Top Line

Thursday 28 February 2013

See how a hip hop act was murdered at the front of his University .


Hip hop act, Damino Damoche shot dead at LASU

  • Written by  Olalekan Olabulo, Seyi Sokoya and Segun Adebayo
  • Friday, 01 March 2013 01:44
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RISING hip hop act, Olaniyan Damilola, popular known as Damino Damoche, was shot dead on Thursday around 5.00 p.m at the Iba Gate of Lagos State University (LASU), Ojo, by people suspected to be cultists.
Nigerian Tribune gathered that Damoche was shot in the head twice, after he finished writing a test at the Faculty of Management Science of the institution.
The hip hop artiste, who broke to limelight mid-2011, was, until his death, a 400-level Banking and Finance student at LASU.
He was said to be working on his next album due for launch in April when the incident occurred.
Ngozi Braide, the image maker in charge of the Lagos State police command, cofirmed the killing.
She added that the police had deposited the corpse at the mortuary.
The Nigerian Tribune gathered that the hip hop act was on his way out of the campus , when some alleged cult guys accosted him and shot him at a close range.
The death created panic in the school, as students rushed to the scene to catch a glimpse.
A student of LASU, who simply identified himself as Ojo, informed the Nigerian  Tribune that “it is not unusual in LASU for someone to be killed before examinations. We know that they will surely kill since we are starting our exams next week.”

Tuesday 26 February 2013

Top 10 items stolen from hotels

According to a new poll, 69 per cent of Britons admit to stealing from a hotel while on a foreign holiday. The survey, carried out by the travel discount website myvouchercodes.co.uk also revealed the top 10 items most likely  to find their way into travellers' suitcases...

Top 10 items stolen from hotels

10. Bible
Incredibly, seven per cent of Britons admitted to breaking the 8th Commandment by stealing a Bible from their hotel room. The irony.
Picture: AP

Unusual items stolen from hotels
Sex toys
"Beyond the usual things, such as shampoos and bath towels, the most frequently stolen items are our sex toys," said a member of staff at the Residence in Bath, which offers kinky accessories - at a price - to adventurous travellers. "I would call them up to explain that they had been caught. A rather long silence would inevitably follow," she added.

Unusual items stolen from hotels

Unusual items stolen from hotels
Stuffed boar
At the Hotel du Vin in Birmingham, one tired and emotional guest was caught trying to pilfer a mounted boar's head from the hotel's billiard room. Some weeks later, friends of the embarrassed would-be thief purchased the stuffed head from the hotel to present to him as a wedding g
Unusual items stolen from hotels
Television
Other seemingly immovable objects he remembered being taken included overhead projectors and innumerable televisions.

"Looking back over the CCTV footage, we would see a guest walk through a busy reception struggling under the weight of a television set, yet no one would bat an eyelid," he said.

Unusual items stolen from hotels

Unusual items stolen from hotels
Toiletries and teabags may be considered "fair game". But some hotel guests have made a habit of stealing everything that isn't nailed down. Coat hangers, alarm clocks, slippers, sheets and bath mats are fairly common targets for light-fingered visitors. But it gets much worse..
Unusual items stolen from hotels
Grand piano
Colin Bennett, a former general manager for the Starwood Hotel Group, recalled the most brazen theft he encountered during nearly 20 years in the business: "As soon as I walked into the lobby of one hotel," he said, "I immediately realised something was missing - but I couldn't put my finger on it. It transpired that three people had strolled into reception, dressed in overalls, and had wheeled the grand piano out of the hotel and down the street, never to be seen again."

I’m neither human nor spirit but built the world’s biggest drum -Okonfo Rao Kawawa

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    “Of course, I am not human. I am not a spirit either. I am a specially crafted piece of art work  by God,” he said during the interview.
    Though, he admitted  that his  attitude and actions are influenced by  “whoever, I don’t know. You know we listen to different music, dancing to the rhythm of our different drummers. So, I don’t work myself up on things like these.”  In this  interview with WALE OJO-LANRE, the man whose dancing group  usually draws the biggest attention at the Osun Osogbo Grove during Osun Festival,  the musician, sculptor and artist maintained that his  happiest  moment will be when he is dead!  Excerpts:
    WHO is RAO KAWAWA?
    I  am also interested in who is RAO Kawawa. Rao is Rashidi Ajani Omoniyi. Kawawa is a nickname and Okonfo is the name given to me by the Ashantes in Ghana as a  priest. In Ghana, a priest is called Okonfo, so my name has to do with Ghana, Arabic and  Yoruba languages and nickname. I was born in Ghana in 1949 by Yoruba parents  from Osogbo,  I attended school in Ghana. Later, we came back to Nigeria,  stayed for two years  and I went to Germany for further studies. I studied German. I am a  polyglot and a unique artist; many things put together in a man.    I built the world biggest drum in Germany and sold to a Japan customer, so I have been doing this artistically work spiritually because I never learnt them from any man. The inspiration brought the technique and I have been doing this to survive in Germany. So, I opened  a centre called Africa House where I teach African drumming and dancing, I’ve been doing this now  for 39 years.

    How many years did you spend in Germany?
    I stayed in German for only 15 years without interruption. This is  my 26th year of staying in Nigeria.

    Why did you decide to come back?
    Why I decided to come back home? You know we like to stay in our hometown, it is the best you can do, stay home where you were  born or your hometown you enjoy it more than somebody being a stranger in another country. I came for survival and further studies. I’d like to know more about classical traditional  music and dances which I think my knowledge then was never enough.

    Did you at any point regret ever coming to Nigeria?
    You mean disappointment? No. To  me, I think it is the best thing to have decided, to come back home, if I didn’t come back, nobody could have forced me. But it is not good going far away without coming back to ones root. What is the use of being born and getting lost? I struggled to come back after 15 years with my children and wives.

    When coming to Nigeria some 26 years ago, what was your projection like?
     I just thought of coming back home to settle down and have a centre where we can do more research about African music  and dances, and about spirituality which has made me to be what I am today. I believe the spirit is  higher more than all techniques and  I was doing it in a way to get more involved into spirituality to get  some achievements, get more money and give my children  part of it. I came  home to enjoy the Africanism, and  to give my best to my people and not only to the white people. So long,  I am alive to enjoy Africanism. African music and dances and technologies of Africa which are not dead; not only to sit in  Germany working with the  Germans and  teaching the  American  dance and music. And I am so glad the the people appreciated my passion by conferring on me the title Baba Ewe which means father of the youths and  later Baale Eleyele, representative of my family.

    To what extent have you been able to serve your community in Nigeria since you came back?
    I have been  teaching people drumming, without taking money. I don’t live on the money I make in Nigeria. I rely on the revenue I garner from Germany.

    People see you as a weird and wild human being...
    Weird and wild?  How can a wild man be reachable?  A wild man cannot be reached because he is wild. I  am not a wild man  because I am cool and an intellectual too.

    Are you rich?
    I can’t  call myself a rich man,  but I am not poor. I know people who are rich, they control millions, I don’t have a million, but I spend my kobo kobo to make life relatively okay for me.

    Your appearance doesn’t look like somebody who had been to Germany, you look like a jungle man, why the jungle lifestyle?
    A  jungle is always a jungle. You can’t change  Osogbo to be  Oso Ilu or Oso City, It is not possible, the  meaning of Osogbo is Oso Igbo, (the wizard in the jungle). The same meaning I coined for  my Centre - Jungle Communication Centre  and it comes from Osogbo which means Igbo (forest or jungle)  And how do you want a jungle man to look like? You want me to look like a man  from Manhattan City? No way.

