Photos: Giant Snake Swallows Woman Alive In Durban, South Africa

A South African Journalist, Linda Laina Nyatoro shared this scary picture on her Facebook page yesterday.

She said it happened very close to Durban North in South Africa.

According to her, the snake in the above picture swalloweda woman alive.

Though she didn’t provide further details but she said it’s true.

Wonders shall never end oh! This looks real to me, what do you think guys?

I Prefer Robbery To Prostitution ––Woman Arrested In Robbery

Lagos State Police Command has arrested a 28-year-old woman, Anita Ekechukwu, her brother, Sunday Ekechukwu; and three others -, Benedict Nwadike, Emmanuel Ochi, also known as General and George Emmanuel, aka Force Man - for armed robbery.

The suspects were arrested while robbing bureau de change operators of millions of naira. Narrating how the suspects operated, a source at the Special Anti-Robbery Squad said:

Anita Ekechukwu would pose as a customer and convince the bureau de change operator to enter a vehicle with her only to rob him.

“Anita would go to a bank and say she wanted to buy foreign currency knowing well that banks do not sell foreign currency to just anyone. The bankers would introduce her to a bureau de change operator and they would establish contact. Later, she will call them for a huge transaction in a vehicle.

“When the victim enters the vehicle, her colleagues would come in another vehicle, abduct the victim, rob him of his money at gunpoint and then throw him out of the vehicle.”

Anita, her brother and others were arrested while trying to rob one Sanusi of $80,000 (N12.8m).

The police source said the robbers operated around a bank in Lekki and had boarded their vehicle when policemen intercepted them.

He said, “They organised another operation. Already police were aware that the gang was about to operate around the area. The robbers had abducted their victim, when the police swooped on them and arrested them. The robbers then revealed the location of the others. The police recovered the money collected from the victim.”

While answering questions, Anita Ekechukwu said she took to robbery because of unemployment, adding that it was more honourable than prostitution. “I am a member of the gang but we do not operate with gun. I am from Owerri, in Imo State. I am unemployed but I live at Lekki with my elder brother, Sunday, who is a building contractor.

“I joined the gang because I could not secure any reasonable employment. I joined the gang this year and I was given the telephone number of a bureau de change operator. I told him I wanted to buy $30,000. The next day, he sent his brothers who brought the dollars. I then told the man that we were going to a bank where I would pay him the naira equivalent. On the way to the bank, we collected the money from the man and pushed him out of the vehicle.”

Another suspect, Ochi, who is about 24 years old, claimed he was a student of Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ogun State. He said his dream was to join the Nigeria Police but it was unclear if he would still be enlisted following his arrest.

He said, “My role in the gang is to push the victim out of our vehicle but I am always careful so that he will not fall and hit his head against a stone or hard object.

“I am a student of Olabisi Olabanjo University, Ogun State and I am in 300 level studying Crime Investigation. I intended to enlist in Nigeria Police Force when I graduate. I want to become a police detective.

On his hope of realising his life ambition to become police detective after graduation, now that he had been arrested he said, “It is God that will decide. If I regain my freedom I will stand a chance. Even if I am jailed, I may get state pardon. Everything depends on God.”

Sign death warrants, Jonathan tells govs on Father’s Day

Ben Agande, Abuja.
President Goodluck Jonathan has called on state governors not to shy away from signing death sentences passed on convicted criminals saying that as leaders, their responsibilities include doing both the “sweet and the ugly part” a long as it is sanctioned by law.
In a message at the Villa Chapel to commemorate the Fathers’ day celebration, president Jonathan expressed worry that discipline which used to be the hallmark of the family is gradually being eroded because of negative influence of modernism.

President Goodluck Jonathan (4th r) leading other fathers in the presentation of a special song during the 2013 Father’s Day celebration at the Aso Villa Chapel Abuja on Sunday (16/6/13).

