TODAY IN HISTORY: 23 NOVEMBER 1979; IRA bombmaker Thomas McMahon sentenced for Mountbatten’s assassination

On this day in 1979, 31-year old Thomas McMahon, a member of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), bagged life imprisonment for preparing and planting the bomb that killed Lord Louis Mountbatten and three others three months before.

On August 27, 1979, Louis Mountbatten was killed when McMahon and other IRA terrorists detonated a 50-pound bomb hidden on his fishing vessel Shadow V. Mountbatten, a World War II hero, elder statesman and second cousin of Queen Elizabeth II, was spending the day with his family in Donegal Bay off Ireland’s northwest coast when the bomb exploded. Three others were killed in the attack, including Mountbatten’s 14-year-old grandson, Nicholas. Later that day, an IRA bombing attack on land killed 18 British paratroopers in County Down, Northern Ireland.

The assassination of Mountbatten was the first blow struck against the British royal family by the IRA during its long terrorist campaign to drive the British out of Northern Ireland and unite it with the Republic of Ireland to the south. The attack hardened the hearts of many Britons against the IRA and convinced Margaret Thatcher’s government to take a hard-line stance against the terrorist organization.

The IRA immediately claimed responsibility for the Mountbatten attack, saying it detonated the bomb by remote control from the coast. It also took responsibility for the same-day bombing attack against British troops in County Down, which claimed 18 lives.

IRA member Thomas McMahon was later arrested and convicted for his role in the Mountbatten bombing. A near-legend in the IRA, he was a leader of the IRA’s notorious South Armagh Brigade, which killed more than 100 British soldiers. He was one of the first IRA members to be sent to Libya to study detonators and timing devices and was an expert in explosives. Authorities believe the Mountbatten assassination was the work of many people, but McMahon was the only individual convicted. Sentenced to life in prison, he was released in 1998, along with other IRA and Unionist terrorists, under a controversial provision of the Good Friday Agreement, Northern Ireland’s peace deal. McMahon claimed he had turned his back on the IRA and was becoming a carpenter.

TODAY IN HISTORY; 08 NOVEMBER 1994, Republican Party wins U.S. two Legislative houses

On this day in 1994, the Republican Party wins control of both the U.S. House of Commons and the House of Lords, in midterm congressional elections, for the first time in 40 years. Led by Representative Newt Gingrich of Georgia, who subsequently replaced Democrat Tom Foley of Washington as speaker of the House, the empowered GOP united under the “Contract with America,” a 10-point legislative plan to reduce federal taxes and dismantle social welfare programs established during six decades of mostly Democratic rule in Congress.

Gingrich’s House of Representatives, home to the majority of the Republican freshmen, led the “Republican Revolution” by passing every bill incorporated in the Contract with America–with the exception of a term-limits constitutional amendment—within the first 100 days of the 104th Congress. 

TODAY IN HISTORY; 08 NOVEMBER 2018, Nigerian information minister says government spends N3.5 million monthly to feed El-Zakzaky

Alhaji Lai Mohammed

On this day in 2018, Nigerian information minister, Alhaji Lai Mohammed in a leaked video, claimed that the federal government spends N3.5 million monthly to feed Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, a Shiite cleric who has been detained for over two years.

Lai Mohammed’s statement on the Shiite leader was believed to have been made while addressing journalists on same day the Kaduna court denied Mr El-Zakzaky bail.

It was gathered that the minister did make the claim but had told journalists he was speaking off the record. The video, however, still made its way to the public and gone viral, drawing wide criticisms of the minister.

The information minister was at that point interjected by the transport minister, Rotimi Amaechi, who jokingly mocked the figures saying “then you people need to take me in o.”

Mr Mohammed, then defended the figure he announced, saying “Honestly, don’t quote me, but these are the facts.” At this point Mr Amaechi joked further that he “can take N500,000” monthly to be held in prison by the government.

At N3.5 million monthly, it would mean the government claims it spends about N115,000 daily to feed the forced prisoner. The minister’s claims of N3.5 million monthly also came at a time the government is finding it difficult to pay a monthly minimum wage of N30,000 to workers.

Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, leader of the Shiite IMN movement has been detained since December 2015 after soldiers clamped down on his supporters killing at least 347 of them. The army accused them of blocking a public road being used then by the army chief, Tukur Buratai.

