The entire people of Nsit Ubium Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State were shocked to the marrow penultimate Wednesday. It was not without a cause. That was the day a 30-year-old man identified as John Etim Akpan allegedly beheaded his 13-year-old niece.



Akpan with the Severed head


Daily Sun gathered that the suspect, Akpan, met his niece returning from school soaked in rainwater. He then offered to help the girl by carrying her on his motorbike. But Akpan allegedly had other plans.

Instead of taking the little girl home, Akpan was said to have taken her to his room. Once in the safe confines of his abode, Akpan allegedly severed the young girl’s head.

Akpan then sneaked out of the room with the girl’s head and buried it somewhere with the hope of later removing it for sale.

However, while removing the girl’s body, some members of the family had suspected that something was wrong as they saw blood dripping on the ground.

They later discovered the body and shouted for help. The villagers and other youths in the surrounding villages quickly rushed out and beat Akpan to a state of coma before the matter was reported to the police.

One of the youths, Elder Silas Bassey, told Daily Sun that when they heard the noise from the family, they rushed out. He said after discovering what really happened, the mob descended on Akpan and beat him mercilessly until he passed out.

It was said that during interrogation, Akpan confessed that he actually beheaded his niece. He said he wanted to get money from the sale of the skull.

The culprit has since been remanded in prison custody, pending further investigations by the police.

A passenger jet crashed into the hills  overlooking Pakistan's capital amid poor weather Wednesday, killing all 152 people on board and blazing a path of devastation strewn with body parts and twisted metal wreckage.

It was the worst plane crash ever in Pakistan.

Nigerians living outside the country will be denied the opportunity to vote from where they are resident, in next year’s general election. This disclosure was made by President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, at the 4th National Diaspora Conference with the theme, Nigeria at 50: The Role of the Diaspora in National Development, yesterday in Minna.
The President, who was represented by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) added that this remained the situation unless certain aspects of the constitution were amended.

POR AI, a group of six young and talented male musicians and two delectable female dancers from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, all in their 20s, will descend on Lagos this week for a series of concerts in various locations,  the first of which will be at the MUSON Centre, Onikan, on Sunday, 25 July.
The concerts are part of the Brazilian Consulate’s ongoing promotion of Brazilian culture globally that has now taken a bigger dimension with Brazil’s back-to-back hosting of the world’s two greatest events, the World Cup and the Olympics in 2014 and 2016 respectively.
The Brazilian musical ambassadors comprise Tiago Bernardes, a composer and percussionist who plays different instruments; Daniel Filho (Uncle Chico), a general percussionist; Renan Junior, who plays different string instruments; Diego Garcia, the lead vocalist; Alcides Pereira, who plays all kinds of percussion;  Mario Jorge, guitarist; Jaqueline Xavier, a dancer who has travelled all over Brazil and also overseas, showing her swing and talent as a dancer and Deiseane de Jesus, who is part of the famous Samba school called Imperio Serrano.
The band, which has been together for a while, is expected to offer the most typical of Brazilian music—the seductive rhythm of Samba.

A 40-year old pastor with the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Kunle Odeyemi David and his accomplice, Ganiyu Babatunde a.k.a. Iyalla, 52, have been arrested by the Lagos State Police Command for fraudulently withdrawing N8 million from the bank account of  a Lagos-based hotelier, Alhaji Mudashiru Olanrewaju Odetunde.

•Pastor Kunle Odeyemi.
According to police sources, David, who resides at 3, Transformer Street, Amikanle, Alagbado, Lagos and  Babatunde, who lives at 8, Oduduwa Street, Surulere, Lagos, have been allegedly  withdrawing money from accounts of bank customers with the connivance of a female cashier. Their victim, Alhaji Odetunde, the owner of Moonshine Motel, Lagos told P.M.NEWS: “ The suspects withdrew money from my account with the assistance of a female cashier. My bank is near Nigerian Breweries, Iganmu, Lagos.
“ Can you imagine that when the pastor and his comrade-in-crime removed N8 million from my account, I went to report at the bank’s headquarters. Immediately I stepped out, I got another alert that N2 million was removed again from my account.
“I dashed back to the bank to complain again and in a twinkle of an eye, I got a transaction alert which read your account has been credited with N2,000,000 by returned 062317520 cheque.
“But for the assistance of police detectives attached to Area ‘A’ command, Lion Building, Lagos Island, they would not have been arrested.
“I am disappointed with the way the bank officials handled the matter. I feel it is no longer safe to keep money in the bank. They keep deceiving me over my N8 million.
“The bank is yet to pay me  my money. I work extremely hard to get money.”
Pastor David said: “I am a pastor of Redeemed Church. It is true we withdrew money  from Alhaji Odetunde’s account.  I got 30 per cent of the money. The cheque was paid into my account and we withdrew it at Gbagada branch, Lagos. I deal in oil and gas.” Babantunde said: “The offence has been committed. The account number we used was 06231753 at the Ibadan branch. The money was paid into Pastor’s account with the help of a female cashier.”
It was also gathered that the police at the Area ‘A’ Command have impounded a Toyota Infinity SUV marked DM11EKY and a black Picanto Car with registration number MN 141 KJA from Pastor David and Babatunde respectively.
Police sources told P.M.NEWS that the suspects will be charged to court soon.
—Oluwole Adeboye

THEY look like friends who met at nursery school but Kaydon and Layton Richardson are in fact twin brothers with different-coloured skin.

The twins’  mother, 32-year-old Kerry,  is of English-Nigerian heritage.

The boys celebrated their fourth birthday in the same week Nigerian couple, Ben and Angela Ihegboro, revealed their white daughter Nmachi to the world.

The genetic quirks make the children “two-in-a-million” rarities that have fascinated doctors.

After hearing of the Ihegboro family’s incredible baby news, Kaydon and Layton’s mother, Kerry, said skin colour had been on her mind when giving birth to daughter Tiyannah recently.

“I thought it was crazy. As much as it happened to me, the twins’  dad is white, so for it to happen to a black couple seems even stranger,” she said.

