ABUJA - A housemaid, Lydia Elisha, has petitioned the House of Representatives over allegations of torture and humiliation meted out to her by the police on the orders of Rep. Henry Shawulu.The three-page petition, addressed to the Speaker of the House, Mr. Dimeji Bankole, was written through her counsel, Mr. Tom Metu of Peace Chambers, Abuja.In the petition, which was made available to newsmen in Abuja, Elisha said Shawulu accused her of stealing N40,000 from his residence at EFAB Estate, Abuja.Following the allegation, Elisha said the lawmaker took her initially to EFAB Estate police station where she was detained between April 5 and April 9.The petitioner said that she was transferred to Life Camp police station where she was almost tortured to death by the police.Narrating her ordeal, Elisha said: “I was handcuffed, tortured and taken to a hidden corner outside the police building in a container where I was asked to agree that I stole the money.”Elisha said that her refusal to agree to the police request earned her more torture and humiliation, as her boss directed and watched her being dehumanised.“The I.P.O implored me to agree that I stole the money to avoid further punishment. I refused. He therefore poured tear gas powder on me after soaking my body with water.‘’My body, breasts and private part were severely burnt such that I was unable to sit down for days,’’ she said.The housemaid said that a lawyer, Teslim Agboola, who came to assist in securing her release on bail, was equally assaulted by the police officers who threatened to beat him up.“I want to state categorically that I never stole any money from Shawulu’s home but I was no longer tolerating abuses, curses and insults from Shawulu’s wife and children,’’ she said.Elisha, a 22 year old girl from Kanke in Plateau, was engaged by Shawulu on November 14, 2008 on a monthly salary of N12,000 before it was increased to N15,000 due to her diligence and hardwork.The girl, through her counsel, had threatened to sue the lawmaker and claim damages for the brutality, humiliation and violation of her fundamental human rights.The maid told newsmen that she was still receiving treatment at a private clinic due to severe burns and injuries she sustained.According to her, she still has her mobile telephone, purse and a pair of shoes in the custody of the police station.Contacted on telephone, Shawulu, who represents Jalingo/Yorro/Zing Federal Constituency of Taraba, claimed ignorance of the matter.But he was quick to ask later, “where do you get that story.’’“I am not aware of what you are saying. Who are your witnesses? You have no evidence to prove what you are saying.’’Both the Divisional Crime officer at Life Camp Police Station and the I.P.O in charge of the case, had confirmed the incident but denied the alleged torture.An eyewitness, simply called Olatubosun, narrated how the girl was allegedly brutalised on the orders of Shawulu, who personally supervised the torture.Olatubosun told newsmen that all pleas by him and other sympathisers at the police station fell on deaf ears, as the lawmaker insisted he would force her to pay the alleged stolen money.The witness said that he heard the lawmaker saying that Lydia was very hard working, being the only maid who stayed beyond a month with his wife.
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Title: Enter The Place
Feature: Sound Sultan
Album: The Unstoppable
Producer: Jiggy Jegg
Video Director: Luke Biggins
Mixed By: Ozzie Tripple o and Wayne McNeish
Location: London
Enter the place is a feel good party dance track written by 2Face Idibia featuring Sound Sultan. The song is 2face’s way of inviting people to join him in the celebration of the good life. It directly translates as come join the fun. He depicts “The Place” as the party of the year which each listener can relate to in their own little way as maybe a birthday, house party or however they deem fit.
Sound Sultan featured alongside 2face on this track and was chosen due to their long term relationship and the rich lyrics, exuberance and energy that 2face knew he would bring to the song.
Once the song was completed the search was now on to find someone who could produce a video that would clearly convey 2face’s good life concept to all viewers. After a wide international search Luke Biggins a budding UK video director was chosen for the project, due to his impressive resume of 100 music videos, 18 television shows and directing coverage of Tsunami relief concert, all in a short space of time. The video was shot at various locations in London and was directed to show people in a party atmosphere. 2 face and Sound Sultan emitted vast amounts of energy on the video set showing the world their African version of the much loved “skanking dance”
“Whenever you are feeling down enter the place and give God the glory”.
NB: Don’t live on the fast lane, live life to the fullest, life is too short!!!!!!!!!
Title: Go Down There
Album: The Unstoppable
Video Director: Luke Biggins
Location: London
“Go down there” is a collaboration of 2face and Sway (a fellow MOBO award winner and a UK based artiste signed to Konvict records)
From being a humanitarian and selfless person 2face empathises on the world’s continuous suffering, he uses the song to convey how although grateful for good times, he is tired of the drama. He asks us all one question. If you had a chance to preview and review the world during the 9 months in your mother’s belly before u were born, if you were warned and informed of the Shooting and killings, the drug abuse, the terrorism and the wars that constantly go on, would you really come down here?
Sway also communicates that although life is not perfect, some others keep struggling through and try to make the most of the situation and where we have all found ourselves out here.
The video was shot at a ware house in London. It visually communicates some of the worries of the world. It shows the slums, death, knifes and guns, slaves in captivity, effects of the wars on the children. Showing things in the world that we sometimes don’t want to admit exist. Whether you have the peace of a dove or instinct of a leader we all coexist in this world, good alongside bad.
The question is what would you do? Would you really wanna go there?
NB: STOP THE VIOLENCE, STOP THE HATE MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE!!!!
Vote for 2 Face at Hip Hop World Awards 2009
Album of the Year
2FACE IDIBIA
Album: THE UNSTOPPABLE
Text------- HHWA1 UNSTOPPABLE to 33120 (Nigeria only)
Recording of the Year
2FACE IDIBIA ft MELISSA BRIGGS
Album: THE UNSTOPPABLE
Track: Can't do Without you
Best R ‘n’ B/ Pop Album
2 FACE IDIBIA
Album: THE UNSTOPPABLE
Text------- HHWA4 UNSTOPPABLE to 33120 (Nigeria only)
Awards:http://www.hiphopworldawards.com/nominees.aspx
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Please watch your kissing also lol !
As a precaution to an outbreak of swine flu in
Nigeria, the Federal Ministry of Health has issued an alert but assured
Nigerians that measures had been put in place to tackle the epidemic.
The alert issued by the Minister of Health, Professor Babatunde Osotimehin, came on a day the worldwide death toll rose to 149.
Osotimehin
said that surveillance had been strengthened at all ports of entry into
the country – airports, seaports and all land borders.
“We have
our surveillance officers present and fully ready in all local
government areas, states and at the Federal level,” the minister said,
adding that so far, no suspected case of the flu had been reported in
Nigeria.
The minister also said the Federal Government was fully
prepared to contain any outbreak of the flu in the country with
adequate stockpile of Tamiflu, the drug of choice for treatment.
“We
wish to by this inform all clinicians and health workers to report any
suspected case of Swine flu to the Epidemiology Division, Department of
Public Health, Federal Ministry of Health,” Osotimehin stated.
The
ministry gave the phone details of contact persons, in the event of any
concern, as Dr. J.Y. Jiya (08034030212) , Dr. A. Nasidi (08037006349) ,
Dr. Henry Akpan (08037626718) and Mr. John Kehinde (08023210923) .
Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has described it as a "public health emergency of international concern".
According to current projections, a pandemic today could result in up to 7.4 million deaths worldwide, the WHO says.
CNN reported yesterday that Mexico's government is ordering closure schools nationwide as the suspected death toll rose.
Health
Secretary Jose Angel Cordova said only 20 of the deaths had been
confirmed to be from swine flu and the government was awaiting test
results on the rest.
He said 1,995 people had been hospitalised with
serious cases of pneumonia since the first case of swine flu was
reported on April 13. The government does not yet know how many were
swine flu.Of those hospitalized, 1,070 have been released.
He
said schools at all levels nationwide are suspended until May 6.
Schools had already been suspended in Mexico City and five of Mexico's
32 states.
The United States and the European Union (EU) have urged
travellers to Mexico to exercise caution, amid concerns over the spread
of the flu virus.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the US - which has 40 confirmed cases - was taking the issue "very seriously".
Earlier,
the WHO said there were 40 laboratory-confirme d cases of swine flu in
the US, 26 in Mexico, six in Canada and one in Spain.
Tests are
also being carried out on individuals or groups in New Zealand,
Australia, Brazil, Britain and Israel who fell ill following travel to
Mexico.
In most cases outside Mexico, people have been mildly ill and have made full recovery.
Concerns
arose over the health of US President Barack Obama weekend as one of
the people he shook hands with on his recent trip to Mexico reportedly
died suddenly of a lethal pork flu pandemic that has claimed 149 lives
worldwide.
Obama had shaken hands with an archaeologist, Felipe Solis, who died of the disease soon after the encounter.
The
White House, however, said Obama’s health had not been endangered by
his trip to Mexico City last week, in spite of reports in the Mexican
press that an archaeologist who met the US leader, died soon after from
“flu-like symptoms”.
All the pork eaters be careful of the swine you chop !
