Cristiano Ronaldo out of squad for his final game in chargeCristiano Ronaldo out of squad for his final game in charge

CRISTIANO RONALDO will not play for Real Madrid in Jose Mourinho's final match in charge of the club after being left out of the squad. Ronaldo is unavaliable for Saturday's home game against Osasuna after not recovering from a back injury. Goalkeeper Iker Casillas has also not been included, even with starting goalkeeper Diego Lopez unable to play because of health reasons. Mourinho has not included Casillas in his starting eleven since the Spanish captain returned from a broken hand in April. Lopez's place is likely to be filled by Adan Garrido. Mourinho is expected to complete his return to Chelsea next week after this weekend's match

PHOTOS: ASPIRING NOLLYWOOD ACTRESS ATTEND EVENT WITHOUT WEARING PANTIES

The aspiring actress and younger sister of TV personality Jumai Shaba wore this Pretty Mai by Gilbert sheer lace dress to Tiwa Savage's album listening on Sunday May 26th.
Looking at her outfit, it is obvious Aisha is not wearing any underwear underneath her dress, and she appear to feel very comfortable with it as she is all smiles while taking a picture.
Are you feeling her look?


ALL NA SWAG

FOREIGN POPULAR ARTISTE KELLY ROWLAND WASHES DIRTY LAUNDRY IN TEARS

The singer sobbed as she came to the end of Dirty Laundry – an emotional track about an abusive relationship with an ex and her rivalry with her Destiny’s Child band mate.
She broke down during the final verse of the song at the Washington gig, as she sang:
“He pulled me out, he said, ‘Don’t nobody love you but me Not your mama, not your daddy and especially not Bey.’ “
Supportive fans at the Lights Out Tour show began chanting her name to encourage her to continue.
After a while the weepy star wiped her eyes and carried on.

Dirty Laundry, her new single, reveals the resentment behind her relationship with cousin and best pal Queen Bey – whose solo career rocketed after the band split in 2006.
Another verse centers on being trapped in a house and ‘battered’ by her abusive ex-boyfriend, who turned her against her successful ‘sister.’
She recently admitted writing the song helped her deal with the past.
She said: “Doing this song for me was so therapeutic.
“Honesty, like my mama always says, is always the best policy.

Anti-Islam Protests Grow In London

 

About a thousand far-right protesters shouting "Muslim killers, off our streets" marched through central London on Monday against a backdrop of swelling anti-Muslim feeling following the killing of a British soldier last week. Lee Rigby, a 25-year-old soldier, was hacked to death in broad daylight in a south London street by two men who said they killed him in the name of Islam. The attack has shocked Britain and stirred an anti-Muslim backlash, including attacks on mosques. In a tense but largely peaceful demonstration, supporters of the far-right English Defence League (EDL) rallied in London outside Prime Minister David Cameron's residence waving placards and shouting anti-Islamic obscenities. "Islamic extremism is probably the number one threat to Britain," said one protester, Ben Gates. Other demonstrators chanted "Muslim bombers off our streets". Another protester, Samuel Hames, said, of Rigby: "He survived his tour of foreign lands and comes home to his family and what happened to him is disgusting." Nearly 2,000 people marched at a similar demonstration in the northern city of Newcastle on Saturday. Two men were arrested overnight for throwing firebombs at an Islamic cultural center in Grimsby, in the northeast of England. Similar attacks were recorded last week. As anti-racist groups warned there could be more reprisals, Cameron came under intense pressure on Monday for going on holiday, with pictures of him relaxing in Ibiza prompting newspapers to question his leadership at a time of unease. "Is Ibiza chillaxed (relaxed) enough for you, Prime Minister?" asked the right-wing Daily Mail newspaper. Faith Matters, a charity working to defuse religious tensions, said it had registered a spike in reports of Islamophobic attacks in calls to its hotline, describing incidents as "very focused, very aggressive attacks". Two war memorials in London were vandalized with red graffiti overnight, including the word 'Islam' spray-painted onto one monument. Suspects Michael Adebolajo, 28, and Michael Adebowale, 22, allegedly ran over Rigby with a car near his army barracks and butchered him with knives. Police shot the two, and they remain under armed guard in separate London hospitals. In a dramatic video clip shot by an onlooker and shown on British television, one of the two men, his hands bloodied, says he killed the soldier in retaliation for the deaths of Muslims killed by British troops in faraway lands. Police have arrested 10 people in connection with the murder. Three people have been released on bail. The attack prompted an emotional outpouring of sympathy in Britain, with well-wishers laying hundreds of flowers in the street where Rigby was killed. But some were openly angry. "We've had enough of our soldiers being abused... We'd had enough of the plots and the violence," EDL wrote on its website.In an attempt to counter the right-wing rally, anti-fascist group Unite Against Racism held its own demonstration nearby but was heavily outnumbered by EDL protesters. A handful of far-right demonstrators threw bottles and coins at the anti-fascist rally. Police vans and officers blocked the two groups from approaching each other. "They are a minority and a very scary growing minority," an anti-EDL protester who gave her name as Clara said. "I feel ashamed to be a Londoner today. This is disgusting." Source:Reuters

Bus Preacher Beaten To Coma In Lagos After Condoms Fell Out From Bible

Mayhem broke out at Toyota Bus stop, in front of the popular Ladipo Spare parts market, this morning, when a Bus Preacher was dragged out of a bus and beaten to a coma after Condoms allegedly fell out of his bible as he preached the ‘Word of God’.
The Pastor had embarked on his journey at Apapa and proceeded to preach to the people on thebus, using very strong words like “If you wear trouser you’ll go to hell! The Devil invented Make up! Weave on is from Marine Kingdom! If you have pre-marital s*x you will burn in hell and your skin will peel!”

The people in the bus were so moved; some started falling under the anointing. Our eye witness, Mr. John Mbakogu, who was on his way to his shop at Ladipo told us:
“People were just falling as he was layinghands. One man even fell out of the bus under the influence of the Spirit. It was amazing – until he raised his hands to cast demons out of one girl, and 2 Durex condoms fell out”
The angry men on the bus who had been having pangs of guilt due to the pastor’s preaching about s*x suddenly got really angry and pounced on the pastor, who all of a sudden started shouting “I also preach safe s*x! Safe s*x is good!”
Too late.
Policemen had to be called to the scene to save the pastors life. So far 2 arrests have been made, and the Condoms have been kept as evidence

Woolwich terror: Meet the brave mum who talked down terrorists who told her, ‘We want to start a war in London tonight’



A mother-of-two described tonight how she put her own life on the line by trying to persuade the soldier’s murderers to hand over their weapons.

Cub scout leader Ingrid Loyau-Kennett selflessly engaged the terrorists in conversation and kept her nerve as one of them told her: “We want to start a war in London tonight.”

Mrs Loyau-Kennett, 48, from Cornwall, was one of the first people on the scene after the two Islamic extremists butchered a soldier in Woolwich, south east London.

She was photographed by onlookers confronting one of the attackers who was holding a bloodied knife.

Ingrid Loyau-Kennett

Mrs Loyau-Kennett was a passenger on a number 53 bus which was travelling past the scene, and jumped off to check the soldier’s pulse.

“Being a cub leader I have my first aid so when I saw this guy on the floor I thought it was an accident then I saw the guy was dead and I could not feel any pulse.

“And then when I went up there was this black guy with a revolver and a kitchen knife, he had what looked like butcher’s tools and he had a little axe, to cut the bones, and two large knives and he said ‘move off the body’.

“So I thought ‘OK, I don’t know what is going on here’ and he was covered with blood. I thought I had better start talking to him before he starts attacking somebody else. I thought these people usually have a message so I said ‘what do you want?’

