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 Politics › Re: ''chibok School Girls Rescued From Boko Haram, Exploitated " Wall Street Journal by Edygrin(op): 7:04pm On Apr 14, 2018 |
Mynd44 Nigerians need to know about this |
| Politics › ''chibok School Girls Rescued From Boko Haram, Exploitated " Wall Street Journal by Edygrin(op): 6:48pm On Apr 14, 2018 |
An article published today by the Wall Street Journal alleges that the Chibok school girls that have been rescued from Boko Haram captivity and relocated to the US have been exploited by several Non Governmental Organizations. Read the article below Four years ago, on a truck barreling toward the forest hideout of Boko Haram, teenager Kauna Bitrus made a desperate move to avoid the fate of the more than 200 other schoolgirls abducted from Chibok, Nigeria, that day. She jumped. When Kauna landed, months later, in the pine-shaded town of Grundy, Va., she was among the lucky few Chibok students awarded full scholarships and sanctuary at Christian academies in rural America. But here too, Ms. Bitrus and six of her classmates found themselves hostage to forces they couldn’t control. Thrust into the media spotlight by a prominent Nigerian human-rights lawyer, they say they were forced to relive their trauma to raise money and further political agendas in Washington. Eventually, they passed word in secret to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security with an urgent plea: We are Chibok students, held captive again. Get us out of here. By now, the story of the schoolgirls abducted by the Islamist insurgency in Northern Nigeria on April 14, 2014, has passed into the realm of legend. Millions of people, Michelle Obama and Pope Francis among them, joined the #BringBackOurGirls cause. There are still 112 missing. Meanwhile, a dozen young Nigerians found themselves in small-town America, shadowed by the celebrity of a night they wanted only to forget. The experience of the Chibok students who made it to the U.S., never fully reported, featured a former White House adviser, evangelical lobby groups and a cowboy hat-wearing congresswoman. Along the way, say many of those involved, the truth of what really happened became embellished as they fell into the custody of a local sponsor, Emmanuel Ogebe, a Nigerian human-rights lawyer and authority on what he termed a “Christian genocide” in his home country. The young women say he told them they could be shipped back there–and harmed—if they didn’t do what he said. “There were too many lies,” says Ms. Bitrus, who shuttled through schools in Virginia, Oregon and the Bronx before settling in a snow-covered New England town. “It’s like we were prisoners again.” The Wall Street Journal heard from several of the Chibok students in America, as well as their teachers, counselors, and families, along with officials from the DHS and Federal Bureau of Investigation. The Journal reviewed two reports written by the American schools they attended, as well as two undisclosed Nigerian governmental investigations that allege Mr. Ogebe and his Nigerian associates fraudulently exploited the ex-hostages for tens of thousands of dollars. “Mr. Ogebe generated a lot of money through these activities and never spent a dime to care for their well-being,” said one of two undisclosed Nigerian government reports accusing him of fraud, citing interviews with the young women and their caretakers. “The girls…accused him of using them as money minting machines.” Mr. Ogebe denies the accusations against him and says the young Nigerians have been turned against him by other actors eager to exploit them, ranging from Nigeria’s government, biographers looking to publish their story and a former adviser to George H. W. Bush who took two of them to meet President Donald Trump. He says the Chibok saga ultimately left him poorer. “This was a dirty operation and they did a lot of havoc and subterfuge,” he said in an interview. “It’s heartbreaking to a philanthropist and humanitarian when you see how heartless people can be.” Mr. Ogebe hasn’t been charged with any crime. The FBI in 2016 probed allegations he committed financial fraud, but didn’t pursue charges. Investigators found Mr. Ogebe had likely been keeping or misappropriating money he raised in the name of the Chibok students, but that he also spent some fraction of that money housing and transporting them, according to people familiar with the inquiry. That made it difficult to prosecute the case, the people said. Mr. Ogebe’s central counter-accusation—that some people in the U.S. are looking to milk the Chibok students for their story—rings true with the young women themselves who are looking for a community that will regard them as individuals, not symbols of global religious strife. Over and over again, they say they have been asked by Mr. Ogebe and others to recount an escape most wished to put behind them—a painful telling many feel does little to free their classmates and instead provides emotional release to the tearful audiences who put donations on the table to hear them. This month, four began attending Pennsylvania’s Dickinson College. For some, it is their fifth school in four years. “We hate when they call us Chibok girls,” says Ms. Bitrus, who has chosen to stay in her remote New England hamlet. “I am Kauna.” The First Escape Weeks after their breakaway from Boko Haram in 2014, dozens of students from the Chibok Secondary School began a scholarship at an elite college in northeast Nigeria, the American University of Nigeria, training grounds for some of her country’s most privileged. The campus’ smart buildings and manicured lawns contrasted life in Chibok, where their red tin-roofed schoolhouse had been torched. A few weeks into their new university life, a man came to the gate. In Washington, Mr. Ogebe helped shape U.S. policy toward Africa’s most populous country. His calmly narrated accounts of Boko Haram murders of Christians—he rarely mentioned