INSIDE EX-GOV ORJI KALU'S COUNTRY HOME IN IGBERE, ABIA STATE

Quite a number of A-list events took place during my “break-in-transmission” . Unfortunately, I won’t be able to post most of them in order not to bore you with ‘stale’ news. However, there is this particular one that took place few hours to the end of 2008 which i felt i should not dump in the 2008 archive.

It was the “FORMAL RETIREMENT CEREMONY(Igboto Nma) OF EX-GOVERNOR ORJI KALU’S MUM, MADAM EUNICE ORJI KALU FROM POLITICS”. The very colourful event held inside the ex-Gov’s expansive country home in IGBERE, BENDE LGA, ABIA STATE on 30th Dec, 2008. In attendance were top personalities and power brokers like ex-military ruler Gen Ibrahim Babangida(retd), Dep. Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, Govs Theodore Orji of Abia state, Ikedi Ohakim of Imo state, Dr. Babangida Aliyu of Niger, Lyel Imoke of Cross River, Adams Oshiomole of Edo, Information Minister Dora Akunyili (who represented President Yaradua), Foreign Affairs Minister Ojo Madueke, Sen Jubril Aminu, ex-Gov Bafarawa and a host of others.

SHORT GIST FROM THE EVENT

WELCOME TO 'CAMP NEYA'
Really, I’m yet to find the right set of adjectives that accurately describe the awesome structures erected by Ex-Gov Orji Uzor Kalu in his place of birth, the sleepy town of Igbere, in the Southeastern state of Abia, Nigeria. Popularly known as ‘CAMP NEYA’, it comprises of several units of eye-popping buildings and other exotic structures which stand elegantly on a massive piece of land that is large enough to host a town of its own. As you meander your way towards the main entrance of Camp Neya, what attracts your attention is the lavish array of well-nurtured flowers and a carpet of plush green grasses that cover the entire surface of the premises. A tour through some parts of the Camp would later convince you that the owner of this place is a national politician of no mean status. This is because, almost all the buildings and structures were named after one national or international leader. For instance, there was Nnamdi Azikiwe House, Gen Abdulsalam Abubarkar Square, Gen, Ibrahim Babangida Hall, Bill Clinton Fountain, and several others. Apart from these, there was also this particular sprawling edifice which contains 37 rooms with each named each of Nigeria’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
Interestingly, Camp Neya was said to have been completed 100% long before Kalu became the Governor of Abia in 1999.

WHO IS NEYA?
Neya is Dr Orji Uzor Kalu’s first child. Very pretty, cool-headed and sociable, the camp was named after her to confirm her status as the heiress apparent to the gigantic Orji Uzor Kalu dynasty. 17 year old Neya played the role of the Chief Hostess during her beloved grandmother’s ceremony and really, she did it well. She is a student of an exclusive institution in the United States.
However, talk is rife in the streets of Igbere that Neya has already been espoused to a young Igbere chap and both of them are currently being groomed in the states.

'IGBOTO NMA'
‘Igboto Nma’ or 'Mgboma' is the Igbo word for ‘retirement’.. 70-something year old Madam Eunice retired after 61 years of active politicking. Indeed, there is no doubt about the fact that she has seen it all and she looked so radiant and fulfilled throughout the ceremony.

A TALE OF TWO BABANGIDAS
In Nigeria today, there are two prominent personalities among several others who bear the name BABANGIDA: former Nigerian Military President, Gen, Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (IBB), and the incumbent governor of Niger state, Dr Babangida Aliyu.. Both are from Niger state and have engaged each other in a cold war for quite a while over who controls the state’s political machinery. The duo extended their acrimony to the Orji Kalu's event, as they tactically avoided each other throughout the event.

ADAM OSHIOMOLE CHANGES STYLE
Well, those who still expect Edo Governor, Comrade Oshiomole to stick to his usual Labour Khaki style now that he is a governor might be slightly disappointed by this. The peoples' governor has changed his style. He stormed the Orji Kalu party in a smooth, smart and well designed French suit.

BETWEEN TEE MAC AND GODDY ANABOR
Factional President of PMAN, Tee Mac Omatsola, came to the event in company with controversial international businessman, Goddy Anabor. I’m still trying to figure out what the two have in common.
IS ALL WELL BETWEEN ORJI KALU AND T.A. ORJI?
Gov Theodore Orji is the incumbent governor of Abia state. He won the governorship election from prison last year April to succeed Orji Uzor Kalu on the platform of the Peolple’s Progressive Alliance (PPA). Going by Nigeria's Political culture the latter is suppose to be the former's godfather but recently, gist has it that the duo have fallen apart and as if to confirm the rumour spreading in town, the two hardly interacted throughout the event .