“I asked him if he did it and he said yes and I said why? And he said because he has killed Muslim people in Muslim countries, he said he was a British solider and I said really and he said ‘I killed him because he killed Muslims and I am fed up with people killing Muslims in Afghanistan they have nothing to do there.”

Moments earlier, the killers had hacked at the soldier “like a piece of meat”, and when Mrs Loyau-Kennett arrived on the scene they were roaming John Wilson Street waiting for police to arrive so they could stage a final confrontation with them.

She said: “I started to talk to him and I started to notice more weapons and the guy behind him with more weapons as well. By then, people had started to gather around. So I thought OK, I should keep him talking to me before he noticed everything around him.

“He was not high, he was not on drugs, he was not an alcoholic or drunk, he was just distressed, upset. He was in full control of his decisions and ready to everything he wanted to do.

I said ‘right now it is only you versus many people, you are going to lose, what would you like to do?’ and he said I would like to stay and fight.”

The suspect in the black hat then went to speak to someone else and Mrs Loyau-Kennett tried to engage with the other man in the light coat.

She said: “The other one was much shier and I went to him and I said ‘well, what about you? Would you like to give me what you have in your hands?’ I did not want to say weapons but I thought it was better having them aimed on one person like me rather than everybody there, children were starting to leave school as well.

Mrs Loyau-Kennett was not the only woman to show extraordinary courage. Others shielded the soldier’s body as the killers stood over them.

MPs praised the “extraordinary bravery” of the women and raised concerns about why it took armed police 20 minutes to arrive at the scene while people’s lives were at risk.

According to a security source the delay in the armed police response is “particularly surprising” because there is a heavily armed police presence at Woolwich Crown Court, which is just two and a half miles away.

Keith Vaz, the Labour chairman of the Home Affairs select committee, said: “We are all grateful for the local people who responded so quickly.

“I do want to pay tribute to them [members of the public] – I think what

they have done is extraordinarily brave and courageous.

“It shows the spirit of London that people are just not prepared to allow an attack of this kind. I pay tribute to what they have done.”

Patrick Mercer MP, a former army officer and former shadow counter terrorism minister, paid tribute to the people who shielded the body of the soldier.

He said: “This is courage of the highest order, it sounds as if these members of the public are not soldiers, not policemen, not people whose duties demand this, they are extremely courageous people and that courage deserves to be recognised at the highest level.”

Robert Buckland, a Conservative member of the justice select committee, said: “It it is the case [that police took 20 minutes to arrive] it is very worrying. If there was any unwarranted delay then that that needs to be investigated.”

10 magical things that happen to a woman during sex

Your brain lets you know about every touch. Your sense of touch is heightened which can turn you on even more.

Your body does some amazing things from the point where you get “turned on” by your partner until you are in the after-glow phase of having sex. You may not be aware that any of this is happening to you during the act, but the body has ways of making sex better for you.

1. Many things are sexy to you. Women are able to find the sexy in more things than men. The tiniest things can turn women on. If it is sexually stimulating, you will be ready to go in no time.

2. Your body doesn’t care so much about smells during sex. When you are turned on you are less likely to find things gross or smelly.

3. Your brain lets you know about every touch. Your sense of touch is heightened which can turn you on even more.

4. Your body makes the right things bigger during intercourse. Your vagina expands when you are aroused to accommodate for intercourse. It starts at about 3 inches long and extends to 5 inches, so if you think about it, size on a man really doesn’t matter all that much!

5. You feel less pain because you have endorphins running through you. Biting or scratching that may be extremely painful under normal circumstances may seem like a light touch when you are aroused.

6. A gift for every guy, your body makes your breasts swell when you are aroused. The nipples will get pointy and darker and sometimes the breasts will swell in size.

7. Your facial and body temperature rises while having sex so it’s no wonder that you may turn a shade of red. Some called this a “sex flush”.

8. The amygdala in the brain shuts down so that you don’t think about anything while doing the deed.

9. When you finally hit the big “O”, you may notice that your other muscles are spasming as well. Researchers are still studying why some women have these and why some don’t and how they work.

10. Your bladder takes a backseat. When you achieve orgasm an anti-diuretic hormone is released. This is why you might not be able to pee after sex, but don’t wait too long.

NEWS REPORTS ARTICLES COLUMNISTS PERCEPTOR INTERVIEWS SPORTS ARTS & LIFE

 

SaharaReporters Interview Exclusive: Achebe A Celebrated Storyteller, But No Father Of African Literature, Says Soyinka

May 18, 2013 - 11:29 — siteadmin

caption:

Wole Soyinka

By SaharaReporters, New York

Also: Why He Wished Achebe Had Not Written His Last Book; What He Told Ojukwu Before The War; Genocide, And Other Issues

.Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka has described Africa’s most well known novelist, Chinua Achebe, as a storyteller who earned global celebration, adding, however, that those describing Achebe as “the father of African literature” were ignorant.

In a wide-ranging interview with SaharaReporters, Soyinka paid tribute to the late novelist who died on March 21, 2013 at 82. Soyinka, who won the 1986 Nobel Prize for literature, also spoke on his personal relationship with Achebe and other Nigerian writers; his regrets about Achebe’s last book, There Was A Country: A Personal History of Biafra; and his attempt to talk the late Biafran leader, Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, out of fighting a war. Soyinka also answered questions about Heinemann’s African Writers Series and scolded “clannish” and “opportunistic hagiographers” fixated on the fact that Achebe never won the Nobel Prize.

Below is the full text of the interview.   

Question: Do you recall where or how you first learned about the death of Professor Chinua Achebe? And what was your first reaction?

 

Soyinka: Where I heard the news? I was on the road between Abeokuta and Lagos. Who called first – BBC or a Nigerian journalist? Can't recall now, since other calls followed fast and furious, while I was still trying to digest the news. My first reaction? Well, you know the boa constrictor – when it has just swallowed an abnormal morsel, it goes comatose, takes time off to digest. Today's global media appears indifferent to such a natural entitlement. You are expected to supply that instant response. So, if – as was the case – my first response was to be stunned, that swiftly changed to anger.

Now, why was I stunned? I suspect, mostly because I was to have been present at his last Chinua Achebe symposium just a few months earlier – together with Governor Fashola of Lagos. Something intervened and I was marooned in New York. When your last contact with someone, quite recent, is an event that centrally involves that person, you don’t expect him to embark on a permanent absence. Also, Chinua and I had been collaborating lately on one or two home crises. So, it was all supposed to be 'business as usual'.  Most irrational expectations at one’s age but, that's human presumptuousness for you. So, stunned I was, primarily, then media enraged!

Question: Achebe was both a writer as well as editor for Heinemann’s African Writers Series. How would you evaluate his role in the popularization of African literature?

Soyinka: I must tell you that, at the beginning, I was very skeptical of the Heinemann's African Series. As a literary practitioner, my instinct tends towards a suspicion of “ghetto” classifications – which I did feel this was bound to be. When you run a regional venture, it becomes a junior relation to what exists. Sri Lankan literature should evolve and be recognized as literature of Sri Lanka, release after release, not entered as a series. You place the books on the market and let them take off from there. Otherwise there is the danger that you start hedging on standards. You feel compelled to bring out quantity, which might compromise on quality.

I refused to permit my works to appear in the series – to begin with. My debut took place while I was Gowon's guest in Kaduna prisons and permission to publish The Interpreters was granted in my absence. Exposure itself is not a bad thing, mind you. Accessibility. Making works available – that’s not altogether negative. Today, several scholars write their PhD theses on Onitsha Market literature. Both Chinua and Cyprian Ekwensi – not forgetting Henshaw and others – published with those enterprising houses. It was outside interests that classified them Onitsha Market Literature, not the publishers. They simply published.

All in all, the odds come down in favour of the series – which, by the way, did go through the primary phase of sloppy inclusiveness, then became more discriminating. Aig Higo – who presided some time after Chinua – himself admitted it.

