Flavour To Headline BET Africa!

Cute - Cute Princess Charlotte Play With Her Teddy!

Cute 6-month-old Princess Charlotte is seen here gigling as she plays with her teddy in a new photo taken by mum Kate Middleton at home in Norfolk recently.

Morocco Joins In The Climate Change Campaign!

Morocco join in the Climate Change campaign....

Climate change or Global Warming is a change in the average weather conditions or in the time variation of weather around longer-term average conditions, like a more or fewer extreme weather occurrences.

This change is reportedly caused by certain human activities, plate tectonics volcanic eruptions:


 Biotic processes:



Variation radiation in solar received by Earth:



Let us join our efforts to protect our world......

Drake To Remix “Hotline Bling” With Adele!

Information revealed indicates an official finished version remix of Drake's  “Hotline Bling” regarded as one of biggest songs of 2015 could be imminent with Adele. 

 & 

Let's keep our fingers crossed in anticipation.

Nigerian Lady Accuse A Late Ex- Governor's Son And His Friends Of 'Gang Rape'!

This narrative by a young Nigerian woman that goes by the Twitter id 'empress sugabelly', who told her story of how she was "gang raped" (in what seems like an abusive relationship) by one Mustapha Audu, reported to be a son of Late Audu Abubakar, ex- governor of Kogi state- Nigeria, and his friends. 

Amidst questions, doubts, name calling and attacks from all angles she stood her ground, telling her story to all who took a moment to read her travail.

The story:   

"Every time I see a white Nissan Altima, my palms go sweaty, and my knees get weak. It’s an involuntary reaction born of so many nights being driven around Asokoro pinned to the floor of Tunji’s white Nissan Altima, barely able to breathe, the stench of weed stinging my eyes while I choked on the penis of whomever it pleased Mustapha to force me to pleasure that day.

I can’t have music playing while driving around in a car either. Or just sitting around at home. I can’t have music playing period. Especially not Maroon5. If I get into your car, please drive in fucking silence or you will make it hard for me to breathe.

Right now there are thousands of people running wild with their “opinions”, talking authoritatively about what Mustapha, Abdul, Tunji, and their band of friends and brothers did to me, as if they were there. As if they hovered around us unseen like evil spirits, listening to everything that was said, seeing everything that happened, as if they know.

In the beginning, Mustapha and I would go out for lunch, and I’d put gas in his car, and we’d buy our own shawarmas, and eat out of each others. I had a massive crush on him, and he told me he loved me, and called me “his woman” which made me feel special. I was getting paid 20K a month, which is nothing now, but it was my first real salary back then, and it was nice to have more money of my own to spend, and spend on him I did. 

I actually wish this was true. At least it would be compensation for all the money I’ve had to spend on psychotherapy over the last few years.

I’m no stranger to money. I’ve had a lot of it, and I’ve had very little, and I’ve never been the type of person to be impressed by anyone’s wealth, so it wasn’t cars, hotels, or fancy shit I cared about, I was cool. I attended the best boarding school in the country, and Mustapha didn’t impress me, and I never asked him for anything or took anything from him besides the comic books and novels we traded with each other.

What I needed was a friend, and when I plunked down at my desk that first day of work at Alteq, and bonded immediately over a shared love of books and superhero comics, I thought I’d made one in the guy sitting next to me.

Every day, I came to work, and he was right there. And at the end of each work day, it had become normal to everyone for him to drop me off at home, so when 6pm came, and he grabbed hold of my arm and said “Let’s go.” I had no idea how to justify refusing and making a scene.

Even after he was fired in April of 2007, at the end of each work day, he would show up outside our office on Amazon street to whisk me away. I would step outside the gate, and he would be there in his red Mercedes, waiting, demanding I get in.

I was terrified that my refusal would mean the exposure of the pictures he had taken of me early in our relationship, photos I told him not to take, but he did anyway, photos in which I was naked and vulnerable.

