Premier League clubs spent a record £630m in the summer transfer window, according to Deloitte's Sports Business Group. The previous record of £500m was set in 2008.
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The transfer window closed on Monday. Among the big signings on Monday was Mesut Ozil who is going from Real Madrid to Arsenal for £42.4m.
Manchester United left it late in the day to sign Marouane Fellaini for £27.5m from Everton.
"The story of this summer transfer window is of new records: a new record for Premier League spending as well as a new world transfer record fee," said Dan Jones at Deloitte.
The record transfer fee was for Gareth Bale, who was sold to Real Madrid by Tottenham Hotspur for £85m.
Premier League clubs are flush with cash from their latest domestic three-year TV deal.
BT has spent £738m over three years for the rights to 38 live matches a season, while Sky paid £2.3bn for 116 matches a season.

http://gistactivist.blogspot.com/2013/09/premier-league-clubs-break-transfer.html

A rare 7.59 carat diamond – the world's largest in the Fancy Vivid blue category – will likely to be sold for more than $19 million in an auction coming in a month, October 2013. This has been recently announced by Sotheby's.
 Sotheby's will auction “The Premier Blue”, on October 7, 2013, in Hong Kong as part of a 40th anniversary event. The “brilliant-cut internally flawless” diamond is the largest round Fancy Vivid to ever be graded by the Gemological Institute of America. No diamond of this size or kind has ever been auctioned worldwide, according to Sotheby's.
Sotheby's currently holds the record for highest per-carat price for any Fancy Vivid sold at auction, with the 6.01 carat diamond that fetched $1,686,505 per carat in 2011. If sold at the expected price of $19 million, “The Premier Blue” Fancy Vivid would achieve a new world record.
Prior to the auction, a viewing of the diamond will be held in various locations in Asia, Geneva, London, New York and Doha. A photo call of the diamond will be held on September 4, 2013, Wednesday, at 10 a.m. at Sotheby's New York.
http://gistactivist.blogspot.com/2013/09/photo-worlds-biggest-blue-diamond-could.html

Gospel Singer, Temitope Alabi can easily be seen as one of the most controversial gospel singer in the country.

It seems everywhere she goes, whispers and controversy follows. Recently, she got tongues wagging for her mode of dressing.

According to her;

“My current marketer (Galaxy) released a life performance, Amazing Grace, where City People gave me an award as The Best Gospel Singer For the Year. People started criticizing me from churches, telling me that the way I dressed in that video was inappropriate.

They even said because I now apply makeup that I would go to hell. And funny enough I have been putting on earrings since I came out with Oore Ti O Common, I have been putting on trousers to follow my husband wherever we go, except church programmes.But what about my husband, won’t I dress to satisfy him?

My husband does not complain. He actually complains whenever I put on something like (Iro and Buba).

He prefers it when I wear western clothes. He will even come back home and tell me whatever he saw ladies put on outside that he will like me to wear.

I can’t be going out shabbily dressed because I am singing gospel music” she squealed.
http://gistactivist.blogspot.com/2013/09/i-put-on-make-up-and-revealing-clothes.html

Birth defects are quite common around the world, some more than others. Every once in a while we see one that just catches our attention and makes us think back to whether or not we’ve seen it before. In this case, it appears to be a rare deformity that caused a baby born with ears under its chin. The image, taken from the popular photo site Imgur shows a newborn baby who was born with a few cranial birth defects, such as a deformed mouth and jawline, but more prominently the placement of the ears stands out.

The placement of the ears in this case is somewhat reminiscent of where gills would be on an aquatic animal, or fish. Perhaps they simply failed to migrate to the side of the head after they were formed. In the first trimester of pregnancy, the ears form along the jaw line out of cartilage. At some point during the second trimester the ears typically migrate to their correct place on the side of the head. This is the normal process that appears to have failed during the second trimester, which resulted in the low placement of the ears as well as the deformed jaw line. The Mayo Clinic states that by 18 weeks of gestation, a fetus should be able to hear, as well as have fully formed ears.

In the case of the child in this picture, it is not known if the child was born prematurely or if it survived post-birth. Details about when and where this child were born are still unclear, as not much information appears to be public aside from this picture.
http://gistactivist.blogspot.com/2013/09/amazing-this-baby-was-born-with-ears.html

Sharon Adeleke arrived to her wedding reception in Miami on Sunday September 1 in a private jet.
http://gistactivist.blogspot.com/2013/09/photodavidos-sister-arrived-to-her.html

 Microsoft and Nokia announced today that Nokia’s Devices & Services business; the part of the company that builds all Nokia’s phones (both smart and otherwise) is changing hands. Microsoft is paying €5.44 billion ($7.17 billion) for the struggling Nokia division. The deal, subject to shareholder and regulatory approval, is expected to close in the first quarter of 2014.



In the transaction, all of Nokia’s device business, including design, manufacturing, sales, marketing, and support, becomes a part of Microsoft. This includes 32,000 staff, of which 4,700 are in Finland.
Remaining behind is Nokia Solutions and Networks (formerly Nokia Siemens Networks), which builds telecommunications equipment, and mapping division. Nokia is also retaining its Advanced Technologies group, which develops and licenses intellectual property. These parts together, account for about half of Nokia’s revenue, and approximately 24,000 staff.
The headline €5.44 billion figure is split €3.79 billion ($4.99 billion) for Devices & Services, €1.65 billion ($2.17 billion) for a patent agreement. Under that agreement, Redmond is buying a ten year license to Nokia’s patents, with an option to make the ten year agreement perpetual. Microsoft is also acquiring Nokia’s various licenses to patents from Qualcomm, IBM, Motorola Mobility, and Motorola Solutions.
http://gistactivist.blogspot.com/2013/09/microsoft-purchases-nokias-phone.html

Adenike Ogungbe was a renowned make-up artist and founder and CEO of Ewar Makeovers based in Lagos. She died of complications following childbirth on the 3rd of July, in Sagamu, Ogun State and was laid to rest in her husband's family church burial ground in Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State on Saturday, 6th of July, 2013.

