Grace to grass: Former PR manager becomes wretched, turns drinks vendor

It is indeed a case of falling from ‘grace to grass’ as a 63-year-old Nathaniel Iyanda, who after many years as public relations officer and advert executive for various top organizations ended up as drinks vendor.
Iyanda was one of the pioneer members of the Board of Advertisers Association of Nigeria. He once served as Public Relations/Advertising Manager of the now rested Texaco Nigeria Plc (now MRS Plc) until May 1997.
History has it that Iyanda remains the only one who directed the first-ever country-wide public education campaign on the usage of engine oil, which was jointly sponsored by Agip, AP, ELF, Mobil, National, Texaco, Total and Unipetrol.
Those close to the once revered man said during his halcyon days, he occupied a one-wing duplex in FESTAC Town, Lagos.
Until his exit from Texaco, Iyanda was the chairman of a major oil marketers’ public relations committee.
When he eventually retired from active service, the former PR guru relocated to Ibafo, a community on the Lagos/Ibadan Expressway where he’s currently struggling with life.
After he was paid off, life became miserable for him, he started facing dwindling fortunes.
A recent visit to Iyanda shows that he’s indeed living on past glory as he now earns a living by supplying beverages to restaurants around the community.
Recalling his journey with nostalgia, Iyanda said, “I started working at a young age. After leaving secondary school, I sat for the London CAM Diploma examination in public relations, advertising and marketing. At 23 years, I was working with the Marketing Research Department of the United African Company. That was between1969 and 1975. After that, I moved to the defunct Texaco, where I spent over 20 years.
“I left Texaco in 1997. The company was downsizing at the time. Actually, what happened was this: the company wanted to let go some senior executives, but it found itself in a dilemma. So, the management came up with this idea of retiring everyone who had worked in the company for over 15 years. That was how I left the company. Many good hands left at the time,” Iyanda recalled.
“I invested about N1.5m in stocks and another N1m in fixed deposits. Although a public relations consulting wasn’t really an accepted practice at the time, I was fortunate to be a guest speaker on the subject at several events. I was even retained by Texaco as an external PR consultant.
“The string of misfortunes began when my contract with Texaco was discontinued. Even as an external consultant, the Managing Director still felt threatened by me and so, I left. After that, I went into multiple streams of businesses; at a time trading in calcium, a raw material used for paints. Then I moved into the sale of beans and maize.
“The calcium trade is uncertain because your profit is dependent on those who pulverize the calcium. If you own a pulverizing machine, then it is much more profitable. My partner, who owned such a machine packed up; as if that was not enough, I was defrauded of N300,000.
“It was tough trying to break into the beans trade. I have discovered that there is a cabal in charge of everything in this country and once you are not a member, you are eventually frustrated out. By 2002, I had hit rock bottom.”
Amazingly, when life had become miserable for him, his wife eventually became pregnant after 27 years of no child.
“We had been married for 27 years before my wife got pregnant. It was not easy waiting all the while, but my parents and my in-laws were staunch Christians. So, they stood by us. In 2003, my wife was delivered of a baby boy. By then, I was broke and had no money. My stocks had been made useless by the crash in the stock market and the fixed deposit account I had was gone because the bank in which the money was saved, failed. My wife and son were in Ibadan at the time. So, after discussing with her, we decided to sell our home in FESTAC town and move to another place,” Iyanda said.
He said that he took the income from the sale and moved to Ibafo, bought a parcel of land and began to build a small house.
But unfortunate, the building contractor allegedly duped him of a huge sum of money, leaving him with nothing.
He recalled, “The plan was to build a small house and start another business with whatever was left, but the building contractor cleaned me out. The news went round the Ibafo community. By the time this house was completed, there was nothing left.
“As God would have it, while we were still in FESTAC Town, my wife had converted our garage into some kind of store where we sold drinks. So, she suggested that we go into that line of business. That was how we went into partnership with a lady friend at Agege, who is a major distributor of soft drinks. We have been doing that for seven years now but all we get from it is just enough to go by every day. I finally have a child but there is no money to adequately take care of him. Things are so bad that paying school fees is really difficult. Yet, I cannot give him up because we have waited for a child for so long,” Iyanda lamented.
He regretted that after falling from ‘Olympian Heights, his friends and all former colleagues have abandoned him. But he believes that God’s time is the best, adding that God will surely bring back his glory.
The question now is, when will the man who once ate at the table of great men regain his lost glory? Until succour comes his way, Iyanda will continue to live from hand to mouth with his family as a vendor in Ibafo.
DailyPost

