₦airaland Forum

Discovered startling facts about what to eat to be slim and healthy...

Eat unripe bananas
Green bananas, along with whole grains, vegetables and fibre, all contain resistant starch. This is the most important form of soluble dietary fibre you can eat - soluble dietary fibre is not digested in the small intestine, but is absorbed more slowly further down in the body, where it is fermented by bacteria in the colon to give long-term energy.

Green bananas, along with whole grains, vegetables and fibre, all contain resistant starch

Resistant starch is a carbohydrate but, unlike other carbs, its chemical make-up means that it does not cause your blood sugar to rise, so is not a risk for diabetes and it also doesn't cause sugar-crash hunger pangs after eating.

It also has another slimming advantage in that it stimulates the release of a hormone, glucagon, which boosts the rate at which our bodies burn fat.
Resistant starch is therefore a crucial dietary component for managing your weight and blood sugar, as well as helping healthy bacteria to grow in your large bowel, thereby reducing the risk of colon cancer.
Green bananas are the best source of resistant starch: the less ripe a banana is, the more resistant starch it contains.
In the Western world we eat on average between 3g and 7g a day of resistant starch. Expert bodies such as the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, the official science body in Australia, recommend eating at least 20g a day.

Don't mash your potatoes
Keeping our intake of sugar as low as possible is important for both our waistlines and our general health. While the obvious thing to do is to cut out sugary drinks and processed foods, we should also consider how we prepare healthy foods in the kitchen.
The way we cook food can alter the amount of sugar released into the blood. For example, 25 per cent more sugar is released from a potato when it is boiled and mashed before eating, compared with cutting it into chips.
Potato and other carbohydrates contain large granules of starch. Heating and grinding - eg, mashing or pureeing - starch granules increases the amount of sugar by breaking open the membrane that surrounds them, releasing starches that turn into sugar.
Heating and grinding - eg, mashing or pureeing - starch granules increases the amount of sugar
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Heating and grinding - eg, mashing or pureeing - starch granules increases the amount of sugar

Anything like this that you do to a food, such as grinding, pressing and even chewing, accelerates the rate at which the sugar is released into the blood. It increases the surface area of the food - making it easier to absorb and increasing the rate of digestion in the intestine.
Similarly, eating an apple whole releases less sugar into the blood than apple puree, which in turn releases less sugar than drinking apple juice, according to a study in The Lancet.
When cooking a food such as potato, the heat and the amount of water used also have significant effects on the amount of sugar released, the same Lancet study found. The more a starch-containing food such as potato is heated, loaded with water and mashed up, the more easily it will be digested, releasing its sugar into the small intestine.
And the less manipulated or refined a food product is, the less sugar is released when it is digested. So baking or frying a potato means it will release less sugar than if mashed.


Family goes on sugar-free diet for one year
Add water when you fry
Most of us cook with oil, but over heating can break down cooking oils, producing toxic chemicals called lipid peroxides. When eaten, they can react with proteins and DNA - your cells' genetic blueprint - in ways that are believed to increase the risk of cancer and heart disease.
Olive oil, particularly extra virgin oil, is best used as a salad dressing and not in cooking, because it starts to burn at a comparatively low temperature and therefore breaks down easily.
When frying, a good tip is to emulate the Chinese and add a small amount of water to the wok or frying pan. This lower s the f r ying temperature of the oil to 100c and reduces the amount of oxidative damage to the fat which normally occurs
Drink water to reduce back pain
As many as 75 per cent of us may be chronically dehydrated, according to U.S. research.
This not only affects our waistlines, but our backs, too. Preliminary research suggests that drinking eight to ten glasses of water a day could significantly ease back and joint pain for up to 80 per cent of sufferers. This is because being dehydrated makes the blood and joint fluids thicker; it also causes crystals of uric acid (a bodily waste substance normally removed in urine) to form in the joints, which can cause gout-like pain.
Drinking water is also a valuable and painless aid to weight loss. Even a mild state of dehydration will slow our metabolic rate by as much as 3 per cent and may play a role in weight gain.
And every drop of water consumed involves calories being used as the kidneys work to remove the excess water from our bodies. Moreover, drinking water shortly before bedtime has been found to prevent midnight feelings of hunger for nearly 100 per cent of people who were tested, according to Washington University cardiologist, Dr Stephen Sinatra, in his book Optimum Health.
Drinking five glasses of water daily can reduce our risk of colon cancer by 92 per cent, according to a study in the International Journal of Cancer in 1999. Good hydration lubricates our bowels and causes them to move faster.
This reduces the amount of time that potentially carcinogenic waste products stay in our colon. The same amount of water has been suggested to cut the risk of bladder cancer by 49 per cent, and of breast cancer development by almost 80 per cent.
Good hydration increases blood flow through the liver, helping the body to remove potential carcinogens, which is why it is believed to reduce the risk of bladder and breast cancer.
Vegetarians who consume tofu and bean curd as a total substitute for meat put themselves at risk
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Vegetarians who consume tofu and bean curd as a total substitute for meat put themselves at risk

