visitor to make himself comfortable in her living room. Her publicist, Uyai Abasi, took a seat as well.

‘I have answered your questions,” she began referencing my earlier questionnaire. I took time to explain how a personal encounter brings home the mood and circumstance of an interview. She listened quietly (all the while studying her guest), then she declared her confidence in the one who brokered our meeting. “I trust her. She said we should do it.”

 Incidentally, the Ighodalos are frequently involved in news worthy activities, even if it may be argued that they do not deliberately hug the media. For instance, they have given life to and support a couple of charities. Mrs. Ighodalo’s known trade may also have unwittingly ensured permanent presence for her in the media. As CEO of Elizabeth R, one of Nigeria’s high profile event management companies, she is often spotted at widely publicized occasions.

 However, Elizabeth R was just going to be an appendage at this meeting.

It was agreed that the focus would be on her new passion to bring a cheer into the lackluster life of childless couples through her Ibidunni Ighodalo Foundation, IIF.

IIF is the latest paradox in the life of a woman who makes a job of organizing huge, crowded events, but prefers to remain behind the scene; a beauty queen who does not flaunt her beauty (this trait was displayed when it came to choice of photographs from a recent photo-shoot by celebrity photographer, TY Bello, to illustrate this story. She gently, but firmly refused to allow certain images of her go public; so they will not be misconstrued).

 Her newest contradiction to fund IVF treatment for couples who are hoping to have their own babies is a landmark irony. How can a woman who is challenged under similar circumstances forget her own predicament and turn all her attention and huge resources towards helping others out of the quandary?

Finally, when she started talking, it was in a soft and measured tone like one dwelling on the implication of every word. No doubt her heart was heavy. Often the vehemence in her statements were conveyed in her narrowing and widening eyes and her flying hands. Her voice never rose one decibel above what may be considered normal with her. Throughout the interview, it remained almost a whisper. With each sigh that preceded her response, she yearned to share her heavy burden; to find an understanding soul, apart from her husband. The words came through her teeth, almost without parting her lips. “I have heard stories of in-laws calling the woman painful names. Those are hurtful things to say. There are names you don’t want to call a woman that is looking up to God.”

 She continued to share her experiences. “People may not want to be mean, but they don’t know that certain statements and body language hurt. When you are waiting on God, you can be sensitive to what people say or do and they might not know it will hurt or hit you. It is good to raise awareness and understanding about childless couples. Friends and relatives should be a bit more sensitive to women or couples who are waiting on the Lord. I know that because of our culture, the pressure is so much. The shoes of women who are waiting on the Lord are not very easy shoes. Emotionally, mentally and psychologically, hormonally, when you are going through treatments, it’s a rollercoaster-you deal with in-laws, society, friends, there’s a lot going on.”

 “People who get married and have children don’t know how lucky they are. I mean you are even careful not to get pregnant again, you are so blessed by God, you should thank God every day. It is not easy to find yourself in a situation where your friends are doing school runs, you don’t know what that is, you don’t even know what your first trimester is. The friends you had bridal showers with are having baby showers, it takes the grace of God to remain sane, honestly.”

 Today, she hid her tears. But you could tell a woman who had previously cried her heart out. In fact she was not ashamed to confess she was frequently given to such emotion in the past.

On her 35th birthday last year, she decided to turn the lemon that life had thrown at her into lemonade. It had become her fashion to write a wish list on the day she was born and then tick-off the accomplished ones on her next birthday. Every year, she scored high on every point, but one: the issue of childlessness had become a sore point that could not be addressed. She had prayed and sought different avenues for a medical solution, but the problem just could not be wished away. Although she enjoyed the understanding and love of her husband and in-laws, the quest for a child consumed her.

 “I had tears in my eyes when I told God, ‘you know what? This is enough. You are going to do it when You want to do it, in Your own time and if You are not going to do it, let it be left undone. This is You. I trust You. Right now, it’s ok, I’m going to live my life. I found out that I had stopped living, because that was all I wanted. I said no, I’m going to be happy, live my life and leave it all to God. I’m grateful to God for my own family, for the family I’m married into.”

 Those statements to God with tears in her eyes opened a window to air her bottled emotions. It lifted a huge weight off her shoulders. As she cleared her mind of the cobwebs of trying to have a baby, she was amazed to receive one of the most altruistic ideas with clarity. Her husband was no less enthused when she shared the idea with him.