BOKO HARAM: FIGHT TO THE FINISH

Rattled by two daring attacks on well-fortified security formations in Jaji, Kaduna State and Abuja, the nation’s capital, within 24 hours, the Presidency, through the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) has launched a discreet investigation into an intelligence report that some of the country’s law enforcement organisations may have been infiltrated by Boko Haram.
This is coming at a time security agencies, collaboration with their counterparts in Mali, have intensified their manhunt for the wanted leader of the sect, Imam Abubakar Shekau, who is believed to be hiding in northern Mali now under the control of the Toureg Islamist rebels. It was gathered that following the progress being made in the efforts, the sect leader is planning to escape from Mali and sneak into Nigeria.
The sect had, last Sunday, defied the precincts of a military base when it successfully executed a twin suicide bomb attacks in a church located in the Armed Forces Barracks, Jaji, near Kaduna, killing no fewer than 11 persons and injuring over 30 others. Less than 24 hours after, while the nation was still grieving over the killing, the sect struck again in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), where it killed two policemen at the police special anti-robbery squad (SARS) headquarters, Abuja and set free scores of suspects detained in the facility including its members.
The two lethal attacks came just as the military Joint Task Force (JTF), in a statement issued last weekend, declared 19 top leaders of the sect wanted. The statement, which was signed by JTF spokesman Lt-Col. Sagir Musa, said the commanders were members of Shurra Committee, the highest decision-making body of the terror group.
Saturday Sun gathered that the attacks were seen in the Presidency and within the security circle as a direct response to the JTF action. But beyond this, the Federal Government is deeply worried over the ease with which the sect carried out the latest attacks on sensitive and supposed well-fortified security formations. As a result, a top security source revealed that the NSA’s office has begun to work on a piece of information that the sect must be “enjoying some comfortable level of sympathy and support from some elements within our security agencies.”
The source further said: “The conclusion was based on an intelligence that the sect, more often than not, carries out its attacks based on some accurate insider information. “Though this is not new, as you will recall that the president (Dr. Goodluck Jonathan) recently raised the alarm himself that the sect had infiltrated the security agencies and other sensitive organisations under his government. Not many people took the president seriously then, but from current indications, there is the need to look inwards and take care of some unscrupulous and unpatriotic elements within our security agencies.”
The sources, however, declined to disclose how government intends to identify or fish out security agents suspected to be providing the sect some sensitive information used in the planning of their attacks especially on well-guarded security zones. Attempts to get the NSA, Mr. Sambo Dasuki or his media aide, Kunle Karounwi, to confirm the development proved abortive, as the latter insisted he could not speak on such a sensitive matter.
Meanwhile, Nigerian security agencies have continued their collaboration with their counterparts in Mali to intensify their manhunt for the wanted leader of the sect, Imam Abubakar Shekau, who is believed to be hiding in northern Mali now under the control of the Toureg Islamist rebels. It was gathered that based on a recent intelligence support from a world super power nation, Shekau and some of his top lieutenants are believed to be coordinating attacks on their targets in Nigeria from Mali.
This has forced Nigeria into going into a military alliance with the Malian military authorities under the control of Captain Sanogo, in a bid to rout all the rebels in northern Mali, including the wanted Boko Haram leaders operating from the region. At the moment, Nigeria is providing logistics support, including arms and ammunition to the Malian armed forces to launch an attack on the rebels’ stronghold in northern Mali. “With the imminent attack on the rebels’ stronghold, Shekau and his people may be planning an escape from Mali to sneak back into Nigeria.
This is largely the reason to declare them wanted and put some ransom on them last week, so that people can watch out for them in case they are trying to escape from their imminent capture in a foreign land,” one of the top security sources told Saturday Sun. This is even as the source disclosed that government is not interested in the latest call for dialogue by the sect.
A spokesman for the group, Abu Mohammed Ibn Abdulaziz, had last weekend announced plans for another ceasefire after the earlier one announced by the same person failed. “Government is already set for definite actions that will lead to the capture of Shekau and his team, so nobody is really going to waste time holding some talks with them after they bungled the initial opportunity that was well received by the president,” the source added.
While declaring the Boko Haram leaders wanted last weekend, the JTF had said that “they are wanted in connection with terrorist activities, particularly in the North East zone of Nigeria that led to the killings, bombings and assassination of some civilians, religious leaders, traditional rulers, businessmen, politicians, civil servants and security personnel, among others. They are also wanted for arson and destruction of property worth millions of naira.
“Therefore, anyone with information that will lead to the arrest of any of the listed terrorists or more will have the rewards as stated: Abubakar Shekau (N50 million), Habibu Yusuf (a.k.a Asalafi, N25 million), Khalid Albarnawai (N25 million), Momodu Bama (N25 million), Mohammed Zangina (N25 million), Abu Saad (N10 million), Abba Kaka (N10 million), and Abdulmalik Bama, N10 million. “The others are Umar Fulata (N10 million), Alhaji Mustapha (Massa) Ibrahim (N10 million), Abubakar Suleiman-Habu (a.k.a Khalid N10 million), Hassan Jazair (N10 million), Ali Jalingo (N10 million), Alhaji Musa Modu (N10 million), Bashir Aketa (N10 million), Abba Goroma (N10 million), Ibrahim Bashir (N10 million), Abubakar Zakariya (N10 Million) and Tukur Ahmed Mohammed, N10 million.”
InformationNigeria.org

