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Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Omosede Igbinedion's two-year-old marriage crashes


The two-year-old marriage between the daughter of business mogul, Chief Gabriel Osawaru Igbinedion, Gabriella Omosede and a Benin Prince, Aven Akenzua, has crumbled.

Residents of Edoyaye Avenue off Osawe Street, Etete, GRA, Benin City, were some weeks back thrown into panic when armed mobile policemen, said to be acting on the order of the Esama stormed the palatial mansion of his in-law (Aven) in two lorries to evacuate his daughter’s belongings.

Aven, is a son to Enogie Uyieken Akenzua, the younger brother of the Oba of Benin, His Royal Highness, Oba Erediauwa and had against the wish of the Benin palace forged ahead and got wedded to Omosede, the eldest daughter of Lady Cherry Igbinedion.

The marriage produced a baby boy in 2009 and was widely celebrated by the house of Igbinedion in a grand style.
Although the reason for the separation is being kept as a top secret, a palace source who craved anonymity said the marriage probably crashed on the ground that the ancestors as epitomised by the Oba of Benin never gave their support and blessings as required by Benin tradition.

In what appeared to be a total disregard to the apparently disapproval of the Benin monarch to the marriage, Chief Igbinedion and Enogie Uyieken gave their son and daughter in an uncommon colourful royal traditional/church wedding on December 31, 2008 and January 5, 2009 respectively.

Consequently, the marriage was said to have triggered unprecedented vexation in Benin Kingdom as Oba Erediauwa eventually drew a battle line against his younger brother for daring to discard his advice.

The travails of Igbinediion, who has since been stripped of his Esama title by the Benin Traditional Council, started when without recourse to the Benin monarch, the traditional custodian of beads, single handedly gave out traditional beads to JP Patterson, former Prime Minister of Jamaica and co-visiting Aghantehene of Kumasi.

Igbinedion has since been declared “Oghion Oba” (Enemy of the Oba).

“The Royal Family and indeed all Binis are opposed to their sons or daughters marrying into the family of “Oghion Oba” Enogie Uyiekpen knows this. He was advised to postponed the engagement until Chief Igbinedion is granted pardon, Enogie Uyiekpen was aware that Chief Igbinedion plea for forgiveness is at present before the Omo N’Oba, but he ignored the advice for reason best known to him which made the family to snub the marriage,” a source said.

Tagged, ‘Marriage of reconciliation’ by Igbinedion, the union never ushered in the much-expected cordial relationship between the Benin palace and Igbinedion and was seen by many highly-placed Binis as an embarrassment to the esteemed Benin monarch.

Speaking with News Star, a top management staff of Independent Television (ITV), a broadcasting station owned by Igbinedion, who pleaded anonymity, said although he was yet to have a full detail of what actually transpired between the couple. He promised to get back to News Star which he never did.

“You know the man in question is a patron to the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ). I will advise that you drop the story,” he said.

Another staff, who confided in News Star, said he also heard about the separation saga.

“We were terrified when we saw the heavily armed mobile police men, initially we thought it was a war situation, some of us ran for our dear lives,” said one of the neighbours of Prince Aven.

Story by newsstarng

Why men beat their women


Bovi-Ugbona

Go to any place where a wedding is taking place and observe the gaiety, excitement and beauty of the coming together of a man and a woman, you will promptly feel the urge to also walk down the aisle with someone.

Ordinarily, marriage is beautiful. God ordained it to be so. That’s why when the first man saw the first woman, he exclaimed: “This is the bone of my bones, and the flesh of my flesh!”

It is for this reason that the Good Book says that a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife to become one body and one soul. This also presupposes that the two are one and what affects one affects the other. It is also expected that love, trust, understanding and patience will be the oil lubricating the relationship to make it work and fulfill the purpose of God in instituting marriage: friendship and companionship for life.

Unfortunately, marriage does not always turn out to be like what God envisioned. And this is an all too clear reminder of the corruption that came into the world following the fall of man at Eden.

Today, you find some men transform overnight into a nightmar, and become a Mike Tyson at home, turning their wives, the same ones they fed cake at the wedding reception, into punching bags at the slightest provocation. Invariably, many sane people are left to wonder whether the couple are no longer one body and soul as God Himself originally planned.

The rampancy of wife battering has made social scientists ‘burn’ hours in research efforts attempting to explain why some men exhibit this aberrant behaviour. Though scientists have come up with findings on why and how this ‘twist’ occurs in the nature of man, turning once loving man into an unfeeling hard heart that relentless batters his wife, the fact remains that every environment has its peculiarities as much as America is completely different from Africa.

