Sex workers’ protests in pictures

 

Sex workers and activists around the country took to the streets to celebrate International Sex Workers’ Rights Day. People around the world took to the streets to march for the human rights of sex workers. The marchers were dressed in colorful masks to hide their faces, while others wore bright red clothing to symbolize their support for the decriminalization of prostitution.

The Menace of Prostitution--By Valentine Obienyem

Prostitution, most times, is used restrictively to mean the act of offering oneself for sexual intercourse for money. But this is only one side to the meaning; it has other sides. Generally, prostitution involves giving something; often what one has, to get what one does not have. A poet, who, instead of devoting his talents to poetry, resorts to writing jingles for advertisement is prostituting his talents. A person who leaves his church for other churches is a religious prostitute. I think it was Socrates who defined sophists as a peculiar tribe of men who prostitute for wisdom. That is, those who received money in exchange of wisdom which they professed to teach their clients. But in our world of today, prostitution is commonly understood in the realm of sex, the crave by man to satisfy his passion.
In many instances, when you consider what man does, even the unthinkable, to satisfy his passion, you will be inclined to believe that man is a slave to passion. Diogene, a renowned Cynic philosopher, we are told, performed the rites of love in the sight of all. Generally the cynics, though they despised ease and comfort, accepted sexual desire as normal and natural, like hunger. They professed themselves unable to understand why men should be ashamed to satisfy the one appetite, like the other, in public.
The Epicureans who believed that pleasure was the goal of philosophy accepted all forms of pleasure, perhaps including sexual pleasure, once it was not, in their own estimation, injurious to one. The younger brother of Epicureanism, utilitarianism, promoted the love of pleasure once it was capable of satisfying the greatest number. Their crowned king, Jeremy Bentham, even handed over to us the means of calculating pleasure.
Lest we think Diogene, the epicureans, or the utilitarian strange, let us be assured that others, from time immemorial till our present age, have their own sexual attitudes. Suleiman the magnificent, one of the greatest Islamic warriors, we are told, had about 300 concubines. When they expected a visit from him they attired themselves in their finest robes, and stood in line to greet him, he saluted courteously as many as time allowed, and placed his handkerchief on the shoulder of one who especially pleased him. That evening, on retiring, he asked that the recipient should return his handkerchief. Whatever he did with the "returnee", I now grant your imagination a free rein in its interpretation.

The fact to note from the foregoing is that man has done everything, mostly undignifying - homosexualism, lesbianism, pederasty, paedrophilianism, masturbation et cetra to satisfy his sexual urge. But by far, the most used outlet for passion is the visit to prostitutes. Prostitution, in terms of the act or practice of a woman who permits a man who will pay her price to have sexual intercourse with her, as often written, is the oldest surviving profession on earth. Those who studied biblical exegesis explained that St. Paul's frequent warning against immoral acts in his letters to the Corinthians was due to the fact that as a confluence town, Corinth was full of brothels that any man who slept in his house in those days was considered a saint. Biblical books as well as other historical books are full of prostitutes who plied their profession with all the specialties of the prostitutes of today.
We must not be too haughtily shocked by the tale of prostitution of old. Our own age has its own liaisons. Was General Abacha not reported to have died on top of Indian prostitutes? We are daily fed with the stories of Edo girls who were deported en masse from the world major cities. Implicit in this is the fact that prostitution has become an international trade. Whether internationally or locally, prostitution, like other professions, has grades.
We have a class of prostitutes known as 'call girls.' They live in the exclusive parts of the cities. They are rich and accessible to all the comforts that development could provide. Talk of telephone, exotic cars, telecommunication gadgets et cetra. They fix appointment with their prospective customers on telephones. They travel abroad on occasions as they charge substantial fees for their services. Those in this class are mostly the ones that are somewhat exposed to the public through activities like broadcasting, film acting, beauty pageants, and campus exposure.
After the 'call girls' in status are the 'house girls'. Peripatetic in their operation, they solicit their customers in exclusive night clubs and strategic locations, even in hotels that do not allow such base activities, this girls go there every now and then under the pretence of genuine businesses. When you meet such girls on the road, especially if you are perceived as rich, at first, they will try to inspire "love" by judicious display, when the man shows interest, they will tactfully withhold by coy refusal, and making it pay. Most of the girls in this grade are not fully independent; they go about it without the knowledge of their parents. Here we have some students that leave their hostels at night for the streets, or go to men's houses for weekend.
We have the lowest type of prostitutes, those that leave in common brothels and entertain men in their rooms. Their abode is usually distinguished by red lights. These girls market themselves by standing in front of their houses and brandish their ogles at passers-by. They are lightly clad, having concealed their blemishes by the use of red lights, they allow their prospective customers to examine them like dogs in a kennel. Most prostitutes of this category are wild and always ready to confront their non-corporating customers.

