House (7)

Self confessed Uhrobo Witch Ufuoma Ejenabor might have had the thought she had hammered !


In a swift move to forestall an apparent dramatic scene to re enact the Uzoma Okere Assault case by Naval Boss Arogundade which cumulated in the pay off granted by a court in the sum of 100million naira
The Lagos State House of Assembly on Monday declared i
its intention to sue an actress, Mrs. Ufuoma Ejenabor, for trying to extort money from the House.


Speaker of the Assembly, Mr. Adeyemi Ikuforiji, stated this through his Chief of Staff, Mr. Segun Olusesi, while reacting to the alleged assault of Ejenabor by his aides on October 29.

Olusesi said he was driving in the convoy directly behind the pilot vehicle when Ejenabor suddenly emerged from the left and in an attempt to force herself into the speaker's convoy, hit the rear left of the bumper of the pilot vehicle with her right front bumper.

Olusesi also accused Ejenabor of damaging her own car by deliberately hitting the speaker's official Lexus Jeep.photos Hon. Adeyemi Ikuforiji Uzoma Okere and Self confessed Uhrobo Witch Ufuoma Ejenabor

He claimed that nobody assaulted her in any form and the photographs of her car as contained in newspaper reports could best be described as "insurance fraud and attempt to extort and blackmail the House and the speaker."

Ejenabor had alleged that her car would cost N595, 000 to repair.

The incident was, however, recorded by the aides of the Speaker and it showed part of the events that transpired.

Olusesi said immediately they noticed Ejenabor's belligerence, the Speaker ordered his aides to begin to record the events so that they would not have a scandal in their hands.

The recording showed Ejenabor hysterically shouting at the aides that she had been beaten, her phone seized and they were in trouble for damaging her car.

"You don jam bad luck! You don jam Urhobo witch. They should beat me o! They should beat me, Urhobo girl! You have to beat me. Shebi una get power,!" she screamed.

Olusesi explained that from the footage, she still had her bag intact and her phone was still with her. He also said that the video evidence showed that there was no damage to her car as was exhibited in the photographs.

Olusesi explained that the convoy was coming from the burial of the wife of a member of the House and was heading for Lagos University Teaching Hospital where another member, Mr. Rotimi Sotomiwa, lay ill. Sotomiwa died a few days after the incident.

In her reaction, Ejenabor said that her Blackberry phone was still with the speaker's aides and would be tracked.

"They beat me to collect my phone. My I-pod was in the car. They ransacked the car and took all things. They said I drove into their convoy.

Why would I do that? It happened during the day and it was on a highway. We can have a forensic check of my car and their car. Forensics don't lie," she said
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The heart of man is desperately wicked.” This Biblical expression came to the fore once again recently as a 16-year-old boy (name withheld) defiled a nine-year-old school girl, who was on her way home from school in company with her friends at Adekile area of Ibadan, Oyo State.

That fateful Friday, Victoria, and two other friends, Mariam and Rukayat, dropped their school bags on their playing field as they played a ‘hide and seek’ game.

The children were enjoying their game until the suspect came like a wolf to attack them. But his approach did not suggest that he contemplated any evil. He took the girls’ bags and left for the mission house, where he lives with his mother and elder brother.

Since he was home alone, he was able to hatch his plan without any hindrance. The girls ran down to the suspect’s house, asking for their bags. The youngster insisted that one of them must come into the room to collect the bags.

But the girls would not play along easily. They insisted that he should bring out their bags so that they could go home. As the plea degenerated into confusion, the boy released two bags. But he still held Victoria’s bag.

The hapless young girl begged and prayed, but his assailant would not let go. She pleaded that her parents would be mad at her if she got home late, but all the pleas fell on the suspect’s deaf ears. At last, she obliged and went into the room with him..

It was already too late before help came her way. The desperate boy had his way as the girl struggled and writhed in pain. She was drenched with blood. Victoria was deflowered at a tender age of nine by the young rapist. As she walked out of the mission house sobbing, a woman walked up to her. She recounted her story to the woman with tears rolling down her cheeks. The woman eventually took her home and broke the sad news to her parents.

Nothing could console the poor girl and her family. They reported the case at the Agugu Police Station and the suspect was arrested. He was later transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department, Iyaganku, Ibadan, for further interrogation.

