₦airaland Forum

You cannot deceive people by using another company's trademark. Not legal or ethical.

Uwadiegwu1: Hoodboi - To my understanding, i don't think Craigslist.com.ng is saying that the website is owned or operated by Craigslist.org. I believe the owner is trying to create something like it for Africans. Looking at the video posted here, it indicates Craigslist Type" finally in Africa. This is what I believe and i have contacted the owner to advise on name change before the main Craigslist come after them. Mind you anyone can answer Craig and call his business any name especially if it is a foreign country. Though, it is a trademark infringement especially if the websites are in the same country. Think of Groupon that was cloned in India and China with the same name, design etc. You have Jumia.com and now and much more. Coming to your idea, it is nice and be careful of people stealing your idea before yours come out. I know and understand that it is common in our country Nigeria. To me, whatever idea you have, just bring it out to reality. Do you know that i had the idea of a website called Fiverr.com and before i could make that move it was already out. Now the website has raised over 20 million dollars(Techcrunch). Smart niche and idea now with extras that enables them make extra money too and the users as well. You have millions of sites like that now. Think of Pinterest too, you have so many of them cloned with even the same name around the globe. All i am saying is that the owner of Craigslist.com.ng is not wayo, he is out for business just like Nairaland and others. Maybe he is trying to drive cloud/traffic to the site by using Craigslist.com.ng?

Thanks

You cannot take someone else's trademark and use it as your own name, that is illegal, and is not acceptable under ANY circumstances whatsoever. He can call his site anything else and make it look like Craiglist, that's fine. Using their name and trademark is not.

Uwadiegwu1: Chief06 - why are you guys saying that Craigslist.com.ng is a wayo site. Well, i know the dude that owns the website and looking at what he has there he has done a great job. Hopefully, it will be best for him to change the name to avoid lawsuit or dismissal. This is the problem Nigerians have on each other, never to cherish what others have or done , but you want someone to thank you for your effort and ideas. I wish the owner can see what you said about his site and decide what to tell you. I like the site and there is nothing wrong with it.

I am just saying my mind.

Thanks

Google Plus? Just set up a google plus page. Earnings, putting in adsense application is where you start. Traffic, post quality content and get back links by putting your url in replies at other sites and ask site owners to link back to your site, web design, look at the templates and figure out which one you want.


Got more questions, please ask.

Nma28: Came across dis post and found it useful. I run a blog: www.maryjanemake-upartistry..com. I need assistance on how to get connected to : google+, earnings, arrange my template, draw traffic, follow other blog and any other stuff. I blog about beauty and makeup. Someone pls help.

N5 per fan? What manner of exorbitant pricing is this? If you know where to look, you can get 250k followers for N700

nairawall: I can give you thousands of real facebook fans or twitter followers at N5 per fan or followers.

Your situation is an anomaly. GoDaddy is great with such things. But why go through them for a webhosting plan, when you can get a 99c domain from them?

blushmg: After announcing a free domain with a web hosting plan bought, they didnt give me the free domain after i paid them. I complained and the money was refunded into my account so i wont be able to cash out! Now they say i should pay for the domain and they will give me a refund...i am sure it will also be a refund i cant spend anywhere else but their website. Isn't that stealing by trick?

Not true about Reddit. My Reddit account had 16k + Karma before I gave up on it (it's still there). My Digg account had things hit the front page pretty much every day before I gave up on that one too, b4 the redesign. Traffic from both of those sources DOES not convert. They come, they look and they vanish...

Dkaz: We have already mentioned in another post how to leverage social media to position your site. At that time we talked about the English site Cmo.com and guide to the panorama of social media that it proposes (Guide to the social media landscape).

We saw in detail how the ten examined social media can help in the positioning of your site, by assigning a score to each of them (good, okay and bad).

The guide Cmo analyzes social media from other points of view of customer communications, brand exposure and traffic to your site.

https://www.okaztle.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/social-media.png
In this post, taking up the leadership of CMO.com, we examine the usefulness of social media in terms of Web traffic.