I wanted to quit my job, but what reason could I possibly give my family for quitting a job I obviously loved, especially when I needed the internship to get into the honours program at the university I was to attend that year?

I had so much to be fearful of. The thought of the videos Abdul recorded of Mustapha and Tunji raping me seeing the light of day filled me with sheer terror. The alternative was keeping it all secret, and so I did.

Masking your emotions is not hard to do, just exhausting, and so for eleven hours a day, from 7am to 6pm, putting on my clothes, going to work, and sitting at my desk next to Mustapha every day was easier than you think.

Because the Nigerian Police is so trustworthy…

You’d have to be stupid not to notice what kind of country Nigeria is, and I have never been stupid.

At 17, I knew already that the Nigerian police is most definitely NOT your friend, and that people who have police and army escorts in their homes are generally the sort that can make you disappear (in many little pieces preferably), and pay off  the police to look the other way, or failing all else, buy judges to make sure any court cases brought against them never see the light of day.

I had disclosed already to my priest at confession, and to a doctor in Maitama General Hospital where I got tested for HIV and other STDS, the horrific things that were happening to me, and nothing had come of it. At the time, I didn’t know whether a rape crisis centre like the Mirabel Rape Centre even existed in Nigeria, or that there were any resources to help someone in my situation, or even what to do after I had been raped to help me get justice.

I was scared, and I felt very alone. Their parents were very powerful people, and I didn’t have any faith in the police, especially faced with attackers that seemed to have both the police and the army in their pockets.

It was even more difficult to come to terms with the enormous betrayal of the man who told me he loved me, whom I loved as well, doing unspeakable things to me, and forcing me to do them with others. Even after I escaped from him by moving to the United States for college, I remained torn, and the part of me that loved him could not reconcile with the horror that he had put me through, and we stayed in contact because the mental hold he had over me was still so strong. It took me an additional three years to fully break free of him, and though I don’t live in daily terror of Mustapha Audu as I once did, anything that bears even so much as the memory of him is enough to break me down.

In December of 2008, I ran into Bashir in a mall in Maryland, and suffered a complete panic attack. I broke away from the people I had come shopping with, and ran and ran to the other end of the mall.

In 2012 and 2013, while out with Nyimbi, I ran into Ema and Tunji at Vanilla in Maitama. Tunji was sitting in low seats opposite the bar in the company of my classmate, Kachi whom I'd attended Loyola with. 

They didn’t recognize me, but it was all I could do not to break a bottle of whiskey on Ema’s revoltingly globular head, and the night ended with Nyimbi dragging me out of Vanilla in tears of anger and frustration at my lost opportunity to kill them both.

Looking back, I can see how so much fear and shame prevented me from exposing what these animals were doing to me, and I question why I let them rob me of so many years of my life.

Still, the child I was at 17 was very different from the adult I am today at 26, and my 26 year old self would have damned the consequences, told, and raised hell.

As terrifying as it was to come to work every day and have to sit next to Mustapha, I’m saddened by the realisation that in the same place that held such terror and anxiety for me, I had people who loved me, cared about me, and would have done their best to protect me if I could have overcome my fear and shame and cried out for help.

My adult self sees what my child self could not back then – that had I told my mentor, boss and friend, Nyimbi what was happening to me right under his nose, he would have stopped at nothing to rescue me from my private hell.

What baffles me, is how so many people who know absolutely nothing about what did happen, can speak with such confidence, the most absurd speculations, about the facts of my life. If this all were not so incredibly sad, it would be quite amusing to me, that there are thousands of people who think I am (by my count so far) – an agent of PDP, a gold digger, a woman scorned, or politically motivated because they personally have never heard of my rape before now.

Never mind, that I have been talking about this FOR EIGHT FUCKING Y
EARS.

Never mind that FOUR YEARS AGO I referred to this same ordeal in this article I wrote for The African Report in 2011.

Or that ALMOST EVERY SINGLE POST on this blog in 2007 was about what was happening to me, and my anguish, confusion, fear, hopelessness, and powerlessness to put a stop to it.  

