Feature/OPED
The Weeping Women of Odimodi Community
By Asiayei Enaibo
The earth will completely lack its existence without women. The complementing value to the totality of women is the true essence of God’s complete creation. He (God) knew the value and took the most precious soul out of man for the creation of a woman for continuation of the Earthly evolution. So, a woman is closer to God as the last of his finest achievements in creation. So when women weep in pain, the soul of God is angry with her plea and petitions.
A society governed by men creates obnoxious laws in the old tradition to deprive women without any explanatory values to the laws. Even though the most inquisitive woman will ask, there are no answers from the men to it. Yes, in antiquity, men dominantory leadership was characterised by greed, selfishness, and superiority claim over their women, communal men made laws, till date, some communities in Ijawland still practice this uncultured act in the pool of civilization where education has refined the minds of men and women in our society.
The Odimodi community is affronting the totality of the female gender. Odimodi community is far from the Crusade of gender sensitivity. Then, the women are about to adapt to the principles of JP Clark’s The Wive’s Revolt in the Odimodi community as the women can’t bear the pains of male chauvinism anymore.
As culture is dynamic in human existence, as humans progress and evolve within the space of time, changes take different shapes and dimensions. It is in this regard that the words of High Chief Government Oweizide Ekpemupolo become a pinnacle of hope and transformation within the cultural space of Ijaw spirituality where the High Chief said in his conversation, about what is regarded as Sei-agonoweri in Ijaw. Chief, in his inquisitive spiritual pathways, highlighted who created the moons, the sun, and the seasons. All these are created by God. God never created any month that is characterised by evil. All months are zodiacally significant to man.
So, under this cultural evolution, Dr. Tompolo discarded in Ijaw spirituality that there is no Sei-Agonowei within the context of time as evolution and cultural processes take different shapes and dimensions.
Father Igologolo, Aziza came to perfect the Ijaw’s Journey to the right things and make women sacred beings in Ijaw Spirituality—a religion of inclusiveness in Egbesu Deity as well as the feminine form of gods well known in Ijaw as Ibolomoboere, Ziba-Opuoru. This alone defines Dr. TOMPOLO as Jesus in another form.
Odimodi is a community in the Burutu Local Government Area of Delta State. Weeping Women share their challenges and deep pains within the cultural space of denial of their rights and hope for a reformation that could create new visions that will transcend beyond the agonies they face.
A voice that echoes runs to the creeks and waves to the crescendo that recreates another new hope for the younger generations, particularly for the women of Odimodi community, Iduwini Kingdom in Delta state. And to begin with that, JP Clark’s The Wive’s Revolt became handy to the green space of women’s voices within the Niger Delta region. It is in this regard that Asiayei Enaibo was called upon to echo the weeping voices of the women of the Odimodi community, and this is the story.
Odimodi, that oil-rich community in Burutu Local Government Area of Delta State where women have no voice, where their fishing canoes and nets are consumed by pollution, chained down and mouths tied against their existence–Which gods did this to the women?
They bear children without corresponding female benefits. When they make attempts to speak, the men crow against them with communal laws, a threat to be locked in their sacred Town Hall where they barred women from entering in issues that affect the well being of the community called the “Eluwe Ware, known as the house of their progenitor.
Odimodi is a land of many scholars and professors, but their women, sisters had no fair share of oil spillage benefits where the chronic disease birthed on their shoulders and children through polluted waters and on the gill of the fishes caught in their nets. Yes, they have to take their fate like JP Clark’s Wives Revolt to demonstrate a change for fair share and women inclusiveness in the governance of oil Companies’ compensation sharing formula.
According to Doris Ingo, in her voice, “I felt the pains of denigration, subjugation, oppression, and total denial in our fathers and mothers Land.”
The recent OIL company compensation sharing formula where men could have a share of 5 million naira, or 5 hundred thousand. women will be given five thousand naira only, and any contrary voice from them, the men rebuke them on their faces that they are women, and they don’t have a right to anything is nothing short of internal marginalization. Doris said, “These men refuse to learn from the Examples of Dr Tompolo in his sharing formula. In Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited, men are 60 per cent, women 40 per cent, but Odimodi community men take all and intimidate us again. In Odimodi, women are disenfranchised to vote, and vie for elective positions generally is a big problem for us. Our women are being imprisoned in their land. If you go to our neighbouring communities, women are playing active community engagements as well as Chiefs and making progress in life.