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CALABAR ––Dr. Magnus Kpakol, National Coordinator of the National Poverty Eradication Programme(NAPEP), has said 74 million Nigerians are poor.He said the figure, which was as at December 2008, dropped by one million from the 75 million in 2007.He made this known in a paper titled, “NAPEP Programmes As Enabler For Rapid Economic Development In The South South Region,” presented at the just-concluded South South Economic Summit in Calabar.He said the population of the country’s poor was 80 million in 1999.Kpakol, a Senior Special Assistant to the President on Poverty Alleviation, said that the poverty prevalence was more in the northern part of the country.According to him, the poverty rate in North West geo-political zone was 72.2 per cent of its population while in North East, it is 71.2 per cent of the population.“The percentage is 67 of the population in North Central,” he added and disclosed that the South East has the lowest poor population of 26.7 per cent.“The zone is followed by South South where the poor constitutes 35.1 per cent of its population and South West with 43.1 per cent,’’ he said.The NAPEP Coordinator attributed the poverty index in the country to weak local economy and said that the poverty rate would reduce “when we have rule of law and good governance.”Other factors that would also elevate people from the poverty stratum include, “strong and high quality development growth and mass participation in economic development,” he added.He challenged local government councils to commit N1 million into micro lending in each community in their areas.Kpakol stated that the reduction of the size of the poor population from 80 million in 1999 to 74 million in 2009 was due to various poverty alleviation programmes embarked by various governments.He charged states and local governments in the South South to evolve a common poverty reduction programme.
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At least The suitors are getting beautiful wives cant say if OBJs daughters ... shuo make i shut up b4 SSS come carry me o !The Yar’Adua girls have simply become the hottest merchandise for most of Nigeria’s opportunistic, treasure-hunting elites and some wealthy but failed husbands. Next on the betrothal line is Aisha Yar`Adua, the beautiful 22-year old daughter of President Umaru Musa Yar`Adua , who in a couple of months will tie her nuptial.Though diamonds are described as a girl`s best friend, nuptial dates are certainly a girl`s happiest day and the dream of every father. President Yar`Adua’s giving away of his seven daughters, 9jabook.com learnt may after all be his seven-point agenda for his family.President Musa Yar`duaThe question now is, who will she be joined to? Recently she was sighted in social circles with an oil dealer, whom she introduced as her fiancé to a 9jabook.com source. However, emerging feelers suggest that there are subterranean moves by a certain Governor, with very close ties to the Yar`Adua, family, to join the race to land beautiful Aisha.Tagged third-point agenda, Aisha `s nuptial race will certainly be an exciting one to watch as there are indication that the list of contenders are getting longer than the list of pretenders.9jabook.com checks reveals that the traditional route to financial success in Nigeria are hard work, risk-taking and maybe building one’s own business, but lately, marrying money has become the latest trend in the path to acquiring wealth that isn't talked about quite as much these days.Even after people acquire wealth, their insatiable appetite still want more. They want more money and ultimately they want power. The desperate quest for power in Nigeria`s political circles has made politician, of northern extract to fall over themselves in the bid to marry one of President Yar’Adua`s girl who have literally become a prized trophy in elite circles.Yar’dua`s first daughter married the Governor of Kebbi state. Since the marriage, life has not been the same for Kebbi state governor and his cronies, as things drastically became better. Our checks reveal that the incumbent minister of FCT, got his plump job because of the union.Could be recalled that in May 2007, Adamu Aliero, anointed, the present governor of Kebbi state to succeed him. As an act of appreciation, the godfather was elevated to the FCT ministry, after Zainab’s marriage. Impeccable sources confided in 9jabook.com that Adamu Aliero was made minister by Zainab. In the spirit of keeping it in the family, it was Adamu Aliero who told Nigerians that President Umaru Yar`Adua will seek a second term in office.Recently, the governor of Bauchi state, Isah Yaguda also married Nafisa, Yar’dua`s second daughter, since then he has become a major player in Nigeria’s power circles, though he belonged to the opposition party, he has since crossed to the PDP. As a result of this union, Yuguda has been tipped to replace the Central Bank Governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo when his tenure elapses. However, sources reveal that his young wife Nafisa, like her mom, Turai has keen interest in being first lady. Though she is wife number four, she is scheming to supplant the three older wives, but, the reigning first lady of Bauchi state, is not giving up her position without a fight, but sources within government circles in Bauchi state, said, “considering the fact that Isa Yuguda is a very ambitious man, she is likely to lose to Nafisa.”
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The indigenous African cultures in which the present superficial (though powerfully extractive) Nigerian state is embedded, has an aversion for the privatisation of social being. Instead, the African gets his/her fullest being in the community of interests, in the collectivity which is built on a fusion of personal responsibility and communal privilege. He/she. gets his or her rights .and obligations from belonging to a group with which he/she shares intimate solidarity.Bureaucratic corruption is less likely to occur in such a setting as when privatisation produces private interests in both the economic and political realms. Corruption in the state of individual poverty is more a rational than a moral choice, especially when the poor citizen has to choose between his family not surviving the next day due to hunger, and his taking some petty amount from the public coffers to meet his pressing- survival needs. Yes,’ it can be argued that such a citizen cannot be absolved of the consequences of the choice that he/she has made. After all, some workers in similarly derived positions have found morally acceptable ways of making ends meet by supplementing their meagre salaries with either becoming part-time farmers after the offices close, or engaging in the’ minimalist enterprises... of supplementary petty trading: It can even be better argued that the rich in high public offices are exactly those who loot the commonwealth the most. It becomes obvious that the corrupt Nigerian cannot completely escape the responsibility of the personal choice he/she has to make. What is important to note is that some of these personal choices may be rational at the micro personal level, but extremely dysfunctional at the macro level.Yet we must face the fact that to be public-spirited under such circumstances, comes at a very high price. Worse still, even your own family to whom you would have to run for support and reinforcement is more likely to abandon you emotionally because you have chosen your own morality over their own survival.But what are the cumulative results of corruption on the Nigerian state? First to be noted is the progressive enrichment of Nigerians through fraudulent accumulation, the emptying of the national treasury, the indebtedness of the country, and the dearth of resources needed for the social, economic and cultural development of our people. As part of the 2000 World Values Survey, Nigerians were asked:· “Generally speaking, would you say that this country is run by a few big interests looking out for themselves, or that it is run for the benefit of all the people?”The high degree of alienation and cynicism engendered in the Nigerian public. reflects the scandalous position in which the prodigious wealth of key members of the ruling class, exists to mock the unspeakable mass poverty and degradation of our people. This has bred mass cynicism and a distrust of the political elite(Azarya &, Chazan 1987) which have progressively contributed to the worsening intra and inter- communal conflicts (Ikelegbe 2001).Because the state treasury has been the ultimate target for phenomenal private accumulation, the struggle for state power has been particularly fierce and bitter among the several factions of the ruling elite. The recent well documented· brazen acts of political corruption through massive rigging of the 2003 Gubernatorial and State Assemblies elections in a number of states is a direct evidence of the democratic deficit engendered by materialist political corruption. Perhaps more frightful is the recent announcement by the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) that all thirty-six State Governors except one, in 2003 are under investigation! Moreover, when excluded from the share of the booty, the losing factions are wont to use the poor masses from their villages and ethnic groups of origin as battering rams against their rivals from other areas. In this way they further undermine the stability of the already deeply divided society and undercut the possibility of the governance in Nigeria.Rampant corruption among the elite has also taught the very unfortunate lesson to the general public that being honest does not pay. As a result of this lesson, some of the ordinary citizens then try to replicate the corrupt practices of our rulers in their own lowly levels through petty acts of bribery, hiding and burning of files for small fees, and a general attitude that public money within one’s reach, no matter how small, is for the stealing. It is from this way that corruption has become our national way of life, what with the sapping effects of the Structural Adjustment Programme (S.A.P.) which has brought the standard of living of the average Nigerian as low as the thirteenth poorest in the world. And yet billions of dollars of our national wealth have been siphoned away into foreign banks of the already developed economies of the world.Since money meant to run our public institutions have been increasingly diverted to private purses, our hospitals, schools, public utilities, national airline, universities, refineries, judiciary and even the armed forces and police are run down. This state of neglect has effectively subverted these very crucial institutions and rendered them incapable of performing their functions and sometimes even endangering the lives of the citizens whom these institutions were meant to serve.This has further undermined the confidence of Nigerians in these key national institutions, and threatens to continuously erode the dividends of democracy. Asked in the same 2000 World Values Survey to indicate the amount of confidence they had in certain important national institutions, the cumulative positive evaluations of Nigerians for important national institutions were as follows: police (34.9%), political parties (44.2%), parliament (45.0%), armed forces (46.6%), national government (48.2%), as compared with the press (64.2%) trade unions (65.1 %), private companies (70.2%), civil service, (70.5%) and the churches (94.8%).The negative image of important democratic institutions as noted above is best put in focus in the light of other comparative findings about the linkage between support for democracy and permissiveness toward corruption. Alejandro Moreno (2003) working with the 1995-1996 and the 1999-2000 World Values Survey data from 58 countries, established some notable correlations. First he found that his index for permissiveness towards corruption had an overall negative correlation 0.32) with the Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI). This means that “relatively high scores on transparency (the CPI is measured in a scale where high scores mean less corruption) are associated with low levels of permissiveness toward corruption” (Moreno 2003: 268) .Second, for the subset of 58 countries examined, Moreno found that the correlation between hisscales of permissiveness toward corruption and support for democracy, is an impressive negative coefficient of -0.43. This indicates that “high support for democracy is associated with low citizen justification of corruption. Among the most supportive of democracy and least likely to justify corruption are Japan, Hong Kong, and United States in the 1995 survey” (Moreno 2003: 268).The close association between support for democracy, low permissiveness toward corruption and national prosperity becomes evident in the above findings. It is therefore very lamentable that because of the unrelenting pillage of our national wealth by our rulers, the future of an entire generation of young Nigerians is being destroyed. Many of our youths who have graduated from universities frustratingly roam the streets jobless, for years on end, while some are forced to engage in crime, drug pushing and prostitution. Those of them who can find their way out are, “brain drained” to other countries where their services may be utilized. In these and other ways, our greedy rulers are mortgaging the future of this and next generations, and have reduced, our fatherland to a beggar nation even though Nigeria has been blessed with almost inexhaustible human and natural resources. Let us now proceed from diagnosis to prescription.SolutionsCan we dare to proffer solutions to this ravaging and overpowering social cancer, of our time, guilty as we all are in .our own several ways, of contributing to this national epidemic?It is very clear that we are dealing with a deep rooted problem that will definitely not yield to any simple quick-fix solution (Ake 2000).Neither will, moralising produce the answer as it has been aptly observed that as the number of churches and mosques has exponentially multiplied in our nation during these difficult and shameful years, so also has the scale of corruption exponentially multiplied. Short of revolution, some institutional beginnings have started to appear even though shakily in the Nigerian political horizon in the form of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act (2000) which was forced through the National Assembly by President Obasanjo immediately after coming to office, and now repealed by the Senate just before the 2003 general elections. Even if the Courts succeed in preventing the repeal of the Act, one is tempted to ask if it has a good chance, in and of itself, of doing the trick for Nigeria.However such laws, as pointed out by Doig (1995) under certain conditions have some part to play. Have we not tried Code of Conduct Bureau and all such other institutions in the past, and where have they led us? It is therefore important that we do not simply stop at: “CRY THE BELOVED COUNTRY”.To my mind what is needed is a long-term project solution. The solution that will be effective and that will endure has to be targeted at the structural deformities of the Nigerian state (Johnston, 1998). The first step therefore must be geared towards rescuing the state for our people, by creating a public no matter how rudimentary it may be. This difficult state project is aimed at realising some degree of legitimacy for the Nigerian state such that our various peoples will be enabled to see their welfare more effectively engendered by the large state entity, than by the small communal rival primordial polities that have hitherto served as our refuge in the past, (and paradoxically) are now serving as safe havens for our predators who are increasing becoming traditional chiefs.
