This pretty star actress is single and searching for the man who will make her his forever.friends of Funke however swear that this actress has no time for married men''she knows her worth and she wont pitch tent with someone who already has pitched tent with someone else.Shes looking for a God fearing,hardworking,trustworthy,faithful man who will cherish her and take her home to mama''.no pun intended but does any man in nigeria possess this quality? I am afraid i will have to add my two cents and ask ms Akindele to settle for mr-make-i-manage-am becuase A NIGERIAN mr right only exists in novels and movies!(also hear Funke is on to another blockbuster movie.her audition holds march and shes off to shoot two dance movies titled 'Dasofunjo and my choice')
I argue very well. Ask any of my remaining friends. I can win an argument on any topic, against any opponent. People know this and steer clear of me at parties. Often, as a sign of their great respect, they don't even invite me. You too can win arguments. Simply follow these rules:
# Drink liquor.
Suppose you are at a party and some hotshot intellectual is expounding on the economy of Peru, a subject you know nothing about.
If you're drinking some health-fanatic drink like grapefruit juice, you'll hang back, afraid to display your ignorance, while the hotshot enthralls your date.
But if you drink several large martinis, you'll discover you have STRONG VIEWS about the Peruvian economy. You'll be a WEALTH of information. You'll argue forcefully, offering searing insights and possibly upsetting furniture. People will be impressed. Some may leave the room.
# Make things up.
Suppose, in the Peruvian economy argument, you are trying to prove that Peruvians are underpaid, a position you base solely on the fact that YOU are underpaid, and you'll be damned if you're going to let a bunch of Peruvians be better off. DON'T say: "I think Peruvians are underpaid." Say instead: "The average Peruvian's salary in 1981 dollars adjusted for the revised tax base is $1,452.81 per annum, which is $836.07 before the mean gross poverty level."
NOTE: Always make up exact figures.
If an opponent asks you where you got your information, make THAT up too. Say: "This information comes from Dr. Hovel T. Moon's study for the Buford Commission published on May 9, 1982. Didn't you read it?" Say this in the same tone of voice you would use to say, "You left your soiled underwear in my bathroom."
Use meaningless but weighty-sounding words and phrases.
Memorize this list:
* Let me put it this way
* In terms of
* Vis-a-vis
* Per se
* As it were
* Qua
* So to speak
You should also memorize some Latin abbreviations such as "Q.E.D.", "e.g.", and "i.e." These are all short for "I speak Latin, and you don't."
Here's how to use these words and phrases. Suppose you want to say, "Peruvians would like to order appetizers more often, but they don't have enough money." You never win arguments talking like that. But you WILL win if you say, "Let me put it this way. In terms of appetizers vis-a-vis Peruvians qua Peruvians, they would like to order them more often, so to speak, but they do not have enough money per se, as it were. Q.E.D."
Only a fool would challenge that statement.
# Use snappy and irrelevant comebacks.
You need an arsenal of all-purpose irrelevant phrases to fire back at your opponents when they make valid points. The best are:
* You're begging the question.
* You're being defensive.
* Don't compare apples to oranges.
* What are your parameters?
This last one is especially valuable. Nobody (other than engineers and policy wonks) has the vaguest idea what "parameters" means. Don't forget the classic: YOU'RE SO LINEAR.
Here's how to use your comebacks:
You say: As Abraham Lincoln said in 1873...
Your opponent says: Lincoln died in 1865.
You say: You're begging the question.
You say: Liberians, like most Asians...
Your opponent says: Liberia is in Africa.
You say: You're being defensive.
# Compare your opponent to Adolf Hitler.
This is your heavy artillery, for when your opponent is obviously right and you are spectacularly wrong. Bring Hitler up subtly. Say, "That sounds suspiciously like something Adolf Hitler might say," or "You certainly do remind me of Adolf Hitler."
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Posted by 9jabook.com on April 23, 2009 at 10:57pm
Otedola Shun Reps, seeks N117 billion damages
African Petroleum (AP) Plc's President, Chief Femi Otedola has petitioned the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), seeking a mouth-gaping N117.18 billion; being losses incurred as a result of the share manipulation scam involving AP shares, which he blames on his erstwhile friend, but now bitter enemy, billionaire business mogul, Alhaji Aliko Dangote. The SEC has not commented on the damages and Dangote has denied any involvement in the scam. It is all but certain that the matter appears heading for the courts.
But last Thursday, Otedola, in yet another dramatic twist in the festering business tussle, petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), in Abuja, accusing Dangote; President of Dangote Group of Companies, and the Managing Director of Nova Finance and Securities Ltd, Mr. Eugene Anenih, of orchestrating the AP share price scam that made 160,000 AP shareholders to suffer over N240 billion loss between August 2008 and March 2009.
Specifically, Otedola accuses Dangote of conniving with Nova Finance; the stock broking firm handling Dangote's investment portfolio in the stock market to run down the share price of AP which dropped from a year high N293.98 per share to N48.91 per share as at March 2009. Nova, which perpetrated the scam crossed AP shares 30 times in eight weeks, allegedly using Dangote's mandate, and making the price to lose value by five per cent daily.
For several hours Tuesday, April 21, 2009, Dangote was guest at the EFCC where he was grilled at the Operations Department by a team led by the anti-graft agency’s Director of Operations Mr. Tunde Ogunsakin. An EFCC source told 9jabook.com that Dangote was asked to review and respond to some of the issues raised in Otedola’s petition. Although no details of his discussion filtered to the public, an EFCC source said Dangote, gave useful information to the EFCC regarding his involvement or otherwise in the matter. "In four hours, he had written his statement and our investigators had started interrogating him on grey areas and his relationship with Nova Finance Securities,” the source said, adding: "We also asked questions on his background, past investments, and his relationship with the AP." He was "released on administrative bail on self recognition but may be invited again as the EFCC investigation into the matter is continuing".
learnt that last week Otedola also appeared before the EFCC to shed more light on the petition, and according to him, “take the matter a step further.” A source quoted Otedola as telling EFCC Chairperson, Mrs. Farida Waziri, that “as a matter of urgent importance,” Dangote, who doubles as Vice-President of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), must not be allowed to go scot-free for his alleged role in the manipulative and deceptive plot to run down the price of AP shares on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. (NSE)
Otedola’s petition to the EFCC came after Dangote, Nigeria's richest man according to Forbes magazine, was exonerated by both the NSE and the SEC. The NSE had earlier sanctioned Nova when the saga came to the open, through media advertorials placed by AP over the share crossing scam, perpetrated by Nova, allegedly through the mandate of Dangote. Apparently not satisfied, Otedola petitioned the SEC, seeking general damages to the tune of N117.18 billion. The SEC, after investigation suspended Nova and Anenih from all capital market activities for one year for employing "manipulative and deceptive devices and contrivances in its transactions on AP Plc shares."
Besides, Nova and Anenih were jointly and severally fined N190,000, - N5,000 per day for 38 days, for violating rule 177 and the code of conduct for market operators. Anenih was also banned from being employed in any arm of the securities industry for five years and referred to the EFCC for further investigation and possible prosecution.
However, the SEC absolved Dangote of blame, saying there was no evidence to show that he instructed Nova Finance and Securities Limited and its Managing Director, Mr. Eugene Anenih, to carry out illegal transactions on AP shares on his behalf. Apparently miffed by the clean bill handed Dangote by the SEC, Otedola reported the matter to the EFCC. Among other things, Otedola rejected as fallacious, the claim by Dangote that he was not privy to the share-crossing saga, as Nova could not otherwise have had any primary motive for the action.
Otedola also averred that with the trade alert mechanism in the stock market, it stretches credulity for Dangote to feign ignorance of the deals being reflected in his account, more so as he is vice president of NSE. Besides, Otedola wants the EFCC to peruse earlier written mandates of Dangote to Nova, to establish relationship between them and those suspected to have been given without written authorization. Otedola also would want the EFCC to examine what mitigating factors might have caused Anenih to recant his earlier confession that he was mandated by Dangote to cross the AP shares.
The shares scam had pitted Otedola against Dangote, with the former accusing the sugar cum cement merchant of colluding with Nova to perpetrate the fraud. The scam has cost Otedola an estimated $700 million. Otedola; hitherto Nigeria's only other billionaire in the Forbes list, has seen his net worth dropped from $1.2 billion to $500m. Aliko Dangote is now the only Nigerian in this prestigious billionaires club. Otedola has vowed to exact his pound of flesh and whether or not he will succeed in getting the damages from the SEC remains to be seen. But one thing is certain: these latest developments might just be another chapter of this unfolding saga. Just before press time, feelers emerged that Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Mr. Musa Al-Faki, is to proceed on an accumulated leave prior to his retirement. Though AL-Faki `s tenure expires in October, 9jabook.com learnt that the embattled D-G, whose leave takes effect mid May would use the leave as an exit strategy out of Security and Exchange Commission . In a related development, The House of Representatives Committee on Capital Market threatened to arrest business mogul and Chairman of African Petroleum, Mr. Femi Otedola over his failure to honour the committee’s invitation
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Hardly would the story of comedy in Nigerian Television be told without recalling his comic name. Chika Okpala who went by the stage name Chief Zebrudaya, played a prominent role in the popular sitcom comedy New Masquerade a T.V. Series that kept households glued to their television sets in late 1980's. Even after the series, he remains a brand in the nation's entertainment industry. In this interview with REPORTER, Ifeoma Meze in his Enugu residence, Okpala talks about his life as a comedian and why he is hardly seen in nollywood movies, among other issues. Excerpts:Who really is Zebrudaya?
My name is Chief Chika Okpala otherwise known as Chief Zebrudaya Okorigwe Nwogbo alias 4:30, Chief His Royal Palm Wine Powerless, M.O.N without E.Y. because when I was given the title of M.O.N, I did not see the E.Y. attached to it. I was given an ordinary title with no money attached.
How has life been so far after the Sitcom comedy The Masquerade?
Life has not been smooth in terms of drama. I have tried my hands in so many other productions but they don't seem to catch the same flavour and attention as Masquerade, may be because of language or style. I cannot really say where the problem is from because I use good actors for the show and still it does not really go like Masquerade. I think they prefer masquerade to me in other Television shows.
Is that why we have not been seeing you in other Nollywood movies?
Not exactly for that reason, we started Nollywood. We initiated what today is shaped to be Nollywood. What we had in mind was to boost the image of Nigeria, boost the image of the black man especially the Igbo man mannerisms and ways of life. That was what we had in mind by putting up Masquerade. Masquerade is a kind of comic relief that x-rayed the public and character of people in their different performances. The comedy brought them out for people to see the foolishness in man. So it became interesting. This was done in 1970 and it became increasingly interesting when it had a video and was shown on TV in 1974 in Enugu when Enugu State TV (then Anambra State) was reactivated. We lifted it up to television and it caught fire. Everybody wanted it. Formerly, it was an imagination when it was a radio programme. It was an imagination of who could this man be? How would he look? How can we meet in real life? With that we were on for over two decades on TV, performing every week, writing scripts every week, which was no joke at all. Even after that, which was beyond the two decades, we were still on sparingly because sometimes we were sponsored and some of the time, we did not have sponsors.
So we initiated what is today known as Nollywood. It is reshaped to Nollywood because now they shoot entirely on locations while the Masquerade shot in the studio but they are all entertainment. The message seems to sink down to our people not minding where you shot the movie or drama. When they started Nollywood, they started deviating, they started moving into a no go area, the areas of cultism, juju and all other negative things. We called them and said no, that this was not what we had in mind, that what we wanted was entertainment for our people. There is no entertainment in juju neither is there entertainment in murder cases. It is all full of tragedy. There is a difference between comedy and tragedy and we were for comedy. They took the line of tragedy most of the times, going to sacrifice somebody in an evil altar to make money which is not a success story. This is why I criticised it and because I do not like it, I cannot be part of what I am criticising. That is why I made it known and stayed away from it. But eventually, they started coming back to realise that what we were saying was true. Most of the stories they tell in the movies were branding us poorly and painting us black. All those juju and ritual acting did not appeal to my conscience and that is why I did not feature in them. But now they have started coming back into what I call real entertainment. That was when comedy started coming up; stand up comedy started to join in. They tell good stories in a way that no matter how bad the story is, it will make you laugh and not to make you weep.
