Taylor seems to have returned to his first love - preaching. The man now quotes from the Bible like a bishop. But his presence has generated a lot of controversy among residents of Calabar where he is now on asylum and his neighbours.

Sunday Vanguard talked to leaders of various groups and community leaders on Taylor’s asylum in Calabar. While some said the man should be tolerated in the spirit of African brotherhood, others want him to leave the country and clear himself of the charges of war crime against him in Sierra Leone.

Market women

President-General of Cross River State Market Women Association, High Chief Essien Awan-Effiom, who is about 85 years old but still mentally alert, said: Why should Calabar be saddled with the burden of hosting trouble makers from their country. I remember the story of Jaja of Opobo and Ovonranwen (of Benin) and I know that the white people also banished some trouble makers to Calabar. Now, they said it is Charles Taylor. Look! Somebody should tell him that we don’t want trouble makers here. He has created trouble in his land, now he wants peace in another man’s land."

"Taylor, or whatever is his name, should be told that there are men in Calabar who carry long swords and can fight him properly if he tries any rubbish in Calabar or Cross River State. We don’t want to see any wicked man in Calabar. Let him go to Sierra Leone and face world court lawyers there," Awwan-Effiong added.

Another resident, Mr. Innocent Ibe Allen, a camera engineer wants to know the economic benefit of Charles Taylor’s presence in Calabar. "What will be our benefit of harbouring such a wicked man? We are aware that Mr. President (Chief Olusegun Obasanjo) brought Taylor to Nigeria without consulting the National Assembly. Be that as it may, we must let Taylor know that his presence here and the involvement of Nigeria in his country has almost ruined our economy.

There are several retirees who have not been paid their pension for many months or years and Nigeria is wasting money solving the problem of others leaving its own hanging," Allen stated.

But a Scripture Union staff, Miss Victory Omini has a different opinion on the issue. "We have to be our brother’s keepers and if Charles Taylor is a genuine Christian who has accepted Jesus Christ, we should forgive him and accept him in our midst. Presently, the man is afraid of his country, and if he thinks he can find peace in Nigeria so be it," Omini pointed out.

On his part, a landlord and community leader, Mr. Okokon Effiong-Bassey, was of the opinion that what happened to Charles Taylor could happen to anybody. "One of us, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, was also on exile in Ivory Coast now Cote d’Ivoire for 13 years. So, if a Nigerian could be harboured on exile why can’t we harbour another African brother who wants refuge in our country?" he said. Some members of the First Baptist Church in Effio-Ette area of Calabar who also spoke but under anonymity said "Taylor will be whole heartedly received if he decides to worship in the church with us."

According to him, "the church is to sinners what hospital is to the sick. No one sends a sinner away from the church. In any case, who is clean and who is not a sinner? There are people whose sins are worse than Taylor’s. The man’s own is known because it is in the open." But the Civil Liberties Organisation. CLO in Calabar considers Taylor a security risk and as such wants him our of town.

In the interim, the ex-warlord’s typical routine in the presidential lodge includes morning, prayers/Bible reading which commences at 5 am and lasts for about 40 minutes. This is followed by jogging and exercises within the lodge." Breakfast for him starts at 10 am but the children hit the dinning table for their breakfast before 8 am. Taylor does not miss the news on CNN and listens to BBC often while reading through the day’s papers. At his leisure, he sometimes tunes to sports channels and tickless the children by playing the good daddy, running around with them in the house "Taylor loves children", Sunday Vanguard source said.

In the afternoon, he observes siesta which terminates by 4 pm and after a quick shower, he reads the Bible and thereafter watches TV.

"He reads the sport column in newspapers as he seems to be in love with sports generally but with emphasis on football and tennis," the source disclosed. The man, who is 55 years old, is said to prefer light meals, which probably accounts for his trim figure.