Question: For any major writer, there’s the inevitable question of influence. In your view, what’s the nature of Achebe’s enduring influence and impact in African literature? And what do you foresee as his place in the canon of world literature?

Soyinka: Chinua's place in the canon of world literature? Wherever the art of the story-teller is celebrated, definitely assured.

Question: In interviews as well as in writing, Achebe brushed off the title of “father of African literature.” Yet, on his death, numerous media accounts, in Nigeria as well as elsewhere, described him as the father – even grandfather – of African literature. What do you think of that tag?

Soyinka: As you yourself have observed, Chinua himself repudiated such a tag – he did study literature after all, bagged a degree in the subject. So, it is a tag of either literary ignorance or “momentary exuberance” – ala [Nadine] Gordimer – to which we are all sometimes prone. Those who seriously believe or promote this must be asked: have you the sheerest acquaintance with the literatures of other African nations, in both indigenous and adopted colonial languages? What must the francophone, lusophone, Zulu, Xhosa, Ewe etc. etc. literary scholars and consumers think of those who persist in such a historic absurdity? It's as ridiculous as calling WS father of contemporary African drama! Or Mazisi Kunene father of African epic poetry. Or Kofi Awoonor father of African poetry. Education is lacking in most of those who pontificate.

As a short cut to such corrective, I recommend Tunde Okanlawon's scholarly tribute to Chinua in The Sun (Nigeria) of May 4th. After that, I hope those of us in the serious business of literature will be spared further embarrassment.

Let me just add that a number of foreign “African experts” have seized on this silliness with glee. It legitimizes their ignorance, their parlous knowledge, enables them to circumscribe, then adopt a patronizing approach to African literatures and creativity. Backed by centuries of their own recorded literary history, they assume the condescending posture of midwiving an infant entity. It is all rather depressing.

Question: Following Achebe’s death, you and J.P. Clarke released a joint statement. In it, you both wrote: “Of the ‘pioneer quartet’ of contemporary Nigerian literature, two voices have been silenced – one, of the poet Christopher Okigbo, and now, the novelist Chinua Achebe.” In your younger days as writers, would you say there was a sense among your circle of contemporaries – say, Okigbo, Achebe, Clarke, Flora Nwapa – of being engaged in a healthy rivalry for literary dominance? By the way, on the Internet, your joint statement was criticized for neglecting to mention any female writers – say, Flora Nwapa – as part of that pioneering group.  Was that an oversight?

Soyinka: This question – the omission of Flora Nwapa, Mabel Segun (nee Imoukhuede) – and do include D.O. Fagunwa, Amos Tutuola, Cyprian Ekwensi, so it is not just a gender affair – is related to the foregoing, and is basically legitimate. JP and I were however paying a tribute to a colleague within a rather closed circle of interaction, of which these others were not members. Finally, and most relevantly, we are language users – this means we routinely apply its techniques. We knew what we were communicating when we placed “pioneer quartet” in – yes! – inverted commas. Some of the media may have removed them; others understood their significance and left them where they belonged.

Question: Did you and Achebe have the opportunity to discuss his last book, There Was a Country: A Personal History of Biafra, and its critical reception? What’s your own assessment of There Was a Country? Some critics charged that the book was unduly divisive and diminished Achebe’s image as a nationally beloved writer and intellectual. Should a writer suborn his witness to considerations of fame?

Soyinka: No, Chinua and I never discussed There was a Country.  Matter of fact, that aborted visit I mentioned earlier would have been my opportunity to take him on with some friendly fire at that open forum, continuing at his home over a bottle or two, aided and abetted by Christie’s [editor’s note: Achebe’s wife, Professor Christie Achebe] cooking. A stupendous life companion by the way – Christie – deserves a statue erected to her for fortitude and care – on behalf of us all. More of that will emerge, I am sure, as the tributes pour in.

Unfortunately, that chance of a last encounter was missed, so I don't really wish to comment on the work at this point. It is however a book I wish he had never written – that is, not in the way it was. There are statements in that work that I wish he had never made.

The saddest part for me was that this work was bound to give joy to sterile literary aspirants like Adewale Maja-Pearce, whose self-published book – self-respecting publishers having rejected his trash – sought to create a “tragedy” out of the relationships among the earlier named “pioneer quartet” and, with meanness aforethought, rubbish them all – WS especially. Chinua got off the lightest. A compendium of outright impudent lies, fish market gossip, unanchored attributions, trendy drivel and name dropping, this is a ghetto tract that tries to pass itself up as a product of research, and has actually succeeded in fooling at least one respectable scholar. For this reason alone, there will be more said, in another place, on that hatchet mission of an inept hustler.

Question: One of the specific issues raised constantly in recent Nigerian public “debate” has to do with whether the Igbo were indeed victims of genocide. What are your thoughts on the question?

Soyinka: The reading of most Igbo over what happened before the Civil War was indeed accurate – yes, there was only one word for it – genocide. Once the war began however, atrocities were committed by both sides, and the records are clear on that. The Igbo got the worst of it, however. That fact is indisputable. The Asaba massacre is well documented, name by victim name, and General Gowon visited personally to apologize to the leaders. The Igbo must remember, however, that they were not militarily prepared for that war. I told Ojukwu this, point blank, when I visited Biafra. Sam Aluko also revealed that he did. A number of leaders outside Biafra warned the leadership of this plain fact. Bluff is no substitute for bullets.

Question: Your joint statement with Clarke balances the “sense of depletion” you felt over Achebe’s death with “consolation in the young generation of writers to whom the baton has been passed, those who have already creatively ensured that there is no break in the continuum of the literary vocation.” How much of the young Nigerian and African writers do you find the time to read?

Soyinka: Yes, I do read much of Nigerian/African literature – as much as my time permits. My motor vehicle in Nigeria is a mobile library of Nigerian publications – you know those horrendous traffic holdups – that's where I go through some of the latest. The temptation to toss some out of the car window after the first few pages or chapter is sometimes overwhelming. That sour note conceded – and as I have repeatedly crowed – that nation of ours can boast of that one virtue – it’s bursting with literary talent! And the women seem to be at the forefront.

Question: In the joint statement issued by J. P. Clarke and you following Achebe’s death,  you stated: “For us, the loss of Chinua Achebe is, above all else, intensely personal. We have lost a brother, a colleague, a trailblazer and a doughty fighter.” There’s the impression in some quarters that Achebe, Clarke and you were virtual personal enemies. In the specific case of Achebe and you, there’s the misperception that your 1986 Nobel Prize in literature poisoned your personal relationship with a supposedly resentful Achebe. How would you describe your relationship with Achebe from the early days when you were both young writers in a world that was becoming aware of the fecund, protean phenomenon called African literature?  

 

Soyinka: Now – all right - I feel a need to return to that question of yours – I have a feeling that I won’t be at ease with myself for having dodged it earlier – which was deliberate. If I don’t answer it, we shall all continue to be drenched in misdirected spittle. I’m referring to your question on the relationship between myself and other members of the “pioneer quartet” – JP Clark and Chinua specifically.  At this stage in our lives, the surviving have a duty to smash the mouths of liars to begin with, then move to explain to those who have genuinely misread, who have failed to place incidents in their true perspective, or who simply forget that life is sometimes strange – rich but strange, and inundated with flux.

