The person who was to help me home from the train station wasn’t available, so I became worried as the prospect of spending N8K on a 10-minute drive from the train station to my office stared me in the face.

Mercifully, as we were boarding at the take-off point, I sighted an elderly senior colleague and quickly introduced myself to him. He agreed to take me to the campus where my car was.

At the final destination when we got to the car park, after we had put our stuff in the trunk, I made to sit in the passenger seat in the front since there were just the two of us, and then the drama began.

Pa, who should be in his late 60s, was frantically shoving things on the seat and, in the same breath, gently directed me to sit at the back.

He was meeting me for the first time, but in the course of office discussions, his name had been mentioned on a positive note, during which I also learned that he attends the same church as I do. Knowing the old-timers in my church, I was only amused. Sorry if you don’t know my church affiliation 😒

A few minutes into the ride, my husband called to know if I had arrived at my station safely, and that piqued the old man’s interest. You see, my Android phone ringtone is based on Genesis 15:5, which our mutual pastor had referenced in one of his countless sermons and which I use as my ringtone because of its vast promises that are applicable to one’s children.

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Immediately Pa heard the voice, he asked if I also attended the church, to which I said yes. That sobered him up, and he went on to explain why I couldn’t sit in the passenger seat beside him: the seat is an exclusive preserve of ‘Mama’ (his wife), and she has forbidden him from ever allowing anyone (that would be a woman, I think) from occupying it.

Inasmuch as we both know that godly fidelity is a non-negotiable requirement for staying together, I won’t have my back against the wall just to boost anyone’s sense of insecurity.

He informed me further that immediately I asked him for a ride, he had to send an urgent WhatsApp message (read, permission) to Mama, and that she said it was okay (hence the confidence he had to give me the 10-minute ride). I expressed my gratitude, but it sent me thinking.

There are things I’ll never agree to do in this one marriage that I am in. Inasmuch as we both know that godly fidelity is a non-negotiable requirement for staying together, I won’t have my back against the wall just to boost anyone’s sense of insecurity.

So, if Mama had asked him to not help a woman she doesn’t know, what would he have told me?

If there were four of us ladies going to the same place as him, would he have shoved all four of us in the back seat that is meant for three, or would he have declined to help one person in order to not annoy Mama?

Life can be easier, especially married life, biko.

The post EXTRA: Life can be easier, especially married life, please appeared first on Frontpageng.

The matter of Mrs. Stella Nwadigbo, the teacher in the video clip where a 3-year-old Abayomi Michael [arrowed here] was assaulted, reminded me of my Form 1 teacher, Baba Olufowobi. That was 1977 but I can’t forget him.

Stella Nwadigbo of Christ-Mitots School, Isawo Road, Ikorodu, Lagos, was teaching Michael Mathematics and the boy wasn’t responding the way she expected. She repeatedly slapped this boy, and each time, with the command, “Write 6 for me.”

Michael stood before her desk, writing in an exercise book. Each time this woman slapped this boy, he staggered back as if he would fall down, but he’s also adept at maintaining his balance as he soon got back to the standing position, without betraying any emotion.

I couldn’t finish watching the less-than-one-minute video clip because of the sheer brutality involved!

READ ALSO: Police confirm kidnap of two Catholic nuns in Anambra

Obviously, the pupils and an adult in the video were used to Mrs. Nwadigbo’s bestiality; so, no one behaved as if anything unusual was happening. Perhaps that was why little Michael neither cried nor rubbed his face each time the horrific slap landed on his face!

As for those pleading on behalf of the ani.mal in teacher’s garb, their plea is useless. This is Lagos. The Child Rights Act is a big deal here. Mrs. Stella Nwadigbo will be lucky if her jail term ends at 5 years.

Back to my teacher, we had taken Maths test that morning and, as usual, I scored zero. My teacher beat me silly and, in the process, inflicted an injury on my wrist. 48 years later, the injury is till visible.

As this cur.sed woman repeatedly slapped this helpless child, I raised up my left hand, sighted the injury for the millionth time and remembered Pa Olufowobi.

I still failed Maths in WASSCE, by the way. So, what did my teacher achieve with the brutality?

As for those pleading on behalf of the ani.mal in teacher’s garb, their plea is useless. This is Lagos. The Child Rights Act is a big deal here. Mrs. Stella Nwadigbo will be lucky if her jail term ends at 5 years.

The post EXTRA: Like Baba Olufowobi, like Mrs. Stella Nwadigbo appeared first on Frontpageng.

News: “Women from marine world on the prowl, MFM’s Olukoya warns philandering husbands.”