“When I was carrying Tiyannah I was wondering what colour she was going to be.

“Before the twins I would have expected that any child of mine would have my  colour in them.

“But after Layton I wasn’t sure what she was going to look like.

“When she was born she looked as though she was going to go dark but at about  two weeks old it was clear she was white.

“I was a little surprised as I thought Layton was a one-off.

“Doctors can tell you what sex your baby is going to be but they can’t tell you  what colour!’

Kerry also fears the twins will stand out when they start primary school in September.

She said: “It’s never been an issue up to now but I know that Layton notices the difference in their colour.

“I’ve tried to explain it to them in the past but last year we were in an  airport in America when Layton shouted, “Mum, am I white like my dad and Kaydon’s black like you?”.

‘That was the first time he had said that but everyone thought it was very  funny.

“I hope it’s not going to be a problem when they start school but kids can be cruel.”

Gosa, a settlement in Maiduguri, Borno State, is famous for its close links with the maintenance of law and order. The community hosts the facilities where mobile policemen are trained and readied for fighting criminals.

In a way, Gosa also serves as a Mecca of sort for the various security agencies in the country, which use its facilities in the training of their personnel. This Gosa is a place to remember for those who have visited it for whatever reason.

But in Abuja, there is another Gosa, a suburb which is widely known for all the wrong reasons. Indeed, if there is any similarity between the two Gosas it is the vast differences that separate them. While in the one law enforcement agents are trained, the activities that go on in the other Gosa ensure that those so trained are kept busy once they leave the training depot and find their way anywhere near Abuja.. What an irony!

Gosa Village as it is popularly called is located on the Umaru Musa Yar’Adua Way, until recently, known as Airport Road. The activities of some committed criminals have given the settlement a wrong name.
Like other suburbs of Abuja, Gosa has its fair share of robbery, burglary, petty theft and other sundry crimes. But it is duping, otherwise called obtaining by tricks (OBT) in local parlance that Gosa excels.
These criminals, Daily Sun learnt, are gradually turning the village into a haven for crimes and other illicit activities. The hoodlums, according to residents who are afraid to have their names in print, tend to have concentrated their activities in the area called Gosa Gbaigbai. They reside there like other tenants, and in keeping with the principle of good neighbourliness. They direct their dubious activities on the unsuspecting strangers rather than the people living with them in the settlement.

A resident simply called Jude, would not want his real name mentioned. He said before now the miscreants used to go for criminal activities as from 6pm. But these days, they start from morning as early as possible. He said he was particularly baffled by the way they trick their unsuspecting victims. According to him, they even invoke some arcane powers to cast spell on the people so that they could manipulate them, rob them or trick them into surrendering their belongings.

Usaully, he said, they would take off from the major traffic points in the metropolis such as Garki Area 1 and Berger Junction, and move towards Airport Road, picking innocent passengers: “It is along the road towards that the operation will take place because that is your route. We have seen so many people that were duped. At times, the victims are hypnotized to obey whatever they are told to do.”

Often, he said, the criminals would sit in the vehicle like passengers before their targets would enter: “As you try to enter, one of them will trick you into going in on the pretext that he will be alighting at the nearest bus-stop. Then they will put their hands into your pocket or bag and pick all they can without your knowledge. Along the way the driver will say he is not going that route anymore and would discharge you and will turn to move away before you realize what has happened.

“Several times we have seen policemen come to this area ostensibly to confront these hoodlums. But after that, we still see this group of people going on their normal business. Honestly, we seem not to understand what the police are doing.” Another resident, who had once encountered them shared his experience with Daily Sun. The man who hails from Warri, Delta State, said he was on his way back from a journey, having than N500 and his ATM card with him. He said the card had ensured his day was a frustrating one because it refused to work that day.

Osagae said as he entered the taxi, a woman and some other people were already inside. As the taxi was on motion one of the other “passengers” started arguing with the driver, claiming that he had a bag in the boot of the taxi that contained $1,000,000 which he said he had taken from his “oga” (boss). He described his boss as a very stingy man who hardly gave out money even to those who had worked for him: “He said he decided to steal his money, but as he went to the room where the money was kept, he saw a red cloth in form of a fetish power on the bag. As he attempted to take the bag of money, he said something shocked him like electric power and even threw him down. But as he summoned courage to try again, he mentioned the ‘blood of Jesus’ and was able to take the money and make his way out of the house.”

According to him, the driver and the rest of the passengers said they would all share the money or else take him to the nearest police station where he would be prosecuted: “The guy pleaded with them and even pledged to give $200,000 to them. But they rejected his offer and insisted that the money be shared equally amongst them. Immediately the guy agreed, and from there they asked me if I was not interested in the booty. Before the question I was already happy because I had no money and in this case, it is in cash so I told them I was interested.

“I was even praying that the money be shared quickly. But as we were approaching Gosa Village, the driver said we should branch into a corner to share the money. But one of them immediately raised objection and said it should not be done openly because we could be apprehended by the police. They then said it would be useful to go and see one herbalist in that area since he said there were some fetish objects where he took the money.”

He said once a herbalist was brought into the picture and everybody agreed to meet him, he knew he was up against some evil machination. That was when he started to plot his escape: “As we moved on after the bend I gently requested the driver to stop briefly so that I could urinate, and he obliged. Once out of the car, I started moving as fast as I could and the woman among them asked if I was leaving. I then replied, yes I am no longer interested. From that moment I started running as fast as my feet could carry me. That was how I escaped their trap that day.”

For Christy James (not real names) who hails from Ezinifite, Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra State, the reality of falling in love with a blood relation, an incest that is abhorred in her community, has dawned on her.

Christy, who was impregnated by a relation, who she did not give his name, said she had carried her baby girl named Joy for nine months without getting any help from the man responsible for the pregnancy or her parents.
The relation, who was responsible, was not able to take care of her and her baby at birth. The teenager’s parents did not help matters either. According to Christy, they abandoned her shortly after she became pregnant and refused to render even the least assistance that someone could give to a stranger.

