Advert: Who is Robinson Uwak ?

Dear 9jabookers,

Brothers & Sisters ,It is now time for The youths IN this Nation to stand up as one and demand for this Birthright.Some countries call it Welfare or Benefit.Maybe we will call it poor man egunje ,It is yours So let us Take It .The Nation can afford it .Naija is RICH,LOADED ! .

We must organise and mobilise a strategy so that this bill must become Law ! Great Naija Unemployed Graduates ! Aleuta Continua let us not rest until Victoria Acerta !

Regards from Your Naija Webmaster & General Ajekpako nice guy

Weboga

Main Article

The Senate, on Thursday, significantly advanced legislation on a new bill seeking to establish a social security system for Nigerian unemployed and aged..

The bill is sponsored by Anyim Ude (PDP, Ebonyi State). The bill proposes to set up a social security system that will enable the government pay out N15 000 or at least N10 000 monthly to unemployed graduates and persons above 60 in Nigeria.Photos: Youths Working on Rubbish heap Markets in Lagos.

Mr Ude, 69, was inspired to draft the bill after listening to contributions of a Senate motion on the corruption of the National Poverty Eradication Program (NAPEP) in February last year..

"It is estimated that over 70 per cent of our people live below poverty level and that is why I agree with the passionate suggestion -- that day ...that the Senate should devote one week of its session to address the issue of poverty and corruption in this country." Mr Ude said.

"This bill is another opportunity to put smiles on the faces of the aged and unemployed.

"Our children have no access to basic health care and education, unless their parents have money. Our system has made no provision backed by law for the unemployed, the destitute, the poor, and the aged. These crops of people are on their own, without hope or future. Some of them take their frustration out on the society by engaging in social vices and the society pays dearly for this," Mr Ude argued in his debate.

He added that even though it will cost the nation money, Nigeria will be better off as exemplified by the benefits other countries are reaping from similar systems.

He cited African countries benefiting from the scheme to include: Malawai, South Africa, Kenya, Mauritius, Botswana, Republic of Seychelles, and Libya.

The bill proposes that the beneficiaries of the system will be unemployed graduates of the colleges of education, polytechnics, and the universities, and people above 60 years.

The cost

The bill suggests two wages scenarios: a minimum of N10 000 and a maximum of N15 000 monthly. According to Mr Ude's estimations, based on a population growth rate of 2.5 per cent per annum, the scheme would cost the nation N77 billion in the next five years, starting from January next year, if the government decided to pay every beneficiary N10 000.

If the government decides to pay the maximum N15 000, it will cost the government N111.6 billion for five years.

He estimated that in 2011, it will cost the government N12.6 billion or N17.7 billion if they pay out N10 000 or N15 000 respectively. In 2012, it will cost 13.4 billion or 19.0 billion. In 2013, the scheme will cost 15.1 billion or 22.0 billion. In 2014 it will cost 17.05 billion or 24.96 billion. Arguing in favour of the bill, Uche Chukwumerije (PPA Abia State) said that it will require only a fraction of the loot politicians and past leaders robbed the nation of to run the scheme.

Pessimistic senators

Although the bill was accepted by majority of the senators, some were pessimistic and sceptic about the practicability of the recommendations of the bill.

Kabiru Gaya (ANPP Kano State) argued that it is too expensive for the nation. He said that considering that Nigeria produces about 70 000 graduates annually from the three categories of tertiary institutions in the country, the expenses will be too much.Photos:Vocal Slender of the "Illfated" BBC Welcome to Lagos Documentary.Who was billed to perform at the Indigo O2 Arena London.

Nicholas Ugbane (PDP Kogi State) argued that although the idea is good, it might be very difficult to distinguish the intended beneficiaries of the scheme.

"Do we have a reliable and dependable statistics of the unemployed? Can we identify a Nigerian?" he asked. "The idea is laudable but the kind of system we have will make it difficult to run." Others, however, argued that the cost of not instituting the social security system is higher than the cost of running it. They also argued that the possibility of corrupting the system should not deter the bill.

"You cannot rule out fraud, but the fear of fraud cannot overrule the importance of the bill." Bassey Ewa-Henshaw (PDP Cross River State) argued.