the sect’s more numerous killings of Muslims—won him friendships with powerful contacts. Republican Congressmen Jason Chaffetz and Chris Smith met him often, as did congresswoman Frederica Wilson, a Miami Democrat known for wearing colorful cowboy hats. “He frames himself as a go-to-guy to talk about the insurgency,” said Jacob Zenn, a widely-cited Boko Haram expert who has testified on congressional panels with Mr. Ogebe. “He knows the trigger words to say that will get attention to his issues in Washington.” Now, Mr. Ogebe was in Nigeria and in a hurry, said two people who met him at the entrance to the school, and was making demands of the school’s administrators. He was accompanied by parents and pieces of paper demanding the school give him four Chibok survivors for weekend meetings in Abuja, the capital. The school reluctantly agreed. The girls never returned, the people said. All told, Ms. Bitrus and nine others flew to Virginia where they were meant to study at the Mountain Mission School, a boarding school in Appalachia. After a few days, Mr. Ogebe drove her to Manhattan. “He told us ‘We are going to New York, to see New York because New York is beautiful, it’s like the biggest city in America,’ ” she said. On arrival, he brought them to a conference room full of journalists. Before a phalanx of cameras, she and another student stuttered through a retelling of their escape. Afterwards, Mr. Ogebe appeared overjoyed, Ms. Bitrus recalls. “He was like, ‘Girls! I’m so proud of you! You can speak English! I’m really proud of you.’ ” Later that night he asked her to retell her story to his wife. Mr. Ogebe denies this happened, and says he doubts the young women’s English was very good at that point. The students split up into two groups, both sent to Christian boarding schools in rural America: the Canyonville Christian Academy, a Canyonville, Ore., school run by Doug Wead, the former White House adviser; and Virginia’s Mountain Mission. In the months to come, Mr. Ogebe and Mr. Wead would repeatedly clash, accusing each other of using the young women for personal and political gain. Mr. Wead says the students evaded one tyrant in Nigeria only to fall into the hands of another in the U.S. “This is a tale of girls being passed from Muslim predators in Africa to Christian predators in America,” he said. Mr. Wead says he never pressed the young women to tell their story, but did tell them people would lose interest if they didn’t shop their story to filmmakers soon. He compared it to water evaporating from a glass. Mr. Wead says he never pressed the young women to tell their story, but did tell them people would lose interest if they didn’t shop their story to filmmakers soon. He compared it to water evaporating from a glass. Ms. Bitrus’s group studied in Virginia, returning to high school for the first time since the night of their escape. They shared dorms with around 20 other students. Ms. Bitrus liked to watch Nigerian soap operas on DVDs. Within days of the students’ arrival, Mr. Ogebe took some of them for speaking engagements around the U.S., and later, abroad. He was their guardian, he said, even though their visas showed the schools were responsible for them. On Sundays, Mr. Ogebe would often bring one set of Chibok students or another to a church, where donations poured in for their education, the young Nigerians say. One online fundraiser alone—by the Jubilee Campaign, a Virginia NGO to help religious minorities—raised about $66,000 in the first five months of their time in the U.S., according to the Nigerian government investigation. The Jubilee Campaign declined to comment. Mr. Ogebe insisted he be the custodian of that money—a request the Jubilee Campaign felt breached financial reporting rules for nonprofit organizations, according to a Nigerian government report. Mr. Ogebe, who didn’t work for Jubilee, was also raising funds for himself, Jubilee complained, according to the Nigerian government report. Mr. Ogebe denies he wanted to control the funds. By January 2015, the charity and Mr. Ogebe broke ties. In one May fundraiser, a raucous crowd of hundreds of evangelical Christians applauded him after he flipped through a slideshow of the Chibok students, and gave his charity $7,039 “for empowering those girls!” an announcer exclaimed, according to a video shot of the event. In the video, Mr. Ogebe told the crowd he had just received a phone call from former U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown, an assertion he made in other public speeches: “He thanked me for what I am doing for the girls.” A spokesman for the former prime minister says “Mr. Brown is absolutely not in contact or communication with this person.” The women cycled through reams of journalists, retelling what they say were coached versions of their harrowing escape. Nearly each time, they wore face-obscuring sunglasses. Photos and videos of the interviews showed many of the young women slouched over in obvious discomfort. Ms. Bitrus said Mr. Ogebe wanted one of the students to become a star “like Malala,” the Nobel laureate who became famous after being shot by the Pakistani Taliban on her way home from school, she says. Mr. Ogebe says the media appearances were necessary to make people understand the evil of Boko Haram. “When people say you put them in the media too much, that’s the kind of thing dictatorial or autocratic rulers do, they shut down access to information,” he says, “Why do they not want this message out, about this abduction?” Legally, because the students were 18, Mr. Ogebe had no authority over them. Their visas were sponsored by their U.S. boarding schools, the schools say. https://www.lindaikejisblog.com/2018/4/chibok-school-girls-rescued-from-boko-haram-and-relocated-to-the-us-have-been-subjected-to-serious-exploitation-wall-street-journal-says.html Original Article Here https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-american-ordeal-of-the-boko-haram-schoolgirls-1523661238