The massacre was condemned by local and international rights groups and investigated by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Although no soldier was being tried or prosecuted for the killings, Mr El-Zakzaky was detained by the government since the December 2015 incident. The government also ignored a court ruling that ordered that he be released and paid compensation alongside his detained wife, Zinat.

Mr El-Zakzaky was initially held for about two years alongside his wife, Zinat, without trial. After much public outcry, he was charged before a Kaduna court for alleged conspiracy and abating culpable homicide.

TODAY IN HISTORY; 07 NOVEMBER 1996, Prof. Wole Soyinka's book ‘The Open Sore of a Continent' is published

Prof. Wole Soyinka

On this day in 1996, the literary giant and Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, who at the time divided his exile between London and Cambridge, published his book titled, The Open Sore of a Continent. Soyinka has been an eloquent voice of protest against authoritarianism and kleptocracy in Nigeria.

In the book, Prof. Soyinka collected previous lectures in which he described Nigeria's predicament, condemned the country's illegitimate leaders and mused about questions of nationalism and international intervention. For those who are not familiar with Nigerian history especially under the military juntas, Prof. Soyinka’s Open Sore of a Continent has some rough patches. Soyinka who is also a journalist, doesn't always contextualize his comments. Yet, his condemnation of despotism and his called for international sanctions remain a challenge to the world community. The Nobel laureate opened and closed the book with the story of Ken Saro-Wiwa, a leader of the Ogoni minority, who was executed on November 10, 1995 by Nigerian military ruler, General Sani Abacha. The gruesome execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa made world headlines and this signaled to Soyinka both the beginning of ethnic cleansing and the disintegration of the state.

Prof. Soyinka also recognised his homeland's flawed origin but suggested that its politico-military elite, not its people, have squandered Nigeria's nationhood by annulling the June 12 election and curbing dissent. He also regretted that the promise of pan-Africanism has dwindled to local salvage efforts. He concluded by proposing--without specifying who should do so--that ""a structured pattern of regional conferences"" be initiated to stave off future Yugoslavias and Rwandas.

TODAY IN HISTORY; 07 NOVEMBER 1989, Two African American democrats elected into office

David Dinkins

On Saturday 7th of November 1989, history was made in the United States of America as two African American Democrats were elected into offices in New York and Virginia respectively. While the former Manhattan borough president David Dinkins, was elected New York City’s first African American mayor, Lieutenant Governor Douglas Wilder, became the first elected African American state governor in American history.

Although Wilder was the first African American to be popularly elected to the governor’s post, he was not the first African American to hold that office. That distinction goes to Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback, a Reconstruction-era lieutenant general of Louisiana who became Louisiana state governor in December 1872. Pinchback served as acting governor for five weeks while impeachment proceedings were in progress against Governor Henry Clay Warmoth.

Douglas Wilder

Wilder served as Virginia governor until 1993, whereupon he was forced to step down because Virginia law prohibits governors from serving two terms in succession. In 1993, Dinkins was defeated in his bid to win a second mayoral term by Republican challenger Rudolph Giuliani.

TODAY IN HISTORY; 05 NOVEMBER 2009, A 39-year old army major kills 13 in Fort Hood shooting

On this dag in 2009, a mass shooting took place at Fort Hood, near Killeen, Texas. Nidal Hasan, a U.S. Army major and psychiatrist, fatally shot 13 people and injured more than 30 others. It was the deadliest mass shooting on an American military base.

Early in the afternoon of November 5, 39-year-old Hasan, armed with a semi-automatic pistol, shouted “Allahu Akbar” (Arabic for “God is great”) and then opened fire at a crowd inside a Fort Hood processing center where soldiers who were about to be deployed overseas or were returning from deployment received medical screenings. The massacre, which left 12 service members and one Department of Defense employee dead, lasted approximately 10 minutes before Hasan was shot by civilian police and taken into custody.

