I could see our chief host, the landlord of Abuja. Stick at it. I want to ride on your metro line. If I ask for free land, don't give me, but deliver the metro line for the good and the greatest number of Nigerians.
This evening at the Kigali Convention Centre, President Kagame attended the Nigerian Governors’ Executive Leadership Retreat, organized by the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) and @UNDP. President Kagame delivered remarks and participated in an interactive session on “Leadership in Shaping the Future of Pan-Africanism and Integration in a Changing World.”
The retreat, which convened 19 Nigerian State Governors for 3 days in Kigali, focused on digital and socio-economic transformation, local revenue generation, managing diversity and social cohesion, urbanization and climate change.
I could see our chief host, the landlord of Abuja. Stick at it. I want to ride on your metro line. If I ask for free land, don't give me, but deliver the metro line for the good and the greatest number of Nigerians.
HIGHLIGHT OF PRESIDENT BOLA TINUBU’S SPEECH AT THE NBA CONFERENCE TODAY
- OUR DEBT PROFILE IS NOT SUSTAINABLE
“Can we continue to service external debts with 90% of our revenue? It is a path to destruction. It is not sustainable. We must make the very difficult changes that are necessary for our country to get up from slumber and be respected among the great nations of the world,”
- ONGOING REFORMS WILL LEAD TO PROSPERITY
“We cannot have the country we desire without the reforms we have initiated. It is painful at the beginning, in the short and medium term, but we must do what we have to do to take this nation to its great destiny. It is not about you and it is not about me. It is about our generations yet unborn, for whom we must bequeath a great and prosperous country,
- CHANGE BEGINS WITH INDIVIDUALS
“You are learned. I want to learn. Why are we so blessed and we are still lacking? We must have a change of attitude and a change of our mindset. We accuse our nation and its previous leaders. We complain alot of the past. Is that the solution? No! Let us look forward and be determined! God has given us what we need. We must work hard with determination to make our country great and it begins with you who are seated here with me.”
- WE MUST GET ELECTRICITY RIGHT
“Yes, it is a shame not to have adequate electricity for the mass majority of homes in Nigeria and to power our industries. How can we address poverty without electricity? We can take many people out of poverty with uninterrupted electricity supply. Poverty is not acceptable, and we must banish it”
POVERTY ERADICATION AND INVESTMENT PROMOTION FOR WEALTH CREATION DEPEND ON JUSTICE REFORM, PRESIDENT TINUBU DECLARES AT NBA CONFERENCE
insidekaduna August 27, 2023
…emphasizes that world class renumeration for legal professionals can sanitize Judiciary for a prosperous Nigeria
President Bola Tinubu has declared that Nigeria will not sustain failed economic theory that sees to the wastage of 90% of its scarce revenue in the servicing of external debts in the midst of many development challenges facing the country.
The President made the statement on Sunday in Abuja while declaring open the Annual conference of the Nigerian Bar Association at the Velodrome, Chief MKO Abiola Stadium, Abuja.
While energizing the gathering of 16,190 lawyers in attendance with an extemporaneous speech, President Tinubu stated that the prosperity Nigerians require will only occur once poverty is banished from the society with the focused cooperation of Nigeria’s private sector leaders, many of whom were present at the opening ceremony.
“Can we continue to service external debts with 90% of our revenue? It is a path to destruction. It is not sustainable. We must make the very difficult changes that are necessary for our country to get up from slumber and be respected among the great nations of the world,” the President thundered.
Speaking on the theme of the conference, “Getting it Right: Charting the Course for Nigeria’s Nation-Building,” the President stated that hard decisions must be made to set the country on a growth trajectory, despite the initial pains which meaningful reforms usually bring.
“We cannot have the country we desire without the reforms we have initiated. It is painful at the beginning, in the short and medium term, but we must do what we have to do to take this nation to its great destiny. It is not about you and it is not about me. It is about our generations yet unborn, for whom we must bequeath a great and prosperous country,” he affirmed.
Against the backdrop of the renowned judicial reforms he undertook as Lagos State Governor, President Tinubu renewed his commitment to deal conclusively with the pressing issue of renumeration for judicial officers and legal practitioners, noting that true justice reform must begin with world-class salaries and benefits for legal professionals in Nigeria.
