₦airaland Forum

Jute or saluyot leaves (called ewedu
among the Yoruba and rama among
the Hausa and their Fulbe
neighbours) are used as a food
source in many parts of the world.
It is a popular vegetable in West
Africa and is not just rich in
nutrition but also has a lot of health
benefits, including protecting us
from various diseases. Nutrition-
wise, vegetables are low in calories
but high in vitamins and minerals.
They are also good sources of fibre.
Fibre keeps the intestinal tract in
good health and may even reduce
the risk of some cancers and
diseases.
The leaves contain almost all of the
nutrients needed by humans and are
high in antioxidant property,
primarily in the form of Vitamin E.
These antioxidants combine with
free radicals that cause health
problems like arthritis, hardening of
arteries, heart and kidney ailments
and inhibit the harmful and
destructive effects of these
radicals.
It is also used as herbal medicine to
control or prevent dysentery, worm
infestation and constipation. Ewedu
leaves are rich in vitamins,
carotinoids, calcium, potassium and
dietary fibres. Although it has been
grown for food, in recent times it
has been discovered that ewedu
has many other benefits, including
anti-ageing benefits.
Ewedu as vegetable and medicine
Studies have shown that this green,
leafy vegetable is rich in beta-
carotene for good eyesight, iron for
healthy red blood cells, calcium for
strong bones and teeth, and vitamin
C for smooth, clear skin, strong
immune cells, and fast wound-
healing. Vitamins A, C and E present
in ewedu “sponge up” free radicals,
scooping them up before they can
commit cellular sabotage. As a
vegetable, it contains an abundance
of antioxidants that have been
associated with protection from
chronic diseases such as heart
disease, cancer, diabetes, and
hypertension as well as other
medical conditions.
Ayurvedics (ancient Hindu system
of healing) use the leaves for
ascites, pain, piles, and tumours.
Elsewhere, the leaves are used for
cystitis, dysuria, fever, and
gonorrhoea. The cold infusion is said
to restore the appetite and
strength.
Ewedu and weight loss
The green leaf has been described
as a source of weight loss. Serving
ewedu without meat or fish only has
97 calories. So, for those trying to
lose some weight, include ewedu in
your diet.
Ewedu for pregnant women
This jute leaf has been known to be
a remedy for pregnant women
experiencing prolonged labour.
When a pregnant woman is
experiencing prolonged labour, a
bunch of ewedu leaves squeezed
with the stem can be given to her
to drink. It has also been
discovered to aid milk secretion in
lactating mothers.
ROOT

