THEWILL DOWNTOWN January 14, 2023

Politics and men of God have never seen eye to eye in modern time. I say modern time because if you were to search the bible, kings—especially from Israel, were often men who carried the power of God, or often had priests or prophets as their advisors. From king Saul, to David, these kings were anointed—chosen by God, in some cases, and others by the people, but God was with them through prophets and priests (Prophets Nathaniel, Samuel, etc.).

And so it bewilders me to think that pastors dissuaded members of their congregation from running for political office. Thankfully, that is changing as more true Christians are now running for political positions with the blessing of their pastors or priests.

But one thing tends to keep them from being able to go past a certain stage in the game of politics— old tricks. I have always said politicians have certain tricks up their sleeve, which they pull when they need to and those tricks always disarm these Christian political aspirants, making them fall short of moving from stage to stage. I guess that’s why Jesus said people of the world are smarter than Christians.

Commenting on my question regarding why the current Vice President of Nigeria, Professor Osibanjo couldn’t go past a stage in his run for presidency, our cover personality, Pastor Ituah Ighodalo said, “That’s a tough one...I haven’t asked him. But from the sidelines, he probably underestimated the monetisation of politics in Nigeria… And it was politics as of old. They drew out all the tricks politicians know…”

I couldn’t agree more with that statement. In my opinion, what these Christian politicians need to do is thoroughly study those old tricks and find a way to play the game such that it pleases God. You must read this powerful interview with Pastor Ighodalo regarding how Nigerian politics plays a role in influencing us as citizens—from our parents down to children. It will give you a totally different viewpoint that you might or mightn’t agree with.

Until next week, enjoy your read.

AUSTYN OGANNAH

PUBLISHER/EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Editor: Onah Nwachukwu @onahluciaa

Editor-at-Large: Chalya Shagaya

Writer: Kehindé Fagbule

Graphic Design: Olaniyan John ‘Blake’

Digital Media: Oladimeji Balogun

Guest Art Director: Sunny Hughes ‘ SunZA’

Dorcas Akintoye

Dorcas Akintoye is a dedicated writer with more than 2 years prolific experience in writing articles ranging from food, entertainment, fashion and beauty.  She has a National Diploma in Mass Communication from Kwara State Polytechnic, Ilorin. She loves writing, listening to music and playing scrabble. She is a highly-skilled, enthusiastic, selfmotivated professional writer.

David Nwachukwu @ebube.nw

- Contributing Writer

David Nwachukwu has always been immersed in fashion from the age of 10, watching a Dior by Galliano show on television. His work in fashion stretches across media, marketing, brand communications as well as design. As a fashion & lifestyle journalist, David has tracked key industry data for various publications including Industrie Africa, Culture Custodian, Haute Fashion Africa, and HELLO! Nigeria. A Geography graduate from The University of Lagos, David consciously aligns this background in environmental advocacy and sustainable development with the need to promote a more ethical fashion ecosystem. He currently oversees strategic communications at Clean Technology Hub.

Lagos Fashion Scene:

10 Male Designers we Predict Will Dominate This Year

OHIMAI ATAFO— ATAFO

DOWNTOWN cover-man

Ohimai Atafo is a first-class fashion designer and Creative Director at ATAFO. He gained more popularity and attention for being regularly patronised by celebrities and is adored by both male and female fashion enthusiasts. He closed last year with his stand-alone show showcasing over 70 pieces of breathtaking designs, and we can’t wait to see people rock those pieces, old and new.

UGOCHUKWU MONYE— UGO MONYE

Ugochukwu Monye is another well-known designer in the Nigerian fashion industry. He is the owner and founder of Ugo Monye. He has over a decade of experience dishing out elegant fashion designs. Although he started his company focusing on women’s design, he ventured fully into men’s design, capturing the minds of many fashion enthusiasts in Nigeria and beyond.

Ugo Monye designs are known for their bold, unique, and cutting-edge styles propelled by the African culture yet executed with contemporary comfort.

PAPA OYEYEMI— MAXIVIVE

Papa Oyeyemi is a Nigerian-based fashion designer and creative director of the Maxivive Group of fashion brands. At 15, he started his career as a fashion designer. After working for several magazines as an editor, he resigned to focus on his brand, Maxivive.

Maxivive has gained recognition as an innovative, edgy, storytelling brand in the Nigerian fashion market. Over the years, Maxivive has been known for polarising the Nigerian fashion industry by pushing an idea of minimalism and androgyny, turning traditional menswear tropes upside down and inside out.

BY DORCAS AKINTOYE

INIYE TOKYO JAMES— TOKYO JAMES

Iniye Tokyo James is a British-Nigerian fashion designer and creative director of Tokyo James, a brand he launched to combat stereotypical notions of African design and masculinity. Before starting his brand, he worked for several international brands, including Brioni and Puma Black Label. In 2015, he established his brand to offer modern men a simplistic fashion choice with an avantgarde taste.

Fashion in Lagos is as diverse as the city, boasting an ever-expanding list of designers pushing the envelope. Every day, talented creators of contemporary and unique clothes keep emerging. Undoubtedly, more and more fashion designers in Lagos are getting recognised. And so, we spot the industry’s indigenous male designers who excite us every season, which we predict will take 2023 by storm. They design fresh takes on everything ranging from progressive menswear to edgy hyperfeminine looks. These male designers know how to “make it work”.

JOSEPH IKE AND OLAMIDE AKINDEINDE— JZO

Joseph Ike and Olamide Akindeinde are the founders of Jzo. They are both fashion enthusiasts with a unique perspective on African fashion, particularly menswear. The brand’s vision is to create a simple, amazing, elegant, and contemporary style of menswear influenced heavily by African themes but tailored to the global-minded consumer. We’ve watched them from start to date, and all we can say to the duo is “bravo.”

PAOLO SISIANO— SISIANO

In 2017, Natural born dancer turned Creative Director, Paolo Sisiano founded his brand Sisiano. The Sisiano label differentiates itself among the top contemporary brands on the African market brand today because of, and through dance. Early inspiration for the brand came from his need to create costumes as a dancer with the Lagosbased troupe named “Sprit Of David”.

His ‘Renewed Timeless’ collection from last year was everything you would want from an artist and contemporary designer.