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| Romance › Read The Story Of Terry Gobanga Who Was Gang-raped On Her Wedding Day by Edygrin(op): 10:39am On Mar 23, 2018 |
Every bride who consented to her wedding looks forward with excitement to the day she and her man will officially be husband and wife. She plans to look beautiful in her wedding dress, walk down the aisle with grace, take adorable pictures, everything but not to disappear on her wedding day. Perhaps that was so for Kenyan Pastor Terry Gobanga but nothing could prepare her for what was coming. Not only did she not show up on her wedding day, she was gang-raped, stabbed in the stomach (which affected her womb), thrown out of a moving vehicle and left for dead. If you think that’s the most unfortunate thing that can happen to one woman, wait for it. She got married to her man seven months after the incidence – in a wedding sponsored by a rape victim and her friends – and he died 29 days later from carbon monoxide of a charcoal burner he lit to keep their room warm. Terry shared her story last year on CNN telling how she got up after she fell and made lemonades out of the lemons life served her. If her story doesn’t inspire you, I don’t know what will. Read below: It was going to be a very big wedding. I was a pastor, so all our church members were coming, as well as all our relatives. My fiance, Harry, and I were very excited – we were getting married in All Saints Cathedral in Nairobi and I had rented a beautiful dress. But the night before the wedding I realised that I had some of Harry’s clothes, including his cravat. He couldn’t show up without a tie, so a friend who had stayed the night offered to take it to him first thing in the morning. We got up at dawn and I walked her to the bus station. As I was making my way back home, I walked past a guy sitting on the bonnet of a car – suddenly he grabbed me from behind and dumped me in the back seat. There were two more men inside, and they drove off. It all happened in a fraction of a second. A piece of cloth was stuffed in my mouth. I was kicking and hitting out and trying to scream. When I managed to push the gag out, I screamed: “It’s my wedding day!” That was when I got the first blow. One of the men told me to “co-operate or you will die”. The men took turns to rape me. I felt sure I was going to die, but I was still fighting for my life, so when one of the men took the gag out of my mouth I bit his manhood. He screamed in pain and one of them stabbed me in the stomach. Then they opened the door and threw me out of the moving car. I was miles from home, outside Nairobi. More than six hours had passed since I had been abducted. A child saw me being thrown out and called her grandmother. People came running. When the police came they tried to get a pulse, but no-one could. Thinking I was dead, they wrapped me in a blanket and started to take me to the mortuary. But on the way there, I choked on the blanket and coughed. The policeman said: “She’s alive?” And he turned the car around and drove me to the biggest government hospital in Kenya. I arrived in great shock, murmuring incoherently. I was half-naked and covered in blood, and my face was swollen from being punched. But something must have alerted the matron because she guessed I was a bride. “Let’s go around the churches to see if they’re missing a bride,” she told the nurses. By coincidence, the first church they called at was All Saints Cathedral. “Are you missing a bride?” the nurse asked. The minister said: “Yes, there was a wedding at 10 o’clock and she didn’t come.” When I didn’t show up to the church, my parents were panicking. People were sent out to search for me. Rumours flew. Some wondered: “Did she change her mind?” Others said: “No, it’s so unlike her, what happened?” After a few hours, they had to take down the decorations to make room for the next ceremony. Harry had been put in the vestry to wait. When they heard where I was, my parents came to the hospital with the whole entourage. Harry was actually carrying my wedding gown. But the media had also got wind of the story so there were reporters too. I was moved to another hospital where I’d have more privacy. That was where the doctors stitched me up and gave me some devastating news: “The stab wound went deep into your womb, so you won’t be able to carry any children.” I was given the morning-after pill, as well as antiretroviral drugs to protect me from HIV and Aids. My mind shut down, it refused to accept what had happened. Harry kept saying he still wanted to marry me. “I want to take care of her and make sure she comes back to good health in my arms, in our house,” he said. Truth be told, I wasn’t in a position to say Yes or No because my mind was so jammed with the faces of the three men, and with everything that had happened. A few days later, when I was less sedated, I was able to look him in the eye. I kept saying sorry. I felt like I had let him down. Some people said it was my own fault for leaving the house in the morning. It was really hurtful, but my family and Harry supported me. The police never caught the rapists. I went to line-up after line-up but I didn’t recognise any of the men, and it hurt me each time I went. It set back my recovery – it was 10 steps forward, 20 back. In the end I went back to the police station and said: “You know what, I’m done. I just want to leave it.” Three months after the attack I was told I was HIV-negative and got really excited, but they told me I had to wait three more months to be sure. Still, Harry and I began to plan our second wedding. Although I had been very angry at the press intrusion, somebody read my story and asked to meet me. Her name was Vip Ogolla, and she was also a rape survivor. We spoke, and she told me she and her friends wanted to give me a free wedding. “Go wild, have whatever you want,” she said. I was ecstatic. I went for a different type of cake, much more