Former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon (rtd) and Minister of Information, Mr Labaran Maku, yesterday, relived events preceding the take off of the ill-fated Navy helicopter that crashed last Saturday in Bayelsa State, killing former Kaduna State Governor, Mr Patrick Yakowa and former National Security Adviser, General Andrew Azazi and four others. They said they escaped death by the whiskers as they were scheduled to board the ill-fated helicopter.

The Nigerian Army Council headed by President Goodluck Jonathan Wednesday approved the promotion of 59 Generals with 22 Brigadier Generals elevated to the rank of Major Generals and 37 Colonels elevated to the ranks of Brigadier Generals.

Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, Wednesday, emerged winner of the first Obafemi Awolowo Prize for Leadership.

Chairman of the selection committee, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, who unveiled the recipient of the maiden award, yesterday in Lagos, said: “Nominees for the prize are expected to have demonstrated, to a substantial degree, the attributes considered to have characterised Chief Awolowo’s leadership style.

SENATOR Uche Chukwumerije’s pedigree in the crusade for Igbo self identity is almost universally acknowledged. So, given the seeming lethargy that has enveloped the political leaders of the region especially with respect to the 2015 presidential contest, it was not surprising that Chukwumerije would make an intervention on the course and consequences of Igbo abstention in the contest.

Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, yesterday, revealed that her mother, Prof. Kamene Konjo, was kidnapped by those who accused her (minister) of delaying fuel subsidy payment and for failing to release SURE-P funds.

IBADAN—The perennial rivalry between the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi and Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuade resurfaced weekend as the former described Oba Sijuade as someone who is not knowledgeable about his ancestral origin.

The wife of late Gov. Patrick Yakowa of Kaduna State, Amina has described the last moment spent with her husband as a “blessed one.’’

Six persons were killed yesterday when a naval helicopter in which they were travelling crashed and burst into flames in the forest of Okoroba, Nembe Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, shortly after take-off.

SIX days after a 10-man kidnap gang seized Professor Mabel Kamene Titi Okonjo, mother of the Minister of Finance, Dr. (Mrs) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, at Ogwashi-Uku, Delta State, the 82-year-old retired professor of Sociology at the University of Nigeria, UNN, Nsukka, was released, yesterday morning, by her kidnappers in Benin City, Edo State, after collecting between N10 and N15 million ransom.

A 16-year-old boy, Terseer Iorparegh, was yesterday caught stuck in a high tension cable while attempting to vandalize the PHCN cable along Naka road in Makurdi.

Eminent Yoruba leaders, Thursday, concurred that the Yoruba race was on the brink of extinction if something is not done quickly to revitalise its cultural values and heritage.

IN the first three chapters of this book, I alluded to the role of Ifa divination and Ifa priests in various rituals in the sacred city, especially those relating to the resolution of the conflicts between Oduduwa and Obatala. I will devote this chapter to the place of Ifa divination and the Ifa deity in regulating and managing the spiritual and social affairs of the city and will introduce the myths and rituals of Orunmila, also known as Ifa, the Yoruba god of divination; Ifa divinatory practices; and the religious, ethical, and thought systems espoused in the rich Ifa divination texts, otherwise known as ese Ifa or Ifa divination poetry.

NATIONAL vice president of Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, PFN, in charge of South West, Bishop Francis Wale Oke yesterday, commended the Nigerian press for its vibrancy in reporting and exposing the various ills in the society.

The Imagined Sacred City
THE Portuguese image of Ile Ife: The Europeans saw Ile-Ife as the preeminent city-state and as an important ceremonial centre in what was then often referred to as “the Negro world.” The seafaring Portuguese, the first Europeans to explore the coast of West Africa, arrived in the fifteenth century. Although they had heard much about the city of Ile-Ife, their inability to access interior forested regions made contact very difficult. However, the Portuguese recorded their impressions of the importance of this ancient city, especially of its artistic and historical relationship and connection to the kingdom of Benin, with which the Portuguese had earlier contact.

FOUR days after the kidnap of Prof Mabel Kamene Titi Okonjo, 82 –year-old mother of the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala at Ogwashi-Uku in Aniocha South Local Government Area of Delta State, a contact has been established with her kidnappers who have now reduced the ransom being demanded as a pre-condition for her release from $1 billion to N200 million.