Video: AY caught in bed with Nabia Buari

Okonjo-Iweala’s mum Kidnappers demand $1 billion ransom

Our Reporter December 11, 2012 28 Comments »

The kidnappers who abducted 82-years-old Prof. Kanene Okonjo, mother of Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala at her family home in Ogwashi Uku, Delta State, may be demanding $1 billion ransom. According to elombah.com., the queen of Obi (Prof.) Chukwukla Aninshi Okonjo was kidnapped on Sunday at about 1:30 pm from the husband’s palace at Ogbe-Ofu quarters in Ogwahi-Uku by 10 gunmen who stormed the palace in two Volkswagen Gulf cars.

The unconfirmed $1 billion ransom, according to source, was relayed to the family of the queen yesterday. It is yet to be seen how the family will react to this development, but in a statement made available to elombah.com yesterday, the minister’s spokesman, Paul Nwabuikwu said: “At this point, it is difficult to say whether those behind this action are the same people who have made threats against the Coordinating Minister in the recent past or other elements with hostile motives.

No possibility can be ruled out at this point.” Meanwhile, Umu Anioma Foundation Worldwide has demanded the immediate release of the queen. In a statement made available to elombah.com and signed by Prince Charles Anyasi, the National Coordinator/Spokesman, the group said: “Once again, the image smear on Delta State has been brought to the fore with the unfortunate kidnapping of the aged mother of Nigeria’s energetic Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala from her home in Ogwashi-Uku a few hours ago.

A few months ago, it was the turn of another prominent Anioma family to sweat in search of their mother who was abducted in her farm. As the security operatives continued the search for Okonjo-Iweala’s mother, an impeccable source had disclosed to Daily Sun that the identities of the kidnappers were already known.

A source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said there was no hiding place for the perpetrators as, according to him, security operatives were already on top of the situation and are trailing the suspects. “We have identified the boys and we are after them.

We have equally made contacts with their families to prevail on their children to release the victim or face the wrath of the law.” The Delta State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ikechukwu Aduba told Daily Sun on phone that the police were already combing all the bushes in the state. “We want to remain focused and we don’t want any distraction at this point in time.

While we appreciate journalists’ concern over the matter, we will appreciate their understanding of our situation and the need to remain focused until our objectives are met. We are not resting until we rescue the victim and fish out the perpetrators.”

The Deputy Force Police Public Relations Officer (DPPRO), Mr. Frank Mba said the manhunt fort the kidnappers was ongoing. He said the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Mohammed Abubakar had mobilized Delta State Command with human and financial resources to fish out the kidnappers.

Is Messi the greatest footballer ever? I was doubting B4

Lionel Messi's brace against Real Betis on Sunday saw the Argentine break a 40-year-old record. Messi's second goal in Barcelona's 2-1 win was his 86th of 2012, one more than Germany's Gerd Muller scored in 1972. The Catalan club were rightfully proud of their iconic No.10.

Picture: Lionel Messi set a new all-time world record by scoring 86 goals in a calendar year http://twitpic.com/bkmr32 [via md] #fcblive

Cossy Orjiakor features Durella in new single, Sexual seduction

You could say it again that busty Nollywood actress, Cosy Orjiakor has stone-cut guts because only a bold actress would dare do a song again after the fiery missiles fired at the attempts of the previous actress (Tonto Dike).

Sexual Seduction according to Cossy is produced by Durella & Ikonic music and it’s the first job done in her Playgirl Studio.

*Cossy

Cossy goes all sexual in the song as she sings about an unappreciated woman. The song has interjections coming from Durella; the Zanga king himself.

In October, Cossy had tweeted ‘Play girl mansion is now open. Pls send the left over rams …A pretty big boobs chef will make a delicacy out of em‘.

She also disclosed  ‘My Album launch is Dec,15, Venue ..in the sea..Prest Boat Cruise.. life band …buffet..and lots of take home gifts. 1st class affair‘, she said.

If you’ve listened to sexual seduction, tell us what you think of the song.

Opa Williams off to India for surgery

Opa Williams has traveled to India for a surgery.
The Producer and director disclosed this via his Facebook page while talking about his trip to the South Asian country.
‘How things change, how new things, places, experiences spring up before you and take priority over all else. It’s 5.00 am and I am in Dubai waiting to catch a flight to Bangalore. Bangalore, that name was never known to me some three months ago, even going to Dubai was not in my things to do list a month ago’, he wrote.
Apparently, Williams has travelled to Bangalore, South India for a surgery.
‘But [I] am here sitting and waiting for my flight to Bangalore South India and that will be like 6 hours from now. What’s on my mind? Get there and do this damn surgery and get back to Lagos and revisit my drawn things to be done for the year 2012. This was just a distraction that God has conquered’, he ended.
Williams turned 50 in April. Often referred to as the ‘humour merchant’, he is best known for premiering the first ever comedy talent show ‘Nite of a Thousand Laughs‘ back in 1995. He ran the show for 16 years.

