Images of Ebiraland

By Pastor Joseph Suleiman Manjoe Preamble As the race towards 2011 gather momentum, key players in the field of politics are perfecting their strategies to win the confidence of the people. As activities peaks on the part of the politicians not much is heard or seen from the people who matter most in this matter, the electorate. This is to be expected since most of the followers are always passive, apathetic and unenlightened on issues of governance. If there is anything that most followers are concerned with, it is the issue of how to get a little peanut from the politicians and take care of their immediate needs. This indeed is a sad commentary on our politics. But the few enlightened followers are silently concerned about who lead them, the moreso given our experience in the last few years and the growing fear of insecurity in the land. I have therefore chosen to discuss, the leadership challenge for some reasons: (i) Leadership is central to the management of man and resour

His Royal Majesty Alh. Dr. Ado Ibrahim was born on Thursday 7th February, 1929 to HRH Alh. Ibrahim Onoruoiza Atta and Hajiya Hauwawu Ozianuva. He is one of the 148 children of his late father and an only child of his Mother. HRM Ado Ibrahim had a priviledged birth, and a disciplined upbringing with its emphasis on the work ethic. His father, according to him, gave his children educatiom, the glory of work and high integrity. This disciplined upbringing with its emphasis on the work ethic ensured that, rather than lapse into a scriptive explotation of the fact of their priviliged birth, the children will strive to achieve excellence in different vocations to meet the demands of a changing social structure. His enlightened father was a widely travelled traditional ruler of his time. By the late 1920s, he had toured West Africa, ZEurope, and Asia. He was a devout Muslim, nonetheless, he believed that the Northern Nigeria of his day needed both Quranic and Western Education.

Home support came the way of the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Engr. Austen Oniwon over the weekend when the traditional ruler of Okene, his home town, the Ohi of Oke Ngwe/Okene, His Royal Highness Alhaji Yakubu Yusuf, led a team of traditional Chiefs to the NNPC Towers, Abuja, to declare support for the new GMD in his quest to transform the fortunes of the Corporation. Clad in flowing Ebira traditional regalia, the Ohi paid tribute to the President Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan for deeming it fit to appoint Oniwon as the GMD of NNPC in this critical stage of reforms in the oil and gas industry. He pledged the full support of the Ebira people in ensuring that the GMD succeeds in his mandate of transforming the NNPC to a reputable world class national oil company. Welcoming the traditional ruler and his team to the NNPC Towers, Engr. Oniwon pledged to ensure that youths of Kogi State like their counterparts from other parts of