Meet Mrs. Olayinka Adeyemo – The Pregnant Tricycle (keke) Rider

The first time you meet Mrs. Olayinka Adeyemo in her tricycle (keke), what quickly runs through your mind is, how does this woman cope in a business exclusively reserved for men by society?

If you live in Lagos, you will understand why the wonder because a typical Lagos tricycle or keke rider is rough, uncouth and ever-ready to break all traffic rules and even ram into your care with no qualms.



They don’t give a damn about pedestrians because they’re even willing to run on pedestrian walks or even knock down a pedestrian without the blink of an eye.

But here is a woman roughing it out amongst these men Lagos residents love to hate but can’t do anything about because they provide essential transportation services, and of course filling the yawning holes dug by government’s inability to provide working and efficient transportation services for the people.

For me, it’s okay finding a woman in a business supposedly reserved for the boys with muscles and brawn. After all, women are gradually standing their own. But what caught me mouth agape is that Mrs. Adeyemo is heavily pregnant. Can you beat that?

Please madam, how did you get into this keke (tricycle) business?

“My brother, I’m a graduate, but rather than stay idle coupled with the responsibility of taking care of my young family, a friend of mine encouraged me to take-up this business. First, I got this tricycle through a hire-purchase arrangement from this friend, but now it’s mine because I’m done with paying up the cost of the tricycle.”

How does it feel operating in a man’s world? I don’t feel any different. I’m working and the men are working too. The difference is that I get more considerations from bus-stop touts who milk us of our earnings because I’m a woman, and when they see my protruding tummy, they just let me be.

And your condition? “I’m only pregnant. I’m not sick. Yes, I’m often tired, but this work is all I have to contribute to my family economy and meet my personal needs”. And your husband? “He‘s been very supportive and my children and family members know this is what I do for a living and they respect me for that”.

Are making a lot of money? “I wouldn’t say a lot of money, but it’s better than staying idle, and waiting for my husband to do everything for me.”

Well, the next time you see Mrs. Adeyemo; it could be with her baby strapped to her back or at a corner of the motor-park breastfeeding her baby. What that means is that in today’s world, all the barriers have been broken. And women have no excuse.

Photo: El-Rufai Just Got His PVC Yesterday; Tweeters Blast Him

He finally collected his PVC from the EO Kaduna North LGA on May 20th 2015, and his son, Bello El-Rufai, tweeted it...




Wow! and to think this man had the temerity to attack Goodluck Jonathan for shifting the election date even though a large percentage of the electorate hadn't received PVCs.

Why are these people like this?
Why do they thrive in so much deceit and hypocrisy?
Why do they constantly play to the gallery?

Deceit is something they so much have in common. If it's not Aregbesola lying to his starving civil servants that Jonathan was withholding their salaries because Osun is an opposition state (even though Aregbe has enough money to spray at Lagosians during their Buhari march), it's Rochas Okorocha lying on TV that his administration pays Youth Corpers 10,000 even when ALL Corpers in Imo can attest to the fact that they don't receive a DIME from this con artist.

Frankly, I feel sorry for anybody risking his life over these duplicitous, opportunist charlatans.

Politicians Who Cloned Or Buy PVCs Will be Disappointed - INEC

The national Commissioner of Independent National Electoral Commission in charge of Oyo, Ogun and Ekiti states, Prof. Lai Olurode, has said politicians who have either cloned or bought up the Permanent Voter Cards from registered voters will be disappointed during the forthcoming elections.

Olurode said this yesterday, at the INEC headquarters in Abeokuta while briefing journalists on the preparedness of the commission.

The INEC commissioner who allayed the fears of the electorate over the usage of card readers during the coming elections, said the commission introduced the machines with a view to checking counterfeiting and impersonation during the elections.

According to him, we know some people are cloning and mopping up PVCs , we want to assure them that they will be disappointed.

