Will you tell lies if someone's life relies on that?

Peter, the more gregarious half of singing twins, P-square, took time off the group's ongoing United States of America tour last week to acquire shooting (yes, Gun) skills. His choice of training ground was a popular gun range in Oakland, a primarily industrial and urban city in western California.


Sources at the range told E-Punch that Peter was a compulsive learner intermittently flexing his bulging biceps, narrowing his eyes, aiming and firing blank bullets.

He was overheard telling his posse that the experience was "kooooool." Though there are no official reasons for the father of one's new pastime, sources say the 29-year-old ladies' man has a son and beautiful fiancée to constantly protect and keep from harm's way.

Besides, the skills might come in handy some day because over the past few years, celebrities have been the prime targets of armed robbers and assailants.

Tu Face Idibia, Nigeria's veritable musical export, Tunde Adewale, the comedian fondly called Tee A and Gbenga Adeyinka the 1st, comedian, are some of the entertainers that have been at the receiving end of armed robbery attacks in recent time. Peter and Paul Okoye make up P-square, which is currently in the US honouring performance engagements and garnering plaudits for their artistry.

THE SHORTLIST

•Emmanuel Adebayor  - Togo

•Andre Ayew   - Ghana

•Moumouni Dagano  - Burkina Faso

•Didier Drogba   - Cote d’Ivoire

•Michael Essien   - Ghana

•Pascal Feindouno  - Guinea

•Yaya Toure   - Cote d’Ivoire

•Abdelkader Keita  - Cote d’Ivoire

•Frederic Kanoute  - Mali

•Seydou Keita   - Mali

•Sulley Ali Muntari  - Ghana

•Mamadou Niang   - Senegal

•John Mikel Obi   - Nigeria

•Yakubu Ayegbeni  - Nigeria

•Ssesegnon   -Benin Rep.

•Pitroipa   -Burkina Faso

Voting is still on for the picking of West Africa’s best footballer, according to the sub–region’s governing body of the game, the West African Football Union; and all fans are expected to avail themselves of the opportunity of helping to decide who the best footballer is by casting their votes. The novel contest and arrangement was been put in place by the leadership of the WAFU.

On the margin of the 27th African Cup of Nations finals held in Angola early this year, the WAFU President, Dr. Amos Adamu announced an award for the Best Player in West Africa, which would, unusually, be voted for by football fans across the sub–region.

This is in contrast to the way of FIFA and CAF whereby the choice of the best player is made by coaches, technical directors or captains of the national teams.

Spectators who follow the achievements of their idols with passion are the ones to decide the West African top dog on the pitch going on since the end of May. The event itself was launched in Abidjan at the end of April. Fans have been sending their entries by sms or telephone calls within all 16 West African countries.

The players in the final shortlist are led by the likes of Emmanuel Adebayo, Didier Drogba, Andre Ayew and Jon Mikel Obi.

The Awards ceremony will take place in Abidjan, capital of Cote d’Ivoire on Saturday, July 31.

Can somebody tell me what will happen if Nigeria citizens are eligible to travel to countries like CANADA, UK, USA, FRANCE AND GERMANY without visa?

The friendship that existed between Nigeria and South Africa seems to have been thawed as the country which has remained a major trading partner and regional ally deported 47 Nigerians yesterday.

According to Nigeria Immigration Service sources, the deportees made up of 46 males and one female were disembarked at the cargo terminal of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos from a chartered flight from Johannesburg.

After waiting for sometime, the deportees were allowed to leave the airport to their homes or other destinations within Nigeria.  Some of the deportees who spoke with newsmen said the South African

Authority has become antagonistic to Africans residing in that country and became very hostile with a regime of clampdowns and harassment.

The South Africa Authority they said was more hostile to African immigrants from Nigeria. The deportees noted that this attitude took a more aggressive tone immediately after the World Cup tournament, which was the first to be hosted by any African country.

“South Africans have always been hostile to Africans that live in their country while they fear the white people.


It is worse with us Nigerians who they believe take their jobs away, so they have been harassing us for many years now and after the World Cup they started harassing us again and now they have deported us. I left everything I have laboured for years there,” one of the deportees who refused to give his name said.

