Goldie remembered a year after!

Exactly one year after her sudden and untimely demise, Goldie Harvey is remembered with smiles for the short time she stayed.



RIP Goldie.

Kelly Rowland arrives Lagos For Dare Art Alade’s Concert!

Kelly Rowland is currently in Nigeria for Dare Art Alade’s Love Like a Movie Concert which will hold on Saturday February 15th at Ocean view grounds, Eko Hotel, Lagos

Photos below:

Two years after, Septuagenarian begs police to release corpse of murdered son!

IGP M.D Abubakar

Andrew Ogazi, a 76-year-old security guard in Umuahia, on Friday appealed to the Abia Police Command to release the corpse of his son, Ugochukwu Ekwuruke, for burial.

The 37-year-old Ekwuruke was allegedly murdered in cold blood by his friend, one Tochukwu Azuonye, on October 10, 2012.

Mr. Ekwuruke reportedly bled to death when Mr. Azuonye allegedly stabbed him in the hand with a beer bottle in a bar at Itaja-Amaegbu Olokoro in Umuahia South Local Government Area of the state.

Mr. Ogazi told journalists that trouble started when Mr. Azuonye approached the deceased at the bar and requested for a bottle of drink from him or the payment of the N200 debt he (deceased) owed him.

According to him, the suspect allegedly attacked the deceased with a bottle before fleeing the scene, leaving him to bleed to death.

Mr. Azuonye has been in prison custody in Umuahia since 2012.

Meanwhile, Mr. Ogazi, who works as a guard in a government agency in Umuahia, said that the case, instituted in an Umuahia High Court by the police, “has lingered for too long”.

He explained that his family had been in court over the matter more than 18 times “without an end in sight”.

He urged the police to withdraw the case “without further delay” so that he could take the remains of his son for burial.

“I am no longer interested in the case; Police should end the case so that I will go and bury my son.

“The more he stays in the mortuary, the more I continue to mourn his death,” the septuagenarian said.

He said that he had left everything to God “for justice”.

He said: “My other worry is the mortuary bill which is piling up.

“For more than one year now, the mortuary bill has continued to increase and it will be difficult for me to pay it.

“I am a security guard and my monthly pay is meagre to pay the bill.”

He, therefore, appealed to the Police and government to help him by releasing the corpse for burial.

Italy’s Prime Minister Steps Down Amid Party Dispute!

Prime Minister Enrico Letta of Italy resigned on Friday, the day after his own Democratic Party voted to replace him with the party’s new leader, Matteo Renzi, the 39-year-old mayor of Florence.  Shortly before meeting with President Giorgio Napolitano to formally relinquish his post, Mr. Letta sent out his thanks to his supporters, adding, “Every day as if it were the last one.” 

It was a pointed reference to the many difficulties and hurdles he faced over the past ten months as the head of a coalition government of traditionally antagonistic political parties cobbled together after inconclusive elections last year. The coalition’s perceived limitations, and especially its inability after nearly a year in office to draft economic reforms to efficiently combat the decline of the euro zone’s third-largest economy, gave impetus to the Democratic Party’s demands for change, starting with Mr. Letta’s resignation. “The time has come to     emerge from the quagmire,” Mr. Renzi told Democratic Party leaders on Thursday, shortly before calling a vote to replace Mr. Letta. Mr. Renzi became party secretary in December after winning a hard-fought primary. Campaigning on a reform agenda, Mr. Renzi earned the nickname “demolition man,” for his stated ambition to shake up Italy’s entrenched political system. 

After accepting Mr. Letta’s resignation, Mr. Napolitano said he would consult with political party leaders on Friday and Saturday to evaluate his options, which theoretically could include new elections. But Mr. Napolitano has made clear that he does not intend to call new elections until changes are made to Italy’s electoral law, which many blame for producing the stalemate that has marked Italian politics in recent years. It is widely expected that Mr. Napolitano will ask Mr. Renzi to form a new government, which will then require parliamentary approval. Some opposition leaders criticized the Democratic Party for toppling the government as a consequence of internal party politics and called on the president to ask for a vote in Parliament to formally mark the end of Mr. Letta’s government. Mr. Napolitano dismissed the request as unnecessary.

“Parliament will be able to express itself on the origins and the reasons of the crisis when it will be called on to give a vote of confidence to the new government,” the president’s office said in a statement Friday.

