Wednesday, 31 July 2013

Gareth Bale seeks Spurs exit after €100m offer rejected

Gareth Bale "distraught" after world record offer turned down by Spurs chairman Daniel Levy

Gareth Bale is fighting to force through a move to Real Madrid this summer, according to the Guardian.
 The news marks a change in Bale's stance regarding a switch to Madrid, and comes just days after reports in Spain suggested the Welshman was ready to make it clear to Spurs that he wants to leave.
Previoulsy Bale had seemed set to stay put having spoken of his desire to help Tottenham return to the Champions League next season and he recently expressed his delight at working under manager Andre Villas-Boas.
Now though however Bale appears ready to make it clear he wants a move this summer, and the Guardian say that comes after Spurs chairman Daniel Levy refused to consider a world record €100 million bid from Madrid.
The 24-year-old had a sensational 2012/13 campaign and hit 21 Premeir League goals - however that wasn't enough as Spurs missed out on a top four spot by just a single point.
That prompted reports that Real Madrid could swoop for his services this summer, and the Spanish giants have employed some agressive tactics to turn the head of the former Southampton winger.
The Guardian report Bale is distraught over Levy's refusal to even consider Madrid's record offer, and doesn't want to see his chance of a once-in-a-lifetime move blocked.
Tottenham for their part have always maintained Bale, who has three years left on his contract at White Hart Lane left, wouldn't be sold this summer.
Recently Villas-Boas confirmed that Spurs were in talks over a new contract extension for Bale, however he know appears less likely than ever to put pen to paper and commit his immediate future to the north London club.
Bale has missed Tottenham's last two pre-season games in the Barclays Asia Trophy through injury including Saturday's 6-0 win over South China, but Villas-Boas, who refused to answer questions about an offer from Madrid yesterday,  insists he could return for the game against Monaco next weekend.

 

Manchester United & Arsenal resume Modric chase

Manchester United and Arsenal are set to go head-to-head over Real Madrid star Luka Modric after Arsene Wenger joined the race for the Croatian international, according to the Daily Star.


The 27-year-old midfielder is unsettled at the Bernabeu after a disappointing first season in the Spanish capital. 
Manchester United have been long-term admirers of Modric, but the report claims Arsenal have now turned to the Real Madrid playmaker after failing in their pursuit of their top targets so far.
The Gunners lost out in the race for Gonzalo Higuain - he's joined Napoli - and they've had several bids knocked back by Liverpool for striker Luis Suarez.
Even Brazil international Bernard looks set to join Porto or Shakhtar Donetsk rather than Arsenal.
United's desire for a central midfielder is more pressing though, and they've missed out on targets of their own.
Thiago Alcantara was at one stage seemingly set to become a Manchester United player this summer, but Bayern Munich swooped in at the last moment. The lure of Pep Guardiola proved too much, and Thiago plumped for the European champions.
Cesc Fabregas, Thiago's former-Barcelona teammate, then became top priority, but the Spanish giants have so far refused to entertain offers for the 26-year-old midfielder.
And the report claims both Arsenal and Manchester United have now turned to Modric - a player who could be expendable at the Bernabeu following the double capture of Isco and Asier Illarramendi.

Real Madrid: The bullies of football

Real Madrid are one of the wealthiest and most prestigious clubs in the game.



They are able to spend massive amounts of money on any player they desire, the most recent example of this being their pursuit of Tottenham Hotspur superstar, Gareth Bale.
The Welshman had a sensational 2012/13 season in the Premier League, scoring 21 goals, with the majority being hit in extraordinary fashion. Such a player is not just vital to the north-London club, but to the Premier League as a whole, as he, along with other notable talents such as Wayne Rooney and Joe Hart, offer support to the idea that English league football is the best in the world.
Within the world of football, if a team wants a player then there remains an ethical code which is usually abided by. An offer is made, which is either accepted or rejected. Should the latter occur, a team may either make a new offer, or pursue a cheaper option. It is that simple.
Madrid on the other hand, usually take a different approach.
They cajole, make comments, invent quotes in their heavily biased newspaper ‘La Marca’ and generally do anything necessary to unsettle the player and make him re-think leaving a club who has shown him nothing but loyalty.
Today, Zinedine Zidane was quoted as saying: “If [Bale] has expressed a desire to join Madrid, then Tottenham should give him permission to speak with us.”
How dare he suggest such a thing? Bale is being paid a massive wage to ensure that Tottenham own him and, furthermore, he remains on a contract that states he will remain a Spurs player until 2016.
He was happy at White Hart Lane before Real Madrid began raising their interest. The onslaught of comments made by the Bernabeu club has been continuous this summer and Tottenham should look to report Real Madrid to FIFA for their appalling behaviour.
Spurs fans are well within their right to be angry, as this is not the first player that has been snared by the Madrid press machine.
Croatian star, Luka Modric also became enamoured with the idea of Spanish football after repeated comments made by Real Madrid bosses. He left and Spurs have suffered from a void in the playmaker role, ever since.
Why can’t Madrid see the unfairness of what they are doing? If they make an offer and it is rejected then simply make a bigger offer.
Why is Zidane requesting talks with Bale, rather than dealing directly with Tottenham themselves? Simple. It is a disgraceful tactic of unsettling the player, leaving the north-London club with no alternative but to sell the player, rather than risk Bale upsetting other members of the squad.
I am by no means suggesting that Real Madrid are the only team to employ such a tactic, as it has been observed in all of the top clubs, including Chelsea, Manchester United and PSG, among others.
However, Los Blancos' actions stink of injustice and FIFA should enforce stronger regulations to ensure that this cannot keep happening.
It is only football that will suffer if it is allowed to continue.

Manchester United have made Bale bid - reports

Manchester United have made an offer for Tottenham Hotspur superstar Gareth Bale, according to reports.

Spanish paper Marca claims the Red Devils are going head-to-head with Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain for the Welsh winger’s signature, and have already approached Daniel Levy with a bid.
"Levy is a hard negotiator and has received more offers besides those of Real Madrid and PSG, the most significant coming from Manchester United," writes the paper this morning, according to The Daily Star.
Los Blancos have been courting the former Southampton starlet hard in recent weeks, with constant speculation that the 24-year-old will leave White Hart Lane for the Santiago Bernabeu.
But, the Star reports that PSG are also in the mix to land the player, and tabled an £85million offer for the Spurs star two-months ago.
Now, new Manchester United boss David Moyes appears to be in the mix as the Scot looks to make a marquee signing at Old Trafford after replacing Sir Alex Ferguson.
The Premier League champions failed in their efforts to bring Thiago Alcantara to the club, and have also struggle to convince Cesc Fabregas that a move from Barcelona is the right option this summer.
Landing Bale would be a major statement of intent from Manchester United, but he clearly won’t come cheap.