“We, the women, can’t accept it anymore. I summoned this courage to talk to you to be our voice. Let the transformation of Nigeria’s leadership begin with our communities against bad leadership.”
Weep not. Oh, women of Odimodi. Yes, one wrapper tied their waist when oil companies refused to pay their company workers, their husbands. They make women protest for their benefits during oil servicing contracts. The men drive the women to their husbands’ places and ask the single girls to go and marry and say this money belongs to the men.
What sacrilege did Odimodi women, daughters commit before their forefathers to pass through a generational curse of deprivation?
I heard a cry from the creeks, a forest of women without hope that if they can’t speak through the Talking Drum, their hope is lost till eternity. Doris Ingo weeps in pain like a woman in labour, the pills of the cry echo through waves and storms: “It is time to protest against our fathers, husbands, brothers, and uncles to change their ways.
“This time, we are taking protests against our fathers, husbands, brothers, and uncles who refused to give a fair share of oil money that belonged to the land.”
“Who are women in this land?” The men asked.
Ingo replied: “We are the women who made this land fertile with children. Without women, there is no community and no nation. Nine months, men in their wombs disfigured their natural shapes, but when they come out from our wombs, they create obnoxious laws and deprive us of the right to social and communal benefits. When men lived to their end times, they buried them in the town, but when our mothers died they took them to a forest far from home, yes you can’t even do your mother’s remembrance in Odimodi. It is a taboo in this modern generation. If it is a tradition, this tradition is long overdue to be reviewed. With all the education of our men, no one has said anything to transform this broken idea like JP Clark’s poem of “Ibadan”
If Professor Enaijite E. Ojaruega heard this, the feminist would ask all the women to take the Nigerian Protest against bad governance from their community and will take advocacy tips for total reformative measures. It has to start from Odimodi.
This untold story of women’s discrimination and denigration in the Niger Delta region is what late Prof. JP Clark artistically addressed in his Play, The Wive’s Revolt and I dramatically see this play enacted in a reality show if the men in Odimodi refuse to have a fair share of the oil money coming to the town and strategically position women in the affairs of the community Executive, a time will come the daughters will stage a movement against their fathers, uncles and brothers.
And if it is a curse, the women are willing to embark on a spiritual journey to the Grand Master of Ijaw Spirituality in Oporoza, High Chief Government Oweizide Ekpemupolo to revise it with offerings so they too can benefit and have a place in the oil-rich community.
Wailing women, their voices must be heard as Eniye Ingo expressed the grief of internal marginalization within the community.
“Another major issue is the fact that women in that community don’t vote. Where decisions are made, women are not involved in meetings or forums, even on issues that affect them directly. Women are not represented in the government or in any normal town meetings that occur regularly in open town halls. When meetings are called, the town crier makes it clear that only men are invited. The decisions taken in these meetings affect both women and men, yet women have no voice. In a world that has developed to the extent we are today, it is unacceptable that women do not have a voice in their community.”
That is one issue—they are not represented in any way and they don’t have a voice.
Secondly, they don’t vote. In Chairmanship elections, women are disenfranchised. Despite the significant population of women in the community, they are rendered voiceless. Their internal voices are muted. This time, we have emerged from the depths to speak.
Another issue is that, because they don’t vote, they don’t hold elective positions. If you look at the cabinet of the Odimodi community, there are no women—not as secretary, financial secretary, PR, or any position. If this continues, there will never be a female political figure from Odimodi, regardless of their education level. Even with a PhD, they cannot hold an elective position in the community. They don’t vote, just as it was in the pre-colonial and colonial era. This has not changed.
Yet, if Odimodi is listed among civilized communities, it will claim to be one. However, in this world where development, civilization, and globalization have occurred, and women are making impacts everywhere, Odimodi still covers its women with tarpaulin. They go to school, become classmates and colleagues with women making waves, celebrate figures like Dora Akunyili and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, but stifle their own sisters. These sisters are not entitled to the community’s common wealth.