The doctor’s report indicated that the victim suffered some lacerations on her private part and her hymen was broken. The report reads, “Patient brought in by her parents. Hymen just broken – newly bleeding. There are areas of abrasions. She appeared dusty and anxious. Sticky substance found around her private part.”

The boy confessed that he lured the girl into the room in order to rape her. He, however, said he could not penetrate the minor and therefore, ejaculated on her waist. He said, “It was the work of the devil; the devil used me.”
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Written by Biola Azeez, Leon Usigbe, with Agency Report

THE Chairman of Lagos State council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Mr Wahab Oba and three other journalists, with their driver, who were kidnapped penultimate Sunday in Abia State, have regained their freedom.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that they regained their freedom in the early hours of Sunday, between 1.30 and 2 a.m. at Ukpakiri, in Obingwa Local Government Area of Abia State.

Narrating their ordeal to newsmen at the Police Headquarters, Umuahia, Oba and the others said that they were released by their abductors in a market.

He said that the hoodlums had taken them to a market square where they were abandoned between 1.30 a.m. and 2 a.m. and that they had to wait till 6 a.m. “and we were there until the police came and rescued us.

“They collected all our personal effects, including laptops, wristwatches and the sum of N3 million and even shared the money in our presence,” he said.

Oba said that they were fed on bread once a day but that at a time they declared a fast “and they asked us if we were fasting against them.

“We explained to them that we are journalists, who were at the vanguard of enthroning good governance, and even told them that we have been in the forefront for the release of Chief (Ralph) Uwazuruike, leader of the Movement for the Sovereign State of Biafra (MOSSOB).

“We even requested them to give our phones to us to contact our families for them to bring the money they requested but they said that they were not after our money but that of the government.

“We were not beaten except the fact that they blindfolded us on some occasions.

“The kidnappers told us that they resorted to protest as a result of bad governance in Abia and accused the state government of diverting the money the Federal Government released for amnesty.

“They told us that they were giving the state government one month to either complete the amnesty programme or face their wrath and that they will come out openly to shoot at people,” he said.

Oba said that the hoodlums accused the government of insensitivity to the plight of residents of the state and threatened to disrupt the 2011 general election.

Mr Silver Okereke, a Daily Champion correspondent, said that at a point the kidnappers blindfolded them and took them to a point they were to be slaughtered.

“They told us to say our final prayer,” he said, adding that it was a sad experience.

“I don’t know whether government paid any money but they told us that they did not collect any money and that they were releasing us due to our profession so that we will go and right the wrongs in the society,” Okereke said.

He said that the hoodlums had the best of communication networking, adding that all the information that transpired in the course of their captivity were at the finger-tips of the kidnappers.

“These people are well connected and are aware of every bit of police movement both internal and external,” he said....

Okereke said the kidnappers’ colleagues outside the country were also communicating with them to give them information.

Meanwhile, Abia State Commissioner of Police, Mr Jonathan Johnson declined comments, saying that the Inspector General of Police, Mr Ogbonna Onovo, would be in Umuahia to address journalists on the issue.

Meanwhile, President Goodluck Jonathan has welcomed the release of the four journalists, and their driver.

According to a statement signed by his Special Adviser, Mr. Ima Niboro, in Abuja, on Sunday, the president noted that their release brought to closure “a sordid criminal incident, which, however, must be uprooted once and for all in Nigeria.”

While commending the police and Nigerians in general “for turning sufficient heat on the kidnappers and causing them to abandon the victims,” President Jonathan charged Mr Onovo, to ensure that the criminals were apprehended by all means.

He felicitated with the freed journalists, their families and the NUJ, saying “even as we celebrate freedom today, let us insist that this spate of criminality must stop. In every way possible, we must say no to these vices, and assist the authorities to expose perpetrators and bring an end to these vices as quickly as possible.”

However, the Abia State government has said that the traditional ruler of Amauba-Ime Oboro Autonomous Community in Ikwuano Local Government Area of the state, Eze Vincent Okezie Uche, has been placed under arrest and has been charged to court for allegedly aiding kidnapping and armed robbery.

The state government also said the monarch had been dethroned as the traditional ruler of Amauba-Ime Oboro Autonomous and his staff of office withdrawn.

