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12166335262?profile=originalJezebel of Nigerian Corruption ?: Counting The Cost of Deziani Alison-Madueke’s Sins  arguably Nigeria's Hottest Minister with a girlish looking charm but be not decieved she is a cool calculating jezebel of sorts able to get her " ahab man"

 GJ or any other man what they want.Her Skills that have kept her in helm of the most profitable ministry where Corruption is indemic of a roaring pandemic. .Nigeria was rated the second most corrupt country in the world by the latest Gallup Poll no thanks to Denziani Alison-Madueke’s leadership…

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NORTHERN GROUP BLASTS OBJ FOR CALLING PRESIDENT JONATHAN A WEAK LEADER

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The world’s ‘poorest’ president • Donates 90% salary to poor • Shuns presidential mansion • Rides 1987 Volkswagen

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jpeg&STREAMOID=RGtuRODGdHcA9HVw1_SHzS6SYeqqxXXqBcOgKOfTXxSGW1EdFPjfQ1T_4bNUhtLZnW_PgxgftuECOcfJwS6Jtlp$r8Fy$6AAZ9zyPuHJ25T7a9GKDSxsGxtpmxP0VAUyHL6IDcZHtmM2t7xO$FHdJG95dFi6y2Uma3vSsvPpVyo-Former

president, Olusegun Obasanjo, for the second time in 2010, yesterday called journalists to his Abeokuta home to fault rumours that he was dead. The rumour had gripped Abeokuta and its environs most of Friday.

Photo: Looking Good in Kaftan on New Year's Eve

Speaking with journalists at his Hilltop Private residence in Abeokuta, Obasanjo who jumped up to show journalists that he is hale and hearty, said, “obviously if I am dead, you won’t see me in flesh and blood. I think people take delight in speculation and rumouring.”

He said it was the seventh time since he became the nation’s president in 1999 and even after he left office in 2007 that he would be confronted with such reports.

Mr. Obasanjo, who said it is only God that determines the right time a person dies, recalled how a friend of his called him Friday morning, breaking to him the news of his rumoured death.

“He said he was trying to confirm and that he had counted seven times that l have been rumoured dead since the eve of my inauguration in 1999 as a democratically elected President of Nigeria till today,” Mr. Obasanjo said.

The former president said those who indulge in this will not give up “and those who are superstitious believe that when there are rumours and speculation like this means longevity. Whether longevity or not, what I know is that until the Good Lord who has created me decide to say yes, I have reached my take off point to return to him, people may speculate, people may rumour and that will be their own handicap.

“My words to Nigerians are that wishes are not horses. People’s wishes do not make it to happen. But I know that anybody created is bound to die sometimes. When my time comes, it will not be man that will decide. It is in the hands of God,” he added.

On the controversy over whether he slumped at a ceremony in Ondo State, he said:

“I did not slump, but when I was choked in the church because of lack of air conditioner and fan, I went to my car which had an AC and after staying there for about three minutes, I felt okay and I decided to go to my host house because I have not taken my breakfast. There, I was given two pieces of banana which I ate and I returned to the church. I was shocked three days after reading that I slumped. It is part of the gimmick of selling newspapers.”

Mr. Obasanjo said Nigerians should be thankful for the year ending 2010, adding that the new year promises to be a year of high expectations and divine year for sustenance of unity for all Nigerians

“We all Nigerians should be thankful for the year ending, 2010. I wish all Nigerians, young and old, male and female, every good fortune the year 2011 offers and promise to be a year of high expectations for all Nigerians,” he said.

Read more…
As residents of Abia State and all Nigerians bask in the euphoria of the release of 15 pupils of a private school in Aba, six students have again been kidnapped in Abia State. The victims are students of Federal Government College, Ikot Ekpene, Akwa Ibom State.
It was gathered that the abducted students were going back to school when gunmen ambushed their bus at Ohanze, in Obingwa Local Government Area and took them hostage.

According to the driver of the students’ bus, whose identity could not be ascertained immediately, “when it appeared to the hoodlums that I hesitated to stop, they shot at me and one of the bullets hit my hand and I had to stop. They ordered me out of my vehicle at gunpoint and took the students along with it.”
The driver said the police at Umuobiakwa, in Eastern Ngwa, were alerted when the incident occured, but the matter was not followed up immediately. He said if the police had acted immediately, the abductors would have been tracked down.

Meanwhile, the kidnappers have asked for N2 million ransom. They also threatened to kill the students if their demand was not met and in reasonable time.
Parents of the affected students have appealed to the kidnappers to release their wards so that they would go back to school and resume academic work. They said they had no money to meet the ransom demand.
When contacted, the PPRO, Abia State Police Command, Mr. Geoffrey Ogbonna, confirmed the incident. He said that efforts were on to effect the release of the students...
Read more…

Research has consistently found that people who don't drink actually tend to die sooner than those who do. A newpaper suggests that abstainers' mortality rates are actually higher thanthose of heavy drinkers.

Even after controlling for many possible variables, such as socioeconomic status, level of physical activity, and number of closefriends, the researchers found that over a 20-year period, mortalityrates were highest for those who had never been drinkers.

One reason for this may be that low levels of ethanol in your bloodstream will prevent the formation of formaldehyde from dietarymethanol. In fact, ethanol is used as the preferred antidote foraccidental methanol poisoning in an emergency for this reason.

Time Magazine reports:

“The authors of the new paper are careful to note that even if drinking is associated with longer life, it can be dangerous: it canimpair your memory severely and it can lead to nonlethal falls and othermishaps”.

Sources:


Dr. Mercola's Comments:
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This is not the first time we’ve been told that drinking alcohol is actually good for you. What’s surprising however, not to mentionpotentially troublesome, are the scientific claims that moderate andeven heavy drinking is beneficial – in this case, more beneficial for your longevity than abstaining from alcohol entirely!

It’s difficult to reconcile this claim with everything we already know about the devastating health effects of excessive alcoholconsumption and the fact that ethyl alcohol is neurotoxic..

However, I will offer one potential explanation for this oxymoron a bit later in this article.

Moderate Drinkers Live Longer than Non-Drinkers, Study Finds

According to the recent study published in the journal Clinical and Experimental Research, epidemiological research suggests that moderate to high alcohol consumption is associated with areduced overall mortality risk compared to non- and light drinkers.

Their study included over 1,800 people, aged 55 to 65 when the study began. Sixty-nine percent of the participants were men. The subjectswere followed for 20 years.

Surprisingly, the group with the lowest mortality rate was moderate drinkers, who had one to three alcoholic drinks per day, followed by heavy drinkers, and then light drinkers, while non-drinkers had the highest mortality rate of them all.

The study states:

“Controlling only for age and gender, compared to moderate drinkers, abstainers had a more than 2 times increased mortality risk,heavy drinkers had 70% increased risk, and light drinkers had 23%increased risk.

A model controlling for former problem drinking status, existing health problems, and key sociodemographic and social-behavioral factors,as well as for age and gender, substantially reduced the mortalityeffect for abstainers compared to moderate drinkers.

However, even after adjusting for all covariates, abstainers and heavy drinkers continued to show increased mortality risks of 51 and45%, respectively, compared to moderate drinkers.”

Time Magazine writes that “moderate alcohol use (especially when the beverage of choice isred wine) is thought to improve heart health, circulation andsociability.”

But is that enough to explain these findings?

I believe it’s unwise to ignore the big picture when it comes to health, and when it comes to alcohol, I’m just not convinced that thepotential benefits outweigh all the risks, particularly when it comes tohaving multiple drinks per day.

So I hope these latest findings will not be used as justification to further promote a dangerous and health-damaging habit that can easilylead to alcoholism.

The Health Hazards of Alcohol

Before we get into the potential benefits, it’s important to realize that alcohol is a neurotoxin that can poison your brain. It can alsodisrupt your hormonal balance, which could potentially explain why womendo not appear to reap the same health benefits from alcohol consumptionas men do.

According to the Harvard School of Public Health, “moderate” consumption for women is just one drink per day, whereas“moderate” consumption for men is two drinks. Hence, women who consumetwo to three drinks a day will actually fall into the category of“heavy” drinkers.

Another important consideration is that wine or other alcoholic beverages will increase your insulin levels, which will eventually have a negative impact on your health. As I’ve stated on many previous occasions, insulin resistance is a hallmark of nearly every chronic disease there is.

Heavy drinkers also face increased risk of cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure, and cirrhosis of the liver.

According to the Harvard School of Public Health, women who drink two or more drinks a day increase their risk of breast cancer by more than 40 percent!

Other types of cancer linked to excessive alcohol consumption include cancer of the:

  • Mouth, larynx and esophagus
  • Liver
  • Colon
  • Pancreas
  • Lungs

Alcohol consumption also inhibits your body’s natural stress response by reducing a key stress hormone, known as corticotropin-releasingfactor (CRF). CRF is produced by your hypothalamus and helps triggeryour body's reaction to stress.

If your stress response is impaired, your immune system will also be inhibited, which can have any number of health implications, from reducing your ability to fight infections to increasing your cancer risk.

Alcohol also clearly needs to be avoided during pregnancy.

Beyond Resveratrol – Explaining the Health Benefits of Alcohol

One of the most widely accepted health benefits of alcohol comes from resveratrol, an antioxidant found in red wine, which acts as a:

  • Cancer-preventing agent
  • Blood thinner
  • Vaso-expanding agent
  • Blood pressure lowering compound
  • Anti-aging chemical

But resveratrol cannot explain the health benefits ascribed to the moderate consumption of other types of alcohol (ethanol).

Interestingly, research into ethanol’s impact on dietary methanol may offer clues that could potentially rival the late breaking science into fructose and its devastating impact on health.

One possible explanation for why mortality rates are higher for non-drinkers may be that low levels of ethanol (alcohol) in yourbloodstream helps prevent the formation of formaldehyde from dietarymethanol. (In fact, ethanol is used as the preferred antidote foraccidental methanol poisoning in an emergency for this reason.)

What is dietary methanol and how could this possibly have ANY significance?

New Concern in Your Food: Wood Alcohol (Methanol)

Fresh fruits and vegetables contain small amounts of naturally-occurring methanol, and the artificial sweetener aspartameconverts into methanol in your body.

Normally this is not a problem as the methanol is typically bound to pectin, and since your body has no enzyme to metabolize that bond it issimply excreted in your stool and none of the methanol is absorbed intoyour body.

However, the problem occurs when you can or bottle fruit- or vegetable juice, as the methanol tends to then dissociate from thepectin into free methanol, which you do absorb.

The methanol you absorb readily passes the blood brain barrier where it can be converted to form formaldehyde, which is a potent toxin thatactually causes most of the damage.

Why Ethanol May Protect You From Methanol

An exciting paper that delves into this topic is food scientist Woody Monte’s “Methanol: A chemical Trojan horse as the root of the inscrutable U,” published in the March, 2010 issue of Medical Hypotheses.