Or that the SOLE REASON this entire blog even exists is because I started it to document my year at my first real job; a job that would bring me into sustained contact with the man who, accompanied by his friends and siblings, abused, raped, and tormented me on an almost daily basis for the better part of six months.

It’s a travesty that it wasn’t until a private conversation between myself and my close friend was posted on Twitter, that people began to take what I had been saying forever seriously.

Mustapha was a monster like you cannot even begin to imagine.

His brother Bashir, was the same age as me, and Mustapha decided, that one way or the other, it was his duty as big brother to rid Bashir of his virginity. At what was supposed to be a casual get together for suya and drinks at Tunji’s house, he dragged Bashir and me into the bedroom, and pushed us inside, saying to Bashir “Fuck her!” before locking the door, and leaving me alone in the darkness with his brother.

All my pleas to Mustapha were in vain, and the only thing we heard from Mustapha from the other side of the door was “Don’t let me come back and find out you’re still a virgin.”

On a different date, his cousin, Jibril raped me in that same room. I screamed, and screamed, and fought, and struggled, eventually sticking my fingers into his nose, and biting his hands. In retaliation, he bit me hard on the nose, and later that night, I explained away the swelling on my nose I came home with as an unfortunate meeting with the edge of a swimming pool.

All the while I was screaming, Tunji and Mohammed were discussing business, and when my screams interrupted their conversation, Tunji came by to look at me, naked and pinned beneath Jibril, only to laugh and shut the door firmly behind him.

So, when I see ignorant comments from members of the public in reaction to my trauma, I really feel the urge to ask these shameless people, how the fuck do you know?  

Were you there?  

Because I was there, and you most certainly were not.  

I SURVIVED it, not you, so it is I who will tell you what happened to me, not the other way around.

The aftermath of my rape at the hands of Mustapha and his cohorts is that for the past eight years, I have barely existed.  

I’ve been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Anxiety Disorder, and Severe Clinical Depression, among a host of other problems as a result of the trauma I suffered, by multiple psychiatrists and mental health professionals.

Every day is a struggle to not end my life, and I have had to spend a small fortune on therapy and mental health services, as well as anti-depressant medication to make my life livable. Even then, I have to constantly fight through waves of pain, anger, shame, self-loathing, and the urge to make it all just go away to get through each day, and I don’t always succeed.  

In 2011, I tried to jump off a bridge, and was hospitalized against my will on a 72 hour hold to save my life. Before that, I had attempted to kill myself by taking an overdose, and woke up in a pool of my own vomit.

I spent majority of my freshman year researching suicide methods, and for most of my first semester of college, besides attend class, I did nothing but cry until I passed out, then wake up ravenous because I’d been unconscious for several hours. The result was I gained over 100lbs in under three months, far more than the 15lbs you’re expected to gain when you first come to college known as the Freshman Fifteen.  

For the longest time now, I have been dead inside. Dead people can laugh and talk, and come to work on time every day too. Dead people can get shit done, and write their college essays, and go to class, and be just like you if they want to too. The problem with dead people, is that sooner or later though, everyone starts to notice they’re dead.  

And so, my life slowly fell apart.  

I can’t go swimming at night anymore. I can’t go swimming anymore, period. If you think having a panic attack on land is bad, wait until you’ve had one underwater, and almost fucking drowned yourself even though your Mom taught you to swim when you were little.  

I almost drowned in a pool at the Marriott barely 8 feet deep because being in there reminded me of the night my bikini top got pulled off and I got passed around by Abdul in 6 feet of water, and a man spit in my face and beat me, and soldiers had to drag him off me to stop him drowning me by my hair because he was angry Mustapha decided at the last minute that I had been good, and so he wouldn’t get to rape me after all.  

Nights are impossibly hard for me. How other people just get tired and fall into bed asleep is beyond me. I’m plagued by multiple nightmares every time I close my eyes. I can still feel Ema Oloyo raping me on Abdul’s bed, his oversized head bobbing, his hot, stinking breath buffeting my face as he struggled to force my legs apart. It’s hard to share a bed with people because sometimes I wake up screaming.  

