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A date with history

‘My mother taught me how to sing’

‘Pay attention to your health’

 

David Atilola -We have two destinations in life

Joanna Olisa -Of propaganda, issues and candidates

Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun visit to TASUED

60 reasons why I won’t vote for Jonathan, by Soyinka

Soyinka

Do y ou know you can test HIV, syphilis on your smartphones in 15mins?

ASUU adviced Nigerians on the coming election

Dr. Nasir Fagge

Why I can’t drop an album yet – Kiss Daniel

Making meaning out of nothing

UNIBEN alumnus Oganufa for burial

The late Oganufa

‘Jazz music defines my art’

 
Nissi Ogulu whose norrd art is making waves right now has just concluded an exhibition in Lagos. A second year Mechanical Engineering student of Warwick University, England, her paintings dwell more on what she describes as phenomenal art, something different from the rest. She spoke to Edozie Udeze on her form of art, why music has come to form the basic component of her form and more.
The peculiarity of her works distinguish her from the rest. This is perhaps why she describes her works as the norrd phenomenon. For young Nissi Ogulu, painting and experimenting with deep colours to give a unique surreal feeling is part of what she has come to learn differently as an artist.
During her just concluded art exhibition at the Terra Kulture, Lagos, Ogulu, a second year engineering student of Warwick University, England, told The Nation that painting is a passion she cultivated and imbibed at a very tender age. A granddaughter of the famous music icon and columnist, Benson Idonije, Ogulu who also plays some musical instruments and often indulges herself in jazz at her spare time, says arts runs in her family. The norrd phenomenon was adopted by her “just to be different from what others have been doing. It is an experiment that is totally unique and not common in the Nigerian society” she says.
The intriguing aspects of her works dwell in her ability to use profound colours in loose and dropping forms to juxtapose her subject. While the exhibition was going on and as guests and art patrons hovered around within the premises to view her array of works, a jazz instrumentalist was busy playing a saxophone in the background. “Yes, Ogulu intones, “parts of what I did in most of these paintings, the times when I conceptualised them, music was indeed playing in the background. I am mostly inspired to draw unique woks when the music is on and I am transported to a higher realm. For me, music and painting go hand-in-hand. My family has deep love for music, for art generally and this is what I often bring to bear in my works”, she says.
The deep etchings of droppings of lines, the endless use of loose colours that define oriental form of painting, all depict strings of musical instruments. These lines are like the jazz instruments, like a huge musical band pelting out series of sounds to sooth the people. Some of the lines drop like tears. But to Ogulu, they are tears of joy, tears of artistic expressions imbued with love; mixed with the inner feelings of someone in a deep nostalgic feeling of ideas. Ideas, like it is usually said, define the line of thought of a committed artist.
Basically, Ogulu brings emotions into her works. “Emotions, real deep inner emotions, reflect in the art of painting. It shows how reflective or otherwise you were when you were doing a particular work. “This is why I often experiment in such a way that my works look unfinished. This is deliberate; but you can see those array of colours of surrealism dropping down the lines on the canvass. What do they say to you? That art is often an unfinished matter. It is just like music that does not end and will never end. It goes on and on and on, seeping into your soul And who can stop the flow of good music? She asks, stooping a bit for emphasis.
In most of her works, the introduction of black and white colours in the background helps to bring out the total epitome of the beauty of the subject-matter. In one of her most outstanding works depicting Massai warriors from East Africa, she shows a complete abstract piece which serves as a reflection of the current times. The theme is instructive of the nature of one of the tribes that make up Kenya as a country. She goes on to situate the Massai warriors in their beauty and as one of the most dreadful in terms of costuming in Africa. Yet, today, the warriors have been integrated into the East African larger society. “If I had used the same colours here, I may not have got the desired contrast,” she explains.
In who am I, one of her most outstanding works on exhibit, she demonstrates life in a global context. “At times, someone doesn’t know who he or she really is. You often look everywhere to discover who you are. It is always for some people to also discover and define what plans God has for them. It is a problem common to people from across the globe. For some people therefore, it can take them a whole length of time to discover the direction they are headed while for others it is not so. In that case, I try to find myself; I try to discover myself from within. It is a total realism of the state of man on earth’, she reflects, smiling.
So in trying to bring something different into the Nigerian art scenes, Ogulu took her time to understudy the situation properly. “I saw that everybody is doing basically the same thing. So, based on this, I asked myself, how can I be different, how can I move away from the routine and give the Nigerian society the sort of art that is unique. It was like artists here are scared of playing with colours. But for me, deep application of colours, give the art its profound meaning and appreciation”. And so the norrd art as defined by Ogulu has come to make issues clearer to appeal to human conscience.
Today, her phenomenal art can be turned into contemporary, yet it brings nostalgic feelings into the minds of those who tend to show interest in and appreciate her works. Initially, when the experiment began to blossom, Ogulu thought the better of it was to forget the usage of black colours completely. But with time, it began to down on her that she could equally use black to make bold artistic statements. “Yet other colours say more about the norrd art, about the uniqueness I have been talking about”, she says.
Over time, she has come to have very vivid and imaginative art form that gives her distinctive signature. “I am realistic and imaginative. Just me, making reality interesting. That is what I really want to do. Be wild and colourful, so that it can be contemporary in its own way, and at the same time remain vibrant. That my works look the way they are is deliberate because I’d like to do things I’ve never seen before. I usually think outside the box. It took me about two years to arrive at this, to be able to say okay even though I am still learning, I am still in the process of experimenting my own form. Let me be who I want to be. For me there is never a defined demographic scene in mind during the process of this creative journey. Once I come up with an idea, I put it down and then I make a piece. I am constantly thinking of reinventing myself. That is indeed my motivation.”
In her art also, she tries to take Nigeria abroad and bring back other people to reflect a total global village. This is what I want to expand; that horizon of art that is all encompassing, all inclusive. A native of Ahoada in Rivers state, Ogulu says she is now set to overcome the world with her form of art.
Culled from Thenationonlineng