My first comment is that outsiders to literary life should be more humble and modest. They should begin by accepting that they were strangers to the ferment of the earlier sixties and seventies. It would be stupid to claim that it was all constantly harmonious, but outsiders should at least learn some humility and learn to deal with facts. Where, in any corner of the globe, do you find perfect models of creative harmony, completely devoid of friction? We all have our individual artistic temperaments as well as partisanships in creative directions. And we have strong opinions on the merits of the products of our occupation. But – “rivalry for domination,” to quote you – healthy or unhealthy? Now that is something that has been cooked up, ironically, by camp followers, the most recent of which is that ignoble character I’ve just mentioned, who was so desperate to prove the existence of such a thing that he even tried to rope JP’s wife into it, citing her as source for something I never uttered in my entire existence. I cannot think of a more unprincipled, despicable conduct. These empty, notoriety-hungry hangers-on and upstarts need to find relevance, so they concoct. No, I believe we were all too busy and self-centred – that is, focused on our individual creative grooves – to think ‘dominance’!

Writers are human. I shudder to think how I must sometimes appear to others. JP remains as irrepressible, contumacious and irascible as he was during that creative ferment of the early sixties. Christopher was ebullient. Chinua mostly hid himself away in Lagos, intervening robustly in MBARI affairs with deceptive disinclination. Perception of Chinua, JP and I as ‘personal enemies’?  The word “enemy” is strong and wrong. The Civil War split up a close-knit literary coterie, of which “the quartet” formed a self-conscious core. That war engendered a number of misapprehensions. Choices were made, some regrettable, and even thus admitted by those who made them. Look, I never considered General Gowon who put me in detention my enemy, even though at the time, I was undeniably bitter at the experience, the circumstances, at the man who authorized it, and contributing individuals – including Chief Tony Enahoro who read out a fabricated confession to a gathering of national and international media.

But the war did end. New wars (some undeclared) commenced. Chief Enahoro and I would later collaborate in a political initiative – though I never warmed up to him personally, I must confess. Gowon and I, by contrast, became good friends. He attended my birthday celebrations, presided at my most recent Nigerian award – the Obafemi Awolowo Leadership Prize. JP was present, with his wife, Ebun. What does that tell you? Before that, I had hosted them in my Abeokuta den on a near full-day visit. Would Achebe, if he had been able, and was in Nigeria, have joined us? Perhaps. But he certainly wouldn’t have been present at the Awolowo Award event. That is a different kettle of fish, a matter between him and Awolowo – which, however, Chinua did let degenerate into tribal charges.

Well then, this prospect that “my 1986 Nobel Prize in literature poisoned my personal relationship with a supposedly resentful Achebe” – I think I shouldn’t dodge that either. Even if that was true – which I do not accept – it surely has dissipated over time. For heaven’s sake, over twenty-five people have taken the prize since then! The problem remains with those vicarious laureates who feel personally deprived, and thus refuse to let go. Chinua’s death was an opportunity to prise open that scab all over again. But they’ve now gone too far with certain posturings and should be firmly called to order, and silenced – in the name of decency.

I refer to that incorrigible sect – no other word for it – some leaders of which threatened Buchi Emecheta early in her career – that she had no business engaging in the novel, since this was Chinua’s special preserve! Incredible? Buchi virtually flew to me for protection – read her own account of that traumatizing experience. It is a Nigerian disease. Nigerians need to be purged of a certain kind of arrogance of expectations, of demand, of self-attribution, of a spurious sense and assertion of entitlement. It goes beyond art and literature. It covers all aspects of interaction with others. Wherever you witness a case of ‘It’s MINE, and no other’s’, ‘it’s OURS, not theirs’, at various levels of vicarious ownership, such aggressive voices, ninety percent of the time, are bound to be Nigerians. This is a syndrome I have had cause to confront defensively with hundreds of Africans and non-Africans. It is what plagues Nigeria at the moment – it’s MY/OUR turn to rule, and if I/WE cannot, we shall lay waste the terrain. Truth is, predictably, part of the collateral damage on that terrain.

Yes, these are the ones who, to co-opt your phrasing, “diminished (and still diminish) Chinua’s image”. In the main, they are, ironically, his assiduous – but basically opportunistic – hagiographers – especially of a clannish, cabalistic temperament. Chinua – we have to be frank here – also did not help matters. He did make one rather unfortunate statement that brought down the hornet’s nest on his head, something like:  “The fact that Wole Soyinka was awarded the Nobel Prize does not make him the Asiwaju (Leader) of African literature”. I forget now what provoked that statement. Certainly it could not be traced to any such pretensions on my part. I only recollect that it was in the heat of some controversy – on a national issue, I think.

But let us place this in context. Spats between writers, artists, musicians, scientists, even architects and scientific innovators etc. are notorious. They are usually short-lived – though some have been known to last a life-time. This particular episode was at least twenty years ago. Unfortunately some of Chinua’s cohorts decided that they had a mission to prosecute a matter regarding which they lacked any vestige of understanding or competence or indeed any real interest. It is however a life crutch for them and they cannot let go.

What they are doing now – and I urge them to end it shame-facedly – is to confine Chinua’s achievement space into a bunker over which hangs an unlit lamp labeled “Nobel”. Is this what the literary enterprise is about? Was it the Nobel that spurred a young writer, stung by Eurocentric portrayal of African reality, to put pen to paper and produce Things Fall Apart? This conduct is gross disservice to Chinua Achebe and disrespectful of the life-engrossing occupation known as literature. How did creative valuation descend to such banality? Do these people know what they’re doing – they are inscribing Chinua’s epitaph in the negative mode of thwarted expectations. I find that disgusting.

China, with her vast population, history, culture – arts and literature – celebrated her first Nobel Prize in Literature only last year. Yet I have been teaching Chinese literature on and off – within Comparative literary studies – for over forty years. Am I being instructed now that those writers needed recognition by the Nobel for me to open such literary windows to my students? Do these strident, cacophonous Nigerians know how much literature – and of durable quality – radiates the world?

Let me add this teacher complaint: far too many Nigerians – students of literature most perniciously – are being programmed to have no other comparative literary structure lodged in their mental scope than WS vs. CA. Such crass limitation is being pitted against the knowledgeable who, often wearily, but obedient to sheer intellectual doggedness, feel that they owe a duty to stop the march of confident ignorance. For me personally, it is galling to have everything reduced to the Nigerian enclave where, to make matters even more acute, there are supposedly only those two. It makes me squirm. I teach the damned subject – literature – after all. I do know something about it.

So let me now speak as a teacher. It is high time these illiterates were openly instructed that Achebe and Soyinka inhabit different literary planets, each in its own orbit. If you really seek to encounter – and dialogue with – Chinua Achebe in his rightful orbit, then move out of the Nigerian entrapment and explore those circuits coursed by the likes of Hemingway. Or Maryse Conde. Or Salman Rushdie. Think Edouard Glissant. Think Ngugi wa Thiong’o. Think Earl Lovelace. Think Jose Saramago. Think Bessie Head. Think Syl Cheney-Coker, Yambo Ouologuem, Nadine Gordimer. Think Patrick Chamoiseau. Think Toni Morrison. Think Hamidou Kane. Think Shahrnush Parsipur. Think Tahar Ben Jelloun. Think Naguib Mahfouz – and so on and on along those orbits in the galaxy of fiction writers. In the meantime, let us quit this indecent exercise of fatuous plaints, including raising hopes, even now, with talk of “posthumous” conferment, when you know damned well that the Nobel committee does not indulge in such tradition. It has gone beyond ‘sickening’. It is obscene and irreverent. It desecrates memory. The nation can do without these hyper-active jingoists. Can you believe the kind of letters I receive? Here is one beauty – let me quote:

 

“I told these people, leave it to Wole Soyinka - he will do what is right. We hear Ben Okri, Nuruddin Farah, even Chimamanda Adichie are being nominated. This is mind-boggling. Who are they? Chinua can still be awarded the prize, even posthumously. We know you will intervene to put those upstarts in their place. I’ve assured people you will do what is right.”