Rihanna still posing nude and posting photos on Instagram

Why is Rihanna always posing nude please i need you comments

Mother Of Nigeria's Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala Kidnapped In Delta State

By SaharaReporters, New York

Mother of tNigeria's Minister of Finance, Dr. Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala was kidnapped on Sunday from the palace of the traditional ruler of Ogwashi-uku,  Obi (Prof.) Chukwuka Okonjo.
Mrs. Kanene Okonjo, 82 , the queen mother of Ogwashi uku was abducted around 1:47PM by a gang of armed men who seized her at the gate of the palace at Ogbe-ofu and took her away while  the husband had traveled out of town.
The police said they arrested a man who allegedly left the compound few minutes before the incident took place.
The finance minister is currently in Abuja making arrangements with security agents to free her mother according to family sources.

Why Ojukwu disowned son - Sir Azuka Okwuosa

After the late Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu’s Will was read in an Enugu High Court last week, his son, Emeka Ojukwu Jr, claimed that the Will was not genuine, arguing that the lawyer said to have prepared the Will, Chief Emeka Onyemelukwe, was not his father’s lawyer.

After Onyemelukwe replied Emeka Ojukwu Jr, last Monday and insisted the Will remains sacrosanct, a close associate and confidant of the late Ikemba, Hon (Sir) Azuka Okwuosa, has urged the Ojukwu family to sheathe their swords and stop washing their dirty linen in public.

Okwuosa, who began to associate with Ojukwu after he returned from exile in 1982, said the late Igbo leader once told him that Chief Onyemelukwe was indeed preparing his Will.

He revealed the encounter Debe Sylvester Ojukwu had with the late Ezeigbo Gburugburu that probably led to the exclusion of his name in Ojukwu’s Will despite efforts by Bianca, while Ojukwu was still alive, to integrate him into the family.

Okwuosa, who ran for Anambra senatorial seat in 2007 under the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) platform, also said Ojukwu told him about his “strange” daughter, Teni Haman, adding that the Ikemba did not marry her mother officially.

Looking at his long relationship with Ojukwu, he said the Biafran leader would not be happy over the controversy trailing his Will, and advised the family to resolve their grievances amicably to protect the family’s image. Excerpts…

 My relationship with the late Ikemba

I have been very close to the late Dim Chukwuemeka  Odumegwu-Ojukwu since 1982 when he came back from exile. I have been a top confidant to him, I associated with him, I shared the same passion with him, the same ideals; as a matter of fact, it was his ideological conviction that endeared me to him. Because of that he accepted me as part and parcel of his family and I saw that as a rare privilege. I was with him throughout his turbulent period when he came back from exile for almost 10 and when the property of the dynasty of Ojukwu was confiscated. I was there with him up to the point the properties were restored by the late former head of state, Gen. Sani Abacha. I was with him throughout the period of recovery, and at Queen’s Drive, when he went there and they tried to eject him, I was with him. I was with him through thick and thin until he went to court through his lawyer, the late Chief Rotomi Williams, where he was able to get justice from the court in Lagos and subsequently the rest of the properties were released. Fortunately, I was so close to him to the extent that he actually gave me the baptism of fire in the murky waters of Nigeria’s politics. He was instrumental of my being chairman of the old Nnewi North Local Government Area from 1994 to 1996 when I left office. Subsequently, in 1999, I was Commissioner for Works and Transport in Anambra State, I left in 2001; in 2003 during the formative stage of APGA, he called me specifically to join hands with him for a new rediscovery of the Igbo agenda, and I resigned from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and joined him because of my ideological conviction for what he really represented for our people. And ever since I have been very faithful and close to him, and I still do even now that he is no more; this ideals still endure to me, these are the only way I believe he can be remembered and immortalized.

Controversy trailing Ojukwu’s Will

I see the Will as the personal wish of the late Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, because most of what the Will contains, I wasn’t there the day it was read and I am not supposed to be, but I know that most of the things in the Will are not strange to me, because these are things he had discussed with his close confidants over the years. He was a man that would ask you a question to know your thought formation, though he was a man that knew what he wanted to do and was not a man that could be easily influenced on the spur of the moment; he would look at issues and decide on them. To me, I see the Will as his last wish and I believe that actually the resultant effects of actions and reactions that trailed the Will are actually what are worrisome to me, because I know that up till now we are still mourning the great Ikemba, and materialism should not be the bedrock of people very close to him. To me, joining issues on the pages of newspapers is rather very unfortunate. I know every member of that family and I have respect for all of them, starting from the wife, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu; I know Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu Jr, who was also very close to be a friend because of my relationship with his father; the younger brother, Okigbo, the sister, Mimi, Ebele and the children of Bianca – Chinemerem, Afam, and Nwachukwu and the rest of them. To me, I believe these are very responsible characters by every parameter of judgment. So, that is actually what baffles me with the level of tirade we are seeing on the pages of newspapers. But I must really commend Ambassador Bianca Ojukwu because I have never seen anywhere she spoke about this Will; she has remained silent and focused. So, I am also appealing to the rest of the family to emulate that sense of honour; people are bound to disagree, but when you disagree, you don’t disagree on the pages of newspapers, this is purely a family issue that can always be resolved in a family way. I have also been privileged to see a man who willed all his assets and belongings to his dog, that is his own wish, and he is entitled to it. So, I believe Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu is entitled to whatever is contained in his Will. The only way we can honour him, the only way we can immortalize him, and the only way we can rever those convictions and ideological beliefs he stood for that are enduring as a legacy to the Igbo nation and entire Nigeria is not to do anything that will diminish his status, anything that will diminish what he stood for our people. I believe this issue is very simple; if there is any point of disagreement, there are two options: either they come together as a family and look at it; I don’t think that option has been explored, so, why not explore that option? On the alternative, if one thinks these issues cannot be resolved in an amicable way, there are other proper ways it can be addressed; if it is inevitable, one can quietly go to court and challenge it. These two options have not been explored, so why start throwing diatribes on the pages of newspapers? It is as if the bedrock of what Ikemba actually represented is about materialism to some people, which is actually what I am quarrelling with, because anything that will diminish the image, character and what Ikemba stood for, people like me will stand firm to make sure we oppose such retrogressive ideas and actions.