He said: “These days, because of modern life, discipline is almost gone. Discipline can be in various forms. In the states, it could be admonition. Magistrate can just admonish and allow him to go. From admonition to various forms of punishments, it could be imprisonment. The extreme is capital punishment.
“In the case of capital punishment, the state governors will sign (the death sentence). Even governors sometimes find it difficult to sign. I have been telling the governors that they must sign because that is the law. The work we are doing have a very sweet part and a very ugly part and we must perform both. No matter how painful it is, it is part of their responsibilities” the president said.
He president said fathers are expected to be role models where children will want to be like their fathers, saying that they must of fail to discipline their children when necessary.
“I want to urge all of us who are fathers to discipline our children. No matter what you do, even if you show love and provide the needs of the family, if you don’t discipline your children, it is not good. So for us as parents, it is important for us to let our children constantly know that it is good to take the right path. It is good for them to know that they must be upright” the president said.
Earlier in his sermon, The President of the Church of Christ in Nigeria, Rev. Soja Bewarang,  said if Nigeria must move forward, those working with the President must refrain from stealing public funds and must be honest.
“If this country must survive, all men working under the President must practise honesty and they must not steal. He (the President) cannot fight corruption when you are not supporting him. He may try, but he cannot be everywhere. You are his representatives , so you must practise honesty and you must not steal,” he said.
He asked Nigerians to pray for good fathers like Enoch; those who will walk with God like Noah; those who will feat and trust God like Joshua; and men of faith like Abraham.
The special service which had Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State as the special guest of honour was also attended by the President’s mother, Eunice; Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State; Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, and his wife; Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Tony Anenih; members of the Federal Executive Council; new Controller-General of  Immigration, Mr. David Paradang; Commandant-General of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Dr. Ade Abolurin; and members of the National Assembly.
Others were the Ambassador of Ireland in Nigeria, Mr. Patrick Fhearghail; the Israeli Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Uriel Palti; former House Leader, Tunde Akogun; Ndidi Elumelu; and Nollywood stars among others.

Kaduna man allegedly sedated & raped man who called him 'uncle'

You read some stories and all you can do is shake your head. According to this story from Nigerian Tribune, a Kaduna based successful business man named Alhaji Habu (pictured right in hospital after being stabbed) invited Kabiru (pictured left) to his home, where he proceeded to drug his tea and have sex with him. Kabiru claimed he was initially too weak to fight him off when Alhaji Habu penetrated him but eventually managed to gain enough strength to get the man he called 'uncle' off him, using a knife.

Meanwhile, Alhaji Habu is telling a different story. He claimed Kabiru came to his house and asked to spend the night, and in the middle of the night Kabiru tried to rob him and attacked with him a knife. The first explanation sounds more plausible. Read the full story after the cut...

From Nigerian Tribune

It is a sad story, a frightening betrayal of family trust. To many, it’s something that defies logic, because no one has ever seen a male dog, despite its high libido, doing such a thing with another male dog. For the fact a man was involved in it, and in a highly cosmopolitan city like Kaduna where all kinds of women abound who could have served that purpose for a fee, or even for free depending on how persuasive one could be, many are now disturbed. The thinking in many quarters is that, perhaps, the people of the biblical Sodom and Gomorrah are gradually reincarnating in the crocodile city.

For Hajiya Fati, it’s a sad tale to tell, but considering the degree of betrayal, she was prepared to go to any length to seek justice for her son who was allegedly sedated, sodomised and blackmailed by a businessman who hitherto was highly respected and revered by neighbours in the elitist Malali area of Kaduna metropolis.
Amid sobs, she prayed that such a thing would never happen again to any family, and hoped against hope that the dirty act would not be revealed to her ailing husband, the father of her son, Kabiru, who is now coping with the sad and painful experience he suffered in the hands of a close and trusted family friend – a man who had once played with him on his laps as a baby, but who would one day turn into a sex predator, forcefully gaining entry into his anal region after drugging him with a hot tea.