     So, why all these effigies, sculptures, the shrines and others, are you an herbalist?
     Yeah, we do an’ herbalistical’ work too. Spiritual work  go  with herbalism and healing. Wherever I am, I have to have my  hands  doing something around me. So the sculptures here tell the story of my life,  you have to see something that makes you feel you are in  another place.  The sculptures  are to me powers of gods and I try to express this when tourists visit here to go round to see what we are doing and I explain to people. Sculpture is not just a joke or an empty air.It says something. And expression is something we need in the artistic world. So I do sculpture, carving, metal work to express my feelings, not  only for sales.

    Are you encouraging people to go into arts?
    Yes. This  is why I  take money from the whites  to train them free. So, teaching them without collecting money is also part of my personal assistance to the people. When you know how to do it, you know  it, I  have sponsored  more than 12  people  abroad.

    People see you as a cultist, that you were initiated in Ghana...
    I am not a cultist. I am a traditional believer and practitioner. I got initiated in Ghana. We got to  train to be possessed. We call it AKOM in Ghana, and you are trained to get possessed, going into trance, is not cultism.

    Is this in line with your belief?
    My belief?

    I mean your religious belief?
    I don’t have any religion. Exported religions are tricks being used to colonise our  identity and turn us to European robots.  Mohammedanism or  Christianity, I don’t believe in any. I don’t think about  them. I think about my ancestors and I feel bad the way things are. I do think of  going to  the mosque and jumping over those people bending down. They say ‘I am weird,’ no, I am not. It is  just that things going on in my head are not just normal to me, so I have to express my feelings . I have  been doing  this and they think I am crazy.  I am not crazy, I am saying  this is not good for me, why should I be there and be saying Allah and all  sorts? I don’t want to  get lost in paradise , that is why I stay here in Jungle Communication Centre where I can worship idols,  dance to the music of the Yoruba and  other  tribes in West Africa.

    You have just mentioned paradise, where is it?
     For me, anywhere I feel good is a paradise. This word is used in the Bible, and Aljahnah in the Quoran, but my personal feeling will tell me whether the place is good or not. I am not joining them to go into their own Alhjanah. I  want to go to  Al Togo. I  have been in Ghana already. You cannot tell me this is the way to go to heaven, why should I go to heaven? I am here to live on this land to enjoy it and not to go to heaven, leave me here. My first album disc titled “Dancing in the fire” so Inu ina yee gan la majo e ba ara yin da sohun. They want to put our souls down so that we can become fearful and frightened. I don’t want to do that. I am just crazy, doing  my things in  my own way. My father  told me “Hey Rashidi, you are crazy and you need to go to a psychiatric” And I said” no, I am not crazy “you are crazy”. Why should you knock your head on the ground calling  Allah, and other things you don’t know? Come and join me here to dance  to real African dance, worship African  gods, and  enjoy your life.

    Are your children following your path?
    Yeah, all of them.

    How many do you have?
    Ai ka omo fun olomo  (you don’t take census of how many children you have). You know that is the tradition in Yorubaland. I have  eight children  and to me  eight is a number of spiritualism. I have three here in Nigeria  and the rest in Germany. To me, I want my children to follow my footsteps, to do more research about our ancestors not only in the computer way and in the white man’s way,  so as not to lose the real tradition and values.

    About 26 years ago when you started Jungle Communication Centre here in Osogbo, was it flourishing then?
    I can say that people were coming here to find out what was going on here.  Some  came to learn, while some were here to waste their time. I  had almost 40 youngmen staying  here  before,  and later, they  started running away. They don’t have the patience of learning and concentrating on what they come here to do, they just want the wealth, this is the  trouble with the young ones.They don’t have any  trust in our  society any longer. They  are after wealth, riches and money,  this is the spiritual power they are looking for.

    What do you think is responsible for all the ills and problems in the society?
    In  our society, we have all become Americans. I called it American Yoruba. We  are all after wealth and we use capitalism and most of our people don’t  even have feelings for the others. They want to cheat,  shoot and kill  others. This their feeling is not genuine  for Africans. Before,  Africa  was the  only place where people can exchange  views  without killing, without shooting, but  today,  Africa has become a place only for money,  money, money,  so robbery and killing and shooting have  become part of  us like America.

    You mean adhering  to the  traditional ways can heal the society of these  vices?
    It  can help us if we all   believe more in our ancestors, there will be no more killing, no more robbery; everybody would want to do their best, but when you have become African-American,  you are  more cruel, greedy and vicious.

    How often do you communicate with the spirit world?
    Everyday.  I don’t have any other job. It is the only way for my survival. I have to call the spirits for money and good luck. I can’t just sit down and say things will happen just like that.

    How does it bring money?
     It brings connection, it sends people down. For example, if I tell the spirits that look , “I am broke,” the spirits will   propel people to come and  give me money  either from my students overseas or people coming to buy land.

    Who owns this land  and  how many acres?
    My family. We own it from Asubiaro to Abere and here. 600 acres was acquired by the government, and I am keeping the rest.

    What was the disposition of your parents towards your belief?
    Haa, it’was tough.   They said that it was a disgrace to them being  pious  Moslems only  for me  to join the ancestral movement and began to dance or drum as  a beggar.

    Then, how do you interact as brothers and sisters?
    We have always been at loggerheads. We are always fighting . And whenever they  needed  money, they always come and my reply is “if you don’t believe me,  don’t come  near me.”

    How do you feel dancing on the street?
    I feel high. It’s only once in a year and I feel good, and that is during Osun Osogbo.

    Who is RAO KAWAWA?
    I  am also interested in who is RAO Kawawa. Rao is Rashidi Ajani Omoniyi. Kawawa is a nickname and Okonfo is the name given to me by the Ashantes in Ghana as a  priest. In Ghana, a priest is called Okonfo, so my name has to do with Ghana, Arabic and  Yoruba languages and nickname. I was born in Ghana in 1949 by Yoruba parents  from Osogbo,  I attended school in Ghana. Later, we came back to Nigeria,  stayed for two years  and I went to Germany for further studies. I studied German. I am a  polyglot and a unique artist; many things put together in a man.    I built the world biggest drum in Germany and sold to a Japan customer, so I have been doing this artistically work spiritually because I never learnt them from any man. The inspiration brought the technique and I have been doing this to survive in Germany. So, I opened  a centre called Africa House where I teach African drumming and dancing, I’ve been doing this now  for 39 years.

    How many years did you spend in Germany?
    I stayed in German for only 15 years without interruption. This is  my 26th year of staying in Nigeria.

    Why did you decide to come back?
    Why I decided to come back home? You know we like to stay in our hometown, it is the best you can do, stay home where you were  born or your hometown you enjoy it more than somebody being a stranger in another country. I came for survival and further studies. I’d like to know more about classical traditional  music and dances which I think my knowledge then was never enough.

    Did you at any point regret ever coming to Nigeria?
    You mean disappointment? No. To  me, I think it is the best thing to have decided, to come back home, if I didn’t come back, nobody could have forced me. But it is not good going far away without coming back to ones root. What is the use of being born and getting lost? I struggled to come back after 15 years with my children and wives.

    When coming to Nigeria some 26 years ago, what was your projection like?
     I just thought of coming back home to settle down and have a centre where we can do more research about African music  and dances, and about spirituality which has made me to be what I am today. I believe the spirit is  higher more than all techniques and  I was doing it in a way to get more involved into spirituality to get  some achievements, get more money and give my children  part of it. I came  home to enjoy the Africanism, and  to give my best to my people and not only to the white people. So long,  I am alive to enjoy Africanism. African music and dances and technologies of Africa which are not dead; not only to sit in  Germany working with the  Germans and  teaching the  American  dance and music. And I am so glad the the people appreciated my passion by conferring on me the title Baba Ewe which means father of the youths and  later Baale Eleyele, representative of my family.

    To what extent have you been able to serve your community in Nigeria since you came back?
    I have been  teaching people drumming, without taking money. I don’t live on the money I make in Nigeria. I rely on the revenue I garner from Germany.

    People see you as a weird and wild human being...
    Weird and wild?  How can a wild man be reachable?  A wild man cannot be reached because he is wild. I  am not a wild man  because I am cool and an intellectual too.