“You are learned. I want to learn. Why are we so blessed and we are still lacking? We must have a change of attitude and a change of our mindset. We accuse our nation and its previous leaders. We complain alot of the past. Is that the solution? No! Let us look forward and be determined! God has given us what we need. We must work hard with determination to make our country great and it begins with you who are seated here with me,” the President exclaimed.
Referring to the Keynote address delivered by the Chairman of UBA Plc and Heirs Holdings, Mr. Tony Elumelu, who he praised for setting an agenda for economic growth and development, President Tinubu bemoaned the inability of the country to eradicate poverty and tackle poor electricity supply, despite Nigeria’s abundance of gas.
He made a commitment that his administration will ensure that Nigeria generates and distributes the electricity the economy requires to thrive.
“Yes, it is a shame not to have adequate electricity for the mass majority of homes in Nigeria and to power our industries. How can we address poverty without electricity? We can take many people out of poverty with uninterrupted electricity supply. Poverty is not acceptable, and we must banish it,” President Tinubu concluded.
In his welcome address, NBA President, Yakubu Maikyau, SAN, expressed the confidence of the NBA in the ability of President Bola Tinubu to deliver good governance to Nigeria because of his pedigree and past track record of excellent performance in Lagos State, where he was the governor between 1999-2007.
“President Tinubu got it right in Lagos, and it is our considered expectation that as President of Nigeria, you will not only replicate your achievements in Lagos, but surpass them for our country.”
The conference was attended by the Attorney General of the Federation, Prince Lateef Fagbemi; Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila; Minister of Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike; Minister of Sports, Senator John Enoh; former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, past NBA Presidents and many senior government officials.
naptu2: American superstar strongman (billed as being from Poland), The Mighty Igor Mexican luchador, Mil Mascaras Trinidadian superstar, Ray Apollon English legend, Johnny Kwango British legend, Gentleman Chris Adams American legend, Ox Baker Guyanese superstar (billed as being from Zaire) The Great Malumba American legend, Kamala The Ugandan Giant Mexican superstar Luis Martinez 'and Nigerian legends Power Mike, Power Uti, Elephando Bassey, Ben Lionheart and Mike Bamidele
all fought at the National Stadium in Lagos and their matches were shown on TV, yet there isn't a single video of their matches on YouTube.
The late Chief Michael Okpala (Power Mike) was not only the greatest wrestler that Nigeria produced, he was also the greatest wrestling promoter that Nigeria ever produced. He promoted epic wrestling events from the late 1970s till the late 1990s. He had the skills to do what he did because he had been a businessman in Onitsha and Kano in the 1950s and he had been a strongman and wrestler across Africa, Europe and indeed the world in the 1960s and 1970s, so he knew how to organise the business side of things and he also knew what was needed in the wrestling side of things.
Power Mike moved from Lagos to Abuja in the year 2000 and ran real estate and other businesses. He basically retired from the wrestling business (he had already began diversifying and exiting the wrestling business in the mid-1990s). The wrestling business in Nigeria basically collapsed when Power Mike moved to Abuja.
It's not that there were no wrestling promotions anymore, no, there were, but the quality was far below the high standards that Power Mike had set. You don't just gather some muscle-bound Nigerians, put them on a ring and think that you have a wrestling event. There are a lot of other things that you need to do. I remember that DAAR Communications and a few other people tried to put on wrestling events, but they were below standard.
You see, wrestlers need to be trained. People like Stu Hart (Bret Hart's father), Fritz Von Erich (father of the Von Erichs), etc. owned wrestling schools and most of the successful wrestlers that we see on TV were trained at such wrestling schools or by very experienced wrestlers. Terrible things happen when a wrestler is not trained.
Kind of like what happened in Lagos in the early 2000s. There was a wrestler that took on the Undertaker gimmick and he gave another wrestler a tombstone piledriver at the National Stadium in Lagos and the other wrestler died.
They interviewed Bash Ali, the famous boxer, about this incident and he said that the problem was that the ring at the National Stadium was a boxing ring. He said that wrestling rings are well padded, but boxing rings are not and that such tragedy would occur because they were using a boxing ring for a wrestling match.