That is the sort of entertainment that I was looking for because I know that in every part of Nigeria, there is a sort of entertainment and there are people who generate entertainment. For instance where there is a wedding ceremony, there is always someone that is looked up to as an entertainer. It is only lately that I have taken part in some comedy shows and some movies. But I read the scripts carefully to make sure I was not going into what I was against. Most of the movies I featured in were very recent and are not yet out. I saw some light in them and they were very inspiring and that was why I decided to give it a try.
What is your view on the level entertainment has gotten to in Nigeria?
It is improving tremendously. Nigeria is beginning to realise that with entertainment they could push education. So most of our entertainment now embodies education. We call it entertainment education programmes. Here you find out that entertainment becomes instructive like we used to have in those days. When instructions are interwoven into entertainment, into comedy or even music, people learn more from it. To me most of the shows I have participated in are worthwhile.
What are the challenges that you have been facing so far, how easy has it been?
The challenges are that we do not have sponsors. Nigeria has not come to a stage where they know that there is division of labour. There are people whose work is to write scripts, there are people whose work is to produce the scripts then the people that their job is to act the script. To crown it all, you have sponsor and executive producer. The sponsor says where he or she wants to put his money not necessarily looking at how much he is going to get back but having the audience at heart and looking at script that can move Nigeria forward or a script that can help education system. Once it is a good show, it must pay back. I am currently working on a re-branding Nigeria programme with Coal City FM. The manager called me to say that people would like to hear the Zebrudaya language and hear my own views about the re-branding of Nigeria.
It has not been easy to find out a sponsor who can come back and say 'I want this' or 'give us this' and this makes us continue beating around the bush. You write on a topic and you don't know if any sponsor will come to buy the idea or concept. There are so many scripts on my desk right now waiting for whom to say 'put this forward;' that is to sponsor the script into production. I, on my own, cannot sponsor every script because it takes a lot of money and I don't have all the money in the world to do that. It is my business to think out and it is not my business to put the money down.
So that is how tough it has been for us especially for people like us in the movie industry.
Do you think government has a stake in this?
Yes, the part they have to play is, first of all, to make a good market for us. That is to give us an enabling environment. Enabling environment in the sense that we have good market each time we come out so that even if we do not have money or sponsor, if we go and borrow money from the bank and make the movies, whatever we sellout of it will be what we have produced. Not when someone gets a copy of my show, he goes and duplicates it and sells it even abroad and starts driving big cars and building houses from someone else's sweat and the person will come back to me to say "have you any other show to produce, in fact that other one paid me well oh!" While you that did the job have nothing to show for it. If government can support the Nigerian Film and Movie Censors' Board fully and they are able to put things in order, then those of us in this private sector can survive. Government secretariat and ministries are over saturated with workers and this is why there is retrenchment and so many more workers are qualifying everyday in millions. They have to do something to eat and survive, trying something privately. They borrow money from bank to sponsor their business and when someone else undercuts them and they cannot pay back to the bank, bank refuses to give out money to such people, resulting to increase in crime.
So the government should ensure that those of us who are in the private sector are protected. They should sponsor shows from different parts of the country so that we can blend and also package them for international market. There are people for our kind of movie outside Nigeria.
How good has your comedy life been?
It has been wonderful. We thank God. My comedy life has taken me to places outside Nigeria. It has taken me around Africa, like Liberia, Cameroon, Sierra Leone and even U.S.A. I doubt if a good number of Nigerians know me by my real name because Zebrudaya has taken over my God-given name, but it is all-good. It is what happens when you deliver a good job as supposed to be.
What part of the country are you from?
I'm from Anambara State, Nnobi in Idemmili South, to be precise.
Is the character Zebrudaya still in you?
It is for other people to identify. I don't know if it is in me or not.
Is any of your children taking the line of entertainment?
No, unfortunately. I have two children, a boy and a girl. None of them is toeing my path. They are all in Sciences, none in Art.
Is the comedy part of you something you read in school or a talent?
I had finished acting Zebrudaya before I went to school. So it is a talent. I had almost given up my acting before I went to university and came out with a Master's degree in Mass Communication in Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT). I felt I was communicating with people with the right language that they understood and so I said, why don't I go ahead and communicate more.
Are you still in contact with your colleagues at The New Masquerade?
Yes, we were supposed to perform last Easter but it was postponed. We all will be performing at Markudi with exemption of Clarus (Davis Offor), because he does not want to take part because of his sight and Jegede (Claude Eke), now late. We will have to find replacement for their roles.
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Lanre Adewole, Abuja
Wednesday, April 23, 2009
THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Tuesday arrested billionaire-businessman, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, over his alleged involvement in the African Petroleum (AP) shares trading scandal.
A source in the commission confirmed that he was quizzed in Abuja by the operatives of the anti-graft agency.
AP Chairman, Femi Otedola, and the company’s shareholders had reportedly petitioned the commission over the alleged indictment of Dangote over the shares scandal, which had seen the Securities and Exchange Commission sanctioning Nova Securities, owned by a son of Chief Tony Anenih, former chairman of the Board of Trustees (BOT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Nova Securities and Dangote’s company had been reportedly involved in the alleged illegal sale of AP shares causing a free fall in the stock’s value. Otedola who is ranked behind Dangote as the second richest in Nigeria had accused his erstwhile friend of plots to ruin his business empire, an allegation which had been denied by Dangote’s camp.
Dangote is the vice-chairman of the Nigerian Stock Exchange and had been reportedly planning to succeed the incumbent chairman, Mr. Obadele Otudeko.
Another source, however, said that Dangote surrendered himself to the commission in Abuja, following a summons sent to him by the commission over the alleged scam.
Another source, however, said that Dangote surrendered himself to the commission in Abuja, following a summons sent to him by the commission over the alleged scam.
As of press time, he was said to still be undergoing interrogation. However, there were indications that he was released on administrative bail last night.
Meanwhile, the trial of the chairman of the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) chairman, Dr. Ransome Owan, and six other commissioners of the agency will commence before Justice Salisu Garba of the Abuja High Court today.
Nigerian Tribune gathered that a 121-count charge had been slammed on the accused over an alleged N1.5 billion scam. The accused were re-arrested by the commission yesterday preparatory to their arraignment today.
The affected commissioners are Alimi Abdulrazaq, the commissioner in charge of Legal Licensing and Enforcement; Mallam Abdulrahman Ado, Commissioner, Market Competition and Rates; M.B.G. Bunu, Commissioner, Finance and Management Services; Grace Eyoma, Commissioner, Government and Consumer Affairs.
Others are: O.C. Iloeje, Commissioner, Research and Development and Abimbola Odubiyi, Commissioner, Engineering Standard and Safety. A source said that the commission, in an attempt to avoid returning unspent fund to the treasury, bought 54 vehicles valued at N350 million between December 22 and 29, 2008 without due authorisation.
The commission was also alleged to have moved N500 million to a mortgage finance bank, also without authorisation. The money was meant for staff housing financing since April 2008.
The commission, which was funded 100 per cent by the government, collects from the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) N70 million every month, amounting to N840 million for last year, which allegedly could not be accounted for.
Its budget for 2008 was N2 billion, but “as a matter of fact, government gave it N5 billion” for that fiscal year, the source revealed. The commission also allegedly awarded contracts to companies that were not registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).
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Posted by 9jabook.com on April 21, 2009 at 11:33am
He's a one-season wonder. He's too old for a big move now. He's too expensive. He's not what Arsenal need - another attacking midfielder.
Actually, he's the man who just scored four goals against Liverpool at Anfield. He's Andrey Arshavin.
They don't make good signings. Everyone they snap up is either too young, too old, or too injured. Arsenal can't leap forward again. They need to put their hands in their pockets. What's Wenger up to?
Well, it may be true that Arsenal have had their transfer market scrapes, but in Andrey Arshavin they have, in a sense, unearthed an absolute diamond.
In fact, unearthed is completely the wrong word, for this diamond was on a pedestal in St. Petersburg. Like a Romanov heirloom he was on display for all to see - but not to be touched.
That was until after his UEFA Cup and Euro 2008 campaigns which saw him not only alert Europe's top clubs to his expertise, but also awakened him more than ever to the prospect of the chance at trying his luck at a higher level than the Russian Premier League.
True, one can say that his attempts to secure a transfer undermined his boyhood club and at times were undignified. But from Arsenal's side of things, the Gunners plugged away quietly, without ostentation, until they got their man.
When they did, many of the same pundits who had spent 2008 praising Andrei were quick to cluck their tongues. After all, he was 27 by then, barely had any continental experience, and had been involved in transfer negotiations so Byzantine that he only just beat the extended deadline to head to English. He was a parvenu in every sense.
But in Arshavin's performance on Tuesday night at Anfield, we saw that class, in fact, is not the privelege only of the high-born. Arshavin is every inch a Premier League player - and a Premier League star, to boot.
Witness his showing against Liverpool. To be uncharitable, one would say: four shots, four goals, a fluke. Nonsense. Predatory instinct, and a classy finish, is exactly what you need when you come up against a European-place contender on their own patch. Arshavin had this in spades.
What's more, he also had speed to cope with what we are told is the fastest top-level league in the world. Even though he's been playing summer football for years, even though prior to joining Arsenal he was sitting in the stands, even though he's wrestled with injury, he unleashed pace that was, in the words of my colleague Greg Ptolomey, "terrifying".
In other words, Arshavin has proved beyond doubt that he is the genuine article, and Arsenal have a legitimate claim to having made the best signing of 2009 so far - and possibly of the year to come, too.
As for Arsenal, their softly-softly approach to the transfer market may not have been vindicated this season, but if they can make one other mid-to-high signing, perhaps in defence, it may well be next year. This is one fiscal decision the London club definitely got right. For the sake of their fans, and indeed Premier League viewers the world over, here's to many more.
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Nigerian artists and entertainers are taking advantage of their fame and using it to make money outside the typical entertainment channels. Actresses like Genevieve Nnaji and Omotola Jalade Ekeinde have been the face of various products marketed and sold to Nigerians. And, considering the size of Nigeria's domestic market, there is still room for other entertainers to affiliate their brand and product with various businesses and corporate products. I even believe that one of my favorite rap songs, "Da Finest" by Knighthouse featuring Mo Chedda and others, could be easily manipulated to sell Blackberry phones and equipment to Nigerians and others on the continent (you will have to listen to the song to understand why).
THE 'KOKO' ENTREPRENEUR
REALITY TV SHOW: ‘Koko Mansion’ debuts June 1,2009 on the screen.
12 GIRLS
1 MANSION
1 WINNER
- The Prize -
• A Chris Aires Diamond ring,
• A brand new convertible car
• N5,000,000
• In addition, the winner will be D’Banj's Kokolette for one full year and will be his companion at all public events both within and outside Nigeria.
Despite the growing success enjoyed by Nigerian artists, it seems that no one has managed to create a brand as well as musician D'Banj. An engaging performer with the ability to entertain and sway everyone from young children to old women, D'Banj came onto the music scene and in no time his music was used for everything - even political campaigns. Calling himself the "Koko Master" and his many female fans "Kokolettes", D'Banj has managed to not just cement himself in the Nigerian entertainment industry but he has succeeded in cementing his brand in Nigerian culture. There are talks of him selling 'Koko Garri', 'Koko Water' and even 'Koko Mobile' to anyone that will buy it, and given his popularity, I daresay many will. It is clear that D'Banj doesn't just want to be a musician or producer, he wants to be an entrepreneur.
http://www.bloggersmusic.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/dbanj.jpg
D'Banj
And now, D'Banj will allegedly enter the foray of reality television. Reality television shows are very successful in Nigeria and shows like West African Idol, The Apprentice Nigeria, and Big Brother Africa have been a launching pad for many an individual. One reality contestant even went on to act in Nollywood films. But, D'banj's reality show will not focus on highlighting talented individuals. Well, actually it might focus on certain 'talents' because D'banj's upcoming reality show, The Koko Mansion, will have many women, living together to become his main kokolette, all be it for a short period of time. One can only imagine what talents will be displayed to win the ultimate prize. The show will apparently be based on VH1's Flavor of Love and if that show (all 3 seasons of it) is anything to go by, viewers and D'Banj himself must prepare themselves to expect the unexpected. At the end of the day, however, the Koko Master would have lined his pockets nicely with lots of Koko cash, and the show will be another experience used to further build and market his brand.
Nigeria's entertainment industry highlights how Nigerians can circumvent the failures of the government to create opportunities for themselves. Those who have managed to find success prove that despite the fact that the odds might be against them, enterprising individuals will always find a way to flourish. It will be interesting to watch as more Nigerian entertainers and even average Nigerians choose to brand themselves and market their brands to their personal advantage.These are definitely exciting, and interesting, times.
