Africa’s pioneer LGA first lady, MADAM ADIAHA UMOINYANG speaks at 96

When the Raffia-rich town of Ikot Ekpene LGA in the present Akwa Ibom State was chosen by the colonial British Government as the birth place to experiment their own pattern of grassroots local government administration in British West Africa and Africa in 1951, the political legendary, late Chief Robert Udoka Umoinyang emerged the first local government council chairman in the continent of Africa.
According to records, the late chief during his career line had at a point in time worked under Tony Blair, former British PM, during his (Blair’s) tenure as a District Officer in the then Ikot Ekpene District Council.
In this very rare and special interview, Madam Adiaha Udo-Udo R. U. Umoinyang, the only surviving wife of the historic council boss who died in 1972 and first lady of the pioneer council, recalled memories of the good old days in the British colonial era and declared that she is delighted to be alive today to also witness local government administration that her husband started 63 years ago, blossom and spread across the 36 states to become 774 in the country, insisting that it is worth celebrating. Excerpts…

Can you recall memories of your good old days as the pioneer first lady of the pioneer Local Government Council in West Africa, nay Africa?
Yes, of course! I may not remember all, but I will try. I remember I got married to late Chief Robert Umoinyang at a tender age. Having graduated successfully alongside other big names like late Dr. Akanu Ibiam from the famous Norman College, a post-primary institute at Bonny in Port Harcourt Province, my husband served as a teacher at various schools, including, Ahoada College in Rivers State, Government School in Ikot Ekpene, Teachers Training College, TTC, Uyo in1932 (now University of Uyo) and Ibibio State College, Ikot Ekpene (1946) before he joined politics on retirement in 1951.
What prompted your husband’s involvement in politics?
On his retirement from the education sector in 1950, my husband was sent on a six-month course to study Native Administration (Local Government Administration) at the nation’s premier university (University of Ibadan) on British government scholarship. This was in preparation to climb the political rostrum the following year. I remember he was elected and sworn-in as the first local government council chairman on April 11, 1951 and later an Honourable member of the Eastern Region House of Assembly, Enugu, representing Annang Province in 1952. He was the National Vice-President of Ibibio Union from 1928.
What kind of activities were you involved as the first lady of Ikot Ekpene?
I used to mobilize local women to show support for government programmes. We used to add colour to government functions. I can even remember how we received visiting politicians like Awolowo, Azikiwe, Mbadiwe, especially during campaign periods. I also remember cooking and serving food to political figures like late Dr. Udo Udoma, Dr. I. U. Akpabio and others in my husband’s house in Ikot Ekpene. I also interacted with their wives, exchanged visits, gifts and ideas.
How was Ikot Ekpene then as compared to today?
It was a small town with few roads and houses, but it was one of the prominent and famous towns in the Eastern Region of Nigeria. There was only one straight road going to Aba and Uyo. In fact, there was a time when after mentioning towns like Enugu and Umuahia, the next would be Ikot Ekpene, which was famous because of the Raffia arts and craft works.
Can you shed more lights?
In the entire area now known as Akwa Ibom State, Ikot Ekpene was the first to have the first and proper Prison Yard and Library. That was when we were in Eastern Region of Nigeria.
What about pipe-borne water and electricity? 
We first had all these amenities even before other towns in the present Akwa Ibom State. Yes, Calabar was another town then. This is where the British colonial government started operations before moving to Lagos which became the next capital of Nigeria. From the little I can see now, Ikot Ekpene is looking far better and bigger than when I was young and I believe the whole state is okay.
Wednesday, April 11, 1951, your husband was sworn-in as the Chairman of Ikot Ekpene Local Government Area and he took over from Col. E. C. Alderton, the British District Officer (DO) then in charge of Ikot Ekpene? 
It was a great day which I will never forget. I accompanied my husband to the ceremony conducted at the little council hall by Commander J. C. Pykenott, (CMC, RN), the representative of Queen Elizabeth of Great Britain. Yes, it was Alderton who handed over to my husband and that is why we have “Alderton Road in Ikot Ekpene town, but unfortunately there is no Robert Umoinyang Street or Road in the entire town. Oh no, he has been forgotten! Forgotten just like that?
Who are some of the people who worked with your husband at Ikot Ekpene Local Government Council between 1951 and 1956?
I will try to recollect some of their names; there were Mr. Bassey Okoro and Mr. Moses Inyang who were appointed the council secretary and treasurer respectively. Other officials who assisted my husband to achieve success in the council were mostly native Chiefs from various villages in Ikot Ekpene including: Hon. Chief Wilfred Uko Enin, a councilor; Chief Nwankwo Udom Essien from Ikot Obong Edong; Chief Akpan Essien Etefia from Utu, Chief Nyoyoko from Adiasim and Chief Udoaka from Ikot Ekpene village, Chief Ekanem Uboh from Nsiak village.
What are the memorable high points of Queen Elizabeth’s 1956 to Nigeria that you can still recollect?
It was a delightful scene as I accompanied my husband to the red-carpet reception in honour of the visiting Queen who personally presented to my husband an international award of the Member of the British Empire (MBE). And coming from the Queen herself, it was a great experience which I will never forget.
Over the years, what has been your relationship with the administrators of the local government council? 
I wouldn’t know how to start. All I can say is that over the years I had never gotten anything from the council or even the state government. The attitude and trend is such that families of great politicians of the old are not being remembered and recognized by the present day politicians.
I am not happy that late Chief Umoinyang’s family has not been remembered and recognized accordingly over the years like it is been done elsewhere. Unfortunately, my husband’s old residential building along Aba Road where I used to live gradually fell down because of heavy rainfall. Now I am now staying with my daughter.
So how have you been surviving 63 years after the demise of your husband?
It’s been difficult after the death of my husband since 1972, and above all, since after I retired from active trading some years back. But God is taking care of me.

