Monday 29 December 2014

Nigerian Billionaire Unseats Oprah As Richest Black Woman

Despite falling oil prices, Nigerian Billionaire, Folorunsho Alakija has edged past Oprah Winfery as world’s richest Black Woman, with a fortune of $7.3bn. On the other hand, Oprah Winfrey is worth $2.9billion, according to Forbes.

According to Ventures Africa magazine’s Rich List, Alakija generated her wealth from oil and gas.

Another Missing Plane; AirAsia Flight 8501 Loses Contact

The search is on for AirAsia Flight 8501, which lost contact with air traffic control in Indonesia, the airline said Sunday.

Flight QZ 8501 from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore lost contact with air traffic control at 7:24 a.m. Sunday (7:24 p.m. Saturday ET), AirAsia said

Pastor Chris Oyakhilome Silenced Critics

I have waited this long to blog about the alleged divorce of Pastor Chris and Rev. Anita Oyakhilome because i needed to get confirmation from Pastor Chris himself and at the global communion service yesterday pastor Chris cleared the air about the issue.

Read his words below;

Ebola Drugs Expected in Nigeria Today

Relief appears to be on the way of Ebola Virus Disease ( EVD ) patients as the Federal Government Thursday ordered for drugs to be given to the patients.

Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu briefing journalists in Abuja on the update of the virus said, "the drug, Nano Silver is already on its way to Lagos, Thursday morning." He explained that the drug "was provided by a Nigerian scientist and has been used
experimentally."

The minister also clarified that there are no cases of Ebola in Enugu, adding that, rumours of possible cases in Abia, Anambra, Imo and fears on Cross River States have been ruled out as there is no single case of Ebola in those states.

Chukwu also hinted that government is to apply to WHO for drugs that have donated the organisation.

LIST OF OXFORD DICTIONARIES' LATEST ADDITIONS

Acquihire, noun: An act or instance of buying out a company primarily for the skills and expertise of its staff, rather than for the products or services it supplies.
Adorbs, adjective: (informal) arousing great delight; cute or adorable.
Air punch, noun: An act of thrusting one’s clenched fist up into the air, typically as a gesture of triumph or elation.

AFCON qualifiers under Ebola threat

Upcoming qualifying fixtures for the Africa Cup of Nations could be under threat due to the outbreak of the Ebola virus in West Africa.

Both the Togo Football Federation (TFF) and the Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA) have found their qualifiers in September are likely to be affected.

On Tuesday, the TFF announced it had received authorisation from CAF to play its upcoming qualifier against Guinea in a new venue.

Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal said the club's fans should remain patient, days out from their Premier League opener.

Van Gaal watched on as his side beat Valencia 2-1 in a friendly at Old Trafford on Tuesday - their sixth win from as many matches in pre-season.

Despite the Dutchman's perfect record in charge so far, Van Gaal warned United fans that there was still work to be done as they prepare for their season opener against Swansea City on Saturday.

Ebola: Sample doses of the experimental drug ZMapp are on their way to Liberia

WHO said it believes the virus has infected 1,848 people and killed 1,013 -- making this the deadliest Ebola outbreak in history.

The desperation has pushed Liberia's government to ask for scarce quantities of an untested drug from a U.S.-based company.

The Food and Drug Administration approved Liberia's request for access to ZMapp, and sample doses of the medicine will be sent to Liberia this week to treat doctors who have contracted the virus, the Liberian government said.

(CNN) -- As the death toll from the Ebola epidemic soars over 1,000, a team of medical experts say it is ethical to offer medications to fight the virus even if a drug's effectiveness or its adverse effects are unknown.

"The large number of people affected by the 2014 west Africa outbreak, and the high case-fatality rate, have prompted calls to use investigational medical interventions to try to save the lives of patients and to curb the epidemic," the World Health Organization said Tuesday.

A boy aged seven has been pictured holding the severed head of a Syrian soldier – to the delight of his proud father, who posted the macabre photograph online.

The youngster – the son of Australian jihadi fighter and former drug addict Khaled Sharrouf – posed with the head in the northern Syrian city of Raqqa.

Sharrouf, 33 – one of Australia’s most-wanted terrorists and a suspected war criminal – tweeted the image along with the caption: ‘That’s my boy!’

PRESIDENT Barack Obama and the US first family have joined a national outpouring of grief to pay tribute to the deceased actor and comedian Robin Williams.