The bill was later committed to three Senate committees who would organise a public hearing on it and report back to the Senate for passage into law. It is, however, very unlikely that the bill will be passed into law before the expiration of the present Senate because the committees working on the bill were not given a time limit. High priority was not placed on the bill and the Senate has only one year left in their tenure.

Advertisement: Robinson Uwak, 2011 Akwa Ibom House of Reps .Hope is in the Youths ,Hope is Oron Nation.http://bit.ly/9MUMZX

Yesterday, the Ondo State Council of Obas announced the suspension of the Mr

Adepoju for allegedly involving himself in a street brawl with his wife. The council's chairman, the Olowo of Owo, Oba Folagbade

Amazing mosquito facts

You're more likely to be a target for mosquitoes if you consume bananas. Biting activity increase by 500 times when there is a full moon. A mosquito's wings beat 500 times a second.

The animal responsible for the most human deaths world-wide is the mosquito.

Mosquitoes dislike citronella because it irritates their feet.

Mosquitoes prefer children to adults, and blondes to brunettes.

A mosquito can detect a moving target at 18 ft away

The average life span of a female mosquito is 3 to 100 days. the male lives 10 to 20 days.

Mosquitoes: lay up to 300 eggs at a time, fly across 150 miles in their lifetime, range from sea level to altitudes as high as 10,800 feet (3,600 meters), develop from egg to adulthood in 4 to 7 days

Q: How many species of mosquitoes are there?
A: About 2,700.

Q: What does a mosquito weigh?
A: About 2 to 2.5 milligrams (for an Aedes aegypti).

Q: How much blood does a female mosquito drink per, er, serving?
A: About 5-millionths of a liter (for an Aedes aegypti).

Q: How do mosquitoes find new hosts?
A: By sight (they observe movement); by detecting infra-red radiation emitted by warm bodies; and by chemical signals (mosquitoes are attracted to carbon dioxide and lactic acid, among other chemicals).

Q: How fast can a mosquito fly?
A: An estimated 1 to 1.5 miles per hour.

Q: How far do certain mosquitoes fly
A: Salt marsh mosquitoes migrate 75 to 100 miles. .

Q: How far away can a mosquito smell you, or a cow or another host?
A: 20 to 35 meters.

Q: Why does a film of oil on water kill mosquito larvae?
A: Because the oil clogs up the snorkel that the larvae use to breathe.

Mosquitoes don't see very well, but they zoom in like a heat-seeking missile. In the spherical arrangement of their compound eyes, blind spots separate each eye from the next one. As a result, they can't see you until they are 30 feet (10 meters) away. Even then, they have trouble distinguishing you from any object of similar size and shape: tree stump, 55-gallon drum, etc. When they are 10 feet (3 meters) away they use extremely sensitive thermal receptors on the tip of their antennae to locate blood near the surface of the skin. The range of these receptors increases threefold when the humidity is high.

Why don't mosquitoes transmit HIV virus?

Studies with HIV clearly show that the virus responsible for the AIDS infection is regarded as food to the mosquito and is digested along with the blood meal.
Mosquitoes Do Not Ingest Enough HIV Particles to Transmit AIDS by Contamination
An AIDS-free individual would have to be bitten by 10 million mosquitoes that had begun feeding on an AIDS carrier to receive a single unit of HIV from contaminated mosquito mouthparts.Most people have heard that mosquitoes regurgitate saliva before they feed, but are unaware that the food canal and salivary canal are separate passageways in the mosquito. The mosquito's feeding apparatus is an extremely complicated structure that is totally unlike the crude single-bore syringe. Unlike a syringe, the mosquito delivers salivary fluid through one passage and draws blood up another. As a result, the food canal is not flushed out like a used needle, and blood flow is always unidirectional. The mechanics involved in mosquito feeding are totally unlike the mechanisms employed by the drug user's needles. In short, mosquitoes are not flying hypodermic needles and a mosquito that disgorges saliva into your body is not flushing out the remnants of its last blood meal.
Rutgers Cooperative Extension Fact Sheet # FS736

A Minnesota teenager had to have his testicle amputated after
being punched in the groin by a classmate, KARE11.com reported
Friday.