Coming face to face with Christy, one is confronted with her innocent face and the unending tears rolling down her cheeks. Her heart is also filled with regrets, as she says she was forced by circumstances to do what she did.
She told Daily Sun that the decision to throw her six-month-old baby into a toilet was the most difficult decision she had taken in life, but had to do it because that was the only alternative left for her at that time:

“I don’t know what to say. What happened was that I was impregnated by a relation of mine, who unfortunately is jobless and has no money to even take care of himself not to talk of taking care of me or my baby.
“My parents live in Delta State and as soon as I became pregnant, they abandoned me to my fate and would not want to have anything to do with me. I managed through the nine months of pregnancy and delivered the child until now when it became unbearable for me.

“I was totally abandoned by almost everybody. No one to advise me, no one to help me in feeding, no one to help me in anything. I didn’t know what to do until the idea of doing away with the baby came into my head.
“So, on that fateful day, I got that push, something inside me was pushing me to go and throw the baby into the pit toilet. I painfully did it, an action that is hurting me now and will continue to hurt me till the end of my life.

“I was arrested after the incident. I think some people saw me and reported to the police. They opened the pit and brought out the baby, but by then, she was already dead and that was how I was brought here.”
Christy who said she was neither raped nor forced into segxwal relationship with her unnamed relation, however, asked for God’s mercy upon her life.

Nigeria won a penalty shootout to claim a place in the semi-finals at the end of an enthralling struggle in Augsburg. Ironically it was USA's golden girl Sydney Leroux who missed with the US' fifth penalty to seal the African side's 4-2 victory, their captain Christine Nairn having seen her attemopt saved as well.

It was a notable triumph for the Falconets who had never before won a quarter-final in a FIFA womens competition and who had faltered at the last-eight stage on three previous occasions in the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup. Ndem Egan's team had been overrun in the second half but found their feet and plundered a magnificent equaliser through Helen Ukaonu late on. They now face Colombia in Thursday's semi-final in Bielefeld in what is a major surprise with USA the two-time champions and the most successful team in the history of the competition.

yesterday the United States National Center for Health Statistics, a branch of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, released a study - which gave the average number of segxwal partners for women in America.

The study, which used complicated and very high tech means to get accurate answers about segxwal activity, is claiming that only 9 PERCENT of women have had sex with 15 or more men in their lifetime.

And get this, the average number of LIFETIME segxwal partners for women . . . is FOUR!!! Yeah, that's FOUR over the course of a LIFETIME!!!!

Yikes . . .

The police in Lagos have arrested a 20-year-old bakery worker, Charles Kelly, for stabbing his co-worker, Erinola Akinyemi, in the stomach at a local bakery (name withheld) located in Ogba area of Ikeja, Lagos.



According to the Lagos State Police Command spokesman, Mr. Frank Mba, "Akinyemi was stabbed in the lower abdomen and part of his organs burst out. He died before help could reach him at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital. His corpse has been deposited at Isolo General Hospital mortuary."

Mba said that the police were still investigating the circumstances that led to the fight in which Akinyemi was killed.

But Kelly said that Akinyemi, who was a senior colleague, usually deducted N300 illegally from his weekly salary.

He said, "I have been nursing this grudge against him because I don't know why he was removing from my salary. Since March 3, 2010 that I started work there, he would give everybody their full weekly salary but he would remove N300 from my own and give me N1, 700 instead of N2, 000. The funny thing there was that this man receives N5, 000 every week."

Kelly said he had a chance to show his displeasure to Akinyemi when he sent him to buy a N5 sachet water for him. "I deliberately refused to go because I wanted to show him that I was not happy with him. I felt I needed to fight my cause since the owner of the bakery where I worked did not intervene," Kelly said.

It was gathered, however, that Akinyemi did not take his refusal lightly.

Kelly said, "He was the one that started beating me; so, I took two empty bottles of 7-Up and marked him with the bottles. Instead of him to stop, he went to pick a knife to stab me.

"What I did then was to hold the hand with the knife; I twisted it and put my right leg behind his left leg and pushed him. He pulled me with him and we fell together. That was how the knife entered his stomach," Kelly said.

Mba, however, said that the police were waiting for the report of an autopsy after which the case would be taken to the court

Tragedy struck last Saturday at Mangu in Mangu Local Government Area of Plateau State when a father of five children died on top of his lover.


The lover, a mother of three, is also said to be recuperating at Mangu General Hospital after a night of marathon sex.

The woman (name withheld), had sneaked into the man's bar, which he also used as a guest house, after the man had asked his wife to go home and take care of the children.

However, PUNCH METRO gathered that neighbours became curious when a generator inside the compound was still on when they woke up early in the morning.

It was further gathered that the lovers retired into a room in the bar and put on a generator, which worked till the following day.

PUNCH METRO learnt that the man might have been suffocated by the generator's fumes.

By the time the neighbours forced the doors open, the man laid unconscious while the woman was gasping for breath.

She was rushed to a nearly hospital where she was revived.

By mid-morning, curious neighbours were still trooping to the scene.

Police Public Relations Officer in the state command, Mr. Mohammed Lerama, an Assistant Superintendent of Police, said that he was yet to be briefed about the incident.

Meanwhile, one person was on Tuesday killed and several others injured in a clash between some youths and the police in Agaie, Agaie Local Government Area of Niger State.

The police outpost in the town was also burnt and weapons allegedly stolen by the youths.

One of our correspondents gathered that the fracas was the aftermath of the arrest by the police of a suspected Nigerian Telecommunications Limited cable vandal.

The suspected vandal, who was picked up in Minna, during an interrogation mentioned his accomplices. Consequently, the police swooped on Agaie town where members of his gang were apprehended and detained at the police out-post pending the time they would be transferred to Minna.

It was gathered that some youths in the town protested the arrest and detention of the suspect and invaved the outpost.

