An IT consultant from east London is launching an audacious bid to become the president of Nigeria.

Barney Akwenuke, who came to London in 1996 and lives in Romford, plans to stand as an independent candidate in elections in January next year.

He said he decided to run for the presidency after becoming disgusted by the corruption he says is blighting the oil rich nation of more than 150 million people.

Mr Akwenuke, who was born in the village of Ozozoro, said: “I definitely consider Nigeria my home. Over there, politics is do-or-die. It's all about corruption and how much people can stuff into their pockets.

"The politicians don't care about the country. They are only interested in how much they can take or how many houses they can buy in central London with the money they get.”

Mr Akwenuke said that before going to Nigeria next month to launch his campaign he will visit Nigerians in London to raise donations.

“I'm trying to convince them that we need to do something about the state of our country,” he said. “If we can get Nigerians to say enough is enough', then I believe we can win.”

Mr Akwenuke, a member of the Romford Conservatives, said he became interested in politics after campaigning for local MP Andrew Rosindell who said: “He has been involved in the local Conservative Party for about a year and has been very enthusiastic and determined.”

Mr Akwenuke intends to apply for police protection and hire a private bodyguard in Nigeria. His wife, who was born in the UK, and their two children aged seven and 13 will stay in London

This News caught my attention this morning:




Genetics experts have been amazed by the birth of a blonde, blue-eyed white baby - to a black couple.

Doctors insist tiny Nmachi is not an albino and neither of the parents has any mixed-race family history.

Dad Ben Ihegboro, 44, a railway customer services adviser, said: "We both just sat there after the birth staring at her for ages - not saying anything.

"The first thing I said was 'What the flip?'."

Nmachi, whose name means Beauty of God in the Nigerian homeland of parents Angela and Ben, was born at Queen Mary's Hospital in Sidcup, Kent.

Doctors there told them she is not an albino.

"She doesn't look like an albino child anyway - not like the ones I've seen back in Nigeria or in books," Ben told The Sun. "She just looks like a healthy white baby."

Ben added: "Of course, she's mine. My wife is true to me. Even if she hadn't been, the baby still wouldn't look like that.

"We don't know of any white ancestry. We wondered if it was a genetic twist. But even then, what's with the long curly blonde hair?"

Professor Bryan Sykes, head of Human Genetics at Oxford University, said: "In mixed race humans, the lighter variant of skin tone may come out in a child - and this can sometimes be startlingly different to the skin of the parents.

"This might be the case where there is a lot of genetic mixing, as in Afro-Caribbean populations. But in Nigeria there is little mixing."

He said that both parents would have needed some form of white ancestry for a pale version of their genes to be passed on.

"The hair is extremely unusual," Prof Sykes said. "Even many blonde children don't have blonde hair like this at birth."

Some form of unknown mutation was the most likely explanation, he added.

The couple, of Woolwich, south London, have two other children, four-year-old Chisom and sister Dumebi, two.

Mum Angela, 35, told the paper: "Nmachi's colour doesn't matter. She's a miracle baby. But still, what on earth happened here?"