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Now showing at Silverbird Cinema Civic Centre Airport Raod Benin

DANGEROUS MEN is a thriller by GuGu E. Michaels, an accomplished filmmaker who has worked as a director and producer on a number of commercial and independent projects including the feature films "Thugz", "Repentance" and "Dangerous County". He has also helmed a number of campaigns for retailers like Cadillac, Lamborghini and Porche. Prior to co-founding New Era Pictures, Michaels served as president of Dallas based Redrumm Records and worked with such artists as hip hop giants UGK.

Previously:

GuGu, producer of banned Dangerous Men counts losses from US

 as they say in naija beat her to nonsense or beat am shege ! These pictures are scary ! 

Will Smith is not dead. Rumor is swirling on the social networks that Will Smith fell to his death while shooting his new movie in New Zealand. This rumor has been on the internet for over four weeks and it is not true. We know this is not true, as Will Smith is in New York filmingMen In Black III and not New Zealand. 

Sometimes these rumors get out of hand and become trending topics and posts all over facebook walls, so GlobalGrind wanted to clear the air and report that big Willy Style is alive and well. His kids most recently hung out with Will on his movie set joined by their good friends, Paris, Prince and Blanket Jackson. We hope the best for Will and his family and can't wait to see the flick!

quote:"9 out of Ten of us will do 9 out of Ten Things today because of What 9 out of Ten people Think about us ! "

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P Square was attacked and robbed in Lagos. This occured at about 6 p.m. yesterday on Third Mainland Bridge when the dread-carrying singer was on his way to Victoria Island to meet with some friends.

Paul, who was driving his new BMW X6 with customised registration number Rude Boy, had stopped to assist some victims that were involved in an accident in front of him, and as soon as he was getting back into his car to leave the scene, two gunmen approached him and demanded for all his valuables. 

“I was about leaving when these two guys surfaced from nowhere and demanded for everything I had on me at gun point. They actually succeeded in taking my phones, money, jewelry and other valuables, but just as they were about collecting my car key, one woman who had noticed what was happening screamed and alerted people at the accident scene. And that was when the gunmen ran away,” Paul told P.M. NEWS this morning.

The gunmen, according to Paul, “said they were not going to beat or shoot me, but warned that I must cooperate with them. It was so funny because they said what they wanted was their own share from P Square’s ‘largesse’. But I just thank God that they didn’t hurt me.”

Few weeks back, another entertainer, Denrele Edun and his friends were attacked by robbers on their way from a musical video shooting on Victoria Island. Some of the valuables they lost to the robbers include blackberry phones, money and laptops.

Also Wizkid got his car snatched on same Third mainland bridge some weeks ago 

Also, popular Yoruba actor, Muyiwa Ademolan was last month robbed of his Montero automobile and other valuables by armed robbers.

A few days before Muyiwa was attacked, his friend and business associate, Kazeem Afolayan, CEO of Epsalum Movies also lost his Honda Acura to armed robbers, while fast-rising Hip Hop singer, Wiz Kid, also lost his car to robbers in Lagos recently.

In Lebanon, men are legally allowed to have sex with animals, but the animals must be female.
Having sexual relations with a male animal is punishable by death.
(Like THAT makes sense.)

In Bahrain, a male doctor may legally examine a woman’s genitals, but is prohibited from looking directly at them during the examination. He may only see their reflection in a mirror.
(Do they look different reversed?)

Muslims are banned from looking at the genitals of a
corpse. This also applies to undertakers. The organs of the deceased must be covered with a brick or piece of wood at all times.
(A brick??)

The penalty for masturbation in Indonesia is decapitation.
(…so they’ll never know they went blind?)

There are men in Guam whose full-time job is to travel the countryside and deflower young virgins, who pay them for the privilege of having sex for the first time…
Reason: Under Guam law, it is expressly forbidden for virgins to marry.
(Let’s just think for a minute; is there any job anywhere
else in the world that even comes close to this?)

In Hong Kong, a betrayed wife is legally allowed to kill her adulterous husband, but may only do so with her bare hands. The husband’s lover, on the other hand, may be killed in any manner desired.
(Now this is justice!)