Exactly two months after her death, her friends, who have been investigating her death, have written an open letter to her in laws, accusing them of negligence that led to Nike's death.
The letter below...

    It’s no news to every born Nigeria; home & abroad the standard processes involved in a marriage. Where there are cultural standards, there are also religious standards. In most parts of the world, either culturally or by virtue of religion when a woman marries a man she automatically adopts her husband’s family name. In exceptional cases, the couple may decide otherwise. The Ogungbe family, without doubt are Yorubas and they have proclaimed long enough to be Christians. Unfortunately, the recent events following their actions and contributions to Adenike Ogungbe’s death has proven this bunch otherwise.
    In the course of our investigation, some people actually questioned and wondered if Adenike ordinarily moved in with Abidemi without formal/religious ceremony. Adenike got married to Abidemi legally and traditionally. Some of us were there to grace the occasion. Adenike was a legal, faithful, dedicated and committed wife to the Ogungbe family. In Yoruba culture, during the traditional wedding ceremony, the bride is made to sit on the laps of her newly acquired parents. This is only to confer their acceptance of the child as their own and welcome her into the family. Unfortunately, the Ogungbe family failed Adenike in this regard.
    She was denied of adequate medical needs by being taken to a quack doctor in an occultic hospital in Sagamu, Ogun State.
    Today, 3rd of September 2013 marks the 2nd month anniversary of Adenike’s depart and sadly up until this very moment NOT ONE single member of the entire Ogungbe family have gone to pay respect to the Kareems’ family (Adenike's biological parents) neither have they been allowed to see the child Adenike left behind. Worst still not even Adenike’s estranged husband Bidemi has gone to see his in-laws! What a shame!
    They have lost a child, a successful, young, vibrant woman for that matter. How evil could the Ogungbe’s be? We believe there is no adult or elderly person or anyone with wisdom or human conscience left in the ogungbe family, that is why we decided to write an open letter to the OGUNGBE FAMILY OF AGO – IWOYE and let them know that they’re a big shame and disgrace to the entire Yoruba culture, Christian world and human race. Shame on them!
    It’s only human to pay honour to whom honour it is due. Adenike might have died as Mrs Ogungbe, it does not change the fact that she has parents and siblings who deserve to be honoured having given their daughter away in trust to this evil family that not only controlled, manipulated and purposely led her to her death.

 http://gistactivist.blogspot.com/2013/09/ogungbes-death-adenikes-friends-blame.html

Chilling in the Big Apple: Olamide, Basketmouth, Iyanya, Ayo Shonaiya
The 2013 edition of the Nigerian Entertainment Awards was held in New York on September 1, 2013 and was attended by a host of Nigerian celebrities.
Days before the show, a couple of celebs made their way through the streets of NY. Check out our collection of all the exciting Instagram photos before and after the awards show…
http://gistactivist.blogspot.com/2013/09/new-york-check-out-what-nigerian-celebs.html

A rapist who was put behind bars today faces an agonising wait to find out if he has caught HIV from his victim.
Richard Thomas, 27, collapsed when police informed him about the woman's medical status and is still waiting to hear if he has contracted the incurable virus.
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Thomas, of Leigh in Greater Manchester, knew the woman and was aware that she has another illness but had not known about the HIV. The court heard he was shocked when he was told and asked to be taken to hospital, Liverpool Crown Court heard.
He had let himself into her home in the middle of the night and she awoke to find him molesting her.
'She froze and no words were exchanged. He pulled up his shorts and left,' said Harry Pepper, prosecuting.
'He was arrested and interviewed and said he had been drinking heavily, taken cocaine and ecstasy and could not recall the incident,' he added.
His barrister, Virginia Hayton, said that he still cannot recall the attack but when told about it he said that the woman 'would not lie, she tells the truth. If she says I have done it, I have done it'.
Jailing Thomas for five years and four months Judge Mark Brown said that he had committed 'this dreadful offence' while she lay asleep, having taken a sleeping tablet, and it had left her distressed and anxious.
He also ordered him to sign the Sex Offenders Register for life. Thomas pleaded guilty to molesting the woman on July 20 this year.
Miss Hayton said that Thomas, who has previous convictions but none for segxwal offences, is 'remorseful' and 'cannot understand why he did it and it is troubling him'.
She said that he started using cannabis at the age of nine, drinking heavily at the age of 11, became addicted to ecstasy and cocaine at 13 and was put in care the following year.
He has been trying to contact his family but they want nothing to do with him and he will now be away from his partner and their young daughter and his two other older daughters from previous relationships.
Miss Hayton told the court that Thomas will not find out the result of his HIV test until Friday and has had the worry of the outcome hanging over him.
'It is his own fault, if he had not committed this offence he would not have placed himself in this position.'
http://gistactivist.blogspot.com/2013/09/rapist-in-painful-agony-after-realizing.html

Beverly Osu made history by becoming the first BBA contestant that was never nominated for eviction since the inception of the African franchise of the television series in 2003
24 hours after she arrived Nigeria, BBA The Chase finalist Beverly Osu was rushed to Faith City Hospital, Oju Olobun Close, off Bishop Oluwole Street, Victoria Island, Lagos.
The BBA star was admitted for treatment due to a sprain ankle she suffered in the BBA house, a day to the finale.

