Our apologies it was actually 5million naira each ! 

10 X 5 = 50million Naira That is chicken change for the Federal Govt . How much are they spending to rehabilaitate Niger Delta Militants ... So many questions .

Only a few people could hold back their tears yesterday as President Goodluck Jonathan met with 10 families of the National Youth Service Corps members who were murdered in the post-election violence that engulfed Bauchi State last month.

Heartbreaking was the sight of the wife of one of the slain corps members from Bayelsa State, Tessy Adohe, who came with three of the four children — an eight-month-old baby and two older ones — she had with her late husband, Elliot Adohe.

“I appreciate the fact that no amount of recognition can adequately compensate for the deep void that their passing has created in your individual families,” Mr Jonathan said while directing that each family be given N5million, and that any unemployed graduate who was a direct sibling of a murdered corp member be given employment in the federal civil service.

The dead include Adewumi Paul from Ekiti State; Okeoma Okechukwu Chibudom and Ukazeone Amsalem Chukwunonyere from Imo State; Olawale Tosin and Akonye Ibrahim Sule from Kogi State; Ebenezer Ayotunde and Kehinde Jelili from Osun State; Anyanwu Agnes and Okpokiri Obina from Imo state; and Adohe Elliot, Bayelsa State.

Ismaila Tsiga, the director-general of the National Youth Service Corps, led the families to Aso Villa, Abuja, where the President received them.

‘Uncommon patriotism’

Mr Jonathan praised the corps members’ efforts which ensured the success of the 2011 elections and the “wide international acclaim which the exercise has received”. He said that all this was “due in large part to the uncommon patriotism and diligence exhibited by the members of the National Youth Service Corps”.

He vowed that his administration would bring the perpetrators of the post-election violence to book.

“Your sons and daughters may be gone, but they have not died in vain. You can take some solace in the fact that they are today national heroes of whom every patriotic Nigerian is immensely proud,” Mr Jonathan said. “Our administration holds them in the highest esteem, and we are determined to ensure that their names are permanently immortalized as an enduring source of inspiration to us all.”

Cold-hearted officials

Awuchewu Okpokiri, on behalf of the bereaved families, berated the NYSC management for the manner in which their children’s deaths was broken to them. Mr Okpokiri claimed that some parents were not informed of their childrens’ deaths until nearly a week had passed.

“We should have been told of what had happened but this was not so. A lot of us did not know [about] the deaths of these children until April 24, something that happened on the 18th,” he said.

Mr Okpokiri also advocated for the review of the scheme in “all ramifications”.

He, however, thanked the president for the compensation while adding that it would not be meaningful “until the perpetrators of this heinous act are brought to book”.

“A lot of the police stations in most of these areas are nothing to write home about and that means that security for our people, our common man in the area is not there. And that means anything can happen at any time,” Mr Okpokiri also said.

Again, sloppiness was alleged in the manner in which the families were invited to the event.

“Some of us from some states were sponsored by the NYSC to come here while some of us had to transport themselves to this place. They approached the NYSC and they didn’t give them any help and they had to come here on their own. I don’t think that is good enough,” Mr Okpokiri told the president.

He added that he hoped that their childrens’ sacrifice would be “the last sacrifice for the consolidation of democracy in Nigeria and for the unification of Nigeria”.

The president later assured them that they would all be taken care of.

‘Nigeria is not CPC’s bootcamp’

In response to a report published in a national daily yesterday, where the Congress for Progressive Change’s (CPC) Mr Malami was quoted to have likened the post-election violence to “the anger of of the people of the Western region in 1965 and the people of Ondo state in 1983 against the use of federal might to dislodge opposition governments in the South West in favour of the ruling parties at the federal level with concocted results”, Mr Jonathan deplored such insensitivity.

“This attempt by the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) to justify the unfortunate carnage and bloodletting is vexatious in the extreme,” Mr Jonathan said. “It amounts to rubbing salt on the raw wounds of families who lost dear ones, and those who were maimed and lost valuable property to the carnage.”

In the statement signed by the president, he said Mr Malami’s comments amounted to “an open admission that the party’s supporters were indeed behind the violence, and that the party may well have planned it all”.

Mr Jonathan warned that “Nigeria is not CPC’s bootcamp”.

In the wake of the post-election violence, some people were arrested but there have been no reports of serious investigations or arraignments in court.

Outrage at screening of dying Princess Diana photo: Cannes documentary to show graphic picture for first time

A shocking paparazzi photograph of a dying Princess Diana is to be screened for the first time in a documentary about her fatal crash.

Unlawful Killing, which will be shown at Cannes this week, is backed by the actor Keith Allen and Mohammed Fayed, whose son Dodi died with Diana.

The 90-minute film will include a graphic black and white close-up of Diana taken moments after the Mercedes carrying the couple crashed in a Paris underpass.

Crash: A photographer is first to reach Diana's smashed up Mercedes in 1997. The public have never seen close-up images of her dying

The distressing image, Diana’s blonde hair and features clearly visible, has never been publicly seen in this country.

