Photo - Cynthia Morgan busted!

Cynthia has always been denying this bleaching allegations, well someone posted this picture.
Choi!!!

Good Heart - Airport Cleaner who returned lost N12m

It started with galore of scoldings for Miss Josephine Agwu, a mere airport cleaner who found forgotten $28,000 and other foreign currencies totaling about N12m and refunded it to the owner.

Somecalled her dumb-ass, others referred to her as silly, especially as
the owner of the money showed how not to appreciate goodness.

She became a subject of mockery, both for people present at the airport who heard of it, and notably on some social media platforms. But Miss Agwu held herself with satisfaction that she did the right thing. Now, her saintly gesture is being appreciated.

Recognition and appreciation Lagos State House of Assembly, last Monday, concluded plans to invite and honour her. And her employers have increased her salary from a paltry N7,800 to N15,000 per month.

And in her words, “FAAN (Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria) said that they are going to give me automatic employment, but I have not heard from them till now.”

And she added: “On the part of my management, they are happy, all my supervisors. In short, they are doing good things for me. Now, they carry me like egg, even my MD.”

Miss Agwu, a cleaner with Patovilki, a concessionaire handling the cleaning of the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja Lagos, found the N12m while cleaning a toilet near the screening point of the departure area of the airport, and took it to the security post.

The owner later came and the security returned the money to the
owner and disclosed how Miss Agwu found the money and brought it to them. After counting the money and it was complete the owner simply looked at Agwu and walked away.

This was the third time she was returning lost bags containing huge sums of money.

For a cleaner who earns N7,800 monthly for a 12-hour day job, her
act of integrity shocked many. The Lagos State House of Assembly
which just returned from recess has requested the Clerk of the House, Mr Segun Abiru, to invite Miss Agwu to the House. Deputy Whip of the House, Honourable Abiru Rotimi Abiru, had under Matter of Urgent Public Importance, raised the issue which happened on January 23, 2015, calling the attention of his colleagues to the fact that Miss Agwu was returning lost money for the third time.

Company policy
The management of Patovilki, Miss Ugwu’s employers, played a major role in influencing her action. The company has an in-house policy to guide every of their employee working at the airport.

In an interview with Saturday Vanguard, Mrs. Eunice Anumudu, Manager, Airport Zone, said: “Since the incident, people have been reacting to it and they have been praising her for what she has done, and that she did well and several people have been calling her.”

According to Mrs. Anumudu, “My own impression as a manager is
that she did well because that is what we told them at the initial time that she was searching for the job.

We told her that as you are looking for this job, the salary is too small. Can you do the work?
She said ‘yes’, so we told her that anywhere we put you, you have to behave well because this is an airport. We have many ogas here,
you don’t know who is who. If they ask you question that you cannot
answer, you look for the supervisor or the manager to answer the
question.”

Mrs. Anumudu continued: “Wherever we post you and anything that you see there, don’t take it home. Take it to the security because that thing does not belong to us. It is the passenger that has it. You know, some of the passengers, when they travel, some of them will leave their bags and sometimes phones in the toilet.

“So, we told them to behave well, respect everybody. Since this incident happened, she has not been promoted to a supervisor or other higher position, but we contacted our Managing Director and what she did was to increase her salary. The MD was happy about what Miss Josphine Ugwu. She has agreed to increase her salary from N7,800 to N15,000.”

Certainly, not every of the employee so briefed would have returned the money, which also portrays Miss Ugwu as an exceptional person.

Sense of fulfillment
Speaking also with Saturday Vanguard, the beautiful lady, Josephine Ugwu, who has been catapulted to limelight, relived the experience that day: “I am from Enugu State, from Obonkpa in Nsukka Local Government. I live at Agbotukunyo in Agege. The incident happened on the 23rd of January 2015. I was on morning duty. So as I was sweeping around 6:30pm, I saw the bag on the ground and there
were some passengers there so I thought that the bag could belong
to one of them. But as I closed at 7:20pm, the person to relieve me
on duty came that time.”

“I was going to the toilet again, I saw the same bag there. Then I told the passengers sitting there that they should be mindful of the bag because once they announce the flight they may forget it. They
replied that the bag did not belong to them. Three of the passengers
left, so I then picked the bag and took it to the FAAN security people. At first, they put the bag on the screening machine, before they opened the bag and discovered that there were many envelops in the bag containing money in different currencies including dollars.”

