No matter how repulsive majority of the public think incest is, it is troubling that a lot of cases involving what is now termed ‘Genetic ...
Read More
Mystery of the waist beads and modern sexuality
Bebedi! Owanbe! Bebedi! Owanbe! This is a short question and answer chorus sang by little children while at play. The objective of the son...
Read More
I took her in and she seduced my husband
Dear Bunmi, When a junior colleague was having personal problems, especially with her landlord, I let her move in with me and my husband...
Read More
Why I allowed Nkem Owoh to touch my boobs
Anita Joseph is a talented Nollywood actress known mostly for her controversial nature. The actress has over the years grown a thick skin...
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W ARRI— TWO lecturers at Delta State University, DELSU, Abraka, Professor Christopher Orubu and Dr. Emmanuel Biri, have condemned the dem...
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There’s a difference between nudity and nakedness —Segun Adejumo
Recently, veteran artist Segun Adejumo showed, in Lagos, a much anticipated body of work titled Emotions, which focused on the moods of w...
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Sunday, 14 June 2015
How a father could be sexually interested in his daughter
No matter how repulsive majority of the public think incest is, it is
troubling that a lot of cases involving what is now termed ‘Genetic
sexual attraction’ surface everyday – in the papers, on the telly and
even on the grapevine.
”Every
day”, says an expert, “children from broken homes and polygamous homes
are always seeking for their biological family. And it is a dangerous
trend as quite a number of these ‘lost and found’ relatives may find
themselves drawn sexually towards a close relative mothers, sons,
fathers and daughters, brothers and sisters …”.
Three years ago, Constance, a divorcee finally remarried and relocated outside Lagos. Her only daughter from her first marriage refused to be up-rooted from the school where she was doing so well and opted to live with her father. “I was dead against her living with a man who didn’t even bother to know what was happening in his daughter’s life after we split”, Constance explained.
“She was then 17 and I didn’t discourage her from asking him if she could live with him until she finished secondary school. I was sure he would refuse and I would gleefully tell her `I told you so,’. I was greatly surprised when he not only agreed for Tope (her daughter) to live with him, he promised to assume full responsibility for her education. By then, he was doing very well in business and looked fairly comfortable financially.
“It was a relief in a way as I didn’t want my new husband to have the problem of a step-daughter on his hands. Tope flourished in her father’s care and it was obvious he wanted to make up for lost time. Tope was introduced to other family members and it was clear that father and daughter hit it off. He lavished gifts on her and she became really sophisticated over the years.
Then her father’s wife blew the whistle on both of them. One of the children, a lad of 16 had picked up Tope’s mobile to call one of his friends. When he was through, a text message came in for Tope and he accessed it out of curiosity. Then he noticed other messages from their father’s mobile, read them then promptly handed the phone to his mother. The messages she read made her toes curl. It was obvious Tope was having sex with her father through the series of text messages he sent to her.
“I felt sick to my stomach. By this time,Tope was at the university and her stepmother had kicked her out. She now lives on campus and told me she would soon relocate to a one-room apartment she’d found near her university. Her dad paid for everything and she’s refused to severe relationship with him. She said the sex thing was a one-off and they were both drunk at the time.
When I reminded her of what I’d read from the text messages her had sent to her, she clamped up. My current husband had warned me to be really careful here or I would be the enemy. But how can I be `careful’ about an incestuous relationship? True it happens all of the time, but should you wish it on your worst enemy …”
Analysing incestuous relationships further, the expert said: “Whilst trying to analyse the rationale behind this abnormal behaviour, psychologists have pinned the name GSA – General Sexual Attraction on it. This affects parents and children and brothers and sisters who are reunited after a long number of years. Normal taboos have not been built up within the family, with the result that there can be abnormal sexual attraction. Tolu’s case is typical of the GSA epidemic where there never was a normal father – daughter relationship.
“GSA is rare between people raised together in early childhood, as most siblings have evolved to prevent incest. Several factors may contribute to GSA. People commonly rank faces similar to their own as more attractive and trustworthy. Heredity produces substantial physical resemblance between close relatives. Shared interests and personality traits are considered desirable in a mate. In cases of parent – child attraction, the parent may recognise traits of their sometime mate in the child. Such reunions typically produce complex emotions in all involved”.
Some years ago, there was a report that a brother and sister couple in Germany were fighting anti=incest laws. They grew up separately, met as adults, and have had four children together. Not long ago in far away Indiana, USA, Phil Bailey, a 26-year-old man, and his grandmother Pearl Carter, 72, were reported to be trying to have a surrogate baby after they’d started having regular sex.
Makes you sick doesn’t it? Unfortunately, all over the world, people like Tolu and her dad are forever yielding to human weakness – it doesn’t make it right or acceptable. Just sad.
”Every
day”, says an expert, “children from broken homes and polygamous homes
are always seeking for their biological family. And it is a dangerous
trend as quite a number of these ‘lost and found’ relatives may find
themselves drawn sexually towards a close relative mothers, sons,
fathers and daughters, brothers and sisters …”.Three years ago, Constance, a divorcee finally remarried and relocated outside Lagos. Her only daughter from her first marriage refused to be up-rooted from the school where she was doing so well and opted to live with her father. “I was dead against her living with a man who didn’t even bother to know what was happening in his daughter’s life after we split”, Constance explained.
“She was then 17 and I didn’t discourage her from asking him if she could live with him until she finished secondary school. I was sure he would refuse and I would gleefully tell her `I told you so,’. I was greatly surprised when he not only agreed for Tope (her daughter) to live with him, he promised to assume full responsibility for her education. By then, he was doing very well in business and looked fairly comfortable financially.
“It was a relief in a way as I didn’t want my new husband to have the problem of a step-daughter on his hands. Tope flourished in her father’s care and it was obvious he wanted to make up for lost time. Tope was introduced to other family members and it was clear that father and daughter hit it off. He lavished gifts on her and she became really sophisticated over the years.
Then her father’s wife blew the whistle on both of them. One of the children, a lad of 16 had picked up Tope’s mobile to call one of his friends. When he was through, a text message came in for Tope and he accessed it out of curiosity. Then he noticed other messages from their father’s mobile, read them then promptly handed the phone to his mother. The messages she read made her toes curl. It was obvious Tope was having sex with her father through the series of text messages he sent to her.
“I felt sick to my stomach. By this time,Tope was at the university and her stepmother had kicked her out. She now lives on campus and told me she would soon relocate to a one-room apartment she’d found near her university. Her dad paid for everything and she’s refused to severe relationship with him. She said the sex thing was a one-off and they were both drunk at the time.
When I reminded her of what I’d read from the text messages her had sent to her, she clamped up. My current husband had warned me to be really careful here or I would be the enemy. But how can I be `careful’ about an incestuous relationship? True it happens all of the time, but should you wish it on your worst enemy …”
Analysing incestuous relationships further, the expert said: “Whilst trying to analyse the rationale behind this abnormal behaviour, psychologists have pinned the name GSA – General Sexual Attraction on it. This affects parents and children and brothers and sisters who are reunited after a long number of years. Normal taboos have not been built up within the family, with the result that there can be abnormal sexual attraction. Tolu’s case is typical of the GSA epidemic where there never was a normal father – daughter relationship.
“GSA is rare between people raised together in early childhood, as most siblings have evolved to prevent incest. Several factors may contribute to GSA. People commonly rank faces similar to their own as more attractive and trustworthy. Heredity produces substantial physical resemblance between close relatives. Shared interests and personality traits are considered desirable in a mate. In cases of parent – child attraction, the parent may recognise traits of their sometime mate in the child. Such reunions typically produce complex emotions in all involved”.