Why you should beware of tofu
Vegetarians who consume tofu and bean curd as a total substitute for meat put themselves at risk of mineral deficiencies because they usually ignore a simple lesson on the way these foods are eaten in Japan.
These products are made from soy beans high in a substance called phytic acid. This can block absorption of essential minerals such as calcium, magnesium, copper, iron and especially zinc.
Many scientists agree that diets high in phytates derived from soy have contributed to widespread mineral deficiencies in Third World countries, even in areas where minerals are not in short supply.
The Japanese avoid this problem by eating tofu alongside soy bean products such as miso (a thick paste used for sauces and spreads) and natto (a strong-smelling, sticky bean product), which have been fermented with strains of the bacterium Bacillus subtilis. These bacteria lower the phytic acid content of these foods.
Some vegetarians tend to get protein from processed sources such as vegetarian sausages, burgers and other textured protein foods.
Any processed foods labelled as containing vegetable oil will invariably contain partially hydrogenated fats - and traces of transfats - and should be avoided because studies have shown that they increase the risk of diabetes, heart disease and cancer.
Eat like a Masai tribesman
For a long time we've been told that too much fat - particularly saturated fat - is bad for health. As a result, many people have tried to reduce the amount they eat.
This has led to a rise in the consumption of refined carbohydrates, such as white rice, pasta and bread, which can be linked to a sharp rise in obesity - primarily because refined carbs leave us wanting more.
Fat is better at making us feel full - and feel full for longer.
We respond to low-fat regimens by modifying our diets to eat the amount of calories that make us feel satisfied and which will support our daily energy requirements. Thanks to the low-fat diet myth, we have all gradually increased our intake of carbohydrates to replace the energy lost from consuming less fat.
Furthermore, meals high in fat promote the release of the hormone glucagon from the pancreas. Glucagon promotes the breaking down of body fat for several hours after a meal is eaten. This benefits those wishing to slim.
Many human populations eat large amounts of fat and remain perfectly healthy. East African tribes such as the Masai and the Samburus consume up to 400g of animal fat daily. In Britain, 60g a day is thought healthy.
The tribespeople show low cholesterol levels and an absence of heart disease. When populations of such people migrate to other areas where refined foods high in carbohydrates are consumed, their levels of so-called 'bad' LDL cholesterol rise.
The real danger of smoothies
Our bodies have only a limited capacity to deal with high levels of fruit sugar
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Our bodies have only a limited capacity to deal with high levels of fruit sugar

Our bodies have only a limited capacity to deal with high levels of fructose - the fruit sugar found in fruit juices and smoothies, and in high-fructose corn syrup, used as a sweetener in store-bought biscuits, cakes, ice creams and drinks.
That's because it sneaks past the insulin system.
High intake of fructose bypasses the body's normal processes of controlling the amount of sugar in the bloodstream - the body produces the hormone insulin to use or store the glucose it gets from food. But high levels of fructose don't stimulate the body to produce insulin and hormones that suppress appetite.
As a result, fatty substances can build up in the liver, causing them to become enlarged and inefficient, leading ultimately to obesity and type 2 diabetes.
PS... The only diet tip you really need
Understanding how to combat hunger is far more beneficial to slimming and a healthy diet than calorie-counting. Hunger is effectively reduced by modifying your diet to increase the digestion time - this is because the human digestive system has evolved to efficiently and rapidly extract every available calorie from diets that, in caveman times, were often poor in nutrients.
Our digestions can't work so quickly with nutritious protein and fat. The feeling of hunger following a meal high in protein and fat returns much more slowly than with other diets because fat and protein are digested more slowly and remain in the stomach for longer. Simple.

source:http://www.ralphcrown.com/2014/07/what-would-healthy-diet-based-on.html

Rough girl Maheeda was asked about her tempting unclad photos all over the net, here's her response.
Your unclad pix, are they publicity stunts or the real you? you know now, it’s just to get the job done and for my fans to get the full package of what they are paying for.
Is your hubby not bothered about seeing your nude photos all over the internet?
He loves it, he always says, ‘oh, so my wife is this sexy’. There was a time he read online that Maheeda is one of the hottest women in Nigeria, he called me and said. ‘can you imagine, I’m married to one of the sexiest women in Nigeria’ and he was happy about it. People are different, but that is my husband’s own way.
What if gets fed up and decides to file for a divorce?
Ahn, Ahn, that’s his luck now, do you know how many men are running after me? Well, there you go. Maheeda’s got it all figured out…what do you think?

source: http://www.ralphcrown.com/2014/07/maheeda-releases-nude-photo-plus-her.html

At least 38 people were killed following a raid by suspected Islamist Boko Haram gunmen on a village in northeast Nigeria and a military aerial bombardment of fleeing residents mistaken for insurgents, villagers said Monday.