"ROBIN Williams was an airman, a doctor, a genie, a nanny, a president, a professor, a bangarang Peter Pan, and everything in between. But he was one of a kind," Obama said.

PARENTS recognise the benefits of using technology in the classroom, but many struggle to understand the devices themselves.

THAT'S the findings of British research carried out by retailer John Lewis, which has held technology clinics with parents and teachers to bridge the digital divide between the younger generation who have grown up with smartphones and tablets, and those who didn't.

WHO to meet to thrash out the ethical dilemma of who gets access to experimental Ebola drugs. Source: AAP

NOW it's not just two Americans, but a Spaniard as well: the three non-Africans known to have Ebola have got some of the very few doses that exist of an experimental drug aimed at treating the deadly disease.

NONE of the more than 1700 Africans sick with Ebola have received this treatment.

Eto'o: Mourinho is a fool for calling me old

The coach appeared to poke fun at the Cameroon international's age earlier in the season and he has now slammed the Portuguese, with his contract at the club having expired

Samuel Eto'o has labelled Jose Mourinho a "fool" after the Chelsea boss questioned the veracity of his official age earlier in the season.

(CNN) -- A Sudanese court has sentenced a Christian woman to death for renouncing Islam, her lawyer said Thursday.

Meriam Yehya Ibrahim, 27, was convicted by a Khartoum court this week of apostasy, or the renunciation of faith.

The court considers her to be Muslim.

She also was convicted of adultery.

Ibrahim's lawyer Haram Othman told CNN that her legal team will appeal the verdict within 15 days.

According to the rights group Amnesty International, she was convicted of adultery because her marriage to a Christian man was considered void under Sharia law. She was sentenced to 100 lashes for the second crime.

Michelle Obama: Nigeria kidnappings 'unconscionable'

(CNN) -- First lady Michelle Obama condemned the "unconscionable" kidnapping of more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls, saying the action was taken by "a terrorist group determined to keep these girls from getting an education."

"Like millions of people across the globe, my husband and I are outraged and heartbroken" over the mass kidnapping by the terrorist group Boko Haram, the first lady said Saturday in the White House weekly address.

President Barack Obama has directed his administration to do everything possible to help the Nigerian government, she said.

U.S. military advisers arrive in Nigeria Complications in the search for Nigerian girls Should the U.S. search for Nigerian girls?

The first lady has joined the President in the past in delivering the White House weekly address, but this was her first time delivering it solo.

Boko Haram kidnapped hundreds of Nigerian schoolgirls in April, an act that has become the focal point of a worldwide social media campaign demanding their return.

Earlier this week, the first lady tweeted a photo of herself with a sign that said: #BringBackOurGirls.

Tough questions

The Nigerian government found itself scrutinized after a new report charged that military commanders knew the terror group was on its way to raid a boarding school in the northeastern town of Chibok at least four hours before 276 girls were abducted.

The findings by human rights group Amnesty International echo accounts of a number of the girls' parents and villagers, who have described to CNN an ineffective military response in the days and weeks after the girls were taken.

President Goodluck Jonathan's government vowed to investigate the allegations even as it defended its military response and questioned the motive behind the accounts.

The President on Saturday pledged to rescue the girls.

"We have support from other countries and I promise the world that we must get these girls out," he said in a televised speech in southern Nigeria at dedication ceremonies for a university.

Boko Haram's leader, Abubakar Shekau, took credit for the mass kidnappings in a video that surfaced this week. He said he planned to sell the girls into slavery.

In a published interview Friday with Al-Hayat, a semiofficial Saudi newspaper, Saudi Grand Mufti Abdulaziz Bin Abdullah Al-Sheikh, a key religious leader in the Muslim world, condemned Boko Haram as a terrorist organization.

He described it as an organization "set up to smear the image of Islam" and said the group is "not right and misguided, because Islam is against kidnapping, murder and aggression."

Not enough troops to respond?

Scrutiny of the government's response has escalated amid international outrage over the mass abduction, with many asking why Nigeria did not mount a larger response or ask for international help.

The Amnesty International report alleges that after Nigerian commanders were informed of the pending attack, they were unable to raise enough troops to respond.

The commanders left a contingent of between 15 and 17 soldiers and a handful of police officers in Chibok to fend off the militants, the group reported.

As many as 200 Boko Haram fighters carried out the Chibok school raid, Amnesty reported, herding the girls out of bed under the cover of darkness after a firefight with the handful of security forces in the town.