Let’s start off by Twitter: The microblogging site gets an average score. The promotion of your site on Twitter to be successful should be, by the CMO, weighted: we must not promote your website too in order not to lose “followers”, but at the same time, we must promote it enough to get the attention the user.

Facebook has an average score: got traffic to your site through social Zuckerberg is discreet thanks to the sharing buttons, but, says the guidance of Cmo, do not expect a large number of unique visitors using Facebook.

Flickr has, however, a bad score: even if they arrive tens of thousands of visits to a picture that links to our URL, the number of clicks that come through the site Flickr are still among the lowest.

Also LinkedIn has a score bad: it is unlikely that social bring significant traffic to the site, but the guide says, you never know which of those few visits, for some it might be a potential customer or a consumer.

YouTube has an average score: traffic got through that social media is discrete. The web traffic, in fact, have the most popular videos, but not the site you want to visit, even if you can add a link in the video description, it will be difficult to have a large number of requests through this instrument.
 
In the sector of social media is also analyzed Digg: The social news CMO.com is defined by the “grandfather of peak traffic,” according to the guide to reach the highest rating (good).
If you are active in the community because of Digg, or if you are in contact with someone who is, you can receive lots of visits to your site. If you want to push the site that it is business, you have to consider the idea of ​​launching a blog with a domain to become a non-commercial “thought leaders” on Digg.
In fact CMO.com has been right: if the contents posted are becoming popular, the traffic visits your site will increase dramatically.

Also StumbleUpon reaches the maximum score: the site allows for a diverse range of people to discover your content and share links with Twitter.

Finally, Yahoo Buzz, Reddit and Delicious achieve all three in an average score. Here’s why: on Yahoo Buzz if you end up in the good graces of the moderators, you can have a chance to reach large numbers of visitors, but, of course, you need a lot of work.

For Reddit, (Which has an average score) if you are well placed in the community, then the results in terms of traffic to the site could be like those that correspond to Digg and Stumble Upon. Reddit, however we must be careful not to push too hard to get votes from friends, because you risk being banned (even if you do not work for nothing in this direction will take you to also end up with a fist-handed).

It remains, finally, Delicious: also the social bookmarks reaches an average score because you have to enter a large number of contents to get a significant number of visitors to its site.
In summary, the sites that reach the maximum score for the traffic you are able to bring to your site, the social news Digg and StumbleUpon.

They reach, however, an average score: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, YahooBuzz, [/b]Reddit[/b] and Delicious. On these sites you have to struggle to achieve results in terms of web traffic: with due precaution, and with a little ‘time available to work on it, you can also achieve good results.
Among the sites recommended not to use to increase your web traffic we are, finally, Flickr and LinkedIn. Source: How To Increase Your Site Traffic With The Use Of Social Media

You have to pay for the dotcom and you have to pay for hosting. You don't have to pay to move it, just zip and transfer.

/templates

http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/

lekanblaze: These are the big questions,

1. How do I move my wordpress site to a dotcom (without upgrading or paying).
2. where can I get entertainment themes/templates that are fully modifiable. Any wordpress expert here!
----Your help would go a long way, Thank you.-------

Oh my

eGuerrilla: Someone's decided to lend credence to the old maxim which situates imitation as the best form of flattery?

I see Ebere Ude is also Craig Ude here


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiGh04w0KP0

Negative

There is NO craiglist sub-genre for Nigeria, this craiglist http://www.Craigslist.com.ng is a rip off. Really shameful when you consider the ramifications.

The wayo site is owned by one Ebere Ude

Gooogle: God bless you, the same question i asked ooo.

Nigeria has more than 44 million web users, there are 110 million active cell phone lines in Nigeria, Plus offices plus etc. I think number is closer to 60 - 70 million

occam: I can attest to that. I was very surprised at the lack of awareness and knowledge about the web. Even some people working in the banks or service sector, do not get the business potential.