“What we want to do is to screen out illegal cards because a lot of people are cloning, purchasing and selling of the Permanent Voter Cards but it is a waste of time. That is why we need the media presence in this election, the vigilance group. This election requires a lot of human monitoring because it is different from the previous elections, people must be present, parties must educate their people and their agents”, he said .

While speaking on the level of INEC preparedness in the three states, Prof. Olurode claimed that all the materials for the elections had been on ground even before the earlier scheduled date for the Presidential and national assembly elections.

He however, said PVCs collection in Ogun State has witnessed tremendous improvement , saying,it’s collection has hit 59 percent in the state.

Prof. Olurode revealed that currently there are 589, 377 PVCs that are yet to be collected, while a total of 1,053,230 cards have been distributed in the state.

Apologising for the slow pace of distribution of PVC in the state, the national commissioner stated that it was not deliberately caused by the commission.

He, declared that some registered voters may be disenfranchised as he explained that all the outstanding PVCs might not be ready before the elections.

He noted that the Commission is facing challenges with the printing of the cards.

Dismissing the claim of Ogun State government that the remaining uncollected cards were alien cards, Prof. Olurode explained that besides the fact that some owners of the cards had died, he cited the issue of Redeemer’s University which has relocated to Ede, Osun State after the 2011 registration exercise.

He explained that some of the students registered in Ogun State as well as some students of other higher institutions in the state who had graduated.

The national commissioner revealed that the commission randomly called owners of some of the cards only to discover that they had resident in the state while some had died.

Meanwhile, Prof. Olurode declared the technologies being introduced by the commission into the electoral process was meant to reduce if not outright wipe out electoral malpractices with a view to have a free, fair and acceptable elections in the country.

He explained that some categories of people would not be allowed to vote in spite of flaunting a PVC at the polling booth. He listed them as people with fake PVC, people with another person’s original PVC and people who are underaged.

However, the national commissioner explained that there would be three categories of sorting on the election days, saying the ballot box for presidential position which would be in red colour would sorted to see whether any voter had mistakenly dropped the another ballot paper in it.

This would be followed by the black ballot box for the Senate and blue for the House of Representatives.

Thereafter, sorting according to parties would follow and counting and recording of the votes cast.

Nevertheless, Prof. Olurode charged the electorate and parties agents to be vigilant because all the technology transformations were not all-problem-solving.

The commission’s Resident Electoral Commission, Chief Timothy Ibitoye declared that there were no fears in the state regarding the coming elections.

How Roads Are Named; The Difference Between An Avenue, St, Lane, Drive, Way, Blvd Etc

 Ever wondered how types of roads are determined? There are many acceptable definitions for these, this is just one set, it is highly likely you have seen something different. Different places will have different rules on whats what or no rules at all. There are literally dozens of right answers to this. Almost all of these should really be affixed with "is usually" but because of how long this has gotten, It can't include every exception and variation.

*A road has no special qualifiers. It connects point a to point b.

*A street connects buildings together, usually in a city, usually east to west, opposite of avenue.

*An avenue runs north south. Avenues and streets may be used interchangeably for directions, usually has median

*.A boulevard is a street with trees down the middle or on both sides

*.A lane is a narrow street usually lacking a median.

*A drive is a private, winding road

*A way is a small out of the way road

*A court usually ends in a cul de sac or similar little loop

*A plaza or square is usually a wide open space, but in modern definitons, one of the above probably fits better for a plaza as a road.

*A terrace is a raised flat area around a building. When used for a road it probably better fits one of the above.

*A close is similar to a court, a short road serving a few houses, may have cul de sac

*A run is usually located near a stream or other small body of water

*A place is similar to a court, or close, usually a short skinny dead end road, with or without cul de sac, sometimes p shaped

*A bay is a small road where both ends link to the same connecting road

*A crescentis a windy s like shape, or just a crescent shape, for the record, above definition of bay was also given for crescent

*A trail is usually in or near a wooded area

*A highway is a major public road, usually connecting multiple cities

*A motorway is similar to a highway, with the term more common. No stopping, no pedestrian or animal traffic allowed

*An interstate is a highway system connecting usually connecting multiple states, although some exist with no connections

*A turnpike is part of a highway, and usully has a toll, often located close to a city or commercial are

*A freeway is part of a highway with 2 or more lanes on each side, no tolls, sometimes termedexpressway, no intersections or cross streets.

