KESHI AND THE CURRENT SUPER EAGLES TEAM

The current Super Eagles team managed by Stephen Keshi has struggled so far in the AFCON championship despite the caliber of players that they have. Having assessed this team,i sincerely believe that they will not be a match for the elephants of Ivory Coast. It will be a miracle if the current team were to overcome the Ivorians. The only positive thing from this team is that the manager was courageous enough to give some home based players opportunity to show case their talent. As a nation,we need to rebuild our team and the time to expose new players to the national team is now.
Sacking the current coach if they do not make it past the quarter finals would be counter productive.
Apart from Clemens Westerhof,no Super Eagles manager has staked his name as much as Keshi is doing at this ANC to build a team for the future and we must commend Keshi for that.Nigerians demand instant success with their national team and are quick to reference the 1994 winning team. The painful truth is that our  football is in total shambles currently and needs rebuilding. Also, what they forget is that it took Westerhof a while to win any trophy with Nigeria.History will also tell everyone that the most successful Nigeria team was in 1994 and was built after about 4 years under the same coach. This team later formed part of the successful Atlanta 1996 team.

Patience with coach Stephen Keshi whom  I strongly belief he is on track to building a great team for the future. We may not win anything in his first AFCON (like Westerhof didn't) but he will soon. He has shown he can take courageous decisions such the dropping of Peter Odemwingie which he initially received a lot of flack for. The good thing is that the player has vindicated Keshi with his recent twitter tirades against West Bromwich Albion fans.

AMERICANS AND THEIR DUBIOUS SUING CAPABILITIES

A Las Vegas woman is suing a leading date site Match.com for 10 million dollars because,a man that she was matched with brutally attacked her. She is blaming the dating site for her ordeal. When will people realize that online dating is riddled with a lot of issues that may be dangerous? Photos,email,chat messages,phone calls and texting can never be a replacement for common sense evaluation of an individual that should occur when people meet one on one. Online dating can be akin to gambling and you either win or lose. When you win who do you sue for being lucky to meet a mate that lead to marriage? Why does it have to be that when things go wrong,it has to be someone else's fault.?

KESHI VINDICATED BY PETER OSAZE ODEMWINGIE'S OUTBURST AGAINST WEST BROM

West Bromwich Nigerian striker,Peter Osaze Odemwingie recently took to twitter to rant against the fans and management of West Bromwich Albion for refusing Queen's Park Rangers offer for him.

This recently verbal outburst by the striker has vindicated the Nigerian national team coach who dropped the striker from the African Cup of Nations tournament currently going on in South Africa.

A section of the Nigeria media has vilified the coach when he took the brave decision of dropping the striker and with the current behavior of the striker,he may well end up on the same path that Joey Barton ended up with. Peter is an okay player who has a really over bloated impression of his abilities and the current petulant outburst has alienated him from the fans at his current club. In the final analysis is he is still at the club,there is no guarantee that another club may come his way in summer. He could have looked for a more matured way to air his grievances rather than the way he took to twitter to do that.

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NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT'S AGENCY STALLS OYEDEPO'S PRIVATE JET REQUEST

The planned ban on the acquisition of private jets by the federal government has put on hold a long list of requests from wealthy Nigerians for private jets, LEADERSHIP gathered. Among those seeking approval from the Aviation Ministry are Skypower Express Airways, whose request for a Hawker 900 has been pending since June 2012. Another company, Dazair, sought approval for a Challenger 604 since June 2012, while the presiding Bishop of the Living Faith Church Worldwide, Bishop David Oyedepo, wants a Hawker 900. The ban, according to the aviation ministry, is to enable it to come up with a new policy on the acquisition of private airplanes, helicopters and other lighter aircraft, which is being worked on. --------Recall that the Bishop already has a number of private Jets before and if his request is granted ,he will be adding the new acquisition to his fleet.

