HARVEST OF DEATHS · Two years after man died following cassava meal, his three children suffer same fate

By SUNDAY ANI (NICHSUNNY@YAHOO.COM)

For two years, the Ezeugwu family of Amokwu-Enu Obukpa in Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu State has been harvesting deaths. In 2011, the head of the family, My Lawrence Ezeugwu, a senior driver with the University of Nigeria Nsukka, died after eating a cassava meal suspected to be poisoned. Three months later, his son, Chinedu, was assassinated.

In July this year, three of his children also died after eating a cassava meal and one of his wives, was suspected to be responsible for the deaths. On July 30, 2013, the woman was accused of killing three of her step-children through food poisoning. The traditional investigation method adopted by the community had implicated her as the brain behind the deaths. She protested against the outcome of the investigation, insisting she was innocent. However, nobody gave her a chance. She could have lost her life in the process, as the youth of the community demanded for her head.

The embattled woman escaped unhurt physically, but psychologically, she had been bruised. She was allegedly banished alongside her three children from her husband’s village.

The story of how three children of the same mother died after eating a cassava meal at Amokwe-Enu Obukpa in Nsukka Local government Area of Enugu State struck the University Town like an earthquake. The three children, Ikenna, Chinecherem and Nnenna Ezeugwu were said to have developed some stomach problems after eating cassava meal in July, and eventually died.

Their mother, Mrs Anthonia Ezeugwu was said to have travelled to Onitsha, Anambra State, where she had gone to look after one of her daughters who was newly delivered of a baby. She was reported to have said that her children were certainly poisoned because she took a portion of the same cassava flour to her daughter’s house in Onitsha and they had eaten it and nobody had any problem. She also said she had eaten from the same cassava flour with her children before she left for her daughter’s house in Onitsha.

Enugu community battles native doctor over land · They are jealous of my fortunes, popularity – Native doctor

By SUNDAY ANI (NICHSUNNY@YAHOO.COM)

Abbi Community in Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area of Enugu State was turned into a mini-war theatre when on November 15; the people of Nrobo, a neighbouring community invaded a housing estate belonging to a native doctor, Emmanuel Udoji. Dr Udoji, who said he is a native of Abbi acquired a massive parcel of land which extended into Nrobo community, where several units of housing are being constructed. According to the native doctor, he had embarked on the construction of a police post having obtained permission to do that following incessant robbery attacks on his clients along the road leading to the community from Baracks junction in Nsukka to Nimbo in Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area. A police post and a cell had already been built with quarters for some of the police officers who would be posted to the community. He said he had also applied and obtained permission to establish a neighbourhood watch in the community. He had also erected structures to accommodate members of the neighbourhood watch to be formed in the community. But, the bubble burst and hell was let loose when on November 15, the scheduled date for commissioning of the projects, the youth of Nrobo community came out en masse to resist any attempt to commission the structures, a situation which eventually degenerated to the burning and pulling down of some of the structures. The angry youth eventually chased everybody away from the event centre including Dr Udoji, who ran into hiding. The police team from Nsukka Area Command which was alleged to have gone to witness the commissioning of the police post, cell and quarters, also disappeared when the angry youth surged with different lethal weapons.

Dress to kill • The problem of indecent dressing

By SUNDAY ANI (nichsunny@yahoo.com)

Until now, when people are said to have dressed to kill, it was a complement, as it means that such a person has a sense of fashion. Today, dressing to kill may mean a different thing. This is so because ‘dressing to kill’ could be a way of talking about indecent dressing.

Daily Sun observes that many young Nigerians dress indecently and therefore, insult the sensibilities of others. Though indecent dressing is not restricted to a particular sex, women are the major offenders, as many of them now adorn clothes that leave little or nothing to imagination. Super-short, skin-tight and curve hugging dresses are the in-thing.

Indeed, boobs, lap and ass barring are now the vogue. As it is in the make-believe world of movies, so it is in true life.  Everywhere you go, it is the same story. Even worship centres, which ought to be revered, are now being desecrated in the name of fashion. The situation is such that in some churches, certain classes of ladies are not allowed to sit in the first three rows because of the distraction they create with their outrageous fashion statements. And weddings have become “breast day,” as bribes display their breasts for all to see. 

Changed world

Indeed, breasts used to be the pride of women, especially in these climes. Not any more. Now, women breasts are cheap commodities. Women figuratively slap men with breasts every now and then even without solicitation. Sometimes, the nipples are clearly exposed through the see-through dress.

Speaking on this, Pastor Tony Ukaegbu stated: “Our women have gone gaga with their mode of dressing. Indecent dressing has become the order of the day. It is now normal for women to go nude, all in the name of being fashionable, but unwholesome exposure of the body in making a fashion statement is a subtle way of announcing the level of irresponsibility that has bedevilled our women. Indecency has lowered the level of prestige and respect usually accorded women. It is, indeed, disheartening to see even those that claimed to be married joining the bandwagon. They act as if a pageant will be held to determine the best nude dresser.”

Ukaegbu further said that the Bible “has admonition for such in Proverbs 7: 10 concerning the attire of an harlot. But unfortunately we cannot differentiate any longer those living in brothels and those who claim to come from decent homes. That is the dilemma we have found ourselves in.”  