The Abia State government, in a press statement signed by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Kingsley Emereuwa, also said that other traditional rulers, namely, Eze Okechukwu Atulobi of Osusu Abala Autonomous Community; Eze Nwabiaraije Eneogwe of Abayi Autonomous Community, and Eze S. Onwukwe of Abala Ibeme Autonomous Community, all in Obingwa Local Government Area of the state, had been suspended as traditional rulers of their communities.

The decision to suspend the three royal fathers, the statement said, “followed security reports of their alleged serious involvement in sponsoring kidnapping and armed robbery in the state, for which they are currently under investigation.

“The state government wants to assure the entire citizenry that it will not stop at anything to eradicate the shameful manace of kidnapping and armed robbery in the state, as any person/s suspected to be behind this ugly vocation, no matter how highly placed, will be summarily dealt with,” the statement said.

Meanwhile, Governor Theodore Orji of Abia State and Mr Onovo have promised kidnappers in the state total onslaught henceforth if the kidnappers refused to lay down their arms.

Speaking while receiving the freed journalists and their driver at the executive chambers of the Government House, Umuahia, on Sunday, the governor urged kidnappers in the state to partner with the government rather than go into criminality to attract attention. “No development can take place in a state of insecurity,” the governor said.

Governor Orji said that the youth of Ngwa area, particularly Obingwa, had hindered development projects by kidnapping either the contractors or expatriates handling projects in the area, adding that they refused to key into the recent amnesty programme of the state government.

The governor said the state government had not received any money from the Federal Government with regard to the amnesty programme as being rumoured by the kidnappers. “If we receive any such money we will give it to them,” Orji said.

He congratulated the South-East governors, the Nigeria Police and all those who assisted in securing the release of the abducted journalists, adding that kidnapping should be fought nationally.

He also charged journalists to fight kidnapping with their pens and also fight for freedom in all its ramifications, adding they should also join in he campaign for a better equipped police.

Also speaking, the IGP said that rescuing the journalists was a big challenge to him and the Nigeria police, since their ultimate goal was to rescue them alive, adding that the kidnap of the journalists had brought out the fact that everybody was a potential victim of the kidnappers.

The police boss thanked the governor for his assistance, saying that security was the business of everybody and that police operation in the South-East to rout criminals had just started. He said the police would go after the criminals, warning that many innocent people would be inconvenienced.

In a vote of thanks, Mr Oba expressed his appreciation to all Nigerians, their families, the police force and the Abia State governor for all the sacrifices they made to ensure their release.

Oba called that the police to be properly equipped, saying that their weaponry did not compare favourably with what the criminals were flaunting.

Ukpakiri town, where the four kidnapped journalists were rescued, on Sunday, was calm, but there was still a heavy presence of security men in the area.

A NAN correspondent reported that the people carried on their normal activities but they expressed joy that the journalists regained their freedom unhurt.

Chief Okoro Kalu, a community leader, told NAN that he was happy that the journalists, who had helped to shape the country positively, regained their freedom.

Chief Azuka Alagwu, the president of Aba Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, said the kidnap of the journalists had drawn the attention of the Federal Government to the sufferings of the Aba business community.

He urged the government to eradicate kidnapping to save businesses in Aba, which is 10 kilometres from Obingwa.

Also, the Rivers State Commissioner for Information, Mrs Ibim Semenitari, expressed gratitude to God over the release of the journalists by their abductors.

The commissioner told NAN in Port Harcourt, on Sunday, that it was a thing of joy that the journalists came out unharmed.

Mr Akinola Ariyo, the Financial Secretary, Lagos State council of NUJ, told NAN on telephone that journalists in the council were happy over the freedom of their colleagues.

He added that the families of the journalists received the news with joy.

Ariyo thanked the federal and state governments, the security agencies and the NUJ president, Muhammad Garba, for their roles in the release of the journalists.

He also thanked other members of NUJ, religious leaders and Nigerians for their prayers over the incident.

The Minister of Information and Communications, Professor Dora Akunyili, charged Nigerians, on Sunday, that they should stand up against the kidnappers.

Akunyili told NAN that payment of ransom had encouraged kidnapping, which, she lamented, had now become an industry.

In his reaction, the president of the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), Mr Gbenga Adefaye, recommended that kidnappers should be punished to put an end to the act.
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DANCER Ife Kuku last night became the fifth person to be kicked out of the Big Brother house.