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She has a to-die-for figure even after four children, a face to match, talent that stands out in the Nollywood crowd and a marriage that has loads of made-in-heaven trimmings. She was the 12-year-old girl who grew up in a hurry when her father suddenly died and had to resort to a moneylender to keep her brothers in school.
She was also the schoolgirl who watched victims of Kaduna religious crisis stabbed and slaughtered as they scrambled to scale her school walls into safety while helping to deliver babies of female refugees when she hardly knew what to do.
Try and imagine this same girl being thoroughly whipped by her mother for coming home a minute after 5pm which was her curfew time. Do those descriptions sound like Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde? Well, she is the actress who has lived all these parts not in her movie world but in her real life in addition to singing for armed robbers and listening to their eerie confession, and has turned it all into a money-spinning venture.
The ‘A’ Class act dropped by our corporate office and told us things we are sure you haven’t heard and we also learnt a few things from her apart from tips on how to invest in real estate. For instance, if you have had to speak up for yourself since age 12 and watch out for three younger ones and a widowed mother, bullies do not easily cow you. The journey has been long, very long, from the days she sold the family television set to pay urgent family bills to getting married to a pilot in an aircraft 20,000 feet above sea level. It is a no-holds barred story, another promise kept from Sunday Sun
I got into acting while waiting for my JAMB result.
When I left school in 1994, I was waiting for my JAMB result, and I had to wait for about nine months. A friend of mine, Akorede, who was a model told my mum that instead of wasting time at home I should join him in the modeling thing and my mum consented. That was how I started with entertainment. I was going for auditions. It was during one of those auditions that a lady told me about another audition and she asked if I’ll like to go. I said OK. I accompanied her for the movie audition and that was the movie, Nneka Part 2.
She went for the audition but didn’t get the part. She was quite sad and then she said there were still other auditions and would I like to go? I said no, but she said it was not like they would ask for money. I have nothing to lose. So I went and I got the part. That was my first contact with acting in movies. By the time I heard of the following audition, I was bold enough to go for it. That was how I started.
My widowed mother was so scared I would get pregnant before I was 16 and she used to beat me silly if I came home later than 5pm which was my curfew time.
I remember those days when I would finish acting and go back home and I’d be beaten silly. My mum was a disciplinarian and there was this belief that if you are into acting, singing, entertainment you have to be wayward. So, when you mention going for audition for a movie, my mum would say “Acting!”. You didn’t even say you want to go into singing or any such area. My mum just couldn’t understand the difference. She was just being careful and protective.
My dad died when I was twelve and there’s a thing with your dad dying early. As a widow there was so much pressure on her. I’m the only girl and the first child and I understood the pressure on her. Everybody was talking and saying that I was going to become wayward and get pregnant. They told her to her face that they knew I was going to get pregnant before I was sixteen. She was really scared and when all those things were happening it was like I was doing exactly the things they said was going to happen.
Her response was to be really hard on me to prevent me from getting spoilt. I don’t know what propelled me to go on despite my mum’s disciplines because one, they weren’t paying me well in the movies; two, I wasn’t that interested in acting then, and three, there was nothing really to look forward to in terms of success models then. There was no fame then because the only famous people then were the ones on TV. Even those that were on TV then weren’t so admired. I still don’t understand what really kept me going. It had to be God or maybe because I didn’t have a lot of things to do. There was no money in it for me, there was no fame and on top of it I got beaten.
I was always coming home late, there’s no way you can do this job and still be in control of your time. No matter how much you try something is going to hold you back. I used to go home late I had a curfew of five o clock set by my mum, which I thought was unreasonable. Then, I still didn’t get home until nine or ten o clock and there was no GSM to call.
There are so many producers in this country today that will tell you they’ve met Omotola’s mum. Kingsley Ogoro, Emeka Ossai, Zeb Ejiro, Fred Amata, who has not seen my mum? Who? She never came on set. They had to go and meet her in the house to explain to her why they want to use me, and that they’d take care of me and when they were going to bring me back home. Everybody that had used me during that time had to go to her, all of them had to go to her. She had to know you personally, you have to give her your house address and everything about you. It was terrible I was so embarrassed.
In the initial days, you were into movies more like for the love of it and anybody who got on any pedestal at that time was purely on merit. Nollywood was not as wild as it is now. There was not much of the issue of sexual harassment then. I think Nollywood was decent then. It wasn’t as wild as now. Most of the people I met then were like father figures. It was even worse when they got to know your family. They felt they had to watch out for you. Sometimes when I was loitering around Zeb Ejiro’s office then he would shout and order me home and I’d have to immediately take a bus and go home. We weren’t that many, it was a small world. Everybody knew everybody. There wasn’t too much money in the game so nobody was trying so hard to impress anybody. Most of us used to come around in slippers (laughs) and shorts. We were all family and you wouldn’t even find anybody to attract you for affairs then, unlike now when you look at another colleague and he’s all trushed up, rich, clean.
I was still a virgin when I got married.
Given my mum’s stern attitude, it is natural to think I didn’t date anybody before I got married. But, that’s not the case. I had boyfriends before I met my husband but it’s not something too deep as people may think nowadays. You just go out and have lunch together and all the rest of it. As for deep my affairs went before I met my husband, it is just to say that I got married as a virgin, so that answers the rest of the question.
Everybody already knew my husband in the family before I got married to him and he was just like one of those friends. We actually got to know his elder sister before him because he didn’t live here and when he started coming around it was like an extension of the family friend, though my mum was always suspecting that that he had something up his sleeves. She was like hmnnnnnnnnn(laughs) but my husband is a very humble and likeable guy. I think she just naturally fell in love with him and we became like family. And I guess she knew when something started between us but she was doing as if she didn’t want to know what she didn’t want to know! She didn’t want to hear any story.
When I was 18, I felt I was already an adult. We told her what we wanted to do. She found it very difficult because she felt that this is not America, this is Nigeria, nobody sees you as an adult at 18. She thought I should finish my education at the higher institution before getting married. She knew the guy was good and didn’t want me to lose him. She knew the guy would take care of me but because she was thinking of my dad’s family, she didn’t want things to go wrong and get blamed.
Growing Up Without A Father
I wish I don’t have to answer this question. My father died when I was 12. My younger brother was four while the one after him was just two years old. My mum did not see it coming because my father was so full of life. It was my father’s club Ekimomi Social Club that paid my school fees throughout my secondary school. He was working at Ikoyi Club. I remembered that lots of meetings were done after he passed on so that we can keep up with our lifestyle. I was attending Chrisland, (an elite private school in Lagos) and that was not a cheap school. My mum was like a full time housewife though she had a store where she was selling drinks. Lots of people were telling her about all sorts and incisions were made on our bodies to keep away evil. You can see the one they put on my chest. It was a very terrible period.
The most interesting thing was that everybody would be with you within a few weeks when the incident happened and all of a sudden everybody leaves. It is the worst feeling in the world because you feel confused and alone. That was where I started developing independence. I had two options at that time, it was either I went down the drain or up the ladder. I did a lot crying in private but I never cried in front of my mother. She would cry and I was always telling her everything would be alright. But anytime I left her for my room, I would cry. My brothers had to move to another school because Chrisland was too expensive and by then I had gained admission into Command Secondary School, Kaduna. My mum had to struggle. There were times when we did not have food to eat.
I went to a money lender, sold our TV and Video sets to pay my brother’s school fees.
I tried to keep busy and even though my mum was not in approval of what I was doing it was helping. The modeling and acting helped. And I’ve always been a shrewd person. Though my mum was not willing to take the money I was making but there was no where else money was coming from. I remembered a particular experience. There was this particular actor that was called Black. I used to go to Zeb Ejiro’s office and he knew about my struggles. My brother’s school fees was due and there was no money.
The people that were supposed to pay couldn’t come up with the money. I was at Zeb’s office crying when the Black guy saw me and asked what the problem was. I told him and he promised to help. He took me to one man who did Visa for people to travel out. I met lots of people in the man’s sitting room seeking help. When we met him he asked what my problem was and everybody’s attention shifted to me. I just started crying considering the background I came from. He loaned me some money and I was supposed to pay the Black guy the money from a job I did. Unfortunately, they didn’t pay me on time. The Black guy turned my life into a living misery. It got to a point where I had to sell personal effects from my house. I had to sell our TV and video to pay him which were the only consolation my younger brothers had. My mother cried during that period and it was then that my mother told me never to borrow money again. Yet, I didn’t take it against Black because he was there for me when I needed help. It got to a point where he was threatening my life because the guy was threatening his too. That was the peak of our suffering.
Mortal Inheritance was my fifth movie but it shot me into limelight
A lot of people thought Mortal Inheritance is my first movie because it shot me into limelight. It was officially my fifth but it came out as my fourth, coming out before Abused. Then, unlike now, you first have to be a local star in the movie circle before you’ll now be projected to the world. There was still a measure of formality then unlike now where you come from nowhere, do one movie and you’ll start feeling like a star and they start calling you top actress. In those days you came on set and you see the people that are older than you in the industry and you have to show them respect because you know that these same people are the ones that would recommend you.
I was one of the first to earn N150,000 per movie
The defining period for Nollywood came with Onome and Rattlesnake in 1995/1996. People started turning to it. I was one of the people that started earning good money like N150,000, N200,000 but before that time it was just between N30,000—N70,000. And even the first time, they were telling me I was overpaid and the guy is still owing me N5000 (laughs). That was when the traders started trading with the Nigerian movie industry and later became marketers. It was that period that they came in that it now moved into home video the way it is now.
Stories were very balanced then, not written to project any particular region but towards 1997 things changed. I don’t blame them (the Igbos) for doing what they did, naturally I think you will want to project where you are from. I don’t think the Igbos necessarily buy more movies. Till date, the people that still goes to the theater to watch cinemas are Yorubas. I don’t think Igbos are still buying more movies than Yorubas but I think the bone of contention is that people think they should have been doing the movies in Igbo language so that we’ll know that they are doing Igbo movies. A filmmaker will not do a film based on a belief but because they were not film makers they projected their belief and I don’t blame them.
The Igbos took over Nollywood because they are better businessmen while people like the late Hubert Ogunde made great, in-depth pictures just for the love of the arts.
The theater started in the west with the likes of Hubert Ogunde but somehow the Igbos seems to have taken over especially when you are talking about home videos not cinema. I think it’s because they are business men. When Hubert Ogunde and the rest of them started it wasn’t because of business it was for the love of the game. I’ve watched some of these movies that were done back in those days and you could see the depth of art and you could tell that most of these people weren’t paid in millions but they enjoyed what they were doing, pictures that could live to any standard. These days a lot of people are more interested in doing movies for the gains. The first Igbo people that joined then were traders but now we have people who have transcended from traders to producers and marketers but in the beginning they just came in as business men.
I once heard that there was a gang-up to get me out of Nollywood because I was getting too powerful for an outsider.
When I started in the movie industry, we had a lot of independent producers then who just wanted to work. You didn’t have to be Igbo, Hausa ,Yoruba then to be in Nollywood. We had people from every tribe in Nollywood but as time went on I remember a notable producer whom I don’t want to name but I’m sure if he’s reading this interview he’ll know I’m talking about him and he’ll probably be laughing. He called me and sat me down because he was like a godfather to me. He said you are a very bright act but there is a gang-up against you and you really have to be careful because some people have vowed to get you out of Nollywood. And I said what did they say I did wrong? He said because I’m not from their place and I’m becoming too powerful as an outsider. Actually, there were two of us that he talked about. The other person was a lead actor and I don’t want to mention his name as well. He is also not Igbo. They said both of us were becoming too powerful and we were outsiders and that there was a gang up to move us out of Nollywood.
He was really scared because the people that they were talking about were powerful. I laughed and said I was not going to bow at anybody’s feet just to win their admiration or anything. I believe I got to where I am on merit and by God’s grace I believe those two things should sustain me and if they don’t I’ll just fall back to business and in the mean time I have a man taking care of me so I won’t suffer. I remember him bursting out laughing and saying he should be discussing with the guy and not me. After that discussion I looked out for the signs of the gang-up. Maybe they came but I didn’t notice. Most of the people that have employed me are actually Igbos. To me there is no balance in that story. Maybe it happened and I didn’t notice, maybe people tried and they gave up or maybe they are still trying.