*A parkway is a major public road, usually decorated, sometimes part of a highway, has traffic lights.

*A causeway combines roads and bridges, usually to cross a body of water

*Circuit and speedwayare used interchangeably, usually refers to a racing course, practically probably something above.

*As the name implies, gardenis usually a well decorated small road, but probably better fits an above

*A view is usually on a raised area of land, a hill or something similar.

*A byway is a minor road, usually a bit out of the way and not following main roads.

*A cove is a narrow road, can be sheltered, usually near a larger body of water or mountains

*A row is a street with a continuous line of close together houses on one or both sides, usually serving a specific function like a frat

*A beltway is a highway surrounding an urban area

*A quay is a concrete platform running along water

*A crossing is where two roads meet


*An alley is narrow path or road between buildings, sometimes connects streets, not always driveable

*A point is usually dead ends at a hill

*A grove is thickly sheltered by trees

*A driveway almost always private, short, leading to a single residence or a few related ones

*Aroundabout or traffic circlecircle around a traffic island with multiple connecting routes, a roundabout is usually smaller, with less room for crossing and passing, and safer
*

These aren't hard and fast rules. Most cities and such redefine them their own way about what road can be called what.  

Photo: APC Councillor In Ogun Admits Membership Of Kidnap Gang

A serving All Progressives Congress, APC, councillor in Ogun State, Lateef Agboola, has been arrested alongside four other suspects for alleged kidnapping.

Mr. Agboola, who claimed to be from Ward 4 of the party, is a member of the legislative arm of Odogbolu Local Government Area.

In an interview with journalists, he said he regretted his involvement in criminality.

The arrest of the kidnap syndicate was effected on Friday, when the Special Anti-Robbery Squad led by Mohammed Tijani, a superintendent of police, stormed the gang’s hideout located in Oke-Sopin area of Ijebu-Igbo town in Ijebu North Local Government of the State.

Following the raid of the hideout, five of the gang members were arrested with a number of charms and guns, while two are still on the run.

The suspects in police custody as at the time of filing this report include: Lateef Agboola, Tunde Akilo, Sunkanmi Dacosta, Ahmed Adebanjo and Mukaila Olatunji

The arrested councillor in a statement to journalists admitted that his vehicle was used for the operation.

He said his younger brother, also a member of the gang but now on the run, got him involved.
“I regret my involvement,” he said. “My political career is finished. I only gave them my car when my brother told me the vehicle they used for the operation had flat tyre.”

All suspects admitted their operations within one month earned each of them a minimum of N300, 000 from ransoms paid by families of their victims.
A member of the gang, Tunde Akilo, told PREMIUM TIMES he squandered his share of the money.

The Commissioner of Police, Valentine Ntomchukwu, during his visit to the kidnappers’ hideout on Saturday said the building used by the gang has be taken over and sealed by the police.
He said investigations were ongoing, and assured that the fleeing suspects would soon be arrested.
He said all suspects would face the full wrath of the law.

Chimamanda Adichie Blasts Elnathan John, A Writer From Kaduna In New Interview

In a new interview with Olisa.tv, award winning writer, Chimamanda Adichie speaks about a misunderstanding with writer Elnathan John. Elnathan is a writer from Kaduna who is famous for his quips on Twitter and well recognized for his satirical pieces on his blog. In this interview, Chimamanda talks about the source of the misunderstanding. Here is an excerpt from the interview;


Before Binya’s declaration, there was another big controversy surrounding the Caine Prize and your statement about it not being the true representation of African writing. One of your workshop attendees who insiders say you gave a lot of support was in the middle of the Caine Prize uproar. You’ve never talked about this, I am sure people want to know what you think about that incident.