The headline is as laughable as it is predictable—predictable in the sense that it squarely puts the blame for philandering on women.

Otherwise, the question is, if there were no marine women from the netherworld, would it have been okay for married men to commit adultery all over the place?

And, why is there no similar warning for adulterous wives—or are we insinuating that philandering is peculiar to the male folk and them alone?

Or don’t the lives of women count enough to also receive revelation to steer them from the possible invasion of men from the marine world?

Perhaps there’s no marine men; after all, we’ve only heard of Yemoja and never for once Bamoja!

In religion, women are the scapegoats and even at my age and having been a woman all my life, I still don’t understand why women should be the focus of every negative prophecies and harsh doctrines.

READ ALSO: EFCC dismisses 27 officers over alleged fraudulent activities

Preachers’ wives hardly trust any woman in their congregation. On this platform, I’ve come across preaching by religious leaders’ wives who don’t mince words about their suspicion that the average woman in the congregation is plotting to replace them by all means. The seductress is the issue; while their saintly, innocent husbands are the victims. Laughable.

In religion, women are the scapegoats and even at my age and having been a woman all my life, I still don’t understand why women should be the focus of every negative prophecies and harsh doctrines.

I’m sure that by now, wives in MFM will be up in arms fasting and praying away marine women from their husbands. Yet, my unyielding conviction is that, pray all you would, you can’t make up a philanderer’s mind for him. It’s his battle and if a husband truly needs protection from any woman—spirit or human—he will learn to keep his entire body in check.

It is beneath reason and decency for any woman to engage in physical fight to keep a man that is all out to do his thing. God save you, if you die or get seriously injured in the process of defending ‘your property’ [hiss], the very woman you’re fighting might become your kids’ stepmother.

And God save those kids if she’s from the marine world 😹 More hisses.

The post EXTRA: Re: ‘Women from marine world on the prowl’ appeared first on Frontpageng.

My mom had this driver who conveyed her goods from Ebute-Ero in the heart of Lagos, to Agege. We called him Baba Saheed. He should be in his mid-30s. Until it happened, Baba Saheed looked pious, responsible and gentle.

As trustworthy as he was, mom would sometimes give him money and a list of goods to be purchased. He would do everything efficiently and deliver the merchandise with receipts.

He had a wife and several kids, along with relations who lived with his family.

Baba Saheed lived in a well-furnished room-and-parlour apartment in the main building, while the remaining members of his family lived in the boys’ quarters in another section of their rented apartment. They were a happy family.

One day, after mom had taken delivery of her goods, Baba Saheed asked for her advice on what he described as a thorny issue.

Baba Saheed narrated that he had been in a relationship with a married woman and that he had spent so much on her. He said he was pleased with the spending until the woman decided to call off the relationship after some years.

She only had praises for her late, gentle husband who wouldn’t hurt a fly…

He said he didn’t really mind if she wanted to go, but that, after calculating how much he had invested in the scandalous relationship, the only way the woman could compensate him beyond their regular romantic rendezvous was for her to have a child for him. Ha!

READ ALSO: MRA condemns calls on security agencies to restrict use of FOI

I was in my mid-teens then; but, even as young as I was, I knew that Baba Saheed was poking hands into a black Mamba’s hole.

In response, my mom expressed surprise that he could do what he had just confessed to and went on to advise him to let the woman go, especially because he had also received compensations for whatever he spent on her.

Baba Saheed said he stocked the woman’s shop and probably contributed to sending her on pilgrimage, and that the only way he could be pacified and allow the woman to end the relationship was if she could agree to his demand.

Mom asked if the woman had divorced her husband, Baba Saheed answered in the negative. Asked how he would claim the child if the woman agreed to get pregnant by him, Baba Saheed didn’t have a coherent response to that. Mom’s attempts to make Baba Saheed reconsider his obstinacy met with stiff resistance. Not even the warning that he was toying with his life would discourage Baba Saheed.

Not long after that, Baba Saheed fell terribly sick and he died within weeks. I accompanied mom on condolence visit to his wife and I listened hard on what the widow had to say.

She only had praises for her late, gentle husband who wouldn’t hurt a fly…

The post EXTRA: Untold story of Baba Saheed who wouldn’t hurt a fly appeared first on Frontpageng.

A few years ago, I was arrested for driving against the traffic, whereas I only got to see the signboard after I had entered the said road and there was no way I could reverse because it was too narrow.

I was arrested, and after my fine was read to me, I just crossed the road to a nearby ATM, withdrew the money and paid.

You’d think that should end the story, but my tribulation had just begun! The government touts that arrested me were obviously stunned that a woman could pay N10K fine without blinking. So, they became psychologically abusive. They called me a prostitute and said I could only drive the car I was using then — a Lexus 300 o! — because a boyfriend bought it for me.