NIGERIAN GIRL (FRANCA ABUMEN) KILLED IN ITALY

Franca Abumen, a 27 years old Nigerian, living in Rome, Italy, has met her untimely death in the hands of an unknown men who brutally murdered her by tying her ankles and strangling her to death with a black cord, tied around her neck.Franca was killed in the woods of Stifone, between Narni Waters, in Rome and her body was found 24 hours after her death on Sunday 10th of December, 2012; after her friends called the police to declare her missing when she failed to return home from work (speculated to be prostitution) .The police commands Carabinieri in Rome and Viterbo are working together to give the killers names and faces as soon as possible. May her soul rest in peace!

THE NEWSROOM "AMERICA IS NOT THE GREATEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD ANYMORE'

NIGERIAN GAY ACTIVISTS RASHIDI WILLIAMS

As the Nigerian senate president insists that Gay marriage is a punishable offense by the law,

One of Nigeria's few openly gay human rights activists, Rashidi Williams, notes that the bill seeks to ban something which is already illegal and which no-one is publicly advocating.

"All we are asking for is to repeal the repressive laws in this country," he says.

The bill has been condemned abroad - most recently by Australian lawmakers - making its proponents see this piece of legislation as a way of protecting Nigerian society from foreign influences.

THE RETURN OF MR FIX IT-TONY ANENIH

Political dinosaur Chief Tony Anenih is back in the news with his recent appointment as the chairman of the Nigerian Ports Authority.Chief Anenih is almost 80 years old and has been a recurrent theme in the Nigerian political landscape and his style of politicking has epitomized what is inherently wrong with the ruling party. His political relevance in his home state of Edo has been consigned to where it rightfully belong which is the dustbins of perfidy by 'hurricane Oshiomole' who has shown the Edo State electorate what good governance is supposed to be. This appointment by the President is another shambolic attempt to continue with 'the politics of the recyling people who have done their best to destroy the nation'. Mr President,this is the height of comic debauchery that will never earn you any goodwill among the Nigerian electorate. If the voters in Tony Anenih's home-state unanimously voted  to reject him and his stooge's,why are you now imposing him on us as the Chairman of the Federal Parastatal? Tony Anenih still has lots of question to answer regarding the roughly  300 billion naira meant for road construction which he presided over its spending without anything tangible on the ground to show for it and he is been rewarded with another appointment? 

NEWTOWN MASSACRE AND GUN CONTROL DEBATE IN AMERICA

When the American founding fathers enshrined the right to bear arms, firearms took 30 seconds or more to reload a single shot. Today, semi-automatic pistols  and assault rifles fire as fast as you can pull the trigger. Aren't laws meant to be updated to reflect modern realities? There will always be mentally sick people, but sick people getting their hands on guns is a recipe for disaster. If Adam Lanza had gotten a fully automatic weapon, it could have been so much worse. The National Rifle Association (NRA) has suggested that getting armed guards at all schools will stop such massacres and such argument is really insensitive and mischevious.

Imagine every school with armed guards,what about the school buses,do we need armed guards for those too. Going by NRA's argument,we should perhaps have armed parents guarding their kids at the bus stops while they wait for a school bus to arrive. When will this arming the entire nation crap end?

 Imagine a kindergarten teacher having a gun mounted on her hip as she teaches children. Kids get shot at in the cafeteria,do we need to arm the chefs too? So as they make lunch for the kids they need to keep their pistols on their belt also and the cleaners will wheel their cleaning cart around in the school with a rifle inside it? This argument of arming more Americans is the dumbest argument I have heard. Anyone who thinks there is a need for a gun on any school campus is part of the problem and is playing the same old gun law politics rhetoric that has gotten America into this current quagmire

UMUKA VILLAGERS MOB ACTION AGAINST THREE HOMOSEXUALS

By Steve Aborisade

I write in very strong terms to condemn a mob action by the people of Umuka, in Njaba Local Government Area of Imo State yesterday, Monday, January 14, 2013, against the three men in the attached photographs.

