₦airaland Forum

Since the days of Shehu Shagari as President, this particular man has been the first citizen’s animals’ keeper. Shagari left office some 30 years ago. That means the man, 58, took up the job in his 20s.

But recently the man, popularly known as SA Lion, left the president’s zoo against his wish:

Death snatched him away from the beasts he had been tending in the past 30 years. The animals’ keeper, Mallam Yahaya Adamu (Dan Zaria) more appropriately, S.A. Lion, hailed from Kaduna State.

Dan Zaria, died in his sleep on that fateful Sunday at his residence in Masaka, Nasarawa State. Those he left bereaved are his two wives and 18 children, five girls and 13 boys. If the animals he kept are intelligent enough to know what death means, then many more than you think are actually bereaved because he had been with them in the past 30 years, but would not come back.

He was employed as Head Gardener in December 1983 in Dodan Barracks, Lagos under President Shehu Shagari, shortly before the Gen. Muhammadu Buhari’s coup.

He was later sent to Niger Republic to train in wild beast handling by the State House Veterinary.

Trained 3 lions
Dan Zaria, a very jovial individual while in the employment of the State House, successfully trained about three lions in the villa from cubs.

Rescues Aso Rock from stray lions
During Gen. Abdullasami Abubakar’s regime, one fateful day, one of the three lions escaped from its cage at the back of the Head of State’s residence, shortly after Dan Zaria had taken permission from his bosses to rush to town and handle a banking transaction.

The soldiers guarding the villa were ordered by the then CSO, Major Aliu, to take position and shoot the lion down should it try to attack anybody.

A search party was then sent to look for Dan Zaria, who luckily was on his way back to the Villa.

On his arrival, he panicked when he saw guns drawn and pointing at the lion and pleaded in a voice filled with emotion that he be allowed to lead it back to its cage. He got a water hose and increased the pressure of the water, aiming it at the lion and the beast quietly returned to its cage. Of course, Dan Zaria was hailed and applauded for his bravery and mastery.

On another occasion, a lion again escaped from its cage. News of the danger filtered into the meeting of the Provisional Ruling Council (PRC). Again, heavily armed soldiers were ordered to surround the venue of the meeting to forestall any possible attack from the lion. Some of the members of the PRC, ran out of the meeting into the C-in-C office for cover. It was Dan Zaria again that came to the rescue and returned the lion to its cage.

Veteran
Dan Zaria worked with many heads of state, including President Goodluck Jonathan but the one that kept him most busy was the Abacha administration because of the CEO’s love for pets. He had different animals, including antelopes, tortoise, zebra, peacocks and others, parading around the villa.

While some of the wild animals like lions and tortoise have since been transferred out of the villa to the Children’s Park in Abuja, the zebras, giraffes, antelopes peacocks are still seen all over the villa.

His death
Dan Zaria suffered partial stroke that affected the entire right half of his body and the use of his right arm. The stroke left him, limping when he recovered. That seriously affected his job and during Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration, he was affected by staff downsize in the State House.

The then Chief of Staff, Gen. Mohammed Abdullahi, on noticing that he was no longer seeing Dan Zaria, sought to know what must have happened to him and he was informed of his sack.

Abdullahi pleaded with the then State House Permanent Secretary, Steve Orasanye, to reinstate him and ensure his Villa tag was always renewed alongside others until he decides on his own to stop coming. He convinced the permanent secretary that sacking him would hasten his death.

He was still on the employment of State House until his death in the early hours of Sunday, April 14.

Media person
Dan Zaria was fond of the press and would always come to hang around the press gallery contributing to any discussion with deep knowledge that surprised his listeners.

He was not afraid to talk to anybody and was very vast on national issues even though he was illiterate. His arguments came in fluent Hausa and pidgin English.

On one occasion, Dan Zaria had walked into the press gallery as usual and one of the journalists asked jokingly: “Dan Zaria, it’s weekend, so take care of your people”, after letting out a long laugh, he said: “But you promised us fresh air, so give us fresh air.”