Though Nigeria has 44 million web users, my guess is majority spend less than an hour each day surfing. Bandwidth and connectivity issues still remain

Most will never, ever, ever trust their mission critical data to a data center run by a 3rd party in Nigeria, that is like trusting your diamond necklace to a person wearing it around her neck in Dugbe market. Too many factors against building a safe, secure and viable datacenter in most parts of Nigeria today.[quote author=Sky-walker]I feel that will be too expensive for Nigerian companies. My advise is if he has the money,he should build a data center.Reduce his price to that of other popular vendors. The downside is also electricity, bandwidth and also security.[/quote]

Reselling would make more sense, but why go with you when I can go directly with AWS or the Big G or whomever?

powerblaze: Cloud its great as a ' 3D' storage server.. Though i'd think you should just rent a huge space from corporate cloud firms like google, and be a reseller.. Or something like that.. Also, rather than just store files, why not add something more dynamic, like a software solution with back end cloud support.. Like an, sql server on the cloud.. Pm me.. We could work out something

Free vs. paid is a matter of the deal one works out. AWS is paid but you get the same for free on a lower scale. Same service, Google Drive is free to a certain extent and paid beyond that.

[quote author=Sky-walker]You wrong. Free clouds services are not supposed to be used in companies.Most companies will prefer a paid subscription which ensure that thier data is secured. Also for companies who wants to store their data offsite and not with popular vendors will want to go for his service[/quote]

Every area imaginable. These companies have server farms and 99.999% uptime guarantees, and can run numerous apps at the same time. With one measly server run by you how do you hope to compete? Except all yoru customers are on a LAN in your apartment, cost of running your business will put you out of business. [quote author=.NET]ok. about the competition with Amazon and Google, I don't think that will be a problem for me o. I will offer something different (at least in the early stage) - ERP cloud Hosting. SAP seems to be the most popular in this Country, so I am talking with them on how this can be achieved.

On the issue of Power, we are talking Engineers to design and install good-quality Solar Panels with Inverters.

Please tell me other areas that I might fail. Thank you bros.

.NET

[/quote]

you are wasting both time and money . Cloud with the cloud based in Nigeria? Sorry, but you're setting yourself up for failure. google Drive, Box, the box, amazon cloud are too big too be beaten by a startup with one server, in epileptic power supply in Nigeria [quote author=.NET]I am building a business model on Enterprise Cloud Computing. A Cloud site where clients and businesses can store files in a server and use at will. But first, I want to start by re-selling ERP applications like SAP to Businesses (at a cheaper rate) on the Cloud through my site.

I'll be buying the servers from Dell by October this year(mehn, these machines are really expensive o). We intend to kick off Cloud operations by January 2014.

Please feel free to ask me questions about this. Also analyse what I've described and tell me the pitfalls to avoid.

.NET[/quote]

IrokoTv is not worth 30 million dollars. They are not even profitable I.e revenue exceeding expenses ... only mainstream Nigeria focused Internet properties that are profitable and financially viable ie they can afford to hire staff and work out of office space are NairaLand, LindaIkeji and BellaNaija.

Getting investor money does not make you profitable, borrowing money to stay afloat does not make you profitable either. Thats why I SMH @ IrokoTv Guy buying range rover for himself and what not.

Internet is a business and works like any other, you have to be in for the long haul and be prepared to grind it out.

personally, I'd never advice anyone to get investors or VF if they can afford not to.

PapaBrowne: Are you guys serious? After reading the posts on this thread, I heard to be sure that the article wasn't from 2010-2011.

Haba, there are many Nigerian online businesses doing good.

Wakanow has turnover running into billions of Naira yearly and sorry, they are a web based.

Travelstart is another travel web business and they are doing good too although they came from SA.

Dealdey is doing pretty ok.