Some years ago, there was a report that a brother and sister couple in Germany were fighting anti=incest laws. They grew up separately, met as adults, and have had four children together. Not long ago in far away Indiana, USA, Phil Bailey, a 26-year-old man, and his grandmother Pearl Carter, 72, were reported to be trying to have a surrogate baby after they’d started having regular sex.
Makes you sick doesn’t it? Unfortunately, all over the world, people like Tolu and her dad are forever yielding to human weakness – it doesn’t make it right or acceptable. Just sad.
Mystery of the waist beads and modern sexuality
Bebedi! Owanbe! Bebedi! Owanbe! This is a short question and answer
chorus sang by little children while at play. The objective of the song
is to find out who, in the group, has the biggest and most beautiful
backside.
So,
as each of the young girls step out to the middle of the circle, the
leader of the game asks, Bebedi, and the others answer in the chorus,
Owanmbe.
The girl in the middle then shakes her backside, now called twerking, for the others to judge. Naturally, the one judged most endowed of the group wins the game. Such is the importance attached to the female bum, especially in the African continent.
The female bum represents many things for the African society, just as much sentiment is attached to it. It houses the whole essence of a woman’s feminism and sexuality.
The Bebedi, Jigida or Ileke idi, otherwise known as waist beads are one ornament that have fascinated me for many years. Why? I really have no definite answer.
Perhaps it is because of the beautiful array of blended colours which often glistens against the rays of light when the beads sneak out of their hiding under the clothes, or just the idea that one is wearing something unusual and secrete from what everyone else is wearing. Unfortunately, I have not found the courage to wear one yet. A childhood experience, still fresh in my mind, probably contributed to this.
As a child, I lived with my grandmother, a very loving but strict disciplinarian and daughter of a clergy who took her Christian religion very seriously. However, we lived in Sango, Ebute Metta area of Lagos where a large number of Northerners and Muslim Yorubas also lived.
This gave me the opportunity to interact with and make friends with several Hausa children and fell in love with a few of them. Because their lifestyle was quite different from mine, I was really enchanted by everything about them and I became quite attached to two of them. Ruwa, who was a few years older than me lived next door to my right while Binta, my age mate lived two doors to our right.
Virtually all my spare time, after school and evening lesson, was spent in Binta’s company, in their dimly lit rooms with blue and yellow light bulbs and thick smelling Arabian perfumes. Binta’s mother must have been the most beautiful woman I had ever seen at the time. Tall, dark, beautiful and soft spoken she was always dressed in gold and other shiny ornaments, same with Binta.
Long, drop earrings which my grandmother insisted were unsuitable for children were Binta’s favourites. And she always had a string or more number of beads tied around her waist which she would let me see whenever she got a new one. I loved them and wished I could own a couple too but my grandmother would always say no, insisting that they were for adults.
At about seven years, I did not understand why my friends could wear them and I could not. Then one day, on a visit to Binta’s, her mum gifted me with a very beautiful set, similar to one of Binta’s. I quickly rolled it up my waist and bounced home to show off to my grandmother. Since she could not make one for me, well, my friends have given me one.
What happened that evening formed one of the few childhood experiences I could not understand for a very long time. The beads were not only snapped off me, I received a very good beating as well and told never to go to Binta’s house again. My grandmother insisted the beads were obscene, dirty and for wayward children. I did not understand what the fuss was about, but a few weeks later, Binta came to inform me that she was getting married and moving to somewhere in the North, I later learnt was Kano.
The reality of what happened to Binta did not dawn on me until many years after, as a full grown adult and Journalist, but the memory of my grandmother’s reaction to the beads that night has never left and is often replayed in my mind whenever I see a woman wearing one.
As I grew up, I realised my grandmother was not the only person with a misconception and bias towards the jigida. Just as I have met women who adorn them and even swear to their potential benefits, so have I met people like my grandmother who have serious aversions to them especially because of their sexual undercurrents. Waist beads have, for a very long time, been associated with female sex and sexuality.
They are believed to possess great erotic appeal and the ability and power to provoke sexual desire and deep emotions from the opposite sex. Primarily, a traditional female beauty enhancer, they are worn to accentuate feminism and beauty, drawing focal attention to the hips, bum and thighs as well as their movement. (The sway of the bum as a woman walks) A woman’s chastity and sexual character can be decoded by the use of beads.
It is believed that the movement of the bead as she walks reveals a lot about her sexual morality, either as seductive or reserved. For young African women, wearing of bead was also a symbol of female maturity as they are worn as proof that they have begun menstruation and are ready for marriage, hence, the many gifts of beads to young brides. In fact, in some cultures, the strings of beads are used to hold up the menstruating cloth across the buttocks.
Binta, at seven, was being prepared for marriage! My grandmother knew while I was ignorant of these facts. I now understand why my grandmother broke my beautiful beads and wonder what might have happened to my beautiful and loving friend.
However, sex and sensuality are just a little of the attributes of the beads, and in these attributes perhaps, lie the controversies about the jigida. African waist beads date as far back as early Egyptian history even though the Yorubas and Ghanaians have more robust records of being the source, users and makers of these beads. Waist beads are believed to be sources of great spiritual energy which many link with juju practice.
Traditionally, charmed waist beads are worn by women to ward off negative energy from the body and to close in positive or protective energy around the body. They are especially worn by pregnant women to protect their unborn babies too.
The Yorubas are also very famous for their charmed waist beads. These charms are believed to possess the powers to entice and entrap the opposite sex and even improve their sexual prowess. These attributes no doubt have helped to fuel some of the negativity some associate with waist beads.
Many years back, a very rascally male friend told me about a near death encounter he had with a girlfriend at the time. According to him, he had made advances to the girl for a quite a while before she finally agreed. The long wait had increased his sexual desire for her.
To get her, he said, he had resorted to all the lies he could think of in the code book. What he discovered the day she finally came visiting shocked him to his bones. His fresh, beautiful, university undergraduate wore waist beads with several balls of wool tied around her waist.
This, she said, was why she could not date any guy. Her father had put them around her when she began menstruating, warning her that it was to protect her virginity as well as deal with any guy that got access into her without his permission. She had been so scared ever since and until my friend came along, she had not been with any guy. She told him he would die if they had sex and so could only kiss and make out.
For several weeks he could not get the incident out of his mind and eventually shared it with a couple of his guys. Some believed the girl and told him to call off the relationship while some others insisted it was all a gimmick, either cooked up by the girl or a father to protect her. They were sure nothing would happen to him, while one of them even vowed to date the girl should he end the relationship.
After weighing his chances for several weeks, he decided to go for it and went on to persuade and convince her of the benefits (hmm) she could enjoy from her sexual freedom, if they succeeded. They cut off the waist beads, set it aside to plunge into discovery world. It took several days for them to realise that indeed, the supposed charm was all a ruse by the lady’s father! But what if it had been real, I asked.
“Well, it would have been part of a young man’s fool hardiness and I wouldn’t be telling the story today”, he’d boasted. He said they broke up not quite long after their successful exploration in the forbidden zone began. She is married with kids today too.
Yet, there is far much more to these beautiful pieces of wonder and their use have continued to spread across person and counties even to the pole and belly dancers of the West and Europe. For many women, these beads provide confidence, beauty and balance, especially in a world that daily dictates what a modern or beautiful woman ought to look like. Many testify that wearing them improves their sense of worth and self esteem, making them feel sexy and enjoy their sexuality better.