For 91 days, the video vixen entertained Africa with so many tales of her life experiences and of course, the widely condemned segxwal encounter that resulted from an in-house affair between her and Angelo Collins

The one question everybody wanted to know was why she succumbed to her segxwal urges and having sex with the South African while the entire continent watched.

I did not have sex in the house, I never had sex in the house. I had a relationship with Angelo Collins but we didn’t have sex. Nothing happened between me and Angelo. Though there were awkward moments, we never had sex. I know what happened then between us but we never got down to have sex’, she insists.
Rumour has it that Angelo has a girlfriend, but Beverly doesn’t seem to care. ‘I don’t want to talk about his so called girlfriend because I don’t know anything about her’.

Does she see a future in the relationship, she says, ‘We talk every day. He loves me and I still love him. I would get married to him if I had the chance.’
Of course on the issue of nudity she says, ‘all of us take our baths naked. So I shouldn’t be different because I went for a reality show. I shouldn’t be different from every other person, because I didn’t bring out my videos, Big Brother did so I should not be judged, and I represented Nigeria well’.

Particularly known for her fabulous stories: from abortion to rape to sleeping with men for money and dating musicians, she seems not to regret her actions at all. ‘I’m a very open person. Melvin knows, he stayed with me for 91 days. I say what’s on my mind, and for me to reveal myself to the world, it didn’t look like I was revealing myself to the world’, she said, ‘I was talking too much, maybe, but I’m on a reality show. I don’t regret saying the things that I said about me and my family, because if I have to be on this platform, people have to know the real me and what I’ve been through.’

As much as she discussed her mom’s ugly past on terrestrial television, her mom’s love was never lost from her side. ‘I can never go out of my way to disgrace and disappoint my mom intentionally. She has lectured me properly. And even if the whole world rejects me, my mom can’t reject me. I love my mom so much. I am her only daughter and last born. I’ve always been there for her and she’ll always be there for me.’

Her conduct in the house has been termed an embarrassment to Nigeria as a country, and Beverly apologises, ‘I don’t feel happy about it since this will be the first time I will be representing Nigeria… I’m sorry for embarrassing my country. I didn’t do it intentionally. My participation in the show was not to embarrass my country‘.
Was 2shotz the rapper boyfriend Beverly claimed was constantly abusing her? ‘No. I wasn’t referring to him. For me, 2shots is history. Thank you for reminding me about him.’

Beverly Osu and 2shotz on Dame Ft Funbi video
She may have lost out on the $300,000 prize money, but she made history by becoming the first BBA contestant that was never nominated for eviction since the inception of the African franchise of the television series in 2003 and for that she says,  ‘I broke a record… I made Nigeria proud’.
Beverly has come out of the show a celebrity, whether for the right reasons or the wrong, but she is hoping to roll on with the little fame she has achieved. ‘Before I left, I had a show called ‘Beverly Says’ and I’m back to push it. If you guys watched Big Brother, you would be very sure that I can act, so I’d go into movies, but then, I have to finish school because I’m in my 200 level.’
Beverly’s unconditional love and support from her mom

Beverly and her mum at the MMIA in Lagos. Photo: Victor Obot/NET
She may have acted inappropriately in the house and gave many embarrassing testimonies of her mom on TV, Beverly no less gets her mother’s support and love.
One of her closest friends, Charity Owoh had earlier explained how proud her mom is of her conduct in the house. ‘She (Beverly’s mom) has seen everything. There’s the good and bad, of course she’s a mother so she would feel the way mothers would feel but she’s very proud of her daughter and says she’s a queen’, Owoh told Encomium Weekly.
The 21-year-old told stories of how her mom was deported from a foreign country and how she took take care of her siblings because her mom was hardly ever there.
On her arrival at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja, both mom and daughter were over-whelmed with joy as they both shed a few tears and hugged and kissed. ‘She just wanted her daughter to come back home safe, every other thing didn’t matter’, a family friend told NET correspondent.
What’s next for Beverly?
Like she has rightly said, ‘I’d go into movies, but then, I have to finish school’. It is not as if her modeling and video vixen job was any great, and now she is considering movies. The funny thing with the Nigerian society is that, you may be celebrated one day, but if you slip up the next day, you are totally shoved aside.
One now wonders: Will her BBA image help her career in anyway or is it going to deter her from getting the much needed commercial endorsements and corporate patronage that could potentially lead her to financial independence?
Controversy, you may say sells, but will that phrase apply in Beverly’s case? She’s been condemned by many Nigerians, called so many unprintable names and branded an attention seeker and a confused kid. No doubt, she wants the fame and all its trappings, that much she’s made clear by her actions, but will her antecedents make room for her dreams to manifest given the hypocrisy of the Nigerian society.
Pasy Chikero, an author and media consultant feels that Beverly was not the best representation of the Nigerian woman. ‘In my opinion, she succeeded in battering the image of the Nigerian girl! When she stepped into the house, we thought she went in to represent us, but it turned out she went in to represent her pocket at the expense of the green, white, green flag she wrapped around her body’, Chikero said.
Will she settle for Afrocandy’s offer to start her acting career with a porn flick, Beverly says,”Thanks for the offer but No”

