Every Nigerian, not just Nollywood actors and actresses, should be involved in the campaign against domestic violence in this country. Nollywood cannot do everything.

We are just a part of the society. Performing musicians should be involved too.

Everyone has a part to play, including doctors and policemen, whose job is to counsel the man to go back home and talk to his wife.

    Susan Peters

Susan Peters‘ little prank on Mirco-blogging site Twitter got heads turning for minutes when she announced singer D’banj and  actress Genevieve had tied the knot.

Obviously fooling around, Peters made the joke more expensive saying D’banj had done so in the presence of his G.O.O.D Music label boss Kanye West and beau Kim Kardashian.

‘D’Banj proposed to Genevieve yesterday, in the presence of Kany West & Kim Kardashian‘, @RealSusanPeters jokingly tweeted last Thursday.

It’s not surprising for D’banj and Genny’s name to come up in such scenario. After featuring in his ‘Fall in love‘ video back in 2010, the Nollywood actress was rumoured to have been in a relationship with D’banj. But acts did not help matters as they played along, encouraging scenarios that suggested they were an item…

Four men which names are Saminu Haruna, Salisu Adamu, Abdullahi Mohammed and Lawal Sa’idu were arrested today as they planted high calibre explosive device within the mosque’s premises minutes to the commencement of Friday prayer at Fagge Juma’at mosque in Kano.

Some people immediately branded the would-be bombers Christians and to prevent any break down of law and other, the police immediately put up a press statement.

In a statement issued by its spokesperson, DSP Rilwanu M. Dutse, the command gave the names of the suspects as Saminu Haruna, Salisu Adamu, Abdullahi Mohammed and Lawal Sa’idu, adding that they were apprehended by people in the area.

Some of the suspect worships at the local mosque and Muslims by faith.
 
Police have detonated the time bomb without causing casualty or damage

When Rukayat Job was 13, she met Jackson in her mother’s beer parlour in 2009. She thought luck had smiled on her when he asked her to be his lover. For awhile, they enjoyed their relationship until tragedy suddenly struck.


Job was arrested for the murder of a man in the Oyingbo area of Lagos. The victim was allegedly shot accidentally as policemen tried to quell a fight between Jackson, then Job’s ex boyfriend and some friends of her current lover, Joshua.

Now Job, 16, who is a Ghanaian by birth, is marking time at the female wing of the Kirikiri Prison for an offence she did not commit.

The teenager claims the murder took place in her absence. Speaking alternately in English and then Yoruba, when words failed her, she recounts the circumstances surrounding her relationship with Jackson.
She says, “I started dating Jackson in 2009. At the time, my mum sold beer under the bridge at Costain and I always assisted her. I couldn’t attend school because we had no money and my father was dead.
“I met Jackson in my mother’s beer parlour. He occasionally came to buy beer there and was very nice to me. He then invited me to Ilaje Street in Oyingbo, where he lived, and offered me a nice accommodation.
“I didn’t tell my mother when I left with Jackson for Ilaje. We were poor and I wanted a better life. He gave me a nice room and took care of me. I knew he built houses and sold land to people. After a while, his wife started to threaten me. I didn’t even know he was married and lived with his family at Ilaje. This woman kept sending messages to me to leave her husband. After sometime, my neighbours advised me to end my relationship with Jackson for my own safety.”

Truly scared for her life, Job ended her relationship with Jackson, who was not pleased with her decision. The enraged lover took back the accommodation he had provided for Job and threw her out. A few weeks after her relationship with Jackson ended, Job began another relationship with a young man named Joshua. The latter lived within the same community.

Job moved in with Joshua. Jackson learnt that she was dating someone else and he did not take kindly to the news.
“One day, Joshua and I went to attend a naming ceremony in the area. While we were there, Jackson walked in and started a fight with Joshua. He tore Joshua’s clothes. It was the intervention of the other guests that eventually ended the fight. Joshua and I left the party immediately. Instead of going back to Joshua’s house, we went to his friend’s house to spend the night,” Job recalls.

