₦airaland Forum

newsLast Updated: Monday, August 10, 2015
At last, the queen of controversy in Nollywood, Tonto Dikeh, who lashed out and cursed those behind the story of her marriage and pregnancy story few weeks ago, has shot herself in the leg.

The obviously pregnant River State-born actress is now officially Mrs Tonto Charity Churchill.

This is because she had a very low key marriage introduction to her man Oladunni Churchill in her hometown in Port Harcourt, Rivers State on Saturday, August 8, 2015.

Recall that few weeks ago, Nigeriafilms.com broke the news of the actress rocking a baby bump, (Read It HERE If You Missed It) but she later vehemently denied the report via her Instagram page and as well cursed those behind it.

However, from all indications, it has been revealed that 'Dirty Secrets' star has been covering her bump probably because she is not proud of getting pregnant outside wedlock, as she had on several occasions condemned her colleagues who indulged in it.

There have been gory tales of domestic violence involving celebrities, some of which are still fresh in our memories. ABIOLA ALABA PETERS highlights some of the famous Nigerian female celebrities who fled their matrimonial homes due to incessant cases of domestic violence from their spouses

•Kate Henshaw

Kate Henshaw, Nollywood actress who recently premiered her TV series said she was once a victim of domestic violence. According to her, the relationship lasted for about three to four years. She didn’t know who she was then. She was so timid, and almost stopped smiling and laughing.

She said, “But there was this inner strength in me that helped me to rediscover myself. In fact, I had no self-esteem then. I wanted to change and be who I was not, based on the ill-treatment and violent nature of my man then.

“He was constantly abusing, beating and battering me inside the house and in public places. Funny enough, this violent lover of mine claimed to love me and wanted to marry me.

“I also wanted to marry him. I had started buying pots and other household items because I was in love. I wanted to settle down; I wanted to have my children with him. I kept thinking he would change, but he didn’t.

I tried my best to be everything to him, but finally I said enough was enough. During that turbulent period, I was ashamed. I couldn’t tell anybody. During one of the beatings, he broke my ankle.” That was the gory picture painted by the ex-Glo ambassador, Kate Henshaw.

The screen icon later backed out of the turbulent affair and tied the knot with a British lover years after, a union that recently hit the rocks after producing one child.

•Monalisa Chinda

After many years of being beaten mercilessly by her husband in a turbulent marriage that lasted five years, Glo ambassador and screen diva, Monalisa Chinda, vacated her marital sanctuary in 2009. “My failed marriage was far from normal. I will be foolish if I do not admit there were several cases of violence and assault on me.

At a point, due to the high level of violence, I started acting as if I was crazy. It was that bad. I carried on like a wounded lion for five years, thinking it would get better, but it was escalating and killing me gradually until I said the final ‘no.’ I left home on July 10, 2009.
“I was naive about love and got carried away.

Each time I sit down to look at the whole thing, I usually end up laughing. It was weird, funny and very silly. He had all the nice things to say,” she recalls of that experience. That was the poignant confession of the delectable Ikwerre, Rivers State-born star.

•Vivian Ejike

Her astonishing beauty and impeccable personality could not save her from the incessant beatings of the same man that vowed to love and cuddle her for life. Vivian Ejike, the producer of numerous hit flicks such as ‘Private Storm,’ ‘Silent Scandal,’ among others, chose to call it quits and run for dear life after many years of battery and assault.

In an interview the French graduate of the University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State once granted, she confessed: “I was married but I left that marriage because of domestic abuse.

Actually, it was my experience in domestic abuse and violence that prompted the movie, ‘Private Storm.’ But today, I am happily married again. So no regrets, everything happened for good.”

•Ayo Adesanya

Cross-over actress, Ayo Adesanya, is not found wanting on the list of celebrities whose marriages took a nose dive after unending assault from their partners.

The University of Ibadan graduate of Language and Communication Arts and star of Out of Bounds, Iru Oka, Most Wanted, among others was said to have endured her union until it dawned on her that the battering might never end. Her chaotic marriage to Goriola Hassan, a tattoo-loving movie producer, lasted about eight years.