Where are the ex-contestants?
In the history of the reality show, it seems Nigerians always have a domineering role.  The odd thing is that except for Uti Nwachukwu and Karen Igho, they always seem to go into oblivion after leaving the show.
For instance, Nigeria’s first contestant in the show back in 2003, Bayo Okoh, has not been seen or heard from since his participation in the show. The same goes for 2007 first runner-up, Ofunneka Moloku-Anyanwu, 2009 winner, Kelvin Pam and 2012′s contestants, Ola and Chris.
Somehow, Uti has remained relevant for doing a few modeling, acting and show hosting jobs here and there.
On the secret to remaining relevant, Uti say, ‘I have learnt not to depend on what I have or who I am because all of that can go in one day. I work hard everyday so as not to lose it. I do not relax and think, Oh I have arrived. I work like I don’t have anything at all, so that when I’m old I can relax’

Condemnation for the show
A few years ago, Nigeria’s Nobel Laurette, Professor Wole Soyinka‘s described the BBA show as‘pervasive and debasing‘. This comment he made faulting the relevance of the show and its impact on the lives of the African youth. Film maker, Charles Novia Also condemned the show saying that it is totally contradictory to the culture and traditions of Africa. “Beverly Represents  a whoring Nigeria which seem to get nothing right but just allows itself to be screwed both by internal and external interest” , Novia said.
Some have argued that the whole premise of BBA is to have adults be their worst selves for our entertainment. ‘The show itself is for adults and not for children, and don’t expect adults not to behave like adults’, said an observer.

Uti who had come to Beverly’s defence stated, ‘That game is not easy at all. If you are a segxwally active person and you like sex, three months is a long time to be celibate. Let’s not be hypocrites. If there were cameras in our homes, most of us won’t be able to show our faces in public.’
As much as many will condemn the show, the winners will however disagree and confirm the positive impact that the show has had on their lives. ‘Big Brother has contributed to what I am today, and I am an evidence of what they show can do for you’, 2011 winner, Karen Igho told NET.
 
http://gistactivist.blogspot.com/2013/09/i-made-nigeria-proud-beverly-ada-osu.html

wow! i say this is a bold step for Kcee....no risk no reward as i always say tho....
http://gistactivist.blogspot.com/2013/09/bigboytinz-kcee-delves-into-oil-business.html

The expression on the face of 22-year-old Mike Ugbodu on Monday conveyed a feeling of disillusionment. He looked every inch worried. All of a sudden, his chubby face seemed to have shrunken with anxiety. Ugbodu, otherwise known for his lively nature, looked quite lonely. In fact, he was not in a mood to talk.
By Charles Abah
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Of course, it is not surprising that the young man looked this desolate and disturbed. Having scored high grades in the last Universities Matriculation Examination, he looked forward to writing the post-UTME at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria last August, to enable him to secure admission to study Micro Biology in the university.
 However, five months after the UME and now a few weeks to the date fixed by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board to end the admission process for 2013/2014 session, nothing has happened. Indeed, this young man’s dream has not come to fruition following the industrial action embarked upon by members of the Academic Staff of the Universities. The strike is frustrating his effort to write the post-UTME in ABU.
 “When will this rigmarole end? When will ASUU and the Federal Government resolve their differences?” were all that he managed to say to newsmen.
But the situation, is not peculiar to the Edo State-born potential microbiologist.
Kabiawu Wasilat is in a similar situation with Ugbodu. Wasilat, who wants to study Mass Communications at the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye, Ogun State, is equally not happy with the situation in the nation’s university system. Her hope of securing admission to the OOU has been threatened following the ASUU strike. According to her, the July initial date fixed for the examination did not work and till now the authorities of the university have not fixed a new date.
The story of Ugbodu and Wasilat is a tip of the iceberg in comparison to the anxious thoughts on the minds of many Nigerian students seeking admission to the nation’s universities in the 2013/2014 academic session. Many admission seekers, who applied to study in institutions such as the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State; University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State; and Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria are practically stranded as the institutions have still not conducted the post-UTME.
The concern is coming on the heels of a directive last week by JAMB that all universities must conclude their post-Universities Matriculation examination by October 31, 2013. The fact that the “academic hub” of the system, the teaching community, is on strike further compounded the situation.
University lecturers embarked on nationwide strike on July 2 to protest against the non-implementation of the 2009 agreement they reached with the Federal Government. They are also seeking the payment of their unpaid allowances.
While the FG has released N130bn to meet some of the demands of the striking teachers, the ASUU President, Dr. Nassir Fagge, likens the money to a drop in an ocean of requests.
http://gistactivist.blogspot.com/2013/09/asuu-strike-varsities-may-face.html

 A man popularly known as ‘Bebe’, who resides in Ashin-Nla’s Compound at Opoyeosa area of Ibadan in Oyo State is currently on the run after he was discovered to have allegedly defiled a five-year-old girl, Bimpe (not real name).
The incident was said to have occurred on Saturday, August 24, when the girl’s mother left her at home and went to the market to make some purchases.
The father of the girl, one Olawale (surname withheld) reported at Mapo Police Station on Monday August 26, that the runaway suspect committed the offence on his bed.
Crime Reports learnt that about two months ago, ‘Bebe’ allegedly did the same thing to another girl, Banke (not real name), a five-year-old girl who lives in the same compound, when her mother was also away at the market, but the case was not reported because the parents were prevailed on to forget about the issue.
The story was confirmed by the police image maker in Oyo State, Olabisi Okuwobi-Ilobanafor, who advised the suspect to turn himself in, as he could only hide but not run forever.
http://gistactivist.blogspot.com/2013/09/man-rapes-5-year-old-girl.html

