Why I quit my marriage – Moji Olaiya

MOJI OLAIYA

By ADERONKE ADEYERI and MAHMUD HABIBAT

Since popular Yoruba actress, Moji   Olaiya, walked out of her marriage; it has been particularly difficult to track her down. Saturday Vanguard cornered her at an Inter House sports competition event in Gbagada, Lagos, where she was the matron of one of the Houses competing for prizes at the event.

Looking as pretty as ever, Moji decided to grant us an interview which unfolds some of the closed chapters in her life; career, marriage and religious beliefs:

Many actors have complained over time that the government has abandoned the film industry, in what respect can the government assist the industry?

I think with the aid of the government, we can overcome piracy. The government has failed to help the industry and that is not what is happening abroad. There are some who, however, make money from people in government.

Have you been a benefactor of such favour before?

No, I have not.

But you were appointed a brand ambassador in Ekiti state?

Yes, I am a cultural ambassador in Ekiti which happens to be a privilege bestowed upon me by the governor. It is a gesture to appreciate and recognise my cultural impact on the youths in the state and the country Nigeria at large.

Are you saying being an ambassador of that state has no monetary benefit?

Being a cultural ambassador of a state comes with the responsibility of promoting the state. It also means being a mentor to the youths and creating avenues for them to showcase their talents in the industry.

What are the things you will love to change in Nollywood?

Many of us lack discipline and the industry is now over flooded. In the past, people came into the industry because of the passion they had for acting but not anymore. Most of them now want to be famous quickly even when they do not have the talents. The ladies in particular, most of them go around almost naked. These ladies forget actors and actresses are like evangelists who preach through the television screen.

Have you ever felt like quitting acting?

Coming into the industry was borne out of passion, so I cannot quit acting for anything in the world.

Even marriage?

I can never quit acting for any marriage. I have said it in many interviews that even when I re-marry, the man will have to love me and my profession.

You once said you are an evangelist in one interview.

I have never said I was an evangelist. I only likened acting to preaching through our movies. So that is it.

You came into limelight in an English soap, Super Story, but now you feature more in Yoruba films.

I have many English soaps running at the moment so it is not as if I have left the English scene.

Are you a Muslim or a Christian?

I am a Muslim.

But you were once a Christian, what happened?

Yes, I converted. I fell in love with Islam. I am not saying Christianity is not an acceptable religion but as an adult, I am at liberty to choose any religion I like. I might decide not to practice any religion tomorrow.

Is this traceable to your background; having a Muslim mother that converted Christianity?

Somehow she might have influenced me because as a child I watched her go to the mosque five times a day. I love Islam; their mode of praying is peaceful. The religion does not have the denominational problem like Christianity. I can go into any mosque to pray any time.

What is your relationship with popular Victor Olaiya as some believe you are not his child?

I don’t want to say much about this. If these people say I am his niece, does that not also make him my relative. And as relatives, I can also call him father. So this issue is not logical regardless of their arguments. He is my father.

Which female accessories would you never be caught without?

My earrings and wristwatches.

Perfumes?

I am not addicted to any brand of perfumes. I go for any as long as it is a designer perfume and has nice fragrance.

How have you been coping after separation from your husband?

A woman needs a man in her life. There are things a man would do that you cannot do as a woman but I have no regret leaving my marriage.

Why did you say you have no regrets?

I have no regret leaving my marriage but I regret not being under a man’s roof. It is not respectable in this part of the world. But I try to comport myself even as a divorced woman and as a typical Yoruba woman and to avoid scandal. I have a daughter to protect and cater for.

What was the cause of your failed marriage?

The marriage was not working so I had to quit. My partner went as far as abusing me so I had to leave to protect myself and my daughter.

You mean domestic violence?

Yes, domestic violence is just the right word.

Any man in the picture at present?

I am in a relationship but I am yet to be legally separated from my husband.

Were you legally married?

Yes. So at the right time I will reveal who the man is. I need somebody beside me.

Is your new film, Monsurat, born out of your marital experience?

Our mothers tell us that being over protective of one’s husband does more harm than good. Monsurat is a story of a jealous woman who became a tigress in protecting her marriage. She went diabolical and this affected her husband’s business. Later on her husband found solace in the arms of another woman and that was how she lost all. It is a story meant to educate our women to keep their space in the hearts of their men.

Are you really a sport person?

I love sports and I still create time for it despite my busy schedules.

Which sport in particularly do you engage in?

I play Lawn Tennis and I swim very well.

On what ground did you become matron to the ‘Yellow House’ of the school?

I am very sure one of the criteria for making me a matron here was because I grew up in this environment. I stayed here for 32 years. Also the management of the school found me worthy to mentor the pupils and I am happy about that.