Narrating his ordeal, Kabiru, who appears to be in his early 30s, said he was invited by Alhaji Habu to his Malali house and was offered food to eat. After the meal, he vomited because he was not feeling well. According to him, his host offered him tea, which he drank and immediately, he fell asleep in the house, with no one around.

According to him, the tea, which he suspected was drugged, threw him into a state of illusion, but he felt it when Alhaji Habu allegedly penetrated him.

“He was already inside me and I tried to free myself, but my body was weak because of the tea. I gained a little strength and tried to push him aside, but he said he would give me whatever I wanted if I could cooperate. I saw a knife and rushed for it but he held my hand and slapped me, forcing me down. When I was able to grab the knife again, he held my hand, and in the struggle, I was wounded. I fought with the knife to free myself, screaming for help. It was late at night and when I was able to push the door and escaped, I screamed and some people came to help me. The police came from Malali Police Station and took us to the Garkuwa Hospital,” he recounted.
Kabiru said he had never involved in such abnormal sexual act, and expressed sadness that a person he called ‘uncle’ could do such a thing to him.

Hajiya Fati insisted there was no homosexual relationship between her son and one Alhaji Habu; but she maintained the suspect had been well known to the family since when Kabiru was a baby, and even married the sister of a close friend of hers.

“I was home sleeping, and around 2:00 a.m., the police came knocking. They said my son, Kabiru, had a fight with someone and that they were both in a hospital badly wounded. We rushed to the Garkuwa Hospital, and on sighting me, Kabiru said ‘Mama, look at what Alhaji Habu did to me’. I was terrified and dumbfounded because my son was in bad state, and something like water was dripping from his backside.

 “Immediately, Alhaji Habu, who was bandaged due to knife cuts on his body, also said ‘Hajiya, look at what Kabiru did to me.’ He said my son came to his house to use his guinea brocade (kaftan) for a wedding ceremony and decided to pass the night. He said that in the night, he felt somebody stabbing him with a knife, and was even calling Kabiru to come to his aid, not knowing that it was Kabiru that was stabbing him.

“I asked him why he didn’t call me to inform me that Kabiru would be passing the night in his house. I said that even if Kabiru stayed late in his house, he should have asked him to leave, since in such (an elitist) area, one could not get a taxi or commercial motorcyclists at late hours. But he said it was my son who came to his house, ate the food he had cooked and vomited, drank tea afterward and decided to sleep in the house, not knowing that he came to rob him.”

She said she could not tell Kabiru’s father the sad story because he is old and very ill; expressing the fear that such a story might worsen his already bad situation.
“All I want is justice to take its course. My son cannot be blackmailed. He (Alhaji Habu) has betrayed trust and I can never forget this sad incident. The religion of Islam is against this kind of thing; the heaven and the earth shake anytime this sin is committed. It is a very bad thing. I must fight for my fundamental human rights,” she said.
It was gathered that Habu’s wife has since deserted the family home, having suspected that her husband was involved in an inappropriate relationship.

At the hospital where Alhaji Habu was receiving treatment, he told reporters that Kabiru was in his house to rob him and succeeded in wounding him with a knife. The reporters were, however, prevented from having a detailed interview with the suspect, based on ‘orders from above’.

When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer for the state police command, DSP Aminu Lawan, said he was aware of the incident but that investigations were still going on to unravel what actually took place during the encounter.

