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Gunmen numbering about five on Sunday night abducted Mafe Ibrahim, the mother of billionaire and politician, Jimoh Ibrahim at his country home, Igbotako in Okitipupa Local Government Area of the state.

It was gathered that the four gunmen arrived the house, a one-storey building located in the outskirts of the town around 8pm, and pretended to be customers who wanted to buy some locally made mats which the woman was selling.

Donatus Ekuma who was the guard on duty in the house told reporters at Igbotako that the old woman was upstairs when the kidnappers arrived.

He said: “Four of them came in a vehicle. Two of them came down from the car and demanded to see Mama. They claimed to be her customers and that they wanted to buy some mats.

“I told them that Mama was resting upstairs but they insisted on seeing her personally and make their purchase and I obliged them,” he said.

Mr Ekuma, however said that the story changed when the old woman came out to meet her ‘customers’ only to be held with force and dragged into their waiting vehicle.

“I immediately raised the alarm but the gunmen pointed their guns at me and other domestic staff on duty, ordering us to lie, face-down,” he added. The kidnappers, zoomed away with the old woman.

Effort of the police

The Spokesperson of the state police command, Aremu Adeniran, confirmed the development to our correspondent on Monday, saying that the incident was reported at the Igbotako Police Station around 11.30pm, on Sunday night.

He however said that his men have commenced full investigation into the matter to ensure that the woman is released unhurt.

Mr Ibrahim or any member of the family could not be reached as at the time of filing this report for comment.

A patent that Facebook was awarded about a month ago, called “Visual tags for search results generated from social network information,” is suddenly getting some industry attention.

The official description of the patent says:

Search results, including sponsored links and algorithmic search results, are generated in response to a query, and are marked based on frequency of clicks on the search results by members of social network who are within a predetermined degree of separation from the member who submitted the query. The markers are visual tags and comprise either a text string or an image.

Greg Sterling at Search Engine Land calls it a patent on social search – an area, where Google is placing more focus these days (with good reason).

We’ve talked repeatedly about how important it is for the search engines to get social search right, and without Facebook data, it seems unlikely that Google will be able to do that – at least as long as Facebook continues to be the dominant form of social communication. Luckily, there are third party tools emerging to help bridge the gap.

We’ve also talked about how Facebook could become an important contender in the search market. This patent only adds more fuel to the fire in that department. Facebook has been doing other things to improve its search feature, and this isn’t the first search-related patent for the company either.

The bottom line is that with so much social interaction going on among true friends and family, the most trusted (by any given user) opinions are most likely to be obtained via Facebook than on any other site on the web. That information is incredibly valuable for many types of searches.

Meanwhile, Facebook is about to do something interesting with Deals:

n case you can’t read that, it says, “Subscribe now to get notified when Deals are available in your area and receive regular updates about new offers.”

Right now, the only cities listed are Atlanta, Dallas, Austin, San Diego, and San Francisco, but “more cities coming soon.”

Things are going to continue to get more interesting for companies like Groupon and Foursquare, as we see more overlap between the Deals space and the location-based service space. While this particular offering from Facebook is more Groupon than Foursquare, Foursquare is increasingly becoming more of an interesting place for businesses to turn to for customer offers.

On a side note, having just got back from Austin, I’ll say that Foursquare’s presence was felt tenfold over Facebook’s throughout SXSW Interactive. CEO Dennis Crowley (pictured below, playing an actual game of Foursquare at a company party at SXSW) said that Google would make an interesting partner.  He also said that he is not opposed to potential Facebook Places integration, though he doesn’t hear demand for it very often.

Deals and location are both areas that Facebook and Google may find themselves competing with each other more and more. Foursquare could end up being a key component to that, as a leader in the LBS space.

Do you think Facebook poses a threat to Google? Tell us what you think. 

A lady has allegedly killed her brother over N100 banana in their home in Mushin, Lagos, Southwest Nigeria.

Sources told P.M.News that the murder occurred three days ago when the lady, identified as Miss Queen Nnenna Eneguwe, returned home and discovered that her brother had eaten some of the banana she kept in the house.

According to our sources, someone gave Queen some banana which she kept at their residence at 24, Bankole Street, Idi-Oro, Mushin, before going out.

However, she was enraged when, on returning home that fateful Tuesday, she discovered that her 18-year-old brother, Thankgod Chubuza Eneguwe had eaten some of the banana.