In it, he explains that:

Very low levels of ethanol in your bloodstream would substantively prevent all formaldehyde production from dietary methanolanywhere in the body.

Protection from formaldehyde production may account for the yet unexplained dose region of apparent improvement in the U-shapedcurve of alcohol consumption.

Epidemiologic studies show moderate consumption of alcohol is associated with a reduced risk of myocardial infarction, dementia,lupus, and other diseases of civilization.

Low doses of ethanol appear to provide a preventative measure against the causes of diseases of civilization.

Recent studies of individuals who consumed at least one alcoholic drink per day show subjects had an additional 86 percent reduction inrisk of myocardial infarction if they were genetically endowed with agenotype of ADH I that was 2.5 times slower to metabolize ethanol thanthe control.

These findings were ‘‘consistent with the hypothesis that a slower rate of clearance of alcohol enhances the beneficial effect ofmoderate alcohol consumption on the risk of cardiovascular disease.””

It is important to understand that the primary treatment for methanol poisoning in the emergency room is to give them ethanol, for thereasons described above.

The ethanol will preferentially be broken down before the methanol. The methanol then remains unmetabolized, and in its base form it isrelatively nontoxic. It’s becomes a problem when your body breaks itdown to formaldehyde.

So while your body is breaking down the ethanol it has enough time to breathe out the methanol unchanged in your lungs and excrete itunchanged in your urine.

A Little Alcohol Might Be Good, But More is Definitely Dangerous

As I mentioned earlier, if this theory is correct, it could rival the scientific findings on fructose in terms of importance, and couldexplain not only the health benefits of low-to moderate alcoholconsumption, but also how aspartame affects some people more negativelythan others.

It may still be too early to draw definitive conclusions, but the arguments are compelling and I’ll be following this line of researchwith great interest in the years to come.

In his paper, Dr. Monte continues to connect the dots and shows how greater alcohol consumption ceases to be beneficial at a certain point, and instead starts to take its toll on your health:

“A compelling explanation of the dose region of adverse effects of the U-shaped curve with high ethanol consumption, which shows increased risk of these same diseases, could be themechanism by which humans habituate to high consumption of ethanol.

The induction of the P450 hepatic microsomal ethanol-oxidizing system results in a considerably higher clearance rate of ethanol fromthe bloodstream for an extended period of time, thus accounting for moreconsumption leading to statistically less time of protection.

Small amounts of supplemental alcohol not sufficient to induce P450 might be expected to prolong the residence time and avoid gaps inthe protection afforded by ethanol in preventing methanol-placedformaldehyde. “

P450 is a class, or family, of liver enzymes whose main functions include catalyzing the metabolism of drugs and the oxidation of organicsubstances.

In simplistic terms, higher alcohol consumption sends this system into high gear, and starts clearing ethanol from your system.

Again, a simplified explanation for how you become a habitual drinker (which also tends to lead to drinking increasing amounts of alcohol) isthat the more you drink, the more efficient this ethanol-clearingsystem becomes, and you begin to be able to drink more before you noticethe effects of the alcohol.

What this all means is that in order for the alcohol to provide you with the health benefit of preventing formaldehyde formation, it must below enough to not activate the P450 system.

Hence you get a U-shaped curve, where low- to moderate alcohol consumption gives you increasing amounts of health benefits, until youreach the “threshold,” at which point the more you drink, the more harmit causes.

It’s important to realize that formaldehyde is a class 1 carcinogen and a mutagen, and in the form of methanol, it can easily be transportedthroughout your entire body and brain.

Wherever you have a lot of ADH1 (the enzyme metabolizes methanol to formaldehyde), such as in your brain, methanol can be particularlytroublesome.

But as long as there’s just enough ethanol in your system to keep the methanol moving along, without ever being metabolized to formaldehyde,no damage is caused.

It’s worth noting here also that the average person typically has some naturally-occurring ethanol in their system, as it is also created through the fermentation process in your gut.

However, the addition of small amounts of ethanol in the form of alcohol may be able to more fully prevent formaldehyde from forming,which could explain why low- to moderate alcohol consumption appears tobe even more healthful than total abstinence…

How Can You Get the Same Benefits Without Drinking Alcohol?

It is not my recommendation to start drinking alcohol or to use this information as a justification to continue drinking alcohol. I am notconvinced it is physiologically beneficial for you in the long run.

The purpose of running this article was to merely inform you of a recent appreciation of methanol toxicity, and how ethanol can interactwith it. If this theory is true then the primary benefit of usingethanol would be to prevent methanol from converting to formaldehyde.

So what is the main source of methanol in your diet?

Remember that fresh fruits and vegetables have it but it’s harmless if you eat them fresh, as the methanol is then bound to pectin andcannot dissociate and cause you harm.

They key is to avoid ALL canned (or bottled) fruit or vegetable juices as they will have free methanol. Another large source of freemethanol would be aspartame which is 11 percent methanol by weight.

So if this theory is correct, you would likely receive very little benefit from consuming ethanol if you just avoid canned fruits andvegetables and asparatame….....

Do You Drink Too Much?

It’s dangerous to place too much weight on recommendations that include imbibing alcohol on a regular basis. And even if you do takethat recommendations to heart, it’s important to remember that healthbenefits have ONLY been found in people who drink small amounts ofalcohol on a daily basis, NOT a week’s worth of alcohol over theweekend...

This fact also further strengthens the theory that the benefit is derived from having low amounts of ethanol circulating almostcontinuously, or at least regularly, through your system, keepingformaldehyde from forming and doing any damage.

Unfortunately, alcohol abuse is a major problem in most countries, so I certainly hope you will not use this information as an excuse to hitthe bottle every day.

Most alcohol misuse and abuse stems from deep emotional challenges. Addressing these issues at a deep level is imperative to avoid thenegative health consequences--both physical and mental--that inevitablyresult from excessive drinking.

The Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) can be helpful if this is an issue for you. This psychologicalacupressure technique is routinely used in my clinic and it works betterthan any other traditional or alternative method I am currently awareof.

However, if you try the technique yourself and find that you are not improving, consider consulting a trained EFT therapist to facilitate theprocess. You can find a list of qualified EFT practitioners near you atthis link. For more information, feel free to review Pat Carrington’s site TappingCentral.

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The chinese looming forward Now No 2 but indications say not for long asthe Number 1 Spot is up for grabs any moment from now ! photo_1284261443586-1-1.jpg
Economists peddling dire warnings that the world's number one economy ison the brink of collapse, amid high rates of unemployment and aspiraling public deficit, are flourishing here.

The guru of this doomsday line of thinking may be economist NourielRoubini, thrust into the forefront after predicting the chaos wrought bythe subprime mortgage crisis and the collapse of the housing bubble.

"The US has run out of bullets," Roubini told an economic forum in Italyearlier this month. "Any shock at this point can tip you back intorecession."

But other economists, who have so far stayed out of the media limelight,are also proselytizing nightmarish visions of the future.

Boston University professor Laurence Kotlikoff, who warned as far backas the 1980s of the dangers of a public deficit, lent credence to suchdark predictions in an International Monetary Fund publication lastweek..

He unveiled a doomsday scenario -- which many dismiss as pure fantasy --of an economic clash between superpowers the United States and China,which holds more than 843 billion dollars of US Treasury bonds.

"A minor trade dispute between the United States and China could makesome people think that other people are going to sell US treasurybonds," he wrote in the IMF's Finance & Development review.

"That belief, coupled with major concern about inflation, could lead to asell-off of government bonds that causes the public to withdraw theirbank deposits and buy durable goods."

Kotlikoff warned such a move would spark a run on banks and money marketfunds as well as insurance companies as policy holders cash in theirsurrender values.

"In a short period of time, the Federal Reserve would have to printtrillions of dollars to cover its explicit and implicit guarantees. Allthat new money could produce strong inflation, perhaps hyperinflation,"he said.

"There are other less apocalyptic, perhaps more plausible, but stillquite unpleasant, scenarios that could result from multiple equilibria."

According to a poll by the StrategyOne Institute published Friday, some65 percent of Americans believe there will be a new recession.

And the view that America is on a decline seems rather well ingrained inmany people's minds supported by 65 percent of people questioned in aWall Street Journal/NBC poll published last week.

"It is true: Today's economic problems are structural, not cyclical," argued New York Times editorial writer David Brooks.

He said the United Sates is losing its world dominance much in the sameway the British Empire began to crumble more than a century ago.

"We are in the middle of yet another jobless recovery. Wages have beenlagging for decades. Our labor market woes are deep and intractable,"Brooks said.

Nobel Economics Prize winner Paul Krugman also voiced concern about thefate of the fragile economic recovery if voters return the Republicansto political power.

"It's hard to overstate how destructive the economic ideas offeredearlier this week by John Boehner, the House minority leader, would beif put into practice," he wrote in a recent editorial.

"Fewer jobs and bigger deficits -- the perfect combination."

The Wall Street Journal, usually more favorable to Boehner's call fortax cuts, ran a commentary from another Nobel Prize-winning economist --Vernon Smith -- that failed to provide much comfort for readers.

"This fact needs to be confronted: We are almost surely in for a long slog," Smith wrote.

And it seems such pessimism has even filtered into the IMF, which warnedon Friday that high levels of national debt and a still shaky financialsector threaten to derail the global economic recovery.

"The foreclosure backlog in US property markets is large and growing, inpart due to the recent expiration of the home buyer's tax credit. Whenrealized, this could further depress real estate prices."

This could lead to "disproportionate losses" for small and medium-sizedbanks, which could in turn "precipitate a loss of market confidence inthe recovery," the IMF warned.
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IBB "bribes" Journalists

Five months ago, a friend of mine, who edits a national daily, sent me a text message agreeing substantially with my column, ‘The Punch and the rest of us’, except the generalised conclusion that “all (journalists) have sinned and fallen short of the glory of the profession”. There are still some journalists, he submits, who toe the narrow path of integrity. Of course I knew where he was coming from, but I also knew the context in which I had made that statement.

I revisit that statement in light of the stories spewing out of the political beat, specifically on the race for the 2011 presidential elections and how it affects the integrity of news.

As part of the effort to sell his candidature for the presidency, former military president, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB) invited as many as 40 journalists to his Minna home on August 14 for an interview. I have heard questions asked about why he should invite journalists to his home instead of a public place if he didn’t have an ulterior motive, and why he should offer monetary gifts to the journalists in the name of paying for their transportation.

One news medium, which has championed this opposition in the open, is the online agency, Sahara Reporters. According to SR each of the journalists received N10 million for heeding Babangida’s call on his presidential ambition. That is N400 million just for one night’s interview from an aspirant yet to win his party’s nomination if it were true. But it was not. When some of the journalists complained about the fictional sum, SR changed the story on August 19, saying it was just “a paltry N250, 000 each”. Rather than admit its initial error SR simply said, “our accountants have told us that going by the number of 40 journalists in attendance, we are still around the same ballpark of N10 million”. So much for credible reporting!