In general, prostitutes are the derelicts of female society - empty, bewildered misfits that society has helped to create. Many are drug addicts. Their orgins are mostly in families that are inadequate, materially, emotionally, spiritually, and otherwise; so the roots of prostitution lie deep in the fabric of society.
It is true that women contribute to prostitution, but it is unfair to blame them solely for that. We ask, why do women prostitute? Prostitution is a function of demand. Men are equally as responsible for prostitution because by their demand, they create the supply and by the virtue of their position, they turn round, hypocritically, to blame women who meet the demand.
This male omnipotence ensures that recognised women prostitutes are cajoled, refused marriage, and made objects of contumely. But for men that patronize them, their mates do not treat them with disgrace than that which would in any case attach to immoderation. Some cultures even advise itching youths, sometimes, rather than misbehave, to appease the flesh with calm promiscuity. Some men convince themselves that to visit prostitutes is necessary to mitigate monotonous monogamy.
Whether a female or a male prostitute, it is a clear evidence of the poverty of the spirit. It is the mark of lack of self-control. It is degrading, as it is dirty. The menace of AIDS and other venereal diseases is not enough to stop prostitution. Evidently, it is mostly poverty that force people to prostitute. The only way of curtailing it is by government improving on our standards of living by expanding employment opportunities.

PRESIDENCY: Why North should wait till 2027, by Ogbemudia

General Ogbemudia
Dr Samuel Ogbemudia,  a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Board of Trustees, is an old war horse in politics. The time- two former governor of the old Bendel State has been abroad for medical check-up and broke his silence on political issues to Sunday Vanguard last Wednesday. While declaring the support of the leaders of the South-south for second term for President Goodluck Jonathan, the former military tactician explained why the North is not entitled to the presidency until 2027.
And contrary to the statement by the PDP that Governor Adams Oshiomhole begged to join the party prior to the 2007 and 2012 governorship election in Edo State, Ogbemudia disclosed how he led some PDP leaders to appeal to Oshiomhole to join the party, but the plea was turned down by the former labour leader. He spoke on other national issues.
Excerpts:
While you were away, Nigeria celebrated Democracy Day. How do you assess our democracy so far?
The assessment one can give is that it has been smooth, in the sense that everyone in Nigeria today appreciates democracy. Democracy means freedom, but freedom has its own obligations. I am enjoying democracy. We have made tremendous progress.
But Nigerians are worried that despite our resources, government is unable to give us steady power supply and employment opportunities for the youths among other basic things?
Yes, those who are worried are people who do not know the problems government faces. To lay one line that will carry eleven KVA from Delta to Sokoto or Maiduguri costs fortunes, and it is more than anything a state can produce. So one must first of all appreciate the enormity of the problems facing the Federal Government and then try to encourage it to do more. I know that the purpose of opposition is to pressurize the government to do more, but sometimes they get it wrong. Once in a while, they should say, ’Yes, the President is trying in some areas but can do more’; that will encourage him.
Nigeria Governors Forum crisis
The Governors Forum, according to experts, is not in the Constitution, but, as far as I am concerned, whether it is in the Constitution or not, it has come to stay. When five people come together to form a group, it may not be in the Constitution but they feel it is the right thing. The governors are the custodians of the democratic votes, they are the ones running the states, they are supposed to be the chief security officers of their states. So if you want their cooperation, you implore them to help you, talk to them like brothers, talk to them like friends, talk in a way that will encourage them to help you the more. But if anybody has succeeded in intimidating someone to do what he likes, I don’t think the Governors Forum is the one that can be intimidated to do what game they want them to play. So it is through negotiation, Nigeria has developed a language called dialogue, so they should dialogue.  The President should be the arbiter, he should not support any one. He should call the two warring factions together and settle the problem. I expect the President to settle the issues so that the governors don’t break into factions,  otherwise the 2015 elections will not be smooth.