Ikemba’s number of children and Sylvester Ojukwu

I was privileged to have personally discussed this issue with the late Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, precisely when the properties were released to the family through Ikemba. Sylvester Debe went to the JAMB Office, as it is called, one of the father’s properties in Ikoyi, and occupied it. Ikemba called me and said, come let’s go and see what is happening there; when we got there we saw Debe with two suitcases in one corner of the building and Ikemba asked him, “What are you doing here?” He asked him this question three times and he did not talk, and Ikemba told him, “If you say I am your father, prove yourself” and he didn’t answer that question, too. And he told him that the best way to prove himself was not to occupy the property, because that property was actually where Ikemba’s father lived and by extension it was like an Obi of the father and by extension Obi to Ikemba. And Ikemba told him, “If you call yourself my son, you cannot occupy my Obi while I’m still alive.” Subsequently, I also remember when some community people from Umudim, Nnewi, came to Ikemba barely two weeks after that visit to the JAMB Office; they told him that they came to tell him that he had to accept Sylvester as his son. I remember what Ikemba asked them in Igbo parlance: “Is it the community that tells somebody that this is your son, or is it somebody that will tell the community that this is my son?” At that point, you can understand that Ikemba was somebody that was always philosophical when it came to certain things. But actually, I have no doubt in my mind, Ikemba never said that Debe is not his son, but all I know is that he never accepted him while he was alive. But, to me, I share Debe’s passion, because I know that Debe is one of the most responsible characters I have ever seen in and around that family. I have been visiting Ikemba periodically, so when I was counting the children I noticed that he was conspicuously omitted in the Will. So, who am I to challenge the wish of the great Ikemba? But the only thing I can say is that if… I don’t know if we will even have an opinion about that, because if we do, I know that somebody like Bianca had made case for Debe before to be incorporated into the family, but Ikemba had his own ideals that were sacrosanct to him, he knew his reasons and nobody should challenge it. I don’t want to go further than this; so, to that extent, he was not included in the Will, but I know that when he lost his mother, Bianca went for that burial about 10 years ago at Udi, Enugu State. Bianca and Debe are very close; she went to that burial and came back, even with little resentment from Ikemba, she still attended the burial and Debe always visits the house, he is a likeable character, and likeable personality; but the most important thing now is not whether somebody’s name is in the Will or not, the issue is that the Will is out and it is out, and there are proper ways to go about these things.

Ikemba told me of Teni Haman

He mentioned the issue on three occasions to me in a lighter mood; so, it didn’t come to me as a surprise when I saw it in the Will. And anybody who was really close to Ikemba; even when I read Emeka Jr’s interview he also acknowledged the fact that his father told him about that lady, so it is not strange to me. He told me she is actually his daughter he had many years ago, but he didn’t tell me when. I don’t think he was married to the mother, but the only thing is that when you have a child you know that this is your child and you have passion for the child, then you have the right to choose either to accommodate that child in your Will or not; so to me, I believe Ikemba had spoken and who am I to say otherwise?