Three days later, SR followed up with ‘IBB and his Rogue Journalists’, accusing the journalists of roguery and professional misconduct; roguery, because they collected money from two sources—their employers who presumably authorised and funded the trip and their news source, IBB; misconduct because it is unethical for them to demand/receive gratification from news sources for their services.

And on August 23 in ‘IBB Nocturnal Press Parley: Punch fires Editorial board Chairman’, SR stayed on top of the story by reporting that Adebolu Arowolo, editorial board chairman of the Punch, had lost his job for going on that trip without his management’s approval..

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Photo:Maku

Goodluck Jonathan is not a rubber stamp that will just sign the electoral act which the National Assembly forwarded to him for assent recently, the Minister of state for information and communications, Labaran Maku,Photo Above has said.

Fielding questions from the press in Abuja, Mr Maku said President Jonathan understood the anxiety of Nigerians about the need to hasten up the process on free and fair elections in 2011, but that he would not act on such anxieties and cause more problems for the system.

“The normal process of presidential assent to any law passed by the National Assembly is that the president would forward such acts to relevant departments of government, including the ministry of justice, which would study it and offer advice appropriately. If a law is passed to a sitting president, it is not just for rubber stamp.

“The president is not a rubber stamp. His duty is to go through this law and ensure that there is nothing in it that will cause problem during elections or that will be difficult to enforce. His duty is to ensure that the law that is forwarded to him is in accordance with the constitution and that it is something that is easily operable.”

Don’t insinuate

He insisted that Mr Jonathan is doing so much for the attainment of free and fair elections next year and appealed to Nigerians “not to insinuate on matters that have not arisen”.

He recalled that the president has appointed the most credible person to head the Independent National Electoral Commission, just as he fast-tracked the financial requirement of the commission through the National Assembly.

Attahiru Jega, the chairman of INEC, had stated that further delays in the signing of the constitutional amendment was going to hamper our nation’s dream of free and fair elections. He had also said the commission’s activities depended on the finalisation of the amendments, regretting that the president was yet to assent to the new Electoral Act.

The House of Representatives leadership, last Tuesday had also threatened to override the president if he fails to sign the document and approve the N87.7 billion INEC budget passed by the Assembly, after 30 days.

“All these have constrained INEC’s preparations for both the voters’ registration exercise and the elections,” Mr Jega had said.

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Who will be promoted & who will join Bode George ? Who is your favourite mallam ?


Former minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nasir El-Rufai, yesterday told a Federal High Court, sitting in Abuja, that it lacked the power to try him over allegations of abuse of office as minister. He said that the proper court to try him was the Abuja High Court.

Counsel to the former minister, Akin Olujimi, filed a preliminary objection saying that the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Matters Commission (ICPC) Act of 2000, which his client had been charged on, had been repealed and so the federal court lacked the jurisdiction to try the matter. “The prosecution acknowledges that the charges stand on nothing,” said Mr Olujimi. “The effect of a repealed law is that it is a nullity, and no charges founded on it can stand.”

In response to the preliminary objection, the prosecution said that the court could assume jurisdiction in the matter because it involved an agency of the federal government and a former minister in the federal cabinet. Trial Judge, Adamu Bello, adjourned ruling on the case to 13th October.

Mr. El-Rufai and two others were accused by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission of illegally allocating land in the FCT to friends and relatives, some of whom included Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello, the daughter of former president Olusegun Obasanjo. The other accused persons are Altine Jubrin, former director general of the Abuja Geographical Information System, and Ismail Iro, former general manager of the agency. All three men pleaded not guilty.


AC Ribadu & Oshiomole ticket : as Asiwaju Tinubu Drops Vice Presidential Ambition

If he had held Fash close to his breast who knows as Alamiyesegha is reaping the rewards of patient GodFatherhood


Bola Ahmed Tinubu is no longer interested in the vice presidential race and is, instead, strategising on how the Action Congress (AC) would team up with another party to claim the presidency as well as win all the South Western States, Sunday Independent can reveal.

It also emerged that AC may have concluded plan to field the former anti-graft czar, Nuhu Ribadu as its presidential candidate, with Edo Governor and former Labour leader, Adams Oshiomhole, as his running mate.

That appears to be a fantastic political masterstroke, designed to woo the disenchanted Northerners who appeared certain to lose the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)’s presidential ticket to President Goodluck Jonathan and draw the organised Labour and younger elements who see Ribadu and Oshiomhole as emerging leaders they could count on.


Tinubu, former Lagos Governor and AC foremost financier, has long been rumoured to be in alliance talk with Muhammadu Buhari to float a joint presidential ticket, a very risky arrangement that would have repeated the Social Democratic Party (SDP)’s Muslim-Muslim ticket in the 1993 presidential ballot.

Late Moshood Abiola and Baba Gana Kingibe were Muslims, but the ticket won a landside across the country widely split along ethno-religious lines.

Tinubu’s rumoured VP ambition has seen him criss-cross the length and breadth of Nigeria in the last two years to build bridges as he consulted with top opposition leaders and political parties, including the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP).

He is said to have resolved to sit back and map out strategies for the AC to regain all its lost states in the Yoruba-speaking South West geopolitical zone as a bargaining chip for the party in its merger talks with other political parties in the country.

This agenda is believed to enjoy the backing of the five former governors of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) with whom he had been involved in series of mobilisation for the new party to be consummated from the years of consultations.

He was also said to have revealed the new move to his political associates and groups in the South West and across Nigeria in the last one month, a decision believed to be behind the lull and change of strategy in the political consultations among the opposition parties.

Sources close to the godfather of Lagos politics said he backs the decision by AC to support a younger element from the North with a running mate from the oil-bearing South South geo political zone, a deft move to dwarf the influence of Jonathan whose support base political scientists say is weak.

Tinubu and AC favour the candidature of Ribadu and Oshiomhole, two fellows whose support bases they believe could jolt the PDP in the ballot, sources said.


The choice of Ribadu over some other young Northerners like former Federal Capital Territory Minister, Nasir El Rufai, is said to have been informed by the high profile and public sympathy over his performance in the anti-corruption crusade, regardless of his romance with former President Olusegun Obasanjo and allegations that the latter used him to hound adversaries.

The choice of Oshiomhole as a running mate, sources added, flow from his coming from the same region as Jonathan and his wide appeal among Nigerians who relished his presidency of workers’ movement, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).

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Victims of Persecutions, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), has called on the National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Person and Other Related Matters (NAPTIP) to investigate the alleged abduction of a young girl in Abuja...

In a petition to NAPTIP, the director general of the organisation, Chukwuma-Machukwu Ume, alleged that the girl's abductors tried to sell her in Afikpo, Ebonyi State. He called for a stronger security network to protect the weak and vulnerable in society.

On July 14th, 2010, 10-year-old Kelechi Alamezi, who was living with her cousin and guardian, Kingsley Uzusu, disappeared in front of her school, Supreme Academy Nursery & Primary School in Mararaba. According to eyewitnesses, the girl said she was waiting for her "Auntie Chichi," a neighbour in their compound, to take her to an unknown destination.

Mr. Uzusu reported the child missing on July 17th, after two days of searching.

Chinyere Vivian Ewua, caught by the police in Afikpo while trying to escape with the little girl, was arrested in connection with the kidnapping. She has been moved from Mararaba Police Station to Lafia Police Command, Nasarawa State, for further questioning.

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From NGOZI UWUJARE, Ibadan Friday, May 21, 2010 A man in Ogun State, has applied the Mosaic law of “an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth,” by stabbing to death, his wife’s lover, after he caught them in the act of making love in their matrimonial bed. The tragic incident occurred at Iyana Ilogbo, Sango Ota, Ogun State. The suspects advertisement The suspect, Abdul Adekile (not real name) 25, was said to have come back home that fateful day, to behold the victim, Musibau Olapade, on top of his wife, Bunmi (not real name) and decided to bring the amourous relationship to a tragic end. “I left home for work at about 7.00 am and came back home to give my wife some money to prepare food, only to find the door securely locked. I knocked on the door several times and called her many times but there was no response. I had to break the door, only to find my wife and Olapade stark naked on the bed,” he said. According to him, his wife quickly ran away, while a fight ensued between him and the “lover boy.” “I stabbed him when he attempted to escape. I didn’t know he was going to die,” Adekile was quoted as telling the detectives investigating him. The suspect, from Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State, explained that they had been married for the past four years, with a child who is now late. Ironically, the suspect described his wife as a loyal housewife, adding that he never suspected her to be unfaithful to him. He said: “Since we got married four years ago, I never suspected her to be cheating on me. I was provoked. I’m an orphan, I still love her, I had never raised my hand against her before,” he bemoaned. Bunmi, 24, who spoke to Daily Sun described the victim as her lover. According to her, her deceased lover gave her N500 that day before she agreed to make love with him in their matrimonial home. “My husband knocked on the door and we didn’t open it, and when he gained entry into the room, I was tying my wrapper without underwear. They started fighting while I ran out of the house. When Olopade tried to escape, my husband stabbed him on the back.” Bunmi, who claimed to be a Togolese, said she was three years old when her elder sister brought her to Nigeria. After the murder, it was members of the Odua Peoples Congress (OPC), who arrested and handed Adekile to the police. The state Police Commissioner, Mr. Musa Daura, said the suspect would be prosecuted after investigation.
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Ritual Church! Founder’s body in morgue five years after • Members still worship skeleton
From MUTIU GANIYU, Osogbo

Sunday, May 16, 2010
Has the world eventually entered the “last days” as prophesied in the Bible, the holy book for Christians? Maybe, if the activities of some so-called Christians are anything to go by. According to II Timothy 3-7: “In the last days, perilous times shall come.

The founder’s skeleton

For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good.”

The holy book further states that in the last days, men would have a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof and men will ever be learning, and will never be able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

The story is hardly believable but it is true that about five years after the death of a pastor, members of his church still worship his skeleton because of their faith in the efficacy of his powers..

To members of the church, late Jacob Adebayo Oladele, who was the founder, Millennium Gospel Church (MGC), remains powerful even in death.

In February 2010, the police stormed the premises of MGC located at an abandoned aerodrome in a vast forest at Egbedore Local Government Area of Osun State, following a tip-off by the monarch of the town, Alayemoore of Ido-Osun, Oba Adedapo Adeniyi Sapoyoro. The monarch, who said the palace had been inundated with series of allegations of high-handedness and weird worship style of the church members, led a team alongside the police to the church where a purported skeleton of the church’s founder was recovered.

The police arrested 15 suspects while people of the town warned the church members never to return to the land, which belongs to the government. Sunday Sun gathered that five of the suspects are still standing trial at an Osogbo Magistrate Court. Members of the church however insist that they are not ritualists and never killed anybody or performed any ritual in the church.

One of those standing trial, Mrs Florence Oluwaloni Oladele, who is the deputy founder said: “We are not ritualists. We worship our Lord Jesus Christ like every Christian. The skeleton belongs to our founder. Truth shall prevail and we will be vindicated. This is a test of our faith and members should be steadfast and more prayerful.”