The deportee also said that they were treated like common criminals.

Two weeks ago there was report that a young Nigerian lady that lived and was studying in South Africa and returned to Nigeria to attend a wedding.

As she landed in Johannesburg she was stopped by Immigration at the airport and put on the next plane back to Nigeria.

The lady cried through the six hours flight to Lagos because she was a medical student in one of the universities in South Africa and she was to start her exams in the next two days before she was forced back to Nigeria.

These basically are the things women hate to experience in relationships:

•Lying: I’m sure liars do not read because if they do, they would have seen or heard that lies have a very short life span. You need to tell lies several times just to cover one lie as lies are difficult to keep tract with and what you wanted to achieve with lies elude you within a second.

•Pretence: You do not need to pretend to be who you are not just to win a love. The day the truth comes to fore, the relationship will end on a very bitter note.

•Blackmail: There is absolutely no point to paint others black, be it your ordinary friends or ex-girl friends, thinking you will gain favour. It will only make you appear petty and cheap.

•Selfishness: This is bad any time, any day and anywhere.

•Criticism: Pass your message in simple and clear language without making the other feel like a fool or nonentity.

•Stingy Hands: Givers are rulers, how do you expect to be the man of the relationship when you cannot part with little gifts?

•Insensitivity: Learn to study, appreciate and fulfil a woman’s emotional side.

This is the conclusion of the whole matter, men should fear and worship God!

Officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a 34-year-old man who claimed to be a medical doctor with several wraps of cocaine concealed in his stomach.


•Ndenojuo Obinna Franklin.

NDLEA checks later revealed that the suspect, Ndenojuo Obinna Franklin, was never a medical doctor as he dropped out of school in primary three..

The agency’s Head of Public Affairs, Mr. Mitchell Ofoyeju, said in a statement this morning that Obinna was nabbed at the weekend at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) in Lagos, Southwest Nigeria, with 1.020kilogrammes of cocaine in his stomach while trying to board a Virgin Atlantic flight to London, United Kingdom.

All travel arrangements had been perfected for Obinna to travel to London on invitation as a doctor but he could not outwit anti-drug scanning machines installed at the international wing of the Lagos airport.  The 34-year-old, who confessed to have dropped out of school in primary three, had a document addressed to him as Dr. Ndenojuo Obinna Franklin inviting him to an International Conference in Manchester.

NDLEA Airport Commander Alhaji Hamza Umar disclosed that preliminary findings by the agency showed that Franklin, who returned from Switzerland the previous year, had links with international drug cartels.

According to the fake doctor, who hails from Anambra State, it was frustration that led him into drug trafficking. But the ADLEA officials find his claim difficult to accept as he confessed to have invested over 2 million naira of his personal money in the illegal drug trade.

“This is my first time of dealing in illegal drugs and it is due to frustration. Since I returned from Switzerland in 2009 I could not get any job. In fact, I am not a doctor but they used it to prepare my travel document. I invested my life savings, about 2.5 million naira I made while working in Europe, in the trade. I feel so bad and I regret my action,” he lamented. Ofoyeju said that the suspect will soon be charged in court.

For directing his supporters to recite a portion of the Holy Quran one million times so that Jigawa State Governor, Alhaji Sule Lamido, can fall from power, the state’s former governor, Senator Saminu Turaki, has incurred the wrath of his successor.


Senator Saminu Turaki, ex-governor of Jigawa State.

The visibly enraged Governor Lamido told P.M.NEWS yesterday in the Government House, Dutse in North Central, Nigeria that the former governor should be ashamed of himself for his record of corruption and non-performance.

“This is somebody who looted N6 billion in one day. He could write a cheque of N500 million and cash across the counter by different people, until he got  up to N6 billion. That is not all, he cut an existing road into two, that is about one kilometre and awarded the contract at N3 billion.

“He also gave a contract for the sinking of borehole to his company and paid N7 billion upfront. We have proof of this, the facts are there,” he declared.