An argument eventually led to a fight and she was alleged to have stabbed the brother with a knife. Thankgod was said to have died on the way to the hospital.

When P.M.News visited Bankole Street, people were seen discussing the matter in groups. Some co-tenants of the deceased said the lady and her late brother were the only ones living in their apartment.

Checks at Alakara Police Station in Mushin revealed that the murder incident was initially reported there before it was transferred to SCID in Panti.

The corpse of the deceased was deposited at the public mortuary for autopsy, while Queen has been detained.

Samuel Jinadu, police public relations officer, Lagos State Command confirmed the incident to P.M.News.

Jinadu, a deputy superintendent of police, while describing the incident as unfortunate, however, advised people not to allow anger to overwhelm them no matter the circumstance.

Comedian, Emmanuel Adigwe, popularly known as D' Lecturer is in the business of making people laugh. But at the moment, he is not laughing as a result of the injuries he claimed he sustained from men of the Nigerian Police on Monday night while on his way from Ojodu, Lagos, where he had gone to perform the function of the master of ceremonies at a birthday party.

D' Lecturer

According to Adigwe, his parish priest had begged him to help an accident victim to Bariga. The comedian claimed to have missed his way at Gbagada after dropping his passenger and had stopped to ask for direction from passersby.

"I met a traffic officer who directed me, but I didn't know the description he gave me was wrong. When I eventually discovered this, I decided to stop at a police check point to ask for the correct description," Adigwe said.

However, his quest for help earned him the beating of his life for he alleged the police men were not in the least bit interested in his story. The policemen, he said, ordered him to pull over and queried him for driving against traffic.

"I parked and I tried to explain to them why I took 'one way' but they just didn't want to hear me out. They asked for my driver's license which I gave them and they seized it immediately. At that moment, my parish priest called me to find out where I was. I told him what was happening and he told me to wait there and that he was coming to meet us," Adigwe said.

The policemen, unwilling to wait for Adigwe's parish priest, all got into Adigwe's car and ordered him to drive off.

"They were five in number. I asked them where we were going, but they shouted at me. I offended them further when I begged them to wait for my parish priest. At this point, they came out of the car, handcuffed me and beat me mercilessly for 30 minutes," he said.

Adigwe said that while some were beating him, the others called the DPO in charge of Pedro Police Station who eventually came to the scene.

"It was the DPO that ordered them to unlock the handcuffs before we all went to the police station."

Already at the station were the priest and the person whose birthday he had attended.

"The DPO and his men changed the story. They said I was fighting the policemen. It was my parish priest who asked them how an unarmed person could fight five armed policemen," Adigwe said.

Adigwe said it got to a point when the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Samuel Jinadu, called and told the DPO to release him.

"They eventually allowed me to leave around 11 pm. That was how I sustained all these injuries. I even told them I was a comedian, but my pleadings fell on deaf ears. I didn't know that I could be subjected to such brutality," Adigwe said.

When Crime Digest contacted the Lagos PPRO on telephone, he said he was not aware that Adigwe was brutalised by policemen. "I know he was arrested and later released, but I am unaware of his being brutalised by police officers from Pedro Police station," Jinadu said.

A couple of days ago, some neighbourhood friends chatted away about a new movie, ‘All Pass’, and a major highlight of their gist was on a masturbation scene. They laughed out loud and marvelled at the scene where a man’s bid to get himself an orgasm in his car was publicly interrupted.

“The guy is a fool; you need to see the expression on his face while he goes about it,” a friend told another, while making faces as he attempted to mimic a man masturbating.

The others laughed out more

I tarried a little with them and a few cunning questions after, a couple of them admitted having been guilty of the act at a younger age. Some even went ahead to state with genuine conviction they believe it is a growing up phase all men experience. However, we had to change the subject of the conversation when some ladies joined the gathering.

Reminiscing afterwards, I pondered; how much do we know about this act? Why do people indulge in it to a level of addiction, even though they will never readily admit to it? Is it a peculiar only to males? Does stroking oneself have any advantage or negative side effect medically, physically, and emotionally?

24 year-old Banke, an undergraduate of Lagos State University, said she has never done it, but have heard her friends talk about it.

“I’m a wrong person to ask this question because I have never done it,” she said. “But I know a friend who said she does; she said it is because she is not ready to lose her virginity and yet she wants to satisfy her urges,” Banke explains.