I was 51; yet, at that age, only a gift from a boyfriend [not even a husband!] could give me the standard of life I managed to live.

By the time I went past my 30th birthday, I had thought the horrid label ‘prostitute’ in whatever form it is used was over for me as a woman; but even in old age, we could still be old who.res. Such is the wretchedness of those who think a woman has no chance with success unless a man gifts her in exchange for her body.

A self-acclaimed celebrity investigative journalist once narrated, without batting an eyelid, how a highly accomplished young colleague of mine only became an Editor because she had a child for the Editor-in-Chief.

When I told his followers to Google the name of the lady being lied against, he blocked me.

READ ALSO: EXTRA: This is Wole Soyinka!, By Simbo Olorunfemi

Meanwhile, as I read the incredible lie, I was shocked beyond words because I know the two people that were mentioned in the insanely untrue claim. While I am not privy to anybody’s bedroom matter, the truth is, the said lady was single and, as of then, she didn’t have a child. But then, she is a successful young woman and only a male/males can make her incredibly successful. Period.

No one should suffer indignities on account of being a woman.

Why these dirty stories this holy morning?

Well, Gistlover decided to publish the names and phone numbers of Senate President Godswill Akpabio, his wife and those of his alleged girlfriends, past and present, married or single, to punish him for being caustic to female senators.

If that isn’t bizarre, I don’t know what is. You want to draw attention to misogyny by dragging women in the mud? Incredible.

One of the accused is Hilda Baci. Her sin? She allegedly drives an SUV whose price runs into millions of naira and her accusers are very certain that she couldn’t afford it on her own. That’s the same Hilda that stayed up for days to win Guinness World Record after about two years of prior preparations o!

Another accused person is Nollywood actress Dakore Egbuson, who is offering N5m to anyone that can prove her connection to Akpabio.

Assuming for a moment that the story is true by any stretch of the imagination, how does this serve as a recrimination against the senate president’s alleged malicious stance against women in the senate?

And why do people find it difficult to accept the fact that a woman can achieve success without trading her body for it?

Sometime ago, a young woman was trending because she had made a success of her career and everyone was congratulating her until this reprehensible friend from Dante’s inferno tweeted that he knew her nude might soon surface and that it was the reason he was keeping vigil on the trend. Imagine!

As for those women who have been maligned by Gistlover, they should petition its host as well as the appropriate government agencies.

No one should suffer indignities on account of being a woman.

The post EXTRA: The indignities that women suffer, By Adesola Ayo-Aderele appeared first on Frontpageng.

Was I shocked? Yes, because this is a very young, well-educated individual who should know better. For someone in her 20s with degrees in accounting, economics and still counting, she is one of Nigeria’s so-called hopes of tomorrow; but then, here we are!

I was discussing national issues with someone I had huge respect for some time ago and I was shocked when he asked if I also would not “eat” if I have the opportunity to get there.

Again, here is a well-educated professional who is involved in charitable work that is expected to ultimately make Nigeria an El Dorado! I was lost for words and that was the end of our conversation.

#EndBadGovernanceInNigeria is currently trending on X and I’m wondering if we’re truly seeking good governance.

This is because, when it comes to unbridled, illegitimate wealth acquisition and unofficial deployment of public funds, the average Nigerian hardly sees anything wrong with it. It is only wrong when they have no family representation on the table. If they have a friend, lover, or, better still, siblings or kids in public office, then it is the Lord’s doing.

READ ALSO: EXTRA: Abeokuta Bolt ride phenomenon, By Bamidele Johnson

From the look of things, people in government are bad simply because they’re the only set of people whose conspicuous consumption is undeniable. The sleaze that goes on in corporate and private settings will shock any normal person when they blow open.

When people say Nigeria is a ‘vast crime scene,’ don’t doubt it. And we will all continue to stew in our national juice until we are ready to build a country where sudden wealth and theft/misuse of public funds is truly investigated and punished, instead of the media trial which EFCC and ICPC seem to specialize in.

An accountant friend narrated how a driver returned from a trip and presented N100K receipt for fuel he claimed to have used in a single day. He didn’t travel from North to East or South to North o. The travel was within two southern states and he didn’t drive an articulated vehicle.

During some of the numerous workshops I’ve participated in, it is not uncommon to see people present receipts of N120K commuting from Ado-Ekiti to Lagos.

As for hotel bills, don’t go there.

Whenever I use airport cabs and ask for receipts, the drivers are always eager to give me blank receipts, with some even volunteering to sign them upfront.