EMMANUEL EMEKA OKORO— EMMY KASBIT

FRUCHE

Frank Aghuno is the creative director of the fashion brand, Fruché. He infuses his contemporary line with a mix of traditional culture, heritage, and artistic techniques. Fruché was established in 2014 while studying finance at the University of Lagos. The mainstays of the label's collection are dramatic evening wears, a rich, bright colour palate, and experimental design techniques.

last year.

FAITH OLUWAJIMI— BLOKE

Faith Oluwajimi is the creative director and head designer of BLOKE. He established it in 2015. Bloke is a Nigerian genderless artisanal label that aims to explore the nuances of masculinity via an offbeat, highly impressive design aesthetic. The brand started as a knitwear-focused line before branching off to incorporate an array of fabrics which diverges from traditional ideas of what a menswear label is.

ADE BAKARE— ADE BAKARE COUTURE

Ade Bakare is another fashion designer based in Lagos, Nigeria, and London. He is the founder of Ade Bakare Couture. For over 20 years, he has been in the fashion industry. He started his work as a fashion designer in London by sewing clothes for boutiques in the United Kingdom and France. Ade creates different elegant designs for ladies, including wedding dresses and recently for men.

FRANK AGHUNO—

Emmanuel Emeka Okoro is the founder of Emmy Kasbit, a fashion brand known for structured pieces, straight lines, Igbo tribe fabrics, and a combination of native colours. We fell totally in love with his collection from fashion Lagos Fashion Week

websights DOWNTOWN

2022 Was That Year

Between Tinubu’s Gaffes, Emefiele’s Mandates and Wizkid's Irony

BY KEHINDÉ FAGBULE

Politics Focus: Emilocorn of Nigeria

When you think about the volume of daily political stories that broke on the internet in 2022, it felt like a long year. In that calendar year alone, everything happened from presidential aspiration declarations to eventual party primaries and the final candidates announcing their running mates before getting their campaigns underway. With all of these having been cramped up in mere six months, it has been everything but boring. One particular recurring episode through the messy rollercoaster that is Nigerian politics was Tinubu’s gaffes. Social media erupts whenever he is handed the microphone to speak—or lick, whichever comes first—during his campaign rallies.

Policy Focus: Mefy Activated Snapchat Filter on the Naira

The Central Bank of Nigeria has gained a reputation for chuning out controversial rules and mandates.With Godwin Emefiele in charge, it is as though he swore an oath to sanction mandates that would always get on Instablog. One year after the cryptocurrency ban and eNaira launch, Emefiele didn’t stop getting on Twitter trends one headline after another. The latest in the year was the release of the new 200, 500 and 1000 Naira notes scheduled to phase out the ones currently in wide circulation. For most Nigerians, it is the lack of effort as they criticise the quality of the ‘redesign’—if you can call it that—likening it to a Snapchat filter.

To say last year was eventful would be an understatement. First of all, we all approached the year not caring so much about the coronavirus as we used to a couple of years back. Last year, the world truly opened back up, and boy, was it dramatic! You trust Nigerians; it doesn’t matter if we are going through the great depression or not, we always find a way to put a smile on our faces, or as the kids will say, catch our cruise. 2022 was not in any way, shape or form short of cruise, and we had fun catching them. From politics to entertainment trends, Nigerians on social media were constantly thrilled with drama that triggered ridiculous comments. And when we say ridiculous, we mean it in every form you can imagine.

Entertainment Focus: Popsy Said Rap Was Dead

Last year, the self-acclaimed ‘Popsy’ (of Afrobeats), 32 years old popstar, Wizkid, pronounced the hip-hop genre dead. In an interview, the Essence singer revealed that he no longer listened to rap music, and the genre is now dead, no longer what it used to be. His strong observation brought the music industry to a frenzy as rappers all came out with their disapproval and rebuke before Wizkid, who had recently released a project, his fifth studio album, More Love, Less Ego, at the time of the drama, doubled down on his initial condemnation with broke shaming and blatant disrespect. Going by his unbothered and usually uncontroversial persona, we don’t know what to make of it, if it was genuine—as it would be rather unnecessary—or premeditated to promote the album. How ironic would that be?

9 Ways To Keep Your Relationship EXCITING, FUN, AND FRESH

BY DORCAS AKINTOYE

The excitement of a new relationship can make you feel on top of the world, but as soon you get more familiar with your partner, it is normal for the relationship to become boring. As the newness wears off, the relationship can feel like it’s going stale. Since no one is doomed to stay in a dull relationship, there are some steps you can take to keep your relationship exciting and fresh.

(1) Schedule Regular Date Nights

Many couples go on dates regularly during the initial stage of their relationship, but it reduces as they eventually get more familiar with each other, and as a result, it can lead the relationship to become a little dull. Never cease to schedule regular date nights with your partner so you can spend quality time together.

(2) VocalBe With Your Feelings

Always use words to express your feelings. Once a relationship matures, many people forget all those mushy things they used to say to one another. Never forget to say “I love you” to your partner regularly, and never try to shy away from words that truly express how you feel.

(3) Participate in New Activities

Together

You can keep your relationship exciting by participating in new activities together. You can take golf lessons, cooking classes, and do much more together. In case you don’t know, the willingness to learn something new can help you and your partner grow together.

(4) Spend Time With Other Couples Who Have Healthy Relationships

Spending time with couples who have healthy relationships can be good for you and your partner. Find couples with the same value as you and, most importantly, a strong relationship. Spending time with them will go a long way in reinforcing the importance of commitment in your relationship and also help remind you to keep it exciting.

(5) AndCreate Work on Goals Together

You and your partner can create some goals you can work on together. It may include a financial goal or fitness goal, among others. Working towards the goals you both decide to work on can help you feel like a team and, at the same time, gives you new things to talk about and do together.

(6) YourDiscuss Dreams

You both might have talked about your dreams during the initial stage of your relationship.

However, as time goes on, those sorts of discussions may fall by the wayside. Set time aside to discuss your dreams for the future, and never cease to support one another in making those dreams a reality.

(7) Ask Meaningful Questions

Never cease to ask your partner meaningful questions about their past, their thoughts on current events, and their feeling about several topics. Endeavour to get past day-today conversations and dive deeper.

