The All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) has lambasted governor of Imo State, Owelle Rochas Okorocha for participating in the merger talks that produced the All Progressives Congress (APC), it described his involvement in the alliance as ‘ridiculous and unfortunate’.

Addressing newsmen in Abuja on Friday, the party said Governor Okorocha acted alone because “APGA is not in the merger. We were never consulted by anybody before such statement of our involvement was issued.”

A member of APGA’s Board of Trustees (BoT) and former Minister of Health, Dr. Tim Menakaya, while addressing the media, said, “The merger of political parties, where the parties are expected to lose their identities, cannot be an ad-hoc arrangement or decision of one person,” adding, “We have nothing against the formation of any mega opposition party.”

Menekaya said that the decision to initiate such a discussion was vested in the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the merging parties “and shall be ratified by their national conventions and communicated to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) through a letter jointly signed by the national chairman, national secretary and the national treasurer of each of the merging parties.”

“The issue of merger with other political parties is not on the agenda of APGA for now. Our concern at the moment is to restructure, nurture and build a strong party capable of winning elections across the states of Nigeria.”

While calling on all party members and the general public to disregard the misleading inclusion, the party chieftain said: “of our party in the ongoing merger talks of opposition parties. It is not on the agenda of the party for now.”

Okorocha, who was elected on the platform of APGA, was at the 10 opposition governors’ who met in Lagos Tuesday to form the APC.

Abia state government says it is ready to partner with Thailand to explore bilateral investment opportunities between them.
Governor Theodore Orji stated this at the government house, Umuahia when he met with the Royal Thai commercial counselor in Nigeria, Mr.Boon Intiratana who paid him a courtesy visit with the Aba Chamber of Commerce, Mines and Agriculture (ACCIMA).
The governor advised the counselor to look round the state and ascertain areas of interest for investment.
According to him the state boasts of large human and material resources adding that apart from Lagos, Aba remains the commercial nerve centre of the country.
He described Igbos as very industrious and assured the counselor of adequate security of their investment in the state.
Chief Orji stated that Thailand is noted for rice production, which he said has helped in feeding Nigerians and pointed out that a major problem confronting Aba is power supply.
He however stated that the federal government is addressing the problem with the building of NIPP power plant in Aba which is being complemented by the Geometric power plant at Osisioma.
The governor used the forum to commend ACCIMA for the role it was playing in promoting trade and pledged to continue to assist the chamber.
In his speech, Mr Intiratana said the purpose of his visit was to see business and commercial opportunities that exist in Abia state and how to promote bilateral relationship between Nigeria and Thailand.
He said that his country is interested in agriculture especially rice production and food processing, electricity generation, tourism, as well as in construction and transportation and invited the governor to send a private mission to Thailand in May this year for an international food fair and the Nigeria – Thailand business forum.
Earlier, the president of ACCIMA, chief Eleanya Okoroji said ACCIMA is striving on its noble functions of attracting foreign investments to Abia state ,adding that the Thai commercial counselor is in Abia under their invitation to interact with business people as well as improve on the existing bilateral relationship between Abia state and Thailand.

David Beckham’s first son, Brooklyn, is set to follow in his father’s footsteps, after he underwent a trial at Chelsea FC.

The 14-year-old, whose father is still one of the most iconic figures in British football, played in a low-key academy game on Tuesday at the London’s club training ground in Cobham.

“Brooklyn is like any teenager with an ambition to be a footballer. He has just returned to England and wanted to see how he fared,” an insider told MailOnline.

“Chelsea are one of the strongest academies in the country. The difference is that he is the son of the former England captain and this will draw attention.”

There were initial speculations that the senior Beckham, was set to to join Chelsea, after he posted a picture of him and one of the club’s academy players online.

Wednesday, Jan 26, 2012 was one of such sad days when one woke up with the news that death has dealt the Nigerian entertainment industry a blow. That was actually the day Lekan Oladipo a.k.a Giorgio Lekinson, a foundation member of the Yoruba genre of Nigerian home videos lost the battle to cancer of the lung.
Interestingly, Lekinson’s disappearance from the movie scene before he died early last year remains the reason some movie buffs still find it hard to believe that he’s dead! It would be recalled that Lekinson, who would forever be remembered for his slangs and good interpretation of the role of fraudster in most Yoruba films, battled with drug related problems and when family and friends thought Giorgio Lekinson had cheated death, the gifted actor passed on.
Barely a year ago and when many people may be wondering if Lekinson left a grown up child who will step into his shoes, it’s amazing that Babatunde Oladipo, the eldest son, has picked up the trade where his father left it. With just three years in the industry, Armani Arante as Yabatech’s graduate of Business Administration is popularly called, is leaving no stone unturned to hit the spotlight at one shot. Apart from picking roles in popular films like ‘Omolabake’, ‘Oko Obinrin’, ‘Figurine’ among few others, Armani Arante is getting set to hit location for his personal film project that may come after premiering Irosun Meji, Lekinson’s last movie which he never lived to released.

