The story was everywhere before the competition started, 18 players dropped from Nigeria under 17 team because they failed MRI test.
A lot of us hailed the innovation because it will certainly put somethings right. Remember, players like Luis Figo of Portugal and Mutiu Adepoju played in the same competition but Figo played active football for years after Mutiu retired.
The lesson here is that we always end up cheating our- selves thinking we are being smart.
Despite the MRI machine test, report during the weekend showed that the captain of the present golden eaglets was 18 years 7 years ago.
The revelation came from a former Nigeria international Adokie Amesiamaka. He said the captain was a player in his academy {The youth team of sharks football club} and he was 18 years old seven years ago.
Down the years when other players that featured in this tournament continue playing for 15 years, our players would have long retired and we will be wondering why we can't get players for the senior national team.
The attitude of cheating is not only in football or sports in general, it has eaten into our every aspect of life.
Hon Patrick Obahiagbon's (Nigeria’s House of Representatives) :Tribute to Gani fawehinmi.
If you follow political events in Nigeria especially the National assembly{Lower House} Hon patrick Obahiagon's name will not be strange to you. But If you don't, just read this. His tribute to Gani.
Hope you won't end up with headache or bite your tongue after reading this.{ I have Iodine}
"The grand initiation of Chief Gani Fawehinmi has since brought me emotional laceration and thrown me into a state of utter catalepsy. This was a man who inured himself in the aqua of self abnegation and immolation just to give justice to the down-trodden.
Can there be another GANI in Nigeria’s legal firmament? I dare say i have my doubts. Chief Gani Fawehinmi was simply inimitable, puritanically committed, inscrutably remonstrative, ideologically transcendental, quixotically cosmopolitan and a ready conveyor-belt of legal tomahawks which he intrepidly deployed in his cascading fulminations against our philistine military and political class.
His transition is not just the fall of an Iroko but indeed the grand initiation of an iconic legal salamander. We only hope that we didactically learn herefrom that it’s not so much our sybaritic life styles that matters more than the quality of service we render whilst we sojourn on this earth plane.
There is an adage in Yoruba{Western Nigeria}, i will try as much as i can to do a translation. It goes does "Ti o bani ti e po, wari ti eni ti oju ti e lo". Translations If you complain of how bad your situation is, you will see cases worst than yours}.
This can aptly described a news report i saw earlier in the day on my way to Lagos island, the shanties on the lagoon and the living conditions of people got me worried but it all disappeared when i saw a news item.
Read The Story Below And Understand
SARGODA, Pakistan (CNN) -- Mohammed Iqbal said he has been told by his landlord to pay up on debts and is left with a choice facing others in this impoverished corner of Pakistan: Sell your children or a kidney.
For the 50-year-old Iqbal, there is only one option. Despite a law passed in late 2007 banning transplants for money, he has decided to sell his kidney and has already been for pre-operation tests. The sale will net him between $1,100 and $1,600.
"What's incredible here is the law that bans the operation he's going to go through came into place in 2007," said CNN's Nic Robertson. "He's still able to go to a doctor, the doctors given him advice, that's what he has to do under law... He's going to make money out of it 100,000-150,000 rupees, and that is absolutely illegal. Yet, in just a few days, he's expecting to sell his kidney."
Iqbal was not alone in facing this difficult decision. Others in Pakistan's rural heartland have opted to sell their kidneys.
One of them was Rab Nawas, who was deep in debt about a year ago to his landlord after borrowing money to pay for his wedding and to cover medical bills for his wife and six children. He, too, faced the choice: sell his children, his wife or a kidney.
"I am helpless. Should I sell my children? Should I go sell my children? So, it's better I sell my kidney. I had to return the money," said Nawas, who now bears a foot-long scar that wraps around from his back to his belly and is too weak to work the same hours he could before.
People bearing the tell-tale scar of an organ removal in the villages around the farm where Nawas works are not hard to find. At one point, there were about 2,000 transplants a year -- with 1,500 of them going to what the government said were so-called "transplant tourists."
The 2007 law was aimed at ending Pakistan's dubious status as one of the world's leading organ bazaars. Nawas sold his kidney after the law was passed and said the procedure was performed at the Rawalpindi Kidney Center in the northern city of Rawalpindi.