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THE Joint Task Force (JTF) in Niger Delta has confirmed the killing of two militants and arrest of three others in a clash in Degema Local Government Area of Rivers.A spokesman for the taskforce, Col. Rabe Abubakar, said in an electronic-mail to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Port Harcourtthat suspected militants engaged a JTF patrol in Degema in the early hours of the day.“In the ensuing battle, they were over-powered and forced to retreat and in the process, two militants were killed and three arrested,’’ Abubakar said.He named the arrested militants as Dasobobo Dawan, Pekribo Georgewill and Emi Alaibo.Abubakar said on interrogation, the militants confessed that they were sent to carry out attacks on prominent personalities and taskforce personnel.“Similarly, in the militants’ efforts to avenge their colleagues’ misfortune and probably to rescue the arrested ones from JTF custody, an unprovoked reprisal attack was carried out by the same group of militants from the same camp in three speed boats.“The attack was successfully thwarted by the brave troops of the security out-fit and the militants fled with various degrees of injuries. During this reprisal attack, no soldier was injured or killed,” he said.The spokesman said the taskforce would continue to defend itself and would not kill or maim innocent persons with no cause.“Therefore, those who might have been victims of our own action or in-action must have been the aggressors, as we always act in self defence and not on the offensive,” Abubakar said.He said the taskforce had the responsibility to provide security and protectthe citizens of Nigeria and expatriates resident in the oil rich region against intimidation from criminals.“We will keep on doing our job in securing the region and we won’t be intimidated by anybody or group in the conduct of our duty.“We are not in any way engaged in press war, but the fact of the mattermust be stated for the interest of our admirers and for the records to be put straight,’’ the spokesman said.
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She hit the silver screen as Bisi in the UNFPA-sponsored family television series called ‘I Need to Know.’ With plaited hair and secondary school uniform, she successfully played the role of a teenager for four years. Wasn’t that enough credential for her to stroll effortlessly into the centre stage in Nollywood?
That was what she thought but that was not what happened. She ran into many brick walls. Many doors were slammed in her face. She wept in toilets and inside ‘danfo’ on her way home after unsuccessful auditions. She decided to cut her losses and go into Yoruba movies. On her sixth production, she hit jackpot. Sunday Sun presents to you, Jenifa, the girl who brought Funke Akindele fame and fortune.
I sat in bukas in Ilorin, Ibadan and Osogbo to learn how to play the Jenifa character
The story of Jenifa is that of a village girl who wanted to be a big girl. She wanted to be a force to reckon with by force. She wanted to be noticed and she was noticed at the end of the day but on the negative side. She was infected with HIV and that’s why I want to do the return of Jenifa. There are unresolved conflicts that will be explored in the sequel, The return of Jenifa. For instance, what happened to the lady that arranged the girls for parties The sequel will reveal what happened to her and there are many other characters in there that we need to know what happened to them.
Then, I want to go deeper into the HIV theme, parental negligence, cultism. I want to explore the social vices on our campuses and that’s why we are having the return of Jenifa. I was moved to do Jenifa because I wanted to do something near real. I’d never seen anything like that before and of course I’m a very wild thinker. Oh and there is nothing in my background that helped me play Jenifa character as convincingly as I did. I’m just very funny naturally, at least that’s what people say. I say things that linger in people’s memory. What I did was to go and understudy how a local girl will pronounce ‘big girl’. I had to travel down to Ibadan, Oshogbo, Ilorin, sit in bukas and listen to all those local girls talk. I studied the way they painted their faces, their attitudes and their brand of self-confidence. Some of the slangs are Sulia kan, Ayetoro kan, then bigs girl, mo don jazzy e. The movie has really changed my life. It’s a big shoe that I really have to fit into. While I was coming here I was still thinking about how to do something better.
I only own the copyright. I’m not the executive producer. I have a marketer, Olasco Films. He paid me off. Jenifa has brought me fame and fortune but I believe that ‘the return of Jenifa will bring me more. It took me six months to write the script, one month to shoot and then the editing and all other post-production stuff. In all it took a year. The location was Lagos State Polytechnic, Ikorodu.
I read Law to please my father
Funke Akindele is an actress, a movie producer who’s been producing before Jennifa but Jennifa gave her the break. The first movie I produced was Ojo ketala. I had six before Jenifa. I went to Grace Nursery and Primary School, Gbagada, Lagos State Model College. I have an OND in Mass Communication from Ogun State Polytechnic ,now Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, I attended the University of Lagos where I studied Law but I’m not practicing.
I went into movie production because that is my first love. Right from when I was small I’d loved acting but I studied Law because my father wanted me to be a lawyer. I wanted to study Theatre Arts but he insisted I must study Law first and that I could act after I was through with Law.
I love criminal law and you could see that in my movies like Agbefo, Etanu, Taiwo Taiwo. It was after Taiwo Taiwo was released that the rumour about Oga Bello son and I started.
I was frustrated when I didn’t get movie roles after playing lead character in ‘I Need to Know’ for four years.
My mother has been there for me. She’s been very supportive. Back then she would drive me down to auditions. I started with ‘I Need to Know,’ a T.V series sponsored by UNNPA. I was in ‘I Need to Know’ for four years when I was in Unilag. It was about sex education, HIV/AIDS. I played a secondary school teenager and I had to learn how to talk like a teenager for me to fit into that character because i was not a teenager when I was playing that role. After ‘I Need to Know’, I thought I’d get movie roles easily because I was a lead character in ‘I Need to Know’ but it wasn’t forthcoming. I attended auditions. I acted in one or two English movies, ‘Egg of Life’, ‘Prison of Passion’ but it wasn’t forthcoming and I got frustrated. I moved into the Yoruba movies. I kept on attending auditions and they didn’t give me role and I didn’t know why. I believe it wasn’t my time then.
English movie makers have a lot to learn from their Yoruba counterparts.
The Yoruba movie industry people are very wonderful people. They gave me the break, the big opportunity. They were very good to me. I went into the Odunfa caucus where you have Yinka Quadri, Ogogo (Taiwo Hassan), Abbey Lanre is the director then and they accepted me. I started with one scene, two scenes, three scenes, sub-lead and then major roles. I believe we have better stories in the Yoruba movies. I’m not rubbishing English movies but I’ve watched some of them and after the first disc I just move on to something else. They have a lot to learn from us. Non-Yorubas can watch our movies because we subtitle in English. The only thing I think Yoruba movies should be doing is to shoot better movies. The English movies pay better but we are like a family where you can say when you do your movie, I’ll help you. We help each other but now we’ve improved. You can pay an artist as much as N500 000- N600 000 now. The market is becoming very big. I don’t really know who who the highest paid artistes are but I know that I pay my artist very well. I don’t know about others. Look at Jenifa, Olasco is always smiling to the bank. Each time I call him he’s always excited to pick my call. He made a lot of money from the film.
My saddest day was the day I was searched for drugs at the airport.