Recalling how he gets into acting, “Apart from the fact that I picked after my father, to be a successful actor has been my childhood ambition but my father do tell me to finish my education before going to acting. My passion for acting grew when I started following him to movie locations. While in higher institution, I opted for Business Administration because of my love for banking job but life later played me its card as I’m back to my first love which is acting,” Armani said.

 


Little or nothing might have been read about the life and death of great Lekinson, Armani revealed the private parts of his father. “It’s no doubt that my father was a ladies’ man but it may shock you that my mother remained his only wife whom they had two kids together, I and my younger brother, Abiodun. My father’s drug problem could be traced back to when he went to India to study acting. On his return from India my mother noticed his change of attitude and one day she caught him sniffing a white substance suspected to be cocaine which led to a serious argument and fight.

“All efforts by family members to persuade him to give up on the bad habit proved abortive. This affected his growing acting career and he was shut out of the scene for some years before he returned as a King in the old popular home video titled ‘Koto Aiye’, in 2002. The dope thing messed up his career before he later quit.

In 2007 Lekinson, who was a board member of Osun State’s Art and Culture during the time of Governor Oyinlola, was diagnosed of cancer of the lung. We thought he would die but Lekinson survived the terminal illness that left him bed ridden for two years. He fully recovered and bounced back in 2009 before he eventually died in 2012.

“It was a natural death; my father did not die of any sickness as reported. On that sad day, Lekinson complained of tiredness and contemplating of going to the hospital the next day but his elder brother encouraged him to go that day which he agreed, but he died on his way to the hospital,” Armani revealed.

Speaking further about the life and time of Lekinson who featured in countless numbers of popular home videos, son said, “He was a trained actor who doesn’t take nonsense. If I could recollect, the last thing he told me was, I should be wary of unnecessary intimacy, to always be myself and Lekinson told me point blank that he needed a grandson. At the moment, we are planning a one year remembrance of his death and probably released his last personal film titled ‘Irosun Meji’,” Armani concluded.

 

Four Nigerian artistes have condemned the recent ban of eight of their musical videos by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC).

It would be recalled that P-Square’s ‘Alingo’, which is currently enjoying massive airplay, D’Prince’s ‘Take Banana’, Flavour Nabania’s ‘Shake’, Goldie’s skibobo and five other videos were recently banned by the commission.

Responding to the development, P-square through their publicist, Bayo Adetutu said, “we also just saw the story online this morning and we do not think that the NBC’s ban is justifiable.”

Mavin Records’ artiste, D’Prince on the other hand responded via twitter this afternoon. He said: “Apparenty NBC has banned Take Banana video and some others? Oh well more videos in works.”

Also, rising afro-hip hop star, Tillaman said whose video, Koma Roll was banned said: “So they banned my Koma Roll video… We ain’t letting this stop us! Expect our reply coming up in a bit.”

KCEE of the defunct pop group, KC Presh tweeted, “I think we have some drunk people working in NBC, what’s wrong with the videos they just banned?”

The Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, has blasted the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, for calling its Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande, an ex-convict.

ACN said it was unfortunate and shameful that the ruling party that professed being blessed with intelligent people in its fold, finds it hard to tell the difference between a political prisoner and a criminal convict.

In a statement issued in Abuja on Thursday by its National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, the country’s leading opposition bloc stated that “any attempt to label Chief Akande an ex-convict in a pejorative sense will be an exercise in futility, because he was neither convicted for abuse of office nor for any corruption-related offence by a duly constituted court.”

Mohammed explained that “the Special Military Tribunal that tried and sentenced hundreds of politicians, including Chief Akande, in the 1980s cannot be a reason to label all those it tried and convicted criminal ex-convicts, reminding the PDP that the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) ordered its members to boycott the proceeding of the tribunal simply because it failed to meet the standard of a properly-constituted court.”

”If those who were tried and convicted by military tribunals are indeed deemed to have been properly tried and found guilty of the offences for which they were charged, many of them would not have gone ahead to hold important elective and appointive positions in the polity.”

“Outside Nigeria you have the global icon Nelson Mandela, who was tried, found guilty and jailed for life in 1964. Of course it will be laughable for anyone trying to denigrate Mandela to tag him an ex-convict, except of course that person is a member of the PDP!”

The spokesman noted that “Chief Bisi Akande, whom the PDP has chosen to pick on in its misguided mudslinging, is an embodiment of honesty, integrity, transparency and decency, who is more of a role model to our youth than most members of the PDP.”

“He served creditably in the private and the public sector, where he held many top posts including that of a Governor.”

“Today, at 74, those rare attributes that have come to define Chief Akande – honesty, decency, integrity and public service – have become synonymous with him. That is why we are proud to hold him up as our Chairman,” ACN said.

ACN admonished the PDP to devote its strength on its leaking tattered umbrella, instead of “trying to denigrate a man whom the people respect and hold up as a sharp distinction of mankind, at a time people are increasingly being defined by their vanities rather than the content of their character.”