Our organization have reliably confirmed and authenticated the incident and of the identity of one of the men in the picture, and are calling on security agents to quickly respond to the plight of these men. As it is, only the perpetrators and the community can tell the whole world what has become of these men who were seriously beaten up, stripped naked and paraded around the community bounded together like animals on allegation that they were caught having sex together.

As I write, our source reliably confirmed that the men were yet to be released from the location where they are being held in Umuka, Njaba Local Government Area of Imo State.

We demand that the plight of these men be given the urgent attention it deserves by the Nigerian Police and other security agencies, and we especially appeal to Owelle Rochas Okoroch, Executive Governor of Imo State to intervene to save their lives.

While acknowledging that several Nigerians find the practice of homosexuality strange and unnatural, we also realize that it does not confer a license to trample on the rights of people who engages in it, with the sort of inhuman treatment that was meted out to these them.

So many informed commentators, including Nobel Prize winner, Prof Wole Soyinka have commented on the scientifically proven fact that more than anything, gays are just victims of biology.

We note and condemn the prevailing adverse legal and social environment that most LGBT now have to face in Nigeria, being criminalised for their sexual orientation and being made a target for harassment and violent assault fuelled by the on-going debates by the nation’s parliament on criminalizing homosexual acts.

Instead of being singled out for harassment and prosecution, what this community deserves is support and access to sexual health services that they lack as citizens of this country. The LGBT community remain a high risk group to HIV/AIDS infection, yet it is a community that has been denied of all access to life saving HIV/AIDS services. We suggest that our parliamentarians should devote equal energy at fishing out and punishing our treasury thieves who are doing more harm to the continued survival of our nation instead of dissipating energy on an issue that borders on private morality.

We enjoin other rights group to show solidarity and ensure that the rights of sexual minorities are protected like other marginalized groups in the country.

Thank you,

VIDEO OF THE RESCUE ATTEMPTS AT THE FAILED ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT OF EMIR OF KANO

An eye witness recorded the immediate attempt to assist the victims of the failed assassination attempt on Kano's monarch ( the Emir,Alhaji Ado Bayero). Like everything in Nigeria,there is no ambulance at the scene,no emergency number to call,instead what we have are good samaritans trying to get the injured into a vehicle. I hope that Nigerian ruling elites realize that when they make sure that institutions fail due to their corruption,it may be their turn next to be injured and there won't be an ambulance to assist in evacuating them.

A TYPICAL NIGERIAN POLICE BARRACKS PICTURES

These pictures tell a tale that is pervasive in the entire country as our maintenance culture is nothing to write home about. Most barracks within the country are an eyesore and yet we have men who parade themselves as ministers collecting millions of naira as salaries yet they preside over a system that is riddled with corruption. All the millions budgeted for maintenance of these infrastructures are stolen brazenly and nothings comes out of it. The Police affairs minister and the Inspector General of Police can not say that they have not seen these buildings. The President has shown that he lacks courage to select men who have the genuine intentions to be part of his team. What we have currently is a nation been ran by a bunch of criminals who have been recycled so many times in different positions in the past.

EMIR OF KANO ATTACKED BY SUSPECTED BOKO HARAM MEMBERS

The ancient city of Kano has been thrown into confusion as the revered monarch of the city,Alhaji Ado Bayero was attacked today. The attack is suspected to have been from the dreaded Boko Haram sect. Alhaji Ado Bayero's entourage was ambushed at Massallacin Murtala area of Kano State and his limousine was rained by a barrage of bullets. Two of his aides are feared dead while two of his sons were said to be seriously injured.

PRESIDENT GOODLUCK JONATHAN'S ASININE QUESTIONS AT POLICE COLLEGE IKEJA

 President Goodluck Jonathan paid a visit to the Police College,Ikeja and he asked some rather asinine questions while there. It appeared Mr President was more worried about how his government image would be affected by the damaging scenes from the Police College,rather than been concerned about how the rot at the College can be fixed. Mr President,if the synchophants surrounding you are not telling you the truth,the bottomline is that all the Police,Army Barracks nationwide are all an eyesore. There are all riddled with sewage floating on the roads in broad daylight. Mr President,your concern should be how to ensure that the funds alloted to this facilities are properly utilized and not how your government image is affected. 