Efforts to make the youths vacate the police station peacefully, it was learnt, were abortive. It was gathered that one of the policemen shot into the air to disperse the youths, but a stray bullet hit one of the youths, who died instantly.

Following the death of the youth, the mob launched further attack on the police and set the police outpost ablaze.

Police Public Relations Officer for the command, ASP Richard Oguche, confirmed the incident, but doubted if police weapons were stolen from the station.

   
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=428406


In Africa, a New Middle-Income Consumerism

Denis Ruharo, a Ugandan entrepreneur, is able to spend his salary on Diesel jeans and a health club membership. More private sector employment has expanded the ranks of sub-Saharan Africa's middle-income earners. (Photos By Stephanie Mccrummen -- The Washngton Post)
By Stephanie McCrummenWashington Post Foreign Service
Monday, September 1, 2008; Page A01


KAMPALA, Uganda -- Meet Denis Ruharo, an entrepreneur with a master's degree, a man who carries a BlackBerry and two Nokia cellphones, buys organic greens at a grocery store and sometimes does business over a cold Nile beer at a club called Silk.

"I have the mortgage and home improvement, " he said, glancing at the budget he and his wife keep on their computer. "The car, carwash and parking tickets. Entertainment -- cable TV, two movies a month. The health club. Then normally we vacation twice a year. Last time it was Nairobi."

"What else," he said, scrolling down on his Mac PowerBook. "Newspapers, charity, clothes, books and CDs . . . "

In a region more often associated with grinding poverty, Ruharo is part of a modestly growing segment of sub-Saharan Africa -- upwardly mobile, low- to middle-income consumers.

The group includes working Africans who make as little as $200 a month, a paltry sum by Western standards, yet hardly the $1 or so a day in earnings that describe life for about half the continent's population. Perhaps a third of all Africans, or 300 million people, fall into a middle category -- people struggling to put their kids through school and pay rent, but able to buy a cellphone or DVD once in a while.

Their buying power is evident around Kampala, a green and hilly city where iron-sheet homes are interspersed with high-rise condos, streets are crowded with bikes and Japanese sedans, and the city's newest mall, Oasis, is under construction. It will be anchored by what amounts to sub-Saharan Africa's first Target-style superstore chain, Nakumatt, which sells corn flour, aromatherapy bath salts and nearly everything else. The company is opening two other superstores here, plus two in Rwanda, three in Tanzania and 11 in Kenya, where it began as a trading firm in the 1960s.

"It's psychological -- people want upward movement," said Thiagarajan Ramamurthy, Nakumatt's operations director. "The appetite is increasing -- the 14-inch TV became a 21-inch. The 21 became a 29 and the 29 became plasma. It's an aspiration."

Although the continent has always had a modest middle class made up mostly of government workers or others tied to the ruling elite, the middle ranks have begun to expand in recent years with private sector employees. They include secretaries, computer gurus, merchants and others who by virtue of education, geography or luck have benefited from economic growth of around 6 percent annually in such countries as Uganda, Ghana and Kenya, and around 8 percent in Rwanda. Increasingly, they are entrepreneurs such as Ruharo, who represents the wealthier end of the spectrum and whose company is an offshoot of the newly booming cellphone industry.

Though critics say the trickledown effect is meager, others credit leaders of those countries with adopting relatively sound economic policies that have allowed the private sector to expand, driving what analysts say is the highest level of consumer demand the continent has ever seen.

Nakumatt's annual sales have increased from $100 million in 2004 to a projected $350 million this year. That's peanuts compared with Wal-Mart, which has annual sales of $350 billion. But Ramamurthy expects the growth to continue and the company to surpass a billion dollars in annual sales in the next decade.

As he and other observers see it, the growth of consumer culture reflects something more significant than the availability of Chilean wines and red patent leather pumps from Paris. It reflects a gradual opening up of African economies, a freer flow of information and a parallel rise in expectations, some political.

During Kenya's recent post-election crisis, for instance, many observers say people in this middle group, who were steadily losing money, helped to pressure the country's warring political leaders into a compromise.



Sisters Mariam, left and Kahadija Adam hang out at Kampala's Garden City mall. People go to be seen, Mariam says, even if they can't afford much.


Middle-income Africans are spawning the advent of new services, such as fertility treatments and funeral homes. And their habits are changing how people define themselves.

For example, although older Ugandans were forced to see themselves in terms of ethnicity during the brutal reign of Idi Amin, Ruharo's identity has more to do with where he shops and what he buys, which in turn reflects the wider world he greets each day on the Internet and cable TV or on occasional trips to London.

"What matters is your lifestyle," said Ruharo, whose current reading includes a motivational book, "The Greatness Guide."

"The car you drive -- it should be a Japanese import. Where you hang. You have to live in an apartment -- I live down here in Bakoto Flats. The BlackBerry is important. It's purely a status symbol because no one here is that busy yet."

Ruharo, who started his own business developing text-messaging products for cellphone companies, now has 14 employees, recent college graduates who share his taste for Diesel jeans and iPods. He said the growing consumerism, including his own, is because "people are more exposed to the world than 10 years ago" and because of a stretch of stability in a country with a turbulent political history.

Although President Yoweri Museveni has been criticized for treading the path to dictatorship -- he's been in power more than 20 years and has imprisoned political enemies -- he has been praised for policies that have fueled a steady economic upswing since the 1990s. Extreme poverty in Uganda, defined as those who earn less than $1 a day, has been cut in half to about 30 percent.

Vijay Mahajan, a business professor at the University of Texas in Austin, recently coined the phrase "Africa 2s" to describe people who are neither desperately poor (Africa 3s) nor obnoxiously rich (Africa 1s), and says the middle group is one of the most important drivers of economic growth in Africa.

"I'm convinced that Africa is going to be built by Africa 2s," said Mahajan, who has written a book, "Africa Rising," on the subject. "These are the people sending their kids to school . . . who are the most optimistic, the most forward-thinking. "

Kenyan economist James Shikwati suggested that middle-income consumers are also a driving force for political change.