The Virginia-born Hasan, the son of Palestinian immigrants who ran a Roanoke restaurant and convenience store, graduated from Virginia Tech University and completed his psychiatry training at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland, in 2003. He went on to work at Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, D.C., treating soldiers returning from war with post-traumatic stress disorder. In May 2009, he was promoted to the rank of major in the Army, and that July, was transferred to Fort Hood. Located near the city of Killeen, Fort Hood, which includes 340 square miles of facilities and homes, is the largest active-duty U.S. military post. At the time of the shootings, more than 50,000 military personnel lived and worked there, along with thousands more family members and civilian personnel.

In the aftermath of the massacre, reviews by the Pentagon and a U.S. Senate panel found Hasan’s superiors had continued to promote him despite the fact that concerns had been raised over his behavior, which suggested he had become a radical and potentially violent Islamic extremist. Among other things, Hasan stated publicly that America’s war on terrorism was really a war against Islam.

In 2013, Hasan, who was left paralyzed from the waist down as a result of shots fired at him by police attempting to stop his rampage, was tried in military court, where he acted as his own attorney. During his opening statement, he admitted he was the shooter. (Hasan had previously told a judge that in an effort to protect Muslims and Taliban leaders in Afghanistan, he had gunned down the soldiers at Fort Hood who were being deployed to that nation.) For the rest of the trial, Hasan called no witnesses, presented scant evidence and made no closing argument. On August 23, 2013, a jury found Hasan guilty of 45 counts of premeditated murder and attempted premeditated murder, and he later was sentenced to death for his crimes.

TODAY IN HISTORY: 04 NOVEMBER 2008, Same-sex marriage is banned as proposition 8 passed in California

On this day in 2008, with over 13 million votes cast, California voters approve Proposition 8 amending the state’s constitution to ban same-sex marriage.

Earlier, in May 2008, the California Supreme Court had deemed the state’s ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional, making California the second state in the country to legalize gay marriage. Thus, Proposition 8 reversed the state court’s ruling.

Proposition 8, which “provides that only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California,” passed 52% to 48%, by a margin of about 600,000 votes. The proposition was opposed by a broad coalition including major corporations such as PG&E and Apple; a litany of civil rights, social justice and community-based organizations; a dozen unions; both sitting U.S. Senators, 16 congressional representatives and the sitting governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger; and seven mayors. Californian voters received robocalls from former president Bill Clinton asking them to vote no on the measure, while actors from the television show “Ugly Betty” argued in Spanish-language TV spots that voting no “is not about being gay or straight,” but “about being American.”

The Protect Marriage campaign supporting Proposition 8 constantly invoked the “far-reaching consequences” of legal gay marriage, particularly the implication that school curriculums would be required to teach that gay marriage is “the same as traditional marriage.” Pollster David Fleischer, in his analysis of the election results, found that the greatest shift toward “Yes” among undecided voters was “among parents with children under 18 living at home—many of them white Democrats,” who feared the effects of legal gay marriage on their children’s public education. Evangelicals and Republicans formed the core of Proposition 8’s support.

California's ban on same-sex marriage was soon overturned through the courts: While Proposition 8 would be upheld by the California Supreme Court the next year, in 2010 a U.S. District Court judge ruled Proposition 8 unconstitutional, with their decision stayed on appeal. The District Court’s ruling was upheld by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the US Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal in 2013, allowing for same-sex marriages to resume in California.

In 2015, same-sex marriage was made legal nationwide in the landmark Supreme Court civil rights case Obergefell v. Hodges.

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History.com Editors

TODAY IN HISTORY: 22 OCTOBER 2012; Cyclist Lance Armstrong is stripped of his seven Tour de France titles

On this day in 2012, Lance Armstrong is formally stripped of the seven Tour de France titles he won from 1999 to 2005 and banned for life from competitive cycling after being charged with systematically using illicit performance-enhancing drugs and blood transfusions as well as demanding that some of his Tour teammates dope in order to help him win races. It was a dramatic fall from grace for the onetime global cycling icon, who inspired millions of people after surviving cancer then going on to become one of the most dominant riders in the history of the grueling French race, which attracts the planet’s top cyclists.

Born in Texas in 1971, Armstrong became a professional cyclist in 1992 and by 1996 was the number-one ranked rider in the world. However, in October 1996 he was diagnosed with Stage 3 testicular cancer, which had spread to his lungs, brain and abdomen. After undergoing surgery and chemotherapy, Armstrong resumed training in early 1997 and in October of that year joined the U.S. Postal Service cycling team. Also in 1997, he established a cancer awareness foundation. The organization would famously raise millions of dollars through a sales campaign, launched in 2004, of yellow Livestrong wristbands.

