General

By Augustine Togonu-Bickersteth

Its a pity Michael Jackson died of a Heart attack. The Worlds Dean of Heart Surgeons is his Name sake Dr. Michael DeBakey.

Perhaps there is an element of truth as to what has been said of the name Michael.
Italian-American Nuclear Physicist Enrico Fermi was born on saint Michaels day (September 29) 1901. He is credited with wiining the Second World War for the U.S. President Harry.S.Truman.
There was Michel Hollard a French spy who saved Britain from 50,000 flying bombs as developed by Hitlers Scientists durin the Second World War.

By the Christian Tradition Saint Michael is Gods Minister of Defence. The First of the Arch Angels.So if you are in the Defence sector or you are Number 1 in your field , you are a real Michael

I have seen a Michael Jackson Visual that potrays him as a General and the truth is there is a General Michael Jackson former head of the British Army.
The United staes is refered to as GOds own country. and in Gods own country we have General Michael Mullen as Chaiman Joint Chief of Staff,the worlds most powerful soldier; military Adviser to Barack Obama.

Coming home to Nigeria we have Rear Admiral Michael Akhigbe born September 29(Saint michaels Day) 1946 just like General Mullen and like Mullen was Chief of Naval Staff. Akhigbe has been described as an encyclopaedia of Weapons Systems.He describes the Navy as the Cornerstone of Nigerias Defence policy.

Human Rights

Human rights Activist and Lawyer Mike Ozhekome has said no War has ever bee won by the AIr force. He informs that Wole Soyinka and Saka Tinubu in Exile during the NADECO struggle belong to the Air force and that , he having been in and out of detention he is to be regarded as one of the ground troops.

Christianity

Michael Okonkwo was President of the Pentesostal felowship of Nigeria(PFN) a real Michael
Brigadier Michael Ngerika srves as Chaplain Nigerian Armed forces.

Politics

Michael Koleosho Chairman Alliance for Democracy

Michelle is the Feminine form of Michael and so Michelle Obama who now steps into the limelight has chosen an appropriate title and this is "MUM-IN-Chief" the commander of the Mummy forces.As FIRST lady she is a real Michelle remember Saint Michael is the FIRST of Arch Angels.Michelle is such an Angel!

Kings and King makers
Michael Jackson has been described as the KING of Pop,and the Nigerian Industrialist MIcheal Tunde Ponle has been described as the Cable King of Nigeria. He manufactures wire and Cable.We have had Michael Afolabi politician and King Maker.There has also been Michael Ajasin NADECO number 1 fighting for Democracy in Nigeria

Further more Mike Awoyinfa is the Editor of the SUN Newspaper described as the KING of TABLOIDS

Labour

Michael Imoudu described as Labour Leader Number one.

WAR is SPORTS and SPORTS is WAR
We have had sporting heroes like Mike Spinks world heavy weight Boxing Champion,Mike Tyson,World heavy weight Boxing Champion,Micheal Jordan, basketball Champion,Michael Platini Soccer Champion,Michael Owen ,Soccer Champion,Athletics Champion, Michael johnson World ,wrestling Champion Michael Okpalla also know as Power Mike.

War against Poverty

Certain otherNigerians have been engaged in the War agaisnt poverty like Michael Ibru,patriach of the Ibru Family, Michael Omolayole FIRST CEO of a Multinational Michael Subomi Balogun fonuder of the first wholly indigenous Merchant Bank,,Mike Adenuga, Telecommunications KING and Owner of the Firt indigenous company to strike oil in Nigeria, contractor to the Nigerian DEFENCE academy and a Pillar of sports,This makes him a rea Michael.He also donated 15 million Naira to late broadcaster Yinka craig to cure him of Cancer.Saint Micheal has ben described as the Saint of the RADIOLOGISTs experts in treating CANCER and taking Images of the internal structurs of the body.Radiology is the most expensive aspect of Medicine.