I remember I was at home when a friend came by and saw me having dinner with family and friends and he said – ah you are here laughing and eating while they are talking about you online. I remember later being amused because I thought: so now I’m not supposed to eat?

I asked him what was going on and he told me that this person who had been at my workshop the year before had written a misogynistic, insulting piece about me because he was angry that I had referred to him as ‘one of my boys at the workshop’ in an interview. I was very surprised.

First, I have to give some background: This person applied to my workshop and was accepted. I was interested in one of the early pieces he wrote at the workshop, which was about homosexuality and was progressive in tone. He was from the North and I have always particularly wanted to support writers from the North because I think we don’t have as many stories coming from Northern Nigeria as we do from Southern Nigeria and if we are going to make any sense of Nigeria as a nation, we need more stories. More human stories, not just check-the-box journalism. Especially from the minorities in the North, because it is easy to think of the North as one huge monolith.

So it was the major reason I chose to support him. I remember telling him at the workshop that a lot of his work was about provoking for the sake of provoking which I thought was hollow. He seemed more focused on the response he could elicit than on the integrity of the story he was telling.

I also remember that he often acted very superior to the other workshop participants in a way that was unpleasant. As far as I was concerned, if you choose to apply to a workshop that I am teaching, then you are a student like everyone else. And all the students are there because they have talent, you can learn from anyone and you really should save your superiority until you have actually published something worthwhile.

Anyway, after the workshop, another workshop alum sent me a story that this person had written, which the alum thought I should see because it was good. I also thought it was good. So I took my time, read it and sent this person an email saying he needed to make some edits but that I thought he should get it published. Time passed. He wrote me from time to time. I did not always reply because I am often overwhelmed and am quite terrible with emails. But I wrote back a few times, to send him my good wishes, to encourage him to keep writing, that sort of thing. His emails were always very polite. Mine were always warm and encouraging. He sent me a collection of stories that he had finished writing. I then decided to introduce him to my agent.

That is some serious compliment, if I may say so.
I certainly don’t do it often. And by the way, I don’t do it anymore. I asked my agent to please contact him and to look at his collection. She read his stories and thought he still needed to do some more work on them. The idea was that if he revised them or wrote something else, he would send to her. He now had the possibility of being represented by one of the best literary agents in the world. For this story to continue making sense, we have to go back to another story about natural hair.

Are they related? I mean, does the natural hair controversy have any bearing on the ‘one of my boys at the workshop’ controversy…

Well, yes, because it was the last communication I had with this person before he turned into an attack dog. After somebody put out that headline about weaves and low self-esteem, I was told that people were tweeting this quote that I had never said, and that this person had tweeted it as well.

So I wrote to him and told him I expected better from him, that I was disappointed he would join a bandwagon in repeating what I never said. I expected that somebody like him would be astute enough to go and read the actual interview.

He wrote back and was very apologetic, effusively apologetic, and said he had not actually been referring to me and that his tweets had been misunderstood. I believed him.

That was the last communication I had with him. Which is why I was astonished to hear, later, that he had written this attack piece about how I had called him ‘boy’ in an interview. He knew that there was no way I meant ‘boy’ in a demeaning way. It was a playful and affectionate way of saying that he was a protégé of sorts. Which at the time he was.

This was somebody I had been helpful to and supportive of. This is somebody who once knelt down in front of me as a greeting, in public, to show how grateful he was for my support. He didn’t have to write a public attack piece, he could have written me himself if he genuinely minded the ‘boy.’ I don’t often use the word immoral but I think what he did was immoral.

What he wrote was apparently so full of ugly innuendo that people said to me that there must be some “back story.” There was of course no “back story.”

Some of my friends told me that I should release all the emails I had ever exchanged with him. Because to anyone who saw those emails, seeing that he had spent months being (in hindsight) falsely extra-nice and borderline sycophantic, it would be obvious that his ‘outrage’ about being called boy was a cynical attempt to grab attention for himself. But I decided against it. It just wasn’t worth the emotional energy. I also didn’t want to feel that I had to ‘open’ my private space because of this person’s cynical action.