Head, Pathology Department at the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology Teaching Hospital (LAUTECHTH), Dr Akinwumi Komolafe, confirmed the presence of the skeleton in the morgue, but said the police did not present a request for tests to be carried out on the skeleton. He said the hospital authorities would keep the skeleton until it receives further directive from the police.

It was however gathered that some of the church members have been visiting the mortuary in order to worship the late founder who they described as their Messiah. “Before stopping them from coming to see the skeleton, some who came were practically worshipping the skeleton. They rolled on the ground, shouting his name, weeping, wailing and appealing to him to answer their prayers. They are fanatical about him and if care is not taken and the skeleton remains in the mortuary more than necessary, they may go wild and take steps to recover it. The mortuary needs more security,” a source at the hospital warned.?

When contacted, the Osun State Commissioner of Police, Solomon Olusegun, said the “case is in court.”

But a police source said: “The skeleton may soon be released to the members since nobody had come forward with a claim that his/her relation was missing.”

“Apart from the skeleton, police did not find any other human or animal part at the church. Initially, we were made to believe that more bodies were going to be recovered from the church like that of the infamous Okija Shrine. None was found apart from the skeleton. However, all theories pointed to the fact that the skeleton belongs to the church founder. You know how fanatical some people could be with living or dead founder of their faith.

“The skeleton will soon be released for burial. At least, the man should be allowed to rest in peace. We still appeal to people who may have contrary information about the church to volunteer it to the police.”

At press time, police authorities were in confusion over what to do with the skeleton even as the hospital management anxiously awaited the collection of late Adebayo’s skeleton for burial because according to them, “the mortuary is meant for dead bodies and not skeleton.
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Pa Amodu, OLDEST GRADUATE IN TOWN ...He earned his first degree at 73, still targets PhD
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Pa Alimi Olarenwaju Amodu, popularly known by his admirers as the ‘youngest student,’ is a 73-year-old man whose story is unique. From Pa Amodu, the saying that what the mind can imagine the man can accomplish comes true. For him, the brain is like a battery and if charged, it works effectively. His educational activities have shown that no time is late for one to achieve his heart’s desires...

PHOTO:Pa Amodu in class at LASU

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At 60, the Lagos-based Ibadan indigene retired from the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), as a clerk, after which he went back to his hometown to engage in farming. During the time, he attended a professional course in Agriculture. At 68, in 2005, he returned to Lagos, with the quest to have a university education.

Shortly, he enrolled for a diploma course in Philosophy at the Lagos State University (LASU). Two years after, he converted to a degree course in Sociology, in the same university. After all challenges and struggles, he graduated last January, in Sociology. Now, he plans to go for his Master’s degre and afterwards, PhD.

Perhaps, one would want to know why the grandpa is still struggling, with those young enough to be his grandchildren, to acquire university education up to doctorate degree level in the eve of his life.

Saturday Sun had an encounter with the supposed oldest graduate in Nigeria and he told the story of his journey.

He said: “Though I am old, I still believe that I can achieve my heart’s desires. I had my early education in 1945, at St. Andrew’s Primary School, Aba Oke Village, in Oyo State. That time, there was no means of transport and it was not easy for me to go to school. My father was an active farmer, so, I used to go to the farm before going to school. But in spite of the stress, I passed very well because I have always been a determined person. Having passed standard three, I moved to Ibadan and my first point of call was St Paul’s School, Yemetu. There, I read up to Standard Four and proceeded to St. David’s School where I obtained standard six certificate in I952. I was lucky to meet Mama Morakinyo, our class teacher, who did her best to give us a good foundation. Former Secretary to Oyo State Government, Dr. Adebisi, was my classmate. We used to close at 6pm, as a result of tutorial,” he said.

Pa Amodu was an intelligent pupil and would have continued his education, but for lack of finance. Yet the obstacles did not stop him from doing his best as a young man.

Meanwhile, having obtained the Standard Six certificate, which was an outstanding qualification those days, Pa Amodu secured a job at Costain West Africa. He worked there briefly and moved to the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) Ibadan in 1958, as a clerical assistant. In 1962, he was transferred to the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) to assist in establishing the Medical Records Department. In the process, he attended overseas correspondence courses to upgrade his status.

“While in service, I had the interest to further my education because I knew that I have the brain. I attended some overseas courses. And in 1987, I registered for the GCE, but I did not do well. At the second attempt, I made five papers, which qualified me for university admission. So, after my retirement in 1992, I went back to Ibadan to farm. After sometime, I returned to Lagos with the intention to go back to school. When I told my children that I wanted to go back to school, they did not believe me; they asked how I could go back to school when I was supposed to be resting, but I insisted and told them that the brain is still active. I only needed to charge it. At a stage, they agreed to sponsor me to any level. Later, I enrolled for a diploma in Philosophy at LASU in 2002. In 2004, the university placed an advert for admission, I did the exam and passed and they offered me admission in Sociology; so I had to switch over,” he stated.

Narrating his university experience and activities, he said: “Though it was challenging, I enjoyed it because I have been able to achieve much. I studied Sociology for five years, and by the grace of God, I did not have any carry over. During my university days, I discovered that the brain is like the battery and if charged, it will start working again. Take, for instance, if you don’t charge the handset battery, it will stop working; so also the brain. The moment one stops reading, the brain will go down. Therefore, the brain battery needs regular charging to remain effective. I really enjoyed my university education to the fullest. I observed that there is discipline in LASU. One needs to behave well and work hard to make it there.

“As an elderly person, the school authorities respected me, but they never compromised disciplining me when necessary. We were always asked to put off our phones, while the lecture was on. There was a day I forgot to put off my phone, and it rang during lectures and our class coordinator seized it. Also, when I was in the 100 level, there was a day I slept off while lecture was on and my lecturer asked me to stand up. After sometime, he warned me not to sleep and later asked me to sit.

Thereafter, he asked me what I ate before coming to school, and when I told him that I ate rice, he advised me to always take tea instead to avoid sleeping in the class. In LASU, one has to work hard in order to pass exams. If they give you assignment, they give you deadline and there was no variation of the rule for an old student.”

At 73, one would expect that Pa Amodu should be thinking of relaxing and enjoying his investments, having trained many graduates, but he has a different plan for himself.

“I work according to my name, Olanrewaju (someone that always looks forward). I am someone who always wants progress and I still crave to contribute my quota anywhere I find myself. In fact, I want to be more relevant. My main aim is to be addressed as Dr. Alimi Olanrewaju Amodu. Then, after my doctorate degree, I hope to be a consultant or I may go into business. I am still strong at 73. I read always, sleep between 10 and 11pm and wake at 3am. If you come to my house, you will see my library. My final exams at LASU was on January 28. And the result so far was good. By the grace of God, I will commence my master’s degree programme in Social Work. Thereafter, I will go for my PhD. I decided to enroll after retirement because I want to have enough time for my education and I thank God that I have good children who really support my ambition. They cater for my education and other needs and they have promised to support me achieve my goals,” he stated.

As an elderly person among the young, Pa Amodu garnered himself so much respect that fostered good relationship among him, his lecturers and course mates. Because he actually integrated well with the system, many students got so close to him, so as to tap from his gifts and the wisdom and experience of his age.

“My relationship with the lecturers was so cordial, and they did their best to put me through. They saw me as a father and a student as well and I took them as my lecturers and children. In fact, we related very well. My relationship with my course mates was great and exciting. Even as we have graduated, we still relate. I was their key informant because I was always at the library reading. I gave them relevant materials without charge. Almost everyone in my class liked me and I played the role of a father to all of them. They respected me, as a father, but when it was time for the real business, you hardly know who is older; we played, chatted and studied together. My first grandchild is in the 200 level in the University of Lagos. That shows that most of my classmates were of my grandchildren’s age. You can see that I am now competing with my grandchildren. All my children graduated before me, and I struggled to graduate before my grandchildren.”

The advantages of his going back to school at old age are so enormous that he cannot forget them so easily. Before he enrolled in school, he could not read or write without eyeglasses. And when he got admission, he used it during lecture. But a miracle happened and he regained his sight. Today, he does not use eyeglasses again. Pa Amodu narrated: “One day, I forget to wear it. While lecture was on, I was seeing as if I was wearing the glasses. When I wanted to adjust it, I did not find anything on my eyes. So, since that day, I have not used glasses again. The more I read the more I see clearly. In fact, it was like a miracle.”

In as much as he enjoyed his educational career, Pa Amodu also met a lot of challenges, but put extra efforts to meet the required demands. “As an old man struggling with those of a different generation, I had a lot of challenges in the process. I had to struggle to board the bus and sometimes, trek in order to catch up with my lectures. I also studied day and night to ensure that I passed my exams and assignments because at my age I cannot cheat. It is just unimaginable that a grandfather should cheat where his children are the examiners and his grandchildren the course mates. I always go to the library to read. My experience in LASU opened my eyes to the truth that it is very difficult for people to survive in this country due to lack of encouragement. The government has no provision for the aged and does not encourage them in any way. So, it was just by sheer perseverance and resolve that made me succeed.”

Interestingly, Pa Amodu’s seven children, Ade, Funmilayo, Dr. Akeem, Morenike, Niyi, Sikira and Azzez, who initially did not support the decision of their aged father to return to school, but later gave him full support, were surprised at how their father excelled in an environment dominated by young people. They were later to describe their father as one who believes that learning has no limited time in human life.

One of his sons, Dr. Akeem Amodu, a senior lecturer at the Leads University, Ibadan, who spoke with Saturday Sun, admitted that he opposed his father’s decision to return to school at old age, but after much pressure, he accepted his position.

“Really, when our father told us that he wanted to enroll for his first degree at LASU, after his retirement, we advised him not to do that, because, having worked for many years and retired, the next thing is for him to rest, so that we can take care of him. But, when we saw that he was serious, we allowed him. Since then, we have been sponsoring him and we are ready to sponsor him to any level he wants to go,” he said.

At the beginning, Pa Amodu trained and sponsored the education of his seven children, and at the end, the children now sponsor Pa Amodu’s education. One good turn or investment really deserves reciprocity, you may say.
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After 14 years: Our sex life is still hot -Captain Mathew Ekeinde and star actress, Omotola Jalade Ekeinde
By Samuel Olatunji
Sunday, February 21, 2010
When they got married in an aircraft 14 years ago not a few expected the marriage to crash. An actress and pilot couple is a tricky combination. But against all odds, Captain Mathew Ekeinde and star actress, Omotola Jalade Ekeinde are still very much in love and the marriage is waxing stronger. Captain Matthew spoke to us on the marriage and their Valentine experience.

Photos by Kelechi Amadi Obi/Family magazine



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What does love mean to you sir?

I don’t think somebody has ever asked me that question; nevertheless, I think love means where you heart is, and where your heart is, is where you concentrate your energy. Love is giving your best to the ones you love.

Is Valentine’s Day of any significance to you?