On Turaki’s accusation that he (Lamido) was building expensive schools, the governor asked: “Where are the schools he (Turaki) built? If I am building expensive schools, it is because I have  taste. I was foreign minister and I saw beautiful places all over the world, State Houses, palaces. So who says our people do not deserve the best? This man is ashamed of the fact that he failed our people. Let us leave him to his self delusion,” he advised.

Speaking on Turaki’s plot to deny him (Lamido) a second term, Governor Lamido said:

“Even with my hands tied to my back, I am ready to fight him. You see, this seat I am occupying made Turaki a phenomenon. The seat is right now making me a phenomenon. And I am now more than ready for the fight. I am the governor of the state, whereas he is a senator. We shall see who will triumph at the end of the day.”

Governor Lamido admitted that he begged Turaki in the past but vowed not to beg him this time.

Also speaking on the mater, Alhaji Ahmed Abdullahi Taura, Secretary to the Jigawa State Government  (SSG), said former Governor Turaki, who is till being tried for alleged corruption by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, is better ignored.

“He said his supporters should recite a portion of the Holy Quran a million times, that is cruel. By the time each of them recite that portion of the Holy Quran a million times, what energy will be left in them? They will be effectively run down. He is a politician, why is he making spiritual prescription?”

Have you ever experienced delayed marriage? Gone are the days we used to think it was a woman’s ‘palaver’ but today, have you not seen guys who have gone past the age of 40 without any plans or assurance of settling down in marriage?
Tell me, why have we been laughing at the women folk as the only victims? Anywhere you enter, people ridicule single women who are of age but not married, while every move a woman makes is misinterpreted for seduction and attention seeking, why now? Meanwhile, guys spin and wink to lure women even when bashed.
It is good to marry, but when there is a delay, I am of the opinion that life should go on as it were and don’t need to kill yourself for what you cannot change.
The courage to bear your ‘cross’ without complaining to the whole world is an obvious sign of maturity.
As it were, marriage is one word that causes so much concern to this generation; it is either you hear people lament it is not forth coming or when it finally comes, the problems that roll with it seem to overwhelm its merits, but despite all these, singles still desire this ‘divine union’ with a passion, while some get frustrated when it is not happening the way they envisaged. But to a large extent, others have come to accept their fate whether marriage comes or not.
The point is not trying to find out if they are happy or not, but to salute their courage to move on with life as if all was well. Indeed, this article is coming from this direction—trying its bit to cheer the gloomy faces and actually say life is big and deep, there are a whole lot of things you can do with your life.
I have had the opportunity of speaking with a couple of persons who have tasted, fought and overcome delayed marriage.
One of them said “I’m tired of trying to make things work, the more I try to get settled, the little result my effort yields. I grew up as a pretty little girl who had a fair share of the good things life could offer. Seeing and having so much at my disposal gave me a false impression of life. I was taught the difference between the rich and the poor, who were supposed to be my friends, where to go and where to shun. This eventually made me live in a world too far from reality.
“When it was time for me to enter the university, my parents decided it was either I went abroad or nothing. It was not my first time of travelling abroad, so to say I was excited was blackmail, but knowing the kind of parents I had, argument would only aggravate dad’s anger and mom would be simply irritated. I had to quickly make up my mind to comply. At the eve of my departure, friends and relations flooded the house, some stayed over till the next day, while my maternal and paternal grand parents whispered to each other with uncontrollable grin, suggesting their pride in my academic success.
“As everything went dead and people retired to rest, mom called me for a private talk and with little or no idea of what she had in mind for me, I sat by her side. To my surprise, mom had nothing to say about my academics, instead, she said I should be careful not to wine and dine with the poor. Before I could even ask why, she added that I should not also date a foreigner as I had no business staying back in that country after my education. She made it clear to me that my father wanted me to study abroad, come back to Naija and show the people he has a successful child.