A man, Oderinde Joel and his wife are currently in police net after a Fulani herdsman, Aliu Abdulahi was shot to death by Joel for allegedly molesting his wife on Saturday, August 24.
One Abdulahi Audu, who resides at Okaka village, Sawo, Iseyin, in Oke ogun area of Oyo State, was said to have reported at Iseyin police station on Sunday, August 25, that one of his workers, Abdulahi, who was helping him to rear his cows was killed by Joel.
It was gathered that the Divisional Police Officer sent detectives to the scene and the body of the deceased was moved to General Hospital, Iseyin, for autopsy, while the dane gun used in killing the herdsman was also recovered.
The suspect was reported to have admitted shooting the deceased when his wife raised the alarm on the farm that the deceased accosted her and forcefully raped her.
Crime Reports learnt that the pellets of the gun penetrated the deceased from the back, which was an indication that he was trying to run away from the suspect.
Confirming the story, the State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Olabisi Ilobanafor, said the case had been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Iyaganku, for further investigation.
Source: Nigerian Tribune
http://gistactivist.blogspot.com/2013/09/man-dies-after-molesting-another-mans-wife.html

The 8th edition of Nigeria Entertainment Awards (NEA) took place on September 1, 2013, Sunday, in New York and hosted by Basket Mouth.
The event focused on recognizing the contributions of African Entertainers to the global entertainment industry, and it is also aimed to promoting the image and culture of Nigeria.
Opening the event was Sean Tizzle performing on stage, Dammy Krane, Olamide & Phyno and more.
The full list of nominations and their winners:

BEST ALBUM OF THE YEAR
YBNL – Olamide
HOTTEST SINGLE OF THE YEAR
Kukere – Iyanya
BEST NEW ACT OF THE YEAR
Burna Boy
GOSPEL ARTIST/GROUP OF THE YEAR
Sammy Okposo
BEST POP/R&B ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Davido
BEST RAP ACT OF THE YEAR
Ice Prince
MUSIC PRODUCER OF THE YEAR
Spellz
MOST PROMISING MALE ACT
Endia
MOST PROMISING FEMALE ACT TO WATCH
Emma Nyra
BEST INTERNATIONAL ARTIST
JJC
BEST INDIGENOUS ARTIST/GROUP
Olamide
BEST COLLABO
Ghost Mode – Phyno & Olamide
BEST LEAD ACTRESS IN FILM
Rita Dominic
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN FILM
Ali Nuhu
BEST FILM DIRECTOR
Tunde Kelani (Maami)
BEST TV SHOW
Big Brother Africa
PAN AFRICAN ACTOR
John Dumelo
PAN AFRICAN ACTRESS
Nadia Buhari
WORLD DJ
DJ Bayo (UK)
BEST COMEDIAN
Basket Mouth
ENTERTAINMENT PROMOTER
Coko Bar
RADIO ON AIR/TV PERSONALITY
Freeze – Cool FM
TV PERSONALITY
Labi Layori
ENTERTAINMENT BLOG
NotJustOk
http://gistactivist.blogspot.com/2013/09/nea-awards-2013-full-list-of-triumphants.html

Star actress, Ini Edo, is currently on summer vacation, and she has been to London, Nice, and Monaco.
http://gistactivist.blogspot.com/2013/09/more-photos-from-ini-edos-vacation-in.html

Chief Femi Fani-Kayode has been in the eye of the storm since the deportation of some Igbo from Lagos to Anambra State. The former Minister of Aviation has been critical of the Goodluck Jonathan administration which, he said, has performed abysmally. In this first part of the explosive interview, Fani-Kayode speaks on his trial, Olusegun Obasanjo administration, 2015 elections and other salient issues. Excerpts:

How is life out of government and what are those things you are actually missing?

I do not miss being out of government. I have served my country for four years at the highest level and it is good enough.

Recently, the President’s spokesman described some of you that worked with the Obasanjo administration who are critical of the Goodluck Jonathan administration as yesterday’s men. Do you see yourself as a man of yesterday?The essay was written by my friend and brother, Dr. Reuben Abati, who is President Jonathan’s spokesman. I responded to him forcefully in an essay titled; ‘Hypocrisy of today’s men.’

And what he doesn’t realise or people don’t realise is that there is no yesterday’s men in politics. It is only if you are a political novice that you can make such a statement. Yesterday’s men often come back to rule the country and today’s men never last forever; they always go and they may come back again. For instance, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur is the chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. He was governor of defunct Gongola State in 1979.

He was a yesterday’s man for many years but he is back today and I am delighted about that. So, to describe anybody as yesterday’s man, I think is most inappropriate and naive. You look at Chief Tony Anenih, he was National Chairman of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, in 1993 and now he is Chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees. Look at Alhaji Umaru Dikko, Minister of Transport in 1979 and he is now the Chairman of the PDP Disciplinary Committee.

Look at President Obasanjo himself. He was Head of State from 1976 to 1979, was sent to prison in 1996 and came out to become President again in 1999. He remained as President till 2007 and not only that, he is the one that put both President Yar’Adua and President Goodluck Jonathan in power.

So, in a situation where such things happen, to write people off and disdainfully say they are yesterday’s men as if they are dead and they have nothing more to offer does not make sense. As far as I am concerned, such assertions are inappropriate and most unwise. It is only God that knows and determines tomorrow. You don’t have to be in government to contribute. I am sure that my friend and brother Reuben Abati will learn that once he leaves office himself.

Some of you that served in the Obasanjo administration are somehow critical of Jonathan administration. What really informed your criticisms?There are so many issues. What it tells you is that some of us who worked in Obasanjo’s government, not all but some, are more sensitive to what is happening in our country.

Ours is not just like come to serve the government and leave as if we must never talk again. As far as I am concerned, government is not a cult and political parties are not cults. The whole reason for getting involved in politics is to help to develop your country and to move it forward. The reason why we can talk is because the administration that we served had an excellent record of performance.