Unknown to the lovers, Jackson allegedly went in search of Joshua in his mother’s home in company with five members of the Oodua Peoples Congress. Although Jackson did not tell her why he had visited, Joshua’s mother told him that her son was not at home and she had no idea where he was. Undeterred, he left for the child naming ceremony, which was still in full swing and had some of Joshua’s friends in attendance.
Jackson started another fight, this time with Joshua’s friends and with the active support of the members of the OPC.

Job says, “While we were in the residence of his friend, Joshua got a phone call. He was informed that Jackson had started a fight with some of his friends in his absence and the OPC men he brought were shooting indiscriminately, and that some of the neighbours had called the police.

“Unfortunately, the policemen began to shoot as soon as they arrived at the scene. As a result, one of the OPC men was killed and everyone was blaming me as the cause of the death.

“I was so scared after the call that I fled to Badagry to stay with some members of my family there. I had stayed a week before I got another call from a friend that I should return to Ilaje, that nobody was looking for me. Although I left Badagry, I didn’t go back to Ilaje. I went to Surulere and stayed with a friend. I tried Joshua’s phone number without success and eventually called his sister Angela to ask after him.

“It was after Angela gave Joshua my phone number that he called me. My friend would not let Joshua spend the night. So, we had to leave for Orile where we stayed with one of his friends.”

The next morning after an urgent phone call that claimed Joshua’s mother’s home at Ilaje was on fire, the couple hurriedly left for Ilaje. Unfortunately for Job, the commercial motorcycle that she boarded was operated by an errand boy of a well known hoodlum in Ilaje community. Instead of taking her to her lover’s home, the okada operator took her straight to the hoodlum’s house, where she was handed over to the Iponri Police Division.

“I spent a week at the Iponri Police Station before I was taken to the State Criminal Investigation Department at Panti. I spent one month and three weeks there before I was taken to court. I told the Investigating Police Officer that I was 13, but the man wrote 18 years as my age. Even when I was arraigned at the Yaba Magistrate’s Court, the IPO shouted at me in court and asked me if I wasn’t 18 years old. I didn’t give any reply because I was scared. After that, I was brought to the Kirikiri Prison.”

CRIME DIGEST
investigations showed that Job was arraigned for murder at the Yaba Magistrate’s Court IV on May 11, 2009 alongside other adults.

When contacted by our correspondent, human rights activist and founder of the Stephen and Solomon Foundation, a non-governmental organisation which offers free legal services for the indigent, Aigbonosimuan Giwa-Amu said, “We will take up Job’s case. Remanding a minor in an adult prison facility shows a lack of understanding of the law, either by the police or the prosecuting authority. There is nothing wrong with a magistrate, who reasonably suspects the age of a defendant on a charge sheet, asking the defendant her true age. You watch the demeanour of the defendant as you ask to determine the truth.

“However, more often than not, some magistrates see their duties at arraignments as mere formalities or just administrative. Where the facts of the case file shows that no offences have been disclosed, there is nothing more honourable than declaring that the defendant has no case to answer.

“Our prisons have been turned to dumpsites for frivolous offences by the police and the Directorate for Public Prosecution, which should be able, under two weeks, to produce their legal advice. Criminal prosecution should not be an act of persecution; it should be construed as the act of bringing a defendant to justice.”

It is no longer news that President Goodluck Jonathan brought a 'special gift' for Nigerians on his return from Brazil on Friday. Gen. Andrew Azazi is OUT, Col. Sambo Dasuki is IN!

Sources in the seat of power told  that the mood in Aso Rock is one of "silence" as nobody has been able to read Mr. President's body language in the last 24 hours. One source said there are fears that a few highly placed official in the security hierarchy might also be kicked out in the course of the week.