Dan Zaria hated any currency other than naira, especially the American dollar.

The longest serving photographer attached to the State House, Alhaji Sule always made fun of Dan Zaria each time he returned from a foreign trip with his estacode.

Abacha made him agbada
On one of those occasion, Sule gave Dan Zaria $100 bill but he refused to collect it and when he persisted and forced it on him, he almost tore it to pieces but for the quick recovery from him by Sule.

Dan Zaria was also very simple and not materialistic. While many would have used his position to enrich themselves, Dan Zaria was known to reject gifts, including a car from one of is admirers.

Gen. Abacha at a time was said to have asked Dan Zaria to name whatever he wanted and he replied: “Nothing. It is against my religion to ask for anything”. But when Abacha insisted, Dan Zaria was said to have requested for agbada. And Abacha ordered that 50 sets be made for him.

House gift
His residence in Masaka was bought and built for him by the former National Security Adviser, Gen. Aliyu Gusau.

Every Sallah, Dan Zaria got ram gifts from Gen. Gusau, Gen Abdullahi and former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Alhaji Yayale Ahmed. There was a standing order for him to pick rams from their homes.

On another occasion, a certain Customs Comptroller General had sent a Golf car to Dan Zaria without prior notice. Dan Zaria never drove it but sold it off at little or nothing, “saying I don’t want to be have problems and the stroke has left me partially paralysed, so what will I do with a car?”

Children’s fees
When Mrs. Remi Oyo was the Special Adviser on Media to President Olusegun Obasanjo, she was reported ill at a time. Dan Zaria on hearing it cried that he would prefer to die in place of Mrs. Oyo because: “She is the one that pays my children’s school fees.”

After Mrs. Oyo left the Villa and resumed as the Managing Director of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) she left a standing order that Dan Zaria must not be stopped when he comes looking for her.

IBB’s friend
Dan Zaria, who was well known to all past leaders and governors, would fearlessly walk up to them and strike a conversation. A couple of times, he was seen chatting with past leaders like Gen. Ibrahim Babangida the last time he visited the Villa.

He lost his mother just a month before he died, had given one of his daughters out in marriage and was preparing for another on May 18 before his death.

Two weeks before his demise, he had approached the Minister for Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Allison-Madueke, to seek assistance on his daughter’s upcoming marriage, which she obliged him. Family members said he had procured everything needed in the party after Alison-Madueke’s assistance before he died.[b][/b]





http://olokunbolablessing..com/2013/08/strange-story-how-stray-lions-held-aso.html

Mr. Man, this is an act of favouritism while the moderator who knows how emotional Nigerians are has moved the topic to front page to promote nepotism. U have to engaged in the contest like everyone contesters not coming to Nairaland to seek cheap votes from Us.

With tears in my eyes, I say rest in peace.

[b]

Sarah Sharples, 25, and husband Lee, 37, forked out £500 on clothes, £1,000 in the nursery and £900 on a pram - then welcomed baby Joseph.


A mum-to-be who was told she was having a girl spent £3,000 on pink baby gear - and then gave birth to a BOY.

Sarah Sharples, 25, and husband Lee, 37, forked out £500 on clothes, £1,000 in the nursery and £900 on a pram. Even the bottles were pink.

Weeks later, Sarah gave birth to a bouncing baby boy, Joseph.

Sarah said: “I couldn’t understand it when the midwife said it was a boy.

“All our scans had confirmed it was a girl and I had everything prepared in pink.

“We had picked her name, Lily-Mae, and had the room decorated with her name stencilled across the pink feature wall.

“We even had personalised blankets as gifts from family and friends.”

She added: “We looked at each other and couldn’t believe that Lily-Mae was actually a boy.”

Sarah and Lee, of Blyth, Northumberland, wanted to know the sex of their first child and at her 20-week-scan discovered it was a girl.