expensive. Instead of a rented gown, now I could have one that was totally mine. In July 2005, seven months after our first planned wedding, Harry and I got married and went on a honeymoon. Twenty-nine days later, we were at home on a very cold night. Harry lit a charcoal burner and took it to the bedroom. After dinner, he removed it because the room was really warm. I got under the covers as he locked up the house. When he came to bed he said he was feeling dizzy, but we thought nothing of it. It was so cold we couldn’t sleep, so I suggested getting another duvet. But Harry said he couldn’t get it as he didn’t have enough strength. Strangely, I couldn’t stand up either. We realised something was very wrong. He passed out. I passed out. I remember coming to. I would call him. At times he would respond, at other times he wouldn’t. I pushed myself out of bed and threw up, which gave me some strength. I started crawling to the phone. I called my neighbour and said: “Something is wrong, Harry is not responding.” She came over immediately but it took me ages to crawl to the front door to let her in as I kept passing out. I saw an avalanche of people coming in, screaming. And I passed out again. I woke up in hospital and asked where my husband was. They said they were working on him in the next room. I said: “I’m a pastor, I’ve seen quite a lot in my life, I need you to be very straight with me.” The doctor looked at me and said: “I’m sorry, your husband did not make it.” I couldn’t believe it. Going back to church for the funeral was terrible. Just a month earlier I had been there in my white dress, with Harry standing at the front looking handsome in his suit. Now, I was in black and he was being wheeled in, in a casket. People thought I was cursed and held back their children from me. “There’s a bad omen hanging over her,” they said. At one point, I actually believed it myself. Others accused me of killing my husband. That really got me down – I was grieving. The post-mortem showed what really happened: as the carbon monoxide filled his system, he started choking and suffocated. I had a terrible breakdown. I felt let down by God, I felt let down by everybody. I couldn’t believe that people could be laughing, going out and just going about life. I crashed. One day I was sitting on the balcony looking at the birds chirping away and I said: “God, how can you take care of the birds and not me?” In that instant I remembered there are 24 hours a day – sitting in depression with your curtains closed, no-one’s going to give you back those 24 hours. Before you know, it’s a week, a month, a year wasted away. That was a tough reality. I told everybody I would never ever get married again. God took my husband, and the thought of ever going through such a loss again was too much. It’s something I wouldn’t wish on anybody. The pain is so intense, you feel it in your nails. But there was one man – Tonny Gobanga – who kept visiting. He would encourage me to talk about my husband and think about the good times. One time he didn’t call for three days and I was so angry. That’s when it hit me that I had fallen for him. Tonny proposed marriage but I told him to buy a magazine, read my story and tell me if he still loved me. He came back and said he still wanted to marry me. But I said: “Listen, there’s another thing – I can’t have children, so I cannot get married to you.” “Children are a gift from God,” he said. “If we get them, Amen. If not, I will have more time to love you.” I thought: “Wow, what a line!” So I said Yes. Tonny went home to tell his parents, who were very excited, until they heard my story. “You can’t marry her – she is cursed,” they said. My father-in-law refused to attend the wedding, but we went ahead anyway. We had 800 guests – many came out of curiosity. It was three years after my first wedding, and I was very scared. When we were exchanging vows, I thought: “Here I am again Father, please don’t let him die.” As the congregation prayed for us I cried uncontrollably. A year into our marriage, I felt unwell and went to the doctor – and to my great surprise, he told me that I was pregnant. As the months progressed I was put on total bed rest, because of the stab wound to my womb. But all went well, and we had a baby girl who we called Tehille . Four years later, we had another baby girl named Towdah . Today, I am the best of friends with my father-in-law. I wrote a book, Crawling out of Darkness, about my ordeal, to give people hope of rising again. I also started an organisation called Kara Olmurani. We work with rape survivors, as I call them – not rape victims. We offer counseling and support. We are looking to start a halfway house for them where they can come and find their footing before going back to face the world. I have forgiven my attackers. It wasn’t easy but I realised I was getting a raw deal by being upset with people who probably don’t care. My faith also encourages me to forgive and not repay evil with evil but with good. The most important thing is to mourn. Go through every step of it. Get upset until you are willing to do something about your situation. You have to keep moving, crawl if you have to. But move towards your destiny because it’s waiting, and you have to go and get it. Copied From http://thenet.ng/read-story-terry-gobanga-gang-raped-wedding-day/ 1 Like
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| Romance › Read The Story Of Terry Gobanga Who Was Gang-raped On Her Wedding Day by Edygrin(op): 10:25am On Mar 23, 2018 |