Below are some of the pictures of the event as presented by Sola Folowosele.



Madam Eunice Orji Kalu


Orji Kalu's 17 year old daughter,Neya


Welcome to Camp Neya inside Camp Neya


inside Camp Neya
inside Camp Neya
inside Camp Neya inside Camp Neya


inside Camp Neya


inside Camp Neya Night time at Camp Neya


Night time at Camp Neya
(L-R)Orji Kalu, IBB & Gov. T A Orji


Gov. Adams Oshiomole without his khaki (right)


Information Minister,Prof Dora Akunyili

IBB & KALU IBB & Ex- Gov Attahiru Bafarawa of Sokoto state


(R-L) Govs Babangida Aliyu & Adams Aliyu Oshiomole (L-R) Anambra Dep. Gov, Virgy Etiaba &Sen. Pius Anyim Pius Imo Gov, Ikedi Ohakim


Foreign Affairs Minister Ojo Madueke Kalu(left) welcoming Dep Senate President Ike Ekweremadu(middle) Associates of the celebrant Associates of the celebrant (L-R) Tee Mac & Goddy Anabor(L-R) Charlie Boy & ....aah! i cant remember the 2nd guy's name..somebody help!

WELCOME TO TWENTY-O-NINE

HAPPY NEW YEAR
This is to tender my unreserved apology to all the followers of METROGIST-NIGERIA for the "...looong break in transmission..". Well, 2008 is over with all its "challenges" and a brand new year is here with fresh opportunities, visions and plans..in 2009 METROGIST-NIGERIA promises to be consistent, faithful and more vibrant. My sincere appreciation goes to everyone who visited and everyone who dropped comments during 'break-in-transmission'.it's really encouraging and i feel motivated.God bless you all!
Watch out for fresh gist & pixs very soon.

SORRY 4 THE BREAK IN TRANSMISSION

This is a familiar line on most Nigerian TV and radio stations whenever there was "power failure". But the break in transmission here on METROGIST-NIGERIA has nothing to do with "power failure"..it's as a result of certain personal issues that needed to be sorted out. Don't 4get that the year is fast running to an end and when i looked at my 'to-do' list for the year, there are so many yet to be 'ticked'..i promise to be back very soon. cheers

LIFE AT THE COUNTRYSIDE

LIFE AT THE COUNTRYSIDE
For the first time in the last couple of months, an opportunity to escape from Lagos finally came last weekend and folks; I grabbed it with two hands! It was the 2nd Coronation Anniversary and Thanksgiving of HIS ROYAL MAJESTY, OBA (DR) EBENEZER AKINTUNDE AKINYEMI, THE ESELU of ISELU KINGDOM, AKAOSU 1. I met the respected monarch through another influential Oba about this time last year and since then we have maintained a cordial relationship. At 30-something, he is probably the youngest king in Ogun state today. Thus when the anniversary was approaching, Kabiyesi sent a personal invite to me requesting my presence at the event, so I had no choice other than to honour the royal invitation, though I had two other celebrity events to attend almost at the same time in Lagos.
Now, Iselu is a typical Nigeria rural settlement located very close to the Nigeria-Benin border after a town called Oja-Odan off Ilaro (The Polytechnic town) in Yewa South Local government of Ogun State. At Oja-Odan, there is a large and very busy market tagged “OJA-ODAN INTERNATIONAL MARKET”. I was surprised at the level and pace of activities in this market but my findings later show that, being very close to the border, the market serves as a transits point for cross-border smugglers who get their stuff into Nigeria after “settling” the Customs officials at thier numerous checkpoints along the roads. .
One major thing that caught my attention at the market as I took a walk through the market was the entrepreneurship of the rural women. Virtually everyone was busy with her “market”: from the ones selling pepper to the plantain sellers and the one waiting for customers to buy her charcoal. I was told that the history of the market dates back to over 100 years. As I was busy observing the market activities and trying to study the mentality of the people there, a fleet of glittering vehicles zoomed pass *viaam..viaaam..viaaaam*..there was a Hummer, one Infinity, a Benz ML450 FORMATIC and others. They were heading towards the event. This scenario reminded me once again of the wide gulf between the rich and the poor in Nigeria. Im mot sure whether the total annual income of all these market women put together could buy a side mirror of one of the ‘jeeps’ that just whizzed pass, yet in their own way, they work as hard as anyone but there is hardly anything to show for it. No thanks to our lopsided social system. It’s a sad irony!