Fingers crossed! Lets move to the new man in the hot seat:
Retired Col. Sambo Mohammed Dasuki, the new NSA, comes from the royal family of Sokoto. He is the son of the former Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Ahmed Dasuki, who was deposed by the military regime of the late Gen. Sani Abacha.

Gen. Abacha dismissed Dasuki in 1993 over his suspected closeness to former head of state, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida. Dasuki was a former ADC to Gen. Babangida, and he was believed to be actively involved in the 1985 coup that brought Babangida to power.

Dasuki later fled to the United States in 1995 after he was accused by the Abacha regime of being a party to a coup plot allegedly led by retired Col. Lawan Gwadabe.

On Dasuki's return to Nigeria, then President Olusegun Obasanjo appointed him as the managing director of National Security and Printing Company. It was believed that his appointment was influenced by Gen. Babangida.

Dasuki attended the Washington DC and George Washington University, where he obtained a BA in International Relations and MA in Security Policy Studies respectively.

He had his military training in several institutions in Nigeria and abroad including the Nigerian Army School of Artillery, Oklahoma, U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, Ft. Leavenworth Kensas.

The major task handed down to Dasuki by President Jonathan is to tackle Boko Haram insurgency, which is already threatening to spread into other regions of the country. He will also be expected to tackle militancy in the South-South, where Nigeria derives its main source of revenue.

  Best dressed goes to...?     
Tuface Idibia vs Babatunde the Rapper                   Caroline Danjuma vs Funmi Iyanda

Law enforcement agents and travellers were last week astonished when 66 wraps of narcotics, which tested positive to methamphetamine, were discovered in the private part of Mande Bala, 48, at the screening section of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos on June 15, 2012.

The lady was promptly arrested by officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency shortly before she was due to board a Kenyan Airways flight to Nairobi.

The NDLEA Commander at the airport, Hamza Umar, confirmed the arrest. He said, “The quantity of drugs that Bala had inserted in her private part was so much that it affected her gait, drawing the attention of the NDLEA officials. No suspect has ever inserted such a large quantity of drugs in the country. Usually, cases of insertion are not more than 300g. The discovery was shocking.”

CRIME DIGEST gathered that in all, the 66 wraps of methamphetamine expelled from Bala’s private part weighed 1kg.

Bala, who claimed to be a widow and mother of three, told CRIME DIGEST that she was pushed to trafficking in drugs in order to raise school fees for her children. She said, “I am a widow; my husband died in 2007. I have got three children to take care of. I need N45,000 to pay some fees for my child and I also had to take care of my rent because I have a quit notice to leave my house in July. I was actually supposed to swallow the drugs but I was too scared to do so.

“I then decided on my own to hide them instead in my private parts because I was scared I would die if I ingested the drugs. I have heard such things happen. Although it was difficult for me to walk, I had to do my best because there is no one else to take care of my children.”

In his reaction, the chairman of the NDLEA, Ahmadu Giade, described the incident as disturbing. “Apart from the quantity of drugs caught with her, her route is a new development in drug trafficking. Drug barons now adopt a relay approach to drug trafficking. They wanted to use her to take the drug to another African country before using an indigene of that country to take the drug to other continents, where the profit is higher. We are not oblivious of their moves and we are prepared to nip them in the bud,” he said.

According to the agency, no suspect has ever inserted such a large quantity of drugs in her private part since the establishment of the NDLEA in 1989. The suspect, who is a graduate of accounting from a South-West university, lives at Ijoko in Ogun State and is a native of Lagos Island in Lagos State. She will be charged to court at the conclusion of investigations.

Beyonce and Kim Kardashian spotted hanging out, dancing, sharing laughs and cheering on their men at the Watch the Throne concert in Birmingham UK last night. This is the first time that they've been spotted hanging out together since Kim started dating Kanye...and going by comments on Twitter after these photos were made public, people aren't too happy to see Beyonce hanging out with Kim.