Al Mustpaha would not want
Nigerians to believe all the tales
they have heard about him,
particularly when he was the chief
security officer to the late
maximum ruler. These were just
campaign of calumny, he said. In his
words, “By nature and contrary to
the campaign that I suffered from
or I am still suffering from,
distortion about my type of
character and personality is what
gave a kind of impression to some
people who do not know me. I don’t
keep people away, I do not harass
people, I show love, I show care, I
show concern to people, whether I
know you or I do not.”
In a low tone, he said while he was
in government people didn’t know
much of me. Apparently trying to
correct the impression that he was
a tin god and that merciless military
officer whose words were as
powerful as those of the
commander in chief whom he served
as his chief security officer, Al
Mustapha said: “They only could
hear my name and see what I was
doing because I kept away from
publicising myself. Some who out of
jealousy believed that I was
blocking their negative activities
against mankind, formed a force, a
force to present a diferent Al
Mustapha. The me you see, that is
the me that was, that is. No
change. I always can go out of my
way to support, to help, to show
care. That is the way I have been
and that was the way I was brought
up. You know him ( pointing at Hadi),
when you see him that is the way
you see me.
“That was the way I was all along. I
have never charged an officer, I
have never charged a soldier. I
have never written and charged one
and I don’t have that policy. I don’t
also take a soldier to guardroom. I
have never done so. You know what
I do? If you commit an offence and
you are a soldier, I will show you my
anger that what you did is wrong
and then I will now hand you over to
an instructor to teach you that
aspect that I know you are lacking.
That is why anywhere I command, I
had the training team always at
work. So they get you retrained. So
if you take that retraining as
punishment, then there is
misunderstanding about what the
profession is all about”.
But why are people milling around
him? From the moment he was
released from prison to his arrival
at Kano airport, he has continued to
attract a large crowd. Even right in
his office building, young men were
seen around him. Responding to this
question, Al Mustapha went down
memory lane. He said: “The youths
you see that are hanging around,
their activities started since 1984,
registering them out of nothing,
moulding them to have something of
their own, owning their own
associations, promoting their
activities from the little contacts I
have had in government since ‘84.
“Some of them have grown big
today. Some of them are senior
lecturers in universities,
polytechnics, some are senior civil
servants, some are in paramilitary
today. Those are the activities I
have been doing all alone. But I am
not the type that will make noise
about what I do. I do it in the name
of God and I do it for the country.
For those of them who had been
benefitting from what I have been
doing and now that I have my
liberty right now, they are those
that you see around.”
But if he had done so much, why is
it that all we hear about him are
stories of brutal use of state
power? He paused for a while and
then went on to adduce reasons for
this: “It is simply because we are
not the talking type. When we do,
we do it in the name of God.
Otherwise, I think we can claim to
be among those who will say that
these philanthropic activities have
occupied our programmes. That is
why you keep seing people around.
Besides, the youths actually, many
of them who were less than ten
yesterday are today active
teenagers. Some of them were in
their early twenties right when I
left, they are very senior youth
leaders today in the country. They
know what they inherited in
different organisations in the
North and South put together.
That is why you see them coming all
the time.”
His detention was a sort of school
of life for him, as he maintained
that there were precious lessons he
learnt in those difficult years.
Responding to a question on what he
learnt in detention, he said, “I have
learnt so many things. First, I had
opportunity of deep reflection,
reading, and then coming from the
state of hopelessness to look at
Nigeria from that point of view and
see activities of some institutions,
particularly against the poor where
some of the institutions from that
point of view of hopelessness,
constitute themselves as grinding
machines against the poor.”
On what he missed most during his
detention, Al Mustapha paused for
a few seconds and then sighed
before sounding philosophical.
“Once you take somebody’s liberty,
then you have taken everything. If
you give a man everything and you
take away his liberty, you have
taken away everything,” he said.
Questions about his family were no-
go-areas as he pleaded that he was
emotional about it. Is family is too
dear to him, he said.
Twenty minutes had passed and
there were still questions to be
asked. But I needed to catch a
flight back to Lagos. There were
also several people in the waiting
room, all of whom I met there.
After being assured of further
opportunities for more
interractions, I hopped into my car,
and off I headed for the airport...
waiting for another opportunity to
come back to have him recount his
days in the corridors of power.
http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/al-mustapha-i-m-just-learning-how-to-use-mobile-phone-ipad/162084/