I don’t know what they mean by I was getting powerful but I think if you comport yourself in a certain way in an industry that was beginning to employ a lot of people with many suffering from poverty syndrome and people talk a lot to curry favour and some people do other things to get work and stuff. When you don’t fall into those categories, don’t greet anybody specially or call them any special name, you don’t attend their naming ceremony if you don’t feel obliged to so that they can count you worthy; at that point they start to feel who the hell do you think you are. Maybe when they meet with their friends they talk about it and end up saying ‘but we need am sha’.
Yeas, I’ve heard those things like producers telling people to change to Igbo names. I don’t think anybody will risk telling me that to my face because they know that I might talk. I might say we have talked about it because we joke about it. People say I look like an Igbo girl. They gave me names like Ugonma. Instead of calling me Omotola they call me Ugonma in the movies. I don’t have any problems with it because my husband is half Igbo. I don’t see it as a slight on my person but as a continuation of who I am. I understand also that people think I’m Igbo because when I went to the market in those days people used to speak Igbo to me.
Top actors and actresses were banned to drive down our fees and pave way for new actors and actresses.
Actually before the one-year ban happened I was told it was going to happen. There were so many things some of us heard and then when it happened there were so many other things that you now saw on the news and we were like are they trying to confuse us. The people that we heard were going to be banned were a certain kind of people (I don’t want to say more than that) and then we felt if it was because of this why is this person there or what am I doing there. It was one event that was confusing in a lot of ways. What we arrived at as the reason is that they were probably doing it to push down our fees.
Some people were not from a particular region, also that they wanted to launch some new faces into the industry at a cheaper cost. Obviously, they’d been struggling to do it because of us. There were some personal things also like somebody insulted one person, also that some people came on set with big cars. That was the most ridiculous of it all, and that some people tell the producers to pay their fees into their accounts. But we’ve come to agree that the reason was simply because of the pay because most of the people on that list are the highest earners.
I think initially it worked because they had to bring up a lot of propaganda to justify their actions and to get the whole public to lose respect for us. Things like Omotola is a snob, she’s very troublesome on set and people are like why is she like that now? There were all kinds of rumours about those on that list just to get us on the wrong side of public opinion and tilt goodwill towards the new person that they were bringing. Even journalists helped them hype it a bit but after a while the whole thing just died down.
I invest in real estate
I’m comfortable. I invest. I’m a business woman even before the so called boom in Nollywood. I was making money from other things. The only thing I don’t do is buy and sell because I feel I’m not cut out for that. I don’t think I have the temperament for that. I’ll lose money.
I think a lot of us have seen what happens all over the world and are wise. We don’t want to end up being famous and then ending up in poverty. If you are from my generation of actors and that happens to you then they are following you from the village because you should have known better. I think a lot of my colleagues are money-wise.
I invest in estate. As a matter of fact, I studied estate management. To invest in estate you have to check out the history of the property and that’s a major mistake a lot of people make. They forget that all that glitters is not gold. You go to buy a property in a place and you forget that it is dry and that there is something called raining season. And then the property that you bought and thought should increase in value at a point starts to depreciate, the area has a long standing history of increasing and then depreciating because of the condition of that environment. That explains the reason why some places are always vacant. When a place is questionably vacant, that’s why you should do extra check. Ask questions.
Don’t feel like you are the luckiest person in the world. To make money in real estate business, at times, you don’t need to go for the most expensive property, sometimes you can project what the place will look like in the next 10 years. I remember my aunty and uncle then who own Chrisland Schools, they told me that when they bought the place they built Chrisland in Opebi, the place was in the bush and they almost didn’t take it. You also have to project and check with the government to see what the area plan of that place is. Some of them have ten year- plan. The value of a place goes up based on the type of houses that are around it. Other people don’t have that kind of information and they wonder why you buy acres upon acres and later when they see it they want to buy that same place from you or beg you to take that place. You don’t have to sit down and go for high-end property if you don’t have millions. You can actually buy a place, refurbish it, and then lease it out or sell it. A lot of people don’t think like that, they want to buy a property just because they want to live there but you can actually buy a property, refurbish it, bring up the value and sell it.
If you are a star, nobody wants to see you looking very ordinary but don’t borrow money to service the show. The show has to come before business but don’t forget the business.
Yes, you can’t be in showbiz and not be glamorous. It’s called show business, the show has to come before business but then don’t forget the business. I think a lot of people get it wrong when they do the show and they forget the business and some do too much of the business and they forget about the show. You have to find a balance between two of them. People like Puff Daddy became who they are today because they put up an image. If you are a star and you are worth being celebrated nobody wants to see you looking very ordinary, they want to see something about you that they feel like waoh otherwise you are not worth being talked about. That’s what you are there for.
Give them things to talk about, that’s why you shouldn’t be too upset when people gossip about you. If they don’t talk about you, who are they going to gossip about? It’s your cross, so carry it. The moment you sign up to be an entertainer you sign your life out for people to sit down and use. Some people will use you to make themselves feel better which might hurt you. In showbiz you have to be glamorous as much as you can but you must not forget about the business that is what keeps the show.
There were times that I started out that I was not using cars that were very glamorous. I was driving then a jalopy BMW three series but I knew then that I had to be glamorous but I couldn’t afford anything better. Those were the times I had just started and I knew that I had to plan. I was driving that and taking the shame but I was planning. If you are just starting out don’t do more than yourself, don’t borrow money to service the show, and don’t run into trouble to service the show. Take it one step at a time and be focused, know that this is where I want to get to, this is what I’m supposed to be like. So the business can now propel the show and make enough money to do the show.
The day I sang ‘Naija l’o wa’ for armed robbers
I’ve had brushes with armed robbers. The one that stole my car wasn’t an armed robber. He was my driver. The one that took my own laptop was the armed robber. The guy took my laptop by mistake. I was in the Lincoln Navigator that had Omo- Sexy on its number plate. I was coming back from a set and it was very late. I was with my make-up artist and driver. They stopped us, about eight of them.
They had first offloaded everything from the car into their own bus and later said they wanted to take the car away. They made all of us lie down on the floor. It was at night and they didn’t even see me. They were shooting into the air and they were asking us if we had guns and they were checking because my car windows were tinted. My driver kept arguing with them, so they hit him with the gun because he was even speaking Igbo with them and they were like how dare you start speaking our language with us. They grabbed me by the collar to come show them where the security of the car was. I kept saying there was no security and they were like it’s a lie there must be security in this kind car. I was looking down all the while and I now turned to him and told him there was no security, why would I be lying? Would I be lying and let you shoot me?
As I turned they now saw my face and shouted, Omo Sexy. I think they know that my cars are always branded so he went to look at my number plate and he saw Omo Sexy. They said I should sing ‘Naija lo wa’ for them. That was how they returned everything back to the car. Actually the guy that recognized me actually had a long battle with their boss on the phone who was somewhere else because one of the guys that was there did not want to agree, he kept saying ‘oga said we should bring the car’. I think they wanted to use the car for another operation. While I was there they argued a lot about the car.
…The leader of the gang’s wife wanted to be an actress.
That guy really fought for me, I think he was a leader of that gang. He just stood and asked them to return everything. He said he didn’t want any money, they returned all the money they collected from us to the last N20 and that’s why I said that laptop had to be a mistake. He checked and asked if everything was back with us and I said yes. Till today I have his number. After they returned everything he told me that his wife is my fan and she wanted to be an actress. He asked for my number. I wanted to give him the wrong number but my make-up artist said if I give him the wrong number they might hunt me down. So, I gave him my right number and that day before we got home they called me more than three times because they told us to start driving home. When we got to the gate we sat on the floor and started crying. They called and asked if we were at home now and I said yes, they asked if we have locked the gate we said yes and they asked why are you crying? And, I said no, I’m not crying o (laughs). He said did anybody beat you, did any of my boys slap you, I said no. So why are you crying, you are upsetting me with the way you are crying, so I said we are not crying, we are not crying, so I started cleaning my face, Go inside your house and go and sleep.
…They told me they were going to rob the Marina Branch of a bank
They told me they were going to the Marina branch of a bank (name of the first generation bank withheld) to operate and they would call me if it was successful or not and I was like ehhhhhh, there is trouble today. I was asking my people if I should call the police and they were like which police do you want to call. I was terrified when he told me where they wanted to go and rob. For a long time he kept calling and texting me that if I have any problem I should call him.
I’ve thought about making a movie about the experience and I will someday. The guy actually told me some things that night and subsequently he sent a text that ‘does it mean that when I was telling you my story you weren’t listening?’ He told me some things about his private life, his wife, about how he wanted to leave the job and that was going to be his last operation. I thought he could be lying because most of them say all those same things. He sent me a text that is it that I don’t believe what he said that day and that he wants to meet with me but I refused.
There was another incident before that one, I was coming from location again and my husband was coming back from his flight. He called me to ask where I was. I was in Festac and I told him to you come over since I was on my last scene and we could drive home together. He came over and when I finished we started driving through that express road. He was in front of me, he was driving a BMW seven series, I was driving seven series also behind. They had robbed him and then they came to me and knocked on my window and I wound down and he said give me your bag. I turned to give him my bag and then the other one just opened the door and sat in and said give me your bag and I said I just gave the other guy my bag. He just pushed my head and said why did I give him my bag, they were in a hurry and when my husband saw that there was one in my car and was staying long he came down from the car and he started walking towards my car. The guy in my car came down and pointed the gun at him and all his other colleagues did the same and they told him that if he didn’t go back they were going to shoot him and I started pleading with him to go back into his car. That was another terrifying moment for me.
I play with my phone when my husband is watching me in a romantic scene.
Sometimes when my husband is watching a movie where I’m playing a romance role, he’s like ahh, Omo Sexy, the guy’s hand was going too far o or when it’s a kissing scene I just starts looking at my phone and he will say leave the phone, watch, you are the one that did it. We play about it. It’s not a comfortable thing but I think he’s just matured about it.
As my in-laws, my mother in law is extremely psychedelic. She’s like a white woman.
But, playing a romantic role is not always romantic when you have to do it with somebody with mouth odour and so on. I have had to deal with a romantic scene with somebody who has a mouth or body odour and it’s not a pleasant situation. You have to smile and do the kissing and just try to make it as convincing as possible. You can go and cry afterwards.
Yes, I get tempted when playing romantic scenes but it does not go beyond the set.
As for whether it is possible to get stimulated while playing romantic role, it is possible. I’ll be lying if I say once or twice it had not crossed my mind that I should transfer what’s on scene to real life. Once or twice I’d thought that this guy is not so bad but if you have experience it’ll just be like a flash. You know when you get to work with a person for like two weeks or more than that, naturally you get fond of the person. If you are wise you will understand that this is just a periodic thing. Why didn’t I like this person all this while, why now? And the minute you are not with this person it begins to fall off your eyes, no more getting fond of each other. I think that’s the biggest risk that actors go through psychologically.
I’m a thinker. I have learnt and understudied Hollywood, at some point in my career I sat down and studied how it works. By the time it started happening I already knew how to detach. All you naturally need at that period was to stay away from the person as much as possible. It’s nothing absurd or something to be ashamed of but you just need to control yourself till you finish shooting. The truth of the matter is that once you finish shooting, just like a door was left open it just gets shut and that’s it. The problem is when you start feeling like that about something, you should know that it’s going to end. It’s like couples that are divorced and every other person saw it coming but them, before they got married. Every other person saw that it will never work but they wouldn’t see it because they are so engrossed in their feeling, in their thought. I think the wise thing to do at that period is to know that everybody can’t be wrong.
I have never fought my husband over a girl
Before you get married, there are so many things you wouldn’t take ordinarily because you don’t have to answer to anybody or tolerate anybody. When you are angry you could close your room and not talk to anybody but when you are married and you are angry you can’t close your room
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Posted by 9jabook.com on April 20, 2009 at 11:43am
Two corps members serving in Lagos are now guests of the police after they were caught having sex in the open at the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Secretariat in Surulere on Thursday.
While their colleagues were busy struggling to get posted to areas where they would do their primary assignment, the two suspects preferred to engage in sexual exercise at a corner around the secretariat in the afternoon from where they attracted the attention of the NYSC authorities.
Saturday Independent learnt on Friday night that the police were immediately invited to pick them up after the male Corps member, who hails form Benue State, studied Psychology and graduated from the Kogi State University in Ayimgba, told the NYSC authorities that he had the right to have sex anywhere with his female lover.