The men have so stifled their sisters and daughters that they are not given a platform to make an impact in this competitive world. In neighboring communities and ethnic groups, there is stiff competition, yet Odimodi covers its own. How far can they go in a world where numbers are power when a significant part of their population is relegated?
The sad, untold story of Odimodi Community women is a tale of pre-colonialism in the modern era, where women’s authorship in English Literature was often under male names.
Yet, nobody says anything due to the culture of silence. This evil has been normalized to the extent that women who marry into the community from outside are more relevant than the Odimodi daughters. This shows how insignificant Odimodi women are made to feel in all areas, including the common wealth, which is finally bringing this issue to a head. This final straw is about the distribution of common wealth money. These issues have been happening for too long, and there will come a time when enough is truly enough.
The pain endured over time, anguish, and deprivation have made us women speak through the media. We will bear any threatening sword that faces us. Eniye Ingo opens the book of women’s lamentations, hoping for a change for the born and unborn girl child in the Odimodi community.
If any man doubts what I have said, let them tell us the history and unravel the mystery for us to benefit as women.
It is appalling to my readers of this chronicles of the weeping Women of Odimodi to read the story from the lips of Doris Ingo, a great daughter of the land who is hopeful that the media will help to put an end to such entrenched selfishness in the sharing of golden opportunities meant for the women however hard their gender is denigrated by the fathers, brothers and uncles to take a step for changes before international communities and women advocacy groups join their voices.
Asiayei Enaibo, a cultural journalist, writes from GbaramatuVoice
By Blaise Udunze
Milestones often invite reflection. Birthdays, especially, offer a pause to measure time not merely in years lived, but in lives shaped and systems influenced. This is especially true for David Ogbueli, who is celebrating his birthday. But instead of focusing on how old he is getting, it is more interesting to think about the impact he has had, not just building visible success, but the quiet, persistent architecture of transformation that his ministry has helped construct across continents.
Come to think of it, that in an era obsessed with visibility, metrics, and viral impact, Ogbueli’s work represents something different and distinguishing, slower, deeper, and far more enduring. Yes, multitude within and outside the country who know him either closely or from a distance definitely can attest that it is common with him, as this happens to be the kind of influence that rarely trends but steadily alters the trajectory of individuals, institutions, and nations.
To understand the global footprint of his work, one must first confront a fundamental shift he embodies, which emphatically is the redefinition of ministry itself. Through Dominion City International, founded from humble beginnings as a campus fellowship in 1991 at the University of Nigeria and later formalised in 1995 in Enugu, Ogbueli has built what is now a vast global movement. With over 2,000 chapters spanning Africa, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and the Americas, alongside regional offices in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Nigeria, Dominion City has evolved into far more than a church network, into a leadership engine with an ambitious ongoing vision across Nigeria and beyond.
What distinguishes this expansion is not just its scale, but its philosophy. Beyond running a church, Dominion City was never designed merely to gather people; it was built to raise leaders who transform society. One emerging fact today is that the philosophy has shaped a generation of professionals, entrepreneurs, public servants, and ministers who carry its influence into boardrooms, government institutions, and grassroots communities across the world.
At the heart of this ecosystem is a deliberate investment in human capital development. Verifiably, through platforms like the Dominion Leadership Institute, which has produced over 30,000 graduates globally, Ogbueli has undeniably and consistently built a leadership pipeline that addresses one of Africa’s most persistent challenges. These prevailing challenges are the deficit of capable, values-driven leadership. At this point, this narrative definitely contradicts societal beliefs that his curriculum must be confined to spiritual formation; rather, it will interest society to know that his agenda integrates systems thinking, governance, productivity, and ethical leadership, equipping participants to function effectively in complex environments.
This emphasis on leadership extends into a broader scope and platforms. One of them is the Global Leadership Forum, and it would be of interest that it is not just designed for spiritual pursuit, but it is a mentorship and training hub designed to enhance performance and productivity across sectors, including business, politics, ministry, and enterprise. It reflects Ogbueli’s conviction that transformation must be holistic, that transcendence and cutting across every sphere of human endeavour.
