IMELDA Marcos, the 10th First Lady of the Philippines, turned 90 several years after she and her husband, Ferdinand, were booted out of office in disgrace in the Philippines.
Aside the several acts of graft and monumental misrule of her husband, Imelda stood out in the world as the woman of means who was reputed to stock the most expensive jewellery in her wardrobe. No one outdid her in that arena while she enjoyed the spotlights as the First Lady of Philippines, and I doubt if her record of jewellers acquisition has been broken to date.
But wait! Another Imelda seems to have resurfaced in Nigeria. A report has it that a Federal High Court in Lagos has ordered the temporary forfeiture of 2,149 pieces of jewellery and a customised gold phone from our country’s one-time minister of petroleum resources, Mrs Diazine Allison-Madueke.
The ex-minister was alleged to have acquired them as proceeds of unlawful activities. The items, categorised into 33 sets, include 419 (?) expensive bangles, 315 expensive rings, 304 expensive earrings, 267 expensive necklaces, 189 expensive wristwatches, 174 expensive necklaces, 78 expensive bracelets, 77 expensive brooches and 74 expensive pendants.
These 2,149 items must have been the ones seized from her homes in Lagos and Abuja. So, it can be safely assumed that she would have more in her other wardrobes in her choice homes around the world!
The total value of the jewellery was put at four million dollars, a far cry from Imelda’s acquisition in her own time. But even at that, what mindless acquisitive tendencies could have driven the wife of a polished and less ostentatious military officer of distinction to this extreme craze for ornamental ostentation, at a cost of N1.4 billion?
I had the privilege of knowing her husband, Allison Madueke, in Port Harcourt between 1975 and 1977 when the suave officer, a Naval Captain, was Navy’s Base Commander in the Rivers State capital. My life-long friend, Okhai Mike Akhigbe, a Naval Commander, was his sports officer while I was the group sports editor of the state-owned Nigerian and Sunday Tide.
It was through that sports connection that I got to know all the military top brass in the Garden City—Col Sani Abacha, the Army Base Commander; Major David Mark, then chairman of the Abandoned Properties Implementation Committee, and the Air Force Commander, Major (later redesignated as Squadron Leader) and the Commissioner of Police for Rivers, Mr Olarinde.
I became close to David Mark and Allison Madueke because of my friend, Akhigbe, but nothing then suggested anything untoward or extravagant about Commander Madueke, who later in life, like Akhigbe, after him, rose to become the Chief of Naval Staff and member of the nation’s ruling body, the Armed Forces Ruling Council (AFRC).
To be sure, Allison Madueke was posh, but he was not crazy in his lifestyle. How his wife became so enamoured of jewellery to the extent that her role model was Imelda Marcos of far-away Phillipines is a sad reflection on the profligacy of the President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration under which she served as minister in charge of our petroleum resources.
This columnist is anxious to hear from those doing public relations whitewash for Diezane Madueke or those speaking for the PDP, the political party with repugnant reputation for mindless plundering of the nation’s resources, to hear their opinion or comments on this bizarre record set by a female member of their party.
They may be able to defend this development and make us believe that it was a patriotic duty for Adolf Hitler to aspire to rule the world by shedding the blood of innocent millions around the world!
Kudos to pace-setting Segun Osoba @ 80
There is no way Chief Olusegun Osoba will celebrate his 80th birthday anniversary without this columnist weighing in, with a word or two. The reasons are many and varied. The least of the reasons may be partisan or parochial, because the Aremo of Ijebuland and Akinrogun of Egbaland is an in-law, being married to my townsmate, Aderinsola, our venerated Beere, from the Adeyemi clan of Ijebu Igbo.
Or why are the Yoruba and indeed all tribes in this country alluding to putting much value to what you have or own? My people are quick in saying: “Ohun a ni la ngbe l’aruge”. It is in fact important to emphasise that, so that when Oga Osoba feels like relating to me as his submissive subordinate, he must also temper his magisterial authority with the knowledge that he should also defer to me as his in-law.
The second reason why I must say my own in the matter of Segun Osoba is that his influence on my professional career is unquantifiable. He was instrumental in my being poached by the octopus DAILY TIMES of Kakawa from the Daily Express of Apongbon in 1972, to beef up the paper’s sports desk in preparation for the All-Africa Games to be hosted by Nigeria in 1973.
Sir James, as he was called by his peers, is a hard-nosed newsman who could tell who and what make good reporters. He knew that a good reporter must also have immense descriptive ability to be a sportswriter of worth, and I suspect that he, as deputy editor to Areoye Oyebola in the Daily Times then, must have backed the group sports editor’s desire to hire me for the big continental assignment ahead. Sports Editor ESBEE (Solomon Babatunde Oshuntolu of Evans Street in central Lagos) had been given the nod to recruit the best in the sportswriting arena to strengthen the Daily Times proven claim as the flagship of the Nigerian print media and the largest and second best-selling and circulating newspaper in Africa, after Al-haram of Egypt.
Osoba was not a flowery news writer as his colleague, Sola Odunfa. But he was without a doubt the best newshound of his time, whose scoop-getting prowess was helped by his extensive contacts in all the high places in the country. It is instructive that the two best reporters of that era were deeply involved in the ‘conflagration’ that eventually consumed the Daily Times; Osoba being on the Alhaji Ishmail Babatunde Jose side while Odunfa was on the Jose-must-go Joint Action Committee (JAC) led by Prince Henry Odukomaiya. It is arguable who, between the two – Odukomaiya and Osoba – is the most celebrated newspaper manager in the land.
Osoba, survived the “Tsunami” that swept away a generation of accomplished journalists in the crisis in the Daily Times and emerged the general manager of Kwara State-owned Herald newspapers and turned the fortunes of the paper around, just as he did as the managing director of the LOOBO states-owned Sketch group of newspapers. Odukomaiya, leader of the JAC that protested the removal of Areoye Oyebola as editor of the Daily Times and his subsequent replacement with Osoba, and whose rebel group instigated the military take-over of the Times empire that eventually led to its destruction, also midwifed the birth of the Concord newspapers, owned by Bashorun MKO Abiola, and later the Champion newspapers owned by Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu. They both made waves with their newspapers.
The third most important reason why I have ever always been enamoured of Chief Osoba is his dress sense. When he was in active journalism, he was a power dresser of distinction, with the best cut shirts and suits from the Saville Row in London. And when he forayed into politics to emerge two-time governor of Ogun State, he did it with panache, always turning out in well-embroidered traditional attires. I confess to learning a few tricks from Sir James, as good dressings go.
One other thing you cannot take away from “Baba 80” is his survival instincts. Few, if any, who tried to imitate him in anything, came out unbruised. He has a lot of staying power, and I bet we will be around to celebrate him in 10 years’ time when he will make 90 like his forerunner in the Press and in politics, Alhaji Lateef Jakande, the first civilian governor of Lagos State whose 90th birthday celebration falls due on July 23. Kudos to Oga Osoba at 80!
(The Nation)
