Monday 17 August 2015

Babangida To PDP: After 16 Years It Is Good To Have Change

For 16 years, PDP was the ruling party. How do you feel as a member of the party that you are now being referred to as opposition and secondly do you see your party bouncing back in 2009?
I think one of the good things we are experiencing in this country is that for 16 years there has been democracy and democratic practices in the country. A lot of things must have gone wrong somewhere and the right judges are the people and the people have spoken.

I think it is natural they needed a change after 16 years and they did what is right, they did not go wild, they did not fight anybody, they used their ballot papers to change the government.

I think this is the beauty of what happened and I look forward to such practices in the next 50 years of democratic practice in this country. Don’t forget politics is what is happening now. They (the PDP) will try and I hope they learn from their mistakes, what they did wrong, what they did right and what they can do now to re-launch their party.

Talking of corruption, the President has launched strategies to recover stolen monies. What is your take on this move?
When you say strategy when my boss President Obasanjo created a similar strategy and to be fair to him and his government he made a lot of recoveries when he was in office, so we should support this present federal government in what it is trying to do, to achieve the same objective.

What is your assessment of the performance of the present administration so far?
That should not be fair but so far, I am confident that they are doing well, they have identified the problems and they look resolute in confronting this problems head-on and there are a lot of people in the society who are offering a lot of sound advice on what to do.

Some have been speculating that you are not from Niger State, that you are from Ogbomoso in Oyo State and that your middle name ‘Badamasi’ was coined from the Yoruba name ‘Gbadamosi’. This is an opportunity for you to clear the air on where is your source...
I must tell you and say I appreciate you, I appreciate your concern, I appreciate the goodwill I enjoy from every one of you. I have always considered you (Niger state correspondents chapel) as part of my family, so for that I am very grateful. I want it to go on record that I appreciate every one of you and your efforts you are making. Once more, thank you very much.

On your question, I had to answer the question way back in November, 1962 because of my name, Badamasi. I answered the question during my final year in secondary school when I had to answer that question. Now 52 years later, I am glad I am answering the same question. The truth is that I hail from here, Niger state; my parents were from between Wushishi and this town (Minna). My grandparents traveled to settle down here, though I think that says it all, but there is nothing wrong in being from any part of the country but the truth is that I hail from Niger state. My grandparents and great grandparents moved from somewhere to settle down in Niger state. There are some who still call us the settlers in Niger state, that we are not indigenous from the state because our grandparents came from somewhere to settle here but I have live all my 74 years in Niger state and I think I am more than qualified to be called an indigene of Niger state.

Are you missing your friend, late Chief MKO Abiola?
Last week, I dug out a lot of letters he wrote to me and I read them, so that shows that I still miss him.

Sir, it has been said that you were the first person in the world to address the United Nations in a military uniform. Is it true?
United Nations? I was not the first person. I think Obasanjo was the first one because he was President before me and he addressed the United Nations. I went in plain civilian dress in 1991 or 92 but General Obasanjo was well dressed up in what you call Service Dress, his pictures are there, so I was not the first.

Yoruba Actress Sikirat Sindodo Looking Fresh In New Photos

The light skin actress is finally chilling and taking time off the loud lifestyle. See her sexy photos below:

Ashanti Steps Out In Bikini, Flaunts Her Body

If you're a 34-year-old lady and your bod is still in shape like this, you can't resist the urge to flaunt. Smile!

Bishop Kukah finally Speaks on Jonathan, Corruption and Their Meeting with Buhari

In an interview with Sahara TV, Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sokoto and member of the National Peace Committee, denied recent allegations in the media that the committee’s recent meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari was made at the behest of Goodluck Jonathan.

Bishop Kukah made a recent statement on the goals of the National Peace Committee, saying "Our own commitment is not to intimidate or fight anybody."

In the exclusive interview with SaharaTV correspondent Rudolf Okonkwo, Bishop Kukah explained:

"What we were saying was a response to the allegations that were widely made in some sections of the media that somehow the idea behind our visiting the president was because somebody - I mean President Jonathan specifically - had sent us to go and plead with President Buhari over what the president had been saying about the need for a probe. And so on and so forth.

"We were interested in saying that our role is not to run anybody's errands. Our role is basically to give encouragement to our politicians on behalf of Nigerians. That we had free and fair elections and Nigerians want to see a new dawn in place."

Bishop Kukah also mentioned that prior to the meeting, the Committee spoke with leadership of both the All People's Congress (APC) and the People's Democratic Party (PDP), as well as Senate President Bukola Saraki.

Bishop Kukah commended President Buhari for the work he has so far done but stated that his Party, the All Peoples Congress (APC), was voted to govern, and that their focus should be on governing, which is what Nigerians are eager for. Bishop Kukah stated that he could tell President Buhari has been taking his job seriously since his inauguration.

