Sucker Punch! Toke Makinwa’s Harsh, Brutish Expose on Ex-Husband, Maje Ayida

•Celebrity TV host writes damning book about estranged spouse
Until very recently, Toke Makinwa’s pains were invisible and her cries were inaudible. She merely festooned the social space with her presence, using words that are only fit for the cultured. Then she wrote her book and everything changed. Toke’s secret agonies found voice in ‘On Becoming,’ her memoir. To friends, family and fans of Toke Makinwa, the book offers shock therapy and unexpected disclosure about the pains and disappointments suffered and endured by the Nigerian broadcaster.

In a no holds barred fashion, the radio personality, television host, and now, author, reveals that her ex-husband, Maje Ayida, infected her with a Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI) severally. Toke discloses the inadequacies of her ex and also revealed how she contemplated suicide, finding God, bleaching for his pleasure and more. She writes: “He had given me an STI in the past. He’d returned from a trip once and we had sex, and a few days later I was itching.” The jury is out over the perceived morality and maturity of Toke’s act.

While many of her fans applaud her courage in voicing out, many more pundits contend that it’s unbecoming of an African woman and role model to display such brazen lust for approval and acclaim. While Toke may bask in the fame and adulation resulting from the publication of her memoir, her estranged husband, Maje Ayida, will suffer untold hardship and trauma from a book that destroys everything he was and probably intends to be. But who cares?

STILL ON THE $6M LIE…ESTHER NNAMDI-OGBUE DUSTS OFF ELABORATE FRAME-UP
•INTRIGUES AS NNPC BOSS RISES ABOVE THE PLOT OF HER TRADUCERS
You can tell what effect Esther Nnamdi-Ogbue has on her enemies by the dastardly plots they hatch against her. Esther frightens her enemies. That is why they desperately seek her downfall. Like angry runts seeking to fall a champion gladiator, men and women living in awe of Esther’s shadow, have resorted to desperate measures.

Findings revealed that contrary to claims that her chef stole cash and jewelry worth $6million from her home, the Managing Director (MD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), had no such treasure in her abode. In a nutshell, Esther was caught in a vicious web of lies perpetrated by her enemies to dent her reputation.
The NNPC boss’ traducers actually aimed for her jugular; by framing her up, they made her a person of interest to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in an ongoing investigation. Notwithstanding, they went to town with fictitious news about the alleged theft from her home.

But what crime could Esther have committed that would make her the target of such criminal masterminds? Perhaps it’s due to her uprightness and refusal to play ball with the corrupt cabal holding the oil industry by the jugular that she became the victim of the attacks. But having failed at implicating her for fraud, Esther’s traducers are at sea over what other offensive they could launch at the NNPC boss.
By the time the dust settles on their web of lies, Esther’s hard earned reputation will remain intact, to their consternation perhaps.

CHAMPION OF CITIZEN DIPLOMACY…UK-BASED INSURANCE EXPERT, BABATUNDE LOYE, TAKES THE NIGERIAN PROJECT TO NEW HEIGHTS
As the present government makes frantic efforts to bring all hands on board towards advancing Nigeria in all ramifications, some passionate and competent Nigerians have actually been long committing themselves to help in unlocking the country’s potential and repositioning it to an enviable place on the globe, a noble endeavour otherwise known as the Nigerian project. Meanwhile amongst these individuals who are abundantly endowed with the seeds of altruism, leadership and patriotism is Babatunde Loye.

Loye, a UK-based insurance expert, is the current chairman of the Central Association of Nigerians in the UK (CANUK), the umbrella body of all Nigerian groups and unions in Britain. The uniqueness brought to the leadership of CANUK by Loye has seen him engaged in several important policy decisions that were geared towards improving the lot of Nigerians in the UK and strengthening the relationships between the UK and Nigeria. This in no small measure has further validated the roles of influential nongovernmental individuals in facilitating diplomatic relations, which is often referred to as citizen diplomacy. Recently Loye took a courageous and commendable step along with some of his associates in CANUK and others from outside of the organisation to an Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp in Gukru, Nasarawa State, Nigeria.

During this auspicious visit, Loye and his team provided valuable gifts and resources to the inhabitants of the camp who have been pushed out of their homes and subjected to abject poverty by the Boko Haram sect that terrorises lives in the Northern part of Nigeria. Inspiringly, this very step caught the attention of the federal government and through the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal, the Presidency offered a robust acknowledgement for all the good deeds done by Loye.

WHITHER THEIR CROWNS? WOMEN WHO EAT MEN FOR BREAKFAST
When Cleopatra VII ascended the Egyptian throne, she was only seventeen. She reigned as Queen Philopator and Pharaoh between 51 and 30 BC, and died at the age of 39. She was married although her choice of partner, her brother, remains a contentious issue any day. What is unarguable however is that Cleopatra VII reigned supreme, effortlessly relegating her husband to the background in the full efflorescence of her beauty, intellect and charm.

Although, unlike Cleopatra, they did not marry their brothers, certain prominent members of Nigeria’s league of alpha females are notable for their capacity to relegate their husbands and consign them to the ‘other room.’
To some they are autocrat, ruthless in their desire to attain self actualisation and achieve power. To others they are driven women doing a “man’s job.” More importantly, their emergence as leading women in their marriages becomes immutable reality in an increasingly dynamic society of fast-mutating gender relations.

Makes one wonder how their husbands are faring with them at the home front. These women could be mistaken to be the head of the relationship, dominant inside and outside the bedroom. You couldn’t be wrong to think that they take all the major decisions at the home front. They are very successful in their own right. They are top executives who have mastered the art of taming their husbands as they tame male rivals in the boardroom.