I cannot blame the public for their response. To be honest if I were an observer I think I too would have taken on that outrage of ‘how dare she call him boy.’ I used to automatically think that there was virtue in the non-famous person and vice in the famous person. If you read the interview in which I referred to him as ‘one of my boys’ in its proper context and with an open mind, it is clear that I am being very pro Nigerian nationalist and also mocking Nigerian nationalism at the same time. But I can easily see how people would take on an outrage. We live in an age of easy shallow outrage. It’s a case of ‘what is the twitter outrage of the day?’ Many people don’t even read the original article that is being referenced before they join the outrage bandwagon. And remember the source of outrage was not my actual referring to him as ‘one of my boys’ but his own piece about it. I am sure many people read his piece and so I can’t blame them at all for then attacking me. I am told he referred to me as a cocoyam of some sort. An unfortunate choice of metaphors, by the way. I had hoped he might have learned better at my workshop.

Jonathan Vows To Arrest And Deal With Those Behind Interim Government

 President Goodluck Jonathan on Saturday warned in Daura, Katsina State that whoever nurses a about or is associated with the purported Interim National Government (ING) being touted by some politicians would be dealt with according to the law.

Jonathan who was in the home town of the presidential candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC), General Muhammadu Buhari to pay a courtesy visit to the Emir of Daura, Alhaji Umar Faruk Umar assured that elections will hold next Saturday and on April 11 as rescheduled.

The president arrived the town at about 2:20pm with national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Adamu Muazu; members of the PDP Presidential Campaign Organization; top government functionaries and prominent northern leaders.

He warned that if government begins to arrest and prosecute those behind rumours of interim government, which he said is treasonable, people should not accuse federal government of haunting people.

He said, “Let me use this opportunity to make a statement again because sometimes I read in the papers of people talking about interim government. Even yesterday some people were making pronouncement that some people are planning interim government.

“And I will say that anybody who is planning or who is linked to anything that has to do with interim government must be dealt with according to the law. It is treasonable and government will not allow it.

“So, if people are arrested and being prosecuted, people should not say government is haunting people. There is no reason why people should talk about interim government that is not known to our constitution. It is treasonable and I will advise Nigerians to keep away from it”.

Noting that elections must hold as scheduled, the president said, “Elections are coming on March 28 as scheduled by INEC and on the 11th for governors and state assemblies as scheduled by INEC.

“Nigerians should prepare to go and vote for those we believe that can run the affairs of the country at the state level and the federal level”.

Jonathan who told the Emir that his administration was part of the Emirate council as he, Jonathan, was a title holder in the Emirate added that within the past four years, his administration has achieved so much in transforming the country and was ready to do more in the next four years.

He said, “Within this time, we have done quite well but we have not reached where we want to reach yet. We have developed education at various levels and in Katsina alone we built 28 Almajiri schools to create a future for the youth.

“We are working with the Katsina State government to improve education in the state now and in the future”, the president stated, adding that his agriculture intervention was robust.

Noting that the Federal Government had changed the state of Nigerian roads, railways and health sectors, he also mentioned the successes recorded in the eradication of polio, guinea worm and Ebola adding that at the tertiary health level Nigerian institutions were carrying out successful heart and kidney surgeries.

He said that after more than 30 years of being in limbo, the rail transport sector had been revived,even as he noted that it was the intention of his administration to link all states of the federation with railways to improve transportation, save travel time and cost as well as reduce road accidents.

Lauding the Emirate and the subjects for working together to ensure peace in the country, Jonathan promised that in the next dispensation his administration would implement the decisions of the just concluded National Conference to raise the standard of the traditional institutions in the country.

“We are quite pleased. As we drove to this palace, warm reception was everywhere, people were happy that we are here, at least to tell you that we are part of your Emirate”, he said.


On his part, the Emir who thanked the President for the visit and told him to always count on his support and counsel urged him to ensure there was peace throughout the country during the forth-coming national elections.

The royal father and his council of chiefs offered prayer for the president.