Academics
Professor Michael Faborode Vice Chancellor, Obafemi awolowo university served as President West African association of Agric engineers.A warrior against Poverty. His wife has an interesting name. She is Helen. From Greek mythology, Helen of Troy,her beauty could command one thousand Warships.Ife students of tthose days opined" ATTTACK is the best form of DEFENCE"
Perhaps the present undergraduates are quite satisfied with these names.

God bless the Soul of Michael Jackson. So long!

Ignatius of Loyola was born in Northern Spain in 1491.he was a soldier

ibrahim Babangida was born in Northern Nigeria in 1941 also a soldier

1491 is just a rearrangement of 1941.

Ignatius of Loyola founded the society of Jesus on August 15 1543

Babangida was born August 17 1941"

Ignatius took up arms for the Duke of Najera.Broke his leg and injured another was known to limp,had surgery and spent a long time recovering after being taken home by French Soldiers .

Babangida fought in the Nigerian Civil war. Susstained a leg injury,radiculopathy known to limp,,had Surgery and spent a long time recovering in the Hospital in France

Najera is associated with the river Najerilla

Nigeria is associated with the river Niger.

The slang for Nigeria is Naija

Ignatius of Loyola died July 31 1556

Babangida laid the foundation staone of the presidential villa Abuja on July 31.Babangida is a General and Ignatius a Superior General

There was a reverend Father by the Name Babangida Audu at the Ignatius of Loyoa Church in Ibadan

Loyola was a spaniard. The Castle of Loyola is in spain

Babangda is rumoured to have purchased an Estate in Spain

Gbola Bowale is on Facebook. I met him on Facebook and he is something of an enigma as I have

observed him and his pre occupation with leadership in the best of traditions.. I have seen his Photographs near the white house.Photographs next to the Lincoln monument .And so many .He is based in the United states

photographs he displays on his page of great Leaders dead and Alive.He just had a write up on Speaker of the House of representatives, Dimeji Bankole on May 29,82nd birthday of American president John F.Kennedy.and tenth anniversary of Democracy in Nigeria

JohnTyler and Gbola Bowale were both born on March 29 1790 and 1970 respectively

look! 1790 is just the rea rrangement of 1970! By the calendar in China .tyler and Bowale were both born in the year of the Dog.You have the year of the Dog every 12years.

Tyler was President of the United states and Bowale seems to have a certain pre occupation with the presidency ever since in his 20s. He has been a volunteer campaigner in Presidential elections up to June 12. He made A1 in Government at School Cert level

John Tyler and Gbola Bowale have both been Divorcees

The foundation stone of the Presidentila villa Abuja was laid by the Soldier Man Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida on July 31.Gbola bowale had cause to mark July 31 as Loyola day.For he is an Old boy of Loyola College r Ibadan.At Loyola college was areverend Father by the name Audu Babangida.

Ignatius of Loyola was a soldier born in 1491.His feast day is July 31 he founded the socieyt of Jesus on Augus 15 1543.Ignatius was a Spaniard

Babangidawas born August15 1941 just aRearearrange ment of 1491and he is rumoured to have bought an estate in Spain. The Castle of Loyola is in spain.Ignatius was superior General and Babangida a General.

Tyler was a Lawyer and Gbola Bowale missed being a Lawyer

Charles Lucky Luciano,Italian =American and Icon of the Mafia is said to have brought to Crime what good business men bring to business

whereas Deputy Chancellor Lucky Igbinedion American trained Nigerian Business man was indicted by the Economic and Financial crimes COMMISSION onr a 142 count charge for fraud.But later on discarged and found not guilty.

Lucky Luciano was the Capo di Tutti capi meaning a Boss of Bosses and Chairman of the COMMISSION the GOVERNING body of the Mafia in the United States

Lucky Igbieidion was Governor of Edo State and Chairman GOVERNORS FORUM in a way a Boss of Bosses.