Bash Ali might be right, but I don't think that tells the full story.
Wrestling is carefully choreographed and in the training schools, potential wrestlers are taught how to practice their craft without injuring their opponent.
We never had any problem during the Power Mike era, even though there were many events and wrestlers from all over the world came to Lagos to fight and I believe that this was because the wrestlers, both Nigerian and foreign, were well trained.
Here is a perfect illustration of my point. The Undertaker made the tombstone piledriver famous. He knew how to execute it very well, to make it look realistic without injuring his opponent. This is a video of the match between the Undertaker and the Ultimate Warrior. Watch carefully from the 1:53 minute mark. You'll see that the Undertaker gave the Warrior a tombstone, but the Warrior's head did not hit the mat. The Undertaker actually came down on his own knees and his knees took the force of the fall, rather than the Warrior's head.
Basically, the Undertaker made sure that the Warrior's head was above his knees, so that the head would not take the force of the fall. There is no way that a person will die if the tombstone is executed in this way. The wrestler in Lagos must have allowed his opponent's head to hit the mat and that's what caused the tragedy.
I'll tell you another trick. Notice that anytime that the Warrior throws the Undertaker to the steel stairs or the turnbuckle, the Undertaker absorbs the force with his hands. His head never actually hits these objects.
Chief Mike Okpalla, fondly called Power Mike gave Nigeria a big name when he became the World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion after defeating Ali Baba in 1975. He had beaten the likes of Johny Kwango, known for his head-butts then, Musonga and a host of big wrestlers. One week after his feat, Enugu Rangers were on the verge of winning more honours for Nigeria in the African Club of Champions Cup final against Hafia of Guinea. Rangers lost and Nigerians took consolation in the great feat that Power Mike had achieved.
Power Mike never quit sports after retiring from its active participation. He went into wrestling promotion and gave Nigerians the opportunity to watch live, their wrestling idols like Mill Mascaras, Mighty Igor, Ray Apollon etc.
naptu2: Power Mike was a legend both inside and outside the ring. Not only was he a champion, but he went into promotions when he retired and he was responsible for most of the big wrestling promotions in Nigeria from the late 1970s to the mid 1980s.
Power Uti took over from Power Mike and became the biggest domestic wrestling star of the 1980s and early 1990s. He was also quite popular in the United States where he was the Continental Wrestling Alliance (CWA) champion.
Mike Bamidele was mainly based in Britain and he was a star over there in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Ben Lionheart was a star in Nigeria and in Europe in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
naptu2: I can still remember that day in 1984. I had to attend a party that I really didn't want to go to. Luckily I got home by 7 and I immediately went to the TV. The 7 o'clock news was on and that's how I heard that the Mighty Igor had lost. I was shocked.
naptu2: I wonder when we'll have major wrestling promotions in Nigeria again. So many wrestlers from all over the world came to fight in Nigeria in the 1970s, '80s and early 1990s.
The Mighty Igor, Mil Mascaras, Ox Baker and Kamala The Ugandan Giant from the US
Johnny Kwango and Gentleman Chris Adams from the UK
Ray Apollon from Trinidad and Tobago
The Great Mulumba from Zaire (now Congo)
Etc.
I remember when Mulumba came to Nigeria. I loved watching wrestling with certain older people at that time. Their facial expressions when someone was hit or when blood was oozing out of someone were hilarious.
I had been ill, so my doctor came to check up on me. It was a Saturday so Sports Spectacular was on TV and they were showing wrestling from the National Stadium.
Then the Great Mulumba came into the arena holding a white chicken. He danced round the ring with the chicken and then beheaded the chicken with his teeth. The look on my doctor's face was priceless.
naptu2: Do you remember British wrestling from the 1970s? Mick McManus and co? The weird (actually, just different from American) rules made it very interesting.
Well, this is one of the wrestlers from British wrestling that actually came to Nigeria. In fact, the fascinating thing here is that, in this video, he is billed as being from Lagos, Nigeria. When he came to Nigeria he was billed as being from the West Indies, while Wikipedia claims that he is British.
