HOW A SPIRITUAL LEADER WAS BANISH FROM HIS COMMUNITY.

BY OMILEYE OLAJIDE

The oil companies in Nigeria has cause more harm than good in this  Country state of terror and lawlessness that have ravished the oil rich community of Ugborodo in Escravos,Warri-South West Local Government Area of Delta State,the host community to Chevron          Nigeria Limited.Not only has the perpetrator of terror in the community taken over the entire area,it has consequently led to the forceful and unlawful banishment of Festus Kayemo”s client,Mr Benson Dube Omadeli,the Olaja-Ori and the supreme Head of Ugborodo.

As legal practitioners,they have taken the statement of their client and have started then process of ensuring that the injustice meted on him is reversed forthwith.The Festus Kayemo Chamber ,deputy head of  chamber ,Mr Vitalis Ahaotu  and his client use the medium to bring to the public domain the intense danger and threat to the life of our client,Benson ,the Olaja- Ori and Supreme Head of the community.

According to information available to National Daily Newspaper that Omadeli of Ugborodo ,that the case is related to the community development of the area by State and Federal Government and by the oil companies that are engaged in oil exploration in the community,he lamented that the sordid state of neglect in  the face of continuous exploration of oil in the community.

He expressed sadness has taken over the failure of the Executive members of  Ugborodo Community Trust to meet the expectations of the people they represent.The publication is attached as annexure  A.

Quite  unexpectedly,some of the executive members of the trust like Ayiri  Emami,Thomas Eyitomi,Mofe Pirah,Isaac Botosan and Julius Atete,who were affected by the indictment in the publication,were not comfortable with the Olaja-Ori”s decision to expose the grimy state of things in Ugborodo ,this led to the gang up that became necessary to frustrate every  effort of Omadeli to continue the fight for the restoration of Ugborodo  community.

This problem started,when the community sponsor the Egharaja,Wellington Ojogor,who was second in command in the community and who is at present not in good state of mind against the Olaja-Ori,their client.The assault began with a publication in Vanguard of January 16th,2011,signed by Egharaja and Wellington Ojogor.

Mr Ahaotu said rather than address the issues on ground their client his client raised in the THISDAY interview,their publication was a tirade of name-calling and false accusations.The publication which was on the letter head of Ugborodo community Trust,claimed that Mr Benson was ascribing a false title to himself.He said that  the publication did not address the issues of exploitation of the community by oil companies and the complicity of the members of the Trust raised by Omadele ,the publication was attached as annexure B1.

In the same newspaper of Sunday Vanguard,January 16th,2011 on page 39,there was another publication,this time with the letter head of  Ugborodo Community.This letter publication,being a product of conspiracy,also cast aspersions on their client for referring to himself as a traditional ruler.it rather described him as  a celebrated juju priest confined to his family in Ugborodo.This publication was signed by Wynne Wawe Agba.the publication was attached as annexure B2.

In an effort to dispel and douse the unnecessary tension,Dube summoned a press conference and a press statement was released in the Vanguard Newspaper of Tuesday,February 1,2011. In the statement the Olaja-Ori of Ugborodo community and expressed curiosity over the failure of is detractors to address the fundamental issues raised in his interview .The publication is attached as annexure C.

THE REINS OF TERROR

The Olaja-Ori”s persistence in ensuring that justice is secured in Ugborodo became the basis for the stiff antagonism he suffered from the second in command,Egharaja,Mr.Ojogor  and backed up by the Trust executives,who have became anxious by Olaja-Ori”s  vocal approach on the issues of Ugborodo”s development,Egharaja and his supporters have continuosly threatened the life of Benson,they demanded that he leave the community.In a bid to carry out this threat forcefully,Omedalis’s cook,whom they mistook for him,was ambushed in his house and was given a gang beating.The said cook was very fortunate to be alive today though still in hospital as at the moment of this press statement.