“Baffled by what mother said, I imagined how I was going to sample guys to finally get one that belonged to my class and will be accepted by my parents. Getting to the UK, the respect I had for my mom made it difficult for me to respond to advances by foreigners, no matter the crush I felt for them. To know my parents well is to say that disobedience was never tolerated under their roof.
“For a whole year, I stayed without a date  and this helped me in a way to settle down academically, but after a while, the female friends I made over there made me feel out of place. I tried to explain to them it was in no way my fault as I got no one that matched my desire.
“Moved by pity, Bose, my room mate, played a fast one and linked me with a traditional ruler’s son who was born and raised in a remote area in Oyo State. Definitely, our values were different and to say the least, we were simply incompatible and parted ways sooner than anyone could intervene.
“As I laid on my bed brooding over the separation, I wondered, did mom forget to tell me it was difficult to find both love and riches in one pack? Perhaps her own time was different, how could she ever dream that guys who were born with mega silver spoon in their mouth would know the rudiments of love and respect for a woman? Have they tasted sacrifice? Do they know about endurance? Can they be patient with people’s weaknesses when they were taught to scold, blame or shout at people who err in the delivery of their duty?
Indeed, finding true love became a serious problem for me as friends who could not cope with my ‘selective’ attitude, or better put, my mom’s selective nature imposed on me, cleverly avoided the issue each time I attempted to bring it up. The next thing I was looking forward to was the day I will finish my course and get back to my mom to narrate the experience as I look straight into her eyes for her reaction.
“Coming back to the country was not in any way a relief to my emotion as I was still unable to secure a relationship for myself. Friends and acquaintances I left behind thought my promise to come back were a mere sham, while some were engaged and others had already become parents. Being a little more advanced in age then put me in a position of defence. I viewed everyone with suspicion, thinking they have come to take advantage of me and before I could say ‘Jack,’ all suitors disappeared, leaving me more confused and almost developing hatred for my mother.
“I summed up courage to ask my mom why she adopted the approach of “match your class” to my relationship and really did not have any concrete reason to give, but kept repeating “all these, I did for your own good”.
“As I rehearsed the pains that flew from my mother’s supposed control/influence over my choice of a life partner, there came a time I realised crying over spilt milk will only cause me more frustration. Therefore, every bit of my energy was directed towards building a happy future despite what I had lost.
“Immediately, plans to take over dad’s business was under way and before long, I proved to both dad, mom and their friends that my study abroad was not in vain.
“Without pretence, life really got interesting and challenging, but not tough. My belief in what I could do made me develop a positive attitude toward the challenges that confronted me. Very soon, I discovered life could go on fine without complaining about what you don’t have and decided to enjoy my life whether marriage comes or not.
“Anyway, I am still open and if it comes fine, but if not, my life must go on well.”
A word for parents:
•Your life is different from those of your children’s, so let them live life to the fullest provided they are not involved in things that would hinder progress.
•When it comes to sensitive issues, try to advise and not command/recommend. A mature mind should be able to take decisions without blaming others for their influence.
•Allow your children to take steps they can defend.
•Every parent would love to control his/her child, but please set them free.
A word for singles:
•Don’t start what you cannot finish.
•Have a concrete plan for your life so you would not be tossed about by people’s disposition.
•Take responsibility for your life.
•Make up your mind to succeed.
•Even if you have made mistakes, shake it off and face your life again.