The Nigerian government has claimed it responded, with troops, helicopters and airplanes in the immediate aftermath of the mass abduction.

But the father of two of the girls taken told CNN there had been little sign of military help.

He said first learned of the attack in a telephone call from a friend in Chibok, who told him the town was under attack by Boko Haram.

"Pray for us," the friend told the father, whose identity is being withheld out of a fear of possible reprisal by Boko Haram and the government.

Nigerian officials have frequently been criticized for failing to prevent Boko Haram's deadly attacks, particularly in the terror group's stronghold of northeastern Nigeria.

At least 2,000 people have died in violence in northern Nigeria this year alone, Amnesty said. The most recent Boko Haram attack killed at least 310 people in a town that had been used as a staging ground for troops searching for the missing girls.

U.S. and British officials have arrived in Abuja to supplement a U.S. team already on the ground there, according to officials.

They will help Nigeria's government look for the missing girls, plan rescue missions and advise on ways to subdue Boko Haram.

Can the West avoid leaving Nigeria like Iraq?

Can U.S. apply lessons learned from 'War on Terror' in Nigeria?

(CNN) -- The leadership of Boko Haram must think they have hit the jackpot. The abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls in northeast Nigeria has been denounced by U.S. President Barack Obama and UK Prime Minister David Cameron.

That has given them all the publicity they crave. Their movement is now the top item on all global news channels. If, as I suspect, Boko Haram sees itself as a suicide mission to inspire all Muslims to follow them and wage war on the West, they must feel their hour has come. The final battle is about to begin.

US Marines carry out first arrests of two Boko Haram members in Benue State

US Marines currently in Nigeria to help the government combat Boko Haram terrorists have made their first arrests taking two male suspects into custody after they were found in possession of arms and ammunition during a targeted search.

Over the last week, US Marines have arrived in Nigeria to help with the fight against terrorism after Boko Haram took their war of terror to another level by abducting 234 pupils from Government Girls Secondary School Chibok in Borno State.

US and British experts have arrived in Nigeria to help in the hunt for more than 200 schoolgirls whose abduction last month by Islamists prompted universal outrage.

The US embassy in Abuja told AFP Friday that a team of American experts had arrived in Nigeria, without specifying the make up of the group.

US officials have previously said Washington would send military personnel as well as specialists from the Justice Department and the FBI to help search for the girls kidnapped by the Boko Haram group on April 14 in the northeastern town of Chibok.

Breaking News: Another Bomb Blast Hits Abuja

There has been another bomb blast in Abuja

The bomb blast is said to exploded close to the the previous blast in Nyanya bus park were about 100 were killed and many injured.

Good spirited members of the public have begun the donation of blood in order to save the lives of those injured in the Nyanya blast.

David Moyes: The story of his season

(CNN) -- Not so much the Chosen One, more the Disastrous One.

From the get go, David Moyes struggled in getting to grips with the task of managing Manchester United and less than a year after succeeding the legendary Alex Ferguson, the Scot has been sacked just 10 months into a six-year contract.

It's an old adage that Rome wasn't built in a day -- but it did burn in seven nights.

With that in mind, here are the big mistakes made by Moyes during his turbulent Old Trafford tenure with the club now left fighting all sorts of fires both off and on the pitch.

Boko Haram: A bloody insurgency, a growing challenge

(CNN) -- Boko Haram's lethality is indisputable.

The militant group has bombed schools, churches and mosques; kidnapped women and children; and assassinated politicians and religious leaders alike.

It made headlines again recently with the abduction of 230 schoolgirls in the town of Chibok in northeastern Nigeria. After a fierce gunbattle with soldiers, the militants herded the girls out of bed and onto buses, and sped off. Only a few dozen of the girls have escaped.

What exactly is Boko Haram, and why has it turned into a Nigerian synonym for fear and bloodshed?

Asari-Dokubo Responds to Boko Haram Threat to Attack the Niger Delta

Mujahid Asari-Dokubo has responded to the threat by the Boko Haram terrorist group that it will attack the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.

Speaking on Silverbird Television Port Harcourt during the Program Today on STV, Asari-Dokubo said he was aware of the threat as he had gotten loads of calls and text messages from Niger Deltans who expressed worry over the development. The warlord said he was not worried about the threat, although "nobody should expect him to sit down and fold his hands until his people were attacked".