My brother, all this Valentine thing does not make any difference to me. I don’t have to wait till it is Valentine to buy my wife a car or buy her a gift or let her know how much I love her. I do these continuously and it’s part of me. I think Valentine’s Day is just a day set out by white men to do something extra-special which is usually not the case. It is a day to look back on your love life with your partner and see ways you two can improve, what you can add and what you can do without. For me, it’s no big deal because there is nothing I’ll do to my wife on Valentine’s Day that I haven’t done to her on a normal day.

Are you sure this is not your own way of dodging Valentines gifts?

(Laughs) It’s not my way of dodging; it is just the way I am .But she’ll surely get her gift.

So, where are you spending Valentine’s Day?

To be honest with you, I don’t even know because I might not be in the country by then .I am supposed to go for a training course. Secondly, she is actually doing a recording, so I am not really sure if she is going to be around but if we are both around, I might take her out or do something extra-special for her. I know she likes Chinese food a lot, so maybe I’ll take her to a Chinese restaurant but I don’t think I am going to travel far because of Valentine’s Day.

Are you buying her any special gift?

(Sighs) Well, I have been thinking of buying her shoes and bags because she loves them, so I’m going to buy her shoes she has never had before but she doesn’t know about it.

What is it that you cannot do for love?

I can’t commit suicide (laughs). I can do anything for love, but I don’t think I can commit suicide for love.

How long have you been together?

This year marks our 14th year.

How have you been coping for 14 years with a celebrity?

First of all, I think it is God , because a few people have asked me that question and I have searched over the years and I’ve come to know that if she was not my God- given partner, I can guarantee you that we wouldn’t still be together today and that is the problem with a lot of married couples especially the pilot and the entertainer. If you want to compare those marriages that are not God approved, you’ll see that they don’t last a year talk less of 14 years. So, if I’m opportune to preach to singles, I will tell them to wait for their God-given partner because if they don’t wait, they’ll always fall apart. She (Omotola) is my God -given partner and that is why we both can tolerate each other and be patient with one another.

Some people say to build a working marriage, you should play the fool or you need to be a fool. Sometimes, do you play the fool?

No, because I think we are open and honest with one another. I get the feeling that my wife travels much more than I do and I’ve never had to fear whether she is cheating on me or something. I trust her with the whole of my heart, 100%. So, I don’t play the fool, there is no need for it. I believe I am straight forward with her and I believe she’s straight forward with me.

Are you saying that it has never crossed your mind that she may be cheating?

No. I don’t think about it.

But is it possible not to think about things like that especially when you are married to an actress?

When I say I don’t think about it, I mean, even when the thought comes, I just change channel. It is like when you are watching the T.V. and you switch to a T.V. station but don’t like what they are doing, you just change the channel to another station to see what might interest you. So, when the thoughts come, I’m like, it’s not possible and I change my mind and concentrate on something else or do what I have to do.

What is it that your wife can do that you can never forgive her?

If she cheats on me, I’ll never forgive her.

But someone said, you have caught her once and have forgiven her.Is this true?

(Laughs); That’s the press for you. For the past six years now, there is this rumor that has been spreading, they alleged that we were no longer together. In fact, when I went to Germany last year to do some things on our aircraft, I met some Nigerians there and they said, “Oga, why did you leave your wife now? We heard that you are now married to a white woman and she has a child for you”. I was dumbfounded by this statement and I had to tell them it wasn’t the truth. We still get emails and phone calls up till date asking why we separated and stuffs like that. So, it is not true. I have never caught my wife cheating, there has not been such experience.

Recently, some newspaper had it that she wanted to go for breast enlargement; I just don’t know where people get these stories from. Some people just sit down, write a story and publish it on the net, waiting to see how people will react. My wife does not have the intention of doing breast enlargement, neither have I caught her in any unfaithful act. They are all rumors.

Are you beating your chest that your wife has never cheated on you?

I am not only beating my chest, I’m beating the back of the chest too. (both laugh)

Somebody once alleged that you are a flirt, is this true?

Have they caught me before? If I am a player, that means I am a regular player and if I am regular, I am bound to slip once if not twice. So, if they think they’ve got evidence, they can show it.

Are you saying you have been absolutely faithful?

I have been trying my best. No one is perfect but I am trying. There is nobody that doesn’t get tempted. I am sure all married men had instances where they see a pretty lady and they wished they weren’t married but the next step you take after the temptation is what distinguishes you. My wife is not the only pretty woman in Nigeria. I have had instances where is see pretty women and I am like, I wish I had this one. It’s a thought, so, I just move on and get it off my head.

Can you tell us about your love story so far?

Our love story so far has been great though it’s been quite challenging. Challenges especially from the press about things they write about her but like the bible says, those who know their God shall never be shaken like Mount Zion. So, for me, I know my wife and my wife knows me and like I said earlier, I trust her with everything I am. When these issues come up, we talk about it and we move on. Our love story so far has been good and I know a lot of people look up to us. So even when we don’t have any other reasons, we’ll stay together because of the people that look up to us.

How did you meet her and how did the loving start?

I met her in church. My immediate elder sister introduced us because I was ready to get married. Then my sister said, there is this cute girl in my church, although, she is a bit young. Tola, was just sixteen (16) and I was twenty-six (26). So, she invited me to their Wednesday service. I got there from work around 7:30pm when the service was up and I met her there. We were friends until she turned eighteen (18), but I have always liked her but I wasn’t really interested because of her age. When she turned eighteen, I saw her from another perspective and that was when I told her I was going to marry her. At first, she thought I was joking, so I went behind her back and told her mom because during our two years of friendship, I have known her mom very well.

So, you went to church looking for a wife?

(Laughs) No. I didn’t go to church to hunt for a wife, I went to church to meet Tola because my sister wanted to introduce her to me. So, I didn’t go to church hunting for a wife, rather, I went to church to meet Tola. To me, hunting for a wife means, to scan all the women in the church and finally pick one. I didn’t do that, I was only there to meet her.

How has it been with the press? Has any of those reports gotten to you?

Some of them give me cause for concern. I just wonder why people would go out of their ways to imagine things, just like the recent one that has been going on both in the papers and on the internet that she is going to New Jersey to go and do breast enlargement so that she can compete with Mercy Johnson. I don’t know why people will just sit down and come up with such a story, I don’t understand. It amazes me.

Have you seen anything that made you call your wife to ask questions?

Yes, when she played in the movie, Prostitute. That was the film where they showed a purely naked woman with her nipples, her buttocks and all that. She didn’t know and we bought the film like any other person and watched it. When I saw it, I asked her ‘what is this! That definitely can’t be you’. Of course, I know my wife’s breast and my wife’s body and what I saw was different plus the person was a lot darker in complexion. Immediately, she called KINGSLEY Ogoro, who was the producer, and she said, ‘Kingsley, you never told me you are going to show something like this, why did you do that?’ I also spoke to him and I told him it was unprofessional, to deceive your artistes after you have finished a movie.

Aside the movies, has there been any other thing that made you ask her questions?

No. There have always been rumors. A rumor had it that my wife wanted to do breast augmentation because she was dating Desmond Eliot. They said, Desmond did not like the size of her boobs, that they were too small, that he wants it like Mercy Johnson’s. So, that is why Omotola wants to go to New Jersey for breast augmentation so as to satisfy Desmond Eliot. (Laughs) I am sick of their rumors. They once alleged that she has gone out with RMD and some producers. One of the things I enjoy about the rumor is that, when they will report the truth, it will be too hard to believe. I have come to realize that most of the stories they write have no substance.

Does it cross your mind that it could be true ..?

No. Tola has been very fortunate with the press. They started writing anything after six, seven years of our marriage. She never got any negative story from the press during our first six, seven years. When it started, of course, I was concerned but I later got to understand that, they write these things because they are looking for what to write and if you are in the public eye, they will try to trump-up something that is not true about you to make the headlines. So, initially when it started, I was worried but when I investigated and found it was without substance, I just didn’t worry about what they say. They can say she’s sleeping with Yar’Adua, for all I care, it doesn’t bother me.

So, there is nothing they will say that will shake your marriage?

Nothing, though they have tried. If you have been in this media business since ten years, you’ll know that they have tried. There is no kind of story that they haven’t tried. I try to buy every magazine that has her story, either good or bad. I wonder why they continue to try.

Why did you decide to get married in the air?

Oh, excellent; that was my idea. I told her and she complied. We’ve always wanted to do something different and in the uncommon way. If you’ll remember, I was the first to start using a personalized plate number and she was the first in the industry when I bought her a brand new car .The number plate was ‘OMOTOLA1’. A few months after I bought her the car , Saint Obi bought the same car and used ‘SAINT’ as his plate number. I like to do my things in a unique way; I mean, everybody goes to church to get married, let’s do ours differently. Luckily for me, I was able to convince the MD of the Israeli airline (Sky Line) that I was working for then and I told him that it would be a marketing medium for airlines because I know newspapers and television will cover it. So, we got married because we wanted to do something different.

There is this tendency for one to be married and the love fades, when you get to that stage, what do you do to renew your love?

The good thing about it is that it is God’s doing. Don’t forget that it is not your doing that makes a marriage work. You do 10% and God does the rest because if you are married to your God-given partner, there’s nothing that can break you two up, nothing. Not only that, you need to be strong in the Lord as well. There are a lot of people that have gotten their God-given partner but they have allowed the devil to come in to scatter it. So, spiritually, it is God that is renewing it. Of course, there are times I don’t feel like I am 100 percent in love, but it happens once in a blue moon and for just few minutes. I mean there are times I see her maybe after taking her bath and I still get turned on and she’ll say ‘oh boy, you no dey tire? After fourteen years your blood is still pumping’ (Laughs). For me, I am not tired at all and the good thing is that she keeps her figure and that was why I gave her the nickname because the first car I bought her was ‘OMOTOLA1’, the second was ‘OMOT’ and third one, which is the Jeep, is ‘OMOSEXY’ because she has got this sexy figure that is a turn-on for me.

What do you do to renew the love when you have a down moment?

I don’t do anything.

Some people will go on vacation or do away with the kids, what you do think?

I don’t think that will renew anything. It is all in the mind. It’s your mindset that matters. For example, If you and your wife are having a misunderstanding, especially during this Valentine period, and you took her to Dubai for a day, will that bring the love back? I don’t think so. If you guys were fighting from home and you had to go to Dubai because you have booked the flight like two weeks before the day and you go, do you think because you are travelling now, you guys will come back? No. So if your mind is programmed to always love your wife even when she is wrong or when she’s not happy, you’ll have a good home. I don’t know how to keep someone in mind, so when you offend me, I tell you immediately and it ends there, I learnt that from my dad.

Have you had a serious quarrel before?

Ah, I can’t tell you that.I can’t tell you that, you can talk from now till next year laye, I can’t tell you that.

I noticed that the children are in the boarding house… are you not scared that they might imbibe foreign values?

