Category Archives: Africa
Etisalat Begins Hunt for Future Star with Abuja Audition of Nigerian Idol Season 3
The surprise of the show was the appearance of Afrobeat Icon Femi Kuti as a judge on the show, replacing Charlie Boy from last season. Watch the interview with Femi as he shared his thoughts on the show and his expectations from the participants.
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Capital Oil Boss Ifeanyi Uba Granted Bail
The committee discovered gross abuse by many marketers and reported the case to the police. He was released this evening after he fulfilled his bail conditions.
Nigeria: 33 feared dead in Ogun as Coaster bus plunges into River
‘’All other efforts to locate the vehicle and the victims proved abortive, the operation will continue over the night as we are not going to relent in our efforts,” she said.
VIDEO- Thief Burnt To Death In Broad Day Light in Warri
Lucky Dube: Who are Killing the Prophets of Reggae?
Ironically, the late Lucky Dube in one of his hit tracks lamented how evil forces were “killing the prophets of reggaeâ€. Alas! He another prophet of reggae has fallen victim to the same fate in the hands of agents of evil. When the legendary Bob Marley died of cancer in 1981, most of his fans worldwide believed and still believe that there was more to his death than met the eyes. This suspicion of foul play is heightened when viewed against Marley’s 1976 narrow escape from the assassins’ bullets. In 1987, Peter Tosh, another reggae great was shot dead by three evil emissaries, two of whom were never caught. Lucky Dube is the latest casualty on the list of reggae musicians cut short by agents of darkness.
Sequel to the above, one is forced to ask, who are killing the prophets of reggae? Over the years, reggae music has come to be associated with the fight for justice, equal rights, pan-Africanism, liberation of the oppressed, good governance, as well as the fight against apartheid, colonialism, neo-colonialism, man’s inhumanity to man and other social vices. These ideals were popularized in the lyrics of Marley, Tosh and other reggae pioneers. And succeeding reggae artistes like Lucky Dube took over from where they stopped and have maintained the tempo ever since. Once accused of fighting the whites (his father’s race), Bob Marley was reported to have answered that he was fighting the bad system and not personalities, but it happened that the bad system is ascribed to the whites.
Reggae musicians, otherwise known as Rastafarians, revere and deify the late Emperor Haile Sellasie of Ethiopia for two reasons. First, he is acclaimed to be a descendant of the Biblical King Solomon of Israel. Second, Ethiopia remains the only African country which was never colonized. They identified themselves with the cause of African irredentism, liberation, total independence and unity. In one of his songs, Marley urged Africans to unite, while Peter Tosh reminded all blacks in Diaspora of their African origin. Their commitment to the African cause is only comparable to that shown by famous pan-Africanists like Marcus Garvey, Kwame Nkrumah, Julius Nyerere, etc.
It is very unfortunate that both Peter Tosh and Lucky Dube were killed by fellow blacks (Africans). Were their killers acting for themselves or as agents of faceless, but powerful external forces? Is their murder the handiwork of persons who felt pricked by the messages contained in the lyrics of their songs? We may never know, except courtesy of an in-depth and thorough investigation which may throw up some startling revelations. Nevertheless, it is an irrefutable fact of history that the West has always been suspected of involvement in the overthrow or assassination of almost all genuine African leaders such as Lumumba, Sellassie, Nkrumah, Sankara, etc whose resolve to uplift Africa from neo-colonialism and dependence they loathed.
Lucky Dube, through the instrumentality of his songs, fought the repressive policy of apartheid and other societal vices, identified with the oppressed and urged that the Blackman be accorded the respect and dignity due to him. It is worrisome that the selfsame blacks he fought for turned around to kill him. He was not consumed by the forces of apartheid which he denounced through his songs. The circumstances of Dube’s death and the rising incidence of violent crime in South Africa in recent times compel one to wonder if black South Africans are not more vicious on themselves than the agents of apartheid were on them. We cannot justifiably blame whites always whenever blacks turn against fellow blacks. Could the high crime wave in South Africa be traced to high-level unemployment and the use of youths as thugs and hired assassins by politicians as obtains in Nigeria? Whatever be the case, it is high time the South African government tackled this monster of violent crime which is giving the country a bad image abroad. Else, agents of apartheid may point to it and argue that blacks are incapable of offering good governance.
We lament the demise of reggae stars at the peak of their career. We mourn the death of Lucky Dube. However, we find consolation in the stardom he achieved in his music career, the consciousness he created through the messages in his songs, especially that he helped through his music to dismantle apartheid. Again, as he sang in one of his tracks, “nobody can stop reggae/‘cos reggae is strongâ€. My heartfelt condolences go to his family and my fellow fans of his. But for his final wishes, Dube deserved a state burial by the South African government.
Ikechukwu A. Ogu, a legal practitioner, writes from Centrl Business District, Abuja FCT (ikechukwuogu@yahoo.com).
ABOMINATION! Pastor tries using mom for rituals
Meet the 10-Year Old who Cannot Do Without Sex Daily
She said her organisation has not been able to do so because of the financial cost of doing so.