Sad news: 3 children die, 8 others injured in stampede over Sallah gift

Three children were killed and eight people injured, during a stampede which occurred at about 9pm on Sunday, at the residence of the Sokoto State Governor, Alhaji Aliyu Wamakko, in Sokoto as a large number of people struggled for gifts being distributed by the governor.
The incident occurred when a large number of youths formed three queues to collect clothing items for the sallah festivities and began to struggle for the larger part of the gifts which the governor usually distributes before the sallah festivities.
As a result of the struggle, eight teenagers were injured and are currently receiving treatment at the specialist hospital while three little children slumped and died as a result of suffocation during the stampede.
Thisday reports:
An eyewitness told THISDAY that the crowd formed three queues starting from the gate of the governor’s residence that stretched to a distance of about 300 metres.
He stated that security operatives struggled to control the surging crowd in the area, pointing out that during the stampede, three kids lost their lives while several people were injured.
“As you are aware, the governor usually doles out brocade to youths and wrappers to women with an additional N1,000 to enable them sew the clothes before the Sallah festivities every year. He does this as a personal gesture to assist the indigent to enable them have a sense of belonging during the festival.
“But unfortunately, while they were struggling, some of them slumped and died while several teenagers were injured,” he said.
A doctor at the Specialist Hospital, who pleaded anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the issue, told THISDAY that three people died in the stampede and their bodies had been deposited at the mortuary of the hospital.
He confirmed that the eight people who were injured are currently receiving treatment at the Accident and Emergency Unit of the hospital.
When contacted, Special Assistant to the governor on Press Affairs, Malam Abubakar Dangusau, told THISDAY that he was not aware of the incident.

105 children rescued in US sex trafficking raids

105 Children have been rescued in 76 cities across the US as part of the Innocence Lost Initiative saving them from sex trafficking and exploitation, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has said.
At a news conference on Monday, the agency said that the youngest victim rescued over the weekend was a 13-year-old and authorities had arrested 150 pimps in a-three-day nationwide raids.
Assistant director of the FBI’s criminal investigative division, Ron Hosko said: “Child prostitution remains a persistent threat to children across America.”
“This operation serves as a reminder that these abhorrent crimes can happen anywhere and that the FBI remains committed to stopping this cycle of victimisation and holding the criminals who profit from this exploitation accountable.”
47 FBI divisions took part in the operations and over 3,900 local, state and federal law enforcement officers with agents from 230 separate agencies joined in the raid which has become the FBI’s largest action to date focusing on the recovery of sexually exploited children, NBC news reports.
Authorities claimed, the so called pimps targeted children who had problems especially those from broken homes, those with a history of abuse, low self- esteem, and little social support.

ASUU strike latest: Lecturers yet to agree as meeting with FG is postponed

The meeting between university lecturers and the Federal Government concerning the on-going strike that held on Monday is rescheduled to hold on Thursday as contending issues were not resolved.
Members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, lecturers, government delegates led by the  Secretary to the Government of the Federation,  Anyim Pius Anyim, met  on Monday, in Abuja.
Premium Times reports:
The lecturers demand full implementation of a 2009 agreement and a 2011 memorandum of understanding they had with the government on various issues ranging from university autonomy, to funding, and lecturers’ remuneration. The government has said it wants a renegotiation of some parts of the 2009 agreement.
The President of ASUU, Nasir Fagge, told PREMIUM TIMES that Monday’s meeting held and the union was there to make its presentation after it had discussed with its principals.
Mr. Fagge said the government also presented its position on the implementation of the agreement adding that “the next meeting would be on Thursday still on the implementation of the agreement.”
ASUU has been on an indefinite strike since July 1 with hundreds of thousands of university students forced to stay away from classes.

Opinion: How education can strengthen our democracy

True democracy stands for freedom from oppression and subjection. But freedom comes with a price; even the Holy Bible agrees that the price for freedom is knowledge. 




There is a major link between education and its influence on democracy, and that link becomes easier to identify when we essentially bring to mind that democracy is government of the people by the people for the people. Going by this popularly known definition of democracy, it implies that true democracy revolves round the people, and the height of citizen’s involvement will to a great extent determine what the people make out of it.
Over time, critical studies has revealed that strong and stable democracies over the world are countries given to education, as there are no countries with poor level of education or educational system that have managed or sustained to be democratic for a long period of time.  On the other hand, looking through a list of developed nations with stable democracy, one would easily point out that these nations have a high level of educational system that have assisted them in maintaining a successful and well established democracy. It was Thomas Jefferson who said that “if a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.”
True democracy stands for freedom from oppression and subjection. But freedom comes with a price; even the Holy Bible agrees that the price for freedom is knowledge. For it says in one of its books that “you shall know the truth and the knowledge of the truth shall set you free” So that settles it that democracy which clamours for freedom cannot flourish without education.
Education enriches one basically with the ability to read and write, which enables people to communicate well and work collaboratively with others.  The ability of a people to work together helps a lot in defending democracy. The ability and role of an uneducated man with limited capacity to process information is absolutely incomparable to that of a learned individual in a democratic set up. It’s evidently clear that democracy cannot succeed in an environment dominated by ignorance.
I think many African leaders claiming to be practising democracy are aware of the connecting tie between education and democracy, and it won’t be out of place to say that they are deliberately impoverishing education system for their own selfish interest so ignorance can reign
Nigeria for instance still wallows in an educational structure that equips its youth for a world that practically doesn’t exist anymore. Beside that the present system is loudly inadequate, shallow and archaic, yet it can’t even be trusted to run optimally at its present inadequate and mediocre level. For over two months now the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics have been on strike for over two months and the Federal Government is less concerned about such a nasty development. Well, it’s not the first of its kind, there are records of strikes that lasted well over a whole semester and even close to an entire academic section while I was in school.  And same goes for secondary schools as well. This shows that the Nigerian government hasn’t realized that the country’s development can only spring up, first, by paying attention to the development of its human capital through an improved educational system.
Our falling educational system should be restructured such that it helps the youth to build self-reliance, hence turning them into idea generators who finish school not as “half baked” like employers tend to call fresh graduates; but individual who can come up with genuine ideas to tackle the challenges of the nation and that of the African continent.
It’s quite amazing and appalling that our educational system has no regard or concern about instilling the habits of citizenship amongst its youths through civic education and the teaching of  history. It’s amazing that as a nation we collectively assume that we can achieve lofty height without the knowledge and consciousness of our history. We forget that a nation without history, without collective memory is a country without a future! To stabilize our fragile democracy, we need a critical mass of the population to be active citizens. That’s a vital way to ensure that the government heed to the voice of the people.
Therefore, citizens have to be well informed to be engaged in the polity, to this end, it’s imperative that we begin to advocate that civic education be included in the Nigerian education curriculum at all levels. This essentially would go a long way in ensuring that the youths acquire the basic knowledge and ideals to become active citizens in order to strengthen the survival of our democracy.

Okey Ndibe: Minna, Abeokuta and bankruptcy of the Nigeria project

This architect of Nigeria’s misfortune appears to cherish some Nigerians’ proclamation that he was a much better “leader” than, say, President Jonathan. Such flattery proceeds from a short memory as well as a profound misreading of Obasanjo’s role in misshaping our present.