The beads can also be used to improve and prolong fore play during lovemaking, a male friend of mine told me. According to him, you will have something to run your fingers along as well as count on and since they are worn against the skin, this is another way of playing with your partner. The movement of the beads against the skin between the partners while making love also increases sensation and excitement, making sex more enjoyable, he said.
I am seriously thinking about getting one at this point. I’m just waiting to sum up enough courage. After all, catching a glimpse of shiny waist beads sitting on a well rounded bum does provide great attraction and sexual stimulation. Who will not want to take a second look, especially if worn by a pretty lady.
Not many, I am sure. Besides, I’m told it is also used to cultivate a well rounded hips and bum, which is why mothers wear them for their little baby girls. I may even start with a gold chain and good luck charms, after all, my grandmother is long dead now. God bless her soul! Enjoy the rest of your holiday please. I wish us all a happy, peaceful and prosperous 2015.
So,
as each of the young girls step out to the middle of the circle, the
leader of the game asks, Bebedi, and the others answer in the chorus,
Owanmbe.The girl in the middle then shakes her backside, now called twerking, for the others to judge. Naturally, the one judged most endowed of the group wins the game. Such is the importance attached to the female bum, especially in the African continent.
The female bum represents many things for the African society, just as much sentiment is attached to it. It houses the whole essence of a woman’s feminism and sexuality.
The Bebedi, Jigida or Ileke idi, otherwise known as waist beads are one ornament that have fascinated me for many years. Why? I really have no definite answer.
Perhaps it is because of the beautiful array of blended colours which often glistens against the rays of light when the beads sneak out of their hiding under the clothes, or just the idea that one is wearing something unusual and secrete from what everyone else is wearing. Unfortunately, I have not found the courage to wear one yet. A childhood experience, still fresh in my mind, probably contributed to this.
As a child, I lived with my grandmother, a very loving but strict disciplinarian and daughter of a clergy who took her Christian religion very seriously. However, we lived in Sango, Ebute Metta area of Lagos where a large number of Northerners and Muslim Yorubas also lived.
This gave me the opportunity to interact with and make friends with several Hausa children and fell in love with a few of them. Because their lifestyle was quite different from mine, I was really enchanted by everything about them and I became quite attached to two of them. Ruwa, who was a few years older than me lived next door to my right while Binta, my age mate lived two doors to our right.
Virtually all my spare time, after school and evening lesson, was spent in Binta’s company, in their dimly lit rooms with blue and yellow light bulbs and thick smelling Arabian perfumes. Binta’s mother must have been the most beautiful woman I had ever seen at the time. Tall, dark, beautiful and soft spoken she was always dressed in gold and other shiny ornaments, same with Binta.
Long, drop earrings which my grandmother insisted were unsuitable for children were Binta’s favourites. And she always had a string or more number of beads tied around her waist which she would let me see whenever she got a new one. I loved them and wished I could own a couple too but my grandmother would always say no, insisting that they were for adults.
At about seven years, I did not understand why my friends could wear them and I could not. Then one day, on a visit to Binta’s, her mum gifted me with a very beautiful set, similar to one of Binta’s. I quickly rolled it up my waist and bounced home to show off to my grandmother. Since she could not make one for me, well, my friends have given me one.
What happened that evening formed one of the few childhood experiences I could not understand for a very long time. The beads were not only snapped off me, I received a very good beating as well and told never to go to Binta’s house again. My grandmother insisted the beads were obscene, dirty and for wayward children. I did not understand what the fuss was about, but a few weeks later, Binta came to inform me that she was getting married and moving to somewhere in the North, I later learnt was Kano.
The reality of what happened to Binta did not dawn on me until many years after, as a full grown adult and Journalist, but the memory of my grandmother’s reaction to the beads that night has never left and is often replayed in my mind whenever I see a woman wearing one.
As I grew up, I realised my grandmother was not the only person with a misconception and bias towards the jigida. Just as I have met women who adorn them and even swear to their potential benefits, so have I met people like my grandmother who have serious aversions to them especially because of their sexual undercurrents. Waist beads have, for a very long time, been associated with female sex and sexuality.
They are believed to possess great erotic appeal and the ability and power to provoke sexual desire and deep emotions from the opposite sex. Primarily, a traditional female beauty enhancer, they are worn to accentuate feminism and beauty, drawing focal attention to the hips, bum and thighs as well as their movement. (The sway of the bum as a woman walks) A woman’s chastity and sexual character can be decoded by the use of beads.
It is believed that the movement of the bead as she walks reveals a lot about her sexual morality, either as seductive or reserved. For young African women, wearing of bead was also a symbol of female maturity as they are worn as proof that they have begun menstruation and are ready for marriage, hence, the many gifts of beads to young brides. In fact, in some cultures, the strings of beads are used to hold up the menstruating cloth across the buttocks.
Binta, at seven, was being prepared for marriage! My grandmother knew while I was ignorant of these facts. I now understand why my grandmother broke my beautiful beads and wonder what might have happened to my beautiful and loving friend.
However, sex and sensuality are just a little of the attributes of the beads, and in these attributes perhaps, lie the controversies about the jigida. African waist beads date as far back as early Egyptian history even though the Yorubas and Ghanaians have more robust records of being the source, users and makers of these beads. Waist beads are believed to be sources of great spiritual energy which many link with juju practice.
Traditionally, charmed waist beads are worn by women to ward off negative energy from the body and to close in positive or protective energy around the body. They are especially worn by pregnant women to protect their unborn babies too.
The Yorubas are also very famous for their charmed waist beads. These charms are believed to possess the powers to entice and entrap the opposite sex and even improve their sexual prowess. These attributes no doubt have helped to fuel some of the negativity some associate with waist beads.
Many years back, a very rascally male friend told me about a near death encounter he had with a girlfriend at the time. According to him, he had made advances to the girl for a quite a while before she finally agreed. The long wait had increased his sexual desire for her.
To get her, he said, he had resorted to all the lies he could think of in the code book. What he discovered the day she finally came visiting shocked him to his bones. His fresh, beautiful, university undergraduate wore waist beads with several balls of wool tied around her waist.
This, she said, was why she could not date any guy. Her father had put them around her when she began menstruating, warning her that it was to protect her virginity as well as deal with any guy that got access into her without his permission. She had been so scared ever since and until my friend came along, she had not been with any guy. She told him he would die if they had sex and so could only kiss and make out.
For several weeks he could not get the incident out of his mind and eventually shared it with a couple of his guys. Some believed the girl and told him to call off the relationship while some others insisted it was all a gimmick, either cooked up by the girl or a father to protect her. They were sure nothing would happen to him, while one of them even vowed to date the girl should he end the relationship.
After weighing his chances for several weeks, he decided to go for it and went on to persuade and convince her of the benefits (hmm) she could enjoy from her sexual freedom, if they succeeded. They cut off the waist beads, set it aside to plunge into discovery world. It took several days for them to realise that indeed, the supposed charm was all a ruse by the lady’s father! But what if it had been real, I asked.
“Well, it would have been part of a young man’s fool hardiness and I wouldn’t be telling the story today”, he’d boasted. He said they broke up not quite long after their successful exploration in the forbidden zone began. She is married with kids today too.
Yet, there is far much more to these beautiful pieces of wonder and their use have continued to spread across person and counties even to the pole and belly dancers of the West and Europe. For many women, these beads provide confidence, beauty and balance, especially in a world that daily dictates what a modern or beautiful woman ought to look like. Many testify that wearing them improves their sense of worth and self esteem, making them feel sexy and enjoy their sexuality better.