“Masturbation addiction is referred to as a ‘process’ addiction, as opposed to a substance addiction like alcohol, or drugs. In a process addiction, the euphoric feeling, or high, comes from chemicals released into the brain, rather than from an external source. As the mind becomes accustomed to the release of these chemicals, it searches out for continued sources of that high,” lifestyle website, Allaboutlifechallenges.org, explains the addiction to masturbation.

Effect of masturbation

A brief research on the internet reveals that medically, masturbation appears to be safe. However, Jeroh Obukohwo of Lagos University Teaching Hospital, believes regular masturbation can lead to Oligospermia, reduced sperm volume.

“This is different from low sperm count; this is low sperm volume as a result of not giving enough room for the sperm volume to build up before another ejaculation,” Mr. Obukohwo said.

He, however, stressed that there is no research yet that proves that masturbation can lead to infertility, both in males and females. He also highlighted some negative physiological risk of indulging in masturbation.

“Addiction can lead to delayed ejaculation in men. If a man gets so used to touching himself in a specific manner, it might require stimulations in that particular way to get him to climax or ejaculate. If he is unfortunate to get a partner who will stimulate him in that manner, it may result into delayed ejaculation,” he concludes.

Allaboutlifechallenges.org further emphasises that “masturbation addiction comes from the flood of chemicals that are released into the brain during orgasm. As the brain begins to crave this “high,” the addict trains himself to climax quicker and more often. In addition, the addict becomes accustomed to the sensations of masturbation, sometimes to the point that “normal” sexual activity is not satisfying.

“By practising masturbation, the addict becomes accomplished at short, intense activity with a quick climax. Unfortunately, this isn’t very satisfying to a spouse in a sexual relationship,” it says.

Fighting the addiction

Like other form of addictions, letting go of masturbation will not come without some work. According to James Ogirima, a middle aged teacher, it will take a lot of determination and divine intervention to break away from the habit.

“You cannot just stop it like that; you first have to tell yourself this thing is harmful to me and I will not do it again. It is not going to be easy, but you have to be determined and prayerful to overcome the sinful act,” Mr. Ogirima said.

Another lifestyle website, Lightplanet.com, sets the fight to combat masturbation in ten steps. The website advised that an addict must reduce contact with intimate parts of the body, avoid being alone for too long, break contacts with friends who indulge in the act as well, wear pyjamas or other clothing that prevents easy access to ones genitals while in bed.

The website also suggests that getting the mind occupied with non sexual stuff, staying away from pornography, being prayerful, exercising, and not even talking about it are key to stopping the act.

• Better Man in brief ...
• Too much masturbation may lead to a reduced response to other people's touch.
• Possible side effect include abrasions or swelling of the penis.
• Compulsive masturbation can be a problem if it affects other aspects of your life.

"Will masturbating cause acne? If it did, 95% of guys would be walking around with a face full of zits."

The Negative Side Effects Of Masturbation Your Parents Believed

Touching Breeds Unwanted Familiarity

One side effect of masturbation is that subsequent ejaculations will take longer. If you masturbate a few times before a date and, hopefully, proceed to have sex, you’ll probably find more difficulty reaching climax. Thankfully, giving our penis a day or two to recharge should do the trick. In addition, we each know the secrets to getting ourselves off. Masturbating can sometimes create an individual orgasm effect where we train our bodies to respond to our own familiar touch and have a reduced response to other people’s touch, resulting in a tougher time reaching climax with others. A lot of guys can relate to this.

Dr. Chaves discusses the possible negative side effects of masturbation further

There’s little evidence that too many erections or masturbation will have an effect on your erection in the future."

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Masturbation And Guilt

The Problems With Chronic Masturbation

Where Do You Get Off?

World number three, Novak Djokovic, beat Roger Federer, world number two on Saturday to confirm that he now knows the Swiss’ number. The Serb has now defeated Federer three times this year and remains unbeaten on the tour where he has now played 19 matches without any loss. Federer lost his composure and the match 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 and with that loss, the Swiss master will lose his second place ranking to the Serb when ATP Tour rankings are released today.

Djokovic said on atptour.com that he expects to beat Nadal. “I have played Nadal many times, and many times in the late stages of the tournaments, especially in the semis and finals of the major events. I know how it feels like to be in the big stand or how it feels like to play him, so I will be prepared. I want this trophy as much as he wants it, so we’ll both step into the court tomorrow wanting that win.”