Are you a product of the school?

No, I am not.

What is your perception of life?

Life is interesting when you keep a free mind towards others. When you suspect everyone around you, you cage yourself and your feelings and it means you don’t trust yourself too. Whatever situation you find yourself, know that life will go on; it will only stop when you are tired of going on.

Source: Nigerian newspaper, Vangard
Regards: Hamzatab

APC jabs Jonathan again!

JONATHAN & TINUBU

•He can’t tackle corruption even if he spends 60 years in office 
•It’s nonsense, FG reacts
•As US donates warship to Nigeria

By Evelyn Usman and Ben Agande

The United States government yesterday donated a war ship to the Federal Government to enable it checkmate criminal activities like crude oil theft, arms proliferation, piracy and other forms of insecurity in the nation’s maritime environment and the Gulf of Guinea.

The donation is coming even as the All Progressives Congress, APC, has asked Nigerians to use their votes to express their dissatisfaction with President Goodluck Jonathan’s alleged inability to fight corruption and insecurity which were the two major challenges facing the country in the last six years.

However, the warship earlier known as the United States Coast Guard Gallatin ,USCGG was designed as a high endurance cutter. The ship which was completely overhauled in Charleston, South Carolina, USA, with about $8 million (about N1.34billion) had already been renamed as NNS Okpabana by the Nigerian Navy.

The ship was formally received by the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Usman Jubrin and other top government officials at the Nigerian Navy Dockyard at about 11am yesterday amid pomp and festivity.

In his remarks at the occasion, Vice Admiral Jubrin said that NNS Okpabana was the second of the Hamilton class of cutters to join the Nigerian Navy fleet between 2012 and 2014.

According to him, the first one , NNS Thunder had assisted the Navy in curtailing threats in the nation;’s maritime domain and the Gulf of Guinea.

He expressed optimism that the additional warship would not only bolster the Navy’s zeal by addressing the menace in the nation’s maritime domain and the Gulf of Guinea but also support regional and global efforts to eliminate tarns-national maritime threats.

“It is common knowledge that littoral nations, in addition to the numerous benefits they derive from sea resources , also experience challenges or threats within their maritime domain. In the case of Nigeria, the maritime domain is threatened by crude oil theft , unreported and unregulated fishing, smuggling, arms proliferation, and sea robbery/piracy among others.

‘’In recognition of these challenges and in consonance with the on-going transformation agenda of the federal government of |Nigeria, the Navy evolved the transformation plan 2010-2020 with a view to enhancing its operational capability and discharging its statutory role effectively and efficiently in the coming years.

‘’One of the pillars of the transformation is fleet renewal which focuses on new acquisition and maintenance of ships in our fleet. The actualisation of the plan can only be achieved with the support of the people and Federal Government as well as our foreign partners and allies such as the U.S.A,’’ he said.

Describing the arrival of the ship as a manifestation of the determination of the Federal Government and the USA to rid the country’s territorial waters of thieves and vandals, Jubrin assured that with such gesture, the Navy would be better positioned to guarantee security in the nation’s maritime domain, with a view to boosting trade and commerce necessary for a strong national economy.

The U.S Consul General, Jeff Hawkins who also spoke on the occasion said that the war ship was given to support Nigeria counter criminalities in the region.

“Many of the region’s challenges come from the sea and this powerful new naval platform will significantly enhance Nigeria’s ability to control the maritime environment. The Okpabana, like the NNS Thunder before her, strongly demonstrates America’s commitment to enhancing Nigeria’s security.

“”We work closely with this country’s Navy and and with all of Nigeria’s service arms, to counter threats to Nigerian and African security. We have a common interest in a peaceful, well policed Gulf of Guinea and support from the USA significantly increases Nigeria’s ability to reach this shared goal”

The Gulf of Guinea had reportedly recorded a leap in violent crimes by sea pirates leading to loss of lives and hijack of vessels.

For instance, report by the the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence revealed recently a 25 percent increase in incidents such as vessels being fired upon, boarded and hijacked by pirates in the Gulf of Guinea, between 2012 and 2013 alone.

Meanwhile, the APC has urged Nigerians to use their votes to express their dissatisfaction with President Goodluck Jonathan for his inability to fight the two main challenges facing the country, corruption and security, despite having six years to do so.

According to the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, ‘’The President has finally admitted that the two main challenges facing the country are corruption and insecurity, and seems to be telling Nigerians to give him more time to tackle the problems. But the truth is that he lacks the capacity to fight and defeat these challenges, whether in six or 10 years.