If you look at the statistics, facts and figures, nobody comes close to Obasanjo in terms of his performance, be it in the economy, security or anything else. All you need is to do the research.

You may not like him as an individual but you can’t fault him in terms of his record of performance. And we raised Nigeria to such a high level in terms of respect and achievement at that time. Within a space of eight years, Obasanjo did all this and he gathered the brightest and smartest cabinet that this country has ever known. His record in public office was excellent and the country was taken to a very high level in terms of economic performance and so many other areas between 1999 and 2007.

Now, when you see a situation where post-2007 till today has witnessed nothing but total degeneration in every sector, whether it be the economy, security, international affairs or anything else. Are we supposed to just sit down and keep quiet in such a situation and say nothing or are we supposed to speak up and encourage the government to do better?

Some of us felt it is important to speak out so that the government can do better. That is why I am critical and I believe that every true patriot ought to be critical if government is getting it wrong and not doing well.

You said Obasanjo performed very well while in office but this is contrary to some critics who felt that his eight years were wasted years?They are ignorant. Anybody that says Obasanjo’s eight years were a waste is ignorant and I really don’t have time for such people. Forget about Obasanjo as an individual, look at his record of performance. How can any sensible person say he did nothing?

Look, in 1999 when he came in, we had $1.5 billion in the foreign reserve and by the time this man left office he had built up the amount to $67 billion. He took $20 billion out of that to pay off our foreign debt, leaving $47 billion. From $1.5 billion to $67 billion in eight years is quite an achievement.

Yet today, despite the huge amounts of money that we have made as a consequence of record high crude oil and gas prices and sales, we only have approximately $40 billion left in our foreign reserves five years after. We have less money in those reserves today than we did five years ago despite the fact that we have earned billions of dollars within those five years.

That is hardly fiscal discipline and the question that we have asked our government, and we are still waiting for an answer, is where has all that money gone? We were not the only ones that asked that question.

The Prime Minister of Great Britain, Mr. David Cameron, asked the same question and put it rather bluntly by saying that the Nigerian government would have to tell the G8 where the hundreds of millions of dollars that it had made from crude oil sales in the last few years had gone. He even gave them a deadline for an answer which was June 2013.

Needless to say our President and his government just ignored him. Number two, when he came into power in 1999, we had a foreign debt of $33 billion. But by the time Obasanjo left, we had no debt left. For the first time in the history of Africa we had a debt free country. We were set free from the economic slavery that comes with being indebted to the Western monetary agencies and the Bretton Woods institutions and that was a wonderful thing. It had never happened before. Obasanjo achieved that.

Yet today, five years later, we are back in debt to the tune of approximately $10 billion and we are still borrowing. That is hardly progress and this government has thereby enslaved future generations of Nigerians to economic servitude and bondage to the western powers and international monetary institutions.

They have squandered all of Obasanjo’s gains in this respect and sold us down the river. That is hardly progress. Thirdly, look at the Excess Crude Account, ECA. When Obasanjo came into power in 1999 there was no ECA. He created it and by the time he left office in 2007 he left $24 billion in that account.

He built all that money up in the space of eight years. Yet five years later, despite all the money we have made from oil sales, our present government and Yar’Adua’s one that came before it, proved to us that they are incapable of saving any money for a rainy day because that account has been depleted and virtually emptied. Five years after $24 billion was left there, we only have approximately $9 billion in it today. That is hardly progress. Fourthly, look at the issue of power generation.

When Obasanjo came into office in 1999 we were generating 1,500 megawatts per year and there had been no development in the power sector for almost 20 years previous to that time. By the time he left office in 2007, eight years later, we were generating 4,500 megawatts per year.

Today, five years later, we are back to 3,000 megawatts per year. As a matter of fact, no government has been able to reach the same level of power generation that Obasanjo reached in 2007 when he left office. Instead of improving on what Obasanjo did they went the other way and brought power generation down. From 1,500 megawatts in 1999 to 4,500 megawatts in 2007 and up until today no government has reached that 4,500 megawatts which we achieved in 2007. I repeat today, five years later, we are still on 3,000 megawatts.

That is not what I would describe as progress. It is better described as retrogression of the highest order. Let us go back to the economy. In terms of inflation, interest rates, ordinary individual being able to get loan, unemployment, we are worse off today than we were five years ago. You see when people talk they don’t have the facts and figures and they are too lazy or blinded by prejudice and hate to do their homework and find out the truth. Let us look at it, today we have an 80 per cent graduate unemployment rate in Nigeria.

That means that eight out of every 10 of our university graduates do not have jobs. Now that has to be close to a world record and it is only by God’s grace that we have not had some kind of revolution.

Out of every 1000 graduates, 800 cannot get a job. It is just disgraceful and that is part of the legacy of President Jonathan and his PDP government. Now let us look at the poverty level in our country today. According to the UNDP, 70 per cent of Nigerians are living below the poverty line.

That is to say that over 70 per cent of Nigerians live on less than $1 per day. Again, according to the same UNDP, 70 per cent of Nigerians go to bed ‘’hungry’’. This is hardly progress. The indices were so much better five years ago. I could keep going on and on.

What is your assessment of the Jonathan administration in the area of security?
We have lost almost 7,000 people that have been killed in cold blood by Boko Haram in the last five years.

Just a few weeks ago, about 42 children were slaughtered like chicken in their schools in Borno State even whilst there was a state of emergency in that state. Nobody is talking about that any more. Nigeria has virtually become an abattoir where human beings are butchered on a daily basis and no one cares.