Djokovic had lost just 12 games total en route to the semi-finals, the fewest by a player at an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament after four matches. Federer had also reached the semi-finals without the loss of a set. Federer has now lost to Djokovic in two consecutive semi final matches and the former world number one bemoaned another lost chance as all three of Federer’s losses this season have come against the Serb.

Bright side

But Federer added that he was pleased that he was losing to top ranked players and not players rated 50 and below. “I don’t know if I’d rather lose against three multiple different guys ranked outside of the top 50. I guess not. I’d rather lose against a guy that’s ranked very high so I know I’m controlling the rest of the field against top guys. If I’m playing well, I know I can beat them, too. So that’s what it is. At the end of the day I can’t change it, and I’m happy with my game.”

“I had my chances today in the singles. I thought it was a good match, played at a high level. I know I wasn’t far away at all today, because I really had him going. But look, I guess he escaped. I guess confidence is a big thing for him at the moment. I’m sure it’s gonna be a good final tomorrow,” he added, referring to the final match that will be between Djokovic and Nadal.

Djokovic is pursuing his third title of the season, after winning the Australian Open and his 20th tour-level title in Dubai.

The opening ceremony of this year's Nigerian Universities Games Association (NUGA) Games, the country's premier inter-collegiate sporting competition, took place yesterday inside the University of Benin.

With the opening ceremony, which came up at the Samuel Ogbemudia Sports Complex in the university over and done with, the focus now shifts to the athletes who over the next seven days will jettison academic pursuits in favour of sporting honours.

With over four thousand athletes representing just over 80 universities, the NUGA Games has come a long way from its modest beginning back in 1966 when its first took place at the University of Ibadan.

Actually, the idea of having an inter-university games amongst Nigerian institutions was mooted a year earlier, in 1965, by the Nigeria Sports Council following the successful staging of the inaugural West Africa Inter-University Games (WAUG) which took place at the University of Ibadan from March 22 to 29 of that year.

Through the years

Five universities were in attendance at the inaugural NUGA Games: Ahmadu Bello University, University of Ibadan, University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), University of Lagos and University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

Forty-five years down the line, the NUGA Games has grown in leaps and is now in its 23rd edition, returning to an institution that had previously hosted the Games in 1980, six years after the event's torch and anthem was introduced to the Games at the 1974 edition held at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

As is the tradition in most parts of the world where there is a blend between sports and education, the NUGA Games was introduced to help students pursue their degrees and yet still maximise their potential in sports.

And that is what a vast majority of the athletes at this year's NUGA Games will be aiming at as they attempt to outdo one another and etch their names as well as that of their respective institutions in the record books, as well as on the medals standings as the rest of the country watches on to find out who will be the next generation of Nigerian collegiate superstars.

Past stars

Although not in the same league as America's National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), which organises competitions as well as athletic programmes for the over 1000 colleges and universities in the United States, the NUGA Games has produced a lot of stars who went on to represent Nigeria in various sporting disciplines at international competitions, including the Olympics.

The likes of Adokie Amiesimaka and Felix Owolabi, who were both integral parts of the Green Eagles side, which won the country's maiden Africa Cup of Nations title in 1980 were both former stars of the NUGA Games in their days as students at the University of Lagos as were former footballers Tunde Charity and Edema Fuludu, who appeared in the colours of the University of Benin (UNIBEN) and at some point in time featured for the Nigerian national team.

Victor Ezekwesili, another former star of the national team, also took part in the NUGA Games while still a student at the University of Ife. Same goes for England-based Seyi Olofinjana, who for close to a decade was a regular feature in the Super Eagles but only after he had been discovered at the NUGA Games while studying for his first degree at the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH).

Former Nigerian sprinter, Calister Uba, as well as Ikana Mbora, a former star of the Nigerian women's national basketball team, also took part in the NUGA Games as students of UNIBEN with the latter taking part in three NUGA Games between 1992 and 1998.

The NUGA Games as also the breeding grounds for star athletes like former world 60 metres indoor champion Olusoji Fasuba from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Uche Isaac and Franca Idoko both from Ahmadu Bello University amongst many others.

But undoubtedly the biggest star the NUGA Games has produced in recent years has been Yagazie Chukwumerije who won a bronze medal in Taekwondo at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China four years after claiming a gold medal at the 2004 NUGA Games hosted by the University of Port Harcourt in Rivers State.

And he is optimistic that a new star will be born at the end of UNIBEN 2011.

"The NUGA Games was by far the biggest event in the sports calendar for most of us back then," Chukwumerije told NEXT from his base in the United Kingdom.