On the success of the amnesty programme, Asari-Dokubo said that the Niger Delta region was only peaceful because Goodluck Jonathan was President, "Monkey no fine but im mama still like am", Asari-Dokubo concluded.

Friday 21 February 2014

Sunshine Stars cheat death in auto crash

Players and officials of the Akure based Nigeria Professional Football League outfit were involved in an auto crash on Friday evening

Sunshine Stars players and officials were involved in a fatal accident on Friday evening on their way from Ijebu Ode where they have been camping ahead their 2014 Nigeria Premier League opener with Enyimba of Aba.

The suspended Governor of Nigeria’s Central Bank, Lamido Sanusi, has berated President Goodluck Jonathan’ attitude to corruption, saying his exposure of financial misappropriation by Nigeria’s state owned oil firm, NNPC, put him in the bad books of the president.

Mr. Sanusi gave an example of the president’s attitude to corruption, saying no action was taken against the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, despite that she openly admitted spending $3.5 billion (N577 billion) of Nigeria’s money without budgetary approval.

Ready for Brazil World Cup: Jonathan fully decked in Eagles fan attire

President Goodluck Jonathan says he hopes to be in Brazil to support the Super Eagles.

The President said this after he was decorated as Grand Patron of Nigeria Supporters Club Worldwide by the Dr. Rafiu Ladipo-led Nigeria Football Supporters Club.

The President was decorated with the Supporters’ Club regalia, medallions, staff of office and given a giant trophy at the event. He was decorated by Ladipo, the Minister of Sports, Bolaji Abdullahi and other top shots of the Sports Ministry.

Basket Mouth Tells Kim Kardashian To Shut The F**K Off!

What do you think will Kanye West do?

A recent picture showing one of Nigeria’s funniest men, Basketmouth, telling reality TV star Kim Kardashian to shut up has stormed online leaving many fans stunned to death.

It appears the comedian was discussing with someone else at his table at the Love Like A Movie concert 2013 when Kim interrupted. Not even turning to face Kanye West’s fiancé, he was seen giving her the hand – a move many see as rude – trying to let her hold on for him to finish with the other unseen person.

Justice Lateefat Okunu of the Ikeja High Court Friday sentenced Akolade Arowolo to death over the death of his banker wife, Titilayo Omozeje in 2011.

Arowolo who is a youth pastor at the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, Gbagada Parish, Lagos, southwest Nigeria, has been on trial in the court since 2012 over the murdered of Titilayo, a Skye Bank Staff, on 24 June, 2011 at their residence, 8, Akindeinde Street, Isolo, Lagos.

Ukraine: 21-year-old medical volunteer shot in Kiev. Her last tweet read "I am dying".

Netizens are tweeting about the 21-year-old medical volunteer Olesya Zhukovskaya who was reportedly shot in #Kiev. Her last tweet read "I am dying". Sources differ as to whether she survived.

PRESIDENT JONATHAN SUSPENDS LAMIDO SANUSI AS CBN GOVERNOR, APPOINTS ACTING GOVERNOR

Having taken special notice of reports of the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria and other investigating bodies, which indicate clearly that Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi’s tenure has been characterized by various acts of financial recklessness and misconduct which are inconsistent with the administration’s vision of a Central Bank propelled by the core values of focused economic management, prudence, transparency and financial discipline;

Article written by award winning writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie titled 'Why can’t he just be like everyone else?' Find it below...

I will call him Sochukwuma. A thin, smiling boy who liked to play with us girls at the university primary school in Nsukka. We were young. We knew he was different, we said, ‘he’s not like the other boys.’ But his was a benign and unquestioned difference; it was simply what it was. We did not have a name for him. We did not know the word ‘gay.’ He was Sochukwuma and he was friendly and he played oga so well that his side always won.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has released a statement explaining why his company has paid $19bn for mesaging service WhatsApp. Here is the release in full.

I’m excited to announce that we’ve agreed to acquire WhatsApp and that their entire team will be joining us at Facebook.

Our mission is to make the world more open and connected. We do this by building services that help people share any type of content with any group of people they want. WhatsApp will help us do this by continuing to develop a service that people around the world love to use every day.

WhatsApp is a simple, fast and reliable mobile messaging service that is used by over 450 million people on every major mobile platform. More than 1 million people sign up for WhatsApp every day and it is on its way to connecting one billion people. More and more people rely on WhatsApp to communicate with all of their contacts every day.