“It was my first baby and so we had to buy all the essentials” said Sarah.

“I wanted everything to be perfect for her so that she would want for nothing. Being prepared was my main concern and seeing as I knew I was having a girl I didn’t see the harm in buying everything in pink.”

Lee said: “There was so much to change and friends and family have been so helpful.

“We had bought most of the clothes from ASDA and they were fantastic and let us exchange everything.

“But we still have a lot of pink things that we can’t return and so we’re just keeping them and hoping, at some stage, we have a girl.

Since Joseph’s arrival in June Lee has been busy decorating.

“The nursery is now redecorated with a Monsters Inc. theme so we think Joseph will prefer that to a pink room” he said.[/b]

Check out all the latest News, Sport & Celeb gossip at Mirror.co.uk http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/mum-to-be-spends-3000-pink-after-2128738#ixzz2bB0CZPSC
Follow us: @DailyMirror on Twitter | DailyMirror on Facebook

Atouke: He will not listen to sound advice, he has refused to apologize this guy is too arrogant and tribalistic and is a disgrace to the law profession he professes.
Can you imagine a lawyer(SAN) abusing the civil and constitutional right of Nigerians that the sacred rights he is professed to protect and uphold! maybe he doesn't consider Igbos as Nigerians

[b]has gov. obi apologize to those Nigerians deported in year the 2011?


The Anambra state government has issued a warning to all street beggars, especially children used by their parents to beg for alms, to vacate the streets or be arrested.

29 of such women who displayed their children as strategy for getting alms have already been arrested in Awka and Onitsha, and repatriated to their home states; Ebonyi and Akwa Ibom states.

The state commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Dr. Ego Cordelia Uzoezie, disclosed Friday in Awka when a middle-aged woman was arrested for begging with nine children at various points in Awka.

Uzoezie said her attention was drawn to the spectacle when one of the children who begged at the Unizik junction, Awka, six-year-old Goodnews Sunday, was hit in the jaw by an Okada rider, while he begged.

Uzoezie decried the attitude of some parents who used their children to beg for alms, and warned that after 72 hours any beggar seen in the state would be arrested by the law enforcement agents and the special task force of the ministry of women affairs and social development.
[/b]

http://leadership.ng/nga/articles/9600/2011/12/04/anambra_orders_arrest_child_beggars.html

Thank You 9icest, U just made things easier for us & this will do the Job for us too.

Ooh boy

Hello ladies, women & big chic's in the compound & not a house because Nairaland has far outgrown the status of a house.
Please name 5excuses men/guys use in the postponement of marriage. As per, 5major excuses a man/guy uses to postpone marrying his girlfriend?


As a man & a guy, I will start by mentioning just 2 excuses out of the 5excuses, which are as followed-:

1, Not having a good paying job yet, which includes not having enough money, job security & every other monetary excuses.

2, She has too much baggages, she is the eldest among her siblings whereby, she is responsible for her aged parents & siblings financial welfares.

3,








4,















5,











Guys are also allowed to share their views since the topic of discussion has to do with us "Men".

agbameta: http://premiumtimesng.com/news/141826-pdp-appoints-umaru-dikko-to-head-national-disciplinary-committee.html

Man just dey laff because man nor go fit

This is beautiful.....

mekaboy: jst wondering, with 1million nairaland members, is it possible that boko haram members, armed robbers and kidnappers make up the membership population? Lol jst thinking aloud.

what a question?

Jonathan Is Going Down Everyday – Asari Dokubo

APC Fan Club: This idiot talks with two mouths

Leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force, NDPVF, Alhaji Mujahideen Asari-Dokubo, yesterday continued his attack on President Goodluck Jonathan, saying it is unlikely he would return in 2015.

The NDPVF leader in an interview with journalists in Lagos, said his kinsman had lost the sympathy and support of well-meaning Nigerians.

