Francis Agoda, the comedian fondly called I Go Dye is understandably peeved at the moment. After being assaulted by military men at a political rally organised by the Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, at the Warri township stadium on January 4, the comedian had demanded a public apology from his assailants, the state government and the campaign team of Uduaghan which contracted him to perform but allegedly failed to provide security for he and his colleagues.I Go DyeadvertisementSpeaking to E-Punch after his ordeal, I Go Dye confessed that but for the fact that he is a peace ambassador in the Niger Delta, it would have taken him absolutely nothing to instigate the teeming youths at the stadium against his assailants. "But I chose to toe the path of peace. I am a peace ambassador and should not be found to be inciting violence whatever the case maybe," he said.Early this week, rumour made the rounds that the multiple awards winning comedian had been compensated to the tune of N50m by a political stalwart in the state. Repulsed and shocked at the groundswell of the news, I Go Dye, in a chat with E-Punch says, "I don't know where this came from. Nobody gave me N50m. I am not in need of money from anybody, all I demand is public apology from the authorities, including the Nigerian Army, the Delta State Governor, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan and his campaign team who failed to protect me after inviting me to the occasion. I am giving them two weeks after which I would instruct my lawyers to take legal action."He disclosed that he is being forced to take a legal action at this juncture because in recent time, the military has been carrying on as if they were at war with harmless Niger Delta indigenes in the name of searching for militants. He says, "The Nigeria Army has been attacking innocent villages in the Niger Delta. For instance, Gbaramatu and Ayakoroma communities have been attacked lately, but I am amazed they could come out in the open to attack me for no just cause."..
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It has come to this.In the free-for-all that was our banking system, even a nanny could obtain a N13 billion loan from one of our top banks. Especially if she is the owner's nanny.Such was the good fortune of Nanashetu Abdulai, who served Cecilia Ibru as nanny to her eldest son, Oboden.Billion naira Nanny "Mcphee" Nanashetu Bedell her Husband and the Loan Giver CeCeIBRUIn our banking system, this was enough collateral to persuade Oceanic Bank, which is now on life support and has been taken over by the Central Bank, to extend billions to Nanashetu. At least officially.Ms. Abdulai, 51, also known as Nanashetu P. Bedell, received what is now being called the "nanny loan" based solely on her relationship with Mrs. Ibru, who is now a fugitive from the law and is wanted on fraud, money laundering, and stock manipulation charges by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. As at May 31, the loan was non-performing, according to a list released by the Central Bank.Attempts to reach Ms. Abdulai at both her office and by telephone were unsuccessful.Ms. Abdulai secured the loan as the sole director of Circular Global International Ltd. The company turned up as debtor number 13 on the CBN list of debtors to Oceanic Bank, is also the chief executive of the upscale corporate and household gift items suppliers called Nanshet Limited. Its head office is on Akin Olugbade high street of Victoria Island in Lagos.Nanshet Ltd trades in corporate and household gift items and supplies majority, if not all, of Oceanic Bank's corporate souvenirs and staff insignias. Mrs. Ibru's signature neckties are samples of Nanshet's supplies.Nanshet Limited started business in 1990 selling only Christian Books and Gifts. It now specialises in the procurement and distribution of electronics, household items and corporate gifts on a wholesale and retail level. It opened an American office in 2002Ms. Abdulai was the nanny to the former Managing Director of Oceanic Bank and the first son of Mrs. Ibru, Oboden Ibru, but has become a close member of the family."She is generally called Sister Nana within Oceanic Bank," said one source. Another source referred to her as "Cecilia Ibru's twin sister," establishing the close relationship which Ms. Abdulai shares with the Ibru family and also alluding to the influence that Ms. Abdulai wields away from the domestic domain of the Ibru family to the corporate quarters where public funds are held."It is conventional wisdom in Oceanic that the fear of Sister Nana is the beginning of wisdom," said an insider who pleaded anonymity at Oceanic Bank Headquarters on Ozumba Mbadiwe Street on Victoria Island, Lagos.No. 4 Akin Olugbade Street is just a white, plain looking one-storey building that is unremarkable in every aspect apart from sharing a fence with an Oceanic Bank branch. It looks more like a residential building than an office space. In a section of the compound, heaps of ceramic tiles are packed amid large wooden boxes.Nanshet Mega Stores sell luxury gift items, including flower vases, ceramic plates, steel trolleys and large aluminium and enamel pots and dishes. It is located at the ground floor of City Mall directly opposite the entrance of the mall.