This is Johnny Kwango (the guy with the phenomenal headbutt).
naptu2: I've written a bit about Silverbird Promotion's concerts in the early 1980s and their pageants (Miss Intercontinental) in the mid 1980s to the early 1990s. The other major event series that was promoted in the early 1980s was professional wrestling. So I'm going to write about Nigerian (and some foreign) professional wrestling.
The main wrestling show on tv in the 1970s was a very boring British promotion that had wrestlers like Mick Mcmanus. Then came the very exciting American shows, The IWA and the NWA. The IWA had more of fun and entertainment, while the NWA was filled with hard and bloody battles. There have been other wrestling shows that have dominated Nigerian tv since then and each show always has that one superstar or group of superstars that have become the favourite of Nigerian wrestling fans. We've had: -
The Mighty Igor (and Mil Mascaras) of the IWA.
Dusty Rhodes (and Andre the Giant) of the NWA.
The Von Erichs of Georgia Wrestling.
Hulk Hogan (and the Ultimate Warrior) of the WWF
etc.
In Nigeria, Power Mike retired from active wrestling in the 1970s and moved over to the business side of things. He established the Power Mike Promotions company and staged many shows at the National Stadium in Lagos in the early 1980s. These shows attracted wrestlers from around the world, including some of the biggest stars of the IWA. Wrestlers who fought at these shows included: -
The Mighty Igor (Polish American)
Ray Apollon (Trinidad and Tobago)
Ox Baker (American)
Johnny Kwango (Britain)
The Great Malumba (billed as being from Zaire, but he's actually from Trinidad and Tobago)
Kamala "The Ugandan Giant" (billed as being from Uganda, but he's actually American).
D.ick "The Bulldog" Brower (from Canada).
Power Uti (Nigeria).
Gentleman Chris Adams (Britain).
Elephando Bassey (Nigeria).
Etc.
The biggest of those wrestling matches (in my opinion) took place c1984 when The Mighty Igor fought Ray Apollon. Unbelievably, Igor, who was the most popular wrestler in Nigeria at that time, lost the match.
The matches were usually promoted in the Friday night and Saturday afternoon editions of the NTA News, then we would find out who won on the 7 or 9pm news on Saturday and finally the matches would be shown in full on the next Saturday's edition of NTA Sports.
The Great Malumba usually entered the arena holding a live chicken in his left hand. He would dance round the ring with the chicken, then behead the chicken with his teeth and smear its blood on the ringpost.
There were other Nigerians, like Mike Bamidele and Ben Lionheart, who fought in wrestling promotions outside the country who sometimes came back to participate in these shows.
Unfortunately I don't have any videos of any of those matches, so enjoy this match from the IWA.
naptu2: The top ten most memorable events in professional wrestling.
Number 9.
I can't find an appropriate video for this on YouTube, but there's a perfect video on the WWE website. This is from Wrestlemania 8 in 1992.
Hulk Hogan and Sid Justice were partners, but Sid turned on Hogan and so they decided to settle things in one of the two main events of Wrestlemania 8.
Hogan was beating Sid when Papa Shango showed up and he and Sid double teamed Hogan. And then we heard the music and I saw a crazy figure running toward the ring.
It was the Ultimate Warrior's return to the WWF and the rest is history.
naptu2: The top ten most memorable events in professional wrestling.
Bonus.
This insane incident is obviously one of the most epic moments in wrestling history. The only reason that it's not in the list is because I didn't watch it when it happened. I only saw it for the first time on the Internet.
Ox Baker was one of the most hated people in the world. He was the ultimate heel. He was hated so much in Nigeria that he almost fought with the audience when he came to wrestle here.
Ox was one of the people that made me believe that a plaster of paris cast was super strong. He often wore a POP cast and his signature move was the heart punch. There were stories about how he killed several of his opponents with the heart punch. The truth is that those opponents actually died from other health issues and it was just a coincidence that Ox wrestled them shortly before they died. However, most people believed that he actually killed them.
Remember that people didn't know that wrestling was kayfabe back in the day. They believed that everything was real and that's what caused the Cleveland Riot.
The Cleveland Riot
This incident happened in 1974 (ignore what's written in the video).
The storyline was that Ernie Ladd had just returned to the NWF and he was crowned "Wrestler of the Year". Johnny Powers was angry because he thought that he should have been wrestler of the year since he had been in the NWF for a longer time and he had achieved a lot. Powers and Ox Baker therefore attacked Ernie Ladd.
