The lives of African immigrants explored in 'Soul Diaspora'

"Soul Diaspora," a new feature film by Nigerian filmmaker Odera Ozoka, recently won the Audience Favorite Narrative Feature Award at the annual Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles, California.

The film centers on the life of Saidu, a Fulani/Nigerian immigrant living in Los Angeles. His life of solitude as an African immigrant is interwoven with memories of trauma in Nigeria.

Ozoka, who wrote, directed and produced the film, succeeds in making the character's loneliness palpable on screen.

As the film progresses, a variety of characters intersect with Saidu's life, each affected by their own memories and loneliness. Some come to play important roles in his life, such as the Afghan father and son, owners of a car repair shop, and an exotic dancer, Latisha, with whom Saidu finds the possibility of love. Latisha has her own wounds and through their relationship he begins to deal with some of the pain associated with his family in Nigeria.

His relationship with the repair shop owner, Ziman, and his son, Reza, evolves into a strange but strong friendship strengthened by his isolation in Los Angeles and their shared immigrant experiences.

Their lives are changed by the September 11 attacks that trigger feelings of patriotism, anger and fear, forcing Saidu to make some life-changing decisions.

Odera Ozoka shot the film over the course of 10 days in the Los Angeles area and blends powerful, sometimes uncomfortable images to tell a story that is as far removed from Hollywood as it is from Nollywood.

Saidu is played by Fulani actor Sadiq Abu, who manages to reflect the complexities of this conflicted and at times humorous man.

Ozoka has several other projects lined up. He is currently working on a pilot for a television show called Maison Blanch, a
comedy about an African-immigrant couple living in the US who decide to start a new business.

He is also working on two feature film projects. One is a drama set in Houston, Texas, and the other a film set in Nigeria's Niger-Delta.

Ozoka is excited about shooting a film in Nigeria. The film will focus on the impact of violence in the region and the planned action drama will be a mix between Blood Diamond and Munich.

He also works on projects with Sacred Drum Company, a coalition of pan-African artists that produce several projects a year, including films and plays.

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Two Nigerian citizens linked to Al-Qaeda deported

The two Nigerian students-- Abdulsalam Luqman and Abdullahi Bolajoko Uthman, who were arrested by Malaysian authorities in January for alleged connections to al-Qaeda have been deported back to Nigeria Accused of being associates of Farouk AbdulMutallab, who is currently standing trial in US for the attempted bombing of s Detroit airline last Christmas, the two men were deported about two weeks ago after being arrested and held under the Internal Securities Acts (ISA) 1960.

Spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Ozo Nwobu in a text message sent to THISDAY yesterday morning said the men were deported to Nigeria on 13th of March, 2010.

It is however not clear what arrangements the Federal Government had with the Malaysian authorities which allowed for the deportation of the students although Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Dr. Martin Ohomoibhi had stated at a recent press conference that Nigeria had 'very friendly relations' with Malaysia.

He had stated at the briefing last Wednesday that he was not aware of the status of the two men, but promised to make their status available to newsmen.

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Lagerback doubts Kanu for World Cup squad

Lars Lagerback, the Eagles Technical Adviser, has cast doubt over the inclusion of the team's captain, Nwankwo Kanu, in the World Cup squad as he said that playing time at club level and not the number of caps would determine his selection of players.

Lagerback, who watched the Eagles' Team B training session yesterday, said that he was going to focus on assessing the Team A players through their performances at their respective clubs.

In the company of his Swede assistant, Roland Andersson, Lagerback said he was not going to rely on anyone's advice or records in his assessment of the players.

"I will assess the players on my own. It's not going to be on the basis of what you have done in the past, but what you are doing

currently. So, even if you have 70 caps, you have to be playing regularly," he maintained yesterday.

The former Swedish national team Coach said one advantage towards ensuring success in this regard is that he would establish a good rapport with most of the clubs the Nigerian players are playing for.

"I'll have to have a good rapport with all the players' clubs, and I will regularly be in touch with them and their physical fitness trainers to ascertain their level of fitness. I will not want to take half_fit player to South Africa for the World Cup," he said.

Lagerback explained that the likes of Obinna Nwaneri, Danny Shittu and Nwankwo Kanu would need to seek more club football playing time if they were going to be part of the team to the June 11 to July 11 World Cup finals.

"For now Nwaneri has to get a better club, because he is playing for a club in the United Arab Emirates in a league that is third_rate, while Shittu is not playing regular football at his club for now.

"The same thing goes for Kanu, and he and the other two are not in the right shape to play 90 minutes football.

"They can only play about 20 minutes of football, and we all know that we don't need that at the World Cup, but players who can play for 90 minutes," The Swede dropped.

He said what he needed to instill in his team to excel at the World Cup were good tactics and not the game's techniques at this point in time.

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U.S. to help train police fight terrorism

United States  yesterday disclosed its intention to help train officers of the Nigerian Police on how to combat terrorism and other violent crimes.

The Ambassador of United States of America to Nigeria Ms. Robin Sander, disclosed this when she led five members of the U.S Commission on International Religious Freedom on a courtesy visit to the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr. Ogbonna Onovo.

Speaking on the occasion, she expressed the desire of her government to assist the Nigerian Police Force in the training of its personnel in community policing and combat training to contain civil disturbances experienced in certain parts of the country in recent times.

Sanders told the IGP that the US government was "ready to provide equipment/logistics as a way of supporting the Force in combating crime in Nigeria" .

Though she did not give details and the form the assistance would look like, she however said that her home governemnt was unhappy with the level of sensless killings in parts of the country, particularly the north, where she said Nigeria witnessed more violent crimes.

Expressing serious worry with the development, Sanders said she would personally do all within her capacity to bring in other forms of assitance to the police, stressing that effective policing remains one of the core ingredients of democracy.

In his response, Onovo expressed his appreciation to the Ambassador for finding time to visit him in spite of her tight schedules.

Onovo, told the US envoy of the willingness of the Police and the country as a whole to collaborate with the US government in any area of training which is aimed at building the capacity of the officers and men of the Nigerian Police with a view to advancing proactive policing.

He said that with the deep interest shown by US in the areas of crime prevention and control, it will equally help to protect investments by US citizens in the country.

The London Metropolitan Police was the first to offer assistance to the Nigerian Police and had also trained some of its personnel in community Policing, though the policy seem not to be working in the country due to corruption in the force.

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