The former President of Ijaw Youth Council, however added that it was not too late for Jonathan to reconcile with former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

He noted that if the president wanted to regain confidence of Nigerians, he should urgently deliver on his electioneering promises.

He also advised the number one citizen to do away with self seeking and selfish aides around him.

Asari-Dokubo further attacked the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, describing the latter’s reaction to his last interview as “arrant nonsense, rubbish and childish.”

“I don’t want to reply Abati, the famous author of crab theory, who was desperate to defend his boss just because he wants to justify his wages. What does Abati know? Am I struggling to be President in 2015?”

“What is the correlation between why is the East/West Road not being constructed and the poor performance of the Presidency, including the inability of President Jonathan to curb corruption in his administration and the crab theory by Abati?”

“Abati is just childish; his arguments were baseless, just struggling and managing to salvage the dwindling fortunes and sagging image of the Presidency.”

On the rift between the President and OBJ, Asari-Dokubo debunked claims of the Presidency which states the contrary: “Everybody knows that there is a quarrel. Has Obasanjo not been criticising Jonathan openly?

“Has Obasanjo not said that he was not prepared to keep quiet if things are wrong? Do you need to be told that there is a rift when Obasanjo, who took his position as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees, BoT, of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, as between life and death suddenly gave up the job just like that?”

“Was it not reported that Obasanjo has threatened that Jonathan would not be president in 2015 and that he (Obasanjo) vowed to continue to criticise him (Jonathan)?”

Asari-Dokubo added that he was ready to assist Jonathan win again 2015. He however stated that the president was not very focused, and that the North could use the advantage of his inadequacies to defeat him.

“I am ready and willing to help him in 2015 but there is something wrong with him (Jonathan), he has been hijacked by some people and he is not doing anything to remove them. Jonathan is not on course at all. Jonathan is destroying his presidency”.

“For instance, he got to power majorly by the support of the social media that is the vehicle in which he was brought to power but as I am talking to you today, he has lost all his Facebook fans. He (Jonathan) is going down every day.”

“How can he (Jonathan) deliver when everybody around him are sabotaging him? The people around Jonathan are vicious but somebody like me will not keep quiet to allow Jonathan to lead us to avoidable bloodshed.”

Asked if he was ready for a truce with the Presidency, Asari-Dokubo stated, “I am not ready to be called by anybody because I went to him (Jonathan) many times to intimate him that his conduct would bring disgrace to us. I told him that my brother, you are not doing well. My conscience is very important to me, I cannot keep quiet at all, it
makes me sick.

“But I am and will continue to fight for him (Jonathan), for the Ijaw nation, the South/South and the deprived people, who stood by him (Jonathan). What Jonathan represents is greater than him.

“The Presidency does not need to reach out to me. Jonathan is not representing himself, Presidency is not the personal property of Jonathan; it is the property of those who died throughout the country to make him the president of Nigeria in 2011.”

The former militant leader described the former BoT Chairman of PDP, Chief Tony Anenih as “a liability to the Presidency,” saying it was unfortunate that Jonathan continued to associate with Anenih despite his “credibility baggage.”

“For me as a person, I believe in the sayings that ‘show me your friend, I will tell you who you are. For Goodluck Jonathan to continue to associate with Tony Anennih despite a series of allegations against him is unfortunate.”

“But there is a remedy for him (Jonathan) because he has two years more, ending on May 29, 2015, if he can make amends. Let him genuinely reconcile with Obasanjo, his benefactor, listen to and align with Nigerians, who elected him in 2011.”

“Let him severe and cut off the people around him, who never wished Nigeria and Nigerians well and redeem the battered image of his administration by delivering on his electioneering promises to Nigerians.”

“Jonathan should be prepared to fight injustice and corruption in the remaining two years and remove the deadwoods in his government and move the nation forward.

“All hopes are not lost if he can make amends but his chances of re-election in 2015 is slim and narrow if the present trends of inactivity by his administration continue.”

http:///vHzG9LlgBS

Jonathan & Abati put together should not be taken serious.