What is your position on Chief Tony Anenih’s call for automatic ticket to PDP governors and the President?
Well Tony Anenih has spoken his mind. It is left for the electorate in each state to decide whether the governor has performed to deserve a return ticket. You cannot come from Edo State to tell the man in Kaura Namoda that his governor has done well. He will not believe you if he has not performed well.
State of emergency in three states
I think the logical conclusion is that the state of emergency is necessary. But my personal view is that if the governors have been allowed to perform their functions as chief security officers, there would not have been need for the state of emergency. They don’t have the apparatus available to the Federal Government, if the Federal Government had allowed the governors to do their jobs and given them all the facilities they needed, this emergency would have been unnecessary. So I expect the Federal Government to allow the governors to function effectively as the chief security officers of their state after the emergency. The governors should get all the powers that accompany being their respective states chief security officers.
But some people attribute the insurgency to the tussle for the 2015 presidency between the North and the South.
My view is that we in the South-south want Jonathan to continue in power beyond 2015. The North is equally interested in the presidency. We should sit down and talk. If we talk, four years will not do any harm to anybody; the matter can be resolved. The South-west came in, in 1999 and served for eight years. The South-south should also do eight years. And the truth is that the South-east is also entitled to the presidency when the South-south must have finished its eight years.
Does that mean North should not think about power returning to them until sometime around 2027?
Absolutely
Message to Nigerians
We have come a long way from 1914 to 2013;  during those years, we passed through thick and thin and the lesson that we ought to have learnt is that we needed to work together as a team with all hands on deck to achieve our ultimate goal. It is still not late, the people should cooperate with the government of the day, four years in the life of a nation is nothing, but, in the life of a person, it means a lot. For this nation to survive, we all need to put all hands on deck and we should all support the government of the day.
Back to Edo, you have been passionate about a Benin man becoming the governor after Oshiomhole. Is that where you still stand?
I belong to the group that strongly supports the Benin agenda, I also belong to the group that wants the candidate picked on merit to serve at Osadebey Avenue, to continue the good job Oshiomhole has done. So if a Benin man is the one that will do it, so be it. But all Binis are interested and want a Benin man to be the next governor because they think they are not receiving their due share, they are being marginalized and I hold the same opinion and we should meet and again talk at a round table, there will be no hidden agenda.
Your party, the PDP, has been in trouble in the hands of the Adams Oshiomhole- led ACN in the state. What is the way forward for the party?
The PDP requires no advice now because they already know that united they stand, divided they remain where they are. So they are working towards bringing everybody on board. That is why I led a delegation of Senator Oyofo, Dr Willie Ogbeide and three others to persuade Oshiomhole to come to PDP and he told us that if he joined PDP, his friends in the media will kill him.
I was therefore embarrassed when I heard that the PDP said he came to them and they rejected him. The answer to the PDP challenge in Edo lies in the leaders coming together, embrace internal democracy and re-organize their management of victory.
 BY SIMON EBEGBULEM, Benin City

Abibatu Mogaji dies at 95

 

President-General, Association of Nigerian Market Women and Men, Alhaja Abibat Mogaji is dead.

She died in her home in Ikeja. She was aged 95.

The late Alhaja Mogaji was this year honoured with a doctorate degree by the Ahmadu Bello University during its 50th anniversary. She was honoured along with former military president, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida and former chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen. Theophilus.

Photos: Patience Ozokwor attracts huge crowd in Johannesburg

Nollywood actress, Patience Ozokwor, aka Mama G, met with some fans at Kempton Park on Thursday as she toured the city to launch iRokotv’s new dvd business.

Genevieve Nnaji runs 5miles for breast cancer awareness -

Genevieve shared the photos on her instagram page today. She ran five miles for a breast cancer awareness charity project spearheaded by Mrs Onari Duke. P-Square’s Peter Okoye was also present at the race this morning.

Please go check yourself for breast cancer. I did mine two weeks ago. See more photos after the cut…
 

Wizkid involved in car accident, new Porsche car damaged ,

https://www.faceofagulu.blogspot.com

Wizkid was involved in an accident around 3: 30am this morning in front of GET Arena as he left the Nokia Lumia Beat party which held at the Oriental Hotel in Lekki. Fortunately, the only thing damaged in the accident was the Porsche Panamera S car worth about N10m which he recently bought. Wizkid and other passengers in the car were unhurt.
According to my paparazzi who witnessed the accident and took the photos, the accident was caused by a burst tyre. Wizkid, who wasn’t the one driving, was quickly taken away in another car. His bodyguard stayed behind to get the vehicle towed.