When asked whether Bishop Kukah believes the Peace Committee was afraid that President Buhari may have been fair in the past when he probed previous governments for corruption, he made sure to convey how much the Committee wants Mr. Buhari to use due process during investigations.

“A point we want to make very clear is that we are in a democracy, and [this] is an investigation, not a probe. We were simply saying that we don’t think anyone should be criminalized when nobody has been brought before a court. We are speaking on behalf of ordinary Nigerians,” Bishop Kukah said.

Bishop Kukah made it a point to display the Committee’s stance of indifference towards politics when dealing with issues that concern the well-being of Nigerians.

“We want to see a qualitative and quantitative change in the lives of Nigerians. Nobody knows how Buhari’s presidency will end, nobody knows what will happen to him when he [finishes] his tenure. The stick that they are using to whip Jonathan may be the stick that they will use to whip Buhari tomorrow,” Bishop Kukah said.

BREASTFEEDING: What Our Women Should Know

In Nigeria and Africa as a whole, breastfeeding has been the most culturally acceptable mode of feeding babies within the first two years of life. As a practice, breastfeeding has a strong connotation for promoting the bonding that started at pregnancy between mother and child.

Breastfeeding in the Nigerian setting has always been a thing of pride. Culture actually demands that every mother should breastfeed her child. Nigerian mothers used to be well known for breastfeeding anytime and anywhere.

Some even breastfeed while working, which is why advocates of breastfeeding recommend the continuation of the practice by breastfeeding babies wherever mothers earn their living.

Breast milk serves as the best food for babies that are less than six months...

Breastfeeding a child provides all the goodness of breast milk that are known to be uniquely superior and vital for optimal infant physical, emotional and mental growth. It is essential for their healthy development and all other short and long term outcomes.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends that infants should be exclusively breastfed for the first six months of life to achieve optimal growth.

In response to the importance of exclusive breastfeeding, the Federal Government established the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) in Benin, Enugu, Maiduguri, Lagos, Jos and Port Harcourt with the aim of providing mothers and their infants a supportive environment for breastfeeding and to promote appropriate breastfeeding practices, thus helping to reduce infant morbidity and mortality rates.

It is, however, worrisome and unacceptable that Nigeria currently has one of the lowest exclusive breastfeeding rates in Africa. In a National Demographic Health Survey (NDHS), the rate of exclusive breastfeeding in the country stood at 13 per cent.

Despite sustained efforts, exclusive breastfeeding rates in Nigeria have fallen well below the WHO/UNICEF recommendation of 90 per cent for children less than six months in developing countries. Currently, exclusive breastfeeding rates in Nigeria compare poorly with other neighbouring countries in Africa.

As the global community marks this year’s edition of the annual World Breastfeeding Day with the theme – “Breastfeeding And Work: Let’s Make It Together”, more involvement and dedication is required to galvanise multi-dimensional support to enable women everywhere work and breast feed.

Nursing mothers in particular require more support to combine breastfeeding with work in the formal, informal and home setting. The private sector must get involved in the process of encouraging breastfeeding mothers through provision of crèches and breastfeeding rooms in work places while approving flexible work hours for mothers.

The promotion of actions by employers to become baby friendly and actively facilitate the support of employed mothers to preserve and reap the benefits of the age-long practice of breast feeding, is a task that must be done.

Source: Vanguard

Gov Wike Kneels Before Popular Pastor In P/Harcourt (Photo)

Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers state, who was spotted kneeling to a popular prophet, has declared that those planning to shorten his tenure in office will be disgraced by God.

The former education minister, who was addressing members of Lord’s Chosen Renewal Charismatic Ministry in Port Harcourt on Sunday, insisted that God, as well as the prayers of the men of God, ensured that he won the last gubernatorial election in the state.

Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike and the General Overseer of the Lord’s Chosen Renewal Charismatic Ministry, Pastor Lazarus Mouka on Sunday at the Special Crusade of the Church in Port Harcourt. Photo credit: The Nation

“Those who are fighting and plotting to truncate the lifespan of the mandate freely given to me by the people of Rivers State, will be disgraced by the God of the Lord’s Chosen .

“The way the God of the Lord’s Chosen did it on April 11, that is how he will do it again,” he was quoted to have said during the service.

According to The Nation, the governor told the congregation that it was at the same denomination in the state that he vowed that if the rumour that he was a member of a cult, he should not win the governorship election.

Wike is now boastful that he won the governorship election because the rumour spread by the opposition was false, and that his administration, by virtue of strategic planning, has confounded those who claimed that road construction cannot take place at the height of the rainy season.

