HELLO

From the various reports, Press releases and statements made by all the actors involved in this saga, certain undisputable facts have emerged: (1)    There was definite communication between Farouk Lawan and Femi Otedola (both by telephone and face-to-face) in respect of the offer and acceptance of bribe money concerning the investigation by the House Committee probing the fuel subsidy scam. The question of who initiated a relationship is completely irrelevant when determining the guilt or otherwise of the giver and taker of bribe money. (2)    The sum of $620,000 dollars out of a grand total of $3million price tag actually exchanged hands between Otedola and Lawan. No party is disputing this fact. (3)    Otedola involved the State Security Service (SSS) and the scene was recorded when the money was handed over to Lawan to prove that he was pressured to part with the money. (4)    Even though Lawan claims he...

Kuala Lumpur — An uncle enquired at a private college in Malaysia about the possibility of sending his nephew to the college. But the college informed him that they had closed admission for that year. H owever, an insider told him that was not the true situation; what the college failed to tell him was that they had a new policy of no longer admitting Nigerians. This policy seems to be travelling beyond private colleges and undergraduate degrees. Recently, a Nigerian PhD student had a meeting with his university's registry. At the meeting, he was told that the university would no longer offer places to Nigerians. The PhD student asked if the Nigerians in the university had done something wrong. He was told that on the contrary, they were doing well; however, it's the activities of Nigerians in other places, like Kuala Lumpur, that worried them. Interestingly, Nigerians, of the many Africans in this university, do well compared to others. Three of them (from both North and Sout...

African pop giant and former Mo’hits boss Dapo ‘D’banj’ Oyebanjo has signed with Mercury Records , an imprint in the UK under the  Mercury Records Group  of Universal Music UK . Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the  The Island Def Jam Music Group  in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group . Mercury Records lists D’banj on their  official website  as one of their acts alongside the likes of UK rock singer-songwriter  Elton John , Soft Rock singer  Taylor Swift  Irish rock group  U2 , former  The Beatles  musician  Paul McCartney  and others. Although his publicist and management are yet to respond to E-mails concerning the signing, D’banj seems to have confirmed the news himself as he has updated the bio section profile on his  Twitter page . D’banj has also launched his personal website www.dbanjofficial.com where the Mecury Re...

James Ibori, former governor of Delta state, has been jailed for 13 years for fraud totalling nearly £50m (12.5 billion Naira ). He was sentenced by a a Southwark Crown Court in London . This brings to an end years of probes both in London and Nigeria, where the ex-governor once held great political sway. According to the Associated press, James Ibori had admitted in February to fraud and money-laundering involving sums of approximately 50 million pounds (12.5billion). He was accused of stealing $250 million from the public purse and funneling much of the stolen funds to banks in England to fund a lavish lifestyle of private jets and luxury cars. Ibori, who evaded capture in Nigeria after a mob of supporters attacked police, was arrested in Dubai in 2010. He was extradited to the UK, where he was prosecuted based on evidence from the Metropolitan Police. One of the counts Ibori admitted related to a $37m (£23m) fraud pertaining to the sale of Delta State's share in Nigerian privat...

 Tensions ran high in the central Nigerian city of Jos on Sunday in the aftermath of an explosion outside a Catholic church that left six people dead, according to hospital and government officials. The apparent car bomb attack happened outside of St. Finbar's Catholic Church, according to Plateau Gov. Jonah David Jang. A spokesman for the Plateau state government, Machias Abraham Yiljab, said three bodies were at the scene of the explosion. Ishaya Pam, chief medical director of the Jos University Teaching Hospital, said in a statement that the hospital had three bodies and was treating 14 people for wounds suffered in the explosion. He said additional people had been wounded in the blast, but had been treated and released. Images sent by Mark Lipdo, program coordinator for the Stefanos Foundation, showed a charred crater in the pavement, a vehicle bumper in the road and smoke rising in the distance. Stefanos is a foundation that aims to help persecuted Christians in Nigeria and el...

Security agencies at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport ( MMIA) under the aegis of the Nigeria Customs Service(NCS), Murtala Muhammed International Airport ( MMIA), Command Friday intercepted eleven cartons of explosives weighing 95 kilogrammes which were allegedly smuggled into the country. The eleven cartons of explosives labeled catridge powder devices and chargers were flown in from South Africa since February 24, 2012, but vigilant personnel at the Nigeria Aviation Company Limited ( NAHCO), warehouse alerted security agencies, when they observed that the importer wanted to smuggle them out of the cargo terminal without declaring the items, even as the relevant duty on the items were not been paid to government. Speaking on the seizure, the Customs Area Controller, MMIA Command, Mr Charles Eporwei Edike, while parading the suspect, before journalists affirmed that the importer, who claimed that he is a miner in Kaduna State brought i...