Alfred Nobel regretted that his invention, dynamite, was converted to degrading use, hence his creation of the Nobel Prize, as the humanist counter to the destructive power of his genius. If he thought that dynamite was eviscerating in its effects, he should try some of the gut-wrenching concoctions of Nigerian pontificators. Please, let these people know that I am not even a member of Alfred’s Academy that decides such matters. As a ‘club member,’ however, I can nominate, and it is no business of literary ignoramuses whom, if any, I do nominate. My literary tastes are eclectic, sustainable, and unapologetic. Fortunately, thousands of such nominations – from simply partisan to impeccably informed – pour in annually from all corners of the globe to that cold corner of the world called Sweden. Humiliating as this must be for many who carry that disfiguring hunch, the national ego, on their backs, Nigeria is not the centre of the Swedish electors’ world, nor of the African continent, nor of the black world, nor of the rest of the world for that matter. In fact, right now, Nigeria is not the centre of anything but global chagrin.

Chinua is entitled to better than being escorted to his grave with that monotonous, hypocritical aria of deprivation’s lament, orchestrated by those who, as we say in my part of the world, “dye their mourning weeds a deeper indigo than those of the bereaved”. He deserves his peace. Me too! And right now, not posthumously.

It is not all bleakness and aggravation however – I have probably given that impression, but the stridency of cluelessness, sometimes willful, has reached the heights of impiety. Vicarious appropriation is undignified, and it runs counter to the national pride it ostensibly promotes. Other voices are being drowned, or placed in a false position, who value and express the sensibilities between, respect the subtle threads that sustain, writers, even in their different orbits. My parting tribute to Chinua will therefore take the form of the long poem I wrote to him when he turned seventy, after my participation in the celebrations at Bard College. I plan for it to be published on the day of his funeral – my way of taunting death, by pursuing that cultural, creative, even political communion that unites all w

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UPDATE: 21 dead as Nigerian military attack Boko Haram camps
  

(AP) - Soldiers in Nigeria launched their first raid against suspected Islamic extremists in a campaign to take back control of the nation's northeast, killing at least 21 people, a security official said Friday.


The fighting happened Thursday in the Sambisa Forest Reserve, just south of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, which soldiers previously targeted hunting for fighters belonging to the extremist network known as Boko Haram. Details of the raid, however, remained sketchy on Friday as a military spokesman offered contradictory details about the assault.

Meanwhile, gunmen launched an assault on the hometown of one of Nigeria's former military rulers hundreds of miles (kilometers) away, attacking police stations and banks.

Soldiers started the attack on Sambisa Forest Reserve on Thursday, having previously converged on the area in advance of President Goodluck Jonathan's state of emergency decree affecting three states in the nation's northeast, a security official said. The shelling with cannons killed at least 21 suspected Islamic extremists, the official said. There was no independent confirmation of the assault or casualties.

"We are not going to leave the forest until it's over," the official said, referring to the emergency rule.

The official spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity since he was not authorized to speak publicly about the ongoing military operation.

Brig. Gen. Chris Olukolade, a military spokesman based in Abuja, Nigeria's capital, told the BBC on Friday that the military conducted air strikes on "enclaves in the forest, the deep forest," where insurgents were hiding. Olukolade also said that insurgent fire hit one of the military's aircraft, causing it to abandon the fight and return to a nearby airfield.

However, when Olukolade later spoke with The Associated Press, he said he was "not certain" if airstrikes had been carried out. Read back portions of his comments to the BBC, the brigadier general said: "I don't want to talk about that."

"This is my position at the moment," he said. He declined to discuss casualty figures from the fighting.

A written statement attributed to Olukolade issued Friday night said soldiers destroyed heavy weapons such as anti-aircraft guns and anti-tank weapons, as well as vehicles, generators and other equipment. "The Defense Headquarters is quite satisfied with the progress of the operation and the fighting spirit of participating troops," the statement read.

Under the president's directive, soldiers have ultimate control over security matters in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states. Over the last few days, witnesses and AP journalists have seen convoys of soldiers in trucks and buses moving through the region, as well as trucks carrying armored personnel carriers. Jet fighters also have been seen flying low over Yola, the capital of Adamawa state. Soldiers shut down the state's border crossings Friday with neighboring Cameroon as part of the security crackdown.

This new military campaign comes on top of a previous massive deployment of soldiers and police to the region. That deployment failed to stop violence by Islamic extremists, who have killed more than 1,600 people since 2010, according to an AP count. It also has seen soldiers arrest, torture and even kill civilians.

In a statement Friday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said his nation remained "deeply concerned" about the fighting in northeast Nigeria.

"We are also deeply concerned by credible allegations that Nigerian security forces are committing gross human rights violations, which, in turn, only escalate the violence and fuel extremism," the statement reads. "The United States condemns Boko Haram's campaign of terror in the strongest terms. We urge Nigeria's security forces to apply disciplined use of force in all operations, protect civilians in any security response and respect human rights and the rule of law."

Meanwhile, oil-rich Nigeria suffers from continued insecurity throughout the country, whether it be kidnappings in its east, oil pipeline thefts in its southern delta, or violence by ethnic militias throughout its fertile central belt.

That could be seen Thursday night in Daura, a rural town in Katsina state that's the home of former military ruler and perennial presidential candidate Gen. Muhammadu Buhari. There, far from the states under emergency rule, gunmen attacked police stations and at least four banks, witnesses said. At least two soldiers and five suspected insurgents were killed in the fighting, according to statements from the police and the military.

After the attack, Maj. Gen. Bola Koleosho told journalists in Abuja that Islamic fighters are using camouflage uniforms, similar to those worn by government troops, to perpetrate violence against civilians and to create an impression that it was carried out by government forces. Islamic extremists have raided military barracks in the past and displayed uniforms, weapons and bulletproof vests as trophies in propaganda videos.

Also Friday, mobile phone service returned to parts of northeast Nigeria after being cut Thursday. The security official told the AP that the service cut came on the orders of Nigeria's government and security forces as soldiers moved into the northeast to begin operations. The official said service likely would be shut off again.

Mobile phones have become the only real communication device in Nigeria for both voice calls and the Internet, as the state-run telephone company collapsed years ago. By cutting off service at towers, the military could stop extremists from receiving warnings or intelligence ahead of their operations. Authorities said Thursday they had no information about the service cutoff or refused to comment.

Nigeria's military and security forces have tracked fighters by their mobile phone signals in the past as well, prompting extremists from Boko Haram to attack mobile phone towers in the region.

Home | World | Breaking News: 43 dead as bombers attack Sunni mosque
Breaking News: 43 dead as bombers attack Sunni mosque
  
Two bombs exploded outside a Sunni Muslim mosque the Iraqi city of Baquba as worshippers left after Friday prayers, killing at least 43 people in one of the deadliest attacks in a month-long surge in sectarian violence.


Attacks on Sunni and Shi'ite mosques, security forces and Sunni tribal leaders have spread since troops raided a Sunni protest camp near Kirkuk a month ago, and fears are intensifying of a return to all-out Shi'ite-Sunni conflict.

Increasingly sectarian civil war in neighboring Syria is emboldening Iraqi Sunni insurgents and straining relations between the two Muslim groups in Iraq, where tensions are at their worst since U.S. troops pulled out at the end of 2011.

On Friday, one blast exploded outside the mosque in Baquba, about 50 km (30 miles) northeast of the capital of Baghdad, and a second explosion tore into crowds of people rushing to help victims of the first attack, police said.

Local television showed images of bodies on the ground outside the mosque, pools of blood and scattered shoes of the victims. Police vehicles rushed wounded away from the scene.

"I was about 30 meters (yards) from the first explosion. When the first exploded, I ran to help them, and the second one went off. I saw bodies flying and I had shrapnel in my neck," said Hashim Munjiz, a college student, at the site.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack, but Sunni Islamist insurgents and al Qaeda's local wing, Islamic State of Iraq, have stepped up attacks since the start of the year to try to provoke a wide-scale sectarian confrontation like the slaughter that killed tens of thousands of Iraqis in 2006-2007.