    Are you rich?
    I can’t  call myself a rich man,  but I am not poor. I know people who are rich, they control millions, I don’t have a million, but I spend my kobo kobo to make life relatively okay for me.

    Your appearance doesn’t look like somebody who had been to Germany, you look like a jungle man, why the jungle lifestyle?
    A  jungle is always a jungle. You can’t change  Osogbo to be  Oso Ilu or Oso City, It is not possible, the  meaning of Osogbo is Oso Igbo, (the wizard in the jungle). The same meaning I coined for  my Centre - Jungle Communication Centre  and it comes from Osogbo which means Igbo (forest or jungle)  And how do you want a jungle man to look like? You want me to look like a man  from Manhattan City? No way.

    So, why all these effigies, sculptures, the shrines and others, are you an herbalist?
    Yeah, we do an’ herbalistical’ work too. Spiritual work  go  with herbalism and healing. Wherever I am, I have to have my  hands  doing something around me. So the sculptures here tell the story of my life,  you have to see something that makes you feel you are in  another place.  The sculptures  are to me powers of gods and I try to express this when tourists visit here to go round to see what we are doing and I explain to people. Sculpture is not just a joke or an empty air.It says something. And expression is something we need in the artistic world. So I do sculpture, carving, metal work to express my feelings, not  only for sales.

    Are you encouraging people to go into arts?
    Yes. This  is why I  take money from the whites  to train them free. So, teaching them without collecting money is also part of my personal assistance to the people. When you know how to do it, you know  it, I  have sponsored  more than 12  people  abroad.

    People see you as a cultist, that you were initiated in Ghana...
    I am not a cultist. I am a traditional believer and practitioner. I got initiated in Ghana. We got to  train to be possessed. We call it AKOM in Ghana, and you are trained to get possessed, going into trance, is not cultism.

    Is this in line with your belief?
    My belief?

     I mean your religious belief?
    I don’t have any religion. Exported religions are tricks being used to colonise our  identity and turn us to European robots.  Mohammedanism or  Christianity, I don’t believe in any. I don’t think about  them. I think about my ancestors and I feel bad the way things are. I do think of  going to  the mosque and jumping over those people bending down. They say ‘I am weird,’ no, I am not. It is  just that things going on in my head are not just normal to me, so I have to express my feelings . I have  been doing  this and they think I am crazy.  I am not crazy, I am saying  this is not good for me, why should I be there and be saying Allah and all  sorts? I don’t want to  get lost in paradise , that is why I stay here in Jungle Communication Centre where I can worship idols,  dance to the music of the Yoruba and  other  tribes in West Africa.

    You have just mentioned paradise, where is it?
     For me, anywhere I feel good is a paradise.   This word is used in the Bible, and Aljahnah in the Quoran, but my personal feeling will tell me whether the place is good or not. I am not joining them to go into their own Alhjanah. I  want to go to  Al Togo. I  have been in Ghana already. You cannot tell me this is the way to go to heaven, why should I go to heaven? I am here to live on this land to enjoy it and not to go to heaven, leave me here. My first album disc titled “Dancing in the fire” so Inu ina yee gan la majo e ba ara yin da sohun. They want to put our souls down so that we can become fearful and frightened. I don’t want to do that. I am just crazy, doing  my things in  my own way. My father  told me “Hey Rashidi, you are crazy and you need to go to a psychiatric” And I said” no, I am not crazy “you are crazy”. Why should you knock your head on the ground calling  Allah, and other things you don’t know? Come and join me here to dance  to real African dance, worship African  gods, and  enjoy your life.

     Are your children following your path?
     Yeah, all of them.

     How many do you have?
    Ai ka omo fun olomo  (you don’t take census of how many children you have). You know that is the tradition in Yorubaland. I have  eight children  and to me  eight is a number of spiritualism. I have three here in Nigeria  and the rest in Germany. To me, I want my children to follow my footsteps, to do more research about our ancestors not only in the computer way and in the white man’s way,  so as not to lose the real tradition and values.

     About 26 years ago when you started Jungle Communication Centre here in Osogbo, was it flourishing then?
     I can say that people were coming here to find out what was going on here.  Some  came to learn, while some were here to waste their time. I  had almost 40 youngmen staying  here  before,  and later, they  started running away. They don’t have the patience of learning and concentrating on what they come here to do, they just want the wealth, this is the  trouble with the young ones.They don’t have any  trust in our  society any longer. They  are after wealth, riches and money,  this is the spiritual power they are looking for.

    What do you think is responsible for all the ills and problems in the society?
    In  our society, we have all become Americans. I called it American Yoruba. We  are all after wealth and we use capitalism and most of our people don’t  even have feelings for the others. They want to cheat,  shoot and kill  others. This their feeling is not genuine  for Africans. Before,  Africa  was the  only place where people can exchange  views  without killing, without shooting, but  today,  Africa has become a place only for money,  money, money,  so robbery and killing and shooting have  become part of  us like America.

    You mean adhering  to the  traditional ways can heal the society of these  vices?
    It  can help us if we all   believe more in our ancestors, there will be no more killing, no more robbery; everybody would want to do their best, but when you have become African-American,  you are  more cruel, greedy and vicious.

    How often do you communicate with the spirit world?
    Everyday.  I don’t have any other job. It is the only way for my survival. I have to call the spirits for money and good luck. I can’t just sit down and say things will happen just like that.

    How does it bring money?
    It brings connection, it sends people down. For example, if I tell the spirits that look , “I am broke,” the spirits will   propel people to come and  give me money  either from my students overseas or people coming to buy land.

    Who owns this land  and  how many acres?
    My family. We own it from Asubiaro to Abere and here. 600 acres was acquired by the government, and I am keeping the rest.

     What was the disposition of your parents towards your belief?
      Haa, it’was tough.   They said that it was a disgrace to them being  pious  Moslems only  for me  to join the ancestral movement and began to dance or drum as  a beggar.

     Then, how do you interact as brothers and sisters?
    We have always been at loggerheads. We are always fighting . And whenever they  needed  money, they always come and my reply is “if you don’t believe me,  don’t come  near me.”

     How do you feel dancing on the street?
    I feel high. It’s only once in a year and I feel good, and that is during Osun Osogbo.

    Do you plant or smoke marijuana?
     Beautiful, I don’t plant, but  when you have it, bring it for me, I will smoke. I don’t hide my feelings.
     If you die any moment from now, is there anybody who you have prepared to take your role?
     That is the case of god and not mine   I’ve been able to live and do my own  if i die, I don’t want to know what happen,.if i die everybody should fuck off and let me go.

    How do you want your  funeral to be packaged? Your children may decided to take you to the church or bury you in Islamic way.

    Take me to Church or Mosque? They will never try that. Ha ha ha they know if they do that , I  will just wake up and start slapping them. They will not dare it . I will prefer to go home with wild talking drum , dances, songs, chanting. I will be happy  that I am dead. I want  to be buried in the traditional way in Osogbo here. They should  dance around me for a whole seven days  before they now put me in a hole . I  want a place where they can see me in the  hole where I too can see them drinking and smoking marijuana  and say Baba buruku yi ti lo a dupe, ( Thank God , this bad man has gone )

    Tell us about your wives
    My wives, the only one I have now is Olori Abeni. I  had so  many wives before her.

    Sir, what makes you happy?
    That is a big  question,   let me think deeply, Seeing my family, my wife and children and my car ,

     Not others like weed, fuck  and  drink?
     No. Those ones do not  make me happy. They make me to think and think . When I see my children, family and everybody   functioning effectively, I become happy

     The happiest moment?
     When I die ( Laughter)

    Read about the man who built the world's biggest drum and see the biggest drum.