The governor recently stated his disinterest in whether or not his predecessor, Rotimi Amaechi, becomes a minister of the federal republic under president Muhammadu Buhari.

Why Obasanjo, Jonathan, Abdulsalami Visit Buhari

note: Femi Odere, a media practitioner, has shared his views on why President Muhammadu Buhari received so many guests during the last week. He alleges that Buhari now knows all corrupt cases in previous administrations.

In five working days Buhari had received three former heads of state

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s visit to President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday, August 8, 2015, was promptly reported by the nation’s media establishment. It was almost instantaneously reported by the various social media platforms. But Nigerians did not know that the immediate past president of the republic, Goodluck Jonathan, had come and gone to also see his successor on Thursday, the day before Obasanjo’s visit.

Jonathan’s visit to Aso Rock, reportedly made at night, was also reported to have been facilitated by former Head of State Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, who is the chairman of the 2015 Elections Peace Committee.

News reports also had it that Jonathan’s attempt to see his successor was not particularly smooth-sailing, as Abubakar himself had to rally other arrowheads in the nation’s power centers to intervene for the former president before the Aso Rock gate could be opened.

If true, it shows the ultimate futility of power. As if given a report that the visits of the godfather and his godson (now estranged) may not have yielded the results they expected, the following Tuesday, members of the 2015 Elections Peace Committee “invaded” the villa to meet with President Buhari.

In what can now be referred to as a stampede, in less than five working days, Buhari had received three former heads of state either individually or within a group, in addition to the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, who is also the spiritual leader of the nation’s Islamic faith, and other high profile individuals in the committee.

Rush to the villa was on account of Buhari’s vow to kill corruption

Although it may not have been expressly and officially stated, Nigerians do not need to be told that the rush to the villa was on account of Buhari’s vow to kill corruption before it “kills” Nigeria.

Perhaps the best way to look at the sprints of these major power centers to Aso Rock is to situate their convergence on the “Rock” (in quick succession) within the context of the epigraph above. The above epigraph encapsulates the relationships (mostly convoluted) that exist between the various power centers that these people represent, on the one hand, and the relationship between President Buhari and these power centers on the other. On the “third” hand is the relationship between the Nigerian electorate’s yearning for change as an emergent power center—represented by Buhari—and the entrenched, elite power centers in the country, who are responsible for its sorry state and that of her people. Buhari’s emergence through the democratic process has revealed the gory state of the nation and the debilitating, suffocating stench in which Nigerians are mired, no thanks to the most vicious corruption that the world probably has ever known. By now, Buhari himself may be wondering if Nigeria has not already been “killed” by it since there are things he knows that the visitors to the “Rock” now know he knows. These are the “known knowns.”

They do not need to be told that things have really become serious when a president of the most populous country in Africa blurted in exasperation, in the faraway United States, that the monies in the accounts of these corrupt elements in our midst was “mind-boggling.” For Buhari, whose country is already known in the international community to have taken corruption as a way of life, to have made this damning declaration must have sent serious shock waves to the corrupt but very powerful class in the polity. Hence the marathon race to the villa, because the things they believed Buhari did not know—the “known unknowns”—have become the “known knowns.” Thanks to Buhari, the hapless Nigerian public now also knows that a minister carted away more than $6 billion within four years.

Buhari must be reminded that the power centers’ “pilgrimage” to the “Rock,” most probably to wrest concession from him not to go the whole hog, or at least give some people, if not some on the entourage, some slacks in his war against corruption, are among a group of very powerful people that tried in his previous attempts—even in the last presidential election—everything humanly possible to shut him out of the presidency, even by foul means.

“All looted funds must be returned to the nation’s coffers”

The president must not lose sight of the fact that these people hardly wish him and his administration well, because his presidency happened in spite of them. Jonathan’s reply, when Buhari intimated him with some of the earth-shaking corruption that took place under his watch that he was “hearing about some of the graft allegations for the first time,” was the most irresponsible statement to have been made by a former president. Hardly did he realize that the statement, in itself, was a serious indictment on his leadership. But we’re relieved that Buhari was reported to have also told the former president in no unmistakable terms that “all looted funds must be returned to the nation’s coffers.”

Just as that statement was another testament to the fact that Jonathan’s thoughts and utterances, if not his approach to governance were far below the office he was saddled with, one is not fooled that what was inherent in the statement was his intentional refusal to acknowledge what he knew; the “unknown knowns” that psychoanalytic philosopher Slavoj Zizek says is the fourth category of Rumsfeld’s declaration that he either deliberately left out or, ironically, wasn’t aware of.

Nigerians have a government of the people and for the people

The Buhari presidency represents the very first time in the nation’s democratic history that Nigerians have a government of the people and for the people. But the sad and unfolding irony is that the battle line is slowly but surely being drawn to obstruct the “by the people” component, which gives democracy its name and meaning.