On the president’s entourage were Director General of the PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation, Sen. Ahmadu Ali; Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State; Governor Ibrahim Shema; Chief Ifeanyi Uba; Minister of foreign Affairs, Ambassador Aminu Wali; Transport Minister, Sen Idris Umar; Special Duties Minister, Tanimu Turaki; Col. Abdulmuminu Aminu; the PDP governorship candidate in Katsina, Alh. Musa Nasiru and his running mate Alh. Gambo Mukoru.

One soldier dies, 7 injured after troop foil Boko Haram attack on Bama

Defence Headquarters this evening released a statement on how they foiled another Boko Haram attack on Bama, Borno state today, March 21st. Sadly one soldier died while 7 others got injured during the attack. They have been evacuated from the combat area by air and are already receiving medical attention. Many of the terrorists were killed.

A Hilux vehicle, other terrorist equipments and some weapons were captured from the attackers. Pursuit is still ongoing while calm has been restored and troops maintain firm control of Bama town.


With most of the towns slated to be cleared of terrorists already covered, the campaign to rid the rest of the communities of these militants is continuing with air and land operations now stepped up in the remaining designated locations in the mission area. Cordon and search of cleared communities are also ongoing with some discoveries of weapons and vestiges of atrocities committed by the terrorists while they held sway in some locations

Photos from the wedding of coach Stephen Keshi's daughter...

Here are a few photos from the wedding of coach Stephen Keshi's daughter, Ifeyinwa, which held at Ekenwa in Benin. Stephen Keshi, his wife and others were at the wedding.

 

MANY REASONS WHY EMPEROR ROCHAS MUST NOT BE RE-ELECTED By I. Iwuoha

This is Governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha's score card. There are still a lot of areas where he has failed woefully, but below are the few I can remember for now:

1. Owing of retired staff of Imo Broadcasting Corporation more than 42 months arrears of pensions and gratuities and retired primary school teachers more than 12 months of pensions.

2. Owing of more than 8 months arrears of salaries to staff of General Hospitals and Imo Transport Company Illegal Dissolution of Elected Local Government Councils.

3. Legalized abortion in Imo State

4. Illegal Suspension/Retirement of Permanent Secretaries and public Servants.

5. Demolition of Houses in Owerri, Orlu, Okigwe, Anara, Amaraku etc without due process and compensations to victims of demolition.

6. Illegal Revocation of Plots of Lands allotted to persons without due process.

7. Illegal trespass into Area ‘K’ Land belonging to Amawom Owerri people when the matter is still in court.

8. Illegal acquisition/revocation and trespass to land belonging to Umuguma and Naze people in Owerri.

9. Illegal Dissolution of Town Unions in all the Autonomous Communities in Imo State as against the provision of the Nigerian Constitution, the Companies and Allied Matters Act and the Imo state laws on town unions,

10. Use of state fund and land to build private university at the Governor’s home town pretending to relocate Imo State University to the site

11. At the inception of the administration, Governor Okorocha told the whole world that he had ceded the state legislative quarters to Concorde Hotel Owerri and named it Concorde Extension. Later, he renamed the place Luxury Apartment and leased it to the wife of his former Special Adviser on Project Monitoring and strong political associate, Mrs. Macdonald Akano for many years.

12. Sale of ADAPALM to Roche Group, Imo Transport Company (I.T.C.), Concorde Hotel, Children’s Park (opposite Concorde Hotel Owerri), state General Hospitals etc for many years.

13. Sale of Imo Road Maintenance Agency (IROMA) graders, bulldozers, pay-loaders etc and appropriating same to yet-to-be accounted source.

14. Alleged auction of world-class Printing and Sword Machines worth over 200 million naira (acquired during Mbakwe Administration) belonging to Imo Newspapers to the governor’s private printing press in Lagos.