"Looking back at the Games in Port Harcourt, I don't think I would have been happy if I had not had the pleasure of experiencing it.

He added: "It would have been unthinkable for someone such as myself who is so much in love with sports to go through the university and not, even if only once, get to experience the thrills of competing at the NUGA Games.

"Every edition produces its own stars and this year's NUGA Games will not be an exception." Chukwumerije was already a household name of sorts before heading off to the 2004 NUGA Games having represented Nigeria a year earlier at the All Africa Games where he won a bronze medal. As a result, he arrived at UNIPORT 2004 as outright gold medal favourite in the men's heavyweight category.

Second chance

A similar scenario looks likely to replay itself at this year's Games but this time around, not in taekwondo but in badminton where former African women's champion, Grace Daniel,will be hoping to add another title to her already vast array of honours.

Daniel, whose career appeared over and done with after she was involved in a near fatal road accident back in 2009, has since then not featured in any major national or international competition. But she is hoping to use the NUGA Games as an avenue to build back her confidence ahead of next year's Olympic Games in London, England.

"I don't know if I am the favourite for the title here but I just want to use it to see how much work I still need to do to get back to an acceptable standard," said Daniel who is a Mass Communication student at the Adamawa State University.

"It has been very tough getting back after the accident," continued Daniel who suffered multiple fractures and ligament damage to both her legs. "But I have worked very hard to get back to this stage, and I now want to see much more work I still need to do as I would like to have a shot at making the team to the next Olympics.

"It won't be easy, but I have to give it my best shot, which is what I think every other person here will be aiming to do so as to get the attention of the national coaches," she added.

Daniel, who like Chukwumerije before her was at the 2008 Olympic Games, hopes that one of the athletes from the 15 sporting disciplines that will be competed for at this year's Games gets to become a household name in years to come. But it is likely that her hopes will be dashed as the standard of the Games appears to have dropped in recent times.

Falling standard

No longer does the average university athlete produce the level of performance capable of attracting the attention of coaches at the Games.

This development has in turn affected the marketability of the NUGA Games. Although, many organisations have associated themselves and their products with UNIBEN 2011, it is unlike in the past when companies rushed fell over themselves just to be associated with the Games.

As if the reduction in the number of sponsors and the dearth of quality athletes wasn't enough, the situation has in turn seen television coverage of the Games become nonexistent. Most of the country's best prospects prefer to travel overseas to study at foreign universities, oftentimes on scholarships.

This was something that was commonplace in the past but hopefully should make a return this time around after the organisers of the Games hooked up with Lagos-based television station, DBN, who, besides providing coverage of the Games, have to market the games. A number of fundraisers were held across the country in a bid to give the event more publicity and raise the projected three billion naira that organisers stated were required for a successful hosting of the Games.

Publicity

However, outside the host university and its environs, not much is known about this year's NUGA Games so much that even a former star of the Games like Ikana Mbora, who is currently the secretary general of the Nigerian Tennis Federation, can't help complaining about the lack of publicity.

"I will say that there is inadequate publicity and they (the organisers) should have gotten some people involved more than what they have done," said Mbora in an interview with NEXT.

She added: "I pray they succeed. It used to be plenty fun and we used to look forward to such events."

How far the Games have been publicised, and how much money was actually raised remains unknown as attempts to pry the figures from Osa Adun, chairman of DBN, marketers of the games, proved abortive. The facilities for the Games however, are amongst the best in the world and should get the best out of the competitors in all 15 sporting events.

These are track and field, badminton, basketball, chess, cricket, handball, hockey, judo, soccer, squash, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, and volleyball.

Fifteen events are, however, a far cry from the 24 sporting disciplines that make up the programme of the NCAA in America, and there is a need to, in the future, introduce more events especially those that have become a part and parcel of Nigerian sports and which have the potential to bring glory to the country at major international events.

An example of such a sport is wrestling - freestyle and Greco-Roman - which in the opinion of former Olympic champion and current technical adviser of the country's national team, Daniel Igali is a potential medal spinner at international events.

"Wrestling is one of the traditional events of the Olympics and even in the United States and Canada, it is one of the biggest attractions at their collegiate games," Igali, who also holds Canadian citizenship, having represented the North American country said.

"It is one of our traditional sports and it has also won countless honours for Nigeria, so they should look at ways to introduce it at future NUGA Games."

A major obstacle to implementing of such a plan is the dearth of training facilities for these sports within Nigerian universities.