First Oprah, now Beyonce. Kim keeps winning...:-)

You Know It’s A Nigerian Movie When;



1. The title of the movie tells u the whole story line

2. A lady is about to go to bed at night and yet her face is fully made up.

3. Someone will be shown 25 years after and he will be wearing the same clothes he wore earlier

4. When there is a flashback in a flashback.

5. When a film talks about past events in the 80s and 90s and you see MTN, ETISALAT and GLO banners in the background.

6. The lyrics of the soundtrack is literally the plot of the movie.

7. A car is about to have an accident when the steering wheel suddenly starts turning and the driver will eventually hit an “ewedu” stem and the driver will be seen with his head on the steering wheel with no damage to windscreen, nor any scratch on the car whatsoever.

8. The same song is played ON and ON and ON throughout the movie (whether it is an action/love/drama scene)

9. The actors waste unnecessary time to perform an act that shouldn’t take more than a fraction of a second e.g An actor will spend fifteen good minutes of his time threatening to kill someone, spend another five minutes looking for his gun (while the mumu victim will stand there watching) and then spend another ten minutes shouting “I WILL KILL YOU TODAY” after which he tots his gun (the sound is often times not in sequence with the trigger pull) and then the victim screams ” I AM DEAD, YOU HAVE KILLED ME, I AM DYING” and then he dies.

10. Advert floods d first half hour. Thank God for fast forwarding

11. A car will hit someone at top speed and that person will still be lying on the bonnet of the car

12. The bad characters are completely evil and the good characters are completely good, one track personalities

13. You have to reduce the volume for the soundtrack and increase it to hear what the actor are saying, so you have to hold onto your remote control.

14. When you see a village girl speaking phonetics

15. Almost all endings will happen in church, when at the end of the movie, a pastor and his team prays and the wicked/evil person manifests, confesses and then drops dead. . . To God be the glory. This always happens when the director/ producers have run out of ways to end the movie.

16. A ghost will be looking on both sides of the road before crossing

17. When married women wear club-appropriate outfits all day, everyday- even when cooking in the kitchen or attending to someone at the store.

18. You can predict the movie by mere looking at the DVD casing

19. When the film advertisement ends with GO GRAB UR COPY NOW!!!!!! as if its going out of existence and ur entire being is dependent on it

20. When it is marketed and distributed at 51/52 Iweka road Onitsha, 12 Idumota lane or Pound road Aba.

21. An actor leaves his house in a red shirt and is seen in the car with a blue shirt and arrives his destination in a red shirt.

22. When a hospitalized patient dies by shaking violently on the hospital bed.

23. When Jim Iyke or anoda actor is putting on SUNSHADES in a CLUB at NIGHT

24. When a man suffers a gun shot injury to the tummy and is shown in the hospital with bandages on thier head and a cast on their arms and legs. .

25. When a club scene with people dancing lasts for over 15 minutes with no dialogue or incident.

26. When Aki and paw paw must act in the same movie and usually as bad boys or trouble makers, Jim Iyke is always a bad/hard man, Mercy Johnson is always a village girl/student

27. Some Nigerian home video can be boring and the producers don’t help matters by extending it to PART TWO, PART THREE, PART FOUR, PART FIVE AND PART SIX (to be contd). Funny thing is everything in that movie can be acted in 20mins if it was directed properly like the Hollywood movies.

28. When a house is supposedly on fire but wont be consumed in flames

29. When a village igbo setting has all of the cast scantily dressed with ankara or animal skin, like NOBODY wears shirt & trouser in the village.

30. The gateman is so silly that he can be insulting his Boss(es) right in there presence without getting fired….Wonder if that is possible with the rate at which people seek for employment…( e.g. Baba Suwe Films)

31. When u see the cameraman’s image on the body of a shiny car, with his camera raised up and usually clad in white singlet and short knickers.