Ox Baker was giving The Big Cat Ernie Ladd the heart punch and the audience thought that he was about to kill Ladd. Ladd noticed the change in the crowd's mood and he told Baker, "The natives are getting restless", but Ox wanted to give, "Just a little more heat". Ernie saw when the riot started and he told Ox again, "The natives are getting restless", but Ox was so into it that he didn't realise what was happening.
The crowd stormed the ring because they thought that Ox Baker was about to kill Ernie Ladd. They threw chairs and other objects into the ring and tried to attack the wrestlers. Johnny Powers was the first to flee through the crowd and into the dressing room. Ox Baker was bigger than Powers and therefore much slower. He fled the ring and was trying to scale a wall when a fan hit him with a chair. It gave him a lifelong scar.
naptu2: The top ten most memorable events in professional wrestling.
Number 8.
This match led to the creation of the Mega Powers (the Mania and the Madness) and it was held in 1987.
The Macho Man, Randy Savage was fighting against the Honky Tonk Man and he was about to defeat him. The Honky Tonk Man was managed by Jimmy Hart and therefore, the members of the Hart Foundation intervened in the match in his favour.
Bret Hart, Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart, the Honky Tonk Man and Jimmy "The Mouth of the South" Hart were beating up Savage and the Honky Tonk Man was about to smash his guitar on Savage's head. Savage' manager, Miss Elizabeth, jumped into the ring to beg Honky Tonk Man not to do it, but she was shoved out of the way and the guitar was smashed on Savage's head.
Miss Elizabeth ran into the dressing room and came back with. . .Hulk Hogan! And the rest is history.
This scenario was repeated at Wrestlemania 4 in 1988. The Macho Man fought against The Million Dollar Man, Ted DiBiase and DiBiase had Andre The Giant in his corner. That felt very nice for me because Andre and DiBiase were tag team partners in 1970s WWF and it felt good to see them together again.
Anyway, Andre was interfering in the match and so Elizabeth ran to the dressing room to get Hogan to be in Savage's corner.
Hogan kept Andre at bay as Savage beat DiBiase to win his first world title.
naptu2: The top ten most memorable events in professional wrestling.
Number 7.
I watched this on my brother's birthday in 1987 and it was wonderful. Good food and good entertainment combined.
Andre The Giant had been the favourite face in the WWF and this was like the passing of the torch to Hulk Hogan.
Andre suffered from acromegaly and it seriously affected him in his later years. The condition means that his pituitary gland produces too much growth hormones and so he keeps growing. It was this condition that made him a giant, but it also gave him serious health problems.
Andre's knees could barely carry his weight and he often had to be confined to a wheelchair in his later years. The condition eventually killed him, as my sister had predicted, because his heart could not cope with the task of pumping blood through such a massive body.
Andre could be quite stubborn and he hated show offs. He could stop cooperating with and seriously punish wrestlers who he felt were showing off. Lex Luger once walked out of a match against Andre because Andre stopped cooperating. Hulk Hogan and Vince McMahon have stated that Andre often punished Big John Studd in the ring because he felt that John Studd was showing off.
Hogan said that he had written down his ideas about how he thought the match should go and given it to Andre, but Andre ignored him. So he went up to Andre on the day of the match and asked him how the match should be finished. Andre replied, "Don't worry"! Hogan said that he was worried.
However, Andre mostly followed Hogan script.
There was a point during the match that Hogan tried to carry and slam Andre, but Andre made himself a deadweight and Hogan fell backwards with Andre landing on top of him (you couldn't carry Andre if he didn't want you to carry him). Andre farted as he landed on Hogan and according to Hogan, he laughed heartily.
Then, at another point during the match, Andre said, "Slam". Hogan was surprised and he wasn't sure that he heard Andre right. Andre shouted again, "slam", so Hogan tried to pick up Andre. He tore his bicep muscles and his back gave out because of the effort, but he was able to pick Andre up and slam him. It wasn't the cleanest of slams because of the pain that Hogan felt when his muscles tore, but he did slam him.
I wish you could hear the noise in my house when Hogan slammed Andre. It was incredible.