No, my kids are in a very good school and their school is costing me a lot…a beautiful school that they treat them like an ajebo. Too much of an ajebo self and they are here in Nigeria. It’s a private school and we see them once every month. It is just the last one that is with us because he is not old enough to go to secondary school.

Has sex actually become boring for you and your wife?

If I tell you this you may not believe but God is my witness, 14 years on sex with my wife is not boring, you can understand why I could dig deep to give her that name omosexy. When you find something sexy can you be tired of it? You see the same appetite a man has to look for different women because they are bored with one, is the same appetite I use in looking at her all the time . That is why I gave her that name and like I said she has managed to keep her figure even after four children …she is looking more gorgeous. That is the truth my brother.

So despite the fact that you said it is not boring, why do you get tempted and you still fall sometimes?

Well I don’t fall, if you say I have fallen that means I’m done but I have not fallen.

So you’ve not fallen to the hands of another woman?

No.The bible says resist the devil and he will flee.

Sometimes you see the devil and you don’t want to resist him…

(Laughs) I agree with you my brother, that is why I said for me the way I have decided to handle it is that when I see them I think… yes you can admire but I move on. By the time you stay concentrating on looking at the woman and you are admiring her and by that time you know you are lusting after her, before you know you are tempted to say ‘Hi’. That is where the problem is but if you discipline yourself, there is no crime in admiring a girl after all, when we go out, she’ll say, ‘men that guy is fine o’ and I’ll say he’s a fine guy. So, for me, that is the way I have trained myself to deal with it; I admire and I move on.

Has money been an issue before because your wife once said that romance without finance is not sweet, what’s your take?

Well, she can say that now because I am there buying her all the cars. (Laughs) If I didn’t have the money to buy her a thing, I don’t know what would have happened; but then, she’s a well brought up child; there is no woman that doesn’t like to be pampered, there is no woman that doesn’t like money, there is no woman that wants to suffer; but I thank God that we are both independent. In fact, it is one of those things we’ve never argued about from day one. Sometimes, when we talk about it, I call her attention and say, ‘OMOT’; you know we have never argued about money? The reason is simple, my salary and my allowances as a captain is paid into an account that she has access to and her money is also paid into that account. So, what we do is that, whatever project we have, either to build a house or buy a car, travel abroad and stuffs like that, we’ll put it in our monthly budget and if the money we have in the bank is not enough to cover to budget, we sit down and sort out things we can eliminate or carry over till next month. So, we do it together and that is one reason why we have never quarrelled over money matter. We are open to each other, we know how much we have and then we do things together and that is where some people have problem.

Do you maintain a joint account?

Yes. All our joint accounts and current accounts, our shares, our house, our cars bear our names, Matthew and Omotola Ekehinde.Yes because we have learnt and by God’s grace, we watch T.V. programmes and we hear what’s happening. It has been in my upbringing because if you are open from day one, there is nothing that can bring you back.

Do you foresee anything breaking your marriage?

Only God can and I am sure He won’t because the Bible says “what the Lord has joined together, no man should put asunder” I trust my wife to the extent that, even if she’s in bed with a man, naked, nothing can happen. (Chuckles)

When did you put that thing there?

I will not tell you, when you see God, you ask Him. She can go anywhere in the world, act a nude film, of course, she can never act nude, but just for the sake of argument, if she’s in bed, naked with seven men, nothing can ever happen; that is how confident I am.

It started from day one. She knows; it is just like saying, if you eat this thing, you will die, so if you don’t want to die, will you go and eat it?

What is your advice for married couples?

Well, the first advice I have for them is that, they should stick to the Lord; they should continue to have the fear of God in them. God will show you how to treat your spouse, how you guys can live in harmony, how you can raise your kids, how to relate with your relatives. So, the first thing any person that wants to get married should do, is to seek the face of God because marriage is a life-long thing. So if they can observe a three- day fasting and prayer session and have their Pastors pray with them they will succeed. Once they can pray and God gives them the go-ahead they should proceed. Also, they both need to be disciplined because the devil is always at work, they must learn to resist temptation
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AIRPORT DRAMA Part 3
a Nollywood movie from the Sequel of "Lost presidents, The Yaradua Story "
Starring Eucharia Anunobi as Turai Yaradua , Segun Arinze as Aondoakaa , Mr Adeniyi as himself .Isa Yuguda as Fave Inlaw ,Stella damascus as Dora Akunyili
and Sunday Omobolanle aka Aluwe as The President in this comedy of errors based on a true story .


Poser on Yaradua, is the Calipha still in Saudi or Has anyone even seen him on Naija soil ?

Many unsuspecting Nigerians believe that Mr. President is now in Nigeria after his medical sojourn in Saudi Arabia, but intelligence sources have revealed that he is still in Saudi Arabia receiving treatment. Has anybody actually seen the President in Nigeria? All we saw at the airport were two aircraft that landed and an ambulance zooming away into the city centre, thereby creating an impression albeit false that a recuperating President had landed!

There are many unanswered questions in the purported arrival of Mr. President. The basic rule of the thumb (as any experienced spy or secret agent knows) during an extraction assignment or covert operation, anything that would draw unwarranted attention to the task is jettisoned. If the primary task was to sneak Mr. President into the country what was the purpose of deploying truck loads of soldiers around Abuja (attracting attention) when one truck load would have been more than adequate. Why would you ensure that the ambulance with lights flashings was made noticeable when the two aircraft were kept in the dark and out of the sight of journalist at the airport?


Was it an impossible task to switch off the siren lights of the ambulance or was it a deliberate act to convey the false impression that Mr. President was in the ambulance?

It was stated in the news that the Chief Security Officer (CSO) and ADC to Mr. President sauntered into the executives chamber of the Federal Executive Council (FEC)to exchange pleasantries with their friends and some ministers. This to me is strange when they ought to be around the vicinity where Mr. President was recuperating (if he was actually around) but instead the TWO of them chose (or were ordered) to make an appearance at the chambers to create the false impression that Mr. President will preside over the meeting of FEC .Some monkey business was definitely afoot!

Mr. President arrived and he was met on arrival by some serving Governors from the northern part of the country instead of the Acting President and service chiefs. Who better to assist and protect an ailing President than his trusted (?) vice and service chiefs, unless it was a grand charade put up for the benefit of the gullible public?

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is quite happy with this pretense because the diplomatic pressure placed on them by the international community that they were hiding the Nigerian President will automatically melt away and they can continue with the treatment of Mr. President unhindered without the vexatious motley of Nigerians coming to Saudi Arabia to seek the whereabouts of Mr. President and also to waste tax payers money.

By the way who leaked the purported arrival of Mr. President to the press and guaranteed the arrival prime time. Former Nigerian Presidents have arrived into the country before at odd hours to avoid the press and succeeded why was this different? I would have thought Aso Rock was built equipped with a helipad, could they not have airlifted Mr. President from the airport to Aso Rock if they truly wanted to avoid publicity?

The next few days will definitely be revealing. Nigerians…”SHINE YA EYES”