Better self & as things stand's now. I said, nobody, person's or group of person's can near Gov. Amaechi with any form or forms of treat because Gov. Amaechi has just won all of them put together, including the "HIPPOS"

Allahu Akbar

All you muthafuckers on top & those coming under me talking sh1ts need jesus......

Interesting.

Britain's reserves of shale gas are much larger than previously thought, it has emerged as the Government announced major investment in extracting the energy source.

New geological data from the British Geological Survey shows much more shale gas could be extracted from under the UK - as much as double earlier estimates at one site.

There is now thought to be as much as 1,300 trillion cubic feet at the Bowland site in Lancashire.

The findings were highlighted by Treasury Chief Secretary Danny Alexander when he announced a £100bn Government infrastructure package aimed at boosting sluggish economic growth.

Tax breaks and fast-track permits for controversial shale gas exploration were at the centre of the announcement.

Mr Alexander said: "Today this news from the Geological Society confirms the huge potential that shale gas has for the UK."

The measures would "kick-start the industry in a way that protects the environment and supports communities," he added.

Exploiting the natural resource is highly controversial as critics say the process of fracking - fracturing rock with high-pressure liquid to release the gas - can cause earthquakes, pollute water supplies, blight the countryside and affect house prices.

But ministers believe the experience of the United States shows it could boost tax revenues, create jobs, reduce energy imports and drive down household bills.

Danny Alexander is unveiling the controversial measures

Setting out details of the latest round of capital spending in a Commons statement, Mr Alexander told MPs the Treasury will now move quickly - consulting on a tax break and publishing detailed planning guidance within the next three weeks.

It paves the way for the Environment Agency to offer permits for fracking projects more quickly and to set them to defined timetables in a further bid to encourage firms to invest.

There will also be protection offered for communities affected - with each receiving at least £100,000 in benefits for each well and no less than 1% of the overall revenues.

Environmentalists expressed concern at the plans. Lawrence Carter, energy campaigner at Greenpeace, said: "The idea that shale gas is going to get the economy moving again is groundless.
"There's a huge difference between the amount of gas in the ground and how much fracking companies will be able to commercially extract.

"Even if they do manage to get some gas out, the fracking industry's own research reveals that production wouldn't reach meaningful levels until well into the next decade."

He said Greenpeace had recorded a senior member of Cuadrilla, which is pursuing shale drilling in Lancashire and has hotly opposed plans for exploration at Balcombe, West Sussex, admitting it would have an insignificant impact on energy bills.

Friends of the Earth energy campaigner Tony Bosworth added: "Shale gas is not the solution to the UK's energy challenges. Its potential has been hugely over-hyped and there's little evidence it will drive down fuel prices."

The statement by the Lib Dem Chief Secretary to the Treasury comes a day after Chancellor George Osborne announced plans to slice a further £11.5bn off other Whitehall spending in 2015/16 - as poor growth forced him to extend austerity measures beyond the next general election.

In an interview with Sky News ahead of Mr Alexander's announcement, Mr Osborne said that it was essential for Britain to make the most of its natural energy resources.

He said: "We want cheaper energy. We have gas under the ground in this country and we have a way of getting it out.

"This country can't be left behind by the rest of the world. Just saying no to a gas revolution that is taking place in places like the US and China would be a massive mistake."

But Labour's shadow energy minister Tom Greatrex said the fracking move was premature.

"Announcing community benefits and tax breaks before we know how much shale gas is actually recoverable, or before anyone even has a licence to extract it, looks like a desperate attempt to draw attention away from the Government's cuts to infrastructure investment in the spending review and its abject failure to get the economy growing," he said.

The Government's latest infrastructure investment also includes funds for projects such as new road and rail capacity, science facilities and nuclear power




invezz.com/news/commodities/3469-uk...

Truly, there was a party