Italy and Edo state are known world wide for Architecture,Fine Art, furniture,Human trafficking and prostitution.

Luciano was born in 1897 and Igbinedion in 1957. By the chinese Calendar 1897 and 1957 are known as the years of the Bird.You have the year of the bird every 12 years.

By Augustine Togonu-Bickersteth
27 years back, one saturday morning, then an undergraduate of the University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University, a friend olatunbosun Oni and I were walking down the pavement, when we heard coming from the direction of the bookshop a voice saying “I will report you to the security! I will report you to the security!! Curious we went into the bookshop to find out what was amiss and to our surprise, we found this Caucasian lady blushing obviously out of embarrassment, she introduced herself as Jane, a Professor in search of Wole Soyinka. What I suspect happened was a case of communication breakdown. The bookshop assistant, seemingly uncomfortable, with her eyes half closed and unable to look Jane straight in the face might have been trying to tell Jane to enquire about the whereabouts of Wole Soyinka from the security post, a short distance from the bookshop and so what should have come out as advise tuned and to be threatening.

I apologized to Jane for what she had suffered in the hands of the Bookshop assistant and subsequently, Bosun Oni and I!, followed her out of the bookshop only to meet with 51 other Professors. “We are from California! We are from California!! We are looking for Professor Wole Soyinka” so said one of the Professors who stepped forward to meet Bosun Oni and I. It still remains the highest number of professors I have ever seen assembled on one spot. What made this professor who stepped forward to think that either of Bosun Oni or myself would have known Wole Soyinka?

Fortunately for me, I had head of Wole Soyinka. The first time I saw Soyinka in flesh and blood was when I was in the secondary school. Soyinka had come to my house in the company of an uncle, the now Chief Lanre Togonu-Bickersteth. Soyinka wanted to ease himself, and so he moved towards our staircase but on second thought, he chose not to ascend the stairs. Perhaps because we were all staring at him from a balcony. We recognized him as the enfant terrible. Interestingly, that area of Ibadan where we lived is called Kongi. Wole Sonyinka is also known as Kongi.

I once had a slightly unpleasant encounter with Wole Soyinka, he was standing in front of the Oduduwa Hall, Centre of Entertainment of which he was the chairman, management committee. I believe he was trying to reach out to Eddy Olafeso, then President of the Students Union, who happened to have been standing, far away from where Soyinka stood but was a few feet from me. At first I tried to clarify, by way of moving my hand if he needed my attention. But Soyinka just ignored me. Yes, I thought him to be great and larger than life but I also thought him to be cold. A related attitude has been ascribed to such poets like Robert Burns, Ezra Pound and Derek Walcott.

I think it’s something of significance that these Professors met with Bosun Oni and I, and also symbolic that they came is search of Soyinka. Bosun was a student of Electrical and Electronics Engineering. Believed to be the best of such programmes then, for any Nigerian University and I was a student of Engineering Physics, the only such programme then in Nigeria. Bosun Oni had a Hewlett – Packard calculator the only one I have ever seen. Hewlett – Packard (HP), had it’s origins in the San Francisco Bay Area, California. The physicists are very proud of Hewlett Packard, founded by Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard, one a physicist and the other an entrepreneur.

California leads in the United States in the production of electrical machinery and electronics goods. Actually, Bosun Oni and I, and one other student, made the highest mark in our first test in Electricity and magnetism. Perhaps these professors would have liked to meet, our electricity and magnetism lecturer, a Briton by the name, Dr. M. C. Isherwood, Dr. Isherwood was then the scrabble champion of the university staff club. So what was Wole Soyinka going to do at the staff club? Maybe we can explain it away by saying that Soyinka is a Professor of Literature and not a Professor of English. But the noted literary critic professor Biodun Jeyifous tell us that Soyinka comes third after Shakespeare and Marlowe in enriching the English language.