32. When it is distributed by Zeb Ejiro, Produced by Zeb Ejiro, Written by Zeb Ejiro, Screen Play by Zeb Ejiro, Make up by Zeb Ejiro and Directed by Zeb Ejiro

33. When a couple is making love in their room with no one watching and yet they cover themselves with thick blanket and start to struggle and sweat like they were forced to do it in a public place

34. The lil boy or girl have difficulty remembering his/her lines and picks his/her words one by one

35. It is only in Nigerian movies when a prayer warrior/ pastor says ”HOLY GHOST FIRE! to an evil person and you will see fire balls, fire whips, fire missiles appearing. Wonderful! I love my native movies.

36. Most women just love Nigerian home videos and i wonder why. Perhaps its because it feeds their emotions e.g The “wicked” husband of that “innocent” woman finally got what he “deserved” in the end OR the mother in law mistakenly ate the poison she prepared for the wife (Women just love these movies…especially the married ones and their reasons aren’t far fetched)

37. When every slap sounds like a gunshot

38. When Funke Akindele comes up with OMO GHETTO and Fathia Balogun copy cats with ONOME AGANGA, then Femi Adebayo brings JELILI and Mercy Aigbe vexs and releases……

39. When ur mother and sisters all gather in the parlour watching the tv with rapt attention and periodically turn to each other and say “this kind thing dey happen o ”

40. When u see an actor/actress remembering what happened in 1972 …and at the back u see vote for Goodluck Jonathan 2011 fresh air billboard..in 1972 41. U already know what’ll end at d beginning of the film

42. To God be the glory. Watch out for part 2

Mercy Johnson is among the happiest women in Nollywood. First, she got married to the love of her life in a superlative wedding that was the talk of the town for some time.



Second, she was awarded the Best Actress of the Year award at the recent Nollywood Movie Awards in Lagos, thereby confirming her rating as a leading actress.

The screen goddess actually dedicated the award, coming just a few months after her marriage, to her husband, Odinaose Okojie, whom she described as “the best thing to happen to me.”

“I married the only man on earth who is sweet, tolerant, very understanding, loving, caring and a strong pillar of support in all aspects of my life,” she told LIFE&BEAT.

Mercy’s numerous fans across Africa, no doubt, had expected a sharp change in her dress sense after she got married.

Some of them felt that her husband would make her discard those body-hugging dresses that used to stir up controversies around her.

But they were wrong.

The truth is that Mercy’s husband isn’t worried a bit about her choice of dresses. In fact, he even picks her dresses.

“I can tell you with absolute joy that my dress sense is one of the qualities that attracted my husband to me,” she told LIFE&BEAT recently.“As a married couple, we’re happy and overcoming the challenges that come with marriage.

“He is not a conservative man. He is forward-looking and fashion-conscious. I love him dearly and he loves me in spite of my faults.

“You would be surprised to see the kind of clothes he specially picked for me from top designers around the world. If I wear those clothes to public functions, many conservative people would have a heart attack.

“I’ve been pleading with him to let me be dressing like a married woman. Ours is a union built first on friendship, love, trust and complete faith in God.”

  Top Nigerian Singer 9ice has cried out that he's being impersonated on facebook by fraudsters.
     A fake facebook account was created with the name Bashorun Abolore Adegbola Akande. The singer has denied the account saying it was created by impostors to get money from people.
"Gd evening tweeps. Bashorun Abolore Adegbola Akande is NOT my name on Facebook. Sum1 is usin dis name 2 fraud pple. Here is d phone no he gave out to all his victims: +2347081374630" ,9ice tweeted.

ooks like there is no stopping Dbanj as he continues to make his presence felt internationally.He is on the cover of the latest issue of the UK Observer, a London based magazine

Kim Kardashian has come under fire following a new report which claims that the reality TV personality mocks her fans and once even referred to them as "stupid" and "gullible."
Hope Kim Kardashian is smart enough to know a word like “imbeciles”? Because that’s what the latest issue of Star Magazine is claiming that she called her fans!