In the African setting what is responsible for this ungodly tendency of men to turn their wives into punching bags? We asked some notable personalities and what they said is quite revealing. Excerpts…

Nagging works a man up –Bright Chimezie
Bright Chinmezie, singer and musician: There are lots of reasons but I think the most prominent of them is nagging. When a woman is always nagging, the man gets worked up. You know that women talk more than men and when such becomes the case, men resort to physical assault.

Some men are naturally violent –Mike Aremu
Mike Aremu, Christian motivational speaker: I think some men have violence as a natural trait. They cannot control their temper and because they don’t know when to draw the line, they batter their wives to prove a point. Battering one’s wife is like an abomination; it is not the right thing to do because it just shows how animalistic such men are. There are other ways to correct a wife without battering her.

Only mad men beat their women –Bovi Ugboma
Bovi Ugboma, entertainer, compere and TV presenter: Any man who does that is mad because even the bible says that it is better to stay at the roof top than be in the same house with a nagging wife. So, there is no excuse whatsoever to batter one’s wife. Women sometimes can be nasty because they talk more than the men and this always brings about assault and battery.

A woman who can’t cook...
Dr Uchendu Alaefule, medical practitioner and grassroot public health awareness campaigner: Several reasons could be attributed to why a man would beat his wife. Some women out of laziness or sheer negligence fail to satisfy their husband’s stomach needs. There is a saying that a hungry man is an angry man and if a man has given enough money for feeding and upkeep of the home only to come home and find the dinner table ‘undecorated’ with inviting delicious food, he would be tempted to descend on the woman especially when she used the money to buy such things as jewellery and cosmetics.

Also, wife battering can happen where there is lack of understanding between the couple. This exposes the man to rumour about his wife without confirmation, which ultimately leads to unnecessary beating. Women also talk too much and for a man who has reached the limits of his endurance, the last option he has is his hands.

What does a battered wife do?

Open up, don’t suffer in silence
Dr Joe Okei Odumakin, human rights activist: Any woman that finds herself in that kind of situation has to brace up to the challenge because marriage is a life contract, most importantly if children are involved. I do not often advise the woman to leave or divorce her husband, but one thing she must surely do is not to keep quiet mouth on the issue.

She must make sure that she doesn’t make herself available for battering. She must try to move away from her husband if the argument becomes hot and she sees that the husband is likely to hit her. She must also avoid any situation that will lead to argument, which will result to battering. If it happens very often, she should report the matter to any of the NGOs that work on women issues. The husband will be invited for counseling and advice.

She should report him to the family’s spiritual leader (either a pastor or an imam) for necessary intervention. The last intervention, which I do not often advise except when it becomes very necessary, that is where all other interventions failed, and the man is unrepentant, then the woman should have the man arrested by the police and she should seek redress in the law court.

In this case, the man is stopped by law from battering his wife or a separation is granted until the man comes to realize his folly. However, in all of these, the woman experiencing battering must be able to open up and not suffer in silence; that is the first important step to take.

Leave if you don’t have children for him.
Funke Fadugba, former NUJ Lagos Council chairman: If I am faced with a battering spouse, I will be faced with two options. One, if I have not given him any issue at all to contend with then I will be faced with leaving while the second option is that if I have children for him then maybe the children will be what will tie me down.

I’ll walk out...
Easy Lizzy, Nollywood actress and entertainer: I can’t take it. It shows he doesn’t love me. So, I would consult my in-laws who would try to call him to order but if he does not stop, I will walk out on the relationship because my life is at stake.


Story by Oge Okonkwo

Corpse Found In Arik Aircraft


A corpse was allegedly discovered in an Arik aircraft last night, sources told P.M.NEWS today.

Our sources said that the deceased passenger was a man. However, no one is sure if he was a genuine or illegal passenger.

Details about the tragic incident or the deceased were sketchy at the time of filing this report.

The media officer of Arik Air, Mr. Adebanji Ola told our correspondent that it was a security issue and did not go into details.

He said: “It’s a security issue beyond the airline’s control. The airport security operatives will be in a better position to give details.”

The Media officer to the Director General of NCAA, Mr. Sam Adurogboye, sent our correspondent back to Arik when he was asked to comment about the incident.

“Talk to Arik,” he said.

The incident comes weeks after a similar incident happened on an Arik flight to the United States.

Story by pmnews/Simon Ateba