- PATRICK OKON

Russian politician says Fabio Capello is a 'thief' who dresses like a schoolteacher

Russia's Fabio Capello was the highest paid manager at the 2014 World Cup, earning an annual salary of $11.2 million according to Forbes. Sadly, the Russian Football Union's hefty investment in the Italian didn't pay off, as it was sent home from Brazil without a win.

The well-remunerated coach will now begin preparation for Euro 2016— but not before being forced to appear before Russian parliament to explain his lack of success.

View photo

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Russia's Sergei Ignashevich reacts as he leaves the pitch following a draw to Algeria. (AP)

Controversial right-wing politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky has insisted that Capello become the subject of a parliamentary inquest that will scrutinize his salary and try to pressure him to resign before his contract expires in 2018. For filling his pockets with Roubles but failing to dominate at the World Cup, Zhirinovsky has also called Capello a "thief." The Guardian reports:

“We need to look into his work and ask him to resign,” said Zhirinovsky, according to the Russian media. “But he’s greedy, so of course he won’t. It’s pretty good to get [millions] for doing nothing. The team lost and it doesn’t affect his pay in any way. Thief!”

In a completely pertinent line of argument, Zhirinovsky also took issue with Capello's lovely red sweater vests:

“Even the way he looks makes it hard to like him,” the politician said. “He looks like a schoolteacher.”

Fellow member of parliament Oleg Pakholkov backed Zhirinovsky, claiming that Capello had taken the job to "hoover up bundles of cash for his retirement."

Meanwhile, Igor Anansikh, the head of the State Duma's Sports Committee, confirmed that he would demand that Capello stand before the lawmakers to explain why paying him lots and lots of money didn't guarantee Russia instant World Cup success.

It sounds like a terrifying ordeal awaits Capello, but thankfully he has prior experience of explaining his finances to governments.

Boko Haram ‘massacre’ image fake

A graphic image circulating on Facebook and Twitter is said to show the badly charred bodies of 375 Christians murdered by Boko Haram militants in Nigeria. But the claim is false.

Researched by Kate Wilkinson and Julian Rademeyer

The image is horrific. Dozens of charred corpses lie in rows in the sun. In the background near a ruined building with a rusting corrugated iron roof police, soldiers and medics – some of them wearing masks to hide the stench – stand around helplessly. A caption across the top of the photograph reads: “Boko Haram burns 375 Christians”.

The Nigerian militant group – which gained worldwide notoriety in April this year when it kidnappedover 200 schoolgirls – has been linked to hundreds of killings and dozens of atrocities and bombings since it launched a violent insurgency in 2009 to overthrow the country’s government and establish an Islamic state. Most recently the group has been implicated in attacks on villages in north-eastern Nigeria in which churches were torched and more than 40 people reported to have been killed. It has also been blamed for a car bomb explosion which claimed at least 56 lives.

That alone would seem to give the image some credence. But does it really show the aftermath of a massacre of 375 Christians? And where was it taken, and when? Could it be a fake?

An Africa Check reader, who got in touch with us on Facebook, asked us to investigate.

(Warning: Some of the links below contain graphic and disturbing images)

Powerful propaganda

Faked images and pictures of purported atrocities make for powerful propaganda tools on social media sites. Often they go ghoulishly viral.

In 2012, the BBC found itself in hot water after it used a photograph supplied by an “activist” showing a massacre in Syria. The picture had actually been taken in March 2003 in Iraq.

In the Ukraine, amid a military offensive against pro-Russia militants, the fact-checking website StopFake.org has exposed a number of instances in which images have been manipulated or faked to show atrocities that never happened. One image, which was widely distributed on Facebook, showed the city of Donetsk burning.  It had been cleverly Photoshopped.

Another far more gruesome photograph was distributed on a Russian news website. It purported to show a Ukrainian man eating the arm of a Russian. In fact, the arm was a movie prop and the man holding it was a prop maker involved in a 2008 film.

In Africa an image that was actually taken in the Central African Republic showing soldiers killing a man has been passed off on Twitter as evidence of  “a homosexual stoned by police” in Uganda.