David Gibbons, 14, was changing classes in his Crosby, Minn. high school when he was attacked by another student playing a game
called “sack tapping.”

David’s mother, Christy Gibbons, said it wasn’t until hours later that they realized something was wrong.

"One o'clock in the morning he woke me up and told me he was in excruciating pain," she said.

David was taken to St. Joseph's Hospital in Brainerd, Minn. where surgeons removed his right testicle.

And David is not the only student who has suffered the consequences of the “sack tapping” game.

"It's just gotten way out of control," said Dr. Scott Wheeler, a urologist in Brainerd, Minn. who says he performs three to four
surgeries a year on boys with ruptured testicles and other
complications as a result of “sack tapping.”

"One o'clock in the morning he woke me up and told me he was in excruciating pain," recalls Christy Gibbons, David's mom. Not long
after, David was in surgery at St. Joseph's Hospital in Brainerd having
his right testicle removed.

"This may be called a game, but it's not a game. It's dangerous and it needs to stop," said Christy.

It's a notion seconded by Dr. Scott Wheeler, a Brainerd urologist.

"It's just gotten way out of control," said Wheeler, who now performs "three to four surgeries a year" on boys with ruptured testicles and
other complications of being groin punched - with dozens more coming in
with less severe injuries. "It's high school, junior high, elementary
school," said Wheeler.

Dubbed "sack tapping" by some students, the practice is now featured in dozens of homemade videos on YouTube.

"We're gonna see who our first victim is," says a student in one video before punching an unsuspecting male student in the groin as he
walked down a school hallway.

It is painful to watch and Dr. Wheeler says increasingly common. "All parents, you need to have this talk with your kids not to do it. It's
lost its humor. It's not a game anymore. People get hurt."

"I don't know how to stop it," said David, who says he's been the recipient of similar attacks in the past. His parents pulled him out of
school and are now planning a move to a different school district.

Jamie Skjeveland, superintendent of Crosby Ironton schools, says the investigation of the incident involving David is complete, but he
declined to comment on any disciplinary action for privacy reasons.

On Wednesday morning the Gibbons are scheduled to meet with Crow Wing County Attorney Don Ryan to learn if criminal charges will be filed
against the other student.

"This kid doing that, he should definitely be held responsible for that," said Denny Gibbons, David's dad.

Doctors have told David that even though he lost a testicle in the attack, he should still be able to have children someday.

David's mom mostly wants other parents to be aware. "I seen the pain he was in. I seen what he went through every day, and it just breaks my
heart and I don't want any other child to have to go through this."

PALOS VERDES, Calif (Reuters) – Film director and deep-sea explorer James Cameron said on Wednesday that BP Plc turned down his offer to help combat the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

"Over the last few weeks I've watched, as we all have, with growing horror and heartache, watching what's happening in the Gulf and thinking those morons don't know what they're doing," Cameron said at the All Things Digital technology conference.

Cameron, the director of "Avatar" and "Titanic," has worked extensively with robot submarines and is considered an expert in undersea filming. He did not say explicitly who he meant when he referred to "those morons."

His comments came a day after he participated in a meeting at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency headquarters in Washington to "brainstorm" solutions to the oil spill.

Cameron said he has offered to help the government and BP in dealing with the spill. He said he was "graciously" turned away by the British energy giant..

He said he has not spoken with the White House about his offer, and said that the outside experts who took part in the EPA meeting were now "writing it all up and putting in reports to the various agencies."

The film director has helped develop deep-sea submersible equipment and other underwater ocean technology for the making of documentaries exploring the wrecks of the ocean liner Titanic and the German battleship Bismarck some two miles below the surface.

'REALLY SMART PEOPLE'

Cameron suggested the U.S. government needed to take a more active role in monitoring the undersea gusher, which has become the worst oil spill in U.S. history.

"I know really, really, really smart people that work typically at depths much greater than what that well is at," Cameron said.

The BP oil spill off the U.S. Gulf Coast is located a mile below the surface.

While acknowledging that his contacts in the deep-sea industry do not drill for oil, Cameron said that they are accustomed to operating various underwater vehicles and electronic optical fiber systems.

