Lifeof A ModelAfrica

Sodiq Oyeleke Nigerian top athlete, Blessing Okagbare, has been “provisionally” suspended for doping on Saturday. The Athletics Integrity Unit made this known in a press statement, saying that the 32-year-old Nigerian athlete tested positive for a banned substance – human growth hormone. The ant-doping body said Okagbare tested positive for the prohibited substance in an out-of-competition test on July 19 – four days before the Olympics opened. The results of that test were only received by track and field’s anti-doping body late Friday after Okagbare, who won her heat in 11.05seconds, qualified for the semifinals of women’s 100m race at the Olympics With the suspension, Okagbare will no longer compete at the Tokyo Olympics. The statement read, “The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) has provisionally suspended Blessing Okagbare of Nigeria today with immediate effect after a sample collected from the sprinter tested positive for human Growth Hormone. “Growth Hormone is a non-specified subs

Suyi Ayodele The Benin massacre of 1897 was yet another in the series of the unpardonable atrocities perpetrated by the agents of the Royal Niger Company in their bid to secure for Britain, economic dominion of the Niger Delta”. This quotation describes the unfortunate event that led to the death of one of Africa’s most prosperous empires, the Benin Empire, some 124 years ago. Abiola E. Ola’s ‘A Textbook of West African History: AD 1000 to Present Day’, contains details of that calamity. At the end of the killings and arson by the British imperialists, the Benin Kingdom was brought to its knees. The reigning Omo N’Oba N’Edo Uku Akpolokpolo, Oba Ovonramwen Nogbaisi, was exiled to Calabar in the present-day Cross River State. In his place, Chief Agho Ogbedeoyo Obaseki, a childhood friend of the Oba, who also held the title Obaseki of Benin Kingdom was appointed head of the Benin Council of Chiefs in September 1897 by the British Lords. And like the biblical thief, the invading army of th

FAROOQ KPEROGI In Nigeria, once lies and historical myths take roots, they are almost always impossible to uproot. But the stubborn persistence of lies is no reason to give up on correcting them. Find below 10 oft-repeated lies with the most staying power in Nigeria. 1. That the Nigerian government banned history in secondary schools. In the last few years, the claim that the Nigerian government “banned history” from the national curriculum has become a hackneyed, predictable refrain, and is often uttered in moments of displays of historical ignorance, especially by young people. But this refrain is both dishonest and inaccurate. History was never a mandatory subject at any point in Nigeria’s history. It was always optional before it was discontinued in 2012 because of progressively dwindling student enrollment. History and Government were offered as alternatives to each other for students. That is, you enrolled in either History or Government but not both. Most students chose Governme

A non-governmental organisation, NBM of Africa Worldwide, has condemned what it described as the horrific treatment meted out to sub-Saharan Africans, who fail to make it to Europe through the Mediterranean sea, in Libya. The failed migrants, they said, are herded into Libyan detention facilities and the Libyans and some European countries who cooperate with them are culpable for these violations. In a statement, its Public Relations Officer, Mr. Oluwatosin Dixon, lamented that while countless cases of sexual violence against desperate black African men, women and children migrants are documented, little or nothing is being done to check the trend. The group mentioned the report by Amnesty International which slammed Libya and some European countries for their alleged complicity in the horrific abuse of migrants. Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa, had called the rights group’s new report “horrifying”. In the report dated July 15, Amnesty sai

UN Deputy Secretary-General, Nigeria’s Amina Mohammed, has hailed Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s first black President, describing him as exemplifying “courage, compassion and an unwavering commitment to social justice and equality”. Mohammed told the UN General Assembly on Wednesday in New York at a special session held to celebrate Mandela, the man who led the struggle that ended the racist apartheid system in South Africa. Celebrating Mandela International Day – officially commemorated on July 18 – the UN deputy chief said that he embodied the highest aspirations of the United Nations and the human family. Affectionately known as Madiba, she said that the 2021 celebration would have been Nelson Mandela’s 102nd birthday. Hate speech and the denial of facts are becoming “mainstream in liberal democracies and authoritarian regimes alike,” Mohammed said, “blurring the truth, questioning science and undermining democratic institutions”. She pointed to an alarming trend that people with l

Kayode Olaitan (Agency Reporter) Claimed to be potent as sex enhancer among users, Kayan Mata — some local herbal preparations (aphrodisiacs) — has generated electric mix of feelings among women and men when issues on love-making arise. Literally interpreted as “women things’’ from Hausa language, Kayan Mata is a generic name for a range of aphrodisiacs. However, as women have Kayan Mata, men have maganin maza –“men things’’. Proponents of the preparations claim that sexual feelings among couples are essentially stimulated by Kayan Mata which has attracted publicity on the internet in recent times. Though the substances are originally prepared to make-up brides for marriage to enjoy sex life during marriage, observers note that the aphrodisiacs are no longer restricted to ladies who are preparing for marriages alone. According to observers, for the products efficacy, some critics insinuate that Kayan Mata products are love potions or charms used by women to keep husbands away from othe