15. Borrowing of many Billions of Naira from banks and denying that no money was borrowed.

16. Reduction of admission quota for Imo Indigenes in Imo State University and Imo State Polytechnics (IMSU) to 30%. Tactically increased school fees of Imo Indigenes in IMSU from =N=30,000 to =N=120,000

17. Use of state fund to sponsor daily advertorials, propaganda, world press briefings and slanted news stories in the media for presidential contest.

18. Illegal sack of Education Secretaries in Imo State.

19. Misappropriation of Funds meant for local government councils and the Imo State Oil Producing Area Development Commission (ISOPADEC).

20. Owing ‘Youth Must Work’ teachers employed in November 2013 more than 5 months areas of allowances.

21. Refusal to pay severance packages to political appointees who served the Okorocha Government.

22. Refusal to Pay Rescue Mission Community Speakers and Government Liaison Officers monthly allowances.

23. Illegal suspension of Traditional Rulers of the 106 Autonomous Communities created by the Ohakim administration but later approved staff of office to more than 103 new traditional rulers.

24. Stoppage of overtime allowance to public servants.

25. Refusal to pay minimum wage to Judiciary workers.

26. Cajole of Government Contractors into borrowing money to do government projects and refusing to formalize and pay for the contracts done.

27. Abandonment of city-gate projects in Owerri and refusal to pay contractors who are doing the job.

28. Refusal to Pay April and May 2011 Salaries, Severance benefits and other statutory entitlements to Ex-Governor Ikedi Ohakim, his Deputy Dr. Ada Okwuonu, former State Legislatures and Government Appointees who served between 2007 and 2011.

29. Creation of unconstitutional four-tier government in utter disregard to the three-tier government recognized by the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

30. Declaration of Public Holidays to celebrate Governor’s birthday and personal programmes.

31. Appropriation of state fund without recourse to budgetary provision.

32. Allocation of land meant for New Government House Complex in New Owerri to the Governor’s wife and associates as against the provision of the Owerri Master plan.

33. Refusal to refund the sum of =N=5,000 being fees collected from aspirants to the 2012 cancelled Community Governing Council election.

34. Appropriation of State fund without recourse to budgetary provision.

35. Sack of beneficiaries of the Ten Thousand (10,000) Job Scheme without regard to the Imo State Public/Civil Service Rules

36. Illegal proscription of Local Government Development Areas Councils

37. Illegal deduction of salaries of civil servants for government Identity cards

38. Falsely blackmailed former deputy Jude Agbaso of fraud knowing full well that he was innocent. Set him up and sponsored his impeachment

39. Governor Okorocha broke alliance with APGA, President Jonathan, Senator Chris Anyanwu, Chief Martin Agbaso, Chief Achike Udenwa, Senator Hope Uzodinma and many who contributed to his campaign that gave him the first election victory in his life in 2011

40. The administration luntly refused to Pay Severance Allowance and Other Entitlements to Chairmen and Councilors who served during Udenwa Period (Promised to Pay them During 2011 Election Campaign To Pay Them)

41. Sale of all General Hospitals in Imo State to the Governor’s friends from Northern Nigerian.

42. Malicious transfer of the Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists Imo State Chapter to Abia State office of I.B.C. in Aba so as a reprisal for the NUJ Chairman’s condemnation of illegality that happened in the Okorocha’s Government.

43. At the inception of the Okorocha Administration, Governor Okorocha declared publicly that he was not going to receive any salary as a governor. In one of the Imo State Executive Council meetings held towards the end of 2012, he directed his Principal Secretary to remit all his arrears of salaries to a foundation run by his wife claiming to donate them to the less privilege.

44. During the time of Ohakim Administration, the Security Vote for a Governor was around =N=2 billion. (See 2010 budget of Imo State). But at the inception of the Okorocha Administration, Governor Okorocha lied that the Security Vote of the Governor was =N=6 billion but that he was going to take only half of the vote which is =N=3 billion. What this implies is that Governor Okorocha tactically increased his Security Vote by =N=1 billion while claiming to cut it down.

45. Importation of school materials from an unknown company abroad while our artisans wallow in abject poverty. Importation done without Executive Council approval, due process, budgetary provision.