Yet leadership, in his framework, is incomplete without economic empowerment. Across his ministry network, initiatives have been structured to move individuals from dependency to productivity. This is evident in large-scale interventions such as a N1 billion entrepreneurship support fund introduced to equip participants with the resources, skills, and networks required to succeed in business and career pursuits. At leadership retreats and empowerment programs, thousands are trained in areas ranging from agriculture and food security to innovation, healthcare, and global enterprise.
Beyond structured programs, his personal actions reinforce this philosophy. has sparked widespread reactions following a remarkable act of generosity during a recent church service
From distributing financial support to individuals in need during church services to empowering teams within the ministry with significant financial gifts, as one recent such act sparked widespread reactions following a remarkable benevolence, gifting about 35 choristers N1 million each during a recent church service. With several other instances of generosity in the past, Ogbueli consistently underscores a critical principle that reveals that while immediate relief matters, sustainable change comes from enabling people to create value. In the course of one such intervention, which captures this ethos succinctly, he said that giving alone is not enough; people must be equipped to build.
With the right mindset, this approach aligns with a broader development truth that clearly states nations do not rise on charity, but on the strength of productive citizens. By embedding this mindset within a faith-based structure, Ogbueli is redefining how development can be pursued at scale.
Equally significant is his ability to mobilise faith as a development asset. It is an irony that in many parts of Africa and the global South, religious institutions remain among the most trusted social structures. Yet, their potential as vehicles for development often remains underutilised. Ogbueli’s model challenges that limitation by positioning the church as a hub for leadership incubation, economic activation, and social accountability.
Through initiatives like the Golden Heart Foundation, he has extended this vision into the nonprofit space. One of the good feats is that the foundation’s flagship program, the National Youth Summit, attracts over 50,000 participants annually from across Africa, focusing on leadership education, value reorientation and entrepreneurial development. These interventions target young people, especially a demographic that represents both Africa’s greatest asset and its most urgent responsibility.
His influence also extends into collaborative networks such as the Global Missions Network, which usher in developmental change, thereby bringing together leaders with a shared mandate of expanding the reach of the Gospel while driving national transformation. One important aspect of Ogbueli’s strategic drive for change is that through such alliances, his ideas are not confined to a single organisation but are disseminated across a broader ecosystem of leaders and institutions.
Beyond ministry and nonprofit initiatives, Ogbueli’s engagement with development takes on an institutional and structural dimension. This is driven through ventures like Huram Development, which is involved in large-scale projects including auditoriums, estates, and universities. Noteworthy also is that he is contributing to physical infrastructure that supports long-term growth. Similarly, Priesthood Institute is equipping ministry professionals with the competence and capacity required for modern-day leadership, while Shalom World ensures the distribution of knowledge resources through books and media.
Also, one significant dimension of Ogbueli’s influence lies in his intellectual contributions, which portray him as a prolific author with nearly a hundred published titles spanning leadership, personal development, spirituality, and nation-building. His more recent works include Pillars of King Solomon’s Wisdom & Wealth, Jewish Secrets, and The Laws of Proper Speech. Meanwhile, this reflects his continued effort to distil timeless principles into practical frameworks for contemporary living and reinforce his broader mission of transforming minds as a pathway to transforming societies.
Ogbueli is the host of the TV and Radio Program Expand Your World, which runs on TV and radio stations across Nigeria, extending his influence to seven continents, reinforcing his role not just as a pastor but as a global thought leader in transformation and leadership.
Importantly, Ogbueli’s credibility is not confined to religious circles only. Being a management and public policy consultant, an alumnus of institutions such as the Harvard Business School, Lagos Business School, and National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, he operates at the intersection of spirituality and strategy. It must be established that his engagements with governments, corporate organisations, and policy platforms reflect a rare ability to translate faith-based principles into actionable frameworks for development.