US Police begin manhunt for Nigerian’s killers

New York — The Police in New York have begun manhunt of two suspects connected with the gruesome stabbing to death of a Nigerian in Brownsville area of  Brooklyn, the News Agency of Nigeria reports.
According to local media, the deceased, Uro Ama Orji, 54, and a cab driver in the area, was said to have been stabbed in the eye with an umbrella.
After he had been wounded, his vehicle crashed into two parked sport-utility vehicles at Lott Avenue and Boyland Street at about 5:30 p.m.
Orji, who resided in Queens, was taken to Brookdale Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Following the development, a 5,000-dollar reward was offered for information that could lead to the arrest of the suspects.
The New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers offered a 3,000-dollar reward, while the group of 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care offered another 2,000-dollars.
Police said they were looking for a man and woman who were passengers in the cab and seen running from the scene. A video showed the man getting out of the cab, opening the front door of the vehicle and stabbing Orji with an umbrella.
“It’s clearly on that video. You have a female and male, and the male runs, the young lady walking away, perhaps guilt got the best of her.
“This is a total outrage. This is just a guy trying to make a buck to probably feed himself and his family only to have his life taken for less than 10 dollars or maybe 20 dollars, which is close to the average fare one would pay for a local ride inside Brooklyn”, community advisor, Tony Herbert, said.
“It’s a very dangerous job, a very dangerous business,” Fernando Mateo, President of the New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers also said.
Community activists are asking a UPS driver who might have witnessed the incident to come forward.
Orji, a father of five children, came from Nigeria to U.S. 10 years ago to make a better living for his family.
His children, whose ages are from 13 to 22, arrived in U.S. from Nigeria in December.
“It’s still early, fresh. They are still in the denial stage,” said Orji’s brother, Agwu Ana Agwu.
His sister-in-law, Chinedum Agwu, said he was a good father who was just trying to make ends meet.
“He was a very dedicated, loving father. An innocent man who was just working hard to make sure his kids eat. Everything he was doing was to take care of his children.
“ It’s horrible. How do you do something like that? How do you wake up and have in your mind to go out and hurt somebody?” she said.

Ukrainian plane detained in Kano

Security agents have detained an Ukrainian cargo plane at the Kano International Airport for carrying suspected military hardware.
Vanguard gathered that investigation is ongoing on the owners and the destination of the cargo.
This is coming few weeks after weapons believed to belong to Hezbollah was uncovered in a building belonging to a Lebanese businessman in Kano. The items recovered from the building include; 40 air-to-surface missiles, 50 cluster bombs, 200 rocket-propel launcher, eight AK-47 rifles, 200 military hand grenades, uncountable number of live ammunition and certain military hard wares deployed to destroy Armoured Personnel Carriers, APC.
Details later. By Abdulsalam Muhammed

Obama Wishes Dads a Happy Father's Day

 President Barack Obama is seen delivering his weekly address (WhiteHouse video screen grab).

 

U.S. President Barack Obama says there is never a substitute for the love and support of a parent in a child's life.

 
In his weekly address Saturday, Obama paid tribute to the country's Father's Day observance by saying the most important job many American men will ever have is "being a dad."

The president said he wished he had a father who was around to help teach him "values like hard work," integrity and responsibility. He added that good parents must make frequent sacrifices and show "unconditional love" to help their kids grow into the people they were meant to be.

Americans will celebrate Father's Day Sunday.

In the weekly Republican address, U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee called for "a permanent solution to all student loan interest rates" before some automatically rise on July 1st.

Alexander, a former U.S. secretary of education, said "It's fairer to students and fairer to taxpayers" to allow the market to set interest rates, and that all student borrowers can benefit from the current low rates.

Watch President Obama's address:

Sex workers’ protests in pictures

 

Sex workers and activists around the country took to the streets to celebrate International Sex Workers’ Rights Day. People around the world took to the streets to march for the human rights of sex workers. The marchers were dressed in colorful masks to hide their faces, while others wore bright red clothing to symbolize their support for the decriminalization of prostitution.