Dele Agekameh - Lagos and the threat of Boko Haram!

In the book, The Olive Tree, Aldous Huxley, 1894 – 1936, an English writer, said: “The most shocking fact about war is that its victims and its instruments are individual human beings and that these individuals are condemned by the monstrous conventions of politics to murder or be murdered in quarrels not their own.”

Going by Huxley’s submission, the current scourge of terrorism that is ravaging the entire globe could be attributed to politics of various colours and dimensions. In some places, it is religious rivalry; in others it could be the struggle for political control or domination. Whichever way it is viewed, human rivalries, over the years, have found expression in violence, be it terrorism, assassination, arson, outright war or any other despicable criminal activities.

In Nigeria, we have witnessed so many conflicts all over the place. When it is not tribal or ethnic rivalry, it is religion or politics. Today, the whole country has become one huge theatre of war. In Plateau state, it is both tribal and ethnic rivalry that has almost turned the place into modern-day George Orwell’s ‘animal farm’, where life is miserably short and brutish.

This internecine war has paralysed the socio-economic life of its once bustling capital city, Jos. Further North is the unrelenting carnage being unleashed on defenceless and innocent people, especially in the three north-eastern states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe by the Boko Haram insurgents. Not even a state of emergency declared on the three states since May last year has been able to restore law and order. The whole thing has degenerated into a sort of guerrilla warfare in which elements of Boko Haram now make occasional incursions into isolated villages and hamlets, leaving deaths and destruction in their trail.

Recently, new Service Chiefs were appointed to replace the former ones who had prosecuted the war against these terrorists without success. While taking over as the new Chief of Defence Staff, CDS, at the Defence Headquarters, Abuja, on January 20, 2014, Alex Badeh, an Air Marshal, assured Nigerians that the military would bring the Boko Haram insurgency in the country to an end before April this year. The CDS said that this was possible if the military approached its security responsibilities cohesively. He told the new Chief of Army Staff, Major-General Kenneth Minimah, who is expected to coordinate the fight against the insurgents, that it was possible for his work to be concluded in a short time. Badeh also gave the assurance that the other service chiefs – Air-Vice Marshal Adesola Amosun and Rear Admiral Usman Jubrin, Chief of Air Staff and Chief of Naval Staff respectively, would give the requisite support to the Army chief in the prosecution of the campaign to end terrorism in the country.

From events that followed, it was obvious that Badeh was merely basking in the euphoria of the moment. The new CDS’ assurance was taken with a pinch of salt as various commentators on national affairs took him to task on the validity of his promise to end terrorism in the North-east in three months. When the commentaries became unbearable, the authorities of the Defence Headquarters, Abuja, rose to his defence. As if in a volte-face, Chris Olukolade, a Major-General and the Director of Defence Information, admitted that it was not possible for terrorism to be brought to an end anywhere in the world with a specific directive. He said that the CDS was aware of the complex nature of the problem of terrorism and was optimistic that the problem could be brought under control with the vigour and readiness of the new service chiefs when he made the statement.

The denial by the Defence Headquarters coincided with an alleged plot by the Boko Haram terrorist group to invade Lagos. The terrorists were said to be planning to infiltrate the state in vehicles painted with military colours. This is worrisome. Some months ago, a terrorist group allegedly conveyed weapons to Lagos inside some of the numerous fuel tankers that ply major roads to the country’s former capital and indeed the nation’s commercial nerve centre. A raid carried out some months ago by security agents saved residents of Lagos and Ogun states from possible attacks by the terrorists.

The joint raid led to the arrest of some suspects who are members of the Boko Haram sect.

Before the latest threat, security agents had uncovered and dismantled the plot by the alleged terrorists to plant cells in the western part of the country with Lagos as the headquarters. Security operatives, who later briefed the National Assembly leaders last year about the reality of the planned invasion of Lagos, told the federal legislators that indeed the attackers had planned to cripple the economy. The security chiefs told the federal legislators that some of the attackers captured had hinted that the plot was deliberate: to cripple the nerve centre of the country’s commerce and industry, a city that hosts the international air and seaports, so that the nation’s economy could collapse.