Bianca getting lion’s share of Ojukwu’s assets in the Will

To start with, I have been privileged to go through the content of that Will; I have a different notion completely. I wouldn’t say Bianca had a larger chunk per se; if you look at it superficially, you might say yes, but actually when you look at it deeply… if you look at that Will, you will discover that the only commercial property of the late Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu on Sokoto Street in Onitsha was given to Emeka Jr, it was even given to him before Ikemba died. So, seeing the other ones in the Will I was not surprised, and the house on Forest Crescent, GRA, Enugu, you know Ikemba was not a materialistic character and he didn’t really have much, but you could see he was living in a rented house at Independence Layout and yet, that was the man who was military governor of the Eastern Region, a man who was head of state of a sovereign nation for almost three years and he never had a single property in any of the state capitals in the South East. And you will also realize that he was instrumental, and through his legacy, APGA was able to win elections in Anambra State and recently in Imo State. I challenge anybody to tell me otherwise. Ikemba had no single property in Awka till his death, not even in Owerri. So, after living in a rented house in Independence Layout, he eventually, through concerted efforts between him and his wife, Bianca, were able to build the house on Forest Crescent. And ever since they have been living there. And he had strong passion for Bianca from the onset, he loved her so much and she was the woman who stayed with him up to his trying moments, and during his sickness. So, if you look at the inscription on the gate of that house, it is CasaBianca; it wasn’t by accident, I know Ikemba in his rhetoric; if you look at his vehicles, you will see Ezeigbo 1 or Ndigbo or Ikemba; so, one had expected that that property on Forest Street would have been named Obi Igbo or something like that, but he chose to name it CasaBianca. That will tell you he had already made up his mind while he was alive that the property belongs to Bianca, just like the one he gave to Emeka Jr at Sokoto Street in Onitsha. Then, the one he willed to the daughter in Zaria, the other ones were actually the properties of the larger Ojukwu family, the estate of his father, Sir Louis Philip Ojukwu. Actually, you know they never shared anything in their family. So, after the release of their property, they have over 90 properties scattered all over the nooks and crannies of this country, and Ikemba was controlling about six. He was conscious of the fact that the properties were a collective interest concerning the larger family, they made concerted efforts for these properties to be shared in their life time, maybe he knew this will not be actualized in his life time, so if you look at that Will, he said he advocated for these properties to be shared and in sharing the properties that 29 Queen’s Drive otherwise known as Vilaska Lodge, Ikoyi, they have a special passion for the place because it was where he made history, where he started his struggle towards recovering his father’s patrimony. So, he said he would appreciate if that place is considered as part of what he would get, among others that would be given to him, and that whatever that would be given to him, he wanted the wife to manage it on behalf of his other children, and should be shared equally among the children of the first wife and Bianca’s children. So, to that extent, you cannot say that Bianca had the lion’s share; that she had a managerial scope doesn’t mean those properties are allocated to you; a man has the right to say I want this person to manage this thing to a particular time, only him knew the reason. The other house at Nnewi was given to Emeka Jr, so I don’t understand the issue of large chunk being given to Bianca, though that is not the subject for now, but even if somebody wishes otherwise, my advice is to resolve it amicably or go to court in the interest of Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu; for what he stands for, his name should not be messed up because of personal interest over material things.

Why some members of the family are complaining

This is a big question because I wouldn’t know why, but the only thing I can say is that it is just human imagination and expectation. I might wish my dad would give me 50 per cent of his estate if he dies, and if at the end of the day he gives me 10 per cent, I may start complaining, but my complaint would be inconsequential because that was my dad’s wish. So, maybe expectations, to a reasonable extent, might be the basis for these agitations we are seeing today, which, to me, are really unnecessary. There are two issues now; there is this contention from what I read in the newspapers that the Will was falsified or was not genuine, but I do know actually that if you look at the trustees and executors of that Will, these are people who were very close and top confidants of Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu. One is late, the Igwe Emeka Ogbunide, the late Igwe of Oraukwu, an architect by profession and a very close confidant of Ikemba; I know of Mark Ezemba, who was Ikemba’s best man during his wedding in 1994 or 1995 or so, at Abuja, the reception took place at Nicon Hilton, I was privileged to be one of the page boys as a local government chairman. So, Mark Ezemba was there with him and ever since he has remained a close confidant of Ikemba. Then James Ezike who is also one of the closest allies of Ikemba, a lawyer of long-standing, he handled Ikemba’s election petition at the Election Petitions Tribunal in 2003 during his presidential campaign bid; he is one of the trustees and executors of that Will; so, to my mind, these are people who are impeccable, who are very close and people who have nothing to gain by going against the Will of Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu. I can vouch for them and anybody who knows Ikemba knows that these are the closest people to him. And, of course, the lawyer, Barrister Emeka Onyemelukwe, since Ikemba came down to Enugu, he has been part and parcel of the retinue of friends who have been going to Ikemba. After seeing him on several occasions, I was privileged to have asked Ikemba what the man’s mission was and Ikemba told me in confidence that this man was actually helping him to put his Will together. So, I was surprised when I started reading on the pages of newspapers that he was never the lawyer that wrote the Will. I say this thing for the sake of posterity, I say this because truth is always sacrosanct, I don’t care, people can disagree, but the truth must be told, people like me cannot fold our hands and pretend as if everything is normal, I owe that to posterity, to speak the truth. If the content of the Will is not palatable to anybody, let’s not take to press war, it doesn’t augur well for the image of the Ojukwu family, it doesn’t even augur well for those who are making such press utterances. It is very unfortunate and I know that whatever place the great Ikemba is now in his grave, he will not feel good about this recent development.

4 Undergraduates dies in Ibadan auto crash early yesterday morning

Four students - three guys and a girl - died in the early hours of yesterday morning in an auto crash around high-court area of Ring Road Ibadan. The students were heading to Koko Dome night club for a party hosted by some Lead City students when the car they were riding in hit another car and somersaulted multiple times. The four students were said to have died on the spot. So sad. May their souls rest in peace...Amen.

Bianca's Sons joins War over Ojukwu’s will: drags Half-Brothers and OTL to court

• Bianca drags Ikemba’s brothers, company to court

From GEOFREY ANYANWU,Sun News

Two of the sons of the late Igbo leader, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu born to him by his widow, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu Ojukwu have dragged his siblings to court over the property of Ojukwu Transport Limited (OTL) in their father’s possession. This followed alleged threat of forceful ejection from their No. 29 Oyinkan Abayomi Street, (formerly No. 29 Queens Drive), Ikoyi, Lagos residence by other directors of OTL and the letter by the agent of the company purporting to take over management of the property and others in their late father’s possession.