It will be shown around the world but not in the UK, prompting Allen to say: ‘Pity, because at a time when the sugar rush of the Royal Wedding has been sending republicans into a diabetic coma, it could act as a welcome antidote.’

Similar pictures shown to the Diana inquest jury had her face heavily pixellated.

News that Allen, father of pop star Lily, is using the full photograph outraged close friends of the late Princess of Wales.

Icon: Diana's fame has meant that her death has been the subject of intense scrutiny. An inquest - held a decade later - found she was unlawfully killed

Rosa Monckton, who went on holiday with Diana a few weeks before she died, said: ‘If this is true this is absolutely disgusting.

‘The fact people are trying to make money – which is all that they are doing now – out of her death is quite frankly ... words fail me.’

A spokesman for St James’s Palace declined to comment but royal sources said Diana's sons would be sickened by the news.

One said: ‘They rather hope people would treat this with the contempt it deserves.’

He suggested that William and Harry would not be drawn into commenting for fear of giving Allen the oxygen of publicity.

Sources told the Daily Mail that the princes will never publicly comment about their mother because they view the issue as ‘the most intensely personal and private aspect of their very public lives’.

Allen’s film is due to be screened amid a blaze of publicity at the Cannes Film Festival on Friday and Mr Fayed is reported to be travelling to the south of France to help with the launch.

In 2008, after a six-month inquest which heard evidence from 250 witnesses and cost taxpayers an estimated £12million, a jury concluded that Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed were unlawfully killed as a direct result of grossly negligent driving by drunk chauffeur Henri Paul, who also died in the crash.

The actions of photographers following the car were also cited.

Mr Fayed has accused Prince Philip of masterminding the 1997 crash in which Diana and Dodi died and even suggested that Prince Charles was involved.

He alleged the death plot took place to stop Diana marrying his Muslim son.

During the 2008 Diana inquest, the former Harrods owner described the royals as ‘that Dracula family’.

The photograph of Diana forms part of the trailer to Allen’s documentary on the film’s official website available in the UK.

Backers: The film, Unlawful Killing, is being supported by Mohammed Fayed, whose son Dodi died with Diana, and left-wing activist and actor Keith Allen, right

Getting ready: A screen is prepared on the beach for the 64th Cannes Film Festival in France, which is where the Diana documentary will be shown

The website proclaims: ‘Unlawful Killing is the story of the deaths of Princess Diana, Dodi Fayed and their driver Henri Paul.

‘It reveals a cover-up by the British Establishment culminating in a six-month inquest. Keith Allen’s ground-breaking documentary recreates key moments from the inquest and demonstrates how vital evidence of foul play was hidden from public scrutiny, how the royal family were exempted from giving evidence and how journalists, particularly those working for the BBC, systematically misreported the events and in particular, the verdict itself.

‘This is the story of how the world was deceived.’

Allen, in a piece for the Guardian newspaper last weekend, said: ‘My “inquest of the inquest” film contains footage of Diana recalling how the royals wanted her consigned to a mental institution, and the coroner repeatedly questioning the sanity of anyone who wondered if the crash was more than an accident.’

He said he asked every major UK broadcaster to commission a TV documentary about the inquest but they all refused.

Mourned: The gates of Kensington Palace adorned with tributes in 1997

He said Unlawful Killing was ‘not about a conspiracy before the crash, but a conspiracy after the crash. A conspiracy organised not by a single arch-fiend, but collectively by the British establishment’.

He said the film was being premiered in Cannes ‘because British lawyers insisted on 87 cuts before any UK release.

'So rather than butcher the film, we’re showing in France, then the U.S., and everywhere except the UK.’

A spokesman for the filmmakers said: ‘The picture has been published in full before, in many parts of the world. We acquired the image from an Italian magazine, which had already published it in full. It is also widely available on the web.

‘We are therefore not publishing anything that the rest of the world has not already seen elsewhere.’

A spokesman for Mr Fayed said: ‘He was not aware that any photograph taken of any occupant of the car was going to be in this film.

‘He is appalled by that and will be taking all necessary steps to make sure it is not in the film.’

Ever since movie star actress Genevieve Nnaji made an entrance into the Nollywoodscene, she has successfully managed to keep her private life in the dark.

Well, just a few hours ago, a picture of Genevieve and a young lady who bears a striking resemblance with the actress popped up on Social Networking site Twitter. Many claim that the unknown lady is Genny’s daughter which she had over a decade and a half years ago.

By mere looking at the photo above, you can make the assertions yourself…

The identity of the girl’s father remains unknown as Ms Nnaji has successfully kept that part of her life private desipte years of media intrusion. Photo below right 

 Some women's sexual escapades often sound stranger than fiction. Why does a particular woman seek sex all of the time, with different men losing all sense of shame? Abibat's reason was because she thought she was fat and unattractive. advertisement The only way she could have men interested in her was to spread her thighs at the drop of a hat! "Even as a teenager, boys never asked me out – or even talked to me.