Since his release by a court
weeks ago, after about 15 years
in detention, Major Hamza Al
Mustapha, chief security officer
to late former Head of State,
General Sani Abacha, has been
striving to catch up with things
that are in vogue. In this
encounter with Tokunbo Adedoja,
this erstwhile powerful man in the
nation’s seat of power, speaks on
what he has been doing since he
gained his freedom and also
reveals his other side that is
unknown to many
It was a Wednesday evening and
there was traffic snarl around the
Federal Secretariat in Abuja, as I
made my way to a location on a
street somewhere around Garki
area. On one of the plots on that
street, is a storey building with a
relatively high perimeter fence and
a fleet of about seven vehicles,
including an SUV marked NPF. Some
youngmen, likely in their early 30s,
were seen discussing just by the
front door of the building. The main
entrance leads to a room which has
all the features of a reception,
though finishing touches were still
being put on the internal fittings.
Four youngmen, three in jackets and
one in caftan, stood behind what
looked like a front desk or a
security checkpoint. But with a
known face leading the way, it was
straight to the stairway that leads
to the first floor. In the small
waiting room on that floor were
three men who were holding a
conversation in hausa. They looked
like they were in their 40s. Just
then, a familiar face walked in. He
wore a caftan with a cap to match.
It was Ibrahim Abacha, son of late
General Abacha. The two men who
were sitting immediately stood up
and greeted him. Uttering few
words in hausa, he exchanged
pleasantries with everybody in the
room before taking his leave.
I was then ushered into a relatively
expansive office. It had a TV, a
sofa and a love chair on one side and
on the right side of the door was a
desk, three visitors chairs, and a
book shelf sparsely stocked. Sitting
behind the desk was Major Hamza
Al-mustapha, former chief security
officer to late Head of State,
General Sani Abacha. He wore a
green caftan with a cap to match. I
took my seat just directly in front
of him, sandwiched by his younger
brother, Hadi, and a friend. After
the exchange of pleasantries, I
went straight to the point. “I am
here to find out how you are fairing
and catching up since your release”,
I said.
He chuckled, looked straight into
my eyes, then with a slight grin, he
began a long story of his life
outside prison: “Well, when I lost
my freedom, I was incarcerated for
so long. Now that God Almighty has
brought me out, I want to catch up
with the digitalised world. Since I
came out, I have been a student.
Everybody around me is a teacher.
I am learning, right from the
capacity to manage telephones,
Ipad - the one you are holding -
computer, the children are teaching
me, my friends are teaching me
even other means of communication,
all aspects of the social media. I am
just a student. I am reading hard
also to catch up with some other
activities that I believe that I
should get my mind accustomed to.
I am being talked to by different
groups everyday, knowing their
issues, the objectives of their
associations, all these put
together.”
“You mean you are just learning
about how to use mobile phones,
computers and Ipad?”, I asked in a
surprise tone, having read news
stories about his life of luxury in
detention.
“I hadn’t access to any of such
things”, he said. Sensing that it
would be difficult for me to believe,
he went on to buttress his claim: “I
was in solitary cell. You can’t have
access to some of those things. All
you can have is your capacity to
operate within your own limitations
depending on the state of your
offence. For nine years, seven
months, I was also in different
prisons. Ikoyi maximum security
prison and Kuje prison in Abuja. I
had a series of restrictions
unknown to prison laws.
Deliberately, some restrictions
were created for me alone. Out of
50,000 inmates in Nigeria, you could
not see me without passport size
photograph, you must have an
application, you must leave your
phone number or your full address
and you are being visited by
security agencies to know who you
are and why you visited. And even
while there, you have your visitors
under the eyes of the prison staff,
they listen, and monitor everything
you do and submit report. That
started right from 1999. So, I
hadn’t the kind of freedom that you
think.”
Recalling some of the reports that
made headlines at different times
during his incarceration, Al
Mustapha said: “There were several
times that allegations came that we
all were staying in Sheraton Hotel,
that was in Lagos. At one time, they
changed it and said Durbar Hotel.
They came and investigated, we
were there (in prison). What used
to worry those in authority then
was that we never came to court in
very clumsy or ranshackled manner,
according to some people’s
expectations. We were always
coming to court clean.
“So, investigations were done and
they realised that we never moved
an inch. Out of the entire fifteen
years I stayed, it was only one
occassion that I was unconscious. I
didn’t know. When I woke up, I
found myself in Navy hospital in the
immediate neighbouring barracks to
maximum security prison. That was
the only time I can tell you that I
was taken to the hospital. And if
that is pleasure, that is a wrong
definition of pleasure. As soon as I
was treated, I was returned back.
That was 2011. The issue of
pleasure, certainly no. And if
anybody visited and still see us
smiling, it was because we trusted
in God Almighty. Our faith in God
Almighty is undoubted. If you are
talking to me and I have a little
breath, I will smile.”
For him, there has not been any dull
moment since he left prison. From
dawn till dusk, he is engaged in one
activity or the other. “You see, I
work almost round the clock
listening to different groups,
reading about so many issues
presented before me,” he said,
adding, “I have also pyschologically
prepared myself that I am but a
student. I am catching up fast.”
Speaking further, he said, “Like
today, I had eight meetings with
eight different groups. The time is
5.15pm, from the hour of 10, I have
had eight meetings. Four were from
the South; one, their leadership
came from Ghana, they are
managing Nigerian association in
Ghana, and then three were from
the North. To me, I do not select, I
don’t segregate, everybody is mine.”
He also disclosed that he had Al
Mustapha Foundation which he
founded as far back as 1987. “The
motor is service to humanity. And I
didn’t tell anybody that I am into
many services, the foundation is
into many things in different
communities - education,
reformation, renovation of schools
and then scholarship,
transportation that are very low
rate.”