Unbeknownst to many, perhaps the most enduring feature of his model is its emphasis on multiplication. Rather than building a personality-driven movement, Ogbueli has focused on raising leaders who can replicate systems independently. This distributed approach ensures that his influence is not limited by geography or personal presence. It also guarantees continuity, a critical factor in sustainable development.
Of course, the challenge of measuring such an impact remains. Unlike infrastructure projects or economic indices, which are factors on which the government’s progress is reliant, the outcomes of leadership development and mindset transformation are not immediately quantifiable but have a greater impact. They unfold over time, often expressed in stories rather than statistics used for evaluation, a thriving business birthed from a training program, a principled leader emerging in public service, a community mobilised for collective progress.
Yes, in most cases, these outcomes may be difficult to measure, but they are foundational to nation-building and transformation beyond boundaries.
One important aspect the world must clearly know is that Pastor David Ogbueli’s contribution lies not merely in what he has built, but in what he has set in motion, which is transgenerational. This tells that his work challenges conventional development paradigms by emphasising that lasting change begins with people, their values, their thinking and their capacity to build systems that endure.
One of Ogbueli’s outstanding influences, beneath the surface, even in a world grappling with complex challenges, from economic instability to leadership crises, is such that his model offers a compelling reminder that transformation is not only engineered through policies and capital but through the deliberate cultivation of human potential.
His legacy is rapidly unfolding. But already, it is evident that the structures he has built, across ministry, leadership development, youth empowerment, and enterprise, are quietly shaping a future that extends far beyond the pulpit.
And perhaps that is the most powerful kind of transformation, the kind that is not always seen, but is deeply felt, widely spread, and ultimately, enduring.
Blaise, a journalist and PR professional, writes from Lagos and can be reached via: [email protected]
By Olumide Balogun
The Nigerian digital landscape is evolving rapidly. Across the country, YouTube creators have become the new mainstream entertainment. They command millions of views, shape modern culture, and heavily influence purchasing decisions.
For digital marketers and advertisers, observing these creators provides a masterclass in modern audience engagement. Creators understand exactly how to hold attention and drive action in a crowded digital space. They know how to speak to their communities, keep them entertained, and build lasting loyalty.
By studying their methods, brands can transform their marketing strategies to build deeper, more profitable relationships with consumers. Here are three powerful lessons your brand can learn from the success of top YouTube creators.
1. Prioritise Authenticity and Relatability
Corporate videos typically rely on high budgets and perfect scripts. Top creators prove that raw, relatable content builds much stronger trust. Audiences connect deeply with real people sharing genuine experiences. They want to see the real faces behind the screen.
Brands can apply this by showing the human side of their business. You can share behind-the-scenes moments from your office, highlight real employee stories, or feature unscripted user-generated content. When you prioritise authenticity over absolute perfection, your message resonates perfectly with modern consumers. They begin to see your brand as a relatable partner rather than just a faceless corporation.
2. Master the Multiformat Storytelling Approach
Successful creators utilise the entire YouTube ecosystem to reach their fans. They use YouTube Shorts to attract new viewers quickly with bite-sized entertainment. They create long-form videos to explore topics in depth. Finally, they use Live streams to build real-time connections with their most dedicated followers.
Marketers need to adopt this exact mixed format strategy to stay relevant. You can capture attention quickly with an engaging short video and then lead those interested viewers to a comprehensive product review or tutorial. Utilising all available formats ensures you reach your customers exactly how they prefer to consume content on any given day. It allows you to tell a complete story from quick discovery to deep consideration.
3. Cultivate Community and Borrow Influence Safely
Traditional advertising relies heavily on one-way broadcasting. YouTube thrives on active community participation. Creators ask their viewers for input, respond to comments, and build fiercely loyal fandoms. This creates immense credibility. Viewers are 98% more likely to trust the recommendations of YouTube creators compared to other platforms.
Brands can mirror this interactive approach by hosting live Q&A sessions, asking for audience feedback, and making customers feel involved in the brand’s journey. Furthermore, marketers can tap into this existing loyalty by collaborating directly with trusted voices.
