bishopoliver: Nnamdi Azikiwe i the first President of Nigeria and remains a legend till tomorrow. Here is a picture of his wedding to his sweetheart and one-time First Lady of Nigeria, then Miss Flora Ogoegbunam in 1936. The wedding was held in James Town, Accra, Ghana. Hear what foremost historian, Max Siollun has to say about the late Zik of Africa: If Zik had killed himself, there would have been no Nigeria today – period. He more than anyone else (with the exception of Gowon) is responsible for the continued unity of Nigeria.

The wife died in 1983 and Zik himself later died in 1996. Actually, there was a time the great Zik wanted to commit suicide. In the words of Bimbola Babarinde, an expert on Nigerian history, Zik’s early years in America were so difficult and at one point he attempted suicide by lying across train tracks and waiting for an oncoming train to crush him. A good Samaritan saved his life by pulling him off the track with the train only a few yards from him. Life in America then for a lonely young African man was terrible, especially with all the discrimination, segregation and economic depression.

Also, he had other wives and his youngest wife might still be alive at his Nsukka Onuiyi residence. One of them, Professor Uche Azikiwe is still alive and is a lecturer at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State. Flora had four children for him (three males and one female), the eldest son is named Bamidele and Uche has two. There was also another late wife named Ugoye who also had two. And a child born out of wedlock from an English woman, the child was named Jayzik and is dead. Zik also had a child named Nnaemeka with a woman named Ms. Nelly Krupp, later Mrs. Mike Ibru (I am guessing that should be Jayzik because this same Nnaemeka died a year or two ago).

He was a ladies’ man and while at Yaba, he was well-known among the female folk. He had eyes for good-looking ladies and his youngest wife, Uche was a member of the renowned Afikpo traditional dance named ‘Nkwa Nwite’ which entertained him when he visited Afikpo. Zik set his eyes on her and today, the rest is history…lol

Billyonaire: Irrespective of what we think individually, the safety of the President of Nigeria is paramount, I suggest that the Presidential Fleet should always have the best of nextgen Aircraft fortified with missile defense system.

I do not care who is President at any point in time, but Presidents work too hard and need the very best care that we can afford, loss of any President brings rounds of turmoil on uncertainties, and we do not want that. Do we ?

josh4ever: [quote author=josh4ever]

I think there is some inconsistency here... The pilot was in Abacha's PAF detail and was arrested for coup plotting against IBB? How? IBB came before Abacha and Shehu Yar'adua was arrested during Abacha's tenure... Pls clarify

josh4ever:

I think there is some inconsistency here... The pilot was in Abacha's PAF detail and was arrested for coup plotting against IBB? How? IBB came before Abacha and Shehu Yar'adua was arrested during Abacha's tenure... Pls clarify

ilugunboy: .....

You still on NL?

Miss your articles here.

Mobsync: And can we say same of the Nigerian Air force wing not under the presidential air fleet?
Flying Chengu F-7's (which is already out of production in China) and Dornier/Dassault Alpha jets (which are glorified trainer jets?).

Let the government upgrade the air force then we can talk business.

CFCfan: Although it is quite common to hear that Nigeria does not lead the world in anything, I want to say that is not correct (in President Jonathan’s voice…lol!). A West African behemoth bursting at the seams with over 170 million souls, Nigeria is the world’s largest grower (not exporter) of cassava even if we have not been able to make any sensible use of it. Cassava bread? Y’all need to dial Aso Rock for that. Manioc aside, Nigeria leads the entire continent in one rather exclusive and luxurious niche: it has the largest presidential air fleet of any head of state anywhere in Africa and it is one of the largest on earth. Oh, and our legislators are also the highest paid in the world, even if they are mainly a complete set of benchwarmers with no reasonable contribution to national development.

If they are not putting their smelly feet on the tables of the Hallowed Chambers, they are in a billionaire’s house stuffing thousands of dollars in their caps. Back to business. Why were three pilots of the Nigerian Presidential Air Fleet killed? What happened when Abacha’s plane nearly crashed in Ibadan?

