Toni Braxton‘s divorce from Keri Lewis has been finalised after their split in 2009.
The ‘Un-Break My Heart‘ hitmaker split from musician Keri Lewis, with whom she has two sons, after 12 years of marriage in 2009 and is now legally single.
A spokesperson for the Grammy-winner told People.com: ‘The couple has had an amicable split and will still both be actively involved in raising their two sons, 11-year-old Denim and 10-year-old Diezel.’ The 45-year-old star is now ready for a fresh start as she also recently settled all of her bankruptcy debts.
She filed for insolvency for the second time in 2010, claiming she had debts as high as $50 million, and finally resolved all of her financial issues after reaching a deal to pay her trustee $150,000 earlier this month.
According to legal documents, Toni, who first filed for bankruptcy in 1998, got into trouble again after she struck a deal with the trustee to buy back some of the personal property she lost by paying back $5,000 per month over 15 months but she failed to make the final lump sum payment of $50,000.
The trustee and the singer finally came to an agreement recently that will see her pay back that $50,000. Toni also agreed to hand over $100,000 from the $754,000 she made from performances overseas. A judge is expected to sign off on the settlement later this month.
Fergie with her husband Josh Duhamel seen out and about in Beverly Hills, LA.
Fergie, who is expecting her first child with husband Josh Duhamel, is having a star-studded baby shower in Los Angeles, California, this weekend.
The Black Eyed Peas singer, who is expecting a boy with husband Josh Duhamel, is preparing for the pre-birth celebration which will be thrown by her agent Sean Patterson and fashion designers Dean and Dan Caten.
A number of A-Listers have been invited to the event, these include TV star Kelly Osbourne, dancer Julianne Hough, director Ryan Murphy and actors Neil Patrick Harris and Jesse Tyler Ferguson.
In addition, fashion designer Marc Jacobs and American stylist Joe Zee have confirmed their attendance. Fergie and Josh are very excited about the arrival of their first child, who is due at the end of August, and are anticipating sleepless nights.
Josh previously said: ‘Everyone is saying, ‘You better sleep now [because] you’re not going to get any when the baby’s here’, [and] ‘Oh, your life is over after that’, [and] ‘Oh, it’s the most beautiful thing ever, but it’s tough.’
‘I look forward to putting the attention [on the baby]. All the love that you have for something like that is what makes it so great and I think we are both ready for that.’
We know Michael Essien is very talented when it comes to football but he has many flaws hence why he is camera-shy and don’t really do lot of things socially. He never spoke in a Fan-Yogo commercial, you ever wondered why? I guess Essien’s English language skills is not the best.
My football-head friends say, we can’t blame him because he has only played in England not long ago, He played for LYON, Real Madrid which are all in non English-speaking countries. Well personally I feel, it’s been long enough for him to get his English on. BTW! I guess that is what happen when one skip school for football or let’s just say you can’t have it all. Look at his tweet below. I’m even shy for him LOL. He’s still one of the best players though.
If you can’t see it well, in the tweet he says and I quote -
Quote
What’s writing on earth is writing in heaven, if jah say YES, no man can say NO, …. Jah bless still
Former world-class boxer Emile Griffith, who won five titles during the 1960s, died Tuesday just east of New York City, the International Boxing Hall of Fame announced.
He was 75.
Griffith died Tuesday morning at the Nassau Extended Care Facility in Hempstead, New York.
"Emile Griffith was a gifted athlete and a truly great boxer," Edward Brophy, the hall of fame's executive director, said. "Outside of the ring, he was as great a gentleman as he was a fighter."
Born in the Virgin Islands, Griffith was 19 when he moved to New York. His had his first big breakthrough -- a Golden Gloves title -- a few years later in 1957. He went pro the following year.
Griffith scored his first of three welterweight titles in 1961.
He made headlines the next year for his pummeling of Benny Paret after the latter had called him a maricon, a derogatory Spanish term for homosegxwal, according to Sports Illustrated and other news reports. Paret died of his injuries 10 days later.
A 2005 documentary, "Ring of Fire," recalled that bout and how it haunted Griffith for years. Yet he kept on fighting.
By the end of the 1960s -- a decade highlighted by his being named the Boxing Writers Association of America's Fighter of the Year in 1963 -- Griffith had won two middleweight championships in addition to his titles in lighter welterweight division. He retired with a record of 85 wins (including 23 knockouts), 24 losses and two draws, according to the International Boxing Hall of Fame, which inducted him into its ranks in 1990.