The Menace of Prostitution--By Valentine Obienyem

Prostitution, most times, is used restrictively to mean the act of offering oneself for sexual intercourse for money. But this is only one side to the meaning; it has other sides. Generally, prostitution involves giving something; often what one has, to get what one does not have. A poet, who, instead of devoting his talents to poetry, resorts to writing jingles for advertisement is prostituting his talents. A person who leaves his church for other churches is a religious prostitute. I think it was Socrates who defined sophists as a peculiar tribe of men who prostitute for wisdom. That is, those who received money in exchange of wisdom which they professed to teach their clients. But in our world of today, prostitution is commonly understood in the realm of sex, the crave by man to satisfy his passion.
In many instances, when you consider what man does, even the unthinkable, to satisfy his passion, you will be inclined to believe that man is a slave to passion. Diogene, a renowned Cynic philosopher, we are told, performed the rites of love in the sight of all. Generally the cynics, though they despised ease and comfort, accepted sexual desire as normal and natural, like hunger. They professed themselves unable to understand why men should be ashamed to satisfy the one appetite, like the other, in public.
The Epicureans who believed that pleasure was the goal of philosophy accepted all forms of pleasure, perhaps including sexual pleasure, once it was not, in their own estimation, injurious to one. The younger brother of Epicureanism, utilitarianism, promoted the love of pleasure once it was capable of satisfying the greatest number. Their crowned king, Jeremy Bentham, even handed over to us the means of calculating pleasure.
Lest we think Diogene, the epicureans, or the utilitarian strange, let us be assured that others, from time immemorial till our present age, have their own sexual attitudes. Suleiman the magnificent, one of the greatest Islamic warriors, we are told, had about 300 concubines. When they expected a visit from him they attired themselves in their finest robes, and stood in line to greet him, he saluted courteously as many as time allowed, and placed his handkerchief on the shoulder of one who especially pleased him. That evening, on retiring, he asked that the recipient should return his handkerchief. Whatever he did with the "returnee", I now grant your imagination a free rein in its interpretation.

The fact to note from the foregoing is that man has done everything, mostly undignifying - homosexualism, lesbianism, pederasty, paedrophilianism, masturbation et cetra to satisfy his sexual urge. But by far, the most used outlet for passion is the visit to prostitutes. Prostitution, in terms of the act or practice of a woman who permits a man who will pay her price to have sexual intercourse with her, as often written, is the oldest surviving profession on earth. Those who studied biblical exegesis explained that St. Paul's frequent warning against immoral acts in his letters to the Corinthians was due to the fact that as a confluence town, Corinth was full of brothels that any man who slept in his house in those days was considered a saint. Biblical books as well as other historical books are full of prostitutes who plied their profession with all the specialties of the prostitutes of today.
We must not be too haughtily shocked by the tale of prostitution of old. Our own age has its own liaisons. Was General Abacha not reported to have died on top of Indian prostitutes? We are daily fed with the stories of Edo girls who were deported en masse from the world major cities. Implicit in this is the fact that prostitution has become an international trade. Whether internationally or locally, prostitution, like other professions, has grades.
We have a class of prostitutes known as 'call girls.' They live in the exclusive parts of the cities. They are rich and accessible to all the comforts that development could provide. Talk of telephone, exotic cars, telecommunication gadgets et cetra. They fix appointment with their prospective customers on telephones. They travel abroad on occasions as they charge substantial fees for their services. Those in this class are mostly the ones that are somewhat exposed to the public through activities like broadcasting, film acting, beauty pageants, and campus exposure.
After the 'call girls' in status are the 'house girls'. Peripatetic in their operation, they solicit their customers in exclusive night clubs and strategic locations, even in hotels that do not allow such base activities, this girls go there every now and then under the pretence of genuine businesses. When you meet such girls on the road, especially if you are perceived as rich, at first, they will try to inspire "love" by judicious display, when the man shows interest, they will tactfully withhold by coy refusal, and making it pay. Most of the girls in this grade are not fully independent; they go about it without the knowledge of their parents. Here we have some students that leave their hostels at night for the streets, or go to men's houses for weekend.
We have the lowest type of prostitutes, those that leave in common brothels and entertain men in their rooms. Their abode is usually distinguished by red lights. These girls market themselves by standing in front of their houses and brandish their ogles at passers-by. They are lightly clad, having concealed their blemishes by the use of red lights, they allow their prospective customers to examine them like dogs in a kennel. Most prostitutes of this category are wild and always ready to confront their non-corporating customers.