    I’m neither human nor spirit but built the world’s biggest drum -Okonfo Rao Kawawa

    AddThis Social Bookmark Button
    “Of course, I am not human. I am not a spirit either. I am a specially crafted piece of art work  by God,” he said during the interview.
    Though, he admitted  that his  attitude and actions are influenced by  “whoever, I don’t know. You know we listen to different music, dancing to the rhythm of our different drummers. So, I don’t work myself up on things like these.”  In this  interview with WALE OJO-LANRE, the man whose dancing group  usually draws the biggest attention at the Osun Osogbo Grove during Osun Festival,  the musician, sculptor and artist maintained that his  happiest  moment will be when he is dead!  Excerpts:
    WHO is RAO KAWAWA?
    I  am also interested in who is RAO Kawawa. Rao is Rashidi Ajani Omoniyi. Kawawa is a nickname and Okonfo is the name given to me by the Ashantes in Ghana as a  priest. In Ghana, a priest is called Okonfo, so my name has to do with Ghana, Arabic and  Yoruba languages and nickname. I was born in Ghana in 1949 by Yoruba parents  from Osogbo,  I attended school in Ghana. Later, we came back to Nigeria,  stayed for two years  and I went to Germany for further studies. I studied German. I am a  polyglot and a unique artist; many things put together in a man.    I built the world biggest drum in Germany and sold to a Japan customer, so I have been doing this artistically work spiritually because I never learnt them from any man. The inspiration brought the technique and I have been doing this to survive in Germany. So, I opened  a centre called Africa House where I teach African drumming and dancing, I’ve been doing this now  for 39 years.

    How many years did you spend in Germany?
    I stayed in German for only 15 years without interruption. This is  my 26th year of staying in Nigeria.

    Why did you decide to come back?
    Why I decided to come back home? You know we like to stay in our hometown, it is the best you can do, stay home where you were  born or your hometown you enjoy it more than somebody being a stranger in another country. I came for survival and further studies. I’d like to know more about classical traditional  music and dances which I think my knowledge then was never enough.

    Did you at any point regret ever coming to Nigeria?
    You mean disappointment? No. To  me, I think it is the best thing to have decided, to come back home, if I didn’t come back, nobody could have forced me. But it is not good going far away without coming back to ones root. What is the use of being born and getting lost? I struggled to come back after 15 years with my children and wives.

    When coming to Nigeria some 26 years ago, what was your projection like?
     I just thought of coming back home to settle down and have a centre where we can do more research about African music  and dances, and about spirituality which has made me to be what I am today. I believe the spirit is  higher more than all techniques and  I was doing it in a way to get more involved into spirituality to get  some achievements, get more money and give my children  part of it. I came  home to enjoy the Africanism, and  to give my best to my people and not only to the white people. So long,  I am alive to enjoy Africanism. African music and dances and technologies of Africa which are not dead; not only to sit in  Germany working with the  Germans and  teaching the  American  dance and music. And I am so glad the the people appreciated my passion by conferring on me the title Baba Ewe which means father of the youths and  later Baale Eleyele, representative of my family.

    To what extent have you been able to serve your community in Nigeria since you came back?
    I have been  teaching people drumming, without taking money. I don’t live on the money I make in Nigeria. I rely on the revenue I garner from Germany.

    People see you as a weird and wild human being...
    Weird and wild?  How can a wild man be reachable?  A wild man cannot be reached because he is wild. I  am not a wild man  because I am cool and an intellectual too.

    Are you rich?
    I can’t  call myself a rich man,  but I am not poor. I know people who are rich, they control millions, I don’t have a million, but I spend my kobo kobo to make life relatively okay for me.

    Your appearance doesn’t look like somebody who had been to Germany, you look like a jungle man, why the jungle lifestyle?
    A  jungle is always a jungle. You can’t change  Osogbo to be  Oso Ilu or Oso City, It is not possible, the  meaning of Osogbo is Oso Igbo, (the wizard in the jungle). The same meaning I coined for  my Centre - Jungle Communication Centre  and it comes from Osogbo which means Igbo (forest or jungle)  And how do you want a jungle man to look like? You want me to look like a man  from Manhattan City? No way.

     So, why all these effigies, sculptures, the shrines and others, are you an herbalist?
     Yeah, we do an’ herbalistical’ work too. Spiritual work  go  with herbalism and healing. Wherever I am, I have to have my  hands  doing something around me. So the sculptures here tell the story of my life,  you have to see something that makes you feel you are in  another place.  The sculptures  are to me powers of gods and I try to express this when tourists visit here to go round to see what we are doing and I explain to people. Sculpture is not just a joke or an empty air.It says something. And expression is something we need in the artistic world. So I do sculpture, carving, metal work to express my feelings, not  only for sales.

    Are you encouraging people to go into arts?
    Yes. This  is why I  take money from the whites  to train them free. So, teaching them without collecting money is also part of my personal assistance to the people. When you know how to do it, you know  it, I  have sponsored  more than 12  people  abroad.

    People see you as a cultist, that you were initiated in Ghana...
    I am not a cultist. I am a traditional believer and practitioner. I got initiated in Ghana. We got to  train to be possessed. We call it AKOM in Ghana, and you are trained to get possessed, going into trance, is not cultism.
    Is this in line with your belief?
    My belief?

    I mean your religious belief?
    I don’t have any religion. Exported religions are tricks being used to colonise our  identity and turn us to European robots.  Mohammedanism or  Christianity, I don’t believe in any. I don’t think about  them. I think about my ancestors and I feel bad the way things are. I do think of  going to  the mosque and jumping over those people bending down. They say ‘I am weird,’ no, I am not. It is  just that things going on in my head are not just normal to me, so I have to express my feelings . I have  been doing  this and they think I am crazy.  I am not crazy, I am saying  this is not good for me, why should I be there and be saying Allah and all  sorts? I don’t want to  get lost in paradise , that is why I stay here in Jungle Communication Centre where I can worship idols,  dance to the music of the Yoruba and  other  tribes in West Africa.

    You have just mentioned paradise, where is it?
     For me, anywhere I feel good is a paradise. This word is used in the Bible, and Aljahnah in the Quoran, but my personal feeling will tell me whether the place is good or not. I am not joining them to go into their own Alhjanah. I  want to go to  Al Togo. I  have been in Ghana already. You cannot tell me this is the way to go to heaven, why should I go to heaven? I am here to live on this land to enjoy it and not to go to heaven, leave me here. My first album disc titled “Dancing in the fire” so Inu ina yee gan la majo e ba ara yin da sohun. They want to put our souls down so that we can become fearful and frightened. I don’t want to do that. I am just crazy, doing  my things in  my own way. My father  told me “Hey Rashidi, you are crazy and you need to go to a psychiatric” And I said” no, I am not crazy “you are crazy”. Why should you knock your head on the ground calling  Allah, and other things you don’t know? Come and join me here to dance  to real African dance, worship African  gods, and  enjoy your life.

    Are your children following your path?
     Yeah, all of them.

    How many do you have?
    Ai ka omo fun olomo  (you don’t take census of how many children you have). You know that is the tradition in Yorubaland. I have  eight children  and to me  eight is a number of spiritualism. I have three here in Nigeria  and the rest in Germany. To me, I want my children to follow my footsteps, to do more research about our ancestors not only in the computer way and in the white man’s way,  so as not to lose the real tradition and values.

    About 26 years ago when you started Jungle Communication Centre here in Osogbo, was it flourishing then?
    I can say that people were coming here to find out what was going on here.  Some  came to learn, while some were here to waste their time. I  had almost 40 youngmen staying  here  before,  and later, they  started running away. They don’t have the patience of learning and concentrating on what they come here to do, they just want the wealth, this is the  trouble with the young ones.They don’t have any  trust in our  society any longer. They  are after wealth, riches and money,  this is the spiritual power they are looking for.