Taraba Governor Danbaba Suntai Reportedly Brain-Damaged

Governor Danbaba Suntai of Taraba State, who was seriously injured when his plane crashed on October 25 in Yola, capital of Adamawa State, has reportedly suffered extensive brain damage and even failed to recognize members of a presidential delegation that visited him at a hospital in Hanover, Germany, an authoritative source has told SaharaReporters.
A source close to a senior member of the delegation which was led by Senate President, David Mark, included Governor Ibrahim Yakowa of Kaduna State, President Goodluck Jonathan’s chief of staff, Mike Oghiadomhe, also on the delegation was John Kennedy Opara, the secretary of the Nigerian Christian Pilgrim Commission (NCPC) and the Chaplain of the Presidential Villa Chapel, Venerable Obioma Onwuzurumba, described the trip to see Mr. Suntai as highly secretive. SaharaReporters learnt that members of the delegation had officially traveled to Vatican City in Rome to witness the consecration of Archbishop John Onaiyekan as a Cardinal of the Catholic Church. After the ceremony in Italy, the delegation then made a quick detour to Germany to see the injured Mr. Suntai.
Our source said members of the delegation were shocked to see Mr. Suntai in a vegetative state. “His condition was so bad that they could not publicly disclose his condition after they returned to Nigeria,” said the source.
Since Mr. Suntai’s airlift to Germany, officials of the Taraba State government have engaged in propaganda, claiming that the governor was making remarkable recovery. But our sources, including an official of the state government, admitted that Mr. Suntai’s mental faculty had deteriorated since the accident and that his memory was virtually impaired.
“It is possible that he suffered brain damage because there was some delay before he could be taken abroad,” said a state official.
A Taraba-born political activist who is based in Abuja, has likened the present hide and seek game on the status of the Taraba state governor to the days of late president Umaru Musa Yar’Adua when his true state of health was concealed from Nigerians in order to prevent his vice, Goodluck Jonathan from being sworn-in as acting president.
According to him: “We all know how President Umaru Yar’Adua’s people continued to deceive Nigerians that the man was recovering well and how they even brought him back in a comatose state and declared that he was in control of Nigeria,” said the activist. He added: “I hope President Jonathan and the PDP are not planning a similar scenario whereby they will declare that Governor Suntai is in control – until they find a malleable successor who suits them.
“The fact that the people of Taraba have not heard from or seen the governor since the air crash on October 25 2012 means that the man is no longer fit to govern them,” he said.
InformationNigeria.org

Newly married ex-Super Eagles player dies under mysterious circumstances

Tragedy recently struck the household of former fringe defender of Nigeria’s Super Eagles, Obinna Nnodim, who passed on in Owerri.
Jerry Uche, an ex-teammate to the former Julius Berger football club of Lagos stopper disclosed to newsmen that Nnodim gave up the ghost in a mysterious circumstance shortly after his wedding ceremony with his fiancée.
After an injury he sustained on the field, he suffered a broken knee which necessitated his travel to Thailand where he underwent knee surgery. However, that didn’t stop him from playing actively.
“Obinna was looking hale and hearty when I saw him few days before his death. He just returned from Thailand for his wedding.
“We all wined and dined together only to receive the sad news few days ago that he was dead. This is a big shock to me and the rest of us.
“I just want to believe that there is more to it than meets the eyes. His mother has been ill for so many years and to make matter worse he is the bread winner of the family,” Uche lamented.
Until his death, Nnodim , 31, featured for Arugo FC of Owerri, Julius Berger, Dolphins and Sharks Football Club of Port Harcourt.
The high point of his career was when he helped Julius Berger to reach the final of the African Winners Cup now known as the Confederation Cup in 2003.
Meanwhile, Nnodim’s burial which had been initially slated for Thursday has been suspended indefinitely by the family until the cause of death is ascertained.
 DailyPost