The attack on the Christian farming village of Dille in Askira Uba district, 200 kilometres (125 miles) from regional capital Maiduguri late Sunday through Monday, burnt the entire village including three churches, they said.

Dozens of gunmen in all terrain vehicles and on motorcycles stormed the village from the nearby Sambisa forest where the insurgents maintain camps, firing indiscriminately and throwing grenades and explosives into homes.

The attack, which sent residents fleeing into the bush followed an earlier raid on Buttuku village in neighbouring Adamawa state, said resident Michael Umaru Jar.

“We lost 38 people in Boko Haram attacks and bombardments by a military jet on innocent residents fleeing the village,” Jar said.

“The Boko Haram gunmen came around 11:00 pm (2200 GMT) yesterday (Sunday) and opened fire on the village with guns, rocket-propelled grenades and explosives,” said Jar who fled to Lassa village, seven kilometres away.

Locals went into the bush where they passed the night but when they tried to return to their homes Monday morning, the attackers opened fire on them from hills overlooking the village where they had taken cover, said another resident, John Buba.

Panicked residents who tried to take a bus out of the village were mistaken for fleeing insurgents by military fighter jets that are deployed to repel the attackers.

“Unfortunately, the fighter jets threw three explosives on the people waiting for a bus inside the garage (bus station),” said Buba in an account supported by Jar.

“Several people were injured and have been brought to Lassa for medical attention,” Jar said.

The military and police in Maiduguri could not be reached for official comment on the attack.

But a military source confirmed the Boko Haram raid and deployment of two fighter jets which repelled the attacks and killed “many”.

The source declined to give further details.

Boko Haram’s five-year uprising to create an Islamic state in northern Nigeria has killed thousands.

The insurgents have killed more than 2,000 people this year alone.

source: http://www.ralphcrown.com/2014/07/boko-haram-kills-38-in-fresh-borno.html

A three-year-old girl who had been declared clinically dead by doctors woke up at her funeral service after a mourner checked on her coffin.
The youngster from Zamboanga del Sur in southern Philippines was due to be buried the following morning following a funeral service in Aurora.
A relative removed the lid to check on the remains and saw the youngster's head move.
One of the mourners spots the girl move her head while inside the coffin before the funeral service
The girl, who has not been named, was found to have a pulse and was breathing, despite having been declared dead that morning.
Footage of the amazing moment was captured by a mourner on a camera phone and uploaded onto the internet.
Police senior inspector Heidil Teelan said the girl was suffering a severe fever for several days and was taken to a medical clinic on Saturday.
He said: 'During that time, the attending clinic personnel and physician confirmed that the young patient had no more pulse and was clinically dead last Saturday morning about 9am.
The moment a Filipino toddler wakes up at her own funeral
A mourner films the amazing scenes on a smartphone before uploading the footage on the internet
According to the the hospital told the family to take the girl home and prepare for a funeral service.
Teelan said while they were not the proper authority to confirm the medical case, but based on the accounts of the child’s parents, the 3-year old girl experienced severe fever for days and was brought to the clinic in the town for medical attention last Friday.
He said one of the mourners spotted the girl move her head while they were inspecting the coffin.
He said: 'This prompted them to check and confirmed the girl had pulse and was alive.
'We really can not make confirmation on the status of the girl but based on the observation of the police personnel I deployed it appear the girl remained in a state of comatose in their house.'
It is understood the family want the girl transferred to a better equipped hospital.