Shi'ite Islamist militias, which fought U.S. troops for years after the 2003 invasion, have said they are prepared in case they need to return to war. But Sunni insurgents sometimes hit Sunni targets to provoke conflict, including tribal leaders and politicians who oppose their extremist agenda.

On Thursday, a suicide bomber set off his explosives in a Shi'ite Muslim mosque in the ethnically mixed city of Kirkuk, killing at least eight among mourners gathered to pay respects to people killed in a bombing a day earlier.

The same day, three car bombs exploded in busy markets in eastern and northeastern Shi'ite districts of Baghdad, killing at least 14 people.

After U.S. troops left in 2011, insurgents were carrying out at least one big attack a month, but since the start of 2013, al Qaeda and other armed Sunni Islamist groups have increased attacks including a string of high-profile suicide blasts.

According to the United Nations, April was Iraq's bloodiest month for almost five years, with 712 people killed.

Also since the American withdrawal, Iraq's coalition government has been caught up in a power struggle between majority Shi'ites, minority Sunnis and ethnic Kurds who split cabinet posts among them. Rivals accuse Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki of sidelining them to shore up Shi'ite power.

Sunnis, who lost their dominance when the U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein, have been protesting for months against Maliki, demanding reforms to tough anti-terrorism laws they say are used to unfairly target their sect.

Iraqi Sunni insurgents, some linked to al Qaeda, have intensified attacks this year, claiming an alliance with the al-Nusra Front Islamist group fighting against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

18-year-old undergraduate stabs father to death
2013-05-14 23:05:10

Residents of Langbasa, Ajah, Lagos State are still talking about 18-year-old Olanrewaju Kayode-Aremu, who stabbed his father, Victor Kayode-Aremu, to death.

Police authorities said the suspect stabbed his 46-year-old father to death while the man was attempting to enter his room.

PUNCH Metro learnt that Olanrewaju was a student of University of Ilorin, Kwara State, but was expelled because he had poor grades.

A police source at Langbasa Divison, where the suspect was detained, told our correspondent that the incident occurred on May 1, 2013.

He said, "Olanrewaju is the first of five children. He lived with his parents and siblings in a duplex in Langbasa. He was enrolled in University of Ilorin to study Geology in 2011 but was later asked to withdraw because he had very poor grades.

"Since he was not attending any school, he started working with his father who was a civil engineer. The arrangement his father made with him was that he would be working with him until he could get admission to another school."

The senior officer told our correspondent that the suspect was not happy about the arrangement. He said the frustration later led him to laying an ambush for his father while he was trying to enter his room.

He said the suspect stabbed his father in 10 different places, causing him to bleed to death.

He said, "Around 10pm on that day, the whole family had just had dinner and they were watching television when their father received a telephone call. He went upstairs and when he got to the entrance of the room, Olanrewaju appeared from nowhere with a kitchen knife.

"He stabbed his father in the back, sides, hands, legs over 10 times. The man, who was screaming in pains, attracted the attention of other members of the family who were downstairs. When the mother came upstairs, she found her son still stabbing her husband. The presence of other children did not also stop Olanrewaju.

"When she tried to save her husband, Olanrewaju threatened to stab her if she came close. The woman then went outside and called on neighbours for help."

PUNCH Metro learnt that it took the intervention of neighbours to overpower the 18-year-old and wrest the knife from him.

It was learnt that the victim was rushed to J-Rapha Hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival.

A resident, who spoke to our correspondent on the condition of anonymity, said the family had been in shock and had not been staying home since the incident occurred.

He said, "The family is a young one. Olanrewaju is the first born and he had four younger siblings."

The suspect, who was not remorseful, said he killed his father because he was convinced that his father did not love him.

He said he was not worried about his predicament since he was too young to be prosecuted.

"The case is a very long story. The truth is that my father never loved me and the only form of care he showed me was paying my school fees. I am just 18-years-old so I know I cannot be prosecuted. I have no regrets for my action," he said.

When contacted on the telephone, the Police Public Relations Officer, Ngozi Braide, said she had yet to be fully briefed on the incident.

Choreographer Wade Robson Claims Michael Jackson Molested Him For Years
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This is all so sad. When Michael Jackson was alive, famous choreographer Wade Robson testified in his defense during his child molestation trial. Now, its been four years after his death and Wade is claiming he was sexually abused by Michael.
The popular Australian choreographer and former close colleague of the late pop legend claimed last week that Michael Jackson sexually abused him from ages 7 through 14, when he regularly stayed at MJ’s Never-land Ranch.
Wade Robson has filed a lawsuit against the Estate of Michael Jackson asking for compensation for years of abuse.
Wade appeared on the “Today Show” and went into detail about his abuse.


Wade told Matt Lauer:
“I’ve lived in silence and denial for 22 years and I can’t spend another moment in that….”
“…Michael Jackson was yes, an incredibly talented artist with an incredible gift. He was many things. And he was also a pedophile and a child s*xual abuser. He performed s*xual acts on me and forced me to perform s*xual acts on him.”
Watch the Today Show interview below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=tL4tyu6

Pope Francis Urges World Leaders To Do More To Help The Poor




Pope Francis has called on world leaders to put an end to the “cult of money” and to do more to help the poor, warning that insecurity was rising in many regions of the world and the “joy of life” was diminishing in developed countries.
“The worship of the golden calf of old has found a new and heartless image in the cult of money and the dictatorship of an economy which is faceless and lacking any truly human goal,” Francis said in an address to ambassadors to the Vatican on Thursday.
Francis said that radical free-market ideologies had created “a new, invisible, and at times virtual, tyranny” and human beings “considered as consumer goods” and called for global financial reform that would benefit everyone.


“Solidarity, which is the treasure of the poor, is often considered counterproductive, opposed to the logic of finance and the economy. While the income of a majority is increasing exponentially, that of the majority is crumbling,” he said.
“I encourage the financial exports and the political leaders of your countries to consider the words of St John Chrysostom “Not to share one’s goods with the poor is to rob them”, he said.
The Argentine pope, formerly the archbishop of Buenos Aires Jorge Mario Bergoglio, became a powerful voice on the side of the poor during his homeland’s devastating economic crisis.

 Former Arsenal and France midfielder Patrick Vieira has been appointed as the coach of Manchester City's emerging young stars."

Honeymooner arrested in prostitution sting
  
Authorities in Florida said a man on his honeymoon was one of 92 people arrested during a four-day undercover prostitution sting.


The Polk County Sheriff's Office said 92 arrests were made May 8-11 by undercover detectives using websites where men and women were known to make prostitution-related arrangements.

Detectives said Mohammed Ahmed, 21, of Illinois was one of those arrested after answering an ad placed online by the undercover investigators. They said Ahmed, who was visiting Orlando with his wife on their honeymoon, was arrested and charged with one count of soliciting prostitution and one count of possession of marijuana.

Ahmed's wife called authorities to report him missing after he failed to return to their hotel room and she was informed of his arrest, the sheriff's office said.

I told Manchester United I’d retire in March – Ferguson


 


Retiring Manchester United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, has revealed that he told the club about his decision to step down in March, as his team began to build a sizeable lead in the Premier League.

The 71-year-old also admitted it was hard keeping the news under wraps and had to make it public after the Red Devils sealed their 20th League title.

“Sometimes I was sitting with my family and you forget you’re actually going to retire and talk about next year,” he told MUTV. “You’re afraid you’re going to blurt something else but I didn’t tell my sons until the end of March – well, Jason knew earlier as he works a lot with me.



“I only told my brother the night before it was announced and he wasn’t too pleased! I got a bit of invective off him.