From the market I moved to the venue of the event proper where a large number of guests were already seated under a giant canopy.(while I was doing my ‘market survey’ the event was already underway). Among the guests were high-ranking functionaries of Ogun state government, dignitaries from Lagos, Abuja and other places. It was quite an interesting occasion. Some of those who bagged chieftaincy include Chief (Mrs) Tokunbo Balogun, UNILEVER PLC’s Field Sales Manager, who was honoured with the title “YEYEMESHO OF ISELU KINGDOM”, Chief Olanrewaju Saheed Baba, THE AROLE OF ISELU..and a host of others .
below are some of the pictures from the countryside as recorded by Sola Folowosele

MC OLUOMO AS A STAR ATTRACTION
Of all the guests, the one that caught my attention was this guy called Musiliu Olusanya a.k.a MC OLUOMO. He is the 'Lord Mayor' of all the Motor Parks in ever-busy Oshodi axis of Lagos and he’s also the Treasurer of the Lagos State chapter of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW). The guy drove into the venue in an eye-popping Hummer SUV in company with a large number of hangers-on. He came with his newest wife, Sikiratu Sindodo,(A Yoruba actress)..Most of the village youth were seen posing for pictures with his HUMMER..the guy became stupendously wealthy just collecting motor park fees.na wa o!


the entrance of the market(below)

market women displaying their wares(below)



A Charcoal seller waiting for customer(below)..in Nigeria Charcoal is now more expensive than Kerosine as a result of the upswing in demand for it when kerosine became a scarce commodity
Mrs Balogun receiving her certificate from Kabiyesi(below) Mrs Balogun and her Big sister(below)
Sikiratu Sindodo and her husband, MC OLUOMO(below)
MC OLUOMO's Hummer SUV(below)
the musician, Musiliu Haruna Ishola(below) Princess Adejoke spotting a beautiful hairstyle at the event(below)
another hairstlye..(below)

NOLLYWOOD STARS CONVERGE AT PA RUNSEWE’S BURIAL

It was another gathering of celebrities last Friday (17th Oct, 2008) in Lagos as notable personalities in the Nigerian showbiz industry converged to pay their last respect to the late PA BANKOLE RUNSEWE. Venue was the NPA SPORTS GROUND, off Bode Thomas st, Surulere-Lagos and in attendance were Nollywood divas and blokes like Shan George, Franca Brown, Bimbo Akintola, Ayo Adesanya and her husband, Goriola Hassan, Ace comedian Ali Baba, Bob-Manuel Udokwu, Kanayo O Kanayo, Larry Kold-Sweat and others.


ABOUT THE DECEASED
The late old man, Pa Bankole Runsewe, was a retired civil servant and an accomplished businessman during his life time. He’s the father of OTUNBA SEGUN RUNSEWE, the indefatigable DIRTECTOR-GENERAL of NIGERIA TOURISM DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION (NTDC), Abuja. He died at the age of 80.


WHY THE ARTISTES WERE THERE
It is not everyday you get to see Nigerian artistes attending Owambe parties of this nature but in this particular one, they were there in large numbers. As expected, not a few people were pleasantly surprised. Well, let me quickly tell you that the NTDC, led by Otunba Runsewe recognizes Nollywood as a potentially huge tourist attraction in the country. The Corporation therefore has a working relationship with the movie practitioners. And of course, many of them have benefited generously from the NTDC largesse as a result of this working relationship. This explains their impressive turnout at the event.
Below are the pictures as captured by Sola Folowosele.
Otunba Segun Runsewe and his wife(below)
Larry KoldSweat and Bob-Manuel Udokwu(below)
Ali Baba and Sir Shina Peter(below)
Bisi Olatilo(below)
Femi Adesina(Editor, Sun Newspaper) & Dr. Reuben Abati(Guardian)(below)
Otunba Segun Runsewe(middle) with Isaac& Nneka Moses of Goge Africa(below)
KOK,Nneka, Bimbo, &Franca Brown(below)
Ayo Adesanya and hubby, Gori Hassan(below)

Gbemi, Kemi & Tinuke(below)
Bola Wellinton(below)


