Below The Headlines - 82
Can a kidnapper become an economist? The answer is yes and Jewish-Nigerians exist
Another week, another selection of Nigerian stories for you below. Enjoy them!
Inside Nigeria
Poultry farmers are always complaining in Nigeria and to be fair it is an incredibly tough business. This time their particular complaint is hardly new but worth noting:
Augustine, whose poultry farm is located off Old Ahor Road, Benin City, said one of the challenges facing the business is pilfering by farm workers.
“Our farm attendants steal our eggs and birds because they are always in the farm taking care of them. And this is really affecting our production.
“We also have the challenge of access to finance; the government may vote billions of naira for agriculture but it will not get to the real grassroots farmer,” he lamented.
Accessing loans from both commercial and microfinance banks is a herculean task for us due to the high interest rate and stringent collateral demanded.
“The last time we applied to the Bank of Agriculture to access N10 million for 10 persons in our group, eight months have gone by, the loan has been approved, but the money has not been released to us and we don’t have money to boost our farming,” he revealed.
Remember the billionaire kidnapper Evans? Let’s catch up on what he’s up to in prison these days:
Convicted billionaire kidnap kingpin, Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike, alias Evans, has told the Lagos State High Court, sitting at the Tafawa Balewa Square, that he is now a teacher at the correctional centre in Kirikiri after obtaining a teaching diploma in economics from the Yewa College of Education, and is no longer a criminal.
Evans said he was prepared to surrender all his property, as part of a plea bargain agreement, should the court consider his application on compassionate grounds.
This was contained in his application for a plea bargain.
He pledged to forfeit his 14 brand new trucks to the Lagos State Government for sale, with the proceeds to be transferred to the victims of his criminal activities, as part of the proposed plea bargain arrangement.
This is the second time Evans has approached a court seeking a plea bargain for his involvement in the kidnapping.
On January 30, 2025, Evans approached Justice Adenike Coker of the Ikeja High Court to ask for a plea bargain.
Evans had five criminal cases across various high courts in Lagos State. Two of these have already resulted in convictions, one of which carries a life sentence, while the other has a 14-year prison term.
News from Bauchi:
Rabi Umar, the chief judge of Bauchi state, has expressed concern over an uptick in the number of cases bordering on witchcraft.
Speaking during a review of awaiting trial cases at the Jama’are Maximum Correctional Centre in Bauchi, the chief judge described the concept of witchcraft as a challenge to legal jurisprudence.
“If you are not a witch, you cannot know who is a witch. It is an issue that could hardly be established unless the witch confesses to be one,” she said.
Update on the state of inter-state transport:
There are indications that kidnapping will increase as inter-state transport companies, which are now faced with low passenger patronage, adopt the ‘sole’ method to cover the cost of operations.
‘Soole’ is a slang in the Yoruba language that describes a routine where commercial bus drivers pick up passengers along the roadsides, instead of loading from the parks.
Despite the reduction in petrol prices, inter-state transport companies have continued to inflate travel fares, forcing passengers to shy away from the parks and embrace the roadsides, where they can get fairer bargains.
Also, many Nigerians are ignoring travelling inter-state, except the journey is of significant importance.
Economy&Lifestyle discovered that due to low patronage, the first buses of some transport companies leave their stations as late as 11 pm, with fewer passengers.
To fill up the remaining seats, drivers pick up commuters travelling short destinations, with the ticket passengers, whose journeys end at the terminal, to make up the cost of running expenses.
Mr. Ehis Oleighe, an interstate bus driver, said: “Loading an 18-seat bus is not easy nowadays.
“We spend hours at the bus park hustling for passengers.“Most times, we have just eight. When we are lucky we have 12 passengers for the first bus.
“These passengers prefer cars like Sienna, which quickly get filled up.“The bus driver is given little money to sort expenses like fuel.
“The driver has no choice but to pick up passengers along the road to meet up with the cost of expenses.”
Mr Segun Momoh, a Park Manager, said: “The cost of maintaining these vehicles, cost of renting this company’s space, paying staff, among other things is not helping matters at all.
“You know what the cost of a tyre is in the market now.“So you don’t blame the drivers because they are given less amount for expenses when the passengers are not complete.
“That’s why they are adopting the‘soole?’method.”