The starkest evidence yet of Nigeria’s despairing circumstances could be glimpsed in the fact that Minna and Abeokuta have become major destinations for a certain kind of political pilgrim.
In the last two weeks, a number of governors from the northern part of Nigeria have visited two former Nigerian rulers, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (ret.) in Minna, and former President Olusegun Obasanjo in Abeokuta. Both pilgrimages were seen, above all, as part of the tactical maneuvers for the 2015 elections.
Yet, that the governors consider Mr. Babangida and Mr. Obasanjo worthy of consultation or enlistment speaks to the bankruptcy of their – and Nigeria’s – project. Babangida and Obasanjo are alike in several vital respects. They’re big-time authors of Nigeria’s misfortune, vectors of the political, social and economic crises in which the country is mired, and eloquent examples of failed leaders.
What does it mean, then, that all political roads are leading to both men’s doors? In a few words, that Nigeria is in big, big trouble – if not altogether doomed. The voyage to the hearths of the two men is akin to trusting that a problem is the solution.
To cast both men in negative light is not to suggest, however, that anybody who came before and after them was stellar. No, Nigeria has been luckless in its leadership and, in fact, in the quality of its broader elite. But Babangida and Obasanjo found ways to intensify Nigeria’s malaise, their policies and style helping to amplify and entrench some of the most debilitating symptoms of a sick, floundering country.
Take Babangida. He became Nigeria’s military ruler in 1985, unseating the duo of Generals Muhammadu Buhari and Tunde Idiagbon that had imposed a plastic version of discipline on Nigerians. A charismatic man with a ready, gap-toothed smile, Mr. Babangida seemed the perfect corrective to Buhari’s (and Idiagbon’s) dour, cheerless mien. Before long, however, it dawned on Nigerians that real leadership demanded much more than personal charms.
It may well be the case that the Structural Adjustment Program (SAP), the centerpiece of Mr. Babangida’s economic policy, was both inevitable and the perfect panacea for the country’s indolent, over-regulated economy. What was undeniable, however, is that SAP almost overnight zapped Nigeria’s fledging middle class out of existence, creating two veritable classes: the opulently wealthy and the desperately wretched.
It was a thoroughly painful adjustment, an era in which civil servants could not afford to buy decent cars and some lecturers took to driving cabs in their spare time. Through it all, Mr. Babangida preached patience, assuring us that the gains of policy awaited us at the end of the transition.
It would have been marvelous if he adopted his own counsel. The evidence, clearly, is that he did not. While Nigerians writhed in pain and did their inventive best to scrape through harsh times, their ruler was in plain view accumulating riches for himself, acquiring a hilltop mansion that would provoke an Arab oil sheik into fits of envy, and amassing a huge cache of cash. In other words, the man who asked the rest of us to accept privation for a period of time did not have the discipline – the vision and temperament – to take his own bitter pill.
Babangida compounded his awful statecraft when he announced an ostensible program to return Nigeria to a liberal democratic culture. Unwilling to contemplate his eventual withdrawal from power, he turned the time-table for democratic transition into an expensive, deceptive scheme. In the day, he pretended to be committed to ending military rule; at night, he and his cohorts plotted to sabotage the process – the better to perpetuate himself in office. The culmination of this charade came in Mr. Babangida’s annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election.
That remains a defining part of Babangida’s legacy. In some ways, Nigeria is still reeling from the aftermath of that act of perfidy.
And then there’s Obasanjo. This man may well be the luckiest Nigerian, alive or dead. Born into poverty, his childhood ambition was to be a roadside mechanic. Instead, he found his way into the military, rose to be a general, and made two tours as Nigeria’s ruler – once as a military dictator, the other time as an “elected” president. His “election” in 1999 completed a script that had slight echoes of the experience of Nelson Mandela, the South Africa sage who commands near-universal admiration. Mr. Obasanjo had emerged from (Abacha’s) prison to become Nigeria’s president.
Gifted with a unique opportunity to become a true hero, Mr. Obasanjo seemed determined, instead, to surpass Mr. Babangida in all the trivial ways. He may have set up two anti-corruption agencies, but his administration was notorious as an enabler of graft and money laundering. He exhibited a shocking propensity to dine with and empower all manner of shady characters, the exceptions being those who were reluctant to massage his imperial ego. For all the speeches he read on accountability and transparency, he ran a shop where – under his very gaze – his confidants and associates stole Nigeria blind.
As I stated, Obasanjo’s one obsession seemed to be to best Babangida in some egoistic game. He dwarfed his rival by becoming, by far, the person with the longest tenure as president. He and his coterie acquired enough riches to tower over the man from Minna and his crowd. A slave to imitation, he acquired his own hilltop mansion in Abeokuta.
Obasanjo’s gravest crime was not that he was a mediocre leader. In the end, mediocrity in a leader is forgivable. His greatest blemish was to participate, actively and fervently, in the devaluation of Nigeria and the debasement of the Presidency. How did he do so? He empowered rustics like the late Lamidi Adedibu and Chris Uba to use police contingents to sack or hijack two governors. He belittled the judiciary by ignoring judicial verdicts that went against his government. He squandered cash in the neighborhood of $10-16 billion on a scam announced as a mission to offer Nigerians “regular, uninterrupted power supply.” He looked the other way – and compelled the anti-corruption agencies to do the same – when his political friends pillaged public funds. He weakened the National Assembly by constantly meddling in its affairs, including dictating who their leaders must be.
Instead of lending himself to the goal of strengthening democratic values, Obasanjo became an apostle of do-or-die, a zestful rigger of elections. Drunk with power, he was willing to gut the Nigerian constitution in a bid to grant himself a third term in office – and a virtual life presidency. As Nigerians groaned for infrastructure and livable wages, Mr. Obasanjo mindlessly sank billions in scarce funds to bribe his way to a third term – all the while denying that he wanted to stay on. Denied his illicit third term dream, he imposed Umaru Yar’Adua, a feeble, dying man, and Goodluck Jonathan, a nondescript governor, as the PDP’s ticket – and then imposed them on Nigeria.
This architect of Nigeria’s misfortune appears to cherish some Nigerians’ proclamation that he was a much better “leader” than, say, President Jonathan. Such flattery proceeds from a short memory as well as a profound misreading of Obasanjo’s role in misshaping our present. Properly understood, Yar’Adua and Jonathan are part and parcel of Obasanjo’s legacy. If the current president’s performance is subpar, perhaps we should ask Obasanjo, again, why he guaranteed to us that he’d chosen the perfect team to take over from him.
In a society where leaders are held to strenuous standards, neither Babangida nor Obasanjo would be able to show his face in public. That some northern governors – and other politicians – are flocking to both men’s separate hilltop is a clear sign that Nigeria will remain a mess for a while to come.

Armed militia group kills 5 people, injure others in Taraba

Following the death of about 20 people in Sabon Gari, Kano on Monday after what was said to be a terror attack, five people were killed yesterday in Tapga Village of Ibi Local Government Area of Taraba state after armed militia group the village.
Reports indicate that the  armed militia group had come from a neighbouring village called Tarok.
The attack also left a lot of people injured who had said they were taken by surprise and many more had to flee their homes for safety.
The injured were said to have been taken to some clinics in Wukari and Ibi towns for treatment. It could not however be ascertained the reason for the attack, Vanguard reports.
Chairman of Ibi council Adamu Ishaku, said the armed militia group previously wanted to invade Sarki-Kudu village of his council but after they failed, “they ended up lunching the attack on the unsuspecting residents of Tapga.” He claimed that security in some areas of Ibi has been loose especially at the coastal and border areas
Other reports puts the death toll at three and the fate of women and children left behind was still unknown.