    What do you think is responsible for all the ills and problems in the society?
    In  our society, we have all become Americans. I called it American Yoruba. We  are all after wealth and we use capitalism and most of our people don’t  even have feelings for the others. They want to cheat,  shoot and kill  others. This their feeling is not genuine  for Africans. Before,  Africa  was the  only place where people can exchange  views  without killing, without shooting, but  today,  Africa has become a place only for money,  money, money,  so robbery and killing and shooting have  become part of  us like America.

    You mean adhering  to the  traditional ways can heal the society of these  vices?
    It  can help us if we all   believe more in our ancestors, there will be no more killing, no more robbery; everybody would want to do their best, but when you have become African-American,  you are  more cruel, greedy and vicious.

    How often do you communicate with the spirit world?
    Everyday.  I don’t have any other job. It is the only way for my survival. I have to call the spirits for money and good luck. I can’t just sit down and say things will happen just like that.

    How does it bring money?
     It brings connection, it sends people down. For example, if I tell the spirits that look , “I am broke,” the spirits will   propel people to come and  give me money  either from my students overseas or people coming to buy land.

    Who owns this land  and  how many acres?
    My family. We own it from Asubiaro to Abere and here. 600 acres was acquired by the government, and I am keeping the rest.

    What was the disposition of your parents towards your belief?
    Haa, it’was tough.   They said that it was a disgrace to them being  pious  Moslems only  for me  to join the ancestral movement and began to dance or drum as  a beggar.

    Then, how do you interact as brothers and sisters?
    We have always been at loggerheads. We are always fighting . And whenever they  needed  money, they always come and my reply is “if you don’t believe me,  don’t come  near me.”

    How do you feel dancing on the street?
    I feel high. It’s only once in a year and I feel good, and that is during Osun Osogbo.
    WHO is RAO KAWAWA?
    I  am also interested in who is RAO Kawawa. Rao is Rashidi Ajani Omoniyi. Kawawa is a nickname and Okonfo is the name given to me by the Ashantes in Ghana as a  priest. In Ghana, a priest is called Okonfo, so my name has to do with Ghana, Arabic and  Yoruba languages and nickname. I was born in Ghana in 1949 by Yoruba parents  from Osogbo,  I attended school in Ghana. Later, we came back to Nigeria,  stayed for two years  and I went to Germany for further studies. I studied German. I am a  polyglot and a unique artist; many things put together in a man.    I built the world biggest drum in Germany and sold to a Japan customer, so I have been doing this artistically work spiritually because I never learnt them from any man. The inspiration brought the technique and I have been doing this to survive in Germany. So, I opened  a centre called Africa House where I teach African drumming and dancing, I’ve been doing this now  for 39 years.

    How many years did you spend in Germany?
    I stayed in German for only 15 years without interruption. This is  my 26th year of staying in Nigeria.

    Why did you decide to come back?
    Why I decided to come back home? You know we like to stay in our hometown, it is the best you can do, stay home where you were  born or your hometown you enjoy it more than somebody being a stranger in another country. I came for survival and further studies. I’d like to know more about classical traditional  music and dances which I think my knowledge then was never enough.

    Did you at any point regret ever coming to Nigeria?
    You mean disappointment? No. To  me, I think it is the best thing to have decided, to come back home, if I didn’t come back, nobody could have forced me. But it is not good going far away without coming back to ones root. What is the use of being born and getting lost? I struggled to come back after 15 years with my children and wives.

    When coming to Nigeria some 26 years ago, what was your projection like?
     I just thought of coming back home to settle down and have a centre where we can do more research about African music  and dances, and about spirituality which has made me to be what I am today. I believe the spirit is  higher more than all techniques and  I was doing it in a way to get more involved into spirituality to get  some achievements, get more money and give my children  part of it. I came  home to enjoy the Africanism, and  to give my best to my people and not only to the white people. So long,  I am alive to enjoy Africanism. African music and dances and technologies of Africa which are not dead; not only to sit in  Germany working with the  Germans and  teaching the  American  dance and music. And I am so glad the the people appreciated my passion by conferring on me the title Baba Ewe which means father of the youths and  later Baale Eleyele, representative of my family.

    To what extent have you been able to serve your community in Nigeria since you came back?
    I have been  teaching people drumming, without taking money. I don’t live on the money I make in Nigeria. I rely on the revenue I garner from Germany.

    People see you as a weird and wild human being...
     Weird and wild?  How can a wild man be reachable?  A wild man cannot be reached because he is wild. I  am not a wild man  because I am cool and an intellectual too.

    Are you rich?
    I can’t  call myself a rich man,  but I am not poor. I know people who are rich, they control millions, I don’t have a million, but I spend my kobo kobo to make life relatively okay for me.

    Your appearance doesn’t look like somebody who had been to Germany, you look like a jungle man, why the jungle lifestyle?
    A  jungle is always a jungle. You can’t change  Osogbo to be  Oso Ilu or Oso City, It is not possible, the  meaning of Osogbo is Oso Igbo, (the wizard in the jungle). The same meaning I coined for  my Centre - Jungle Communication Centre  and it comes from Osogbo which means Igbo (forest or jungle)  And how do you want a jungle man to look like? You want me to look like a man  from Manhattan City? No way.

     So, why all these effigies, sculptures, the shrines and others, are you an herbalist?
     Yeah, we do an’ herbalistical’ work too. Spiritual work  go  with herbalism and healing. Wherever I am, I have to have my  hands  doing something around me. So the sculptures here tell the story of my life,  you have to see something that makes you feel you are in  another place.  The sculptures  are to me powers of gods and I try to express this when tourists visit here to go round to see what we are doing and I explain to people. Sculpture is not just a joke or an empty air.It says something. And expression is something we need in the artistic world. So I do sculpture, carving, metal work to express my feelings, not  only for sales.

    Are you encouraging people to go into arts?
    Yes. This  is why I  take money from the whites  to train them free. So, teaching them without collecting money is also part of my personal assistance to the people. When you know how to do it, you know  it, I  have sponsored  more than 12  people  abroad.

    People see you as a cultist, that you were initiated in Ghana...
    I am not a cultist. I am a traditional believer and practitioner. I got initiated in Ghana. We got to  train to be possessed. We call it AKOM in Ghana, and you are trained to get possessed, going into trance, is not cultism.
     Is this in line with your belief?
    My belief?

     I mean your religious belief?
    I don’t have any religion. Exported religions are tricks being used to colonise our  identity and turn us to European robots.  Mohammedanism or  Christianity, I don’t believe in any. I don’t think about  them. I think about my ancestors and I feel bad the way things are. I do think of  going to  the mosque and jumping over those people bending down. They say ‘I am weird,’ no, I am not. It is  just that things going on in my head are not just normal to me, so I have to express my feelings . I have  been doing  this and they think I am crazy.  I am not crazy, I am saying  this is not good for me, why should I be there and be saying Allah and all  sorts? I don’t want to  get lost in paradise , that is why I stay here in Jungle Communication Centre where I can worship idols,  dance to the music of the Yoruba and  other  tribes in West Africa.

    You have just mentioned paradise, where is it?
     For me, anywhere I feel good is a paradise.   This word is used in the Bible, and Aljahnah in the Quoran, but my personal feeling will tell me whether the place is good or not. I am not joining them to go into their own Alhjanah. I  want to go to  Al Togo. I  have been in Ghana already. You cannot tell me this is the way to go to heaven, why should I go to heaven? I am here to live on this land to enjoy it and not to go to heaven, leave me here. My first album disc titled “Dancing in the fire” so Inu ina yee gan la majo e ba ara yin da sohun. They want to put our souls down so that we can become fearful and frightened. I don’t want to do that. I am just crazy, doing  my things in  my own way. My father  told me “Hey Rashidi, you are crazy and you need to go to a psychiatric” And I said” no, I am not crazy “you are crazy”. Why should you knock your head on the ground calling  Allah, and other things you don’t know? Come and join me here to dance  to real African dance, worship African  gods, and  enjoy your life.