Two persons have been killed at three separate locations in Ugbiyokho, Egor local government area of Edo State in suspected cult related attacks.

Two of the corpses were still in their pool of their own blood while the third was said to have been on the way to the hospital.

Pretty girl seeking a rich husband got a shocking reply from an Investment banker

Not sure if a CEO has the time to reply to such things, but this is surely fun to read!lol

A young and pretty lady posted this on a popular forum:

Title: What should I do to marry a rich guy?

I’m going to be honest of what I’m going to say here. I’m 25 this year. I’m very pretty, have style and good taste. I wish to marry a guy with $500k annual salary or above. You might say that I’m greedy, but an annual salary of $1M is considered only as middle class in New York.

FASHOLA SIGNS LAWS TO REGULATE SMOKING IN PUBLIC PLACES, USE OF EMERGENCY NUMBERS

Says law will help government discharge responsibility to citizenry more efficiently

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN) on Monday signed into law two bills establishing the State Emergency Command and Control Centre and the Regulation of Smoking in Public Places, stating that the two bills would help to strengthen the administration to more efficiently discharge her responsibility to protect life and property.

Signs of the end time

In this world, weird things happen every day but you will be shocked with the discovery of this church in Virginia, United States of America, called White Tail Chapel, which worships in the nude ‘because the founder, Pastor Allen Parker says Jesus Christ was crucified naked,’ and its slogan is ‘Bare More Than Your Naked Soul.’

According to Huffingtonpost.com, the church is ‘located on the grounds of the White Tail Resort in Ivor, Virginia, and focuses on casting off material concerns, including clothes.

White Tail Resort describes itself as a Family Nudist Community, where visitors can enjoy all manner of activities, including spiritual worship, completely naked.

Pastor Parker allegedly told ABC 13 that many of ‘Jesus' most important moments happened while he was naked.’

“When he was born he was naked, when he was crucified, he was naked and when he arose, he left his clothes in the tomb and he was naked. If God made us that way, how can that be wrong?”

Pastor Parker says he draws at least some of his opinions on nudity from the book of Genesis, in which Adam and Eve were originally described as ‘both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.’

“It was only after sinfully eating forbidden fruit from the Tree of Knowledge that Adam and Eve are said to have seen their nudity as shameful, at which point they sowed fig leaves into loincloths.”

"People are more open as far as hearing the word of God, and speaking the word of God. I consider this a gift and a privilege God has given me,” Parker also told ABC 13.

Boko Haram's Idealogy Is Not Islamic, Its Devilish — Buhari

Former Head of State and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), has reacted to the recent massacre by terrorist sect Boko Haram in borno state by describing the sect as devils.

He described the ideology fueling the Boko Haram insurgence as devilish and senseless, adding that it should not be given space in any civilized society. This came as the Federal Government declared, yesterday, that the Air Force and the Army have stepped up their air and land attacks to checkmate the terrorists.

Buhari in an unprecedented rebuke against the sectarian violence, called on the security agencies and the authorities to intensify vigilance just as he expressed amazement that the terrorists and criminal elements could still express themselves despite the heavy militarization of the region. Gen. Buhari’s posted his statement on his facebook page on Sunday night after the latest reports of about 121 deaths.

The three-time presidential candidate and national leader of APC in the statement said: “We condemn the recent escalation of senseless violence in Borno State. Our prayers and sympathies are with the victims and their families.

“There is no justification for this wanton disregard for the sanctity and dignity of human life. Any ideology that trafficks in terror and violence is a devilish ideology that has no place in a civilized society. “This is the time for our security agencies and those responsible for the security and well-being of our citizens to intensify vigilance in order to mitigate future occurrences.

“Because, it is inconceivable that despite heavy militarization, terrorists and other criminal elements are still able to terrify the defenceless populations of those areas. “May God grant us the strength and unity to overcome this.”

Monday 17 February 2014

Boko Haram kills 106 people in fresh attack in Borno state

According to reports, Boko Haram members launched a fresh attack on indigenes of Izghe, a Christian community in Gwoza LGA of Borno State, killing 106 people on Saturday February 15th

According to eye witnesses, the men who came dressed in military attire, chanted Allah is great as they slit the throats of the people they came across and also fired gun shots at them. Some of the victims were made to come out of their homes and were then killed in an execution like manner.