The federal legislators were thoroughly alarmed by the revelation about the sense of urgency of the insurgents to hit Lagos just to make Nigeria ungovernable. The implications of targeting the very strategic Lagos Third Mainland Bridge, the longest bridge in Africa, have been of major concern to authorities at all levels. The 11.8 km long bridge built by Julius Berger Nigeria Plc was commissioned in 1990. The Bridge is the longest of the three bridges connecting Lagos Island to the Mainland. The other two are the Eko and Carter bridges. The bridge, which is a vital artery of the network of federal highways, commands high patronage.

Since the eruption of the Boko Haram insurgency in the northern parts of the country some years ago, their activities have been concentrated in the North, where several lives and property have been lost. Though there have been some cases of arrest of suspected members in some states, the southern part of the country has not experienced or witnessed any attack by the sect members. Therefore, the recent alleged plot to attack Lagos by the terrorists has been raising serious concerns among the residents of the city and other Nigerians. This is in spite of assurances by the security agents and the state government that they were battle-ready to nip in the bud any attack by sect members.

Since he became Governor of Lagos state, Babatunde Fashola has been engaged in proactive measures against such attacks and other crimes in the city. The government recently launched the installation of 1,200 security cameras in the city. Already, the cameras have been deployed in critical locations. Though the Lagos State government is unrelenting in the fight against crime and criminalities in the state, deploying cameras all over Lagos is not enough.

Those who will man them at the control room are very vital to the success of the project. Besides, the state needs to go all out to enlighten the populace on the danger of harbouring criminals in their neighbourhoods. Again, Lagos residents must be educated about the importance of volunteering useful information on suspicious movements in their localities so as to put the terrorists in check. The security agencies too must treat such information with utmost confidentiality in order to win the confidence of the people.

Criminals are human beings; they are not spirits. In that case, with the support and cooperation of the people, they can be stopped in their tracks. Above all, our politicians or some of them that are in the habit of keeping criminals and other hoodlums as bodyguards who are usually let loose to commit all forms of atrocities on the society should desist from such ignoble practices and allow peace to reign. In the words of Tony Blair, former British Prime Minister, following the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, in New York, on September 11, 2001: “This mass terrorism is the new evil in our world today. It is perpetrated by fanatics who are utterly indifferent to the sanctity of life, and we, the democracies of this world, are going to have to come together and fight it together and eradicate this evil completely from our world.”

U.S expresses concern against same sex marriage prohibition act in Nigeria!

As reactions trailed the recent signing into law of the prohibition of same sex relationships in Nigeria, the United States government is one country that has not hidden her reservations of the law. Below is a message released by the U.S Embassy Abuja, Nigeria:

"Since the Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act was signed, we have 

expressed concern as a friend of Nigeria that it might be used by some to 

justify violence against Nigerians based on their sexual orientation. Recent 

attacks in Abuja deepen our concern on this front. We hope that all Nigerians 

can agree that discrimination and violence against any fellow Nigerian is 

never justified".


Your comments on this please.

Cleric calls for a boycott of Disney Channel for promoting gay relationship!

Two weeks after the appearance of a lesbian couple in a Disney Channel program, a controversial ex-Navy chaplain has delivered what is perhaps the most stinging attack on the network to date, asserting the channel was “under the influence” of “demonic spirits” for including the couple in a popular show.



Disney received attention for the episode of “Good Luck Charlie,” which debuted Jan. 26. In it, couple Susan and Cheryl are seen dropping their daughter off for a play date with the main character. Though TV shows have featured gay characters for more than four decades, their inclusion in major roles as parents is new. Perhaps the most prominent is ABC’s “Modern Family,” which features a gay couple raising an adopted daughter.

Ex-Navy chaplain Gordon Klingenschmitt is having none of it.

“If you are a Christian or a moral-minded parent who wants to teach your children that homosexuality is aberrant and wrong behavior, for example, you don’t want to model sinful behavior as normative to your kids, your morality and faith, you child’s innocence are now being undermined by the Disney Corporation,” he said in an audio clip. 

“And that’s why we are inviting you to participate in boycott of the Disney Channel … Send a message to the Disney Channel: stop recruiting our children into an aberrant lifestyle!

“Don’t you want to have that blessing for your children, that their conscience will not be assaulted, their innocence will not be violated by the corporations who want to push a gay agenda upon your family?” he added. 

“I believe these tempters now at the Disney Corporation are being influenced by demonic spirits who want to recruit your children into sin … God bless the children, not just the ones who are actors in this show whose innocence is being violated, but also your children at home who may be having access to this kind of programming.”

culled