The 25-year-old dancer was the bookies' hot tip to be booted off the reality TV show as she faced the public vote against Mario and Jordan lookalike Corin.

Leaving the house in a short grey dress, Ife was met with a mixture of boos and cheers from the noisy crowd.

She left after gaining 56.5% in the public vote.

Before leaving, the former Cheryl Cole backing dancer reassured other housemates: "I feel alright."

The skin-headed groover from Milton Keynes gained a reputation as a cry baby and fell out with several housemates including Caoimhe and Shabby.

But she put on a brave face and laughed while speaking with host Davina McCall.

When asked about her long list of spats, she said: "I have always been honest. There was no point making up with people after what I had said about them in the Diary room."


Ife Kuku Biography


The earliest vivid memory I have from my childhood, was sitting in my room watching Pop School the Musical. I remember rushing home to watch Sister Sister and Moesha, as I grew my musical taste changed. I started listening to Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson and India Arie.

One of the first tapes I brought was the Spice Girls. When I was fourteen a Lauryn Hill album found its way into my collection I have been a fan ever since. I grew up in Milton Keynes, and was part of a very large family “not the conventional kind “ Performing has always been a huge part of my life. School plays, to debating society, choirs, dance shows any chance to stand in front of an audience..

The thrill of being in the moment was scary but a wonderful feeling that would go away once I was off stage. My parents built a conservatory at the back of the house that I used it as my studio to practice and practice I would make up songs and routines and ask friends and family to come in and watch. I was never the strongest singer or dancer however I knew it was something that I wanted to do forever and that the only way to make that possible would be to practice and get better each day.

I moved to London when I was sixteen and trained at a performing arts school, it was so much fun I felt really grown up so many other people to work with who all shared the same love for singing and dancing. When I graduated I threw myself out there and began auditioning for shows, video adverts, Dance Company’s anything and everything. I had a job in a theatre, bar, café and telemarketer, I applied for anything that was flexible and that would fit around my auditions.

Seven years passed and I accomplished so much more than I could of expected and got to travel the world. In 2008 I made the decision to move in a different direction and focus on singing and writing my own songs, and I hope to continue and push forward and someday perform my songs in front of a large audience.




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Four bundles of goodluck: Okada rider gets more blessings; car, house, scholarship for quadruplets
From KASSIDY UCHENDU, Nsukka
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Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Four months after Mr Mathew Amoke and his wife, natives of Akpa Edem in Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu State were blessed with a set of quadruplets, two males and two females, the couple have returned the children to God, Who has brought new hope to them through the babies. Already, they have received God’s favour with their new kids given scholarships, and their one-room apartment changed into a flat, as well as a car donated to them.

The quadruplets in church

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Daily Sun had broken the news of the arrival of the quintuplets to an Okada rider father who had appealed for help from public-spirited individuals.

As the quintuplets were dedicated to God at the Winners Chapel, Nsukka, their father said: “I am grateful to The Sun newspaper, Winners Chapel.”

The quintuplets were delivered through a caesarean section at the Bishop Shanahan Hospital, Nsukka.

The four new born babies christened Mathew, Mark, Miracle and Favour were ushered into the church which perches atop the Nsukka hills with tumultuous ovation from the enthusiastic congregation who had been waiting eagerly for their entry.

Describing the kids as international children, the officiating pastor in charge of the Church, Peace Efemena, thanked God for the children and called on the congregation not to relent in their support and assistance for them, describing them as rare gifts from God.

He disclosed that a scholarship scheme has been endowed for the babies courtesy of some members of the Church who have also relocated the family from a one-room apartment to a two-bed room flat.

Pastor Efemena also told Daily Sun that a car has been donated to the kids by philanthropists.

His words: “Our founder Bishop Onyedepo has a very large heart for welfare of the people, so in our branches we emulate him. That is why some of us here have decided to give scholarship to the quintuplets. Besides, we also relocated them from their one room apartment to a two bed room flat. We are very much concerned about the lives of the kids because they are God’s special gift and we see them as future pastors. I urge the couple to stop getting more children. They should concentrate on giving them proper up bring both spiritually and physically.”

In a chat with Daily Sun, the father of the babies said: “I cannot thank God enough for what he has done for me. May his name be glorified forever. I thank him for opening my eyes to choose where to worship him. It is only him that can adequately compensate our pastor and my brothers and sisters in the church for their love and assistance to us.