Extraordinary world of female boxers

L-R: Oluwatomisin, Coach Adeyeye and Peters

Taiwo Alimi explores the amazing world of female boxers, who are daring all obstacles and impediments to express themselves in the tough and male-dominated world of pugilism.

Except for the twin mounds on their upper sections, there is little about them to suggest they belong to the hallowed fairer gender. Even those, have been temporarily compressed into tiny lumps by their taut sport underwear. Their otherwise bursting locks, are cut low like those of their counterparts; the male boxers. It is only after a closer scrutiny that you could actually distinguish three out of the dozen and a half young boxers during these regular early morning training sessions to be ladies.

The cluster, buoyed on by a lone coach/trainer, takes turn, to attack a red-coloured punching bag hanging droopily on a horizontal long pole that is supported by two others, firmly attached to the bare ground.

For about 30 minutes, they continue to hit hard at the stuffed bag; then, shadow box for another 15 minutes; and then spend another 15 minutes sparring. They use up the final 20 minutes on the vast football field, racing round it five times; taking time in between only to catch their breaths and take new instructions from their coach.

Welcome to the professed gymnasium of Golden Weapon Club Agege, tended by ex-Lagos State boxer turned coach, Yinka Adeyeye. The gym is a tiny portion of a massive football field at Ladoje Primary School, Agege. Here, there is no boxing ring or shed to keep off the baking sun, but makeshift poles, a swollen bag, a trainer and 18 boxers. Here too, there is no preferential treatment; Beijing Conference takes the back seat as the girl boxers compete vigorously with the boys, who outnumber them. They were on their feet for as long as the boys were and one of them actually finished the endurance race ahead of many of the boys. Nothing here suggests it is a man’s world, as the girls radiate in the satisfaction of dominating men in their own field. Welcome to the extraordinary world of female boxers.

In the course of gathering materials for this report, the picture of insufficiency seems to pervade all other boxing clubs and gymnasiums visited, whether in Yaba, Surulere, Somolu, Ilupeju, Bariga in Lagos or Agbado in Ogun State.