I was 15 when I lost my virginity. I'd been so easy with the man next door who furtively asked me to get him a bottle of soft drink. "When I took the drink to him, he asked me in and quickly shut the door. He simply took me to the bedroom, groped me and we had sex. All along, I thought that if I offered him sex, he would be my boyfriend. After we had sex, he didn't even look at me as he hussled me out of the house.

Then there was the secondary school teacher who often had sex with me in the classroom. The more sex I had, the more dejected I felt. Why was I doing it? Because I felt that sex was the most my flabby body could offer a man. It was sordid and degrading but I was desperate. Inevitably, I got pregnant at 19. The father, a 23 year old articled clerk hung around for a while then found another girl when our son was four months old. "In spite of that, my need for sex never went away. When I met Sesan, the man I eventually married, it was because he said he preferred his women fat and was in love with me.

Did I love him? Who knows? He loved me, that's what mattered. I was happy with him for a while, especially since he was a good father to my son. But I got a job as a junior clerk in a big firm and a whole shop of men became opened to me. The supervisor was the first. After office hours, with my bottom pressed against the cold filing cabinets, I let him have sex with me. and he was always grateful – letting me off early and writing glowing appraisals but I felt guilty for betraying my husband. But my guilt wasn't strong enough to stop me. "At the firm's end-of-year party, one of the young officers danced with me as he inched me towards the toilets. I was very tipsy as he clamped his lips on mine, tongue rammed down my throat. I flirted back by parting my thighs. One of his hands started fumbling with my skirt and the other with his flies. Then we were having sex, right there, as members of staff danced on the floor! Months later, I found out I was pregnant. I was in a panic. My husband and I hadn't made love in months.

So that night,' I seduced him. Then, a few weeks later, I broke the news that we were having a baby. He'd often hinted he would love us to have a baby as soon as possible. "Adoring, gullible man, he swallowed it! "'But he soon realized he was not the father when our daughter was born. She didn't look like either of us. I would have gotten away with it but for my reputation. He had a show-down with me and I confessed. He beat the day light out of me, but I took it as the punishment I deserved. He then threw me out of our flat. After I found a room I could afford, I continued with my escapades. I was still fat, a mother of two without any partner helping, I relied heavily on -gifts from my men. Most of the time, sex was in their cars or in grubby toilets in night clubs.

Once in a while, I even brought them to my pocky room. As the number of men I'd slept with grew, I became really depressed. What kind of woman was I? How could I produce something as beautiful as my children when I led such a sordid life. "It was at this juncture that I decided to turn my life around. I gave my life a long once-over and I decided I needed to lose weight first. It wasn't easy but I kept at it. I joined an exercise class in a stadium close to the house and was happy when the weights fell off. With the money I still had stashed away, I went to a computer class and got a good job as a receptionist.

"To celebrate, I combed all the 'bend – down' boutiques I knew and 'got myself very .. flattering clothes. So when men started complimenting my new look, I didn't think they were laughing at the flabby me, my confidence was enjoying a great boost. But best of all, I didn't have that craving for sex, that need to degrade myself for the thrills of getting a man. I learnt if a man admired me, I didn't need to give him anything in return – just my buddy personality. "By the time I met my current husband, I was a different woman entirely. He was a widower and he knew of my two children. And for the first time in my life, I didn't spread my legs to keep him. We started meeting as just friends as I realized my bed hopping days were over. I'd transformed -myself, weaned myself off sordid, meaningless sex and discovered the person I wanted to be.

I didn't need men to love me. now that I was slimmer, I could love myself. "When my ex-husband learnt of the new one, he was very bitter and accused me of using him. I had to explain to him the demon I was living with, that I could scarcely be called a wife when I was married to him. I apologized for hurting him but I had to move on. Thank God my second marriage is all I'd prayed for and more. We live in a decent flat with my two children and the two others I had with my husband. I'm certainly not proud of my past. There are days when I think back to the person I was, those awful encounters with these faceless men, and the tears flow. But for the sake of my kids, husband – and most of all me, I'm going to keep looking to the future. I'm making the most of every second of my new life ….. "

LOS ANGELES – Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wife of 25 years, Maria Shriver, announced Monday that they are separating.

The statement, issued by a spokesman for Schwarzenegger, said the two were working on the future of their relationship while living apart and would continue to parent their four children together.

"This has been a time of great personal and professional transition for each of us," the two said in a prepared statement. "After a great deal of thought, reflection, discussion, and prayer, we came to this decision together."

It was not clear from the statement if either remained at their estate in Brentwood, or who the children were with. Schwarzenegger's spokesman, Daniel Ketchell, said he wouldn't answer questions beyond what was said in Monday's statement.

Schwarzenegger, a Republican, finished his seven-year run as governor in January and has been traveling to deliver speeches and pursuing entertainment projects. He tweeted frequently during his travels to such faraway places as Brazil, Nigeria and France.