Sources said he told the NYSC authorities that there was no law in the country that indicated where lovers should have sexual intercourse.
Although the female Corps member, a former student of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri, who hails from Imo State, was said to have appeared remorseful, this newspaper learnt that her boyfriend told the NYSC Camp Commandant that he could not hold the sexual urge after not seeing his partner in a long while.
Although our correspondent could not confirm how long they have been in the relationship and whether they have got a place for their primary assignment, sources said the NYSC authorities in Lagos are poised to set example with them, hence the police invitation.
Contacted on Friday, the police promised to get back to our reporter, which they were yet to do till press time.
Meanwhile, a Magistrate's Court in Osogbo on Friday sentenced 13 persons comprising 11 women and two men to a two-year jail term each for prostitution.
They are Ebony Osale (29), Sandra Monchi (32), Bola Oni (21), Mercy Obiriki (29), Titilayo Olalere (24) and Blessing Ayo (21).
Others are Joy Saji (24), Opeyemi Abioye (25), Linder Akpan (29), Happy Osaji (29) and Peace Uba (25).
The males among them are Olaoluwa Gbuyibo (27) and Oseni Jelili (24).
Police Prosecutor, Taiwo Adegoke, had earlier told the court that on April 11 the convicts paraded themselves for immoral purposes at Morak Hotel, Osogbo.
They all pleaded guilty to the charge and Magistrate Adebayo Ajala gave them an option of N500 fine each.
He, however, rejected their plea that the economic meltdown pushed them into prostitution and advised them to engage themselves in profitable businesses.
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Ahmadinejad says Israel leading cause of racism; U.S., Australia boycott racism conference
Massive walkouts by Western Delegates ensues during The conference just now at about 2.33pm gmt Lagos 3.33pm after two protesters were walked out of the Conference hall one even threw objects at The Iranian leader .
US, Australia Shuns UN Racism Conference
By 9jabook News
The United States announced Saturday it will not attend a United Nations conference on racism set to start Monday in Geneva and have kept heir word.
State Department spokesman Robert Wood says the U.S. will boycott the conference "with regret" because of objectionable language in the meeting's draft declaration.
Wood said that despite some improvements, it seemed clear the declaration will not address U.S. concerns about restrictions on freedom of expression.
Still, he said the United States "will work with all people and nations" to put an end to racism and discrimination.
Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said in a statement Sunday that Canberra has also decided to boycott the conference, because Australia is concerned that the meeting will be used as a platform to air offensive views, including anti-Semitic views.
Smith said Canada will also skip the conference. European Union members have yet to decide whether they will attend.
The five-day meeting is a follow-up to a 2001 conference in Durban, South Africa. The United States and Israel walked out of those talks over an attempt by some participants to link Zionism with racism.
Press TV - Iran lambastes Zionist Israelis for sowing the seeds of racism, which has led to a leap in heinous hate crimes committed throughout the world.
"Wars, aggression, unfair political and economic relations, terror and occupation are the outcomes of racist theology -- the frontrunner of which is Israel," Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told reporters in Tehran on Sunday ahead of his departure for Geneva where he plans to take part in a UN anti-racism summit.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
The president described Zionism as a clear manifestation of racism and said that "Zionists seek to take control of the world's political and media centers in order to loot and belittle nations."
The scheduled attendance of Ahmadinejad at the UN-backed "Durban II" conference and his planned talks with Swiss President Hans-Rudolf Merz has sparked fury in Tel Aviv, which views the Iranian chief executive as "a holocaust denier."
Israeli officials, in recent weeks, have stepped up efforts to persuade European countries to follow in the footsteps of Canada, Israel, Italy, Australia and the United States, and boycott the meeting.
The US, which had initially announced that it would take part in the conference, revealed it final stance on Saturday. "With regret, the United States will not join the review conference," said State Department spokesman Robert Wood, citing objectionable language in the meeting's draft declaration.
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Breaking NewsA British man who has been freed by a Nigerian militant group is undergoing a debriefing by local authorities after being held captive for more than seven months. Skip related contentRobin Hughes has been freed by Nigerian militantsShip captain Robin Hughes, 59, originally from St Margaret's Bay, near Dover, Kent, was among 27 oil workers kidnapped when their oil supply vessel was hijacked on September 9.The majority of the crew were later released but Mr Hughes and fellow Briton Matthew Maguire remained hostages of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend).Mr Hughes, whose wife, Adina, and 16-year-old daughter, Elenice, live in Brazil, was handed over to military officials in Nigeria's southern oil region on Sunday on health grounds.His younger brother, Simon Hughes, 48, from Blackstone, West Sussex, said he had been suffering from a foot infection and was on antibiotics.He said: "He is undergoing a debriefing interview today with the Nigerian authorities. He sounded very much like the brother I know when I spoke to him on the phone, which was a great relief because we were concerned how this would affect him."He was in good spirits. I asked him whether he felt OK and he said 'Not really' because of the infection he is suffering from in his foot."Mr Hughes was also able to relay some positive news to the family of Mr Maguire, from Birkenhead, Merseyside, who remains the sole British captive of the militants."My brother said Matthew was fit and well and doing OK," said Mr Hughes. The good news is that we have been able to give that information to Matthew's family, which is important because information is so hard to come by over there."He is still being held captive. We haven't heard anything to say he will be released but we are hoping he will be."
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The duel of the Oligarchs reached a denouement Thursday, April 16, 2009 when the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), absolved Alhaji Aliko Dangote of any wrong-doing over the recent shares scam that pitted him against his erstwhile friend and business mogul, Mr. Femi Otedola; with the latter accusing the former of colluding with Lagos stock broking firm, Nova Finance and Securities Ltd and its Managing Director, Mr. Eugene Anenih, to perpetrate the fraud.
Following a meeting with the stakeholders - AP Plc, Nova, Dangote, Nigerian Stock Exchange, Central Securities Clearing System Ltd (CSCS) and Afribank Registrars Ltd, the SEC said in a statement Thursday that: “Nova Finance and its managing director employed manipulative and deceptive devices and contrivances in its transactions on AP Plc shares between February 11 and March 20, 2009 contrary to rule 110(1) (d) of the Rules and Regulations of the Commission,” adding that: “Nova Finance and its managing director manipulated the market by engaging in transactions, which had the effects of lowering the price of AP shares on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, contrary to Section 106 of the ISA 2007.”
Aliko Dangote and Femi Otedola: when the going was good… The statement signed by its Media Head, Mr. Lanre Oloyi suspended Nova from all capital market activities for one year, with effect from April 16, 2009. Besides, Nova and its Managing Director, Eugene Anenih were fined N190,000, - N5,000 per day for 38 days - for violating Rule 177 and the code of conduct for market operators. Anenih has also been disqualified from being employed in any arm of the securities industry for five years, until April 16, 2014. In addition, he has been referred to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for further investigation and possible prosecution.
Although the SEC report acknowledged that “the managing director of Nova Finance had, within the period of eight weeks, consistently consummated cross-deals involving 50,000 units of AP shares per transaction between its company and Dangote’s accounts,” it concluded that it "did not find any evidence" to show that Dangote, a client of Nova, instructed the stock broking firm and its Managing Director, Anenih "to carry out any of the transactions in AP Plc, purportedly done on his behalf."
However, anomalies fortify the doubt that greeted the SEC final report. Close sources to Otedola told 9jabook that Dangote played hardball and muzzled Anenih to retract earlier statements he had made to the SEC. Anenih, according to the SEC report claimed that he got oral mandate through telephone calls from Dangote to effect the transactions. But Dangote's representative, told the SEC neither Dangote nor any one acting on his behalf have any recollection of such conversations, arguing that Dangote, did not, at anytime, give any mandate to Nova to carry out the transactions.
Following this rebuttal, Anenih retracted his earlier statement that he received Alhaji Dangote's mandate to carry out the transactions. “The managing director of Nova Finance agreed that he did not have any mandate from Alhaji Aliko Dangote to carry out those transactions, contrary to Sections 98 and 99 of the Investments and Securities Act (ISA) 2007 and Rules 100(4) and 177 of the Commission’s Rules and Regulations, which required all capital market operators to maintain proper and adequate records of transactions,” the SEC report said. The unexplained volte face by Eugene Anenih has prompted speculation of foul play by Dangote. Sources close to Anenih who elected anonymity told 9jabook that Anenih has just been made to pay the price as a scapegoat.
Little wonder, Otedola’s supporters dismissed Eugene Anenih’s roundabout turn and mea culpas as tele-guided by Dangote, saying the SEC should have subpoena Anenih’s phone records as part of the investigation of Dangote’s involvement in the share scam. They dismissed the SEC verdict absolving Dangote of wrong doing as a slap on the wrist, and wondered why the SEC found nothing wrong with the apparent conflict of interest involving Nova and Dangote (who also doubles as the NSE vice-president), besides, advising the NSE to “review its rules and procedures for appointing or electing its council members in order to ensure good corporate governance and avoid conflict of interest situations”.
If anyone had thought the bitter rivalry between the two tycoons will be over, then think again. The AP Plc shares scam cost Otedola an estimated $700 million. Otedola; hitherto Nigeria's only other billionaire in the Forbes list, has seen his net worth dropped from $1.2 billion to $500. Aliko Dangote is now the only Nigerian in this prestigious billionaires club. 9jabook has learnt that Otedola has vowed to exact his revenge, blaming Dangote for the breaking a gentleman's agreement that claimed AP shareholders as victims, including Otedola himself. This potential clash of egos; what Forbes magazine qualified as a "settlement of personal scores" between the former friends has set the stage for the next chapter in the unfolding saga.
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Posted by Samuel Great on April 18, 2009 at 1:57am
How to Start a Free MagazineIt's possible to make a free magazine by selling advertising space to cover the costs of producing your magazine. It's even possible to earn a profit from making a free magazine if your publication has enough readers to command higher advertising rates. Advertisers will pay premium rates to have ads in publications that have a widespread readership or that are highly targeted to their ideal customer.Step1Decide on the topic of your free magazine. You could make a free local or regional publication focusing on local news and information, or you could make a free niche content publication related to a specific area, such as craftmaking or boating. Even though your magazine is free, you want to choose a topic that will attract a lot of readers so that you can charge premium rates for advertising space.Step2Determine who your target reader will be. If you are making a boating publication, your target reader will be those interested in boating or those who own boats. If your publication is related to a geographic region, your target reader will be those who live in or would be interested in visiting the area. Keep your potential advertisers in mind when determining your target reader. If you can't think of a business that would want to market to your target reader, you may want to consider choosing a different topic. Since your magazine is free, the revenue you earn through advertising must pay for all of your operating costs, therefore you must be able to attract quality advertisers.Step3Estimate your budget. Keep in mind all of your operating costs plus any additional income you wish to earn by publishing a free magazine. This is the amount you will need to earn through advertising. Use this number to break down the costs of advertising space in your free publication that you will sell to advertisers.Step4Make a list of potential advertisers. Your advertisers should make sense with your target reader. For example, local businesses would want to advertise in a local publication, and any business selling boats or boating supplies would be an ideal advertiser for a boating publication. Think of enough potential advertisers that you would be able to meet your budget to cover the costs of producing your free magazine even if only a few of them purchase advertising.Step5Create your content. Write your own content, if you choose, or hire freelance writers or volunteer contributors to write articles. Since your magazine is free, you will want to keep your costs as low as possible.Step6Lay out the visual appearance of your magazine. You can do this using a number of programs, such as Microsoft Publisher, Adobe PageMaker, or even Microsoft Word. Some of these programs have templates that you can use to aid you in creating the layout for your magazine. Be sure to leave space available for advertisements in several different sizes. Completing this process yourself on your home computer will help to keep the costs of producing your free publication down. Be sure to display the word "free" clearly on the cover of your publication, so people can see at a glance that the magazine is free of charge.Step7Sell your advertising space to your advertisers. You may want to have a sample copy of your first issue printed out so you can show your advertisers the visual ad space that is available. They may also want to read your content to decide if the topics covered in your publication are in line with their advertising objectives. The fact that your magazine is free is encouraging to advertisers, because it means more readers are likely to see their ads.Step8Place the ads you've sold in the layout of your free magazine. Some advertisers will have their own ads they want to use, while others may want you to create ads for them. If you're not skilled in graphic design, you may need to enlist the help of a graphic designer. Encourage your advertisers to provide their own ads, because hiring a graphic designer can be expensive.Step9Take your magazine to a printer to have a test run of several hundred copies printed. Start with a low number to keep your costs down until you determine how many copies you will need. If your free magazine will be a monthly publication, it is better to run out of copies a few days before the next issue is out than to have hundreds of copies left over at the end of the month.Step10Approach your advertisers and other businesses to place your free magazine in their physical locations. Many businesses have racks in the front of their buildings to hold free publications.Your free magazine will probably gain popularity as it gains more exposure. Starting with a low number of copies and gradually increasing the number of copies you make with each issue is the best way to keep your costs down while you build your business.An alternative to traditional publishing is to host your magazine on the Internet. Instead of laying out your magazine in Microsoft Publisher or another program, you would use web design software. You can sell advertising space on the Internet the same as in a print publication, and your only additional expense would be the cost of your domain name and hosting. Your magazine would be free to anyone to access from the internet. www.digitalproductsolution.blogspot.comRead more…
Re: Soludo: Decision time for Yar’adua - by Garba Deen Muhammad
DEENGARBA@GMAIL.COM
published here in August of last year under the title: “Soludo: Why the North would miss him”.