In July 1999, to the amazement of the cycling world and less than three years after his cancer diagnosis, Armstrong won his first Tour de France. He was only the second American ever to triumph in the legendary, three-week race, established in 1903. (The first American to do so was Greg LeMond, who won in 1986, 1989 and 1990.) Armstrong went on to win the Tour again in 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003. In 2004, he became the first person ever to claim six Tour titles, and on July 24, 2005, Armstrong won his seventh straight title and retired from pro cycling. He made a comeback to the sport in 2009, finishing third in that year’s Tour and 23rd in the 2010 Tour, before retiring for good in 2011 at age 39.

Throughout his career, Armstrong, like many other top cyclists of his era, was dogged by accusations of performance-boosting drug use, but he repeatedly and vigorously denied all allegations against him and claimed to have passed hundreds of drug tests. In June 2012, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), following a two-year investigation, charged the cycling superstar with engaging in doping violations from at least August 1998, and with participating in a conspiracy to cover up his misconduct. After losing a federal appeal to have the USADA charges against him dropped, Armstrong announced on August 23 that he would stop fighting them. However, calling the USADA probe an “unconstitutional witch hunt,” he continued to insist he hadn’t done anything wrong and said the reason for his decision to no longer challenge the allegations was the toll the investigation had taken on him, his family and his cancer foundation. The next day, USADA announced Armstrong had been banned for life from competitive cycling and disqualified of all competitive results from August 1, 1998, through the present.

On October 10, 2012, USADA released hundreds of pages of evidence—including sworn testimony from 11 of Armstrong’s former teammates, as well as emails, financial documents and lab test results—that the anti-doping agency said demonstrated Armstrong and the U.S. Postal Service team had been involved in the most sophisticated and successful doping program in the history of cycling. A week after the USADA report was made public, Armstrong stepped down as chairman of his cancer foundation and was dumped by a number of his sponsors, including Nike, Trek and Anheuser-Busch.On October 22, Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the cycling’s world governing body, announced that it accepted the findings of the USADA investigation and officially was erasing Armstrong’s name from the Tour de France record books and upholding his lifetime ban from the sport. In a press conference that day, the UCI president stated: “Lance Armstrong has no place in cycling, and he deserves to be forgotten in cycling.”

After years of denials, Armstrong finally admitted publicly, in a televised interview with Oprah Winfrey that aired on January 17, 2013, he had doped for much of his cycling career, beginning in the mid-1990s through his final Tour de France victory in 2005. He admitted to using a performance-enhancing drug regimen that included testosterone, human growth hormone, the blood booster EPO and cortisone.

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History.com Editors

TODAY IN HISTORY: 21 OCTOBER 1966; UK's worst mining accident kills 144 in Welsh

On the morning of October 21, 1966, a landslide of coal waste crashes into a small Welsh mining village, killing 116 children and 28 adults. The accident left just five survivors and wiped out half of the town’s youth. The Aberfan disaster became one of the UK’s worst coal mining accidents.

The landslide sent 140,000 cubic yards of coal waste in a tidal wave 40-feet high hurtling down the mountainside where Merthyr Vale Colliery stood, destroying farmhouses, cottages, houses and part of the neighboring County Secondary School. The avalanche is thought to have been the result of shoddy construction and a build-up of water in one of the colliery’s spoil tips—piles of waste material removed during mining.

Wales was known for coal mining during the Industrial Revolution. Aberfan's colliery opened in 1869 and ran out of space for waste on the mountain valley floor by 1916. It then started tipping on the mountainside above the village and in 1966 amassed seven tips containing 2.7m cubic yards of colliery spoil.

Years before the incident, Aberfan's town council contacted the National Coal Board to express concerns over the spoil tips following a non-lethal accident on the colliery. No action was taken to address the issue at the time. The tip that fell on October 21 covered material that previously slipped.

The disaster garnered widespread national attention. Queen Elizabeth II did not visit the site until eight days after the accident; she later admitted that not going sooner is one of her biggest regrets.