Topless saleswomen are legal in Liverpool, England -
but only in tropical fish stores.
(But of course!)

In Cali, Colombia, a woman may only have sex with her husband, and the first time this happens, her mother
must be in the room to witness the act.
(Makes one shudder at the thought.)

In Santa Cruz, Bolivia, it is illegal for a man to have sex with a woman and her daughter at the same time.
(I presume this was a big enough problem that they had
to pass this law?)

In Maryland, it is illegal to sell condoms from vending
machines with one exception: Prophylactics may be
dispensed from a vending machine only “in places where alcoholic beverages are sold for consumption on the premises.”
(Is this a great country or what? Not as great as Guam!)

Banging your head against a wall uses 150 calories an hour.
(Who volunteers for this stuff?)

Humans and dolphins are the only species that have sex for pleasure.
(Is that why Flipper was always smiling?)

The strongest muscle in the body is the tongue.
(Hummm….I won’t touch THAT one!)

The ant can lift 50 times its own weight, can pull 30
times its own weight and always falls over on its right
side when intoxicated.
(From drinking little bottles of…? Wonder how much the the govt.
paid for this relevant bit of research??)

Butterflies taste with their feet.
(Ah, geez)

An ostrich’s eye is bigger than it’s brain.
(I know some people like that.)

Starfish don’t have brains.
(I know some people like that, too)

AS the children march today to mark Children’s Day, more profound matters are being settled all over the country. Governments are being formed; politicians are doing their best to remain the circle that decides others’ future.

Which is more important, the children or the desires of politicians? For a country that frequently mouths concerns over its future, the importance of politicians over everyone and everything, is a matter that has harmed democracy.

Dame Abimbola Fashola,(m) flanked by Mr. Tope Ashiwaju (right), Public Relations Manager and Mr. Deepak Singhar, MD, Dufil Prima Foods during the 2011 Indomie Children's Day Fiesta in Lagos Wednesday. Photo by Joe Akintola, Photo Editor

The crass for power has become the most profitable business in Nigeria to the detriment of other enterprises.
May is an important month in Nigeria. It starts with Workers’ Day, a day for marches too, though with an angry stridency reflected in the long demands for better welfare and complaints about unfulfilled promises. The children follow and the politicians round it up on May 29.

May 29 this year is remarkable. It is the first time the swearing in of the President and governors is taking place on Sunday. The official church services for May 29 have been moved to Saturday since the President will be taking the oath about that time. The other

May 29 on Sunday was in 2005, right in the infancy of the intrigues that preceded Olusegun Obasanjo’s tenure extension.

Nigerians are anxious about how this new presidency will be different from the ones before it. Will there be a brand new President, riding on the steam of his powers? Will the President use his powers for the common good or to please a few? When will he move from promises to accomplishments? Will we hear another great speech on Sunday or a short list of things that the President will do to improve the lives of ordinary Nigerians?

Eleven May 29 celebrations down the line, Nigerians are tired of speeches, promises, appeals for their patience and more insulting recourse to accusing them of paltry patriotism. These accusations resound throughout the country, more so in the States where governors see themselves as emperors

May 29 remains a dream about the potentials of democratic governments to make Nigeria a better place. The misapplication of the support Nigerians have granted politicians as they manage the democratic process has suffered inestimable abuse. Some of those abuses keep casting slurs on the brilliant scores that would have been awarded Nigeria’s constitutional rule.

Among those to be sworn in on Sunday are some who may be gone in the next six months, when the courts would have dealt with electoral petitions against them. Others may remain in office, though they know that they have acquired the office in the most undemocratic ways.

Multiple reasons can be adduced for the reluctance to call May 29 Democracy Day.  The most promoted point is that the military, who by fiat created May 29, 12 years ago, cannot be the body that have given Nigerians democracy.

Compared to the inclinations of the military, civilians at all levels have run the country since then with minimal faithfulness to the dictates of the Constitution, which many of them see as a great inconvenience.

Nigerians pray that 29 May 2011 will finally usher in the freshness that will make democracy worth living for while they make the sacrifices it demands.

In Port Harcourt, pregnant widow of slain policeman begs Police, Army authorities to arrest her husband’s killers

THIRTY-YEAR –OLD Peter Okeke, a Police Constable with the Rivers State Criminal Investigation Department (CID) had left home to supervise an on-going filling station project located at Onne in Onne Local Council of  the state.