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Sauna Kawaji is a backside suburb situated on the road to Hadejia town, in the southern end of the ancient city of Kano. It has a number of tiny roads and interlocking lanes that network across a number of unevenly situated mud, and sometimes, block of residential buildings.The mystery goat and its new babiesadvertisementThe compounds host an expanding population of men, women and children.It is normal to see kids playing away in the early morning sun in this neighbourhood. Also, it is normal to see goats loitering or feeding on scattered grains, just as cows are regular feature here. Indeed, human population in this tiny town is intermixed with the population of other domestic species, such as fowls, goats, sheep and cows.However, it could be said that the innocence of the community was figuratively broken on Thursday, August 6, 2009 when a strange “August visitor” came. On that day, a mystery crept into the community and shook it to its very roots. It was the day a she -goat gave birth to a “child” with obvious human features.For the villagers, the story of a she-goat giving birth to a creature with some features of normal human being is incredible. Yet, right before their very eyes, this concrete reality, played out like a script from a horror film.According to a tailor in the community, Alhaji Bashir Haruna, (alias Soldier), 47, that Thursday, like any other day, he woke up with the normal bustling of a new day in a small town. He said that people went about their businesses without constraint or care. The hustling of the day was rather very alive, activated due to the delegate congress of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state.He recalled that many people had come home from the city to be part of the congress. Then the news broke: A goat has delivered a semi-human being.Haruna, who resides just a stone throw from the scene of the episode told Saturday Sun that soon after the strange incident, the news to spread like wild fire. And before long, it was everywhere.The owner of the mystery goat, Hajia Amina Mohammed Sauna, confirmed the birth of the creature, which she quickly declared was dead at birth.She said that the unusual creature was delivered at about 12pm on that Thursday, adding that all her life she had never encountered such a strange happening.Being the guardian of the she-goat and the first witness of the rather strange recourse of nature, she recalled that the she-goat, through out her lifespan, had never had such a prolonged labour.She said: “For four days, she was very sick. We all had sleepless nights trying to fend for the goat, to cope with her trouble, night after night. And it was like it would never end. And on the night before that Thursday, it was worst, the tumbling stress of labour was severe on her and at about 12pm the following day, she finally came off it and delivered.“I was nearby at the time she delivered. I was the first to come face to face with the creature. I was shocked and I was shaken. I was afraid. I could not believe my eyes. Here I was, an old woman standing face to face, taking delivery of a human-like goat, a creature I had never imagined was possible in this world. I immediately screamed, partly out of fear and shock and thereafter I said a quick prayer (Muslims recitation) and then dashed out of the house to call for help.“Right before my eyes, I saw a creature with the following features: The face is that of a human being, but the ears are that of a goat. Its eyes were shut because it was lifeless at birth. It has a small tail, like a normal goat and both its two legs and hands have hoofs at the end. But from the chest to the hip, the body of the creature was that of a human being. Interestingly, it does have the usual hairy body of a normal goat, just light hairs in some part of the body.”According to her, when the people gathered, it was agreed that such a strange encounter must be reported to the village head of Sauna/Kawaji, Alhaji Ado Umar. So, she called two other relatives who were around and they took the creature to the village head, who advised that they should immediately report the matter to the Police in the state.Subsequently, they took the creature, accompanied by a mammoth crowd of curious onlookers to the Dakata Police Station, a division of the Police in the state. She revealed that the decision to report the matter to the police was out of the need to avoid a situation where they, the immediate owners of the goat, would be held for the failure to report matter to the police.Incidentally, while the creature was being taken to the police station, the mother goat, which was yet to finally come out of labour, completed her assignment. She delivered yet another set of babies, two of them in all. These additional babies were however, different from the creature that preceded their birth. They looked like the normal goats and had no features of a human being at all.Alhaji Mazzadeen Ibrahim, (alias Officer) said that the mammoth crowd that turned up with the strange creature to the police station, that afternoon, at about 3pm, was overwhelming.Mazzadeenn, who runs a mechanic workshop in front of the Dakata divisional police station, told Saturday Sun that the crowd overwhelmed the station by its size. He recalled that people poured in hundreds from Sauna and neighbouring towns, adding that while some people were inside the police station compound, others scaled the fence.“It was not easy, but I was lucky to have gone inside and I saw it. They brought it in cartoon, wrapped in an old black coat,” he said while confirming the earlier description of the features of the strange creature.He recalled that the creature had a human vagina, a human face and a goat-like hoof and ears. He summed up thus: “All my life, I have never seen anything close to this. The nearest that I have seen was a goat with eight legs at birth and that was five years ago.”The police DPO, it was gathered, was speechless and shocked by what he saw. After due consultation with his superiors at the Bompai headquarters of the command, he referred the matter to a vet clinic in Ugwar Ugwu area of the state.At the vet clinic, the doctor demanded to know the kind of food the goat eats and was told that it feeds by the way side, picking whatever it can. The doctor advised that in future, the goats should be fed with grains.Speaking further on her goat, Sauna said it was born in the village 10 years ago. She said that it grew up in the environment and had given birth to several young goats. Sauna said: “At least, I remember that she had delivered sets of young ones on eight occasions, some sets of twins, some triplets and on a few occasions, quadrates.“The mother goat belongs to my daughter, who resides in Lagos. The goat stays with us here; she sleeps in this house (pointing backwards to the stained-roofed, dilapidated structure that hosts their compound). When it is dawn, we let the goat wander into town in search of food to eat, and in the evening, she comes back home to sleep. At home, we cannot afford to buy her grains of food. As matter of practice, we don’t keep goats at home or restrict the movement of goats in this area. The goats roam to any area of convenience and get to feed themselves,” she declared.Sauna said that the mother goat has since returned to her normal life after the birth of the creature, adding: “Surprisingly, she is not sick and although I am not an a veterinary doctor, I know that she is well.”In his comment, the Kano State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Baba Mohammed, confirmed the incident and said the police had directed that the creature be sent to a vet hospital in the state for their further advice. He observed that, like every other person, policemen were shocked at the birth of a goat with dual features, some of which are human look. He however, concluded that only the experts in the field of animal medicine could explain what happened.The curious part of the story is that some people believe that a man may have violated the mother goat. Those in this school of thought say that since the mother goat wander about anything was possible.However, a veterinary doctor, Salisu Atiku and a senior livestock superintendent in the state, Abbas Ibrahim, who both commented on the development, are of a different views. For them, it is wrong to link the strange occurrence with a sexual relationship between a goat and a human being.
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