"Weather Controller" Vows To Disrupt Akunyili's Burial With Rains

Chief Fredrick Dike, a respected world weather controller from Ifiteani village Agulu and kinsman of late Dora Akunyili’s husband vowed to disrupt the tomorrow’s burial ceremony.

Dora Akunyili
The former Minister of Information, Prof. Dora Akunyuli, passed away June 7 at the age of 59 and the ceremony is scheduled to take place August 28. However according to Vanguard today Dike promised to use his mystical power to disrupt the ritual in Agulu, Anaocha LGA, Anambra State.

Explaining his claim Dike said that the late ex-minister’s husband and other state officials went behind him to meet other rain makers in the town without recognizing him as the best rain maker of the state:
“Dora, herself is also my wife and we are all sharing in the pain of her death but since they sidelined me in controlling the weather, they will see rainfall tomorrow (That is Thursday) and throughout the week unless they do the needful. Let it also be on record that I am not insisting on loosing the heaven tomorrow because I was not consulted but because they went to see other rain makers with lots of gift items to control the weather which they know I can do without charging anything. We shall test powers tomorrow.”

Dora Akunyili, the former Director General, National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) is widely recognized as a woman of substance, who lived the life in the service of her country. She could have celebrated her 60th birthday on July 14, however this was not destined to happen because of her 2-year-long battle with cancer.
Nigerian top dignitaries, including President Goodluck Jonathan, paid tribute to the Great Woman at the Requiem Mass held in Abuja.

"Ebola Fever No Fit Catch Agbero"

I am an Ajebutter. Not by birth, or by formings, or by swag – I am simply an unapologetic Ajebutter by default. I didn’t choose to be born one. God, without seeking my opinion (because He’s God, I guess), gave me the genes of an Ajebutter and a funny Bri-Merican accent . By luck or some twisted work of fate, fortune, Karma (I might have killed ten defenseless puppies in my past life) or destiny, I have found myself in Lagos, crazy Lasgidi, and this is my story…

Hurrah! The Ebola fever is in the country...or so the media said. And since I'm a part of the mainstream media, then, it's what I said. Of all the places to die in Africa, Patrick Sawyer chose Lagos. That must be a sign, right?

A sign that we've a lot of things wrong. People would quickly point to the obvious ills. Bad management, corruption, lack of jobs, roads, schools, GEJ, and APC. Those and more. But I don't really care. This Ajebutter called Ezekiel Bassey has been a local government onto himself, providing for his basic amenities and needs without government aid, and that was long before Patrick Sawyer died of Ebola then. So why now?

I walk through the streets of Lagos checking out places, trying to find out how the Ebola fever is checking us out too. I find nothing. Surprisingly nothing. The world is still at peace, Lagos is still thriving, busy as ever at the only thing it knows how to do best – being Lagos.

The streets didn't disappoint. Agberos were still out in full strength, with weed and Alomo, hustling with their bad manners, and trying as much as possible to ignore Ebola. I go out on a limb to one of them.

'Bros how far na, this Ebola never catch you?'

'Ebola ni, Bola ko! How e wan take affect this small bar wey I wan collect?' And then he made the powerful statement: 'Ebola no fit catch Agbero.' He declared.

Well, at least I tried. The situation is calm. Agberos in Lagos can never catch Ebola Fever. I have received a powerful declaration, and it sadly didn't cover me. I am not an Agbero, and Ebola hasn't granted me ignorant immunity. Wicked Ebola.

But why can't Ebola infect the Agberos? Have they got some hidden power? For all the Agberos in Lagos that made contact with Patrick Sawyer, none of them has the virus. Perhaps their way of life has given them immunity. Immunity from all the nonsense that comes from the tush people. They can't be bothered. Man must survive.

Perhaps if you drink enough Alomo to make the Atlantic ocean look small, and smoke enough weed to get Africa high, then run around in the sun, or hang in the street with just enough dumb arguments and shouting, watch street fights and cheer from the crowd, or threaten passers-by with blows and theft, then Ebola might just pass you by.

The bad ones live longer right? And the good ones die many times before their time. That's how the world keeps itself in balance, and Ebola also understands this basic law of Earth.

For me, I'll keep to myself. If you see me down the street, and you happen to recognize me, don't dare approach me with a hndshake, or worse, a hug! I already assume everyone's infected and dying.

But I won't die! Ebola fever no fit catch Ajebuttter too!

For once, in this case, what is good for the Agbero, is also good enough for the Ajebutter. Ebola, I dare you to stop my hustle...at least I have TB Joshua on standby.

Floating School in Makoko Slum Nominated For Global Design Of The Year

Al Jazeera’s new series Rebel Architecture uncovers the architects who are shunning the glamour of ‘starchitecture’ and using design to tackle the world’s urban,environmental and social crises. The series premieres on 18 August 2014

• 

  The floating school in Makoko was made by Kunle Adeyemi 
• The floating school was labelled “illegal” by the authorities and threatened with demolition. 
• The school earlier this year, was nominated as Design of the Year by London’s Design Museum. 

play Nigerian architect and urbanist Kunlé Adeyemi partners with coastal slum communities to pioneer floating buildings.

Nigerian architect and urbanist, Kunlé Adeyemi, is one of six ground-breaking international architects profiled. His episode, Working on Water, focuses on his partnerships with coastal slum communities to pioneer floating buildings, including a school at sea in Makoko waterfront in Lagos and a floating radio station in Chicoco in Port Harcourt.
There was a mass government demolition targeting Makoko’s 250 000 slum dwellers in July 2012, while last year Kunlé’s floating school was labelled “illegal” by the authorities and threatened with demolition. The school only received federal approval earlier this year after it was nominated as Design of the Year by London’s Design Museum.
The residents of both Makoko and Chicoco live in fear of demolition but Kunlé believes that forced evictions are not the solution, “There are hundreds if not thousands of Makokos all over Africa,” he says. “We cannot simply displace this population; it’s important to think about how to develop them, how to create enabling environments for them to thrive, to improve the sanitation conditions, to provide the infrastructure, schools and hospitals to make it a healthy place.”
He says the idea of floating structures came out of his discussions with the community about how to resolve the challenges of flooding and of building into marshy, muddy soil.
“I’ve spent a large part of my career developing an expertise on high profile, large scale projects – museums, corporate headquarters for international organisations, skyscrapers,” says Kunlé. “My belief is that in developing Africa we need to find solutions that can be developed by the grassroots, through the grassroots, and achieve the same level of significance as we have on the high-end projects.”
The Al Jazeera Rebel Architecture episode, Working On Water, was directed by South African Riaan Hendricks, whose breakthrough documentary, The Devil’s Lair, won seven international festival awards last year.
Working on Water premieres on 15 September 2014.
Other episodes in Rebel Architecture explore guerrilla architecture in Spain (18 August 2014); disaster relief shelters in Pakistan (25 August 2014); the role of architecture in the Israeli occupation of Palestine and the evolution of urban warfare (1 September 2014); an attempt to return greenery to Vietnam’s choking cities (8 September 2014); and an informal builder in Rio’s favelas (22 September 2014).

“This series challenges our conceptions of architecture and design and the way we cover them in the media,” says Giles Trendle, Director of Programmes at Al Jazeera English. “With surprising and inspiring stories from all over the world, it’s completely unlike any other programme on architecture.”