Then there’s the medicine before bed. I have to take that for the rest of my life too. My relationships with friends and family are in tatters because I can barely hide the constant undercurrent of sadness that envelopes me, and the fact that I am always angry.  

Sometimes I simply cannot cope, and I blackout and my autopilot takes over – a basic, high functioning version of me that appears normal for all intents and purposes while I’m really dying inside.  

I’m so tired of keeping this secret, because I shouldn’t have to. 26 is too young to be a member of the living dead, how much more 17?  

As for the people whose membership claim on humanity is so tenuous that they can even conceive that I would concoct any of this just “to get famous” or “for attention”, let me make it clear to you: You are sick.

I am actually, a pretty amazing artist, and if at all, I want to be famous for the skills that I have worked so hard and so long to develop, and the discipline I employ to perfect my craft and be the best at what I do.

Why on Earth would anyone who has been raped in Nigeria want to call attention to that fact when rape victims are pilloried as whores, gold diggers, prostitutes, and sluts? When all you can look forward to is constantly being the topic of hushed conversation, pitiful looks, social ostracism and being called “Rape Girl”?

That since the news of my horrific rape and abuse broke, that I have received hundreds of messages like this one is an indictment on Nigeria’s educational system, and I find it utterly shameful that grown adults can hear of a child being abused, raped, and pimped out to the friends of a man she trusted and loved, and their first impulse is to vilify her as a slut and not the men who damaged her and destroyed her life.

In Nigeria's entire history, there have been only EIGHTEEN rape convictions, so the chances of a woman raped even under the best of circumstances ( where the perpetrator is a stranger, the victim a virgin, and DNA and video evidence are on file) getting justice of any sort is infinitesimally low, how much less in my case where I had a concurrent romantic relationship with my one of my rapists?

The other day, I got a LinkedIn invitation to connect from Mustapha, and it sent me spiraling into a full blown panic attack that ended with me clutching my toilet, vomiting in the bathroom.

Thanks to them, I will never, ever in my life, touch a game of Risk.

It was always there. That battered box of cards and soldiers, they liked to play after they were done. No matter where we went, it was always there, silent witness that it was. It saw everything. If board games could talk, that box of Risk would tell you all the times I screamed and cried, and begged and bargained, and promised to be good, promised to obey, and how it never ever mattered.

Following my post on Twitter in September last year, listing the names of the men who participated in my assault, I received an email from a young woman telling me that she too had had a similar experience with Mustapha, Abdul, and Ema, and that Mustapha had made a sextape of her without her consent, and she was now being threatened with the release of that video.

I too, for years have lived in fear of the videos Mustapha, Abdul, and Tunji made of themselves raping me becoming exposed to the public, and the lady who emailed me is just one of many young women who have survived abuse, sexual assault, blackmail, and rape at the hands of these men.

After my story leaked, my friend received death threats from the Audus, as well as a threatening letter from their lawyers demanding $2 million USD within 2 hours. Such an outrageous threat, but probably not absurd to people who have stolen $11 billion USD already.

So yeah.

Fuck your forgiveness. Fuck “Just forget”.

I died, went to hell, and resurrected my fucking self, so now I’m going to live.

If the street you live on is Kwame Nkrumah, or Solomon Barau, sorry I can’t visit you.

And if you drive a wine Mercedes, a white Nissan Altima, or a silver Peugeot 206, I can’t ever get in your car.

Especially if the license plate is AX247KUJ". She narrates. 


This story is generating controversy, what do you make of it, I turn it all over to you.

A response, to tell their side of this story from any of the accused will be highly appreciated. 

2016/17 Premier League To Run Through Saturday, 13 August - Sunday 21st May!

For the soccer fans, Premier League has announced that the 2016/17 Premier League season will kick-off on Saturday 13 August and conclude on Sunday 21 May.