Every bride who consented to her wedding looks forward with excitement to the day she and her man will officially be husband and wife. She plans to look beautiful in her wedding dress, walk down the aisle with grace, take adorable pictures, everything but not to disappear on her wedding day. Perhaps that was so for Kenyan Pastor Terry Gobanga but nothing could prepare her for what was coming. Not only did she not show up on her wedding day, she was gang-raped, stabbed in the stomach (which affected her womb), thrown out of a moving vehicle and left for dead. If you think that’s the most unfortunate thing that can happen to one woman, wait for it. She got married to her man seven months after the incidence – in a wedding sponsored by a rape victim and her friends – and he died 29 days later from carbon monoxide of a charcoal burner he lit to keep their room warm. Terry shared her story last year on CNN telling how she got up after she fell and made lemonades out of the lemons life served her. If her story doesn’t inspire you, I don’t know what will. Read below: It was going to be a very big wedding. I was a pastor, so all our church members were coming, as well as all our relatives. My fiance, Harry, and I were very excited – we were getting married in All Saints Cathedral in Nairobi and I had rented a beautiful dress. But the night before the wedding I realised that I had some of Harry’s clothes, including his cravat. He couldn’t show up without a tie, so a friend who had stayed the night offered to take it to him first thing in the morning. We got up at dawn and I walked her to the bus station. As I was making my way back home, I walked past a guy sitting on the bonnet of a car – suddenly he grabbed me from behind and dumped me in the back seat. There were two more men inside, and they drove off. It all happened in a fraction of a second. A piece of cloth was stuffed in my mouth. I was kicking and hitting out and trying to scream. When I managed to push the gag out, I screamed: “It’s my wedding day!” That was when I got the first blow. One of the men told me to “co-operate or you will die”. The men took turns to rape me. I felt sure I was going to die, but I was still fighting for my life, so when one of the men took the gag out of my mouth I bit his manhood. He screamed in pain and one of them stabbed me in the stomach. Then they opened the door and threw me out of the moving car. I was miles from home, outside Nairobi. More than six hours had passed since I had been abducted. A child saw me being thrown out and called her grandmother. People came running. When the police came they tried to get a pulse, but no-one could. Thinking I was dead, they wrapped me in a blanket and started to take me to the mortuary. But on the way there, I choked on the blanket and coughed. The policeman said: “She’s alive?” And he turned the car around and drove me to the biggest government hospital in Kenya. I arrived in great shock, murmuring incoherently. I was half-naked and covered in blood, and my face was swollen from being punched. But something must have alerted the matron because she guessed I was a bride. “Let’s go around the churches to see if they’re missing a bride,” she told the nurses. By coincidence, the first church they called at was All Saints Cathedral. “Are you missing a bride?” the nurse asked. The minister said: “Yes, there was a wedding at 10 o’clock and she didn’t come.” When I didn’t show up to the church, my parents were panicking. People were sent out to search for me. Rumours flew. Some wondered: “Did she change her mind?” Others said: “No, it’s so unlike her, what happened?” After a few hours, they had to take down the decorations to make room for the next ceremony. Harry had been put in the vestry to wait. When they heard where I was, my parents came to the hospital with the whole entourage. Harry was actually carrying my wedding gown. But the media had also got wind of the story so there were reporters too. I was moved to another hospital where I’d have more privacy. That was where the doctors stitched me up and gave me some devastating news: “The stab wound went deep into your womb, so you won’t be able to carry any children.” I was given the morning-after pill, as well as antiretroviral drugs to protect me from HIV and Aids. My mind shut down, it refused to accept what had happened. Harry kept saying he still wanted to marry me. “I want to take care of her and make sure she comes back to good health in my arms, in our house,” he said. Truth be told, I wasn’t in a position to say Yes or No because my mind was so jammed with the faces of the three men, and with everything that had happened. A few days later, when I was less sedated, I was able to look him in the eye. I kept saying sorry. I felt like I had let him down. Some people said it was my own fault for leaving the house in the morning. It was really hurtful, but my family and Harry supported me. The police never caught the rapists. I went to line-up after line-up but I didn’t recognise any of the men, and it hurt me each time I went. It set back my recovery – it was 10 steps forward, 20 back. In the end I went back to the police station and said: “You know what, I’m done. I just want to leave it.” Three months after the attack I was told I was HIV-negative and got really excited, but they told me I had to wait three more months to be sure. Still, Harry and I began to plan our second wedding. Although I had been very angry at the press intrusion, somebody read my story and asked to meet me. Her name was Vip Ogolla, and she was also a rape survivor. We spoke, and she told me she and her friends wanted to give me a free wedding. “Go wild, have whatever you want,” she said. I was ecstatic. I went for a different type of cake, much more expensive. Instead of a rented gown, now I could have one that was totally mine. In July 2005, seven months after our first planned wedding, Harry and I got married and went on a honeymoon. Twenty-nine days later, we were at home on a very cold night. Harry lit a charcoal burner and took it to the bedroom. After dinner, he removed it because the room was really warm. I got under the covers as he locked up the house. When he came to bed he said he was feeling dizzy, but we thought nothing of it. It was so cold we couldn’t sleep, so I suggested getting another duvet. But Harry said he couldn’t get it as he didn’t have enough strength. Strangely, I