Well, look at what we have here:
The Isese Human Rights Community (ISHRIC) has decried the alarming rise in ritual killings allegedly perpetrated by some Islamic scholars in Yorubaland.
In a statement released yesterday, the group expressed concern over recent incidents involving Islamic clerics caught with human parts, describing these acts as a threat to public safety, particularly for young women and youths.
Citing multiple cases, ISHRIC highlighted the conviction of two clerics, Folorunsho Abdulwahab and his father, Babatunde Folorunso, in Kwara State. The duo was found guilty of exhuming and mutilating the body of Abdulwahab’s friend, Mallam Suleiman Saka, for ritual purposes.
Similarly, the group referenced the arrest of an Islamic cleric, Oluwafemi Idris, in Ondo State for possessing fresh human parts, including kidneys, hearts, and a tongue. Another cleric in Ibadan was also apprehended with a human head and hands intended for rituals.
In another instance, Alfa Ahmed Giga was detained in Apete, Ibadan, for allegedly trading in human parts, a crime linked to the killing of two young girls. Meanwhile, residents of Adamo, Ikorodu, intercepted an Islamic scholar, Babalola, found with a human skull in January 2024.
ISHRIC also recounted the arrest of three clerics in Oyo State—Taofeeq Kabelohun, Rahmon Muibi (known as Alubarika), and another individual—who were caught with human remains in their vehicle. Blood leaking from their car boot had led to their capture.
The most recent case involved Sheikh Abdul-Rahamon Muhammad Bello, accused of murdering a 300-level student from the Kwara State College of Education in Ilorin. The group condemned this act as a stark reminder of the dangers posed by such perpetrators.
Outside Nigeria
Really nice 20min video from Asianometry on the unlikely origins of Indomie noodles and how it became so popular in Nigeria:
Another fine dining Nigerian experience - Shakara - to add to London’s growing list:
Twelve months ago, London’s Akoko and Chishuru joined the handful of West African restaurants worldwide to be awarded a Michelin star; now Akoko’s former executive chef, Ayo Adeyemi, is consulting on the menus of this glossy Marylebone newcomer, where day-to-day cooking duties fall to head chef Victor Okunowo.
Architects Red Deer are behind some of London’s more distinctive restaurant interiors, from Lina Stores to St John Marylebone. Here they have taken inspiration from the red soil of Nigeria in earthy-coloured terracotta tiles, though there are allusions to African culture wherever one looks, from the talking drum graphics stamped into wax that pay homage to the hourglass-shaped instrument that imitates the rhythm of human speech, to the art on the walls supplied by the Red Door Gallery in Lagos. The contemporary African connections don’t end there: resident DJs spin Afrohouse and Afrobeats until midnight.
Okunowo was a semi-finalist on MasterChef: The Professionals in 2020 before becoming head chef of Talking Drum on Old Kent Road, a Nigerian restaurant that served as a blueprint for the current crop of cool West African dining rooms. The chef is taking inspiration from Ghana and The Gambia as well as Nigeria, though British ingredients are just as important: dry-aged Hereford beef comes spiced with Nigerian yaji and uda, while native blue lobster sits in a bisque of pepper soup. There’s more conventional comfort to be had in sides of jollof rice and yam chips, plus plantain bread with vanilla ice cream and corn custard for pudding.
The last thing Nigeria needs is an opioid crisis but what happens when there is money to be made from such a crisis?
An Indian pharmaceutical company is manufacturing unlicensed, highly addictive opioids and exporting them illegally to West Africa where they are driving a major public health crisis in countries including Ghana, Nigeria, and Cote D'Ivoire, a BBC Eye investigation has revealed.
Aveo Pharmaceuticals, based in Mumbai, makes a range of pills that go under different brand names and are packaged to look like legitimate medicines. But all contain the same harmful mix of ingredients: tapentadol, a powerful opioid, and carisoprodol, a muscle relaxant so addictive it's banned in Europe.
This combination of drugs is not licensed for use anywhere in the world and can cause breathing difficulties and seizures. An overdose can kill. Despite the risks, these opioids are popular as street drugs in many West African countries, because they are so cheap and widely available.
The BBC World Service found packets of them, branded with the Aveo logo, for sale on the streets of Ghanaian, Nigerian, and Ivoirian towns and cities.