“My gratitude goes to The Sun newspapers for exposing us to the global community from where we have been getting assistance. In fact, somebody in Europe called us, saying he saw The Sun publication about the quintuplets in the Internet.

“Caring for four kids at a time is an enormous task, but by the Grace of God, we are coping, we are still appealing to the Nsukka Local Government to come to our aid. The kids are yearning for favour from the state governor, Dr. Sullivan Chime and his wife whose love for the under privileged is unequaled. Any financial help to us can be paid to the kids account at the Intercontinental Bank, Nsukka Branch number – 0012110000558931.
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His ebony skin stood out in sharp contrast to the white crowd pressing to get a better view. The young African boy bared his teeth at the men and women staring at him through the bars. They were sharpened into dagger-like points, making him appear all the more barbaric to the ignorant hordes. Above the cage hung a sign proclaiming: 'The Missing Link.' A baby chimp sat disconsolately at the bottom of the enclosure, a single companion to the boy. Exploited: Pygmy Ota Benga on display with monkeys at Bronx Zoo in 1906 The year was 1906. This was a pygmy, brought to America as a novelty to be put on display in the monkey house. The New York Times reported: 'There were 40,000 visitors to the park on Sunday. Nearly every man, woman and child of this crowd made for the monkey house to see the star attraction in the park - the wild man from Africa. 'They chased him about the grounds all day, howling, jeering, and yelling. Some of them poked him in the ribs, others tripped him up, all laughed at him.' Suddenly, the boy turned. Taking the bow and arrow given to him as an ethnic accessory, he shot at the gawpers. His arrow did no harm, but he did scare the life out of the onlookers. This was Ota Benga, a pygmy, brought from the Congo and put on display in a zoo as an example of what scientists at the time proclaimed to be an evolutionary inferior race. His story would divide a nation, and is now told for the first time in a new documentary, The Human Zoo. The programme lifts the lid on a dark period in history, where 'natives' were paraded as exhibits, fuelling the spread of white supremacism and even contributing to the rise of Nazism. Tragically, Benga became the victim of one of the most awful acts of exploitation ever seen and died a shadow of the proud young tribesman who arrived in America. So just who was he, and how did this grotesque experiment help shape the 20th century view of race? A hundred years ago, before television and mass tourism, a handful of enterprising adventurers, anthropologists and businessman decided to bring the far-flung glories of the world to life in one place. Huge fairs were held in Paris, London and America, exhibiting everything from Italian gondolas to African elephants. Having promised the world, there was pressure to deliver: people were the next quarry. In 1904, the showman anthropologist William McGee conceived the idea of a human zoo, to be held in St Louis in the U.S. state of Missouri. It was designed to be one of the largest scientific experiments ever undertaken and would be spectacular public entertainment. McGee wanted the tallest people in the world, veritable giants from Patagonia, at the tip of South America. He wanted the Ainu, who lived on an island north of Japan and were supposedly the hairiest humans. He placed an order for 300 Filipinos - there is no record of why he wanted so many. His grandson, Phillips Verner Bradford, says: 'If you told him that a place was dangerous, he'd say: "I want to go there!" He was that sort of guy.' Verner took a boat from New York to London, down the European coast and around Africa to the Congo River. Bradford says: 'He made his way up the Congo River with steamers as far as they would go. Once he arrived at the great waterfalls, he had to hire a crew of natives.' They encountered crocodiles and hippopotamuses, and deadly whirlpools that could sink a boat. Eventually, Verner made it into the jungle. He blithely walked into a village of cannibals, and found that they had captured a rival tribe who were being held in cages, ready to be eaten. More... The final proof? Memoirs that may show Hitler DID order the 'final solution' to be published after his right-hand man dies To his delight, the prisoners were pygmies, or Mbuti - just what he was looking for. He began negotiating. Talking to the pygmies in their native Chiluba, he established that they would rather be taken to America than eaten. He bought six pygmies from their captors for a roll of brass wire and some salt. One pygmy stood out. He was Ota. Photos of him taken in the Congo show a playful, chubby young man, a broad smile revealing his sharpened teeth, which were filed in his youth. He looks healthy, spirited and full of life, standing around 4ft 8in tall. He had never seen a white man before. Verner realised that he had a hugely marketable proposition on his hands, and made the return trip across the Atlantic with his human treasure. For their part, the pygmies were intrigued by everything they saw and were full of questions: how did the boat work? Was there a cage of hippopotamuses down beneath pedalling it along? Verner showed them how the steam engine functioned. Docking at New Orleans in June 1904, the Africans caught their first glimpse of America. They were stunned by the tall buildings and wide streets. The six pygmies were sent to St Louis by rail. There, they became McGee's most important exhibits, the centerpiece of the St Louis World Fair, feted by society and academics alike. Adverts proclaimed: 'They live in forests, they are extremely shy. They eat the flesh of wild animals killed with poisoned arrows. They are cruel, finding delight in torturing animals. 