‘’A President who has spent the last six years trying to diagnose the main problems facing the country will apparently need another four years to plan how to tackle the challenges. By then, all of us would have been buried under the rubble of corruption and our country would have been decimated by insecurity. It is therefore time for Nigerians to vote in a President who will hit the ground running, a President who will tackle the problems of corruption and insecurity headlong, without giving excuses for failure.

‘’Mr. President said he wants to put in place the institutions to tackle corruption before taking on the canker worm that has almost destroyed the fabric of our society. Pray, whatever happened to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC? Were they not institutions specifically created for the purpose of tackling corruption, but which the Jonathan administration chose to castrate?

‘’There is no better way to say this: President Jonathan lacks the political will to tackle corruption and he will not tackle it if he spends 60 years in office.’’

It also said the President missed a golden opportunity to take on and defeat the Boko Haram insurgency in its early stages but instead chose to engage in shadow boxing.

‘’When he was not blaming everyone but his administration for the insurgency, he was playing primordial politics with it, to such an extent that the terrorists became strengthened and emboldened to strike at times and places of their own choosing.

‘’Had the President learnt a lesson or two from the crushing defeat of the Maitatsine sect by Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, which signalled the death knell of the sect that is a precursor of Boko Haram, the insurgency that is daily claiming the lives of our citizens would have been defeated early on.

‘’It is too late in the day for President Jonathan to engage in sophistry over the twin evil of corruption and insecurity. He has reached the limit of his capacity to tackle these challenges and it is time to allow those with necessary political will and capacity to take on the challenges before they crush the country,’’ APC further stated.

Reacting to APC’s statement, the Special Adviser to President Jonathan on Media Matters, Dr. Reuben Abati, said Lai Mohammed’s statement was one of his habitual nonsense.

“It is a pity that Lai Mohammed is starting off in the new year mounting his  habitual nonsense. Anybody who listened carefully to the president and has followed the activities of government closely will see very clearly that his administration is committed to fighting insurgence and corruption.

“ Has also shown political will in strengthening the security process to deepen the capacity to win the war against terror.

“Many of our security  agents have had to pay the supreme sacrifice in waging this war.

When Lai Mohammed talks glibly about the efforts of government, he insults the memory and heroism of these patriots. President Jonathan has always appealed to the opposition not to play politics with issues of national security. Obviously, politics and personal ambition are more important to Lai Mohammed and his masters.

On corurption, Abati said: “this administration is committed to fighting corruption and has always done so. By bringing up the issue in his new year message, the president was re-emphasising the importance of the war against corruption.

But characteristically, he and his masters saw in that an opportunity to play cheap politics.

“The president had advised the political class to be civil, state-manly and patriotic, but less than 48 hours later, Lai Mohammed chose to be uncivil and uncouth. We hope that this is not the style of campaign that the APC has chosen to deploy for the 2015 election.”