Disney Should Produce Guy Cartoons - Sally Kohn

So yes, it's high time that we have a Disney movie in which a princess marries a princess. And a prince marries a prince. And a plumber marries a schoolteacher — for crying out loud, why must everyone be royal and rich?!

But of course I want to see children's films go a step further and actively reflect the full, positive diversity of families in America today -- including gay families like mine. After all, we're talking about Hollywood -- land of the gays and those who love them! Is this really too much to ask? Gay rights are sweeping the globe, supported morally and politically by an overwhelming majority of Americans.........Sally Kohn

Tuesday 21 January 2014

Study: Richest 85 people have the same wealth as poorest 3.5 billion

A new study published ahead of the World Economic Forum conference in Davos, Switzerland, says that the richest 85 people in the world share a total wealth of about $1.64 trillion (£1 trillion), as much as what the poorest half — 3.5 billion — of the world’s people own.

The study (full report) found that the wealth of the word's 1 percent richest people is about $115 trillion, 46 percent of global wealth and about 65 times the wealth of the poorest half of the world's people.

Canadian government has denied cancelling President Goodluck Jonathan’s visit to the country.

Canada through its embassy in Abuja debunked media reports that it cancelled a scheduled visit of the president because he signed the anti-gay law.

In an exclusive interview with our correspondent, the Canadian Counselor in Abuja, Ms. Alexandra Mackenzie said there was no scheduled visit of Jonathan to the country.

HIV-Positive Student Videotaped Himself Having Sex With 31 People

According to prosecutors, a 22-year-old college student secretly filmed himself having unprotected sex with as many as 31 people, knowingly exposing them to HIV.

In October, Michael Johnson, a student and former wrestler at Lindenwood University in Missouri, was charged with five felony counts of exposing partners to HIV. Some time later, police discovered the sex tapes—reportedly filmed with hidden cameras—stored on Johnson's laptop. Prosecutors disclosed the discovery on Friday.

"On that laptop were 32 videos engaged in sexual acts with Mr. Johnson," said Tim Lohmar, a St. Charles County prosecutor, told KMOV, adding that the tapes showed Johnson having sex with 31 partners over four months in his dorm at Lindenwood.

Lohmar also said that it's unlikely the partners knew about Johnson's HIV positive status.

Johnson, known online as Tiger Mandingo, met his partners—most of whom, if not all, were men—through his six social media accounts (three Facebook pages, two Twitter feeds, a Vine and an Instagram), according to the River Front Times.

If convicted, Johnson faces life in prison.

Friday 17 January 2014

B-R-E-A-K-I-N-G News!!! 38 Gay Men Arrested In Bauchi by the Police

POLICE across Nigeria have begun arresting lesbians and gays following President Goodluck Jonathan's recent signing into law of a new Draconian bill that makes being homosexual an offence punishable for 14 years in jail.

Earlier this month, President Jonathan put his signature to the controversial Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Bill into law. Condemned internationally as a fundamental breach of human rights, the law stipulates that anyone convicted of engaging in a same sex marriage is liable to serve 14 years in prison, while anyone aiding or abetting such relationships faces a 10 year jail term.

Human rights groups like Amnesty International have widely condemned the law as an infraction of Nigeria's human rights obligations and gay rights campaigners plan to picket Nigeria's high commissions and embassies worldwide.
Also, the campaigners are calling on Nigeria's trading partners to boycott Nigerian goods and spurn tourism with the country. Defiant, however, the Nigerian authorities have stepped up their campaign against homosexuals and so far this week, the police in Bauchi have arrested 38 people suspected of being gay.

It is likely that they will be charged under the new law in what will be a controversial trial attracting international attention.

Thursday 16 January 2014

Jack Bauer Is Back As New Series Of 24 Is Announced

At a conference in California it was confirmed Kiefer Sutherland will reprsie his role as the special agent for a new 12-epsiode series set and shot in London.

Using the tag-line ‘Live Another Day’, FOX producers told the audience at 2014 Television Critics Association Press Tour it picks up events four years on, with Bauer evading the FBI.

The hugely-successful show, which ran for 192 episodes between 2001 and 2010, had a distinctive real-time format, with interweaving plotlines and a countdown towards the heroic counter-terrorist saving the day, making it an iconic piece of television.

But Sutherland, 47, admitted to being nervous about bringing 24 back.

“I’m about as anxious and wound up as I’ve been in a long time,” he said.