By Imohimi Uduigwome Airenevboise, Re written for 9jabook by Paul EFCC Adams




Related:
War in the Yaradua Family as Daughters fight for Vice Presidency for husbands ! Zainab vs Nafisatu Bauchi vs kebbi One winner Mummy ! http://bit.ly/9lkhBZ ;
Read more…
Introduction by Abi John Balogun (weboga) & Paul Adams How many Bankers OR very well paid Bank Workers you know that have been sacked ? A banker is the guy that knows about banking ,The fellows that actually know what Profit & loss and Risk and Depositors funds as relating to interest means .A banker is not the guy that drives the MD to work or the guy that makes certain the MD hasa nice time on weekends and trips abroad ? Just because you wear a tie to work does not make you a banker .A banker is not the Guy that seats in the Tellers seat and takes a cheque from you and gives you back cash.O yes he may look real important but He aint no Banker ! or even the Nice lady that makes everyone queue up and still manages to get us to smile on cue whilst we wait for the sweet voice to say "Cashier numer X" ,That is a customer Service Representative that works in a Bank ! So why are the Bank Workers getting sacked instead of the Bankers ! Or does'nt the CBN have the right to put a stop to these Layoffs ? The Sacked bank MDs/CEOs can live on their stolen funds that the EFCC will never ever know about for their next Ten Lifetimes ! Cecilia Ibru is one of the Ibrus for crying out loud ! That Family is loaded ! Oceanic Bank is just a drop in the ocean of their Investments . Sanusi I believe has done some good but he has also done some HARM ! great harm in the final de terracing of the common man working in the Bank ! How many of the layabout CEOs,Regional Managers and other Managers that are looked upon as Demi Gods in the Banking industry have been sacked ? Who recommends the sack ? what is the criteria ? Is Bad Belly involved or Sexual harassment and all the Targets every banker is made to cough out monthly used ? Or are they sacking the lowly paid staff in large numbers so that they can keep earning their arm robber salaries ! Why not Publish the names and positions of these people sacked so we can see the cadre and functionality they have been rendering to their respective banks . The ground always suffers when Elephants are fighting ! The Bankers that engaged in unethical practices that put the Nation in this quagmire should be fished out and Sold into depositors funds slavery and made to work back their lossess ! What is a risk management Consultant and you earn a minimum of 2.5million Naira a month as salary .Yet you keep risking and losing money ! IT is like they have all these degrees,appelations and certifications for NOTHING ! Sanusi let it be on your head the families that will bear the brunt of these layoffs because solving one problem and creating another will not absolve you . The monies and properties recovered from these hoodlums in Corporate Suits should be used to subsidise bank workers that have been sacked .There must be some amelioration of some sort or else what are they to do until they "find" Jobs in the already saturated market ! ! ! Sanusi, We await your solutions,Looks like although Soludo had no solutions he at least did not put "San san" inside bank workers garri. Impress us once more as we no longer hear your voice anymore abi you are holding baba go slows hand in saudi or wherever you people are keeping him . Main Article by Next media While our nation’s circus show of shame went on in Abuja and Jeddah last week, another issue of relevance was playing out in the banking industry. And this was the aftermath of Central Bank governor Lamido Sanusi’s reforms of the banking sector. Sanusi’s hurricane might have swept through the banking sector, mowing down banks’ chief executives and directors, however, the real casualties are beginning to show, and they are the over 8,000 men and women bearing the brunt of the reforms through job loss. Oceanic Bank, Bank PHB Plc, UBA Plc, First Bank, GTB are laying off workers in response to the fall out from the reforms. It is, on the surface, easy ascribe the retrenchments in the banks on the Sanusi tsunami that took off in the middle of 2009, but the sacking of chief executives and directors was not the immediate cause. Long before the Sanusi putsch many senior bankers made quick money from brisk business in the confines of their offices and lived flamboyant lives comparable to those of celebrities of the entertainment world. Soon, it became clear that despite being a private-sector driven industry the principal actors in the banking business had abandoned all pretence at corporate governance and fiscal accountability, toying with depositors’ money by giving out questionable loans, managing a bloated workforce, doctoring their books to impress the public, and opening unserviceable branches. The result was an over-staffed industry, incurring huge salary bills every month, operational liabilities and losses in excess of N100 billion. In the light of all this, it is not inappropriate to view rationalisation of staff as an expected consequence, if banks are to rightly address this anomaly. The sacked workers are not employees of CBN in the first place and to disabuse the minds of critics that it did not order the retrenchments, the CBN issued a release stating, “... the Central Bank of Nigeria has never directed commercial banks to sack staff or rationalise branches as reported. Banks are private enterprises and the decision to engage or disengage staff is best left to the managements and boards of the institutions. These decisions are taken on the basis of business imperatives”. Nonetheless, our sympathy goes to the affected workers, many of whom are young people either just beginning to live life on their own or raising a family. Given the state of the nation’s economy, losing a well paying job in the bank is a predicament that many people will not take lightly. It is frustrating and depressing. What is being experienced in the industry now should serve as a lesson for future operations, and a pointer to the need for vigilance in monitoring and regulating the banking sector, to guard against the ugly practices that have become the norm in the industry. Chief amongst these are the questionable employment conditions of service for staff, characterised by the practice of ‘casualisation’ of workers and the abuse of female bank staff. Reports are rife to the effect that many banks, rather than properly recruit workers, resort to a cost-saving ad hoc arrangement of periodic hiring and dismissal. This is a practice that devalues the profession and contributes to the lowering of ethical standards of practice. In the same vein, female bank workers are faced with employment conditions that compromise their future plans. Oftentimes, their brief includes unrealistic targets that open them to unethical and immoral practices that compromise their dignity. We view these developments as part of the general corruption that compromised the banking sector where the rot started from the top. We urge the managements of our banks to exhaustively explore all avenues to ensure that the rationalisation is reduced to a barest minimum. One way to do this would be for the banks to reduce staff salaries, especially at senior levels. Some unjustifiable allowances of management staff would very easily pay the wages of significant numbers of persons further down the corporate ladder. Advertising, branding and sponsorship budgets, which ballooned irresponsibly during the consolidation era, as banks struggled to rebrand and reposition themselves within and beyond the country, should be curtailed, and the savings therefrom used to save jobs. We cannot afford to send such a huge number of educated and experienced persons into the job market. Before now, the virtual collapse of entire industries, like textiles and tyre manufacturing, rendered thousands of people jobless. We have to take every step possible to ensure that the banking industry does not complicate an already serious unemployment crisis. The cost of doing this will be nothing compared to the price we will have to pay for the alternative: flooding our streets with jobless professionals who are as desperate as they are savvy.
Read more…
Introduction by Abi John Balogun (weboga) & Paul Adams How many Bankers OR very well paid Bank Workers you know that have been sacked ? A banker is the guy that knows about banking ,The fellows that actually know what Profit & loss and Risk and Depositors funds as relating to interest means .A banker is not the guy that drives the MD to work or the guy that makes certain the MD hasa nice time on weekends and trips abroad ? Just because you wear a tie to work does not make you a banker .A banker is not the Guy that seats in the Tellers seat and takes a cheque from you and gives you back cash.O yes he may look real important but He aint no Banker ! or even the Nice lady that makes everyone queue up and still manages to get us to smile on cue whilst we wait for the sweet voice to say "Cashier numer X" ,That is a customer Service Representative that works in a Bank ! So why are the Bank Workers getting sacked instead of the Bankers ! Or does'nt the CBN have the right to put a stop to these Layoffs ? The Sacked bank MDs/CEOs can live on their stolen funds that the EFCC will never ever know about for their next Ten Lifetimes ! Cecilia Ibru is one of the Ibrus for crying out loud ! That Family is loaded ! Oceanic Bank is just a drop in the ocean of their Investments . Sanusi I believe has done some good but he has also done some HARM ! great harm in the final de terracing of the common man working in the Bank ! How many of the layabout CEOs,Regional Managers and other Managers that are looked upon as Demi Gods in the Banking industry have been sacked ? Who recommends the sack ? what is the criteria ? Is Bad Belly involved or Sexual harassment and all the Targets every banker is made to cough out monthly used ? Or are they sacking the lowly paid staff in large numbers so that they can keep earning their arm robber salaries ! Why not Publish the names and positions of these people sacked so we can see the cadre and functionality they have been rendering to their respective banks . The ground always suffers when Elephants are fighting ! The Bankers that engaged in unethical practices that put the Nation in this quagmire should be fished out and Sold into depositors funds slavery and made to work back their lossess ! What is a risk management Consultant and you earn a minimum of 2.5million Naira a month as salary .Yet you keep risking and losing money ! IT is like they have all these degrees,appelations and certifications for NOTHING ! Sanusi let it be on your head the families that will bear the brunt of these layoffs because solving one problem and creating another will not absolve you . The monies and properties recovered from these hoodlums in Corporate Suits should be used to subsidise bank workers that have been sacked .There must be some amelioration of some sort or else what are they to do until they "find" Jobs in the already saturated market ! ! ! Sanusi, We await your solutions,Looks like although Soludo had no solutions he at least did not put "San san" inside bank workers garri. Impress us once more as we no longer hear your voice anymore abi you are holding baba go slows hand in saudi or wherever you people are keeping him . Main Article by Next media While our nation’s circus show of shame went on in Abuja and Jeddah last week, another issue of relevance was playing out in the banking industry. And this was the aftermath of Central Bank governor Lamido Sanusi’s reforms of the banking sector. Sanusi’s hurricane might have swept through the banking sector, mowing down banks’ chief executives and directors, however, the real casualties are beginning to show, and they are the over 8,000 men and women bearing the brunt of the reforms through job loss. Oceanic Bank, Bank PHB Plc, UBA Plc, First Bank, GTB are laying off workers in response to the fall out from the reforms. It is, on the surface, easy ascribe the retrenchments in the banks on the Sanusi tsunami that took off in the middle of 2009, but the sacking of chief executives and directors was not the immediate cause. Long before the Sanusi putsch many senior bankers made quick money from brisk business in the confines of their offices and lived flamboyant lives comparable to those of celebrities of the entertainment world. Soon, it became clear that despite being a private-sector driven industry the principal actors in the banking business had abandoned all pretence at corporate governance and fiscal accountability, toying with depositors’ money by giving out questionable loans, managing a bloated workforce, doctoring their books to impress the public, and opening unserviceable branches. The result was an over-staffed industry, incurring huge salary bills every month, operational liabilities and losses in excess of N100 billion. In the light of all this, it is not inappropriate to view rationalisation of staff as an expected consequence, if banks are to rightly address this anomaly. The sacked workers are not employees of CBN in the first place and to disabuse the minds of critics that it did not order the retrenchments, the CBN issued a release stating, “... the Central Bank of Nigeria has never directed commercial banks to sack staff or rationalise branches as reported. Banks are private enterprises and the decision to engage or disengage staff is best left to the managements and boards of the institutions. These decisions are taken on the basis of business imperatives”. Nonetheless, our sympathy goes to the affected workers, many of whom are young people either just beginning to live life on their own or raising a family. Given the state of the nation’s economy, losing a well paying job in the bank is a predicament that many people will not take lightly. It is frustrating and depressing. What is being experienced in the industry now should serve as a lesson for future operations, and a pointer to the need for vigilance in monitoring and regulating the banking sector, to guard against the ugly practices that have become the norm in the industry. Chief amongst these are the questionable employment conditions of service for staff, characterised by the practice of ‘casualisation’ of workers and the abuse of female bank staff. Reports are rife to the effect that many banks, rather than properly recruit workers, resort to a cost-saving ad hoc arrangement of periodic hiring and dismissal. This is a practice that devalues the profession and contributes to the lowering of ethical standards of practice. In the same vein, female bank workers are faced with employment conditions that compromise their future plans. Oftentimes, their brief includes unrealistic targets that open them to unethical and immoral practices that compromise their dignity. We view these developments as part of the general corruption that compromised the banking sector where the rot started from the top. We urge the managements of our banks to exhaustively explore all avenues to ensure that the rationalisation is reduced to a barest minimum. One way to do this would be for the banks to reduce staff salaries, especially at senior levels. Some unjustifiable allowances of management staff would very easily pay the wages of significant numbers of persons further down the corporate ladder. Advertising, branding and sponsorship budgets, which ballooned irresponsibly during the consolidation era, as banks struggled to rebrand and reposition themselves within and beyond the country, should be curtailed, and the savings therefrom used to save jobs. We cannot afford to send such a huge number of educated and experienced persons into the job market. Before now, the virtual collapse of entire industries, like textiles and tyre manufacturing, rendered thousands of people jobless. We have to take every step possible to ensure that the banking industry does not complicate an already serious unemployment crisis. The cost of doing this will be nothing compared to the price we will have to pay for the alternative: flooding our streets with jobless professionals who are as desperate as they are savvy.