Shriver was not mentioned in his Twitter updates from the road.

Shriver, also active on social networks, posted three updates on her Twitter page on the day of their 25th wedding anniversary on April 26, but did not mention the milestone.

About a month before the wedding anniversary, Shriver wrote on her Facebook page that she was going through a transition in her life.

"As you know, transitions are not easy. I'd love to get your advice on how you've handled transitions in your own life," she wrote.

During Schwarzenegger's time as governor, Shriver and the couple's children never moved to Sacramento, preferring their secluded canyon estate a few miles from the Pacific Ocean. Schwarzenegger never settled in Sacramento, choosing instead to commute by private jet between his home and the state capitol.

Shriver, a member of the Kennedy political dynasty and the daughter of the late Eunice Kennedy Shriver, left her job as an NBC News correspondent after Schwarzenegger took office.

As the state's first lady, she ran an annual women's conference that attracted a long list of business, political and entertainment luminaries, along with an audience of thousands. She also was credited with overhauling the California Museum in downtown Sacramento and, with Schwarzenegger, starting the California Hall of Fame.

The separation announcement comes months after the death of Shriver's father, Peace Corps founder and former vice presidential candidate Sargent Shriver, in January.

A 29-year-old man has allegedly committed suicide after medical results revealed that he was HIV/AIDS positive.

The incident which occurred at Sangere village in Girei Local Government Area of Adamawa State took place in the house of the deceased, Emmanuel Peter.

The discovery of the death resulted in panic as residents trooped out to the scene where the corpse of the deceased was found suspended from the ceiling.

Though the deceased left no written note to say why he decided to take his life, family members suspected his suicide was as a result of the discovery of his HIV/AIDS status.

A relative of the deceased who identified herself as Magdalene Peter said the deceased had battled with a protracted illness before the medical report over the weekend confirmed his HIV/AIDS status. Musa Morris, a resident who spoke to NEXT after the police removed the corpse from the scene at about 7:45am yesterday morning, said the deceased must have contemplated his suicide well in advance. "We suspect he unsuccessfully attempted to terminate his life through the consumption of the dark powdery content of many of the broken batteries seen among his clothing's before his recourse to a much faster death this morning (yesterday) by hanging," Mr Musa said.

Poor health system

The chairperson of People Living with HIV/AIDS in the state, Fara James described the development as strange, saying it was quite a long time it had report of such occurrence. She, however, regretted that there was the possibility of such occurrence where pre-test and post-test counselling was not effectively done. "There must have been poor counselling somewhere," she said.

Religious pages continue to take the top spots in our weekly ranking of the most engaging presences on Facebook, followed by music and sports.
 

Most Engaging Pages

Religion

Jesus Daily hangs on to number one for a second week in a row; the page totaled an additional 2,127,067 interactions. The Bible moves up this week as it rests just behind thanks to the voices of 1,119,413 engaged fans. The social networking home for Jesus Christ took a bit of a fall to the 14th spot this time around; 416,320 posts were added to the page since last Monday.

Also found in the back half of our list this week, ILoveAllaah.com comes in at 15th; 373,575 new thoughts were added to the conversation. Dios Es Bueno nips at its heals this week with 360,664 new comments added.

Music

Justin Bieber moves back a spot to third this week, but his official social networking hub continues to be filled with buzzing fans. Last week his page nabbed an interaction total of 1,075,159. Lady Gaga‘s concert recently aired on HBO helping the pop star move up to the third spot; 893,979 excited social networkers joined the chatter.

Avril Lavigne‘s new single, as well as pictures and texts from her current tour in Asia, helps her make a first appearance on our list securing the 12th position with a 422,470 seven day interaction total. New merchandise, updates from the road, and a new album on the way have the masses chatting about Lil Wayne; the rapper makes the cut this week as he comes in 17th with 360,228 new posts added to his page.

Sports

Manchester United had quite a match this past weekend, and leads the pack of sports pages this week with 834,305 diehard fans helping to secure the fifth spot for yet another week. Real Madrid C.F. nips at Manchester’s heals though; 822,342 football lovers routed for the team on Facebook. FC Barcelona falls to eighth this week; the team still had a notable week as it totaled 771,775 interactions.

The Mavericks may have sent the Lakers home this weekend, but the L.A. basketball team had the edge on Facebook with 333,084 fans cheering the team into the 18th spot. Playoff talk continues on the NBA‘s official page; 332,770 voices joined the conversation.

Global

Mario Teguh continues to sit pretty on our list as his page has consistently engaged likers for weeks; the Indonesian motivational speaker holds down the seventh position with an immense 775,420 fans posting on his page. We are Khaled Said takes a fall to thirteenth this week; 419,336 interactions were totaled on the page.

In Turkey, Necip Fazil Kisakurek‘s page takes two steps forward this week into the ninth spot; 529,674 new thoughts were added to the page. Müzik Keyfi takes a few steps back as it rounds out our list; 332,641 people contributed to the on-going talks on the page.