At least 35 people died and 200 people were injured when a train derailed in Galicia in northwestern Spain on Wednesday, the president of the regional government said.
“The number of dead will not be lower than 35,” Alberto Nunez Feijoo told news radio Cadena Ser.
“There are bodies laying on the railway track. It’s a Dante-esque scene,” he added.
The Renfe railway company earlier said there were “several dead and injured” in the accident near the city of Santiago de Compostela, but could not immediately give a precise toll.
The train, carrying 238 passengers, originated in Madrid and was bound for the northwestern town of Ferrol as the Galicia region was preparing celebrations in honour of its patron saint James.
“It derailed near the station of Santiago de Compostela but we don’t yet know why,” Renfe said.
Public television TVE repeated appeals from area hospitals for blood donations to help the injured.
A witness told radio Cadena that carriages overturned several times in a bend and came to a halt piled up on each other.
Television footage showed that four carriages had overturned and were lying on the tracks, at least one of them ripped apart with smoke billowing from the train.
The accident happened around 9:00pm (1900 GMT) “for unknown reasons”, said a Renfe spokesman.
First pictures showed parts of the locomotive’s roof in flames.
The crash came less than two weeks after a passenger train derailed just south of Paris, killing six people and injuring 30 more.
French rail operator SNCF said that derailment may have been caused by a connecting bar that came loose.
A supposed Saudi princess claimed yesterday that she is so wealthy she has splashed out almost £1million on perfume in the past two months. Her spree has created an Aladdin’s cave-style display of opulence which has to be seen to be believed, the High Court heard. Sara Al Amoudi is accused of being a one-time penniless Ethiopian prostitute who posed as a princess to swindle London property developers Amanda Clutterbuck and Ian Paton out of luxury flats worth £14million.
But yesterday the mysterious ‘princess’ – whose age has been given as between 31 and 45 – wept in court as she assured the judge she had never been an impoverished prostitute, that her wealth was genuine and that she had been on the shopping sprees to prove it. Miss Al Amoudi, who arrived at the London court in a Rolls Royce with numberplates reading ‘HRH’, told judge Sarah Asplin her shopping addiction was so serious she had sought medical help.
In heavily accented English, Miss Al Amoudi said: ‘I have a problem with shopping – I go to doctor. In the last two months my perfume, only the perfume – $1.4million (£912,000). I can show you the pictures.’
Miss Al Amoudi arrived at court in a full burka and five-inch platform heels. At the suggestion of the judge she removed her veil in the witness box, but still attempted to keep her face hidden from onlookers. She claims she had an affair with her alleged victim Mr Paton, 45, behind the back of his lover and business partner Miss Clutterbuck, 56, and that he borrowed and stole some £5million of pocket money she received from Saudi Arabia.
She also insists that when six exclusive flats in Knightsbridge and Chelsea were signed over to her name, it was simply repayment for his thefts and loans. But Mr Paton and Miss Clutterbuck say she swindled them by pretending she had millions to invest in a massive property project – allegedly claiming to be an estranged wife of Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah, 88 – and are demanding £14million from her.
Yesterday, Miss Al Amoudi insisted ‘in the name of Allah’ that she was an honest woman given some £10million in cash by her family in the past decade. She claimed she kept money hidden under her bed and entrusted Mr Paton with half her cash for ‘safekeeping’, and insisted her only problems were wild spending.
Miss Al Amoudi said: ‘I’m afraid I’m addicted to spending money, and get through enormous amounts of cash. I can easily spend £50,000 to £100,000 in one spree.’ At any one time she would have ‘a minimum of £100,000 and sometimes £400,000’ stashed under a piece of carpet beneath her bed, she said. She added that in Saudi Arabia she was considered ‘like a criminal’ because she had an adulterous relationship, so her family had to send her pocket money in cash stuffed into suitcases. Miss Al Amoudi claimed she married at 13 to a man she refused to name, saying that he was now a threat to her life and that of her 13-year-old daughter. But she claimed her ‘lover’ Mr Paton took advantage of her and that now he and Miss Clutterbuck were lying about her.