The beads can also be used to improve and prolong fore play during lovemaking, a male friend of mine told me. According to him, you will have something to run your fingers along as well as count on and since they are worn against the skin, this is another way of playing with your partner. The movement of the beads against the skin between the partners while making love also increases sensation and excitement, making sex more enjoyable, he said.
I am seriously thinking about getting one at this point. I’m just waiting to sum up enough courage. After all, catching a glimpse of shiny waist beads sitting on a well rounded bum does provide great attraction and sexual stimulation. Who will not want to take a second look, especially if worn by a pretty lady.
Not many, I am sure. Besides, I’m told it is also used to cultivate a well rounded hips and bum, which is why mothers wear them for their little baby girls. I may even start with a gold chain and good luck charms, after all, my grandmother is long dead now. God bless her soul! Enjoy the rest of your holiday please. I wish us all a happy, peaceful and prosperous 2015.
I took her in and she seduced my husband
Dear Bunmi,
When a junior colleague was having personal problems, especially with her landlord, I let her move in with me and my husband. She’s young enough to be our daughter and I enjoyed her company. It was to be a temporary solution until she found alternative accommodation.
Unfortunately, I’ve just discovered she’s been sleeping with my husband even after she moved out. I’m devastated, I feel like such an old fool!
Tessy,
By e-mail.
Dear Tessy,
I’m sorry this has happened to you – it will take a long, long time for you to recover from this double betrayal. I’ve never been one for rushing in fancy-free women into your home with an able-bodied husband around, no matter how sorry you feel for her.
But never think of yourself as a fool. You’re a kind, generous, warm-hearted woman who should deserve admiration and respect. It’s your husband and your so-called friend who are the fools – for betraying you.
The only regret here is that you brought both of them together. You need to move on with your life and discuss how hurt you feel with your husband, and how you can repair the trust in your marriage.
When a junior colleague was having personal problems, especially with her landlord, I let her move in with me and my husband. She’s young enough to be our daughter and I enjoyed her company. It was to be a temporary solution until she found alternative accommodation.
Unfortunately, I’ve just discovered she’s been sleeping with my husband even after she moved out. I’m devastated, I feel like such an old fool!
Tessy,
By e-mail.
Dear Tessy,
I’m sorry this has happened to you – it will take a long, long time for you to recover from this double betrayal. I’ve never been one for rushing in fancy-free women into your home with an able-bodied husband around, no matter how sorry you feel for her.
But never think of yourself as a fool. You’re a kind, generous, warm-hearted woman who should deserve admiration and respect. It’s your husband and your so-called friend who are the fools – for betraying you.
The only regret here is that you brought both of them together. You need to move on with your life and discuss how hurt you feel with your husband, and how you can repair the trust in your marriage.
Why I allowed Nkem Owoh to touch my boobs
Anita Joseph is a talented Nollywood actress known mostly for her
controversial nature. The actress has over the years grown a thick skin
to criticisms and wants people to know that she’s in the movie industry
to be an actress in the true sense of the word.
She has the ability excel in any role she is assigned and she has been a good source of entertainment for many fans.
In this encounter with Showtime celebrity Anita opens up on her music and movie career viv-a-vis other issues:
What have you been up to?
Work work work… Movies and music but I’m still recording
How many movies have you done so far?
The one that just came out is Akpabio, the Calabar Boy. Then, there’s Hips Don’t Lie, Festival of Village Girls, Wannabe Girls, Who runs the Village, Twins Blood, and lots of others. I can’t really count.
What is your style of music?
I do Hip-hop, I do slow songs, blues, I do every kind of music
Which songs have you released this year?
I’ve done Long Time and Go Gaga
Have you featured any artiste in your songs?
In ‘Nyem Something’ I featured Flavour. The video came out two years ago
You and Afrocandy were recently seen together, are you guys doing a movie?
Yes, we are. We’ve not done the job yet. She just did an audition and I was invited over to help in the casting. We did an audition at Excellence Hotel so I went there to help her cast and I’m part of the movie too
Is it a porn movie?
God forbid. It’s an African movie. Afrocandy does other movies too. The one she’s going to do soon is an epic movie like a village kind of movie. Then the other one is another kind of movie, we call it Glamour.
Glamour is the one you have many rich people but the epic is the village one. It’s not a porn movie, don’t mind what people are saying. I assure you it is not porn. Anita cannot do porn. You know why I can’t do porn? Because the money will finish but the movie won’t go.
It’s not something I would like to do. Everybody in life has what he or she wants to do. I don’t care what anybody does. Some people say you’re friends with Afrocandy and all that, So What?
Do you believe Nigerians are hypocritical about sex?
Oh yes they are, some of them do worse things behind closed doors. So don’t judge me. I do what I want to do but I can’t do porn. Anita is crazy, Anita is this, Anita is that, but I can’t do porn. There are some kinds of things I can’t do. If I’m doing business with Afrocandy, it’s movie business not porn and it’s my business. Nobody has the right to tell me I shouldn’t do it because she’s this, she’s that. That’s their business.
Can you do sex in a movie?
No, I can’t
Not even kissing?
That’s a normal thing. There’s a way we do kissing in the movie industry, we don’t really do the real kissing but there’s a way we do it. It’s acting.
There was a movie I saw you,where Nkem Owoh was touching your boobs, what movie was that?
That movie was The Gamblers. In the script, they said he was supposed to touch my breasts; we have to make it real so I gave him my breast to touch and that thing blew people’s minds. That was the whole idea, he touched it for real.
Have you done any other stuff like that?
I do lots of stuffs like that. It doesn’t matter; it’s the kind of job I do, so it depends. It depends on what the script says, sometimes you just have to pretend to be there. Its pretense, Acting is all about pretense.
Which actor do you have chemistry working with?
I have chemistry working with everybody but there are some people you work better with, lots of them. If I start mentioning the names, you won’t leave here
What do you consider the sexiest part of your body?
Everywhere is sexy because everybody has what trips him or her. Some like the boobs, some like the back, some like my legs, I’ve seen somebody that loves my palm. My fingers are very sexy
You say you love tattoos, how many tattoos do you have?
I used to love tattoos. But I don’t do tattoos anymore and I’m trying to remove them. I’m not a tattoo freak anymore; I’ve grown out of that. In fact the tattoos on my body are mistakes. I advise people not to do tattoos. Tattoos are addictive. If you do one you want to do another, at the end of the day you’ll start regretting them. I don’t love my tattoos anymore. I wish I can clean them out.
Where is the most hidden place you’ve done a tattoo?
No hidden place, the most hidden one is the one on my waist and on my boobs
What do you find attractive in a man?
I love men that are simple. I don’t like men that are too loud, I love it simple
When did you get into music?
I started music professionally four years back but I’ve not released an album yet. I’ve not really been serious with my music because the movies took over but I’ve released two videos, Time No Dey and Nyem something
Are you currently in a relationship?
I’m single and not searching
Have you ever done a movie outside Nigeria?
Yes, I have, in South Africa. I did the movie last year but it’s not out yet
How do you handle your male admirers?
They’re not easy to handle but I handle them well enough. In this kind of job, you have to be strong and bold because if you’re not, they’ll just mess you up. So, I handle them perfectly. I try not to be insulting in as much as some of them are very unbearable. Those that are unbearable, you just try and be subtle and manage them with a good smile.
What of your critics?
I love my critics because if they don’t criticise me, I won’t get better
Do you take to their advice?
I do listen but some of them don’t make sense. Some of them are beef, maybe it’s somebody that doesn’t like you, you didn’t do anything to the person but the person doesn’t just like you. They did it to Jesus Christ.
He didn’t do anything to them but some people hated him, so it happens.