I think California is something of a Natural habitat for Wole Soyinka, the worlds most prominent exponent of the myth of Ogun, the Yoruba god of war, wine, the road, creativity, metal arts, gunsmiths and agriculture. California leads the united states in wine production, Agriculture, Aircraft and Defence industries, and the creative industries of Radio, Television and Film. All these bring into consideration, much that Soyinka has written about the Yoruba god Ogun.

What makes the Californians so interested in the Yoruba? A handful of these professors we met at Ile-Ife, asked us questions on the seeming rift then between the Ooni and the Alaafin, I hate to say Ooni of Ife or Alaafin of Oyo because there is only one Ooni and one Alaafin. A certain William Bascom Anthropologist at the university of California, Berkeley, writing in the Encyclopedia Americana on the Yoruba, affirmed that the Yoruba are the most urban of African peoples whereas the Microsoft Encarta, refers to the Californians as the most urban of the people of united states. Bascom also informs “The Yoruba produced the greatest wealth of Art of any African people and the ancient bronze castings found at the Yoruba city of Ife, rank among the art master pieces of the word”.William bascom

"We are trying to create an unforgettable world theatre by utilizing the theatre to confront and challenge crucial issues which affect our society with the ultimate aim of educating and entertaining audiences."so informs Jude Patrick Oteh Artistic Director and founder of the Jos Repertory Theatre(JRT)founded in 1997 the same year as the British Nigerian Theatre outfit,Tiata Fahodzi founded by Femi Elufowoju same age group as Oteh

Jude Patrick Oteh,born in the early 60s was something of a "Nuisance" on the basketBall court at Loyola College Ibadan,Nigeria.Then during Fesatc 77, perhaps had his mind on making the School Basketball team but he ended up being the School infirmarian and President of the Schools Drama society.He was from the very beginning a conscientiuos student and perhaps selfish with his study time.up to his final year,Jude Oteh always had something to add to the discussion in the Literatture class where he read Shakespears Macbeth,Kaundas Zambia shall be free and Eliots, Silas Marner.

In form one Jude Oteh had as his house work the sweeping of the infirmry.,Sweeping from the side of the infirmry to the back of the main building of the School was Paul Okolo.Paul okolo,to become a class jester ,swept in an artistic manner.you could see the marks of curves as he made with his broom on the ground and the Seniors pointed to it as an example of what had been done with the Broom. Paul okolo is the Kid brother to Felix Okolo who performed together on stage with Jude oteh at the University of Ibadan and went on to star on National television in Acada campus by Bode Sowande and in wole Soyinka Blues for a prodigal.Felix is now a Theatre director shuttling between Europe and nigeria.Paul has another brother Actor, Philip.Jude Oteh also a Martial Artist and Restauranteur,also went on to perform together at the Arts Theatre University of Ibadan with Ajayi Olatide,Head Dancer FESTAC 77.

Jude Otheh sat for his final exams in 1981 as a Science student but he did not make his papers and there he was to conclude that if he could not make "it" at a school like Loyola College then he could not make it any where and so he crossed over to the Arts to take a diploma in Theatre Arts at the University of Ibadan.Ever Since he has not looked back.He bagged a second class upper degree in Thetre Arts and topped it with a masters Degree in theatre arts and another in Diplomacy and international relations.and yet another in post colonial studies.

Femi Elufowoju who acted as the Ogre in Jack and the Bean stalk way back in Junior school in the United Kingdom, originally wanted to become a solicitor.was admitted to a Faculty of Law,precisely Universty of Ife,then the best place to study Law in Nigeria.As an undergradute he was a fan of Michael Jackson and all his Theatrics,he ended up studying Theatre at the Bretton Hall,leeds University which incidentally had Wole soynka after an uncompleted programme at the University of Ibadan.Elufowoju worked for six years as an Actor , like Wole Sotinka ,made radio plays for the BBC and trained as a regional theatre young director.