"Most importantly," he added, "they know the engineering that it requires to get something done at that depth."

Among the key issues that Cameron said he is interested in helping the government with are methods of monitoring the oil leak and investigating it.

"The government really needs to have its own independent ability to go down there and image the site, survey the site and do its own investigation," he said.

"Because if you're not monitoring it independently, you're asking the perpetrator to give you the video of the crime scene," Cameron added.

Cameron made two documentaries about the wreck of the Titanic as well as the blockbuster 1997 movie "Titanic" using a small fleet of specially designed remotely operated underwater vehicles. He said his qualifications are not based on his background as a movie director but on his years of involvement in the deep-sea industry.

Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday made a stop in Saudi Arabia to thank the King Abdullah led government for the first class medical attention it rendered the late Nigerian President Musa Yar’Adua while he was hospitalized at the Kind Faisal Specialist Hospital in the Islamic nation.

A report in Thisday, a Nigerian newspaper said the President and some members of his entourage including Foreign Affairs Minister, Mr. Odein Ajumogobia (SAN) left France on Tuesday morning at the conclusion of the 25th Africa-France Summit in Nice for Nigeria and made a stop in Riyadh before returning to Abuja on Tuesday night.

We could not reach presidential spokesman, Mr. Ima Niboro for further details on the stopover before going to press..

The President is expected to preside over the weekly Federal Executive Council meeting at the Presidential Villa on Wednesday..

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, and a member of the House, Independence Ogunewe would have exchange blows yesterday, but for the quick intervention of three other colleagues who held back the raging Speaker from hitting Mr Ogunewe.

The duo, who have been sworn enemies since 2008, insulted each other until the Speaker was pulled into the chambers.

Trouble began when Mr Bankole, who was returning from Room 231 of the House’s new wing where he had hosted some agitators from Aba State, was accosted by Mr Ogunewe who shouted at the Speaker, “why are you blackmailing me, what have I done?” The Speaker ignored the tirade and tried to exchange pleasantries with Mr Ogunewe, who showed no interest in Mr Bankole’s overture.

Bothered about the response, Mr Bankole explained to Mr Ogunewe that he had been to his (Ogunewe) house with a view to sorting out their differences, but only met his wife.

Mr Ogunewe shouted that the Speaker may have gone to see his wife and not himself. He was also heard saying, “what is this mad man saying? Is that all?”

The response angered Mr Bankole who turned back and charged at Mr Ogunewe but was restrained by the Minority Leader, Mohammed Ali Ndume, the deputy minority leader Abdulrahman Kawu and Khadijat Abba Bukar Ibrahim. The Chief Whip, Emeka Ihedioha and another member, Benard Udoh also moved to stop the Speaker..

The duo, who were now raining abuses on each other, created a scene which attracted passersby before Mr Bankole was taken into the chamber where he took over from his deputy, Usman Nafada. He had stepped down for Mr Nafada midway in order to receive the delegates from Abia State who came to lobby the House for the creation of Aba state.

As soon as the Speaker took his seat, he dissolved the House into an executive session which lasted for more about 90 minutes. The session aborted the planned voting on the harmonized version of the report on the constitution review.

Speaking after the session, chairman of the Rules and Business Committee, Ita Enang denied that the issue was discussed.

“Absolutely nothing like that, nothing concerning the Speaker and Independence was discussed,” he said. Mr Enang merely said that some crucial issues such as the amendment budget bill, 2010 Supplementary budget, the Human Rights Commission amendment bill and the legislative staff salary were discussed since the House would proceed on two week recess today.

He said, “We have agreed to vote on the constitution as well as to begin the consideration of the first, second and third reading of the supplementary amendment bill and to consider the human rights Commission amendment bill because of the sanction that is likely to be placed on Nigeria on the 11th of January among others after which we will go on two weeks break.

“We have also agreed that tomorrow being the end of session we must definitely have a two weeks break. The issue of the minimum wage is a matter that is an Act. Even if the President agrees to pay and we make provisions for it, we will definitely come and amend the Act. We didn’t want to discuss some of this in plenary that is why we went in for an executive session.”

Calls for suspension

But our sources said the matter was discussed and some members demanded that Mr Ogunewe be suspended. Others, however, prevailed on the House not to suspend the lawmaker.