couldn’t stand up either. We realised something was very wrong. He passed out. I passed out. I remember coming to. I would call him. At times he would respond, at other times he wouldn’t. I pushed myself out of bed and threw up, which gave me some strength. I started crawling to the phone. I called my neighbour and said: “Something is wrong, Harry is not responding.” She came over immediately but it took me ages to crawl to the front door to let her in as I kept passing out. I saw an avalanche of people coming in, screaming. And I passed out again. I woke up in hospital and asked where my husband was. They said they were working on him in the next room. I said: “I’m a pastor, I’ve seen quite a lot in my life, I need you to be very straight with me.” The doctor looked at me and said: “I’m sorry, your husband did not make it.” I couldn’t believe it. Going back to church for the funeral was terrible. Just a month earlier I had been there in my white dress, with Harry standing at the front looking handsome in his suit. Now, I was in black and he was being wheeled in, in a casket. People thought I was cursed and held back their children from me. “There’s a bad omen hanging over her,” they said. At one point, I actually believed it myself. Others accused me of killing my husband. That really got me down – I was grieving. The post-mortem showed what really happened: as the carbon monoxide filled his system, he started choking and suffocated. I had a terrible breakdown. I felt let down by God, I felt let down by everybody. I couldn’t believe that people could be laughing, going out and just going about life. I crashed. One day I was sitting on the balcony looking at the birds chirping away and I said: “God, how can you take care of the birds and not me?” In that instant I remembered there are 24 hours a day – sitting in depression with your curtains closed, no-one’s going to give you back those 24 hours. Before you know, it’s a week, a month, a year wasted away. That was a tough reality. I told everybody I would never ever get married again. God took my husband, and the thought of ever going through such a loss again was too much. It’s something I wouldn’t wish on anybody. The pain is so intense, you feel it in your nails. But there was one man – Tonny Gobanga – who kept visiting. He would encourage me to talk about my husband and think about the good times. One time he didn’t call for three days and I was so angry. That’s when it hit me that I had fallen for him. Tonny proposed marriage but I told him to buy a magazine, read my story and tell me if he still loved me. He came back and said he still wanted to marry me. But I said: “Listen, there’s another thing – I can’t have children, so I cannot get married to you.” “Children are a gift from God,” he said. “If we get them, Amen. If not, I will have more time to love you.” I thought: “Wow, what a line!” So I said Yes. Tonny went home to tell his parents, who were very excited, until they heard my story. “You can’t marry her – she is cursed,” they said. My father-in-law refused to attend the wedding, but we went ahead anyway. We had 800 guests – many came out of curiosity. It was three years after my first wedding, and I was very scared. When we were exchanging vows, I thought: “Here I am again Father, please don’t let him die.” As the congregation prayed for us I cried uncontrollably. A year into our marriage, I felt unwell and went to the doctor – and to my great surprise, he told me that I was pregnant. As the months progressed I was put on total bed rest, because of the stab wound to my womb. But all went well, and we had a baby girl who we called Tehille . Four years later, we had another baby girl named Towdah . Today, I am the best of friends with my father-in-law. I wrote a book, Crawling out of Darkness, about my ordeal, to give people hope of rising again. I also started an organisation called Kara Olmurani. We work with rape survivors, as I call them – not rape victims. We offer counseling and support. We are looking to start a halfway house for them where they can come and find their footing before going back to face the world. I have forgiven my attackers. It wasn’t easy but I realised I was getting a raw deal by being upset with people who probably don’t care. My faith also encourages me to forgive and not repay evil with evil but with good. The most important thing is to mourn. Go through every step of it. Get upset until you are willing to do something about your situation. You have to keep moving, crawl if you have to. But move towards your destiny because it’s waiting, and you have to go and get it. Copied From http://thenet.ng/read-story-terry-gobanga-gang-raped-wedding-day/ 2 Likes 1 Share
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| Webmasters › Re: Nairaland Trends On Twitter...check Out Comments by Edygrin(m): 3:48pm On Mar 10, 2018 |
lol |
| Politics › Arik Signs Agreement With Presidential Air Fleet by Edygrin(op): 6:52am On Mar 05, 2018 |
Nigerian carrier, Arik Air and Presidential Air Fleet (PAF) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on capacity building to assist in imparting proficiency and line training for PAF’s pilots. Arik Air in a statement signed by its Media Consultant, Simon Tumba, on Sunday in Lagos said the agreement was signed by the Commander of PAF, Hassan Abubakar and the airline in Lagos.https://www.thenewsguru.com/arik-signs-agreement-presidential-air-fleet/?utm_source=&utm_medium=twitter
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| Phones › Re: Infinix Hot 5/5 Lite Discussion Thread by Edygrin(m): 9:59am On Feb 22, 2018 |
please how can i divert calls on hot 5? |
| Phones › Re: Infinix Hot 5/5 Lite Discussion Thread by Edygrin(m): 6:44am On Feb 10, 2018 |
Mathkid007:34k |
| Phones › Re: Infinix Hot 5/5 Lite Discussion Thread by Edygrin(m): 9:16am On Feb 09, 2018 |
Bought a new hot 5, got a system update notification. was wondering if its cool to update the phone.