When he went to the Rawalpindi center, after CNN asked him to show where the procedure was done, he said a doctor told him they did not have a record of his operation because they destroy such records when a patient leaves.
The Rawalpindi clinic -- which prior to the law was a leading user of purchased kidneys -- told CNN that it abides by the law and does not get involved in deals between kidney donors and recipients.
"Standing there it's hard for me to fully understand the courage it took for him to make the journey. In this country, he has few rights, and even less security," said CNN's Robertson.
Statistics 10%-20% kidneys originates from Pakistan Kidney is sold for $200,000 Agents gets up to $50,000 Donor gets between $1,000-$2,000 Kidney is in high in U.S, Europe, UAE, Israel
People living outside Lagos state does not know how "lucky" they are, issues like traffic jam and high cost of transportation is strange to them.
Despite the fact that we pay through our nose to get to destinations, the condition of the various means of transportation is nothing to write home about. {Thank God for BRT}
Its bad enough that we have to sit in traffic for hours, we also have to cope with the the rudeness of drivers of commercial buses and their conductors.
The reputation of these people {commercial drivers and conductors} is so bad that when the Lagos state government came up with BRT a lot of us Lagosians want more more of such buses {Though many of the BRT staffs are gradually degenerating in their act}.
It's a common site for find conductor abusing passengers or even fighting them. Customer service is the last thing in their mind. As far as they are concern, they are doing you a great favor.
Surprise is the word when you see a conductor showing his passenger customer service. See the picture below.
Even our so called blue chip companies like banks, telecommunication etc will not do more than this.
2. Be prepared to ram anything stopping you wearing uniform in Lagos (police, traffic warden,FRSC, Kai brigade, fire brigade, VIO, lastma, lamata, laswa, even lawma sef)
3. If you get caught by any chance, DO NOT allow them to enter your car, if they happen to get in DO NOT drive from that spot (veer off traffic & settle 5hun), and if they don’t agree, form calling your uncle who is in the army (believe me it always works), never follow them to ANY sort of office except you wanna pay X10
4. Never give police or VIO your original particulars (whether expired or up to date)
5. Danfo drivers believe they are immortal. NEVER yield to the temptation to teach them otherwise.
6. Okada riders have a pact with suicide, avoid them like a plague
7. Avoid BRT buses in all ramifications, they have NO brakes
8. Taxi cabs (oko asewo) should always have the right of way, all of them have been driving in Lagos for 25yrs.
9. Never, ever, stop for a pedestrian unless he flings himself under the wheels of your car.
10. The first parking space you see will be the last parking space you see. Grab it. Survival of the fittest you may say!
11. Learn to swerve abruptly. In Lagos , potholes (and sometimes car-holes) are put in key locations to test drivers’ reflexes and shock absorbers,( I saw one man fishing in one of the potholes last week).
12. Always Horn when taking off, when slowing down, when overtaking, when they are overtaking you, when someone else horns at you, when others are horning and you dont know why (its good manners). when playing along to a beat on the radio...the list is endless....
13. Never get in the way of a car that needs extensive bodywork, except you want to spend your whole Saturday @ the panel beater’s place.
14. Morning rush-hours are equivalent to Lagos grand prix (who gets to the junction first)
15. There is no such thing as a short-cut during rush-hour traffic in Lagos . Everybody might be inclined to take that ’short-cut’.
16. When asking for directions, always ask at least 3 people. Lagosians ALWAYS claim to know every inch of the city – even areas they’ve never been to.
17. Use extreme caution when pulling into service lanes. Service lanes are not for breaking down the traffic, but for speeding, especially during rush hour.
18. Never use directional signals, since they only confound and distract other Lagos drivers, who are not used to them.
19. Similarly, never attempt to give hand signals. Lagos drivers, unused to such courtesies, will think you are making obscene gestures to them. This could be very bad for you in Lagos .
20. Hazard lights (popularly called “double pointer”) is not, (as commonly supposed) used to indicate a hazard. It is a warning to you that he is a bonafide Lagos driver, he’s headed ’straight’ and as such, will not stop under any circumstance. Take him extremely seriously especially if he backs it up with a continuous blast from his “horn”.
21. At any given time, do not stand on the zebra crossing expecting traffic to yield to you, or else you will have to explain to the on coming traffic whether you look like a zebra.