”Well, we have got news for the PDP: While the legacy of Chief Akande is assured, that of the PDP is not. Therefore, we advise the sinking behemoth to turn its attention elsewhere, as it awaits its Waterloo,” the statement concluded.

 

CEO Mavin records, Michael Ajereh Collins aka Don Jazzy, has stated that one thing still preventing him from picking up a wife was because God fearing ladies were presently scarce.

Don Jazzy had equally added that slim ladies do not turn him on, as he prefers fleshy ones.

The Mavin boss who was recently rated as the 36th Most Influential Personality in Africa by forbes disclosed thus “I was once married in the United Kingdom, but it was short lived. The union produced a son named after me. I don’t want to experience a collapsed marriage again. That is why I am taking my time, working and praying for a soul mate”

He told Punch that “With due respect to slim ladies, there is no way any lady shaped like a broom can attract my full attention. I’m sorry but that’s the truth.”

“My ideal woman must be God-fearing. She must have all the basic curves in the right places. The rounder and bigger her chest and backside, the better,”

Meanwhile, Don Jazzy and his younger brother James Collins have set up an oil and gas company called Mavin Energy Limited.

Mavin Energy is a 24hours door to door diesel delivery service which supplies diesels to homes, small/medium scale businesses, with also the intention to supply to public establishments, large industries, construction companies, power companies and both Federal/State Parastatals and Agencies.

The Executive Director, African Network for Environment and Economic Justice, ANEEJ, David Ugolor, has criticized President Goodluck Jonathan for his silence over the murder of Comrade Olaitan Oyerinde, the late Private Secretary to Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole.

The Benin-based advocate in an interview with Premium Times, said Jonathan was yet to demand the report of the high-powered panel he ordered the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, to institute after the murder incident.

Oyerinde, a former assistant General Secretary of the Nigerian Labour Congress was killed at his residence on May 4, 2012.

The ANEEJ boss said the president’s stand on the matter was one of the reasons the people do not trust him as a leader. “If he wants to be taken seriously by Nigerians, he should call for the report of investigation into the killing of Olaitan Oyerinde.”

Ugolor who was arrested by the police on July 21 after they claimed he sponsored the killing, said he was kept in prison custody with “hardened criminals” for 41 days, till the court freed him after declaring his arrest and detention illegal. He was awarded N5 million compensation, which the police have since appealed.

He noted that the police boss seven months down the line, has refused to make the panel’s findings public, defying the president’s directive who wanted the report submitted three weeks after the inauguration of the investigating team.

“Since my release from detention, I have sent several pleas to the President for his intervention. The police tried to frame me up, but they failed.”

“It is clear the IGP had lied. Since I was granted bail, I have been pleading with the President for intervention. The IGP cannot be a judge in his own case. We sent petitions to the National Assembly, which was read on the floor.

Ugolor added that “When I was granted bail by the court after 41 days in prison, the IGP of police disobeyed the court order. That shows that there was a superior power behind the IGP. He could not have acted on his own. Oshiomhole has cried to the President without any concrete response.

“I challenge the IGP to publish the police the report. If the report indicts the IG, I hope he would be courageous enough to resign honourably? I want to appeal to Mr. President. It is not David Ugolor or Olaitan Oyerinde that is on trial, but Nigeria.”

“What kind of transformation are we talking about that would make an IGP to tell the people lie over the killing of a citizen? President Jonathan ordered the IGP to institute a high powered investigation into the killing and report back within three weeks. Till today has he asked the IGP about the report?” the human rights activist lamented.

“If the president cannot order the IGP to reconcile its report with that of the State Security Service, SSS, what transformation are we talking about? When you have a president who is busy setting up different committees and the reports are not coming out, he is cultivating the perception of no trust around him. Jonathan has the responsibility to behave in a way that Nigerians would take him serious,” he said.

 

President Goodluck Jonathan, has labelled the documentary on the state of decay at the Police College, that was aired on Channels Television, as a smear campaign.

Jonathan, arrived the premises of the institution, at about 3pm for an unscheduled visit and saw first hand the state of things at the College.

It was major embarrasment for CP I.F. Yerima, the commandant of the college, who could not explain how the media house got exclusive images of the horrible sights in the establishment.

“This is a calculated attempt to damage the image of this government. The Police College, Ikeja is not the only training institution in Nigeria,” the president said.

It was gathered that a group of police recruits, hailed him as he made a tour of the facilities saying, “Our number one President, the God sent President, the President of Nigeria, among others.” Jonathan acknowledged the cheers by raising his right hand.

 

President Goodluck Jonathan has written to facilitate with former Secretary-General of the Commonwealth Chief Chukwumeka Anyaoku as he marks his 80th birthday anniversary, Friday, January 18, 2013.
Jonathan in a congratulatory letter signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Ababti extolled the elder statesman for his tireless service to the nation.

The letter reads: “On the occasion of your landmark eightieth birthday anniversary which comes up on Friday the 18th of January 2013, I write to heartily felicitate with you and your family on behalf of the Government and people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.