The child was taken to a hospital in the the southern Philippine city of Zamboanga on Saturday morning

source: http://www.ralphcrown.com/2014/07/the-moment-dead-filipino-toddler-woke.html

A fighting bull has gored two people and spread panic in a hair-raising final running of the bulls at Spain's San Fermin festival.
Hundreds of people dashed alongside the six bulls through the cobblestone streets of Pamplona in Monday's eighth run.
There were spine-chilling moments when one bull, named Olivito, separated from the pack and charged three runners, two Australians and a Spaniard, pinning them against walls and barriers while trying to gore them.
The 595kg bull became separated from the herd after it slipped and crashed headlong into a wall. Seeming disorientated, it then charged a group of runners who thought they had avoided the stampede.
It then set its sights on one young man, believed to be a 26-year-old Australian called JG, repeatedly butting him and pinning him against a wall.
As the man lifted his legs in a bid to protect himself from the onslaught, the bull thrust one of its horns through his left thigh, tearing off a large chunk of flesh.
He managed to escape to safety behind a wooden barrier, but not before the furious bull gored him again as he clambered over the fence at which point he was taken to hospital for surgery.
Festival spokeswoman Lucinda Poole described his condition as 'grave' having suffered injuries to his abdomen and his left thigh.
'He is being operated on in traumatology in the hospital complex and they say the condition is grave, which translated to English probably means extremely serious,' Ms Poole said.
The regional government of Navarra said a 24-year-old Australian man, from Grenfell in New South Wales, was also gored in the right thigh but is reportedly doing well and is due to be released from hospital. A 21-year-old Spaniard from Navarra was also gored three times.
Ouch! There were spine-chilling moments when one bull separated from the pack and charged three runners, pinning them against walls and barriers while trying to gore them
Stampede: Hundreds of people dashed alongside the herd of bulls through the cobblestone streets of Pamplona in Monday's eighth run
Brutal: Several men have already been gored by bulls during this year's festival but Monday's run, the eighth and last, was particularly brutal
Navarra hospital's Dr. Oscar Gorria said two men were gored in the legs. He said five people were also hospitalized for other injuries. There were no immediate details on their identities.
Several men have already been gored by bulls during this year's festival but Monday's run, the eighth and last, was particularly brutal.
One of the six bulls broke away from the others and charged several runners, lifting two of them off the ground on its horns and ripping through their legs.
Other participants tried to distract the bull and eventually herded it into the ring. The runs usually last between three to five minutes, and the bulls then appear in an evening bullfight, when they are killed.
Bull baiting: One of the bulls broke away from the others and charged several runners, lifting two of them off the ground on its horns and ripping through their legs
Fierce: The bull attacked the man with such ferocity that he sent bits of wall flying as he rammed the helpless participant
Focused: The bull set his attention on this one reveler, who stood little chance against its mighty horns
Angry: This runner was particularly unfortunate as the bull managed to put its horn straight through his leg
Agony: The man managed to escape, but not before it tore a a chunk of skin from his leg
Five other men were injured in Monday's run.
Nine men were still in hospital on Sunday recovering from injuries from the past week, according to the Navarra region's hospital authorities.
One of them was Bill Hillmann, an American who co-wrote a book called 'Fiesta: How To Survive The Bulls of Pamplona'. He was gored in the thigh after he tripped and fell.
Many participants drink and dance all night before taking part in the 8 a.m. (0600 GMT) event, though local authorities have tried to clamp down on reckless behaviour in recent years.
Pinned down: But the bull again caught the man and pinned him to a barrier as others tried to ward him off
Lucky escape: Finally, with the help of a few police officers, the man managed to get behind the fence where he was promptly taken to hospital to be treated for his injuries
Fear: The bull would not give up its hunt for the man who had so infuriated it and continued ramming him against the fence
Dangerous selfie: Spanish media said over the weekend that Pamplona police were looking for a young man who was seen trying to get a dangerous 'selfie' photo of himself on his phone as he ran inches in front of the bulls
Tradition: The fiesta dates back to the 13th century and was depicted in Ernest Hemingway's novel 'The Sun Also Rises'
Spanish media said over the weekend that Pamplona police were looking for a young man who was seen trying to get a dangerous 'selfie' photo of himself on his phone as he ran inches in front of the bulls.
He could be fined up to 3,000 euros ($4,100) if they find he endangered other runners.
A 27-year-old man from Madrid was the last person to be killed during a Pamplona bull run after being gored in the neck in 2009. There have been 14 fatalities over the past century at the fiesta, which dates back to the 13th century and was depicted in Ernest Hemingway's novel 'The Sun Also Rises'.

source: http://www.ralphcrown.com/2014/07/gory-scenes-in-pamplona-eye-watering.html

A 46-year-old woman literally crashed an Ohio party after plowing her Jeep through a backyard fence and plunging into a swimming pool.
Emergency crews said the unidentified motorist hit a car on Lake Avenue before rolling up a driveway and busting through the wooden fence of an apartment complex about 6pm yesterday.
The Jeep splashed into the water, narrowly missing two swimmers and numerous guests standing nearby.
'I took a dive into the pool and when I hit the water, I was like ‘Oh man, that’s an awesome explosion I did',' party-goer Christopher Sanford told 'Then, I turned around (and) there was a Jeep in the pool.'