Mr.Ojogor ,the Eghara-aja,who is the second in command in the community after the Olaja-Ori(the Supreme head),has embarked on a power tussle with Dube has never before  now joined issues with the said Mr.Ojogo,trouble only  started when members of the Ugborodo Trust Council, who felt threatened by the impoverished people in Ugborodo ,instigated Mr.Ojogor against him,has ever since continued to publicly harass, intimidate and threaten the life of Mr Omadeli.

He was physically assaulted by thugs of Wellington Ojogor,The Egharaja and those of the Trust Executives on the 21th of  February 2011.He said they were armed with guns,machetes and various dangerous weapons.This was again repeated on 22nd and 23rd of February,2011.Unfortunately,all of these assaults occurred at public places within the Ugborobo community.

Things took  a dramtic turn when on the 24th of February,2011,Mr Ojogor and his sponsored thugs,financed by the executive members of Ugborodo Trust,in a brazen and intimidating fashion ,demanded that Keyamo’s client should leave the Ugborodo community or face the consequences of not doing so.For fear of his life,and recalling what happened to his cook,and the death of his brother at the hands of these thugs in 2009,Mr Benson fled the community and still illegally banished from his hometown,Ugborodo as the time of the press release

The spiritual leader said the Mr Ojogor rely heavily on the strong financial backing of the executive members of the Trust,has decided to use thugs and weapons to endanger the life of Benson  and usurp his position as the Supreme head of the community in order to continue the reign of terror and exploitation of the people of Ugborodo community while Omadeli now lives as a fugitive and is unable to enter his community.

It is pertinent to note that Omadeli has stood vehemently against every from of marginalization of Ugborodo,as the spiritual leader of the community, he believes strongly in the strict adherence to traditional tenets and principles and maintain that the impoverished people of Ugborodo are not further marginalized and subjected to penury.His unblemished position in the this regard became the  major reason why the Egharaja was sponsored by the Ugborodo Trust Executives to use brutal force to chase him out of the community and purportedly banish him,after he was send out of the community Pulin Esimajemite from Awala family in Jakpa community in Warri North Local Government of Delta State,who has played the active role as one of the thugs used by Wellington Ojogor ,was  purportedly made a public Relations Officer  of Ugborodo community,because he is not  a member of Ugborodo community.

It was a surprising to note that Mr Ojogor in the publication of Tuesday March 1st 2011 of vanguard Newspaper claimed that Benson was banished because he walked out of a council meeting.It is not ridiculous and does it not beg the question that the supreme head of a community would be banished for walking out of  a  meeting ?if Mr Ojogor does not really enjoy the support of the powers that be,the force meted on my client  tradition of the people of Ugborodo.

For the avoidance of doubt ,there are legal and historial evidences that show that Olaja-Ori is the supreme head of Ogborodo community.They attached a publication that spelt out the superior position of the Olaja-Ori is the Supreme head of  Ugborodo  community .they here by attached a publication that spelt out the superior position of the Olaja-Ori as a annexure D.

Mr Vitalis Ahaotu  said their client’s life is today under immense threat.Right now he cannot live in Warri or Benin because of series of threatening  messages to his life.The Egharaja has boasted that  giving  the financial muscles of  his backers,who are the  Executive members of  Ugborodo Trust  and  the  strong support they enjoy from Delta State government,the Olaja –Ori  cannot come back to Ugborodo .much as we know this may gratify the selfish interest of the backers,it is an act of illegality.

It was review by Benson that  Ugborodo community is today under siege.Some dangerously rich executives of the Trust have masterminded the banishment of our client from Ugborodo to perpetrate the continuous exploitation of the improverished people of U gborodo .

Our client has at  a time received  a response letter from Chevron  where  messrs.Ayiri Emami,Thomas Eyitomi,Mofe Pirah,Julius Atete,Isaac Botosan,and  a few others were listed as those benefitting from AGO supply  contract has not been used for the development of U gborodo community as expected.Our client was threatened on the phone by Ayiri Emami who called him from Dubai with telephone number +9715537228710 on the 12^th of  November 2010 at about 12p.m. upon receiving a notice that  Chevron wrote  to our client.He attached the letter from Chevron as annexure E.