"It's empowering," he said. "If you give people a sense of freedom in the economic sector, then you deny it in the political sector, you have a problem."

On a Tuesday afternoon in Kampala, the parking lot of the Garden City mall was full of Africa 2s, people pushing carts past fake palm trees to their sport-utility vehicles, or, like Zubedah Nanfuka, shopping inside the dimly lit, air-conditioned expanse.

"It's the one place you can be international and keep up with friends from Western countries," said Nanfuka, a 27-year-old program assistant at an embassy who until recently hosted a local lifestyle TV show called "Cook and Dine." "If you say, 'I shop at Garden City,' it puts you in a certain class."

Nanfuka buys clothes from boutiques in the mall once a month or so, she said. She shops at the bookstore, stops for an ice cream and recently enjoyed cocktails at the rooftop bar before the local premiere of "Sex and the City." Although Nanfuka is heading to the United States to get a master's degree this fall, she said she plans to come back to Kampala to work.

"It's an ongoing struggle, but I think things are promising here," she said, as people traipsed past shelves of flat-screen televisions or sat on benches under hanging ferns.

Adams Lorika was there taking a break. Her mother was a rural shopkeeper, and her father was exiled during Amin's rule for being from the wrong ethnic group, but her life is better by many measures, she said. She married a man who earns a decent salary shipping imports to shops such as those in the mall; she works at a store selling housewares. Together, they earn about $1,000 a month, of which she can spend about $50 on movies, shoes or dining out. They have a bank account and are in the process of obtaining a mortgage to buy a house.

"I come on Saturday with the kids," Lorika said. "They hang out and eat at the food court. The prices here are a bit expensive, but if you want something, you have to go for it."

A young woman in jeans and a tie-dye headscarf was yelling into a red metallic cellphone: "I'm coming! Have a drink!" heading toward the Chick'n Express in the food court. Mariam Adam, a cosmetologist and playwright, said that her friends come to the mall even though they can't afford to buy much. She said it's not so much about shopping, but rather what the mall represents.

"People come to be seen here, so people assume you have money, even though that may not be the case. Things have changed a lot," she said, recalling the days when she felt shabby compared with a visitor from London. "Now, someone from London can come and they're wearing the same shoes I have."

Before:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fs-q-mdi_yw" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win" rel="nofollow">The Nigerian Middle Class</a>

By this time next month, it would be exactly a year since she
won the debut edition of Koko Mansion, the all-female 8-week reality show aimed at finding the ideal Nigerian lady.


Bolanle Okhiria came in as a replacement in the house before she went on to win the contest. Now 22 ,Bolanle popularly called  Kokolet 1, takes us through her experience as D’banj’s official one-year date and life in and outside the Koko Mansion.

While many ladies wouldn’t mind auditioning naked just to spend some time with sex symbol and pop singer, D’banj, Bolanle’s reason for taking part in Koko Mansion was totally different.

Today she’s living with HiTv’s disappointment as the competition has failed to deliver her utmost desire. Ms B is fun, unassuming and open in this interview with Lolade Sowoolu. Enjoy the excerpts.

My name is Bolanle Okhiria.
I’m from Edo state. I’m the second born and second girl in a family of five children. I’m a student of Lagos State University, studying Marketing. I’m also a student of the Advertising Practitioners’ Council of Nigeria (APCON).

A bit about growing up.

Childhood was great. I grew up in Lagos, where I still live with my Family. It was really fun because I have three older sisters so I learnt a lot about what it means to be a girl. I have been very close to my mum since childhood. She is the kind of mum that gives you breathing space. She gives you room to be very open with her.

Bolanle Okhiria

How did you get to know about the Koko Mansion Reality Show?

I saw it on Tv the first time. I chilled until I saw it for the second time to be sure of what exactly they were looking for. The second time I did, I saw that they were looking for an ideal lady and that her talents were going to be harnessed for a year.

That part really got me because I have always wanted to be a presenter. Presenting has always been my passion so I felt since I have got all the qualities of an ideal lady, going on this show will help me get my talents harnessed for a year. That was cool for me so I went to pick the form.

So the fact that the winner would have her talents groomed was the attraction for you…

Yes, so I filled in the form on-line and sent my pictures. I got called after a week or two, and later I got a message asking me to come for auditions. I went and showcased my talents.

What was the auditioning environment like?

It was crazy. I saw a lot of girls wearing really skimpy things. You would have thought someone was shooting a video. I was lost for what exactly was going on there.

Immediately I saw the ladies (other hopeful participants) at the audition I thought to myself that these (the ladies) people thought they were going to see D’banj here. They almost made me feel I wasn’t appropriately dressed.

How were you dressed?

I was wearing a regular jeans and a top but I made sure I was looking good. I’m a kind of person who likes to keep it simple yet get the compliments.

What did the auditions entail?

I was to showcase a talent at the first audition so I did a rap of Jay-Z’s Uncore. Most of the other girls cat-walked or sang. At the second stage, we (the short-listed ones) needed to convince them that we were the candidates for the ‘Ideal Lady” and possesses the quality of the ideal lady.

The two stages took place on the same day. After the whole thing, we were told they were going to get back to us and that is the part I really don’t like about auditions.

I do casting for modelling jobs and at most auditions I’ve been to, when they’ve seen everybody and they think they don’t want you, they will just tell you “We’ll get back to you”. In a couple of cases, I have been lucky though.

At Koko Mansion, we were 24 that made it to the second stage in the Lagos auditions. We thought they were going to pick 12 of us as advertised on T.V., unknown to us there were auditions in other zones, so we would go down to six or thereabout from Lagos. Immediately they said they would get back to us, almost everybody felt bad.

I just took my mind off it (the competition). I decided not to think about it but school was on strike for a long time. So after a while, I started calling up some friends I made at the auditions. They said they heard the contestants had been picked and they were already in the house. I felt a little bad but then tried to go on to the next thing.

Were you expecting to see D’banj at the auditions?

