Tribute to Fatai Rolling Dollars - His Last Performance

When creatives die, they are gone but their works and their legacy continues. Fatai was Nigeria's oldest practicing musician and a Highlife pioneer. Real names, Fatai Olayiwola Olagunju, he died after a brief hospital stay, aged 85, on June 12th 2013 at Marritol Hospital in Surulere.

Blast From the Past - Oba Ovonramwen of Benin

Ovonramwen with his wives and children

Ovonramwen Nogbaisi (ruled 1888–1897), also called Overami, was the Oba (king) of the Kingdom of Benin up until the British punitive expedition of 1897. I first read the story of Ovonramwen in a drama written by Ola Rotimi titled Ovonramwen Nogbaisi: An Historical Tragedy in English. It was a moving story, one of the few really historical books of that era. Now the internet puts some real faces to the names mentioned in the book, and makes the history real.

Can a Nigerian Man be a House Husband?

I have to confess that even I don't expect the first answer from a man when asked this question to be a yes. But in the spirit of freedom of choice for both women AND men, I understand that all a man who wants to be a househusband has to do is find a wife who will accept him just like that. Being a fan of Wife Swap, I can testify to having seen many real life examples of what a house husband looks like. And it can work.

Cue your random man on a Lagos street and the question, can you be a househusband? Most say no. Some back pedal and state that if they lose their job and the wife is still earning a lot, they will partner with her and work out a way to manage the home. A lot are adamant. Either their religion or Nigerian culture forbids such a thing, they say. Only one man wouldn't really mind if that is the curve life throws at him. One is already a part time house husband by the nature of his job.

In my opinion, I think from their answers, that if the men are able to at least earn a little, and have their egos massaged as the head of their home by their higher earning wife, I think if these two conditions are met, I think a lot of the men may be more amenable to working from home and helping out with chores.

From what I hear, this may be happening even more than we think already.

Behind The Prevalence of Baby Factories in Nigeria

Babies rescued from a baby factory in 2011 - Vanguard

I started this post with the brief thoughts I shared about this news that another "baby factory" has been found so soon after a previous one was raided. I honestly feel that those taboos/stigmas I listed there have no place in a 21st century world. They may have worked in the past where the mass media was a word yet to be coined, or where most women got married before 15, not any more.

Overcomers Church Founder Speaks on Solomon Akiyesi

In this video, the founder of Overcomers Church, Bishop Moses really lambasts Solomon Akiyesi's actions in fraudulently trying to marry another women while still married to another [read post]. IMO, Solomon Akiyesi is simply a love rat/scammer, and he almost got away with it with the lackadaisical attitude of this church. It is good they are standing by the women who as almost scammed into committing bigamy, she actually makes a cameo in the video. And BTW, she is not pregnant.

The video is accompanied by another statement from the church [read first one]. They have come down even harder on Solomon Akiyesi, but also express disquiet about his first wife's MO of disrupting the wedding. Well to each their own, and she was married to a Nollywood director :) Seriously though, I agree with the publicist, there are more dignified ways of stopping this wedding than seeking a public fight. Read the statement...

This is a follow up to our statement from Saturday, April 13, following the disrupted wedding of Mr. Solomon Akiyesi to Ms. Uloma Agwu.

In light of the media mayhem that has erupted with tabloids spinning their own version of events, we find it necessary to make a final statement on the matter and hope that listening ears and hearts will understand the decisions we have made as a church.

Let’s start by addressing some of the rumours that have been perpetuated on several gossip blogs and tabloids.

Mr. Akiyesi is not a member of the Overcomers Church World Outreach. We heard no word of an existing marriage to Mrs. Lilian Akiyesi.

Between Bloggers And Celebrities - A Measure of Influence

Two fighting

Are Bloggers really that influential in Nigeria? I know some bloggers also write for tabloids, but the drama seems focused on blogs and on social media. For those in Nigeria, do you find that most people you know also visit the same blogs you do? What of those not in your social circle, on the BRT, the departmental stores and the market? Are bloggers quoted on the radio, newspapers and TV?

Is it that we readers and bloggers inside and outside Nigeria are just seeing a small perspective of few Nigerians with access to the internet and social media and it is magnified in our eyes? Is it that the Nigerians who may be up to 60% without internet are not part of the celebrity culture, and so do not really factor? I want to know if that's some people like to make mountains out of molehills?

Do you believe it is very important for celebrities to respond to each and every tabloid news about them by releasing PR to blogs and Youtube? Some say they are doing it for their family, but can you not call them on the phone, or call a family meeting? And what do you think of the saying, "a clean conscience fears no accusation?"

It would be even more interesting to hear from those living outside Lagos, Benin, PH and Abuja, these are the places my statcounter say most of my Nigerian visitors come from. I know my family in Asaba and Onitsha didn't know much about blogs.

You may not understand the genesis of this post, if so just take it as a random post, but please oblige me if you will. For those that do, even better...

Women Better Off Without Bras - Study

Apparently, we women have to forget everything we ever knew about bras. If you think bras support your back, give you a better posture, or prevent your breasts from sagging, you may have to think again. The researcher in charge of a French study, has published his results, and they suggest that "wearing a bra does nothing to reduce back pain, and the chest supports actually cause increased breast sagging."

According to Rouillon, a sports science expert, the lesson to be learned from the preliminary results of his marathon experiment is that "bras are a false necessity".

"Medically, physiologically, anatomically - breasts gain no benefit from being denied gravity. On the contrary, they get saggier with a bra," [Source]

Again like most studies like this, there are limitations in sample size and selection. All the women involved in the study were aged between 18 and 35, and even Rouillon acknowledges that his less than a thousand group are not a representative of the global population of females. So if you're over 35 and live outside of France, this may not be applicable to you.