“I packed out of the house in the middle of the night. I don’t think anyone in a relationship that is not bringing happiness should stay,” the busty actress with tatooes averred in an earlier interview.

• Hadiza Zaaki Azzay

The case of popular banker, Titilayo Arowolo, who was allegedly battered to death by her husband and the Club Q owner, Susan, who was also allegedly murdered by her lover were the direction Hadiza Zaaki’s marriage was heading before the union nose-dived.

With a voice dripping with pains, emotions and punctuated by throbbing flashbacks, the battered wife of Na Me Go Marry Am crooner, Zaaki Azzay, unearthed bitter memories of a turbulent eight-year relationship with her musician husband. “I’d fainted more than two times after being beaten mercilessly by Zaaki. I almost died in his hands.

In fact, since our troubled marriage, I have packed out of his house a record eight times. Zaaki has beaten me on the streets of Gbagada before.

He even bought out a cutlass which he said he would use to kill me,” she revealed.

As a Muslim with a religious rebuff for pigs and its products, former Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State would have been so pained to equate the corruption allegations against him as tantamount to a duel with a pig. “When you wrestle with a pig, the pig gets happy and you get dirty,” the former governor said in a statement issued last Thursday in his response to the allegations against him. Remarkably, he did not mention who the pig is or the quarter from where the allegations against him are coming from. However, his assertion has rekindled the repeated claims of the internal political chasm between him and his party, the All Progressives Congress, APC and the camp of the political leader of the state, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. It is thus instructive that upon the sensitivity of the issues involved, that supporters of the two immediate former governors of Lagos State have pledged to remain quiet and speak off the records on the issue. The swirling allegations of corruption, moral ineptitude and political grandstanding have come at a particularly sensitive time for political stakeholders in Lagos State. As the former governor alleged in his rebuttal, he is not in search of a job, a claim that inevitably leads to insinuations that the allegations were being made to deny him what many consider as his deserved place in the cabinet of President Muhammadu Buhari. Remarkably, Fashola’s enemies it is believed, are especially found among his political household, the platform upon which he progressed through two terms of Nigeria’s most cosmopolitan state. Sources in the Fashola camp lay the charge at those within his political fold who attempted to stop his bid for a second term. At that time, his “brothers” came through the True Face of Lagos, a shadowy movement that sought to damage his political standing through allegations of corruption. Party officials who like senior officials in the Tinubu and the Fashola camps understandably chose to speak off the records deny a party role in the unfolding crisis which they cite as an ego war within the party. One associate of Fashola who spoke yesterday completely denied the involvement of the party in the crisis, which he however, traced to the same forces he claimed were responsible for trying to deny their patron a second term. “It is the same people and you know they wanted to deny him a second term, but they could not, and this time, they will not succeed.” He noted that the Tinubu camp had recruited the incumbent governor, Akinwunmi Ambode to push the battle against their man noting that the release of the information on the website contract could only have been divulged from within. It is no secret among political partisans that Fashola was not supportive of Ambode before the primary and he was believed to be inclined to Supo Shashore, who served as a commissioner in the first term. Fashola, however, made up and took prime position after the primary and campaigned vigorously for Ambode. However, the bad blood that was set before the primary it is said has not healed. Remarkably, an associate of former Governor Tinubu also denied the role of the party and his political patron in the unfolding crisis which he told Vanguard yesterday was essentially an anti-corruption campaign being waged by a concerned civil society organisation. In a comment laced with deeper warning of possible things to come, the source said yesterday: “You have not heard anything, this is not our battle because you have not heard the story of the burial of one million vests meant for the campaign of a former governorship aspirant, you have not heard the story of contract inflations, you have not heard many things,” the source said as he gave warning of the camp’s ownership of a dossier on the immediate former governor. On the prospect of President Buhari damning the consequences and picking Fashola as a minister to represent Lagos, a source in the Tinubu camp said: “The person to be chosen must be acceptable by the people of Lagos and the ruling party. So if he (Fashola) is to be picked is it because he is acceptable to the party, or is it because he is a saint or what? The president can only pick him at his own peril,” he said noting that the former governor is only a political disadvantage saying that Fashola lost his ward and local government during the last local government election. Fashola’s seeming political naivety is now the chorus of his political enemies who are alleging that Governor Ahmed Tinubu handed over to him a political structure that was in full control of the state. According to them, the political family at the time of the Tinubu-Fashola transition was in full control of the complement of elected officials in the National Assembly and the State House of Assembly. Fashola they claim, however, handed over to his successor a divided political heritage given the ascendancy of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, which won six House of Representatives positions and – seats in the House of Assembly. The accusations against Fashola are, however, seriously vitiated by what critics claim as a heritage of performance in government, security.