Opinion: Nigerian universities and irregular admission processes

This non-transparent process have made many parents to sell family land, properties and life savings to send their frustrated  wards
to schools in Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, Russia while few buoyant ones send theirs to UK for admission.

The processes of gaining admission into Nigerian universities have been bastardized by the trio of JAMB, respective universities and desperate parents. The once transparent admission process into Nigerian universities has degenerated into a cash and carry fraudulent system devoid of fairness, where the highest bidder carries the day. During our own time, there was so much anxiety over Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB) examinations that students attended all manners of extra-mural studies to
pass. With the passage of time, especially in the early nineties, graft entered into the JAMB admission processes. Some special centres and villages became centres of ‘expo’ and malpractices. This led JAMB to continue to cancel centres where it is suspected that malpractice took place. In the process, a lot of innocent students were lumped for punishment with the guilty. Years later schools
started employing the services of policemen and other law officers to stem the tide of malpractice. Two years into using the policemen, they too became conduit pipes for the distribution of leaked answer scripts and their usefulness was destroyed.
The situation degenerated so much that answer scripts were leaked from either JAMB office in Lagos or respective zonal centres. In 1995 particularly, I remembered students hawking JAMB question papers eighteen hours to the examinations. Those who felt the papers were fake got the shockers of their lives when they discovered that their honesty and patriotic home training was mocked on the exams hall. Few years ago, I heard that some students distributed solved probable JAMB answers A, B, C, D, E, etc on facebook to their friends.
Speaking on the level of compromise associated with the examination, the Registrar of JAMB, Prof  Dibu Ojerinde said that â€Å“In 2012 UTME, we had some disturbing news of extortion of money from innocent candidates by greedy proprietors and supervisors all these persons will be brought to book,  Earlier in that 2011 he told news men that JAMB is currently investigating some results of 7, 504 candidates, from some centres which are suspicious the results must undergo further screening because of the unusual performances recorded by candidates from those centre. Constant malpractice coupled with incessant demands for university autonomy by lecturers under the aegis of Academic Staff of Nigerian Universities (ASUU), Committee of Vice Chancellors and other university
pressure groups led to the acceding of the request for individual universities to set exams for prospective students. This led to the introduction of Post-University Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (Post-UTME) exams. This Post-UTME examination is yet to solve the problems associated with the earlier UTME, UME AND JAMB exams.
In the first instance, parents have to send or travel with their wards to different universities to write Post-UTME exams. A student may
travel from Enugu to Abuja to write Post-UTME for University of Abuja, and then travels again to Lagos to write for University of Lagos, then moves to Port Harcourt to write that of University of Port Harcourt and back to base to sit for Enugu State University of Science and Technology’s exams, criss-crossing thousands of kilometers across dangerous countryside to write exams. The
students usually purchases exorbitant exams forms from all these schools, travel to these locations, and lodge in hotels or with boyfriends, girl friends and sugar mummies in places if the cost of hotel accommodation is unaffordable.I inquired of a girl in Abuja some time in 2009 from her brother and was told that the girl traveled to Lagos to write Post-UTME exams and never returned
back again. Whether rapists, robbers or ritualists caught hold of her and cut her breasts, eyes etc for rituals, nobody could tell.
In 2012 three prospective students traveling to UNN, Nsukka for Post-UTME got involved in auto crash. I do not know whether they died after being rushed to the hospital. During the same phased examinations, the process was cancelled midway because the university discovered that the papers actually leaked the night before. Some students told me that they had the answers in their phones and distributed such through text messages hours before the exams. The authorities told the students to go home and come back later to rewrite the papers at the expense of parents and sponsors. It was later discovered that some university staff leaked
the papers to their wards who in turn sold same to the highest bidders. The embarrassed authorities with the aid of the police arrested the erring staffers for prosecution.
Despite all these Post-UTME exams, some parents still pay for their ward’s admission. Last year, a family told me that they paid N400.000 for their ward to read medicine in a university in Lagos, while another family confided that they paid N240, 000 to help their ward secure admission to read law in Port-Harcourt. This process disenfranchises those who are supposed to be on the merit list because highest bidders have taken over their chances. This is because some university staffers reserve lots of chances for themselves
which they can sell or dispense as they deem fit.
This non-transparent process have made many parents to sell family land, properties and life savings to send their frustrated  wards
to schools in Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, Russia while few buoyant ones send theirs to UK for admission. I have unenthusiastically assisted some frustrated families with finance to send their wards to some of these East-European schools and I kept on pondering at
how Nigeria is enriching other people’s economy due to moronic and educational policies. This results in capital flight and the enrichment of other nation’s education industry. Those who are not buoyant for overseas enrollment litter the streets of Nigeria and constitutes nuisance to the society. Many have joined robbery, kidnapping and prostitution gangs because idle minds are devils workshops.
Nigeria’s Minister of Education Professor Ruqayyatu Rufai recently told a news conference that amount of the over 1.7million students that sat for the examinations in 2013, only 500,000 will gain admission. This means that 1.2 million students will be disappointed. In 2012, 1,503, 931 students sat for the exams and about 450,000 was admitted. In 2011 it was 1,493,603 with about 420,000 getting
admitted. In 2010 according to JAMB about 1,375,642 sat for the exams with spaces for less than 400,000.From the JAMB statistics, it is obvious that about 900,000 applicants were disappointed in 2010; 1 million applicants in 2011, 1.1 million others in 2012, 1.2 million disappointed in 2013 and probably 1.4 million come 2014.
Two years ago the Nigerian Senate made attempts to scrap Post-UTME exams citing corruption and duplication of functions. The process failed because the lawmakers couldnt find a common ground of acceptance.  Around my residence in Abuja lots of brilliant students have been writing JAMB and Post- UTME exams for many years and yet cannot get admission. Some of them have gotten admitted only for their names to disappear from the merit list. According to their frustrated parents, the number on the merit list for some departments of their choice are not up to 20% while the rest is admission by favoritism. In the same neighborhood, some frustrated parents used political party links and corrupt processes to get their wards admitted.
The solution to these anomalies is for NUC to relax processes for establishment of universities. Their stringent condition is such that only mega funded billionaire institutions and individuals can dare it. How come Ghana is wooing Nigerian students to go there and study? They have enough quality schools to contain their applicants and they maintained qualitative small universities established at little cost. Secondly JAMB should ensure that individual schools admit at least 50% of those who write Post-UTME exams on the merit list. The amount of money spent on these Post-UTME exams should be reduced and if the universities cannot guarantee transparency, the process should be scraped. Nigeria admission process have been compromised by individual universities, JAMB, NUC,parents and applicants, and God will not leave some people unpunished whose actions or inaction contributed to the bastardization of the once transparent admission process.