But I do affirm that whereas Soludo is not and could not have been the cause of poverty, ignorance and other social problems in the North, some of the policies he pursued tended to aggravate those problems. Among such policies were his banks’ consolidation policy; his recruitment policy and, lately, his decision to redefine the operations of Bureau de Change that places the impoverished region in even greater disadvantage.
It is also necessary to state that it is of no consequence to me who replaces Soludo; that is President Yar’adua’s problem. Nothing our leaders do would shock us any more. Like millions of Nigerians, I am oppressed by micro issues such as how to pay my children’s school fees, how to get out of my mortgage, how not to fall sick, and which number to call should armed robbers visit my neighbourhood in the middle of the night. These are supposed to be government’s concern too, but where is the government? I oppose a renewed tenure for Soludo because I believe he’s become too controversial (a very charitable choice of word) to continue to head a sensitive institution like the central bank.
As for the tragic situation in the North, there is absolutely no ambiguity about who is responsible. It is the northern military establishment, the northern political class and the northern traditional institution, in that order, that have conspired to turn a once vibrant, promising region into a bastion of squalor and despair. Even the ‘ignorant and illiterate’ ever-suffering people of the North have become aware who their oppressors are; which means that a climax and a change might be just a sunset or a sunrise away.
Re: Soludo: Decision time for Yar’adua
I read your above captioned article and felt depressed. For God’s sake what is the problem with us northerners? What is new that our leaders will need to learn from? You only learn from your mistakes and ignorance. They know everything, from the reasons for our backwardness to the solutions. The simple explanation is that we celebrate poverty in the north.
Northerners derive joy in the misery of their neighbours. Check out most of our leaders’ relations and neighbours and see whether you will not see abject poverty and illiteracy there. I am not talking about their G.R.A. neighbours; no, I am talking about people that helped in their upbringing in one way or the other.
Let each and every northerner search within him or her to see whether we are doing the right thing to our brethren. Thank you and keep up the good work.
Halima Idris < htaurean@yahoo.com>
Let me start by saying that it is normal to have the kind of sentiments you have about the situation in the North since you are a Northerner. But what I find unsettling is how you managed to bring the blame to Soludo’s court.
First of all, for ideological reasons, I’m not a fan of Soludo and his policies. However, if the issue you are raising is poverty in the North, you have been quite unbalanced in the blame you apportioned to Soludo in causing it. Although, you highlighted rightly in your article the poor leadership in the North, you did not apportion to it the weight it deserved.
I’m a bit surprised also that you are crying foul with respect to marginalisation. Even though recruitment in Nigeria that seeks to make equal representation of ethnic groups rather than merit is one of the problems we have (I strongly support that fields such as ‘state of origin’ should be completely removed from admission and employment forms), I think what Soludo did (if your accusation is right at all) is fair to the North. In other ministries and parastatals where northerners have been in charge, southerners have also been marginalised.
Chibueze < junijustin@yahoo.com>
Your grouse with Mr Soludo is summarised as follows: a) Recapitalisation and restructuring Nigerian banks; b) Failure to recognise federal character in the employment of central bank staff; c) The allegation that he enriched himself and d) patronising the North by recognising its unprecedented level of poverty and illiteracy.
The question is, how many times have you written any articles about individuals like Mr Ibrahim Babangida, Mr Abdulsalam Abubakar, Ibrahim Tahir, Sani Abacha, President Yar’adua and many others who have consistently raped and plundered the fortunes of your people?
You have not spoken or written about the unparalleled level of illiteracy and its corresponding effects in the North, yet you criticise other people who are doing their best to highlight the deliberate injustice engineered and perpetuated by the so-called northern elites in order that the people would remain as primitive as ever.
Ikem Onyia < Stage65049@aol.com>
From the content of your write-up, it appears you do not like Professor Soludo and you do not want him appointed for second term. Let me say here that I am not a fan of Soludo either but it will be wrong to insinuate that the CBN governor brought poverty to the northern states of Nigeria. It will also be wrong to say he aggravated the level of poverty in the North.
I served Nigeria as a ‘youth corper’ in 1987 in the then Kano state and I saw poverty at its highest level in the town where I served—Gumel. Soludo was not known in Nigeria during those periods, so why should we blame him now? Mallam Garba, sometimes the problem lies with us and not outsiders. You northerners will then need to search yourself and find a solution.
Gbenga < fgafolabi@aim.com>
I was quite impressed with your write up on the above and how the North is being made to suffer from backwardness, thanks to our so-called leaders. Even with the emergence of the Yar’adua government which we thought might bring us back to the lime light, the reverse is the case: the North has really been marginalised.
Ibrahim Sheik < ibrahimpizzo@yahoo.com>
Parks, alcohol and the right to revel
Your response to Professor Okello’s write-up appears anything but an aggregation of self-centred piety. The parks are not the only place criminals hide; indeed, most young people that go into crime these days are well educated and sophisticated enough to hatch their nefarious plans in the comfort of any luxurious hotel in town. Does that mean all the five star hotels or the first class restaurants where they eat in the FCT should also be demolished?
Why can’t the minister look at the more pressing issues affecting residents of the FCT like perennial power failure, incessant accidents, poor water supply, access to satellite towns, nepotism and high corruption in FCDA and its components, among others?
Udendeh Gabriel < gudendeh@cenbank.org>
We talk about Abuja as a mega city deserving foreign investment and yet keep implementing inhibitive and backward policies that are divisive and border on lack of sensitivity to other people’s rights. For goodness sake, Abuja is not a local government headquarter; it is a modern capital city for an emerging nation and must be allowed to thrive in civility.
Dr Maaki, Abuja
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Media reports that Pastor Kenneth Oyakhilome, currently pastor of Christ Embassy (CE) Church in Houston, Texas, USA was convicted in a South African court in 2007 for fraud and corruption have provoked a minor public storm amongst members of the faithful, with clarion calls for him to step aside. Court records made available to huhuonline, revealed that on September 11, 2007, Kenneth Imo Obome Oyakhilome, a.k.a Pastor Ken was convicted of fraud; fined R20,000.00 and received a two-year suspended sentence for three years with choice of imprisonment .
“We are shocked by this revelation that Ken is a convicted criminal. He is a fraudster and this is not a matter that is subject to any debate. We cannot have the Gospel of Jesus Christ besmirched by such people, who hide behind the innocence of genuine believers to commit fraud”, exclaimed Pastor Javed Masih of the Jesus Fellowship International Society in Randburg, South Africa.
Chris Oyakhilome
When Pastor Ken left his family in South Africa and boarded a plane back to Houston, Texas, where he currently serves as Pastor of the Christ Embassy Church, CE officials in South Africa, qualified the move as a spiritual sabbatical. But it is now emerging that the decision to transfer Pastor Ken from South Africa to the USA was a well contrived attempt to douse the smoldering inferno that was threatening to consume Ken’s pastoral career and that of his elder brother, Pastor Christian Oyakhilome, who founded the Ministry and himself is now locked in a huge public relations battle to salvage his own battered credibility.
The moral questions hovering over the head of Pastor Ken, has cast a huge shadow of doubt over his elder brother, Pastor Christian, who has refused to take the blame for any problems associated with his brother’s profligacy and lack of moral character. The Christ Embassy Church in Houston, Texas, scorned requests for explanations from huhuonline while Pastor Ken continues to defy public criticisms of official misconduct, and still retains his high profile position as Pastor of the Houston Church. Yet the Pastor Brothers have been pushing to make sure that the public remembers them -- or rather, remembers what they want them to remember.
Pastor Ken is a troubled man. As long as allegations of official misconduct continue to swirl around him, the Pastor will forever be distracted from his official pastoral duties. The distraction will come chiefly from a scandal that threatens to weaken his capacity to function as an effective Spiritual guide and leader of the Houston church. At a time when the Pastor ought to be preoccupied with issues that affect the welfare of his congregation, he has been busy rehearsing how he would defend himself against serious allegations of financial impropriety and abuse of trust. Some Christ Embassy Church members have expressed genuine alarmed at the way in which Pastor Ken is reported to have run riot in South Africa and questioned whether he still has the moral high ground to continue working in Houston as “God’s Messenger.” If religiosity in general comes with the capacity to numb the intellect, and defraud and exploit the innocent faithful, the brand of Christianity that has been on the ascendance in Christ Embassy for the past decade fosters a certain incuriousness that borders on total intellectual surrender.
For the truth of the matter is that in its practices and dynamics, the Christ Embassy Church itself has become an expression of the character of its founders. In the current configuration, the Christ Embassy Church operates more or less like a business enterprise out to make profit. It was no coincidence that Pastor Ken was more to be seen mixing it with the South African political elite (governors, ministers,), than with ordinary members of his Congregation. Such was the social proximity between the Christ Embassy Church officials and the South African elite that rumors were floated that the Christ Embassy Church and Pastor Ken had the political benediction of the ruling ANC party in South Africa. Pastor Ken, in a dynamic that works quite well for the Church and serves the ends of holders of political power, attends their (office holders') birthday ceremonies, blesses their respective families, and, at the end of each year, unfailingly prophesies positive things for the country they so spectacularly misgovern. In return, he reinforced public perceptions of being a handmaiden of political power in a country where the majority of the population (including most of his own congregation) continues to wallows in absolute immiseration?
Shell-shocked Christ Embassy Church members in South Africa are still at a loss to understand a situation where Pastor Ken who was (and in some quarters, still is) widely respected for his preachings on austerity and moral rectitude, has now abandoned Christ’s gospel of austere pietism to embrace material aggrandizement and conspicuous consumption. Before his sojourn in South Africa, the Christ Embassy Church was renowned for its emphasis on a rigorous, no frills personal regime for its members. Such unflattering apothegm was a testament to the perceived doctrinal severity of the Christ Embassy Church. This image was to change with the ascendance of Pastor Ken - and the Church's rapid transition into a new era, marked by a departure from this somber model and the development of a new, less abstemious, theological outlook whose modus operandi was primitive material accumulation. Court records showed that Pastor Ken owned a fleet of luxury cars including: a Red Chrysler; a Silver Mercedes Benz; a Gold-pleated Peugeot 407 and a Black Audi 8-cylinder series. And although married with three children, Pastor Ken paraded a harem of wivelets and mistresses drawn mostly from the congregation, including married women, who share his bedroom under the euphemistic guise of “serving the man of God.”
For emphasis, the point now is not about the criminal conviction of Pastor Ken or his material possessions, including his harem of girlfriends. The central nexus of the unraveling scandal raises fundamental questions about whether it is morally ethical for Pastor Ken to continue as Spiritual Guardian of the Christ Embassy Church in Houston, Texas. In the interest of full disclosure, if Pastor Christian, the founder of the Christ Embassy Ministry is certain about his junior brother’s innocence; if he is concerned about the impact of this salacious affair on the integrity of the Christ Embassy Ministry (not to forget his own patchy morality), he should advise his junior brother to step aside in order to facilitate an independent inquiry. An independent inquiry is guaranteed to produce one of two outcomes: a moral acquittal that should help to cleanse Pastor Ken of the stench that began to gush out since the scandal broke; or an indictment that would shred forever his name, his honor and his status in society. If he refuses to step aside, he can expect to preside over a disorderly Congregation for the rest of his tenure as Pastor of the Christ Embassy Church in Houston, Texas.