See below the President's questions (culled from Nation's newspapers)

How was Channels TV able to penetrate and record the mess without detection?

The CP had no answer.

The second question followed: When was the recording done. Again there was no answer.

The Commandant turned to his deputy and other senior officers to assist him in answering the President’s questions, but none was able to help him out.

The President then quipped: “This is a calculated attempt to damage the image of the government, as the college is not the only training institution in the country.”

He soon entered his car and left.

After the President’s departure, the college Commandant met briefly with his officers before he too took his leave.

Senior officers later gathered in groups to review the visit.

Some of policemen in the college who pleaded for anonymity were happy at the President’s visit which they said would help in reversing the fortunes of the college.

They called for the probe of the trainees’ welfare in the last five years.

POLICE COLLEGE SHAME

GAY NIGHT CLUB IN NIGERIA?

This gathering of members of the gay and lesbian community in Lagos is held regularly, albeit discreetly, but it could soon be illegal.
The vast majority of gay Nigerians may not be interested in this kind of event but they still have to hide their sexuality in this conservative society.
Whilst already illegal, homosexuality is widely frowned upon across Nigeria and has been the subject of several bills in the National Assembly.
The Same-Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Bill specifically outlaws same-sex unions.It also bans gatherings of homosexuals or any other support for gay clubs, organisations, unions or amorous expressions, whether in secret or in public.
'Repulsive' The bill has been passed by Nigeria's Senate - the highest chamber - and is now being reviewed by the lower chamber, the House of Representatives.

If approved, it will be sent to the president to sign it into law, after which same-sex couples could face up to 14 years in prison.
But Nigerian homosexuals complain that the stigma they face is already enough punishment for their way of life.
Kunle (not his real name), a gay man living in Lagos, is outraged by the proposed law: "How does a government think that sending someone to prison would change his or her sexual orientation? 
"How logical is that?"
One of Nigeria's few openly gay human rights activists, Rashidi Williams, notes that the bill seeks to ban something which is already illegal and which no-one is publicly advocating."All we are asking for is to repeal the repressive laws in this country," he says.The bill has been condemned abroad - most recently by Australian lawmakers - making its proponents see this piece of legislation as a way of protecting Nigerian society from foreign influences.
"Ours is to weigh the aggregate of opinion - what the majority of Nigerians want," says Abike Dabiri, a member of the House of Representatives.
"If majority of Nigerians want same-sex marriage, then why not?"
She adds: "You have a right to your sexual preference but by trying to turn it into marriage do you realise you could be infringing on the human rights of the other person who finds it repulsive?" In hidingThis view is echoed on the streets of this country, where religious influences, particularly from Christianity and Islam, are heavy.

"How do you even become gay, not to mention wanting to get married to another man?" asks Okechukwu Ikenna, a 33-year-old software engineer, visibly irritated by the topic.
Friends and family members of gay people could get implicated if they do not report cases of same-sex unions because they could be seen as being in support of them.
Critics of the bill also worry that health workers who provide HIV counselling and treatment to homosexuals could be committing an offence as well.
However, some of these doctors say they hardly ever know the sexual orientation of those they attend to because it is not a requirement for treatment and counselling, and even if the patients were to reveal that they were homosexuals, it would not affect the quality of healthcare offered.
Some lawmakers have condemned violence against homosexuals but this has done little to prevent the growing anxiety among those the bill would target as its likely adoption, in whatever form, approaches.
Mr Williams says some gay Nigerians may seek asylum in countries where homosexual people are accepted, while others will have to go underground.
At the gay club, despite the jovial atmosphere, there is heightened caution, and no-one is allowed to take any photos.
The thought of being identified as being gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender in a country where the public still turns to mob justice haunts some here.
And that is a huge concern for Richard (not his real name): "If you don't become discreet and try to hide yourself, even the man on the street will want to also act on the bill because it has been passed."If you're walking on the street and he stones you, he knows the law would stand for him because the law is against you."Culled from BBC