Sanford, 27, described how he pulled aside the driver's seat belt and dragged her through the open window onto the pool deck.
He said the woman was struggling to breathe 'and kept saying her brakes were bad.'
Another guest, John Justice, said people had 'spent about 80 percent of the time at this end of the pool' earlier in the day.

Homeowner Trent Wilson lamented that it was the first time this season he'd opened up his pool.
'If there wasn't a pool here, there'd be bodies,' Wilson told 'I'm lucky to be alive...I'm just glad no one got badly hurt.'
Shocked: Christoper Sanford, 27 (pictured) had just jumped into the swimming pool when the Jeep hurtled through the fence and splashed into the water
Rescuer: Christopher Sanford (pictured) who dragged the woman out of her car to safety, poses in front of the out-of-control Jeep
Intervention: A crane hoisted the Jeep out of the water on Saturday evening
Scene: Emergency crews said the Jeep hit a car on Lake Avenue before rolling up a driveway and busting through the fence of this apartment complex in Ohio on Saturday
Witnesses said some party-goers were struck by crash debris, but weren't seriously injured.
A crane was called in to hoist the Jeep Liberty out of the pool, as the unidentified driver was taken to Lakewood Hospital with minor injuries. She had no passengers.
Lakewood Police charged the driver with reckless driving and OVI (operating a vehicle impaired.

source:http://www.ralphcrown.com/2014/07/woman-46-makes-splash-after.html

The heartless leader of the Boko Haram terrorist group Abubakar Shekau has threatened he would continue to keep the Chibok schoolgirls in captivity until the federal government of Nigeria release his men currently in the various detention facilities across the country.

Shekau, who appeared in the 15-minute-long video fully kitted in military fatigue with a black band wrapped on his head and an AK 47 rifle hanging across his bulletproof-covered chest, read his message from a spiral bound document, where he made shocking statements.

Shekau said he personally led the last Sunday’s attack on the military barracks in Damboa that led to the death of several soldiers and policemen, among them a lieutenant-colonel and a divisional police officer (DPO).

In his words: “We have recovered several arms from the Damboa military base attack including armored tanks and Kalashnikov rifles. (Pointing at the stolen arms) Look at what God has given us free of charge; we filled our vans with ammunition like sands. This is what is called religion and worship. (singing) I am a trouble to the people of the west, Nigerians and a good news to the believers).”

Delivering his message in Arabic, Hausa and a spice of his native language, Kanuri, the terror kingpin appeared happy and confident as he often interjected his message with cynic leers, song and even dancing.

According to Leadership, he said his group was responsible for the bombing in Abuja shopping plaza, Kano, Jos, Konduga (Borno State) and the recent blast in Lagos which the security sources said was a fire disaster.

The hoodlum also eulogized some recognized terrorist organizations’ leaders in the Middle East, whom he said are his comrades in struggle and jihadist brethren. Standing in front of four armoured tanks seized from Nigerian soldiers and surrounded by armed men with hoods on their faces, Shekau took some dance steps.

Part of Shekau’s message reads: “Nigerians are saying that BringBackOurGirls, and we are telling Jonathan to bring back our arrested warriors, our army (laughing). The Miyetti Allah too is talking. Let them bring back our own soldiers or no BringBackOurGirls. (speaking in faulty English and ostensibly to President Jonathan) Tell me who you are; I am reading the Quran, and you are reading the constitution; I am reading the rules and regulations of the Quran, and you are doing that of the constitution, the book of Lord Lugard, the book of Tafawa Balewa.

The video ended with the apparently deranged murderer raising an AK-47 rifle with one hand and firing into the air severally using the rapid action mode.
source: http://www.ralphcrown.com/2014/07/i-led-attack-that-killed-army-officers.html

The Nigerian high jumper was the first black African to win a gold medal but his remarkable story had a tragic end. He was tied to a stake and executed for treason. Read the story below written by former Sports Editor of the Observer, Brian Oliver...

The first time Emmanuel Ifeajuna appeared before a crowd of thousands he did something no black African had ever done. He won a gold medal at an international sporting event. “Nigeria Creates World Sensation,” ran the headline in the West African Pilot after Ifeajuna’s record-breaking victory in the high jump at the 1954 Empire and Commonwealth Games in Vancouver. He was the pride not just of Nigeria but of a whole continent. An editorial asked: “Who among our people did not weep for sheer joy when Nigeria came uppermost, beating all whites and blacks together?” Continue

In the words of a former schoolmate, Ifeajuna had leaped “to the very pinnacle of Nigerian sporting achievement”. His nine track and field team-mates won another six silver and bronze medals, prompting a special correspondent to write “Rejoice with me, oh ye sports lovers of Nigeria, for the remarkable achievements of our boys”.