Sometimes when you read some things you know that it’s just beef. You might not know the person but the person is beefing you. I don’t care about what they say. What I care about is I take from the ones that are good, I try to amend what is not right but the ones that I know that I’m doing right, I don’t bother
What is the craziest thing a fan has ever done when he saw you?
Hitting my bum. Someone has seen me in Shoprite before, hit my bum and ran away. There was nothing I could do. There was a movie I did Open and Close. I was a nymphomaniac in that movie, I had sex with everybody around me because it was the story. The guy said that thing you did in Open and Close, can you just do it to me? He started whining in Shoprite, mimicking everything I did in the movie, the way I was doing. I just turned to leave and the next thing he did was to tap my ass. I wanted to pursue him but I wore heels so I couldn’t pursue him.
If it were before, I would have chased him all the way. Another day someone called me and started moaning ‘Anita you’re killing me, Anita whine for me’, I said hello, he said ‘Oh please, it’s me please you don’t understand’. It was one of my pictures he saw. He uses my pictures to work on himself and he told me. Mostly he uses private numbers to call me so I wouldn’t be able to call back. That ‘s why I sometimes don’t pick private numbers.
What is the craziest thing you have done to a fan ?
There was this crazy guy that got my number from somewhere. This guy sends me message everyday of my life, everyday. Telling me how he loves me and how he wants to marry me, till date. At a point I had to call him and invited him over. I mean this guy has been sending me messages for more than two years straight, everyday.
My sisters, everybody in my house knows about it. One day I decided to invite him over but when I came out to receive him, he was nowhere to be found. He later called that he could not face me.
What is the worst scandal of your life?
There was a time I was in South Africa, they wrote something about me that an Alhaji and I were getting married in America. It wasn’t true, I was in South Africa and they said I was in America. Then I was working in South Africa. They said that I went to his office and his wife saw me in the office and embarrassed me. They said me and the wife got into a fight, that people had to come to separate us. I had a relationship and I was very heartbroken. I’ve had lots of them like that. Some people actually believed that story but there was a mix up. That story shattered me at the time.
Why did you refuse a marriage proposal from your boyfriend
A man cannot just come out and tell me to stop what I’m doing because he wants to marry me. I’m not desperate for marriage. Marriage will come when it will come. My man will come when it’s the right time for him to appear. When my husband comes, he won’t tell me to stop what I’m doing. My husband would be my fan and love what I’m doing, my husband would encourage me.
Your boyfriend was telling you to leave acting for him?
Yes, and become a complete housewife. I’m an Anambra girl, we don’t do like that. We’re hardworking women. That’s the kind of blood I’m born with; I can’t just leave what I’m doing. Marriage is not a do or die affair
What about dating Senators, Governors and Politicians, is it true or false?
I have friends all over. It doesn’t necessarily mean you’re dating the person but you know how the world is, if they see you with someone or you’re friends with someone, they conclude you’re dating the person.
What more should people expect from you?
Lots of new things, it would be a surprise package.
She has the ability excel in any role she is assigned and she has been a good source of entertainment for many fans.
In this encounter with Showtime celebrity Anita opens up on her music and movie career viv-a-vis other issues:
What have you been up to?
Work work work… Movies and music but I’m still recording
How many movies have you done so far?
The one that just came out is Akpabio, the Calabar Boy. Then, there’s Hips Don’t Lie, Festival of Village Girls, Wannabe Girls, Who runs the Village, Twins Blood, and lots of others. I can’t really count.
What is your style of music?
I do Hip-hop, I do slow songs, blues, I do every kind of music
Which songs have you released this year?
I’ve done Long Time and Go Gaga
Have you featured any artiste in your songs?
In ‘Nyem Something’ I featured Flavour. The video came out two years ago
You and Afrocandy were recently seen together, are you guys doing a movie?
Yes, we are. We’ve not done the job yet. She just did an audition and I was invited over to help in the casting. We did an audition at Excellence Hotel so I went there to help her cast and I’m part of the movie too
Is it a porn movie?
God forbid. It’s an African movie. Afrocandy does other movies too. The one she’s going to do soon is an epic movie like a village kind of movie. Then the other one is another kind of movie, we call it Glamour.
Glamour is the one you have many rich people but the epic is the village one. It’s not a porn movie, don’t mind what people are saying. I assure you it is not porn. Anita cannot do porn. You know why I can’t do porn? Because the money will finish but the movie won’t go.
It’s not something I would like to do. Everybody in life has what he or she wants to do. I don’t care what anybody does. Some people say you’re friends with Afrocandy and all that, So What?
Do you believe Nigerians are hypocritical about sex?
Oh yes they are, some of them do worse things behind closed doors. So don’t judge me. I do what I want to do but I can’t do porn. Anita is crazy, Anita is this, Anita is that, but I can’t do porn. There are some kinds of things I can’t do. If I’m doing business with Afrocandy, it’s movie business not porn and it’s my business. Nobody has the right to tell me I shouldn’t do it because she’s this, she’s that. That’s their business.
Can you do sex in a movie?
No, I can’t
Not even kissing?
That’s a normal thing. There’s a way we do kissing in the movie industry, we don’t really do the real kissing but there’s a way we do it. It’s acting.
There was a movie I saw you,where Nkem Owoh was touching your boobs, what movie was that?
That movie was The Gamblers. In the script, they said he was supposed to touch my breasts; we have to make it real so I gave him my breast to touch and that thing blew people’s minds. That was the whole idea, he touched it for real.
Have you done any other stuff like that?
I do lots of stuffs like that. It doesn’t matter; it’s the kind of job I do, so it depends. It depends on what the script says, sometimes you just have to pretend to be there. Its pretense, Acting is all about pretense.
Which actor do you have chemistry working with?
I have chemistry working with everybody but there are some people you work better with, lots of them. If I start mentioning the names, you won’t leave here
What do you consider the sexiest part of your body?
Everywhere is sexy because everybody has what trips him or her. Some like the boobs, some like the back, some like my legs, I’ve seen somebody that loves my palm. My fingers are very sexy
You say you love tattoos, how many tattoos do you have?
I used to love tattoos. But I don’t do tattoos anymore and I’m trying to remove them. I’m not a tattoo freak anymore; I’ve grown out of that. In fact the tattoos on my body are mistakes. I advise people not to do tattoos. Tattoos are addictive. If you do one you want to do another, at the end of the day you’ll start regretting them. I don’t love my tattoos anymore. I wish I can clean them out.
Where is the most hidden place you’ve done a tattoo?
No hidden place, the most hidden one is the one on my waist and on my boobs
What do you find attractive in a man?
I love men that are simple. I don’t like men that are too loud, I love it simple
When did you get into music?
I started music professionally four years back but I’ve not released an album yet. I’ve not really been serious with my music because the movies took over but I’ve released two videos, Time No Dey and Nyem something
Are you currently in a relationship?
I’m single and not searching
Have you ever done a movie outside Nigeria?
Yes, I have, in South Africa. I did the movie last year but it’s not out yet
Anita Joseph
They’re not easy to handle but I handle them well enough. In this kind of job, you have to be strong and bold because if you’re not, they’ll just mess you up. So, I handle them perfectly. I try not to be insulting in as much as some of them are very unbearable. Those that are unbearable, you just try and be subtle and manage them with a good smile.
What of your critics?
I love my critics because if they don’t criticise me, I won’t get better
Do you take to their advice?
I do listen but some of them don’t make sense. Some of them are beef, maybe it’s somebody that doesn’t like you, you didn’t do anything to the person but the person doesn’t just like you. They did it to Jesus Christ.
He didn’t do anything to them but some people hated him, so it happens.