,Solomon Iguanre with a Masters degree in theatre arts from the university of Ibadan is a product of Osogbo Grammar School where he was influenced by his Ghanaian Literature teacher Mr . Frepong. Of course Solomon Iguanre is very fund of PANAFEST in Ghanawhich he has attended. And Osogbo is a very significant Cultural space in Nigeria..Of this generation of Theatre directors, Solomon Iguanre is the most versatile but with the least international exposure. Solomon Iguanre is aa Playwright, Book editor,graphic Artist,HIV/AIDS Educator,audio/visual technician, poet,publisher,curator,cartoonist,administrator, Theatre entrepreneur,short story writer ,a computer geek and Academic.Over 20 years back ,he co founded Laffomania oragisation to be described as the funniest Theatre out fit in South west nigeria as compared with Jos repertory Theatre ,the most Vibrant Theatre outfit in Northern Nigeria and TIATA FAHODZI the most vibrant British African theatre outfit in Britain.

We have had other committed directors like Yemi Akintokun,Saidat Odofin later,Saidat Garuba, Gregory Odutayo all from the University of Ibadan which was then the best place in Sub saharan .Africa to study Theatre.

Jare ajayi is a man of many parts.As a writerof poetry or opinions he is lucid and clear.He publishes a community Newspaper,Oloye,he has written the Biography ofthe world renowned writer, Amos Tutuola ,one of the first Nigerians to be featured in the Encyclopedia Americana.

Mr.Ajayiis a Television Presenter/Producer has also organised a series of talks and workshops on Development.A former Arts editor of the Nigeria Tribune, Nigerias Oldest surviving private Newspaper,Jare Ajayi is based in Ibadan the worlds largest indegenous city and the publishing capital of Nigeria.

Anthony Ebika based in Ibadan the publishing capital of Nigeria and the worlds largest indigenous black city,is a poet and founder of the Centre for Poets,He is as well a publisher and one of Nigerias very few Puppeteers

As a Pupppeteer,Ebika Anthony has performed on Television and at varous schools in Nigeria.Ebika ,also a publisher and a publicist, has served as the Chairman of the Association of Nigerian Authors of the Oyo state Branch.He has written for Children and Adults alike.

Ebika would say his generation is a generation in need of critics.Nigerian Critics seem to concentrate on writing about establish Authors.And so Writers like Ebika have not really enjoyed the right kind of critical support.Ebika is happily married with Children

Pearl communications is an outfit owned by Nigerian Youths based in South west Nigeria which has Lagos the industrial and commercila Capital of Nigeria. Pearl communications has a Network covering 25 Universities in the Souh west Nigeria It could prove a formidable vehiclein reaching a critical segment of the youth market in Nigeria,South west for those into the production of fast moving consumer goods(FMCG) .

Pearl communications is a multiple purpose vehicle with interest in the print and electronic media.Their aim is to enhance communication amongst Nigerian youth and also entertian them. They publish the Pearl magazine,They organise parties,Club Shows,Beauty pagents and other related events. They write on Lifesyle of Nigeria Undergraduates as well as issues pertaining to Entrepreneurship. to contact this outfit the email addres is info@depearlmagazine.com The contact persons are Prince Dayo Oyeniran Publisher and Editor- in- Chief and Solomon Famoriyo,Executive Editor Solomon Famoriyos also markets high end products for SKYE BANK Lagos Nigeria. I think there are awhole rang of products or services that this outfit can handle.

By Augustine Togonu-Bickersteth

"Yinks is a young woman who loves life..she is awed by the ingenuity of a Supreme artist who brillantly colours the world with huge superb brushes..the gold of a setting sun..blue vividness of the sky..green liveliness of swaying trees.."

You can call Oregbemi Olayinka a fourth or ffith generation Nigerian writer.She is quite a revelation.If you are also a young generation publisher you might want to try her. by Augustine Togonu- Bickersteth