As he hugged his sons and kissed his pregnant wife, Beatrice, goodbye, there was nothing whatsoever to suggest the enormity of the tragedy that would befall the young family before the day was over.

Constable Okeke was allegedly shot dead by a soldier, a few hours later, following an argument over a roadblock.

Sources told The Guardian the road had been barricaded by RCC, a construction company doing major rehabilitation work on the road.

A group of soldiers drove onto the barricaded road and assumed that Constable Okeke had blocked it, ordered him to dismantle the barricade.

An argument ensued when Okeke told the soldiers he did not barricade the road and if it would be opened, then the workers of the construction company were in a better position to do so.

“The soldiers became angry and jumped down from their Hillux truck and started beating the Constable.

“As they were beating him, he was shouting, telling them he was a policeman and that they should please not kill him.

“But it was of no use as one of the soldiers shot him at close range and they drove off.”

Okeke died while being rushed to hospital.

According to an eyewitness who pleaded anonymity: “The filling station where Constable Okeke was, was close to a road under construction by RCC.

“When the soldiers arrived and found the road blocked because of the on-going reconstruction by RCC, they ordered Constable Okeke to remove the barricade but he told them he did not set up the barricade.

“At that point, the soldiers came down and beat him severely.

“One of them then shot him and he died shortly after the soldiers callously drove away, abandoning the man in a pool of his own blood.”

That was on Tuesday, April 15, 2011 and more than 40 days after, the widow, Mrs. Beatrice Okeke, who is also a police officer, told The Guardian she could hardly believe that the authorities were keeping silent over the killing of her husband.

She said since the death of her husband, her children, eight and three years old respectively, have been ill and she did not have money to take them to the hospital or send them to school, “and nobody just cares.”

She said when the matter was reported to the Police Headquarters, Moscow Road, Port Harcourt, the Command assured her that the killer would be brought to book.

A panel, according to the widow, was set up to investigate the matter after the Army reported at the State CID, but lamented that since then, she has not heard anything either from the Police or the Army.

The widow alleged that the case file on the matter had been taken to Calabar without her knowledge, even as she begged the authorities not to allow the matter to be swept under carpet, considering her condition and her ailing children.

“I see this as a very disheartening situation in which a police officer, a good Nigerian citizen, who served his country is shot dead by soldiers and nobody cares.

“If the police officer had killed some other person in a similar manner, the law would have been invoked to take adequate care of the errant policeman.

“The silence over the death of my husband means that police officers have no protection under the law, and so soldiers can kill them like flies.

“Really, the Nigerian nation by this silence, is saying that soldiers can kill and go free.

“If so then, I think people should now summit themselves to the military and not the democratic dispensation we are talking about.”

Expressing his concern over the silence by authorities, a   father of three, Mr. Magnus Nduli, said it would be very sad if the Federal Government failed to bring to book, those soldiers in the Hilux truck, who were behind the killing of Mr. Okeke.

He called on the authorities to listen to the cry of the pregnant widow, adding: “ This woman has two kids and she is expecting the third soon. The responsibility will be too much for her with the murder of her husband by soldiers.

“She needs assistance while the law must take its course.”

Army Second Amphibious Brigade spokesman, Major, Aminu Iliyas, who confirmed the incident to The Guardian said, the panel set up to investigate the matter was still working on the report, adding that it would not be reasonable to pre-empt the report of the panel.

He denied the allegation that authorities were silent over the matter, saying:  “That a panel was set up means the security agents are serious and would leave no stone un-turned to get those who killed Mr. Okeke.”

The governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, has turned down the request of senators to increase the threshold of free cash withdrawal to be enforced by CBN's latest cash withdrawal policy.

Mr Sanusi, in company of his deputies, could not wait to leave the Senate Hearing Room 1 venue of the Thursday meeting with members of the senate committee on Banking, Insurance and other financial institutions before he declined the senators' request to slack the policy.

"For now, let us leave it at that," he told the senators shortly after they made their views known on the policy.