Online is the way to go these days, and the people at Alaba International Market have finally recognised that fact. If you live in Nigeria and shop a lot at Alaba Market, then this must be good news to you. You don't have to got through traffic and all the hassle to buy stuff at the market, it's now online. Alaba International Market is unarguably the largest electronics market in Nigeria, maybe even West Africa, and buyers can now shop for goods online and have their products delivered to their doorstep via courier . NO MORE BUT THIS

Nigeria on Wednesday night deported 33 South Africans on arrival in the country through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos. The Southern Africans, who arrived aboard a South African Airways Airbus A330  around 8.30pm, were denied entry. South Africa and Nigeria are embroiled in a diplomatic feud after the authorities at Oliver Thambo Airport in Johannesburg deported 125 Nigerians on Friday, alleging their yellow fever vaccination cards were fakes. Nigeria responded by deporting 84 South Africans within two days. A top immigration official, said the deportation of South Africans would continue until the problem was resolved. However, a  preventive Health expert, Dr. Abiye Kalaiwo on Wednesday in Abuja claimed  the deportation of the Nigerians resulted from the recent outbreak of Lassa fever in some parts of the country.  Kalaiwo, who is also a medical practitioner with TREM Vision House medical team, faulted South Africa, saying “exportation” of Lassa ...

Nigerian writer and blogger,  Teju Cole, has won this year’s Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award for a ‘distinguished’ first book of fiction. PEN New England, a regional branch of the international writers organisation, and the Hemingway Foundation announced on Tuesday that Cole, 36, would receive $10,000 for ‘Open City.’ Cole’s story of a Nigerian doctor’s physical and spiritual journey also is a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle award. The author grew up in Nigeria and currently lives in New York City. The Hemingway award was founded in 1976 by Mary Hemingway, widow of the Nobel laureate. Previous winners of the Hemingway prize include Marilynne Robinson and Edward P. Jones. According to his website, tejucole.com, he is a writer, art historian, street photographer and Distinguished Writer in Residence at Bard College. It says he was “born in the US (1975) to Nigerian parents, raised in Nigeria. Lives in Brooklyn. Author of two books, a novella, Every Day is for the Thief,...

ABUJA  (Reuters) – South Africa and Nigeria are embroiled in a diplomatic spat after the authorities at Johannesburg airport deported 125 Nigerians, alleging their yellow fever vaccination certificates were fakes – the latest twist in a long-standing rivalry between Africa’s two biggest economies. Nigeria has responded with undisguised tit-for-tat deportations of 84 South Africans in the past two days, according to a senior official at the State Security Service who could not be named. “South Africans will know we are very serious with this matter and that any deportation of any Nigerian, we will meet it with equal reciprocal measure,” Foreign Minister Olugbenga Ashiru told a hearing at the National Assembly late on Tuesday. “What you see playing out is … xenophobia by South Africans against all Africans, not just Nigerians, including even those from their neighbouring countries,” he said. A spokesman for South Africa’s home affairs department said the decision to deport the Niger...

Ms.Kine, mother to the Grammy Award Nominee International Artist, Akon who recently signed three of Nigeria’s top musicians, 2face Idibia, P-square and Wizkid. Recently Ms.Royalty caught up with 2face Idibia discussing being signed to Konvict Muzik and more. However, prior to that, she had a chat with Akon’s mother about his recent collaboration with P-square on, ‘Chop my money,’ the differences in family values between American families and most African families..

HOUSTON (AP) — An attorney who persuaded a Texas jury to award one of the largest civil verdicts ever says he and his clients don't expect to collect any of the $150 billion judgment, but they hope it helps persuade prosecutors to seek charges against a man they say doused a boy with gasoline and set him on fire. Robbie Middleton survived his horrific injuries for 12 years before dying last year of a rare form of skin cancer, which attorneys argued was related to the extensive burns he suffered on his eighth birthday. Lawyer Craig Sico and Middleton's family said they now hope for a renewed investigation of Don Wilburn Collins, who Middleton accused of setting him on fire. Collins never faced criminal charges in Middleton's case, in part, prosecutors said, because of inconsistencies in the evidence and difficulty obtaining information from such a young victim. Now 26, Collins is in prison for an unrelated sexual assault conviction against another 8-year-ol...