The dresses making the fashion headlines among women include, Tank tops, bum shorts, tube tops, micro mini, low waist jeans and pants, jeggings, body hugs, crazy jeans, see-through blouses and spaghetti tops among others.

Mile 2-Badagry road: Journey of 30 minutes, now five hours · Badagry residents recount ordeal, losses · Businessmen flee Nigeria, as people die every day on the road

By SUNDAY ANI (nichsunny@yahoo.com)

“If you drive from here (Badagry) to Lagos, you must use Panadol when you come back to relieve the pains sustained from the road. And there is no way you won’t change one or two things from your vehicle if you go to Lagos. If you don’t want to repair anything in your vehicle, don’t go to Lagos but the moment you decide to go to Lagos, be prepared to change one or two things from your vehicle and that is the fact about it.” That was how the Secretary, Road Transport Workers Union, Seme Kweme, Alhaji Akeem Sanni captured the condition of Mile 2-Badary Expressway for the residents of Badagry and its environs when our reporter spoke to him.

Alhaji Sanni is just one person among many residents of Badagry-Seme axis who have described their experiences on the road as nightmarish. To them, the road is a direct visa to hell as many people perish on it every day. They felt abandoned and rejected by both the federal and state governments that have kept deaf ears to the plight of the Badagry residents, despite reports of the number of accidents on the road every day.

They couldn’t understand why the road has not been fixed despite huge sums of revenue that federal and state governments rake in from Badagry and Seme border. To them, the action is foolhardy as they alleged that most businessmen who come to Nigeria from the neighbouring West African countries have all abandoned Nigeria for Ghana because of the road.

The complaints of residents of Badagry-Seme axis about the road, was confirmed when Saturday Sun reporter embarked on a journey from Mile 2 to Badagry to have firsthand experience. Talking about the road, the driver of the bus that conveyed him had said: “To say that the road is bad is an understatement; from Agbara end of the road to Badagry on both sides, the road has gullies at every 100 metres. In some places, you will discover that the road is cut into two. It is too bad and this is an international road that links other countries like Benin Republic, Togo, Ghana, Sierra-Leone and others. Before now, from Mile 2 to Badagry was just about 30 minutes drive but today, we spend two to three hours and when it rains, it could be anything around six, seven hours or even more.”

Child labour (Sunday, November 24, 2013) How 16-year-old Ghanaian was rescued in Lagos

By SUNDAY ANI (nichsunny@yahoo.com)

When a Non-Governmental Organisation, the Patriotic Citizens Initiative (PCI) took its campaigns against trans-border human trafficking, especially on teenage girls, to Mile 2 International Park, Lagos, it was because of the strategic nature of the garage. The organisation has recently, in collaboration with the National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons and other Related Matters (NAPTIP), taken the campaigns to the garage soliciting the collaboration of the Road Transport Employers’ Association of Nigeria, ECOWAS Chapter, in the fight against child trafficking, since the garage has been identified as the exit point to West African countries like Ghana, Benin, Togo, Sierra-Leone etc. The executive members of the transport union had promised to collaborate with them to eradicate such evil activities along that coastal route.

And to make good their promise, the PCI Director and Founder, Osita Osemene, was promptly informed when a 16-year-old Ghanaian girl, Fidels Abbas wandered into the garage on October 30, 2013.

From her account, she was a victim of child slavery who was running away from her tormentors. The innocent-looking teenager was bundled from Ghana to Nigeria in 2011, when she was barely 14 years old and dumped at Ibadan by her own mother. She said her mother had deceived her that she was coming to Nigeria to live with her senior aunt. But surprisingly, the couple she was handed over to were not Ghanaians; they were Nigerians.

Cradle snatchers (Monday, November 25, 2013) · Scourge of child rape · Why it’s on the increase

By SUNDAY ANI (nichsunny@yahoo.com)

Recently, cases of adults defiling minors have been on the increase. Female children between the ages of one and 10 years have suddenly become endangered species. They keep falling victims of these depraved rapists. To make matters worse, men in their 40’s and 50’s are actively involved in this evil act.

In the last five months, cases of child rape have become rampant. Even the National Assembly had taken the matter more seriously, although, the lawmakers are trying to take a holistic look at rape generally and find a lasting solution to it. Instances of few cases within the last five months will suffice.

On Tuesday, July 16, a two-year-old baby, Favour Okoye, a pupil of the Salvation Nursery/Primary School, Shibiri, Ajamgbadi in Ojo Local Government Area of Lagos State was reportedly raped by an unknown adult in her school. According to the baby’s mother, Mrs Okoye, “On Tuesday July 16, when their school driver dropped her around 4pm, I discovered she was feeling dizzy and sleepy; a condition, which was unusual because each time she came back from school, she would always play before she slept but on this occasion, she came home feeling sleepy. She was saying, ‘mummy see’ but I couldn’t make any meaning out of it. I simply dismissed her as a talkative; the driver even smiled. As I put her on my shoulder, she slept off. When I was laying her to sleep, she opened her legs and I saw blood in her private part and I rushed out but it was too late as the driver had zoomed off.”