₦airaland Forum

While chatting with Saturday Beats, it was obvious that the model with conspicuous tribal marks, Adetutu Alabi, is one of the happiest people on earth. For so long, it had been her dream to work with American artiste, Rihanna, and it seems her dream is close to fruition.

Rihanna finally noticed the Nigerian model with prominent tribal marks as she replied her on Instagram by following her handle.

Shortly after the model revealed that she would like to work for Rihanna, her tweet quickly went viral with people tagging Rihanna. This obviously worked as the international singing sensation is now one of her followers.

Alabi took to Instagram to share the good news and expressed high hopes that Rihanna’s management would soon get in touch with her.

She further revealed that bullying due to her tribal marks discouraged her from going for university education.

She said, “I started modelling last year after I came out from my shell or hiding due to my tribal marks. The bullying started in my primary and secondary school days. Due to this, I learnt a skill instead of going to university.

“I was supposed to study law but I decided not to take the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination at all because I was scared of being bullied in the university. I believed that if I attended university, I might end up killing myself.

“Later, I had to ask my parents why they gave me these tribal marks and they told me it was because of our culture and to showcase my beauty.

“I didn’t feature in any of my primary school pictures because of my tribal marks and even though I had friends, I was always like a fifth wheel in the group. An embarrassing day for me was when a client told me to always conceal my tribal marks anytime I came to work with her. She eventually told me that she couldn’t work with me.”

Further speaking on the pain her tribal marks had caused her, she said some strangers had told her that she was ugly.

“Sometimes when I walk on the road, people would drag me, only to tell me I am ugly but I always ignore them because some people defend me,” she said.

The model further revealed that her tribal marks ended her relationship with the father of her child because he was ashamed of walking with her in public.

She said, “One of the reasons the father of my child absconded was because of my tribal marks. He could not be with me in public and he only made us meet at night; we dated for some months in 2008 and I got pregnant in 2009. I bore a girl for him and she will be nine years old this year.

“I felt I was the ugliest girl in the world. I got fed up with relationships because men didn’t always want to go out with me during the day; they would prefer to be with me at night. There was a guy I dated for two years and that was the condition of the relationship, so I had to endure.

“My mum died when I was four years old, so I grew up with a single dad. When I got pregnant, I had to run away from home to a foundation that accommodated me.”

Speaking on why she reached out to Rihanna, she said, “I was motivated to start the campaign when I woke up one day and saw that Rihanna posted a picture with a similar posture I assumed in one of my pictures and I have always been her fan.

“My goal is to model for her which I hope to achieve one day. I posted the picture and my friends reposted and retweeted it and the campaign began; that was it. I was very excited when she followed me back.”

About 20 senators and 252 members of the House of Representatives may not return to the National Assembly in 2019, investigations by Saturday PUNCH have revealed.

Majority of the affected lawmakers are members of the ruling All Progressives Congress and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, who lost the ticket to return to NASS at the recently concluded primary elections by the various political parties.

Findings also showed some of the affected lawmakers withdrew from the race to pursue governorship tickets in their states while some pulled out of the race for personal reasons.

While some of the primaries are still marred in controversies, some of the lawmakers are still hopeful of getting a ticket through negotiations.

Those who have lost senatorial tickets include the Chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Aliyu Sabi-Abdullahi (Niger State), David Umaru (Niger State), Fatimah Raji-Rasaki (Ekiti State), Gbenga Ashafa (Lagos State) and Ibrahim Kurfi (Katsina State).

Also, senators who lost their governorship bid are Baba Kaka Garbai (Borno State), Kabiru Marafa (Zamfara State), Abubakar Kyari (Borno State), Shaaba Lafiagi (Kwara State) and Sam Anyanwu (Imo State). While those who won governorship tickets in their states were Sunny Ogbuoji (Ebonyi State), John Enoh (Cross River State) and Jeremiah Useni (Plateau State).

Those who withdrew from the race for the legislative chamber were Senator Adesoji Akanbi (Oyo State); Senator Ben Murray-Bruce (Bayelsa State); three-term Senator Bukar Abba Ibrahim (Yobe State) and Senators Gbolahan Dada (Ogun State) and David Mark (Benue State).

There are also senators whose fate is hanging in the balance as controversies are still trailing their candidacy and some have become a subject of litigation. In this category are Senators Shehu Sani (Kaduna State), Lanre Tejuoso (Ogun State) and Magnus Abe (Rivers State).

Senator Jonah Jang from Plateau State lost his presidential bid while another senator from Plateau State, Joshua Dariye, is currently serving a jail term for corruption.

Speaking with one of our correspondents, Tejuoso said he would only abide by the product of a due process as far as primaries and tickets were concerned in Ogun APC.

Asked if he was comfortable with the process, he said, “What does the Constitution say? Who is supposed to conduct and supervise primaries? Whatever is legal and whatever is in the constitution of the party is what we will support.”

Also, when contacted, Sani declined to speak on the controversy surrounding APC’s Kaduna Central ticket, while Anyanwu described the primary in the state as a charade. Marafa, on the other hand, had briefed journalists on Thursday in Abuja on his readiness to form an alliance with another party for the polls.

Meanwhile, in the House of Representatives, the 252 members that couldn’t get a ticket represent 70 per cent of the total number of 360 lawmakers in the House.

Findings also showed that a few of them would not return on account of seeking for other political offices, like the senate. There were also those who didn’t bother buying forms. However, majority of the members failed to scale through the primaries.

It was, however, gathered that the leadership of the House had been under pressure to intervene on behalf of many of the members.

Some of those who may not return include the Deputy Speaker of the House, Mr. Yussuff Lasun, who contested the governorship primary election in Osun State but lost at the primary. Thus, he didn’t contest the House of Representatives primary of the APC.

Others are the Deputy Minority Whip of the House, Mrs Binta Bello; a member of the PDP from Gombe State, Mr. Orker Jev; a PDP member from Benue State, Mr Zakari Mohammed; Mrs Betty Apiafi, and Ms Evelyn Oboro, all of whom won senatorial tickets in their states. Mr. Razak Atunwa, on the other hand, won the governorship ticket in Kwara State.

Furthermore, the Deputy House Majority Whip, Mr. Pally Iriase, did not contest the Edo State APC primary to return in 2019, while majority of members, who either lost or withdrew from the primary, included seven out of the 18 APC members in Lagos State, who are already out.

Among the other popular lawmakers who lost was Ms. Nnenna Ukeje (Abia State), who lost to Chief Chima Anyanso by 12 votes. She had since congratulated the winner.

In Kano State, several of the lawmakers also lost, but, the Chief Whip, Mr Alhassan Ado-Doguwa, won a return ticket. Other losers include Mr Dickson Tarkighir (APC, Benue); Mr. Hassan Saleh (PDP, Benue); Mr Sunday Karimi (PDP, Kogi); Mr Emmanuel Udende (APC, Benue); and Mr Emeka Ujam (Enugu State).

When contacted, the Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Mr Abdulrazak Namdas, denied that the non-returning members were up to 252.