Southern European Country Went Orange To Protest Violence Against Women!

Major buildings in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in Southeastern Europe, went 'Orange' on the 16th day campaign to end violence against women and girls.

See Photo:

The 25th of each month was proclaimed ‘Orange Day’ by the United Nations Secretary-General’s Campaign UNiTE to End Violence against Women. It is marked a day to raise awareness and take action against violence against women and girls. 

The Orange colour, regarded as a bright and optimistic colour, represents a future free from violence against women and girls. The Orange Day calls on activists, governments and UN partners to mobilize people and highlight issues relevant to preventing and ending violence against women and girls, not only once a year, on 25 November which is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women but every month.

U.N Rescues 88 People Including Childen Fron Shipwreck In Greece!

The United Nations Refugee Agency recently rescured 88 people including children from shipwreck of boat on Thursday evening, 26th November on Lesvos sea - Greece.

Queen Elizabeth Hosts Buhari, Other Common Wealth Heads Of Government In Malta!

Queen Elizabeth II hosts a reception for Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari and other new Common Wealth Heads of Governments in Malta.

See Photo:

Forbe's Highest Paid Women In Music!

Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson (Katy Perry - $135 million): American singer, songwriter, and actress. 

Katy has won many awards, including four Guinness World Record.

Taylor  Alison Swift ($80million):  American singer-songwriter and actress is best known for narraying abour her personal experience in her songs. 

Swift has been honored by the Nashville Songwriters Association and the Songwriters Hall of Fame among many awards.

Fleetwood Mac ($59.5 million): British-American rock band formed in London in July 1967. 

The group's On With The Show tour included 86 concerts during our scoring period; it also boasted a staggering secondary ticket price of over $300.

Keyboardist Christine McVie, joined the band in 1970 while married to John McVie, and has appeared on every album except the debut album, either as a member or as a session musician. She left the band in 1998 but returned in 2014.

Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (Lady Gaga ($59 million):  American singer, songwriter, and actress. 

Gaga has a global album and single sales of 28 million and 140 million respectively, as of April 2015, she is one of the best - selling musicians of all time, with 13 Guiness World Records, six Grammys, and a Songwriters Hall of Fame's Contemporary Icon Award. She is first artist ever to be recognised for attaining an iconic status in pop Culture.

Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( Beyoncé $54.5 million):  American singer-songwriter, and actress. 

Beyonce was listed by Time magazine among the 100 most influential people in the world in 2013 and 2014.  Forbes magazine named her as the most powerful female musician of 2015, Beyonce has won 20 Grammy Awards and is the most nominated woman in the award's history. She was recognized by the Recording Industry Association of America as the Top Certified Artist in America during the 2000s decade. Named the Top Radio Songs Artist of the Decade In 2009 by The Billboard and among Top Female Artist of the 2000s and Artist of the Millennium in 2011. 

 BritneyJean  Spears ($31 million):  American singer and actress.

Britney is established as a pop icon and credited with influencing the revival of teen pop during the late 1990s. She became the 'best-selling teenaged artist of all time' and garnered honorific titles including the "Princess of Pop" Her work has earned her a large number of awards and accolades, including a Grammy, six MTV Video Music Awards, the Lifetime Award, nine Billboard Music Awards, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Britney's Planet Hollywood residency in Las Vegas however accounts for the bulk of her bucks, she also cashes in on The Intimate Britney Spears, a lingerie line that sells globally.

Jennifer Lynn Lopez ($28.5 million): American actress, author, fashion designer, dancer, producer, and singer. 

Lopez enjoys a highly successful business career, consisting of various clothing lines, accessories, fragrances, a production company, charitable foundation and television shows among other business interests. She made double-digit millions as a judge on American Idol; recent acting roles include the film The Boy Next Door.

Miranda Leigh Lambert ($28.5 million): American country music artist.  American country music artist. 