Sometimes when you read some things you know that it’s just beef. You might not know the person but the person is beefing you. I don’t care about what they say. What I care about is I take from the ones that are good, I try to amend what is not right but the ones that I know that I’m doing right, I don’t bother
What is the craziest thing a fan has ever done when he saw you?
Hitting my bum. Someone has seen me in Shoprite before, hit my bum and ran away. There was nothing I could do. There was a movie I did Open and Close. I was a nymphomaniac in that movie, I had sex with everybody around me because it was the story. The guy said that thing you did in Open and Close, can you just do it to me? He started whining in Shoprite, mimicking everything I did in the movie, the way I was doing. I just turned to leave and the next thing he did was to tap my ass. I wanted to pursue him but I wore heels so I couldn’t pursue him.
If it were before, I would have chased him all the way. Another day someone called me and started moaning ‘Anita you’re killing me, Anita whine for me’, I said hello, he said ‘Oh please, it’s me please you don’t understand’. It was one of my pictures he saw. He uses my pictures to work on himself and he told me. Mostly he uses private numbers to call me so I wouldn’t be able to call back. That ‘s why I sometimes don’t pick private numbers.
What is the craziest thing you have done to a fan ?
There was this crazy guy that got my number from somewhere. This guy sends me message everyday of my life, everyday. Telling me how he loves me and how he wants to marry me, till date. At a point I had to call him and invited him over. I mean this guy has been sending me messages for more than two years straight, everyday.
My sisters, everybody in my house knows about it. One day I decided to invite him over but when I came out to receive him, he was nowhere to be found. He later called that he could not face me.
What is the worst scandal of your life?
There was a time I was in South Africa, they wrote something about me that an Alhaji and I were getting married in America. It wasn’t true, I was in South Africa and they said I was in America. Then I was working in South Africa. They said that I went to his office and his wife saw me in the office and embarrassed me. They said me and the wife got into a fight, that people had to come to separate us. I had a relationship and I was very heartbroken. I’ve had lots of them like that. Some people actually believed that story but there was a mix up. That story shattered me at the time.
Why did you refuse a marriage proposal from your boyfriend
A man cannot just come out and tell me to stop what I’m doing because he wants to marry me. I’m not desperate for marriage. Marriage will come when it will come. My man will come when it’s the right time for him to appear. When my husband comes, he won’t tell me to stop what I’m doing. My husband would be my fan and love what I’m doing, my husband would encourage me.
Your boyfriend was telling you to leave acting for him?
Yes, and become a complete housewife. I’m an Anambra girl, we don’t do like that. We’re hardworking women. That’s the kind of blood I’m born with; I can’t just leave what I’m doing. Marriage is not a do or die affair
What about dating Senators, Governors and Politicians, is it true or false?
I have friends all over. It doesn’t necessarily mean you’re dating the person but you know how the world is, if they see you with someone or you’re friends with someone, they conclude you’re dating the person.
What more should people expect from you?
Lots of new things, it would be a surprise package.
Govs at war again as factional group meets next week, to confirm Mimiko as Chairman
ABUJA- STRONG indications emerged yesterday that the crisis which
rocked the family of the thirty- six state governors under the aegis,
Nigeria Governors’ Forum, NGF during former President Goodluck Jonathan
was set to continue as the factional group which was loyal to former
governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State has fixed a meeting for next week.
The factional group which will have its first meeting next week, would confirm Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo state as the new Chairman of the forum.
Speaking to Vanguard on the development, the coordinator of the forum, Earl Osaro Onaiwu who noted that there have been informal meetings where about nine of the governors zeroed in on Governor Mimiko as the new Chairman of the forum, stressed that an earlier meeting scheduled for this week was shelved as the governors were engaged in the negotiations and horse-trading with regard to the elections of the new leadership of the national assembly.
Asked if other governors were not interested in leading the forum, the PDP Governors’ Forum coordinator said the meeting would determine if there was such interest, adding, “Am aware that about nine of them have already thrown their support behind Mimiko to lead the forum, because they said they want very steady and organised hands now that the PDP is in opposition.”
The factional meeting is coming barely twenty- six days after the meeting of the NGF was held in Abuja with former Governors Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State and Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom who were at the centre of the crisis at the meeting, an indication that they have all buried the hatchet and prepared to work together as one body.
The governors, made up of the All Progressives Congress, APC and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP met last month at the Lagos/ Osun Hall of Transcorp Hilton, Abuja and it was the first of its kind since 2013 when they fell out, just governor Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara State was elected the Chairman of the forum and he took over from Rotimi Amaechi.
Present at the said meeting were former governors Akpabio of Akwa Ibom and Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers; Muazu Babangida Aliyu of Niger; Ramallan Yero of Kaduna; Saidu Dankigari of Kebbi; Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta; Isa Yuguda of Bauchi; Governors Adams Oshiomhole of Edo; Rauf Aregbosola of Osun; Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of Kano; Kashim Shettima of Borno; Abiola Ajimobi; Emmanauel Udom of Akwa Ibom; Deputy governor of Kogi, Yomi Awoniyi; Deputy governor of Nasarawa State and Deputy governor of Imo State.
It will be recalled that since governor of Rivers State and Chairman, Nigeria Governor’s Forum, NGF, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi was re-elected as Chairman of the Forum in May 2013 where he polled 19 votes to defeat governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State, the only governor who contested with him to score 16, all was not well with the forum until what appeared to be a reconciliation meeting last month.
It would be recalled that Amaechi who chaired one of the factions, was first elected Chairman of NGF in 2011 when he took over from former Kwara State governor and now President of the Senate, Senator Bukola Saraki.
The Nigeria Governors’ Forum which was established to among others, provide a forum for discussion and exchange of ideas, help strengthen and promote Nigeria’s federal system and promote understanding among governors and States, is the umbrella body of all the thirty-six state governors of the federation.
The factional group which will have its first meeting next week, would confirm Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo state as the new Chairman of the forum.
Speaking to Vanguard on the development, the coordinator of the forum, Earl Osaro Onaiwu who noted that there have been informal meetings where about nine of the governors zeroed in on Governor Mimiko as the new Chairman of the forum, stressed that an earlier meeting scheduled for this week was shelved as the governors were engaged in the negotiations and horse-trading with regard to the elections of the new leadership of the national assembly.
Asked if other governors were not interested in leading the forum, the PDP Governors’ Forum coordinator said the meeting would determine if there was such interest, adding, “Am aware that about nine of them have already thrown their support behind Mimiko to lead the forum, because they said they want very steady and organised hands now that the PDP is in opposition.”
The factional meeting is coming barely twenty- six days after the meeting of the NGF was held in Abuja with former Governors Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State and Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom who were at the centre of the crisis at the meeting, an indication that they have all buried the hatchet and prepared to work together as one body.
The governors, made up of the All Progressives Congress, APC and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP met last month at the Lagos/ Osun Hall of Transcorp Hilton, Abuja and it was the first of its kind since 2013 when they fell out, just governor Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara State was elected the Chairman of the forum and he took over from Rotimi Amaechi.
Present at the said meeting were former governors Akpabio of Akwa Ibom and Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers; Muazu Babangida Aliyu of Niger; Ramallan Yero of Kaduna; Saidu Dankigari of Kebbi; Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta; Isa Yuguda of Bauchi; Governors Adams Oshiomhole of Edo; Rauf Aregbosola of Osun; Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of Kano; Kashim Shettima of Borno; Abiola Ajimobi; Emmanauel Udom of Akwa Ibom; Deputy governor of Kogi, Yomi Awoniyi; Deputy governor of Nasarawa State and Deputy governor of Imo State.