Source: Nigerian newspaper, Vangard

Regards: Hamzatab

Keshi not the problem with Nigerian football

KESHI

This is a solemn plea to my fellow Nigerians to recognize football as the glue that binds the nation. Football does for us what, I am sure, we would never see from Nigeria politics.
That said, it’s about time we flattened the tires of the Keshi must go bandwagon and accord the man the respect he richly deserves. Why is it that Nigerians are quick to forget the accomplishments of Keshi and other Nigerian greats.
Keshi has contributed a lot to our football, from his days in the Nigerian National League, through the junior national team, on to the national team. He was captain of the national team for years. Won the African Cup as a player and as a coach – I’m not sure of how many Africans who have achieved this extraordinary feat.
Played multiple World Cups and coached as well and equalled the best any domestic or foreign coach has managed for Nigeria in any World Cup, with a much weaker team. By the way, Keshi’s success as a coach goes beyond Nigeria having done exceptionally well with other National Teams.
Did I forget to mention that he practically opened the flood gate for Nigerian footballers going abroad. If you’re opposed to erecting Keshi’s statue in front of the National Stadium (I strongly recommend it), we can debate it, but to allow these indiscriminate attack and disrespect of Keshi is absolutely unfounded and downright ridiculous.
And the suggestion of some unknown and irrelevant Nigerian that Keshi should hide his head in shame as if he is a criminal, is all you need to know about these dishonest and self serving advisers.
All ex-internationals who’re on the Keshi must go bandwagon are wrong or self serving at best – especially when all they could proffer was that Sampson Siasia was sacked for not qualifying Nigeria for the AFCON and for that reason, Keshi must be sacked as well. That’s rubbish because Siasia’s sacking was a huge mistake and a major set- back to Nigerian football development.
You can’t right the error of Siasia’s sacking with another blunder. He had a formula that worked multiple times but was not given the time to transplant that formula to the Super Eagles.
In my opinion, the Super Eagles’ problem is “a four-wall” problem: 1) football development in Nigeria 2) football administration in Nigeria 3) the players and 4) football coaching in Nigeria.
Briefly, we no longer have a sustaining process of discovering and developing our youngsters like we used to way before football got this scientific. Nigeria was able to do this through grass root endeavors – greater tomorrow and secondary school competitions.
World class players like Henry Nwosu, Jay Jay Okocha, Nwankwo Kalu, Chibuzor Ehilegbu, Adokiye to mention just a few influential midfielders were all products of these efforts. The entire midfield of our Super Eagles as it’s presently constituted, do not possess half the quality of any of the players mentioned above. Our best player is not even a first option at his club team.
Many well meaning Nigerians who sincerely have the interest of Nigerian football at heart have impressed upon this issue of going back to our grassroots football. Nigeria would never be in short supply of talent, we just forgot our ways. To get back there, let’s get behind the current football federation. To get back there, the mentality and attitude of Nigerian football fans towards Nigerian football badly need a makeover.
I don’t know how we can achieve that when legends of Nigerian football including  our very own Segun Odegbami writes so illustriously about English football and about his beloved English team whichever it’s forgetting that there was a time not so long ago that his famed IICC Shooting Stars could beat any team in the present English Premier League. This mentality has depleted our talent pool to the extent that every 12 year old in Nigeria would rather go to play football in Togo than in Nigeria.
We don’t have a Keshi problem in Nigerian football. We have a problem with Nigeria’s obsession with English football and yet we expect performance out of the players from our league. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy watching football from leagues across the world but my priority is on how we can get our league to be the best and give hope and future to our budding football talents.
Contrary to the past regimes of non-accountability and non-transparency, the present NFF of Amaju Pinnick, has shown a promising and commendable start. Sending some referees and coaches overseas was a great idea. Pledging the return of funds to the federal government was unusual and refreshing. The idea of sending coaches made a lot of sense not because they’re going to see anything they’ve not seen before, but it’s good also to see what works for our competition.
However, if we can mobilize these coaches upon their return with the assistance of other ex-internationals and indigenous coaches to come up with coaching curriculum that can be followed at youth levels across the nation might return us to football glory. The past regimes failed because their main emphasis was just on the Super Eagles, instead of growing our league and developing talents so we have many to choose from.
The third problem with our football is the players themselves. We have such depleted talent pool.
Although the morale of the players were often and constantly dampened from nonpayment of allowances, they are still expected to perform if they decide to step on the pitch. However, Nigerian players should be paid what they are entitled.
Football is their profession but should be held accountable when they fail to perform like failing to qualify for 2015 AFCON. I don’t remember Stephen Keshi himself playing in any of the matches. When he did, he was a winner. At the end of the day, it’s about the players on the pitch, regardless of the coach. If the players refuse to put in the work, it’s not going to work. It does not matter the coach or the country.
Nobody ever mentions the turmoil that engulfed NFF during these period and how that impacts a team. I also recall how someone from then NFF saying that Keshi was walking around as if he won the African Cup in South Africa all by himself and now that Super Eagles failed to qualify, no NFF personnel is coming out to claim that they failed together. Instead, they’re quick to suggest his replacement with a foreign coach.
Foreign football administrators would do well in Nigeria as well, like Adokiye eloquently articulated. My blame for the players is only on poor efforts. Our exit from the World Cup and subsequent non qualification was as much of poor efforts and poor administration as it was coaching. Nigerians should not be this hard wired for blind and undue criticism of someone so deserving as Stephen Keshi.
I’m by no means saying, the final analysis, that Keshi deserve no criticism at all. I’m sure there are areas he could do things differently like his relationship with his players. I didn’t see a group of players determined to do battle and lay it all on the line in neither the round of 16 match against France nor in any of the AFCON qualifying matches.
Keshi has shown that he is not as inflexible as everyone is making him out to be. He has invited players that the nation urged him to invite. Perhaps Keshi’s stubbornness and edge to him is warranted. Every accomplished coach should be. You cannot appoint a coach and give him a list of players to invite or feature in a match. No foreign coach would allow that.
For those who sincerely support the rebirth of football in Nigeria, not only as part of Nigeria’s export but most importantly as aunifying force, should support the new NFF for what I have seen so far; lobby Adokiye Amasiemeka  to become involved in Nigerian football administration in some capacity (any capacity – because he is honest and absolutely fearless); give Stephen Keshi a long term contract.
If we shore up all “four corners”, our football would return to its past glory. Let’s give honor where it’s due and not reduce Keshi so low to zero all the way from hero.
Offor, an Attorney in USA, was a former Spantans of Owerri and Sharks of Port Harcourt star.

Source: Nigerian newspaper, Vangard
(Hamzatab)