In the late 1970s, the Presidential Fleet was commandeered by pilots from the Nigeria Airways and these included Captain Dele Ore and later the soft-spoken Captain Paul Mamman Thalal of the Nigerian Air Force (from the north). Captain Thahal, who was the Commander of the Presidential Air Fleet (he was also of the Boeing 747 fleet with Captains B. Allwell-Brown (Director of Flight Operations, he was from the South-South and was highly-detribalized), JB Ibrahim and HI Ogede) was the Personal Pilot and Captain of General Yakubu Gowon, who was the head of state. Thahal (a highly detribalized Nigerian too) commandeered the PAF with Captain Nnaji later retired as the Managing Director of the Nigeria Airways in 1979 (Thahal and Allwell-Brown brought some of the best quality leadership to the defunct Nigeria Airways.
As at that time, the Nigeria Airways was so good that its aviation safety records were some of the very best in Africa and its pilots were used by the Nigerian Air Force during the Nigerian Civil War through routes that were considered to be very dangerous or too risky.

Under the government of the former President Shehu Usman Aliyu Shagari, the Federal Government decided to purchase a new presidential aircraft as his predecessors were flying on commercial airlines and the Shagari government felt it was not dignifying enough (as if Nigeria’s poverty level is dignifying). So, the decision was made to beef up the PAF. But the most interesting part of the gist is that it was Shagari that ordered the plane (a Gulfstream which was to be the flagship of the Presidential Air Fleet) but he never used it, he never even got to receive it. The plane arrived in April 1984 and those in power then were the no-nonsense duo of Buhari and Idiagbon. When the aircraft (named FGN VICTOR) arrived that morning at the Airlift Command of the Nigerian Airforce at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, there was a torrent of criticism from the media as to why the government would maintain such a large presidential fleet while the FG-owned Nigeria Airways was in the throes of death and could not even get passengers.

-At a time between the Shagari and Obasanjo governments, the Presidential Air Fleet was made up of two Super Falcons, a customized Boeing 747 (then called the Victor 1) specially adapted for long-distance hauls, a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar (a widebodied airliner suitable for medium to long-range) and four Super Puma helicopters.

-Later, the Nigerian Presidential Air Fleet was commandeered by civilian pilots from the Nigeria Airways (of blessed memory) in collaboration with military personnel. This line of thinking was adopted then because of fear of overthrowing the Head of State in the air or using the airborne wing of the military to carry out a coup like the 1985 aborted coup under General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida when coup plotters were alleged to have planned to make use of NAF bases to launch a surgical strike or hijack the presidential aircraft and oust IBB. (Here is a bit on the aborted coup: in December 1985, the IBB government raised an alarm that it had discovered a plot to overthrow Babangida, and people implicated included the late General Mamman Jiya Vatsa, a soldier-poet, national chairman of the Association of Nigerian Authors and IBB’s childhood friend. There was something very unique with this particular plot: for the first time, air force officers, rather than those of the army, were to carry out the attack. The plotters were accused of planning to destroy the Dodan Barracks, then the seat of power and other strategic locations in Lagos from the air using NAF bombers. In fact, some of those convicted of plotting the coup like Martin Luther and Asen Ahura (both Squadron Leaders in the Nigerian Air Force) and Wing Commander Ben Ekele were actually pilots of the Presidential Air Fleet responsible for transporting IBB himself and other high-ranking military officers of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council, AFRC. They were all executed.

-Luther had been in charge of the PAF, in fact, he had flown three Nigerian heads of state in the past few years and had just returned from a military training abroad. As for Ekele, he was the commander of the Strike Group at the NAF Base in Makurdi and was the leader of the Mikoyan MiG-29 fighters’ squadron and for two consecutive years, he was voted one of the very best pilots in the NAF. IBB did not stop there, he revenged with a devastating blow to the NAF by crippling it with lack of funds, and the entire NAF itself would have been scrapped or turn to an airborne wing of the Nigerian Army but for the fact that the Chief of Air Staff, CAS, the late Air Marshal Ibrahim Mahmud Alfa, was IBB’s personal friend. The NAF was so thoroughly battered that by August 1993, the Jaguars and other fighters had been sold off and all that was left was merely about five jets, almost dead and barely serviceable. This writer believes that the NAF is yet to recover from such a horrendous blow)


Culled from http://unilaglss./2013/08/16/1994/

donroxy: Hmmmm, I appreciate women with splendid and enigmatic track record also combining such with the challenging responsibility of marital life ...... I say Kudos to Prof. Okeke !!!


Eh, ehrrmm and now this ;




Hmm, ehrrmmm

Except U re referring to collection of all scientists including we SOCIAL SCIENTIST I would be pretty jealous here !!!!



I raised the above points because U, ''pure scientist'' whether, Mathmatician,Physicist and/or a Chemist (Chemistry), only create,construct and invent!!!



The Succesful application and embrace of pure scientist works is our job,Social Scientist, in using ur models to solve societal problems!!!