Rivers crisis: Produce Chidi Lloyd today – Court orders police

A Rivers State High Court has ordered the police to present before it the detained Leader of the State House of Assembly, Chidi Lloyd who was arrested over his involvement in the fracas which engulfed the chambers during a failed impeachment attempt.
The order was given by the trial judge, Justice L. L. Nyordee, after the complainant failed to arraign the accused in court.
Justice Nyordee noted that a hearing notice had earlier been served the complainant by counsel to the accused person to take plea yesterday.
He, however, adjourned till today, for the accused to be arraigned, so that he could take his plea.
Read the Sun Newspapers report below:
Earlier, the lead counsel to the leader of the House of Assembly, Beluolisa Nwofor, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), drew the attention of the court to the absence of his client.
Nwofor told the court that police had violated the state High Court Practice Directory, 2013, which called for impartial and speedy adjudication of matters.
He, therefore, urged the court to order the complainant, who was also absent, to arraign the accused, so that he could take plea because the matter had to do with criminal charges.
Also, he prayed the court to strike out the case, if police failed to arraign him, threatening to sue the complainant for malicious prosecution.
“The prosecution has the duty to ensure that the accused is in court. But, they have abridged the law.”
Lloyd’s lead counsel, Nwofor, who spoke to journalists shortly after sitting, feared the health condition of his client.
He said Lloyd had been in detention for over a week and under torture, adding that he had not seen his client.
Nwofor stated that failure of the police to arraign him yesterday was a manifestation of the tortured allegation levelled against the complainant.
After waiting for several hours, the court resumed sitting at about 2:47pm and ended at about 3:16pm.

Nollywood – A blessing or curse?

It is a pity and unfortunate that the federal government honoured some of these actors and actresses with National honours and it was even reported that some billions of naira was budgeted for the industry. This action of the government is unnecessary.

The movies and entertainment industries are meant to promote the norms, values and culture of the people and also to serve as a medium through which the masses are enlightened on the issues at stake in a polite manner.
The existence of Nollywood in Nigeria supposed to encourage the positive minds of Nigerians as well as promoting our moral standard. It is true that movie industry has contributed a lot to the developement of Nigerian economy but the industry needs a state of emergency declaration if it must survive to deliver its main objectives. This is because the life patterns of most of its actors and actresses are worrisome. Nollywood actors are expected to be mentors to the young generation but reverse have been the case.
Almost on daily bases, Nigerians mostly receive shameful and discouraging news about the industry’s actors and actresses. If we don’t hear about divorce, we hear about the exposure of their nude pictures and these ugly development has made a negative impact on the lives of many Nigerians especially the youths.
It is a pity that most people have been influenced by these visionless lifestyle of most of the Nollywood actors and actresses. The rate at which divorce cases are filed in the courts is alarming and Nollywood cannot be unconnected with such. This is because instead of producing movies that will promote African norms and morals, the industry now produce movies mostly featured by lust, betrayal of trust and romance and any shallow minded Nigerians are easily influenced by such.
Moreover, many Nigerians especially the youths betray their dignity on daily bases in a move to appear like some of these actors and actresses. It is now an expensive achievement for some people to appear semi-nude, deny themselves of necessary nutritions and even publish their nude pictures in order to be addressed as ‘Models’. This is unbearable because a model is that person that posses good morals and visible qualities that serve as examples for people to admire. Therefore a semi-naked and corrupt minded individual can not be a model but a disaster.
It is a pity and unfortunate that the federal government honoured some of these actors and actresses with National honours and it was even reported that some billions of naira was budgeted for the industry. This action of the government is unnecessary. Though it is the obligation of government to support organisations that contribute to the developement of the economy. Allocation of funds and granting National awards to the actors and actresses of the industry is never a best way of encouraging the industry to achieve its national objective. The industry has made more negative influence on Nigerians and if urgent measures are not taking, the movie industry will be a curse to Nigerians. The government should initiate the movies and entertainment industries into the ministry of
culture and tourism so that more dedicated attention should be paid on their activities. This will further make the stakeholders in the movie industry to understand that they are meant to promote Nigeria’s norms, values and dignity.
Also, a law that will mandate the industry to produce only movies that will encourage and display our diverse norms, values and cultures should be enacted. Also a board that will made up of people of proven integrity should be set up to ensure that only decent men and women are employed into the movie industry. All persons that have betrayed the values, morals and culture of the Nigerian nation through their acts either as movie actors, actresses or individuals should be dismissed and permanently banned from the Nigerian movie industry.
The Nollywood actors and actresses should only present movies that will feature acts that will provide solutions to the political, religious, security and economic challenges of our dear nation and also promote aour morals, values and norms.
Parents should also monitor their children and ensure that they are not adicts of these ill-moral movies. Various religious institutions should also see it as a prime responsibility to advise their members on the dangers of buying or watching such movies.
We shall be mocking our selves as a nation if we prefer to betray our values and promote alien norms and values.
If we really want to eradicate the increasing rate of immoralities in our dear country, Nollywood must be totally reformed.

Tukur blasts northern governors over visits to IBB and OBJ

The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party is clearly not happy with the recent visit of four northern governors Sule Lamido, Rabiu Kwankwaso, Babangida Aliyu, Murtala Nyako and Aliyu Wamakko of Jigawa, Kano, Niger, Adamawa and Sokoto states respectively, to former Heads of State, Generals Ibrahim Babangida and Olusegun Obasanjo. Tukur expressed his displeasure in a statement signed by Special Assistant on Media, Oliver Okpala, where he accused the governors of over-heating the polity. The governors were reported to have also met the president, Goodluck Jonathan to demand his removal. Tukur chided the governors for not exploring the avenues enshrined in the party’s constitution for reconciliation.
Read excerpts from the statement below:
“One would have expected the governors to express their grievances privately to the party leadership or the reconciliation committee instead of going public with their grievances before seeking audience with other Nigerian leaders.
“There is no doubt that the governors’ peripatetic vision has contributed in no small measure in overheating the polity. As leaders whom the general public look upon as a role model, they are expected to show respect to constituted authority and the elders which include Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, who has contributed immensely to the peace progress, development and advancement of this country. More importantly, the PDP has a reconciliation committee entrusted with the task of conflict resolution in the party.
“The National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, has tried all in his power to bring peace, tranquility and love in the PDP. His three cardinal policies of Reconciliation, Reformation and Rebuilding are aimed at giving all members of the party a sense of belonging. The national chairman also has an open door policy and accommodation for all shades of opinion within the party.
“It is unfortunate that these governors are demanding Tukur’s removal when Tukur has made immense sacrifices for the peace and progress of the PDP and had extended his peculiar kind of brotherly love to all party men and women.
“The governors are hereby advised to embrace peace and desist from dramatizing the few problems within our democracy as this can send a wrong signal to Nigerians and the international community.
“The governors as party faithful and responsible citizens of this country holding exalted positions should desist from any action that tends to overheat the polity and truncate our nascent democratic structure.

Tuesday, 30 July 2013

Suspected Boko Haram members arrested by the Army in Lagos

Fourty-two suspected members of Boko Haram sect were arrested in their hideouts in Lagos and Ogun states  and paraded by the Nigerian Army,yesterday in Lagos.
Some of the suspects confessed to the killings of some civilians and soldiers in the northern part of the country and also confessed to have fled for the western part of the country from Borno state due to the ongoing military intervention.
Vanguard reports:
Parading the suspects before newsmen, the General Officer Commanding 81 Division, Major General Obi Umahi, stated that the suspects were arrested following intelligence report on the migration of some members of the sect to the South, from the operation’s commander in the South-Eastern part of the country.
He said based on this information at the division’s disposal, a coordinated raid was carried out in some criminal hideouts in both states.
He said: “The Command organised and carried out raids in conjunction with intelligence operatives in various parts of these states.
“The Boko Haram members’ influx is adduced to plans to unleash terror in some parts of South-West, which includes 81 Division’s area of responsibility.
“The raids were conducted from 12 to 23 July in various hideouts in Lagos and Ogun states, which are fast becoming Boko Haram enclaves.
“The raids were conducted in Ibafo trailer parks and Ileke new trailer garage in Ogun State; Aviation quarters, Mafoluku Oshodi, Ketu/Mile 12 motor parks, Orile trailer park, Lekki new extension and Bar Beach in Lagos State, where 42 suspects were arrested.
“They all admitted to be members of the sect and also said they had participated in some deadly Boko Haram operations.”

