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21  Forum / The Buzz Central / The long, arduous journey to Shere Hills [Gulder Ultimate Search lV] on: 24-08-2007 10:16 AM
Gulder Ultimate Search lV
The long, arduous journey to Shere Hills



Shortly after the Corporate Communication Adviser of Nigerian Breweries Plc, Mr. Chuma Igwe announced the commencement of Season 1V of the popular Gulder Ultimate Search (GUS) Reality TV show and declared the programme's website open, thousands of enthusiastic Nigerian youths registered their intention to contest in the country's premier reality TV game show.

Unlike past outings, the screening of contestants for the fourth edition of GUS IV was not restricted to Lagos.
At the time registration closed, over 25,000 potential contenders successfully registered on-line. As it was aired on TV on Tuesday, the regional screenings started in Lagos where the contestants battled for a slot by running in the mud. For those who besieged the Lagos regional screening centre, the marshy terrain took its toll fast and easily. The fashion savvy among them quickly had their get up spoiled and soiled.

The scenario was immersed with emotions. Comedy, wailing and other ridiculous acts were common sights. Audience had cause to pity and feel for some of the participants, while viewers cannot help but laugh out loudly at some of the contestants as they waded through the mud; devise ridiculous styles inside the swimming pool, aside other comic acts.

Notwithstanding this comic swimming style, Lagos zone delivered some of the strongest swimmers in the country from the zonal screening, but it also resulted in some injuries that had to be attended to. While some of the ladies looked good outside the water, they didn't do quite well inside. Various plans and methods were devised to get around the fact that swimming wasn't their game. Indeed, some had to use life savers and buoys to get back to the side.

The situation was not too different in other screening centres as almost similar ludicrous scenes were re-enacted. The zonal screening in the host city, Jos, Plateau State also exerted its excitement.
With the city's high altitude, the screening in Jos posed its greatest challenge in the running competition. It was a keen contest, but some had too many feet that got in their way, attracting immediate disqualification.

The ladies had to stretch their legs extra long and when the officials stepped in to indicate those who didn't make it, some became upset. No doubt, swimming was one of the most vital aspects of the competition and that was where a lot of the would-be serious contenders got eliminated. In Jos, the gentlemen looked good outside the pool, but as witnessed in the Lagos zonal screening, looks were deceptive.

The Search for the GUS warriors from the zones next stop was Owerri, the capital of Imo State. Contenders were lucky here. A really jacked up athletic track meant that no-one had to wade through mud even though it was a rainy day. Again, the venue was packed with eager youths who thronged the stadium in their thousands with the hope of taking a shot at fame and fortune by becoming GUS Ultimate man or woman. However, after a few laps of running round the tracks, the grains were separated from the chaffs.

Again, happenings in the swimming pool in Owerri provided ludicrous entertainment. " The closest to water some of the guys came was like having a bath.
The zonal screening in Benin City, Edo State renowned for its oil deposits and rubber plantations did not fair any better aside the fact that it showcased beautifully dressed contestants.
However, as observed by the narrator, pretty face did not translate to good sprint. Though the pool here was smaller than in other zones, it had less water in it after the swimming exercise was completed. No thanks to turns of splashing and swallowing. Indeed, grabbing the side rails even prevent ed some of them from sinking.

The zonal screening rounded off in the South Eastern state of Enugu where the beautiful stadium dispensed cruel justice to some unsuccessful contestants. The men were soon separated from the boys.
At the end of the screening, 43 potential Searchers emerged. They were taken to the traditional GUS final training and screening centre, Sea School Lagos where they encountered greater tasks.

The final 43 arrived Sea School in high spirits but soon found out that the odds were against them right from the word go. Here, an already tough task was made even more difficult and uncomfortable by a very wet and rainy day. But, they soon got used to the situation. In fact, some remain dressed to look pretty. No mercy as they waded through the puddles of water.

Having successfully made their way to Lagos, only 10 would go to Shere Hills in search of the ultimate prize. Amidst bad weather, they tried to keep their spirits high, but some were obviously more worried than others.

The training/screening tests at the Sea School involve various obstacle tasks from wall climbing to crawling under barbed wires and sundry physically and mentally challenging tasks. There were also canoe riding tests, the highpoint of the screening was one involving contestants jumping off a ship into the sea and swimming to safety. At the end of the exercise, 10 contestants emerged and stormed Shere Hills in search of the treasure that will hopefully unleash the Golden Age.

culled from Sunnewsonline
22  Forum / The Buzz Central / Nigerian died 'in TV challenge' [Gulder Ultimate Search lV] on: 24-08-2007 09:36 AM



Nigerian died 'in TV challenge'


Previous winners have become national celebrities
The contestant who died in a Nigerian reality television programme drowned taking part in one of its challenges, police have told the BBC.

Anthony Ogadje, 25, died last Saturday during the filming of the first episode of the show in central Plateau State.

Local police commissioner Charles Akaya said Mr Ogadje had been crossing a lake in a boat, when he fell in and drowned.

The programme's sponsors have refused to say how Mr Ogadje died, as they are waiting for a post-mortem.

"They were in a canoe on the lake when an item that belonged to him fell into the water and he tried to retrieve it but fell overboard and drowned," Mr Akaya told the BBC News website.

Graduate

The "Gulder Ultimate Search" has now been suspended indefinitely, a spokesman for the programme's sponsor, Nigerian Breweries, told the BBC News website.

   
All attempts to revive him by the attendant medical team and the life-guards, including his fellow contestants, failed
Nigerian Breweries
"The programme was already on when he died. But we have suspended everything for now out of respect for the deceased," Chuma Igwe said.

Mr Ogadje had just graduated from Delta State University with a bachelor's degree in Geology.

He and the other nine contestants had gone to Shere Hills Lake in Jos to begin filming for the first episode of the "Gulder Ultimate Search 4".

"All attempts to revive him by the attendant medical team and the life-guards, including his fellow contestants, failed," said Nigerian Breweries, which is majority-owned by Heineken.

The challenges often include swimming or wading through rivers and tramping through forests to look for clues that lead to a hidden treasure.

Celebrities

The selection requirements for participants include physical fitness, the ability to endure tough terrains and swim where swimming is involved.

Broadcasting of the reality television show had been due to start on Thursday.

In the show, the weakest contestants are evicted one by one until a winner or "the last man standing" emerges.

The winner gets 5 million naira ($39,000) in cash, a sport utility vehicle (SUV) and another 500,000 naira ($4,000) to buy clothes.