Mr Sanusi explained that although the variables in the policy are not cast in stone, it is an ambitious target the organisation hopes to achieve. The senators were worried the new policy would scare bank customers and in the long run make doing business in Nigeria more expensive.

Mr Sanusi argued the policy will not scare customers but make banking easier and much convenient as people would be encouraged to use Internet and mobile banking and Point of Sales machines to make bulky payment.

The policy is designed for customers to pay 10 percent of the cash withdrawal above N150,000 per day and Mr Sanusi said it was well researched and thought through. He said the bank understudied world best growing economies - including Brazil, Malaysia and Singapore - before designing it.

The new limitations on cash withdrawals by the Central Bank, as announced in a circular last month, is one part of five total packages by the apex bank aimed at improving the banking system, moving the system away from cash to other channels and increasing automation of the system.

Mr Sanusi said that the continued preference for a cash-based economy is driving the cost of cash management in the country and that the adoption of this new policy will reduce it.

"In 2009 direct cost of cash management, the system spent N114.5 billion in cash management and the projection is that by 2020, we will get to N200 billion in cash management," Mr Sanusi said.

The poor bear the cost

Mr Sanusi also argued that the current arrangement favours the rich whose banking cost is defrayed by the poor masses by up to 70 percent.

He said statistics shows that "45 percent of total cash transaction in Nigeria is within the region of zero to N10,000 and as you go down, you will find that 90 percent of daily cash transaction were less than N100,000. Only 10 percent by number of the transaction that are done in the banking sector are of N100,000 and above.

"The 10 percent of N100,000 and above accounts for 75 percent of the total value of cash, so what is happening is that the 90 percent poor Nigerians who do less than N100,000 a day are subsidizing the 10 percent rich ones. And what we said is that this is not fair.

"Those that do heavy cash transaction, they should pay for it, if you do more than N150,000 you pay a fine. We did not say you cannot do more than N150,000. If you do, you pay a fine so that you are not subsidized by the poor Nigerians," he explained.

Lagos pilot

The policy would be implemented nationwide in June 2012, but Lagos would test run it from the beginning of June this year.

Mr Sanusi said he has mandated his director of Operations to implement the policy and ensure that Lagos is cashless by January next year.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) says there is no going back on its planned "action" to protest the non-implementation of the 2009 FG/ASUU agreement.

ASUU had on May 17 given notice of an "action" beginning from an unspecified date in June to compel the National Assembly to pass a bill before it on their demands.

The union had demanded an upward review of the retirement age of professors from 65 to 70 years, upgrade of facilities and proper funding for research in the universities.

The president of the union, Ukachukwu Awuzie told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday via telephone that members would not relent in the struggle on the implementation of their demands.

He said he had directed branches of ASUU nationwide to meet and pass a resolution on the issue after which the National Executive Committee (NEC) would take a position.

On the likely effect of the "action" on the students, Mr Awuzie said the struggle was not intended to disrupt the school system, but "to ensure a better academic operation in the universities."

"I want to say that we regret any inconvenience our planned action would have on both the students and the parents.

"It is not our wish to disrupt academic calendar because we equally gain nothing from doing this.

"Rather, we are seeking means of ensuring that things are done rightly by giving the education sector its rightful position," Mr Awuzie said.

The ASUU president said he could not understand why the National Assembly was foot dragging in passing the agreement into law.

National Assembly delay

"I do not know whether there is a special way of passing this bill that had been begging for attention for years.

"I also doubt if the lawmakers were equally sensitive to what the non-implementation of the said agreement had caused the academic community, students and parents and what it will cause them in future," he added.

Mr Awuzie stressed: "Before the 2009 ASUU/FG agreement, the union had embarked on prolonged strikes at various stages, and because this was not the only way out in settling any dispute, we agreed to sit at a roundtable."

NAN

The Internet search and advertising leader will work with MasterCard Inc, the world's second-largest credit and debit card processing network, to launch the system, the source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.

Google has teamed with MasterCard and Citigroup Inc to develop the system, the Wall Street Journal reported in March.

It has now signed up retail partners Macy's Inc, American Eagle Outfitters Inc and Subway, though it is unclear if the project will be launched nationwide or just in New York initially, the Journal cited sources as saying Tuesday.