“As they were counting it, I saw an NDLEA woman accompanied by one man and both of them were coming towards us. They said that the man could be the owner of the bag. So when they came in, they interviewed the man and the man mentioned the amount of money and the colour of the bag. Before then, they had counted the money and it was exactly the amount that the man said.”

“Then they carried the money and gave to the man for him to count. After counting, they asked him if the money was complete, he said yes and they snapped him picture. They asked him again about three times and they told the man that, ‘look at the woman that picked your bag’, and the man was looking at me. His name is Mr. Obinna Samuel. They told him that he should thank his God that if it were another person, that person would have run away with the bag but this woman didn’t do that. So I left and the man took the money and put inside the bag and went away.”

“Then FAAN security personnel called me back, and they took my
number On-Duty-Card (ODC) and my name. That was how it happened. People are praising me, FAAN said that they are going to give me automatic employment but I have not heard from them till now.”
Miss Ugwu is aware of how she is being viewed by some Nigerians.

She was reported to have advised: “People should appreciate  what
they have. People do a lot of bad things because they are not happy
with what they have. With the little I earn, I try to manage it well. If I
can’t manage that small money that I earn, even if I begin to earn N1 million, I will still not know how to manage it.

“So, I am telling every Nigerian to be happy in any situation they find themselves. Don’t be faster than your shadow because so many things will go wrong. Sometimes things get bad because people want to be like others. All fingers are not equal. It is true that God promised those who serve him riches, but people should be careful how they go about it. I am telling people to have patience. It is
because people want quick money that is why some people become
thieves.

She concludes: “On the part of my management, in fact they are happy, all my supervisors. In short they are doing good things for me, even they are carrying me like egg, even my MD. They have added money to my salary. In short, my manager, Madam Eunice has been doing many things for me since the incident, praising me.

She said that she knows that she can trust me, and that I cannot see anything that does not belong to me and I take it away.”

Source - Olufamous

Community where Umbrella is forbidden

Iwoye-ketu is a border community in Ogun State. As a custom, it is a taboo for residents to use umbrella or rear pigs. GBENRO ADEOYE, who visited the community, reports on the agelong tradition.

It’s the start of another rainy season, a time when people sometimes walk in hurried steps with umbrellas in hand to ward off the rain.

But in Iwoye-ketu, a border community in Imeko/Afon Local
Government Area of Ogun State, residents would rather get wet than
do that. The use of umbrella is a taboo in the community.

The custom dates back hundreds of years, estimated to go as far back as 1705 when its first settlers discovered the land. Since then,
the legend has been passed down from generation to generation.

Although, its essence has been lost on some of the community’s younger generation, they dare not break the tradition up till the present day.

Split between Nigeria and Benin Republic, Iwoye-ketu is about 98km
away from Abeokuta, Ogun State capital and bordered by Iwajowa
Local Government Area in Oyo State to the north and the Francophone country to the west.

One of the closest towns to the community is Imeko Afon, about
17km away. A bumpy motorcycle ride, which is the popular means
of transportation on the dusty Imeko-Iwoye Road, takes about 30
minutes to get to Iwoye-ketu.

With an official figure from the 2006 census putting the population of Iwoye-ketu at 25,000, the present population of the community is
estimated to have grown to between 50,000 and 75,000.

‘No use of umbrella here’
Legend has it that one of the first settlers of the community, Olumu who was said to have been a powerful man from Ile-Ife in Osun
State brought three items along with him to Iwoye-ketu: a crown; a staff called Opa Ogbo; and his deity called Orisa Oluwa.

The shorter version of the legend is that it is Orisa Oluwa that forbids the use of umbrella in Iwoye-ketu and Wasinmi, a relatively smaller community under its control up till the present day.

In addition, the deity is also said to forbid the rearing of pigs in the
communities. Our correspondent did not sight a pig or anyone using an umbrella during his visit to the community.

But interestingly, there are no known consequences for people who defy the custom. However, that has not affected the strong level of compliance with the rules by the residents.

“It’s the Orisa that doesn’t want umbrella to be used here. It also
detests pigs because they are dirty. We have abided by the rules because we (residents) know the custom.