Ifeajuna, feted wherever he went, would soon see his picture on the front of school exercise books. He was a great national hero who would remain Nigeria’s only gold medallist, in Commonwealth or Olympic sport, until 1966.

The next time Ifeajuna appeared before a crowd of thousands he was bare-chested and tied to a stake, facing execution before a seething mob. He had co-led a military coup in January 1966 in which, according to an official but disputed police report, he shot and killed Nigeria’s first prime minister. The coup failed but Ifeajuna escaped to safety in Ghana, dressed as a woman and was driven to freedom by a famous poet. Twenty months later, he was back, fighting for the persecuted Igbo people of eastern Nigeria in a brutal civil war that broke out as a consequence of the coup.

Ifeajuna and three fellow officers were accused by their own leader, General Emeka Ojukwu, of plotting against him and the breakaway Republic of Biafra. They denied charges of treason: they were trying to save lives and their country, they said, by negotiating an early ceasefire with the federal government and reuniting Nigeria. They failed, they died and, in the next two and a half years, so did more than a million Igbos.

The day of the execution was 25 September, 1967, and the time 1.30pm. There was a very short gap between trial and execution, not least because federal troops were closing in on Enugu, the Biafran capital, giving rise to fears that the “guilty four” might be rescued.

As the execution approached, the four men – Ifeajuna, Victor Banjo, Phillip Alale and Sam Agbam – were tied to stakes. Ifeajuna, with his head on his chest as though he was already dead, kept mumbling that his death would not stop what he had feared most, that federal troops would enter Enugu, and the only way to stop this was for those about to kill him to ask for a ceasefire.

A body of soldiers drew up with their automatic rifles at the ready. On the order of their officer, they levelled their guns at the bared chests of the four men. As a hysterical mass behind the firing squad shouted: “Shoot them! Shoot them!” a grim-looking officer gave the command: “Fire!” The deafening volley was followed by lolling heads. Ifeajuna slumped. Nigeria’s great sporting hero died a villain’s death. But he had been right. By 4pm two and a half hours after the executions, the gunners of the federal troops had started to hit their targets in Enugu with great accuracy. The Biafrans began to flee and the city fell a few days later.

Of all the many hundreds of gold medallists at the Empire and Commonwealth Games since 1930 none left such a mark on history, led such a remarkable life or suffered such a shocking death as Ifeajuna.

His co-plotter in the 1966 coup, Chukwuma Nzeogwu, was buried with full military honours and had a statue erected in his memory in his home town. But for Ifeajuna, the hateful verdict of that seething mob carried weight down the years. His name was reviled, his sporting glory all but written out of Nigeria’s history. His name is absent from the website of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria, appearing neither in the history of the Federation nor in any other section.

There is no easy road to redemption for the gold medallist who inadvertently started a war and was shot for trying to stop it.

Nigeria’s first foray into overseas sport was in 1948, when they sent athletes to London to compete in the Amateur Athletic Association Championships, and to watch the Olympic Games before a planned first entry in the next Olympiad. In 1950 there was cause to celebrate when the high jumper, Josiah Majekodunmi, won a silver medal at the Auckland Commonwealth Games. He also fared best of Nigeria’s Olympic pathfinders, the nine-man team who competed at Helsinki in 1952. Majekodunmi was ninth, with two of his team-mates also in the top 20. Nigerians clearly excelled at the high jump.
With three men having competed in that 1952 Olympic final, the Nigeria selectors had plenty of names to consider for the Commonwealth Games high jump in Vancouver two years later. Ifeajuna, aged 20, was not a contender until he surprised everybody at the national championships in late April, less than two months before the team were due to depart. His jump of 6ft 5.5in, the best of the season, took him straight in alongside Nafiu Osagie, one of the 1952 Olympians, and he was selected.

The high jump was on day one of competition in Vancouver and Ifeajuna wore only one shoe, on his left foot. One correspondent wrote: “The Nigerian made his cat-like approach from the left-hand side. In his take-off stride his leading leg was flexed to an angle quite beyond anything ever seen but he retrieved position with a fantastic spring and soared upwards as if plucked by some external agency.”
Ifeajuna brushed the bar at 6ft 7in but it stayed on; he then cleared 6ft 8in to set a Games and British Empire record, and to become the first man ever to jump 13.5in more than his own height. This first gold for black Africa was a world-class performance. His 6ft 8in – just over 2.03m – would have been good enough for a silver medal at the Helsinki Olympics two years earlier.