Meet the Nwaogu twins, Nigeria’s Mark Zuckebergs
I challenge Igbo businessmen to beat what I have done in Igboland – Afikpo Chic
Maria Ude Nwachi, nee Egwuis a jazzy and snazzy young lady. Popularly known as Afikpo Chic, she left New York City in 2006 to return to her homeland, Afikpo and establish one the largest and most exquisite facilities in Igbo land. Named Maria Island Resort, Afikpo Chic revels in her love for her hometown, Afikpo as well as Igboland as a whole. Also the coordinator of the most popular Facebook page in Nigeria, Afikpo Chic explains unveils the resort to Jungle Journalist even as she challenges Igbos worldwide to give up the idea of developing the Diaspora at the expense of Igboland:
Afikpo Chic poses for at Club de Maria |
“Ndi Igbo are being held hostage in this country by our own investments. Nothing can fall in place till this is fixed. Even if we have a president of Igbo extraction, it’s not going to solve anything in this particular issue. Igbos can’t talk, they can’t make kpim because of their investmentsâ€
Leading to a back gate |
I built the first night club in my state, Ebonyi. It was a platform I felt I could use to tell Igbos to please come home and develop home. What is going on now in Igboland is sickening. An Igbo young man will leave Igboland, go to Lagos, Kaduna, Kano or wherever before he can make it. There is nothing going on there, all our big boys, all the rich men are busy developing Lagos, Kaduna, Kano and Abuja. I, Afikpo Chic, I built mine at home with my own small money. Because of what I did, a lot of Afikpo big boys are now coming home and building businesses and building homes. But I challenge Igbo businessmen to beat what I have done in Igboland. I am only a woman, and I have 11 massive structures. Try it, Umu Igbo, this is a challenge. Come and beat Afikpo Chic, come and beat my island. So, that’s one of the reasons I started the Ndi Igbo page. Then I got pregnant in 2009, and it incapacitated me from my business, but it gave me the time to sit down and start working on my page. It was then that I really developed it.
Security House |
The Nite Club |
After nine months, I hired a couple of admins that are on payroll. As I talk to you, there are 10 admins on payroll, and costs me about N300, 000 a month to run. But the bottom line is that we have done so well that Ndi Igbo page has become the number one Facebook page in Nigeria. It’s not easy. This page has brought Igbos together mote than anything else has done in a very long while- I don’t remember anything playing that role.
Playing with her boy, Okochi |
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Leading to the club! 1st entrance.
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Lead and Let Live Gate |
Lounge and Gardens |
Driveway and parking space |
Who’s this hot Igbo babe!!! |
Okochi, the ‘king’ of Maria Resort |
Driveway |
Okochi again! |
Lounge area |
Massive entrance area |
The hotel under construction |
Car park |
Closer view of Club de Maria |
Living quarters |
Maria Gardens |
Driveway |
Home |
Home |
Afikpo’s Best! |
Exclusive de Maria |
The compound |
Ada Igbo ji eje mba, Afikpo Chic |
Strolling the compound |
Taking a shot |
And another |
And one more.. |
In the lush-green gardens of Maria Resort |
Maria Island Resort is something I just thought of while I was in America. I just told my people to look for a vast land and buy it. They bought a huge land, about 45 plots. I put up my private facility, where I live, then there is a guest house, then a night club where people hold weddings. The outside of the night club is really beautiful. I did it because I wanted Igboland to be developed. That thing that is in America, that is in London, in Lagos and Abuja should be in my home land. That is why I want to tell my people, Ndi Igbo that the only way we will amount to anything in Nigeria, in this world is by making Igboland livable. If they make Igboland a place to live, a place to work, then we have some hope. If not, Igbo man should just forget all of their aspirations. If they do not make Igbo land livable, if they do not stop this shameful, mass migration of Igbo brains outside Igboland- going to Ibadan, to Kano, to Port Harcourt, going to places they hate them where their properties are not safe, hmmm. But even if their property is safe, if their own land is unlivable, if others cannot migrate to Igbo land, we are doomed. The only solution an Igbo man has is to make a conscious effort to develop our home. I think this thing should start with the governors, but the way I look at it, I don’t trust them. As am talking to you, Peter Obi of Anambra State has built the number one mall in Africa in Abuja. Just imagine that. Is Abuja not the headquarters of Boko Haram?
A section of the living quarters |
I hate to say this here, but from my discoveries, T.A. is a very tribalistic governor, in the sense that he can close his eyes and say, its Igbo land or nothing. Whether you like T.A or not, I am telling you that the only Igbo governor that is very Igbotic, Igbogborigbo– village governor like T.A doesn’t exist. He is the only governor that can say, ‘okay, let’s do it, but it must be in Igbo. I don’t know what to tell you, but Ndi Igbo are being held hostage in this country by our own investments. Nothing can fall in place till this is fixed. Even if we have a president of Igbo extraction, it’s not going to solve anything in this particular issue. Igbos can’t talk, they can’t make kpim because of their investments. They are like women in this matter.
T. A. Orji |
Maria Ude Nwachi |
If you come develop your land, go dey gallivant for another man’s land, talk anyhow there make you see anyhow. And you know, that why you don’t talk, kpim.