Miss Al Amoudi said: ‘They say I’m a prostitute. It’s not true. I swear to Allah I’m not liar.’ She said Mr Paton was a drug user. He denies taking crack cocaine. Miss Al Amoudi was accused by a male model boyfriend in a previous criminal case of having regularly drunk herself into a stupor at nightclubs. But yesterday, when asked by Stuart Cakebread, barrister for the plaintiffs: ‘Do you drink?’, she said: ‘I will not answer this question because I’m a Muslim woman.’ The court had earlier heard witness Negat Ali, an Ethiopia-born south London furniture dealer, claim the defendant was a former prostitute originally from Ethiopia. She claims she came forward after seeing a picture of Miss Al Amoudi’s unveiled face in the Daily Mail. Miss Ali claimed she first met the ‘princess’ in 1985 when Miss Al Amoudi was operating under a different name and was helping her mother run a restaurant in the Yemen notorious for luring in rich men and conning them. She said they fell out later after Miss Al Amoudi failed to repay a £500 loan. Miss Ali denied being a disgruntled former maid of the ‘princess’.
Abakaliki – The Nigerian Army has uncovered a live bomb at the construction site of the proposed 344 Artillery Regiment at Ezillo in the Ishielu Local Government Area of Ebonyi.
This is contained in a statement from Capt. A.M. Sa’ad of the Nkwegu Military Cantonment, Abakaliki. The statement said the regiment was being constructed on the disputed land between Ezza and Ezillo communities that had claimed more than 50 persons. “The bomb was discovered during supervision of the project located on the ever-busy Abakaliki - Enugu expressway,’’ it said It said the bomb would be detonated where it was found.
The statement urged members of the public to go about their businesses and not to be frightened as the detonation was for the safety of all. (NAN)
German police were left speechless at the weekend when they stopped a group of inventive revellers cruising around town in a unique swimming pool-car. The water wagon was spotted careering along Eibenstock near Chemnitz, southern Saxony, by a lone police sergeant on motorcycle. 'I saw the strangest-looking convertible I have ever seen - a roofless BMW, without registration plates, bordered around the open top with wooden boards and fake plastic flowers. It was also full of water,' he later said.
Aside from the driver, the car held three young males clad only in swimming trunks - one of whom was lolling on the boot with his feet dangling down into the vehicle. 'All of them appeared drunk,' the police said.
The sergeant ended up chasing the BMW as it sped off into a car park - losing much of its liquid load as it went. The young men sloshed to a halt and jumped out, fleeing across a nearby dry riverbed, where they hid as police swarmed around the vehicle.
It turned out the DIY car crew had hollowed out the inside of the vehicle, sealed and waterproofed it, painted it swimming pool blue and filled it with water for a grand day out. Concerned that the men would try to return and make a getaway, the sergeant let the air out of the tyres and disconnected the spark plug leads. Eventually the driver returned to fetch his belongings from the boot. The visibly intoxicated 27-year-old, who said he hadn't been driving the unregistered vehicle, was allowed to get his shoes and wallet in return for a blood sample.
Police said they were investigating the man on suspicion of drink-driving and of driving an uninsured, unregistered vehicle. Whether or not driving a car filled with water is an offence is something prosecutors are studying.
This is the moment a crocodile clamped its jaws around a trainer's head during a stunt that went awry at a Thai tourist attraction. Screams can be heard from the audience in footage of the 27-year-old's brush with death at the Samut Prakan Crocodile Farm in Bangkok on Sunday. It shows the trainer cautiously approaching the reptile before placing his head inside its gaping mouth - only for the deadly crocodile to suddenly snap its jaws shut and violently thrash the man from side to side.
The man was flung around repeatedly before the crocodile released him at the farm. Crocodile shows are a popular attraction in Thailand, where trainers wow crowds by seemingly defying death putting their heads in the creature's mouths. Incredibly, the farm worker escaped virtually unscathed. According to the Bangkok Post it is unusual for the creature to have released its grip on the trainer, who it said has been in the job for eight years. The newspaper said he sustained head wounds. The accident was said to be the first to occur at the farm.
Tyrell Burton, 19, from London, believed to be the young man who was stabbed to death in Malia, Crete More than a dozen British tourists have appeared in court on a Greek holiday island after a mass brawl in which one Briton was pinned down and stabbed to death 'execution-style'.