The Mines and Quarries (Tips) Act was passed in 1969 to add provisions when using mining tips, among other things. 

TODAY IN HISTORY: 21 OCTOBER 2020; Unrest continues in Lagos despite curfew following Endsars shooting

Following the Tuesday October 20 shooting of Endsars protesters at Lekki toll-gate area of Lagos by the uniformed men, protests and unrest continued across multiple areas of Lagos on Wednesday, October 21, despite the 24-hour curfew declared in the city by the governor of the state, Babajide Sanwo-Olu.

The protesters went on rampage, setting on fire the headquarters of Television Continental, TVC, Lagos Concession Company, LCC, at Lekki, The Nation Newspaper, Lagos BRT Terminus at Oyingbo, corporate head office of Nigerian Pots Authority, NPA, and palace of the Oba of Lagos, HRH Rilwan Akiolu II, among others.

Violence also swept through the South-East and parts of the South-South, as protesters defied the curfew in such states as Imo, Ondo, and Abia, killing and destroying properties.

It also forced Enugu and Ebonyi state governments to impose 24-hour curfew. Although there is no curfew in Rivers, two policemen were killed there.

These developments came, as Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, former President Olusegun Obasanjo and the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, condemned in very strong terms the killing of defenceless protesters at the Lekki Toll gate in Lagos.

Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu was attempted to calm tensions in the city following the shootings in Lekki on Tuesday night and appealed for calm. However, the governor also announced that the 24-hour curfew had been extended by 72 hours until at least Saturday, October 24.

TODAY IN HISTORY: 19 OCTOBER, 1986; Mozambique President, Samora Machel dies in a plane crash

On this day in 19 1986, the Mozambique first executive President, Samora Machel and thirty-three other passengers, died when their Tupolev 134 plane crashed into the Lebombo Mountains, South Africa, after allegedly following a false beacon. 

Machel was a prominent leader of the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (FRELIMO) and he led the Mozambican people in their fight for independence from Portugal. In 1975 they were victorious and he was elected as Mozambique's first president. At the time of his death, Machel had been in power for 11 years. 

On the day of the crash he was returning from an African leaders’ summit in Zambia. His death sent shockwaves throughout Southern Africa and the entire world. The crash remains a mystery; with some blaming it on bad weather and others believing that the South African authorities were to blame. A day before Machel’s death, Carlos Cardosa, Director of the Mozambican News Agency, received an anonymous message informing him that Machel had died.

TODAY IN HISTORY 19 OCTOBER, 1985; First Blockbuster store opens in Texas

On October 19, 1985, the first Blockbuster video-rental store opens, in Dallas, Texas. At a time when most video stores were small-scale operations featuring a limited selection of titles, Blockbuster opened with some 8,000 tapes displayed on shelves around the store and a computerized check-out process. The first store was a success and Blockbuster expanded rapidly, eventually becoming one of the world’s largest providers of in-home movies and game entertainment, before eventually filing for bankruptcy in 2010.

Blockbuster was founded by David Cook, who had previously owned a business that provided computer software services to the oil and gas industry in Texas. Cook saw the potential in the video-rental business and after opening the first Blockbuster in 1985, he added three more stores the following year. In 1987, he sold part of the business to a group of investors that included Wayne Huizenga, founder of Waste Management, Inc., the world’s biggest garbage disposal company. Later that year, Cook left Blockbuster and Huizenga assumed control of the company and moved its headquarters to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Under Huizenga’s leadership, Blockbuster embarked on an aggressive expansion plan, snapping up existing video store chains and opening scores of new stores. By 1988, Blockbuster was America’s leading video chain, with some 400 stores. By the early 1990s, Blockbuster had launched its 1,000th store and expanded into the overseas market.

In 1994, Blockbuster was acquired by the media giant Viacom Inc., whose brands include MTV and Nickelodeon. In the mid-1990s, the digital video disc (DVD) made its debut and in 1997, Netflix, an online DVD rental service, was founded. Around that same time, the e-commerce giant Amazon.com launched a video and DVD store. Blockbuster faced additional competition from the rise of pay-per-view and on-demand movie services, through which viewers could pay for and watch movies instantly in their own homes. In 2004, Blockbuster split off from Viacom. That same year, Blockbuster launched an online DVD rental service to compete with Netflix. The venture was not successful. On September 23, 2010, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. By 2014, the last of the company-owned stores had closed. 