The report of the 2014 National Conference was presented by former President Goodluck Jonathan as the most important document among the handing over documents presented to his successor, President Muhammadu Buhari.
By Henry Umoru, Emman Ovuakporie & Joseph Erunke
The report was equally dispatched to the Seventh National Assembly at the last hour for enactment of the recommendations of the confab.
Former President, Dr Goodluck Jonathan handing over reports of the 2014 National Conference to President Muhammadu Buhari
Former President, Dr Goodluck Jonathan handing over reports of the 2014 National Conference to President Muhammadu Buhari
However, more than two months after the advent of the new regime in the executive and legislative branches of government, nothing much has been heard of the documents.
The conference which gulped billions of naira in direct government funding and also valuable man hours for attendees and other stakeholders is now receiving fresh reviews as to its merits and demerits.
Given the constitutional role of the National Assembly in bringing the recommendations of the conference to law, Vanguard sought the opinion of eight members of the National Assembly on their views on the report that is now quickly gathering dust in the legislature. The response of the legislators in both chambers of parliament was divided.
We’ll look at it in national interest – Akpabio, Bwacha, Aduda
Speaking on the issue, Senate Minority leader, Senator Godswill Akpabio said: “When it (report) comes, we will study it and treat it on merit because I am sure there are a lot of good things inside and we will look at it in national interest.”
National interest
Deputy Minority Leader, Senator Emmanuel Bwacha, also shared similar views, saying “when it comes, we will study it and treat it on merit.”
On his part, Senate Minority Whip, Senator Philip Aduda, said: “We wait until we get the report. The report as submitted to former President Goodluck Jonathan is rich, with good input from Nigerians of high standing. When it comes, we will study it and treat it on merit.”
Also contributing, Deputy Minority Whip, Senator Biodun Olujimi, said: “There are many good things in that confab report and I believe the Senate will be able to take a good look at it, treat it and make sure that those things that merit being put where they should, will be put in the constitution or the process for which they will be put in the constitution will be put in place.”
There was no confab in 2014 –Marafa
However, Senator Kabir Marafa (APC, Zamfara Central), who claimed that there was no conference in 2014 said: “What is confab that you are asking? There was nothing like confab. You should stop talking about illegalities, please. What happened that time was not a national conference, it was just a jamboree organised by the former president to achieve a certain purpose he couldn’t achieve. So, as far as I am concerned, it has gone with the administration of Jonathan. May its soul rest in absolute peace.’’
Report will be discussed if…. –Omoworare
For the Chairman, Senate Committee on Rules and Business, Senator Babajide Omoworare (APC, Osun East), “The report, if sent by Mr. President will be listed for deliberation and there are 109 senators, I am just one and I just happen to be the schedule officer and we will see what comes of it. I have my personal views.
Issues of appropriation
I was of the view that a bill would have been brought before even the confab was established and taken at all and it should have been as an act of parliament, which will make our work easier.
“Despite that a bill wasn’t brought, which of course may raise issues of appropriation, how they got money to fund it and so on and so forth, what I think is very important is the fact that Nigerians sat down in that conference and they have taken certain resolutions that can become acts of parliament.