Movies

We close this week with a quick trip to Hollywood. Actor Vin Diesel‘s latest film Fast Five recently hit theaters; his page has skyrocketed to the center of our list with the help of 464,003 talkative Facebook users. TheTwilight Saga‘s page is filled with interactive updates about all the latest happenings surrounding the books and films; 442,105 fan comments helped the page land in the 11th spot this week.

Readers, did any pages or trends successfully catch your eye this week?

If you want to measure interactions on your own page and compare them to others, take a look at AllFacebook Stats, which allows you to track and compare your pages in different dimensions. The tool is available in a free version, along with multiple business packages.

Katsina-Alu escapes death, loses wife in tree accident

The Chief Justice of Nigeria, Aloysius Katsina-Alu, had a close shave with death last Saturday night, when a tree fell on his house as he and his wife were about retiring for the night. His wife, Victoria Mimi Katsina-Alu, was not as lucky as the tree fell on her, killing her.

A family member, Ajiryar Katsina-Alu, told journalists that the Katsina-Alus had sat outdoors following a late dinner and were about to go indoors when a rainstorm started.

"She stood up and told her husband that they should go indoors and was steps ahead when the wind uprooted one of the gmalina trees in the compound, which fell on her as she was about stepping into the house," he said.

According to Mr Katsina-Alu, the tree also brought down the branches of a nearby tree, which fell on and upturned the chair on which the chief justice was still sitting, pushing him to the ground.

While Justice Katsina-Alu sustained minor bruises, his wife, who would have turned 54 next month, was found unconscious and rushed to Myom Hospital in Gboko, where she was confirmed dead, the family member said.

Her body has since been deposited at the Gboko General Hospital mortuary.

Earlier on Saturday, Mrs Katsina-Alu had supervised the wedding of her niece, Erdoo Akaa and her husband Terseer Ado, at the Victory Saints Church in Alu village and was said to be in her element, attending to guests until late in the evening.

Sympathizers have thronged the Katsina-Alu country home in the Ushongo local government area of Benue State to commiserate with the chief justice.

Some of the early callers included George Akume, a former governor of the state; Steven Lawani, the deputy governor of the state; Iorhemen Hwande, the chief judge of Benue State; Margaret Igbetar, the president of the Customary Court of Appeal; Chive Kaave, the attorney general and justice commissioner, as well as Julius Shaukpar, the chairman of Ushongo local government council.

Although, it has not been affirmed yet by any concrete authority, there are indications that the managing director of one of the viable financial institutions in Africa, Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB), Tayo Aderinokun, has succumbed to death following news of his sliding into coma in a London hospital many months back.

Femi Adeniran, who is the Corporate Affairs manager of the bank, said three weeks ago during a phone interaction, that he would not directly speak on the issue but referred reporters to a Nigeria based financial newspaper for comprehensive details.

Aderinokun's long-term illness, his subsequent movement to a UK hospital and reported demise, we learnt, were a hush-hush subject in the public domain including among members of the bank's management. 

Since the report of his slipping into unconsciousness, the GTB's chains of command have reportedly been in turmoil, as top echelons of the bank became confused over who replaces Aderinokun, despite the fact that his supposed death was yet to be made public.

Saheela Ibraheem, of Edison, N.J., is every college's dream. She plays soccer, softball, the trombone. She scored an almost perfect SAT. And she's a nice, humble, normal girl.

"I want to study neuroscience, neurobiology," Saheela said. "It comes down to the support I've had at home, from my parents and brother, every step of the way.

Saheela applied to 14 colleges. She got into Harvard, M.I.T., Princeton, Columbia, Penn, Stanford, Williams, Washington University, Brown, Cornell, University of Chicago, University of North Carolina, and Cal Tech. The only rejection was from Yale. No one is quite sure why.

"I don't know!" she said.

But what might be most amazing about Saheela -- she is 15.

"Most of the time, they say I'm mature for my age," Saheela said. "I guess that Age isn't everything."

Her mom knew Saheela was something special at an early age.

"When you teach her 1, 2, 3 but she want more," said Shakirat Ibraheem, the proud mother. "When you teach her 1 through 5, she'd say how about this."

Saheela skipped the sixth and ninth grades. By high school, she'd switched from public to private. Her Edison school feels lucky to have her.

"She has it all. She's the whole package," said Susan Swenson of the Wardlaw-Hartridge School. "She really is."

"I want to move with her. I want to go with her," Shakirat Ibraheem said.

For sure, she'll miss high school -- the friends, the sports, the prom.

"It's pretty much one of our last chances to be together as a class," she said. "I can't wait."

But it just takes a few seconds of meeting Saheela Ibraheem to know that is probably not the last time we'll hear her name.

"It's your life and it's important that you take advantage of it," Saheela said. "If it means going to college younger, that's just the way life is for you."