It will be recalled that since governor of Rivers State and Chairman, Nigeria Governor’s Forum, NGF, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi was re-elected as Chairman of the Forum in May 2013 where he polled 19 votes to defeat governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State, the only governor who contested with him to score 16, all was not well with the forum until what appeared to be a reconciliation meeting last month.
It would be recalled that Amaechi who chaired one of the factions, was first elected Chairman of NGF in 2011 when he took over from former Kwara State governor and now President of the Senate, Senator Bukola Saraki.
The Nigeria Governors’ Forum which was established to among others, provide a forum for discussion and exchange of ideas, help strengthen and promote Nigeria’s federal system and promote understanding among governors and States, is the umbrella body of all the thirty-six state governors of the federation.
DELSU dons to Christians: Stop demonizing Urhobo culture
WARRI—TWO lecturers at Delta State
University, DELSU, Abraka, Professor Christopher Orubu and Dr. Emmanuel
Biri, have condemned the demonization of Urhobo culture under the facade
of Christianity.
Both lecturers, speaking at the first Ughievwen Cultural Carnival,
staged at Otughievwen, headquarters of Ughelli South Local Government
Area, said the trend was robbing Urhobo nation and Ughievwen Urhobo in
particular, economic oppor-tunities to sell its culture and heritage to
the outside world.
Professor Orubu stated that as a people, Ughievwen of Urhobo evolved with peculiar cultural practices and heritage giving its sons and daughters a self- identity that cannot be sustained by any borrowed culture.
He said: ”Our four pivots of chieftaincy, Adeh, Eboh, Igbun-Otor and Igbun-Eshovwin, which have been handed down from generations have exclusive entertainment carriages in various festivals, which were the envy of non-natives, who throng the community from far and near to share in the fun.
Demonization of culture
“Today, in the name of Christianity, these attractions are fast fading away. We demonize our culture on the notion that they are fetish, but even the Pope has entered shrines, not of Christians, and acknowledged the sense of faith in God by adherents of the deities worshipped in such shrines.”
In a separate lecture on The Past, Present and Future of the Ughievwen People, Dr. Biri of the Department of Mass Communication, DELSU, said that some of the core cultural values of Ughievwen Urhobo, being so demeaned in the land, were being celebrated with growing global recognition in other climes.
Biri asserted: “The Epha (celebration of bare breast maidens), which is Urhobo’s appreciation of the purity in women, is gradually going into extinction on the notion that it is fetish and obscene.
“But in Swaziland, the same heritage has become an annual tourist attraction visited by several people from around the world.
“In Ughievwen, ancestral worship has also been condemned as demonic and fetish whereas in Japan, the second largest economy in the world, ancestral veneration remains a valued culture.
“Japanese, including the most highly placed, go to venerate the graves of their dead parents, decorating them with flowers.”
Why we organized carnival
Chief Enyote Gbogbo, who headed the team of organizers of the event, told Niger Delta Voice: “The pains expressed by the DELSU scholars underpin the motivation for originating the Ughievwen Cultural Carnival.
Gbogbo said: “We noticed Ughievwen will have no sense of identity as a people if our cultural values are being rubbished and discarded, no matter the excuses.
“To revive the dying culture, we have decided to bring the various cultural celebrations into one big annual carnival.”
Chief
Enyote Gbogbo (in traditional attire) and Dr. Emmanuel Biri (DELSU)
flanked by Epha Ughievwen, during the maiden Ughievwen Cultural Carnival
led by Chief Gbogbo in Otughievwen, headquarters of Ughelli South Local
Government.
Professor Orubu stated that as a people, Ughievwen of Urhobo evolved with peculiar cultural practices and heritage giving its sons and daughters a self- identity that cannot be sustained by any borrowed culture.
He said: ”Our four pivots of chieftaincy, Adeh, Eboh, Igbun-Otor and Igbun-Eshovwin, which have been handed down from generations have exclusive entertainment carriages in various festivals, which were the envy of non-natives, who throng the community from far and near to share in the fun.
Demonization of culture
“Today, in the name of Christianity, these attractions are fast fading away. We demonize our culture on the notion that they are fetish, but even the Pope has entered shrines, not of Christians, and acknowledged the sense of faith in God by adherents of the deities worshipped in such shrines.”
In a separate lecture on The Past, Present and Future of the Ughievwen People, Dr. Biri of the Department of Mass Communication, DELSU, said that some of the core cultural values of Ughievwen Urhobo, being so demeaned in the land, were being celebrated with growing global recognition in other climes.
Biri asserted: “The Epha (celebration of bare breast maidens), which is Urhobo’s appreciation of the purity in women, is gradually going into extinction on the notion that it is fetish and obscene.
“But in Swaziland, the same heritage has become an annual tourist attraction visited by several people from around the world.
“In Ughievwen, ancestral worship has also been condemned as demonic and fetish whereas in Japan, the second largest economy in the world, ancestral veneration remains a valued culture.
“Japanese, including the most highly placed, go to venerate the graves of their dead parents, decorating them with flowers.”
Why we organized carnival
Chief Enyote Gbogbo, who headed the team of organizers of the event, told Niger Delta Voice: “The pains expressed by the DELSU scholars underpin the motivation for originating the Ughievwen Cultural Carnival.
Gbogbo said: “We noticed Ughievwen will have no sense of identity as a people if our cultural values are being rubbished and discarded, no matter the excuses.
“To revive the dying culture, we have decided to bring the various cultural celebrations into one big annual carnival.”
There’s a difference between nudity and nakedness —Segun Adejumo
Recently, veteran artist Segun Adejumo showed, in Lagos, a much
anticipated body of work titled Emotions, which focused on the moods of
women in a wide range of dress and undress. The little bit of an
activist in him showed forth in the collection, arousing
Women-to-women’s fascination with his fascination with the female mind
and body. Excerpts:-
Why women?
Emotions in men are a very difficult thing. We tend not to show too much, not that we don’t have them. There’s thinking that it’s not a man’s place to make mistakes in life. Children can make mistakes and their parents will rescue them; women can make mistakes and they can find some succour in their husbands but when the men make mistakes who do they run to?
Is it when you make mistakes that you show emotion?
No, I’m just that a man’s thinking pattern is that you contain as much as possible. Women by disposition, I think there’s something medical about them- let me use that word. Science has proven they are actually given to a lot of emotions so it’s easier for them to express them. It’s easier to express emotions of people who are already easily disposed to them than to try and do that with a man.
So how are you able to read their emotions and then translate them into your works?
Women always want you to see what they are thinking in the first place. They want you to know. To read it is not a big problem; to translate it is where the problem is because most of the time people miss the details. It’s like singing without soul. You can sing by following a pattern but the interjection of your person into the song is the problem.
Is this a stage in your revolution as an artist?
I did a portrait of a family and the family rejected the portrait. I knew the family well. As an old friend I wanted to translate what I saw of their family onto canvas. Artists have seen the portrait and marvelled. The portrait was rejected. They had a photographer come and take pictures of the family. They must have compared my painting to the photograph, which is not what a painting is. The daughter was not smiling in the painting. Now I know the daughter…
…and you know she does not smile?
On a regular basis. So why would I paint a false version of a person. The woman in very protective of her family, unconsciously. When you look at the painting carefully you’ll find she’s the one actually holding everybody together. It’s not something that is obvious: she has her hand round her son. She likes to always be in charge.
Unlike a photographer I don’t arrange, I only observe. I wasn’t offended that they didn’t like it. I want to have an exhibition of rejected masterpieces one day.
I have another piece that I did for a spa that was rejected.
What was that one about?
I thought what could be better than the figure of a woman because it’s mostly women that come to the spa and want to enjoy the finer things. So I thought it would be nice to have an ideal figure of a woman- what a woman always wants to look like.
I did this piece of a figure- no head, no arms, stops at the knees. Brilliant piece. I took a photograph of the clay work that I was about to cast for the client and to my horror the client preferred to cover the figure with a towel. So what is the essence of the figure of you covering it with a towel?
I gave my client back the advance on the work. I had wanted a commission because I wanted the work in the public space. Eventually, I sold the work for more than what the commission was because I now settled down to cast into stone and bronze. It was bought by one of the top Nigerian collectors. He couldn’t believe that I sculpted that, and at that level.
So, what is your ideal figure of a woman?
All women are beautiful but if you are talking about ideal figure as an artist, there is what they call the artist figure. There is the science figure and artist figure and they are not the same. The statistics are different. It is what science thinks. There is white woman, black woman, Asian woman; and they are not the same figure. The average thing when you combine everything is what a woman should look like at a particular age. Then there is the artist’s figure. The artist’s figure usually is fuller at the hips.
Like the ones we see in those Van Gogh paintings?
There are tons of them. They have thighs. They are women
What is your general opinion about nudity in art?
There’s a difference between nudity and nakedness, first of all. Nakedness is when you don’t have anything on, then you stop light (laughs). Nudity is when you use your skin as a form of clothing. You are comfortable- you are wearing it.
Like people in nudist camps?
Yes, it hasn’t occurred to them that they are naked. When they see they are not wearing anything is when they are naked but they are wearing their skin and they are happy with what they are wearing. If a child grows up in a house where there are nude people around then he does not see anything wrong with running around in his pant. Africans are a lot more comfortable when Europeans are wearing skimpy dresses, but European children never complain about seeing their mothers wear hot pants. They are used to seeing their mothers that way. In art a nude figure is God’s masterpiece. Of all the things that were created by God man was the most innovative. There was the first manufacture and the refined one. The refined one was too much that even the man was in awe and called this one woman. A woman is a mixture of a whole lot of things. There’s a word, Allure
And it’s the beauty of a woman in its own separate and different way and each woman has her own peculiar way. Finding the allure is what makes every nude painting different from the other one.
I don’t understand this allure thing.
Some in their eyes, some in their lips, some in their arm. Some, it’s just their disposition
Are some of your followers ever taken aback by some of your nude works?
No. all fish eat fish. Fish eat other fish. Very few fish eat plankton- they must be very tiny. But it’s the shark that has the bad name.
All artists must go through school and in school you paint a nude figure but it’s Adejumo that has a bad name.
You must really be watching women closely. Is that very productive?
I marvel when I see women. A woman can be enchanting and mean and vicious- a whole range of emotions that men have not been able to muster. Men have certain emotions that form their character but every woman can change at any point in time no matter what their major characters are. That is very amazing.
Why women?
Emotions in men are a very difficult thing. We tend not to show too much, not that we don’t have them. There’s thinking that it’s not a man’s place to make mistakes in life. Children can make mistakes and their parents will rescue them; women can make mistakes and they can find some succour in their husbands but when the men make mistakes who do they run to?
Is it when you make mistakes that you show emotion?
No, I’m just that a man’s thinking pattern is that you contain as much as possible. Women by disposition, I think there’s something medical about them- let me use that word. Science has proven they are actually given to a lot of emotions so it’s easier for them to express them. It’s easier to express emotions of people who are already easily disposed to them than to try and do that with a man.
So how are you able to read their emotions and then translate them into your works?
Women always want you to see what they are thinking in the first place. They want you to know. To read it is not a big problem; to translate it is where the problem is because most of the time people miss the details. It’s like singing without soul. You can sing by following a pattern but the interjection of your person into the song is the problem.
Is this a stage in your revolution as an artist?
I did a portrait of a family and the family rejected the portrait. I knew the family well. As an old friend I wanted to translate what I saw of their family onto canvas. Artists have seen the portrait and marvelled. The portrait was rejected. They had a photographer come and take pictures of the family. They must have compared my painting to the photograph, which is not what a painting is. The daughter was not smiling in the painting. Now I know the daughter…
…and you know she does not smile?
On a regular basis. So why would I paint a false version of a person. The woman in very protective of her family, unconsciously. When you look at the painting carefully you’ll find she’s the one actually holding everybody together. It’s not something that is obvious: she has her hand round her son. She likes to always be in charge.
Unlike a photographer I don’t arrange, I only observe. I wasn’t offended that they didn’t like it. I want to have an exhibition of rejected masterpieces one day.
I have another piece that I did for a spa that was rejected.
What was that one about?
I thought what could be better than the figure of a woman because it’s mostly women that come to the spa and want to enjoy the finer things. So I thought it would be nice to have an ideal figure of a woman- what a woman always wants to look like.
I did this piece of a figure- no head, no arms, stops at the knees. Brilliant piece. I took a photograph of the clay work that I was about to cast for the client and to my horror the client preferred to cover the figure with a towel. So what is the essence of the figure of you covering it with a towel?
I gave my client back the advance on the work. I had wanted a commission because I wanted the work in the public space. Eventually, I sold the work for more than what the commission was because I now settled down to cast into stone and bronze. It was bought by one of the top Nigerian collectors. He couldn’t believe that I sculpted that, and at that level.
So, what is your ideal figure of a woman?
All women are beautiful but if you are talking about ideal figure as an artist, there is what they call the artist figure. There is the science figure and artist figure and they are not the same. The statistics are different. It is what science thinks. There is white woman, black woman, Asian woman; and they are not the same figure. The average thing when you combine everything is what a woman should look like at a particular age. Then there is the artist’s figure. The artist’s figure usually is fuller at the hips.
Like the ones we see in those Van Gogh paintings?
There are tons of them. They have thighs. They are women
What is your general opinion about nudity in art?
There’s a difference between nudity and nakedness, first of all. Nakedness is when you don’t have anything on, then you stop light (laughs). Nudity is when you use your skin as a form of clothing. You are comfortable- you are wearing it.
Like people in nudist camps?
Yes, it hasn’t occurred to them that they are naked. When they see they are not wearing anything is when they are naked but they are wearing their skin and they are happy with what they are wearing. If a child grows up in a house where there are nude people around then he does not see anything wrong with running around in his pant. Africans are a lot more comfortable when Europeans are wearing skimpy dresses, but European children never complain about seeing their mothers wear hot pants. They are used to seeing their mothers that way. In art a nude figure is God’s masterpiece. Of all the things that were created by God man was the most innovative. There was the first manufacture and the refined one. The refined one was too much that even the man was in awe and called this one woman. A woman is a mixture of a whole lot of things. There’s a word, Allure
And it’s the beauty of a woman in its own separate and different way and each woman has her own peculiar way. Finding the allure is what makes every nude painting different from the other one.
I don’t understand this allure thing.
Some in their eyes, some in their lips, some in their arm. Some, it’s just their disposition
Are some of your followers ever taken aback by some of your nude works?
No. all fish eat fish. Fish eat other fish. Very few fish eat plankton- they must be very tiny. But it’s the shark that has the bad name.
All artists must go through school and in school you paint a nude figure but it’s Adejumo that has a bad name.
You must really be watching women closely. Is that very productive?
I marvel when I see women. A woman can be enchanting and mean and vicious- a whole range of emotions that men have not been able to muster. Men have certain emotions that form their character but every woman can change at any point in time no matter what their major characters are. That is very amazing.
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