‘’They have a communiqué and that communiqué will be brought to us for us to see. So, it is for every individual senator and every individual representative to make up his or her mind on those issues. At the end of the day, it is just like double time has been spent, double energy has been exerted and double money has been spent.”
Abba-Ibrahim, Sani speak
Also speaking, Senator Bukar Abba Ibrahim (APC, Yobe East) said: “It depends on what they bring. We haven’t seen what they have brought so how would we know what we will say? I haven’t seen the report, I haven’t heard anything about the report, I don’t know anything about the report. How can you pass judgement on something you know nothing about? But obviously if they bring it to the National Assembly, there must be certain aspect of it that is good otherwise they won’t have bothered to bring it here at all in the first place.”
In his contribution, Senator Shehu Sani (APC, Kaduna Central) said: “I am among those who feel the document should be thrown out and it is of no use at all. But going by the fact that a lot of money has been spent and credible Nigerians have been invited to that conference, in order for such a thing not to be a complete waste, I think relevant issues that relate to the socio-economic and political development of the nation should be taken into consideration.”
Divergent views also reign among Reps
Members of the House of Representatives also expressed divergent views on the matter.
It’s dead on arrival –Omidiran
Former Deputy Chairman, House Committee on Sports, Rep Ayo Omidiran (APC, Osun), described the National Confab report as an issue that is dead on arrival and has no place in the Buhari administration.
“The confab report is gone with the wind, if the body language of President Buhari is taken into consideration,” she said.
We can sponsor private bills based on the report –Reyenieju
On his part, Rep Daniel Reyenieju (PDP, Delta) said that if Nigerians took a critical look at the report of the National Conference, they will understand that the confab report is a process being put in place to tackle some fundamental issues confronting Nigeria as a nation state. “The issues contained in the confab report are subject to debate and Nigerians should know that these issues cannot be implemented without the National Assembly being involved.
Difficult situation
The president cannot implement the report by executive fiat. Some of the issues in the report have to come in the form of an executive bill to the National Assembly or as a member’s private bill as the case may be, especially such issues like the creation of states and amendment of the constitution”, he averred.
It’s a difficult situation – Yusuf
Former Deputy Chairman House Committee on ICT, Rep Tajudeen Yusuf (PDP, Kogi) said it would have been a lovely development if the report had been given the appropriate attention it deserved, adding: “It is a difficult situation. I would have loved to see the report getting the desired attention from the president but I doubt if he will touch it. The government is not interested in doing anything about it because they don’t want to agree that Goodluck Jonathan did anything right. It is unfortunate that such a well-thought out report will be jettisoned for primordial reasons.”
We’ll wait for Buhari’s views –Faleke
Former House Committee Chairman on Ethics and Anti-Corruption, Rep. Abiodun Faleke (APC, Lagos) said the lawmakers may have to wait until President Buhari presents his views on the way forward.
He said, “we will wait for the views of PMB and if sent to us I’m sure the House will do justice to it in the interest of the country.”
We’ll consider it if it comes – Famurewa
To Ajibola Famurewa (APC, Osun), the lawmakers will consider the report, .if sent to them. “I don’t think there is much problem with the report as it has not been forwarded to National Assembly for consideration. The National Assembly is the only arm of government recognized by our constitution to make law since we are representatives of the people.