     Are your children following your path?
     Yeah, all of them.

     How many do you have?
     Ai ka omo fun olomo  (you don’t take census of how many children you have). You know that is the tradition in Yorubaland. I have  eight children  and to me  eight is a number of spiritualism. I have three here in Nigeria  and the rest in Germany. To me, I want my children to follow my footsteps, to do more research about our ancestors not only in the computer way and in the white man’s way,  so as not to lose the real tradition and values.

     About 26 years ago when you started Jungle Communication Centre here in Osogbo, was it flourishing then?
     I can say that people were coming here to find out what was going on here.  Some  came to learn, while some were here to waste their time. I  had almost 40 youngmen staying  here  before,  and later, they  started running away. They don’t have the patience of learning and concentrating on what they come here to do, they just want the wealth, this is the  trouble with the young ones.They don’t have any  trust in our  society any longer. They  are after wealth, riches and money,  this is the spiritual power they are looking for.

    What do you think is responsible for all the ills and problems in the society?
     In  our society, we have all become Americans. I called it American Yoruba. We  are all after wealth and we use capitalism and most of our people don’t  even have feelings for the others. They want to cheat,  shoot and kill  others. This their feeling is not genuine  for Africans. Before,  Africa  was the  only place where people can exchange  views  without killing, without shooting, but  today,  Africa has become a place only for money,  money, money,  so robbery and killing and shooting have  become part of  us like America.

     You mean adhering  to the  traditional ways can heal the society of these  vices?
    It  can help us if we all   believe more in our ancestors, there will be no more killing, no more robbery; everybody would want to do their best, but when you have become African-American,  you are  more cruel, greedy and vicious.

      How often do you communicate with the spirit world?
    Everyday.  I don’t have any other job. It is the only way for my survival. I have to call the spirits for money and good luck. I can’t just sit down and say things will happen just like that.

    How does it bring money?
     It brings connection, it sends people down. For example, if I tell the spirits that look , “I am broke,” the spirits will   propel people to come and  give me money  either from my students overseas or people coming to buy land.

    Who owns this land  and  how many acres?
    My family. We own it from Asubiaro to Abere and here. 600 acres was acquired by the government, and I am keeping the rest.

     What was the disposition of your parents towards your belief?
      Haa, it’was tough.   They said that it was a disgrace to them being  pious  Moslems only  for me  to join the ancestral movement and began to dance or drum as  a beggar.

     Then, how do you interact as brothers and sisters?
    We have always been at loggerheads. We are always fighting . And whenever they  needed  money, they always come and my reply is “if you don’t believe me,  don’t come  near me.”

     How do you feel dancing on the street?
    I feel high. It’s only once in a year and I feel good, and that is during Osun Osogbo.





    Do you plant or smoke marijuana?
     Beautiful, I don’t plant, but  when you have it, bring it for me, I will smoke. I don’t hide my feelings.
     If you die any moment from now, is there anybody who you have prepared to take your role?
     That is the case of god and not mine   I’ve been able to live and do my own  if i die, I don’t want to know what happen,.if i die everybody should fuck off and let me go.
     How do you want your  funeral to be packaged ? Your children may  decided to take you to the church or bury you in Islamic way.
     Take me to Church or Mosque ? They will never try that . Ha ha ha they know if they do that , I  will just wake up and start slapping them. They will not dare it . I will prefer to go home with wild talking drum , dances , songs ,chanting. I will be happy  that I am dead. I want  to be buried in the traditional way in Osogbo here  . They should   dance around me for a whole seven days  before they now put me in a hole . I  want a place where they can see me in the  hole where I too can see them drinking and smoking marijuana  and say Baba buruku yi ti lo a dupe, ( Thank God , this bad man has gone )
     Tell us about your wives
    My wives, the only one I have now is Olori Abeni. I  had so  many wives before her.
      Sir, what makes you happy?
      That is a big  question,   let me think deeply, Seeing my family, my wife and children and my car ,
     Not others like weed, fuck  and  drink?
     No. Those ones do not  make me happy. They make me to think and think . When I see my children, family and everybody   functioning effectively, I become happy
     The happiest moment?
     When I die ( Laughter)

    Did you know that Awo coined the name Naira? Tourism is Life reveals


    Did you know that Awo coined the name Naira? Tourism is Life reveals

    • Written by  Tayo Adelaja
    • Wednesday, 27 February 2013 00:00
    • Nigerian Tribune  decrease font size increase font size
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    THE question from the book, NIGERIA: Tourism is Life, as published  by the Nigeria Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) under Chief Olusegun Runsewe and put together by  Dayo Adedayo boldly asked the question, did you know that, Chief Obafemi Awolowo coined the name “Naira” as Nigeria’s currency (formerly known as the Nigerian Pound)?
    Truly, I might have been born before the conversion and was in the primary school as at then. I, like many others did not know that our currency (Naira) was the brain child of the sage when he was serving as the Federal Commissioner of Finance. Yes, we were taught who gave Nigeria the name, the flag and other pieces of vital information, but this book enriched my knowledge much more.
    The book, NIGERIA, Tourism is life is beautifully packaged and rich in contents. Chief Runsewe’s comment on the book that this document is an attempt to give expression in symbolic form to the various phases of the socio-political evolution of Nigeria is apt and correct. He said further that “the beautiful photographs and historical landmarks in the book serve as representative samples of Nigerian history and portray the distinguishing characteristics of the diverse landscape, culture, tradition, history, economy and government of Nigeria.
    Chief Runsewe invited all to savour the rich and riveting photographic documentation of the history, culture and people of Nigeria that has been carefully put together in the book. The book definitely lives up to expectation as it shows clearly that in Nigeria, there is more to see in  the country than what  one has seen if only one cares to see.
    Professor Ahmed Yerima commented on this book as ‘taking one on a safari of pictures of a lifetime’. According to him, the book presents Nigeria “years of the history of the culture, ecological co-existence and inter-relationships, colours, dances, influences and hegemonic developments which all make Nigeria a wonderful place to behold.” Speaking further, Prof Yerima said, “the book serves as an inspirational work of art for those who are yet to physically see the country and as a great resource handbook for scholars and tourists who have come and must take something away from Nigeria”.
    The exposition of our rich culture which was displayed in the book was a great delight to me. I hungrily consumed the book from cover to cover and could not resist going through it again. One wondered how a country richly blessed could still lack!
    The traditional images are blended with modern ones which accounts for the story of cultural pluralism in sharp, clean professionally produced photos. History of the founding fathers of Nigeria like the great Herbert Samuel Heelas Macauley, Benjamin Nnamdi Azikiwe, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Chief Jeremiah Obafemi Awolowo and others with their currencies and mausoleum was showcased.
    It is not all about pictures and history alone, it is also educative. For instance, I learnt through this same book that the site of the first public tap was commissioned in July 1915 by Lord Lugard who wedded Nigeria together in 1914. The site was at EnuOwa/Docemo/Princess Street, Lagos Island.
    That Christianity came into the Northern part of Nigeria in 1899 through British Missionaries who came into Zaria. The group of five led by Bishop Jugwell, Dr Miller, Rev Dudley Rider, Mr Burgin  and Rev Richardson before coming to Nigeria learnt Hausa Language in Tripoli through Nigeria Hausa pilgrimage who usually had a stopover during their journey by foot to the Holy land of Saudi Arabia.  It showcases the Palace of Oba of Lagos built by the Portuguese in 1705 among others. The palaces of the various Obas, Emirs, Obis are tourists delight anyday. Looking at the pictures in the book, one would feel the ego of being a Nigeria, the sense of pride- and that of patriotism to reclaim a motherland of greatness. At every point, the book introduces topic, it will educate and enlighten the reader about a specific history. For instance, the reminder of the fact that the first administrative capital of modern Nigeria was Lokoja, Kogi State. The highest peak in Nigeria is ChappalWaddi (mountain of Death) which measures 2419metres above sea level and located in the Southern sector of the Gashaka Gumti National Park in Taraba State.The finding of archaeologists which shows that Ile-Ife in Osun State has been occupied since 800 BC.
    Indeed, NTDC with this book and the eBiz Guides City book packaged together should be commended.
    Apart from the fact that Tourism is life showcases Nigeria potentials in tourism, the eBiz Guides of Lagos and Abuja is a total package of the economic activities and diversity of the major hub of economic capital of the country. It is an overview of all the business sectors, giving information and basic facts about the different companies. It is another landmark achieved by the NTDC under the leadership of Otunba Runsewe.  Little wonder, the former President of Nigeria, Chief OlusegunObasanjo commended Otunba Runsewe, describing him as an icon who has taken tourism and hospitality industry to great heights in the country. He said if Nigeria desires to do something seriously about tourism development, “you need an energetic, enthusiastic and rightly-oriented young man like Runsewe to fan the embers of our interests in tourism and encourage all of us to appreciate our environment. He is a man with passion and commitment for the industry”.
    Adelaja is the Secretary of The Guild of Tourism Journalists of Nigeria.