Femi Fani-Kayode: A word for Yerima and the paedophiles in power

I must however point out that Nigeria is not a Muslim state. And neither is she a christian state. She is a secular state and she is governed by secular laws. Religious laws have no place in our land or constitution.
I  expressed my concerns about the issue of paedophilia and child brides in Nigeria quite extensively in an essay that I wrote last week titled ‘’A Nation Of Perverts And Paedophiles’’ which was widely published and which attracted a lot of rejoinders and commentries from other writers and commentators from both sides of the divide. I do not intend to cover the same ground or repeat the same arguements here but kindly permit me to make a final contribution to the debate in this piece.
The good news is that no matter what anyone thinks or says and regardless of whichever side of the divide one is on, when it comes to this issue, at least the Nigerian people are now talking about a subject which, hitherto, had been regarded as being ‘’off limits’’ and taboo and which had been essentially swept under the carpet. I commend the Nigerian press, the website magazines, the bloggers and the electronic media for standing firm, rising up to the occassion and bringing the matter alive and one can only hope and pray that they will keep the fire burning by continuing to reflect the heated discussions and various opinions on this issue.
I was particularly impressed with and encouraged by the editorials of some of our leading newspapers on this issue including ‘Thisday On Sunday’, ‘The Nation On Sunday’, ‘Leadership On Sunday’ and ‘The Sunday Vanguard’ which were all published on Sunday 28th July and which were titled “In Support Of The Girl Child’’, ‘’No Cover For Paedophiles’’. ‘’Much Ado About Child Marriage’’ and ‘’Building Nigeria On Deceit’’ respectively. With contributions like that from very serious and credible mediums like those there is still hope for the girl-child in Nigeria. I urge all those that have not read these contributions to please find them and do so.
Yet despite the outrage expressed by the overwhelming majority of Nigerians and indeed the wider world about the plight of the girl-child in our country, on Sunday 28th July, a deeply defiant and unrepentant Senator Ahmed Sani Yarima, who was the individual that sparked off the whole controversy in the first place by insisiting that Section 29 of the Constitution must not be removed, told the Sunday Trust Newspaper that ‘’if the vote on the child marriage issue came up in the Senate again’’ he and his supporters ‘’would win a million times over’’. Sadly, given the nonchalant attitude that has been displayed by a large number of our Senators to the plight of the girl-child, paedophilia and infant marriages in Nigeria and their obvious reluctance to step on Yerima’s big toes and thereby upset his religious sensitivities he may well be right. If not how does one explain the fact that two female Senators, Aisha Jummai Alhassan from Taraba State and Zainab Kure from Niger State, both of whom I gather have daughters, actually abstained when that historical vote took place. To drive home the point, the Senate President himself, Senator David Mark, only last week admitted that he and the entire Senate had succumbed to Yarima’s ‘’blackmail’’ on the issue of the right of the child-bride to renounce Nigerian citizenship and his deputy, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, accepted the fact that the matter “needed to be revisited’’ in view of the outrage expressed by the majority of the Nigerian people.
Yet many of us do not expect anything to change in the near future simply because it is clear that the Nigerian Senate and indeed the Nigerian political class generally simply do not have the sensitivity, the courage, the wherewithal or the political will to do the right thing and to not only delete the controversial Section 29 but to also revamp and amend the constitution in it’s entirety and insert a clause that specifically, clearly and categorically outlaws and bans any marriages that involve anyone under the age of 18 in Nigeria.
Mrs. Roz Ben-Okagbue, in her article titled, ‘’Is The Removal Of Section 29 The Answer To Eliminating Child Marriage?’’ has made this point more eloquently than anyone else. I consider Roz’s piece to be probably the most insightful contrbution so far in this debate simply because she made all the relevant points and consistently hit the nail on the head. It is the inability of the Senate and other political stakeholders to introduce a new clause into our constitution and ban child marriages and their penchant for continously pampering and seeking to accomodate the strange fantasies and perversions of those that enjoy marrying and having sex with 6, 9, 12 and 14 year olds that informed Pastor Tunde Bakare to proclaim, in a characteristically powerful and explosive sermon, that ‘’Nigeria is suffering from the rulership of ‘PINPS’ “(by which he meant ‘’Paedophiles in Power’’) and that the issue of child marriage has divided our country more than any other issue before it in our entire history. No-one could have put it better.
Yet the debate continues to rage and only last week the respected islamic scholar Professor Ishaq Akintola added his voice by saying ‘’there is no age restriction in islamic marriage’’. Most muslims would disagree with this because child-marriage is specifically banned by the laws and constitutions of 90 per cent of muslim countries in the world today but I respect the right of Professor Akintiola to hold his opinion about the tenets of his faith. And regardless of his views and fervency I honestly believe that islam, like christianity, is a humane and compassionate faith which seeks to protect the weak and guide its adherents on the path of righteousness and light.
I must however point out that Nigeria is not a muslim state. And neither is she a christian state. She is a secular state and she is governed by secular laws. Religious laws have no place in our land or constitution.Our constitution is a secular document which specifically says that the state shall not adopt any religion. This must remain so if we do not want a divided country and if we do not want continued controversy, strife and possibly even a fully blown religious conflagration and conflict. We should all keep our religious sensitivities out of certain matters if we want continued peace.
Paedophilia, child sex, child slavery, child rape and child marriage cannot be justified under any circumstances in any civilised country. It is not a matter of religion. It is a matter of human rights, civil liberties and basic morality. There is nothing more repugnant to the natural mind and wholesome soul than the prospect of a fully grown man mounting, defiling and having carnal knowledge of a child that is between the ages of 6 and 18.
Every child, whether she be a christian, a muslim, a pagan, an atheist or an agnostic has the right to be fully protected by the state and by the laws of our land from sexual predators, sexual deviants, statutory rapists, unrepentant perverts and child molestors. That much we ought to be able to achieve and we ought to insist on. We are meant to protect our children and not bed them.
Like I said earlier on elsewhere in this debate, even animals don’t sleep with their own infants. Some may hate me for these words today but I speak nothing but the truth and tomorrow the people will thank me for it. In the heat of this debate my dear wife, Pastor Regina Fani-Kayode, made a pertinent assertion. She said ‘’knowledge comes to those who seek it’’. This is wisdom and I would suggest that our muslim brothers and sisters that share Yarima’s views on child marriage and that seek to defend those views on religious grounds like my respected sister Dr. Zainab Shinkafi-Bagudu, whose article titled ‘’Early Marriage?’’ I read with great interest, learn a little from this deep truism. Perhaps they could also learn one or two things from the following  press report in a newspaper just last week which reflects the views of one of the most respected leaders and islamic scholars in Saudi Arabia. The report reads as follows-
‘’A member of Saudi Arabia’s highest religious body has said that Prophet Mohammed’s (PBUH) marriage to a nine-year-old girl does not justify marrying minor children today because circumstances have changed in the intervening 14 centuries. The comments by Sheikh Abdullah al Manie, who sits on the Council of Senior Ulema, follows other recent public criticisms of child marriage, suggesting the government may be preparing public opinion for legislation setting a minimum marriage age.
“They want to prepare the public to understand that the old days are not like today,” said Mekhlef al Shammary, a human rights advocate in Dammam. “It’s a crime to give a 12-year-old to be a mother and wife. “This is ridiculous. Even in Islam it’s not acceptable because the girl is not mature enough. She’s a child – she’s not ready for sexual relations.” The marriage of young girls, often to much older men, has been at the forefront of public debate in Saudi Arabia for a couple of years. It escalated early last year after it was reported that a man had contracted to give his eight-year-old daughter in marriage to a 47-year-old man in order to pay a financial debt. The contract was annulled after a public outcry.
Sheikh al Manie is believed to be the most senior cleric to unequivocally denounce the practice of child marriage. Prophet Mohammed’s marriage to young Aisha “cannot be equated with child marriages today because the conditions and circumstances are not the same”, he said in remarks published in the Saudi Gazette and Okaz newspapers on Thursday. “It is a grave error to burden a child with responsibilities beyond her years,” the sheikh said. “Marriage should be put off until the wife is of a mentally and physically mature age and can care for both herself and her family.”
Senator Ahmed Sani Yarima, Professor Ishaq Akintola and all those that continuosly give the impression that child marriage is acceptable in Islam and who erroneously believe that the honest criticism of such an abominable practice is an attack on their faith surely have much to learn from the contribution of this erudite Saudi Arabian leader and scholar. As a matter of fact we all do and it is contributions like that that make the rest of us appreciate what a beautiful religion islam really is when its tenets are properly understood and applied.
According to our Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Mrs. Zainab Maina, Nigeria has 800,000 cases of VVF today and we are adding 20,000 cases each year. All these cases are situated in the northern part of the country. Such diseases, such suffering, such illiteracy and such high levels of poverty of the mind and soul should have no place in any part of our great nation in this day and age. Our people, whether they be from the north or the south, Christian or Muslim, young or old and men or women, surely deserve better than that. After all we are living in the 21st century and not the 6th. Yet sadly these vices are more rampant in Yarima’s own northern region and constituency than anywhere else in the country and instead of attempting to improve on the lot, the education and quality of lives of the good people of the north all he thinks about is marrying little girls and bedding them. What a man and what a country. Outside of this contribution I have nothing more to say on this vexed and contentious issue of the horrendous plight of the girl-child and child marriage in Nigeria