From National Sports Festival champions,  Kate Peters, Mutiat Adebayo, Funmilayo Adekunle and Aisha Oriyomi; to potential champions: Tawa Awise, Olayemi Mustapha, Mistura Olalere and Bolanle Kareem; and up-coming Olalude Oluwatomisin; they all express aggressive passion to be counted in the male dominated boxing world.

LOWLY SETTING

Interestingly, a good number of them have taken to boxing of their own volition, while few were attracted to the pugilism trade by the exploits of close friends, family members, and parents. In-fact many have rebelled against their parents, just so they could to learn the fine art of defense and become champions in their locality and state.

Surprisingly, as this reporter discovered, the female boxing culture is fully integrated in many clubs and schools in the states. Amongst them are Golden Weapon Club, Champions Boxing Club, No Shaking Club, Agbado, Smart Club, Agbado and Ashimota Club, Ilupeju. In these places, girl boxers have a core discipleship and like Golden Weapon Club, gender issues do not come up, as girls and boys, women and men are treated alike.

This is not unconnected with their lowly background, as some of them are products of humble homes; many as a matter of fact from poverty-stricken homes.

Olalude Oluwatomisin of Golden Weapon Club lives in the Lagos suburb of Agege, close to Ladoje Primary School, Oko-Oba, where she trains daily before heading off to school. “My father is a boxer and boxing coach with the Nigerian Police. He is now retired from boxing but trains up and coming boxers in his spare time. One of my elder brothers is a fine footballer and I have been boxing for four years now. My father likes to box and it is from him that I picked up the habit. I want to be a great boxing champion one day.”

Eko 2012 gold medalist, Kate Peters lives in the same neighborhood as Oluwatomisin but she lost her father in an auto accident in 2014. She says of her deprived background, “My father was working with local newspaper, PM News when he had an ‘okada’ (commercial motorcyclist) accident and died last year. My mother maintains a grocery shop. Sometimes I go there to help her out when I am not training. I started boxing seven years ago at age 13, even though my parents did not like it.”

Kate just wanted to be different and boxing afforded her that dream. “No member of my family is boxing but people are different and have different choices. Boxing is my own choice and I don’t care if it is dominated by men.”

Asked if it is not too dangerous a game for the soft and gentle female folks, Kate answered in the affirmative before adding, “I used to watch coach (Yinka Adeyeye) training his wards here and I told him I would like to box too. The first thing he told me was that boxing is a tough game and not for girls and soft boys. I told him that I am different and would cope well. And since I have started, I don’t see any guy that can push me around. I am not afraid to get hurt because that is what boxing is all about and so far, my mother, siblings and most importantly, my coach have been there for me.”

An indigene of Akwa Ibom State, Kate was born and bred in Lagos. She has won gold medals twice for Lagos at the Sports Festival in Port Harcourt (2010) and Lagos (2012). She decided to be different and boxing for her fulfils that desire.

Mutiat Adebayo and Aisha Oriyomi are two of a kind. They fell in love with boxing from watching the game in their locality in the dregs of Shomolu/Bariga. “Many great boxers have come out of my area, says Mutiat, who attends a public school, Ilupeju Grammar School. When I got to secondary school, I noticed that they have a thriving boxing club and our boxing coach invited girls to come. So I joined and I have been enjoying myself.”

SELF-PRESERVATION

In a world of violence, boxing seems to find acceptance and that is a factor in female boxing too. Kate emphasizes that crave for self-defense also led her into the pugilist business. “As a trained boxer, I am not afraid of any attack coming from any quarters, be it from a male or a female. I have learnt how I can defend myself, even though as trained boxers, we are forbidden to fight in public. However, because of what I have learnt, I am not afraid of any man. No man can threaten me.”

Kate’s testimony is quite relevant for anyone grow up in the violent- prone settings of Mushin, Shomolu, Agege, Bariga and Agbado areas of Lagos and Ogun States.

For female boxers therefore, strong character, determination and daring to go against the norms, are things they have in common.

PARENTAL CONTROL

Though Oluwatomisin’s father did not stop her from boxing, being a boxing coach, she revealed that her mum wants her to be a lawyer. “My mother wants me to be a lawyer. She does not believe that a girl should be boxing and she has advised me to read my books well, so I can become a lawyer. So, I would like to combine the two and in future become a lawyer as well as a boxing champion.”