Mr Bankole had earlier in the day held a two-hour meeting with chairmen and deputy chairmen of the 84 standing committees of the House .

Sources at the meeting said the Speaker pleaded with them to allow peace reign in the lower legislative chamber. He also reportedly assured the committee leaderships that he would no longer dissolved the committees as earlier announced. The meeting, it was gathered, also discussed the issue of members quarterly allowances which they want increased to N42 million.

It was learnt that efforts were made at resolving the differences between Messrs Bankole and Ogunewe, who has never hidden his disdain for the Speaker’s leadership style.

Mr Ogunewe, a Peoples Democratic Party member from Imo State, fell out with the Speaker in 2008 when the latter removed him as chairman of the House Committee on Aviation. Bethel Amadi, Chief Whip of the House under Patricia Etteh, was appointed in his place and Mr Ogunewe was redeployed to the Committee on Cooperation and Integration in Africa.

Angered by the redeployment, Mr Ogunewe joined other members of a group called Transparency Group to demand for investigation into the N2.3 billion car scam allegedly involving the Speaker. The Speaker and members of the leadership were absolved from the allegation by the Committee on Ethics and Privileges to which it was referred.

Following the agitation for probe, Mr Ogunewe was on February 26, 2009 suspended for two weeks. He returned in March 2009 and later joined another pressure group in the House, Nigeria First Forum (NFF), which was floated to canvass the installation of Goodluck Jonathan as Acting President. The group also initiated a move last month to impeach Mr Bankole.

Officials of the Lagos State Government have arrested an 84-year old woman at Lekki area of Lagos State, Nigeria for allegedly selling babies while her orphanage home that served as a baby factory was shut.

Mrs, Theresa Marques, the suspect, who recently suffered a stroke was arrested and brought to the Lagos State Government Secretariate, Alausa, Ikeja, yesterday in the Lagos Ambulance service bus to keep her in healthy condition.

Officials of the Social Department, Ministry of Youth, Sports and Social Development had first stormed the orphanage home at Block 380, Jakande Estate, Lekki on Tuesday and rescued two newly born babies, two boys and arrested some young women found at the orphanage.

She was said to have been granted license by the State Government some years ago to operate an orphanage under the name Ife-Oluwa Orphanage Home. But 84-year Marques now runs the orphanage along with an unapproved Maternity Centre where babies are being delivered. She also has a School there.

Following the development, the state government had revoked the license of the orphanage and shut it down after rescueing some children from the Home.

Officials of the state government claimed that they got a tip off from some members of the public that the woman allegedly collects money from people before handing over babies to them in the guise of adoption.

The act contradicts government's law which prohibits that money should be collected before giving out babies/children for adoption. Also, the exchange of the babies is without government's notice, an act that is criminal under the law. Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Youth and Social Development, Mrs Busola Ogunkoya, who led the team said government was informed that the old woman was making money through giving out babies to the intended adopters without government's notice.

Unconfirmed reports had it that the woman allegedly haboured young men and women who engaged in sex in order to produce children for her orphanage which are then given out. Marques, however denied that she collected money from intended adopters before handing the children over to them but confessed that she asked them for donations which were in most cases around N100,000, N200,000, among others, adding that this was always done after the process of adoption is completed.

One of the babies rescued from Mrs. Theresa.

she admitted that some young girls with pregnancy come to her

help since they had nowhere to go, saying that in such cases, she used to rent an apartment for them and pay for their ante-natal services and their delivery.

After they had delivered, she would then ask the mothers if they wanted the babies or not, while those who wanted their babies are allowed to go, and those who did not want them would hand them over to her after they had sworn to an afidavit that they did not want the babies.

According to her, it is such babies left in her care that she gives out to interested adopters without government's consent. Two of the babies discovered in the home were born last Sunday but their mothers were nowhere to be found. Marques said their mothers had gone to court to swear to an afidavit that they do not want the children and after two days, the women had not still come back from the court.

A medical doctor was also arrested at the maternity belonging to the octogenarian and had been detained at the taskforce office Alausa, Ikeja.