“There’s a great impetus for all of us to create something new with the show.”

Filming in the capital will take place in February, but the actor is not expecting a warm welcome, telling the conference: “I’m sure we’ll be hated by a large portion of London for snarling up their traffic here and there, and for that I apologise in advance.”

Endtime Indeed!!!: Father Takes Daughter's Virginity

A father made the startling statement to his daughter as he proceeded to take away her virginity when she was only 12-years old.

Gemma Schembri, now 21, has decided to share her story to help other girls who have suffered like her.

According to her, the abuse really heated up after he parents separated. She said:

‘He started to sexually abuse me when I stayed with him and it went on for over a year. He was very manipulative and controlled my thoughts to make me believe it was normal.

‘The first time he raped me he said afterwards, “Well it was better that it was with me than with some random person in a hotel”.’

Gemma said she didn’t realize what her father was doing was wrong and it took her years to pluck up the courage to reveal she was a victim of abuse.

Tuesday 14 January 2014

Patrick Obahiagbon Reacts To Mikel Losing CAF Player Of The Year Award

Please note that this was not verified by Information naija, but it's fun to read it anyway.....Lol

Please have an advanced dictionary and Paracetamol handy before reading this. Patrick Obahiagbon Reacts To Mikel Losing CAF Player Of The Year Award I am maniacally bewildered, overgassted and flabberwhelmed at the paraplegic crinkum crankum that characterised the Glo CAF awards culminating in an od oriferous saga cum gargantuan gaga!.

The jiggery pokery of CAF in crowning Yaya Toure instead of our very own prodigy John Obi Mikel is a veritable bugaboo that must be pooh-poohed by all compos mentis homo sapiens! The perfidy and Mendacity of all the apparatchic of sports suzerainty is not only repugnant but also insalubrious! I said to my self: What an anathematous disdain of the citizenry! What a deprecable descent from the sublime to the ridiculous! Who will curb the odoriferous excesses of this machavellian and mephistopheleancabal in the Confederation?.

With this state of affairs, i dare say that African football is swimming in a pestilential aqua with a disastrious terminus ad quem inherently laden with avoidable cataracts, ice bergs and oxbow Lakes. It is sardonic and lugubrious!!!

Nigerian leader signs law banning gay marriage

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan speaks at the 68th United Nations General Assembly on September 24, 2013 in New York City. Over 120 prime ministers, presidents and monarchs are gathering this week for the annual meeting at the temporary General Assembly Hall at the U.N. headquarters while the General Assembly Building is closed for renovations. (Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images)

Nigeria’s president has signed a law that bans same-sex marriage and criminalizes homosexual associations, societies and meetings, with penalties of up to 14 years in jail.

The Associated Press obtained a copy of the Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act on Monday that was signed by President Goodluck Jonathan and dated Jan. 7.

It was unclear why the law’s passage has been shrouded in secrecy. The copy obtained from the House of Representatives in Abuja, the Nigerian capital, showed it was signed by those lawmakers and senators on Dec. 17, though no announcement was made.

Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday the United States was “deeply concerned” by a law that “dangerously restricts freedom of assembly, association, and expression for all Nigerians.”

It is now a crime to have a meeting of gays, or to operate or go to a gay club, society or organization.

“If that bill passes, it will be illegal for us to even be holding this conversation,” Olumide Makanjuola, executive director of the Initiative For Equality in Nigeria told AP in a recent interview.

The new law says, “A person who registers, operates or participates in gay clubs, societies or organizations, or directly or indirectly makes public show of same-sex amorous relationship in Nigeria commits an offense and is liable on conviction to a term of 10 years.”

Anyone convicted of entering into a same-sex marriage contract or civil union faces up to 14 years’ imprisonment.

Nigeria already has a law inherited from British colonizers that makes homosexual sex illegal in the West African nation. In the areas in Nigeria’s north where Islamic Shariah law is enforced, gays and lesbians can face death by stoning. And in northern Nigeria, where Islamic Shariah law is enforced, gays and lesbians can be stoned to death.

Makanjuloa said those who will suffer most under the law are poor gay Nigerians. Many rich ones already have left the country, or say they will fly elsewhere to have sex, she said.

The court of the European Union recently ruled that laws such as that passed in Nigeria could provide grounds for political asylum.

A spokesman for the British High Commission in Nigeria said “The U.K. opposes any form of discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation.”

