The good, the sad, and the peculiar

What a week we’ve seen in Nigeria – with some good news, some sad ones and a very peculiar mystery.

Let’s lift up our spirits with the good news: With the appointment of Miriam Olusanya as Managing Director/CEO at Guaranty Trust (GT) Bank, the first woman to occupy the position since the bank was established in 1990, there are now female MDs at six Nigerian banks.

Earlier this week, First City Monument Bank (FCMB) announced Yemisi Edun as its MD/CEO. On the 1st of January 2021, Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe assumed office as the MD/CEO of Fidelity Bank Plc. They join their peers Ireti Samuel-Ogbu (Citibank Nigeria), Halima Buba (SunTrust Bank), and Tomi Somefun (Unity Bank).

In a country where in most public spheres, women are treated as second-class citizens, this makes for an amazing success story.

Last Monday, we were still trying to recover from the shock of finding out about Sound Sultan passing away, aged just 44, following his battle with cancer. What struck me following the news of his death was the outpouring of grief from both celebrity friends and fans, which is testimony to just how many lives he’d touched. Reading countless posts remembering him made me think of the Cherokee proverb:

“When you were born, you cried, and the world rejoiced. Live your life so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice.”

With each death, I remind myself to live my life in such a way that every life I have touched is embellished in some way and leave kindness and compassion as my legacy – not that I will the world cries after me, but so that I can rejoice on my way out.

Finally, the ever-peculiar case of Chidinma Adaora Ojukwu. As the 21-year-old suspect arrested for the murder of the Chief Executive Officer of Super TV, Michael Ataga, seemed to have had a major make-over to speak to Crime Fighters and retract her statement, Naija Twitter exploded with rumours and speculations over the mystery of the media mogul’s death.

Chidinma, who has been in the custody of the Lagos State Police Command, said she lied about stabbing Ataga, because nobody would believe her since she was the only person who was with him. She also said what made her feel responsible for his death was because she took his money and her failure to alert the police.

In her interview, Chidinma claimed she knew nothing about Ataga’s death and that she did not know who went into the apartment after she went out to get some food.

While some claim she is being bankrolled out of jail, others believe she might be innocent as new arrests are being made as the police have established a case of conspiracy and murder. We’ll have to wait and see how this sorry tale ends.