Waking up to urinate could decrease your productivity – Study

Do you know that waking up to urinate could actually decrease your productivity?
This is what elderly persons  who have difficulty sleeping may
discover, especially if they find that their problems worsen if they
have to get up in the middle of the night to urinate, according to new
research.
The problem is known as nocturia, and according to the researchers, it
has been linked not only to sleep disruptions but to “significant
reductions” in both work productivity and leisure activity as well.
They polled 261 women and 385 men who suffer from the condition over a
14-day period, asking them about the impact it has on their ability to
perform their work-related and other daily tasks.
As it turns out, nocturia decreased on-the-job productivity by 24
percent and the ability to perform recreational activity by 34
percent.
 A paper detailing the results of the research is published  in the
Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine on March 15.
Researchers also reported that more than half (54 percent) of all
nighttime sleep disruptions were associated with the need to urinate,
and that people who woke up remained awake an average of 11.5 percent
longer on nights when they had to make a trip to the restroom.
“Nocturia is a common problem affecting around a third of adults, but
its burden is underestimated and it is often dismissed as being less
serious than other chronic conditions in terms of impact on quality of
life and societal costs.
Data show that nocturia negatively affects both sleep and daytime
performance and its impact on work productivity is in line with many
other chronic conditions. Patients with nocturia should seek specific
treatment for this debilitating condition.
It is expected that proper treatment of insomnia might reduce the
occurrence of nocturia.

Marketers jostle for Afrocandy’s soft-porn movie

It is not a rumour, but reality. Some movie marketers are jostling to win the right to sell Afrocandy’s controversial “Destructive Instinct’ movie in Nigeria.
The American based Nollywood actress cum singer confirmed this development to HVP yesterday morning when she was contacted via facebook.

Afro Candy

“Destructive Instinct” which is currently being greeted with mixed-reactions from fans features the 41-year old mother of 2 completely nude in sexually explicit positions as she tries to make a daring impact on the industry
HVP gathered that some reputable marketers are already giving Afrocandy the headache in choosing who will eventually win the right to distribute her movie in the country. The film was premiered in America recently. Those who graced the premiere said, it was well attended.
Meanwhile, it is unclear if the censors board will pass the film for sale in Nigeria.

Nollywood wedding saga: ‘The actor undergoing emotional healing’

Nollywood actor, Solomon Akiyesi who was in the news for the wrong reason about two months ago when he got involved in an aborted wedding at a living Church in Lagos, has decided to bury the hatchet and allow peace to reign in his home again.
This is because, according to the actor, the healing process in respect of the damage caused by the scandal is in progress, and talking about the incident again will only amount to opening old wounds and hurting the sensibilities of the parties involved.

*Solomon Akiyesi

Solomon had attempted to get married to one UlomaAgwu in Overcomers Church, Surulere, Lagos, when Lilian, his alleged legal wife stormed the wedding venue with her family and some thugs to disrupt the ceremony, claiming that Solomon was legally married to her, and that she was pregnant for him.
The incident made headlines in major national dailies and soft-sell magazines. But the embattled Solomon reportedly blamed his action on his wife’s nagging attitude which he said, almost made him commit suicide.
Chatting with HVP, via facebook during the week, Solomon said “ The wedding incident is not something I wanna tender in public again. The healing process is going on for all involved including myself. So, I wouldn’t want to open old wounds and hurt anybody’s sensibility now.”
On how the scandal affected his career, the embattled actor said, “My career is my career. I don’t allow personal missteps to affect whatever I’m doing. If I could be on set when the favourite person in my life, my mother died, I doubt if anything else can stop the show from going on. This is my passion.” Solomon is currently on location in Abuja.
 By Benjamin Njoku

Soldiers asked my son to run…then shot him dead on the back – Widow

By Simon Ebegbulem,Benin-City
…’My other child watched in horror as they executed his brother’
Francisca Nkemcho, a widow from Ota Orhionmwon local government council of Edo State, is not a happy woman. Reason: The alleged extra-judicial killing of her 25-year- old son, Chukwudimedi Nkemcho, by some soldiers in Agbor, Delta State, penultimate Wednesday. The deceased was said to have been paraded as an armed robber by the soldiers  and  shot dead hours later. The body was taken to the police station in Agbor but, when the family rushed to identify the corpse, they were told it  had been buried in an unknown grave.
Madam Francisca, who spoke to Sunday Vanguard on her sick bed, insisted that her son was never a criminal or a cultist. She cried for justice, saying that as a widow and sick, she had not been able to petition  relevant agencies on the issue. The widow,  from Ogwashu Uku in Delta State but married to an Edo man who died in 2007, said it would be unfair if she was not able to get justice.
This is the second time allegations of extra-judicial killing are being levelled against security agents in the South-south. Mid last month, a DPO in Edo State was accused of killing an innocent student of University of Benin. The case is under investigation by the police. The widow in the latest incident  narrated her story to Sunday Vanguard.