IrokoTV is big time and they are rumoured to be worth over 30 million dollars. Plus they received funding to the tune of 8 million dollars.

Nairaland sef dey try, even though I think he is making much less now than previously.

But how can you guys forget two big game changers that arrived in 2012- KONGA and JUMIA(Kasuwa).
I have no idea how much they do in sales, but its obvious with the amount they spend on advertising, they intend to do sales running into billions yearly.

There are a host of others making money. But the draw bag usually is that people have become accustomed to the free web. Almost everything is free online(Facebook, Google search, Email and a host of other services). To get people to pay for the services you are offering, you have to provide a compelling solution to an existing need such that it beats flat out the solution provided by offline businesses.

Crazy is an understatement lol


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcXvZ6z56-s

Source http://www.9jalife.com/2012/12/29/an-open-letter-to-dbanj-on-his-koko-concert-fiasco-apology/#ixzz2GT6xePsG


Dear D’Banj,
Let me commend you for a great show, I was able to watch it live over the internet from NYC , and for what it’s worth, I really think you did a good job putting it together. Having said that, I want to talk to you about the apology you issued.
While I’m not going to disparage you for apologizing, nowhere in your apology do you take any personal responsibility for the logistics fiasco that the Koko Concert was marred by, instead what you did do is pass the buck and blame ‘The Logistics Crew’ for dropping the ball. Consequently, your apology sounds more like a PR statement to show you’ve apologized than a sincere display of contrition.
Just in case you’ve forgotten, here’s what you put out on Twitter earlier this morning:

D'banj kokomaster
✔
@iamdbanj
To all my great FANS that came out for me. Words cant express my gratitude and love for u guys. I apologise to everyone for any inconv...
29 Dec 12 ReplyRetweetFavorite
D'banj kokomaster
✔
@iamdbanj
Inconvenience, most especially the trek to jerusalem. Logistics crew were overwhelmed by the crowd turn out and traffic made adapting hard.
29 Dec 12 ReplyRetweetFavorite
D'banj kokomaster
✔
@iamdbanj
I send out my sincere apologies especially for the fact that you still came and made the show a Great success. I promise there won't be a re
29 Dec 12 ReplyRetweetFavorite
D'banj kokomaster
✔
@iamdbanj
Repeat of what happened. Measures are being taken to guarantee that. Again thank you and God bless. There can't be Dbanj without u guys,love
29 Dec 12 ReplyRetweetFavorite

D’Banj, you organized the show, you attached your name to it, and you were the reason people invested their irreplaceable time and hard earned money to support the project. When everything went to hell in a handbasket, the blame rested squarely on YOUR shoulders. To blame the “logistics crew” for being overwhelmed is a very unwarranted low blow against folks who worked for YOU within the parameters YOU set up.

To reiterate, not one person who attended the concert or watched it from around the world did so because of ‘the logistics crew’, most of us did because of you, Dapo ‘D’Banj’ Oyebanjo. Consequently, to regain our trust and maintain our respect, we would have expected you to man up, take personal responsibility and move on.

Always remember this maxim that many great leaders live by: “Victory lies with the entire team , failure is the fault of the leader.” Plain and simple.

D’Banj I’m rooting for you and I’m sure many other people are, keep rocking!

Warm regards,
Mr. Aye Dee

Ran across this... Interesting...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2JWP-arjVM

Found it here...

http://www.9jalife.com/2012/12/26/new-vlog-toke-makinwa-high-or-low-standards-who-cares/

Sourcehttp://www.9jalife.com/2012/12/22/leaked-memo-nigeria-police-force-npf-issues-arrest-guidelines-for-20122013/#ixzz2Foak4uYP

Force HQ,
Abuja, Nigeria

To simplify the arrest making process for officers and men of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) for the year 2012/2013 here are general guidelines to go by:

Please be aware that those arrested need not be involved in the crime, they just have to be in the vicinity of the crime committed, vicinity in this case encompasses an area covering 20 Sq Kilometers.