For others: Kate, Mutiat, Funmilayo, Assiat and Tawa, they had to take their destiny in their hands, first by revolting against their parents, before their weird choice was accepted. In-fact, Tawa disclosed that her parents are yet to come to terms with her preference. “Kate’s parents,” Coach Adeyeye clarifies, “did not want their daughter to have anything to do with boxing until she started winning laurels and cash prizes. They warned her severally not to go anywhere near boxing because they thought it is not a good sport for girls. When I tried to convince them by following Kate home, they expressed fear that it is only rough people and people of questionable character that indulge in boxing. But because of me, they would permit her and once they see bad changes in her, it is the end of boxing for her. It was not until they started seeing her name in the newspapers and she brought home her winnings in cash and kind that they fully supported her. Now they come to watch all her fights.”

Instances have also been documented where overbearing boyfriends and husbands have truncated dreams of their boxer girlfriends.

SHORT LIFESPAN

“The lifespan of female boxers is very short. As a coach, I know that if I don’t rush them (female boxers) and ensure they achieve on time, as soon as they begin to get into relationships, their boyfriends or husbands can tell them to stop. Men like to dominate their women and many don’t believe that their women should be boxing all over town. Besides, by the time they get married and begin to rear children, they cannot train as hard as they would want to. And once you cannot train hard, your boxing career is over.”

FASHION

Interestingly, training, sparring and sharing with the male boxing folks have robbed most female boxers of the definitive feminine stuff. Kate says she does not ‘party nor like to dress up’ like women love to do.

“I don’t go to parties. I don’t even like it. I like to wear jeans and shirt. I don’t wear dresses because I won’t be free in them.” Makeup is also a taboo to her and she wears her hair low, typical of American marines. “I don’t have time for things like that; boxing is all I think about,” she says.

Olayemi and Kate are as strong as a mule and coach Adeyeye bears witness to this: “I can tell you that some of these girls are tougher and stronger than their male counterparts. For instance, Kate Peters can beat some of my male boxers. I have not seen her kind since I became a coach. She stood through thick and thin. She spars with men. The only time she box with female boxers is at Sports Council and during tournaments. She challenges me too because, she asks many questions and I have to be at my best to contain her. Many of them are like Kate. They are powerful, purposeful, determined, and full of life. They only need to be given equal opportunity to excel.”

CHALLENGES

With the number of female boxers put at a conservative figure of 100 spread all over the country, and Lagos and the South- south states having greater slice of the number, foremost female boxing coach, Gboyega Adeniji-Adele says the figure can double quickly if they are given better attention.

“There are many potential champions in our midst but many of them are discouraged from going deep into it by the poor attention those in sports authority are giving them. They come to me every day, eager and willing to learn, but I have limited facility and equipment to take care of them adequately.”

He further pointed out the natural challenge in female athletes. “Age is a big disadvantage in female boxers and that is why we try to catch them young, because by the time they are in their 20s and looking forward to settling down and starting a family, it would be difficult for them to train hard. And boxing is different from other sports like football and table tennis. You have to be at the peak of fitness to be a successful boxer; so marriage is a great impediment.”

Tawa and Olayemi are of the opinion that female boxing is still overlooked by boxing authority and promoters in the country.

Tawa, a 45kg boxer from No Shaking Club, says: “Most of the time, we end up as spectators at tournaments because it is either there are no bouts or little bouts involving female boxers. We are therefore calling on organisers of the boxing shows to increase the female bouts, so that more female boxers can develop their skills.”

She made particular mention of amateur boxing promoter, Wale Edun, the brain behind the Lagos monthly boxing show. “I thank Wale Edun for promoting amateur boxing through the monthly show, but the female bouts should be increased for more female boxers to also enjoy the benefits. That show has inspired many boxers in Lagos, but he should extend it to more female boxers because we need it more than the male boxers.”

According to Olayemi, female boxers have a unique advantage to cart home medals from regional, continental, and international championships given that; “When you look at all aspects of Nigerian sports, women athletes are doing better, though very little is allocated to them. Look at what (Blessing)  Okagbare achieved in 2014. Even in football, the Falcons have done wonderfully well more than the Super Eagles that we give all the money. Nigerian women are resilient and it is not different in boxing. All we ask for is support from individuals, corporate bodies and government.”