The duo, Afamefuna and Nwachukwu suing by their next friend and mother, Ambassador Ojukwu in a writ of summons filed by their lawyer, Chris Ezugwu of Faith Attorneys, Dolphin Estate, Lagos in a Lagos High Court in Suit No. LD/1539/12 were claiming a declaration that they “are entitled to the possession and occupation of the property known as No. 29 Oyinkan Abayomi Street, (formerly No. 29 Queens Drive) Ikoyi, Lagos, until the harmonization of the management and administration of the assets of the 1st Defendant (OTL).”  Defendants in the suit are Ojukwu Transport Limited, Professor Joseph Ojukwu,

Engr. Emmanuel Ojukwu, Lotanna Putalora Ojukwu, Dr. Patrick Ojukwu, Arc. Edward Ojukwu, Lota Akajiora Ojukwu and Mr. Massey Udegbe (Doing business under the name and style, Massey Udegbe & Company). Also in their claim are “A declaration that the threat of forceful ejection of the claimants from No. 29 Oyinkan Abayomi Street, Ikoyi, Lagos by the defendants is illegal. A declaration that the claimants are entitled to the possession of properties known as: (a) No. 13, Hawksworth Road, Ikoyi (now known as No. 13 Ojora Road, Ikoyi). (b) No. 32A, Commercial Avenue, Yaba, Lagos. (c) No. 30 Gerard Road, Ikoyi, Lagos.

(d) No. 4 Macpherson Avenue, Ikoyi, Lagos; which properties had been under the possession of late Chief Odumegwu Ojukwu – the father of the claimants from the time the properties were released from government acquisition till date.  “An order of court restraining the defendants either by themselves, or through their agents or privies from interfering with the claimants’ possession and control of No. 29, Oyinkan Abayomi Street (formerly No. 29 Queens Drive), Ikoyi, Lagos and an order of court restraining the defendants, their agents or privies or assigns from interfering with the claimants’ possession and control of the properties referred to in paragraph ‘three’ above.”

In a 33-paragraph statement of claim by the claimants, Afamefuna and Nwachukwu, which was confirmed in a 35-paragraph statement on oath of claimants’ witness (Bianca), they averred that their father, the late Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu was the son of the late Sir Louis Ojukwu, the founder of the 1st defendant, OTL and that “the late Sir Louis Ojukwu, the late Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, Bethram Chukwuemeka Obi and the 2nd defendant (Prof. Ojukwu) are the foundation directors and shareholders of the 1st defendant.

They claimed that OTL over the years acquired 14 landed property in Lagos and one Port Harcourt, which were at a time compulsorily acquired by the Federal Government but later released to it following the struggle for the release of the property from acquisition by their father, the late Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu.  Furthermore, OTL they claimed acquired eight landed property in the course of its operations over the years, seven in Onitsha and one in Lagos, stressing: “The several landed properties of the 1st defendant enumerated in paragraphs 10 and 11 above and numbering about 25 were separately occupied and/or managed by the late Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, the 2nd, 3rd and 4th defendants each of whom assumed possession and control of at least five of such properties.”

They averred that throughout the period their father was “struggling with government for the release of the properties subject matter of this suit and other properties now being controlled by the 2nd – 7th defendants from acquisition, the 2nd – 7th defendants never played any role in the struggle nor contributed financially or otherwise to the realisation of the struggle.”

However, when contacted, the defendants in the suit declined comment but disclosed that their lawyers were on the matter and would make their response known soon.   It could be recalled that the late Ikemba had in his will read last week appointed his widow, Ambassador Odumegwu Ojukwu to represent him or appoint who would represent him on the board of OTL, just as he advised in the will that the landed property of OTL except Nnewi Building be shared among directors of the company appropriately.

Alakija Becomes richest black woman in the world, detrones Oprah Winfrey

Mrs Folorunsho Alakija, a Nigerian billionaire oil tycoon, Fashion designer and philanthropist is now the richest black woman in the word, according to report published by Ventures Africa, an African business magazine and news services.

Alakija, 61, is worth at least $3.3 billion- contrary to a recent Forbes Magazine ranking which pegs her net worth at only $600 million. She is $500 million richer than media mogul, Oprah Winfrey, whose wealth estimated at $2.7 billion in September.

*Alakija

Folorunsho Alakija is the founder and owner of Famfa Oil, a Nigerian oil company which owns a 60 percent working interest in OML 127 that produces about 200,000 barrels a day.

Alakija, was born into a wealthy, polygamous Nigerian family. She started out her professional career in the mid 70s as a secretary at the now defunct International Merchant Bank of Nigeria, one of the country’s earliest investment banks.

In the early 80s, Alakija quit her job and went on to study Fashion design in England, returning to Nigeria shortly afterwards to start Supreme Stitches, a premium Nigerian fashion label which catered exclusively to upscale clientele. The business thrived, and Alakija quickly made a tidy fortune selling high-end Nigerian clothing to fashionable wives of military bigwigs and society women.

Oil Prospecting License
In May 1993,  Alakija applied for an allocation of an Oil Prospecting License (OPL). The license to explore for oil on a 617,000 acre block – (now referred to as OPL 216) was granted to Alakija’s company, Famfa Limited.