The left column has the crime (C), the right has the corresponding number of ‘Suspects’ (S) to arrest.

Disorderly Conduct by Non-VIP | Arrest 3 – 7

Disorderly Conduct by VIP | Arrest No One

Theft from Non VIP | Arrest 5 – 10

Theft from VIP | Arrest 10-15 (Include all domestic staff)

Traffic Offense by Non VIP (Non Commercial) | Arrest everybody in the Vehicle

(C) Traffic Offense by Non VIP (Commercial) | Arrest everybody in the Vehicle

(C) Traffic offense by VIP | Except bigger VIP is there e.g. Governor, Arrest no one

(C) Armed Robbery against Non VIP | Arrest 12-15 (Parade them as an ‘Armed Robbery Gang’, display some random weapons on the ground as being found on them)

(C) Armed Robbery against VIP | Arrest 20-30 (Include all domestic staff and their extended families, parade them as an ’Armed Robbery Gang’ and their accomplices, display some random heavy duty weapons as being found on them)

(C) Kidnapping of Non VIP | Arrest 20 – 30

(C) Kidnapping of VIP | Arrest 30 – 75 (All adults in the nearest village, all domestic staff, all junior office staff, do not release them till victim has been released)

(C) Murder of Non VIP | Arrest 10 – 15

(C) Murder of VIP | Arrest 150 – 250 (Including all living human beings and animals that came in contact with the victim in the last 6 months to 2 years, as a bonus arrest all those who claim to know those arrested).

Please be aware that if some of those to be arrested in any of the above categories are politicians or other VIPs they are automatically exempt from arrest, except orders come ‘above’

Signed IG

A heavy cloak of mourning falls on the nation once more today as news of Governor Sullivan Chime’s death filters in.
A reliable source who confirmed his death to SouthEastNigeria.com said he gave up the ghost an hour ago in India. (9pm Nigerian Time)
His Excellency, the late Governor Sullivan Chime had battled an undisclosed illness for months. When citizens began questioning his prolonged absence from Enugu, the official story was that he was on a long vacation accrued over a period of 5 years.
May his soul rest in peace.
More details shortly.


http://www.9jalife.com/2012/12/15/governor-sullivan-chime-of-enugu-state-allegedly-dies-in-india/#ixzz2FA6USSLH

Incoming links is the way to rank higher for keywords, that's the best way to increase incoming traffic...

berekete86: I read all these posts with my eyes open. I must say, I've been living under a rock! My fellow bloggers, I humbly beg u all, I am on my knees o, no be shakara, Abeg HOW do I increase my blog traffic? That's all I ask. Adsense can come later. Please guys, just direct me. I keep checking online and see the same thing. Pls how do u do it? Is there a site u direct the traffic from? Pls help! Sincerely: frustrated blogger

You don't need to be a web designer.

lofty900: blogging is lucrative from what i hear. But wat i want 2 ask the gurus is this. I want to start a blog but i dont know how 2 design a website. Must i be a webdesigner to start blogging ? If no how can i just go about it. Reply me. Lofty900@gmail.com.

No problem.

ribechi: Listen dude, i ain't gaming the system. What makes one succeed? Isn't it knowing how something works and playing by the way it works? I am sure you do understand now what i mean.

Understand how it works play by the rules (which includes exploiting the weaknesses of some rules). You will definitely come out clean. SIMPLE AS THAT.

My guy we run over 200 sites... Oldest of which have been around for close to a decade. I speak from practical experience. You want to make it in the game, provide what people want to see, and let them come to you because they want to, not because you're gaming the system.

ribechi: Lol. Did i just hear you say everything is by book? Lol. Oh please wake up. I talking from practical point of view.


One day those books will tell you adsense isn't working again and you will believe them hookline and sinker.


I just showed a few exact steps i used for mine and you are trying to debunk it. Why don't you stick to what fits you and make the uncountable changes you have been making ok? And let me stick with mine.