This wasn't the first time that someone had slammed Andre and in fact, it wasn't the first time that Hogan had slammed Andre, but it was the most epic and most memorable because it was the main event of Wrestlemania 3 and it marked the passing of the torch from Andre to Hogan (also remember that Andre was heavier when Hogan slammed him in 1987).
naptu2: The top ten most memorable events in professional wrestling.
Number 6.
Monster heels, Kamala The Ugandan Giant and Abdullah The Butcher, were fighting against Austin Idol and Rick Martel when Abdullah mistakenly hit Kamala and their manager slapped Abdullah. This led to an insane battle between Abdullah and Kamala.
naptu2: I remember this very well because it was also a very special day for me.
It was 34 years ago and I had a very special event to attend. It was a special day in my life. I had left home by 7am and that was the first time in my life that I had ever entered the venue by the back entrance. It looked very different from there.
Anyway, it was still early in the morning when I got back home and this was on the TV (OGTV).
I remember this very well because, not only were the events in the ring insane, but the interview was actually more insane. Gino Britto actually ran away.
1986 Canadian wrestling. Abdullah The Butcher becomes a face. He fought with his former partner Kamala The Ugandan Giant.
naptu2: The top ten most memorable events in professional wrestling.
Number 5
It seems like the Internet does not believe that this happened, but I watched it with my two eyes and I know it did.
Mil Mascaras was the other very popular face in the IWA. He is an absolute legend and although at that time we mainly saw him in the IWA, he has worked for virtually all the major promotions including the WWF and the NWA/WCW.
It was Mil Mascaras that made the Lucha Libre style of wrestling popular in the US. In America he is known for his high flying moves, incredible technical ability, numerous holds and clean wrestling style. Rey Mysterio Junior said that Mascaras was his inspiration.
Anybody that wore a mask in Nigeria in the early 1980s was usually nicknamed Mil Mascaras and that was the name that was also given to nightsoil men, because they also wore masks (there were a few areas of Lagos that still used nightsoil men before the practice was banned in 1984). However, calling nightsoil men Mil Mascaras was a very dangerous thing because they could empty their load in your premises.
Mascaras was known as the "Man of a Thousand Masks" and it was this match that burned that name into my mind.
The Internet says that Mascaras was never unmasked and that's kind of true and not true.
I watched a match in which Mascaras' mask was removed. . .but he had another mask underneath.
Now Mascaras usually wears 2 masks when he's walking to the ring, a decorative mask which he takes off before the match begins and a second mask that's underneath the decorative mask. He leaves the second mask on while fighting.
Therefore, it means that Mascaras wore at least 3 masks when he was walking to the ring before that match. This made me wonder, "How many masks does this guy actually wear"? He really is the Man of a Thousand Mask.
Unfortunately I can't remember who his opponent was (this was at least 40 years ago) and the Internet doesn't believe that it happened, so I don't have any videos to show you.
naptu2: The top ten most memorable events in professional wrestling.
Number 4
This is from the WWF and it happened in March 1983.
Big John Studd considered himself to be a true giant and he believed that nobody could slam him, so he issued a bodyslam challenge. Anybody that could slam him would win a certain amount of money and the sum was increased every week.
Of course Andre The Giant was bigger than John Studd and so you would naturally expect Andre to try to slam him, especially as Andre was the biggest or second biggest face in the WWF at that time (this was before Hulkamania and Andre and Bob Backlund ran things in the WWF).
There had been a feud between Andre and John Studd over who was the true giant. My sibling who is a doctor said (at the time) that John Studd was the true giant because Andre had acromegaly which made him grow beyond what was normal, but, after recently finding out about all the drugs that John Studd took, I think Andre was the true giant because he didn't have to take any drugs to enhance his size.
Anyway, John Studd knew that Andre could slam him and so they had taken several measures to ensure that Andre did not take part in the contest
The challenge was on again and everybody thought that Chief Jay Strongbow was the challenger, but Jay wagged his finger at the announcer and said that he wasn't the challenger and then Andre stepped out from behind the curtain. Did he slam John Studd? Find out.
Politics › Re: President Tinubu Declares 2023 NBA Conference Open. by naptu2(op): 6:49am On Aug 28, 2023