The worst thing that has been said about me was that Funke Akindele was caught carrying drugs at the airport. It was reported in a soft-sell magazine. Someone called me to tell me and I couldn’t believe it. I just broke down and wept. I felt so bad I had to start calling some friends in the media to write that I’m in Nigeria. It was the saddest moment of my life. I had to let people know it was a lie. I was even advised to feature on a show “Today on STV” but I declined. It was a big rumour. One woman abroad was just calling. Soggy was crying on phone when she called one of my friends and my friend connected her to me. When I told her I was at home, she shouted Halleluyah.
This is the first time I’ll be saying it. I was going to London around June last year with Virgin Atlantic and after I’d passed the immigrations, a guy just stopped me and said hello. He asked where I was going to and I told him London. He asked me what I was going to do and I asked what business that was to him. I told him I was going on holiday. He said he wanted to check to see if I had drugs on me. I queried his right to search me and he now brought out his ID. It was my first time and I felt bad. I was sad. They wrote down my name and asked me to go in and step on the scanning machine. I wasn’t smiling and I dropped my bag very close to me so that they would not drop something inside it. After the search the lady started mentioning all my movies and apologised, saying they had searched other top Nigerian artistes. I had to write my name as negative. I walked away and I saw Nigerians being chained, young, handsome guys caught with drugs. Though they were doing their duty, I still felt very bad.
The first time I went to London in October, 2007 they brought dogs to search us while the whites are passing freely and I said to myself, ‘see what we have brought on ourselves with yahoo yahoo, internet dating, drugs and the rest’. One of my friends, a big boy, was travelling to America and he was about bringing out his passport at the immigrations he now brought out Jenifa’s jacket. The American guy said oh bigs boy and I just said God thank you under my breath. They know me and I want them to know me more. Let me fly this flag positively, let them appreciate Nigeria through me and the movies I produce. I’m going to do something about that too to re-brand Nigeria. I’ll let people laugh and learn. Let us write scripts about these vices. Let me use the issue of yahoo yahoo guys. Let’s highlight things that Nigerians are doing that they would appreciate outside here, shoot it with international flavour that can cut across. By the time you show it in Hollywood they will appreciate it. You don’t shoot movies with one stupid camera and you believe they will watch it there. Do it and let them see Nigeria and the positive side.
The happiest day of my life
When my marketer called me that he really made a lot of money from my first movie Ojo Ketala, that was my happiest day in the movie industry.
Nollywood can produce its own Slumdog Millionaire
The technical aspect of our movies needs to be improved on. We are still far behind. As I watched Slumdog Millionaire, I kept on saying to myself I can do this. We can get professionals. What we need is funds. I watched D’Banj’s musical ‘Suddenly’ and it was shot with the Red Dot. The making was shot with the P2 and now in Nigeria we still are shouting I’m going to shoot my next movie with P2. If D’Banj brought P2 and Red Dot to shoot the musical, why can’t I do something like Slumdog Millionaire? Let’s do something with a good theme. Slumdog Millionaire was able to break into Hollywood because of that theme. We don’t yet have very strong themes and we are way behind technically.
As a producer it depends on how deep you can think even as a writer. When I was writing Jenifa I just wanted to cut across the teenagers, undergraduate, the females and all that and at the end of the day a lot of people appreciated Jenifa. It depends on how deep you can think as a writer and as a producer it depends on how deep you can treat a good script. We are trying, I’m still young in the industry and with the little time I’ve spent I think we are growing. Way back we didn’t shoot movies as good as this we didn’t have something as good as ‘Amazing Grace’, we are growing.
My dream is to make a great impact in the movie industry. All I have is given to me by God. I didn’t go to school to study it. When I write, my inspiration comes from God. So what I want to do in this industry is to make it grow, let the outside world appreciate our movies. I want the likes of Will Smith to watch my movie and say waoh, Nigeria is great because they watch Indian movies and they don’t speak English in Indian movies. They just subtitle. Slumdog Millionaire won eight Oscars. I want my own movies to get to that stage. I believe Jenifa is good enough to win an Oscar if it had been produced with international standard, if we have such equipment that was used to shoot Slumdog Millionaire.
My two big projects, Dasofunjo and My Choice will feature Genevieve and other big stars
I want to shoot two dance movies. I don’t have the money yet. One is in Yoruba, the other is English, Dasofunjo and My Choice. I want our parents to encourage their children to discover their talents. Everybody cannot be a doctor or a lawyer. It’s about the dancer that belongs to a family of lawyers and then one of the children said daddy I want to be a dancer; daddy I want to study theatre arts and the daddy said No you must study law and if you do not meet the cut off I’ll disown you. She did not meet the cut off. Daddy issues another ultimatum: if you don’t pass the diploma in Law I’ll disown you.
She did not pass and he did disown her. She had to move into the ghetto, joined the dance team and at the end of the day she became so popular and her father accepted her. If we want to shoot that movie we have to rehearse for like three months. I want our stars to dance. I don’t want it to be the professionals, I want to see the likes of Genevieve , myself and other stars do break dancing, traditional bata. The lead would be a professional dancer. that’s Ka dofee but I want the stars on set to be good. We’ll be rehearsing for three months and for me to bring Genevieve out of her home for three months, you know how much I’ll be paying her. I’ve not told her she’s going to see this for the first time.
Doris Simeon broke the news of my AMAA award to me on phone
It was Doris Simeon that was calling me and giving me blow-by-blow account of the event, who what and which film was nominated for what category until they called my name and then my mum called too. I just said thank God. Everybody is saying I’m big; she won Future Awards, Dynamix, City People but I’m not seeing it. I believe God is the one who has made it all possible.
Without God there is no me
I am very close to my God. He means everything to me. Without God there is no me. All my life I’ve been born again (laughs), I attend Mountain of Fire and Miracles. I don’t allow myself to be distracted when I go to church. I just greet everybody but when it’s time to pray I face my God. My church is very serious when it’s time to pray. Maybe after the service people walk up to me but while praying, there’s nothing like that and they do not frown at any of the roles I play.
I look back and the journey was so rough. Back then when I was looking for the right opportunity, trying to be known. When I went into acting I didn’t go into acting because of money or fame. I had the talent, I just wanted to display, exhibit, and the urge to do it was in me. The journey was rough. I’ll say things like at least give me a role even if it’s just one scene, it was rough.
Taibal boutique gave shoes worth N1m
I was at Taibal yesterday and the boutique gave me shoes worth a million. I tried the shoes on, beautiful shoes, I was given this bag too there, I just said God I thank you. Everybody is appreciating me it is you they are appreciating. it is you they are praising because you gave them to me.
I was sad ‘Apaadi didn’t win any award at AMAA
The Nigerian movie industry is lagging behind. From the little I watched of ‘From a Whisper’ from Kenya, it is technically sound, the picture is tight. I submitted Apaadi, I tried in Apaadi technically but I saw films that are way ahead of Apaadi .But I think next year we should be better. iI we want to produce any movie now, we really have to get the professionals. When you are given money, we should not think of what we want to gain. Finish the job first, do something very good so that when people see it they will come for more and you’ll make more money out of it. For AMAA I felt bad about it. Apaadi did not win any award and I felt bad, with all the my special effect I felt this is it and we were going to win many awards but when I got there I met my seniors. We have to really match that standard.
I trekked long distances for audition, wept inside toilets and buses and I almost gave up.
The journey has been long and tortuous but my mum, a gynaecologist has been very supportive. After God it’s my mum. She was there for me and she’s still there for me. When I felt like stopping she’d say no you have it in you, keep going. Frustration almost made me stop. I remember one day at about 6.30am I was going to Tobe Restaurant at Surulere (Lagos) where they had the auditions then and I misplaced my wallet. I had to trek from Ojuelegba to Kilo bus stop. When I finally got there, I put down my name and I was called me for the audition. I stood up and read my lines, acted, scaled through the first and second stages. At the last stage they said ‘sorry o your name is not there’.
I remember had not taken lunch that day. I had no money to go back home and I trekked a long distance. I got home tired and my mum kept on encouraging and assuring me that I would eventually make it. I remember another experience after ‘I Need to Know’. My director was an American who knew so much about production and we were well paid because ‘I Need to Know’ was aired on almost every station and DSTV. All I learnt on that set helped become a good producer because my producer educated us on many things. After ‘I Need to Know’ I felt I should get all the major roles but it didn’t happen that way and I had to cross into the Yoruba movies. I remember Fathia Balogun called me that a producer wanted new faces and that I should come over. I went, got auditioned and I was told to go on location. The day I was going to shoot, my box was so big. I packed lots of costumes thinking I was going to play a lead role and I went on set and appeared in just two scenes. I was so sad. They gave me three thousand naira. I went into the toilet and I cried. I remember Tayo Odueke (Sikiratu Sindodo) coming to meet me and saying ‘Funke stop crying, one day we will make it.’ I carried my box into the bus (public transport) and I was just crying in the bus, but I knew I will make it some day. When I look back today, I say God I thank you. For me to be there today I give God the glory.
I look like my father
My father is a wonderful man, Reverend G.O Akindele of the Methodists Church. He was the Vice Principal of the school I attended, Lagos State Model College. He’s retired now. He’s very wonderful, very liberal, easy going. My mum was always beating us then because she believes in beating but my father always talked to us. I’ll lie to my mum when she asked if I did something because I knew she would beat me but my dad would say Funke please tell me did you do it and I’d say yes I did it and he’d believe me and warn me not to do it again and I would not want to do it again because of my father. The day my father appreciated what I’m doing was the day I went to his school and the students refused to go back into class. He said, ‘so this is what you do. No wonder, you are a star o.’ He also called me to congratulate me for AMAA. I look like my father.