YOu've had 557 visitors as per your stat counter. All your content is very low on the monetization scale, what kind of earnings do you expect to get out of that?

Revolva: Well you guys should help me out what best adsense package apart from google which has over banned me - I just included Chitika on my site and signed up for hotels affiliates ave been a publisher for addynamo but na wa o no earnings pls a guru should visit my site its on ma signature ok

This is precisely why folks fail. Why do you need to game google? Build quality content, optimize it properly, be in for the long haul. Over the years we've made more money than I can count, and everything is by the book.

ribechi: Alright like i stated before how much make from my adsense, i am still not going to give out details to my site because this thread, i am very sure is already ranking on the google search engine.


But all i can say to your guys is that I am still leaving off Google's weakness... You cant buy traffic for your adsense leaving the traffic bare. Your click-thru rate will go off the ceiling and Google will notice that then ban you. Even when i send traffic to my website, i limit the click-thru rate. Any click-thru rate above 10% of you traffic will get Google staff to ban you immediately or soon.


I spread the Click-thrus over the week. I also use high paying keywords for my adsense site. Trust me i blank the referal traffic so i come out clean. Made some couple withdrawals and got banned. I have two adsense account now and doing the same thing on one. When I hit $1000 i wil withdraw it. I am being patient.

Talking about click-thrus, if for instance you have 300visits on your site, it is expected by Google that you get at most 30 clicks or less on the adsense. Anything more will cost you your account.

If you use high paying keywords like say $1.50 or more per click, 30 clicks will get you $45 per day and that multiplied by 30days is $1,350. So easy.

So the point is this:

- Buy traffic

- Blank your traffic source

- Monitor your clickthru rate

- Look for a way to make sure there are clicks (most importantly.)


This is how far i can give out my secret. I can't reveal everything I do.

I hope you have learnt it. Everything has to do with understanding.

Thanks.

Interesting Discussion.

Bear in mind for monetization, metric to use is:

Content
Traffic Source
Page Views

Rule of thumb, for every 1,000 visitors you have you can expect to make $2-5 from Adsense. Of course if you sell links, advertising directly, etc, you'll make more.

Adsense bans folks for violating Adsense TOS, you don't violate it you don't get banned. It's quite simply

Incidentally, If you have a social themed site adsense pays out less than if you have a tech or finance based site. My company has about 200+ sites, and I've been in the industry for close to a decade. So ask questions, I'll answer to the best of my ability.



http://www.15past8.com

Being followed by handles that don't have real people behind them?

omodapson: Either way, they are still being followed. No be so?

http://www.9jalife.com/2012/08/27/exposed-nigerian-celebrities-with-the-highest-number-of-fake-twitter-followers-2/

As Twitter continues to grow in popularity, more and more Nigerian celebs use the number of followers they have as a badge to show how ‘popular’ and ‘relevant’ they are. In fact, the more followers a celeb has and the more relevant s/he is perceived as being, the more money s/he stands to make, as s/he can convert this ‘popularity’ status into endorsements, higher fees for concerts/appearances, and other financial and ego benefits (more followers) from the ‘gullible’ public and corporations.

Gaining such popularity is easy, as Twitter followers can be obtained at the miniscule rate of N1,000 for as many as 5,000 followers. Searching google for “buy Twitter followers” turns up hundreds of Web sites like TwitterStreet.com, followermrket.com, and intertwitter.com all of whom provide followers at a price, since 9ja no dey carry last, local Twitter follower merchants like @Demolaexpoze have also emerged, offering to:

“sell you another indulgence::. Be it Brands, Models, Upcoming artistes, Actors, Entertainment Moguls, Icon of references, New Portfolios, Celebrities, Personalities, Icon, Politician or whatever, this is an opportunity to buy Twitter followers in Nigeria for just N1 (one naira) per follower, act fast and boost your fan base”



Which begs the question, which sharp celebs have ‘indulged’ and jam-packed their Twitter account with fake followers?