“It was difficult but the club knew in March. We sat down and discussed it and, of course, David [Gill] is retiring too and it gave me a problem as I didn’t want to think we’d be leaving the club in the lurch.

“The rumour started out, didn’t it. On Tuesday night, the rumour had gone out and it’s hard to keep things intact at Old Trafford. It’s a bit of a sieve at times and news seems to creep out from all different angles and sources.

“I’ve tried over the years to eliminate these leakages of news getting out. I always thought, over the last 10 years especially, a part of my job is to keep us out of the news, which is nigh on impossible.

“You have to accept we are news but there’s a difference between good news and bad news. I always tried to keep bad news away from the club and that’s difficult in the modern day.”

Bola Tinubu: State of emergency – President Jonathan’s ploy to subvert constitutional democracy.



If development is about the people, all measures put in place for the sustenance and maintenance of the super-structure of the society must take into cognisance local contents.

It is now abundantly clear that President Jonathan has finally bared his fangs confirming what was widely speculated. By declaring a state of emergency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, he has intimidated and emasculated the governors of these States. We are witnessing a dangerous trend in the art of governance and a deliberate ploy to subvert constitutional democracy.

The body language of the Jonathan administration leads any keen watcher of events with unmistakable conclusion of the existence of a surreptitious but barely disguised intention to muzzle the elected governments of these states for what is clearly a display of unpardonable mediocrity and diabolic partisanship geared towards 2015.

Borno and  Yobe  states have been literally under armies of occupation with the attendant excruciating hardship experienced daily by the indigenes and residents of these areas. This government now wants to use the excuse of the security challenges faced by the Governors to remove them from the states considered hostile to the 2015  PDP/Jonathan project.

Let me be quick to say that this administration will be setting in motion a chain of events the end of which nobody can predict. Experience has shown clearly that actions, such as this one under consideration, often give root to radical ideologies and extremist tendencies, a direct opposite of the intended outcome of unwarranted and unintelligent meddlesomeness. The present scenario playing out in the country reminds one of the classical case of a mediocre craftsman who continually blames the tools of his trade for his serial failure but refuses to look at his pitiable state with a view to adjusting.

It has become crystal clear, even to the most incurable optimist, that the country is adrift. That the ship of the Nigerian state is rudderless is clearly evident in the consistent and continual attacks ferociously executed by elements often referred to as the insurgents in some northern states of the federation, particularly Borno and Yobe states respectively.

Indeed, no part of the country is immune from the virulent but easy attacks, veritable indices of a failing state. Unfortunately, the tenuous and uncoordinated approach adopted by this government betrays a grossly incompetent disposition which stands at variance with current realities in the country, nay the international community where acts of terrorism are engaged and contained. No Governor of a state in Nigeria is the Chief Security Officer. Putting the blame on the Governors, who have been effectively emasculated, for the abysmal performance of the government at the centre which controls all these security agencies, smacks of ignorance and mischief.

Terrorist acts are perpetrated routinely and the government at the centre appears incapable of stemming the tide of the horrendous crimes unleashed on the hapless populace. The considerable ease, with which lives and property are destroyed on a daily basis, should excite deep introspection on the part of a government truly desirous of finding a lasting solution.

The Constitution provides that the safety and welfare of citizens shall be the primary purpose of having that structure of any political leadership in the first instance. This Government, through acts of omission and commission, has fallen far short of expectation. It actively encourages schisms and all manner of divisive tendencies for parochial expediency. Ethnicity and religion become handy weapons of domination. Things have never been this bad.

The response to the pervasive chaos in the Northern region of the country has been militarisation, mass arrests and extra judicial killings by the Joint Task Force, JTF, a convenient euphemism for an army of occupation seemingly set loose on the people of the localities concerned. The tenor of the State of Emergency declared by the Federal Government yesterday portends danger for the polity. The full militarisation of security operations in these states will compound the already tense situation.

Both local and international media are awash with news of reckless attitudes of the invading forces. The fact that security operatives are killed cheaply and reprisals from the state find expressions in organised pogroms in the immediate communities is sure evidence of a government which lacks basic understanding to appreciate the enormity of the current security challenges. If development is about the people, all measures put in place for the sustenance and maintenance of the super-structure of the society must take into cognisance local contents.

It is evident from the grim experiences in recent times that this government has failed, or does not know that it is necessary for it to avail itself of the benefits accruable from exchange of ideas and notes on the latest in terms of technology and human resources among nations of the modern world, especially those which have been fighting terrorist organisations over the years, on the most effective mode of combating this menace. Technologically advanced countries of the world will never discard the idea on the need for the establishment of an effective local intelligence outfit.

Our suggestions along this path have always been met with suspicion and acerbic criticisms from both the informed and the ignorant alike. A government which stoutly defends its opposition to the decentralisation of the police force from its present over-centralised command structure is already experimenting with all manner of means patently extra-legal.

The massacres of local communities attendant upon the attacks on security agents by unknown elements will further alienate the people who should, ordinarily, partner with the government in securing their immediate environments. An army which invades a community maiming, raping and killing defenceless civilians will end up radicalising the youths whose parents and young ones have been wiped out most cowardly and recklessly. This government should concentrate more on encouraging the development of local intelligence which will, inexorably, lead to the practice of true federalism. Adopting the use of excessive force against those perceived as harbouring terrorists does not portray this government as possessing the wherewithal to find abiding solutions to the lingering security challenges.

The President’s pronouncement, which seeks to abridge or has the potential of totally scuttling the constitutional functions of Governors and other elected representatives of the people, will be counterproductive in the long run. A State of Emergency already exists in the states where JTF operates. Residents of these communities live in constant fear. Their rights are violated with impunity under the guise of searching for terrorists in their respective domains.

Hiding under some nebulous claims which border on the intractability of the security challenges posed by Boko Haram or some acclaimed traditionalists who have killed some policemen to render ineffective the constitutional powers vested in elected Governors and other representatives of the people, perceived as not amenable to manipulation for the 2015 project amounts to reducing serious issues bordering on the survival of the country to partisan politics.

Let all those who love this country genuinely advise the federal government not to tinker with the mandates of these Governors under any guise. It is a potentially destructive path to take. If security of a society is about the protection of lives and property of the citizenry, the involvement of the people is a sine qua non to effective intelligence gathering. Any measures put in place which alienate the people, in particular their elected representatives, should be considered as fundamentally defective by every right thinking person in the country.

—————————

Sen. Bola Tinubu is a former governor of Lagos and leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria.

“If I’m racially abused again, I’ll walk off the pitch” – Mario Balotel



AC Milan star Mario Balotelli says he will walk off the pitch if he is racially abused again, after he and team-mate Kevin-Prince Boateng were subjected to monkey chants in their match against Roma.

The Serie A game on Sunday was halted after the chants began, but eventually continued and finished 0-0, with Milan holding onto third place in the league.

Balotelli has been the subject of abuse before, and though he stated that he would stay on the pitch previously, he now says he has changed his mind on the issue.

“I always said that if [racism] happened in the stadium I will just do like ‘nobody says nothing and I don’t care’,” Balotelli told CNN.

“But this time I think I’ve changed my mind a little bit. If it’s going to happen one more time, then I’m going to leave the pitch because it’s so stupid.

“I spoke with Prince. I was about to leave the pitch on Sunday, but they thought I wanted to leave because we had some difficulty with the game.

“I said ‘no, it’s better we play and I will talk’, that’s it. But if it wasn’t for this reason then I was going to leave the pitch on Sunday.”

Roma were fined €50,000 (£42,000) on Monday by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), and the club warned their fans about future conduct.