What do you think, time to throw away our bras? I do without bras sometimes because of my relatively itty-bitty breasts, though never when I'm dressed to go out formally, but what of the 50DDDs?

Blast From the Past - Buchi Emecheta

Buchi Emecheta in the 70s

Buchi Emecheta is a well known Nigerian author though I'm not sure if she has written anything recently. Her most popular books include Joys of Motherhood, the Bride Price, Second Class Citizen, etc. Her books mainly focus on women's issues, particularly the theme of gender bias in both immigrant and African societies. Most of Buchi Emecheta books at either autobiographies or semi-autobiographical. Other themes include racial prejudice and the experience of immigration. With over 20 books to her credit, she published her first book 'In the Ditch' in 1972.

According to her wiki page;

Florence Onye) Buchi Emecheta was born on 21 July 1944, in Lagos to Igbo parents, Alice (Okwuekwuhe) Emecheta and Jeremy Nwabudinke. Her father was a railway worker in the 1940s. Due to the gender bias of the time, the young Buchi Emecheta was initially kept at home while her younger brother was sent to school; but after persuading her parents to consider the benefits of her education, she spent her early childhood at an all-girl's missionary school. Her father died when she was nine years old. A year later, Emecheta received a full scholarship to the Methodist Girls School, where she remained until the age of sixteen when she married Sylvester Onwordi, a student to whom she had been engaged since she was eleven years old.

Blast From the Past - Hubert Ogunde and His Wives

Herbert Ogunde and 8 of his Wives

Hubert Adedeji Ogunde was born in Ososa, near Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State, Nigeria (31 May 1916 – 4 April 1990). He was a Nigerian actor, playwright, theatre manager, and musician who founded the Ogunde Concert Party in (1945), the first professional theatrical company in Nigeria. He has been described as "the father of Nigerian theatre, or the father of Nollywood. Hubert Ogunde is one of the few Nigerian actors who have starred in international productions. He featured in Mister Johnson, the 1990 motion picture shot on location in Jos, that also had Pierce Brosnan in it.

Hubert Ogunde was also famous for being a polygamist, he had 12 wives, 8 of whom were part of this theatre productions. They were featured in the American Ebony Magazine of October 1969, and the following pictures are from there.

Blast from the Past: Awolowo, HID and Their Children

Awolowo and HID

Obafemi Awolowo (March 6, 1909 - May 9, 1987) was a Nigerian politician and leader, a Yoruba Chief, and considered a founding father of Nigeria, he was the first premier of the Western Region in 1954. He married Hannah Idowu Dideolu in 1937. I've shared a picture of Awolowo and HID on their wedding day here. They had two sons and three daughters. He was a practicing Wesleyan Methodist. Awolowo died in his home town, Ikenné on May 9, 1987.

Love and Marriage Can Mend Hearts at any Age

Ijaw Leader and former Information Minister, Chief Edwin Clark, who is 86, remarried last week to well known medical doctor, Dr Abisola Sodipe Akindeko. Some parts of the wedding ceremony took place at his home in Apapa and the others at the bride's home at Okupe Estate, Maryland.

It seems Dr. Akindeko had experienced some tragedy in the past. According to Lindaikeji,

Dr Abisola Akindeko is the former best friend of Iyabo Obasanjo who lost two of her children in an assassination attempt on Iyabo Obasanjo's life. Dr Abisola's children were riding in Iyabo's car when it was attacked by hired assassins in 2003. The gunmen, thinking Iyabo was in the car, shot into the car killing the two children instantly. Iyabo and Dr Abisola had been riding in the doctors car, while the children rode in Iyabo's car.

I read somewhere that Dr Akindeko is now 53, she looks great for her age BTW, and is ready to move on. Marriage when young and deliriously in love is amazing, but love and marriage when people are older can be a blessing too. I wish the couple more health, more life and more years together in their marriage.

Blast from the Past - Nnamdi Azikiwe and his Wife, Flora

Pictures have a way of being the only things that survive when we pass on, and as someone who loves taking pictures, I also love looking at them especially the ones from the past. I was able to find a few old pictures, [see Awolowo and HID on their wedding day] and once in a while I'll share some of the others with explanatory news clips I can find.

Nnamdi Azikiwe (November 16, 1904 – May 11, 1996), popularly known as "Zik", was one of the leading figures of modern Nigerian nationalism. He was head of state of Nigeria from 1960 to 1966, serving as the second and last Governor-General from 1960 to 1963 and the first President of Nigeria from 1963 to 1966, holding the presidency throughout the Nigerian First Republic.

For a man of Azikiwe's stature in the history of Nigeria, not much is known about his first wife, Flora, or his family life. However, a few snippets crop up here and here. According to Emeagwali,

Chinua Achebe Passes - Tribute and my Favorite Quotes

Chinua Achebe is dead. Hearing the news of the death was a shock, yes he was old, but you still sometimes expect old lions to live forever. Chinua Achebe's different books, articles and essays he's written have had a significant influence on my own thoughts and views of the world. I find it instructive that he had a great belief in the power of the word and of writers to affect their society. He was an outspoken critic of the Nigerian government, even after the switch to democracy.

Chinua Achebe publicly rejected National Honors and Awards bestowed on him. His final book, There Was A Country, published last year, shared his unvarnished thoughts on the main actors of the Nigerian civil war. Chinua Achebe may be dead now, but he has certainly laid down an enduring legacy. May his soul rest in peace and may his family be comforted.

From the Nelson Mandela Center;

On behalf of our Chairperson, Board of Trustees and staff of the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory, we would like to offer our condolences to the family of Prof. Chinua Achebe, a great African writer and thinker, who passed away on 21 March 2013 at the age of 82. Nelson Mandela referred to Prof. Achebe as a writer “in whose company the prison walls fell down”.