Children are told about the custom and when strangers come in, we also let them know they cannot use umbrella or rear pigs here,” said the Ooye of Iwoye-ketu (community’s king), Joel Aremu.

He described the use of umbrella within the community as an affront to the deity as he told the story of how the community’s legendary early settler divided the Ogun River with his staff, similar to the Bible’s account of how Moses parted the Red Sea to rescue thousands of Jews from slavery and oppression in Egypt, famously known today as The Exodus.

“Our residents can use umbrella outside the community; it’s in the
community that it’s forbidden. We inherited the tradition from our
forefathers and we have guided it since then because we respect our
culture. Thankfully, no one defies the rule,” the Ooye of Iwoye-ketu said.

“When strangers come into the community and use their umbrellas,
we don’t harass them, we only tell them it’s against our tradition and they always abide by it. Nothing bad will happen if someone uses the umbrella but it’s our tradition and we want to keep it that way.”

Saturday PUNCH observed that many residents of the community, including Aremu, own umbrellas which they use outside the community.

“I have an umbrella in my car and I use it outside the community,”Aremu confirmed to our correspondent.

However, there is a longer version of the story as told by elders of the community.

One of them, Mr. Jonathan Idowu, 75, said the story began with the earliest hunters of the community. Idowu’s late father was one of the community’s most celebrated hunters.

He said, “In those days, our forefathers used to hunt elephants in
the forests. Since elephants have big ears that are wide like an umbrella, they felt threatened by the sight of umbrellas anytime they saw hunters with them.

“Most times, the elephants would chase after them. In spite of their size, elephants are fast animals. When an elephant is running, you
will only see the dust rising after it because it’s so fast.

“As a result, there were many vicious attacks by elephants on the hunters. And since it was the tradition of hunters to consult with Orisa Oluwa before setting out, later, the deity warned them against the use of umbrellas.

“We (residents) obeyed whatever Orisa Oluwa told us to do. If it told
the hunters not to go out and that they would be killed in the forest if they did, they would stay at home. Orisa Oluwa was also consulted in the wartime. So when it forbade the use of umbrellas, we obeyed and have obeyed since then.”

Idowu also told of how attires like gowns worn by masquerades equally elicited violent reactions from elephants back in the day.

“An elephant, with its size, appears like an object wearing a cloak so it could also be threatened by anyone who appeared like a masquerade,” he said.

Meanwhile in the absence of umbrellas, residents are accustomed to the use of polythene, clothes,hoods, rain coats, boots and
traditional woven hats (akete), depending on their suitability to the
sun or rain.

For instance, a 40-year-old trader in the community, Mrs. Modinat Adepoju, said she has grown to rely on other things in place of an umbrella.

Adepoju, whose last child is still a toddler, said anytime it rained or the sun became too hot while she was out with her baby on her back, she would spread a piece of cloth or polythene over her as protection against the harsh weather element.

“The taboo is not strange to us since we grew up with it. Sometimes I wear akete and give to my child that is older to wear too. And when I go outside the community, I use umbrella. I have one at home,” she told our correspondent.

A community split between two countries
Iwoye-ketu is a multi-cultural community with its over eight ethnic
groups which include Yoruba, Hausa, Fulani, Igbo, Egun, Ohoi and Igede.

A concrete pillar within the community separates the section under the Nigerian territory from the part that falls under Benin Republic,
although residents see themselves as one since both fall under the
authority of the same monarch- Ooye of Iwoye-ketu.

Saturday PUNCH learnt that the boundary dividing the community
along international lines had been demarcated since the colonial era
but with little regard for its sanctity in the early post colonial period.

Following the indiscriminate construction that sprang up all around the border line, a former Minister of Works and Housing, the late Gen. Abdulkareem Adisa (retd.) under the military regime of General
Sani Abacha, redefined the border and demolished some illegal structures in the community.

But at the Benin Republic end of the community, also called ‘French’ by residents, the taboo is also strongly respected.

A gendarme at a police post belonging to Benin Republic, Tonasse Germain, who spoke to our correspondent through a translator,
confirmed that the French speaking section of the community also complies with the age long tradition.

He said residents have learnt to read weather signs and work with them.

“We don’t have any problem with the tradition since Iwoye is one and we’re under one king. We watch the weather, when it looks like it would rain, I will stay indoors if I don’t want to get wet. And if it’s important, I can hold a polythene over my head.