It is absolutely absurd for anybody to say that things are going well in this country. The whole of the North is tense, violence is everywhere, slaughtering is everywhere. In the South, you have kidnapping and so on and so forth. My lawyer, friend and brother, Mike Ozekhome (SAN), was kidnapped last week in Edo State and this is what has been happening to so many people all over the South in the last two years.

By the government’s own admission, thousands of barrels of crude oil are being stolen by bandits and pirates every day to the extent that our crude oil exports have been reduced by 50 per cent per month. These bandits are bleeding the country dry but what has your government done about it? Absolutely nothing. So, in terms of security, this government scores zero. In term of the economy again, zero.

How else do you measure the worth and ability of a government and a President? In terms of foreign policy, Nigeria is just being kicked about like a football and treated with contempt.

This could not have happened when we were in power. We have lost our self-respect and stature in the international community because the world knows that we have a weak President who knows next to nothing. So, you compare that to Obasanjo’s time. We didn’t have Boko Haram at that time.

We had the Niger Delta killings and militants at the beginning when he first came in. He dealt with that forcefully and decisively with great results. After he carried out the operation in Odi, the killing of our security personnel by the Niger Delta militants decreased by 95 per cent.

It was security officials that they were attacking and not civilians and that went down by 95 per cent after the bombing of Odi. That is what happens when you provide strong leadership – you get positive results.

So, Obasanjo provided clear leadership.
Obasanjo provided clear strong leadership and he left nobody in doubt that the Federal Government would do whatever it had to do to ensure the safety and security of the Nigerian people. Jonathan’s government hasn’t done that. And anybody that said they have done that clearly doesn’t live here or is just being dishonest.

So, for all these reasons any responsible person ought to be able to speak out and advocate for a change in the affairs of our country, which is what some of us are doing.

There are some that don’t have the courage to do that. They believe they should just stay at home and pray and say nothing and do nothing. I have contempt for such people and I don’t consider them as leaders.

But what some critics are saying is that no government has faced the challenges Jonathan is facing in terms of security.He has spent so much money on security yet what has he provided? Less security! Where has all the money gone? That is number one. Number two, you don’t measure the performance of a government that is in power by saying that no government has ever faced this type of challenge before.

That is a cop out and a very lame excuse. He has been elected and he swore an oath to protect the Federal Republic of Nigeria and to protect the lives and properties of the Nigerian people. If he can’t do that he should just step down and go home. In any case, he is the one that made the whole situation infinitely worse by not being decisive right from the start.

Initially, he was calling Boko Haram his ‘’siblings’’ and he took a position of complete weakness and helplessness when faced with their tyranny and terrorism. Some of us spoke out at that time that he need to handle these people with a firm hand, but he and his officials accused us of being alarmists. Instead of doing anything he said that they were his siblings and that he couldn’t kill them.

The President himself said just a few months ago that Boko Haram were his siblings, who he ‘’could not move against’’. This was when Nigerians were screaming that he must do something because they were being maimed, bombed, killed and terrorised every day.

They were looking for a strong decisive leader who could take on these monsters but instead they found a man whose very disposition and ways simply attracted more atrocities from the terrorists and encouraged them to kill even more because they perceived that he did not have the stomach for a fight.

How long did it take him to wake up and realise that there was a security problem in this country? How long? And how many people had to die before he knew that he had to declare a state of emergency in some parts of the North? In all of this, somebody will come and say nobody has faced this kind of situation in the country before and therefore we should not criticise the President? What does that mean?

Have they forgotten that there was once a civil war in this country and yet the country still had to move on and be properly run? Leadership is about taking hard decision and clipping the wings of those that want to kill Nigerians and destroy their properties and lives. That is what our President was elected to do. If you cannot do that, the honourable thing to do is to resign.

Don’t say that you can handle it and that nobody has faced it before and therefore you sit back and try to justify your weakness, incompetence and inadequacies. Have they forgotten that there was once an Islamist sect called Maitatsine which were successfully crushed by the government of that day?

The truth is that the record of this government and this President stinks. They have failed woefully and it is simply outrageous. They should bow their heads in shame. The blood that has been spilt is just too much. So, as far as I am concerned, there is a need for a change of leadership in this country. They can clap for themselves as much as they want but I won’t clap for them.

Are you saying there is nothing that the Jonathan administration has done?
Tell me what you think it has done? I don’t think there is anything it can clap for itself for. Absolutely nothing. Every single sector has degenerated.

There is nowhere that things have got better since 2007 and that is the reality of the situation that we are in. You know a lot of our people live in complete denial about our situation. If we continue the way we are going by the time he leaves office in 2015, this country would be owing as much as we owed when Obasanjo was elected into power in 1999. We are getting closer to $30 billion and by the time he leaves if we continue like this, we will get there.

You said every sector has degenerated. But there is a lot of transformation in the aviation sector where you served as a minister, especially the refurbishing of some of the airports? Is that how you measure transformation? The refurbishing and expansion of airport halls? That is a good thing but there is far more to aviation than that. The size and beauty of your airport hall alone cannot be the measure of your success.
 
By National Mirrow's Ayodele Ojo
http://gistactivist.blogspot.com/2013/09/reasons-nigerians-should-vote-out.html

The Federal Government has not made any request for access to private data of Nigerian users of Facebook, a report by the social networking site has revealed.