Kris Humphries, Kardashian's estranged husband, is reportedly intent on releasing damning evidence in court about the 31-year-old, including how much she disrespects her fans, who she often refers to as "dolls" along with her alleged obsession with plastic surgery, according to Star Magazine.
"Kris has text and voicemails from Kim," a source told Star magazine. "Where she calls her audience 'gullible,' 'stupid imbeciles,' 'boring little nobodies' and 'pathetic people with no lives of their own.'"
Kardashian, who filed from divorce from Humphries in October after just 72 days of marriage, has previously denied ever going under the knife, but new evidence could finally prove otherwise.
"Kim's gotten liposuction, three nose jobs, a boob job and work done on her butt," the source said. "She can't stop with the plastic surgery and I don't think she ever will."
The estranged couple is scheduled to start individual depositions at the end of June, and their divorce battle has become increasingly nasty in recent weeks....Ok na! Thank God am not a fan of  that their stupid show.

Five cars including two Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs) were destroyed yesterday following a bomb explosion in the vicinity of Crystal Lounge, a popular night club in Abuja situated on Aminu Kano Crescent, Wuse II in Abuja.

FCT Police Commissioner Aderele Shinaba confirmed to Weekly Trust that there was an explosion around midnight but said “I am going there now. It is too early to make comment.”

He later told Weekly Trust that the bomb was thrown from a moving vehicle by a man driving on the opposite lane close to Etisalat office. “No casualty was recorded apart from the two SUVs that had their windshields and other glasses shattered by the blast.”

Our reporter who visited the area said he saw security operatives at the scene searching for clues.

“I heard the deafening sound from my room here in Zone 6,” Mohammed Sani, who resides in Zone 6, told Weekly Trust by phone.

Nigerian actress and United Nations Peace Ambassador Oge Okoye is set to storm Ghana this month for the Africa Peace Festival, taking place from June 30 to July 7, 2012, in Accra.

Okoye, one of Africa’s most respected film professionals, will lead a series of activities including an international peace conference with call for papers, peace concert, business and NGO executives conference, peace education workshop, youth leadership workshop, exhibitions, peace durbar and an Africa peace award/banquet, to highlight the importance of peace in the sub-region, and the need to safeguard the relatively stable environment the continent enjoys.

The week-long festival is being put together by the African Centre for Peace Building (AFCOPB) and brings together over one thousand participants spread across civil society, the business community, academia, media, and diplomats from across the globe.

The June 30 to July 7 event will be held at the Mensvic Hotel, East Legon, under the theme, ‘Promoting Global Peace Through Culture of Diplomacy’.

“The mission of the AFCOPB as a Ghana-based non-governmental organization (NGO) is to build peace in Ghana and Africa through conflict prevention, youth development, peace education, promotion of human rights, health and poverty reduction.

AFCOPB also seeks to champion public awareness that would enable people to make peaceful and healthy decisions for themselves, their families, nations and the continent,” said AFCOPB executive director Korsi Senyo.

The festival is being organized in partnership with Global Educators for All Initiatives, Nigeria, Metissia Arts, Germany, Uniting for Peace, UK, Climax Travel and Tours, Nigeria, Compassionate Journeys, USA, with support from over 30 organizations across the globe including the Ministry of Tourism, Ghana, Music for Peace, Switzerland, Peace for People-Nepal, among other corporate bodies.

Born in London, United Kingdom, Okoye is a Theatre Arts graduate of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University. With numerous film titles to her credit, Okoye is about one of Africa’s best screen personalities.

A warm and affable fellow who has great respect for mankind, Okoye’s exploits earned her a United Nations Ambassadorial role this year.

As a UN ambassador, she joins hands with other domestic and international ambassadors to propagate national and world peace through her actions and words.

An amazing actress with an unmatched in-depth knowledge of her craft, Okoye’s ability to interpret her roles with so much dexterity and poise has placed her among the best rated actresses in Africa.

Her visit to Ghana, a familiar territory where she enjoys a commendable level of respect amongst other movie professionals, is sure to make the needed impact.