In general, prostitutes are the derelicts of female society - empty, bewildered misfits that society has helped to create. Many are drug addicts. Their orgins are mostly in families that are inadequate, materially, emotionally, spiritually, and otherwise; so the roots of prostitution lie deep in the fabric of society.
It is true that women contribute to prostitution, but it is unfair to blame them solely for that. We ask, why do women prostitute? Prostitution is a function of demand. Men are equally as responsible for prostitution because by their demand, they create the supply and by the virtue of their position, they turn round, hypocritically, to blame women who meet the demand.
This male omnipotence ensures that recognised women prostitutes are cajoled, refused marriage, and made objects of contumely. But for men that patronize them, their mates do not treat them with disgrace than that which would in any case attach to immoderation. Some cultures even advise itching youths, sometimes, rather than misbehave, to appease the flesh with calm promiscuity. Some men convince themselves that to visit prostitutes is necessary to mitigate monotonous monogamy.
Whether a female or a male prostitute, it is a clear evidence of the poverty of the spirit. It is the mark of lack of self-control. It is degrading, as it is dirty. The menace of AIDS and other venereal diseases is not enough to stop prostitution. Evidently, it is mostly poverty that force people to prostitute. The only way of curtailing it is by government improving on our standards of living by expanding employment opportunities.

PRESIDENCY: Why North should wait till 2027, by Ogbemudia

General Ogbemudia
Dr Samuel Ogbemudia,  a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Board of Trustees, is an old war horse in politics. The time- two former governor of the old Bendel State has been abroad for medical check-up and broke his silence on political issues to Sunday Vanguard last Wednesday. While declaring the support of the leaders of the South-south for second term for President Goodluck Jonathan, the former military tactician explained why the North is not entitled to the presidency until 2027.
And contrary to the statement by the PDP that Governor Adams Oshiomhole begged to join the party prior to the 2007 and 2012 governorship election in Edo State, Ogbemudia disclosed how he led some PDP leaders to appeal to Oshiomhole to join the party, but the plea was turned down by the former labour leader. He spoke on other national issues.
Excerpts:
While you were away, Nigeria celebrated Democracy Day. How do you assess our democracy so far?
The assessment one can give is that it has been smooth, in the sense that everyone in Nigeria today appreciates democracy. Democracy means freedom, but freedom has its own obligations. I am enjoying democracy. We have made tremendous progress.
But Nigerians are worried that despite our resources, government is unable to give us steady power supply and employment opportunities for the youths among other basic things?
Yes, those who are worried are people who do not know the problems government faces. To lay one line that will carry eleven KVA from Delta to Sokoto or Maiduguri costs fortunes, and it is more than anything a state can produce. So one must first of all appreciate the enormity of the problems facing the Federal Government and then try to encourage it to do more. I know that the purpose of opposition is to pressurize the government to do more, but sometimes they get it wrong. Once in a while, they should say, ’Yes, the President is trying in some areas but can do more’; that will encourage him.
Nigeria Governors Forum crisis
The Governors Forum, according to experts, is not in the Constitution, but, as far as I am concerned, whether it is in the Constitution or not, it has come to stay. When five people come together to form a group, it may not be in the Constitution but they feel it is the right thing. The governors are the custodians of the democratic votes, they are the ones running the states, they are supposed to be the chief security officers of their states. So if you want their cooperation, you implore them to help you, talk to them like brothers, talk to them like friends, talk in a way that will encourage them to help you the more. But if anybody has succeeded in intimidating someone to do what he likes, I don’t think the Governors Forum is the one that can be intimidated to do what game they want them to play. So it is through negotiation, Nigeria has developed a language called dialogue, so they should dialogue.  The President should be the arbiter, he should not support any one. He should call the two warring factions together and settle the problem. I expect the President to settle the issues so that the governors don’t break into factions,  otherwise the 2015 elections will not be smooth.