The youths were taken to stand before the prosecutor on Crete today following the death of 19-year-old Tyrell Matthews-Burton, from Leyton, east London, who was stabbed through the heart. Police have questioned one British tourist, also 19, on suspicion of fatally stabbing Mr Matthews-Burton, and have detained 14 others after the incident which occurred in the early hours of yesterday.
Today relatives of those arrested said Greek police had simply rounded up everyone who had visited the club that night, irrespective of whether they had been involved or even there at the time of the brawl.
The mother of one of the Britons arrested said: 'In those clubs you need ID to get in, so the police simply went around all the hotels arresting everyone who had been there that night, including my son.
'My son didn't know the man who died, and wasn't there when it happened - he had left earlier with some girls. But they arrested him and put him in handcuffs to take him to court.'
Several of the young men arrested rang their families to tell them they were asked to appear before the court one by one so that a lawyer could decide if they were to be charged or not.
One mother said: 'My son was privately-educated and he is a stockbroker. He had nothing do with it but has been arrested anyway. The police just rounded everyone up.'
A friend of one of the young men who had blood on his shirt said he was a friend of Mr Matthews-Burton, who had tried to help the teenager after he was fatally injured.
He said: 'He and Tyrell were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. It was nothing to do with gangs - they had just gone on holiday with a group of five friends and it was just bad luck.'
An ambulance was called to the brawl outside the closed bar in the popular town of Malia, which is known for its wild nightlife, but the young man is believed to have died on his way to hospital.
Today Greek coroner Manolis Michalodimitrakis said: 'There were two stab wounds, to the back and to the chest.
'He was clearly pinned down and killed execution style - there were no defence wounds. 'The knife punctured his lung and heart. He lost almost half of his blood - almost half of his blood.'
Harry Nye, 18, from Kent, said he witnessed the fight, which is understood to have taken place outside the Safari Club in the resort. He told the Daily Mirror: 'We saw one guy having his head stamped on and this other lad just fell straight. I've never seen that much blood.'
About 81 per cent or 130 million Nigerians, out of the about 160 million Nigerians, generated their own electricity through alternative sources to compensate for irregular power supply, according to the result of a series of Power Sector Polls conducted by NOI Polls Limited for the second quarter of 2013.
According to the results, a combined average of 69 per cent of Nigerians or 110 million Nigerians, have experienced increase in their spending on alternative power supply compared to a year ago. The result of the poll further showed that an average of 47 per cent of Nigerian adults said that electricity supply was poor or went from bad to worse in the second quarter of 2013.
According to the poll results, the Electric Power Sector Reform Act (EPSRA), passed in 2005, initiated the unbundling of government’s power plants under the Nigerian Electricity Power Authority (NEPA).
“They were formed into business units and regulated by the Nigerian Electricity Regulation Commission (NERC) thus paving the way for public-private partnership and consequently the privatization of the power sector. “The privatisation process is still underway and is intended to revive the power sector and invariably the Nigerian economy, as homes and industries alike will receive adequate and consistent quality of power supply.
“In order to ascertain the perceptions of Nigerians regarding the power sector reforms, the hours of power supply received daily and expenditure on alternative sources of power compared to a year ago, NOI Polls introduced the Power Sector Polls Project in April 2013 to monitor these trends and will release quarterly reports on findings of the polls. This result release marks the first in the series,” the poll said. Continuing, the researchers said, “Over 3000 phone owning Nigerian adults aged 18 years and above were interviewed across this three month period (April-June) and some of their responses to the poll will be analysed in this report.
“In order to measure the level of power supply to households, respondents were asked: ‘How would you describe power supply in your area in the past 1 month?’ “A combined average of 47 per cent said power supply had either remained bad (25 per cent) or had worsened (22 per cent); compared with about 33 per cent who said they witnessed some slight improvement, and 20 per cent who experienced no difference in the past month.
“Nonetheless, it is worth pointing that the poll results indicate a one-point increase between April and June (April: 31, June: 32) of respondents who saw some improvement, a 5-point drop in respondents who said it remains bad (April: 27, June: 22) and a 3-point increase in those who said it remained the same (April: 18, June: 21).
The polls have indicated a link between power supply and the president’s approval rating; as it was observed that in the months where respondents perceived that power improved, the president’s rating seemed to increase and vice versa. The month of May had the best power supply of the three months. Figure 1 illustrates the three month trend.