In case you're wondering: she decided to go to Harvard.

Saheela joins a growing number of New Jersey students going to college before they are old enough to drive. Last year, Kyle Loh of Mendham graduated from Rutgers at 16. In previous years, a 14-year-old from Cranbury and two of his 15-year-old cousins also graduated from Rutgers.

For Saheela, her unusual path to college began when she was a sixth-grader at the Conackamack Middle School in Piscataway. Eager to learn more about her favorite subject, math, the daughter of Nigerian immigrants asked to move to a higher-level class. The school let her skip sixth grade entirely.

By high school, Saheela said, she was no longer feeling challenged by her public school classes. So, she moved to the Wardlaw-Hartridge School, a 420-student private school, where she skipped her freshman year and enrolled as a 10th-grader. Her three younger brothers, twins now in the ninth grade and a younger brother in second grade, all eventually joined her at the school.

School officials were impressed Saheela, one of their top students, didn’t spend all her time studying.

“She’s learned and she’s very smart. But she keeps pushing herself,” said William Jenkins, the Wardlaw-Hartridge School’s director of development.

After about four months of buzz, the now-annual comedy show, ‘Ay Live’ has arrived in Lagos. Tagged ‘AY Live: The Invasion’, the event, which took place on Sunday, May 1, drew a huge crowd to the expansive Expo Centre of the Eko Hotel and Suites, which was filled almost to capacity. In recent years, the ‘AY Live’ comedy show has threatened to overrun other comedy events in the country in terms of appeal, repertoire and class, and it fully achieved this feat with its 2011 installment.

In the hall

Inside, the sold-out hall was so full that some guests had to stand, though this didn’t seem to stop them from having as much fun as the seated guests, who paid up to N300,000 for tickets at the VVIP tables. The First Lady of Lagos State, Abimbola Fashola, former Super Eagles captain, Austin Okocha, and a host of Nollywood stars and fellow comedians were in attendance at the show.

At about 7pm, ‘AY Live’ began with memorable performances by upcoming comedians, most of whom are past winners of the Ay Open Mic comedy competition. Established comedians, including Akpororo, Gboy, Ushbabee, Pencil, Whalemouth, Emeka Smith, MC Shakara, Elenu, Seyi Law, Helen Paul and Princess, also took the stage at different intervals, delivering top-notch, original jokes.

The show also featured a musical performance by former West African Idol contestant, Jodie, who is currently enjoying a renaissance of sorts with her new single ‘Kuchi Kuchi Baby’. Other musicians who graced the stage included YQ, Kas, Skuki, D’ Prince, Yemi Sax, Kaffy and a host of others. However, it was the appearance of Duncan Mighty that really got the crowd going. The Port Harcourt-based star, who rarely makes an appearance in Lagos, must have been surprised and overjoyed at the amount of love shown to him by the audience. Several guests were familiar with his songs and most jumped up from their seats to dance and sing along with the singer popularly known as “Port Harcourt’s first son.”

A visionary host

AY might not be the most talented or exciting personality in the art of comedy, but he makes up for his shortcomings with boundless class, vision and creativity. Apart from the high quality of the show, which was commended by the audience, his acts were works of genius. Though most of his previous comedy trailers and skits have become sensations on YouTube, the new ones unveiled at this year’s show were real beauties.

His entrance trailer stars AY as a white garment prophet who was kidnapped by Aki and Pawpaw, the diminutive Nollywood comedy actors. The trailer was infused in his performance when he tumbled onstage from a trailer scene and continued his performance from there. He reenacted his usual prophecy session in a lackluster manner, sparing the usual target of the now-popular joke, Sammie Okposo, this time around.

A fashion show featuring Uti Nwachukwu, Kenneth Okolie and others, who modeled pieces from Yomi Casual, took place before 9ice and Tuface came on stage towards the end of the show. 9ice gave an accomplished performance of some of his hit songs. He was joined by 2face on their duet, ‘Street Credibility’, before paving way for Tuface to take the proceedings to the riveting climax.

An afterparty followed at Jay Jay Okocha’s ‘10’ lounge.

Thirty-five-year old Patience (not her real name) was a trader at Uselu Market, Benin City, Edo State, before it caught fire last December. With a huge debt of almost N1 million, she ran away to Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, in an attempt to escape from her creditor ‑ only to end up in Honeymoon Hotel, where she makes between N2,000 and N5000 daily from commercial sex.

Sitting dejectedly, she was weeping profusely over a recent diagnosis of HIV/AIDS at the Ilorin Civil Servants Clinic. Patience agreed to talk to NEXT only after much persuasion. She described her life as a programme outside God’s purpose.

“Wetin come be my own? Plenty people wey I meet never get dat kind thing. I just dey here some time come get AIDS,” she said in pidgin English.

Patience’s friend, whom she identified as a Camerounian, had told her that the place (Ilorin) was the best for the business, as few people would ever suspect what was going on.