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History.com Editors

TODAY IN HISTORY: 19 OCTOBER, 1991; Oakland hills fire destroys $1.5 billion worth properties, 25 killed

The Oakland firestorm of this day in 1991 was a large suburban wildland–urban interface conflagration that occurred on the hillsides of northern Oakland, California, and southeastern Berkeley. The fire went on to burn thousands of homes and kill 25 people. 

Despite the fact that fires had ravaged the same area three times in 1922, 1970 and 1980, people continued to build homes there. Each time, the fires occurred during autumn in a year with relatively little precipitation, and, each time, the residents rebuilt and moved back in as soon as possible. 

The deadly 1991 fire can be traced to a small fire at 7151 Buckingham Boulevard on October 19. Firefighters responded quickly and thought they had brought the blaze under control. However, heat from the fire had caused pine needles to fall from the trees and cover the ground.

When highly flammable debris, also known as “duff,” accumulates on the ground, fires can smolder unseen. At 10:45 a.m. on October 20, strong winds blew one of these unseen fires up a hillside; changing wind patterns then caused it to spread in different directions.

The winds were so intense and the area was so dry that within an hour close to 800 buildings were on fire. The wind then blew southwest, pushing the fire toward San Francisco Bay. In some places, the temperature reached 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit, making it virtually impossible to fight the fire effectively. Homeowners attempted to hose down their roofs, but were often thwarted when water pipes burst from the fire. Also, many homes had wooden shingle roofs that were particularly susceptible to fire. It took only 10 minutes in some cases for a house to be brought down by the flames.

Firefighting efforts were constrained by the fact that the affected homes were located on steep hills with very narrow streets. This made it difficult to maintain radio communications and to move large fire engines close to the flames. The fire spread so rapidly that firefighters were unable to establish a perimeter. When the fire was finally contained the following day, 25 people had lost their lives, 150 people were injured and 3,000 homes and 1,500 acres had been consumed. The total tally of damages was $1.5 billion.

In the aftermath, authorities attempted to reduce the likelihood of a similar fire breaking out the in the future. Laws were changed regarding the maximum height of trees permitted and the type of vegetation that was allowable in the area. In addition, most homes that have been rebuilt do not have wooden roofs.

TODAY IN HISTORY: 20 OCTOBER, 2007; Gunmen kidnap Seriake Dickson's mother in Yenagoa

On this day in 2007, barely eleven days after the kidnapped of the mother of a member of Bayelsa State House of Assembly, armed gunmen again struck in the riverine town of Toru-Orua in the Sagbama local government area of the state abducting the 70 year old mother of the House of Representatives member representing Sagbama/Ekeremor federal constituency, Hon Dickson Seriake.

Dickson at the time was one of the arrowhead of anti Olubunmi Ette, the then speaker House of Representatives in the National Assembly, who was enmeshed in a N628 contract scandal.

Although the motive of the kidnappers could not be ascertained but it was reliably gathered that their action might not be unconnected with the latest tactics of using relations of political office holders as pawn to fleece money from them. During a visit to the riverine settlement of Toru-Orua, it was learnt from the natives that the gunmen stormed the community at about 2 a.m. and headed straight to the home of the Seriakes where they seized his mother, Madam Goldcoast who was then sound asleep.

TODAY IN HISTORY: 18 OCTOBER, 2008; Egba chiefs intervene in Alake and Gbenga Daniel’s Face Off

  Oba Adedotun Aremu Gbadebo

On this day in the year 2008, eminent Nigerians intervened in the face-off between Governor Gbenga Daniel of Ogun State and the Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Aremu Gbadebo.

Indications of a resolution of the matter followed a three-hour meeting held with Oba Adedotun by Egba chiefs at his Ake palace, Abeokuta.

The former Commissioner for Sports in the state, Chief Olusegun Taiwo, asked the governor to apologise not only to the monarch, but also former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and former governor, Chief Olusegun Osoba for what he called rude attacks on them.