Success is when Funke Akindele wins an Oscar
To be successful in life, you really have to be focused, determined. Some say Funke Akindele is there and she’s successful now but no this is just the beginning. We have to start doing something good now. For success to keep coming we have to work hard. People say I’m already a success story but I’m yet to get there. When international stars acknowledge Funke Akindele, when I win an Oscar, when my movie is being appreciated outside these shores, that is when I will accept that I’m successful.
A producer once told me to come and meet him in a hotel and I told him to go home and sleep with his mother.
To be successful as an actress, you have to be focused, dedicated, patient. When you come there don’t be intimidated, don’t compromise. I don’t waste time. When I’m on set to work I’m there to work. People tell me I’m too disciplined, what’s your problem? Are you the only good girl? They tell me that. I remember I have been indirectly harassed by a producer who once told me he’d give me a script and let me play the lead role but I must come and meet him at one hotel. I looked at him and told him he was mad. I said, ‘you want to sleep with me abi, do you have a mother? Go home and meet her and sleep with her.’ That was what I said because I was so angry. He didn’t come out straight but I’m sure that was what he meant. As an actress, do not compromise, don’t be dejected when you are rejected. Your time will come.
People say to get to the top in Nollywood, one must kiss ass to get to the top but I did not kiss any ass but I beged for roles though, like saying please remember me in your next movie o.
I joined the Odunfa Caucus through Fathia Balogun
In the Yoruba movie industry you have to belong to a caucus. There are different caucuses like AKO (Awada Kerikeri Organisation) led by Oga Bello, Jide Kosoko, Odunfa caucus led by Yinka Quadri . There is also the caucus of Muka Ray, Ray Eyiwunmi, Lasun Ray. We have lots of them. It depends on the one you want to join but they are all the same. They all produce Yoruba movies and act in Yoruba movies. I joined Odunfa through Fathia Balogun and Iyabo Ojo. They belong to Odunfa caucus too. I met Fathia Balogun on set the production I was given three thousand naira I met Iyabo Ojo there too. That was how I got into the caucus.
In the Yoruba movie industry you get registered, get a form. You will be interviewed so they’ll get to know whether you can act or you just want to be laying about and if you are not good at all you’ll need rehearsals. If you pass you go for production and you get registered under the Association of Nigerian Theatre Arts Practitioners, ANTP.
My next big role will be to play the role of an old woman.
So far, Jenifa is the most difficult role I’ve ever played. I had to learn how to speak like that but the character I want to play next is that of an old woman. I don’t want to play an old woman like any other person will do. I want to spend like six months each with three different old women and I give it to Garbazini, he’s a good make-up artist. I watched the movie where he made Mike Ezuruonye into an old man. The make-up was tight and Mike acted it very well. So I will get Garbazini to do the make-up. For me to do that, I want to learn how to talk like an old woman. I don’t want to mess myself up on set. I’ll spend six months each with the three old women, two educated and one illiterate. The way to interpret a role is by reading your script, understanding the character.
My favourite actors and actresses
I respect Bimbo Akintola especially when she’s acting emotional scenes. She’s a deep actress. She is one actress that makes me shiver. I give it to Bukky Wright, Sola Shobowale (I prefer Aunty Sola when she’s wild), Liz Benson, Joke Silva, Olu Jacobs, Kate Henshaw, Mercy Johnson, Nonso Diobi, Micheal Ezuruonye, Chioma Chukwuka.
Very soon, there will be Jenifa wigs, bigz boy shirts…
No I’m not doing anything on Funke Akindele for now but we are doing some thing on Jenifa. We are branding Jenifa, we are coming out with Jenifa wigs, weavon, accessories and we are coming out with bigs boy chain, bigs boys shirts, clothing lines. There will be Jenifa face caps, handbags, purses. We are building a brand around Jenifa.
On my first day in higher institution, I screamed ‘free-at-last’
I felt like someone that has just been released from the prison because at home you have to be inside the house. The lesson teacher would come and meet you in the house. She was a disciplinarian. All she did then was to tell us ‘remember the daughter or the son of whom you are, don’t live a fake life, be prayerful, be focused’ and she made sure we went to the best schools. She’d rather sell her jewellery or the last thing she had on her than allow her child go to a public school. I’m happy I have been able to buy her a car.
When she dropped us in our hostel then in her 504 and drove off I just screamed free at last and my elder sister was just crying that she would miss her mummy. Me I would dress up and go out, take money from my pocket money to buy jeans to look good. I felt free, happy at last.
I intend to marry and still remain in the industry
I’m not afraid of marriage. I intend to make it work by being myself, being submissive. I don’t believe because I’m a star on the screen I should be a star at home. I would keep my home away from the public and be a good mother. I want to be happily married and stay in the industry.
Olasco and I
I respect my marketer because he’s been there for me. If I tell Olasco I need N20m to produce this movie he will give it to me because he believes Funke Akindele can do it, she has it in her but for others if that’s is it then its wrong but for me. I respect the marketers because they are giving us money to produce movies, they are good, when they see a good story, a good producer, they will drop their money. They sell and pay off the producer and I respect them for that. Then as per the car for my mum, my marketer knows one or two motor dealers, I told him I wanted to get my mum a car and he has to give me some money to add to the one I have with me because my money is with him. He still has two or three of my movies that are not yet released. So we called the car dealers and I told them I will drop my own share of the money in their account and Olasco will balance. That was what happened with the issue of the car.
I don’t see marketers as God. If we see other people to give us funds they might be the one running after us.
Femi Adebayo is just a colleague
It is not true that Olasco has stopped using Femi in his movies. It’s a lie, I finished Ijaola three months ago, Femi played the lead role there and Olasco is marketing Ijaola. I have not even met Femi’s wife. I don’t know her, I’ve not met her, we’ve not spoken before. She has not called my phone. Femi and I only have a working relationship. Our relationship is all about j.o.b. Femi is just a friend and colleague.
Girls, get educated, stay away from drugs and ‘aristo’
My advice to the young ladies out there “you can use what you have to get what you want” by discovering your talent, the special thing God has given to you and make good use of it to be celebrated. Don’t sleep around, don’t believe in aristo, be focused, get educated and come out in flying colours, stay away from drugs, stay away from sex and if you must do it protect yourself.
I want to thank my fans for appreciating me. Without God and my fans there wouldn’t have been Funke Akindele and there won’t be anybody to celebrate Jenifa.
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By CHINYERE FRED-ADEGBULUGBE
A SUB-plot was acted out recently at a party when a young lady started distributing her business card. A cursory glance at the card to know her kind of services revealed the supply of choice sex toys as one of the things in her repertoire.
While a number of those present raised their eyebrows, those in the know believed the use of sex toys is a phenomenon that is fast gaining some ground in the country presently.
And though there are no statistics yet, sex and sexuality analysts are pointing fingers at women as the more frequent users of the erotic toys. What is more? They also believe that the trend shouldn't really be a surprise.
Princess Sola Oladimeji is the chief executive officer of Oju-Oge's World. Some of her services have one thing or the other to do with sex enhancement. She says many women resort to the use of sex toys when they don't get satisfaction from their spouses.
"There are a lot of women who keep several lovers before marriage and you know these men would come with various penis sizes. So when such a woman gets married, she might end up with a man who may not satisfy her in bed. But in order not to commit adultery, she would resort to sex toys. It will satisfy her and also save her marriage. So it is the married women that we reach out to," she said.
A sex and marriage therapist, Mrs. Funmi Akingbade, also toes Oladimeji's line. And she should know, having spent the last two decades counselling couples on sex and sexuality issues. "Many Nigerian women are sex-starved, even pastors' wives," she declared.
While she fingers the absentee husband factor as one of the causes, she insists that many women who stay with their husbands are usually deprived of good sex for several reasons. "Sometimes the man will have other women, especially the young girls outside and he won't have time for his wife.
"Such men are always giving one excuse or the other to their wives when they get home. Then another thing is that many of our men are always in a rush when they want to have sex with their wives. They don't have time for foreplay at all and therefore they hardly ever satisfy their wives. Many times many of these women have approached us to assist them in purchasing sex toys for them," she explained.
She even gave the instance of a woman who claimed that her husband encouraged her to buy the sex toys. "He told her to think of him while using them," she said.
But hate them or love them, sex toys, which are primarily used to enhance human sexual pleasure, seem to mean a great deal to some people. And this is because of the functions they purportedly perform.
According to the managing director, Zee Virtual Media (a company that sells sex toys), Mr. Uche Edochie, sex toys serve a variety of purposes.
Such purposes, he says, include not only enabling adults achieve sexual gratification, but also to achieve this gratification whenever they want, wherever they are and as often as they want it. "Sex with a human is never this generous," he said.
Furthermore, he opines that they are educational as well. "A careful study of certain toys like the vibrator for instance, enables us to figure out the erogenous parts of the female body that require the most stimulation for the best results," he states.
But he warns that they can never replace the real thing. He said, "Sex toys weren't designed to replace real sex and can never replace real sex. For a start, real sex takes place between two people who care for each other and can live together, bear children together and forge a life together. A toy cannot provide a human being with any of the above; neither can it provide companionship for single people."