Just like the young woman from Benin, many other girls have left their homes to sojourn in Ilorin and ride the night for fun. Some of them are university students who have dropped out and are afraid to reveal their plight to their parents, thereby ending up in the trade due to peer influence.

The hots pots

Ariya and Alaafia Hotels on Coca-Cola Road are amongst so many other rendezvous in the state capital, where the rich and influential troop to pick them up, and then to some of the biggest and well patronised hotels. According to Patience, the girls in the business have associations and always contribute money to bribe the police and government officials, so that they would not be disturbed. Their rates start from N3000, depending on the look of the customer or time of the night.

Mide Yusuf and Matar Peter who had allegedly absconded from their Lagos parents on the pretext that they were students of Kwara State Polytechnic told NEXT that they each made an average of N30,000 monthly, a greater portion of which goes into beautification as well as wardrobe and accessories.

On her first night encounter with NEXT, Ms Yusuf said, “If you can pay four thousand (naira), I will manage it, and you will first buy me Indomie before we go.” When she was assured of a bottle of drink with the noodles if she would be willing to just discuss her life, Ms Yusuf, who also solicits for customers on Facebook, said “I don’t know why you want to know all these things, but, first I want you to know that I am just a visitor here. I don’t always come here. I am here today because I will have to pay my caretaker tomorrow. Though I am an indigene of Ilorin, but I grew up in Iyana-Ipaja, Lagos. My mum is no more with my dad and she already has four children for another man.

“My brother, a soldier at the barracks, brought me and my elder brother here. But my brother left for Lagos when he finished learning tailoring. Just some months ago, our elder brother was taken to Maiduguri and I am just here and need to survive. At least I am not a virgin, so life goes on,” she said.

At her rented apartment at Tanke area of Ilorin, Ms Yusuf introduced her friend, Ms Peter, who had also took off from her home in Lagos. Warning her friend to desist from “speaking to strangers” about her life, Ms Peter, however, reluctantly volunteered, also in pidgin English, “Me I go go back to Lagos now. I just dey here to make small money to get house.”

No more cheating

According to Ms Peter, her mother spent most her time in Coutonu, Benin Republic, and left her behind to learn the trade of selling cloths while living with her trainer, whom she said had already turned her and the other girls into instruments of making money from men, working as sex slaves.

“If you are in my shoes, you no go run? I just think say, instead of sleeping with men to bring business for my oga, then let me do it to make money for myself and later go and start my own business. Imagine, the day I leave Lagos, she sent us to Cotonou to bring cloths and whenever we go, instead of giving us money to clear at the border, she go expect say make we do anyhow with Customs, you know now. So, I just took the money for bus wey she give us and run come here,” said Ms Peter.

On the Tuesday following the national assembly election, a Toyota bus belonging to Kwara State University was sighted at a night bar that operates within the premises of the state ministry of tourism. The old man driving the bus had come to pick about 20 girls, who filled the bus, chattering about what they had already made on short-time sex services.

“It is either the man brought them from school and has come back for them or he is engaged in the usual arrangement of girls for government visitors,” said a suya (barbecue) seller in the vicinity.

The Government Reservation Area (GRA) section of the city where the girls hang out for business has been nicknamed Contractor. Now highly popular, the tag is from the buzz of the motorcycle riders and hotel attendants who always come around to “arrange” girls for business. Also in the area are to be found many guest houses, hotels and inns where “short time service” could be rendered at a rate ranging from N1000 to N2000.

Speaking to NEXT, Tom Akpor, a taxi driver plying the Contractor route, said: “Most of the girls are just students, though some of them are not in school. If you maintain that it is student that you want, I know them very well,” he said.

Challenging Mr Akpor on how he would feel if he found his sister among the night queens, he retorted: “I know wetin she dey do where she dey?” The father of two who revealed that his wife did not know that he was there, said that he was only helping the girls and not doing anything wrong.

However, unlike most of her colleagues, Patience’s few months into the business got her into trouble, as she now has to battle a much-dreaded health condition - HIV/AIDS. According to her, she had met men who took her to an hotel, induced and gang-raped her, only for her to be woken up in the middle of the day by the hotel staff.

Agnes Ezennadozie had called her husband, Peter, to alert him of what looked like trouble. “She called me and said ‘Honey, it’s like a riot is taking place’,” recalled Mr Ezennadozie, barely holding back tears. “I asked her how safe she was and she said they were at a police station. Later, she called to say the hoodlums were surrounding the station and I told her to run from there. As we were talking, I heard a scream and then nothing,” he added.

photo:Governor Obi receiving the body of the slain youth corps member from Anambra State, Agnes Ezennaedozie (Nee Anyanwu), who was given a state burial at the Governemnt House, Awka, yesterday.

He called her line repeatedly without reply. Some two hours later, a male voice came on the line to tell him that the owner of the phone was seriously injured. He later learnt that his wife of three months had been taken to the Federal Medical Centre in Bauchi. He prevailed on the hospital staff to take his wife to a particular hospital in downtown Bauchi. From there she was moved to Abuja for further treatment. She died 12 days later.