 “My focus now is to help others, one at a time. I want to make a family happy and with the help of God, their prayers would be answered. I know the pain and what it feels like. It will give me joy to see them jumping and rejoicing, saying that they are expecting their own children. I have seen it happen. I have seen the two sides during my course of treatment. I said God help me, let me do this. When you focus on helping others, you don’t know the blessings that come back to you. It is difficult but I said Lord you have put this in me, You have to provide. You know when God gives you a vision, He makes the provision. I have been amazed at the response. It is unbelievable.”

 “When I was going through some treatment, I would get to the clinic and someone who has just done a pregnancy test was being told that it didn’t work, it was always so devastating for me to hear them wonder aloud where they would get money for the next treatment. I have met women who came to the hospital to get the treatment but they couldn’t afford it. Some couldn’t even afford the test to know what was wrong. I have also met women who decided to share their burden, this is how financially draining this treatment can be. If you have extra eggs, you can sell them in exchange for the treatment. When women share eggs left from a successful IVF on another woman or they use the woman’s extra cycle that has been paid for, these are ways women support one another because getting an egg donor can be very expensive.”

 Mrs. Ighodalo is further challenged by her ecclesiastical responsibility as the wife of a pastor. Parishioners at the Trinity House in Oniru-Lagos where her husband presides, call her ‘Pastor IB’. “I think you have to be called by God to be called a pastor. You know how it is when they say two have become one. Automatically, when they call your husband a pastor, they call you a pastor, as well. I’m under the leadership of my husband. I’ve learnt from him and I’m still learning. I’m just taking it, one day at a time. I provide a support system for him. I believe that being by his side is what God has called me to do. I lead sessions of prayer. I do that more. We all pray and should be able to lead prayer sessions. I allow the spirit of God to lead me. There is no pressure whatsoever from my husband. He just allows me grow and learn as much as I can.”

 Lucky to be surrounded by experienced and loving women in church who work in concert with her through a group called ‘Timeless Women’, they pray, hold business sessions, deal with issues on parenting, singles, the elderly, mature singles and try to meet as many needs as possible in the church. “I have ministers’ wives in church who help me to fulfil these dreams. They are so supportive. Some of them guide and teach me because they are much older. God has blessed me with the support system of women who have those skills to deal with the elderly ones, mature singles, women with the issue of the fruit of the womb, single parents. They surround me. I’m everybody’s mother.”

  It is only when she puts on the toga of a matriarch that she sometimes sees the humour in her situation. “It is so strange and funny, but when you sit back and think about it, every family has somebody who is waiting on God for a child. The person might be your cousin or mum’s sister. There are certain ways we will treat the person. But do you know that there are certain ways we treat somebody else coming into our family with the same issue? We don’t treat them the same. It is not intentional. If you have in-laws who are not nice to you, they will think it’s your fault. They will call you names, talk down on you. If your in-laws have somebody in their family who is waiting, they will never speak to the person like that. We really need to have a support system and also learn to put ourselves in other people’s shoes.”

 The interaction had been cordial with Mrs. Ighodalo markedly toning down on her cautious approach to answering questions as the interview progressed. Her husband came home as the reporter made to leave. As she moved into his arms to welcome him, he looked from her to the departing visitors. The query was not uttered. It was in his eyes. She understood and went on to explain my mission in their home. ‘I will see you upstairs’, she said, disengaging from him to see us off. Before we left, she showed another side to her that is not frequently in the news. She loves pets and keeps different breeds of dogs. As she approached their quarters and called out, a couple of the canines bounced towards the iron gate separating us from them. ‘Let them come and greet you,’ she offered. She laughed when her publicist and this reporter cringed at the suggestion, but thanked her, nonetheless, for the hospitality.

 Right now, Mrs. Ighodalo, who is a graduate of Microbiology from the University of Lagos, is using the platform of IIF to award grants for fertility treatment such as In Vitro Fertilization (IVF), Frozen Embryo Transfer and Intrauterine Insemination. She was forced to change her initial plan to help one or two couples when she received tons of applications. The plan has now changed to accommodate 28 couples. “There are some couples that have applied that have been married for between 20 and 25 years and when I read their history, they have come to a point where they are tired. I even found out that it was their family that applied for some of them. A lot of people have asked me why I don’t face my life, why am I trying to be Mother Theresa. What is it? Is it that you have so much money you don’t know what to do with it. I can’t even explain it.”