Flood is a natural disaster. Only baba loke fit control ds kain flood.

225milla naira ? Afefe ti fe ati ri furo adiye

Hmmmmm Good

.

Hmmmmm, i having been thinking about the deactivation also but since am not really into tech so i cant say. Let see how it goes

They should keep on having meeting upon meeting , the outcome will surely be Zero. Okorocha ur head dy dre

Basic summary is dath life of a serving political office holder is far more important that ordinary Nigerians that roam the street.

Hmmmmm 225million naira ? God punish all dos dat waste Nigeria

FG : I guess APC and co sent their pple to break the roofs so that it can leak

@ Engr musiwa, thanks 4 ur canadian contribution
@topic, ds is what happen when u failed to kontrol dat john thomas or u failed to use durex or u prefer flesh to flesh

[quote author=BushyA55.Banger]u appear jobless, ur posts are annoying.[/quote]what else can i say than Thank You

Very Nice write up but dont tell me nonsense

atlwireles: WHAT ARE THESE PEOPLE DOING IN GOVERNMENT

Next Year Jamb question. Who appointed them ?

When i saw ds topic , i tot it was musiwa dat create d thread
@topic, ok, more to cme from western 9ja

theoctopus: You mean trying to acquire the whole of Lagos? You mean converting state resources to themselves? You mean going to USA to do knee surgery after 14 years of ACN in Lagos? They are really trying.

lygn19: LoL...don't mind d MUMU's let them be there shouting Eko Oni Baje o... While Tinubu and his FoolSHOLA re converting busy flying abroad for ordinary headache and knee surgery...lol

the most luckiest man in Nigeria politics today ( from Dep Gov to Presi) is GEJ yet his wife went to Germany for treatment, where she die 7 times before she finally woke up, on that case talk another one.
@topic, ds ur source se na nollywood directors get dat site ?

[quote author=BushyA55.Banger]nairaland medicine? Cos i doubt if u can ever cope with medicine.[/quote]Proud of My Profession "Veterinarian"

Yep, dou i neva plan to study my moniker but my fada influence it . Well to d glory of God am enjoying it.

Record are meant to be broken. Emenike all da best. Future African and World Best Player. Love his style of play

STILL LAWMA JOINT, so no problem

Even in Borno, the next thing on my mind is next available flight to Maiduguri.

Nice 1

Y is he eating 1billion naira ?

theshadyexpress: your IQ=0

thank U but u&i know what is realistic in ds country from now till next year. Learn to talk with mature mind not abusing. Get latest upgrade bro

its has been long i heard the word CABAL. Ok , God pass them. Rotimi boy continue ur job jare

Are PDP still in Anambra Gov race ?

I love ds FG comedy news

Resign ? Can a political officer resign in Nigeria ? Yet ASUU strike still continues, Corruption 2019, thanks to fresh air