Good programme gone awry

It was dreamed up as a scheme to engender unity among Nigeria’s youth fresh from the nation’s higher institutions. But the fate of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) currently hangs in the balance as recent events threaten to undermine its continued existence.

Established in 1973 by the Yakubu Gowon administration, the scheme was also aimed at healing the wounds of a 30-month civil war which the nation had survived three years earlier. The scheme offered the fresh graduates the opportunity of serving the country outside of their states of origin. There is no doubt that many would not have known about the different cultures in the country if not for the scheme.

However, in recent times religious and now political crises in parts of the country, especially the north, have turned what was supposed to unite Nigerians into an objectionable venture.

This latter development was poignantly brought to the fore by the senseless killing of many innocent youth corps members in some northern states, especially Bauchi and Kaduna, by gangs of youth protesting the loss of their favoured candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, at the just concluded general elections.

The protesters descended on the hapless corps members who served as ad hoc staff for the nation’s electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission. When the dust settled, there was general weeping and anguish by a shocked nation. Many of its youth had been slaughtered like animals in the course of serving their fatherland.

In the midst of all this is the very heart-rending case of Mrs Ezennadozie, who was carrying a six-week old pregnancy after her wedding in February this year. Mrs Ezennadozie, who hailed from Achina in Anambra State, died as a result of the first degree burns she sustained in Bauchi when the hoodlums invaded and set fire to a police station where the corps members had fled to for safety.

Indescribable pain

Mr Ezennadozie wondered what his wife had done to those who murdered her to deserve such a fate. He wondered why Nigerians, especially northerners, had no wish to, in his words, “Stop the rubbish act of killing innocent people because of religion and politics.”

“How can someone just kill an innocent girl? The federal government should stop this act of northerners,” he said. As a solution to that, Mr Ezennadozie is of the opinion that those from the north should serve in the north while their southern counterparts should serve in the south. That way, he said, “if the north wants to kill its own children, it would be their choice.”

While receiving the remains of Mrs Ezennadozie at Government House last Thursday, the state governor, Peter Obi, said, “Today casts a pall of darkness over Anambra State as we receive the corpse of Mrs Ezennadozie who as you know was among the corps members hacked down in their prime during the post-presidential election crisis that engulfed parts of northern Nigeria.” He regretted that the late Agnes Ezennadozie paid the supreme price while answering a call to national service.

“Unfortunately, a programme designed as a veritable instrument for national integration turned disastrous when uninformed youths hiding behind the veil of politics visited violence on fellow Nigerians,” Mr Obi lamented.

He called on the federal government to henceforth assure corps members outside the northern zone of adequate protection or nobody would be willing to serve again. “We will serve the nation but not at the expense of our lives. We must serve the nation but the nation must protect us, if not we will not serve. We must negotiate before you (corpers) get back,” the governor said, noting that he had asked the federal government to ensure that those behind the act do not go free.

He promised that his government would not allow the deceased’s family to walk alone and pointed out that the state government had fully taken over the funeral expenses of the slain corps member.

To scrap or not to scrap

Some who spoke to NEXT after the short reception expressed worry over the incessant killings in the North and called on the federal government to either review the NYSC scheme or scrap it. They echoed the widower’s line that those from the various zones should serve in their zones.

“The NYSC should not be abolished but that corps members should serve in their zones,” said Nkiru Orji, a journalist.

Tony Anyanwu, also a journalist with the Nigerian Television Authority, said that much as he sympathised with the deceased’s family, he would still insist that the scheme should be modified rather than scrapped. He however said that if the country was desirous of keeping the scheme, it must urgently deal with factors causing what he called “the incessant crises” and that offenders should face the law.

For Shadrack Nnanna of the National Orientation Agency, corps members should be allowed to choose where they would prefer to serve in order for them to accept their fate whatever happens. He suggested that, alternatively, graduates should be subjected to military training in lieu of national service and afterwards helped to settle down in society afterwards as is the practice in Egypt.

Given that many parents would not want to give up their children to another horror similar to the post-election violence, the likelihood of the runaway corps members across the nation returning to their host states in the north continues to look bleak as the programme totters on the brink of total rejection by Nigerians.

The next time you are a Delta flight, check out the latest issue of Sky magazine, featuring Jay Z.

In the interview Jay talks about everything from a new label to Broadway, and addresses those pesky Illuminati rumors and the delay in the Watch the Throneproject with Kanye West.

On being in a secret society:

“It may sound a little arrogant, but I just think people can’t handle when somebody is successful. Something has gotta be wrong; you gotta be down with some higher power. And I guess when someone else is successful, it makes you feel like maybe you’re a failure. So it can’t be you, it has to be some other force.”

On working with Kanye:

“’Ye is just in an extraordinarily creative place—so much so that I need to get him to focus so we can finish this. But music is his refuge right now.”