”The next question sought to measure the typical number of hours of continuous power supply experienced in the household on a daily basis: ‘On the average, how many hours of continuous power supply does your household experience daily?’
“Averages across three months show that between April and June 42% of respondents claimed to experience about 1-4 hours of power supply on a typical day. There marks a 4-point decline in the proportion of respondents who received 1-4 hours of continuous power between April and June (April: 45%, June: 41%); a 7-point increase in respondents who received 15-19 hours of power (April: 3%, June 10%); and also a 2-point increase in respondents who received 10-14 hours of power (April: 9%, June: 11%).
Amnesty International said it has received reports that Nigerian prison authorities in Benin have moved a group of death row prisoners into cells closer to the gallows, including one man who narrowly escaped execution last month.
“With these latest reports it appears that the authorities at Nigeria’s Benin prison may be gearing up to continue executing,” said Lucy Freeman, Deputy Director of Amnesty International’s Africa Programme.
“In a cruel twist, one of the men who have just been moved within the prison was also amongst those brought to the gallows to be hanged last month, before the prison authorities postponed his execution after realizing his death sentence required a firing squad.
“Many countries in West Africa and most of the world are moving away from the death penalty, but Nigeria insists on bucking this clear international trend – President Goodluck Jonathan must call for an end to all executions in the country and return to the moratorium that was previously in place.”
While it is believed that execution warrants have been signed for the men, further appeals are pending in relation to their cases.
Benin Prison, where the men are being held in the southern Nigerian state of Edo, executed four prisoners exactly one month ago, on 24 June. They were the country’s first known judicial executions since 2006.
Amnesty International is however yet to confirm reports that Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole signed two additional execution warrants on Wednesday morning.
According to the organization’s Death Sentences and Executions 2012 report, Nigeria sentenced 56 people to death last year, and approximately 1,000 people are on death row in the country.
A middle aged woman simply identified as madam Agnes is currently being detained at the State Criminal Investigations Department, SCID Panti, for allegedly beating an 11-year-old child that was staying with her to death.
The deceased identified as Angelina, was reportedly taken from her parents in far away Ogoja, Cross River state by Agnes, with a promise to send her to school, when she was barely four years old. Angelina, grew up calling her guardian mother, apparently unaware she was not her biological mother.
But things as gathered, fell apart for late Angelina after she turned 6, as she was reportedly made to carry out overwhelming house chores. Initial rebuff of such attitude from madam Rose who crime Alert learnt is related to Angelina’s mother, by neighbour was reportedly greeted with an outburst.
The dehumanising treatment on Angelina reached its peak last Friday, as she was reportedly beaten to death by her madam, for failure to carry out chores as instructed.
Investigation by Crime Alert revealed that on that fateful day, at about 5pm, Madam Agnes returned home screaming at the little girl whom neighbours said was not feeling too well. Madam Agnes reportAedly dragged Angelina into her apartment located on 75 Barracks lllane, Ajegunle and started beating her. The helpless girl was said to have shouted for help. But none was forth coming. Then, all of a sudden she seized crying.
Neighbours later became apprehensive after they sighted madam Agnes rush out of her room to a medicine store opposite the building. She reportedly came back with a nurse who went inside with her and rushed out again to get something.
At this point, a neighbour told Crime Alert during a visit at the building yesterday that “ we suspected all was not well. When the nurse came out , we asked what the problem was and she told us that Angelina had fainted. We all rushed inside, only to behold Angelina’s lifeless body on the ground.
On further observation, we discovered a pestle by the side with blood stain and we concluded she could have used it on Angelina”.
Another neighbour who also spoke on condition of anonymity said, “ We are not surprised at Angelina’s demise because madam Agnes had always threatened. At the slightest provocation, she would beat her with any object at her disposal. At times she would smash bottle on her head and at other times, she would use a stool on her. At a point we got angry but there was nothing we could do to alert Angelina’s biological parents”.
Asked why none of them bothered to report the abuse on Angelina to the Police, another neighbour replied, “ Police? You want madam Agnes to fight you? Even if you attempt to rescue Angelina from her grip whenever she was being beaten, Agnes would fight you and ask if you were her relative.
At a point, she resorted to locking the doors whenever she wanted to beat the girl, in order to prevent anyone from coming to her rescue”.