A massacre, or an oil tanker explosion?

So how do you tell fact from fiction? Fortunately a number of online tools exist to help you spot fakes and hoaxes online. By uploading the image toGoogle’s image search function and sifting through the results we managed to narrow the hunt down. (Note: We have edited the Boko Haram “massacre” picture above to blur the corpses. The original image can be viewed herebut – be warned – it is extremely disturbing.)

We quickly discovered that the picture was all too horribly genuine. But while it does depict a real event, it is not evidence of a massacre or, for that matter, the massacre of 375 Christians. Rather it shows the aftermath of a fuel tanker explosionnearly 2000 kilometres from Nigeria in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The tragedy, which occurred exactly four years ago today, killed at least 230 people and injured 190. The fuel tanker apparently overturned while trying to overtake a bus. By-standers were attempting to collect leaking fuel from the truck when the fuel ignited, possibly as the result of a lit cigarette. Many of the dead had gathered nearby to watch a World Cup soccer match.

Due to its graphic nature, the image of the charred corpses was not widely published but it did slip into circulation on the Internet.

Conclusion – Massacre claim false

To determine whether the purported Boko Haram massacre and the tanker explosion were one and the same incident, we examined television news footage and still images distributed by major news agencies.

Perhaps the most telling image was published on the Reuters website. It shows a row of bodies covered in blankets. In that image and the purported Boko Haram “massacre” image, the same distinctive building with the same discoloured corrugated iron roof and same window can be seen. The uniforms worn by the soldiers and the white Red Cross bibs worn by some of the emergency workers also match.

As it turns out, the “massacre” picture has been falsely used as evidence of other atrocities in Nigeria and even as far afield as Myanmar. For instance it has been falsely described as evidence of an attack on 500 Christians by Muslims in Nigeria. That claim was debunked by websites Hoax-Slayer and LoonWatch.com.

Just as the image has been used as “evidence” of atrocities committed by Muslims against Christians, it has also been used as “proof” of the slaughter of Muslims by Buddhist monks.

Various blog posts which appeared during a wave of religious violence in Myamnar claimed the image was evidence of “systematic violence” against Muslims. In fact, it has been so widely used in that context that Google suggests the  search phrase “Burma Muslim” if you upload the photograph to the search engine.

Lagos on Fire Oh By The Federal Military Government OOOOOOOO!!

Sanusi Withdraws Case Against Government

A Former Governor of Central Bank and the Emir of Kano, Mohammed Sanusi II, has formally withdrawn his lawsuit challenging his removal as the governor of the Apex Bank.

His lawyer, Abubakar Mahmoud, told the National Industrial Court that Mr Sanusi who is now the Emir of Kano wishes to withdraw his case against President Goodluck Jonathan and two other defendants in the suit.

The defendants did not oppose the request and the president of the court, Justice Babatunde Adejumo struck out the suit.

Hearing was expected to continue in the suit, but the Emir requested that the suit be discontinued.

The Federal Government on its part asked that the court should hear its motion challenging the ruling of the Federal High Court which declined jurisdiction in the suit but went ahead to transfer the case to the National Industrial Court.

Lawyer to the Federal Government, however, said he would toe the line of the Emir, “if he (Sanusi II) withdraws his other suits pending in both the Federal High Court and the Appeal Court.

Having listened to the parties, Justice Adejumo adjourned the case to the November 7 to hear the motion filed by the government and urged the parties to explore an out of court settlement.

Rampaging Soldiers Burn BRT Buses In Lagos

Some rampaging soldiers in Lagos State on Friday set some buses of the Lagos State Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system on fire after a soldier was allegedly killed by one of the buses in Palmgrove area.

Eye-witness said the incident happened when the BRT driver changed his lane and accidentally knocked down the soldier on a bike.

The soldier’s death has not been confirmed by any government authority.

As a result of that, some soldiers gathered at the scene along Ikorodu Road, stopping all BRT buses and destroying some of them.

Aside from the buses that were set ablaze, some persons were beaten-up mercilessly by the soldiers who set one of the buses on fire close to a petrol station.

Photo: Boko Haram female accomplice arrested

According to a post on the Facebook wall of the National Orientation Agency Nigeria, an accomplice and informant of terror sect, Boko Haram, Hafsat Bako, pictured above, has been arrested. Details of her arrest are still sketchy but will bring an update later.

The Top 50 Cannabis Consuming Countries of the World

The United Nations have released more data, including this very interesting info on world cannabis consumption.

This chart shows the top 50 ranking countries and I am sure is a surprise to some in Iceland.

Note that Scotland beats England and Wales!

And check the USA – nearly at the top of the pile with their ineffective drug war.

I would have expected Italy to be a bit higher than their 4% (they don’t even make this chart!)

The bottom 10 countries were Vietnam, Turkey, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia, Romania, Japan, El Salvador, Indonesia, Algeria and the Republic of Korea.