He said terror in Ugborodo is therefore masterminded by two groups of people:those who are ,spearheaded by Mr.Ojogor and the Executives of  Ugborodo Trust  Council and Non- indigenes who are bent on perpetrating themselves to weaken the strength and authority of indigenes.The case weaken the strength and authority of  indigenes.The cases of  Esimajemite,the purported PRO who in desperation to authenticate his being an indigene of Ugborodo even though she is from Awala family in Jakpa is worth mentioning  their client has against this for the sake of tradition.

Vitalis Ahaotu and his client appeal to the federal government of Nigeria ,the Government of Delta State, concerned Nigerians at home and diaspora,concerned Itsekiris at home and in Dispora,all necessary security agencies,especially the Joint Task Force in Delta State to come to the aid of Ugborodo Community and ensure justice is done for the community and for our client, Benson Dube Omadeli,the Olaja-Ori of  U gborodo,to return in peace to his community and continue his role as the supreme Head of the Ugborodo community.

CONDUCTOR AND AGBERO PALAVA IN LAGOS

By OMILEYE OLAJIDE

In bid for our daily bread, we always pray to God that as we go in search for what we want to eat, we should not meet with what will eat us up. This would also have been the prayer of adanfo bus conductor who met with fighting the place of is work.

WHAT REALLY HAPPENED

According to National Daily, on March 21 2011around 2:32 p. m,a danfo driver took passengers from Nahco b/stop along airport road area of Ikeja Lagos and was heading towards Oshodi. As it is common among danfo drivers that when their bus is not yet fully occupied by passengers, they move slowly along the road to pick up more passengers before they get to the halting b/stop. This was not in any way different from this danfo driver and his conductor as they stopped on their way to pick more passengers alone Ajao Estate area, the conductor called for passengers going to Oshodi and six people came in. Passengers bargained with the conductor and they concluded on forty naira, the conductor according to National Daily was still awaiting more passengers to come in before an Agbero (usually in white shirt, green trouser and green cap) appeared to him requesting him to pay.

WORKERS ARE IN THE SUN THE ONE THAT WILL SPEND THE MONEY IS BUSY RELAXING.

Gathered by National Daily, the conductor gave the agbero a fifty naira which the agbero refused saying "Give me what I deserve." The conductor replied the abgero back saying, "How much do you expect me to give you for six passengers at forty naira?" The agbero got the question on a very wrong side and held on to the conductor’s polo and at this the conductor asked the passengers who just entered the bus to come down for peace sake. Although the passengers were reluctant but they came down at the yelling of the conductor.

WHO CARES

The abgero, according to National Daily felt unconcerned and was still insisting that the conductor must pay him hundred naira. He later called the attention of another fellow agbero usually called by the name IGWE. Igwe appeared on the scene and did not even act different from his colleague. Igwe started landing blow on the conductor and was also throwing him to the ground. However since the beginning of the whole scene, the driver who has kept mute about the whole situation came down and went to where his conductor was drag to.

POLICE ARRIVAL
 Sooner or later did one policewoman with the name Olutunde Bose arrived at the scene to calm the whole situation but could not as other agbero not on uniform have arrived the scene and were still beating the conductor mercilessly. She rushed back and according to National Daily came with another female officer with the name Ejyke Antonia. The two female officers rescued the conductor from the hands of his captives only to tell the driver of the danfo bus to drive down to the station.

HE IS INNOCENT

National Daily gathered that at this juncture one of the passengers that has been waiting patiently in the bus for the matter to be settled amicably while they continue on their journey walked up confidently to tell the police officers that the conductor has not done anything wrong rather he has been cheated because of his small stature.

The agberos insisted that the case should be taken to the station for report but some came with the no idea saying "you know he is bleeding as a result of our beating and the police will only make food out of us for this. They then agreed that the conductor be left alone and the conductor also paid the officers before the danfa left.