    Childless couple have surrogate baby using both of their sisters

    Childless couple have surrogate baby using both of their sisters

    Childless couple have surrogate baby using both of their sisters

    A couple unable to have children have become parents using eggs donated from one of their sisters and the surrogate womb of another.

    Lucy and Jamie, seated with Beatrix, offered eggs and surrogacy to Katy and David  Photo: SWNS
    Katy Slade, 31, a primary school teacher, wanted to start a family with husband David but was prevented by a rare genetic condition which left her without reproductive organs.
    Her younger sister Lucy Marks, 27, came to her aid by keeping a childhood promise to donate her egg.
    Mr Slade's older sister Jamie Allan, 35, then stepped forward and offered to be their surrogate mum and gave birth to their daughter, Beatrix.
    Mrs Slade, 31, said: "If it wasn't for our sisters we would still be childless. It's the best gift ever and we love them so much for it.
    "I always knew I wanted to be a mother - it was just a question of how.
    "Lucy actually lives with us and is very close to Beatrix - although she doesn't feel emotionally bonded to her like a mother would.
    "Beatrix is very much our own - our own little miracle."
    Mr Slade, 33, a tattoo artist, added: "We still can't believe we are parents, we feel like the luckiest couple alive.
    "Beatrix is our little angel and we'll be forever thankful to our sisters for making our dream come true.
    "Without them things would have been so much harder."
    The couple met in 2003 and were together for six years before they started to talk about starting a family, but because of Mrs Slade’s condition considered adoption or surrogacy before starting to plan IVF in 2010.
    Mrs Slade asked her sister if she was serious about donating her eggs and she agreed, but was not willing to carry the baby.
    Mrs Slade said: "I cried when Lucy said she would still donate her eggs for me.
    "It meant that genetically the baby would be linked to both me and David.”
    The couple were put off of finding a surrogate stranger after hearing stories, and eventually Mr Slade’s sister volunteered.
    Mrs Allan, already a mother of three, said that she would step in as her own family was complete.
    They used £8,000 inheritance to fund the private cost.
    Just two embryos were implanted in December 2011, and Mrs Allen realised she was pregnant by Christmas Eve.
    The couple, of Romford, Essex, took their baby home in September last year.
    "I just adore Beatrix - she's absolutely wonderful,” egg-donor Miss Marks said. "But although my eggs were used to create her, she will always be my niece."
    Katy Slade, 31, a primary school teacher, wanted to start a family with husband David but was prevented by a rare genetic condition which left her without reproductive organs.
    Her younger sister Lucy Marks, 27, came to her aid by keeping a childhood promise to donate her egg.
    Mr Slade's older sister Jamie Allan, 35, then stepped forward and offered to be their surrogate mum and gave birth to a daughter called Beatrix.
    Mrs Slade, 31, said: "If it wasn't for our sisters we would still be childless. It's the best gift ever and we love them so much for it.
    "I always knew I wanted to be a mother - it was just a question of how.
    "Lucy actually lives with us and is very close to Beatrix - although she doesn't feel emotionally bonded to her like a mother would.
    "Beatrix is very much our own - our own little miracle."
    Mr Slade, 33, a tattoo artist, added: "We still can't believe we are parents, we feel like the luckiest couple alive.
    "Beatrix is our little angel and we'll be forever thankful to our sisters for making our dream come true.
    "Without them things would have been so much harder."
    The couple met each other in 2003 and were together for six years before they started to talk about starting a family.
    When she told him about her condition he suggested adoption or surrogacy and in 2010 they started planning IVF.
    Katy asked Lucy if she was still serious about donating her eggs and was delighted when she told her she would keep her lifelong promise.
    But she was not willing to carry the baby because she had a boyfriend and it would make if feel like she was pregnant with their own child.
    Katy added: "I cried when Lucy said she would still donate her eggs for me.
    "It meant that genetically the baby would be linked to both me and David.
    "But we knew she wouldn't be a surrogate too because the baby would feel too much like hers if she carried it.
    "She also had a boyfriend and no children of her own and it would have been hard for her to have her first pregnancy and then hand the baby to me."
    Katy and David started exploring the possibility of finding a surrogate stranger - but were put off by stories of some who dropped out or became too attached to the baby.
    David was chatting about their problem with older sister Jamie over dinner one night when she casually told him: "I'll be the surrogate."
    Married Jamie said that, after having three children of her own, her family was complete and she would love to help them.
    Katy and David, of Romford, Essex were not eligible for free IVF treatment on the NHS and used money inherited from Katy's nan Eileen to fund the £8,000 private cost.
    They underwent a series of interviews, counselling and various blood tests before they were accepted.
    David's sperm was frozen - but they then had to wait another six months while it was routinely screened for STDs and any other medical conditions.
    Meanwhile, Lucy had daily hormone injections to produce more eggs and Jamie underwent hormone injections to build the lining of her womb.
    Just two embryos were created when David's sperm was mixed with Lucy's eggs and they were implanted into Jamie's womb in December 2011.
    On Christmas Eve Jamie told Katy she was being sick and tests confirmed the best possible present they could have - the news that she was pregnant.
    At five months Katy and David found they were expecting a girl and they decided to call her Beatrix - the middle name of the nan whose bequest financed their treatment.
    Jamie was induced on September 1st last year and tearful Katy said: "I held her for the first time and looked at Lucy, Jamie and David.
    "It was incredible that every single one of us had helped bring Beatrix into the world."
    Lucy said: "I was really glad to be able to help and when we found the treatment had worked first time I was over the moon.
    "I just adore Beatrix - she's absolutely wonderful.
    "But although my eggs were used to create her, she will always be my niece."
    Jamie, who runs an after-school club, added: "Carrying the baby was something I was happy to do for them.
    "The pregnancy was normal just like my others and the delivery was straightforward and my mum, Katy and David were in the room.
    "Obviously I knew from the start that she wasn't mine and I focussed on that and I will always see her as my niece." ENDS
    New parents Katy and David live in a £400,000 detached suburban house in Romford, Esse

    Clinton blasts Nigeria over oil money .

    From left, teacher and nonagenarian, Pa Dotun Oyewole; former President of the United States, Mr Bill Clinton and Ogun State governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, during the 18th annual ThisDay awards to celebrate Nigeria’s Best Teachers, at the newly redesigned June 12 Cultural Centre, Abeokuta, on Tuesday.

    Nigeria didn’t do well with oil money - Clinton, Lists 3 ways to make Nigeria great

    • Written by  Olayinka Olukoya - Abeokuta
    • Wednesday, 27 February 2013 00:05
    • Nigerian Tribune increase font size

    FORMER president of the United States of America, Mr. Bill Clinton, on Tuesday, said that Nigeria could do better as a nation, if all its natural resources and potential are well-managed by its leaders.