Jonathan says he’s not desperate to serve

President Goodluck Jonathan

President Goodluck Jonathan on Friday said although he was ready and willing to continue to serve as the President of the country, he was not desperate to continue in office.

He said that was the reason why he had remained unruffled despite the various things that had been said or written about him.

Jonathan spoke at the public launch of a book, “The People’s Choice: The story of President Goodluck Jonathan written” by Rev. Fr. Charles Imokhai.

Over N175m was donated by individuals and groups at the old Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja venue of the launch of the four-part book which chronicles the life of the President, including his educational background, political career and family, among others.

Jonathan advised politicians who are interested in occupying any elective position either at state or federal level not to be desperate.

He said the only things needed were readiness and willingness.

The President said, “My second message is to all of us, especially those of us who are politicians, that for all of us who want to serve, we should be ready to serve but we should not be desperate to serve our people.

“Sometimes, people ask me that Mr. President, from what we read and what we see, we see you are still smiling and unruffled.

“Yes, nothing will really ruffle me because I am willing and ready to serve but I am not desperate to serve. That is what keeps me going.

“All of us who want to hold offices from the least, a counsellor of a ward or a chairman of a council, a member of the state House of Assembly or member of House of Representatives, Senate, Governor or the President, if all of us are always ready and willing to serve our people but we are not desperate in that mission of ours, then of course Nigeria will be a better place for all of us.” Jonathan, who described the story of his life as a humble one, noted that most accounts of his life so far published were not accurate.

He said while the book being presented provided an account that is close to being accurate, he would write the most accurate one after leaving office.

A former Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon (retd.), who acted as the chairman of the book launch, said he stood in for Ambassador Yusuff Maitama Sule, who he said had to travel back to Kano to attend to his ailing wife.

He used the opportunity to clear the air on the agreement he reached with the former Biafran leader, Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, that was popularly known as the Aburi Accord.

Gowon explained that Odumegwu-Ojukwu made a statement that was contrary to what they discussed at the venue of the accord.

He said the late Biafran leader was able to accomplish that task because he (Gowon) was down with fever when Odumegwu-Ojukwu returned to make the statement.

“I have seen that you (the author) have gone back in history in your research when Ojukwu and myself had the Aburi Accord.

“I was fascinated by that because I can assure you that that meeting was to break the ice and for all of us to allow the military leaders at the time to be able and to agree to be discussing our problems in Nigeria and to solve them.

“What happened to us at Aburi was that I couldn’t make it down because I was unfortunately down with a fever.

“Ojukwu got back and made a statement and that wasn’t what we discussed and that was the beginning of the misunderstanding, not because we agreed to work with Ojukwu.

“Since you presented that we had a meeting I thought I should make that comment and to correct that,” he said.  

Woman falls in love with a tree after going through a series of heart break : Photos

 
After a string of disastrous relationships, this young lady named Emma McCabe fell in love with Tim - a tree and she says she feels quite happy. And s*x with it, is the best she's ever had. She's planning a marriage with it even though her family thinks she's mad. Awww, what heartbreaks can do!

Black man wrongfully jailed for 39 years to receive $1m after being cleared of murder

A black man who was freed last year after spending 39 years in prison for a murder he didn't commit but was falsely convicted for will receive around $1m as compensation from the state of Ohio. He was one of three men sent to death row in 1975 after being convicted of aggravated murder in the slaying of a businessman outside a corner store in Cleveland.

Prosecutors at the time of the case relied on the testimony of a 13 year-old boy to convict Mr Jackson, now 58, and two brothers, Wiley Bridgeman and Ronnie Bridgeman, who were his best friends.

Years later, the boy, Eddie Vernon, who earlier claimed to witness the crime recanted his testimony and told authorities he had never actually witnessed the crime.

According to Sky News, when told of his compensation fee Ricky Jackson said 

"Wow, wow, wow, that's fantastic, man. I don't even know what to say. This is going to mean so much."

Wiley Bridgeman and Ronnie Bridgeman have not received any compensation yet.