Sanusi Blows Hot Again: I Said Reduce Number Of Political Appointees Not Civil Servants

Call it a case of jumping from frying pan to fire, but CBN governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi’s latest rebuttal of his controversial statement over the week where he purportedly called for the sack of half the country’s work force, will still land him in hot waters – this time, with the political elite.
Sanusi, while speaking to Channels Television’s correspondent, Chukwuma Onuekwusi, in London at the end of the 13th session of the Honorary International Investors council meeting, said that those calling for his sack “are shying away from the reality of the time”.
Also clearing the air on his statement, Sanusi said he was not talking about the sack of civil servants but a reduction in the size of political appointees who take 70 percent of government revenue leaving a mere 30 percent for the 160 million Nigerians.
According to him “what Nigeria is practising is an American system of government that is very expensive”.
 InformationNigeria.org

2015: Northern leaders wary of Obasanjo’s anti-Jonathan moves

 by: Yusuf Alli,

In spite of rapprochement by ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, Northern leaders are wary of his 2015 permutations to appease the region against President Goodluck Jonathan.

Northern leaders are weighing options on the need to weather the storm alone instead of allowing Obasanjo to have his way for the third time.

The former President was instrumental to the imposition of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua in 2007 and the incumbent President in 2011 to frustrate the North’s desire for two terms in office.

But following sharp disagreements with President Jonathan, the ex-President is alleged to be leading a discreet campaign to deny Jonathan a second term ticket in 2015.

Obasanjo’s latest move is seen as a step to “appease” the North for the alleged “political errors” in 2007 and 2011.

The spokesman for the former President, Mallam Garbadeen Mohammed, however, said the recent shuttles of his principal to some leaders in the North and in the East had nothing to do with 2015.

Investigation by our correspondent showed that Northern leaders are still not favourably disposed to realigning with Obasanjo in their 2015 agenda.

It was learnt that some members of the National Assembly from the North also do not support a fresh romance with Obasanjo by the region.

A top member of Arewa Consultative Forum, who spoke with select newsmen in Abuja, said: “Going by what the North has gone through in the past few years, it will be a political suicide to entrust our political destiny in Obasanjo’s hands in 2015.

“Obasanjo has a track record of those he had moved against because they disagreed with him. They include past Senate presidents, and his VP, Abubakar Atiku. Even at a critical moment, he made some remarks against the late President Umaru Yar’Adua when the latter was sick.

“The North does not trust him because he has a history of imposing his views on people. During the choice of who succeeded him, he picked Yar’Adua despite opposition from his (Yar’ Adua’s) constituency (the North).

“Obasanjo insisted it must be Yar’Adua, who his kinsmen felt was too ill to face the rigors of office. Now, the North detests Obasanjo because they feel he deliberately planted a southerner, Goodluck Jonathan as VP, who eventually threw spanner in the works.

“The North feels sticking out their neck will be a big gamble because if the South-South, South-East, and the South-West where Obasanjo is abhorred should throw their weight behind Jonathan, they (North) would be left in the lurch.

Responding to a question, the source added: “Another problem Obasanjo has with the North is his prescription of Odi massacre for Maiduguri, which is the Boko Haram’s haven. The Northerners are not happy about this option and a former Minister of Communications, Alhaji Shettima Ali Monguno, said so recently.

“Obasanjo had moved against Atiku, blocked his ambition when Atiku ran against Jonathan during the PDP primaries. He had also fought another Northerner, ex-House of Representatives Speaker Umar Ghali Na’Aba and removed a former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Audu Ogbeh.

“Obasanjo met with Kebbi, Kano , Sokoto, Katsina state governors after his mosque fund raiser in Abeokuta. He was unable to sell his project. Sule Lamido who he had favored to step in did not attend the event.

“The South-East does not trust him because he was one of those who masterminded the removal of the chairmanship of PDP from the South-East.”

A former presidential aspirant in the North said: “We are weighing options on 2015 but I am sure by now all our leaders, including Northern governors, know where we are going. We won’t play a second fiddle again. The ACF has submitted a roadmap to the Northern Governors Forum to serve as a guide.

“I can just say that this time around, no one will dictate to us.”

A reliable source at the National Secretariat, who spoke in confidence, said: “His move against Jonathan will fail. The move is symptomatic of his penchant to reject anything that does not serve his interest. Obasanjo is a man who likes to play god on any national issue because of his erroneous belief that he has played more prominent roles than anybody in Nigeria.