    Clinton who spoke at the 18th edition of ThisDay Awards tagged “Celebrating Nigeria’s Best Teachers”, held at the June 12 Cultural Centre, Kuto, Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, said that the country was being confronted with three major challenges that had made it impossible for her to actualise her vast potential.

    Clinton, who ruled America from 1993 to 2001 recalled that he had listed Nigeria as one of the 10 countries that would emerge as world’s greatest in the  21st century because of its abundant potentials, adding that Nigeria had not done well with its oil money.

    “First of all, when I became president, my Secretary of Commerce, the late Mr Ron Brown did a lot of work in Africa before he was tragically killed in a plane crash in 1995 and I said he should make the list of the 10 most important countries in the world for the 21st Century and Nigeria was in the list. Imagine the future of the entire continent if Nigeria fails or South Africa fails.

    “I would say you have about three big challenges. First of all, like 90 percent of the countries who have one big resource, you haven’t done well with your oil money. You have reinvested it in different ways; now you are at least not wasting the natural gas, you are developing it in pipelines.
    You don’t do a better job of managing natural resources,” he said.

    Clinton also urged the nation’s leaders to redistribute wealth among the haves and the have-nots, adding that sharing prosperity would bring about development.

    The 42nd US president also lamented the poverty level among Nigerians, saying such could result in uprisings like that of the Islamic sect, Boko Haram.

    Clinton said that the poverty level in the Northern part of the country was far greater than what it was in the Lagos area of the country, hence the need for its leaders to tackle the issue headlong.

    He said, “Secondly, you have to somehow bring economic opportunity to the people who don’t have. This is not a problem specific for Nigeria.

    “Almost every place in the world, prosperity is heavily concentrated in and around urban areas.  So you have all these political problems and no violence problems, religious differences, and all the rhetoric of Boko Haram, but the truth is the poverty rate in the north is three times greater than what it is in the Lagos area and to deal with that, you have to have both powerful stake in the local governments and a national policy that work together.

    “The third thing is there has to be a way to take the staggering intellectual and organizational ability that Nigerians exhibit in every country in the world in which they are immigrant and to bring it to bear here so that the country as a whole can rise.”

    He also urged Nigerian leaders to urgently address the challenge of braindrain syndrome in the country.

    The ceremony was well attended by traditional rulers, captains of industry, media gurus, students and diplomats which include former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo; Delta State governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan; Mr Wale Aboderin, Chairman, Punch Nigeria Limited; Mr Sam Amuka, publisher, Vanguard Newspapers; Dr Yemi Ogunbiyi, Senator Biyi Durojaiye, former Minister of Education, Dr (Mrs) Oby Ezekwesili; renowned banker, Mr Fola Adeola.

    Fifteen teachers from primary to tertiary levels were honoured with best teachers award which attracted a sum of N2m each while Chief Rasaq Okoya; the Osile of Oke Ona Egba, Oba (Dr) Adedapo Tejuoso; Professor Laz Ekwueme and Mr Oba Otudeko were honoured with Life Time Awards.

    Fashola Lights Up Ikorodu Road

    Seven kilometres of Ikorodu Road from Jibowu flyover to Maryland Underpass (Independence Tunnel) brightly lit up last night shortly after the brief switching on ceremony performed by the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN) on Monday, February 25, 2013.

    Fashola Lights Up Ikorodu Road  print

    Published on February 26, 2013 by    ·   5 Comments
    Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State has lit up Ikorodu Road for safe driving at night.
    This is coming as the governor marked 2100 days in office Tuesday at a ceremony held at the Lagos Television Ground, Ikeja, Lagos, Southwest Nigeria. The governor led government officials to unveil the lighting of the road last night, while he described the project as memorable.
    The lit up area covers seven kilometres of the road from Jibowu Flyover to Maryland underpass.
    At the switch-on of the street light last night, the entire seven kilometres stretch was fully lit up. Ikorodu road is now a delight to behold at night as the illuminated portion of the road adds to the aesthetic beauty of Lagos.
    Seven kilometres of Ikorodu Road from Jibowu flyover to Maryland Underpass (Independence Tunnel) brightly lit up last night shortly after the brief switching on ceremony performed by the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN) on Monday, February 25, 2013.
    Meanwhile, Fashola marked his 2100 days in office today by taking a swipe at the People’s Democratic Party, PDP for undue criticism of his administration.
    The governor was referring to PDP’s faulting of his administration’s budget performance for last year, which stood at 89 percent overall performance.
    Fashola said the PDP-led Federal Government had presided over a budget that had been enmeshed in fraud, adding that over 50 percent of the past Federal Government’s budget had been fraudulent.
    He added that the 2013 budget of the PDP-led government was still generating lots of controversies, saying that his administration had been very transparent in terms of giving accurate budget performance of his government.
    Fashola also accused the PDP of coming up with Good Governance tour of states, knowing full well that it had no project to showcase to the people.
    The governor stated that Lagos State did not need such a tour of its project under the guise of Good Governance tour.
    He further said his administration had achieved a lot in the last 100 days in office, saying that plans were on to build 1008 flats at Ijora Badia in a bid to improve the lives of the people.
    Fashola added that the government was aggressively preparing for the rainfall through massive clearing of drainages across the state. He said the early rains experienced this year spoke volumes of what to expect during the year as the rains might be heavier.
    On the traffic law, Fashola said since its implementation, accidents involving okada had dropped drastically, saying that from 650 accidents recorded in September 2012, the accident rate had dropped to 100 as at January 2013. He added that from death rate of 12 recorded from okada accident in September last year, it has dropped to zero as at last month.

    Monday 25 February 2013

    10 Realistic Ways to Make Quick Money Online


    10 Realistic Ways to Make Quick Money Online


    Recently someone gave me feedback about one of the ads on my blog. The feedback was very pertinent, saying that the ad looked “scammish” and gave a bad impression of my blog. The ad was about some easy way to make online $2000-$3000 a week. Unfortunately we all know that there is no magic bullet to make this kind of money. However, I believe that there are a lot of real opportunities online to make a few bucks here and there. Again no shortcuts to becoming a millionaire, but realistic ways to make a bit of cash quickly.
    So here are 10 ideas that you can use to get some pocket money easily.

    Amazon Mechanical Turk

    Amazon’s version of a “marketplace for work.” Find tasks such as testing sites, writing articles, taking surveys, complete them and earn money.

    Conduit

    Conduit allows you to create custom toolbars. Every time someone downloads your toolbar, you get paid. Get people to download the toolbar and you’ll receive a few dollars each time.

    eBay

    Rummage through you’re stuff, find anything of value that you don’t need sell it on eBay,Amazon or Craigslist. If you’re interested in going further than that start selling your family and friend’s items for a commission.

    Paid Articles

    Content sites are always looking to pay for quality content. Check out eHow,BrightHubConstant-Content and cash in on you’re expertise.

    Experts Exchange

    Are you a techie? If you are, join Experts Exchange and answer people’s questions on hardware, software, programming and more, to receive rewards.

    Microworkers

    Make “micromoney” doing “microjobs” on Microworkers. Make money by completing tiny tasks online for people such as signing up for sites, Digging articles or linking to sites.

    Student Of Fortune

    Student of Fortune is an online tutoring and homework help platform. Students who need help post questions with cash rewards and depending on how well you answer it, you receive the cash.  The top tutor has earned over $127,000!

    99 Designs

    If you’ve alway been good at Photoshop, 99Designs is the perfect place to cash in on your skills. Enter logo, tshirt, icon, website, print design contests.

    Fiverr

    Fiverr is a marketplace for $5 odd jobs. People offer jobs such as installing WordPress plugins, computer programming, translations, designing business cards and much more.

    ChaCha


    This search engine is powered by real people. Each time you respond to someone’s search you will be paid a small amount.