Having traced the drugs back to Aveo's factory in India, the BBC sent an undercover operative inside the factory, posing as an African businessman looking to supply opioids to Nigeria. Using a hidden camera, the BBC filmed one of Aveo's directors, Vinod Sharma, showing off the same dangerous products the BBC found for sale across West Africa.
In the secretly recorded footage, the operative tells Sharma that his plan is to sell the pills to teenagers in Nigeria "who all love this product". Sharma doesn't flinch. "OK," he replies, before explaining that if users take two or three pills at once, they can "relax" and agrees they can get "high". Towards the end of the meeting, Sharma says: "This is very harmful for the health," adding "nowadays, this is business."
Have you heard of Hertunba? No? Welcome:
Nigerian designer Florentina Agu is instinctively curious. But she just doesn’t want to find answers to things, she wants the story behind them and their cultural essence too. It’s been the core of her creativity as a designer. During the pandemic, she asked herself: “Can fashion be playful, and sustainable while filling the gap it was expected to?” While the response didn’t come immediately to her, she decided to take on the mission by kickstarting her fashion label Hertunba which has now grown in five years to become a well-known brand in the Nigerian fashion ecosystem. The brand has also managed to capture the attention of celebrities including Meagan Good and Jackie Aina.
From an early age, Agu had an interest in fashion. Her earliest memory, she says, was filled with revamping her parent’s clothes. She would make her way into her father’s closet and take pieces of his old clothes which she would tear and turn into dresses. “I grew up in a home where maybe I might get a Christmas dress, but there was no shopping,” she tells ESSENCE.com. “There was no shopping for clothes. So that pushed me into having to be creative at an early [age] because when people give you clothes, it might not be exactly what you like. You have to make it into what you like.” The designer’s mother also played a role in legitimizing her future dreams. Agu details that when she was 10, her mother told her of a dream where she saw her as a famous designer, exhibiting her collection in Paris, and how there had been a standing ovation because she made a design that set the standard.
In an article about the underrated problem of oxygen scarcity for medical use, we see this:
One country that has made substantial investment in improving oxygen access is Nigeria, which had taken steps in that direction even before Covid.
Nigeria has set up about 20 cost-effective plants for generating oxygen on-site for hospitals, and is exploring liquid oxygen plants that can supply large swaths of urban areas, said Dr. Muhammad Ali Pate, the country’s minister of health and social welfare.
Many hospitals do not have systems that can deliver oxygen reliably, “so that is sort of a design and a legacy issue that we have to deal with,” he said. “There’s more that needs to be done.”
The Economist has a series of articles on young Africans. From one of them:
She is training to be a seamstress four days a week and works as a cook on two other days. In between, Grace Garus Dalop finds time to peddle wigs. Along with tips and financial help from neighbours and acquaintances, that is just enough for the 26-year-old to rent a room in Lagos, the commercial capital of Nigeria. “Everybody wants to leave Nigeria,” says Ms Dalop, “because you work every day of your life and you don’t see the money you’re working for!” She blames her plight on the president, for whom she prays, though she did not vote for him. Deep down, she thinks it may be time for the army to intervene.
[…]
Yet for all their piety, few are relying on the power of prayer alone to improve their lot. Those who can, look abroad for the opportunities that elude them at home. Half of those polled for the Africa Youth Survey plan to move away in the next five years. Fewer than half of school leavers want to stay on the continent, according to a survey by the African Leadership University in Rwanda. Some 37% want to move to America. A quarter hope to reach Europe. For Ms Dalop, the seamstress in Lagos, “anywhere asides Nigeria” will do.
Duty demands that we cover this story even though I have no idea what it’s really about:
Porsha Williams’ estranged husband, Simon Guobadia, has been detained by ICE, Us Weekly can confirm.
Guobadia, who was born in Nigeria, is currently being held at Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia, according to U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s records, obtained by Us on Friday, February 21.
His status is listed as “in ICE custody,” meaning he is being held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. (The detainment comes amid President Donald Trump’s mass deportation plan, which he signed into effect earlier this year after taking the Oval Office. Under the order, illegal immigrants could be deported back to their home countries.)
Guobadia, 60, came from Nigeria to the United States in 1982 and allegedly overstayed his visa and was declared deportable in 1985, according to Atlanta’s WSB-TV 2. Guobadia returned to America in 1986 and once again overstayed his work visa.