Save me from killer-wife, man begs court

Mr, Wahab Adekola has pleaded with a Lagos  Grade ‘A’ Customary Court, sitting in Agege to dissolve his 21-year-old marriage over fetish acts on the part of his estranged wife.Meanwhile, Mrs Abibatu Adekola denied the allegation.

The 52-year-old man, who lives at Aparadija new site, Ota, Ogun State narrated how his second wife died with her child. He blamed Abibatu for the death.

The applicant claimed to have married the second wife after frustrations he suffered in the hands of the respondent. He lamented the secvond wife’s death, with her baby. ” I found love outside my home  when I met my new wife. But the woman died  with our five months old baby, and I am so sure my senior wife  was responsible for it, because she always threatened  to kill any woman  that associated with me”, Wahab said.

”My wife nags a lot, she is troublesome and always in the mood to fight anybody with me. I did not enjoy myself throughout our staying together. This  led me to have girl friends because she did not give me peace of mind at home.  I am a true Muslim, I am entitled  to  more than one wife. ”

Any time she hears that I am going out with any lady, she would locate the lady and threaten to kill her.” He urged the court to dissolve the marriage and grant him custody of their four children.  Abibatu , a civil servant, denied the allegations and said that she did not know anything about the death of her rival and her child.

The mother of four  of  9, Biodun Sobadan Street, Agidingbi, lkeja,  told the court that she loved Wahab, saying she shared any money she made with him.  She explained that she contributed to the building of the house built by the husband  but said he chased her out. ”We never had any fight, yet I  packed out of his house,it was after I left that my senses came up to the reality.

”I know I was charmed by him or one of his girlfriends that wanted him at all costs. ”My husband was a good and loving man when he had nothing, but when he became comfortable, he didn’t  not want me again.  ”If I had known, I would not have contributed to the building of the house he is staying now with his wife new.

”My husband goes around with anything in  skirt, and will sometimes tell me, ‘ that is another woman that will  be the mother of mother my children”. She urged the court to dissolve the marriage and grant her custody of the children. “I am ready to leave him, but I want the court to beg him so that he would not kill me”.The court president, Mr Emmanuel Shokunle, adjourned the case till Jan. 21, 2013.

Another Nigerian Signs for Chesea FC: Eniola Aluko Signs For Chelsea Ladies Football Club

Eniola Aluko

By Chelseafc.com

Chelsea ladies are delighted to announce the signing of Eniola Aluko from Birmingham City Ladies ahead of the third FA Women's Super League season.
Aluko returns to Chelsea after originally joining the club for the 2007/08 season. In 2008, a spell in America with St. Louis Athletica and Atlanta Beat beckoned before Aluko signed for Sky Blue FC in 2010. The striker then returned to the British Isles last season to represent Birmingham City in the FA WSL.
Chelsea ladies new number 9 boasts 63 caps for England's women's team and played for her country's Under-19s and Under 21s side before rising to the senior ranks in 2004 aged only 17. During her time with England, Aluko has played in two World Cups and helped the side to victory in the Cyprus Cup in 2012 before joining Team GB for the Olympic Games.
Aluko is the first new signing under Emma Hayes' reign as chelsea ladies manager.
'Eniola brings a huge amount of knowledge into a young squad and a strong winning mentality,' said Hayes. 'With her experience of the American game and international competitions, Eniola's a great addition for the team and one we're really looking forward to adding to the squad.'
The third FA WSL season kicks off next spring but Aluko will join the Blues for pre-season training in January.

Assaulted By Her Employer, A Female Youth Corps Member Fights Back

Mary Agbo

By Peter NKANGA (Sahara Reporters)

A female National Youth Service Corps member has taken the fight to her employer for allegedly assaulting her and plagiarising her work.

Mary Agbo, 28 has waited for over a month for the first signs of justice for an wrong she says no woman should ever have to face – violence against women in the workplace.

On August 1, 2012, Agbo began her NYSC primary duty with the Garki Gazette, an Abuja-based weekly lifestyle and events publication, located within the premises of Eddy-Vic Hotels on Ahmadu Bello Way, Garki II, Abuja. By August 17, Emmanuel Abanah, the magazine’s publisher and owner of Eddy-Vic Hotels confirmed her as the Editor of the publication “having satisfied preliminary conditions for the job”, he wrote in her letter of engagement.

But on November 1, she filed a complaint at the Garki Police station against Abanah, 35, for allegedly assaulting her after she requested a Performance Certificate, the necessary documentation corps members must obtain from their employers monthly, and mandatorily submit to the NYSC to be entitled to their government allowance. She reported the assault to the NYSC on the same day and asked to be reposted from Garki Gazette citing fear for her life and an unsafe work conditions.

“He slapped me and pushed me, I hit my ear hard on an iron fence by his garden. He started dragging my top (white NYSC vest) and my breast came out,” Agbo told the Police. “He brought out his hand again and slapped me. He called his manager and assistant to send me out of the premises which they did”.

Agbo explained the events of November 1. In the morning while attending her Community Development group meeting, she was advised to submit her PC the same day as NYSC officials would be busy with the new batch of corps members resuming the following week. Back at the office which was locked, both Ada, Abanah’s assistant, and Sharks, the magazine’s production manager advised she call the publisher. After several unanswered calls and an SMS, Abanah alighted from his hotel room rude and shouting at her for disturbing him. As she tried explaining herself, he began beating her in anger, Agbo said.