Miranda has the won the Grammy, Billboard and Best Country Award. She boasts partnerships with Red55 Wine, Pink Pistol and Dixie Darlin, and a clothing and pet accessories. 

Mariah Carey ($27million):  American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress.

Throughout her carrer, Mariah has sold more than 200 million records worldwide, making her one of the best - selling music artist of all time. Her Mariah Carey's #1's  series is set to stretch into 2016, making her an early favorite to land on next year's list.

Robyn Rihanna Fenty ($26 million):   Barbadian singer and songwriter.

Her work has earned her numerous awards and accolades, including eight Grammy Awards, eigth American Awards, 23 Billboard Music Awards and two BRIT Awards.

List among the female musicians who earned double-digit millions, but not quite enough to make the list are:  

Miley Cyrus: 

Nicki Minaj:

 

Madonna: 

Kylie Minogue: 

Celine Dion:

Carrie Underwood.

Nigeria Catches The 'Black Friday' Bug!

In what can best be described as....Gooooooo, and coming at that time of the year when people go on shopping spree either to update their wardropes, buy gifts for family, friends, loved ones or clients....

The social media platforms is agog with advertorials of 'Black Friday' sales offer from various online shopping sites. 

Some of the 'Black Friday' offers include: 



http://www.amazon.com/Black-Friday/b?node=384082011

http://www.fastforwardstores.com/women


http://www.shoppersshop.com/deals/

Signs You Might Be Addicted To Social Media!

Since the term 'Social Media' came into play almost every aspect of our daily activity is hinged in one way or the other to it, irrespective of age, social status or proffesion...

These are signs that indicates you might be a Social Media addict:

• When you leave your iPhone behind at home do you feel a sense of loss and isolation becasue you can’t check your Facebook or Twitter updates while out and about
• You check your Facebook account 20 times a day
• If you don’t receive a comment on your latest blog post within 12 hours you have suicidal thoughts
• You go away for a weekend without your laptop and your suffer severe heart palpitations?
• You have more social media icons on you iPhone than productivity apps?
• You stood in line for an Apple iPad for 24 hours just so you could update your Facebook on a bigger screen while on the move
• You have more online friends than you have in real life
• You Tweet on your mobile while walking
• You log on to Facebook before you have brushed your teeth in the morning
• You check your Facebook or Twitter updates ‘after’ going to bed.

Growing Gas Demand - OandO To Build A $350million Gas Plant!

OandO is set to build a gas plant with the capacity to process 300 million standard cubit feet per day, which is estimated to cost about $350million. This is coming as the company focuses on integrating gas production with its supply business. 



OandO's Managing Director, Bolaji Osunsanya, made this known on Thursday, 26th November, he added that the plant which will take 24 months to be completed is a step towards meeting the increasing demand for gas, Osunsanya further stated that Nigeria will need around $55 billion over the next seven years to develop gas infrastructure to meet growing demand, which would include building new pipelines, processing plants and drilling of new wells.

Watch Adele's Hello Cover With Jimmy Fallon And The Roots!

Watch  Adele's 'classroom instrument' of 'Hello' cover with Jimmy & The Roots.

The remain of Hannah Idowu Dideolu (HID) Awolowo, wife of one of Nigeria's founding fathers, Late Obafemi Awolowo, who passed on to great beyond on 19th September, 2015 begun it's final journey to rest on Thursday, 25th November, 2015 in their home town Ikenne Ogun State. 

The transition ceremony witnessed the presence of dignitaires like President Muhammadu Buhari,  Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, Senate President Bukola Saraki, Osun state Governor Rauf Aregbesola, Oyo state Governor Abiola Ajimobi, Imo state Governor Rochas Okorocha, Daisy Danjuma, Shonekan, Yakubu and Victoria Gowon,  Oladipo Diya, Rotimi Amaechi, Olusegun Obasanjo, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Tambuwal, Aliko Dangote, Lisa Of Ondo Kingdom and his wife, to mention a few...

Mama H.I.D Awolowo would have been 100 if she were to be alive today.