In proceeding, it is only fair to state that in taking its message to the world, the Christ Embassy Church has also, almost predictably, taken in a considerable part of the world. Today's Christ Embassy Ministry, with churches worldwide, is no doubt a successful religious brand, but like all brands, it has had to forge all sorts of shabby accommodations with sponsors and politicians, including even fraudsters and criminals. Obvious material success and a fatal conflation of ethos with criminal enterprise mean that the Christ Embassy Church that redefined Biblical economics is now in clear danger of being consumed by its creation. It is certainly not a good evidence of moral leadership for a Pastor to be confronted with daunting revelations of criminal conviction. With or without Pastor Ken, the Christ Embassy Church in Houston will still continue to exist. But whether it would be an effective Church or a disorderly House of worship would be determined by current and future events.
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Forget about hunting for Easter eggs. The president's daughters have a much better treat in store this holiday weekend: a new dog!
After months of anticipation, a 6-month-old Portuguese Water Dog named Bo is now calling the White House home.
First, the name. According to the Washington Post, which published confirmation of the White House dog news Sunday, Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, chose the name because their cousins have a cat named Bo and because Mrs. Obama's father was nicknamed Diddley, as in Bo Diddley. The dog is a gift from Sen. Ted Kennedy, who owns three dogs of the same breed, known for high spirits and said to be a good fit for kids with allergies (such as Malia). Kennedy had been lobbying the Obamas to get a Portuguese Water Dog (or PWD) for months.
Top Secret Meeting
The newspaper reports that the Obama girls are delighted – they've been waiting anxiously since their dad promised them a dog during his presidential campaign – and that the family, first-time dog owners, are still deciding where Bo will sleep and who will walk and feed him. Under a veil of secrecy, the Post reports, Bo actually made a trip to the White House earlier to meet the family. "The Meeting," as it was called by staffers, was a success.
But the highly-orchestrated canine delivery procedure didn't go without a few hitches.
First, news began to circulate that a Portuguese Water Dog by the name of Charlie had been selected for the First Family after a Web site called firstdogcharlie.com posted the information, and a photo, Saturday. The White House called the photo "bogus" and told news organizations (including PEOPLE) that the First Dog would make its debut Tuesday – although Bo, it is now apparent, was already at the White House over the weekend.
Dogged by Questions
Then there are the questions about the dog's origins that are sure to bedevil the Administration. The Obamas originally discussed rescuing a dog from a shelter. But valuable and highly-bred PWDs rarely show up at shelters. Bo is said to have lived with a family that decided not to keep him, but that won't likely satisfy animal rescue advocates who wanted the Obamas to take in a stray.
To help ease disappointment, according to the Washington Post, the family will make a donation to the District of Columbia Humane Society.
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Story Highlights
Saudi judge stands by decision, refuses to annul marriage of girl, 8
Girl's father arranged her marriage to a 47-year-old to settle debts, lawyer says
Appeals court declined to certify original ruling, sent case back to judge
Girl's mother says she will continue to seek daughter's divorce
By Mohammed Jamjoom
CNN
(CNN) -- A Saudi mother is expected to appeal a judge's ruling after he once again refused to let her 8-year-old daughter divorce a 47-year-old man, a relative said.
Sheikh Habib Al-Habib made the ruling Saturday in the Saudi city of Onaiza. Late last year, he rejected a petition to annul the marriage.
The case, which has drawn criticism from local and international rights groups, came to light in December when Al-Habib declined to annul the marriage on a legal technicality. His dismissal of the mother's petition sparked outrage and made headlines around the world.
The judge said the mother, who is separated from the girl's father, was not the legal guardian and therefore could not represent her daughter, the mother's lawyer, Abdullah al-Jutaili, said at the time.
The girl's husband pledged not to consummate the marriage until the girl reaches puberty, according to al-Jutaili, who added that the girl's father arranged the marriage to settle his debts with the man, who is considered "a close friend."
In March, an appeals court in the Saudi capital of Riyadh declined to certify the original ruling, in essence rejecting al-Habib's verdict, and sent the case back to al-Habib for reconsideration.
Under the Saudi legal process, the appeals court ruling meant that the marriage was still in effect, but that a challenge to the marriage was still ongoing.
The relative, who said the girl's mother will continue to pursue a divorce, told CNN the judge "stuck by his earlier verdict and insisted that the girl could petition the court for a divorce once she reached puberty."
The appeals court in Riyadh will take up the case again and a hearing is scheduled for next month, according to the relative.
Child marriages have made news in Saudi Arabia in the past year.
In a statement issued shortly after the original verdict, the Society of Defending Women's Rights in Saudi Arabia said the judge's decision went against children's "basic rights."
Marrying children makes them "lose their sense of security and safety," the group said. "Also, it destroys their feeling of being loved and nurtured. It causes them a lifetime of psychological problems and severe depression."
Zuhair al-Harithi, a spokesman for the Saudi Human Rights Commission, a government-run group, told CNN that his organization was fighting child marriages.
"Child marriages violate international agreements that have been signed by Saudi Arabia and should not be allowed," al-Harithi said.
Child marriage is not unusual, said Christoph Wilcke, a Saudi Arabian researcher for the international group Human Rights Watch, after the initial verdict.
"We've been hearing about these types of cases once every four or five months because the Saudi public is now able to express this kind of anger, especially so when girls are traded off to older men," Wilcke told CNN.
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LAGOS, April 5 (Reuters) - The U.S. Embassy in Nigeria warned on Sunday of a possible attack against diplomatic missions in Lagos, the commercial capital of Africa's biggest oil producer.
In a message to U.S. citizens living in Nigeria, the embassy said it had received reports of a possible strike against missions located close to the U.S. Consulate General in Lagos, situated in the exclusive Victoria Island neighbourhood.
"U.S. Mission Nigeria has received reports about a possible attacks against diplomatic missions in Lagos located on Walter Carrington Crescent," the message said.
Nigerian police increased their vigilance in the neighbourhood and called on U.S. citizens to report any suspicious activity.
Nigeria is the world's eighth biggest exporter of crude oil which supplies the United States and China.
Militants in the southern Niger Delta, the heartland of its oil industry, have carried out regular strikes against installations belonging to oil giants including U.S. firms.
The main militant group in the region, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), dissociated itself from the threat.
"Our struggle is a just one and our enemies are not the good people of America," it said in a statement.
The U.S. embassy message gave no details of the nature of the reports it had received regarding the possible attack in Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation divided roughly equally between Christians and Muslims.
But it said that U.S. government facilities worldwide remained in a state of heightened alert because of the threat of violence against Americans and U.S. interests.
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The ex-beauty queen, Ibinabo Fiberesima, who has been convicted for the murder of a Lagos medical doctor through reckless driving, appeared in court today as directed by the presiding judge, Justice Deborah Oluwayemi, and was sent to Kirikiri Maximum Security Prison.
The judge further ordered that the Medical Director of the prison should attend to her medical needs to ascertain her ailment.
Ibinabo broke down and wept as she was being led out of the court after the judge ordered that she should be sent to Kirikiri.
The lawyer, who appeared for her today, Mr. Fred Agbaje, withdrew the application for stay of execution of the judgement of the court and applied for bail pending the determination of the appeal at the appellate court.
The prosecution counsel, Mr. Lawal Pedro, did not oppose the application, rather, he said he will contest the appeal at the appellate court.
Justice Oluwayemi adjourned the case till 2 April 2009 for ruling.
A Lagos High Court judge had last Tuesday ordered that Ibinabo be brought before her irrespective of her health status, as she once again failed to appear before the court to defend her application for stay of execution she had filed.
The court had earlier sentenced Ibinabo to five years imprisonment without an option of fine, having found her guilty of murder through reckless and dangerous driving.
The convict, who was given an option of N100,000 fine at the trial magistrate’s court, was sentenced by Justice Deborah Oluwayemi, after the Lagos State government had appealed the lower court’s judgment.
But at the mention of her application for stay of execution of the judgment on Thursday, 19 March, her lawyer informed the court that Ibinabo was hospitalised in a Port Harcourt hospital. The counsel brought a sick report to buttress his claim.
However, Justice Oluwayemi rejected the medical report and ordered the ex-beauty queen to appear before her. She said her application for stay of execution would not be considered until she personally appeared before her.
Her lawyer, Mr. Ijebu Ode Agbarawu, told the court last Tuesday that the convict was still receiving treatment in the Port Harcourt hospital.
Delivering her ruling on Tuesday, Justice Oluwayemi ordered that a subpoena be issued on Dr. G. Harris of Braithwaite Hospital, Port Harcourt, who signed the medical report sent to the court on Thursday, 19 March.
She ordered that Ibinabo must be produced in court at the next adjournment date.
The Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), Lagos State, Mrs. Ayo Odugbesan, aligned herself with the court.
Thereafter, Justice Oluwayemi adjourned till 30 April for further hearing.
Ibinabo had gone underground and certainly not on admission at the Braithwaite Memorial Hospital, BMH, Port Harcourt, when P.M.News visited the BMH female medical ward where she was said to be receiving treatment.
A source said: “it sounds strange that Ibinabo Fiberesima, a popular personality, a former beauty queen and a Nollywood star can be on admission in a hospital such as this and it would be hidden.”
Interestingly, our contact who knows her very well called her mobile line and she answered her call but refused to disclose where she was answering the call.
Our contact said he wanted to pretend to be sympathizing with her over her recent travails and to prove that Ibinabo had merely gone underground and “not critically ill” and also not on admission at BMH as widely circulated.
Ibinabo played active role during the Rivers State Cultural festival tagged RIVIFEST and ECOWAS beauty pageant as consultant to the Rivers State.
Read more…
By WILLIAM KATES, Associated Press Writer William Kates, Associated Press Writer 28 mins ago
BINGHAMTON, N.Y. – A gunman barricaded the back door of a community center with his car and then opened fire on a room full of immigrants taking a citizenship class Friday, killing 13 people before apparently committing suicide, officials said.
Investigators said they had yet to establish a motive for the massacre, which was at least the fifth deadly mass shooting in the U.S. in the past month alone.
The attack came just after 10 a.m. at the American Civic Association, an organization that helps immigrants settle in this country. Police Chief Joseph Zikuski said the gunman parked his car against the back door, "making sure nobody could escape," then stormed through the front, shooting two receptionists, apparently without a word.
The killer, believed to be a Vietnamese immigrant, then entered a room just off the reception area and fired on a citizenship class.
"The people were trying to better themselves, trying to become citizens," the police chief said.
One receptionist was killed, while the other, shot in the abdomen, pretended to be dead and then crawled under a desk and called 911, he said.
Police said they arrived within two minutes.
The rest of those killed were shot in the classroom. Four people were critically wounded.
The man believed to have carried out the attack was found dead with a self-inflicted gunshot wound in an office, a satchel containing ammunition slung around his neck, authorities said. Police found two handguns — a 9 mm and a .45-caliber — and a hunting knife.
Thirty-seven people in all made it out of the building, including 26 who hid in the boiler room in the basement, cowering there for three hours while police methodically searched the building and tried to determine whether the gunman was still alive and whether he was holding any hostages, Zikuski said.
Those in the basement stayed in contact with police by cell phone, switching from one phone to another when their batteries ran out, Zikuski said. Others hid in closets and under desks.
Police heard no gunfire after they arrived but waited for about an hour before entering the building to make sure it was safe for officers. They then spent two hours searching the building.
They led a number of men out of the building in plastic handcuffs while they tried to sort out the victims from the killer or killers.
Most of the people brought out couldn't speak English, the chief said.
Alex Galkin, an immigrant from Uzbekistan, said he was taking English classes when he heard a shot and quickly went to the basement with about 20 other people.
"It was just panic," Galkin said.
Zhanar Tokhtabayeva, a 30-year-old from Kazakhstan, said she was in an English class when she heard a shot and her teacher screamed for everyone to go to the storage room.
"I heard the shots, every shot. I heard no screams, just silence, shooting," she said. "I heard shooting, very long time, and I was thinking, when will this stop? I was thinking that my life was finished."
Dr. Jeffrey King, speaking at a Catholic Charities office where counseling was being offered Friday night, said he was certain his mother, 72-year-old Roberta King, who taught English at the community center, was among the dead.
Authorities read a list of survivors and his mother's name wasn't on it, he said.
King, one of 10 children, described his mother as a woman brimming with interests ranging from the opera to the preservation society to collecting thousands of dolls. He recollected a recent conversation in which he told her to enjoy her retirement.
"I said, 'Mom you're in your 70s,'" King said. "She said, 'What? You don't think I enjoy working?'"