47 YEARS ON,THIS STATEMENT STILL RESONATES IN NIGERIA TODAY

".....Our enemies are the political profiteers, the swindlers, the Men in high and low places that seek Bribes and demand 10 percent; those that seek to keep the country divided permanently so that they can remain in office as ministers or VIP's at least, the tribalists, the nepotists, those that make the country look big for nothing before international circles, those that have corrupted our society and put the Nigerian political calendar back by their words and deeds." ~ Major Patrick chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu, January 15, 1966. 

QUESTIONS REGARDING THE DEATH OF GENERAL AZAZI AND GOVERNOR PATRICK YAKOWA

Finally the Retired General Azazi and Governor Patrick Yakowa has been buried. It is business as usual again for Nigeria's corrupt ruling elite. The two men were said to have been on their way to attend a burial ceremony when the Nigerian Naval helicopter that they were traveling in crashed. While our sympathy goes to the families of the dead people,some pertinent questions need to be asked if we as a nation need to hold our leaders accountable. Is the Nigerian Navy helicopter meant to be carrying non naval personnel to attend a burial ceremony with tax payers paying for it? These naval helicopters were meant to patrolling our nation's waters yet we are experiencing the conversion of these aircrafts to personal purposes by the ruling elite? The roads in Nigeria are in a state of disrepair no thanks to the ruling elites who have ensured that we do not have motorable roads while they take to the skies in their private jets to escape the bad roads which the poor masses have no choice but to use. When will the poor masses in Nigeria stop subsidizing the opulent lifestyle of the Nigerian ruling elites? When are we going to invest in a good and functional railways network linking the entire country? 

15 YEAR OLD NIGERIAN GAINS ADMISSION TO HARVARD

15 years old Nigerian girl,Saheela Ibrahim gains admission to Harvard. She had excellent SAT scores and was offered admission in more than five Ivy league schools before she finally chose to attend Harvard. 

ACTRESS NGOZI NWOSU AND HER HEALTH ISSUES

Nollywood actress,Ngozi Nwosu who has been battling a mysterious illness may be on her way to Germany. The Lagos State Government was said to have donated the sum 4.5 million naira to add to the 2.5 million naira that she was able to raise via the appeal fund set up for her by her well wishers. While we would like to wish her all the best,it is pertinent to note that up till now,we do not know what illness she is battling with. Her before and after pictures after the commencement of her illness is outlined above