 Mrs. Ighodalo is not new to charity. She described herself as a great supporter of a motherless babies home called, Heritage Homes, and as one who is actively involved in Lydia Grace, a foundation for socially challenged women. Working for this particular charity demands that she goes out on the streets (sometimes at night) to engage, re-form and re-habilitate delinquent women.

 She also supports her brother’s charity called Biire Foundation- for malnourished children, women and HIV patients. Another great passion of hers is to lend whatever form of support she can for youth causes.

 However, IIF is a pioneering work as there is currently no other charity with similar objectives of educating people and promoting other forms of becoming parents and providing a spiritual, mental and psychological support system for couples/families. The importance of IIF as espoused by Mrs. Ighodalo is to help address the prevalence of couples in this situation, while providing enlightenment on the causes of infertility and ways it can be dealt with.

Culled: ThisdayLive

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Until his recent appointment into one of the parastatals of government, Sunday Dare was Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s Chief of Staff. Over the last 15 years or so, Dare had worked closely with Asiwaju as a key member of his kitchen cabinet.  Recently Sunday Dare turned 50 and he told City People Publisher, SEYE KEHINDE about his former boss.

How did you start working for Asiwaju Bola Tinubu?

It wasn’t planned. During my youth service. I actually set out to work in a media house, The Nation Newspaper in Abuja.  I later joined The News magazine. I was lucky. I was one of the founding journalists and researchers to be picked to work there. That was in 1992.

In earnest my real professional career as a journalist started. My real field reporter work and interviews started.

Then came PM News, Tempo and then I moved to New York University. I became a Journalism Scholar.  I studied journalism for a term of 6 months or 7 months, came back and continued and it was during the Abacha years when we were fighting dictatorship.

Then I won the fellowship to study at Harvard University. It was the Neimen Foundation. That, in itself, was a turning point. As soon as I finished the Voice of America, another media organization gave me a job as the Chief of the Hausa service within the Africa Division of the Voice of America in Washington DC. I was there for almost 9 and 1/2 years until one of the Ministers invited me to come and be Senior Media Adviser so I took a kind of leave to come and work with her.

After 5 and 1/2 months everything was different, things were not working.  Then I knew there was a difference between The Journalistic World and The Political World.

So 5 and 1/2 months down the road, I resigned. I went back, you know you never really leave journalism. I went back to Oxford University to do academic research in media studies. And I focused on Social Media and Citizen Journalism. My case study Principally was Sahara Reporters. I did an academic research on them, Qualitative and Quantitative. Then, I came around to Nigeria on a visit, met the same people I know, Tinubu, Aremo Segun Osoba and during our discussion Asiwaju Tinubu said, ‘Sunday, You know what? I think you should come back home, I said sir, I want to go back for my Phd. He said, what?

We have work to do. This country needs people like you. The opposition needs to come to power and I think you have a role to play’.

I thought it was a joke. And I stayed one week, two weeks, three weeks. It became 6 months, 1 year. And then we started that process and then 2015 happened. And Buhari came to power. That’s it.

Your relationship with him started when?

When he became a Senator. He was in Abuja. I was in Jos for The News as a Middle Belt Correspondent because Abuja was also part of the North Central and Middle Belt area I was brought to Abuja a few times from Jos to cover stories. He was Chairman of the Appropriation and Finance Committee. He had a very close relationship with the  media.

He was a delight to interview, brilliant, articulate. He was also willing to give you the details you don’t get from others. My Editors in Lagos then told me ‘you better stay close to this man because he is going to be able to give us stories’. He loved our magazine, The News then. So, we got close to him. We got News. We got information, papers that you won’t get elsewhere. That is how it all started. That is how I knew him. And then Abiola happened. I was in Jos. The convention was in Jos. I covered the convention. For 5 days I never slept.

I followed every meeting. I was close to all the gladiators. We got close.

And then June 12 announcement  happened and then NADECO era came. I was on top of those issues.

So, I have know him for upwards of 17 to 18 years or thereabout.

When did you start working for him?

You see, when you know someone from a distance, and when you are a reporter reporting, sometimes you don’t dwell on what this man is really about. I started working with him at a distance, in short spells, he calls me I go and see him.