Back in our days in school, women were known to be good house keepers. A girl from the age of three is taught to sweep and clean the house and one of the criteria for choosing a good wife is her ability to keep the house clean and safe.
Housekeeping is not just about the house being clean, it also entails safety in the home. In this article, I am going to talk about cleaning, safety and feeding in the home.
Let us start with the issue of feeding. It is really sad that women of my time have lost it when it comes to taking care of the children and feeding them with the right nutrients. I always feel bad when I see ladies who call themselves mothers, dress so well, only for their children to look unkempt and haggard.
•Feeding:
You can take your children to Adams Stores and other designer outlets in the world. Some mothers go the extent of overloading their kids with so much gold and diamond jewellery. Well done madam, but I must tell you that no matter how much you spend on them, they will never be able to stand out without good nutrition.
The number of eateries keeps increasing on daily basis. I once told my audience in one of my beauty and fitness seminars that they are only helping women become lazier by the day as most women no longer create time to cook for their children because to them, they enjoy fast foods better. Woman, nothing can ever take the place of good home cooking.
These days, all girls learn how to cook is fried rice, chicken and chips, fried plantain and Indomie. What has happened to our African dishes that are unbeatable when it comes to nutrition? I hear a lot of women shamelessly talk about their children not liking Nigerian dishes. That is because you did not bring them up to enjoy them.
You did those things in your effort to let them know their father is rich and can afford whatever they want. You made that great mistake by trying to become whiter than the white man himself. If I may say this, African dishes remain the most nutritious in this world.
You may think you are punishing your house help when you give her the well cooked beans to eat and have your children eat Indomie and egg. The poor girl is getting more nourished and that is why she reasons better than your own children.
I have a cousin whose wife, a bank manager, came up with the excuse of her job being the obstacle to her cooking in the home. This woman enters any eatery on her way back from work to buy soup and swallow for the family. Most times, I hear people get so excited about Calabar Kitchen and their good cooking.
I remember the first time I ate their food. It was when I was in NYSC camp. I had asked a friend coming to visit me to buy soup and swallow from a very popular outlet in Lagos, but couldn’t even finish eating half of the food. I concluded that most men, who are crazy about these kitchens, are those, whose wives cannot cook well.
You should have a very good food menu in your kitchen which can be reviewed monthly. I let my children prepare our menu and they make sure it is followed strictly.
Don’t bring up your children with this crazy mentality of having them eat whatever they like at all times. They may never go for the nutritious ones. You just have to put your feet down sometimes and have them eat what is nourishing.
The Kitchen:
I will start with the first office of a woman—the kitchen. So many kitchens are now breeding centres for cockroaches and rats. As women, we are easily tempted to buy both the necessary as well as the unnecessary things and the kitchen then becomes so congested that there is hardly a space for cleaning. This is wrong, there should be free movement of people and things in your kitchen.
So many people have their kitchen fridge very dirty with so many spoilt items and foul smell. I always advise people to keep drinking water away from food items as that leaves the water bottle with disgusting smell of food.
Cups And Cooking Utensils:
Most times, when I drink water in people’s houses, I feel like throwing up. Not because they are dirty, but because they lack the proper knowledge of cleaning. So many people make the mistake of using the same sponge for plates to wash drinking cups and that leaves the cup with that oil smell that portrays you a dirty person. There should be a special sponge for washing of your cups. It is more hygienic, spreading used newspapers on the kitchen cupboards before keeping your plates.
In cleaning your pots, know the right kind of sponge meant for it. Some pots are nonstick and for this class of pot, your regular iron sponge should not be used.
The Living Room:
Sorry to put it this way, but so many houses stink. Children are allowed to sleep and urinate on the chairs and rug. They carry water around the house and pour on surfaces that smell once they come in contact with liquid. Some women come up with the excuse of having little babies at home. I have four children and on no occasion did my house, even the rooms, smell.
Some women allow their toddlers scatter things all over the living room. Because you have a toddler doesn’t mean everyone should pack out of the house. This is one of the things that make your husband stay out late. Some men cannot confidently bring their friends home without first informing their wives about the visit, this is because they don’t trust the ability of their wives to always have the home in good shape.
So many air fresheners we have in the market come with very awful smell. A lot of people now produce some liquid air fresheners that leave the house with very bad smell. Please try to make the right choice to save your household that nauseating feeling.
The Bedrooms:
Your children should be taught to clean their bedrooms and keep things at the right places. As for your husband’s room, it is not the duty of your house help to clean it, she can clean yours, but definitely not your husbands. This is one duty you should never delegate to anybody. The cleaning of his bedroom, washing of his under wears and cooking of his soup, are strictly your duty. A well cleaned bedroom with soft lights, adds ambience to life and brings out the romantic side of your man.
The Toilets:
The toilet is another place in the home where visitors assess the woman’s level of hygiene. So many toilets exhume foul odour, while women make the mistake of using all those strong liquid antiseptics to wash them. This leaves the whole house with that very unpleasant hospital smell.
There are so many good liquids for cleaning the toilet. I go into people’s toilets and see those very beautiful coloured tissue papers. They are beautiful but not safe for a woman’s use.
Your job and business should never take your eyes off your home. Create time, at least once in every month, to properly and thoroughly clean your home, while your children should be brought up to fully understand what cleanliness is.
Remember, cleanliness is next to godliness and a clean environment is a godly environment.