(8) OneGreet Another With Happiness

The way you greet your partner after being apart for a while can set the tone for the rest of the day. Greet your partner at the door with a hug and a kiss, and make sure you express your joy at being together again. Doing this can start things off on the right foot and set you on the part of reconnecting after being apart.

(9) SurpriseAlways Your Partner

You need to keep the element of surprise alive in your relationship. Arrive home with a small gift, cook your partner’s favourite meal, and surprise them with a weekend vacation, among other things. Doing this will keep your relationship’s excitement alive and prevent you from getting stuck in a relationship rut.

For Pastor Ituah Ighodalo

Total Reorientation is Key to a New Nigeria

Religion and politics, two concepts heavy on loyalty, do not exactly see eye to eye. In fact, the English language explains the nonexistent relationship between religious organisations and secular government with a ‘church and state’ concept that basically emphasises the divide. Politics is touted as the devilish game that no believer must be caught partaking in, hence the hushed nature of Christians around political discussions.

Just over a month to this year’s general elections, the most anticipated one in recent times, Pastor Ituah Ighodalo, Founder and Senior Pastor of Trinity House Church, Lagos, shared powerful insights on politics, the church’s role and life after the death of his beloved wife, Ibidunni Ighodalo, with DOWNTOWN’s Editor, Onah Nwachukwu.

In the hearty and super powerful interview—something like a liferecalibrating sermon—Pastor Ighodalo, after sharing what life as a single dad feels like, focused on the outright rewiring of the nation’s fabric as he constantly questioned both the mentality that has subjugated the majority of Nigerians to reason how they do and a political system that has shown no promises of getting the best of the crop on the hot seats, and preached for a total reorientation.

I know this is a very difficult conversation: I have to ask if you have been able to come to terms with your wife’s death. More or less, I think I have coped. She is gone. There is evidence of that everywhere. It doesn’t stop me from missing her, still loving her and everything she represented, but I have managed to keep going, keep life going and do the things that I need to do and the things that have to be done. When you look around, and she’s not there— you try to ask a question, and there is no physical answer. But I think I’ve coped. We’ve adjusted. The children and I, we’ve found a rhythm. Things need to be done, and we’re doing them, including some of her affairs. We are just taking it one day at a time.

Have the kids come to understand that mummy isn’t coming back?

Yes, to a large extent. They miss her very much, both of them, especially moments when there are flashbacks. But they know that mummy has gone to a better place, and she’s not coming back physically. When they ask questions, we give them answers as best as we can.

How have you coped with bringing them up without a mum?

I do what I have to do. I try to be there for them as much as I can— spend as much time as I can with them, take them to school, try to come back in time before they go to bed, do a few things together and so on. I have support from their granny, Ibidunni’s mum, is very supportive.

My sister-in-law, Ifeyinwa—my brother’s wife; my sister, Tolu, is very supportive, and Ibidun’s former assistant, Dami, is supportive too. I also have a good home structure that takes care of them, so we are coping.

What will you say is the most interesting thing you’ve learnt about being a single dad?

Children can really be fun if you spend time with them. You just have to be a bit patient and be there for them. It’s quite interesting.

Last year, it was rumoured that the church elders had said it would be a good idea for you to remarry. Elders of my church? Well, nobody came to discuss that with me, as far as I know.

Does this mean you’re not under any pressure to remarry? Not as far as I know. There are conversations here and there; I ignore everything. I’m not interested. Not at all.

If you were, Ibidun’s shoes would be very big ones to fill. The first thing that greets you as you walk into this house is her picture which would intimidate intending, and I see you are still wearing your wedding band. So it seems clear that you are not considering remarrying, at least for now.

MnnMnn (A sound meaning no)...Not at all.

Let’s talk about politics. We are inching closer to the elections. I know men of God generally do not like to be involved, but we currently have two prominent candidates— Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Peter Obi. What do you think citizens should look out for in terms of a leader for Nigeria?

I tell people that for all intents and purposes, officially, there are 15 presidential candidates as far as I’m concerned. The first thing that we should do is to think more for Nigeria. What is in the best interest of the majority of Nigerians? Not what is in my interest as an individual. So what will work best for 215 million Nigerians? What kind of a leader do they need to help them get out of almost 20 or 30 trillion naira worth of debt, lack of infrastructure, incoherent policies, poverty, ignorance, illiteracy, lack of nationalism and national direction, pain and insecurity that bedevils this country, the malaise of corruption that we have found ourselves. What kind of a leader do we need at this time? Biblically, the Bible tells us in the book of Second Samuel Chapter 5 that the people went and looked for David and said, “David, come and be our King because even when Saul was King, you were

the one who led us into battle, fought for us and killed Goliath. You were the one who was selfless enough to let your life down for the rescue of Israel.” So what kind of a leader does Nigeria need? Number one, a visionary leader. A leader whose vision and direction for Nigeria are clear and acceptable to us. Number two, energetic and hardworking. His own person who knows exactly what they want.

Number three, free from corruption as best as possible, or out of the 15, which one can we say is the least corrupt? Most of them have one thing or the other if you’ve lived in Nigeria long enough, but which is the least corrupt— if you are going to score them based on reputation, knowledge, or even rumour of corruption because you can’t really prove corruption anyway, but at least tongues wag, so of all the tongues wagging, which one is the most wagged about concerning corruption?

Number four, which one is most hardworking, honest, driven, nationalistic and wants to bring Nigerians together? Which one has incredible capacity? Which one is most appealing to the majority of Nigerians? Which one is most accessible in terms of wanting to touch your leader, feel your leader, or speak to your leader? Which one is most humble? Which one is most God-fearing? —This is very important from my perspective because a person who is not God-fearing is difficult to manage. A strong leader can only be checked by their fear of God. Which one of them is most exposed, welltravelled, and best educated? The pedigree, the educational background, and the public and private records of the past are open, and we all can know and acknowledge that this is the pedigree and background of this person. I run a group called ‘The African Leadership Group,’ and we have a scoring template for analysing good leadership. Barack Obama became the President of America because he ticked some boxes for that time, including his background, because it was at the time that Americans felt it was time to give a person of colour a chance. If you notice Barack Obama, he wore one set of suits or one type of colour for eight years. It was deliberate to give an image of a person who wasn’t flamboyant, who was decent, trustworthy and stable. He avoided any kind of rumour or gossip or whatever. Bill Clinton got away with Monica Lewinsky, and Trump did all sorts of things, including abusing women, but Barack ran away from everything, stuck with his wife and avoided all of those things. He never said one bad word because he needed to show the strength and personality of a good leader at that time, and he did a decent job. My only problem with him was his position on gay rights and the fact that he’s not pushing hard enough for Africa and the black person. But again, he wanted to show that he wasn’t too African-centric so that he would at least get a second term and go away as the President of America, not the President of Africa in America.