'They have long heads, long narrow faces and little red eyes, set close together like those of ferrets. Their bodies are exceptionally hairy. 'A pygmy has been known to eat 60 bananas at one meal, in addition to other food, and then ask for more. 'They seem to be controlled by an impulse that makes them delight in wickedness. If caught young, they are said to make excellent servants.' Scientific racism: Ota Benga's Bronx Zoo captors had an admirer in Hitler He wanted what he considered the most primitive American Indian tribe, the Cocopah in Mexico. He asked for Eskimos. But most of all, he wanted the smallest people in the world. He needed pygmies. He had heard that they were very short and very black, and he had to have one. Explorer Samuel Phillips Verner was dispatched by McGee to the Belgian Congo with a shopping list. It read: 'One pygmy patriarch or chief. One adult woman, preferably his wife. One adult man, preferably his son. One adult woman, the wife of the last or daughter of the first. One female youth unmarried. Two infants. A priestess and a priest, or medicine doctors, preferably old. All of the above to be pygmies.' Duly detailed, Verner set off for deepest Africa. He knew that this operation could be the making of him, putting him in the same league as Henry Stanley and Dr David Livingstone. As the sales pitch shows, the human zoo played into the hands of white supremacists, teaching the public that there was a hierarchy of races, with the white man at the top and all others beneath. McGee himself, in his book The Trend Of Human Progress, published in 1899, wrote: 'Those who know the races realise that the average white man is stronger of limb, fleeter of foot, clearer of eye, than the average yellow or red or black.' Bastardising Darwin's theory of evolution, McGee saw each race as a stage in human evolution - with pygmies the least evolved of the species. With his rudimentary Victorian understanding of science, he believed they were the living missing link between apes and humans. The human zoo was a fantastic success - and widely copied. Dr Sadiah Qureshi, a historian at the University of Cambridge, says: 'Millions of people went to see these shows at their peak. Originally you would get a show in a local theatre. By the late 19th century you would see hundreds, if not a couple of thousand people living on site, eating and on constant display.' Indeed, some years later, in 1924, King George V and Queen Mary inspected the live exhibits at the British Empire Exhibition, at Wembley. Some Europeans' curiosity knew no bounds, however. Qureshi says: 'The 1899 exhibition Savage South Africa held at Earl's Court in London caused quite a stir. At one point women were banned from going inside because they had supposedly been touching the natives.' For almost a year, Ota and the other pygmies lived in America as human exhibits. They were made to build native houses, perform traditional dance ceremonies, live partially naked and cook authentic food. Ota was described in the press as 'a dwarfy, black specimen of sad-eyed humanity'. With his filed tribal teeth, he was the most celebrated pygmy and dubbed 'Lord of the savage world'. He posed for photographs for 25 cents. In 1905, after they had been viewed by a total of 20 million people, Verner took the pygmies home to the Congo. Ota had planned to rejoin his tribe - but discovered that they had been entirely wiped out by Belgian soldiers. He married a girl from the nearby Batwa tribe, and appeared to settle back into life in Africa. Then his wife was bitten by a poisonous snake and died. The Batwa rejected him, believing he was cursed and responsible for the young woman's death. Ota was cast adrift, a stranger in his own land. He begged his friend Verner to take him back to America. Verner was reluctant, but eventually acquiesced, taking him to New York. The pair shared the 3,000-mile sea voyage with crates of live animals, parrots, monkeys, snakes and other exotic booty, which Verner planned to sell in America. On the ship, Ota discovered cigarettes and drink. Arriving in New York, Verner - who had business to do - bade him farewell, arranging accommodation in a spare room - this time he was not on show - at the American Museum of Natural History. There, he thought Ota would be safe. Soon, however, he came to the attention of William Hornaday, a