Edochie, whose organisation has been credited with popularising sex toys and other adult products (he has an online shop which stocks and sells sex toys), believes more women than men embrace the use of sex toys in Nigeria
"Men masturbate more than women, but women invest more in sex toys than men do and toys for women sell a lot more than toys for men," he says. He reveals that a lot of young people tend to use and enjoy the use of sex toys. "Young people are more adventurous and more sexual therefore they tend to use toys more often than the older generation," he adds.
Sex toys come in different types: Vibrators, dildos, dongs, strap-on and clitoral stimulators for women; the men also have theirs.
Obviously because of cultural considerations, many people who use sex toys prefer to operate discreetly. "Many of my customers patronise me in secret," Oladimeji reveals. Even Edochie's outfit doesn't have a physical shop where people can walk in, look at those displayed and perhaps order. Rather they take orders online or on the phone and then deliver to their clients.
But are sex toys also completely harmless? While there is a general belief that there are really no side effects (Oladimeji claims that even people with hypertension can use them), the fact that they are addictive in nature is one factor that concerned observers believe should not be just glanced over. "Many women get addicted to it and won't even notice their spouses anymore and that is not good for the marriage," Akingbade said.
Edochie agrees that sex toys can be addictive, but insists that the advantages of acquiring and using them shouldn't be dismissed. "They prevent the spread of HIV and AIDS by limiting promiscuity amongst adults. They also serve as aids to our regular sexual routines by enabling us make up for areas in which our partners are lacking, such as 'staying power,'" he insisted.
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By TOYOSI OGUNSEYE
A 30-year-old Nigerian has emerged as one of United States of America's most wanted men. Tobechi Enyima Onwuhara shares the same poster with Osama bin Laden on the website of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the secret service agency of the USA.
The FBI declared him wanted on August 1, 2008.
To emphasise the importance of the suspect and the threat he is posing to the American economy, the FBI placed his picture under that of bin Laden on the agency's identification orders posted on the Internet.
Last year, ex-president George W. Bush ordered the security agents not to leave Onwuhara's trail until he was arrested.
Bush gave the order following an allegation that Onwuhara had allegedly stolen over $44m (about N5.28bn) from American citizens and banks, including a judge of the U.S. Court of Appeal, who was appointed by the ex-president.
The judge was once a Chief of Staff to the late American Senator, Strom Thurmond, who defected from the Democratic Party to the Republican and made history then as the longest-serving and oldest senator in US history.
By the time he was 100 years, he had served 48 years as a lawmaker.
According to the FBI, Onwuhara alias 'T,' 'Tobe,' 'Xavier,' 'Enyinna' and some of his co-conspirators used online Internet databases to steal victims' identities to the tune of $44m.
Investigations by the intelligence bureau revealed that Onwuhara hacked into his victims' personal information through a database, in a bid to access their Home Equity Line of Credit accounts.
Once inside, he would allegedly wire the money to accounts mainly located overseas, but some inside the US.
Onwuhara, who was called a 'fugitive' on the website, has been accused of causing tens of millions of dollars in losses to banks and home-owners.
The suspect was described by the agents as "a very smart and crafty fraudster," who had painstakingly perfected the scam, after lots of research, followed by several tests.
Also described as "The Consummate Con-man" with a seemingly-bottomless bag of tricks, Onwuhara was found to have been spending his money on wine, women and songs.
Among his traits and habits noted by the FBI are: gambling at the casino, flashing money, driving luxury cars and hanging out at strip clubs.
Investigators believe that Onwuhara first entered the US in 1999 or 2000 on a student visa.
"Onwuhara had high aspirations for himself, but his thirst for knowledge extended beyond the university's halls of learning - and they didn't involve getting a degree from a prestigious school," the agency said.
A statement signed by the FBI Director, Robert S. Mueller, reads in part: "Tobechi Enyinna Onwuhara, a convicted felon is wanted for his alleged involvement in an elaborate scheme that defrauded the financial industry out of tens of millions of dollars.
"Onwuhara is a key member of a group of Nigerians, which allegedly has been conducting fraudulent banking activities from Florida and Texas, since 2005. It is alleged that the group has been using online Internet databases to steal victims' identities.
"Once acquired, they allegedly use the victims' information to gain access to the victims' Home Equity Line of credit accounts and wire transfer the money to accounts mainly located overseas, some in the United States.
"Some of Onwuhara's alleged co-conspirators have been arrested, inside and outside of the United States.
"However, Onwuhara remains at large. Onwuhara was charged federally with conspiracy to commit bank fraud, and a federal warrant was issued for his arrest by the United States District Court, Eastern District of Virginia, on August 1, 2008."
The statement carries a caution, boldly printed in red ink: "Should be considered an escape risk."
Mueller pleaded that those who have information concerning the case should contact the local FBI office or the nearest American embassy or consulate.
Investigators said Onwuhara had once moved from Seattle in Washington, where he lived for a short time, then Houston in Texas. Later, he was found to have set up homes in Miami and Dallas.
The Miami home is said to cost $600,000, and the Dallas base was described as a playground, where he lived the life of a multimillionaire playboy and businessman, renting a condo for $4,000 a month.
Although FBI agents describe Onwuhara as a quiet guy, they also say he craves the spotlight and let his money do his talking for him.
Dennis Michael Wagner, who works with the "American Most Wanted," reveals that Onwuhara loves "making it rain."
He usually throws fistfuls of cash up in the air, at one of his favourite spots, a local strip club. They say he easily drops $50,000, when he and his associates wanted a "thunderstorm."
According to Wagner, Onwuhara's desires didn't stop with cash and women.
Investigators say he loves luxury cars. He has a Maserati, a Bentley, a Rolls-Royce Phantom and he had been working as a car salesman to indulge his passion.
Once in his possession, agents say Onwuhara would ship the cars to Nigeria to be sold.
According to them, he was so confident in his skills and scams that he never believed they could be traced directly back to him.
The only paper trail Onwuhara left behind led directly back to close associates. Discreet investigations later unravelled his alleged scams in precise detail.
With the money he generated from his illegal activities, they say Onwuhara started his own hip-hop label, called S.W.A.T. Up Entertainment.
He even signed two artistes to the label. It was gathered that Onwuhara owned a recording studio at one point.
Investigators have now spread their dragnet across Dallas, Miami, Atlanta, New Jersey and Canada, looking for the suspect with the security label: W054871136.
Onwuhara's poster says he has access to fake driving licences and passports and millions of dollars in overseas accounts.
The FBI said it won't stop tracking him until he is in handcuffs. He is suspected to be hiding in Dallas, Miami, Atlanta, New Jersey, or Canada.
Born on July 24, 1979 in Nigeria, the suspect has black hair, brown eyes and is slightly built. He weighs 185 pounds and he is 5'10" tall. He does not have any known scar or mark.
The spokesman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mr. Femi Babafemi, said he was not aware of Onwuhara's case with the FBI. "But we will look through our files and see whether there was anything on the man in the past," Babafemi said.
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In order to pay back your debt, pick the creditor that charges the highest interest rate and work on paying back that debt first. Pay this creditor as much money as you can so that that debt will be gone fast. Pay the minimum payment to all your other creditors. Once you are done, pick another creditor. Keep doing this until all your debts are paid. This is the best and quickest way for you to get out of debt, and is recommended by many experts.The best way to pay your creditors is to pick one and send them as much money as you can. Pay the minimum payments on the other debts. If you do this every month you will soon pay off that debt. At this point, you will want to pick another debt to pay off and do the same thing. Do this until you have no more creditors to pay.For debts that are accruing interest, it is wise to pay more than once every month. This will reduce the amount of interest you pay. Do this for credit cards and other loans that you pay interest on. It is not necessary to do this for your utility bills since they don't accrue interest and you won't gain anything from using this technique with them.Figure out how much you would like to pay every month. Then split it into 4. If you pay $75 a week instead of $300 per month, you will actually pay less interest that month. You will need to make sure your account number is written on the check, and that you attach a note that says exactly what you are sending the money for.You should also lower your expenditures. You will need to make some changes in your lifestyle if you want to be debt free, since you will need to put aside extra cash to repay your debt. Without lowering your expenses you will not be able to repay that debt.Do you shop often? Try to limit the amount of money you spend on your shopping, and pay only in cash. If you like eating out, see if you can do a barbecue or a potluck dinner with friends instead. You can rotate the dinners so that a different family hosts the meal each time. You will want to save the restaurants for very special events. You can use the library instead of buying books and rent videos instead of going to the theater. Also, save some money on your bills by using good habits such as turning off the lights when you leave the room.If you are really doing bad financially, go see a debt counselor. Find a company that gives free counseling sessions and set up an appointment to go over your debts and bills. The debt counselor will look at your debts and expenses and help you come up with a plan to become debt free. Make sure you have a list of all your debts with all the relevant information such as how much you owe, who you owe it to, and how much you pay each month. The more information you bring with you, the better the counselor will be able to help you.If you decide to work with the consultant, you'll have a monthly budget prepared for you, and the company will negotiate with your creditors to get a payment plan you can deal with. Although debt management might be the only way for you become debt free, you should know that debt management programs affect your credit score, so make sure you understand the implications before you start. Sound advice for financial freedom and personal sovereignty.EDMARK INTERNATIONAL is very interested in the topics of financial freedom. If you are in debt and want to learn how to become completely Debt Free in 1 Year or sooner, no matter your income level or where you live, the secrets that EDMARK discovered may interest you. For more information go to WWW.EDMARKER.COM and learn what THEY did.