Google invited reporters to attend a "partner event" on Thursday in New York to demonstrate what it called its "latest innovations." It plans to unveil a mobile payments system that will run on the Android operating system and be available on phones from Sprint Nextel Corp, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday.

A source familiar with the matter confirmed Google would launch the program. Citigroup did not respond to requests for comment. Google, Sprint and MasterCard declined comment.

About a decade after they were dreamed up by engineers and marketers, mobile wallets are still far from commonplace in the United States, stymied by industry infighting, consumer tastes and regulatory hurdles.

That has not stopped banks, phone makers and technology companies -- fearful of being left behind -- from trumpeting the concept.

Shoppers abroad, especially in Asia, can already wave cellphones at the check-out counter to pay for everything from groceries to gasoline.

Elbowing to the Front

Now, a growing number of mobile operators, banks, technology companies and card processing networks like Visa Inc and MasterCard are vying to gain a foothold in the still-small but high-potential U.S. mobile payments market.

Three of the top U.S. mobile carriers -- AT&T Inc, Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile USA -- are also looking for bank and network partners to launch their Isis mobile payments venture. The companies recently scaled back initial plans to build a new payment processing network that would have competed with dominant industry players Visa and MasterCard.

Since last year, Visa has tested pay-by-phone technology with several large U.S. banks, including Bank of America Corp and Wells Fargo & Co.

"There's room for more than one competitor," said Google Ventures Managing Partner Bill Maris, speaking about the industry in general.

Such services would appeal to consumers if they can help them save money or shorten their time in line at the supermarket check-out, he added.

"The experience of buying things will be better, faster, cheaper," he said.

Details are sketchy, but the Journal reported Google was unlikely to get a cut of transactions, focusing instead on benefiting by helping retailers target ads and discount offers to Android users close to stores.

Currently, credit card companies charge merchants transaction fees. Other players, such as wireless operators AT&T and phone makers from Research In Motion to Apple Inc, are likely to demand a cut of sales.

This puts U.S. retailers in the uncomfortable position of possibly surrendering more margins.

REUTERS

The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) website was forced to shut down on Wednesday following an attack by a Nigerian hacker group, NaijaCyberHactivists. The group is reportedly reacting to the government's plan to spend N1 billion on President Goodluck Jonathan's May 29th inauguration.

The hackers' warned of reprisals this Saturday in a letter titled "A Visit from Hell", if President Jonathan decides to retain his budget. The nine-paragraph letter, expressed frustration at the post-election violence and the governments repeated claims that the recent violence is merely one of the travails of a growing democracy.

A picture of the hacked website was published by an online media house, which also reported that this was the second attack on a government website by NaijaCyberHactivists. Although the media house claimed that the NDDC site is operational again, repeated visits to www.nddc.gov.ng yesterday delivered the same http 404 error messages: "the site could not be found."

The NDDC head of Corporate Affairs, Toye Abosede, confirmed the attack to NEXT in a telephone interview. "Some hackers invaded our site. They removed some of our pictures and replaced it with other things," he said.

Mr Abosede said the commission was forced to shut down its own site following the hacking and believes that other agencies may have been affected. "We actually shut it down," he said.

"Naturally, there must be some sort of investigation". He added that NDDC is going to work on beefing up its Internet security as the incident has shown that the site is not safe.

The hackers, whose mission is to "Hand over the whip to the horse," said that President Jonathan's decision to spend N1 billion worsens the country‘s situation. "An inauguration is simply an induction into office, AND NOT a costly long-running, nor a series of open-ended events organised into convoluted books and chapters," the letter said.

Other inaugurations

However, research by NEXT showed that N1 billion (about $6.5 million) for an inauguration is not as outlandish as it initially seems. The late President Shehu Musa Yar'Adua spent N820 million, South Africa's Jacob Zuma spent $10.6 million (N1.6 billion) for his inauguration in 2009 and President Barrack Obama broke U.S. records with a whopping $150 million by conservative estimates. Conversely, Britain has no inauguration ceremony.

There is merely ‘the kissing of hands,' a brief ceremony where the new prime minister pledges loyalty to the Queen and to uphold the law, and then returns to No. 10 Downing Street to deliver a speech.