Ex-Gov. Kalu threatens to sue Fashola over forced relocation of Igbos

A seven-day ultimatum has been given by the  former governor of Abia State, Chief Orji Uzor Kalu, to the Lagos State Government to offer an apology to the allegedly deported 67 persons of the Igbo ethnic group from Lagos to Onitsha in Anambra State or he would head to court in their interest saying there was no law  in the country, that gives a state or governor power to deport any Nigerian citizen to any part of the country.
Orji Kalu condemned the action of the state government as lawless and vexatious and further stated that it threatens the corporate existence of the country.
ThisDay reports:
In a statement made available to THISDAY Monday, Kalu said there was right to freedom of movement for every Nigerian as enshrined in Section 41 of the 1999 Constitution.
Besides, the former governor argued that it was an open secret that the Igbo contribute about 55 per cent to the Lagos economy.
“It is appalling to learn that the deported Igbo were even detained in Ikorodu for about six months before their illegal deportation.
“They were taken to Onitsha in four buses, escorted by anti-riot policemen,” he said.
One of them, Osondu Mbuto, a trader from Ohaozara in Ebonyi State, was on his way to his shop on December 18, 2012 when he was arrested by officials of the state’s Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI) and detained for no reason until he was deported in his father’s land.
“The reaction of the state government that the Igbo were deported to reunite them with their families was the worst insult to any race.
“Governor Fashola’s Special Adviser on Youths and Social Development, Dr. Enitan Dolapo Badru, said: ‘The end result is to reunite them back with their families.’
“What an affront against the collective will of Ndigbo or any other race in Nigeria to live and do business in any part of the country?
“The action of the state government is not only wicked but a clear breach of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended.
“To worsen the matter, most of those deported are not even indigenes of Anambra State. Is Anambra State now a dumping ground for any act of illegality? Is Lagos State Government above the law of the country? If not, can it operate another set of laws without recourse to constitution amendment? Is it not a travesty of justice that officers of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) were even used for this illegal act against the Nigerian state? Was the supervising officer, who allowed the deployment of the policemen, not told that they were going to be used for the deportation of Nigerians they were paid by tax payers’ money to protect in their fathers’ land?
“The action is a gross infraction to the rights of the deportees to dwell in any part of Nigeria without discrimination. With this wicked, crude and primitive deportation, I just wonder why a component unit of Nigeria, under the authority and supremacy of a constitution would choose to be lawless in such an unconstitutional conduct. Not even under the military would such an action have happened.
“Even if a criminal offence was committed, the place to take them to is the court, not for them to be deported. The action of the Lagos State Government is lawless as it is vexatious and I condemn it in strong terms because it threatens the existence of our country. All patriotic Nigerians should say no to this xenophobic action of Lagos State Government because it usurps the powers of the federal government and disregards our constitution.
“I demand a public apology from the governor within seven days to all those illegally deported and a repeat of such an act must be stopped or I will head to court to defend the interest of the Ndigbo in Lagos. Enough is enough.”

Photo: D’banj During His Lasu Epe Days

At the time when our own Oliver Twist crooner didn’t really know how bright his future was, this picture was taken. Is it very possible that a music loving Nigerian will not be able to spot Dbanj. Let’s see who get’s it first. The game is SPOT THE KOKO MASTER