Mrs Nkencho and her deceased son Chukwudimedi

“The incident happened on Wednesday, 8 of May, 2013 in Agbor. My son went out between 2pm and 3pm.  Before  that day, he had not been able to leave the house because he was ill. I still have the drugs he was taking with me. So I was happy that he was able to go out that day. He did not come back at about 6pm and we called his number but it was switched off”, the bereaved mother said.
She continued: “So I called his siblings and told them to go and search for him. But they all assumed that he might be charging his phone somewhere. When at about 9pm he was still not back, I went to bed because I was not feeling fine. Early the following day, I sent people out to look for him. I was really down so I could not go with them. So my other son and others took Okada to look for him. But on getting close to the army base in Agbor, my son said he noticed people running towards the place and he tried to find out what was happening. Somebody now told him that soldiers were parating some armed robbers.
“He rushed to the place but the crowd was too much and because of the crowd he could not get closer. But from where he was, he was able to see his brother and two others whom they said were armed robbers. But the soldiers later asked one of them to leave, my son and one other boy remained. “To the surprise of my son and others who were there, they said the soldiers ordered my son and the other boy to run and they were shot from the back  in the presence of the crowd. My son said he wanted to shout but because of fear that he may also be arrested,  he ran away and went somewhere to call us.
“He could not even speak on phone, so he decided to take Okada to run back home. Some persons who were there saw  my son; so they started calling us.  They took the pictures and sent to us. We were told that after they shot them, they took the bodies to the police station. At about 5pm, we went there but could not find the bodies. The soldiers said they were criminals while the police branded them unknown cultists. My son is not a robber or a cultist;  we have been managing together since the death of his father and he never stole. He was my first son out of the four children I have”.
While demanding for justice, Mrs Nkemcho stated: “They have no right to murder my son like that. All the allegations were untrue. Let the public know that my son was murdered by the soldiers innocently. I am even afraid to come out because I don’t know if it is a plot to wipe out my family. My son was ill and for two days he never went out until that day. He graduated from  a computer school and our prayer was that when we had  money he would  attend  a higher institution. After the death of his father, I enrolled him in the computer school. And since he completed the computer programme, he had been going  out to work as a bricklayer, assisting builders. He was a very obedient son and was never a thief or a cultist. I am appealing to Nigerians to help me demand for justice.
The soldiers cannot kill my son and go scot free because we are poor. His spirit will haunt them and God Almighty will never forgive them. Look at me, a widow, how do I fight this cause? People should help me. After killing my son, the police went to bury him in an unknown grave, they did not even give us the opportunity to see him for the last time before they buried him. This is injustice, this is wicked. I am appealing to Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan, the governor of Delta State, to help me ask the soldiers what happened to my son. The IG of Police, President Jonathan, please give me justice”.
When contacted, the DPO at Agbor police declined to comment but a top police officer there explained:  “The police have no hand in the killing. What happened was that some soldiers brought two corpses to the station and asked that we should bury them but the DPO insisted that he must know the cause of death. The soldiers said they were killed during exchange of fire with robbers and that they were found with an AK 47 rifle”. The DPO was said to have asked the soldiers to produce the gun before accepting the corpses, but they declined, saying `Soldiers don’t surrender guns to the police; that the gun was in their custody”.
The police officer further told Sunday Vanguard:  “It was after the argument that the DPO now said they must give him a report on the cause of death, so the officer that led the soldiers  wrote a short report and they left.  So people should not drag the police into this. Only the asoldiers  what happened”. Meanwhile a lawyer, R.O Okpiavbe Esq., on behalf of  the family. In a petition to the Inspector General of Police, the family accused the army of extra judicial murder and called for thorough investigation.

Umeh Appeals To APGA Members To Allow Peace To Rein

The National Chairman of APGA, Chief Victor Umeh, has urged its members to be truthful to return it to the path of peace and greatness.

Umeh told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Aguluzigbo, Anaocha Local Government Area of Anambra on Friday that returning the part to the path of peace would enable the members to work together for the forthcoming governorship election in the state.

He said the crisis in the party resulted from some members' desire to subvert the truth and disobey its constitution.

``The person who is wrong is the person doing things that are contrary to the party’s constitution. We have to respect the party and the decision of the courts.

``What I am saying in effect is that I want everybody to come together under one leadership that made APGA what it is today.

``As for the coming election, I am calling on all those who are rebelling against the party to return to the party and let’s work together to produce the next governor in Anambra.

``Truth is imperishable; anything anybody does in life that infringes on truth is wrong, so people should go and search their conscience and examine whether what they have done is wrong or right,” he said. (NAN)