ASSIGNMENT

Media Convergence in Nigeria and Identify The Types Of Media Convergence in Operation.                                                          
   Media convergence as a word is an abstract noun derived from the verb ‘converge’, which, according to the dictionary, means `to come from different directions and meet at the same point to become one thing. Bowles and Borden [2004] contend that most people have reached the agreement that convergence as applied to journalism and the media is about delivering news content through several media forms platforms.                                                                                                                                                                   While discussing convergence in the media, Berger [2008; 168] identifies seven types of convergence as follows;                                                                                                              
(1) Corporate convergence [as in joint ventures] between telecom and media companies;                           (2) The branching out of a traditional print operation into internet publishing or audio/video or     mobile;                                                                                                                                                  (3)Reverse publishing from the web into print;                                                              
(4)Production processes, where content is co-ordinate  or shared                              
(5)The convergence of skill set of previously segregated specialist media practitioners – whether  reporter , new editor , or production personnel;                                                
(6)Convergence of media consumer devices: e.g. the camera-cell phone or computer s begin  to watch video broadcasts; and                                                                                  
(7)The coming together of producer and consumer functions-the audience generating media(content)                                                                                                                                                                                                                            MEDIA CONVERGENCE IN NIGERIA
  Using the various convergence model highlighted in this chapter, no Nigerian media falls into the category of corporate convergence, say between telecom and media or between TV and newspaper companies. Most media businesses in Nigeria remain as print or electronic companies. The country is yet to witness mergers between newspapers and telecommunications companies or between telecommunication companies and electronic media or even between newspapers and electronic companies or with internet companies such as the one between American Online (AOL) and TIME magazine in the USA.
a.The second convergence model of branching out of traditional print operation into internet publishing or audio/video or mobile, is the one more prevalent in the Nigeria media landscape                                                                                                           
b.The general observation is that all the newspapers whose website were visited, at listed above, have online presence, which makes them available not only to their local audiences in Nigeria, but also to people all over the world, but also to people all over the world, particularly Nigerians in the Diaspora. The newspapers also have features on their Home Pages, which make it possible for reader to react and/or contribute is issues.       Online presence has made it possible for the million of Nigerians in the Diaspora to follow what is going on in Nigerians on a daily basis as can be seen from some contributions by Nigerians living outside the country in various newspapers. The use of email addresses of the newspapers and contact page on the websites also makes it easy for Nigerians living abroad to contribute regularly to discusses about various issues in the country. Most Nigerian newspapers, though conforming to Berger’s model of convergence, have limited multimedia functions because they only feature text and pictures/ graphics. Ramanujam (2008:38) identifies two features of multimedia in journalism as: first, the presentation of a news story package on a website, using two or more media formats, such as spoken and written word, music, moving and still images, graphic animations, including interactive and hyper textual elements ;second ,the integrated presentation of a new story packaged through different media ,such as a website, a Usenet newsgroup, e-mail, SMS, MMS, radio, television , telex, print newspaper and magazines. Of all the newspapers in Nigeria , only Next, so far, has video, audio, text, graphics and pictures featured in news stories such that a visitor to the website can decide to read the text only of a story or listen and view the same story on Next TV, the audio visual part of the same website. THE PUNCH and The Nation , fall into the sixth convergence and business model-convergence of consumer devices: the camera –cell phone or computers being used to receive or watch broadcasts. Already, many Nigerians own devices such as mobile phones which can receive radio and television signals.                                                                                                                       
While accessing news on the websites of Nigeria newspaper is free, and, therefore, brings little revenue except for the occasional online advertisements, to get print or text news on mobile phone, subscribers must pay buying scratch cards. While access to the nation on mobile is free, subscribers are expected to pay a “token’’ of N100 in short message service to access any of the paper’s six special offers, while THE PUNCH sells scratch cards to subscribers at the rate of N1,500 per month (Olaleye2009).
Other Nigerian newspapers are waiting in the wings to see how successful these experiments by THE PUNCH and The Nation would be before jumping into the bandwagon to entice the estimated 61 million Nigerians using mobile phones, most of them young people.
As for the electronic media, there is also convergence with the traditional television and radio stations also having online presence with live internet broadcasts and video and audio streaming, while some of them at the Nigeria electronic media websites also provide texts, pictures and graphics in additions to the live broadcast and streaming.