He was cought in a private room in the hospital with a young lady half naked, while himself was scantily. Children handed over to the old woman were allegedly sold to those in need of children without following government laid down procedures.

Special Adviser to the government on Youth, Sports and Social Development, Dr. Dolapo Badru told P.M.NEWS that lots of illigality were being perpetrated by some people in the state under the guise that they were operating orphanage homes.

"They are giving us bad name. As people operating orphanages, they are seen as part of government. They make things difficult for people looking for children in order to make them cough out some money. We have been in their trail for long.''

"Two different babies with two different mothers were rescued. We will get to the root of this matter,"

he stated.

Pandemonium it was penultimate Sunday, when a Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt enroute Malabo, hovered above Abuja airspace for hours not able to land due to inclement weather. Bemused passengers became alarmed, as anger due

to delay in landing, eventually turned to fear for their safety. While some cried openly, other prayed for an end to their predicament. Nevertheless, waiting in the air went from one to two, then three and four hours, yet no respite..

Teachers and parents of the Junior Secondary arm of the Oriwu College-Ikorodu, were shell-shocked to learn that students had turned a spot in the school into a centre for illicit sex and fun.

P.M.NEWS learnt that the school authorities recently discovered the dingy corner where male and female students usually had sex during school hours.

Some students of the Junior Secondary School arm of the school narrated how some of their colleagues were rounded up about two weeks ago by the school authorities at a dingy corner within the school premises where male and female students of the school normally had illicit sex and fun during school hours.

There were mattresses and toiletries at the joint which has now been dismantled.

It was also discovered tha a group of female students in the school had patronised witch doctors, who are known in local parlance as babalawo.

In the course of their confession during interrogation, the youngsters said that they patronised the witch doctors to curry the favour of fellow students and teachers and to ensure that they went scot-free each time they committed an offence.

The shocked school management invited the parents of the offending students. And most of them expressed surprise at the action of their children and wards, according to sources close to the meeting.

Two of the parents even burst into tears on learning that their children were involved in such immoral and fettish acts.

The witch doctor who allegedly cgarged each of the students about 2,000 naira for the portions he made for them, was said to have fled Ikorodu. All efforts to locate him have proved abortive.

The authorities of Oriwu College, which has produced prominent Nigerians, are said to have forwarded their recommendations on the offending students to the ministry of Education, in Alausa.

Meanwhile, teachers and workers in Oriwu College were said to have become extra vigilant to prevent a similar occurrence in the school.

---Eromosela Ebhomele & Paul Dada

Former Vice President Al Gore and his wife, Tipper, are separating after 40 years of marriage that included a White House run when their sunny relationship offered a counterpoint to President Bill Clinton's philandering.

According to an e-mail circulated among the couple's associates on Tuesday, the Gores said it was "a mutual and mutually supportive decision that we have made together following a process of long and careful consideration."

Gore spokeswoman Kalee Kreider confirmed the statement came from the Gores, but declined to comment further.

The Gores were telling friends they "grew apart" after 40 years of marriage and there was no affair involved, according to two longtime close associates and family friends, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The associates said the Gores, over time, had carved out separate lives, with the former vice president on the road frequently. One of the associates said: "Their lives had gotten more and more separated."

Al Gore lost the 2000 presidential election to Republican George W. Bush. He has since campaigned worldwide to draw attention to climate change, which in 2007 led to a Nobel Peace Prize and an Oscar for the documentary "An Inconvenient Truth."..

The Gores, who were married on May 19, 1970, at the National Cathedral in Washington, crafted an image as a happily married couple during his eight-year stint as vice president in the 1990s and a presidential candidate in 2000. The couple famously exchanged a long kiss during the 2000 Democratic presidential convention.

The image of their warm relationship stood in sharp contrast to the Clinton marriage rocked by Bill Clinton's affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, a scandal that hung over Gore's own presidential campaign.

Al Gore at the time said his wife was "someone I've loved with my whole heart since the night of my high school senior prom."

On Halloween, Al and Tipper Gore would dress up in costume and greet trick-or-treaters who made their way to the vice president's mansion. One year, she was dressed as a puppy and he was dressed as Underdog.