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| Politics › Re: Nigerians In Diaspora To Start Voting - Sen. Ben Bruce by Edygrin(m): 10:35am On Jan 29, 2018 |
lol... Lets take rigging international |
| Politics › Re: Akwa Ibom State Local Government Election Live Updates by Edygrin(op): 8:12am On Dec 02, 2017 |
| Politics › Re: Akwa Ibom State Local Government Election Live Updates by Edygrin(op): 8:05am On Dec 02, 2017 |
LG POLLS: APC READS RIOT ACT TO AKISIEC, PDP Stakeholders of the Action Congress APC Sunday warned that there would be dire consequences should the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) government in the state connive with the Akwa Ibom State Independent Electoral Commission (AKISIEC) to rig December 2nd 2019 local Governmemt elections.https://i1.wp.com/www.ibomtelegraph.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/PDP-APC.jpg?fit=296%2C170 http://www.ibomtelegraph.com/lg-polls-apc-reads-riot-act-akisiec-pdp/ |
| Politics › Re: Akwa Ibom State Local Government Election Live Updates by Edygrin(op): 8:03am On Dec 02, 2017 |
OAM4J and Mynd44 please your attention is needed here. Thank You |
| Politics › Re: Akwa Ibom State Local Government Election Live Updates by Edygrin(op): 8:00am On Dec 02, 2017 |
APC chieftain calls for more democratic inclusion A chieftain of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Akwa Ibom State, Prof. Richard King, has called for the strengthening of democratic institutions to give Nigerians more opportunities to participate in the democratic process.https://thenationonlineng.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Prof.jpg http://thenationonlineng.net/apc-chieftain-calls-democratic-inclusion/ |
| Politics › Re: Akwa Ibom State Local Government Election Live Updates by Edygrin(op): 7:55am On Dec 02, 2017 |
LG POLLS: APC CANDIDATES STEP DOWN FOR PDP IN IBENO Ahead of Saturday, December 2, 2017, local government elections, three Councillorship candidates of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Ibeno have announced their withdrawal from the race as a result of the sterling performance of Governor Udom Emmanuel and the reality on ground.https://i0.wp.com/www.ibomtelegraph.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/PDP-APC.jpg?resize=296%2C170 http://www.ibomtelegraph.com/lg-polls-apc-candidates-step-pdp-ibeno/ |
| Politics › Re: Akwa Ibom State Local Government Election Live Updates by Edygrin(op): 7:50am On Dec 02, 2017 |
LG Polls: Police Declare Restriction Of Movement In Akwa Ibom The Nigeria Police Force in Akwa Ibom State has announced restriction of movement of persons and vehicles ahead of the Local Government elections set to hold in the state.https://www.channelstv.com/2017/12/01/lg-polls-police-announce-restriction-of-movement-in-akwa-ibom/ |
| Politics › Re: Akwa Ibom State Local Government Election Live Updates by Edygrin(op): 7:46am On Dec 02, 2017 |
900 candidates to contest Saturday’s council poll in Akwa Ibom The Akwa Ibom State Independent Electoral Commission (AKISIEC) on Monday said 900 candidates would vie for positions in Saturday local government elections in the state.https://www.premiumtimesng.com/regional/south-south-regional/250768-900-candidates-contest-saturdays-council-poll-akwa-ibom.html |
| Politics › Re: Akwa Ibom State Local Government Election Live Updates by Edygrin(op): 7:39am On Dec 02, 2017 |
Message to Akwa Ibom people on Local Government Election by Governor Udom Emmanuel My dear Akwa Ibomites
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| Politics › Re: Akwa Ibom State Local Government Election Live Updates by Edygrin(op): 7:23am On Dec 02, 2017 |
https://www.facebook.com/aksgovt/videos/782315851969192/Governor Udom Emmanuel message to Akwa Ibom People |
| Politics › Akwa Ibom State Local Government Election Live Updates by Edygrin(op): 7:18am On Dec 02, 2017 |
Today is the local government election in Akwa Ibom State. I will be giving you live updates
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| Politics › If Anything Happens To Wike; The APC, Amaechi Should Be Held Responsible- Pdp by Edygrin(op): 6:33am On Nov 13, 2017 |
By Dirisu Yakubu ABUJA – The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has condemned the alleged assassination attempt on the Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike following a clash with a cabinet Minister, Rotimi Amaechi in Port- Harcourt, the Rivers State Capital. |
| Politics › APC Cleaning Up Pdp’s Augean Years – Lai Mohammed by Edygrin(op): 6:22am On Nov 13, 2017 |
… says it will be double tragedy if PDP comes back to powerABUJA – Minister of Information and Culture, Alh. Lai Mohammed says the Mohammadu Buhari led Administration of the All Progressive Congress, APC is cleaning up rot of the the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP years of misrule and warned against returning the party back to power in 2019. The minister gave the warning on Sunday during a press conference held in Lagos.He said ‘‘it will not just be a tragedy, but a double tragedy, ‘if we ever allow these same people to preside over our commonwealth.’’According to him, ‘‘It is a mark of the contempt for the PDP to tell Nigerians that the party is even talking of returning to power, even when the rot it left behind is yet to be totally cleared, adding that ‘‘Never again must Nigeria be bedeviled by a rapacious, impunity-prone and plunderous party like the PDP.’’ The minister had in another press conference held last week, said that ‘‘it will be a tragedy if the PDP is ever allowed to come back, especially because the present Administration has been working round the clock to take Nigeria out of the hell hole where it was dumped by the PDP.’’ Mohammed, who frowned at the recent attacks against present Administration from the opposition party, boasted that the Administration had made progress in the fight against corruption; fight against insecurity and the revamping of the economy. He said: ‘‘Nothing shows the rot of the past more than the level of corruption which this Administration inherited. Our commonwealth was looted with impunity by the same people who now say they want to come back. ‘‘Where do we start? Do we want a Diezani back as Petroleum Minister, after the recovery of at least 43 million dollars and 56 houses from this one person? ‘‘Do we want the 2.9 billion dollars – that’s about one-eighth of the 2018 Budget – that has been successfully traced and recovered from looters by the EFCC since the inauguration of the present administration, to be re-looted? What about the 151 million dollars and N8 billion in looted funds that have been recovered from just three sources as a direct result of the introduction of the whistle-blower policy? Do we want them to be re-looted?’’ Continuing, the minister also questioned the alleged persistent under-remittance of operating surpluses by State Owned Entities under the PDP, in which JAMB was said to have only remitted an aggregate of 51 million Naira, whereas in September 2017 alone, the same JAMB announced its readiness to remit 7.8 billion Naira back to the Government. ‘‘In their time, they lacked the political will to implement the Treasury Single Account (TSA), which they started. We are now fully implementing the TSA. Three trillion Naira, almost half of the estimated revenue in the 2018 budget, has accrued to Government with the enforcement of the TSA policy ‘‘With the elimination of thousands of ghost workers, we have saved 120 billion Naira. We have removed the 108 billion Naira in maintenance fees payable to banks, pre-TSA; and monthly we are saving 24.7 billion Naira with our determined implementation of the TSA. ‘‘We must also never forget the alleged diversion of 2.1 billion dollars earmarked for arms purchase by officials of the immediate-past administration. ‘‘As the pace of politics gradually picks up ahead of 2019, it is important that we let Nigerians know the enormous progress that the Buhari Administration has made in just a little over two years, and to also remind them of where the country was dumped by the PDP when we assumed office on 29 May 2015,’’ he stated. On the allegation that the Administration plans to arrest 50 of PDP members for alleged corruption, Mohammed said, wondered why the party is afraid and urged them to face the music, if they must. he described the anti-corruption as a tough task but said the Administration is determined to wipe away corruption in the system. ‘‘It is a mark of the contempt in which the PDP holds Nigerians that the party is even talking of returning to power, even when the rot it left behind is yet to be totally cleared,’’ he added. |
| Politics › Re: Get Obasanjo’s Blessing For 2019, Jonathan Advises Atiku by Edygrin(m): 6:14am On Nov 13, 2017 |
lie |
| Sports › 2018 FIFA World Cup Official Match Ball Unveiled: An Exciting Re-imagining by Edygrin(op): 3:17pm On Nov 10, 2017 |
A reinvention of a classic model with a brand-new panel design and the latest technology: in an exciting re-imagining, Adidas today revealed the official match ball for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™, which pays homage to the first-ever Adidas World Cup ball. The Telstar 18 evokes unforgettable memories of the 1970 FIFA World Cup™ – and of legends like Pelé, Gerd Müller, Giacinto Facchetti, Pedro Rocha and Bobby Moore – and will feed the dreams of those who will play for football’s most coveted prize in Russia next year. “I was lucky enough to get to know this ball a bit earlier and I managed to have a try with it," Argentina star Lionel Messi said. "I like all of it: the new design, the colors, everything.” The name of the original Telstar came from its status as the “star of television”. The first ball to be decorated with black panels, the pattern was designed to stand out on black-and-white TVs and changed football design forever. Almost 50 years later, Telstar 18 features a brand new carcass, high technology and sustainable elements such as recycled packaging. It also includes an embedded NFC chip, which enables consumers to interact with the ball using a smartphone. The personalized and location-aware experience displays specific details of each ball and provides access to challenges which users can enter in the run-up to the FIFA World Cup™. “The original Telstar is one of the most iconic footballs of all time and one which changed football design forever, so developing the Telstar 18 while staying true to the original model was a really exciting challenge for us. The new panel structure and inclusion of an NFC chip has taken football innovation and design to a new level and offers both consumers and players a completely new experience,” said Roland Rommler, Category Director of Football Hardware at Adidas. http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/news/y=2017/m=11/news=2018-fifa-world-cuptm-official-match-ball-unveiled-an-exciting-re-imag-2919272.html
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| Politics › Re: Photos Of Sambo Dasuki In Court For Olisa Metuh’s Corruption Trial. by Edygrin(m): 8:11pm On Nov 02, 2017 |
NgcoboP:lol seriously? 1 Like 1 Share |
| Music/Radio › “I & Paul Can Only Get Back Together If…” – Peter Okoye Talks P-square Reunion by Edygrin(op): 2:51pm On Oct 26, 2017 |
Mr. P, one half of the defunct P-Square music group, revealed that it is possible that he reconciles with his brothers to reform P-Square. The singer revealed this in an interview with Vibe Magazine. When asked if there is a possibility of reuniting P-Square, he said: “Of course. When the respect is back. When you stay apart for a while, the respect will come. We’ve lost it. People will never understand but we’ve lost that respect. Like I said in the open letter, we will work in future but when we come back, it will be from respect.” http://tooxclusive.com/news/i-paul-can-only-get-back-together-if-peter-okoye-talks-psquare-reunion/
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| Politics › Re: More Revelations On Maina's Reinstatement By Sahara Reporters by Edygrin(m): 9:03pm On Oct 23, 2017 |
This is the most corrupt government in the history of Nigeria. Abacha was a learner 62 Likes 5 Shares |
| Politics › Re: UNIMAID Security Guard Intercepts Suicide Bombers Twice. Photo by Edygrin(m): 12:08pm On May 14, 2017 |
For his security, this is a bad publication 31 Likes |
| Politics › Re: How Nigeria Can Get Out Of Recession – Obasanjo by Edygrin(m): 7:29am On Oct 25, 2016 |
Kingsley1000:Then make the reference properly. 90% of APC members are part of the past. |
| Politics › Re: How Nigeria Can Get Out Of Recession – Obasanjo by Edygrin(m): 7:17am On Oct 25, 2016 |
Kingsley1000:Buhari is still part of the past so he has no one to blame |
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