“For this, he believes that he has monopoly of knowledge. He has this false sense of acceptability nationwide. It is clear Obasanjo has no clear electoral value; he has no interest of the North or South-East at heart but just vendetta.

“The PDP lost in his ward but he still believes he has the South-West in his grip. His daughter failed in her return bid. Most of those who worked with him as individuals or group lived to regret it, so no one trusts him. Even a former Minister of Aviation, Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode, who is defending the former President, once disagreed openly with him.

“The South-East does not see him as an ally, he has shortchanged them several times. Ask what happened to the chairmanship of PDP that was for Igbo.”

But speaking with our correspondent, the spokesman for the former President, Mallam Garbadeen Mohammed, said the recent shuttles of his principal to some Northern and Eastern states have nothing to do with 2015.

Mohammed said: “There is no disagreement between President Goodluck Jonathan and ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo. To the best of my knowledge, their relationship is very, very cordial. Whatever you are reading about any disagreement, it is a creation of people in the media.

“The launch of the mosque project at the Obasanjo Presidential Library was purely a spiritual development, there was nothing political about it. I was in Abeokuta , there was no political undertone to it. It is a project towards the development of unity and religious harmony in the country.

“There were people that are not Muslims at the launch of the mosque. As a matter of fact, the Kaduna State Government even donated N20million to the project.”

On the 2015 politics, Mohammed added: “I have no authority whatsoever on 2015 on what is going to happen, I have no authority to say anything.”

Asked why Obasanjo had been embarking on political shuttles, the spokesman said: “Since His Excellency, ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, left office, he has been in demand in the country and outside to play the role of a statesman. The reality is that people appreciate him at home and abroad, those shuttles were not political at all.”

TheNation

Angry wife stabs hubby to death for accusing her of infidelity

Residents of No. 8 Eze Street, off Okposi Street, Nkaliki, Abakaliki, Ebonyi State are still wondering on what. Could have prompted a woman to kill her husband whom she had lived with for several years.
Occupants of the compound woke in the morning to be greeted with the shocking news that Mr. Yaune Okorji, an Assistant Immigration Officer attached to Ebonyi State headquarters of the command has been reportedly killed by his wife during a domestic violence.
It was gathered that the late Okoroji and his wife, Mrs. Judith Okorji have been having serious marital crisis over infidelity before his sudden demise.
The ‘family war’ we learnt reached a crescendo the fateful day when the late Okoroji accused his wife of having affairs with another man in a hotel.
Sources said both the deceased and his embittered wife all hailed from Ahoada in Ahoada East Local Government Area of Rivers State.
Eyewitness said the immigration officer was stabbed to death around 1:00am after a fight with his wife, Judith went beyond control.
The source who pleaded anonymity said that when late Okorji returned late to his matrimonial home on the fateful day, his wife who was already pregnant began to question the husband over his love for alcohol , which eventually ended up in a serious squabble and the wife allegedly stabbed the husband with a dagger.
The source said, “It was then that the wife out of annoyance grabbed a knife very close to her and stabbed him on the upper part of his left hand and it pierced through his chest and the man fell down, with blood gushing out .
Neighbours who were attracted to the scene, grabbed him and rushed him to the Federal Teaching Hospital.
Unfortunately, he died on the way to the hospital”.
It was learnt that some angry relatives of the murdered Okorji in a revenge responded to the incident by setting the house of the suspect ablaze.
DailyPost gathered that there’s serious tension in the community.
The Ebonyi State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Sylvester Igbo who confirmed the incident said that Mrs. Judith Okorji, 24, had since been arrested by the command for allegedly stabbing her husband to death after a quarrel bordering on infidelity.
According to the police spokesman, “When the matter was reported, the police went to the scene and she was arrested. In the course of the investigation, she made confessional statement to the police. The Police discovered that she used the dagger belonging to the husband to stab him during the quarrel.
The deceased was a staff of Immigration here in the state from Ahoda East in Rivers State. They were living as husband and wife before the incident”.
According to him, investigation had so far been carried out by the command on the matter and it shows that the accused, a nursing mother of three, might have been enraged after her late husband accused her of sleeping with another man.
Igbo revealed that the accused, who is also a law student of the Nigeria Open University (NOU) had confessed to have committed the crime but claimed that it was the devil that pushed her.
It was learnt that at Judith who was previously in police custody, was later charged to court and remanded in prison custody for further investigation as the body of the deceased had been deposited at the Federal Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki, FETHA, for autopsy.
DailyPost gathered that the fatherless children are presently in the care of Mrs. Eddy, a close friend to Judith.
DailyPost