President Barack Obama, who was traveling in Europe, said he was shocked and saddened by the shooting, which he called an "act of senseless violence." He said he and his wife, Michelle Obama, were praying for the victims, their families and the people of Binghamton, about 140 miles northwest of New York City.
Gov. David Paterson said the massacre was probably "the worst tragedy and senseless crime in the history of this city." Noting mass killings in Alabama and Oakland, Calif., last month, he said: "When are we going to be able to curb the kind of violence that is so fraught and so rapid that we can't even keep track of the incidents?"
The community center was holding class "for those who want to become citizens of the United States of America, who wanted to be part of the American Dream, and so tragically may have had that hope thwarted today," the governor said. "But there still is an American dream, and all of us who are Americans will try to heal this very, very deep wound in the city of Binghamton."
Center officials issued a statement Friday night saying they were "stricken with grief about today's horrific assault and share this grief with the victims' families, our community and the entire nation."
The suspected gunman carried ID with the name of 42-year-old Jiverly Voong, of nearby Johnson City, N.Y., but that was believed to be an alias, said a law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
A second law enforcement official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said the two handguns were registered to Jiverly Wong, another name the man used. Both officials were not authorized to speak publicly.
Initial reports suggested Voong had recently been let go from IBM. But a person at IBM said there was no record of a Jiverly Voong ever working there.
The police chief would not confirm the name of the dead man with the ammunition satchel, saying authorities were still trying to establish with certainty that he was the gunman.
"We have no idea what the motive is," Zikuski said.
He said the suspected gunman "was no stranger" to the community center and may have gone there to take a class.
A woman who answered the phone at a listing for Henry D. Voong said she was Jiverly Voong's sister but would not give her name. She said her brother had been in the country for 28 years and had citizenship.
"I think there's a misunderstanding over here because I want to know, too," she said.
Friday evening, police searched Voong's house and carried out three computer hard drives, a brown canvas rifle case, a briefcase, a small suitcase and several paper bags.
Police left the Voong home shortly before 8 p.m., soon after four people arrived by car and went into the house. It wasn't clear who they were, but they promptly turned out the lights.
Crime scene tape was stretched across the street about 20 yards from the house, and a steady rain fell as two state troopers stood guard to keep anyone but neighborhood residents from entering the dead-end street.
Waiting outside a Catholic Charities office where counselors were tending to relatives of victims, Omri Yigal said his wife, Delores, was taking English lessons when the gunman attacked. He had no word on what happened to her.
He finally left the center feeling sullen shortly before 8 p.m.
"They told me they don't have much hope for me," the Filipino immigrant said before going home to wait for a telephone call.
The American Civic Association helps immigrants in the Binghamton area with citizenship, resettlement and family reunification. The shootings took place in a neighborhood of homes and small businesses in downtown Binghamton, a city of about 47,000 residents.
The Binghamton area was the home to Endicott-Johnson shoe company and the birthplace of IBM, which between them employed tens of thousands of workers before the shoe company closed a decade ago and IBM downsized in recent years.
A string of attacks in the U.S. in the last month left 44 people dead in all.
A gunman killed 10 people and himself in Samson, Ala.; shootings that began with a traffic stop in Oakland, Calif., left four police officers and the gunman dead; an apparent murder-suicide in Santa Clara, Calif., left six dead; and a gunman went on a rampage at a nursing home Sunday, killing seven elderly residents and a nurse who cared for them.
Read more…
The judge further ordered that the Medical Director of the prison should attend to her medical needs to ascertain her ailment.
Ibinabo broke down and wept as she was being led out of the court after the judge ordered that she should be sent to Kirikiri.
The lawyer, who appeared for her today, Mr. Fred Agbaje, withdrew the application for stay of execution of the judgement of the court and applied for bail pending the determination of the appeal at the appellate court.
The prosecution counsel, Mr. Lawal Pedro, did not oppose the application, rather, he said he will contest the appeal at the appellate court.
Justice Oluwayemi adjourned the case till 2 April 2009 for ruling.
A Lagos High Court judge had last Tuesday ordered that Ibinabo be brought before her irrespective of her health status, as she once again failed to appear before the court to defend her application for stay of execution she had filed.
The court had earlier sentenced Ibinabo to five years imprisonment without an option of fine, having found her guilty of murder through reckless and dangerous driving.
The convict, who was given an option of N100,000 fine at the trial magistrate’s court, was sentenced by Justice Deborah Oluwayemi, after the Lagos State government had appealed the lower court’s judgment.
But at the mention of her application for stay of execution of the judgment on Thursday, 19 March, her lawyer informed the court that Ibinabo was hospitalised in a Port Harcourt hospital. The counsel brought a sick report to buttress his claim.
However, Justice Oluwayemi rejected the medical report and ordered the ex-beauty queen to appear before her. She said her application for stay of execution would not be considered until she personally appeared before her.
Her lawyer, Mr. Ijebu Ode Agbarawu, told the court last Tuesday that the convict was still receiving treatment in the Port Harcourt hospital.
Delivering her ruling on Tuesday, Justice Oluwayemi ordered that a subpoena be issued on Dr. G. Harris of Braithwaite Hospital, Port Harcourt, who signed the medical report sent to the court on Thursday, 19 March.
She ordered that Ibinabo must be produced in court at the next adjournment date.
The Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), Lagos State, Mrs. Ayo Odugbesan, aligned herself with the court.
Thereafter, Justice Oluwayemi adjourned till 30 April for further hearing.
Ibinabo had gone underground and certainly not on admission at the Braithwaite Memorial Hospital, BMH, Port Harcourt, when P.M.News visited the BMH female medical ward where she was said to be receiving treatment.
A source said: “it sounds strange that Ibinabo Fiberesima, a popular personality, a former beauty queen and a Nollywood star can be on admission in a hospital such as this and it would be hidden.”
Interestingly, our contact who knows her very well called her mobile line and she answered her call but refused to disclose where she was answering the call.
Our contact said he wanted to pretend to be sympathizing with her over her recent travails and to prove that Ibinabo had merely gone underground and “not critically ill” and also not on admission at BMH as widely circulated.
Ibinabo played active role during the Rivers State Cultural festival tagged RIVIFEST and ECOWAS beauty pageant as consultant to the Rivers State.
By WILLIAM KATES, Associated Press Writer William Kates, Associated Press Writer 28 mins ago
BINGHAMTON, N.Y. – A gunman barricaded the back door of a community center with his car and then opened fire on a room full of immigrants taking a citizenship class Friday, killing 13 people before apparently committing suicide, officials said.
Investigators said they had yet to establish a motive for the massacre, which was at least the fifth deadly mass shooting in the U.S. in the past month alone.
The attack came just after 10 a.m. at the American Civic Association, an organization that helps immigrants settle in this country. Police Chief Joseph Zikuski said the gunman parked his car against the back door, "making sure nobody could escape," then stormed through the front, shooting two receptionists, apparently without a word.
The killer, believed to be a Vietnamese immigrant, then entered a room just off the reception area and fired on a citizenship class.
"The people were trying to better themselves, trying to become citizens," the police chief said.
One receptionist was killed, while the other, shot in the abdomen, pretended to be dead and then crawled under a desk and called 911, he said.
Police said they arrived within two minutes.
The rest of those killed were shot in the classroom. Four people were critically wounded.
The man believed to have carried out the attack was found dead with a self-inflicted gunshot wound in an office, a satchel containing ammunition slung around his neck, authorities said. Police found two handguns — a 9 mm and a .45-caliber — and a hunting knife.
Thirty-seven people in all made it out of the building, including 26 who hid in the boiler room in the basement, cowering there for three hours while police methodically searched the building and tried to determine whether the gunman was still alive and whether he was holding any hostages, Zikuski said.
Those in the basement stayed in contact with police by cell phone, switching from one phone to another when their batteries ran out, Zikuski said. Others hid in closets and under desks.
Police heard no gunfire after they arrived but waited for about an hour before entering the building to make sure it was safe for officers. They then spent two hours searching the building.
They led a number of men out of the building in plastic handcuffs while they tried to sort out the victims from the killer or killers.
Most of the people brought out couldn't speak English, the chief said.
Alex Galkin, an immigrant from Uzbekistan, said he was taking English classes when he heard a shot and quickly went to the basement with about 20 other people.
"It was just panic," Galkin said.
Zhanar Tokhtabayeva, a 30-year-old from Kazakhstan, said she was in an English class when she heard a shot and her teacher screamed for everyone to go to the storage room.
"I heard the shots, every shot. I heard no screams, just silence, shooting," she said. "I heard shooting, very long time, and I was thinking, when will this stop? I was thinking that my life was finished."
Dr. Jeffrey King, speaking at a Catholic Charities office where counseling was being offered Friday night, said he was certain his mother, 72-year-old Roberta King, who taught English at the community center, was among the dead.
Authorities read a list of survivors and his mother's name wasn't on it, he said.
King, one of 10 children, described his mother as a woman brimming with interests ranging from the opera to the preservation society to collecting thousands of dolls. He recollected a recent conversation in which he told her to enjoy her retirement.
"I said, 'Mom you're in your 70s,'" King said. "She said, 'What? You don't think I enjoy working?'"
President Barack Obama, who was traveling in Europe, said he was shocked and saddened by the shooting, which he called an "act of senseless violence." He said he and his wife, Michelle Obama, were praying for the victims, their families and the people of Binghamton, about 140 miles northwest of New York City.
Gov. David Paterson said the massacre was probably "the worst tragedy and senseless crime in the history of this city." Noting mass killings in Alabama and Oakland, Calif., last month, he said: "When are we going to be able to curb the kind of violence that is so fraught and so rapid that we can't even keep track of the incidents?"
The community center was holding class "for those who want to become citizens of the United States of America, who wanted to be part of the American Dream, and so tragically may have had that hope thwarted today," the governor said. "But there still is an American dream, and all of us who are Americans will try to heal this very, very deep wound in the city of Binghamton."
Center officials issued a statement Friday night saying they were "stricken with grief about today's horrific assault and share this grief with the victims' families, our community and the entire nation."
The suspected gunman carried ID with the name of 42-year-old Jiverly Voong, of nearby Johnson City, N.Y., but that was believed to be an alias, said a law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
A second law enforcement official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said the two handguns were registered to Jiverly Wong, another name the man used. Both officials were not authorized to speak publicly.
Initial reports suggested Voong had recently been let go from IBM. But a person at IBM said there was no record of a Jiverly Voong ever working there.
The police chief would not confirm the name of the dead man with the ammunition satchel, saying authorities were still trying to establish with certainty that he was the gunman.
"We have no idea what the motive is," Zikuski said.
He said the suspected gunman "was no stranger" to the community center and may have gone there to take a class.
A woman who answered the phone at a listing for Henry D. Voong said she was Jiverly Voong's sister but would not give her name. She said her brother had been in the country for 28 years and had citizenship.
"I think there's a misunderstanding over here because I want to know, too," she said.
Friday evening, police searched Voong's house and carried out three computer hard drives, a brown canvas rifle case, a briefcase, a small suitcase and several paper bags.
Police left the Voong home shortly before 8 p.m., soon after four people arrived by car and went into the house. It wasn't clear who they were, but they promptly turned out the lights.
Crime scene tape was stretched across the street about 20 yards from the house, and a steady rain fell as two state troopers stood guard to keep anyone but neighborhood residents from entering the dead-end street.
Waiting outside a Catholic Charities office where counselors were tending to relatives of victims, Omri Yigal said his wife, Delores, was taking English lessons when the gunman attacked. He had no word on what happened to her.
He finally left the center feeling sullen shortly before 8 p.m.
"They told me they don't have much hope for me," the Filipino immigrant said before going home to wait for a telephone call.
The American Civic Association helps immigrants in the Binghamton area with citizenship, resettlement and family reunification. The shootings took place in a neighborhood of homes and small businesses in downtown Binghamton, a city of about 47,000 residents.
The Binghamton area was the home to Endicott-Johnson shoe company and the birthplace of IBM, which between them employed tens of thousands of workers before the shoe company closed a decade ago and IBM downsized in recent years.
A string of attacks in the U.S. in the last month left 44 people dead in all.
A gunman killed 10 people and himself in Samson, Ala.; shootings that began with a traffic stop in Oakland, Calif., left four police officers and the gunman dead; an apparent murder-suicide in Santa Clara, Calif., left six dead; and a gunman went on a rampage at a nursing home Sunday, killing seven elderly residents and a nurse who cared for them.