I go away. In a couple of months, he calls me again and I go and see him. That now changed to having to work with him on a daily basis  18hrs to 20hours, 7 days a week. And it is not as if I am working and he is sleeping. No. He is always awake. So you have to be awake with him all night.

 Yes, atimes I can doze off but when he says ‘Sunday, I need this’. You have to give it to him. In 30 seconds, the sleep disappears and I have to hand it over to him.

So, in Asiwaju Tinubu, I have found a man who like Awo said in several of his books, when other men are busy carousing at night, he is busy thinking of how to solve Nigeria’s problems.

Sometimes I sit down in his house at Bourdillion and watch this man sit and hold 3 to 4 meetings simultaneously in different sections of the house and it’s a Friday night. Atimes my mind will wander off to other things I could be doing on a Friday night. We can sit down there for the next 7 hours. We are arguing this and that, he is asking me, Sunday, what do you think about this and that? I found in him a man who is committed, who is principled, just set in his ways. A man who says I will rather spend time listening to people and trying to solve problems or also thinking through what is happening, reading through developments. He would ask, ‘who are the actors? What can we do in this area?’

For me, in the last 4 and half years, if I was sharp at all, I can say I am sharper now. If I was deep at all before, I am deeper now, in terms of intellectual depth. The one I will be forever grateful for is the political tutelage.

I used to see myself as a Journalist. Am I a Politician now? No. But I have been able to see. I have been an eye witness to power, eyewitness to political intrigues, the compromises, even some of the backstabbing. I have been able to learn first-hand about political strategising, consummate politics, about keeping your political enemy really close and then waiting for that time to slaughter them, and then you move on. I think the most important thing I have learnt from Asiwaju is compassionate politics. I see him being able to juggle the world of real politics, when you have to be at alert. When you know that in the room you are, every single persons, sitting in front of you has different ambitions and goals, waiting for that opening to deal with you. And  they make it hidden. He is able to then come to that people centered politics of compassion. A mighty former Governor or Minister comes, he attends to them, that ordinary frustrated job seeker will say ‘haa! My dad sent me to you because he believes in you, He sits them down on the same chair in his office and says to them, ‘I will help you’.

How many people can really do this? And all sorts of people come and he says, ‘don’t worry I will see you’. It might take time but I will see you. One day, somebody waited till 4am.

By that time Asiwaju was so tired. And I said sir, ‘I am going to sleep and he said Sunday, that last guy we have to see him. We must listen to what he has to say, even if we can’t solve it. And the guy said the mere fact that he waited to see him for 5 minutes is enough.

You have made my day. I cannot recollect if we solved his problem that day but Asiwaju saw him. He listened to him.

Do you think he has been misunderstood?

Of course, yes. Like most great men, Asiwaju has been misunderstood, I have seen several situations occur. I have seen him react differently in a way people would not have expected him to react. I see the comments he makes when you think he would have flared up and he won’t.

Atimes when you really expect him to flare up, he would just smile. He will say to you this is just politics. He will say call him for me, let’s talk it over.

Sometimes he will say I am not going to say anything. There are times I will be angry about some things said about him that is not true and I will write a reply or a rejoinder. For crying out loud, I am the Special Adviser, so I am supposed to respond to issues concerning him. But he will say no.

Don’t let’s reply, ‘Atimes I will write a response with all the venom, I will give him he will say, no. Keep it.’ One day I wrote something blistering. I was just angry. I can’t recall what it was. And he says to me look youngman, is your name Tinubu? I said no. He says if you want to, you can put your name on it, but don’t put my name on it. Take my name off it.

He said in fact before you do any press release again, you must let me know. I was ready to fire. He was looking at the larger picture, what the impact will be. He has a statesman like spirit. He says before you take this decision, how does it affect your immediate constituency? How does it affect national politics, even at the state level?

So he is meticulous. Sometimes you will think he is slow. When he takes some of these decisions, people still think he took it out of selfish interest. No. If you look back and see some of the decisions he has made in the past, by and large he has made some very correct decisions. He is greatly misunderstood.

And as many people that come to sit with him, spend time with him, do politics with him, they have left with a different view, so many of them have left with a different impression, that we really didn’t know that this man is like this. They have gone out there to say you don’t know this man.

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