conservationist and director of the Bronx Zoo. Collaborating with one of America's most notorious racists, Madison Grant, he conceived a plan. Grant wanted to promote 'scientific racism', talking in terms of 'purity of type', and the survival of the white master race. In 1930, after his work The Passing Of The Great Race was translated into German, Grant received a letter from an aspiring politician, saying 'your book is my bible'. The man was Adolf Hitler. He would indeed use 'scientific racism' as the foundation for the Third Reich, giving academic grounding to the Holocaust. Together, Hornaday and Grant offered to take charge of Ota Benga, who initially believed he would be looking after the Bronx Zoo's elephants. In fact, he was going to be put on public display as a living example of 'racial inferiority'. Immediately, the exhibition prompted criticism. The New York Times reported on September 9, 1906: 'The exhibition was that of a human being in a monkey cage. A human being. In a monkey cage. 'The human being happened to be a Bushman, one of a race that scientists do not rate high in the human scale, but to the average nonscientific person in the crowd of sightseers there was something about the display that was unpleasant. 'It is probably a good thing that Benga doesn't think very deeply. If he did it isn't likely that he was very proud of himself when he woke in the morning and found himself under the same roof with the orang-utans and monkeys, for that is where he really is.' The exhibition was a sensation. On a single day, 40,000 people arrived to see Ota and his chimp. The show lasted only two weeks, however, due to a public outcry, and human zoos as a phenomenon died out by the Forties. So what became of Ota Benga? After he was removed from the Bronx Zoo, there was great debate regarding his fate. African-American church ministers insisted he be released - not for his comfort, but because they wanted to convert the pygmy to Christianity. He was eventually placed in an orphanage for black children, the Howard Colored Orphan Asylum, to be 'civilised'. He was dressed in Western clothes and taught how to eat, talk and behave like an American. He had his pointed teeth capped and attended a Baptist seminary, where he started to study English. He was kept out of the public eye for four years. Eventually, he moved from New York to the backwater town of Lynchburg, Virginia, where he became a local curiosity and was known as Otto Bingo. Forevermore haunted by his time in the monkey cage, he would repeatedly slap his chest, declaring: 'I am a man. I am a man.' He began to save money to return to the Congo, working in a tobacco factory. With the outbreak of World War I, this became impossible and Ota sunk into depression. He never did make it home. One evening, he went into a barn behind the village general store. He chipped off the caps hiding his teeth, restoring them to their filed-down glory, lit a small ceremonial campfire, and shot himself in the head, dying ten years after being put on display at the Bronx zoo. He was 32 years old. His story now bears testament to the ignorance of those who believed themselves superior to him. He was buried in an unmarked grave, but he left his mark on the world, exposing as moral pygmies the lesser men who would cage a human.
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The Lagos State government, on Monday, demonstrated its commitment to recognise gallant and patriotic law enforcement agents by presenting the keys of a three-bedroom flat to Mrs Olubunmi Oluseyi Awe, widow of a naval officer, who was killed during an attack on the Atlas Cove Jetty. The state government also presented certificates of commendation to 16 police officers and men who have distinguished themselves in their careers. Speaking at Lagos House, Ikeja while handing over the keys of the flat located at Igbogbo II in Ikorodu, Deputy Governor Sarah Adebisi Sosan, who stood in for Governor, Babatunde Fashola (SAN), said the state government would always stand by officers in times of need. According to him the death of late Commander A.K Joshua Awe, during the attack by unknown men on the Atlas Cove Jetty, some months ago, showed the commitment and gallantry of the officer in the course of duty. He added that the widow, Mrs Olubunmi Awe, who was accompanied by her three children, one of whom was marking her seventh birthday, should take solace in the fact that her husband died in the course of national duty and would forever be remembered in the annals of the history of the nation. While asking her to be of good courage, Governor Fashola said Mrs Awe should be steadfast and ensure that the future remained bright by training the children left behind by the deceased and giving them sound education. He added that like all mortals, the late officer had transited to the great beyond, promising that the state government would not abandon her and the children in the years ahead, adding that the provision of the accommodation was one of the little ways by which the state wanted to appreciate his service.
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