The team arrived back home on 8 September. That afternoon they were driven on an open-backed lorry through the streets of Lagos, with the police band on board, to a civic reception at the racecourse. The flags and bunting were out in abundance, as were the crowds in the middle and, for those who could afford tickets, the grandstand. There was a celebration dance at 9pm. Ifeajuna told reporters he had been so tired, having spent nearly four hours in competition, that: “At the time I attempted the record jump I did not think I had enough strength to achieve the success which was mine. I was very happy when I went over the bar on my second attempt.”

After a couple of weeks at home Ifeajuna was off to university on the other side of the country at Ibadan. His sporting career was already over, apart from rare appearances in inter-varsity matches. He met his future wife, Rose, in 1955. They married in 1959 and had two sons. After graduating in zoology he taught for a while before joining the army in 1960 and was trained in England, at Aldershot. Ifeajuna had first shown an interest in the military in 1956 when, during a summer holiday in Abeokuta, he had visited the local barracks with a friend who later became one of the most important figures in the Commonwealth.

Chief Emeka Anyaoku joined the Commonwealth Secretariat in 1966, the year of Ifeajuna’s coup attempt. While his good friend escaped, returned, fought in the war and died in front of the firing squad, Anyaoku moved to London, where he rose to the highest office in the Commonwealth, secretary-general, in 1990. For four years at university he lived in a room next door to Ifeajuna, who became a close friend.

Why did the record-breaking champion stop competing? “From October, 1954, when he enrolled at Ibadan, he never trained,” said Anyaoku, nearly 60 years later. “He never had a coach – only his games master at grammar school – and there were no facilities at the university. He simply stopped. He seemed content with celebrating his gold medal. I don’t think the Olympics ever tempted him. I used to tease him that he was the most natural hero in sport. He did no special training. He was so gifted, he just did it all himself. Jumping barefoot, or with one shoe, was not unusual where we came from.”

Another hugely influential voice from Nigerian history pointed out that Ifeajuna, in his days as a student, had “a fairly good record of rebellion”. Olusegun Obasanjo served as head of a military regime and as an elected president. He recalled Ifeajuna’s role in a protest that led to the closure of his grammar school in Onitsha for a term in 1951, when he was 16. Three years after winning gold, while at university, Ifeajuna made a rousing speech before leading several hundred students in protest against poor food and conditions.

The former president also held a manuscript written by Ifeajuna in the aftermath of the coup but never published. It stated: “It was unity we wanted, not rebellion. We had watched our leaders rape our country. The country was so diseased that bold reforms were badly needed to settle social, moral, economic and political questions. We fully realised that to be caught planning, let alone acting, on our lines, was high treason. And the penalty for high treason is death.”

In 1964 the Lagos boxer Omo Oloja won a light-middleweight bronze in Tokyo, thereby becoming Nigeria’s first Olympic medallist. It was a rare moment of celebration in a grim year that featured a general strike and a rigged election. Another election the following year was, said the BBC and Reuters correspondent Frederick Forsyth, seriously rigged – “electoral officers disappeared, ballot papers vanished from police custody, candidates were detained, polling agents were murdered”. Two opposing sides both claimed victory, leading to a complete breakdown of law and order. “Rioting, murder, looting, arson and mayhem were rife,” said Forsyth. The prime minister, Tafawa Balewa, refused to declare a state of emergency. There was corruption in the army, too, with favouritism for northern recruits. A group of officers began to talk about a coup after they were told by their brigadier that they would be required to pledge allegiance to the prime minister, from the north, rather than the country’s first president, an Igbo. Ifeajuna’s group feared a jihad against the mainly Christian south, led by the north’s Muslim figurehead, the Sardauna of Sokoto.

The coup, codenamed Leopard, was planned in secret meetings. Major Ifeajuna led a small group in Lagos, whose main targets were the prime minister, the army’s commander-in-chief, and a brigadier, who was Ifeajuna’s first victim. According to the official police report, part of which has never been made public, Ifeajuna and a few of his men broke into the prime minister’s home, kicked down his bedroom door and led out Balewa in his white robe. They allowed him to say his prayers and drove him away in Ifeajuna’s car. On the road to Abeokuta they stopped, Ifeajuna ordered the prime minister out of the car, shot him, and left his body in the bush. Others say the Prime Minister was not shot, nor was the intention ever to kill him: Balewa died of an asthma attack or a heart attack brought on by fear. There has never been conclusive evidence either way.

Ifeajuna drove on to Enugu, where it became apparent that the coup had failed, mainly because one of the key officers in Ifeajuna’s Lagos operation had “turned traitor” and had failed to arrive as planned with armoured cars. Major-General Ironsi, the main military target, was still at large and he soon took control of the military government. Ifeajuna was now a wanted man. He hid in a chemist’s shop, disguised himself as a woman, and was driven over the border by his friend Christopher Okigbo, a poet of great renown. Then he travelled on to Ghana, where he was welcomed.