“We are hopeful that at the end of this week-long event, we would have impacted positively on society, and also, managed to get our message across,” said Gilbert Boakye Nhyira, PR consultant to the festival.

“There is no doubt Oge Okoye’s inclusion will surely get us results,” he added.

Gist has it that the Minister of the FCT, Senator Bala Mohammed  has been fingered in land scam which may now pose a show down between him and the Former First lady Hajiya Turai Yar’Adua over who owns a land which is situated within the heart of the town at the Central Business District Abuja, which now belongs to the current First Lady Patience Jonathan.

According to Enquirer :

The rage over the plot of land began when the FCT however revoked the land title ownership which was given to an NGO named Women And Youth Empowerment Foundation (WAYEF) and which also is being funded by Hajiya Turai, but the alleged land grabbing of the FCT Minister surfaced back when the said land were relocated to another organization known as African First Ladies Peace Centre, and according to findings It`s being financed by First lady, Dame Patience Jonathans.

It was exclusively revealed that recently the Minister may have fallen out with the First Lady, and all these alleged land grabbing and racketeering may be another way of pacifying the First Lady which she may not be aware of. 
According to what we gathered, documents of the land indicated that the said land which is situated at Central Area close to ThisDay Dome was issued and allocated to the NGO (WAYEF) on 19th February 2010, however in a shocking way, another document which was dated August 11, 2008 emerges from the FCT government, showing that the same plot of land has been indeed allocated earlier to the African First Ladies Peace Centre.
However, the said organization being funded by Turai, we learnt indeed seek a legal redress and filed a suit  at an Abuja High Court which also was to challenge the deeds f the FCT administration, which has turned a blind eye to the ongoing construction. However, in a recent ruling, which was delivered by Justice Peter Affen, we gathered that an injunction which ordered the FCT to hold back all parties from any further activities at the site was given.
However, the former 1st lady was said to be baffled when after only two weeks of the said injunction was issued, people working for the  African First Ladies Peace Centre  has started work again on the crisis ridden land which now compel counsel to Turai to as a matter of urgency filed contempt proceedings against the FCT Minister Senator Bala Mohammed and also the Attorney-General of the Federation, Mohammed Bello Adoke; Abuja Geographic Information System (AGIS); and the Federal Capital Territory Administration were joined in the suit.


According to the lawyer representing the former First lady in the suit, they claimed that the organization had gotten all the necessary prerequisites which made them to have approval of owing the land, and also paid a total sum of N166 million of the constitutional N184million in September 2011, to the Abuja Geographic Information System (AGIS) for the right of occupancy of which the remaining balance of  N18million was paid in November 2011.
 In spite of the said payments the land was however revoked by the FCT and even though the land C of O of August 2008 which was given to the African First Ladies Peace Centre had specified that the land was to be used only for ‘‘public institution,’’ the centre is not listed in any official document as an agency, department or parastatal of the federal government, but according to the letter of revocation and which was dated November 2, 2011 and signed by one   Mrs. Asma’u Mukhtar on behalf of the FCT Minister the land title was revoked ,“due to an overriding public interest.”


 In the same vein, another letter of revocation was also issued to the African First Ladies Peace Centre by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory signed by Mrs. Asma’u Mukhtar and also dated November 2, 2011. Subsequently, the court granted the prayers of the plaintiff and orders thus: ‘‘I will and do hereby record an order of interlocutory injunction restraining the defendants whether individually or collectively from taking any action or step that adversely affects the title, rights and interests over and the said piece of land pending the determination of this suit.”

The African queen as fondly called by her hubby Tuface was spotted at an event with a new leg tattoo. Marriage definitely agrees with her.

Benue State Government has discovered that N72 million  was  paid for the construction of a fruit juice industry in Katsina-Ala Local Government Area of the state, 20 years ago, but work on the project had been abandoned.

This was realised yesterday when the Benue Economic Team went on inspection tour to the abandoned industrial projects in Zone A, senatorial district of the state.