A 35-year old nurse, Mrs. Idowu Comfort Adeoye, is currently being detained over the death of a 10-year old primary 5 pupil.
The suspect, also called Iya Emma, owns a chemist shop at 14, Momodu Street, opposite NYSC camp, Iyana-Ipaja, in front of the building where the deceased’s mother resides.
The deceased, Esther Lawrence, was a primary 5 pupil of Alegba Primary School, Agege, Lagos.
She was said to have fallen sick on Thursday last week and the nurse was called in to examine her.
She, however, injected her twice and she died later .
According to the deceased’s mother, Mrs. Victoria Lawrence, a staff at Blue Cross Hospital, Ogba, “she went to school on Thursday and on Friday she had fever and as I wanted to take her to the General Hospital, my neighbour suggested that I call the nurse who owns a chemist shop.
“After the first injection, she tried to give her the second and the girl convulsed and the nurse gave her another injection.”
Before the anti-malaria injection was administered, the girl’s mother said the deceased had become very weak because she could not eat. She added that the girl had to drink a bottle of soft drink before she took the injection.
According to her, after the second injection was administered “suddenly, my daughter became cold and I gave her tea, yet there was no improvement.
“So, I ran to the nurse and told her to come and see my baby and she said she needed a drip of N1000. When she saw my baby in bad shape she said ‘I cannot treat this your daughter again, take her to the hospital.’
“When we took her to Popoola Hospital, the doctor on duty rejected her and she eventually died. We later took her back, then the nurse had closed her shop and disappeared.
“This my baby was brilliant and I was looking forward to seeing her become great in life. I struggled to see that she does not miss her school so that her father’s family would not say I refused to give her good education because of her father’s death.”
The girl’s corpse has been deposited at the Isolo General Hospital while the suspect is being held at Dopemu Police Division for further investigation.
Police sources said the nurse was arrested and is still being interrogated and may be charged with murder.
—Oluwole  Adeboye

A Lagos-based man, Engineer Stephen Isere, has told an Ejigbo Grade ‘A’ Customary Court that he is ready to forgo all his valuables and personal belongings just to ensure that he is legally separated from his wife of 26 years.
Stephen, while giving evidence before the court, revealed that he was equally in doubt over the paternity of their first child, whom he said he was not aware of his birth and naming ceremony.
Speaking on his wife’s alleged adulterous nature, the Edo-born engineer revealed that his wife had unlawfully aborted three pregnancies and had practically turned herself into a public toilet, whenever he was away on duty.
Giving reasons for doubting the paternity of his first son, he claimed that his work as an engineer usually takes him around the country and he was hardly available to perform his conjugal responsibility to the wife.
He said that it was during that period that his wife got pregnant and bore his first son, whose delivery, he was not even aware of. He added that on the day of the christening, his wife allegedly invited a military man to play the role of a father to the child.
He told the court that when he got wind of what his wife had done, he was perplexed but later forgave her and they continued their union happily until later when the son in question started displaying questionalble character.
The engineer lamented that the boy does not recognise him as his father and has also instructed his younger brother to follow his footsteps.
The father of four further accused his wife of ruining his business, his contract and his life with her witchcraft and diabolic powers.
“When the going was good, I send my wife N100,000 per month for her upkeep and that of the children. Gradually, things began to change from bad to worse for me. Gradually I started losing many contracts and her upkeep allowance started to reduce.
“Things finally packed up in April, 2009 when my financial strength fell from grace to grass. My wife confessed to me that she was the brain behind my financial setback. She promised to deal with me mercilessly for no just reason. She accused me of squandering my money on small girls,” he lamented.
He told the court that he was willing and ready to give away all his valuables and personal belongings just to regain his freedom and peace of mind.
“My Lord, I am willing and ready to give away all my valuables to this woman to show how frustrated I am,” he concluded.
Meanwhile, his estranged wife, Mary Isere, denied the allegations levelled against her by her husband, adding that the reverse was the case between them.
She pleaded with the court that she is still in love with her husband and would not want to lose him, especially for the sake of their four children.
After listening to both parties, the court adjourned the matter for further hearing.