Kate offered near similar opinion while canvassing for more sponsors in female boxing. “Many females have the skills and zeal. I appeal to promoters to organise female boxing competitions for more female boxers to be discovered and nurtured to stardom.”

LAUGHABLE FACILITY

From Agege to Somolu/Bariga and Mushin, down to Surulere, areas of highest catchment for female boxers in Lagos State, you will be amazed at the deprived level of facility for boxers.

What Coach Adeleye refers to as his boxing gymnasium is laughable. It is an insignificant portion of land overlooking a massive football field in downtown Oko-Oba, Agege; an open-air gym devoid of any structure to shield trainers and wards from rain or sun. The visible gears for learning and imparting knowledge are one punching bag, some washed-out pairs of gloves and improvised pipes to hang the bag. After a particular training session, all that was available to restore lost energy, was a bag of sachet water, which the boxers distributed among themselves after over-one-hour energy-sapping training.

At the boxing gymnasium located in the main bowl of the National Stadium Surulere, over 20 boxers cramp into in a 30 by 40 meter hole, almost completely taken by a ring. Here too, the men are mixed with the women boxers.

Veteran female boxer and National Sports Festival champion, Funmilayo Adekunle described the dreadful conditions they pass through to make it to the top. “It is not easy to be a successful boxer in this country. We live and operate in neglect. It is only when we are called to camp that we see some level of comfort-that is when you must have passed through hell to prepare yourself and win at a major tournament. Before that, nobody wants to know how you have been coping. We simply rely on our determination and support of our coaches, who sometimes use their own resources to make us comfortable. We don’t eat good food, or vitamins that are essential for all athletes. To even get to the gym is a problem at times.”

Coach Adeyeye, who is Special Assistant on transport to former Agege Local Government Chairman, Taofeek Abiodun Adaranijo, revealed that out of his meager earnings, he had to support Kate Peters to keep her in the business. “I manage myself as well as my female boxers. Since there is no support from governments, I have to help them out so that they don’t seek that comfort from men, whose only aim is to spoil and impregnate them. Sometimes, when I run into financial difficulty, I seek out friends who support me with loans or give me money out-rightly. That is how I have been managing this gym and my female boxers. I hope that governments, individuals, and corporate bodies will come to our aid.”

HOPE RISING

In the midst of insufficiency, neglect, paucity, and harshness, these special breed of womenfolk still have ample room to dream. Kate says boxing is tough yet interesting. “It is indeed a tough sport but also interesting. I have been boxing for seven years; it is all I think about now and my dream is to one day become a professional boxing champion in Nigeria and abroad.”

In as much as Oluwatomisin would want to satisfy her mother to pursue a career in law, she says, she is looking forward to becoming a ‘lawyer boxer.’ Nothing, she adds, would separate her from this interestingly tough world of boxing.

Whitney Houston’s daughter in danger

kristina

Less than two weeks to the death anniversary of American singer, Whitney Houston, her daughter, Bobbi Kristina Brown, was found unconscious in a bathtub in her home, on Saturday, and has remained in critical condition ever since.

It was exactly the same circumstance that led to her mother’s death on February 11, 2012.
It is still unclear why she fell unconscious, but the police was reportedly prompt with life-saving measures, after her husband, Nick Gordon and a friend made a call to 911 from Bobbi’s house.
Bobbi, 21, also daughter of RnB singer, Bobby Brown, was immediately taken by ambulance to a hospital, where doctors stabilised her breathing, and put her in the ICU.
Latest report from sources close to the family said she is in a medically-induced coma for swelling of the brain.
Bobby Brown was said to have arrived the hospital same day, after he put off his trip with Tyler Perry, who was flying from LA to Atlanta for business. Perry had offered to take Bobby with him when the news broke.
Bobbi was said to be found faced down in the tub, with water enough for a bath. Knowing her mother, Whitney, died with drugs in her system while taking a bath, police searched the home, but no drugs were found.