The prize money is a big attraction in a country where most people live in extreme poverty and benefit little from Nigeria's oil wealth.

Previous winners have become celebrities, attracting sponsorship deals from corporate organisations.

The "Gulder Ultimate Search", which started three years ago, normally gets high ratings.

Gulder is the name of a local Nigerian beer.

{Culled from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/6939007.stm}
23  Forum / Forum Games / Re: When Was The Last Time You: on: 30-07-2007 01:10 PM
1 WEEK AGO.

When was the last time you had Pounded Yam for Breakfast..?
24  Forum / Relationships & Romance / Re: Pls, advise me!!! on: 15-07-2007 04:34 PM
TRUST is d name if u really want 2 marry him.......but also let him know that u dont like his EX and u dont like to see her around ............. if he really wants u.. he should stop seeing her....there can be temptations u know wit all EX.
Tak kia.
25  Forum / Relationships & Romance / Re: Sincere Advice Needed on: 15-07-2007 04:26 PM
Efah,

Tot u said u're a corper and as soon as u finish serving u will leave dat org. abi they'll retain u.
well if they wil retain u dam d managers 'cos they cant do anytin and if they do, look for anoda job...but make sure d girl is worth u LOOSING UR JOB....'cos some girls can dump u if u dont hav a job.
Just be sure that the girl will stay with u....no matter wat condition and u can also tell about the threat..that will make her know wats up.

cheers.
26  Forum / Education / University Workers Backs NLC Mass Action! Over Yaradua's Inauguration. on: 26-05-2007 04:02 PM
University Workers Backs NLC Mass Action! Over Yaradua's Inauguration.

Lesss than a week to the inauguration of Nigeria's President-elect, Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar'adua, University workers under the aegis of Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) yesterday  said   are fully in support of the move by the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) to  protest the out-come of the last April general elections.
The union whose members are drawn for the over 50 federal and state Universities in Nigeria, said it  would take part in the series of labour-organized mass actions to protest the conduct of the election.
NLC had in its rejection of the  results of the April polls, called for a 2-day mass action by Nigerian workers from May 28 - 29 to protest the validity of the elections and the leaders that emerged thereof. While describing the April polls as far from being free and fair, the union said it would ask its members to participate in the election protest beginning with the May 28, sit-at-home directive by NLC.
In communiqué issued at the end of the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of  SSANU held at the University of Agriculture , Abeokuta , Ogun Sate, the union said it has resolved to back the directive of the Nigeria Labour Congress and its Civil Society Allies, that Nigerians take part in a series of mass actions to protest the conduct of the elections, beginning with the sit-at-home protest on the 28th of May.
"After full consideration and review of the 2007 elections agreed that the conduct was far from being free and fair. NEC therefore resolved to back the directive of the Nigeria Labour Congress and its Civil Society Allies, that Nigerians take part in a series of mass actions to protest the conduct of the elections, beginning with the sit-at-home protest on the 28th of May. Consequently, NEC directs all SSANU members to fully participate in the actions as may be directed by the NLC", it said.
SSANU in the communiqué signed by its National president, Comrade P.A.K. Adewusi also condemned the hurried sale of Public Refineries  by the federal government adding that "it supports all the actions proposed by the sectoral unions to protest this insensitive sale".
On the issue of the reform in the education sector,  SSANU expressed  concern that the current reform measures directed at the Education Sector by the Federal Government will lead to retrenchment of staff with its attendant hardships on the affected workers.
"It has become self-evident that the only critical element in the so-called reforms is the retrenchment of staff which has the potentials of increasing social vices, manifest hardship and hopelessness in the polity, leading to untimely deaths in many Nigerian families", the union said. SSANU said that in as much as it supports genuine reforms that could reposition the Sector towards a more productive and competitive endeavour in the world of learning, the current trend in the Sector leaves much to be desired.
The communiqué therefore condemns what it described as
inhuman policy of staff retrenchment in Federal Universities, and accordingly calls on the Federal government to suspend the retrenchments forthwith.
It further directs its members not to accept any letter of disengagement arising from the said retrenchment exercise.
The union regretted that the outsourcing of certain jobs as thrown up by the reforms, has reintroduced casualisation in the Public Service through the back door adding that this is a negation of extant International Labour Organization's Conventions.
"We see this as a strange paradox that instead of creating the new jobs, government is busy sweeping away existing jobs' , SSANU said.
27  Forum / Forum Games / Microsoft sets launch date for 'Halo 3' on: 26-05-2007 03:44 PM


Microsoft sets launch date for 'Halo 3'

Microsoft Corp. said Tuesday it will release its "Halo 3" video game on September 25, a hugely anticipated event that the software giant hopes will help drive sales of its Xbox 360 gaming console.

"Halo 3" is the final installment of Microsoft's flagship video game franchise in which players assume the role of a futuristic soldier trying to turn the tide in a war against an alien army.

The game is expected to be a potent weapon for Microsoft as it fights Sony Corp. and Nintendo Co. Ltd. for dominance in the $30 billion global video game industry.

The first "Halo" launched alongside the original Xbox in November 2001 and helped the newcomer console gain a foothold in the market.

"Halo 2" debuted in November 2004, racking up $125 million in sales in its first day and cementing the popularity of the Xbox Live online service that lets players compete against each other in frenetic "deathmatch" sessions.

By moving up the launch of "Halo 3" to the month of September, Microsoft is betting it will spur sales of Xbox 360 consoles, giving it a larger user base in time for the year-end holiday season that is the high tide for video game sales.

"This is going to be a critical holiday for us versus Sony, especially on the console generation side, and they don't really have an answer for 'Halo 3'," Shane Kim, head of Microsoft Game Studios, said in an interview.

"Given that, I suspect 'Halo 3' to drive a lot of Xbox 360 sales and Xbox Live memberships," Kim said. "I think at those midnight (launch) events, there are going to be a lot of people walking out with an Xbox 360 along with their copies of 'Halo 3'."

The game will go on sale in Europe on September 26 but Kim said Microsoft had not set a date for Japan, where the Xbox 360 has been eclipsed by Nintendo's Wii and Sony's PlayStation 3.

Kim reiterated his view that "Halo 3" would enjoy a bigger launch than "Halo 2", saying the number of people who had already paid some money to ensure they can get a copy at launch -- known as pre-ordering -- was "pretty encouraging."

The regular edition of "Halo 3" will sell for $60, with two limited editions going for $70 and $130.