TODAY IN HISTORY: 18 OCTOBER, 1974; Soul singer Al Green assaulted by ex-girl friend in his bathtub

     Al Green

In the early morning hours of 18 October 1974, the Memphis, Tennessee, singer Al Green's former girl friend, Mary Woodson burst in on him in the bath and poured a pot of scalding-hot grits on his back before retreating to a bedroom and shooting herself dead with Green's own gun. Not everyone, however, would have processed the meaning of the incident quite the way that Green did. Believing that he had strayed from the righteous musical and spiritual course intended for him, Al Green had become a born-again Christian one year earlier. But after the attack by Mary Woodson on this day in 1974, he began a process that would eventually lead him to renounce pop superstardom and all that it stood for.

Al Green, widely renowned as one of the greatest voices in soul-music history, was at the absolute height of his powers in 1974. He had seven critically and commercially successful major-label albums behind him that included such timeless hits as "Tired Of Being Alone" (1971), "Let's Stay Together" (1971) and "I'm Still In Love With You" (1972). He also, in the words of Davin Seay, who collaborated with Green on his 2000 autobiography, Take Me To The River, had a "basic animal appeal to women" that attracted many admirers, including Mary Woodson.

Mary Woodson first made Green's acquaintance after leaving her husband and children behind in New Jersey and attending one of his concerts in upstate New York. On the night of the attack, Woodson had shown up unexpectedly at Green's Memphis home after he returned from a concert appearance in San Francisco. What exactly prompted her to act is unclear, but her actions not only left Al Green with severe burns that would require months of hospitalization, they also left him severely shaken emotionally and spiritually.

TODAY IN HISTORY: 18 OCTOBER, 1867; Alaska becomes part of United States

On this day in 1867, the U.S. formally takes possession of Alaska after purchasing the territory from Russia for $7.2 million, or less than two cents an acre. Indigenous peoples settled the unforgiving territory thousands of years earlier. The Alaska purchase comprised 586,412 square miles, about twice the size of Texas, and was championed by William Henry Seward, the enthusiastically expansionist secretary of state under President Andrew Johnson.

Russia wanted to sell its Alaska territory, which was remote and difficult to defend, to the U.S. rather than risk losing it in battle with a rival such as Great Britain. Negotiations between Seward (1801-1872) and the Russian minister to the U.S., Eduard de Stoeckl, began in March 1867. However, the American public believed the land to be barren and worthless and dubbed the purchase “Seward’s Folly” and “Andrew Johnson’s Polar Bear Garden,” among other derogatory names. Some animosity toward the project may have been a byproduct of President Johnson’s own unpopularity. As the 17th U.S. president, Johnson battled with Radical Republicans in Congress over Reconstruction policies following the Civil War. He was impeached in 1868 and later acquitted by a single vote. Nevertheless, Congress eventually ratified the Alaska deal. 

Public opinion of the purchase turned more favorable when gold was discovered in Nome, Alaska, in 1899, sparking a gold rush. Alaska became the 49th state on January 3, 1959, and is now recognized for its vast natural resources. Today, 25 percent of America’s oil and over 50 percent of its seafood come from Alaska. It is also the largest state in area, about one-fifth the size of the lower 48 states combined, though it remains sparsely populated. The name Alaska is derived from the Aleut word alyeska, which means “great land.” Alaska has two official state holidays to commemorate its origins: Seward’s Day, observed the last Monday in March, celebrates the March 30, 1867, signing of the land treaty between the U.S. and Russia, and Alaska Day, observed every October 18, marks the anniversary of the formal land transfer.

TODAY IN HISTORY: 18 OCTOBER, 1916; Harry Farr executed for cowardice

On this day in 1916, at dawn, a Private British Soldier, Harry Farr of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) is executed for cowardice after he refused to go forward into the front-line trenches on the Western Front during World War I.

After joining the BEF in 1914, Farr was sent to the front in France; the following May, he collapsed, shaking, and was sent to a hospital for treatment. He returned to the battlefield and participated in the Somme Offensive. In mid-September 1916, however, Farr refused to go ahead into the trenches with the rest of his squadron; after being dragged forward, struggling, he broke away and ran back. He was subsequently court-martialed for cowardice and given a death sentence.