OSUOFIA DESTROYED MY HOUSE,WIDOW LAMENTS

WILLFUL DESTRUCTION OF MY HOUSE @ PLOT 11 EMEHELUAKU LAYOUT, TRANS EKULU ENUGU BY MR NKEM OWOH (OSUOFIA) AND HIS AGENTS 


I know that you have a listening ear and would hear the cry of an oppressed and helpless widow. I know that your intervention will enable me get justice from those who think they are stronger than me. I believe that my cry to you for help will not return without getting the proper assistance I woke up in the morning of Monday October 1, 2012 only to hear that a house I am building to provide shelter for my little children at Plot 11 Emeheluaku Layout, Trans Ekulu, Enugu, has been destroyed by Mr Nkem Owoh (also known as Osuofia) and his agents. Like thieves, they came at night to rob me of the only possession I am saving to be home for my children in the future. When neighbours called me to give me this information, I thought it was not true but on getting to the site, my heart broke as I saw my labours and toils and savings and sacrifices of several years completely destroyed by a man who have for sometime been persuading me to part with the said plot of land. My encounter with Mr Nkem Owoh began shortly after my husband, Mr Ben Ayogu died in December, 2004, just months after we purchased this plot of Land. Being a teacher, I had saved with my husband to buy this particular plot of land and we were already making plans to build on it when the cold hands of death stole him from me, leaving me to look after our very little children, the oldest of whom was just five (five) years old then. After mourning my husband, I discovered that there were some missing documents from our apartment, the most important of which was the documents for this plot of land. I raised the alarm then and when nobody came forth with information on its whereabouts, I quickly ran to the Nigeria Police Station at Abakpa Junction here in Enugu to make a report. I also went to the Ministry of Lands, where, armed with the police extract, I was able to obtain the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the property. But not long after, Mr Nkem Owoh appeared, claiming ownership of the land. I tried to inform him that I had neither sold the land nor authorized its sale to anybody but he insisted the plot belonged to him. The matter continued to drag between us until it got to a point when he began to ask that we settle. Having not sold the land and having no intention to sell the land, I told him there was nothing to settle. He persuaded me with all manner of offers, including that of paying extra money to motivate me to relinquish the land but I said no. Sir, this plot of land is perhaps the only major valuable I was able to invest in with my husband and we did it then because we wanted a proper home for our children. Even now, as I struggle to bring them up, this land remains the only valuable property that we have. So when Mr Nkem Owoh felt he was not succeeding in persuading me to part with this land, he began to use threats and on several occasions said he was going to forceful take possession of the land and vowed that since I claimed God will fight for me, that I had better bring down my Creator when the chips are down. Each time he comes to meet me, he usually came with a retinue of dangerous looking thugs but I was never to be cowed into giving him the only property I am leaving for my children. Because my salary was barely enough to pay our rent, pay for the school fees of the children and provide for their upkeep, I felt it was proper to construct a house no matter how small on the land so that we can move in and thus begin to save what we were using to pay house rents. Thus I began construction four years ago (in 2008). I was slowly building this potential home of ours because my income was not large enough for speedy construction. I had to even take a loan to enable us finish and park in this year. Sir, this building had been practically completed. I had roofed the house and was about hanging the doors and windows, having also installed the frames when Nkem Owoh and his agents struck, bringing the entire structure, my four years of labour to ordinary rubble. I have nowhere else to go except to your esteemed office. I am a poor widow. I have no other source of help except from God and from public spirited people like you. When I saw the damage done to this property of mine, I ran to the Trans Ekulu Police Station where I was rebuffed by an officer who, even without investigating the matter, concluded that Nkem Owoh is not a trouble maker and could never have done such evil. This officer refused my entreaties and sent me away, saying Police do not treat land matters. But sir, this is not just a land matter. It is a criminal destruction of property. I left heart-broken. He WILLFULLY destroyed all I labored for. He did it because he is rich and perhaps popular enough to act his way out of justice. I cry to you knowing what you have done in the past to help helpless people like me. I cry to you because someone is trying to forcefully take my property from me. I cry to you because I trust in your willingness, disposition and capacity to give justice to the oppressed. My confidence is high, knowing that you shall help us find justice. I therefore kindly pray that you use your good office to cause that this criminal destruction of my house be handed over to another police station or team, especially since the Trans Ekulu Police have shown very clear prejudice at thievery onset. My life and those of my children are also in danger. Nkem Owoh, a man society should look up to for good examples had severally threatened to deal with me for my refusal to let him take my land. He had stated he would deal with me. And seeing the crowd of horrible looking thugs he keeps company with, I feel really threatened. A man capable of destroying such a property has the capacity to destroy just about anything standing in the way of him having his way. Attached are the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the property given to me by the State Ministry of Lands; the police extract of my report and the picture of the building. 
Thank you very much for your anticipated speedy intervention in this matter. Very Truly Yours Gloria U. Ayogu (Mrs.)

LUCKY IGBINEDION NO LONGER WELCOME IN THE USA

Ex-Governor Lucky Igbinedion of Edo State's multiple entry visa to the USA may have been revoked by the American authorities. Recall that he is a convicted felon due to the corrupt practices while ruling Edo State. Attempts to get the ex-governor to confirm the story has not been successful so far. One hopes that all the corrupt officials in Nigeria should see this as a warning sign that there is no hiding place for those who loot the nation's resources