Ifeajuna eventually agreed to return to Lagos, where he was held pending trial. Ojukwu, by now a senior officer, ensured his safety by having him transferred, in April, to a jail in the east. Igbos who lived in the north of the country were attacked. In weeks of violent bloodshed tens of thousands died. As the death toll increased, the outcome was civil war. In May, 1967, Ojukwu, military governor of the south-east of Nigeria, declared that the region had now become the Republic of Biafra. By the time the fighting ended in early 1970, the number of deaths would be in the millions.

Arguably, if either of Ifeajuna’s plots had been a success, those lives would not have been lost. The verdicts on his role in Nigerian history are many and varied: his detractors have held sway. Chief among them was Bernard Odogwu, Biafra’s head of intelligence, who branded Ifeajuna a traitor and blamed him for “failure and atrocities” in the 1966 coup. Adewale Ademoyega, one of the 1966 plotters, held a different view of Ifeajuna. “He was a rather complicated character ... intensely political and revolutionary ... very influential among those close to him ... generous and willing to sacrifice anything for the revolution.”

The last time Anyaoku saw Ifeajuna was in 1963, in Lagos, before Anyaoku’s departure for a diplomatic role in New York. He later moved to London and was there in 1967. “I was devastated when I heard the news of the execution,” he said. As for Ifeajuna being all but written out of Nigeria’s sporting history, he noted that: “The history of the civil war still evokes a two-sided argument. He is a hero to many people, though they would more readily talk about his gold medal than his involvement in the war. There are people who think he was unjustifiably executed and others who believe the opposite.”

One commentator suggested recently that the new national stadium in Abuja, the Nigerian capital, should be named after Ifeajuna. It will surely never happen.

source: http://www.ralphcrown.com/2014/07/emmanuel-ifeajuna-commonwealth-games.html

A young graduate, Oluwatosin Otaiku, has stabbed himself to death because he was jilted by his fiancee. The incident happened in Onikolobo area of Abeokuta, Ogun State, western Nigeria.
The deceased, a 33-year old graduate of Tai Solarin University of Education, TASUED, Ijagun, stabbed himself to death after his fiancée, Oluwatoyin Olaogun, brought their relationship to an abrupt end.
The incident took place on Saturday at Safari Junction in Onikolobo area of Abeokuta, when neighbours who heard about Oluwatoyin’s decision to break up with her lover called them to resolve their misunderstanding.

An eyewitness said Tosin had hidden a knife in his pocket during the mediation, which he eventually used to stab himself when he discovered that his fiancee was not ready to change her mind, despite the intervention of neighbours and friends.
“Tosin was immediately rushed to Mercy Hospital at Panseke from where he was referred to the Federal Medical Centre, FMC, Idi-Aba, Abeokuta, but he died on the way to the hospital. It was a rude shock to me,” his friend, who did not want his name mentioned, told R.blog’s.
Another friend of the deceased told R.blog’s that the deceased was a principled and adamant person, who would never reverse his decision.
“Come rain, come shine, Tosin would never be cowed by anybody and would never for any reason, change his decision. A day to his death, he had called me to explain what was happening between him and the lady. We spoke for about 11 minutes and I agreed to visit the two of them the following day to settle the discord between them, only to receive a phone call that he had killed himself. I can’t still believe it. Why would Tosin take such a terrible decision? I can’t explain it,” he narrated.
Speaking with our correspondent, one of the closest friends of Tosin while they were in school at Ijagun, who also preferred anonymity, revealed that Tosin had once attempted to kill himself by drinking kerosene, adding that, if not for God, he would have died long ago.
“When we were in school at TASUED in Ijagun, a similar thing happened. But for God’s mercy on him, he would have died. He drank kerosene when Ope, a student of Polytechnic, Ibadan, whom he was dating then, broke up with him. If not for God and some of us who rallied to save him then, he would have died. We were then living at Overcomers Hall, Imaweje, very close to Ijagun. Everybody was aware of that incident. You can check round to confirm this,” he said.
r.blog gathered that Oluwatosin was a motherless child from Odogbolu community in Ogun State and after his secondary education, gained admission to study Political Science/CRS at Tai Solarin University of Education where he graduated in 2010.
He was unable to secure any job since then and and it was also gathered that he was staying at his in-law’s house before he later secured his own apartment.
According to the source, “until his death, Oluwatosin was managing a business centre at Safari junction, Onikolobo.

source: http://www.ralphcrown.com/2014/07/onikolobo-tragedy-jilted-graduate.html