The spokesman, traditionally not identified by name, echoed Kerry’s concerns about freedom of expression, saying the law “infringes upon fundamental rights of expression and association which are guaranteed by the Nigerian Constitution and by international agreements to which Nigeria is a party.”

The British government recently threatened to cut aid to African countries that violate the rights of gay and lesbian citizens. However, British aid remains quite small in oil-rich Nigeria, one of the top crude suppliers to the U.S.

There has been no real opposition to the law among Nigerians, generally highly religious and conservative where Christian, Muslim or bound to traditional mores, who appear united in their belief that homosexuality is unnatural and evil.

Nigerians are the least tolerant nation when it comes to gays, with 98 percent surveyed saying society should not accept homosexuality, according to a study of 39 nations by the U.S. Pew Research Center.

Nigeria’s law does not contain a previous proposal making it obligatory for anyone knowing a homosexual to report that person to authorities, or face up to seven years in jail. That would have included a parent or friend of a homosexual.

And it is not as draconian as a Ugandan bill approved by parliament in December and awaiting the signature of President Yoweri Museveni. It provides punishment of life in prison for “aggravated” homosexual sex involving someone infected with HIV, a minor or disabled person.

The president of Gambia has said homosexuals should be decapitated.

Some 38 African countries — about 70 percent of the continent — criminalize homosexual activity, Amnesty International said in a report released last year.

When Nigerians with minority sexual orientations tried to give evidence last year in debate in the House of Assembly, they were heckled and booed until one broke into tears, and another could not be heard.

A statement by the Nigerian Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transexual and Intersex Diaspora to legislators urged them not to make them refugees.

Criminalizing same-sex relationships “turns us into asylum seekers in other countries,” it said. “We visit home with trepidation because at home we have to live a life full of lies and deny who we are for us to be accepted. Why do we want to keep subjecting our citizens to such psychological and emotional torture?”

Nigerian Farouk Abdulmutallab’s Life Sentence Upheld By U.S. Court

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian man who tried to set off an explosive hidden in his underwear while aboard a U.S. airliner on Christmas Day in 2009, on Monday had his life sentence upheld by a federal appeals court.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected arguments by Abdulmutallab, known as the underwear bomber, that the trial judge erred by letting him represent himself despite doubt about his competency and by admitting incriminating statements he made without having first been read his rights.

It also rejected Abdulmutallab’s argument that the life sentence was cruel and unusual punishment.
Travis Rossman, a lawyer for the defendant, had no immediate comment, his office said.

The case is U.S. v. Abdulmutallab, 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 12-1207.

DELSUTH Completes First Historic Kidney Transplant

The Delta State University Teaching Hospital (DELSUTH), Oghara has recorded what is still considered a rare feat in the medical field in Nigeria with the successful kidney transplant, a government release announced on Monday.

Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan, a Medical Doctor who was among the medical team in the theatre during the operation, had last year assured Deltans shortly after a pace maker implantation that there will be kidney transplant in the hospital this year.

Speaking to journalists in Oghara Monday, Governor Uduaghan expressed satisfaction that the transplant was a success stating that it was another medical breakthrough for the hospital.

This is a happy day for me as we are able to provide this service,” the Governor said, adding, “I know we were well prepared for this surgery and we also have a good post surgery team.”

He disclosed that, “the hospital is overflowing with patients, so we are planning to expand bed facilities by putting up a three hundred bed ward for this hospital,” adding that the DELSUTH has gone into a five year partnership with UT South-Western Medical Centre, Dallas.

“We have a five year training agreement with them to build infrastructure and human capacity,” Dr Uduaghan said about the medical team, stating, “What they will be charging here will be far lower than what obtains anywhere else in the world.’ Continuing he added, ‘about two years ago, we started subsidizing dialysis in this hospital and brought it down from twenty two thousand Naira to five thousand Naira, the subsidy is mainly for Deltans.”

The Chief Medical Director of DELSUTH, Dr Leslie Akporiaye said the kidney transplant was a new innovation in the hospital disclosing that the operation lasts just a few hours.

“A lot of preparation has been on with the provision of necessary facilities, training and observation in Dallas and here in Oghara by staff of DELSUTH.”

He added that this was the beginning of more of such surgeries that will take place in the hospital.

Recall that the hospital had earlier carry out hip-bone and knee cap replacement surgeries.

A second kidney transplant operation will be performed at the hospital on Tuesday, the release added.