Using specific collaboration tools allows your brand to align seamlessly with popular channels. For example, Creator Takeovers give your brand a dedicated presence on a creator’s channel, while Partnership Ads let you boost creator-made content directly to a wider audience. This approach allows you to respect the creator’s unique voice while turning their authentic endorsements into highly effective marketing assets for your business.
The Bottom Line: YouTube is a dynamic, community-driven ecosystem. By adopting a creator mindset, Nigerian marketers can completely revitalise their digital video strategy. Embrace authenticity, utilise multiple video formats, and partner with trusted voices to turn casual viewers into loyal brand advocates.
Olumide Balogun is the Director of Google West Africa
By Olumide Balogun
There was a time when using a search engine felt like cracking a code. You typed two or three carefully chosen keywords, hoped the machine understood, and waited to see what came back. People had to learn the language of machines, shrinking complex needs into stilted phrases.
That era is ending. Today, a person can ask a question the same way they would ask a colleague, and the technology is finally learning to respond in kind. Nowhere is this shift more visible than in Nigeria, where a young, mobile-first population expects tools to keep pace with how they actually think and speak.
This change carries weight far beyond convenience. It is reshaping how Nigerian businesses reach customers and how customers find what they need.
For years, marketing online meant wrestling with rigid keyword lists. A small business owner had to guess every possible phrase a customer might type. If you sold ankara dresses, you tried “ankara dress,” “Nigerian print fabric,” “traditional wear Lagos,” and a dozen variations, hoping you covered the gaps. Anything you missed was a missed customer
The new wave of conversational search makes those lists feel ancient. People now ask layered, specific questions: “Where can I find a sustainable tailor in Yaba who makes office wear?” Older systems would have stumbled on a query like that. Newer ones, powered by artificial intelligence, can read intent and stitch ideas together. They connect a question to a relevant local website that a basic keyword search might never have surfaced.
The shift is starting to show up in concrete tools. Google’s AI Max for Search ads, now a year old, is one of the more visible examples. In plain terms, it lets a business describe what it sells and who it serves in everyday language, and the system figures out which searches to match it to, instead of forcing the owner to write hundreds of keywords by hand. Early adopters report stronger revenue growth than peers, and users say results feel more useful because the technology connects ideas for them, often surfacing local sites that would not have appeared before.
There is a quieter benefit too. When advertising becomes more relevant, it stops feeling like an interruption. An ad that answers a real question is no longer noise; it is information. That changes the texture of the internet. The marketplace gets less cluttered, and people spend less time wading through results that do not fit what they were looking for.
None of this is automatic. The technology only works if it can understand human nuance, and human nuance in Nigeria is not the same as human nuance in California. A search for “owambe outfit” or “small chops for fifty people” demands cultural context, not just linguistic translation. Newer features try to bridge that gap. AI Brief, a part of the same Google toolkit, lets a business owner type plain instructions, like “focus on sustainable traditional wear, keep a premium tone,” and the system follows them. This is steering by intent, not by keyword bingo.
There are gains for businesses with deep catalogues too. A retailer with thousands of items no longer has to match every question to the right page by hand. Tools such as Google’s Final URL Expansion read the search and send the customer straight to the page that fits, in real time. In travel, finance, and healthcare, where compliance matters, the same systems can carry mandatory legal text into every ad automatically. Regulated industries can grow without cutting corners.
These are not abstract wins. They are the difference between a small business being found by a customer in Abuja at 9 p.m. and being lost in a sea of generic results, between a hospital reaching the right patient and a tailor in Surulere being discovered by a bride planning her wedding.
We should not pretend the transition is finished. AI is imperfect. It can misread context, amplify mistakes, and require careful oversight. Regulators, businesses, and users all have a role in shaping how it develops in our market. The broader direction, however, is clear, and it is one Nigeria should engage with rather than resist.
Nigeria is a nation of storytellers and traders. Our markets, physical and digital, have always been about conversation. The technology of search is finally beginning to mirror that. It is becoming less of a vending machine and more of a market stall, where you can ask a question, get a real answer, and discover something you did not know you needed.
That is the bigger story behind any single product launch. It is about how a country full of voices is finding new ways to be heard. For Nigerian businesses willing to adapt, the opportunity has never been clearer.
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