22. Speed limits are arbitrary figures posted only to make you feel guilty.
23. Remember that the goal of ev 2. ery driver is to get there first by whatever means necessary.
24. In Las Gidi every spot is a potential bus stop. FRSC and LASTMA know that too. It is in their constitution.
25. Above all, keep moving. Even with a flat tire!!!
Good luck, as you expeditiously navigate through Lagos and hustle and bustle.
When the Tinubu administration introduced LASTMA {Lagos state traffic management authority}, it was to manage the chaotic traffic situation in Lagos.
As it always happen to any good intended policy, Nigerians have a way of turning it upside down for their selfish interest.
Its a pity to say the least what happened today at ojuelegba when a LASTMA official lost his life.
Anybody who is frequent around Ojuelegba knows there are couple of road constructions going on around the area {kudos to Governor Fashola}.
A commercial bus who because of the construction stopped to drop a passenger where the LASTMA officer must have frowned at took off in order to escape arrest and in a bid to arrest the bus his life was cut short.
Eye witness account has it that the heavy duty machine carrying a slab was at work when LASTMA officer was running after the commercial bus. The red flag alert which normally signals danger was up and everybody stayed away from the caterpillar but the LASTMA officer was not aware of the danger. He ran into the heavy duty machine and died on the spot.
One is not condoning the attitude of the commercial driver but it should be noted that there are better ways to handle such situation. Personally i have witnessed a situation where police officer and LASTMA officer were dragging the steering wheel with the driver of a fully loaded commercial bus popularly called molue.
If not for selfish motive, situations like this could be avoided. All the law enforcement officer needs to do is get the registration number of the vehicle and this will safe life of the driver, passengers, the law officer and other road users.
What is your advise to other law officer to avoid situations like this.
There are 2 interpretations of the same law, the interpretation for the common man and the one for the rich, influential and powerful.
These could be best understood if you live in Nigeria where people that steals or are alleged to have stolen cars, mobile phones, purse, bikes etc are paraded by the police in front of the camera and on the pages of news papers. On the other hand, people in public office who evidence shows that the kind of wealth they find themselves during and after public office can not be tied to their salaries are allowed to roam the street and flaunt such ill gotten wealth.
A popular saying goes does "everyday for the thief and one day for the house owner". This saying aptly described what happened in Opebi Lagos on 23/01/09.
A senior mobile officer was driving against the traffic along Oregun Opebi link road when another senior police officer stopped him.I am sure he will not have believed there is anybody with such effrontery to call him to order after all he is the "law "
People waited and were thinking this will be one of the usual esprit the corp kind of situation but alas it was not.
I later got to know that the man that arrested the police officer{s} is actually Mr Odumosu {i don't know his rank in the police}. His action was not at all surprising because of his antecedent when he headed the environmental task force during the last administration in Lagos state.
Swiftly after blocking the officer's car driving against the traffic he called his men, though it took some time before they got to the scene. All the appeal by the erring officer fell on deaf ears as he just stood looking at them.
Trust Lagosians especially okada {bike riders}, we were all waiting for the outcome of the situation. We did not have to wait too long as the enforcement team arrived like S.W.A.T and arrested the officers like a common criminal.
Shout of jubilation was in the air and the people considered it a victory for the average man who the police will not spare if found in such situation.
I could not get the kind of photo shot i wanted because the police around were watching one them actually pointed a gun at me to stop taking pictures.
This will go along way to tell people in authority especially law enforcement agencies that there is somebody watching.
This is new Lagos and we have a lawyer in the helm of affairs. Eko oni baje o {Lagos will not go bad}
The responsibility of police in any society is to protect law and order. This means one thing, the life of every individual must be protected.
It is disturbing when people whom the police are suppose to protect turns to be their number one enemy. There are many incidence of police brutality and accidental discharge, another one happened yesterday in Ikotun a suburb of Lagos.
The news came in yesterday that a commercial driver popularly known as "Danfo" was shut to death for refusing to stop after the police waved him down for driving against traffic {one way}.
One is not trying to justify the action of the commercial driver but killing him is definitely not the punishment for his offense.
Its high time the police authority come down really hard on their men and repose the confidence in people the the police is truly "our friends"