Tipper Gore was a co-founder in 1985 of the Parents Music Resource Center, which pushed for parental warning labels on music with violent or sexually explicit lyrics. The group drew the ire of musicians ranging from Dee Snider of Twisted Sister to Frank Zappa, who said warning labels were unnecessary and a danger to freedom.

Tipper Gore later became friends with the late Zappa's wife, Gail, and played drums and sang backup on daughter Diva Zappa's album in 1999.

The Gores have four adult children, Karenna, Kristin, Sarah and Albert III.

In a letter written to then-girlfriend Tipper as a 17-year-old college freshman, Al Gore wrote: "Mother's having a fit about me riding the motorcycle back to Harvard. Dad's mad at my long hair."

Gore later held his father's former seats in the U.S. House and Senate for 16 years. He first ran for president in 1988 at age 39, but drew little support outside the South.

A subsequent bid in 1992 was derailed after the Gores' 6-year-old son almost died after being hit by a car in 1989.

"It was a very spiritual time for both of us," Tipper Gore later wrote. "In Al's case, he decided to write a book and not to run for president in 1992."

The book was "Earth in the Balance," and Al Gore ended up in the thick of the 1992 campaign anyway — as Bill Clinton's running mate.

Tipper Gore, who has acknowledged treatment for depression after Albert III's accident, is a vocal advocate on mental health issues.

A sinkhole is a natural depression caused by the removal of underground soil by water. Usually, it happens when the substrate is formed by limestone, carbonate rock, salt beds or any other rock that is easily eroded by water streams. The process could be slow, but sometimes the land just cracks open without notice. In this case, it happened suddenly, swallowing an entire house. The cause: Massive underground water torrents created by tropical storm Agatha.

Sinkholes' size ranges from low terrain depressions to hundred of meters. Unlike the similar sinkhole that killed two teens in 2007, there seems to be no victims. At least one local newspaper is reporting one person dead, but the authorities have not confirmed it. Some neighbors claim that a whole three-story building and a house fell into the hole.

As backstabbing & Front Stabbers are now legal in 9ja

Photo:EvilGeniusLaughing evil laugh "uhuuuahhaahhhhaaa Naija people are fools !" Abiola inset:

Ibrahim Babangida, Nigeria’s former military dictator, yesterday said that he was willing to have the late Moshood Abiola, the acclaimed winner of the June 12, 1993 general elections “immortalised.”

Mr. Babangida, while responding to questions from aviation correspondents at the presidential wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), disclosed that Abiola fought for Nigeria’s democracy and his efforts should be recognised.

“I think it is good at long last that somebody is trying to acknowledge the efforts of Chief M. K. O. Abiola. We cannot deny him the fact that he fought for democracy, and I am glad that the government is accepting it.

“Also, I want to see a situation whereby he will be immortalised as a person who fought for democracy in this country,” Mr. Babangida said.

Babangida’s doublespeak

Ironically, Mr. Babangida annulled the June 12, 1993 election, which was adjudged as the country’s freest and fairest election. The annulment was the catalyst for a series of events which forced Mr. Babangida to “step aside” and hand over to an Interim National Government, headed by Ernest Shonekan, who hails from Abeokuta, like Abiola. Three months after, Mr. Shonekan was deposed by the late Sani Abacha, a General and Chief of Defence Staff, who later arrested Abiola until he died in detention.

The former Nigerian leader, who has expressed interest in running for the 2011 general elections, disclosed that he would prefer that an institution be named after the late Abiola, adding that it would be a lasting bequest to the 1993 general elections winner.

“Well, there are so many things, but I will leave that to government. I want to see maybe an institution named after him that talks only about democracy. That is the most enduring legacy we can give MKO,” he said.

Dropping presidential ambition

Asked about his response to calls by Nigerians and especially that of former Nigerian Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Maitama Sule, who said that Mr. Babangida and former head of state, Muhammadu Buhari, should not contest the 2011 presidential elections, the former military helmsman said that everybody is entitled to his or her opinion.

“This is democracy,” he said. “You may have 150 million opinions. I have my own opinion and he has his own, you cannot deny him.”

He disclosed that when it is time, Nigerians will know. “The time has not come; when we get to the bridge we will cross it,” he said.