Everyone who spoke with Crime Alert described the late Angelina as a dutiful girl who never complained while carrying out any of the house chores. At times she reportedly missed schools in order to finish the chores before the arrival of her guardian. Most times neighbours said she would be made to finish the chores before taking her first meal either at noon or evening.
“Saturdays were the most hectic for the little girl as she would be made to wash her guardians clothes and those of her two grown children”.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have this evening revealed that their son - now the third in line to the throne - will be called George.
Kensington Palace revealed the baby's full name will be George Alexander Louis. William and Kate's baby will be known as Prince George and as third in line to the throne will one day be king.
Kensington Palace said in a short statement: 'The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are delighted to announce that they have named their son George Alexander Louis.
'The baby will be known as His Royal Highness Prince George of Cambridge.'
By naming their son George - which is synonymous with British kings - it looks like the couple have followed tradition. However, royal sources say the baby's names are not supposed to be symbolic but that the couple genuinely like them.
The name George is synonymous with British kings.
It has come to represent the continuity of the monarchy and remained the bookmakers' favourite in the name-guessing stakes from the moment Kate's pregnancy was announced.
Six King Georges have worn the crown throughout history since the German-born George I, the first Hanoverian king of Great Britain, acceded to the throne in 1714.
The first name of the last King George - George VI - was actually Albert and he was known to his family as 'Bertie' but he selected George - his fourth name - to use as Sovereign.
He was the much-loved father of the present Queen and the new Prince George of Cambridge's great-great grandfather. George VI chose George in honour of his father George V and to create the impression of stability after the scandal caused by the abdication of his brother Edward VIII.
George is also the fourth name of the Prince of Wales - the baby's grandfather. Even Edward VIII had George among his seven names.
The name means farmer or earth worker. It was the 12th most popular name for boys born in England and Wales in 2011.
St George, a fourth-century Christian martyr, is the patron Saint of England and represents honour, bravery and gallantry. The legend of George slaying a dragon and rescuing an innocent maiden is medieval.
There has only been one other Prince of Cambridge and he was also called George.
Award winning TV and radio broadcaster, Dayo Adeneye popularly known as D1 who recently acquired a Bentley bares it all in an interview with Gbenga Dan Asabe. He talked about the present status of Nigerian entertainment at large, his start-up, how he deals with women and more. Read excerpts from the interview below;
Q. How was your starting up like?
It was during my graduate studies. I was living in Los Angeles (United States), Hollywood, to be precise, and everything around me was entertainment. Los Angeles is known as the entertainment capital of the world. All my neighbours were musicians. It was either you ran into Eddie Murphy in the grocery store or Samuel L Jackson at the side walk and so on. I saw the impact the celebrities had in their community. I felt like, ‘Hey! This is a way of contributing my own quota to nation building back home in Nigeria’. Then I got the chance (through) Chief Dr Raymond Dokpesi. He came to Los Angeles and offered me and Kenny Ogungbe an opportunity to help start Nigeria’s first private radio station, RayPower. I took it with both hands and said ‘Wow! This is the opportunity that I have been looking for.’ And since then, we never looked back.
Q. Following Otunba Dele Momodu’s acquisition of a Bentley, how do you feel as the 2nd person in your category to buy a Bentley?
Well, that says something of our industry. There should be more of Bentley owners in Nigeria. With the amount of work and the amount of efforts that we put into this work, there should be more. I shouldn’t be the first, I shouldn’t be the second. I mean, we should have more celebrities buying Bentleys. If you look abroad in developed countries, you will see stars of twenty one, twenty two riding Bentleys. The likes of Eddy Murphys of this world at twenty one, twenty two started riding all those things. It goes to show you that we still have a long way to go, we are developing. I mean we would go places and make exploits. I mean John Travolta (an American actor) has his own plane. He has a Boeing 747 as his private air plane. Tyler Perry has his own private jet. He is a producer, he writes movies. So we are not there yet. We shouldn’t just be celebrating a Bentley. We should be celebrating D-One buys his own Forker Air Jet, that is the level we should be right now at my own age.
Q. Do you think Nigeria as a whole can have an award show that can be compared with the standards of Grammys?
The Grammys is over 55 years old; Nigeria as a country is not even 55. It took time for the Grammys to grow as a brand. Whatever we are aspiring to, we should give it time to grow and nurture it. We have people in Nigeria who are packaging award shows and they are doing their very best.