The team inspected the fruit juice industry at Katsina-Ala , Lobi Cassava Mills in Buruku, Tomato Puree Industry Wannune, Tarka Local Government Area, to discover the immediate and remote causes of the abandonment of work on the projects.

LEADERSHIP recalls that the state Economic Team led by its Deputy Chairman, Mrs. Dorcas Ukpe had, a month ago, visited the Igumale Cement Factory in Ado Local Government Area, Otukpo Burnt Bricks in Otukpo and the Taraku Mills in Gwer Local Government Area to find out the impediments surrounding the actualisation of the defunct industries.

The Oyo State stakeholders’ forum was held in Ibadan yesterday with an assurance from the state governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi that 10,000 housing units would be put in place before the end of his tenure.

The governor disclosed this while responding to questions and comments by all professionals  who spoke at the civic centre in Ibadan.

Governor Ajimobi said that he was impressed by the verdict of good performance passed on his government by the discussants and added that he would remain committed and focused in his administration’s desire to transform the state.

Ajimobi said that the project would begin with 1,400 housing units along Lagos-Ibadan road and added that he would provide affordable houses to the people before the end of his tenure.

He said that education would also be given a priority stressing that all tertiary institutions belonging to the state would be provided with essential facilities for better performance.

Professionals who spoke at the forum include engineers, motor drivers under the aegis of National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), pharmacists, as well as elders, religious and traditional leaders.

The governor told the NURTW that his government had no interest in using the motor drivers for politics and warned that there were enough security agencies on ground to deal with those plotting to threaten the peace of the state.

Ambassador Olu Saanu who spoke for Ibadan elders said that he was impressed by the performance of the governor.

Alhaji Kasali Lawal Ajisafe, the representative of NURTW assured that his union would no longer engage in violence in the state.

Earlier, the governor had advised the four members of the state Judicial Service Commission who were sworn in to eschew corruption in their administration of justice.

German newspapers Friday light-heartedly mixed politics and football with an eye on Germany’s Euro 2012 encounter with Greece, suggesting the national team take a leaf out of Angela Merkel’s book.

The German chancellor is due to dash from a four-way summit in Rome to watch Germany’s showdown with Greece in the quarter final in Gdansk, Poland, later against a backdrop of the eurozone’s debt turmoil.

While Greek sports newspapers waxed defiantly in their anti-German sentiment, many German papers deployed humour in the countdown to the match, pitting Europe’s most troubled economy against its effective paymaster.

The tabloid BZ turned its cover pages into a poster of the German national squad, clad in their white and black strip but with Merkel’s face — pulling 11 different expressions — on top of each player.

“Today, 20:45, there’s Greece — tuition in things EURO. Lads, do like the chancellor: hard, but fair!,” the paper said joking that “of course” later the chancellor would only be in the VIP rostrum in Gdansk.

Bild struck a confident note but mulled a dilemma for Merkel.

“Bye Greeks. We can’t save you today!” read its front-page headline, calling the match “the hottest duel of the year” while in its inside page dubbing it “Merkel’s most difficult game”.

With photos of Merkel at previous German matches, it asked: “How much can the chancellor celebrate a goal against the Greeks… restrained or…totally let go?”

Die Welt newspaper had the same concern.

“If she is too openly excited about a German goal, the sensitive Greeks are annoyed… if she claps in a restrained way, in Germany they’ll say ‘the chancellor could at least celebrate the successes of her team properly.’”

“Creditors against debtors” headlined the Tageszeitung, while the Berliner Zeitung called the match a “Euro duel” and said it was not only about football but also politics.

“An encounter in the perspective of the euro-crisis,” it said.

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung illustrated its front page with a picture from a legendary Monty Python sketch, depicting a football match betweeen philosophers representing Greece and Germany.

“Germans like Greeks consider themselves a nation of poets and thinkers…” the paper quipped.

At the end of the day, commented the Tagesspiegel, for its part: “It is however… just a game.”