NOW, THE GIST

AGE BECKONS ON SHAN GEORGE
Shan George was supposed to be the coordinator-in-chief of her fellow artistes attending the event. She played the role for a while but after welcoming a few artistes she quietly arranged with one of the usherettes to stand-in for her while she took the backside to sneak out to God-knows-where. She didn’t return until the tail end of the event when everything was almost over. Anyway, that is not even the main gist here, what caught my attention was the fact that the beautiful Shan George of old is now aging rapidly. Though she still maintains her smart physique but you could see signs of old age telling easily on her face. I hope all is well with this ‘serial lover’ of Nollywood, because by my reckoning Shan is supposed to be around 40. PIX: Shan George before she disappeared


ALI BABA TURNS PAPARRAZZI
Nigeria’s undisputed king of comedy, Ali Baba, was all over the place with his digital SLR camera snapping anything on sight. The way he operated you would think he’s covering the event for Ovation Magazine. He sat in the midst of other artistes and treated them to several rounds of ‘free’ jokes. After the event, he drove away in his sleek red DODGE RAM 1500SLT Buick. PIX: Ali & his camera, (2) Ali & his ride


BOB-MANUEL UDOKWU, THE MASTER ENTERTAINER
This suave actor is one guy after the heart of many. This is because Bob knows his art! During the party, SIR SHINA PETERS (SSP), the Afro-Juju singer who was performing on stage called Bob-Manuel to the podium to and come sing (probably with the intention of making a joke out of his voice). When Bob got to the rostrum and collected the mic from SSP, he did not only sing well, he actually sang better than SSP the owner, commanding the band just like SSP himself. This attracted a loud round of applause from the crowd. Infact, so good was Bob-Manuel on the mic that he forced SSP to commit another grammatical gaffe as SSP said “Haha! You want to overtake me?” instead of “…overthrow….”. Na wa for SSP oh! 18 years after his first stray bullet “…soonest recovery”. PIX: Bob-Manuel & SSP trading dancing tackles


FRANCA BROWN BATTLES OVERWEIGHT
Believe me, veteran actress Franca Brown is now ‘50cl OROBO’. ( 50cl is the parlance for excess fat in Nigeria, it was adapted from the size of the biggest Pepsi drink which is 50cl a.k.a Orobo). When I saw her at the party, I had to take a second glance to actually ascertain that she’s the one. She’s now robust and fleshy like a typical “Iya Monsura”. I overheard her asking for 'diet coke' from one of the service boys. But in fairness to her, she looks fresher and beautiful. May God answer that her “prayer”. Amen!



AYO ADESANYA, HUBBY FLAUNTS WICKED TATTOO
“I-am-happily-married” actress, Ayo Adesanya-Hassan and funky hubby, Goriola Hassan got quite some attention at the event. This was on account of the wicked tattoos etched on their upper left arms. It read “NO FEAR”, whatever that means?
The couple displayed so much affection openly like a newly-wed that on-lookers couldnt help but marvel. But I just hope it’s not fake. PIX: husband and wife flaunting their tattoos


ON BIMBO AKINTOLA’S SMOKING HABIT
The cigarette-smoking habit of this talented actress Bimbo Akintola is now assuming an alarming proportion and I think the babe needs urgent help. During the party, Bimbo sneaked out to the car-park to smoke Benson & Hedges inside Ali Baba’s car (Ali gave her his keys). I saw her with my ‘korokoro’ eyes. This is inspite of the Health Ministries' warning that “SMOKERS WILL DIE YOUNG”. I even heard that Bimbo smokes the “elder brother” of cigarette. When it was time for her to leave, she left in a rickety yellow taxi negotiated for her by her PA and hordes of areaboys who trailed her from the party gate to the main road on Bode Thomas st. Na wa for Bimbo. PIX: (above-up)Bimbo at the party,(above-down),Bimbo(see red arrow) being escorted to the yellow Taxi by area boys


K.O.K, WHICH ‘HOLY GHOST’ WAS THAT?
The man who died was a Yorubaman and the gathering was predominantly Yoruba as expected. Though there was also the presence of a few Igbo group led by Igwe(Dr) Martin Ezeh, The Idu 2 of Igbo-Ukwu, Anambra state. When all Nollywood stars were invited to the rostrum for recognition by Bisi Olatilo the anchorman, Kanayo O Kanayo was given the mic to speak on their behalf after Larry Koldsweat had spoken. To the surprise of many, KOK made his speech in Igbo, claiming that the ‘Holy Ghost’ instructed him to speak Igbo. I was surprised but when I took a look at the table where KOK stood up from, I saw 31/2 bottles of Gulder and a half-empty bottle of Moet. I now perceived that it must have been ‘Gulder Ghost’ that actually instructed him.