Microsoft set the clock ticking towards the "Halo 3" launch on the eve of a large public test of the game that starts on Wednesday and is scheduled to run for about three weeks.

Kim said several hundred thousand people had signed up for the test, or beta, which is intended to work out any remaining kinks in the game and make sure the Live network can handle thousands of matches at the same time.
28  Forum / Forum Games / Xbox 360 game prices jump with add-ons on: 26-05-2007 03:37 PM


- New charges for online extras are sharply raising the price serious video gamers pay for Xbox 360 games, a profitable move by Microsoft Corp. , but one that could alienate some fans.

With more than 6 million users, Microsoft's Xbox Live online network has become the key feature distinguishing the Xbox 360 from rival Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Co. Ltd.'s Wii.

More than 3 million Xbox Live subscribers pay a $50 annual fee that allows them to play games online against one another. About 3 million more use the service without an annual subscription, taking the total to more than half Xbox users.

Through Xbox Live, players can buy maps for fighting terrains and other add-ons that are indispensable to serious gamers, usually at a cost of $10 each. Such add-ons used to be free most of the time and the additions can raise a game's cost to $80 or even $100 over its life span .

"The (downloadable maps) are very profitable for us," said Tony Key, vice president of marketing for UbiSoft Entertainment SA, whose Tom Clancy-themed shooters such as "Rainbow Six" and "GRAW 2" are among the most popular games on Xbox Live.

"If you're a 'Rainbow' guy and you don't have the maps, then you can't play a match," said Key, referring to online competitions. "I doubt there will ever be a Clancy game without the Xbox Live component any more. It's now a key part of the game's DNA."

Games such as UbiSoft's "Rainbow Six Vegas" and Activision Inc.'s "Call of Duty 3" can cost as much as $25 million to make, but extra game levels and maps are extremely cheap to produce, by comparison. Key said they required only about 10 percent of a game's development staff.

Maps and other content are also profitable for Microsoft.

Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter estimates Microsoft charges a royalty rate of 30 percent for most downloads. That means that, for a $10 download, Microsoft gets $3, while the publisher pockets $7.

Pachter estimates the entire downloadable game content market is currently valued at $200 million, compared with $19 billion for overall game software sales last year, but he points out the additional sales have much higher profit margins.

"It's like building an extra room in a house," Pachter said. "It's nowhere near the cost of building the house."

But pricing the downloads is a tricky science that many game publishers, including Microsoft, are still figuring out as they try to balance profit with the risk of alienating gamers who might feel they are being taken advantage of.

Microsoft was criticized by many gamers after the May 3 release of a map download to its popular alien-blasting game, "Gears of War," which has sold more than 3.7 million copies worldwide since its November release.

The first map pack was released for free months earlier and generated more than 1.5 million downloads. The new download included several new battlegrounds online users could fight on during multiplayer matches, but this time they cost $10.

Mark Rein, vice president of "Gears" developer Epic Games, said in an interview on video game Web site 1up.com that the studio would have preferred to give away the maps, but Microsoft, which published the game, decided to charge for it.

This set off angry complaints from fans who felt Microsoft was taking advantage of them. Epic declined to comment for this article.

Microsoft Xbox Live group product manager Aaron Greenberg said few gamers complained about the add-on features and that the charge helped Microsoft recoup the cost of developing games and running the expensive online service.

"We are like the complaint department. We hear from the small minority that are not happy," he said.

Third-quarter revenue at the entertainment and devices division dropped 18.7 percent to $947 million, with an operating loss of $330 million, compared with a loss of $438 million a year earlier. Microsoft shipped 500,000 Xbox 360 consoles during the quarter.
29  Forum / Health / What Is Mental Health? on: 26-05-2007 03:28 PM
What Is Mental Health?

What constitutes a mentally healthy person? I do not think that you are going to find the answer to this question in any text book. I must say, however, that Sigmund Freud* (see list for further reading) did talk about normal persons having the ability to love and work and that Alfred Adler implied that normalcy is the absence of neurosis (by which, he probably meant not seeking personal superiority, which would then imply accepting ones sameness and equality with all people) and so on.

It seems that psychologists and psychiatrists are more at home talking about unhealthy persons instead of healthy persons; they have told us a lot about what constitutes psychopathology but little about mental health. There is even a big book, the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, talking about all kinds of mental illnesses but not a similar big book talking about mental health. One would think that to talk about psychopathology that we must first establish psychological health, for lack of health is in reference to health.

There is no guide out there on what constitutes mental health. In this essay, I will briefly define what constitutes mental health.

 

UNCONDITIONAL POSITIVE SELF ACCEPTANCE

In every day language, mental health is characterized by the individual accepting himself, as he is; accepting other people, as they are, accepting the world, as it is, and having no inner compulsion to reject anything and or turn anything into what he thinks that they should become.

The mentally healthy person does not have an obsession to make himself, other people and the world into an idealized, perfect version of them. (See Carl Rogers, Client Centered Therapy.)

 

NON-JUDGMENTAL APPROACH TO THE SELF

The mentally healthy person does not judge himself, other people, etc, with the yardsticks of an idealized self, as either good or bad. He accepts himself and other people as they are; neither seeing people, himself included, as good nor bad. (See Albert Ellis, Cognitive Behavior Therapy.)

He accepts people in an unconditional positive manner. However, people’s behavior can be pro-social or antisocial; behavior is different from the individual. Of course, antisocial behaviors are to be rejected. (See Harry Stack Sullivan, Interpersonal Theory of Psychology.)

 

PRESENCE OF PEACE AND HAPPINESS

Because he accepts himself, other people and the world as they are and has no wish for them to become different and perfect he is generally peaceful and happy. Mental health is characterized by the presence of peace and happiness. (See Helen Schucman, A Course in miracles.)

Are you unconditionally positively self accepting, unconditionally positively accepting of other people? Are you peaceful and happy most of the time? Do you smile and laugh a lot? Are you friendly towards most people you see? Do you love and respect most people you encounter? Do you forgive those who did something wrong to you or do you bear grievances and seek punishment for your so-called enemies? Are you caring or hateful? Do you get along with most people? Do you feel connected, joined and unified with people?

If your answer to these questions is mostly yes, you are mentally healthy, if not you are not mentally healthy.

 

PERSONALITY VERSUS MENTAL HEALTH

Beginning from the day a child is born on earth his inherited biological constitution begins to interact with his physical and social environment. Something in the child, I call it the unknown life force, take the child’s experiences and formulate a personality for him. By age six the human child has a perceivable personality already in place, albeit in outline form. By adolescence, age thirteen, the individual’s personality is, as it were, set in stone and seldom changes unless he undergoes traumatic injury to his brain, and sometimes to his spine. (See George Kelly, Personality as Personal Construct.)

Using his biological datum and social and physical experiences each human child constructs a personality for himself; he forms a habitual pattern of relating to other people and to his world in general.

The human personality, I agree with Carl G. Jung, is not the entire human being. I believe that there is another side to us. I do not know what that side to us is. However, if it makes you feel comfortable to call it spirit (soul), by all means do so, provided that you do not limit it with your understanding of what it is supposed to be.

I do not think that any human being living in body understands the aspect of him that is beyond flesh. I prefer to call it the unknown part of us, an X.

What seems self evident to me is that that unknown part of us is the same in all people. The unknown X in all people is the same, equal and one in all people. (See Henry Bergson’s philosophical writing.)

The actuating force in people is one and simultaneously infinite in numbers. One force is itself and yet is each of us, animals, trees etc.

In its true essence that force remains itself but in us takes on the characteristics of our personalities. Our bodies and social experiences give that unknown force in us our personalities.

When our bodies die, that which gave the unknown force our personalities dies. Our personalities die with our physical death. However, the life force in us continues to exist as it has always existed. The life force is eternal, immortal, permanent, timeless and changeless.

In body (matter space and time) the life force, which can also be called universal intelligence, takes on our personalities and lives as each of us. I believe that the body (genes) each child is born in and his social experiences influence how the life force constructs the individual’s personality.

In the here and now world, each of us has a personality. (The term personality is derived from persona, a mask, a role each of us is playing in the world of time and space). The individual’s personality, the mask he wears to navigate this world is not all there is to him. Beneath his mask is an unknown self.

Some personalities are normal and some are abnormal. There are different levels of normalcy and abnormalcy. We know about the various personality disorders (paranoid, schizoid, schizotypal, narcissistic, histrionic, borderline, antisocial; avoidant, possessive-compulsive, dependent and passive aggressive) and the more serious disorders, the psychosis (schizophrenia, mania, delusion, depression etc).

Within the spectrum of normalcy are different levels of being. Many persons who are called normal persons, as Henry Thoreau observed, live lives of quiet desperation. They are suffering and do not know how to get out of their suffering. These are the people that psychotherapists are supposed to help except that many psychotherapists do not know how to help them.

 

MENTAL DISORDER IS SELF REJECTION; ATTEMPT TO BE DIFFERENT

In the course of my life time, I learned that all people are the same and that even their mental illnesses have commonalities to them. Despite the interesting stuff written by mental health professionals (such as the current emphasis on biochemistry) the fact is that all mental health issues inhere in people’s efforts to run away from their real selves and become who they are not, in fact.

People see who they are, in fact, and in varying degrees do not like what they know themselves to be. They know themselves to be born and live in bodies, bodies that are weak and vulnerable to all sorts of diseases. They live to work for their bodies. They earn material things that protect and defend their bodies. Then after a hundred years of slaving for their bodies those bodies die, rot and smell to high heaven. The dead and rotting human body is not a pretty sight, it smells worse than feces.

People appreciate the limitations of their bodies. They know that if body is all that they are that they are not worth much, certainly they are not worth more than other animals.

Natural forces, such as tsunami, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, draughts, earthquakes, volcanoes, plagues etc sweep people to death, as they sweep animals and trees to death.

If all people are is their bodies, they are not worth much; in fact, they have no worth and value; their worth is make belief, a made up value is no value.

People appreciate their existential nothingness, worthlessness, valuelessness, purposelessness, and meaninglessness and despair. All human beings have underlying despondency (depression, melancholia, dysthymia, call it what you like). The nature of existence in body and on earth produces depression (self devaluing) in human beings.

 

EXISTENTIAL DEPRESSION

Each human being has existential depression, a depression from the awareness of the ugly realities of our being on planet earth. (Some are more acutely aware of this underlying depression than others.) (Clinical depression is characterized by loss of interest in the activities of daily living: lack of interest in food, work, sports, socializing, self grooming and a desire to harm ones self and or die.)

We do not accept existential depression; for one thing, nobody likes the dystonia of feeling bad, so we try to avoid feeling depressed. (See the existential writings of Jean Paul Sartre, Albert Camus etc.)

 

EXISTENTIAL DELUSION/PARANOIA

One of the ways we prevent awareness of our underlying existential depression is delusion (paranoia). (Clinical paranoia, aka delusion disorder is characterized by a sense of inadequacy and compensatory sense of power and grandiose importance, suspiciousness, lack of trust in other people, guardedness, and belief that other people consciously demean one, fear of belittlement, humiliation, degradation, disgrace, criticism and anything that seems to suggest that the individual is not very important.)

Delusion or paranoia is the construction of a different self, a false self that is different from the depressed self. The paranoid knows that inside him is a depressed self(a weak, vulnerable self that would die) and he tries to flee from that depressed self by constructing a false grandiose self (an all powerful, ideal, perfect, immortal self) and identify with that false self. (See William Meissner, Paranoid Process.)

All human beings construct false ideal selves, identify with them and defend them as if those false selves are their true selves. (See Karen Horney, Neurosis and Human Growth.)

All human beings have delusion/paranoia in varying degrees. The difference between the clinically paranoid person and the normal person is only in degrees, not in absolute terms.

 

MANIA

The more active type person flees into mania. (In clinical mania the individual feels excited, euphoric, lacks good judgment and is deluded; he believes that he is a very famous person, such as the richest man in his world.) Mania is a product of man’s search for an ideal self. In mania the individual uses his mind to construct an ideal self, a false self and tries to become it. He behaves as if he is the ideal self. The act of using the mind to make one seem like an important, famous self excites the human body, hence in mania the body is invariably excited, aroused and hyperactive.

If you dwelled on the body alone, as neuroscientists do, in mania, you would observe excited neurochemicals like norepinephrine. Modern neuroscience tells us that the presence of those excitatory neurochemicals is the cause of mania.

It is mind, thinking, and the wish for an important self, when the manic person becomes aware that he is an unimportant self that produces the perceived elevated excitatory neurochemicals in the manic person’s body. Mind, that is, thinking, is the cause of all mental illnesses.

Mental means thinking; mental illness means illness of thinking. The nature of the human body affects thinking but thinking itself is what is normal or abnormal.

 

SCHIZOPHRENIA

Some persons seek their fictional importance in schizophrenia. (In clinical schizophrenia, a psychosis, the individual generally is deluded, that is, believes in what is not true as true and hallucinates in one or more of the five senses…auditory, visual, olfactory, tactile etc. There are many forms of schizophrenia, such as paranoid, disorganized, undifferentiated, catatonic, residual etc.) They use their thinking, mind, to construct bogus important selves and identify with those false selves.

The schizophrenic sees himself as god, that is, as all important, which he thinks wipes out his unimportant self. Of course, he is not the great self he fancies himself as.

Other people know that he is not god, Zeus or whatever he fancies himself to be. People laugh at the eighteen year old boy claiming to be god.

He tries to retain his grandiose self concept/self image by avoiding people. In social isolation he manages to convince himself that he is the god that he wants to be. Thus he walks the streets imagining him god etc. (See David Swanson et all, Paranoia.)

(Most people do not know that the schizophrenic, disorganized type, eating out of garbage cans actually sees himself as god, as more important than all human beings).

 

ANXIETY

In anxiety disorders (neurosis) the individual has a wish for importance but knows that he is not important. He is able to test reality; he knows what is real and what is not real. But the wish for importance is strong in the neurotic. He has perpetual conflict between his desired ego ideal (important self) and his earthly reality (nothingness). (In clinical anxiety the individual experiences intense fear without the normal causes of fear been present. He feels heart racing, rapid breathing, excited nervous system; rapid talking, tort muscles and the desire to either fight of flee from something. There are many types of anxiety disorder, such as generalized anxiety, panic, agoraphobia, sociophobia, obsessive-compulsive etc.)

The desire for important self and the fear of existential nothingness produces anxiety in the neurotic person. Anxiety disorders can be subsumed in personality disorders.

For our present purposes, what is salient is that the neurotic, the personality disordered person wants to seem powerful, important, rich, famous etc but knows that he is not so but struggles along and experiences anxiety. (See David Shapiro, Neurotic Styles; Isaac Marks, Anxiety.)

 

MEDICATIONS

In the contemporary world mental disorders are treated with medications: anxiety with anxiolytics (such as Valium, Xanax, Librium etc), depression with antidepressants (such as Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil etc), mania with anti mania medications (such as Lithium, Depakote etc), schizophrenia with neuroleptics (such as Haldol, Zyprexa, Risperdal etc). These medications do reduce the gross symptoms of mental disorders but, ultimately, do not heal them. However, until there is a cure they seem called for and the mentally ill ought to avail themselves of medications.

But while taking their medications, the mentally ill ought to try to remember to give up their pursuit of specialness and separation; they ought to remember that in eternity we are joined though in time we are separated. All people ought to reduce their separation from each other via love and forgiveness.

In absolute terms return to union, that is, the relinquishment of the separated self, the ego and its body, is mental health. But we cannot be aware of union and still be on earth. On earth, the opposite of union, we are separated and so will seem until we exit from earth (we are always in unified state but forget it and dream that we are separated selves).

On earth, the individual can remember his oneness (in spirit) with all people and love all of them. In love and forgiveness the individual attains a measure of mental health, the relative mental health that is possible while we live in the world of separation. Absolute mental health (healthy thinking, which is unified thinking) is only possible in perfect love, which can only obtain in unified state.

 

SOLUTION


There is only one solution to the human problem of self rejection: accept the truth. The truth is that as bodies we are nothing. This is literal, not figurative. If you melted down the individual’s body and collected the trace elements in it and sold them you would obtain about a dollar. The individual’s body is composed of traces of many elements (carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, potassium, magnesium, sodium, calcium, sulfur, phosphor etc) and the atoms that make them up. (Atoms, in turn, are made of particles, such as neutron, proton, electron, quarks etc).

The human body is composed of matter. Our bodies are temporary agglomeration of matter. Our bodies are elements held together by chemical bonds.

When we die the chemical bonds holding together the various elements that constitute our bodies dissolve and the various elements continue existing as part of matter in the universe. What was your body today may be in trees, animals, stars etc tomorrow.

 

PURSUIT OF IDEAL, PERFECT SELF

Each of us is aware of the nothingness of our physical being. This awareness of our existential nothingness produces existential depression. The human child, by age six, if not earlier, had experienced attack on his sense of specialness, his narcissism, vanity and pride, he had existential depression. He does not like it and resolves to make his self seem special and important and constructs a personality that seems important.

All human beings pursue ideal selves (power and superiority). The human personality is defined by how each of us rejects his original depressed self view and pursues a fictional special, important self.

Those who pursue inordinately important self are neurotics and psychotics; normal persons are doing the same thing that abnormal persons are doing but in a more tame manner.

To be a human being is to reject the bodily self and aspire after a mentally invented ideal self and associate that self with the body and defend it.

The ideal self is a chimera, it is not real but it is a desired self and it is defended. Defense of the false ideal self makes it seem real in the defender’s mind.

 

 

NO SELF OR UNIFIED SELF

When the individual stops defending his fictional special self he recognizes that it is a false, non-existent self. If you stop defending your idea of self (and its body) you suddenly become aware that you have no self. (There is still a self, the observing self, the self that is aware that it is not its body and personality.)

If you have no self then what and who are you? This is what most of us are afraid of finding out.

 

MEDITATION


One way to find out that ones ideal self is fictional is to meditate. In meditation the individual consciously invalidates his idea of self. He tells himself that he is not the self that he can think of, that he does not know who he is, does not know who other people are and does not know what anything is or means. He negates all ego based conceptual processes and remains quiet. In silence he wants to know if he has a different self other than the self he is aware of.

If the individual truly permits his separated ego self to die, albeit momentarily in meditation, he experiences no-self, that is, knows that he does not have a separated ego self. He experiences what Buddha called Nirvana (no separated self) and Hinduism calls Samadhi (unified self).

If you stopped defending your idea of your self what would happen is that you discover that you have no separated self. You would discover what Buddha discovered twenty five hundred years ago: that there is a life force that exists in all of us but is not our individual personalities.

One life manifests in infinite appearances, including in human personalities, animals, trees etc.

In its true state, life is one; but in its manifest state, life is infinite in numbers. There is only one force in the universe, one self, one life and intelligence. That one life is called God by religionists. But it has no name.

Life is one and simultaneously infinite in numbers. It is in itself and in all its parts, as all its parts are in it and in each other.

In its true state, life is not physical and has no dimension. It is not here or there. It is nowhere and everywhere. It does not see for there is nobody that is not it to see. It has no sense of I and not I, no subject and object. Nobody on earth can describe life.

Life in its true state does not even know that it is operating on earth. As it were, it goes to sleep and dreams our world but in its wake state does not know about the existence of our world.

When each of us awakens to the awareness of that universal life force he does not remember been part of our present world (actually, at first he does so vaguely but soon forgets it, as we do on earth: upon waking up from sleep, forget what happened when we were sleeping and dreaming).

When one returns to this world of ours one does not remember the world of life in its true essence (its categories are not translatable to the categories of our world).

The lesson from meditation is that what we currently call our selves, our separated ego selves housed in bodies, is not our real self. Our real self is unified spirit (that which is not in body I call spirit, but it has no name).

Our true self is one and simultaneously infinite in numbers. As long as we are identified with the separated ego selves in bodies, however, we do not know about the existence of the real self. At the moment we identify with separated ego selves and defend them and they seem real to us. As far as we are concerned the separated ego selves are the only selves we know of.

We can make our separated ego selves, our human personalities, as loving as is possible. Forgiving those who harmed us (harmed our separated ego selves, for the spirit self cannot be harmed) is one way to feel peaceful and happy.

In this essay, I am working with the separated ego self; I am not dwelling on metaphysics. Our current challenge is how to make our separated ego selves, our human personalities, as lovely as is possible. Those who want to get in touch with their real self, the unified spirit self, know what to do. (Forgiveness removes the mask over love/union/god/heaven; the love/union that is always there but hidden by our wish for separated self and our unloving behaviors; forgive, love, meditate and you experience your real self, the unified spirit self, our shared one self.)

 

PURSUIT OF FALSE SPECIALNESS AND WORTH

In the meantime, we are on earth and feel like we are nothing and attempt to make our selves seem like we are something special and important. The various ways we go about making ourselves seem important is our personalities.

To the extent that we pretend to be special and important when we are not we are not healthy.

A healthy person accepts that in body and separated state that he is totally unimportant (but that in his unified spirit state that he has total importance).

Mental health lays in not taking ones ego and bodily self too seriously, in seeing ones self for what one is, nothing. In body we are nothing but in spirit we are everything; in separated state we are nothing; in unified state we are everything.

(Body is a means of separation, of fragmenting that which is one and identifying with a fragment as who one is. Spirit is unified and each of us is all of us. Our worth lies in our unified spirit state.)

When the individual pursues ideal separated false self he is mentally sick; when he gives up pursuit of all ideal selves and accepts that on earth he is not worth much and makes the most of it he is normal. When the individual accepts his physical nothingness and spiritual everything-ness he is healthy.

Human beings do not have to do anything to be their real selves; they do not have to expend any energy to be their real selves (in spirit and in time). On the other hand, they spend an awful amount of energy trying to become who they are not: false, special separated self. They expend energy defending that which, in fact, does not exist. (Pity them for only insane persons can spend the type of energy they spend defending a chimera, a futile self, a self that merely gives them pain, suffering, and anxiety and does not in fact exist).

People are truly an amusing bunch. They cause themselves a whole lot of suffering trying to become a self (ideal self) that they are not and cannot be. They will always be as their creator is and as he created them, unified spirit, though they pretend to be separated selves housed in bodies.

If the individual lets go of his separated consciousness he literally awakens in the awareness of unified self. It is separated consciousness that keeps people in the world of separation and specialness, the world of space, time and matter. Let go of your consciousness of I and you would end perception of yourself and others and simply descend back into the sea of wholeness, peace, joy, in a word, bliss.

 

DISCUSSION


We can get carried away by interesting talk on spirituality. However, I am mostly interested in the here and now world. Whereas the individual ought to make accommodations to some metaphysics, what is salient is how he lives in the here and now world.

In the here and now, the individual ought to give up all ideas that he is special and important; he ought to quit pursuing ideal selves and perfect selves and ideal social institutions and ideal worlds and simply accept his real self, other people’s real selves’ and the real world.

The individual’s earthly self is composed of his body and his personality, both of which are imperfect. He has to accept his imperfect body and personality and not seek to make them what they are not, ideal. He ought to live with what is, not what should be.

What make for the most effective adaptation to the exigencies of this world are science and its applied form, technology. The individual ought to study science and technology and use them to deal with the exigencies of this world. He ought not to try to escape into some ideal fantasy world that does not exist. The individual must always redirect his thinking, mind, to the here and now world.

One must accept ones self, other people and the world as they are, not as they should become; ideals and perfection are imaginary mental constructs that do not exist in the physical and social world. It is in accepting the real self and real world that human beings find peace and happiness, and mental health.

 

CONCLUSION

It is ones thinking, mind, which invented the ideal self that one identifies with and seeks to become and in pursuing which one gives one pain and suffering.

What ones thinking/mind invented ones thinking can also reinvent. One can use ones thinking to understand that the ideal self is impossible of attainment and give it up. Simply stop desiring to be an ideal self and stop defending your idea of an ideal self and be your real self.

Improper use of thinking, that is, misuse of mind made the individual unhappy and proper thinking can make the individual happy. It is all a manner of thinking. One must train ones mind to think right; one must discipline ones mind to think along the line that would generate peace and happiness for one and all people.

I have summarized what constitutes mental health and mental disorder. I have done my part; I have shared information available to me. However, until one practice the information explored here one would not know how powerful and transformative it is.

Go practice the information on mental health. Accept your real self (which, ultimately, is unified spirit) but which, in time, is the self you see in your body. Accept your body and personality as they are and stop trying to become an ideal, perfect, special person. If you honestly do so you would find your life changed, turned around. You would begin living a successful life, and become the type of person other people want to be around with and want to hear talk.

I have given you this information for free; it is now up to you to practice it. If you do you would find your life on earth peaceful and happy. The ideas in this essay will enable you live a healthy life.

If you share this information with other people you would find that you would be able to make a living rather effortlessly. Africans suffer to irk out a meager living because they do not care or love one another. I have shown you that love and caring for other people is the only way to live a fulfilling life, not by pilling up empty titles.

I give you my peace and joy; share that peace and joy; give it away to other people. It is in giving it away that you receive it; it is in loving other people that one loves ones self; it is in love that we are mentally healthy.

 

Cheers,

Ozodi Thomas Osuji, PhD

May 25, 2007

[email protected] e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

 

FURTHER READING

Adler, Alfred (1999) the Neurotic Constitution. New York : International Library of Psychology, Routledge.

Allport, Gordon (1961) Pattern and Growth in Personality. New York : Harcourt College Publishers.

(1975) The Nature of Prejudice. Westport , CN: Greenwood Press.

American Psychiatric Association, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, (1994) Washington , DC . American Psychiatric Press.

Ansbacher, Henz .L. and Ansbacher, Rowena, R. (1964) The Individual Psychology of Alfred Adler. New York : Harper Torchbooks.

Ayer, A.J. (1968) The Origins of Pragmatism. London : Macmillan.

Beck, Aaron (1990) Cognitive Therapy for Personality Disorders. New York : Guilford Press.

Camus, Albert, (2003) The Stranger. New York : Sparks Publishing Group.

Ellis, Albert (2004) Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy. New York : Prometheus Book Publishers.

Eriksson, Erik (1993) Childhood and Society. New York : W.W. Norton.

Freud, Anna. (1980) The Ego and its Mechanisms of Defense. In The Writings of Anna Freud. New York : IUP.

Freud, Sigmund (1961) The Life and Works of Sigmund Freud, Ed Ernest Jones. New York : Lionel Trilling and Steven.

Fromm, Eric (1947) Escape from Freedom. New York : Routledge.

Horney, Karen (1991) Neurosis and Human Growth. New York : W.W. Norton.

Jung, Carl G. Basic Writings of C.G. Jung. Princeton , New Jersey : Princeton University Press.

Kelly, George. (1955) The Psychology of Personal Constructs. New York : W.W. Norton.

Laing, R.D. (1960) The Divided Self: An Existential Study in Sanity and Madness. New York : Penguin.

(1961) Self and Others. New York : Penguin.

(1964) the Politics of Experience and the Bird of Paradise. New York : Penguin.

Maslow, Abraham. (1998) Maslow on Management. New York : John Wiley and Sons.

(1970) Motivation and Personality. New York : Harper

Meissner, William W. (1994) Psychotherapy and the Paranoid Process. New York : Aronson, Jason Publishers.

Rogers, Carl. (1951) Client Centered Therapy. London : Constable.

Ross, Elizabeth Keble (1969) On Death and Dying. New York : Simon & Schuster/Touchstone.

Sartre, Jean Paul. (2003) the Philosophy of Jean Paul Sartre. New York : Knopf Publishing Group.

Schucman, Helen (1976) A Course in Miracles. Tiburon, CA. Foundation for Inner Peace.

Shapiro, David (1999) Autonomy and the Rigid Character. New York : Basic Books

----------------- (1999) Neurotic Styles. New York : Basic Books.

Skinner, B.F. (2002) Beyond Freedom and Dignity. New York : Hackett Publishing.

 

Sullivan, Harry Stack. (1953) The Interpersonal Theory of Psychiatry. New York : W.W. Norton.

Swanson, David et al. (1970) The Paranoid. Boston : Houghlin, Mifflin.

Szasz, Thomas. (1961) The Myth of Mental Illness. New York : Harper and Row.

Underhill, Evelyn. (1911) Mysticism.

Vaihinger, H. (1935) The Philosophy of “As If.” London : Kegan Paul Publishers

Zimbado, Phillip. (1990) Shyness. New York : Addison Wesley.

30  Forum / The Buzz Central / Re: Faze signed on Akon's Label ..... on: 26-05-2007 03:08 PM
ooops dguy i've gotten it,

My deal with Akon – Faze opens up

When he first broke the news in December 2006 that he had struck a deal with Akon’s label Konvict Music and that he was recording a song with the Senegalese-born superstar, many took singer Faze’s assertions with a pinch of salt. Especially when he released his second album ‘Independent’ without the rumoured duet with Akon and without Convict’s imprint.
Now the high-pitched singer, who’s joining forces with buddies 2face and Blackface to record another Plantashun Boiz album has explained the real situation of his ‘deal’ with Akon.
In  an exclusive chat at HipHopWorld office, in Ikeja lagos, the excited singer, beaming radiantly ,and glad for what the future holds, explains: ‘we agreed to meet in Ghana…we had been in touch even before then. He heard my stuff and said he was feeling it. So we met in Ghana and spent time together…in the studios, going out etc…and we agreed on the convict deal…it’s going to start running as soon as we conclude everything. That’ll be after I go to the US very soon’
Determined to convince us, and prove to sceptics he was no name-dropper, he played a recorded clip on his portable DVD, showing Akon and himself disembarking from a limousine, encircled by bodyguards. In the clip, Akon says of Faze: ‘yo whassup…I’m hanging out with my man Faze…watch out for his album on Konvict music’…
Though, however, the clip did not show the artistes signing a contract, Akon showed the Nigerian star love and suggested they may be working together. Those who know, have said, Akon- who rose to superstardom following the success of his post-prison LP ‘locked up’- plans to release a Faze album on Konvict in 2008.
Before the recent development, Akon who has performed in Nigeria twice since 2005, had openly identified with 2face Idibia and D’banj. At a 2005 concert held at the Coronet (Elephant & castle), London , he hopped upstage to join 2face Idibia  after he got overwhelmed by the singer’s performance. However, the rumoured collaborations with 2face and D’banj have yet to see the light of day.

Waiting 2 see dis ALBUM. Smiley
31  Forum / Politics / Ehindero Parades Ige's Suspected Killers on: 26-05-2007 02:48 PM
The Inspector General of Police, Mr. Sunday Ehindero this afternoon paraded four suspects whom he alleged murdered the former Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Chief Bola Ige, at his residence in Ibadan, Oyo State on 23 December, 2001. Parading the suspects whose names were given as Alhaji Moshood (drug baron and alleged mastermind of the murder), Oluna Tony Olasekan, Suraju Fatuka and Saidi Akande, Ehindero alleged that the suspects murdered Chief Ige on the instruction of Alhaji Moshood.

The police boss also produced a witness who was covered with a white veil.

He disclosed that it was the witness who identified the suspects as killers of Ige and that all of them were being detained at the Ikoyi Prisons at the time of the crime.

Police sources also told P.M.News that N50 million was recovered from the accounts of the baron (Alhaji Moshood) when he was arrested.

Ehindero disclosed further that police investigations revealed that Alhaji Moshood bought a ram, jersey and table tennis balls for prison inmates when he learnt that Ige had been killed by his men.

The police boss said the witness was able to identify them all because he was also at the Ikoyi Prisons with the suspects.

But while speaking with journalists, Alhaji Moshood denied that he masterminded the murder of Ige.

He dismissed police allegations that he bought and killed a ram to celebrate the murder of Ige, saying that he always buys ram every sallah celebration when he was in prison.