Regarding the number of political parties, the former president said that the lesser the number of political parties in the country, the better for the nation’s democracy.

“I am not a believer in 51 parties. The smaller, the better for democracy, and then everybody will have a place to be accommodated. But you see, there are so many little ones and everybody moves towards the winning party,” he said.

“I think it is better for this country to run a manageable party, than maybe three, four, or five.”

Ogidigborigbo of Africa You Are NEXT !

A 12-member jury deliberating on the money laundering trial of associates of the former Delta State governor, James Ibori, has found his sister, Christine Ibori-Ibie, guilty of all charges of money laundering and mortgage fraud.

The jury, however, acquitted Mr Ibori's former assistant, Adebimpe Pogoson, of the charges against her.

The jury is yet to announce its verdict pertaining to the third accused aide, Udoamaka Okoronkwo, who is Mr Ibori's mistress.

The money laundering trial involving Mr Ibori's female aides began in September 2009 at the Southwark Crown Court, London, after Ms Pogoson, (a personal assistant on confidential matters during his tenure as the Delta State governor) and his sister Christie Ibori-Ibie, were charged in December 2007 on three counts of conspiring "together with Mr Ibori, Udoamaka Onuigbo and others, to defraud the Delta State government".

The aides allegedly helped the former governor move an estimated £70 million worth of looted funds through several London banks.

Mr Ibori is currently detained in the United Arab Emirates where he was recently arrested by INTERPOL after evading arrest by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in Nigeria.

The Traditional Ruler of Akure, the Ondo State capital, Oba Oluwadare Adesina late Sunday night escaped being lynched by an irate mob when he engaged one of his wives, Olori Bolanle in a free for all at her family house located opposite the state Specialist Hospital, Akure.Photos:Olori bolanle showing off her burns. inset Below is Deji of Akure

The Oba, who late last year was saved by Governor Olusegun Mimiko from being dethroned was said to be having some disagreement with his spouse which had made her to vacate the palace for her parent’s home at 141, Hospital Road, Akure.
According to an eye witness, the Olori on sighting the Oba, who was in company with his youngest wife, Remi Abiola went into the house and told the people to inform the Oba that she was not around.
THISDAY gathered that the threat by the Oba to burn down the house should his estranged wife fail to come out forced her out to confront the unexpected visitors.
It was gathered that before a brawl ensued, a fowl which head was forcefully pulled of its body was used for a sacrifice of sort with its feathers spread in front of the house.

The monarch in the bid to engage his wife in fisticuffs was said to have stripped himself half naked and on sighting the Olori, he was said to have ordered that some hot ashes be brought to the venue in a Toyota Starlet car marked ONDO AL 936 AKR and poured on her, an incident, which made some parts of her hand to peel off.
While this was going on, the Oba’s wife who came along with the Oba was alleged to have picked a big wood on the ground and smashed it on the back of Bolanle following which the two fought themselves.
Disturbed by the action of the Oba on her sister, a younger brother mobilised some youths in the area against the perceived injustice, which led to a real street fight.

When it was obvious that the youths wanted to lynch the Oba and that he could not escape without being beaten or molested, the Officer-in-Charge of the Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) was contacted and he dispatched his men to the scene.
But the monarch’s vehicle, a Pathfinder Jeep, which brought him to the scene of the melee was seriously damaged and blocked with another Xterra jeep belonging to Olori Bolanle, making the monarch to escape in the police patrol vehicle marked PF 4598.
Although, there was no official reaction from the police as the Police Public Relations Officer for Ondo State Command, Aremu Adeniran did not pick calls made to his mobile phone, a top police source confirmed the incident. The Ondo State Police Commissioner, Maggaji Nassarawa also confirmed that the Oba went to his inlaws’ house to make trouble openly.

Also, the Olori, whose family house was invaded narrated her ordeal on phone from her hospital bed where she said she was being treated and added that some valuables including jewelleries were stolen in the process.
The Olori has also threatened to take the Oba to court over the incident.
However, all efforts to speak with the Oba proved abortive as journalists were not allowed into the palace and calls made to his phone and that of his lawyer, Olusola Oke were not answered.

Previous Cases of Gangsterism: