COCOA HOUSE AT 60: A MONUMENT TO AMBITION AND RESILIENCE

For 14 years, Cocoa House was the tallest building in Nigeria. Located in the heart of Ibadan, the capital of Oyo State, it rises as a landmark whose silhouette has long dominated the skyline of West Africa's largest city. On July 30, 1965, this 26-storey tower was formally commissioned. Now, six decades on, it stands as both a monument to an era of prosperity and a testament to the resilience of a people.

The story of Cocoa House is inseparable from the golden years of cocoa production in the...

In May 1988, Nigerian authorities discovered over 2,000 corroding drums of Italian hazardous waste, later estimated to be around 3,800 tons, containing PCBs, dioxin-forming solvents, asbestos fibres, heavy metals, and possibly even radioactive materials, in the... ...Niger Delta village of Koko, then Bendel State (now in Delta State).

The waste, falsely labelled as building materials and fertiliser, had been imported by an Italian businessman in collaboration with a Nigerian middleman. The materials were considered so dangerous that...

ON BABANGIDA AND VATSA: A TALE OF FRIENDSHIP AND BETRAYAL

On December 23, 1985, the Vatsa family had concluded plans to travel to Calabar. Typically, they spent the Yuletide in the Cross River State capital (Sufiya was Efik), Eid al-Fitr in Minna, Niger State (Vatsa was Nupe)... ...and Eid al-Adha in Kaduna. After packing for the trip, they awaited General Mamman Vatsa's return from an Armed Forces Ruling Council (AFRC) meeting. When he returned home late, the trip was postponed until the next day.

MOTIVATIONAL MONDAY: NOTHING IS PROMISED

Growing up, Victor Osimhen did not have it easy as he had to work hard menial jobs to make a living. “I was cleaning the gutter for ₦20 for my landlord…and I did some cleaning jobs for my neighbours...and I did find pleasure in doing these things because I believe that when I work so hard to get this money, it’s so important for me…I’m cautious about how I spend,” he said.

MOTIVATIONAL MONDAY: TRUST BUT VERIFY

When General Yakubu Gowon was preparing for the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) Summit in Kampala, Uganda, in July 1975, his Inspector-General of Police, Muhammed Dikko Yusuf passed a strong intelligence message to him that a coup... ...against him was not just in the offing but in an advanced stage that could happen as soon as possible.

M.D Yusuf did not stop there. He further told Gowon that Colonel Joseph Nanven Garba, his right-hand man and Commander of the Brigade of Guards, was a chief plotter.

MOTIVATIONAL MONDAY: TAKE THE BIG GAMBLE, BE RESILIENT

During the GSM licence bid round in 2001, there was an attempt to muscle out Chief Mike Adenuga. However, the then NCC Vice Chairman, Dr. Ernest Ndukwe was very fair and transparent in the manner he handled the exercise. But powerful forces within the Olusegun Obasanjo-led administration were bent on frustrating Adenuga from securing a telecoms licence. Additionally, President Obasanjo, allegedly, had personal issues with Adenuga.

MOTIVATIONAL MONDAY: NEVER OUTSHINE THE MASTER

In April 1963, Emir Muhammadu Sanusi of Kano flouted the First Law of Power and was deposed by the Sardauna of Sokoto and Premier of the Northern Region, Sir Ahmadu Bello.

The Emir had outshined the Master. In 1961, when Sir Gawain Westray Bell, the Governor of the Northern Region, proceeded on leave, Emir Sanusi of Kano acted as Governor in his stead. However, as the Premier of the Northern Region, Sir Ahmadu Bello believed that his position was that of a grand Emir and was...

On March 21, 2007, 30-year-old Christianah Oluwatoyin Oluwasesin was stabbed to death and burnt in her car by Muslim students for allegedly desecrating the Qur'an at a secondary school in Gandu, Gombe State, North-East Nigeria. A mother of two, Oluwasesin was assigned to supervise an Islamic Religious Knowledge exam when one of the students wanted to enter the exam hall with books. Oluwasesin collected them and threw them outside.

#OnThisDay, June 5, 1967, Israel launches surprise strikes against Egyptian airfields in response to the mobilisation of Egyptian forces on the Israeli border sparking the Six-Day War. The Six-Day War was fought between June 5 and 10, 1967, by Israel and the neighbouring states of Egypt (known at the time as the United Arab Republic), Jordan and Syria.

In the period leading up to June 1967, tensions became dangerously heightened.