For some reasons, no. I’m a kind of person who likes to think outside the box. I thought to myself that if he is likely to be the host of this show, then he’s not likely to be at the auditions. I just prayed in my mind that the judges won’t be too stern-looking.

Were there any familiar faces among the judges?

No, not even from Tv.

Tell me about the call.

That night it was very late and I was about going to bed when I got a call from someone that said he was from Koko Mansion. He asked to confirm my name and said I’d been on the ‘reserve’ list and I’ve finally been picked that I should come the next day by 12. I was dumbfounded.

At first, I thought it was one of my friends that was just joking so I asked him (the caller) to convince me. So he gave me some details that only the organisers knew from the form we filled. Details like code number and others.

I kept screaming but he asked me to calm down and explained that I was replacing someone who was initially selected. I couldn’t sleep throughout that night.

I started packing because I needed to report the next day. Time was so short that I didn’t even know what to pack. I barely packed enough because I was so shocked. I went to the house the next day and quickly did my profiling.

I was a little bit shaky and tensed till the time I was entering the house. Everything was happening at the same time.

What were your expectations going into the house?

I didn’t know what to expect, trust me. I really didn’t know to expect. I just wanted God to be with me and direct me because there were other girls and I kept wondering where the girls were coming from. I only knew myself.

And how did you find the experience in the house…

Sometimes it was fun, some other times it was just there. There were times we didn’t really get along. You’ll just find out that somebody is not talking to you or somebody tells you not to talk to her again  and then later same person comes and say; sorry (laughter).

It was fun and challenging at some time because we had tasks and so it meant we were competing against each other. I missed my phone and family.

Was that the first time you had to stay with a number of complete strangers alone?

Bolanle Okhiria

I went to a boarding school briefly but even without that I was already used to girls’ stuff. We are four girls in the house (her family) and growing up together I learnt that even staying with my sisters, you can’t always smile at each other all the time. I knew there would be little disputes here and there.

Did you make friends in the house?

Yeah! I’m actually still in touch with most of the girls.

Did you see anyone as a threat at any time in the house?

Funny enough, no.

Throughout the eviction stages, were you afraid you might get evicted?
Oh yes, definitely. There were times that someone you are not expecting to leave leaves and then you wonder what your own fate in the house is.

It was like anybody could leave at any time even if you were the one winning the tasks in the house. It was more about the votes from the viewers. I still put in all my best into the tasks anyway, so that even if I ended up getting evicted, it would be said that ‘she put in everything she could’.

Lets talk about Kokolet Rita. What went through your mind meeting her and how easy was it getting along in the house?

I still have a relationship with her, we talk. Maybe because we are from the same state although she’s Benin. At first when I saw her I could not believe it because I came in from the ‘reserve’ list while she made first 12. It made me wonder what they (organisers) were up to and what they wanted.

I didn’t understand. In the house it was hard to understand the way she talked at first. You had to be patient with her. But then we bonded in the house and became good friends.

And when you made the final four…

When we were down to four, I still didn’t know if I was going to win because it was left to voting. I was decided to take whatever happened. When I was finally called as the winner, I couldn’t believe it. I was really excited that all my effort was not in vain. It made me appreciate who I was more.

What booties did you get for winning?

Basically five million naira and a jeep.

What did you learn?

That’s one part I’ll always cherish about Koko Mansion, I learnt a whole lot. From etiquettes to how to compose yourself as a lady outside the mansion and the creative tasks that brought out my creative side. Some ladies came to teach us on our diction and pronunciation.

Sometimes we had surprise guests coming to inspire and motivate us. It was cool . Mummy Bukky Ajayi particularly motivated me. We had musicians, actresses, fashion designers and the pool side was fun to play around.

Were there times you felt like quitting?

Yes, at a point I got tired of seeing the same faces everyday.

How far have you gone with harnessing your presenting talent?

The contract was supposed to be for a year, in which HiTV gets to harness and manage the winner’s talent. I got out of the show and kept hoping this would happen.

I went to their office a couple of times and called a couple of people but there’s been really nothing forthcoming from their end.

What kind of responses did you get each time you went to their office?

They said they had space for me and that was all. My reign ends by next month and that’s when the contract should expire too. It was just recently I told myself ‘hey, get out there and try to secure stuffs for yourself’ and that’s what I’ve been doing.

Could it be that you’ve been talking to the wrong people at the office?

I wouldn’t say I wasn’t talking to the right people. I don’t know all the departments there but there were one or two people I was talking to. No matter who I talked to, there was nothing happening.

And you didn’t complain to any member of the Mo Hits crew?

For Mo Hits, I was supposed to be in the “fall in love” video and I was in the South Africa version shot for the Mnet Face of Africa. I, D’banj and Don Jazzy went together to shoot the video and it was really fun working with them.

We got to Nigeria and shot the official one (video) that featured Genevieve.

Didn’t you feel bad not playing lead role in the Nigerian video?

No, I didn’t feel cheated; I didn’t feel bad. This is because its D’banj’s video and he did it the way he wanted to. He had reasons for doing it the way he did.

How did HiTvs treatment make you feel?

I didn’t even know what to feel. I was confused. I just told myself not to brood but instead go out and see what I can achieve by myself. D’banj and Don Jazzy were not the organisers HiTV was. Up till now I don’t have reasons why they (HiTV) have not called for me.

Before Koko Mansion, did you have experience at presenting?

Yes. I worked with Lola Oduba on Expose, a television program, for a short while. And I have a couple of friends who work in this line, so I learn from them. I have gained experiences here and there.

So since it dawned on you that you are alone in your dream of building your presenting career, what have you done for yourself and how far have you gone?
Not too far because it was just recently I decided to make personal moves.

Right now I’m doing some screen test and I’m trying to secure something with Village Square Tv to become one of their presenters. Village Square is a movie platform with Tajudeen Adepetu that will show on local stations. I’m still talking to a couple of people and hoping something good comes out of it.