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It is one of the rich traditional soup of Cross River State in the South East region. It is very expensive soup to prepare. There are two different ways that edikaikong soup can be prepared, is either prepared with palm oil without water or mixed water with palm oil. But for this weekend let us use only palm oil. Edikaikong ingredients1. ugu leaves(2 heads) or 2 standard packages of spinach.2. water leaves (2 heads)3. crayfish (1 cup)4. dried fish5. snails6. goat meat or beef(assorted meats including beef intestines)7. kpomo8. palm oil9. onions10. fresh pepper11. salt12. magi13. periwinkleHow to prepare Edikaikong soup After plucking the leaves from the stem, discard the stems. Collate the leaves and chop into thin slices, do likewise to water leaves. Use electric grinder to blend the crayfish into coarse powder, rub the lemon on the snails until slime is gone and becomes gritty to the touch. Break up the dried fish in a bowl, pour in boiling water add two spoon of salt wash the fish in the hot salt water to remove dirt and sand. Grind pepper to a paste. Method A medium sized cover pot. The assorted meats including the intestines, kpomo, sliced onions, salt and maggi without water cover the pot till meats are tender for about 20 mins.Then you can add water leaves and coarse powder crayfish, until the liquid in the pot evaporates. Add palm oil. When the snails are over cooked it becomes leathery. But it becomes crunchy and Easy to chew when you are putting the snails towards the end of the cooking. Add pepper and stir. Add ugu or spinach, stir and allow it to boil for 3mins. The food is ready to serve with fufu or pounded yam .
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A19-year-old girl, Asma’u Ibrahim, of Kwado Village near Katsina, hanged herself to protest against an alleged forced marriage by her parents. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) learnt that the incident happened in the girl's family house at about 10:30 p.m.The deceased was said to have committed suicide by hanging herself with her veil when the family members had gone to sleep. A source close to the family told NAN on Monday in Kwado that the girl had initially resisted her parents' plan to force her into the marriage and threatened to kill herself if they went ahead with the plan. The source said that just a few hours after fixing the date for the ceremony in the family compound, the deceased hanged herself. According to the source, the girl had wanted to complete her secondary education before marriage, but the parents allegedly insisted on marrying her out. When contacted, the Katsina State Police Commissioner, Mr. Dan’azumi Doma, confirmed the incident. Doma, who described the incident as very unfortunate, said the police had commenced investigation to unravel the circumstances behind the suicide.
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Commercial motorcyclists driving dangerously and without the muffler of the machines would be arrested and fined N50,000.The Head of Operations, Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) Sector Command, Malam Mu’azu Aliyu disclosed this in Bauchi on Friday while speaking with newsmen.He said residents had been complaining about the way the motorcyclists removed their mufflers to make unbearable noise while driving dangerously.He said such action was unlawful, adding that anyone caught would be arrested and fined.Reports say that some motorcyclists had expressed disapproval with the behaviour of their members who thought they were above the law.Musa Kabir, one of the motorcyclists who spoke to newsmen, said that it was wrong for his colleagues to drive dangerously in crowded areas simply because they were celebrating a marriage or birth of a child.He said the Association had warned members against damaging the image of the trade, adding that those involved in dangerous and reckless driving should be punished.“Nobody is above the law and if any motorcyclist is caught on the wrong side of the law he should be punished to serve as deterrent to others,” he said.(NAN)
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ReBrAnding Nigeria is an issue that has taken over the air wave of the country but, I strongly believe that this can’t be achievable except the name of Jesus Christ is implored in this great task. Believe me Nigeria our country could be likened to the biblical Saul who persecuted Christians but later got converted by Jesus Christ on his way to Damascus to arrest followers of Christ. (Acts 9:1-9).Thereafter his name changed from Saul to Paul when he started preaching Christ and winning souls for the Kingdom of God.If only we can understand that Nigeria is suffering from demonic attacks and manipulations of all sorts, then we will know whom to turn to in the issue of rebranding Nigeria. When you travel round the country from East to West, North and South you will discover that Nigeria is richly blessed with natural resources and individual talents of all kinds, but what happens when these resources and talents are not working well for our industrialization and technological advancement.I know quite well that the Hon. Minister of Information and Communication Prof. Dora Akunyili, is prepared for this great task, but one thing is sure that all things are possible through Christ. Personally, I’m in support of this programme but she equally needs the assistance of fellow Nigerians in achieving this dream.Trust most Nigerians, they will never support her as far as the credit goes to her, but she could avert this notion by imploying the name and power of Jesus Christ in this task. All credit and glory must go to Jesus Christ, or else nothing works.Though it is easily said than one but, many decisions must be taken. Firstly, Nigerians must resolve to repent from their sinful ways and turn to Jesus Christ. Because Jesus Christ is the way the truth and the life (John 14:6-7). We must be our brother’s keeper, Love the Lord with all our hears with all our soul and with all our mind. If we deeply love God we will do exatly as he requires of us, we will preach his ways and as well as lover our neighbours as ourselves.The next vital decision that will be taken is a declaration that all Nigerians must embark on a forty days fasting and prayers for the rebranding of Nigeria. Also, the spirit of God will be called upon to empower everyone in this great task so that it will not be seen as a joke.At the end of the forty days fasting and prayers, weekly meeting will be organized and Christ will continuously be preached. Political office holders must be enjoined to contribute part of their salaries to the less privilege ones in our society. The orphans and widows must be cared for at all times.Job opportunities must be created and provided for the unemployed persons in our society. People must be empowered by teaching them modern trade and skills that will continuously put food on their tables. Also, credit facilities must be made open and easy to access by interested persons. The news must spread to other counties that Nigerians have turned a new leaf.Better still, affordable and qualitative health care must be provided for the sick, people must be able to gain access to medical practitioners without health facilities. Quality service delivering must be ensured by the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) they must be made to respond promptly to distress calls from customers.Finally, security of lives and properties must be guaranteed at all times. Crime prevention and fighting equipments must be purchased by government and multinational companies to assist the police and other security agencies in the country.Until these steps are taken and implemented, rebranding Nigeria remains a mirage and a mere talk by some intellectual Fraudsters playing on the Professional ignorance of the honourable minister. Prepare to experience how Nigeria’s billions of Naira will go down the drain
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Amina Yusuf, a mother of three, did not have to worry much when her 12-year-old son, Musa, went down with malaria fever.The nearest hospital to her village in a state in the North is about 20 km away, and she cannot afford the transport fare and medical treatment of her boy.But for Amina, nature has provided a remedy, and as usual she must utilise a common herbal treatment if she must save the life of her son. And this, she did.Surrounding her family compound are numerous trees which the locals believe have the potential of curing all ailments.With a handful of leaves from the tree mixed with other herbs, Amina produced a steaming concoction of local medicament, which she administered to Musa.Musa got well after a few days of drinking from and bathing with the concoction.“With Dogonyaro I do not have to use Western medication because it is very effective in the treatment of malaria.“Dogonyaro is bitter and everyone of us took it as we grew up as children, especially those of us in the rural areas,” says Amina.The tree, Azadirachta Indica, is common in the arid and semi-arid areas of Nigeria. Otherwise called Neem, the potency of Dongoyaro is indisputable as it is has been used by many generations of rural and urban dwellers in the country.“As a child, I remember vividly the dreaded early morning cupful of Dogonyaro that my parents often forced us to drink.It is bitter but we had to take it as our anti-malarial medication.“I remember how my mother would practically force me to drink a cup each time I was down with malaria. She would force me under the cover of a blanket with a hot pot ofDogonyaro and make me inhale the steam.“It is a sure cure for malaria because no sooner was my mother done with me than I would be back on my feet,” says Mrs. Patience Okudini, a businesswoman in Ashaka, Delta State.Neem is a species of the mahogany plant family, and a native of India and Burma, both in tropical South-East Asia. It is an evergreen tree, and usually grows between 10 metres and 15 metres tall.Experts say although it is a tropical plant, it also thrives in the Savannah ecosystems.Beyond its herbal potency, Neem also stabilises the environment as it can be planted as windbreakers, particularly for checking desert encroachment.Advancements in biotechnology have found other commercial benefits of the Neem tree. These include production of soaps, organic fertilisers, toothpaste, body cream, as well as other medical products and food supplements.Dr. Hadiza Nuhu of the Department of Pharmacognosy and Drug Development, Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, describes Neem as a single tree with great but under-utilised potential.According to her, Neem is known for its anti-malarial and anti-insectile properties, as well as its effectiveness in the treatment of Chloroquine-resistant malaria.Noting that Neem has curative properties, she says the tree is the answer to finding a permanent cure for malaria.“The Nigerian Neem is much more concentrated. Thanks to research, today Neem is no longer dreaded; it is now loved.There is a lot of research potential in it.“It should be incorporated in the National Malaria Policy,” she told an international workshop on “Neem-based Products: Production and Applications’’ in Zaria.The workshop was organised by the National Research Institute for Chemical Technology (NARICT), Zaria, in collaboration with Saberg International and Trifolio-M, both of Germany.NARICT has the mandate to undertake research and development into processes for the conversion of solid minerals, petroleum and agricultural raw materials into useful industrial chemicals.It also conducts research and development activities into industrial plastics and other synthetic materials.Its Director-General, Dr Ebenezer Okonkwo, says the current global economic meltdown is an opportunity for government to look inward by developing the country’s natural resources, including Neem.According to him, processed oil from Neem seed can be another source of foreign exchange earnings that will turn around the nation’s economy.