How Obasanjo Gave His Lecturers Trouble As A Student Of NOUN – VC

The Vice Chancellor of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), Professor Vincent Ado Tenebe, on Monday gave a glimpse into former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s time as a student of the university, saying that he was very troublesome. Prof. Tenebe, who commended Chief Obasanjo for giving a new lease of life to NOUN in 2002 during his administration as president, recalled that as a student, he (Obasanjo) used to call his lecturers at midnight on academic matters, but noted that at the end, he did very well to pass his courses in Christian Religious Theology. The Vice Chancellor made this known during an interactive session organised by the Kaduna State Council of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ). According to him, “President Obasanjo, when he became a student which he did by example, resuscitated the university. A good history of the university was that this university came into existence by an act of the National Assembly during the reign of President Shehu Shagari in 1982, unfortunately before the university could establish itself, the Military regime that took over suspended the act and that was the reason the university was in dormancy until when civilian rule under Obasanjo came on board and re cooperated the university in 2002 while in 2003, we started our academic programmes. “When Obasanjo became a student of the institution, he thought that it was an easy thing to do. When he was given all the courses, he realised it wasn’t easy and so he had to defer his admission. He said I would not take part in this until I finished my tenure as President and so he never studied while he was the President until he completed his tenure, then he started the course. He did a Post Graduate Diploma in Christian Theology. He was a very troublesome student because he will not start calling until 12 mid night and keep you online until about 2.00a.m. “Every time he gives us trouble, we pray that he graduates of which he did and his certificate was valid. In the course of his study, Obasanjo said he wanted to sit among the students” and quoted the former president as saying, “I want to do the same thing others are doing.” On if the examiners were not under any form of pressure while marking the former President’s script, Prof. Tenebe remarked: “Obasanjo was a very brilliant student and I can tell you there were lots of controversies when his papers were being marked. I won’t disclose the secret of how our papers are marked but it is marked from Port Harcourt to Lagos, Kano, Maiduguri and the markers will never know whose paper they are marking. So the old man is intelligent, his certificate is valid and was done according rules and regulations of the Nigerian University Commission (NUC).” On accreditation of courses in the university, NOUN VC said they had subjected 31 of their programmes to accreditation and had 30 of them, while the one that was denied accreditation was getting ready for the accreditation as NUC had gone through their book and certified that their Nursing programme was up to standard. “On that note, they’ve allowed us to graduate students and students of nursing also participated in our convocation. They graduated and were given our certificate. So if anybody is holding the certificate of NOUN as a graduate of Nursing, any employer can confirm that from the NUC. “Talking about school of Law, it is one of the youngest schools in NOUN and we are yet to graduate our students”, he said. “Some of our students are now getting to the final year, and like I told you earlier we have gone through the NUC accreditation and they have passed us. Now we are preparing for the Legal Council and Education and we are going to do that in conjunction with the NUC. And that I will continue to say that our law students are equal to the task, they can compete with any law students from any university in the world not only Nigeria.” “ I can assure you that by the time we will present our curriculum to the Legal Council and Education, I am confident that we are going to pass. As I speak to you there is what is called National Competition that all universities that have faculty of law compete every year. NOUN is currently the champion. I told you I have five VCs of other universities among my law students and an experienced Monarch,” he said.

How I Predicted The Death Of The Mother Of The First Lady! Tinubu Be Careful – Pastor Chris Warns

The General Overseer of Mountain of Liberation And Miracle Ministry, Pastor Chris Okafor has said he predicted the death of the mother of the first lady which recently happened.


It was said that the man of God predicted that, there will be death in the President’s household, and it was meant to take away someone close to them mysteriously but could be averted if they showed interest. He has also advised Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to beware because some of his strong opponent have vowed to ensure that he will not see May 29, 2015. Lastly, this one is for the people of Anambra State. Senator Chris Ngige is going to rule you again, the Pastor said.

(18+) TRUE STORY: Why I Became A Prostitute (PHOTOS)

22-year-old Nicole Parke borrowed a total of £500 from two companies in May last year after being made redundant from her full-time job as a hairdresser. Unable to find work, the mum of two needed the quick cash to pay for food and bills. But with her credit cards at maximum, a large overdraft and increasing interest on her loans, Nicole, from Hackney in east London, hit rock bottom. By the end of May the debt on the payday loans had risen to £1,175 and had taken the total she owed to her creditors to £20,000. With bailiffs knocking on her door, escorting seemed the only way to make money quick enough to control her mounting debt. She signed up to an online escorting agency and within a week she was entertaining her first client. She says: “I never imagined my life would end up the way it did.
“I’ve always been independent so having to turn to payday loans to be able to feed my family and pay the rent was terrifying. “I thought it would solve my problems but it just made things worse. “With £5,000 nursery fees, £5,000 on my credit cards, my overdraft, rent arrears, utility arrears, council tax and two payday loans, I ended up £20,000 in debt. Escorting was a last resort, the only way I could get paid fast enough to stop the interest from mounting.” Nicole created a profile on the escorting site using the name Tami. She says: “When I called the agency I was shaking but I thought if I didn’t go ahead with it I might end up homeless. “While it was a relief to know I’d finally have some money coming in, the overriding feeling was fear. “I met my first client at a hotel. I wore my tightest dress, a push-up bra, stockings, high heels and had my bag packed with condoms. “I’d started pulling out my hair with the anxiety of my mounting debt and this just made it worse. I wondered if the man would kill me or beat me up.” Despite her fears, Nicole went ahead with the arranged meeting in June 2012, a month after taking out her first payday loan. She explains: “As he opened the door, my client smiled and looked me up and down and I knew he was interested in one thing only. “I let him undress me and we slept together. It was horrible but luckily he didn’t last long. “He didn’t talk afterwards, he just thrust £100 at me, opened the door and I left. I was relieved I hadn’t got hurt and having £100 meant I had enough money to keep us going for another week and pay off some of the interest.” After that first appointment Nicole was seeing clients three to four nights a week and earning around £1,800 a month. It was enough to begin to pay off her debts, bills and feed her family. She says: “I told friends I was doing various jobs, never the truth, and they’d babysit my kids. At the end of my first month I was close to quitting as I’d almost paid off all my interest and thought I’d be OK. “But when one of my kids asked if he could go to playschool, I went out escorting that night so I’d have the money for it.” She eventually made enough to clear the debt of the payday loans. In September 2012, Nicole saw her last client and has since begun looking for hairdressing work. She says: “I’ve been looking for another job ever since. Although I just manage to pay the bills with my Jobseeker’s Allowance, I’m never going back to escorting. “I live in a hostel with my children now but I’ve not given up hope of building a better future. “We might not be rich but we’re healthy and we’re getting by.”
 

Nollywood Actress, Danielle Okeke Displays Her Curvy Backside At Movie Premiere (PHOTOS)

Nollywood actress, Danielle Okeke, known for her very curvy behind has put her ample backside on display again at the “Torn” movie premiere.


Observe Your Children, Gay People Are On The Prowl In Makurdi, Gov. Suswam Warns Parents

Governor Gabriel Suswam of Benue state has flayed the proliferation of activities of homosexuals in society just as the Benue State Agency for the Control of Aids (BSACA) uncovered the existence of a 400 member gay club in Makurdi, the state capital. Suswam, who called on parents to keep close watch on their children as they grow older especially ones that tend to show more than a passing interest in the same s*x other than the opposite, tasked the Church to lead the campaign against the unholy activity in Nigeria. Gov. Suswam made this known on Sunday at a special thanksgiving service in honour of his Senior Special Assistant (SSA) on Beautification, Dorcas Depuun at St. Mary’s Catholic Church, North Bank, Makurdi. According to him, “These things are happening out there, homosexuality is true and it is happening in our society that is why parents must take more than a passing interest in their children that are of age and are tilting towards fellows of the same s*x other than the opposite.” The governor observed that “Gay activities and marriage is a misnomer because every organ has a function and as long as it was used for the purpose other than that for which it was created by God then it’s not right because all things created by God are perfect. “These things are happening out there with our children right here in Makurdi; it is a disease; a hormonal problem”, adding that “I get headaches from hearing such issues. “I urge the church to continue to caution the people especially our upcoming youths against falling into this baneful trap because it connotes evil which is in total negation of the dictates and will of God for man because if same s*x were allowed, then the aim of producing children as commanded by God would be defeated.”