How come hanging out with D’banj as a price incentive for the winner wasn’t attractive to you and then aren’t you supposed to be his official date for a year?

We first saw about a week after we arrived at the mansion for the show. Even now, we do not see each other often. We only chat once in a while on bb (blackberry).

Do you hang out at all?

No, it was only when we went to South Africa and during the Nigerian video shoot of ‘Fall in Love’ that we spent time together. I will say the relationship is more official than casual.

Weren’t you looking forward to going almost everywhere with him?

You know that was actually part of it. I was looking forward to going to some events and countries with him but it didn’t happen that way. And there were not too many times to ask him because I don’t get to see him often.

Do you feel bad about your expectations not being met in general?

I am not the kind of person to brood over anything. I just take things the way they come. Brooding over a thing doesn’t change the fact so why bother?

My expectations weren’t met but hopefully I have done some little shows and I’m auditioning for some big ones, so it will work. It may not be working right now but I’m getting there.

So do you feel like the glamour girl…

On a normal day, Bolanle is not the glamour girl. She is more of the simple type but I like to be trendy. The only change with me is probably that I now drive a car.

My name has not changed. Then maybe I get more attention from almost everybody in school, even those I ordinarily wouldn’t get from. I have met some new people at events. I can say I roll with people I didn’t have access to before.

So there’s been a touch of glamour because when you go to events and you can relate with certain class of people, that is glamour. But nothing has changed about my person. In fact I feel more comfortable hanging out with my old friends because they know exactly what to expect from me.

I don’t need to fake reality. But I still learn new things from my new friends.
Now lets talk about spending the five million naira…

The way everything happened was rushed. The first thing that came to my mind was my tithe. I am a Christian and I believe to whom much is given, much is expected. Next is investment. I still live with my parent because I am still very young.

How did your friends react to your winning?

They were very happy. A lot of them watched it and they said they knew I was going to win and that no one else could have. I was happy that they saw reasons to believe in me. Even my colleagues at school were happy.

They said I represented them well. I was happy that I was able to pass across messages to Nigerian girls.

And how did your boyfriend celebrate your winning…

(Laughter) I didn’t have a boyfriend when I was in the house.


But I’m sure that the offers are streaming in from every side now?
Yes, offers every where but have not picked. And I am not exactly screening (more laughter). Maybe I’m still searching (laughs). I have met a lot of guys but I’m not the type that would jump into relationships.

So what is the required qualification for application?
(Laughter)… He has to be God fearing. He must have big dreams like me and even bigger dreams, that is the only way I can be with any one. He should be taller than me because we need to protect our children, we don’t want them short. A good looking Yoruba Christian will be preferable.

Any last words…

I am working hard on my presenting career. I want my fans to keep their fingers crossed and keep praying for me because Bolanle will be on your screen pretty soon. I want to be Nigeria’s Ryan Seacrest, Tyra Banks and the likes.

Gunmen on Friday attacked the home of a former Bayelsa State deputy governor, Peremobowei Ebebi, with explosives in the latest episode of a bitter political rivalry that risks degenerating ahead of next year’s general election.

Witnesses told Reuters that gunmen in four speedboats attacked Ebebi‘s home at around 11.30 GMT with improvised explosives, killing a private security guard.

Ebebi, who left Bayelsa months ago and was believed to be in the capital Abuja, could not be reached for comment.

Police confirmed the attack in Aleibri, a village about 40 km (25 miles) northwest of the state capital Yenagoa, but had no details on who the gunmen were or their motives.

”We have dispatched our men to the scene to take charge of the situation. From reports available to me, there was extensive damage to the residence,” Bayelsa police spokesman Eguadoen Emokpae told Reuters.

P.M.NEWS gathered that the little girl, who should be about a year and some months old, was found in the canal around 3 p.m. yesterday, struggling to come out of a sack in which she was stuffed with refuse.
Sympathisers who rescued the toddler said one of them noticed strange movement in the sack, which was likely thrown into the canal from its bank, and decided to check what was inside.
Says one of the sympathisers, who simply identified herself as Dolapo: “We noticed that there was movement in the sack, which  attracted everybody to the scene. At first we saw that it was refuse, only to discover the poor girl was underneath it.
“Only God knows who dumped the baby and when the wicked act was perpetrated, but we were happy to see that she was alive. We quickly bathed her, clothed her and fed her to keep her alive.”
P.M.NEWS learnt that the baby girl was immediately taken to the Baale of Abule-Oki’s palace in the Mosan-Okunola Local Council Development Area after she had been taken care of, and later taken to Idimu Police Division where the case was reported.
At the time of filing this report this morning, plans were being made to take the girl to a motherless babies home  for further care.
Meanwhile, while some sympathisers at the scene cursed  whoever  carried out the dastardly act, some believed the mother could have dumped her because she was unable to cater for her any longer.

Update:



The multiple award-winning singer reiterated that he was surprised with the manner at which the Scottish Police handled the minor issue that should have been resolved amicably.
Explaining how the whole scenario happened, the Welu-Welu crooner’s Publicists, Media & Marketing Experts, MME, said “Sammie and his newly wedded wife, Ozioma in the company of their friends, Mr. and Mrs. Efemua, also Nigerians, had gone to a restaurant known as Jimmy Chung’s on Aberdeen’s Beach Esplanade to attend to their noisy stomach. They arrived at the restaurant at exactly 4.30pm but they were not aware that lunch time closes by 5pm. One of the attendants announced to them few minutes later that they have to rush their food and leave the restaurant before 5pm or else they will be charged for both lunch and dinner. At this point, Sammie was already dishing the food while the rest were sorting out where they would sit.
“The statement immediately resulted in a mild argument. They questioned the attendant why she had not informed them when they arrived; probably they would have waited till 5pm before they settle down in the restaurant. The argument attracted the attention of the manager of the restaurant identified as Ronny Shui Hung Yung who aggravated the issue the more and another lady went ahead to drag Sammie’s shirt and ordered him to stop dishing the food.
“But Sammie took it easy and told her politely that she shouldn’t have pulled his shirt. At this point, the manager of the restaurant was already harassing Sammie’s wife and pregnant wife of his friend, Eloho Efemua who happens to be the younger sister of popular Nigerian actor, Fred Amata.”
P. M NEWS gathered that when Sammie turned back after the violent attendant pulled his shirt, he realised that the manager was harassing his wife and Eloho, he immediately warned him to desist from the act.
“But when the manager didn’t stop, Sammie who was very shocked and displeased told the manager that he should make sure his fingers doesn’t touch his wife and that if he is tired of running this kind of restaurant, he should return to his country.
“Immediately Sammie made this statement, the manager wrote down Sammie’s friend car plate number and called the police to report a racial statement being made against him. Having realsed he had called the police, Sammie urged his wife including the other couple that they should wait for the police arrival and thrash out the issue once and for all,” MME explained.
Meanwhile, when the police arrived about 30 minutes later, it was gathered that they didn’t ask the Nigerian couples any question before taking them to the police station.
Speaking for the first time on the incident, Sammie Okposo who is now in Lagos, Nigeria said: “It is true they took us to their police station without listening to our own side of the story, but we played along with them as a good and law abiding citizens of Nigeria. After the court in Aberdeen did a thorough check on me on all the countries I have visited, they said my record is clean and impeccable. I was released the next day without making any official statement.
“But if the manager of the restaurant presses the issue further and it results in  a court case, my lawyer in Scotland, Michael Munro will handle it. I don’t regret my actions for speaking up against bad and rude behaviours from the staff of Jimmy Chung Restaurant and defending my wife as a true African man.”
In her own words, the new bride of Okposo, Ozioma, said: “We could have afforded to go to anywhere in the world for our honeymoon, but we chose to visit Aberdeen because of all the good things we had heard. We have been emotional, mentally, financially, and physically drained on this trip, which brings us to one conclusion that going to Aberdeen for our honeymoon was the biggest mistake we ever make in our marriage

Two days after the amazing birth last Sunday of a white baby to a Nigerian couple in England, another Nigerian couple has emerged in the same country with the incredible story of giving birth to a white child, the SUN newspaper of Londonreported today.
The Nigerian couple Ethelbert and Nkemakonam Ofor, both black and who live in Middlesborough said they had their child, fair-haired, green-eyed Emmanuel in February 2007.
According to the SUN, Emmanuel’s mum is still baffled by the colour of the three-year old child and is still in search of an explanation ‘for the genetic mix-up.’
The same Sun newspaper published last Tuesday the birth of blonde, blue-eyed Nmachi to Ben and Angela Ihegboro, who believe they have no white ancestry. Now, the Ihegboros said the baby girl will undergo full genetic tests after doctors said the odds of her white colouring were “between many millions to one and a million to one.”
The new revelation, Emmanuel – whose two sisters, Afoma, six, and six-month-old Whitney are both black – is also beginning to wonder why he looks different.
Dad Ethelbert, 43, said yesterday: “It is something genetic but we don’t know what.
“Emmanuel has got to the age where he is questioning why he is white and his sisters are black. We have to tell him that we just don’t know the answer.”
Mum Nkemakonam, 34, said nurses gathered round in amazement when she gave birth to Emmanuel in February 2007.
She revealed: “I was shocked as well – but not as much as everyone else.
“I have a distant cousin back home in Africa who had been born white to black parents as well, so I knew it could happen.”
Neither five-day-old Nmachi, of Woolwich, South London, nor Emmanuel, who lives n Middlesbrough, are albino.
Ethelbert, a psychiatric nurse originally from Nigeria, said of his son’s birth:
“I think the medical staff were concerned about how I would react. They didn’t warn me about his colour, and when I saw him for the first time they were looking very closely at my expression.
“They then asked me if I was happy and I told told them, ‘Of course I’m happy’.”
Like his wife, Ethelbert also has a distant relative in Africa born white to black parents.
He admits that some cruel people have urged him to get a DNA paternity test.
But he said: “There is no need. I know he is my son.”
But Ben and Angela Ihegboro have agreed to let geneticists study their daughter Nmachi born on Sunday, to find out whether the couple has a link to caucasian ancestry.
Geneticist Dr Mark Thomas, of University College, London, said the odds of the baby’s white colouring were “between many millions to one and a million to one”.
He said: “I suspect there’s been a mixture of a mutation, like albinism, combined with a dormant white gene.”
Professor Bryan Sykes, head of Human Genetics at Oxford University and Britain’s leading expert,
said:  “In mixed race humans, the lighter variant of skin tone may come out in a child – and this can sometimes be startlingly different to the skin of the parents. This might be the case where there is a lot of genetic mixing, as in Afro-Caribbean populations. But in Nigeria there is little mixing.”
“The hair is extremely unusual. Even many blonde children don’t have blonde hair like this at birth.”
A Nigerian doctor based in California, United States of America said he was not surprised by such births.
In an e-mail sent to one of  the senior editors of P.M. NEWS, Dr. Olufemi Ogundipe said the birth  “may not be a miracle and neither of the couple need ‘have strayed’ or ‘have fallen off’ the wagon’.
“What is needed to prove what could have happened is the genome analyses of the child, and each of the parents.
“World-renowned medical geneticist and current NIH director, Francis S.Collins in his most recent book, The Language of Life . DNA and the Revolution In Personalized Medicine gave an account of an American man who looked black and suffered all the usual indignities suffered by a black man in his community turned out after genomic analysis to have no black ancestry.
“Furthermore,  the story about 2-3 years ago when American John D, Watson (co-winner with British Francis Crick of Medicine Nobel Prize for their work on the double helix structure of DNA) created a firestorm when he pontificated on the inferiority of black people. To his own chagrin, his own genome analysis done some 3 weeks later showed that genetically he was a black man. Some food for thought there! The landmark human genome analysis will in addition to advancing the frontiers of Medicine will unearth many inconvenient truths about race. Welcome to the 21st century.”