He was arrested in 1987 and pleaded guilty to bank and credit card fraud. Guobadia was later arrested two more times and deported back to Nigeria in 1992.
Update on that very tragic story from late 2023:
Two police officers are facing a gross incompetence probe for allowing a woman to get beaten to death by her abusive husband while they dithered on whether to intervene.
'Ruthless' Olubunmi Abodunde strangled his wife before using his son's skateboard to cave in her skull, repeatedly hitting her during a frenzied attack in November 2023.
Two officers - one on probation and a PC - remained outside the home while the jealous wife beater launched his cold-blooded onslaught against Taiwo Abodunde.
The pair of cops had been discussing with their supervisor, an acting police sergeant, whether they had the grounds to storm the property after hearing the 'disturbance'.
The pair of Suffolk Constabulary officers finally entered the home after 35 minutes where they found Mrs Abodunde, 41, dead at the scene 'with her skull smashed in'.
Now, the PC and the acting sergeant are facing a 'gross incompetence meeting' for the handling of the incident, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said.
The probationary officer involved in the tragedy has since resigned from the force and will face no disciplinary action, the watchdog added.
Mrs Abodunde's murder took place on November 28, 2023, at her home in Newmarket, Suffolk.
Yonatan Darlington voluntarily became a Jew:
Darlington grew up in Nigeria in a Christian family that had no contact with Jews. However, he felt a pull to become Jewish after reading the entire Torah several times.
“I felt so at peace with it. I absolutely was in love with it, and I wanted to be Jewish, even though I had no Jewish influences whatsoever. I didn’t know you had to go through conversion,” he relates.
A journey to science
The fifth of six siblings, Darlington was just a teenager when his father passed away. In time, most of the family moved to the United Kingdom. He followed them in 2010 and earned an MA in drug design and discovery at the University of the West of Scotland. After taking a year off to work and travel around Europe, he pursued a PhD in synthetic chemistry at the University of Bath.
Collaborating with colleagues across the UK, Darlington focused on the design and synthesis of novel compounds as potential treatments for glioblastoma, an aggressive brain tumor. “My love for scientific research grew exponentially. I was fascinated by mechanisms of reactions, processes, and life itself,” he says.
DURING HIS time in Bath, he decided to convert to Judaism. He began attending a synagogue in Bristol and became friends with the local United Synagogue chaplain, Rabbi Alex Tsykin, and the local Chabad rabbi, Mendy Singer. He once helped Rabbi Singer build a sukkah on the University of Bath campus, proudly wearing a kippah.
“I would attend Shabbat meals with Rabbi Tsykin and his wife, Ahuva. They always hosted lots of other students. He saw my commitment, and he wrote me a letter of recommendation to the London Beit Din,” he recounts.
He met with a dayan (rabbinic judge), who asked Darlington to come back after a further period of reflection. After that, his next prescribed step was to join a Jewish community. Until he completed his studies at Bath, he studied with a Beit Din-recommended tutor in London, Rabbi Mark Kampf.
Edward Odim is a rather interesting chap:
‘Listening to my own story like this, I think it sounds rather boring.” Having just heard the tale of a working-class Nigerian-Irish Londoner who trained as a barrister, became a BBC journalist, quit his job then failed as a restaurateur before accidentally becoming a successful whisky entrepreneur — speaking to me from his company’s Victorian mansion, no less — I would have to disagree.
Born in London in 1959, Edward Odim would eventually set up the whisky broker Aceo, take over the whisky bottler Murray McDavid and even resurrect a long-closed distillery. Yet 25 years ago, before he knew a drop about the stuff, Odim was grappling with what seemed like the disastrous decision to leave the BBC and play entrepreneur.
He was six when his dad died, after which he was sent to boarding school in Hertfordshire. It was in this rural setting that he “got the bug for wildlife” and developed a habit for nursing injured animals back to health. “A psychiatrist would say I ‘found refuge’ in my relationship with waifs and strays from the animal world,” he says.
[…]
Odim lacked any sort of whisky knowledge, but threw himself into the new work, buying large numbers of casks that he couldn’t afford and breaking his back to make sure they got sold. Before he knew it, Aceo was turning over £6 million a year (now close to £12 million, Odim says) — though the stress and strain led to him and Paula parting ways in 2007.