There has been apprehension in some quarters that the FG may resort to seeking information from major social networking sites after the lid was blown open on an alleged $40m Internet surveillance contract it entered into with an Israeli firm.
The contract was allegedly awarded earlier in the year to the firm, Elbit Systems, to spy on citizens’ computers and Internet communications under the guise of intelligence gathering and national security–including discussions on social media, like Facebook and Twitter.
An outrage followed the discovery as many Nigerians viewed the action as an assault on their civil rights. The report by the social networking site titled,“Global Government Request Report,” however,  shows the list of countries whose government requested for  private data of their citizens on Facebook in the last six months as excluding Nigeria.
 The report is the first from Facebook and it is not unconnected to a revelation from a former technical contractor and Central Intelligence Agency employee, Edward Snowden, who had raised the alarm that the United States government, under a programme codenamed PRISM, is monitoring Internet traffic through Google, Facebook, YouTube, Skype, Yahoo and other websites.
Users of the social networking site across the globe besieged the Facebook page of Mark Zuckerberg, the Chief Executive Officer of Facebook, upon this statement from the former CIA  employee and urged him not to disclose details of their online activities to their home governments.
Facebook stated that the Federal Government or any of its agencies had not requested for citizens’ account information in any official capacity relating to criminal cases, such as robberies or kidnappings in the period under review.
It listed Egypt, South Africa, Uganda and neighbouring West African country, Côte d’Ivoire, as the African nations that sought basic subscriber information, such as name and length of being on the social network, IP address logs related to location and actual account content of their citizens’ activities on Facebook.
The report also highlighted the number of requests from each country and the percentage of data that Facebook was required to disclose by law.The social networking site noted that only 74 countries in the world requested for information on about 38,000 Facebook users.
Facebook stated in the report that it got data requests for 25 users from the four African nations but added that no data were produced for any of the requests made.
http://gistactivist.blogspot.com/2013/09/nigeria-didnt-request-for-citizens.html

A British student has been left with permanent scarring after a one-hundred-and-eighty kilogram tiger attacked her at an animal sanctuary in Thailand.
Human Sciences university student Isabelle Brennan, 19, and her sister Georgie, 21, had only been traveling for a week when the attack took place at Tiger Temple sanctuary in Thailand's west.
"We were given a talk beforehand and told not to touch the tiger’s head and to remove dangly jewellery," Brennan told the UK's The Daily Mail.
"We were then shown how to wash a tiger’s back."
It was while Isabelle was petting and washing a tiger that the animal turned it's head and mauled her, pushing her to the ground and biting through her thigh.
"Everything happened so fast," Brennan said.
"One minute I was petting a tiger’s back, the next it turned its head and knocked me to the ground with its paw."
Keepers at the animal sanctuary were quick to act, jumping between Brennan and the animal as elder sister Georgie dragged her away.
"As it lunged with its teeth I felt an agonising pain on the inside of my left thigh above my knee.
"When I looked down at my leg it was terrifying. All I could see was blood," she continued.
Two friends traveling with the girls quickly tied a tourniquet around Isabelle's leg to stop the bleeding.
She was taken to a local hospital where 'tens of stitched' were required to repair the large leg wound.
Isabelle also contracted an infection and high fever, keeping her in hospital in Thailand for more than two weeks.
"The Tiger Temple staff were very upset. They paid for all my treatment in hospital and visited every day."
"They explained the tiger was just being playful," she told the paper.
"However, I want to warn others going to Tiger Temple that the animals might not be as docile as they first appear."
Upon her return to the UK, Brennan was wheelchair bound and had to re-learn how to walk unassisted.
"I was nervous about going into the Temple,’ Brennan said.
"However, I was reassured by the staff that as the tigers had been hand-reared, they were so used to humans they were completely tame.
"They were also tethered by chains and the staff told me no-one had ever been seriously injured."
"In hindsight I had an incredibly lucky escape. I could have lost my leg or worse."
The animal park where the attack took place is one of only a few in the world where tourists can get up-close-and-personal with the animals.
The tigers are reportedly hand-reared by Buddhist monks in the area.
http://gistactivist.blogspot.com/2013/09/photos-tiger-attacks-19-year-old-girl.html

 The police have arraigned a 27 year old commercial bus driver, Oluwole Ajao, before a Yaba Magistrate’s Court, for allegedly neglecting his five-month pregnant partner, Yewande Awofeso, and attempting suicide while in the police cell.
The police said Ajao abducted Awofeso, 20, from her parent’s custody between December 2012 and July 21, 2013 before impregnating her without her parent’s consent.
He was alleged to have also abandoned Yewande at Somolu General Hospital, Lagos,for seven days, and failed to contribute to her ante-natal care.
The three counts added that after his arrest, he attempted to commit suicide in the police cell by hanging himself “in the burglary of the cell.”
The charge read in part, “That you, Oluwole Ajao, m, between December 2012 and 21st July, 2013 at No 17, Jebina Street, Bariga, Lagos, in the Lagos Magisterial District, did abduct one Yewande Awofeso, f, aged 20 years, from custody of her parent, with intent to marry and to have segxwal intercourse with her, without her parents’ consent and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 267 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State Nigeria, 2011.
“That you, Oluwole Ajao, m, on the July 29, 2013, at about 2pm, at Bariga Police Station, Bariga Lagos, in the Lagos Magisterial District did attempt to commit suicide by hanging yourself in the burglary of the cell and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 233 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State Nigeria, 2011.”
The defendant said he was not guilty of the charges.
In his testimony, the defendant said he did not abandon his lover in the hospital but had gone to work for money, and had been sending money to her through her sister.
This was confirmed in court as the woman was asked to rise and attest to the statement.
There was also no evidence to show Ajao abducted Awofeso as the police claimed or that their union had not been by mutual consent.
The magistrate, Mrs. M.O Ladipo, said the case lacked merit, saying it was a “love affair” that could be sorted out among the parties involved.
The matter was subsequently struck out.
http://gistactivist.blogspot.com/2013/09/police-arraign-driver-for-abandoning.html