“This is the reason for the workshop to generate ideas and synergy on the best practices for utilising Neem with the philosophy of further developing the ‘wonder tree’ for more economic uses,” he says.According to him, the institute has carried out studies on the Neem tree and has documented information on how the plant can be transformed into wealth for national development.Okonkwo suggests the evolution of a policy that will encourage the cultivation of the plant across the country.“With a well developed strategy, a number of multi million-dollar industries can emerge from the Neem project.“These include health and pharmaceuticals because of its medicinal properties, agricultural support, pesticides, cosmetics, food and beverages as well as fertiliser,” he says.According to him, the Neem seed has a high concentration of Neem-bioactive ingredients, while a lot of products with great export potential can be produced from it.“The Nigeria Neem seed has about 0.6 per cent azadirachtin content, while the Indian Neem and that of other Asian countries are 0.2 per dent and 0.3 per cent respectively,” Okonkwo says.The director-general says the institute is discussing possible areas of collaboration with Erga Associate, an Israeli company, for the utlisation of Neem oil because of its attractive export potential.He notes that members of the Neem Production Association have been charged to scale up the production of the seed to meet the expected demand.Besides, he says the institute has developed sustainable and adaptable technologies for processing Neem seed into oil.“NARICT’s Neem-based bio-pesticide plant is an agro-allied plant that processes Neem seeds into Neem-based pesticide, fertilizer and oil,” Okonkwo says.Other secondary products can also be derived from the Neem seed to boost the economy, he says, adding that Neem-based biocides have a great advantage over the conventional ones, and can command a sizeable share of the international market.He says the Neem-based biocides are non-toxic, generally mild on the environment and are less prone to the problem of pest-resistance than the synthetic ones.“Global concern over pesticides that destroy useful insects such as bees makes the Neem idea more attractive because it does not destroy useful insects,” the director-general says.He adds that entrepreneurs can take advantage of the emerging market as Neem belts already exist in the frontline states of Borno, Katsina, Kebbi and Zamfara.Mr. Zakari Ladan, a researcher and a chemist at NARICT, says the genetic constituent of Neem tree resides in its seed.According to him, the export potential of Neem seed is very high, especially in countries such as India, Germany and the U.S.“Every part of the Neem tree is useful; the leaf and its back are widely used in the manufacture of ointment, face cleaning agents and toothpastes,” Ladan says.Dr. Hubertus Kleeberg, the Managing Director of Germany’s Trifolio-M and a resource person at the workshop, says Nigeria is blessed with great human and natural resources that should be the envy of other nations.He notes that one of the resources is the Neem seed and adds that it has been widely used for decades in organic production in Europe and other countries.“There is no reason why Nigeria cannot turn its economy around if adequate attention is paid to Neem seed, which is highly concentrated.“The Nigeria Neem seed contains the highest concentration of Neem-bioactive ingredient in the world,” Kleeberg notes.According to him, what the government needs is to make a deliberate effort at harnessing the natural resource to ensure its cultivation and proper utilisation.He says that besides its medicinal properties, the tree can effectively control insects, pests and mites.“It is God’s answer to most of nature’s problems,” the German says.
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Facebook has been involved in a number of workplace controversies
A Swiss woman has lost her job after her employers spotted she was using the Facebook website when she had claimed to be too ill to use a computer.
The unnamed woman was suffering a migraine and had told her employer, Nationale Suisse, she needed to lie in a darkened room.
The company said its discovery that she was also using Facebook destroyed its trust in her and prompted her sacking.
But the woman told a Swiss newspaper she was innocent.
The woman, who is from Basle, said she had been accessing the internet on her iPhone while in bed.
She said she did not believe the company's assertion that a colleague had inadvertently noticed her using Facebook, accusing it instead of spying on her.
She said the company had created a fictitious Facebook persona which become "friends" with her, allowing the company to monitor her online activity.
Her suspicions were raised when the "friend" suddenly disappeared after she was fired, the woman told 20 Minuten daily.
But the company says it followed a simple logic: that those who are well enough to use Facebook with a migraine are well enough to work with a migraine.
It is not the first time Facebook has been involved in a workplace controversy. Some companies have banned it altogether, while others have fired employees over statements they make about work while online.
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An angry Lagos women is on an evil mission: To infect as many men as possible with the dreaded Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). Sandra (surname withheld) told Saturday Sun that she embarked on the deadly mission three years ago after a bitter experience in the hands of armed robbers. According to her, she has become, more or less, a nymphomania, sleeping with men in the bid to spread HIV, mainly, and to eke out a living.
Going by her account, Sandra may have had sex with 4,640 men, including two soldiers who brutally raped her and some other girls recently when they (soldiers) invaded Tarkwa Bay, a Lagos Island, where she lives and plies her trade. Tarkwa Bay is a notorious haven for flesh hawkers, drug peddlers and sundry criminals.
Sandra The 21-year-old indigene of Warri, Delta State, told Saturday Sun that she decided to spread HIV because she wanted to pay men back in their coin. Explaining that she hates men with passion, she claimed that she was raped at gunpoint at 17, adding that she contracted the disease as a result of the assault.
Indeed, Sandra story is one that will shock even the coldest of hearts.
She said: “In 2006, I got admission into the Delta State University, Abraka to study Banking and Finance. I was barely 17 years old then. Then I travelled to Asaba, our state capital to inform my elder and only sibling because we are just two children that my parents had. And my father had died when I was a kid. Naturally, my brother was very happy when I told him that I had secured admission into the university. We were very close and he had promised to be there always for me.
“But two days after I arrived, my brother’s station, the worst happened. My brother, Collins, died in a motor accident. When I got to know about it, I was devastated. In fact, for me life had come to an abrupt end. Another tragedy befell me on my way home to tell my poor mother. Our bus was hijacked by five armed men. They took the vehicle into the bush, robbed us and raped the women. I was one of those the bastards raped. At that time, I was still a virgin. I had not known a man.
“It was a very ugly experience and it made me wonder what a cruel world we live in. It was so horrible. I passed out during the gruesome rape. I had pleaded with them, but they wouldn’t let go. Before the attacks, I was already in sorrow and tears. It was the worst thing that could happen to anyone and it made me form an opinion about men.”
Sandra said that she was so ashamed of herself, after the assault, that she couldn’t bring herself to tell anyone what happened, not even her mother.
Meanwhile, her ambition of going to a higher institution was put on hold, following her brother’s death. Secondly, she discovered she was pregnant from the rape. Devastated and without a choice, the traumatized girl had to tell her mother eventually. By then the pregnancy was about four months old.
She continued: “I had to abort the unwanted pregnancy after about 15 weeks. It was not a particularly difficult decision to take because there was no way I could keep such a bastard. I would have hated the baby so much. In fact, if it were a boy, I would have snuffed life out of him one day. So, I aborted the nonsense.
“After the abortion, I did some other tests to be sure that I would still be reproductive. One of the tests revealed that I had been infected with HIV by the men who raped me. In a nutshell, my life collapsed at that stage.”
She said that life became meaningless after the discovery, hence when one of her friends asked Sandra to go with her to Lagos to become a commercial sex worker she did not hesitate. Ever since, she has been having unprotected sex with men for a fee. For her, there are two gains from this line of business: To make money and infect men with HIV.
She said: “For about three years now, I have been distributing the stuff and it makes me really happy. Men are evil; they deserve no mercy. To hell with the men of this world.” On her modus operandi, the beautiful but street-wise-girl said that most of her customers actually pay more to sleep with her without condoms.
She said: “When any of my customers wants to have sex with me without using condoms, I usually protest. Then we will strike a bargain and we will do it. He won’t know that he is buying his death with his own money.
“However, there are many who will never have sex without using condoms. But I have a way of dealing with them. When I am having sex with such men, I usually shake my buttocks vigorously so as to burst the condom, and if the condom bursts and the man is carried away, he won’t bother about fixing another condom.”
She said that one of her best moments was when two soldiers raped her recently when they raided Tarkwa Bay. According to her, “when the soldiers were raping me, I was shedding tears of joy because such men do not deserve to live. The only thing I regret is that they stole my money and handsets.”
She disclosed that since she became a prostitute three years ago, she has been sleeping with an average of four men on a daily basis.
Would she settle down with a man eventually? Sandra said that marriage is not in her dictionary at present. She said that she can only talk of marriage when she has forgiven men. Until then, any man that comes her way is an enemy.
By HENRY UMAHI (Culled from The Sun)
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World fastest man,Usain Bolt has condemned the actions of Nigerian organisers for the forthcoming Abuja International meet.In a chat with Tribunesports at the Selhurst Stadium, Crystal Palace, Ricky Simss, Bolt’s agent, said the World and Olympic champion was disturbed with claims of the Abuja meet organiser that he could not come to Nigeria due to cash dispute.According to him,it was disheartening that Usain Bolt’s was used to cover up their inadequacies.Simss stated that the invitation from the organisers came quite late and the meet couldn’t find a place in the Jamaican sprinter’s busy summer schedule.Gbenga Ayeni, London - 25.04.2009
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