experienced a lot, where some people have cornered the resources of Nigeria and think they are entitled to it while the rest of us can beg or crawl and what we are given is what you should take. We need to give Nigeria a chance where we can unleash the potential of this country, have an even playing field, let us reward hard work, labour, intelligence, and capacity, and you don’t need to know anybody before you get your own space in Nigeria, that’s what we want. And Nigeria is a beautiful place. With the right leadership, we can turn this economy in 10 years. All we need is a level-playing field, a safe environment where people can come and do their business, invest their money, and know precisely what they are going to get for what they are investing, where you don’t have to go through bureaucracy, corruption and all manner of things to get something done. People are begging to invest in Nigeria because Nigeria has such economic value and potential, but the bureaucracy, corruption, red tape, selfishness, greed and insecurity make people run away from Nigeria. So if you had a leader who created stability, peace and an enabling environment, people would come with their money and turn this economy around. It’s not rocket science.

“That’s why there’s this conspiracy of silence by the elites because a lot of them have had to do business with the government to get to where they are. And right now, they are keeping very quiet because they don’t want to ruffle any government feathers. They don’t know who will come into government and want to be friends with every government, so most of them sponsor every party and then keep quiet. Evil reigns when the righteous keep quiet, and that’s exactly what we are having in Nigeria right now.”

It’s a complex society, with too many interests all over the place, but people will file in and behave if they see a direction, and that’s all we have been looking for in Nigeria; an honest direction of where we are going and minimal corruption. I am not saying you totally eradicate corruption; it is impossible, an endemic even in the civil service, and it’s terrible. But if you show the right kind of leadership and tone at the top, people will begin to file in over time.

How do we begin to encourage the country to start seeing capable younger people as deserving of a chance to lead the country? Government won’t seem to allow young people. What is your opinion on having a young person run for that position?

We need a leader who is ready to die for Nigeria, not someone who’s going there to personally enrich themselves or have what we call ‘State Capture’, something we’ve

We have had young military presidents in the past. Gowan was 32 years old when he became President; he wasn’t married, he was single. Obasanjo was 38 or 39 when he became Head of State the first time around. Muritala Muhammed was about the same age, and Danjuma was about 36 or 37 at that time. Diete-Spiff was 25 years old when he became the first Military Governor of Rivers State, so in a military era, you had

those people. But what has happened is that this same military has haunted Nigeria’s political development.

Obafemi Awolowo was under 50 when he first became Prime Minister of the West, he was around 48 or 52, but I am not sure right now. So you had a young set of people who emerged in those days. The challenge is that these same groups of people just stayed on because of military incursion. Since 1966, it is the same class of people that has been leading Nigeria. It is the same Buhari, who was about 28 at the time, Obasanjo, Babangida, and so on. And they are still influential today partly because they held the country down, and when politics started again in 1979, the politicians that had been hanging on the shelf for that long came back. The Shehu Shagaris of this world, Mbadiwes, and so on. But if we had political evolution, they would have done their one or two terms and moved on, and a fresh crop would have come. So it was like stunting the growth and development of Nigeria. And when the military was leaving, they brought themselves back, reinvented themselves, brought back the likes of Abiola, and those ones captured the Nigerian states, and that’s the trouble we have been having thus far. And the young ones have not emerged with a correct vision of their power. They say they are 70 percent of our population and have the power of the PVC, the votes. They need to decide, first of all, from among themselves, who they want in government, and if they support that person, that person can be the President. But then you need to completely restructure the politics of Nigeria because, as it is, it is so expensive to run this presidential system, and anyone who doesn’t have resources cannot run it. Most people who have the resources have gotten them through the government, corrupt enrichment or used state money, so they keep recreating themselves all the time because they use our money to fight us. So we need to restructure the politics of Nigeria and do some kind of parliamentary system where you don’t need to spend too much money to get into the parliament, and when you are in, we elect from amongst the parliamentarians a President or Prime Minister, which was what we used to have in the past.

So all you need to do is win your local government, and you didn’t need to spend too much money to win that or your council or whatever it was in those days. For the youths, I’m thinking of a system where you evolve, you start from

local

government, and from winning that, you compete for state, and from winning that, you compete for some kind of regional administration. From winning the regionals, then you can compete for the presidency. That way, you are learning and growing, having started from the bottom. And as you have led at each level, the public analyses and evaluates you. So if you’ve been a good local government chairman, they will consider you from among the other local government chairmen to run for Governor. If you didn’t do well in your local government, you wouldn’t dare show your face to run for Governor. So we get the best of the Local Government Chairmen to be Governor, and if you do well as a Governor, they will put you up to run for President or Vice President. My thinking is even that you might compete for the vice presidency, and if you become the vice, you move automatically to become President. That gives some continuity, and you can even zone it. This zone provided a vice president this year, and that zone will provide the presidency, on and on like that. So it becomes a zonal competition at that level. You win your zone and become the vice president. That way, you de-emphasise the use of money, corruption, and abuse of power and create some stability in the system. Until you restructure Nigeria’s political process, it will be tough for a man of simple means to aspire to a position of power. These days, before you look for a candidate for one position or another, you evaluate their resource. Is he going to have enough money to run for office? And if he doesn’t, he’s not going to stand a chance. It is unlikely that good people will have that kind of money because most of that kind of money has come through the government’s intervention, which is a nice way of saying ‘some form of corruption or the other,’ and that

REGARDING ELDERS PRESSURING HIM TO REMARRY

“Elders of my church? Well, nobody came to discuss that with me, as far as I know... Not as far as I know. There are conversations here and there; I ignore everything. I’m not interested. Not at all.”

is a fact. Even if you are a contractor and you’ve made that kind of money, it is usually because you’ve been close to the government, and there must be corruption in there somewhere. Very few people have made money through their own business efforts buying and selling, and running up and down and running industries, and even those people have had to look at the face of the government to some extent. That’s why there’s this conspiracy of silence by the elites because many of them have had to do business with the government to get to where they are. And right now, they are keeping very quiet because they don’t want to ruffle any government feathers. They don’t know who will come into government and want to be friends with every government, so most of them sponsor every party and then keep quiet. Evil reigns when the righteous keep quiet, and that’s exactly what we are having in Nigeria right now. Many very selfish people who don’t care about Nigeria are in power mainly because the elites are silent because they fear for their safety, resources and businesses. So nobody is really telling the truth in Nigeria. People are dodging here and there, trying to hide their heads and survive. Then they get bad governance and begin to complain, and the next thing, they are running around chasing the same person they are complaining about, shouting ‘excellency’ here and there just because they want to get their own piece of the action. So we need to reorientate Nigeria and Nigerians totally. And as for the poor public, they are so ignorant and disconnected; they have limited understanding and can’t connect their poverty with that man riding in government escorts all over the place. They cannot connect their lack of portable water with that man who has not paid their salaries or retirement gratuity. They cannot connect their son not being able to go to school with this person who calls himself the governor or head of state, or senator until they see the connection that unless you have good governance instead of people coming to give you 1000 or 2000 naira, a loaf of bread, campaign materials every four years unless you get somebody who wants to run good governance. In fact, some of them reject it and say, ‘na infrastructure we go chop? Na school and hospital we go chop? I no get food, na road we go chop?’ A friend of mine came to participate in politics in Nigeria, ran around with his own money trying to sell good governance and people said, ‘no, give us money.’ He got frustrated, ran away and never came back. So you have to totally reorientate Nigerians and let them understand right from wrong and good from the bad. We have a lot of work to do in Nigeria, it looks almost insurmountable, but some of us are committed to trying to do it, to educate the people, inform them, let them know, encourage them, pray for them and hope that over time, the message will get across to them.

“...the young ones have not emerged with a correct vision of their power. They say they are 70 percent of our population and have the power of the PVC, the votes. They need to decide, first of all, from among themselves, who they want in government, and if they support that person, that person can be the President... That way, you are learning and growing, having started from the bottom. And as you have led at each level, the public analyses and evaluates you... and they will put you up to run for President or Vice President.”

What I didn’t quite understand was the impact of governance on the economy. Of course, my parents, having worked in government, discouraged us from going into government because, by that time, the corruption had started. And that is the mistake a lot of people of my background made, we allowed all manners of people to get into governance, both the public service and politics, and we thought that we could survive on the private sector, but if the government doesn’t give you policy and a levelplaying field, the private sector suffers, and that’s the pain everybody is going through. So when I became a pastor and started leading people, I spent a lot of my time and energy creating a relevant, understanding church whose eyes were open to society’s challenges. We run about 12 foundations in my church which try to address almost every problem. We run the church like a little government. We try to educate people, open their eyes, get them involved, and push them into politics because one of the mistakes we made even when we became born-again was that our leaders told us that ‘politics was dirty, don’t go there, it will affect your Christianity, you might backslide and go to hell, leave politics for the politicians and the bad boys,’ and that is what we did. We now have bad governance and bad boys all over the place running our lives, and that’s the irony. Therefore, it is time to try and address that and change it and let people know that we will continue having a bad government unless good people get into politics.

What are the few things you’d say young people need for that reorientation, as it seems now that everyone is just about quick money these days? How do you reckon we can teach them?

It is not ‘how can we teach them?’

Would you say that the forum you run for young leaders in your church is part of what you do with teaching young people to educate the poor masses?

Ever since I have been conscious, I have been concerned about Nigeria and its development. You have to understand from my background; my mother was a top civil servant in Western Nigeria, and I understood, to some extent, the workings and benefits of good governance.

It is who will. You learn to speak a language because you grow up in a house where that language is spoken, so every child learns from their parents. In this case, our parents are our leaders, and we learn from their lifestyle. So when you see your governor, senator or President carrying an iPhone 13, driving a huge X class (luxury car), rolling around with an entourage, and living in opulence, that becomes your standard and yardstick. That is what you aspire to. Until we find a president who wears one-colour clothes, simple wristwatches, simple tie, who reduces his convoy from 20 to three or four cars if need be, who carries his own briefcase, who lives a simple life and is accessible to everyone, we have the wrong mindset and yardstick, and therefore the youth aspire to what they see. That’s their evaluation of a good life. Until you make life simple and ordinary, and governance ordinary so that a governor or President can see and talk to his people and he’s not flamboyant all over the place. They set the tone, the businessman copies, and then the others copy, and they all are just looking for life of luxury because they think that is the right way to live. We have to change that mindset, and the rot must end at the head. So until you get the right kind of people in the right places of fatherhood, leadership, and tone-setting in Nigeria, you will not get it right. It’s as simple as that.

Some people have argued that it is parenting. Unlike your time and mine, kids nowadays are internet-raised as their parents have to work longer hours to survive today’s worse economy. Do you agree with that?

It is (parenting), but who sets the tone for the parents? The parents get the tone from

the President, their bosses, or other people in leadership positions. Some who still have their feet firmly on the ground have good parentage, but a lot didn’t have that privilege. A lot of people have had to make their way somehow. The average Igbo boy that leaves Enugu at age six and runs to Lagos is under the apprenticeship of a master, which is his parent. If his master is wearing pieces of jewellery and living flamboyantly all over the place, that becomes his yardstick. Except if before he leaves home at 9 or 10 years old, his parents instilled in him, “know whose son you are,” he is likely going to come to Lagos and follow the thinking of that master, and it’s the same all over the place. We need a total reorientation in Nigeria. Somehow, a lot of people who have no value, who are not instilled with strong parental discipline, found themselves in positions of leadership, and they recreated and reset their values, and went after the things that they had been starved of and took it back on society, and reset our values and thinking in society.

When I was growing up, civil servants were the most respected people in Nigeria. They didn’t have much money, but they had dignity, honour, and respect. After them came lecturers and professors, then businessmen. You know, in those days, you looked a little down on businessmen because you felt it was because they were not well-educated that they fell and ran into business. Civil servants were respected because they had an education. That was what everybody looked up to in those days. After the army took over power, they elevated the military slightly above civil servants. The first persons with respect in Nigeria were the civil servants, not even the politicians. Because the civil servants controlled the administration of government and advised the politicians, politicians in those days could not do anything contrary to the advice of the civil servants. But these days, politicians threaten civil servants, bully, sack and reallocate them. In those days, you couldn’t sack a civil servant anyhow. One of the military heads of state also destroyed the civil service; one day, people just woke up and lost their jobs. Part of what I’m told is that a civil servant resisted his instructions, then he said, “you know what, I will deal with these people,” and that is part of what led to the corruption and corrupt in the civil service today where civil servants now just want to protect their interests, make their money and go back to their homes. We need to reorientate, we need to strengthen the civil service, and we need to have strong institutions. We need to reorientate the universities. We never used to go on strikes in the university because the lecturer was respected. You earned your salary, bought your car, built your house, and sent your children to school overseas on your salary without stealing because your salary was more than enough. On the back of your salary, you took a housing loan, and in 20 to 30 years, you’ve built your house, and you pay bit by bit. Everything was organised. One naira was equal to one pound in this same Nigeria, so we need a total reorientation, and a lot of our politicians today don’t have that mindset; this class, most of them don’t have that mindset. The ones that had it have been pulled down and corrupted by the ones that didn’t have it because they are in the majority. I see many politicians of a good background get into politics and get sucked into this same crazy politics.

You spoke about the message you got growing up that rebukes men of God from involving in politics. What do you think the current Vice President Osibanjo could have done differently to have secured him properly in the eyes of other politicians, as loyal and giving him a chance to run for the presidency this year?

That is a tough one. He and I have not spoken; I haven’t asked him. But from the sidelines, he probably underestimated the monetisation of politics in Nigeria—Let me use those words. It was really bigmoney politics in the APC primaries.

politics of values, ethics and performance. It was money politics. And it was politics as of old, and they drew out all the tricks politicians know how to do to ensure they kept it within that context. I think I will leave it at that and leave the rest of the details on the pages of the papers.

Let’s talk about the church. It is a new year, and there are usually prophetic messages from different pastors at this time of the year. As a man of God, do you have a message for Nigeria this year, 2023?

There is hope for Nigeria. Nigeria is very blessed. I think that God loves Nigeria very much. And I think that even if we don’t get it right this time, we are beginning to get it right. Why? There is better understanding, involvement, engagement and enlightenment, so as bad as our political process is, it would have evolved like this because many of us, including myself, were a little bit ignorant in 1999 when politics started again. We just left it. This is the way it would have gone. I’m even grateful that it is not worse than it is because it could have been much worse. Although, we haven’t quite seen something this bad. The more enlightened people are involved in politics, the more courageous people speak out and embolden themselves, and the better the system will be.

Now, to social media and the church. Many people would argue that social media is negative. How would you say it has helped the church?

I don’t understand why they would say social media is negative. Social media is a means of communication, and I thank God that communication has been simplified and made almost inexpensive. You can practically run your own TV on social media. You can have your little post, send it on WhatsApp, and reach as many people as possible within your ability and context. So social media, for me, is something positive. It’s just

is hope for Nigeria. Nigeria is very blessed. I think that God loves Nigeria very much. And I think that even if we don’t get it right this time, we are beginning to get it right. Why? There is better understanding, involvement, engagement and enlightenment, so as bad as our political process is, it would have evolved like this because many of us, including myself, were a little bit ignorant in 1999 when politics started again.”

that whenever you have a good thing, both good and bad compete for its space. So the church needs to fight back and push back the dirty press that’s in there (social media), reorientate and reeducate its people, and clean out the social media space as best as possible within its own capacity. It is like runways and fashion shows; people think they are bad but aren’t. What is bad is the kind of people who control it and the type of clothes on the show. But if you have a good runway that shows decent clothing and makes that fashionable and makes people aspire to it and change the minds of people, the runways won’t be bad. When we started in Christianity, people thought even holding a service in a cinema hall was bad, but over time, our Christianity has shown that you can hold your services anywhere, and it is not bad for it to be in a cinema hall. That is the reorientation that we need to reorientate people. Fashion shows are not bad. It is the fashion that is being shown that tends to be bad. Television is not bad, but the blue movie and content are bad. Music is not bad; it is how people who control music drive it that makes it bad. Christianity, the church, ethical people and even the mosque need to fight back and begin to fight and compete for the media space and say no; we are not going to have this nonsense in our media space; we want things in the media space to be this and that. And that is part of what we are trying to do in Trinity House, to reorientate people in terms of what needs to be fashionable, what needs to be decent, what people need to aspire to and look for, and not allow the bad press to take over. There was this thing called sagging that became very fashionable sometime ago, and people went about sagging, so I told them in my church, if you are doing that sagging, what you are saying is that you like prison clothes because that is the origin of that. These fashion people can sell anything just because they want to make money. The church and wellmeaning people must fight back and say, ‘no, we are not going to allow you to water down what should be a good standard. We are going to fight back.’

“There

2022 MAKEUP TRENDS AND TRENDS TO LOOK OUT FOR IN 2023!

BY DEBBIE ODENIYI

We had a lot of colours and, generally, bold makeup looks last year. However, we also had some trends that appealed to minimalists. But one thing that was very clear in 2022 was the fact that people were not afraid to be extra. Here are a few trends that were popular in 2022.

SKIN-LIKE FOUNDATION

The saying; ‘less is more’ had a great impact in the makeup industry, as more people opted for minimal foundation to achieve a truer-to-tone, seamless finish. Zaron Brownskin foundation was made for this sheer blend look.

BOLD BLUSH

There’s no denying a pop of colour on the cheekbones can be pretty gorgeous. In 2022, we saw more flushed cheeks and blush traced across the bridge of the nose and up to the brows. The Zaron Cheeky Liquid Blush definitely came through for lovers of this trend.

SMUDGED MASCARA

Abstract but sure to draw attention. This makeup trend encourages the use of mascara beyond the lashes. The idea is to use the wand on the eyelids and desired areas on the face. The Zaron volumizing mascara, lengthening mascara and 4 in 1 wink mascara offer a variety of boldness for this trend.

Liquid Blush

Brownskin Foundation

GLOSSY LIPS

Glossy with liners or a soft pop of colour was certainly in vogue throughout 2022. This trend is here to stay for a while, as we’ve seen more people embrace it than ever before. Zaron offers a wide range of glosses, from the Luxurious range to the Maxsheen range and the Sheer Lipgloss ranges.

1. MAKEUP INFUSED WITH SKINCARE

The past year saw a lot of people develop more interest in the health and look of their skin. We envisage makeup products infused with skincare ingredients this year. Imagine having a concealer that not only Contours, Conceals and Highlights but also provides skincare benefits such as hydration, brightening, anti-ageing and more! Zaron’s newest addition, the; 5 in 1 Facelift was made for this.

DOUBLEWINGED LINERS

This year, beauty enthusiasts will get more creative with eyeliners. The possibilities are endless, with a good eyeliner in the hands of an artist or even a rookie. We have something cooking for our Zaronistas this season.

For this year, 2023, we expect to see more innovative looks but on a skin-like foundation, of course. The bold blush, skin-like foundation and glossy lips are definitely here to stay for a while. So here are some projections of trends we expect to see in the makeup world in 2023.

3. PASTEL EYESHADOWS

We expect to see warmer eye looks this year. Whilst glitters are still a thing, pastel eyeshadows seem to be gradually taking the spotlight. The Zaron Prime n’ Pop Eyeshadow Palettes, especially the Woodpecker and Pelican palettes, have got you

Sheer Lipgloss

CORONATION ART GALLERY

Located at the heart of Victoria Island in Lagos, the architecture draws visitors’ eyes upward to the massive grand art space, painted in white, with some glass walls and doors to complement its design. The space was officially launched with an exhibition featuring artworks by artists from across Africa: Oluwole Omofemi, Bunmi Agusto, Abe Obedina, Otis Kwame Kye Quaicoe, Tonia Nneji, Debora Segun, Ndidi Emefiele, Peju Olatise and Henry Mzili Mujunga, organised by Coronation Group and curated by Ugoma Ebilah, the founder of Bloom Art Gallery.

FOR COLLECTORS AND ENTHUSIASTS

Six Art Galleries That Are Worth The View

BY KEHINDÉ FAGBULE

Much like every other facet of the creative industry, the Nigerian visual art space keeps growing. Last year, however, the future of art exhibitions in the world was threatened when digital arts, NFTs, began to saturate the art community. Despite the appeal for artists to switch from canvas to a graphics tablet, art

consumers kept on the tradition of going to see, appreciate and patronise tangible artworks. For those art enthusiasts, collectors and stakeholders alike, locals and visitors from the diaspora, there were a few galleries that enthralled anyone who bothered to interact with Nigerian art. Here are six art galleries worth spotting.

YEMISI SHYLLON MUSEUM

The Yemisi Shyllon Museum of Art (YSMA) of the PanAtlantic University, Lagos, is Nigeria’s first purposebuilt, privately owned art museum. The 900 sqm museum hosts over 1000 artworks from Prince Yemisi Shyllon’s vast art collection. Thanks to him, the YSMA is privileged to have one of the most comprehensive and diverse art collections in the country and to make it accessible to all visitors.

British-Nigerian Musician-turnedartist, Skepta, Gazing at His Work

OMENKA ART GALLERY

Omenka is an art gallery in Lagos representing a selection of established and emerging contemporary Nigerian and international artists working in diverse media. In association with Revilo, Omenka has an active publications program and produces exquisite catalogues with informed, scholarly texts to accompany its schedule of solo, group, and large themed exhibitions, through which it stimulates critical thought and discourse centred on contemporary art development in Nigeria, as well as Africa and its diaspora.

ALEXIS GALLERY

Since its foundation on the day that marks Nigeria’s birth, October 1st, 2011, Alexis Galleries have been engaged in the presentation and dissemination of various forms of contemporary Nigerian styles, including; painting, drawing, mixed media, and sculpture. With the aim to strengthen and support the growth of talented Nigerian artists and the ever-vibrant Nigerian Art Circle, the galleries have supported artists in organising and showcasing their works through numerous exhibitions. The gallery has grown to rapidly establish itself as one of the best in Nigeria, a meeting place for artists, collectors, and art enthusiasts.

RELE GALLERY

Rele Gallery is a dynamic contemporary art gallery with two locations in Lagos, Nigeria, representing and exhibiting cutting-edge and game-changing visual artists. Its mission is to continue to trigger a larger appreciation, followership, and engagement of art from Nigeria, making it accessible to both a local and global audience. The gallery has featured a series of longterm projects, including Her Story, Tech Meets Art, Art Summit Nigeria and Young Contemporaries initiative.

NIKE ART GALLERY

Founded in 2009 by Nigerian textile artist Nike Okundaye, Nike Art Gallery aims to positively transform Nigeria’s hitherto neglected arts and culture industry to ensure an enabling environment for the growth of African cultural heritage. The five-story building in Lekki Peninsula holds over 8000 works of art, predominantly Nigerian and African, as well as Nike’s second textile museum. The gallery is a wellknown cultural spot and tourist destination in West Africa. It is renowned as West Africa’s largest art gallery as it also spots branches in Abuja, Kogi and Osun, where its founder, Nike Davies-Okundaye, spent parts of her early life.

BY BOLUWATIFE ADESINA

Puss In Boots: The Last Wish

MOVIE REVIEW: KALEIDOSCOPE

WATCH OF THE WEEK

The Shrek franchise has always been one of diminishing returns, never again reaching the original’s all-star heights, which is of dubious overall quality. This was nowhere more apparent than in the 2011 spin-off film Puss In Boots, an exceedingly ugly and unfunny romp that is best left as a forgotten footnote of Dreamworks’ animated output. However, Dreamworks Animation is apparently having a really good year, first with the surprisingly fun heist antics of The Bad Guys, and now with the Puss In Boots sequel, The Last Wish, which is so visually striking and narratively engaging that it feels unfair that it took the Shrek franchise six films to get here.

Revelling in his legendary status as an invincible hero, Puss (Antonio Banderas) comes to the traumatic realisation that he has burned through eight of his nine lives, exposing him to the possibility that he may need to confront a permanent death. After an encounter with a threatening and ominous bounty-hunting wolf (Wagner Moura) leaves Puss shaken, he retreats into bearded, depressive reclusion, where he attracts the unwanted friendship of a nameless therapy support dog (Harvey Guillén). However, this seclusion does not prevent the Three Bears crime family (Ray Winstone, Olivia Colman, and Samson Kayo), led by Goldilocks (Florence Pugh), from tracking Puss down, with the hopes of recruiting him for a job to hunt down the map to a lost wishing star.

Puss, of course, sees this as an opportunity to wish his lost lives back into existence, so the race is on to get to the star before Goldilocks and the bears. Along the way, he reunites with his love interest from the previous film, Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek, whose perpetual chemistry with Banderas was the only good thing about the previous film), and runs afoul of the magically gluttonous Jack Horner (John Mulaney), both of whom have their agendas in finding the star. This makes for an admittedly busy narrative in terms of characters and motivations, but The Last Wish is able to keep up with all its players with exceptional pacing, both in terms of story and action.

The most obvious upgrade from the previous film is in the animation, which takes inspiration from several sources but is most obviously reminiscent of the innovations pioneered in Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse. The combination of 2D and

3D animation meshes well with the painterly storybook aesthetic that The Last Wish is aiming for, allowing one to soak in beautiful vistas in the quiet moments and seamlessly ramping up into frenetic action that draws influence from shonen anime, of all places. Especially for being the product of a franchise known for its reflexive cynicism, The Last Wish is an especially vibrant and kinetic spectacle that’s having unironic fun with its grab bag of fairy tale pastiches without limiting itself to a retread of familiar characters and themes.

This is in no small part because The Last Wish has a lot on its mind with regard to its characters, especially Puss himself. This is ultimately a story about accepting one’s mortality, perhaps an appropriate mid-life crisis narrative for those who saw the original Shrek as teenagers, but no less effective as an internal struggle that the whole family can understand and enjoy. As Puss comes to realise his legendary status is not a substitute for interpersonal connection, his interactions with Kitty and the therapy dog start to take on a surprising amount of weight.

At the same time, Goldilocks serves as a well-realised foil who has more in common with Puss than is at first apparent. None of these character beats slow the film down or distract from the spectacle, but rather enhance the film into a true example of all-ages entertainment that doesn’t condescend to its audience.

Unfortunately, Puss In Boots: The Last Wish is not without its stumbles. As fun as Jack Horner and his Baker’s Dozen mercenaries can be in the action sequences, Jack himself is a relatively shallow villain who doesn’t add much to the overall themes or plot. Goldilocks and the three bears are more compelling, but their dialogue continually looping back around to the phrase “just right” is a motif that gets old fast and could have been used more sparingly. And while it’s seemingly obligatory in this age of perpetual franchising, the occasional callbacks to Shrek characters are distracting in a film that otherwise stands very well on its own.

Overall, though, Puss In Boots: The Last Wish is one of cinema’s biggest surprises of last year. Dreamworks Animation really seems to be pulling out the stops these days with distinctive visuals and wellwritten stories, making The Last Wish easily the best film in the Shrek franchise. This is hopefully a good sign for the future of the studio’s output, but for now, it’s hard to wish for anything more.

8/10

Ever watched a series in the wrong order by accident and found it a distinctly discombobulating experience? Well, with mind-bending crime caper Kaleidoscope (Netflix), you’re encouraged to do exactly that. It’s a little like someone with a severe concussion telling you about their accident. But in a good way.

The ambitious anthology drama follows a crew of professional thieves as they attempt to crack a seemingly impregnable underground vault for a multi-billion dollar payday. Each episode forms a piece of an elaborate jigsaw puzzle. How did the gang plan and finance the raid? Will they get away with it? Can they trust each other? The series weaves a complex web of greed, vengeance and betrayal – and that’s before you even get to the gimmick.

Loosely inspired by the true story of $70bn in bonds going missing in downtown Manhattan during Hurricane Sandy a decade ago, Kaleidoscope comprises eight episodes, spanning from 24 years before the heist to six months later. The twist is that you can watch the colour-coded instalments in any order, meaning each viewer has a different experience. You start with an episode randomly assigned by Netflix. Thereafter the subscriber is in control, so they can hop around in time to discover characters’ secret pasts and shady motivations, all building towards the revelatory finale.

Breaking Bad’s Giancarlo Esposito stars as gang leader Leo Pap, while Brit thesp Rufus Sewell plays his target, the ruthless security mogul Roger Salas. We gradually learn that these foes have a personal feud. For Leo, this isn’t just about the

money. He’s also hiding a poignant health condition. His motley crew includes fence Ava (Paz Vega), inside woman Hannah (Tati Gabrielle), demolitions specialist Judy (Rosaline Elbay), combustible safe-cracker Bob (Jai Courtney) and fixer Stan (Peter Mark Kendall). These latter three are embroiled in a love triangle and are frequent scene-stealers.

Created by novelist Eric Garcia and exec-produced by Ridley Scott, the series wears its cinematic influences on its sleeve. There’s a dash of Ocean’s 11 here, and some Tarantino script

flourishes there, plus a spot of hi-tech Mission Impossible gadgetry for good measure. A prison episode recalls The Shawshank Redemption, riffing on silver fox Esposito’s vague resemblance to Morgan Freeman.

The loveable-rogues-robbing-richvillains plot is pure Robin Hood Slo-mo flashbacks and whizzy graphics illustrate how phases of the heist were executed. The script flits from literary references (Dickens and Dumas both feature) to soppy family drama to bursts of violent action. As Ava says: “Success is 90% preparation, 10% ammunition.”

Stylish, suspenseful and cleverly executed, Kaleidoscope gathers binge-worthy momentum as it barrels towards its climactic showdown. The nifty format enhances its air of mystery and intrigue. A satisfyingly immersive puzzle to hunker down with and unravel.

Scan this with your camera to access the playlist (Apple Music)

Scan this with your camera to access the playlist (Spotify)

Asake - Organise

Tiwa Savage_ Amaarae - Tales By Moonlight (Ft Amaarae)

Topaz Jones - D. I. A. L.

Hope Tala - All My Girls Like To Fight Noizu - Baby Baby

DJ Tunez_ Wizkid_ Adekunle Gold_ Omah Lay - PAMI WSTRN - 4 Ya

Holybrune_ Dabeull - Catching Feelings GoldLink_ Flo Milli - Raindrops (feat. Flo Milli)