Q. What do you miss about late Goldie?
Goldie was a very funny and fun person; most people who were not close to her don’t know that she was a very down-to-earth person. The Goldie you saw on Big Brother Africa cooking, cleaning; that was the way she was. There was no pretense about her. She was just a hardworking and a motherly person who liked to take care of people. I will miss that about her. She always put her best in whatever she did. I was very proud of her.
Q. Can you spend your money to pop the £1.2million bottle of champagne designed by Alexander Amosu?
(Laughs) I really don’t think so. There is a lot of hunger and poverty out there in the world; that kind of money can be put to better use. It can be used to help poor people than to be spent on a bottle of champagne.
Q. How do you cope with advances from women?
(laughs) How do I cope with that? Erm…, to be honest with you, I take everything in strides. I met Eddy Murphy some years ago, and I usually see him in social circles and clubs mingling with his female fans. I asked him how he copes with that and being a married man. He said “People will chase you when you run away from them, so why not stop and say ‘hello’?” Michael Jackson then was reclusive and ran away from people and they chased after him. Eddy Murphy’s theory also applies to me. If you say ‘hello’, I will respond back and when I notice that it is going beyond the level that I want it to go, I pull away from it.
I appreciate my fans, male and female; I treat them with dignity and respect, but I make it very clear to them that ‘look, I am a married man; we can’t have more than a ‘hello’ friendship’. And it seems to work for me.
This happened at Kings of Queens Hotel located at 11, Otunba Oladokun Street, Lanre Bus Stop, Igando, Lagos State, last weekend.
PMNews reports that the male lover had taken his married girlfriend identified as Glory Abbey to a popular hotel where she died during sex romp between the lovers. The yet to be identified man quietly abandoned her corpse in the room they lodged and fled without informing the hotel’s management about what happened.
According to the hotel’s manager identified as Saliu, the woman came to the hotel with the young man, booked a room and went in.
“After staying for several hours in the room the man came out and told the security men that he wanted to buy food outside and he did not return to the hotel,” he said.
They later discovered the woman lying dead on the bed in the room.
Saliu said he did not see any physical injury she sustained and could not explain what really caused her death.
The owner of the hotel, Otunba Richard Oladokun, who also confirmed the incident, expressed shock over what happened.
He said he was informed about what happened on phone by his manager and he went to the police station at Igando and reported the matter. He said he came with the police to the hotel and found the woman lying dead on the bed and the police took away her corpse to the mortuary.
Oladokun said what surprised him most was that the young man who brought the woman to the hotel initially picked his calls and promised to come back but did not. Rather, he later switched off his phone and no one has been able to contact him again since the incident happened.
Nobody has been able to contact the woman’s husband or relatives as there is no address to trace them at the time of this report.
Confirming the incident, the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Ngozi Braide, described Glory’s death as sudden and unnatural. She said her body has been deposited at the mortuary for autopsy, while the police have since commenced investigation into the matter.
A Newcastle footballer who said the team's sponsor clashed with his Muslim beliefs has been criticised for visiting a casino.
Papiss Cisse has been refusing to wear the loan company Wonga-branded strip.
However, it has now emerged that the Senegal striker was spotted at Aspers Casino in the city in November.
His agent said that he was not a gambler, but a Muslim councillor said Cisse would be letting Muslims down just by visiting a casino.
Newcastle United is currently on a pre-season trip to Portugal, but Cisse pulled out, saying he was not prepared to promote the pay-day loans company, citing his religion, and instead offered to wear an unbranded strip.
Both charging interest on loans and gambling are considered unethical by Muslims.
'Wrong message' A spokesperson for Aspers Casino described Cisse as "an occasional visitor" who was "very well behaved and very welcome", but would not confirm whether or not he placed any bets.
Madou Diene, the player's agent, said: "Papiss Cisse is not a gambler."
Newcastle city councillor Dipu Ahad has previously defended Cisse's stance on Wonga.
He said: "I feel absolutely ashamed of what he's done, there's not just me there's been other people who've been supporting him.
"But what he's done now, seeing him in the casino, even if he wasn't gambling, I think this gives a wrong message.
"People will say, 'look, this is Islam they can pick and choose whatever they want', and Islam isn't about picking and choosing."
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