Stop Acting Like Jezebel – Pastor David Ogbueli Warns Patience Ozokwo
The Senior Pastor of Dominion City and founder of the New Covenant Family Ministry, David Ogbueli, has warned Nigerian actress, Patience Ozokwo, famously known as Mama G, to stop behaving like a Jezebel.
Pastor Ogbueli gave the stern warning to Mama G during the church’s camp meeting held over the weekend at the Redemption Camp of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, Lagos/Ibadan Expressway,


Ogun State. During one of his teachings on Saturday, March 30, 2013, at the camp meeting attended by one of Aproko247′s correspondents, Pastor Ogbueli lamented that Mama G is being tagged ‘a bad woman’ by many people due to the roles she plays in most of her movies which depicts her as that. He further warned the actress to work towards changing the bad notion people have about her to a good one. “Stop behaving like a Jezebel as you act in movies,” Pastor Ogbueli charged Mama G. The widow and grandmother actress attends Dominion City alongside J-Martins, who plays the keyboard for the church. -->

Stop Acting Like Jezebel – Pastor David Ogbueli Warns Patience Ozokwo
The Senior Pastor of Dominion City and founder of the New Covenant Family Ministry, David Ogbueli, has warned Nigerian actress, Patience Ozokwo, famously known as Mama G, to stop behaving like a Jezebel.
Pastor Ogbueli gave the stern warning to Mama G during the church’s camp meeting held over the weekend at the Redemption Camp of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, Lagos/Ibadan Expressway,


Ogun State. During one of his teachings on Saturday, March 30, 2013, at the camp meeting attended by one of Aproko247′s correspondents, Pastor Ogbueli lamented that Mama G is being tagged ‘a bad woman’ by many people due to the roles she plays in most of her movies which depicts her as that. He further warned the actress to work towards changing the bad notion people have about her to a good one. “Stop behaving like a Jezebel as you act in movies,” Pastor Ogbueli charged Mama G. The widow and grandmother actress attends Dominion City alongside J-Martins, who plays the keyboard for the church. -->

Stop Acting Like Jezebel – Pastor David Ogbueli Warns Patience Ozokwo
The Senior Pastor of Dominion City and founder of the New Covenant Family Ministry, David Ogbueli, has warned Nigerian actress, Patience Ozokwo, famously known as Mama G, to stop behaving like a Jezebel.
Pastor Ogbueli gave the stern warning to Mama G during the church’s camp meeting held over the weekend at the Redemption Camp of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, Lagos/Ibadan Expressway,


Ogun State. During one of his teachings on Saturday, March 30, 2013, at the camp meeting attended by one of Aproko247′s correspondents, Pastor Ogbueli lamented that Mama G is being tagged ‘a bad woman’ by many people due to the roles she plays in most of her movies which depicts her as that. He further warned the actress to work towards changing the bad notion people have about her to a good one. “Stop behaving like a Jezebel as you act in movies,” Pastor Ogbueli charged Mama G. The widow and grandmother actress attends Dominion City alongside J-Martins, who plays the keyboard for the church. -->

THISDAY BOMBER CRIED FOR MISSING HEAVEN – WITNESS

By lekan babs
A prosecution witness on Tuesday told an Abuja Federal High Court that a suspected Boko Haram member, Mustapha Umar, wept bitterly over his failure to die in a suicide mission.

Umar is standing trial for allegedly bombing a plaza housing the offices of some newspapers in Kaduna in April 2012.

The witness, a police detective, said he interrogated Umar after he was arrested in Kaduna and brought to Abuja.

The accused, the detective said, was unhappy because not dying with victims of the attack had denied him the opportunity to make heaven.

The witness was masked, and his name not disclosed, in line with a court order protecting witnesses that testify in terrorism-related trials.

Testifying while being led in evidence by prosecution counsel, Mr. Simon Labaran, the witness narrated how Umar was handed over to him at the Force Criminal Investigation Department, Area 10, Garki, Abuja, after his arrest in Kaduna on April 26, 2012.

He said, “I was serving in Force CID Area 10, Abuja, as a detective in charge of investigation of terrorism cases.

“On April 26, 2012, the accused person was brought from Kaduna and handed over to me for discreet investigation.

“The accused person was involved in the bombing of ThisDay office (in Kaduna).

“He was always crying because the operation he went for failed, he said that he would have been happier if he had died in the operation with people (victims) so that he would be in heaven.”

The witness informed the court that the suspect made five statements while he was interrogated.

He further told the court that Umar was not tortured before he confessed, adding that he was given medical treatment.

Sometimes I get tired of hearing myself say Don’t touch! I am sure my husband gets annoyed, too, since it’s him who is doing the touching. It’s not that I don’t like his touch, you see, I really do loveit to the millionth degree, but there are times when he touches me in a place during a certain time that makes me want to scream.

Of course I don’t scream for fear of waking up our kids who have recently decided to go on a sleep strike leaving us to rarely get any touchy feely time in anyway so I should really take it when I can get it. But I’m trying to make the best out of every touchy feely moment — trying to make the best of this moment for everyone. So here’s my list on the places a man should never touch on a woman’s body along with the worst times to do it. Because I’m not saying these places should never be touched, I’m saying they shouldn’t be touched in certain scenarios. Men, you need to be astute. I know, it’s hard sometimes. But here’s help.

1. The nipple when other things are going on with our body. Avoid nipple pinching when we’re breastfeeding or about to have our periods. It just hurts … in the bad way.

2. The leg when it hasn’t been shaved and we’ve been meaning to shave but just didn’t get around to it. We want to be smooth, but now you’ve gone and realized we are prickly and lazy, making us feel instantly unattractive. (Unless of course you are into that sort of thing.)

3. The vagina when it needs a bath. If you start going downtown and she pulls you back up, this is your red flag that she’s not feeling so fresh. Respect it because your attempt will be futile. She probably won’t enjoy it while worrying about her lady odor anyway.

4. The anus without a lubricated finger. One question will help you understand: How do you think it would feel to shove your penis in a keyhole?

5. Our hair after we just spent hours at the salon. Common sense, right? Come on, guys!

6. The face when we’re oily or have a pimple. If you don’t know when this is because men seem to generally be blind to these sorts of things, tell your woman you think she looks so pretty. If she acts surprised and mentions something about her skin not being right or sort of looks away to hide her face, this may be a good time to avoid face touching. Or, you know, just look to see if there is a blemish.

7. The stomach after a large meal. We really want to have a flat tummy, but it’s nearly impossible most times, particularly after we just ate a cheeseburger with sweet potato French fries and had a beer. Or during a premenstrual bloat. Or when we eat anything with beans.

8. Anywhere after we have been sweating … a lot … and we aren’t drunk. I’d say about 99 percent of the time, most women don’t like a man to get all physical after we’ve gotten all physical at the gym. This is also true for when we have been outside heating up during those sweltering summer months. But I’ve found that if you add alcohol, this hang up of being touched when sweaty is gone. Same goes for all the others, too.

Of course there are always exceptions here, which makes it all the more confusing for men. Women can be hard to read and harder to please, but when you do read us and please us, everyone is satisfied. Got that, guys?









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Peacock 'pest': David Beckman charged with sexually abusing his pet peacock called Phyl

Animal abuse: David Beckman is accused of assaulting his pet peacock

A man has been arrested in America on suspicion of sexually assaulting his pet peacock.
David Beckman, from Roselle, Illinois, was detained by police after the bird – named Phyl – was found dead in his garage.
Officers, who learned of the alleged abuse after the 63-year-old was booked for another crime, said they couldn’t disclose precise details of how and when the peacock perished as it was linked to a case involving a child aged between 13 and 17.
However, they said they had seen the pet alive at the home prior to when it was found last Wednesday.
Beckman, who is being held at DuPage County Jail on a £6,500 bond, also faces three charges of harassment and two counts of marijuana possession and battery.
He is scheduled to appear in court on June 12.