Not bluffing

The group also demanded that the ACN's Benue gubernatorial candidate, Steve Ugbah, and other people who were detained for their connection to him, be released; and that the perpetrators in the murder of one Tochukwu Uzukwu, are 'fished' out.

Mr Uzukwu, was a 21 year-old apprentice in Bayelsa, who was allegedly forced by members of Bayelsa State's special task force, Famou Tamgbe, to jump into a river at gun-point. Mr Uzukwu could not swim. His body is still being kept by the police.

The group who signed the letter "In source code we trust, we fighting for a cause, to make them account for all OUR money in their purse," threatened that if the demands are not met by Saturday, they will cripple government, telecommunication, and financial networks.

"We are not bluffing. We are watching with interest and we give you till Saturday to meet our TERMS." The letter said.

A Visit from HELL

Mr President, With great sadness in our heart we bring you this message.

The Nigerian General Elections of April 2011 have come and gone. But, yet again, like all important functions of the Nigerian political system, they have provoked violent uprisings in parts of Nigeria – this time, mostly in the Northern States of Nigeria – and they have left a legacy of blood and tears, and of inter-group animosity and hate.

Nigerians have endured it all – usually assured by political self-seekers and false prophets that such problems are temporary birth pangs of a new country. But the events of the past April, and of recent months, have at last blown away all this self-deception and we are saying ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

To worsen the matter, the FG is to spend N1b on Jonathan inauguration

An inauguration is simply an induction into office, the formal transfer of power to an individual AND NOT a costly long-running festival nor a series of open-ended events organized into convoluted books and chapters.

Excerpt:

We, NaijaCyberHactivists are therefore joining voice with other well-meaning Nigerians and WE SAY “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH”! WE ARE WATCHING and we promise that

1.) If the FG decides to go on with the N1b budget

2.) If the killers of “Mr. Tochukwu Uzukwu” aint fished out

3.) All those detained with the arrest and detention of Prof. Steve Torkuma Ugbah are not released

WE WILL

1.) Launch an attack against ALL financial institutions

2.) Launch an attack against the epayment bodies in the country

3.) Take down the Networks

4.) Cripple the telecommunication companies

5.) Take down all government sites.

We are not bluffing. .We are watching with interest and we give you till saturday to meet our TERMS.

“In source code we trust

We fighting for a cause

To make them account for all OUR money in their purse

MISSION: Hand over the whip to the horse”.

Naijacyberhactivists@yahoo.com

In the euphoria of the Children's Day celebrations, the popular MTN-sponsored family television show, ‘Who Wants To be A Millionaire', commences its annual Children's Special Edition today. The popular television show franchise, which has incorporated several spinoffs within the show, including celebrity and Valentine's Day editions, amongst others, will once again accommodate children between the ages of 8 and 13 on the popular hot seat.

Speaking at a press conference held yesterday in Ikeja, Innocent Oboh, master brand manager, MTN Nigeria, highlights the importance of MTN's Who Wants to Be A Millionaire Children's Special Edition.

"The Children's' Special Edition is one of the special editions of Who Wants To be A Millionaire, designed to reward, encourage and stimulate the culture of academic excellence among primary and secondary school children across the country by giving them the opportunity to play for N10 million. The prize money is, however, released to them only as scholarship,"Oboh said.

Young winners

Past editions of Who Wants To be A Millionaire's Children's Special Edition have been graced by young intelligent kids who walk out of the show with various cash prizes. Among them include 12-year-old Mubarak Alaaya, a junior secondary school student of Vale College in Ibadan, who won a million naira; Teniola Tope-Ojo, a junior secondary 2 student of Holy Child College, Ikoyi, Lagos, bagged in N2 million naira; and Ihuoma Chukwuemeka Emmanuel, a student at Christ the Redeemer's College, Sagamu, also won himself a N1 million naira scholarship.

Revealing why the show decides to award these prizes as scholarships rather than in cash, Tunji Adebakin, general manager of Ultima Studios, revealed that although the money is made available and managed by Skye Bank, the funds will only be accessed for education purposes.

"The prize is to cater for the education of the winner," he said. We don't want a situation where the parents of the winning student end up mismanaging the prize."