Some people wear raincoats and the like,” he said.

Iwoye-ketu is also one of four locations in Ogun State where
agricultural students of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta go annually for their Farm Practical Year, the equivalent of industrial training undertaken by students offering non-agriculture related courses.

New students are posted to the school’s Iwoye-ketu farm every
session, where they are required to stay for a minimum of seven months.
Our correspondent learnt that 350 students from the school were currently undergoing the training in the school farm located in
Iwoye-ketu.

Some of them could not understand the reason behind the taboo and why they should be affected. They described the taboo as strange and wondered how the residents of the community had managed to cope with it for a long time.

“I feel sorry for them still. The people of the community are still tied to an old tradition that has nothing to do with this age. I think they are only punishing themselves but who are we to complain since we’re only here for a while?” One of them who did not want his name published told our correspondent.

There are also pockets of youths in the community who suffer in silence but have been afraid to speak against the tradition for fear of castigation by the elders.

Some of them argued that Orisa Oluwa has lost its relevance in a
modern age that has opened their eyes to other religions like Christianity and Islam.

“Nobody goes there to worship again like before,” a teenager who identified himself as Dayo said.

Findings by Saturday PUNCH indeed showed that only some elders of the community still visit the shrine of Orisa Oluwa to perform the required annual rites done in August or November of every year.

The rites involve pouring water fetched with only gourds and calabashes on the deity. No plastic buckets or alcoholic drinks are
allowed near it and only some specific persons are allowed to move
closer than 10 metres to the shrine.

Therefore, most residents of the community don’t know what the deity looks like. In the absence of Mr. Ogundele, who tends to the shrine, our correspondent learnt from someone in his household that the deity lives in a calabash.

Our correspondent’s visit to the shrine showed a pavement amidst a
bushy area.

The residents described it as the start of an ongoing renovation
exercise at the shrine.

Reacting to the critics of the deity, Idowu criticised them for questioning its potency, describing Orisa Oluwa as deserving of reverence by the young and the old. He recalled that in his younger days, no one dared cast aspersions on Orisa Oluwa’s potency.

“When we were young, if it did not rain in the community for long, the community would fetch water and pour on Orisa Oluwa. A heavy rain would fall within an hour of performing the rite,” he recalled.

“Some of us who did not leave the shrine immediately would be drenched in the rain on our way home. That was the power of Orisa
Oluwa.”

Party politics
Incidentally, umbrella is the logo of the Peoples Democratic Party, the ruling party in Nigeria. And trust politicians from the opposition parties, they would not miss an opportunity to use the taboo to their
benefit during political campaigns.

Apart from the fact that PDP members cannot put up umbrellas
during campaigns in the community, members of the other parties also make it a point of duty to remind residents that the deity of the land forbade the use of umbrellas.

“We tell people not to accept the party with the umbrella logo because our deity forbids the use of umbrellas. Of course, they are political statements and some residents know that but we might be
able to win a few sentimental people to our side through that,” the youth leader of the All Progressives Congress in Iwoye-Jabata ward, Mr. Idowu Odekunle, told our correspondent.

Mr. Peter Bamgbowu, PDP Secretary, Iwoye-Jabata ward, who confirmed the situation said as a result, his party members sometimes have to explain to residents that his party was not after destroying the tradition of the community.

“During campaigns, some people will say ‘go away, we don’t use umbrella here.’ We explain to them that it’s only a logo and that it doesn’t mean we want to use umbrellas in the community,” he said.

Taboo on pig rearing
Known as a nomadic tribe, a large Fulani population in Iwoye-ketu
makes the community a destination for lovers of beef. Even though, pork is eaten by some of the residents of the community, it is a taboo to rear them.

Legend has it that a bad omen awaits any pig that strays near Orisa
Oluwa shrine.

“Because Orisa Oluwa does not like pigs, any pig that goes too close to its shrine will die mysteriously. So it became a taboo for anyone to rear pigs in the community,” Idowu said.

However, findings showed that some residents living on the outskirts of the community rear pigs successfully.

Lately, the agrarian community’s role as host to FUNAAB threw open new questions about the taboo on the rearing of pigs. Recently, the school has been given permission to rear pigs on its farm and the concession has been based on an argument that the farm is located on the outskirts of the community.

Source - Punchng

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