For the record we can’t prove or disprove that anyone has paid for fake twitter followers or obtained them via other means, we however feel that thousands of fake followers don’t attach themselves to random twitter accounts on their own volition, but that’s just us.

All we’re doing is presenting our findings while allowing you to reach your own conclusions.

With fake followers ranging from 2% to 71% for Nigerian celebs, We are certain the results will surprise you as much as they surprised us.

http://www.9jalife.com/2012/08/18/new-video-review-vicotvs-why-evils-remake-produced-by-donjazzy/

About a year ago, supersite notjustOk.com teamed up with Don Jazzy to host the #Enigma beat competition. Lots of people entered and it was eventually won by IBK. A year later, and another entrant, the indomitable Vic O, has just released a music video to accompany his entry in the now closed competition.

Produced by (THE) Don Jazzy, but directed and edited by Vic O himself, this video has what it takes to become the stuff of legend, it’s one of those things that once seen cannot be unseen nor can it be forgotten.

https://www.9jalife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Vic-O-Why-Evils1.jpg

Either way, say what you want, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, when it comes to self esteem, no one, and I mean no one has Vic O beat. Do your thing boy!

Source http://www.9jalife.com/2012/07/19/oh-nigeria-my-experience-at-the-ikeja-cantonment/

Saturday the 14th of July is a day I’ll never forget. It was a day
that I realized that in Nigeria the more things change, the more they
go from bad to worse.

My wife and I were invited to a wedding reception at the Ikeja
Cantonment of the Nigerian Army. However, we weren’t just going as
regular guests, as I had been humbled by the bride and groom with a
request to be the Chairman of the Wedding reception. Not one to say
no, I agreed.

The wedding was due to start at 2pm; in light of the role I was to
play, and in order not to be the cause of any delay in the ceremony,
my wife and I made sure we got there before 2pm, we actually arrived
at 1:45pm.


Once we got to the gate, we were stopped by three security officers,
one had on a blue shirt with black trousers, one had on the green
apparel of the military police, and the third was in civilian
clothing. The officer in the blue uniform asked the driver to lower
the window so he could speak to him. The driver complied with the
request, only to be asked to lower the windows in the back as well so
he could speak to the people in the back seat ( my wife and I) .
Again, the driver complied.

At this point in time, the security man took a look at my wife, who
incidentally was dressed in Aso Ebi and then declared “Madam, you
cannot enter the barracks!”

“Why?” my confused wife asked, to which he replied “Can’t you see you
are Oyinbo, the Ministry of Defense has declared that no Oyinbo is
allowed to enter any military barracks and that is final!” “Kilode” my
wife replied in Yoruba, stating that she is Oyinbo in skin only,
having lived in Nigeria most of her life.

On my part, trying to appeal to his common sense, I asked him if it
would make a difference that my wife and I had been married for about
40 years, with 30 years of our union being spent residing in Nigeria,
and that she was also a Nigeran citizen by virtue of marriage. Getting
rude and impatient, the officer retorted by saying he doesn’t care if
she had been in Nigeria for 100 years, she was not coming in as “Oga
had given the order”. I asked if I could see the C.O, to which he
replied with a “No.”

I then proceeded to ask what his name was, to which he replied
“Intelligence at the gate is my name”, obviously getting impatient he
then indicated that I can come in, but my wife was barred, and if I
dared argue further, he would ensure our “vehicle got shattered with
bullets.”

The whole encounter left me wondering. Is it possible that one man at
the gate of a public institution can decide to unilaterally create
laws that go against the laws of the land? After all, nowhere in
Nigeria’s Constitution is freedom restricted based on skin color.

Ultimately, we decided to leave the officer at the gate to his own
devices, called the bride and groom to say we would not be able to
make it in, and went about doing what we had on our agenda for the
rest of the day.

Dr. Fola Daniyan