A shortage of petroleum products is imminent in Nigeria as many importers have failed to deliver second quarter quota and the NNPC has also imposed new rules for third quarter imports.



•Familiar Sight: Fuel queues coming.

Platts, an online leading provider of energy and metals information, reported this morning that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, has announced a minimum capital outlay of N75 billion as a requirement by fuel importers.

The condition, described as stringent by oil industry watchers, is not the only one rolled out by the NNPC.

Importers too must be listed on international stock exchanges and have proven experience as oil traders.

Platts attributed these new measures to Dr. Levi Ajuonoma, NNPC’s spokesman. “We wish to state categorically that the oil minister will not allow any such company which fails to meet requisite conditions for participation in product importation,” Ajuonoma said.

Tenders for oil imports to meet third quarter needs were issued by the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency two weeks ago, one month behind schedule.

The delay came amidst the controversy that the NNPC was bankrupt and could not meet its obligations to its creditors. The new rules have also emerged amidst reports that many “briefcase contractors,” issued allocation papers for second quarter supplies have failed to deliver.

Unconfirmed reports said that the oil minister, Deziani Allison-Madueke, has taken full charge of the issuance of allocation papers to contractors.

Nigeria at present produces about 2 million barrels but imports 80 percent of its petroleum products needs. This is because the four local refineries, with capacity of 445,000 barrels a day, have not been functioning optimally.

A GOSPEL star from Africa has appeared in court in Aberdeen charged with making racist comments while on honeymoon in the Granite City. Sammie Okposo, who has won awards for Best Gospel Act in Africa and Best Gospel Artist of the Year, appeared from custody at Aberdeen Sheriff Court.

The 31-year-old gospel singer  was alleged to have acted in a racially aggravated manner at Jimmy Chung’s on Aberdeen’s Beach Esplanade on Wednesday. Okposo was alleged to have caused alarm or distress to Ronny Shui Hung Yung by shouting, swearing and uttering racial remarks at the Aberdeen restaurant.

The African gospel singer denied the charge.

Defence agent Mike Munro said gospel star Okposo had been in Aberdeen with his new wife on honeymoon at the time of the alleged offence.

Okposo, whose address was listed in court as 50 Tafawa Balewa Street, Lagos, Nigeria, was released on bail.
He is expected to return to Aberdeen Sheriff Court in September.
***

Sammie Okposo is 31?..lol

http://www.eveningexpress.co.uk/Article.aspx/1819617?UserKey&UserKey=

Wahab Oba and his colleagues after thier release today, in Umuahia.


Wahab Oba addressing the press today in Umuhia.


Some of the journalists' bare feet

Contrary to ealier reports that the police rescued the four abducted journalists, kidnapped a week ago at Umuafouka junction, in Obingwa Local Government Council of Abia State, facts emanating from the state revealed that the journalists were released by their abductors in the early hours of today.

According to eyewitnesses, the released journalists were looking disheveld and unkept with some of them wearing bathroom slippers.

They were said to have been fed on bread and water as they were moved from one location to the other, in the forest during their captivity.

The released quartet of  Wahab Oba, Lagos council Chairman of the Nigeria Union of  Journalists,(NUJ)  Adolphus Okonkwo, Zonal secretary of the union, Sylva Okereke, Assistant Secretary, Lagos Council,   Shola Oyeyipo, member NUJ  and their driver, Azeez Abdulrauf  are awaiting the return of Governor Theodore Orji, who was said to be away in Abuja. However, there are indications, that the  journalists may have met with the Inspector General of Police, Ogbonna Onovo.

The journalists said that they were not tortured by their abductors who blamed lack of development, unemployment and injustice in the polity for their action.