What is your position on Chief Tony Anenih’s call for automatic ticket to PDP governors and the President?
Well Tony Anenih has spoken his mind. It is left for the electorate in each state to decide whether the governor has performed to deserve a return ticket. You cannot come from Edo State to tell the man in Kaura Namoda that his governor has done well. He will not believe you if he has not performed well.
State of emergency in three states
I think the logical conclusion is that the state of emergency is necessary. But my personal view is that if the governors have been allowed to perform their functions as chief security officers, there would not have been need for the state of emergency. They don’t have the apparatus available to the Federal Government, if the Federal Government had allowed the governors to do their jobs and given them all the facilities they needed, this emergency would have been unnecessary. So I expect the Federal Government to allow the governors to function effectively as the chief security officers of their state after the emergency. The governors should get all the powers that accompany being their respective states chief security officers.
But some people attribute the insurgency to the tussle for the 2015 presidency between the North and the South.
My view is that we in the South-south want Jonathan to continue in power beyond 2015. The North is equally interested in the presidency. We should sit down and talk. If we talk, four years will not do any harm to anybody; the matter can be resolved. The South-west came in, in 1999 and served for eight years. The South-south should also do eight years. And the truth is that the South-east is also entitled to the presidency when the South-south must have finished its eight years.
Does that mean North should not think about power returning to them until sometime around 2027?
Absolutely
Message to Nigerians
We have come a long way from 1914 to 2013;  during those years, we passed through thick and thin and the lesson that we ought to have learnt is that we needed to work together as a team with all hands on deck to achieve our ultimate goal. It is still not late, the people should cooperate with the government of the day, four years in the life of a nation is nothing, but, in the life of a person, it means a lot. For this nation to survive, we all need to put all hands on deck and we should all support the government of the day.
Back to Edo, you have been passionate about a Benin man becoming the governor after Oshiomhole. Is that where you still stand?
I belong to the group that strongly supports the Benin agenda, I also belong to the group that wants the candidate picked on merit to serve at Osadebey Avenue, to continue the good job Oshiomhole has done. So if a Benin man is the one that will do it, so be it. But all Binis are interested and want a Benin man to be the next governor because they think they are not receiving their due share, they are being marginalized and I hold the same opinion and we should meet and again talk at a round table, there will be no hidden agenda.
Your party, the PDP, has been in trouble in the hands of the Adams Oshiomhole- led ACN in the state. What is the way forward for the party?
The PDP requires no advice now because they already know that united they stand, divided they remain where they are. So they are working towards bringing everybody on board. That is why I led a delegation of Senator Oyofo, Dr Willie Ogbeide and three others to persuade Oshiomhole to come to PDP and he told us that if he joined PDP, his friends in the media will kill him.
I was therefore embarrassed when I heard that the PDP said he came to them and they rejected him. The answer to the PDP challenge in Edo lies in the leaders coming together, embrace internal democracy and re-organize their management of victory.
 BY SIMON EBEGBULEM, Benin City

Abibatu Mogaji dies at 95

 

President-General, Association of Nigerian Market Women and Men, Alhaja Abibat Mogaji is dead.

She died in her home in Ikeja. She was aged 95.

The late Alhaja Mogaji was this year honoured with a doctorate degree by the Ahmadu Bello University during its 50th anniversary. She was honoured along with former military president, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida and former chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen. Theophilus.

Photos: Patience Ozokwor attracts huge crowd in Johannesburg

Nollywood actress, Patience Ozokwor, aka Mama G, met with some fans at Kempton Park on Thursday as she toured the city to launch iRokotv’s new dvd business.