I have interacted with a lot of pure scientist and I discovered that they can never make Good Ruler Nor Leader unless they take a course in Social Science which shall broaden their knowledge on the application of their models in maintaining balance in the Inter-relationship between HumanBeings and the succesful provision of solutions to societal problems!!!


U pure scientist only see the world and whatsoever therein from one single perspective using Norms in atom and molecules ,gravitation,force blah,blah in adjudging social issue ...... Where humanBeing Change dynamically every second!!!


It is in pure science that ''matter'' will dey Up and Na Up ihm must always dey cuz a law guiding it states so and, so shall it be but we in social science believes a ''Matter'' fit dey Up,Ceteris paribus(all things being equal), the matter soul fit dey ground at the same time ....... Na so we go attack am for Up, defend am for ground !!!



Therefore,We social scientist are the true ruler of the vast blue planet while pure scientist are our tools to justify the ends


As for ''ART'' it is a weaker means of providing solution to global problems!!!

tpia@:
No hometown or home state?

donroxy: Eni to ba mo Iyi wura la ma n taa fun !!!

See, Mi man ko eko gan ninu blog e .... Oluwa a so agbara di otun fun e, ko ni re e,ko de ni shu e ..... Oluwa a pin e lere educational piece u re feeding us time-2-time, Oo de ni siko tabi ri alakoba oooo,amin!!!

Oo kare,weldone and kudos!!!

I am Blessed too,amen!!!

donroxy: , U actually did a Good Job on the ''PAF'' article which I read on your blog ..... I enjoyed everybit of it as I imagined the kinda Experienced the ''PAF'' will be having..... Tis gonna be splendid than ''presidential villa team self'' !!


Some thing must be done about the way U put up the article as it is not friendly to me at all, I have to be clicking and reclicking which made me to lose a lota Megabytes also, If my network should hang(U know Nigeria na) , I may lose interest in such a great piece ...... I enjoyed the background and Graphix .... Very Superb !!!


Really man, Clicking and re-clickin is boring ...... Lets have it divided into two parts or one part with great writing skills u usually deployed !!!


I enjoyed every Bit of the ''PAF'' ...... May God Bless Nigeria and keep protecting the C-in-C, amen!!!

Policewoman: I aim to get to the rank of a DIG or even appointed the IG.

DerideGull:

I guess you are catching the joke. Yes, two-star marshal and two-star admiral represent air vice marshal and rear admiral respectively. There are places where one-star admiral does not actually represent rear admiral second grade but commodore. Again, you must be prudent when you put stuffs in the net. Now you seem to realize that military is very regimental.

ShymX: ,

I miss you, hun.

DerideGull:

I hate to argue with practical dunces such as you. Again, a two star general has an air force counterpart known as two-star marshal, olodo. Forum is a place to learn good and practical stuffs not a place designated for numbskulls such as you who are more concerned with arrogation of idiocy themselves.

initiate: How did she manage the home front? Do we have any info about her immediate family?

bismarck: Mrs Kale, you did your best for the army but it is either the person that made this report is lying or you are lying! You were eased out in 1996 and Diya's alleged coup happened in late 1997: How does it bring up the issue of being retired based on ethincity? Were you expecting to remain and be given the same rank as Abacha himself? You reached the pinnacle of your career, even in a setting where females then had below 2 percent chance of succeeding.In Nigeria's 'normal' circumstance I was expecting a report that states you spent 50 years in the army but since I didn't read such, then there's nothing to blame

DerideGull: I stopped reading the original crap when stumbled onto the phrases such as “the first in Nigeria and first in Africa”. I guess such endeavor is very silly and uneducated arrogation of err of personality which is very common among certain ethnic group in Nigeria.

According the posted junk, the picture depicts a naval officer with the rank of Rear Admiral not a Major General. Thank goodness the lady was not the first female medical doctor who had enlisted into Nigerian armed forces. There were female medical doctors in Nigerian Armed Forces who even attended the rank of Major as far back as 1966. Barring unforeseen circumstances, such ladies would have made the rank of general before the indicated individual even enlisted.

No doubt it came from a person who thought prime minister was a Head of State in Nigeria.

Obiagelli:

Hmm i would have to consult wole shoyinka before i accept this. yankari get creek?

Obiagelli: Interesting read, i have always wanted to spend 2wks Christmas holiday driving around Nigeria "but fear of armed robbers no gree me" yankari would definately be fun. I hope some day soon Nigeria would return to its pride.