Farr was one of 306 soldiers from Britain and the Commonwealth who were executed for cowardice during the Great War. According to his descendants, who have fought a long battle to clear his name, Farr suffered from severe shell-shock, a condition that was just being recognized at the time, and had been damaged both physically and psychologically by his experience of combat, especially the repeated heavy bombardments to which he and his comrades at the front had been subjected. The symptoms of “shell-shock”—a term first used in 1917 by a medical officer named Charles Myers—included debilitating anxiety, persistent nightmares and physical afflictions ranging from diarrhea to loss of sight. By the end of World War I, the British army had been forced to deal with 80,000 cases of this affliction, including among soldiers who had never experienced a direct bombardment. Despite undergoing treatment, only one-fifth of the men affected ever resumed military duty.

Several successive governments rejected pleas from Farr’s family and others for their loved ones to be pardoned and honored alongside the rest of those soldiers killed in World War I. Finally, in August 2006, after a 14-year struggle, the British High Court granted a pardon to Farr; hours after informing Farr’s family of its verdict, the government announced it would seek Parliament’s approval to pardon all 306 soldiers executed for cowardice during World War I.

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History.com Editors

TODAY IN HISTORY: 18 OCTOBER, 1931; Thomas Edison dies at 84

On this day in 1931, Thomas Alva Edison, one of the most prolific inventors in history, dies in West Orange, New Jersey, at the age of 84.

Born in Milan, Ohio, in 1847, Edison received little formal schooling, which was customary for most Americans at the time. He developed serious hearing problems at an early age thought to be the result of scarlet fever. Edison, however, believed it was the result of an incident in which he was grabbed by the ears and lifted onto a moving train. His disability motivated many of his inventions. At age 16, Edison found work as a telegraph operator and soon was devoting much of his energy and natural ingenuity toward improving the telegraph system itself. By 1869, he was pursuing invention full-time and in 1876 moved into a laboratory and machine shop in Menlo Park, New Jersey.

Edison’s experiments were guided by his remarkable intuition, but he also took care to employ assistants who provided the mathematical and technical expertise he lacked. At Menlo Park, Edison continued his work on the telegraph, and in 1877 he stumbled on one of his great inventions—the phonograph—while working on a way to record telephone communication. Public demonstrations of the phonograph made the Yankee inventor world famous, and he was dubbed the “Wizard of Menlo Park.”

Although the discovery of a way to record and play back sound ensured him a place in the annals of history, it was just the first of several Edison creations that would transform late 19th-century life. Among other notable inventions, Edison and his assistants developed the first practical incandescent lightbulb in 1879, and a forerunner of the movie camera and projector in the late 1880s. In 1887, he opened the world’s first industrial research laboratory at West Orange, where he employed dozens of workers to systematically investigate a given subject.

Perhaps his greatest contribution to the modern industrial world came from his work in electricity. He developed a complete electrical distribution system for light and power, set up the world’s first power plant in New York City, and invented the alkaline battery, the first electric railroad, and a host of other inventions that laid the basis for the modern electric world. He continued to work into his 80s and acquired 1,093 patents in his lifetime. He died at his home in New Jersey on October 18, 1931.

Author:

History.com Editors

Nigeria’s inflation hits 20.77 percent

Nigeria’s inflation stood an almost 17-year high as the price of goods and services surged further by 20.77 percent in the month of September 2022 from 20.55 percent recorded in August.

This was according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) Consumer Price Index (CPI) report released on Monday, October 17, 2022.

The report showed that Nigeria’s CPI rose by 20.77% year-on-year in September 2022, up from 20.52% recorded in the previous month.

On a month-on-month basis, the index rose by 1.36% compared to the 1.77% increase recorded in the previous month.

It was gathered that the urban inflation rate stood at 21.25% in September 2022 from 17.19% recorded in the corresponding period of 2021, while rural inflation stood at 20.32%.

The increase in the country’s inflation comes after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Monetary Policy Committee increased the interest rate to 15.5 percent for the third consecutive increase in 2022 to tame the surging inflation.

With the new development, the apex bank will likely increase the interest rate again going by CBN governor Godwin Emefiele words which says; “as far as inflation continues to reign upward, the MPC will always hike rates to tame the pressure on citizens.

The monetary policy rate (MPR) is the baseline interest rate in an economy, every other interest rate used within an economy is built on it.