A medical report from the Asokoro General Hospital signed by Dr. C.N Okoli stated Agbo “presented with generalized body pain, headache, earache, dizziness, and tinge of blood in the right eye”.

The Garki Police went to Abanah’s office that same day, but met his absence. It however became clear he had gone into hiding after he failed to turn up following several other visits to his office and calls inviting him to the station. A warrant for his arrest was subsequently obtained.

Two reasons are at the root of the assault, Agbo says. She had severally asked Abanah to pay her salary and that of the magazine’s contributing journalists being owed months in arrears. This displeased him tremendously. Also, her refusal to concede to her employer’s sexual advances irked him further, she said.

The NYSC at a zonal level launched an investigation. A source within the NYSC who asked not to be named provided the internal report with the findings from the investigation. Though Abanah had refused to see the investigating officer, staff of Garki Gazette and Eddy-Vic Hotels confided “he [Abanah] has been treating them the same that he pays them salary whenever he feels like and they do not have the right to ask him”.

“Based on the information about this man, shows that he is a very irresponsible man,” The NYSC investigating officer reported. “I advise that the corper should be withdrawn from serving in this establishment and be reposted, and all possible measures should be taken to make him for his reactions. He has no right to treat her this way.”

Abanah on his own then petitioned the NYSC State Coordinator on November 12 accusing Agbo in a four-page letter of “poor parental upbringing” and being “desperate, devious, and dubious and a calculated and cold liar that thinks everybody wants to flirt with her”. He added he has no regards for the Garki Police station and was therefore taking his case against Agbo to the Commissioner of Police of the Federal Capital Territory.

“The publisher did not want a heehaw affair with a desperate woman whom he has been feeding in a local police station,” Abanah said.

“Miss Agbo has been given a fair option of proceeding to a court of law with her claims, but will not be granted the excessiveness of a shouting match with her employer at a local police station.”

Abanah in a calculated move petitioned the Commissioner of Police of the Federal Capital Territory. But contrary to what he told the NYSC, he claimed Agbo was using police officers from the Garki Police station to threaten him. He asked the case be transferred to the FCT Police command, apparently to avoid being charged to court. On November 30, Agbo was invited as an accused to make her report. She was detained and only released after her sister stood bail for her.

By December 3, when the FCT Police Command was presented with Abanah’s subsisting arrest warrant from the Garki Police station, and it was also discovered the contradicting motives Abanah had declared in his letters to the Police, and the NYSC for refusing to honour the Police invitation, he was arrested with the Garki Police Station taking him into their custody.

Speaking to Abanah while in detention behind the Police counter, he said a recent case of murder in his hotel involving an alleged prostitute in October and his unwillingness to continually bribe officers of the Garki Police station led him to refuse to honour their respective invitations. Abanah denied assaulting Agbo, but claimed she was out to tarnish his image. He described Agbo as erratic and unproductive who for three weeks failed to come to work for no apparent reason only to resurface asking him to sign her NYSC Performance Certificate.

Abanah’s staff when questioned separately however debunked his claims, instead stating Abanah had failed to provide a conducive work space for them. A visit to Garki Gazette premises revealed the only furnished office is Abanah’s office, which doubles as his office as Eddy-Vic Hotels managing director, located on the ground floor of the hotel facing the main entrance. Another space for staff remains under construction.

To further puncture his claims, Agbo, the former sub-editor of the Charly Boy magazine, provided evidence of the eight editions she oversaw as editor of the Garki Gazette, with her by-line and image featured on the editorial page.

Agbo also accuses Abanah of plagiarism. Despite not giving her a termination letter, he removed her by-line from the magazine’s 54th issue which was her ninth edition which she said she wrote 16 out of 32 pages and edited before its publication 3rd-9th November 2012. A copy of the said publication reveals Abanah replaced Agbo’s name as editor with Kaila Budango, his pen name. He removed Agbo’s image from the editorial page, but published her remarks “word for word”, passing it off as his own, she said.

Late in the evening of December 3, the Police in Garki ushered a visibly humbled Abanah into a police cell after asking him to undress and declare all his belongings on him. He spent the night and was charged to court on December 4th 2012 for resisting Police arrest.

Abanah’s friends, since his arrest, have been pleading with Agbo and her family to let peace reign and withdraw her case currently with the FCT Police Command. Agbo said she has to consult with her lawyer and rights groups which took up her case before taking a decision. She however underscored conditions Abanah must meet.

“One he has to write back to NYSC to retract the lies he wrote about me. Two, he has to write an undertaking nothing will happen to me because he knows where I live,” Agbo said. “And since my contract is not terminated, he must pay my arrears and that of other staff he owes their salary.”

 Two samples of the editor's page of Garki Gazette where Ms. Agbo claimed she was short-changed

Labaran Maku’s Funeral By Rudolf Ogoo Okonkwo

If you want to kill a politician, make him or her the minister of information.

At this year’s Nigerian Independence Parade in New York City, I listened to Nigeria’s Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, as he addressed Nigerians. The drama of his experience at the podium reminded me of that line in William Butler Yeats’ famous poem, The Second Coming.