Kudirat Abiola, the wife of the acclaimed winner of the June 12, 1993, presidential elections, Moshood Abiola, was assassinated by unknown gunmen in Lagos, #OnThisDay June 4, 1996. Born in 1951 in Zaria, present-day Kaduna State, Kudirat Abiola attended Muslim Girls High School, Ijebu Ode, and married Moshood Abiola at the age of 18. She was the second of his four wives.

The church used for the Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit movie was St. Paul’s Catholic Church in the Noe Valley neighbourhood of San Francisco. The neighbourhood was upper middle class at the time, whereas the church in the film was supposed to be in a downtrodden neighbourhood. As such, they had to dress down the neighbourhood around the church to make the setting work.

In the original script, the action took place in Chicago. However, Whoopi Goldberg (the star actor) had started her standup career in San Francisco and felt a kinship to the city.

MOTIVATIONAL MONDAY: THE MOUNTAINS AND THE LOVE OF A MOTHER

There were two warring tribes in the Andes, one that lived in the lowlands and the other high in the mountains. The mountain people invaded the Lowlanders one day, and as part of their plundering of the people, they kidnapped a baby of one of the Lowlander families and took the infant with them back up into the mountains.

King Ibrahim Mbouombouo Njoya (1867-1933) of Bamum, Western Cameroon, had 600 wives and 177 children. Out of fear that important historical facts of the Bamum could be erased or corrupted, he developed the Bamum alphabet of 70 symbols and a writing system to preserve his kingdom's oral history which the French later destroyed.

MOTIVATIONAL MONDAY: DESTROY YOUR ENEMIES

No sitting American President had more enemies than Abraham Lincoln. He had a great strategy for destroying them; he befriended them. In fact, one of them would eventually take his life. Edwin McMasters Stanton (1814-1869) and Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) were enemies, both legal and political. Stanton did not like Lincoln, at first, at all. He had told everyone that Lincoln was an original gorilla, an imbecile, and a disgrace.

Yoruba High Priestess and Artist, Susanne Wenger (July 4, 1915 – January 12, 2009), also known as Adunni Oloriṣa, in a studio with her adopted children, Oṣogbo, 1964. When Wenger emigrated to Ibadan, Nigeria in 1949, she became sick with tuberculosis and was subsequently taken to a Yoruba herbalist in Ẹdẹ, present-day Osun State, who cured her of the disease.

Lagos Lawyer, Moronfolu Abayomi was shot dead in a Lagos courthouse at the Tinubu Square, on August 25, 1923, three months and 15 days after his wedding day.

Abayomi's killer was a popular Lagos entrepreneur and "big boy”, Duro Delphonso, from the renowned Delphonso family. Delphonso was having a legal battle with his Insurance Company and the case was taken to court. The Insurance Company then hired a young and vibrant lawyer, Barrister Moronfolu Abayomi.

Babangida justified the execution of Vatsa in 1986 in an interview shortly after he turned 60, saying that after Vatsa's coup was foiled, he realised his childhood friend planned the coup in line with a deep-seated personal rivalry dating back to their days as young officers. Babangida claimed that he and Vatsa had been tremendous competitors unintentionally; that as a young officer, everything he did, Vatsa did as well, and whatever Vatsa attained, he pursued as well.

The Yoruba people fought one of the longest tribal wars in world history from 1877 to 1893.

The Kiriji or Ekiti-parapo War was a 16-year conflict that broke out mainly between Ibadan and the combined forces of Ekiti and Ijesha. It was a war that ended all wars in Yoruba land. "Kiriji" was an onomatopoeic name given to the war from the thunderous sound of the cannons the Ekitis and Ijeshas, under the command of Ogedengbe, purchased in abundance which gave them an advantage over the Ibadan forces. However, it ended in a stalemate.

MOTIVATIONAL MONDAY: WHAT GOES AROUND, COMES AROUND

An 18-year-old student was struggling to pay his fees at Stanford University. He was an orphan, and not knowing where to turn for money, he came up with a bright idea. A friend and he decided to host a musical concert on campus to raise money for their education.

They reached out to the great pianist Ignacy J. Paderewski. His manager demanded a guaranteed fee of $2000 for the piano recital.

HRM Oba Olateru Olagbegi II, the Olowo of Owo, reportedly had over 140 children. Of these, about 121 were University graduates. In fact, his father had 300 wives, five of whom remained virgins at his death. The Olateru-Olagbegi family is one of the largest and most educated families in Yoruba land.

MOTIVATIONAL MONDAY: WHO ARE YOU?

There were three ships which were nearby when the Titanic sank on April 15, 1912. One of them was known as the Sampson.

It was seven miles away from the Titanic and they saw the white flares signalling danger, but because the crew had been hunting seals illegally and didn’t want to be caught, they turned and went the opposite direction away from the Titanic.