Read the rest at Sahara Reporters

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent the editorial policy of Naij.com.

I Need A Man Who Will Make Me Want To Have S*x Everyday – Yoruba Actress Empress

There is something with girls who have no qualms when it comes to having a child without a husband or a man who will be the child's legitimate father. I just hope this beautiful lady can sort herself out early.

Yoruba actress, Empress Anu Sosanya has opened up on various issues ranging from her career, childhood, relationships and s*x-life. Here are excerpts from a recent interview:

What was growing up like?
My growing up was awesome, but at the same time, rough. I lived with my mother who had to cater for her eight children. We went through thick and thin then, but I thank God that today, the story has changed. My siblings and I are doing well in our various fields.

Are you married?
No, but I have a child.

How did it happen?
It just happened. So many people didn’t know I was pregnant. People say it is not too good having a child out of wedlock but I am a proud mother. I love my daughter to a fault. I am not encouraging people to have children out of wedlock though.

This seems to be a trend in Nollywood, what’s your opinion?
I don’t know about that, but I won’t have a baby simply because my colleagues have theirs out of wedlock. I do whatever pleases me and at my own convenience.

Have you ever been turned on while doing a movie role?
I am yet to meet that actor who will arouse me on set. I don’t get turned on easily. In fact when that happens, I will call for a press conference.

What turns you on?
I have not met that kind of man. It has to be natural, genuine, and delivered with ease.

How’s your s*x life?
S*x is communication, it is passing a message to one’s partner. If I’m in a relationship, I know it is not right to have s*x outside marriage but I have to know and understand the s*xual ability of my future partner. This is somebody I want to spend the rest of my life with. S*x is fun.

When was the last time you had s*x?
It’s been a long time but I am looking for that relationship that will make me want to have s*x every second and every minute. For now, I want to be very sure, I don’t want to have s*x for the sake of having s*x. I need a person that will not make me cry, take me for granted or let me down.

It seems you are heartbroken?
I am not. I am happy with what life has to offer.

What went wrong between your mum and your dad?
It’s their issue because I was still a baby then.

Didn’t you bother to ask questions?
We grew up living like that. Though, we spent sometime with him...

Did your father re-marry?
It is not as though he married another woman, my dad is a flirt. Even as an old man, he is still fresh and cute. He gets women at his beck and call.

- A snake must always give birth to a long thing. #GoFigure

Buhari To Receive PDP Defectors In Yenagoa

President Muhammadu Buhari will be visiting Bayelsa state for the first time, since he came into power, to receive politicians defecting from the Peoples Democratic Party into the All Progressives Congress.

According to Thisday, Buhari will personally welcome over 10,000 politicians jumping ship ahead of the December 5 governorship election in the state.

Buhari will be joining the state party leader and former governor, Timipre Sylva, and the chairman of the state working committee of the party, Timipa Tiwei Orunimighe to welcome the defectors, which include the former managing director, Niger Delta Development Commission and ex-presidential special adviser, Timi Alaibe; Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, Admiral Festus Porbeni;and former acting governors Nestor Binabo and Werinipre Seibarugu.

Others include Senator John Brambaifa, Senator Clever Ikisipo, Ambassador Emmanuel Otiotio, Chief Nathan Egba, Dr. Silva Opuala-Charles, former House of Representatives member, Dr. Stella Dorgu and former NDDC Chairman, Prof. Tarila Tebepah.

Reacting to the defections on behalf of the Bayelsa state government, the deputy chief of staff, Government House, Mrs. Ebizi Brown, opined that the ongoing defections would not affect the chances of the PDP in the election.

She said: “On the defection of members from the PDP, I want to say that their defections won’t make any impact. The PDP is waxing stronger by the day despite their exit.

“Many of those who have become media tigers, were those who have been tested and failed. We are not perturbed by their antics as they are not forces to reckon with. When they were given opportunities to serve, they failed. Bayelsans at the grassroots know them. They also know that PDP is their party and it cares for them.”

Meanwhile, the Bayelsa state chapter of the PDP has raised an alarm over what the party describes as ”a plot by the APC to rig the upcoming election in the state.”

Tayo Faniran joins Tinsel cast, temporarily replaces Gbenro Ajibade

Big Brother Africa star, Tayo Faniran is joining the Tinsel cast. From today the 17th of August, he will be playing the role of Soji, temporarily replacing GbenroAjibade. This temporary change comes as Gbenro is away on honeymoon.

A man of many parts, Tayo, who will be playing Soji for a few months, is an accomplished model, fashion designer and creative artist. Viewers should tune in to Tinsel to catch all the drama, intrigue, romance, deception and betrayal that the series brings to their screens.

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