Alhaji Moshood said he had a lot of respect for Ige even though he was prosecuting him. The suspect also disclosed that he saw Ige once when he was brought to court.

He said he didn’t have to kill Ige because he had been granted bail.

Another suspect, Oluna Tony Olasekan, denied participating in Ige’s murder.

He revealed that he had been in prison six years before Alhaji Moshood was brouight to the prison.

He said he was arrested in Ikire in a robbery operation and denied knowing Moshood.

The veiled witness also gave account of how Alhaji Moshood recruited the suspects for the dastardly murder.

He said Alhaji Moshood was staying in the Aso Rock section of Ikoyi Prisons at the time the crime was committed.Before the suspects were paraded today, Ehindero had kept journalists waiting for several hours at the conference hall of his office on the 7th floor of Louis Edet House, Abuja.

Some of the journalists became angry but had to wait until the suspects were evetually paraded.

On Wednesday this week, Ehindero had shelved the planned parade of the suspects after keeping over 70 local and international journalists waiting for several hours.

That day, four suspects were brought in briefly and taken away almost immediately, an action many believed was taken to prevent journalists from asking the suspects questions.

President Olusegun Obasanjo had said that a drug baron masterminded the killing of Ige on 23 December, 2001, a remark echoed by Ehindero which has attracted widespread condemnation from members of the Ige family and many quarters.
32  Forum / Relationships & Romance / Red carpet at NMA on: 26-05-2007 02:10 PM


Kate Henshaw-Nuttal
Pics.: Oyin Bada-Onime

The Maestro, official trophy of the Nigerian Music Awards, may have been the object of desire of every artiste at last weekend’s return of the famous NMA, but it was hardly the attraction.

The attraction was in what the stars decked out in, as they shone down on the International Conference Centre venue in Abuja.
The show had all the paraphenalia of glitz, glamour and razzmattazz. The creme-de-la-creme of the society were present.

Fashion was upbeat as the ladies spared no cost to anounce their presence on the red carpet. It was more of fashion parade and make-up. Some outrageous, outlandish and others masquerades.

Both the young and restless, old and spent, all found a common platform to flaunt their assets.
Saturday Sun captured the celebs in different shades and colours
•Stella Damasus-Aboderin led the pack of trendy ladies in her admix of baby pink and black see-through ensemble.

•Celebrated screen great, Joke Jacobs looked half her age, stunning indeed, in her figure-hugging number made in simple Adire.

•Onyeka Onwenu looked every inch elegant and lovely in her dress.
• Ara spared no cost to put together this outfit in order to create effect and she sure did
• Grace Egbagbe was gorgeous in her lilac purple dress, too.

• One of our own, Funke Egbemode of Daily Independent Newspapers set aside her busy schedule to be at this event. Her choice of spaggetti “dipped” in red was simply stunning.
•Grace Amah is fast growing up in her fashion sense.

•Uche Ibeto, remember her? The Jigida girl, she “resurrected” once again looking more cosmetic than ever. Although, her purple dress was lovely but was outlandish
•Kate Henshaw-Nuttal looked very much like a model on the runway in her criss-crossing mini-dress. Her display of “leg work” was perhaps the high point of her presence.
•Senator Florence Ita Giwa was also there.
•Mrs Dupe Jemibewon was refreshingly different in black and white.
•Bespectacled Toyin Steve Nwosu looked radiant too.
33  Forum / The Buzz Central / Idols: And the winner is......? on: 26-05-2007 01:35 PM
The die is cast. Omawumi and Timi, the last two contestants standing at the ongoing Idols West Africa reality show, are probably the most tensed up persons on the face of the planet at the moment. By Monday, next week, their fate will be determined, as the winner of the show will finally emerge.


Expectedly, Temitayo George was booted out of the show last Monday. Of the three contestants, Temi’s performance was the least appreciated. It didn’t come as a surprise that she garnered the least audience votes.

Meanwhile, Temitayo might have missed out on her chance to be the Idols West Africa winner, but she’s still basking in the light of her Idols glory. On Sunday night, which was her last time on stage, she sang two songs – Mariah Carey’s I’ll Be There and the Diana Ross number He Lives in You. Whilst her performances were good and judge Nana described her second performance as powerful, it was Timi and Omawumi who really dazzled on Sunday.

Singing Lemar’s If There’s Any Justice, Timi opened the show and gave a controlled, versatile performance that saw the judges, the audiences and fans singing his praises! He then sang Bryan Adam’s memorable classic Everything I Do, I Do it For You; and again, he received encouraging comments from all the judges and made his fans want to do everything they could for him!

Not to be outdone, Omawumi rocked the reggae smash hit I Don’t Want to Wait in Vain, and kept fans screaming for more with a performance that paid tribute to the reggae legend Bob Marley. She then closed off Sunday’s show with an emotional, polished performance of the Christina Aguilera hit, Ain’t No Other Man.

The question now is: Can the big song maestro Timi win against the gorgeous and gifted Omawumi? Or will Omawumi be the darling of audience votes ahead of talented Timi?

Many believe Timi is just the guy to beat. He has proved it time and time again that those who chose him to be a part of the competition did not make a mistake.

In fact, his greatest challenge was Jodie, who was voted out three weeks back; since then, it didn’t look as if anybody could beat Timi.

However, Omawumi has her own numerous fans who simply love her. In recent times, she has exhibited so much talent that many never knew she possessed. Like she said during the last eviction, “If I am in the finals, I will bring out my best trick to make sure I emerge the winner.”

Nobody knows who will take home the recording contract prize from Sony/BMG Africa International, the Kia Picanto from Nigeria’s Dana Group, the USD 10,000 from Ecobank, and the ultimate viewing experience of a 26-inch LCD TV and I-Pod from the show’s headline sponsor Celtel. Time will tell.
34  Forum / Sports / Re: Barclays Premiership Transfer gossip on: 26-05-2007 01:31 PM
Na wao....Man Utd don get plenty money and they want to go in the way of Chelsea spending money to buy players... I hope they'll succeed.
35  Forum / Sports / Re: what do u think about these TRANSFERS on: 26-05-2007 01:28 PM
dalaitan1,

I think Saha has finished he's Career in Man Utd and should look forward to a club where he can always pllay with the first 11 eleven.
36  Forum / The Buzz Central / Re: Faze signed on Akon's Label ..... on: 26-05-2007 01:25 PM
Dguy, please give us the source of this information.... We really need it.
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