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It has been revealed how Super Eagles striker, Obafemi Martins, extranvagantly squandered about N3.1 trillions while a player of Newcastle.MartinsadvertisementHis former management company, NVA Management Limited who has dragged the player to court over breach of contarct, told the jury how the player’s account almost went red because of his lifestyle.Obafemi Martins was paid £75,000, but allegedly squandered the earnings on an extravagant lifestyleA former Premiership footballer routinely blew his £75,000 a week wages in a matter of days and was constantly overdrawn, a court was told yesterday.Obafemi, ex-Newcastle striker 25, was paid the handsome salary after he joined the club for a £10million fee in August 2006.But despite his extraordinary earnings, his former management team yesterday claimed they repeatedly bailed him out after his bank account continually slipped into the red.The High Court heard that the Nigerian international player would withdraw £40,000 in cash from his bank account at the end of the week.But that would only last him two days, the court heard, as he topped up with a further £25,000 on the Monday morning.He was always overdrawn and repeatedly relied upon NVA Management Limited to ‘manage his life’, the High Court was told.Martins, who owned several fast cars including a top of the range Porsche 4X4, spent the money funding an extravagant lifestyle of luxurious penthouse homes and fine dining.He is now being sued by his former management company which claims that he still owes them 300,000 for sorting out his finances.He told the court that Martins would withdraw £40,000 for the weekend, followed by another £25,000 on the Monday.‘Despite earning these vast sums of money he was constantly overdrawn,’ added Mr Tennink.He said the firm, which looks after the affairs of several footballers, film and music stars, said that Martins had agreed to pay them for simply managing his life.It was under their stewardship that Martins agreed a £2million image rights deal ‘simply for being Mr Martins’.It’s claimed Martins was constantly overdrawn despite earning £75,000-a-weekHe also had lucrative sponsorship deals with various companies including Pepsi and Nike but had not been paid.When the company stepped in to run his affairs they sorted the unpaid contracts, bringing in thousands of pounds.They also organised visas when he travelled to Italy, where he once played for Inter Milan, and sorted out his passport, his mortgage and property valuations.They even arranged critical illness cover and were constantly running up and down the motorway from their London offices to Newcastle in a bid to do all that he required.‘But surely these were things a secretary could do?’ asked Judge Richard Seymour QC, referring to the size of fees charged.‘It was a Jeeves-type of role that they performed.’Mr Tennink protested that managing every aspect of his life was just part of what they did, and asked the judge to bear in mind the sort of figures these players earned.He said Martins had come to them in July 2007 and had agreed a fee of around £300,000 plus 20 per cent of any sponsorship monies they managed to acquire on his behalf.“He asked for these services to be carried out,” Mr Tennink told the court.Before they managed his affairs, Martins had not been paid a penny for his image rights for the use of his name on Newcastle shirts and mugs and had received nothing from his sponsorship deals.He could not even find the contracts he had originally signed, Mr Tennink added.Martins paid the company £67,500 in January last year and another £25,000 in April last year.But the question for the court to decide, said Mr Tennink, was whether there was a ‘binding obligation’ for him to pay the outstanding bill of over £300,000.After Newcastle were relegated from the Premiership last summer Martins was sold for £9million to German Bundesliga Champions Wolfsburg.Martins, who once owned a penthouse apartment overlooking Newcastle’s exclusive Quayside, is fighting the claim.The hearing is scheduled to last for three days.
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By Richard Akinjide I will score the Yar'Adua administration with a pass. I will not say it has done extra-ordinarily well, nor would I say it has failed. He has just done half of his first term, halving regards to what he met on the ground you cannot say he has not tried his best. The President has started to make some efforts. The electoral reform by the panel chaired by former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Mohammed Uwais, has produced a very important document. What is left is for the Federal Government to implement. I will therefore waste no time in urging President Yar'Adua to commence its immediate implementation without any further delay. The report is no doubt commendable, but it would have even gone further to make some far reaching recommendations. For instance he recommended that election petition should be completed within six months, before swearing-in, I would have recommended that it should be completed within three months. We did that when we were in government, why can't they do that now. If there is need to amend the Electoral Act, why not. There is no justification for this in-ordinate delay of election petition. You would recall that election petition was not concluded until the eve of former President Olusegun Obasanjpo'' departure from office. I am talking about Alhaji M. D. Ysusuf's presidential election petition. This is un-acceptable we should find a way out. The United States has 50 states, yet all their elections are concluded before winners are sworn-in. You would recall the Bush-Al-Gore case over the problem in Florida, it went to the Supreme Court three times, within 33 days and it was resolved before the swearing-in date. So what is the problem here that could not be tackled, if there is the need to reform our judiciary, why not reform it, if there is need to amend the electoral Act, amend it, and make things quicker and simpler and not make a mockery of democracy. Our judiciary has displayed excellent courage, internationally, our judiciary has repution. Our courts enjoy a very good reputation, abroad, and we should be very careful the way we are running our judiciary down. I accept that even the legal profession needs reform, I accept that the judiciary also needs a lot of reform. My view is that both for the legal profession and the judiciary there should be two powerful commissions of enquiry to look into the legal profession and the judiciary in this country. It over due, all the two are over due. The quality of lawyers, our universities are turning out demands that we reform our legal system including legal education. The Nigerian Constitution is very unique. We call it a Federal Constitution, but that is a gross abuse of words. What we are operating is a unitary constitution, masquerading as a federal constitution. You see what is critical in any constitution is the way you allocate powers between the centre and the units, not the name you call it. Up till the time the military seized power in 1966, what was operating was a Confederal system. Each region had its own judiciary, its own flag, its own Civil Service, each region also had its own office in London. They could have had their own office in Washington if they wanted. But since the military intervention, we have been operating a unitary system masquerading as a federal constitution. The reason it has been difficult to return to this pre-1966 arrangement is that some people still have the fear that another secessionist could emerge tomorrow. The dominance of the centre is total and burdensome in legislative powers, financial matters and I don't see any state government or any local government in this country which can operate without financial support from the centre. That is not a federal system of government. I won't give name, but I would advocate that we should reform and get something that is suitable for us, not copying the U.S., France or Germany. The fault lies with the Nigerian elites. Nigerian elites, avoid going into politics, they avoid conducting elections. You could be a university teacher and still be a good councillor in your area, you can go to the National Assembly, could contest for the office of the governor. It is only in a few states that you see responsible people coming out to contest for the office of the government. If you take a census of the governors we have in this country, you would be horrified, if you look at their history and their qualifications. Take a look at the few states that are doing well, you will notice that they have governors with very good qualifications and sound track record. Niger Delta We must assume that the Federal Government has the right intelligence report, otherwise, it won't be doing what it is doing. We must be very careful in making comments on matters we don't have adequate information or sufficient facts. We must realise that the Niger Delta harbours the oil and gas in the country, we must also realise that the oil and gas of Niger Delta is of public interest it is no global interest. Although the oil is in Nigeria, all the nations of the world have interest in that oil, that is the nature of oil and gas. No government will accept or condone lawlessness. I am not saying that the people of Niger Delta don't have legitimate complainants or grievances, but you cannot do the right thing in a wrong way or do the right thing in a lawless way. Let them make their complaints, let them express their grievances within the law and I am a lot of people in Nigeria would have sympathy for them that their complaints be remedied. But when you take up arms, if what we see in the television is correct then there is virtually insurrection, these militants are carrying arms, which at times is more sophisticated than that of security agencies, that is a step to anarchy, the government therefore has a duty and responsibility to put an end to that state of affairs. Also it is my view that governors in those states that make up the Niger Delta, would accept the existence of other states within their states, or another counter-force with their jurisdiction competing with the Nigerian Police or the Nigerian Army. Therefore we have a duty to support the Federal government to make sure that the rule of law prevails and that lawlessness does not succeed. If lawlessness succeeds, it becomes infectious and others too might take that route to achieve their grievances. You know that a minister has been appointed for the Niger Delta. Isn't it sensible to give that minister a chance to operate and find a solution for the problem of the area, in co-operation with the government in that region. Never before was there a minister for the Niger Delta, this is the first time and there is precedence for that. When Lagos was Federal Territory, there was a minister for Lagos Affairs, who incidentally was the father of the present President. He must have learnt some lessons from his late father in solving the problem of the Niger Delta and appointing a minister for the area. We should at least allow the minister to operate for some years and see how far he could go in solving the problem. When Musa Yar'Adua was the minister of Lagos affairs, the people of Lagos, did not take up arms to start to fight the Federal Government. And because the people of Lagos were law abiding, they got a lot of benefits. It was during that time the Victoria Island was created that Eko bridge was built, it was at that time that South-West, Ikoyi was developed. It was during that time that the Independence Building in Tafawa Balewa Square was built. So lagos made its complainants within the rule of law and Lagos benefited immensely. At the moment you have about 13 per cent from the Federation Account going into the pocket of the Niger Delta. You also have a lot of money from the oil firms going into the various local and state governments, apart from this 13 per cent. If all these funds are properly used and that is very critical. The people of Niger Delta cannot also claim not to know how the oil and gas money is spent because their sons and daughters are at the upper-most echelon of all firms and government institutions that engage in oil and gas business, including the NNPC and the Ministry of Petroleum. The issue of what percentage that goes to this region has always been contentions. In your view is the 13 per cent enough? The issue of whether it is well spent is a different one. In my view what has been allocated to them is enormous I know as a fact that the oil companies vote a lot of money from their revenue for the development of the area. The oil firms give money to the local government regularly. I also know as a fact that the oil companies give money to the state government in the oil producing area. All these are apart from the 13 per cent. The question is, how have this enormous money that runs into several billions, been used. Why couldn't the notion of derivation as it applied in the First Republic not allowed now? This would have solved this problem. That argument as canvassed is utter nonsense. It has no juridical basis, it has no basis in fact, it has no basis in constitutional law. People are just throwing this emotion, where there should be none. First of all, you talk of derivation and the history of this country. Yes it is true before oil, the doctrine of derivation applied. The cocoa from the West, the rubber from the Delta, the groundnut from north, the palm oil and palm kernel from the various parts of the South, yes it was true doctrine of derivation applied to them. But don't forget that those agricultural products were planted and produced by the people of the various region. The ground nut from the north for instance was not as a result of the investment of the Federal Government, it was from the investment of the people of the north, the farmers same goes for other farm produce, it was the sweat of the farmers and the various marketing boards established by the governments on those regious. I challenge anybody in Nigeria to tell me that the oil has arisen as a result of the sweat of their people or the investment of their people, it has not. The oil was created there by nature and by God. Furthermore, what many people don't know is that oil has been discovered in Nigeria, since 1896, don't believe anybody who tells you oil was discovered in 1956, it is not true. In fact that was one of the reasons why the British government revoked the Royal Niger Company Charter. The moment Britain discovered there was oil, although it hide it from us, it revoked the charter and assume full responsibility for the running of the country, because with oil it was too important to be left in the land of private capital. After the 1914 amalgamation of Nigeria, the first ordinance (law) to be enacted by the British Colonialist in Nigeria was the mineral ordinance, which rested all the oil in the central government in Lagos. Never in the history of this country, has the oil and gas being vested in any region or any state. It has always been the property of the Federal Government. As the British government enacted the mineral ordinance it followed it up by enacting the arbitration ordinance the same year to settle whatever dispute may arise from the oil ordinance. That ordinance of 1914 was not amended until 1958, with that amendment all the mineral in Nigeria were now vested in the Federal government. That has be the basis till today. There is no way you can vest the oil and gas in the state, it is not possible. I know that people are quick to point to the United State, where states control the oil and gas. The history of the United States is quite different from the evolution of Nigeria. The evolution of the United States is the exact opposite of how Nigeria evolved. Nigeria was a unitary country broken into various units where as the US is made up of autonomous States, starting with the 13 American than later on after driven away Britain in a bloody war, they decided to form the United States of America. Yes people do say that in the US oil belongs to the states, they are right, but what they fail to add, which is very crucial is that, it is in the history and evolution of the United States. It is un-thinkable that the Federal Governmental would rest the oil and gas in any area in either the state or the local government or in the individuals in that area. By so doing, you are asking for anarchy, you are asking for the collapse of the country. Already, with their oil and gas money by people fighting in the Niger Delta, this money is what is being used now to acquire sophisticated arms and have almost established a Republic, with on the Nigerian Republic. There is no question of middle way, there is only one way and that is the way of law and order. No self-respected government would tolerate a government within a government or would allow a parallel force, which is what we have now in the Niger Delta. But former President Olusegun Obasanjo managed the crisis without this resort to outright declaration of war. Why should it take Yar'Adua, a supposedly harmless man to declare war on the people? I don't have access to the intelligence report, you must know that Yar'Adua as the President of Nigeria, has primary responsibility for law and order, also he would have access to intelligence report. I was a former Attorney General of this country and by virtue of that office I was a member of Council of State, also by virtue of that office. I was in the Security Council. From that experience, I am 100 per cent certain that what Yar'Adua is doing now is warranted and is in best interest of all.
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