Some of them will ask me how much I want to be written on the receipt and when I say they should write the exact amount I’m paying, they will raise up their head to see what would likely be the face of a fake Nigerian or a subhuman who doesn’t spend money.

As a young professional in my 20s, I was appointed member of our office canteen committee in 1993. I resigned within months because I didn’t want anyone attac.king me with acid for refusal to participate in doctoring receipts whenever we made purchases!

Hire domestic servant and see how both of you play hide-and-seek over theft and its prevention.

As office people, we use services of those who claim to help you make purchases for the home at a fee; but that is where the joy ends. By the time you see what you have paid for, you’ll realize that the professional shopper who claims to know where to buy the cheapest and freshest groceries and foodstuffs will present with the most-highly-priced stuff, sometimes with half-rotten produce and you’ll wonder if it’s a crime to patronize people’s services.

When people say Nigeria is a ‘vast crime scene,’ don’t doubt it. And we will all continue to stew in our national juice until we are ready to build a country where sudden wealth and theft/misuse of public funds is truly investigated and punished, instead of the media trial which EFCC and ICPC seem to specialize in.

The post EXTRA: #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria, By Adesola Ayo-Aderele appeared first on Frontpageng.

I and some young colleagues were discussing our professional journeys at breakfast this morning.

As I narrated my professional experience and how I ended up where I am, one of them quipped: ‘Wow! Olórun gbé ògo fùn òle!‘ (God has favoured the undeserving).

I laughed, but I didn’t allow the irreverent conclusion to go unchallenged.

First, I told him that in the context of our discussions, there’s no scriptural backing for that nonsensical statement that I’ve also heard in church gatherings and which the average unserious individual uses to justify personal failure on account of inability, deliberate neglect or absolute refusal to strike the iron while it’s still hot.

As a Christian, I recognise the place of grace in the life of God’s own, but I also recognise that professing faith without requisite labour amounts to insulting the integrity of God’s word.

Seeing the shape that my job was assuming about a decade ago, in addition to personal desire to go into corporate or development communication on my way to final retirement, I painstakingly saved for two years to enable me to return to school.

I was 50 by the time I earned a fresh degree.

My kids also introduced me to online certifications in marketing, communication, and Web editing; with Iniobong helping with one or two upskilling that I paid for while she taught me graphics illustration and whatever else online.

I learned photography on my own and could edit videos on my phone.

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After failing some job interviews on account of my ignorance about how to draft communication strategies, I asked friends in the field to send me examples, and big sis Angela emailed one to me…

As for those liars who stand the truth on its head by testifying about getting appointed or employed into positions they don’t qualify for in the name of Olórun gbé ògo fún òle, they have no business decrying the presence of fake doctors, nurses and midwives in hospitals; or the tragedy of fake lawyers in courts; or the atrocities of fake policemen or soldiers…

All of these propped up my CV, in addition to my extensive media experience during which I won reasonable numbers of national and international awards that took me to incredible places, including Stanford.

Yet, someone could look me in the eye and say all these were achieved because God appropriated someone else’s success to me or that I’m unworthy after all the efforts and prayers?

The guy, arguing his point, said if I considered that I couldn’t have been the only applicant for a job, then I’d realise his point of view.

And I told him that if that’s the way it works, someone with a secondary school cert might as well have been employed to do his job, which only a PhD holder like him could do.

Somehow, he agreed.

As for those liars who stand the truth on its head by testifying about getting appointed or employed into positions they don’t qualify for in the name of Olórun gbé ògo fún òle, they have no business decrying the presence of fake doctors, nurses and midwives in hospitals; or the tragedy of fake lawyers in courts; or the atrocities of fake policemen or soldiers, because their spurious gods who appropriate unmerited blessings to the layabout might as well be at work.

The post EXTRA: ‘Olórun gbé ògo fún òle’, not for me appeared first on Frontpageng.

Members of the National Assembly are in a class of their own. The majority of them, even as legacy members (whatever that means), hardly know what their brief is all about.

From the lawmaker that parades his four wives as evidence that he isn’t only active in the NASS but also at the home front, to those of them who use the proceedings to catch up on lost sleep probably due to previous night of reveling, you have it all.

Where Nigerians are not scratching heads to understand why NASS members need outrageously-priced cars to drive on non-roads, they are wondering what their rulers know about national needs —as in the case of the ongoing attempt to revert to the old national anthem.

With this kind of senators, we can only bewail a suffering Motherland.

These are people who will never speak about the corruption that has crippled the nation, or the nagging insecurity that has become a multibillion-naira industry.