“The best lack all conviction, while the worst/Are full of passionate intensity.”

Maku was full of passionate intensity that day. But it did not rub off on his audience. At times he was booed for making outrageous claims. It happened when he claimed that electricity supply in Nigeria had improved so much that some places enjoyed 24-hour power. It happened again when he claimed that great trains were running again in Nigeria.

He was talking to a special audience. Gathered there were patriotic and optimistic Nigerians. They were not whiners. They were not Nigerians who hated their country. Many of them were very young, boiling with enthusiasm. In their protected innocence about the Nigerian project, this group was itching to forge ahead and do great things in spite of the challenges. They could take bad news as long as they could sense a genuine focus on the dream.

But Maku was more interested in fooling them. He was ignorant of his audience’s sophistication. He was unaware of his audience’s deep network inside Nigeria and their clear understanding of the ‘situation on the ground.’ He deployed old-fashioned propaganda in an ipod age.

You don’t tell people who stepped out of the New York subway that the second hand trains Nigeria has been picking up from junkyards of the world would amount to the best train system in Africa. You do not tell people who had not experienced power outage once in ten years that some parts of Nigeria now enjoy 24-hour power supply and expect them to clap for you. Certainly not when many of them spent their summer holidays in Nigeria and did not experience such anywhere.

Maku had the best audience he could find anywhere in the world -boys and girls who wore green and white attires, painted their faces the color of the Nigerian flag. And he blew it. And right there, I lost hope in his ability to make it anywhere.

I was, therefore, not surprised that, while hanging out in London with the former British Minister for Africa, Lynda Chalker, Mr. Labaran Maku declared, "The Nigeria media is so negative about the country. They are not interested in believing the progress being made in the country. They are running the country down".

Mr. Maku is a child of the media. He surely knows something about how the press works. He knows that “the only countries where newspapers are full of good news are those countries where the prisons are full of good people.” Maku is just not letting it out. Or maybe not. Maybe he was living a lie all these years that he was a Student Union activist and reporter. Maku, a former editor, knows that editors worship the devil. And politicians do everything in their power to keep the devil around the political arena. It is a symbiotic relationship.

Mr. Maku, in case you have forgotten, this is how the press works -the press reports the news. In a developing country like ours, the bulk of the news comes from the government- in this case, your government. The rest comes from what members of the press see around them.

Here are your typical news story headlines of each week:

Boko Haram bombs this church killing this number of people.
This international organization ranks Nigeria last in this or that development index.
Kidnappers pick up this prominent Nigerian and are demanding tens of millions
An investigative committee unearths billions of naira stolen from this government agency
Nigeria borrows this millions of dollars from China for development
Police officer kills bus driver for refusing to give N20 naira bribe
A pregnant woman dies at the hospital because she couldn’t pay N20,000 deposit
“90% of rape cases is self-inflicted,” says this state Attorney-general
Former government official buys billions of naira home in Abuja
Youth unemployment rises to 75%
Government official flown to Europe for medical treatment

Maku, these are the typical news story of every week in your Nigeria. Which of them makes the media negative? Which of them do you want the media to underreport? Wait, wait, wait, don’t tell me. I know what your answer will be. None. All you want is for the media to balance it up. Publish the good news as well as the bad news.

Ok, lets go through your typical good news of each week.

The eight wonder of the world, the Eko Atlantic Project, is in progress.
JTF has killed another Boko Haram commander
Nigeria’s GDP grows by 7.8%
Bank ABC has declared a profit of hundreds of billions
Another pastor buys a private jet.
Nigeria’s foreign reserve grows

Maku’s job of selling good news is made difficult not by the cynicism of the Nigerian people but by the epic river of corruption swelling around the government he defends. In Nigeria, bad news does not interrupt good news, instead it is good news that interrupts a stream of bad news. People feel the pulse of the nation based on what they see in their family and their corner of the country. It is not based on GDP figure.

To compound Maku’s problems, the mainstream media has lost its control over what people read, view or hear. While Maku’s predecessors could buy up the media, it is hard to bribe millions of citizen reporters who are busy on their cell phones snapping pictures and twitting away. Poor rankings of Nigerian in healthcare, education, life expectancy and infant mortality are not just statistics. There are people behind the figures. And these people now have a means to have their say about what they feel. In a connected world the expectations of these people are increasing. Just the same way President Jonathan was entertained in Ethiopia with beautiful cutleries and he came back and added hundreds of millions to Aso Rock budget for kitchen wares, Nigerians are becoming aware of the standard of life in other parts of the world and they want a piece of it.

In a government full of tragic individuals, Maku is the most tragic of them all. He spent years fighting the establishment. But once he became part of the establishment he finds himself screaming at the top of his voice that there is no establishment anymore.

Maku has the right to use his life-long mastery of the language of compliant to feign ignorance and self-righteousness. He does so while he tortures the truth, sacrifices the wretched and flatters the corrupt. It is falsehood that demands spin. Truth ascends to the surface no matter how many heavyweights fighters are holding it down. Haunted by a dark desire to keep the irony of his existence private, Maku is left to marvel at his unflinching failure to convince.

Maku is already guilty of intellectual dishonesty. He is capable of much more. But not to worry, it is his own funeral.