PORT HARCOURT – Commendations have continued to trail the decision of the federal government to fast track implementation of the report of the United Nations Environment Program, UNEP on Ogoni communities in Rivers State.
President Muhamadu Buhari recently approved composition of the governing council and board of trustees of the Hydrocarbon Pollution Restoration Project, HYPREP and also amended the official gazette establishing it.
The new board of trustees for the HYPREP Trust Fund will have representatives from the Federal Government, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, International Oil Companies, Ogoniland and the United Nations System among other strategic stakeholders.
It will be recalled that the Federal Government had approached UNEP to conduct an independent and objective assessment of the environmental situation in Ogoni. Its finding was handed over to the government on July 2011 during the reign of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Jonathan later approved establishment of Hydrocarbon Pollution Restoration Project, HYREP as a unit in the Ministry of Petroleum to drive some sections of the report.
Ogoni land and President Buhari
Ogoni land and President Buhari
But nothing came out of it again bringing the hope of the people to a standstill leading to agitations from the Ogoni people for the dissolution of the moribund HYREP.
In the same 2013 Senator Magnus Abe who represented the Rivers South East senatorial district in the Senate and several other Ogoni assembled at the All Saints Anglican Cathedral, Bori, Khana local government area to seek divine intervention for implementation of the report.
Magnus Abe who was a sitting Senator then told the congregation that Ogoni could not fathom why the federal government under President Jonathan had refused to commence implementation of the report about three years after it received it.
He said the both chambers of the National Assembly had given their nod for implementation of the report but the delay was with the federal government. He said as an ethnic nationality they had done everything humanly possible to prevail on the federal government to act but no response, so they were taking their cry to the altar of God for divine intervention.
The cries of the people were finally answered last month with the decision of President Buhari to begin rapid implementation of the report.
Meantime, most Ogoni have continued to hail the move by President Buhari to implement the report. MOSOP in a statement on the action of President Buhari said it was a welcome development. President of MOSOP, Mr Pyagbara enjoined government to constitute the boards and various institutions approved by the President so they could commence work immediately.
The statement further appealed to the government to declare a state of emergency on Ogoni environment with a view to commencing immediate implementation of the report, expressing hope that the era of rhetoric and public show were over.
The Ogoni also called on President Buhari to help it actualize its desire for an Ogoni state, adding that the government should also quash the conviction placed on Ken Saro-Wiwa and the Ogoni 8 murdered along with him, saying they were innocent.
MOSOP also urged the federal government to set up a national monument in honour of the slain Ogoni 9, stressing that the move will show that the government shared in the pains of Ogoni
The statement called on the federal government to assist reintegrate Ogoni refugees back to the mainstream Ogoni society. According to Pyagbara about 5,000 Ogoni were still stranded in some West African countries. He explained that the refugee saga came up with the invasion of Ogoni by security forces during the agitation for adequate compensation from shell for years of degradation of their environment.
Governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress. APC, Dr Dakuku Peterside lauded the action of President Buhari, saying it reaffirmed hope that Buhari will give attention to the Niger Delta region
“Our people in the region know that this is a president we can trust because of his antecedent and track record. By this action, Mr. President has rekindled hope and brought a major relief to our long-suffering people.
“We know that it can only be better. I therefore urge the entire people of Niger Delta region to rally round this president as he works tirelessly to return Nigeria on the path of honour and greatness. Our region is on his mind, therefore we must do everything possible to support this administration,“ he said.
Niger Delta Civil Society Coalition also hailed the decision of the government, saying it will relieve Ogoni of what it termed sentence of environmental death.
Chairman of the group, Mr Anyakwee Nsirimovu on his part appealed to Ogoni to unite to ensure successful implementation of the report.
“The Buhari administration is most commended, especially in taking the bold decision to relieve the people of Ogoni of the sentence of environmental death”, the group said.
Senator Magnus Abe, who represented the Rivers South East senatorial district in the Senate lauded the move, describing it as a step in the right direction. He congratulated President Buhari for doing what former President Jonathan, a son from the region could not do for the area in six years as President of the country.
Step forward
A frontline Ogoni activist, Comrade Celestine Akpobari who also hailed the development described it as a step forward, adding that former President Jonathan failed to take practical and appreciable step on the report all the while he was President.
He however urged the federal government to allow civil society to be represented in the process towards implementation of the report.,
He said the development from the part of the federal government also took cognizance of livelihood and sustainability in Ogoni area, an issue the UNEP report according to him did not look at.
Meantime, President of Ogoni Central Indigenous Authority, Mr Goodluck Diigbo, in a statement from his overseas abode said the action of the Federal Government ignored the technical demands of the UNEP reports, stressing that it could further deepen tension and crisis in Ogoni.
Diigbo, who led a faction of MOSOP until recently, alleged that President Buhari relied on recommendations of non experts in his action.
“Even though the report remains disputed, many of EIAS measures investigated, and clarified in the report, are missing
“The recommendations are secret, and reliance on non-experts is not only misguided, but, unacceptable,” he said.
“Buhari may have a good intention, but, his expressed intentions might deepen old wounds. For instance, Buhari avoided specific mention of recommendations by UNEP, including Ogoniland Environmental Restoration Authority and the Environmental Restoration Fund for Ogoniland.”
“Next, we the Ogoni people are not aware of any Special UNEP Representative for Ogoniland. We don’t have one. Buhari’s intentions have created considerable confusion and resentment,” he said.