READ ALSO: EXTRA: Widows and five months mourning period: My thoughts

Of course, the egregious economy is a no-go area for them because the only solution they know is to dole out unearned money in the name of palliative, in addition to the fact that since the abject poverty plaguing the land doesn’t affect them, they are too busy to care while plotting their return in the next election cycle.

Listening to the senators’ otiose arguments about the reasons for the nonsensical bill seems to suggest that reverting to the old national anthem is the panacea for our national woes.

With this kind of senators, we can only bewail a suffering Motherland.

The post EXTRA: National Assembly and the old national anthem appeared first on Frontpageng.

Pastor Funke Adejumo: No man wants an old bride beside him… There’s no old man anywhere.

Me: [Laughing and laughing hard!] Really?? Wow! Here’s the truth, though: Men and women age, and that is part of normal processes of life.

An ageing husband that doesn’t want an ageing wife beside him is an aberration — a fornicator and an adulterer rolled into one.

We can maintain healthy weight through sensible dietary habits, dress well if we have the money, etc., but the real ageing is evident in all the vulnerable body parts, both for men and women.

For men, penile turgidity and girth reduce with age, and the er.ect organ reduces slightly in length due to less penile elasticity occasioned by drop in blood flow, along with lower testosterone levels.

The scro.tum sags as the testicular tissue mass decreases. That is why, when a 60-year-old man sits on a toilet bowl, his low-hanging scro.tum will mostly likely touch water. And there’s hardly any sane doctor that will want to operate on you in an attempt to return your scrotum to its 30-year-old shape, else, you risk castration.

READ ALSO: EXTRA: Widows and five months mourning period: My thoughts

How about male baldness—both on the head and in the pubic area? Or, for that matter, potbelly or, in the case of those with six pack up until late 40s, wrinkled stomach that looks like that of a multipara with a bad case of stretch marks?

You either accept to age gracefully or damage your body and health with all sorts of anti-ageing concoctions and processes that won’t stop ageing anyway.

Yet, all these and more are absolutely normal and to be expected as a man advances in age. So, to assert boldly that there’s no old man anywhere is to lie deliberately.

As for females, everyone on the Net is an expert on how females age, so, there’s no need to belabour the explanation here.

Of course, some women do age faster than necessary, but, check them out: they are either women who are victims of domestic abuse, struggling women whose husbands don’t care to provide for them, or women whose husbands won’t allow to do child spacing, etc.

So, if a woman looks like her husband’s mom, you can almost be certain that, that man is everything but kind to his wife.

And, as adults, the earlier we realize that we can’t possibly remain young forever, the better. If in doubt, place your recent photo against your photo of 10 years ago, and you’ll see how much ageing has dealt with you.

You either accept to age gracefully or damage your body and health with all sorts of anti-ageing concoctions and processes that won’t stop ageing anyway.

The post EXTRA: There’s no old man anywhere… Really?! appeared first on Frontpageng.

Gospel singer Nathaniel Bassey has petitioned the IGP over the nasty accusation by four social media influenzas that he’s the dad of Mercy Chinwo’s baby.

Mercy, too, has sued five persons in that regard. Great move on both sides!

When I first came across the mind-boggling allegation, my thought was, ‘Wow, people are daring!’ And, really, they are.

The social media irritants probably categorized Nath Bassey in the same pool as late singer Mohbad’s wife.

Immediately Mohbad passed on, online urchins started wagging their tongues and accusing someone in Mohbad’s circle of being the dad of his only known child.

Mohbad’s dad, too, for every unconvincing reasons, has been clamoring for DNA test if his grandson must be acceptable to the extended family.

Meanwhile, Bassey and Mercy must pursue their separate cases to conclusive ends. They should ask for the stiffest compensations possible.

I had expected any of the loudmouthed online gender activists and lawyers to at least educate Mohbad’s wife that she only owed her husband explanations if there had been reasonable grounds to suspect their son’s paternity.

READ ALSO: EXTRA: Testimonies, not for catching cruise

In other words, paternity matter is strictly between the two people who made the baby, to the exclusion of anyone else, including parents of the couples and every other nosy person.

The way people run their mouths because of the anonymity of the Internet is one of the reasons one may be unable to totally disagree with those calling for social media regulation.

Meanwhile, Bassey and Mercy must pursue their separate cases to conclusive ends. They should ask for the stiffest compensations possible. Only then would people learn to speak sensibly in public space.

And should anyone want to tell them to forgive their errant accusers, they should ask such persons to go dust up their Bibles and read Ecclesiastes 8:11 and Job 4:8.

The post EXTRA: Nathaniel Bassey, Mercy and social media influenzas appeared first on Frontpageng.